European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday december 24, 1985 columns & comments Tom Wicker two successful programs under Kaffack by Reagan nearly 20 years ago in Rappa Hannock county. A. With the significant help of the agricultural Extension serv ice. I built a four acre Pond perhaps the single most constructive act of my life the Pond improved worn out land and gave it a new ecology stopped Ero Sion guarded against drought beautified i Barren Little Valley and provided immeasurable recreational values for my family and friends not to mention habitat for a Beaver then an endangered species in Virginia 1 bought the land and put up the construction Money. The state of Virginia stocked the Pond with Large Mouth Bass bluegills and Channel Catfish to establish a natural Cycle.  Woods the county agent for the Extension service de signed the dam so Well that inc water eventual Rose precisely to inc Little red flags he had set out to predict the Shore line of whal he called a water impound  thai s Only one infinitesimal incident in the 70-year history of a Federal service dedicated to the american Earth and to those who work and cherish it. This a lion s Farmers have been the most resourceful and productive in history and the Extension service leaching inc lat Cal and Best agricultural knowledge has been a major reason. Now Ronald Reagan wants to kill inc service to save Money if it s needed his aides say let the states pay for it. What effrontery the land is Only artificially divided by stale lines it s a National asset and ought to be nurtured As such. Whal sense does it make for one state to invest substantially in farming techniques and land conservation while another chooses to ice its land Wash away and ils farms languish what National crisis justifies this reckless abandonment of so useful an Agency this soulless disregard of the land workers who need that Agency s help but that s Only one of a sad procession of events thai in this richest and proudest James resign of nations seem to reflect a crabbed spirit and undue panic Over the Federal deficit. Congress for example has just passed a farm credit Bill that s expected to hasten the trend toward Large commercial farms and to Speed foreclosures on tens of thou Sands of family farms. Whatever ils effect on the Federal Defi Cit this is callous social policy the consequences of which will haunt future generations in Many cases it s also unfair because it was the government that Only a few years ago urged Farmers into debt in order to increase production. Land values in Iowa have fallen from $2,147 an acre in 1981 to $948 now a 55 percent decline for which Farmers cannot be held solely or even primarily responsible. Bul let pm cat soybeans. If Urbanitch Don t care what happens to Farmers they might be More concerned that Reagan also wants to sell the Federal housing administration to private institutions whose failure to make housing Loans available to Low and mid income persons caused the new Deal to set up the Agency in the first place. The Cha has not in a half Century Cost the taxpayers a Dollar but rag unites in their mania for privatization and profit think they can make a Buck on the Sale thus reducing the deficit. Never mind the Young people who As a result May never be Able to buy or build a House. And for those members of Congress who voted for the cowardly Gramm Rud Man Hollings deficit reduction act in the belief that it would Force Reagan to Cut military spending or raise lacs Wel come to cold reality. At the White House he Lold them what sensible people should have known All along thai he still intends to veto any lax increase and to maintain his military buildup. Thus hell Send them a 1987 budget designed o reach the Gramm Rudman deficit target through deep Cut backs Aboul $50 billion Worth in wasteful and unnecessary Domestic pro Grams such As the Cha. " of Phil of Fame i up Michel. A my hour Nurs. That happens it will be at the Price of horrendous further reductions in Domestic so his priorities Are unchanged arid he s just proved in the House lax Reform Batlle Hal when aroused he still packs a programs Hal once showed a responsible powerful political punch. Congress May government s concern for its citizens yet have the Backbone to Force some Mili Lary spending cuts on him bul even if go Well being. Jcj new president looking for a Happy ending in last act sometimes you can  How the political winds arc blowing around in Washington not by Reading inc front pages but by watching the Book notes. President Reagan chose his official biographer the other Day. And vice president Bush and rep. Jack Kemp among others have already published their stories and political ideas Well in Lime for the next presidential election. So it s Clear that we be air cad come to a Fork in the Road Between the past and the future. Reagan still has three More years to go but is beginning to think Aboul his place in history what he has done and whal hell leave behind. And the Lead ers of both major political parties Are wondering what to do after he s gone. The democrats Mel the other Day at Disney world in Florida of All places to try to Puzzle this out and came away in dizzy confusion about whether to attack Reagan in the congressional elections of 1986 for control of inc sen ate and How to plan for the presiden tial election of 1988. They could t get their history straight. And no wonder. Who will write the history of the Reagan Era with All its twists and turns on Domestic and foreign policy its triumphs and disasters of economic and social policy this we would Lik to know. Bul what we do know on the Side is that unlike the men who have preceded him in the White House in this Century. Reagan has at least chosen a serious historian in hid fund Morris the author of the Rise of Theodore  and has promised to give him Access la the records of the last five years per Mit him to attend Cabinet meetings in inc next three years and answer his questions. Maybe we won t know the answers until the president has finished his Sec Ond term but his Choice tells us some thing about Ronald Reagan. In his first four years in the White House he worked against his ideology on Domestic and foreign affairs. He did not produce a counterrevolution against the welfare state bul merely a correction to it. Nor did he carry on for Long his Cru Sade against the soviet evil Empire but compromised in the Congress and at Geneva. The nato allies had a lot to do to change his mind. For they argued that ideology was failing All Over the world communism in the soviet Union socialism in Western Europe capitalism in America everything was changing in the first world Economy. And everybody had to adjust to the new realities. The Reagan of his first four years has been adjusting to the facts of his second to his alarming budget deficits Al Home and to his spectacular Trade deficits abroad and to the Cost of inc arms race. He has been compromising with the Congress on the budget not much bul some he talked quietly to Mikhail Cor Baches in Geneva on human rights in the belief thai More dissidents could be liberated by quiet diplomacy than by loud propaganda. Nothing was settled but everything was discussed and there was at least agreement at the Summit that they should talk again in Washington next year and in Moscow the year after. The main Point or so it seems in this Corner is that something important May be happening that instead of arguing about the past people arc begin Ning to talk about the future not Only on Capitol Hill but Between the White House and the Kremlin. One of the important things about the Reagan Gorbachev meeting in Geneva was not Only thai they agreed that a nuclear War cannot be won and must never be fought but thai they had to keep in touch not Only next year and the a Cal but All the time on wars else where in the world. And they agreed thai the spread of nuclear weapons to other nations and even to error Isle must be controlled. In Short the hopeful thing is that maybe there is a realisation both Here and in Moscow that officials should be thinking about whal they have in com Mon instead of what has divided them since the end of the last world War and beginning of the nuclear age. Reagan in choosing a biographer must be thinking about what he will leave behind after his spectacular Polit ical successes. He has three More years logo and the guess Here is that like most presidents and particularly like most actors he wants a Happy ending in the last acl. This kind of thinking drives his conservative support ices up the Wall. For the first time Reagan is beginning to think of history not heretofore his favorite subject and probably he has t chosen professor Morris to write thai he failed to balance the budget and produce a reasonable balance of Mili tary Power in the world. 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