Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 14

lAYTON DAILY NEWS Tumultuous, Clamorous Democracy James M. Cox, Publisher 1S98-19S7 TUESDAY, JULY it, 1972 AGE 14 Especially in the racket of a presidential election year, a little time spent again with Alexis de Tocqueville brings a wry kind of comfort. The If the Board Butts In, Will Patronage Follow? Frenchman wrote about America and democracy a century ago to con-v i Europe that this kind of freedom was inevitable. The Old Mail and the Sea McGOVERN'S FIRST WIN nance of schools whose instruction was so old it verged on being quaint, a sort of unintended experiment in living history, like suddenly finding a Shaker village on an antenna farm. Nice places to visit perhaps but not germane to the business of educating kids for the world they will have to live in.

A superintendent must be held accountable for the over-all performance of a school district and the accountability would be shifted and fuzzed if the board were to begin staffing the schools. Would the principal then be answerable to the superintendent or to the board? The issue would suck the board by law, a collection of amateurs and part-timers into trying to act as operating managers rather than as policy setters. The proposal for the board to assign principals could initiate a partonage hiring system in Dayton schools. That has happened in. other districts, and it invariably compromises the quality of personnel and instruction.

It often begins to seep down into the hiring of teachers. Whatever the faults of the present or previous administrations, Dayton schools at least always have maintained a professional education system: This latest SOS plan would overturn that for the sake of some short-term political monkey The proposal to make the assignment of school principals subject to Board of Education approval is unwise and unworkable, and it could turn the school system into a spoils system. The board, when it meets next week, should refuse the temptation to grab up that power for itself. Ideology aside if that is possible in Dayton's sundered school politics neither this nor any likely board would be competent to do the delicate and difficult job of staffing the schools. That has been, and clearly must remain, the superintendent's responsibility.

This is another of the efforts by the Serving Our Schools faction to make Wayne Carle superintendent in name only, an act of petty politics that is contrary even to the board's own established policies, which predate the current administration. The proposal is being pushed because Dr. Carle plans to transfer some longtime principals to new assignments. Such flexibility in Dayton school management is long overdue. School programs have tended to fossilize under principals whose tenure was virtually for life as long as they did nothing gauche or even noticeable.

That approach permitted the mainte A Show of Strategy, Muscle But he didn't pull any punches about what democracy was like. He didn't find in it some Arcadian perfection from which we've fallen away today. HE WAS BLUNT about the quality of democratic government. American laws, he said, were frequently defective or incomplete and its officials often unskillful and contemptible. To his mind, aristocracies were infinitely more expert in the science of legislation than democracies could ever be, its officials superior in capacity to those in a democracy.

Yet De Tocqueville came out fighting for democracy and his basic faith can breed a little humility in us all. If, he thought, democratic governors have less honesty and capacity, the people of a democracy are more enlightened and more attentive to their interests. Out of this, democracy creates what more skillful governments often fail to waken, an "all-pervading and restless activity, a superabundant force and an energy inseparable from it which under favorable circumstances beget the most amazing benefits." DE TOCQUEVILLE said there was nothing more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty. I think he had something like civic virtue in mind because he went back to the old town meetings as the schools of democracy in the United States. There wasn't any "they," any Establishment in a town meeting.

There were only citizens, familiar with each problem, coming to agreements, giving the selectmen their course of action for another year. That familiarity is gone now. De Tocqueville might reassure today's cynics of little faith. Democracy never was a polished, orderly instru MIAMI BEACH George McGovern forces siezed control of the Democratic convention last night with an imnresKive combination of shrewd strategy a old-fashioned muscle. Their problem was to win the crucial California delegate challenge without alienating important dividing the same party he must now try to re-unite.

Ohio maintained its reputation during the long night of voting. Our delegation managed to be last in counting its votes on every crucial test. The tradition of Cuyahoga county was splendidly maintained. The McGovern exercise was a fascinating one. This is the first convention I have attended that was not decided before the opening gavel fell.

This time, the McGovern people had to play their cards carefully. They had to combine strategy and discipline. THEY WENT IN with two big advantages, however. They had a huge edge in votes over any other candidate, and they were opposed by a coalition that had no single power center. They had arithmetic on their side, but they had to use it skillfully.

