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FOUR MEDFORD (OREGON)
MedforivI5Js,Trib
UNI
"Everybody In Southern Oregon
Read The Mail Tribune
Published Daily Except Saturday by
MEDFORD PRINTING CO.
87-29 North Fir St Phone 2-6141
ROBERT W RUHU Editor
HERB GREY Advertising Manager
E. C. FERGUSON Managing Editor
ERIC ALLEN JR.. City Editor
HA2RY CHIPMAN. Telegraph Editor
- RICHARD JEWETT Sports Editor
-OLIVE STARCHER Society Editor
JACK JACKSON Sunday Editor
GERALD LATHAM. Circulation Mgr
An Independent Newspaper
Entered u second class matter at
Medford. Oregon, under Act of
March 3. 1897
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Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10. 20. 30 and
10 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
August 17, 1945
(It was Friday)
Dana Andrews, Susan Hay
ward, Brian Donlevy, Andy De
vine, booked at Diamond Lake
resort f or filming of 'Canyon
Passage' movie.
From Arthur Perry's Ye
Smudge Pot column: The local
rejoicing over the surrender of
Japan was a pronounced success.
The oldest inhabitant cannot re
call a shivaree, or freight train
crossing blocking, that produced
so much auto tooting.
20 YEARS AGO
August 17, 1935
(It was Saturday)
Pioneer Days promotion brings
bewhiskered Safeway staff for
next few weeks.
Grand opening of Rose groc
ery today.
. SO YEARS AGO
August 17, 1925
(It was Monday)
O Arrest expected in Antelope
creek firebug case.
From the Local and Personal
column: The American Legion
will revive their famous Labor
Day dances. A committee is ac
tively at work and the place
and musia will be announced
soon.
40 YEARS AGO
August 17, 1915
(It was Tuesday)
Montana businessman in val
ley inspecting conditions for put
citing in sugar beet refinery.
County clerk's semi-annual
report in. Budget balances at
$1,133,593.22.
What's the Answer?
Can You Get 4 of the 71
Cepr. 1955, Editorial Restated Report
1. "Soap operas" were so
called because so many were put
on by soap companies, they
made the eyes water, they made
listeners feel cleaner, or were
most common on Wash Day?
2. President George Meany of
the0A.F.L. comes from Chicago,
Detroit, Kansas City, New York
or San Francisco?
3. General Motors does or
doesn't manufacture railroad
trains?
4. Sun Valley is in New York,
North Carolina, Texas, Idaho or
California?
5. The Walker Cup is awarded
in tennis, indoor track meets, Ivy
League football, horse-racing or
6. Hagiography deals with the
lives of old women, saints, de
scendants of Hagar and Abra
ham, Scottish cooks, or Rabbini
cal writers?
7. Samuel Langhorne Clemens
is better known as' ? .
The Answers: 1. So many were
put on by soap companies; 2. New
York, 3. Does; 4. Idaho; 5. Golf;
6. Lives of saints; 7. Mark Twain.
TEACHER LOSES
Detroit (U.R) Mrs. Cyril
Miles, a high school art teacher,
q didn't know whether to be
proud or unhappy when one of
her students, Richard Eashkan
ian, took first prize in the water
color division of a Detroit art
contest. Mrs. Miles'; entry won
second prize.
MAIL TRIBUNE
What's Ahead In Lumber? -II
Is Oregon running out of timber? Is it going to
become a Pacific "dustbowl," denuded of its gracious
green firs and pines, and deprived of its No. 1 in
dustry? ' The answer to these questions is not as clear-cut
as one might wish, but a provisional answer can be
given. These things could conceivably come to pass;
but with intelligent planning and cooperation they
need not. And the chances are against it.
JACKSON county, in which we are primarily inter-
Let's take a look at its timber supply situation.
Timberland' acreage in the county is more than
1,200,000. This falls in three categories:
Privately owned land, totaling some half-million
acres.
National Forest land, totaling about 414,811 acres.
O&C and public domain land, under the adminis
tration of the bureau of land management, totaling
more than 300,000 acres.
THE privately owned timberlands total about 71
per cent of all privately-owned land in the county.
About 44 per cent of this private timberland, or some
254,500 acres, is under Tree Farm management.
The other 56 per cent of the private timberlands
is not. The annual cut on these lands has been, and
still is, far above the amount which will permit forests
to be regenerated in time for a new cutting cycle to
begin when the last of the virgin forests are gone.
