Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1945)
Side Glances Washington Merry-Go-Round Br DREW PEARSON : EDITORIAL' PAGE La Grande Evening Observer Frank Schiro, Publisher MONDAY. KVHMMJ. JULY .'10, 11)15 Over-Developed EVENING OBSERVER'S PROGRESS PROGRAM IRRIGATION Complete the Grande Runde Valley irrigation project. LA GRANDE A city of 10,000 Extend the city limits. THOUGHT FOR TODAY Unlimited power corrupts the pos sessor. Pitt. Expendable Aircraft The United Slates government and its tax-pnyinii citizens have spent bil lions to build t.liu mighty force of mili tary air power so indispensable to tlio defeat of Germany and the impending defeat of Japan. And since the road to victory is not measured in dollars, the people of this country have never iHiestioned or lxwinlKod the vast sums that have made this air force possible. Jlut perhaps all of us do not realize fully how little of that expenditure can ever be recovered, in spile of the thou sands of aircraft already declared sur plus and the thousands more that will be left when the war is won. Military aircraft are basically self-propelled art illery. And in the final analysis, they are as expendable as the bullets and bombs that they carry. The surplus property board has reached that conclusion after a com mendably tlioionuli study and some un derstandable hesitancy. Some weeks ago it ordered the salvaging and scrap pinjr of all unusable surplus aircraft, which includes u vast majority of sur plus combat planes. Funny H unities I "This is what .. '1 Pyr : . jp it 3 mmiMf ..... -vi: WW J "Sort of a combination tool comoi in handy whon ' end of a row of cornl" I'uga Two in the Wrong Place The SPB hopes that aluminum alloy -' and a chemically-produced pure alum inum can be recovered from aircraft scrap. But as yet the SPB has an nounced no policy in regard to surplus , airplane engines and propellers. Many war-used and replacement en gines mid propellers are already surplus. There seems little that can be done with most propellers. For example, one four-blade propeller of a bomber weighs more than the average two-passenger personal plane. There has been some discussion of converting the engines, with their high 'horsepower and high consumption of highly refined fuel, to commercial pur poses. But no satisfactory solution has been reached, if indeed it is possible. All safe and practical salvage of war material should be undertaken. It rep resents competition to civilian indus try, but that is unavoidable. However, it should be done as quickly as possible. For delay in deciding whether or not to salvage, which carries the threat of a sudden dumping of salvaged goods on the future market, is a hazard to indus trial planning and the creation of jobs. The hazard is particularly great in aircraft manufacturing. The war has boomed it into the precarious position of being the country's biggest industry, and at best it is due for a terrific peace time contraction. So it ought to prove an eventual boon to reconversion and re-employment if the SPB would fully accept the unhappy fact that war is wasteful and unbusinesslike, and that some of war's most expensive tools be come useless at the war's end.' 9 SO THEY SAY Thi defeat of Germany did not automatically wipe mil the care fully cultivated anti-Semitism in t'nth (iermany and Axis-occupied rlurope. - Sen. Owen Brewster of Maine and I! e p. Kmanuel Cellar of New York in joint letter to President llarrv S. Truman. Advances in science mean mare jol 's. higher wanes, shorter hours, moie abundant crops, more leis ure for recreation, for study, for le. lining how to live without the ileadenini! drugory which has n the burden of the common man or ages past. Vannevar Bush, director of ' Office of Scientific He t t! I seal ll and Development. The need tor qualified uork eis in all categories (of child caim:: agencies! is now critical and the welfare of the young sters is at stake. William M. Griffin, welfare cuuncil official. I ho gol to the WASHINGTON Real facts in the resigna tion of Henry Morgenthau as longest con secutive secretary of the treasury in history are as follows: Morgenthau had a tip Judge Fred Vinson might be appointed as his successor a few months later, certainly before the end of the year. So he ,wcnl over to the White House to get the thing straightened out. Mor genthau told Truman he would be glad to "stick around untli V-J day, but it was vary difficult for him to work effectively with rumors constantly circulating that lie was going to be replaced. . "That's all right," replieS the president. "I'll deny them." "I'll believe you, returned Morgenthau, "but unfortunately the public wont." He had in mind the freqent Truman de nials Sletlinius' resignation would not be accepted. "In order to quiet these rumors," Mor genthau persisted, I'd like to have something from you in writing." "Well, I'll have to thnk that over,' spar red Truman. "Theres nulling to think over," countered the treasury chief. '-'A f t e r all I've been arourid here long enough for people to know me. 