Eugene register-guard., October 21, 1962, Image 8

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'.Was That the Bell 'Again?' J 4
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1B27-1961
ALTON F. BAKER JR.
Editor and Publisher
KpWTN M. BAKER
Cfneral Manager
TOCHAHD 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 newt page of all
news and statements on news. On this page, the
editors of the RegisterGuard 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, OCTOBER 21, 1962
Case of the King-Size Monkey Wrench
The cases of Ross Barnett, James
Meredith, even General Edwin Walker,
are back where they ought to be in the
courts. But don't expect all to be se
rene. David Lawrence, the columnist
who is also publisher of U.S. News and
World Report, has revealed a monkey
wrench of the greatest magnitude. He
contends, in a editorial in his magazine,
that the Fourteenth Amendment, upon
which the (federal government's case
largely rests, is illegal. This has long
been a popular view in the South. Ex
pect now that it will be taken up with
renewed vigor.
The Supreme Court, Lawrence notes,
has never passed upon the method by
which the amendment was ratified by
the states in the hectic years right after
the Civil War. Here, briefly, is the
chronology:
June 18, 1866 Secretary of State
Seward forwards the proposed amend
ment to the states, 28 of which must
ratify If it is to become law. '
June 30, 1866 Connecticut Is first
to ratify.
July 6, 1866 to July 4, 186824 more
states ratify. In this period North Caro
lina, Louisiana and South Carolina re
jected the proposed amendment. Also
In this period, New Jersey and Ohio,
which had once voted to ratify, voted to
rescind their earlier ratification. Thus,
by July 4, 1868, the federal government
needed three additional ratifications
if the "rescind" moves of Ohio and New
Jersey were not allowed. If those were
allowed, five more ratifications were
needed.
Legislatures of the former Confed
erate states were packed with the scala
wags Aid carpetbaggers of infamy and
with firmer, slaves, many of them illiter
ate. By July 9 of 1868, ratifications were
obtained from North Carolina, Louisiana
and South Carolina, all of which had
ft ft ft ft ft ft
What Is Home Rule? Take the Eighth?
Would you rather have control of
your family's affairs right within the
family circle? Or would you prefer to
take such matters to an area council of
family representatives for final and bind
ing decisions?
If you favor settlements made at
home, by those directly to be affected
by them, you are in favor of "home
rule," the principle underlying a new
Lane County charter to bo voted on
Nov. 6.
By adopting this charter, Lane
County residents can control how day-today
affairs of county government are
handled, if the charter is defeated', con
trol of opr county affairs will continue
to be patterned by the State Legislature:
Nothing in the new charter, or that
might bo done under its provisions,
would overrule slate-wide laws. But
homo rulo would be employed in such
matters as reorganizing courthouse de
partments and adopting local ordinances
to deal with local problems. The respon
sibility for the efficiency of most county
departments would be given to three
elected county commissioners instead of
being scattered, as it now is, among a
group of Independently elected depart
ment heads.
If the new charter is adopted, county
voters will then have rights that city
voters have long possessed, including the
powers of initiative and referendum
through which they may exercise item-by-ilem
control over the direction of
local public affairs.
To state it simply: Grassroots gov
ernment is the idea that will be served
if Lane County's homo rule charter is
adopted. With home rule, Lane voters
will be able to dictate any future
changes in county procedures which
they think should be made. Without it,
Lano residents will continue to be gov
erned too much according to the will
of the legislators of the entire state
assembled in Salem.
Mississippi's Gov. Ross Barnett could
be fined $10,000 a day for every day of
noncompliance with a federal court
order. Lt. Gov. Paul B. Johnson, Jr.,
'could be fined $5,000 a day.
These cumulative penalties arc like
those in the Internal Security Act,
which provide fines of $10,000 a day and
five years of imprisonment for each day
of noncompliance. One wonders if they
are not in the nature of a "cruel and
unusual punishment," and thus in viola
tion of the Eighth Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution.
Bad Luck Sign
President Kennedy is going all out
in his effort to "help" Democratic candi
dates for Congress. Hie President boasts
ho is a student of history. If some of the
candidates for Congress are history stu
dents, too, they may ask him to please
stay in Washington until after Nov. 6.
Presidential "help" has usually been the
kind candidates can do without.
Woodrow Wilson in 1918 made a
great effort to get the American people
to elect Democrats to Congress. Repub
licans that year gained 30 seats in the
House and five in the Senate.
And remember the famous Roosevelt
"purge" of 1938. FDR that year singled
out nine senators and three representa
tives he said he wanted beaten. All but
ono was re-elected. The Republicans
gained 80 House and six Senate seats.
