Sharing in the Nonrewards

...Sharing in the Nonrewards By Robert Sandoz Washington Leave it to the gop Who else could raise rat-hatred to the level of high political courage9 Ever since Republicans in the House cheerfully squashed a rat control bill, Washington has echoed to a chorus of brave anti-rodent statements, slogans, speeches and slurs "You dirty rat, you" is the most popular phrase m this town smce "honorable settlement of the war " For all the subsequent posturing and protestations, the rat vote was not atypical of Congress' reaction to the summer's turmoil Anger prevails over action, punishment over progress, force over reform The most unpardonable of sins would be to Reward the Rioters Everyone says so And it begins to appear that to a majority of Congress, Rewarding the Rioters includes passage of any social legislation that is a) meaningful, b) sympathetic to the plight of the Negro poor, or c) costs money In the aftermath of the riots, Republican leadership especially distinguished itself Already the statement of the Republican Coordinating Committee is being recognized as a marvel of its kind clear ("we will not bypass those in need Robert Sandoz is a free-lance writer working out of Washington who reject violence to reward those who not"), instructive ("factories for the manufacture of Molotov cocktails have been uncovered by police"), subtle ("widespread noting and violent civil disorder have grown to a national crisis since the present Administration took office"), fanciful ("the Republican party firmly believes in the cause of civil rights"), and coolly analytical ("we are rapidly approaching a state of anarchy and the President has totally failed to recognize the problem...

...No statement, even one drafted by Tom Dewey, edited by Gerry Ford, signed by Dwight Eisenhower, and read by Everett Dirksen, is ever perfect This one did not explain why, despite its assertion that "the root causes of discontent are of immediate and continuing concern to us all," Republicans in the past year have (with generous assistance from Democrats) cut expenditures for model cities by $425 million, cut authorizations for the poverty program, cut aid to education, lulled rent supplements for the poor, and killed open housing legislation But why quibble over details The Republican statement can stand on its own, yielding solace and support to ghetto dwellers in the months ahead Not that anyone in Congress feels compassion alone is enough Hardly Words are no substitute for studies The Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee is scheduled to conduct a major Congressional inquiry into the riots Heretofore, the subcommittee was best known for its hearings on organized crime Its chairman, Democrat John McClellan of Aikansas, has long understood that the key to racial harmony is more aggressive law enforcement and less sociological claptrap "Is it true that these rioters have become a privileged class m this country7" he asked recently True to form, the McClellan subcommittee plans to examine the criminal aspects of the riots Kentucky's John Sherman Cooper, a Republican who failed to coordinate with his party's Coordinating Committee, asked the Senate to broaden the scope of the investigation to include the "economic and social" factors behind the unrest The proposal was readily dismissed when it was pointed out that to study social conditions was to "condone lawlessness" West Virginia's Robert Byrd, a high-ranking member of the Democratic Policy Committhe riots Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael have been running around the country, stirring up the previously contented natives with the help of anti-poverty personnel On the second day of the hearings, James O Eastland, Democrat, Mississippian, defender of minorities, well-known urbanologist, had a vision "All these riots follow the same pattern," he said "They follow the tactics used by the Communist party all over the world" (Cyrus Vance, President Johnson's man in Detroit, sees things a little tee, was adamant on this point A practical idealist, Senator Byrd has suggested that the only way to handle rioters is with "brutal force," and the only way to deal with adult looters is to shoot them on sight Children, presumably, will be wounded slightly Another not inquiry which promises equal enlightment is the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on the House-passed anti-riot bill The bill would make it a Federal crime to cross state lines to incite violence A number of police officials testifying in behalf of the bill promptly clarified the reasons for differently "At this point, there is no indication of any overall conspiracy to incite or conduct a not ") Between studies and statements, the Congress has neither the time nor the inclination to actually do anything for the urban poor On the contraiy, it is undoing things The Teachers Corps is a notable casualty The Corps has been providing government trained college graduates to teach in poverty areas, urban as well as rural Local educators, heartened by the initial results, have asked for more of these young people who are willing to teach the poor in poor schools at poor salaries The Administration, m askmg for $33 million to support a slight expansion of the project, was not asking for much, in the ghetto, the high school graduate is the exception The United States Senate, still leveiberatmg to denunciations of the House for rejecting the $40 million rat bill, met the Administration's even more modest request for the Teachers Corps by halving it Majority Leader Mansfield led the 24 Senate Democrats who voted to cut the appropriation If consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Mansfield is a genius With the Teachers Corps out of the way, he joined the President in urging Congress to pass a score of bills which might help alleviate some of the problems of the inner cities Included are such programs as rent supplements, crime control, housing for the elderly, increased Social Security benefits, a civil rights pack-' age, model cities, urban research and a strengthened education bill In addition, Congress has initiated some urban legislation of its own, including job opportunity and housing proposals As ot now, however, the outlook for passage of a significant block of legislation which might begin to get at some of the roots of urban misery and disorder is exceedingly bleak Some programs, such as open housing legislation, simply have no chance at all Edgy about the cost of the Vietnam war, detached from the rats m the bedrooms and urine in the halls, hounded by middle-class constituents who fear that taxes and Negroes are rising too fast, a majority of Congress views the riots more in anger than m sorrow And unless the Congressional mood changes abruptly, there is little reason to believe the summer of '68 will find the ghettos any different than they are today Rioters and nonrioters alike seem destined to share in the nonrewards...