The Mail-Journal, Volume 8, Number 6, Milford, Kosciusko County, 10 March 1971 — Page 7

lhe Mail PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY "The Milford Mail (Eat 1888) Syracuae-Wawaaee Journal (Eat 1907) ’ . Consolidated Into The Mail-Journal Feb. 15, 1962 DEMOCRATIC ARCHIBALD E. BAUMGARTNER, Editor and Publisher DELLA BAUMGARTNER, Business Manager Box 8 Syracuse, Ind., — 46567

Telephone Is 195 Years Old

It was 195 years ago today, March 10, that the first message was sent over Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention — the telephone. The telephone, according to Webster, is “an instrument for reproducing sounds esp. articulate speech at a distance . . .” Thorndike-Barnhart states a telephone is an “apparatus system or process of transmitting sound or speech by electricity.’’ The telephone today is a modern convenience that is no longer a luxury but an important item used billions of times each day in homes and businesses across the nation and the world. Bell’s creation has come a long way

March... End Os Winter

March . . . end of winter, beginning of spring .. . away with the snow, bring on the flowers and green grass. March is the third month of the Georgian calendar and on the 21st day of its being spring will officially arrive. That is, however, no guarantee the weather will cooperate! Persons born in March claim the jonquil or daffodil as their flower and the bloodstone or aquamarine as their birthstone. Two states entered the union on March 1 — Ohio in 1803 and Nebraska in 1867. Florida became a state on March 3, 1845 while Vermont obtained statehood on March 4, 1791. Maine was accepted into the union on March 15, 1820. Everyone in America becomes an Irishman on March 17 as Saint Patrick is honored with the wearing of the green. . Four presidents were born in March — James Madison on March 16, 1751,

Don't Blame Snowmobile For Society's Problems

The snowmobile is here to stay. Even though there are those among us who would like to close their eyes and find the machines gone when they open them. You can’t give an American a “pretty” with a motor on it and then tell him he can’t have it any more. Some of our law enforcing officers would like to see the machines eliminated once and forever. So would a number of property owners who feel they are being put down. Every twice in a while the police and some snowmobile-hating newspapers take typewriter in hand to list all the dastardly things perpetrated by a man driving a snowmobile. And then they point out with a boney forefinger that snowmobiles are the works of the devil and should be treated as such by the great mass. Even though ninety per cent of all snowmobilers are law abiding, well, happy and honest people. Like guns and babies, snowmobiles never hurt anyone. Certain pointers of guns and certain drivers of snowmobiles may be wicked people, taking out their anger against society with an instrument But neither the gun nor the snowmobile are guilty. A man who commits a foul deed with a snowmobile was a foul deed man long before snowmobiles were invented. Yes. The police, the church, the teacher,

Hartke Calls For President To Take Steps For Illegal Importation

WASHINGTON. DC, - In a resolution introduced in the U. S. Senate today. Senator Vance Hartke (D-Ind.) called upon President Nixon to take immediate diplomatic steps to prevent the further illegal importation of heroin into the United States 'Eighty per cent of the heroin which reaches this country comes from poppy fields of Turkey.” Hartke pointed out

EDITORIALS

in his remarks, ”... much of it < is' refined in illegal laboratories in France.”, he continued In his remarks to the Senate. Senator Hartke acknowledged that the elimination of the opium crops would work a hardship on the average Turkish farmer whose average income is only about SI,OOO a year. While a crop substitution program would cost about $lO million dollars he said, -When

since its invention with modern phones being far above anything Bell could have dreamed of when he was working on his prized project. Can you feature electronic equipment and push button telephones in 1876? The telephone isn’t something that happened — it was invented by Bell and numerous others who have added their improvements over the last 195 years. Today it is simple for any American to dial almost any place in the country by himself and almost any place in the world with a little assistance from an operator or two. Truly, Bell’s invention is a convience for modem man!

