Slouch
By Jim Earle
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SLOUCH
26 YEARS & 3,200 CARTOOHS
Opinion
Texas promising
The Lone Star State must still be a promised — or at least
promising — land.
Thousands of people are migrating here each month.
A survey by Belden Associates of Dallas for the Texas
Daily Newspaper Association illustrates this phenomenon.
The report said between 22,000 and 24,000 people are
moving to Texas each month. That’s enough people for a
good-sized town.
The survey, which sampled 1,006 Texans early this year,
found population has increased 69 percent since 1950 and
now hovers around 13 million.
That’s the third largest population in the country — and
growing.
j
Honesty doesn’t pay
Rep. Leon Panetta (D., Calif.) not only is a man of princi
ple but he is willing to make personal sacrifices in support of
his convictions.
The congressman opposed the last two pay increases
Congress voted itself and although he could use the money,
he has been systematically returning to the U.S. Treasury
for the past 2 1 /2 years the difference between the current pay
scale and the salary which prevailed when he was first
elected in 1976.
Panetta says he does not oppose higher pay for Congress
but objects to the devious manner in which it has gone about
getting the increases. The congressman sadly admits there
are only a few members of the House who feel as strongly as
he does. And what a pity that is.
Boston Herald American
the small society
by Brickman
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The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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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
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.
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-
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as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
am]
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
November 15, 1979
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If Reagan expects to win
he must meet campaign c
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By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — And now ... Ronald
Reagan.
The parade of challengers reaches it
logical climax this week when the former
California governor steps forward to claim
his position at the head of the Republican
field.
Reagan is the legitimate GOP front
runner, not just because the polls says so,
but because a remarkable number of the
party’s activists and faithful have been
working and waiting for a dozen years now
to make him their nominee.
No one has a bigger following, or a better
organization, among those who are likely to
attend Republican caucuses and vote in
Republican primaries than he does.
There are three questions that will de
termine whether Reagan can sustain his
current favorite’s position and nail down
the nomination early, as his reflective
young manager, John P. Sears, believes he
can. (Sears’ faith is attested by his willing
ness, as long ago as March of 1978, to bet
reporters that the name of the 1980 Repub
lican nominee would be known before the
Democratic nomination battle was
finished.)
The questions are of ascending order of
importance. The first is whether Reagan
can avoid being tagged as a far-right ex
tremist. The answer is almost certainly yes.
That tactic has been tried against him by
every major opponent. Republican and
Democratic, since his first race for gov
ernor in 1966, and it has not worked.
Reagan is a card-carrying conservative, but
he has never been a hater or a screamer,
and at his age, he is not about to become
The second question is his age — 68. He
is plainly old to be running for President,
but whether he is too old is not a question
subject to long debate. The one virtue this
crazy system of 35 presidential primaries
possesses is that it surely tests a candidate’s
physical and emotional stamina.
If Reagan is able to campaign effectively,
day after day, as he did in 1976, without
faltering, no one will be able to make a
plausible argument that he is too old to be
President. Conversely, if he falters and
loses his focus, there will be no disguising
it, and his position as front-runner will
crumble.
Either way, there will be little room left
for argument as the campaign proceeds.
The third question will be the hardest to
answer — and the most important: Is
Reagan the right man to be President at
this time?
John Sears understands the dimensions
of this question as well as anyone in Amer
ica. He said the other day that the polls
show Reagan has credibility as a national
leader in part because of his success in
eight years as governor of California, and,
in larger part, because of his effectiveness
as a public speaker.
But, Sears said, the repeated failures of
national leadership in the past decade have
focused the voters’ minds on the question
of a would-be President’s vision of the fu
ture, and his capacity to help achieve that
goal.
Sears’ concept is not at all distant from
that described by Sen. Edward M. Ken
nedy in his announcement speech last
week — “a forceful, effective presidency,
in the thick of the action, at the center of all
the great concerns our people share.”
But unlike Kennedy, Sears believes that
the Democratic party, historically the
activist party, has “run out of hopeful ideas
for the future,” thus adding to the voters’
sense of disquiet and pessimism.
It now falls to the GOP, he believes, to
nominate a leader who can, first of all, re
store the activist reputation that party en
joyed in its first half-century of life — but
has lost since 1932 — and, second, can
convince the country that a Republican
offers a positive vision of the future.
The visions Sears hopes Reagan can pro
ject is not a new welfare state, obviously.
1, a joint p
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sion Servi<
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orse Resea
d year of te
but a belief in America’s growtli
as described by Reagan’s most
recruit. Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.l
circle of economic and political
That vision was viewed skei
voters when Kemp and others
centerpiece of the 1978 Reputl
term campaign.
There is reason for skepticisinj
because in the past Reagan hasiKt|
activist, either in policy or admi
terms, and people rarely changes
at 68.
