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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1955)
FOUR -MEDFORD (OREGON) MEDFOBIkfTRIBUNS "iveryooay in uuuiaern Oregon " Reads The Mail Tribune" Published Daily Except Saturday by MEDFORD PRINTING CO. 27-29 North Fir St. Phone 2-6141 ROBERT W. RUHL, Editor HERB GREY. Advertising Manager E. C. FERGUSON. Managing Editor ERIC ALLEN JR.. City Editor HARRY CHIPMAN. Telegraph Editor RICHARD JEWETT. Sport Editor OLIVE STARCHER. Society Editor JACK JACKSON. Sunday Editor GERALD LATHAM. Circulation Mgr. An Independent Newspaper Entered as second class matter at Medford. Oregon. : under Act of March 3. 1897 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail In Advance: Per copy 10c. Daiy and Sunday One year $12.00 Daily and Sunday Six months 650 Daily and Sunday Three mos . 3.50 - Daily and Sunday One month 1.25 ; Sunday Only One year $3.50. By Carrier In Advance Medford, Ashland. Central Point. Eagle Point, . Jacksonville. Gold Hill. Phoenix, Shady Cove. Rogue River. Talent. and on motor routes: : Daily and Sunday One year $15.00 Daily and Sunday One month 1.25 Carrier and Dealers 5c per copy All Terms Cash in Advance Official Paper ol the City ot Medford Official Paper ef Jackson County : United Press Full Leased Wire x MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU . OF CIRCULATION Advertising Representative: WEST-HOLLIDAY COMPANY. INC. Offices in New York. Chicago. De troit. San Francisco. Los Angeles, Seattle. Portland. St. Louis, Atlanta. Vancouver. B.C. NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EOlfOIIAl ASSOCTATllON - J Righto' Time Medford and Jackson County History from the files of The Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO Feb. 4, 1945 " (It was Sunday) ' ' '. :K. Herb Crain, Medford Navy re cruiting of finer.5 received dis charge and takes over manager ship of service- station at Sixth and Grape sts. From Arthur Perry's Ye smudge Pot column: A patri arch was caught rolling a ciga rette yesterday. r He said when he first started smoking them 60-odd years ago, they were called "coffin-nails" and his boss lectured him daily oh wast ing man-power hours manufac turing them.- - 20 YEARS AGO Feb. A. 1935 (It was Monday) . Harvey Field, Bob ;Cherry, Mary Kem and Margaret Bate man have leading parts in sen ior high school -operetta, .''Chimes of Normandy." -Z. Work progressing rapidly on new addition to Mann's Depart ment store on East Main st.1 30 YEARS AGO M i V Feb. 4. 1925 . ; V Medford city' planning com mission discusses plans for. con struction of new high school, y Hope for rescue of Floyd Col lins, imprisoned by slide in Ken .tucky cave, fades when new cave-ins block, rescue efforts. - 40 YEARS .AGO' ''.''. :":r r , Feb. 4, 1915 r.:v; ' j ' :. y.-(It was Thursday) r Herbert Alford, Medford, stu dent at Stanford university, be comes member of singing group on Palo Alto: campus. y ;.. Hill Taxi service announces plans for installation." of daily service between Medford and Ashland. ; : ,;:L ; What's the Answer? (Can You Get 4 of the 7?) ' Copr. 1 955, Editorial Research Report U 1. Have any big-cities' begun to desegregate their schools in view of the anti-segregation Su preme Court decision last May? 2. Installment credit payments these days . are reported to be prompt . or delayed, on . ': the .whole? . '"".'.' 3, The present Congress con tains .one, two,, three, four, five, or more Negro members, or none at all? - v.-.v. v-v...- . 4. Texas : is larger than Eng land, France and WesTt5ennany i 5. The base pay for a captain in the Army is nearer $125, $225, $325 or $425 a month? . ; i6." Certain bank stocks are now listed on the N.Y. Stock Ex change; righ or wrong? '.' -J 7. Harley-Davidson was or wasn't an early make of automo bile? : ;; The Answers: 1. Yes,-several. e.g.Baltimore and Washington. M ' At ' ' 1 , . M riompi, on ine . wnoie. o. Three; Reps, Dawson (D.. 111.), , Diggs (D., Mich.), Powell (D., N.Y.). 4. Right. 5. It's around $325 a month. 6. Wrong. 7. Wasn't; it was a motorcycle.