Bubble Bath
PETER EDSON
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
ALTON F. BAKER Publisher
ALTON F. BAKER JR. Editor ROBERT B. FRAZIER Associate Editor
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itructive community policy. A newspaper is A CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY.
Entered at the Post Office at Eugene, Oregon, as second-class matter.
8A
EUGENE, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1955
Why Did They Go Hear Oppenheimer?
J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is per
haps the world's greatest living physi
cist, Tuesday night posed some problems
for the psychologists. Why, we would
ask the psychologists, did 2,500 people
turn out to hear a high-brow lecture on
one of the most complicated subjects
known to man? Not one in 50 could
really understand what he was talking
about. So why did they stay? Why
didn't more slip out when it became ap
parent that the speaker was talking in
a language most of us can't understand?
And why, after the talk, were so many
willing to admit they didn't understand?
And why, along with these admissions,
were so many so enthusiastic? "I didn't
understand a word, but I sure enjoyed
it," was the way most of his listeners
seemed to feel about his talk on "The
Sub-Nuclear Zoo; the Constitution of
Matter."
. Dr. Oppenheimer, one of the archi
tects of the atomic age, was the "Condon
lecturer." There have been Condon lec
turers before, but they didn't draw 2,500
people. Why the difference? Why the
big crowd to hear about the sub-nuclear
zoo and only middle-sized crowds to hear
about the rock formations in our own
Three Sisters area?
: Part of the answer must lie in cu
riosity. Many just wanted to see what
this guy looked like. They'd heard about
him and read about him. It would be
Interesting to know how many came be
cause of his "trouble" a year ago and
because of the criticisms leveled against
the state system of higher education for
bringing him here- They are the ones
who wanted to see for themselves wheth
er or not this guy has horns. They found
none.
: Others, who knew all along that he
didn't have horns, probably went be
cause they had a feeling that he'd been
pushed around, that their presence at
his lecture was a signal to somebody
that people resent other people's being
pushed around. So add sympathy to cu
riosity. Now add respect. Many probably went
because they recognized in him one of
the greatest minds of our time. They
could cheerfully grant that their own
minds were inferior. At the same time
they could admire the- man who could
see this sub-nuclear zoo that remains in
visible to most of us. Some of this group
went because they want to tell their chil
dren and grandchildren soinc day that
&
Need Safety Standards
It has come to our attention that the
House Rules Committee ot the Oregon
Legislature has not yet seen fit to intro
duce a bill that would allow the public
utilities commissioner to establish safety
standards for gas pipeline installations
in Oregon.
We all know that natural gas, a cheap
fuel that will be a boon to industrial de
velopment in the Northwest, will be
available probably within the next two
years. To date, no one has given serious
consideration to safety regulations for
pipeline installation and facilities. The
Federal Power Commission and the In
terstate Commerce Commission have
been holding hearings to sco which com
pany shall supply natural gas to the
Northwest and whichever firm gets the
opportunity will rush to make ils serv
ices available to large sections of the
state.
Appearing before the rules commit
tee, lobbyists for the gas companies con
tend that the companies have their own
standards of safety precautions, but com
mon sense alone dictates that it would
be a prejudiced viewpoint. The public
welfare demands that some agency in
the state should have power to regulate
the installation of gas pipelines roth
the states of Washington and Idaho
have nasscd legislation that enables their
counterpart of the public utilities com
m'ssoner to establish safety standards.
If our Legislature doesn't act now it may
be too late. If a pipeline is buried in the
protind there is not much that can be
done about It. We want natural gas as
cheaD as possible but not at the expense
of the consumer's safety. The men on
the rules committee, which incidentally
lnd"dcs Lane County's L. L. Stewart,
must realize the responsibility they
shoulder in the matter. Presumably the
public utilities commissioner would make
a study of safety legislation in other
states in order to set up standards for
t)regon. Pipeline cxpldsions c:Sinot be
fought, they must be prevented.
they had heard J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Why did they stay? Why were they
so enthusiastic about things that were
so far beyond them? Some of this an
swer is found in the "respect" para
graph above. More lies in the shy, ap
pealing personality of the man himself.
The 2,500 saw a man who obviously is
uncomfortable in front of crowds. Some
felt they were seeing a classic case of
stage fright. They liked the way he
scratched a spot behind his ear as he
worked on complicated formulae on the
blackboard. They liked the way he was
concerned lest somebody in the back be
unable to hear him. They were charmed
by the almost apologetic way he' said, at
the end of the lecture, "I would be very
glad if it if it fits in to respond to
questions; if you have anything that you,
that you think I can clear up." The great
nuclear physicist turned out to be a very
appealing, human guy.'
