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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1962)
LAMB COW MNI MIMU AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1927-1961 ALTON F. BAKER JR. Editor and Publisher EDWIN M. BAKER General Manager RICHARD A. BAKER Managing Editor ROBERT B. FRAZIER Associate Editor A. H. CURREY Associate Editor The Register-Guard's policy it the complete and impartial publication in its news 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 construc tive community policy. A newspaper is a CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY. Published every evening and Sunday morning by the Guard Publishing Co. 8A EUGENE, OREGON, SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 1962 Success Story , Esy Rubenstein rose from pushcart vendor to become one of the West's lead ing furniture dealers. Actually, that is, not figuratively. Mr. Rubenstein's early business ven tures in this country included selling wares from street-to-street in New York, his stock displayed on a cart which he, himself, pushed to where he might find customers. Then he moved to Eugene to find greater opportunity. Through depression times and all, Esy Rubenstein kept moving ahead, seeking customers, especially satisfied ones. He was a dealer in hides and wool, in second-hand goods and in small-town furniture offerings before he developed the financial means and the reputation which enabled him to expand the Ruben stein Furniture Co. into one of the most complete furniture markets on the West Coast. Nor was this the complete measure of his success. Born in Poland, he had not come to the United States until he was 23 and did not settle in Eugene until he was 31. Yet he became a community leader, prominent in service, fraternal and religious organizations. It must have pleased Esy Rubenstein to see his sons and grandsons continue to develop his furniture firm after ill health forced him to retire. The declin ing years prior to his death at 80 must have been made easier for him as na tional retailing awards and national pub licity were accorded the company that carries his name and the stamp of his character. Eugene lost one of its most excep tional citizens when Mr. Rubenstein died Thursday. But, as the good works of a man live on, his memory will not be soon forgotten. Generations yet to enter the affairs of this community will be told the story of Esy Rubenstein, will be shown the business he built, will see the wide-ranging delivery trucks which have long since replaced his pushcart and will be heartened to attempt things in life which they might otherwise have thought impossible. " Deserve a Chance Two weeks ago, writing on events in the Dominican Republic, we observed, "The most perilous hour of any nation is the hour of its birth." Ensuing events have proved this true. For a day or two It appeared that the new government, which sought to establish a legitimate regime, was dead, the victim of an old style Caribbean junta. But as this is written, the "good guys" are back in office. , "But," asks a skeptic, "are we sure they're good guys?" No, we're not. However, appear ances are promising. The Balaguer Bonnelly group, now led by Bonnclly, appear to have the greater popular sup port, appear to be moderate where others are extreme, appear to offer dig nity where the others offer repression. True, appearances can be deceiving. Look at the Castro example. In De cember of 1958, when he was kicking the old dictator out of Havana, Castro had the admiration of many Americans. However, it wasn't more than a week or so after he assumed power that his in tentions became clear. The Bonnclly group in the Dominican Republic, however, looks much better than Castro looked, even before he came to power. Especially because the situation in the island republic is so mercurial, the moderate group needs all the help it can get in this most perilous of its hours. This help, apparently, the United States and other American nations are willing, even eager, to give. Our recognition of the Balagucr government was speedy. Other Latin nations, which had given the Dominican Republic the deep freeze for many months, also expressed their good will. At any rate, the moderates deserve a chance. If they prove to be Castros, then the rug ca-s be pulled. But if they don't get support, they can't possibly survive lire km! of streag-arm politics their ne mo: villi K aQtt iwm. Interlude Lately, while most of the rest of the nation has been battling blizzards and near-historic low temperatures, our area has, by comparison, been a banana belt. Now we have snow. We've had it be fore, and we'll have it again from time to time, a few inches at a time. True, a little' of this stuff is enough. But this weekend should be proof that even our worst weather is good weather, relatively speaking. It has been five winters since last we had snow