Page 8. Kegister-Guard, Eugene, Ore., Tue Sept. II, 1948
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPEB
(Publlihed Every Bvenlnl ud Buiidjyl
mpri-in Jivn PITBUSUXB Alton r. E1K
MANAGING EDITOR
NEWS bbllVllb-
UEMBEH
oiiiUd PreM, United Preee
Auail Bureau 01 wnuwum
EMBER . AU011 ouxrau m
Entered'it'the Port Office it lus roe. Oregon, u eecono-
C"ThlRl.ter-ouerl'i poller to the oomplete end tmoertUl
publication in lu new, pegea of ell newi and "'""'',2
newi On thl. page the editor, of The "';G""a
their opinions on events of the amy and metier, of taporttnca
to the community, endeavoring to be candid but '"T
helpful In the development of con.tructlvo community policy.
No Parking, One-Way or What?
In Seattle, they are chasing all parkers off
of the principal streets during morning and
evening rush hours and it seems to work
very well (although it may have a lot of hid
den headaches). In San Josc, California they
have made one-way thoroughfares on San
Antonio, Post, and San Fernando streets
with excellent results.
Ed Deardorff, who wrestles a Fairmount
Loop bus through Eugene's traffic, has
brought us copies of the San Jose Mercury
Herald with "Before" and "After" pictures
of the San Jose experiment. In the "Before"
picture, San Jose's "main drag" looks just
about like Willamette street. The "After"
picture shows vast improvement in traffic
flow and safety. The San Jose paper re
ports: "Installation of one-way traffic on San
Antonio, Post and San Fernando streets yes
terday seemed to be working out far beyond
our greatest expectations," Sgt. Arthur B.
Phllpott, chief of police department accident
Investigation bureau reported."
Only a few people were getting "mixed
up" with the new turn signs; a few were
having trouble parking on the left side or
putting their parking nickels in the wrong
slot. There were no serious tieups.
In the recent comprehensive engineering
report of the Oregon Legislature's interim
committee, there is an entire chapter on city
problems, and the long-range development
of city arterials, but It says:
"The ONE WAY STREET offers the most
important means whereby congested streets
may be converted Into better traffic arteries,
without heavy expenditures for widening and
other Improvements. Among the advantages of
one-way streets are: increased capacity to han
dle heavy traffic volumes, reduction of most
types of accidents, facilitated bus and truck
movements and increased average speed."
Did you know that at present our traffic
signals on Willamette street have to be set
for 18 MILES PER HOUR and you are
lucky if you can make it from 6th through
13th at that speed without a jam.
Portland is planning to gird the entire
downtown area with one-way streets. Eugene
is going to have to do something. Here's an
idea with which we have toyed from time
to time:
1. Make Willamette one-way north-bound,
so that all in-bound traffic, particularly buses
get a whack at the main drag.
2. Make Oak and Olive one-way for south
bound traffic, with east side buses using Oak
and west side Olive.
Traffic engineers should be consulted be
fore any final decisions are made. We just
throw in "two bits worth." Every town has
highly individualized problems of traffic
management. No town can afford to copy
any other town blindly. Perhaps all such
important traffic changes as this should be
initiated on a 30-day experimental basis,
with check for results.
Eugene's traffic arrangements will need
ra-study when the new highway down
Franklin and Broadway goes into service,
when the cutoff from the West 6th overhead
to West 11th is built if it is built, whenever
any major arterial development takes place.
There will always be squawks from mer
chants who think they are going to be hurt.
No merchant is ever going to be hurt by
any traffic change which makes it possible
for people who want to do business to get
in and out of town more quickly and safely.
The only thing which will ever drive busi
ness out of town will be "bottlenecks."
However, one-way streets and other de
vices are only "soothing remedies." Major
programs for arterial construction and off
street parking MUST be studied aggressive
ly. That's why we have a City Planning Com
mission. Looking Over the "Gift Horse"
Russian proposals to withdraw all Soviet
troops from North Korea by the end of this
year have met with the inevitable suspicion.
Syngman Rhee, president of the American
fupported republic in South Korea welcomes
the departure of Russian troops but suggests:
"The Soviet plan must mean the Soviets
feel the Communist regime In North Korea is
secure."
Withdrawal of American troops from
South Korea is regarded as a logical stipula
tion for the Russian program of withdrawal.
This would be met gladly if there were any
assurance that any Russian promises would
be kept.
In Washington and elsewhere in this
country, the Russian proposals with regard
to Korea will be studied with great care and
from many angles. There is a possibility that
the surprise offer with regard to Korea may
bp a lest to precede similar offers with re
gard to Berlin. We have been getting exact
ly nowhere with the Berlin muddle. That
has developed into what some Washington
writers have been calling "the tele-con
Marathon" (or nightmare).
