The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 4

'Mr. Fischer seems to be ready now shall we commence, Mr. nntetjmltar Pulling up EstabiMNH im MRS. EDEL Y. AYERS, -Chairman of It toard RALM4 W.

CALLAHAN, PmidaM the reins H. MANOT AYERS COOY HALL STtVE TRAYLOR Editor and PuWWwr Ewcutivt Editor Managing Editor P. A. SANGUINETTI Vice Gan. Manager SAM OGLE JR.

Circulation Managar ALMUS J. THORNTON Sacratary-Traawrtr CHESS on media (MHOSGHIP Harry M. Ayers, President and Publisher, 1910-1964 ID SUBSCRIPTION RATES On Waek On Month Q.M Including MAJL RATES ON REQUEST Props PuDi'jhing tt'i al'emoon tnd 10'K Anf'S'O" 3e 1 THE CONSOLIDATED PUBLISH I SO morning at C'u posngt p'0 Monday, CO irVeji 1SMT0 flCIDWK! Prime Minister Tanaka By D.J.R. BRUCKNER The Los Angeles Times NEW YORK Increasingly it is said we know too much, or too much of the wrong things the wrong way. It is true that information and the means of delivery have multiplied rapidly in recent years: as the volume rises, so do contradictions and complexities.

So. there is a reaction, one which is now a considerable political force. The important signs of reaction are not the vice president's speeches or the stream of abuse of journalists that flows from the White House jot the ignorant uproar from Congress'ow a program, for instance. CBS' 'Selling of the Pentagon." More important signs include the establishment of the Office of Telecommunications Policy in the White House, which is an indication of a determination to exert political force on the future of information and its dissemination; Mr. Nixon's veto of funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the snowstorm of subpoenas issued to reporters in the last few years; the President's determined, relentless use of prime time television for speeches and appearances.

AND THE TOTAL PICTURE, even something so remote as congressional failure to exempt the small journals from a scheduled 127 per cent postal rate increase is an important sign of an intellectually arid future. The information explosion has scarcely begun. Cable, cassettes, new global broadcast technologies, newsprint and distribution techniques indicate we are in a new formative age of information, and government action now can determine the shape and content of public information, discussion thought, and thus of popular politics for a long time to come. What are the complaints, from politicians and from the public? There is too much bad news, too much controversy, too much politics. All those criticisms may be true, of course, without being indictments of the media.

Kakuei Tanaka comes to the post as prime minister of Japan with the sort of credentials that many an American political leader has been proud to boast. Tanaka came up the hard way. from poor boy to millionaire and a power, in his nation's politics. And his background seems to be well-reflected in a practical and down-to-earth approach to his new position. When his party, the Liberal Democrats, picked him to lead the party and to become prime minister, he had no flowery words for the occasion.

He mentioned several objectives, emphasizing the need to mend relations with other countries. Foreign relations present him with serious challenges. He must provide the leadership for Japan to come to new terms with Red China, for example. And there is the question of what will be Japan's relations with commercial networks and stations seldom give more than 12 or 15 per cent of their time to public affairs; they could use some very stiff competition. And the government's antitrust suits against the networks, attempting to force them out of producing entertainment programs, would certainly affect network profits if they succeed, and that would inevitably result in a cut in news budgets.

The media are so divided among themselves that it is easy for the government to hammer them. Some local educational stations have been feuding regularly with PBS. so Mr. Nixon's veto may look neutral to some of the local officials. LOCAL COMMERCIAL stations are always fighting with the networks over profits; and if there were any doubt about the thrust of the antitrust suits, it was cleared up in April when the White House sent two top communications staff men and John Connally to the convention of the National Assn.

of Broadcasters to tell the local station officials that in the end the solution to all their problems is an increase in profits. I do not weep for the networks three Government, local style Judge, apartment and G. McGovern In bustling town and quiet hamlet, for many of Alabama's municipalities this is election time. It is an important time. Municipal government for millions of Americans is the government closest to home, the government most accessible to the people, the government which from garbage collection to police and fire protection plays a vital role in our everyday life.

