The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 5

Other opinion Friday June I 1979 page 5 Civility madness met the night Charles Frankel (Editor's Note: Vermont Rover who is member of the journalism faculty of the Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill former editor of The Wall Street Journal where this article originally appeared) By Vermont Royster If there were one word that could encompass such a man it would be civility If there one word that could describe the manner his murder it would be madness Charles Frankel was best known to the general public through his television series that traced mankind's journey over the centuries pursuit of liberty It was as Dr Frankel showed us a long journey of many twists and and also as he reminded us a journey yet ended If we have come close to finding it in our country and have it at least as a grail devoutly to be sought we need only look around us to see how far beyond hope the dream of liberty lies for so many of the peoples of our earth That is brought home to us every day in the news of the world But it was not only the pursuit of liberty that Charles Frankel preached though he did that superbly He was a philosopher as well as a historian a teacher of both in classrooms in books and wherever he could gather a few who would listen then he would tire the sun with talking and send it down to bed Indeed I suspect that to him liberty was as much a means to an end as a thing desirable in itself He knew that liberty by itself can be abused turning into an anarchy as oppressive as tyranny What he sought from liberty was the freeing of the human spirit because he believed above all else in the dream of civilized man Civility and madness They met one night this month in the quiet village of Bedford Hills NY There some person or persons made as Charles would put it in the image of Cod went on a wanton spree of violence They broke into two houses and killed all the occupants of each Among the dead were Charles and Ham Frankel You will search in vain for a motive The intruders were not professional burglars They killed first slipping quietly into bed rooms to put bullets in the heads of their sleeping victims When they afterwards ransacked the houses it was in aimless fashion leaving fingerprints everywhere Much of what they took they left in their stolen car casually abandoned later in Brooklyn Nor were they of the familiar breed of terrorists bent on vengeance or in the fashion of our times on spreading fear to make some political point There was no connection between the two houses other than proximity they were simply chosen at random All the available evidence suggests the murderers did not even know whom they had killed until perchance they read about it In the morning paper or heard it on the TV news Madness then seems the only word for it The police say the killers were either psychopaths or junked up on dope killing in a frenzy shooting some of their unknown victims many times What is one to say about such madness? There is a temptation to think this kind of madness endemic to our times something spawned by these times alone a sign of a breakdown in our culture one more manifestation of our moral degeneration After all there have been other such senseless killings a man in a college tower or in a shopping center shooting randomly at strangers Charles Frankel the historian would not I think have succumbed to that temptation There is also I must confess a temptation to weep the more at the tragic irony that in this case the random victim should be one who believed so much in the ability of man to overcome his barbarism and madness 7 Yet Charles Frankel the philosopher would have known that there was as much tragedy in the death of his neighbors as in his own for all that he was famous and they were not And he would not or so I think even in death lose his faith in the worth of man's struggle to someday civilize himself To believe in the ultimate goodness of man he once wrote "is not to say that men's gOod deeds outnumber their evil deeds or that benevolence is a stronger disposition in man than malice" His faith rather was to keep looking for cures to the human ailments that lead to evil "and of refusing to take 'No' for an answer" He himself would never accept such an answer In what were