TIMBERLANDS in the National Forest and under
BLM administration are under intensive forest
management, and are cut on the "sustained yield"
principle that is, the annual cut allowed is designed
to be no more than the annual potentialities of forest
growth and renewal.
This is vital, for if the cut were any larger, the time
would come when timber
new forest growth would
harvesting.
It is equally important
be much lower than the
maximum, for the economy of the area is largely bas
ed on timber supplies, and, additionally, much of the
virgin stands are "overripe," are growing no longer,
and are susceptible to disease, insects and fire.
TREE Farms are managed on the same principle as
l-k -f tA twn 11it.-it7Vi rA 4-irv-i Vi-iy TT-i mr o vr A zaoi nrn a A
LUC ICUCi dilj J VV UCU CllllJLJ. , J. 11 Ctl C UVOlglAU
for perpetual yield. The timber is protected from bugs,
disease and fire, is looked upon as a long-range asset,
and is thought of as a permanent crop, not as a re
source to be used and thjen discarded. "
The Tree Farm movement has developed its own
rules and requirements. To
must meet certain standards of forest management.
Both Tree Farm acreage and that under federal
management is being harvested, so the totals given
above do not represent stands of timber. But they do
represent land which is dedicated to future genera
tions not just our own.
THE difference between
i i Ml. J
cut ana sun maintain iorests ior tne iuune, anu
the amount which has been cut in the past 10 or 15
years, has come from non
The timber available here,
ished, is near the vanishing point.
Lumbermen are up against this hard fact: Jack
son county timber lands cannot supply enough raw
material to keep busy the number of mills now in the
county. Already many smaller mills have succumbed.
Others will soon go.
Under this pressure for timber, stumpage prices
have been bid sky-high, and only the "big boys" can
afford to pay the exorbitant prices. The prices may
go even higher.
IT MAY be that a reinventory of federal lands will
show that the allowable cut can be safely in
creased. Present inventories are based on old surveys
and cruises, and conditions of access, species utiliza
tion, size and other factors have changed.
. But there are dangers in increasing the cut, too,
for not all the facts of regeneration are known. If it
were to lag, someday the industry would be up against
a "gap," when no merchantable timber is available.
-This would wreck havoc with the local economy.
TN ANY event, however, a steady and perpetual
supply of timber should be available from federal
and Tree Farm lands, unless pressures from thought
less lumbermen, supported by the public, become too
great.
In addition, the cut-over, non-Tree Farm land can
be expected to produce in the future, for Oregon's
strict forestry laws, known as models throughout the
nation, require that provision be made for regenera
tion, and stiff penalties for violations are provided.
CO, WE can conclude, there should be timber in
the future.
But there will be less than there is now, and at
higher prices.
The hope of the lumber industry -lies In recog
nizing that timber MUST NOT be "mined," but
MUST be "farmed;" in recognizing that forest man
agement, like farm management, is vital to preserve
our forests, as both economic and recreational re
sources, forever; in recognizing that increased diver
sification and integration and utilization of what we I
have is the answer to the
potentially stable, supply.
Many lumbermen have
More aye coming to it. The
For it is vital for a secure
Wednesday, August 17, 1955
stands would be gone, and
not be ready for a second
that the allowable cut not
scientmcally-determined
be certified, a Tree Farm
the amount which can be
1 J 1 J? J J
- Tree Farm private lands.
while it has not yet van
fact of a decreased, but.
come to that realization.
public should realize it.
and prosperous future.
E.A.;
Today and
By Walter
THE GREAT UPHEAVAL
The little Korean insurrec
tion, which was put on last week
by Dr. Syngman Rhee, reflects
his frustration
and despair
over what hap
pened at Ge
n e v a. Mr.
Dulles spelled
WXl I out the mean
VvJsS I ing of Geneva
for him last
week when he
declared that
waiter Lippmann "we do not be
lieve the partition ought to be re
solved by resort to force." For
while United States policy still
protects South Korea against
conquest by North Korea, Mr.
Dulles has ruled out once and for
all Dr. Rhee's wishful fantasy
that he can somehow entangle
the United States in a war for
the unification of Korea.
The spirit of Geneva, trans
lated into the Dulles formula of
no change by force, means that
the door is closed against the
only kind of unification which
Dr. Rhee knows how to work
for.
Were he a more enlightened
statesman, interested in making
South Korea a model of efficient
and humane and free govern
ment, there would be a fair pros
pect of uniting Korea eventually
under his regime in Seoul. But
as things are, there is no telling
how the popular sympathies are
running under the surface of his
dictatorship. Dr. Rhee does not
act, however, as if he thought
they were running in his favor.
