A Mff7 MOMS MtWaA(
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
ALTON F. BAKER Publisher ALTON F. BAKER JR. Editor
. ROBERT B. FRAZIER Associate Editor A. H. CURREY Associate Editor
SERVICES Associated Press, United Press International, Audit Bureau of Circulations
The Register-Guard's policy is the complete and impartial publication in its newr
pages 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
community, endeavoring to be -candid but fair and helpful in the development of
constructive community policy. A newspaper is A CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY.
Science Gap
1.11k - EUGENE, OREGON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1961
. . - r
pJabberwocky' Describes It Nicely
; There's an adage to the effect that a
"closed mouth gathers no foot. The Ore
..gonian's editors should memorize it
"and reflect upon it when next they feel
moved to write about "Tax Jabber-
wocky."
Last Saturday they published what
they must have intended as a rebuttal to
earlier disclosure here that Portland is
dogging it when it comes to employing
local property taxes for the support of
public education.
Instead, our peers at the Oregonian
only proved what we have insisted all
along. We quote them now:
The Eugene taxpayer pays a smaller muni
cipal tax than does his Portland counterpart,
because the smaller the city the less complex
the required services. And the Eugene tax
payer's county millage Is extremely low, less
than half that of the Portland taxpayer, be
cause Lane County gets a big help from 0 & C
land grant funds in meeting its budget..
Taking that first point first, we can
only conclude, again, that the Oregonian
expects to shift a larger portion of its
local school district's burdens to the
state-at-large, for no better reason than
I that it is a big-city district.
Portland is a big burg, sure. And a big
fprce, politically, in this state. But that
'really should have nothing to do with
the problem of putting state-collected
school support funds to use where they
are most needed.
. The Oregonian's argument that Port
land property owners are too heavily
burdened to support their own schools
as must those of other districts is re
futed by facts available right in the
Portland area. Statistically equalized tax
! rates for Portland, Gresham, Oregon City
. and Beaverton are now quoted from a
current tax study which the Oregonian
, editors seem to have read only for pur
poses of making Portland-Eugene com-
parisons. . .
m
Capita
m..
pr
citr
' Portland
. 1 Gresham
Oregfti
City ...$5,771
Beaverton $3,931
Capita Equallted MUlaies for!
$9,412
$5,345
Com. tax County Sen.
$147.74 6.S 12.0
$187.13 8.3
t ' "
$149.44 2.2
$110.28 3.2
17.1
1S.8
24.6
8.4
6.0
6.8
2.2
1.1
1.1
Considering its abilities to bear prop
, erty taxes, even Beaverton fe outclassing
Portland in willingness to pay its own
way particularly in regard to schools.
) Now,' as to the Oregonian's sly cut at
the O&C funds which help reduce county
taxes in 18 western Oregon counties, we
are, and have been, agreeable to a legis
lative interim committee recommenda
tion that these be to some degree
included in calculations meant to deter
mine relative needs for state "equaliza
tion" payments to local school districts.
As the Oregonian so rightly stated,
we do champion the principle that state
aid should go first to those districts
which are valuation-poor and pupil
pressed. ,
It is our view, however, that Port
landers are using the O&C issue only
as a smokescreen to hide behind while
they attack the equalization principle in
hopes of destroying it entirely. Similar
ly, it is purposeful that they cry "dis
crimination"; .complain that they have
too many tax demands upon them, be
cause they live in a big city; and, be
moan having only $5,412 assessed value
per capita.
, They are attempting to draw atten
tion away from one compelling truth.
We repeat that now. ,
Only 14 Oregon cities including
Portland and Eugene have $5,400 or
more assessed valuation per capita. Two
hundred and four have less! And, many
rural areas are without high-value in
dustrial and commercial properties
which they would need to match even'
the average city's property-tax abilities.
Clearly, equalization is needed in the
distribution of state school-aid funds in
order to guarantee every Oregon young
ster a sound, basic education. Clearly,
some youngsters could not be afforded
this guarantee if state aid were appor- .
tloned on the flat, per-pupil basis that
Portland favors. 1
! The Oregonian calls it loony logic to
suggest that Portland per capita taxes
should be higher than Eugene's or
Podunk's, we must suppose. '
What, may we ask, could be loonier
than to follow the Oregonian's brand of
logic to its conclusion? What could be .
more neatly termed "jabberwocky" than
a plea that state school-support funds
should be juggled to compensate Port
land simply because Eugene and Podunk
haven't yet increased their non-school .
property taxes to support zoos, munici
pal sports palaces and other necessities
of big-city status.
