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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1963)
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 8A EUGENE, Hasty EWEB Action a Blunder Action by Eugene's Water & Electric Board to eliminate the 10 per cent extra charge levied against electric cus tomers outside the city limits seems to have been taken precipitously, to say the very least. This decision is bound to be unpopu lar with many residents of the city the actual stockholders in the municipal power system. Despite whatever else may be said, elimination of the sur charge will only add to the independent attitude which many residents of Eu gene's suburbs already have, in spades. This can only make it increasingly dif ficult for the city of Eugene to expand in logical, orderly fashion. It can only spark increased resentment among city taxpayers who already feel that they are providing far, far too many free or cut rate services for their suburban neigh bors. Many of Eugene's traffic and parking problems, for example, are directly traceable to the coming and going of sub urbanites' cars. The suburbanites may argue that this is, in large part, because they are driving in and out of the city on buying errands which result in the enrichment of the city. But this is only a partial truth, and it is being eroded more and more as super-shopping marts keep springing up in the suburbs, them selves. Every dollar that goes into Eu gene's street improvements must come ft ft Hatchets Buried The little flare-up in Salem, involving the governor and the presiding officers of the House and Senate, seems to have quieted down. All parties deny they are sore at anybody and contend there is no "feud." That's fine. We don't want any feud ing for feuding's sake, nor for the sake of advancing or ruining anybody's polit ical career. At the same time, however, the presiding officers and governor still have a responsibility to the people to speak out on controversial issues. The people need to know how these impor tant officials feel about public affairs. If that leads to a little squabble now and then, so be it. Understanding Necessary A timely, perhaps profoundly impor tant, meeting will be held Friday in Coos Bay. The Coos County Court has invited Lane and Douglas County administrative heads to reopened discussions about zoning needs along the coasts of all three counties. Lane County's commissioners re cently made it known that they do not intend to push zoning down the throats of western Lane residents. They could. State law so provides. But the men at the head of Lane's government feel that effective zoning must be preceded by public understanding of its purpose and public conviction of its necessity. This sort of understanding and con viction has boon generally established in central Lane County, probably because it is easily seen what detrimental ef fects can occur in a more populous area when mixed land uses arc not controlled. In lime, certainly, the need for zoning to protect land values and to prevent the senseless intermingling of residen tial, commercial and industrial develop ments will become apparent to residents of Lane's coastal area. But it would be tragic, truly tragic, If this realization were delayed until ir reparable harm was done to that beauti ful and economically blessed area or to western Coos and Douglas Counties. Some confusion has arisen about the Interdependence of zoning problems and proposals for the creation of a national park in the coastal regions of Coos, Lane and Douglas Counties. This is regret table, rcrhaps at Friday's meeting it can be made clear that local zoning action would, indeed, blunt the argu ments of some who say that a supcrsize national park must be established to uv the enchanting central portion of ct-isuatft AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ALTON F. BAKER, Publisher, 1027-1961 The Register-Guard's policy u the complete and impartial publication in tts 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. OREGON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1963 ft ft directly from residents of the city, or from state-shared revenues based upon the population of the central city. Nor is that all. City police problems are compounded by the coming and go ing of suburban residents. So are street cleaning chores, railroad overcrossing safety control problems, maintenance of city parks and recreation facilities, even community health problems which, for example involve the excel lent milk inspection program which Eu gene taxpayers provide for themselves, and for many suburban milk consumers. A lot of residents of