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About La Grande observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1959-1968 | View Entire Issue (June 9, 1960)
On Second Thought r EDITORIAL PAGE LA GRANDE OBSERVER Thursday, Jon , 1960 "Without or with friend or toe, wt print your dally world as It goe" Byron. v '" RILEY ALLEN, publisher ! Grady PannelL managing editor George Cballli, advertising director Toot Humes, circulation manager All Gov'ts Suppress Information A natural law of lxilitical science seems to be this: Given the opportunity, govern ment will restrict or even muzzle the press. It happeend so often when the press r. was in its very infancy, that the found , ing- fathers of this country wrote safe guards into the Constitution. Neverthe less, it is a continuing battle in our own country to keep government from stand ing between the people and the knowledge of the people's business. In Cuba the free press is rapidly van ishing. No dictatorship can stand the spotlight of publicity. The obvious faults of dictatorship must be glossed over and whatever good points there are must be emphasized. Thus the same things are happening to the newspapers in Cuba under Castro that happened to the newspapers in Argentina under Peron. ' And in the Union of South Africa a severe crisis exists over the racial issue. In such a situation government can't stand to allow free discussion. So it is clamping down on the press o a sup posedly free country. Here in the United States we have the freest press in the world due to our con stitutional guarantee. Yet so pronounced is the tendency of persons in government to conceal information that the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. at its last meeting reported that the federal govern ment uses more than loO statutes as authority to withhold information on subjects ranging from the national se curity to peanuts. A controversial Air Force manual was cited as an example of "how deep rooted government's attitude is against the peo ple's right to know." The manual con tains these words: "Another rather silly remark often heard concerning security is that Am ericans have a right to know what is going on. Most people realize tho I'ool hardiness of such a suggestion. Keep in mind that public news media present only as much information as the govern ment wants to release." This "Natural I-aw" that seems to apply to all government is easy enough to understand. The person in position of authority doesn't ' want criticism. He doesn't want his mistakes to be known. He may even want to do something de liberately that he knows would not meet .with public approval, and certainly he 'doesn't want this made known. Some congressional committees have been pretty free and easy with their ex pense accounts on foreign travel lately. When reporters started digging into the records, someone promptly ordered the records locked up. Only through the intervention of Speaker Sam. Rayburn, who realized that locking up the records was worse than what they might reveal, was the materia! made available again. This "natural law" we speak of Der ates on low levels as well as high. It used to be that school boards, P.U.D. commissions, boards of county commis sioners and others would transact con troversial pieces of public business lie hind closed doors so that as few as possible would find out about it. This resulted in the passing of a law, in some states sponsored by the pr?ss, forbidding any' public body from taking an official action except at a meeting for which ad vanced notice has been given through the press. This does not mean that some bodies would still not prefer to do gome of its business behind closed doors : they simply are forbidden to do so. Such "Natural Laws" as these can't be repealed. This tendency will always exist in government. The problem is to keep it nt a minimum. The press is at the forefront in the battle in this regard in every country where it is permitted any freedom. The press' vigilance sometimes is mis interpreted as furtherance of some kind of selfish interest. F.ut the press is simply the medium by which informa tion is conveyed to the public. It isn't the press' "right to know" that is at stake: it is the people's right to know. And the people can't know and won't know unless the press keeps ever nt the task of breaking down barriers which just naturally are erected between the . people and the government. DREW PEARSON SAYS: Tight Secrecy Lid Clamped On Special CIA Hearings WASHINGTON Whn ' Sens ator Full bright of Arkansas heard ihe testimony of Central Intelli gence chief Allen Oullei behind closed doors he went to unusual lengths to ensure secrecy. Not only were no censored copies nf Dulles testimoy U.ued after the hearing but stenograph irs who took down Dulles's words ere carefully screened in ad wince. They were all requirea to return their stenographic notes. Every conceivable step vas taken to prevent a leak, and the final testimony was stamped with a warning that any senator v.ho talked about it was subject lo punishmemnt under the os- I .linage laws. ' While the secrecy may have been justified in regard to the 11-2 incident, the same kind of ultra-secrecy has so protected