La Grande evening observer., October 11, 1945, Image 4

EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Sehiro, PublLher
THURSDAY KVKNING. OCTOBER 11, 1945
Page Four
A Few Feminine Touches Could Work Wonders
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EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Knnde Valley irrigation project.
I. GRANDE A city of 10,00(1
Extend the city limit.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
If there were no God, it would lo
necesary to invent Him. Voltaire.
Our New National Defense
Kven those who favor our retaining
the secret of the atomic bomb concede
that the secret won't be secret very
long. And once the cataclysmic weapon
has passed into other hands, there will
be frantic demands for a defense
against it.
Whether the Crosby Foundation's
discovery is the answer, is still a ques
tion. I!ut it is the urgent advice of
three of the army air forces' top com
bat officers that this country develop
a defense as soon as possible. The re
cently expressed views of Gen. Carl
Spaatz and I.ieut-Gens. Jimmy Doolittlc
and Curtis U'May are substantially as
follows:
The atomic bomb is an airborne wea
pon, and any defense against it obvi
ously must be an aerial defense. Vari
ous new air weapons and devices were
developed durinjf the war, such as radar,
radio fuses, rockets, jet planes and
puirtod missiles. Hut we have much to
learn about all of them.
The generals did not discount the ef
forts of statesmen to create a lasting
peace. Mut, as General I.eMay said.
"c've also not to be ready."
"We found out this time that tieine,
peace-lovinu didn't stop us from netting
into a fight," he continued. "Maybe
being strong and ready will do it. At
any rate, our record on peace stands for
itself, and I don't think any natio.i
could justifiably conclude that by main
taining our strength we are doing any
thing but acting in self-defense."
The" general's plain speaking' is wel
come at a time when the whole country
has been understandably confused about
the whole subject of atomic power.
There has been a tendency to assume
that there was no possible defense
against the bomb, and that aircraft
and other conventional weapons have
been ruled out.
This fatalistic attitude is supported
by toe admitted fact that a defense
against the atomic bomb does not lie
in anything that we know today. Hut
the secret may lie in the new field of
aerodynamics that is just opening up.
Some military and industry leaders be
lieve that, in five or 10 years, guided
missiles and automaticaly controlled air
craft will have replaced the present
military airplane with its human crew.
Whatever the speculation, one thing
is certain. A big part of our future na
tional defense will be the responsibility
of military aviation. And for some time
to come its function will be confined
largely to the field of research and trial
production.
Such a program will require that the
air arm be on a par with the other
branches of the service. And it may be
hoped that congress, as guardian of the
public purse, and the voters who elect
congress will not stint or neglect that
program by undue insistence on econ
omy, drastic reduction of peacetime mili
tary forces, and a completely demilitar
ized way of life.
Funny Business
e SO THEY SAY
That guy (Hicleki Tojo. former
Jap premier) ought to have a bud
I'omltit't ribbon with nine poison
oakleaf clusters.
Pfc. Donald Kincaid, one of To
jo's guards.
Since President Roosevelt's
death, there has been no shift in
the American policy of friendli
ness towaid the Soviet Union.
-Joseph C. Crew, acting secre
tary of state.
"Beer mugi reconversion wai iimple In this plant I"
It the world is to have peace,
the American government must
abandon its policy of underwrit
ing the ruthless imperialism of
our monopolists.
Madison, Wis., Capital-Times.
With the growing army of un
employed, there would arm to
be little reason why it should be
necessary for any workers to
vyork longer hours while other
' Workers have no jobs.
Edward Coisi, New York In
dusfrlal Voinmissioncr.
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Side Glances
By DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON One of the excellent but
little recognized jobs done during the war
is that of the U. S. employment service.
With labor tighter than ever before, U. S.
K. S. did a magnificent job of steering men
to war work.
Now, however, 48 state bosses are licking
their chops, demanding that U. S. E. S. come
back to the stales. This means 20,000 lush
jobs under state control, plus 1.500 employ
ment offices. It also means a lot of patron
age and influence for the state boodle boys.
