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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1944)
page roua Thm OISGOII CTATECMAN. Celts : Oregon. Tcssday Horsing. OricLcr 17. ISM . . .o 4 Eocld RZezaen Arkri cct Westara Front lor Action , ...ill lii XiWli. " - . .-- - I - ' - - ,-- V --is i - i r "Wo TotJor 5vay Us; No Fear Shall Awtm i : . Trom'Firrt Statesman, March 28, 183 i ' THE STATES31AN PUBLISHING COJIPANY CHARLES A. SPRAGUE, Editor and Publisher - ' J . : Member of the Associated Press 1 iTht Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use tor publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited In this newspaper. Ballot Measurea-VlH Eighth measure on the ballot is a constitu tional amendment sponsored by " the Oregon State Teachers' association which would re quire the state to provide revenues for the op eration of elementary and high schools in the state -in an amount equal to 45 cents per child per day of attendance. Method of raising the money is left to the state legislature, but the amendment would lift the six per cent limitation . from application to this fund. . Of the total sum $8,000,000 must be applied to reduce local property taxes until the year 1950; after that the legislature will decide how much shall be applied to this purpose. The method of distributing this fund, which will include the present state elementary school fund and the $5,000,000 diverted from income tax proceeds under the initiative of 1942 and the act of 1943, "sls'left to the legislature. When we first heard that the teachers' as sociation was proposing a constitutional amend- . ment for establishment of state aid we were in clined to oppose it, assuming that it would be using the constitution for legislative rather than truly constitutional purposes. A study of the amendment does not bear out that fear. It pro poses to establish as a principle state sharing in cost of our common schools in a substantial amount. Since the principle would be meaning less unless tied to a figure, the amendment fixes 45 cents per child per day of attendance as. the measure of state aid. This figure is arbitrary to be sure; but any figure would be arbitrary and no figure would leave the amendment emp ty of meaning. Next the amendment frees rather than re stricts the legislature, giving it power (irre spective of the .six per cent limitation) to pro vide the revenues from what sources it chooses or can find; power also to determine the way the fund is to be apportioned among school districts; and after 1950 power to determine the amount of the state, fund to be applied to offset school district property taxes. Thus the amendment in volves one principle: a mandate for state con tribution to schools in a definite amount; and secondly gives the legislature wide latitude in carrying but the mandate. The Statesman has come to the conclusion on analysis of the pro posed amendment that it is entirely proper mat ter both in substance and form to go into the constitution. In fact, it is hard to see how that step .could be avoided if the six per cent limit ation is to be gotten around. So much for the constitutional amendment point which has been raised in discussions of the measure. Now what about its merits? In the past Oregon; has depended Very large ly oh local school district taxes supplemented by a county tax (also, a property tax) and a state elementary school tax (also a property tax until very late years) for financing its schools. If school children were distributed geographically in exact proportion to assessed valuation .the distribution of the burden of education would be equalized. That condition does not exist and has not for decades, if it ever did. As a result there is wide disparity in school taxation. The writer in his message to the legislature in 1939 reported: Of the "2085 school districts of the state, 691 levy no special tax for elementary schools. For other districts the taxes range as high as 50.7 mills. There are two ways to equalize the tax bur den: one would be to consolidate districts into larger units, though subsequent changes would again bring about inequability; the other me thod is to provide a larger sum from the 'state Editorial Comment JUST AN IKKESISTTBLE IMPULSE. Some weeks back we were "chastised by the venerable Oregonian for venturing the quib about the roses' which Eugene supplied for the "City of Roses" in the first air shipment of produce of this region to New York city. Now we shall risk the rebuke -of our editorial brethren at the beauti-. ful city of Salem (especially Charley