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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1945)
T 111 EDITORIAL PAGE 1 La Grande Evening Observer , . Frank Schiro, Publisher FRIDAY EVENING. SEPTEMBER 28, 194.1 Page Two 1 1 The Broth Should Be More Savory Now J '''' A Time of Confusion Kijfht now there is a jfotnl dual of con ' fusion in the public mind over the high ly important matters of occupation policy for Japan and demobilization of i our 'own army. '';,Sonle of' it comes from official sour ces and some from unofficial but im portant army spokesmen. General Eiclielbei'Ker has said that if the Japs behave themselves the occupation may .. not last more than a year. General Wninwrifiht, with his painfully ac- . uuired knowledge of Japanese charac ter, says it should continue for 20 years. General Harney Giles has upped the oc cupation estimate to a full century. Generals won't decide the length of occupation or initiate any formal gov ernment policy, though they may be consulted. . When the slate department announced that Japanese policy would be made in Washington, not by Ameri can occupation forces, it was stating an obvious fact. It was also, by gen eral agreement, rebuking General Mnc Arthur. This rebuke may have been called forth by the general's remark about, i educing the occupation forces in Japan to 200,111111 in six months. Or it may have been because of some unpublici.ed disagreement over policy or operation between Washington and MacArthur headquarters. At any rate, it succeeded in getting the public pretty well mixed up. Some people seem to have the idea that the 'JOO.Oimi figure applies to the whole.postwar army in the Pacific. They are disturbed by the feeling that we are taking unnecessary chances with Japan. In other quarters there is an appar ent fear that the army is retaining a lot of men needlessly, although the im mediate size of our force in Japan is not the determining factor in demobiliza tion. Probably most of this confusion is inevitable, and probably the only re medy for much of it is patience. It takes almost as long to unwind from a war as it does to wind up for one. There are still supply and transportation prob lems, as well as separation-center bottle necks, to slow the rate of demobiliza tion. But there is an element of danger in this impatience. Every family with a member in the armed forces wants that member home as quickly as possible. That is right and natural. And because it is, it might tempt some congressmen and other officials to turn the whole thing into a poltical football. Congress already has its. eyes on the 19-lt elections. And what the country doesn't need right now is a scramble ((' legislators to see who can make the most promises for quickest demobiliza tion, and to introduce numerous hurried, ill-considered and time-wasting bills to implement those promises and impress the voters. The immediate result could only be more confusion. And the ultimate re sult might be a national defense based on blind faith in the atomic bomb and another skeleton army and navy. Funny Business SO THEY SAY W nri cnmniR out of this war a murh poorer nation . . . Rov i rnni( nt should offor every pos sible encouragement to individ uals and -ndustry to produce and save and create now wealth, and should imt its own expenses to :he bone. Altoona, Pn Mirror. Only men and women who live up U the reliRious and ethical pniu-iplcs of the Bible can ftwir a ntee the democratic way of life, lasting pence and the survival of our civilization. Habbi Jacob Hoffman, New Yoik Citv. H is strange indeed to realize that the very thinjts that were (oiKt'd in the finance of war will soon add immeasurably to the life that beckons across the broad plain? of peace. Bayonne, N. J., Times. "We're reconverting Inking out five-dollar billi and putting iioneil" Love, of oourw, makes the world ko round, but almost as often it makes jt ro lopsided. Sahna, Kan., Journal. Washington Merry-Go-Round Side Glances By" DHEW PEARSON WASHINGTON Economy-minded mem bers of the house appropriations committee are not letting any grass grow under their feet. Chairman Clarence Cannon of Mis souri, Parsimonious John Taber of New York, and tightfisted Richard Wiggtesworth of. Massachusetts, ranking republicans, are cutting expenditures to the bone. But they're under plenty of pressure from their colleagues to permit continued federal operation of the child-care centers. These centers, which make it possible for working mothers to leave their children in compe tent hands while they are on the job, are scheduled to be closed next month. The pro test against closing them has been strong. Especially in the west. A score of Pacific coast congressmen met Wednesday morning with federal works ad ministrator Gen. Philip Fleming to reach a solution to this problem. Fleming told them child care was never contemplated as a permanent federal project, annd would have to be taken over by the states. Rep. Richard Welch of San Francisco in sisted, however, federal operation until the states arc ready to take over is imperative at least until G. I. fathers are back on the scene. "It is still a war problem," Welch said. "If you could see the pitiful letters on my desk, you would have no doubt about it. Hundreds and thousands of mothers, whose husbands are still in the army, are desper ate at the thought, the child centers will close down. They can't live on soldiers' pay, and they want to know how they arc going to keep their jobs if they have to stay home and take care of their children." General Fleming, who personally wants to keep the centers open, said he is aware of these problems, but it was clearly un derstood at the time congress voted the money that centers were to be operated only as a war measure. Freshman representative George Miller of San Francisco then asked Fleming if it were not true that the FWA has legal authority to keep operating these centers as long as the funds are available. Fleming replied