What the state boodle boys don't realize,
however, is that employment problems don't
stop at state lines. They are national. And
very soon this country will be facing severe
nation-wide unemployment. The U. S. em
ployment service, for instate, has been
working closely with the veteran's admin
istration in getting jobs for veterans. But
if U. S. E. S. goes back to state control,
that cooperation will be difficult.
Capital Chaff
Senator Kenneth Wherry whom the peo
ple of Nebraska elected as a substitute for
George Norris, was hopping mad when no
one voted with him against confirmation
of Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson.
In fact he was so mad he threatened to re
sign as republican whip, but changed his
mind.
Though Mayor Ed Kelly of Chicago was
one of Truman's stalwarts at the democratic
convention, he helped inspire Truman's first
defeat in the U. S. senate the negative
committee vote on ex - Congressman Ray
McKeough to the maritime commission. Kel
ly and his pals on the Chicago Tribune stir
red up AFL opposition to McKeough because
he worked for the CIO. Later, however, the
Illinois Federation of Labor (AFL) gave the
Tribune the lie by okaying McKeough with
out a dissepting vote . . . Phil Murray and
Sidney Hillman, two topmost CIO leaders,
are so bitter they scarcely speak to each
other.
A lot of back-stage argument has been
taking place regarding future disposition of
the many valuable German documents. Some
of these may have military value and should
remain secret for a while. On the other
hand, many important German files pertain
to economic and social matters of tremen
dous interest to the American 'public, which
may help to prevent another War.
One such document pertaining to coopera
tion between Standard Oil of New Jersey
and I. G. Farben, the German cartel, recent--ly
was found in Germany.
The document has been in the hands of
foreign economic official' William Stone, who
has refused all efforts made by newspaper
men to have the document made public.
The document indicates American busi
nessmen aided Germany's preparation for
war. It will be recalled the justice depart
ment brought an anti-trust action against
Standard Oil of New Jersey for making a
deal with I. G. Farben before Pearl Harbor
to keep synthetic rubber patents away from
the American public.
After the justice department brought its
action, Standard Oil took full-page ads in
American newspapers defending the cartel
agreement with the German firm, and claim
ing Standard Oil got more out of the deal
than did the nazis.
When the Germans read this statement,
I. G. Farben officials moved to refute Stand
ard's claim. I. G. Farben's arguments were
written down in a confidential memo signed
by top chemist Goldberg, with doctors Pier
and Zorn concurring. The document was
discovered by Aaron L. Tietlbaum and Eric
L. Meyer of the U. S. army.
Commenting on the claims of Robert Has
lam, Standard Oil's top chemist, the United
States got more than Germany from the
secret contract, the I. G. Farben documents
states when it came to synthetic rubber, the
Americans did not "receive anything im
portant to war economy."
Battle of the Press
Harry Truman's hospitality nearly precip
itated a newspaper civil war when he vis
ited Independence last month. Mayor Rog
er T. Sermon gave his usual stag poker
party of old friends for the president, and
Truman invited two newspaper men, Mer
riman Smitlfcof the United Press and Ernest
Vaccaro of the Associated Press. They, to
gether with Bob Nixon of the International
News service (but who did not take the
Independence trip) have traveled with Tru
man for about 20,000 miles, so he invited
them to come to the party as off-the-record
guests . . . Other newsmen were not invited.
When Smith and Vaccaro returned, their
colleagues asked where they had been. "Out
with some girls," they replied, trying to
protect Truman . . . Later, wben the unin
vited newsmen discovered where the AP
and UP correspondents actually were, they
nearly disrupted a party given by Editor
Roy Roberts of the Kansas City Star.
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
"Marriage is more dangerous thanritro
glycerine," says a !)0-year-old bachelor ex
plosive expert. ,
The world lost a potentially fine husband
in that gentleman who chose to live alone
for 90 years because he figured women were
more dangerous than TNT.
