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Page 6 NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Friday, August 2,1985 Opinion Confusion abounds Bishop Desmond Tutu has ad­ vised his flock that if blacks con­ tinue to assault and murder other blacks, he, Bishop Tutu, will leave his longtime home. To go where? We are not advised. There is no place to go, within the boundaries of South Africa, where Bishop Tutu is guaranteed immunity from the spectacle of black assaulting black. There is no surprise here. In Poland it is Poles, not Russians, who kidnap priests, torture and kill them. It is a Pole who stands guaranteeing longevity for Soviet tyranny. In South Africa, most po­ licemen are black. Most of every­ thing is black in South Africa, save for bankers, lawyers, doctors, pro­ fessors and diamond merchants. That, after all, is the genesis of the problem. What is progressively un­ clear is what exactly the black community will settle for, as dis­ tinct from what the black commu­ nity wants. What it wants is full equality. But the difficulty with full equality is that modern understandings of the term give to people who ac­ quire political power total econom­ ic power, so that, on assuming power, the majority are likely to use it simply to help themselves to accumulations of the minority. In the case of South Africa, there are white men there who would not object to black men having equal right to employment, to promo­ tions, to the acquisition of proper­ ty. But not property that is theirs. Men will fight hard to protect their homes and their property. And there are enough white South Afri­ cans with enough at stake to guar­ antee a titanic struggle that by no means will predictably be won by protesting blacks merely because blacks overwhelmingly outnumber whites. Fifty thousand British ruled India for three generations. And, as with whites using blacks in South Africa, the instrument of the British in India was other Indians. The neat schematic vision of American liberals, who see white vs. black in South Africa, discoun­ tenances the way things work. It will be whites and blacks against blacks, and Bishop Tutu may find he has to live out of town. One wishes one could have con­ stitutional order, an organic road to liberty. Suppose that the govern­ ment of Mr. Botha were to an­ nounce something on the order of the Assimilados program of Portu­ guese Mozambique* i.e., standards of achievement that, when met, entitle any individual of any race to arise in civil status until he becomes a full citizen. Would that William F. Buckley still the protesters? Probably not. Probably such a program, which would be genuine reform, would not still the fears of the whites. Because they see that neat compacts of that order tend not to endure for very long. In Zimbabwe, whites were guaran­ teed under the Lancaster House Agreement 20 seats, through 1990,' the blacks in general, self-govern- ment. But most observers agree that Zimbabwe has had its last election, that Robert Mugabe will not wait until 1990 to establish his one-party state. Political changes in the tradition of the French Revolution tend now­ adays to come with violence. And the tendency is to forget such vio­ lence after the dust has settled. There was much violence in Alge­ ria for seven bloody years. When the dust settled there, a full-blown dictatorship flowered, and individ­ ual citizens were less free than they were when Algeria was a part of France. But they had the satis­ faction of independence. The suf­ fering in black Africa, the attrition of economic growth, in human health, in standards of justice, since the winds of change chased out the despised colonialists are infrequently adduced in argu­ ments about the future of South Africa. It is polemically inconve­ nient for Bishop Tutu to cite, say, the relative joys of the black'man living in Nigeria or in Uganda. But, of course, these are not con­ clusive arguments. No man can be expected acquiescently to live un­ der a constitution in which he is scarred in virtue of the color of his skin. But there is the other man's point of view to be considered: No man can be expected, without re­ sistance, to give up what he has worked for. It is easy for the administration to cite apartheid as the cause of South African disturbances. The cause of these disturbances is, in fact, movement: the revolution of rising expectations. You don't see any demonstrations and protesters in Bulgaria, for tfre simple reason that no one in^Bulgaria expects reform. The government of the United States is safely enough re­ moved from South Africa to ignite a revolution there without any damage done here. Never mind the bloody consequences. We will, if necessary, give sanctuary to Bishop Tutu.» i (William Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) National editorial sampler Hibbing (Minn.) Daily Tribune ... taking people to court rather than settling differences in some other way seems to be the national pastime.... A few' states have tried to cor­ rect the situation with laws that forbid groundless or frivolous civil suits. In a place called Show Low, Ariz., one lawyer learned a very nice lesson from this law. The attorney, representing a cli­ ent who had a gripe against the local mayor and the local radio station, brought a libel action ask­ ing $10 million in damages. The lawyer made a number of mis­ takes. He didn't understand what libel law entails.... The judge considered the case's merits, and then issued ... an $8,177 judgment -- against the lawyer. The judge was very unhappy that the lawyer had not researched the law, and said he should pay the legal costs for the other side. Now, this sort of thing isn't going to happen very often, but it would be nice if there were something built into the legal system to pre­ vent useless law suits that drive up the cost of the law and tend to choke up our court systems. mmm. mm ma NORTHWEST HERALD "To have what we wnat is riches but to be able to do without is power." George MacDonald ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director MICHAEL E. MORSCH News Editor/Regional - DENNIS M.McNAMARAr Editorial Page Editor RONALD L. STANLEY Circulation Director dm i Scientific 'integrity' threatened ally keep repeating them (the ex-WASHINGTON - The federally funded research establishment of­ fers great rewards to scientists who publish their findings as often as possible. Building a long bibli­ ography usually ensures academic advancement and federal-grant support. But critics of the system say the pressure to publish creates a climate to cheat and erodes the integrity of modern science. "Science in 1985 is too competi­ tive, too big, too entrepreneurial, and too bent on winning," warned Dr. Robert G. Petersdorf, vice chancellor for health sciences at the University of California at San