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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 1963)
Our Past UWrfff MONK KIVIMfU AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1927-1961 Punch Paged 1 Letters In The Editor's Mailbag I ALTON F. BAKER JR. Editor and Publisher EDWIN M. BAKER General Manager RICHARD A. BAKER Managing Editor- ROBERT B. FRAZtER Associate Editor A. H. CURREY Associate Editor The Register-Guard's policy it the complete and impartial publication in its newt pages of all newt and statements on news. On this page, the editors of the Register-Guard offer their opinions on events of the day and matters of importance to the community, endeavoring to be candid but fair and helpful in the development of construc tive community policy. A newspaper it a CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY, Published every evening and Sunday morning by the Guard Publishing Co. 4A EUGENE, OREGON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1963 The New Europe, Prototype for Progress One of the great stories of this cen tury, the founding and forging of a single" community of interest in West ern Europe, can already be credited with profoundly affecting the course of history. As President Kennedy recently stat ed, the European Common Market's spectacular success has been disconcert ing to Soviet Russia and the rest of the Communist world. It has touched off new vitality in culture as well as com merce, utilizing means which the Com munists had preached could only lead to deepening chaos and ultimate accept ance of the Communist system for sal vation. I Footnotes to this story are already appearing, some of them most provoca tive, some of them perhaps less profound in their meaning but still worthy of re flective notice. In the latter category, for example, are growing evidences that the peoples of Western Europe are being melded into one people much more rap idly, and easily, than the rest of the world imagined possible. Germans are developing keen appre ciation of Italian cooking; workers in The Hague have learned to distinguish between roqucfort and gorgonzola cheese; housewives in any of the Com mon Market nations can, and often do, buy the same brands of instant coffee, bobby pins and mustard. There are many unresolved prob lems in this integration process, of course. Germans, Italians and French differ in their preferences about the length of blankets. Experimental schools are finding it hard to develop history textbooks which do not trod too heavily on residual nationalistic feelings. And French designers haven't yet accepted the fact that not all Dutch and German matrons require elephantine sizes. But, on the whole, it is remarkable how few conflicts have developed be tween the people of the still-sovereign nations of Western Europe. It is re markable how flexible these people of different backgrounds, different cultures and different personality traits are ac tually proving to be. Richard O'Rcgan of the Associated Press recently reported that most West ern Europeans now have one central aim: the establishment, in due time, of a United States of Europe. And it ap pears that they will accomplish this aim in fact perhaps sooner than it is for mally written into the chronicles of history. In addition to discrediting Commu nist theories about the inherent decad ence of Western Europe and the capital ist system, the great story unfolding on the former battlegrounds of two world wars is also being footnoted because of its effects on other non-Communist na tions. Spain's dictator Franco just last week doubled the wages of his country's poorest workers. Why? Quite likely be cause many Spaniards have gone into Common Market nations to fill labor shortages, have learned how much bet ter life can be than it has been in Spain' and returning home have stirred new visions, new hopes and new aspirations which Franco cannot ignore.. In Asia, Africa and South America, too, what is transpiring in Western Eu rope is not going without notice. Presi dent Kennedy has reminded both Ameri cans and Western Europeans that they enjoy individual liberty, health and ma terial well-being which seem almost in credible to starving, oppressed and po litically restless masses in these "have not" portions of the world where more than two-thirds of all its inhabitants live. Our President has urged that the great story of Western Europe's 20th cen- tury renaissance be quickly followed by the initiation of sequels in Asia, Africa and South America. It is not at all unrealistic to imagine that this could be done. American com passion, and enlightened self-interest, sparked the rehabilitation of Western Europe with the Marshall Plan. Now, if Western Europe and the United States join to initiate similar action in under developed portions of the world, the course of history may indeed be steered toward objectives of more stable peace and more