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Side Glances
Washington Merry-Go-Round
EDITORIAL PAGE
T "DBEW PEARSON
J
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schlro, Publisher
WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1945
Page Four
Locked Out!
p NATIONS p3 IXr ' I '
-..w ...V . V -. it MU
Atoms and Men
They are saying now that the power
of the atomic bomb is so terrible that
men will no longer dare to wage war.
That would be comforting to believe. But
they were saying the same thing about
the bomber airplane only seven years
ago. They probably made the same pre
diction when gunpowder was first used
in battle.
The fact remains that no weapon,
however terrible, has ever curbed war
making. Andd some of the best human
minds down through the centuries have
devoted much of their talent and en
ergy to creating more elaborate and
efficient methods of bringing quick and
widespread death to their brothers.
Now the scientists of America, in a
fantastic race with the scientists of
iheir enemies, have perfected the most
horrifying agent of death the world has
ever known. In doing so they have
probed another secret of the universe.
They have taken the motivating en
ergy of life upon this planet and, with
out being able to explain it, have har
nessed and used it.
The explosion of the first atomic
bomb was no more shattering than the
announcement of its existence. The em
ployment of atomic energy, surely one
of the great scientific achievement of
all time, promises incalculable changes
in history and human life. Yet is man
ready to be trusted with the fruit of
his own scientific wisdom?
His record to date is not good. Too
often the great scientific leader has
been followed by stupid men and vicious .
men who have cheapened and pervert
er the gift of his discoveries It might '
be better if men would devote their en
ergies, for a few years to raising their
moral and ethical stature to the point ''
where they could employ their present
scientific advancement decently and
wisely, rather than devising more sour
ces of power which, in the wrong hands,
tire sources of cataclymic murder.
It may be right, by the rules of war,
for us to visit this cataclysmic death
upon a cruel and guilty enemy who has
been offered a way out of a hopeless
war and has refused to take it. But what
is to be done with this new weapon in
the future?
At present the weapon is a secret
known only to a few persons in this
country and Britain. It is a product of
two nations which genuinely love and
want peace a fact for which the world
may well thank God. It might be well
if they kept that secret and guarded it
with desperate vigilance until the rest
of the world has shown itself fit to
share it.
It is more important that the United
Nations Organization prevent future
war than that we run our ships and air
p lane s by atomic energy instead of
steam and gasoline. It is more impor
tant that the w o r 1 d keep the peace
through sincere desire and friendly ef
fort than through fear of another war's
destruction. For the effort, though
never yet; honestly made, is the world's ,
only hope. And the fear has never pre
vented war, and never will.
Funny liusiness
SO THEY SAY
Many thousands of them (ex
servicemen) arc going to seek to
enter business for themselves,
unit we are going to co-operate
with them to the fullest extent.
William Pludo. business executive.
Some people's religion consists
mainly ot the firm belief that
Heaven will provide.
Edwardsville, III., Intlli6wr.
I hopo you don't- mind I couldn't get a priority!"
America will have at least 3,
500,000 private flyers by 1S60 if
increases since 1929 continue at
the same rate during the next IS
years.
William A. Mara, Bendix Avi
ation Corp.
Farming is a real business re
quiring courage. Initiative and,
above all, hard work . . . The
people to whom work and initia
tive and responsibility are dis
agreeable should never elect
furming as a career.
Muncie, Ind, Press,
WASHINGTON Already scientific plan
ners for the next war have been working
secretly on such weird things as bases on
the moon from which they could launch huge
rocket bombs on any nation; plans which
would seem ludicrous and laughable were
it not for the deadly achievements of science
in other directihons.
Already, Gen. William Donovan and his
office of strategic services have been plan
ning a worldwide espionage network to
operate in peacetime by which we could spy
on other countries. ,
Already Adm. Ernest King had drawn
plans for 73 warships not to be completed
until three or four years after the war, which
peace-aspiring Jimmy Byrnes knocked out
of the budget because they were not need
ed and obviously were aimed at future use
' against only one country Russia.
