Eie £i$§ian Paitt
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
HEW'S KIDDY FILE
Keeping tabs on America sfuture
Saturday, November 8, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
SPA4~NC%- OF SMIUM t I.
s '
00
By DIANE BAUER
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PNS)-
Thirteen million children have
become the latest target for fed-
eral government spying into the
lives of U.S. citizens.
The CIA, FBI and the Army
compiled dossiers on' the per-
sonality, behavior, emotional at-
titudes and relationships of U.S.
senators, their families and
friends. Now the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare
is doing the same for the chil-
dren of the poor.
HEW has the best cover story
of all.
It is offering free medical
tests for all children whose fam-
ilies fall below the poverty line.
The program, called Early and
Periodic Screening, Diagnosis
and Treatment (EPSDT), aims
at detecting and preventing
health problems among chil-
dren who lack access to the
medical facilities of the middle
class.
But even as doctors probe
these children for physical de-
fects or symptoms of disease,
they also test for personality
and psychological disorders,
signs used to predict the poten-
tial problem child, the deviant,
and the criminal. Unknown to
the mother, doctors will observe
and grade the relationship be-
tween parent and child. Their
findings are then recorded in
the child's federally computer-
ized dossier.
ACCORDING TO James Kolb;
HEW deputy director in charge
of the program, around three
million children across the coun-
try have already gone through
some form of mental health
screening.
Questions proposed for moth-
ers of infants being screened
include:
* "How did you feel when
you were pregnant...?
4 "How did your husband
feel?
* "Do you want to have more
children? If not, why not?
* "Is this child smarter than
your other children? Not as
smart?"
Questions for mothers of 11-
year-olds and teenagers, spelled
out in the doctors' manual pre-
pared by the American Acade-
my of Pediatrics for EPSDT,
include:
* "Do you think that this per-
son is generally pleasant and
easy to live with?
Gargantuan grocery chains
strangle quality local stores
M' ' r
,, k ,. t. ar .
.. u
CIA', puflout. evades issue
GRADUATES WITH FANTASIES of
entering a netherland of espion-
age and intrigue might have to
change their career plans.
Everett Ardis, of Career Planning
and Placement, confirmed yesterday
that the National Security Agency
(NSA) and the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) have cancelled their
plans to send recruiters to campus to
interview prospective employees.
Sensitized by recent media disclo-
sures about the agencies' illegal ac-
tivities and further discussion engen-
dered by the Ann Arbor Teach-In
earlier this week, students had quick-
ly mobilized to demonstrate their an-
ger and ,protest .against the appear-
a.nce here of representatives of
"criminal organizations."
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Gordon Atcheson, Mike Foley,
Stephen Hersh, Pauline Lubens,
Cheryl Pilate, Tim Schick.
Editorial Page: Marc Basson, Paul
Haskins, Tom Kettler, Linda Kloote,
Jon Pansius, Tom Stevens.
4rts Page: Jeff Selbst
photo Technician: Steve Kagan
Though we can applaud the intelli-
gence agencies' decisions not to use
the university as a tool to staff them-
selves -- the planners and supporters
of the demonstration should be over-
joyed -- it leaves occasion to pause
and reflect on what these actions
symbolize.
THE SURREPTIOUS M A N N E R,
namely sudden and unexplained,
employed in the change of plans
points to yet another instance of
governmental secrecy and timidity in
facing its opponents.
It is highly unlikely tpey suddenly
believe there are no takers for job
offers. They've been here in past
years and there are probably still
prospective James Bonds in our
midst.
Rather, their refusal to appear
here suggests a fear of criticism and
unwillingness to expose their vulner-
ability in a public forum. By elimi--
nating the occasion for protest, they
can successfully silence the debate
that would ensue. Remember though
that while critics in Ann Arbor are
cheering the abrupt about-face, the
unchallenged NSA and CIA rest se-
cure in Washington, protected by a
moat of miles from a face-to-face
confrontation.
By JONATHAN PANSIUS
About every three weeks I
take a maddening little trip in
search of groceries. My shelling
out eight dollars or so for my
paltry dietary supplement to
the Housing System's indigesti-
bles can really make me sym-
pathetic with apartment dwell-
ers. Sometimes I ask, are we
getting screwed?
