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Friday, September 19, 1969

The Almost Inie^vit able New Goals

Given th nations success in landing men on the nioon this sunmier it AVas Thevitable that

' a decision would be made to reach for the plapeta. V / At this point, of ^course, no one knows for certain how space exploration will h of any worth to earthlings. However, considering the resulta?tpf previoufntiidoratlons by lirairlt^eems rea-

' sonable investment in space is a good risk.

Now all that remains to be decided is how rapidly we should move in further space explorations and what projects should be given priorities.

Vice President Agnew has recommended' putting a man on Mars by 1986. And a four-man task force he heads rccomineTted the development of loW-cost space shuttle buses J)etween earth and a low-earth orbit. It also recommended establishment of orbiting space stations that, joined together, could permit 50 to 100 men to live in space.

There w^e other options proposed one io advance a rtmnned Mars mission to the early 1980s

3asic Ouestion

and another that would postpone ap^, decision on a Mars I mission imtl liter 199/0^ - 7 > ' v

, v\ The first plan seems to us to be the best for the nation to follow.'We need no crash' program in space that would cost untold sums of money. The planets, after all, have been there for billions of -years ah they will be waiHiig when me^^ arrive. On the ether hand in projects as intricate as those proposed for space an ultimate goal and a definite time for meeting it are needed.

America can and should conduct a program of space development and exploration, while still meeting its other needs. The space program, however,should be earned out on a planned schedule with reasonable funds budgeted for it bn an annual basis.

Unanswered

By WQUAM A. SHIRES'

Reflector Rileigli Bortau * RALEIGH - Ths'subject perhaps has been belab<M*ed of late, but It remains important And the question of the future of Bald Had, of Smith, Island remains unanswered.

Gov. Bob Scott promised two months ago to have more to say on fhi subject. Now he has spoken but is being criticised for dodigng the issue and failing to take a firm, clean-cut stand on the matter. h lilmese it li appropriate to rtrifw Just whet the gov-cr's position is.

WlLUAIi

8H1RE8

First,' he recognizes that. Hiere is fundamental and far-reaching significance involved. The subtropical island with 9,000 acres of marsh at tho mouth of the Cape Fear River is both unique on the North Carolina Coast and possibly the last living laboratory of its kind within the states borders.

Privately owned, it has remained virtually untouched so far.

Coniowed The question whldi Scott knows is In the forefrcHit of public attention and concern is that of possible development of Smittj Is-land.

Scotts position is this: It Is my belief that Smith Island should be conserved.

And he feels that the state should obtain title to the entire island in order to determine what should be done.

At the same time Scott feels he must be both ju^acti-cal and realistic. There are, he says, a number of factors that tend to cloud the question of Smith bland.

. tompHcated-First of all, while a relatively rich state. North Carolinaiinder iti balanced budgetary system~does not have |5.5 million tucked *away somewhere to buy the

Bald Head comply from its private owners. Alio, Scott fels that such a price is excessive.

- Stated simply, stete fundi for such a purchase are not available at present.'Neither is there very much indication that federal money would available for such a project, which have been generous in the past are . not expected to come forth with the amount approaching the asking pHct for the 12,000-acre island.

. A further eompUcaim Is question about title and how much real property is involved and exact boundaries.

The idea of the st|^takiir possession by power eminent domain, because of the value of the public resource, is ruled out because the state would be required to put int^ escrow money equal to the fair market value of the property.

... Btudy^Thus, as predicted earlier, no firm decision has been made. The State Board of Conservation and Development (C&D) followed rough with a resolution recommending state acquisition of the island. But C&D cannot implement such a recommendation itself.- .

Scott left the question in the hands of the 1971 legislature and thus left it hanging.

In doing so, he pointed out the stark fact that even then the legislature must weigh the acquisition of the island against the many other pressing needs for capital funds In our state.

And Scott called for an impartial study by the Research Triangle Institute of possible use and potentials Smith Island and its marshlands. He asked for this study, to be conducted In time for a report to the 1971 General Assembly.

Resolution The C & D boards resokitions stressed planning and also conservation of Smith Island as a large, ready-made laboratory for marine re^arch.

It endorsed Scotts recommendations and directed t h e department to initiate and proceed with whatever action It seems necessary and proper to implement Scotts recommendations. I

The Pfiily Reflector

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Livelier Politics For Washington Looming

If there ever were a honeymoon between Pres. Nixon and Congresa it seems to have come to an end after nine months. '

Democratic Congressmen are upset about reports that thtadmlnistration is thinking of trying to hang the do-nothing label on Congress.

