VANS CMmffT MNI
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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
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cation of all the local ntwa printed
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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-