Sprague) by quoting few lines we find in -Bernard D Vote's admirable book, "The Year of Decision 1846": "In '49 the southernmost house in the Wil- . laraette valley was near the site of the .present city, of Eugene. Passing down the. valley from . t'wre, one came to a kind 'off settlement, of' which Lieutenant Howison, f the -US schooner' Shark, reported this year that too little ex ists to be worthy an attempt at description. This was Salem, the real estate development ' which the Methodist missionaries had by now substituted for their venture In saving Indian' ' 1 This quote is Irresistible since it Is only a few years since Salem had its Centennial Pageant, and in asking Eugene to postpone its. normal pageant date, a di'Jnguished lady of Salem wrote to this effect: ' ' ' T ',. lU. - " "We do' not intend .to have noisy displays . of soldiers and cowboys and Indians and such shows to please the populace, because Salem ' from the beginning was a- city of culture and deep spiritual purpose, etc , . . . . v ' The Salem request was granted by the directors of our pageant, of course, but. not before some of the local talent had given Governor Sprague some moments of explaining "Salem's cultural aspects. All good clean fun and no lasting damage! Towns are much . like people. " Each town has its back ground, and none of us can' ever claim that a fam ily tree without a few gnarled limbs or that the finest city has grown without imperfections. What we do now is almost more important than'the past. . In 1948 Lane county win be 100 years bid and in 1947 it will be 100 years since Eugene Skinner (also with an eye to real estate) staked out Eugene City. It is time for us to be thinking of our. next pageant, and this DeVoto book, in spite of its some what flippant comment on some parts of that per iod. Is a storehouse of suggestions. DeVoto's description of the hardships of the trail is one of the most vivid bits of writing we ever -have encountered, and it moves us to the thought that perhaps our presentation of "the trail sfiould contain more of this realsm. 'Anyhow it is time to : begin planning. Goodwin Thacher, author of our script, i3 already planning; but he can't make rea dy alone.' - . ' We have had a memorable 10O years, and an in- ,. tpiring century of opportunity lies ahead. (And we shall doubtlers find seme profit in Friend Sprague's suggestions). Eugene Hegister-Guard. "treasury and lighten the burden on the local districts. The pending amendment will increase substantially the amount of the state school fund; and if the legislature provides for its equi table distribution then there will be an evening VP of the burden of school support. Interpreting The War News . Objections are raised, especially by taxpayer groups, against this measure on the ground that if the income tax receipts should shrink to pre-' war levels the burden would fall on property. It is true that property is "exposed" to additional burden by this amendment, but only in , the event other present or prospective tax sources prove inadequate, or the legislature and the peo ple prefer to have-property assume this burden. .The Statesman suggests that it is time the peo ple of the state looked at their schools from an other angle than how cheaply they can run them. The war has brought home to Oregon school directors the fact that they have to com pete for instructors. Teachers' salaries in Wash ington and California are substantially higher, than in Oregon. The state department of edu cation has had to give emergency certificates to scores of teachers who cannot qualify under regular standards. ; ' Nor is the condition one which will clear up with the end of the war. Our colleges of edu cation are almost empty of students, including women, preparing for a teaching career. Some months ago this editor made a study of the changes among high school principals, and su perintendents in Oregon cities. The facts, which were published, should alarm parents of child ren of school age. They showed our schools were becoming starved at the top because of the loss of able men as school administrators.' r We submit that; the time has come for the people of Oregon to face the facts. Those facts point to this, that , increased funds MUST be ; provided for the operation of our schools if we are going to maintain, leveri the present stand ards (which are none too high). To do this by taking the six per cent limitation off of local district , taxes would mean that property alone would bear the whole burden, because that is the only taxing power a local school board