Central Intelligence in the past that it has been guilty of various bonehead plays, plus an undeter mined waste of the taxpayers' money. It can be revealed, despite the recent Senate secrecy, and with cut disclosing any classified in formation, that the senators gave Dulles the kid-gjove treatment, probled very superficially into his operations. Agent Against Franc Up in New York, a congres sional committee might well look into an amazing untold story of l:ow Central Intelligence spent approximately $1,000,000 of the taxpayers' money to operate, an underground Inside Spain in op position to Dictator Franco. The story involves the strange disappearance of Prof. Jesus De Galinriez, the Columbia Univere ity professor who vanished while entering a New, York subway March 12, 1956. and has never been heard of since. It can now he revealed beyond any doubt that Prof. . De Galindet was in the employ of Central Intellig ence and was sending large sums of money to Spain. Officially, he was the represen tative of the Basque delegation to the United States, a group in Litter opposition to Generalissi mo Franco. In that official cap acity, he registered with the Justice Department a a. foreign aeat and listed amount of money he claimed to collect each month. This was merely a cover. Supposedly, he collected the money from Basque exiles and immigrants in Latin America. Ac tually he got the money from Central Intelligence. Dulles Phoned Personally The monthly Installments ringed from $4,845 in March 1950 to $26,039 in January, 19S6, just before De Galindez disap peared or was disposed of. Dur ing five years from 1950 through 1955. this mysterious college professor, an exile from Spain, received either $1,016,000, ac cording to justice department tiles, or $762,527. according to a New York City official audit. Immediately after De Galindez disappeared, Allen Dulles per sonally phoned New York City officials with an urgent request that a CIA agent be permitted I to go through De Galindcz't pa yvt s. i ins wns uune. Ana ine last incriminating CIA check. sent to De .Galindez in February (or $7,240. was taken out of his file. The mystery still remains as to why Central 'Intelligence jets financing this Spanish Basque exile who was working against r ranee at a lime wnen we were subsidizing Franco to the tune of. several million dollars a year 1 foreign aid and military as sistance. Thus the taxpayers were paying both to support Franco :r.d to undermine Franco. It's wmething the Senate might well investigate but won't Gamal Abdel Nasser, the loard of the Nile, has confided his views of America's short comings in a letter to the self ityled American Fuerhrer, Lin coin Rockwell, who has been driving to found a Nazi party in the nation's capital. The Egyptian dictator praised Rockwell for his anti-Jewish cam paign, then lashed into America's "subservient" and "inconsistent" policies. Since Nasser recently com plained to Senate Foreign Rela tions Chairman William Ful bright about his press coverage in America, this column will pub lish his views as written to Rockwell. - Nasser began by thanking Rockwell for a pamphlet "con taining information about the iort of resistance you are conduct ing against destructive Zionist activity. "I hope," Nasser continued, "your efforts will help the deliv ering of humanity from Zionist aggression. It seems a matter of regret that despite all this collaboration and almost all at tempts at peace, a body of poll ticians and statesmen still puruse a line of propaganda and fabrics tion, subject to almost every whim or caprice. In this sense they forward the work of de struction. "I have a finally established belief that national awareness throughout the world in addition to devotion for the cause of lib erty and peace will expose such sinister policies and avoid the world a third disaster. A day will come when war-mongers and sham politicians will be called to account for their crimes. "It is unfortunate that the states adopt a policy of subser vience in face of these forces which serve no end or purpose or good. It is a further point of disappointment that your govern ment is inconsistent in the sense that while it declares one thing, it seems to enact, another, es pecially in this part of the world which seems to be sensi tive enough to anything that may come from America in the hope that the American standpoint may be reoriented to a nobler policy and fairer policy contri buting something to the interest of these resurgent nationalities." QUOTES IN THE NEWS Rp. U.S. Pat. Off.) By United Press Internetienal LONDON Negro entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.. weeping over a racist demonstration by about 30 british fascists against his plans to marry Swedish actress May Britt: "This could never happen in the U.S. cxcept maybe in the South, like Mississippi." MCGU1RE AIR FORCE BASE. N.J. M.Sgt. Chester Milten border, of Ihe Fort Dix. N.J.. rmy Medical Corps, stating that radiation was slight at the site of an explosion and fire that dam aged a Bomarc missile: "They're walking all over the place up there." LONDON A royal source, ex pressing doubt the Duke of Wind sor, who abdicated in 1936 to mar ry "the woman I love", would re turn to live in England: "Quite beyond Ihe question of 'rovah precedence he seems to feel she may be shunned socially and it is quite possible this might be so Wildjife, ' Fish Projects Up For Boost WASHINGTON UPI Secre tary of Interior rreo a. aeaion said today -state fl'Ji aod wild life restoration projects . will re ceive an apportionment of $12. 