Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1952)
Looks Like We Are Being Taken for a Ride Marquis Childs rata AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER Alton F. Baker EDITOR William M. Tugman MANAGING EDITOR Alton F. Baker. Jr. SERVICES Full Associated Press, United Press, Audit Bureau of Circulations. The Register-Guard's policy is the complete and impartial publication in its news oaees of all news and statements on news. On this page the editors of The Register Guard offer their opinions on events of the day and matters of importance to the cSunity endeavoring to be candid but fair and helpful In th . , development of con itructive community policy. A newspaper is A CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY, Entered at tho Post Office at Eugene, Oregon, as second-class matter. PAGE 8 EUGENE, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1952 What Austerity Means in Britain There are some interesting glimpses of what "austerity" will mean in Great Britain in a speech which the Rt. Hon. R. A. Butler, Chancellor of the Ex chequer, made to the Commons about a week ago, seeking to explain the re quirements which have been placed upon the "tight little island" by the ne cessities of the defense program (and American dollar inflation). He was re porting on a meeting with finance min isters from all parts of the British Commonwealth. "In the year 1950, the sterling area as a whole had been In surplus with the rest of the world to a total of about 427 million pounds. By the second half of 1951 the ster ling area was in deficit with the rest of the world at an annual rate of no less than 1,450,000 pounds. The gold reserves had fal len to no more than 835 million pounds. If this drain were to continue, it would mean itarvation and unemployment for the people of this Island and economic disaster for other members of the Commonwealth." On the people of Great Britain falls the major burden of retrenchments to meet this situation. Here are some of the highlights of Butler's program: Imports Cut to the tune of 350 million pounds, of which 170 million will be im ported food stuffs. Tobacco Purchases to be cut by 22 mil lion pounds a year in spite of the fact that tobacco has always been one of the British ers' chief consolations. Tourism (quaint word) Since November, the Britisher who wants a holiday on the continent or elsewhere, has had his "tourist allowance" cut from 100 pounds, to 50 pounds, to 25 pounds. This is expected to save 12, 500,000 pounds a year (and produce some aquawks from neighboring countries which count on British tourist trade). Coal Imports from the United States will be cut 2,500,000 pounds and the effort will be to export and not import coal. Although the Churchill government has not abandoned socialized medicine nd other social services inaugurated by its Laborite predecessors, it is mak ing these changes: Prescriptions minimum charge, one shil ling; expected to produce 12 million pounds a year. Dental services, except plates Mini mum charge, 1 pound, or full cost where able except for children and expectant or nursing mothers; anticipated revenue 7V4 million pounds. Appliances On surgical belts, hearing aids, wigs, out-patient service, hospital beds, there will be nominal charges designed to produce 20 million pounds a year. To speed up the defense program, the Churchill government is asking ag riculture and industry to contain its demands on materials and engineering services and it makes these specific re strictions: Motor vehicles Only 60,000 cars and 60,000 trucks to be released to the home market compared with 110,000 cars and 100,000 trucks last year. Household hardware To be cut one third below last year's supply for radios, television, refrigerators, washing machines, etc. Consumer credit What the British call "hire purchase" (installment buying), will be restricted sharply. , Government spending Rigid curtailments in all departments. The British government is embarked on a heroic effort to make the nation live within its means. As Mr. Butler points out, the success of these extreme . measures will depend in large measure on what happens in the rest of the world (meaning particularly the progress of inflation in the United States). On pa per at least, Mr. Butler seems to have a plan which will restore a healthy bal ance if the British people will endure the sacrifices. The effort rests on the patriotic appeal that Britain must at all costs maintain her place of leadership in the world. Aneurin Bevan and