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Page 2 r Viewpoint The Battalion Wednesday Texas A&M University October 5, 1977 Mansfield taking Japan by By DAVID BRODER TOKYO—In one respect at least, his the Senate Majority leader. Mike Mans field is still the^first^ man in the office, sfield is still the first man in the office. “He’s in here most mornings before our shifs change,” says the young Marine se curity guard at the American embassy. “What time is that? 7:30.” But, now instead of breakfasting at the eapitol with his friend. Sen. George Aiken (R-Vt.), Mansfield breakfasts with his wife at the nearby embassy residence. “I don’t know if she likes the new routine,” he jokes. “But I do. In the eight months since President Carter named him Ambassador to Japan, Mike Mansfield has brought a touch of his native Montana and the Senate to one of the most sensitive diplomatic posts in the world. Frederic Remington cowboy bronzes al ternate with Japanese brush paintings in the embassy living room, demonstrating the compatibility of Western and Eastern art. A Montana Highway Department brochure and recent issues of the Hungry Horse News provide diversion for those waiting to see Mansfield at his office. In addition to the customary picture of the President, Mansfield’s office has au tographed pictures of the House and Se nate Democratic leaders—and Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), the first Nisei in Congress. “I’ve tried to impress on the Japanese the importance of Congress,” Mansfield told a recent visitor. His first major speech as ambassador dwelt heavily on Congress’ role in foreign policy. He has backed it up with stern lectures on the danger of exces sive exports of steel and other com modities triggering protectionist senti ment in Congress, where, he tells the Japanese, “the first rule is political survi val.’ But ironically, as Mansfield has stressed the importance of Congress, he has contributed to a cult of personality about himself, the man who led the Senate for 16 years, longer than anyone else in American History. Mansfield is credited by one senior State Department official with being po tentially “the most powerful and important ambassador to Japan since (Edwin) Reis- chauer,” the Harvard scholar of Japan who was here in the ’60s. Already Mansfield intervened successfully with President Carter to avert a showdown with the Japanese on a nuclear fuel processing plant. The President reversed himself with a scribbled note on a Mansfield cable to Washington: “Tell Mike I agree with him.” Commenting on the fact, the mass- circulation Mainichi recently ran an edito rial on Mansfield, headlined: “A Giant Walks Among Us.” This makes Mansfield distinctly nervous. “Sometimes I think they expect too much of me and they build me up too much,” he says. “That’s what scares me. I’m no giant. I’m just a fellow embarking on a new career. Mansfield who is now 74, has had a lifetime romance with the Far EAst, and he is a visionary about its future. The metric morning, after Measuring hang-overs by the storm “The convergence of the four big powers—the Soviet Union, China, Japan and the United States—is here in the North Pacific, and this is where our future lies,” he tells his visitors. “We have more trade with East Asia and Japan than we do with Western Europe. While the pull has been toward Europe, because most of us come from across the Atlantic, the push has been westward, across the continent and out across the Pacific. Why, when George Washington was inaugurated, there were 13 American clippers in the Canton harbor.” With the perspective that age and scholarship gave him, Mansfield, the former history teacher, sees the current problems of U.S.-Asian relations—the trade difficulties with Japan, the barriers to “normalization” of relations with China, the Korean troop reductions—with rare detachment. But he is worried about Ja- pan. For all its economic achievement, he sees Japan as “terribly vulnerable,” not only in current trade disputes, but in the prospective rapprochement between China and Russia, which Mansfield be lieves is a long-term, not a short-term, possibility. “Some of them,” he says, referring to the Japanese officials, “still want guidance, and they mention that we re the big brother and they’re the little brother. I’ve been trying to downgrade that somewhat flattering relationship and to assure them that we re equals, we re brothers, and we re in this together. “As the No. 1 and No. 2 economic pow ers, we have great responsibilities; to gether, we can accomplish a great deal. But apart, we can do great harm to our selves and to the rest of the world. ” Giant or not, big brother or not, one has to believe that it is a boon to both coun tries to have Mike Mansfield where he is. (c) 1977, The Washington Post Company meter