It is not a question of a do-nothing Democratic Congress but of a noncooperative Republican administration, Speaker of the House John McCormack stated,

A Democratic caucus approved a resolution criticising the administration for failing to take a position on much of the pending legislation,

" We dont ^know whether the ,changing atmosphere will bring about any swifter movement in Congress, but we do believe the political scene is going to be livelier' in Washington during the weeks aheid; ^

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Still

inilated

By JOHN CUNNIFF NEW YORK (AP) - Each day the men in Washington whose job it is to dampen this torrid economy sort of stick their hand out the window and hope to feel a little rain. Instead, they come dangerously close to getting it burned.

The economy, In^ other words, remains hofand inflat-ed, and no more tiian a cool mist can be detected so far. Whether or not the mist foretells cooler economic weather still cant be said with certainty.

Here is tiie evidence so far that the slowdown policies of the Nixon odministration essentially, a budget surplus and tight money may be having some effect:

The Index of Industrial production has declined for the first time in a year. This means that the natims factories turned out less in August 1969 than a year earlier.

The increase in the number of people employed has slowed.

Retail sales have been termed disappointing by many stores.

Housing starts continue to slip.

'ibere the evidence seems to end, although the monetary and fiscal authorities had forecast that by now there would be a long list of indicators pointing down w a r d. Even the evidence that does exist is weak.

Industrial production did decline but only by a small -fraction of one per cent and only for one month. A Judgement on the decline really must be reserved until another months figures are in.

The rise in the number of persons employed has slowed a bit but unemployment remains very low at 3.5 per cent or so. If business is feeling a pinch it hasnt as yet reacted by laying off workers.

Retail sales seem to be stagnated at between $29 billion and $30 billion a month but a good Christmas season could change that Housing starts have been hurt badly, but this indicator

triditionally "has been one of the first to turn down. It doesnt mean the others will follow.

In additicM), despite forecasts of a coming downturn in the rate of inflation now somewhere around 7 per cent or 8 per cent a year there is BO clear evidence of that downturn. Neither are Interest rates retreating. o'm t

Purae

Will It

WASHINGTON-A lot of people are being shaken up these days by receiving unsolicited plastic credit cards. In the past the consumer had the option whether to ask for credit or not. But now in the great battle for the hearts and dollars of the American custo

mer, the biidis, oil companies and hoteLdiains are shoving thiir credit cards at you whether you want them or not.

It Isnt just the specter of a wife or teen-ager receiving a credit card and going berserk that bothers most American

and conratt'ons con. QfV^pr RHitOIS SQV

tinua to pay higher and high- J_iU.XlWi O _ U\J. y

pay higher and high er rates.

Perhaps the clearest indi-

cZwar. Wage-Price Rivets

psychology persists Is reveal- ^

ed by indusbys capital spending plans the amount of money being set aside for building, renewing, expalding plants. ^

Private surveys by economic consultants generally agree that industry will jpend even more money on capital improvements in 1970 than this year.

The Lionel Edie Co. forecasts an Increase in capita! spending of 7 per cent, to $75.8 billion in 1970 from about $70 billion or $71 billion this year. Pierre Rinfret estimates ^ndlng will reach $77.2 billion, a 9 per cent increase.

Rinfret calls the conclusions startling and significant.

They are startling because they fly in the face of the much-vaunted economic flow-down. . .highly significant because they indicate clearly that monetary policy has been a failure, .and has not been able to slow the prime engine of, expansion in the-American economy.

He states flatly that the Federal Reserve and the Nixon', administration must re-evaluate their approach to cooling the economy. He foresees even higher interest rates and continued inflation. .

- Whatever way the economy turns, if it turns at all, is going to moan that some professional reputationa are going to get scorched. Anyone trying to guide or forecast the American economy these days is indeed In a hot seat.

(Christian Science Monitor)

The suggestion that Washington should rivet wage and price controls on the infla-' tion-rocketing American economy keeps bobbing up. Almost certainly, no such controlsnot even guideposts will be applied by a Repbli-can administration. But the question persistshow halt

is runaway wage and price situation without applying direct controls?