They met the test. Like a champion professional football team, they made no mistakes. November is a much tougher problem. McGovern doesn't have the arithmetic for that nowhere near. About the only thing going for him is the fact that November is nearly four months away.

1636.5 votes. Had McGovern not made the gesture to the women advocates, he might have lost them on California. Had he delivered all of the votes they needed for the South Carolina challenge, he would have offended many delegates and set the stage for a parliamentary challenge of the O'Brien rulings before the California question came to a vote. On the Alabama a 1 1 the McGovern people did not even make a gesture. They had no desire to bar the wheel chair-bound governor from this convention.

McGovern now clearly is in control and is as sure of a first-ballot presidential nomination as anything can be in the crazy world of politics. His problem now is how to reconcile the losers. He must find some way to make peace with labor and with the Richard Daleys of the party if he is to mount a credible campaign for the big test in November. HE NEEDS to put Humpty Dumpty not Hubert, but the Democratic partyback together again. That won't be easy because McGovern built his base for his nomination bid by sharply Offers Unsafe Compromise Opinion political figures and without permitting a vote on procedural points before the California question was settled.

It's impossible to prove, but tabulation of the votes strongly suggests that the McGovern troops took a dive on the South Carolina challenge. They announced they were supporting Bella Abzug and her feminist followers in their attempt to add women to the South Carolina delegation, but that effort failed by a margin so large that it ruled out any challenge at that time to the controversial rulings of Lawrence O'Brien as to who was eligible to vote and what majority was required for victory. WHEN THE California test, came with its vital 151 additional votes for McGovern on the line the disciplined McGovern army was able to deliver ment of self-government. We haven't lost that because we never had it. We never will have it.

But we do have the tumultuous, clamorous restless self-government which democracy really is. That's worth remembering through the next noisy months which are a recurring part of our arduous The material on this page is opinion unlike the rest of the newspaper. In the two left-hand columns, we offer the editorial opinions of The Daily News, a collective judgment. In the middle columns, and on the facing page, you read the opinions of a spectrum of independent commentators. The two columns on the right-hand side of this page, plus an occasional overflow onto the- page opposite, are letters to the editor-free expression of opinions by readers.

We invite these especially dissents. All letters must be signed with names and addresses. Letters are to be no longer than 200 words. SEVERAL SERIOUS MISSTATEMENTS OF FACT Editorial Distorted AMA Report on Health Spending Kettering has been offered a pyrrhic compromise in its squabble with the Dayion Power and Light Co. about high tension wires.

The cKy council's original purpose was to get the company to move naked power lines out of the paths of careless homeowners and their aluminum ladders. Its concern was more than academic. One man was electrocuted last year and another was maimed. Ten feet above the roof and the same distance away from it seemed reasonable to one councilman (currently the standard is eight feet high and three away). Nothing doin, said Moving the wires, or insulating them, would cost too much money.

And anyway, the problem can be solved by having homeowners trudge down to city hall for a permit before they install a television antenna, hang gutters or whatever. The company has promised to bury new lines, but that is not much of a commitment. Kettering is pretty well electrified now, and shows little potential for expansion. The company's "compromise" is in reality a refusal to render safe some obviously dangerous equipment Council should reject the offer and use its law-making power to enforce the 10-foot standard. Open and Unfair A recent Daily News editorial under the headline "Tricky AMA is Reaching Way Out for its Facts" contains several serious misstatements of Checkers, Anyone? facts.

I thought you might wish to bring them to the attention of your readers. The editorial Letters for publication must bear the full name and address of the writer and should be under 200 words. All letters are subject to condensation. The letters printed here are expressions of individual opinion. The accuracy of the statements has not been checked by The Daily News.

states that the AMA "issued a mislead editors should sift a little finer the remarks made about Superintendent Wayne Carle. In my opinion, Dr. Carle is a dedicated man in doing the best he can for the Dayton public school system. I also feel that a recent letter writer's viewpoint on the superintendent is pointless. Dr.

