14e Mid$pmDaU Eighty-Iwo years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan The Arb: Not a park, but a garden x 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 SATURDAY, APRIL7, 1973 Gray makes the right move PATRICK GRAY is to be commended for making the right decision in withdrawing his nomination as FBI di- rector. Gray, through his past actions, has shown himself to be unsuitable for the job, and in withdrawing, has saved himself the embarrassment of probable Congressional rejection ,of his appoint- ment. He has also now paved the way for a more desirable candidate to be insti- tuted as FBI head. Gray unfortunately failed to live up to initial expectations of him as Acting Di- rector. Entering the office last May, he took several steps to modernize the FBI --women and blacks were actively sought as agents, breaking traditions set under former director J. Edgar Hoover's reign. The image of the Federal Bureau of In- vestigation had suffered in recent years due to Hoover's sometimes fanatical pur- suit of left-wing and right wing extrem- ists. When Gray took over after Hoover's death, the FBI's image had a chance for a face lifting under new hands. For all Hoover's faults, however, he was not partial to any particular Admin- istration. Gray has not proved equally objective. Gray's critics have charged that he was too loyal to President Nixon, and recent evidence which has emerged from the Watergate affair only serves to confirm this belief. Gray was in charge of conducting the FBI study of the Watergate affair, which, ideally should have been conducted in non-political settings to allow a fair and impartial investigation to occur. Yet, he had allowed White House Counsel John Dean to sit in on FBI interviews of White House staffers about Watergate. One effect of this was that, as several witnesses have said, the presence of Dean intimidated them into not talking. But perhaps most disturbing, it has been charged that Dean was using the FBI in- terview reports to coach key Watergate figure Donald Segretti for his grand jury appearance. Furthermore, Gray's attempts to vin- dicate his direction of the FBI Watergate investigation only led to more disclos- ures embarrassing to the White House. The result was that he was put under restrictions by the White House as to what he could say before Congress. SUCH ARE SOME of the reasons why it is unhealthy for the head of the FBI to have close ties to the White House. And Gray does, having admitted that he dealt with the White House with "a presumption of regularity." To prevent this in the future, Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has introduced a bill to establish the FBI as a separate institution, with no ties to the Justice Department. The passage of this bill would be encouraging indeed. The Senate apparently plans now to scrutinize carefully any candidate of- fered for the job. This also should prove to be beneficial to the future of the Fed- eral Bureau of Investigation. The task now remains to find a suit- able person to take over permanently as FBI director. By KATHY BYRNES THE "ARB" is slowly dying, "Over 60,000 people visit the 144-acre re- serve every year, but few realize that Nich- ols Arboretum was once a much grander place," said Charles Jenkins, horticultur- ist and part of the Arb's staff. At one time Nichols Arboretum achieved national recognition for its peony garden, its lilacs and its natural beauty. The li- lacs are gone, the peony garden is still there and the beauty of the Arb remains. But the Arb does not possess the same standards it once did. This is hot the fault of the people who work trying to maintain the Arb. It is, perhaps, the fault of the times. Univer- sity money grows scarcer every day. High costs squeeze out the extras. And right now, the Arb is just a fringe benefit that students and residents of Ann Arbor en- joy. Nichols Arboretum is more than just a park to picnic in or a sanctuary to walk in. By definition an arboretum is a place where trees and shrubs are cultivated for scientific or educational purposes. IN 1906 WALTER and Esther NichoLs donated a 68-acre tract of land to the Uni- versity for a botany garden. But the botany venture met with failure. Many plants were lost to frost and the land's steep bluffs and ravines caused planting difficulties. There- fore through process of elimination the tract of land became the "Arb." The peony garden began in the 1921s when the Arb covered 144 acres. Since over 300 varieties were donated at one time or another, the section became nationally known. Not only did people come to view the beautiful collection of flowers but bo- tanists came to study them. Labelsbidenti- fied each peony and provided botanical in- formation. It is still possible to see the garden in early June but most of the labels are lost now. There is no longer a fence to pro- tect the flowers from souvenir seekers, Improper management of the Arb