The North Adams Transcript from North Adams, Massachusetts • Page 6

"Cmmctlpt Founded 1843 PiMished By The Tratucript Publishing Association A Massachusetts Trust Co-Publishars, James A. Hardman, Jr. and Robert Hardman Editor, James A. Hardman, Jr. Business Manager, Robert Hardman Managing Lewis C.

Cuyler Page Six Tuesday, March 14, 1967 Uditoriul A Tawdry Episode NOW THAT JAMES MEREDITH has withdrawn as GOP opponent of Adam Clayton Powell in New York's 18th Congressional district, the Republican organization ought to see the light and allow the Biraini basker to go unchallenged in the special election next month. The first reaction of Vincent F. Albano 'the New York County GOP Committee chairman, was to announce that another candidate will be presented. If there is any political savvy in that organization, he should be made to forget the whole idea. THE PACT IS that the abortive Meredith candidacy was a shabby, cynical piece of business on the part of Albano and his cohorts' that reflected no credit on the Republicans, could not possibly have stopped Powell's reelection, and was certain to have inflicted pain upon a young idealist who already has suffered more than enough for his principles.

The Albano cliques said that the nomination was offered to Mr. Meredith "in complete good faith." Nobody aware of the realities in Harlem, and the emotional tide rising in behalf of Powell, can accept that. Mr. Meredith was chosen as nothing more than a pawn in a shameful game. The GOP county organization must have known that he could not possibly win or even come close yet it went heartlessly ahead to use him.

Albano said Mr. Meredith "willingly, even eagerly accepted" the nomination. Of course he did, because he is an idealistic young man too naive to recognize the brutalities of politics. IT IS SIGNIFICANT that responsible Republican lead- era, men like Gov. Rockefeller, Sen.

Javits, and Mayor Lindsay, had no part in this wretched mockery. And Mr. Meredith's abrupt withdrawal can only be taken as a clear indication that his eyes were opened to the truth. If the New York County GOP organization had been really astute, it would have left Powell unopposed, to stand as a constant source of embarrassment to the Democrats. None of this is intended as a defense of, or apology for Powell.

His difficulties are all of his own making, and it would be a salutary thing, indeed, if his Harlem constituency could, like Mr. Meredith, awaken to the truth and repudiate him. BUT THE FACT IS that there is no remote likelihood that Harlem will do anything of the kind. Misplaced though the adulation may be, there is no shunting aside the fact that Powell has a hero status in Harlem and that he probably was correct when he said his constituents would reelect him even if he were dead. All of which underlines again the mistake that the HoUvSe made when it voted to exclude him from membership, instead of accepting the recommendation of the special committee which proposed censure, a stiff fine, and loss of all seniority.

That, would have been a punishment that not only would hit where it hurt, but which also probably could be made to stick. Instead, the House majority foolishly gave Powell and his supporters the chance to contend that he was being excluded because of his race, and opened the way for the county GOP organization to misuse Mr. Meredith. The result is a tawdry chapter in political history. Lessons w.

L. GORDON Words often misused: Do not say, "He sat down on the chair." Omit "down," which is superfluous. Often mispronounced: Boutonniere. Pronounce boo-ta-nyair, accent on last syllable. Often misspelled: Enervate (to deprive of strength or force).

THE NEIGHBORS Innervate (to stimulate the nerves). Word study: "Use a word three times and it is yours." Let us increase our vocabulary by mastering one word each day. Today's word: Bereft; deprived; dispossessed. "He was bereft of his sanity." By George Clark "I'll be out in a minute. Mom and I are having a manic-man talk." Inside Report Nixon in Trouble Over U.

Consular Treaty By ROWLAND EVANS tnd ROBERT NOVAK WASHINGTON Richard M. Nixon's self-imposed 60-day moratorium on politics hasn't prevented him from gelling in behind-the-scenes trouble over the U.S. Soviet consular treaty. Nixon's error was one that has plagued his long political career. By seeking to finesse the consular treaty instead of taking a stand one way or another, Nixon succeeded only in irritating both the right and the left wings of the Republican Party.

The story began in early February when Sen. Thruston B. Morton of Kentucky was launching his brilliantly successful drive to muster Republican support for the consular treaty (which would pave the way for the U.S. and 'he Soviet Union to open consulates in each other's countries). Because then Vice President Nixon had backed such a treaty when first proposed during the Eisenhower administration eight years ago, Morton sought his support.

