Banner Graphic, Greencastle, Putnam County, 17 December 1974 — Page 5

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, lf74, THE PUTNAM COUNTY BANNER-GRAPHIC 5A

Economy:

By The Associated Press The nation’s economy Monday experienced a potpourri of price increases and decreases, labor agreements and disagreements, additional layoffs and a prediction that the worst is yet to come for the unemployment rolls. Meanwhile, efforts to put the energy problem in some order developed on the international and national scene. On the energy front: —President Ford returned from his weekend summit meeting with French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing on the Caribbean island of Martinique with a compromise agreement over ways for the two nations to combat the energy crisis. —A blueprint for a national energy policy worked out byadministration staffers is expected to go to Ford later this week. —The Senate passed a bill that requires 30 per cent of im-

ported oil coming into the United States be carried on U.S. tankers. On the economic front: —Supermarket sugar prices fell as much as 70 cents per five-pound bag in some stores in the Northeast and U.S. Steel announced price increases averaging 8 per cent over twothirds of its product line. —Federal mediators entered the stalled contract talks for United Mine Workers construction employes and United Airlines pilots agreed to a new contract. —American Motors Corp. announced temporary layoffs for 15,000 workers. On the prediction front: —Sen. Edawrd M. Kennedy said there is a real prospect of a national unemployment rate of 8 or 9 per cent and he called on President Ford to provide mandatory wage and price controls. The agreement signed by President Ford and Frnch

Ford reports

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Ford reports to congressional leaders today about the U.S.-French agreement on arrangements for a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations. American officials view the results of Ford’s talks at Martinique with French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing as opening up a new “spirit of cooperation” between the two nations. Returning Monday afternoon from his 4,000-mile Caribbean trip to the French West Indies, Ford told reporters aboard Air Force One that the negotiations

with Giscard were “very successful, extremely beneficial” and resulted in “progress for both sides.” In a communique at the end of the three-day summit, the two leaders agreed to move toward a conference of oil producing and consuming nations “at the earliest possible time,” possibly by next summer. The summit resolved an impasse over how to cope with the world oil crisis through a series of steps for setting up an international energy conference. France has been urging a pro-ducer-consumer oil conference while the United States has

‘Worst to come’

President Giscard d’Estaing calls for both nations to participate in an international con-sumer-producer oil conference next year and make efforts toward preparing a solid consumer position on oil. The document outlined a series of steps intended to bring im-* porting and exporting nations to the international conference table, probably next summer. The Senate also acted on the energy problem with a 44-40 approval of a compromise measure that requires 30 per cent of the imported oil coming into the United States be carried on U.S. tankers. The bill is aimed at protecting the U.S. merchant marine from foreign vessels that are able to operate more cheaply by using inexpensive labor. Opponents claimed it would raise the price of gasoline and heating oil. Consumers in the Northeast received some good news Monday on the spiraling price of

sugar — it was down. The price dropped to $2.79 for a five-pound bag at many stores, compared with $3.49 a bag charged last Friday. Supermarket spokesmen said the decrease was prompted by competition for the holiday food budget and consumer resistance to prices that reached nearly $4 for a fivepound bag in some stores. U.S. Steel’s announcement of price hikes, most of which go into effect Wednesday, will primarily affect the construction, rail and oil industries. Steel used in the auto industry was not affected. But the crippled auto industry continued its downward movement with an announced temporary layoff of 15,000 workers by American Motors Corp. beginning Jan. 6. AMC said it will halt production of its three automobile models for one week following low sales that had given it a four-month supply of unsold cars.

About half the nation’s 120,000 coal miners stayed home as picketing United Mine Workers construction workers kept them from the mines. Federal mediators entered the contract talks for the 4,400 UMW construction employes. Monday’s total workforce was the smallest since the full UMW miner strike, which lasted from Nov. 12 to Dec. 6. Elsewhere on the labor front, a new contract was reached between United Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association. The agreement, which still must be approved by the union’s Master Executive Council, covers 5,400 United pilots and provides for a 22 per cent wage hike over the next 31 months. While AMC was adding to numbers on the unemployment rolls, Sen. Kennedy warned that the worst was yet to come in unemployment.

on French pact

proposed that the consumer nations consolidate their positions against the producers. It also settled a long-standing dispute over the amount of compensation France will pay the United States for financial losses suffered when the late President Charles de Gaulle expelled American and NATO troops from France in 1967. Ford accepted Giscard’s offer to pay the U.S. $100 million, which is one-fourth of the original American demand. While their talks took up problems of the Middle East, Indochina, East-West tensions.

economic difficulties and gold prices, the major results involved the energy issue. Ford agreed to an oil con-sumer-producer conference as soon as possible and Giscard agreed to steps to develop a unified consumer nation position before the consumer-pro-ducer conference. Ford and Giscard agreed on a four-step program calling for consumer nations to get together first to consolidate their oil policy positions. Next, con-sumer-producer nations will begin a preparatory conference, hopefully by March, to set up an agenda for a world

energy conference. Once the agenda is set, the consumer nations will again review their negotiating positions. The U.S. negotiators came home describing the mood of the Martinique summit as constructive. Kissinger called the atmosphere “the most positive’’ of any FrenchAmerican summit he had ever attended.