On the surface, it might seem
that way. Compared to the sup-
ermarkets just outside of town,
the downtown grocery stores
charge about 15 per cent more
on the average, according to
Professor William Shepherd, of
the University economics de-
partment.
However, the good professor
adds that higher costs must
share at least part of the blame.
The smaller volume of the
downtown stores leads to high-
er overhead costs. Their mid-
town location subjects them to
higher rents and property taxes.
The supermarkets' great buy-
ing power gives them further
advantages. "We have to pay
more for our merchandise",
complains the manager of White
Market. "When you're small,
you're not treated right". Many
managers of the local markets
report that their wholesale
prices are higher than some re-
tail prices charged by the sup-
ers on the same items, (Anple-
rose Natural Foods even tried
to buy from a grocery giant at
the retail level but that com-
petitor said no to the deal.)
The large volume of the out-
lying supermarkets enables
them to use loss leaders-spec-
ial items marked at or below
cost - to lure customers into
the store and tempt them to buy
the higher-priced items also be-
ing displayed. Small retailers
cannot use this tactic as much
because they lack the funds to
support it.
One thing that the supermark-
ets sacrifice for their lower
prices is service, and the neigh-
borhood grocers emphasize this.
"You ask a question in a super-
market, and the guy says 'don't
ask me, I'm just the stock
boy'." In most small stores any
line at the counter is short and
the service is excellent. The
people running these stores
seem genuinely interested in
their customers. "People can
come in here and ask questions
about a recipe or anything we
have", notes the proprietor of
Aonlerose Natural Foods.
"We're what a grocery store
should be."
Of course, stores like Strick-
land or Anplerose specializing
in quality food pay more, so you
do too.
These grocers sure seem like
nice people, but this university
has sunposedly been training
me to be an objective economic
analyst, so here are the bad
points about our local markets.
Competition is living by the
skin of its teeth. Few customers
shop at more than two or three
places; the rest have a lot of
store loyalty either out of habit
or because of a store's conven-
ient location.
Few of our local grocers ad-
mit to "the evils of competi-
tion." Battling the big supers
is a futile gesture from their
standpoint; the manager of
White Market is resigned to
the fact that "we can't com-
pare". As a former president
of A&P once stated confidently,
"we have no competition from
lower prices because they buy
in bulk from co-op sources and
virtually eliminate overhead
costs and profits. Volunteers
donate their time to run the
store and customers serve them-
selves. Running an operation
like this needs a large group of
dedicated personnel, however,
and co-op efforts do not always
succeed. For instance, the own-
er of Sergeant Pepper's recalls
how "the university tried to run
a meat co-op, but it just died".
Finally William Shepherd
suggests a course of "direct ac-
tion" by the university. The
ideal situation would be a super-
* "Has this person been ar-
rested or had other difficulties
with the police?
" "Does this person regular-
ly use tobacco, alcohol or
drugs?
a "Has this person had sex-
ual intercourse?"
PARENTS WHOSE children
are eligible for EPSDT but fail
to apply for the testing will be
sought out through the schools
or in their homes by federally
sponsored outreach programs.
The program provides no
guarantee that medical treat-
ment will follow, once the prob-
lems have been identified.
Unlike the physical check-up
aspect, the mental health mass
screening is entirely experimen-
tal - as Kob himself admits.
Despite the fact that the pro-
gram has been in existence for
three years, HEW still has no
guidelines for the mental health
component.
This means, in effect, that
states have had a free hand to
set their own rules - or to
let doctors devise their own
test procedures as they see fit.
MEANWHILE, the association
of phychiatrists, psychologists
and social workers-the Ameri-
cantOrthopsychiatric Association
(Ortho) - which was awarded
the original contract to draft
the guidelines has yet to produce
a finished document. Five drafts
submitted to HEW have been
rejected for failure to include
hardline, one-shot tests. Ortho
claims such tests are not valid.
At a meeting this month Or-
tho plans to discuss a final rec-
ommendation to HEW that the
mental health mass screening
program be dropped. Such a
recommendation could mean a
loss of the $75,000 contract and
the jobs for Ortho members the
mental testing program would
generate.
Dr. Florence Halpern, the Or-
tho consultant who toured
EPSDT mental screening pro-
grams around the country in,
her efforts to devise the guide-
lines, has already advised Or-
tho "not to mess with it."
