Tuesday, November 13, 1984/The Battalion/Page 7
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Birth rate falls,
affects Japan
economically
United Press International
DALLAS — Birth control mea
sures in Japan have proved so ef fec
tive they now threaten the country’s
productivity by reducing the num-
per of young people available for
work, a Texas A&M sociologist said.
The Japanese birth rate fell from
34 per 1,000 persons in 1947 to 17
per 1,000 in the first half of the
1960s, setting off a trend that soon
will force companies to bid against
one another for fewer starting em
ployees, Professor Jon Alston said.
Alston, who presented his find
ings to the Second Japan-United
States Business Conference in To
kyo, warned the birth rate decline
will jeopardize Japan’s social stability
and economic successes in the next
two decades.
Alston, who specializes in the so-
dology of work, said the Japanese
corporate structure is founded on
the principles of lifetime employ
ment and seniority.
The seniority principle does not
allow a younger employee to earn
more than older employees, Alston
said. Senior executives, in turn, are
encouraged to invest in employees
and upgrade their skills over the
years. T he system reduces employee
competition for promotion because
they know faithf ul service eventually
will be rewarded, Alston said.
With fewer younger employees
available, Alston said, “The end re
sult will be to raise starting salaries
faster than those received by older
workers — a strategy that is bound
localise discontent.
v ‘This demographic ‘pinch’ of
younger workers will cause Japan’s
abor costs to be less and less compet
itive, especially in comparison to in
dustrializing Third World countries
like the Philippines and Korea
(which have) an excess of younger
workers ... Japanese companies will
become more like their Western
counterparts.”
Alston said the birth control pro
gram in Japan was a consequence of
its own history. The loss of its colo
nies in China and Korea after World
War I, forced the Japanese to move
back to their already overcrowded
land, creating a severe population
pressure.
“The country had to take immedi
ate steps to control its population
and the government instituted one
of the strongest programs after
1945,” Alston said.
Urbanization caused a further
birth rate decline in Japan, one of
the most heavily urbanized countries
in the world.
“The Japanese have been aware
of this problem of falling birth rate
for quite some time but are not able
to do much to change the situation,”
Alston said. “It is almost impossible
for the government to reverse the
trend. Some countries in Western
Europe have tried measures to boost
the birth rates but for most part they
have been failures.”
Alston said, in the short-term, Ja
pan will try to overcome the problem
by increasing the productivity of its
workers through automation.
“But I maintain this cannot work
in the longer run because the grow
ing shortage of younger workers will
eventually negate those efforts,”
Alston said. “Also, Japan is a strong
tradition-bound society and its cul
ture respects age. The emphasis on
seniority will tend to limit social
change and innovations. We in the
United States have not encountered
this problem because we prefer the
figure of the young over that of the
wisdom of age.”
What’s up
Tuesday
RESIDENCE HALL ASSOCIATION: is meeting at 7 p.m. in
150 Blpcker. T he theme is cheap sunglasses — wear yours.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS:
is meeting at 5:30 p.m. in 105C LAED. Jim Keeter of San
Antonio will speak.
RANGE CLUB: Gerald Proctor, a manager form Granada
Land and Cattle Go., will speak on their grazing systems
and how Granada has been effected by droughts. The pro
gram is at 7 p.m. in 215 AN1N.
MSC MADRIGAL DINNERS: the committee is meeting at 7
p.m. in 230 MSC.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT FINANCE COMMITTEE: is
meeting at 7 p.m. in 203 MSC.
TAMU HORSEMAN’S ASSOCIATION: there will be a Pe~
ruvian Peso riding demonstration at 7 p.m. in the Animal
Science Pavilion.
BRAZOS VALLEY SIERRA CLUB: “The Garden of Eden,”
a nature conservancy film, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in
507 Rudder.
BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION: a lecture on em
bryo transfer will be presented at 7 p.m. in 201 VMS.
GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY: is meeting at 8 p.m. in 707
O&M.
POLITICAL SCIENCE SOCIETY AND PI SIGMA AL
PHA: are meeting in 510 Rudder at 7:30 p.m. to discuss
future events.
LE CERCLE FRANCAIS: the French club is meeting at 7
p.m. in 502 Rudder. Dues will be collected and party plans
will be discussed.
TAMU ONE WHEELERS: is meeting at 6 p.m. in the Grove.
HISTORY CLUB: is meeting at 7 p.m. in 204 Sterling C.
Evans Library.
AGGIE GOP: is meeting at 7 p.m. in 206 MSC. Aggieland
pictures will be taken after the meeting.
TEXAS A&M FORUM: is sponsoring a debate on the ques
tion of A&M emphasizing athletics over academics at 7
p.m. in 701 Rudder.