Nixon's reply gave the impression that he would be coming out publicly for the treaty. Consequently, Republican supporters of the treaty listed Nixon on their side in conversations with reporters a listing reflected in an Associated Press dispatch from Washington on Feb. 4. Til at AP dispatch produced in- stand outrage on the Republican right. The National Review, the journal of conservative opinion which has been unusually kind to JJixon lately, attacked him.

on Feb. 21 for "indulging his periodic impulse to play global statesman" by endorsing the consular treaty. However, Nixon's young aide, Patrick J. Buchanan, fired off a letter to the National Review insisting that Nixon had not endorsed the consular treaty in keeping with his moratorium (though this moratorium apparently doesn't prevent Nixon from commenting on Vietnam). The upshot of all this: The National Review remarked tartly in its March 7 issue that it is still "interested to learn what Mr.

Nixon does think of the treaty" a view widely held- by conservatives. LOST IN THE political furor following Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's Vietnam speech on March 2 was the real objection to it by high State Department officials. More than anything else, they were upset by this one Kennedy sentence.

"Last week, commenting on the period of the New Year's truce, Prime Minister Wilson said that one single simple act of trust could have achieved (peace). We can and should perform that act." In the State Department's private view, Kennedy compounded the confusion originally caused by the British prime minister in his televised statement which made it appear he was attacking both Washington and Hanoi for failing to. make the "one single simple act." Later in the House of Commons, Wilson asserted he was talking about Hanoi only. However, the State Department feels, Kennedy made it appear the Johnson administration -not Ho Chi Minh was at fault in failing to bring peace, inadvertently hurting the U.S. in the worldwide propaganda war.

ALTHOUGH Gov. Ronald Reagan wilt control the huge California delegation to the Republican National Convention as a favorite son, the forces of Michigan's Gov. George Romney are not totally writing off the Golden Slate. Travis Cross, the political pro from Oregon who has performed several special assignments for Homney this year, paid a quiet visit last Monday (March 6) to Sacramento. The main event was a secret luncheon at the Senator Hotel across the street from the State Capitol hosted by Cross and attended by several key Republican moderates who backed New York's Gov, Nelson Rockefeller for President in 1964, Included were State Controller Houston Flournoy, assemblymen William Bagley and George Milius and staff members of other legislators.

Cross stressed that Romney would make no foolhardy effort to challenge Reagan in his own state. Nor was he asking for commitments. But the luncheon showed Merc curing a beachhead in the home country ot one of his biggest rivals. A footnote: Former Michigan Slate Chairman Lawrence Lindemer has quietly been named Midwestern coordinator for the Romney for President cpm- paign the same job he handled for Rockefeller in 1964. North Adams Skies Tuesday, March 14 Sunset today, 5:57 p.m.

Sunrise tomorrow, 6:06 a.m. Moonset tonight, 9:32 p.m. First Quarter, March 19. The planet, Venus, which was a little above the moon last night, is well below our satellite tonight. Venus is now about 130 million miles from the Earth.

A Conservative View Many Disadvantages to U.S. In Soviet Consular Treaty WASHINGTON The word floating about (he Senate corridors, st this writing, is that the administration' can count on at least 60 certain votes for ratification of the pending consular convention with Union. Assuming the usual handful of absentees, this number would suffice to provide (lie necessary two-thirds majority; and if the proponents of this unwise and unnecessary treaty hold firm, doubtless they can defeat all reservations or qualifications. Yet the reasons against ratification of the convention, at this particular time, are so convincing that a last-ditcli effort can be justified in opposition to it. Senators Dodtl of Connecticut and Cotton of New Hamoshire outlined these reasons' in excellent speeches last but they spoke to a virtually empty chamber and their cogent arguments were almost ignored in the press.

ONE OF THE FIRST blunt questions that should be asked goes to the matter of timing: Why is it so important to act upon the consular convention now? There is nothing about it. This agreement was negotiated in Moscow between Foy D. Kohler and Andrei Gromyko on June 1, 1964. It has thus been kicking around for almost three years. Why this fever for ratification? Two answers are given' by proponents.

The first is. pragmatic; the second is diplomatic. It is urged that so far as opoortuni- ties for espionage are concerned, the United States would get as much as it gave; our intelligence people are said to be interesting in having the and reporting facilities that would be afforded by a U.S. consulate in Leningrad, where the Soviet is known to be doing research in anti-ballistic missiles. It is urged, on the second point, that the consular convention, which is not a big deal in it- By JAMES J.

