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Page IDA Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore., Sun., Aug. 21, 1949
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
iPubllihed Ever Evcnlnl end Sunday)
EDITOR AND PUBUSUEB Allon r. Baker
MA MARINO EDITOR William M Tume
NEWS SEBV1CB Aeaoclatad Presa. United Prete
MEMBER Audit Bureau of Circulation
Entered at the Poet Otfloa at Eugene, Orefoo. aa iecona-
Tha Refliur-Ouard'i poller f tha eomp'eu and Impartial
publication In Ita nawa Degea or au newa ana wwnh w
mm On Uila pate the editor! of The Reglater-Guerd offer
their optnlona on eventa of the da and mattera of Importance
to the community endeavoring to be candid but fair and
hlnl'M In the development of constructive community policT
Interpreting "The Soviet Man"
An unusually Interesting journalistic ef
fort is an issue of a new fortnightly maga
zine called "The Reporter" which seeks to
give this "western world" of ours an inter
pretation of "The Soviet Man." The editors
Bay:
"We don't go into the ideological problems
of Communism ... we do try to see the Soviet
regime through the human beings it has
molded. There are about 193 million of these
human beings. Ideologists may change their
tunes . . . but the Soviet Man Is a more endur
ing, formidable fact, perhaps the most im
portant fact of our contemporary life. . . ."
So they present a series of swift-running
sketches, by people who have lived the
Russian life. They endeavor to show us the
Russian child in school, the artisan in his
daily routines in state factory and state
owned apartment house; the peasant and his
wife at their labors on the collective farm
and on their own little garden plot; the com
mon soldier, on' and off duty; the famous
artist who represented the highly favored
"intellectual class"; the high-ranking official
of party and government.
Most revealing, perhaps, is George
Fischer's account of his progress through the
Soviet schools, until his father, an American
correspondent brought him to the United
States in 1939. Till he arrived in America,
the boy had only one ambition to be a tank
commander in the Red Army, but
"Becoming a Red Army officer was more
than merely the adventurous, glamorous, and
popular thing to do. I had another motive
' one that is fostered as carefully among Soviet
children as getting ahead on one's own Is
among Americans. That is the creed that noth
ing is so sacred, attractive, and rewarding as
service to "the cause." This means service to
the state, and to the cause of Socialism and
Its Soviet fatherland for a better and happier
World."
George was in the Russian schools during
the period of the great "purge." To appreci
ate how completely the minds of the very
young can be warped:
"When the father of my closest friend, a
veteran member of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party, was arrested, the boy
was burning mad. But his anger was aimed
at the time, anyway only at the rudeness and
harshness of the secret-police officials who had
arrested his parents and kept him from them.
The sixteen-year-old daughter of the Commis
sar for Foreign Trade did not show her feelings
upon her father's arrest. Soon thereafter, at a
mass meeting of the whole school, she made
the usual statement renouncing all ties with
him, a proven enemy of the people and of her
beloved Soviet government.
"At the height of the purges, my mother
raised a question about a family friend, a de
voted Communist official, whom my brother
and I idolized. Suppose, she asked, this man
were found by the Soviet government to be
ej spy. My unhesitating answer was that I
Would merely be surprised at how cleverly the
enemy In our ranks was able to disguise hlm-
ieir.
But is it possible to command the think
ing of people all through life even by this
process of rigid indoctrination in early
youth? The answer in the "portraits" of adult
Russians is "NO!". Even in Russia there is
the germ of a healthy skepticism. And there
is a very real and often expressed desire for
freedom of speech and thought as we know
those things. But there is a lingering pre
deliction, as evidenced in the statement of
the Russian DP in Germany who asked not
to be returned to his native land for a while:
A young mechanic from Dnepropetrovsk,
who was not going back at once, told me this:
"Life in Russia is unbearable, and that is why
T have not returned h6me. You do not know
what It means to live In constant fear of de
portation to a labor camp and not to be able
to speak one's mind." Yet he planned to re
turn home eventually: "Life is nice here In
. the West," he went on. "I can talk to mv
: heart's content. But it Is a silly and degrading
business to work for the private profit of an
other man, and not for the good of the com
munity. I cannot understand this either. It will
be a nice diversion to stay here, but I think I
will have to go back. If only they gave us some
freedom, there would be no country In the
world better than ours."