to be his last days he was the moving spirit in founding The National Humanities Center a place where scholars can gather seeking new light on the human condition In his vision their search will be not alone for knowledge about the physical universe in which we live but for something equally and perhaps more important an understanding of what we are as a human species and of our relation to each other and to that universe It is there that Charles Frankel built his own monument For he built well and what he began will endure Those whom he brought together with his vision will see to it that the vision is not lost So much then for the public place of Charles Frankel historian and philosopher But there is one more thing to be said Most of us who knew him had not his gift for civility in all things To have lost in such a manner a good and gentle friend makes us think how thin is that veneer called civilization and we can only cry out in helpless anger at the madness in man that will not be exorcised me tin is el wh pa! we of I tra in sh( tur not ow de! Ti ar( 1 ex( set ye sm not ME SUE dw pa! is a were of in turns not own seen years dwell Doonesbury FTC's funds feed hands that feed it By James jr Kilpatrick WASHINGTON In the best tradition of the most exclusive ilub in town John Claggett Danforth has been but seldom heard since he came to the Senate two ago The other day the gentleman spoke up on some small expenditures that create large irritations He denounced the outlays known as public participation payments The Missouri Republican doubtless will find larger issues to engage his considerable talents but one cannot on larger issues all the time These participation payments are mosquito bites upon the body politic They ought to be abolished in the fashion of loaded dice and crooked scales aAMRKLao atke ALMOST rhl Novi MI55 Atilfilla ROT J115T hOLP I 011175R ALL 71147 SMILe mze u6Aast Hudson Special Purchase of Irregular Slacks and Jeans 1188 What a buy! And they're by a famous maker tool Men's casual slacks and jeans in 100 polyester and polycotton denims Be Riess dac models and beltloop styles 2942 I 30-36 BUDGET STORE-DOWNTOWN a5 MR nao lit'RE ALMOST rhl 711101611 MI55 ON5 110gE Rai ANO RANO IN PERE 110AEY 8077IIE ICE OKAY AlIFIlla 110T J115T KILO AEU MV5 IL I'VE BLit ITS A GREAT I CIZE4m'S MELT- Oa 14 1 ONO5R ALL NM SMILE t11157 OOT TO 11A1115T nisi GREAT -IIILZy INO ALL OVER A If 77e5e 116117S1 411hL' 7115 11217 CMY IIIWN-H0145 VERY EV5RY7HINO! 7H5 oz (NM NICURAL- I 119) 400 iss 119) t19 -11 419 Jr ad 1 IIP 5 1 VP lii silk 11 4144 I 0 Jo 1 1 L4 II Ts- 1 7-Ai tnik 1 A AA II 1114 I IA lin 4 7 11 Tiovir--7 4 i I I 1 )1 gat A ilk (06 a If 0 q) 0 IL- 7 7 1 e- 1 I Inr v-AZit IF 1 1 sl 'Ito lip 410 I 1 11 11111 4- i-- tr---t 4i- 1 ---N o) Huds on (17mb et I I' 1 1 'r A 1 'i I 1 --lEr- 1 1 I 1 'CI 1 111 1 ghrt 4311-1111004114 LaiV" -Ii Jill Special Purchase of Irregular Slacks and Jeans Aott I- '1 1 88 What a buy! And they're by a famous maker tool Men's casual slacks and jeans in 100c0 polyester and polycotton denims Beltless dac models and beltloop styles 2942 I 30-36 if BUDGET 1 I 1 I I -1 I Men's Short Sleeve Knit Shirts 488 Participation payment This is how a participation payment works The Federal Trade Commission decides that a federal trade rule may be needed to regulate the street vendors of hot dogs tamales and roasted chestnuts The Frc suspects that the "foot-long dog" is actually only about nine inches long that the tamale is not truly "Mexican" and that the chestnut boys have a shared monopoly on the street corners of Manhattan If these charges can be proved a clear case can be made of fraud deception and conspiracy in restraint of trade How to prove the charges? The FTC staff is diligent imaginative and industrious but staff reports alone may not suffice Values from 1000 to 1200! These are first quality short sleeve knit shirts Polyester and cotton blends in 9 solid colors Sizes to XL Hurry for best selection! BUDGET STORE-DOWNTOWN Hire witnesses Aha! Let us go put says the commission and let us hire some favorable witnesses who will buttress the findings of the staff Let us pay them well for making a record that will expose the hot dog vendors as the villains they undoubtedly are Thus inspired the FTC awards a $10000 "participation payment