EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
1' KID AY KVKNINU, AUGUST 17, 1915
l'uge Two
And Thus Ends the Tale of the Rapacious Rat
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Ml
Ssi1 Jilt
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PKOGRAM
t
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Rond Valley irrigation project.
LA GRANDE A city of 10,0(10
Extend (he, city UmlU. t
TODAY'S TEXT
I was biily with you in tint temple
leaching, anil yo took me not: hut tho
.scriptures nuisl he fulfilled. Mark
1-1:49..
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
lie who oheys with modesty appears
worthy of Ijuinjr some day a commander.
Cicero.
A Radio in Every Pocket
Does tlie'slrained, silence of an eleva
tor full of strangers embarrass you? Are
you ever taken down with drymouthed
terror so that you can't oven pucker up
a whistle while passing a graveyard at
night? Do silence and solitude give you
ihe jumps?
If these are your symptoms, fret no
more, l-'or it says here in the ad that
it will fit into your pocket and cost
about .?::,. What ? Why, the brave new
pocket radio of our brave new post
war world, of course.
The radio people are going to fix it
so that you never need be alone with
your thoughts so long as your battery
holds out. You can always lie alone with
somebody else's thoughts or, if you
prefer, somebody else's music. There'll
never be a dull moment, or even a ipiiet
one. Wordsworths lines about wander
ing lonely as a cloud will be hopelessly
outmoded.
Of course there may be a few minor
social problems to iron out. A clash of
diverse tastes and interests is conceiv
able which might lead to hard words
and even blows.
For example, a postwar Mary Mar
garet AfeBride fan and a devotee of
"Life Can lie lienutifu!" might find
themselves seated side by side in a
ctreet car. What happens? One gives a
snort and turns on her pocket radio a
b'ttle hauler. The other mutters, "1 can't
hear a word they're saying," and makes
her radio louder still.
Across the aisle a man trying to lis
ten to a newscast gives them both a
dark look and fishes in his coat pocket
for his radio's volume control. A sym
phony listener up ahead threatens to
complain to the motorman. And what
have you got? Incipient chaos.
To meet this we may have to amend
the I i 11 of Uights to include freedom
of listening as well as freedom of speech.
Or congress might have to legislate
headphones back into existence. Hut a
solution surely will be found. We're a
great enough nation to tackle the pocket
radio problem and lick it.
So le us sing a song of sixpence, a
pocket full of soap operas and Sinatra.
Let us sing of the golden I'uHtre when
we shall have, not o n I y a chicken in
every pot, but a radio in every pocket.
Lot us hail the bright new day when,
in every country lane, the singing bird
will be drowned out by boogie-woogie,
and the noisy drama of the city street
w ill be heightened by the endless emo
tional dilemmas of John's Other Wife.
Fun mi Husincss
SO THEY SAY
If AnHM'ica has not lost the
spirit of George Washington mid
Abraham Lincoln, her leaders
will cease the cruel perfidy of
tins win- against Japan.
- T.iyoluk.i Kagawa, Japanese
siu-ial reformer.
Whali-vr- happens to our farm
sluu-tiiie is of vital Importance
to every citizen.
l-a Grande. Ore., Observer.
It is truly remarkable how ar
dently guhern;'foial candidates
suppoit the Idea of streamlined
government and how icily they
regard any suggestion for ivfortn
within six months after taking
office.
- Henry Steffcns. former city
comptroller of Detroit.
"It's the Juggler serving again kecp hit opponent guesting which
ono iio'i going to hill"
Do you know that . . . more
than 90 percent of the land area
nf Massachusetts is open rural
country, even though this is the
third most densely populated
slate in the union?
Fan haven, Mass., St ir.
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Side Glances
Bj DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON Having made the deci
sion to work with and through the emperor
in governing, postwar Japan, our problem,
now Is not to be fooled by him and the court,
''moderates' as was Ambassador Joe Grew,
who up until just before Pearl Harbor kept
telling the state department the emperor
didn't want war and everything would be
all right.
