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4The Daily Reflector. GreenvUle, N.C.Friday. April 27. 1173

Buslness-As-Usual Prevailing

As the guardians of the purse, Congress should bear the burden of combatting the inflationary trend which seems to be getting further and further out of control.

If we are to accept the premise that inflation is simply the amount of money in circulation exceeds a permissable limit, we should look at a couple of indicators as to a sound ai^roach to the pr(lem.

For instance, in the H(xise Post Office and Civil Service Committee theres a bill poised for

One Lingering Wonder: Why?

By WALTER R. MEARS P Political Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -When the web of involvanent in the Watergate affair finally is untangled, a question will remain to haunt the Nixon White House: Why did they do it?

Why, while President Nixon's re-election prospects soared and his ^ early Democratic rivals foundered, did men in his campaign organization deem it necessary to try wiretapping?

And why the earlier attempts at spying and apparent political sabotage against Democratic candidates who seemed to need no assistance in bungling their campaigns?

For all the investigatims into who acted and who knew of Republican political spying in 1972, there may never be a clear answer as to motive.

"What really hurts in matters of this sort is not the fact that they occur, because overzealous people in campaigns do things that are wrong," Nixon said last Aug. 29. "What really hurts is if you try to cover it up.

That is hurting now as Watergate accusers point to men high in the White House, while Nixons spokesmen deny the Presidoit had any knowledge of what was going on.

ITiere has been a claim that political surveillance originally was ordered because of a risk of demonstratimis against Republican campaigners.

But that could hardly be a motive for the wiretapixng-burglary at Democratic headquarters last June 17, or for the ab(ntive attonpt to bug the campaign offices of Sen. George McGovern three weeks earlier.

It seems more likely that Watergate happoied because the Committee for the Re-election of the President was unleashed to do what its title said, with more mon^ to spend, than any candidate could really need.

Jeb Stuart Magruder, who actually ran that committee in its early days, before John N. Mitchell resigned as attorney general for his stint as chairman, has testified that the organization spent some $48 million on the campaign.

It had $4 milli(m left over after Nixmis landslide re-election.

So there was plenty of money to pay substantial sums to a college student recruited to infiltrate the campaigns of McGovern and Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, and to finance alleged sabotage efforts.

And there are charges now that the same treasury financed efforts to buy the silence of the seven men convicted in the Watergate raid.

Republicans now say that the Nixon campaign

operation functioned with ample latitutde to plot and do what was done, and without the knowledge of the President.

You need only know the players involved, said Sen. Robert J. Dole of Kansas, the former Republican chairman, who never cared much for the CRP operators anyhow.

What the Nixon campaign committee seems to have had was a iNidget and a license for political overkill, both of vriiich it used.

By tlK time the Watergate raid occurred, McGovern, the Democratic candidate Nixmi men were said to have feared least among the o[^x>siti(Ni prospects, was clearly <hi his way to nomination.

The campaign for Muskie, who once as towering front-runner had led Nixon in 1971 public-opinion polls, had collapsed. Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey was still trying, but with scant hope of nomination.

There was no evidaice any covert CRP operation had significantly affected that Democratic ltuation.

On June 16, the day beftxre the Watergate burglary, George Gallups pollsters began three days of soundings which fouiKi that Nixon had a 60-per-cent-ai^roval rating as president. That polling also (fiscovered that in a two^an race, Nixon led McGovern 53 per cent to 37 per cent.

Ultimately, Nixon won with 61 per cent of the vote to McGoverns 38 po: cent.

So the President was in firm command of the presidential campaign, if not his own staff and organization.

There is another irony in the fact that the Watergate crew had bugged a Democratic headquarters that actually had little to do with what was happening in the presidoitial campaign. It was managing the debt, scheduling the cmvention, and dealing with party leaders who had lost their clout to the McGovern newcomers.

McGovern hammered the Watergate issue throughout his campaignbut a mcmth before the election, a Gallup Poll reported that 80 per cent of those interviewed did not consider the wiretapping case a strong reason to vote for the Democratic nominee.

The White House was denying all charges, standing on a Nixon statement that no one in the administration was involved. That statement has now been overtaken by events, and pronounced inoperative.

And the latest Gallup Poll indicates that 41 per cent of the American peqple believe Nixon knew in advance of the Watergate bugging.

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unleashing that could boost the pay of top lead^ in Congress by another $5,000 to $10,000. ,

The Speaker were tdd now gets $G,500 (phis $10,000 for expenses), and the president pro tern and majority and minority leaders get $49,500, plus chaufeid limousines. Members receive $42,500, plus allowances, perquisites and other benefits that alone make median income levels look lick the lower echelons of poverty.

