Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 12

CALVIN COOLIDGE WisconsinSfate Journal Opis2.ios2. Great ent I he res i WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1972 PAGE 12, SECTION I 'BIG LABOR' IN DOUBT McGovern Has Party Foes With the tearful withdrawal of Sen. Hubert Humphrey from the Democratic presidential race. Sen. George McGovern now seems certain to be the bearer of his party's hopes against President Nixon in Novenber.

While there are a lot of hurt feelings and bruised egos in Miami Beach and Democratic strongholds across the land, especially In Chi- Coolidge. By R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. Editor, the Alternative BLOOMINGTON, Ind. I suppose Hoosiers are just like all other Americans.

We believe that what America needs is a President who spends less time bumping and grinding before the bulging eyes of the media. What captivated us about Ike was his energetic pursuit of golf balls. During Harry Truman's presidency, our confidence in government was always bolstered when he would set up shop down in Key West. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson were well-intentioned men but the truth is they spent just too much time pulling levers and shifting gears. In fact, America has not had a great President since Calvin Coolidge.

Mr. Coolidge probably spent more time napping than any President in the nation's history. He took a nap every day of his life and during heavy weather he often took two. In fact, those in the know around Washington whispered that the chief suffered narcolepsy, but none were heard to complain. The government claimed to do less good in those days and hence did less harm.

In the summer of 1927 when all the greasy-pawed politicians were slink- spin yarns of Utopia and Apocalypse, squall about the more glamorous species of injustice, and dazzle the visual lusts of a mad industry of electronic con men. According to American folklore the ideal President is an authentic man of the people, undistinguished by wealth or achievement, unbeholden to any interest groups or potentates. What makes this tale a hollow joke is that our present President comes from just such an unexceptional nest. The President could be no more common were he purchased in a Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. Nonetheless the curators of American folklore find him repulsive.

As the federal government expands, bringing with it a bewildering population of bureaucrats, it is obvious that no President really controls his government, and after listening to the cads and charlatans making a run for it in 1972, this appears to be one of the few things the citizens have to be grateful for. Supposedly, one of the gravest scandals of the age is that the Pentagon is ravenously and surreptitiously looting the Treasury, leaving the President and the Senate without any idea of what the big brass is up to. But at Health, Education and Welfare, no President has ever known what was going on, and if he did he could be tried for treason. Waste, malfeasance and idiocy are the little costs everyone must pay for the blessing of big government. There are people over at the State Dept.

who are still waiting for Woodrow Wilson to return from Europe the situation at the Post-office is an American legend. I stand with the illustrious senator from Maine. The question in 1972 is faith in government, and the first thing the President can do to restore faith in our system is to wear proudly the soup stains on his shirt and admit that he has no idea what is going on in the vast nether regions of his administration. There is nothing wrong with the President's attending sports extravaganzas, indeed he should attend more of them. And when he is not losing himself in the drama of competitive sport, he should give himself over to loafing on the front porch of the White House or to taking his wife out to the shopping center.

Teach the good-government crowd a lesson, and emulate the great Coolidge. Open the windows, let the sunshine in and get plenty of sleep. ing about, oiling up the campaign bandwagon for Mr. Coolidge's 1928 reelection, he left Washington to establish a summer White House, but not amid the gorgeous confusion of California or Florida. Calvin brought the splendor of the presidency to Rapid City, S.D., and disturbed the national calm only twice, once when his wife kept him waiting one and one-quarter hours for lunch and again when he pre-emptorily flattened the Republican sachems with that mysterious statement, "I do not choose to run for President in 1928." Today a man is not considered fit for high public office unless he can 9 no one should go to Jail for smoking marijuana, and for not speaking strongly enough about controlling crime.

The Democratic candidate no doubt will be working overtime trying to get Big Labor to change its harsh appraisal of his candidacy because without the money and clout of the leaders of labor, McGovern would be in serious political trouble. The South Dakota senator, In winning the nomination tonight will become his party's principal spokesman in the U.S. Senate, as well as in the forum of public opinion. He will need to send some of his far-out ideas through the computer before he announces them, as evidenced by i ill-fated welfare reform plan without being able to state what it would cost. A rescue party of experts has been reported working ever since trying to undo the damage with a revised plan to be announced after the convention ends.

