Side Glances
Washington Merry-Go-Round
EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Sohiro, Publisher
WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1945
Page Two
Many Things Can Happen While One Is Vacationing
TODAY'S TEXT
And when ye spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make mimy prayers, I
will not hear: your hands are full of
blood. Isaiah 1:15.
2tett;ing; Acquainted
-w-iwi tne daps
We began the war against Japan
with an appalling lack of understanding
and interest concerning our enemy. The
end of the war finds those deficiencies
only slightly remedied among the
stay-at-homes. What knowledge civil
ian America has acquired has been sup
plied by the Japs themselves in a series
of painful lessons.
It now seems necessary that those
lessons continue. Americans in and out
of government might well bono up on
Japanese history economy, character
and thought. With the help of the press
there should be plenty of opportunity
to acquire some belated knowledge, if
we only take heed.
We were fooled by Japanese indus
trial capacity and by Japanese military
efficiency and long-range planning. Wo
laughed at the little buck-toothed, be
spectacled Jap soldiers. We thought
that because the allied high command
chose to "beat Hitler first," the Jap
anese war was a secondary matter.
A lot of things corrected these mis
conceptions. Among them were the
scries of sweeping Jap conquests from
t ho Aleutians to the approaches of
Australia, and the fantaically deter
mined defenses of Guadalcanal, Tarawa,
Saipan, Iwo and Okinawa.
And we are still learning, as occupy
ing forces uncover new fads within the
Japanese homeland itself. They have
discovered the elaborate defenses of the
Tokyo area that would have made a
Japanese invasion perhaps the bloodiest
operation of its kind in history.
They have learned from rescued pri
soners a depth of Japanese cruelty
which matches the bestiality of Himm
ler and his kind, and the barbarism of
Dachau and Uuchenwald. They have
heard and we at home have read stories
of torture, starvation, incessant beat
ings and criminal neglect which disclose
an insatiable sadistic appetite on the
part of soldiers and civilians alike.
This much at least we have learned
of the baffling, ambitious, proud, half
savage people who, having been de
feated, must now be trained to 'live in
a World that likes to think of itself as
civilized. There will be more to learn
of the recent enemy who still shows
himself to be deceitful, dishonest and
vindictive.
There may be many redeeming qual
ities in the native Japanese which will
show themselves in time. But before
that happens their minds must ho freed
from the shackles of a feudalists, emperor-worshiping
society which persis
ted throughout the country's economic
modernization.
That process is going to take under
standing, tact and firmness. It will be
accompanied for a long time by danger.
Meanwhile the American people, helped
by returned servicemen who have
known the Japs at first hand, can ac
tively strive to rescue themselves from
the ignorance which once gave rise to
an almost fatal complacency.
Funny Business
1 IS ' CO,l IM) I. M)tt 0)1
o SO THEY SAY
The ninny problems accruing
through our transition from war
time economy to one of peace
cannot be solved successfully if
the 48 state legislatures adopt
widely conflicting or competing
methods of assistance and con
trol. Gov. Walter E. Edge of New
Jersey.
The United States stands alone
among the great powers as still
firmly committed to individual
initiative in the economic field.
Honolulu Stur-Bulletn.
Knowledge has become so vast
that no one mind can compre
hend it, and it is well for a per
son to content himself with com
petence in one great field.
Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken,
president, Vassar college.
"To keep other patrons' moulhi from watering we had one ttoak!
Mexico is awake and Mexico
w ill carry on her revolution.
Manuei Avila Camacho, pres
ident o Mexico.
Br DREW PEAKSOIf
WASHINGTON Even the army's friends
on Capitol Hill say the brass hats are kill
ing any chance for public support they
might have had by their autocratic disre
gard for eivilion needs in such fields as coal
mining, steelmaking and railroading.