The new economics, it has frequently knows how economy, get it moving, even touch off an inflation. Oirb-ing. a hot situation is much more difficult. The rulebook answers havent worked xwift-ly enough.

Probably the biggest economic mistake made by the Nixon administration was to announce that it would not intervene or interfere In any wage and price decisions. This was abdicating responsibility in a key area. The administration Intended to protest quietly to industry and labor about teeir inflatlonory moves, but this was a very muted jawbone approach. Industry and labor could see that the road was clear to do just about as they pleased.

The question Is, how much should an administration do, effectively, short of applying direct wage-price handcuffs? There are of course all the. j niBirect weapons now being

employed: the tax surcharge, tight nioney restraints, postponement of federal (and state) construction projects, budget hold-downs. At 10 n g last, these apparently are beginning to have impact.

But in the wage-price field the weapons shelf is not totally bare, certainly not In an eocnomy where government has massive impact through quotas, contracts, subsidies, and tariffs. For one tiling, there could be much more pu-been admitted, bljcity. Harvards Prof. Otto to stir up the AJJcksteln suggests that a Washington staff publicize every wage and price decision by specific Industries.' The idea would be to rally public opinion against Irresponsible decisions.

Others have suggested that government take steps to penalize industries which misbehave. As by lifting the protection of import quotes to an oil industry which raised prices. Or by switching government contracts away from a price-raising steel company, os did the Kennedy adminis-is tile limitation of wage contracts to one years duration, which might or might not have restraining effect.

What needs stressing is that a determined regime has many ways of applying pressures, this side of complete wage-price controls. The administration has left too large an area unpoliced if not unexplored.

breadwinners. Its the principle of the thing, and where wiU it all end? What if to prevent a company that sends unsolicited credit carda, to your home from sending merchandise instead?

I dont believe it is too farfetched to see this happening in a few years.

You conpe home, and there on your front lawn is a complete dining room set with table, 12 chairs and cabinet. Attached to a leg of the table is a note:

ART

6UCHWALD

Greetings. We are happy to inform you that we consider you an excellent credit risk and, to show our faith in you, we are leaving this dining room set on your lawn. Our credit reports on you indicate that you favor Colonial furniture, and we have chosen this particular mahogany wood which we know will go well with the rest of your furnishings. If for some reason this particular dining room set does not meet require-mehts, you may return it to our warehouse within 10 days, and you will not be chard for it. If it is not returned, we will assume that we made the right choice, and we shall start billing you month^.

Or you cmild wMce up in the morning-'and find parked outside your door a new Fire-eater with the following letter taped to the winat^ild: > Congratulations,

You are now the owner of a new Fire-eater, the fastest, most comfortable, economical automobile on the road. Be-(Contfnned On Pige I)

By WILLIAM BARTON

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Nixon tdministration. responding to public demand for a crackdown, has quietly mounted an extensive campaign against huge mail-order distributors of pornography.

As a result, 20 persons and 22 companies have been Indicted 'or arrested during the past eight monhs on charges of distributing obscene materials.

A new round of prosecutions Is expected In the next, two weeks,^ and Justice TTepaftoir lawyers are evaluating results from 14 investigations to determine if grand jury action should be sought.

The antipomography activity 8a joint effort by the Justice and Post Iffice departments frllowed two years of littie action resulting from broad interpretations of Supreme Court decisions on obscenity.

But Atty. Gen. John N. Mitchell differed with tiie previous administration on interpretation of the opinions and he ordered more vigorous proaecution.

In a letter to Foetmaster General Winton M. Blount, Mitehell laid down his views on prosecuting sihut peddlers, emphasizing the main thrust of enforcement ahould be against big intntate distriteitors.

The prosecutive efforte of ttie department .:he told Blount, are aimed at bringing to trial at the earliest possible dates the large mail order distributors presently under indicts ment.

Mitchell presented to Congress earlier this summer two new proposals aimed at protecting minors and stepping questionable material from reaching persons who dont want to get it in the mail In deciding to start new test eases, Mitchell particularly ein-phasized the need for amplification of Supreme Court opinions which banned publications that might be harmful to children although not legally obscene for adults.

Department aources" said about six new (^sea are ready for presentation to grand juries, possibly within two weeks.

Among those already being prosecuted or under investigation, the departmeot^ claims, is the vast majorily. t)f toe'large-scale dealers in pornographic material. The officials list about 20 to 25 large corporations that traffic in pornography.

