Viewpoint
The Battalion Thursday
Texas A&M University September 14, 1978
Top of the News
Campus
Just investigate first
Students (or anybody else) just can’t trust anybody anymore ...
It’s a big rip-off. According to at least one local banker and the director of
the Better Business Bureau, students by the dozen are being taken in by
fast-talking magazine hustlers. It’s not illegal, but these solicitors take the
money and then don’t deliver the magazines.
Last year it was checkmate one. Students were being asked by these
solicitors to make their checks out to them instead of the company they were
representing, for one reason or another. But these “hard-working” salesmen
quickly went to local banks and cashed the checks before payment could be
stopped and the subscription cancelled.
However, this year, after some banks started requiring company identifi
cation for the quick cashing, a few hustlers started asking that checks be
made out for “cash.”
This effectively gives them immediate access to the money and makes it
almost impossible to stop payment on the check.
Students can protect themselves, and companies which do have a good
record, by checking out any doubts about a company with the Better Busi
ness Bureau FIRST.
Take the hint and investigate before investing. K. T.
Expert predicts labor shortage by 1990
By LeROY POPE
UPI Business Writer
NEW YORK — By 1990 the United
States will have a chronic labor shortage
instead of chronic unemployment, and the
quality and mix of workers will change
along with the employment pattern, a
General Electric Co. public issues consul
tant says.
The views of Ian Wilson, an Oxford
scholar, are contained in the autumn issue
of Advance Management Journal, pub
lished by American Management Associa
tions.
The coming decades also will see the
development of a college-educated work
ing class whose positive self-image will not
tolerate authoritarianism or organizational
rigidity in business.
Interestingly, Wilson thus contradicts
the direful predictions of novelists like
George Orwell (“1984”), and Kurt Von-
negut, Jr., about the future of the
economy and society in the English-
speaking world. Both wrote about very au-
Business
thoritarian societies masquerading as
“utopias.”
Wilson does say, though, that failure of
business leaders to “tune in to the values
and aspirations of prime working age
employees and reflect these in organiza
tional changes can lead to a politicizing of
the world of work and a loss of productivity
by alienating what will be the best-
Non-candidates off
and ... not running
■sctjtmmr.
educated work force in history.”
The political problems of recruiting and
maintaining a workforce likely will become
more complex no matter how well man
agement adapts to changing conditions,
Wilson said.
In predicting a chronic labor shortage
by 1990, Wilson said the growth of the
American labor force will peak around
1980 and slow dramatically after that. He
sees the growth rate of the work force
dropping from the 2 percent a year we
have become used to down to 1.1 percent
after 1985.
The growth in the teenage labor market,
a major factor in the present unemploy
ment rate, will disappear entirely by 1980
and there will be an actual drop in the
number of teenagers thereafter, Wilson
believes.
Wilson also predicts a relative drop in
the dramatic penetration of women into
the labor force, which some experts have
called the most revolutionary change in
several centuries. However, Wilson says
that women now in the work force are
likely to remain there longer.
Wilson also said trends indicate that the
proportion of working age males in the
population should rise to 58.5 percent by
1985. The last firm figure is 51.6 percent
for 1975.
Wilson bases this conclusion in part on
the biological fact there normally more
boys than girls are born so the cumulative
effect of the baby booms of recent years
will cause a bulge of males.
Even more important, Wilson believes
a bigger proportion of men than of women
will be entering the labor force. There will
be no absolute drop in the number of
women entering the labor force.
Wilson believes the erosion of the so-
called work ethic in the United States has
been exaggerated, and he predicts it will
remain a vital force in our society.
He said dislike for authoritarianism and
the rigid patterns of past employer-worker
relations often is mistaken for erosion of
the essence of the work ethic, the personal
commitment to, and pride and satisfaction
in work.
But he conceded that the work ethic
could be lost by a substantial degree if
employers, private and corporate, attempt
to live by rigid outmoded methods of re
cruiting, managing and motivating people.
He said finding better ways to motivate
workers is the biggest task facing business.
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The 1980 election is
still a good two years away and already the
“not runners” are out in force.
You see them everywhere — political
heavyweights and even a few
middleweights, in both parties, vigorously
not running for president.
Jerry Ford not-runs somewhere nearly
every week, usually at a golf tournament.
Ronald Reagan is another Republican reg
ular, showing up at political gatherings all
over the country to deny he is running.
The Tighter Side
On the Democratic side. Gov. Edmund
Brown of California has lately become an
active non-candidate of considerable sta
ture. But by all odds the current front
running not-runner is Sen. Edward Ken
nedy.