has.,. Moreover there would then be no limit and directors and patrons might "shoot the works' for their schools and soak the railroads, the utilities and Other non-resident property own ers. The proposed state fund sets a limit at the same time itj applies a mandate; 45 cents per child per day; and tjie legislature has broad taxing powers made broader by this amend ment. The additional revenue sought is not ex orbitant in amount or beyond the capacity of the people to pay. s .Oj.The amendment is timely; it is practical; it is just; it is necessary. The Statesman .strongly urges Vote 314 X Yes. 1 .u Retort Discourteous Under "Editorial Comment" we publish an editorial from the Eugene Register-Guard, with its quotation from a writer of 1846 who says of the Salem of that date: "to little exists to be worthy an attempt at description. i The R-G editor should pursue his reading of Oregon history farther, picking up -the diary which Bob Sawyer of Bend edited, that of Lt. Henry L. Abbot for whom Camp Abbot was named, who led an engineering party on rail road surveys from California north to' the Co lumbia river. He can find there this entry: , Oct 26 (1855). Rose early and went 25 ' miles to Eugene City, a dirty place. ! - "Only apathy can beat : us," says Senator Truman, is that a new way to spell Dewey? K2RKE L. SIMPSON . , ASSOCIATED PRESS WAR ANALYST , If Japan's main fighting fleet or any substantial part, of it has at last been brought to action, as Tokyo broadcasts say, a major objective of Ameri can operations in the central Pacific has been at tained. '. j,.;:'-- 'v1 ' ,S ' American reports so far speak only of Japanese aerial assaults on our carrier forces. ' Tokyo claims of 50 or more American warcraf t of all types sunk sound fantastic. They follow what has become an almost ritualistic Japanese propa ganda practice in previous sea-air encounters in the Pacific; all' of which ultimately turned out to be American victories. It would take American confirmation to convince observers that the Japanese high command is ready to risk its Jealously hoarded fighting fleet at this stage of the battle of the Pacific however. There has been every reason to credit Admiral Halsey's third fleet with such combined air and sea power in the East China sea area operations that nothing short of the full weight of enemy naval strength could hope to cope with it i A full Japanese fleet concentration there would leave the. central and southern Philippines exposed to the invasion thrusts General MacArthur so ob viously has poised for action. It also would leave the approaches to the South China sea dangerously vulnerable from the west. There is no Question that Admiral Lord Mountbatten Is preparing In the Bay of Bengal" theater for action coordinated with the American advance In the central and southwestern Pacific Tokyo reports of the fight discount the prob ability . that the sustained cross-fire air attack on Formosa Is a prelude to attempted American in vasion of that Island. They assume with good rea son that Halsey's bold strikes have to do with im pending, invasion moves against the Philippines. If they have succeeded in drawing such portion of Japanese naval power as have been based at hide outs In the northern part of the South China sea into action, unquestionably the primary American purpose short of the hope of bringing the main enemy fleet to decisive battle has been served. - ' The battle must inevitably mean losses. When they are revealed, however, they must be calculat ed in relative rather .than absolute terms in as sessing the tactical or strategic results of ship for Mp In every category of air or cea, every craft destroyed or put. out of action cuts more heavily into Japanese ability to maintain the struggle dan Into American figSting power. 'One World' TnDiTTl (Continued from page 1) lay its claim- to being. THE American party, because of its large majorities. ' If the slogan is a sly impli cation of "America first" doc trine then it would seem to be poor politics, because Governor Dewey has been busy tossing Gerald L. K. Smith out of his car. If it was chosen to Impute the doctrine of communism to the new deal crowd its accuracy may be questioned, because Earl Browder was born in Kansas, along with Claude In galls of! the Corvallis G-T and me. I expect to "vote republi can" but I know that many good "Americans' are . going to vote democratic. - Then there's , another sign go ing up around the state. It shows the head and tall black hat of a Prohi, like the cartoonist figure in the days' of prohibition. The caption