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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1979)
Slouch by Jim Earle A/<H/ 5-79 “You see, when a beer advertises that it contains no nit- rosamines that may cause cancer, this is not to say that drinking beer will protect you against cancer. Are you fol lowing me?” Opinion Students really invited Administrators are serious about the invitation printed below. Two years ago, when Dr. Miller became president, a similar concert and reception was held. Not many students attended, but those who did were able to meet and talk briefly with the new president, other top administrators and the regents. In a school of 31,000 students, there are few chances to see the chancellor when he’s not officially doing something. But Thursday he’s officially meeting students. On behalf of Texas A&M University President and Mrs. Jarvis E. Miller invite you to a concert and reception honoring Chancellor and Mrs. Frank W. R. Hubert on Thursday, November 8, 1979 Concert, seven thirty o'clock in the evening Rudder Auditorium Reception, following, from nine until eleven o'clock Room 224, Memorial Student Center the small society by Brickman $oT l /W7(2& £>F A THAM A C0\\\/\crr(0[\ - ot5<^S ashington Star Syndicate. Inc //-s The Battalion U S P S 045 360 LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 3(X) 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. Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday Periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday hrough Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. 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 j 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, Rhonda Watters Photo Editor ...... .Lee Roy Leschper Jr. I Photographers Lynn Blanco, Sam Stroder, Ken Herrera Cartoonist Doug Graham , Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the ivriter 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 hy students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Viewpoint cai The Battalion Texas A&M University Monday November 5, 1979 Analysis Metal detector manufacturer profit! from Australia’s modern gold rush n By JOHN SHAW International Writers Service SYDNEY — People around the world are currently paying record prices for gold. But here in Australia, the boom has sparked a massive rush to prospect for the precious metal. With the summer season in this hemi sphere just starting, many families are planning to spend their vacations in quest of gold rather than fishing or surfing. Num bers are already digging on weekends at sites only a few hours from the major cities. A factor in the rush is the Australian unemployment rate of 7 percent, the high est in a generation. This has prompted droves of jobless workers to take to the hills in search of gold. Australian mining companies, also in fected by the fever, are now processing low-grade ores that were formerly ne glected as too expensive to handle. As a result, gold shares are soaring on stock ex changes here. Like other gold booms in the past, this one may soon bust. At the moment, though, the dream of hitting bonanzas has captured the public imagination, and some Australians have actually struck it rich. Within recent months, for example, one young couple has found $33,000 worth of gold digging in the desert near the tiny town of Cue, in the western part of the continent. The population of the town, 300 in normal times, has doubled since the dis covery. The biggest single strike so far has been a nugget valued at $110,000, found at a place called Hill End, in New South Wales. It was near there that the first Australian gold rush began more than a century ago. Perhaps the oddest discovery has been that of a family that, during a weekend picnic, picked up a chunk of quartz contain ing $11,000 worth of gold. The biggest beneficiary of the boom here has been an Arizona-based company. Bounty Hunter, Inc., which is selling metal detectors to Australians as fast as the gadgets can be shipped across the Pacific. The detectors, which resemble those used by the military to spot mines, are powered by batteries and sell for prices ranging from $100 to $700. They have transformed prospecting from an amateur to a professional activity. Instead of panning the sand of stream beds, for instance, those in search of gold now tackle huge heaps of “mullock, ” the discarded earth and rock thrown aside at abandoned mines. Prospectors can also cover large areas rapidly with their elec tronic devices. Ralph Goodwin, the Australian importer of the metal detectors, is so confident that the gold rush will last that he has urged the American manufacturer to expand its pro duction. Australia, like California, very much owes its existence to gold, which was first discovered here in commercial quantities in 1851. The man who pioneered the effort, Edward Hargraves, was an English-born prospector who had failed to strike pay dirt in California during the famous gold rush there a couple of years earlier. In the decade after Hargraves made his pile, the population of Australian trebled to one million, many of the immigrants arriv ing with pick and shovel in hopes of getting rich quick. Big mining firms moved in during the years that followed. One of their mines, located near the remote western town of Kalgoorlie, was managed fora young American engineer by( Herbert Hoover. Though the early gold feve Australians never quite gave up for the precious metal. Those old gold fields like Ballarat am have long spent their weekem ing, or panning for nnggetsin I he new detectors, some of sensitive enough to spotadime- of gold buried a f(X)t deep, have duced modern technology to lieen a primitive art. Predictably, the newspap chronicle gold finds the waytl sweepstake winners. Sou, suggested, a bit facetiously, thattl ployment problem might he solve ing the jobless gold detectorsral welfare compensation. The glitter of gold for Austn fade, as it has before. In the i however, it is captivating thisi much as it is the rest of them By i There art ers in Br ;rk Fran ait 3,000 Joriskie er tunic at electii Nov. 6 •post ions ftfe fir; endmen aries pu te. They int\ cler Propositi islative emaking Hepart The thirc kge ■ Shaw, an Australian nvwspq nist, writes on current affairtk Eg A rugge. vei tisme cause th; WPP /Okay, Mr. dicker, Wfe ephis attention, ^Nbvnchat? g consul wier on Btiolog ■ us, l /sthat atl siness aduct sal ‘We qui Bears f ing didn it more Hs Me? rsit s D KNeal Bed hy If-Sacrilic the adv ents such • it my w unber or hy not. In the ore aboi an; soeiet ihe ‘me ive alway 'ft ion,” ist, social it express icouragec “Apparei ety have < .'en enco id egocen