'So if you have to think it over, I'd better write out my resignation right now." Truman demurred at this, but Morgen thau insisted. , "After all,'! he said, "it's only right you should have your own man." So the letter of resignation was handed in immediately; and later in the day, Tru man called a special press conference to an nounce it. In the interim Judge Sam Rosen man was asked to draft an appropriate let ter to Morgenthau for Truman's signature, thanking him for his long services. But Roseman wasn't familiar with all of Mor genlhuu's record, had to send over to the treasury for certain facts, and in the end, the latter almost wasn't ready for the Tru man press conference. All this happened July 5. At that time it was announced Morgenthau would stay on until after Truman got back from Potsdam. How this didn't happen is the most impor tant part of the story. Byrnes Undermined Morgenthau After President Truman got on the Cruis WE, THE WOMEN By RUTH MILLETT When the wife of a sailor, credited with having the largest family of any service man in this war, set the number of their children at I I, her husband contradicted her. Said he: "Fourteen ain't right. I've only got 13." But on a later recount the sailor admitted: "By golly, 14 is right! Must have just lost count." Any father ought to know better than to argue with the little woman on any point that concerns the childien even on such a minor statistical matter as which one had whooping cough. Because in all such mat ters the wife has better reason to remember and remember correctly. Never a day goes by that a woman isn't aware of exactly how many children she has to feed, clothe, check up on, and get off to school. A man might go off to war and Behind Scenes in Washington By PETER EDSON, La Grande Erenlng Observer Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON, July 110 The unusual spectacle of a senator outlining all the ob jections to one of his own pet projects is presented in the two days of opening hear ings on Montana Senator James E. Murray's highly controversial full employment bill. Murray is leaving others the ob of telling what a great thing his national job budget is. He himself is going to review every crit icism that has been raised against the idea of trying to maintan a balanced national economy which will provide ever-normal employment. Conservative business men are still pretty well unconvinced of the practicality of what they consider Murray's radical ideas. They look on booms and depressions as natural business cycles which nobody can do any thing about. They don't think it possible to shape all related government policies tax ation ,public works, wages, working condi tions, foreign trade, agriculture, industry, development of natural resources and the control of investments competition, monop lies and trade practices so they will all make a contribution to maintaining prosperity. The other side of the argument in these preliminary hearings is being given by Mur ray's three co-sponsors in Ihe house. Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney of Wyoming presents the needs for such legislation. O'Ma honey was chairman of the pre-war tem porary national economic committee and his presentation is a summary of the economic facts of American life as determined by T. N. K. C. Senatr Elbert D. Thomas of Utah, chair man of the senate committee on military af fairs presents the need for full employment as a factor m maintaining world peace. Senator Hubert V. Wagner, the fourth co sponsor and chairman of the senate commit tee on banking and currency in whose hands the full employment bill will be studied has another approach to tins question. It is a report on the employment stabilization act of l!i:U. It tells how this act failed to do what it was supposed to do because of defects which are supposedly corrected in Senator Murray's draft of lb full employment act of HM5 now before congress. a There is a common belief that this full employment bill presents a new idea in gov er Augusta, he changed his mind about hav ing Morgenthau remain until he got home. And it was Jimmy Byrnes who helped him change it. Byrnes has long disliked Morgen thau. The two a r e scarcely on speaking terms. With the secretary of state and the pres ident on the same ship, Henry Morgenthau would have been president of the United Stales if anything had happened to that ship. Byrnes rammed this home to Truman, and from mid-Atlantic, Truman radioed Judge Rosenman to explain the situation to Mor genthau and ask him to step out of office imemdiately rather than wait for Truman's return from Potsdam. The official announce ment Morgenthau had some important de cisions which he thought Vinson should make was all poppycock. Actually Truman wanted Vinson to be president of the United States in cuse anything happened to him and Byrnes. , Bretton Woods Delegate? But in order to make the step-down more palatable for Morgenthau, Judge Roseman told him Truman wanted to make Morgen thau American representative on the new Bretton Woods board. Just as Stettinius be came U. S. delegate to the United Nations, Morgenthau would, be U. S. delegate to the Bretton Woods project which he fathered. Morgenthau naturally was pleased. He had been quite willing to step out anyway, but he was delighted "Truman wanted to rec ognize his tireless pioneering for interna tional economic stability. Accordingly, Judge Rosenman prepared a statement for Truman's ok, making Morgen thau the permanent U. S. delegate to Bretton Woods. It was radioed to Truman immedi ately. But nothing happened. Truman never answered the radio. Perhaps Jimmy Byrnes sat on this idea, too. At any rate, Henry Morgenthau, who had been taken up on the heights and given a big promise, stepped out of office a sad and disappointed man. Morgenlhau's War Record When the final history of the Roosevelt administration is written, the place of Henry Morgenthau will be very near the center of the stage. By that time, historians will not remem ber the perennially doleful face which caus See WASHINGTON . . . Page 4 grow hazy about all the little darlings he left at home, but Mama is still on the job. There is never a moment in the day when she can be vague about how many small fry there are around the house. If the sailor had stopped to think about that, he never would have argued with Mama about tlve number of children the two of them had brought into the world. He wouldn't even have considered she might be wrong if he had remembered one thing. Any woman today is perfectly certain about the number of ration books she has. But then men are so in the habit of cor recting their wives' statistics it was probably just automatic with the sailor. You know how it is, "Women just never get things straight. ernment. According to Senator Wagner it is