Diego, at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Ad­ vancement of Science. Petersdorf says the competition to win federal research grants and gain academic promotions causes some scientists to exaggerate or cheat in reporting their research findings. He points to the case of a 33- year-old scientist, with superb cre­ dentials, who claimed authorship or co-authorship of 118 scientific research papers while under con­ sideration for an academic promo­ tion. An investigation by suspi­ cious colleagues suggested that much of the reported research had never been done. Facing allegations of miscon­ duct, the scientist resigned his ac­ ademic position and retreated into private medical practice. But Dr. William F. Raub, deputy director for outside research at the National Institutes of Health, says evidence of scientific misconduct has been found in only about 50 cases over the past five years -- a fraction of the roughly 20,000 grants and 40,000 scientists that o NIH funds annually. Is there so little fraud in federal­ ly funded biomedical research at NIH, or is it simply undetected? "We never know," admits an official in the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, NIH's parent agency. The inspec­ tor general's office says it's not Donald Lambro equipped to monitor the scientific merit of NIH research. While out-and-out faking of ex­ periments appears uncommon, less blatant shading of scientific findings is "nearly universal," says Dr John Bailar, former edi­ tor of The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Bailar cites widely accepted practices of (1) not telling readers about all sources of bias; (2) not telling how one performs certain kinds of statistical manipulation; and (3) repeating experiments un­ til* a desired result is obtained. Dr. William Kruskal, professor of statistics at the University of Chicago, tells of scientists "work­ ing until an experiment comes out statistically correct and then pub­ lishing only the one with the most extreme results." "There's a feeling that scientific papers reporting 'typical' experi­ ments are exaggerating and actu- periments) until they get one they call 'typical,'" Dr. Thomas Chal­ mers, former dean of Mt. Sinai school of medicine, told my asso­ ciate Tom Miller. "There's always some pressure for scientists to overstate their findings," says Bailar. He finds a general bias toward reporting ini­ tial results that tend to make re­ search appear more productive than it really is. But followup stud­ ies, "by those with lesser stakes in making some splash," almost al­ ways work the other way, he says. At the heart of the problem is a system that awards federal funds and academic advancement on the basis of prolific publication of sci­ entific papers. The medical literature is "awash with the trivial and repeti­ tive," says Dr. Marcia Angell, deputy editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. This is so, she adds, because such studies can be completed within short funding cycles of grant-dispensing agencies. The ne­ cessity to produce nearly immedi­ ate results not only adds to the pressure to publish, but encour­ ages a bias toward attention-grab- bing "positive" studies. Our investigation found evidence of abuses in NIH-funded research to be personal or anecdotal, with­ out any thorough study of their extent and frequency. But the ex­ perts we talked to say they occur often enough to waste scarce sci­ entific resources, divert efforts into blind alleys of research and e n c o u r a g e p u b l i c misunderstanding. (Donald Lambro is a columnist for United Feature Syndicate) Reader Forum Building Illinois To the Editor: This is in regard to the Build Il­ linois program I heard about in the news. It is laudable to have a program to build Illinois, however, it is necessary to look at what is proposed' and who pays for it. In the 1986 Il­ linois Budget book, some details are given. Basically, the state will sell about $1.3 billion in revenue bonds, about $1 billion in IHDA bonds, and $50 million will be taken from direct appropriations. The $1.3 billion is for business development, education and the environment. .» Included is a new state library in Springfield for 25 million (while taxes will have to support the expen­ sive staff and operating costs for all the years to come). This library in Springfield is said to benefit educa­ tion in the state.-I fail to understand how. The $1.3 billion in bonds is suppos­ ed to be paid off with a new 5 percent tax when you buy a used car from another individual. No tax, no title. The state says this will bring in $70 million a year and will pay for the bonds. I also fail to see how taking $70 million a year more in taxes from the people, and ultimately from the businesses the people would spend the money with, benefits Illinois. As for interest rates, they have come way down in the past few years. So why does the state have to subsidize interest for medium^ income people? And education can be improved at basically no cost. A regulation is, needed that will require a decent grade point average for education students and a later, rigorous, post­ graduate examination to establish full teacher status similar to CPA for accountants and RPE for engineers. Ed Armstrong Fox River Grove Pedestrian safety To the Editor: The recently-installed stop sign at t h e i n t e r s e c t i o n o f South/Lake/Madison produced the intended results immediately. Write us! Send letters to Reader Forum, The Herald, 7803 Pyott Road, Crystal Lake IL 60014. Letters must be sighed 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 clari­ ty and brevity. Heretofore, traffic heading southeast on South Street had the right-of-way, causing confusion, delays and hazards at that busy intersection. This was the general opinion of drivers who experienced frustration on a daily basis. Little thought, perhaps, had been given to those on foot who passed through that location frequently. Like most towns, Woodstock is a city of drivers, so their needs are of primary concern. Well, my husband and I are inveterate walkers and we happen to live on Lake Avenue. The new stop sign has permitted us to cross the intersection safely between car stops, so we are very pleased about it. Anyone who has spent some time in London, England, probably has taken advantage of that great city's method of helping pedestrians to cross busy thoroughfares. At in­ tersections where traffic lights are located, there are levers on the poles that can be manipulated by pedestrians, and these levers bring all traffic to a halt within a safe length of time by switching all lights to "STOP." For such a large city, London has surprisingly few traffic lights and those that do exist usually give the advantage to the arteries rather than to the side streets. The British have solved the pedestrian's problems very simply! Jeanne Miller Woodstock i