St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 18

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Foundrd By JOSEPH PULITZER December 12, 1878 editorials 2B Tuesday, November 25, 1986 Mrs. Aquino Thwarts A Coup from the right to purge ministers suspected Aquino, president of the Philippines, has earned a reputation for forbear-. ance and patience. Yet they are not as she demonstrated over the weekend when she dismissed her plotting defense minister, sought resignations from the rest of her Cabinet and gave the com- munist insurgents a deadline for a negoti-' afed cease-fire.

months, former Defense Minister jjian Ponce Enrile had been awaiting the opportunity to oust Mrs. Aquino. As early as last February, Mr. Enrile's designs on the presidency had been thwarted by the revolution that installed Mrs. Aquino as to the exiled Ferdinand Marcos.

by events, Mr. Enrile was forced to suppress his own ambitions and smile, through gritted teeth, as he accepted a position on Mrs. Aquino's Cabinet. Mrs. Aquino, in turn, was forced to endure "Johnny's" petulant and provocative For her to do otherwise would have seemed an unbecoming display of ingratitude it- to which Filipinos are especially sensitive.

What saved the day was the exposure of the latest putsch attempt, which reportedly involved about 180 die-hard Marcos loyal-, ists and a handful of officers aligned with Mr. Enrile. Discovery of their conspiracy gave Mrs. Aquino the justification she needed to dismiss the truculent defense minister. At the same time, it afforded her the opportunity to shake up her Cabinet without having to face accusations that in doing so she would be bowing to pressure Spare Parts Missouri's Crumbling Roads Mr.

McNary Almost Climbs Aboard "Although he argues that he remains skeptical of the economic viability of the proposed light passenger rail system for the region, St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary has dropped his outright opposition to the program. He now says that he will take a neutral position. Basically, Mr. McNary has cut a deal with the city of St.

Louis. In exchange for city support in the Missouri General Assembly for allowing the county to seek voter-approval for a new sales tax for road work, Mr. McNary will return to the use of a longtime funding formula for sharing tax money on the Bi-State ptiblic transportation system. This means that St. Louis County will again be providing twice as much money as the city for the regional bus and transit system.

(This year the county provided $30 million to Bi-State; the city kicked in $16 million.) Politically, Mr. McNary's neutrality will THE POST-DISPATCH PLATFORM I KNOW THAT MY RETIREMENT WILL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE IN ITS CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. THAT IT WILL ALWAYS FIGHT FOR PROGRESS AND REFORM. NEVER TOLERATE INJUSTICE OR 'OK RUPTION. ALWAYS FIGHT DEMAGOGUES OF ALL PARTIES.

NEVER BELONG TO ANY PARTY. ALWAYS OPPOSE PRIVILEGED CLASSES AND PUBLIC PLUNDERERS. NEVER LACK SYMPATHY WITH THE POOR. ALWAYS REMAIN DEVOTED TO THE PUBLIC WELFARE, NEVER BE SATISFIED WITH MERELY PRINTING NEWS. ALWAYS BE DRASTICALLY INDEPENI) ENT.

NEVER BE AFRAID TO ATTACK WRONG. WHETHER BY PREDATORY PLUTOCRACY OR PREDATORY POVERTY. JOSEPH PULITZER April 10, 1907 The Rise And Fall Of 'Life' Magazine By Richard L. Worsnop Editorial Research Reports Normally, the 50th anniversary of a magazine that survives only as a shadow of its original self would elicit little comment. But when that magazine is LIFE, the golden jubilee provides an excuse to celebrate the remembered glories of a bygone age.

Time Inc. has done its part by issu ing a hefty 50th anniversary issue of LIFE, which began as a weekly on Nov. 23, 1936, but is now published monthly. By nearly any measure, LIFE was one of the mirror of public opinion most astonishing success stories in magazine publishing history. Advertisers were guaranteed a net circulation of 250,000 an issue, and rates thus were calculated on that basis.

Those with contracts made before the date of the first issue were protected against increases for a full year. Seldom has a market projection been so far off target. All 250,000 newsstand copies of the inaugural issue sold out the first day. By the end of the first year, the magazine's circulation had reached 1.5 million. UFE's debut was well timed, for in the mid-1930s a camera craze swept the country.