- . TUMBLING CLASS v Donald Day, physical director of the Medford YMCA? has an nounced that a tumbling: class for boys over 9 will start Satur day, Feb. 5, from 2 until 4 pari. The class will be taught by Ron Collins, a student at Southern Oregon college. Boys may regis-: ter by phoning 2-6295, or by calling in person at the desk of the YMCA. t v.?:-r - ;;v1' 'i'' :; MAIL TRIBUNE Volunteer Bureau Good Idea Some of the cities in the San Francisco bay area have set up Volunteer Bureausr clearing houses where persons willing to give some time 'to commu nity service may register and receive assignments to such projects or facilities as may be in need of help from time to time. This method of bringing together the civic-minded and those who would welcome their services is an excellent one and one which might be TN ADDITION to the numerous organizations, agen X cies and groups devoted to year around civic, or welfare and relief work there are going on, most of the time, drives or campaigns which desperately need manpower, and -womanpower. Almost without ex ception these movements are worthy, have the sym pathetic; interest of - the general public but attain something less than the objectives hoped for because the limited number carrying the burden simply aren't able to cover all the bases. i In the last few days six or seven such, campaigns have either just been concluded, are now under way, or areabout to start. Such, for instance, as the March of Dimes, Heart Fund, Aid bership, Boy Scouts 45th anniversary observance, Children's Dental Health Week, and probably others we do" not call to mind at the moment. Too often the leaders in efforts like these are un able to enlist the interest and services of a sufficient number of helpers. Not because there aren't people ; who would be jflad to assist, but because those who j might be willing are not contacted and may be aii fdent about volunteering their services. v , ' I F A Volunteer Bureau existed, possibly as a project of the Chamber of some spare time for such work could make themselves known, specifying the type of service they would pre fer or for which they would be best qualified, and when help was needed the project leaders would know where to find it, immediately. A Volunteer Bureau would be of special advan tage in speeding : the integration of newcomers with the-community life and activities. According to avail able figures over 3,000 new families moved into Jack son county last year. Many of these were headed by young people eager to demonstrate their capabilities by public service. Too, through their service and the contacts made there would be opportunity to make new friends and achieve a standing in the local scheme of things which might not otherwise come so easily or speedily. I T MAY be that Medford Volunteer Bureau or that not enough people here are interested in offering themselves for community service. The only way to find out would be by giving the proposal a trial. If the bureau system worked it could certainly prove a boon to the all-too-few who now carry the major load whenever there is some thing to be done. E.C.F. HopeMonax Was Right . Its just as "well that Marmota Monax Mr. drouhdhog, that is saw his shadow Tuesday for the. Rogue River valley is in need of considerable more winter. . . -:' ' .. IN THE matter of precipitation we are far behind '.schedule with only 5.95 inches since September!, 1954, about half what it should be for the season, and Unless there is a decided change in the weather before long, summer will find us without enough snow in the mountains or moisture in the ground. Other sections of the state are mostly in a some what similar dehydrated condition. The Portland area, for example, has just passed through its driest and mildest January since the Weather Bureau there started keeping records 81 years ago. Rainfall totaled only: 2.8 inches as compared with the 5.43 inches normal for the month. The temperature range was also the smallest on record, the mercury fluctuating only 22 degrees from a high of 52 to alow of 30. .f In .Medford the temperature was slightly cooler than normal with thermometer readings running be tween 56 and 22. ; j .'; ' fYUR present; weather is pretty nice, thank you, especially as compared with the southern states' tornadoes, the Ohio valley ; and Great Lakes region sleet and snow and the bitter cold of most