By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON—A concerted effort is underway to help Americans taper on the metric system. Some radio stations now give the tem perature in Celsius as well as Fahrenheit. Some road signs post distances in kilomet ers as well as miles—that sort of thing. The Tighter Side The big argument for scuttling our pres ent weights and measures (the foot, cubit, butt, firkin, etc.) is that most of them began as approximations. The cubit, as you may know was based on the length of the forearm. I hardly need mention what the foot was based on. And I wouldn’t even guess what the butt and fir kin were based on. There is strong resistance to switching from the one system th another. But if the metric system were applied to things that are now unknown quantities. I’m sure it would be readily adopted. For example, it has often been pointed out that we have no precise system for de noting the intensities of hangovers. The units of measurements now in use are even more ambigious than the cubit and foot were originally. The most common designations of han gover magnitude are the lulu, the woozer, the really-a-pip, the beaut and the holy moses!. These ratings, although undoubt edly descriptive, lack scientific exactitude. One may, I think, to expedite the met ric familiarization process would be to de velop a standard, universal scale for measuring hangovers. In the metric mariner, tfre^hangover scale should run frony 0 tq 100. Absolute zero would be the eomplete* absence' ofv morning-after symptoms. One hundred would represent total incapacitation. The figures in between would denote temple-throbbers, ear-ringers, eye- wobblers, tongue-coaters, throat- parchers, stomach-bloaters, gorge-risers, pulse-pounders, heart-burners, mouth- cottoners, nose-cloggers, breath-polluters, tooth-looseners and the various other de grees of hangovers. The first thing needed in devising such a scale is a base unit, as the meter is the basic unit for distance, the kilogram the basic unit for mass, the candela the basic unit of light and so on. Perhaps the basic unit for a metric han gover could be called a pang. How, quan titatively speaking, shall we go about defi ning; a-pang? Somewhat in the fashion of the meter, I should think. A meter, as you well know, is defined as 1,650,763.73 wave lengths of the orange- red light from the isotope Krypton-86, measured in a vacuum. Although a hangover sometimes pro duces an orange-red light, particularly when the victim closes his eyes, its inten sity cannot be equated with isotopes. So another standard will be required. One possibility would be to define a pang as the amount of pain that can be killed by 1,650,763.73 micrograms of aspi rin, taken internally. That way, when you tell people you’ve got a megapang hangover, they’ll know exactly what you mean. Letters to the editor Is Aggie honesty a vanishing tradition? h Top of the Newsr State Humphrey invited to Turkey tm Sen John Tower, R-Tex., Tuesday invited Sen. Hubert HuJ phrey D-Minn., to attend the Great Gobbler Gallop in Cuero.Te, Tower will judge the event Sunday which began several years agoim disagreement over the site of the original turkey trot — Cuerooi Worthington, Minn. The two communities settle the arguementwffi a race between the best turkeys from each state. The event will mate! Ruby Begonia of Cuero against Paycheck of Worthington.. Longshoreman begin to picket Houston Longshoremen Tuesday stopped unloading 10 barges and began picketing in a four-day-old East Coast dock strike. When the selective strike against automated and containerized cargoes beganat midnight Friday, local dockworkers continued to unload the barge which already had been removed from their mother ships. But Wile Wells, president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1273, Tuesday said ILA national officials had clarified anticontainei strike policy and told the locals to halt the unloading. ‘Tailcone-less’ shuttle to takeoff NASA announced in Houston Tuesday plans for another Shuttkl approach and landing test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif, Oct. lit Astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly will pilot the 8 a.m. PD1 test, the first with the Shuttle’s protective tailcone removed. Tail cone off means more turbulence for the carrier aircraft,” said spokes-J man Terry White. “It’s going to be kind of a rough ride for the 74"’ Joan Hill frantic, says friend Ann Moore Buck, a friend of Joan Robinson Hill, testified in Hous ton Tuesday on behalf of Ash Robinson, the target of a $7.6 inilliotl wrongful death suit brought by survivors of Dr. John Hill, thatsbJ visited Joan Hill about 10 o’clock the night she died of a mysteriousl virus. Buck said she encountered Hill and his wife in a private hospif tal room where they appeared to be having a heated