U. S. plans for governing Japan to date
chiefly call for taking away its colonies and
its raw mqterials for making war. But what
our state and war department planners fail
to realize is that many nations, such as Bel
gium, Portugal, and Holland may have col
onies abroad without being aggressive, and
that the wiping out of Japanese belligerency
is a far deeper problem .It gets down to a
democrat change in trje whole outlook and
philosophy of the Japanese people.
It is doubtful if they can be persuaded to
give up the idea Japanese are born to rule
the world until they also give up shintoism,
the stale religion which teaches just exact
ly that, and which revolves uround the per
son of the emperor.
Hirohito probably is, as Grew maintains,
a moderate man, much more moderate than
the militarists around him. However, em
perors come and go. And it is the system
which they represent, a system which teach
es all devout and loyal Japanese that war
and conquest are an essential part of their
life, which stands between us and perma
nent peace,
Hirohito and Rig Business
Most important thing for our military gov
ernors to remember about Hirohito is that
(1) He is hog-lied by and is a part of the five
big business families of Japan which helped
promote Japanese' conquest of China and
which wax fat on wars; and (2), he is the
heart and soul of a state religion which
preaches war.
That is what our former ambassador to
Japan, Grew, so tragically failed to grasp
before Pearl Harbor and what he has con
tinued to ignore.
How charming and ingratiating the Jap
anese nobility can be (or else how naive our
ambassador was) is indicated by Grew's own
diary und by some of the telegrams he sent
back "b the state department just six weeks
before Pearl Harbor.
Not only did he urge that we continue
sending oil and, scrap irpn.to Japan, but in
late October 1941, after the bloodthirsty
General Tojo . actually had become prime
minister, Grew was so naive and shortsight
. ed as to inform the state department Tojo
"would resign" if he failed to iron out U. S.
Japanese troubles.
How to Create Peaceful Japan
The chief problem facing U. S. governors
of Japan is how to wean Japanese psychol
ogy away from the idea that Japan's future
can only be solved through military aggres
sion. Making this conversion with the cm
perer still on the throne is going to be diffi
cult because he has been the spearheud of
the conquest theory in the past.
However, the emperor, has not been such
a sacrosanct institution in the past as the
Grew school of thought would have us be
lieve. Twice during the reign of Emperor
Meiji, grandfather of Hirohito, there was
rebellion against him, suppressed only after
terrific slaughter. Once there was even an
attempt to assassinate Hirohito.
And when the former mayor of Tokyo,
Yujio Ozaki, made a speech against the em
peror since Pearl Harbor he was given a two
year jail sentence; but public sentiment was
such the military did not dare put him in
jail. Ozaki, a strong friend of the U. S. A.
and a bitter opponent of the military, was
even elected to the diet in 1942, after Peorl
Harbor.
Shortly after Perry's time the first signs
of democracy began to emerge in Japan. The
"people's rights movement" started, followed
by the organization of the liberal party in
1881.
This threw the feudal aristocracy into a
state of jitters and began their careful cam
paign to win over the Japanese people to
shintoism and emperor-worship. For a time
all opposition newspapers were suppressed,
Japanese history books were rewritten to
show that Japanese emperors had ruled in
unbroken line since C60 B. C. (which was
definitely not the case) and one of the most
intensive propaganda campaigns in history
See WASHINGTON . . . Page 4
WE, THE WOMEN
" By RUTH MILLETT
Come out of the kitchen, Susie. Just leave
the dishes in the sink. Here's a story that
ought to sweep you off your feet. The head
line says: "One Machine To Do Most of
Housework." And this new gadget isn't too
fur awuy in the misty pbstwar world. It's
just arpurfd the cornervthe first of -1940
they say (unless an unexpected material'
shortage develops). ( .
This machine is going to be a dish washer,
butter churn and ice cream freezer, except
on wash day when you toss in an extra at
tachment and it washes, rinses, and damp
dries the clothes.
But until that day in 1940 when it is ready
to gu to work for you, you'll just have to
struggle along. Still, the world of tomor
rw gadget that is going to 'step in and take
over for you is a pleasant thing to contem
plate especially when you sink your hands
into the nail-polish-removing dish washer,
when you scrub out your husband's socks
in the bathroom basin, when you face a sack
of potatoes with nothing to aid you but a
paring knife.
