- J -
Th OHEGOII STATESMAN. Sclera Ortgoa. Thursday Morning, July 27. 1341
PAGE FOUa
v
Goerin? Prize Ilea
Of AH Tim Says'
German Prisoner
"No Favor Swayt Us; No Feat Shall Avoe"
I From First Statesman, March 28, 1851 ,
It i.
...AT THE FRONT!
ill;
THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING COSIPANY r
CHARLES A. SPRAGUE, Editor and Publisher , ll
" , Member cf the Associated Press ! .
The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use (or publication -of 'all
news dispatches credited -to it or not otherwise credited . In this newspaper.
Limits on Irrigated Acres
A" domestic issue of more than local impor
vtance which is pressing for settlement is the
'question of whether lands under the Central
Valley irrigation project in California should
be exempt from the provision of thej-eclamation
.r law which limits holdings to 160 acres per per
' son. Great reservoirs have been built, the Shasta .
, dam near Redding and the Friant dam on Kings
river, which are intended to increase the supply
of irrigation water particularly in the fertile
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. A. bill
has passed the house which removes the- limit
of acreage contained in the present law. A sub
committee of the senate has been holding hear
ings in California to get facts and opinions re-
- garding the proposed exemption.
The San Joaquin valley has been from the be
ginning a region of large farm holdings. The
Spanish grants were enormous. When the. land
passed from grazing to tillage the. holdings re
mained large. Henry Miller of the old firm of
' Miller and Lux was one of the early and large
landowners in the valley and one of the first
to apply water to his lands. These ranches re
main in large blocks, running up to 10,000 acres
in size. Irrigation is widely employed, but high
er portions remain grazing lands. Some of the
farms are owned by corporations and managed
by foremen who hire local or transient labor
to do the work. The present owners are fighting
to abolish the limitation, and in their effort
- they have enlisted wide " support. Even Sen.
Downey, elected to represent the "deer peepul"
is taking the side of the big landowners.
It is pointed out that these lands have been
operated as large tracts, with equipment and
farm buildings laid out to serve places of great
size. It is further alleged that owners of these
lands would refuse to take water from the ca
nals but would rely on pumps and draw water
from the ground which prompted Sen. Cor
don, who with Sen. Hatch was conducting the
' - hearing, to point out the manifest injustice of
sharing the benefits without sharing the cost.
There is, however, a very strong case to be
made out for the limitation, which is of long
standing. History has. shown the 1 social menace
of consolidating lands into few ownerships.
Lafge landed estates have resulted in a low
standard of living for the mass of the people in
Poland and Hungary. A tract of 160 acres under
irrigation would seem ample to support a fam
ily. Why should the government) expend enor
mous, sums, of money just to benefit the few
landlords of the. valley? , - . .-
Sen. Hatch had a scheme to settle returning
soldiers' on ' the lands which , would be thrown
on the market if the limitation remains, but
the question should be decided on its own mer
its and not oil how the surplus lands are to be
disposed of.
While the question now concerns central Cali
fornia only, it may in the future come up in the
Willamette valley. If a general irrigation de
velopment should be undertaken here under the
reclamation act, the same, limitations as to
individual ownership would apply.
It seems to The Statesman that the burden of
proof clearly rests on the landowners. Their
excess lands would be appraised and sold, so
their property would riot be confiscated without
compensation. In the long run of years it would
seem probable that California would be better
off socially and economically and politically
- to : have multiple ownership of its rich, irri
gated lands than to have them remain in huge
estates, breeding places for the Jeeter Lesters
and Joads. . '
Political Revolt in South j
The defeat of Sen. "Cotton Ed" Smith for the
renomination in South Carolina, on top of elec
tion results in other southern states this year,
will give a real shock to the diehard south
erners who have been serving in the senate and
house of representatives. The contests almost
uniformly have gone against the ultra-conservatives
who draw their political inspiration
from reconstruction days. Incidentally the re
turns do not indicate that Roosevelt will lose
in the south this year, in spite of the adver-..
Used defection there. '
Here is what has happened in recent months.
