THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
80th Year, No.95
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Tuesday, March 10, 1970
Nader attacks big business
Ralph Nader, the self-appointed guardian of consumer rights, said Monday night that the American consumer was being abused by the automotive industry and corporate big business.
Approximately 3,000 persons at Hoch Auditorium heard Nader say consumer protection was more sophisticated, subtle and long-range today than in the past, but that consumer abuse had not received enough study, especially on the college level in engineering.
The problem with consumer abuse, protection and research was that the consumer does not realize he has been short-changed in comparison to what he received, Nader said.
Nader used the automobile industry as an example of almost total neglect in safety. Here, he said, is where the most consumer abuse occurs.
Nader said the highway transportation system is the greatest form of technology that man has ever known. Violence on the highway, he continued, was our
greatest level of trauma. Nader said that Americans should ask themselves why this, our greatest problem, has been neglected. These problems arise from manufacturers and industries, he said.
Nader said the greatest obstacle to improvements on our traffic safety policy is the "nut behind the wheel theory." This theory is based on the belief that accidents are caused by driver negligence and not as a result of faulty vehicles.
Nader said the concern should focus on health and safety for individuals in automobiles, beginning with the vehicle itself. Our technology must adapt to the driver, not vice versa, he said.
Nader said the level of waste each year due to unsafe automobiles was approximately $14 billion, including all insurance claims, repairs, traffic tickets and medical bills. He said our national expenditures should be greater by percentage to remedy our great loss.
He added that standards should be developed to prevent accidents
and loss before they occur. We must ask ourselves, he said, what to do to limit causes of accidents and which measure would gain the most effective safety, with the least cost over the longest period of time. He said this meant improvements of the car instead of the driver.
Two things happen in an accident, said Nader. First, the car goes out of control. Second, there is a collision inside the car with the individual thrown against dangerous instruments, sharp edges and hard objects. He said we try to stop the first accident by screening drivers, but do not show concern over the second accident. There is no second line of defense for the occupant of the car, he said.
"There is something wrong with the organization of our economy since it spends 100 billion dollars on war expenditures, and does not spend 1 billion, in total, on air and water pollution, pesticides research and food, drug and cosmetic research," Nader said.
(Continued to page 12)
Brown asks venue change
BEL AIR, Md. (UPI)—Defense attorneys challenged the legality of H. Rap Brown's 1967 indictment on riot charges and sought a change of venue Monday in pretrial proceedings which provoked the first black demonstration ever seen in this predominantly rural town.
William Kunstler, defense attorney, told Circuit Court Judge Harry E. Dyer it was "utterly impossible" for Brown to receive a fair trial here.
"Harford County is not the place to wash the dirty linen of Dorchester County," Kunstler said. The trial was moved to the 179-year-old colonial brick court
house here at the request of prosecutors who expressed fear the trial would provoke demonstrations and possibly violence in Cambridge, Md.
About 100 persons marched outside the court house, chanting "Power, power, power, to the people." They were orderly but could be heard inside the courtroom.
Kunstler told Dyer it was the first time in Maryland history and possibly even in the nation's legal history, that a trial was moved over defense objections.
Carl Broege, defense attorney, also told Dyer that local newspaper stories had made it impossible for Brown to get a fair trial here because they implied Kunstler's appearances were the cause of trouble in California and Illinois.
Brown, who teaches ghetto children in New York, was not present in the courtroom Monday. He was expected Tuesday for the start of jury selection.
The 26-year-old black militant is charged with arson, inciting to arson and inciting to riot in connection with a speech he delivered in Cambridge July 24, 1967 which was followed by racial disturbances in that eastern shore community. At the time he was head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
UDK News Roundup
By United Press International
Draft protests planned
WASHINGTON—Anti-war leaders announced Monday that demonstrations, many involving nonviolent civil disobedience, would be held March 19 at draft boards and induction centers in more than 100 cities.
The protests will highlight a so-called "Anti-Draft Week" March 16-22.
U.S. consulate to close
WASHINGTON—The United States, in a move applauded by Black African leaders as well as the British government, is closing its consulate in Rhodesia.
Secretary of State William P. Rogers announced Monday the consulate would be shut March 17. He explained the action was being taken because premier Ian Smith's breakaway regime had promulgated a constitution, named a president and thus broken its last link with Britain.
My Lai fault undetermined
WASHINGTON—A congressional subcommittee investigating the alleged My Lai massacre has reported it cannot publicly determine whether U.S. troops intentionally shot innocent South Vietnamese civilians.
To reach such a conclusion, according to the subcommittee chairman, would interfere with the legal action the Army has undertaken against the 37 active and former servicemen.
As a result, the House Armed Services Special Subcommittee has switched its task and has decided to focus its attention on the Army's handling of the case.
Boyle denies election flaws
WASHINGTON (UPI) — United Mine Workers President W. A.
"Tony" Boyle, stoutly denied Monday any wrongdoing in his reelection in December or any complicity in the murder of his opponent a month later.
Striking back at his critics in a two-hour long news conference, Boyle accused the Department of Labor of conspiring with his enemies against him, and said he had been mistreated by news media and denied a chance by a Senate subcommittee to answer charges against him and the union.
Boyle shouted at times during his first meeting with the press since he talked briefly with a handful of reporters on election night Dec. 9.
"For more than a month I have desired a proper judicial forum to
respond to the outrageous charges in the press and before the subcommittee involving complicity in murder, the increase in pensions by our trust fund, blacklisting and lies asserted by those who should know better," Boyle said in a statement he read to reporters.
"Having been denied such a forum," Boyle said raising his right hand and facing photographers, "I hereby solemnly swear to Almighty God to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
He said that neither union funds, personnel nor the union newspaper was used to promote his candidacy against insurgent candidate Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski in the UMW election Dec. 9.
He said he had nothing to do with
the murder of Yablonski, his wife and daughter, whose bodies were found Jan. 5 in Clarksville, Pa. He denied any connection with Silous Huddleston, a UMW official who has been indicted on conspiracy charges.
He also said the news media had "vilified" him to the extent "that television networks have permitted individuals to accuse me of being involved in murder."
A Senate subcommittee investigating the UMW, had heard opposition witnesses, but had denied Boyle a chance to appear before the subcommittee. When told the subcommittee Monday invited him to appear March 18 and 19, Boyle said he had not received any such invitation.
The Department of Labor was in
"collusion" with Yablonski's attorney, Joseph L. Rauh Jr., against Boyle and the UMW.
Loan funds to UMW workers were mentioned in a suit filed Thursday by the Department of Labor seeking to set aside Boyle's election over Yablonski and to order a new one.
Boyle said he didn't know how much his election campaign cost, who were the contributors to that campaign except "coal miners."
Boyle said he was the victim of "the cheapest fraud" by the Department of Labor when he was promised that Labor Secretary George P. Shultz would be advised of his "factual and legal arguments" against the government election suit before it was filed. He said the suit was filed even as the promise was being made.