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94V A £ir'iitan Daih
Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
420 A
Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
0
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1973
Nixon's battle of the bud get
PRESIDENT NIXON fired the first shot
Monday of what will probably be-
come , a torturous battle with Congress
over federal spending. Nixon, in announc-
ing his $268.7 million budget, cited cut-
backs which will affect a large number
of federal programs, eliminating some
entirely.
Economists generally agree that infla-
tion cannot be stopped with a $25 billion
deficit such as exists this year. The pro-
posed budget would reduce the deficit to
12.7 billion for fiscal year 1974, which
will not halt inflation but is a good start.
But checking inflation is not the im-
portant issue in the new budget. The
sparks are going to fly over the programs
that Nixon plans to cut or abandon.
The President says that he will at-
tempt to do away with many of the
"sacred cows"; the popular governmental
programs which he believes "have out-
lived their time, or have failed."
One such program, which Nixon says
has outlived its time, is the Hill-Burton
act, which has provided funds for hos-
pital construction. According to the Pres-
ident, "the shortage of hospital beds
which existed through the '50s andb'60
has been more than met."
That appears to be good news, indeed.
Statistically, perhaps the actual number
of hospital beds matches the statistical
need for beds. But it is misleading to look
at those statistics without remembering
that the facilities of many hospitals
were designed to handle different prob-
lems than exist today. For example, pneu-
monia was a much greater problem forty
years ago than it is now. Yet the same
facilities that existed then are being
used today. American hospitals may
have enough beds now, but those facili-
ties are not adequate for the new prob-
lems hospitals, presently face.
The Office of Economic Opportunity,
as well as other Great Society programs,
will also meet their doom in the coming
weeks. All of these cutbacks are a result
of the President's belief in rugged indi-
vidualism; that the average American
is like a "child" who must be treated
firmly or will be spoiled; that it is time
"to get big government off your back
and out of your pocket." Perhaps it is
time to get big government off our backs,
but that should mean the end of such
actions as illegal wiretaps by the Justice
Dept.-not the end of the government's
commitment to social justice and equal-
ity in this country.
PART OF Nixon's philosophy is that
putting more power and money in
the.hands of state and local governments
will mean more efficiency and more
progress than can be achieved by bureau-
crats far away in Washington.
Unfortunately, local politicians and
bureaucrats are often more conserva-
tive and more short-sighted than bu-
reaucrats in Washington. If OEO goes,
will state and local governments take up
any of the slack? Or is the movement for
social reform by government action fin-
ishedi in this country?
Not that the budget is all bad news.
Nixon did call for increased expenditures
for pollution control as well as for ex-
panded research to deal with drug abuse,
cancer and heart disease, and the "ener-
gy crisis." But then again, despite some
cuts the Defense Department budget will
be increased by $2.5 billion to a record
high of $79 billion.
President Nixon asked all Americans to
write their senators and representatives
in support of his budget proposal. It
would be best if Americans took a look
at exactly what programs will be cut or
abolished, and which ones will not, be-
fore urging their representatives in
Washington to support the budget pro-
posal.
-ERIC SCHOCH
Computer madness
By ROBERT BARKIN
THE UNIVERSITY has recently announced the POINT system, its
newest innovation in counseling.
Knowing that progress never ceases at the Big U. we can well imag-
ine the next great leap forward in counseling service - the com-
puter.
Computer: Hello, 76-ROBOT. Counseling heads off your problems.
Student: I've got a question about a class I want to drop.
Computer: Continue.
Student: I want to get out of Music in Technology. Could you .
Computer: What is your name?
Student. Jones, Allan B.
Computer: What is your number?
Jones: 387-46-2903-7.
Computer: Continue.
Jones: Like I was saying I want. to drop this class. Could you tell
me..
Computer: Class year?
Jones: Freshman. Do you think if I'd been here more than two
weeks I would lower myself to being counseled by a computer?
Computer: Take it easy. Continue.
Jones: For the last time, I want to drop Music in Technology. How
COMPUTER: Why do you want to drop it?
Jones: It's bogue, man.
Computer: That does not compute.
Jones: It's dull.
Computer: Continue.
Jones: For God's sake, tell me how to get out of it!
Computer: Section number.
Jones: 003.
Computer: You cannot drop that class.
Jones: Why the hell not?
Computer: Drop/adds deadline passed a week ago.
Jones: Why didn't you tell me that in the beginning, you moron?
Computer: That does not compute.
JONES: Skip it. Listen, you corroding piece of metal garbage, you
can't tell me what to do.
Computer: I am not programmed for disobedience.
Jones: Well, you can take your computer cards and cram them
up your intake valve . . . you! (phone explodes in his ear, removing
a good deal of his head and the furniture in the room.)
Computer: Remove Jones, Allan B. 387-46-2903-7 from University
records.
Hello, 76-ROBOT counseling heads off your problems. Begin.
'.C'
1 I
We have a chance today . . . to ensure better education
...better housing . . . a cleaner environment.
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Robert Bark in is a night editor for The Daily.
The
Vietnam aftermath:
Who kept score?