KILPATRICK self, should be ratified as. one more gesture of conciliation and bridge-building on the growing "detente" with the Soviet Union. IT IS PATENTLY impossible for most civilians and most senators to form a rational judgment on the first argument. Intelligence work goes on; it will continue to go on. conducted by both sides, regardless of action on this convention, One cannot say how much weight should be accorded to this justification, The arguments advanced by Dodd and Cotton on the second point strike to the very heart of the pending issue.

What conceivable sense does it make for the United States to engage in gestures of conciliation and bridce- building at a moment when the Soviet Union is waging war upon our troops in Vietnam? "Who is killing our men?" asked Senator Cotton. "Ostensibly, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong are the enemy. But there isn't a member of this Senate who doesn't know that they couldn't maintain their aggression without outside help. The Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union alone, is fighting this bloody war of aggression, The Soviet Union and the Soviet Union alone, has it within its power to stop the killing and bring the combatants to the negotiating table tomorrow." The Soviet Union, Cotton added, is supplying missiles, rockets, machine guns, rifles, petroleum, field artillery, helicopters, coastal ships, an advanced 'radar defense system, heavy construction equipment, and "bridge-bullding materials." This is the bridge-building that interests the Soviet Union. DODD DEVOTED a major part of his address to a devastating attack the illusion that a "growing detente" is developing between the U.S.

and the U.S.S.B. What is the evidence of the Soviet's good will toward the West? Over the past 10 years alone, the evidence may be found in Hungary, in the Berlin Wall, in the Cuban missiles, in the Soviets' unceasing attempts to foment Communist take-overs in Africa. The evidence lies in the Congo, in Zanzibar, in Algeria, in Yemen, in Indonesia. Over the past 15 months, since the Tri- Continental Communist Conference in Havana, the Soviet Union has redoubled its efforts to promote revolutionary violence in Latin America. Is this the kind of record that supports conciliation? That justifies American gestures toward "bridge-building?" By popular legend, Americans are supoosed to be the world's best poker players and horse traders: What has become of these traditional skills in the drafting and the ratification of this consular convention? To be sure, the arguments advanced by Dodd and Cotton, carried to a logical end, would lead to a total severance of dfolomat- ic relations with the Soviet Union even to a declaration of war.

No one is suggesting anything of the sort. Pure logic and absolute consistency are not necessarily the final determinants of foreign policy. But when repeated ges- tares ol conciliation have proved wholly futile in altering Soviet policy, why should further gestures be made especially in the midst of the Vietnamese war? If a two-thirds majority of the Senate is determined to ratify, willy-nilly, at least a conditional date could be fixed for making the convention effective. Let the Senate provide that its instrument of ratification will not be exchanged until two months, or three months, or six months after end to hostilities in Vietnam. If the Soviets truly have an interest in this treaty, such a reservation migbt add its infinitesimal bit to the forces working for peace.

Letters To The Transcript Slanting in Public And Private Schools Editor of The Transcript: There are some interesting assumptions underlying the letter o5 Theodore Johnson concerning private or parochial schools (Transcript, Wednesday, March 8). Consider these for example: 1. One can avoid slanting information in education. 2. The purpose of education is.

preparation for "world citizenship." 3. One can teach a child "the basics of individual thought'and evaluation" apart from the context of his religion. 4. Private vs. public amounts to slanted vs.

unslanted, pressuring vs. unpressuring, special interest vs. general interest. 5. An international panel of experts would present information that is "unbiased" and "neutral." 6.

Man's ultimate purpose in education is to preserve the human race. 7. The state has the right to enforce education up to a certain age. HOW does a man know that he is not simply trading one slant for another, private "pressure" for public "pressure," one biased expert for another bfacd expert? How does a man know that in trading parochial for public, he is not trading the right slant and bias for the wrong slant and bias? More basic is this question: What absolute and binding authority justifies these assumptions? WILLIAM C. WALDEN, Hancock Williamstown Likes Features In Saturday Transcript Editor of The Transcript: I should like to commend you on the new Saturday Transcript.

Where the old Saturday paper featured "1,001 Things You Can Do to your-Bathroom," Saturday paper contains tea-, fures that allow one to feel the pulses of the people who make up the community. Articles such as "Transcope," "What's Happening," and "Personality in the News" present refreshing contrasts to the Monday through Friday reportage format. A sincere thanks to you and your staff. MARILYN T. GALLESE, 312 Eagle North Adams Veterans Should Have Preference Editor of The Transcript: The editorial in the March 6 Transcript was just another in a long line that continually berates veterans preference in conjunction with civil service.

