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Ws Sreian a4
Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Daylight savings time: pros and cons
yard 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.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1972
Vote yes on C and D
N THE BALLOT Tuesday will be two
tax proposals. If both are approved,
the state's tax structure will be radically
improved. Proposal C would limit use of
the property tax for school support; Pro-
posal D would remove the constitutional
ban against graduated income tax.
Michigan's school districts would each
receive a more equitable share of funds
than they now get if Proposal C passes.
Currently schools are financed through
local property taxes. Districts with high-
ly taxable property bases can raise far
more funds than other districts.
In 1971, the assessed value of real es-
tate in school districts in the state rang-
ed from $2,230 to a $66,951 per school
child in each district. Proposal C would
theoretically equalize that enormous gap.
This would be a positive step toward
equalizing educational opportunity in the
state's elementary and secondary schools.
However, several aspects of the pro-
posal demand close scrutiny. As the pro-
posal reads, there is no provision to grant
tax relief to renters. If approved, Pro-
posal C would lower property taxes for
landlords, but they would not be specific-
ally required to pass the reduction on to
their tenants.
FURTHER, the proposal does not sug-
gest any appropriate means to re-
place the lost property tax revenues-
which amount to over $1 billion. The
State Legislature might impose a sales
tax or increase the flat rate income tax
to replace lost funds which would not be
much better than what we have now.
For these reasons, Proposal C will only
offer realizable gains if Proposal D is
also approved.
If voters do, however, approve Pro-
posal D, the Legislature would be given
the option of imposing a graduated in-
come tax, one of the fairest ways of rais-
ing revenue. Because those who earn
more are taxed more under a graduated
schedule lower and middle income work-
ers are relieved of an unfair tax burden.
Moreover, a steeply graduated income
tax is effective in redistributing wealth,
now controlled by a very small segment
of our society.
Unfortunately, Proposal D does not
force the Legislature to enact a gradu-
ated income tax. Moreover, Gov. William
Millikin does not support a graduated
measure. Also, if the Legislature does
enact a graduated tax, it is not bound to
follow a steeply graduated taxation
schedule. A graduated income tax which
is not steep could be virtually as regres-
sive as the current flat rate tax.
ONE ADDED PLUS in Proposal D is its
removal of the ban on graduate in-
come taxes at the city level. This would
allow Ann Arbor to pass a municipal
graduated income tax, previously banned
by the state constitution.
Despite the shortcomings of Proposals
C and D, it is important that they both
be approved by the electorate. If C is ap-
proved, but D is not, undoubtedly the flat
rate tax will be increased, making that
tax ever more regressive.
Obviously, a broad -restructuring of the
state's tax system is necessary for an
equitable redistribution of wealth. Pro-
posals C and D cannot in and of them-
selves effect this necessary change, but
they are a first step in that direction.
To allow low and middle income work-
ing people tax relief and to force those
with high incomes to assume their right-
ful share of the tax burden, we urge you
to vote YES on Proposal C and Proposal
'.
This editorial represents the majority
opinion of The Daily's editorial staff.
Vote No
By JAMES A. LOUDON
ONCE AGAIN we're voting on
whether to put Michigan on
Eastern Daylight Time (Proposal
A on the November ballot). The
proposal would benefit a few afflu-
ent businessmen and suburbanites
at the expense of most other Mich-
igan residents.
In the first place, Michigan al-
ready uses Daylight Time - all
year long. The entire state is clos-
er to the 90th meridian than the
75th, so geographically we should
be in the Central Time Zone. In-
stead, we use Eastern Standard
Time, which is identical to Cen-
tral Daylight. We are indeed "out
of step with the rest of the coun-
try." We use Daylight Time in
the winter; they don't. What the
proposal would have us do is go
on double daylight time f r o m
May through October (not just
in the summer).
Most of the financial backing for
Proposal A comes from Detroit-
area businessmen who find it
slightly more convenient to be on
the same time as the East Coast.
What would it do to the rest of
us? Under Eastern Daylight Time,
the Sun in Detroit would set as late
at 9:15 p.m. in midsumer. Full
darkness (end of astronomical twi-
light) would not come until 11:28.
