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Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Capping the unreturnable container crisis
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1973
Another attack on the press
WAYNE STATE University's student
newspaper, the South End, printed
three allegedly anti-Semitic articles on
Jan. 10, 11 and 12; the articles included,
among other things, a picture showing a
swastika superimposed over the Star of
David.
Since then, the newspaper has received
numerous threats of violence from an ap-
parently outraged community. What dis-
turbed the newspaper's staff even more,
however, was the threat of a Wayne ad-
ministration crackdown on the contents
of the South End.
Yesterday their fears were finally rea-
lized, as the university administration de-
manded the resignation of the South
End's editor. The university's president,
George Gullen, also "requested" that any
other staff m;nembers who were involved
in the publication of the controversial ar-
ticles also resign.
With .Gullen's attempt at a political
purge of the South End's staff also came
new restrictions on articles printed in the
newspaper-the end result of which can
only be an abridgement of the First
Amendment right of freedom of the press.
THE CENTRAL ISSUE, of course, is not
the content of the articles or whe-
ther they were examples of responsible
and unbiased journalism. The crux of the
matter is whether the Wayne administra-
tion has the right to censor the South
End's content. We think not.
The actions of Gullen and the Wayne
State Board of Governors are reprehen-
sible. Essential to the proper functioning
of any community is a free press-a press
divested from control by any special in-
terest group.-The public's access to infor-
mation cannot and must not be cut off
-or censored.
Perhaps the South End did not act re-
sponsibly in printing the controversial
article, but it should be up to the staff
of the paper to decide what is respon-
sible and what is not. No outside group
should be able to impose its own judge-
ment.
We heartily support South End Editor
Gene Cunningham's refusal to be ousted;
and we heartily support the South End's
stand against the administration. Offic-
ial censorship of the press is never ac-
ceptable--and the case of the South End
is no exception.
-THE SENIOR EDITORS
By SUE STEPHENSON
CONTRARY TO the bottling in-
dustries' popular opinion, a
ban of nonreturnable beverage con-
tainers does appear to be a viable
solution to the increasing problem
of waste. And Oregon's growing
success with its four month state-
wvide beverage container deposit
taw serves to reinforce this.
In an attempt to provide "fac-
tual data" against such a ban on
lonrefillable, nonreturnable bever-
age containers, the beverage con-
tainer industries recently commis-
sioned the Midwest Research In-
titte (MRT) to study the situa-
tian nationwide.
H'wvver, the fart that sch a
BRv-rae Container Manufacturers
A eV'atinn the Gass Container
a""factrers Tnstitute, the Na-
tional Soft Drink Association and
the United States Brewers As-
soriation, tends to make the cred-
ibilitv. of the findings questionable.
The basic conclusions which the
MRI reached were that the na-
tional impact of a hynothetical law
ihanning nonreturnable beverage
containers would:
-reduce soft drink and b e e r
sales;
-consist of bottles with only
eight round trips per bottle an-
nuallv;
-eliminate more than 164,000
jobs:
-reduce personal income by
nearly $3 billion, the Gross Na-
tional Product (GNP) by more than
$10 billion and the national, state
and local tax revenue by more than
$800 million; and
-reduce thedtotal volume of
roadside litter by a mere 11 per
cent.
These are grossly negative as-
s'imptions!
The MRI predicted a decline in
.Sue Stephenson is a copy editor
for The Daily.
sales because it foresees a re-
duced number of retail outlets
handling such beverages, increased
handling costs, fewer brands on the
market and consumer and retailer
resistance to an all-returnable bot-
tle system.
However, in Oregon, the f i r s t
state to pass a law requiring nick-
el deposits on all beer, ale and soft
drink containers, beer sales sky-
rocketed 47 per cent within a
month.
Ironically, before the Oregon law
went into effect on October 1,
1972, the beer and soft drink in-
dustry had made dire predictions
that mandatory deposits w o u l d
cut sales drastically.
"It's just simply working," said
Rich Chambers, a Salem, Oregon
resident who has been working on
the issue for approximately f o u r
years, "there's no hassle. You can
walk into any store and buy any
brand in returnable containers,"
he said.
