Page 2
Horse sense s
ERNEST V. JOINER
Strange are the workings of the United Scales govern
ment. It encourages important! of foreign beef is order to
drive prices down so Oregon cattlemen cant make a profit
and thus face bankruptcy. It has authored the demise of the
American textile industry by allowing imports of cheaply
produced doth to compete with American goods produced by
expensive domestic labor and high taxes. It has all but wiped
out U S manufacturers of typewriters, cameras, precision
instruments and optical goods by encouraging imports to
compete with U.S. manufacturers. It forces the cost of labor
so high that only a few shoe manufacturers are left in this
country, with the bulk of footware coming from abroad,
principally Italy. Shipbuilding used to be a major American
industry, but no more. Today American ships are built
abroad, mostly in Japan.
On the other hand, when the US. needs migrant labor it
permits Mexicans to cross the border and harvest our crops.
American universities, often with federal assistance, bid for
foreign professors to teach in this country. Skilled workmen
and professional people can easily be imported when needed.
Except in one notable instance. Medicine. This country is
crying for doctors. Nearly every small community and city
in America clamors for one or more physicians to care for
their people. But will the government relax its ban on foreign
doctors to save the health and lives of its own citizens' Hell,
no!
A news item in the Sunday Oregonian a couple of weeks
ago reported that medical schools m Denmark can only place
half then- graduates in that country. The other half go to
Switzerland and other countries to practice. But not to the
United States. We wont allow them to practice here, not until
the people rise up and override the powerful American
Medical Association and break its grasp on the Congress. For
the AMA and its affiliated state organizations have decreed
that there is to be no competition to established American
physicians. The AMA likes to cite the inferior quality of
medicine that might result by importing foreign-trained
physicians. It makes us wonder bow Europeans stay alive
and in comparative good health; why so many Americans
send then- children to foreign medical schools for training;
and why so many Americans who can afford superior
medical treatment go abroad to find it. I've been treated by a
foreign doctor and he didn't kill me.
Heppner needs a doctor. But none will come here. Danish
doctors would come here and practice, if permitted Perhaps
a group from Heppner should call on the Oregon Medical
Association and try to convince it thai "some land of medical
care" is better than "no medical care." and ask it to support
importation of a Danish doctor.
The AMA will admit that medical care in rural America
is a pressing problem. "hen I was in Muieje. Ba ja California,
a while back I talked with the only young doctor in town. He
told me that in Mexico a certain number of medical school
graduates are required by law to practice in rural and
remote areas for five years or face the loss of their right to
practice. That law is solving Mexico's rural medical
problem. Yet the AMA has not. to my knowledge, asked for
such a program to take care of rural America. Which leads
me to wonder just how '"advanced" we are in solving a
similar problem.
"The doctor from abroad might have the finest
reputation and '.he finest training in the world, he might be a
graduate of a foreign medical school of the very highest
reputation, and still be would not be considered for practice
in the United States?. He would not even be allowed to prove
through examination by his professional peers, that he was
fit o heal the sick." Editorial. Milwaukee Journal.
The AMA has an iron -fisted control over hospitals. No
physician may practice there who is not a member of the
AMA. The AMA dictates what medical schools will be built,
how many students will be accepted, sets the standards, and
imposes membership upon its graduates. The regulatory
staffs in state health agencies must meet AMA acceptance,
and states are so politically intimidated by the AMA that they
accept it recommended members and, for the most part, the
rules and regulations that govern all public health agencies
and regulator' bodies dealing with health matters.
"As a consequence of its monopoly position, financial
resources, and political strength, organized medicine is able
to maintain a quasi-legal status in medical affairs. In many
states, laws authorize state and local medical societies to
appoint or recommend members of regulatory bodies AMA
standards in medical education, training, and practice are
usually adopted by law. In addition. AMA inspection to
determine whether its own standards have been satisfied is
seldom subject to judicial review. Thus the political
authority of the the state itself has in effect been delegated to
organized medicine." Yale Law Journal.