They also saw a man so obviously in
love with his work. As he warmed up to
his subject and talked about protons and
neutrons and the other creatures of his
sub-nuclear zoo, he became quite excit
ed. The audience, not knowing what
he was talking about, became excit
ed, too. We were reminded of a West
Point colonel we once knew. This man,
a student of the campaigns of Marlbor
ough, would talk excitedly about these
campaigns, referring to this commander
and that as if he had known them per
sonally. People who didn't know, a thing
about Marlborough were always willing
to listen to the colonel talk. So it was
with Dr. Oppenheimer. The audience,
unschooled in nuclear physics, could
share his enthusiasm for "A very beau
tiful atom an old fashioned atom very
like the hydrogen atom except it's about
twice as big."
It will be interesting now to see how
big a turnout the great physicist has for
his Thursday night lecture, the second
of the series. Will the merely curious
come back? Was one look enough for
those who talked about how ,much they
enjoyed it? .
It was a professor of music Tuesday
night who put the thing in a nutshell.
He admitted he was lost after the first
90 seconds of the lecture. But, said he,
"It's rather like listening to a fine con
cert. Even if you can't understand the
music, can't really understand what's
happening up there, you can still sit
' back and enjoy it." '
Strange
Real Title of Corsi Story
Might Be 'Operation Pizza'
11
IN THE EDITOR'S MAILB AG
People who still own radios will have
a chance Sunday to hear a most in
triguing excursion into the world of
sound. For several years the New York
Philharmonic has been experimenting
with bird calls speeding them up, slow
ing them down, changing key and pitch.
Now these sounds have been put togeth
er to create a most unusual "symphony."
It will be played Sunday noon on the or
chestra's regular program (KEUG).
The hi-fi crowd, who look down their
noses at the rough sounds coming out of
the old-fashioned radio can get a hi-fi
recording of "Strange to Your Ears."
Record dealers advise us that such re
cordings are now available in Eugene.
These tltcy can take home and play as
they marvel at what birds can do with
sound.
Sakakawea
We are indebted to the Oregon
Statesman (Salem) for pointing out that
in North Dakota they are not only try
ing to kidnap our Sacajawca, but are
also mis-spelling her name. The Indian
girl, wife of the Frenchman who was
guide and interpreter for Lewis and
Clark, is one of Oregon's best known
historical figures.
Because she helped pilot the Lewis
and Clark party across many states 150
years ago, it is reasonable, perhaps, that
other states might claim her, too. So
we can't object too much to the sugges
tion of Sen. Langer of Nfrth Dakota,
when he wants to give her name
"Sakakawea" to a pool of water behind
Garrison Dam.
But we do object to the spelling. Sen..
Langcr's Sakakawea is our Sacajawca.
We spell her name right. It's just a pity
that we in Oregon have not made greater
use of the beautiful name.
React Like Mouse
EUGENE (To The Editor)
Gerald Heard, the anthropologist,
says that man, in similar circum
stances, tends to react like the
mouse when it is cornered by the
cat. Hopelessly held in, the mouse
will sit straight upright on its
haunches and stroke its whiskers.
With no possibility of a response
which can save him, paralyzed
by its helplessness, the mouse
simply falls back on habit pat
terns of the past.
Men, now caught in the self
woven web of atomic armaments
are seemingly as helpless as the
mouse. They know that they can
not find a defense against their
weapons, that to employ them in
war will mean suicide for the
race. So what course do they
take? Do they follow Gen. Mac
Arthur's inescapable logic when
he said, "We arc in a new era.
The old methods and solutions
no longer suffice We must
break out of the straight jacket of
the past." He urges total, uni
versal and simultaneous disarma
ment, and says that we in the
United States should take the lead
in securing it.
We can be profoundly thankful
that President Eisenhower has
appointed the able Harold Stasscn
to take just that load on our be
half. This is not the response of
the mouse in the corner.
But, at the same time the
President is supporting the Pent
agon legislation to fasten Univer
sal military Training on the
nation. The Congress is consider
ing the matter right now, and
observers in Washington report
that unless the people rise up to
block it, the legislation will this
time pass, and will before long
turn the United States into an
armed camp. Here sits the mouse
on his haunches, stroking his
whiskers.
