Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 48

Perspective 6 Section 2 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, Aucust 4, 1974 James Reston Stayskal Frank Starr The beginning, but not the end No substitute for impeachment COMPENSATION "53 a my words," said Bob Vance over the phone from Birmingham, "the President's going to get sick, two weeks before the vote." It's come to that, now. Bob Vance is one of the more respected' political pros among Southern Democrats, and he was only half joking. Even outside-Washington the pros are counting votes and shaking their heads. And the discussion has turned to the President's options. Resign? If so, when and on what grounds? The Frey plan, the Goldwater plan, or just rear-guard delay? GEORGE GALLUP now counts 24 per cent of the public in the support-the President regardless category.

Even the While House tacitly recognizes that impeachment in the House -seems a practical certainty, and neu- -tral vote counters are having trouble finding the 34 votes needed in the Senate to avoid conviction. The Frey plan, named for Rep. Louis Frey Jr. who five months ago suggested and has since disavowed it, would have the President ask the House to vote impeachment with minimum debate, thus sending his case direct to the Senate, where he stands a better chance. Wayne Stayskal's cartoons appear weekdays in Chicago Today.

The virtues of it were that it would short-circuit the momentum produced by two more weeks of televised pro-impeachment, rhetoric and get a lot of Republican officeholders off the book in their districts. It now appears largely discredited. Goldwater plan in honor of the Republican senator from Arizona would have the President field questions in an extraordinary joint session of Congress. There follows the usual array of less imaginative options including resignation for. medical reasons, resignation for the obvious reason, and what seems most likely slogging ahead with the usual rear-guard skirmishes.

But the view is gaining ground, even among former advocates of resignation, that there is and can be no substitute for carrying out to its eventual conclusionwhatever that may be the full and complete constitutional process. It has been argued elsewhere convincingly that while this President may contend he should not be judged against a standard not applied to previous Presidents, whatever standard is applied will also become the standard of conduct for future Presidents. In the same sense it must be demonstrated conclusively to the American people, to other nations, and to future Presidents that the impeachment provision in the American Constitution works, that this nation is capable of correcting its government even In midstream when that is warranted, and that it is not done unless warranted. That is to say that the President should not be removed from office for any reason other than the conclusive decision of the people's representatives in that happily odd combination of politics and law provided uniquely for this purpose and called impeachment. ONLY IMPEACHMENT can resolve beyond question the emotionally divisive argument that he was hounded out of office by his enemies as only the Supreme Court resolves once and for all the question of guilt in other controversial cases.

Only impeachment and conviction-will draw unmistakable limits of conduct for those who will succeed to the office. To the argument that impeachment would weaken the Presidency may be counterposed the argument that only impeachment will demonstrate to this nation's adversaries the strength that lies behind the office of the Presidency. Only impeachment will demonstrate that this' nation is not ruled but truly governs itself. WASHINGTON The conventional view here now is that this is the beginning of the end for President Nixon, but between the beginning and the end between voting articles of impeachment in the House Judiciary Committee and voting conviction in the Senate lie many political struggles and legal tangles that could go on for months. Time, with its unpredictable events and changing moods, could be a critical factor.

For example, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in the Senate lasted three months from Feb. 15, 1868, until May 26, 1868, and this raises a key question. Does the authority of the present 93d Congress expire at midnight on Jan. 2, 1975, as Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington says it does? And if so, would an uncompleted trial in the Senate have to start all over again? Jackson says "yes," and insists that the entire question would have to go back to the House Judiciary Committee in the 91th Congress.

SENATE LEADERS, of course, are trying to speed up the process by drafting rules for the trial that would avoid this complication, but the timetable is not wholly in their hands. For example, if the House votes to impeach the President around the end of August or the beginning of September, the President will ask for time to prepare his defense before the Senate. The majority leader, Sen. Mike Mansfield is thinking that twd weeks would be sufficient for this preparation, but if the President asks for a month or even longer, it would be hard to deny him the time he requests. Also, while the Senate can set rules that avoid filibustering the issue by droning on with irrelevant material, it would be difficult to deny the President and his attorneys the opportunity to call as many defense witnesses, as 'he likes, another time-consuming process.