Senators Pepper and Hill, strongest new dealers
n the senate among the southern bloc, were re
elected over strong opposition.' Congressman
Joe Stames of Alabama, member of the Dies
committee, was defeated; Congressman Martin :
Dies himself, announced his retirement from
1 politics because of his health, but Judge Combs,
, who previously -had announced his opposition
to Dies, was nominated in his stead.
Congressman Kleeburg, one of the owners of
the huge King ranch of 1,230,000 acres in Tex
as, was defeated Iby an army captain. Now Sen.
Smith, of the old Ben Tillman school of South
Carolina, is defeated after 36 years of service
in congress. Also defeated is Sen. Hattie Cara
way, the candidate in the lead in Arkansas being
young Congressman Fullbright, Oxford gradu
ate, university president, author of a house
resolution for a world organization for peace.
These results in the south are not unimpor
tant. They reveal that southerners themselves
are waking up, and offer, ground for hope that
the south will of its own motion effect needed
. reforms such as abolishing the jpoll tax, equal
izing political and educational opportunity for
members of both white and black races.
The cut-out condition of timberlands in the
state of Washington is revealed in news that
the logging of 160 million feet of timber in the
Lake Tahkenitch area between Reedsport and
North Bend for use in Washington mills is to
start soon. Lumber prices now will carry the
freight cost, but what about the postwar per
iod? Many mills in the state to the north must
face an uncertain future-or perhaps a certain
doom. ' r -1
Henry Kaiser's cargo plane has proven to be
another idea that flashed In the pan; but no one
Ms apologizing to the brass hats", who were,
tlieptical about it from the first. 3 ' ' '
Utility Excess Profits f i
Localities are viewing with envious eyes the
excess profits of public utilities. Those located
in war industrial areas have enjoyed a marked
expansion in gross earnings, f and some in
creases in net, though not nearly in the pro
portion of the war industries themselves. Under
federal laws the government f now takes 93
per "cent of their excess profits. The sight of
this money going to the federal government has
caused varying reactions over the country, with
steps taken to capture this excess for the com
' munities served. ' ' j "i
In Detroit, for instance, the city council passed
a law greatly increasing the local tax rates,
frankly admitting that the purpose was to re
tain the money that was going to the federal
government as excess ' profits, i In California
the railroad commission has ordered hearings
on the question, with the possible end of order
ing rate reductions to eliminate the excess
earnings. . In Louisville, Kentucky, the city is
on a deal to buy the private gas and electric
company and figures that its retention of tax
funds will go a long way toward paying for
the property. jj 1 1
Oregon has followed an original plan, initiat
ed by the Pacific Power & Light, that of a re
bate to consumers. This was applied by Portland
General Electric and Northwestern Electric, and
served to expunge the order; of the commission
er of public utilities for a rate reduction. The
objection advanced by PGE against a general
rate reduction was fear of j losses - if business
volume slumped after the war. - -
Under the rate regulation .theory utilities
are entitled to a fair return and only a fair
return. In practice however jthere are "wide
swings in earnings.- Sometimes as in time of de
pression, earnings may be considerably below
- the established fair rate; In boom times they
run ahead. In neither case does the regulatory
authority move very fast (Or the company ei
ther) to alter the rate schedules! But it is a mis
take to regard the excess profits tax of the gov
ernment as a local "loss." If (the- government is
deprived of this money it has to reach a little
deeper in4the pockets of the people to make up
the difference. Eventually of course the rate
structure should be reduced to permit only a
fair return. Meantime people! ought to be
pleased that the government is getting the 95
per cent to help finance the war. It seems quite
unpatriotic to follow the Detroit plan of upping
tax rates merely to siphon away taxes from the
federal treasury. j
At the pulpboard mill in Longview one of the
buildings was destroyed by fire' from a blow- f
torch used by employes tryinglto get honey
bees had made in a section of the ! building
frame. Now a 'story comes from Chile to the
effect that 21 persons lost their lives from a sim
ilar cause. Two men fired honey trees,, starting
a fire that burned over 4000 acres. Strange
coincidence. . I' ll
A soldier's mother inquires f the aid to be
provided for veterans for financing their edu
cation is to be a loan like the loans for a busi
ness or a farm.-No; the aid for education in the
"GI bill of rights" is a direct 'grant, and does
not have to be repaid to the government.