600.000 in federal aid July 1. The . balance of federal aid fish and wildlife restoration program funds for the year ending June 30 i;i. will be appo.tioned in the fall, seaton said. ' The early apportionment will hrlD states olan their federal aid activities more advantageously Seaton said. It will be of special importance to states operating on a revolving fund basis. Under the federal aid fish and wildlife restoration programs states expend their own funds on approved projects and are then reimbursed up to 75 per cent ol the cost. On July 1. 1959. 14 states had exhausted their federal aid money available for obliga tion for fish restoration programs and 1 states were without fed eral aid funds for obligation on wildlife rrstutiition inlivilicv Sev eral other states had less than 15,00 in federal aid funds avail able for obligation. Seaton said the partial appor tionment will make it possible for states to claim reimbursement immediately after July 1. 1S60. for expenditures made in connec tion with projects approved for the year ending July 1. MM. w 4 $ tRIPW iTOPSINQUAUTYIi HrJ i il V! j uittitr8 J Was Rocky Seeking Advice Or Consent? being a mere vice president. If he w jnt to talk politics with Ike, it was probably to see what Ike's re action would bo if he started out anew to 'Gov. Nelson Rockefeller is obviously a. man in a quandry. So when he went to the White House for brcakfust Wed nesday It probably was to seek advice. .lie wants to lie President, of course, but hii thwarted by the towerinjr figure of Vlttf President Nixon. He started out to run against Nixon but gave up shortly. Then he seemed to regret his decision and announced that he was available to be drafted. Meanwhile he hus bien pre surer? from various' quarters to take the second place on the ticket and run for vice president. This doesn't appelc to him. A man w ho considers himself presi dential timber doesn't like the idea of campaign for the nomination. Or it could be that the President has called him in to see if he can ersuade him to join with Nixon as the vice presidential candidate. - Republicans can. hope that the gov ernor will agree to team up with Nixon not only because such a combination will have great voter appeal, but because a Nixon administration, if he wins, would be a strong one indeed with , Nelson Rockefeller in the position now occupied by Nixon, , . REMEMBER WHEN U.S. Says Russ Hedging Over Disarmament - GENEVA (UPH' U.S. diploma tic sources said today the Russians appear to be stalling on disarma ment until Ihe United Nations General Assembly opens in Ihe fall. The Russians apparently hope, the sources said, to get more propaganda mileage out of Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev's new disarmament plan and per haps gain support for it from some of the uncommitted nations of the world. French, British and Canadian delegations at the 10-nation dis armament conference do not go along with this entirely. They tend toward the view that the Soviets may now be ready to begin ne gotiation of the practical problems of disarmament. OBITS COVINGSTON. Va. "(UPI) Robert Whitehead, 62, a former Virginia legislator and a leader of Democrats opposing the statewide organisation of 9en. - Harry F. Byrd, died Wednesday at his heme apparently of a heart at tack. . D ANBURY, Conn. I LTD Mar shall Crosby Rogers, 72, a retired editorial writer who had worked on newspapers in Massachusetts. Connecticut and Rhode Island for about half a centuty, died Wednes day in Danbury Hospital. BOSTON lUPIi-The Rev. Hen ry P. Wennerberg, 73, professor of theology at Boston College, died Wednesday in St. Elizabeth's Hos pital after a brief illness. . . 25 years ago, the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs planned a joint memorial service for members who had died during the past year. Serving on the lOOF commit tee were A. II. Harvey, Walter Shafer, Henry HcGoldrick, Bert Kberhard, Ed Bork, Galin Dur kee. Melvin . Bork. Frank Look and W. M. Pearson. . . 15 years ago, Phyllis De Long was named president for a six-month term of Girl Scout troop 1. Other " officers named were as follow: May Lynn Abel secretary; Judy Bcesvn, treasurer: Ruth Gragg. reporter; Thclma Marquis, libr arian; and patrol leaders Mary Slmonts. Margery Halt, ' Jackie Bellis and Leona Tetrick. FOR ATHUTTS FOOT Um T--L unmti to a t a tm. W.uk hk-M-a-4lar. kMllkr ahla rarlM Ik Mxttaa. U Ml 4U4 tnm ay 4r.fM. T-4-L to mmiuiIy lr aanr Maw. Om T-4. t. rwi rvwuu "flow mi ikatf PAYLISS DRUO STORI C HERE'S 60MCTMIMS TMAt WtE PROUD TO TELL, J EXpentetKEft WAS TAUGHT US Summertime We Give "S.&H." GREEN STAMPS With Every Purchase g - TUT" FOXCROFT MUSLIN White Sheets 81x108 Flat -1.99 BoUomfU Doable 1.99 72x108 Hal 1.79 Boitomfil Twin -- -1.79 42x36 Cases ..pair 89c 1 BUY NOW AT LOW, LOW PBICES! 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