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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1954)
Mm fetafs lVUGi JUT uiiumosi? United Press Full Leased Wire 49th Year , 24 Pages Cancellations at . Local Post Office Reach Record Mark Monday Total Hits 85,000 Cancellations at the Medford post .office hit an alltime high yesterday when the total reach ed 85,000, according to Post master Moore Hamilton. The previous record was 77, 000,' set last year at Christmas time. "We're over the hump now," Hamilton said this morning. He indicated that yesterday's total was the top of the outgoing mail, and from now through Christmas day, most of the post office's heavy work will be on incoming mail. No Mail Held Over Throughout the rush, the Med ford post office has been able to "keep current" on each day's mail, and it has not been neces sary .to carry over any from one day to the next. The Medford post office will deliver Christmas parcels on Christmas day, the postmaster said. In addition to the regular post office crew, an additional 25 men have been hired this year to handle the Christmas rush. , .As is usual, the local post office has borrowed vehicles from the forest service and other federal agencies to facilitate delivery of parcels since the start of the Christmas rush. Yule Tree Lights Stolen in City A total of six thefts of outdoor Christmas tree lights in the up per east side area have been re ported to city ponce yesterday and this morning. The value of bulbs taken by thieves may run as high as $50. - Those making reports this morning were William V. John ston, 5 Valley View dr.; Clara Fanger, 7 Windsor ave., and El bert Lenox, 2330 East Main st. Similar reports were sub mitted to police last night by B. Brandt Bartels,, 35 Valley View dr., and Evelyn N. Schuler, 33 Valley View dr. Earlier yester day, Mrs. C. Rease Braley, 245 Valley View dr., reported the theft of lights from a decorated tree in her yard. Approximately nine lights were taken from : the outdoor tree at the Bartels home, and Mrs. Schuler told police that some 30 bulbs were taken from her tree. - About seven bulbs were taken from the tree in the Fanger yard, and Johnston told officers That about 45 lights, valued at about $22.50, were taken from his tree between 8:30 and 10:45 p.m. yesterday; ; Sixty five ;bulbs, valued at $11.70, were taken from the tree in the Lenox yard. Red China Planes .- i " V Bomb Tachen Island Taipeh, Formosa (U.PJ Red Chinese planes bombed Tachen Island today in the first air .at tack on: a Nationalist Chinese position since the signing of the Nationalist - American defense past. , . The Ministry of National De fense, said it was the second such attack against Tachen, northernmost anchor of Chiang Kai-shek's chain of defensive is lands. The first occurred on Nov. 1. v . Seven Russian-made Red Chi nese planes dropped 10 bombs on the island. . . , A communique said National ist warships and land anti-air craft batteries drove the planes away with intensive fire. No damages or casualties were re ported. . Portland (U.PJ Multnomah county will observe its 100th birthday tomorrow. On Dec. 22, 1954, the territorial Legislature voted to form a new governmen tal unit called Multnomah from pieces of Washington and Clack amas counties. la mage by ' Listed at Temblor ; EureRa, Calif. (U.R) A sharp, jolting earthquake which knocked over chimneys, broke plate glass windows and felled light fixtures rocked this coastal Northern California city shortly before noon today. There were no immediate re ports of injuries. x . . The short shake, according to the city editor of the Humboldt Daily Standard here, was ac companied by a loud noise which sounded like "an explo sion. Lines Knocked Out Many of the telephone land lines into the city were knocked out. The city was wittiout elec tricity and press association tele types and telephoto lines were inoperative. ; ' - A woman was trapped in an elevator in the building adjoin ing the Standard building when electricity was knocked out at 11:57 a.m. PST, according to a clock in the Standard office. Scoop Eean, city editor of the Standard, said the quake was one of the worst "to hit the city in recent years. y Courthouse Closed The Humboldt County Court house was immediately closed as "unsafe" and was roped off by deputies. It will hot be opened until it has been checked by building inspectors. Although the Standard clock, and that of the Humboldt County sheriff's - office -stopped -at -11:57 1 a.m., the University of Califor nia seismograph, described the quake as "strong," located 180 to 200 miles northwest of Berke ley, just south of Eureka, and centered at the northern end of the San Andreas fault off the coast of Mendocino County. Marion said "the seismograph still was recording surface shocks at 12:25 p.m. He said, however, it was "too early" for a Richter