European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday february 10, 1969 the stars and stripes Page 9 below Olympus by Interlandi John p. Roche the sacrifices of politics there s someone who does t believe in. That port of americanism called honest dissent Henry j. Taylor i think the time hot com of take the republicans up on on of their favorite the to thai we need More business principle in government. In the business and financial communities it it quite common to sneer at politic As a degrading affair dominated by marginally moral characters. Pres ident Nixon s difficulties in recruiting administrators might however suggest a different conclusion that men who take High government posts have a far higher Standard of idealism than is customary in business. To begin at the simplest level How Many business executives would refuse a Case of scotch at Christmas from a subcontractor How Many businessmen would lie awake nights because they held Stock in a subcontracting firm How Many would refuse a free ride in an executive Fet owned by a potential beneficiary a few perhaps but to most it would just to Good business both to give and to receive. Contrast this with the Stan Dards imposed in the White House at least under Lyndon Johnson. A colleague who had a great Deal to do with getting the recommendations of the civil aeronautics Board for Johnson affecting Landing rights routes Etc was sent one Day in the mail a Lovely Model of a new Jet plane. The sender was an airline currently under consideration for several new routes. My Friend longed to take it Home for his son but ended up giving it to me for my daughter. Generally speaking the "$10 Rule was followed. No staff member could accept a gift say at Christmas Worth More than $10 from those with whom he had professional Contact. To my knowledge no one Haslet commented on the astounding fact that during its five years the Johnson administration was not once touched by any financial corruption. There were no deep freezes no Vicuna Coats More important no Slippery articles managed to get jobs. There was a great Deal of Nasty press com ment about Marvin Watson s Pas Sion for thorough Security checks octopus squeezes taxpayers Interior Secretary Walter j. Hickel was lambasted for his views but the fact remains that the Federal octopus holds surplus lands and gobbles even More with its bureaucratic tentacles on a scale that totally defies the Public interest. Abuses like this can feed and grow on their own momentum. And the Job protecting bureaucrats can stall All protests by their own red tape. Once again the taxpaying peasant is the for gotten Man. The Federal octopus hate to to reminded that Alaska remains a full 96 per cent federally owned or that All but 15 per cent of Arizona u federally owned or that Hie government owns 80 per cent of Idaho and about 80 per cent of now Mexico. The defense department Alono controls 4.3 million acres in Cali fornia. Mum s the word. Much u needed across the country especially for conserva Tion or recreation and even to buy mom for these purposes under some 1964 legislation. But again and again the octopus he Kings on to Sites and whole areas declared surplus or obsolete. The sales Are negligible com pared to the potential recovery and this potential is nearly in credible. Washington s overspending a increased tax and even put a super tax on us taxpaying pea Sants. Yet the bureaucratic tentacles deprive us of this Multi billion Dollar Bonanza outraged taxpayers acres the country have protested Tho Feder Al octopus s land hoarding Ami land grabbing. So have state Legislatures and municipalities by officially enacted protests. Numerous congressional acts in eluding the Taylor grazing act Peci Focally require sir plus Lead disposals. The american bar an elation hat Hie Issue again and again confirming that Federal lands should be disposed of in fee simple after they have served the purpose of the Purchase. The result nothing. Even article 1, Sec. 8, clause 17 of the Constitution specifically limits the right of the Federal government to own land except for certain purposes which washing ton is obviously violating. The re sult of protests on these grounds nothing. Moreover with the usual sex Ernest Cuneo Tremise Riding hard in the sad dle former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall has handed or. Hickel a Fine Little package of buying projects whose real Cost would be Between $2.7 billion and $3.7 billion More in the next nine years than the Congress authorized. On dec. 6 this column pointed out that when Congress enacted the commission on the reorganization of the executive Branch of the government the commis Sion enlisted a wide spectrum of the nation s most distinguished land experts and other specialists. Their investigation of Federal land hoarding undertaken As a Public service took two years. They tabulated the potential re covery of billions on billions of dollars. Conservation is one thing blessings be but land hoarding is quite another. Cd 1w United feature Syndicate inc. Teachers need teaching they Are wreckers. They Are there to disrupt society. Their weapons Are lies misrepresentation defamation character assassination intimidation and More recently physical this i not a might be sup posed a diatribe by the John Birch society but a considered report by Edward Short minister of education and science report ing to the British parliament