American Farmer No Longer Political Power
Of Former Years in Presidential Election
By LYLE C. WILSON
Uniled Press Correspondent
"Washington (U.R; The Amer
ican farm and the American
farmer are basic in the nation's
economy and
no one denies
that. But the
American far
mer is not now
the political
power house
he used to be
in a presiden
tial election.
There aren't
Lyie c viion enougn oi mm.
The Commerce Department
keeps tabs on farmers and oth
ers. There were in 1930 about
10.160,000 persons 14 years old
and over engaged in farm work
in the United States.
The number had dropped to
about 6,840,000 in 1950. The
1930 farmers represented 21 per
cent of the gainfully occupied
Neuberger Defends
Morse Vote Record
Washington (U.R) Sen.
Richard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.)
today defended the voting per
formance of his Democratic col
league, Sen. Wayne Morse,
whose record of support of the
Eisenhower administration has
come under frequent attack from
Phil Hitchcock of Portland.
Hitchcock, candidate for the
Republican nomination for sen
ator, has called Morse's record
of support for the Eisenhower
program one of the worst in
Congress.
Neuberger said today that, ac
cording, to the Congressional
Quarterly, Morse backed Eisen
hower on issues 56 per cent of
the time during the first session
of the 84(h Congress.
The Senator contrasted that
record with the voting of Sens
Malone of Nevada and Welker
of Idaho who, he said, supported
the President only 46 per cent of
the time though both are Repub
licans. Neuberger said both Malone
and Welker spoke in Portland
during the 1954 campaign with
Hitchcock's blessing. The Port
land Democrat added that his
own record of support for the
Eisenhower program was bet
ter than that of any of Oregon's
three Republican congressmen.
Disaster Car Dance
Tickets Available
Tickets for the Jackson Coun
ty Disaster Car anniversary
dance Thursday at the Rogue
Valley ballroom are still avail
able from sponsoring Disabled
American Veteran members of
the Disaster Car organization.
The dance is being held to
raise funds for the purchase of
needed Disaster Car equipment
and to commemorate the first
year of the organization in Jack
son county.
Proceeds will be used to pur
chase such items as fire and
rescue equipment, (first-aid sup
plies, surgical equipment, ropes,
tools and other emergency gear.
The unit, when completely
equipped and staffed, will op
erate on a round-the-clock basis
to aid in emergency work, the
organization announced.
Music for the dance will be
by Bob Roberts' western swing
band by courtesy of the Medford
Musicians union. Use of the ball
room is being donated by the
owners, Buck and Sonny Smith.
First Parent, Son
FFA Banquet Slated
Eagle Point The first annual
parent and son banquet of the
Eagle Point Future Farmers of
America will be held at 8 p.m.
Thursday in the high school gym.
Nat R. Etzel is instructor of the
four FFA classes of about 44
boys. Some 150 persons are ex
pected at the banquet.
Kenneth Bigham, Rogue-Ump-qua
district vice-president, FFA,
will speak on the value of FFA
activities and Gale Friend, Eagle
Point senior and president of the
chapter, will preside.
A movie on the 25th annual
convention at Kansas City will
be shown. Ron Hansen and Jim
Bunker will report on -the state
convention and several awards
will be made, including naming
of the chapter star farmer. Sev
eral honorary degrees also will
be conferred.
Home economic students of
Mrs. Esther Hopper will serve
the dinner.
Babs Hutton's Aide
Denies Divorce Rumor
Paris (U.R; Barbara Hutton's
secretary said today there was
'absolutely nothing" to a report
from Mexico saying the Ameri
can heiress and her husband of
five months, Baron Gottfried
von Cramm, were getting a di
vorce. "If only the newspapers would
leave them alone, everything
would be all risht," the secre
tary said.
national labor force. The 1950
farmers were only 11.6 per cent
of that force.
Total Declining
Latest Commerce Department
figures are for 1954 when 6,500,
000 persons 40 or over were
working on farms. The number
of Americans engaged in agri
culture steadily has diminished
since the government began to
keep tabs more than 100 years
ago. The young United States of
1920 had a population over 10
years old of about 6,487,000, of
whom just more than 2,000,000
were agricultural workers.
There are somewhat more than
three times as many farm work
ers now than in 1820, but popu
lation has doubled and re
doubled many times over. The
civilian labor force alone was
estimated in 1954 to be nearly
64,500,000. Farmers represented
about 10 per cent of it.
Ten per cent of the working
population is a sound and lusty
minority. But there are other
number American farmers. The
Commerce Department, for ex
ample, estimates the U.S. Negro
population at more than
15,000,000.
Membership of the newly
merged American Federation of
Labor-Congress of Industrial Or
ganizations is estimated in the
neighborhood of 16,000,000. The
southern Baptist convention of
the U. S. numbers nearly
8,000,000. The Methodist church
counts ' somewhat more than
that. The Roman Catholic
church has nearly 31,500,000
members. Jewish congregations
trail the farmers with an esti
mated membership of 5,000,000.
Four Major Conventions
There are four major Baptist
conventions in the United States.
They add up to about 15,575,000.
All of these are pressure groups
or potential pressure groups.
Baptists and Methodist applied
much of the pressure which ob
tained the 18th Amendment to
the Constitution and the experi-
minority groups which far out- ment of national prohibition.