While I don’t have an accurate count, I
feel confident in saying that Kennedy has
been interviewed at least 800 times this
year on the subject of his not running.
And interest in his disclaimers are grow
ing every day.
Everywhere he goes he is asked about
his lack of presidential intentions. There
are frequent national polls pitting him in
trial heats against President Carter, the
memory of Elvis Presley and other promi
nent personages and phantoms. Each visit
to the magazine rack discovers yet another
article detailing his reasons for not run
ning.
Anyone adept at jumping to conclusions
might infer that Kennedy has a bit of a
credibility problem — that no matter how
many times he reaffirms his status as a
not-runner, many people remain uncon
vinced.
But I think it’s more of a communica
tions problem — that despite the multip
licity of disavowals on his part, many
people still aren’t getting the message.
I was talking to a communications ex
pert about this and he confirmed that na
tional politicians begin not running for
president earlier now than they once did.
“With so many other things competing
for the public’s attention, it takes that
much longer to make people aware that
you aren’t running,” he explained.
“If a non-candidate could use bum-
perstickers, posters and other traditional
political tools, you could make your posi
tion known fairly quickly. But those things
cost money and the Federal Election
Commission won’t provide any funds to
offset the expense of not running.
“So you are forced to rely on press con
ferences, newspaper interviews, television
talk shows and the like. All of which are
pretty unreliable.
“When you appear on a panel show, for
instance, there’s no guarantee that anyone
will ask whether you are getting into the
race. That makes it difficult to get yourself
firmly established as a bona fide noncandi
date.”
“I can see the problem,” I said. “What
happens if you wait too long not to run?”
“The others who aren’t running will be
so far ahead you won’t have a chance to
catch up.”
Slouch
by Jim Earle
“THIS TIGHTNESS ACROSS YOUR CHEST, THE FEELING OF
STRANGULATION, THE PRESSURE ON YOUR BACK, DOES IT
OCCUR WHEN YOU’RE NOT WEARING YOUR BACKPACK?”
Cancer war hot over
By AL ROSSITER JR.
UPI Science Editor
BOSTON — Children are winning
more battles with cancer than ever before,
but a specialist says the war will not be
won until scientists discover the causes of
the disease, still the leading killer of
youngsters.
Dr. Giulio J. D’Angio of Philadelphia
said no matter how good cancer treatment
becomes, cancer warriors must find out
how the disease starts so they can learn
how to prevent the seeds of cancer from
being sewn.
He told an opening session of a national
conference on childhood cancer that an
expanded army of scientists is needed “for
this last battle and preparations must be
made without delay so that it can be put
into the field.
“It is on these fronts that the really sig
nificant advances will be made.”
Nevertheless, the director of cancer
centers at Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospi
tal and the University of Pennsylvania said
major progress has been made in attacking
the disease.
“The outlook for the child with cancer
30 years ago was appalling,” D’Angio said
in a paper prepared for the meeting. “Ev
ery child with acute leukemia was dead
within weeks of the time of diagnosis and it
was a rare boy or girl with the so-called
‘solid’ tumors who survived.”
Now, he said, more than half the chil
dren stricken with leukemia survive for
more than five years “and others of the
implacable killers of yesterday are now
being fended off with increasing success. ”
D’Angio said the victories so far have
been achieved by teams of doctors and re
searchers carrying out their attack with
military precision.
“Highly-coordinated battle plans now
are drawn up by integrated staffs of sur
geons, radiation therapists and
chemotherapists; each move plotted in ad
vance and carried out with military preci
sion.”
With young cancer victims living
longer, he said increased emphasis is
being placed on the quality of survival,
and on the consequences years later of
radiation and chemical treatment that may
have damaged normal tissue as well as
tumors.
Although cancer is the number one kil
ler of children between the ages of 3 and
14, it is rare among children compared
with the incidence of cancer in adults.
The American Cancer Society, which is
sponsoring the three-day conference, es
timated that 6,000 news cases of childhood
cancer will be diagnosed in the United
States this year. An estimated 2,500 chil
dren will die of the disease this year.
About half the cancer deaths will in
volve children with leukemia, a cancer of
blood-forming tissues.
Tetter to the editor
Give us your gripes
Editor:
I would like to complain about the lack
of interesting, controversial letters to the
editor.
I enjoyed reading about shooting Paul
Arnett, Blue Jean day, sending people to
t.u. and all of the interesting topics of dis
cussion we had last year.
Maybe this problem is not the students’
fault.