not new. In his report, Wagner states that Senator George Wharton Pepper of Pennsyl vania in 1927 proposed a study of stabilizing employment. A year later Senator Wesley L. Jones of Washington sponsored a bill to cre ate a prosperity reserve and Senator Wagner himself first intioduced a bill for employ ment stabilization. But 1928 was an election year and nobody wanted to touch a political ly dangerous idea then. Also, this was before the peak of the Coolidgc boom. Nobody ever thought about possible unemployment in those lush days. In llKil. however, the unemployed were in everybody's hair and then congress was ready to do something. The result was pass age of the employment stabilization act of 1931, based on Wagner's original idea. It was approved by President Herbert Hoover who himself has a record of action to relieve business depressions and unemployment be ginning in 1920. Shortly after President Roosevelt took of fice in 1933 he practically abolished the Wag ner Employment Stabilization act by execu tive order. Roosevelt then did not believe the act broad enough to deal with the crises in which the country found itself and today yagner cites a number of reasons why his original plan had to be abandoned. The 1931 act tried to stabilize employment only through federal spending on public works programs. There was no concerted effort to boost employment in private in dustry and agriculture. The act came too late after the depression had set in not before when a little advance planning might have relieved the crash of the 1930 s. Senator Wagner today believes that 1928 is comparable to 1945. Both show jobs open for all who are able and willing to work. Both show prspects of sudden declines in un employment ahead. The great difference is that today most people realize the danger of future unem ployment and would like to see something ' ne about it. .A slight increase in unem r 'ytiien by next fall, when the senate -'.inking and cunncy commi'tee comes back to begin real scrimmage and skull practice mi Murray's full employment football, will heighten the interest aroused by the kick ,ctf at this week's two-dav tiV'out. com law riv sea tumt. inc. t, m mo. u. s. mt. ort. "You bet it feels good to be carrying the old mail route again it's a snap after two years in ihe infantry!" O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority AVOIDING END PLAY DEFEATS CONTRACT Eberhard Faber of New York has long been a close friend of bridge players. He was president of the American Whist League at 4B74 VK93 J 10 0 4 410 7 3 Eberhard Faber KQ105 3 VQ752 K6 J2 7T W E A86 V J 10 8 7S3 K8654 S Dealer 4 A J 2 V A64 AQ82 AQ9 Duplicate Neither vul. 8oulh West North East 2 N. T. Pass 3 N. T. Pass Opening K. 31 one time, and one of the early honorary members of the Amer ican Bridge League. I recall this hand '. which he played with the late R. R. (Dick) Richards of Detroit, founder of the American Bridge League. Fa ber had to keep himself from be ing end-played all the way P BARBS Europe faces a fuel shortage in the coming winter. This could be alleviated by proper use of the dairies of Axis gangsters. Where's Hitler? Well, we hav en't noticed where they had or ganized any searching parties in the Bronx. The "separation center" may be well named, but the average G. I. is willing to let it go as a divorce. Postwar automobiles with tel ephonesare forecast. When the lit tle woman starts telling her cous in about her operation it's going to wipe out 25 years of traffic progress. Personality consists of having reason to have a good opinin of yourself and keeping it well hid den. Let's hope lhat among the post war inventions will be a combi nation bathtub and phone discon nector. This Curious World ALTHOUfcH A CKUEL 5AVA&E IN MANY WAYS AT THE TIME THE WHITE MAN CAME, HAD MANY ESTABLISHED CUSTOMS OF HOSPITALITY AND GENEROSITY THAT WERE A SOURCE. OF INSPIRATION TO THE SO- CALLED CIVILIZED WHITES'. IS EXPECTED TO BE USED IN POST-WAR DAYS FO TRACING THE FLIGHT OF sr WHERE'S LMRP Z-JI ANSWER! Tallahassee, Florida. NEXT: Why is helium named for the sun? through the hand. His spade king was allowed to hold, and he shift ed to the deuce of hearts. Declarer won with the king in dummy and led the jack of diamonds. When the finesse was taken, Faber won and led back the diamond. Declar er won in dummy and led a small club, finessing the nine-spot. Mr. Faber won with tha jack, and led the deuce of clubs. Now declarer was unable to get the end-play that would produce his ninth trick. O IN FORMER YEARS 30 Years Ago, July 30 Miss Ivy Head, city librarian, left for Jefferson City, Iowa, and Chicago where she will visit friends and relatives for a month. During her absence the library here will be in charge of Miss Florence Happersett. Dr. Myrtle Long as returned home after spending three weeks on the coast. Miss Delia Rnyburn and Miss Rachel Turner left last night for a short vacation at North Beach. 15 Years Ago, July 30 Miss Helen Voelker, University of Oregon student from near Portland, is visiting in Elgin this week with Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Shoemaker and their son, Vernal. She is a member of Al pha Omi cron Pi at the univer sity, During the month of July, there were only three slight showers in La Grande, each bare ly enough for the weather board here to measure. The total pre cipitation for the month amount ed to three hundredths of an inch, hardly enough to settle a dust. 10 Years Ago, July 30 Mrs. Lester Bramwell and daughter, Leah left for Wallowa lake for a few days vacation there. President, and Mrs. H. E. Inlow and daughter, Jean, returned from an automobile trip to the Olympic peninsula at Victoria, B. C. They spent about a week on their trip. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Snodgrass and children, Noema, John and Dannie, who have been living on Gekeler lane have moved into La Grande whore they will reside in the future. X 1 i" mm
