Schools, taxes
During KU's semester break a school bond and levy vote was taken and defeated in Kansas City, Mo. Now local leaders and newspapers are decrying the shame of non-support of schools and fearing a forced closure of the schools. Plans are now under way to bring the levies to a vote again soon.
The same sort of thing happened last year in Youngstown, Ohio and the Youngstown schools had to be closed between Thnaksgiving and Christmas. The people of Youngstown were even given a Fickle Finger of Fate Award by a well-known television show for their efforts.
While the closing of schools is not generally conducive to the furtherance of society, the issue of bonds and levies and taxes needs a deeper view than most observers have given it.
In many cases school bonds and levies are the only taxes in which the tax-payers have a say. No one asks citizens to okay income tax surcharges, sales taxes, state income taxes or the miyrid of others the normal citizen must pay in the course of his existence. He has no voice in the government's appropriation of his money except each year when the school election comes around.
In this, the year of the surcharge, the citizen and voter is feeling a real tax bite, especially in view of recent criticism of the many forms of government spending. He sees his tax dollar spent in Vietnam, on controversial ABM systems, on supersonic transport planes that don't fly and many others of the federal government's spending priorities.
Then the government justifies the surcharge by saying it will help to curb inflation. Anyone who has taken Economics 11 knows this theory. However, anyone who has taken Econ 11 knows a curb in government spending would accomplish the same thing. What gives the government the right to take taxpayer's money to curb inflation while it continues to spend freely.
It's small wonder more Youngstowns and Kansas Cities haven't appeared before now. (ATJ)
'There's nothing secret about our meeting.'
Letters to the editor
Cronkite answers student query
To the Editor:
May I, through you, thank the students and faculty for a most heartwarming reception on the Kansas campus March 24.
And may I take this means also to correct an error of mine which has been bothering me?
As I was leaving Hoch Auditorium after the William Allen White lecture that day, one of the students asked me what I knew about "Operation Phoenix." For some reason, totally unexplainable, I thought he was referring to a two-year-old, but frequently recurring, rumor about another Army operation, and I told him we had checked it out and found the story to be a complete fabrication.
It was only later that, as these things will, the conversation came back to me, and I realized my error. For there is, indeed, an "Operation Phoenix" in South Vietnam. Although I do not have personal knowledge of it, I gather it is a largely CIA-directed, South Vietnamese-manned effort to destroy the Vietcong's so-called "infra-structure"—its government organization in South Vietnam. It is alleged that it uses assassination and other terror tactics borrowed from the Vietcong itself, and these allegations have raised questions in some quarters about the nature of the Allied struggle in Vietnam.
I hope my question: reads this "correction" for I would not like to leave the record as showing I had denied the existence of "Operation Phoenix."
Okay, BSU demands that black pom-pon girls be added to the squad and some people have become upset and feel that it is unfair. Who are we trying to fool? Since when has being fair been a part of our national fiber in regards to race relations?
Walter Cronkite
To the Editor;
Living in this socially sick organism known as America where we are classified racially first and human beings second, many have given lip service to the ideal of fair play, but through the refined art of racial discrimination (racism) the
impression given is that this ideal has been achieved, that is until some people get tired of playing the hypocritical games and use themselves as catalysts for social change.
Since we have been "conditioned" to look at things in terms of black and white most of us are aware of the racial composition of our athletes, in comparison to the student body at large, being used to bring glory, fame and cash to the limestone walls of KU.
It does seem logical that the pom-pon girls should reflect this racial composition too. In their own small way they are part of the team, are they not?
Considering that any girl who can put one foot before the other can be a good pom-pon girl with enough practice, it seems that representation should be more important than qualifications in this matter because of the reacial composition of the athletic teams.
Since our social system is racist and not to be trusted in matters of fair play, representation instead of qualifications seems to be the only solution. After all, KU is dragging through its second century of existence and last year was the first time that there was a black girl on the pom-pon squad. Unfortunately Miss Robinson achieved her position through the pressure of the
black students on campus and it is even more unfortunate that the same scene has to be repeated again this year. It does seem rather strange that there had never been a black girl "qualified" enough to make it through the regular pom-pon tryouts in over a hundred years, doesn't it?
Looking at KU's record from an historical standpoint one suspects foul play and with this suspicion BSU perfectly within its rights to demand separate tryouts to be assured that black girls would be on the squad despite the fact there were three black tokens being used as judges.
Taking KU's record and the record of American society at large into consideration in the matter of fair play, it is quite clear why there is a feeling among blacks in general that the system cannot be trusted—at least not yet. Hopefully, in the future these concessions of representation and tokenism will not have to be made because you will have become a society of people where racial differences are of no importance and both blacks and whites will have ceased living a polarized existence and will look upon the system as working for everyone. However, we have not reached that point of existence yet—you have yet to earn our trust.
Jonas Walton Los Angeles junior
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