unincorporated areas around Eugene hold jobs inside the city. They come, they work in places which could not employ them if it were not for the operation of the municipality, and they go home,' without having to spend a cent for the police or fire protec tion they have while they're in town, without spending a cent for the use of the streets they travel, without neces sarily spending a single cent to help the city in any way. Perhaps EWEB's directors do now re gard themselves as trustees of a utility system which serves a super-city. But before they acted Monday night in a way which may delay the over-all develop ment of that super-city they would have been wise to consult with the City Coun cil and Planning Commission, in the spirit of promoting the greatest good. ft ft Oregon's coast from commercial and, possibly, eventual industrial blight. More importantly, however, it should be made clear that residents of coastal Coos, Douglas and Lane Counties will, themselves, be saved from sorrowing ex periences and financial loss if zon ing regulations are adopted to prevent honky-tonks, machine shops and other incongruous developments from despoil ing their fine residential and potentially magnificent resort areas. It should be made clear that zoning provides for all types of legitimate land uses and only keeps them from intruding with dis astrous results upon one another. To Cut Car Thefts Auto thefts are costing the American public more than half a billion dollars a year, according to FBI Director J. Ed gar Hoover. Cars are being swiped at the rate of almost 1,000 a day across the nation. Most are recovered, of course, but too often not until they have been stripped of tires, accessories, their entire engines or until after they have been involved in damaging accidents. Many car owners make it easy for thieves by carelessly leaving keys in ig nition locks. However, even those who take habitual care not to be so foolish are not guaranteed that their cars are theft-proof. On most models, it is a rela tively easy matter for car thieves to "jump" ignition locks with simple wir ing gimmicks. It shouldn't be so easy. Manufactur ers could make it virtually impossible to start a car without the proper keys if they used steel armored cables for ignition-lock systems. And the cost, com parable to an extra touch of needless ex terior chrome trim, would be nominal. Some cities have initiated the practice of fining drivers who leave their cars with the keys inside. That may be a good start, but why shouldn't state legisla tures, or the Congress, take the more practical step of requiring auto makers to install fool-proof ignition locking sys tems in all new cars? Viewpoint Wafrrr I.ipptnnnn tn .Vru'sireek.' If the U.X. can provide the authority and protection the Congo needs, keeping the services of the foreigners and pro viding the additional technical help necessary for its development, it will have a success which could not have been achieved by any other authority in the whole world. 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. Urges Concern SPRINGFIELD (To the Edit or) If we were to be invaded by an enemy, would we not be fighting for our freedom, or even our lives and those of our loved ones? Are not these dirty movies another type of enemy out to destroy the lives and morals of our young people? Enclosed is a letter from Sen ator Morse, telling us t. whom we should write concerning this problem. May I suggest to all those con cerned with this problem to spare a few minutes of their time to make their views known. The more citizens showing con cern for this problem the better chance we have for winning this battle. MRS. G. W. FEtiRELL 1858 I Street. (Editor's Note: The senator's letter suggested that letters be addressed to Newton Minow, chairman of the Federal Com munications Commission in Washington, D.C.). Tax Question EUGENE (To the Editor) I have been out of town recent- ly, and while catching up on the news in back issues of the Regis- ter-Guard I came across the pro- posal to place non-profit-making institutions on the property tax rolls. I heartily agree with this idea. These non-profit institutions de rive the same benefits from lo cal services as do businesses, and should, in all fairness to property-taxpayers, pay at least a part of their share of the cost of running the local govern ment GEARLD D. TIBBETS 1449 Pearl St., No. 4 Sylvia Porter Record of During the final four fiscal years of the Eisenhower admin istration 1958 through 1961 the federal government piled up three budget deficits and the $12.4billion deficit of 1959 stands as of now as the largest peacetime defi cit in our entire