News stories from Tuesday December 3, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Both the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to override President Ford's veto of a measure to increase by 22.7 percent the educational benefits for veterans since the end of the Korean war. On a bill for special tax benefits to victims of Hurricane Agnes and other disasters in 1972, Mr. Ford's veto was sustained in the House. [New York Times]
- Representative Wilbur Mills entered the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., soon after his House Democratic colleagues had voted a further reduction in his vast power. They also began steps to remove him as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He appeared briefly on the floor of the House, said to a colleague he was ill and exhausted and might have to "resign the whole thing." Al Ullman of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the committee, will be nominated to replace him as chairman. The House Democrats agreed without dissent to increase the committee membership from the present 25 to 37.
Representative Mills, who became chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in 1958, was an enigmatic backstage manager who knew when to switch positions to be in the vanguard with a compromise ready. Starting in 1972, when he ran for the presidency with little chance for success, his life seemed to come apart. "We can't deal with the man anymore," one member of the House said.
[New York Times] - A Senate-House conference committee approved a strong bill to curb environmental abuses in strip or surface coal mining. Passage next week is probable. The surprise action may have had an element of backlash against industry lobbying. [New York Times]
- Senators James Buckley and Claiborne Pell announced that they would jointly move to amend controversial sections of a new law that allows parents and students to examine school records. The changes would guarantee confidentiality of existing letters of recommendation, let students waive the right to see selected documents and restrict the right to see the financial statements of their parents. [New York Times]
- The 84 members of the Rockefeller family are worth more than $1 billion in securities held outright or in trusts from which they benefit, their senior financial adviser, J. Richardson Dilworth, told the House Judiciary Committee. He said that they are "simply investors" not interested in controlling anything. He modified this under questioning to say that his statement referred to "large public companies" but not to Rockefeller Center, Inc., or the International Basic Economy Corporation. [New York Times]
- The Treasury will sell at auction 2 million ounces of its gold -- worth $360 million at current world prices -- a few days after Americans are legally permitted to own gold bullion beginning Dec. 31. Secretary William Simon told a congressional committee he stood by the schedule, enacted by Congress this year, for ending the ban on ownership of bullion. The disclosure of the auction plan touched off a sharp drop in European bullion markets. [New York Times]
- Britain's Defense Secretary announced plans in Parliament to cut defense spending by reducing manpower, ending new programs, closing bases and bringing troops home from Southeast Asia. Forces on Cyprus would be reduced as well as most of those in Singapore and some in Hong Kong. The agreement with South Africa on using the Simonstown naval base would be ended. The proposals would leave intact the 55,000-man force assigned to West Germany under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Secretary, Roy Mason, estimated that the cuts would save about $700 million next year. Britain's present defense spending is about $8.6 billion a year. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 596.61 (-6.41, -1.06%)
Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish. | |||||||||||||||
| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| December 2, 1974 | 603.02 | 68.11 | 11.14 |
| November 29, 1974 | 618.66 | 69.97 | 7.40 |
| November 27, 1974 | 619.29 | 69.94 | 14.81 |
| November 26, 1974 | 617.26 | 69.47 | 13.60 |
| November 25, 1974 | 611.94 | 68.83 | 11.30 |
| November 22, 1974 | 615.30 | 68.90 | 13.02 |
| November 21, 1974 | 608.57 | 68.18 | 13.82 |
| November 20, 1974 | 609.59 | 67.90 | 12.43 |
| November 19, 1974 | 614.05 | 68.20 | 15.72 |
| November 18, 1974 | 624.92 | 69.27 | 15.23 |