Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 6

'WHAT A MICKEY MOUSE CAMPAIGN THAT AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER WILLIS BROWN, Publisher rapid city Journal 9 inNt-f LA l-Pa 0 Cross THE JOURNAL'S POLICY 1. Report the news fully and Impartially in the news columns. 2. Express the opinions of the Journal in but only in editorials on the editorialopinion pages. 3.

Publish all sides of important controversial issues. Monday, January 29, 1968 Page tr-ti'Cr'k-ti-ttit-ti'tr'tT'tt'tr'tr'tt-ti'k'tl'tr'Ct'ir it it Legislative Potpourri Hanging out the wash on a Monday morning or picking up the loose ends of a legislative week: The question of whether the voting age should be lowered to 19 years from the present age of 21 is back before the legislature again this session, and four University of Snuth Dakota students made their pitch for adoption of Senate Joint Resolution No. 1. The resolution would put before the people of South Dakota the question of a lower voting age at the general election in November. The students were invited to testify before the House State Affairs Cpmmittee about two weeks ago after the committee had received a letter asking if they might have an opportunity to appear.

At that time Rep. Elvern Varilek commented that he'd welcome the chance to hear the young people, since previous arguments have mostly come from adults who feel their "place in the sun" is being clouded over by a nrw breed of Americans namely the young intellectuals and informed college students. In the group were Doug Wi-ken, Volin, who in 1965-66 attended the South Dakota School of Mines; Jim Davies and Gary I Drew Pearson And Jack Anderson Solon Ready To "Spill Beans" On Appropriations and his mementos is positive legislation. The state would serve history and future generations well if it acquires this property. The concern of the legislature and the governor over a potential raid on water stored in the Missouri River dams in South Dakota is timely and important.

The earlier South Dakota stakes claims to this water, the more difficult it will be for a scheme costing U.S. taxpayers $3 billion to succeed. Envisioned is a canal extending southward through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma aud iuto Texas. A four-year term for the governor and lieutenant governor is in keeping with trends in state government. The disadvantages of two-year terms are clearly obvious, and now is an opportune time to legislate toward a change.

Politics is often the art of compromise, and so it is South Dakota must now wait until July 1, 1971, before all checks will be cleared at full face value by all banks. As it is now, many South Dakota banks collect a fee from the person to whom the check is payable. Hurt by this are the retailers, who called for immediate par clearance. The bankers association, the majority of whose members are banks exacting this fee, asked for a delay to 1973. Even 1971 is too long to wait.

A potpourri of common Is on matters big aud small: Time is far too precious for South Dakota legislators to be pestered with bills that would permit people to have their name or business appear on a personalized license plate. This type of silliness is on par with legislation to give postmasters or National Guardsmen distinctive license tags for their automobiles. Such designations serve no purpose, his type legislation demeans the serious nature of the legislative process and furthermore he pipelines within the legislature are running full with important measures. Even the expense of printing such bills seems unjustifiable. Postponing removal of the tax on oleomargarine until 1970 seems like an acceptable compromise, considering that the state is hard-pressed for revenue, even if the tax is grossly unfair.

Xo question about it, the tax no longer" serves its original purpose which was to give butter a distinct price advantage. The tax is arbitrary and works a hardship because oleo has become a widely used food. Preserving for posterity the home used by Gutzon Borglum Rassel, both of Fulton, and Sjob Thompson of Sioux Falls. The committee has not acted on the resolution yet, but will during the coming week When the students got mrough they received the congratulations of committee members for the presentation, and were promised every consideration. Most likely the legislation will be sent out of committee for floor action.

The students discounted the argument tha "if a 19-year old is old enough to fight and kill, he is old enough to vote," pointing out that the need to fight and the right to vote are two totally different subjects and shouldn't be associated. Their arguments were based on the thought that education has improved con-siderably the last few years, even to the point that a high school graduate today has the knowledge and the maturity that a college graduate bad in 1940. "Coupled with the improvements in education is the greater exposure to improved and more readily available commu-nitcations media. These two factors provide the 19- and 20-year old citizens with the background and available information necessary to quickly gain knowledge of current affairs," the committee was told. Opponents to lowering the voting age claim these factors are it relevant because as education and communications hae improved, issues have become more and more complex.

