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by Jim Earle
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79
‘'Was that your can of shaving lather that exploded?’
Opinion
Seabrook: bad news
on both sides
The weekend brawling at the construction site of the
nuclear power plant in Seabrook was a noisy, unwise, and
unnecessary fiasco that didn’t do anything for the reputa
tion of the protesters or the police.
The protesters, in attempting to force their way onto
private property in defiance of the law and civilized con
duct, gave the anti-nuke movement a black eye.
And the police, in using clubs, Mace, tear gas and fire
hoses indiscriminately, did likewise to the law-and-order
doctrine of using reasonable force to quell disturbances.
That was not civil disobedience at Seabrook. It was at
tempted breaking and entering, and the police and Na
tional Guardsmen posted inside the fences the protesters
sought to breach were justified in resorting to reasonable
force to repel them.
But what they did do in many cases went beyond what
was needed to protect private property. Too many of them
appeared to take the opportunity to wallop or prod protes
ters with their clubs, to squirt Mace when it was in no way
necessary, to shatter gas masks, knock people around with
blasts of water from fire hoses, to drag, pull, and push those
who did not move fast enough to satisfy them.
Some of those Maced and manhandled happened to be
news photographers and reporters who were there not to
protest, but to do a job. The credentials they displayed
prominently — which had been issued by the New Hamp
shire National Guard — did not deter some cops from
letting them have it.
The tactics used by the police and Guardsmen ought to
be investigated by Gov. Gallen of New Hampshire.
Boston Herald American
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by Brickman
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The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
LETTERS POLICY
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Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The
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hrough Thursday.
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United Press International is entitled exclusively to the
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it.
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved.
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone
News Editors Karen Cornelison
and Michelle Burrowes
Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun and
Doug Graham
Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy
Andersen, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver,
Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt
Allen, Debbie Nelson
Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Photographers Lynn Blanco, Sam
Stroder, Ken Herrera
Cartoonist Doug Graham
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 Battalion is a non-profit, self-
supporting enterprise operated by students
as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
October 11, 1979
Analysis
Are French execs really deprived,
or do they just hide their wealth?
am
nt
By JACQUELINE GRAPIN
International Writers Service
PARIS — Grumbling is a French na
tional trait, and corporate executives here
are no exception to the rule. But despite
their complaints, they do well compared
to company managers in most other coun
tries.
Not that their incomes match those of
big American businessmen, many whom
regularly report salaries, bonuses, stock
options and other benefits of a million or
more dollars per year.
On the average, though, the French are
better off than their West German coun
terparts. And they are far ahead of the
British, who are in an underprivileged
class.
French executives gripe a good deal,
however, because they consided them
selves to be caught in a squeeze between
pressure from the government and from
the labor unions.
They contend on the one hand that the
government’s freeze on salaries, part of its
current drive against inflation, blunts their
incentive to work harder. At the same
time, they argue, the unions constantly
harass them for being overpaid.
One of their major frustrations, though
they cannot express it publicly, is that they
cannot easily fatten their incomes through
tax dodging, as self-employed professional
men do.
Their salaries are relayed directly to au
thorities, while doctors, lawyers and other
professionals make their own declarations.
As a consequence, taxes paid by French
executives as a group account for more
than 40 percent of France’s revenues from
income taxes.
Executives here also lament the bigger
and bigger bites from their paychecks for
various social security deductions. But in
fact, they are not as hard hit as their col
leagues in other coutries.
A French executive who earns the
equivalent of $40,000 per year, for exam
ple, takes home 76 percent of his wage. An
American, in contrast, keeps 73 percent
and the benighted British manager only 49
percent.
What the directors of French companies
actually make is very difficult to ascertain,
since the subject of individual salaries is so
secret that even stockholders of a corpora
tion cannot probe its mysteries. There is
nothing here like the annual hit parade of
top U.S. earners published by Business
Week, the American magazine.
This may reflect the Catholic tradition
in Latin societies, which somehow regards
money as evil. It also mirrors the very real
French obsession with privacy, and it cer
tainly stems from a fear of being perse
cuted by tax collectors.
Nevertheless, experts here estimate
that the senior directors of the largest
French firms earn between $165,000 and
$500,000 per year, depending on their
rank. For all companies, the range runs
from $45,000 to $120,000 per year.
The sectors that pay the best are the
food, pharmaceutical and steel industries
as well as banks and insurance companies.
A diploma from one of the great French
academies, like Polytechnic, is also a
passport to affluence.
The gap between salaries within a com
pany can be dramatic, as are the wage dif
ferentials between companies.
A junior executive in a very big corpora
tion, for instance, earns only a tiny fraction
of his boss’s salary. And a young manager
who may be getting only $25,000 per year
in one company could be making five
times more performing the same job in a
more prosperous firm.
The equalizer in many cases are prereq
uisites like expense accounts, company
cars, special retirement plans and
which are hidden forms of incoi
have the advantage of eluding ||
authorities.
A recent study undertaken
European subsidiary of the Ai
Management Association, forii
shows that more than 60 percentof[|
executives rely on company cars
sonal use, a privilege worth nearly
per year.
According to the study, a si[
proportion live in homes provided
firms, and employ servants paidIj
companies. Numbers also re
interest-free loans to buyhousesoi
ments, and other camouflagedrem
tion includes vacation bonuses.