In 1954 Vice President Nixon did the
job for President Eisenhower. Demo
crats won 19 House seats and ono (Ore
gon's) Senate seat. In 1958, Mr. Eisen
hower tried it himself, with Nixon only
helping. Democrats gained 49 House
seats and 17 in the Senate, their greatest
gains in two decades.
Maybe President Kennedy has some
thing his predecessors didn't have. But
Democratic candidates are entitled to
worry a little if the Caroline lands at
the home-town airport.
once rejected the amendment. The Ohio
and New Jersey moves to rescind were
not recognized, and thus the ratifications
were counted.
Now, how about those moves to re
scind? And how, about the legality of
the three southern legislatures which
changed their minds?' Those are ques
tions the court has avoided.
Oregon figures in this story some
what, too. Oregon voted to ratify on
Sept, 19, 1866. But the complexion of
the Legislature changed, partly as the
result of southern Democrats who
flocked in here after the war. In Oc
tober of 1868, three months after rati
fication of the amendment was pro
claimed, Oregon, also, voted to rescind.
And Oregon didn't get around to ratify
ing the 15th amendment, which gave
former slaves the right to vote, until
Feb. 24, 1959, some 90 years after the
first state, Nevada, had ratified that
amendment. California rejected that
amendment and never even bothered to
' act on the 14th.
Illegal? Well, maybe. Certainly it
was high-handed. But, then, high-handedness
was called for between Fort
Sumter and the removal of troops from
the South in 1877. The only way the
Union could be glued together again was
by high-handedness. This is what brings
a smile to those who read, 100 years
later, southern protests about "Abe Lin
coln's illegal invasion of the South."
Ah, what a flap there would be if
y the 14th amendment should be ruled il
legal, which Is unlikely. So large a body
of decision has been based upon it the
past 94 years. Certainly a new one
would have to take its place, and pronto.
For we must remember that the 14th,
as important an amendment as the bill
of rights in safeguarding our liberties,
bears also upon many activities that are
not remotely related to tragic events in
the South.
x:
si
Letters In The Editor's Mailbag
Backs Lewis
SPRINGFIELD (To the Ed
itor) After reading the ramb
ling letter to the editor in a re
cent issue of the Eugene Register-Guard,
signed by a candidate
for justice of the peace, Spring
field District, I am more con
vinced then ever that we should
retain our present judge, Carl
M. Lewis.
There is absolutely no doubt
about Judge Lewis's experience,
proven ability, tolerance and
understanding.
Judge Lewis has built our
justice court up from nothing to
a recognized court of dignity
and high standing in the com
munity. An untried, inexpe
rienced person seeks the office.
Why should we vote for an
inexperienced man that has
been in the state only a few
years compared to Judge Lewis
who has been a resident of Lane
County for 55 years?
Therefore, I shall cast my
vote for the man that knows the
county, the people in the coun
ty, and their problems, a man
with proven ability and expe
rience; a man that believes jus
tice should be tempered with
common-sense. That man is
Springfield's own Judge Lewis.
JOE PROCIW
S. 32nd St.
state of Mississippi between the
berserk power of the pressure
groups and the people.
4. Is the federal government
the master or the servant of the
people? Can we stand aside
while another step to the
planned debasement of the
American way is completed? Is
state's rights merely a quaint
historical footnote or will the
dramatic and courageous stand
of Mississippi breathe new life
into the hallowed doctrine?
EDITH PHETTEPLACE
3939 Hilyard St.
Other View
Back' Again
EUGENE (To the Editor)
Because of the many requests I
have received and also because
I believe in the old adage that
"the pen is mightier than the
sword," I will again begin writ
ing letters to the Guard.
One of the misunderstandings
of the people today concerns
every state in the union. The
headlines have been "Mississippi
Defies Federals."
1. What law has Governor
Barnett broken? There is no law
on record passed by the Con
gress of the United States which
gives the federal government
the right to intercede in state
educational institutions.
2. If the federals can dictate to
a local government in the field
of education, there is no field
it cannot take over from our lo
cality. If government by mi
nority pressure groups is so ad
vanced that the force of all the
taxpayers' money can be used to
satisfy the whims of a few, then
let us cease all pretense of
representative government and
honestly admit that we have a
ruthless dictatorship.
3. Governor Barnett has right
ly and legally interposed the
Ralph McGill
EUGENE (To the Editor)
I would like to make a few com
ments on Alberta Hulsebus's let
ter, if I may.
First, the Negroes that are
now living out West Eleventh
and those that have lived out
there are just as ashamed of
their -living conditions as the
rest of us. But how can they
improve it when there are no
sewage or water lines there,
even though it is in the city
limits? Most of those people
have adequate jobs and can af
ford a better house, but the
problem is finding people who
will rent or sell to them.