A potential blow to justice
ACTING head of the FBI Patrick Gray
has the potential' to render Ameri-
can justice a crippling blow. In an ad-
dress last Thursday to the Justice De-
partment's Law Enforcement and Assist-
ante Administration, he emphasized that
the object of the criminal justice system
should be "the protection of society," not
-just the protection of the rights of the
accused."
Gray is advocating that the' rights of
society should be elevated at the expense
of individual freedoms-the right to a
fair trial specifically. The premises on
Editorial Staff
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
PAT BAUER. ........Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY ............. .. Edtorial Director
MARK DILLEN ...... .......... Magazine Editor
LINDA DREEBEN.........Associate Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS ............ ..... Managing Editor
ARTHUR LERNER.......... .... Editorial Director
ROBERT SCEREINER.......Editorial Director
GLORIA JANE SMITH.............. Arts Editor
PAUl. TRAVIS....... Associate Managing Editor
ED SUROVELL .....Books Editor
ARTS STAFF: Herb Bowie, Rich Glatzer, Donald
Sosin.
NIQHT EDITORS: Robert Barkin. Jan Benedetti, Di-
ane Levick, Jim O'Brien, Chris Parks, Charles
Stein, Ted Stein.
COPY EDITORS: Meryl Gordon, Debra Thai.
which this nation was founded could be
in serious trouble if such logic is fol-
lowed.
Furthermore, he continues by saying
that it might be wiser not to rehabilitate
criminals, but to "protect society" by
keeping them in prison. Hence, the whole
purpose of the correctional system comes
under direct attack. Convicted criminals
would continue to be virtually written off
as productive human beings by dooming
them to lengthy terms of "punishment";
rehabilitation would be unlikely inside of
one of those repressive institutions.
Patrick Gray's proposals would only
succeed in pushing the justice system
into a horrible regression, reminiscent of
feudal times. As our complex government
grows more distant from the people, the
individual must guard again the sup-
pression of his unalienable rights by a
ponderous, conforming society.
-BILL HEENAN
Todlay's staff:
Today's Staff: Dan Blugerman, C h r i s
Parks, Sue Stephenson, David Stoll.
Editorial Page: Bill Heenan, Martin Stern,
David Yalowitz.
Arts Page: Gloria Jane Smith.
Photo Technician: David Margolick.
By JAMES WECHSLER
rTHE AMERICAN atmosphere in
the aftermath of the ceasefire
announcement resembles the home
crowd after its heavily-favored
football team has finished playing
a long, exhanusting scoreless t i e
against a "fourth-rate" opponent.
Desnite Coach Nixon's attempt
to depictethe outcome as something
of a triumph - or at least a'
moral victory - there were no
snake dances in the local streets.
The only festivity was reported oc-
curring among residents of Hanoi,
which, in a way, was understand-
able; they could validly see their
side as underdogs who had fought
a celebrated big-name outfit to a
standstill, and held on even when
they were being badly battered in
the closing minutes. It was a little
like Oklahoma having to settle for
a draw with Hofstra.
Athletic analogies have their
flaws, and this one is no exception.
Obviously there will e along ar-
guxments about who finally did
what to whom in the Paris talks,
and the clearest truth is that the
result is still to be determined.
There is no time-clock in Vietnam's
conflict.
Bt the deenr malaise (relieved
only by the immediate prospect
that some Americans entranned in
the war will be reunited with their
families, and that the Vietnamese
have won a reprieve from bombs
and mass killing) reflects the am-
bivalence of the American soirit
as well as the uncertainty of the
future.
FOR A diminished number of
Americans the ceasefire is a let-
down because nothing short of a
crushing score against Hanoi would
have seemed a fitting climax to the
U.S. investment of blood and
treasure. It is they who m o s t
acutely feel the frustration of the
aforementioned Oklahoma fan; like
Gen. MacArthur, they still believe
there is no substitute for victory,
whether against Hofstra or Ne-
braska.
But for a largernumber,the war
long ago' lost the simplistic aspect
of a gridiron struggle in which
James Wechsler is the Editorial
Page Editor for the New York
Post. Copyright 1973-New York
Post Corporation.
any true partisan could clearly
identify the forces of light and
darkness. Tt had become a grim,
tragic, crinnlinR national obses-
sion - an adventure at once waste-
f-l of our human and material re-
sonrs, destructive of our self-
egteem and a duhious blessing to
the Vietnamese. Sorth and North.
Amid even the temoorarv neace
th-t has been achieved, relief and
sntisfa('tion are tempered by a
realization of how many years of
our national life were squandered
before this recarious truce now
at hand. As far back as 1964, the
iss-e of large-scale U.S. interven-
tion had seemingly been resolved
when Lyndon Johnson routed Barrv.
Goldwater, whom he branded an
advocate of mindless escalation.
Refection of the war was appar-
eritlv reaffirmed in 1968, when LB.J
withdrew and Mr. Nixon vied with
Hubert Humphrey in pledges to
end the war promptly.
Nevertheless, in December, 1972,
after another national plebiscite, in
which any reescalation of our role
was deemedunthinkable, the Pres-
ident unleashed the most frenzied
air assault of this interminable
war.