KOREA will not, as Mr. Dulles
rprncrni7fH hv imnliratinn
- - - - -' j
be the last of the countries
where the results of Geneva are
deeply disliked. For Geneva, as
the Soviets proposed and as we
Editorial Comment
FUTURE OF MILL TOWNS
Lumber mill operators and
community leaders at Molalla
are worried over their future.
Oregon City Enterprise-Courier
quotes them as saying that unless
the smaller mills are able to ob
tain timber and easier access to
the available stands they have
grave fears for the economic fu
ture of mill towns. The situation
is simply this, the remaining
stand of privately owned timber
are held principally by big cor
porations Crown Zellerbach,
Pope and Talbot which log for
their own mills. There 'is a great
deal of government timber na
tional forest, O&C but it is sold
on bids under a sustained yield
program, with no preference to
the local mills.
The facts of logging and mill
ing virgin timber have been
known for a long time. The
steady cut in excess of annual
growth means exhaustion of
timber supply, which forces com
munity readjustment. Some mill
towns become ghosts, as do min
ing towns whose ore has run out
Others make the transition and
continue to thrive. Silverton is
a good example of a city which
took the closing of its big mills
in stride and has continued a
prosperous, active trading cen
ter. Molalla can make a similar
readjustment, though not with
out some initial sacrifice. It will
do no good to overcut the public
timber that remains. This should
be marketed in orderly manner
while cutover lands reforest
themselves. Nor should local
pressures compel local milling
of public timber. It should go to
the best market.
Necessity has always been the
mother of invention. And the
imminence of timber shortage in
the Molalla district is a prod to
local leadership to overcome the
handicap which now looms.
Oregon Statesman.
Poulson Abandons
Baker Uranium Claim
Baker (U.R) Mayor Norris
Poulson of Los Angeles is re
ported to have given up his
uranium claims in the Wallowa
mountains near Baker.
Poulson, who left Baker last
week end after a vacation, said
be abandoned the claims he
staked out last year on the ad
vise of mining geologists G.
Austin Schroter of Los Angeles.
Schroter had studied the
ground and said the clicks on
Poulson's Geiger counter, were
probably caused by thorium, not
uranium. The Los Angeles
mayor is a former resident of
Baker.
No Draft Increase
Seen for Next Year
Portland (U.R) Major Gen
eral Lewis Hershey, director of
Selective Service, says he sees
no "large possibility" of draft
increases in the next year.
But Hershey, who was a Port
land visitor yesterday, warned
that statements about future
needs are "dangerous at best."
He cited predictions made two
years ago saying that we would
run out of draft-age men. Now,
he says, it appears we will
never run out of men in that
age bracket
Tomorrow
Lippmann
have agreed, does mean that it is
not for the time being a vital in
terest of any of the great powers
to change the status quo. This
means an acknowledgment that
for an indefinite time we are
prepared to live with the parti
tion of Korea, with the contain
ment of Chiang in Formosa, and
with the partition of Germany.
There is here a radical change
in the world situation. It is, one
might say, the difference be
tween betting a reasonable
amount and betting everything
on the issues. If Geneva means
that the great powers are agreed
that they will not use force to
change the existing situations,
then they are agreed on some
thing of the highest substance
which they have never agreed
upon before.
SUCH an acceptance of the
military stalemate will com
pel us to rethink a number of
our ideas. One of the first will
be the assumption that the revo
lutionary movements all over
the globe originate in Moscow,
are directed from Moscow, and
would fold up if Moscow could
be made to behave.- That is not
true. There is an epidemic of
revolutionary movements, some
of them overt and some still
latent ,in large parts of Asia,
Africa, and Latin America. All
of them have been encouraged,
many of them have been as
sisted, some have been profit
ably exploited, by Moscow. But
in one way or another they
would happen even if Moscow
said nothing and did nothing
about them. They will go on hap
pening even if the spirit of Ge
neva endures and expands and
if the Dulles formula of no force
is scrupulously respected.
In his annual report to the
United Nations Mr. Hammar
skjold, that wise and effective
diplomatist, speaks of "the
great upheaval in the relation
ship of nations and peoples that
is under way," and of how as a
result "the people of Asia today,
of Africa tomorrow, are moving
towards a new relationship with
what history calls the West."
THE upheaval is taking place
in many different countries.
