The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • 4

THE ENQUIRER FRANCIS L. DALE Frcsidcnt and Publisher BRADY BLACK Editor and Vice President THE ENQUIRER'S DECLARATION OF FAITH, APRIL 10, 1841 "If ice fail, that failure shall not arise from a want of strict adherence to principle or attention and fidelity to the trust tec assume." Wednesday, July 19, 1973 The Farmland Dilemma iliife A ft Jff DAILY THOUGHT A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that tlietj can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over louse Jiiral policy always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the icorld's greatest civilizations lias been 200 years.

Alexander Tyler. II 1 v- THE HEADLINE IN THE New York Times was bound to evoke a strong emotional reaction: "High Estate Taxes Are Driving Fanners Off the Land and Into the Hands of Speculators." According to the story, thousands of American farmers, mostly those whose farms are located on the fringes of major metropolitan areas, are being forced to sell their land to developers because of a 56-year-old provision in the Revenue Code. The 1916 law mandates that the taxed value of inherited land be set at its best market value, which, in the case of exurban-area land, greatly exceeds its income-producing value as farmland. Thus, a person who inherits a farm may find his tax bill on the property will actually exceed the income he can derive from farming it. On the surface, this appears to be a grave hardship.

Indeed, it does inhibit the farmer's economic freedom. It has always been a tenet of our free-enterprise economic philosophy that a person should be free to make any lawful non-disruptive use of his property that he desires. Moreover, once a plot of farmland is bulldozed to make way for a factory, a shopping center, an apartment complex or a housing development, it can probably never be used for growing things again. Someday it may be that the dwindling supply of green fertile land more and more people move to the megapolis. Moreover, while living room is scarce and at a premium, there is presently a surplus of farm products.

Then, too, there is the reason why the Purcell bill, after four years of re-introduction, still has yet to be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee. "Ways and Means just happen to like the extra revenue the law pulls in the way it stands," Mr. Purcell admitted ruefully. A change in the law would reduce revenues at a time when federal deficits are already straining the budget. The change would also open the door to fraudulent tax evasion; an inheritor could feign a desire to farm his land, get a healthy tax cut and then sell the land to a real-estate developer at the higher price.

The problem under present tax law is probably not so severe as it might seem at first blush. The federal tax law applies only to estate taxes i.e., inherited farmland. The old, established family farmers are not being driven off their land, and the younger persons who would inherit the land, more likely than not, have no great desire to remain farmers. What is illustrated, however, is one more aspect of the contradictions in our economic system. The economy, given free rein, would have already doomed the small family farms, especially those in exurbia.

But on the other hand, green land, once gone, is gone forever. Only a far-seeing, comprehensive land-use study by policymakers at every level of government can determine just how much of that land must be preserved against the day we will need it and how" much should be converted to meet the immediate need for housing and industry. Such planning, even more than federal estate-tax policy, will drastically abridge the freedom of the individual landowner. But, while we may lament that loss of freedom, it may already be necessary to tell him that his land is not entirely his own. 'NOW, IE WE ONLY HAD SOMEPLACE TO GOP Readers9 Views The Party's New Look will be sorely missed both for its esthetic value and, more importantly, for the food it could produce.

Rep. Graham Purcell (D-Texas), chairman of the House Livestock and Grains Subcommittee, has introduced legislation to change the 1916 law and to provide for taxing an inherited farm on the basis of its value as farmland rather than On the price that could be realized if it were sold to a developer. The case for Representative Purcell's bill is a strong one, but the case against it is also strong, backed by another basic tenet of free-market economics, the law of supply and demand. If farmland were as valuable to the public weal as housing land, there would be no disparity in values. But the need now is for more and more housing, as of rookies, Coach Brown is visibly optimistic and has made no effort to soften his original prediction.

Both of Cincinnati's major professional teams have done much to make a name for the city and provide countless hours of excitement for their supporters. Both have been making a concerted drive toward their respective championships. And with just a fair share of the luck of the game, it appears that 1972 could be Cincinnati's year. and each day this city becomes closer to me. We in this city have much to be proud of.

At times, it seems only the newcomers appreciate Cincinnati, while the natives take it for granted. It's time for all residents, newcomers and natives alike, to be aware of this great city, and to sell it constantly! RON STALL, Director, Audience Development, Cincinnati Playhouse ln the Park. Cincinnati's Year? Shades Of General De Gaulle FRENCH PRESIDENT Georges Pompidou acted with a Gaullian flair for the dramatic in dismissing his prime minister, Jacques Chaban-Delmas. The French National Assembly had just adjourned for the summer. Mr.

Chaban-Delmas had just taken part in the semiannual meeting of the French president with the chancellor of West Germany. Then suddenly he is out, and another Gaullist with impeccable credentials of, loyalty to the late general is in. Mr. Chaban-Delmas had headed the cabinet since Mr. Pompidou's election to the presidency three years ago.