of the plains states and middle Mississippi valley. But we can do with some more winter and most of us sin cerely hope Marmota knew what he was doing when he scurried back into ; his burrow for another six weeks stay. E.C.F. ; Tradition, Progress Collide at Meeting ' Waupaca, Wis. ftJ.R) Tradi tion and progress coUided at the opening session of the Waupaca county board to cause the newly elected sheriff, Floyd Taylor, one of -'his "most embarrassing moments." ; ,. , ' . ' -, ; Taylor,! foUowing custom, pre sented the board members "with a box. of cigars. I The 50 cigars were enough to gd around when the board num bered 48 supervisors. But Taylor was -short one -cigar because he forgot about three newly elect- ed supervisors from the new city of Manawa, who were seated for the first time. Friday, February 4, I95S For Blind, YMCA mem Commerce, anyone having is not large enough for a Careless Handling ot Livestock Gets Blame Columbus, O. U.pO Enough livestock are injured or killed daily on their way to market to furnish one day's meat needs for half a million people, according to C. W. Hammans, Ohio State university farm expert, A Hammans, a marketing spe cialist, said careless handling of livestock means the loss of about a hundred tons of beef, lamb, and pork each day., ., . The result, he maintains, is a lower price to the producer and ("higher costs for the consumer. Bruised meat can't be eaten and extra labor is required to trim it out. Communications Letter to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer although under certain circum stances the use of a pen name or initial for publication is permis rible. The - Mail Tribune reserves the right to edit all letters with an eye to clarification and condensa tion. Letters submitted for publica tion must not exceed 400 words. Why Not A Train To S.F.? To the Editor: I would like to add my opinion to that ex pressed in your recent editorial concerning the "friendly". South ern Pacific. I would also like to make a suggestion. A couple of weeks ago I re turned on the wDaylight" from San Francisco as far as Duns muir. It is a fine-train and the trip is very enjoyable, speedy and comfortable but what a journey from Dunsmuir to Med ford! How , any self-respecting railroad, could offer such trans portation is beyond my compre hension. The antiquated bus which meets the train in Duns muir takes three and a half tire some hours to ' reach Medford. An automobile can easily cover that distance ' in two hours. Friends in San " Francisco and Los Angeles have said, to me, "Why can't we go by train to Medford?" I realize that at one time the S. P. did have, a train connection ; in Dunsmuir' which was not used much by Medford and Southern Oregon people but no wonder! It was an un comfortable old coach- which dawdled along, stopping for five or 10 minutes at stations where no one got off or on. Why can't the S. P. furnish a diesel engine and one modern light car which could make the trip in less time and be comfortable and pleasant? Those' small sta tions could be flagstops, I should think thereby saving time. - : -. ; I'm sure if more speedy and comfortable transportation were furnished the people of the Rogue VaUey would give en thusiastic support to a daytime train to San Francisco. This is the least the Southern Pacific could do in return for all the freight business this region gives them. Edith W. Braley, 245 Valley View drive, Medford, Ore. Play Criticism Unfair .' To the Editor: Concerning the write - up in the Mail Tribune of the Footlighter's current play, I would like to give my, opin ion. I think that the writer . of the story was unfair to both the little theater and the peo ple who give their time to work on it without pay. - If he was so "scared" by the play that - he ' couldn't stay for more than one act before form ing his opinion, I see no justi fication in the write-up. For more than five years, this little theater group has 'given plays for the community, and some of them outstanding. It seems to me that there has been comparatively few write-ups on these and ; so when one comes along that' the drama critic does not like, a large write-up of its faults is immediately published. As a final word, I would like to say that the Footlighters aren't trying to be a professional group, they are just, showing what they think the community wiU enjoy in' an informal, little theater atmosphere. Pat Rice, . .;. 