THIS WOULD be just fine for
suburbanites who like to play golf
in the evening, or go sailing until
dark. It isn't so fine for blue-col-
lar workers and iner-city residents
who can't afford air conditioners
and rely on post-sunset cooling t')
get to sleep. They would find it
wasn't really cool until some time
after midnight - a considerable
problem if you have to rise at 6:30
the next morning to get tobwork on
time. If there happen to be small
children in the house the problem
is even worse. Ever try to put a
bunch of kids to bed when it's
still broad daylight?
At the opposite end of the night,
the Sun wouldn't rise, in Detroit in
late October, until as late as 8:03
a.m. So-called Daylight-Saving
Time doesn't actually create so
much as an instant of new day-
light. All it does is to move it
around on the clock; if the Sun
sets later, it also rises later. A
more realistic name would be Day-
light-Shifting Time. Again, 1 a t e
sunrises are no problem for those
who can work executive hours. For
workers and schoolchildren as they
make their way through the pre-
dawn darkness, it might provide a
valuable lesson on the inadvisabil-
ity of tampering too much with na-
ture, but somehow the educational
value doesn't seem worth the hard-
ship.
MOST SUPPORTERS of Eastern
Daylight Time for Michigan live in
the southeast corner of the state-
the Detroit suburbs and the wealth-
ier areas of Ann Arbor-where, as
it happens, its efects are minimiz.
ed. They become more and more
pronounced as you move north
and/or west from Detroit. At Iron-
wood, in the Upper Peninsula
(which now uses Eastern Time),
the Sun would set as late as 10
p.m. (with twilight ending at near-
ly 1:00 the next morning) and rise
as late as 8:30 a.m. under Day-
light Time.
For some reason most outstate
residents seem not to appreciate
why they should undergo these dis-
tortions each year to allow neople
around Detroit to play golf. In
past votes on Daylight Time, the
percentage of supporters fell off
rapidly as the distance from De-
troit increased.
Even under our current single
daylight time, we have among the
latest summer sunsets in the na-
tion, thanks to our northerly posi-
tion. 'On July 1 the Sun sets in
Los Angeles at 8:08 p.m. Pacific
Daylight Time. In Ann Arbor on
the same date it sets 'at 8:15 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time; Eastern
Daylight would of course make it
yet another hour later.
Single daylight time may be a
good idea for the rest of the coun-
try; perhaps it's even a good idea
for Michigan. If so, we already
have it. Double daylight time, for
most Michigan residents, is too
much of a distortion. I urge you to
vote "no" on Proposal A Novem-
ber 7.
James Loudon is an astronomy
lecturer in the Residential College.
Vote Yes
By LINDA ROSENTHAL
ONCE AGAIN, as with summer
television reruns, the issue of
daylight savings time is on the
ballot; this time under the guise
of Proposal A.
If a majority of the constituency
vote yes, the proposition will pass
and Michigan will join the other 46
states who already enjoy the ad-
vantages of an extra hour of sun-
light in the 'summer. (This begins
the last Sunday in April and ends
the last Sunday in October).
The advantages are as numer-
ous as the controversy old.
It all started when World War
I was raging and just about any-
thing that could be rationed was.
Congress, in an endeavor to save
power and fuel, ordered the clocks
set ahead one hour during t h e
summer. After the war, and in a
"return to normalcy", the act was
rescinded until World War 2. Once
again, when the war was ended
in 1945, the act fell into disuse.
In 1966, Congress enacted the
Uniform Time Act. Simply stated,
this Act put the whole country on
daylight savingsstime with one ex-
ception - any state with a plural-
ity against it would not be sub-
ject to the time changes.
THE ISSUE was on the ballot
Delaying sunset: Clockwork Orange?
during the 1968 election and 1 o s t
by 490 votes out of 2.8 million.
Shortly after it was voted down,
it was contended by numerous pro-
ponents that the wording was sim-
ply too confusing and that many
who cast their ballot against it
'were in reality for it.
The benefits of daylight time are
manifold.
