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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1945)
e " t ' if : i 1 it if a In ' , : e i i ) , In , in a ! i lis a! 9 11 ! t I ? : i t i i "I L ; iii' 1 1 . i. i mi i 1 J i I'. i I EDITORIAL PAGE La Grande Evening Observer Frank Schiro, Publisher TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 21, 1945 Sitting TODAY'S TEXT Though he were a Son, yet lenmcd He obedience by the tilings which He suffered. Hebrews 5:8. ' Realism and the Japs Thinking people are likely to bo vir tually unanimous in their agreement that, if the end of the war in the-.Pacific is to mark t li e beginning of an enduring era of peace, the allies and Americans most of all must be com pletely realistic in their attitude toward Japan. They must face the fact that not once through all the surrender negotia tions was there any expression or any action of any kind fro many responsible Japanese source from the emperor on down which suggests that the Japs might be experiencing anything akin to repentance for their crimes against humanity and civilization. If they are sorry at all and doubt less they are it is not because of what they were attempting when they struck sat Pearl Harbor nearly four years ago. Their regrets are not because of what they tried to do, but solely because they failed in their attempts. The Japanese war leadership is just as treacherous today as it ever was at any previous time. It is fully as arro gant, as demonstrated in the various grandiloquent, pompous expresisons that have come from llirohito. It is just as ambitious, just as fanatical as it ever was. The most elementary logic compels the belief that, given the opportunity mid their own conviction of a reason able chance of success, they would em bark once more tomorrow on another Funny Business "He mod to cilih out the mail is the . Page Two on Top . war of aggression and enslavement. ( A realistic view of t h e enemy de mands full recognition of the fact that, even in defeat, Japan still is potential ly a very powerful nation. Manpower losses have been negligible. Indeed, it is probable that the population of the ( home islands left to Japan is larger to f day1 than it was four years ;ago. That ; means something like 70,000,000 people ' intelligent and ingenious people who are wholly without principle in their dealings with other nations. True, it may be supposed that Jap anese industry has been .heavily dam aged and that the enemy has been, or will be, stripped of tools of war. But industry and all the machines of war can be rebuilt and it would be the height of foolishness to believe that the Japs won't rebuild them if given, or if they can contrive, the opportunity. America and civilization1 will be safe from Japan only so long as the Japa nese are held in restraint. The only way to be sure that the Japs won't do harm is to deprive them of the ma terials they might use to the hram of other people. Kven in surrender, there is no trust ing t h e Japanese. Presumably the American and Allied leadership is aware of thin fact. Presumably their actions and policies will be appropriate to that fact. Otherwise, the Japanese peril will l.e as great, if not greater, than it ever was. Ix-t us hope that the peace treaty will not become a second Versailles doctl iiinent that will give excuse for a fu ture Jap Hitler to inflame his people lor another war. SO THEY SAY A living God-Emperor (Hiro liito of Japan) certainly has no place in this era of freedom and enlightenment. Dr. Maximo M. Kalaw, minis ter of public Instruction, Phil ippine commonwealth. Yon can't even get a man to talk in millions any more. It la bels him as a small-time critter, dealing in peanut money. Heading, Pa., Times. These kids (on Okinawa) are anxious in learn American ways and pester me with questions all the time. John W. Fowler, navy shipfit tor, stationed on Okinawa. There arc many thinga a pros pective farm buyer ought to know about the business he proposes to enter. The first one is how to value the land which will bt his capital Investment. Fort Smitk, Ark., Southwest army!" American. Washington Merry-Go-Round Br DKEW PXAB80N (Ed. Note In Drew Pearson's absence, Fred M. Vinson, secretary of the treasury, contributes a guest column on one of the most important problems of the treasury tax evasion. By FRED M. VINSON Secretary of the Treasury WASHINGTON Drew Pearson has of fered me his Washington Mcrry-Go-Round column to present any subject of interest to the treasury department and to the Amer ican people. I know of no subject of more immediate concern than the treasury's cam paign against tax evasion. Here, in a nutshell, Is the situation: In 1940 there were 4,999,999 individual taxpayers. Today there are more than 50, 000,000. In an effort to handle the vastly increased task of processing returns and col lecting taxes thp personnel of the bureau of internal revenue was Increased from about' ;22,000 to about 50,000. ' With the manpower shortage the bureau could not expect to increase its forces pro portionately with the number of taxpayers. And in many respects bureau employes found their work increased out of proportion to the number of returns. Under the with holding program, a large part of the work formerly done by the taxpayer is now done in the bureau. The processing of wartime tax relief provisions also threw much addi tional work on the bureau. Under these conditions 'the normal investigative work of the bureau inevitably suffered. The bureau has always proceeded upon the theory that the average American is honest, and that a small but efficient force could deal with the dishonest. No cily, however small, can afford to be without a police force. And no city, which has experienced a population increase of more than ten-fold in a five-year program, would think of trying to get along without enlarging its law enforcement groups. That is why the treasury is building up its investigative forces. Protecting Honest Taxpayers This will be no gestapo. It will be a tax payers' law