I
Wednesday, november 12, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 58
n
LiU
. . i v vS w- . r$y trfrf t;M
Photo by Mark Billingsley
As autumn deepens into pre-winter chills, the town of Madison, Neb. lies shrouded in a mantle of multi-colored leaves.
Council approves construction of petroleum tanks
By Steve Miller
Salem Oil Co. President Charles Salem said he was
pleased with the Lincoln City Council decision to approve
his construction o' underground petroleum storage tanks.
Salem had earlier requested permission to locate three
20,000 gallon tanks underground at 1234 N. 14th St. The
council deferred action at that time in order to confer
with state health and fire officials about possible problems
with underground tanks.
There had been some protest about the location of the
tanks by Frank Smith, UN L research geologist and from
Cliff Summers, the state Health Department's director of
environmental health.
Monday the council approved the construction of the
Compared to U.S. systems
By Jim Garrett
Although Hungary is halfway arornd the world, Amer
ican tractors operate in the fields, said Kalman Toth.an
associate professor of Ag Economics at Karl Marx Univer
sity, in Budapest.
Toth. visiting UNI, this week from a guest professor
ship at Iowa State, said the use of the American equip
ment stems from the corn production system Hungary
purchased from the United States.
Toth said three types of farming systems exist in
Hungary, state-owned farms with a size of 20.000 to
200,000 acres, cooperative-collective farms of about
10,000 acres and private household farms about an acre in
size.
Toth said the government dictates by direct central
planning what and how the state owned farms produce.
But on the cooperative farms, of which workers own a
share, workers are given yearly production goals for the
farm and are allowed to schedule, with a limited degree
of free-decision ability, to meet the quota goals.
Toth emphasized that whether a farm is in Hungary or
the United States, both types of operations can be suc
cessful or failures. Toth noted that efficiency comes in the
form of the smaller cooperatives, rather than one big
organization.
Production monitored
Product.on on cooperative farms is monitored so that
if a shortage or overproduction occurs in a commodity,
government incentives such as subsidies or price increases
for alternative products are issued to meet Hungary's total
goals.
He said the profit motive is very effective in the coopera
tive framework, even though it is under general direction
by the government. He noted that the profit incentive
is not used at all on the state-run systems.
tlizabeth Toth, visiting with her husband and also an
expert in Ag Economics, works for a state-owned farm.
She said the state-operated systems arc less efficient be
cause of the experimental work that is done on them,
which is for the benefit of the government and the co
operative systems. She said the state farms are better
equipped, but that the collective systems have the oppor-
tanks at the proposed site after a set of nine conditions
were set down for Salem to follow during construction
and operation.
"After the vote Monday, 1 have nothing but admiration
for the City Council," Salem said. "Common sense pre
vailed." Salem said he felt the issue had been blown out of pro
portion and sensationalized by the media and added that
he didn't think the media had allowed him to state his
side of the case.
The company pays andor collects around $1 million
a year in taxes, Salem said, and said the company is a
valuable asset to the community.
The issue has not been blown out of proportion,
according to Joan Higgins, board member of the Hartley
tunity to purchase equipment, depending on their pro
duction or developmental directions.
Prof. Toth said the private sector consists of individual
shareholders from the cooperative farms that are given
approximately an acre of land to produce for household
consumption.
He said products from tne small-scale units are labor
intensive and quite efficient.
Toth said the cooperatives must provide work for all its
shareholders. Because of this and the decline in dairy pro
duce, the government has passed new legislation which
allows the shareholder to be paid for the time he spends
raising dairy cattle on his own land, after he completes
his normal workday.
Great demand
"Over production is never a problem for Hungary,"
Toth said. "There is a great demand for ag products in
the east European countries, so we always export the
oversupply."
Toth said Hungary tried to raise soybeans, but be
cause the rainfall is only 500 to 600 millimeters (20 to
24 inches) per year, the crop was a disaster. He said soy
beans are imported from the United States, "the only
ag commodity we really buy from the west."
With an inflation rate of 6 to 7 percent last year,
which Toth said was very reasonable, government prices
are good. There are three levels of pricing in Hungary,
Toth said; the government-fixed price, which covers
rents, transportation rates, and meat prices; the government-restrained
prices, where a commodity has a price
ceiling as well as a guaranteed minimum; and the free
enterprise structure, which, he said, is established by
supply and demand. He said 60 percent of Hungary's
goods and services fall within the free system.
Toth said households are utilized as a labor source
whenever possible.
But Mrs. Toth added that Hungary has experienced
negative-population-growth for the past 10 years, and
it has revised its state policy governing women. Women
were allowed 10 stay home for six months with their
first child under a guarantee of full salary and reserved
position. Now women can stay home for three years
with their first child at one-third actual salary.
Neighborhood Organization, who said she was a "concern
ed citizen."
Higgins said there have been problems with other
underground tanks in Lincoln and said that the conditions
set by the council were not developed with any know
ledge of underground geology and water tables.
Higgins implied that there would be an attempt to
appeal or get a veto on the council's decision. She said the
state Department of Health, the Environmental Protection
Agency or state senators could be asked to study the sit
uation. "Ed like to see some regulations about location of
tanks like these," Higgins said. "I find it terribly alarming
that at the present there are no regulations."
The director of the city's Department of Urban Devel
opment said that the city was trying to take all precau
tions with the construction.
George Chick, who worked on the nine conditions that
Salem must meet, said the conditions required not only
great care in building the tanks but also that a series of
tests be routinely performed to safeguard against corro
sion and leakage.
UNL resistance group
formulates draft leaflet
By Robin Lynch
Creating a leaflet containing reasons to resist registra
tion and get people to think about the issue was the main
purpose for a meeting of the Student Resistance Organiza
tion Tuesday night in Nebraska Union.
The group, which is led by Eric Johnson and has about
15 members, decided to handout the finished leaflets on
campus and in post offices before the next registration
period from Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 for those born in 1962.
At the previous meeting, members were given special
topics pertaining to the draft and registration and each
person reported results of the research for use in the
leaflet.
The topics discussed were economic conscription,
racism, options to registration, women and the draft,
history of the draft and registration and imperialism.
The group briefly discussed racial problems in the
military and how minorities are placed on the lines be
cause military placement tests favor certain races.
Some options to registration or the draft that were pre
sented to the group consisted of refusing to register,
refusing induction, being a conscientious objector and
acception induction but refusing combat assignment.
Mike Lux, a member of Nebraskans for Peace, said key
facts should be kept rather than hardcore rhetoric to cap
ture those who are undecided on the issue and pointed
out that the audience the group was trying to reach was
the unconvinced freshman.
Continued on Page 3
Hungarian farms discussed