The picture of Roosevelt broadcasting from
his private car isn't at all flattering. He looks
thin and a bit stooped. Bettef bring out the
1936 photos for campaign purposes. Many can
didates persist in running for office on the
photographs of their first campaign.
Interpreting
The War News
By KIRKE L. SIMPSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WAR ANALYST
Massive American armor in Normandy, teaming
up with bitter weather and a stunning preliminary
bombing by air, comrades has driven a significant
dent in German defense lines west and southwest
of St Lo. j - 1 -
As disclosed by early unofficial advices, an in
itial dent four miles deep and two-and-a-half miles
wide was achieved at a point supremely critical
for the foe. Nazi failure to halt or contain the drive
promptly must inevitably force an enemy retreat
on a wide front to escape looming entrapment
Press advices said that the St, Lo-Coutances
highway had been reached in the first rush, one
important village taken and another, Marigny. en
tered by tank-riding American doughboys. That
places the scene of action just west and slightly
south of St Lo and within close: striking distance
of an important rail lateral, the Coutances-Torigny
' line between the Vire and the Siene rivers.
The thrust obviously endangers the whole Ger
man defense triangle to the west, apexing at Lessay
and protected by an ocean indent from the coast
American forces have encountered! hard going on
that end of the line to prevent complete conquest
of the Cherbourg peninsula and furnish elbow
room for larger scale maneuvers. ,5-':
The new dent In the German front west of St'
Lo is a grave flanking threat to that nazi triangle.
Pushed on southward beyond the St. Lo-Coutances
highway and the railroad : beyond it, or " turned
south west ward in the flatter country suitable for
armored operations south of Coutances, the drive
. would certainly unhinge the whole German left
of line. There could be no point in attempting to
hold the Lessay triangle if its right was caved in
east of Coutances. A prompt retreat west of the
Vire to the curving Siene or even -the sea or the
Selune farther south would seem in order.
It may be for that limited objective the Ameri
can armored thrust was driven home. The site
does not immediately .'suggest more ambitious allied
: operations. . ., f ; v
British sources indicate, however, that the al
lied command In France still is primarily concerned
with clearing up the Caen area and: the Dives river
delta completely rather than with mounting a ma
jor break-through effort toward; Paris. Caen and
the Orne estuary and canal afford harborage and
landing bases for at least light ! draft seacraft to
supplement beach landing points kad Cherbourg.
. If Montgomery is to gain a close-up major sea base
. on his left, however, to insure and supplement his
supply lines, he must reach out fo Le Havre. - .
.- . f. ?
... - v .. 1
Overboard j ; I I ' i ;.:-;; ': -: : j -
News j Behind the News
(Distribution by King Feahires' Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction in whole
WASHINGTOrf, July) 2ft Be-,
hind this sudden front-paging of
new tax plans (twin Cities, j vs.
Ruml et al) lies! a rebellion of
the individual business man
against Washington taxmaking.
The average taxpayeii in busi
ness or outside jj knows 'nothing
about this,! the most important
rsf ill :,, nt r.f111""""1
gove rnment,
The bus i ness
man hires! ex
perts to work
out' what he
"f i
must pay. The
average citizen
just finds io u i
hoW it hits! him
on 'pay me n t
day, and meas- s Paui Maiion
ure justice by that amount
As a result niore people are
pngry about .taxs jin thw coun
try j than anything elsep includ
ing; Mr. Roosevejt 'himself. , '
-The way- taxe are made en
courages this popular sense of
injustice. They evolve from plans
presented to congress by labor
(Congress of Industrial Organi
zations, American Federation of
Labor, etc.), on the one hand
and the United States j chamber
of Commerce and National Asso
ciation of Manufacturers; on the
othlr, front which congress gen
erally chooses ideas, mainly and
naturally for political effect
This makes fo: groove think
ing; One groove we are in, for
instance, is the 1: ibor notion that
thej corporation s a wicked oc
topus, against which j t must
promote economic antagonism.
Labor, therefore, alway advo
cates higher and higher! axes on
corporations, a i course! which
now, after years of success, has
brought the cor oration) profits
to a point where there Is a ques
tion of whether the capitalistic
system car survive in postwar.
