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Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Smog control
by gas rationing in L.A.?
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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.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1973
ew ailties propose
THE PROPOSAL to build a new intra-
mural facility on North Campus is
welcome on a campus that is in desperate
need of new athletic facilities for stu-
dents.
It is no secret that intramural facili-
ties at the University are in short sup-
ply. Waterman and Barbour gyms are
old, ready to collapse, and eventually will
be torn down. The present IM building
cannot adequately handle student de-
mand for recreation, even with the help
of Waterman and Barbour.
The problem is intensified by the time
demands of physical education classes
and intercollegiate sports.
Intramural and recreational facilities
for women are especially restricted.
Students on North Campus also have
the added hassle of catchifng the bus
(plus an additional walk at night) to use
the IM building.
Hence the proposed new facilities will
come none too soon, and will be pre-
sented to the Regents today. They are
strongly urged to pass the proposal.
HOWEVER, THERE are some problems
with the proposal, the major one
being funding. The proposed North Cam-
pus facility will cost an estimated $3.5
to $4 million. Tentative plans now call
for students to bear the cost of the build-
ing with a tuition hike of five dollars
per term, for an estimated twenty-five
years.
Included in the package proposal are
plans to move the hockey rink and team
from the inadequate Coliseum to more
spacious Yost Fieldhouse. This would in-
clude remodeling of the Coliseum to add
basketball, handball and squash courts,
and construction of -a pre-fab addition
to Yost housing indoor tracks and tennis
courts. The Athletic Department will
finance these moves.
Perhaps students should pay for some
if not most of the North Campus facility,
since they will use it the most. However,
students are now paying five dollars per
semester in tuition to pay for Crisler
Arena, which gets very little student use.
Even with the new additions, more IM,
facilities may be needed in as soon as
five years especially after Waterman
and Barbour gyms are gone. Students
should not be expected to bear the costs
with continuing tuition hikes.
OTHER SUPPLEMENTARY m e t h o d s
of funding have been mentioned as
possibilities. Beer sales at University
athletic events were suggested. Perhaps
more plausible is the use money from
the faculty's fringe benefit fund. After
all, members of the faculty do use intra-
mural facilities, and such facilities are
fringe benefits.
But all these funding questions can be
resolved in the next few months. What
is essential now is that the Regents ap-
prove the athletic package as a whole
and not split the issue, approving only
the Central Campus construction. Stu-
dents have waited too long for action to
be put off again.
-ERIC SCHOCH
By WILLIAM ALTERMAN
America has many awesome
natural phenomena, including the
Grand Canyon, the Rockies and
the Mississippi River. But one re-
markable phenomenon is brought
to you courtesy not of Our Crea-
tor, but rather by his wonderful
creations and their funny four
wheel inventions. I am, of course,
referring to that most macabre of
visual sights, smog. And not just
any old smog but the beautiful vis-
ion seen only in Los Angeles. For
nowhere is the sight as enthral-
ling as in that non-too-windy city
where someone driving around the
surrounding hills has the dubious
pleasure of either looking up at
the crystal sky or down at the
murky gray below. In between an
impenetrable floating membrane
separates the two.
All of this is nothing new, b u t
headlinest inthe newspapers ear-
lier this week implied that some-
thing is finally being done about it.
Specifically, William Ruckelshaus,
head of the federal Environmental
Protection Agency announced an
anti-smog program for the area
which 'would include an up to 80
per cent reduction in vehicle traf-
fic in L.A. The proposal also in-
cluded tough anti-pollution require-
ments for automobiles. But the ma-
jor recommendation was the ra-
tioning of gas.
However, before any of you get
the impression that the Nixon ad-
ministration has finally seen the
light vis-a-vis the environment, sev-
eral factors should be pointed out.
First of all, Congress in 1970 pass-
ed the Clean Air Act, which set
up rigid standards for EPA.
These standards were to -be met
by 1975 according to the act. As
usual, little was done except in
the way of requirements for auto-
mobile anti-pollution devices. The
City of the Angels had long since
passed the point of no return and
no one seriously expected the dead-
line to be met.
No one that is except the smog-
who are well on their way to the
American dream of two cars, are
not likely to pay for so-called soc-
ial costs.
As the perfect example, L.A. has
consistently voted against in a s i
transit clans while continuing to
nave over the city. And every year
for much of the summer they give
thanks to their own stupidity by
forming those attractive smog
clods. Under which the inhabitants
are forced to stay inside lest they
breathe in the pollutants and gasp
their last.