enforcement group protecting the government's interest in taxes, and at the same time protecting the honest taxpay er against the black market operator, the racketeer and every other kind of tax evad er. And it will be good business, too. We expect to collect $20 for every one spent. . When taxes are evaded the honest taxpay er loses, since every dollar evaded increases by that much the burden borne by other tax payers. In many cases, the honest taxpay er has especial reason to welcome the tax- WE, THE WOMEN By RUTH MItLETT : : ' ; i I I The pretty young beauty operator talked as she worked: 'It's going to be hard to get used to having to stop and consider some body else before I do anything. Jim's been overseas two years, and I've been used to coming and going as I please." Wives of servicemen who have been away from home a long time must adjust them selves to a new way of life. But instead of anyone's recognizing that fact, or warning the GI of it all the talk is the other way. And in addition to doing her own adjusting the wife is being held responsible for help ing her husband work out his problems. Take that beauty operator, for instance. She has worked ever since her husband has been overseas. And she likes working. Bul chances are that when her man conies home he is going to want her to devote her en tire time to being a housewife. From being independent, shc'li have to go back to being dependent. Jim may not like her new friends, cither. Husbands of ten dont. While she has boon lonely in his Behind Scenes in Washington B7 PETER EDSON. La Grande Evening Observer Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 President Tru man's official announcement of VJ day doesn't mean Mrs. John Doc can start cross ing out days on the calendar for the next six months because her husband's commission or enlistment reads "for the duration and six months thereafter." The legal end of the war does not occur when the presidents announces to the public that the fighting has stopped. Legal end of World War I was not until three years after the armistice and was the subject of much controversy. Nobody appears to know much about the official termination of World War II cither. It's an important question which vitally affects each U. S. citizen. Is the war over officially when treaties with all the bellig erents arc signed? Is it over with the cessa tion of hostilities? These arc some of the undetermined possibilities. The hastily drafted legislation which put this country on a wartime footing and gave the president extraordinary powers is con troversial and vague on this point, permit ting different interprcations. The soldier and sailor civil relief act which protects servicemen from certain civil court actions expires when "war is terminated by act of congress or a treaty of peace." This could men it could be in effect for years. Most vague is the espionage act which is in effect "when the U. S. is at war." The war labor disputes act terminates it self with the "termination of hostilities or a declaration by the president." The important first war powers act ends with "an Set of congress or presidential pro clamation." Thus it can ta seen that if congreaj want ed to delay in a declaration at otficiul end evasion campaign. A reputable furrier or jeweler, for, instance, could not continue in business if a next-door competitor should be permitted to sell furs or jewelry without collecting excise taxes. Any business firm which cheats the government by failing to pay for the services which government pro vides is engaged in dishonest competition. Taxes are high, but they must be collected fairly. And so long as:any substantial por tion of the taxes due remains uncollected, it operates to defer the reduction of tax rates. One Billion Evaded The answers to the two questions go to gether. The treasury is gathering, from many sources, information that will give the entire picture of tax evasion. That same information will serve as evidence to bring tax evaders to justice. The treasury is en larging Its investigating powers, as I have noted, to handle a tremendous backlog of fraud cases, accumulated during recent years and the cases now piling in. My predeces sor, Secretary Morgenthau, who set the ma chinery in motion for this -tax-evasion cam paign, estimated that a minimum of one bil lion dollars in additional taxes now being evaded would be collected when treasury forces could be expanded, and new workers could be trained and get on the job. More recently, we have strengthened the drive by intensifying cooperation with other government departments and 'agencies inter ested in stamping out black markets, rackets and tax evasion. An inter-departmental committee, with representatives from the treasury department, the department of jus tice, the office of price administration and the department of agriculture, has gone to work to coordinate information and activi ties. We intend to be in a position to hit hard. Take, for example, the black market oper ator. He uses currency in an effort to avoid making a record of his violations of the price control act, and because he thinks his profits cannot be traced he does not report them on his income-tax return or under states them. Only a novice boxer telegraphs his blows We are not going to tell the black market operators and other tax evaders, in advance, what we are going to do or how or when or where we are going to do it. But a moment's reflection should convince anyone who has engaged in tax evasion there is no future in it. What can a man do with illegal profits? He can buy land or jewels, but he cannot avoid leaving one or many traces that can be discovered and followed up whenever the treasury and other agencies have enough men to do the job. absence, she has planned her time primar ily to suit herself. She doesn't feel in the mood for cooking dinner. Okay, she has a sandwich at the corner drugstore. But try suggesting anything like that to a husband, and there'll be trouble. She has spent money without anyone's okay. So having a husband