AFL came out with a pamphlet
last week I trying to shiw. Cor
poration profits! had jincreased
moje than individual income
from the War, and the jonly way
thejr could do it Was by present
ing; the corporation profits be
fore taxes yet j taxes fere the
biggest factor against profits, j
But abqve aXi, union labor
gets all .its! income from corpor
ation profits, and, therefore, you
would think its wisest, course
would be against high' taxes so
the; corporation! would have
more left for wages.
1 :'
"THE; YpUPjGj IDEA" By Mossier
J .-
o ; liLrcs
"UeH ply yes wita iondaea
wf'A
The chamber of commerce and
NAM have similar grooves on
, theh- side, at a time when new
ideas and straight impartial
thinking based on common jus
tice, is necessary if the country
is to be saved.
.Well, at any rate, these busi
ness men at luncheon one day
compared notes and found their
congressmen had writtent them
the usual form letters asking If
they had any tax suggestions for
postwar. They usually get their
tax thoughts from the C of C or
NAM, but this time they decided
they, would try to make a real
tax plan of their own.
The' initial cost was about $8,
000 (it may have doubled since
then) for hiring some experts
and sending out the 20,000 bro
chures these experts prepared.
Most of the workers, however,
were loaned without cost by the
business organizations involved.
- The brochures had some new
1 ideas, not stereotyped to the
business formulas. In fact, . ba
sically the twin cities plan is to
reduce taxes on incomes' but
keep them at 40 per cent on
corporations; (eliminating only
the war excess profits tax.)
It would cut individual rates
about 16 per cent -on an aver
age, and still more aid indivi
duals by allowing a 40 per cent
exemption on : dividends re
ceived. This last Is a novel, but just
" idea, because the corporation al
ready has paid 40 per cent in
taxes on income which belongs
to the taxpayer. The present
system is double! taxation on the
same dollar. '
Some foolish notions about- a
-sales tax are also tuspelled, as it
is evident the rich man, buying
more, would pay more tax than
the poor man, and furthermore
we have a sales tax of terrific
proportions on the p 00 r man
now (cigarettes and whiskey, to
. mention two items.)
Details and figures of the re
port may ! rouse controversy
(whether $120,000,-000,000 of na
tional' postwar income will be
enough, whether the postwar
budget will 1 not be more than
$18,000,000,000 and therefore re
: quire more taxes), but at least
the controversy Will be on new
lines and not in the grooves it
has occupied for this entire gen
eration, h i
Indeed, Beardsley Ruml, the
and then expect yeu t make
the -wr - '
tax thinker outside of Washing
ton who thought up the notion
of making tax payments cur
rent, a plan which congress and
the treasury were literally forced
to take against their skilled
wills, has advanced another
more startling suggestion that
corporation taxes be reduced
to five per cent, while indivi
dual rates be increased.
That idea is politically impos
sible, if not financially danger
ous, but at least U contributes a
new understanding of the abused
position of the corporation.
You have read here before,
and it has now become increas
ingly evident that if tax justice
Is to be found, it will have to be
found outside of Washington and
our deep-furrowed grooves.
SKEOjOB
(Continued tram Page I)
as desirous of terminating this
feud, and the head of the com
munist party in Italy almost ad
vertised that desire by himself
attending Catholic mass. The
Vatican, however, has been qiute
- reserved about reaching for
Stalin's olive branch.' Yet Rus
sia is a' fact in Europe, a big,
ponderous fact, which cannot be
ignored in any peace settlement.
If for example the Vatican should
decide to throw . its weight in
opposition to Soviet Russia the
problem of writing the peace
would be made more difficult
t There has been for decades re
sistance within Catholic coun
tries to what was regarded as
interference by the church with
internal politics. Most of the
leaders of these anti-clerical par
ties professed their loyalty to the
Catholic faith but opposed what
they regarded as meddling by
church officials in political mat
ters. In Italy the pope lost con
trol of the papal states when the
peninsula was unified, and be
came the "prisoner of the Vati
can until the concordat with
Mussolini was signed which gave
the pope temporal authority over
the diminutive Vatican city.
France had its burst of anti
clearicalism which culminated in
the expulsion -of the holy orders
just after the turn of the century.