Bu Sylvia Porter . ' .'
Kennedy Moving Cautiously
With Anti-Slump Measures
M USSR...
, ..MRotrs on.....
Auto Madness
The most reasonable of us are un
reasonable where the automobile is con
cerned. We have the example of the 110
' pound woman who drives a two-ton car
, half a mile to get five pounds of gro
ceries. . -
And we have the 'case of her husband
who sneaks off work early so he can
. beat the 5 o'clock rush, squeaks through
, yellow and red lights , at breakneck
speeds and dashes into the house to
; watch television for the whole evening.
Who's Immoral?
' Just the other day Columnist Peter
( Edson pointed out that Communists are
' finding ready-mado propaganda in U.S.
; scandals involving morality, or the lack
of it, in business, labor and government
. hierarchies. '
Now the Milwaukee Journal reports
' that 1960 was a record year for fraud,
, embezzlement and petty thievery by
"trusted" employes of U. S. business
' firms.
The total take of clerks, typists, book
keepers, welders, deliverymen, house
keepers and other employes of every
1 kind has been estimated at close to one
I billion dollars. Authority for this, the
' Journal states, is a vice president of the
' world's largest employe bonding firm.
This news, added to all that Colum
nist Edson was referring to, leads one to
wonder how many Americans remain eli
gible to cast first stones in an offensive
against transgressors. But it' may help
explain why President Kennedy has
called upon Americans to follow higher
moral standards in private affairs.
Quite obviously It will be a red-letter
propaganda day for tho foes of democ
racy when they can circulato proof that
decadency in the U.S. is a general thing,
not an abberation that shows up only in
a few faithless leaders as they are ex
posed to the stark light of public in-
quiry. .
The Kind of 'Gap'
There has been consternation, under
standably, but more than that there
seems to be general misunderstanding
concerning this business of a "missile
gap."
Recently, when the Russians shot a
huge rocket toward Venus, we heard
comments that the old "missile gap" ap
parently still existed. That is, the U. S.
is yet several years behind the Russians
in long-range rocket capabilities.
Actually, this is not the case. The re- n
markable Venus shot by the Russians
definitely indicates a "space gap" but it
does not mean a "missile gap" in which
the Reds' nuclear capabilities with rock
ets is superior to ours. Even should the
Russians have more long-range missiles,
(which from all evidence is doubtful) we
have tremendous capability with our
strategically based intermediate missiles
and Polaris type rockets for a nuclear
deterrent.
In the high-powered, long-range shots
we admit the Russians are ahead of us.
It is a "space gap" that we should be
concerned about. It should spur us to
push ahead faster on the power side of
rocket development. But for nuclear war
head capabilities, the Russians know we
do not lag.
Admiral Off Base
Some of Vice Admiral Rickover's
views on U.S. education have indicated
penetrating Insight. Others haven't.
Now he's come .up with one that may
almost destroy his reputation as a com
petent critic. He suggests uniforms for
U.S. public school pupils.
This is glaring evidence that he knows
nothing of actual conditions among jun
ior and high school sets. Nowhere are
uniforms more cxactingly prescribed.
They vary from school to school and
month to month. But parents of teen-agers
have tho budget deficits to prove
thai their offspring are far fussier about
appearing in the proper uniform of the
day than any Navy man who ever lived.
...ITS V&lUS R0CKCT...
...PROGRESS
Peter Edson
K's Double-Talk Confuses Disarm Issue
Washington (NEA) The Ken
nedy administration apparently .
hopes that most progress can be
made in negotiations with Rus
sia's Khrushchev on the subjects
of disarmament '
and peaceful co
e x i s t e nee to
avoid World
War III.
. Khrushc h e v
has done a lot
of talking on
these subjects
as self-styled
champion of the
peace- loving
states.
But when his
words are examined closely, what
comes out is mostly double-talk.
This was particularly true when '
he reported on the recent Moscow
conference of Communit party
representatives from 81 coun- -,
tries. "
Here are significant excerpts
from his long Jan. 6 speech to .
Illustrate this point:
"Comrades, if the problem of
all problems of our times is that
of averting a new war, the most
radical way of solving it is dis
armament. ...Our struggle for
disarmament is not a tactical
move. We sincerely want disarma
ment, ... . .