universal goodwill among men. Those who think this proposal un realistic should consider two things: (1) how preconceived notions about West ern Europeans' "fundamental" differ ences are being dispelled; (2) the testi monial value of Western Europeans' simultaneous achievement of ma terial prosperity and greater individual freedom. For Cartoons On Oregon By KENNETH L. HOLMES Professor of Hlstorj, Luifield Collate Have you ever been to a Punch and Judy show? If so, you have seen the funny little puppet after whom Britain's famed humor magazine was named. The first issue of Punch was printed in 1841, and every week for 122 years since that time the magazine has found something to laugh about in the life of the British people and their leaders. "John Bull," Punch's most famous caricature of all, is well known to all of us. Occasionally the United States also has come in for some good naturcd lampooning. Recently I had a wonderful time paging through the vol ume of Punch for the year 1846. The purpose was to see what the old magazine had to say about the Oregon question, which was settled during that year. The "Old Oregon country," now all of our Northwestern states plus British Columbia, had been held jointly by our nation and Great Britain for many years. The Hudson's Bay company, with headquarters in London, had really administered the area during that time, but more and more American wagon trains had traveled the long dis tance over the Oregon Trail to build up quite a formidable set tlement in the Willamette Val ley. They wanted the Oregon country to come under the jur isdiction of the United States, and enough sentiment had been stirred up in the East to make our relations with England bristling and excited. John C. Calhoun made a bom bastic speech on March 16, 1846, demanding that the Ore gon question be settled in the United States' favor at once. Finally the two nations came to an understanding, and the pres ent boundary was decided upon. Punch really took surprisingly little notice of Oregon, with only four cartoons about it, and one wonders if the British ever really got excited over the con troversy at all. Three of the old woodcuts showed the United States as "Yankee Noodle." Britain was pictured typically in three caricatures: (1), John Bull, looking surprisingly like Winston Churchill; (2), the British lion, not sabre-toothed, but a bayonet-toothed beast, but really looking as benign as the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz; (3), a feeble old lady, "Bri tannia," whom young Yankee Noodle was teaching to "suck eggs," the egg being labeled "Oregon." The fourth cartoon . only vaguely dealt with the question. These cartoons were all pub lished in March and April of 1846. Punch did not even bother to notice the final solu tion of the Oregon question in the following June. Roscoe Drummond -sCr & iz & Birthday : Oregon is a relatively young state. But it's getting a crop of venerable news papers. Latest to join the century club is the Corvallis Gazette-Times, which has just published a special edition to cele brate its one hundredth birthday. Others in the century club are the Oregon Statesman in Salem and the Portland Oregonian. Here at the Register-Guard we have had our editorial battles with our Cor vallis contemporary, and all of them haven't been about higher education, cither. But we respect the paper that remains lively and provocative. Robert Ingalls, the publisher, follows in the foot steps of his father in always having something to say. And that is mighty important. We speak confidently of our "con temporary" in Corvallis, because in a little more than four years the Register Guard will celebrate its centennial. So to our elder sister, best wishes. Facing the Issue v Those interested in the Eugene Mis sion problem are urged to read a letter appearing on this page over the signa ture of Betty Nivcn. Lengthy, it is. But it is also worthy of publication in exceptional length be cause it presents a lot of background Information, plus some semiconcrete suggestions about how this problem might be solved. Mrs. 'Nivcn is a member of the Eu gene Planning Commission and has been concerned with the mission problem for about three years. Her letter is an ex- pression of personal opinion, however, except where it includes quoted explana tion of the city's zoning ordinance. If this letter does nothing more than serve as a springboard for further com munity discussion of the mission issue, tho space devoted to its publication will have been justified. For, as Mrs. Niven states, this issue really involves a great deal more than mere selection of a site. We will always have a transient problem, whether we have a mission for transients or not. The larger our city becomes, the more this problem will be with us. It is time we began searching for a suitable means of dealing with it, realistically, and in the spirit of simple humanity. Our