According to Chambers, "Beer
prices have not gone up, in fact
they've gone down." This has been
verified by state officials.
The MRI report predicted that
there would be only eight trips for
returnable bottles. IIowever, it
seems unreasonable to assume that
the trippage rate would decline
when all beverage containers were
required to be returnable.
PRESENTLY, THE Enforcement
officer for the Oregon Liquor Com-
mission, William Moore, reports
that bottles are being brought back
at twice the rate that they were
before the legislation wen- into
effect.
Peter Chockola, the head of the
ChockolarBeverage Comipany of
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., believes that
using only returnable bottles is
good business. 'Throw-away bever-
age containers are sheer, need-
less waste being foisted onto the
American consumer by the contain-
er, supermarket and bottling in-
dustries," Chockola say.3.
RETURNABLE BOTTLES: Higher employment, less litter, increas-
ed beverage sales, improved economy, and less taxes? The pros-
pects are encouraging.
would only happen if sales decreas-
ed. and with Oregon as the exist-
ing proof, this is definitely not the
case.
According to a national survey of
the composition of roadside litter
(conducted by the Research Tri-
angle Institute) 22 per cent of the
surveyed litter was beverage con-
tainers.
A study done by the glass con-
tainers manufacturers institute
finds 29 per cent of the surveyed
litter to be beverage containers.
And a prior testimony to the Sub-
committee on the Environment" of
the Committee on Commerce of the
United States Senate states that
49 per cent of the surveyed litter
was beverage containers.
Each of these studies show that
beverage containers comprise a
more significant portion of road-
side litter than the mere 11 per
cent which the MRI study designat-
ed.
AN UNPUBLISHED in-house
study done in 1971 by the Michi-
gan State Highway Department
states that its annual budget ex-
ceeds one million dollars just for
cleaning up 9,220 miles of road-
sides in Michigan.
Of 'the $600,000 spent to pick up
litter, $140,000 per year is spent
for the pick-up of nonreturnable
beverage containers from Michi-
gan's highways alone. And an addi-
tional $155,700 per year is spent
to remove throw-aways from
Michigan's highway rest areas.
Thus, it costs Michigan taxpay-
ers a total of $295,700 annually -
approximately one-third of the en-
tire clean-up budget of the Mich-
igan State Highway Department -
to pick up nonreturnable beverage
containers.
Therefore, the MRI study ap-
pears of little value in judging the
aggregate effects of a ban on non-
returnable beverage containers
and the bottling industries should
be cautious in using it as an ob-
jective source of information.
v
-1
"My bottles make 45 to 50 trips
and only about one half of one
per cent are not returned," he said.
There is no doubt that advertis-
ing by the beverage industries re-
inforces the consumption of non-
turnable beverage containers. If
the huge sums now spent to dis-,
uade consumers from litering their
nonreturnable containers were di-
verted to a consumer-education
program to encourage che use of
returnable bottles, a tremendous
change in consumer buying habits
could be realized.
Next, the MRI study concluded
that a ban will eliminate more
than 164,000 jobs, reduce national
personal income by three billion
dollars, reduce GNP by ten bil-
lion dollars and reduce federal,
state and local taxes by 800 mil-
lion dollars.
These figures not only rest on
the possibly incorrect assumption
of an eight per cent det ease in
soft drink and beer sales, but they
are outrageously incorrect.
A UNIVERSITY profesor, Hugh
Folk, analyzes the employment im-
pacts of such a ban and results
with an impression contrary to that
presented by the MRI study.
Folk's analysis predicts m a j o r
net increases in employment; di-
rectly in the returnable beverage
industry and indirectly in related
fconsumer industries. Nationally,
this figure would be $142.8 million
and this would induce 100,000 new
jobs in consumer industries other
than beverage-related industries.
Folk predicts a national net in-
crease of 130,000 jobs as the re-
sult of the ban.
In view of Folk's results, it seems
reasonable to assert that national
personal income and the GNP will
increase as a result of the major
employment increase brought
about by a complete shift to re-
turnables.
Therefore, the MRI prediction of
a significant tax loss due to a ba:
Police power probe
SO, THE HUMAN Rights Party is to hold
its own inquiry into the workings of
the city police department. It's a pity, in
a way, because no matter what is said
-and it promises to be revealing-the
probe will lack the legitimacy of a full
investigation by the city council. Still,
there is plenty to be said.