It literally is a government of friends and neighbors who live and work and govern among us, not the glamorous, not really real government of Washington perceived through a TV tube darkly. We commend to readers and voters those citizens of the area's mun-cipalities now offering themselves for the voters' consideration, vying for posts as mayors and councilmen. subjecting themselves to the rigors of campaigning and exposing themselves to the danger of getting July 10, 1972 Nationalist China in view of the diplomatic emergence of Red China into international circles. Of very strong interest to the United States is how balanced Tanaka will be in viewng the fractious trade situation betwee U.S. and Japan.

The trade balance is now heavily lopsided in favor of Japan and a good case has been made to the effect that the Japanese government has played an underhanded part in helping its business and industry undersell American goods in this country. This point is the only serious friction between the U.S. and Japan. Once it is removed, the friendship between the two countries should be almost as close as that existing between any two powers. If Tanaka can eliminate that friction he will have performed a great service which would give him status as a statesman.

elected and having to try to operate municipal government in today's difficult times. These are the men and women, it should be noted who believe they can make a difference in the way we live. They deserve congratulations and a respectful hearing as they embark upon their campaigns. MARCHING ORDERS Sen. McGovern is going to make a swing through Dixie? Why, that's the happiest news some of the governors have had since Sherman came through.

So much for. The Postal Rate Commission has confirmed (made permanent) those increased rates put into effect in May, 1971. You didn't really believe that temporary business, did you? Weinberger, the director of Office of Management and Budget, sent a letter to Wilbur Mills, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman asking for a very different income redistribution program. Weinberger's request: Give families earning less than $18,000 a year tax credits of up to $200 for each child paying such an amount to attend private or parochial school. To get an idea of the impact of this proposed tax credit, take a hypothetical "Jones family" with four kids in parochial schools (at a tuition rate of $200 each i.

After six exemptions (four children, two parents) and a standard deduction, the family's present federal income tax works out to about $800 a year. Thus, with income tax credits of up to $200 per private school pupil, a family like the Joneses would have their Federal income tax all but wiped out under the administration's new proposal. IN EDUCATIONAL TERMS, the credit is a device to help private and parochial schools without running afoul of the many restrictive rulings of the U.S. courts. But in socio-economic terms, the Nixon program is one of the first indications of a new attempt to redistribute income back to the productive middle rather than to Look back July 10, 1922 The regular luncheon meeting of the Rotary Club Tuesday will feature a report by Ben Sawyer, one of the representatives of the local club at the annual convention of International Rotary held recently in San Francisco.

July It), 1947 Dr. and Mrs. Paul Leyden have returned from their wedding trip to Miami. Fla and Cuba and are at home at 1124 '2 Montvue Road. companies own them all nor even for the big companies that own several newspapers.

Market pressures, technologies, occasionally just business fashion, compel them to grow larger in order to survive, and their size could be a serious problem. It is also true that many journalists are. in Daniel P. Moynihan's embarrassing phrase, "more important than their journals." But will a constriction of freedom, or a subservience to government influence, tend to produce a citizenry which is better informed? THERE IS NO INSTANCE known to history in which any government of any kind has not been more efficient than any private entrepreneur in suffocating not only creative competition, but creativity itself. News makes us nervous, not only new information, but any information.

The ancient wisdom is still true Learning and suffering are two aspects of the same process of growth. The danger in the current tendency of governmental actions against the media is a constriction of free, complex and cohesive information. We would still suffer, but we might become merely a nation of nervous fatheads. Pat Nixon was at the Nixon compound. "YOU WOULDN'T believe it," he marveled.

"All that electronic security stuff, zurrrrrn. wheeeeee, eeeeeoho. I felt I had to get a look at the nests of these birds, to understand them." Hoffman is not limiting his harassment of the GOP to Pat Nixon. His Phone Freak Convention will give a top prize to the man who places the first toll-free call to Vice President Spiro Agnew. Phone freaks whisper, wheeze, whistle and beep into telephones, duplicating the electronic mechanisms which trigger long distance calls.

The telephone companies are apoplectic about the practice. "WE'VE GOT AGNEW'S unlisted number. We may even want to put a call through to Moscow. The greatest phone freaks in America will be convening right here in Miami Beach." said Hoffman. Footnote: Republicans are genuinely worried about Hoffman's threat, but they point out that, despite preconvention publicity in 1968.

