The Michigan Daily Vol. LXXXV, No. 47-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, July 23, 1975 Ten Cents Twelve Pages House defeats Ford's oil price plan W A S H I N G T 0 N (A') - President continue the compromise talks, and one Ford's plan to end domestic oil price b ill administration source predicted a com- controls was shotdown yesterday by the rse exeC promise would be fashioned. House, but definite moves began toward' i Iop ro m is Ford himself invited congressional a. compromise energy program. leaders to a meeting aboard the resi- Rep. Jim Wright (D-Tex.), head of White House officigls said the price A White House source said, mean- dential yacht Sequoia last night, and a the House Democrats' task force to de- of gasoline at the pump would have while, that a compromise also might in- House group was coming to the White velop a party policy on energy, offered gone .up by about seven cents a gallon volve extending the time for decontrol House to discuss Turkish aid at a break- an amendment to legislation now before by the end of 1977 under Ford's reject- to perhaps three years instead of the fast today. mhe Hlouse which would lay the ground- work for a tax on U. S. crude oil produc- tion. ADMINISTRATION officials have been working with congressional energy lead- ers for several-months in an attempt to break the stalemate over what to do about the nation's energy problems. The compromise was offered only a few hours after the House, by a 262-167 vote, killed Ford's plan to remove do- mestic oil price controls. Committee sees natural gas shortage WASIINGTON (P)-A s h o r t a g e of ratural gas next winter could endanger the nation's economic health and secur- ity, with cutbacks in gas service taking on the proportiors of a national emer- gency, a Hotse committee report says. The shortage cotld bring about cur- teilments of gas service to commercial, indostrial and, for the first time, resi- , 'ntial users, -cording to the report. "THE BICENTENNIAL months of No- vember 1975 to April 1976 may very well conjure up realistic visions of Washing- too's discomfort at Valley Forge," it said. The report, scheduled to be released S nday, was approved yesterday by the H o u s e Government Operations Com- mittee. The committee's subcommittee on con- servation, energy and natural resources prepared the report after a series of hearings. THE DOCUMENT says that natural gas-is used by 140 million Americans and more than one-half of the nation's indus- tries, yet federal agencies have failed to prepare for the predicted shortage. ed. gradual decontrol plan, which was two-and-a-half years Ford suggested and designed to promote fuel conservation provisions similar to Wright's. BOTH were logical opportunities for and provide incentive for oil companies. Federal Energy Administrator Frank energy compromise talk. But critics put the cost increase as high Zarb met for more than an hour late Wright said his tax proposal would be at 15 cents a gallon. yesteday with several senators, led by coupled with some redistribution of oil- Democratic Leader Mike Mansfield, to company receipts to compensate con- WRIGHT'S amendment to the proposed discuss the possibility of compromise. sumers. Energy Conservation and Oil Policy Act Ways and Means Committee Chair- would leave it up to the House Ways "NO OFFER was put on the table," man Al Ullman, (D-Ore.), said, "I and Means Committee to write a tax Zarb said later. "We just looked at all feel strongly that if we have a wind- of some kind on domestic production, to the positions. We didn't talk about any fall profits tax there should be provi- be plowed back into new research and precise offer at all." sions to compensate consumers. The development of domestic fuel sources. White House sources said Zarb would amendment does satisfy me." AP Photo -Death trap At least two people were killed and 15 others injured near Hamburg, West Germany, yesterday when a freight train collided with a commuter train. Some of the wrecked cars are shown here soon after the crash. OPPOSITION STAGES WALKOUT Upper House backs Gandhi NEW DELHI, India ( )--Opposition legislators walked out of the upper house of the Indian parliament yesterday after it overwhelmingly approved Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's emergency powers. "'We are satisfied that no useful purpose will be served by our taking part in the further proceedings of this session of parliament, for it, is clearly in no position to discharge the functions of a free and -democratic parlia- ment," Socialist leader N.G. Goray announced. WHEN HE finished reading his statement on behalf of all political parties except the ruling Congress and its Communist supporters, the opposition left the chamber, protesting Gandhi's arrests of their leaders and imposi- tion of news censorship. 32 members left the upper house. The wallout, which heralded an opposition boycott of" the remaining days of this week's parliament session, meant that the 240-member upper house would be left with only the 130 members of the prime minister's Congress party, 11 Communists and a few independents. Goray said later that the opposition parties planned a similar walkout in the lower house after that chamber gives its expected approval of the emergency today. THE OPPOSITION boycott of parliament represented a setback to the government's efforts to-portray this week's session as a normal legislative sitting despite the jailing of about 20 members from both houses, including the leaders of the non-Communist parties. With solid support from. Congress party members and Communists and with most opposition parliamentarians absent, the emergency legislation passed the upper house 136-33. See UPPER, Page 7