hope is that ideas such as Mrs. Niven's will be widely debated, and that when all has been said and consid ered, this community will cease tempor izing and begin facing reality. Force of Habit? Once there lived a generation of pretty little girls, in sweat shirts and blue jeans. They dreamed of growing up and wearing pretty dresses. They did grow up. And what do they wear as they go about their household chores, as they drive to the supermar ket? Sweat shirts and blue jeans. Disaster Giles French, sage of the wheatlands' says in his Sherman County Journal that "to lick Russia you'd have to catch and kill millions of people. To lick the Unit ed States, you'd only have to turn off the electricity." Letters intended for the Editor's Mailbag must be signed with the correct name and address of the writer. No anonymous letters will be published. Letters of less than 300 words in length will be given preference, as will those in which the writer con fines his letter to one topic. Fire Protection SPRINGFIELD (To the Edi tor) A letter in the Dec. 26 Editor's Mailbag necessitates an explanation of our forest protec tion system. In general, national forest lands, which are owned by the United States government, are protected by the United States Forest Service. Privately-owned lands in Oregon are protected either by the Oregon State For estry Dept. or by forest protec tive associations. In Oregon, for est land owners are required by law to provide fire protection for their own lands. This they do either by paying a fire pa trol tax or by paying an assess ment to a forest protective as sociation. The payment in both cases is on an acreage basis. The Eastern Lane Forest Pro tective Assn., a typical Oregon forest protective association, is a non-profit corporation organ ized, equipped and financed to prevent and control fires on or threatening forest land. It is not equipped, trained, or staffed to fight house fires. It operates under laws and regula tions and is confined to definite patrol boundaries. To engage in other activities could be con strued as a misuse of funds. The offer to pay for services when rendered is not realistic. If fire protection was economically pos sible on this basis, there would be firemen that we could call as we call a plumber or an elec trician. For a number, of years the Eastern Lane District had a neighborly custom of going to house fires in rural districts when men and equipment were available. This was done strict ly on a good neighbor basis. Be cause of the reasons stated above, this practice was dis continued when the outlying areas were given the opportunity to organize rural fire districts. A number of rural areas have taken advantage of this op portunity and have provided for themselves fire equipment oper ated by trained volunteer de partments, or have contracted with nearby city fire depart ments to provide protection. Other areas have this right, and I certainly recommend that they proceed without delay to form their own districts. HAROLD P. JEWETT, Member of the Board, Eastern Lane Forest Protective Assn. He's Been Shown EUGENE (To the Editor) I was born in Springfield, Mo., but now live in Oregon and think that it is a very good state to live in. In the spring, the birds are all singing and the wild flowers are starting to bloom. In the summer, the chil dren are all playing outdoors, the lakes, streams, rivers, and ponds are all sparkling by the radiant sunshine, the happy peo ple are all having lots of fun in the sun. In the fall the leaves are starting to turn brown and float slowly toward the ground. And in the winter, the snow drifts are piled high upon the towering mountains. The great Oregon Trail mark ers can be seen throughout the state. A large crater, now known as the Crater Lake, is an experi ence the people can be proud to have seen. This crater is so large that the depth of it has never been accurately de termined. There is an island in the middle of Crater Lake known as Wizard Island. Tall pine and fir trees tower over this island. This fine state has many varieties of wild game, such as elk, bear, deer, pheas ant, duck, geese, and many others. Oregon has many natural re sources, but the main natural resource is lumber. Millions and millions of acres in Oregon are covered with pine, many kinds of fir, and other kinds of trees. In this vast land of Oregon there are waterfalls that will keep falling forever, huge dams, frontier cities, and modern cities, and running through the forests is the wildlife. In this summary about Oregon, I can't begin to express my feelings about Oregon, but I do know this, I love to live, work, and play in Oregon . . . LARRY E. BATSON (13 years old) 1075 Menlo Loop 'Mission Problem' : More Than Location Repression of Religion Stepped Up by Russians WASHINGTON The facts leak out in bits mid pieces, but It is increasingly evident that Premier Khrushchev fears the power of