Oregon daily emerald., July 10, 1973, Page 8, Image 8

Says Congressional investigation
Blame food prices on the Russian wheat deal
WASHINGTION <LTI) — Hie current high price of
food can be blamed in large part chi the gigantic sale of
U.S. wheat to the Soviet Uni mi last year congressional
investigators concluded Mnday.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) also
suggested in its report that the Agriculture Department
failed to take proper preeautiMis to prevent the sale
from adversely affecting the domestic market.
In addition, the report said the government paid
more than $300 million in subsidies to the exporters even
though much of that probably was unnecessary.
It also said it was continuing a separate in
vestigation to determine if large companies made ex
cessive profits from the deal.
“Consumer costs attributed to the sales included
higher prices for bread and flour-based products, in
creased prices for beef. pork, poultry, eggs and dairy
products resulting from higher costs for feedgrains and
a severe distruption of transportation facilities with
attendant higher costs and shortages or delays in
delivering certain supplies.” the report said.
Although the GAO was unhappy with the way the
deal was handled, it praised the sale fdr benefitting the
U.S. balance of payments, increasing farm income,
reducing surplus wheat stocks and putting idle acreage
back into production.
Rep. Pierre “Pete” du Pont (R-Del.), one of several
congressmen who ordered the report, said, “The
American consumer has paid dearly for that
bureaucratic ineptness.” He said the GAO report was
“damning” to the Agriculture Department.
Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz told the in
vestigators in a letter he agreed that the subsidy
program needed improvement although he disagreed
that the sales to foreign nations could have been made at
higher prices.
Butz also denied some congressional allegations that
prior information had been leaked to exporters so they
could make windfall profits based on Soviet buying
plans. “We knew nothing of their actual buying in
tentions,” he said.
The administration announced on July 8,1972, that it
was extending $750 million worth of credit over a three
year period for Soviet purchases of U.S. grains. The
Soviets surprised the U.S. market, however, by buying
$1.1 billion worth the first year, $700 million of it for 440
million bushels of winter wheat.
“The large sales of U.S. wheat to Russia and other
exports in the summer of 1972 caused a dramatic rise in
the price of U.S. wheat,” the report said.
That in turn, it said, drove up the prices of other
commodities such as feedgrains, leading eventually to
increases in the costs of products from livestock and
poultry which feed on those grains.
The result of the wheat deal, the GAO said, was a
rise in the price of a bushel of wheat from $1.68 at the
time of the deal to $2.49 last September and $3 last May.
In making a recommendation for congressional
action, the GAO suggested the Agriculture Department
failed to consider the effect the sale would have on the
domestic economy.
| UPI Roundup
i; Nixon sees FBI chief sworn in
KANSAS CITY. Mo. — Making his first public ap
pearance in almost a month. President Nixon Monday at
tended swearing in ceremonies for Clarence Kelley as new
FBI chief The President stopped in Kansas City en route to
Washington after a 17-day stay at his California oceanside
estate in San Clemente. Calif. Although hecklers chanted in
! the background. Nixon spoke eloquently and solemnly,
stressing accomplishments of his administration over the
past four years in the fight on drugs and crime as well as
i; foreign policy.
\ Florida charges gas conspiracy
TALLAHASSEE. Fla. — The state of Florida filed suit
against 15 major oil companies Monday, accusing them of
| causing the gasoline shortage by a conspiracy to keep prices
it: high and force out independent dealers. "Our position is that
£ there is no shortage.” Florida Attorney General Robert
if: Shevin told newsmen. ‘‘The alleged shortage is the result of
| anti-competitive practices manipulated by the major
j: companies to drive out their competitors.”
| Abernathy quits as SCWC head
£ ATLANTA — Ralph David Abernathy, who succeeded
£ Martin Luther King as president of the Southern Christian
£ Leadership Conference, resigned Monday and criticized
£ King’s widow and other Blacks for failing to support the
£ organization Abernathy, who took over SCLA five years ago
£ when King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., told an
| emotional news conference that he would formally quit at the
:£ organization’s annual convention in Indianapolis Aug. 16.
Grants for young scientists
revived by administration
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The administration retreated Monday on
its plans to phase out research training fellowships for young scien
tists. Secretary Caspar Weinberger of Health, Education and Welfare
promised $30 million for that purpose
President Nixon’s budget for the current fiscal year had called for
eliminating the aid to promising young researchers by awarding no
new training grants and fellowships but continuing existing ones until
they ran out in 1977.
The cuts were criticized by some scientists and congressmen,
including Nobel laureate James Watson and Rep. Paul Rogers, (D
Fla.), who said this would discourage base research.
Weinberger said some $30 million has become available for new
fellowships from already budgeted funds “which will not be needed to
fulfill existing commitments under the old program.” He made the
announcement in a speech to the Interassembly Council of the
Assembly of Scientists at the National Institute of Health.