The tele-con is a marvelous device which
enables our leaders in Washington to talk
back and forth with leaders in London, Paris,
Moscow and Berlin, in code. In this struggle
the Russians have ria'd the great advantage
that they have just "one post of command"
and we have at least four, all of which must
be consulted at every turn.
And Just about the time wt get Washing
ton, Berlin, London and Paris all lined up on
some proposal, Stalin or Molotov will make a
slight variation In the line, with new confusion.
There is a disposition in Washington to
feel that the Russians cannot be trusted on
any commitment unless it is in writing
and then the writing will have to be scanned
for double meanings.
There is no disposition in the United
States to go any farther in the direction of
appeasement than we have gone even if a
firm stand should mean war. If the Moscow
conferences bring no result, we will un
doubtedly go through the formality of an
appeal to United Nations, but there is very
little United Nations can do under present
circumstances except to denounce or expel
Russia and recommend economic blockades
and sanctions which might bring on war.
It would be ideal If Russian and Allied
troops could be withdrawn from every part
of Europe and Asia where the presence of
occupation forces and military government
now magnifies confusion, but we are not
dealing with a power whose promises invite
confidence.
The offer with regard to Korea must be
welcomed as a pacific gesture but it cannot
be considered apart from Russian policy in
other parts of the world frontier. Progress
toward world peace demands withdrawals
on every front and new patterns of good
faith, with actions to back up words.
.
"How are you?" is a greeting that too
often is mistaken for a questipn that leads
to a person telling you all his troubles.
In more ways than one you are better off
with health than wealth. Nobody tries to
borrow it.
:
A check on the autos in an Ohio city
showed that one in every seven was faulty.
A check on the drivers would be more inter
esting. The average American home used the
telephone 301 times last year. That's about
one call for the old gent.
A judge suggests that all cars be taken
from careless drivers. How strange it would
seem with our streets almost deserted.
:
Making miutes count for years and years
is what produces most of our men of the
hour.
Start tooting your own horn if you want
everybody to duck when you approach.
Lane Tax Rates Compared
With Other Communities
By AL CURREY
How do Lane tax rates compare
with those of other communities?
The United Press reports that
Minneapolis taxpayers will send
the tax collector SI 29 for eacn
space under the 6 per cent budget
law.
In considering school taxes
hv far tho most important part of
John Q. Public's tax bill the
same pattern is apparent. In Eu-
$1000 of assessed property value, j gene, two elections were held this
In a survey covering 20 U.S. I year to allow the scnooi Doara iu
cities, the press service also found
that taxes on each $1000 of prop
erty value will climb this year in
all but four cities.
In Jackson, Miss., the rate per
thousand will be $60.90 during the
1948-49 tax year. Rales in other
cities are given as follows: Boston,
Mass., $52:59; Atlanta, Ga., $54.45;
San Diego, $67.10; Miami, Fla.,
$51.80, and Los Angeles, $60.60.
These figures cover city, county,
and school taxes in most cases. On
a comparable basis, Eugene prop
erty owners will pay total levies
of $70.50.
Actually lower than the $71.70
rate In Eugene last year, the tax
dollars collected in this city during
the year will be divided as fol
lows: Cents
of Tax
Dollar
26
12
62
OUT OF THE WOODS
By ,TOf STEVENS
Bulldinr Code . . .
Here Is more on government and the lumber
business. Lumber still suffers from the practices
that grew about It In the hundreds of years when
Its product was the cheapest commodity every
where. The building codes of municipalities, coun
ties and states were formed out of experience with
practices and customs of lumber use.
In the main, building codes yet require the use
of lumber with qualities that is, grades higher
than those needed. The great majority of the
J7,500,000 homes enumerated in the 1940 Census
contain many more board feet per unit than were
ever needed, as well as much higher grades than
were actually called for in service. Very few old
houses are wrecked because of lumber failure In
the structure. They demonstrate that today's new
homes can be built to serve as well with far less
lumber and with substantial employment of low
grades of wood that were always left to rot in the
forest in the old times.
Basle Code Items . . .
The National Bureau of Standards has defined
the common code of building as "a collection of
legal requirements whose purpose Is to protect
the safety, health, morals and general welfare of
those In and about buildings." Most of these col
lections are municipal codes. There are more than
2000. Six states have codes of one kind or another,
snd all states have laws of some sort that bear on
building construction. Countless building codes are
becoming prevalent.
Normally the local building code states In detail
requirements for fire resistance, strength of ma
terials, design loads for various types of construc
tion, for securing building permits, and for many
other technical phases. The code dictates to a build
er the types and the grades of material for his
building project, the way the materials are to be
used and the place for each material. The relative
quantities of differing materials for each building
iob are regulated by the usual code.