of the sign is to defeat a return to prohibition by vot ing against the Burke bill pn fortified, wine. This sign is ut terly false. The Burke bill is not a prohibition bilL It merely transfers the permitted sale of fortified- wines from private package stores to state. stores. The truth is that if the liquor . business goes unregulated and uncontrolled ithe resulting con dition will invite a return to prohibition. If sale of fortified wines in state stores can help clean up some of the evils grow ing out of its promiscuous sale that in Itself would help avert a return to prohibition. . The object Is plain the wine interests want to raise a false issue to help defeat the Burke bill, so they drag out the old Prohibition figure, when In fact it is still buried. Then there are other signs. Seine one called up and asked if : I. had seen, the "Send I Mr. : Smith to Washington billboards, I hadn't "They don't carry the party label, democratic," I was told. I see now that they don't which may imply : that Mr. Dtp "THE YOUNG EDE A" By Mossier x 1 - . ' ff)4wi t 4 - . , -"Tev Indeed, parrots News Behind the News , . By PAUL MALLON . . (Distribution by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction in whole ' . or in part strictly prohibited.) - WASHINGTON, Oct 16 Good old Dan Tobin's gentlemen of the teamsters .union are pre- p resumed to ' have become so effulgent at the opportunity - of becoming the first audience' to be addressed by Mr Roose velt in opening his campaign in the usual farti a san sense ; that they beat up a couple of naval officers who had straggled into the Statler hotel 1 ,here after the speech. - " ' The officers were looking. Yor . ;a dance Xo which they had been invited, the beating being ad ministered because they did not have politics on their minds and , declined to. answer' courteously the inquiries of the teamsters as to whether, as navy men, they intended to vote for Roosevelt That is the way it has been presented to the public, and left but that is not the way it hap- pened. The teamsters did not assemble here for union business purposes of their own. Nor did they come voluntarily to cheer Mr. Roose velt They were ordered to Washington by Mr. Too in for the special and sole purpose of be coming a background for the president's "first" partisan effort Many of them were drafted all the way across .the country by their union boss, and did not like lt. . Aside from the tribulations of travel these days, a few of the coast unions actually did not have the cash in the till to make the trip and sold ' government bonds from their treasuries to get the funds together. These especially did not care for the honor. They cheered, as Smith would like to have a few republican votes! i But now I " see the Wayne Morse boards are up, and they .lack the party label, republican. ; What's going - on here? Aren't the candidates apt to get their lines tangled fishing; in each other,' ponds?.' : Do you still believe In signs? ; I don't not political bill boards. ; , -; ARE "a problems w VAf. 1 required, but the way they talked when they returned home, (my. information comes from union sources) Indicates not only that 1'affaire Tobin was less of the gala political festival than adver tised, but that there is dark par- ' , tisan unrest within the union la bor crowd that has been assumed to be wholeheartedly for Roose- veit , ;:-:;:;- .y- The best possible non-partisan authority recently has made a check of inter union campaign trends and returned here with doubts that put even California and Washington in unsure cate " gories. Mr. Roosevelt is holding -a good portion of the CIO satis factorily,; but the AFL Is pretty well split To hold the coast he must keep the AFL. The diverging elements are not running off haphazardly but are ' moving deliberately and solely on the question of what is best for their particular unions. The Hillman leadership Is dis tinctly unpopular among all AFL people, even those unioneers who intend to vote for Mr. R. They foresee Hillman and his associ ates gathering from a Roosevelt victory increasing power over aU . the labor movement possibly ab sorbing.it if he can muster the power. , The old Gompers political leadership was unquestionably Today's Garden By LILLIE MADSEN Mrs.