But he had developed two weaknesses that seem to have dictated his departure sufficiently in advance of the National Assembly election less than a year from now for his successor, Pierre Messmer, to establish himself. First, Mr. Chaban-Delmas had damaged the Pompidou image of a government dedicated to reforms that would treat all citizens fairly and equally. The prime minister had contrived, albeit quite TO THE EDITOR: Having witnessed the demise in Miami of a great political party, I herewith offer my condolences. The phenomenon of the overhaired and underwashed exponents of McGovernism capturing the Democratic Party is simply unbelievable.

Jerry Rubin is in; Mayor Daley is out. What a switch from Chicago in 1968. Apparently the donkey has gone to "pot" in more ways than one. Let me offer the suggestion that the local Democratic headquarters should be transferred to Calhoun Street. I'm sure the hippie environment in that area would add a "grass" roots thrust to the coming political campaign.

LOUIS E. McCABE, 4237 Deepwood Ln. 'Copping On? I would like to give a heartfelt endorsement to Bob Brumfield's article (July 12) regarding the Yippies, hippies, et who, to date, have not had one constructive idea only destructive ones. Why they can "demand" is beyond me. Like Mr.

Brumfield, I would like to have been there, and I feel exactly the same way. I wish someone would tell me just what they propose doing except protest. Letters submitted for publication should be addressed to Readers' Views, Cincinnati Enquirer, 617 Vine Cincinnati 45201. For the sake of public interest, good taste and fairness to the greatest number, the editors reserve the right to condense or reject any letter and to limit the appearance of each writer to once in 30 days. To use one of their own expressions, they are merely copping out doing nothing.

Maybe we are not perfect. So why don't they tell us what to do. We are the greatest nation under the Sun, and it took work to make it so not just goofing off. DOROTHY C. RHODES, 2712 Morrow PI.

6 A Great City' Recently I truly realized that Cincinnati is booming! After attending the opera "Turandot," I walked through the downtown area. I could see that, even on a hot, humid evening in July, Cincinnati is alive. The next morning, after a quick calculation, I realized that, with 41,030 people at the Reds game, nearly 3300 at the opera, over 450 at Cincinnati Playhouse and over 30,000 visitors at the Convention Center, there were nearly 75,000 people within a two-mile area of downtown between 6 p. m. and midnight! I have lived in Cincinnati nine years, a convention that sometimes seemed to be saying that the most you can do for your country is evade the draft, smoke pot abort your babies, have a homosexual affair and receive, in return for nothing at all, a thousand dollars a year from your fellov citizens.

SENATOR EAGLETON emerged as testimony to Senator McGovern's genius for discovering what nobody else had discovered, and he quickly, and amusingly, recounted the single trauma of his adult life namely that, having mislaid his credential upon presenting himself to the Senate aft er resigning his state job, he found himself, for a period of 16 minutes during hii adult life off the public payroll. If McGovernism triumphs, nobody wit ever be off the public payroll, not even foi a dreadful, reactionary 16 minutes. Not unless the people's tribunal should happen to toll the dread words: "The great state of Idaho, home of the greatest potatoes in the peace-loving world, casts its 22 votes for taking John Doe off the public payroll." Cheers? When it happens, it will be John Doe vs. the McGovern convention. WITH ITS well-deserved reputation as a long-time center of prof essional sports, may just be on the way, in 1972, to recording one of the best years in its history of athletic accomplishments.

Our running Reds, enjoying the benefits of the heavy hitting of regulars Johnny Bench and Tony Perez, the unanticipated strength of the starting and relief pitchers, and vast improvements on: defense and the basepaths, have established themselves as the team to be reckoned with in the National League West. pff to a rocky start after the strike, it oidn't take the team long to demonstrate its refusal to be intimidated away from home. Now, the Reds are out to dispel rumors that they are jinxed in Riverfront Stadium. Holding tenaciously to the division lead, the better-balanced 1972 Reds are proving even to the skeptics that this is a team capable of finishing the job started in 1970. And while the Reds hardly give Cincinnati sports fans a chance to let their enthusiasm subside, reports are beginning to trickle in that there is, indeed, a tiger loose in Wilmington.

The Cincinnati Bengals are on the campus of Wilmington College preparing themselves for the coming football season. Coach Paul Brown, consistently guarded in his appraisals and predictions, suggested in 1968 that his team would be five years in the building. There has not been one season during the Bengals' first four, however, that the team has not given Cincinnati a full measure of thrills even to its unprecedented division championship in 1970. This year, bolstered by experience, proven performers at key positions and another exceptionally promising group The COMING HOME Pursuant to Senator McGovern's instructions. It is a very good feeling, coming home.

The mood in Miami, at the McGovern convention, was elated. These are the happy people, and it is obvious why. Jimmy the Greek, who is the actuarial Delphos in America, was brought down and interviewed on network TV, and he said that he had put the odds against McGovern's nomination, as recently as last December, at 50-1. NOW Mc GOVERN IS nominated, and Jimmy the Greek shifts gears and puts the odds against McGovern's election at 4-1. Jimmy has traveled a long distance, and the McGovernites at Miami, a harmonic arrangement of kids, intellectuals and ethnics, are as confident as the early Christians.

