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FBI receives 2nd extortion letter
By ROBERTA ULRICH
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PORTLAND (UPI) — The FBI said Tuesday a second
communication had been received from "J.
Hawker," the extortionist who has threatened to cut
off the power supply to this second largest city in the
Northwest if he is not paid $1 million.
Julius Mattson, agent in charge of the FBI office
here, described the latter as "ambiguous and
confusing to all parties." He said the contents "will
not be released at this time."
The first letter from the extortionist, received last
Friday night, was released in full to the news media.
An FBI spokesman said the new letter did not
appear to give the FBI any more clues to the identity
of the extortionist. The statement from Mattson
released by the FBI said, "A second communication
has been received from the individual representing
himself as 'J. Hawker.' The letter is ambiguous and
confusing to all interested parties. Its contents will
not be released at this time."
The FBI spokesman, asked if agents were con
vinced the second letter was written by the same
person as the first said, "He signed the same name."
Meanwhile, armed state troopers began riding
shotgun Tuesday in helicopter patrols of the high
voltage power lines which the extortionist has
threatened to blast. "J. Hawker" claimed respon
sibility for dynamite damage to 11 towers supporting
the power lines in remote areas of Oregon in recent
weeks.
Bonneville Power Administration, the federal
agency which operates the lines to distribute power
from federal dams in the region, refused to pay the
$1 million, offered a $100,000 reward for information
leading to the extortionist, stepped up its security
and began repairing the damage.
John Urich, BPA information officer, said repairs
were to be completed Tuesday on all but one of the
lines put out of service by the blasts.
BPA was using three helicopters to patrol the
power lines in a 40-mile radius around Portland.
Some fixed-wing aircraft also were being used and
the number of ground patrols was doubled to six.
Dan Schaustenm, assistant to the BPA ad
ministrator, said the police were aboard the patrol
craft because, "There is nothing our pilots can do if
they see a person planting a charge on a tower.
£
M.
Middle
class
faces
$ woes
Editor's note: Due to an error in
editing, this story appeared in
Tuesday's paper with only the last
third of the text. The Emerald
regrets any confusion to readers.
The following is the entire text of
the story.
By DIANE AUERBACH
CPS —Remember the '30s: Rudy Vallee,
nickel apples, bread lines, the Dust Bowl
and the WPA? Those too young to ex
perience that riotous era have another
chance: some economists are predicting a
return engagement of the Great
Depression.
The chorus of doomsday predictions has
swollen. "The 1970s will go down as the
second great watershed," warns economist
Henry Brandon. "The worst crisis since
1931," predicts Alan Day of the London
School of Economics. "Nixon left the
economy in a shambles and in my book, the
country is facing the worst depression
since the 1930s," echoes labor leader
, George Meany.
Even the conservative Wall Street Journal
has joined the act: "The government may
be facing a choice between a
depression...or an annual inflation rate of
30 per cent or 40 per cent."
Several important indicators of the US
economy have been flashing some very
gloomy signals. Wholesale prices leaped a
frightening 3.9 per cent in August alone,
reports Newsweek, the second biggest
one-month rise in 28 years. On top of a 3.7
per cent surge in July, it was a sure omen
of more explosive inflation in consumer
prices.
In the past year, the housing industry has
suffered a 38 per cent drop; industrial
production is now almost 2 per cent lower
than last October, when the Arab embargo
started.
President Ford's Board of Economists has
predicted that inflation will be running at or
above eight per cent through next year, and
unemployment will reach 6.5 per cent by
next summer.
Still, the government flatly denies the
advent of a depression, speaks in hushed
tones of a recession, and admits only that
"we do have an economic problem."
So Who Can Figure The Economy?
Economics is very mysterious. As a matter
of fact, it mystifies everyone. "The long
standing claim of economists that they
know how to control inflation is an empty
pretense,” says Nobel Prize-winning
Harvard economist Wassily Leontrf.
Nevertheless, Ford believes galloping
inflation can be reined in by everyone
pulling together and "exhibiting restraint,
self-discipline and sacrifice." To set an
example, Associated Press reports, the
President will walk the 150 yards from the
White House to church rather than ride in
the presidential limousine.
