Page Eight
EDITORIAL PAGE OF THE REGISTER-GUARD
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Alton r. Bakar
(Publldud Erwr mxu at tadaji
im AND PUBUSBXB . . . .
MANAGING KDITOa ...... WOllus M. Tuxmu
,KEWS SERVICE .... AjaodMM Prao. United PrMa
, MEMBER ....... Audit Bureau of Circulation!
Biurca at a rat Otoe at ban Oregon. aaeond
turn mattar.
, Tha Ragutar-Guard'a poller k) tfca eomplele and Impartial
v pablleatlOD In lt new paiaa of all newa and etatemento
Mi newa. Oa thle Dage the editors of Hie Rerutter-Guard
. offer then- opinion on event! of the day and matter! of
u Importance to the community endeavoring to be candid
but fair and helpful to tha development of constructive
v community policy.
' .
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT INDOMITABLE
There were days, after the horror of Pearl
Harbor, when It seemed doubtful if . the
Ji American people could recapture the joy of
v the Christmas season, but the Christmas
spirit is indomitable. Now that we have a
better measure of air raid perils on this
'I Coast and a more accurate understanding of
' blackout problems, common sense has been
j restored to command. The Christmas lights
i. blaze merrily everywhere, as usual; homes
,1 are gay with holly and mistletoe and bright
ijl ribbon, women and children press through
J! the streets with that look of hope and ex-
pectation which comes only once a year,
i And we hear again:
jj "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" .
it Of course, it is impossible to forget that
! there is deep sorrow in many an American
il home. Here in Eugene, Mrs. Patrick Goggin
1! has the sad distinction of "first gold star
I' mother." There are hundreds of other wo
j! men with sons in the service. There will be
J, no Christmas leaves or furloughs so long as
j' this war lasts. Pride fights with anxiety
in many a home this year, but there is still
j a place and a need for all the gay customs
of the season.
' It is difficult for us to comprehend what
is happening out there in the Pacific. The
! pagan enemy will not respect our most im
i portant religious festival. On the contrary
; he is likely to choose that day for special
surprises and bloody, stratagems. Yet no
: where on the American fighting front will
the day be forgotten. There is not a ship at
j sea or a bullet swept trench or a lonely out
i post but will have its moment of prayer, its
j exchange of jokes and greetings and its
i "Merry Christmas."
We are being told and we should all know
J that we are also in "the war zone," a very
i remote sector to be sure, one that is relative
ly ly very safe, but for that reason Christmas
ii imposes on us some special obligations. We
all have jobs to carry on. The day still calls
j for acts of kindness and remembrance. It
il demands courage and faith, the songs and
the carols and the devotion of all who still
'r believe that "peace on earth, good will to all
5 men" will endure when the war lords of our
" time have been catalogued with all the other
i little tyrants of history.
TWO WEEKS SINCE PEARL HARBOR
There are indications that in the two
f weeks since Pearl Harbor, World War II has
approached the turning point. There is not
2 yet any reason for the optimistic belief that
the war will be short or the cost in blood
and treasure light. Nor can it be said that
ii the turning point in the military sense has
$ been reached.
I What we mean is that in a very short time,
Z we may be able to read the riddle of the Ger
' man retreat in Russia, measure the value of
I the British victories in North Africa, and
form something like accurate estimate of
Japanese strength.
i The German admissions of blundering in
; Russia (the Goebbels appeal for warm cloth-
ing and supplies for hard set troops) are very
J important, because they indicate that NOW
j is the time for every possible blow at Ger-
man morale. It may even develop that the
i Japanese were led into their desperate under
l taking by promises which Germany will not
be able to keep. Italy has long been on verge
J; of revolt and now may be the time when
J thieves fall out.
J. In the mean time we must face the grave
; reality that Hongkong is falling; that the sit
uation at Singapore is grave, that our ability
to push prompt aid to our allies has been im
l paired, and that failure to capitalize on pres-
ent advantage by every possible means may
t: mean that we have approached but missed
jj a possible turning point in the struggle.
If the Germans stabilize their lines in
I. Russia we may have to deal with the fact
Vthat German power is far from broken,
though the German -"will for victory" has
, been shaken for the first time. In the end
5 we have not only Japan but Germany to de
: feat.
v
THE GREAT AMERICAN CURIOSITY
Minutes after a couple of army planes
J bogged in the mud of the old Eugene air
j port Friday, all roads to the airport were
j choked with curiosity seekers. There was
? really very little to see. The Eugene police
were promptly on the job and kept very good
I order. Mahlon Sweet did some Paul Rever
.ing to get work traffic stopped at the new
airport so additional planes could land on
good runways.
The incident is unimportant except as it
reveals our un-disciplined habits which
might get us into a peck of trouble WHEN
Jap raiders do take some pot shots at us.