The effort to interpret the Russian people
to the rest of the world is significant and
praiseworthy. Nobody can read these simple
accounts of how Russian people live and
think without saying to himself:
"There but for the grace of God go I."
The problem of Russian relations is not
new. It is as old as the hills, it is the prob
lem of getting behind the barriers of "gov
ernments" and self-perpetuating ruling
groups to an understanding of human beings.
The Russian child is taught definitions of
"freedom" and "democracy" which do not
coincide with ours. The Russian people are
being taught to hate us and our institutions
and that is a danger which we must seek
somehow to avoid.
We Owe Claude a Dinner
When the League of Oregon Cities was
meeting in Eugene last fall, Claude Gerlach,
then mayor of Springfield, offered to bet a
good dinner if Springfield then sweating
out a 96.4 tax rate didn't go into the coming
year with a lower rate than Eugene. Thanks
to the SpringfieldChnmber's energetic cam
paign for revaluation and County Assessor
George Stock's thorough-going Job in the
Springfield area and rigid economy in city
and school operations, the Springfield rate
ha been backed down to 58.3 compared with
Eugene's 72, so it's up to us to say along
with congratulations:
"Come and get it, Claude. The steak will be
thick, and how do you like it done?"
The real problem in assessments is to cap
ture new values as they develop and of
course to prevent escapes. What John Citizen
actually pays in dollars is not actually
changed by a mere change in the ratio of
assessment because if the valuations are uni
formly low, the rates will be high or the re
verse. Springfield's complaint last year was
that even on our assumed 50 per cent of
market value, much property in that area
was appraised far below that point and some
not at all. This, of course resulted in distor
tion of the rate and a heavy burden on those
whose appraisals had been brought up to
date.
No doubt there will now be some loud
complaints that Springfield valuations have
been placed too high, but as we understand
it Mr. Stock plans to move just as rapidly as
he can over the entire county. An analysis
of the percentage of increase does not, at
this time, give a conclusive picture, but the
percentages are interesting.
Percent
Taxing Body 1948 Valuation 1949 Increase
Coburg $ 79,868 96,404 21
Cottage Grove 1,462,796 1,904,458 30
Creswell 235,430 254,975 8
Eugene 22,112,790 27,113,164 23
Florence 308,804 472,026 53
Junction City 884,990 1,230,696 39
Oakridge 411,093 865,784 . 110
Springfield 4,197,924 7,454,652 79
Whole County 74,000,000 94,000,000 27
The percentage of increase in the last
year is not an accurate index because growth
is never uniform. Likewise the percentage of
increase is not so marked where the start is
made from a large base. Also it is quite likely
that Eugene and some of the other areas re
flect previous increases due to reappraisal
in preceding years.
It should be recognized that Assessor
Stock is getting over the ground as fast as
he can.
"What will happen if we get into a run of
hard times?"
There will be re-adjustments just as there
were during the '30's, but the process never
quite keeps pace with economic changes.
The biggest problem at all times is to achieve
something like parity in assessments in
every part of the county and on every class
of property.
Oakland Tackles Its Parking
Of interest to those who are wrestling
with Eugene's traffic management problems
will be a report of the effort now being
made in Oakland, California as summarized
in a bulletin of the Commonwealth Club.
John G. Marr, director of the Oakland City
Planning Commission, gave the results of a
fact finding inquiry:
Oakland's central business district com
prises 212.4 acres a space actually not greater
than Eugene's central business district.
In Oakland's central business area, a total
of 41.6 acres is devoted to off-street parking
or about 20 per cent.
Oakland has 12,868 parking spaces In the
central district, of which 7,800 are off-street
and 5,000 at curb.
In Oakland, 150,000 people enter the cen
tral business district during 8 business hours;
this figure includes 15,000 employed.
