age 6
THE BATT7
MONDAY, MARC
Lunch
C. K. Krumbottz serves
of sandwiches, burgers, s
super salad bar Join u
2 p.m Mon through Fri.
Our super I
spread of n
and get Vi f
VISA
815
Harvey Roac
C5.
Sams
WE’RE LO 1
POWER F
MONTH FC
HAVE DEC
YOU CAN
WRITE:
WE’LL I
NOT INTE
GINEERIf
A U.S. N/
the small society
by Brickman
xlLst
THAT^ F/Lt^P
WITH 6C&P
N&W'Z -
TJ-ST fZpAP THE
APv'&ZT&EMEHTZ -
Washington Star Syndicate. Inc.
Opinion
DOE is causing shortage
Gasoline lines are back — in Florida, Southern California,
parts of Alabama, and a few other areas.
But there is no gasoline shortage. In fact, supplies are the
largest in two years. And because of high prices and more
fuel-efficient cars on the road, demand for gasoline is down.
So why the lines? The answer is our old friend the Depart
ment of Energy, which made the 1973-74 shortage worse
than it had to be, which helped produce last spring’s long
lines and which apparently plans to repeat its triumphs.
The department hasn’t learned yet how to allocate gaso
line effectively. It seems beyond DDE s wit, if that is the
right word, to get extra supplies to tourist meccas and places
that have had fast population growth, like Florida and
Southern California.
Industry sources say, and some candid souls at DOE
admit, that the department s cumbersome allocation system
prevents ample gasoline supplies from reaching markets
that need them.
Not that the Energy Department isn’t worried about the
problem. Why, it has named a task force to study the
system, and, says one member, “We hope to finish by June
1.” Lord knows how much of the country will be embroiled
in gasoline lines by then.
Scripps-Howard Newspapers
Oil profits out of control
A subcommittee of the House, pointing to industry profit
margins on diesel and heating oil of 700 percent or so last
year, claims heating oil and diesel fuel consumers were
charged $3 billion more than government guidelines
allowed in 1979, and that the trend is continuing. This was
followed by demands that federal price controls be restored
— something that is not likely to happen.
Government attempts to keep oil profits within reason
have failed. The Department of Energy recently decided
not to pursue home heating oil overcharges of a penny a
gallon, which have been going on for more than three years,
reasoning that the amount is “insignificant. ” True, a penny a
gallon doesn’t sound like much when heating oil on Cape
Cod is at $1 a gallon and climbing, but the total represents
something like $1 billion worth of extra money for the oil
companies, a figure that is well beyond the peanuts stage.
While the return to price controls might sound tempting,
the resulting stabilization of gasoline prices would very like
ly encourage an acceleration in use — after the motorist
became accustomed to gas at $1.24 or so a gallon.
But the profit margins enjoyed by the oil producers ex
ceeds the federal anti-inflation limits of 13.8 percent, mak
ing inflation-fighting controls seem ludicrous. The pet
roleum industry claims it’s politics, but the fact is that a
windfall profits tax has become mandatory.
Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
LETTERS POLICY MKMHKR
Lett<rs to the editor should not exceed 3(X) words and are J cxas * 11 ss • XMK
■H.bjrrt to b, inu I til to that Inrnlh or r Th. N„u.h«osl J»um..l.sm < <.n*ros
editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letttrs and does Editor Roy Bragg
TH ’’"T ^ T'! Associate Editor ’.' ’ Keith Taylor
stgned, show the address of the unter and lust a telephone .
number for rerif,cation News Editor^ Rusty Cawley
Address correspondente to Letters to the Editor. The Asst. News Editor Karen Comelison
Battalion. Room 216, Reed McDonald Building. College Copy Editor Dillard StOllO
station. Texas Sports Editor Mike Burrichter
Represented nationally by National Educational Adver- FOCUS Editor Rhonda Watters
tising Services, Inc.. New York City. Chicago and Los
City Editor Louie Arthur
„ „ , , .. Campus Editor Diane Blake
The Battalion is published Monday through Fridas from .
ieptember through May except during exam and holiday Stall Writers Nancy Andersen,
x-rtods and the siimnu-r. when it is published mi Tuesdav Tricia Brunhart, Angelique Copeland,
hrough Thursday. Laura Cortez, Meril Edwards,
Carol Hancock, Kathleen McElroy,
Mail subscriptions an- *16.75 per semester. m25 per Debbie Nelson, Richard Oliver,
school year; *35.00 per tull year. Advertising rates furnished Tim Sager, Steve Sisney,
on reipiest. Address: The Battalion. Room 216. Reed Becky Swanson, Andy Williams
McDonald Build,ng. College Station Texas 77643 Chief Photographer Lynn BklllCO
United Press International is entitled exclusively to the i , o r 1
use for reproduc tion of all news dispatches cre dited to it Photographers . . Lee Roy Leschper,
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Steve C/lark, E(1 ClinniUS,
Second-Class postage paid a( College Station. TX , .843.