that that is true. "But," he added, "we have an understand ing with the appropriations committee that as soon as the war ends we are to liquidate the program." Liberal Representative John Coffee of Ta coma, Wash., who is a member of the ap propriations committee, remarked he knew of no such agreement. NoteWestern congressmen do not main tain that child care should be a permanent federal project, but that more time must be given for states and cities to take it over. Merry-Go-Round The entire California delegation in con gress will go to the White House to demand that President Truman intercede with the RFC on behalf of the western steel industry. They feel Jesse Jones' old friends In the RFC are prejudiced in favor of eastern steel and want to close down wartime western steel plants . . . President Truman may go to New York on Columbus day to make a major address . . . While the British delega tion in Washington is negotiating for a loan or gift, London is trying to swing a big fi nancial deal with our political enemies in Argentna. Implication is that unless the Brit ish get what they want from us they will cement closer relations with fascist Argen tina . . . Army and navy brass hats have taken another step which won't endear them to civilians. They have reserved every room in every hotel in Philadelphia for the week end of the army-navy football game. No civilian can reserve a hotel room in Philadel phia during the weekend without army navy consent . . . watch former governor Diicker of Ohio as a dark horse republican candidate for the 1948 presidential race. Har old Durton's promotion from the senate to the supreme court leaves the way open for him . . . Secretary of Stale Byrnes, who has already gobbled up OWI and the office of strategic services, is now inheriting the for eign economic administration and lend-lease. This will make his state department one of the biggest of all government bureaus. WE. THE WOMEN By RUTH MILLETT The governor of Indiana has asked one of the senators from his state to see if he can't get President Truman to set the date of Thanksgiving right away so we won'i be wondering about it. Perhaps the governor is as fed up with uncertainty as the rest of us and figures it is now time to give folks a few certainties besides death and taxes to live by. We thought most of our uncertainties would, be over withthe end of the war and of course we were relieved of the big gest, most important one, "When will the war end?" But thousands and thousands of Amer icans overseas and their families back home are still nagged by another uncertainty. They haven't the slightest idea when the men will get home. And thousands and thousands of workers and ther families are facing an uncertain future, because they don't know what or where the next job will be. There is still, a(so, the uncertainty of when many of the things we need to buy will be back on the shelves. And thousands of parents are wondering what the future holds for high school age sons whether they'll be called on to get into uniform or will be allowed to continue , their educations uninterrupted. There is so much we don't know in this post-war ' world, that life, except for the one big IF, seems almost as uncertain as it did in wartime. So no wonder the governor of Indiana thinks it would be nice if we could count ahead of time on Thanksgiving's being a certain day. We need to be able to count on a few things. We're weary of living by "If's" and "When's." Behind Scenes in Washington By PETER EDSON. La Grand ETentna Observer Washington Correpotident WASHINGTON Probe deep enough in any labor sore spot and you will find be neath the now cause of trouble an old in fection which was never properly healed. The Kelsey-Hayes Wheel company, strike in Detroit is no exception. Its labor relations record is written largu and long in the Wash ington files of the U. S. conciliation service and war labor board. It has been having labor troubles lor years. When Michigan's Gov. Harry F. Kelly announced he would start an investigation into affairs at Kelsey Hayes, he was merely putting his finger on a perfect cose for clinical study. One of the principal conditions that stands out is that Kelsey-Hayes management has never had a formal written labor contract with its employes. The employes are organ ized and they do have a union. It is a branch of the famous Amalgamated local 184 of the CIO United Auto Workers. This Amalgamated local 184 is the crea tion of Walter Reuther and it takes in the employes of nearly 100 plants on Detroit's west side which do not have U. A. W. units of their own. All have contracts except Kelsey-Hayes. The record shows the Kelsey-Hayes unit of the union has asked management for a contract to cover working conditions, and the company has also offered the union a contract. But neither party has been able to accept the terms of the other, so over a peiiod of years, labor relations hove been allowed to drag along undor an armistice that continually breaks out in open warfare. When a new grievance comes up, settle ment must be negotiated. By common con sent, it has been agreed that the minutes of these negotiations shall set precedents for future cases of the same nature that mny arise. B:V there tire plenty of situations not covered and this leaves the field of dispute wide open. Most labor disputes eventually arc reduc ed to a clash of personalities. Kelsey-Hayes troubles offer no exception to the rule. Head of the company is George Kennedy, its president and principal stockholder and chief negotiator with his employes. They regard him as a tough homhro. He is a man of strong will and a lot of convictions on what he considers rights. On the other side of the picture, a leader in the Kolsoy-Ha.ws union is one Chester (Moon) Mullins, a hot head of the irrespon sible variety that can be found in almost every union or club or society ever organ ized. The Mullins record shows he has been fired by the company 13 times for