Here is Ann Arbor we have many rea-
sons to be complacent about our police
department. They do not seem to be over-
ly obnoxious. They have a high percent-
age of young, college educated patrolmen
on the force. Compared with many other
lawmen in other enforcement agencies,
our coppers are positively charming.
But complacency is a dangerous emo-
tion. Although we like to think of our
community as more or less liberated, the
stark realities of the situation are an-
other matter.
No, our police are not running on a
rampage around the city. They are not
walking the streets kicking down doors.
Many of them will pretend not to see
many minor violations of the law, such
as a group of youths quietly smoking a
joint on the diag.
But at the same time, there have been
several serious incidents of late that are
cause for great concern. Amongst the
more outrageous have been the abortive
"mistaken location" raid on a group of
students living off campus. After kick-
ing down the door and roughing up the
occupants of the apartment, police ad-
mitted they had raided the wrong place
and the people they were looking for had
lived next door.
THEN THERE is the less definite area
of so-called police harassment. Of-
ficers in our town are under standing or-
ders to stop "suspicious" automobiles and
check the identification and other pap-
ers of their occupants.
While some arrests are made on these
random stops, it is clear to anyone fa-
miliar with the practice that the stops
themselves are highly arbitrary and dis-
criminatory. The 10-22s, as the police ra-
dio code describes these stops, are almost
exclusively directed against 601s, 602s,
and 605s - in police parlance, black
males, black females, and long haired
youths, respectively.
This has to stop.
The people of this city who are paying
more of their tax dollars to the police
than any other city agency, should ex-
pect, neigh demand, that those police
respect the community they serve and
endeavor to tackle the problems of the
community in the best possible way. This
is not presently the case.
Among other things, foot patrols, which
have been steadily decreasing, must be
expanded to include the residential areas
which are so often the targets of mug-
gers, rapists and breaking-and-entering
artists.
Also, the huge number of police that sit
around city hall all day must be made to
earn their pay. One can have no sympa-
thy for police demands for more man-
power until one sees a more effective
utilization of the people we already have.
NOBODY, AT least nobody in their right
mind, wants to abolish the police de-
partment. In these times of rising crime
such an action could prove fatal to a lot
of people.
But here in Ann Arbor, we should ex-
pect the best police department that
money can buy, and not too much money
at that.
The Human Rights Party hearings,
which are scheduled to be held at city
hall February 15 at 7:30, should be at-
tended by everyone in the community
who has an interest in better law enforce-
ment. And that should include the po-
lice themselves.
-JONATHAN MILLER
Uruguay undermined by U.S.?
By CHRISTOPHER PARKS
Co-editor
CITYROOM, 1:30 P.M. -What's
h-rnening?" I asked, distract-
edlv flicking an ash into a spent
coke bottle. An editor altgnced uGp
from tb- mounds ofhwire service
conv nili"g tun on his desk and
said. "Not much . . oh, I Eress
there's another coun in South
America someplace - Uruguav, I
giesq. Where the hell's that, any-
wav?"
NOT MANY neonle know, much
leis c-r?. where Uruguay is or
what hannens there. It's prett
easy to forget about South Ame,-
ican countries - it's easv not to
take them very seriously.
But reading over the cold, dis-
passionate account of troons cor-
doning off the capitol, and cabin-
ets resigning, I felt a twinge - it
all seemed to matter very much
in a personal sort of way. Bein
upset about a coup in Uruguay is
not like being upset about Viet-
nam. You can't really share it.
As I read through the accournt,
my thoughts drifted back, to high
school. In high school I played a
lot of soccer and did a lot of drink-
ing with a teacher from Truguay
named Carlos.
Carlos was an exile of a sort,
plotting for his eventual return to
the homeland. He'd written some
articles for a newspaper and the
government didn't like them. They
didn't want to execute him or any-
thing - they just told him not to
come home for awhile.
WE USED to sit up in his apart-
ment until obscene hours of the
morning, sipping whiskey and play-
ing some Uruguayan card game
which I never grasped very well.
