Summer Daily summer 1dsitionof Til MICHiGAN DAILY Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Friday, June 15, 1973 News Phone: 764 0552 Nixon is stalling ICKY" DICK Nixon is truly getting desperate. With the shadow of Watergate hanging over him and ready to possibly eclipse him at any moment, the Presi- deut knows he must quickly prove that he can still serve effectively from his desk in the Oval Office. The polls have shown that the public's number one concern is rising prices, so Nixon seized upon this issue as his big chance for a daring move. Wednesday night, attempting to regain his stature as the pre-Watergate Nixon --the 61 percent of the populace-approved Nixon -he announced an immediate freeze on all retail prices, including food prices. And in presenting this "surprise package", Nixon did indeed assume his former "leader" stature. He strongly assured the public that all was right with the economy -even though in truth, unemployment is at a high rate of five percent, and the rate of inflation is almost ten percent so far this year. Nor would Nixon admit that Phase III was an utter failure, even though the necessity of further action on Nixon's part bears this out. IN REALITY, Nixon and his advisors aren't sure as to how to handle this country's economic problems, which is showing repercussions in world markets. The 60- day price freeze was imnosed to give Nixon and Co. extra time to work something out: that something being the promised "Phase IV." The freeze in itself is basically meningless. It will merely serve to nacifv the public for 60 days as they see the already inflated nrices of early June remain stable. Unfortunstelv, the freeze is bound to have it nega- tive effects Prices which are held down for two months will undoubtedly lean higher afterwards to regain any losses, barrine any Presidential or Congressional action to prevent this. Furthermore. farm arices have not been frozen, and farmers can thus be expected to ask for higher prices for their products, which may be turned down at the retail level. Consequently, farmers may with- hold their commodities from the market in protest, or may sell abroad for high prices, creating a shortage at home. Experts are predicting a black market for farm goods resulting from this freeze. NIXON DOES have an ace up his sleeve for controlling farm prices. He is attempting to get power from Con- gress to control farm exports. If he succeeds, he will at- tempt to curtail exports of such farm commodities as wheat, barley, corn, rice and soybeans. He believes that such an action could increase supply at home, thus bring- ing down the price. He also believes that without a higher-priced world market to deal in, farmers might have to sell at lower American prices. This plan may have its merits. However, for it to succeed, Nixon must have the support of Congress and the public. And initial reaction to Nixon's speech Wednesday night was unfavorable. THE PRESIDENT has an ever-widening credibility gap, and with Watergate endangering his future ability to preside over this country, it is more urgent than ever for Nixon to narrow that gap. - v Q Q a *O < -R w ~ N The Gemstone Gang, Part One: A rough night in the Oval Room (Editor's Note: The following is the first of numerous in- stallments depicting the strange and terrible tale of that inept band of hoodlums and criminals disguised as government of- ficials, The Gemstone Gang.) By DAN BIDDLE IT WASa rough night at the White Non Ziegler, pocket dictionary clutched firmly to his breast, pac- ed the floor at one end of the of- fice. Under his breath, the youth- f.sl, vaguely handsome mouthpiece of the NixonAdministration mut- tered something incomprehensible shout the Oval Room's infernal lack of dark corners for innocent vyoung men to hide in. Gordon Liddy smoked his 473rd NMittifilter of the evening and crush- ed the butt out between his scar- red fingers. Exhausted from long hours of unenlightened contempla- tion, the balding saboteur loosened his collr with a swift, violent mo- tion that sent a button flying across the room and pinging against a window with a sound not unlike that of an electronic telephone bugging device. l iddy slammed his fist down on the President's 10-by-15 foot mar- ble desk and exclaimed, "Damn it to Hell." The words rang against tradition-soaked wooden walls, and as if to mimick Liddy, echoed, "Hell, Hell, Hell . . IN ANOTHER part of the office, a man in a blond wig and a black Lone Ranger mask paused from several minutes of self-contempla- tion, before a full-length mirror and declared, "Yeah, to Hell and back." The man despaired of looking at himself and ripped off the mask- and-wig combo to reveal the in- scrutable mug of E. Howard Hunt. To the expert hidden-cameraman or the casual wiretapper, the look or the sound