Immaturity is aHp, claimed by the opponents, but the students countered with comments that "perhaps some of them arc, but immaturity is not confined to those i-der 21." Kentucky has been one of the states with a lower voting age and Sen. Thruston Morton recently said that he could not see any particular change in voting because of the younger voter. A year ago when the issue was before the House and Senate, arguments for and against were many and tinally it went down to defeat. II is questionable whether the thinking of South Dakotans has changed in the past year. Two bills to raise the salaries of state legislators could become among the hottest issues of the CSrd session if they are successful in getting out of committee, which is doubtful.

While legislators don't particularly want to vote against a salary increase for' themselves, even though it is no doubt warranted, they are reluctant to move when most everyone else is after more money and probably won't get; it. Legislators tried to get themselves an increase last year, but because of a legal technicality, the bill was ruled unconstitutional at the moment, and there was no; time left to make amendments. There are still some who say the ruling could have been fyli ten early enough, and that it did not have to be held up until tha final day of the session. This fact could make some differwco if the bill is brought out for a vote. training program had been a failure.

They had trained the South Vietnamese Army for old-fashioned warfare and, as a result, Vietnamese troops had trouble adapting to guerrilla warfare. The American generals still insist that after the American withdrawal the biggest threat will be an invasion from North Vietnam. They want to leave a conventional South Vietnamese Army. This suits the Vietnamese generals, who would lose much of their power under the reorganization plan. Therefore they, too, resisted any overhaul of their army.

McNamara overruled all these objections last July and ordered the retraining of Vietnamese battalions to begin at once. The program, just getting underway, has now come to a stop after news of McNamara's departure. It will be interesting to see whether Congressman Joelson is gaveled down by Speaker Mc-Cormack or allowed to tell the American taxpayers the truth. REVERSING MCNAMARA Word of Secretary McNamara's resignation had scarcely reached Saigon before the American military command quietly sidetracked his plan to reorganize the South Vietnamese Army. He wanted to train mobile Vietnamese striking forces, which could take over more of the fighting and permit American troops to begin a gradual withdrawal.

The plan was first proposed in 1965 but was rejected by the U.S. commanders, who didn't want to resupply the Vietnamese with any additional sophisticated weapons. More important, they didn't want to admit that their 12-year time no longer than an hour, is expected to vote, for example, on a defense appropriation of $62 billion," says Joelson. "Although it may be a heady experience to be spending $1 billion per minute, it is also a most discouraging one. "IN AN AGE when planning is widely thought to be desirable, there is no over-all plan for alloting funds for the widespread operations of our national government.

In a nation which prides itself on being the brightest example of democracy, there is no real democracy in the body established within Congress for spending the people's money. "Rules and procedures of another century remain encrusted. This is the way we appropriate in Congress. The question before the House is: "Is this appropriate in 1968?" An Air Of Crisis Red Imperialism Not A fh WASHINGTON The American people who have to pay the tax bill will soon get revealing insight into how cavalierly their money is voted away inside the House Appropriations Committee. One of its more forthright members, Rep.

Charles Joelson, is planning to take the public into his confidence regarding the manner in which money is approved at the rate of $1 billion per minute. He will also reveal how funds for the CIA are hidden or buried so that not even members of Congress know what the total is for this spy agency. The New Jersey congressman is planning a blistering speech. The rules of Congress do not permit him to criticize another congressman, so he will be careful to praise the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Texas Democrat George Mahon. However, he will criticize the operations of the committee.

"THE COMMITTEE operates under rules that are as archaic as they are undemocratic," Joel-son said in advance of his speech. "No town council in America could long get away with the procedures of this unit charged with the responsibility of spending the money of the nation. "All hearings are closed without exception ot the press and public alike. Strangely enough, the press has accepted this in a docile manner, although very few of such hearings deal with national security and require secrecy in the national interest." The committee goes overboard, even denying its own members access to information regarding certain government bureaus such as the Central Intelligence Agency, Joelson says. "THERE IS SIMPLY no total, specific appropriation for the work of the CIA.