With all this, it seems to me
standard of living is considerably
than they like to admit — esy
France, where it is in bad taste k
about wealth.
So many executives here areh
French in that they are really
conforming to the national incliaaifl
moan and groan, portray themse;
deprived.
Ms. Grapin writes on economit
for Le Monde, the French daily,
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DICK WEST
Let’s celebrate the ’29 market crash
by throwing a Black Tuesday party
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By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — On Monday, Oct.
29, America will observe the 50th anniver
sary of the 1929 “Black Tuesday” stock
market crash.
Although the Smithsonian Institution is
opening a special exhibit in honor of the
occasion, that sort of commemoration
doesn’t seem quite festive enough. A
celebration this momentous calls for a
party, and it isn’t too early to start making
plans.
One of the nice things about having a
Black Tuesday party is that you can pay off
a good many social obligations with rela
tively little expense.
Since the ’29 Wall Street panic is gener
ally credited with precipitating the Great
Depression, all sorts of bargain rate
entertainment possibilities suggest them
selves.
For decorations, all you need do is
drape the premises with replicas of the
famous Variety headline: “Wall Street
Lays an Egg.”
As for food, Mr. and Mrs. Clever Host
and Hostess will want to duplicate as
closely as possible one of the famous “soup
kitchens” of that era.
For dessert, set up a card table on a
simulated street comer and sell apples for
a nickel apiece.
For party favors, pass around confetti
made out of old ticker tape.
Since 1929 was a prohibition year, serve
only 3.2 beer. If your beverage dealer
doesn’t carry anything that impotent, a
reasonably accurate facsimile can be
created by pouring one of the modern
“light” beers into a pitcher and mixing it
with equal parts of water.
Should any of the guests desire some
thing stronger, require them to “bootleg”
their own in hip flasks, or else buy it at a
“speakeasy” you have set up in the bath
room, complete with a tub full of gin and a
couple of corrupt aldermen.
To add to the fun, make it a costume
party.
Male guests can dress in Salvation Army
handouts or military uniforms of the type
worn by the troops who broke up the
“Bonus March” on Washington. Women
guests can come as “flappers” with short
skirts, rolled-down stockings, bobbed hair
and rouged knees.
The most vivid mental picture ml
of Black Tuesday is that of financiers!
ing out of brokerage office window
stock exchange district. A symh
enactment undoubtedly would i
grand climax to your party.
If you don’t happen to know an)]
Street magnates personally, asks
your friends to impersonate final
ruined tycoons. Position them
piano or refrigerator and have tl
off as the jazz band you have hiredi|
evening plays “Brother, Can You-'5j
Dime.”
If the timing is right, older gu
relive the economic collapse i
younger ones will experiencl
vicariously. Either way, a good tinj
be had by all.
Letters
Student says stadium must be safe IQ*
because builders must follow codes
Editor:
In reference to R. Christian Harris’ let
ter which appeared in Monday’s Battalion:
We realize you are concerned about the
welfare of the spectators at the football
game Saturday, but we feel that a few
points need to be clarified.
In the first place, H.B. Zachry is an old
Ag and he wants Kyle Field finished just as
much as we do. Secondly, he is a qualified
engineer and would not be where he is
today if he built faulty structures. And
more importantly, Zachry does not control
the weather and he’s doing the best he can
given the circumstances.
As for Coach Bellard, that matter is ir
relevant to the renovation of Kyle Field.
Stress in people and stress in buildings are
incomparable. Granted there will be a re
markable amount of stess on the columns
of Kyle Field; however, builders are sub
ject to federal building regulations and
safety codes, and competent persons are in
charge of the renovation.
In closing, nobody is forcing you to at
tend the game. You are welcome to sit at
home and listen to the game on the radio.
— Autumn Brown, ’80
Dirkson. This man spent nine years in the
military, witnessing the gruesomeness of
battle. But he lost his tolerance to adver
sity and threw up after witnessing, right
before his very eyes, the reluctance of an
administrator to display weapons in the
MSG. Well, Joe, I hope you’re feeling bet
ter now. And if it’s any consolation, I think
you had a good point buried somewhere in
your outburst.
But if you’re going to criticize war, and
killing, and guns, you can’t brag about
them at the same time. You mockingly say
that the “little tin soldiers” here are “afraid
of big bad guns, ” but you seem to abhor
the violence associated with them. Well, I
wish more people weren’t so damned
casual about big guns and nuclear missiles
— national leaders and terrorists included.
So the MSC was dedicated to the brav
ery of Aggies who died in war, but doesn’t
condone pride in weapons or war itself.
There is an admittedly fine line of distinc
tion, but I think it should be emphasized
whenever possible.
In agreeing with your point,)
merely differ with your methods 1 6
feel that people should be more i fitf
the utter horror of organized' 1
murder. But don’t publicize, as you!
“the little toys of war.’ Public® ; |
tragedy, the pain, and the lossofsoiw
that was loved very much at home ]
had the misfortunate opportunity top
he wasn’t afraid of big guns.
— Kyle Scarborougt
THOTZ
by Doug Graham
You cant do both
Editor:
This letter is in reference to that of Joe
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FOUND MY l.Q. IS 50% ABOVE