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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1962)
tAMS ClWlff IMM HnMNt AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1927-1961 The Register-Guard'! policy is the complete and impartial publication in its news pages of all news and statements on newt. On this page, the editors of the Register-Guard offer their opinions oh 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 it a CITIZEN Or ITS COMMUNITY. Published every evening and Sunday morning by the Guard Publishing Co. From Our Past Rope Trick Don's Fleeson 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 14A EUGENE, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1962 Timely Attack on Economic Illiteracy Prominent in the news lately have been complaints about the economic il literacy of Americans. Secretary of Com merce Luther Hodges has aired fears that the future of our nation, dependent as it is upon an informed electorate, is endangered because too few voters un derstand why the U.S. is blessed with prosperity unique in this world. Writing in; the Saturday Evening Post a couple of issues back, Secretary Hodges noted that, even among college graduates, ig norance of economics is appalling. Now the Committee for Economic De velopment has followed such concern provoking reports with the timely an nouncement of an 11-point program to promote economics education in U.S. schools. The CED program only happens to coincide with a cresting of public in terest in economics. It actually has been 13 years in processes of formulation and refinement. However, public reaction al ready is indicating that it could quickly become the crowning success of every thing this group of leading American educators and businessmen has done to combat ignorance and apathy in regard to vital economic questions. The CED program makes especially good sense for the reason that it is aimed primarily at the 90 per cent of U.S. citizens who never had or never will have even the chance to learn the ABC's of economics in college. ; To start the ball rolling, the CED program will employ a "College of the Air" television series, beginning this September, to coach high school teach ers and other interested adults in the fundamentals of this subject. Meanwhile, carefully screened packets of study ma terials are being sent to each of the 25,000 high schools in this country. Next spring, special tests will be circulated to the high schools to check the effective ness of the training system. When it gets in high gear, the CED program also will attempt to stir grade schools to mix basic economic ideas into arithmetic classes and other related in struction. The CED cannot command that any of this be done, or even that our high schools seriously endeavor to upgrade the teaching of economics. But growing public concern about eco nomic problems ranging from automa tion and crop surpluses to the European Common Market and depletion of gold reserves has created a climate which is favorable toward, if not demanding of, promotion of this once too lightly regarded study area. And just wait until Junior comes to the dinner table asking what his parents think will be the outcome of congres sional debates on tariff problems. Wait until he and his generation realize that they are becoming more mature in eco nomic judgments than most of their elders. Then, and it can't come too quick ly for the good of the nation, there will be a resultant reaction among those al ready old enough to vote. Crackpot eco nomic schemes will be more closely scrutinized. Sound proposals will be bet ter understood and supported by the voters. Necessity is dictating that the aver age American must develop the same sort of interest in the bread-and-butter issues of economics that he now has in the material advantages he otherwise may be about to lose. Necessity, in this case, promises to be the mother of understanding. ft ft Double Bite Great legal minds in Oregon and Washington are all torn up over the problem of 38 fellows who work on the interstate bridges between Portland and Vancouver. The states are arguing about the law. But there can be no question about the side that simple fairness is on. It's on Washington's. Under an agreement between the two states, Washington collects the tolls. Under Washington civil service regula tions, Washington employes must live in Washington. But the toll houses are on the Oregon side of the line. Thus the toll collectors work in Oregon. And Oregon levies an income tax on people who work in Oregon, even if they live out of state. Because they must live in Washington, the toll collectors naturally do most of their shopping there. (Indeed, if they tried to smuggle in some items, Wash ington would take action against them for payment of excise and sales taxes.) So, for reasons beyond the control of the employes, they are victims of double taxation. Maybe the way out is for Washington to raise the men's wages to cover the Oregon income tax bite and then to bill Oregon for the added expense. ft ' ft " ft ft public