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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1963)
'Sorry, Sonny I Don't Think You're Ready for This Race' Viewpoint In the AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER . ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1927-1961 ALTON F. BAKER JR. Editor and Publisher EDWIN M. BAKER General Manager RICHARD A. BAKER Managing Editor ROBERT B. FRAZIER Associate Editor A. H. CURREY Associate Editor The Register-Guard's policy is the complete and impartial publication in its news pages of all news 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 is a CITIZEN OF ITS COMMUNITY, Published every evening and Sunday morning by the Guard Publishing Co. 10A EUGENE, OREGON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1963 Black Eyes, Deserved and Undeserved Higher education in Oregon, through the fraternity system, has been put on the defensive at a time when higher edu cation needs all the friends it can get. Three University of Oregon fraternities have been whopped on two counts hazing charges against all three, and ra cial discrimination charges against two of the three. On the hazing matter, they have their lumps coming. On the dis crimination matter, they don't. The picture of "college" is too often a distorted one. Too many Americans, and this includes legislators, regard "college life" as the sort of life that was pictured in the old "College Humor" magazine back in the flapper era. Or, at best, they regard it as the kind of col lege life they knew before World War II, when, in all truth, college likely was more fun than work. Responsible edu cators and responsible students have been working hard to change this image. They know that the postwar years have seen a dramatic shift in the fun-work ratio. The hazing charges reinforce the 1 unfortunate image of Joe College in his raccoon coat, cavorting about the frat house with a big paddle and a gin bottle. Arthur Flemming, University of Ore gon president, has promised to crack down, and hard, on fraternities guilty of the sort of thing exposed this year at ATO, Sigma Nu and DU. That's fine. It should be handled internally and not by any legislative investigation as some have rashly suggested. But it .shouldn't have to be "handled" at all. It shouldn't even come up. It won't come up i these fraternity members keep In mind their greater obligation to their fellow stu dents and to their younger brothers and sisters who soon will show up on cam puses that are none too well supported now. The discrimination charges are an other matter. ATO and Sigma Nu; both national organizations, have, in their na tional charters, racial restrictions. How ever, in response to pressure from the Board of Higher Education, the nation als have agreed to give the local units waivers of these restrictions. The net effect is that ATO and Sigma Nu, In Oregon, are free to pledge Negroes, Jews or anybody else. This isn't good enough for the Na tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People. An NAACP repre sentative told the board he is still not satisfied, because of the presence of the offending olauses in national charters. Maybe he isn't satisfied. But that's not the board's business. The board's objec tive was to see to it that racial barriers were not written into the codes govern ing fraternity or sorority membership in Oregon. And the Oregon boundary is as far as the board's authority extends. Having found that these barriers are not written into local codes, the board has discharged its responsibility. It has warned, also, that if facts subsequently prove that these organizations are not really free to initiate whom they wish, recognition of offending organizations will be withdrawn. The NAACP's gripe is with the na tional offices o ATO and Sigma Nu. It should get off the board's back. The only reasons the board got into the prob lem in the first place are that the living organizations enjoy some tax advantages and that they are, in a real sense, adjuncts of the state college system. Fritz Machlup, Princeton Uni versity professor of economics, in "The Production and Distri bution of Knowledge in the United States." There is at present a great scarcity of brain power in our labor force. Practically all oc cupations requiring a solid edu cation have manpower prob lems. There Is virtually no un employment among the well trained, but there is severe un employment among these with no skills or physical skills only. Gerald W. Johnson in "A Little Night Music:" A man who has tried to play Mozart, and failed, through that vain effort comes Into po sition better to understand the man who tried to paint the Sis tine Madonna, and did. ft ft ft Treaty or Trick? Can we trust the Russians' latest pro posals for a nuclear test ban treaty? Can we afford to do otherwise? There's a brace of questions to which answers should be played in counter part, but which could, all too easily, pro duce only cacophony. The evidence indicates that it won't bo long, certainly not long in terms of total history, before China becomes a nuclear power. Already we are finding out from France that any nation so armed becomes a nation less easily bent to what we think are the proper ways of preventing a last world war. True, the Russians may be working this test ban treaty idea for nothing more than its full propaganda Worth. True, the Russians have so far offered only a part of what would be necessary to constitute a workable, reliable treaty. But it is also true that Russia could be just as worried about the Chinese as we arc and more, about France. The Russians could be easing into what could bo a satisfactory agreement in or- der that indirect influence will be felt in Taris and, to establish a precedent upon which to base relations with China