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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1962)
VANS CMmffT MNI et-guatft MWIMMek AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1927-1961 In the Editor's Mailbag Below Olympus 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. " , j Associate Editor : The Register-Guard's policy it the complete and impartial publication in its new pages of all newt and statements on news. On this pace, 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 it a CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY. Published every evening and Sunday morning by the Guard Publishing Co. J2A EUGENE,' OREGON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1962 .Will the Watchdog Eat the Chickens? Legislators are, first of all, state em ployes. They also make a great point ft their role as watchdog of the public purse. But now, in considering salary in creases for themselves, some of . them pre demonstrating that they want the position next to the gravy boat, no mat ter where other state employes are ex pected to stand. The recommendation is that legislators be" paid at .least $8,000 jfor the two-year session, and the figure fcould well go as high as $9,000., j' A special committee on salary sug gests an annual salary of $3,000. For the biennium that's $6,000. Then it asks for n expense allowance of $20 a day. If b session lasts 100 days, that's $2,000 on top of the $6,000. However, there aren't going to be many more 100-day , sessions in Oregon.' A better guess, es pecially if it isn't too costly to the legis lator to stay in Salem a while, is that Uiey'll be running nearer 140 or even jl50 days. That could bring the total tab, tier legislator, up to $9,000. Then, if the jBxpense allowance were to be paid also jfor days the legislators yere on, interim committee business, the bill could run even higher. . j - . !; Let's look at this expense figure, bow much does it cost to live away S"rom home? The state, with the bless ing of the legislative watchdogs, thinks it costs $11.50. That's what other state employes get when they must be out of town. They get $6.50 a day for a room and $5 for meals. And that is all. How come a legislator has to live so much higher off the hog than any other state employe? 1 $11.50 is reasonable for one, it's reasonable for the other. Perhaps $11.50 is not reasonable. But, then, would the legislators agree to rais ing the general expense account limit ft ft- ; ft Mutually Good Charles A. Sprague, who by all counts stands today as the great editor of the West, Tuesday received the E. B. . MacNaughton Civil Liberties Award. The award was made' by . the Oregon unit of the American Civil Liberties Union. It was a good award, good for the Salem editor and good for the ACLU. Certainly Mr. Sprague is 'most de serving. He has long been a staunch defender of the things the ACLU be lieves in fair play, freedom, protec tion of individual rights. , . The award was good for the ACLU because it may help to correct a recur rent misconception about the" organiza tion. Often, the ACLU has appeared to be on the side of pinks. Thus, even among those who are usually more care ful, it has been incorrectly identified as a left wing outfit. Nothing is further from tho truth. The ACLU has acted not in defense of pinks because they were pinks, but in defense of people because they were people, pcoplo with rights. It has also defended numerous right-wingers and stands ready to do so again, if their civil rights are under attack. Mr. Sprague, a former Republican governor of Oregon, is certainly a con Bcrvative by most standards. And so was E. B. MacNaughton, the Republican banker and publisher for whom the award was named. They represent the finest kind of conservatism, the kind that is ever watchful, lest precious American rights be eroded away. And that's the kind of conservatism the ACLU represents, too. Strange Story The more the Mountain Home mys tery unfolds, the more of a mystery it becomes. Who did kill the airman's wife last spring, one of the fellows who says he did or one of the fellows who says he didn't? Now, if we're up to date on the developments, the story goes like this: Girl killed. Neighbor airman arrested. Airman grilled by Air Force. Airman 'confesses. Airman turned over to civil authority. Airman retracts confession. to $20? Figure, too, that a number of legislators live either in Salem or in nearby towns from which they can com mute. And legislators are able to make long-term arrangements on living quar ters, thus getting them cheaper than the other employes who must find over night accommodations for $6.50. Even if the $8,000 or $9,000 sti-. pend were approved, Oregon still would not be at the top in legislative pay. Cali fornia leads with $6,000 a year, plus $19 a day during sessions. New York pays $7,500 a year. But the increase would put Oregon well up on the list. We want to be fairly well up. We want to treat our legislators fairly. But the legis lators themselves are telling us that we can't afford to have the services of many richer states. ; - Also, politically speaking, this huge increase in pay, which once was $1,200 for the session, could backfire. The peo ple, who granted the legislators the right to set their own pay, could withdraw that authority! Legislators should be ever mindful of that possibility. This year's salary grab could be mighty expensive for them, as well as for the treasury.