relations. Hereafter it should be easier for representatives of the press and other interested citizens to get authoritative information in answer to any legitimate questions. Also, the pub lic likely will be increasingly Informed about highway commission plans and programs through routine news releases. The highway commission, comprised of three unpaid citizens appointed to their posts, will be assisted in its work through increased public understanding and good will. Public relations with emphasis on the first word also will provide further assurance that Oregon's record of never having had a highway scandal will con tinue as a mark for other states to shoot at. Get Off It Four distinguished citizens of East ern Oregon went down to Portland the other day to tell the Chamber of Com merce a thing or two. They sought to convince the city slickers that Eastern Oregon people are nice people, impor tant people. Eastern Oregon, they in sisted, is a nice place. Eastern Oregon shouldn't be discriminated against. Not in Our State Commenting upon scandals being un covered in some state highway depart ments, the Christian Science Monitor notes that "secrecy and billions do not mix safely unless men of the utmost in tegrity are running the laboratory." Oregon hasn't exactly been in the billion-dollar-share bracket as federal highway construction funds have been passed out with increasing liberality in recent years. But Oregon's system of ad ministering its share of these, and its own locally collected highway funds, has long borne out the contention that in tegrity and open books are basic to good highway programs. Just last week there was a small news item which indicated that the Ore gon Highway Commission now intends to further increase the illumination of its operations. The commission has ap pointed Victor Wolfe, an experienced member of its professional engineering staff, to take over highway commission Why protest so much? This apparent "bad feeling" between the two section of the state is in their own minds. To be sure, things have been said that ought not to have been said. A big-mouthed Portland legislator said something about Eastern Oregon as a land of sagebrush and jackrabbits. And Eastern Oregon politicians have been known to say terri ble things about the web-footed folks in the valley, with their effeminate ways and their city-bred inadequacies. But such cracks are exceptional. Otherwise they wouldn't get in the paper. In Eastern Oregon there is some feel ing that the Legislature is being stacked against that section of the state. Yet, nobody over here has ever proposed any system as flagrantly one-sided as the so called "federal plan" that is brought up now and then east of the mountains. We're not mad at those people. And we don't want them to be mad at us. We're interdependent. We'd have a poorer state if we had to get along with out them. And they'd be worse off with out us. Again we say to our friends east of the mountains, "Get off it." Maybe You Can Supply Punch Line By KENNETH L. HOLMES Profeiior of History, Llnfleld College On Oct. 23, 1873, Bishop Dan iel Tuttle of the Episcopal Church wrote to his home office telling of his extended stage trips through the West. Here is one thing he said: "I have, this summer, traveled more than 3,000 miles, and 2,500 of these by stage, in day and night riding, along roads where sagebrush growths are almost the only trees, and holes in the rocks almost the only houses. The stage driver is sovereign. How absolutely he rules, any Rocky Mountain passenger can tell you. Police, constables, courts are things unknown in his domain. His will is law for the time being, from which there is no appeal. "He is not hard hearted nor unintelligent; but reticent, will ful, autocratic, despiser of titles and dignities, he certainly is! And if perchance you thought yourself possessed of powers for working influence or winning favors, be not surprised to find them having no effect upon him. "A more independent set of men, resenting the slightest at tempt at interference or con trol, I never met. Yet they are noble fellows, too; most skillful and unwearied in their work; men of sound judgment and good education, and with a proud esprit de corps that im pels them to meet, steadily, dan gers from the highwaymen and suffering from cold and sleep lessness, in order to push on over their route the United States mail and passengers." An Expert With Whip Undoubtedly some of the readers of this column will re member one of the most famous of the stagecoach drivers in bur area, Felix Warren. Felix drove the coaches in all three of our Pacific Northwest states: Ore gon, Washington and Idaho. Those who knew him seem to be unanimous in giving him credit for being a friendly but firm knight of the whiplash. He was certainly an expert with the whip. One old-timer said to me of him, "He could flip a flea off a dog's tail." One day Felix Warren was driving from Lewiston, Idaho, on a run to Palouse, Washing ton, via the Idaho communities of Genessee and Moscow. This trip involved