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About Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1953)
Pag 4 Capital AJournal An Independent Newspaper Established 1888 . BERNARD MAINWARING, Editor and Publisher GEORGE PUTNAM, Editor Emeritus Published every afternoon except Sunday at 444 Che meketa St., Salem. Phones: Business, Newsroom, Wont Ads, 2-2406; Society Editor. 2-2409. , Pan Lnnl wm twrt af Um HiiliM mm ul Tka Balta fii Tat uoclUM Praia U tselulttlf muuad t tlx u l MkUutUa m 11 wwi oUMUbM era4iu W It r UiarvU radlM4 bl tku puat SM LABOR UNION UNITY; IS IT DESIRABLE? Surface indications of late have been that unity of American labor was becoming a distinct possibility, with the two biggest organisations under new leadership more or less free from the antagonisms engendered by past conflicts, j. Now this iroal is indefinitely DostDoned with the depar- ture of the large and powerful carpenters union from the A. FX. and the A.F.L. board recommendation for expul sion of the east coast longshoremen s union, Working against one big union are the rivalries of leaders and union groups. Neither the leaders nor their organizations want to be subordinate to rivals. It is the same factor that works against church union and success in the U.N, Most labor leaders appear to think union of all labor would be a desirable end if it could be achieved, but we are inclined to doubt this, assuming we want to maintain our present form of government. What would one big labor union accomplish that cannot be acomplished now? It could call one big strike as they do in France, paralyzing the country. But the country can be paralyzed now. A railroad strike would do it and . so would a coal strike after a longer period. There are other strikes perfectly legal under existing law that could bring the nation to its knees. The purpose of most strikes is higher wages or charges in working conditions more favorable to the workers and more costly to the operator. If the intensity of the pres sure for these changes could be increased by stronger labor organizations and larger increases won, one or two things would happen. The first and most likely would be an increase in the selling prices of the goods or services provided by the con cerns that are to pay the increases. Working people buy these goods and services and are therefore soon paying for their own wage increases through higher living costs. The second possibility, and the ideal one from the standpoint of labor, is that the employer absorbs it him self and makes less profit. This sometimes happens and sometimes can reasonably happen when profits are too high. We always see this condition In a time oi snortages, such as a war creates. , But usually competition regulates prices. If this does not restore black ink entries he closes down, maybe goes out of business altogether. well how this affects them. We are seeing it happen right now in the lumber industry. Unless there is a reward for the saving and investment of capital it won t be saved Capital will have to be invested. If we make it impossible lur maiviauais 10 uo mis me government, win nave iu, taking the money away from the workers there'll be no employers left to tax. This is a socialistic society which in its ultimate, extreme form is called commdnist. If this is the goal of labor leadership the one big union would help bring it about by increasing the pressure to a point where private industry could not operate. If it is not the purpose it would appear that the present unions,'! divided though they are, are doing about all that can be done, and without menacing the democratic system. PERIOD OF POLITICAL TENSION When Canada overwhelmingly endorsed her Liberal government a few days ago she set herself off from the rest of the world as almost the only country in which there is near unanimity on major political issues. In many countries there is the sharpest political- division in their histories and in a great many the forces of the right and left are in such a state of balance that neither can govern effectively. Take the free countries first. Here in the United States the death of Senator Taf t will give the opposition party a majority in the senate. The house-is virtually a 60-50 split. In Britain the Churchill government did not win a majority of the popular votes at the last election, though it won a majority of the parliamentary seats. In Japan a pro-American government hangs on by the skin of its teeth. France and Italy are unable at this time to govern themselves due' to grouping to maintain a reliable majority. In Germany Chancellor