reading. . Strong Enough "However, it is apparent that the quake was strong enough to cause considerable damage,'' Marion said. ' Beal said that the composing room of the Standard was "a complete shambles." Linotype machines were tossed about, but none overturned. Beal, in the composing room when the quake hit, said he was splattered by hot metal from the lead pots in the shop. . Beal said that one man ran down the main street of the city of 23,000 screaming: ' . "The world is coming to an end." A large crowd, including po lice, gathered to quiet him down. All merchandising stores were immediately closed. Virtually all of them suffered shattered win dows and goods were spewed across the floors, entangled with fallen light fixtures. V Chimney Topple Beal reported that every brick chimney in town toppled. The chief of police reported that a few small fires started in some of the damaged homes, but were quickly controlled. However, firefighting was hin dered by broken water mains. Emahiser reported that "sev eral persons" received minor in juries from flying glass and fall ing plaster. ' In Redding, about 100 miles east of Eureka, two windows in the city hall were cracked but no other damage was reported. In Weaverville, about half way between Eureka and Red ding, piaster was knocked off the ceiling of the Trinity County Courthouse. DISASTER PROPHET N GETS 'MESSAGE' Chicago (U.PJ Dr. Charles Laughead said today he had re ceived a "message" that Chicago will not be destroyed by tidal waves and earthquakes ' as he predicted and the end of the world is not at hand. MEDFORD, OREGON, Eureka; Felt Ctee The ousted Michigan State college physician said the "mes sage" came from forces in outer space 4 hours and 45 minutes after Chicago's supposed day of doom had begun. . The reprieve was granted through the intercession of God, who "is in thy midst," Laughead quoted the "message" as saying. Medford Gets Jolt From No Damage Medford was jolted shortly be fore noon today by an earth quake which caused extensive damage in the Eureka, Calif.', area. The quake was felt throughout northern' California and southern Oregon. Telephoned inquiries immed iately swamped the switchboard of The Mail Tribune. The .tem blor , was reported from many sections of the city. No local damage was listed. Reports received here said that Civil Aeronautics adminis tration clocks stopped at 11:58 a.m. at Ukiah and Red Bluff, Calif. Reports . received at the Medford municipal airport said residents of Montague, Calif., xe ported feeling the quake. Light Fixtures Swing : ' Light fixtures swung to and fro in the offices of The Mail Tribune, where employees felt the tremor. In quick order, re ports came in from all parts of town. : ' " - Employees 1 ' at - the ,:.". county courthouse, California., Oregon Power company and the. Sparta building, reported ' feeling the "rumble." : Capt. Paul Parson said 'he felt the tremor at state police headquarters north 'of Medford. .-" United Press quoted amatuer seismologist Bill Geitz, Portland,- as saying his seismograph was still registering the tremor at 12:25 p.m. The quake, was the first felt in Medford in re cent years, v v':-: ". ' " ' Editor Bote: Joseph Alsop hat Just made - a secret trip - into the Communist guerilla area" of Viet Minn. Alsop, who has lone heen an advocate of strong ' measures against the Reds in Southeast Asia, tells in this and succeeding dis-. patches how rapidly they ase eon- solidating their - fains. He warns that the West must make -a realis tic estimate of the enemy's strength.) By JOSEPH ALSOP Saigon, Indo-China For an American nowadays, the Bamboo Curtain of Asia is far harder to pass than the Iron Curtain of Europe. But by a curious chapter Saigon, Indochina (U.R)- Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chairman of the U.S. Joint : Chiefs of Staff, ; arrived . here . ioday for urgent conferences aimed at bolstering free South. Viet Nam against Communist expansion. ' The Big Three decided in Paris last Saturday to throw their support to the govern ment of Premier Ngo Dinh Dien, to cut the Viet Namese army lo a smaller but more effective force of 90,000 men. and to bring threatened South Viet Nam under the protection of the allies - Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation. - - 7 of accidents, this reporter has just spent three days in the great Viet Minn guerrilla area which still forms a virtually independ ent state at the southern tip of Indo-China. .... The trip involved every appa ratus of . conventional romance, from' two gloriously moonlit nights chugging through . Com munist territory on a native ca Earthquake SoDniiDiisft ESepoiri&ESedl TUESDAY DECEMBER 21, 1954 mm J? 