The Battalion
Viewpoint
August 4
Slouch By Jim Earle
“Not only did I not get any studying done, but I forgot my
books and notes and left them at home. “
The Washington Star
must live as a free voice
Bv DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — Once before, a few
Christmases ago, I asked the indulgence of
readers outside Washington while I used
this space to talk about The Washington
Star and the importance of its being saved
as an independent journalistic voice in the
nation’s captial. Lask week. Time, Inc., the
latest owner of The Star, pulled the plug on
the struggling newspaper and said it would
be shut down on Aug. 7 unless a new buyer
could be found.
So, once again, I am impelled to talk
about the Star and what it represents — this
time with the sickening feeling that it may
be a eulogy and farewell to my old friend. I
am not objective about The Star. I worked
there for five happy years. I have many
friends on its staff. And, for the last 15 years
on the staff of The Washington Post, I have
had the constant stimulus and benefit of the
strong competition The Star and its staff
provided.
Let me tell you what kind of paper it was
when I worked there in the early 1960s
under editors like Newbold Noyes, Charles
Seib and John Cassady. Its lead political
columnist was a man named G. Gould Lin
coln, who was nearing 90, but was physi
cally vigorous, mentally acute and, of
course, unrivaled in his knowledge and
experience of three generations of politi
cians.
The Star was wise enough to recognize
the irrelevancy of “retirement age’’ for a
man like Gould Lincoln. But it was also
gutsy — or foolhardy — enough to let a
30-year-old novice go to cover the West
Virginia primary and to print his finding
that, contrary to the conventional wisdom,
John Kennedy was very likely to beat
Hubert Humphrey.
There’s something else I will never forget
about my first few months on that paper.
The editor was Benjamin O. McKelway, a
gentleman of innate dignity and character,
a power in American journalism and a
friend of all the mighty. In the spring of
1960, I was sent to Austin to cover my first-
ever Texas political story, involving the
Texas Democratic convention’s endorse
ment of Lyndon B. Johnson as its favorite-
son candidate for Prsesident.
THe process involved some real arm-
twisting and wheeling-dealing by Johnson,
Sam Rayburn and their friends. Fascinated,
I wrote of it in some detail. The next morn
ing, while I lingered in Austin, the Senate
majority leader was back in Washington.
He did not like what he saw in the first
edition of The Star and he picked up the
phone and advised his friend McKelway
that The Star should get rid of that young
reporter before his bad reportng caused
further embarrassment.
When I was awakened by a phone call
from the editor, recounting the conversa
tion and asking for further information to
back up the story, I was in a panic. A few
hours later, my memo went off and I waited
— sure that my fate was sealed. When
McKelway called again, it was simply to say
he was satisfied our account was right and
just to go on about my job and let him worry
about the majority leader.
That kind of honesty and independence
is the rarest, most precious commodity in
the news business. It is, of course, inestim
ably important in the supercharged parti
sanship of Washington, D.C.
What has strangled the Star are the in
creasingly familiar bugaboos of afternoon
newspapers — traffic problems disrupting
circulation, TV news shows bringing later
information, advertisers shifting their dol
lars in other directions. The special prob
lem for The Star is that the Washington
Post, my paper, has been both journalistic
ally and commercially a smashing success.
Obviously, I take pride, as does everyone
who works at The Post, in that success. But
it gnaws me that it should have come at the
expense of The Star — let alone its destruc
tion. We need The Star.
The country is governed now by poeple
who belive that the marketplace is the
rightful arbiter of human and busniess des
tinies. But somehow The Star has fallen
through the safety net. And that is a loss we
really cannot afford. I wish some of those
companies that are lusting after Conoco
would lift their sights above the almighty
bottom-line and demonstrate, for once,
that businessmen recognize there are
values that loom larger that a profit-center.
The Star deserves to live.
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Angelique Copeland
City Editor Jane Brust
Photo Editor Greg Gammon
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Make-up Editor Greg Gammon
StaffWriters Bemie Fette, Kathy O’Connell,
Denise Richter,
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper
operated as a community service to Texas A&M University
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talion are those of the editor or the author, and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M Universi
ty administrators or faculty members, or of the Board of
Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for
students in reporting, editing and photography classes
within the Department of Communications.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter
should be directed to the editor.
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Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are
not subject to the same length constraints as letters.
Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The
Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843.
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GTE should instruct student
to use new phone system too
By DENISE RICHTER
Battalion Staff
Has anyone figured out the new phone sys
tem? If you have, would you be willing to share
your knowledge? Just call me at 845-2611. Or
5-2611. Maybe you’d better try 9-845-2611. Or
how about 260-2611?
Frankly, I’m confused.
Prior to GTE-Day (the day the new dormitory
phone exchanges went into effect), I was profi
cient in the art of phoning. I could make a call
with relative ease and finally had memorized the
really important numbers like the student loca
tor, Mr. Gatti’s pizza delivery and Brazos Sav
ings’ Time and Temperature number.