It grew out of the growing popularity of Leicas and other imported German cameras and inspired people of both sexes and all ages to try their hand at taking "candid" shots. Above all, though, LIFE triumphed because of the quality of its distinctive editorial product, an amalgam of pictures and words that became known as photojournalism. Henry R. Luce, the magazine's editor and founder, said his goal was a publication that would enable people "to see life, to see the world, to eyewitness great events to see and take pleasure in seeing, to see and be amazed: to see and be instructed." By and large, LIFE delivered just such a package. The magazine's literary contributors included Sir Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Norman Mailer and Gen.

Charles de Gaulle. And for 36 years, LIFE photographers provided vivid images of the passing scene, whether of far-off wars or of noteworthy parties, weddings and funerals. By the late 1960s, however, LIFE and several other mass-circulation periodicals found themselves squeezed by slumping advertising revenue and mounting postal rates. LOOK, another photo-oriented weekly, ceased publication in October 1971. LIFE followed suit 14 months later.

Time decision to resurrect LIFE as a monthly in October 1978 was a response to the encouraging reception of 10 special issues of the magazine. But while the new LIFE bore a superficial resemblance to the original, it lacked the old vibrant spirit. No longer able to cover breaking stories on a regular basis, it relied more heavily than before on the photo essay. Moreover, Time Inc. announced Nov.

6 that it was abandoning plans to publish a new mass-circulation magazine called Picture Week. Fifteen months of test marketing apparently showed that a publication of that kind has little chance of survival in today's market so different from that of 1936. ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH MM Tucter BnlevinWltl uwta-n- JOSEPH PULITZER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER 1I7MM1 JOSEPH PULITZER, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER II1MHI JOSEPH PULITZER JR. CHAIRMAN MICHAEL E.

PULITZER. PRESIDENT GLENN CHRISTOPHER. VICE CHAIRMAN NICHOLAS C. PENNIMAN IV. PUBLISHER THOMAS TALLARICO.

GENERAL MANAGER WILUAM F. WOO. EDITOR DAVID LIPMAN, MANAGING EDITOR JAMES LAWRENCE, EDITOR OF THE EDITORIAL PAGE If ffc ft Wlwse Foreign of left-leaning tendencies. Mr. Enrile has been defused.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Fidel Ramos, always re garded as the more professional of the two military leaders, has come through the cri sis with his reputation intact and authority unchallenged. The new defense minister, Rafael Ileto, has a military and diplomatic background that seems to put him in good stead for the tasks ahead. Those tasks are daunting, indeed, nor just for him alone. The spokesman for Mrs.

Aquino, Teodoro Benigno, has said that with the foiling of the coup attempt, one of the three "daggers" pointed at the heart of the fledgling democratic government has been removed. Two others the communist insurgency and the stagnant economy remain. The communists have so far displayed an unwillingness to reciprocate Mrs. Aquino's gestures of good will, though it is to be hoped that her latest show of strength will mean her deadline for a cease-fire within the week will inspire the insurgents to negotiate. The economy, meanwhile, can only recover in a climate of political stability that does not yet exist.

Still and all, Mrs. Aquino's actions should strengthen her government and give her critics pause. Her patience and that of the Filipinos in general are not to be confused with weakness. There remain manifold problems in the Philippines, but the decisions of the past weekend underscore the determination of Filipinos to resolve them without recourse to tyranny. make it easier for local leaders to go to Washington to lobby for full federal funding of the 18-mile, $250 million system.

The line would run from the East St Louis riverfront, through downtown St. Louis and the Central West End. It would terminate at Lambert Field. As welcome as the shift in Mr. McNary's position is, light rail proponents are facing new difficulties due to election losses and retirements among the region's congressional delegation.

The defeat of Rep. Robert Young, who is the chairman of a subcommittee on public works, by Republican Jack Buechner will deprive light rail of an effective advocate. Mr. Buechner's commitment to the project is a matter of uncertainty; he has said he has questions. In addition, the Reagan administration's resistance to funding new transit lines means that success in Washington is far from assured.

Policy Is This? able to retain those channels after the ayatollah came to power. To move beyond sheer survival, Israel must develop a range of diplomatic tools with which to relate to the often-hostile countries around it. In that context, its Iranian contacts and arms shipments aren't surprising. But when any administration mistakes Israeli foreign policy for its own, trouble could result. Witness Israel's 1982 Lebanon invasion and assault on Beirut.

Concerning Iran, the White House apparently believed it could play the Israeli connections without doing its homework or appreciating how the U.S., as a superpower, must have a different perspective on the Mideast than its leading client state in the region. Countries act in their own interests, and Mr. Reagan may have let his enchantment with Israel cloud his thinking on that point. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The scientists claimed to have discovered a chemical, produced by the body, that stimulated the body's immune system.

