La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959, August 11, 1945, Image 2

Historic Oregon Newspapers

La Grande evening observer., August 11, 1945, Image 2

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1945)

Prev Page of 8 Next Prev Issue Next Text PDF JP2 (2.6 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Prev Page of 8 Next Prev Issue Next

Newspaper Page Text'EDITORIAL PAGE La Grande Evening Observer Frank Schlro, Publisher SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST U, 1945 All the Latest Styles A Long Road The publication, Hiirclwiu'c Trade, has cautioned retailers that the lifting of WPB restrictions doesn't mean that ' merchandise will immediately start moving toward their shelves. And since the rest of us are watching those shel ves, perhaps the word of caution is worth passing along. WPB, as Hardware Trade points out, gave manufacturers permission to be gin producing some 1200 individual items in '100 types of civilian goods when it revoked blanket order M-126, which applied to iron and steel. But WPB only gave manufacturers the green light. Their job of getting out of war production enough to give peace time manufacturing some attention, of gelling plants into shape and finding material and labor, takes time. The result of that delay will mean annoyance rather than real hardship to most consumers. But to millions of war workers who will be released at the end of the war, prolonged delay could be much more than annoying. i ('conversion will be difficult enough at best without adding acute social un rest and discontent arising from mis information or ineptitude on the part of cither industry or the government agencies affected. The history of reconversion to date has not been a particularly shilling one. Granting the difficulties, it is time that those responsible summoned all their t f foi l and efficiency to prepare for as rapid and painless a changeover as pos Funny Hit sin ess "He wants to be lure ht iin't given My (Si (Qui MM-' Page Two Direct From London sible. Bickering and slipshod perform ance could bring incalculably bad re sults. A Burp For the Hays Office An emphatic burp might appropri ately describe the reaction of most Americans to the recent announcement that the Will H. Hays office has de clined to approve the documentary Eu ropean war film, "The True Glory," be cause occasional words of pofanity al'e on the sound track. As most readers know, the Hays office is the censoring agency for filmland. Most people know, too, that "The True Glory" represents the collective efforts of some MOO cameramen who followed allied armies through the mud and blood of France and adjacent na tions to Berlin. Many of the camera men were killed in action in the effort to provide, through pictures and sound, the story of how victory was won. Our belief is that most Americans want to see that historic record the record that the Hays office will keep from them if it has its way. This, of course, does not condone pro fanity for profanity's sake. But cer tainly it is silly, and insulting, to imply that the feelings of most Americans are so delicate that they cannot listen and see the sound and picture record made at the price of thousands of American and allied fighting men. The Mays office Is making itself ridiculous by the stand it has taken, apparently without the realization that neither it, nor anything else of human content, can survive long in the face of ridicule. SO THEY SAY I can see nothing but conflict and recrimination for capitnlism in America unless we provide a piogram which will insure em ployment for all Americans who are able and willing to work. - Sen James E. Murray, of Mon tana. There is no change whatsover in the fundamental policy of our government in regard to tire pros ecution o( the war. Premier Kantaro Suzuki, of Japan. The W.WFS h at v c released enough men for duty afloat to completely man a major naval task force. Jks V. Forrostal, Secretary of the Navy. Up to laio, the total appropria tions for all government purposes never had reached a billion dol lars a ye.ir and we had a pretty good government. - Butte, Mont., Tost. ardent" Washington Merry-Go-Round By DREW PEARSON WASHINGTON inside fact is that Stalin agreed as far back as the Tehran conference to come into the war against Japan. That was the price he agreed to pay in return for the second front in Normandy . . . Churchill was opposed to the second front through France, but Stalin insisted on it, and FDR threw his weight with Stalin in return for the pledge on Japan . . . More recently at