The moat recent indictinent is against Marvin Miller, 40, who operates a publishing business in Southern California.

A federal grand iury in Los Angeles indicted Miller uid Co-(Continued On Page f)

Public

?orum

To The Editor- ^

Ive been planning for any months to write a letter similar to the one written by Mr. J.D. Measick, pralaing the Greenville Sanitation Depait-ment. His letter has prompted me to prqcrdstinate no long-

Like Mr, Messick. I nave lived in several towns and, as he s^ys, in no place have I fbinid-eemparable service from the sanitation depart-ment.

1 have thanked the men personally many times, but as a matter of public record I would like to express my appreciation for their fine service.

- Hannah P. Warren Greenville

Strength For

Passing Judgment One of the hardest things for any us to do is to go through life without judging those round about us. But we can be sure what the C2iristian teaching is in that regard.,

Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shiill Ite judged: ahd with what measure ye mete, it shoU be measured to yoii again (Matflff"

7:1, 2). m his Epistle to the Romans, Paul reaffairs that teaching)as follows: Let us iK)t therfore judge one another any ore; but judge this rather, that noman put a stumblingblock, or an occasion' to fall, in his brothers way

(Romans 14:13). /

No matter where we live, when we live, or under what conditidns we live, tfiere is always the temptation to pass judgment on people. Certainly

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Today

a lot of people are mean and unreasonableand perhaps we are too. Some people possess brilliant gifts and others no apparent gifts at all. We know a lot people who talk too much (we may her in that category, ourselves). Gossip always has been'and always will (be a two-edged sword, and there'tre many who love to ,wie|l toat weapon. Some 'are high station in

life and are never h^py unless they are reminding thefr 7contemporaries of thte fact.

TTie human race may be pretty mean and selfish, but taken all in all most people are wejl-disposed towards friends, neighbors, and even enemies/

jXTfe is a'struggle, and the opponent with which, we have to wrestle evei7 ,day is ourselves. -

By^ Earl L.* Douglass

Mixed Blessing In Oil Bonanza

By ELMER ROESSNER

The great Alaskan oil bonanza will "be a mixed blessing to the state.

It will quickly pour almost a billion dollars into state coffers and, if the flow of oil reach^ predicted volume, it will bring more billions to the state and even more billkms into the economy, to addition to the $900 million plus the state receives for the 179 2,500-acre tracts in the PrudhOe Bay area, the state will get a royalty of 1214 per cent on toe oil produced and collect a 4 per cent severance tax on the oil, per cent of toe

royalties paid on oil taken from federal lands. - ^ ^ .

This will be little compared with toe money spent .by toe oil companies to dig the oil and transport it to market. More Inflation"

There will also be another wave of inflation in the state,

perhaps even greater an the wave that swept over it in World War II. Wages and prices will soar.

Burai

ROB88NER

Prices are high in Alaska, not because it coste so much to bring* in,goods and food actually, coste of shlj^ing products in have been going down hut because wages were bid up,to the tremendous competition to get manpower when huge Army and Air Force, to-stalations were built In defense of a Japanese invasion. Prices and| wages never subsided and, in fact, have moved

from tha high wartime bases vdth^the inflation that has afflicted tha rest of the country.

It Is likely toat as toe oil companies start operations, there wiU be another shortage of toills, more competitive bi(!|ding for able men, and more price rises. ' '

Paradoxically,' while the oil booiti will.create thousands of jobs, it will slso create unemployment. The new jobs will require men from the oil fields of toe older states, men with, know-how and ability to stand toe North Slope climate. But booms also attract thousands of men without skills and toousands who dont care for tough life in bte wilds. Some will find work in the expanded economy; others will become public charges.

Sin atles. Too

Other aspects of toe boom

will be:

The rise of sin ^citiel,*-new settlements built around bars, brothels and hMiky-tonks designed to cut in <xi the high' ;wlps. ^ ---.

7 A boom in toe bush-piloting business. With few roads and vast distances, Alaska has largely relied on small ^laes to gat from place to place. The boom in e north will require .moire pilots, more taxi planes.

A surge of oil. and re* lated swindles. It always happens in booms. Promoters are'* probably on the ground already. Operations wont be con fined to Alaska, biitiwill appear in the ottter states and Canada.

A sharp rlsi^ In Utigs-tions. Booms like tots breed controversy. Disputes Wll f||f not only in the Oil fields hut in the rest of tiie economy,