grant" to the Hot Dog Consumers League of America an outfit formed day before yesterday by two sports writers on the sidewalk in front of the Washington Star A grant of $4968 for research is paid to the Society of Mexican-American Tamale Lovers and $9410 is paid to the Association for Greater Competition Among Chestnut ramml Exquisite Form Bra Sale Our most popular cotton styles at savings that are worth shouting about! The famous "5" with crescent stitched undercups stretch gussets and 100 cotton Style No 502: White A32-38 B32-42 C32-44 Reg HO Now 249 032-46 Reg 350 Now 299 Menss Swimsuits Assortment 488 All first quality in poplin fabric Choose from several styles models and colors Sizes S-XL Menss Si Assortm 488 All first qua from severe Sizes S-Xl lc Choose ld colors C) i 11 BUDGET STORE-DOWNTOWN BUDGET STORE-DOWNTOWN BUDGET STORE 100-page reports The several organizations prepare 100-page reports bound in chaste blue plastic their executive directors testify at length The FTC thanks them warmly for their absolutely indispensable participation and the roof caves in on the hot dog man Do I speak in jest? Not at all This is precisely what goes on all the time at the FTC As Sen Danforth pointed out Congress appropriated $500000 in 1976 for such participation payments Next year the FTC is asking $750000 Chairman Michael Pertschuk says the commission's decision-making process has been "enormously enriched" by the participation of those who "never could have afforded to participate" without such subsidies Mr Pertschuk says the hired witnesses are "vital" to the regulatory system Pubic interest groups Sen Danforth says this is nonsense and the senator is right Only 10 percent of the FTC's participation payments have gone to organizations tt might be considered even remotely in opposition to a proposed trade rule regulation Ninety percent of the money has gone to public interest groups whose whole reason for being is to encourage more federal rules and regulations The FTC is using tax funds to feed the hands that feed it Have some specific examples The Council on Children Media and Merchandising is run by one person says the senator but it has received $187000 in grants to support four different regulations The Consumer Affairs Committee of the ultra-liberal Americans for Democratic-Adtion is practically on the FTC's payroll So is the militant Consumers Union The Center for Auto Safety has benefited from $48000 for testifying on a mobile-home rule $9000 frassisting the FTC on used cars and $5000 more for some regulation having to do with the posting of octane ratings When the FTC was working up its case against the funeral directors half a dozen Punch-and-Judy outfits were hired to pad the supportive record 'Practice is wrong' -4 0 c- AL At BUY 2 ---'-----------------1J'Y ATAE GET -11 ANOTHER 1 flik aaimpon 17750:714 FREE DOWNTOWN PARKING CAPITAL ROOM SPECIAL 299 CAPITAL 299 Ladies Cotton Knit Short Sets 1088 Hudson Belk will provide free parking in the lot bounded by Wilmington and Davie Streets Monday through Friday nights 6:00 pm 9:00 pm and Saturday 10:00 am 'til 5:30 pm On Friday night fried flounder with french fries tartar sauce cote slaw rolls and butter fresh fruit cobbler or and a beverage Downtown only On Friday nig' fries tartar fresh fruit cc Downtown on Tshirts and tanks with matching shorts in cotton knit and summer shades Junior Sizes The senator says flatly that "the practice is wrong" Almost half the money has been allocated to public interest outfits in Washington It is absurdto contend as Chairman Pertschuk contends that these pot li'l needy societies "never" could appear without a participation payment They could get there by taxicab for $150 or by Metro for 50 cents When the FTC acts on a trade rule it acts legislatively It has no more business paying tax funds to witnesses than a committee of Congress would have in paying Ralph Nader to testify on a consumer protection bill The rule ought to be that all witnesses stand equally at the bar but with the FTC's slush fund some are more equal than others Washington Star Syndkete Inc 2) 0' 1 Et i 1 1('''y )'1TE-IT IDi) 0 WISK971 DOWNTOWN SNOP1SOIMAY 1 11100 1 000 900 OTHER DAYS 10:00 lin 5:30 TELEPHONE 11324051 DOWNTOWN 51919100110AY 1 MOAT 1000111900 OTHER DAYS 10:00 Itil 5:30 TELEPHONE 11324051.