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/ Page 6 NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Wednesday, September 4,1»«5 V U. Opinion Crane for Senate? The rumors thiis past weekend invdlVed the possibility of U.S. Rag. Philip Crane (Rrl2) as a can­ didate for the U.S. Senate in 1966. Crane has admirably and capa­ bly served in his district in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is only natural for the Congress­ man to wish to move onwardio the Senate. The only problem is he would De vying for that upper chamber spot with the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Alan Dixon. Dixon won election easily in 1960. He is one of the most popular candidates around and Crane would be hafd- pressed to defeat him. State and national GOP leaders are urging Crane to make the race. His name on the ballot would indeed add luster to the Republi­ can slate. A victory by Crane would be a feather in the GOP's cap. ^ J • But Crane must also think of the other aspects of the race. Dixon is popular, not only with Chicagoans, but with Democratic voters down- state and with moderates through­ out the state. If that unwieldy, decrepit Machine in Chicago can forget intra-party squabbles, you can bet that it will go full out for the Democratic candidate. Philip Crane is an honorable man. His conservative philosophy serves his district well. He is an unabashed supporter of the poli­ cies of President Reagan. The last presidential election showed that this country has forsaken the liber­ al mindset of Washington D.C. However, Crane win have a hard time labeling Dixon as a irrespon­ sible liberal without going out of his way td alienate the senator's moderate supporters. Crane must have some of that support in order to win the election. If Congressman Crane decides to try for the Senate in 1966, we hope he keeps that fact in mind. Reaganomics working i., - ANTlMKCRkn system Unemployment has always been a lagging economic indicator. Thus, while the economy was bouncing back in 1983 -- chiefly as a result of the tax cuts -- the slow reduction in unemployment did not translate into an immediate reduc­ tion in the poverty rate. In fact, the poverty rate rose slightly that year, to 15.3 percent. But as the investment-led recov­ ery continued to blossom in 1964, pounding the unemployment rate down to single-digit levels, and as personal incomes rose, the poverty numbers began to shrink. The news that poverty was down and that median family income rose nationally by 3.3 percent last year to $26,433 did not impress people like Reps. Charles B. Ran- gel, D-N.Y., and Robert T. Matsui, tf-Calif. They had predicted "economic disaster" as a result of Reaganomics. Rangel and company argued last weekjhat the financial well-being of the nation's disadvan­ taged g to the cold, hard statistics, 35.5 miHion Americans were among the poor in 1963, and that number declined to 33.7 million people last year. But that's still 33.7 million too many. Donald m f-Qt Lambro I ' 1 The Question now is: What poli­ cies are to be pursued to lower the poverty rate even further? There are sure^to4>e those who will call for major£^new make-work jobs programs $nd pork-barrel expen­ ditures. But with the current defi­ cit, this is unlikely to happen. A more likely response will be a continuation of Reaganomics, which, aftes all, is nothing more ps Jhad not improved than the simple idea tfiaF ydu can significantly. He noted, among oth­ er things, that real median family incomes were still slightly beneath th©Dl980 level and poverty was still 1.4 percent higher than in 1980. Yet when you boil this all down expand economic growth and job creation by taking less tax money out of the cash registers and pay­ checks of the American people. (Donald Lambro is a colunmnist for United Feature Syndicate) National editorial sampler By United Press International The (Providence, R.I.) Journal- Bulletin Airport security, designed to keep armed hijackers off airliners, is no game. But police in San Fran­ cisco recently improved security at San Francisco International Airport by adopting a proven tech­ nique from the1 sports world: scrimmagmg;' Acting on^orders from Mayor Dianne Feinsteirt; police smuggled a gun and a hand grenade through security and onto planes at the airport. Several officers staged a fist fight to divert the guards' at­ tention while other officers sneaked through security. Tlje ruse worked, and as a result, air­ port officials tightened security sufficiently to foil subsequent at­ tempts by police. Stopping potential hijackers with sophisticated metal detectors and X-rays is, after all, much like stop­ ping the opposing team by way of fancy defense plays ... Mayor Feinstein's scrimmaging is an in­ expensive and effective antidote. A gun or bomb successfully carried through security helps pinpoint the system's vulnerabilities. Every airport with a security system should be surreptitiously* chal­ lenged -- frequently -- by local police. 