Chiliasm is in the air, and He is George McGovern, whose incarnation will be effected by the voters In November. Then, to quote from the peroration in McGovern's acceptance speech, America will have "come home." I do not know whether George McGovern will be elected President. I do know that the McGovern convention was an ide "Most GratefuV As a result of Peggy Lane's articles on dog licensing, approximately 18,000 licenses were obtained, mostly by delinquent dog owners, in June. I know of no other Ohio county that has had so dramatic increase in dog-license sales in a one-month period. In fact, I think that our county is close to the lead percentagewise in total licenses sold, despite the fact that it is more difficult to raise the level of licensing ln an urban county.

We now have more than 84,000 licensed dogs in Hamilton County. I am most grateful to Miss Lane and to The Enquirer. NORBERT C. MAHLMAN, Manager, Hamilton County Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals, 3949 Coleraln Avenue. 'Museum Of Horrors9 So Governor Gilligan feels that the electric chair belongs in a "museum of horrors." He claims that no crime is vicious enough to deserve the death penalty.

It would be interesting to find out what kind of punishment he might suggest for the demented monsters who gunned down the innocent child playing in a neighbor's yard in Los Angeles. The killing was classified as a "joy killing." I wonder If the governor would stick to his decision had he been forced to witness the disaster that poor mother was forced to watch. It's my opinion that the electric chair belongs where it is and that certain politicians belong in the museum of horrors. CAROL McFARY, 948 Dana Ave. 'Bush-League Antics' This letter is being written in regard to the bush-league antics of Bobby Fischer at the championship chess match in Reykjavik, Iceland.

For a man to have such talent and abuse it is just too much to comprehend. Perhaps it would give him an advantage to psyoh his opponent out, but to do so at the expense of good taste and sportsmanship is inexcusable. He made a statement to the effect that he was playing the match to enhance the prestige of the United States in the world of chess. It seems that he has done more to alienate it than anything. I just hope that the average European will not consider "Mr." Bobby Fischer an average American.

FRED J. WEHBY 10096 Sturgeon Ln. 'Sincere Policies May I commend you for the very fine editorial of June 26, "The Continuing Question of Media I only wish that all those Americans who are so eager and ready to condemn President Nixon's sincere policies could read it and give It serious thought. ADELE E. HESS, 270 Linden Dr.

THE ENQUIRER 617 Vine Cincinnati, Ohio 5202 BY MAIL OUTSIDE OF CARRIER DELIVERY DISTRICTS IN ZONES I. 2, 3 AND BEYOND Sunday on. year $15.40 becond class postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio of III Pre" lmi th. us. or publicatiM "'P IEWS IUBE1UJ Washington.

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rt.wuAin a WALKfcK GENERAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVS C.AWVCD CCDi icn legally, to escape all income taxes for some years. Secondly, the reformist image itself has not set well with the conservative Gaullist loyalists who make up the bulk of the governing Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR). While the French left, despite the new electoral union of the Communists and Socialists, still seems no threat to the Gaullist majority, the UDR is sure to lose some of the seats it won in the popular revulsion against the near-revolution of May, 1968. Air. Pompidou wants to hold those losses to a minimum to offset their psychological impact.

Since Mr. Messmer was de Gaulle's defense minister for 10 years, it appears the new image is to be one of loyalty to the general's memory. That could forebode a revival of a more nationalist French policy in relations with the Common Market and the United States. It would also be something of a reversal for Mr. Pompidou who has striven mightily to establish himself as a political leader free from dependency on the Gaullist legacy.

John Lindsay, sitting there unnoticed in the shadows that closed down at that ragtag end of his boulevard of broken dreams. EUGENE MCCARTHY, the bard of spiritual restoration only four years ago, came into Miami unnoticed except by those whose practice it is to notice the unnoticed. So it will be, not necessarily for McGovern himself: but for McGovern's dreams, surely, ineluctably. It is necessarily so for anyone who seeks to do what only God can do. Speaking of which, the rhetoric of the last hours of the convention was exalted beyond even conventional idealism.

Senator Kennedy said he had been "humbled" by the Invitation to run for vice president. If that is true, surely it will prove to be the most significant achievement of the McGovern convention. Later, Senator Kennedy addressed the convention and said that it had returned to the ideal of "John Kennedy, who said ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." A breathtaking announcement, uttered before McGovernites' Moment Of Rapture By William F. Buckley Jr. ological joy ride.

And no matter what happens in November even If Richard Nixon wins again, this time by a landslide the moment of rapture will not turn to bitterness. George McGovern. in an incautious public flirtation with megalomania, spoke of his nomination as a "sweet harvest." THUS IT WILL REMAIN in the memory, win or lose. However, the legions intend to win. They hope to reify George McGovern's dream.

They are the political alchemists, who will transform hatred into love, poverty into plenty, the Soviet Union into Switzerland, one finds oneself hoping, less that Mr. Nixon will win because it is important for the safety of the Republic that he should do so, than that he should win in order to spare the young McGovernites a direct experience with power. When John Lindsay made his victory speech, back in 1965, he told his followers that he would transform New York into the empire city, and he might as well have shot them all with a double-jolt of morphine, so transported were they by the vision of it all. Yesterday, seven years later, the cameras did not trouble to focus on.