One of the busiest railroads in the coun
try today is the Southern Pacific, which has
handled most of the cast-west traffic to the
busy port of San Francisco. The S. P. is a
single-track line able to carry its huge vol
ume only by scheduling trains at 10-minute
intervals round the clock. In order to main
tain this schedule, it requires a huge crew
of crack trainmen, repair men and other
skilled workers. It has done pretty well
even in the past year, although there was
a recent bottleneck near El Paso which re
sulted in the holding up of 75 trains.
Southern Pacific officials have been beg
ging the army to release skilled railroad
men with the 80 points required for dis
charge, or to furlough railroad men in this
country with less points. .......
, Finally in mid-summer the army agreed
to release 4,000 railroad men, with 2,400 of
them assigned to the S. P. But then the
army began going back on its promise and
said it could discharge only 1,300 men. A
few weeks ago, the army released 230 men
to the Southern Pacific and said no more
were available. The joker is the 24,000 men
have gone into the armed forces from the
S. P. employment roster. ,
Finally, war mobilizer Snyder stepped in
and forced the army to release 4,000 rail
road men, amidst loud squawks from brass
hats that this action would destroy morale.
Here is one illustration of how the dis
charge of high-point veterans was being
bold back in the army in this case Mor
rison Field, at Palm Beach, Fla. Morrison
Field happens to be under the command of
Col. Richard T. Knight, the pilot who flew
Wendell Willkie around the world and who
als flew Henry Wallace through Siberia
to china.
Colonel knight is 32 years old and an ex
cellent pilot. And apparently he liked the
army which, considering his age and rank,
certainly has treated him well. So he thinks
enlisted men should stay in .the a.rmy. Joo, i
For on Aug. 21, when Colonel Knight got,
orders from Washington that all 85-point
men should be discharged regardless of their
technical specialty, t h e 32-year-old com
mander hit the ceiling. The rest of the day
he .spent burning up the wires to Wash
ington, contending he could not operate if
he discharged 85-point men.
Many men at Morrison Field, who had not
done one real day's work a week, were fu
rious. Colonel Knight is supposed to repair
planes brought back from India for the air
transport command. But enlisted' men say
his operation is so disorganized they are
idle half the time and some of the planes
have to be flown all the way to Long Beach
for repairs instead. . .
Capitol Chaff
When radio station WOL, Washington,
advertised for. a new radio personality to
broadcast a news program to be known as
"the Voice tit- Washington," a Latjn-Amer-ican
diplomat, and a representative of the
French government were among the large
number of important government personnel,
cab drivers, theater managers, servicemen
and others who responded. Francisco Banda,
until recently Ecuadorean consul-general in
New Orleans, was one of the applicants.
President Truman will soon issue a state
ment favoring federally-sponsored seientif
is research . . . The' British plan to help
occupy Japan with a division composed of
top English officers, enlisted men from Can
ada, Australia and South Africa, has been
knocked into a cocked hat by the Canad
ians. So now English officers will command
Australian and South African troops with
the Canadians absent.
On Pennsylvania Avenue
Army training films and educational films,
which were being burned until this column
exposed the practice last May, Will now be
distributed among the nation's schools.
Along with them will go millions of dollars
worth of surplus projection equipment,
sound equipment and other apparatus bound
to have a great effect on the little red school
house of the future. Valuable army radio
equipment will also be offered the schools
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
Paris has made an unconventional conces
sion to the current housing shortage, which
apparently is as bad there as in the over
crowded cities in the United States,
The Paris Court of Appeals has ruled that
divorced couples can continue living under
the same roof so long as ono of them is un
able to find separate quarters.
That sounds like good, practical common
sense. ' '
A man and woman Who once lived as man
and wife ought to be able to share a house
or apartment without difficulty.
For unlike most people who are forced
to share the same roof with others because
of a housing shortage the divorced couple
already know the worst about each other.
The woman knows the man's taste in ra
dio programs and whether or not he plays
the contraption far into the night.
