thursdsy. October 2, Wo
page o
daily nebraskan
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White House come
of comesfcecom
Butz shuffles slices, jousts with J.J.
By Dkk Ptersol
Omaha-Secretary of Agriculture Earl
Butz played a little show and tell with
those attending the White House Confer
ence on Domestic and Economic Affairs
Wednesday. He also carried on a verbal
joust with Gov. J. James Exon that up to
now has appeared only in print.
Butz opened a loaf of bread and demon
strated how much of the cost of that loaf
went to the fanner who produced the
wheat that made it. Two slices and a heel,
at a cost of about seven cents, was roughly
the share the farmer got, according to Butz.
The rest of the cost of the loaf, he said,
went to the middlemen between the farmer
and the consumer. Butz said it costs more
to deliver bread from the baker to the
grocer than the fanner receives in produc
ing wheat for a loaf.
Exon questions
Later, s Exon took the microphone to
ask Butz a question, Butz told Exon he
could use the somewhat unstable podium
which had caused several interruptions in
Butz's bread demonstration.
Exon replied, "I'd rather be down here
with the people."
Exon has publicly called for Butz's
resignation or dismissal on , several
occasions.
Saying it was the responsibility of all
agricultural leaders, himself and Butz in
cluded, to stop driving a wedge between
consumers and farmers, Exon said
their long-range interests are the s&mo. He
said one of Butz's comments-that truck
drivers should start working as hard as
fanners-was unnecessary.
At a press conference later, Butz
referred to politicians using food prices as
an issue as demagogues.
When asked if he considered Exon a
demagogue, he replied, "I don't have to dip
that low. I'm a bit of a demagogue myself,
at times.
Butz said the chances for an early end
to the embargo on grain sales to the Soviet
Union and Poland are good. He said the
United States and Russia are "quite close'
to a long-term agricultural trade agreement.
Chances that further grain sales to
Russia this year would cause domestic food
prices to rise are slim, according to Butz.
He said the-market has already absorbed
the effects of potential sales.
The agriculture secretary also said that
the recent 3 per cent price increase in
wholesale farm products would have little
or no effect on food prices. -v
Union criticized
Butz said criticism of the sales to Russia
is either alarmist or politically motivated.
He also criticized the AFL-ClO's longshore
men for their refusal to load grain bound
for Russia.
"If those unions were really interested
in the cost of food for an Omaha house
wife, they'd quit the kind of featherbedd
ing that really contributes to increases in
the cost of living. These grain sales are
necessary to the American farmer," Butz
said.
He said most food price increases are
caused by food industry labor union
featherbedding, which is padding the pay
roll with unnecessary laborers. .
"One txample is this. This morning,
about 100 trucks left Sioux City (Iowa)
half loaded with whole beef carcasses. That
is because there is a rule in the meatcutters
union that those carcasses can't be cut up
until they reach the market in New York
or Boston," Butz said.
Grain indictments
Other topics discussed by the agricul
ture secretary:
- Butz called recent indictments handed
down in New Orleans for alleged deliberate
misgrading of grain" "unfortunate." He said
part of the problem is that grain is the only
agricultural commodity inspected by
private companies.
Butz said he wants public inspection but
there is a problem with getting the man
power and money necessaiy to do it
He said legislation is pending in
Congress to give the agriculture secretary
more power to deal with what he said were
"so-called scandals."
Butz said as long as he is agriculture
secretary, the government will not buy
grain and store it in reserve. He said a suf
ficient reserve is being held by elevators
and farmers.
Fanner complains
-One Papio valley farmer told Butz he
had written several letters to him com
plaining of Army Corps of Engineers plans
to take IS, 000 acres out cf farm produc
tion and had never received a reply. Butz '
said that was an unusual case and would
check it when he returned to Washington.
-Butz said the nation is just starting to
use its "agripower" to its own advantage
and to the benefit of the rest of the world.
He quotes Mahatma Gandhi, the 20th
century Indian political and spiritual
leader, saying that even God dare not
approach a hungry man except in the form
of bread.
