The Week

That slow private silent death that is the boatmate of every man who goes down to the sea in submarines has claimed its own once more. Twice more: the Minèrve, sailing out of Toulon, that ancient nest of French fighting vessels, and the Dakar, submergent from Tel Aviv, within the space of one week took their final sounding, and in their shared sea, the Mediterranean. It would have been unlike the sea to give us such events quite free of mystery. One wonders what the French were up to (mais qu’allait-il faire en cette galère?), one wonders why they spurned the offers of help in the search effort, one wonders what the Israelis were doing in an armed submarine sixty miles east of Cyprus. None can oppose at least this one conclusion: that the world is armed, and on the prowl, and there is not likely to be peace in our time.

Last week the minimum wage hopped up to $1.60 an hour (with many exclusions) from $1.40—a 14 per cent rise (Lord save us if the unions hope to match it!). About thirty months ago Dr. Arthur Burns (formerly Eisenhower’s economic chieftain) issued a forecast in his book, The Management of Prosperity, which was based on historical experience: “In the absence of any change in the general state of the economy, another increase of twenty-five cents in the minimum wage would be likely to raise the unemployment rate of nonwhite teen-agers by as much as 8 percentage points.” The present rise will (after a few months) contribute heavily to teen-age nonwhite unemployment, and should be considered a contributory factor in next summer’s disorders. You’d think Congress would at least have the good sense to raise the minimum wage in the autumn and put people out of work when the weather is cool and tempers are more serene.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

National Review

That slow private silent death that is the boatmate of every man who goes down to the sea in submarines has claimed its own once more. Twice more: the Minèrve, sailing out of Toulon, that ancient nest of French fighting vessels, and the Dakar, submergent from Tel Aviv, within the space of one week took their final sounding, and in their shared sea, the Mediterranean. It would have been unlike the sea to give us such events quite free of mystery. One wonders what the French were up to (mais qu’allait-il faire en cette galère?), one wonders why they spurned the offers of help in the search effort, one wonders what the Israelis were doing in an armed submarine sixty miles east of Cyprus. None can oppose at least this one conclusion: that the world is armed, and on the prowl, and there is not likely to be peace in our time.

Last week the minimum wage hopped up to $1.60 an hour (with many exclusions) from $1.40—a 14 per cent rise (Lord save us if the unions hope to match it!). About thirty months ago Dr. Arthur Burns (formerly Eisenhower’s economic chieftain) issued a forecast in his book, The Management of Prosperity, which was based on historical experience: “In the absence of any change in the general state of the economy, another increase of twenty-five cents in the minimum wage would be likely to raise the unemployment rate of nonwhite teen-agers by as much as 8 percentage points.” The present rise will (after a few months) contribute heavily to teen-age nonwhite unemployment, and should be considered a contributory factor in next summer’s disorders. You’d think Congress would at least have the good sense to raise the minimum wage in the autumn and put people out of work when the weather is cool and tempers are more serene.