Viewpoint
The Battalion Monday
Texas A&M University March 27, 1978
Just where do tax dollars go?
Most Americans probably have passed the point of being surprised at
where some of their tax dollars go.
But they still need to be informed about some of the spending programs
that simply don’t make much sense. In this category is a recent grant to
Cesar Chavez, United Farm Workers (UFW r ) of $500,000 from the U.S.
Labor Department.
The money is reported to be earmarked for teaching unemployed mem
bers of the UFW something about the English Language.
Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall was quoted as saying that this grant is just
the beginning, and there also are plans to sign additional contracts with the
UFW for an apprenticeship training program.
There appears to be plenty of government money available for such pur
poses — $1.8 billion under the Comprehensive Employment and Training
Act (CETA), which seems to have had questionable success in some of its
other training programs.
There is so much money available that Rep. Bill Ketchum of California
reported that the national director of CETA programs told his office “there is
no way he can monitor the millions of dollars which cross his desk.
Rep. Ketchum said his office contacted three separate spokesmen at the
Labor Department: “We asked exactly how a labor organization untrained in
the implementation of an educational grant of this magnitude qualifed for so
many of the taxpayers’ dollars. No one was able to provide an explanation. ”
It is difficult to understand how people who are charged with being na
tional leaders can vote to waste huge amounts of money on things like this
while the public debt grows larger by the day.
We keep thinking that the taxpayers are going to get indignant enough
soon to make sure that some people are elected who will begin to weed out
the big wasters and big spenders.
Tyler Morning Telegram
Land to spare but none to use
By R. MUCHONTHAM
Can you name two resources on this
planet of which we have been increasingly
aware of their limited supplies, and that
affect millions of lives?
Obviously, energy — especially from
crude oil — is the one most familiar to us
all.
And what is the other? It is land. Land
for new settlement. There is practically no
more cultivatable land free from the exist
ing national and political boundaries for
new settlement.
Gone were the days when people could
move on to find greener pastures. Re
member the time when our European
forefathers used to move to new places
over this vast planet for fresh new land
where the soil was rich and the climate not
too dissimilar from that of the old places
they left behind? Yes, good land was
plenty then. And it was fortunate for our
forefathers, who escaped famine, plague
and wars, or who simply wanted new op-
portunties, to be able to move on to those
greener pastures.
But, there no longer exists such green
pastures nowadays that do not belong to
an established national boundary.
Readers Forum
So, who needs land? You may ask.
I can show you millions who need land.
Land for settlement. Land which was
plenty in the time of our European
forefathers.
The Palestinians, for one, need land. If
these were the days in the 19th century, a
period in which land was still plenty and
intercontinental migration was routine, I
doubt if there would be many Palestinians
left fighting in the Middle East. Nor would
many of the Israelis, for that matter.
I can also show you the Laotians, the
Cambodians and the Vietnamese, fleeing
hunger, wars and tyranny, who need land.
These are agrarian people like our
forefathers once were. But it is unfortu
nate that there no longer exists unclaimed
land for these 20th century refugees from
the Middle East, Asia or, for that matter,
from anywhere at all.
Gone forever are the days of free set
tlement, and here to stay is the finite na
tional boundary and nationalism. These
two terms have many meanings, including
the meaning of a system of distribution of
resources. That is, all resources within an
established boundary are to be shared only
with people in that boundary. What a
clever idea. The system of organization
had finally reached and claimed the last
frontiers. In effect, the rules for the game
were established. They were established in
man’s recent history when land became
precious. Sq, every inch of land on this
planet now belongs to somebody.
Under this perspective then we can see
the plight of those unfortunate 20th cen
tury refugees who are the victims of this
limited planet.
Our sympathy goes even deeper with
the fact that, in our recent history, na
tionalism with its national boundaries has
prematurely intensified the shortage of
land for new settlement. And the fact is
that there exists within certain national
boundaries (New Zealand and the conti
nent of Australia for instances) vast regions
of rich unsettled land.