We shouldnt compl^...after all, this same Congress is even now seriously considing raising the minimum wage to $2.60 an hour. The untrained, unskilled, under-educated and inexperienced may cheer; but its a sure-fire way to make consumer goods and services more expensive.

And dhngress generosity to self should also be taken in the light that the Tax Foundation, Inc. warns the total tax burden on each of the nations households will jump about $341 on average to an estimated $5,070 in fiscal 1973 .... we can take some pride in the knowledge our lawmakers look after thdr own.

In the past decade, the Foundation notes the number of civilian workers on federal, state and local government payrolls ^mped about 60 per cent. The total is now 13 million employed, and the cost per month of paying them runs to $8.9 billion. Total government spending in the coming fiscal year, were told, should reach $442 billion compared to only $151 billion in 1960.

Theres a wealth of little irritating details in the Foundations report. Sadly enough, however, theres no prediction where and how it will all end Bitterness is not in our hearts at the moment, only awe. Perhaps it is only that we are being governed not wisely but too well.

Infighting Has Nixon Tied Up

By ROWLAND EVANS and ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON-The seemingly bottomless pit of political dangers bewtting Richard M. Nixon on Watergate, etc., can be glimpsed from the savage infighting now going on between those who want him to go to the country and those, now in the ascendancy, who insist he courts disaster if he speaks out before knowing all the facts about Watergate.

One of the Presidents oldest political colleagues, far removed from the slightest taint of Watergate or the backlashing effort to cover up White House in-volvemoit in Watergate, has bluntly warned him to say nothing more until you see the bottom line.

TTierein lies the danger The bottom line (a Wall Street phrase signifying the final profit-or-loss figure) may not be visible for weeks or even months. To delay going to the county until grand juries, federal courts and congressional investigating committees have all had their say is to run the risk that the poison now permeating the White House will spread and threaten the entire executive branch with neurotic civil war and eventual stalemate.

The effect of this civil war now raging inside the White House is far more destructive to the Presidentand to his partythan generally understood. As one ranking Republican leader in the Midwest told us: They look like a bunch of rats snitching on each other.

Yet. if Mr. Nixon attempts the full and complete explanation to the American people some Republican politicians are begging him for. later disclosures not now imagined could give the lie to whatever it is that Mr. Nixon has to say in his own defense on Watergate, etc.

Time and again since the Republican buggers were sent scurrying into the Watergate last June, the Presidents escape-scenario has seemed to come a cropper, overtaken by damningbut unexpected events.

For example, the apparently airtight financial

arrangement worked out to assure the silence of the convicted Watergate criminals turned out not to be airtight at all. It exploded in the face of the White House whi James W. McCord, Jr.. one of the Watergate seven, decided to tell the truth.

Likewise, the careful advance pr^rations of White House counsel John W. Dean II to pave the way for

massive executive

privilege claims by White House aides under Senate challenge also evaporated in thin air. Once McCord started to sing, the White House plan to forbid former and present aides from

testifying before any

congressional committee collapsed like a house of cardswhich it always had been.

There are, morevover. shrewd White House students of Watergate who are convinced Mr. Nixon made a mistake April 17 when he. pinpointed March 21 as the precise date on which serious charges came to my attention involving Watergate, which led to his intensive new inquiries into the matter.

How can Mr. Nixon be certain, these aides are asking, that a grand jury, a congressional committee or some other investigative body wont obtain a sworn statement that the President was forewarned long before March 21 of the Watergate involvement by certain members of his own inner staff? But dwarfing this are possible new revelations, frightening to Republican politicians, which may well expose a whole new set of illegalities before the end of the investigations ipto Watergate.

Thus some party operatives with ties close to the White House are now certain that high officials of the Committee to Reelect the President or White House aides are vulnerable on campaign mail-fraud charges, wholesale violations of campaign spending laws and other political embarrassments.

Hence, Mr. Nixons dilemma is clear. If he heeds the voices of caution and says nothing to the American (Continued on page S)

Strength For Today

WATCHFUL WAITING

We hear very little in the church at large today about the second coming of our Lord. There are groups within every church which dwell at length on this teaching, and there are some churches where it constitutes almost the outstanding Christian doctrine. But in the church at large one does not often hear a sermon on this topic.

Yet it is one of the things upon which our Lord himself laid great emphasis. He frankly said that he did not know when it would occur.

This knowledge, he declared, was in the counsel of the Heavenly Father only. What he did say, however, with a directness and earnestness we should never forget, was that we should always keep ourselves in readiness for his return. No matter on what hour this would occur, we should be ready.

Counseling his apostles, he said that they were to be like servants awaiting their Lord when he returns from the marriage feast. They were to watch, for they knew not the time or the hour.

