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PAGf 4
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1969
met War is
to U.S. economy
'detrimental
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J by Bill Smitherman
Nebraskan Staff Writer
The! Vietnam War is not necessary
to stimulate the United States
economy.
In IJact, the war has been detrimen
tal to the economy, according to
WalLce C. Peterson, chairman of the
University economics department.
"W were doing very nicely before
the war," Peterson said. "The period
between 1960 and 1963 was almost a
textbook case of good economic
management."
Emil M. Meurer Jr., instructor in
economics, agrees. "The idea that the
United States must have a war for
Its eoonomy to operate efficiently is
a buifch of malarky," Meurer said.
"It has been proven many times
that Jthis country can operate effi
ciently in times of peace," he added.
"Aft World War II, the U.S. shifted
from-1 an all-out war economy in 1945
to a "Stable peacetime economy by
1946.
"The unemployment rate of six per
cent Jn the early sixties had dropped
Campus response
enthusiastic, varied
Continued from page 1
ed that six Americans out of ten, or
58 per cent now believe that the
United States made a mistake by in
volving Itself in the overseas strife.
A slight majority of 52 per cent
maintain that they agree with the way
President Nixon is handling the war,
but his ratings dipped sharply prior
to his Sept. 15 announcement of
further troop cutbacks.
"At first I thought it would flop,"
said one of the National moratorium
leaders, David Mixner. "I thought
people were beyond this. But now I
see it's; going to be very successful.
People have just had it with the war
and they are willing to try just one
more reasonable thing to stop it."
The idea of a nationwide
moratorium originated in
Massachusetts with a group called
"Mass Pax," as they began searching
for ways to revitalize the antiwar
protests.
Former McCarthy campaign aide,
Sam Brown, seized upon the idea as
the new tactics that were needed. In
June, Brown and David Hawk of the
National Student Association opened
a small office in Washington and
began to organize the Oct. 15
demonstration.
The Vietnam Moratorium Com
mittee has grown considerably since
then. It now occupies an entire floor
of offices, has a full-time staff of 31
and a network of 7,500 organizers
across the country. Some 1,500 letters
of support pour in daily, with con
tributions totaling nearly $1,000.
Mixner, a veteran of the last
McCarthy era, explained, "We're
seeing the benefits of the McCarthy
campaign. You cali four people in
Iowa, and you don't have to tell them
what to do. They know how to
organize, get up literature, deal with
the press, rent halls. They know how
to handle it."
The season's first demonstration is
set Wednesday through Saturday in
Chicago with a theme of "Bring the
War Home."
The- idea is to try to convince
PresTOent Nixon that the majority of
Americans favor an Immediate Viet
nanj pullout, and that administrative
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to below four by 1965," Peterson said.
"This is considered to be almost full
employment."
He added that the high employment
rate was achieved with almost no in
crease in the price level.
However, when the Vietnam war
was escalated in 1966, huge sums of
defense money started pouring into
the fairly stable economy, Peterson
said. Government defense spending
increased some 21 in 1966.
Meurer said that this increased
government spending has caused de
mand for U.S. production to exceed
supply capabilities. This caused the
rise in prices, he explained.
"We axe now in a position where
we must try to curb a boom without
increasing unemployment," Peterson
said. "This will be very difficult to
do."
There are other indirect costs of
the war, he continued. "The cost of
the war has been unestimable because
of things left undone at home."
Meurer said that a number of things
orders of draft reductions have not
defused the antiwar effort.
Nixon, In a Sept. 28 news con
ference, claimed that demonstrations
will not Inhibit his actions or in any
way influence his Vietnaf policy.
Brown, also one of the organizers
of the Oct. 15 national moratorium,
replied, "It is the kind of rigid stance
which contributed so much to the bit
terness of debate during the last days
of the Johnson, administration."
The new Senate Republican leader,
Sen. Hugh Scott, called for a 60 day
moratorium on public criticism of
Nixon's war policies, which would
have included the three dates set for
massive demonstrations, but the bill
failed in the Senate. If any results
came of the proposed legislation, they
may have been to increase Con
gressional support for the Oct. 15
moratorium.
Plans for the Oct. 15 action call
for local events to emphasize anti-war
support.
The Nov. 15 movement outlines a
nationwide protest of high school and
college students accompanied by
community demonstrations.
