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About La Grande observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1959-1968 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1959)
The Lone Eagle . ,. ;?,.: v . & .iiM",' ' X-...-.,Jo--.:-v,-;.v...;: I EDITORIAL PAGE ;LA GRANDE OBSERVER ' . ; " Tuesday, December 22, 1959 ! "Without or with friend or foe, we print your daily world as it goes" Byron. '"' RILEY ALLEN, publisher I Grady Pannell, managing editor George Challis, advertising director i (' , Tom Humes, circulation manager Blame Yourself Not The Butcher Turkey prices appnrently will U ton to twelve cents per pound mitre during Ilia CliriHtmus season thun during re cunt Thanksgiving holidays. Hut don't blame the grocer or buU-her. It's your own fault. Believe it or not, a scarcity of turkeys in developing, juut prior to the biggest turkey-eating day of til entire year. Why? Z' Well, turkeys have la-come Niular the year round. Price is one reason. A better, meatier bird sells for considerably less this year than it did at the end of World War 11. ,,.,Sp many young birds were sold in the summer and full seasons, which didn't uxed to lie thought of as turkey-eating time at all, that a shortage of the birds has' develop!. So, you who like turkeys in the sum-nu-r and fall, don't blante the grocer or butcher for the higher prices now. Blame yourselves. Touhy Killing A Reminder Of Gangsterism Why does the slaying of linger Touhy attract so much attention? liwauw it is a startling reminder that ganx.stori.sm is still very much alive in this country. Too many tend to associate orgaui'tfd racketeering with the prohibition era and to assume that it died when Al Capone went t prison. No such tiling. Touhy was a Chicago gangster and a fae of Capnne. He had ltn in prison ' for 23 years and was only out three weeks when gunmen lielieved to be old foec shot him down. Those who keep count lepiwt that gang killings in the Chicago area alone since Capone left the scene- total more than 9iai. And of that shot-king uumlier only 17 -murderers were brought to justice. Only a few of these kifTings get na tionoi attention. One was AHcit Anas- titela, who was shot down in a New York barber shop. He was believed to be the htaud of Murder Inc., which siiecinlized )n gang killings. ,JMieo believe the Mafia, that ancient order, of outlaws which originated in Sicily, is behind most of the organized crime and most of the killings, despite the indignant protests of an organization of Italian lxni Americans that there is no such thing as the Mafia anymore. It seems more than coincidence that I .at in names pretioniiitate among those iniiveil in the rackets as well as the killings. Crime investigators lielieve that until 4iey can find the key to Mafia, and what perpetuates it, there will continue to la- mysterious murder and crime syndicate-: that oiiei-ate on a nationwide Wale. Newspaper Plan Probably Won't Work The plew of a group of Portland Malts to start a new newspaper in that city, now still in the discussion stage, would prove to be expensive and most probably unsuccessful. The proposal is not a itev one. Tho International Typographical Union in the last 13 or 11 years, has spent some $:W million trying just the same thing. The plan has been tried in a number of U.S. cities, ajid with one or two exceptions where tne final answer has not yet been written, the plan has not worked. Basic fault of the union-operated pa pers has been that their respective man agements have misunderstood the de sires and needs of their renders, even union members. There just are not enough militant unionists in most towns for the type of newspaper which has been produced to succeed. But we'll give the brethren a tip, for free. (Like most free advice, it's probably worth about What they'll pay for it.) Down in Coos Bay, the publisher of the Coos Bay World (neo Times) has made noises a number of times alxntt j P.UilLshiBS-- new newspaper. A few , years ago,, he was making noises aUmt Portland. In more recent timM h has talked about a Virginia) town and a couple in t'nlifornia. i. If you'll get in touch with him, he'll probably he uble to either help you start ttrtiew newspaper, or just how difficult it. would be. Tn either case, the answers ought to be interesting. .Other than the man in Coos Bay, we're hard put to think of an experienced newspaper man w ho would want to take a chance on starting a new paper in Portland. The job is just too tough, and the pros pects all too slim. i Barbs You're folish to expect to find in your 'office the sleep you lost the night before. ' " . When a store has a sale it's the women, not the men, who go out to see. People are entitled to their own opin ion"!, so why don't they keep them? Being paged in a hotel kinda makes you feel more important than you never have been. DREW PEARSON SAYS: Hardest Sales Job By Ike Was Conference In Paris? PARIS President Eisenhower here fated the toughest part of his trip. The tumult and the shouting of countries which never b dire have seen s president of the United States was