European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 06, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday May 6, 1977page 16 the stars and stripes John p. Roche some restrictions needed on free Trade it i a if american garment or shoe work ers were whooping cranes they would be protected As an endangered species. How Ever unlike the cranes or those tiny fish inthe Tennessee River that Are endangered by a dam or some Odd Bush in Maine thatis stale mating a hydroelectric project. American workers Are unprotected. True when an Industry gets into trouble Federal Money is available for a decent funeral but the individuals concerned Are told not columns comments to take it personally you see their occupation has died in the Noble cause of free minute anyone says something like this All right thinking people accuse him of being a protectionist and a Parade of horrible begins. The evils of the Smool Hawley Tariff act of the collapse of world Trade and of the millions of americans inexpert industries who would be Laid off by a Trade War arc invoked. Obviously there is some Validity in such criticism but it is polemical rather than a factual presenta Tion. There arc intermediate Points be tween free Trade and , if i chose to be polemical i could argue that the logic of free Trade require sits advocates to support uncontrolled inter National arms sales the peddling of breeder reactors and the elimination of All checks on sales of narcotics. John Stuart Mill one of the High prophets of free Trade in his essay on Liberty explicitly condemned efforts to curb the Sale of Indian opium to the , unless you confuse policy making with scoring Points in a Colleg debate the vital task is to explore the realities of world Trade not the fictions. Awhile ago president Carter delivered a remarkable one line summary of our appropriate goal the poor in Rich nations should not be taxed to help the Rich in poor this in mind let us take As a Case study the plight of the american garment workers. In the old Days the Amalga mated clothing workers and the International ladies garment workers had the problem of runaway in order to escape unionization with its appalling notion of share the wealth garment manufacturers moved their factories out in the boonies where they could rely on desperately poor unorganized people to increase profit unions went after them with consid Erable Success. While proportionately few workers became unionized. Amalgamated and in Gnu organizers used the Federal minimum wage Law As their big it a manufacturer could hold off a National labor relations act election he could be forced to pay the minimum wage. Since in the areas a Tosca for runaway shops the Federal wage and hour Bureau Cracy was often in the capitalist Bug. Union organizers became surrogate enforcers of the Law of the land filing complaints directly with the appropriate Washington of the manufacturers went Back to the drawing Board and devised a new caper the runaway shops ran All the Way to South Korea. Taiwan. Singapore and other strongholds of Industrial democracy. This had a dual advantage 1 they escape from such onerous american customs As Trade unionism and minimum wage Maxi the opinion a pred in in column and cartoon on unit Page it Pralel Toni 0 to author and Art in no a 10 m Conno Eft Al apr noting tit will a to Star and strip or id Ulm a Slat . Mum hour Laws and 2 they could wrap it up in the Roseate ideology of free Trade and helping the world s poor. By the Timea manufacturer finished explaining How his 19 cents an hour was liberating a Tai wanese from poverty there was t a dry Eye in the result a flood of cheap clothing produced abroad by american capital wit american technology and local sweatshop labor hits american markets. My wife who always looks for the Union Label recently did some Quality comparisons an reports that the cheap imports Are also poorly designed and shoddily manufactured. They look like Good buys but she suspects have a Short half life. She found one dress with the Label made in Usa but suspicious discovered the dress was made in Singapore and Only the Label in Usa which diversion brings us Back to the main theme Why should the Usa alone inthe world engage in free Trade perfectionism recall those runaway manufacturers doubtless get tax Breaks under american Law and subsidies disguised stax exemptions or the like under foreign jurisdiction. Recall also the various Mickey mouse devices used in Japan and the common Market nations to inhibit american Competition. Recall that Canad an Law hinders their companies from advertising on american television. Then without worrying about those massive abstractions free Trade and protectionism make decisions on endangered species of american manufacturers an workers on the merits. We can go cold Turkey on Trade barriers when the rest of the world docs the same. i James j. Kilpatrick the teacher must be monitored people have been worrying about the Impact of television on our society almost from the Day the first Black and White image snickered on the tube. Indecent months that concern suddenly has mounted. The medium it is thought has become a Newsweek Magazine devoted its cover Story a couple of months ago to somber recounting of to s mesmerizing effect on children. A new Book is out. By Maire Winn. Describing television As the plug in various parents psychologists and social critics have intensified their cry against excessive violence. Number of advertisers feeling the pres sure have asked the networks to Case the current bulletin of the Council for Basic education James m. Howard a ventures some sensible observations on the situation. More than most of us have realized television has become not just a a teacher but the teacher influencing the language the lives and the attitudes of nearly the whole population. It is the primary responsibility of parents says Howard to insist that to not be a bad teacher but a Good one. Assuming a median age in the . Of 28.6 years the 1974 figure our people can be divided roughly into two generations. Pre to and Post to. Those who were Bornas recently As 1940 got through elementary school under the Tutelage of flesh and blood teachers As distinguished from elec tronic ones. Today s youngsters comprises different Breed entirely. Nielsen surveys indicate that children watch television on the average 23 hours and 16 minutes a week. Teen agers watch 19 hours and 49 minutes. The census Bureau says that 96.6 per cent of our households have Al least Emu television set. And 45.4 per cent have two or More. The figures Howard remarks arc a measure of the real importance of television in the lives of Young people in today s it is not that boys and girls want Only to be entertained or that they Are utterly in capable of entertaining themselves. Tele vision is ubiquitous. If Ever kids had aframe of reference they have one now in television which provides them with the language the models and the tastes they share with each other. Whether adults like it or not television is their except when it turns to efforts that Are deliberately educative the classes in Al Gebra physics and history television Seldom is thought of in teaching terms. The medium functions primarily As entertain ment and advertising. Its news programs pervasive As they Are occupy Only a Small part of the daily schedule. Howard s Point is that in one Way or an outlier subtly or blatantly. The teacher is teaching All Day Long. Surely much of the leaching is Good an constructive that needs to be emphasized because the network moguls have been absorbing More denunciation than they truly deserve. The child who has watched Marine life has not wasted his time. Andice networks seem to be trying. Lbs has a new saturday morning Magazine Abc s after school specials and Abc s occasional special treats amount to Good teaching. Grizzly Adams is becoming a Folk hero As Insp Ringas Davy Crockett. But when that has been said it has to be said that a vast Deal of trash remains and the trash teaches also
