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Wednesday, December 5, 1973
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Connections, 1973
What will you remember from the year 1973?
In the next few days, the Kansan editorial page will recount the major news stories from the past eleven months. This reflective effort should be worthwhile, but not necessarily memorable.
The best news-editorial writer's talents notwithstanding, it seems unlikely that most people, even the most ardent newspaper readers, will recall 1973 ten years hence as the year of his creations, a vice-president's resignation, another Mideast war or whatever.
More likely, most people will rightfully remember what they were doing with their own lives in 1973.
But there is one "story" from this year that promises to persist—not as an event, but as an awakening.
That "story" travels under the name "energy crisis." It promises to explain why we are living in a "crisis."
will demand and receive individual definition.
"The winter of '73" portends nothing less than the beginning of at. age of chaotic revelation.
Yet in terms of the "news" from 1973, there is unnoticed irony at hand. Two of the most incredibly significant news stories of the past year, both fitting in the context of "transportation," have gone virtually unnoticed in the U.S. press.
The two events are the completion of the Bosporus bridge in Istanbul and the Anglo-French agreement to proceed on construction of a tunnel across the English Channel.
Perhaps our grandchildren will read that 1973 was the year we discovered that you've got to have trees to have a forest—not to mention to see the forest. Then perhaps they can get back to dreaming of the things that make world history.
—C.C. Caldwell
BY COLMAN MCCARTHY The Washington Post
'Creative Deprivation:'
Taking Crassness Out of Christmas
For the past few months, a number of merchants and other sellers have been poking into my home for Christmas gift catalogs for children. After sinking a plumb line of curiosity to measure the new depths of crassness to which these catalogs have come, I have not yet had time.
As a substitute for the ethic of commercialized Christmas giving, there is the alternate tactic of creative deprivation. It is not the ideal solution—as nothing is this side of the apocalypse—but as a way of keeping children on the ground and in some kind of value balance, creative deprivation has a number of advantages.
BY DEFINITION, to creatively deprive a child means to keep his senses and mind free of material goods that overwhelm him, the kind soon to be washing in from the immense commercial ocean of Christmas. How can a child not be emotionally drowned
Children have little need and most of us have little money for the marketplace temptings the catalogs advertise, no matter how "innovative" these playthings are said to be. (How cleverly the manufacturers play on the potential guilt-feelings of parents, as if we are brutalizing our kids by leaving them alone.) Innovative toy; our little achievers might not be achieving for a few minutes of the day.)
when wave after wave of toys rolls over him?
How can a child have a sense of value for any one toy when so many are given at play? How can a child be exposed when the attraction of so many others is pulling? The whisper of newness becomes a daunting roar. It is hard to keep toys from exploding and toys can lead to new levels of playfulness.
By refusing to smother children with material goods, the two goals of creative play are:
First, the child's imagination can be kept fresh. An afternoon in a woodland, for example, provides more excitement for a kid. Another reason for the woodlands in a playroom with toys.
PARENTS WHO REGULARLY take their children to woodlands know this to be true, even for the 3-year-olds. What is a mechanical wind-up squirrel compared to a real 10 feet away? True enough, the real squirrel cannot be touched or held, but the lesson of the creature's independence is one that children need to learn.
The day in the woodland is not isolated, but can be prolonged through the use of picture books and story books that tell about squirrels. This is a genuine feeding of the imagination, a nutrition of the mind that no animal can resist. Animals that children learn that man shares the earth with the animals and plants rather than controls it.
Ironically, the dultest kids in the neighborhood, concerning wildlife, are inevitably those whose playrooms and bedrooms are lined with stuffed animals. To deprive children of such is not to stifle them but to lead them to non-material pleasures that will never rust or break: pleasures of the imagination, the senses and the spirit.
ALL OF LIFE'S best and deepest moments come from creative uses of the imagination, whether such activity is taught in school or citizen cupping his hands to call out in joy above the dial of social absurdity. Jung insisted that "the creative activity of imagination trees man from his bondage to the nothing, and raises him to the status of a play."
What right have we to take this rich capital of a child's playfulness and spend it with them? How can we support them?
The second goal of creative deprivation is to inform the child that life is often defined by limits. Can the lesson of limitation be learned from parents who insist on giving their children the proverbial and unlimited "everything?"
America is filled with parents who look on their own deprived childhood and vow that their children will never be deprived. These parents forget that perhaps one reason they succeeded in the world was precisely that they grew up not getting everything.
It is an easy mistake to make, especially
SUA Owes Apologies
Readers Respond
To the Editor:
Did campus apathy break Friday night?
George McGovern seemed to uncover a hidden spark of hope in the post-Watergate, don't give a-damn attitude around here.