Ford's economic package emphasizes
tight money and budget balancing. Yet to
offset the rise in joblessness that is sure to
result from a determined campaign against
inflation. Ford recommends a massive
increase —perhaps four billion dollars—in
federal spending to hire the unemployed for
public service posts. It's the WPA all over
again.
Unless the Ford administration abandons
its drive to balance the budget, notes Time
magazine, an ambitious employment
program would eventually require either
higher taxes or extra-deep cuts in other
federal spending.
Traditionally, the American government
seeks a tradeoff between unemployment
and inflation. Economist Paul Samuelson
explains the conflict: "If credit is easy and
employment at a high level, there will be
inflation; if credit is tight and there is
considerable unemployment, inflation will
decline or even cease."
Put crudely, by tolerating a 'mild inflation'
of say three per cent, the government could
ensure an increase in gross national
product of about four per cent. The net
result is considered fine for economic
growth, but very bad for people on fixed
incomes —the pensioners, the swelling
ranks of old people on social security and
the unemployed.
Many economists see our monetary woes
as the unhappy outcome of a series of
historical accidents caused by a glut of
European dollars, the greed of oil-rich Arab
sheiks, the costs of the Vietnam War, the
mercilessness of bad weather ravaging
food ravaging food crops, and the
machinations of overmighty multinational
corporations.
A few economists also believe our cor
porations.
A few economists also believe our
economy is haunted by a ghostly cycle of
booms and recessions, that our present
crisis is only a particular phase in a
recurrent phenomenon which has its
parallels in the past.
This cycle shows a regular series of rises
and falls. It rises, for example, from 1789 to
1814, from 1848 to 1873, and from 1896 to
1920; and falls in between Cycle watchers
warn that we are now only at the beginning
of the lean years—our comparative place in
the cycle today is 1924 —and that we must
suppose that things will get worse before
they get better.
So the inflation-unemployment spiral
continues and no one can agree on how to
stop it. Labor leaders call for heavier taxes
on the rich and lighter ones on the poor;
businessmen stress the needs for a cut in
federal spending (unless it's to help bail
them out— as in the case of the floundering
Pan American) and farmers say it's a vile
slander to blame ballooning food prices for
inflation.
Who Survives The New Depression
A collapse in the economy would
devastate the middle class. The Great
American Dream would slip through their
fingers as mortgages foreclosed, pensions
dried up and food became scarce.
Certainly, the middle class is already
feeling the crunch of an economic burden.
The depression in the housing industry
means that many people who want to buy a
house now find that it is beyond their
means. Time magazine reports that the
median price of new houses in the US has
jumped to $35,000 and mortage rates hover
near 10 per cent.
Those who have jobs are hanging onto
them. Not many want to risk a career
transfer and the resulting loss in seniority.
Those who are not so lucky find jobs hard
to come by. When 100 jobs opened
recently for firemen in Los Angeles, for
instance, 1,000 applicants showed up.
The worse off, of course, are the poor.
Unemployment for blacks —as usual much
higher than whites —is 9.8 per cent as
compared with 9.2 per cent a year ago.
Food prices, which take a comparatively
larger bite from the welfare mother's
pocketbook than from the suburban
matron, are skyrocketing: rice is up 90 per
cent, sugar 132 per cent, bread 27 per cent
and milk 20 per cent from a year ago.
Vet there are winners in depression times.
Entertainment thrives as people try to
forget their troubles. Movie receipts are up
nearly 28 per cent this year with only 8 per
cent coming from higher ticket prices.
Coin dealers are profiting from people
who have lost their confidence in paper
currency and are buying up silver and gold;
pawnbrokers and doing a brisk trade.
Bicycle sales soar as gasoline gluttoness
cars are left behind in driveways. Sewing
machines and jeans are big sellers: cor
porate earnings of Levi Strauss have
doubled (to $650 billion) in four years.
New Times magazine envisions the
national growth of a back-to-earth, ecology
conscious life style: "What a vindication it
would be for the Whole Earth Catalog'"
Painting a cozy scene of economic crisis,
New Times rejoices: "The depression as
World War II revisited —it just might work.
Think of it: our drug-crazed boys are
coming home! Nympho daughters talking
of marriage and learning how to type!
Whole families plucking berries while Mom
washes out the canning jars! President
Ford reading "Blondie" to us on prime-time
TV!
Ah, the happy days of the New
Depression.