EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
TUESDAY HVKNINC;, AUGUST 7, 19 15
l'a(e Two
'Going My Way?"
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Ronile Valley irrigation project
LA GRANDE A city of 10,000
Extend the city limit
The People's Mandate
The somite's ratification of tli'e united
nations charter seemed to us even more
significant momentous than the
drafting of the charter itself. Kvery
one knew that a charter would come
out of San Franeisce. No one knew
when, by what majority, or after what
Mibterfu.ue the senate woidd approve it.
The senate's debate and decision re
flected the temper of the people who
elected its membership. Some, out
spokenly opposed to the whole idea,
were not returned to Washington After
last November's elections. Senators
Shipstead and L tin iter, who voted
against ratification, were not candidates
in 1911. Other senators, perhaps fear
ful of the consequences, voted for the
charter alter making the,ir objections
known.
Thus the dyinjt prediction of Wood
row Wilson, recently revealed by his
daughter, Mrs. Klcitnor McAdoo, is half
fulfilled. Wilson said, in substance, that
only when the American people really
wanted a league of nations would they
.join one, and that only then would such
a league succeed.
The success of the new league is still
to be proved. Hut the American peo
ple's desire for it was unmistakable.
There were differences of popular opin
ion, of course. And these shades of
opinion were brought out in the senate
debate on the charter debate marked
by urjrent action, lofty hopes, temper
ale consideration, honest doubts and
synical defeatism.
The speed of ratification was grati
fyinjf. This country's government had
been thu prime force behind the new
world organization. It was in this coun
try that the first international discus
sion of the organization took place, and
where a world congress drafted its
covenant. It was fitting that the United
Slates should also be the first great
power to approve the present results of
the world's new effort toward ponce.
Not even the charter's best friends,
in or out of the senate, have said that
the document is perfect. Obviously it
isn't, l'ut after some of the too optim
istic promises of the first league's
American supporters 2.) years ago, the
present sanity is welcome.
No gardener would plant a crop in the
V round and then ignore it. blindly trust
ing God that it would yield a perfect
harvest. And no thinking person today
can behove that the seed of the united
nations organization will not require
solicitous care against adverse weather,
woods, disease and various predatory
forms of animal life.
There is much to do. Hut at least the
crop is in and this country lias signified
its willingness to tend it. Disappoint
ment and discouragement are surely
ahead. Yet we know that at last a real
start has lioon made toward the golden
harvest of peace, without which the
world world cannot survive.
Funny business
SO THEY SAY
Those poop!,' iGt'imans mav
net K-i'k so had compared with
ether Europeans Hut, brother,
the uo-ls and ehhlicn Kick home
h.io u a,i ,nre them like a tent.
- Ella Log.ui, entertainer.
M E A T HV'NGHV Americans
may tie s.ii prised to knew that
in lie Miidsl of the (meat! short
.;ile, the'e a:e ir.ore cat-tie on U. S.
ranehes today than in any prewar
year
-Yirn.iua, Minn. Mcsabi News.
The K r a n e o government (in
Slum' is cieaily Fascist. It's a
c'.eseti oligarchy with none of the
civil liberties that are the essence
ot ,v.;r democracy.
Sen J. H. Ball of Minnesota.
"Corporal, I IhtfiA your enlhuism is running away with youl"
VUtyuij; WnuU is cm way to
jmih'c ir tho boys Wd r:i!s m
hv A:;rti Forcvs that we .nv
Ku-k of them. Another way is to
tvf;ir to patromro black marki-'s
f'V.ny kX'Ml
AKor.i T'a , Mirror.
Washington Merry-Go-Rouhd
Side Glances
Br DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON Ever since Frunklin
Roosevelt died, Borne of his most ardent sen
ate followers have talked about organizing
to carry on his left-of-center program. Fi
nally, encouraged by the British elections
and worried over what would happen to our
domestic economy if the war ended over
night, 17 Democrat senators gathered at a
private luncheon last week.
