GM Dealer Made 51,000,000 on
Investment, Subcommittee Hears
Washington (U.R) General
Motors' sales chief said yester
day that one of the car dealers
now complaining against com
pany treatment made S1,000,000
in 14 year' on a $10,000 invest
ment. F. Hufstader, GM vice
president and chief salesman,
testified before a Senate Anti
monopoly Subcommittee investi
gating the giant auto concern.
He presented a case-by-case
rebuttal of testimony by several
past and present General Motors
dealers who were previous wit
nesses. He dismissed as "untrue"
many of tht& allegations.
Hufstader denied charges that
General Motors forced dealers
to expand, refused to buy back
parts on cancellation, and forced
purchase of accessories and spe
cial equipment. o
Dangerous Credit Policies
M. H. Yager, Albany, N.Y.
Pontiac dealer, complained last
week about factory pressure for
ever greater sales. Yager said
this causes dangerous credit pol
icies and irresponsible advertis
ing. Hufstader said today that
Yager invested $10,000 in his
Kantiac dealership $5000 of it
borrowed in 1941. As of Oct. 31,
1955, Hufstader said, "Mr. Yager
had made a total gain in excess
of $1,000,000.
Yager also asserted that GM
dealer9are subjected to constant
factory pressure to sell more and
more new cars even if it in
volves exaggerated trade-ins, ex
tremely easy credit terms, and
other unsound business prac
tices. His testimony was similar
to that of other GM dealer wit
nesses, most of whom had lost
their franchises.
Hufstader told the subcom
mittee that Yager devotes only
Toy House
31 7 EAST MAI N
half his time to his auto busi
ness although his new car sales
have been declining for the past
two years. Nevertheless, Yager's
profits have been averaging S9,
000 a month this year, Hufstader
said.
Should Blame Selves
Hufstader had testified pre
viously that complaining dealers
should blame themselves for not
preparing for the time "when
customers ceased walking into
their stores clamoring to have
their names put on an order
blank."
Curtice denied that his recent
offer to extend the period of the
dealer franchise from one to five
years was "illusory." He said
that the offer even applied to
dealers who had been warned
that their one-year agreement
would not be renewed next year
unless they stepped up sales.
Wolf Decision
Due Next Week
Portland (U.R) Attorneys for
Victor Laurence Wolf said today
their defense for the confessed
bomb slayer probably would
take about a day and a half,
indicating a decision on the 45
year-old handyman's fate would
come early next week.
Wolf confessed under en old
Oregon law to the bomb-slaying
last April of attorney Kermit
Smith. A hearing is being held
to determine his degree of guilt
and whether he must pay the
death penalty or go to prison
for life.
Marjorie Smith, widow of the
victim who was found innocent
of a murder charge in McMinn-
ville recently in connection with
her husband's death, appeared
as a state witness yesterday. It
was Wolf who implicated Mrs.
Smith in the slaying.
The attractive widow, dressed
in black, repeated testimony she
gave at the McMinnville trial
during some two hours of cross-
examination by Charles E. Ray
mond, Wolf's attorney. She said
she realized that Wolf had an
emotional interest in her and
that she came to resent it.
She said she sent Wolf a valen
tine eight days after she remar
ried Smith but that she sent out
"a lot of valentines."
Howard Belton Learns
Of Death of Son
Portland (U.R) Word has
been received here of the death
Wednesday in Chicago from a
heart attack of Arthur L. Belton,
35, son of State Sen. and Mrs.
Howard C. Belton of Canby.
Young Belton was born in
Portland and attended high
school at Canby. He was a 1941
engineering graduate of Oregon
State College.
Nixon Asks Freer
Latin American
Trade Relations
Washington (U.R) Vicer
President Richard M. Nixon
called today for freer trade be
tween the United States and
Latin America to cement good
will in the Western Hemisphere.
Nixon said the Latin Ameri
can countries now working to
improve their economies want
neither "grants nor soft loans
but an opportunity of develop
ing wider markets in the United
States."
"It is up to us now to help
them in this by supporting Presi
dent. Eisenhower's liberal trade
program," he commented in an
interview.
Efforts Endorsed
Nixon endorsed the efforts of
Uruguayan President Luis Batlle
Berres who is visiting the Unit
ed States in the interest of lower
tariffs and fewer trade restric
tions. Nixon said he agreed fully
with the Uruguayan president
that words alone are not enough
to guarantee- good will among
the sister- republics of Latin
America.
"We must develop hemispheric
trade to help raise living stand
ards and thus strengthen one of
democracy's strongest bastions,"
he declared.
Firm Believer in Trade
Nixon also recalled that he re
turned from a tour of Central
America earlier this year a firm
believer in the advisability of in
creased trade with the Latin
American republics.
Nixon, who served as host to
Batlle Berres because of the
convalescence of President Ei
senhower, praised Batlle Berres
for Uruguay's government and
emphasized the importance of
the visit.
"Uruguay has a long tradition
of democracy which we have al
ways admired," Nixon said. "We
are proud to be a partner of a
country that values the princi
pies of freedom so highly."