Hopefully the calm is only a waiting before the storm.
Yet, the enthusiastia may have only been another moment of natalgia to popularize.
After the speech, the privileged few mingled with "The Senator," perhaps looking ahead to 1796 or more likely only trying to catch again a bit of 1972. We gave a few thanks to the SUA for providing us with a memorable evening.
But for most of the thousands who came, SUA owed an apology. Picking the Union Ballroom at it's best was a naive mistake, but failing to change the location weeks ago took a talent bordering on stupidity. The ballroom asked often enough—why the ballroom?
Many had the foresight to come an hour early or to stay away knowing the capacity of the location. Thousands more who could not find seats had to sit in aisles, stand in front of a long row of other rooms, some without speakers. To all those people, SUA owes an apology.
An apology is also due Chancellor Archie Dykes, who was faced with explaining the location choice to our guest Senator McGovern.
Pach: The Issue
Woody Duncan Junior Kansas City, Kan.
To the Editor:
In the flurry of charges and countercharges, allegations and inunduces about a secret organization of elitists who attempt to control and subvert representative democracy" at KU, the conservatives have overlooked the real issue:
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
An All-American college newspaper
Kansan Telephone Numbers
Newton, MA 02369
Telephone (877) 555-4238
INM-4-4238
Published at the University of Kansas daily magazine. Mail examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $4 a semester, $10 a year, $600 a month. Student subscription rate: $13 a semester paid in student activity. Advertised premium to students advertised offered to all students without regard to gender. Papers are not necessarily those of the University.
News adviser . . . Susanne Shaw
Editor  Bob Simmon
Editor  Arianna McKinnon
Campaign Editor  Chuck Potter
Campaign Editor  C. Carl Dowell
Editorial Editor  C. Judy Iacomau
Sports Editor  Gary Iacomau
Copy Chiefs  Halt Ritter, Nicole Hassan
Bob Marchete, Ann Merrifield
News Editors  Bob Marchete, Elaine Zimmerman
Reviews Editor  Diane Wire
Researcher  Margie Cook, Chris Stevens
Assistant Campus Editors
Assistant Campus Editors
Kathy Tusting,
Assistant Feature Editor
Assistant Sports Editor
Bill Gibson, Carol Murray
Photographers
Dave Rogier, Corky Maye
Makeup Editors  Bob Marchete, Jo Zanatta
Artist Editors  Bob Marchete, Andy Carrion
Cartoonists  Steve Carpenter, Dave Sokoff
spelled backwards is
3rd year law student
"Pachacamac"
"Camacahcap."
BUSINESS STAFF
Paul D. Post
Finance Adviser . . . Methen Lizgatt
Business Manager . . . Melvin Leggett
Advertising Manager . . . Diana Schneider
Accounting Manager . . . Daniel Dunker
Classified Advertising Manager . . David Dunker
Assistant Advertising Manager . . . Tami Tharp
Assistant Advertising Manager . . . Tami Tharp
Member Associated Collegiate Press
Pach 'Furor'
To the Editor:
as one who has read the Kansas for several semesters, I am indeed refreshed to see that it is keeping up with the contemporary trend towards investigative journalism. It seems, however, that in the past the Kansasans have been political corruption or mishandling of funds on campus, the Kansasan had to dig a little deeper. The result is the current "Pach" furor, which to date has provided material for two articles, two editorials and at least one letter to the editor (this one). All of this, of course, has led to tensions that scandal looks pale by comparison.
It must be admitted, however, that the Kansan showed a great deal of cleverness in choosing the exact subject matter. If it had claimed to be a story about a secret society of devil worshippers, fascists or anarchists, the impact would have been less.
By making it a fraternal organization, the expose was able to appeal to everyone's fear of the hidden or unknown through a familiar medium, since frats are by their very nature closed to outsiders. Besides its timeless visa-vs. Watergate, the story had the final virtue of involving student government and thus further raising the awareness of the dangers of student body. Judging by the performance of that organization lately, if such a controlling group does exist we have nothing to worry about.
Now that the initial shock waves have dissipated, it is up to the Kan萨 to give credence to the term "responsible journalism" and either put up or shut up. If the organization is so well-established, surely the Kan萨 can find a member ready to talk about and who won't retract his statement as soon as it is given.
Until then, the crusade to clean up the campus had best be slowed. The Kansan students had to stay awake.
The Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor but asks that letters be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 250 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment, and must be signed. KU students must provide their name, school and university faculty must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address. All writers must provide a telephone number where they can be contacted for verification of authorship.
Letters Policy
Jeff Southard Wichita junior
based on rumors and, worst of all, editors' based on these articles. Entertaining they
Editor's Note: The Kansan has printed no story about Fach based on rumor. This newspaper stands behind the veracity of the story. In other words, part of the background for its original store.
