GOVERNMENT: Bafflegab

In Washington, the up-to-date word for gobbledygook is "bafflegab." Last week a speech by an NPA official on materials allocations furnished a prime example:

"We are peaking our program philosophically, but it is naive to assume the allotment program is an equity program unless the allotments are so abysmally low that they permit the agency to relax and allow market determination as a percentage of base period, sidetracking military return with adjustments.

"This is based on use levels proportionately and is in the market test sense. We now have a quantitative framework with marginal qualitative allocations to formalize the procedure for further refining and implementing of our objectives."