The fraud was especially cruel Inasmuch as the news of the purported discovery gave many hope that the new chemical could be used in treating AIDS victims. If researchers at so prestigious an institution yield to the wiles of shady money or instant glory, can higher scruples be expected of scholars farther down the ivory tower? The time may have come when the competition for vanishing tenured positions and accompanying publish-or-perish threats impede true scholarship rather than encourage it. Academic freedom must be large enough to allow scholars to eschew corrupting influences. If it is not, institutional embarrassment such as that now known by Harvard is only the beginning of the pernicious results. To The Rescue capitals in the world.

This is due in large part to the city's layout (a remarkable design by the 18th-century French engineer Pierre L'Enfant) and the city's numerous parks and low-rise buildings. In Washington, two public buildings and a monument the Capitol, the gothic-styled National Cathedral and the Washington Monument dominate the city's skyline. The PortAmerica skyscraper would have dwarfed them. Lucky for Washington, the PortAmerica tower had a fatal design flaw it was to be right in the middle of the southern flight path into Washington's busy National Airport. The FAA's negative ruling was based on air safety considerations, but it has also saved the capital's architectural heritage.

One of President Reagan's worst moments during his last news conference was his denial that a third country was involved in U.S. arms shipments to Iran. He then issued a written correction to his televised remarks. The public had already been told that Israel was that third country, and Israeli leaders had acknowledged as much. Why was Mr.

Reagan protecting Israel? government was intimately iriVolved in helping the administration ship arms to Iran. Israel had been shipping weapons on its own and, through its connections, had developed sources very high in Ayatollah Khomeini's regime. Israeli leaders have long believed their country has an inherent affinity with Iran because both countries are non-Arab. Thus, before the- abdication of the shah in 1979, there was a link between Jerusalem and Tehran, but not diplomatic relations. Israel was ping this high-level radioactive waste through our neighborhoods without regard for our homes, our lives and our children's lives.

Please let your local, state and federal officials hear your concerns about these shipments. Debra L. Wilson Oakland The U.S. Department of Energy has repeatedly reassured St. Louisans and others along the 10-state train route from Pennsylvania to Idaho of the safety of the nuclear waste shipments from the Three Mile Island plant.

The department is counting on its assurances, coupled with the passage of time, to defuse interest in the transportation of these highly radioactive shipments through populated areas. Time might have done the trick if it weren't for the fact that again and again we are confronted with new examples of the worthlessness of the Energy Department's assurances. In October, the DOE was forced to shut down its military plutonium plants in Hanford, Wash. Rep. Ron Wyden of Oregon said that with this latest situation, the DOE's safety reviews have "lost all credibility." If you believe the Energy Department when it says that the transportation of the Three Mile Island fuel is perfectly safe, then I've got a swell nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania to sell you.

John M. Gestrlch Shrewsbury For Drug Tests Re your Nov. 14 editorial about testing employees for drug use: You have always backed legislation to remove the drunk driver from our streets to protect the innocent driver. A person who is zonked out on drugs while working can be just as dangerous. It takes but little imagination to understand why.

You also are willing to back legislation to force us to protect ourselves by wearing seat belts, but you balk at the methods used to protect us from dangerous drug users. You have consistently endorsed the concept that people who are perhaps innocent should not be caught up in a systematic solution to serious problems. But should we let some guilty go free, as you would have it, to save some of the innocent or should we jail a few innocents in order to jail the guilty? I opt for the latter. Life is not always fair. Richard E.

Buerke St. Louis I feel very strongly that taxi drivers, bus drivers, pilots, doctors or anyone else having other people's lives in their hands, as well as movie stars, athletes or anyone children look up to as heroes, as well as public figures, such as policemen, lawyers, politicians and judges should be put to the same law that inebriated drivers are subjected to upon being arrested. According to that law, if you-don't take the test, you are guilty by admission. Charles A. Mullen Granite City Unwanted Solicitations Over the past years, advertising, an always present trait of our society, has become increasingly obnoxious.

In television it has reached a quantity and monotony that make you turn off even those rare programs that are not repulsive in and of themselves. Worse because it is inescapable is the flood of leaflets, brochures and deceptively worded letters sent through the daily mail. Not only must the taxpayer defray the cost of the inundation of his home by paying high rates for his own mail, he is forced to waste his time and energy sorting out, throwing away and carrying this trash to the curb. For the garbage collection he has to pay some more, all the while knowing that be is a helpless accomplice to the depletion of the country's forests. Worst of all, however, is the violation of his privacy by telephone calls.