304 Hamilton street, Medford, Ore. Sh Wat Amused To the Editor: This wench was amused. Being a simple peasant with limited ! experience and educa tion, I can only teU you what I saw and heard and felt during the Footlighters presentation of "A , Bill of Divorcement." ' Funk & Wagnalls Standard dictionary describes entertain ment as the art, of furnishing amusement or food or a divert ing performance. All this in full measure I received. The cast was well chosen, the coffee hot and delicious, and the plot contro versial enough to provide inter esting post mortem discussion. There must be a bit of ham in most of us, ' and. an amateur performance, sincerely executed, takes us "over the rainbow" as no commercially 4 interrupted drama can do. . Medf ofdites! It will' be worth your while to forego 20,000 tiny filters long enough to enjoy this delightful evening. . Footlighters I salute you. X v . , ' Name on File P.S. Remember, E.A., only the ignorant judge a half -finished production, , Court Records POLICE COURT' "7' Roy N. Colley, no operator! license, Howard W. Cox. no operator'! license, $5. Dorothy Mae Pitts, failure to yield right -of way. $10. - v Raymond Eugene Doty, failure to stop for red traffic signal. $5. Jim Joe Hobba Jr failure to stop for red traffic signal. $5. James - Grant Metternick. violation of basic rule. $10. DISTRICT COURT A Warren W. Kocher, failure to stop t stop sign. $10. ; Beverly J. Norum. no operator's license, $7.50. Billy L. Thompson, violation of basic rule, $10. Alvin J Paudois. overload. $20, overload. $43. ' David E. Johnson, failure to stop at stop sign, 610. . f Dead line Sunday Classified is at noon Saturday: 10 a.m. Monday for Monday; other days 530 previous day. Island Rockpiles Long Fought Over Bv Chinese Forces Editor's note In. the absence, of Charles M. McCann, who is ill, the following special. dispatch Is substitu ted for his Foreign News Commentary. By; WILLIAM MILLER ' United Press Correspondent , Taipeh, Formosa (U.R)- The islands off the China coast have! been fought over for centuries; by Chinese pirates and warlords.; Economically they are largely worthless rockpiles. But' in the long bitter China Civil war they have assumed explosive significance."-. .. . The .several island chains are strung out along 350 miles, from Amoy in the south to Haimen in the north.' All together 'there' are thousands of these' Volcanic outcroppings. . They are inhabit ed principally "by tough Chinese fishermen and goatherds. Most important .of the string of .islands are Quemoy in the south Tachen at the far north ern extreme -of the chain, and Matsu," which -is approximately way between. Served as Bases , : ' : 'AH three have in the past served - as bases for Chinese smugglers and pirates. And from time to time in China's long and turbulent history they have serv ed, as springboards for opera tions either against the! main land or against Formosa. Largest and most important frombothT Nationalist and Red China's viewpoint is Quemoy. It is the cork in Red China's important port of Amoy, in Fukien Province. In Nationalist hands it makes Amoy useless to the Communists. In Commu nist hands it would represent an important link in the coastal shipping lanes from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Quemoy is the most heavily defended of Generalissimo Chi ang Kai-shek's islands. But it also is the most vulnerable to amphibious assault. It lies only four miles off Amoy and a fleet of invasion junks would have little trouble navigating the calm, shallow : waters. ... Tachen Like Corregidor Chiang has . three divisions stationed there . to guard Que moy's fine invasion beaches and the relatively flat interior which would be suitable targets for air- Is That So? By Eugene Burns Ranger-Naturalist 'I love birds and I want to be a good neighbor, especially dur ing sharp winter; weather." writes Mrs.. T. E. D. " What can I do?" . I can well understand your love for birds, Mrs. T. E. D. I think everyone has a longing to form a bond