Of course, stupidity is not a pre-
requisite for such misfortune. For
16 years Washington, D.C. h a s
wanted a mass transit system and
for years a single congressman, a
close confidant of the highway lob-
by, was able to effectively block
one from being started in "the last
colony."
In economic terms the problem
is very simple. In our society peo-
ple attempt to minimize their costs.
Thus they make no attempt to
pay the so-called "society costs,"
those items which are available to
everyone and therefore debted to
no one specifically. This includes
the use of such resources as air
and water, and such facilities as
mass transit. In the former, in-
dustries simply pollute the t w o
without bothering to clear it be-
cause its cheaper, while in t h e
latter case such facilities are sim-
ply not built. Combine this ple-
thora of private consumption, with
a free tag on air and water re-
sources and presto, you have a
very dirty country.
Sooner or later America is go-
ing to realize that burgeoning pri-
vate consumption (i.e. automo-
biles) combined with starving the
public sector (i.e. mass transit) is
going to be halted. But until such
mentality takes over, the g o a d
people of LA. and elsewhere will
continue to breath in what.their
chromium-plated cars excrete.
William Alterman has been to
Los Angeles and knows.
IS '
ged in cities of nearby Riverside
and San Bernardino which sued in
the federal courts for EPA to make
known their plans for smog con-
trol. The courts agreed and Ruck-
elshaus and Co. were required to
reveal what would bring a solution
to Southern California's plight.
Thus Ruckelshaus, "with g r a v e
reservations," proffered the gov-
ernment's plan of action, but not
before he had made it clear that
he didn't really think they would
be enforced or that he had t n e
power to enforce them.
But even if Ruckelshaus w e r e
serious, the problems involved are
much more fundamental than just
putting a temporary ban on pri-
vate transport. The problem arises
of just who is responsible for see-
ing that pollution is kept to a min-
imum? Ruckelshaus implies that
it is not the business of the fed-
eral government to enforce these
standards. But if left to the states
and municipalities it is clear that
powerful local interests can make,
or break, decisions: Reaction from
California to Ruckelshaus' decision
seemed generally to rotate around
the idea that "well,, we must bal-
ance off the social costs with the
private costs in jobs and expensive
anti-pollution devices." And nine
times out of ten the local govern-
men is going to find that business
means more than clean air. Only
the federal government is im-
mune from local pressures and
only the federal government has
the necessary facilities and auth-
ority to really solve the more fun-
damental problems.
These problems include reloca-
tion of industry and allocation of
resources toward social environ-
ment areas such as mass transit
and "clean" fuel plants. L.A's
transit problem is a long and in-
glorious one that is repeated all
across the country. Way back in
the 1950's when the federal high-
way program was in its infancy,
someone had the bright idea to pay
for these roads with "users" tax,
one to be placed on gasolines. Thus
all that money you pay in gasoline
taxes is required by law to gi
toward highway construction, a n d
not a penny for mass transit. Na-
turally the money-starved c i t i e s
which have their highways paid
for via the government are not like-
ly to plan mass transit systems.
And just as naturally the citizenry,
Policy: An eye for an eye?
WITH THE INCREASED number of
airplane hijackings in 1972 and the
possibility of even more in 1973, the Nix-
on administration has taken a rather
hardline position concerning punishment
of hijackers. Atty. Gen. Richard Klein-
dienst said several weeks ago that the
administration endorses the mandatory
death penalty for skyjacking and other
"cold-blooded, premeditated" federal
crimes. He failed to enumerate these
crimes, but others, including Nelson
Rockefeller, have suggested that dope
pushers be included as well.
It appears that the rationale behind
Kleindienst's statement is that the pun-
ishment must justify the seriousness of
the crime. A hijacker jeopardizes the
lives of, hundreds of people, just as a
pusher often destroys the lives of many,
including innocent children. It must not
be forgotten, however, that hijackers and
pushers are often very sick people. Many
pushers are addicts who turned to deal-
Today's staff:
News: Prakash Aswani, Jan Benedetti,
Laura Berman, Penny Blank, Sue
Stephenson, David Stoll, Paul Travis
Editorial Page: Arthur Lerner, Kathleen
Ricke
Arts Page: Gloria Jane Smith
Photo Technician: David Margolick
ing as a means of supporting their hab-
its. Addiction is a disease that can be
cured. Psychological help, not the death
penalty ,should be the punishment for
such serious federal crimes.
The reaction to Kleindienst's state-
ment was strong. Since the administra-
tion now seems to be retreating some-
what from this position. Asst. Atty. Gen.
Roger Cramton told the Senate aviation
subcommittee that capital punishment
should be limited to "certain well-defined
situations" of air piracy such as loss of
life or when the crime has been commit-
ted "in an especially heinous, cruel or de-
praved manner." Cramton reasoned that
a hijacker that faces death on his re-
turn will not be motivated to return the
plane to safety.