religious conviction more than any other threat to Communist rule. While dc-Slal-inization has, within careful limits, eased some of the oth er repressions on the Soviet people, it is not hotnf? Allowed to ease the re- Drummond pression of religion and religi ous worship. In fact, the evidence now at hand shows mounting activity by the Soviet secret police to curtail the practice of all re ligions despite the fact that the Soviet constitution guarantees "freedom of religious and anti religious propaganda." The latest information com piled by the Institute for the Study of the U S S R, with head quarters in Munich, reveals: That at least 2.000 churches of the Russian Orthodox faith have been nailed shut in tho Soviet Union in the period 1960 to 1962. That no more than 10.000 churches are open in the U S S R at the present time, contrary to the official claim of only a year ago that 20.000 churches were allowed to function. This 10,. 000 figure compares with the 78.000 Orthodox religious estab lishments which the Soviet magazine, Science and Religion, MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Trie Associated Presa Is entitled exclusively to the uso for republi cation of all the local newa printed In this newspaper. MEMBER Or THE AUDIT BUREAU or CIRCULATIONS Services United Prs Interactions! WILLIAM WASMANN, Newt Editor DO.N.N U BON HAM. City Ldltor ROSS C. JOHNSON. Advertising Director JARL FUGLE Circulation Msnafer ROHERT K RERTSCH Promotion W R JOHNSTON JR. Auditor AR.NE STROMMER Productloa said dotted the Russian country side 40 years ago. That the Soviet secret police have been concentrating on the famous Pochayev monastery in western Ukraine with almost daily sorties against the monks and the pilgrims who come from many parts of the region for services. The basis of much of this in formation is a copy of a letter of protest to Premier Khrush chev, signed by several thou sand parishioners and worship ers at the Pochayev monastery, which has come into the hands of the Synod of the Russian Or thodox Church outside Russia. It is an appeal to the Synod and to the World Council of Churches, and to American re ligious leaders, to rally world opinion in the hope of putting some brake on these growing religious repressions. A favorite practice of the po lice, according to the text of the protest, "is to drop in casually with a militia squad, break down the doors and pull out a few monks, who are taken for a ride and dropped, alive but beaten up, as much as 200 miles away in the middle of a forest and warned never to return to rochayev." The appeal also charges that "a squad of 12 militiamen forci bly removed Father Joseph. 70, to an insane asylum, where he is reported to have been mur dered. Two other monks have suffered fatal injuries in the continued violence." Simultaneously with these ac tions, widespread anti-Semitism is being practiced officially by the Soviet government against the 1,500.000 orthodox Jews in the U S S R. In recent months at least 17 Jewish citizens have been sen tenced to death for alleged "economic violations" and oth ers to prison: six Jewish lay re ligious leaders in Leningrad and Moscow have been arrested and the Jewish congregational chair men in .Minsk. Riga. Kiev, and Tashkent have been deposed by the government. Anti-Semitic articles keep appearing in the major newspapers of the large provincial cities often in the same version. EUGENE (To the Editor) I appreciated the comments of David White on the difficulties presented by my proposed ap proach to the question of mis sion location. Last week we spent an hour and a half discus sing the complexities of this im portant problem. Because of its importance, and the general in terest in it, I would like to pre sent some of these complexities to R-G readers, along with fur ther possible approaches for public consideration. First, Mr. White's criticisms: Readers may recall that my pro posal was that mission support ers should form a Mission Resti tution Assn. to underwrite the losses in property values that might be borne by persons liv ing within one block of the mission, provided such persons presented their losses within one year. Taking Mr. White's last criticism first, a protesta tion that the legal involvements, court proceedings, etc., for settling on a fair price would be interminable, let me say that the proposal was for a purely voluntary compensation to prop erty owners. There would be no legal recourse. It would be an act of faith by the mission sup porters, giving meaning to the old phrase to "put your money where your mouth is." Mr. White questions the one block radius and the one-year period; these were suggestions, not scientifically determined rules. It could well be that someone whose home or busi ness lay in the path taken by the mission clientele to the mis sion, several blocks from the mission, might have more of a problem of property disposal than