At all times of the day it is likely to ring, interrupting his work, bis sleep or meals with solicitations for unwanted Items, with sales pitches masked as friendly conversation and difficult to stop. My personal defense Is to studiously avoid buying any of the products that are thus made to intrude upon my life. EgOn Schwarz St. Louis It's high time we face up to the fact that Missouri's highways are in bad shape and getting worse. In a recent report, The Road Information Program (TRIP) said that traffic volume on state roads has climbed by 12 percent in the last two years while potential road revenue has increased only 6 percent.

In short: Available funding for road and bridge improvements is half that needed. This comes as no surprise. Missouri has the lowest gas tax 7 cents a gallon in the nation, but we have the largest state highway IrOIH system in the region. tllk I W'th 110 lmProvement Ulv dollars available, three npnnlA I out of four miles of JcUpiC I state roads will need re- sunacing ana one in four bridges will need repair or replacement in the next 15 years, according to TRIP'S report. The state Legislature must tackle this problem as its first order of business when it reconvenes next year.

Lawmakers must make some hard choices. This is no time for our elected officials to shirk their responsibilities. If we need a special election to deal with this serious revenue shortfall, then let's call one as soon as possible. Come on, Jefferson City. Let's get moving on this.

Let's spare Missouri drivers the pain and repair bills of driving on bad roads. Tom Fichter Kirkwood I voted for the Missouri lottery because part of the money was supposed to be used to build and repair the state's roads and highways. Also, part of the money was supposed to help the schools. Now the state may raise the gasoline tax by 7 cents a gallon to repair highways and bridges. Our property tax will be increased to help the schools.

I would like someone to explain just what is being done with the lottery money. David Early Arnold How can Gov. Ashcroft be so oblivious to our highway requirements? He continues to fail to take the lead in addressing the high way needs of our state, and of this city and county in particular. With the lowest state gasoline tax in the nation, there is no way we can maintain what we have and certainly there is no hope of beginning the much-needed improvements. Ashcroft states that a fuel tax increase could hurt business, when the opposite is true.

We need a first-class transportation system to attract Industry and hold onto what we have. Our governor and some of the legislative leaders have allowed this situation to become a crisis. It's time they take the leadership position for which we elected them and see that our highway system is properly funded. Paul C. Schnoebelen Jr.

Town Country Radiation Risks I would like to ask the citizens of metropolitan St. Louis to consider these important facts relating to the rail shipments of high-level radioactive waste through our communities. The federal Government Accounting Office issued a report in September 1986 citing the Department of Energy for environmental contamination at nine of its facilities. Currently, the state of Ohio is suing the Department of Energy for contamination and excessive worker exposure at a plant outside of Cincinnati. An article in the Post-Dispatch on Nov.

4 mentioned the environmental contamination, and the risks to which the general public and workers alike are being exposed, due to the lack of containment domes at the Savannah River nuclear ammunition plant in South Carolina, which is operated by the DOE. Here in St Louis, in 1985, the Department of Energy finally admitted that the St. Louis Airport Radioactive Waste Dump site bad not been cleaned up, although DOE had claimed it had been for many years. What happened during those years of deception? Among other things, the water table was contaminated. We must question the Department of Energy.

We must not allow It to proceed ship Harvard's Crimson Face For '350 years, Harvard University has prided itself on the high standards it has set and maintained for the academic community. Yet disclosures of two instances involving flagrant violations of those standards have besmirched the university's reputation. More, they raise questions about' the pressures that cause scholars to sujtqumb to the temptation to falsify results or, otherwise compromise their work. The first instance concerns research done by Harvard's former director of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The director accepted grants totaling more than 150,600 from the Central Intelligence Agency on condition that he not disclose its sponsorship.

Additionally, the CIA reserved the right to review Mr. Safran's research before publication and to delete from it anything it might deem classified. The second involves the outright fabrication of data by scientists at Harvard's The FAA Flies air safety and aesthetics won when the Federal Aviation Administration declared that the $1 billion PortAmerica project, in a Maryland suburb of Washington was a danger to aviation and therefore Unacceptable. The FAA's disapproval will Hkely kill the projedt or, at the very least force a major redesign. PortAmerkia project is a massive officeretailcondo development due south of Washington, along the Potomac River.

Thtf cehter of the entire complex was to be a. 630-foot skyscraper, the tallest building between New York1 City and Atlanta. In otter city, the PortAmerica complex would. have been a welcome development. But Washington is different It is among the most beautiful national.