St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1960-01-22
Are Quiz Scandals
Only A Symptom?

We are reluctant to join in the
field day that the press, generally,
has enjoyed at television's expense
This is not because we believe the
rogues to be innocent. Rather, it
is because we believe that the i'm
portance Of their guilt has been
wildly exaggerated, the signifi-
canoe of their guilt almost wholly
overlooked
What Is important is that we
recognize the television scandals
for what they area symptom of
the declining standards of moral
behavior in the United States
The ethics Of the quiz show are
by no means confined to television.
In many Of our schools, for in
stance, we tacitly approve the pol
icy Of automatic promotion-that
sleazy practice Of sending billiards
from grade to grade when they
can't, or won't, do the required
work. Ultimately they are grad
uated," i'll prepared for the jobs
they will seek with their fraudul-
ent diplomas.
In our colleges responsible edu-
Gators now estimate that perhaps
as many as one third of all stu
dents cheat rather regularly" on
their examinations. 1t is really not
surprising that they do so. Their
more celebrated classmates, the
football team. were very probably
recruited by one or another of the
undercover lodges employed by
| college administrators to circum-
vent the pious codes they publicly
endorse.
On the labor front we are as
sailed by the dismal memory Of
Dave Beck and the spectacle of a
Hoffa triumphant over the majesty
Of Federal authority We see feath-
EMBEDDING and thuggery upheld in
cynical disregard Of the national
welfare.
Medicine? After years of tongue
clucking by the American Medi-
cal Association, fee splitting goes
on as always. Some specialists
continue to kick back to general
practitioners who send them pa
tents. In another sector health
insurance plans mount in cost be-
cause, for one reason, doctors and
patients conspire to chisel on the
terms Of the contracts.
Lawyers? Alongside the honest
attorneys sinks that grimy fringe
of ambulance chasers, shysters and
mouthpieces-the flouters of JUS
tice whose special skill is to teach |
the willing pupil how to beat the
law
Washington: The home freezer
and the mink coat are old stuff |
by now. So, also, is the strange |
case of the Miami television lie |
ense, the vicuna coat, the Gold |
fine rug, the innocent phone calls
Of Sherman Adams, the Congress
sional payrolls stuffed with rela-
tiVes.
But what about the senator who |
conveniently forgets that the hill
arious speech which established
him as a latter-day Will Rogers
was actually written by some ink
stained ghost whose name the SEN
ator conveniently forgot to men,
ton? And how many members Of
Congress accept campaign con-
tributions from donors whose OBJ
vious, If unspecified, purpose is to
compromise the vote Of the sue
cessful candidate?
The catalogue Of American Van
Dozens is thick and blowzy. It
includes those American business
which caused the Federal Trade
Commission to announce recently
that advertising abuses were at
an all-time high. J
Nor, we regret to say, is the
press without blemish. Some Of the
publications that trumpeted tele-
Visions derelictions most loudly
are themselves guilty Of question
able practice. Some permit their
baseball writer's, for example, to
travel at the expense Of the team
they cover-compromising objec-
tiHty for a few dollars a year
Some see no ethical reason why
their editors should not accept the |
free travel, free liquor, free en-
tertainment offered by public re-
lations firms in pursuit Of favor
able mention for their clients. |
Some angle their editorial content |
with the advertiser, not the read
er, in mind.
And all of us-newspapers and
magazines alike-are wide open to |
the charge that we have abetted
the national delinquency by help
ing to foster a phony value system
in our country. BY glamorizing |
sports we so inflated the football |
star that colleges felt justified in
buying him to fill the stadium that |
costs more than the physics build
ing. BY our preoccupation with the
bosomy starlet, the sweetly smil-
ing faces of television, we encour-
aged our readers to accept phony
standards Of success, helped the
creatures Of publicity to rewards
that their contributions do not |
merit.
Viewed against this capsule pic