You can dream then, can't you, of the glo
rious day when the gadgets take over your
jobs an dtcll you to run along and play?
You can contemplate the time when you
will say to the morning telephone caller's
query about what you are doing: "Nothing,
just nothing at all. The machine is whir
' ring away though, washing the dises,' and
ton If is' going to peel te potatoes. And I
think after it washes, rinses, and dries the
clothes I'll let it take the afternoon off."
What's your hurry, Susie? Why don't you
stick around a while and talk about this
new machine. After all, to women it is al
most as much of a modern miracle as the
atomic bomb. "One Machine To Do Most
of Housework," they say. And the one ma
chine isn't going to be you, Susie not much
longer.
What did you say? That it's time for you
to get back to the dishes and that you don't
expect to have any time for talking about
(he wonderful postwar gadgets until you
own one?
Okay, Susie. See you first of the year.
(Unless an unexpected material shortage
develops.)
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Or and Evening Observer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 One of the guys
least known publicly, but exerting most in
fluence on the public, 'is the government
press agent. To make it less obnoxious to
congress when appropriation for this item
appears in the budget, they are called "in
formation men." ;
Their job, with variations, is to keep John
Q. Public convinced the big boss is the only
man in the U. S. for his job and everything
his agency does is strictly in the best inter
est of the people. Usually, because most of
the dealings lire with the press, an ex-newspaperman4
gets the job.
If he's doing a good job he knows every
thing that's going on in an agency and is
present when top policy is being formed.
He's the people's representative at meetings
when the big-sho'.s get together to decide
what new regulation to throw at the public.
It's usually his decision as to whether the
public can take it or not.
Keeping the big boss' out of trouble with
the press frequently becomes a major task
for these public relations men. Next to Sec
retary of Interior Harold Ickes, maybe, who
is happy only when he's battling the press,
former Attorney General Francis Biddle had
the best knack for getting himself in bad
in the public eye. If it wasn't taking over
a mail order house, it was trying to fire one
of his unruly assistants vith each maneuver
bla'antly recorded on page one of every pa
per m the country.
Kolund. jolly Charles Malcolmson, former
Washington correspondent for the Philadel
phia Hn-ord, had the herculean task of keep
ing Biddle out of the public frying pan.
What ho had to do frequently, no city editor
would ask a cub reporter to do. With an
audible sigh of relief, he decided to take a
long K-st when the new attorney general
U-ok over.
It is well known in inner circles Biddle
was dead Set against the government taking
over Montgomery Ward. But the president
and Jimmy Byrnes insisted, so it fell to Bid
dle to bj; the fall-guy with Charlie behind
to ease tlf (all. With the situation as it was
it is recognized he did a good job. Such
things as Biddle's being snapped in a picture
at the last convention in Chicago with a ri
diculous paper hat askew on his head doing
some kind of a jib that gave the appearance
of his being tipsy gave Malcolmson many
a sleepless night.
Frcquehtly, these information men turn
up with something that saves the taxpayer
dough and makes everybody around happy.
One of the best recent examples was per
formed by Bob Horton, head of public rela
tions for maritime commission, and one of
the best known of his clan in government
and newspaper circles.
For many months, the navy had been try
ing desperately to dispose of a huge batch
of life rafts declared surplus. They couldn't
get rid of them at $5 each, and finally in
utter disgust turned them over to the mari
time. Horton got his staff together and talked
it over. Result was a flood of attractive post
ers and descriptive material showing how
these rafts could be used at summer resorts
as beach equipment and their other uses for
pleasuer. The whole she-bang was sold at
$50 each.
Selling OPA to the public has been the
toughest public relations job in government.
A steady stream of everything from 'adver
tising executives to college professors have
tried and thrown up their hands in despair.
A former college professor, Bob Brooks, who
has been with OPA for a long time is cur
rently trying to do the job. and succeeding
better than average.