The man knows whether or not the woman
hangs her washed and dripping unmention
ables all over the bathroom. And she knows
whether or not he hangs up his towels and
scrubs the tub.
It is such petty things that make trouble
between apartment mates.
Furthermore, if the two are amiable a
shared roof could work out advantageously
for both. In return for the woman's contin
uing to look after the man's laundry, pcrr '
haps even cntinuing to cook his nieals, he'
could mow the lawn and fix leaky faucets
and do other such odd jobs about the house.
With the "help" situation being as bad as
the housing shortage, that ought to be. quite
a consideration.
Only trouble is, it will probably be hard
for the average couple, used to the casual
or complete lack of manners in marriage,
to start treating each other with- deference
and consideration without which no two
persons not tied by the bonds of holy wed
lock can manage to get along under one
roof.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grand Erenlng Oheerrer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D. C For a true gauge
of the difference between Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, get out
Roosevelt's message to the first session of
79th congress last January and compare it
with Truman's message to the second ses
sion eight months later.
There wasn't anything in Truman's mes
sage that Roosevelt hadn't advocated be
fore. But oh, what a difference in the em
phasis and in the way of saying it. The lit
erary styles of the two men are as differ
ent as day and night, and that gives an in
sight into their characters. Roosevelt's sen
tences were apt to be long, with a lot of
dependent phrases and clauses some of
them set off by dashes and a good many
semicolons: for Roosevelt was rather proud
and conscious of his style, and the fine
t images and flights of fancy with, which he
polished off the work of his ghosts.
Truman's sentences are short. Few sen
tences run over 30 words. Truman's para
graphs arc short, often single sentences.
He uses few adjactives and they're the
first ones within stab of his pen. It's an
economical style. "This flics in the face of
sound public policy," is the most cxtrava
gent figure of speech you'll find in the mes
sage. Keeping in mind the radio voices of
Roosevelt and Truman, contrast the way
they express similar ideas. Last January,
Roosevelt said this:
"Pence can be made and kept only by
the United determination of free and peace
loving peoples who are willing to work to
getherwilling to help one another will
ing to respect and tolerate and try to un
derstand one another's opinions and feel
ings international cooperation on which en
during peace must be based is not a one
way street."
Truman says it like this.
"We must turn from economic coopera
tion in war to economic cooperation in
peace. Our objective is to enable the peace
loving nations of the world to become self
supporting in a world of expanding free
dom and rising standards of living."
Get the difference tn emphasis. That
stands out still more than when their ex
pressions on full employment a(re com
pared. Roosevelt "After the war we must main
tain full employment, with government
maintaining its peace-time functions . . .
We must make sure that private enterprise
works as it is supposed to work on the
basis of initiative and vigorous competition,
without the stifling presence of monopolies
and cartels."
Truman "To provide jobs we must look
first and foremost to private enterprise
to industry, agriculture and labor. Govern
ment must inspire enterprise with confi
dence. That confidence must come mainly
through deeds, not words."
Roosevelt on housing "The provision of
a decent home tor every family is a national
necessity, if this country is to be worthy of
its greatness; and that task will itself create
great employment opportunity. Most of our
cities need rebuilding. Much of our farm
plant is in a state of disrepair."
Truman on housing "There is wide agree
ment that, over the next 10 years, there
should be built in the United States an
average of from a million "to a million and
a half homes a year. Such a program would
provide an opportunity for private capital
to invest from six1 to seven billion dollars
annually . . . We must make it possible for
private enterprise to do the major part of
this job . . . federal aid should be cxlended
only to those communities which arc will
ing to bear a fair share of the cost." .
Roosevelt on tax reform "As an inter
gral part of this (tax modification) program
to maintain high employment, we must,
after the war is over, reduce or eliminate
taxes which bear too heavily on consump
tion." Truman on tax modernization "Major
objective of this modernization should he
the encouragement of business incentives
and expansion, and of consumer purchas
ing power."
