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FALLING'JUNICyOU !
PHONY LITTli , i
ALARMIST I
I 1 1 s-
Way to heart of food crisis through our stomachs
Articles about food shortages are splat
tered on front pages so often these days,
many Americans are dulled to their
gtimness. . . Z, r & Z
- The wfact- is that the worldwide food
shortage has reached crisis proportions. If
nations are to overcome this crisis, world
leaders cannot have too much regard for
national boundaries or religious differences
or the attitudes of people. Feeding the
hungry people of the world must be an
apolitical situation.
Even the United States, once considered
the breadbasket of a hungry world, has
succumbed to many of the problems afflicting .
the less affluent countries. Cur nation is
suffering from a fertilizer shortage caused by
a rise in petroleum prices. Changes in
weather patterns have caused droughts in
some areas of the country and floods in
others.
At last, Americans are beginning to feel
the first brush of anxiety that much of the
world always has known: "Where is the next
meal coming from?"
Yet Americans still spend millions of
dollars each year to lose weight put on by
stuffing themselves with excess food.
A World Food Conference began last week
K,in,'Rome, sponsored by, the U.N. Food and
Agricultural Organization. The central theme
" has been that affluent nations had better eat
less or face a confrontation with 800 million
hungry people.
Conference planners have proposed three
main tactics to combat hunger: increase food
production in developing countries 35 per
cent by 1985; improve distribution of food to
ensure a more equal sharing of existing
supplies; and establish a system of food
reserves as insurance against crop failures
and other disasters.
The affluent nations especially the
United States, which has six per cent of the
world's population but consumes 35 per cent
of the world's resources must practice food
conservation at home.
Eating meat is an especially wasteful way
to obtain protein. All protein originally
comes from plants. Whiie humans can eat
one pound of plant protein directly in the
form of grain, between five and 10 pounds of
the same grain protein are needed to make
one pound of beef protein.
Agricultural experts point out that cattle
can consume silage and forage which are
indigestible, by humans. The fact remains,'
however, that the final cattle .fattening in a,
feediot normally is done with grain about 10
pounds worth for every pound of weight
gained.
This same grain could provide 10 persons
with amounts of protein equal to that
provided one person by the beef.
Instead of feeling only perplexed and
dismayed by the food situation, the indi
vidual can do something about it.
Giving up meat at least one day a week
would help. So would fasting regularly even
if only for one meal each week.
Attending the Food Conference sponsored
by the UNL Hunger Task Force would
provide other suggestions for helping combat
the food crisis. The conference will be at 7:30
p.m. Tuesday in the Nebraska Union.
The United States is to food what the Arabs
are to oil. Only through conservation at home
can we hope to combat the catastrophe that is
fast coming.
Jane Owens
Apathy
wins the
election
mork b
rosmussen
turn
The election fervor is behind us
for another two years. An examina
tion of Tuesday's results leaves me
with several thoughts I would like
to share with you:
Once again, the apathy vote
outweighed the influence of all
others. A Daily Nebraskan survey
indicated only about one out of
three students made the effort to
vote.
To say that the student vote Is
meaningless is to defy reality. Less
than one vote per precinct separ
ates Nebraska's 3rd Congressional
District hopefuls. Four votes from
Scottsbluff student3 at UNL could
have ended the political career of
Terry Carpenter, had that been
their desire. The student regent
amendement still might pass if
enough students took the timo to
vote for it absentee.
Perhaps the saddest thought of
all is that most UNL students are so
apathetic, lazy andor sU'pid they
won't go to the polls even to vote
for an issue that directly benefits
them.
Ignorance anywhere is unde
sirable, but Ignorance in the voting
booth is unexcusabls. Before the
recent election (or any election for
that matter) the voter has opportu
nities to learn about the issues and
candidates through election sup
plements in local papers and voting
guides put out by nonpartisan
groups such as the League of
Women Voters.
Yet some irresponsible citizens
continue to vote by impulses
decided only by whims or such
flimsy reasoning rs the ethnic
origin of the candidate's name.
For example, in this year's race
for Nebraska State Auditor one
candidate the incumbent was a
Certified Public Accountant and
ran a hard campaign. He won,
thank heavens.
The other candidate had no
background in accounting, save his
two-year term years ago as state
treasurer. During his tenure in that
office his most difficult challenge
was to find someone who would
legally bond him.
The rest of the challenger's
background included a stint as a
construction worker, shop steward
and bartender. Many Omahans call
him the "Ratpelt King." This, I am
told, is because, in an unsuccessful
campaign for Omaha's City Coun
cil, he advocated ridding the city of
rats by trapping them, exporting
the pelts and turning Omaha Into
the Ratpelt Capitol of the world.
Even Gov.'-d. James Exon wouldn't
endorse this man's Democratic
challenge to the Republican
incumbent.
You know what? Over 175,000
Nebraskans went to the polls and
voted for the challenger. Forty-five
per cent of the vote cast in that race
ACOnf fo rr i r i-r-,e r f"AA-$
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should have been a joke.
Entering 1975, the Democrats
control just about everything worth
controlling. The presidency and
Nebraska state government (except
for Exon.) are about the only things
Republicans held after last Tues
day's debacle.
The makeup of the new Congress
holds no promise that President
Gerald Ford's economic plans will
be enacted in near their original
form.
With top-heavy majorities in
both houses of Congress, the
public will not listen to any
complaints of lack of legislative
clout.
Either the Democrats will cure
the economic ills of our country, or
in 1976 the American voters will
raise the Republican Phoenix from
the ashes in repudiation of 1974's
broken promises.
page 4
daily nebraskan
monday, novemberU, 1974