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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1961)
Peter Edson Every Day Is MotKer's Day , Eric Sevaretd IAN C0UKr7T IIAMK . AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER 'i Published every evening and Sunday morning, by the Guard Publishing Co. ALTON F. BAKER The Register-Guard's policy is the complete and impartial publication in itt newt pages of all news and statements on news. On this page, the editors of the Register-Guard offer their opinions on eoents of the day and matters of importance . to the community, endeavoring to be candid but fair and helpful in the development of construc tive community policy. A newspaper is a, CITIZEN OF ITS . COUMVN1TY. ' Chairman of the Board ALTON F. BAKER JR. Editor and Publisher EDWIN H. BAKER , General Manager ' ROBERT B. FRAZIER Associate Editor A. H. CURREY - Associate Editor Services Associated Press, United Press International, Audit Bureau of Circulations EUGENE, OREGON, SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1961 Election Proved That Eugeneans Do Care With almost half of all eligible voters participating, Thursday's special city election lived up to its advance billing as one of the most important in the his tory of Eugene. The vpters demonstrated in no un certain terms that they do want and are willing to pay reasonable taxes to have a progressive city administration. At the same time, the voters evidenced strong doubt about plans thus far advanced for the handling of mounting city traffic problems and, accordingly, they chose to put a new Vein on the City Council's authority in this area of administration. i Both of these results indicate strong citizen interest in city affairs. Made in the decisive manner that they were, they are incontestable evidence that Eugene residents intend to maintain strong in terest in their municipal government. And, in the final analysis, this may be the most important fact in any post mortem on the election. : ; Favorable votes on the city hall, city employes' salary and park issues have guaranteed the city's progress toward more efficient government and toward maintaining Eugene's beauty and recrea tional advantages through years of fur ther growth. t Members of the City Council will feel, on the other hand, that progress toward a workable and least costly solu tion of street problems has been slowed by adoption of the so-called "freeways" charter amendment. And, we will agree that it has. ' t But we hope the council will take due note of the fact that the unprece dented turnout for Thursday's special election was a demonstration that the people do care about the future of this city. The voters disagreed with the coun cil, with other authorities and with this newspaper on the freeways amendment. But they were not apathetic, and it would have been far worse had they shown mere apathy or unwillingness to turn out and vote against the council on this issue. Looking ahead, the council must pro ceed to demonstrate the. need for con . trolled-access trafficways across our city. Then, we feel confident, the same sort of interest displayed Thursday will come to focus in support of suitable project plans. It will take longer this way to achieve results, and the results will come higher priced because of lost opportunities to act on right-of-way purchases and to have proper flexibility in project procedures. However, these facts also will become apparent to the people. .And then the people will be amenable to rescinding the checkrein imposed upon the council. Meanwhile, they, need mpre proof that controlled-access routes will be planned with the greatest care and in the most practical manner. That's the nub of it. That's the lesson shown in the compound results of Thursday's election. 2 'Reverends' The Oregon Journal quite properly lectures its readers on the use of the honorific "Reverend" as applied to members of the clergy. "Reverend," the Portland dally points out, is an adjective, like "Honorable." The Rev. ohn Jones Is no more "Reverend Jones" than the Hon. Mark 0. Hatfield, governor of Ore gon, is "Honorable Hatfield." However, such titles as governor and senator are nouns. Senator Morse, Gov-; ernor Hatfield. Fine. But not Honorable Morse or Reverend Jones. Yet, the use of the bucolic, even rus tic, "Reverend" handle seems to be grow ing, especially as it applied to Protes tant divines. "Reverend Jones will ask , the blessing," says many an emcee. This brings a well-taken cringe to the sensi tive. The Rev. Billy Graham is quoted by the Journal as saying that it makes him cringe, too. He'd prefer "Mr." "Dr." works in cases where the clergyman holds an honest-to-goodness doctorate. But it is fatuous in cases where the man's ' "doctorate" is a fly-by-night honorary. In 1929 there appeared in the Ala bama Christian Advocate the following clergyman's lament: : Call me "Brother" if you 'will; Call me "Parson" better still. Or if, perchance, the Catholic frill Doth your heart with longing fill Though plain "Mister" fills the bill, Then even "Father" brings