The march on Washington,
scheduled for Nov. 14 will be
highlighted by a 36-hour "march
against death" led by Mrs. Martin
Luther King. The final event,
sponsored by the New Mobilization
Committee to End the War in Viet
nam, is expected to draw 45,000 peo
ple. While the majority of the Oct. 15
action will take place on campuses,
the events with the most Impact will
be occuring - elsewhere with the
participants other than students.
In Washington the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee plans a week of
hearings on the war calculated ac
cording to Chairman J. William
Fulbright, to help President Nixon
"out of, the Vietnam morass."
Secretary of State William Rogers
and Secretary of Defense Melvin
Laird have been Invited to testify
before the committee. The five days
of hearings are scheduled to be
broadcast and televised.
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might have been done with the money
spent In Vietnam.
"Twelve per cent of the American
population now subsists on an Income
below the established poverty level
of $3600 a year for a family of four,"
he continued. "It would take about
$20 billion a year to raise these people
above the poverty level."
"Since some $25 to $30 billion a
year is being spent in Vietnam, it
is possible that this money could have
been use to eliminate poverty in the
United States," Meurer explained.
He said even though the United
States is one of the richest countries
in the world, its resources are still
limited. When more money is s p e n t
for war then less will be spent
elsewhere, he commented.
"The domestic programs are those
that get slighted," Meurer added.
Peterson said that the war has also
caused a problem in the U.S. balance
of payments. He explained that
figures of the National Industrial
Conference Board show the war has
contributed from $3 to $4 billion a
year to the balance of payments
deficit.
This figure is equal to the total
yearly deficit, he continued.
"These figures imply that if there
had been no war we could be
operating without a balance of
payments loss," Peterson concluded.
He added that the actual cost of
the war has been about $106.7 billion
In fiscal years 1966 through 1970. The
direct cost reached a peak in 1969
when nearly $29 billion was spent.
"There are many people who fear
a serious recession if the war ends,"
he continued. "In fact, just the op
posite may be the case."
He explained that not enough
resources will be released when the
war ends to seriously effect the
economy.
Money now being spent 'for the war
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I Moratorium i
schedule
Monday
1 Cather-Pound cafeteria, 7 p.m.
Edgar Pearlstein, Professor
I of Physics; Bill Campbell,
Assistant Professor of Physics; 1
Alan Siporln, Moratorium f
steering committee.
I Selleck Cafeteria 8:30 p.m.
1 Pearlstein, Campbell, Siporln.
I Tuesday
I Harper-Schramm, 7 p.m. Dan
s Schlitt, Associate Professor of
I Physics; Ivan Volgyes, Assls-
i taut Professor of Political Sci- I
I ence; Siporin.
Abel-Sandoz. 8:30 p.m. s
Schlitt, Volyges, Siporin.
Wednesday 1 p.m. North Lawn
s of Love Library Musical pre-
sentation.
1 Faculty and student speak- I
ers; Pearlstein. Campbell, Vol-
gyes and Dr. Robert Narveson, g
Associate Professor of English 1
I and Dr. Loren Casement, Assis- 1
tamt Professor of economics,
representing faculty. Siporin I
a and Dr. Robert Keohane of the 1
national moratorium will also 1
I speak. 1
1 March, following 13th Street I
to K, then to the state capitol
for memorial services.
Wednesday Evening 8 p.m. Ne-
braska Union Teach-in on Viet- 1
nam. I
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will probably be allocated to other
defense projects, be said. "The Pen
tagon has a shopping list as long as
your arm," he added.
Meurer concurred with tills opinion.
"The end of the war will probably
not measurably affect the economy
for either the better or the worse,"
he said.
Both economists mentioned the
concept of a "peace dividend."
Peterson explained President
Johnson's Council of Economic Ac
visors conceived the idea that if the
war ended, at least some of the money
spent on defense could be shifted to
domestic uses.
The council found that some $21
to $22 billion might be available for
domestic use by two and a half years
after the war's end. The council also
predicted more income from growth
in tax revenues, he said.
"The 'peace dividend' seems to be
evaporating, however," Peterson ad
ded. He explained that most of this
money will probably be shifted to
other military projects. The Ad
ministration also now contends that
there is a great deal of expansion
built into existing programs which will
utilize much of the money.
"The general feeling seems to be
that there won't be much spending
on other projects even after the war
ends," Petersoa said.