a climb up the steep grade of the Snake River Gorge. His only passengers were two women, one young, the other elderly. Just as the stage reached the summit of the grade on the way to Genessee, the older woman called out, "Mr. Warren, - we'll have to .stop. We've got a baby on our hands." With his usual dignity, Felix Warren pulled to a stop, got down from the coach, unhitched the horses and let them out to graze. He walked over to the edge of the Snake River Can- Ralph fVlcCjlll nnH mil atftfiA lnnlrintf OUT AVPP the valley for about half an hour. Suddenly he heard the cry of the babe who had been born in his coach. Another period passed, and then the older woman called out that they could go on. More and More Excited . Felix hitched up the horses and drove carefully on to Genes see. There he left the young mother and her baby and went on to finish the run. When he arrived at Palouse, Felix found the husband waiting for the stage. As the stage driver told him about the birth of his first born, the new father became more and more excited. Never was a wagon hitched so fast nor driven so hard as that young man dashed off over the dusty road through the rolling Palouse Hills toward Genessee. A few days later Felix War ren was in Palouse again. He met the father once more on the main street. The young man said, "Mr. Warren, we would have named our baby after you if it had been a boy, but she is a girl, so the next best thing is for you to name her." Felix' eyes twinkled. "Why, I'll be glad to," he said. Now you will ask me, "What did Felix name the child?" My answer is, "I don't know." May be someone who reads this column will be able to tell us all. Congress Appears Bent On People 'Eating Cake' ius: PRESTISE J l L'.v.v.v. I iv.-. I WASHINGTON The reluc tance of Congress to do any thing for the American people this election year is rapidly ap proaching the proportions of a political p h e nomenon. A business that broke no new ground in two years and brought out no eye- catching . product to cap tivate the cus tomers would certainly be in trouble. Yet WW Fleeson Congress can find notnmg in the legion of Kennedy propos als in the domestic field which it feels might endear it to the voters next November. A campaign pointing with pride to what Congress has kept the President from doing seems in prospect, at least in the areas represented by mem bers of the no-saying conserva tive coalition. It hears no evil, speaks no evil and sees no evil in the affluent society. To point out that the afflu ent society brings new national problems in its train not to mention the advent of the space age with which it coincides is In the Editor's Mailbag Let's Be Reasonable EUGENE (To the Editor) May I answer the letter by Mr. Melvin Bishop of 222 W. 20th Ave.? Why, Mr. Bishop, do you and all other , pro-fluoridationists want to force fluorides upon those people who do not want them? Fluorides are available at the drug stores for anyone who wishes to use them, at a very nominal cost, as has been point ed out previously in these col umns. No one is denying you, or any of the other pro-fluoridationists, the right to use fluorides if you wish to do so right now, today. Let's keep our freedom of choosing what we do, or do not, wish to take. Following this manner of doing things, no one will be trying to force anything upon you, or anyone else. Let us all be reasonable in our approach to these things, shall we? WARREN COOMBS 1674 Washington St. Ah, Wilderness COTTAGE GROVE (To the Editor) Re article in Mailbag section of Register-Guard 4th inst. over signature of Walter Keyes, Florence, stating I am badly confused over the pro posed national park in that area, that it is more desirable to pre serve the wilderness area than the national park as proposed by our esteemed Sen. Maurine Neuberger, which I believe to be in best interests of all con cerned. I think it is Mr. Keyes that is confused, so let us count the sores on this modern Lazarus that has been raised up by Mr. Keyes and others in that area. The original meaning of wil derness is a "grassy plain" and I can prove it. The Basques from the small nation in the Pyrenees on the border between Spain and France are the best shepherds on five continents, and any large sheep outfit will always procure them to tend their flocks, be cause Basques love sheep, and if needs' be, rain or snow, at lambing times the Basques will sit up all night, dry off the little lambs, and see to it they do not get separated from their moth er, and help them get their first meal at the lunch counter. After that the little lamb's troubles are about over. One could not compel a Basque to let his flock wander into the brambles and hidden "pot holes" of the present area south of Florence, not even at the muzzle of a shotgun, where even an elderly man strayed from his own domicile and per ished within earshot of his home, and due to depravity of undergrowth was not found for several days after his death. Some "playground," that's for sure. A Biblica: parable by Christ set forth in Luke 15:4, the "good