his radical Laborites are sniping at the program, arguing that even national safety does not require such sacri fices. It's a long time between the beef steaks and joyrides in Great Britain. am CHILDS Air Traffic in Populous Urban Areas It may be a mere freak of circum stances that Elizabeth, N. X, has suf fered three horrible airplane wrecks in , row. Over the years thousands of big transport planes have landed and taken 1 off from the nearby Newark airport without a mishap, and a statistician would probably say that years might elapse before Elizabeth or any other city would have such a sequence of - crashes again. But the fact remains that more than 115 people have perished in these dis asters, including occupants of homes and apartment houses, and from one end of the United States to the other there is support for Elizabeth's de mand that drastic measures be taken to reduce the hazards. (It should not be forgotten that a fog-blind plane slapped into the tower of the Em pire State Building in New York a few years ago. Only a few were killed, but that was mainly because the accident happened at an hour when few people were on hand to be killed.) In great metropolitan areas, the problems of creating safe landing fields and safe flight patterns are stupendous. They become increasingly difficult as air travel multiplies. In bad weather, when each landing must be made with extreme caution, it is not uncommon to have dozens of flights circling the great airports at New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, waiting for a turn to come in. Inevitably, they pass over densely pop ulated areas. Almost any mechanical failure means disaster. "Will it be necessary to clear vast areas to safeguard airfield approaches?" The remedies will vary according to the topography and characteristics of each area. Where it is possible to make the approaches mostly over water, as at San Francisco and New York, elab orate clearances may not be needed. There are many inland communities where the only remedy will be either to move the fields to vacant country or to clear the approaches. At the time of the first Elizabeth accident we called attention to the need for prompt zoning action in the vicinity of Mahlon Sweet field. At present we have no serious problems in that neigh borhood, but if the U. S. Census Bur eau is correct in estimating 300.00Q pop ulation for this Eugene-Springfield area by 1990, there will be problems at Mah lon Sweet field. Today, we have one of the safest fields in the United States. It can be kept that way at minimum cost by intelligent action now. A lot of stag conventions are held just so the date for the next convention can be set. The most successful people keep their mind on their work others their work on their mind. To combat high prices, an Indiana man threatened to raise his own pigs. Just wait until the neighbors get wind of it. Taft Works Hard For Nomination WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wisconsin Be fore the Republicans meet in Chicago on July 7, the record is likely to show that no man ever traveled so many thousand tniles, shook so many hands, spoke per sonally to so many peo ple, campaigned so hard in every way for the presidential nomination of a party as Senator Robert A. Taft is now in process of doing. . ' It is a marathon ex acting in its unceasing de mands, gruelling in the drain of sheer physical energy. Yet the determin ed candidate from Ohio seems to be thoroughly at ease and even rather enjoying the whole business. This, his second visit to Wisconsin In '52, was necessarily a brief one en route to the Pacific Northwest. He will come back twice once again for a few days and then for two intensive weeks from March 17 until Wisconsin's presidential primary on April 1. Taft is undertaking to stump Wisconsin in the way in which he covered Ohio in 1950. In that year he won re-election to the Senate by a ma jority of more than 431,000. And he be lieves that his success was due in no small measure to the fact that he visited each of Ohio's 88 counties at least twice and that he spent on the average three days in each congressional district. NOTHING SO CONCENTRATED is possible in Wisconsin. But Taft hopes to devote on the average two days to each of this state's 10 districts. He and his po litical manger, Thomas Coleman, wealthy manufacturer, are cpnfident that as a re sult virtually all of the 30 delegates will be found in the Taft column. The only of ficial adversary up to this point is Harold Stassen, formerly