If he had just taken that keen bit of per
ception into matrimony he would have
gotten along just dandy. All he would have
needed to do to have a happy marriage was
to handle the little woman with as much
respectful caution as he uses in handling
high explosives.
The trouble with most husbands is they
don't know that women take careful hand
ling. And so their own carelessness is for-
ever gotting them into . trouble. . .
You can handle high explosives 'if "you
know their nature and never take any
chance with them, s .
And a man could live peacefully with
almost any woman for a lifetime if he put
his mind to understanding her and never
permitted himself to become careless enough
to do the things common sense would tell
him he couldn't get by with doing.
No, the man who realizes that women
are dangerous if not handled cautiously isn't
the man who should avoid matrimony.
The man who would be happier a bache
lor is the man who thinks that womeri can
be treated any old way once the days of
courtship are over and lives to discover
how wrong he is.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON. La Grande E Tailing Observer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON With all this talk flying
around about $25 for 26 weeks of no work,
52 hours' pay for 40 hours' work, tax cuts,
rollbacks, carryovers, refunds, and heaven
knows what other new economic theories,
you still haven't heard anything, yet unless
you now about the "Morrow plan."
Its slogan is, "Retire at Birth."
Its sub-slogan is, "Work for luxury.
Sounds good? Read on.
The Morrow plan was first cooked up as
a gag back at the end of the 1930s when
the "Ham and Eggs," and "Thirty Dollars
Every Thursday' movements were sweep
ing the country. In those days when Father
Coughlin, Doc Townsend, Gerald L. K. Smith
or any other addelpated theorist with a cure
for the depression could get an audience,
a couple of Columbus, O., newspaper men
woke up to the fact that unless something
drastic was done pretty quickly ,the Ham
and Eggers stood a good chance of carrying
the state in the 1940 elections.
Since nobody wanted to listen to reason
and common sense, these newspaper men
decided the best way to lick the crack
brained theories was to reduce them to ab
surdity and laugh them to death. So they
dreamed up this plan to end all plans. They
called it the Morrow plan because the man
who thought it up was named Walt Mor
row. Since those carefree days, this Mor
row has become a conservative business
representative in Washington and he says
today the Morrow plan of half a dozen years
ago couldn't begin to compete with some
of the economic theories being concocted
to cure postwar depression ills.
Anyway, first step in the dizzy concep
tion of the original Morrow plan was to in
corporate the United States of America and
run it as one big business, with all the cit
izens being entitled to share in the profits.
Bvery citizen, at birth, would automatically
become a bond-holder in the corporation and
would be issued, free. $50,000 worth of non
transferable bonds which would be can
celled at death. Dining life, however, the
income from these bonds, at a conservative
five percent interest, would yield $2,500 in
come a year.
This interest money would be paid in a
kind of script which would be good to pur
chase the necessities of life food, rent and
clothing and doctor bills but nothing more.
If you wanted to buy an automobile or have
a better house than your neighbor, or a pi
ano, you couldn't by it with this funny
nioney at all. But if you didn't want any of
these extras and were content to live off
the $2,500 okay, you could do it. Hence the
slogan, "Retire at Birth."
Ambitious people, the folks who wanted
the luxuries of life, would still be permitted
to work for them in the old fashioned way,
if they chose to go to that trouble.
After Morrow had thought up this dizzy
scheme he decided to try it out. With his
associate, Parker LaMoore, who is now about
to be discharged from the army as a lieu
tenant colonel, Morrow set out in an auto
to see how the idea would sell. They would
drive up to any small group and park. La
Moore would get out and say, "Do you know
who that is in the car? That's Morrow,
founder of the Morrow plan. Get him to tell
you about it."
When the group gathered around, Mor
row would go into his act, embellishing it
with a lot of big round numbers about the
wealth of America being six trillion dollars
and the national income 100 billion, and
every man's share beng $50,000. When he
had finished he would ask, "How does it
sound to you?"
And then, to the absolute amazement of
both Morrow and LaMoore. instead of say
ing. "You're crazy," their listeners would
invariably say, "It sounds all right!"