shepherd" gives his life for the sheep. Left the ninety and nine safe in the wil derness and "searched for the one that was lost." Who would imagine that a good shepherd would be boob enough to turn his sheep loose in that primitive area south of Florence? . There is. plenty, more to be said re this wilderness matter, and if this escapes the editor's waste paper basket, may come again some day. BART JOHNSON Rt. 1, Box 486A only to state the obvious. Con gress seems to be acting on the theory that if it doesn't look, they will go away. Curiously, this is not accom panied by a resurgence of iso lationism. In the area of for eign policy, world communism and its leader, Moscow, have made a truly staggering mis take. Perhaps out of their own fear, they persist in creating fear. So long as they do that, appropriations for defense, for eign aid and the United Nations are not in serious trouble. In some defense categories, Congress wants to spend more money than the President does. It complains of foreign aid and is snarling at a United Nations bond issue. But it has abso lutely no evidence that the pub lic does not support the Presi dent in these matters; the evi dence is all the other way, so these can be worked out. Americans look to the Pres ident as leader in foreign pol icy. He gets the credit and blame in that field. Congres sional cooperation can be very vital, but the dividends mainly are his. This was shown in 1948. For mer President Truman's "80 worst" Congress had ratified the Marshall Plan and Greek Turkish aid which gave him a high place in history, but it did not save them from his furious attack. They had passed a tax bill which gave grounds for ar gument that it mostly helped the people with money; and its other major legislation was a bill to remove independent pro ducers of natural gas from fed eral regulation, which Truman vetoed. What he did with that record is legendary. Apart from the vote appeal aspect which every politician must consider, there is a philo sophic speculation much in the minds of Washington observers. It is the question of whether any society can continue to vote staggering sums for defense with its foreign aid ramifica tions and let its domestic plant, so to speak, decay, if not in whole, in important parts. Yet even a conservation bill in recognition of the population explosion and urban sprawl scarcely made a ripple in Wash ington. "Let the Americans eat cake" seems to be the congres sional motto. (Copyright, 1062, by United Feature Syndicate, Ino.) Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Symbol So They Say The only thing that really counts in world opinion, in my judgment, is how strong is the United States. Sen. Henry M. Jackson, DAVash., urging II. S. resume atmospheric nuclear tests. MEMBER Or THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press ts enUtlcd exclusively to the use for republi cation of all the local news printed In this newspaper. MEMBER Or THE AUfllT BUREAU Or CIRCULATIONS Services United Press International Wll.UAM WASMANN. News Editor DO N.N L. BON1IAM City Editor ROSS G. JOHNSON. Advertising Director JARL rUGLE Circulation Manager ROBERT K. BERTSCH Promotion W. B. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor ARNE STROMMER ' Production Eight years have passed since Earl Warren became Chief Jus tice of the United States. He came to the court well prepared to sit as its chief justice, al though the cat erwaul of ex tremist critics still rises rau cously and fool ishly against him. Since we have been a nation, only 14 men have held office nf rhiof lustice. and three of McGill these served in the first 12 years of our history. In this century there have been but seven chief justices. Each estab lished a record of excellence Melville Fuller, Edward D. White, William H. Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson and Earl War ren. It is significant that all of these seven men became centers of controversy, some more vio lent than others, because of de cisions by the court. (In the years before them we see their predecessors caught inevitably in the same web of history.) Each chief justice has had his furious, and usually irrational, critics, because he, the justice, is the symbol of the whole ju, dicial system and the enormous power of the Constitution, the document which so admirably shelters us all. Wise to Drop It Earl Warren was 62 when ap pointed by President Eisenhow er. The Californian brought to the court a really remarkable record. He had practiced law for 39 years. He began with ex perience in private practice and as a deputy city attorney. After that he was district attorney for 14 years during which he built a highly regarded reputation for ability and results. He argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and attracted admiring approval. He was attorney general of California for four years and governor for 10. While governor he was the Republican vice pres idential nominee in 1948. the year Harry Truman confounded the experts and disemboweled the Dixiecrats. Few men have come to the