Viewpoint
The Battalion Tuesday
Texas A&M University August 29, 1978
State, federal taxes: take your choice
Only in the West is the public’s unhappiness with property taxes as marked as was
demonstrated by the vote on California’s Proposition 13.
A new poll taken for the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and
reported by the United Press International found that in most areas of the country the
federal income tax and the property tax run “neck and neck. ”
The poll, taken just before the California vote, found no dramatic increase in
antiproperty tax feelings during the past year.
Nationally, the poll showed 32 percent of those questioned felt the property tax was
worse, while 30 percent felt the federal income tax was worse.
Unlike polls taken after the passage of Proposition 13, the advisory commission’s poll
found that the largest number of respondents — 35 percent — felt the federal
government “gave them the most for their money.” Local governments, with 26
percent, and state governments, with 20 percent, followed in that order.
The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations is made up of represen
tatives of federal, state and local governments and the public. It was created to monitor
intergovernmental relations and make recommendations for change.
Chicago riots still haunt Democrats
By DAVID S. BRODER
CHICAGO—It is 10 years ago this week
that the Democratic Party, in its presiden
tial nominating convention here, endured
what were probably the most traumatic
four days of its 20th century history. To
recall those 96 hours of violence and
epithets and embittered emotions is to
measure the distance this oldest and
largest of our political institutions has
come in a decade.
REREADING THE DISPATCHES
from the International Amphitheatre and
the battle scenes in Grant Park, one recalls
the barbed wire and bayonets, the acrid
smell of tear gas and stink bombs, the
sense of fear and defeat that made that
week a sleepless nightmare for delegates,
demonstrators and all of the others who
were there.
And one is reminded, too, of how few of
the principal figures of the Chicago con
vention survive as major political actors
today. Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Hum
phrey and Richard Daley are all dead;
Eugene McCarthy and Carl Albert, gray
ghosts of the past. Ten years are a lifetime
in politics.
But even though Jimmy Carter was
nowhere on the scene, there are living
links between the wounded, distraught
Democrats of 1968 and the party which, a
decade later, controls the White House,
two-thirds of Congress, and three-fourths
of the governorships.
WALTER F. MONDALE, who was
Humphrey’s co-chairman in Chicago, is
now Carter’s vice president. Anne
Wexler, who was leading McCarthy’s chal
lenge to the seating of the Connecticut
delegation, is now Carter’s political dep
uty, a partner of Mondale in rallying sup
port for the President’s legislative pro
gram.
It would be convenient to conclude that
the Democrats’ resurgence is a tribute to
their ability to blend the best of both sides
in the fateful Chicago struggle. But history
permits few such pat generalizations, and
certainly not in this case. The seeds of
much of the strength and weakness of to
day’s Democratic Party can be found in
what happened in Chicago.
In all the chaos of that convention the
Democrats did find the will and the wis
dom to insist that southern delegations,
like Georgia’s, make room in their white
ranks for such emerging black leaders as
Julian Bond. They also found the energy to
challenge the unit rule for delegation vot
ing, much to the irritation of then-
Democrat John Connally.
Without the integration of the party in
the southern states and the opening of the
nominating process, symbolized by the
seating of Julian Bond and the abolition of
the unit rule, a Jimmy Carter would not
have been President ten years later.
BUT THERE WERE costs in that con
flagration, even when viewed from the dis
tance of a decade. Institutionally, the ex
cesses of Chicago sent the Democrats off
on an eight-year search for a set of
delegate-selection rules that would be so
symmetrically perfect and pure that no
one could complain. In 1972, those new
rules provoked credentials challenges that
all but destroyed any hope of party unity
again.
Now, that unrelenting pursuit has led to
a monstrous marathon of 36 presidential
primaries, denigrating any peer-group
judgment about the qualifications of
would-be Presidents and substituting a
system that enhances the influence of
super-ambitious challengers, handfuls of
activists, and the manipulators of the mass
media.
It is not a system which serves the na
tional interest, and it had its origins in
Chicago.