Now that knowledge is worthless. Oh, the
numbers haven’t changed — but what good are
they if I can’t figure out how to dial them?
I’m convinced that the average college stu
dent tallies up just as much telephone time as
the average University employee. But were we
included in the training sessions GTE sponsored
to teach University employees how to use the
new phone system? No.
All we received was a “Student Telecom
munications Guide.” I’ll admit it’s a nice little
booklet but it fails to answer a few basic ques
tions:
— Why is it necessary to dial 9 plus the entire
Second
thoughts
by Denise Richter
number to call a dorm room from a number on
the 845 exchange? Isn’t 9 used to reach off-
campus numbers? Did I miss something? The
next time the University decides to move all the
dorms off campus, I wish someone would let me
know.
— Why isn’t it necessary to dial 9 when I want
to call my off-campus cronies from a dorm but
have to dial the 9 before I can call off campus
from an 845 number? Is it because the dorm is
closer to the edge of campus or is it just another
ploy to keep us confused?
— Why did GTE change the exchange from
845 to 260? I liked 845 — it had a nice ring to it.
Still, I’m not totally against change, I would have
accepted a new number if CTEj
something with a little life toit-t
that spelled out a word or sometl®
only two words that 260 spells ouln
“boo“).
All of the above are minor imtm
year or two I’ll adapt. The realobjedi
is explained in this sentence CTEi
the students guide (at least theydit
fine print):
"If you do not contract for long4
vice, you cannot reach the long-4
ator to make collect or credit cirda
Does this make sense? Why woui;
make collect calls if 1 had long-dislu
And why would I shell out butt;
distance service if I only plannedtoi,
calls and not foot the hill anyway?
GTE does make a feeble attec,
frustrated phoners by reassuringuii
still use a pay phone to make colic.
card calls. Okay, if GTE wants ton
phone on the third floor of Keathleyi
if not, forget it.
You know, there has to be an alta
of this — an easier way to reach out
and touch someone.
Does anyone know how muchitJi
a telegram?
liig
•ii
r
J mEnYTHEN,
KXJ WISH TOR NW
RESIGNATION,
MR-SECREIARY?
Fresh frui
all year r(
Condiments need vigilance
improve fisl
water “farm
Offshore i
will also inc
dieted, as
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Last month, as is his
wont, Sen. William Proxmire made sport of
the Army for drawing up 17 pages of specifi
cations for Worcestershire sauce.
I can see how so much fuss over condi
ment guidelines might strike a senator as
excessive, and some of Proxmire’s jocular
comments may have been well taken.
But when he questioned the “national
defense” relevance of loose labels, he was
perhaps on shaky ground.
One section the Wisconsin Democrat
quoted verbatim reads in part:
“Label adhesive shall be examined for
water resistance as follows: Submerge glass
container, with label affixed, into room
temperature water for four hours. Remove
from water and remove excess water by
blotting with paper towel. Press finger
firmly against the label (in area where the
adhesive has been applied) and move finger
(still pressed against the label) towards the
bottom of the bottle. Displacement of the
label indicates failure to meet this require
ment.”
Yes. Exactly.
In failing to grasp the importance of this
test, Proxmire apparently overlooked the
opportunities for practical joking that are
afforded by Worcestershire sauce.
Possibly he was unaware that in some
circles the highest form of wit consists of
steaming off the labels of Worcestershire
sauce bottles and attaching them to bottles
of ice cream flavoring. And vice versa.
It is patent the first thing any rogue bent
on such devilment would do would be to
soak the bottles four hours, making certain
the water was room temperature. Then he
would remove excess water with a blotting
towel, press his finger firmly against the
label and push downward.
Any Worcestershire sauce labels failing
to meet federal specifications would slide
right off and could easily be transferred to
the ice cream flavoring. With cte
some minds hilarious, consequft
By protecting its own Wotf
sauce against such tampering, tk
effect, is protecting us all.
Your average Worcestershires
er is unlikely to have two labelin!
— one for the military and thf
civilians.
If, seeking a big order from tW
sticks on his labels tightly enough
federal inspectors, the product)?
buy almost certainly will posset
degree of label adherence.
Admittedly, the chances ofi
label-switcher striking ourpantr)’
rather remote. Still it is comfortinl
a Worcestershire sauce label isC
drop off, denuding the bottle a
one to mistake it for massage 1»
I can tell you from bitter expel*
a Worcestershire sauce rubdo**
soak in the Jacuzzi is no way 1
tension.
Warped
By Scott McCd
HEY BUSTER, l bought THIS
CALCULATOR RIGHT HERE
IN THIS STORE 8 MONTHS
AGO AND NOW IT'S
THIS STUPID THING HAS
A LIFE-TIME GUARANTEE
ON IT, WHAT ARE YOU
GOING TO DO TO MAKE IT
GOOD ?
UFE“ TIME GUARANTEE
HEH? HMM...
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