Already the war department had been
spurring a campaign for peacetime conscrip
tion, never before adopted in the U. S. A.
In other words, our top planners were
largely ignoring the hopes and ideals for
which this war was fought. Already, they
were plunging ahead toward the abyss of
the next world war, blindly oblivious to the
aful state' ln store for them. They were
plunging ahead just as if another war were
a foregone conclusion until Aug. 5, and the
atom bomb over Hiroshima.
Now a cold chill has crept over the world,
even over1 the hard-boiled war planners,
though not ver all of them. The New York
News came tout with an editorial urging that
unless Catlfida share with us her uranium
deposits, we should forcibly take them.
, Good Neighborliness Pays
This is-the kind of jingoism on which war
feeds. And, if there is one thing we have
learned in this' country, it is that being a
good neighbor pays, dividends. We have
only to look at our vast borders with Can
ada and Mexico, minus a single armed guard,
or at the thousands of people commuting ev
ery day across the Rio Grande or the Niag
ara or the Detroit river, to see that we of
North America have led the world In neigh
borliness. And when you remember that
our trade with Canada, Cuba and Mexico is
greater than with any other three countries,
obviously good neighborliness pays.
Except for off intervals, when we landed
marines in Nicaragua or Haiti, we have not
tried to lord it ever other people. We have
tried on the whole to respect the rights of
others. We did not dam off all the water
in the Colorado river from Mexico, but di
vided it peacably by treaty. We have made
plenty of mistakes, but perhaps we have
come nearer to putting Christianity to work
on an international basis than other major
powers. - .
But even sc, we have not kept out of war.
So the problem of preventing future wars
is very deep and very difficult. It goes much
deeper than the United Nations, which,
though a start in the right direction, has se
vere limitations. It gets down to education,
to the churches, and to carrying out the ba
sic rules of Christ's sermon on the mount.
How we can do it, I don't know. But we
must do it, or see civilization vanish from
the earth.
Rooserelt end Stalin
There has been a lot of talk about how
Russia was argued into the Japanese war at
Potsdam. The real fact, however, is, Stalin
made his initial commitment to President
Roosevelt at Teheran. The details of what
happened can now be revealed for the first
time.
At Tehran, the Big Three held their first
get-together. The atmosphere warmed very
slowly. Roosevelt had never met Stalin be
fore, but they got along very well. Stalin
and Churchill, however, were almost at dag
gers' point.
See WASHINGTON . . . Page 6
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
Infidelity of wives is responsible for 43
percent of the mental breakdowns that keep
returned servicemen in hospitals, either un
fit for civilian life of return to the armed
forces. So says Capt. Howard Sprague, chief
of mental rehabilitation for 5000 patients at
St. Albans naval hospital, Queens, New York.
There is no defense for the war wives who
have been faithless in their husbands' ab
sence, no matter what excuses they may find
for their own conduct. But there is one ser
ious mistake that has been made during this
war which might occount for some of the in
fidelity of wives.
That is, the way the soldier overseas has
been portrayed as a woman chaser. What
picture have the women back home been
given of the service man away from home?
Well, it has been a composite photo made
up of disquieting figures on venereal dis
ease, widely publicized stories of husbands
falling in love with girls in other countries,
lightly written accounts of the way foreign
women throw themselves at American men
in uniform.
Not a pretty picture for the wife at home
or one that tends to make her feel secure
in her marriage.
And, of course, there are wives who are
foolish enough to say to themselves, "Well,
why should I suppose my George is any dif
ferent from the rest?" From there they go
on to rationalize: "Why should I sit at home
waiting for a man who probably isn't wait
ing for me?"
Not that such reasoning accounts for all
of the infidelity among war wives. There
are plenty of no-account women who mar
ried servicemen for. their allotment checks
and never had any' intention of being faith
ful to them.