Adenauer is hard thrown at the forthcoming election. Now the dictatorships. Russia's internal troubles have been publicized. There hasn't been so much dissatisfac tion since the czar was overthrown in 1917. In Argentina Peron's seat gets hotter and hotter. The Cuban dicta tor Batista is bracing himself for a revolutionary out break. Another one is predicted for Brazil. The military dictator of Egypt is hanging grimly on, in constant dan ger of forcible overthrow. Old Mossadegh beats down his opposition in Iran, but many of his people would tear him apart if they could. These political tensions, -which are less bitter but deep seated in the free countries, violent in the dictator coun tries, reflect a widespread dissatisfaction with life as it is in most areas of the world. It is not altogether eco nomic, because it affects rich countries as well as poor, rich people as well as poor. Nor is a remedy to be seen in any action likely to be taken in the foreseeable future in any country. Widows' Security Pendleton East Oregonian The House Ways and Means committee Is examining the whole social security set-up, to prepare for the widespread re vision of the social security sys tem contemplated next year. Particularly under scrutiny are the present provisions for wi dows. Widows of workers who have been covered by social security set social security payments, whatever their age, as long as they have dependent children under 18- with a sum for each child. It no such children, or after the youngest reaches 18, the widow must wait until she reaches 65. The old Social Security Ad, ministration under Dr. Altmey, er had long urged lowering the eligibility age for widows to 60 It was pointed out mat uie av, erage wife is younger than her, husband, so that, tor an ex- ample, a widow who was 61 Workers know only too and invested by individuals, inability of any party or pressed and may be over when her husband died at 85 or older would have to wait four years before herself be coming eligible for an annuity (three-fourths of what he would have been entitled to). The average social security stipend for widows is at pres ent (May 19S3) only a little over $40 a month. The actual amounts vary, of course, by how much the husband had been earning in wages and by how long he had been covered. Many widows are Included In the 18 per cent of all social se curity annuitant whose annui ties are eked out by relief checks. The same limitation on out- side Income applies to widows as to male wage-earners retir ing after reaching 63. That Is, until they reach 75 they are Ineligible as long as they have earnings (not investment or other income) of more than 873 a month. Much sentiment is be- ing shown hi Congress for riis Ing this limitation to 8100 s 1 month for everybody. Pcxi. . VJ (SlirA I GETTING ) I WASHINGTON MERRY U. S. Scientists Confident Russia Doesn't Have H Bomb By DREW Washington One week after Premier Malenkov's surprise announcement that Russia has the hydrogen bomb, U. S. sci entists and intellleence experts have come to the flat conclu sion that this is not the case. Russia, they conclude, sim ply does not have the H-bomb. Nor is there a scintilla of evl- lion faintjy resembling a hyd- rogen blast has been touched off. Reason for such a positive conclusion is that it is impos sible to set off either a hyd rogen or an atomic blast with out filling the air with radia tion. These particles drift great distances. Regardless of distance, however, Allied planes, policing the atmosphere around the Soviet Union, scoop up samples of the air which tell the complete story of how big the explosion is, when it took place, and its general location. The height of the radiation tells the size of the explosion. The wind drift gives Its loca tion. The texture of the par ticles tells what kind of ex plosion it was whether acci dental, an A-bomb, or a hyd rogen blast 4 RUSSIAN EXPLOSIONS At it now stands, we have conclusive evidence that four atomic explosions have taken place Inside the Soviet Union. And we know pretty well their nature. On the other hand, and drawing a line between the ex plosion of an H-bomb and pos sessions of a hydrogen device, our scientific agencies pretty well accept the fact that Rus sia probably has some kind of hydrogen device which could be exploded. However, we are equally convinced that the Russians do not have a hy drogen bomb which could be put in a plane and carried to an enemy country. Reason for this conclusion Is that the hydrogen explosion which we touched off in the mid-Pacific last year and which blew up an entire Island, was not a bomb. It was