All of this has a special effect on lumber, which
comes to the building market In a wide range of
grades and Items among a large number of species.
No two trees are alike, and no two pieces of wood
are alike. The grade of any one piece can only be
approximately fixed. In view of this fact, the en
gineers who recommend building code provisions
are apt to go to extremes In making sure that the
grade of lumber specified for a given use is more
lhan high enough to meet the need.
The Tide of Change
Engineers in building and engineers In forestry
are joining to work out building regulations of
lumber use on principles of assuring sound and
safe home construction, while at the same time
providing for more lumber supply, lower building
costs and for utilization of the lumber tree to a
degree that will help forest conservation. The ex
ample of experience with wood floor construction
in war housing Is but one of a myriad that dictate
building code changes for lumber.
In all corners of the country public and private
agencies that carry technical authorltv, with num
erous organizations that have various Interests
building, are promoting revisions of building codes
The National Housing Agency has long-range pro
gram of tests on ways and means on the building
ot good housing at reduced costs, and most of the
tests are with lumber and carpentry.
The National Bureau of Standards Association
the Producers Council, the American Society for
Testing Materials, the National Board of Fire Un
derwriters, the John B. Pierce Foundation, various
engineering societies, companies and trade groups
In building materials, building trades unions, re
learchers, prefabricators all of these and a long
list besides are supporting the modernization of the
codes and ordinances that rule building and build
In e supply la America.
Mills
City government 18.
County government. 8.9
School system 43.6
While the total of these laxes in
Eugene is more than in some of
the cities covered in the United
Press survey, it is significant that
Oregons tax laws provide a
stringent control on tax increases
except by specific authority of
the people.
The "6 per cent limitation" re
quires all Oregon taxing bodies to
have the voters' sanction before
any annual budget can be in
creased more than that percentage
over the highest budget of the
preceding three years. Further
more, any amount budgeted "out
side the limitation cannot be
figured in calculating the allow
able increase for future budgets.
$6.08 Added
As an example of the willing
ness of local voters to meet com
munity needs with larger tax pay
ments, voters in Eugene last May
approved four separate financial
measures. Lumped, these proposi
tions added approximately $6.08
in taxes on each $1000 of assessed
valuation.
Few citizens realize the extent
by which electoral sanction has
"raised the ante." In Eugene, how
ever, except for the favorable bal
lots this spring and in previous
elections, the city would have been
able to raise only $130,000, in ad
valorem taxes.
The city's 1948-49 budget totals
$883,000. Receipts from sources
other than the property tax will
pay $486,000 of this. Only specific
authorizations for taxes "outside"
the limitation permit the city
budget committee to finance many
municipal operations. Altogether,
taxes being levied outside the 6
per cent restriction In Eugene
actually are more than double
those "inside."
This situation holds true in the
great majority of Oregon's cities
and counties. In Lane County the
S089,787 general fund budget and
$1,119,249 general road budget arc
to be met with, just $662,646 in
county property taxes.
The county expects to gain
around $260,000 through state
school-aid payments; and $760,000
Is expected from gasoline tax
shares and other "road receipts."
Other sources of revenue other
property levies will add another
$300,000 to the county coffers.
Furthermore, the county tax
levy of 8.9 mills ($8.90 on each
$1000 of assessed property valua
tion) includes a 2.5 mill road
levy approved In the May elec
tion and a 1 mill levy authorized
in a 1944 election. Both were
granted by "the voters to give the
county a little more breathing
exceed the 6 per cent limitation
first- by $200,000 and then by
$612,000 more.
The taxpayers gave overwhelm
ing margins to both proposals to
indicate their favor of an educa
tional program costing them $1,-
107,000 for the year 184B-4H,
Income Tax Helps
At the same time, taxes on
property In the Eugene school
district will be augmented during
the year with approximately
$600,000 in state funds derived
through income taxes.
In the Sept. 18 issue of Oregon
Voter, Editor C. C. Chapman
notes the importance of slate in
come tax payments to Lane Coun
ty. Without these offsets, Chap
man reports, taxpayers in Lane
County would have been requir
ed to pay $1,900,000 in additional
ad valorem levies for all pur
poses. Without this aid, the tax rate
in Eugene, for Instance, would
have been 95 mills instead of 70.5.
Hospital School
Starts Season
With ( full complement of
trained personnel, the Children's
Hospital School opened Monday
with a near-capacity enrollment.
Capacity enrollment will be
reached as soon as foster homes
are found for a few out-of-town
students, Miss Blanche Markham,
superintendent, said.