For one thing, it affords more
time for recreationrand less time
for activities of a criminal nature.
A combined ecological/consump-
tion argument isthat more day-
light in the evening would of ne-
cessity reduce the demands on
electricity since the power load of
busines as well as the home would
be lessened.
Another point deals with Michi-
gan's economy. Businessmen deal-
ing with Eastern concerns lose an
hour each morning, during lunch,
and at the end of the working day
due to the time difference.
IF PROPOSAL A passes, there
would be agreater degree of uni-
formity. .Bus, train, and airline
schedules would not have to be
altered as they are now which
inconveniences travelers.
Additionally, radio and television
programs wo'ild not have to be
changed.
Linda Rosenthal is
writer for The Daily.
a staff
MR. ZIEGLER, THE OTHER DAY YOU NOW CLARK MACGREGOR ADMITS THERE
DENIED THE EXISTENCE OF A WAS A CAMPAlG, SLUSH FUND.
CAMPAIGN SLUSH FUND!
PRESIDENTIAL\PRESIDENTIAL
PRESS PRESS
SECRETARY SECRETARY
ij,
I faeulty comment I
Philosophers shou
know when not to think
By NICHOLAS P. WHITE
CBS commended
HERE IS nothing more odda
there is such a thing in thef
to do it can hardly imagine that
and that we should not be doing it.
about philosophy than the fact that
first place. But those of us wbo like
there should not be such a thing,
ON SUNDAY night, BS aired a one
hour documentary/analysis of the
recent developments in the Vietnam
peace proposals. This type of responsible
leadership on informing the public on
crucial issues has been neglected for a
very long time.
CBS is able to view this event from a
unique vantage point in that they have
information from both sides of the con-
troversy, texts and films of all proceed-
ings to draw on and a fine collective
brain to decifer the plethora of data in-
cluding Charles Collingwood, who hosted
the special. Although CBS did advocate
U. S. withdrawal, they did not pass
judgement on the peace proposal. (Their
Today's staff:
News: Dan Blugerman, Ted Evanoff,
Tammy Jacobs, Diane Levick, Judy
Ruskin, Paul Travis
Editorial Page: Fred Shell
Arts Page: Richard Glatzer
Photo technician: Tom Gottlieb.
Business Staff
ANDY GOLDING
Business Manager
BILL ABBOTT ........... Associate Business Manager
FRANCINE SCHERGER...........Personnel Manager
PAUL WENZLOFVr...............Promotions Manager
STEVE EVSEEFFP............. Circulation Manager
DEPARTMENT MANAGERS, ASSOCIATES, AND AS-
SISTANTS: William Blackford, Sherry Kastle, Ray
Catalino, Linda Coleman, Jim Dykema, Sandy Fien-
berg, L'Tanya Haith, Dave Lawson, Elliot Legow,
Caryn Miller.
STAFF AND TRAINEES: Joan Ades, Esat All, Dawn
Bare, Michele Becker, Roy Chernus, Linda Cycow-
ski, Donald East, Michele Engel, Harriet Erlick,
Deborah Gelstein, Gregg Gunnel, Bo Hartrick, Nancy
Karp, Cynthia Kaufman, Alan Klein, Steve LeMire,
Beryl Levine, Jon Licht, Mike Luerich, Joyce Mc-
Clendon, Carol Meyer, Paula Shwach, ValerieTSief-
man, Ton Slykhouse, Edward Stieg, John Totte,
Darai Voss, Debra Weglarz, Jonnie williams, San-
dra Wronski.
STAFF ARTIST: Denny Dittmar.
SALES: Dave Burleson, Bob Fischer, Karen Laakko,
Ray Nurmi, Alexandra Paul, Ricki Rusting, Mike
Treblin, Debbie Whiting.
Photography Staff
TERRY McCARTHY ............Chief Photographer
ROLFE TESSEM ........... Picture Editor
DENNY GAINER ..........Staff Photographer
TOM GOTTLIEB . Staff Photographer
DAVID MARGOLICK ........... Staff Photographer
Editorial Staff
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
PAT BAUER ........ Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY................. Editorial Director
overall view was: the quickest way out-
was the best).