Dropping the figure, is it not
clear that two different and in
compatible ways are being chart
ed for us? Disarmament-is being
made possible, and we are also
being asked to put everything we
have into the arms race, includ
ing ton years of the life of our
young men. Which way are we
going to take? The choice is ours.
If we allow ourselves to be pulled
down the wrong road, will we
not ourselves be to blame?
Sincerely,
ROSS W. ANDERSON
Rt. 4, Box 319A.
but "property" a man had as
much right to cross a state line
to get a run-away slave as to get
his cattle. Quite logical, but Lin
coln took the position that what
was morally wrong could not be
made legally right. If he had used
words "should not" instead of
"could not" he would have been
more logical because in a Repub
lic the majority votes make a
thing legally right or wrong.
Today, millions of people know
that the sale of liquor is morally
wrong but we have made it le
gally right by our votes and are
paying dearly for our folly. But
Lincoln also knew that he could
not legally free the slaves accord
ing to the Constitution. But he
could confiscate them as "con
traband of war," like he might a
load of munitions going South
tnd so he did.
The 14th Amendment made the
Negro a "person" but not a su
perior person. The "Declaration
of Independence", while a beau
tiful ideal, is not a legal docu
ment for their is no "handle" to
it. Some writers claim that Tom
Paine formulated it, even though
Jefferson did write it. Now
Paine was a fine statesman for
his day, the first to demand in
dependence and to use the words
"The United States of America,"
but he was quite a windy idealist
as when he said "government
like clothes is a badge of lost in
nocence." That might have
worked in the Garden of Eden,
but today we know that a state
without a government is simply
a wild anarchy, while those who
don't like clothes had better go
to the tropics. Because "civiliza
tion is a dress, change the dress
and civilization changes; remove
the dress and civilization disap
pears." Nudists please take no
tice. Civilization means restraint
and decs not come naturally. (A
premise is not a promise.)
DORVIN DUDECK
Rt. 5
farm days, folks. You see the
farm wasn't a farm unless the
laddie or lassie had a little chore
to do, like taking care of a few
bunnic rabbits, or pitching a little
hay to the pulling power of the
farm, the horse. City folks, per
haps, do not have this opportunity
because of sanitation reasons and
the impracticability of having an
imals in the city, but then again
we did other htings, such as start
ing th tomato plants or some
flowers, etc.
Now there is something our
young folk could well take an in
terest in at this time of the year
seeds of vegetation. There's a
wealth of happiness and educa
tion in taking care of and watch
ing something grow. Besides, all
this helps the family budget, tak
ing that spare space of ground
that nobody is using (of course be
sure you have the owner's per
mission to use beford using) and
growing some victuals for the
family table.
Maybe in a bigger way some
person might even loan a reason
able plot of land and consider
able food stuff could even be
grown for school lunches with a
little volunteer help from some
of the elders.
How about it, kids. Let's grow
a garden with a hope that God
will furnish it with good things
and Bless us all.
Your laddie boy
JOE GIMPL
742 W. 10th.
WASHINGTON (NEA) The
State Department story on Ed
ward J. Corsi ousted by Secre
tary of State John Foster Dulles
as his special assistant on immi
gration and refu
gee problems
is that hs turned
out to be like a
big prize bull re
leased in the
State Depart
ment's rather.
brittle chinaE
shop.
A lot of peo-
nip Vinvp hppn
bleeding over Edson
Mr. Corsi's sudden demise as a
bureaucrat including Mr. Corsi.
Well-intentioned, warm-hearted,
generous and likeable, Mr. Corsi
thought everybody in the world
was his friend, and wasn't far
wrong.
But Mr. Corsi was also impulsive
and unpredictable. He .couldn't
be bothered with red tape or
regulations. And every once in a
while State Department officers
administering the Refugee Relief
program would wake up with a
start to discover that Mr. Corsi
had gone way out on the end of
a limb to commit them to some
fantastic scheme that just could
n't be done under the law.
OPERATION 'PIZZA'
There was, for instance, Mr.
Corsi's big idea to bring over a
thousand Italian. cooks and bakers
in a sort of "Operation Pizza Pie."
He got all enthused about that
one. He was going' to bring them
all over on one boat. He would
have the boat arrive in New York
Harbor on the Fourth of July.
He would have the boat sail up
the Hudson River, to some nice
park he had in mind, where they
would all debark and have a pic
nic. Mr. Corsi would be on hand
to welcome them and make a
speech.
