'Bring 'em back alive' slogan: AAA bunk i~e Sirigan Uadi Eighty-one years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-05521 By BILL MYERS EVERYONE "knows" that the American Automobile Association (AAA) is a non- profit organization controlled by its mem- bership, and that it has consistently fought for consumer interests, and automobile safety legislation. Everyone also "knows" that the AAA in Michigan does not dis- criminate against blacks, and is very con- cerned with Detroit's future. Unfortunately all these things that every- one "knows" about AAA are patented P.R. Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1972 THE DIRECTORS of the -Michigan Auto Club are in fact a small clique of business- men who place their own interests in the auto industry above the members. These directors own or have interest in 15 auto- related companies, six banks, and three insurance companies. William Bachman, who recently resigned as the Michigan club's president, is close- ly affiliated with Darcy McManus, the pri- mary advertising agency for Pontiac and Cadillac; Rex Brubaker, the current presi- dent of the state club owns an Auto Deal- ers Investment Company, Automated Sys- tems Company (the primary supplier of hy- draulic lifts for autos in service stations), 'Viva Puei two auto parts companies, and the Auto- mobile Investment and Appraisal Company. In addition, Brubaker is a director of the Service Savings and Loan Association which handles auto installation contracts. Oscar Bard, another director, is owner of two auto parts companies and has substan- tial interests in Alloy Steels Corporation and Ex-Cello Corporation. The list could go on. WHAT ABOUT the club itself? 0 The Michigan club opposed nearly ev- ery recent safety feature, including t h e seat belt, shoulder harness, head rest, air bag, and federal bumper standards. In Motor News, The AAA magazine took an editorial stand against air bags, using as evidence failures of air bags ten years ago as proof that they don't function pro- perly. Triple A has taken the same position on federal bumper standards as that the auto industry originally took on auto emission controls in the sixties - that the states should pass all necessary laws. Implicit in AAA's entire safety cam- paign is a two-fold effort - first, refusal to admit that automobiles can be built that would prevent any lives from being lost on the nation's highways; and second, il- sistence that drivers are to blame for acci- dents, with no concern that some could be due to poor workmanship and design. * The Michigan club has lobbied hard against a consumer-backed no-fault insur- ance law. Their chief lobbyist in Lansing, John Parker of the Michigan Association of Insurance Companies, a 40 per cent con- trolled AAA entity, has been the chief ob- stacle to no-fault legislation this season. The bill the AAA has supported under the rubric of 'no-fault' is not a no-fault bill. It allows for subrogation - the right for the insurance company to sue another company for damages on the basis of which driver was at fault in an accident. * While fighting consumer-related issues such as no-fault and auto safety, the Mich- igan club has never said a word against unhonored auto warrants. Nor have they ever raised their voices against the auto industry's unconscionable price increases and superprofits. 0 The Michigan club is racist. It discrim- inates against both members and employes. A sit-in by CORE in 1966 forced AAA to start hiring blacks - who now constitute only about 17 per cent of AAA's Detroit work force. But the club plans to move to Dearborn, where few black employes could follow the club. Further, AAA has a long record of dis- crimination against blacks who seek in- surance - most of the city of Detroit is still "red-lined" or blackballed for home- owners insurance. AAA's racism has been exemplified by its refusal to take a stand against leaded gasoline, which is the major source of lead poisoning in ghetto youngsters. * The Michigan club directors have been electing themselves, their friends and their relatives to the board for 40 years. The directors exclude blacks, women, Jews" and members of the state's many other minor- ity groups. What can one do to reform the organiza- tion? You can sign the Campaign AAA peti- tions, available at the PIRGIM office, to enable the members to elect a new con- sumer-oriented board of directors. At leAst it's a start. Bill Myers is jvnior and a member of PIRGIM's board of directors. ?nges U.S. s three- to support revolutionary Cuba's e work- United Nations' resolution to once again place Puerto Rico on the UN n work- list of colonial territories has =just rg pric- recently proved successful. higher The existence of colonialism in as a re- Puerto Rico is a justification for of liJ- U.S. imperialist intervention every- 's poor- where. Colonialism is constant, daily intervention and aggression. Acceptance of this by the majority depriva- of the American people has made best be it that much easier for the United emplov- States to intervene in Vietnam, ited be- Laos, and Santo Domingo, creating or over hardships and despair for U.S. workers, black, brown and, white. past 25 It is for this reason that today, erto iRi- El Grito de Lares, must be a day :onomic of international solidarity for youth es. and workers in the United States. "t0 Rico libre!' chall The wheat is as- high as ao elephant's eye. Wheatskies: Breakfast of speculators TRUTH, as Ripley would have one be- lieve, is stranger than fiction. And the way .the 1972 campaign has been bouncing along Ripley just might have a point. The Republican administration, along with the nation's largest grain exporters, has swindled the American public and American farmers out of millions of dol- lars in a recent wheat deal with Russia. First, the financial scandal allowed several companies and individuals to reap great profits on the deal, courtesy of some prior inside information. Second, the U.S.