EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 2, 1945
Page Four-
A Change of Taste
A Veteran's Hospital
For Eastern Oregon
For almost four years now, a com
mittee of the La Grande chamber of
commerce has been working for the
establishment in this area of a veter
ans' hospital to serve the needs of its
soldiers.
Complete brochures and information
have been submitted to various gov
ernmental bureaus and to our repre
sentatives in congress. Sometimes au
thors of these have been told that every
consideration will be given this area
should the need arise, but to date noth
ing has been done and no encourage
ment of definite nature has been re
ceived. Lowell Stockman, to whom the mat
ter was presented immediately after
his first election more than three years
ago, the late Senate MeNary and for
mer Senator Holman, and now Senators
Cordon and Morse have taken some in
terest in the matter and have presented
the situation to the proper authorities,
but to no avail.
Stockman, particularly, if eel in g the
need for a veteran's hospital in east
ern Oregon and recognizing the prior
ity of the La Grande claim, in view of
the availability of a site and all the
necessary appurtenances and require
ments, has made effort to get some sort
of action which will lead to ultimate
result.
We note now that Portland is empha
sizing its claim for additional hospital
facilities for that community in urging
the expansion of its present hospital
at the Sam Jackson park, and points out
the increased need for facilities there.
Portland's claim, is, of course, justi
fied and our needs here conflict in no
wise with hers. However, it can be
pointed out that several points: in the
western part of the state have facilities
for veterans' hospitalization at pres
ent in Roscburg and projected in Med
ford, but no where in eastern Oregon
are such facilities available.
This is a matter which needs imme
diate attention.
Kastern Oregon has provided more
than its quota of men and women for
the armed services, perhaps as many
per capita as any section in the nation.
Eastern Oregon now deserves consider
ation in the establishment of hospital
facilities for those servicemen. There is
no reason why our servicemen should
be forced to go elsewhere to receive the
medical attention which the people of
this nation owe them.
A veterans' hospital here will be of
great convenience to the men and
more important perhaps from point of
view of peace of mind to their fam
ilies who will not be forced to travel
long distances to visit them.
Here in eastern Oregon they can be
given every advantage they have else
where, including the therapeutic ad
vantage of being close to home and
family and being in their own area.
We believe our representatives Unv
eil Stockman. Guy Cordon and Wayne
Morse should take immediate steps to
investigate our needs and to present
them most forcibly to the governmental
agencies which have the final say. If.
ur soldiers are to have every benefit
let us see that they get them, and in
their own area.
Funny Business
uv wrmn
111 I LI f 1
SO THEY SAY
We hire war veterans only, and
if they are disabled, that doesn't
matter. If a man cun't stand, we
find him a bench job.
Maj. Douglas Y n 1 e, Quincy,
Mass., plant operator.
The WRA (War Relocation Au
thority) officials have so often
acted arbitrarily and without re
Hard for local public opinion in
their management of alien Jap
anese that their rulings are now
generally under suspicion.
Ontaria, Calif., Daily Report.
The Jap is a tough, determined
soldier. Japs will not surrender
in masses like the Germans. We
must even count on fanatical op
position from the civilian popu
lation. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell.
"A little thing he thought up to he caa (flax when he'i talking to
the girl friend!"
It looks like Japan is going to
have a corner on the scrap iron
supply in the Orient as the pres
sure of the air war continues. It
is a corner no one covets.
Danville, Va Register.
Washington Merry-Go:Round
Side Glances
Br DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON One of the greatest economy-howlers
in congress is Rep. Jed John
son of Anadarko, D., Okla., who, chairman
of the sub-appropriations committee, insist
ed on cutting the interior department so
drastically its officials can scarcely make a
long-distance phone call.
Johnson, however, when it comes to a
little trip to Alaska at the tax-payers' ex
pense, is not so economy-minded. Johnson
was appointed lust winter to be judge of
the customs court In New York City, u job
which pays him $10,000 and u fut pension
for life. He hjis been officially confirmed
by the senate, and New York customs court
officials long have been waiting for the Ok
lahoma solon to take his job.