Potsdam, TrUman took the whole matter up again with Stalin . . .' Chief thing the Russians have been working on to prepare for the Jap war is re-laying the Trans-Siberian railway. Thirty thousand miles of track has now been laid, one of the biggest, quickest, rail-building jobs in history . . . In return for Russian entry into the Jap war, it was agreed that Russia would get all al lied military secrets. The atomic bomb at thaUtime was only an idea, and no one knew whether or not it would materialize. As far as' can be ascertained, it was not discussed with the Russians. Apparently the Germans were thinking about an atomic weapon for a long time. Twenty years ago, Louis Lehman, concert master of the New York philharmonic or chestra, went to Utah to invest in uranium mines. He had been tipped off by his brother, a physicist in Germany, who foresaw the tremendous possibilities of pitchblende and informed his brother in this country that ex periments made it advisable to purchase options on uranium deposits . . , The options are believed to have lapsed . , . For some unexplained reason, a staff of publicity men from Ivy Lee's public relations office ha? been quartered at the highly secret Oak Ridge, Tenn., site of the atomic bomb plant for several months . . . Ivy Lee is the man who largely reversed American antipathy for the elder John D. Rockefeller . . . What he was doing for the army remains to be seen . . . There is something awfully funny about the sudden retraction of scientist Har old Jacobson's statement that for 70 years human life cannot survive in an area struck by an atomic bomb, and that rain falling in that are will poison neighboring areas when carried away in streams . . . The army's haste to deny the story, coupled with an army statement that Dr. Jacobson was bound to secrecy under the espionage act made a lot of people examine facts twice. The army was obviously worried about public reaction. Though a lot of people deserve credit for developing the new atomic bomb, one man stood above them all as the greatest single WE, THE WOMEN By RUTH MILLETT There ought to be a lot of uses for that 12 ounce shirt pocket radio to be manufactured as soon as wartime restrictions arc removed. Tillie the typist, with a radio tucked away in the pocket of her trim business suit or in one of the suitcasts women call hand bags, out to be able to join housewives in the modern American pastime of keeping up with the soap operas. Stenographers can trip off to the ladies' room the minute their favorite tear-jerkers go on the air. Guests can get even with host who insists on hearing his favorite broadcast by saying, "If you don't mind, I think I'll go out on the porch and tune in on something else. Just let me know when you're ready to talk." That would beat what the guest goes through now, having to listen quietly and pretend to enjoy a broadcast he wouldn't thing of lis tening to at home. Husbands ought to be a little more pa tient about waiting for their wives if they' Behind Scenes in Washington By PETER EDSON. La Grand Evening Observer Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON. Aug. 11 A report that OPA had finally been forced to give up on its plan to roll back the cost of clothing by 6 or 7 percent seems to be a bit premature. The price administration boys arc sticking by their guns. But the reasons President Truman has trouble buying white shirts, why all men have trouble buying shorts and all women have trouble buying inexpensive garments are a bit complicated. The whole story pre sents an interesting case history of what one basic American industry is up against. The big problem is in cotton textiles, wool and rayon playing relatively minor parts. Production of cotton textiles had dropped 18 percent since the record high of 1943 and the main reason is that the number of peo ple working in the mills has dropped about 18 percent. Textile workers have simplv gone off to other war jobs where pay is higher and working and living conditions are better. The textile industry is one of the lowest paid in the country. Three fourths of the mills are in the south. About 15 percent are organized. Last February the war labor board handed down an award efefcting 55 of the union mills. 