governor of the neigh boring state of Minnesota, Getting off an early morning train from Washington, Taft is driven to the Chi cago airport. In the interval before vhe plane departs, he sits in the crowded, noisy waiting room writing in longhand on a pad of yellow scratch paper an insert in the speech to be delivered that night. On his face is the concentrated look of a man who might be laboring in the quiet of his study. At Stevens Point, where he leaves the plane, a small crowd is gathered to greet him. He goes immediately into the airport waiting room to give a radio interview, followed by a brief extemporaneous talk in which he says many of the things he has said before in the brisk, almost blunt fashion from which he rarely, if ever, varies. THEN THE CARAVAN of autos sets out with the candidate in the lead car winding through the snow-covered coun tryside, pausing in the towns for hand shaking. The schedule calls for visits to four paper mills. This was a feature of the Ohio campaign, where Taft got his labor audiences at the work bench by walking through hundreds of plants. As in Ohio, there is hostility here from trade union officials who want to fore close this opportunity. They insist it is an invasion of the privacy of working men and women, and in at least two plants reporters and photographers were for bidden to accompany the candidate. - This, In Taft's view, is all grist to his mill. If the union bosses use arbitrary methods to prevent him from campaign ing, says Taft, then that, will make sym pathy for him not only among non-union voters but with the rank and file in the unions. With a foreman or a plant guide at his side, he tramps through one big work room after another. If there are any signs of friendliness, he stops to shake hands and say a friendly word of two. If his pres ence produces obvious hostility or embar rassment, he walks on undounted. The suggestion that this might be un dignified in a candiate for President has apparently never crossed Taft's mind. That is one of the disarming things about the man; he is so completely without outward pretensions or side of any kind. He can be irascible, high-handed, but his tem peramental outbursts seem to have little to do with personal egotism, HE THINKS THAT THIS is the way to win the nomination and the presidency, and he is going right on with it no matter how many lieutenants and reporters drop exhausted. At the hotel here in the later afternoon is a press conference, a meeting with farm leaders, dinner with political workers and, finally, the big meeting and speech in the field house which is the climax of the day. "I don't get as tired as I used to," Taft says in all innocence. "In the 1950 campaign my knees used to get tired. But I had my tonsils out and I'm feeling much better." This is a one-man political machine made of something durable beyond any al loy yet perfected. It is as old-fashioned as the full dinner pail and yet, in its organi zation and its use of modern techniques, as modern as radar. If this is the way to win the presidency, then Taft will win It. (Copyright, IBS, by United feature Syndicate, Inc.) In The Editor's Mailbag Although i r'T 4(1 concerned 1. 1 "t t" payers. """it ana exercise . K"i "oral traini.r""i inn ..i the other 7 The,ugjesti , the provision ft, the seereMtin. Ir i ment of m, , DIM. '' quents, sex gen and rkiu..A' tone in general, wh , have for v.. S' with the mnr,ii"tl Along this line, a,. tc enure suvanti. . i tothehi,hfel " lne low- ucm, out emphasia, need of sdh-cm!.,, :. school, where even tod ",""u" youngster, , the eighth mH i shame which has ntitlt nor uuuom, Is daiij with a high-school record almost as d, J at the same time ipreiil Infection directly from 1 grace in the high ml most innocent yotmiiJ iuwer graaes. With the correction ation, to which mm the present teachers d ately blind, and ol nij parents are lully mn crless, education akng thl common aecency am mi comes for the first m in Marcola. Yoiro, IAH.VK WTLLAMALANE TAX Springfield (To- the Editor) We have some friends who live in Springfield over by the Maple school, an elderly couple whose ability to provide the wherewith for modern living Is not as it used to be. The other day I saw the lady, a practical nurse, at the Springfield Bridge walking toward home carrying a suit case. I thought now, I wonder, so I stopped the car and waited for her to catch up and sure enough she was walk ing home carrying that suit case to save bus fare, about thirty blocks. They still owe on their home and their