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Wednesday, April 13, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Comment
Opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Kansas or the School of Journalism.
Fishing laws tested
The U.S. State Department has cautioned newsmen against drawing diplomatic implications about the holding of two Soviet fishing ships. But the U.S. actions seem to fit into the mold of recent U.S.-Soviet relations.
President Jimmy Carter and the Soviets have played cat-and-mouse games ever since Carter took office three months ago. The Soviets repeatedly have tested Carter, and Carter seems determined to leave them a "get tough" impression.
The U.S. fishing expedition is the latest in a series of tests, and this time the Soviet test has been intolerable to the Carter administration. The Soviets can be thanked, in a sense, for their violations, because they have brought about enforcement to recently passed U.S. fishing laws. Congress last year authorized the U.S. servalion Act, but only recently has the United States imposed its boundaries and enforced violations.
UNDER THE fishery act, foreign vessels can catch and keep only certain types and amounts of fish from certain areas within a state's jurisdiction. States for which they've received permits.
Since the United States announced enforcement of the act about a month ago, the Soviets have received more than 60 citations and warnings. Several Soviet vessels were released, but then continued to violate the U.S. fishing quotas.
As a result, the Coast Guard has seized two
ships, and the State Department has called the Soviet embassy to complain about the report's allegations.
Carter's Press Secretary, Jody Powell, reflected the United States' concern about the repeated Soviet violations by pointing out that the United States showed restraint before the seizures. But, he said, "No person's patience is unlimited."
THE TARAS Schevchenko was the first Soviet ship seized because it was carrying more than 3,500 pounds in excess of its quota of river herring.
More fish that had been caught by the Shevchenko were found on the second Soviet vessel, the Antanas Snechksu, a nonfishing, processing ship. The Snechksu also was carrying seven species of prohibited fish in its holds.
It is clear that the Soviets consider our fishing waters to be rich ones. Fish in U.S. waters, and wheat exports, are effective trading tools for dealing with the Russians. Carter is using these tools to show the benefits of a U.S. defense attitudes toward their policies after what many are calling a U.S. defeat in strategic arms limitations talks.
SOVIET OFFICIALS knew of the new fishing limit and repeatedly were warned of their violations before this week's two seizures. Whether they were testing Carter's catch was not clear, but understand. But at least they have helped strengthen a necessary U.S. fishing policy.
The election in Lawrence is over, the shouting has died and most of us are glad of it. But an election week incident continues to graw away at my mind, and, because my concern for freedom seems to be growing, the granny, I can keep quiet no longer.
Freedom of all speech absolute
There is no point in dwelling on the specifics of the incident, because what is at issue is a matter of more concern than the Lawrence school board, the Law School or the University of Kansas.
THE ISSUE is, in my mind,
freedom of speech. Freedom of
speech is like the freedom of
assembly or of religion or of any
other right in the Constitution.
We have reservations to this,
but it close to home. Then we
have our reservations and write
letters to a newspaper or our
Congressman complaining about unethical practices.
And freedom of speech is like freedom of religion. We have to hail it out of the closet every so often, dust it off and display it, lest we forget what it's all about.
Those who say that freedom of speech must be tempered by one consideration or another are usually just saying that freedom of speech should be limited to touchy issues or things we'd rather not hear about. I contend that touchy issues are the ones
Freedom of speech is
Jerry Seib
Editorial Writer
criticizing politicians, candidates and journalists. It is also praising politicians, candidates, journalists and whoever else seems worthy of comment.
BUT IT MUST be both the good and the bad, and the journalist in his office and the politician in the campaign have at the edges of freedom of speech for personal convenience.
Being mostly free to practice your *religion wouldn't* be difficult, but you should be mostly free to say what you want when you want.
that should be talked about and that the things we'd rather not bear about are the things we'd better hear be hearing, for our
GRANTED, PEOPLE with the right of free speech can get rather ugly in their exercise of it. But so can people given the right to campaign for office or public places by public places for a demonstration. We have no business stopping people from doing any of these things, even if it would hurt the rights outside the window.
to total freedom. But, in many cases, those bumps can serve to make the ride more interesting. And when the bumps make the ride uncomfortable, we should grit our teeth and bear it.
Any politician who throws his hit into the ring, an journalist who types a word on a blank piece of paper or any educator who moves into an administrator's office should be careful not to criticism—some of it warranted, some of it not.
WHEN I WALK into the Kansas office tomorrow morning, I expect to find letters from frate readers who are litching to tell me how wrong my language of free speech is. So be it.
But if freedom of speech means anything, it means complete freedom. Those who write White House dirty movies and girlie magazines don't understand what our Constitution means, and neither do people who don't know it. They're written to the editor of a newspaper.
The only obligation that any speaker or writer has is to tell the truth. If truth has been
served, the arena is wide open,
and we shouldn't be surprised if some free-wheeling speech There's nothing wrong with it.