But, with restricted access or immigra
tion for settlement, due to the desires for a
uniform race and along with other reasons,
the land in these regions continues to be
virtually unpopulated, while those in the
20th century who fled wars, hunger and
tyranny — the situations not unlike those
once confronted our European ancestors
— can no longer find new settlement.
So, besides the energy shortage, there
is a shortage of land. Land for settlement.
R. Muchontham is a graduate student of
economics. The opinions expressed in this:
column are the author s oidy, and not
necessarily those of this paper.
Up the down pay scale
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — You will no doubt
find it reassuring that your government
has in continuous operation a Longitudinal
Manpower Survey.
One may assume it is desirable to have a
sizable longitudinal manpower pool on
hand in case of emergency.
But there is more to it than that.
Another explanation of the survey’s
function recently was given by Arnold
Packer, Assistant Labor Secretary, in tes
timony before the — hold on tight —
House Budget Committee Task Force on
Distributive Impacts of Budget and Eco
nomic Policies.
Still with me? Very well. Let us push
bravely onward.
Packer was discussing the distributive
impacts of federal programs to generate
more jobs. Now what would you suppose
the basic objective of such programs might
be?
The Lighter Side
Well, everyone is entitled to his own
opinion, of course. But Packer, speaking
for the government, said. “We feel the
basic objective of such programs should be
to raise the earned income of partici
pants.”
Do you see the subtle connection there?
Packer seems to be implying there is a
cause-and-effect relation between jobs and
incomes.
Putting it another way, people who ob
tain jobs are likely to earn more money
than they did when they were unem
ployed.
This is where the Longitudinal Man
power Survey comes in.
“Determining if such an increase has
occurred involves looking at the post pro
gram experience of either geographically
or demographieally defined groups to see
how their experience compares to what we
expect. Packer told the task force.
“Presently, the continuous Longitudinal
Manpower Survey provides the basic in
formation which will allow us to make this
determination.
Interesting work, this. Two points,
however, were not covered in his state
ment.
Packer gave no explanation as to why
the survey is conducted longitudinally.
Nor did he say what happens if a job-
stimulus program results in reduced in
come for the participants.
So we shall have to do a bit of
hypothesizing here.
It could be job program participants are
surveyed longitudinally for the same rea
son psychiatrists put their patients on
couches.
If persons undergoing psychoanalysis
tend to “ventilate” better while supine,
perhaps job program participants find it
easier to fill out questionnaires while lon
gitudinal.
“Have you noticed any difference in
your earned income since obtaining a job
under this program? Yes. No.
“If answer is yes, is income more or
less?”
Should the survey show a composite in
come loss, my supposition would be that
the jobs program was too longitudinal for
its own good.
Letters to the editor
Top of the
Campus
‘March to the Brazos’
Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets will march to the Brazos River
Saturday, April 1, for the March of Dimes. Corps units will compete
for a guidon streamer and the “battered boot award” on the roundtrip
13-mile march. Points for games at the river, percentage participation
and, most heavily weighted, pledges for the March of Dimes will
determine the top three units. The “March to the Brazos” starts at
7:30 a.m. Units led by Corps commander Mike Gentry of Huntsville
will leave the campus by joe Routt Blvd. and cross to FM 60 by west
campus road. Lunch for the 2,000 cadets will be trucked to the river.
Games competition there, conducted on an outfit elimination basis,
will involve tug of war, three-legged races and a four-man stretcher
relay race. The river site activities will run from about 10:30 a.m. to2
p.m. Units are expected to return to the campus in time for finals of
the Senior Invitational Drill Meet. The 1977 “March to the Brazos"
was the first in more than 30 years.
Animated films presented
In celebration of National Library Week, Dr. Harriette Andreadis,
assistant professor of English, will present a program of animated
films in the Sterling C. Evans Library, Tuesday, April 4. There will
be no admission charge.
Teague praised by VFW
A $1,000 check to the Olin E. Teague scholarship fund at Texas
A&M was presented during a private reception by the Veterans of
Foreign Wars in Washington recently. Democratic Rep. Teague, a
World War II hero who formerly chaired the House Veterans Affairs
Committee and is retiring from Congress this year, was praised as
“one of the great Americans of our time” by John Wayflik, VFW
head. Fourteen former national commanders of the VFW and repre
sentatives of the organization’s national office turned out.