Somebody said the other day that when that
happens about half the population will head
for the hills, but the other half will be mov
ing the other way to try to get ringside seats
for the show. That's almost a prophecy.
But if we can't learn self-discipline we
may have discipline thrust upon us. Coor
dinator Merriam tells about the impatient
lady who drove across a street the other
night in front of a heavy truck which was
preceded by a police escort with sirens
blowing. The truck happened to be "high
tailing" with a rush order of high explosives,
and a crackup could have caused quite a dis
turbance, not only to the impatient lady but
to all the neighbors and the army.
We seem to have reached a period in
American history when we must believe in
signs and obey signals, pull to the curb,
keep out of the line of traffic when anything
happens, because in emergency the roads
and highways are NEEDED!
A good many folks have inquired:
"Is there any real danger that we will
ever be attacked here in Oregon?"
If by "attack" you mean landings in force,
the danger is small, so long as we hold our
own in the Battle of the Pacific. If you
mean sporadic raids by Japanese planes com
ing in from off shore carriers or other war
craft, we submit the answer of Col. Stromme,
commanding Portland Air Base:
"Not only possible, but probable!"
So! Keep your shirt on! Ajax McGurk
says the whole defense effort so far looks a
bit like an Elks picnic, hard to tell who is
supposed to give orders. But it is straighten
ing out. Meantime, unless assigned to some
duty, keep out of the line of trouble! i
EUGENE AND "POWER EMPIRE"
Leading he effort to gain attention for a
cheap and sensible and non-political plan for
wartime hookup of all the Northwest's vast
power resources is Walter P. Fell, for many
years president of the Eugene Water Board,
a man entirely friendly to public ownership,
but stubborn in his belief that public power
must be under HOME RULE and conducted
on a strictly businesslike basis.
The specific program which is offered in
opposition to the extravagant $250,000,000
"rule or ruin" Power Empire of Ickes and
Raver bears the sponsorship of two other
Eugeneans, E. G. Boehnke and James A.
Rodman, but it has gained wide support all
through, the Northwest, particularly in those
sections where farmers depend on irrigation
and fear bureaucratic control of water sour
ces and farm economy. The plan itself is
very simple:
1. Let engineers, not politicians lay out the
physical interconnection of all existing plants
and lines public or private.
2. Estimated cost is only $1,000,000 instead
of the astronomical sums which Ickes and
Raver are asking of a war burdened public.
3. Estimated addition to present power sup
ply runs in excess of 100,000 kw (almost as
much as the big Bonneville plant so far has
been able to develop).
4. Put this hookup under a board in which
federal, municipal and private operations will
have fair representation. ,
5. Postpone till after the war the political
Issues Involved in the Ickes-Raver program and
the drain on war effort.
If-Eugene seems to be unsympathetic to
Ickes and Raver and those uplif ters from dis
tant places who claim to bring us salvation,
it is because with 30 years of successful and
honest public ownership we claim to know
a few things and hold it a patriotic duty to
resist political squandering at a time like
this.
More good gals are needed for Lt. Siegen
thaler's filter station which protects us
against air raids, because some drop out as
novelty wears off and it all simmers down
to work. Suggestion some snappy uniforms
as smart as those devised for the girls in the
Women's Motor Transport.
McGurk, who learned a lot in the last war,
has another bright idea to make war work
more attractive to women army Regs for
the uniform placement of eyebrows and lip
stick. "Good old spit and polish in place of
spat and apple-polish", says McGurk,
Adrian Fuddle, Sr. says it is time to real
ize that the Japs are still several thousand
miles away (we hope) but it is only 3 days,
9 hours, 14 minutes and 29.3 seconds till
Christmas. .
The Last Republican still has faith that
Herbert Hoover will be justified by time.
He points to the new restrictions on tires
and motor cars and says that "two can In
(almost) every garage" will yet come to
pass.
All males from 18 to 64 must register, but
only those between 20 and 45 may be called
for the army.the lucky stiffs. Nobody has
had time to shed a tear for the taxpayers left
behind the front.
IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG
THE
PUGENE (To
agnostic in
UNKNOWN QUALITY
the Editor) An
a person who
doesn't know whether there is a
God or not; doesn't know if he has
a soul or not; doesn't know if there
is a future life or not; doesn't be
lieve that anyone else knows
more about these matters than he
does; and thinks it a waste of time
to find out! Doesn t even believe
h has a conscience. .'
So when I read in the Portland
Journal about certain senators
condemning the navy and army for
being taken by surprise by the
Japs. I can only say it hurt my
iatui in mankind. I have several
good reasons for not being in any
branch of the U. S. navy or army.
or other services. The first is I
am hard of hearing and alwavs
have been, the second I have a
weak voice, now I am too old, and
have a rupture besides, and could
not stand up to a hard day's march
or fight
But if there is anything I can do
for Uncle Sam that I can do with
out sacrificing my living as I am
only a gardener, I will gladly do
so, but not under such rank hypo
crites as said senators.