In recent years there has been a proliferation of
engineers. Ph. Ds. lawyers and professional people of all
kinds. But in the medical field there has been no
corresponding ratio of increase. Why? Because the AMA
deliberately limits its membership to create a scarcity of
doctors to keep medical fees high and to protect the financial
interests of its members. It is not because young people are
not interested in getting into a lucrative and satisfying field.
It is not because medical schools are expensive or because of
the number of years it lakes to graduate.
What are the chances of a student beina accented in
Medical school? Here are a few extreme cases: At Boston
Medical School. 999 applied, 72 accepted, at Columbia. 1268
applied. 120 accepted: a! Cornell H16 applied. 113 accepted;
at New York University. 14 applied. 130 accepted: at
Northwestern. 1431 applied. 128 accepted. This means there
is a vast potential of skill waiting for a chance to relieve the
acuie shortage of physicians which exists today. But the
AMA dominates the schools for obvious purposes: and its
opposes all proposals for state and federal funds to build
more medical schools to train more doctors. Why? Perhaps
Friedman and Kuznets. in a study made for the National
Bureau of Economic Research, has the answer:
The current shortage of physicians is also reflected in
the high income of physicians. The physician's income is
higher than other professional incomes by 85 to 180 per cent,
even when allowance is made for the high cost of training."
But. you may protest, perhaps the wisdom and skill of the
AMA membership makes them better judges of what good
health care should be. and maybe they're actually acting in
the public interest by dominating the health scene. The
Committee for the Nation's Health in its handbook, "National
Health Insurance Handbook." lists a few reforms which the
AMA. acting in the name of all doctors, has fought against:
Social Security: federal funds to save the lives of mothers
and babies: the reporting of communicable diseases;
compulsory vaccinations for smallpox: public provision for
immunization against diphtheria; Workmen's Compensation
laws: Old Age and Unemployment Insurance; public health
Y 'ill I v " - v v-- .tin
Ml .1
ni- -On
Crossroads
Report
'EveryBODY needs milkT
EDITOR:
My factual ous neighbor
says he notes the Tar-and-Featber-Nixon
mob is still
demanding that he give them
the evidence they need to
prove he is a crook.
And if he doesn't come
across with such proof, they
will charge that his refusal to
help them clobber him proves
he is unfit to give us people
good moral leadership.
Which we surely need,
considering how long we have
been brainwashed by morally
indignant clout -peddling
congressmen and by "news"
people wno buy and sell stolen
state and defense department
documents.
D.E. SCOTT,
Crossroads, U.S.A.
quoteunquote
"I used to think I was poor.
Then they told me I wasn't
poor, 1 was needy. Then they
told me it w as self-defeating to
think of myself as needy, that
I was culturally deprived.
Then they told me deprived
was a bad image, that I was
underprivileged. Then they
told me underprivileged was
over used, that I was disad
vantaged I still don't have a
dime, but I do have a great
vocabulary." Jules Feiffer
The mail pouch
Heppner, Ore., Gazette-Times, Thursday, June 13, 1974
Mayor of Hardman
Ed Doolittle has final figgered out how come we pay our
laxes by one calendar and the GuvernmenU spend our
money by another. It is fer the benefit of the planning staffs
that make up the Cuvernment budgets.
Ed told the fellers Saturday night at the country store that
this piece, he had saw out of Raleigh, North Carolina made it
all perfectly clear.
One week last month. Ed reported. 50 state budget experts
had to Kit out of their offices and do their work at the beach i
ISO mile away. Tne note utnee oi we oiaie duub pcm i
days at a ocean front motel slaving over the new budget. A
official of the office said the change in working conditions
cost the taxpayers $3,000. but it was a bargain cause being
clost to recreational facilities "helped make for a more
effective planning and working relationship."