5 Lincoln, Neb., Sunday Journal & Star As the dollar retreats from its unwarranted heights, those things which we attempt to sell to other nations, such as grain, become more price competitive in the world market. Nevertheless, there shouldbe no NORTHWEST HERALD "If a man has a right to his life, it fol­ lows that he has a right to sustain life, the \ sustenance bing the iruits of one's own labor. Private ownership is as sa­ cred as life itself.". Leonard E. Read ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director KAREN A. ANDROS Saturday Editor MICHAE L E.M News Editor/ DENNIS M. McNAMARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L. STANLEY Circulation Director A view from the inside expectation Of a major turnaround in agricultural exports. It's not go­ ing to happen. With farm commodity supply ex­ ceeding non-charity international demand as a general proposition, and with the dollar still up there in the clouds, don't let anyone tell you that all we need to do is locate more rich, undiscovered markets overseas and prosperity is ours. That is a politically^ seductive pitch. It is also a very treacherous one on which to rest long-rimge hopes, let alone investments. the (Fo .r t Dodge , Iowa) Messenger A small group of Korean War veterans recently gathered at Ar­ lington National Cemetery to hon­ or some of their fallen comrades ... who died in that bloody conflict that ended three decades ago. ... Their silent vigil ... symbolized the public silence surrounding the three-year war that involved more than 5.7 million Americans. Most of the men and women who served with distinction in Korea returned home only to be generally ignored by their country. The United States has yet to erect a monu­ ment to them and the more than 54,000 Americans who died there. That oversight is^especially gall­ ing inasmuch as the Korean War veterans are the only ones not to be so honored in the nation's capi­ tal. Accordingly, we are pleased to see that Rep. Stan Parris, R-Va., a Korean War veteran, has intro­ duced a bill that would authorize nearly $5 million for the construc­ tion of a national memorial to "These Affieflcans." -- - The mailBag continues heavy since I wrote that circumstances argue the legalization of drugs combined with massive public edu­ cation. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York entered my last column into the Congressional Record, in­ troducing it with a few paragraphs about the extent to which he op­ poses drugs: and then passed along the package with a covering letter urging me to re-think my conclusion in the matter. He writes: "My Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control has held many hearings on the subject of drug abuse and ways to control it. I assure you, our findings clear­ ly show that legalization is not the solution you seek ..." But neither in his letter nor in his speech on the floor does Congressman Ran­ gel tell us what his committee has accomplished. I don't know when the first of Mr. Rangel's meetings was held, but I wager with confidence* that between then and now, a) drug consumption has increased, b) drug-related crime has increased, and c) the price of drugs has come down. When the price of illegal drugs comes down, the market is telling you something as plainspo- ken as the oscillations in the price of an airplane ticket: competition is setting the price. When there is a reduction in the price of street drugs, this means that our mas­ sive efforts to keep drugs out of the country are failing. When, a few years ago, we had all that telegen­ ic chemical destructionof the mar­ ijuana crop in Mexico, the mari­ juana crop in Colombia promptly increased, pari passu. It's like wage and price controls. Not all my correspondents are in Congress. One sits in Sing Sing, and he writes with that declarative William F. Buckley vigor that cuts through much ob- fuscation. 1 quote him exactly: "You are 100 percent correct and the people who wrote to you saying that you are wrong about legalizing drugs have no concep­ tion of what is going on in this country because of drugs. 85 percent of the New York prison population is black 6r Hispanic. "-- 75 percent of the entire popu­ lation in New York prisons and probably the whole country, are in because of every day of thrweek, in ord&f keep up his or her habit, they must steal $1,000 a day or more, in order to get $100 or $150. Every junkie helps young people to start using junk, or pills, or mary-jane, or something to get them started, and the business es­ calates with new customer every day. "-- Marijuana is no different than alcohol. Excessive Use will drive you crazy or kill you. "-- Cocaine is not addictive, rich man's toy. All pills are dangerous. Heroin, is a killer and addictive. The price and profit of dope is so high that honest people go into the business, who would never commit a crime, they take the place of those who get caught. * T h e y s a y i t t a k e s $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 t o build one cell. They say it takes $40,000 to house one inmate (for one year). "-- If you legalize all the drugs, the prisons would be almost emp­ ty, crime would be reduced by 75 percent. Marijuana would be sold and taxed by the government, -it wouk} produce millions of dollars, to be used constructively. As you know all this, supply and demand would kill the drug trade." One needn't accept all the asse­ verations of the anonymous prison­ er. But the ring of truth is there. The largest psychological obstacle remains the public notion that to legalize drugs is to pronounce benediction on them. This isn't an entirely benighted idea. About a generation ago, In­ land Revenue collectors in London decided the time had come to tax id so estimates were leir income, and tax Is were sent Out. These included forms, and under "profession," the disconsolate girls would put down such things as "hostess," or "companion," or /'nurse." One girl wrote down carefully, "prosti­ tute." A few weeks later her check was returned. His Majesty's gov­ ernment was not going to partici­ pate in the wages of sin. . ' Something of that attitude car­ ries over into the notion of a tax on drugs. But the paradox is as easily penetrated as the proposition that because we permit the publication of Hustler magazine, we approve of reading that vile journal -- which, by the way, we unblushing- ly tax. We are overdue for hard thought on this pained and divisive Subject. * (WUlliam Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) A glittering Republican opportunity WASHINGTON (UPI) - If the Republicans want to prove their claim that they are enroute to ma­ jority party status in the United States, the 36 contests for governor in 1986 offer a glit tering opportunity. 1 With the Democrats holding an overall margin of 34-16 in gover­ norships, the recent Republican trumpeting about mass defections of Democratic voters to the GOP standard can be given something «of a field test next year in the very area where it has relevance. After all, the GOP amply demon­ strated in 1984, not to speak of 1968, 1972 and 1980, that it can muster a national majority to elect a president. The only hesitation students of politics have in declar­ ing that the Republicans have achieved majority - status in the country lies in the fact that the Democrats continue to dominate state and local governments. Of the 36 states holding elections for governor next year, 27 are now held by the Democrats, nine by the Republicans. That in itself would be regarded as an advantage for the GOP -- a much larger percent- Write us! Send letters to Reader Forum "The Herald, 7803 Pyott Road Crystal Lake IL 60014. Letters must be signed and give the author's ad' dress and telephone number for the editor's reference. We recommend letters of 300 words or less. All let- „ ters are subject to editing for clarl- , ty and brevity. ' Arnold Sawislak age of Democratic seats are on the line. But there is another factor work­ ing for the Republicans. Of the 28 Democratic governors whose terms are expiring, eight are ineli­ gible to seek reelection. In addi­ tion, three Democratic governors have chosen not to run again, leav­ ing 11 Democratic seats without incumbents. Only four incumbent Republican governors are ineligi­ ble to run again. Incumbgncy is the most valuable asset in elective politics. In 1984, r only two of six incumbent gover­ nors seeking reelection were de­ feated -- both Republicans -- but five of seven states where gover­ nors retired changed party hands Some of those changes were dra­ matic. North Carolina, where the Democratic governor ran for the Senate, got a Republican governor for only the second time in the 20th _ Century, and Vermont-got its first woman and only third-Democratic governor since the Civil War. Finally, the Republicans in next year's races may have an advan­ tage in terms of name recognition, another important political factor. Former Republican governors have declared or are. regarded as potential candidates for Democrat­ ic sea^s in Arkansas, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin and Oklahoma, and Massachusetts, where a former Democratic governor is now a po­ tential Republican candidate for the job. The Democrats have one , former governor as a possible can­ didate in South Dakota. The Republicans are well aware of their opportunity. The Republi­ can Governors Association, which hasn't done much politically as an organization in past years, this year has begun for the firt time to take full advantage of the legend­ ary fund-raising capacity of the Republican National Committee to help GOP candidates in states where the party has a chance to pick uf> seats. It also put out a money appeal over the signature o£<*& former Republican governor, Ronald Rea­ gan, that had Democratic govfer- nors at the recent national gover­ nors' conference hopping mad. The Democratic anger seemed out of proportion to the provocation, but that might have been because Democrats knew they were buck­ ing tough odds even before the president got into the game. (Arnold Sawislak is a senior editor for United Press International) Guest Columnists The guest opinion column ap­ pearing in The Herald is prepared by writers with e>q>ertise and Ex­ perience in specific areas. Thfir participation in our Opinion page is welcomed when their comments may give our readers new insight or perspective on local topics of current interest. Guest columns should be no longer than two pages of double-spaced, typewritten copy. Prospective writers are ask­ ed to call 815-459-4040, ext; 291, to make arrangements. T