over. The Kastern princes and potentates arc of the past. Ike has entered a part of Kurope where he Is old hat, where they have seen sever al presidents of the I'nited States and where they welcomed him down the Champs Elysee no less than three months ago. He also had to sit down opposite some nt the toughest, shrewdist diplo matie bargainers in diplomacy. In that bargaining he faced chietly the question of tbe fu lure of Berlin. liut behind Ber lin, and nuK-h more important because they influence the fate of Berlin are two key factors: Factor No. I will find Westers F.urope split just as Ike found the Mediterranean countries end Asia split over his talk with Khiushchev, and over relaxing Ihe cold war. He finds Chancel Ifir Adenauer of Germany and President DeGaulle of France lined up on one side against re. taxation. Factor No. 2 Is the economic progress of Germany and Euro pean worry over it. This worry was hanging over the conference table and will ma terially affect the question of risking war to protect a Berlin whn.se products are competing with allied products all over Eu rope. Miraculous Comeback The phenomenon of Europe to day is the manner in which a de feated country, its cities demol ished, its industries removed and its people dispirited should stage such a comeback. Today German industry lias so many orders they are 23 per cent unfilled. It faces the problem of either importing labor to help fill the orders or exporting capital to build fac tories outside Germany. By 1082- 63 manpower Ihortage will be worse as a result of the lower ed birth rate during the wan , Lufthansa, the German airline, is a typical illustration of Ger many's comeback. After the war, European airlines sprang up ev erywhere too many of them. They got a long start ahead of Germany and nobody really ex pected Lufthansa to rise from liie ashes of defeat But It has. And thro ugh just a little more ef fert at efficiency and courtesy it is taking customers away from old entrenched lines. With this German resurgence. hewever. the British, the Norwe gians, the Danes, the Dutch all NATO nations are asking whe ther history is going to repeat all over again. As long aa Ade nauer is in power tisey aren't worried. They also have confi dence in the man he's reported grooming as bis successor, Franz Josef Strauss, minister of de fense But after that there's a big question mark. Outside NATO there n an even liigaer question mark regarding a strung united Germany. The roles are worried over German imitation for the return of disput ed portions of East Prussia. A United German mould be in a pnsi(An to do more than agitate. rithts. Knally, there's a lot of quiet sentiment among West Germans ihemselves to let well enough alone. Why take on the headach es and disruptions of trying to join a part of Germany which Is completely socialized In trade and industry to a free enterprise, highly prosperous West Germany? So with the death of John Foster Dulles, no groat champion remains of a United Germany except Chancellor Adenauer aftd lis newfound friend De Geule. Both are stubborn net. Th'ey will make a strata ttirn la erg ing Eisenhower and MacmiUaa that there lie no compromise ever lierlin. " Ike Trimaa No matter how vogumusly they may argue, however, the trump card it in Eisenhower's hand. In c.se of war, the defense of Eu- rc pe would fall upon the United States. France, which has pulled most of its divisions out of Euro pe to police Algeria, is no posi tion to defend anying. Nor is West Germany, at the moment, with a small newly-trained army. It's the rule of diplomacy that the nation which bears the bur den of war must call the shots in decisions which may lead to war. St Eisenhower is in the driver's seat to call the shots. The interesting thing to watch is whether the persuasive argu ments of the president's and prime ministers of Turkey, Greece. Pakistan, Iran and to Mme extent Italy against relax ing the cold war, may have un taxed him. Eisenhower made the long trip to their countries to sell these leaders on his talks with Khrushchev. But were they able to sell him on reversing his Khrushchev policy? The public will know the ans wer from the results of Paris. All that can be said at this point is that they sure tried. etr z. lis v 1KI IN FRANCE President Eisenhower waves to cheering crowds as his motor tide moves from the Quai d'Honneur to the railway station in Toulon, France. Eis enhower, given in enthusiastic reception by Toulon residents, boarded a train for Paris and the Western gummit meeting. See Hope Of Wheat Surplus 'Build Up' Ending Next Year WASHINGTON (t'PI) The government's latest crop forecast gave hoe today that the long, ex pensive build up of the federal wheat surplus might halt next year. The Agriculture Department es- TO VISIT CHILDREN NEW YORK (UPI) Musical comedy star Ethel Merman and her estranged husband, Robert F. Six, president of Continental Air Lines, left New York Sunday night to spend the holidays together with their two teenage children in Jamaica. Miss Merman said they were making the trip so as not to disappoint their