1982-11-05

              Volume 95

The Record

STUDENT PUBLICATION OF ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY

Collegeville, Minnesota, Friday November 5, 1982

Number 10

i 1

Christian Soldiers?

Dr. Walter Williams, author and economics professor, spoke on the topic "The State Against

Blacks"  October 25  in  the  SJU Auditorium. (Photo by Jim Marschall)

The State Against Blacks

by Bob Filipczak

Dr. Walter Williams, a syndicated columnist and professor of Economics, gave a lecture entitled "The State Against Blacks" on Monday, October 25 at the SJU Auditorium. Although he reduced many of the disadvantages blacks have to economics terms, he gave easily understood examples which demonstrated exactly how the market mechanisms can destroy these disadvantages. He attributes most of the blacks' problems to governmental controls on the market rather than racism, discrimination or a "collective conspiracy," as he calls it, among whites.

Williams explained that the problems blacks face are not the result of white people disliking black people. He observed that the market system does not revolve around likes or dislikes. More people prefer a Rolls-Royce to a Pinto, but far more Pintos are sold. By the same token, a white man who does not like blacks will still sell his house to a black if he offers him more money than a white buyer. The theories of demand can effectively negate some of the situations confronting blacks and, although these methods might not be fair, they do insure that anyone can get what he wants if he has the buying power. Also, in the past, discriminatory laws were established by whites who did not want to bid against blacks in the market system. It was substantially cheaper to pass "Restrictive Covenant Laws," preventing blacks from buying houses from whites, than to try and price them out of the market.

Williams also stated that "discrimination is so pervasive that it can't explain anything." He explained that discrimination will always be present and can never be controlled by laws. The financial difficulties faced by blacks are semi-detached from this problem. He illustrated this by claiming that if one attempts to blame a hotel fire on the oxygen it consumes, he really explains nothing. Oxygen is so prevelant that its presence or absence is almost never considered in determining the cause of a fire. In the same manner,

discrimination is involved in almost every human interaction, and attempting to control it with laws is futile. The best way, he claims, to equalize black and white financial status is to give blacks ample buying power to compete with whites.

This poses another problem for blacks, according to Williams. It is his contention that Federal controls on jobs exclude more blacks from employment than Affirmative Action programs create. He also emphasizes the problems minimum wage laws create for the blacks. He contends that the minimum wage encourages the hiring of highly skilled workers. If an employer can get more work for his $3.35 an hour from the better skilled worker, he will naturally hire that person. Thus, the lesser skilled worker is left out in the cold. Who are the least of the lesser skilled workers? Teenagers comprise the largest group and black teenagers, because of terrible educational systems, are on the bottom rung of the ladder. So minimum wage laws indirectly hurt the black teenagers, whose unemployment rate is near 55 percent, compared to 22 percent for white teenagers.

This has far reaching consequences. Without the discipline that holding a job demands which should be instilled in a worker when he is young, the chances of future employment become very dim. Finally, the black teenager gets a poor education and very little employment experience, crippling his future job opportunities. How, then, can these blacks ever hope to become active members of our economic and social system?

Williams went on to say that those who spend the most money lobbying for minimum wage laws are unions. He explained how they effectively priced the lesser skilled workers out of the market by driving up the minimum wage. According to Williams, if a highly-skilled worker can do the job of three lower-skilled workers, it is in his best interest to force the employer to pay lower skilled workers more. In this way, the highly skilled worker can demand  a little  less  than  three

times what one lower skilled worker earns and still be cheaper for the employer to hire. As the minimum wage goes up, the bet-

(continued on page 4)

by Tom Mischke

St. John's President, Father Hilary Thimmesh, has appointed an eight-member committee to study the role of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at St. John's and to consider the moral propriety of sponsoring military training.

By drawing on the views of various campus factions including the ROTC itself, and by discussing the issue among themselves, the members of the committee will attempt to answer the question: Does sponsorship of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at St. John's constitute endorsement of values opposed to the Christian and Benedictine character of the University? The committee, made up of six faculty members and two students, has not been given a deadline for completion of its study; however Thimmesh has asked for a progress report by the end of the semester. Brother Jim Zarr, one of the committee members, felt that reaching a decision would take the entire year. "This first semester will involve a lot more listening than talking," Zarr said. "Various students and faculty members will be heard

from. The second semester will be devoted to discussion within the committee.

Should the final decision go against the ROTC, Thimmesh will consult the President's Advisory Council about the action to be taken. A similar inquiry was made in June 1972 in which then acting-President Father Michael Blecker appointed a committee to review the financial and academic implications of the ROTC along with the moral question. Students and faculty were polled, alumni who had been members of ROTC were questioned, and hearings were sponsored. In December the committee decided, though not unanimously, that ROTC should be continued.

This year various groups from St. John's and St. Ben's again raised the question of the ROTC's significance at St. John's. The chairman of the present committee, Father Kieran Nolan, stressed the nature of their task. "This should not be minconstrued as an inquisition," Nolan said. "We are simply gathering as much information as possible in an effort to determine whether ROTC belongs on this particular campus."

Bread Dough, Baker, Munchy Maker

Clen Meyer has been burning the midnight oil to         for 15 years, make Johnnie bread in the University kitchens

Big Guy) to see that we get our daily bread.

Although I never placed much Acting upon the advice of blues

by Dave McMahon

sage Wilson Pickett, I believe "I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour ..." before I begin attacking my typewriter, despite rapidly diminishing journalistic aspirations, as my deadline nears. But even though Pickett's song might not have had newspaper assignments in mind, I'm only following good old Uncle Duke's example, as given to us in his guide to Gonzo Journalism, and besides, this provides a nifty introduction to my investigation of another nocturnal occurence on campus.

Late at night while responsible Johnnies sleep peacefully and contentedly with none of the nervousness involved with "the last minute all-nighter before an assignment is due syndrome," usually experienced by pro-crastinators such as myself, there is someone hard at work, behind the scenes (besides The

faith in the Keebler Elves, living in a hollow tree and making-cookies, I would not have put anything past the monks and a source for our well-beloved Johnnie Bread. But throughout the many late-nights of my academic career and my wanderings around campus at weird hours while trying to offset the mind rotting effects of fatigue, I found myself mysteriously attracted to the south entrance of the refectory kitchens by an enticing aroma.

I soon discovered the man responsible for a better loaf than I am. His name is Clen Meyer, and over the fifteen years that he's been at it he's made more bread than Student Accounts steals for tuition. Every weeknight he begins around six-thirty and until about three o'clock next morning he makes an average of 250 loaves of dark bread and 100 of white and that's

(Photo by Jim Marschall)

not including approximately 1800 dinner rolls. Clen's role cannot be taken lightly considering that for the last fifteen years his handiwork has saved an infinite number of meals for St. John's students who when faced with an unsavory dining selection could always add a little PB&J rather than go hungry.

A further aspect of Clen's work to be considered is the convenient nature of his working hours for the few night owls on campus. Long after Mary Caf is closed, and all that remains for the midnight munchies are resident hall candy machines, there exists the possibility of a piping hot loaf of bread fresh out of the oven for the bargain price of a dollar and a half. One reminder though, exact change is required to purchase bread from Clen, and credit cards or checques are not allowed, only cold hard cash for hot soft bread. It's hard not to find Clen, follow your nose across the cobblestones from Frank House.