In the Public Interest

Early in our country’s history, fire was a major threat to whole towns and cities. So citizens got together and formed effective volunteer fire departments. Other citizens worked to establish public libraries because they be­lieved books and publications should be accessible to all. Like educational Johnny Appleseeds, farsighted pio­neers gathered funds to establish colleges throughout…

What’s that old saying about not seeing the forest for the trees? Well, look again. An old form of energy — waste wood — is coming back as a. signifi­cant, renewable and relatively clean source of heat. Both utilities and industrial plants now are showing keen interest in utilizing woodchips, sawdust and bark discarded by…

Wright Patman, the great Texas populist, represented the people of his East Texas district for almost half a century in the House of Representatives before pneumonia claimed him at Bethesda Naval Hospital early last Sunday. He also spoke for all consumers, homeowners and tenants who needed a champion against the power of big money and…

Ohio State University, na­tionally known for its foot­ball team, may soon receive national recognition for its remarkably easy success in reducing its fuel and elec­tricity consumption. In fact, the Ohio State story, and others like it, may finally bring Washing­ton around to giving energy conservation top priority as the way to make the econo­my more…

All the presidential candi­dates are talking about big government. They want to make it more efficient. Some want to decentralize federal power to the states and a few would use big government to tame big business. What they all want us to believe is that, if elected, they would use presidential power to serve the…

GOTHENBURG, Sweden — How would you like to know the operating weak points of cars, by make and model, on a regular and reliable basis? Here in Sweden, motor­ists can find out. Using data from the annual compulsory inspection of motor vehi­cles, the Swedish Motor Vehicle Inspection Compa­ny tabulates the compara­tive results for dozens of…

On the morning of Feb. 18 in the cloistered congressional hearing room of the Joint. Committee on Atomic Energy, the drama of Sen. John Pastore’s final year in the Sen­ate will begin to unfold. On that day, Chairman John Pas­tore, the leading booster of atomic power for two decades in the Senate, comes face to…

Morris the cat is informing millions of television viewers these days a about his finicky preference for a certain kind of cat food. This is more can than he said about the preference of millions of television viewers for the kind of television they would like to watch over the public’s airwaves. What they need…

Petitions, protests, read-ins and demonstrations confronted the an­nouncement by the financially pressed New York Public Library that eight branch libraries would be promptly closed with still others to be shut down within the next two years. Other branches and the great central library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street have had their hours and services…

William J. Baroody Jr. couldn’t have done better by the consumer movement that he so strenuously op­poses. As the President’s as­sistant for public liaison, Baroody is the coordinator of a series of regional White House conferences this month on proposed federal departmental consumer representation plans in major cities around the country. Both the plans and…