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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1954)
1 S ? f - ID (Sec Statesman, Salon, Oitw 8aa Fab. 14. 1854 Devout Catholic Keep 1 " " s Faith While Administering Ato (Editor! Note: Thomas E. Mur ray, one of five men who manage America'i vast atomic energy em pire, sees no conflict between the atom's power for-destruction and his love of God. Here's a closeup, of one of the most -devout men in government service, a fast thinking inventive senilis who be lieves America's greatest industri al wonders still in the future.) ; .By FRANK CARET ' WASHINGTON ( At 7:30 ev ery morning a slim, neatly dressed man kneels at mass in a Wash ington church, receives Holy Com munion and prays for peace. ' Then, after a quick breakfast, Thomas E. Murray hurries to his office at the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission where he does every thing in his power to increase the potency of nuclear weapons that could ravage great cities. This apparent contradiction dis appears when Murray explains how he feels about his job as one ot the nation's five atomic energy commissioners, i "We know God made the atom," he says. "Because God made it, the atom is good. Man never has anything to fear in God's material creation. Our only fear and our great responsibility is not what we do with things hut what we do with ourselves. We know nu clear energy can be devoted to constructive and destructive pur poses. It rests with man's con science to decide which it shall be." , Sons Study for Priesthood Thus Murray, father of two sons presently studying for the Jesuit priesthood and a man who main tains private chapels In both his . Park Avenue home in New York and his summer residence on Long Island, sees no conflict between God and the atom. He has kept his faith at the forefront for roost of his 62 years, , despite demands of a busy career in which he has become: A wealthy industrial engineer, corporation- executive and bank di rector.. An inventor of some 200 electric and welding devices and processes. A successful receiver and reor ganizer of. New York's 500 million dollar Interborough Rapid Transit Co., which went broke in the 1930s. Public, representative on the three-man board of trustees of the United Mine Workers'. 15 million dollar health and welfare fund. . Murray has thrice been knighted by Pope Pius XII for his contri butions to human welfare and to his church yet he is a con firmed crusader for the H-bomb. He recently , proposed that for- eign observers, presumably includ ing the Russians, be allowed to observe tests of new American made atomic weapons, which he says will make the original atomic bombing of Japan "look like a civil war bombardment." ' Order Cancelled Some time i ago, the armed forces cancelled an order for an AEC-developed reactor to power an aircraft carrier. That meant funds -appropriated for that pur pose were to be withdrawn. felt . strongly . that certain tech nological aspects of the proposed carrier reactor could be salvaged. , "Murray fought like a tiger in executive sessions of congressional committees." f ell(W AEC commis sioner Eugene Zuckert says, "and funds were allowed for the AEC to convert the original project to one providing the basis for a large-scale reactor which might furnish valuable Wessons about ci vilian atomic power.' Murray also explored the senti ments of private industry on the matter to find -out who was ready to put up money and how much. He found little such prospect . , "It was largely due to Mur ray's findings that the government decided to go ahead on its own, without waiting for private indus try to take the initiative." Zuckert said. : 18' A successful businessman him self, Murray is a strong advocate of private enterprise in the atom ic energy field. Wealthy Father ' His father Thomas E. Murray, Sr., left an estate estimated at 10 million dollars when he died in 1929, but he had no cash to spare in 1891 when Toin, Jr., was born, the second of eight children. The Murray's jived close by the Albany. N.Y., Electric Co., where the father.. worked as an engin eer. 5 J. . One of his boyhood heroes was a power company lineman named Pete, who had a unique system of setting up power line poles. "He would dig the hole," Mur ray's older brother Joe reminisces, "then manage to roll the pole off the wagon in , such a way that it blocked the street He'd wait until a traffic jam developed, then say to harassed milkmen and trades men stalled in the tieup: Tve had a little tough ; luck, boys. How about a lift getting this pole up?" Pete's strategy almost always was successful,': and it apparently stuck with voting Tom Murray, who used the same kind of tech nique on at least one occasion later in life. : Murray demonstrated adroit ma neuvering at a meeting with Unit ed Mine Workers chief John L. Lewis. : "John had me backed up against a wall in the lobby of the May flower Hotel one day in 1946 urg ing me to take a job as impar tial trustee of ihe miners' health and welfare fund," Murray told me. : I "Let's Pretend "I said: 'Look. John, let's just make believe I've taken the job and was meeting with you and the go"ernment representative. (The soft coal mines at that time had been taken over by the govern ment) Let's get the government man down here, and we'll see what you'd say and what the gov ernment man would say and what I'd say if we were really in busi ness.' : ' ' . "John said okay. We all got to gether for a trial run meeting, and everything worked out