But that kind of reasoning is sure to ac
count for some of the infidelity of wives.
And it is too bad they have been given such
a disturbing picture. For the wife back home
needs to have her morale kept high, just as
much as does the husband overseas.
It hasn't been built up by the picture
American women have been given of the
American serviceman away from home,
which can't be any more true of all men in
uniform than is the faithfless war wife a
true portrait of all war wives.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grand Eronlng Observer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 How things get
done in Washington and how the wires get
pulled is always revealing.
Take this proposal to establish a Missouri
Valley Authority which has stirred up the
folks of that area into two opposing camps.
While the people don't want on MVA say
that the idea is being forced on them by a
bunch of carpet baggers, conception of the
plan really traces back to James C. Patton
of the National Farmers union of Denver.
The Farmers Union is made up largely of
small farmers and tenant farmers, as op
posed to the bigger land owners and oper
ators. It has close connections with CIO
and PAC.
Early in the war, Patton cast around for
some project to improve the lot of his mem
bers in the big mid-west. He sent identical
letters to three government agencies de
partment of agriculture, department of in
terior and Tennessee Valley authority. Ik
invited or suggested that each of these agen
cies send teams of experts into the area to
appraise its resources and develop a post
war program for belter use of the land.
Advantages of such a program to an or
ganization like Patton's are fairly obvious.
Most of the good land has been settled and
taken up. The chances for a little man
starting out in the world as the pioneers and
the homesteaders did, aren't too numerous.
Nevertheless, there is room 'here for growth.
The Missouri Valley represents one sixth of
the U. S. land mass. Yet it hs only one
thirtieth of the U. S. population. More popu
lation, more members for Farmers Union.
The secretaries of interior and agriculture,
on receipt of the Patton letter, came to the
umc conclusion, untwknownst to each other.
They looked over their staffs, their war pro
jects and their budgets and decided they ha.t
neither the time, the men nor the money
to do what they wanted. They declined
with regrets.
TV A. however, leaped at the chance with
all the feevor of its cult. It loaned a staff of
experts. They went over the Missouri val
ley. Then they prepared a draft of a bill to
create an MVA in the image t TVA.
The opportunity to sponsor MVA was giv
en to Senator James E. Murray of Montana,
a Missouri valley state. Murray is the great
spokesman of the little man. He has a fur
ther natural concern in the loss in popula-
tion which some of the Missouri valley states
have suffered during the war because they
had few industries which could be converted
to war production and too few big communi
ties with a labor force already assembled
and housed. The states in the valley that
had the most to offer drained off the popu
lation from areas with less opportunity.
Assuming sponsorship of the MVA bill,
Murray looked around for support. Among
other places, he went to department of in
terior. Bureau heads there looked over
Murray's bill and weren't too pleased.
The public power sections looked okay.
But the experts from TVA, coming from an
area of surplus rainfall where water had to
be drained off, apparently did not reckon
with conditions that had to be met in the
semi-arid Missouri valley There was in
sufficient provision for irrigation projects,
for piotccton of grazing areas, the great na
tional parks, care of the Indians and many
of the other characteristic things that make
up life in this vast orea.
Interior thereupon proceeded to draft a
bill of its own. This was a more general
"authority" bill, intended to make it possible
to create not just a Missouri valley author
ity but others as well Columbia, or Central
Valley of California as the need for them
arose. And naturally, the interior boys, al
ready having grazing service, bureau of rec
lamation, fish and wildlife, national parki
and a host of other miscellaneous businesses
under their wings, wrote their proposals to
keep the department of interior in charge.
This was too much for Senator Murray
and too much for the Farmers Union and the
other local backers of the MVA idea alone.
Secretary Ickes and his aides have talked
about their bill and shown it around in pub
he. But it hasn't been introduced in con
gress and it probably won't be until the
time is riper.