taxes are rising every year. Heavy street Improve ment and sewer assessments are .play or dance or swim, or to old becoming due. It is impossible for her husband to compete suc cessfully any more on the labor market. She said that right now they simply were not making it but that she hoped when summer came things would brighten up. "Hope springs eternal In the hu man breast." Now, folks, this is a free coun try, I don't know who would want to stop another's play even though it were plain that he im paired his usefulness by it, but if I or my children want to play or dance or swim, who should pay the bill? Should I try to charge it off to some disinterested person who did not care to share the people who could not share? Respectfully, Ben Vimont, 4825 S. 99, Eugene, Ore. Fluorides Question Goes Before Voters PORTLAND Iff) City Com missioner Fred Peterson said Wednesday he would suggest hearings and perhaps a vote of the people on the question of add ing fluorides to the city water. He said he would file his recom mendation next week and accom pany it with a favorable report from Dr. Thomas L. Meador, city health officer. One Air 'Ace' hi SEOUL, Korea -M Richard D. Creijtel Rouge, La., and HcnaiJ Idaho, is the last Anuria still in the Korean in He still Is flying rcrJ missions unless orfai changed in the put That could not be ded mediately. Safety tip to motorists: If you insist on taking corners on two wheels, ride a bicycle. No one should object to a person disagreeing if they do it without being disagreeable. According to a judge, political cam paigns are educational. We learn that all liars are not fishermen and golfers. More and more people are collecting rare coins, says a numismatist. Lots of them work in the Internal Revenue department. Some of the folks who figure they don't get everything that's coming to them can consider themselves lucky. Some folks say this is becoming a woman's world. The main thing becom ing about it is the becoming women. SO THEY SAY Put your toy departments back in step with the religious slgnmcance of Christ mas and with the Kefauver Crime Com mittee. Mrs. D. Leigh Colvin, WCTU head, criticizing merchants for selling toy guns and outlaw costumes for children as Yulctide gifts. At a wedding in Massachusetts friends handcuffed the groom. Nice Vaining. There's nothing like an evening at home with naughty kids to make a father wish he weren't. The average man gets 112 letters a year. We'll bet our boys in service would like to be included in that. Nothing is impossible, says a writer. He must meet nothing but nice people. Maybe money can talk, but the 1952' dollar likely is ashamed to. ljrjiljeri. VISION "I toill lit up mine eyes unto the hills." Ps. 121:1 Do you draw strength from far-off hills? , . . The Psalmist tells us how he stills . . , The worries that beset men's souls ... He lifts his eyes to distant goals . . . And he has faith in aid that comes . . . From high up there ere he succumbs ... To strengthen him down on the plain ... As he resolves the heights to gain ... So for your faith and spirit ills . . . Lift up your eyes unto the hills. JULIEN C. HYER First choice on the finest of new cars today ...and every year since 1947! nn f3 V fllBGS! For your own cars tire replacement 1. YEARS OF MILEAGE! n. .. "faxy" rvbbtr to build up htatl Air Rldtt run caor tvtn at high tpttdi thu g)v many thousand! of oxtra milt I ALL-SEASON SAFETY I Air Rid,, put 12 mor rvbbtr or fno roodl Saftty-btock trtad grlpi through rain, mud, lUtt to dry surfactt bracts against skids stops you avcfctrl IDE 3.IXTRAR.DIM0C0HFMTIWJ .Iv. Air lid. princlpta ! TVVj lbllity-ulhl.nl ft lkk "Vf"! ..v.. you, yow t.mlhf " A ... CVEEDlNGlTfe p r5SiSI2. Ighl.ll iTMring !" - u , tip!!S IN THE NOWI Do what you should do replace your old tires I aH snail nUBt-IHMWn W W " - - Designed to every detail and dimension of your own car'i wheels the only Air Ride tires in the world! They absorb the road in silence at any speed . ; ; roll on special steering treads . . . run cooler and last longer! They give unique protection from road shock and vibration for your car and you! As your original tlrei now become ready for replacement here are the tires to replace them ... to see you through in safety ... to give you extra riding comfort to save you and your car for years ahead. UNITED STATES New It Ih. time to get 'VJ!,ljri!S comfort. Your U.S. Royal trooVin oflowonm in yg v4lDlAlTfl1 SEI YOUR U. n""" .jr RUBBER WYATT'S THE. BEST PLACE IN TOWN TO BUY TIBE3 101 WEST BROADWAY PHONE 4-3J1