FIL Buster Keaton, frozen
faced comedian of silent
films, is in "very grave" con
dition at Sawtell Hospital in
Hollywood suffering from a
gastro intestinal ailment He
is shown as he will appear on
TV show "The Silent Part
ner," Dec. 21, in which he
re-enacts slapstick routines of
yesteryear.
HEADS NAM
New- York (U.R) Cola G. Par
ker, former chairman of the
Kimberly-Clark Corporation of
Neenah, Wis., was elected presi
dent of the National Association
of Manufacturers last night.
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Garden Notes
By
C. B. CORDY
County Extension
Agent for Horticulture
Our local area came through
the November frost with very
little damage. Districts further
north were not as fortunate and
many of the nurserymen feel
that they have suffered a very
heavy loss. While it is evident at
this time that there is injury,
the extent of the injury can not
be fully determined until next
spring.
While some of the nurserymen
felt that their losses would be
minor, others were of the opin
ion that they would suffer al
most total losses. The tempera
tures dropped to lower levels in
eastern Oregon and in Washing
ton than they did in the Wil
lamette valley and Portland
areas.
Wtih the possibility of dam
age being as severe as some
nurserymen feel anyone inter
ested in planting should make
arrangements for their planting
stock as soon as possible. There
seems to be a general increase in
orchard plantings along the
coast and it seems likely that
fruit trees will be scarce by
spring. Placing orders now
would not only insure you
getting your trees but would
also help the nurserymen ar
range for a source of supply.
Frost damage in many orna
mental plantings will be diffi
cult to determine by inexperi
enced people. Reputable nurs
erymen will make every effort
to keep these damaged plants
off the market. While it is al
ways a good practice to buy
from established, reputable firms
it would appear to be of more
than usual importance this year.
This would be particularly true
if plants were to be purchased
from areas where the tempera
tures went down to or below the
critical point. .
Casper Woman Pleads
Innocent To Murder
Casper, Wyo. U.R) Mrs.
Rose Alexander, the pudgy wom
an who buried the body of a
young divorcee under a base
ment floor, pleaded innocent in
Justice Court yesterday to a
charge of murder.
The matron, Mrs. Rose Alex
ander, 42, insisted that Barbara
Alexander, 27, was killed acci
dently by falling bricks. She said
she buried the woman who won
away her husband with a crude
wooden cross because she was
afraid the death would be blamed
on her.
. Rose , Alexander is charged
with first degree murder in the
death of Barbara Alexander,
and with concealing the death
from everyone for more than two
years.
Canned Pork Products
Bought in Support Plan
Washington (U.R) The Ag
riculture Department has pur
chased 6,697,500 pounds of can
ned pork products under its $85,
000,000 program to bolster live
hog prices. -
This was the largest purchase
since the program went into ef
fect Oct. 24. Since then the
price of good butcher hogs on
the Chicago market has slumped
from $13.90 to a low of $10.40
reported Wednesday.
Friday, December j9, 1953
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE THREE
British Spend
Then Acquire
By ROBERT MUSEL
London (U.R) Britain squared
off against its chief agricultural
enemy, the rabbit, two years
ago and promptly floored him
with a heavy dose of myxomy
cetous virus.
But it can't deliver the same
punch for the knockout because
under the stiff upper lip of the
British there is a broad streak
of sentimentality toward an
imals. Besides, chaps, it isn't . . well,
dash it all, it isn't quite sporting
y'know.
Why it was all right , to per
mit the deadly virus to slaugh
ter 199 out of every 200 rabbits
in the island in the first place
and now it isn't all right to fin
ish the job is something as com
plicated as the British character.
For even though the stakes
are very high, about $42,000,000
a year and going up, the rabbit
has succeeded in lining up some
powerful forces on its side, in
addition to the most powerful
force of all the thing the rabbit
does better than almost any other
animal.
Myxomytosis spread over Eu-
To Eradicate Rabbits,
Streak of Sentimentality
rope from France where a big
landowner tried it on his estate
after hearing of how Australia
wiped out uncounted millions of
rabbits with the virus. Event
ually the virus reached Britain.
This week, two years later,
the minister of agriculture,
Derek Heathcote Amery, told
Parliament that almost all of
England and Wales was clear
of rabbits.
And although the value of
agricultural products has jump
ed millions of pounds, there was
an uneasy feeling that myxomy
tosis is not sporting and should
be curbed. TV helped consoli
date the opposition by showing
a horrifying closeup of a dis
eased and blinded rabbit stum
bling aimlessly around.
So the government has for
bidden the deliberate spreading
of the virus. Sportsmen, poach
ers, ; sentimentalists, city folk
and pet shop owners are jubi
lant. So are the blue-blooded
foxhunters. ,
Why? Well they reason that
with all the rabbits gone the
foxes would begin killing chick
ens and lambs and then the coun
try would get rid of foxes.
Farmers still can get rid
of
I rabbits with shotguns and any
other methods except myxomy
tosis. But most experts think it
can't be done. ' For when he
doesn't have a virus, the rabbit
is the hardest working family
raiser in the world.
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