Appil 22, 1970

Honmrable William Proxmire
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510

Dear Bill:

Two minipoints toward government economy and solid waste control:

e
(1) Attached page of the Congressional Record illustrates sone superwaste
(whatever one thinks of the rhetoric quoted just once). This article must
have been reprinted at least four times in the Record, and I have seen this
sort of thing repeatedly. Surely the editors of the CR could be authorized
to quote such repeats by reference to title and page. I believe the CR

costs some $300 per page. (Please appropriate the savings to restore the
cuts in my NIH grant.)

(2) Many newspapers like the New York Times ship tons of waste newspring
by subsidized mails to subscribers who don't want the local (especially
classified) advertising and presumably do not support its rate base. There
is a social purpose to supporting the dissemination of the news sections,
but I feel that organizational inertia is all that sustains the rote ship-~
ment of the garbage too. To qualify for preferential rates, a paper should
be under mandate to offer section-options to its,subscribers. This would
also make air-shipment more feasible.

Surely something senaible could be worked out with the publishers 1{f the
P.0.D. were rpodded to go after them.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg
e 4 . Professor of Genetics
K bBo.

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