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Page 12 PHOENIX April 4,1974E d i t o r i a l sThe Eternal PragmatistIn his letter on the adjacent page, John Wingate of Long Island College Hospital asks that nothing be done to %u201c destroy%u201d what could be a %u201c good relationship%u201d between the Cobble Hill institution and its neighbors. We agree, but accusing us of %u201c false charges%u201d evades the underlying issue in the situation - that the Hospital circulated a memorandum outlining an expansion plan; that three months later it submitted a formal plan to the State Health Department for approval; and that two months after that, in March, news of this formal plan %u201c accidentally%u201d got into print, a %u201c surprise.%u201d Our observation is that this chain of events throws doubt on the Hospital%u2019s sincerity.Mr. Wingate says that there are %u201c certain outstanding issues%u201d that must be solved %u201c through reasoned discussions with community leaders %u201d When and where is this going to happen? The plan was submitted to the State in January. If the release of that fact and the details of the plan was an %u201c accident%u201d in March, when would this %u201c reasoned discussion%u201d have taken place? Even at this printing, there is no date for such discussions. After what has transpired over the years between the Hospital and the community, we would think that some serious demonstration of sincerity would be overtly made. The sequence of events described above casts doubt that anything but a plan has been changed.The tragedy in the politicizing of the hospital expansion issue is that the facility and the merits of this or any pian constantly get obscured by the smoke over the mechanics of reaching agreement. We would expect the hospital to go out of its way to demonstrate its sincerity and out of its way to throw open the process. Instead, what we see is more of the same old techniques. We interpret what we see as deception.As We See ItIt%u2019s about the time we all think about the Tax Man, and how we are going to meet than annual burden; time to gripe and groan about the horrendous amount out of that paycheck. So what do this week%u2019s papers show, but that Richard Nixon may still owe nearly half a million bucks in back taxes. That%u2019s more than most of us earn in a lifetime, and that%u2019s just the taxes he %u201c ducked.%u201d The Nixon panorama that is being laid out by the Jaworski investigators and the Congressional probers is a picture of men to whom skirting the limits of issues is little different than brushing the limits of the law. Probably underlying both the President%u2019s tax problems and his Watergate problems is something even more fundamental-a missing standard of morality.If the current age is regarded as the heyday of the pragmatist, the Nixon people must be viewed as the epitome of the breed. Without a standard of morality, however, the pragmatist is free to roam and we are now seeing the consequences. The preachers are having a field day. The moralists are pontificating. And the ordinary folk are offended. Men without a rock bottom set of standards are installed in power-however fleeting. And we are all reminded how fortunate we have been for so many years that most politicians are possessed with either their own real set of standards, or they take on a public set for the limits of their terms, respecting-in at least a general way-the people they are elected to serve.rite PHOENIX is published 50 times a year by Ad-' orate Press, inc., isa %u00abriante %u00abvenue , Iliuu k!,.,, NCVVYork 11201. Single copy price is 15 cents, annual subscription h> mail in New York State, effective July 1,107:i is $5: outside New York. $t>.M ichael A. A rm strong , Publisher755 Atlantic AvenueB r o o k lyn 11201Tel. 643-1032Councilman Richmond s Survey;Concern nigh OverCon Ed, PackagingniiiiimiiininmiiininMiA A A A A A AA A A A A A, ACOUNCILM AN'SCORNER%u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605 %u2605iniiiiimmiiiiiiHiNmiiuiNi9