with wild crea tures, particularly birds. Though completely self-sufficient . during warm weather, birds which remain, through the winter are often desperately in need of food and the' greatest service you can perform is to feed them, properly, of course. To derive the greatest pleas ure, may I suggest that you set up a window-cafeteria opposite your breakfast table. This will give you and your family a won derful opportunity to watch the birds at close' range. ' The table should be a little shelf, extending perhaps a foot or two. To it attach some branch es, preferably evergreens, t o give it a woodsland touch. Food Likes Differ v " . Naturally .birds have differ ent likes in foods. The insect eaters, such as woodpeckers nuthatches, . chickadees, king lets, creepers and jays all like suet and other fats, meat scraps, nut kernels, peanut butter, pan cakes and . crumbled doughnuts. Graineaters such as juncos, tree sparrows, . song sparrows, purple finches arid grosbeaks like to eat "chick-feed" or cracked corn, weed seeds, sun flower seeds,-, squash . seeds, screenings from the mill, bread crumbs and cake broken into crumbs. -Suet on Branches To get birds to come near your shelf and in the habit of taking ; vour offerings, fasten suet to i branches of your shelf and to nearby tree trunks. Putting it in the nearby trees will bring the birds within sight of your shel ter. Do not be discouraged if they do not come immediately but within several days, soon er or later, they will find your shelf. - :': : : -:"--:i-: A warning: Take care to place your feeding stations where cats cannot attack your guests. If grcund birds live hear you,. do not forget them either, cur ing a wintef of deep snow, and sleet you may help keep pheas ants, grouse or. quail alive by giving them cracked "corn or other grains in a simple lean-to borne paratroop assault. Tachen, the extreme northern anchor of Chiang's outpost line, is a Corregidor-like bastion which would be a hard nut for an invading' force to crack. On it, the Nationalists . have : built an excellent network of roads and pillboxes,' and hundreds of yards of reinforced concrete un derground tunnels running from end to end of the island. Its weakness is that it is de pendent on sea supplies from Formosa 250 miles to the south. Its distance from Formosa makes air cover difficult ' Matsu is similar to Tachen in its defenses. ; . ; . . Other islands of some impor tance,' include j Yishan, Peishan, Nanchi,. .Yingshu, Penhuan and Wuchiu. ' ' ' ' " But "these Nationalist - held rock piles are mere satellites to the "Big Three" and whoever holds Quemo y, Matsu and Tachen. will of necessity possess them as well. : . : . In The Day's By FRANK JENKINS In the past year, I must have sat in a dozen conferences whose primary objective was to find money for some good purpose. These purposes have ranged all the way from, how-to get more power for the State of Jefferson, so that we may be' enabled to process our raw materials into finished products, thus . provid ing, more employment for more people, to how to get rid of al gae in Klamath lake. Volupfua Apologizes For Disappearance Hollywood U.R) Television's siren, Voluptua, reflected more schoolgirlish modesty than, sex today as she apologized for dis appearing for 10 hours and said she "never dreamed . it would cause such, public interest." . , ., " The buxom blonde, who was fired from, a local TV station three days ago when viewers complained about her sexy gy rations and low cut gowns, said meekly she was sorry, to 'have caused everybody "so much trouble." , ' . 1 Hardened Hollywood observ ers speculated that her . "myste rious" ; disappearance from her flashy convertible car, which was - found . abandoned near the beach early yesterday, might be a publicity stunt. ' Dad's Day Scheduled At SOC February 19; Ashland Dads' day to honor the fathers of Southern Oregon college students, has been set for Saturday, Feb. 19, President Don Ferguson of Theta , Delta Phi said today.' ;?'; ; Bill Mearns, chairman of the event, said that "although Dads' day is the off icial title given the day, mothers are also being in vited to attend the event." . "Activities will include a gen eral meeting in the