Ford to veto strip mining control bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - Backers of a strong stripmining control bill that has passed Congress are now urging President Ford to veto it quickly so that Congress can have a chance to override the veto. Ford has announced he’ll veto the measure, but hasn’t said when or how he’ll do it. The bill’s sponsors say a quick veto Would give Congress an opportunity to Override it before adjournment, now set for Friday. Ford has 10 days to act on the bill once it reaches his desk. If the President takes no action on the bill and Congress adjourns before the 10-day period is over, the bill would be killed automatically through a "pocket veto.”

The compromise bill to impose environmental and reclamation controls on coal strip mining was approved by voice vote in the Senate chi Monday. The House passed it last Friday. The measure is a compromise drafted by a conference committee between rival bills passed by the Senate in October 1973 and by the House in July 1974. Ford contends the bill is too rigid, would reduce U.S. coal production and would further increase coal prices. “It Would be very unfortunate if a President who has not been elected by the people should choose to prevent the people’s elected representatives from once

again expressing their strong views about surface mining,” said Sen. Henry M. Jackson, DWash., the Senate sponsor. House sponsor Rep. Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., has made a similar appeal to Ford to cast his veto quickly. But even if Ford does veto the bill this week, there was some doubt that backers of the bill could muster the two-thirds needed to override. Meanwhile, several members of Congress were attempting to convince the leadership to keep Congress in session until after Christmas so it could vote on the Strip mining veto. Present plans call for adjournment this Friday. There was no indication that House and Senate leaders were impressed with the suggestion, however.

Boston schools reopen

Sirica seeks to speed-up cover-up trial, Mardian exam

Congress ok’s oil bill

on.

Talks concluded

After a long complex question, Mardian said: “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer. If you want to make another speech, go ahead.” But shortly later, Mardian apologized. Mardian was appointed by Mitchell to handle the re-elec-tion committee’s legal affairs after the break-in. Mardian told of interviewing burglar squad chief G. Gordon Liddy and learning that Liddy’s men had been involved in the Ellsberg psychiatrist break-in and the spiriting away of Dita Beard during the ITT hearings. Mardian insisted he didn’t go to prosecutors with what Liddy told him because he was acting as the committee's lawyer and protecting information.

bacteriological weapons in war was ratified by the Senate by a 90-0 vote. —A bill authorizing $763 million for highway aid with particular help for rural areas was approved by the House. —The government could spend money for elaborate security measures on only one private presidential home under a bill passed by the House. The bill, which is'still pending in the Senate, was introduced after allegations that the government spent $17 million for security on three homes of former President Richard M. Nix-

WASHINGTON lAP) - On one side, an argumentative witness. On the other, a dogged prosecutor. In the middle, a federal judge impatient with the slogging pace of the Watergate cover-up trial. Determined to Speed things up, U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica sought to put a quick end today to the cross examination of defendant Robert C. Mardian. Sirica warned assistant prosecutor Jill Wine Volner on Monday she would have only an hour today to Conclude her questioning of Mardian, a witness who coupled his answers with challenges, lectures and occasional disdain. The judge said the last of the defendants, Kenneth W. Park-

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has passed an oil import bill the Ford administration considers contrary to the national interest, but the President is expected to Sign it in exchange for congressional approval of a foreign-trade measure. The bill, approved by the Senate 44 to 40 on Monday and sent to the White House, would require that 30 per cent of imported oil be carried on American ships. The State, Interior and Defense departments and the Federal Energy Administration have criticized the bill. Two months ago. Ford said he had serious concerns about the bill’s potential impact ort foreign relations, national security and inflation. But the President is expected to let the bill become law. Senate aides say it was made clear to Ford last week that he would have to accept the oil shipping measure in order to win congressional approval of the omnibus trade legislation he seeks. .The House-passed trade bill subsequently was approved by the Senate and now is in conference committee. Both supporters and foes of the shipping bill conceded it would raise the prices of heating oil and gasoline. Opponents estimated the cost at three cents more for a gallon of gasoline and a total bill of $60 billion over the next 10 years.

