Page 2A THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1976
Democratic race muddled
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — With nearly
one-third of the delegates to the
Democratic National Convention
selected, frontrunner Jimmy Carter
would have to more than double his
delegate capture rate to assure him
self a first-ballot nomination for pres
ident.
For the other contenders, the
numerical task is even tougher.
Bandwagons and political fires
torms, of course, can wreck delegate
trends and projections. But the pat
tern of the first one-third of the race
illustrates how difficult it will be for
any candidate to win on the first bal
lot.
The picture is different on the Re
publican side, where President Ford
is leading in delegates selected and
the candidate preferences are not as
fragmented as on the Democratic
side.
Although challenger Ronald
Reagan says the COP nominee will
not be picked on the first ballot, he
has not explained how, with only two
candidates in the race, neither will
get a majority on the first ballot.
Before last weekend’s events.
Democrats had selected 943 of the
3,008 delegates to their July conven
tion. That’s 31.4 per cent. It will take
I, 505 votes to win the nomination.
Carter, with 264 delegates, led
the pack — but still had won only
28.0 per cent of the delegates so far
chosen. To capture the 1,505 needed
to win the nomination, he would
have to be the candidate of 60 per
cent of the remaining delegates yet
to be chosen.
Sen. Henry M. Jackson is winning
delegates at an 18.8 per cent rate.
Rep. Monis K. Udall at 13.7 per
cent, and Gov. George C. Wallace at
II. 0 per cent.
But one in every six delegates cho
sen so far is listed as uncommitted.
This group, plus the assortment of
delegates committed to favorite sons
and trailing candidates, will be
targets of the leaders. But some of
them also are regarded as an advance
force ready to rally to the support of
unannounced candidate Sen.
Hubert H. Humphrey.
Ford now is moving at a pace
which, if sustained, woidd almost
certainly guarantee victory.
The GOP has selected 531 of its
2,259 delegates, or 23.5 per cent.
Ford has won 47.7 per cent of those,
Reagan only 15.6 per cent. The other
36.7 per cent are committed.
If only one in every 15 of the un-
committeds leans toward Ford, then
he has an effective majority of dele
gates picked to date.
Unless a third candidate gets into
the race, there is nowhere for the
uncommitteds to go except to Ford or
Reagan — meaning one or the other
woidd win on the first ballot unless
some delegates didn’t vote at all.
Army starts language program
Associated Press
BERLIN — After three decades of
service in Germany, the U.S. Army
has launched a mandatory program
to teach its troops the language of the
host country.
The educational work done in the
Berlin Brigade is held up as a model
of what can be accomplished in clas
sroom work now under way at all
Army installations in West Ger
many. The Army also is taking steps
to expose new commanders to Ger
man before they leave the United
States.
Getting often reluctant GIs to
study German is a pet project of
Gen. George S. Blanchard, com
mander of U.S. Army Europe.
In a West Berlin interview, Blan
chard said he has broadened an orig-
inal 40- to 50-hour concept for
younger new arrivals to include a
mandatory program of up to 120
hours of instruction for senior offic
ers and noncommissioned officers.
The Army chief of staff, Blanchard
said, has approved giving all new
battalion, brigade and division level
commanders assigned to Germany a
120-hour course at the Army lan
guage school in the United States
before they depart for Germany.
This program takes full effect July 1.
A knowledge of German is indis
pensable to better community rela
tions as well as important operation
ally, Blanchard declared.
He said that added language capa
bility is but another logical step for
the Army in Europe as it becomes
more qualified in its men and much
better equipped.
On the personal side, Blanchard
added, it becomes a question of help
ing to give, especially to the young
soldiers in Germany, a sense of fit
ting in among the German popula
tion.
“I’ve never seen an American sol
dier who has a good German friend
who is unhappy in Germany,’’ the
four-star commander observed.
Blanchard said the most effective
teacher he has seen so far was a
young German girl teaching at one
Army post.
“The; first thing she taught the sol
diers was how to meet a young Ger
man girl without getting their faces
slapped,” he said. “You don’t just
say, ‘Hello, Baby’.’’
Blanchard maintained that
changed times, tighter money,
fewer marks to the dollar and other
influences have caused the GI in
Germany to turn in on himself more
and more.
But, he said, the effort to get the
men out of the barracks and circulat
ing is an objective that must be un
dertaken .
Sgt. l.C. James White of Louis
ville, Ky., who is taking the course in
West Berlin, said:
“I’ve been in Germany 11 years,
three tours, and this is the first time I
ever studied German. Before I
learned it all mixed up. This program
is straightening it out for me. But
how well it comes across is still up to
the ability and interest of the guy
taking the course.”
