European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday september 21,1986 columns William f. Buckley is America becoming too upset Over drugs the whole world is talking about the drug scene and offering opinions on what should be done. Charles Krauthammer began a slightly confusing essay by suggesting that we arc All getting much too upset by the spread of cocaine that after All Only 1percent More americans Are using it now than 10 years ago. He then went on to suggest that everyone caught using Coke even once should be Given three weeks in jail and fined one year s salary. Maybe they la teach a course at Harvard Law school on How to administer that Beauty. Of course i percent adds up. The same Day Kraut Hammer was saying take it easy kids the mayor of Miami Xavier Suarcz was on television. Asked How much Coke sales had grown in Miami during the past 10 years he snapped one thousand  granted figures can be deceptive. If Only one per son in Miami was using Coke 10 years ago and 10 people arc using it now you d have a thousand percent growth. But of course Miami vice has done More than 10episodes, so we know the figures weigh in on the Side of Gravity recalling James Jackson Kilpatrick s Sugges Tion that we publicly hang people who Trade in Coke. That idea previously dismissed in this space As romantic brings to mind a metaphor of new Yor mayor de Koch. Surveying the scene recently Koch advised us that the estimated catch of the incoming crop of cocaine is about 6 percent. So that for every Hundred Kilos of Coke smuggled into this country the death merchant scan assume that 94 will slip through. Now says mayor Koch suppose that the soviet Union was smuggling atom bombs or even hand Gre Nades into the country and we were stopping the traffic at a rate of Only 6 percent. What would we think of american defences at that Rale Hen not much. So. Says mayor Koch obviously what is wrong is our attitude toward the imported stuff. If we can train ourselves to think of Coke As a hostile weapon not unlike an atom bomb or a hand grenade Well Sec the total mobilization necessary to do something about it. Meanwhile of course the president has got himself into a bit of a mess by suggesting that 1.5 million Federal employees submit to drug tests and the Percsi David Broder Dent launched the program by submitting himself to the relevant test. Now the relevant test is urinalysis which can t be done without urine. But obviously the urine has got to be your own otherwise you could bring in aunt Irma s and go on and stay stoned All Day at the control station of the Pentagon. This Means you have to have a live witness and live witnesses during urine deposits tend to rub a lot of people the wrong Way bringing to mind that even doctors and nurses absent themselves when the time comes to take a patient s urine specimen. There is that just to begin with quickly followed by the question How often would testing be needed every year six months six weeks that multiplied by  million is a whole lot of urinalysis and could just unbalance the budget. But then of course a lot of people Aren t going to Volunteer for the tests and what do we conclude about them Well the White House says we conclude absolutely nothing about them. Why then have the tests in the first place to show our concern for those who need help the answer comes in a Little fog Gily. But if those who need help want help Why Don t they just say " am taking Coke and need help among other things saving one More urine test we regretfully conclude that the problem has no been thought through by the White House and maybe Jack Kilpatrick is right the Only thing to do is hang pm All. Universal press Syndicate me Jon Hirshom gifts brighten notion s capital privatization is a made up word which the ideologues in the Rea Gan administration and the conservative think tanks apply to the Transfer of pub Lic functions and responsibilities from government to business private institutions or individuals. If there is any More awkward construction i suppose it would be Public nation which might be but than goodness has t been applied to the reverse process the takeover by govern ment of something which has been privately owned or developed. The Lovely Paradox of this washing ton summer has been that just when the folks in Power arc promoting privatization of everything from prison administration to Power generation the area be tween the White House and the Capitol is dominated by two spectacular demonstrations of the Virtues of forgive me,"publicization." on the Side of the mall the National gallery of Art is displaying several dozen of the great paintings donated to its collection by or. And mrs. Paul Mellon. Across the Way from these masterpieces of French and British Art a bold Brash and bubbling exhibit of modern american and european paint Ings and sculptures collected by Joseph h. Hirshom and left by him to the doughnut shaped museum he built on the mall brightens the scene. Nothing so repairs the spirit pulverized by politics and enervated by the wearisome debates of Congress and president As a few hours with the Mellon and Hirshom gifts. No one can calculate How much they contribute to the serenity and civility of this confused and often carping capital City. The Mellon family created the nation Al gallery of Art. Financier Andrew Mel Lon started the collection with the gift of125 old masters in 1937, and he built the original gallery in 1941 for $15  children Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mel Lon Bruce underwrote the East building surely the finest architectural Addi Tion to Washington in this Era for $94 million in 1978. As you walk through the galleries where about one tenth of the 800 Mel Lon donated paintings have been re moved from their usual setting and grouped in temporary display you Don t think about the monetary value of their gift. It is the taste and excellence they imparted that lifts the spirit. Whether it is a Bellows boxing ring or Cezanne s heart breaking portrait of his father you Are transported to a higher level of intensity and insight when you Are with their Pic Tures. The Hirshom show is a trip of another kind Joyful dizzy and unmistakably Carefree. I remember Hirshom As a Char Acter in the Lyndon Johnson years a tiny irrepressible self made immigrant million Aire who wanted even the casual acquaint Ance to know and share his own enthusiasm for whatever he had just done. What he did mainly was buy an gobs and gobs of it. There was a huge stink when he in veiled Johnson or Johnson in veiled him depending on which version you believe into dump ing the whole collection into that Odd o ring of a building on the mall stamping the Hirshom name onto one of the most precious pieces of the nation s real estate. But it was no mistake. The collection is bursting with color and Energy like Joe Hirshom himself and even some of the Small pieces like a Stuart Davis City and ships Are so vivid they linger in the mind s Eye. There i such Delight in the wild variety of things that caught his fancy that you find yourself bursting into laughter a you turn a Corner like a child who can not believe the Surprise he s just found in his Cracker Jack Box. What has All this to do with politics and government not much thankfully. Except for this we live in a time when it is Chic to devise lists of things govern ment can hand off to the private Sec Tor to promote privatization. It s forgotten that when people give something to the nation and its govern ment whether it is a magnificent col Lection of Art and the buildings to House it or something As mundane As taxes it can be an ennobling and uplifting experience too. The advocates of privatization have yet to establish what their legacy to the nation will be. I Hope it is something More than the most Cost effective privately administered prison or the tastier sandwiches in contracted out cafeterias in Federal office buildings. The legacy of those who what docs one say de privatized them selves and established great Public institutions of Art and culture is Here for All Tosee and enjoy. Franklin Roosevelt and Jimmy car Ter opened the West and East buildings of the National gallery Lyndon John son broke ground for the hirshhorn museum. It would be a worthy Chal Lenge for the friends of the privatization president Ronald Reagan the people who have benefited most from his tax cuts and military contract build ups to consider what they might give to the nation in his time. Surely they Don t want the doubled National debt to be his Only Monument. Washington Post winers group _ pressed in Ine columns and cartoon on it prob  Thole of the aut Nort and an i no s. � a a is representing the views of this ibis and Sumpos or the United slates love mount