afternoon, a banquet in the evening, a cam pus . iourr i and attendance , at .. a basketball 'game between the Red Raiders and Portland State college.. : ; ,v :'--.. vr shelter near a hedge , or a clump of grass. These birds, of course, must be fed on the ground. Free: By special arrangement with the editors of the Encyclo pedia Americana, . my panel -of judges wiU award each week to the reader who sends me the best question 'on nature, and wildlife a complete 30-volume set of this . world-famous ref erence work in a handsome Seal craft binding. Each week, new questions . will be . considered. Sorry, I simply can't answer your; many friendly letters. Please address your questions to: IS THAT SO: c-o Medford Mail Tribune, Box 575, Sausa lito, Calif. . : - . v, : ; (Released by McClure News ; paper Syndicate) : Florencer U.R) Herbert Da vid Pagan, 28 -year -old logger from Dexter, Ore.,, was killed instantly yesterday afternoon when he fell into a double saw at a woods operation 50 miles east of here. ' ' - ,t 2 31, EAST 5 1 XT H . ST. ' ' ' , JOWl : BEEF' PORK I SUCED BACON ROAST ROAST DACON o)S (O) - (rf I ZhS) lb. )) lb. :.rs) j Ab. kDW, lb. Babson Discount Stores y Babson Park, Mass. (Special to Mail Tribune) ; One of the most significant lessons business learned in 1954 is that . you .can't kill competition in a free econo my, not even with Fair Trade Acts or Price Fixing. .For you, this may, mean bet- . Soger w. Bsbsaa ter quality for less cost in 1955. The .automo bile - is a good example to use in this discussion, Remember the gravy train the average dealer rode from 1946 to 1953? Remem ber how you bad to know Joe and : even slip him a few extra bucks to get on a preferred wait ing list back in 1948? It was a seller's market; the dealer called the shots and he made plenty of easy money. ; - , Suddenly in 1953 .the seller's market became a buyer's mar ket. The consumer was back in the driver's .seat because much of the pent-up demand had been satisfied. Dealers who never learned how to make ' a dollar the hard way wound up in trou ble. Some day the stock market will suffer the same experience. News In a surprisingly large num ber of- instances, somebody has finally made this suggestion: - "Maybe we can get the fed eral government to put up the money." .- .. T'HAT is interesting, because it indicates how; widespread is the notion that money from the federal government . is ;;" like manna from 'heaven - some thing that comes down from on high - withput costing anybody anything. 1"' ' THE Northwest regional office j of the National Association of Manufacturers has just com pleted 'an illuminating break down . of. President Eisenhower's proposed 1956 federal budget of 62.4 billion dollars. ' v j Oregon's "share ' -of f this pro posed budget-', will; be approxi mately $696,488,000. " ri cold . figures on.'a sheet of , paper, that ', doesn't' ; inean much," so let's see if we can, get a comparison that will make it mean more to us -like standing a man beside a tall chimney in a picture in order to give people ah idea of the height of the chinv ney. "J -,y '; :V: . ' The total appropriations of the Oregon legislature for the 1953 1955 BIENNIUM came to a to tal of $191,823,384.80. A bi ennium is two years. The federal budget is for one year; ;'. '-:Sii; So ' ': You see . '.'''''N1 :! ' r.i: , Oregon's share : of the' 1956 federal budget will be nearly SEVEN TIMES as' much, as it has cost to run the state of Ore gon in each of the two years in cluded in the 1953-1955 Oregon fiscal biennium. ;. ' ' , . -; ; That isn't hay. " ' : r. JET'S put it another way." .--;" In each of the 4 years of the 1953-1955 Oregon- fiscal ' bi ennium, it ' has cost , us roughly $100,000,000 ; in legislative ap propriations to run our state. As suming that Oregon's population during ; this"r period has - been about a million and a half1, that means that our per; capita cost of running our . state has. been about $65. ' : OREGON'S : PER. CAPITA SHARE OF THE 1956 FED ERAL BUDGET WILL BE $400. T ET'S make , one more com- parison. " . It has cost Oregon about $65 per head to run its state govern ment (as , represented by legis lative appropriations) in each of the years of the current fiscal biennium. ' ''..