Last Year at the same time, the same crew slaved fer a .
week on the budget in the cool mountains 250 miles from their
Raleigh offices, Ed said.
. r.J-11 J r ........ Innnl nfl loArot KtlllTBl0 llD
natural, to anowea, u smic, iw.i aim uti !
to be ready the first of the calender year they'd be a lot of
times when the weather wouldn't be fit to work. If it's cold at
the beach and in the mountains they might as well stay in
their offices, was Ed's words. Setting July 1 as the start of the
budget year means the planners can work more efficient and
save the taxpayers money in the long run, declared Ed.
Clem Webster was quick to remind Republican Ed how he
rejoiced two year ago when North Carolina elected her first
Republican governor in this century. The new man come in
swinging a new broom and leading a new cleanup crew, said
Clem, and vowing to get state Cuvernment repaired,
remodeled and running agin. Clem said it looks like Governor
Holshouser is follering the example of his father who art in
Washington. It's costing more to git the old bus fixed than it
did to keep it on the road in its rundown Democrat condition.
Practical speaking, broke in Zeke Grubb, he is yet to see
efficient Guvernment on any level. Zeke said he has studied
the situation up one side and down the other, and he is of a
mind that all the shortages we're having is caused by
Guvernment messing with the price and supply of everthing.
And if we ever run short of paper clips, allowed Zeke, we'll
have to close all the agencies from the courthouse to the
White House. Paper clips is to Guverment what baling wire is
to farmers and ranchers, they hold everthing together.
Zeke has saw where Senator Thomas Mclntyre figgered
out that the federal Guvernment prints, sorts and files two
billion new reports ever year at a cost of $36 billion. That's
enough paper, the Senator said, to fill Yankee Stadium from
the playing field to the top of the stands 50 times.
Mister Editor, the Senator must of figgered all that out on
one of them beach working trips.
EDITOR:
Your Horse Sense this week sure makes sense.
I think we all would like to know what our tax money is
used for. I have paid taxes here since 1916, and I have
wondered how anyone running for office can raise his salary
almost the day after taking office.
There are No Parking signs on my street wnich I have
asked to be removed. This is one of the wider streets off
Mam. The council doesn't always know who is attending
meetings, so think they can be sarcastic and think it's funny.
We do need the hospital and better road repairs. Not just
some special roads, which happened in the past.
I do miss the columns we did have on the inside of the front
page, of weekly doings, and more local news.
I agree also we have to many bosses and need more
workers in the road department.
And I still think the money for the dam is needed more for
waier and sewer improvement more than it's needed to make
a frog and mosquito pond.
MARTHA VAN SCHOIACK,
Heppner,
EDITOR:
Enclosed is my check for $6 to cover one year's
subscription to the paper. I didn't realize when the due date
was until I happened to check the address and noted it was
April.
The editor 's comments in his column pertaining to the oil
issue made more sense than anything we have read in the
Wall S'reet Journal. San Francisco Chronicle or any other
publication.
I really enjoy the pictures you occasionally publish of the
old churches, meadows and other country scenes.
JUNE A. McLNNES.
Menlo Park, Ca.
EDITOR:
It seems strange that we seldom see stories about the great
Heppner Flood in the newspapers in recent years. It
happened on June 14. 1903, and since that anniversary date is
upon us I venture to write a first -hand account of it as it was
told to me by my mother, Mrs. Oscar Minor, wno was one of
the survivors, along with my sister, Leah Minor, and a hired
girl.
My parents' two-story house stood where the bowling alley
is now located.
June 14. 1903 was a very warm Sunday. Toward 5 p.m. I
saw two clouds come together, the blackest clouds I had ever
seen. A cloudburst was in the making, and it was upon us
immediately. It was followed by the worst electrical and
hailstorm I had ever seen. Rain fell in blinding sheets. The
tremendous roar of thunder and the lightning was terrifying.