I wonder who save them the
far seeing eye of some fake crystal
gazer that they knew the Japs
were going to attack. When the
intelligence of the army and navy
officials had no idea of it.
I thank God we are not led by
such fools. If I know my history,
and I think I know most of it, I
can remember at no time in the
history of the world has any na
tion of the world, taken entirely
by surprise, recuperated and sunn
at least four battleships and other
damage to enemy when less than a
week has gone by. But I am think
ing that surprise has boomerangea.
So I will finish with a little essay
of my own. In Russia Hitler has a
pain In the neck. In U. S. Japan
has one in the lower deck, In
Africa, Mussolini has one too low
to check.
But even those three stood by
their kind which Is above certain
U. S. senators who condemn with
out trial, a chance to show their
metal. And they are of the same
hypocrites, hiding behind their
lights of dark ages, that refuse to
iook lor tne future of the old peo
ple and refuse them a decent pen
sion. My motto is with God's helo
will this war wake us upl
A Gardener, BRUCE HOOD.
ELECTRIC
Fast
Simple
LYONS &
RANGE
Economical
Safe
PETERS .
WAS PROPHET
PUGENE, Ore. (To the Editor)
Please let me Introduce my
self as just a citizen. I have
worked at several occupations;
written several articles for news
papers. Some years ago I wrote
an article on 75 years hence. It
seems to be In my system, some
how, and how to explain it is
another problem.
This summer I predicted the
invasion of Hawaiian Islands, so
days ago I predicted the war
would break with' Japan on the
7th, even to the exact hour. That
prediction was to my family, as
I was afraid to say or explain
such thoughts in our times and
state of affairs to anyone.
Now I predict Hitler will try
to take Gibraltar straits around
the last of this month, sometime
between the 26th and 30th. I also
predict the attempt on the life
of the premier of Japan around
the 2nd of January.
I do not make predictions Of
Mother Nature's affairs, such as
earthquakes, floods, etc. I do not
believe In fortune-telling, or the
For Electric Toasters
Waffle Irons- and
Other Appliances Visit
LIGHTNING'S
U51 Willamette Phone 1316
stars, or such.
I believe the war will last about
five years. At the end, every na
tion will be Involved with no deci
sive victory. The nation with the
wealth, education, and free peo
ple will still exist, in fact the
free people Idea will spread over
the entire world.
With our government as their
leader, all people and nations will
operate independently of each
other. But with the democratic
way of life, Russia will defeat
Hitler, and also Japan, and fi
nally turn on us, as our enemy
No. 1, at the end.
i predict our . complete and !
decisive victory. After the Ger
mans are defeated by Russia next
summer I predict Hitler will be-
COme VIolntly Imane
If you ..
"70 Pear?AS"
LOANS
WANTED .
Construction Loans
Remodeling Loans
Purchase Loans
Eugene'
FIRST FEDERAL
SAVINGS A LOAN ASSN.
18 Miner Bldg. Phune 1217
fete
HomekeeperDoejThH4Ti
! Pan lunik ,u.
J. (wj monthly tae r
I. Pm i un ,Tr. nw1,
4.M taSKWsJSa-J
0- E. FOSTER
Miner Building
Furniture for Lasting Pleasure
!W!(t(!t(!Ctt:!(IC!ttft
GIFT
Suggestions
End Tables
'
Occasional
Tables
Dining Room
Suites
Bed Room
Suites
-wcABir-izewt.
A Luxurious Biltwell
DAVENPORT and CHAIR
GIFT
Suggestions;
Philco Radios
Electric Irons :
Waffle Irons
Electric Toasters
Electric Ironers
L&H Electric Ranges
L&H Water Heaters
Here's the finest Christmas gift we know of for the home.
This elegant Biltwell Living Room Suite will Instantly ap
peal to every member of the family. Biltwell Is not only
beautiful and restful to the eye, but Its famous construc
tion assures years of comfort and luxury. Available in a
choice of coverings and latest colors, including rust, wine,
green, blue, cherry, wood-rose, garnet and taupe.
A Distinctive Gift
for the Home . . . A New
SECRETARY
A beautiful, durable
secretary of walnut or
maple finish. It's an
ideal gift, combining
real beauty and utility,
for the home.
LAMPS
Pin-up, boudoir, desk and
floor lamps In every wanted
type. Choose one or more
cow for Christmas gifts.
W m
-
HASSOCKS,
'A gift you'll get a W g
out of giving and on iW l
comion iu T-.-neist fori
rinff and duck hassocKi
children. .i
649 Willamette Street
JolhiDDSoin) FMiriraoiaiiire o.
...MX
TelephoM