Che Battalion
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• Richard Chamberlain
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Llovd Liety
David S. B voder
Reasons for increased congressional
retirements deserve closer scrutiny
B
Mr. 5
Pals an
on the i
|jvious t
and th<
WASHINGTON — In a week like
last week, when the presidential
candidates were making little news,
some newspapers deemed it a story
of front-page importance that re
tirements from Congress have
reached a record high.
They were right in the significance
they attached to that trend, but not
for the reason you might think.
There is no danger that Capitol Hill
will be depopulated to the point that
the housing market in Washington
will collapse. But the reasons for the
retirements are important, and so
are some of the consequences —
both good and evil.
First, let’s get the picture in
perspective. The announcement
that put the story on Page 1 — the
straw that broke the editors’ indif
ference, so to speak — was that of
Rep. Joe Karth of Minnesota.
The St. Paul Democrat was the
44th member of the House to an
nounce his retirement at the end of
this session. Along with the eight
announced Senate retirees, that
makes 52 members of Congress who
are voluntarily quitting — either to
run for other offices or to return to
civilian life. That beats the previous
record of 51 who left in 1974.
The rate of retirements has obvi
ously been on the increase in recent
years — a fact which can he attri
buted both to the increasing hazards
of the political game and the im
proved pensions members of Con
gress voted themselves a few years
back. But the figures still mean that
nine out of ten House members and
three out of four Senate members
whose terms expire this year are, as
of now, planning to run for reelec
tion.
It is largely members who already
have given their best years to Con
gress who are stepping down. The
eight senators average 20 years of
service in that body and all of them
held prior public office. Seven of the
eight ai-e past the normal retirement
age in private industry and the
eighth has only one year to wait for
Social Security.
The retiring House members pre
sent a greater age range, for a sig
nificant number of them are running
for other offices — governor or
senator. They cite two sorts of
reasons for quitting. One is the in
creasing political hazard or pressure
in their jobs. The ceaseless demands
of constituents plus the unforeseen
risks of politics — which burdened
the Democrats with George
McGovern in 1972 and the Republi
cans with Watergate in 1974 — all
make the game uncomfortable for
some members and their families.
That argument will not — and
should not — elicit too much sym
pathy. Constituent demands grow
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proportionately with the size of the
government that Congress has
created, and members of Congress
should not be immunized from the
consequences of their own bureauc
ratic creations. Nor is the answer to
keep expanding congressional staffs;
Capitol Hill is quite bureaucratic
enough already.
The financial squeeze is real for
members with young families, but
the recent automatic cost-of-living
salary adjustment is a better protec
tion against inflation than most of the
constituents enjoy. Nor should we
weep when the congressmen are
afflicted with “extraneous” political
burdens, be it an unpopular
nominee or a scandal in their party’s
administration. It is, after all, their
party.
But there are also some retirees
who speak of their frustration as
legislators. Because these include
many of the younger men of real
talent who are leaving the House,
these complaints deserve greater
consideration.
Some Democrats who were in line
to become committee chairmen in
the near future are leaving without
achieving that status, observing that
recent House rules changes have left
too many chairmen with authority
that falls well short of their responsi
bility.
Some Republicans have said those
same “reforms have diminished the
shop? 61
capacity of minority party [ Fair,
to contribute to the legisli "Lool
cess, by bringing an airo pants ai
ated partisanship to eve observe
li mi nary bill-drafting prodgjSure
the subcommittee level. Bgator
Some retirees in both ftlthat re;
the House and Senate: they ar
spaired of the CongresH‘1 m;
rationalizing its committee 'jphotogi
enough to enable its meit|ine -1 E
focus on the real policy promt Am ’
ing the nation. people
These complaints areseni Spea
justify the Joint Coininitteejdoll dr
gressional Operations lioldi;, tunic,
ings on the views of them “I e
members. Bnes
But, again, it is well to I-“Beopl
retirement phenomenon inn ofafrh
tive. A 10 percent voluntary; dressei
in congressional inemberslii| sign ilk
two years is not excessive:it ways w
is needed to keep the Guidancei
touch with a changing count now, v
Retirements provide (Ik fulfill 1
seats where most of tluHBen
changes in Congress ocrnKiw \
make the elections more# Berry
tive. And retirements alsoo| her ur
way for advancement up con ago w
ladders, a necessary incentBork;
continued service bvother s out of
a s
mem tiers. h
What we have in short.■pent;
wave of congressional retirr job las
is big news that, blessedly.iv wante
news. ■ ‘ I r
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