of Hunt and Liddy would have made it abundantly clear that these were two men cut from the same clay: both spat out their words with that acid sharp- ness known only to men who have spent most of their adult lives com- municating via walkie-talkie and speaking largely in code. And both figures bore the strange, bent quality that comes from years of eavesdropping and picking locks. If Sergeant Joe Friday grew up with his nose to the ground, How- ard Hunt and Gordon Liddy reach- ed adulthood with their ear to the wall. NEXT TO HUNT'S mirror stood a row of mannequin heads, each tagged, "Costumes International Agency." Each dummy was adorn- ed with a wig of a different color; several featured sideburns a n d headphones. A door opened and a column of light fell on the row of wigged dummies. The faceless heads ap- peared to laugh in eerie unison at the dark, silhouetted figure in the doorway. Itrwas Mel Laird. "Oh, sorry, fellas. I didn't mean to intrude. I'm pretty new around here, I thought this was the door to the bathr-" "Scram," spat Liddy. L a i r d scratched his billiard-like head mo- mentarily and executed a neat U- turn. Hunt and Liddy grew restless and began searching the President's desk for bugging devices. Hunt mumbled something about Jack An- derson. SOON THE DOOR reopened and four figures rose from the dark- ness. Jeb Stuart Magruder, Patrick Gray, and John Dean entered the room single-file. Dean pulled up the rear, lugging a mammoth filing case -on a pair of bicycle training wheels. Zeigler spoke at once. "Is Dick here?" "Yeah, he'll be up in a minute, but he's not in a very good mood," answered Magruder. "I wouldn't call him that to his face tonight When he's not chasing under-' cover agents, Dan Biddle is a night editor at The Daily and is currently observing the downfall of the United States government with considerable glee. HIS ASSOCIATES called him "Dick" in private moments. What was his incredible secret? if I were you." "Call him what?" "Dick." "Oh." Zeigler slunk into the space behind Hunt's mirror; it was the closest thing he could find to a corner. From far down the corridor came the sound of more footsteps. This time the clack of hobnailed boots filled the Oval Room; John Dean's teeth began to chatter audibly at the noise. Two heavy-set women in 1 o n g dresses and broad-brimmed hats moved through the door. After re- moval of various paraphernalia the faces and dorms of Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman emerged. Haldeman handed the coverup gear to Hunt and said, "Thanks." Hunt said, "Don't mention it - at least not in public." Dean chuckled nervously, "Pro- bably wouldn't be real wise to talk about it in private either. You never know who's bugging who these days. Why, just last week someone was telling me that Henry-" "If I were in your position, wouldn't think that was very funny, John," Haldeman interjected. SUDDENLY THE bristle-topped bureaucrat and somewhat paunch- ier sidekick snapped to perfect at- tention at either side of the door. The other men rose to their feet and grew silent. It was so quiet in the Oval Room that the casual wiretapper could have heard a pin drop. One couldn't tell at first, b u t within seconds there was no mis- taking it: That was Richard Milhaus Nixon behind those Foster-Grants. And the face behind the Foster- Grants on that strange night would have swept the hemorrhoid-suffer- ers' vote with a single TV appear- ance. But Dick Nixon's troubles weren't behind him yet. He wore the look .of a man who had eaten one of his feet for din- ner and had all night to think about eating the other one for break- fast. Continued next week. Watch this space for more exciting developments. i I Letters to Boycott gripe To The Daily: REMEMBER THOSE Democratic ads last fall, trying to excuse why their Councilmen opposed an HRP lettuce boycott resolution? Remem- ber how RP was just a bunch of pseudo-radicals out to exploit the issue? So what do we see in last Fri- day's Daily but a half-page photo of Bob Harris and Fred Postill picketing AP. If you'd like to write this letter off as sour grapes (or rotten lettuce), okay, go ahead. It's not Democrats getting publicity for suporting the boycott - that's fine, if it will help the boycott. (Maybe they'll even force some of my fellow HRP members off their asses, especially the non-picketers who make.such a valid.theoretical point about the need for non-elec- toral action and support of the working class.) That picture fails to show Harris last October, out to defeat the boy- cott resolution because HRP had- n't asked for Democratic co-spon- sorship. It neglects the hundreds of hours that HRP officials and mem- bers have put in over the last few months picketting A&P (with no Democrats in sight), not thinking (like the Democrats) to put party