someone who lived much closer. ... An examination of the particular location would be needed to decide which were the properties most affected. Mr. White is quite correct in saying that my proposal could create an artificial market for property which would not have been salable in the first place, and I have no answer to this. The most serious part of his letter, however, is the one in which he objects to special zoning treatment for missions, first because they are not treated simply as an uncondi tional use; and, secondly, be cause in no other instance do ve expect the user who causes a decline in property values to pay the losers. Among the stated purposes of the zoning ordinance is: "To encourage the most appropriate use of land; to conserve and sta bilize the value of property." The Planning Commission must keep this constantly in mind. It is the reason that there are pub lic hearings, not only for mis sion locations, but for every change of use allowed in the dif ferent zones, and for every change of zone. While it is much more convenient for the commission to have uncondi tional uses within each zone so that once the use is made allowable, any property owner in the zone may practice it there are circumstances where this is not possible because of the far-reaching effects of cer tain uses. Transient housing is one of these uses. Under the allowable uses downtown (and in industrial areas) the ordinance includes: "A facility which exists for the purpose of providing for the temporary care andor lodging of adult indigent persons ... sub ject to the determination by the Planning Commission at a pub lic hearing, that the site in ques tion would not be unduly detri mental to other owners of prop erty within the vicinity." When the Planning Commis sion set up this provision, it was believed to be workable. It is only after public hearings on three sites and consideration of two others that the extent of the complications has become apparent. The hearing on a downtown location revealed the difficulties of businessmen in the area when the mission op erated at 6th and Willamette. . . Some mission supporters have said, "Let the businesses move elsewhere." Ignoring the ques tion of whether this is fair to the businessman, ask the ques tion, "And who is going to move in?" Who, besides more mis sions? . . . Now turn to the industrial areas. The Planning Commis sion realiied that we had "mixed land uses" in these areas that is, that there were houses and stores there as well as factories and warehouses. But the Com mission did not realize just how many little pockets of housing there are. Many of the people who live in these areas work nearby, sometimes on the swing shift, and their wives are alone in the house at night They art naturally rather fearful, not of those persons who are staying at the mission but of those who have been turned away and are seeking help elsewhere. People are concerned about their chil dren going to school along paths frequented by those seeking the mission. And many of the houses are lived in by elderly widows who want to live out their days in the old family house. In these areas the streets arc often not continuous, and the street-lighting is limited so that policing is difficult. Ordinarily, if a new com mercial or industrial develop ment makes residential prop erty unlivable as a residence, the owner can sell the property for some other use. What makes the mission use different from almost any other is the problem of disposing of adjacent property. Who is going to buy it? From the hearing, it appears that nobody wants to be the mission's neighbor. It is for this reason that the question of compensating an involuntary mission neighbor is a reason able one to raise. . . It is a general principle in planning that space provides the best cure for objectionable uses and I have, therefore, aft er three years of hearings, con versation, and study, come to the conclusion that mission site should have as few neighbors as possible and be as great a dis tance as is possible while still serving its purpose. In proposing this, I am not tossing the ball from the Eu gene Planning Commission to the Lane County Planning Com mission. This is a project that belongs not ro Eugene, but to the community, and it can be solved only by cooperation at various levels of local govern ment. I would suggest, tenta tively, that the county and the cities purchase a site of per haps 10 acres, convenient to a highway, not off on a little side road. Then mission groups, or others, could lease part of this land for their buildings, with two requirements: 1. That food and lodging are paid for in labor. . 