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
[oca
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Monday
March 17, 1980
3-17
Swedish social system is not
Th
be
as perfect as feminists think
By I
Spec
By AMILONNROTH
Feminists abroad often view Sweden as a
model society for women. But seen up
close, the system here has its flaws, espe
cially as Swedes change their attitudes to
ward the welfare state.
In theory, every Swedish political party
is committed to full equality for women —
meaning that they deserve the same rights
and responsibilities as men, both as work
ers and parents. In practice, though, that
objective has not been entirely fulfilled.
This is not to say that women have been
denied jobs. On the contrary, virtually the
total increase of the country’s labor force
during the last decade has been due to the
employment of women.
Swedish women today represent 45 per
cent of the nation’s labor force. In certain
sectors, such as child and health care admi
nistered under government auspices, they
hold more than 90 percent of the jobs.
This would seem, on the surface, to look
like a resounding success for the women’s
movement. But examined more carefully,
the apparent achievement must be consi
dered less noteworthy.
For what has been happening is that
women have been shifting from their role
as housewives and mothers to private or
public jobs in which they work under worse
conditions than they endured at home. Be
sides, they are given few possibilities to
influence the nature of their employment.
An extreme but significant illustration of
this situation can be observed in one of
Sweden’s most modern hospitals, where
the organization of labor has been copied
from the Volvo automobile factory.
In one part of the hospital, used beds roll
along an assembly line through a steam
room in which Turkish immigrant women
stand in the heat, disinfecting them.
Therefore, as Swedish sociologist Rita
Liljestrom has pointed out, the kinds of
jobs that women formerly performed at
home are becoming industrialized and thus
dehumanized.
TOUCH
ANfc YOU
TO JAIC,
YOU TURKEY
a paying job.
Where c
College Stat
sex, birth c
It should be emphasized as well that,
while more women are now working here
than ever before, they generally receive
lower wages than men. This is mainly due
to the fact that women, having entered the
labor market lately, have less skill and ex
perience than their male counterparts.
Under a recent law, fathers are autho
rized to take furloughs from their jobs in
order to share in the care of children. They
can also go on leave if their kids are sick.
But in fact, men are relucant to comprom
ise their careers by staying away from work,
and women usually end up with family
tasks in addition to their jobs.
A serious shortcoming in all this, it seems
to me, is that the effort to industrialize the
role of women is weakening the social net
work that once formed the core of the coun
try s collective culture. In other words, de
votion to children and old people is losing
its human dimension and instead becoming
A key question, conseifrpregnancies'
whether women merit tk fidentiality,
men, but whether their empbsafe and clea
to be determined merely! seling? Can I
of the market. This suggest pathetic list
and others submit, that the nature on rnor
work requires a new definilii Three cli
For a long time, it was ^Station are c
sexual equality could beread quirements.
eliminating the obstaclesthsteady stre
women from becoming fiilieiwomen don’
hers of the labor force. The and are unce
pinned much ofSweden ssofi-they provide
As far hack as 1939, fbresx At the W
ployers were prohibited froijn College
women because of marriage nigreeted by a
In 1955, women were given [a. named Case
leaves for six months after cl She has asm
that benefit was later extend and her voic
l>oth parents. n|hpathy an
An important reform inifcshe must us
gave women the right to file wIMWornen
come tax returns, therebyspunsjfomse you m
t‘.ini tlieir own wages. trust. VW're
Despite these changes, who they ca
complained that they could b Just a co
because there were notenoudNqrthgate is
and centers to care for theirdijyith a more
they worked. The govemmenined Parent!
expanding such facilities, bulfeThe recepti
short of the need. racks of five
But even if that aspect of fetrol informal
could be solved, women would;.sums up the
he saddled with household di Thy Pill,
those employed hold part-thm Cyndi Fel
cause they regard their dors istand a cou
primary. outsixphom
The answer, perhaps, lie. pie needing
renovation of the system, sofe to set up an
more men are employedpart-fej*' Sometim
to share responsibilities withfei* 011 center
wives. That may be a utopiand:sfo at s okay b
may be the only hopeforsav here for, ss
structure, which, in the nane|$P ett y Co
progress, is threatened will] ithoughts a fc
ante. j^Mununity
(Lonnroth writes on soddissiJ?j*nning Ce
Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish 1 hepatic
part of our c 1
try to have a:
Feds trim costs in strange ways
By DONALD LAMBRO
United Press International
In the continuing battle of the budget the
“Washington Monument Syndrome” is
being used persistently, and thus far suc
cessfully, to resist any attempts to sharply
cut wasteful federal spending.
The syndrome is a little known device
people in the bureaucracy and Congress
use to combat efforts to cut deeply into
nonessential government programs.
As the story goes, when the Interior De
partment, under a previous administra
tion, was asked to submit a list of proposed
budget cuts, officials came back with prop
osals that began with cutting the elevator
service in the Washington monument.