discipli nary reasons. Somehow, because he was a union officer, perhaps, in the settlement of thj Kelsey-Hayes disputes by Reuther, George Addes or other top officials of the U. A. W., Mullins has always been rein stated. Last April, Mullins and a dozen of his associates threw a supervisor out of the plant. The management promptly fired all 13. That caused a strike. The case went to the Detroit regional war labor board which named a panel to investigate. The panel recommended that all 13 should be rein stated to their jobs but when this report came to the regional board, it decided that only nine should be reinstated and that three. Moon Mullins among them, should be fired. The 13th character in the dispute ap parently decided t h e thing wasn't worth fighting for, and left the state. This regional WLB decision was handed down Aug. 20 four months after the orig inal incident that started the fracas. In the meantime, labor relations at Kelsey-Hayes hadn't improved any, both management and the union appealed the decision to Washing ton and on Aug. 23, the employes went out on strike. The Kelsey-Hayes case has today been magnified out of all true proportion. It now has national economic and political signif icance and you are led to believe that it is holdng up the whole reconversion program. Actually, it isn't anything of the kind. The case history is spelled out in detail here just to show how trixialities become trag edies, and h o w incompetent mankind at time seems to be in dealing with them. COW. 1M t) HCA SIBVm. M6. T, M. IC 1). . Ml. Off.' ' ' "I had almoil forgotten about these canned goods I borrowed from you but. when I read that they were no louger rationed it reminded mel" - O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority SQUEEZE PLAY COMES NATURALLY TO LEBHAR Two of the most popular men in bridge, M. A. Lightmon, Mem phis, Tenn., and Bertram Lebhar, jr., New York, finished first and second in the World Champion ship Masters Pairs this year. 10 7 6 987 878 AKQ8 A A J42 10 4 A 10 5 3 765 W E S Dealer K 985 3 05 QJ4 J 10 9 Lebhar A Q AKQJ32 K92 4432 DuplicateBoth vul. South West North East 1 Pass t A Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass Pass " Pass Opening K. 29 Lightman and Pfc. Robert Apple yard won th-a event; Lebhar and Simon Rossant finished second. Lebhar, a sports broadcaster, talks so much about double plays and squeeze plays and all the terms describing baseball arid hockey games, that it was only BARBS A wallpaper manufacturer says no new designs may be expect ed before next July. And little Johnny answers, "Oh, yeah?" natural ho should employ a squeeze play on one of the tour namcnt hands to win a nicQseore. Unfortunately, both Lebhar and I his partner had three small clubs, or there would not have been much of a problem in the' hand. West cashed three rounds ol clubs, so Lebhar had to make the balance of the tricks. When West shifted to a spade, he went up with dummy's ace and ran off his six heart tricks, retaining in dum my the spade jack and the ace ten of diamonds, and three dia monds in his own hand. East could not hold the.king of spades and the three diamonds.' ' o IN FORMER YEARS Thirty Years Ago ) Yesterday's meeting of Toll Gate road boosters at Toll Gate in the Blue mountains was a big success according to word brought from Elgin. Nine auto loads of F.lgin boosters met 20 carloads of Walla Walla boosters. They met at the summit and took up the proposition' of building a road across the Toll Gate district, using the old road a portion of the way, and adding to ittohere needed. Time of arrival of the carload of bass due to arrive today noon has been postponed until tomor row noon. At that time sportsmen will be ready to take the bass to the waters of Morgan lake and the slough near the Makin' place. Meatless Tuesdays and Fri days are over for New York. It's enough to make the big city folks lick their chops. Tires made Of nylon are in the offing! Look, Mabel, you have a runner in your front left. Now that hnthinp suit: arp hp- ing laid away, why not change me iamous expression to Moth Ball?" "One It's a relief not to have to have a drag with the corner druggist in order to get cigarets. Questions & Answers Q When was Hong Kong ced ed to Britain by the Chinese? A In 1841, just a century be fore the Japs captured it. Fifteen Years Ago oi: Elgin, 20 miles north . of La Grande, is systematically check ing up its losses today following a $50,000 fire that swept part of of town Saturday afternoon, and for awhile menaced the entire business district and nearby res idences. Arrival of the La Grande pumper truck, manned by local firemen, resulted in stopping the spread of the flames and finally brought the fire under control. Ten Years Ago A special election was called for Friday afternoon by the school board for the purpose of voting on the proposition to bond the school district to the sum of $12, 000 for the erection of a new school building. The election went about four to one in favor of a new building. Now Council of American Business the liberal offshoot of businessmen who think National Association of Manufacturers alfd V. S. Chamber of Commerce are too conserv ative will hold its first convention in Chi cago, Oct. 10-12. N. C. A. B's Washington representative, ex-Rep. How.ird J. McMur ray of Wisconsin, is in charge of plans. Idea of the first session is to set up a national board of directors with a representative in major industry lines, then announce a pros pectus of liberal business principles. It will probably be close to the present adminis tration policy. , This Curious World j , ,. ,, TCu l "1,11 llil J II f it 5HININ6 IN A SLEEPER'S ) V J I '! Ill I P P X OUR SUPERSTITIOUS (! ! ; f ip U 1 ANCESTORS BELIEVED. A ! ! fTy t VjlLiK 5- rtJlVZ') AN M3U COMPLETE THESE! ' jYL iaWvuSo GU-SMTAND ?h vMV O, AND . CAAN AN ISA PARASITH- AND ITS SEEDS WILL- NOT 3RCW T. W. (KG. V. 1 FAT. Off. 9-2? 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