'W HI TREE WITH A VOICE Colorado's Denver High School students pyramid into a human Christmas tree that sings as they appear on stage for annual Christmas presentation. SamSheppa r d J u ry Hearing 100th K b u r Cleveland (UP) Lr.,; Samuel . H. Shep pard .wa$ jconvicted - to day of second - degree murder in the bludgeon : slaying of. his. pregnant wife. . . Cleveland KU.R) The Shep pard wife-murder jury , buckled down today' in a final try to decide whether" it's to be life, death or prison for the hand some Dr. Sam. i 1 ' ; Nearing the 100th hour ' of having the fate ... of the osteo pathic brain surgeon in their hands, seven husband and five housewives returned from lunch and resumed' their mulling in the jury room. ; . They had told the judge' they believe they can reach a verdict today. : - .' ' . But- they gave no hint of prog ress, and Judge' Edward Blythin nal boat, to the inevitable false papers, which were needed to get back through the Curtain again. Yet these details were? hardly noticeable. Despite the extreme shortness of the permitted time, the impressions produced by this experience were so vivid one mght 1 almost say so violent that they alone absorbed ones entire attention: 1 . Horrified Admiration Perhaps it is tactless , to say so nowadays,': but my dominant emotion was a sort of horrified, helpless admiration for the Com munist achievement not - of course fpr the thing itself but for the courage shown; the incredi ble' difficulties -overcome, the sheer brilliance -of the political military f eat. ; " Here," after all, ; was.- a huge region with a population of close to 3,000,000, with no local war resources except its rice produc tion, with no hope of serious out side aid, situated at the southern extremity of Indo-China, as far as possible from the main Com munist base in the north. ' . v Here, in this plain ofCamau, The Commttee of the South (the ruling Viet Mihh'qrgan in Cochin China) first raised -the standard of revolt and fixed its capital nine long years ago, Such arms as they had got from the Japa nese and a treasury of 75 pias tres, or about $5 in those days, were' the sole tangible assets of the oddly mixed committee of Vietnamese Communists and na tionalists whom ' Ho Chi- Minh had chosen for the task. Political Asset But they had a political asset Juki Price 5c 1 w i Jt' did not attempt to learn ; how they were getting along when he had them in the courtroom to dismiss them for the noon meal. ,-; t. lWhen ,. ajiyiedj last ;nighi by a note from the judge" wtiether they were hear, a verdict, the jury replied through its foreman that it believed "we", can do it" today. A bailiff said he carried the word from ; the foreman orally to the judge. ' :r V The "marathon jury was in the afternoon of ' its fifth day of deliberation. It can send Dr. Sam to the electric chair with a flat guilty verdict. ; . He is accused of bludgeoning his, wife to death .in her bed. DOW-JONES AVERAGES - " New York (U.R) Dow-Jones final stock averages: 30 indus trials 398.11 up 0.79; 20 railroad's 144.12 up 0.06; 15 utilities 61.38 off 0.23, and 65 stocks 147.99 up 0.07. Sales today were about 3,630,000 shares, compared with 3,770,000 shares traded yesterday.'- '?:.:-'.'" - . ! Sftireinigtllu ami Sort too. This delta of the Mekong had been a vast swamp until the French drained it, and divided it into '.great landed estates. .The peasants in their palm, huts had always lived in bitter poverty and without hope until the Com munists gave them the land., i ' When the late General Leclerc took command in Indo-China with the complacent boast that he would destroy the VietJ Minh in a few months, French troops entered the plain of Camau and established 13 fortified posts. But although the Committee of the South had barety raised its ban ner, the guerrilla' attack was so severe and sustained: that 'the French forces . soon destroyed their mud forts .and departed. From that day to this, when the local Viet Minh government is moving north under the terms of the Geneva accord the' plain of Camau has been what the Communists call1 "liberated ter ritory." Once ' every yearsor so, a ; French - "clean : up" column would push into the.region, burn ing and destroying: as it moved. Always there were Vthe air at tacks that wrecked and wrecked again the little palm hut villages along the canal banks, and con fined oil road and canal move ments to the dark hours of the night ' Rules Other Regions '. . But there was never a .mo ment "when .the Viet- Minh did not run- throughout the. region. And as time went on, the Com mittee . of . the South;- from its mobile palm hut capital in the Camau plain, came to rule other BOTE United Pres Full Leased Wire No. 235 National Dm B itterlebate Paris (U.R) The French Na tional Assembly-plunged into a bitter, general debate on German Rearmament - today. The odds favored approval, perhaps ' be fore Christmas. ' As deputies faced up to what will be France's most - fateful decision since, World War II and ent S. ! Vienna (U.R) Russia called an