Harrisonburg Daily News Record (Newspaper) - April 19, 1974, Harrisonburg, Virginia Weather In Brief Variable Cloudiness Two Sections 24 Pages Vol. 77, No. 168 Associated Features Service April 19,1974 07n0 News Uz Ten Cents Economy Takes Downward Turn - The nation's economy sank swiftly toward recession levels in the first quarter of the while inflation pushed prices upward at an ever-increasing according to government figures released ' The Commerce Department said the country's Gross National Product dropped at a 5.8 per cent annual rate in the first three months of the the first decline in three years and the biggest drop since 1958. on the other soared at a 10.8 per cent annual The double-barreled dose of bad economic news came one day after President Nixon announced he was going to play a bigger role in economic policy It also raised serious questions whether the United States would be able to avoid a recession this as Nixon has A recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of GNP The GNP measures the total value of output of the nation's goods and services and is considered the best index of the health of the The Arab oil embargo and energy crisis apparently were an important factor in the first quarter economic The Commerce Department said the sharp cutback in auto production was one of two major reasons for the falling The other was a decline in home which has been hit by high interest The 5.8 per cent decline in the GNP growth rate in the first quarter compared with an increase of 1.6 per cent in the fourth quarter and 8.7 per cent growth in the first quarter of 1973 at the height of an economic The first-quarter drop was the biggest since a 9.2 per cent decline in the first quarter of 1958. The last previous decline was in the fourth quarter of 1970, when the GNP annual rate fell 4.8 per cent. Figures computed at an annual rate mean that the rate would be the final figure at the end of a 12-month period if the trend continued Over-all GNP in the first quarter increased or 4.4 per cent over the fourth to an annual rate of All of the increase was due to The inflation rate of 10.8 per cent showed the administration has a long way to go before meeting its promise of a much more moderate rate price increases in the second half of the The rate compared with an 8.8 per cent rise in the fourth quarter of last Sirica Issues Committee Chairman Rodino works in his office Stans Continues Denials Of Vesco Case AP Stans arrives at NEW YORK - Former Secretary Maurice H. Stans told a federal court jury Thursday that my I never did anything to help Robert and I never asked anyone to do you ever try to fix a case against Robert Vesco because of his contribution of Stans was asked at his trial with one-time Atty. Gen. John N. Mitchell on criminal conspiracy certainly did he never had such a you yesterday and today testified to the very best of your was my intention and I have done responded the chief of fund raising for President Nixon's 1972 re-election There were two defense mistrial motions during the day over what were interpreted as vague links to individuals who have figured in the Watergate investigation in Both were denied by federal Judge Lee P. Stans and Mitchell are accused of conspiring to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission fraud investigation of an international in exchange for the cash contribution to the Nixon then lying to a grand jury in an effort to conceal the you wilfully and knowingly give false information to that grand Stans was asked by his defense Walter certainly did Stans my I testified to the facts exactly as I knew you guilty or not was Bonner's final question to the duplicating the last question put to Mitchell when he was under direct examination earlier in the am not guilty of these believe Stans in an answer similar to The government has laid considerable stress on what it called efforts by Mitchell and Stans to conceal the receipt of the Vesco Stans testified that the only reason for the secrecy was his pledge that as the donor Vesco would remain Stans did not get in bills April 10, 1972. But he said he accepted it by telephone on April 6, because in a similar prior situation attorney said it was legal and Stans added that he didn't have anyone available on his campaign finance committee to go to New York from Washington on the afternoon of April 6 to pick up the and so arranged to have it delivered after the ensuing it true you didn't want any member of the committee to pick up the money if it wasn't Maurice the government asked in that is not a Stans Volley Deaths Mrs. Grace L. 89, of Mt. Mrs. Effie M. 85, of Bert Ashby 88, of W. Va. Mrs. Macie M. 61, of Upper W. Va. Details on page 16 WASHINGTON - A federal judge ordered President Nixon on Thursday to surrender tapes and documents of 64 conversations to be used in the Watergate cover-up trial involving men who were once his top The was served on the White House a few hours after it was ordered by U.S. District Judge John J. The President has until May 2 to There was no immediate word whether the White House will comply with the latest legal effort to wrest Watergate information from the Deputy Press Secretary Gerald L. Warren said matter will be considered by the special Sirica acted on a request by special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski who said he needed the material for the conspiracy trial involving John L. H.R. John D. Charles W. Colson and three Hie trial is scheduled before Sirica on Sept. 9. The was the third issued at the request of the special The White House fought the last until it lost before the U.S. Court of It complied with a second last