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0 Side' Glances
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Washington Merry-Go-K?ound
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By DREW PEARSON
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"IBlTORIAI PAGE
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La Grahde Evening Observer
O Frank Schirtj; Publisher
ttjpii-:.si)A t:vi:mnc, mauch 27, mi.')
"What Are You Cryhifj About, Neifl(fwr?"
I 'age' Two
iiivmm Mar
7'
U GRANDE
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Ronde Valley irrigation project.
A city of 10,000
' And Itrcfhtmp4 te Uiiij,Y.(ttf':
but be yo transformed by the reiiewfhjr
of your mind, that ye may prove what
In that Rood, and acceptable, and per
' feet, will of God. Romans 12:2. ' '
THOUGHTS FOR TODA1?
1 Troth makes on the ocean- of nature
ho dun track of light every eve look
ing on finds its own. Kulwer-I.ytton.
A Crack in the Curfew Hell
With the allied food and entertain
ment industries of greater New York's
voluntary decision to decline Mayor I. a
Guardia's "extra hour of tolerance'' and
abide by Mobilization Tiirectnr l'yrnes'
midnight curfew request, the whole fusg
l)0tween the mayor and Byrnes seems to
have simmered down to a tompst in n
demi-tasse. Ftut perhaps it is of some
interest as an example of how a psycho
kiglcnlly sound idea can be defeated by
Unsound psychology of application,
Byrnes requested the curfew as a
means of saving heat, electricity, trans
portation and manpower. He fortified
tho request by invoking OPA and WMC
sanctions which could, for all practical
purposes, put" anyone out of business
who refused to accede to the request.
Ilyrnes hIno mentioned some less tan
gible but inure persuasive reasons for a
COl'few,' and Mi since repeated them.
'They are unanswerable. Certainly, as
he said, the men nt the front have a
right to expect some mimll sacrifices
from us at 'home. And certainly it is
a small siifcrifife indeed to end one's
merrymaking at midnight.
Rut these reasons were not itiven as
the impelling force behind the curfew.
Instead, liyrncs requested the curfew as
a practical economy. And even before
il fent into effect it was obvious that
UujMU(ii4 would be small.
Novol'tholoMK. pill' (r n v n r n mnnta
tftmtijrlurift trfe land responded iiktrio-
r
lieultvi AliuVnone was more enthusias
tic than New York's, where the mayor
put through the city council a new clos
ing law; with arrest and stiff punish
ment for violators. Then speakeasies
sprang up. And soldiers on leave, at
loose ends after midnight, got into more
trouble than f'C.v would ever find in a
night club.
So a Omirdia reversed himself with
equal enthusiasm, defying Flyrncs and
the city's new closing law which he him
self had put through. It won him con
demnation almost everywhere except in
his homo city. !ut the home city is
whoro the mayor is running for re-election
next fall.
And the curfew might thus have
stood today knee-deep in ineptitude, Hut
tho army and navy orders to Servicemen
to observe the midnight curfew hour
seem to have won the issue for Ilyrnes
where other means merely created an
impasse.
Tho whole thing seems to demon
strate again that you can't legislate re
sponsibility into a people, especially the
.American people, and most especially by
such devious ways. The denouement in
dicates that Ilyrnes might have been
more successful if he had frankly in
voked his curlew on ethical rather than
practical grounds.
As it is there is a suspicion that be
hind a screen of dubious logic Byrnes
has made a well-hitonlioned hut' mis
guided effort to replace individual con
science with a governmental substitute.
Doing, nettling hurts must just after you
finish it.
WASHINGTON The army's promotion
policy on general officers came in for a
thorough laking-over last week, when the
senate military affairs committee met in a
closed-dour session to consider the recom
mended promotion of nine lieutenant Ken
erals to full generals.
ChainnaiOEIhcrl Thomas of Utah opened
the- discussion hy remarking that '.hf had
never before. known a sing pe riod iitVur
histoiy to produce so many gonei :d:;v Thomas
was .apparently making a simple observa
tionhut siiifi found he had stuck a respon
sive chord. lbs committee jdused to vote
to confirm the nine candidates without first
having chief of staff Marshall appear before
the committee and explain the promotions.
Hard-working Happy Chandler of Ken
tucky wanted to know how these .nine men
had been selected.
"Men like Patten, Hodges, Patch and
Simpson the commanders on the western
front are all lieutenant generals now,"
Chandler observed. "Why shouldn't they
be promoted just as soon as these nine men
suggested here?"