Practically every senator present was a
personal friend nnd boostejr of President
Truman. Yet behind their luncheon was a
veiled threat If Truman became too much
influenced by the reactionary wing of the
Democrat party, he would have trouble.
The luncheon was called by Senators Pep
per of Florida and Kilgore of West Virginia.
They brought with them a mimeographed
five-page document labeled "full employ
mentobjective of domestic policy." In this
carefully written document, they proceeded
to point out that:
"American economy has never provided
stable full employment under modern con
ditions of high labor productivity and mass
production. A review of economic conditions
between world war I and world war. TI
makes this clear ... In 1939, though we
reached the production level of 1U29, there
were 7,000,000 more unemployed.
"There are some of short memory," the
survey continued, "who today urge on the
federal government a 'do nothing' policy to
ward insuring full employment . . . We be
lieve extensive federal action is esential at,
this time."
12-Point Program
The "federal action" proposed by Senators
Kilgore and Pepper was outlined to the othe!
15 senators immediately after the luncheon
in the form of a 12-point program.
"I am tired," said the West Virginia sen
ator, "of seeing the opposition use us as a
chopping block. The time has come for some
action and now."
Each senator then discussed the program.
The comment was deadly serious, most of
them worried over what will happen in. our
economy after the war.
If Jap War Ends Suddenly
One of the most interesting interchanges
took place between Maryland's Senator Rad
cliffe and Connecticut's Senator Brien Mc
Mahon. Radcliffe expressed general approval
of the program but added he knows of no
unemployment problem in the nation. Where
upon, McMahon interrupted to say that
there was a growing unemployment' prob
lem in Connecticut.
"We're in for a bad time if the war in
the Pacific should end during the summer,
before adequate legislation has been passed
to provide for additional employment," Mc
Mahon continued.
"It seems to me," he added, "the admin
istration is on the horns of a dilemma. If we
don't spend to provide employment, we'll
be in a bad way; if we do spend, our huge
public debt will continue to pile up."
"There is no problem there," interposed
Rhode Island's agile 77-year-old Senator
Green, himself a millionaire. "There is only
one course. If we do have a high level of
employment and general well-being among
the people of the country, then we are head
ed for bankruptcy anyhow.
Army-Navy Hog-Piling
New York's Senator Mead, who succeeded
Truman as chairman of the senate war in
vestigating committee, remarked:
"It's about time this country began to
shift from a two-war economy to a one-war
economy. The army and navy have got to
stop sitting on billions of dollars' worth of
materials they don't need ard which indus
try does need.
"Not only materials," continued Mead.
'They've got to release manpower we need
in the coal mines, the steel mills, the rail
roads. We can't keep our civilian economy
going ... At least the army and navy can
release 100,000 key, men for these industries.
We've got to speed up for the reconversion
process."
WE, THE WOMEN
' By RUTH MILLETT
Perhaps she just has a smarter press agent
than the rest of the Hollywood stars. But
Anne Baxter has crashed through with a
sound idea. She has asked Gen. Omar Brad
ley to book her a,head for one tour a year
for 10 years after V-day to entertain wound
ed veterans.
It is a rewarding project for entertainers
to sing or dance for servicemen today. It
gives them more and better publicity than
they can get in any other way.
But it will be a different thing in five or
10 years. Nobody much will hear of the
performers who entertain the servicemen
who are shut off from the world in veterans'
hospitals. That won't be big news. So any
star who is making plans now for the future
entertainment of servicemen ought to be en
couraged. And what about the rest of us? Shouldn't
we be thinking of what we will do as indi
viduals and as communities for the service
men who will be in hospitals for years, or
even for the rest of their lives?
Now is the time to make our pledges. The
sicks and wounded servicemen of the last
yar were pretty much forgotten by all but
members of their families. That shouldn't
happen again. Somehow we should hang on
to the feeling we now have for the service
men who are being carried from hospital
ships.
Right now we know how much we owe
them, how awed we are by the sacrifices they
have made for us. And while we know, we
ought to make some vows that they won't
be forgotten when the war is over and the
lucky ones among us are picking up our lives
and going on with them.