Hoffman and more moderate leftists were able to turn out only about 10,000 demonstrators. SEN. GEORGE McGOVERN'S lieutenants have offered informally to pick up the campaign debts of his presidential rivals after the Democratic convention if he should win the nomination. George McGovern has now promised over nationwide television, if he's nominated, to keep Larry O'Brien as Democratic National Chairman. But privately, McGovern isn't happy with O'Brien and originally planned to replace him.

When word leaked out. however the uproar among party regulars forced McGovern to change his plans. World interdicted his IPFttFRI WHEN YOU REDUCE them to essentials, all the objections are objections to content. In vetoeing the PBS fund bill. Mr.

Nixon objected that public broadcasting was becoming too focused on national programming instead of on local station programing. The head of the White House Office of Telecommunications policy opined that Uk) much PBS programing was controversial. The White House press secretary was not sure that public television should run many public affairs broadcasts in competition with commercial networks, instead of promoting cultural and educational shows. Mr. Nixon thought "Sesame Street" was a tood standard for public television.

The bill which the President killed would have increased local station funding, in fact, and it would have given PBS funds for two years, rather than one. Mr. Nixon prefers one-year funding. Whatever argument is made, it is obvious that long funding would guarantee public broadcasting greater independence, and independence is not what the government wants for it, SHOULD PUBLIC Broadcasting compete with the commercial networks and public affairs programming? The White House argument is not convincing. The apartment in the fashionable Watergate West.

A near neighbor and close friend, Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, is one of McGovern's staunchest supporters. For years, Bazelon's angry antagonist on the Appeals Court was Warren Burger, now chief justice of the Supreme Court. The two jurists became bitter enemies, who often disagreed in open court and bad-mouthed one another in private. Exercise A panel of heart disease experts has recommended several steps to reduce the incidence of heart attacks among Americans.

These were mostly on the side of exercise-building of more gymnasiums, swimming pools and bicycle paths. One other recommendation was for "exercise breaks" during the work day. Can't you see it now: When the bell rings everybody in the office lines up and marches out to the volleyball court, or to the parallel bars. Frankly though, there still remain a few skeptics who will adhere to the previous fad resting after lunch to get rid of tensions. Maybe a new classification will have to be entered on personnel forms: Is the employe a potential heart-attack victim or a potential ulcer patient? Monroe (La.) Morning World Public, strikes Most Americans including a large majority of union members themselves feel that, strikes and labor disputes have seriously hurt the country.

This was the major finding of a recent survey by Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton. N. J. The survey cutting across population subgroups (age, race, region, education, etc.) was one of a continuing series of inquiries into public thinking on unions and labor legislation sponsored by the Labor Law Study Committee.

In this latest survey, a key question was: "In your opinion, have recent strikes and labor trouble seriously hurt the country as a whole, or haven't they had that much Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger and Daily News Your gondola The romance of cruising along canals in Venice has been rudely shattered. A launch crossing the lagoon there was overtaken by two gunmen in a speedboat who extracted $215 from the four occupants of the launch. This is a new form of water pollution. The only cure we can see is for Venetian gondoliers to go to the exact-fare system, thus protecting their money if not their passengers' wallets. Miami Herald.

GOP's game clearly to strengthen productive forces of U.S. society After Bazelon's ruling in favor of McGovern, the chief justice didn't even wait to be asked before he started to consider the Democratic credentials case. Even before the Democratic National Committee appealed the ruling. Burger sent to the Appeals Court for the papers in the case. Those who know Burger say he would have enjoyed nothing more than overruling his old rival Bazelon.

This may have been the reason he was in such a hurry to review the case. THE MADCAP YIPPIE leader Abbie Hoffman has promised the Democrats to limit his followers in Miami to 4.000 this week. But he also said he would rally 100.000 yelping Yippies to disrupt the GOP convention in August. The brash and bubbling Hoffman confirmed to us that he has met confidentially with Democratic National Committee officials and has agreed to try to keep things cool this week. "We have promised the Democrats no trouble." Hoffman conceded.