" Styles Bridges of New Hampshire second
ed Chandler's question, referring specific
oily to Patton'and Hodges.' Chan Gurney of
South Dakota pointed out that these four
men (I'attdn, Hodges, Patch, Simpson) are
commanders of single armies, rather than of
army groups. The generals recommended
for promotion arc Bradley, Devers and Clark,
all commanders of army groups together
with Generals Handy, McNarney, Somer
vell, Spanlz, Kcnney and Krueger who hold
various home front and overseas commands.
"But Patlon and Hodges are lieutenant
generals just like the rest of them," Bridges
replied, pointing out also that Walter Krue
ger one of those named for promotion
is commander of the sixth army, not of an
army group.
Senatorial Pique
The senators then got down to a discus
sion of the individual officers whose promo
tion they had been asked to approve. They
weren't too happy about General Somer
vell, head of at my service forces, but where
they really agreed was in their objection to
promoting l.icut. Gen. Joseph .McNarney to
be a full general. McNarney is now deputy
supreme alllerl commander in the Mediter
ranean area. ''
As deputy chief of staff until a few months
ago, McNarney sceeded, in his frequent '
appearances before the committee, in win
ning the dislike of nearly nil members. They
didn't care for his personality and never had
much respect for his ability. They remem
bered particularly Ijie time during the last
congress, when Senators O'Mahoncy, Chand
ler and Bildges went to the war department'
to find out about the army's plan to destroy
a huge file of complaints brought against
officers named for promotion. . ' " '
Not all members are certain that there
was anything wrong with the army's plan,
but all remember .that thqy didn't care for
McNamcy's reception qf the three senators.
Finally il was agreed that General Mar
shall should be brought to appear before the
committee before il acted on any of the
nominations.
Disgusted with the whole procedure, Sen
ator Chandler declared; "So far as, I am
concerned, I will support a bill to permit
Marshall to promote anyone he wants with
out senate confirmation. We're just sup
posed to be here as a rubber stamp, I gues3."'
Note: General Marshall, in a super-secret
session later in the week, explained his pass
ing over Pultun, Patch, Hodges and Simpson
by pointing out that they were all subordin
ates to Bradley and Devers. Krueger, ho
explained, is subordinate to MacArlhur,
who is a five-star general.
Thus, Krueger's rank will not be as high
as that of his superior, just as Bradley arid
Devers will outrank the generals under them
if their promotion is approved, but will be
ranked in turn by Eisenhower. Marshall was
put through a long grilling on McNarney,
who once established the rule that no col
ionels nor lieutenant colonels, no matter how
well trained, could go overseas for combat
if beyond a certain ago.
Crackdown en. Franco
Credit UNftRA with being at least one
Washington agency which has cracked down
on fascist Spain, and in no uncertain terms.
Perhaps this is because it is an international
organization.
Anyway, UNRRA has issued a confiden
tial but emphatic order that-no supplies shall
be purchased from Spain. This Is in direct
conflict with the state department, which
not truly sanctions the purchase of goods
from Spain, but, much more important,
gives export licenses for the shipmeit of
(Continued on Page 6)
. ya 1W, gv BgA tCtviCE. Ifft 1. M. HEC. 0. S. PAT. Of F.
"Oh, I wo.i lots of slakes and purses when I was operating my rac
ing stable, but I've dona so well here driving rivels thai I dread
going back to the track after the war!"
0 McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WM, E. McKENNEY. America's Card Authority
EVALUATING HAND
BY "POINT SYSTEM"
(This is the first of two arti
cles on the Yarnall "Point
System.")
Mr. L. F. Yarnall of Venlnor
City, N. J., uses a point count
instead of honor counts for eval
uating the high cards in his hand.
He has taken the old Work count,
which was an ace. lour points;
A Q J X
V A J X X
K J X X
X X
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
She needed some denal work clone, and
so tho wife of a navy 'officer stationed in
a small mid-western town made an appoint
ment with a local dentist.
He told' her just what she needed done
and then jisked casually, "What does your
husband do?"
When she said. "He's with the navy here,"
the dentist froze up and told her she had
better find someone else to do her work as
he was booked solid for several weeks.
"I'll be glad to wait until you can lake
me," said the the navy officer's wife. And
then she got the truth.
"I have to save my appointments for per
manent people," said the dentist. "This war
isn't going to last forever, and I have to
take care of the people who are i;oing to
support nic when it's over."
Sure, the war is going to. bo., oyer, some.,,,
day. 'Thanks to tho men in uniform' and
nobody else.