The greatest violence however
was noted in Spain and Mexico In
the period of their revolutions.
In the latter country hundreds of
churches were dosed, while in
Spain priests and nuns suffered
personal violence. Spain itself
remains politically unstable, and
will probably become more un-
stable when its facist regime is'
' orphaned by the overthrow - of
Hitler and the demise of Mus
solini, j
While dissenting elements,
v Catholic and noncCatholi-, may
be fearful of political interference
by the Vatican in peace negotia
tions, they ought to welcome the
influence of the pope,- Whose
spritual dominon is international,
in support of some form of world
order that will accord more with
- the teachings. of the" Prince of
Peace whom all Christians wor
ship, t I
Maybe the Colonel .
ShoulcTGo Overseas
FORT KNOX, Kyvt- (ff - CoL
Jay M. Holmes of the armored re
placement training v center here
asked a private why he bad not
saluted and the man replied he
had not seen hira! ; "Soldier ."
" Holmes ' said, youll have to be
more alert than that if you ever
get overseas, or you-won't come
back.- ' j
"Sir" answered the private, I
just got hack fronT 14 months
.overseas. ------ '"
f
WITH THE AAF IN ITALY,
" July 16 (Delayed) In any
modern streamlined lying con- -'
test, one German prisoner who
has been looking for the Nazi
... Luftwaffe for a long time now
' claims Ananias would run a poor
" third. : '.' : "
( "When I was on i the Russian
front," he pondered, f Goering
said the Luftwaffe was on the
French front. When I was on the
. French front it was on the Italian
. front, When I came to Italy it was v
back on the Russian: front The '
prisoner was silent a moment and ,
then .added,:"! think Goering is
as big a liar as Goebbels."
. The colonel gets! a catch in his
voice when he tells, this one about
the soldier who was the biggest
problem in all his battahoa. Time
after time he had been made cor
poral, then sergeant . and each
time he eithergot drunk or went
AWOL and got busted back to a
private. Although the soldier had
always aquitted himself well in
action, the colonel was disgusted .
when he showed up one day right
after his rifle company had been -all
shot-up, and now a sergeant
againsaid "Colonel, I'm in
trouble. I'm AWOL again."
The colonel blew up. He read
the riot act in a steady stream of
outraged profanity, winding up ;
- with: ' .
"Do you know that your com
pany, was all shot to hell while
you were gone cut half to
pieces? And do you know that at
; least part of it was because they
didn't have enough 'veterans a
round to show them what to do?
"Yes, colonel, said the trouble
some sergeant. "Joe came up and
told me about it That's why I'm ,
here now. Fix it up so I can go
back with my company, sir, and
I'll show those new boys how to
fight It's tile hospital I'm AWOL
from, sir. Those docs wouldn't
let me go, so I came; anyway.
The colonel fixed it up even
though he had to go to the gen
eral to do so, but he apologized
for every word he said to the
sergeant - S
The Literary
Guidepost
"East By Southwest," by Chris
topher La Farge (Coward-
McCann; $2.50)
Most of the sketches in Chris
topher La Farge's j "East - by
- Southwest" . appeared first . in
Harper's Magazine, whose circu-
-. lation is select but small. There
i fore they are new to a large share
"of the'public, which will do itself ,
a great favor if it will read them
at once. Mr. La Farge proves
-many things with his stories.
He speaks of them as reporting
a section1 of the war in fiction.
This is another way of saying
that everything in the book is
true, but not necessarily true of
the place and time and people
described. Perhaps it' is straining
a point to call this sort of thing
"reporting, which is a word "
with a definite meaning these
days. But still, stories that make
the reader see places and events
as they are do constitute report
ing of a sort
, Probably it Is more important
that Mr. La Farge's stories re
produce moods to a fabulous ex
tent He has one sketch of a ci
vilian government 1 representa
tive who chiseled1 his way
through the South Pacific area
which not only reproduces the
too-tolerant contempt felt for
him by the military, but also
the man's own little nubbin of
a soul. His "All the Comforts
of Home" Is about a! French ad
miral who is getting one of the
de Gaulle islands ready for the .
