North Adams Transcript (Newspaper) - May 28, 1975, North Adams, Massachusetts NORTH ADAMS ADAMS WILLIAMSTOWN MASSACHUSETTS YEAR No 221 WEDNESDAY MAY 28 1975 Democrats fuming over Ford oil moves 24 PAGES 15 CENTS WASHINGTON AP The Democrats who control Congress are sharply criticizing President Ford's latest actions to force up petroleum prices but cannot guarantee the votes to substitute their own energy program One Sen Henry M Jackson called today for an immediate attempt upon Congress return from its Memorial Day recess to override Ford's veto a blocking his oil import tariffs Jackson made th call in a letter to the Senate majority leader A Republican Sen Jacob K Javits of New York said if the veto is overridden Congress should establish a joint task force to fashion a comprehensive energy program within 60 days Javits disapproved of Ford's tariffs but said he understood the dent's concern with lack of con- gressional action As a result of the President's action announced in a national broadcast Tuesday night the price of gasoline is expected to increase by at least 1.5 cents a gallon in early summer And if Ford has his way the price would climb another six cents or more over the next 18 to 24 months The President chided Congress for failing to approve a broad energy program as he recommended in his State of the Union message last January Therefore Ford said he a second tariff on imported oil effective June 1 Although the tariff is aimed at reducing consumption of foreign oil the extra dollar like the previous tariff also is likely to be added by oil companies to the price of the 40 per cent of domestic oil production that is exempt from price controls This could mean an extra million a month in oil company profits reflecting both dollar increments Ford also has proposed a windfall profits tax on oil a tariff on imported petroleum products such as gasoline and heating oil also effective on June 1 The effects of this increase will be felt most in Hawaii and on the East Coast which are heavily dependent on oil refined abroad to Congress next month a plan for removing federal controls from domestic oil prices probably over the next 18 to 24 months Such a move which could be blocked by Congress would raise consumer prices for petroleum products by at least six cents a gallon In addition Ford administration of- say they expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise the cost of petroleum products by 15 per cent this autumn Such a boost would add another 1 to cents to a gallon of gasoline Ford said he had delayed the tariff increases in March and April after congressional leaders had promised to come up with a congressional energy program better than mine but they didn't Declaring that Congress had done nothing on energy legislation Ford picked up a calendar and ripped off The weather Clear and cool tonight low in 40s Sunny and mild tomorrow high 80 Details page 3 pages for the months of February March April and May to dramatize his point that Congress had four months to develop an alternative but failed The Congress cannot drift dawdle and debate forever with America's Ford said The President said our American economy runs on energy No energy no jobs The sudden fourfold increase in foreign oil prices and the 1973 embargo helped throw us into this recession We are now on our way out of the recession Another oil embargo could throw us back We cannot continue to depend on the price and supply whims of he said Almost without exception congressional response to Ford's action split along party lines Democrats said the higher petroleum prices would set off a new round of inflation and further dampen the economy while Republicans said Congress failure to act left Ford no choice I for one won't buy this said Sen Henry M Jackson chairman of the Senate Interior Com- and a key influence in energy matters Jackson said the President's program aimed at forcing energy conservation by driving up fuel prices would cost the average American family a year with the burden falling most heavily on the poor and middle-income groups The Democrats haven't done anything to discourage the importation of foreign said Sen Carl T Curtis ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee They do not seem to recognize the danger to our economy in permitting domestic production to go down and increasing our dependence on foreign sources Rep Al Oilman chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was more optimistic than most of his colleagues that Congress can pass an energy program of its own Increases in oil tariff produces grim forecasts By The Associated Press New Englanders reacted to President Ford's increase in tariffs on imported oil with dismay and predictions of higher unemployment in the region and higher prices for electricity Political and energy industry leaders denounced the action as having especially bad effects on New England In a nationwide radio and television address on Tuesday the President said he will impose an additional tariff on oil imports starting June 1 He said he took the action to discourage domestic oil consumption by forcing up the price of petroleum products Ford also chided Congress for not proposals and urged the quickly on his proposed The New England reaction paralleled northeastern reaction when Ford im- posed the initial tariff on Feb 1 A sampling of New England opinion on the President's latest Rep Michael J Harrington Anything that would increase the cost to New England one of the heavier users of crude oil would have an ad- verse impact There was a tendency in imposing the first tariff to minimize the impact on regions where the effect would be more severe We'll have to wait and see if that's true in this case Rep Silvio q Conte I regret that action It's a presidential ploy to prod the Democratic leadership into action But it's going to squeeze the pocketbook of the New England con- sumer Rep Margaret M Heckler said Ford's proposal will fall heavily and unfairly on New England She said in a statement The current economic crunch which is forcing many businesses to close and throwing thousands of people put of work is partially caused by high fuel prices This increase in the oil tariff will only hurt more businesses and individuals Mrs Heckler said she plans con- with state officials on possible development of coal resources in southeastern Massachusetts James M Lydon a vice president of Boston Edison Co said We are very very unhappy We estimate that the net impact of the latest tariff will mean a 60 increase in what we pay for oil when figuring in what we get domestically Since we anticipate burning 11 million barrels in the last six months of this year that's a million price increase for our customers which will cost the average residential customer an additional 50 to 60 cents per month John A Kaneb president of Northeast Petroleum Industries New England's largest independent oil In- creasing the cost of petroleum energy in this country in a time of economic decline is not the right policy to pursue The price increases oil producers put into effect a year and a half ago have already encouraged conservation as our own figures show Future increases in oil costs will do little for more con- servation Democratic Gov Michael S Dukakis of Massachusetts said This program will condemn the consumer to higher energy prices and longer unemployment lines That is not only