Sheets of w ater would hit our window panes, propelled by the
strong w inds Hailstones half the size of hen eggs covered the
ground not less than a foot deep. Les Matlock said all the
waitresses at the hotel were frightened and crying.
services to control tuberculosis; Red Cross blood banks;
creation of public venereal disease clinics; Blue Cross,
insurance and free diagnostic centers to detect cancer.;
That's just for openers!
This criticism is directed at the AMA beirarchy, and is "
not intended to discredit the thousands of member physicians
across the nation who do not subscribe to the policies of their
leaders, and whose voices are often raised publicly and in
medical circles against policies of the AMA hierarchy. There
are thousands of doctors who take their Hippocratic Oath
seriously, but cannot risk loss of their professional status by
rebelling against the AMA. Dr. LJ. Tibbies, for example,
has given practically his entire life to medical ministry in
this area. He has not enriched himself at the expense of his
patients, for his fees are less than modest. He would have
retired long ago, I am told by his many friends, except that
he realizes the community needs his services.
AMA policies are keeping a doctor out of Heppner. But
the people, through pressure applied to their state and
federal legislators, overcame the protests of the AMA in the
matters listed above. Perhaps it is time to put the pressure on
to open up more medical schools and to override the ban on
foreign-trained physicians. Old Fighting Wayne Morse once
took on the AMA on the floor of Congress. Maybe Hatfield,
Packwood and Ullman are brave enough to open this can of
worms!
The first we knew of a flood coming was when I saw a man
climbing over our fence and running toward our house to
keep ahead of the high water that was nearly touching his
heels.
The house was almost instantly surrounded by swirling
flood waters. It began coming into our house very fast, from
around doors and windows. Leah, the hired girl and myself
went upstairs to keep out of the water. Our two-story house
stood on its foundation until the strong current sent a large
tree crashing through the wall Then the lower story of the
house began to fall apart as if it were an egg shell. There was
only one room, a hallway and the roof left. We held on to the
bannister in the hall while the remains of the house was
carried along by the current until it lodged against a
telephone pole next to the Methodist Church.
Is was there we waited until the water went down rather
than to be rescued by holding onto someone's horse.
STANLEY MINOR,
Heppner.
EDITOR:
Piease cancel the subscription as addressed afore (Marion
Tasker Weatherford Esq f and enter a new subscription
under the name on this letterhead (Marion T. Weatherford).
I suspect you and Bill (Weatherford) collaborated in
hatching this thing, and if I ever catch the two of you together
I'll knock your (expletive deleted) heads together!
MARION T. WEATHERFORD,
Arlington.
ED. NOTE-ln order to implement your request and at the
same time maintain the confidentiality and integrity of our
records it is required that prior to complying with your
demand you: U) File an application with a court of
competent jurisdiction for authority to change your name, or
(la) apply to the Oregon Department of Commerce, Salem,
for a permit to operate under a fictitious name; (2) Submit a
Sociological Impact Report with the Department of Health,
Education & Welfare assessing projected effect of said name
change upon the social, education and business community,
with copies to the Environmental Protection Agency with
engineered assessment of any possible odoriferous effect
among residents of the Arlington watershed; (3) Prepare a
500-word summary, in triplicate, on state and federal
statutes pertaining to mandatory' penalties attached to an act
of threatened physical harm to a card-carrying taxpayer, an
unprotected species.)
EDITOR:
I'm crushed. I write this in hope some enterprising
Heppnentes will read it and take action.
In town today we heard that there's to be no Kindergarten
Rummage Sale this month, nor in the fall either, presumably
because the kindergarten no longer needs its financial bonus.
Though I'm happy to hear the kindergarten are now secure,
I'm amazed that no other citizens' group, social or uplifting,
has picked up the cudgel. Are there none among the
organized now who need this worthily earned money for good
deeds or a balanced budget?