TMimnrimhMi
It
RON MALCOLM SHOW Color films, "This is Alaska" and "Tun
dra Haven," will be shown at the Medford High school auditorium
at 8 p.m. April 19-21. The show is being sponsored by the Medford
Fire Fighters association. Ron Malcolm, Alaskan sportsman, will
narrate the films. Malcolm spent six years in Alaska gathering
the material for the films. Scenes of a bull moose fight, and kill
ing wolves with a shotgun from a low-flying plane are included
in the show.
The pressure of Negro voters,
transplanted in the past 40 years
to industrial northern states, has
been the biggest factor in obtain
ing civil rights legislation and
spreading integration of the
races at all levels.
Compared to some of the oth
ers, the American farmer is a
small minority, widely scattered
but with large areas in which he
has no representation at all.
These minus areas are in the
large, consuming cities and in
dustrial areas. Walter P. Reu
ther, however, and other top la
bor leaders are moving aggres
sively for a farmer-labor voting
combination. That would be a
real power house in United
States politics.
Plane Bombing Jury
Selection Proceeds
Denver (U.R) Selection of
jurors resumed today in the
murder trial of John Gilbert
Graham at a pace which should
allow the state to begin its case
late this week against the ac
cused killer of 44 persons in an
airliner bomb plot.
Proseculion and defense attor
neys made surprisingly rapid
progress in initial questioning of
prospective jurors yesterday. It
had been thought it would re
quire up to 10. days to name a
jury, but Friday should find a
complete panel.
Graham, 24 confessed to FBI
agents on his arrest, Nov. 14,
that he made and planted a dyna
mite bomb in his mother's lug
gage before she boarded a Unit
ed Air Lines DC6B airplane at
Denver. He is charged with the
insurance murder of his mother,
Mrs. Daisie King, 55, one of the
44 persons killed when the plane
exploded in flight and crashed
near Longmont, Colo., Nov. 1.
Area of the Azores
about 880 square miles.
totals
Great Eads Show in
Prospect Thursday
Prospect The Great Eads,
magician, will present, his magic
show at 8 p.m. Thursday, April
19 in the high school gym
nasium. '
. Proceeds will go to the visual
education department of the
school.
Flu, Measles Are
Most Diseases Listed
Influenza and measles were
the most prevalent communica
ble disease in Jackson county
during the week ending April
14, according to a report by the
county health department.
Medford reported 24 influenza
cases during the week, Phoenix
four and Shady Cove three.
Twenty-two cases of measles
were reported in Medford and
three in Phoenix.
Other communicable diseases
were scarlet fever, 1 Central
Point; pneumonia, 1 Talent, 2
Medford; mumps, 3 Medford;
trench mouth, 1 Gold Hill, 2
Ashland; pink eye, 3 Medford;
chicken pox, 1 Ashland, 1 Med
ford, 7 Rogue River and 1 Gold
Hill; strep throat, 2 Ashland, 1
Rogue River and 2 Medford.
Snake River Bridge
Opened To Traffic
Nyssa U.R Idaho and Ore
gon highway crews last night re
opened the Snake river bridge
here which had been closed
throughout the day to all but
one-at-a-time passenger car traf
fic. A temporary bridge section at
the Idaho side of the river, built
to replace a collapsed span, sag
ged when two tension bars broke
Sunday night.
The work crews finished re
pairs to the structure late yester
day. A contract for a new steel
bridge at the site has been let.
The new span is to be completed
within 18 months.
Tuesday, April 17. 1956
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE NINE
Communists Dissolve
Information Bureau
Moscow (U.R) A top Sov
iet leader tonight announced the
dissolution of the Communist
Information Bureau, known to
the world as the Cominform.
Dmitri Shepilov, editor of
Pravda and an alternate mem
ber of the Communist party Pres
idium, told reporters that the
nine-year-old Cominform was
being dissolved.
"Each Communist party can
get along without the Comin
form now," he said.
NATHAN DOUTHIT
Wins Two Awards
Douthit Wins Two
Firsts in Eugene
Nathan Douthit, Crater High
school student, took two first
places last weekend at the 49th
annual Oregon high school
speech league's state tournament
at the University of Oregon in
Eugene.'
Douthit placed first in per
suasive and extemporaneous
speaking. He was the only one
of the tournament participants
to win two first place awards.
Joseph Burns of Medford plac
ed first in after dinner speaking
and Tim Keating, -Ashland high
school, placed first in im
promptu speaking. Pat Bickel of
Crater high was a finalist in the
humorous reading division.
A total of 167 students from
43 Oregon high schools partici
pated There were 25 winners of
first, second or third place
awards.
VA Distributes
$45 Million in State
The Veterans Administration
distributed $45,646,473 in cash
and services to veterans and
their families in Oregon during
fiscal year 1955, according to
Charles Langdon, manager of
the Portland regional VA of
fice. Disability compensation pay
ments totaled $20,501,885; death
compensation and- pension,
$6,016,671; GI insurance and in
demnity payments, $3,692,528;
Korean veteran vocational reha
bilitation, $363,040; World War
II veteran training, $997,618 and
miscellaneous veterans benefits,
$9,458,085.
Use Tribune Want Ads
QUICK and EASYI
Geographic center of North
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ir Builders Supply
QUALITY
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Washington (U.R) Rep. Wal
ter Norblad (R-Ore.) said he has
nominated Stanley R. Allyn of
Depoe Bay, Ore., for appoint
ment to the Advisory Commit
tee of the National Rivers and
Harbors Congress.
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