Americans and misunderstands
the meaning of recreation facil
ities. For my. money, the last story
in the book, called "By Word of
Mouth," is next door to a mas-,
terpiece. It is very simple in out
line, and very subtle in result
It tells what happens when a
very lonely French girl meets an
American Don Juan at a dance.
The American boy is quite sin
. cerely attracted; he is determined
, to have the girl for himself alone,
. and he thinks up a novel way to
make sure that nobody else goes
near her he says she has lep
rosy, but that he is so infatu
t ated he does - not care. What
happens to; the girl after he
leaves, and what she eventually
does about it, is the meat of a
first grade story j
1
Diancnds
Each beautiful jewel
enthroned in a
handsome ' setting
has a personality of
its own. ; Choose
yours with care and
confidence from
our select collec-;
tion of fine stones.'
f Credit
If Desired
v?r
-' It has been more than six
months since Pfc, Dahas D. Pra
ther of Princean, 111, was killed
in action back at San Pietro in
December, and now most .of the
boys in the old platoon have been
wounded, gone home or Joined
Dahas in death. - - - '. "
-Those still surviving and still
in ; action were: pretty pleased
when they heard the-other day
that he had ! been awarded . the
Distinguished Service Cross pos
thumously And little as they
usually like to talk about such
things, they ' told how : Dahas
died. J :r V- -
He was wounded there at San
Peitro, but he saved the whole
platoon as it fought its Way up
the battle-torn ' terraces and
through the town. Finally it lan
ded In a terrific concentration of
mortar annd small arms fixe." "i
Two enemy machineguns
caught the platoon In a crossfire
and the men couldn't move. Ger
man mortars were steadily kill
ing and wounding them one by
one where they lay.
So what Pfc. Prather wounded
though he - was volunteered to
do, and then did,' was this:
He got up, exposed himself
deliberately to the enemy fire and
then ran as rapidly as possible
in the opposite direction. The two
machinegunners saw him,' shifted
their fire and closed' the twin
blades of their deadly slssors on
his racing, dodging figure. But
before they cut him down, killed
him and swung their guns back,
the platoon had successfully
mad a break for it and got safely
out of the trap.
Six month or six years the
boys won't forget ,
The
Safety Valve
Lttgf from Sttrmw Ryxlerg
To the Editor:
With the exception of the spir
itual and physical necessities,
the greatest need of the people
of eastern Marion county
sparsely settled and undevel
oped is a good road from Mar
quam and . scotts Mills, along
the Crooked Finger route to Elk
horn and Gates. This fact would
be obvious to everyone who
knows that section. The build
ing of, this road would result in
the rapid : development of the
farm-land ' by productive home
builders. . . .
Increase of population would
mean a progressive increase - in
tax revenues, out of which side
roads would be built to every
Jart of the section. The trunk
road also would assure. the de
velopment of the well known
mineral resources, such as gold,
iron, lime, coal, aluminum clays,
also the development of mineral
springs and health resorts, of
which there are several ideal
localities. Mills would be estab
lished, to utilize timber, scien
tific methods would restore for
estry and safeguard it Factor
ies would spring up. Industries
would develop. Salem, the coun
ty seat, would grow to big city
size.
Travel from eastern Oregon to
Portland, the metropolis, would
be shortened 25 to 30 miles. Bon
neville power facilities would be
extended to every part of the
section. Instead of being, as now,
a sparsely settled wilderness, it
would be a banner section with
a large population and great tax
able resources.
All this cornucopi of blessing
would be assured by the road
from Marquam - Scotts Mills
via Crooked Finger to Elkhorn
and Gates. ! .
- There's a passable road now
extending about 25 miles along
this route, which only needs
completion and extension.
The proposed road will enrich
everyone living in eastern Mar
ion county and benefit the en
tire county and state. On behalf
of a large number of resident
taxpayers in the section, where
I also own some acreage, I filed
with Gov. Earl Snell a few days
ago a petition, signed by them,
begging him to give leadership
, to the , building of the needed
road, to include it in the post
war construction program. AH
concerned are requested to write
to the governor urging the im-
provement He is a dependable
friend - in the matter but needs
community support
Cornelius O'Donovan.
Stevensp'
I I
i
WAVES Enlistment
Contest July 21st to
September SO th.
See us for addition
al' information and
contest rules. . ;
11