But their families, when they follow them
around the country, over and over again
have to step to the foot of the line to let
"permanent civilians" take precedence over
I hem.
They are used ti finding that permanent
civilians get first chances at houses and
apartments. And that permanent civilians
get special consideration in stores, find that
permanent civilians are preferred for jobs.
And now here's a case where you have
to he a permanent civilian, or a dentist
doesn't want to bother with fhiing your
teeth.
You'd almost .think thai it's the perman
ent civilian who is fighting the wai.
king, three points; queen, two
joints, and jack, one point.
After totaling up your point
count, according to Mr. Yarnall,
you now divide the total by four
to determine the number of hon
or tricks in your hand.
The point count for the above
hand is three for the spade suit,
five for hearts, and four for dia-
Questions & Answers
' Q Who is Bela Mikols?
A Premier of the Hungarian
provisional government.
Q Hoe many languages and
dialects rre spoken in Russia?
A . rcund 150.
Q What German province lies
just north of the state of Sax
ony, now under Red army inva
sion? A The Prussian province of
Saxony, once part of the king
dom of Saxony.
monds, a total of 12 points. Di
vide this by four and with this
system, you now have three hon
or tricks as compared to two
when using the honor trick count.
When using the honor point
system, you must remember that
every hand has a constant count
of ten honor tricks.
The purpose of this method
of counting is to portray the
value of lower honors whose
valuer, are disregarded or under
valued in most systems. Thus
the bidder has a fuller mental
picture of the stregnth or weak
ness of his hand.
O IN FORME"
YEARS
30 Years Ago
An army of variegated cut
worms infested Grande Ronde
ranches at various points, and
where they have struck the ruin
is complete. Umatilla county
also was attacked by the pests
and state farm experts were call
ed in to combat the plague.
The Neighborhood club made
pains to beautify the city, an
nouncing prizes would be award
ed to those who had the best
lawns, and most artistically ar
ranged grounds.
Twenty-one days after being
bitten by a rabid coyote, a work
horse owned by D. E. Brannon
of Oro Dell, fell victim to rabies
and was shot.
Q What is Germany's Bund
Deutscher Maedel?
A Hitler's girls' organization.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON. La Grande Evening Observer Washington Corraspondrat
Funny Business
CD " --v,vV,. ,
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Q
o SO THEY SAY
( The Dresdiitl, catastrophe is
without precedent. Not a single
detachers budding remains in
tact eleven capable of recoil
strm'tiWt. The town area is de
void of human life. A great city
has SHen (Viycd from the map
of Europe.
-Rudolf Sparing, C!ei5)i)n re
porter. th. fiv,nt m 1 I... I.,.,.-.,. ......I
There have been too manv ,,;,v
smoke-screens designed solelv to
duck the blah for failure.
Assistant N.)y Secretaiy II.
Stiuvo Hensel.
WASHINGTON Behind John L. Lewis'
demand for 10 cents a ton royalty on all
coal mined, and behind North Carolina Sen
ator Josiah W. liailey's proposal to stop all
such goings-on. by law, there is a funda
mental question of policy generally over
looked: Is post-war social security to he expanded
as a function of government? Or is it to
be left as the private responsbility of in
dividuals, paternalistic - minded employers
and social-minded unions-.'
This isue isn't exactly new, but its post
war implications are net clear and net ap
preciated. Before 4'hc new deal, many cor
poiations hafijyension plans of their own.
Klany labor ft.idelO .ot'.'eeted to them be
cause they p?e considered anti-union, the
idea iiein, 'Sh if an employer dangled tho
reward of a pension In fere his employes,
il made Ihem too willing to be exploited in
other ways.
But sonij; of the union themselves went
in for a drgiiy of this old fashioned patern
alism. Typou'i uphical and Pressmen's ' un
ions, a,T.ong others, had weil-cstablishcd
homes to whiwilj their U ss foitunate meni
eers could lctiro when tee old to work at
their trades, l!t) ,o
With the passage of the original railroad
retirement act and the social sistflinty act in
lP!i:i. the need for nricte pension plans' -'
largely disappeared :USi the government took';
lltfM re-sOonsihititv 'Aw old-ace Inmefd
payments. Mmiiariy, with too p.issage oi
"Hesaya he's utcd: to traveling on an observation plalforml"
It is ul best a curious process
when an American, a-intisher
and a Russian with no Poles
present sit down together to
'" anv fovt ,f gevevn-iont
Q'i I'ei.md, i , i r.ein iici i n c that
pieservation of Polish independ
ence and self-government was
the world's springboard into this
war.
