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Tuesday, February 13, 1973
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN comment
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Taxing Problems
"Skip lines 15 through 19, 21, 23,
and 24. Be sure that lines 20, 22, 25, and
27 are filled in, sign your return,
and attach the forms you need. See
the instructions below for filling
lines 20, 22, 26 and 27, and for
completing your return."
This would be a great beginning for an editorial on the complexity of income tax forms, but because most students simply have to clip a couple of three-digit W-2 forms into a Form 1040A, it hardly seems worthwhile. Unless, of course, your parents have given you considerable resources, you've made a sizable fortune dealing dope, you are a mail robber, a Big Eight athlete or any combination of the above.
It does seem prudent to suggest that it is not advisable to claim someone as a dependent if she or he lives with you for less than two days a week, or to use Schedule F for computing tax on income gained from the cultivation or marketing of noxious weeds.
But most of us won't join Boby the Bootblack and Kenny the Rag Picker in the income tax game until we finish our college educations. Bobby and Kenny seem to be the right names, but my English Literature class is hung on Henry James and I will be studying Mary Oliver for several weeks. If you wish to verify the names, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to "People, Etc." in care of some other newspaper.
So, instead of income tax instructions, I'll devote the rest of this editorial to a discussion of English themes, which are at least as difficult. I'll add that you'll probably be about 45 before the number of income tax forms you've written of English themes you've written to give you the education that made all of that income tax possible.
First, limit your topic to the point where no reasonable person would bother to discuss it. There are two main reasons for this introduction. Some people favor
"though" and some favor
"although." But most agree that
"however" is not a good word to
start with. Once you've written the
opening word, you use the opening
sentence to set up the basic comparison
and contrast that is used to
fill the remainder of the required
space. It is important to write to the
right length.
The transitions between paragraphs are important. Both "though" and "although" are good for transitions. The experienced writer will use "while" and "however" to break up the pattern.
It is important to screw up the first attempt and to show progress during the rest of the semester. Instructors are also encouraged to think they are teaching you something.
Your grade can also be helped if you talk in class. Whispering to the person next to you has been found to be detrimental, however. If you don't know what to say, say something that you don't understand so it will sound profound. If at all possible, the instructor and allow yourself to be persuaded to his point of view gradually.
This knowledge may help you in later life if you become a Kansas editorial writer and you are stuck for an idea on a Sunday afternoon.
If you ask the instructor "How long should these be?" he will say "Long enough to cover the topic; whatever you feel is adequate or some other obvious thing. It is better how much do people usually write?"
Once you have determined the proper length, make an outline containing enough examples to fill the space. It is important to arrange these examples so that they appear to support what you said in the first paragraph. If you don't want you can solve the problem by restating the topic sentence of the first paragraph in the last paragraph.
Eric Kramer
The Nixon administration is pushing a plan to reduce certain benefits to disabled veterans, but older veterans of previous wars would effectively be exempted by a law that forbids such cutbacks if a disability rating has been held for 20 years or more.
Amnesty for Veterans
Amnesty for the veterans, if you will credit the phrase, seems a legitimate application in light of the following:
The current proposal would, for example, reduce the rating for loss of a leg at the hip from 90 per cent to 40 per cent disability.
The overall group potentially affected by this proposal is not small. Disabled veterans constitute approximately 12 per cent of more than 2.3 million men who served in Vietnam.
There are all kinds of "amnesty" to ponder, as one reflects upon the continuing spate of news and opinion surrounding the official end of the Vietnam War era. An application which hasn't been widely considered is amnesty for the veterans of that era. Perhaps it has been considered, but the single word is momentarily so politically charged that it has become as suicidal in the mouths of politicians as "peace" was in 1968.
—The proposed cutbacks in social programs will also ultimately affect the veterans. The Department of Labor has already frozen all labor training programs at current levels. Vacated slots will remain unfilled.
Although the statistics for unemployed veterans between the ages of 20 and 29 have improved markedly in the past two years, down to 231,000 by last December, the men obviously still face and will continue to face employment problems.
This is particularly acute for black
veterans, whose unemployment rate is twice that of their white counterparts. Black ex-servicemen earn less when they are employed and fewer of them have taken advantage of the GI Bill for education.
—The GI Bill itself still does not equal the compensation provided to World War II veterans, even after last fall's increase (which, as a note of political interest, first hit veterans in large, retroactive checks which arrived within days of the election).
It remains possible for a veteran to actually collect more money from unemployment compensation than through the Gillib, rather a strange behavior. Provident's avowed interest in seeing the citizenry "help themselves."
The student loan program, already cut considerably last year because of limited funds, was at least providing some veterans with otherwise unavailable tuition money.
A proposal by State Rep. Michael Glover (D-Lawrence), for granting Kansas veterans free tuition for higher education is an enlightened step in the right direction. It deserves the support of all segments of the community. Start with the "easiest," the most traditionally acceptable form of amnesty and work from there.
In addition, the President has proposed the elimination of certain existing governmental assistance programs for education. These include the National Direct Student Loan program.
But by all means, if you're a politician, don't call "it," by its name. It's not the word someone is beginning to really try to help "heal the wounds of the war."