He would talk, sometimes, about
home, Montevideo - the music,
the beaches, the women, playing
soccer. Occasionally the conversa-
tion would drift to his hitch in
the army.
"SHEET," he would say, ; when
I was in the army we didn't do
anything. We didn't fight anybody.
We just sat around playing cards
and drinking. The generals used to
talk about fighting Brazil, b u t
everybody knew the army was a
joke. We just marched around in
our uniforms so Uruguay could say
it had an army."
Then came Castro and Cuba.
All of a sudden there was U.S.
military aid and U.S. military ad-
visors. "The army's not the same
anymore," Carlos would say. "Now
they have big guns and tank}.
"The army scares the shit out of
me. You know why we never had
any coups in Uruguay? We never
had any real army. Now, I dunno.
It scares me."
THAT WAS about three years
ago and now, if the wire service
reports are correct, it seems that
American aid has finally borne
fruit in yet another prevriously
"backward" nation.
Not that Uruguay was any Gar-
den of Eden before the Yankees
came around. But they had manag-
ed to maintain for around 100
years a relatively stable, relative-
ly democratic government which
was in every sense of the word
civilian controlled and which man-
aged to set-up mass social pro-
grams at least equal to those of
the New Deal in America.
Now, it appears that a U.S.-
equipped, U.S.-trained army wi'l
either take over or enforce its will
through the threat of a take-over.
Progress.
H RP psychoanalyzed:
H A split personality?
By ROBERT BARKIN
Feature Editor
EVER SINCE Freud popularized the science of psychology, certain
terms have become familiar to even the most uninterested lay-
man. Perhaps the most oft-used phrase is schizophrenia, or the psy-
chosis of the divided personality.
In the human individual this mental disorder can be tragic.
In a political party, it can be a disaster. Sorry as I am to say, my
favorite, The Human Rights Party (HRP), is suffering from a mild,
but hopefully curable case of the disease.
One has only to look at the recent happenings in the party to
see the symptoms. Not all of the members are in factions but there
are factions. There are the Rainbow People, the Militant Middle, and
The Chocolate Almonds, all on different political planes.
My idea is that in order to satisfy all parties in this ideological
dispute, two of the factions should rename their groups the Militant
Marshmallows and The Rainbow Fudge, and then eventually change the
name of the Human Rights Party to 31 Flavors. However my suggestion
has drawn little support.
The acrimonious letters and articles that have appeared on the
editorial page of The Daily' are evidence enough that something
has to be done.
FORTUNATELY, the HRP has recognized the problem and has been
undergoing intensive psychoanalysis. The transcript of the last therapy
session reads like this:
HRP: Doc, I have a real problem. I seem to be splitting into num-
erous personalities. What's wrong?
Doc: Well, you see, you are suffering from an acute psychosis.
Why don't you give me some details?
HRP: I'm all mixed up. I have three different personalities. I'm
rock and roll and high energy. And then just as I'm grooving to the
MCS I decide that the world is just an ideological game and everything
is politics. Then I completely flip out and turn into a real marshmallow
and can't figure out what to do at all.
Doc: Very interesting. Anything more?
HRP: I wake up in the middle of the night dreaming that I'm
being stampeded by a herd of wild hippos.
Doc: Strange. What else?
HRP: Well, last election I didn't do so well. I've got to get my shit
together for the next one, or else I'm going to take a leap off a high
building. I'm desperate.
Doc: Well, are any of the personalities becoming dominant?
HRP: No, but I'm having an election to see which one will.
Doc: (shrugs his shoulders) That's a unique way to settle schizo-
phrenia. I ought to try it on some more of my patients.
HRP: Is there anything else you can suggest?
Doc: Yes. But it will take intensive therapy.
HRP: Let's get started?
Doc: Next week. Your hour is up. Pay the secretary.
* * *
WELL, THE therapy, more sessions, was to be expected. In such
a complicated case, we can only wait until the problem comes to a
head.
Letters to The Daily,
honesty and even criminal actin
Good Samaitan in connection with- articles missing
To The DAN~: from U offices.