is onlv part of the reason for its decline. The other is lack of money. Another enemy is gradually winning over the Arb. Once; land on each side of the gate immediately inside the Geddes Street entrance was similar in topography. Now the right side starts immediately to go down into a ravine. Erosion is the culprit. Back in the 1950s in order to control the erosion, crownvetch plants were pur- chased and planted along the Arb's slopes. The roots of the plants were to stop ert ion and help water drainage. Because they were incorrectly planted and maintained, Kathy Byrnes, '75, is a journalist stu- On com b By JIM MADDEN fic com IN A RECENT speech at Hill Aud- This iss itorium, Dennis Meadows, co- the hist author of "Limits to the Limits of human r Growth," stated that he envisions dows m a breakdown of the "world svs- first tim tern" within one hundred years, crisis wh caused by exponentially increasing ens to u rates of population, industrial out- reality,r put, and pollution on a world wide ment fro scale. its exist To achieve this result, world pop- we know ulation and industrial production self on, rates since 1900 were extrapolated atom, ha into the future. An exponentially- ed the a increasing population and indus- mind to trialization were seen to run up it and t against the supposedly finite store For ex of world natural resources upona which industry depends, the capac- at that ity of the biosphere to absorb pol- supporto lution, and the Malthusian spectre pulation of mass starvation caused by the orestan dwindling supply of arable land. least. Bu Meadow's proposed "solution" to ing and this crisis is to halt economic and velopme population growth, a policy called raised hi an "equilibrium state." Such a pol- ing to a icy is seen as maintaining the pop- led an ulation at a stable level through exist. Th Zero Population Growth (ZPG); by ion of a limiting annual births to a level and stea merely sufficient to offset annual of the a deaths. At the same time, econ- technolog omic growth is halted by limiting have en capital investment to that level re- egher quired to merely replace deprec- ence. iated capital. THE P MEADOW'S VIEWS and scienti- progressi the plants died. Since more funds are not readily available, the plan could not and will. not be tried again. There was once an abundance of lilacs along the left wall near the Geddes en- trance. People-abuse and too much over- growth helped wipe out that splendor, too. Even though so much has been lost in the Arb, there remain squirrels, racoons, foxes, possums, ground hogs, a deer once in a while, and approximately 83 different species of birds. "WE WANT TO get away from the idea of the Arb as a park and bring it back to the original plan. The Arb is an arboretum, not a park," stresses Charles Jenkins. "We are trying to dissuade skiers and to- bogganers from using the hills," said Gil Jaeger, head of the Arb's maintenance staff, when outlining the plan. Outside the main entrances posted signs not only restrict Arb hours but state "no coasting, no skiing." Jaeger defended the move: "We don't like to stop people from having fun in the Arb but activities like tobaggoning or ball play- ing speed up the erosion process. Sin.e this is one of our major problems, we feel the need to restrict the use of the Arb." As it now stands, the two full-time main- tenance men spend 24 out of 80 wrking hours cleaning up debris left by sledders, picnickers and other Arb users. "If the people destroy what we have now," said Jaeger, "then what?" Another Arb restriction stops creation of new paths. The ground crew places shrubs in the way of the walker, hopefully discour- aging him, explained Jenkins. This forces the walker to take a route already formed, he added. This new method offers protection to the vegetation, allowing more natural growth .of plants rather than having leaves torn off. Professor Cares, head of the Arboretum and on a six month sabbatical, hopes to develop a nature center by Dow Field and thus have nature trails. Money is not avail- able now, though. , THE RESTORATION of the Arb is a= long-term project. Right now the ground crews are working at replacing label on trees and th; restoring of vegetation. Though the Huron River is too big a prob- lem to tackle now in regards to water pollution, the ground crews plant along the banks to help stop erosion. Spring is here and with it renewed use of the Arb. The peak use periods are April- May and September-October but thousands use it on summer weekends, too. Several groups come for picnics or rock and blues festivals. "Some visitors," noted Walter Krasny, chief of the Ann Arbor police, "have honor- able intentions but others do not." IHov- ever, "complaints from area residents have lessened in the past few years," said Kras- ny. The abuse 'from Arb users has decreas- ed, especially because of the back-to-nature movement of the late 60s, added Jaeger. Much more is needed