“As these old commitments, principally to institutions, fade out
over the course of the next three years, additional funds will be added,
bringing the fellowship program to a total of $90 million,” Weinberger
said.
An important distinction is that most of the new money will go
directly to students rather than to institutions, Weinberger said. “The
old programs are being phased out because only small amounts of
money actually reached the research trainee while the bulk went to
institutions,” he said.
The new fellowships of $10,000 each will be awarded through in
stitutions “only when we are unable to find qualified researchers in a
high priority area,” he said.
Mitchell denies hugging approval,
admits cover-up to save election
WASHINGTON (UPI)
Former Attorney General John
Mitchell told Senate investigators
Monday he never discussed the
Watergate scandal in detail with
President Nixon and believes
Nixon did not know about the
planning of the bugging or its
cover-up. according to a source
close to the panel
The source said Mitchell told
committee lawyers on the eve of
his first public testimony at
televised hearings that he
himself did not know about the
planning of the bugging operation
or the cover-up.
Another source close to the
committee said Mitchell told the
investigators that he learned
about the connection between the
bugging and the Committee to
Re-elect the President on June 21,
four days after the arrests at
Democratic national
headquarters, and said, “This
could blow the election out of the
water.”
On that basis, this source
quoted Mitchell as telling the
investigators, he acquiesced to
the cover-up.
This source said Mitchell
acknowledged being aware that
money was being raised to buy
the silence of the seven original
Watergate defendants but con
tended he was not involved in the
raising of or dispensing of the
funds.
Mitchell, the former attorney
general and President Nixon’s
campaign manager until two
weeks after the June 17, 1972,
bugging arrests at Democratic
party headquarters, was to be the
sole witness when the Senate
W'atergate committee resumes
its televised public hearings this
morning.
As Mitchell underwent his
interview on Capitol Hill — his
second with the Senate Com
mittee staff in the last two
months — lawyers for the
Democratic Party moved to force
testimony and documents from
White House Press Secretary
Ronald Ziegler.
The Democrats, who are suing
the Watergate principals for $6.4
million, summoned Ziegler to
give a pre-trial deposition July 23
and to bring with him all White
House documents dating from
March 1, 1972, relating to the
“bugging, planning and finan
cing” of the Watergate bugging
operation.
Samuel Dash, chief counsel for
the committee, said he hoped
Mitchell’s testimony could be
completed in a day and a half.
Watergate briefs
Hatfield among GOP enemies
WASHINGTON — Former White House aide H.R.
Haldeman kept a list of Republican senators who displeased
President Nixon, columnist Jack Anderson has reported.
Anderson alleged the “secret blacklist’’ of GOP senators was
in addition to the enemies’ list disclosed by ousted White
House counsel John Dean III in his testimony before the
Senate Watergate committee. “This was no mere in
formational list...but an ‘action’ list of Republican
recalcitrants to be punished. Those on the list were subjected
to retaliation, which ranged from petty humilitations to
political reprisals.” Anderson wrote. He said Haldeman’s list
included GOP Sens. Jacob Javits, N.Y., Mark Hatfield, Ore.,
Clifford Case. N.J., Charles Mathias, Md., Richard Sch
weiker. Pa . Charles Percy, 111., Lowell Weicker, Conn., and
former Sen. Charles Goodell, N.Y. Anderson said
recrimination against the senators ranged from not giving
their constituents special passes for White House visits to
cutting of campaign assistance.
Mitchell asks suit dismissal
NEW Y’ORK — Attorneys for former Attorney General
John Mitchell asked Monday that conspiracy and perjury
indictments against him in New York be dismissed because
of government misconduct. The motions said Mitchell was
improperly asked questions about the Watergate scandal
during a grand jury session which led to his indictment in a
$a<*.000 donation from fugitive financier Robert Vesco to the
re-election campaign of President Nixon. Mitchell, former
Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans and a fourth defendant
in the Vesco case, New Jersey Republican leader Harry
Sears, all filed similar motions in federal court.
CRP’s still guilty
WASHINGTON — A federal judge reaffirmed Monday a
guilty verdict he handed down against the Finance Com
mittee to Re-elect the President (CRP) for not reporting a
$200,000 contribution from financier Robert Vesco.
Airline wants its illegal gift back
NEW YORK — American Airlines said Monday it has
formally demanded return of the $55,000 gift it made last
year to the Committee to Re-elect the President. The com
pany admitted making the gift, which it said was illegal. It
said Friday the gift was made under pressure.
Still another enemy list?
WASHINGTON — An AFL-CIO official charged Monday
that Labor Secretary Peter Brennan, in what appeared to
involve a “junior White House enemies list” at the Labor
Department, blocked appointment of a New York union of
ficial to a government advisory committee on job safety and
health.