"It can's be done in this Coun-
try at this time," Dr. Halpern
says.
DESPITE THE experimental
nature of the program, it is
nowrgoing on inpalmost every
state. Congress has already or-
dered that federal welfare mon-
ies be withheld from nine states
which have failed to implement
it. If the order is carried out,
it would reduce federal aid to
the very families which the gov-
ernment hopes to force into
EPSDT.
At the same time, public in-
terest law firms, including legal
service programs in Michigan
and California, have sued 12-13
states for failing to push EPSDT
through fast enough.
The Children'es Defense Fund
filed the first EPSDT suit in
1971, on behalf of the National
Welfare Rights Organization, to
compel HEW to issue regula-
tions for the program four years
after Congress had passed it.
Such groups, formed to be
watchdogs of children's civil
rights, see EPSDT as providing
vitally needed health care ser-
vices for their clients.
IN FACT the dream of pro-
viding free health screening and
treatment for poor children was
what inspired Congress to pass
the EPSDT legislation in 1967-
as the last legacy of Lyndon
proposed nationwide
mental health testing
of six to eight year
olds, with detention
camps for those young-
sters judged to have
'criminal potential'."
the Study of Psychiatry in Wash-
ington, D.C., the Committee Op-
posing Abuse of Psychiatry and
the Medical Committee for Hu-
man Rights.
DR. STEPHEN Hersh, Assis-
ant Director for Children and
Youth of HEW's NIMH, is one
such critic.
"As soon as I heard of the
legislation," Hersh said, "I
started seeing Hutschnwcker
nightmares." In 1970, Arnold
Hutschnecker, President Nixon's
doctor, proposed nationwide
mental health testing of 6-to-8
year olds, with detention camps
for those youngsters judged to
have "criminal potential." The
proposal was hastily abandoned
when its exposure caused a fur-
or from both the public and the
mental health profession.
According to Dr. Hersh, the
committee agreed that "the
state of the art is such that it
is premature to have such a
program. We just do not know
enough."
But despite the combined
warnings of NIMH and Ortho,
the EPS.DT mental health
screening is going ahead, ac-
cording to HEW's James Kolb.
"Each state is experimentiing
in various approaches to this
kind of thing (the mental health
screening)," Kolb said.
WITH DOSSIERS building up
on 3 million children, he says
"Its healthy to try out various
things to begin to find out which
ones seem to work and which
ones seem not to work. Let
various actors play that kind of
thing out until the most work-
able system survives."
Diane Bauer is an investiga-
tive reporter and consultant to
the American Civil Liberties
Union. Copyright Pacific News
Service, 1975.
Johnson's Great Society.
The dream turned into a night-
mare as it progressed through
the bureaucratic hands of gov-
ernment regulation w r i t e r s
pressured by public interest
groups. The mental health com-
ponent went ignored in the rush
to get the job done, The obvious
problem of cultural bias raised
by mental testing on such a
massive scale was not ad-
dressed.
The EPSDT program began
with hardly a murmur of criti-
cism or debate. But as it has
become more widely known, its
critics have grown to include
not only Ortho but HEW's own
National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH), the Center for
"In 1I970, Arnold
Hutschnecer,
dent Nixon' s
Presi-
doctor,
Daily Photo by KEN FINK
a price point of view".
Competing with each other
would just "rock the boat", the
grocers feel. Stability is a key
goal; they realize that lowering
their price margins would only
reduce profits.
Furthermore, the difficulty
of determining demand, risk
aversion, and lack of funds pro-
hibit them from using price-
cutting to expand their volume.
Thus, the befuddled retailer
must use cost-plus pricing,
marking up each of his goods a
specified percentage. The mark-
ups ar: round standard num-
bers and each store has similar
costs, so prices are much the
same from store to store.
All this gives us high, sticky
prices. Increasing the amount
of competition somehow would
help alleviate some of this. Bet-
ter public transportation, for ex-
ample, would enable downtown
shoppers to buy out of town, but
they probably would not take
advantage of this.
Consumers can shop around
for better prices, but they are
not likely to find many; that
would involve a lot of extra ef-
fort that may not be worth it.