-Russia wheat deal apparently cost the Soviet Union far less than it would have on a pure supply and demand basis.- - R USSIA had a disastrous crop this year, the worst in 51 years, and it was evi- dent she had to look on the world market for some badly needed wheat. Only one country could offer the amounts of grain Russia needed and the United States could pretty much have picked the price it wanted. The U. S. chose $1.63 per pound, which is currently 47 cents below what wheat is selling for domestically. If the International intrigue is inter- esting, the local picture is downright fas- cinating. Before President Nixon an- nounced the wheat deal it appeared it wasn't going to be a spectacular year for American farmers. Conversely many sold Today's staff. News: Gordon Atcheson, Tommy Jacobs, Jim Kentch, Jim O'Brien Editorial Page: Arthur Lerner Photo Technician: David Margolick their crops at around $1.30 a pound. BUT IF the American farmer didn't know what was coming off, the em- ployes in the Department of Agriculture did. Two of them had gone with Agricul- ture Secretary Earl Butz to Moscow and participated in the early negotiations with the Russians. A few weeks before the $750 million deal was announced they resigned and joined two of the largest grain exporters in the country. Not surprisingly, these two companies had already completed negotiations of wheat sales to Russia before Nixon ,an- nounced the overall deal. Presumably these major grain exporters bought up wheat futures while they were low, around $1.30, and turned around and made a killing on the deal with Russia. Once the deal was announced prices started to rise, not for the Russians but for American consumption, driving it up past $2. The grain exporters, however, had no problem. The government subsi- dizes the difference between domestic prices and world prices. Consequently when the price went up to $2.10 the U.S. was giving the exporter the difference between that and the $1.63 charged to Russia. ADDING A final farcical sense to the burgeoning situation, Vice President Spiro Agnew "revealed" a few days ago that the FBI was investigating the situ- ation. The information was so exclusive that not even the FBI had known about it. Not for long though as Nixon, in a bungling attempt to cover up, ordered the FBI to start an investigation. Perhaps the original assumption should be modified-Truth IS fiction. -WILLIAM ALTERMAN By ROQUE RISTORUCCI 'T'ODAY,Puerto Ricans in Chi- cago, Cleveland, the Bronx, El Barrio and in Puerto Rico w i 1 1 march, demonstrate, and speak out to let the world know that the struggle for Puerto Rican inde- pendence continues and is growing stronger. Today is the anniversary of the reaffirmation of Puerto Rican na- tionality and right to self deter- mination. 104 years ago today the desire for independence was cry- stalized in an heroic act known as "El Grito de Lares." Daily Guest riter "OUR PUERTO RICO t a s t e s better", "Our Puerto Rico sounds better", "Our Puerto Rico . ." There is a grain of truth in East- ern Airlines' chauvinistic ads. Puerto Rico is presently theirs - that is, U.S. monopolies such as Eastern Airlines. The struggle to liberate Puerto Rico from the U.S. imperialists has international significance. Puerto Rico is the major colony of t h e strongest imperial power in t h e world. To expose the colonial op- pression of Puerto Rico is to re- veal the fangs of imperialism, which the United States tries to conceal in a world increasingly dominated by anti-imperialist senti- ment. THE UNITED States has consist- Get involved- write your reps! Sen. Philip Hart (Dem), Rm. 253, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), Rm. 353 Old Senate Bldg., Cap- itol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Rep. Marvin Esch (Rep), Rm. 112, Cannon Bldg. Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep), Senate, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, 48933. Rep. Raymond Smit (Rep), House of Representatives, State Capitol Bldg., Lansing, 48933. tently attempted to distort, camou- flage, and hide'the nature of its relationship with Puerto Rico. The first excuse for trampling on the rights of the Puerto Rican people came in 1898, when Puerto Rico was part of the booty from the Spanish-American war. The ra- tionale then was that Puerto Rico was being prepared for self-gov- ernment. When this "white man's burden" approach came under at- tack Puerto Rico was declared too small and too poor to be independ- ent. . To the masses in th United Stat- es, a major target of imperialism's lies, Puerto Rico has been project- ed as an economic