UNFORTUNATELY, it is indeed I trust that this letter will serve
a rarity to come across an honest to both thank Ms. Byrd and edu-
person. It is for this reason that I cate the U staff.
wish to publicize what I thinK was -Estelle Bank
a very special deed done by one Feb. 6
of a vanishing breed of good Sam-
aritans. Wha's up, Doc?
Last week I discovered, much to To The Daily:
my chagrin, that I had lost uy IF DR.
wallet. When I returned later that tFMD. SPOCOK was rejected for
day to the Physics and Astronomy the Medical Sch )ol's commer'ce-
building in the vain hone of pos- ment because he is a "poor speak-
siblv recovering the wallet, I w er," then rhetorical style rather
pleasastslysurised to learn that than substance is clearly the crikr-
a custodian, Ms. Betty Brd. had io seln. sut cri es a
fmini a x*nllt nrl ean itcnf1v tors are notoriously poor speakers.
A
(A
I
A
The bombing continues
LAST WEEK the war in Vietnam ap-
peared to end.
But in a "related development", Penta-
gon 'spokesman Jerry Friedheim said
American warplanes are flying an aver-
age of 280 bombing missions over Laos, as
well as "a number of targets", more re-
cently, ii Cambodia.
In the midst of all this, the nation
breathed a dubious sigh of relief but was
not moved to wild cheering when the
chief, executive announced, that "peace
with honor" had been achieved.
And we were somewhat encouraged
when the streets did not fill with angry
mobs demanding that President Nixon
receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Allied Chemical electric sign in
Times Square flashed-"peace" and News-
week magazine closed out its "War in
Indochina" section, but some other things
about the new "peace" bore an uncanny
resemblance to the war.
became "numerous cease-fire violations"
instead of "scattered attacks."
And the bombing continues beneath an
official smokescreen. For the people of
Laos and Cambodia, American foreign
policy still takes the form of death from
the sky.
WE SHOULD NOT be too surprised if
" and when Friedheim or other mili-
tary spokespeople begin describing the
Laos - Cambodia situation as "improv-
ing". Phrases like "the tide is turning,"
"protective reaction," and "we seek no
wider conflict" can no longer be spoken
with smug military benificence. We have
heard them before.
Then let the people of Laos and Cam-
bodia be forewarned that if their peace
is "at hand", they should build fallout
shelters.
That Nixon's "generation of lasting
peace" should begin amid continued
bombing of a small Asian nation is no
Milliken: Redefining state aid
By CHARLEY HERRINGTON
GOVERNOR MILLIKEN is to be
commended for the introduc-
tion of his school finance plan. Con-
sidering the circumstances, it is
probably the best that canbe ex-
pected. The perfect solution to
the school finance problem would
have been the passage of proposal
C, which would have abolished pro-
perty taxes as a form of s chool
support. Had this happened, the
state would have financed the en-
tire cost of school operations
throughout the state.
Apparently the electorate did not
appreciate the need for a radical
restructuring of school financing;
so a more moderate proposal, such
as Milliken's present plan, w i 1 1
have to do.
The problem is the same as evcr.
district in the state is guaranteed
of at least a 38 mill tax base.
Thus, the tradition of local sup-
port of schools would seemingly 'e
upheld. Since the taxpayer would
still sendhis money to the local
school, he would feel that the
school is controlled locally. This
however, is not completely true.
WHENEVER THE state pays a
large portion of anything, the state,
not the local government, runs the
show. This is undesirable for a
number of reasons. Each individ-
ual school district is bound to have
its own unique problems that wwld
evade any standardized ruling the
state would provide as a solu~tion.
The most productive course of ac-
tion would be for the state monev
to be accompanied by only mini-
en extra money for education)
gave Detroit $16 million, and Mil-
liken recommended a $5 million in-
crease for next year.
Furthermore, the other school
districts in the state are still al-
lowed to pay more mills and to
have their hallowed 'good
schools.
THERE IS ONE yawning gap in
Milliken's proposal. He said that
Detroit could not expect the state
to "bail out" its schools, and that
Detroit must findsits own mone-
somewhere. But where? Obviousi J
the voters are not going to come
up with it in time to keep t h e
schools in operation. If the ques-
tion were that of the funding of
street paving, he would be quite
j stified in assuming such a tough
. ;
I