What we don't decide to do now we will
probably never do. For it is so easy to forget.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grand Evening Observer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 Banker John W.
Snyder of St. Louis, the new assistant pres
ident in charge of the home front, has just
had a needle stuck into his backside, right
up to the eye of the needle. So far he hasn't
said much and probably won't. He has a
reputation for being tough skinned and able
to take it.
The hypodermic applied to Snyder through'
the needle was the fourth annual report of
Senator James M. Mead's war investigating
committee. The leport found that "reconver
sion has not proceeded as swiftly as it should
have," and that "the office of war mobili
zation and reconversion, acting too often as
a conciliator rather than an executive, fails
to fill the need.
The jab wasn't aimed primarily or per
sonally at Snyder but at the two gents who
haw preceded him in office. Justice James
F. Byrnes w ho is now secretary of state, and
Judge Fred M. Vinson who is now secretary
of ttie treasury.
Kicking this job around so that three men
have held it in the last four months has ob
viously done the country no good. Also it is
always u healthy thing for a senate com
mittee to stir up the authorities and keep
them awake to their responsibilities. At the
same tinw it is dirty politics to belabor a
new official for the sms of ommission of
his predecessors. And the Mead report may
be a had thing if it kids the public into be
lieving it will be easy for U.S. industry to
go: immediately back on the job of making
ail the tilings civilians need in a hurry.
End of the war in Europe was just a start
er. Unless me war against Japan folds faster
than anyone now thinks possible, a year
after VE day the army will still number
svven m;'.iion and the navy four million.
Peak strength ofi the two was a little over
12 million With only a 10 percent net re
duction m the strength of the armed forces,
mere can't be much cut-back in military
prod.ktior.. one of the things the Mead report
complains about.
As of Afig i. military production has been
cut hack 15 percent. It wili.b cut back
-3 percent by September and 53 percent by,
the end of lUt5. ;
Yet 'ewn with a third of the military pro
duction Mopped, there aren't going to he
enough raw materials to supply all the civil
ian requirements. Just maintaining an army
and navy of 11 million for the war against
Japan takes nearly all the steel, textiles,
copper, lumber and rubber available, plus
sizeable quantities of coal, oil, food, can't be
much reconversion while that goes on.
Mr. Snyder's needling is inconsistent in
other respects. Complaint is made thot gov
ernment owned war plants haven't been re
leased for civilian production fast enough.
Yet the policy has been to keep government
plants going on war production so that privately-owned
plants could be freed for re
conversion. Complaints is made that surpluses have
not been declared fast enough. How can sur
pluses be declared till the war is over?
The army is criticized for slow release of
its great reservoir of manpower, thus retard
ing industry's reconversion. On the next page
is a pious declaration that the FIR's respon
sibility is to win the war and "for that reason
there should be no diversion of production
capacity or manpower."
Finally the office ot war mobilization is
criticized because it has been too much of
a policy and conciliation organization and
not enough of a direct operating agency.
That's one OWM drector Snyder may puz
zle over. He has been on this new big job
of his for only two weeks, and if he doesn't
know what it's all about neither does any
one else. He doesn't have a full organiza
tion. He must name two top deputies to re
place J. B. Hutson who became assistant sec
retary of agriculture and Donald Russell who
will join his old boss Justice Byrnes in the de
partment of state. Then Snyder must per
fect his organization and decide how he
wants it to function.
In his previous job, as federal loan admin
istrator succeeding J e s s c Jones. Snyder
showed a flair for simplification of organ
ization by consolidating a lot of subsidiary
corporations into the parent reconstruction
finance corporation. He can go that way on
OWMR keeping his staff down, to about 25
technicial experts on food, manpower, pro
duction and so on a tight little organiza
t or. to make policy and run the w orks from
the top. Or he can start to build up another
)big government agency with thousands of
employes, in t h c traditional Washington
bureaucratic method. How would the Mead
committee like that?
1 ! iMiLASrS I .'tOnJ&iWT'r
. in I'-' :rrm . .
' III. I v
!l VnurT "
ii .i i mi
IIWItllllllll, lt T. M. Ullli 1. PAT. OW.