extraordinary 'session, of the Allied Council today and charg ed that the United States violat ed the control agreement for Austria by placing troops in the French Zone province of Tyrol. The United States, .Britain and France flatly denied the Soviet charge and -Complained because of the 'emergency character" the Russians gave to the meet ing. A regular, session of the, council would have been held Thursday. . '. " . . There was much speculation as to what Russia was leading up to. , : , . , ' . r ; Charges Countered Soviet High Commissioner I. I. Ilyichiev said the United States sent troops to the Tyrol to "maintain ' contact between U. S. forces in Austria and their supplyjMiseS'in Italy." The Unit ed StaTeT- answered t'-ttWitin Army unit near Innsbruck mere- J ly maintained highway traffic. U. S. High Commissioner Llewellyn E. Thompson called the Soviet action an "abuse of Allied Council procedure" and said the Russians "called the meeting only for propaganda purposes. ' He listed such Soviet practices as maintaining a gunboat in the U. S. sector of Vienna and a bar racks in the British! sector. He also pointed out that the Americans had .communications in the Soviet zone and the Rus sians did not object. ' :' : The - extraordinary session of the v council, unprecedented in the eight-year history of four power government in Austria, ended in disagreement after an hour and 40 minutes of bitter debate. Vi"' . - huge regions approximating rath er more than, a third of the whole area of Cochin China, which Gen. Navarre told me last year the French "effectively con trolled." : ' -.. : ' An army of something like 30,000 ; regular and regional troops was organized, trained an'd armed with captured French heavy weapons and small arms painfully manufactured in .tiny, camouflaged local shops. And I have never seen smarter", tougher looking Asian troops than the few soldiers the accidents of my journey allowed me to inspect. A permanent government was formed, complete with financial, economic, . educational, . health, propaganda and police services. Currency - was y printed, taxes were levied, and budgets were annually prepared. In short; the whole mechanism of state power and regular administration was created out of nothing," in the nearly neolithic little muddy villages among' the rice fields and in the very teeth of French military power. ' ' Symptom of Ills . ': I thought I even detected a first . symptom of the ills to which - all r grown up govern ments are liable. I stayed, for my short visit, at the palm hut re ception center provided for the families who were' coming from all ' over Cochin - China to say goodbye to their soldiers going north. The cadre in charge (cadre is the Viet Minh name for any trained and indoctrinated offic ial or party worker) was a 'pale, delicately dandified young fel low. It seemed hard to believe Russia Charges Agreem Violated by U FORECAST:' Considerable hifh cloudiness threugh Wednes day. Patches of valley fof Wednesday morning. Little change in temperature. Low ' tonight 26-28; high Wednes day 50. - Temp.-. Highest Yesterday. . .. 53 Lowest this Morning 28 Assesui ernnaini Airnniinig debate swung into its first full day, enemies of the accords which would put 500,000 West Germans into uniform under NATO took .the offensive. s Leading off was the , man whose' motion ' killed EDC, the European Defense Community plan which was the ill-fated predecessor of the new plan for West European union. "He was Rightest , Deputy Gen. Adolphe Aumeran. ; ' ' - " Sees German Danger . '.f He charged that the new plan was a sinister concoction of Sec retary' of State John Foster Dul les and the Germans. . 4 ' "Under the pretext of Atlantic solidarity," Aumeran said, "they are asking France to lake pre cautions against the Soviet dan ger before taking precautiobs against the German danger." : But despite the opposition's heavy : attack, the . odds still favored a pre-Christmas victory for, France's fighting Premier Pierre Mendes-France. . Carson, George Named to Senate Portland XU.R) Joseph JC. Carson Jr., unsuccessful Demo cratic candidate for governor, and Harry George, .local attor ney, , today ' were , appointed" to the state Senate' vacancies creat ed by the Nov. 2 election. The vacancies' were created by election of Richard L.