0
Matter of Fact
By Joe and Stewart AIsop
THE FRUSTRATED
DEMOCRATS
"Washington The Democrats
are beginning to feel rather like
the butt of the classic old swim
ming hole joke.
While they
have been hap
pily disporting
themselves in
the water,
shouting mer
rily to' each
other about the
fine prospects
for 1956, the
t- li: j
Joseph Alsop nepuuui;dn hu
ministration has stealthily made
off with all their clothes.
i The Administration, in short,
h done a downright brilliant
job of aborting every major
Democratic issue. Consider a
typical sampling:
Faipn Issue: This was to be, of
course, the Democrats' biggest
. inzle issue for r"3F i.-'"!
V .VP,,
m
Mil ttl
7"
f
195 6. Until
very recently,
the Democrat
ic dream of the
future was
clear. They
(rwould pass a
farm bill re
toring fixed 90
per cent of par
ity, and giving Stewart Alsop
the farmers all sorts of other
goodies, like special "soil banks"
payments for keeping their'land
out of production. The President
would veto , this bill, and the
Republican goose would thus be1'
cooked to a turn.
It may work out that way. The
farm issue is certainly still the
most dangerous the Administra
tion faces. But the Administra
tion has taken over the soil bank
idea,, and other ideas first ad
vanced by the Democrats Sen.
Hubert Humphrey, principal
Democratic farm policy idea
man, complains loudly that
"They're stealing my babies."
TLfOREOVER, the Administra
tion is playing its trump card
on the farm issue President Ei
senhower. Secretary of Agricul
ture Ezra Benson is political
poison in the farm areas. But the
President himself is still im
mensely popular with the farm
ers.
The Administration plan now
is to have the President move
front and center on the farm is
sue, selling the Administration
program, and above all persuad
ing the fanners that the Demo
crats' fixed support program
will pile up higher surpluses and
depress prices still further. A
nationwide Presidential telecast
devoted entirely to the farm is
sue is being seriously considered.
And there are signs of doubtful
ness already among several Dem
ocrats about the vote-getting po
tentialities of high fixed parity.
Taxes. The Administration
has the Democrats nicely boxed
in on the tax issue. The Presi
dent has sternly said that a bal
anced budget and debt reduc
tion must come before any tax
relief. The Democrats strongly
suspect a plot. They suspect that,
along about June, there will be
a jubilant announcement from
the Treasury that due to bril
liant economic management, a
surplus, perhaps as high as
$4,000,000,000, is in sight for the
1957 budget. Therefore the vot
ers will be pleased to hear, a
balanced budget, debt reduction,
and a nice dollop of tax reduc
tion too will all be possible.
THE SUSPICION that this is
what the Administration is
up to amounts to a firm convic
tion among many shrewd Demo
crats. But what are they to do?
If they try to beat the gun with
tax reduction now, they will be
accused of fiscal irresponsibility
am' unbalancing the budget. As
a practical matter, moreover, any
considerable tax reduction for
the "little fellow" could only be
compensated for if the oil de
pletion tax allowance loophole
were closed. It is enough to point
out that the Democratic leaders
of both Houses come from Texas.
Education. Here again, the
Democrats thought they had a
winning issue for 1956, and in
the House they have ready a big
school construction bill. But here
again the Administration is
ready to box them in with its
51,250,000,000 school program.
On this issue, moreover, the
Democrats are in a peculiarly
frustrating position, since one of
RV State Bank Holds
Stockholders Meeting
The annual stockholders meet
ing of the Rogue Valley State
bank was .held Friday at bank
headquarters, 1109 Court st.
The bank declared a S5 per
share dividend for 1955. All of
ficers and directors were reelec
ted. . , '
The annual report was given
by Executive Vice President
Clarence H. Young. Vice Presi
dent Ralph Pierce stated that the
bank has had a satisfactory year
of growth.
Total assets at the time of the
meeting were listed as S3, 089,
782.60. During 1955 the bank
had deposit increases from $1,
483,466.64 to S2,906,705.90.
Loans increased from $511,712.
81 to $938,767.84.
their number, Adam Clayton
Powell of New York, is prepared
to introduce an anti-segregation
amendment which would almost
certainly kill the bill.
AND SO it goes. The road con
struction and social security
issues have been largely aborted
in the same way. Democrats like
Senators Walter George and
Richard Russell are angry about
the foreign aid budget, but the
Democrats certainly cannot win
the election by cutting the living
daylights out of the foreign aid
program. On other issues, like
natural gas, the Democrats are
bitterly divided among them
selves. It is impossible, of course, to
predict what issues time and the
course of events will produce.
Let the Communist bloc make an
aggressive move an attack on
the Chinese offshore islands, for
example and the now dormant
defense and foreign policy is
sues will dominate this election
year. But for the moment, by
the simple expedient of adopt
ing large hunks of the Demo
cratic program, the Administra
tion has reduced the Democrats
to shouting, "me too, but more
so."
(C) 1956, New York Herald
Tribune Inc.
Dead line Sunday Classified is at
noon Saturday: 10 a.m Monday for
Monday other days 5:30 Dreviousday
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UTILITIES
UTILITY
Medford, Oregon
Is That So?
Although it is one of the most
sublime spectacles on earth, a
severe ice storm is a disastrous
calamity to forests and those in
them. .
