ustxtxb_obs_1967_09_01_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

America the Beautiful … Is Everybody’s Job It’s the job of every family that spreads a picnic on a roadside table. It’s the job of every boatman who cruises the lakes and waterways. Every driver, every walker, every flier. That’s why our Association throws its wholehearted support each year into the Keep America Beautiful campaign. Lovely country we have here. Let’s keep it that way. UNITED STATES BREWERS ASSOCIATION, INC. 905 International Life Bldg., Austin, Texas 78701 amendment to the Constitution .which would provide statehood for the District of Columbia. . . . “The District of Columbia is not the lone wilderness it was when the Constitutional Convention provided for a seat for the federal government. When the delegates to that convention gave their few hours of debate to what form of government should exist in the national capital, there were less than 8,000 people living in what is now the District of Columbia. Today, more than 800,000 disenfranchised Americans are citizens of this District. It is a major population center of the United States, with unique economic and social probleMs of its own. It is larger in population than eleven states, including the two most recent ones. One third of the members of the US Senate represent areas which are smaller. “I fully realize that the legislation I am introducing will face formidable opposition in both the Senate and the House, for there are those among us who would keep the nation’s capital a despotic duchy of their own rule forever. But, I am certain that one day statehood for Columbia will be enacted: there is no other way to bring self-determination to the citizens of this District. . . . For my part I am proud to introduce today the original statehood for Colurnbia legislation.” The Oil Loophole The President has proposed an increase in everyone’s and every company’sncome tax of 10%. There was never a better time for Johnson to have proposed repeal or reduction of the 27.5% oil depletion allowance, but he did not. Congressman Joelson, Democrat of New Jersey, introduced a repealer August 16; Senator Proxmire proposed a reduction to 15%. Joelson, noting the oil loophole deprives the government of up to $1.5 billion a year in tax resources, stated also that “taxation figures from 1965 showed that 20 major oil companies paid corporate taxes at a rate of 6.3%, while most American businesses paid the usual federal corporate rate of 48%. In addition, the 20 largest oil companies together paid taxes totaling less than 23% of the largest firm’s income for that one year.” Joelson rejected the idea that the allow Sarah Payne, Business Manager Texas Observer 504 W. 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78705 Send a copy of the Observer to: Name Address City, State Suggested by: Name ance is necessary for the fiscal health of the industry, citing a study by the Library of Congress which held that twothirds of the depletion allowance claimed by incoming-earning corporations goes to ;Austin If the journalistic diet in your area is too bland for your, taste, may I suggest two possible condiments that may titillate your intellectual tastebuds. I ‘speak of the Catholic press and the underground press. Catholic newspapers, mostly weeklies in Texas, are typically devoted in some considerable measure to local social issues, matters that, again typically, are ignored or skimmed over by the metropolitan dailies of our state. The best Catholic paper I’ve seen is the Alamo Messenger in San Antonio. Another good one is those with assets of $250 million or more. The smaller companies, Joelsoh added, can’t afford to take the risks inherent in drilling dangerous projects in the first place. R.D. the Texas Catholic Herald at Houston and Galveston. There are others that are worthwhile. Ask one of your Catholic friends about the paper in your region. The underground press is a function, roughly speaking, of the New Left. There are two such papers in Texas -at present and another planned. The existing publications are The Rag, born last fall in Austin, but now moved to Houston; and Notes from the Underground, published at Dallas. A Fort Worth underground paper is, I’m told, being organized. Underground papers have a slant all their September 1, 1967 15 In My Opinion Piquant Reading