But there are, I think, certain
common elements wherever the
upheaval is taking place. One is
that the country has not been
self-governing, and that with
the rarest exceptions its leaders
have been trained as agitators
for independence rather than as
governors and administrater of
raw materials which it exports
to the more highly industrial
ized countries. The struggle
against poverty is a struggle to
transform the colonial economy
into an industrial economy. To
carry out this transformation
successfully, the country must
have a strong and efficient gov
ernment. These fundamental conditions
are the real reason why the So
viet Union, and now also Red
China, attract the attention of
and exercise such influence
upon the local politicians and
intellectuals. For the Soviet
Union is the living example to
the undeveloped countries of the
world of how a backward coun
try can be industrialized rapidly.
In the ideological rivalry we are
handicapped because liberal de
mocracy is an inordinately dif
ficult form of government, one
for which almost none of the
countries of the great upheaval
is prepared. And we are handi
capped too because the Ameri
can capitalist economy has been
created on a fabulously rich, vir
tually uninhabited, continent,
and over a period of two centur
ies. For an Asian or an African
who is in a hurry, the Russians
have the easier formula for get
ting rich quicker.
'
THE more successfully the
great powers rule out the re
sort to military force, the more
shall we be challenged .by the
subtler problems of the great up
heaval. The Dulles formula rules
out Communist intervention to
support a Communist revolution.
But it rules out also western in
tervention to help governments
to put down an internal in
surrection.
The net result is almost cerr
tain to be an intensified rivalry
to become the friend of those in
each country who are affecting
its political and economic trans
formation. For each country will
be ruled by those who seem
most likely to transform it. If I
am not mistaken we are enter
ing a period when the West
must win admission in the coun
tries where until recently it
was the master. Mr. Hammar-
skjold was, I take it, thinking
of that when he wrote in his re
port that "the world organiza
tion is the place where this
emerging new relationship in
world affairs can most creatively
be forged."
Surely he is right. For as the
atomic conference in Geneva
has been demonstrating so bril
liantly, the U.N. is a great
opener of closed windows. Al
most ' certainly the U.N. is de
stined to play a leading part in
opening up and in keeping in
the open the rivalry, which will
be intense, for influence in the
new countries.
Copyright, 1955,
New York Herald Tribune Inc. ,
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
Difference of opinion note:
The United States is suggest
ing that the full, formal record
of the Big Four conference at
Geneva should be published.
Biitain is cold to the idea, and
says that the U.S. might like
to publish the record but Britain
in accordance with her usual
practice in such cases, prefers
not to.
Britain goes back to the days
when the public was told what
it OUGHT to hear and no more.
The United States thinking,
maybe, of Yalta wants the
book kept open so that EVERY
BODY may read.
IVHO'S RIGHT?
I wouldn't know.
Let's put it this way: If the
full, formal record of Geneva
is published it will be in vol
uminous tomes that only the
diplomats will read anyway.
The general public prefers
more exciting reading.
TTOW TO get
TO get from here to
lit
there note:
A combination airplane auto
mobile built by Dewey Bryan,
33-year-old General Motors test
driver, has passed highway and
airway tests.
Bryan says he believes his
"roadaplane" is the first to carry
its folding wings down the high
way. Other roadable planes, he
adds, leave their wings at the
airport or haul them in a trailer.
His double purpose machine
is a single-seater. It weighs 600
pounds and has a 40-horsepower
eigine that gives it a highway
speed of 50 mph and an air
speed of 60 mph.
TT HAS its points.
- One could start out on the
road and when congestion be
came unbearable could take to
the air where, as yet, consid
erable room is left.
Then
wnen storms threaten one
could come back to earth and
continue his journey on wheels,
HHHE prospective customer's
first , question: How much
will the thing cost?
ALL THIS, of course, brings
x- up the $64,000 question:
How are we going to get
enough roads to handle all the
automobiles Americans are going
to own?
The session of congress that
has just adjourned considered
the idea of a huge federal higb
way program. It ran afoul of
political issues and bogged
down. President Eisenhower pro
posed a plan that looked too
good for his political opposition
to stand for. So it was shelved
and another plan was brought
out.
The substitute , p r o g r a m
bogged down on the issue of
who would pay the bill. So noth
ing was done in the way of fed
eral highway legislation.
TS THAT bad?
I don't know.
The President's plan would
have been good for Oregon be
cause it stressed federal aid for
the big interstate highways.
Oregon has a heavy percentage
of these big interstate roads
including Highway 99 and High
way 30.