Collingwood, the house intellectual at
CBS, held together excerpts from war
speeches by Nixon and Kissinger, inter-
views with experts in related fields and
special interpretative reports by corres-
pondents from Vietnam and Paris.
This depth and scope was realized to
its full potential and should serve as an
example for the other networks to en-
gage in this most important but often
neglected function of the medium. It
is regrettable that they did not give ad-
vance publicity or air it during prime
time.
ON MONDAY night, two, one-half hour
programs sponsored by the Commit-
tee to Re-elect the President, Stewart
Mott and 52 congressmen gave their re-
spective opinions about the U. S.'s posi-
tion in Vietnam peace negotiations. Both
half hour shows presented strong argu-
ments.
Within 30 hours, CBS had thus aired
the gamut of opinions, leaving it up to
the people to decide for themselves
where they stand.
CBS's action toward providing a basis
of understanding for the public (ideal-
istically) is to be commended. They pre-
sented a highly informed view from a
fairly objective vantage.
No one favors war as an end, and since
there is no meaning to this one, the ac-
cepted premise to any discussion is ar-
guing the fine line between different
approaches.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the propos-
als broke a week and a half ago,
with all the media running straight cov-
erage, and a few adding immediate re-
actions. The newspapers present the
facts and maybe an analysis on the front
page and their views on the editorial
page. The network news programs spent
the alloted time reporting it, then neces-
sarily move on to other happenings.
This is the basis of American free
press: presenting all the facts and let-
ting the masses form their opinions for
themselves. But with an event with all
the complexities and subtle differences,
such as the peace proposals, something
else is needed. With this salient, in depth
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT EITHER YOU
OR MR. MACGREGOR WERE LYING
TO THE PUBLIC!
PRESIDENTIAL
SECRETARY
SAY, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT
THE VIETNAM SETTLEMENT WE'RE
MAKINGRA
PRESDEN --0\
jL
PRESS
\SECRETARY
4t? / 'THEMILWAUKEE JOURNAL
TM S All rights reservt4
Publishers-Hall Syndicate
TWEEDLEDEE OR TWEEDLEDUM?
Hal pert for Senate
The best way - in fact, I think the only way - to begin to give
some sense of what philosophy is like is to say that it is grueling, that
it is supposed to be grueling, and that that is, if one likes philosophy,
precisely one of the things that one likes about it. But it is also the
fact that it is grueling that has made one philosopher, Wittgenstein,
say that the real philosophical discovery is the one that makes one
capable of stopping doing philosophy when one wants to. I want to
try to give some sense of why this is so.
To my mind, the heart and soul of philosophy is argument:,finding
reasons for the things one believes, and finding arguments against the
things one disbelieves. The risk, of couse, is that one will have to
change one's mind, if- one finds the arguments on the other side too
powerful. This risk is all the greater if the beliefs which one is forced
to abandon are a familiar, central, and cherished part of one's
view of the world, whether they concern, say, the foundations of morals,
or the limits of human knowledge. Being serious about philosophy
involves the undertaking of this sore of risk, while one watches one's
mind change in unexpected ways.
BUT CHANGING one's mind is not the important part, or the gruel-
ing part. The grueling part comes when you realize that when some-
thing you believed turns out to be overwhelmed by the considerations
against it. For the same thing might happen, one reflects, to any of one's
other beliefs. It can hit even harder when one realizes, not just that a
previously unquestioned belief turns out to appear not just false, but
totally implausible, and one can't imagine how one could have accepted
it. Or, even harder, when a long-held assumption seems not only false,
not only unbelievable, but just nonsensical, incoherent, unintelligible.
Will this keep happening, one asks, to the point where nothing is left?
NOT SURPRISINGLY, some find this experience unnerving, and
in fact everyone who does philosophy finds it unnerving from time to
time, or ought to. Some even find it terrifying, or depresing. One
starts to feel that the ground is gone from under one's feet, that one
is floating without sight of land.