All. my life I have lived in
Eugene, and to me it seems as
if the whites judge us (the Ne
groes) by the whole, but the
majority of the Negroes judge
the white people of Eugene by
the individuals.
Do you really think that the
federal government put Mere
dith up to going to the Univer
sity of Mississippi? If so, why?
The Negroes had to open up
their high schools and colleges
to the white students, so please,
don't feel that the federal gov
ernment is stepping on the toes
of the white people. But what
goes for you goes also for us.
LYNDA REYNOLDS
207 High St.
Stars and Bars
EUGENE (To the Editor)
As the father of a son who, pre
sumably, will in a few years be
a student at South Eugene High
School, I must dissent from the
view expressed today (Oct. 10),
both by a student at South Eu
gene and in an editorial, that
the use of the Confederate flag
as a "rally symbol" can be
shrugged off as "innocent high
jinks" and objections to such
a use scorned as stirring up a
"teapot tempest." Nor it is a
sufficient defense that its use
is a "school tradition" dating
back "several years." I am ap
palled at the ignorance or bad
taste or both which permitted
the adoption of such a symbol
In the first place.
The Confederate flag from its '
earliest appearance until now
has symbolized defiance of fed
eral law and allegiance to a so
ciety based on racism; this last
was made abundantly clear by
Confederate Vice-P resident
Alexander H. Stephens when he
declared that the Confederacy
rested upon "the great truth"
that "slavery subordination
to the superior race is his
(the Negro's) natural and nor
mal condition." In recent years
the Confederate flag has always
been displayed when defiance
frequently by mob violence of
the Supreme Court desegrega
tion decision was being urged
and carried out. Persistent
glamorization of the Confeder
acy, its symbols and leaders, by
ignorant, sentimental, or money
hunting novelists and movie or
TV producers, and by vote-chasing
politicians, can be credited
with a share in encouraging the
resistance to federal authority
which most recently and catas
trophically erupted in Missis
sippi. Granted that the adoption of
the Confederate flag at South
Eugene was the work of inno
cent ignorance and that its use
has become traditional. No one
now has any excuse for ignor
ance of its meaning and no time
is better than the present for
discarding a symbol which now,
at least, is inescapably associ
ated with lawlessness and vi
ciousncss. '
KENNETH W. PORTER
1790 Skyline Blvd.
Paperboys, Too
EUGENE (To the Editor)
In reading Mr. Weeden's letter
in Wednesday's paper, I approve
of all the applause he is giving
the KORE station and the phone
operators, and would add my
appreciation to those men-'
tioncd. But ' I would add one
more establishment, our own
newspaper and its staff, report
ers, and especially the carriers,
most of them in the toon-age
group. Of course most of them
are dedicated boys but one,
especially, I think, needs special
recognition. I don't know the
name of the boy who delivers
our paper (and I don't doubt
there are many more like him),
but when a boy will get off his
bike, or out of his car in a
Youthful Leaders Proving Their Abilities
McGill
Or. the day that President Ei
senhower, nut beating the
drums for GOP candidates, criti
cized what ho called the callow
youth of the Kennedy adminis
tration, there
was not much
reason to stand
up and give a
rousing cheer
for old age.
In France the
venerable
Charles dc.
Gaulle w a s in
trouble. In
Bonn, Germany,
the octogena
rian Adenauer
was refusing U.
S. suggestions designed to relax
Berlin tensions and continuing
his private talks with France
about setting up a nuclear arms
program. In Spain the regime
of non-callow-youth Franco was
in trouble. In Britain there was
a surgo of younger politicians
which concerned the graybeards
of both Labor and the Conserva
tives. In the United States the
U.S. labor movement was
slowed down and unable to con
ceal friction within its own
ranks, where the contented old
timers were holding hack the
restive younger leadership.
At the time Eisenhower was
plumping for the wisdom of the
more aged men. the young
President was talking with Se'
kou Toure. of Guinea. By Mr.
Eisenhower's definition he too
is callow, having been born
January S. 1922. The fact that
hi was in Washington was, how
ever, not without significance.
At 40 he is one of the most im
portant men in the forces
emerging in Africa.
When an angry, elderly De
Gaulle cut Guinea off from
Frahcc, his administration with
drew everything possible, even
to tearing the telephones from
the walls of offices and remov
ing all typewriters and office
equipment. The angry reaction
was swift. Russia came in. For a
period of about two years Soviet
hopes were high. It appeared
that Guinea might soon become
a Soviet base.
