Summer Daily
Summer Edition of
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Friday July 20, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552
Phase IV requireos
rigid enforcement
PRESIDENT NIXON'S new Phase IV is an attempt to
stem the problem of inflation, but the government's
intentions in the administration of the controls is in
doubt. Unless a firm stance is taken in the forthcoming
months, the menacing problem will remain with us.
The new program puts government intervention at a
level higher than the ill-conceived Phase III but less
than the present freeze. By revising the features of the
old programs, the President hopes to avoid earlier mis-
takes.
Phase IV will constrain industry price rises a great
deal more than Phase III but will let food stuffs, except
meat, operate without controls, unlike the just com-
pleted freeze. The familiar 5.5 per cent wage guideline
will remain in effect.
THE ESSENCE of the control program is the govern-
ment's regulation of the price increases of the
country's major businesses. If the administration force-
fully moves against unnecessary and unfair increases,
inflation may be stemmed over a period of time. But if
the administration weakens in the face of industrial pleas
for higher prices, the program will be a failure.
John Kenneth Galbraith, ambassador to India under
former President John Kennedy and one of his economic
advisors, said Phase IV is "all right as far as it goes."
But Galbraith added a concern of many: "It leaves
the enormous problem that the price controls are still
in the hands of people who don't believe in them."
THIS OBSERVATION is proved by the actions of Phase
III and their disastrous results. Because of Nixon
and his advisors' aversion to a controlled economy, the
tight controls of Phase II were modified to the loosened
regulations of Phase III.
And as predicted by most liberal economists, the
economy exploded in unprecedented inflation. Unless
the new program is strictly enforced a simliar conse-
quence may occur.
Thus it is particularly unnerving that President
Nixon made his pledge to remove all controls by early
1974. Although they may be uncomfortable for the Presi-
dent, they are necessary. As former chairman of the
Council of Economic advisors, Walter Heller stated, such
statements "tend to weaken the control's effectiveness."
IF THE CONTROLS are enforced by the administration
with strict adherence by the business community,
inflation may be made to subside. But if the record of
the past prevails, little relief is in sight.
Stevenson's decency missed today
By JAMES WECHSLER
IT HAS BEEN just over eight
years since Adlai Stevenson
was suddenly and mortally strick-
en as he walked in the sunlight
of London's Grosvenor Square. No
national observance commemorates
either his death or birth. But amid
the squalid disclosures emerging
from the Watergate hearings, me-
mories of Stevenson assume a fresh
poignancy for those who were in-
spired by his voice.
BY THE STANDARDS of poli-
tical conduct and achievement
enunciated by John N. Mitchell last
week, Stevenson was a political
"failure." As the former Governor
of Illinois, he ran for the Presi-
dency twice against the Eisenhow-
er - Nixon ticket, and he was de-
cisively defeated both times. Dur-
ing both campaigns it was. Rich-
ard Nixon who performed the role
of hatchet man for the folk-hero
general, and it was Nixon for whom
Stevenson reserved his deepest con-
tempt and combative spirit. But
Eisenhower dominated the scene.
When Stevenson made his belat-
ed and almost half-hearted bid for
a third Democratic nomination in
1960 ultimately captured by John
F. Kennedy, the prospect of direct
confrontation with Nixon as the
probable GOP standard-bearer was
probably what moved him most.
I think he believed such a con-
test would have been a true test of
his capacity to arouse the country's
best instincts and that the poli-
tical fates had treated him harsh-
ly by aligning him against Eisen-
hower in the previous races.
IRONY AS WELL as sadness
crowds the faded clippings. Thus
in 1952 Nixon led the assault on
Stevenson as an "appeaser" who
had been tutored in "Dean Atche-
son's Cowardly College of Commun-
ist Containment." He demanded
that Stevenson pledge his unequi-
vocal opposition to "recognition of
Red China" and his eternal sup-
port for Chaing Kai-shek, unless he
did so, Nixon cried, "he forfeits
even the right to be considered for
the Presidency." Nixon said "noth-
ing would please the Kremlin
more" than Stevenson's election.
Just two decades later, of course,
Nixon was to be favored with the
ill-concealed support of both Mos-
cow and Peking as he waged his re-
election drive.
But beyond those issues on which
Richard Nixon's Presidency cari-.
catures his anti-Stevenson dema-
and timidity. His first majorspeech
of the -1952 campaign - and in
some ways the finest hour of his
political life - was delivered be-
fore an American Legion conven-
tion and embodied a full-scale at-
tack on "the climate of fear in
which we live."
But as the quality of life within
the Nixon Administration is un-
folded in all its wretched. detail,
what Stevenson essentially stood
for acquires a new radiance. The
"White House horrors," mingling
contempt for law with massive de-
ception of the people and the pro-
tection of power at any price, re-
present everything he despised and
fought. The hard, cardboard, con-
But as the quality of life within the Nixon
administration is unfolded in all its wretched
detail, what Stevenson essentially stood for
acquires a new radiance.
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gogy of those years the chasm
between the two men has far more
profound aspects. They have pe-
culiar relevance to the present.
More than anything else, Steven-
son had a passionate commitment
to what Learned Hand called the
"faith in the supremacy of reason"
and "a grave reliance upon free
discussion." He loathed political
dogma and fakery; he cherished dis-
sent and civility. To him the de-
fense of freedom and the Bill ef
Rights was neither a partisan nor
factional cause, it was the heart
of the matter.
Thus, in the worst hours of the
Joe McCarthy madness, he never
yielded to the counsels of retreat
spiratorial operatives, so coldly
personified by Mitchell, would
have been unimaginable in a Stev-
enson government.
RARELY has there been a mo-
ment since his death when one so
longed to heardhis voice again,
reminding us of the national de-
cencies, the sense of justice and
human grace that have been af-
fronted and betrayed by the de-
pravities of the Watergate mob and
its spiritual leader in .-the Oval
Office.
James Wechsler is the editorial
director of the New York Post.
Copyright 1973, New York P o s t
Corporation.
not insane
Watergate faces seem alike?
Choose a favorite for a prize
robert barkin
Watergate has created so many
characters that it is difficult to
keep them straight. If you've seen
one conspirator, to paraphrase an
old agade, you've seen them all.
But, is this true with the Water-
gate crew? -
We certainly hope not. In fact,
because we find the perjurers on
parade so fascinating, we are of-
fering a free year's subscription
to The Daily for the best response
to: Who is your favorite Water-
gate conspirator and why?
Anyone who has been implicated
in the Watergate bugging, the
cover-up effort, illegal fund-rais-
ing or other nefarious deeds can
be entered as your favorite.
Keep your answers to 25 words
or less. Emphasis should be plac-
ed on originality. Why is your en-
trant your favorite? Does he lie
with a particular flare? Is his
arrogance particularly nauseating?
Or is he just a plain old bastard?
We want to know.
The best entries will be placed
on the Editorial Page. The contest
closes July 27.
Mail your entries or bring them
to The Daily office:
Not Insane Watergate Contest
Michigan Daily
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor
THE
A Look at
COST OF
1311
Dan. 11
138 IPNASE 3
129 /ordarr
Compliance
128
127 Nov.14
PNASE 2
16 Aug. 15 PA1 uly 18
126 Ag1 Wage - Prie
Contrels President itop
125 PNASI Anounces
President Nie June 13 PHASE 4
124 launches
90-DarfreezePresident ixon
123 LAn oaute
0a- FreA eee
of Retail
122 1&Wholesale Prices
121
120
1971 1972 1973
Source: ept t of labke
The Nixon record