to move the. Arb back to its original high standards. Hund- reds of thousands of dollars is the answer, stated Jenkins. But no additional money is forthcoming from the University. Despite this lack, people continue to trek. to the Arb. Few realize that the Arb could be more than just a park. 4 'I 1' K PEOPLE POLLUTION: Only one of the major contributors to the grad- uail destruc tion of the arboretumr. Y Peace at Wounded Knee DAY, ALMOST a century after 200 to 300 Sioux and Cheyenne died in a massacre, the smoke has cleared over Wounded Knee, South Dakota. After 37 tense days, leaders of the American In- dian Movement (AIM) and government officials have signed a six-point "treaty" which will -end the armed occupation of the town.. Yet, it could hardly be termed a victory for the Indian cause, Although the government has agreed to let AIM leader Russell Means confe- with White House representatives, to in- vestigate Indian affairs throughout the Pine Ridge reservation, and the Justice Department will consider bringing suits to protect the legal rights of the Oglala Sioux Indians against abuses by tribal governments and federal authorities, no real commitments have been made. However, some things are definite. Within the hour, the agreement was signed, Russell Means was taken into custody by federal marshalls. The others occupying Wounded Knee have agreed to Today's st(ff: News: Laura Berman, Bill Heenan, Gene Robinson, Terri Terrell, Ralph Varte- bedian Editorial Page: Martin Stern, David Yalo- witz Arts Page: Gloria Jane Smith Photo Technicians: Thomas Gottlieb, Steve Kagan submit to arrest and be taken to Rapid City for arraignment. There will be no amnesty. All of this is conditional on whether Means is satisfied after his meeting to- day with officials in Washington. Pre- sumably every effort will be made to see that he is. Then Means will give the or- der for his comrades to lay down their arms. When they do, they will promptly be arrested. AT BEST the incident at Wounded Knee has served to make a callous and disinterested American public aware that people known as Indians still exist, and that the cavalry didn't do as thorough a job as was expected. The least it has done is to get a commitment by federal authorities to "reexamine" its treaty agreements with the Sioux Nation, made back in 1868. But the ultimate result is that the leaders of the Indian Movement and those disatisfied and concerned enough to make a stand at Wounded Knee will undoubtedly end up in jail and be for- gotten, once again. It is thus up to the public to keep a watchful eye on the upcoming govern- ment negotiations. For without close scrutiny, the agreement may not look totally unlike the massacre the Indians suffered in 1880. Only this time, it will be on paper. itting. the environmental crisis petence are questionable. simply because he denies orical experience of the race on this planet. Mea- aintains that this is the e that man has been in a here the population threat- se up finite resources. In mankind, in its develop- 'm an animal ecking out ance in caves to the man today who can put him- the moors and split the as consistently demonstrat- ability to use his creative master nature as he found o improve upon it. ample, cave dwelling man technological level could only a certain limited po- which lived in an inter- dard of living to say the t in pasing from the bunt- gathering stage to the de- nt of agriculture, m n n s material standard of liv- higher level which enab- increased populatioi to he use of fire, the inmen- griculture, the use of water m power, to the splitting tom have been dramatic gical breakthroughs which abled man to, progress to evels of material exist- POINT remains - in tie on from lower to higher levels of material levels of pro- duction and existence, a growing population has come up aginst what are considered finite reso.rc- es. So, what has man done in the past? le has used his creative abil- ity to make use of other resources which were always in hi, environ- ment, but which he could not har- ness because he did not nave the technology to .do it. Today, what new technology -,an make man use of to solve the energy crisis? Thermonuclear fus- ion is the next technological aJ- vance man must put into operatio i if he is to solve the problem of an expanding population.