discussion. Jolii tried that entire time to get me out of the room. She (Joan) kep asking me for help. Every time I would try to leave she would call rae| back. She was very' frantic. Buck testified. Nation Don’t breathe too deeply. . The source of carbon monoxide that spread through the ventilation system of Marlborough Elementary School in Kansas City, Mo., Monday sending 150 students to the hospital was an impropeif maintained boiler room where crucial doors were left open, Ro\ Robert Wheeler, superintendent of schools said Tuesday. It has been reported to us by hospital officials that no children were se riously injured, Wheeler said. The superintendent also said the cits was looking into the possibility of negligence and that school officials idready have taken steps to correct the situation and to prevent an occurrence at other schools. Income rise exceeds inflation rise A new study on income released Monday by the Census Bureau said the income of American families exceeded the rate of inflation last year for the first time since 1973, and the number of persons living in poverty showed the first decline in three years. The median family income last year was $14,960, an increase of 9 per cent over the 1975 figure, and 25 million persons earned less than $5,815, (the federal povery level for a non-farm family of four) dropping 902,000 from the 1975 total. World Peace talks allow unofficial PLO Israel publicly has damned a U.S. policy shift toward the Palesti nians, but ail authoritative Israeli source says the Jewish state will allow unofficial PLO participation in Geneva peace talks. If ffi e y enter the Geneva conference as members of the Jordanian delegation we will accept them,” the source said. The U.S. shift, contained in a joint U.S.-Soviet statement issued Saturday saying a new Geneva conference should insure “the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people , was the first Washington endorsement of “Palestinian rights.” By FRA hove fou Mic finis mve kept jlnscripti led Hill ,e Red H eight [junction |t Road) a : ent to a is the roi ;e dispos consists |es, most ■ of dett grove of je marker I well ie oldest . 1889 I. The ela hauntir seem to Iwas estal jng place >rly conn ■t, there imunity i few is i wide Editor: A good Ag is not determined by whether or not he or she belongs to a Greek organization or goes to Silver Taps, but something much more basic. That something is honesty. There are some dis honest people here who call themselves Ags. On the night of October 3rd, my car, a foreign sports model, was parked at Sun dance Apartments. Some so-called Aggie hit the back of my car and left without leaving a note or even attempting to con tact me. Since the car’s purchase, I have been very careful vyith it to the point of parking it away from other cars, as it was Monday night. Though this car might give the impression that I have a lot of money, I don’t. I worked long and hard to pay for it and now do not have the money to repair it. If there is one word which embodied Aggies, it has been “honesty.” I hate to think that honesty is dying along with other traditions here at A&M. I’m disap pointed in some Ag for not being honest and admitting their fault. Want a chance to redeem yourself? Come by Sundance Apartments 124. —Bryan Miller ‘80 Park for everyone Editor: The editorial “Keeping some green “ in the Battalion on Monday, Oct. 3, was con fusing. Editorial Director L. R. L. mourns the constant construction at A&M that takes away the “grass and open space” we have left. Then he praises the future construc tion at Hensel Park because all that is left at the park is “...open grassy areas and stands of trees.” What do you want? Open spaces and grass, or asphalt trails, artificial lighting and decorative fences that cost $265,000? —Kerry Falls Editor’s note: We want a park that stu dents and everyone else can use. The con struction planned for Hensel won’t re move or cover up any of those grassy areas and stands of trees — as most cam pus construction has — but it will make them more accessible for everyone' to enjoy. Right now there just aren’t many facilities in the park, especially near and after dark when there isn’t enough light there to make the place seem very safe. Certainly Hensel’s natural beauty should remain. The park improvements approved for Hensel are designed to pre serve the nature there, while making the park more accessible and attractive to the people who could benefit most from it. That’s what we want. Theories ‘absurd’ Editor: On Nov. 9 the Black Awareness Com mittee of the MSC is sponsoring a debate between two gentlemen. Dr. William Shockly and Dr. Richard Goldsby. The topic of the debate is whether intelligence is racially determined. Dr. Shockly, a Nobel prize winner will argue that intelli gence is hereditary and therefore blacks