However, Jed is in no hurry. Not only
did he sit out the current session of con
gress, but he is taking one last fling at the
taxpayers' expense before donning judicial
robes. He and his sub-committee on inter
ior department appropriations are now in
Alaska on a so-called "inspection" trip. The
sub-committee includes Mike Kirwan of
Youngstown, O., John Rooney of Brooklyn,
N. Y., Ben Jensen of Exira, la., and Henry
Dworshak of Burley, Ida.
Congressmen Love Alaska
President Truman has cracked down on
congressional junkets when taken free in
army planes, but Jed Johnson has got around
this. His committee traveled to Alaska on
"official business" and congress is footing
the bill. ,
In fact, there is a lot of official business
up in Alaska this summer. Three congres
sional committees is enjoying the cooling
breezes, the fine fishing, and the lovely
scenery.
Rep. Hugh Peterson of Alley, Ga., is go
ing to Alaska in style. Peterson is chairman
of the house territories committee, and is
takin gwith him Mrs. Peterson, their son,
Hugh, jr., and their nieces, Sue Smith Pet
erson. They arc going by boat along with
11 other congressmen; some, members of the
territories committee; some, members of the
public roads committee. '
. The congressmen scheduled for the Alaska
junket include: Will . Robinson of Provo,
Utah, chairman of the roads committee; eJn
nings Randolph of Elkins, W. Va.; Paul Cun
ningham of Des Moines; Ed Cosset of Wich
ita Falls, Tex.; Gus Kelley of Greensburg,
Pa.; Homer Angell of Portland, Ore.; A. L.
Miller of Kimball, Neb.; Harold Hagen of
Crookston, Minn.; Charles Robertson of Bis
marck, N. D.; and Marion Bennett of Spring
field, Mo.
In addition, Reps. Henry Larcade, jr. of
Opelousas, La., and James Greelan of New
Haven, Conn., got a head start, along with
Harden Peterson of Lakeland, Fla., by stop
ping in Texas and California to inspect beach
erosion as members of the rivers and har
bors committee. After this they headed for
the cooling breezes of Alaska. '
Why the three committees couldn't pool
their efforts, instead of all taqing up val
uable travel space, is a question to be an
swered only by congress.
Merry-Go-Round
Watch Publisher Manchester Boddy of Los
Angeles as the nlext; flrobable Democrat
candidate for senator from California,.
Roosevelt once invited him to Washington,
asked him to become civil defense adminis
trator for the nation, later wanted him to
be commissioner of internal revenue. But
Boddy couldn't leave his Los Angeles Danly
News . . . Now, with aged Senator Hiram
Johnson ailing, Democrat leaders both in
Washington and California hope Boddy can
be persuaded to run . . . Once before, when
Hiram Johnson was under an oxygen tent
in the naval hospital, word that Governor
Warren would appoint Herbert Hoover to
his senate seat caused the spunky, cantank
erous California senator to recover. This
was the story carried to FDR by naval doc
tors Ross Mclntire . . . Emil Schram, one
time head of the reconstruction finance cor
poration, now head of the N. Y. stock ex
change, was invited to take Jesse Jones'
old job as federal loan administrator. Schram
came to Washington to look things over,
went away shaking' his head. Tenure of of
fice was too insecure in Washington, he
mumbled.
Jim Farley Mourns Churchill
Jim Farley came back to his old haunts
last week-end and had lunch with, among
others, Tommy Cochran, head of the older
FDR brain trust with whom he did not al
ways agree. A dozen senators also were pres
ent, guests of South Carolina's Burnet May
bank. Chief topic was the defeat of Winston
Churchill. Several senators blamed the de
feat on Beaverbrook. Some said Churchill
was too old and too tired, hadn't sensed the
temper of the British people, was a victim
of his incompentent friends.
Jim Farley deplored Churchill's defeat,
but dropped this warning to his senatorial
friends: "You are going to get some real
competition now."