- The Register-Guard, consistently over the years, has argued for adequate pay for legislators. Legislative service, should not be a hardship. Neither, how-, ever, should it be a quick route to the gravy boat. This suggested pay scale is disappointing to many who have sought' a fair shake for the men and women who make our laws. It leads to the suspicion that economy in government is a fine thing when somebody else or his depart ment is involved, but not when the victims of economy are the men who write the checks. ft ft' ft Another girl killed. Civilian arrested. Admits that murder. Also admits killing that airman is charged with. . Airman released by civil authority. Airman re arrested by Air Force. Airman says he was forced to make earlier confession. Big hearing called. Airman sticks to story. Civilian refuses to testify. Air Force officer jays civilian told him he made up story of murder, saying air man did it after all. Civilian says he made up story he told Air Force officer, adding that he (civilian) really did kill first girl. Airman still in jail. So is ci vilian. Air. Force allows it might decide in about a month whether to hold air man longer. This is a strange story, and a very serious one. Certainly it casts more doubt upon the "confession" as a relia ble indicator of guilt, and shows it up ' for what it may often be, a forced self incrimination. It also makes one wonder about the standard of Air Force justice, especially now that, after the hearing, the Air Force will wait another month before deciding whether or not to hold the airman. In a civilian proceeding, the fellow would be either charged and tried or let go. This is the sort of affair, messy and sensational though it be, that deserves the close attention of every American. Lining Up for Trouble Traffic safety experts report that 15 per cent of all accidents result from one driver following too closely behind an other. From recent freeway observa tions, we'd say this is a remarkably low percentage, considering that the usual practice is for one driver to be closely tail-ended by another, and another, and another, and , . , Cost of Loving Aesthetic Vigilance EUGENE (To the Editor) I believe the city of Eugene , needs a cleanup committee of volunteer citizens to go around the city periodically and clear out all the refuse and tin cans from Willamette Street and Broadway at least. What must visitors to our fair city think of our aesthetic sense when we . let such stuff go unnoticed? Why, just last Saturday, less than three weeks before Christ mas (when we ought to want everything in our fair city ship shape), 1 was downtown shop ping and I saw a huge tin can , on a pole in front of the hand some new Equitable Savings and Loan Building. JUANITA LESCH 732 E. 18th Ave. . Confused Tale EUGENE (To the Editor) The trouble with the Register Guard being an evening paper is that I usually try to read it while my wife is reading the children their bedtime story, and sometimes the two get all. , mixed up together. This eve ning (Dec' 18), I was trying to read something about higher .' education, but with Snow white and Rose-red mixed in ' with it, it just didn't seem to make sense: "The state system of higher education might be able to take a closer look at its method for arriving at budget requests, - Oregon lawmakers were told ; Monday." "In spite of the little man's temper, the girls did all in their ' power to set him free." "Kenneth Bragg, legislative fiscal officer, said the Board of . Higher Education's operating budget requests were based on maintaining the existing stu- . dent-teacher ratio. That assump- tion is not necessarily cor rect. ..." " 'Idiot!' screeched the dwarf, . 'Why go and fetch more dun- derheads? , Here are two too ' many already! Can't you think I of anything better?' " "He said the explosion of knowledge and the boom in en rollments makes it necessary to ; adapt to new techniques in edu cation." ' " 'Don't be so impatient,' said Snow-white. And taking out her scissors, she snipped the end off the dwarf's beard, thus set ting him free at once. But for all that did he say thank you? 'Drat you ninnies, for cutting my beautiful beard,' he cried." " 'There is simply an insuf ficient supply of qualified teachers,' he said. . . . Bragg also subjected the higher education building fund requests to a searching criticism." "And seizing a bag full of gold which was hidden among the roots of the tree, he made off into the woods without even so much as a backward glance at the children who had helped him." I guess it is really necessary to read about great affairs of state in a quiet place for them to make much sense. ' DAVID WRENCH I 1857 E. 17th Ave. Not 'Socialistic' EUGENE (To the Editor) Mr. James Whetstine's letter Dec. 13 is quite critical of medi care, even to the point of call ing it socialistic. Since the bill provides for the recipient to pay for the medical treatment he will