[)ESPITE CRAMTON'S statement, it is
doubtful whether the administra-
tion will ever eliminate the death pen-
alty entirely. The legal system in the
United States is apparently regressing.
America in the twentieth century is re-
sorting to nineteenth century punish-
ments. Capital punishment, regardless
of the crime committed, is a useless
waste of life. The majority of persons
guilty of capital crimes are sick, and
should be helped, not killed. In this day
and age "an eye for an eye" is not an
appropriate policy.
-DENISE GRAY
Le t ter
To The Daily:
ARCH BOOTH (Daily, January
13) suggests that readers ask their
"friendly neighborhood socialist" if
the economic problems which
plague Russia are not evidence
that government control of the
economy is not the answer.
Mr. Booth has accepted and ped-
dled a premise which has long
been proved false, namely, that
Soviet Russia is socialist or com-
munist. Russia is neither socialist
nor Marxist according to criteria
which Karl Marx, himself, estab-
lished well over a century ago.
Marx pointed out that there is no
socialism where there is a political
state or where there is a wage
system. Russian "Communists"
have not only perpetuated the poli-
tical state but have continued its
despotic functions, namely, as an
instrument of class rule. The wage
system prevails in Russia, a clear
indication that Russian workers
are exploited in the same way,
even if not to the same extent, as
are workers in the so-called free
world.
AN INDUSTRIAL democracy
based on the social ownership and
control of the industries and use-
ful services is the only sure way
to "straighten out the economy."
Then industrial-occupational repre-
sentation will replace representa-
tion by geography. We will then
participate on the job daily in the
decisions which affect our lives
most, the production and distribu-
tion of the means of life and of the
enjoyment of life. We will also elect
representatives on an industrial-'
occupational basis to deal with the
matters of production and distri-
bution at the local, regional and ;
national levels. We will then have
replaced a government of, by and
for the capitalist class with a gov-
ernment of, by and for the people.
-Ralph Muncy
Jan. 14
Orson Welles episode
To The Daily:
IT MAY BE recalled that fifteen
months ago the SGC council cham-
bers were enlivened by the pre-
sence of a young but forceful per-
sonality in a two hundred dollar
tailored Fifth Avenue suit, well set
off by a razor-styled haircut and
a heavy but stylish black mus-
tache. From beneath his mustache
there issued an announcement, in
cultured but slightly oily tones, not
of the arrival of THE GODFATH-
ER at the Michigan Theatre, but
rather of a proposed settlement
between Student Government Coun-
cil and the Orson Welles Film So-
ciety.
You may also recall that the Or-
son Welles Film Society was eas-
ily the most blatant and profitable
fraud ever perpetrated on this com-
pus, involving personal profit, sto-
len prints, illegal advertising, in-
timidation and sabotage of other
campus film groups, and g r a n d
larceny in the form of the looting
of a university audio-visual equip-
ment storeroom. It therefore seem-
ed strange that their abovemention-
ed lawyer could ever hope to offer
SGC a deal which they couldn't
refuse, because to do so he would
have to talk down, or at least
around, the voluminous file on the
activities of the Orson Welles mas-
termind, which had been brought
to light by a certain intrepid and
fearless Daily reporter.
But Lo! what was their response,
these shrewd politicians of ours?
They were in fact so flattered that
a lawyer had been sent to appease
them, that they allowed him to ne-
gotiate with them over powers
which they already had. SGC at
this point certainly had the right
and the power to halt all activities
and to seize whatever operating
funds remained in a student ac-
count which they considered to be
View on socialism in Russia
fraudulent, but the bargain which
was struck called for the graceful
withdrawal of the Orson W e I I e s
Film Society, after they were al-
lowed to fulfill their "obligation"
to present the dozen remaining
films on their schedule, as they had
a presold audience (of less than
10 per cent) due to their unique
marketing policy of 'season tickets'
a device most certainly intended
to keep the corpse breathing a
while longer, should the game no
longer prove to be worth the can-
dle.
So that instead of suffering even
one small part of the embarrass-
ment of exposure, or the inconven-
ience of being bounced out of
school by an irate dean (which
even 10 per cent of the charges
against them, if verified publicly
by SGC, would have brought down
on their heads) the Orson Welles
banditos were allowed to laugh up
their sleeves while they sent their
. latest Temporary Acting President
around to the auditor's office to an-
nounce his retirement and the re-
cent mysterious theft of the pro-
ceeds from their recent screen-
ing of WOODSTOCK in the s a m e
breath.