- Neuberg er to the U., S. Senate and ; of Jack Bain as a Multnomah coun ty commissioner. Both appoint ees are Democrats and had been recommended to county commis sioners by the county ' Demo cratic central 'committee. i ''-. Carson is a former jmavor of Portland . and member of . the U,' S. M a r i t i m e Commission. George has practiced law here since 1930. - - BID AWARDS DUE i Award of bids on several city owned buildings on municipal airnort nronertv will be con sidered tonight at a meeting of the Medford city council, ac cording, to City Superintendent Robert Duff. that he did the daily hour of work in the rice fields that is required of all cadres to set an example, maintain contact with the peasants and eke out the tiny salary of rice that the Viet Minh government pays. ' ; I was told he escaped the rice fields because he was an unus ually expert fisherman with a net, but I. still suspected that he was an early specimen, of the great genus of bureaucratic ca reerist. I may have, been unjust, however, for the dandified cadre was responsible, for the absence of- an . official seal on my exit papers. And this later. gave me a rather bad hour of worry about what I would do if a sort of canal-side soviet of soldiers and grim security police looked at the passport in my; bedding role and discovered I really was not Monsieur Muller, a wandering French journalist. Need Realistic Estimate - I wish I could report that the Viet Minh. organization which I glimpsed in those three days was feeble, evanescent and hated by the people. But the record of its achievements in nine years all too clearly confirms my own short observations of the effic iency, power and popular sup port of this' Communist built and Communist guided mach ine of guerrilla government, i If we are not to lose the strug gle 'for the world, we had best make a realistic estimate of the enemy's strength. And the fore going merely summarizes the strength that I saw. - - '. r , - - -(Copyright, 1954.- - I New York Herald Tribune Inc.) Ho English Decision Reaffirms German Treaty on Arming ; Reds Told They Can . 'Tear Up Treaty' ; London (U.R) Britain refused today to abandon German re armament and told Russia to tear up their 1942 friendship treaty if the Soviets want to. " "-" ' ' A foreign office spokesman branded as rude in both manner and context Russia's threat to abrogate the treaty if Germany is given an army. - - ' ' - The spokesman rejected it out right. ' - - " : ; V : : Russia also threatened to break off a mutual defense pact with France if the National Assembly,' now debating German rearma ment, agrees to bring the Bonn government into the Western de fense scheme. Good Pact ':''" -! The spokesman said "Britain would be sorry to lose its friend-' ship treaty with Russia because the country felt it was a good . pact.; , V, . . But in straight diplomatic tough talk, the spokesman "de plored" the Russians', method in , threatening to abandon the treaty. .. ; . .. . .. r The Russian threat, similar to the one handed France, was de livered . in Moscow yesterday to " British Ambassador Sir William t Hayter. : . ' , ' "Her majesty's government! would regret it if the Anglo- ' Soviet treaty ' of friendship of 1942 to which they have always " attached importance were, to be cancelled 5 or 'annulled by the Soviet government," the spokes- men told the daily Foreign Of-, fice press conference. ' Deplore Manner, Context ; "At the same time they de-!. plore both the manner and thr context in which that govern-.' ment threatens such annulment, ; he said. ; -- . " ine untish government can- not accept the arguments used 1 in the Soviet. note. . "There . is no justification of the Soviet contention that the Paris agreements are" incompati- , ble with the treaty. Her majes- ( ty's government will continue to pursue their chosen policy of l : i: . nr.u " -rc l-. ' ci'iisuuuauug western Ciiuopean ' unity." - V ' ' - The foreign off ice statement came as Britain took, a firm step ' toward closer alignment with a United western Europe. : . Britain signed today an this- '. torie agreement that tips her with the S chum an Plan coal and steel pool. '- ' BRITAIN SIGNS SCHUM AN PLAN PACT London (U.PJ Britain signed a treaty today linking it with the European coal , and steel com munity the-', former "Schuman Plan"-r-which is the first Euro pean federal ; institution with wide . economic , and political powers. ' - - - -. - - " . '- -; - ; ' Britain is traditionally ' wary about shackling itself to any . form of European federation, but the attitude has softened with the' coming of the atomic age. Last' summer Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden committed Brit ish troops to continental defense for the first time. . ' , Author James Hilton Dies of Liver Cancer Lone Beach, Calif. - (U.R) James Hilton, English-born au thor whose novels were best sellers throughout the world for 20 years, died Monday night of cancer. He was 54. Hilton, who wrote such well- known booksas "Lost Horizon, 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips," and 'Random Harvest." died at Sea side hospital. His former wife, Alice, was at his bedside. . The author's physician. Dr. David Wigod, attributed Hilton's death to "incurable cancer of the liver." ? : . Hilton, several . of whose books were turned into success ful motion pictures, had been hospitalized since Nov. 21. ( Stoinsi MlMSiil ipilnl SnppDig mm