While the story may be apocryphal, the
technique is real — as taxpayers have wit
nessed in recent weeks.
want cuts? Okay, we ll give you cuts. We’ll
start with Social Security benefits, then
veterans, and, let’s see, there’s welfare
and...
Somehow the idea of cutting overloaded
payrolls (which now costs $80 billion a year)
and other areas where fat, waste, fraud,
abuse, error, and extravagance exists never
seems to occur to anyone.
In the early debate over cutting Presi
dent Carter’s proposed $616 billion 1981
budget, suggestions for cuts seem to be
focusing disproportionately on major social
programs.
Indeed, the response seems to be: You
When James McIntyre Jr., director of
the Office of Management and Budget, un
veiled Carter’s budget in January he told
the news media, “I’ve looked through here
again and again to find something we could
cut without suffering adverse consequ
ences, and I can’t find it.”
However, the range of continuing gov
ernment waste is there for everyone to see,
and its elimination would harm no one.
The government still spends about $500
million a year to make movies on every
thing from outdoor camping to travelogues.
Despite an estimated $40 billion deficit
this year, $2.3 billion in revenue sharing is
due states which last year had $4.3 billion
in budget surpluses.
Smaller expenditures run the gammut
from $ KM),000 a year to provide members
of Congress with masseurs in their Capitol
gymnasiums to nearly $1.5 million to pro
vide Cabinet secretaries and top military
officials with private chefs.
The government pays people to run
automatic elevators. It wastes, according to
its own studies, nearly $500 million annual
ly on unnecessary travel. Needless consul
tants contracts, which a Senate panel said
improved not single program, cost hun
dreds of millions of dollars a year.
The Pentagon spends over $700 million a
year to subsidize commissaries and ex
changes so that officers, retirees in second
career jobs, and foreign embassy personnel
can get 20 percent to 25 percent off their
groceries.
The Census Bureau is spending over $1
billion this year to conduct the census even
though General Accounting Office officials
say it could be done for $400 million less.
Meanwhile, the administration wants
over $68 million for 11 regional commis
sions even though President Carter last
year said in an internal memorandum they
we cater to i
much as pos
; Services a
but all three
tests and
Women’s Re
were "a waste of time and
This year the government issp®
million on the U.S. TravelSeraB
the OMB found was an unnecessfl
that taxpayers “can no longenlw
The $1 billion-a-year NationH
Foundation conducts numerousilMMiMBH
ity studies such as an S18,600feT
iHK':
U.S. synthetic ruber Indus
$33,(KM) study on why people
ical contributions.
At least $5 million a yeans
government chauffeured
million for military servants; ami
lion on a Youth Conservation0
administration says ‘'does i
high priority needs of
youths.” 1 ■
The areas of wasteful, unneffi
low priority spending does noli _
hut the above serves to suggest'R
may not have looked closely enw
As one congressional budget si
marked, “The first thing these®
about is cutting social programs--*
cle of government — when the) !®
concentrating on the fat’’
Letters McCall’s actions within his rights
Editor:
I would like to comment on The Baylor
Lariat controversy and, in particular. The
Battalion’s coverage of it. First off, I find
that the vast majority of the quotes and
comments used in the Batt s “news” stories
are all on one side. This is often referred to
as biased reporting, and, I might add, bla
tantly so. I am a Baptist and concerned
about issues dealing with Baptist organiza
tions. Yet I am very much in the dark about
what the Baylor administration actually
said and did. Try being objective and re
port both sides fully even if you have a
personal opinion.
Now, your editorial, Viewpoint (March
5) I find to be inaccurate in its reporting of
opposing views. According to the Baptist
Standard (March 5), President McCall is
reported to have said that students who
pose nude and claim the Baylor name will
face disciplinary action. The “and” is im
portant. The “disciplinary action” is very
clearly stated. McCall “says” he had not
said those posing would be expelled im
mediately as some media have reported.
Baylor is a Baptist university supported by
Baptist people — any student who attends
should realize that whether or not they are
Baptist themselves. To quote McCall
again, “Baylor was founded and is operated
by Texas Baptists to conduct a program of
Christian higher education, and it has al
ways been the policy of the university that
no university publication expose a posi
tion contrary to the Christian nature and
purposes of the institution.” The reasons
that Baylor is a private univeristy and not a
public one is for the express reason that it
may take a religious, moral stance.
I support McCall’s action and agree with
his stand on publisher’s rights. I believe
that on any privately owned newspaper the
publisher has the right to veto any editorial
he feels is contrary to the staui
ports. As McCall says (Baptist!
March 5), this is a historical audit
tion (as Roy Bragg slightingly
publisher to take. McCall very(W
that he does not object to b
coverage and never stated thalM
to review news stories.
I would like to say to you, JM
wait until you get out into the a §
and try to write an editorialcritid®'
publisher and see just how long®*'
Glenn R. Bailt) jV
Martha Jean Hi |
Thotz
By Doug Grok |