Ideologically, Chicago left the Demo
crats paralyzed for eight years. Having lit
erally come to blows over the issue of
Vietnam, they avoided serious issue de
bate within their party as if it were the
plague. Because they neglected the inter
nal debate that might have led to a
genuine consensus on new policies, they
find themselves today with more power
than they ever expected—and less ability
to govern. The political disarray of the
Democrats does not serve the national
interest, and it has its roots in Chicago.
Doctrinally, what were heresies when
voiced by Eugene McCarthy ten years ago
have become dogma for many of today’s
Democrats—not always with happy re
sults. McCarthy warned about the dangers
of unchecked presidential power and the
risks of unexamined international com
mitments. He was right on both points.
BUT HE CARRIED his own position to
extremes ten years ago this week, com
plaining that Johnson had overreacted
when he summoned the National Security
Council into emergency session when
Soviet tanks rolled into Prague. The Dem
ocrats who have come along in McCar
thy’s wake have carried that campaign
against presidential power and interna
tional involvement to the point that Jimmy
Carter is often hamstrung in providing
leadership to the nation, and the nation is
often hamstrung in providing leadership
to the world.
That, too, does not serve the national
interest, and it had its roots in Chicago.
Looking back, it was probably not a na
tional tragedy that the Democrats were
defeated after the devisive convention ten
years ago. If ever a party was in need of
rest and repair, theirs was. But it was
surely no boom to the country that so many'
people discounted, as partisan rhetoric,.
Hubert Humphrey’s warning to the con
vention: “All of your dreams will be de
nied if Richard Nixon is victorious.’
Six Augusts after Humphrey shouted
those words into the wreckage of the
Chicago convention, Richard Nixon’s Re
publican successor began his own presi
dency with the words: “The long national
nightmare is over.”
Ten years after Chicago, one still has to
hope that Jerry Ford was right.
(c) 1978, The Washington Post Com
pany
Victims of distance
Et tu ? Oswald
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON—Public hearings that
the House Assassinations Committee
began recently will be resumed next
month and are expected to continue
sporadically for the rest of the year.
You might think that after all this rigor
ous investigating the committee woula be
content to rest on its laurels. But you
would be wrong.
I have it on good authority that next
year the committee intends to launch an
The Lighter Side
inquiry into the assassination of Julius
Caesar.
My sources say the decision to look into
Caesar’s fatal stabbing was prompted by
publication of a book “Rush to Parchment”
by Marcus Lanus.
In the book Lanus challenges the com
monly accepted version of the assassina
tion as set forth in Shakespeare’s play
“Julius Caesar.”
He offers conjecture that Caesar actu
ally was killed by a single assassin rather
than a group of conspirators.
Lanus claims Shakespeare was having
second act problems that were making it
difficult for him to finish the play in time
for its scheduled production at the Globe
Theater.
Under deadline pressure according to
Lanus, Shakespeare conveniently based
his plot on available source material rather
than trying to dig up fresh facts.
Lanus says Shakespeare relied almost
exclusively on the works of the Greek
biographer Plutarch, who blamed Caesar’s
death on a conspiracy headed by Brutus
and Cassius.
In dramatizing that account of the slay
ing, Lanus writes the bard brushed aside
conflicting theories that the assassination
actually was perpetrated by Mark Antony,
who acted alone.
Following are the main points in the
book:
—Antony was known to have a quick
temper and a lust for power. Hoping to
ride to glory on Caesar’s coattails, he tried
to put the crown of Rome on Caesar’s
head. When Caesar rejected it Antony de
cided his best shot at becoming head of the
empire was to do Caesar in.
—The fact that Caesar had 20 stab
wounds caused Shkespeare to assume it
was a group effort. Later tests prove that
the same number of cuts could have been
made by one ambidextrous assassin wield
ing a two-bladed dagger.
—Shakespeare failed to appreciate the
significance of the warning “Beware the
Ides of March” treating it as premonition
rather than inside information.