THINGS ARE probably much more peaceful in places where only one side of any issue is heard. But I don't think those places are very healthy, and I would guess that there is quite a lot to be said for the side that was involved. Alexander Solzenhitsyns of those places have to defect before they can speak up.
Comparing Russian dissidents to a Lawrence school student, we learned that they fetched "If someone thinks so, I apologize. But we are talking about freedom of speech, and place on place or issue to issue.
I hope the Kansan continues to print letters to the editor on any and all subjects, and I hope readers who think I'm wrong continue to write in to tell me so. But more than that, I hope that the writer would like a whole process stopped or curbed do some serious thinking about what freedom really means.
Gandhi's excesses caused loss
The Indian national election that "ousted" Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from office three weeks ago was widely hailed by the media as a "vote for democracy." No longer, correspondents wrote from New Delhi, would anyone be able to
say that the poor and hungry are more concerned about food and shelter than they are about human rights.
However, now that elation over the elections has subsided, and Moraji (Desai) is imminent, the prime minister, it would be wise prime minister, it would be wise
to re-evaluate the events in India since Gandhi declared a state of emergency in 1975 to the moment she resigned from
the executive branch virtually unlimited power.
Gandhi, then, had all the necessary qualifications to be a
office. Then one might ask whether India's elections were truly a barometer of its citizens' power, the press and of political rights.
GANDHI FIRST declared a nationwide emergency on June 26,1975 in reaction to her election victory, the election law violations. Gandhi had been barred by the Justice of the High Court of her home town from holding public office until the conviction was up for appeal.
Diane Wolkow Editorial Writer
In moves related to the state of emergency, the Indian government carried out a crackdown on leaders opposed to Gandhi and jailed others involved in antigovernment demonstrations and violence. Desai was among those arrested during the roundup.
By September 1976, Gandhi's government had introduced to the house of parliament a series of amendments that would give
Press censorship was imposed and subsequently removed, only domestic newspapers and also foreign correspondents.
ON AUGUST 5, 1975, a new government election law that required all candidates was adopted. Then national elections, which had been scheduled for March 1976, were held on April 23. The extended emergency rule.
dictator. Since her Congress Party still controlled parliament, she could have held onto her power indefinitely, had her husband been killed in national elections and then, in the face of her defeat, to resign.
CRITICS TAY that Gandhi misjudged the mood of the people, as she was counting on the traditional Congress vote to secure a majority in population living in rural areas. That these illiterate people ignored tradition and the propaganda spouted from Gandhi's India Radio team in Kabul was remarkable political sophistication.
But can the rural vote against Indira Gandhi really be credited to a political sophistication or rather to a backlash in Gandhi's "ex- isolation that so widely affected India's poor?"
Illiterate people care little about censorship of the press. What hits them where it counts — in schools, hospitals and massive sterilization program, which reportedly resulted not only in the sterilization of old men and unmarried boys, but also in more young women due to unsanitary conditions.
WHAT CONCERNS the poor and illiterate more than sophisticated theories on human rights are pet government projects such as Sanjay Gandhi's slum-clearance program, which resettled thousands of slum dwellers in
even more miserable conditions outside city limits.
The poor and illiterate are often unaware of such basic human rights as political freedom and free speech and press. But tamper with their rights, especially through cruel and extreme methods, and they're bound to react in anger.
Thus India's "vote for democracy" wasn't the result of a sophisticated awareness of Gandhi's dictatorial political practices. It was a vote against the methods she had employed in the country, its countrymen's good, which had alienated the masses.
HAD GANDHI stuck to the broader topics of censorship and police order, she would only press against the press, both domestic and foreign, and with India's often sophisticated minority.
Now that Gandhi is out of office and in disgrace, she should be credited with actually making a decision and calling for new elections. Gandhi finally must have realized that although power is addictive, power without favor would have an acidic taste in one's mouth.
Letters Policy
Letters to the editor are welcomed but should be typewritten, double-space and no longer than 400 words. All letters are edited and may be condensed according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Letters must be accurate and provide their academic standing and hometown; faculty must provide their position; others must provide their address.
Editorial focus page a flop, saccharin ban a bane
Focus page piffling To the editor:
I was greatly disappointed in your editorial page on Europe in the April 7 Kansan. Nearly all the articles on the present state of Europe were hopelessly oversimplified, prejudiced and distorted. I was also very proud that we was paid to the positive side of the issues. The implication seemed to be that we Americans have it pretty good, while those Europeans (poor souls!) have it rather rough, mostly because of their far-out political ideologies (which we naturally find distasteful). We even considered whether such searching" might be, in fact, beneficial.
Particularly offensive was Paul Jefferson's article on the "two Irelands." To even suggest that one country can be "right" and the other "wrong" is a gross misconception about politics, history and culture. We are too incredible naive to the part of Jefferson (who, evidently hasn't been out of the country).