month without a The 64 conversations span nearly a year's time - beginning with a meeting Nixon had with special counsel Colson on June 20, 1972, and ending with telephone conversations the President had with Haldeman on June 4, 1973. Twenty-four of the conversations sought are included in a issued by the House Judiciary for its impeachment That Requires compliance by next The Peter W. Rodino said in a television interview Thursday that any White House editing of the 42 conversations his committee subpoenaed be considered a possible ground of Rodino said he will not be satisfied with excised versions and that it is necessary that comply fully with the this is he is Today's Index 2 23 6 4 5 Jeane 20 Local 13 7 17 TV 11 2 Syrian Fighters Enter Battle By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Syrian jet fighters bombed and strafed Israeli positions on and near Mt. Hermon on Thursday in a new escalation of fighting on the Golan Heights It was Syria's first use of aircraft in combat since the Middle East war last The Syrian command said its planes caused material damage and losses in enemy then returned safely to The Israeli military command said the attacks resulted in the wounding of one Israeli It made no mention of deaths or material The Syrian attacks coincided with other important Middle East Nixon and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger held a surprise meeting in Washington with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail U.S. officials said the session was to inform Egypt of continuing U.S. efforts to seek a disengagement of Syrian and Israeli The Egyptians had threatened to join Syria in the Golan Heights fighting if it got any but American sources said this was not the purpose of the -In President Anwar Sadat of Egypt accused the Soviet Union of going back on promises of military aid and said INC. Dan expert representative for Hopkins Tailoring Company April 18and)9 his government was seeking weapons called in a speech for a meeting soon with Kremlin -A terrorist bomb went off in an Israeli wounding 12 Arabs and one The Syrian military command in 23 miles east-northeast of Mt. said its forces in the Golan Heights combat zone had fired missiles at Israeli aircraft in the area and that one Phantom jet was shot Israel said all its planes made it home The Israeli command said the Syrian MIGs attacked an Israeli position at the peak of the 9,232-foot Mt. Hermon and two positions in the of Syrian territory captured in the October The Syrians did not specify the planes went up against Syrians but no contact was the Israeli command said in Tel 7ebra' Search Begins SAN FRANCISCO - Policemen swept through the streets of San Francisco conducting unprecedented searches of black men in a search for the killer or killers of 12 white One of the first to be Robert think the mayor is persecuting the black community for the acts of a few crazy But police officials reported that although there was some most persons subjected to searches understood the reason and hoped it would uncover the man Mayor Joseph L. Alioto OPEN April 22, 23, 24 described as mad a 23-year-<)ld security was stopped at a bus stop only minutes after Alioto announced the procedure as extraordinary the killings some other people are talking about retaliation against said who wore a knit cap like one shown in a police sketch of the will be too The thing is bad enough AT CHARLES MATHI INC. Dan expert for Hopkins Tailoring Company April leand 19 Shali We AP Wirephoto Brazil's welcome sday by Foreign Minister Francisco da Silveira gets an enthusiastic to the State Secretary of State Henry The scene took place as the conference of Latin American foreign ministers entered its second day in Story on page 2. going to be considered by the committee as a refusal on the part of the White House to He agreed the White House should be able to screen national security but said leaders of the House inquiry should have an opportunity to review and determine what could be screened Rodino the White House would make the determination of what evidence the impeachment inquiry Judge Sirica held no hearings on Jaworski's request of but he had the concurrence of two of the defendants - Colson and Robert C. Mardian - that the for the 64 tapes be DAR President Nixon addresses a meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution at Constitution Hall in Washington He told the group that the United States needs renewal of America's sense of sense of patriotism and sense of Geriatric Rulers By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Reports from reliable sources in Saigon say North Vietnam's defense Gen. Vo Nguyen may have a terminal and there is speculation that his passing might trigger some sort of struggle for power in The report illuminates a weakness peculiar to the part of the world and one that is likely to create serious problems in the near trouble is that it is suffering from political North Vietnam's hierarchy is just one of many examples of a classical It is ruled by a party Politburo whose average age is 64. Its premier is 68. Its party chief is 66 and its acting president is 80. Giap himself is 64. The Soviet Union is run by a coterie of Politburo members whose average age also is 64. Some of them show signs of the aches and pains associated with advancing The top layer in China is even Its Mao turned 80 last and its second in Premier Chou is 75, Even the one-time whiz kid of the world has become middle After 15 years in Fidel Castro of Cuba is a paunchy 48, present chief of the the Young Communist is 46, although that's far from a Red China at one time had a chief who was in his 60s.