called a hydrogen house, and though It contained all the ingredients of A bomb, it was exploded from the land, not the air. So far we have never drop ped a hydrogen bomb, and probably won't even put one together until shortly before It Is to be dropped. Even if the Russians have been able to squeeze the right ingredients into an actual H- bomb, however, they don't have the planes to carry it. Our H bomb, when finally completed, will be so large it will require certain changes even of our biggest long - range bombers and the Red air force has no planes, so far as we know, as big as our B-38. Award to Italiaa The assumption that Russia is almost certain to have a hy drogen device is based on the fact that Brune Pontecorvo, an Italian expert on the H-bomb, disappeared behind the Iron curtain three years ago and undoubtedly is working for the Russians. Pontecorvo was one of seven Italian scientists who were so much in the lead of other sci entists in splititng the atom that the atomic energy corn- THE CAPITAL JOURNAL. Salem, Oregon YOU'RE TELLING ME? - GO - ROUND PEARSON mission has just awarded them 8300,000 for patent infringe. ment. And though Pontecorvo Is now in Russia, his share, one-teighth, is being set aside for' him in the U. S. treasury under U. S. patent law. He has assigned ' one-half his interest to Eugene Ghlron - Fubini of Glen Head, Long Island. Leader of the Italian group Is Dr. Enrico Fermi, now at Columbia, who was one of the chief contributors to the atom bomb in this country during the war. However, he actually began work on splitting the atom In the Kaiser Wllhelm Institute in Berlin many years ago. Others In the group in elude Oscar D'Agostino, Giulio Trabachi. And Dr. Edoardo Amaldi of Rome, with Dr. Eml lio Segre of the University of California, and Dr. Franco Rasettl of Johns Hopkins. The atomic energy commis sion has now held that the U. S. Army Infringed on their basic patent; all of which in dicates how widely the secret ef the atom has been known ip various parts of the world. Unhappy Hollywood President Eisenhower's pock et veto of the movie-theater tax has made some of his best friends most unhappy. During last year's political campaign,, the movie moguls were among the most enthus iastic of the Ike-rooters. Dar ryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox sold the charms and assets of Ike at every luncheon "on the lot" in Hollywood. George Skouras of the Skouras thea ters sported an Ike button al most as big as a barn door. The Warner Brothers 11 plug ged for Ike. In fact, there was hardly one movie executive, except for Dore Schary, host to Adlal Stevenson when he came to Los Angeles, who did not contribute dollars, work, or enthusiasm to Ike. Today some of them, are dis appointed, some sore, some even say Ike Is an ingrate. What adds to their disap pointment is the way another group of Ike-rooters has had the carpet . rolled out at the White House the airline ex ecutives. The airline moguls also went down the line for Ike, contrib utcd around $130,000 to his campaign. And when it comes to backstage wire-pulling, they haven t done Badly at all. When Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced a bill to separate airline subsidies from legitimate mail pay, the airline lobby did some neat wire-pulling at the White House as well as on Capitol Hill. So far, the subsidies have not been separated. The pub lic still hat no way of knowing how many millions in gravy the airlines get Later, when the civil aero nautics board proposed a work ing agreement between Pan American and National Air lines; also between Branlff and Eastern Airlines, Pan Amer ican wire-pullers reached a powerful hand into the Eisen hower administration and blocked the CAB ruling. No wonder the movie mo guls, ruefully watching all the gravy and Influence reaped by "7. Red Blockade Fails New York Times Forced to yield to the pres sure of their hungry millions, the Russians and their East German puppets are apparent ly lifting the travel restrictions or Soviet zone inhabitants try ing to get American food, pack ages from West Berlin, and the second Berlin blockade appears to have been broken by the Germans themselves. ' Despite continued communist attempts to sabotage the food relief pro gram and to "persuade" the East Germans to spurn the "beggar paicels" or .to return them voluntarily," hundreds of thousands are again flocking to the food distribution centers and the give-away project is heading for the 2,000,000-par-cel mark in the first twelve days. This means that 2.300,000 hungry East German families nave been fed, and against