In the Public Interest

Earlier this year, a stream of letters from workers at the Dow Chemi­cal plant in Michigan pour­ed into senatorial offices to protest the bill that would require safeguards for toxic chemical substances. Inspired and guided by Dow executives, these workers wrote their sena­tors because management had led them to believe that jobs would be lost…

I’ve come across a General Motors statement that finally makes sense! It has nothing to do with automobiles or the ways they are built. Rather, it describes a vast source of practical energy that grows annually in this country and is left on the farm after harvest —the non-edible parts of plants such as cornstalks…

You would think that, in the midst of the nation’s largest disclosed corporate crime wave, Washington would be replete with focused concern and corrective action. Not so. Look at the scene of indifference: 1. There are no congressional investigations planned on business crime and the need for stronger laws and more enforcement resources and prosecutorial…

How can government and corporate officials become more sensitive to the an­guish, hopes, ideas and strengths of the people? This is one of the cardi­nal, age-old questions of justice and democracy, par­ticularly in a society where huge organizations are headed by remote, often inaccessible rulers with more power than they can responsibly use. It is…

How many times have you wondered how to find the best auto repair shops, plumbers, banks, health insurance, pharmacies, TV or appliance repair outlets, household movers, employ­ment agencies, nursing homes, hospital emergency rooms and other services in your community? Robert M. Krughoff also wondered, and two years ago he resigned his federal job in Washington…

The increasing corporate grip over some labor lead­ers is troubling consumer, environmental, health and tax reform groups. Big business strategists, exploiting the conditions of unemployment and utilizing a very accommodating White House, are using scare and divide-and-rule techniques as their major tactics. GEORGE MEANY, head of the AFL-CIO, recently demonstrated a confused perception of the…

“Tax reform” is a phrase that means all things to all people, especially in Wash­ington. To corporations, “tax re­form” means lower taxes and special loopholes al­legedly to give them more incentive to make money from consumers To the average taxpayer, “tax reform” means repeal­ing those loopholes and spe­cial provisions for the rich and powerful so…

The stage is set for a dramatic struggle between Gerald Ford and consumer forces in Congress over the price of energy in this country. As if to punctuate the onset of this “battle of the billions,” the giant oil companies’ recent price in­creases signaled the second lap in their drive for $1­per-gallon gasoline. President Ford’s…

Why can’t we buy can­ning jar lids? That’s the question asked by home canners around the country in letters that are flooding government agencies and consumer groups these days. G.A. Bell of Alexandria, Ky., writes to call “atten­tion to a situation which is putting an obstacle in the way of the home gardening program. This…

Mildred E. Hershner of upstate New York wants us to do something about law­yers. She, like many con­sumers, writes to complain about lawyers — their in­competence, their delays, their fees, or their deceit, as the particular case may be. These people express their feelings with indigna­tion and frequently lump to­gether all bar associations and all…