no chill , Of hurt or rancor or ill-will. . To no D.D. do I pretend. ; . ' , Though "Doctor" doth some honor lend, "Preacher," "Pastor," "Rector," "Friend," Titles, almost without end ; Never grate and ne'er offend; i. A loving ear to all I bend. But how the man my heart doth rend, Who blithely calls me "Reverend." We join the anonymous clergyman (even as we deplore his bad verse) and the Journal and The Rev. Billy ("Mr.") Graham in the rear-guard action against the hick title. But we fear it's a losing battle. What We Deserve Popular dissatisfaction with the an tics of this year's legislature may show up again when the legislators again ask for more pay. Some citizens, disgusted With the present group of legislators, may argue that they don't deserve any more money. They can, and will, cite instances of churlish behavior and of arrogant disregard of public sentiment. They will vote against any improvement In the legislative pay scale. i Unfortunately, they will not realize that they are making the situation worse, not better, byv refusing to bring legis lativt pay tip to a decent level. One of the great problems is personnel turn over. Member after member finds he can't afford the luxury of legislative service. He resolves that this is his last term. And when a politician gets the idea that he isn't going to have to lace the voters again, he often becomes care less. ' , Some voters yearn for better candi dates, candidates who can beat the peo ple who keep getting elected year after year. Among the veteran members are some of the spite experts who view the ' legislative halls as their personal arenas for combat. But they won't be defeated until better candidates appear to run against them. And better candidates won't appear until they can afford to appear. Criticism, some of it justified, is lev eled at members who spend a lot of eve nings as dinner guests of lobbyists. The argument runs that these men don't need more money. They're eating free any how. This, too, is a short-sighted argu ment. One way to break the half-Nelson the lobbyists seem to have on some legislators is to permit the members to be independent. ' In industry, an employer who finds that a job is not being done well hires a new man, probably at the old pay rate. If, however, a number of men employed at the old rate don't cut the mustard, the boss goes out and hires a good man, at more money if necessary. Then he gets the job done. - In employe relations, as in many oth er things, we get about what we pay for. If this legislature has had its faults, and it certainly has, who is to say that we really deserve anything better? By the Numbers? - Numerologists must be having a field day pointing out that the world's first men in space both have 11 letters in their complete names. And, that Alan Shepard and Yuri Gagarin have the same number of letters in both their given and their surnames. We're just not sure how this system of occultism works, this divination by numbers. But we can see that it's easy to stir interest in it by citing apparent numerically significant facts in retro spect. For example, both Fidel Castro and Jack Kennedy's complete names count to 11 letters; there are nine letters each in the words democracy and communism. But freedom Is a longer word in this country ' than libertad in Cuba even though it is spelled with one less letter. Law Limits Contributions For Politics WASHINGTON (NEA) The transcript of Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall's press confer ence, in which he denied, charges that he has asked J. K. Evans of Asiatic Petrole um Co. to solicit funds for the Democratic par ty $100-a-plate dinner honoring President Ken nedy on May 27, reveals these significant quo tations: UDALL: "We Edson are not doing anything in this department, I will tell you categorically, because I know whereof I speak, in terms of fund raising for party dinners that the previous administration didn't do . . . "But this is one of the facts of lifp, and I and most of us here are making the usual efforts that, are made in an administration to help sell tickets to party dinners, and I don't blink at that fact, either." . .THE PRESS: "What fact?" UDALL: "Well of approaching the people in your department, those who might have Schedule C jobs and G-9 or G-10, or contact- , ing other persons who have con tracts with the department, urg ing them to buy tickets and attend the dinner. SLIGHT CONFLICT "I think this is the standard method of procedure that has al ways been followed by both par ties in selling tickets to their fund-raising functions. It is not the most pleasant function a per son has, but it is part of what we have to do." What Secretary Udall said above would seem to be in slight conflict with what Democratic National" Committee Finance Chairman Matthew McCloskey told this reporter about selling tickets, i - "We're not selling any tickets," McCloskey insisted, as reported in a previous column. "The laws don't allow us to sell tickets," Mc Closkey continued. "But if any one sends us $100, we'll send him a free ticket .to the dinner.". McCloskey's mention of "the laws" sounded rather intriguing. Several people volunteered to look them up. NOT EXEMPT The U. S. criminal code, Sec. 118-0, Is entitled "Removal From Office for Soliciting or Accepting Political Contributions," , a n d reads as follows: s "Any executive officer or em ployee of the United States not appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Sen . ate, who shall request, give to, or receive from,- any other officer or employee of the government any money or property or other thing of value for political pur poses shall be at once discharged from the service of the United ' States." The fact that Secretary Udall and his assistant secretaries are confirmed by the Senate would exempt them from this law. But it would not exempt the "Schedule C" people whom the secretary, talked about in his press conference remarks quoted above. Schedule C employes are the appointed, confidential and policy-making assistants who are out side tho civil service, so if any of them request, give to, or re ceive from any other officer of the government any money for political purposes, they can be fired. With regard to the G-9 and G-10 employees the secretary talk ed about, these are the top-grade civil service people who make from $6,435 to $8,480 a year, in cluding their longevity allowance. OTHER RESTRICTIONS A Civil Service Commission pamphlet titled "Political "Activ ity," which is revised and pub lished every year, gives this clear interpretation of the law: "While employees may make contributions, they, may not so licit, collect, receive, disburse or otherwise handle contributions made for political purposes. Em ployees may not be concerned di rectly or indirectly in the sale of dinner tickets of a political party organization or in the dis tribution of pledge cards solicit ing subscriptions to dinners . . . It is not permissible for a federal administrative official to furnish the names of his personnel and their addresses for the purpose of political solicitation. "In addition, certain sections of the criminal code place re strictions on contributions by federal employees. Contributions may not be handed over to an other person in the federal serv ice; they may not bo made in a public building, etc These sections of the criminal code are within the jurisdiction of the De partment of Justice, and the law provides severe penalties for violations." fccfl IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG 'Only One Hope' . EUGENE (To the Editor) Three and one half months be fore Nikita Khrushchev visited the U. S. he spoke before his henchmen and declared, "We can not expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to commun ism, but, we can assist their elect ed leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism, until they suddenly wake up to find they have communism. ' Urban renewal is one of those small doses of communism he is talking about. First communism will destroy our economic system, or capital ism. Second our elected leaders will legislate all private rights to own property, and, in Oregon, the condemnation law which was passed, without the people's con sent, gives our state leaders this right. " If there is any doubt in any one's mind about this law I sug gest they write to Salem and ask for a copy. At the present time the officers of urban renewal, all over our state, are condemning property of home owners to va cate homes (which they have bought and paid for by their own efforts, without the help of gov ernment). We have been lulled to sleep by the cry of "peace," allowing ourselves to be taxed to . support the Communist re gimes of Poland, Cuba, Yugo slavia, etc. Now we are asked to givo up our property rights, or, be forced to do so. There is only one hope for our country. The people. We either awaken and take action against these leaders we have in office, by replacement, or we will fall like an overripe apple into the Communist 'camp. EDITH PHETTEPLACE 2086 Potter St. DST Opponent SPRINGFIELD (To the Ed itor) First I wish to congratu late Orion T. Millaway on . his excellent article regarding police wages as compared to other work ers which was published in the May 7 Eugene Register-Guard. However, my major gripe is the daylight saving time issue. Mr. Charles A. Voss didn't go far enough in his complaint on day light saving time. I agree almost completely with his article, ex cept his statement regarding the liberty and freedom giyen us by our state officials. We, the people, put those officials in of fice and we, the people, can take them out. We put them in office to carry out the' wishes o the people as a whole, and not just a fraction thereof. I know that our U.S. legislators can, with the necessary two thirds t both houses, override the President of the United States; and our state legislators, .by the same token, can override our governor. All of which is fine! But when has our Legis lature been given the power to override the vote of the people? In my opinion, that is just what our state legislators have done. This issue