fine. So, I said: 'Okay. I'm in and we've already had our first meeting!' "John got a pig kick out of it But Murray and others at AECt On summer weekends the big Munay home in Southampton; L. L. bulges with Murray children there are 11 of them grand children, relatives and friends. Murray doesn't smoke or drink. He takes no credit for not smok ing i'l tried it! in college and it just made me sick." On. Murray's desk at AEC is an object which m a way sym bolizes his still-fresh outlook on life. 5 It is a transistor, the ingenious device some engineers say even tually may replace the vacuum tube. Murray did not invent the transistor, but he says: "I keep it in front of me as a constant reminder that the days of inventiveness arf not past" , Appointments, Promotions Told in 929th New appointments- and two promotions were announced this week for officers and men in the 929th Field Artillery Bat talion. 'V ; ' V J .Appointments include assistant operations and training officer, Capt Lloyd G.'Hammel; intelli gence officer, 4st Lt Robert G. Cpates; executive officer for Bat tery A, 1st Lt Thomas L. Teutsch; motor officer of Head lUarters and Headquarters Bat tery,; 1st. Lt George F. Wilson; assistant intelligence officer, 1st LLt Alfred C Jones; assistant ex ecutive officer of A Battery, 1st Lt Lynn J. Callahan; reconnais sance and survey officer with A Battery, 1st Lt.- Raymond A. Carl. ; Promotions to private 2 went to Harry Lawson III, and Everett W. Hatch. ' . .1 Valentines Are Ancient Writings for the Birds. Indicate By HERB ALTSCHULL WASHINGTON' tf) According to ancient legend Sunday's the day when "every foul cometh. . . to choose his mate." At least that's what the day used to signify when Geoffrey Chaucer, who meant fowls ' when he said "fouls." wrote about it back in the 14th century. Nowadays. St. Val entine's Day is likely to evoke such greetings as: "Roses are red. violets, are blue, "Mary loves Tom. she doesn't love you." It used to be that Valentine greetings were i concerned mostly with the theme of "I Love You." Now the small fry get pretty cruel in some of their heart-shaped mes sages. At any rate, the National Geo graphic Society estimates that 300 million Valentines will be ex changed this year and that it'll Dads Club at Oregon State Elects Leader CORVALLIS If) - Paul Menegat, superintendent of schools at Forest Grove, is new president of the Oregon State Dads Club. He was elected at the annual Dads' weekend here. At noon Sat urday more than 1,100 dads had registered. Menegat succeeds Bert W. Fames of Portland. Other officers elected Saturday: Vice president, Al Bauer, Port land; secretary, Janies L. Heilig, Portland; and treasurer, Urcel C. Narver, Portland. Directors: Walter Erickson, War ren; P. B. Webb, Cottage Grove; Fred Knox, Gaston; Winslow Cuth bert, Eugene; J Paul M. Deller, Klamath Falls; and J. N. Dahlin, Bend. The dads picked as a project for the year, establishment of a new scholarship for each Oregon county. - l -mi i aa E LAY hastens DECAY.. J ... ,tfiattipS " 1 ; v ; t 'v- y a I ttltllttlltmnc'MI I l : i . ; See Your f; l W SJn the UnUttit Venial health DR SEMLER Soys: . . . DON'T PUT OFF THAT VISIT TO YOUI DENTIST! Regular Examtnotiwt and Prompt Attvnttofi t yr dnfol nds or your protection agotftst J coy an4 infoclion HMt con town torfows Infection and costly Mnoss. Visit Your Donta'st TODAY . . . fof Hoatthior TOMORROW. M DR. SEMLER GIVES YOU THE CREDIT YOU NEED You con make your own rtasonablo Credit Terms ... orrongt to pay in Smalt Woeldy or Monthly amounts AFTER your Dontol Work is completed. ? See Tour DEIITIST Today for a Healthier Tomorrow -. ACT NOWI 9? rrro a 1 Sptclol Service lor OUT-OF-TOWN PATIENTS Your Cento Work completed I to J days (difficult coses excepted). C3tC fl'l cost something like 25 million dol lars for the amorous greetings. No one knows exactly how Feb. 14 got tied up with cupid, but Chau cer was' inclined to1 say the whole idea was for the birds. '$ It seems that our medieval an cestors used to believe that Feb. 14 was the date on which all the birds wooed and I mated. When Chaucer was talking about "fouls," he wasn't referring to any lovesick fools just to the fowls, or 1 the birds. Nowadays the boys and girls get together for Valentine parties and dances. It used to; be a lot more serious business. Meant Marriage j In medieval, days, according to National Geographic, the eligible girls placed their names in a giant box and the boys drew names by lots. Whoever they picked, they married. j . Nowadays a young swain will give flowers or candy only to his lady love. In medieval days, he carried his gift around with him and by cus tom was required to present it to the first person who spoke this greeting: "Good morrow, 'tis St. Valentine's Day. Two Valentines Geographic Society researchers said that probably the day honors one of a number of early saints named Valentine' or Valentinus They suggested these two as good bets: i 1. Bishop Valentine of Interamna Nahrs in Central Italy. In the 3rd century, this worthy was said to have secretly married couples in defiance of an imperial order that young men should remain sin gle and available for army service. 