My guess is that the writer expressing this point of view is not a veteran and never fried for a civil service job. Let's take the case of a disabled veteran trying for the police or fire department. If he could pass the physical, which I doubt, he still has to pass the strength test. I nersonally have seen men turned down on the physical part oi the test because they had one varicose vein showing in their leg, I was turned down because my vision didn't meet civil service standards. This same vision did not prevent Only Yesterday Williams Students in Snowball Battle; Washburn Called to Duty 50 Years Ago Mr.

and Mrs. Daniel Trottier of Maple Grove section in Adams, purchased the house and lot of the Slattery family, in the North Summeer street section of town. Mr. Trottier held a responsible position in the Renfrew Manufacturing comnany AUo in Arlam Town Mnrlera- tor ''red R. Shaw amointed members of Ihe commy'rv's finance committee.

hese included Henry L. Harrington, chairman and A. B. Daniels, There was a two-hour snowball battle In Williamslown among Williams college students living in dormitories on or near the college campus. Several windows were broken before the supply of snow became exhausted.

25 Years Ago Miss Margaret Wells, 13 years a member of the North Adams Public library staff, was named assistant librarian by trustees of the institution. The appointment filled a vacancy caused by resignation of Miss Abbie Metealf, shortly after Mrs. Elizabeth Furst retired librarian, a position to which Mrs. William Richmond was named. A first bulletin concerning an official blackout at North Adams in connection with a Berkshire county test was made public.

It came over the signature of Allan I. Davis, chairman of the local committee on public safety; Alnhonse M. Merrigan. chief air raid warden and Police Chief Michael W. Conlon.

ft Called to active duly. North City Councilman Robert R. Washburn of Dnane's lane, a second lieutenant of cavalry in the army officers' reserve corps resigned from the local legislative body with which he had been associated over four years. He was the first elected city official to enter military service. 10 Years Ago The North Adams city council gave the go-ahead signal for a federal low-rent housing project here.

The vole was eight to one with Councillor Harry Pieman dissenting. The type of building had not been decided, An ordinance calling for five- minute parking in a strip along the north side of Summer street, near the post office here, was approved by the North Attams City Council. me from enlisting in the navy. The strength test is something else. Any disabled veteran that could pass this deserves the job.

As for the statement that the quality of our government has deteriorated, I for would like to see much more proof than the word of a small town newspaper 'editor. The "word "misfits" rings with bitterness that probably goes much deeper than just the fact that veterans get preference in civil service' tests. This is outright degrading of men who are doing these jobs. In private business the veteran usually comes back to his job and has to work for a man who didn't serve his country. While the veteran was away the non-veteran is usually being promoted and moving up the ladder.

So why shouldn't the veteran have preference in civil service? ALEXANDER J. GROVES, 30 Maple Adams Seeks Descendant Of Justus Jillson Editor of The Transcript: I have reason to believe that one of your readers is a descendant of South Carolina's first State Superintendent of Education, Justus K. Jillson. He may be a teenager, he may be a nonagenarian, he may even be a she! At any rate, his forbear is currently the subject of considerable interest and intense research by educators here, who are anxious to pay him proper and respectful attention in the history of education in South Carolina. We know that Justus Jillson was born to Mary and Sylvester W.

Jillson (of Richmond, New Hampshire) in Gardner, Massachusetts, in 1839; that he had two brothers, Henry and Leander; and that he married Ellen A. Gates in Petersham, Massachusetts, in 18S8. He came to South Carolina as a teacher with the Freedmen's Bureau in 1866 and was subsequently elected the state's first 'Superintendent of Education. In 1876, however, he relumed North to Springfield, Massachusells, where he died by his own hand in 1881. is not known where Mr.

Jillson attended college or how he received his educational training. But it is known that the Jiilsons had two sons: one lies buried in Warwick, Massachusetts; the other, or his offspring, is the object of my search. It is hoped that through, him more may be learned ol Justus Jillson's background and that a grateful slate may thus pay fitting homage to the ma-i who provided her with Ihe initial stimulus for educational progi-st. It is, therefore, the purpose of this letler to contact and urge Mr. Jillson's descendant to write me and identify himself.

His help is of significant importance to this vital historical research and will be sincerely appreciated, RICHARD L. TOWERS, School of Education, University of So. Carolina, Columbia, S. C. And By the Way That March Madness By MAYNARD LEAHEY THE IDES of March are just beyond the next sunrise, a date which is supposed to have made a mess of things for Julius Caesar.