Andrew Jackson on March 15,1767, John Tyler on March 29, 1790 and Grover Cleveland on March 18, 1837. March also has had its share of space flights. Three space ships left space headquarters in Florida during March with one flight being terminated because of malfunction and the other two setting firsts in American space history. On March 23, 1965 the “Molly Brown” took off from the Cape. It was the first flight in Gemini with Virgil L. Grissom and John W. Young aboard. The ship three orbits of the earth in four hours and 53 minutes. The Gemini Titan VIII flight of March 16,1966 was terminated after six hours because of a malfunction. Apollo 9 took off on March 9, 1969 with James McDivitt, Russell Schweichart and David Scott on board. It was the first manned test of lunar module.

the parent and our society failed to straighten him out prior to the happy advent of Mr. Bombardier’s pride and joy. He who thinks the elimination of the snowmobile would also eliminate the orneriness in a man’s head is the type of person who in early life fell from the rafters and has not been quiet right since. Many of us have seen arm-waving folks damning all snowmobiles right after they lost their precious shrubs that had been nursed along. And they wonder what in the ever blue eyed world is wrong with this upstanding nation. One would think they do not live in today’s America. One would think they do not live in a country where we generate wars, wear long, dirty hair, beat a guitar to death, take drugs, shoot policemen, let boy students fuss with girl students in college dorms, riot in the streets and wave an enemy flag with glee. No, Mrs. Grundy, we are not dealing with snowmobiles; we are dealing with individuals whom you yourself helped shape through long years of unconcern untSvour apathy struck home. The death of an innocent shrub is insignificant compared to the dangerous trend of the mind in America today. And the poor, lowly snowmobile ain’t got nothing to do with it whatsoever a tall. Michigan Snowmobiler

compared with the billions of dollars in economic and military aid which we have given Turkey in the past twenty years, it is a snail price to pay. The comparison becomes even more vivid when contrasted with the billions of dollars which heroin costs our society annually.” “For the health and well being of our own society, we cannot afford to let this traffic in death and destruction continue. Unless we put a stop to the ready access which addicts and potential addicts have to heroin, we will never be able to put an end to the problem itself ”. Hartke said.

HOON BOCKS £ X" J o> 6 ■ ■' ■ I L .

Know Your Indiana Lbw oKs By JOHN J. DILLON Attorney at Law This is a public service article explaining provisions of Indiana law in general terms.

'Holder In Due Course*

Many an unwary purchaser of an appliance has found himself in the anomalous position of having to pay a bill to a third party which he would not have to pay to the party from whom he purchased the appliance. To illustrate this, suppose a purchaser of an appliance finds that the appliance is totally defective and does not work as it should. The purchaser of the appliance, if he bought the appliance on time payments,' would probably decline to continue making the time payments unless the appliance would be repaired, or a non-defective appliance substituted for the one he purchased. The purchaser may find out under these circumstances, however, that the negotiable note which he signed to purchase this appliance has

SPECIAL REPORT FROM WASHINGTON

Justices Squabbling Among Themselves

WASHINGTON — Behind the August trappings of the Supreme Court the nine Justices have been fussing and feuding among themselves. Affable Earl Warren, the former Chief Justice, was able to keep peace among the strong personalities in the nation’s highest court. But Warren Burger, the new Chief Justice, is more caustic. Sometimes his manner hhs been arbitrary and annoying. As a result the eminent justices have taken to squabbling. The only public indication of this is in the fragmented decisions that have been coming out of the Supreme Court. Under Warren the Court’s decisions were often unanimous and seldom fragmented But under Burger, there have been 19 full decisions and only one of these has had the complete agreement of the Justices. The other 18 decisions have been split with an amazing total of 56 separate opinions and notations. President Nixon s first priority, after he moved into the White House was to change the complexion of the Supreme Court. He believed the Court’s decisions had created a permissive atmosphere which had encouraged the growth of crime in the United States. He filled two vacancies with Justices who have taken a harder line. This has created ideological dissension in the High Court. But there have also been personality clashes which can be attributed largely to Chief Justice Burger s failure in leadership. FBI MISSING South Florida’s Congressman Dante Fascell has complained over the absence of FBI at the Justice Department’s seminar for training local law enforcement men. The reason FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover has refused to let his men participate, according to insiders, is that the seminars compete with the FBI academy—which also trains local police. « The seminars are sponsored by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration which, like the FBI, is an agency of the Justice Department. Fascell noticed at a recent seminar that no one from the FBI was present. “Why," he demanded, "isn’t the FBI here?” But there was no FBI panelist present to answer.