that stayed on the ground more than a week before it melted away. Official climato logical records show that, on the historic average, the Eugene area has had more than 1 inch of snowfall on but three days each year. We might as well go out and enjoy the snow while it's here. Soon it'll be back to banana belt living for us. i !. im vbaarliiT i iMtoftSlftterttiiir t n mm n ins&nm He Was There Among the misunderstood words list "negotiation." Webster's New World Dictionary defines it as "a conferring, discussing, or bargaining to reach agree ment, as in business transactions or state matters." But in diplomacy it can mean more than that. It can mean action as well as chatter. One veteran of across-the- table en counters with the Russians is Dean Ache son, Truman's secretary of state and a prime target for Sen. Joe McCarthy, way back when. He spent 10 years of his life talking to Russians, sometimes with suc cess,' sometimes getting his fingers burned. In his fascinating new book, "Sketches from Life, of Men I Have Known," the former secretary makes these observations on "negotiating": To our minds international conferences and international negotiations are so com pletely means for ending conflict that we are blind to the fact that they may be and, in the hands of experts, are equally adapted to continuing it. In the present century the Soviet state has perfected the use of negotia tion, including negotiation by mass confer ence, as a method of warfare; this long ante dates the Communists. A classic example is the negotiation conducted at Canton by the Chinese with Lord Napier of Merchiston, rep resenting the British government, in the 1830s. . . . The similar use of negotiation by the Com munists at Brest-Litovsk in 101718 and Pan munjon in 1951-1953 was worthy of the model. "There is no alternative to negotiations with the Russians" is the constant theme of a well-known columnist and a prominent politi cian in this country and of a large section of the British Labor party. This is, of course, silly. For if there is no alternative, and if the Russians will only negotiate, as is now the case, on their own terms, then there is no al ternative to surrender. But there plainly is an alternative, which is by action to change the attitude of the other party. Negotiation should not be, as some conceive it, mere talk apart from action. Negotiation and action arc parts of one whole. Action is often the best form of negotiation. It affects the environment, which in large part is likely to determine the outcome of negotiation. The sputniks were powerful moves in negotiation: so was the Marshall Plan. Mr. Khrushchev at the 1960 Paris Summit Meeting, as at the New York General Assembly, was affecting the environ ment of international relations. He was using conference and the forms of negotiation as an Instrument of war. Thus by Mr. Acheson's definition, al most anything we do in international af fairs is "negotiation." The Communists were negotiating with us when they put up their Berlin wall. We were negotiating when we beefed up our military strength there. Similarly we are negotiating even when we refuse to meet them at a con ference table for more of the old stall. Medical Advice Already 1962 has been a great year for doctors, those ignored gentry who must feel frustrated most of the time. "Thou shalt not smoke so many cigarettes," says the doc. We reach for another. "Thou shalt not booze it up so much," he intones as we reach up on the shelf for something to ward off the cold. "Thou shalt not eat so much fatty food," he orders as we make a break fast of deep-fried bacon. "Thou shalt not this and thou shalt not that." Yet, on we go. But now the family physician advises, "Thou shalt not do the tw ist." Okay, Doc. You're the doctor. (Courtesy of Chicago Historical Society) The Sinking of the Alabama In the Climactic Naval Duel of the War, the USS Kearsarge Sends the Rebel Raider to the Bottom Off the French Coast Civil War Accompanied by a Revolution at Sea Both Sides Used ; . , , . -j New Weapons, '. ' f New Strategies ' v EDITOR'S NOTE: Some times lost in the drama of the Civil War's bloody land bat tles is the story of txoo scrap ping nawies who created their own nautical revolution with daring and ingenious imple ments of war. This neglected sector of the North-South conflict is explored and ex plained by an associate editor of American Heritage. By JOSEPH L. GARDNER Looking back to the Civil War, most Americans today re member the panoramic clashes of vast land armies at seeming ly inconsequential points like Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettys burg. They recall the dedica tion of Abraham Lincoln, the imperturbable nobility of Rob ert E. Lee, and the relentless drive of Ulysses S. Grant. But how many know that a Confederate submarine was the first underwater vessel to sink a warship in combat; that a naval