By Earl Douglass

I a /vv

i/v 11

o'l-^fitVMAOTiplCAnON!'

By ART BUCHWALD

Don't Give Up The Ship

WASHINGTON-The Naval Court of Inquiry into the sinking of the SS Watergate was held in executive session h last week.

On the stand was (?apt. Richard M. Nixon who commanded the ship at the time it went down.

Here is a partial transcript of the hearings which do not violate national security.

Capt. Nixon, the SS Watergate sprang a leak on the morning of June 17,1972. What did you do about it at the time?

I didnt think much of it. I was told by my executive officer that seven men had been fooling around in the shower rotnn and the nozzle broke off.

Did you order an investigation of the incident? Yes, I did, and it was the most thwough investigation ever held on the hi^i seas. I told my officers I wanted to know if anyone on my staff

had anything to do with the leak. They reported back to me categorically that no one in the crew except for the seven men was involved in the incident. I accepted this as fact.

Did you try to repair the damage at the time? There was nothing to repair as far as I was con-cemed. The seven men were court-martialed and that was fhe end H."

But isnt it true that during the court-martial of the seven, there were hints that other people were involved in the leak?

It was only hearsay. A captain has many enemies on a ship, and I was about to pul credence in a lot of gossip and rumor.

Now. Capt. Nixon, since the leak was not repaired, the lower compartments of the ship began to flood. Di^t you feel at that time you should take some action? I sent my peofrfe down to

Other Editors Say College Salaries

(Wilson Times)

Faculty salaries for private and state-supported colleges create interest and convmaation. There is a definite trend toward the state suM>lementing the income of the private colleges rather than building or adding to state-supported cdleges.

Hiere are objections on the pert of the state^upported universities and colleges on fxroviding aid to private colleges and universities. Under the present proposal in the General Assembly, top priority is given to $3.5 million from the state in aid to iHivate colleges. This would provide every private college $200 for full-time studento. They now get $25 per student from the rate.

Figures on salaries come frmn the May 8,1972, Chronicle of Higher Education. Duke University again heads the list by paying the highest average salary. We will only give the salaries paid the full professors and Duke University pays $25,300. The University at Chapel Hill pays $25,200, only $100 difference.

N.C. State pays its full professors an avo^ge of $22,000 and Davidson, one of thesmaUest of the private colleges but one with high schdastic qualification, pays an average of $20,600. Wake Forest pays the lowest of the ones in the top bracket of the private colleges, $19,800.

State-supported East Carolina University pays its full professors $18,700.

The Atlantic Christian college, our private, church related cdlege of which we are very proud, pays it sprofessors an average of $15,700. It ranks along with Catawba college, $15,700; Greensboro college, $15,900; Meredith college, $15,100; Wesleyan $15,000; and Salem College, $15,700.

There are colleges in the state-su;>orted group in the in-between bracket, and among the private coUe^. The difference ranges from a low at Louisburg College of $11,200 to IXike in the highest in all brackets.

It is easy to undmtand why the private colleges are nukii^ drives f<H* funds. They must have more money in order to continue to operate and improve their present standards and curriculum.

inspect the damage and they said the ship was completely dry bdow decks.

You din*t go down to inspect fhe damage yourself? I had to stay on the txidge. It is a mistake f<M* a captain to know too much about what is going on in the crews quarters. Besides, I had great faith in my officers and their ability to judge whether the ship was in jeopardy or not. Is it true that your cmnmunicatioi officer 14. Ronald Ziegler kept announcing over the loudspeaker that there was nothing wrong with the ship?

Yes, he did it on my orders.

Then Lt. Ziegler hadnt gone below to inspect the damage either?

Not to my knowledge. We were getting continual reports from our legal officer, 14. John Dean III, and he assured us that we were safe and our crew was clean.

But didnt you get

suspicious when the water rose to the main deck?

I didnt like it. but I didnt consider it my problem Ive been instorm before, six tobe exact, and Ive always been able to weather them. Besides, my staff told me not to pay any attention because the ship was built to

withstand any kind of

pressure.

AVhen did you decide that you were really in danger?

On March 21, 1973. I received some startling information from my officers that the leak did not come from a shower, but that we had really hit an iceberg. Then you decided to take action?

Yes. 1 went on the loudspeaker myself and said that anyone responsible for hitting the icebei^ would be immediately removed from the crew.

And when did you decide to abandon ship?

When the water got up to my hips and 1 noted all my officers starting to take to the lifeboau.

How did you feel about losing so many of your crew?

I felt bad about it, but by that time it was every man fw himself.