I'll admit my concerns are largely selfish. The rummage
sales were highlights of our Heppnr visits, and as such
occasions go, bounties of bargains and social jollitv. Always
well attended, they seemed a worthy way to raise funds, as
well as providing a medium for exchange in place of adding
white elephants, discards, gee-gaws and outgrowns to the
public dumps.
Up with Rummage Sales! Will anyone join my crusade?
JOAN WELLS,
Spray.
GAZETTE-TIMES
MOftftOW COUNTY'S MCWtPAPE
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Yours truly,
MAYOR ROY.
Jesuit poverty
problem along
the Potomac
By LESTER KINSOLVING
"I vow poverty, chastity and obedience " First vows.
Society of Jesus
In the slightly decrepit but venerable Quad Building of
Georgetown University, overlooking the Potomac River, are
the residences of the local community of the Society of Jesus
(Jesuit Fathers).
One of these starkly furnished single rooms is a veritable
cell. 10 by 13 feet, and painted a slightly bilious green. It has a
wash stand and closet, but no adjoining bath or toilet.
The occupant of this particular room is very probably the
first Congressman in this century to reside in a single room
without bath and share a communal john.
The Rev. and Hon. Robert Drinan.S.J.. (Dem. - Mass ) has
similarly stark quarters at Boston College when he is st
home in his district (the Fourth of Massachusetts). He pays
rent for both of these rooms, gives the rest of his salary to
various service organizations, and turns in all of his speaking
honorariums and writing royalties to the Jesuit Order.
Exactly one and one eighth miles down the Potomac River
lives one of Congressman Drinan's Jesuit seminary
classmates, the Rev. John J. McLaughlin, S.J. w ho doesn't
have to share his bathroom with anybody.
For there are no communal lavatories where Father
McLaughlin lives a less historic but now much better
known edifice called Watergate West.
Father McLaughlin, a Deputy Special Assistant to the
President of the United States, lives in one of Watergate's
one-bedroom apartments, Number 1009. This actually
includes, according to one Watergate realtor, a living room,
dining room and kitchen, as well. But these one-bedroom
numbers sell for a mere $80,000.
Of course, if one wants something more appropriate to
White House status, there are Watergate apartments
available for as high as one quarter of a million dollars.
Father McLaughlin is paid $30,000 a year to assist the
President originally as a speechwriter, but now,
apparently, to be a speechmaker on all the media that
White House Communications Director Ken Clawsori can
arrange for him.
The President's Jesuit reached the pinnacle of White House
chaplaincy, however, just after the release of the tape
transcripts caused a national uproar over Nixon & Co. It w as
then that the Rev. Father McLaughlin was trotted out to give
his classic estimate that Mr. Nixon will be remembered as
one of the "great moral leaders of this century." Father
McLaughlin even disinfected the Presidential profanity - by
describing it as "emotional drainage."
After being inundated with queries from all over the world
(including, most notably, Rome) Father McLaughlin's Jesuit
superior, Father Richard Cleary of Boston, called a press
conference to disassociate himself, the Jesuit Order and the
Roman Catholic Church from what he termed Father
McLaughlin's "many public pronouncements on various
aspects of life and morality." Added Father Cleary, Jesuit
Provincial of New England:
But only 10 days later, after meeting with Father
McLaughlin in Boston, Father Cleary seemed no longer
puzzled. 6
"Father McLaughlin's work with the government has
certain unique aspects," observed Provincial Cleary in a
subsequent statement, "which may require a degree of
flexibility in his living. I am now satisfied that, although this
flexibility is not normative, it is permissible given his special
situation.
Whether President Nixon's close friend, John Cardinal
Kro , Archbishop of Philadelphia and President of the U S
Conference of Catholic Bishops, had anything at all to do with
straightening out Father Geary's puzzlement about poverty
is not known. For Father Geary's office in Boston says he
will have no further comment on the matter
Perhaps next December's Jesuit General' Congress in
Rome can iron out a more plausible explanation of holy
poverty - in the Watergate apartments