—Caesar’s cry “Et tu Brute!” was
wrongly interpreted as dismay over Brutus
joining the attack. Caesar had previously
observed that Cassius had “a lean and
hunger look.”
The “you too” cry was simply his reac
tion upon noticing that Brutus also had
been dieting.
By JOHN SHAW
International Writers Service
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—The “tyranny
of distance” is a phrase commonly used by
Australians to describe their geographic
plight—which is their feeling of remote
ness from Britain and the United States,
two countries with which they feel a close
kinship.
The enormous distances have been vas
tly shortened since the days of the clipper
ships. But even so, Australia is a jet flight
from either London or New York, and the
air fare is expensive.
Thus various new American and British
airline proposals have come up to shrink
the costs, if not the miles, separating Aus
tralia from the Western world. These pro
posals, however, have been stirring con
troversy here.
AT THE CORE of the controversy has
been the reluctance of the Australian gov
ernment and Qantas, the national airline,
to go along with the kinds of bargain fares
that have made Atlantic crossings a popu
lar experience.
Pan American Airways has suggested
lower tariffs between the United States
and the South Pacific, and Continental
Airlines is prepared to compete with an
inexpensive link from California to Syd
ney.
Sir Freddie Laker, the cut-rate pioneer,
would like to offer the same sort of no-frill
services that he runs across the Atlantic,
while British Airways, which cooperates
with Qantas, has been talking about re
duced fares to London.
These are the longest commercial flights
on earth. The 13,000 miles connecting
Sydney and London, for example, takes
about 24 hours, depending on whether the
aircraft makes two or four stops. The trip
between Sydeny and San Francisco, non
stop, is 12 hours.
Pan American’s recent proposal to cut
some of its fares by 10 percent was re
jected by the Australian government as
“not in the public interest. ” An earlier Pan
Am proposal for a 25 percent cut was also
rebuffed.
MANY AUSTRALIAN TRAVELERS,
who pay some of the world’s highest fares
for domestic as well as international trips,
were somewhat puzzled by the govern
ment’s judgment that lower rates are
against the public interest. There has been
no lack of understanding over the govern
ment’s hesitation to move on reductions.
It is under pressure from the local
tourist industry, which is deploying its
considerable political influence to oppose
changes that might prompt Australians to
take their vacations abroad.
An overseas exodus woidd be a likely
result of airline fare cuts, since internal
flights and hotel rooms here are so expen
sive that Australians get better holiday
package value by flying to such nearby re
sorts as Bali, New Caledonia and New Zea
land.
AT THE SAME TIME, the govern
ment is seeking to protect Qantas, which
could find itself confronted by stiff compe
tition if all the airlines servicing Australia
went into the cut-rate business.
Pan American, formerly the only U.S.
airline that flew to Australia, was un-
doubtely inspired to propose reduced
fares after Washinton approved a second
route to the South Pacific for Continental,
a company based in Los Angeles.
If both the American carriers were per
mitted to sell bargain tickets, Qantas
might be faced with empty seats and de
clining profits—even though travelers
would welcome the lower costs.
Laker, meanwhile, is shaking up the es
tablishment in his customary manner by
seeking Australian government endorse
ment for a Skytrain service between Aus
tralia and Britain that would run some 40
percent lower than the present fare.
Here again, the government is stalling
on its response, contending that it is con
ducting its own fare structure studies in
order to estimate the prospects for re
duced Qantas rates.
ALL THIS IS TESTING the patience of
the Australian public, which would like to
get into step with the rest of mankind, so
both the Laker and Pan American fare
proposals are gathering wide support.
Not long ago, for instance, the conserva
tive Sydney Morning Herald accused the
government of “blatant delaying tactics” in
postponing decisions on fare cuts, and
urged it to “face the challenge of a com
petitive market place.”
The chances are that the government
will concede sooner or later, and that
lower air tariffs will be okayed. But Austra
lia will still be a long way off, and getting
there and back will take a hard day’s night.
(Shaw, a columnist for the Sydney Sun,
j writes on current affairs in Australia.)