It is even possible that the trial could get into procedural arguments, such as over the authority of the present Senate after Jan. 2, in which case the President could claim that he was denied due process and refer the argument to the courts. Presumably, sense would prevail at some point in this process, but a long trial cannot be ruled out, and this presents the awkward prospect that the President could be impeached by the House in August and then have to try both to defend himself and exercise his executive duties for a period of months. As a result of these potential difficulties, Washington is now full of proposals about how this nightmare can be avoided. In.

fact, you can hardly run into a congressman these days who doesn't have some suggestion about what the President should do to change the present trend toward impeachment, government paralysis, and conviction. Among the suggestions are the following: Sen. Barry Goldwater Ariz. thinks he should go before the House and Senate personally, respond to questions and defend himself. The theory is that this would influence the House, the Senate, and the television audience in his favor.

Failing this, he should go on television from the White House and argue his case directly to the voters. If impeached by the House, he should resign rather than risk a long, paralyzing trial in the Senate and the interruption of the government's other urgent business. Finally, that he should refuse to resign on the ground that this would seem a confession of guilt which he does not feel, but concede that the impeachment and the preoccupation with the scandals have destroyed his capacity to govern and forced him to the conclusion that he should get out and recommend that Vice President Ford be made acting President under the 25th Amendment. One side argument for resigning or stepping out under the 25th Amendment is that he would retain his lifetime pension, plus his wife's lifetime pension, plus almost $100,000 a year in expenses, even if impeached, but would only retain a far smaller pension as a former naval officer, congressman, and Vice President if convicted by the Senate, ALL THIS presumes, of course, that the President is still determined to fight the case out by every legal device at his disposal, as he has indicated he would do. For a few hours, his men in the White House were suggesting the opposite, that he was thinking seriously of asking the House to skip the impeachment debate and send the issue on to the Senate for a speedy trial.

But this would have meant that the President was asking for unanimous consent in the House to impeach him, and was quickly abandoned as a useless gimmick. It is still possible, of course, that he will resign or take the 25th, since he has said so many times that he wouldn't, but the likelihood is that he will fight it out to the end and take his chances. He has always been a gambler and a fatalist who thinks something unforeseen may turn up, and since the unpredictable and the unlikely have often saved him in the past, it is still far too early to assume his conviction. New York Times News Service 'James Reston's column appears weekdays in Chicago Today. Between the lines One of the reasons for camping is to return to MQther Nature.

To be sure, American inventiveness has smoothed the way for those who find roughing it without amenities too heavy a burden to bear. And the tilt away from primitivism continues. The National Park Service has announced that campground reservations for those who do not have RankAmericard or Master Charge credit cards cannot be made by telephone. Cardless campers must write in, giving 10 days' notice. One camper, having sent off his reservation, was heard to observe that the park service had reintroduced basics into camping by forcing him to use the U.

S. mail. Spithalls have joined the ranks of products that may be hazardous to your health, especially If they are made with the Sunday comics. Dangerous levels of lead have been found in a popular children's magazine and in the color pages of newspapers, Sunday supplements, comics, and national magazines, according to a Medical Tribune report. Spot tests of various publications showed that lead levels range from 5 to 33 parts per million in black-and-white to more than 4,000 parts per million in color publications.

But the tests also showed that nonlcadcd color inks were available and in use by some publication. Nick Thimmesch Vemnn Jarrett Clearing Suez Canal wins Egypt's favor Exploitation films: a growing menace IS.MAILIA, Egypt The big job of clearing the Suez Canal of the lethal aftermath of two wars has progressed well enough that the U. S. Navy believes the canal, closed by the Israelis since 1967, will be reopened this coming December. The Egyptians are thrilled with the prospect and are planning to restore the first barge to traverse the canal in 1869 and use it as the lead vessel as the first ships go thru.

The marvel of the 19th century indeed has a romantic exotic history. Besides the morale boosting, symbolic importance to the Egyptians, the canal-clearance project amounts to a solid accomplishment for the United States, Great Britain, France, and Egypt the countries which performed the work. THE DISENGAGEMENT agreement between Egypt and Israel last January put the canal under Egyptian control. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger indicated that the United States would sweep the canal, and its approaches, and provide assistance and training to Egyptian forces, to perform the more dangerous job of locating and removing the tons of unexploded ordnance in the canal and along its banks.

The U. S. Navy moved in April 25 with Sea-Stallion helicopters which towed magnetic hydrofoil minesweep-ing devices across the canal to detonate mines. This procedure is the same as was used in clearing the Gulf of Tonkin last year. In the next phase, the U.