are inferior. Dr. Goldsby, a genetic resea- racher, author and professor at the Uni versity of Maryland will counter that intel ligence is based on environmental factors. In my opinion Dr. Shockly’s theories are absurd. His data is out-dated and biased. He appears to have drawn his con clusions and then accumulated data which would substantiate it. I urge the people of A&M to boycott this debate. Do not dig nify Mr. Shockly’s theories by attending and arguing with him. The debate, being based on such an emotional and personal topic, cannot help but become destruc tive. Instead I propose a constructive alterna tive. I propose a seminar to promote the unity of the races, an opportunity for all to get together and learn. Perhaps speakers who would emphasize the growing ability of people in the world to work together could be brought in. This boycott should be organized and should begin now. To make this effective we must be prepared with a successful program. If you agree or want to help let me know. —Ann Castle 846-1462 Game not a loss Editor: On October 3, 1977, the Bryan Eagle ran a sports editorial (a column by Sports Editor Jerry Waggoner) on the A&M vs Michigan game. Perhaps it is indicative of the current trend of newspaper writers, non-Aggies, and un-Aggies, to forget that Texas A&M is, and forever will be. Aggie- land. If anyone will recall, the Spirit of Aggieland prevails no matter what the final score might be. So the “humiliation” that the “eminent” sports observer alluded to, was felt only by himself and others (on and off campus) who are not Aggies. “We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we..., also means that we are one group. In 1977, our group, composed of over 29,000 men and women, is dedicated to only one fraternity/sorority...Texas A&M. To the Eagle, to those who want to destroy our internationally-known one fraternity, and to any others who were “humiliated” by Saturday’s score, I say our 101-year-old scholastic, fraternal, and traditional family can withstand time and any 41 to 3 “loss.” —Mike Singleton ‘78 “I’VE NEVER SEEN SUCH ENTHUSIASM FOR AN OPEN DATE!” Human rights violators criticized Communist states violating the human rights provisions of the 19/5 Helsinki accord were criticized by Western nations at the opening d the Belgrade, Yugoslavia, security conference Tuesday. The NATO allies reriained from naming specific countries or cases. The Western delegates noted, however, that of the 10 founders of the Moscow gioup monitoring Soviet compliance with Helsinki, five are in prison and three were forced into exile. Gandhi — released, hailed Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, arrested Monday on charges of corruption in her adminstration, was released from custod) uesday and thousands of cheering, dancing supporters mobbed ho as she left the courthouse. Magistrate Ripu Sudan Dayal told a packed courtroom there was “no reasonable ground to order the detenhon of the accused. I order release.” Weather MosHy cloudy and mild today and tomorrow. High today h toni 9ht in the low 60s. Winds out of 1 fomorr 381 ^ 812 mph ' 10 percent ch ance of rain today s The Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarilu those of the University administration or the Board of Re tents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self Zp rtttia enterprise operated by students as a university and com- n,unity newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the letters policy cufcf f? I he l ’“ tur ,ho 7 ld not exceed 300 words and are subject to beinft cut to that length or less if I oncer The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. tetepnone Address correspondence to Utters to the Editor The Battalion Room 216, Reed McDonald Building College Station, Texas 77843. "‘"E, College Repre'ented nationally by National Educational Advc-r- C.es emWS ’ I,K ' ' Nt ’ W ^ Ci *’ Chi ™K„ and U,, The Battalion is published Monday tlu,metTFViTl 7 September through May exeeot dnri K Friday from wished on request. Address: The Battalion. Reed McDonald Building, College Station. TwaUM United Press International is entitled t ' xc ' lus1 ', 1 .jj j use for reproduction of all news dispatches trt ' dl j Rights of reproduction of all other matter heieinr 1 ^ Second-Class postage paid at College Station. MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor I' 11 ".' 1 Managing Editor Mary Alice ' v «w Editorial Director. . . . Lee Roy he* Sports Editor L News Editors Marie Homcycr. Can City Editor R«»h' . Campus Editor ry Copy Editor Reporters . . Cleon* 1 1 Liz*' Photographer Cartoonist Poiftl Student Publications Board: Boh C*. RoW V '[ Joe Ancdondo; Dr. Gary Halter. Dr. John " ; Robert Harvey: Dr. Charles McCaadless; D> < " Phillips; Rebel Rice. Director of Student , Donald C. Johnson. Production Coordinator Sherman