Carle can't do enough for E. J. Brown elementary school and Colonel White high school. 1 know. I have graduated from both.

Snide remarks, which are just short of vicious slander do not make an argument worth the criticism. I suggest that people write with a little more taste and common decency. HOWARD LESSER. Dayton. who are so willing to believe that at its best.

Intellectual, spiritual and fine, patriotic sentiments provided food for thought to build a high morale among red-blooded Americans. This menu could well be served daily. The program reception by a standing-room-only crowd revealed the warmth of a united spirit among common people. One regrets that this is not indulged more freely. Then comes an awareness of the contrast between these high ideals and the grim realities of everyday life in America.

Greed, deception and a lust for power are the authors of criminality. Selfish groups award themselves salary increases for tasks that remain undone. They add to the burdens of others, regardless of existing needs. They deny children equality of educational opportunities. They refuse necessities of life to the handicapped poor and the unfortunates.

With impunity, they pass the buck, blame other and deceitfully grasp for voter support in their wrong-doings. This is the Wonderful World of Ohio. Cannot Ohio legislators digest the principles of our American founding fathers? Unless people are ruled by their cherished high ideals, they must anticipate the same fate that befell the Roman empire. K. GUY CREAGER.

Piqua. Security Tax By now, the world chess championship games either will or will not have begun, though it may be difficult to tell which. The difference is a subtle, even an enigmatic one, as between drowsy and meditating turtles. The contest between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer has been going on for months: Hassles over the site, time, furnishings, board and pieces. Fischer's llth-hour demand for higher wages and Spassky's reported peeve about his poor pay in the Soviet scheme of things.

Fischer's snits and Spassky's cool. The apology and the counter-demands made on it. All have been gambits and maneuvers on the psychological board, with each player trying to harry the other's mind and castle his own composure. Except to its devotees, who seem to speak a language compounded of picto-graphs, mathematics and shorthand, chess is that game you played once when the checkers got lost. Its frustrations are immediately accessible, its attractions elusive.

It is supposed to be a way for intellectuals to dawdle impressively, but many of its greats have been severely limited and only marginally functional, like guys who can play a violin behind their back. ing scare story about the vast increase" in federal spending on health. Fact: We issued no press releases. We did release our annual compilation, as we have done for years, of federal spending on all health and medical programs. The report states, "The report attempts to identify all programs, describing their purpose and comparing their appropriations for a a a 1 study and, as such, makes no attempt to evaluate the programs.

The 56-page report is distributed to all Congressmen and Senators as well as key officials in the Administration and to members of the press who have either expressed an interest in the health field or who request copies. Your editorial claimed that the purpose of the annual report is "to dissuade federal expenditures for decent health programs." Fact; There was, as indicated above, no attempt to evaluate the programs, praise them or condemn them. Your writer was dead wrong when he jumped to this conclusion. As a matter of fact, AMA appeared before both the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees this year asking for increased appropriations for such programs as medical schod construction, medical student assistance, family practice training, psychiatric residency training, and alcoholism prevention and treatment. I hope this has cleared up the Carle's Bondage The Democratic party's TV beg-in was neither the American republic's nor television's finest 20 hours.

The telethon squeezed maybe $5 million from an obviously reluctant electorate, but it failed to give the largest political party funds for the coming election and left it still some $4 million in the hole from previous ones. That is not the best way to run a democracy though clearly it is the way ours is going to be run this year. The Democrats won't be able to beg, borrow or pilfer their way even to a rough parity with the Republicans. That has been the case before, but the case looks to be even more exaggerated than usual this year. If Sen.

McGovern is the nominee, some big-money donors will hang back. Additionally, President Nixon enters the campaign favored against any of the likely Democrats, sand success attracts investment. The Democrats' money hopes remain with the proverbial "little guy," but he apparently would rather spend his loose change curing some of the more vivid diseases than curing political lameness. We will have an open election this year, but it doesn't seem we will have a very fair one. In the long run, that is as bad for Republicans as for Democrats.

children are being brutalized. Shawen Acres has been established to care for homeless children through out the county many of whom are misfits due to one reason or another. If one thinks that the kids of Shawen Acres can be lived with without some guide lines or means of punishment for acts committed, then I would say these people are living in a world of fantasy. The staff of Shawen Acres is being asked to do a job with children that natural parents were incapable of doing themselves: To raise, to understand, and to love a child. As far as I'm concerned they make a great effort to do this LEW WILLIAMS.