The Russians sent aid hut
they bueglcd much of it. (A part
of the aid shipment was snow
plows.) Much of the equip
ment did not work. Some of the
building was ineptly done. Last
December a Soviet plot to sub
vert the government was dis
covered. Russia's ambassador
was sent packing. Communist
propaganda was sharply re
duced. Asks for Teace Corps
Sekou Toure has now asked
this country's callow Peace
Corps to come into Guinea. Rus
sian propaganda sought to make
Africans believe the Peace Corps
was merely a cover for espio
nage. The record of the young
land callow) missionary teach
ers, technicians, agricultural
and vocational instructors has
disproved the Russians. African
countries which have benefited
from the Teacc Corps are en
thusiastic. Guinea asked for
some teachers.
In addition, Guinea may re
sume ties with France.
On the day that Eisenhower
was deploring the presence of
young men in government,
Uganda ended 66 years as a
British protectorate and became
a sovereign nation. Her premier
is Apollo Milton Obote aged 37.
His father was an illiterate
herdsman. A product of mission
schools and college, Premier
Obote crammed and studied late
to extract all he could from the
books. He is tough, resource
ful, ambitious and determined.
His political and economic han
dicaps too are many, lfis nation
needs everything.
Soft Spot for British
.He is not anti-British. He con
demns colonialism as fervently
as other African nationals. But
he has, he says, a soft spot in
his heart for the British pro
tectorate officials. He is pledged
to strict independent neutral
ism. There are in Uganda 6,800.
000 Africans, 11.600 white per
sons and 77.400 Indians and
Pakistanis. The premier has
urged they all stay. Speaking of
foreign teachers and administra
tors, he said, "We need them
desperately."
It is highly dubious if the
world of 1962 is much interest
ed in the reminiscences of gray
beards ... or the wisdom of
the past. In a way this is a
pity. There is much value in
both.
But it is doubtful if even the
loudest critic of President Ken
nedy finds fault with his age.
I Distributed I9l b
Tna Hill S)tdiraie, Inc.)
storm few men would have
tackled, just to deliver papers,
when trees and limbs were
breaking off and flying all over
the place (not to mention hot
wires), and bring the paper to
the door, or, as we happen to
know our boy did, place a paper
under the rubber mat to keep
it from blowing away, he needs
personal thanks.
Thank God for boys of his
caliber. They are not delin
quents, and without them, where
would our future America be?
ADAH E. CROSS
1255 Coburg Rd.
Radiation
EUGENE (To the Editor)
Within recent weeks there ap
peared in the Register-Guard a
UP release from the United Na
tions stating that a committee
of scientists from 15 nations,
including the U. S. and the So
viet Union, urged that all na
tions end nuclear testing. It
stated the belief I have fre
quently heard from University
of Oregon scientists that "any
dose of radiation, however
small, is a threat to mankind."
"Tests through last December
added 15 per cent to the cases
of leukemia caused by natural
radiation. If continued they will
add 28 per cent." This report
was declared to be the second
from the U. N. Scientific Com
mittee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation.
During the same late sum
mer month a nationally known
paper released a news story
quoting the Federal Radiation
Council, composed of five cabi
net members and the chairman
of the AEC, which "sought to
assure the public . . . that radi
ation dangers from nuclear
testing-fallout are minimal and
no protective measures are re
quired." This story criticized
public health officials of Utah
and Minnesota for applying
measures to reduce contamina
tion of milk. Further, "admin
istration officials will take overt
steps to allay what they regard
as undue fallout fears."
Although one should read
not only the full news account
in each case, but also the full
reports of the committee and
of the council before drawing
conclusions and making them
public, the texts as reported
would seem to be contradictory.
I wish to avoid expression of
personal opinion on the radiation-protection
controversy; I
urge, however, that readers in
terested in radiation from nu
clear weapon testing read wide
ly and evaluate for themselves
the objectivity of all sources of
information.
Having a long personal in
terest in this scientific-social
complex of problems, I take
care to read a widely circulated
eastern paper, the R-G, and
journals of science and social
science from both U. S. and
Great Britain. Information on
the radiation problem is avail
able within newspapers and
magazines received in Eugene
area libraries; much informa
tion may also be obtained by
purchase or loan from the of
fice of Turn Toward Peace,
Room 208, 610 Willamette St.
EDWARD P. THATCHER
1812 Villard St.
Bicycles
ALVADORE (To the Edi:r)
Congratulations on bicycle
editorial. Hope your paper will
push idea more and relegate
such important observations to
the front page occasionally,
rather than the editorial page,
which a lot of people avoid.