Now that he is virtually certain of competing in the main arena, the voters will not permit McGovern such vagueness as he displayed with his campaign promise. Wisconsin voters will have a par-t i 1 a interest in the McGovern candidacy because his victory in the Badger primary sent him unto the heights after he was reported close to pulling out of the presidential race prior to the April 4 Wisconsin primary. McGovern won in Wisconsin, boosted by a good Republican crossover, and got a new life, Sen. Humphrey said at the time. Whatever the reason for his Wisconsin success, McGovern will face an opponent, President Nixon, who never lost an election in this state.

It should be a politically interesting autumn in Wisconsin. SEX. McGOVERN cago Mayor Richard J. Daley's fertile political backyard, the Democrats have a way of forgetting, if not forgiving, come election day. Sen.

McGovern, however, faces more opposition within his own party ranks than any Democratic candidate of recent y. As recent as Monday AFL-CIO officials circulated a harshly worded attack against the South Dakota senator's Vietnam stand, Communism, labor matters, civil rights, and a host of other issues. "He has repeatedly voted wrong on legislation affecting working people in the trade union movement," the document said in citing McGovern votes in Congress against minimum wage increases, unemployment compensation, and federal funds for jobs. Hie document also criticized McGovern for urging amnesty for draft evaders, for suggesting that SERVED WISCONSIN WELL Bishop Alton Earns Salute Through it all, he found time to be a "pastor to pastors," consulting and consoling clergymen throughout the state and leading efforts to create ecumenical understanding. Wisconsin is a better place because of 1 Alton's ministry here and the next state he serves will be better, too.

United Methodist Bishop Ralph Taylor Alton, who leaves Wisconsin this week for a new assignment, deserves the gratitude of all the state's residents. During the 12 years he has served Wisconsin Methodists, Bishop Alton has used the authority of his office to defend the poor, the unpopular, and the peacemakers. He also worked diligently to strengthen the 590 congregations in his charge so they could provide the strong moral leadership this time demands, a leadership seen not only in words, but in day care centers, retirement homes, and other needed social services. In his national offices, particularly in his role as chairman of the Methodist Commission On Overseas Relief, Bishop AUon supervised efforts to aid victims of war, natural disaster, and civil strife throughout the world. 1 Hang on, boys I'm coming to patch things up! Sanguine: How Little Smart People Know BISHOP ALTON Tooa as they say in New York, a for instance.

Our Founding Fathers knew very little about anything, compared to what even a schoolboy knows today. Yet when the British Parliament passed the nefarious Intolerable Acts, the American colonists had enough information to spark a revolt. The issue was clear and simple, and any farmer could weigh the alternatives and make a rational decision to remain loyal to the Crown or to join the band of revolutionaries. What rational decisions can we, as an electorate, make today? Take the recent flap over the Navy's project to install an electrical grid under a major portion of northern Wisconsin, not too far from my home. lying to us? Do we need to spend these countless millions? Will the system really work, or turn out to be an expensive fluke, providing more money for contractors and more realms of authority for Naval bureaucrats? Is the Wisconsin Committee for Environmental Information a reliable 'group, or just a coterie of extremists and alarmists and anti-militarists? How do I know? How do you know? Before we can find out, the money will be spent which might be wasted or the project will be dropped which might weaken our defenses.

In this age of prolifer-ating information, we are privy to none of the basic facts, and our discontent is rooted in our sense of frustration, doubt and disbelief. By SYDNEY J. HARRIS The other day I dealt with the paradox, "The richer we get, the shoddier our goods." Today I'd Hike to throw another paradox your way: "The more we know, the less we know." We live in the Age of Information; it has superseded the Age of Productioa Information systems, beginning with the computer, have opened a new era of cybernetics, introducing a qualitative change into our whole social and economic order. But as we learn more about controlling and directing the forces of nature, we find ourselves increasingly ignorant about decision-making in these areas. Let me give you, The proposal, called Project Sanguine, involves burying an underground cable system to transmit low-frequency radio waves to missile-carrying submarines.