-. ...i The per capita cost to Ore gon of the INTEREST ON THE NATIONAL DEBT IN 1956 will be-$44. -:r: We've watched thesteady rise in the federal debt with the com fortable illusion that after all it wasn't costing US anything that Uncle Sam has to pay the interest on his debt.' :. The trouble is that WE'RE A PART OF UNCLE SAM. , THE "only point I'm trying to make t here is that money from Uncle Sam isn't manna from heaven. : The only . way Uncle Sam can get money is to take it out of our pockets. -- Before he can GIVE IT TO US he has to TAKE IT FROM .US. ' ft Discount Markets Opened For Used Car Sales As time went on, new cars began to appear on used car lots at reduced prices. Some manu facturers, after reopening new showrooms ballyhooed "great sales" with discounts of $800 $1,000 on new cars. This greatly encouraged' the "Discount Houses." . About the same time the National Automobile Deal ears Association announced that it would "leavV no stone unturn ed" to eliminate bootlegging and all other practices it considered unfair but did it turn any stones? ' A group of Detroit bankers, studying . the ; industry's plight, found that not one of them had been- approached by car or elec trie appliance - salesmen since World War H. Word, however, got around that consumers had the money to buy and were only waiting for lower prices. Final ly, dealers woke, up and- again worked 'hard for .sales.. This competition finally broke "price fixing" not only in the automo-' tive industry but all along the line. It became as popular . to break "fair trade" as it was to ignore prohibition during Hoo ver's administration. . . Discount Houses Taking Former Places - . ' The automobile dealers .'Were not the only ones losing money. Appliance manufacturers, -. pen ft and hat makers, carpet weavers, and many, others were in trou ble. One- prominent ; discount chain began to sell a f air-trad- . ed" $89.95 vacuum cleaner for $49.95, and still made a good profit. Cries went up from manu facturers .who vowed they would buy back-every' item of their manufacture they found in dis- . count houses. ' Others wanted government interference, to , en force 'fair trade" and price fix ing to rescue their profits. . The dam broke late last year when General Electric's major appliance division announced it was living its , distributors the responsibility for determining -retail prices. With this announce ment, big New. York : City de partment stores also, broke away. They finally , decided.: that they could not stand the competition of . the, discount, houses. ; These are npw ' provoking the" same kind of a. furor' and revolution in merchandising as did the de partment stores, and dune stores in the nineties." These latter have . how become . ."respectable," and . discount houses are taking their former places. .Whether here ' to stay cannot now be foretold. . They, however, are reported to be doing a $25,000,000,000 retail business annually and ac counting, for about 18 per cent of. all retail' and. 15 per. cent of all wholesale j trade. j ' Merchants' To' Learn, -, 1 ' It may be ; the so-called auto bile bootlegger and the discount' houses have rendered .pur "econo- my a real st-rvice. I do not Know, but I can remember how ? the department stores, mail - order concerns, and the chains started sixty years ago. . They have re minded us that whether a manu facturer or his sales, agents are -wealthy or poor depends on the ingenuity and effort they apply to. their work. They cannot ex- -pect to always make money .by playing golf or going to Florida. " Much of what some business men call .''unfair competition' may be i"lazy competition " An other revolution may be needed to maintain a healthv free-enter- . prise system. It is this kind of competition that gave us !the highest , standard of living In the world. Furthermore,' unless de partment 6tores, merchandising chains, and independents. : learn w uu uiuuicra uicayu wu se.li profitably at lower prices, "fair trade" may be doomed.- Perhaps self-service will save the day, : Rineti snffirici fast efftcthily wits -Ml - f " ' - 1 rwter men Kow Ealng Featured At Yosr Favorite Stsrs sv sr in is m . ik bi.. m w m ssr" - ssw . .m a 'M ,i