2. That attendance at relig ious services is completely vol untary (in order to maintain separation of church and state). I should like to discuss the idea of work as the price of lodging, because it seems to me this is a logical extension of the county work-welfare program, which should also be expanded. Who are these people who are getting help, public or private, or who need it and are not get ting it? First, those receiving welfare who are (1) temporarily out of a job and down on their luck, or (2) who are willing to live at a very low standard of living rather than to work. The peo ple who fall in group (1), and who are eager to get off wel fare (and these are in the ma jority) are entitled to have work to do in the meantime so that they can maintain their self-respect. The people in group (2), and they are a mi nority, should have to work be cause such a requirement may be the only lever that will cause them to get jobs which would make them contributors to the tax pool rather than users of it. . . The program would be ex panded to include the class known as "single employable men" for whom there is present ly no provision and who make up part of the clientele of mis sions. Many of these people would be willing to do simple routine work, but their talents are so slight, or their intelli gence or drive so limited, that they will never hold a job in our competitive world. These are known generally as "incom petents." Rather than simply trying to move these men along the line to the next town, we must make a place for them in our society, and in a semimral setting like the Emerald Empire, we can make room for them, can help them to gain self-respect by be coming useful to society. The career hoboes, who are estimated to include about 25 per cent of the mission clien tele, are beyond the help of our communily, 1 believe. If they can be rehabilitated at all, they will need the professional help available in larger places. Prob ably a city needs to be as big as Portland before it can absorb these career hoboes. Another group of transients consists of those people who are on the road looking for. or on the way to. another job . . . mostly migratory workers. Fre quently they are a family, rath er than single men, and as a group they include fewer in competents. This is the group for which the Salvation Army has tried to find housing and food, within the Army's means. The Army keeps records of everyone it helps, and it will not allow itself to be used as a regular stopover point, saving it re sources for the really hard-hit. Many of these people arrive one night and leave the next morn ing, and whether they work for their lodging is not too import ant. It is important that people who live here, on welfare, or who stay here over a period of time, hanging around the streets during the day until the mission opens at 5:30 or 6, should be required to earn their keep. The question is raised: What! Jobs for them when we still have unemploymtnt? The an swer is, look around for the jobs that are not being done because labor has priced itself out of the market, or is not willing to undertake them. Here are a few possibilities: The first is one presently used in the welfare work program brush clearing. With only a quarter of Eugene's parkland developed (not count ing North Bank Park), there is plenty of scope for this and it will not be done otherwise un til the parks are ready for full development planting, irriga tion, and professional care. What about a path along the river front? What about the trash along the existing path? What about the much-discussed Amazon Trail from Amazon Park to the base of Spencer Butte? Every summer there are street paving projects; the park ing strips are rarely left to the property owners' satisfaction. The contractor can't afford the time (cost) of doing a more fin ished job. Welfare work crews could follow up on these; with practice, they could get pretty good at it. Look at the litter in the tree planters in downtown Eugene. No doubt they are not cleaned oftener because of the costs. The two pedestrian alleys lead ing from the park blocks had to be designed for mechanical sweeping because of the high cost of hand-sweeping. Main taining little areas like these could be a source of real satis faction to someone who now feels completely useless. There are many more jobs like these, and doing them could not only increase the self-respect of many incompetents and free-loaders, it would also be a community benefit. Such jobs should be listed and sorted out by difficulty. We should make sure that we are neither taking advantage of unfortunates, nor letting them take advantage of us. Nor should we destroy paid job opportunities for employ able men. ... It would take the coordinated efforts of the coun ty (particularly welfare) and the city department heads, with advice from labor unions, min isters, and attorneys. . . . There are many details to be worked out, and parts of this proposal may be quite impractical. But this proposal suggests a means of tackling the problem, a problem which" is broader than where a mission is located. BETTY NIVEN 3940 Hilyard St. Carmichael Of BLOOP--- 4 1 I i ... yy