that fact neither communist propa ganda nor communist discipline could stand up. Soldiers, police and railway men cooperated with the populace in violating the orders of their communist chieftains, and the East Ger mans themselves found ways of getting to West Berlin on bi cycles and buses, by hitchhik ing or on foot. Though some 30,000 parcels are believed to have been confiscated, these confiscations are also decreas ing as more and more police men rebel against snatching food from their hungry com patriots, and desertions, amounting to 2,000 so far this year, are reaching record pro portions. The communists, who dubbed the Americans "Amis" and used to tell them to "go home," now try to tell the Germans that "Ami packages" are an in sult to their honor. But the Germans have learned that in the literal meaning of the word, "Ami" means friend, and that in the Americans they have, indeed, friends In need. The communist puppets in East Germany have thus suf fered another blow, and though they may still try to continue their rule by the aid of Rus sian bayonets, even they can not hope to do so forever. IT WAS A BIG MESS Bend Bulletin All sorts of writing and talk ing goes on these' days on how well Eisenhower did in the first six months of his- admlnistra. tion. Some say that a good job has been done and others In sist that he has made a signal failure. How about applying a simple test suggested by Tom Humph rey, of the Oregon Journal, a year ago. Has he "cleaned up the mess In Washington?" Or tainly the answer is yes.' Not all the mess yet There was too much of It but be baa made a good beginning. - the airline people, feel a little sad. NOTE Democrats .will tell you the reason Ike did favors for the airlines was because the controversy didn't get intof the papers. The movie tax they claim, was too much pub licized by debate in congress. But republicans will tell you that the reason Eisenhower vetoed the movie-theater tax was because of the strong and persuasive personality of Sec retary of the Treasury Hum phrey, who needed the tax money. tomnsai, iiw) POOR MAN'S PHILOSOPHER Burning Out of Stump Provides Escape From Work By SAUL ETT For Hal Beyle New York If a. man will only keep his head, he can escape a lot of work around the bouse. The secret is to appear to be working on something im portant And to meet the re quirements of the perfect labor-escaping device, you couldn't find anything better than burning out an old tree stump. It seems important, seems like work aud somehow seems like a job in whclh a husband and father shouldn't be dis turbed. Above all, it is pleas ant relaxing and serene. Star ing at the blue and white and yellow fingers of flame makes jou feel, like a philosopher. But you don't actually think much. You .only think you're thinking. As a way of getting rid of a big, unsightly stump, it is the slowest method possible. It you play your cards. right, you won't burn out your raw ma terials for months. I have gotten away with it for three week-ends running, and the end is nowhere in sight I begin every Saturday morning with an tnpressive show of force with kerosene, ax, shovel, crowbar,' pickax, rake and garden hose. Most of these things, I don't use at all. ' The others get only a minimum workout. The hose, of course is for putting the fire out if it gets unruly. You can use the shovel to make a shallow trench around the stump, you can use the ax to make a few grand cuts in the wood so that the fire will neve something to burn through. After making as much noise with the tools as possible, I ignite the thing and pull up a la&n chair. The rest is call ed watching the fire. Obvi ously, fires have to be watch ed. Occasionally, if anyone gets suspicious, you can poke fresh kerosene, shoot impres sive black smoke and flames into the air. That takes care of the skeptics. For three week-ends now. my wife has failed to mention the warped screen door which needs planing. For three week-ends now, the kids have forgotten the playhouse I was supposed to build. Occasion ally, a warm sense of satisfac tion, responsibility and impor tance courses through my body when I hear someone whisper: "Don't bother daddy. He's burning the stump." Frankly, I don't know why this impresses people. But it does seem to spread a sense of awe. Perhaps it's the cross- sectional view of the big old stump, all the hardened rings of age in the wood, the sug gestion of mighty nature at work at these, thousands of years, and here is puny man trying to undo a piece of it. Of course, there is the hyp- . OrAIJY 1 it daM hi notlc effect of the fire itself. It makes