about disruptive students in Brit ish universities. It might be said of some French and italian As Well As american students but unfortunately it can also be said of a considerable segment of Amer ican faculties. Indeed a anguished Rome once groaned who shall guard the guard a Large number of agonised Amer ican Parent Are asking who shall educate the educator there Are about 50 million children in the lower school taught by about two million teacher. There Are about six Mil Lien student in colleges. There appear to to much mis understanding about Hie rights privileges and immunities of teachers. Actually they have neither More net Lew than other Public officer. Public office i a Public Trust. Nonce they Are employees hired to execute the objective of Hie Legislatures which create them. If they cannot in conscience do so they Are free not to take the Job. If they do take the Job and do not carry out the Trust the state can fire them. There appears to be a misapprehension among some Educa tors that the whole Field of Edu cation was set aside As their do main to set such standards and teach such beliefs As they deem appropriate. This is not True. No such delegation was Ever made and such delegation by a legis lature would be unconstitutional it Fallows that a teacher is As much subject to Law in the prac Tice of his profession As a lawyer or a doctor. Nevertheless Hie colleges an universities hold virtually a monopoly to Entrance to Hie professions a College degree being necessary to higher earnings bracket. The net effect of this is in Many cases a forced term of involuntary servitude at High fees for students who would qualify in a much Shorter time and with out going to College. Teachers As a matter of Law now have lights of tenure. Teachers like All other americans also have a Bill of rights. But there is no such thing As a Legal right of academic free academic Freedom As now asserted is in the nature of a Trade Union demand governing working conditions. To the extent that it clashes with the intention and purpose of the state it is grounds for discharge. The Massachusetts supreme court when or. Justice Holmes was chief Justice of that state ruled on this matter. A police Man a discharged for making political speeches prohibited by an ordinance. The court ruled that he had a constitutional right to free speech but he did t have a constitutional right to be a cop and he stayed fired. Accordingly a teacher has a constitutional right to speak his mind on a Soapbox in the Park but he Dees not have the constitutional right to use his teacher desk As a Soapbox and draw a salary for so doing. He is hired to teach the essentials of Good and to the extent that he does to Hie Taw it that it it not Only the right but the duty of Hie slate to fire him period i North american newspaper Alliance but in the Light of some of mayor John Lindsay s adventures in new York City a thorough Check on a Man s background might have considerable Merit. Nixon could do worse than Bor Row Flinty eyed Marvin for a few months. He could smell a Lar census character a mile away and there were always squads of them around the perimeter at tempting to infiltrate. Watson got a bad press because he c o n Side red newspapermen to be a Branch of the mafia though in fairness to him the hypothesis has not been conclusively disproved but to return to the Mai theme Why should a Man who can make $100,000 a year on Wall Street or running a topside factory become an under Secre tary at $30,000? the Standard reply is Power but that is vastly exaggerated. Harry Truman once defined the Job of president As persuading people to do what they should have done without hesitation or discussion. One of my critic once accused me of be ing in search of Power so just for the hell of it i spent a couple of weeks on that Mission and concluded that the smithsonian institution had Power somewhere in its vast inventory the conscientious top administrator finds himself frustrated by the embalm ers of the civil service if he s Lucky he can hire 10 men and perpetually harassed by Congress men the press lobbies and his widow and orphaned children. During the 1967 Middle Eastern crisis my daughter asked her Mother at one Point whether i was actually in he United states at close quarters i Watche Brilliant men working like de Mons eating their hearts out with concern about the Success of Var ious programs making a total commitment to their president and their nation. On five minutes no Tice they could have walked out the door into $100,000-a-year jobs. If you gave Joe Califano three Days unlimited cigarettes and enough phones and secretaries i suspect he could put led China on an operating basis but he stayed in his Comer of the White House mobilizing Johnson s Domestic program. And i could name a dozen More in the same category. In other words if Nixon expects to apply business principles to government he is in trouble. He certainly could not get a chair Man of the atomic Energy com Mission the country s greatest Utility Fot less than $350,000 a year and the chairman of the Tennessee Valley authority could hardly get less than $250,000. Let us Hope however that among republicans As among democrats there will always be enough Able men prepared to make material and More important per Sonal sacrifices because of a deep inner sense of obligation to our society and its ideals. A 4 m or enl Tho Olum author and a in a