Jim went on to explain that previously
the only radical ideas came from Russia,
but now American politicians would have
to compete with radical ideas from British
politicians.
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
Here's good news for G. I. Joe. Some of
the concern over his future welfare has un
derstandably been a trifle annoying to him.
After all, he doesn't wunt to be regarded as
a case problem when he gets home. But
he'll certainly be pleased to hear that his
little woman is getting some sound advise
on how to make his home, even if it is just
a two-room apartment, comfortable enough
to make him forget the discomforts and regi
mentation of army life.
One decorator, with G. I. Joe's comfort in
mind, is telling wives the living room ought
to be built around a piece of furniture as
comfortable as a day bed or couch, with
books and a radio within easy reach. Here
a tired husband can rest when he gets home
from a hard day at the office.
This same decorator is rooting for twin
chests in the bedroom so that the man who
has been used to having a place, however
small, for his own things won't have to
crowd his clothes into the bottom drawer of
a dresser which is unfortunately what hap.
pens to most husbands.
If wives take such advice seriously, G. I.
Joe is going to be a lucky man. For most of
the new ideas in the furnishing and dec
orating of homes have in the past been de
signed to please women, not men.
It is women who go for tricky ideas that
make a house look like a page out of a wom
an's magazine. And it is women who ben
efit from stream-lining of kitchens.
But it is the men who will enjoy a living
room furnished so that a man will have a
comfortable place to stretch out while he
reads the evening' paper or indulges in an
after dinner snooze.
And it is the men who will be made hap
pier by more storage space in the bedroom
since women usually manage somehow to
get at least three fourths of any closet or
dresser they share wtih a man.
That's one way women might profitably
spend their time while they wait for their
men to come home in making sure their
homes are comfortable from a man's point oi
view. Then home will be something Mr.
Jones instead of Mrs. Jones will envy.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EOSON. La Grande Evening Observer Washington Correspondent
(Editor's note: The following analysis of
building and building costs, prepared from
various sources, it substituted today for
the usual Washington Column by Peter
Edsoa.)
In 95 percent of our cities, houses are sell
ing for 50 to 80 percent more than they cost
in 1939. Typical is a Kansas City house built
for $8,300 in 1938, sold for $11,000 last year,
and on the market now for $13,000.
In the five years from 1931 to 1935, we
built fewer houses than in one year of the
twenties and our population incerascd nine
mililon in the thirties. Result: one of the
most critical housing shortages in our history.
To get a house that's fit to live in, a man
is often forced to buy. Since you haven't
been able to build in the last three years,
building costs haven't held down the sale
price on old houses as they do in normal
times. So you pay $8,300 for a 12-year-old
$4,480 house and hold your peace.
From the studies of the national housini;
administration, it is concluded it will take
two or three years after, victory over Japan
to reach the million houses a year rate that
is iM'cessary to fill the demand. With an in
come twice that of 1940 a boom year
100 billion in their bank acounts and 45
billion in war bonds, the American people
have the money for these homes. Their in
come h.is bee nalmost double the output of
consumer goods the rest has been war ma
terial Price controls and ration points have
held off a violent rise in price, but haven't
completely held off inflation. When we do
go back to strict dollar economy, we will
have even higher building cost.
Because of building's dependence on skill
ed labor, the long-range costs trend is decid
edly upward. The result is that even if we
do have a slight inflation, building costs
may still go up a little.
Some analysts anticipate a rise and no
dropping off for at least five years. Buy
now? If you're living in a crowded city
where houses are selling for half again more
than before the war, and you must buy to
get a place to 1 ive, th e n buy, for used
house prices will be high until building
gets under way. If you don't need to buy,
keep in mind that recently built houses are
selling at 30 to 40 percent more than it
would cost to build them.
In a war boom town like Bridgeport or
San Diego, two things can happen when war
contracts are canceled. Postwar increase in
families may take up the slack as workers
leave or the dislocation may be severe and
the scarcity will aim into plenty.
If your town has never boomed with war
work and has never been short of houses,
better buy now. unless folks are moving
away, for prices will go up with building
costs.
