Correspondents Correspondence JIM BARSKY & Delayed Decision & ELIAHU SALPETER & MICHAEL BERGER & HANSJUERGEN ROSENBAUER

...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Safety in Size Washington ?Advertisements for Detroit's small cars stress their low purchase, maintenance and operating costs, features attractive to budget-conscious Americans Not mentioned, however, is the growing evidence that their contribution to a family's economy may be more than offset by significantly higher risks to hie and limb Auto safety specialists have warned about the maxidangers of rmnicars for several years, but now the point has been dramatically demonstrated in a series of collision tests by the Insurance Institute of Washington, D C , an autonomous body funded by the country's major underwriters In each crash, a small car was pitted against a larger one of the same make—for instance, a Ford Pmto and a Ford Galaxie—at 40-50 miles per hour, in no case did the speeds of the two vehicles vary by more than four miles per hour Invariably, perhaps predictably, the small cars were virtually demolished and their passenger compartments were easily violated In a collision between a 1971 Vega and a 1971 Impala, each moving at about 43 miles per hour, the Vega's hood was driven back through its windshield With 1972 models of the same cars, the Vega's hood did not penetrate the windshield, yet the 215-pound test dummy in the front passenger seat was beheaded anyway Similarly, when a 1972 Ford Pinto came together with a 1972 Galaxie, the Pinto's roof buckled downward, its windshield fell into the passenger compartment, its rear window sailed free, and its gas tank ruptured Neither American's Gremlin nor Dodge's lapanese-built Colt provided more passenger protection in their crash tests In every collision, both cars' seat belts and shoulder harnesses either broke, tore from their moorings, or sprang their catches The metal buckle latch m the Gremlin simply ripped in two under the force of the dummy's forward movement None of the head restraints would adjust to a point higher than the base of the dummy's skull—some were not adjustable at all—and most of the adjustable ones were driven down to the top of the seat by the impact of the dummy's head, the Dodge Colt's restraint was jarred loose and flew out the window The batteries of both cars were always smashed, and the interiors of those whose windshields collapsed were liberally sprayed with sulphuric acid Although sheet-metal damage was extensive, the passenger compartments of the larger models were left relatively mtact Windshields remained in place, doors held and, despite broken seat belts and harnesses, the dummies did not strike the dashboards with enough force to leave deep dents In contrast, no dummy in a small car escaped head lacerations, deep cuts, particles of glass imbedded in the face, or worse, without exception, their knees were jammed under the dashboard and, in one case, the dummy had to be cut free of the wreckage with a torch Small-car advocates—especially Detroit pitchmen who, not so long ago, were hustling ever-bigger models—are trying hard to deny the obvious implications of these tests They argue that economy cars are more maneuverable and, therefore, less often involved in collisions They point to a study of accidents on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway that found small cars had fewer collisions proportionate to their numbers than did large ones The same survey, however, indicated that small models figure more frequently in single-vehicle accidents —roll-overs, or crashes into stationary roadside obstacles What is more, the Garden State Parkway statistics bore out studies compiled in New York, Michigan and North Carolina, showing that the rate of serious injuries and fatalities resulting from collisions is much higher among passengers m small cars than those m large cars These findings confirm the long-standing contention of automotive experts who have maintained that lighter models are less safe than heavier ones simply because they have less sheet metal to absorb the impact of an accident With economy cars now accountmg for about one third ot new-car sales, and some authorities predicting they will command 50 per cent of the market in the next decade, more small cars will be competing for road space with bigger vehicles, including buses and trucks Even if they are involved in fewer collisions, the statistical probabilities are that more people are going to be seriously hurt, or killed, because the cars they ride in offer little protection —Jim Barsky Delayed Decision Tel Aviv ?Although Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat's "year of decision" proved indecisive, top-level Arab officials continue to warn of the "inevitability of war with Israel " At the same time, their interpreters in the Cairo press hasten to explain that no imminent deadline has been set for the resumption ot hostilities And last month Sadat, after implying in an urgent hour-long radio and television speech that an attack on Israeli forces actually set for December was canceled at Moscow's behest because of Soviet preoccupation with the India-Pakistan war, stressed that he still hoped UN mediator Gunnar V Jarring would succeed in working out a peaceful solution to the Middle East stalemate Israeli authorities are not excluding the possibility that all this is part ot an Egyptian attempt to lull Jerusalem into lowering its guard, but they are inclined to credit Cairo with less deviousness Thus the inconsistencies in the statements emanating from there are assumed to reflect real internal confusion On the one hand, it is felt, the Arabs probably have decided that war is the only way to force the Israelis to give up the occupied territories, on the other hand, the three countries of the new Arab Socialist Union—Egypt, Libya and Syria—may be having difficulty agreeing on when to take action More fundamentally, it seemed clear fiom Sadat's speech that Egypt's leaders are uncertain about the extent to which the Soviets might intervene in a new round of warfare, and also recognize that without large-scale Russian involvement they will suffer another decisive defeat at the hands ot the Israelis Yet they appear unwilling to divorce themselves from the preconditions they have set for negotiations, despite their awareness of Jerusalem's refusal to accept those terms This view of Cairo's current impasse may well explain why Defense Minister Moshe Dayan has issued some seemingly conflicting pronouncements of his own He has repeatedly declared—sometimes in the same speech—both that the resumption of war is very likely and that the opportunity for a peaceful settlement has never been better before than it is now What he presumably means is that, rationally, Cairo must realize how little it can gam by shooting and how much it could obtain by negotiation, but that rational behavior should not be expected of Egypt...