If, or more probably, when, that nation perfects its own big bomb. It's a tricky course over which President Kennedy is attempting to steer U.S. and British negotiators in treaty talks with Russian counterparts. And quite probably, Premier Khru shchev, on his side, must also be noting tho need for caution whatever his final intentions. If Khrushchev is steering a course of deceit, he must be careful that he docs so without.outraging world opinion, and, without alienating China any fur ther. If he is earnestly seeking accord with the U.S. and Britain, he must allow time for the Russian people to forget a lot of, things he's said in the past but not too much time, lest China, and per haps France, got into the act too soon. Only one thing is certain at this point. The lack of any agreement be tween any of the nuclear powers bodes 111. Therefore, it's worth playing this treaty-talk hand, close to the vest, but all the way through. For us, everything's In the pot already. ft ft ft Good Kids Quito a game Saturday night, that big one between North Eugene and South Eugene high schools. The crowd, estimated at 9,000, was the largest ever to see a regular-season high school bas ketball game in Oregon. It has been ex ceeded, among high school game crowds, only at some of the March tournament games, which are of state-wide interest. The North-South game beat its own rec ord, set a year ago, when 6,019 sat in McArthur Court to witness a similar cross-town rivalry. The biggest crowd at a University of Oregon basketball game this season has been 4,487. Because of the longer shadow of the university, much of the public sometimes forgets the intensity of these high school rival ries and the public interest in them. The crowd was big. The game was close, with South Eugene winning 57-50. At stake was the top spot in the prep polls. And don't forget that cross-town rivalries are always intense. Yet, there wasn't a single "incident" to mar the evening. No drunks, no fights, no dis turbances. For this, considering national reports about crowds at high school ath letic events, the Eugene fans deserve a word of praise. It's a fine mark for them to shoot at when the two schools meet again in the court Feb. 19 and when they try to pack 10,500 fans into the place. From A to Z Gathered together, the records be ing kept by our federal government would require a building seven times the size of the Pentagon to house them. Uncle Sam may not be a "paper tiger" as the Chinese Communists have tried to convince Khrushchev. But this revelation does lend credence to the idea that archivists have taken over our government. Won't Be the Same John Daly, the personable host of TV's "What's My Line," will leave the show next fall because of a contract dis pute. Without Daly, we fear, the show will have to be retitled. How does "What's Left of 'My Line' " sound? Probably belter than the show will without Daly's enthralling, but not disruptive, demonstrations of verbal virtuosity. U.S. Grant in his first inaugural address: I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their strin gent enforcement. H.G. Wells in "The Outline of History:" Human history becomes more and more a race between educa tion and catastrophe. Irwin Shaw in "Bury the Dead:" I got a religion that wants to take heaven out of the clouds and plant it right here on the earth where most of us can get a slice of it. David Lawrence i 6 I Experimentalism Has Handicapped JFK Lawrence WASHINGTON Since it was just two years ago when President Kennedy was inau gurated, this is perhaps the time for an exuberant review or an agonizing reap praisal" or a dis interested and d i s p a s sionate look at his ad m i n i s t ration. The category will be judged by the reader. For however im partial the crit ic tries to be, the dyed-in-the-wool supporters of the administration will cry out that he must be a Republi can or a "tool of big business" or mentally unstable if he so much as suggests that maybe Kennedy isn't just the most suc cessful president and bravest leader we have had since George Washington. In writing from the national capital about the last nine pres idents, this correspondent has never allowed any personal feel ings to influence his presenta tion of the facts or his analysis of the impact of those facts on public affairs. It so happens that every one of the nine pres idents has been a congenial, friendly, likeable and well-meaning individual. If news-interpretation were guided solely by personal feelings, this writer would have constantly been sing ing the praises of every one of these presidents, instead of pre senting necessary criticism of public policies. News-writing and candid in terpretation are a form of pub lic responsibility to a constit uency the people and not to a president or either political party. Presidents come and go, but the country must be ap prised constantly of the truth about its national and interna- Other Editors' Views News Strike Hits Theater From the Oregonidn Among the casualties of the New York newspaper strike is Manhattan's legitimate theater. The New York newspaper cri tics are so essential to a Broad way opening that some expen sive productions have been post poned In hopes that the strike will soon be settled. Others have been conducting "rehear sals," open to the public at the regular boxoffice fee, but not open to criticism. The critics will be invited to the "open ing" when their words can go into print. Bert Lahr, the comedian, has been weeping real tears, it is said, because his role in "The Beauty Tart" has been a smash hit, according to those critics who have an outlet for their opinions, but he is denied the chance to sec his name in head lines on the newsstands along Broadway. Others have even more reason for tears. Their productions have flopped so