question the amount she spends for a dress may come as a rude shock. She's plenty fed up with stay ing at home, and the quiet evenings which may seem like heaven to Jim may not fit in with her ideas at all. Women arc being well-prepared for the adjustments their returning husbands arc going to have to make. But do the husbands know that even the most faithful, loving wives are going to have to do some adjust ing themselves? That even for them a hus band's homecoming may not be the whole answer to life? They ought to be told just as the wives are being told, what to expect and what not to expect of their husbands. of war, and the president failed to make an official proclamation the U. S. could legally be in a state of war for many years. All the emergency powers would continue in the hands of the executive. ' And official declaration of VJ day by the president doesn't constitute a presidential proclamation. The latter is a formal legal statement made in a special form, not a radio talk or press release. In addition to men getting out of the serv ice on the basis of "the duration and six months," billions of dollars in the way of contract termination and continuance of fed eral authority is all bound up in this one point. It is believed, however, that Truman will officially proclaim the end of the emergency in a few months. Then everybody can start counting off their six months. He will prob ably wait long enough to sec that reconver sion is progressing satisfactorily. Legal minds here suggest a possibility for congressional action if the president is slow in making such a proclamation. It could be done by a "concurrent resolution" of con gress. This action does not need a presiden tial signature. Some war legislation pro vides for this. Following World War 1 congress passed a "joint resolution" in May, 1920, to declare a legal end of this war but that device re quired the signature of the president and Wilson, for political reasons, vetoed it. It was not passed over the veto. Again on March 3. la21. congress passed a similar joint resolution. tWing hi next to Inst day in office Wilson signed it for the purpose of terminating the war laws. . The final treaty with Germany wasn't ratified until October, 1IJ21. Side Glances WriW ff Hfl men. MS-TTHMttT). . MT. Off. "Yes, that's the call Sonny put in from Hawaii $80 does 'seem a lot, but it took us quite a while to round up all the neighbors who wanted to say hello to him I" o McKENNEY ON BRIDGE - By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority , THIRD TRICK TELLS OF COMING SQUEEZE Peter Leventritt of New York, one of the youngest life masters of bridge, played today's hand in masterly style. Usually we con sider that a slam contract is a good one if one of two finesses has to work in order to make the from the West hand, "Levcnlrieo realized that if West. also held the king of hearts, he was going to be squeezed. He cashed the four diamond tricks, discarding a heart from dummy. Then he ran the spade suit, discarding all his hearts. He was down to the king-eight of clubs in' his own hand and the heart jack and club nine in dummy. i , West found he could hot hold the queen and jack of clubs and the king of hearts. When he dis carded the jack of clubs1 Leven tritt won the last two tricks with the king and eight. O IN FORIER YEARS AAQ100G VJ52 J83 95 8 54 S K976 62 QJ10 K2 V43 0754 76432 W E S Dealer Leventritt J7 VAQ108 AKQ 10 AK8 Duplicate Neither vul. South West North East 30 Years Ago Fire destroyed th T. H. Stover saw mill on Little Catherine creek yesterday afternoon. The loss is placed at $2,500, about ',$1,000 of which is represented by the lum ber consumed. Charging and free use of the hands, two tricks thtrtUcBndidatcs 1 V Pass 1 Pass Pass Pass Pass 22 3 N. T. 4 N. T. 6N. T. Pass Pass Pass 4 S Pass Opening A 3. slam. However, in today's hand you- -will - notice- that both the spadelTrr6r"'Kearr'l7hcsSe'sarefor football are' usually'-sloW' to wrong. . . acquire, will be taught in a prac- Leventritt played low from ,icaI way in La Grande'this year. dummy on the opening lead and East won with the king. When the four of hearts was returned, Leventritt decided that West held the king and went right up with the ace. He cashed the ace of clubs, and when the ten-spot fell O BARBS Today's best happy new era! wish Happy, It took the sinking of the Ris ing Sun to bring the dawn of a new day. This is preserving season the best bet is to start right now pre serving the fundamental human rights. A good bank balance helps you keep yours. A had actor is one who is egged on by ambition and off by the audience. For some lime after the war's end we are certain to have a standing army on the railroad trains. This Curious World wj rZ&TJ l HI6HEST AtOUNTAIN IN THEV S UNITED STATES, WOULD NOT.. . M V I BE THE WORLD'S '1 f f HIGHEST AWUNTAIN EVEfjK J X i 7 ,F IT WERE TWCB ttt 1 COPt 1S V NEA SERVICE. INC 'Louisiana farmers raise cane WSK THEIR CORN CROP FAILS," Sj CORPORAL A RAIL C. SWtTH He AND CANTALOUPES WERE NOT KNOWN IN THE U.S. UNTIL IB'Si WHEN INTROOUCEDPCVi7tLI. Next: Insect suicide flyors. 8-22 15 Years Ago ' Three-block pavement contract for Eighth street leading up the hill to the Eastern Oregon nor mal school was awarded last night to Hargreaves and Lindsay of Eugene, who offered to do the work for $19,925.83. After two score years of suc cessful operation in La Grande, the Sacred Heart academy has been closed and today , nine, sis ters of the St. Francis" jrder left La Grande for Pendleton, later to go to Klamath Falls. 10 Years Ago Local wheat prices surged up to 56 cents bulk today, represent ing a three and a half cent gain in the last three days, and put the price on par with the previ ous high for this month, estab lished Aug. 1. Probably no development dur ing the last few months has brought more optimism as to the immediate business future of this section than the announcement by the I. C. C. in Washington of a new 72 percent freight rate on lumber from the Pacific north west to points east of Chicago.