-1. T. brings to our atten tion the evergreens and asks if . there Is any manner in which -she can know an evergreen. She .writes that the firs are called - evergreens, as are also the rho dodendrons and the larch. The latter, she adds, are by no means really , evergreen as they abed their foliage in the winter. Ans.: This is rather I large ; order and I won't go into it too . thoroughly- as I might get in volved too deeply. If Mrs. LT. is a student of botany, she will know the answers ' anyway. If she Is just a- gardener like the ' rest of us: we accept the expla- - nation that evergreens are those -. trees . and shrubs ; which have - winter-resisting -foliage. Bo tan- ' - Ically, I believe, both the larch - " and the bald cypress (and very j likely others) art termed ever- greens in spit of the fact that ; ' bom drop . their leaves. -Their ; cones give mem this' distinction. : Usually we divide (and again I am speaking gardeningly and not botanically) our evergreens into .conifers and ' broadleaved evergreens. This is much less confusing - than to say ."ever- . j greens' and mean everything in the group. The firs, which Mrs. LT. mentions, ere the conifers and the rhododendrons belong to the broadleaved group. Evergreens j are : a little more difficult" to " -transplant than trees which drop their foliage. More care must be used in keeping the roots from drying out In purchasing them, buy them with their roofs balled and do not "un-ball" them until the plant has been placed in the hole. - t " -Home transplanting must also be done very carefully. You cant revive an evergreen that has once dried out at the roots. It Is very important, to give the young evergreens plenty of wa ter; the first summer after they are planted. Watering should also be done in the autumn. Dont depend upon the., rains.' The top son may look wet and may be wet but the so3 at the roots' lsf re;yet!t!yti! IN FRANCE, Oct -(Delayed) " -P)Four more rdokie riflemen have reached the western front from faraway mr- : ""..""'"H Americanfarms I ' ' and factories. 'but like thou- ' sands of other r e p 1 a cements and the famed - backward - fly ing dodo bird, they never . knew where they were go- St 'I. ing but only where they had , Kenneth L JDixon ' been.-.; j ' c . The puffing - French, freight train halted on rolling farmland. The rookies ' jumped - out, stretched and swore feelingly. They ; had been five days and nights in the cold cars, v They didn't know it then, but they had reached the last re-' placement f depot V: Soon they would cease , being orphaned wanderers of war . without out fits and without shoulder patches and would be adopted by some f combat line company to replace its casualties. " C Easing their packs, barracks bags and rifles down along the right-of-way, they cocked their ears toward the sound of distant firing. It had a strange, new un dertone, different from anything they had heard before. ; Suddenly they realized why. Western front artillery lanyards are not yanked for practice. For . the first time they were hearing 'guns being fired in concerted' anger. .. ' -'" Pvt Kenneth F. Baxter, Chi cago, stretched his six-foot frame again. His 37-year-old v bones were cranky from the wet cold weather despite a year of army life. Towering above the other soldiers, he served as a beacon for his three sidekicks, ? who promptly joined him. f , The Chicago rifleman, former bartender, grocery store manager and defense plant .supervisor, was the oldest in both age and army experience. The others had been in less than nine months. The youngest was 19-year-old . Pvt Paul Bernhart Burlington, Ia farm boy. But Pf c : Billy Boren, 20, five-foot five, blue eyed, brown-haired Evansville, Ind, steel worker, looked even younger. '.,-.'.-"-, The fourth Pvt Hardin Ben ton, 25, North Wukesborb. NC, had been a farmerand lumber Jack. . : They met at Fort Meade, Md, came overseas together in July, and bivouacked together at a re placement depot in Italy. . ; "Wonder how much longer we stay together," Baxter was think ing as the others came up. "Wonder if we go up tonight" Billy said, chewing; a blade of grass. -. "I don't reckon so," drawled Benton. "Seems like they'd let us wait until tomorrow anyhow." For a moment' they were silent the wisest union labor has en joyed in all its history in this country. His counsel waa to make both republicans and democrats equally .amenable to labor influ ence. He refused to endorse fuHy even such a purely labor third party attempt as the elder late Senator LaFollette made in 1924. The wisdom of this course lay In the odds that sooner or later, by strictly partisan political alignments, labor would one day suffer political defeat and do its major interest irreparable dam age. Even as far as matters have 1 gone in this campaign, it Is evi dent that AFL will have Wash ington backing to assume leader ship in labor to the detriment of