- if ther- monuclear fusion power were made operational, the entire world's pop- ulation could enjoy a material level of existence at 20 per cent higher than that enjoyed currently by the working population of the United States. And this level of existence ~ould continue for 2.7 billion years into the future. Furthermore, fusion power is cheap and non-polluting. It could also be used to convert the world's desert areas into arable lands. Fu- sion power would solve the energy crisis, the pollution crisis, t h e dwindling living space crisis, and would maintain a higher lerel of existence for the world's popula- tion. SO WHY DON'T we do it? We have a problem: capitalism. Af fusion power were implemented with all of its attendant benefits for mankind, it would undercut capitalist property titles and in- vestments in such outmoded and obsolete forms of energy as i i , coal, natural gas, etc. Standard Oil, Shell, and other companies would have no reason for exist- ence. It is asking the capitalists to undercut their own system. So in the implementation of fusion power we have a clear cut confron- tation; the needs of humanity ver- sus the continuance of capitalist property titles. This is where Mea- dows comes in to do his thing. At a time when the capitalist tnonetary system is about to plunge into a worldwide depression, be- cause the capitalists will no long- er invest in productive wealth, Meadows calls for Zero Growth. He spins an ideology which coincides perfectly with the crisis of unde- production of real wealth and the orgy of speculation the capitalist system is presently finding irself in. He indeed appears to be an ideologue for capitalism in col- lapse. Jim Madden is a mem'ber of the Socialist National Caucus of Labor Committee. - I Letters to The Daily A proposal to aid an overdeveloped country By DICK WEST THE POWER blackouts in Florida this week point up once again the need for some kind of international program of assistance for the overdeveloped nations of the world. Blackouts are becoming even more reliable than robins as harbing- ers of spring. As warm weather returns to other parts of the nation, they, like Florida, being badly overdeveloped in air conditioning, will begin to over- load the circuits, too. This summer, moreover, the power shortages are expected to be accompanied by gasoline shortages, reflecting America's automotive overdevelopment. In some countries, such would not be critical. But in a country as badly overdeveloped as ours, the natives are completely dependent on autos and electricity. MOST OF US could no more survive without cars and electric ap- pliances than we could survive without headwaiters and doormen. I'd give us 48 hours at best. For years, the United States has been providing technical aid to underdeveloped countries. So now is the time for them to return the favor. They should be sending us technical experts - a sort of converse Peace Corps - to help us lower our standard of living. In my judgment, the United Nations would be the proper agency to administer such a program. Many of its member countries have existed for decades with erratic power supplies and limited auto transportation. Thus they are rich in know-how. What I have in mind is teams of idealistic youths from under- developed countries going into our suburbs and actually living among the natives, mingling with them in the shopping centers and attending their garage sales. HOUSEKEEPERS would be shown such things as how to sweep carpets without a vacuum cleaner; males would be taught basic skills, like shaving without electric razors. They,. in turn, would pass along the instruction to their neighbors, and it wouldn't be long before all the Cut military dollars To The Daily: LAST WEEK Mr. Nixon a p - peared before us on nationwide TV. He eicouraged us to write our congressmen to tell them we don't want Mr. Nixon's budget changed, so thatour taxes will not go up. I'd like to instead urge us to write our congressmen and a s k them to reduce the gigantic mili- tary spending budget. The Nixon administration is ask- ing Congress for $199.1 billion in general funds for next year, Fiscal Year 1974. Of this amount, 41 per cent is earmarked for current mil- itary expenditures and 18 per cent for the cost of past wars - 6 per munity devel., commerce, trans- portation, housing) : 10 per cent. * All other (internat. affairs and finance, space, general govt., re- venue sharing, pay raises, con- tingencies): 12 per cent. Based on the budget figures from the Library of Congress and pop- ulation figures from the Bureau of the Census, the average Amer- ican family will spend $1486 in gen- eral taxes on military-related pro- grams during Fiscal 1974. This compares with $126 for education and manpower, $63 for community development and housing, and $45 for natural resources (environment- al programs). Is this how we want our taxes spent? ers of its industrial capacity. Are we more secure knowing we can "overkill" the Rusisans more times than they can "overkill ' us? Are we more secure knowing the needs of the American people and others abroad are being neglected while we pay for more "efficcnt'" and sophisticated weapons - with cost overruns of more than three times the original estimates? Are you more likely to be attacked by Soviet missiles or by other Arrwr- icans -- violent, hopeless, desper- ate Americans? iDoes spending over $80 billion a year on the military make us feel secure? I say no, and I invite you to join in telling Mr.'s Is h, I 1 W" WN/A, NAD'/~r'T 7 x -1Wi I