con vincingly in the public "rehear sals'' that there will not be an "opening." This will be remembered as the Broadway season in which some rlays closed before they opened. And probably a good thing, too. tional problems, irrespective of whether the feelings of the man in the White House might for the moment be hurt by criti cisms in the press. But what kind of President is Kennedy really making? De tailed reviews would seem to be superfluous, as the record has been presented and analyzed from day to day. The most sa lient point to be mentioned, is that the image the President himself has been giving the country by his skillful publicity during the past two years is somewhat different from what it really appears to be here in Washington. Kennedy has been handi capped in his first two years by engaging in the same kind of experimentalism that some of his predecessors have attempted in their first term. He has brought to his side advisers in experienced and untrained in government, and has failed to come to grips with the prob lem of organizing the White House itself. It is a sorry system which permits a president to be surrounded by so many aca demic persons who have no di rect responsibility to the people through the confirmation pro cess in the Senate. The Cabinet in the last two years has been shunted to one side. Who is really secretary to state now, and who actually makes foreign policy currently? Who is really determining our economic and fiscal policies? Sylvia Porter Kennedy tries to make all the final decisions himself, but it is on the basis of what his inex perienced advisers tell him, and he is, of course, influenced to no 'small extent by his politi cal instincts. Kennedy probably will be a much better president in the next two years than in his first two. For he presumably will have learned many of the les sons so essential to an effec tive administration. He has an agile mind, a remarkably good memory, a pleasing personality and, above all, a certain inner restraint against radicalism that bears him in good stead. Much is being said about Ken nedy's prowess as a politician and how skillfully he dispenses political favors. He knows the way to organize a campaign and to build a machine. But it isn't . apparent yet whether he can " sense and anticipate those poli tical trends and overwhelming currents of discontent, a disre gard of which has caused so many election defeats in the past. Before Kennedy was elected, it was averred by opponents that he would not be able to grapple with national and inter national problems because he was youthful and inexperienced. They were right about the inex perience, but they were wrong in evaluating his youthfulness as a handicap. Kennedy has boundless energy, and this is a big asset to a President of the United States, who must work long hours and travel about a great deal both in this country and abroad. Kennedy has learned a lot in two years. But Congress and, especially, the -opposition party have failed the nation. The country has not learned enough about the critical condition of the government's finances or the truth about our military ad vice before the fiasco in Cuba in 1961. The power to investi gate and expose the way in which special privileges are giv en to favored groups has not been fully exercised. Nor have the economic dangers of the labor-union monopoly been faced by the White House or Congress. These barriers can re strain the forward march of American business and prevent the creation of jobs for the mil lions who annually come of working age. We can extol the Peace Corps idea, for instance, and talk of retraining the unemployed and of other political panaceas. But until President Kennedy be comes convinced that he must assume the leadership in remov ing the shackles now imposed on our progress by the govern ment itself through its in action in certain fields and over regulation in others there can be less hope of attaining the goals so glowingly prom ised by the administration. (CopyrlEht, 13B.1, New York Herald. Tribune Inc.) :Era of Forlorn Maidens' Due in '65 Porter In 11)65, we'll enter the "Era of Marriage" in our land. This is the year the "war babies" will be coming of age, marrying, setting up new homes, buying every thing and non-thing in sight. The boom to be kicked off by the marriage era is a funda mental force on which President Kennedy is counting to pro duce enough taxes to balance our massive fed eral budgets in 1966 67. But in 1965, we'll also be en tering the "Era of the Forlorn Maidens" and of "The Great Manhunt." For this is the year when the total of girls reaching average marriage age will start to outnumber by hundreds of thousands the total of boys at typical marrying age. And this aspect which Kennedy hasn't noted but which some of his astute economic advisers have could conceivably postpone or at least temper the boom. It's a fascinating angle of the approaching boom years which you can have fun with or take seriously. So here goes. Half of all the girls in the country who get married do so before they are 20 years old; the median age at which girls marry is 19.9. The men Amer ican girls typically marry are two and one-half to three years older: the average is 22 to 23. This means that girls born in the great baby boom years of 194649 will be reaching the peak age for marriage in 1965 68 and they normally would marry the boys born in 1943-16. But nia.ching up the millions of boys and girls born in these years reveals what a Washing ton official fills "a rather pe culiar imbalance between the sexes" and raises the provoca tive question, "Where are hun dreds of thousands of these maidens going to find hus bands?" Consider the warm sta tistics: Girls reaching typical mar riage age in 1965 will outnum ber boys they would typically marry by 90,493. The compari son is: 1,597.452 girls born in 1346 against 1.506,959 boys born in 1943. That's not so bad, but now look at the plight of the maidens in 1966. Girls reaching typical marri age age in 1966 will outnumber boys they void typically marry by 364.763! The comparison is 1,800,064 girls born in 1947 against 1,435,301 boys born in 1944. It's almost, as bad in 1967, for girls reaching typical age in that year will outnumber boys they would typically marry by 316,629. The comparison is 1. 