As a governor, Reagan wasbettt]
as a delegator of authority thanasi
gator of policy. In this cam]
more than in 1976, he has delej
traordinary authority to Sears,:
made the decision that Reagan
the other Republican candidates >ausagcs on
issues debates. jrandacrowc
That may be a sound tactic (c $Iurstfest? 1
runner, but it is a strange way fora: Kn, have it
to demonstrate his confidencetk ja Zeta son
didate has the intellectual and js Aggie Fal
vigor to lead a revival of his part | Fall Fest
nation. leds going
Leadership means more than. be Severely
risks, and if Reagan is the leade Sty membe
1980s Sears says he is, he oughla! m Fall Fest
be ready to meet the test of del; in the Brazo:
(c) 1979, The Washington PostCr K)r Road from
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High OPEC prices threaten world econo
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Last June when the OPEC oil cartel
boosted prices to 60 percent higher than at
the start of the year, it made a number of
pious pledges to consuming nations. All the
promises now have been cynically broken.
OPEC said none of its members would
sell oil for more than $23.20 a barrel this
year. It would try to work for “stability.”
And its member s would “limit transactions
in the spot market,” where oil not under
long-term contracts is sold.
OPEC has turned market stability into
chaos. Six of its 13 members have raised
their official prices above the $23.20 ceil
ing. And they have forced their contract
customers to buy at spot prices of up to $48
a barrel. About 30 percent of OPEC oil is
being sold on the spot market.
When the cartel meets Dec. 17, the soar
ing spot market prices no doubt will be
cited as justification of OPEC’s next jump
in official oil prices.
The price gouging threatens to tip the
world economy into recession, fuel more
inflation and push developing countries
further into poverty.
President Carter, who has been concilia
tory to the foreign oil monopolists, ought to
warn them strongly about the dangers of
causing recession in the industrial demo
cracies and suffering in the third
Whatever Carter says is likely
ignored because key OPEC member
ably Iran, Libya, and Iraq, are
anti-Western and secretly want totf
“imperalists” harmed. The United!
had better brace itself for had newit
cember and be ready to conserve 1
limit the damage.
Scripps-Howard Newspapers
Letters
Aggie says Iran ‘protest’ on campus
was ruined by senseless fanaticism
Editor:
As an American first, and an Aggie
second, I too am pretty upset about the
insults to American integrity and the hos
tile actions taken against us by the Iranian
government, enough to attend the protest
Wednesday in the Rudder Tower complex.
What actually occurred at this so called
“protest” were some activities that made a
mere mockery of American values and
ignored the Aggie traditions of level
headed and intelligent actions. Sure, one
or two people had relatively intelligent
arguments, but the majority of people
leaned toward the same senseless fanatic
ism emitted from Iranian protestors.
I really don’t think that the burning of a
Houston Chronicle with a photo of some
Iranians was very symbolic but was an ex
ample of the sophomoric attitudes preva
lent at A&M’s first protest.
Something is wrong when a majority of
the time was spent insulting President Car
ter by calling him very vulgar names, and
cursing the U.S. government for past acti
vities. It seems that the intention of the
protest was to voice our anger at the Iranian
government and terrorists, not our own
nation nor innocent Iranian students
attending A&M.
I was disappointed that only a small frac
tion of Ags attended, but even more so by
the many people that made a mockery of an
attempt to show the world that A&M isn’t a
passive and uncaring student body, but one
very patriotic and ready for action.
— Jeff Weston, ‘81
Editor’s note: This letter was accompanied
by four other signatures.
Energy proverb
Editor:
In the growing frenzy over energy
sources, we must remember that only
through conservation of all our natural re
sources, energy resources included, will
we sustain ourselves on an earth worth in
habiting.
An oriental proverb tells of a man whose
oven was magnificent, but so large that at
mid-winter his wood supply had been ex
hausted. Forced to burn first his furniture
and then his house to keep the oven going
in late winter he was left to the wind.
Of what value are the “magnificent
ovens” of this industrial, urban society,
that we must pay so dear a price as to, rape
our lands and poison our air and water to
feed them.
This house called Earth is not limitless.
Let us build smaller ovens.
— Robert Flinn, ‘81
area 2 (TMPA).
I would greatly appreciate itsi#
live in 428 Moses Hall (Phone 84^
Build the HELL outta bonfire!
— David W. Work*
Ag, ax part company
Tails over mid-Ut
Editor:
Last Sunday, my ax and myself sadly
parted.
I am sure that it was accidently picked up
by some good Ag on his way home.
It was a “plumb” ax (double bit) with a
sanded handle (red paint on the end). The
last time I saw, it was located in loading
Editor:
Now we know why A&M’s GPRii!
above Cougar High’s! Tail-mate!
priority over mid-terms!
As for being bit by Reveille, if
it off Kyle Field, she wouldn’t hav;
bit!
— Alicia Mclntoi
— Alena Sik
Thotz
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