Over the long run, this is not a favorable
time to buy or build anywhere. Prices
drop, and you're still paying for vour home
at a high rate, it will be tough. But if you
have to have some place to. live, you can't
wait years for costs to hit bottom again.
Selling also depends on where you live
To get top prices, hold on until scarcity and
inflation have carried prices to the peak,
but sell before nw building gets under way
and knocks scarcity values for a loop. In a
boom town, prices may drop with the cancel
lation of war contracts, but il your town will
hold its own in postwar life, hold on the
value of "yur huse will rise with building
costs. . :'.
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COHt 1W IY KtA tIRVlCf. IHC. T. M. Ma U. S. WT. Off. 8"3
"With all the great engineers this war has produced, wouldn't you
thing they could figure out some way to do away with these
traffic lighisl"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
ONE CRAZY BIO
PRODUCES OTHERS
Sometimes one Who tries to
push someone else around may
get himself info troublp. Tha,t
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happens in bridge, too. We can
blame West for trying to shut
everybody out of the bidding with
his jump to four spades. South
was afraid that West could make
O BARBS
Postwar homes will have every
modern convenience except low
rent.
four spades, and bid five clubs.
If West had bid five diamons he
might have scared North out of
the bidding, but North, with his
perfectly worthless hand, except
in clubs, made what he thought
was a sacrifice bid.
In the actual play, South made
six clubs. He trumped the open
ing lead of the spade king and
led a small diamond. West went
in with the ace and returned an
other spade, which South trump
ed. Now a diamond was played
to the king, a small club led, and
the queen finessed. The ace pick
ed up the trump, a diamond ruff
ed in dummy, and the heart
finesse taken.
O IN FORMER
YEARS
Thirty Years Ago
. Dr. Joseph Ingles, lately grad
uated from a Los Angeles Oste
opathic college, has been granted
a certificate to practice in this
state. . .
"The Clemenceau Case" star
ring Theda Bara is advertised at
the Arcade theater.
An ad offers a woman a job
in an orchestra playing second
fiddle. They don't come that way!
Fourteen chickens have been
brazenly stolen from the John
Ladd coops on the north side of
town.
Over a million musical instru
ments have been sent to our boys
overseas. We'll sure hear about
it when all of them are brought
back home.
Fifteen Years Ago
Water pressure has been unusu
ally low in Union for several
days and a crew of men has been
employed to put a new cement
floor on the intake tank.
The J alp radio has admitted
that the nation is doomed unless
the American offensive can be
stopped. They've been reading
our mail.
An elevator in a building in a
Missouri city dropped three sto
ries and the operator was fired.
He fell down on the job.
A large delegation of people
trekked to the La Grande airport
to see the air circus today. Bus
iness was unusually dull for a
few hours with some of the bus
iness houses shutting up shop for
a time.
Give a man enough rope and
he'll smoke himself to death.
Gunder Hagg may run the four
minute mile this year, equalling
the record set by several house
wives from home to butcher shop.
Ton Years Ago
Women's summer vacation
camp which was to be held in
Mill Creek canyon above Cove
has been indefinitely postponed
because not enough women have
signed up for the camp.
Night football probably won't
be very successful this year too
many day coaches.
The only new construction work
being done on county roads this
year is the work that is now pro
gressing on the Pumpkin Ridge
market road between Summer
ville and Elgin.
This Curious World
S ANIMALS THAT ARE ( fpv VVl Sl W- WUU
( HUNTED CAN QUICKLY V LtV r?-l lrVMl
( GATHER GRASS OUT IN ) v5i I 34 ttE
) THE OPEN, THEN RETIRE C I NV IwJiFh lifP'
S TO A 6UARDED SROT ( T l'-lll', Mi
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AT rVXtlSAOt; COtOftAOO,
PSACM TREE POJNERJ WORK ON
THE OUTSIDE at WIS! Dow pane; cah
BE WASHED THE INSlDEJV
"EXT: The daily diet of a dinosaur.