children. Tots Horrified When Santa's Plane Crashes BLOOMFIELD. N. M. (UPI I About 1000 youngsters watched in horror Sunday when a plane carrying Santa Claus crash-landed on a highway. The plane's wmg struck a mail box, throwing the craft off the highway and into a tree. Santa, otherwise unidentified, got out of the demolished plane, straightened his hat, (and whis kers) and went on his appointed rounds to distribute candy. "It wouldn't have happened If he'd used his reindeer and sled," one youngster said. Local Church Plans Mission Fund Drive La Grande's Seventh Day Ad ventist church membership is currently gathering funds for support of their missionary ent erprises in the United States and other lands. The fund solicitation for mis sions is an annual project of the church. Funds are used to help support medical, educational and health and welfare work of the church. timated that the lsec winter wheat crop would total M,77S.0M bush els, the fifth highest on record and 11 per cent above average, but about equal to consumer demand The winter wheat crop was planted this fall for harvest next spring. The Agriculture 1 Depart ment made its forecast yesterday. It cautioned that weather condi tions between Dec. 1 and harvest time would play a big part i de termining the actual size of the crop. ' If the 1960 spring wheat crop matched this year's harvest of 204,702,000 bushels, total wheat pro duction next year would be 1.130. 475,000 bushels, close to the overall 1959 figure. Most Agriculture Department ex perts expect the I960 wheat crop to add 80.000,000 to 100,00,000 bushels to the government's' cost ly surplus. - But other officials are more hopeful. They expect U.S.'. wheat exports to pick up in 1960 under President Eisenhower's "food for peace" program for shipping sur plus crops overseas. If the "food for peace", program expanded next year, it could draw off much of the 80.000,000 to-100,-000,000 bushels row expected to go to government storehouses. If this happened, the surplus would not increase during the marketing year beginning next July 1, the period in which the 1960 wheat crop will be sold. But even under the most favor-1 LETTERS MaadsaM fang ttX word. To the Editor: v Very often we are prone to m gleet praise when it is deserved. The handling of the fire at out store Saturday night was moat cificient. It meant much to u that the proper decision o made as to the method of combat iug the fire. Our property was protected from any entry except by author ired personnel, and the whole work of the department wag methodical and well organized. We wish to express our thankg to all who make up the fire de partment of the city of La Grande. Chris Jt Wilda Christensen. able circumstances, no reduction appeared likely in the surplus, which will climb to a record 1,369,000.000 bushels. By next July 1 this wheat will be worth about $3,500,000,000. The government will have to pay about 33,0O0,0W a year or nearly $1,000,000 a day for stor age, transportation and interest on this wheat. ' The Eisenhower administration plans to ask Congress shortly aft er it returns next month to cure the wheat surplus aad its coat by reducing government price sup ports. Id Vienna last May a huge mass meeting of Sudeten Germane de e andisl teat the Sudetcnlsnd be sliced off Ciechoslovekie. It sounded lite history repeating all over a,ain; for it was Hitlers march into Czechoslovakia to ke the Sudftcnland in 1938 which made World War II almost certain. Polish and Csech fears are an important reason why Premier Khrushchev has to show that he is a strong protector of satellite REMEMBER WHEN . . 25 years ago, W. C. Wilkins, prominent La Grande business man, announced the purchase of the Strite Motor Co., at Enter prise. He also received the as signment of Kord Motor Co., rights in Wallowa county. W. J. Hallmark was elected di rector of Cove schools. Other Cove candidates were R. J. Allen iind L. It. Comstock. Western Oregon was facing serious flood threats following a day and night of heavy rains. Transportation was at a virtual standstill. . . 15 years ago, an area ser viceman, Alnue Miller, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Miller, Rt. 2, was reportedly killed in action somewhere in the Pacific. He was serving with the Navy. He was a graduate of Union and North Pow- lier schools. The situation in Luxembourg .nd Belgium was deemed critical as the huge German winter of fensive showed no signs of slack ening. The German boast of Paris by Christmas" were view ed with alarm by American Ar my Held commanders. Two new cases of undulant fev er were reported in Union coun ty. There was also an increase cf measles, scarlet fever and chickep pox, r-,. You Bet, We're Proud More La Grande People Read The Observer In November Than Evel Before j:i- Cilf Grccfc&a 50 2001 (Nat PeM) , . , , City Qindalbn '50 . ...2731 O (Net Aid) TctiBd 4123 . La Grande People Buy 78 Of All Retail Goods ' In Union County ' ('Sale Management 1959) Tlfet, faster, Is A Lot Of Retail Sales! There Must Be A Reason Nearly Everybody In La Grande Reads The Observer