burden to t h e United States. Something on the "The 'Commonwealth of Puerto Rico' scheme was a face lifting operation in which the essence of colonialism was maintained, but some of the uglier wrinkles removed." THESE ARE the. facts -?if co'on- ialism.Puerto Rico is now in its fifth centuryof colonial oppression. However, the movement for Puerto Rican independence has grown rap- idly in the last 15 years, particul- arly among youth. The movement Rowue Ristorucci, a Puerto Ri- can, is New York State chairman of the Young Workers Liberation League. This article contains ex- cerpts from a YWLL publication he recently authored. order of a poor cousin that must be fed and clothed. This characterization is extended to Puerto Ricans living in the Unit- ed States. Puerto Ricans migrating to the United States, fleeing t h e economic deprivation of their homeland, are portrayed as "wel- fare chiselers." This covers tp their use as a source of c h e a p labor and their victimization. AFTER WORLD WAR II, with the rise of national liberation move- ments, the United States was un- der heavy pressure to change its blatantly colonial subjugation of Puerto Rico. The United Nations had placed Puerto Rico on the list of colonial territories and t h e United States was eager to remove the label of "colonialism" from it- self. It is in this context that the Es- tado Libre Asociado or "Common- wealth of Puerto Rico" was born. The "commonwealth" scheme was a facelifting operation in which the essence of colonialism was main- tained, but some of the uglier wrin- kels removed. Before the "commonwealth" was established, a group of Puerto Rican puppets was developed, 'in- der the leadership of Luis Munoz Marin, to carry out imperialism's plan. The "commonwealth" status was fully established in 1952. The U.S. Congress authorized an assembly to draw up a constitution for the "commonwealth." This law, how- ever, also required that the draft constitution of the "common- wealth" be submitted to, the U.S3. Congress for approval - no basics alterations in Puerto's Rico's sta- tus was made. MILITARILY, PUERTO Rico is in the hands of U.S. imperialism. U.S. armed forces have taken over 14 per cent of Puerto Rico's arable land. The island is thus a center equipped with atomic bases. This occupation is aimed at Puerto Ri- cans seeking freedom and the rest of Latin America. productivity of Puerto Rico' quarter million willing, abl ers." These three-quarter millio ers and their families, payi es which are 25 per cent. than in the United States, sult have a lower standard ing than citizens of America est state, Mississippi. The extent of economic c tion in Puerto Rico can t gaugedby the official un ment rate that has fluctua tween 11 and 17 per cent f 25 years. This explains why in the years, one third of the Pu can people, have sought ec asylum in the United Stat This political and military subihu- gation makes it easier for the Unit- ed States to dominate Puerto Rico economically. A pamphlet aimed at U.S. busi- nessmen entitled "Puerto Rico, U.S.A." reports that, "On a per capita basis, Puerto Ricans buy more from the U.S. than citizens of America's biggest customer, Can- ada, and on an aggregate basis more than such huge countries as Brazil." The magazine continues, "T h e United States, in turn, is Puerto Rico's best customer. The value of Commonwealth shipments to the continental U.S., reflect the e%- pansion and diversification of pro- duction rose from $302 million in 1953 to $452 million in 1958 and 51,- 256 million in 1968." But who owns these shipments to the United States? Not the Puerto Rican people. Such corporations as American Can, Carborundum, Con- solidated Cigars, International La- tex, International Shoes, Maiden- form, Parke Davis, Sunbeam, Un- ion Carbide, and the Rockefeller- dominated South Puerto Rico Sug- ar Company own almost the whole economy. These corporations pay Puerto Ricans one-third the wages paid to workers in the United States. This is why, according to the "common- wealth's" own propaganda, "Man- ufacturers average 30 per cent on their investment - thanks to the FemiUg, Chrysler: Conflict of interest? By ROBERT SCHREINER DESPITE SOME initial concern, it is clear now that that is no con- flict of interest involved in President Robben Fleming's appointment to the Chrysler Corporation board of directors. The recent announcement had caused a flurry over whether the appointment would bring Fleming and Chrysler in violation of the state statute prohibiting conflict of interests. This is the same statute which caused Regent Eugene Power to resign in 1967 when The Daily reported that Power had a controlling interest in a company that supplied microfilm to the University. The statute also forced at least two other Regents to resign from board positions with Michigan Banks. A conflict of interest could only arise if Chrysler had substantial contracts with the University, or if the University owned a large bulk of Chrysler stock. Neither of these situations seems to be the case. "IN FIVE years, the only major thing Chrysler has done concerning the University has been to give us the Continuing Education building on North Campus, and that was wrapped up long before I got here," Fleming says. "Also, with all the auto companies, they are