S. and British navies provided support and equipment for more intensive underwater detection. But it was Egyptian and British divers who located the unex-ploded ordnance. To date, 20 Egyptians have been killed in this operation and another 40' injured. There have been' no U.

S. casualties to date. Some 250,000 pieces of ordnance were removed. "It is unbelievable' what Is In the canal and on the banks," Rear Adm. Kent J.

Carroll, U.S.N., who is heading the effort, told me. "There are thousands of unexploded shells, SAM and antitank missiles, Phantom jets, MIG jets, tanks, barges, buses, personnel carriersyou name it." French navy divers got some of the worst of the dirty work because they were responsible for clearing all waters under three meters deep and the adjoining banks as well. These areas are loaded with explosives. Another extremely dangerous job is removing mines and explosives buried in the ground alongside the canal. Again, U.

S. Army experts provided the equipment and direction to the Egyptians. An area 250 meters wide on each side of the canal is being cleared now. The eastern side, where the Israelis piled up a 50-foot sandbank loaded with explosives, is particularly perilous. The Israelis are providing minimal assistance' in this effort, only offering their mine charts.

There is resentment against the Israelis on the part of personnel of the four nations working the clearance project. The final phase is the salvage operation, wherein 10 wxecked ships will be lifted from the canal at a cost of $10 million. But even when this job is done, the canal will offer only a measure of safety. Future dredging operations are expected to detonate explosives buried too deep in the canal bottom to be detected. Explosives lodged deep in the banks of the canal which could be exploded by a ship going aground art another remaining danger.

The United States is spending $20 million on the canal clearance project, the greatest amount of the four nations. There was, a little fuss over this in a House subcommittee meeting last May, but it blew over. Arab nations, West Germany, Denmark, and Japan have pledged grants and loans for improvement and enlargement of the canal, and the Egyptians are excited about this, too. PRESENTLY, THE canal, when cleared, will be able to take loaded oil tankers up to 60,000 tons, and tankers in ballast up to 150,000 tons. Nowadays, are medium-size tankers and far from supertanker size.

Egypt, after 15 years of warfare with Israel, sorely needs its pride restored and the canal is a good beginning, as Kissinger wisely perceived. "When our ship, the Inchon, came into the canal," said Carroll, "the Egyptians went wild. They were crying, 'Long live Egypt, Long live the United States, Long live Sadat and When the Marines got applauded, I think that's the first time they experienced that in 30 years." Los Angeles Times Syndicate NEW ORLEANS If you arc one of those thousands upon thousands of black Americans sickened by the deluge of black exploitation films, brace yourself for some bad news. There are at least 178 such films in various stages of preparation for release during the next three to five years, according to Dr. Rowland S.

Jefferson, black Los Angeles staff psychiatrist for the Watts Health Foundation. Actually, the figure may be closer to 300 by now, because Dr. Jefferson made his last check on Hollywood in February. The outspoken psychiatrist read a provocative paper on the treatment of blacks in film before the psychiatry and neurology section at the 79th Annual Convention of the National Medical Association, an organization representing some 4,000 black doctors. HE CHARACTERIZED most of the rash of black-oriented films as degrading, violence-provoking, and a menace to the emotional health of young blacks in disadvantaged communities.

At the same time, Dr. Jefferson reported, blacks are being cheated on the financial side of the ledger. "It was not until release of the 'Exorcist' that a survey revealed that 40 per cent of today's theater-going audience is black," he reported. Yet less than one-half of one per cent of this nation's theaters are black-owned and there are no black distribution companies. Only one per cent of film production companies are black, while 99 per cent of black actors and actresses are under contract to or end up negotiating with one of the two major white talent agencies.

"So it's easy to see the tremendous economic trend from black communities as it follows the usual exploitative pattern," he declared. "Blacks, who make up 40 per cent of the market, only get one and a half per cent of the profits from an investment that sacrifices their dignity, self- ti A' Michael Kilian esteem, and self-concept," he said. Dr. Jefferson, also a staff psychiatrist at the Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, said the film industry discovered the financial gold mine in black films when Melvin Van Peebles wrote and produced "Sweetback," which is reminiscent of the way the white mob discovered the once black-owned numbers' game.