In general, the articles suggested (albeit tactily) that customers of this kind less like little shops downtown, suffering from unemployment,
high prices, political discontent,
(as if we didn't have equally
disconcerting problems of ours,
and so forth. That each of us
would be interested in the vibran
cultural heritage that informs and even outlives these
difficulties certainly wasn't
emphasized (with the possible
exception of Andy Warren's
writing) and we have one of
tone of these articles we may
feel free to pat ourselves on the
back, knowing that we
Americans have it all together
(unlike certain other nations we
may think of as 'true capitalism' has taken
the day. We number one!
If this is all the more deeply the editorial writers on the Kanans staff can research their subjects, I would prefer them to themselves as campus issues that they know more about.
Inquiry invited
David Radavich assistant instructor, English
I see from Friday's Kansan that my friend Alexander Barket has replied to the charges made against me by Ray Kramer, business manager of the Computation Center, and Dave Nordlund, assistant director of same, in last
David Radavich
Tuesday's issue. However, I feel that I should make some additional comments.
Kramer claims that I was dismissed for unsatisfactory job performance. Either he is lying or he doesn't know what he is talking about. I invite the Kansan or anyone else to see my personal records and other documents in my possession, or ask me if I am a worker or supervisor about the reasons for my dismissal.
I wish to publicly apologize to Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor, for mentioning my letter to the editor April 4.
To respond to Kramer's and Nordlund's assertion that the resignations were for reasons other than Wolfe's response, I came to speak when I spoke with these people, they told me that Wolfe was their main (and in some case, only) reason for quitting.
Jay Bermis' column on British politics in the April 7 Kansan shows an appalling lack of the English Parliament.
Situation explained To the editor:
Lawrence senior
Valerie Voigt
Lawrence senior
Bemis states in the second
paragraph **that** that "the Laborists" * vote, when combined with the vote of the opposing Conservative Party, and other political factors, resulted in a 293-0 defeat for Callaghan's government." I don't know whether Benis knows it, but if he does, he is likely to have conservatives and other factions actually all voted together, the total would be nearer 650 votes. Later in this same column, Benis unknowingly proves this by printing the no-conffidence vote total, 322 to 298. Doesn't he wonder where the extra 300 votes are coming from? He checked several sources and I have found no record of any unanimous vote of the whole British Parliament recently.
Bernis also writes that the probable successor to Callaghan would be Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservatives. She says saying that if Carter didn't have the election, Ford might have. Britain, like the United States, is essentially a two-party nation, and if the Labor Party leader (asn't prime minister), by virtue of its parliamentary majority, the Conservative Party is.
Briefly, here is what actually happened in Britain: Prime Minister Callaghan's government never had more than a three-vote majority and in recent months, because of death and resignation, it had become a minority government. When it did become so, it couldn't get government passed, the Conservatives, led by Thatcher, called for a vote of no-confidence. If Calaghan had lost the vote, new elections would have occurred and would have probably meant the return of a Conservative government. After some political bargaining with the 13-rate Party, Calaghan received enough votes (322-298) to站在 office.
Rob Green
Hays sophomore
Sugar-free felon To the editor:
Despite all the years at the University of Kansas, of the strife in trying to become a functional member of the system, I have learned the possibility of becoming a common criminal. For several years saccharin has been a source of solace in the moments of need for one of Joe's donuts. But as I grow older, saccharin this summer means I will, if I can buy booled diet soda
My dentist bills will now
attest to the fact that I began with the legally condoned addiction to refined sugar. As I grew older I resorted to this potentially illegal device in the furtive attempt of retaining the few clothes in my closet that fit and the teeth left in my mouth. I stopped on both sides of my family, the inclination to become a saccharin addict may be considered inherited.
And finally, I must say it grieves me to know while the rest of the whole world still has which are, in excess, bad for you. Potato chips and pork, the government has been so thoughtful as to protect me and habitually satisfied craying.
Barbara Merschen St. Louis senior
Americanizing track To the editor:
Having to go cold turkey from saharrin could have side effects, which contribute to things such as heart attacks and high blood pressure.
I close with the plea that anyone knowing of illegal diet soda refineries get in touch with me this summer.
In the wake of the KU track team's superb performance this
Giving scholarships to foreign athletes also means that the more marginal American athletes who would otherwise get them are left out in the cold by their own institutions, and
In the first place, most foreign athletes recruited by colleges and universities in the United States are older than their American counterparts. It is unfair to expect Americans just out of high school to compete with 24-year-olds in college sports. Europe, especially distance runners who have had many years of training and experience.
This all may sound like sour grapes because KU would have won the NCAA Indoor track championships if foreign athletes hadn't been allowed in the scoring. But note the fact that more than half of the 34 national teams were by non-Americans and it is supposed to be an American meet. If the United States is to compete successfully in future international and Olympic programs, we will have to emphasize a program built around American rattlesnakes to foreign athletes as a training facility for their own Olympic aspirations.
year, I would like to comment on the problems brought about by the recruiting of foreign track athletes. Although I am in no way prejudiced against them, I believe this practice is wrong.
Tom Cadden
Glenview, Ill., senior
thus deprived of the chance to come to college and further develop their talents.
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