"My goodness! It's time to be thinking about a new fur coat that
old one of mine will never stand another winierl"
o McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
AWAITING OPPONENT
ERRORS WINS HAND
You are not always going to get
into a perfect contract. When you
do get into a bad one, keep your
wits about you and give the op
ponents a chance to make a mis
take. Wars are won that way so
are bridge contracts.
North's opening two -diamond
bid was a little optimistic, espe
cially since both his suits were
minors. The three-heart response
is an ace-showing convention.
With the king of hearts open
ing, the declarer's contract seem
ed unquestionably doomed to de
feat. However, after winning the
first trick, North did not make
the mistake of leading a spade
and hoping the opponents would
not return a heart. He Immedi
ately cashed the ace and king of
clubsi and realized that there
Questions & Answers
Q What hospital facilities
were available for American
troops in England?
A Five giant convalescent
centers and 90 hospitals took care
of nearly half a million Ameri
can soldiers during war in Europe.
were four clubs in one hand
against him. He led the king of
diamonds then quickly! pushed
out the ten of clubs. Sure enough,
East made the mistake of cover-
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Duplicate Neither vul.
South West North Eut
Pass Pass 2 Pass
2 Pass 3 Pass
3 Pass 6 Pass
Opening K. 8
Q What percentage of Bur
ma's 18,000,000 acres under culti
vation is devoted to growing of
rice?
A Two-thirds of 12,000,000
acres. More than 70 per cent of
that country's population is en
gaged in agriculture.
Q How many ships are re
quired to transport one division
of troops?
A Thirty ships, including 12
troop transpors and 18 cargo ves
sels, for a division of 15,000 men.
ing, and declarer ruffed with the
seven of diamonds, not one of the
smaller ones. West could not
over-ruff. Declarer returned to
his hand with a diamond, cashed
the eight and four of clubs, dis
carded the two hearts, and ruf
fed his losing heart. ,
O IN FORMER
YEARS
Thirty Years Ago
Chiffon hats in autumn colors,
yellow, purple, red and brown
are being featured this season.
The postoffice department has
sent out an order forbidding
stamp sellers to place the stamp
mucilage side down on the coun
ter when pushing stamps through
to customers.
Q W hat nation honored its
principal poet with a series of 31
postage stamps, illustrating his
life?
A Portugal thus paid tribute
to Luis Vaz de Camoens in 1924,
the 400th anniversary of his birth.
Q How .much did Borneo'3
rubber production industry suf
fer during Japanese occupation?
A Reports still are indefinite,
but those available indicate that
the Japs have destroyed no more
than two out of 10 trees since
they seized the island. The ene
my, it appears, has been too busy
retreating to destroy them.
Fifteen Years Ago
Surveying of the road from
Owsley land to the summit of Mt.
Emily is to be done during part
of this month and during Sept
ember, previous to the making of
a lane through the trees and
burning and piling the brush.
The new gymnasium at Cove
is rapidly nearing completion,
with shingles and paint being put
on now.
Ten Years Ago
Funds donated for the Amos
Helm fiost aid car have reached
the $876.25 mark.
Plans are being made for a
doll show, with prizes to be given
for the largest, oldest, smallest,
homeliest, most beautiful, and
best diessed dolls. ,
This Curious World
when you're dealt ll i I
A HAND IN POKER BKvJSj' I X 1
THAT YOU WONT GET" A ' v jT I I S
IT'S HARD 60IN& IN SOFT
CASEY LEWARSKI,
COFR. IHI IY NCA URVKC WC
-40 KINDS v' ORCHIDS
IN EVERTSTATE PROM U.MQI1
TO A&i.AM0
ewe '
SOW'S. OP THE AOSTCS.ON;
LAWS slipper, cachet nx?"1
GRASS PINK, CJRAL 0O,U
RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN ASV
i THAfrSLADE.
T. M. MO. JL . MT. Off.
NEXT: That heavy afe before a storm.
D4 LjIKC
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58 Symbol for
in tny mei
Iridium