Pendulum swings toward
by Carol Anderson
Ncbraskan Staff Writer
Vietnam war dissent at the
University of Nebraska has sprouted
from virtual nonexistence to an
almost commonly held campus at
titude, but its growth has been neither
steady nor constant.
The war was hardly an issue at
the University until It was adopted
by the Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS) in the autumn of 1965.
Some individuals had questioned U.S.
foreign policy earlier, but signifis
cant campus opinion failed to focus
on the issue.
One early doubter was student
Allen Gerlach whose article appeared
in the Daily Nebraskan Jan. 13, HUH.
1965, shortly before former President
Lyndon B. Johnson landed marines
and began bombing North Vietnam.
Gerlach lamented the "tragic
deaths of over 300 Americans in Viet
nam" and described the Saigon
government as "undemocratic and
oppressive.'
Silent people
"The silence of the American people
has had a great deal to with
the tragedy in South Vietnam. In
no small part It has made that
tragedy possible."
A few students were disgusted with
their fellows preoccupation with what
they considered trivialities while the
Asian conflict raged.
In a letter to the editor titled "Solu
tions for Vietnam" a group called the
CLAMS suggested that America do
the following:
"Introduce the Idea of building
homecoming displays for the big
Ounmon s
Th Jewel Gallery
1454 No. 13
U2.3931
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and we love it!
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(Hut you know that.)
ANttUM. IkiCH, INC. It. 10UIS htH 10J ANCtUl IAr HOUMON C0lltlu lACKMKVlUt
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Dr. Wallace
homecoming battle. The Viet Cong
will spend so much time and effort
that they will either die of crepe
paper poisoning or flunk out of the
war."
Or
"Pull out the marines and send in
the Fiji pledge class they have
extensive training in defoliation of
vines, cleaning out massive fortifica
tions and avoiding attack from crazed
neighborhood savages."
SDS organized
In the fall of 1965 Carl Davidson
and A Spangler arrived on campus
as graduate students in philosophy
and organized the Nebraska chapter
of SDS. SDS sponsored a Vietnam
teach-in Oct. 15-16 in conjunction with
the University of California-based In
ternational Protest Days.
To promote the teach-in and as
suage the fears of those who dis
trusted SDS, Davidson, who left the
following a year to become national
SDS vice-president, said, "The pur
pose of SDS is not riot and disobedi
ence because there ns o reason for
riots as long as the channels are
open."
SDS described the teach-in as "a
smashing success" in which both sides
of the issue were discussed. Several
of the isue were discused. Several
faculty members took part in the
debates.
One of the SDS teach-in organizers
was graduate student Jim Ilubbert
who is currently a University
philosophy Instructor. He is no
longer associated with SDS.
Reflecting on the results of the
teach-in Ilubbert said, "People learn
ed things, but there was no upsurge
of antiwar feeling. Then the dominate
Vanity Theatre BItlg.
reiser
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J
Peterson
dissent at NU
opinion was to be for the war. The
domino theory was still being debated
We were surprised that many came
and were either neutral or favorable
to it."
Most faculty members and asun
avoided taking sides, he recalled.
SDS stepped up
Following the teach-in SDS stepped
up its pampheleteering activities,
Hyde Park appearances, letters
to the editor and button selling.
Although 90 per cent of SDS
literature was anti Vietnam, Ilubbert
said, no swell of support occurred
among students for SDS policies.
The following year campus views
on Vietnam showed signs of polariza
tion. The controversy stirred the Daily
Nebraskan's editorial dander.
"The Daily Nebraskan objects to
any type of demonstration or cam
paign, no matter how funny, which
does not put Nebraska's students
firmly behind the men who are
fighting regardless of the policy.
"The Daily Nebraskan feels that
the best way to end this war now
and bring North Vietnam to a fair
treaty is with bombs and air attacks."
In three years and six editors
the tone of Daily Nebraskan editorials
has changed considerably. So has
student opinion.
These events served to focus the
picture of Vietnam more sharply and
paved the way for University student
participation in Wednesday's
moratorium.
The
Sepio
STARRING
SERGIO
TilEIIOES
With the Bossa Rio
and Don Sherman
FRIDAY OCT. 17
I p.M. Ftreatni AntDtorivn
, Tktth $3.75, $4.25, M.7S
At rVtMftf Oet. 10-17
4 Irmdeit
V"d v Netrtika Vaba
Spatial Imts CwamlrtM
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