If you will compare closely the philoso
phies expressed in these and other passages
in the two messages, it may strike you forc
ibly that the country has come a very long
way in a very short time.
ft
COWt IMS BY nu SCTVlCr. IMC T. M. BEG. U. 8. PAT. Off.
1-13
"No, Steve never has led the class like you did, Oscar, but he's my
choice for quarterback he owns the football!" '
o McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
COUNT, SQUEEZE
HELPS THIS HAND
While Sylvester Gintell of New
York has won some team cham
pionships in the past, his first
major pair victory was in the
national men's pair champion
ship this year with Lee Hazen.
Haien
A43
A J 10 5
J432
AQ5
A876
63
87
10976
32
N
W E
S
Dealer
A A Q J 9 5
4
K 10 9 6
K J8
Glntoll
A K 10 2
KQ9872
AQS
4
Duplicate Both vul.
South West North East
1 Pass 4 Pass
S Pass 6 Pass
Opening A 8. 13
Gintell certainly counted today's
hand down nicely to execute a
'good squeeie play and rhtiko Ifis
contract. East won the opening spade
lead with the ace and returned
the trump. Dummy's 10-spot won
and the ace picked up the other
adverse trump. At this point Gin-
P BARBS
As Yanks roll into Tokyo the
Jap citizens are beginning to
realize that they've been whit
tled down to their own sighs.
tell (took the diamond finesse.
When it held, he decided He could
not be lucky enough to have the
club finesse work too, so he play
ed out all his trumps. East found
himself squeezed. In order to hold
diamonds, he had to blank down
to his king of clubs. Gintell led
the club, went up with the ace,
dropped East's king, and the club
queen again squeezed East,
e IN FORMER ,
YEARS . .
Thirty Years Ago , j
Some 75 couples were shrewd
enough to foresee a very; enjoy
able evening on the La: Grande
tennis club's court last night
when that institution gave an in
formal dancing party. The event,
the first of its kind ever present
ed in La Grande, was ..success
from every angle.
A map showing considerable
detail about auto roads in Ore
gon, Washington, Idahp nd Ne
vada, with a large map of. Cali
' forni, has reached the' Obscrver ,
office and may be consulted by
anyone contemplating a trip to
any part of these states.
Fifteen Years Ago
The purchase of the Enterprise
city park by the county for de
linquent taxes and the subse
quent sale of the tax title to F.
R. Asher for $55.25 was all based
on an error in county records,
and is wholly invalid, it was an
nounced today.
Now if they would just add
another ingredient to DDT that
will keep fingerprints off the
wallpaper.
General MacArthur made clean,
clear, blotlcss signatures with all
five pens he used on the Jap sur
render terms. None of the pens
came from the post office department.
Towels arc coming back on the
market. Good news for the ho
tels and the Pullman washrooms.
The boys who went to war gave
their country first consideration.
Their return calls for the same
from their country.
Ten Years Ago t
The roads and highways com
mittee of La Grande Commercial
club yesterday afternoon submit
ted five proposed road improve
ment projects in this section to
the state highway commission
and engineers. In the main, the
commission took the proposals
under consideration for future de
cision. Sounding an agressive call for
Oregon to unite and rally fully
to its industrial, economic and
agricultural possibilities, and in
almost the same breath, assuring
this section that is will receive its
share, Gov. Charles H. Martin
last night addressed more than
300 Union county people at a
dinner given in his honor.
This Curious World
IN THE SEClrJG STBAIT
(a '
B UNITED STATES AND RUSSIAN
Blto UlUWtUt ISLAND BELON&S
TO RUSSIA , LITTLE DIOMEDE.
JO THE ,U.S.
GRASSHOPPERS,
JERVED AS FOOD IN CHINA,
ARE KNOWN AS
"SHRtAPS OF THE EARTH."
CORN BORER. IS A
9 -IS
. ANSWER: An insect pest.
NEXT: Tho hoi-foot alarm clock.