members of the American Automobile Association, which gives money from time to time to the Highway Safety Research Institute." Wilbur Pierpont, vice president and chief financial officer of the University, says the University owns no Chrysler stock at present. Pier- pont adds that any small gifts of Chrysler stock, which the University receives from time to time, will be sold and the money used for opera- tional expenses. It is well understood by Chrysler, Fleming says, that his duties as president will always come first. Thus, Fleming says, he was not even present at the board meeting announcing his appointment, because there was a Regents meetings the same day. "I think the Chysler directors are trying to revise the company's public image," Fleming says. "They know that I don't have much competence in business matters, for their purposes." i 1 t Letters. To The Daily: I AM A student teacher in the Detroit school system. This week all of the people assigned to Wayne and Oakland County systems have received the blunt end of our Uni- versity's biggest fiasco to date. In order to respond to social pressures for better treatment for all students, each student teacher has been ordered to attend a Multi- Ethnic Workshop program this week. There is no excuse for this work- shop being held during our assign- ments. It should have been h e 1 d during our method classes. Those of us assigned to Detroit had to leave our classrooms and come to Ann Arbor. This was done without Student teacher knocks workshop of future contracts, if we did not attend. As it turned out neither my supervisory teacher nor my depart- mental head was happy about this program. My students were resent- ful and told me so, and who could blame them? To guarantee that at least we would show up for the workshops, attendance has been taken. We have to sign our eval- uation forms. I could' understand the whole thing if they had pulled me away to deal with my teaching practices. But not one single suggestion on classroom methodology has come to me. All I have witnessed a r e some tired bureaucrats boring me to death with their life stories. Tell- ing me about President Eisenhower Barbara Halpert of the Human Rights Party in connection with Sunday's abortion reform bene- fit. The story mentioned neither who Barbara is nor why she was kept from speaking. Barbara Halpert is the Human Rights Party nominee for the U. S. Senate. She has been active in movements to repeal laws pro- hibiting abortions all her adult life. While she was in the Demo- cratic Party she time and time again saw motions for abortion re- form bottled up and kept from the convention floor by party leaders. She became one of the founding members of HRP as a result. The Michigan Abortion Referen- dum Committee - the group spon- speech. The reasoning behind this position is worth examining. In essence abortion referendum committee members argued that abortion is not a partisan issue and that they are not in a political or- ganization. Furthermore, they as- serted that mentioning anything beyond abortion reform would jeopardize the initiative on the November ballot. That is, they argued that it is not worth noting that both Frank Kel- ley and Robert Griffin, the Demo- cratic and Republican Senate nomi- nees, oppose abortion reform. They preferred not to have it noted that IIRP is the only one of the four non-sectarian parties running Sen- ate candidates who support the November initiative. Or that Republican parties refuse to do anything on an issue, this fact should be ignored and not attack- ed. In short, take the narrowest view possible and avoid controver- sy at all costs. HRP completely rejects this viewpoint. But if the Michigan Abortion Referendum Committee were to call itself the Michigan Democrats and Republicans United for Abor- tion Reform and Against Abortion on Demand (at least until Novem- ber), they would be entitled to re- fuse to allow Barbara to speak. They would also attract a lot less people to Hill Auditorium and to $100 a plate receptions at the Ra- mada Inn. If they are going to masquerade Chrysler's motives are obvious, in wanting not so much Robben Fleming, as the president of a prestigious university.. Both parties had better be careful, however, to stipulate that Fleming is on the board as a private individual, and under no circumstances acting as a univer- sity president. Trouble could begin if that is not made clear at the outset. SOME CONFLICT of interest questions have been raised due to Fleming's participation on both the UAW's Public Review Board and with Chrysler. This fact, however, does not constitute a conflict of interest because Fleming's UAW capacity is to hear grievances within the union and is not in any capacity connected with Chrysler. In addition, both the UAW and Shrysler have said they are satis- fied there is no conflict. The only way a conflict of interest can exist is for the person in question to be able to influence one of two groups to the detriment of the other. This is not the case here. PERHAPS upon close examination, it is better to have someone like Fleming on the Chrysler board; rather than another president of another large corporation sharing Chrysler's narrow field of interest. Relatively speaking, Fleming brings a perspective to Chrysler that is