Its funds are hidden or buried. While it is obvious that CIA operations must be cloaked in secrecy, this does not mean that the people of the United States or their representatives should be forbidden to know the total sum spent by the agency." Joelson describes Chairman Mahon as a "thorough gentleman" who has backstopped himself with members having a viewpoint similar to his or the importance of military appropriations and the unimportance of human appropriations. "The complexion of the defense subcommittee may well explain the fact that in 1967 it added to the main military appropriation almost a billion dollars more than requested by the President and the Defense Department," says Congressman Joelson. But if Mahon believes the funds for a particular program should be curtailed, he stacks the subcommittee with congressmen unfriendly to that program. EXAMPLE: The Labor, Health and Education Subcommittee, beaded by liberal Rep.

Dan Flood, was packed with two conservative Democrats in order to give Republicans control. Joelson also charges that members of the full committee 51 in all receive almost no advance briefing on subcommittee reports, so that they vote in the dark. "A feeling of fantasy assails a person who, in a period of This may be crucial in the event that there are developments in the Korean region which would require more naval and air strength. THE CALL-UP of about 15,000 National Guardsmen and reserves emphasizes that the entire Asian situation is by no means free from potential danger and that, unless the Vietnam war is fought to a successful conclusion, other attempts will inevitably be made to provoke clashes with this country. It so happens that the United States does not need to keep in Vietnam waters any large number of naval vessels and can also draw from other parts of the world some aircraft carriers.

The mere presence of such ships near the coast of Korea could have a salutary effect on those Communist officers in North Korea who deliberately ordered the American naval vessel to be seized. The new incidents in the Far East certainly make it obvious that the United States is not fighting in just a "civil war" in Vietnam, but is endeavoring to thwart Communist imperialism throughout Asia. The Pueblo incident may well serve to clear the air and show the critics that pulling out of Vietnam can only mean a bigger war for the United States. with the Korean crisis. This could mean a showdown with Moscow, which may have been the real instigator of the North Korean action in seizing the American ship.

The Russians have all along been very much interested in learning about the electronic apparatus on American ships, as they are themselves engaged in the same kind of intelligence activity in the waters of the North Pacific and along the coast of Alaska. IT WAS NOT surprising to find the Soviet government, at the direct request of this country, unwilling to use its influence to get the North Korean regime to release the American ship and its crew. But when the U.N. steps in, the Soviet Union might find it expedient eventually to help solve the problem. Apart from the involvement of the United Nations, however, the capture of the American vessel is an act directed against the United States.

The government in Washington has every right to seek redress and the punishment of those who participated in the seizure. When President Johnson called up National Guard and reserve units, putting additional fighter and transport planes into service, the action was deemed necessary to reinforce American air power in Asia. Scary Spectre The Insider's Newsletter Polio appears to be on the rise again, and parents may be to blame. They are getting lax about having their children inoculated against the disease, says Surgeon General William H. Stewart.

He warns that 102 cases of polio were reported in 1966, compared with 61 in 1965 and that the percentage of children one through four who were adequately immunized against the disease correspondingly dropped from 74 per cent in 1965 to 70 per cent in 1966. Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean? IT IS THE FEAR of the unknown, of more attacks and new longer-range weapons, rather than actual evidence of new enemy plans on other fronts that contributes to the uncertainty of the moment. Also, the Johnson administration is itself being transformed. In the last few weeks the President has received the resignations of Secretary of Defense McNamara, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare John Gardner, and the heads of the Bureau of The Budget, Charles L. Schultze, and the Council of Economic Advisers, Gardner Ackley.

There are persistent rumors that these will be followed before long by Secretary of the Treasury Henry H. Fowler, and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. THE LOSS of McNamara, Gardner and Schultze, all wideminded, objective and highly competent men, has not done anything to reassure the capital. These are all non-political officials, who have had their doubts about the administration's priorities or lack thereof, and while they have given up their key jobs quietly, the capital cannot quite believe that their stated reasons for leaving told the whole story. Anyway, whatever the reasons, they are not going because the administration is on the verge of ominous new policies they do not like.