721,216 girls born in 1948 against 1,404.587 boys in 1945. It'll begin to even out again in 1968 when girls reaching typical marriage age will out number boys they typically would marry by "only" 41,957. The comparison is 1,733.177 girls born in 1949 against 1,691, 220 boys born in 1946. Of course, one way out for the forlorn maidens would be through marriage to "older men" except that there were even fewer boy babies born in 1940 through i942. Those were really low baby years. The extent to which the mar riage era is being relied upon to send us into a major boom must not be shrugged off. The estimate is marriages will climb 37 per cent by 1970 from around 1,575.000 in 1962 to 1, 705.000 in 1965 to 2,155.000 by 1970. The estimate is new house holds will room 51 per cent in this period from around 830,- 000 in 1962 to 913,000 in 1965 to 1,253,000 by 1970. Here is the heart of the pros perity predictions, for young marrieds need everything and will borrow to the limit to buy. Here is the heart of Kennedy's gamble that substantial tax re ductions in 1963-64 will keep the economy going strongly ahead until 1965 and then we'll have it made. What, though, happens if the Great Manhunt fails? What hap pens, I suspect, is that the for lorn maidens will simply change the habits of their males and they'll marry boys of their ow n age though perhaps a year or so later than usual or predicted. A searching look at those baby totals discloses that in every year except 1940, the numbers of boys born has topped the number of girls born in the same year. And with over 11 per cent of today's 14-year-old girls actually going steady, the teen agers apparently already are figuring it out even without one warm statistic on their fu ture forlorn plight to guide them. (Distributed IMS, by The Hall Syndicate, Inc.) MEMBER OP THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press la entitled exclusively to the use for republi cation of all the local news printed In this newspaper. MEMBER OF THE AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS Sen ices United Press International Editor's Mailbag 1 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. Saving Souls EUGENE (To the Editor) Due to the lack of space avail able to Dan Wyant, his article in last night's paper (Tuesday, Jan. 22, 1963) leaves me with the impression that The Salva tion Army is no longer in the "soul saving business." This is not true. Our entire purpose for existence is to preach the Gospel of The Lord Jesus Christ. However, there are many ways of preaching. The method wo intend to use at our emergency lodge is that of personal interview and coun selling. In the course of these personal contacts, our trained staff will endeavor to show the client their need of a personal commitment to Christ. ' Those who respond and want additional care and professional counselling will be referred to ' either our Men's Social Service. Center or Harborlight Corps in Portland. The Eugene Salva tion Army Corps supports finan cially both of these state-wide assessment wnicn we pay monin- ly to our divisional office in Portland. The rest of the article was correctly reported. OLIVER STENVICK . , Captain, The Salvation Army Rule by Law EUGENE (To the Editor)' The Freeman trial and convic-' tion, with absolute proof of her -crime against innocent children,.' is beginning to turn into an other sob-sister episode, of which there is no answer. We ' should look at it objectively and not emotionally. After all of the quotations from the Bible and of the court delays and findings, we should probe very deep into our think- press releases and the Supreme Court's rulings. We, must remember that the people of Oregon voted for capi tal punishment. Until society finds a better way to rid our-' Colvaa nt thnco "fllc" nt manity, who are not capable of knnwint ri0hf frnm lurnnff th, is the voice of the people, and on this hinges the questions. What is happening to our courts? Have we already lost a government by the people? Are we now being governed by man rather than by law? ' The Freeman case is following the same pattern as has become the habit, gradually, in our courts, of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) influ ence. Delay the case until an-; other grislier one takes the minds of the people, and then apathy will be evidenced, and more delays will be accepted. Who is paying for this crimi nal's defense? If it is the tax payers, I, for one, object. I vote to keep a government of the people, for the people and by the people. These court re prieves should arouse the voters into demanding that we abide by the constitutional rule by LAW rather than totalitarian rule by MAN. Society usually has to learn the hard way. Why soften up on criminals? This is my own opinion, and I ask my critics to please refrain from attacking the people of the John Birch Society. These liber als seem to demand both sides of questions as long as both sides are liberal. EDITH PHETTEPLACE 3939 Hilyard. Carmichael WILLIAM WASMANN, News Editor DONN L. BONHAM, City Editor ROSS G. JOHNSON Advertising Director JARL FUGLE Circulation Manaser ROBERT K. RF.RTSCH Promotion W. B. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor AR.NC STBOMMER Fioduetloa FROSf&ITE lsM'f TO BE LAU&HEP At WrlEN YOD HAVE A rl06& UKE M'NE - -