been sold to a financial institution. This financial institution then can take the position under the law that it is a holder in due course of value of the negotiable instrument signed by the purchaser, and regardless of any argument between the seller and the purchaser, the financial institution can still collect its money. To a purchaser who has received the defective appliance, this seems like a very unfair rule of law since he may well have a good defense against the collection of the bill from the seller of the appliance. Nevertheless, the financial institution points out that, regardless of the relationship between the purchaser and the seller, the financial institution has taken the

purchaser’s note and paid money to the seller in consideration for the transfer of the note, and that it, that is the financial institution, is not really the seller of the appliance and therefore not responsible for its defects. In order to be a holder in due course, the financial institution must take the note in good faith, and the note must be complete and regular upon its face, it must not be overdue and the financial institution must not be aware of any infirmity in the instrument, or defect in the title of the person negotiating the instrument. Nor may the note have been previously dishonored or the obligor had previously refused to pay it based upon some defense against the original owner of the note. Once the holder in due course can establish that he is a good faith purchaser of the negotiable instrument, then any argument that the purchaser might have with the seller of the appliance is not applicable to the financial institution. In these days of consumerism, more and more students of the law feel that a holder in due course should no longer be permitted to collect if in fact the original maker of the note has a valid defense to payment of the note against the person to whom he gave the note. ’lt is now

SOVIET VESSELS Once again Soviet naval vessels, including a nuclear submarine, have appeared in the Caribbean. This has been disturbing to President Nixon, who feels an understanding is supposed to exist that the Soviets will keep their military forces out of the Caribbean in return for a United States promise not to overthrow Cuba's dictator Fidel Castro. The President believes that the Kremlin is testing him to see how much Soviet intervention in the Caribbean he will tolerate. Last September, he took the problem away from the State Department and put it under his personal control. He issued a stern warning to the Kremlin to halt the construction of naval facilities at the Cuban port of Cienfuegos. The construction was halted immediately and hasn’t been resumed since October. However, the Soviets have continued to send naval vessels into the area. As the next move, Russia is expected to » send naval ships to Chile to pay a call on President Allende’s new Marxist government. This will be used as a precedent for Soviet naval calls at other Latin American ports. PRISON INVESTIGATION The Justice Department has ordered the FBI to investigate the recent shooting of prisoners at Florida’s Raiford prison. The secret order was signed last week by Assistant Attorney General Jerris Lenard, chief of the Civil Rights Division. Prison authorities claimed they opened fire to put down a “prison riot." But evidence has been smuggled out of the prison that the inmates were sitting in passive protest on the baseball field when guards with shotguns wounded 40 men. The evidence was sneaked to me by a University of Florida coed, an ex-inmate and a prison official. It was backed up by five prison officials who spoke to my reporters in confidence. * The FBI asked to see the evidence which I was happy to turn over to two agents. The evidence included actual lead pellets used on the convicts. But it remains to be seen how

Congressional Comer: John Brademas Reports From Washington

New Congress Moves In Third Month; Capitol Building Bombed March 1

As the new Congress moved into its third month, the pace quickened on Capitol Hill last week.