2. A Roman I pnest-physician named Valentine,; who had been imprisoned for supporting Christi anity. The story says that he be came friendly with the bund daughter of his jailer and restored her vision. Then, f before going to his martyr's death he sent a fare well letter signed: . From your Valentine. GOPBothFnehdiy.Accusative Of Democrats on lihcoln Dav By DOUGLAS B. CORNELL WASHINGTON (VP). - Republi cans brought Lincoln Day oratory to a Saturday night climax that mingled friendly gestures toward moderate Democrats with another. furious fusillade of charges, that the opposition party coddled Communists. ' j ; .... Here and there. Democrats thundered back more hot protests that the GOP is trying desperate ly to convince America that theirs is a party of communism and treason. 'In large measure, the oratori cal salvos across the land . sound ed much like the same records the party partisan have been playing over and over for a week or more in tune-up for what looks like one of the roughest, bitterest congressional election campaigns in many a year. Appreciate Hand ' Sen. Knowland of California, the Republican leader of the Sen ate, held out an. appreciate hand to "moderate Democrats in Con gress" for "fine support" of Re publican policies "essential to the national defense and functioning of our government" But House Speaker Martin (R- Mass.) called upon the GOP to "sweep back for all time the tide of waste, bankrupt spending and Communist coddling that carried us to the edge of ruin And Wendell B. Barnes, head of the ' Federal Small Business Administration, wrapped together in one speech all the Republican accusations that have been hiking Democratic tempers to the boil ing point. j In his prepared text, Barnes spoke, too, of Communist cod dling and lit into "fuzzy-minded New Deal Democrats" as "gloom and doom people" who now are peddling a Tear N Deal" and "scare talk." ;pijv ' While playing politics with hu man misery and the safety of the Free World, he said, "they are crying all over the place and threatening to sabotage needed legislation if the President doesn't halt these terrible accu sations." From Sen. Holland (D-Fla.) came a counter blast that Repub licans are trying to cover up' dis unity and an inability to get things done. Sen- Lehman (Dec-Lib-NY) saw in "hysterical attacks on the Dem ocratic Party" a. sign that Repub licans "sense fear and defeat" Cannonadiag Echoed The political cannonading echoed around the nation in Re publican addresses prepared for traditional rallies honoring Lin coln, the party founder, and in Democratic speeches prepared for Jefferson-Jackson Day events or other party get-togethers. But above the noise of the po litical bombing rose the soothing voice of Sen. George (D-Ga) say ing that "the only people who are' disturbed by what a politician says are other politicians." George told a reporter he didn't think there would be much lasting effect from all the charges and counter-charges, because: "This is a political year and you've got to expect things like that" Farouk Items Go. on Block; Some Junk' , CAIRO. Egypt Ml The fabulous trinkets of a luxury-loving ex-mon arch went on the auction block Friday. ; . v". i " , The auctioneer's gavel rang out in ex-King Farouk's Kubbeh Pair ace marking the beginning of the biggest rummage sale; of royal property the world has ever seen. The beneficiarv over mi'Im! Far ouk's distant protests is Egypt's military - run government which ousted the fat ruler. ' j Tens of thousands ! of exotic items, valued at about five million dollars, will so under! the psvpI before the auction ends; The" sale began with Farouk's fantastic hoard of postage stamps. It will take six days to dispose of that collection alone. A spokesman for H. R. Harmer, Ltd. of London which catalogued the stamp col lection estimates its value from $300,000 to $400,000. Included were such choice Items as a special collection of the Amer ican Confederate States worth $7,500. ' But hard-headed dealers looking for finds, labelled much of the stamp collection junk, i Spaniards, who learned the Egyptian art of making mud bricks from the Moors, brought it to America and it is still used for building modern structures in the southwestern part of the United States. Construction ; RiselNiotedi L -:-v '--v '-".: r. ,7.1 j.; SEATTLE tin A sharp up swing in private construction in Washington state and throughout the Pacific Northwest in January was ' disclosed Saturday! by the Constructioa News Bulletin, Seat tle business, journal. I j - Major cities and . counties in Washington reported January con struction at $15,414,688, up 26 per cent from the $119733 total in January a year ago. the publica tion said. ' t The six-state total of 100 lead ing cities and counties m Wash-. ington, Oregon, Idaho, " Montana. Utah and Wyoming was: reported as $23,448,013. That was 28 per cent greater than the total in Janu ary a yeara go and well above the $20,453,858 of construction in the area in December, the News Bulletin - reported. , I I Flynn Says Nora Put Child Support Pay in Mink, Trips ROME Wl Film star Errol Flynn . said Saturday he stopped direct child support payments to ex-wife Nora Eddingtoh ' Flynn Haymes because the money was being used for mink coats and lux-' ury trips to Europe. . I His statement came after news papers here carried a report from Hollywood saying, Nora's attorneys threatened to ask contempt of court proceedings, against t Flynn unless he met 12 months' back payments of 1500 a month. "Certainly a loan is confidential, bat we must still know your real name . . . Madam X won't do!" Fast, confidential service on all loans is our policy. In fact, you tan arrange for a loan, without doing much more than calling 3-9161, and asking for Man ager Mel Bowcut i GEncnni FinnntE conp. License Nos. S-13S M-33t 136 SO. 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