Oregon would lave got more
than it gave back if the Presi
dent's bill had been enacted
into law.
DUT-
Over the long pull
I can't help wondering.
For every dollar of federal
money Oregon gets Oregon pays
back IN FEDERAL TAXES
$3.96 or did in 1954 when
these figures were compiled. At
that, Oregon fares better than
the country as a whole.
In 1954, according to figures
gathered by the Western Tax
Council, the average for all the
states was $6.99 paid back into
the federal treasury for each
dollar received therefrom.
Ammunition Stolen
By Irish Recovered
London (U.R) Scotland Yard
has announced the recovery of
"the bulk if not all" arms and
ammunition stolen in Saturday's'
daring raid by members of the
Irish Republican Army on Ar
borfield Barracks near London.
Detectives recovered the loot
in a building in London's Cale
donia Road area.
The case was broken early to
day by detectives who had been
keeping watch on a vacant store
building on Caledonia Road.
Britain had been seriously
alarmed by two daring raids
within 48 hours on British bar
racks and arsenals and British
police warned that the outlawed
IRA apparently was attempting
to stockpile arms for a large
scale future attempt to end the
partition of Ireland.
OF COURSE NOT
Detroit (U.R) One-hundred-
year-old Mrs. Sallie Butterly's
only concession is having break
fast usually three bacon and
egg sandwiches--in bed. "I don't
feel like getting up right away,"
she says, "but there's no reason
why I shouldn't eat"
Matter of
AN EISENHOWER PORTENT
Washington The quiet doings
of President Eisenhower's for
mer appointments secretary,
Thomas E.
Stephens, con
stitute one of
the most In
teresting indi
cators in the
current politi
cal scene.
Stephens
used to be sec
retary of the
New York
State Republi-
Joph Also can committee
in the Thomas E. Dewey era. In
1952, . he was tapped for the
Eisenhower campaign train.
Post-election, he went to work
at the White House; and he
served on the President's per
sonal staff until last February,
when he ostensibly returned to
private law practice as a mem
ber of the New York firm of
Sherman, Sterling and Wright.
But Stephens, an able and
astute man with considerable
skill as a behind-the-scenes op
erator, did not abandon politics
when he returned to private law
practice. In recent months, he
has in fact been engaged in a
quiet operation commissioned by
the President. He has been
Communications
Letters to the Editor must bear
the name and address ot the writer
although under certain circum
stances the use ot a pen name or
Initial for publication is permis
tible. 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.
Fire Insurance and City Budget
To the Editor:
I was very much interested
in an article published in the
Medford Mail Tribune regard
ing the Medford Fire Alarm Sys
tem. We are told that because the
voters rejected a proposed city
budget increase in July that we
were given deficiency points and
perhaps lost us a decrease in in
surance rates, because they will
not be able to install a switch
board for their telephone system.
The article goes on to say the
insurance rating board rates this
type of alarm system at 50 per
cent of the telegraphic system,
Why should we be satisfied with
this type of system, even though
it did cost only $10,000.00 when
we already had voted and given
the .city council the $40,000.00
that we were told it would take
to build a telegraphic system,
Why should it be necessary to
vote another tax increase to build
the less expensive system?
The article quoted John A.
Nealep Chief engineer of the Na
tional' Board of Fire Underwrit
ers as saying "The telephonic sys
tern provides a means of alarm
in Business districts during
closed hours and that during
these hours fires are usually
larger when discovered and
prompter alarm transmissions
correspondingly more import
ant." You will note he did not
say the telephonic system pro
vided the best means of alarms
(if it were, it would be given a
better rating than 50 per cent)
With the telegraphic system,
wnicn ,xne consultant recom
mended, after being brought here
at great expense to the taxpay
ers) any school, hospital, store,
warehouse, packing house, etc..
having, their own sprinkling sys
tem for fire control, could have
their system connected with the
alarm boxs, and the instant any
fire set off their sprinkling sys
tem, it would also automatically
sound the alarm at the fire de
partment, telling the box in
volved.
In addition to the alarm sys
tem we also voted $25,000.00
five years ago, to build a fire
station on the east side. Two
years ago we finally got a sta
tion over there, but it is costing
us $800.00 per year rent.
I have been unable to find
where the city budget, as passed,
was published. I would appre
ciate the information of what
paper, and when it was pub
lished. The County, each month,
publishes a statement of money
expended and from what fund
the check was drawn. This
would be a very fine procedure
for the city to follow, and well
worth, the cost involved.