Office of defense transportation has a
tough job. With transportation at its tight
est, ODT hus no enforcement branch and
practically no enforcement power. In spite
of this the director of information for that
agency, Charles E. V. Prins. who just re
signed, succeeded in cutting down civilian
trawl nine percent during the first three
months of 1945, the first drop it took during
the war. This was strictly through public
ivlcitiuus. 'I
KPT. 1WSBY MA SERVICE. INC. T. M. SCO. U. S. PATJOff
"It's kind of nice that you're back on the five-day week, -George
ihey don'l deduct nearly so much for income taxes!"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE 3
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
IF YOU HAVE 'EM,
BID 'EM FASTI
Does it bother you when peo
ple go into a .trance in a bridge
game over a bid or a play? If it
does, you would enjoy playing
with Mrs. Doris Fuller, one of
New York's outstanding women
players. She is one of the fast
est players in the game in fact,
AK 6 4 3 2
V J 8
K94
J 10 8
Mrs. Fuller
AQJ8
7
V K 10 9 0
4
None
K73
pirn
W E
S
Dealer
A 1095
V 73
Q 10 7 0
3
AQ4
A None
AQ52
AJ802
, 9 6 3 2
Duplicate East-West vut.
South West North East
t Double Pass
Pass 2 A
Pass 3 V
Pass 4 A
Opening A
Pass
Pass
I NT
2N.T
3 A
Double Pass
IE
she plays so fast that her oppon
ents sometimes become a little
bewildered. "
Mrs. Fuller lost no lime in
making five spades for an over
trick on today's hand, because
O BARBS
It's hay fever itime and the
nose knows what organ is being
played upon the most.
Doing the right thing would
be much more popular if It was
wrong.
Reports from various sources
indicate picnic ants have stored
away enough food for a million
years.
It's good news to the family
when Mom puts up preserves
and they all spread it around.
At last the Nips are where they
belong down on their Japanese!
her opponents nevei' got down to
leading diamonds. - She won the
first trick with duiriVny's nine
and led a heart. When South
played low, Mrs. Fuel- went up
with the king and, led back an
other heart. North win with the
jack and led another trump. All
Mrs. Fuller lost was , the king of
spades and a heart, '
On the first trump. lead, South
made the mistake of discarding
the deuce of hearts; but I think
you will find that as long as de
clarer is careful to cash all three
clubs, four spades cannot be de
feated.
O IN FORMER
YEARS
30 Years Ago
No arrests were made, last night
in the tail light campaign. How
ever, the night did not pass with
out excitement along that line,
for the early morning before,
someone, as yet unkhown, had
stolen the tail lamp from the
Eastern Oregon LigM and Pow
er company .truck. . ....
Personal and factiqnal debate
developing into heated contro
versy was the chief outcome of
the Commercial club meeting last
evening insofar as the question
in initiating a petition to vote on
an amendment to the charter that
would make it possible to reassess
improvement districts where er
rors creep in and thus avoid a
general taxation to ,pay for im
provement in a certain district.
15 Years Ago
The athletic team ., of the La
Grande Union Paeifjc Athletic
club returned home this morning
on a special train from Ogden,
Utah, where it topk seVenth place
in the system mee, ''competing
against such teams as Los Ange
les, Portland, Seattle and Salt
Lake City.
The La Grande drum and bugle
corps ranked high in the judging
at Baker last weekend during the
Amebrican Legion convention,
finishing in fifth placo among the
10 competing organizations.
Opportunity doesn't give a rap
if you are asleep all the time.
It wont be long till Johnny
can blame cigaret stain on black
walnuts.
10 Years Ago
The Oregon Wool Growers are
holding their annual sale of thor
oughbred lambs of various breeds
in Pendleton Friday, Aug. 23, at
the Round-up grounds.
This Curious World
COMES FROM A WORD - I V fl ll
I THE ROMANS USED FOR ( -a. .1 (I JI
, "amaka", and I ,1 LJ5r!
, TODAV WE'RE STILL. ) r '&fK 'l tWXfJ
DRAWING AAAP5 ON ) I
RESTAURANT NAPKINS X WKvH'4iL 1
. QOrR.1MflVftUUI.K(. Ma .
IF
A FOSSIL.
FOUND IN CRETACEOUS ROCKS
l esiiwaiEo io b& A BOLT
BENJAMIN P.jowuci-iM' uvACTvir
' - --'". wt.r uocy di J
ii
Mil
ANSWER: James Whitcomb Riley.
NEXT: Parallel thinking.