of daylight saving time has been voted out three times by the people of this state and like in baseball, three strikes is OUT, and not for just a "decent length of time," as the Eugene Register-Guard so kindly stated a few days ago. However, I don't agree with their, added statement that the people were so wrong. I think a paper should confine itself to printing the news and not its opinion of the people. ROY R. BRAINARD , 190 N. 51st St. Glenwood Congressional Quiz Redisricting: You'll Need Four Correct Answers By Congressional Quarterly MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press Is milled ex clusively la the use of republication of all the local newt printed In this newspaper. WILLIAM L. WASMANN, Nel Editor DONN L. RONHAM City Editor JARL E. FUGLE, circulation Manager ROBERT K. BERTSCH Promotion W. B. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor ARNE STROMMER Production As a result of the 1960 Census, a number of states gain or lose seats in Congress. To accommo date the changes, these states are in the process of redrawing their congressional district boundaries often provoking sharp contro-' versics in the process. This quiz, designed to test your knowledge of the redisricting issue, calls for ,four correct answers. 1. Q As a result of the 1960 Census, nine states gained con gressmen, (a) Eight;, (b) Six teen; (c) Twenty-four states lost representation because of the population count? A (b). Pennsylvania will lose the greatest number three of its 30 seats. California, which also had 30 seats, will gain eight. , 2. Q Redistricting laws passed by some state legislatures have been challenged through referendum procedures. True 5, or false: If a referendum peti tion is submitted to the state with the required number of signatures the legislation in . question is automatically killed? A False. When such a peti tion is received, the state is required to submit the legisla tion in question to a popular vote. Twenty-one states have referendum laws. 3. Q True or false: If redistrict ing laws are effectively chal lenged by referendum many states may elect represents- 6. tivos-at-large in 1962? A True. If redistricting is not completed by 1962 in states which gain representation, only the additional scats will be contested in state-wide elec tions. However, in those which lose seats the entire congres sional delegation will be elect ed at-largc. 4. Q Many political scientists and practical politicians op pose the election of congress- men-at-large. Which of the fol lowing is not argued against at-large elections: (a) It would be too expensive for a candi date to run in statewide elec tions every two years; (b) It would strengthen the congres sional committee seniority sys tem; (c) It would be difficult for representatives of large districts to give proper atten tion to the interests of con stituents? A (b). The seniority system, through which a congressman is appointed to a committee and gains committee rank, is dependent upon the successive re-election of incumbents. Po litical scientists and practical politicians feel that there is less chance for successive re election in a state-wide elec tion than in a congressional district election. Q True or false: When a state alters its congressional districts it also automatically alters state legislature dis tricts? A False. States must redis " trict for congressional seats or face at-large elections if their representation is changed due to shifts in the national popu lation. So far, the Constitution has not been interpreted as re quiring states to revise state legislature districts to conform with population shifts within the state. Q When redistricting, the majority party in the state legislature sometimes tries to create "safe" districts for members of its own party. What is the political term for this action? A When arbitrary district boundaries are established to benefit one party the district has been "gerrymandered." (Copyright 1961, Congressional Quarterly Inc.) GLENWOOD (To the Editor) After reading the letter, from Helen Hubbell, especially the part saying, "Mrs. Steele has a fanatical attitude,"' I would like to say that apparently Mrs. Hub bell has no idea how most of , the Glenwood people feel' about ur ban renewal. Some have lived here many years and love the beautiful district and never want to leave it. As far as Mrs. Hub bell saying nothing in the last 20 years has changed for the better in this area, this is completely untrue. Lots of us are proud of our homes and yards and we don't need her or anyone to print lies about us, and that's just what she did. We moved here 13 years ago and have a three-bedroom home with two acres of land, which about a month ago a real estate agent came to us and asked if he could list for sale as business property. We did, at a price of $40,000, and they set the price. Now I wonder if Mrs. Hubbell thinks urban renewal would pay anywhere near that? Most of us think the whole idea of renewal is not to benefit us homeowners but to help the busi nessmen buy the land cheap. And I mean the businessmen