C. C. Caldwell
Letters to the editor should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Students must provide their name, year in school and home town; faculty or staff must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address.
'Emergency' Disturbs Congress
By HARRISON HUMPHRIES
WASHINGTON—For more than 22 years, the United States has been in a state of "national isolation," because it is not an enjoy as it sounds.
Letters Policy
congress could be it by passing a one-line resolution. The President could reinstate it the same way with a one-line proclamation.
Associated Press Writer
The present "emergency" was proclaimed by President Harry Truman on October 14, involvement in the Korean War, and is still in effect.
one knows at this point the full extent of what is involved except that it is far-reaching and complex.
'In its first month, the committee's four-member staff has identified nearly 300 laws that give the President, and in some cases his cabinet officers, powers not prescribed by the Constitution during periods of war or national emergency.'
President Johnson used it in 1968 to control investments abroad and to ease that year's balance of payments crisis.
During the past 22 years presidents of the United States have relied on the proclamation to issue executive orders on a variety of subjects without specific congressional approval.
The Senate has established a special bipartisan committee to study the question and has allotted $175,000 for its work. The committee is to report its findings to recommendations by Feb. 28, 1974.
In February 1971 President Nixon used it to suspend provisions of the Davis-Bacon act requiring payment of the prevailing wage in the area to workers on federal projects.
In its first month the committee's four-member staff has identified nearly 300 laws that give the President, and in some cases his cabinet officers, powers not prescribed by the Constitution during periods of war or national emergency.
Sen. Charles Mathias, R-Maryland, first proposed a joint House-Senate committee in 1971 to minimize theinating the Korean War emergency and restoring the constitutional balance between the Presidency and the Congress. The president now has 12 Senate co-sponsors.
Government computers in the General Accounting Office have been put to work in a search for information on "national emergency" triggers.
Matias said there were emergency laws on the statute books "permitting the President to sell stocks of strategic materials, revoke leases on real and personal property, suspend rules and regulations applicable to business enterprises troops beyond the term of their enlistments, detail military men to the governments of other countries and exercise control over consumer credit." The idea
of a joint committee was dropped in 1972 and establishment of a special Senate committee was proposed to expedite action.
—To avoid the appearance of a partisan confrontation between the Democratic majority on all regular congressional committees and the Republican administration whose cooperation is needed in the inquiry.
—To avoid jurisdictional conflict between existing committees in a review of emergency clauses in laws extending beyond the responsibility of any one committee in such related fields as agriculture, banking, labor, foreign affairs and defense.
The special committee procedure has two purposes:
The Nixon administration, in 1971, agreed to cooperate in the inquiry provided the special committee's assignment went through. Because of the emergency to include whether it should be terminated
As late as June 19, 1732, Assit. Secretary of State David M. Branch of the branch believes that a number of statutes dependent on the existence of a national emergency cannot be allowed to lapse at this time.
One of them, he said, is the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 which is a vital element in our ability to conduct foreign policy and protect our national security.
The special Senate Committee on Termination of the National Emergency was to report its findings, which were released by Feb. 28, 1973. Congressional recesses for political conventions last year delayed the committee assignments—four Democrats and four Republicans until September, though.
Last June 23 the Senate unanimously adopted a revised Mathas resolution reflecting the views of the senate as to the scope of the inquiry.
In an organizational meeting last year the committee decided that it would need more time than originally planned to assemble a staff and get started. The committee also adopted Church's proposal that to emphasize the bipartisan nature of the project Mathias be given equivalent status as co-chairman.
Sen. Frank Church, D-Daho,
was named chairman and
Republican Mathias was named
vice chairman.
resolution reauthorizing the committee, providing for co-chairman, extending its deadline for a year and increasing its revenue from $100,000 to $175,000. It remains routine, without delay, Jan. 6.
On Jan. 3, the opening day of the new Congress, Church and Mathias jointly introduced a new
Appointed as staff director was William Miller, former foreign Service officer who had served until the end of 1972 as foreign affairs specialist on the staff of Sen. John Sherman Cooper, B.A.
Miller told a newsman that $100,000 of the committee allowance would be spent for staff salaries, if the work takes the full 14 months, but that he hoped for a final report in eight months. Miller will be paid about $20,200 a year, the same salary he
received on Cooper's staff The task involves:
Searching out all the laws affected.
— Sorting them into categories.
- Sorting them into categories.
  - Seeking out and interviewing the men who drafted the statutes and regulations for the Governing clause.
Arranging for expert witnesses for public hearings, expected to begin next month.
—Attempting to define a genuine "national emergency."
—Consulting officials of the executive branch departments and the White House.
Church said he and Mathias jointly called on Attorney General Richard Hollendielen to assist the Justice assistance of the Justice
Kleidienst promised, he said,
to assign an attorney with special
experience in the field. Other
executive agencies, Church
added, also are committing
personnel to the task.
The Senate leadership, he said, will have to take it from there and decide whether other committees will have to review elements of the problem within their jurisdictions.
"I am determined," Church said, "that the committee get the job done with the time allowed, report and go out of existence."