Maybe someone needs to start a con
troversy.
Are we going to have to ask Paul Arnett
to return to start something, or are we, the
bright and intelligent Aggies, able to start
something for ourselves?
Come on folks, we need something to
write and complain about. Even if you like
everything, complain about the goodness
of the world.
—Nathan Hines, ‘80
N
Readers’ Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addi
tion to Letters to the Editor,
are welcome. All pieces sub
mitted to Readers’ forum
should be:
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 100 lines
J
TEES sponsors energy seminars
The Texas Energy Extension Service will sponsor two free home
energy seminars next week. Professors from Texas A&M University
will speak on “Solar Energy in the Home, ” next Tuesday and "Plan
ning an Energy Efficient New Home,” next Thursday. Each of the
lectures will be followed by a question and answer session. The lec
tures will be held at A&M Consolidated High School in Room 109
from 7-9 p.m.
and
State
Banks advertise to stop robbers
A recent increase in robberies has led Houston banks to publish a
quarter-page newspaper ad Wednesday offering a $5,000 reward for
information leading to arrests. The FBI said Harris County has had 44
bank or savings and loan robberies this year, five ahead of the total for
1977. Nineteen of these holdups have occurred since Aug. 1. The
latest robbery occurred Tuesday when $3,500 was taken from Texas
Commerce Bank. A disgusted Chief Barry Caldwell said afterward
that the score was “crooks-17, police-13.” He promised to improveon
that mark. The robbery was the bank’s third since Aug. 8.
Flash floods sweep San Antonio
Six inches of rain fell across the northern edge of San Antonio
Wednesday nad turned streets into rivers. The flash flooding began
around 5:30 a.m. and stranded scores of motorists on their way to
work. Firemen rescued people from 60 vehicles, including two city
buses which were stalled in high water. The body of Ray Towe, 61,
was retrieved from his submerged automobile about midmomingata
crossing of Salado Creek. His auto was swept off the road when he
was attempting to ford a low-water crossing.
Nation
Ford Motor Co. indicted in crash
Ford Motor Co. was indicted on reckless homicide and criminal
recklessness charges Wednesday. Ford was indicted in Goshen, Ind.
by an Elkhart County grand jury. The jury is investigating an Aug. 10
crash that killed three young women whose Ford Pinto was struck
from the rear by a van. Some safety experts say alleged fuel-system
design problems in the Pinto increase the possibility of explosion in
rear-end collisions.
Former first lady finds new face
“I’m 60 years old and I wanted a nice new face to go with my
beautiful new life,” former first lady Betty Ford said Wednesday. She
will undergo cosmetic surgery today. ‘T’ve thought of it before but
never had the time,” she said. Mrs. Ford said her husband thinks ifi
a “fine idea” but her children “thought it was silly of me to do.” Mrs.
Ford was admitted to the Eisenhower Medical Center in Maryland
on Wednesday. Her plastic surgeon is Dr. M. R. Mazaheri, she said.
Arkansas flood brings casualties
At least nine people were killed in heavy flooding in central Arkan
sas Wednesday. A 3-year-old Little Rock boy who had been rescued
with his family fell out of the rescue boat and drowned, police said.
Two other boys, 7 and 4, drowned when they were swept off a bridge
in Benton. Another lx>dy was recovered in southwest Little Rock.
Names of the victims were not available.
World
Fighting continues in Nicaragua
Nicaraguan government troops wiped out rebel resistance Wed
nesday and reopened Masaya, the nation’s fourth largest city. Red
Cross workers burned many bodies to prevent disease. Red Cross
officials say they do not know how many people died in the fighting.
Fighting was not finished in other sections of the country, however.
In Esteli, 80 miles north of Managua, rebels controlled half of the
town.
Colombia interior minister shot
Gunmen wearing soldiers’ uniforms shot and killed former Colom
bia Interior Minister Rafael Pardo Tuesday. Pardo was killed in his
Bogota home as he pedaled an exercise bicycle in his bathroom. The
two men forced their way inside Pardo’s home on the pretext they
had to inform Pardo of government security plans, the government
said. Pardo was in charge of police and public order as interior minis
ter during a nationwide strike in September, 1977. The Colombian
government said the assassination might be related to “subversive"
activities planned for the anniversary of work stoppage.
Weather
Cloudy and foggy becoming partly cloudy this after
noon and Friday. The high temperature will be in the
90s and the low in the mid-70s. Wind at 10 to 15 mph.
Probability of rain 20% for today and tomorrow.
The Battalion
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