Edson
"The struggle for disarmament
is the most important factor for
averting war. It is an effective
struggle against imperialism. In
such a struggle the socialist camp
has the majority of 'mankind on
its side.
"The struggle for disarmament
is an active struggle against im
perialism, for restricting its mili
tary potentialities
"The primary conditions of
progress in disarmament js the
mobilization- of the broadest
masses of people and their in
creasing pressure on imperialist
governments.
"In the capitalist camp, policy
regarding socialist countries fol
lows two trends: A militant ag
gressive trend and -a moderate
sober' trend. .,.
: "Lenin pointed out the neces
sity for establishing contacts with
those circles of the bourgeois
which gravitate toward pacifism;
even if they should be of the
poorest quality. . . . The correct
ness of these words is confirmed
by the events of our times, too. i
' "Among the ruling classes of
the imperialist camp, a fear for1
the future of capitalism prevails.
. . . Hence there are two tenden
cies: One is aiming at war, the
second accepting the . idea . of
peaceful coexistence in some
form. ... .
"Comrades, life itself bears
out the correctness of the Lenin
ist policy of peaceful coexistence
of states with diverse social sys
tems, consistently pursued by the
Soviet Union and other socialist
countries....
"Peaceful coexistence with
capitalist countries . . . facilitates
the activities of Communist par
ties and other progressive organi
zations of the working class. It
facilitates the struggle the people
wage against aggressive military
blocs, against foreign military .
bases.
' "Thus, the policy of peaceful
coexistence, as regards its social
content, is a form of intense eco
nomic, political and ideological
struggle of the proletariat against
the aggressive forces of imperial
ism in the international arena.
-.' "There is only one way of
bringing imperialism to heel . . .
an all-out unification and consoli
dation of the world revolutionary
movement-. . . to prevent the dan
ger of war.- - , .
"The Communist party of the
Soviet Union and the Soviet gov
ernment will continue with de
termination to do everything to
enhance the military might of our
country."
So far the Kennedy administra
tion has done little more to com
bat the current business down
turn than a Nixon administration
would have done and to date it
actually has
shown more cau
tion on anti
slump moves
than the Eisen
hower adminis
tration showed
during the last
downturn in
1958.
Cons idering
the torrent of
out of the White sy,vl
House on the economic situation,
the headline being made about
the level of unemployment, the
administration's efforts to prod
Congress into'passing urgent leg
islation to extend jobless benefits
and aid depressed areas, this ap
praisal well may startle you. But
read on and you'll have the facts
to confirm it.
(1) Government spending pro
grams and awards of defense con
tracts are being accelerated. This
is a continuation of the speed-up
begun during the Eisenhower ad
ministration in mid-1960 before
any GOP official pssplicly admit
ted a recession was on. As Prentice-Hall
emphasized, in July-November,
1960, military procure
ment obligations jumped 21 per
cent above the 1959 span and
this was no accidental rise.
In the 1958 recession govern
ment defense spending was
boosted much more. Prentice-Hall
estimates spending on defense
hard goods, in the first half of
1958 at almost double the total in
the preceding half.
(2) Spending on the highway
program is being speeded up too
another continuation of a move
initiated under Eisenhower. In
the 1958 recession this type of
spending was not only accelerated
but also increased by more than
a quarter-billion dollars.
(3) Unemployment insurance
is being extended to workers who
already have exhausted state
benefits, and liberalization of the
program is being pushed. Similar
moves were made in the 1958
downturn. Incidentally, the Ei
senhower administration rated
temporary aid to the unemployed
in that recession as the step of
greatest impact.
(4) The outflow of government
cash to individuals who might be
in most need now is being ac
celerated via an order to speed
up payment of dividends on vet
erans' life insurance and of tax
refunds. Orders of the same na
ture was issued in 1958.
(5) Pressure is being put on
home mortgage rates through re;
duction in FHA's charges, some
liberalization of housing credit
and an organized campaign to
talk down mortgage rates. Much
more than this was done to stim
ulate housing in 1958.
(6) The Federal Reserve Sys
tem has taken aggressive steps to
make credit easily available and
lower its cost in order tb en
courage increased borrowing for
homebuildings, new plants mod-,
1
In The Editors Mai I bag
About the Mission
EUGENE (To the Editor)
There still seems much, a way
too much talk or jabbering, and
not enough sound down to earth
reasoning about the Eugene Mis
sion. There are people that rightfully
say what they think without
thinking. '
They do not want the mission
in town; becauso they have, a self
ish attitude; they thlnlf only of
themselves ana to neii wun any
one, and everything else.
