July 7, 1995

Drawing together many of his recent themes, President Clinton called on the nation's political figures today to have "more conversation and less combat" and to help Americans find some "common ground" as Republicans and Democrats debate the proper role of government. In a wide-ranging speech, the President vigorously defended his vision of government as an agent to improve the lives of the middle class against the Republicans' call for less government. But Mr. Clinton also denounced "too much extremism of rhetoric and excessive partisanship" and said the way the political debate was conducted was as important to the country as its outcome.

Few operations of the Government are smaller or cheaper than the White House's Council of Economic Advisers. So why are Congressional Republicans so interested in abolishing it? That question confronts the council's new chairman, Joseph E. Stiglitz, appointed on the same day last week that a House Appropriations subcommittee voted to eliminate financing for the council.

The bankers who set loan and deposit rates and the investors who buy and sell Treasury bonds apparently concluded months ago that the risk of an overheated economy was fading and higher interest rates were no longer needed to protect them against inflation. The Federal Reserve waited until yesterday to ratify that thinking with its first cut in the Federal funds rate after a yearlong series of increases. Many rates that directly affect consumers had already fallen in anticipation of the move, and analysts say long-term rates are not likely to fall further soon, though short-term rates may drop. Articles, pages A1 and D4.

PEOPLE who have never participated in the ultimate urban experience often have a hard time understanding why people in Manhattan revere nature. When you are surrounded by nothing but the relentless gray of concrete and the cold glare of glass, each flower becomes an occasion for celebration. Many of us spend the cold months dreaming about the warm ones. When spring finally arrives, we make pilgrimages to smell the lilacs in Central Park, and summer finds us spreading blankets in unlikely places so we can worship the sun. We nurture each pathetic tree that struggles upward to spread a bit of shade across a sidewalk. Is it any wonder that every restaurant with a square foot of outdoor space instantly fills it with a table? You already know about Barbetta, the Tavern on the Green, Provence and the Sea Grill, to name just a few famous outdoor eating spots. But just when it seemed that no garden had gone undiscovered, some ingenious restaurateurs unearthed a few more. They reclaimed derelict parks and created farms out of what once was paved. Some found unused courtyards; others went up on the roof. These gardens, listed loosely in the order of preference, have all opened in Manhattan within the last year or two. They are large and small, high and low, and they offer every conceivable sort of food. But each has made summer in the city just a little bit better.

Continuing her winning streak, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman got a second state workers' union to reach a settlement yesterday on a four-year contract that includes a two-year pay freeze and requires employees who want traditional health insurance to help pay for it, The Associated Press reported. The agreement with the 7,000-member International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers is similar to a deal reached earlier this week with the 9,000-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. But the largest state workers union, the 35,000-member Communications Workers of America, said it will not agree to the same terms.