CIO, if Dewey wins. Personally I do not fully ac cept yet the evidence that toe strongest class support Mr., Roosevelt enjoys Is- critically; breaking tip, but reertainly the evidence kauffident to warn of ' 1 . m.u V. the possibilities of a November ft surprise. ' ' .! Votdih nirthto and Denofil 5Iustering-Ont Pay ' k ' . DaUy In this space wm be published a portion rf an rfflcUl - pamphlet eivtnc Infomattoa a tb righta and prtriUgM of war . vetaraas under federal laws. -;:.:H . , ;"-1 ..... As a veteran discharged under honorable conditions, you auto : matically receive mustering-out pay from 9100 to 9300 to help tide you over the immediate period after your discharge and to aid you ' in your necessary readjustment to civilian life. . i- ; Those who served less than 60 days receive $100; 60 days or more, but no foreign service, $200; 60 days or more, and foreign service,. 1300, Certain groups are excluded, such as those receiving base pay (not counting fogies) of more than $200 a month at the time of their discharge. Any eligible veteran discharged before this' law was passed may obtain payment by applying to his own branch of the service. ,v-'vQ S The artillery dominated the at mosphere. . . ' ,"Guess we'll be pretty scared," said a nearby soldier. ; "Of course we're gonna be," said Billy. "That wounded ser eeant on the train said everrbodv is scared. I'm no different from everybody.", '; ' Wonder where the front real- 'ly is,", said Billy. "Cripes, they never" tall , you anything. You never know anything." . "Well, I reckon you can bet - one thing we all are going right into the line," said Benton, roll ing over and pulling his billfold from his pocket He-looked at his pictures a moment , "I sure wish I could see my wife and kid again .first" i Then a soldier walked ' past swinging mesa gear. -V "Come on," he called. "First hot chow in five days." , They still didn't know where they were going or when, but for a while the sound of rattling mess gear along the chow line drowned out the noise from the battle line. . The Literary GuidcpjDst. ' By JOHN SFABY . "TOa-KVXB AMBER- y Ratal Wtaser (1 SI). It may be a little dangerous for a publisher to be forever try ing to repeat a formula, ; but Kathleen Winsor's publisher has got off easier than most this : time.- It was he who lost his dignity and forsook what his ri- - . i it a : - i . viu cauea auiuuiesa i wnen chance put "Gone With the Wind" into his hands. He" has ,. struggled to . find another ex- --.i r:. r:i.u .111. .. cuuiMc ux iu.isa jiuwucui.iunnu 1 ever since, without conspicu ous success, and now he has something promising . in Miss Winsor's "Forever Amber." The proof, of this is a first printing k of 100,000 copies, , last time I - made inquiry. " Miss Winsor's story has to do with a promiscuous woman at j ' the time of the Restoration. Am- , ! ber. (like the heroine of so many cloak and sword romances) was ' really .. the ; daughter1 of noble parents but she. lived in a lowly village, cared for by lowly vil lagers. And then some plumed cavaliers rode through the vil . lage on their way to London and the celebration which attended time return 01 woanes 11. ana :Amber rode to London with one of them. Amber loved London, and after some rather hectic ad ventures (in which her true love for the chap who first allowed her toj exercise her talents on : him was wrenched about quite a lot) Amber saw clearly her way. ; Her way led, not smoothly, to a position as Charles H's fav orite. "A . It Is absurd to try in this space to summarize Miss Winsor's 972 pege book, all the pages of which I have not read anyway nor has anybody else who does a daily book column, no matter , how fast he reads, except he cheated on some other books. As a matter of fact, I doubt that many cash customers will read all about Amber, because there is a kind of repetitive prodigal ity about the book that encour ages skipping. And there Is too much evidence of ? research great chunks of something sus- .1. in--. 1 .1 from the authorities on the Res toration are thickly sown ; throughout But I liked Amber's i wonderful quality of exuber ance, and admired excessively the industry of the author. The . book will be popular, but for me ; it was tike trying to eat a 30 pound watermelon at sitting. , i Anwrtnn aim li . . MVW UV TUUCi at more than 1750.000.000. acrord- ing te forestry experts. j. . t evens A Lifetime Gift The gift of fUtwear in sterling silver, will grow . more beautiful with use through the years. Buy one piece or a complete set. Several patterns to choose from. Credit If rj desired.