Sen. Arthur H. Vandcnberg
tRi of Michigan.
17
tile unemployment insurance law.! of the
various states and the federal government.
,e need tor (Dions to pay strike or sick
benefits was reifSijt d.
The trend all thiough the war yens has
been to extend government oUi-Uf.e retire
ment and unemployment insurance benefits
ti-Jh.- millions o workers previously not
. C) ' " 1 liu : - ;- ! ' v.- tl'.i
benefits to eo t r mu ir.pleyment c.oised by
sickness or accident. "Ci.uile to giavo" so
cial security ideas have caught on and gov
ernment hospitalization and health Aisur
ante benefits of some kind arc certain to bt
provided, eventually.
But now comes John L. Lewis proposing
that his United Mine Workers' union be
given a royally of 10 cents a ton on every
ton of coal mined, so that the union can
si t up its own unemployment insurance
system, it own medical and surgical ser
vice, hospitalization, insurance, rehabilita
tion and economic protection.
The trite question posed by this issue is,
where do we go from here? Onward to
Stealer protection, or backward to the pri
vate welfare plans of employers and unions
interested in the economic security of their
employes and members?
This same issue came up a year ago when
the CI O. Steelworkers' union presented its
demands for such additional benefits as dis
missal pay, sick leave, insurance, and guar
anteed annual wage, all to be paid for by
the employer. Steel company executives
asked tlien if these matters were rightful
responsibilities of the employer, or whether
the government was not tending to assume
more and more responsibility for all such
reforms
It is noteworthy that neither the steel
workers nor the miners have asked that
their-sucial benefits be granted in place of
.tWftnment benefits. :.fcvtead, private bene
fits are asked for as a supplement to what
ever ihe government sews, fit to tsu-tow.
From this it mighV'be ,acgJied (Hat ''tho.
nroDer solution of the in'.v r.;.nj i... t..ku-
Lewis is nota B,iiley,-bil to outlaw the
collection of royalties fV benefits to union r)
mcmlH-rs but the passage of exf(jr).1ed soci4h
security legislation bv tho immnv
which would moke the Lewis demands un
necessary, oc
On the other hand,(tt)can lKnri!uod thnl
the miners' demand and t'(KS) steelworkers'
remands offer an altornativeto extend gov-
, : n; s,v..., s .;. . .- i..'u..e,i :i.,,;.,-ine
and' all that. This alternative boils down
to a return to rugged individualism and pat
ernalism the steel industry to look after
the welfare of its employes in the one in
stance, the miners' union to look after the
wtilbcing of its members on the other.
Q What is the army's Shoot
ing Start
A The P-80 jet-propelled
fighter plane. Ceiling is above
the 40,000 feet of conventional
fighters, and speed believed
greater than any other fighter.
Q How many fingerprint rec
ords does the FBI have?
A 94,000,000.
IS Years Ago
An ordinance regulating oil
traps in business buildings, par
ticularly garages and filling sta
tions, and another changing the
La Grande rule on electrical
work to conform with the state
code, were adopted by the city
commission.
Urging a general clean-up of
property, Fire Chief C. T. Lind
sey pointed out that failure to
clear off dry grass, weeds and
rubbish often resulted in fires
later on that were costly To fight.
Q Does the signal corps use
much wire for telephone com
munications? A It has used as much as 2H5,
000 miles in a single month.
Q What is a quid in England?
A One pound sterling.
10 Years Ago
A La Grande bid for one of the
four U. S. army air bases to be
established in Oregon, was made
by the Commercial club.
The La Grande Rotary club
elected the following directors
to serve during the ensuing year:
J. Donald Meyers, Merlin Bat
ly, Harry McKinlay, Roy Gret
tum, Dr. James J. D. Haun, Rev.
Clarence Kopp, Elmer McManus,
Dr. Ray Murphy and B. F. Wylde.
This Curious World
OF THE SUN and moon
BMeAtX KIEL
AT DEFINITE INTERVALS.
IP THERE WERE AN E3-lPSE
OF THE SUN AOW, THERE
VOULD BE CNE IN EXACTLY
S rAM, fDArX, S NOOKS
PROM NOW.
AF fl
Co) COr'ii B KtA StOVICt. t C m
AKE The ? VSS'T S MNO
WEATHERED H-C? sin CZ; 1y S
fEvces ak'ocmewma Tura a
PAPER FULP, WELL .v.vIC A'.TH
P endulcw Clocks have to
STAND STILL ra (?LAl, 'S3ff
V-,-. 1 j. '
--z:tfy4 CO1 screws
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