2:t of which were in th' south. Wl.H raised the minimum wage from 50 to 55 cents an hour with an extra nickel an hour on the third shift and vacations with pay. Many of the other mills have now raised pay to this standard, but it still isn't enough to attract as many workers as arc needed. There is a long chance the minimum w.iro will be put still higher. In May the war production board launch ed a campaign to recruit mrc Will workers. It is just getting started. It has checked the usual 10 percent summer employment slump. By ncxt.fall it hopes to have all the 18 per cent back at work. So much for the labor picture. . The mill operators say the trouble is, that OPA price ceilings on textile are too low to factor in its development Franklin D. Rdosevelt. Only a few people know the details of how Roosevelt approached this greatest and most fantastic weapon of international warfare. However, when he finally decided to pour $2,000,000,000 of the nation's resources into hundreds of miles of government-owned fac tories certain to consume the energies of half a million critically needed workers at the peak of the war, he was gambling, hot only the nation's resources, but his own name in history. Had the project failed, Roosevelt would ' have been the goat. The vast plants in Ten nessee and Washington State would have been scoffed at as "Roosevelt's greatest white elephant." Political opponents could have used it to keep the Democratic porty out, of power for a decade. Roosevelt, however, never flinched. Nor It is generally known that the man who prodded Roosevelt hardest to undertake the atomic project was another "star-gazing" official, former Vice President Henry Wallace. Wallace was the missionary for the project, one of the few key men in government who understood the theory of the atom and who, as a friend of the world's great scientists) spurred General Marshal and war agency heads into speedier action. Note Incidentally, it was Wallace's dreamy-eyed experimentation with a new typs of corn that will give the world 400, 000,000 more bushels of corn to feed the hungry this year. So perhaps the "crackpot professors" and the "starry-eyed dreamers" Roosevelt brought to Washington were worth while after all. The 5 o'clock Shadow Oregon's hard-hitting, rapid - fire - talking Republican Senator Wayne Morse got the reputation of being the senate's "five o'clock shadow" during the recent debate on the united nations charter. Every day, promptly at 5 p. m., regardless of what was happening, Morse arose and delivered a firey blast against the OPA, because of the meat situation and the prob lems of the farmers in his native state. Even a few minutes before the crucial vote was taken on the charter itself, Morse arose and delivered his daily assault. Every time he took the floor, observers noted the clock reached the stroke of five. So they called Morse the senate's "five o'clock shadow." have a pocket radio for entertainment. They are sure to greet the little woman with something like: "Well, it is about time you showed up. I've listened to 15 minutes of dance music, a news broadcast, and the cor rect time is now exactly 7 o'clock." The radio corporation that is to manufac ture the pocket radio explains that the speak er is an ear piece of the hearing aid type. If it looks enough ljke a hearing aid to be taken for one, maybe we could fortify our selves for a boring evening by tuning. in on a program while we pretend to be listening to the conversation going on around us. An occasional "I didn't quite understand" or "Would you repeat that again, please" would be all we would have to contribute to the talk, and then we could go back to a favor ite program. It sounds like a gadget with possibilities, doesn't it? encourage management to pay higher wages and produce the necessary yardage. OPA counters this with the assertion cot ton textile mill profits are seven times pre war earnings and the mills arc plenty pros perous without having to raise price ceilings. Further, under the Bankhcad amendment to the price control act, OPA must- raise the price on textiles as the price of raw cotton goes up. OPA will soon announce a revision of the cotton textile price structure. But even with wage and price angles solv ed, there is still the problem of getting pro duction on the right quantities of the right kinds of cloth. The mills naturally want to weave the higher price fabrics on which they make the most money. That cuts down the supply of low price fabrics that go into low price apparel. And even that doesn't guar antee that the low price fabrics will go into low price clothing. To take care of these twin problem chil dren, Fred M. Vinson, director of economic stabilization, last January launched a double barreled attack. First the war production board was di rected to put in a priority system to control the output of the textile mills. It hasn't worked to perfection