Cleo Canoose,
Ross Court, Medford.
Ed. Note: The city budget for
1955-56 was published in the
Mail Tribune June 3d and June
13th, 1955. ,
The Table Rock Problem
To the Editor: As I drive to
Medford along the Table Rock
Road I am appalled by the filthy
sight that meets my eyes!
Scattered along the shoulders
of the road and blown up against
the fences are pld papers, card
board cartons, tin cans, bottles,
pieces of. linoleum, branches of
trees, and anything else that peo
ple have decided to haul to the
city dump and not fastened se
curely in their trailers. To quote
Snuffy Smith, "It's a scandal to
the Jay birds."
Couldn't we put a stop to this?
Mrs. Milton Sanderson,
Rt. 2, Box 345,
Sams Valley, Ore.
The. vehicular tunnel under
the Detroit River connecting
Detroit, Mich., and Windsor, Ont.
is the only international tunnel
in the world.
Fact
By Joseph Alsop
working, to insure the selection
of "Eisenhower-type" delegates I
to the Republican convention in
1956, and to promote the can
didacies of men of the same sort
in marginal Congressional Dis-I
tricts.
The Stephens operation is
neither formal nor elaborate. His
only collaborator is the Presi
dent's close friend, and private
adviser, General Lucius D. Clay.
He has no special office or spec
ial staff. But his operation is
not a purely private venture,
either. '
On the contrary, SteDhens
liaison with the President's staff
chief, Governor Sherman Adams
has been so close that be might
almost be described as still
under Governor Adams com
mand in this department of his
activities. And where his work
enters their fields, he has also
kept in close touch with the
chairman of the Republican Na
tional Committee, Leonard Hall
and the chairman of the Repub
lican Congressional committee.
Representative Richard Simp
son.
Promoting the choice of su
perior Congressional candidates
in close districts is a sensible
thing to do, which national po
litical organizations have (-seldom
done. Usually, natural selec
tion is left to operate, quite
often with unfortunate results.
'PHIS IS because intervening
at the- local level to get good
men to stand for Congress re
quires a delicacy surpassing the
delicacy of a gag. According to
report, however the Stephens
operation has already shown
some success in this difficult
field. And this can be important
i. the national election, for a
good candidate, starting his run
early, always makes a consid
erable difference in his district's
voting totals for the entire
ticket.
Seasoned students of national
politics will be more interested,
none the less, in the Stephens
effort to insure the selection of
"Eisenhower-type" delegates to
the Republican National Con
vention. Although he has made
contacts in certain, other gptates,
Stephens' work on the conven
tion delegations has chiefly cen
tered in the South. In this region
he has been working with the
pro-Eisenhower Louisiana Re
publican leader, John Minor
Wisdom.
Throughout the South, of
course, the peculiar local me
chanisms for producing Repub
lican delegates have been tra
ditionally controlled by the
Right-wing group of the Repub
lican party. Until the great upset
over Texas at Chicago in 1952,
Senator Robert A. Taft almost
had a right to regard the South
ern delegations as family ap
pendigrs, descended to him from
his father, who got them as a
present from his brother
Charles.
But now there is no question
about whether the Southern
delegations will be pro-Eisenhower.
The most ardent ex
Taftites among them willcbe for
Eisenhower all the way, only
provided he is a candidate. Thus
the questions to be answered
by the Stephens operation among
the convention delegates are,
first, how far the President will
succeed in reconstructing his
party in his own image; and sec
ond, and only just possibly,
whether the President will
wholly control the Republican
convention even if he is not a
candidates to succeed himself.
When this second question
was mentioned to delegate-hunt
er Stephens, he replied some
what explosively, "Well, I've
never gone into that" which f
course he would not have done,
since he expects the President
to be a candidate.
ILL THE same, the behind-the-scenes
effort by a trusted
former member of the Presi
dent's staff is open to two inter
pretations. Most probably, it re
sults from the instinctive drive
that all Presidents invariably
feel, to insure their own total
control of their party conven
tions. Politicians,' even in the
White House, often work by
Pavlov's rules. Although the
whole 1956 convention, will
quite certainly be howlmgofor
Eisenhower, he probably hankers
to make assurance doubly sure.
Yet it could also be that Pres
ident Eisenhower wants to in
sure his own freedom of choice,
by making certain of his power
to prevent the Republicans from
choosing a third-rater if he de
cides not to run..
(Copyright, 1955,
New York Herald Tribune, Ine.)
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