inson, would begin presenting his case this afternoon. The attorney for the former re-elec-tion committee lawyer said his defense would take 2-2 1 z days, making a pre-Christmas verdict unlikely. Mardian, Parkinson, John N. Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. All but Mardian also are accused of obstructing justice and there are perjury charges against Mitchell, Ehrlichman and Haldeman. Mardian, a former assistant attorney general under Mitchell, reacted angrily to some of Mrs. Volner’s questions. Pressed whether Mitchell was present when Mardian learned that the June 17, 1972 Water-

Backers said the impact on the price of fuel would be almost too small to calculate but forecast the total Cost at about $1 billion over the next decade. The compromise bill, which cleared the House two months ago, is designed to help American shipping interests offset the competitive advantage of foreign vessels, which operate with cheaper labor. The oil-cargo bill is backed by maritime unions and opposed by major oil companies and numerous economists of all political persuasions, who contend it would cause additional inflation. In another development dealing with foreign trade, the Senate refused to accept a compromise bill extending the Export-Import Bank’s lending authority for four years at a $25-billion level. In a series of votes, senators sent the bill back to conference with the House and insisted that the final version prohibit U.S. loans for energy developmeht in Communist countries unless each project is approved by Congress. In other business as Congress prepared to adjourn: —The House backed off from an amendment which would have banned the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from requiring schools getting federal aid to classify students and teachers by sex, race or national origin and supply that data to HEW. —The Senate passed 84-0 a

gate burglary was the second entry into Democratic headquarters, Mardian said: “Mrs. Volner, I don’t knowhow your mind works. I know how my mind works. I can’t recall what I did. I can recall what I didn’t do.” When the prosecutor suggested that Mardian expressed shock at learning the burglaryinvolved re-election committee employes because he worried about the effect on Richard M. Nixon’s re-election, Mardian said: “I can tell you, I was utterlyshocked by the White House horrors that were dumped on me that day. To say I wasn’t concerned about its effect on the campaign would be ridiculous.”

$1.1 billion emergency unemployment compensation bill designed to guarantee most jobless workers a full 52 weeks of benefits in 1975 and 1976. The bill was sent to the House for consideration of a minor amendment. The House has

passed the bill.

—Legislation clearing the way for construction of deep water oil supertanker ports off the U.S. coast was approved by a conference committee. The measure now goes back to both chambers, with supporters predicting passage. —The Geneva Protocol of 1925 banning the use of poisonous gases and chemical and

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP)—“We have set the stage for a productive relationship,” said Gov. Otis R. Bowen after meeting with Lake County officials here Monday. “Today’s program has driven another nail into the coffin which contains the remains of...hostility and distrust.” Long-standing mutual problems between Lake County and the state government were the subject of Monday's session where transportation was among the major issues to draw attention.

“It is a compelling interest for the state to adopt a broader involvement in transportation,” Bowen said. He then added that funding supervision of planning would be controversial. The proposed projects, for repairs and facilities conversion, include $300,000 for the first phase of an $8 million library at the IU campus. He also said the budget will include $750,000 for construction of an environmental, technological and health facility at Ivy Tech.

BOSTON (AP) — Elementary and middle schools in South Boston, closed since an outbreak of racial violence at South Boston High last Wednesday, were to be reopened today. But South Boston High, where a white pupil was stabbed by a black pupil and around 1,000 whites battled police outside the building, will remain closed indefinitely, as will Roxbury High. The move to reopen the elementary and middle schools in the South Boston-Roxbury dis-

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Attention shifted to Washington today as federal mediators met with Union and industry negotiators in an effort to hammer out a contract for the United Mine Workers 4,400 construction workers. In the coalfields, meanwhile, picketing construction workers idled about half of the nation’s 120,000 soft coal miners, who traditionally refuse to cross picket lines. The Association of Bituminous Contractors, while members of the UMW, operate under a separate contract from that of the miners. A new threeyear contract was ratified by miners on Dec. 6, thus ending a 24-day strike, but full production hasn’t been approached because of ABC picketing. Construction workers are asking for benefits similar to those included in the miners’ contract, including a pay raise of about 64 per cent, but also want extra travel pay and unemployment benefits. It is the latter two items, apparently not included in a first tentative contract approved last week, that triggered the UMW bargaining council’s rejection of that pact and forced additional negotiations. Federal mediators had met only once with negotiators before today’s session. Spokesmen for both sides expressed hope the mediation team can emulate the performance of chief mediator W. J. Usery, who helped hammer out a miners’ contract after the bargaining council turned down a first draft. On Monday, almost 60,000 miners were idled in the Appalachian coalfields of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama as construction workers carried out a pledge to “shut down everything” until a contract is approved by the bargaining council and submitted for a rank-and-file vote.