This would give the U.S., according to the Navy, a "last strike" weapon system. Now three University of Wisconsin scientists, sponsored by the state Committee for Environmental Information, have completed a study that totally refutes the Navy's claim. They insist that the project is unworkable, inadequate, and unnecessary for its purpose. Also, the U.S. Forestry Service has issued a report disputing the Navy's environmental view of the impact of the project on the territory.

Whom are we to believe? Is the Navy merely mistaken, or Bef fer Biking, Better Driving Fischer Was Making Psychological Move Sirs It is certainly the prerogative of The Wisconsin State Journal to support whomever it wishes in the world championship chess matches, and I won't say a thing about that. But the editorial in the July 6 edition shows that the newspaper has at least one editorial writer who knows very little about championship chess matches. Chess is very much a war of nerves. Anything one player can do to shake the confidence of the other or put him at a psychological disadvantage isgenerally done. In a short match, say seven games, one played each day, if one player happens to win the first two games he has a very good chance of winning the entire match whether he is actually that good a player or not.

Bobby Fischer summed it up well one time when he said "I like to make them squirm." Well, Spassky won the first round in the big upcoming match. He succeeded in having the match held in Iceland. Fischer would have prefered New York, London, Paris, or even Moscow some large city with some things to do at night and during the times the actual matches are not in session. There are few things to do in Iceland. Also, Spassky is Wisconsin A State Journal An Independent Ue Newspoper J.

Martin Wolman Publisher H. Fitzpatrick Editor W.C.Robbins Managing Editor Helen Matheson Man. Editor William M. City Edrtor Joseph News Editor Steven E. State Edjfor Glenn Sports Editor Donald Davies Suncay Editor Robert Bprklund Form Editor Edwin Stein Photography Director-Editorial Board I H.

Fitzpatrick, Chairman W.C.Robbins, Helen Matheson, FredJ-Curran, John Newhouse, Roberta Bjorklund, Steven M. Barney accompanied to Iceland by some 30 close friends, while Fischer has only one another psychological advantage for a match that will probably last two or three months. So Fischer's actions in delaying the match were not arrogance, they were an attempt to put Spassky on edge and, therefore, even out the psychological advantage. Time will tell in the coming weeks and months of the match if the attempt was successful. The actions also resulted in more money for both opponents, not just Fischer as you hinted.

W. R. Luellen, 716 Odana Lane, Madison, Wis. 'Project Theft Guard' Successful in Texas Sirs We were delighted to read about the Project Theft Guard that our Madison and Dane County Police are planning right now. We just returned from a visit to Ft.

Worth, where this project is called "Operation Pink" Personal Identification Number Keeper. Their program has been in practice since 1970. The statistics for that city and the success for the program are as follows: "In 1970 there were 7,301 burglaries in Ft. Worth representing an $817,224 loss to citizens. Approximately $107,331 of the stolen goods were recovered and returned to the owner.

For the same period, 983 bicycle thefts resulted in a $9,900 loss. Burglars and thieves thrive on stolen property that cannot be identified. The property is easily sold and difficult to introduce as evidence in court. Property which lacks a means of identification cannot be traced and returned to the owner when recovered. In the first three months of the test project, residential burglaries were reduced 61 per cent compared to the previous four months' average.

This represented $2,750 per month savings for the residents of the test area." I'm sure others are looking forward to this new program in the Madison and Dane County area. Our thanks to the Madison and Dane County police, the Madison Chamber of Commerce and others supporting this Project Theft Guard. Mrs. Allan Hubbard, 5321 Namekagon Lane, Madison, Wis. Accidents are avoided only if i 1 i signal their moves and if motorists do the same.

They must keep an eye on the 'other fellow. Stale Journal Pictorial Editorial by Edwin Stein.