Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.
October 10, 1975 - Journalist David Halberstam speaks at a World Press Forum at Macalester College. He talks about the electronic media explosion and communication revolution as being comparable to the printing press and moveable type. He describes the increasing power of network television news over the past fifteen years, and the way this has strengthened the presidency and weakened Congress. He says the power of TV network news was first felt with the Vietnam War, when the press became an anti-state against the power of the presidency. He warned of an overly-powerful executive branch.
October 10, 1975 - Minnesota and North Dakota differ on possible Red River pollution from the Garrison Diversion irrigation project. Minnesota has threatened a lawsuit and moratium of the project?s construction, in effect killing the project. North Dakota suggests the experiences of similar river projects around the country may provide adequate data to prevent a moratorium, but Minnesota is concerned these may not be applicable to this project. North Dakota Attorney General Allen Olson and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency director Peter Gove met to discuss concerns of each state about the project. The meeting ended without a real solution. The concern for Minnesota is that North Dakota may curtail electricty it supplies to Minnesota if Minnesota blocks this project. There?s a concern this issue might build an Iron Curtain between the states. Political considerations rather than legal may end up resolving the issue. When an upcoming Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is issued in the next year MPCA will evaluate the situation and make a decision on whether to go forward with legal action.
October 10, 1975 - When harvest time arrives in the northern plains farmers go into the fields to harvest the crop. This story is primarily a montage of sounds of the harvest including combines, farm machinery, and a farmer’s reflections.
October 10, 1975 - Dr. Christian Barnard, famous heart transplant surgeon, talks briefly about his novel whose protagonist is a heart surgeon. He says one point of the book was to bring out racial discrimination and segregation in medicine, petty-apartheid (petit-apartheid?), in South Africa. He talks about having received threats due to his challenging the white ideology in South Africa, where the white minority fears they?ll lose everything they?ve built there without the apartheid government structure. They?ve seen what has happened in other African countries. South Africa represents western civilization in Africa, and competition is based on your ability to compete in that environment, where it?s natural the white man would do better.
October 11, 1975 - John Milhone, Minnesota Energy Agency director, is skeptical of the president?s energy proposal including a subsidy for crash construction of synthetic fuels by 1976. He says while there?s a need for additional capital for the development of energy sources we?ve learned that programs announced with a with a fanfare and big dollar tag are not necessarily effective. This reminds him of Project Independence, a plan to have the nation energy independent by 1980. That?s impossible and it will be difficult to be even partially independent by 1985. Splashy big investment programs are not a good substitute for a more realistic look at energy use and supply. We need to look at more effective conservation programs, such as a need to get better efficiency out of automobiles. We should spend funds on alternative transportation methods and mass transit programs. The railroads don?t get support they need. With retrofitting insulation in homes, business and industry for less money you could get more energy savings. It?s possible to consider conservation programs as economic investments in fuel. With limited public funds in the energy area more could be achieved by conservation than new supply development projects.
October 12, 1975 - The king of Norway is in the Twin Cities as part of a tour to commemorate the first wave of Norwegian immigrants 150 years ago in 1825. Some 800,000 Norwegians left to come to the U.S. due primarily to overpopulation and lack of tillable land. A spokeswoman with the King?s press entourage, Anna Bagatier (sp?), says as Minnesota is the state with the most people of Norwegian descent, this was a natural place for the king to visit. Many people in Norway have relatives here. One spectator, Mrs. Anna Henland (sp?), came to the U.S. from Norway in 1956 for a trip and decided to stay and settle here. Spectators waved flags as the Air Force jet with the king arrived; the Augsburg band played (fanfare music). The king received roses and later left for the Leamington Hotel. He?ll be in Minneapolis for several days.
October 13, 1975 - Archie Holmes says equal educational opportunity changes the way people operate.
October 13, 1975 - MPR’s Steve Monroe interviews Jerry Perkins, a farmer near Worthington about the corn yield this year. Perkins discusses various harvesting challenges, including weather and where do you cut down on the use of fuel at the expense of crop loss in the field?
October 13, 1975 - Senator John Milton says Michigan people, particularly key legislators, regard the nursing home industry as a public utility because the amount of money from public funds going into the industry is enormous, and the taxpaying public has an interest greater than with normal commercial ventures. Another reason is a lot of old people who need protection, a responsibility and concern of state in terms of public health and safety. In many cases the homes are being bought through use of public funds and federally guaranteed mortgage money, with fees put on the reimbursement system. Dues paid to associations who hire lobbyists for the industry are being passed on to the public.
October 13, 1975 - The visit of Norway?s King Olaf and the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebration of Norwegian immigration offers an opportunity to learn more about both. Harvard linguistics and Scandinavian studies professor Einar Haugen visited Concordia College where he was interviewed. He describes King Olav as democratic, friendly, not an intellectual, who hasn?t played a great role in political development because as king he?s a figurehead without veto rights over bills passed by Parliament. He?s primarily interested in sports, above all he?s a yachtsman, has won awards for sailing. Haugen responds to a question about why the Norwegians, from a mountainous region, settled on the prairie. He says the Norwegians who came in the early decades of immigration were nearly all farmers. Their first settlement was a somewhat mountainous region near Lake Erie, which they discovered was impossible economically as it would take several years before they?d get a crop. They didn?t have money to wait, they had to go where go soil was available. The U.S. was giving land away free in the West to sow a crop; this was much better than anything in the East where land was poor or expensive. In a sense they come not from the mountains of Norway but from the agricultural soil. They missed and loved the mountains of Norway.