What they really mean is "I al
ways tako this stand toward the
down and outers."
I say God will take positive
Carmichael
hold on this issue, so let's all
pray. Pray hard enough so these
down and outers can have a place
to get in out of the storm and
cold, and be permitted to clean
up, and let them have a chance,
to try to be respectable, so that
they might join in and pray and
thank Almighty God; the one that
made it possible for them to have
; a chance in life and to thank the
one that made it possible.
If those children that run loose
.on the street were chaperoned
and disciplined they wouldn't be
: in jeopardy.
Let's all pray about it and get
in and keep these people that are
less fortunate than we, and watch
them be someone whether the
selfish people think so or not.
KENNETH BOTTOM
764 Clark Ave.
would create many new jobs our
President says are so badly
needed.
She advocates an expenditure
of $30 million (this is the Park
Service's own estimate. See page
25 of their economic survey) to
change the 12-month, multipur
pose economy of the Florence
Reedsport area to a three months
tourist economy, thus doing away
with many more jobs.
The seashore proponent's claim
that the seashore will, attract
enough new winter tourists to the
area to offset this loss of existing
economy is not supported by what
has actually happened in other
national parks and our one exist
ing seashore at Cape Hatteras.
Voluminous proof of this could
be cited but a resident of the Hat
teras area best summed it up to
us during our two weeks' visit
there this past October. He said
"We have a ball all summer and.
starve all winter."
It is all very confusing. Presi
dent Kennedy says we must spend
millions to create employment
Senator Neuberger says we must
spend millions to do away with
existing and potential jobs. Which
is right?
JOHN M. HAYES
Chairman,
Western Lane
Taxpayers' Assn.
ern equipment, etc. As our coun
try's central bank, the Federal
Reserve System acts independ
ently of the administration. It be
gan moving toward easier, cheap
er credit in early 1960 before
even its governors were sure
something was going wrong in
our economy. It also acted aggres
sively to ease credit and cut in
terest rates in 1958.
Of course, it's not entirely black
and white! A Nixon administra
tion wouldn't have favored so
broad a depressed areas bill nor,
probably, the quick expansion of
social security benefits proposed
by President Kennedy. It's un
likely that Nixon would have
urged a higher minimum wage
"immediately." Nixon's recom
mendations for "a new tax in
centive for businesses to expand"
undoubtedly would have been dif
ferent. '
But there's a provocative cau
tion in the pace and type of anti
recession action proposed to date,
and the resemblance between the
1958 anti-recession remedies and
the 1961 suggestions is, in Prentice-Hall's
words, "strikingly close
jn the broad outlines."
I hope it implies the Kennedy
administration's judgment that
this recession will be neither
serious nor persistent enough to
justify crash programs. I think it
implies just that.
(Distributed 1961 by The Hall
Syndicate, Inc.)
(All Rights Reserved)
Other Editors' Views
Full Cycle
In Freighting
From the Cleveland (Ohio)
Plain-Dealer
The newest item-of contention
tin the continuing squabble among
carriers involves the Internation
al Brotherhood of Teamsters who
are crying foul play because the
railroads are under-selling the
truckers in the business of trans
porting new automobiles.
The Teamsters, understand
ably, are trying to maintain jobs
for their drivers. But there is a
queer twist to the car-toting
trade. Total employment on the
nation's railroads is about half
what it was in 1930 and it is rea
sonable to assume that the com
petition from trucking lines hat
been responsible for most of this
job loss.
Other reasons would be rail-,
road cutbacks, mergers and auto
mation. In fact, it wasn't so long
ago that the federal government
told the nation's railroads, when
the latter went to Washington to
seek relief from losses, to do
something in the self-help area.
The railroads were told to find
ways of helping themselves.
One of the ways discovered was
the specially - designed tri- level
railroad car which can carry up
to 15 regular sized autos or 18
compact cars. This is the tech
nique which the Teamsters com
plain is unfair competition and
which threatens truckaway job
maintenance in the union.
Thus the cycle is complete.
Railroads get business as a mono
poly at one time, railroads lose
business to truckers, railroads
win business back. In the steady
advance of technology jobs dis
appear in wholesale lots. But are
the Teamsters interested in what
became of the almost half a mil
lion railroad employes whose jobs
disappeared in the last 30 years?