In the “a; ress is or do it he at the “I i viewed ys the in Dick West Q and A’s inform curious consm what is inflationary and what isn\ By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Recent develop ments on the economic front seem to have left some consumers confused as to what is inflationary and what is deflationary. Perhaps the following atecism will help raighten out their thinking: Q. Are record-high oil prices inflationary r deflationary? A. Oil price increases are viewed by most economists as a prime contributor to infla tion. Q. Well, if oil price increases are infla tionary and the administration is trying to curtail inflation, why did President Carter decontrol oil prices, thus permitting them to go higher? A. If oil prices go high enough, they will eventually become deflationary. The theory is that people will have to spend all of their money on gasoline, thus causing the rest of the economy to deflate. Q. What about record-high interest rates? A. Interest rate increases are considered deflationary. Q. You seem to be saying that when the oil companies gouge us it is inflationary, but when the banks stick it to us it is de fationary. What’s the difference? A. Banks do not loan their own money. In effect, they lease money from depositors and sub-let it to borrowers. Technically, therefore, interest is another form of rent. Q. But aren’t rent increases inflationary? A. Not as a rule. Usually, wk inreases reach the inflationary lei landlords convert the property! dominiums. Q. H ow do wage increases figuitj A. Wage increases that exceetf guidelines are regarded as inflatioi Q. What about the guidelinei] selves? A. Since the wage-price guidelia had no apparent impact on thei they are neither inflationary nori nary. They are merely flationary. Letters Cyclists fight back: ‘Objective rider worried he is an endangered species Editor: The way things are going, the next time Silver Taps are played, John Q. Bike rider will be among the list of the deceased. There is a growing faction on campus (i.e. edgy pedestrians) that would like to add Shwinus Bikus to the extinct species list. Being a non partisan, objective bike rider myself I thought I would lend a little perspective to this growing concern (that ranks right up with the Great MSG Grass Debate). I am saddened by the days of old when I could ride my bike with “wild abandon” on campus. It was exhilarating to match man and machine against split second timing and to make instant judgment calls. The excitement of barrelling down unmerci fully on scrambling, screaming coeds. The sense of power I got when I would see my next victim cringe in terror. The insane pleasure I would ... Ulp! Where was I? Oh yes. I’m just a non-partisan, con cerned, objective bike rider who would like to lend a little perspective to this issue. I have never hit a pedestrian, but a few have thrown themselves under my' bicycle. I suspect that since it is harder to throw oneself off of Rudder Tower, more and more students are throwing themselves under the nearest high speed bicycle. Poor, misguided chaps, but I feel I am help ing society by putting them out of their misery. They have such sweet smiles on their faces. Anyway, bikers need only to use a little caution and temperance and the problem will be drastically reduced. I found that if I anticipate for what’s up ahead I have no difficulty. Especially crowded areas or blind comers should be approached with decreased speed and a wary eye. Keeping hands on the brakes at tricky spots will bail you out of difficult situations. This campus is very large and I m not ready to give up my bicycle, yet. I for one will not become another casualty statistic, so I drive defensively. — Mark Singleton Use warning bells Editor: In the light of several recent attacks on all bicyclists printed in your paper, I would like to rebut. Firstly, nobody to date has been killed in a bike-bike, or bike-pedes trian accident. Cars kill people, and we’ve had plenty of that in College Station. Usual bike-related injuries include cuts and scrapes and occasional broken bones ... like pinkies. Nothing major, I’m sure. We are not out to bit pedestrians, in fact many of us try very hard to avoid it. I use a bell, or a yell to warn a clot of people to move one foot to either side, because I am not armored and can be hurt just as easily as they can. I do not consider myself respon sible for those who refuse to look where they’re going and walk suddenly in front of me, nor for those who deliberately look at me and then block the way. Many off-campus students need their bikes to get to class. Yet, when they get here, they find street bike lanes frequently blocked by inconsiderate clods who try and squeeze in a parking place where there is none. Also, tried to walk from Kleburg to Zachry lately? It can’t be done in less than 15 minutes. Don’t suggest the shuttle-bus for either situation — the joke shows. The only thing to do is to bike, frequently on sidewalks. Perhaps these should be marked off into bike-ped routes, so that collisions could be minimized? Or peds could simply acknowledge the presence of gas-saving bikes and watch out for them at intersections on campus? If we must have a rule, make all bikers carry a hom or bell, and peds obey it. — John S. Snowden, ’79 — Margaret M. Galiano, ’81 busy ramps without having to people. There are also those people wl) look for cars when crossing a stif expect bicycles to stop or go aroundL It is much easier for a person to slow] step than it is to stop a bicycle, esp the rain. I think the solution is not poinS gers, but rather, everyone givingii and l>eing more considerate ofoth — Loretta $4 gas tax ludkn Use consideration Editor: There are always going to be traffic prob lems when people, whether they ate walk ing, driving or bicycling, act as if they have exclusive rights to the campus. Cyclists are not the only inconsiderate people on campus. There are those people who walk down the ramps that are for wheelchairs and bicycles when they could easily step over a curb. It is hard enough for all the bicycles to get up and down certain Editor: J.K. Galbraith’s ideaofa$4-5tax« gallon of gas is ludicrous. Whatourtf needs is decontrol of oil and prices. Naturally the price of gas will and then the American people can waf R. H. Reviere suggested. However, this tax is another exai ultra-liberals who only want to taxi out of Americans. Reviere errs belief that taxes will ultimately soli] gas dependence. Only if we increase production! U.S., will our problems be allevialsj this tax does is fatten up the goven bloated bureaucracy and encoun flaming liberals to spend more for girt welfare programs. — Richard Leoml