The students are divided, with
ihn 2 to 8 years old attending
in the morning, and 7 to 14 year
age group attending in the after
noon. The staff in addltipn to Miss
norMmm nnrl Manager Lloyd Ep-
penbaugh includes Mrs. Carol
Hntchsr. sneoch therapist; Miss
Kllzabeth Howland, physical ther
apist; Miss Joy Efteland, occupa
tional therapist; Mrs. . Martha
Huffslutter, part - time physical
therapist; Mrs. Frank Bonson, kin
dergarten teacher. A full-time
teacher will be supplied by School
District Four in Eugene.
While most of the students are
from Eugene, several are from out
of town, including some from
Lebanon, Salem. Grants Pass and
Burns. Some will come from La
Grande when foster homes are
found.
Cattle Drive
Starts Overland
MEDICINE HAT, Alberta, P)
First big overland drive ef fat
and feeder cattle from southern
Alberta to Montana in many years
swung onto the trail this week
from the Manyberries-Pakowkl
region some 70 miles south of
Medicine Hat.
American buyers took this
method of moving close to 1000
head of choice stock to United
States feeding lots and packing
plants to overcome the shortage
of railway cars.
Trailing the herd are Otto Sko-
gen and Otto Shepherd who have
been in this district two weeks
buying up yearlings and two year
olds at from 23 to 25 cents a
pound. Four cowboys and a -chuck
wagon are in the trailing cava
cade which will take some 10 days
to tovtt ft, ,,.
Bna South lit J11
VotOrTliSj
10 v" in CSl
"ounced
noon and i i- . 'd
raisler.ttk..M
BIG SWITCH
TO CALVERT
l
a
Announcing-
A SPECIALIZED SERVICE TO CAR OWNERS.
BRAKE HOSPITAL
3798 Hiway 99 So., Eugene
Phone 4348-W
iPZNSOr1 X .'fj
tt4
,... ..." 'R,
ii.H.:I"''""J
"ilric!ui.i7T
won J
Nil J
"Mitsl
Mlera.
lmcn
1UI1
Mil
iraun
Thousands have switched
to Calvert because
Calvert Reserve is smoother,
CALVERT RESERVE Blended Whlskes
-86.8 Proof-65 Oraln Neutral Spirits
Calvert Distillers Corp., New York City
FRED A J
Corner 10th ujJ
Sears, HmlmiljJ
mrattlUM
Laundrymen j
Report Error
OMAHA, Neb. (U.R) Omaha
residents are losing their shirts
and and quite a little other cloth-
ing at the new self-service laun- 1
derettes.
A survey revealed that forgot
ten items are piling up at the
laundries, left there by forgetful
patrons.
Clothing is not the only item
left behind by the customers. A
launderette manager said.
"They leave tablecloths, towels,
rugs, shirts, ladies' unmention
ables, dish rags and mop heads."
Another launderette reported
that one woman overlooked a
sheet In the washer. It is still unclaimed.
Enough 'clothing to outfit one
person completely is found in the
course of a month at one Omaha
establishment.
The operators have a hard time
majching up the articles and own
ers. There is no identification on
the forgotten wash and the laun
derettes don't keep any record of
who uses the machines.
Most of the firms donate their
finds to charity. But one manager
said, "We keep them. My wife
hasn't had to buy anything for a
long- time."
-
Have your new permanent at
BOB'S BEAUTT SALON
1146 East 25th. Phone 838
Closed Mondays Evening
Appointments
GOOD
MEWS
ran ic
I OUGANIMO (T KMS
are lllinoi, MtmsJ
j ,B''lh""wJ
no Kpiult ,M JJT
Refrigerators At Last
A TRUCKLOAD OF THESE NEW
'l fa
4CU. II.
vemee
lesii
Coolerator (electric) RefiigemM
That You've Been Waiting hi
Arrived Today!
25 LB. BUILT-IN FROZEN FOOD LOCKER
SEPARATE SHELF FOR 3 BIG ICE CUBE
TRAYS
STORAGE FOR 12 QT. BOTTLES
TWO BIG CRISP-O-LATORS FOR FRUITS
& VEGETABLES
FIVE DEEP STORAGE SHELVES IN ALL
$
ONLY
289
While TheyW
Spray Equipment
Ituipmett Rental ft.
1901', W. 64 Pa. 4026
WILLAMETTE RIDING
ACADEMY
Good Riding Horses For Hire
Will leave et 10 A M. end
t P. M. over food ictnlr
mountain trail with cold
2819 Willamette Ph. 2G16-R
This group of refrigerators will be the only shipment of thispop
ular size we will have this year. If you live out of town an
can't come to our store tomorrow, Just phone 6066 and W
hold one up to 48 hours without a deposit.
7 I
787 Olive St
Eugene, Oregon
643 Mai;
Springfield
A