history. Not one of those deficits was predicted in advance by Presid e n t El senhower. Porter In fact, in each of his orig inal budget messages, Eisen hower forecast a surplus, and in that famous year of 1959 his original estimate was a half billion dollar surplus. In only a few months, higher than pro jected spending, plus a disap pointing tax take resulting from the sluggish growth of profits and paychecks switched that into a massive deficit. ln his first two fiscal years -1962 and 1963 Kennedy also originally predicted surpluses which ended up as deficits. (The new estimate for this year ending July 1 is a deficit of $8.8 billion.) Now for the first time in his tenure of office, Kennedy not only has dared to "plan" a whopping deficit of $11.9 bil lion for 1964 but also has dared to forecast it openly and to de fend it as sound policy under today's economic conditions. Daring this is indeed, for by so doing Kennedy has focused the nation's attention as never before on the size of our defi cits and the almost unbroken record of red ink in recent decades. By defending the 1964 deficit, he has horrified finan cial traditionalists and offended many who were eloquently urg ing lax reduction before they saw the budget and details of his tax program. This deficit picture, even more than the hodgepodge of tax reforms he presented with his tax reduction proposals, has hardened opposition to tax re duction, rallied his opponents, split his supporters. 1.01's be honest about this deficit picture. Let's at least (ace some obvious facts, even if we don't approve of the facts. A first obvious point is that there's no chance of avoiding a budget deficit in the year lo be gin this summer none at all. On the one side, despite the tough talk Congress won't be willing to slash government ont- memuk.r or THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Tn. Associated Presl II .Milled txcluMvely to the us. for republi cation ol all the local newt printed In Ihii newspaper MEMBER Ot I'll K. Al nil RLREAU Of Cini I l-Vl IONS Service! tolled Pre! International WILLIAM WASMANN. tint. Editor DUNN I. RONHAM. Clljr Editor ROSS 0 JOHNSON Advertising: Director JARL FLGLfc Circulation Minasrr ROBEKt K. PERTSCH Promotion W. R. JOHNSTON JR. Auditor AR.VE STROM ME R frcdueuoi Letters In the Editor's Mailbag Neighborhood Affairs EUGENE (To the Editor) I wish to express my apprecia tion to members of the city council, planning commission, other city officials and the en tire community for the support which has been given our com mittee the past two and one half years which I have served as chairman of the Committee on Neighborhood and Communi ty Affairs. I have enjoyed serv ing as its chairman and have seen our committee grow in service to neighborhoods throughout the community, solv ing their particular problems. As neighborhood problems arise, I hope that citizens will contact our group to improve the community. I have appreciated the sup port that I received, and I am sure that Mr. Alison Wysong will carry the leadership of our committee toward even greater achievements. MILES KONTICH Past Chairman, Committee of Neigh borhood and Commun ity Affairs, 1116 Willamette St. Apology EUGENE (To the Editor) I guess I owe the residents out South Willamette St. way an apology. I didn't realize that the city extended out so near the garbage dump when I wrote the letter about the goat ranch- ers. 1 was under the impression that it was the farmers out around there who were doing the complaining about the smoke. So ladies, I wish to apologize, but I do think there will have to be something done about the garbage situation. Jumping from one gravel pit to another, try ing to bury all that junk, is prohibitive. Fire is the only thing that will destroy it prop erly. I would 'suggest leveling off the top of Spencer Butte and burning it up there. That would be so high above the city I don't think the smoke would bother, and besides, the tourists 'Unplanned go to the point where projected government income would match it. Moreover, were Congress lo wield the "meat ax," it would knock the props out from under our economy, send us into a slump which would shrink the tax take to the point where the new deficit really could blow the lid off our economy. On the other side, Congress certain ly isn't going to raise federal taxes this year. We're already bending under the federal bur den and increasing state, local and social security taxes are adding to our load right now. A second obvious point is that by presenting his tax re duction package along with a huge budget deficit, Kennedy has invited critics of government spending to a Roman