"That's the language we're prepared to
speak."
i
Secretary o
Environment chief swats at DDT critics
By Dick Piersol
Omaha-As administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
Russell Train is responsible for the largest
public works program in the nation's
history-granting federal money to finance
municipal waste treatment in cities across
the nation.
Train said the total cost probably would
states' estimates runs as high as $350
billion. s
Last year, S3.6 billion was granted, $5.5
hjllion will be spent this year and Train
said $6 billion will be allocated in the next
fiscal year.
The figures do not include the costs of
cleaning up America's Industrial waste.
That task may take $5 billion to $10
billion per year until the job is dona, Train
said.
Question raised
Train was one of the participants in the
White House Conference on Domestic and
Economic Affairs in Omaha. He had not
been in town more than a few hours when
he said one of his colleagues raised a ques
tion he called "widely misunderstood."
At a meeting of Ford Administration
officials innd area 'nevspapef publishers
Tuesday Eight, Secretary of Agriculture
Earl Butz mentionad the ban on the use
of DDT in effect since 1972, Train said.
Newspapers in Dallas, Oklahoma City
and a House of Representatives Agflcul
tural Committee minority report recently
have accused the EPA of encouraging out
breaks of encephalitis by not allowing the
use of DDT on diseasearrying
mosquitoes.
"That is just not true," Train said.
"When the ban on DDT was made, the
EPA made it clear that it could be used in
health emergencies. There is not one ap
plication for its use on file in Washington
or any of the regional offices."
Other insecticides
Tiain said tnosquitos are practically
immune to DDT and that at least twelve
other insecticides in common use could
do the job.
He said he has personally approved the
use of DDT, since its ban, in a case involv
ing rabid bats. ,
"There are some people around who
just want to discredit the EPA," he said.
"I notice Secretary Butz brought up DDT a
couple of times in his talks today."
Train said citizens encourage spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on cures for
cancer, but when the EPA tries to isolate
and eliminate carcinogens (cancer-causing
agents) from the enviomment, he is
accused of being an alannist.
Medkal bill
He said the United States has the
highest annual medical bill in the wotld
$95 billlon-and that little of that is spent
controlling communicable diseases.
"Americans' health is endangered most
by stress, noise, chemicals and carcino
gens. Respiratory ailments caused by
hydrocarbons, particulates, sulfates and
everything else flo&ting around in the air
are killing people every day. We need to
spend i lot of momy to prevent those
conditions.
'The total costs of cleaning up the
environment are going to be about one per
cent of the gross national product-maybe
a little higher. But there is a net profit in
that effort," he said.
"Aside from the citizens' health, con
sider the advantages of clean water for rec
reation and the aesthetic value of it air It's
damned hard to quantify what it's really
worth to the nation."
African safaris
Train said his concern for the environ
ment began in the mid 1950s, "when I
went on a couple of fancy safaris in
Africa."
"The British were running East Africa
then, he said. "They were abusing the
wilderness, the parks and game reserves and
weren't training any Africans in wildlife
management.
"I started helping African students
come to the U.S. to study at wildlife man
agement and conservation schools."
At that time he was head of the tax
legal staff in the Treasury Dept. Later,
rill JHwei PPonted him judge
of the VS. Tax Court. In 1966 ha started
the Conservation Foundation, a privately
financed research and education group.
. During the first Nixon Administration
IniT88 und.ers"tary of the Inte.io
and later chairman of the Council on
Emrtronmental Quality. He became ad
mlrdstrator of the EPA in September 1973
. ... Tirad of tne
to full-time conservation work," he said.
r -
ifgy
Russell Train, administrator t the
Trak said the EPA also is work
decrease America's dependence u
"We spent Sft million on solars
research last year. This yar w -r
$60 million, , . tJ
"Solar energy may soon be PjS
Individual homeowners," ho saw.
wUl be years before we can ma P
energy that way. The fteildentjMj
swimming pool with solar energy j
Eattsy posafcflltw I
Train tald he is chairman of
North Atlas tic Treaty Organ.---
raittee spiyinj geothennai v
Dean nations luva much more w