He was always making speech
es. Up in Philadelphia he made
a speech about some poor refugee
he had seen on his inspection trip
in Europe. He painted a tearful
word picture of this unfortunate
man. A number of people in the
audience came forward and want
ed to sponsor his admission to
the United States as a refugee
immigrant.
The trouble wasv Mr. Corsi
couldn't remember the man's
name or what camp he had seen
him in. The State Department
tried to find him, but after a
lot of time-wasting in diligent
search, they gave up. By that
time all the Philadclphians who
Spring?
EUGENE (To the Editor)
With the weather being so balmy
and with spring in the air and
love in my heart for the young
folk. I've just thought up some
thing constructive for my young
friends.
It all rather goes back to my
S1DEGLANCES
For Mrs. Hamper
EUGENE (To the Editor)
In answer to Mrs. Patrick Ham
per's question of "Who can use
old magazines?", I know that
Fairview Home at Salem can use
old magazines for the smaller
children to look at, f for older
ones to read and cut out pictures.
The address is, Fairview Home,
2250 Strong Road, Salem, Oregon.
We frequently go to Salem and
wo would be glad to deliver them.
Any old Christmas cards arc also
welcome.
Thank you.
MRS. RALPH BATCHELOR
1551 May wood
Member of Assn. for Help
of Retarded Children.
By Galbraith
Repe
rcussions
EUGENE (To the Editor)
The Supreme Court's recent de
cision on segregation in southern
schools has caused repercussions
all over the nation and it is hijh
time that we all took a realistic
view of the situation. Senator
Wayne Morse, in his speech, has
shown where the Supreme Court
has reversed itself four or five
times in the past, usually because
they have made logical deduc
tions from false premises. The
recent decision is based on the
premise that "all men are created
equal" which is false since not
even twins are created equal. To
say that all men are created un
equal with the right to develop
their talents would make better
sense.
Neither do we have "inalien
able rights to liberty and the pur
suit of happiness." For one man
might find happiness in polyg
amy, another in being drunk in a
park, while another might find
it in his neighbor's melon patch.
With every step in liberty goes
responsibility for the rights of
others.
The Supreme Court, while try
ing to promote the happiness of
Negroes by integration in schools,
has forgotten tli.it white children
also want happiness b. segrega
tion. The Dred Scott decision
was based on the premise that
since a slave was- not a "person
7
V A
v5, my i v
1 1
had wanted to sponsor this un
fortunate man gave up In disgust.
Early in March the State De
partment gave Mr. Corsi a writ
ten directive that he was to make
no speeches and issue no state
ments that had not been given
prior clearance. That helped
some. But by that time Mr. Corsi
had upset the State Department's
protocol-polished apple cart so of
ten they decided they'd better let
him go.
PAY TOO LOW
What really got Mr. Corsi In
the end was his admission to a
high State Department officer
that he wanted to run for the
U. S. Senate from New York in
1956. He had apparently thought
he could use the refugee job to
build up a big foreign-born vote
following.
Mr. Corsi was in hot water al
most from the first day he hit
Washington. He had been getting
$20,000 a year as New York's
Commissioner of Labor and Immi
gration under Gov. Thomas E.
Dewey. He wanted that much in
Washington. But the most he
could get under Civil Service was
$13,000, a year. They finally
stretched a point and made it
$13,700, but it still wasn't enough
to suit him.
He didn't like the office space
assigned him. He worked for a
time in the back office of Scott
McLeod, Security Administrator,
who by law is given responsibility
for the refugee program. That
was the job Mr. Corsi wanted
that and a free. hand. He wanted
to open an office for himself in
New York, but they stopped him
on that one.
His correspondence was volum
inous. But more than half of it f
was personal and social. In one
exchange of letters he got all in
volved in a big surplus butter
deal, from which he had to be
extricated .because that was the
business of Secretary of - Agri
culture Ezra Taft Benson.
Mr. Corsi would accept an invi
tation to .any meeting for a
speech or to join anything
That was what made his security
clearance so difficult. He wasn't
subversive in the least. But out
of pure good fellowship he had
attended and joined a lot of
things more discreet people
stayed out of.
The State Department was go
ing to reveal all this and a lot
more. Then they decided to for
get it. But as a lifelong Republi
can, Mr. Corsi still can't under
stand why he's getting the gate.
He thinks he got a raw deal.