Co-ops, like the People's Food
Co-op and others, can charge
market in town, but since pri-
vate sources do not wish to open
one or even reopen the now-de-
funct A&P, the university should
create "a large-scale cut-rate
store operated along Univer-
sity Cellar lines". He felt that
the present grocery situation
was analagous to that of the
book stores before the Univer-
sity Cellar opened.
Such a store would give the
students lower prices, but those
not nearby it might not take
full advantage of the cut rates.
For many, it is too much trou-
ble to carry their groceries a
longtway. Also, certain prices
might not be any lower than
those in the small markets, and
the service would be poorer.
But these limitations would at
least prevent such a store from
renlacing the little local mono-
polies with one big one.
A University Cellar-type gro-
cery, if it survived, would give
students a reasonable chance
to buy food at decent prices and
force the local grocers to lower
some of their prices to meet
the competition. It need not do
more than that.
Jonathan Pansius, and LSNA
jgnnor, is a member of the Edi-
torial Page staff.
n -rua6m .*-< iit6 mLy.-r Be WAIS'HI 619MW
Contact your reps-
Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), 253 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), 353 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Rep. Marvin Esch (Rep), 2353 Rayburn Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep), Senate, State Capitol Bldg.,
Lansing, Mi. 48933.
Rep. Perry Bullard (Dem), House of Representatives, State
Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933.
:-: ?'+: mir>. i> }i:'r t}}i:r':r'a. >s -S " a' s
Teamsters: Standing at the crossroads
By MICHAEL BECKMAN
THE PAST twenty years have
been a period of almost un-
paralleled corruption for the
Teamsters. No other union has
such a history of misappropria-
tion of funds, indictments and
conviction of union officials and
connections to the mob. They
have been investigated for such
activities during almost all of
this period. In fact, the recent
announcement that a new probe
into misuse of Teamster pension
funds is being launched hardly
made the headlines.
Yet, despite their bad image,
the Teamsters have not only
managed to maintain their bal-
ance, but have steadily increas-
ed their power base. Their ranks
nawnrmhrmall riven (Wn(M
done to curb their vast power?
For better or for worse, the one
man whose name has been the
major link between the Team-
sters and the mob since the
connection was first discovered,
Jimmy Hoffa, has been removed
from the scene. A new investiga-
tion of the Teamsters will soon.
begin, and without a man like
Hoffa to subvert the investiga-
tion, it might actually effect
some reforms. If previous inves-
tigations have revealed any-
thing at all, it' is that reform
will not be an easy task. Here
are some of the things that this
new investigation of the Team-
sters should entail:
THE HOFFA disappearance
would of course be significant,
- .. 1 h the _;cllo of th
What exactly was the link be-
tween the Teamsters and the
Nixon White House? What was
the nature of Nixon's political
obligation to Hoffa? And why is
Nixon still seen often with
Teamster President Frank Fitz-
simmons? (It is a very scary
thought that a mob-infested
labor union might be intimately
tied to a scandalous acd crim-
inal administration.)
A full investigation should be
made into the Teamster's tinan-
cial dealings. How much of the
pension fund money has been
loaned to people of dubious char-
acter for dubious purposes -uch
as building racetracks and ca-
sinos? These are hardly low-
risk blue-chip investmewvs, and
thr rak adfie of theimin
ensure that what has happened
once will not happen again.
What can be done to harness
the fantastic power of the Team-
sters for the union's members
instead of its leaders? Another
Board of Monitors overseeing
the Teamster leaders isn't the
answer. The evil inherent in the
system may be held in cneck
temporarily, but once the watch-
dogs are called off, what then?
A restructuring of the entire
union leadership is necessary.
The Teamsters have long since
passed the stage where they can
be considered a typical labor
union. They are in effect, a mul-
ti-faceted corporation and should
be dealt with as such. No single
man should wield the power that
Jimm Hffa did. and no songie
posal has been that the admin-
istrative power over the Team-
sters union be turned over to a
Board of Directors. It 'tas also
been suggested that the Team-
sters be broken up into smaller
unions, either by region or by
industry, exactly as the govern-
ment now does with large con-
glomerates under the anti-trust
laws. There are other possibili-
ties as well.
Certainly any of these meth-
ods would be better than what
the Teamsters have now. It is
time to end the turbulence and
corruption that have character-
ized the Teamsters in the past.
If decisive action is taken now,
perhaps someday the Teamsters
will be known as the union tbst
accomplished the most for the