IT SEEMS BOTH a foregone and
a forlorn conclusion that.the Great
Lesson to be learned from the Or-
son Welles episode is that in cases
of petty (though ambitious) fraud,
Letters to The Daily should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to Mary
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Letters
should be typed, double-spaced
and normally should not exceed
250 words. The Editorial Direc-
tors reserve the right to edit
all letters submitted.
o ltics
if I had to start earning less than
that again.'"
AND FINALLY, we'd like to see
just one announcement of a posi-
tion on a subject that read some-
thing like this:
"LANSING - State Sen. Jane
Doe today caine out in strong op-
position to the annual hunt for baby
seals in Canada, saying the annual
slaughter of the seals is "despic-
able."
"Doe, a member of the State
Appropriations Committee, admit-
ted the seal question doesn't really
have anything to do with the Mich-
gan Legislature. But, she said, it
it 'a moral issue that cannot be
evaded by those in public life.'
"Anyway,' she continued, 'it's
a lot safer to talk about baby seals
than it is to get into talking about
where existing restrictions against
personal profit and illegal adver-
tising have failed, additional legal-
ities are not the answer. The cur-
rent proposal for the licensing of
campus film societies may dis-
prove this admittedly pessimistic
outlook, or it may not, and instead
rr I
merely demonstrate for a secor.-
time that the only way to deal
with such a group is to kick it just
as hard and as far as possible, and
to note the direction of the bounce.
-Rick Cummins, Pres.
Cinema II
Jan. 9
Giveaway'
By DONALD SOSIN
One of those wonderful, personalized giveaway offers arrived in my
mailbox the other day - "Win Two New Homes or $100,000.00 cash, or
guaranteed income for life." proclaimed the envelope. Inside were half
a dozen memos and brochures screaming my good fortune at haviig
been chosen to participate in this venture, and each, piece of paper
had been carefully computerizedly personalized, like the Readers Digest
Sweepstakes that said something like, "Yes, you, Ebeneezer Snark,
owner of two cars (one a four-door sedan with a missing hubcap - we
know all about you), can win fabulous prizes -with absolutely no obli-
gation!"
Well, this was the same deal, from the Publishers Clearing .House,
as a promo for magazine subscriptions.tBut in personalizing the bro-
chures, my name was charmingly misspelled, and curiously, the same
way it had been misspelled on the Democratic National Committee ma-
terial I received last fall. Thus, the following:
Important Message for
THE SISIN FAMILY
IN EARLIER GIVEAWAYS ...
Glenn Forbis ........ .............won $100,000.00
Pearl Patton ....................won $ 87,000.00
and with an entry and luck, you may win Top Prize, too. You could
head our next big winners list like this:
DONALD SISIN .................... $100,000.00
It could happen .
Entering this giveaway could be the best thing
THE SISINS ever do
A fabulous prize, YES - we will award it,
AND THE SISINS MAY WIN IT.
* * * *
This raises two questions in my mind: 1) If I win, do I have to
have my name legally changed, and 2) Do I have to acquire a family
in order to be eligible?
"there's nothing that says a little "first time" luck can't
rub off on DONALD SISIN, too."
Well, whoever Sisin is, I wish him luck, and maybe there'll be
some first-time luck left over for the real me, DONALD SASIN.
Donald Sosin is a music critic for The Daily.
"MM
I
Appointment
By ROBERT BERG candidates was exhausted.
ONE OF the phenomena of the "'I guess he'll have to do
capitol scene is the constant governor said, 'After all, it
outpouring of news releases an- really that important a job
nouncing the appointment of some- for the salary we were offerit
one to a position or the candidacy can't expect just anyone to ju
of someone for a post or the posi- it. I don't think he'll emb
tion of someone on some subiect. us.
Inevitably people are appointed
because they are "highly qualified" MAYBE SOME day a can
and "bring a fresh approach to the will announce his candidacy
job" or something like that. Posi- way, though no one should hc
tions are taken on "vital" prob- or her breath:
lems "which have a great impact "LANSING - State Rep.J
on the future of this state." Smith today announced hist
Not once is somebody handed a dacy for re-election to the s
job because no one else wanted has held for six years,
it. Never does a political figure re- "Smith has compiled an
lease a position paper "because I age record during his past
want some publicity on this thing." terms, holds no leadership
With these thoughts in mind, we tion and doesn't sit on any
offer a few sample news releases tigious committees.
that will never be seen but would
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o,' the
t isn't
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ng you
mp at
wrrass
didate
y this
old his
John
candi-
eat he
aver-
three
posi-
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11