To make sure their listeners weren't mere
ly being polite, Morrow used to put the
tooch.to them. Would they give 50 cents
a week to support the "Morrow Retire at
Birth Plan" just to help get it started?
Sure they would. For as long as he liked.
That cured Morrow and LaMoore of try
ing to out-screwball the screwballs. The
Morrow plan was allowed to die. It is re
vived here now only to help explain why
some of the slogans now being carried, xl
placards in parades and picket lines have
so many willing followers.
"We'll be having important tales conventions some of these day,
and I'm all rusty on 'Sweet Adeline'!"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
QUEEN OVER JACK
IS GOOD STRATEGY
Beginners at bridge often ask,
"How do you know which way to
take a finesse when there is the
choice of taking it either way?"
One principle I always pass on
to them is to play the queen over
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the jack when all other things
are equal; that is, if it does not
make any difference which op
ponent gets the lead, and if the
bidding fails to give an indica
tion of the situation. In playing
the queen over the jack you will
be right at least 50 per cent of
the time; if you try to guess ev
ery time, you may be wrong
mora often than right.
In today's hand several play
ers in a duplicate game complain
ed of hard luck when, after win-
O BARBS
ning the first trick with the jack
of spades, they tookjithe club
finesse and lost to EasJ's king.
The player who won top score
on the board led a srftall heart
at trick two, won with the king
in dummy and returned a dia
mond, finessing the ,t,en-spot.
South did not particularly care
whether the ten-spot was won or
lost. If West won with the queen,
regardless of what he returned,
declarer could cash one spade,
four hearts, three diamonds and
the ace of clubs. In this.caso the
ten-spot held, but it gaye declar
er the same number of tricks.
O IN FORMER
YEARS
Thirty Years Ago.
With enrollment figures for
the first month of the schorl
year completed, City (.Superin
tendent John Girdler today learn
ed that the attendance in school
today, at the end of the first
month, is identical with, a year
ago. Enrollment im aU I. schools
'Is '1282, high' school is 242.
L. P. Ostlund left yesterday
for his mining property in the
Sumpter district where he will
remain during th-2 winter driving
new tunnels and otherwise mak
ing improvements preparatory to
opening one of the finest veins of
ore that the Sumpter district pos
sesses. '
By HAL COCHRAN
Honestly,-the best policy is to
let all's well that ends well
enongh alone.
Reports indicate that there will
be plenty of tame turkeys this
coming holiday season with the
same old wild price tags!
An opera singer says women
should learn to sing at home. It
1V
Fifteen Years Ago
Over 2,500 people attended the
opening night of the Grange Fair
and Home Products show which
is being held yesterday and today
at the Sacajawea Inn under the
auspices of the Union . c o u n ty
grangers and Union county cham
ber of commerce.
State Senator Edward F. Bailey
democratic ' candidate for gover
nor, and Elton Watkins, demo
cratic candidate for United States
senator, will deliver public ad
dresses Oct. 13 at 8:30 p.m. in the
city hall, it was anounced today.
would be a perfect reason for
hubby to take a night out now
and then.
It probably would clear up the
paper shortage if Uncle Sam had
all of that on which people in
tended to write to the boys in
service, but didn't.
Ten Years Ago
The new reinforced "-concrete
bridge spanning the. Grande
Ronde river at the east portal ol
Elgin has been opened to traffic.
The detour sign that , has routed
thousands of travelers away from
the main highway at the corner
of B street, was removed for the
first time since construction work
on the bridge was slanted last
March.
This Curious World
I- A)
' ATMOSPHERE, (
I ( AND IP you COOLD 1 f X
I LIVE THERE, YOU Ml
I WOULD SEE THE )
, STAfts OAfAMO K V -1
WITHERS TO 6E 4SRAMDMOfrtfeS$,"jG
AU4 JANDRA CARLSON,
omce were much used), or'eo
amce3uno into powder..
man6 blister planters.
10-12.
COM it hCA SllvtCC MC.
NEXT: Those meteor showers we'll see next month,