TEXAS A&M ANTIQUE AUTO CLUB: is meeting at 7 p.m.
in 308 Rudder.
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS: is
meeting at 7 p.m. in 203 Zachry. Aggieland pictures will be
taken and a business meeting will be held.
TAMU ROADRUNNERS: is meeting at 7 p.m. in 501 Rud
der. Nutrition and the runner will fie discussed.
TAU BETA PI: is offering free tutoring in freshman and
sophomore level engineering courses from 5 to 8 p.m. ev
ery Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in 119C Zachry.
Items for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battab
ion, 216 Reed McDonald, no less than three days prior to
desired publication date.
Chi Omega
SONGFEST 84
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CHI OMEGA
in conjunction with the
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
UNITED WAY FUND DRIVE
^3.00 in advance
TICKETS. 54.00 at door
or call 693~5340
Single-issue Catholics rebuked
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The presi
dent of the nation’s Roman Catholic
jiishops Monday rebuked single-is
sue Catholics who make abortion the
Church’s only issue on the public
agenda.
“We oppose a single-issue strategy
because only by addressing a broad
spectrum of issues can we do justice
to the moral tradition we possess as a
church and thereby demonstrate the
moral challenges we face as a na
tion,” Bishop James Malone of
Youngstown, Ohio, told the opening
session of the annual meeting of the
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops.
“The inner logic of Catholic moral
principles has taught us to join issues
rather than to isolate them,” Malone
said.
Malone’s speech put him and the
conference leadership squarely on
the' side of what has been called the
consistent ethic of life movement,
led by Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin
of Chicago, and opposed to other in
fluential prelates who stress abortion
as the primary public policy issue for
Catholics.
The speech also hinted that the
bishops’ conference may shift its
strategy on the aboi tion issue while
not ending its strong opposition.
“There is room for honest debate
about how we should respond in law
and policy to the challenge of restor
ing legal protection to the unborn,
but the debate should not be
whether a response is needed,” Ma
lone said.
In the past, the bishops have been
united behind the drive to secure
passage of a constitutional amend
ment that would overturn the 1973
Supreme Court decision legalizing
abortion.
Malone strongly endorsed the
work of the bishops’ committee in
writing a draft statement on the
church and the U.S. economy, un
derscoring the committee’s denun
ciation of continued poverty in the’
United States.
“Poverty is a direct attack on the
image of God found in the least of
our neighbors,” he said. “The moral
quality of a society is judged not by
how it honors the powerful but by
how it respects the claims and needs
of the powerless.”
Defiant minister might be defrocked
United Press International
CLAIRTON, Pa. — The Lu
theran Church has begun proceed
ings that could lead to the defrock
ing of the Rev. D. Douglas Roth,
who has defied his bishop and the
courts by preaching despite being
suspended from his duties.
Bishop Kenneth R. May of the
Pittsburgh-area Lutheran Church of
America synod said he has ap
pointed a five-member committee to
investigate Roth.
May said that if the panel deter
mines Roth displayed “willful disre
gard of the constitution and bylaws”
of the church, the Lutheran church
will begin procedures to revoke
Roth’s ordination.
May suspended Roth from his du
ties Oct. 17 after some congregation
members complained about his in
volvement with the Denominational
Ministry Strategy, a controversial
clergymen’s labor activist group.
The parishioners also were an
gered that earlier in the year about
$4,000 out of the church’s $8,000
benevolence fund had been allo
cated for the Denominational Min
istry Strategy.
Since his suspension, Roth has
preached every Sunday in defiance
of May’s order.
Roth unlocked the doors of Trin
ity Lutheran Church Sunday and
preached without incident.
Roth said if he was not arrested
“within a little while” Monday he
would continue his pastoral duties.
He remained in the church Monday.
A sheriff’s department spokes
man said Roth probably would be ar
rested today.
“It’s a state holiday (Veterans
Day), and we wouldn’t want him
locked up overnight,” the spokes
man said. “If anything happens it’ll
probably be tomorrow.”
Allegheny County Common Pleas
Judge Emil Narick upheld May’s ac
tion Nov. 2 and ordered Roth to stop
preaching.
Roth ignored that order and bar
ricaded himself inside the church
Nov. 5, skipping a hearing on a con
tempt of court citation Friday. Na
rick then issued a warrant for his ar
rest, fined him $1,200 and
sentenced him to 90 days in jail.
Allegheny County Sheriff Eugene
Coon tried three times to arrest Roth
Friday. He was prevented from en
tering the church by members of the
Network to Save the Mon-Ohio Val
leys, a secular labor activist group af
filiated with the Denominational.
Ministry Strategy.
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Wed., Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Room 401
Rudder Tower
INTERVIEWS
Wed.-Thurs., Nov. 14&15
Career Planning and
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Rudder Tower
You must bring
completed application.