That historical background won't dampen the optimism of a considerable body of today's citizens, however. They won't be deterred in their cheerfulness by what happened to some ancient Roman. The only signs they can see are their opinion; good ones. In short, they are the men who step forth on a mid-March morning, take a deep breath of the soft breezes wafting over the Hoosac flatlauds, and issue their own personal proclamation of emancipation, EMANCIPATION, that is, from the winter garb with which they have been shackled since last November and which has made starting off for work in the morning something comparable to climbing into a diver's suit. It may not be tomorrow, and it could have been during the past weekend, but the fact is that any day now these men iiow will insist that winter has had its fling, and that it's gone for good, and the time has come to shed the winter uniform.

They will point to the thermometer outside the window, registering 60 and still climbing. They will call attention to the birds chirping from the treetops (the same birds that have been chirping all winter, but which couldn't be heard because of the ear muffs.) "If you listen," they'll say, "you can hear the buds getting ready to burst. And feel how soft ami balmy that breeze is!" "Balmy, indeed," may come the retort. "The only thing balmy around here is you, if you go out without your overcoat." THE MAN who believes himself among the liberated will not hear such slurs and admonitions, however. Or if he does, he will place no importance on them.

Obviously, he will reflect, there are people in whose veins the blood is forever wintry, and who have no means for sensing Ihe approach of spring. There is no restraining Hie man who once has sniffed the air of what he thinks is liberty. He has heard the call from arms. From the arms, that is, of the coats and sweaters and other restraints with which he has been accoutered all winter. Away, says he, with overcoats and rubbers and overshoes, and scarves and mittens and all oilier tons of clothing that has made dressing an exhausting task each day.

Winter is over. It's finsihed, Done, Three cheers for spring or for a reasonable facsimile thereof. AS HE SETS forth into the world, unencumbered by over- coal or the like, he is a new man. There's spring in the air and spring in his step as he strides along, head high and eyes alight. Sometimes they gleam in contempt for his fellow men who haven't heard the glad tidings and stilt arc trudging along, slaves to winter.

He half-expects to hear peepers singing Iheir song of spring from the neighboring marshes. He expects to see a robin, and it would not surprise him at all to hear a crocus croaking, or whatever it is that crocuses do. He would even be willing to play a last game of marbles, or spin a top or two. Alas! By dight he is talkig like this, ad he wards the wibbid and chidred to stay back, because he feels a sdeeze cubbig od. Sprig, it seebs, was just pre- teddig.

The World Today Changing Times Reflected In Attitude of Congress By JAMES MARLOW Associated Presi Newi Analyst WASHINGTON (AP) The care), continued war against changing times have had a quieting effect on Congress. There is still just as much noise from the Capitol. But it's a different kind of noise. And, just because it is, President Johnson doesn't get the kind of lashing that was inflicted on President Harry S. Truman.

One reason, of course, is that the cast of characters in Congress has changed. But that's only a minor of the reason. The attitude in the country is different. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal ended in 1938 with the passage of the minimum wage law From then on Roosevelt and the country put all their resources into getting ready for a war and then fighting it.

On Sept. 2, 1945 Japan formally surrendered and four days later Truman sent a message to Congress. He had the tremendous task of reconverting the country to peace. He never for- gol that day, as he made clear in his memoirs. "It was on that day," he wrote, "and with that message that I first spelled out the details of the program of liberalism and progressivism which was to be the foundation of my administration." He wanted to carry on with the unfinished New Deal and asked Congress for extension of Social Security, an increase in the minimum wage, national health insurance (now medi- ACROSS 1.

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Vocal solo 23. Correlative of cither sluins. And right here is the dividing line in the difference between the treatment Truman got from Congress and the treatment Johnson gets. With Truman the nation was shaking off its historic and ex- treme aifrflqugh not quite, as the right wing in this country today can testify. But social and welfare legislation, starting with Truman after the came to be regarded as a national need, not a wild-eyed dream.

Nothing shows that better than the record of the 83th Congress in 1965. It approved Johnson's "Great Society" programs by the bundle, the greatest production performance in American history. These are just a few of the programs it approved: a health program for the elderly, easier registration for Negroes wanting to vote, aid for education, improved Social Security benefits, rent subsidies for low-income families. While Johnson's "Great Society" is simply an extension of Roosevelt's New Deal and Truman's Fair Deal, the country and Congress now have come to consider social welfare legislation as natural and This is why Johnson doesn't gel from Congress the beating Truman had to take on domestic Ironically, Johnson's main criticism in Congress -on the war in Vietnam comes rot from the Republican leaders, who support him, but from some of his own Democrats, 24. Physician 26.

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