The tone of the administration is clearly more political than it was just a few weeks ago, and being more political, it sounds more militant. THAT WAS OBVIOUS in the testimony of Clark Clifford, McNamara's replacement at the Pentagon. He took the hard line on the bombing of North Vietnam. Where McNamara talked about "parity" of nuclear weapons with the Soviets, Clifford wanted "supremacy." Where McNamara had his doubts about nuclear powered surface ships, Clifford seemed to be for them. Where McNamara fought against a new family of big bombers to replace the B52s, Clifford was sympathetic to the idea, and he was determined to stay in Vietnam until the Saigon government was sure of maintaining Rself against Communist pressure, which probably means indefinitely.

AH this pleased the Armed Service Committee members, but it did nothing to reassure a capital that has absorbed too many changes and accidents and threats for comfort since the beginning of the new year. By JAMES RESTON Jff ui $urk 2-intra WASHINGTON There is an air of crisis in the capital these days. The talk is of a harder war and maybe even of more war over the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo in North Korea, but the anxious talk and the big headlines could easily be misleading. It is not the strategic picture in Asia that is changing but the administration itself.

On the basis of the Intelligence reports so far, there is no evidence that the Communists are trying to open a "second front" in Korea. On the basis of reliable reports from knowledgeable officials, there is no basic charge in the government's plans for continuing the war as before. THE CALL-UP OF 14,787 air reserves and naval and air support units is not necessary to deal with the Pueblo incident. The call-up may be useful in supporting U.S. diplomatic efforts to get the ship and its 83-man crew released, but the administration has been under pressure to call these reserves for Vietnam, and that is where they are likely to be used in the end.

Nevertheless, the pre-Christmas optimism is now giving way to uneasiness for a variety of reasons. The enemy is obviously building up for a major assault on the U.S. Marine base at Khesanh, near the demilitarized zone, and apparently has managed to bring up some large artillery guns for the purpose. The expectation here is that this may produce the biggest battle of the war in about a week, right after the Tet truce. IN ADDITION, the crash of an Air Force plane in Greenland with four II-bombs aboard, the pressure on the dollar and the U.S.

balance of payments abroad, the announcement that the British are pulling out of Malaysia and the Persian Gulf all these in recent days have made people aware of the complexity and danger of America's military and economic problems across the globe. None of these events has changed anything fundamentally, but they have made an edgy capital conscious of the possibilities of change. What if the Communists were bringing new and longer range weapon into the battle? What if they did create new diversionary guerrilla fronts along the vast Communist borderland from North Korea, through Laos and By DAVID LAWRENCE WASHINGTON It's an ill wind that blows no good. The Communists, by their seizure of a lightly armed vessel of the U.S. Navy off North Korea, have unwittingly strengthened the American case in the Vietnam war.

They have shown the world that Communist imperialism is neither a myth nor an illusion, as so many of the "doves" in this country have been arguing. The capture of the American vessel is an act of war. It emphasizes the simple fact that the forces of the United States and those of North Korea are still in a state of hostilities, and that the armistice which was signed through the United Nations in 1953 is merely a "ceasefire" and by no means has ended the state of war existing in Korea. The Communist regime in North Korea broke the armistice several days ago when it sent guerrillas into Seoul, capital of South Korea, in an attempt to assassinate the head of that government. PRESIDENT JOHNSON does not need any "declaration of war" to call up reserves or to send more American airmen and planes into the Korean area to recover the Pueblo and its crew by force, if necessary.

Under international law, when a state of hostilities exist, there is no such thing as a territorial "limit" to international waters. There is no conceivable right to seize a vessel of another country on the high seas except by the assertion of war power. The American ship was, in fact, at least 15 miles from the North Korean coastline. AMAZINGLY, on Thursday a spokesman for the U.N. first said the United Nations was in no way directly involved in the crisis over the seizure of the ship.

He added that the secretary-general would not intervene on his own initiative. Yet the United Nations has a military force in Korea which is stationed along the 17th Parallel to guard the truce line. So it was aatural for the United States to demand a meeting of the Security Council to deal GOP THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.