Almost unknown in Europe,
the ice storm is a specialty of
our American climate. Its crip
pling pathway can be predicted
with telling accuracy but not the
By EUGENE BURNS
Hanger-Naturalist
parried by the spine-chilling tin
kle of broken glass. Thus a
whole forest can be knocked flat
with an increasing racket, a
hundred thousand trees destroy
ed within a few hours, creating
a devastation as great as any
hurricane.
Tremendous as the 'instant
damage may be, others go unno
ticed but they are equally kill
ing. When branches are torn off,
easy access is given to fungus
and insects while the litter on
the forest floor when dried in
the spring heightens the danger
from forest fires.
For the animals of the woods,
the results of the ice storm can
be pathetic: deer may break
through the icy crust formed
Sunday, January 15, 1956
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE T1VB
over the snow while chased by a
coyote and cut their legs badly
or even break them; wolves run
ning atop the crust may now
overtake and pull down a floun
dering moose; rabbits may freeze
their feet so they become solid
balls of ice and starve; birds
may have their feet frozen to the
branches and die within a few
hours; and pheasants may have
their wings frozen solid and suc
cumb overnight.
(Copyright, 1956,
by Eugene Burns)
Released by
McClure Newspaper Syndicate)
Free: By special arrangement
with the editors of the Encyclo
pedia Americana, my panel of
judges will award each week to
the reader who sends me the
best true-life nature adventure,
the best nature observation, or
the best question on nature and
wildlife, a complete 30-volume
set of this world-famous refer
ence work in handsome Sealcraft
binding. Each week new submis
sions will be considered. Sorry,
I simply can't answer your
many friendly, letters. Please ad
dress your letter to: IS THAT
SO! co Medford Mail Tribune,
Box 575, Sausalito, Calif.
Fireplace Wood
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3 BIG TRUCK LOADS
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SUCCESSFUL
LIVING
starts with savings. Have the
things you want through sys
tematic savings. Don't just
dream ... or wish, but have
the things you want in life by
paving for them. Start 'with
any amount.
FIRST FEDERAL
SAVINGS & LOAN ASS'N
of Medford
27 North Holly
An Institution Dedicated '
To Those Who Save
time of its coming or going be
cause a change of only one or
two degrees may transform a
mild January snowstorm or a
gentle fall of rain into this cruel
killer.
In Canada, only the Yukon
and the Northwest Territories
and the high Arctic north of the
timberline are exempt because
they are too cold and dry; in the
U.S., only six states are spared
from periodic onslaughts Flor
ida and southern California be
cause they are too warm, and
New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and
Nevada because they are too
dry.
Its coming is so predictable
that one must await this devas
tating terror once in every three
years, as it cuts a broad swath
from New England and the Mid
dle Atlantic states westward
through the Ohio .valley, the
lower Great Lakes region, and
on, into Oklahoma, Kansas and
Nebraska. In the Pacific North
west it will occur every five
years.
In some regions such as the
wooded slopes of the Shenan
doah mountains in Virginia, an i
experienced forester will not be I
able to find one mature tree
standing which has not had
branches ripped away giving
easy access to fungus and insect
enemies slow and ruthless
killers.
Cold Rain Freezes
The more severe ice storms
come during a steady downfall
of rain when the temperature
falls one or two degrees below
freezing. Upon striking an ob
ject, the cold rain freezes,
spreading an enveloping shaft of
crystal on weeds, grasses,
branches and the feathery twigs
of trees.
In these storms, the great old
trees tend to suffer more dam
age than, younger, . pliant trees;
tall ones more than small ones
which may bend in graceful
arches sometimes with their tips
frozen solid to the soil. Those
with conspicuous V-shaped forks
are liable to split wide open first
under the heavy load. And cu
riously, dense low - branching
evergreens are sometimes saved
by making support ice skeletons
of icicles which reach down
ward from branch to branch un
til they touch the ground.
An ' envelope of ice an inch
thick is not uncommon in this
storm causing a tree of average
height to carry up to five tons
of ice! Worse yet,' even two and
three inches, thick ice are re
corded in heavy storms. In the
great storm in Michigan, Febru
ary, 1922, hundreds of thous
ands of trees were destroyed and
one twig which was weighed had
its weight multiplied 132 times
by its icy envelope.
The damage is heightened
when high winds spring up be
fore the heavy load is melted
then trees remaining upright de
spite the heavy weight of ice,
fall before the purchase of the
wind against their enlarged, ice
coated branches.
Frightening Sound
The sight and sound of an ice
storm in a forest can be awe1
inspiring and frightening. If the
wind waves the branches, there
will first be a noisy clatter of icy
fragments wherever two boughs
strike together. Then smaller
twigs and branches begin to
break and fall. Then the major
havoc may begin. Great trees
are uprooted. Trunk split open.
Trees bend over and trunks
snap. And as the large trees top
ple, crashing to the ground, they
carry with them smaller burden
ed trees, the whole making a re
sounding bombardment accom-
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You buy a refrigerator only two or three times
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Yet you don't hesitate to buy one without
getting so much as a look at the intricate "works"
that makes it run. '
- How do you dare make such an important
purchase without having an expert check it over
for you? What makes you so sure you're getting
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The answer's obvious. You look for the hrand
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A good brand is your best guarantee
No matter what kind of product you want to
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You know the maker stands back of it guar
antees it. And so, when you buy a good brand
you know you're right.
Read this newspaper to find out which are
the good brands (and the stores that seE them.)
The more good brands you know, the surer you
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EECJ
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Medford Mail Tribune
322 East Main - Phone 2-6440