holiday. Moves now must be made to control the budget and surely there is room for some cuts. Although the cuts chosen may be risky, the risks should be taken if the alternatives are either no tax reduction worth the name or spending control. A third obvious point is that with or without a tax cut, the deficit originally projected for 1964 could turn out to be conservative. Loefk at this rec Pages From Our Past Walking Was U.S. Craze By KENNETH I HOLMES Proleasor or lllslorj, Llnfleld CoUee 1 don't know about you, but I am intrigued with this craze of walking 50 miles at a stretch at the behest of a man in Wash ington. D. C, who sits stead fastly in a rocking chair. People are walking everywhere. It was back in the 1860s and 1870s though, that the craze of "pe destrianism" was at its height, lo be supplanted later by the six-day bicycle race. The great American walker of the '60s was Edward Tyson Weston, w ho started an amazing career as a result of a bet dur ing the election campaign of IRtiO. He wagered that if Lin coln became president of the I'nited States, he would walk from Boston lo the inaugura tion in Washington. D. C, about 480 miles, in ten consecutive days. He carried out his prom ise, arriving just as the inaugu ral ceremonial came to a close. Weslon remained in the public eye as the nation's most famous walker for many years after this. In 1867 he won $10,000 by walking from Portland, Maine, to Chicago in 26 days. During his 70th year in 1909 he walked clear across the country from New York to San Francisco in 103 days. Walking in Pacific XW This heel aml tve walking is a peculiar sight. Those who have seen the 3.000 meter walk used in the Olympics know that these strange participants are fol lowed all along their way by giggles and laughs of the fasci nated fans. One writer once de scribed them "straining every nerve md mujcli to get ahead," would think we had a volcano. Vnnr fnr hotter earhaee dis- posal and less smoke. PALMER E. BRICKEY 2103Vi City View St. Tax Plan EUGENE (To the Editor) Your editorial in the March 10 edition of the R-G concerning the proposed tax on cigarettes was well written and brings out a point most voters either do not know or care about. Why should we overtax certain items and people and let others have a free ride? How many people know how much U.S. tax is paid on cig arettes now? I called the man ager of a large wholesale firm, trying to find out, and he didn't know. It is probably 70 per cent or more, is paid at the factory and added to the cost before the product arrives here. The proposed state tax would add another possible 40 per cent to the cost price before taxes. I propose a state tax of 20 per cent on non essential articles listed below to more evenly dis tribute the tax burden. These taxes would be based on the cost of the merchandise exclu sive of any state or federal taxes; would be collected at the wholesalers' or jobbers' level; would allow them 1 per cent for tax collection and keep all collections out of the re tailers' hands. 20 per cent tax Cigarettes, cigars, pipes, all tobaccos and snuff (for nose or mouth con sumption), cigarette papers, cigarette-rolling devices, etc. All soft drinks, sodas, imita tion fruit drinks and ingredients to make such drinks. All candies (bar or bulk), chewing gum, frozen bars, etc. Take the taxing power (by raising prices) on alcoholic bev erages away from the Liquor Control Commission and give it to the representatives of- the people. Who orders these price raises now, and who determines how the monies so collected shall be spent? W. H. COCHRAN 3840 Bell Ave. U.S. Deficits ord and you'll see why Kennedy well may be about to take over from Eisenhower the dubious distinction of running up the largest peacetime deficit in our history (in billions): Year ending Original budget Way It June 30 estimate turned out 1958 $ 1.8 surplus $ 2.8 deficit 1959 $ .5 surplus $12.4 deficit 1960 $ .1 surplus $ 1.2 surplus 1961 $ 4.2 surplus $ 3.9 deficit 1962 $ 1.5 surplus $ 6.4 deficit 1963 $ .5 surplus $ 8.8 deficit 1964 $11.9 deficit ???? A fourth obvious point is that if our economy does gain new power and does start mov ing strongly ahead from this plateau, the tax take from pay checks and profits can in a few years finally balance a budget kept under control. The goal to which the nation agreed with remarkable unanimity as the year began was across-the-board, solid, substantial tax reduction in 1963 lo stimulate business investment and consumer spend ing and thus speed our growth. If we permit this goal to he obscured and postponed, we harm only ourselves. niMrlhulert, 196.1. bv The Hall Syndicate, Inc. hut that Ihcy seemed to have "entered into an insane compact not to employ the natural and obvious means of doing mi." I was curious to find out whether "pedeslrianism" caught on in the Pacific Northwest in its heyday during and after the Civil War. Sure enough. 