Dayton. Still at Sea I am writing in response to a recent letter from a young soldier still In Vietnam. I agree with him so much. People seem to think that Nixon is bringing all the boys home. How foolish.

When Nixon announces he is bringing home thousands of men by a certain date, why then doesn't he announce all the ships, and destroyers and aircraft carriers that are being sent over in their place? Nothing is ever said about ail the Navy and Air Force men we have over there. I have a brother over there right now on a large destroyer. This is his fifth time over, twice in one year. Why doesn't anyone ever hear about these men? Right now there's just as much fighting going on in the waters of Vietnam. Why isn't Nixon bringing these men home too? SANDRA S.

BROCK. Clayton. Poor Remarks Though I realize that The Daily News must be fair in dealing with both sides of a controversy, 1 feel the There are some hard feelings with the workers on this raise in Social Security. First, let me say it was badly needed by an awful lot of retired people. However, I do not blame the workers for being angry about having to have more taxes taken out of their already tax strained take-home pay.

It really isn't right for either the employe or employer to have to shell out any more for this cause. We paid into it 32 years before we retired. The company, G.M. "God bless them," paid in the same amount. A few years ago there was so much in this fund they were concerned what to do with it.

Well, these politicians found some place, God only knows where, to spend it. Now, I suggest the Federal government match our money and the company money dollar fpr dollar for this fund. They can do it easily by keeping their own hands out of the fund and stopping the Santa Claus act to overseas and the rich. I mean really rich, right here at home. G.M.

set us up with a pension to help out with our retirement so we would not be a burden on the country and the politicians tax that too, but they don't tax the rich. MRS. RUTH M. PEACH. Dayton.

Grim Realities Celebrating the anniversary of the birth of freedom elicits the finest expressions of patriotism. Fountain park In Piqua witnessed nn outstanding display of musical talent misconception which apparently was created by the report. HARRY R. HINTON. Washington, D.C.

Still a largely uncomprehending but awed audience of international kibitzers watches Reykjavik, more fascinated by the players than by their play. Pity that Stephen Potter, the great connoisseur of the sly art of gamesmanship, is no longer around to interpret the behavior of the contestants in terms any ambitious PTA officer could understand. Concerning reappointments and transfers of 36 administrators in the Dayton school system- "Vengeance is mine" saith the Lord Wayne Carle, as with a wave of the hand and a stroke of the pen lie seals the doom of the henchmen of the city schoolmen who have disagreed with his dictatorial policies. Not for incompetence, not for insubordination, not for a breech of moral turpitude are they exiled to the boondocks. Oh nol On the other hand, for those who have loved Lord Carle and "kept his charge and his statutes and his judgments and his commandments, always," there is the guarantee that to them will be given the promised "land of milk and honey." I say that when any one man sets himself up as the omnipotent God to mete reward and punishment according to his own egotistical whims, there is danger that all men throughout his realm will find themselves reduced to bondage.

Columbus. JAMES UMPSTEAD. Hl-S NATIVE LANP- Staff Effort The Daily News has aggravated a situation (at Shawen Acres) which it is not. willing to help by planting the seeds of confidence in the heads of unresponsible children. Shawen Acres kids now believe that they have the staff up against a stone wall and can do anything they want without being punished, and they are.

The stories run in The Daily News maybe indirectly responsible for the shooting of a 14 year old girl ran away. The action which certain people are calling for to be taken at Shawen Acres is a repeat cycle. About three years ago, the charges and circumstances were pretty much the same. None of the present staff were there then Including Mr. Caton, Mr.

Hines, and Mr. Troutmnn. This nlonp should tell something to the people of Dayton VVVWV 'X'Xvt mViiWiv vv. i Mm ftSCrff-S- KUMS AMMnft Wr Hi Inc..