receive upon retirement while he is gainfully are happy being workers at the various trades, respected by their families and friends, and most concerned with preserving a small bit of security and inde pendence for themselves. That is why they support unions, so cial legislation protecting them from special interests, and the Democratic party. When the Republicans start initiating better and more bal anced measures of this type in stead of bellyaching about them, only then will they get more public support. Mr. Whetstine, a fellow rail roader, may vote Republican and read the Readers Digest if go along with this definition. True, the King-Anderson Bill is not perfect in many respects, but it is at least a step in the right direction. Medicare can be classed in me same category as social Be- v r o . curity, Rural Electrification and Urges OUppOn the National Recovery Act cer tainly not socialism, as conserva tive Republicans cry, but as acts of social responsibility. ' Eisenhower said that rather than ,try to shun the label of "the party of big business," the Republicans should be proud of it, since businessmen are the leaders of our country. ' The Republican party has sponsored many tax breaks and favorable bits of legislation for American business. Yet at the same time they call the same kind of legislation, benefiting the public at large, socialism. The Democratic party seems to realize that business is im portant, but that not all people can be captains of industry or even own their own small busi ness. Most people, they find, Bruce Biossat EUGENE (To the Editor) Letters need to be sent to Mr. Leroy Collins, National Assn. of Broadcasters, 1771 N. Street, N. W Washington 6, D. q. Mr.' Collins' job is threatened be cause of his stand in urging re strictions on tobacco advertising in his Portland speech. -. Tobacco is proven to be the number one cause of cancer and circulatory deaths. Britain has already officially gone against tobacco use and advertising. How many parents care to see their children wooed into smok ing, its cough and its physical impairments? Let us support this self-en-' forced restriction of tobacco ad vertising by the broadcasters. LOUIS MASON 2548 Potter St. Prosperity and Crowding Indicted for Crime Wave WASHINGTON (NEA) There are, some U. S. cities where the chances are 1 in 13 that any ' citizen will be the victim of a serious crime within the next 12 months. Within zones of high crime incidence in these and other cities, the chances of being vic timized are considerably greater. The citizen's prospects nat urally improve when wider cir cles are drawn. In the United States the ratio is 1 in 100. But in the Pacific states as a group it drops to 1 in 60 and in certain slates it is 1 in 45. This is just one way the FBI measures the impact on the av erage citizen of today's great .and continuing rise in major crime. The Long-Range Look The periodic evidence of that upward spiral is duly recorded by the FBI. The latest report shows U. S. crime for nine months of 1962 5 per cent high er than the same period in 1961. Washington Notebook ; 'McGeorge' Some Handle WASHINGTON (NEA) McGeorge B u n d y, President Kennedy's special assistant on foreign affairs, has a good deal of trouble with his first name. The story is told that former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, asked to do a story on Henry Stimson, World War II secretary of war, said he couldn't improve on the excel lent autobiography on which "George McBundy" collaborated. Bundy states that the name McGeorge is given only in al ternate generations of the Bun dy family. He says: "No wife who has had to pay bills vari ously addressed has let any son of hers be named McGeorge." . Recent reports of the White House using a tape recording of a frightened starling's cry to keep the pesky birds away sparked interest as far away as Copenhagen, Denmark. There, Peter Heoring maker of a cherry liqueur wrote Presi dent Kennedy a letter saying The cost of loving, like the cost of living, keeps going up. New York City has just raised the marriage license fee from $3 to $4. And that's only the beginning. As the late Clint Haight, sage of the John Day and Baker country, used to say, "A wife is like a car. It's not the initial in vestment that hurts; it's the upkeep and repairs." they saw eye to eye in battling the starling problem. It seems that for years starlings have been a threat to the Danish cherry orchards. Like the President, Hccring also uses a starling's recorded cry to keep the birds away. For added shock effect, he uses stuffed hawks mounted on bal loons to guard orchards. Heering found that the axi om of "a woman always has the last word" is equally true in the bird world. He says that a female starling's cry scares the birds more than a male's. There are a host of stories circulating these days about Gen. Maxwell Davenport Tay lor, the now and controversial chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One story is that he can't keep his eyebrows still when under any mental strain. Those eyebrows evidently are as necessary to him while ex plaining some intricate subjects as hands are to a clothing sales man. Agriculture