All of this being so, what one sees is that philosophy is not some-
thing one should do all of the time. For some people, it is probably
best to do it as little as possible; there are certainly those who find
it thoroughly uncongenial, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But even aside from such people, if one does philosophy all of the
time, one is simply and flatly miserable. This is why doing philosophy
requires learning to be able not to do it when one wants (this is
what is right in Wittgenstein's observation). What you have to be
able to do is to ignore your doubts and hesitations when you need to
ignore them, and to keep your balance. It is a trivial and obvious fact'
that not everything can be proved at once, that some things have
to be taken for granted. One must accept certain assumptions, even
while'realizing that one might someday have to give them up. The
real trick - the sign of real honesty - is to know which of one's
beliefs one has not yet been able to support with argument, to be pre-
pared to try to meet arguments against them, and nevertheless to be
willing to accept those beliefs, if only for the time being, in order to
use them as a basis for other beliefs.
This skill - the skill of keeping afloat in one's boat even while
repairing is plank by plank - is what philosophy challenges one to
master.
PHILOSOPHY is not the only thing which raises this challenge.
Certain sorts of psychology, for example, can raise it in an equally vivid
way. So, I think, does any sort of critical attitude toward any of one's
, pelifs r.rerdlessnof what their suhiect-matter may be. To be
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By ERIC CHESTER
THE DAILY EDITORIAL con-
cerning the Senate race, though
endorsing Barbara Halpert, HRP
nominee, also stated that Kelley
was "infinitely better" than Grif-
fin. The reasons for this statement
remain mysterious s i n c e The
Daily provided no supporting evi-
dence. This omission is not acci-
dental, since none exists.
Both Kelley and Griffin are poli-
tical hacks tied to the two estab-
lishment parties. These parties are
unholy alliances of disparate seg-
ments of society. Elites from these
groups cooperate within a party
framework so as to elect their
crowd to governmental positions.
The purpose of the party is not
to change society but rather to be
elected. The officials of both par-
ties are ideologically committed to
the current economic system. To
expect representatives of t h e s e
parties to challenge the rich and
powerful is to expect the impos-
sible.
BARBARA HALPERT'S cam-
paign is completely different.She
is not a professional politician. She
,rina, not . -,ivnrptP n cnntrAver-
important to HRP because she is
the top of the ticket. Her vote to-
tal must be greater than 15,000 or
the party will cease to be state
certified and will not bebable to
run candidates in the spring city
elections.
The need for an independent rad-
ical party could not be demonstrat-
ed more forcefully than in t he
Senate race. Kelley and Griffin
have avoided every issue except
busing. On this they have demo-
gogically exploited the emotions
stirred up by the Roth decision.
They have resisted busing b u
proposed no effective alternative
measures to desegregate society.
Barbara Halpert and HRP be-
lieve that busing is a valid short-
term program. It will encourage
suburban whites to spend more
for inner city schools. Busing is
also a wedge into the increasingly
segregated pattern of American
society.
Yet housing and job patterns will
remain rigidly segregated a n d
blacks will be forced to still live
in the most decrepit rurts of the
cities. HRP is pledged to support
a comprehensive program that
challenges institutional racism in
which workers defend their inter-
ests against corporate power. HRP
supports extending collective bar-
gaining rights to all workers, in-
cluding farm workers and repealing
laws which prohibit public em-
ployes from striking.
BOTH KELLEY and Griffin have
a woeful record on civil liberties.
Griffin sponsored a "no-knock"
amendment to the Drug Control
Act which would have given po-
lice officers the right to enter pri-
vate premises without notice. Kel-
ley's subordinates testified in fav-
or of a bill to allow Michigan po-
lice officers to listen in on pri-
vate conversations. Their sensitiv-
ity to the rights of the accused,
and political dissidents is nil.
Barbara Halpert and HRP op-
pose all laws which would allow
.preventative detentions or "no-
knock" searches. The courts must
also be made more responsive to
the needs of poor and working peo-
ple. Constitutional rights should
be extended to all pris-Iners. The
entire system should be drastically
overhauled so that it ceases to be
punishment oriented.
Barbara Halpert is the only
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