that started it in the first place for this district. But nO matter what happens, I believe people that have so many nasty things to say about Glenwood and the people living in it should mind their own business. It's for sure noNone was interested in Glenwood until it became so valuable to both towns. MRS. GORDON BAKER 298 N. Brooklyn St. Carmichael rfe THE OnllV oiJE ivJ THE MeigHborHoop WITH A PRIVATE BATH- it His Victory Backfiring On Castro SAO PAULO, Brazil The young Cuban Democrats who fell on the beaches of the Bay of Pigs did not die- in vain, nor has United States leadership of the Latin American b 1 0 c of nations been wrecked by the double image of aggres sion and incom petence that we projected in the'' tragic invasion' affair. The more one t r a v e 1 s," reads and con verses, the more Sevareid evidence demonstrates, that the mad defiant gesture of tho so youthful Cubans won the hearts of millions among the essentially humanistic peoples of Latin America. .' Great numbers, especially among the young, have turned furiously and defiantly anti-Castro. The former picture 'of the overbearing Yankee colossus bullying a weak nation is fading, and now the dominating mental image is of a brutish, bullying Castro slavering over the anguish of his victims. By long condition ing most Latin Americans resent the top dog no matter his name or nationality, and Castro, not Kennedy, now suddenly appears top dog here in modernized, in dustrialized South Brazil. TWO BLUNDERS I have observed the same back lash against the Communists I saw in feudalistic northeast Bra zil. Castro blundered in making a Roman circus of his captives. He has made a more far-reaching blunder in formally proclaiming Cuba a member of the Commun ist bloc and refusing elections. By this move, as the "Jornal Do Brasil" has put it, "Castro burned -his ships." Four leading papers 'in Sao Paulo immediately endorsed tha Kennedy proposal for joint Latin American sanctions against Cuba, and great numbers of individual liberals, land reformers and gen eric anti-Yanquis are getting off the burning ships as fast as they can. Like the C. Wright Millses and Kenneth Tynans and other "Let's be fair to Cuba" first guessers in New York and Lon don, they cannot defend the re gime in Cuba now, unless they are equally ready to defend tha regime in Hungary or Czechoslo vakia. UNCONTROLLABLE DRIVES The same phenomenon appar ently is' occurring in every major South American city. As of right now, Castro is not splitting tha Latin bloc he is pulling large parts of it together. Himself he will pull down sooner or later. He is bound to by the uncontrollable drives of his own psyche, even if outside pressures do not touch him, for his is unmistakably the psyche that can exist and feel alive only in crisis and drama, that cannot plan or build or tol erate peace and normalcy, and that has within it the martyr's - drive and death wish that forces such a personality to pull down the temple upon himself. He has the emotional structure of the late Joseph McCarthy brilliant, fearless, bulldozing, heedless, ut terly reckless and without plan, and impervious to the feelings of others. 1 The other night I sat in a Bra zilian patio with a Cuban lawyer who had gone to school with Castro. He told me the story which I cannot relate in its full . maniacal flavor, of 16-year-old Fidel and the mountain: "So the professor said to ma you go and talk Fidel out of this crazy notion to climb the moun tain. So I went to Fidel and in 30 minutes he had talked me into joining his expedition. So two of us rode the train with Fidel, three, four hours. We got off at a village. 'Where is the moun tain, Fidel?' we asked him. 'This way,' he said. 'Just follow me. So we walk, we walk all night. In the morning there is no moun tain. 'Just follow me,' Fidel said. 'OF COURSE' We walk all day. At night thera is still no mountain and we hava to sleep. 'How do we sleep here in the jungle?' we ask Fidel. 'We have these tents,' said Fidel. We struggle with the tents and say, 'Fidel, how do we make the tents work?' And he shrugs his shoul ders and says, 'How do I know about tents?' So we lie on the ground wtih the canvas over us like blankets. In the morning we have no more food and Fidel says, 'We find food some way, I guess.' So we eat some fruit on the way, but we are very hungry. We walk all day again and sleep the same way, hungry, all bit ten by mosquitoes, filthy, but we find the mountain." "Did you climb it?" I asked. "Of course we climb it. You cannot stop Fidel, you cannot argue with Fidel. We climb it, and the Fidel Castro expedition gets in the papers and everything, but the thing was, when we get down, we find there is a smooth road right from the railroad to the foot of the mountain and we could have found the mountain in three, four hours of walking. What a leader! This Fidel he gets where he is going, but I tell you, he never know how, he don't care how, to make plans is a bore to Fidel. He just goes, goes and you got to go with him, or too bad." (Distributed lWil by Tha Hill . Syndicate, inc.)