department has invented a new word "In stantizing." It apparently char acterizes the process by which "instant" food such as coffee is made. A public relations girl came to the rescue the other night when Tony Perkins, star of the new stage comedy, "Harold," failed to appear at a wine-tasting party in his honor. Realizing that the guests were growing restless, the girl cooked up a plan with a disc jockey to tape a broadcast with spot interviews from some of the sophisticated personalities pres ent. She spied a distinguished looking gentleman in black tie, who obviously was enjoying the affair. Holding the microphone toward him, she asked: "Would you be kind enough to tell us what brings you here?" "I'd be glad to," he replied. "I'm the head waiter at the res taurant next door. I came in after hearing the noise through the wall." There is this fictional account of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Ga garin's first press conference: "When you were orbiting the earth how were you able to de termine your position in order to land your ship safely?" asks one newsman. Replies Gagarin: "When I stuck my hand out the window of my space ship and someone spit on it, I knew 1 was over Germany. "When I stuck my hand out the sect-nd time and someone kissed it, I knew I was over Czechoslovakia. "But how did you know when you were over Russia?" another reporter asks. "That's simple," says Gagarin. "When I stuck my hand out for the last time and someone stole my watch, I knew I was home." Yet the long-range look tells better what is happening. From 1940 through 1961, the climb in serious U. S. crime was 170 per cent, though population in the same span was rising just 38 per cent. Much has long been made of the enlarging role youthful of fenders play in these increases. Individuals under 18 commit two of every five serious crimes. Most staggering is the fact that last year children under 15 com mitted 32,000 burglaries and 62, 000 larcenies. The latter total was nearly four times that in the 25-29 age bracket. Two Big Changes Some students of crime, law enforcement specialists and psy chologists argue that the well remarked increases are more ap parent than real. A point fre quently stressed is that report ing and tabulation of crime is far more complete and accurate than it used to be. While conceding the point, FBI authorities question wheth er it goes very far toward ex plaining the crime rise. They put a finger on two big historical changes the steady growth of urban centers, with resulting heightened population density, and the social instability arising from the constant move ments of people from farm to city, city to city and state to state. . In the view of government criminal experts, these changes are creating conditions for crime which never existed in similar measure before. Opportunities Being- Seized An important element in these conditions is opportunity, and present-day U. S. urban life vastly magnifies opportunity. There are more people tightly packed together today, and they can be victimized in crimes against the person. The rise in street assaults and robberies shows this opportunity is being seized. Likewise, in - this affluent country, material standards are still going up. Consequently there is more money and more jewelry, furs, cars, television sets, cameras and other goods to offer temptation. This abundance, spread from city centers out to swelling suburbs, is too great for any police force to keep close watch upon. FBI men say, too, that many of these tempting prizes are carelessly guarded by their citizen owners. Social Instability Blamed The agency notes, for ex ample, sharp increases in thefts from parked cars, from resi dences left unlocked, from shops which know the peril of "lift ing." If big banks today are hard to crack, the swiftly multi plying suburban branch banks and savings and loan offices are vulnerable targets. Their safe guards are limited. Even if these attractions were not steadily proliferating, FBI officials suggest crime rates would be sharply up. Here they turn to the cited social in stability: lax parental discipline, weakened neighborhood con trols, interracial conflict, the city-ward rush of rural folk ill equipped to live and hold jobs in the complex urban centers. The net of all this, it is argued, is to heighten the urge to crime at a period in history when the prospect of acting upon the urge is maximized by the nation's unparalleled growth. employed, it is hard for me to he chooses, but he must realize how many times his vote is canceled out by his fellow em ployes. ROBERT W. LAMBIE 218 Kinney Loop " don't mind the crowds, the lines or going in hock every year. , . , what bothers me is, come Christmas morning, you get all the credit!" David Lawrence ' JFK's Speech on Economy Didn't Give Whole Story WASHINGTON President Kennedy didn't tell all of the story to the American people last Friday night when he claimed in his speech before the Economic Club in New York City that "the economic health of this nation has been and is now fundament ally sound." Even in the ; same speech la ter on Kennedy said exactly the ipposite as fol- Lawrence lows: "Surely the lesson of the last decade is that budget deficits are not caused by wild-eyed spenders but by slow economic growth and periodic recessions and any new recession would break all deficit records." The President endeavored, moreover, to give the impres sion that the rises in govern ment expenditures which have unbalanced his budget have been due entirely to national de fense and space projects or "to fight the recession we found in industry and agriculture." Rep. Clarence Cannon of Mis souri, Democrat, chairman of the House Appropriations Com mittee, however, in a courage ous speech on the day Congress adjourned in October, gave a different version. Unfortunate ly it didn't get the publicity a presidential address does. . 