Since that story appeared, the Kansas has learned from persons who indicated indirectly they were members of Pach that the story was sound.
Energy & States' Rights
By PHILIP H. ABELSON Special to the Los Angeles Times
The War Between the States may be breaking out anew, fueled by the energy crisis.
For some time now, the residents of the East Coast have been living in some kind of fool's paradise. They have been steadily growing ever larger in the same time, in their quest for environmental perfection, they have been banning the use of coal, impeding the construction of nuclear power plants and vetoing any kind of tar sands mining on continental shelf of the Atlantic coast.
As a result, the eastern and northern states have drifted into almost complete dependence on foreign oil for generation of power and for much of their home heating peeds.
EVEN IF THE EMBARGO resulting from the Middle East war is lifted, shortages will surely occur this winter because sufficient oil simply is not being shipped to other countries. For instance, non-Arab sources, such as Venezuela, will not be adequate for the East Coast this winter. Shortages will be acute and, due to maladjustments of distribution, some hardships are inevitable—even with the new energy saving recommendations.
The natural gas used in much of this country is produced in the Gulf Coast states. These supplies have seemed safe, but trouble may be in store for the Northeast and California, where dependence on oil has been falling in the past, the southern states were eager to sell their natural gas in northern and western markets, but attitudes are changing.
For the Northeast, in particular, a shortage of energy will mean more than elimination of pleasure driving or a loss of it. The Northeast could be that it could mean freezing in the bitter cold.
These shortages are fostering such tensions between the various sections of this country that even domestic supplies of food are being supplied as East Coast residents once thought.
BUMPER STICKERS can be seen in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma with the motto, "Let the Bastards Freeze in the Dark." The serendipity of the economic origin, but there are some emotional overtones. Vestiges of ill feelings from the days of the Confederacy still remain—kept alive in part by the metropolitan press of the East Coast. The long legacy of being called "rednecks,"
The southern states now realize that oil and natural gas are a potent source not only in the South but throughout the world.
The major impetus, though, for a changed southern attitude comes from the realization that reserves are limited and that these states ultimately will face shortages themselves. The shift in attitudes began slowly, but it has been accelerating.
LOUISIANA, A PRINCIPAL supplier of natural gas to the eastern states, discovered not long ago that it could not expand industry as it would like because its gas is already committed for use in other states. In addition, southernners were disturbed by the gas prices; electric power plant is no longer fueled by Texas gas or oil but by coal from Colorado.
Opinion was crystallized recently when the Federal Power Commission issued regulations which would guarantee natural gas supplies for homes in the East and North by stopping some industrial plants in the South from using the gas.
OF THE LARGE, federally-ordered curtailments of natural gas this winter, nearly half were to be sustained by users in the Gulf Coast region. This news brought an indignant response on the news network Mississippi and Oklahoma joined in threatening to use police power, if necessary, to preserve their states' fuel supplies.
Louisiana was particularly hard hit by this action. The use of natural gas was ordered cut by 17 per cent. Seven electric generating plants were ordered to switch to more expensive fuels, and some industrial plants were ordered to shut down, causing unemployment.
Griff and the Unicorn
by Sokoloff
Subsequently, Gov. Edwin Edwards of Louisiana has been exploring ways of achieving a modification of the federal regulations. In order to circumvent already existing gas delivery contracts between the producers and distributors elsewhere, the governor is expected to ask the Louisiana government to impose a tax on gas. This tax, in effect, is a tax on production at the wellhead—where gas is "severed" from the ground.
A moderate increase would probably encounter no major legal obstacles. A drastic one, however, would probably force an immediate charge of restraint of interstate commerce.
But whatever the legislature decides to do, the message from Louisiana would be the same. Edwards has won some seats and is building new regulations already, and he wants more.
EDWARDS IS SUSTAINED by the belief that other states have been remiss in developing their own energy sources. He argues that oil and gas wells states are content to have oil and gas wells drilled off the Gulf Coast and to have refineries running in his state and pipelines crisscrossing its terrain. "These states want any of that activity in their own backyards."
The governor went on to say, "We're not going to be forced to continue operating our refineries and drilling new wells to deplete oil in Mississippi to benefit the rest of the country."
The governor has a point. When Louisiana's resources are exhausted, who will furnish his people with hydrocarbons. And what will they cost?
EDWARDS WAS ALSO on target in criticizing the attitude of the Atlantic Coast states toward exploration of their offshore resources. To the east, on the continental coast, offshore oil reserves square miles with thick sedimentary layers, a substantial but unexplored potential for oil and gas. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the potential of this area to be 48 billion barrels of oil and 220 trillion cubic feet that will supply the East Coast for many years.