IN THOSE long "nights of hell,"
one had the sense that everything
written and spoken by opponents of
the war, every parade and protest
and vigil and fast had been futile.
A President who had dared to
adopt in late 1972 the bombing pol-
icy advocated by Barry Goldwater
in 1964 must have assumed the
U.S. conscience was numbed be-
yond revival.
When the madness finally stop-
ped and negotiations were resum-
ed, we were thereupon told that
the mission had been accomplish-
ed: we had bombed Hanoi back to
its senses. Highly respectable voic-
es in print and politics are now
1
engaged in solemn semantic exer-
cise to demonstrate that this al-
leged end had justified the hideous
means, as if any verbal acrobatics
about "sovereignty" could alter
the basic fact that Hanoi is still
permitted - as it was in the Oc-
tober agreement - to keep 145,000
troops in South Vietnam. And the
ultimate proof of our virtue is said
to be that we have given G e n .
Thieu "a chance to survive"-even
while we helped him to resist pro-
posals for liberation of thousands
of prisoners in his jails, many guil-
ty of advocating peace.
Consumed as we had become
with the slogan of insuring Thieu's
continuance in office, a goal tem-
porarily accomplished, the nature
of his oppressive regime apparent-
lv ceased to be a matter Worthy
of serious debate.
Even as these morose lines are
written, I know there is something
more that milst be said. It is about
the young Americans, who initially
raised the antiwar banners and fin-
ally stirred so many of their elders
-who had silently watched the
drift to wider war. One does not
demean those who died in battle by
saluting those who spoke out for
life and reason. Thousands of
American homes would be brighter
today if the peace warriors h a d
prevailed.
BUT NEITHER did they march
in a wholly lost cause. We have
come through eight dreadful years;
yet they could have been worse-
and the damage and the shame
even less retrievable - if there
had been no protest ignited by that
generation of "premature" anti-
war crusaders. Perhaps we glimp-
sed in mid-December just how
much worse things might h a v e
been if there had been no young
men and women at Kent State and
innumerable other places who sang
"give peace a chance."
"ONE DOES NOT demean those who died in battle by saluting those who spoke out for life and
reason."
Letters: Sport fans inconsiderate
To The Daily:
THE RELATIONSHIP of Michi-
gan basketball fans to this year's
team, although not as earth-shak-
ing as a sundry list of other issues,
AQ
-r 73.
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c*TPL~or- ('~
IC&YIST
ETHIC.
has angered me to the point of
writing. The booing of Campy Rus-
sell for his play in Saturday's
game against Indiana was the last
straw.
While standing in line for basket-
ball tickets in November, I got
into an argument with a couple of
other standees. (All three of us
are white.) The two had mentioned
that another black player had quit
the team and therefore, they con-
cluded, (although both admitted
not knowing either players or
coaches) that this was further
proof that the black players hat-
ed, but tolerated, coach Johnny
Orr.
Having a casual acquaintance
with some players and coaches, I
pointed out to these two that the
player in question quit or was cut
because he just wouldn't be play-
ing this year. The standees ignor-
ed my point and then rattled o f f
more names of blacks who h a d
quit. I countered with thernames
of whites who, for similar reasons,
had either quit or had been cut -
Ashworth, Bazelon, Rea, Roberts
(and later Kantner and Meyers).
This group of players would make
a suburban high school coach or-
gasm.
a smart-alec reporter's remarks in
Sports Illustrated who questioned
Orr's coaching ability - as if
Sports Illustrated is some sort of
basketball gospel.
THE PLAYERS, especially t h e
blacks, think the world of and
respect Johnny Orr. The players
wonder why the fans boo the se-
cond they get behind; they wonder
why the fans can't suoport them
win or lose. I agreed with the nlav-
ers. Michigan fans have to be the
world's greatest frontrunners. I
sho ld add that I sit in the stu-
dent section and most of the boos
and gossip I hear come from this
area.
I thought the booing of Russell
Saturday was reprehensible. He is
capable of playing-a bad game just
as any fan and/or student is cap-
able of doing poorly on a test.
Russell works with one disadvant-
age - he is usually double-teamed.
Knowing Russell only on the com-
ments of his teammates and coa,-h-
es I can say that he is mat'ire
enough to ignore the boos, b u t
what is the fans' problem?
Michigan fans and/or students
pride themselves on being decent.
Mattis remembered
To the Daily:
THE UNTIMELY death of a
friend moves me to share the lit-
tle I knew of him with those who
lived and worked around him and
never had the chance to know Pet-
er Mattis.
I was by no means his closest
friend or even his closest student.
But I was a friend, and we all
knew the humanity in the man. I
can't remember when he didn't
have a minute for someone, or was
without that little grin on h i s
face. He always had -a warm
chuckle he passed along with some
answer or observation. And ' he
was concerned about problems,
this world, and us.
I will always have this d e e p
feeling of gratitude to Peter. He
didn't really teach me that much
- he helped me to learn. That was
the style of this man.
There will be a very empty feel-
ing from now on, on the fourth
floor of West Quad, where Peter's
office was. And there are a lot of
us who are going to miss him.
-Jeff Kovacs
Jan. 27
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