fightto-the-finish was waged a few miles off the coast of France; and that, two months after the collapse of the Con federacy, a Southern commerce raider was setting fire to Yankee vessels in the Bering Sea? Actually, the Civil War in volved a far-Hung struggle at sea as well as the better known contest on land, and the war years witnesses a naval revolu tion that has perhaps more con sequence today than the heroic meetings of Northern and Southern armies. A Turning Point The first year of the Civil War coincided with a dramatic shift in ship design, as the two navies made the transition from wooden sailing vessels to steam powered ironclads. -cris 77r ?v -. ' -( . ."it--"'"1 J" '." . " ' "" " . ... , . ' . i i 'J (Courtesy of Confederate Mussum) The Confederate Submarine Hunley She Was Tiny, Primitive and Deadly to Her Crews, but Very Effective Although the Initial encounter between the two famed iron clads, the Merrimack and the Monitor, was singularly inde cisive, it marked a turning point in the history of naval warfare. Its navy was small and out moded at the beginning of the war, but the North had a clear superiority over the South in the industrial resources and manpower that would make a naval revolution possible. And it also had Gideon Welles. Throughout the war the inde fatigable secretary of the Navy labored unceasingly to build a new navy. Over 200 ships were built and some 400 others pur chased as the Union Navy grew from a pathetic 90 vessels in 1861 'to the 671 noted in Welles' report to Congress in December, 1864. All this was accomplished despite constant pressure and attacks from the press, greedy contractors, con- I In the Editor's Mailbag I Letters intended for the Editor's Mailbag column miut be signed with the correct name and address of the writ er. No anonymous letters will be published. Letters of less than 350 words in length will be given preference, as will those in which the writer confines his remarks to one topic. '(It)' Is Reported' EUGENE (To the Editor) I would like to say a few words about the "turn toward peace" effort mentioned by the stu dent, Larry Jones, in yesterday's Guard. Is he suspect because he is a university student? Let your own conscience dictate, Larry There is one thing about which I can bo positive. I have no confidence nor respect for any person or organization which professes one policy and course of action, then arts out anolher in opposition to the first. The "Fellowship of Reconcili ation" listed on the "turn to ward peace" effort's brochure as one of their "cooperating orcan nations." is reported to have made the following statement to the Senate's Investigating Com mittee on Education: ' "This letter is to point out that our fellowship has had a long and consistent record of not collaborating with Com munist or Communist - front groups. We are a non-part isan religious pacifist organization." Let us see what they are re ported to have printed in one of their own publications, "Fel lowship," in regard to their executive-secretary of long stand ing: He. "used to be a preacher . . . before he went straight." Later, it has been stated, their publication director in another of their publications known as "Conscripts o f Conscience" makes this statement, "the ex ecutive secretary deserted both church and pacifism for Trot styist communism." Is that the kind of leadership we Americans are seeking? I think not. The "turn toward peace" brochure lists the names of nine members (9) of the above mentioned "Fellowship of Reconciliation" as memhers of their steering committee with another member as chairman of their national coordinators. You, fellow Americans, he the jmlic If you don't like it. say sod: florence reed cook 156 Elkay Dr. gressional critics, and rivals in the Cabinet. The South, on the seas as well as on the land, compensated -for numerical inferiority by daring and ingenuity. Not only did the Confederates continue building ironclads, they also experiment ed with mines (called tor pedoes) made out of converted beer kegs, and introduced the world's first effective sub marine. David Bushnell had launched his one man submarine, the Turtle, in the Revolution; later Robert Fulton had experimented with an underwater vessel. But when Horace L. Hunley brought his frail, cigar-shaped iron boil er to Charleston on a flotsam in the summer of 1863, no sub marine had ever sunk a ship in combat. Htinloy's craft was ridiculous ly primitive. It took eight men laboriously operating hand cranks to propel the submarine at a speed of four miles an hour. Volunteering for its crew was courting death. After several disastrous trials in which over 20 men, including the inventor, perished, the submarine appro priately named the Hunley was ready to strike. Only a phos phorescent glow marked the si lent underwater passage of the tiny vessel through the waters of Charleston Harbor on the moonlit night of Feb. 7. 