Local
Board candidates questioned
College Station residents are invited to meet A&M Consolidated
School Board candidates tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in South Knoll
Elementary School cafeteria, sponsored by the South Knoll P.T.0.
All candidates for the school district have accepted to come to the
question-answer session with the residents of College Station. It will
be the last opportunity before the election for citizens to have their
questions individually answered.
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Land once felon s sold to State
The State of Texas is preparing to buy land for a new prison that
until two months ago belonged to long time associate of reputed key
syndicate figure Meyer Lansky. State officials are scheduled to vote
tomorrow on buying the land from Big Five Farms, a partnership of
five men. The 14, 500 acres of Hidalgo County and new Edinburg was
purchased January 17. Big Five Farms purchased the land from Wal
lace Groves, a convicted felon and longtime associate of Lansky.
Groves, according to numerous published reports, prepared the
groundwork for Lansky’s establishment of gambling operations in the
Bahamas.
I
Drug bust in Galveston
Police Sunday said day-long patrols by undercover officers at
crowded West Beach in Galveston resulted in arrests of 96 persons for
marijuana possession during the Easter weekend. Ten pounds of
marijuana and quantities of hashish, barbituates and PCP, or angel
dust, were confiscated, a police spokesman said. Eighty of those
arrested had less than two ounces of marijuana, a class B misde
meanor, and two were charged with trying to sell marijuana to an
undercover officer. Seven persons also were charged with disorderly
conduct for interfering as police arrested suspects.
Nation
01
Blame the government, not the oil companies
Editor:
I would like to take issue with the edito
rial entitled “Step Up Audits from the
Norwich, Connecticut Bulletin published
in the Monday, Feb. 27 Battalion. The ar
ticle expresses what is evidently the major
ity view in Connecticut concerning oil
companies. These views are a result of a
Slouch
basic lack of knowledge about oil and gas
companies specifically and in general
about the free enterprise system upon
which all material wealth in this nation is
based.
The first mistake in the editorial was the
use of the terms “get-rich schemes” and
“fast money.” The purpose of every corpo-
by Jim Earle
ration is to make money, but these terms
seem biased to say the least. Where does
the income of any company go? The major
ity, 65-70 percent or so, goes to producing
the product by paying people for doing a
job. Oil company employees work 40
hours or more a week at their jobs every
year for a normal salary. Of course, any
salaried employee is not “getting rich
quick.” Another big chunk of money pays
taxes, 25-30 percent. This conceivably
might be called a “rip-off" but the oil com
panies are not responsible for that. The
money left over, usually around 4-6 per
cent of sales, is called profits. Profits go
one of two places. They go to retained
earnings which means investment in new'
equipment, exploration for new oil, etc.
(which, by the way, creates more jobs).
Or, profits are distributed to stockholders
of the company. Who are these stock
holders? There are 14 million people in
the Urtited States who owm stock in oil
companies directly. They use the divi
dends they receive for supplemental re
tirement income, putting their children
through college or buying that new car
they have been wanting. They are paid
because they loaned their money to oil
companies risking the loss of that money.
This does not sound like a “fast money”
scheme to me. Not only are the American
people direct stockholders of oil com
panies, but millions were indirectly de
pendent on oil companies through the in
vestments of their insurance companies,
banks, and savings and loan associations.
The second mistaken assumption made
was that the government’s pricing laws are
perfect. They are not. They are extremely
complicated rules that take lawyers and
the courts much time to decipher. Most
“price Violations” are honest disputes over
the definition of “new” or “old” oil. A
simplified definition of “new” oil is oil that
was discovered after a certain date. “Old
oil is the oil discovered before that date.
Problems start from questions such as
should oil from a new well in an old field
be counted as new oil.