Six additional off-street parking areas have
been recommended to the City Council.
Also recommended is the ear-marking of
50 percent of all parking meter revenues for
off-street parking acquisition.
Mr. Marr reported that neighboring cities
in the Bay area Richmond, Hayward, Ala
meda, San Leandro are busy developing
both public and privately owned parking
facilities (developing their trade at the ex
pense of bottle-necked San Francisco). The
summary does not include any reference to
Mass Transportation, but an intensive study
on this problem is being made for the entire
Bay area.
Evidently Mr. Marr came in for the usual
lively question period, as to whether public
ly owned parking facilities would violate
"free enterprise," as to the use of parking
meters as a taxing device and not merely
for traffic regulation.
Mr. Marr put "the clincher" on the argu
ments in this exchange:
Q. Is It not tine that if NO PARKING were
allowed on the streets in the central districts,
it would greatly reduce the parking problem?
A. Cities MUST provide public parking
facilities in the centra! districts if property
values and public volume are to be main
tained. In other words, it doesn't matter whether
the job gets done with public or private
funds, it must be done, if cities are to hold
their importance. The horse and buggy is
gone. The motor age must be served.
A Buffalo man lets his bair grow because
he says haircuts give him heart trouble. One
more raise from the barbers and we may
have that, too.
Another Slum Clearance Problem to Be Solved
lends meet. Yet I love my
seiucg old but my!
life is not too important when
our census will be more than i50
million. I fought for my coumrv
in one world war and I was proud
I note in the paper that Harry's
right hand man is a crook. Why
not give him a good term and
cut taxes a little. a
Can any one blame people for
going on relief whor. r
wrecking the finest country 0"
....n ....
Sincerely,
George S. McCord
V In The Editor's Mail bag
REQUEST
EUGENE (To the Editor)
Shouldn't the Register-Guard
make its readers more aware of
the danger to American civil lib
erties inherent in the Mundt-Fer-guson
Bill now before the Senate
Judiciary Committee?
According to this bill, an ad
ministrative board, something like
the present President's Loyalty
Review Board, can blacklist or
ganizations as "Communist fronts"
and compel them to register as
"Communist", organizations and to
turn in their membership lists, etc.
The present loyalty board has list
ed some hundred and fifty. Pre
sumably these would be a nucleus,
and other organizations would be
investigated and added by the new
board.
Now the term "communistic" is
very elastic one and is often
used by conservatives to brand
any change in the existing system.
It is hard for someone who is do
ing very well under the "status
quo to see that the welfare of
the whole nation may demand
changes. What, would a Loyalty
Review Board under George III
have said about George Washing
ton or even Alexander Hamilton?
What would a "thought control"
board under President Buchanan
have said of Abraham Lincoln?
We all remember how Roosevelt's
New Deal was "Communistic" to
some people.
The present Loyalty Review
Board is using, so I have been
told, the list of organizations de
clared subversive by a research
economist of the National Associ
ation of Manufacturers. Cannot
you imagine a still more conserva
tive board declaring subversive
any organization designed to
change (even by the most constitu
tional means) the economic anc"
political condition of our people.
The danger that a few Commu
nists may join liberal organization
is nothing compared to the danger
that "thought control" legislation
may negate our civil liberties.
As a teacher and voter I hope
that the Register-Guard will dis
cuss this issue.
Very truly yours.
RUTH JACKSON.
TROUBLE
EUGENE (To The Editor)
You people want a free press and
you have it. But are you doing
your,duty to the American peo
ple. I just got my telephone bill
arid note there is $1.50 tax. I
pay income tax no matter how
meager it is. I pay tax on all
drugs I use in my business. I
pay tax on all my food as all
common citizens. I barely make
FI--f.
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In hot weather, advises a doctor, find a
good spot and sit tight. But he doesn't mean
it the way you're taking it.
One of the easiest ways to keep your
friends is not to say exactly what you mean.
Biologists devote a great deal of time to
cell life criminal courts too little.
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