bad economics but cruel politics Higher energy costs now won't result in reduced con- sumption as the President hopes but in reduced consumer buying power million next year in Massachusetts alone and that doesn't include the lost dollars due to the unemployment that is sure to result from this plan Sen Edward W Brooke said I think the President's program is the wrong one especially for New England But he did give the Congress more than enough time to develop an alternative Still the fault lies with Congress as much as with Ford Lodge destroyed Firefighters from Readsboro and Stamford pouring water on area where fire Vt fight a fire that destroyed reportedly started Story other photo pg 13 Lodge in Readsboro Vt early today They are Transcript President and Mrs Ford daughter Susan at left leave the White House today to begin Off for Europe Ford's first European trip since he became President AP Grads find spring season of discontent WASHINGTON AP The young woman educated to be a French and art teacher is waiting on tables in the Raleigh area Her husband with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's in demography repairs and hopes for a job teaching retarded children At least they're making a living and not sponging off the old says the girl's father a Washington business ex- Across the land the worsening economy has thrown highly educated young adults out of work or into jobs for which they are neither trained nor particularly suited parking cars and teachers typing in the steno pool are no joke they're says a businessman The College Placement Council confirmed that point Tuesday releasing results of a survey of 709 employers showing an 18 per cent drop in jobs for new college grads this year compared with last year Those surveyed reported hiring winter and spring graduates down from a year ago The employers in business industry government and nonprofit and institutions eachers said they were not recruiting Too many kids at loose ends car safety survey indicates WASHINGTON AP A survey of seat belt usage has found that 93 per cent of all children riding in cars are un- protected against crashes Another 1 per cent were improperly restrained by seat belts or infant holders the survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said The unrestrained children were sitting or standing sitting on someone else's lap unrestrained or in infant holders that were not restrained The survey involved observation of more than cars carrying nearly children under 10 years of age at amusement parks and shopping centers in Maryland Massachusetts and Virginia The insurance institute noted that children under 5 years of age died in automobile accidents in 1973 Another children between 5 and 14 were killed in accidents in the same year In addition passengers in those age categories receive many of the nearly four million annual injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes frequently head the institute said The survey found that 82 per cent of the children surveyed were sitting or standing alone unrestrained and 6 per cent were in devices which in turn had not been restrained Of the l per cent improperly restrained some were sitting on an adult's lap with the same seat belt restraining both adult and child because of a lower personnel turnover during the uncertain economic situations Judging from their comments employers do not expect appreciable improvement in hiring until possibly next the council said The hiring decline was the first since the recession and the severity approached the 27 per cent drop in the season the council said The survey showed that jobs remained available for top students minorities and females in fields But the only industries hiring more new grads this year than last were petroleum up 4 per cent state and local governments up 18 per cent and non- profit and educational institutions up 7 per cent Liberal arts majors are experiencing a 9 per cent drop in jobs available this year from last year on top of a 45 per cent decrease in and almost no improvement in intervening years Engineering jobs normally among the most heavily recruited categories dropped 20 per cent at the bachelor's level 23 per cent at the master's level and 10 per cent at the doctoral level Employment in engineering had in- creased a cumulative total of 53 per cent the three preceding years however Opportunities in business usually another heavy employer fell 28 per cent this year from last year Higher degree holders in general are experiencing greater difficulty in ding positions Jobs declined 20 per cent for new compared with 18 per cent for bachelor's degrees and 17 per cent for master's degrees Adorns town meeting rejects Berkshire scenic mountains act By ROBERT E LAMB meeting last night rejected provisions of the Berkshire County Scenic Mountains Act becoming the fourth town to refuse to assert control over certain mountain regions Great Barrington New Ashford and Tyringham previously declined the permissive legislation while eight other towns including Williamstown and Hancock accepted it Specially designed for Berkshire County the 1974 act permits con- servation commissions or selectmen to propose mountain maps for areas controlled by sets of rules locally for- The Adams Conservation Commission twice voted unanimously to favor local application of the act its vice chairman Michael R Shay told town meeting members However precinct member Frank H Graham argued that the state ment of Natural Resources will wield greater control than local commissions and can intervene in every single item He also cautioned that the act once accepted locally may be revised at the whim of the legislature Mr Graham said commercial bermen may ply their trade un- molested but a homeowner in land under the special controls can't cut down a tree in his yard Mr Shay disputed the DNR role saying the act does not permit state intervention in local affairs concerning the legislation Citing a two-page handout distributed to town meeting members Mr Shay stressed that last night's article was limited to granting his commission authority to prepare a map of protected mountain areas Controls are nonexistent without later town meeting adoption of the map on a two-thirds vote Mr Graham countered that even the basic first step would signify town of the act insisting the department DNR has a say in how it's administered Town meeting voted it down by a voice majority Mr Graham said the legislature may amend the act to change the two-thirds vote requirement to a simple majority but Mr Shay said he believed legislative sentiment is strongly opposed to the change The voted the measure last August and its author George Wislocki executive director of the Berkshire Natural Resources Council Inc ex- it to conservation com- missioners in October He then pointed out that Adams has no control soever on the acres of state lands within its boundaries but could exercise some regulation through the act The purpose is to protect supplies prevent erosion and control flooding and preserve natural scenic qualities al higher elevations The suggested contour line serving as the basis for such areas of control in Hoosac River valley is feet In Adams it would encompass the Mt Greylock reservation from upper reaches of the Greylock Glen resort as well as the plateau atop the Hoosac range on the town's east side 1 22 23 21 14 18 10 24 22 18 16 11