1864. A terrific explosion sent the Union sloop Housatonic to the bottom, and with her the Hunley and her crew of nine. Submarine war fare had proven feasible. 1X9 Coastal Havens The imagination of such Con federate inventors as Hunley was matched by the courage of the intrepid Rebel blockade run ners. It took only two successful trips to realize a profit above the initial investment in ship and cargo. A net return of $150,000 each way was not un common. Bermuda and Nassau in the Bahamas, where cargoes from Europe were transferred to fleet blockade runners, boomed. Along the 3.500-mile Confed eral coaslline there were some 189 harbors or inlets in which the swift vessels could find a haven. Tainted the color of a Haltcras fog and burning smoke less anthracite coal, the long, low, converted sidewhecler could lose herself against a wooded shore line and wait for nightfall to make the final dash for a protective harbor. If cornered, the captain of a blockade-runner often ran his ship aground rather than surrender. Thus at least some of his valuable cargo might be salvaged. An estimated 8.000 round trips were made by a fleet of 1.650 vessels; and 600,000 small arms were brought into the Con f?deracy through the blockade. Raiders Cover Sea Many blockade-runners also served as commerce raiders, with commissions giving them a status one step above privateers. These raiders carried the Civil War far beyond the continental United States. Their instruc tions, one captain noted, were "brief and to the point, leaving much to the discretion, but more to the torch." Dashing John N. Maffit ran his raider Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to New York and back to the equator, capturing 55 merchant ships along the way. The most famous Rebel com merce destroyer, however, was the English-built Alabama, com manded with ruthless determi nation by Raphael Semmes. On June 11. 1864, the Alabama- picked up by a hovering British yacht. The famed raider sank beneath the waves, graceful even in death, according to an awed observer. Some of the Rebel seamen who swam away from the Ala bama later joined Captain James Waddell on the 60,000 mile voyage of the raider Shen andoah that was to add a bizarre postscript to the entire Civil War. In the late fall of 1864, Waddell, an uncompromising North Carolinian, took his trans formed British ship through tha South Atlantic, around Cap Horn, to Australia, and the South Pacific islands. His ob jective was the fleet of Yankee whaling vessels in the Bering Sea. 24 Ships in a Week The Shenandoah was anchor ed in the Carolines in the Pa cific on April 9, 1865, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox; but news of the Rebel defeat was slow in reach ing these far-off waters. By May 21, the rebel raider was off the coast of Siberia, and three weeks later it entered the Ber ing Sea. In a single week, the Shenan- having destroyed 58 vessels val- doah took 24 whaling ships, its uen at e,04Y,uuu during her two-year career put into Cher bourg, France, for repairs. When the Federal sloop Kearsarge ap peared three days later, Semmes challenged her to a duel. No Match for Yankees With a holiday-mood crowd of notables from Paris lining the shore to witness the spectacle, the two ships moving in con centric circles began firing at one another at 10:57 a m. on the morning of June 19. Al though the vessels were equally classed as to size, speed, and armament, the unpracticed gun ners of the Alabama were no match for Captain John A. Winslow's well-drilled Yankees aboard the Kearsarge. The raid- exclusively to the use for republic commander oblivious to the stunned protests of his victims who tried to tell him the war was over. Not until August 2, after the Shenandoah had left the Bering Sea and while Wad dell was still contemplating a raid on San Francisco, was the reality of the war's end accepted by the stubborn commander. Even then, he insisted on taking his ship back to Liverpool to surrender to the British rather than to the victorious Yankees. Copyright, 1962, American Heritage Magazine er's victories had been over un armed merchantmen, and her crew had been denied practice ammunition. Of 370 shots fired by the Alabama, only 28 hit the mark, and these did little damage and wounded only three men. Shortly after noon, with 40 casualties on his sinking ship. Semes hoisted the white flag, dropped his sword into the sea, and jumped overboard to be MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Presi Ij entitled tlnn of all the local newi printed In mm newspaper. MEMBER OF THE AfOIT BUREAU of riRcrt.ATinss Senlcei I nllcd Press International WM.UAM DUNN L. WASMANN, BONHAM Sens Editor City Editor ROSS C JOHNSON. Advertising Director JARL FUGLE Circulation Manager ROBERT K. BERTSCH Promotion W R. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor ARNE STROMMER Production