Top of the News
Campus
Research symposium slated
Texas A&M University is sponsoring the Olin E. Teague National
Science Policy Symposium Sept. 16 at which research-oriented gov
ernmental, educational, industrial and agricultural leaders will at
tempt to define solutions for practical implementation of national
policies affecting science. The symposium will be held in Rudder
Theater beginning at 1 p.m. Symposium attendance is open to the
public without charge.
Local
A&M dinner to honor Teague
U.S. House Majority leader Jim Wright and Oliver Meadows, former
veterans affairs official, will be among the key speakers at the Sept. 16
“Salute to Tiger Teague ” at Texas A&M University. Each speaker will
focus on a major segment of the life and work of retiring U.S. Rep.
Olin E. Teague, said Texas A&M President Jarvis E. Miller, co-
chairman of the committee planning the appreciation dinner. Leon
Jaworski, prominent Houston attorney who led the federal govern
ment’s Watergate and Koreagate prosecution forces, was announced
as master of ceremonies. The dinner is set for 7:30 p.m. at Duncan
Dining Hall. The dinner is open to the public. Tickets, priced at $25
each, are on sale at financial institutions throughout the 6th Congres
sional District or may be ordered by contacting Steve Pringle, Box
OET, College Station, Tx. 77840.
State
Tugboat saves carrier in Gulf
A commercial tugboat from Corpus Christi went to the aid of a bulk
carrier 85 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico that was disabled by a fire in
the engine room Monday . The fire broke out Sunday night aboard
the M. V. Maritime Hawk. It was placed under control Monday morn
ing without injuries, the Coast Guard spokesman said. The Coast
Guard cutter, Durable, reached the scene about two hours after the
fire started and aided crew members in firefighting efforts. The blaze
was contained in the engine room.
Nation
U.S. Pact signed with Zaire
The Agriculture Department announced Monday in Washington that
a sales agreement has been signed with Zaire to provide the African
nation with $18 million of American wheat, flour, rice, tobacco, and
cotton. Fred Welz, acting general sales manager for the department,
said the convertible local currency credit agreement signed last Fri
day calls for the sales of $6.4 million of wheat and wheat flour or about
50,000 metric tons. In addition it includes $4.6 million of rice, S4
million of tobacco , and $3 million of cotton. Sales will be made by
private U.S. traders. The department said Zaire announced plans at
the signing to carry out agricultural self-help measures with emphasis
on contributing directly to development progress in poor rural areas
and enabling the poor to participate actively in small farm agricul
ture. It also provides budgetary support for Zaire’s Agricultural Serv
ice and staff for vocational schools and training and for agricultural
credit efforts. Programs of the North Shaba Rural Development
Project also are to be augmented.
Conservation needed for loans
The Agriculture Department announced Monday in Washington that
rural electric cooperatives will be required to develop energy conser
vation programs to obtain government loans or loan guarantees. As
sistant Agriculture Secretary' Alex Mercure said the department’s
Rural Electrification Administration will require more than 900
cooperatives to assign fulltime personnel to assist consumers in using
electric energy in the most efficient manner. Mecure said the deci
sion on what types of conservation measures to implement will be left
up to the individual
World
Soyuz 31 links with Salyut 6 lab
Two Soyuz 31 cosmonauts who linked up with a manned Salyut 6
space lab arrived bearing gifts of books, newspapers, watches and one
stuffed bear. Soviet cosmonaut Valeri Bykovski and East German
“cosmonaut researcher” Sigmund Jaehn docked Sunday with the
space station at 12:38 a.m. EDT Sunday. “I’ve brought presents for
our friends,” Jaehn said after floating into the small station. Then
Bykovski passed him boxes of goodies through the open hatch from
Soyuz 31. The two cosmonauts, Alexander Ivanchenkov and Vladimir
Kovalenok have been aboard the station for 71 days.
Weather
Cloudy skies with cooler temperature towards the weekend.
Showers or thundershowers expected. High today near 90s
and low in the low 70s. Wind is invariable. Probability of rain
30% today, tonight and Wednesday.
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