Besides co-chairmen Church and Mathias, other committee members are Republican Sen. Merritt Brown, former Clifford P. Hansen of Wyoming and James B. Pearson of Kansas, and Democratic Sen. Philip A. Hale of Colorado. And of Rhode Island and Adalie E. Stevenson III of Illinois.
Students Chase Searchers In New Midmorning Game
By KEVIN SHAFER Features Editor
For those of you who enjoy midmorning entertainment, be advised that on this very campus exists one of the hottest new morning games around: The Secret Search.
The game gets more complicated each week and has, since its origin at the beginning of the fall semester of 1972, periodically added new and more exciting categories and characters.
The game started with the resignation of the University's chancellor. For a while there, players were tested on whether to believe that the resignation was justified, in fact, a rumor.
But then the game got into full swing. Contestants were secretly selected from the studio audience and asked to form a secret committee Search Committee, as it was later abbreviated.
The game began to fade from the charts for awhile. But suddenly, the Athletic Director at KU resigned his post and another committee chairman was elected. The chairman elapsed from shortly after their selection,
Coordinators for the game revealed later that one of the criteria that they used for selection of Secret Committee members was age. The younger the member the better, because the Secret Search could take an entire lifetime to end.
Well, it didn't take long before the first Secret Committee allied into the shadows of secrecy and began its secret search for the next president. And when they searched them, where they look, nobody knows.
And so things seemed pretty busy on the secret Search. So the game show turned into the real world.
ters were introduced or at least their committees were made publicly known for a short time.
Now the all-star cast includes committees to find a chancellor, an athletic director, a health director and a chairman for the department for biological sciences.
As the plot thickened, rumors started flowing that the director, chancellor and chairman did not disappear, but might have, in fact, be sweet away by a secret monster.
Well, now that the story is nearly six months old, a new committee has finally been established—the Secret Committee to Search for Search Committee.
Anyone can participate with this committee. The next time that you are on campus, look in class rooms, unearth a stone, yes, even move a stone to see if there is another those other search committees on campus.
Instead of appointing secret members to look for another student leader they simply appointed the vice president to take over until the next student election.
All should not end on such a sour note. Sources reported from the purple capital of the world, Manhattan, Kan., that the student body president at Kansas State University had dropped out and had consequently resigned from his position.
Of course the normal thing to do in that situation would have been to form a search committee to replace the student leader. However the student government, backward as they might have been, decided to handle the situation in their own way.
That may sound simple, but I wonder what
name I should give them when no search committees are to be found.
Jack Anderson
Navy Overspends bv Millions
WASHINGTON — The supposedly mighty House appropriations chairman, George Mahon, D-Tex., whose growing and snorting intimidates most government officials summoned to the Capitol, has developed a taint streak in a showdown with the Navy.
He apparently is backdown in the face of the Navy's refusal to produce documents dealing with its illegal overcommitment of $110 million, over-oversupply and sequestration violation, was first reported by us last November. At that time, the House Appropriations Committee
had been awaiting a full report on it from the Navy for more than six months.
When the report finally arrived in January — 10 months after it was promised — it was shot through with inconsistencies and coverups. It contended, for instance, that the Naval force had been laughed out of 171 of the overspending which began in 1969.
Then Admiral David Bagley, navy personnel bureau was responsible for the whole mess, gave an elaborate explanation which concluded he wasn't to blame. Nevertheless, there was
enough hard information, coated over by rationalization and doublekalk; for committee induction to draw these conclusions:
- When the overspend had reached major proportions, the numbers would be some cases illegal million of at least $80 million in an elaborate scheme.
- The Bureau of Naval Personnel even tampered with of official accounting records to conceal the overcommitments.
—Three successive admirals in charge of the personnel bureau have broken the law by failing to institute the kind of law by both law and military regulation to avoid just such overstuffing.
What makes the scandal especially embarrassing at this time is that the overthrow of the admonitions of specific additions from Mahon's committee to cut back in expenses. The Navy promised it would.
Then it embarked on a spree of promotions and relocations of personnel that cost tens of millions more than Congress had appropriated for such purposes. In one year, for example there were more than 525,000 people employed but had just 623,248 persons. It averages out to nearly everybody being moved.
Committee investigators have been after the Navy for months to produce the supporting documents used to prepare the whitehawse report. So far, the Navy hasrefused.
About a week ago, a letter demanding the materials was drafted for Mahon's signature. But instead of being sent in, he wrote this of this writing. Mahon was reported to be in a quandary about
I
whether to send it.
what's more, there is now serious doubt as to whether extensive public hearings on the scandal will be held at all, even though the overcommitments are an unprecedented violation both of law and congressional budgetary authority.
The final irony is that the handful of offenders have been disciplined by more letters of admonition and transfers to other comfortable jobs. Meanwhile, of course, the Navy is trying
its best to force Gordon Rule, whose economizing on Navy contracts won him the highest civilian award, to leave his job for answering congressional questions.
The Navy's policy seems clear: If you violate the law and defy Congress by overspending millions, you get slapped on the face. You're charged by saving the taxpayers' money, you get kicked out.
Copyright, 1973,
bv United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
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