News stories from Saturday January 31, 1976

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

President Ford, on a political trip to his home state, urged Middle Western Republican leaders to unite behind his go-slow prescription for economic recovery. In an address to about 900 delegates to the Midwestern Republican Leadership Conference in Dearborn, Mich., Mr. Ford avoided an overt appeal for help in overcoming the challenge from Ronald Reagan for the party's presidential nomination. But in a sharp attack on Democrats who advocate direct government intervention to increase employment, Mr. Ford offered a between-the-lines rebuff to Mr. Reagan without mentioning his name. [New York Times] The people who study the electorate, not the presidential candidates, to get a sense of direction in American politics see a fog of futility setting in around the 1976 election. Words like "diffusion" and "disaggregation" are being used to describe the state of the electorate. Some analysts talk of "decomposition" and "decay" of the traditional two-party system. But they discern one trend clearly: a declining interest in voting. If the clear trend of modern elections continues this year, as many as half of the 150 million eligible voters will declare by not voting that they had no choice worth making. [New York Times] The Supreme Court decision on campaign financing laws on Friday stated clearly for the first time that spending money in politics is "speech" protected by the First Amendment. The Court set rules for when and how that speech may be restricted, and the rules for when the restrictions become unconstitutional as unjustified infringements on the right to speak freely. It thus made the decision, as Joel Gore, one of the lawyers in the case, said, "one of the major Supreme Court statements on the First Amendment and on political speech in our time." [New York Times] Banking and investment officials around the country doubt that New York state can re-enter the national bond market in time to meet its $4 billion borrowing requirements in the spring, even if the legislature adopts a balanced budget in the weeks ahead. Executives of major banks and investment firms predicted in interviews that it would take much longer than the next few months to restore investor confidence in the state's fiscal affairs. The spring borrowing would provide customary state aid to counties, cities and school districts. A banker who has been deeply involved with both city and state credit problems said, "I don't think there is any conceivable way the public market can do the job without some outside assistance." He said that it was virtually certain that the state would have to turn to its public employee pension systems to help meet at least some of the borrowing requirements. [New York Times] The Soviet Union issued its final economic figures for 1975, confirming earlier estimates of a serious decline in agricultural production and revealing a failure to meet many of the goals of the last five-year plan. The statistics indicated continuing growth in most key sectors except agriculture, but the increase generally was below the goals set in 1970. Production of consumer goods, which was one of the priorities, was still below heavy industry. [New York Times] The United States was charged with "waging economic war on Angola" by the head of the government set up by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. In an interview in Luanda admittedly aimed at American public opinion, Prime Minister Lopo do Nascimento said that State Department pressure on the Gulf Oil Company to suspend its operations in Angola and to withhold $200 million in royalties constituted a new phase in the Angola war. [New York Times] The Spanish government, more tolerant of the press, the movies and the theater than it has been in 40 years, will no longer censor movie scripts. The movies and the theater were the last areas where the government exercised prior censorship. It was abolished for the press eight years ago and is applied to books only in a very limited way. The decision to lift the requirement that a movie script be submitted to official review before filming could start was greeted with great satisfaction in the industry. The government is now under stronger pressure than ever to remove censorship from plays and is expected to do so soon. [New York Times]