1 found the answer in the "History of Oregon Newspapers" by my good friend, Professor Emeritus ("eorgc Tumbull, vif the Univer sity of Oregon School of Jour nalism. The walking craze reached our area in 1861 and was recognized by the Portland Oregonian on Feb. 6 of that year witti the following story; 'No Rapidity of Action' "Pedestrian ism. A pedestri an named Brady is engaged at the gymnasium building trying to walk eighty hours without ceasing. Our latest reports indi cate that after walking thirty hours he showed but little sign of fatigue. The manner of achieving this feat explains the apparent impossibility of it. The walker puts himself in thorough training for a week or two he fore commencing. He walks very slowly, taking from eight to ten seconds to turn at each end. The feet are not lifted from the floor, but both of them bear some part of his weight ail the time. Upon the last day he supports himself upon horizontal bars with his hands, Now. this is no fair test of the endurance of a nun. There is no rapidity of action. The amount of muscular force expended is not equal to that ordinarily used in ten hours brisk walking Besides, snme minutes are taken every four T-jpU..' Pav Ccnneia lay EUGENE (To the Editor) I appreciate your publishing the data concerning 1963-64 salaries for personnel of School District No. 4. This appeared on page 31 D of your March 7, 1963, is sue. Unfortunately, the article docs not state that only two full time teachers will earn less than $5,000 this next school year. Nor does it state that the indicated salaries are for the basic 190 working days for teachers or 10 month years for other person nel, and that additional salaries accrue to those who teach sum mer school, carry on research projects, coach athletics, etc. Sick leave of 10 days per year, cumulative to 100 days also is provided the teaching staff. My insistence on having the salary data was not meddlesome curiosity. Rather, it is my firm belief that the school board is required by law (ORS 294.325) to furnish this salary data to the budget committee and also to publish this data as an in tegral part of the budget for approval by the voters. Failure to disseminate this information could conceivably void the 1963 1964 school budget. Having succeeded in getting this statutory information after repeated requests, as your re porter well knows, it is astound ing that he did not relate my purpose. You will surely agree that no budget committee can function intelligently without complete knowledge of the budget contents. (Payroll costs in the proposed budget amount to $8,523,848 or 81.9 per cent of the total.) You will undoubt edly further agree that it is not the responsibility of each budg cteer to ferret out this salary information for himself, as was suggested that I should. An interesting comparison of personnel costs for the last three budget years of School District No. 4 can be furnished, if you would care to publish it. EDWARD E. RUBEY 2730 Laurelwood Ln. Carmichael i' slow Voi) KNoW.FoR TW PRto if HAS 10 B& PHt'VSAMf Piffle- Century Ago hours to bathe. External stimu lating applications are made frequently, and everything that diet and the most perfect phy sical training can do is done to ensure success. The feat only proves that a man can keep upon his feet eighty hours if somebody is always present to encourage him and all the pre cautions mentioned arc taken. The feat, if accomplished, is not comparable to Kenovan's who has walked upwards of a hundred hours, and then was quite brisk in his motions." 'Without Their Attractions' Brady walked on and on. When Sunday came, he was still on the move, hut according to the Oreconian of Feb. 10, had to he carried off the course by the marshal to a hath house to he revived. The pioneer newspaper excoriated tho5e who pushed Brady along even after he was virtually unconscious and also complained about the misuse of Sunday. "While religious per sons were attending their de votions in a neighboring church, the compound din arising from tenor and hass drums, fifes and other head stunning and ear splitting instruments invaded the place of worship . . ." The writer went on to say that the affair had "the appearance of a re-enactment of the Babylonish orgies of Venus, without their attractions." The same issue contained a note, evidently written later, saving "Uncover edThe pedestrian Brady has entirely recovered. After