GLENN CHAMBERS
MEMBER Of
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press Is entitled
exclusively 10 Ihe use for republi
cation of all the local newi printed
In thd newspaper.
MEMBER OK THE AtTHT BUREAU
OF CIRl l LATIOSS
Senlcci United Press International
WILLIAM WASMANN. New! Editor
OONN L. RONHAM. . Cltr Editor
ROSS G JOHNSON.
Advertising Director
JARL FUGLE Circulation Manaeer
ROBERT K. RERTSCH Promotion
W P. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor
ARNE STROMMER ProducUs.
Eric Sevamd
Historic?
Crucial?
Nonsense!
This is an unsolicited form
letter to the President, Ev and
Charlie, the national party
chairmen, all state and con
gressional candidates, their
ghost writers.
and my com
rades in the col
umning and,
commentati n g
trades:
Let's give it
up, fellows. Thep
1962 off-year
elections are
neither "histor-
ic" nor "cru
cial." They Sevareid
aren't even exciting, and no
amount of saying will make
them so. Dramatieallv. thev are
a Dust, ana were it not tor tne
ordinance forcing the box of
fice to stay open until the first
Tuesday after the first Monday
in November, the show would
have closed last Saturday night.
In terms of national policy,
nothing whatsoever is going to
be measurably changed by the
Nov. 6 result. The next Con
gress will be like the last Con
gress. It is almost inconceivable
that the President can get an
even heavier majority of, not
only Democrats, but the kind
of Democrats he wants to "get
the country moving again." He
is not Roosevelt and 1962
doesn't look, feel or smell like
1091 in gni-hnrtv gnvwh.M In.
terms of general party strength, '
1960 did not mark the start of
a Democratic resurgence; it was
the highwater mark of a re
surgence that began in 1954.
Just as 1952 was not the start
e , i ii li: i i.
ul tuts ncpuuiicaii cume-uai-K,
but its apex. These things run
in cycles, and, barring some
apocalyptic event, the Demo
cratic party curve is now bend
ing downward.
A 'Grey Situation
The President's cross-country
exhortations exude an air of
unreality, as do the hyperbolic
assaults upon him, and for the
same reason that the whole
situation is a "grey" one, with
no blacks and whites about it.
His record of leadership was
good but not that good; the
Congress was obstructive, but
not that obstructive. Like vice
presidents and lieutenant col
onels, both dwell in the realm
of the not-quite but not-quite-not.
There simply is no over-arching
national issue for either
orators or voters to bite on.
Congress removed the immense
ly important question of Amer
ica's future in the world econ
omy as an issue by rising to its
duty and passing a whole-cloth
trade bill. It gave him half a
farm act, half a tax act, and
three-quarters of a foreign aid
act, leaving him in these areas
with a series of fraction-issues,
and no amount of fraction-issues
add up to one big issue.
Not Even Stock Slide
It denied him the Urban Af
fairs Department, but the case
for it was never proved. It de
nied him the school aid he
wanted, medicare, and the ac
tions on housing, and unemploy
ment he wanted; but each of
these is a real issue only in
scattered fractions of our geog
raphy and our social structure,
and it seems impossible to fuse
them into a national election
theme or image for his party.
No consensus has yet formed,
among the people or in the
Congress (or even within his
administration) as to precisely
how we "get the economy mov
ing." Nor, with all its emotional
overtones, has Cuba the chief
foreign policy problem yet
produced a really sharp division
of opinion in the country.
Even the stock market fall
wasn't dizzy enough and far
enough to produce political
trauma.
The President draws crowds
because he is John F. Kennedy,
a popular and glamorous per
sonality, not because he seems
to the people either a politically
victorious hero or a political
martyr. He is, in this campaign,
an acrobat on a political tight
rope, forced to argue, in effect,
that even an overwhelming
party majority in both houses
is not enough and he must
have a near monopoly.
A 'Personality' Election
inc trutn is that, unlike
nearly all "off year" elections,
this is a "personality" election..
It is true on the federal level,
where, if anything is changed
hv fhn Prnc'rlnnt it ...Jit K Ik.
causc of his person, not his
arguments. It is true on the
state level. In several races for
governorships will lie the only
real excitement for election
night, and even there pcrsonali-.
ties are more important than
issues.
In both New York and Cali
fornia the issues are fuzzy, the
voters so far arc rather apa
thetic and the real drama lips
in the truly vital question of
whether it will be man named
Rockefeller or a man named
Nixnn (I make only a faint bow
in the direction of Michigan
and Romney) who will fight the
1964 battle for the White House
against Kennedy.
There lies the one and only
element of national drama for
Nov. 6, an admission nobody
could regret more than this de
votee of tht exclamation point,