Aussie

Desert

Train

By GORDON TAIT Associated Press Writer MUNDABRILLA, Australia (AP) Mundabrilla is a collection of cotteges occupied by maintenance men for Australias transcontinental railway. Its 775 miles eati <d Perth and 1,7 miles west of Sydney-the two cities that a train called the Indian-Pacific links in a trip that takes the best part of three days and three ni^its.

The train is air-condUi<ed and has a chib car. dining car, single and twin roomettes, showers and easy chairs. Most of the time its bocdted months in advance.

The Indian-Pacific is so named because it is a link between those two oceans.

Out from Mimdabrilla, going east, the stunted mulga and mallee trees become fewer as the train rdls toward the Nul-larbor fdain at a steady 60 miles an hour.

Nullarbor is Latin for not any trees and the rail track nuts for 420 miles across this limestone plain with never a tree in sight-perfectly flat with only saltbush or spinifex grass as far as one can see.

Theres no town in this area, only occaskMud groupings of railroad workers cottages and places which watored the locomotives before diesel-riec-tries took over from steam.

The express stops at few of these settlements. They are served by the affectionately named Tea and Sugar, a train that includes clothing and grocery stm^. a butcher, correspondence course teachers for the children, a nurse, and at limes a doctor and a dentist.

The trans-Australia railroad is single track much o the 2.-461 miles, but there are sidetracks for the Indian-Pacific to slip past freight trains a mile lor.

The meals in the dining car. of tourist ship stsndard. are included in the price of the ticket, and as on ships people quickly become friendly.

The one-way fare of $151.87 first class. $115.44 economy compares with the air fare of $220.24 first or $184.32 economy.

Running of the Indian-Pacific became possible in 1970 with the completion of standard-gauge tracks from Perth to Fremantle, and on the missing link between Port Pirie in south Australia and Broken Hill in western New South Wales. There used to be different gauges.

(CsatiMMd on pofc

40 Years Ago Today

ByGWYNCOGIIlLL April 27.193.1 A sweeping investigation of the affairs of Pitt (bounty was revealed yestnday when the six months Grand Jury filed its report. Covering nineteen typewritten pages, the report was one of the most comprehensive and voluminous ever compiled.

Lou Ciehrig, the Yankees first baseman, started the baseball season on its merry way with a homw the first time up. He holds Ihe record for runs batted in, 184 in one season. Since June 1925 he has played over 1200 games in succession. The major league record is 1307 consecutive games.

It's All In Your Point Of View

By JOHN CUNNIFF AP Business Analyst

NEW YORK (AP) Whether you believe that these are among the best of economic times, or the worst, depends upon your point of view. The division of viewpoints is becmning more apparent daily.

James McLane, deputy director of the Cost of Living Council, believes in a positive outlook. Writing in the National Association of Manufacturers Reports he plugs optimism.

Optimism permits him to reflect that Wage increases are no longer being eati up by sizeable price increases, unaware that a page or so before, the NAMs own economist, George Hagedtm, notes that farm prodkicts prices rose 25.1 per cmt in a year.

Workers wiU not have to sing that aid catch-up song, says McLane, alluding to the increase in buying power during the past year, an increase which labor leaders say has ended abruptly and must be corrected by pay raises.

A deep gulch now sqwrates the administration view that price stability is a goal obtainable in months from that of business economists who are increasingly taking a leqi firm position.

Under ideal circumstances, they point out, greater siqiplies of food could be expected to satisfy demand and bring about lower prices late this year. But weather has been far from ideal, and fall shortages could develop.

Moreover, uidOn leaders are hardly in a mood to rmnain pacified. Last year

they settled for average increases well below the rates of 1970 and 1971. This year they feel compelled to resume their demands.

If they succeed, the result will be higher prices for a great number of manufactured products. Gains in productivity, or output per manhour, would decline if wages rise tiiarply, and that means inflation.

If you are in the stock imr-ket you hardly know towMm you should listen. There is considerable wonderment among many invesUxrs as they watch profits soar and stock prices fall. Many investors clearly dont b^eve the economy is gaining every day.

Fot the first three months of the ywir, compared with the like poiod a year earlier, automobile and automotive

parts companies showed an 88 per cent profit gain. Overali, 490 manufacturers averaged a gain of 31 per cent.

But you can find many analysU. some close to the White House, who fear that the statistics provide merdy an illusion of strength and that the economic giant is rwiUy suffering internally for its excesses.

Like a human being who over-extends himself, it is feared that a letdown is bound to follow. The heavy consumer buying of automobiles now, for example, could be at the expense of next years sales.

Analyzing the results of their surveys during the past few weeks and months, consumer samplers arrive at a curious finding: Incomes are high but spirits /are falling.