because the mills ware supposed to put ratings on their own out put and there seems to have been a little inflation of ratings, to put it politely. At any rate there's still not enough low-priced goods being turned out. OPA's job was then to see that the textiles were made into low priced apparel. T6 do this, it put out its highly controversial maximum average price, or MAP order which rcquicrs clothing man ufacturers to produce apparel lines that will average out in price with their 104:i outpu. MAP brought an outcry from the apparel industry. The whole thing was called im practical and, unworkable. The smart guys who figured it out, however, say that it will work if the apparel makers can just get the fabrics they need from the mills. Side Glances . - t aw.miiiaaiiiiiM.ai t. y. am. M. t. mt. r. . , 1 "Everything turns out for the best after all, dear if we had been able to get Pullman reservations for a vacation trip we wouldn't have this money to lend poor Uncle Charley!" O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority READING PARTNER'S BID ALL-IMPORTANT Today's hand came up lit the Adirondack Tournament, which is held each year at the Adiron dack Inn, Sacandaga Park, N. Y. Can you imagine picking up the four-odd against you? When West and North passed, Peter Levon tritt (East) went into a long hud- partner must have an honor in spades in order to dare bid six no trump, and that that honor practically had to be the king of spades. Of course, after the opening lead, seven clubs were ice cold. I thought his reasoning and bid ding were very good. O IN FORMER YEARS Lcventrltt A A Q J 7 3 None 5 AKQJ Thirty Years Ago J. C. Ghormley is coming to the Christian church to talk on the vital subject of "Will England Hold India?" A good many farmers of Union county have become interested in silos. At the present time there are no silos in Union county. For Rent Housekeeping and bedrooms. Fine, clean; $8, $10 and $12. K104 VKQJ7 52 A7 N W E S Dealer 495 .10 7 4 A : Duplicate Neither vul. South West North East 4 Pass Pass 6 A Pass 6 N T Pass . 7 13 Fifteen Years Ago ' Six men were fined $10 and another forfeited $2.50 in munic ipal court last night on charges of parking their cars too close to a fire. At a jolly swimming party and picnic, women employes of Falk's store and a few friends drove to Cove last evening soon after 6 o'clock. The Lions club at its luncheon in the Sacajawea today, went on record as standing ready to as sist the chamber of commerce in whatever way it can in the pro motion of the La Grande - Mt. Emily road, which would become a link of the skyline drive and would connect La Grande with Dayton, Wash., via a highway over the Blue mountains. die and finally decided to bid six clubs. That was nothing like the problem he had when his partner bid six no trump. When I asked him about it later, Lcvcntritt told me that he bid seven clubs, because the six no trump bid indicated to him that his partner held the ace of dia monds. If his partner had no dia monds, he said, and that was very possible, undoubtedly his bid over six clubs would have been six diamonds to show the short suit. Leventritt also thought that his o BARBS It's county fair time around the country. Don't miss the chance to see some beefl Ten Years Ago The new Cove school building, a handsome brick structure erect ed by the district with the aid of PWA loan and grant, has been completed and was acepted as of Aug. 1, according to announce ment today. Approximately 200 men still remain at the front in the battle against the Catherine creek for est fire, although the fire was brought under control by a much larger crew. Henry Stevens, of La Grande, defeated Shrimp, Reynolds in the finals of the eastern Oregon ten nis tournament. One of the worst shortages re ported is in heavy underwear. The very thing we'll be itching to wear when winter comes. All of the reports indicate that coal is going to be mighty short this coming winter and no fueling! People who don't know when they're licked, can't be! An optimist believes that times arc ripe the pessimist thinks they are rotten. This Curious World $ NPW CONFINED TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS... WHEN YOU MVEHfr, YOU PRINTS "Sort MINORU Tpl, , 814 fflSsffiBgsJ - . ) WITHOUT THE I ms i ( ) M9 I 11 M TOE CITY OP in V J I Liverpool. f?ei V ENeLANCI' ) BOT BONES HAVE BEEN UN- lNfl EARTHED SHOWlfJ& THAT Pmmm m t-A Nf ITS RANGE ONCE EXTENDED . V'N V AS FAR SOUTH AS J i COPft. 1M BY HZX SEfiVKt. IMC' y S 3 I fo U "'Jiff T. ft see u, i mi. off- NEXT: Woodpecker tree surgeons.