Not a single exploratory hole has been drilled, however. When the possibility of such exploration was mentioned about a year ago, there was immediate, strong opposition. Over 100 East Coast Congressmen cosponsored a bill that would bar exploratory drilling. At the time, some newspaper editors pointed out the potential loss of oil in the ocean and warned of the hazards of blowouts and snails.
Off the Louisiana coast, there are some 10,000 oil wells. The citizens of the Gulf Coast are expected to lie back and accept the challenges posed by this danger. There is an obvious iniquity here that must lead to inflamed tensions and a continuation of determined efforts by the energy-producing states to exact a higher price for oil from Louisiana, more of these resources for use at home.
(Philip H. Abelson is editor of Science Magazine.)
for parents who are career-preoccupied.
Thus, Christmas becomes the season of
making up to the kids via store-bought litter
and cleaning supplies. It was absent
the rest of the year. It is a buy-off.
AS SOCIAL SCIENTIST Thomas Cottie perceptively notes, children are "brilliant readers of parental intentions." In the case of unlimited Christmas generosity, the intention is not so much giving as obscuring—obscuring the neglect of the previous year, and all too predictably the coming neglect of the next year.
Limiting the number of Christmas gifts, even to one toy from both parents, is telling the child not only that he can't have toys, but also that you can't give everything.
And risk ruining them. It is a risk because we have no exact sociological proof that too many Christmas gifts cause damage. Even to suspect that they might open one to charges of eccentricity. But each parent must make the choice.
This is a hard notion in a country where many people have known little sacrifice of material goods. For us, nothing is off limits and all limits are off. We elected and re-elected a president who delights in telling stories about the lives of our world, first in wealth, first in power. With this going for us, the least we can do is give our children everything.
In the end, there is only one gift to our children to be given at Christmas, whambuthe. You can give Mecca or Mary, the treasurer of our own and talk, exactly what children want the most.
The conventional folklore is that Americans love their children, but the evidence in some areas—clothing them in flammable pajamas, feeding them sugared foods that rot the teeth, exposing them to the lies of some TV advertising, spending more money on war than education—questions the quality of this love.
By MAX WILDE
The London Drawing
Poor Countries Affected Most By Oil Crisis
GENEVA-A The developing countries are going to suffer most and longest from the energy crisis, according to an authoritative article scheduled to appear in the December issue of the United Nations publication "Development Forum."
Apart from fortunate countries such as Nigeria and Indonesia, which are oil exporters, there are some 75 to 80 countries in the developing world, or about three-quarter of the poorer nations, which do not produce their own energy supplies.
And in these countries the hardest hit are the working classes and peasants, who use bottled cooking gas, mostly in the cities, and cook hot meals in the heat of the villages. In India, both these have gone up in price by more than 25 percent. Particularly among the peasants, such price increases could put kerosene out of use for people for cooking food, or for heat and light.
OTHER FUELS such as charcoal and firewood are also becoming more expensive, while there are "ominous signs" of increases in the prices of cooking oil, vegetables and other foodstuffs. The Indian government is to establish 11,000 kerosene pumps all over the country to ensure industrial oil supply while industrial oil consumption is being frozen at current levels and attempts are being made to cut it back.
"The nation, which has been suffering from a severe penalty of foreign exchange and is having difficulty meeting its food needs," said Mr. Browne, "it clearly in for another major crisis."
But the 30 or so least developed countries will carry the heaviest burden because they have no fall-back positions such as rich coal deposits, no technology to speed development of new resources such as nuclear or geothermal or solar energy, and not the oil reserves that the rising prices of oil. All these reserve valves are open to rich nations.
"Development Forum" comments: "Oil, which flows so easily from well to pipeline into tanker, refinery and pump, and eventually into furnace or generator, is a convenience for the industrial countries; for the oil industry, it is a essential life to its survival."
THE HIGHEST PRIORITY in developing countries is modernization of agriculture and the need for immediate and dramatic improvements. Gasoline and diesel fuel are needed for trucks and tractors, oil and electricity for pumps; naphtha, a by-product of oil, to be processed into fertilizer. Further energy is required from crops, efficient transport, good storage.
For poorer countries, buying oil always caused a considerable drain on their meager foreign exchange resources and this is now greatly aggravated by recent price rises of up to 70 per cent. Unless this has been addressed, the measure of relief is provided, the U.N. publication states, "it could bring development of the third world to a dead halt."
A concessional price of oil for developing countries is being discussed but, "Development Forum" concludes, "any solution to the energy crisis in the developing world should be based on a very rarely if ever attained by the international community heretofore. The alternative to such cooperation could be disaster on an equally unprecedented scale."