'Proof of Point Cannon said: "This year we added another year to the long string of years of living beyond national reve nues in 26 of the last 32 years we haven't balanced the budget. Not even in times of unprece dented national prosperity have we been willing to pay as we go along. We have yet to demonstrate any determination to do so." Cannon emphasized that "it is rising non-defense expendi tures that have unbalanced the budgets and expanded the na tional debt." He proved his point as follows: "In the eight years, fiscal 1954 through 1961, the level of national defense expenditures remained virtually unchanged but the non-defense budget in that time increased $13,470,000, 000 -and that does not include the highway program, erroneous ly labeled as a 'trust' fund and therefore no longer counted in general 'budget' totals. Who Holds Purse Strings? "Again when fiscal year 1962 closed on June 30 last, budget expenditures had risen $6,153, 000,000 above 1961 $3,575,000, 000 for national defense and $2, 578,000,000 for non-defense." And who has been in power in Congress for practically all of the last 32 years? Who has been In the majority in Con gress in the -last eight years? In both cases it is the Demo cratic party. And, who holds the purse strings? Not the presi dent, but the Congress. The President tried to shift the blame for the big deficits to the preceding administration, but Cannon's speech tells why this can't be so. Kennedy now promises as he has done in many speeches before to hold down the expenses of govern ment. He said last Friday night: "I can tell you now that the total of all other expenditures combined (besides defense) will MEMBER OP THE ASSOCmTEU PRESS The Associated Presa Is entitled exclusively to the use for republi cation of all the local ntwa printed In thla newspaper. MEMBER OF THE AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS Services United Press International be held at approximately 1U current level." But the trouble with that promise is that current expenses are not to be reduced and the tax revenues, of course, will not overcome the deficits. The promise of a "top to bottom" tax reduction makes the head lines, but business cannot ex pand and the tax receipts will not grow if there is a lack of confidence on the part of busi ness in the economic outlook. For labor is getting ready to demand that business pay high er and higher wages, which, of course, would absorb most of the benefits of tax reduction. The newspaper strikes in New York and Cleveland are sig nificant examples of the sys tem of extortion practiced by the labor-union monopoly in in dustries generally. The ad ministration refuses to curb these excesses, though it does interfere with the making of proper prices and profits, as happened in the steel industry earlier this year. Politics Rules the Day The President expects the tax reduction to produce a boom in consumer spending. In his speech he revealed that "con sumers are still spending be tween 92 and 94 per cent of their after-tax income, as they have every year since 1950." But he declares that the "after-tax income could and should be greater." This is the erroneous philosophy of New Deal days, and it never solved the problem of big unemployment. The illness of the American economy has been due largely to the failure of business to ex pand its plant and -equipment. The main reason is the "profit squeeze." There cannot be any substantial expansion or sta bility of prices unless the gov ernment stops tampering with the law of supply and demand in price-making and opens its eyes to the labor-union monopo ly that is choking the free-enterprise economy on the cost side. Politics really rules the day and, as long as the administra tion in power accepts big cam paign funds from labor unions, special privilege will persist. The American businessman will see his tax reductions eaten up by higher wage costs while at the same time the government persecutes and prosecutes indus try when it seeks to get a fair price and a fair profit. This ailment will not be cured by government spending and peren nial deficits. All this can only bring inflation and a drop in the purchasing power of the dollar. Carmichael WILLIAM WASMANN, DONN L BONHAM, Newt Editor City Editor ROSS 0. JOHNSON, Advertising Director JARt. FUGLE Circulation Manaser ROBERT K. BERTSOH Promotion W. R. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor ARNE STROMMER Production Iffe Trie OkJLY WAY I CAvM llfc A BOW-