The third mistaken assumption is that
the major cause of inflation is oil price
hikes. This is not the case. In fact oil prices
have risen less than the consumer price
index over the past 30 years. The major
cause of inflation is governmental deficit
spending. When the government spends
more than it takes in in taxes, more money
must be created by borrowing from lend
ing institutions. This excess money in cir
culation cheapens the existing dollars, and
prices go up. „
In conclusion, it is the government that)
is responsible for the majority of the
energy problems today. I think it is high
time we allowed the American oil com
panies to continue to provide us with
abundant energy for the/lowest prices in
the world without constant harrassment.
— Tom Glass, ’79
Sign vandalism
Editor:
Where have all the Aggies gone that
were here at A&M? There don’t seem to
be too many here now. Candidates’ flyers
have been lipped from bulletin boards or
covered up by other student organizations’
posters. What’s worse is the way that can
didates’ wooden signs have been torn
apart.
A case in point are the signs of Wayne
Morrison. Each morninig this week he has
been having to nail his signs back together
again because they had been torn down
the night before. This isn’t good bull, its
bad bull. Lets start acting like Aggies and
not like tea-sips. — Ray Godsey, ’79
Correction
Friday’s Battalion incorrectly reported
that recognized student organizations had
until 5 p.m. March 24 to request funds
from bookstore profits. That deadline is
this Friday, March 31. Budget request
forms can be picked up in the Student Fi
nance Center, MSC 217, and returned
there when completed.
ID©4®A
Department of the Treasury—internal Revenue Service
U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
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For Privacy Act Notice, see
page 9 of Instructions.
(?) Dividends—Line 9
Please show the amount of all your dividends on line
9a. Fill in your exclusion on 9b, then subtract it and
show the difference on 9c.
You can exclude, on line 9b, up to $100 of dividends
received from qualifying domestic corporations.
If you are married filing a joint return, you and your
spouse may be able to exclude up to $200 of dividend
income. Thus, if both you and your spouse had dividend
income from jointly or separately owned stock, you may
each exclude up to $100 of dividend income. However,
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“NOT ONLY IS THAT LANGUAGE OBSCENE, BUT NOW IT’S
ILLEGAL!”
Evangelist undaunted
The Easter Sunday prayers in Reeds Spring, Mo. of Daniel Aaron
Rogers for resurrection of his 80-year-old mother from her freezer-
chest coffin went unanswered but the evangelist said more supplica
tion might raise her from the dead. Rogers, joined in the private prayer
service by his wife, Elizabeth — has been told by health officials he
must raise his mother from the dead by Wednesday. Otherwise, he
must prepare to bury the body of Gladys Rogers, who died Feb. 2 of
the flu at Harrison, Ark. The body had been moved to a nearby
Missouri mortuary after a month-long battle with courts and health
officials who wanted the body taken from the freezer and buried.
Rogers said late Sunday he would return to the funeral home today
and tomorrow. “We re still hoping and believing for mother to be
raised,” he said.
Weather
Sunny and mild today turning cooler tonight. Partly cloudy and
warm on Tuesday. High today mid-70s, low tonight near 50.
High tomorrow mid-70s. Winds from the south at 5-10 mph
becoming light and variable.
The Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor
or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of
the University administration or the Board of Regents. The
Battaiion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise oper
ated by students as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
LETTERS POUCY
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are
subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. 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.
Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The
Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College
Station, Texas 77843.
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United Press International is entitled exclusively to^
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited ^
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein resent
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX TM
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Jamie Aitto
Managing Editor Mary Alice Woodb
Sports Editor Paul Artrf
News Editors Marie Homeyer, Carol M(*
Assistant Managing Editor GlennaWhfc
City Editor Karen Ro^
Campus Editor KimT)#
Reporters Liz Newlin, David Bo#*-
Mark Patterson, Lee Roy Lesehperjr fa'
Welch, Jim Crawley, AndyWilto*
Paige Beasley, Bob As!^
Photographers Susan Webb, David
Cartoonist DougCndtf
Student Publications Board: Bob C. Rogers. Chcimr
Joe Arredondo, Dr. Gary Halter, Dr. ChariesMcCan&t
Dr. Clinton A. Phillips, Rebel Rice. Director of $1^
Publications. Donald C. Johnson.
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