a night's re-t he became a good as new " So what's new about walking SO mile? David Lawrence Coup d'Etat More Likely Than Revolt WASHINGTON Many people who lately have cher ished hopes for an early libcrav tion of Cuba must have had a cinlrinrt (aaiino when lhau roarf a news dispatch from Santo Do mingo the othee-. day stating that': some "Western -diplomats" ar-;" riving from Ha-." vana saw little--chance of a revV. olution against--Castro. They re-'; ported, more-.! Lawrence over, that the-; Soviets had effectively trained! uprising. But this is an unrealistic ! view. It is not borne out by the-; facts of history. For out of the!; hundred or more revolutions in--Latin America in the last halt century, rarely indeed has an . uprising involved large military; forces on both sides. Jt is probably true there is todav no armed force in Cuha' secretly organized which could oust Castro. But a look at past revolutions, not only in this hemisphere but in other parts of the world, will remind us that the most successful "revo--lution" is the one that arises from within and is usually de scribed by the French phrase "coup d'etat." The dictionary defines it as "a sudden decisive exercise of force whereby tha. existing government is subvert ed." The word "revolution" usual ly suggests a war between two armies inside a country. But in modern times, even in a country of vast area, it is seldom nossi- ble to establish a military or ganization of any size without running the risk of defeat in the initial stages. Negated By Experience . A "coup d'etat," however, is different. Inside the army, or the navy or the air force, there gradually develoDS a revolution ary "underground." It stays loyr' al on the surface but waits for tne propitious moment to sinne. The same "Western diplomats" who were given as the source of the information that Soviet, technicians had trained the Cas tro army and furnished them with the latest weapons made the further point that secret police methods prevalent in Rus sia had been introduced in Cuba and made unlikely any subver sion. This theory, however, is ne gated by experience inside dic tatorship countries in the past. Who, for instance, had a better secret police than the czar of' Russia, or a more efficient army? And what army was con sidered more loyal to its mon arch than the czar's Ironns nrinp to the revolt in 1918? The Last to Know Internal revolutions without organized fighting have occurred in the Middle East snd in the Far East and have overthrown governments. Latin America, however, furnishes the most dramatic example of how changes at the top of govern ment are made in what are called "bloodless revolutions." ln rcrent years in Brazil, in Argentina, in Venezuela, in Peru and in Santo Domingo there have been some instances of armed conflict, but they have'. usually been engineered by high-ranking officers of the -army, navy or air force who or-, ganize successful plots to force out the incumbent rulers. The last persons in the world to know anything about an in cipient revolution are the resi dent diplomats of foreign coun tries. Nor is a coming revolt ad vertised in the newspapers or brought out in public places. Potential revolutionists are, numerous in any country where there is economic discontent or where the tyrannical hand of the ruler has wiped out friends and relatives. A general with personal magnetism and skill fulness can often take over an entire army by a single stroke, and the political head of the state will suddenly find himself helpless to resist. A Primary Influence When the anti-Castro revolu-. tion does materialize, it will not be initiated by armed bands swooping down on Havana but by officers in the Castro regime itself, most of whom will he patriotic rnough to wish to re--turn freedom to their people. Tho clav a "rnnn it'olil" 1, pens in Havana, the entire army will quickly go over to the revo lution. For in that army will be thousands of Cubans with starv ing relatives and children threatened with illness as well as continued famine. Infiltration by underground methods, supported by leaders in exile, is a primary influence that helps to bring a successful revolution. The seeds of revo lution are economic. Nikita Khrushchev, for instance, has been politically wise enouch to recognize this fact as he strives to maintain a reasonable stand ard of living. He. too. however, cannot indefinitely spend mon ey for armament that should cn to improve the lot of 200 mil lion people. And when the whole country comes to be of one mind, the standing army nat urally will respond tn the con certed will nf the nation. r. !W New Y?rk Hera'.d Tribune Inf.