So They Say-
How do we intend to conquer
space and survive when only
about 50 per cent of our mala
population has enough physical
efficiency to be qualified to wear
the uniform of our armed serv
ices? Col Frank 1. Kones. director of
physical educaUon at West Point.
, H'S PRICE'S
vVoijip be Very
reasoma&le IP
he Weren't jch a
6PURIY PRtSStR
Mttt aana'(?tf a
VETERINARIAN
il
Seashore and Jobs
WESTLAKE (To the Editor)
The new administration is greatly
concerned over the unemploy
ment situation. It plans to spend
millions of dollars to correct this
situation by creating new jobs and
increasing unemployment bene
fits. On the other hand our new
senator appears to be doing every
thing in her power to add to the
administration's difficulty in solv
ing this problem by her single
minded advocacy of a national
seashore on the Oregon coast.
She has recently stated that
she may disapprove of the Inter
national Paper Company's pro
posed pulp mill at Gardiner sole
ly on the basis that it would
detract from her seashore, regard
less of the fact that this mill
MEMBER OP
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Thn Auoclaltd Pros la ntttlea'
eluslvtly to tha usa of republication
of all th local nawt printed la tills
oswipaar.
.V1LLIAM L. WASMANN, Ncwa Editor
DONN L. BONHAM City Editor
EDWIN M. BAKER, Buslniu Hinaftr
JARL E. FUGLE, Circulation Manasrr
ROBERT K. BERTSCH Promotion
W B, JOHNSTON JR. Auditor
ARM STROMMER Production
Jerry Bennett
Kennedy's Will Weakens on Liquid Diet'
WASHINGTON (NEA) Even
President Kennedy's strong will
power weakens when it comes to
going on a diet. Recently, the
chief executive decided to lose
'some weight by drinking one of
the popular low calorie liqnid
foods. But at least one person
saw him using the concoction to
wash down two sandwiches.
NEW DEFINITION of a gour
met: Someone who can tell when a
hot buttered rum is made with
margarine.
SAYED HAQ, Pakistan em
bassy press attache, quips that
informing Americans about his
country definitely has its limits.
He recently received a letter from
a school child which read:
"I am very interested in learn
ing about Pakistan. Would you
please mail me literature about
it and the press attache, too?"
PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S plan
to revive the food stamp plan
for depressed areas has sparked
this gag:
The colors of the old stamps
were blue and orange. But since
no Irishman would stand for an
orange stamp, the colors will
probably be changed to green
and gold.
SCOUTING OFFICIALS were
particularly proud to announce
that President Kennedy and eight'
of his 10 Cabinet members had
'been Boy Scouts.
Robert S. McNamara, ' secre
tary of defense, and Orville L.
Freeman, secretary of agricul
ture, were the only ones to attain
the rank of Eagle Scout.
But Dean Rusk, secretary of
state, was the knot-tyin cham
pion of the Atlanta region. And
Robert Kennedy, attorney gen
eral, had the distinction of be
ing a Scout in another country.
He joined the Scouts in Eng
land where he lived from 1937-40
while his dad was ambassador to
the Court of St. James'.
KATHRYN LARSEN. 9year
old daughter of Washington
executive and former NEA cor
respondent Douglas Larsen, went
to the National Press Club's week
ly family night buffet decked out
in a new muff and pillbox hat.
When she got on the elevator,
a man remarked "Trjat young lady
looks just like Jackie Kennedy."
"You're mistaken," said a voice
in the rear. "She must be Bobby's
wife." " -
MRS. JAMES ROOSEVELT,
wife of the Democratic congress
man from California, went to the
Sheraton-Park Hotel to hav
Natalie Greer, the dressmaker, .
alter one of her formal gowns.
She got the room number from
the clerk, located the right door
and knocked. A woman opened
the door, acknowledged that she
was Mrs. Greer and then looked
completed baffled when Mrs.
Roosevelt handed her the dress.
Mrs. Roosevelt had the same
reaction when she saw a big sign
on the wall which read, "Republi
cn National Committee," Turned
out the clerk had directed her to
Mrs. Mary Greear of the com
mittee's staff who was using the
room for a Republican women
meeting.
AT A BOY SCOUT anniversary
breakfast here, 14-year-old Eagla
Scout Richard E. Osher of San
Diego, Calif., made a speech so
eloquent that Rep. Bob Wilson
(RCalif.) cracked:
"I'm sure glad he has 11 year
to go before he is old enough to
run against me."