The whole subject therefore remains some
thing for public discussion. The lobbies, pro
and con, are shouting at each other up and
down the valley, Something might happen
when congress convenes in the fall, but the
opponents of MVA are well organized. It '
usually takes five or ten years to get a new
idea through congress It sometimes takes
that long to get public opinion jelled" so that
the congressmen know where their constit
uents stand. ' ' .
feoe)timiTimMimci.wc.'T.M.MQ.u.s.rAT.orr. S-lb
"Which is more important, dear for an ex-soldier to bs on time
or to go around the office looking like a fashion plate?"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
CAPITALIZE ON FOE'S
ERRORS TO WIN HAND
I am not a very good kibitzer
because I like to enter into the
bidding and play of every hand,
and certainly no one can keep me
fUUph Kempner
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South West North East
3 N. T. Pass 5 Pass
6 Pass. Pass
Opening J. It
out of the discussion. That is
why I always enjoy the rubber
bridge games in Chicago. While
only four people play, there are
at least 10 people in the game:
My old friend R. W. Halpin, one
of Chicago's outstanding players,
o BARBS
The atomic bomb has put it
squarely up to the world as to
its future peace or pieces!
sent me this hand, played by
Ralph Kempner. '
Kempner let the opening lead
ride around 'to his singleton '
queen, then led the deuce of
hearts and finessed dummy's
nine-spot. Next he led the queen
of hearts, East winning. At this
point, if East had returned a
spade, the hand would have been
dead. But East led the king of
diamonds. Kempner won in
dummy, ruffed a small club,
picked up the outstanding trumps,
and led a spade over to the ace.
As Halpin said in his letter, that
was Bingo!
O IN FORMER
YEARS
30 Years Ago
Union county's jail is empty to
day. Three prisoners in it last
night have flown flown with
traces left behind of skilled jail
birds engineering the escape, and
. clear evidence that someone
smuggled a saw into the county
jail with which the prisoners
could saw their way to freedom.
Pros and cons of reducing wa
ter charges in the city will be
heard tonight when the Commer-.
cial club meets to take up the
matter which has been brought
to their attention.
An electric light bulb used on
warships withstands battle
shocks. Perfect for the front
hall when dad comes home late!
Just, move to a nice place in
the country, or near a lake, if
you want your friends to drop in
and stay and stay and stay.
A large apple crop is in the
offing. Orchards will be safe
just as soon as school opens.
Yawata, the "Pittsburgh of Ja
pan," got a real break. It was hit
only by demolition bombs from
225 Superforts.
Mother is the one who will real
ly enjoy her vacation at home
just as soon as school opens.
"Retail Prices Hold Level"
headline. Since when have they
been on the level?
15 Years Ago
The first move to extend the
work of the state Americanization
commission into extreme eastern
Oregon probably will be made
within the next few weeks, ac
cording to Frank S. Sever, sec
retary of the commission, when
he will attempt to organize a
class of foreign born residents at
La Grande.
La Grande's miniature golf
course, at the corner of Spring
and Cedar streets, will be open
for play tomorrow. f
This Curious World
10 Years Ago
Three plays, a comedy, a trag
edy, and a fantasy, have been se
lected by the Little Theater group
of La Grande for presentation
this summer.
There were 250 4-H club mem
bers and local leaders from Bak
er, Wallowa and Union counties
present at the 4-H club picnic
held at the Eastern Oregon exper
iment station at Union yesterday.
IN THE
gwmM,
THERE WAS NO NEED
FOR OLD A0
seccwrx. . ,
FOR NO ONE EVER
REACHED OLDA&E.
STUDIES OF SKULLS
FROM THAT PERIOO
SHOW THAT EMU
PERSONS LIVED OVER
rOKTr TEARS.
AJtfNJIS
HATCH BD IN WISCONSIN
l are wwrm.
mo. u. . pat. on.
A LIFT-HANDED PU-LHITTe
m iball USUALLY HITS
TO WHICH FIELD... IMW,
ANKWF.H' Tn rioht fiol,l
NEXTi A bard that goes north In winter.