trict came from the School Committee, which also voted 32 Monday to reject a plan to further integrate the city’s schools. The plan, drawn up by the School Department staff, would have raised from 18,000 to 35,-000 the number of pupils bused to class out of Boston’s 87,000 pupils. The city is under an order by U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. integrating some of its schools; the Garrity order was to have been replaced by the school staff plan

Not since the general miners’ strike began Nov. 12 were mine absentees as such high levels as Monday. An estimated 24.000 were idle in West Virginia and another 20,000 were out in Pennsylvania. About 7,000 stayed home in Illinois, another 3,500 in Kentucky, 2,500 in Indiana, 2.000 in Virginia, and 1,-000 in Ohio. Effects of the picketing were felt as far west as Utah, where 1,600 miners were off the job. Most of Alabama’s 7,000 miners were also idled. The mass production stoppage, coming when coalrelated industries are thirsting

WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of elderly Americans on fixed incomes would be dealt a double blow in their health and food budgets if Congress accedes to President Ford’s in-flation-fighting proposals, an Associated Press analysis disclosed today. For example, the average retired worker receiving a monthly $187.11 Social Security check now pays $92 for up to 60 days of hospitalization. Under the President’s proposed amendments to Medicare, the retiree would have to pay $250 out of his own pocket if hospitalized 10 days, $600 for 40 days and $750 for 60 days. The same person will become ineligible for federal food stamps next March 1, as the Agriculture Department hurries to comply with a presidential directive. He now pays $36 to receive $46 worth of food stamps each month. Ford on Nov. 26 proposed a $4.6 billion reduction in federal

covering all of Boston. The School Committee was under order to give Garrity a plan by noon Monday. But its rejection vote left it open for a possible contempt citation when Garrity convenes a regularly scheduled hearing on school matters set for Wednesday. The department’s 300-page plan was taken to court despite the negative vote. Committee lawyer John Mirick said, “I think I have an obligation as an attorney, when my client takes an action with which I dis-

for fresh supplies of the fossil fuel, has triggered court actions by coal producers in several states. In West Virginia, several coal companies, including Consolidation Coal Co., the state’s largest, were granted restraining orders barring further picketing. In Alabama, too, federal injunctions were handed down. It was unclear if pickets would obey the injunctions, although several UMW officials have asked that pickets withdraw. UMW President Arnold Miller said early in the dispute that continued picketing could result in damage claims against the union. Paul Baker,

spending this fiscal year. Some of Ford’s proposal has drawn fire from influential legislators, nutrition groups, the presidentially appointed Federal Council on Aging and the American Hospital Organization. As part of the proposed budget cuts, the administration estimated a net $425 million saving in the Medicare program for the remainder of this fiscal year ending June 30 if the elderly were charged more for their health care, and a $215 million saving in the food stamp program between March 1 and June 30. The Medicare reductions require congressional approval, but the food stamp cuts do not. About 23.5 million persons receive automatic Medicare benefits. These persons pay $92 when hospitalized and nothing else for the first 60 days and $60 for optional supplemental medical coverage. Under Ford’s proposal, Medicare beneficiaries would

agree, to do what should be done.” School committeewoman Kathleen Sullivan, who voted for the plan, said rejection of the plan would remove the committee’s control over the situation. “I do think it’s going to be a hairy mess,” she said. "But I would rather see the five of us running it than five people appointed by the court.” Busing foe John Kerrigan, the committee chairman, voted against the plan.

acting president of Alabama’s District 20, said “they should not be picketing the coal industry because the companies have signed a contract.” While negotiations enter another stage and picketing continues, some of the nation’s steel companies said more job layoffs are possible. Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., the nation’s seventh largest, said Monday it would lay off 1,000 employes. “We’re just getting to the end of our coal stock,” a spokesman said. Bethlehem Steel, which laid off over 5,000 workers, said about 1,400 have been brought back.

be charged 10 per cent for all bills above the present $92 deductible up to a $750 maximum “per spell or illness” and $67 annually for physician’s care. A Medicare patient now pays $782 for 90 days in a hospital, $2,392 for 125 days and $3,542 for 150 days. HEW argues that Ford's proposal would not cause such a financial burden at the end of a long hospital stay because of the $750 ceiling. Under the proposal, the patient would pay $750 for 60 or more days in a hospital during a "benefit period.” A new benefit period wouldn’t begin until he had been out of the hospital for two months. However, Social Security records show that of about six million Medicare patients who will seek hospital care this fiscal year, 97 per cent of them will be hospitalized for less than 60 days.

UMW pact still pending

Inflation fight may hurt millions of elderly