The week began with the bombing at the Capitol building early on the morning of March 1. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the pre-dawn blast, but damage was extensive in several rooms located one floor below the Senate chamber. The explosion occurred in one of the oldest sections of the building, near the spot where Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as the Nation’s third President. Although security has been tightened here as a result of the bombing. Congressional activity has not been inhibited. Business went on as usual, and it was a busy week, indeed, for me. CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS With rules and membership for the various Congressional Committees finally determined, the number of hearings increased. I now sit on three Subcommittees of the House Education and Labor Committee and on one morning, for example, I found myself splitting time between two of them — the Special Education Subcommittee, which heard testimony on the Administration’s proposals for high education, and the General Labor Subcommittee, which was hearing witnesses on a bill to give enforcement authority to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At the hearings on higher education, Secretary Elliot Richardson of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was the lead-off witness for the Administration. Several members of the Committee, including me, questioned Secretary Richardson

suggested that any subsequent purchaser of the note should take the note subject to any defense which the original maker could raise. Any maker of a note today in Indiana still must realize he might have to face the prospect of having to pay the note to a financial institution which has acquired the same even though he has a good defense against the person to whom he originally gave the note.

thoroughly the Justice Department will investigate Florida’s penal system. EYEWITNESS Three years ago I visited our front line troops in Viet Nam during the Tet offensive. Most of the correspondents stayed in Saigon and covered the battle from the rooftop restaurant of the Caravelle Hotel. They wrote gloomy dispatches about how the communists caught our troops by surprise and were inflicting terrible casualties upon them. I came home to find that most Americans beleived we had suffered a devastating defeat. Yet in the field I had watched our forces throw back the communists in encounter after encounter. The Viet Cong attacked 30 major South Vietnamese cities and were thrown out of all 30 after severe casualties. Now once again we are reading in our newspapers how the North Vietnamese have bogged down South Vietnamese troops in Laos. The newspapers make it appear that the South Vietnamese are getting the worst of it. This doesn’t agree at all with the confidential battle reports that are coming into the Pentagon. The North Vietnamese have been putting up resistance but it hasn’t been as bitter as was expected. In every battle the North Vietnamese have suffered far greater casualties —as high as five to one—because of our air superiority. I watched our gun ships pour lead downon enemy position during the Tet offensive. The Viet Cong were literally showered with hot lead and exploding bombs. I marvelled that anyone could survive such devastating air attacks. After witnessing the work ofok gun ships, I have found it easy to believe die battle claims about heavy enemy casualties. It is ture that the South Vietnamese have become bogged down in the tangled jungles through which the Ho Chi Minh trail network winds. This complex is a spider web of roads and trails, many of them covered with camouflaged canopies. The South Vietnamese have been held up more by the rugged terrain and the complex trail system than by actual enemy resistance.

sharply on this issue. We feel that the Administration has come up short on both assistance for students and aid for the colleges. We fear tha> the National Defense Loan Program for college students will be phased out altogether. This would have a most adverse impact on students from middle-income families who rely heavily on these loans to complete their education. I believe that the United States has the resources to see that every student — whether from a middle or low income home — has the opportunity to attend college. What is lacking, I feel, is a commitment on the part of the Administration to provide this opportunity. I think it is likely that many Republicans in Congress will join Democrats in moving to modify and improve the high education program proposed by the Administration. HISTORIC VOTE Action also picked up on the floor of the House, with a particularly memorable vote on the ■afternoon of March 3. The House voted, 211 to 180. to authorize the Treasury to sell long-term government bonds paying an interest rate of more than 4*4 per cent. This marked the first time the 4*4 per cent ceiling has been topped in 53 years. Those of us who opposed the measure felt that the move will drive interest rates back up again — just when they were beginning to fall. Congressman Wright Patman, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, called the action, which was supported by the Administration, “a blow at the pocketbook of every American taxpayer.” The vote was a landmark one for another reason too. It was the first time that a teller vote was recorded by name. This is a new reform which was enacted by the 91st Congress to abolish the old system of teller votes in which Members could vote without their names being recorded publicly. Following the unsuccessful effort to block the selling of the higher-interest rate bonds, the House approved President Nixon’s plea to raise the ceiling on the national debt another 35 billion dollars. This is the third debt limit increase President Nixon has requested.

By JACK ANDERSON