men pause and look grave and takrthe long view. With unseen bands, it holds a tight rein on conversation, and there is no room for anything complicated. It also makes busy people envious. . The first day I started, the man across the street, who was busy painting the outside trim, came over. He stared a while into the fire and said: "Burning it out, eh?" "Sure am." Long stare, long pause. "There's something about a fire" "There sure is." Long stare, long pause. "Cigarette?" "Thanks." Long stare, long pause. Finally, he shook himself loose, almost wistfully. "I better get back to the painting, I guess. Tell you what. I'll drop by later. Give you a hand again. You will ifotice that this man quickly assumed that work was involved, even that he was helping. Ordinarily, I don't like other people moving in on my racket But stump burning is such a good Jhing, I don't mind sharing a little. Sectional Alignment On the Refugee Bill Pendleton East Oregonian Tempers ran high In Con, gress as it debated, before pass ing, the bill to admit 214.000 refugees over three years Sen McCarran (D?, Nev.) called the legislation the product of "a new type of bureaucrat . whose purpose in life is to Ms- ten to foreign voices, observe foreign reactions, assess over seas angers and overseas jubi- lance ... a sort of doctor of philosophy of alien emotion . . obsessed with the necessity of tailoring every Ameiican act and statement to a favorible reaction abroad." In the House Rep. Smith (D., Va.) declared that "what this bill fixes to do" is to "turn over the country" 1o "the kind of people we are (Ding to get out of Russia and her satel lites." Rep. Wilson (D., Tex.) predicted that "at least 50 per cent of those coming in will be Communist agents." Rep. Burdick (R., N. D.) re torted: "Here the members from the South are thicker than wood ticks on a starving dog, all shouting, 'Down with this bill.' ... I wonder what it is that seals you against all hu man sympathy." In the 63 to 30 vote by which the Senate passed the bill on July 29, ' only three Senators from the ten states of the "Solid South" voted "Yea." 17 voted "Nay." When the House passed the bill on July 28 by 221 to 185, the Representatives from the ten Southern states were thus recorded: Yea, 4; Nay, 92. All the 17 Senators from the Funtral Strvie Sine 1878 Phone 3-139 churth at Fen) Salem, omgon Friday. August 14, 1953 Salem 36 Years Ago y IEN MAXWELL Angost 14, 1117 I ' Rainbow Division, 18,000 strong and representing the flower of National Guard troops, had been picked for service in France. Specific and concrete condi tions which Pope Benedict be lieved might form the basis for world peace had been forward ed to the rulers of all nations. Conscription of wealth to pay for the war, earnings of the nation's workers excepted, had been urged in a report to the senate. Sumpter in Baker county, roaring mining camp In 1900, had largely been destroyed by fire causing a property 'oss of 8400,000 and leaving 600 per sons homeless. The president had sent to the senate the names of 37 new ma jor generals and 141 brigadiers. Sparks from a threshing en gine on Howell prairie had ig nited straw stacks and had also burned William Roth's separ ator. Rev. A. J. Hunsacker, 84, Oregon's oldest ordained Bap tist minister, had visited Sa lem. He had crossed the plains in 1847 as a boy of 14. Wheat had a government fixed price of $2 a bushel in Salem. A single daily store delivery of drygoods had been proposed by Oregon council of defense. A forest fire that had en dangered holdings of Spaulding Logging company at Black Rock had been brought under control. WASTED EFFORT Pittsburgh U.B Crowds tramped through debris at a city dump here yesterday fill ing shopping bags, dlshpans and buckets with money. TTie eager scavengers found bills ranging from 81 Ho $100. Then the Federal Reserve Bank threw a wet blanket on the party. The bills, it was announced, had been marked as worthless and sent to a city incinerator for burning. Many of them apparently escaped the flames. RETRIEVES MARILYN San Francisco U. Theater Manager Amos Hanson got a call from police that Marilya Monroe had been picked up and would he please come down and claim her. Hanson went to retrive the nine-foot cardboard photo graph of the blonde actress which had been stolen from in front of his theater. New England and Middle At lantic states voted for the bill. So did the two from Maryland, with both from Deleware voted against it. All 14 Senators from the seven Middl West states west of the Mississippi were for the bill. So the alignment, was geographic, not political. t