FREDERICK C. OTHMAN
Senator From Illinois Roasts
West for Dams, Silver Prices
"Don't start dinner yet. Mom! I want V ask Margf what
time to meet her tonight-it oughto take aboirLhalf
... nhftA"
WASHINGTON The eloquent
gentlemen were considering grass,
dinosaur bones, human pity, and
allied subjects, including $1,500,
000,000 worth of dams on the
Colorado River.
They also mentioned logrolling,
silverware, and all-wool suits.
And I got the idea (correct me
if I'm wrong, senators) that the
only way to make all westerners
happy is somehow to pour more
water into their biggest river.
There doesn't seem to be enough
to go around in their thirsty
country.
Five giant new storage dams
along the Colorado struck Sen.
Paul Douglas (D ill) as being ab
surd. It would take so much
water to fill them, said he, that
there'd be no water trickling out
the other end of the river, which
happens to be in Mexico. The
Mexicans want their fair share
of water, too.
One of these big dams would
be in Dinosaur National Monu
ment, where numerous bones of
giant animals nave been en
tombed over the ages. Sen. Doug
las said he didn't believe the dam
there would flood the bones, as
charged by some, simply because
there wouldn't be enough water.
But he did believe the water
would fill the gorges and turn
the wilderness into a placid lake.
He said this was bad.
HAVE PITY
' "Pity," cried Sen. Joseph C.
O'Mahoney (DW'yo). "Have some
human pity upon us. Let us keep
-some of the rains that fall and
are carried away from our land
by this rushing river."
"The senator from Wyoming is
so superior to the senator from
Illinois," said the Sen. from Illi
nois, "that I cannot pity him. I
can only look up to him."
Sen. O'Mahoney said, anyhow,
his folks wanted to keep some
of their water behind the new
dams and what did the senator
want, to make a garden of the arid
acres, or preserve a cemetery for
old bones?
Sen. Douglas said bones didn't
matter, nor pity, either. He said
the country already was paying
dearly to water a lot of western
grass.
Sen. Clinton P. Anderson (D
NM) said what was wrong with
.grass? Sen. Douglas agreed it was
pretty, but declared it was a
poor crop to sprinkle with costly
water. Sen. Anderson sjid it
made fat cows. Sen. Douglas re
torted that Illinois corn n"ae 'en?
fatter.
Fact is, he said, it might be a
better idea to sprinkle a little
extra water on the Illinois and In
diana cornfields and quit trying
to make the desert bloom. He
also aid he'ddjnoticcd tjj.it the
Mountain States' senators always
were willing to vote for southern
flood control, so long as the
Southerners vote for w e s t e r n
dams.
TARIFF BARRIERS .
Sen. Anderson, jumped up to
say he'd never entered into such
a deal in his life. Sen. Douglas
said tacit understandings some
times worked more efficiently"'
than out-and-out trades. And an
other thing, he shouted, dams
weren't all the West had been git
ting. He charged that if the govern
ment weren't buying $30,000,000
worth of silver a year, the price
of same would drop and a bride
could get her knives and forks
at a reasonable price. The gov- j
ernmcnt held up the cost of sugar
for the West's benefit and also
the price of wool, he added.
"It would be much cheaper if
we got all our wool from Aus
tralia," he said.
He charged, furthermore, that
the Bureau of Reclamation was
trying to turn the nation's rugged
rivers into placid ponds. "Dam
up all these streams," he said,
"and we'll reduce the entire coun
try to a stale, tepid, uninteresting
level, good only for weekend pic
nics. We should keep some wild
places."
I do not believe the gentleman
from Illinois made many friends
from the West this day. He didn't
even seem to care.
(Distributed by United Feature
Syndicate, Inc.)
SO THEY SAY
We are now in an atomic age, ,
and haven't fulfilled all the re-
quirements of the automobile
age.
Gov. George Craig (R-Ind).
Anywhere will do. My am
bition is to make the Yankee
team.
--Elston Howard, sure shot to
be the Yanks' first Negro.
eVEMSFR or
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press 1 entitled e.
cluslvel? to the use for republication
of ell the local news printed In this
newspaper.
HERBERT BAKER, Managlns Editor
W. D DTAN News Editor
DAN H. SELLA0) City Editor
EDwft M. BAKER, Business Manaser
tC. PRESSMAN, Adrertlslnf Marnier
ARSE sROMM( ...ProdirUon -J
ROF$RT KgERTSCH . Proration "
JARL FUGLE CtrculaUon Manager ,,
B. JOHNSTON. JR Audit
!V A la