court with so wide an experience with the prob t O lems of laws and government in action. The more carping critics try to make something out of the fact that Earl Warren was never a judge. They would be wise to drop the subject. Lawyers en tertain either reverence, re spect, or both, for John Mar shall. He generally is considered the giant of the court's history. He had had no experience as a judge. Roger Taney, who was chief justice in the cruelly con troversial years before and dur ing the Civil War, had held no judicial position; neither had Melville Fuller, the legendary Charles Evans Hughes, nor Har lan Stone, when appointed to the court. Resiliency and Health The attack on Chief Justice Earl Warren grows largely out of a lack of understanding about Carmichael THERE'S BEeN A MISTAKE I PWT ORPER THE i 3-ti tolMMIMUl the court and our government. We, in the strict sense of the word, are neither a democracy nor a republic. We are not, as the disfranchised citizens of many states know to their sor row, even a representative de mocracy. The unique, dynamic and, some think, God-inspired plan of the men whose philos ophy, experience and vision were written into the Constitu tion was a system of checks and balances. It is this which has given our government the resiliency and health to endure, prosper, and grow for almost two centuries. We do not have a single leg islature. There are two. But, if a bill passes both, it cannot be come law without the signature of the President, or a two-thirds vote of both houses after his veto. Even the Congress, which is considered all-powerful in the legislative field, is forbidden by the Constitution to pass laws in certain fields of human rights. Powers of the states are limited by a number of constitutional restrictions, especially the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. Of All Thoughtful Americans What the Constitution calls the "Judicial Power of the Unit ed States" is given to the Su preme Court and the lower fed eral courts. These courts can deny a president as Truman was denied when the court inval idated his seizure of the steel plants in 1952. The Congress is checked when it passes laws that conflict with the Constitu tion. The Supreme Court deci sions bind state courts. This was known to all state supreme courts and judges, but most of them kept silent during the school segregation controversy. But the judiciary of the several states had no doubts about the validity of the ruling. The court interprets and ap plies the Constitution. Earl Warren has become, as have other chief justices before him, a symbol of the contro versies arising out of great events encountered by a nation in a world of change. He and the associate justices have earned the respect and admira tion of all thoughtful Ameri cans who give loyalty to. and who have faith in. our remarka ble government of checks and balances. Distributed. 193, by The Hall Syndicate, Inc. From a Reporter Some Hints To Hopefuls By DAN SELLARD Of the Register-Guard One of the things that make political reporting difficult is the reluctance of some candi dates to make themselves avail able. Now that the filing is com pleted, we feel justified in speaking our piece. Our thesis is that the public has a right to know, and a newspaper has the -obligation to tell, a great deal about a candidate who wants to win a public office. Already, and it's very early in the campaign, we've had a candidate who refused to give his age, another who was reluc tant to give her age, a candi date who has refused to let us take his photo, and another who was reluctant to tell about his educational background. Important Information These are important facts. We feel justified in using as much friendly persuasion as possible to get them into print. Then, if the candidate still will not cooperate, we will have to say that he wouldn't. A goal of any decent news paper is the printing of enough information about a candidate to enable the voter who never sees him or hears him to still make an informed appraisal. The age, education, job back ground, public achievements and platform philosophy of a man are important information. And the candidate's picture is just as important We have a formula we use in presenting candidates. There is no favoritism. If the reluc tant candidate gets less presen tation than the others, it's his fault. By election day we shall have tried to tell all the facts and explain the thinking of each of the many candidates. We Don't Mind This means a lot of night meetings, listening to sometimes-dull speeches, eating less-than-exciting meals, drinking too many gallons of coffee, and receiving a lot of personal abuse from candidates who are losing and need a whipping-boy. This we don't mind. It's a small enough sacrifice to make, considering that without this coverage it just might be that "the wrong man" would win, that a man could be elected without showing his hand. We still think it takes a "good guy to beat a good guy." If this sounds like a personal message to several candidates, it's because it is.