After "Sweetback," Hollywood jumped on the band wagon and took control. Thus, hopeless black youngsters from our big-city ghettoes today are fed a steady diet of cops, hustlers, pimps, prostitutes, and "subhuman sexual animalsall of which manifest elements of violence," he said. Violence among black youth today is epidemic, he emphasized. It is significant, he said, that most black films "deal in story lines that center around the lifestyle of the so-called 'street If the filmmakers continue to glorify this lifestyle to young black audiences we may expect an increase -in "very serious mental health implications," Dr. Jefferson told me.

"The racist viewpoint is that to depict middle-class lifestyles to black audiences would be detrimental to the Establishment, since that might change the stereotype image and threaten the Establishment's position." Dr. Jefferson noted in these films the absence of the traditional "nuclear family" and the "extended family" which have helped moke black survival possible. Instead the black hero usually is an individual who operates and lives alone except for the usual female love object. "Black women," he pointed out, "are portrayed as omnipotent sex objects with little or no sense of responsibility or the character of respect." GENERALLY THE content mid story line "deals with criminal behavior, glorifies street life, and exploits the fantasied sexual behavior of blacks, mixed with the sensual sounds of popular black recording artists." But probably the most damaging of all in these cheap, instant "blaxploita-tion" films is "the relatively little value placed on black life." If the life of a black man or woman has no value In our society, for black youths to see It in living color only serves to reinforce their negative self-image to the point that "they act out screen behavior in real-life situations with disastrous results," Dr, Jefferson reflected. We interrupt for an inflation alert REJOICE! I HAVE found the cure for inflation.

Television weathermen. "TV weathermen?" you ask. "How so? Is this something of which Paul Samuelson, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Milton Friedman would approve?" Not at all, because they're part of the problem. These deep thinkers are largely responsible for the fact that almost all our news about Inflation comes to us encumbered with such terms as wholesale price index, prime lending rate, "the Fed," balance of trade, the international monetary fund, the mome raths outgrabe, etc. etc.

How is that going to make an impression on a society that thinks that the fate of civilization hinge3 upon the outcome of the National Football League players' strike? CONSIDER HOW TV weathermen handle their otherwise uninteresting gub-ject. You're sitting at home watching "Bambl" or "Andy Hardy Meets Pat Boone" or something on the late show when an insidiously silent message comes creeping across the bottom of your screen, saying: "A tornado watch has been called for the following 17 counties Seventeen counties! My God. What instant paranoia. You might as well be watching "Godzilla." Or consider the way they deal with the great chemistry set in the sky known as our atmosphere. Everything seems to be going along just fine but, come news time, there they are in front of their weatherboards, proclaiming: "A pollution alert has been declared for the entire five-state region.

Monitoring stations report solid particulate levels of .18 parts per million and sulphur dioxide readings of .27. Thli below the 'danger' level of .50 but above tlie 'alarm' reading of .15. All elderly persons, small children, and World War I veterans who were issued faulty gas masks are urged to stay indoors as much as possible." By that point I'm holed up In the closet with a dozen bottles of Air Wick. It used to be that you were spared these doomy pronouncements on those rare, smogless days when the pressure was high, the winds from the north, and the skies a crystal clear blue. But now they've discovered a danger even in that ozone.

I've been kept in the closet by "ozone watches" four times In the last month. Why waste this superbly effective technique on something as uninteresting and unavoidable as the weathor? Why not, as you sit watching a commercial for "Twelve big rock hits from the sizzling '60s for only $5.95," have a message come creeping across your screen saying: "The Treasury Department has declared an inflation watch for this entire broadcast area. You are advised not to cnll this number right away." WHY NOT start off newscasts with an attention getting: "This is an inflation alert! The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an increase in the Consumer Price, Index of 12 per cent, three points above the federal danger level. You are advised to burn all credit cards and cancel all orders you may have placed for snowmobiles, automobile stereo tape decks, and Michclin travel guides." Or why not get to the very root of the problem with an announcement like this? "This Is an emergency Inflation double alert! Thirty-seven economists, S3 Presidential economic advisers, and four labor union officials are reported to be at large. At least one has been given a newspaper column and three are reported to be guests on television talk shows.

You are advised to cancel all newspaper subscriptions and turn off this television set Immediately Tomorrow Nicholas von Hoffman on how the House Judiciary Committee rose to the occasion. Louis Kohlmcier on the brakes being put on the Federal Trade Commission..