...For their part, the Soviets apparently are not pressuring Sadat one way or the other Should he choose war, they would probably feel obligated to help him, while keeping their assistance to the minimum required to protect him from the worst That would mean providing a massive flow of arms, taking an active role in Egypt's air defense, making frenetic diplomatic efforts in Washington and the UN, advising Arab military strategists, and lodging direct threats against Jerusalem It is unlikely that they would deploy Soviet personnel east of the Suez Canal If Sadat elects to lestrict himself to medium-level hostilities around the Suez Canal Zone, the Israelis will face a difficult dilemma whether to fight a limited war on Egypt's terms or launch an all-out campaign at the risk of escalating the Soviets' response For now the question remains on a low burner, awaiting Sadat's long-delayed decision —Eli-ahu Salpeter King Konjo Tokyo—Ryosaku Anjo, an 18-year-old freshman at Takushoku University, decided that he was tired of the karate club's rigid training, so he quit Two days later he was dead In Japanese sports clubs at any level, quitting is the ultimate heresy, and frequently the members' response is to administer a good beating to their wayward comrade When the karate team "disciplined" young Anjo, however, their blows hit his head too often, and the injuries to his bram killed him Immediately the campus erupted into a pitched battle between the athletes on the Right and the "political" students on the Left, and the president, former Defense Agency Director-General Ya-suhiro Nakasone, offered to resign (before his ambition to become Prime Minister was blunted any further) To date the boy's parents have been paid nearly $14,000 in compensation, and the university still must contend with their suit against it for "failing to guide students away from using violence " The Anjo death was not an isolated incident Shortly thereafter, a 15-year-old high school rugby player collapsed from exhaustion during practice He received no sympathy, only a thrashing by his senior teammates Each time he lost consciousness they doused him with cold water and cuffed him again, but the last time the boy fainted his head struck a pipe His parents' $50,000 suit against the school charged that this concussion led to the meningitis which killed him A 13-year-old junior high school girl who tried to quit her basketball team because of her father's terminal illness was seized and beaten several times—once in her own home—by angry players The school temporarily suspended the club's activities pending a police investigation The significance of such events lies not merely m the persistent strength of group pressures m Japanese society, even among the sup-Dosedlv Westernized young, but m the increasing emphasis on and glorification of konjo—the traditional spirit of never-sav-die and absolute allegiance to one's seniors, especially one's coach or mentor Many Japanese feel that affluence has softened the "backbone" of the nation, and wholeheartedly support the current efforts to nurture kon]o at all age levels Japanese companies, for example, will occasionally send promising junior executives to tram with the Army Though the corporate recruits don't use weapons, they do learn, or relearn, the meaning of konjo Today's most popular television program for the 8-18 age group similarly depicts young people whose great drive and sense of purpose impel them to victory The heroes or heroines are often involved in sports, where their courage and teamplay can be communicated most vividly The paramilitary spirit of konjo is even taking hold among preschoolers Some private kindergartens require children to wear only underclothes in warm weather, "to build their bodies and to correct the effects of overprotective parents," as one school director put it The same idea was in vogue during World War II, when pupils—including teenage girls—were compelled to strip to the waist to toughen themselves and to create a feeling of national solidarity and sacrifice For seven years now, a private Tokyo group has conducted "spring training" centers in rural areas for almost 3,000 youngsters, who are divided into teams of 8-10, each with its own leader Awakened at 5 30 AM, they run to school for calisthenics, then run to a nearby Zen temple for a lecture and 15 minutes of contemplation, and then, finally, go on to breakfast "It is not good to leave education up to the schools and parents," says the founder of the center, Hidetoshi Hirokawa "We need group training, so these children can become the driving force of the 21st century "—Michael Berger Brandt and Business Frankfurt ?West Germany's elections are still over a year and a half away, but everyone is wondering what strategy the opposition candidate, Rainer Barzel, will come up with to challenge Chancellor Willy Brandt Since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Brandt has become so firmly fixed on his diplomatic pedestal that it is hard to drag him back down into the arena of partisan politics In addition, his Ostpohtik, designed to normalize relations with the East Bloc countries, has apparently found wide approval among the voters Participants in a national TV quiz show just before Christmas were asked to guess what proportion of the population agrees with Brandt's policy and considers it successful The winning answer was 64 per cent, as determined by a previously unpublished poll The quizmaster's quip that the figure was "a nice Christmas present" for the Chancellor prompted the Christian Democrats to accuse the television station of being a Social Democratic propaganda outfit Though the opposition's outcry did not noticeably change public sentiment, Brandt's coalition of Social Democrats and Free Democrats may well be hurt by economic troubles Nothing upsets German voters more than unemployment and reduced wages, and recently there has been talk of an impending depression An unusually heated contract fight in the steel industry led to work stoppages by both sides, and last month Volkswagen temporarily shut down six of its biggest factories for lack of sales Naturally, the conservative opposition—popularly identified with the interests of industrialists, farmers and landlords—is attempting to dramatize the economic situation In turn, the unions charge that business is conspiring against the interests of the working man and the government by making unnecessary cutbacks Concerned about these developments, Brandt's advisers are urging him to take a more active role in domestic affairs and in his party As one company spokesman pointed out, however, if industrialists, bankers and stockholders are in a gloomy mood, if they don't trust the government's management of the economy, there is little the Chancellor can do about their belt-tightening Should Brandt fail to mollify the businessmen m the coming year, Barzel will have no trouble at all determining his campaign strategy —Hans tuergen Rosenbauer...