"After all, they got us the campsite at Flamingo Park. Besides, their candidates are not what you'd call a healthy show of villains." FOR THE REPUBLICANS, however, Hoffman had no such compassion. "We have promised them tsouris!" Hoffman said. The Yiddish word means trouble, woes and worries. "I've told everybody to come if they want to.

but if they can come to only one, to come for the Republicans in August." he told my associate Les Whitten. "Right now. we're just paddling through, waiting for Big Dick." Earlier. Abbie made an unpublicized visit to Key Biscayne where he'd heard Berry's it's nothing! I ust By JACK ANDERSON MIAMI BEACH The Appeals Court judge who ruled in favor of George McGovern in the Democratic credentials fight sold his, former home to McGovern for a reported $85,000. Judge David Bazelon cast the deciding vote in a dramatic, 2-to-l reversal of the lower court.

The presidential nomination, itself, was at stake. For Bazelon's ruling gave McGovern all of California's 271 delegates, whom he needed to win a first-ballot victory. Friends of the two men say the house sale was a routine real estate transaction. Judge Bazelon also has an impeccable reputation. But even the slightest appearance of conflict has been enough for judges to disqualify themselves.

AFTER SELLING his home in the late 1960s. Judge Bazelon moved into an the indigent bottom or parasitic top. Here are the groups that would be most affected by the Nixon pupil tax credit plan: (li Parents of the several million children in the nation's Roman Catholic schools; (2 1 Parents of the several hundred thousand children in Lutheran schools; and (3) Parents of the children taken out of public schools and put in private schools to avoid cockamamie busing schemes. Obviously, there are great "potential benefits involved for the Republican Party, and President Nixon will doubtless be bitterly attacked by the anti-ethnic. anti-Southern elite of the Left when he formally offers his plan in September.

BUT NEW POLITICAL eras have always been built on the effective application of federal power and spending to cement the new majority, and Richard Nixon can survive the howls of the wounded elite just as well as did Thomas Jefferson. Andrew Jackson, and Frenklin 1). Roosevelt. What counts most of all, though, is the implication for American society. The aim of the new Republican game is to strengthen and reward the productive forces in the U.S.

For example, since World War Two. farmers have been receiving less and less money for their produce. As a result, the typical farmer's taxable income has dropped below New-York City welfare levels. Now the administration is openly committed to increasing the agricultural sector's share of national affluence. Middle-income families sacrificing to send their children to private schools are also going to get help.

And over the next four years, the list will get longer. During the 1960 the Average American was squeezed to pay for unsuccessful poverty schemes and welfare doles on one hand, and simultaneously insulted by tax gimmicks and lucrative programs for tluyich. Finally, the tide is starting to turn. By KEVIN P. PHILLIPS WASHINGTON Thanks to Goerge McGovern's wild-eyed econnomics.

the issue of "income redistribution" shifting money from one group to another 9 promises to be a central theme of 1972 political debate. But income redistribution is a double edged sword, and by the time Richard Nixon finishes wielding it. U.S. liberals may not be quite so enthusiastic. Two June developments suggest the approach that can be expected from the President if.

as appears likely, he wins a second term this autumn. First of all. in mid-June the President refused a liberal compromise that his chief aides deemed absolutely necessary to save the administration's controversial program to guarantee every family $2,400 a year AS OFFICIALS PRIVATELY ad mitted. the President's maneuver represented a conspicous decision to scuttle the Family Assistance Plan so that fresh legislation and a fresh concept could be offered in 1973. But the social philosophy behind the President's action is perhaps even more important than his legislative tactics.

White House insiders say that the President has come to realize that automatic income guarantees for the poor weaken society by breeding family disintegration and pauperism. In his second term, therefore. Mr. Nixon will not try to find his niche in history as a latter-day Disraeli cementing a Tory alliance between rich and poor Instead, the President will try to strengthen America by strengthening the vital productive mid-section of America the majority of whom he privately refers to as the nation's "builders." ONLY A WEEK "AFTER the President tacitly abandoned the Family Assistance Plan, one' of his aides. Caspar.