FOUR MEDFORD (OREGON)
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Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
Historv from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10. 20. 30 and
10 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
(It was Monday).
A record breaking increase in
loans and discounts handled by
the United States National bank
has been, announced by Allan
F. Perry, manager of the Med
ford branch.
From Arthur Perry's Ye
Smudge Pot column: The Les
L Taylor boy. Bob of Phoenix is
rsix years old today and will
pass the ice cream and cake to
members of his own set.
0 YEARS AGO
July 8. 1936
(It was Wednesday)
rvnlv routine business is
scheduled to come before the
council at its regular semi
monthly meeting in city hall to
night. Former President Hoover and
Arthur Hyde, former secretary
of agriculture, after a days fish
ing in upper Rogue river, de
parted this morning for the
Hoover home in Palto Alto,
Calif.
30 YEARS AGO
July 8. 1926
at was Thursday)
Floating chain screens have
been decided on as the best
means of preventing further
destruction of fish by turbine
wheels on Savage Rapids and
Gold Ray rams.
Southern Oregon residents
made a veritable invasion of
Crescent City, Calif., over the
Fourth of July.
40 YEARS AGO
July 8, 1918
(It was Saturday)
Bishop C. W. Nibley of Salt
Lake Citv visited Medford this
noon on a tour of inspection of
the sugar fields of the valley.
From Local and Personal
column: Earl Obenchain of Cen
tral Point is spending the day
in Medford.
What's the Answer?
Can You Get 4 of the 7?
Copr. 1955. Editorial Research
Report
1. Increase in U. S. church
membership in last 25 years has
been greater or less than in
crease in population, or about the
same?
2. The MG is a Russian mili
tary plane or British auto?
3. First state to give full vot
ing rights to women was Maine,
New York, Wisconsin, Massa
chusetts, Texas or Wyoming?
4. Claustrophobia is fear of
Jews, Catholics, foreigners in
general, narrow spaces, women
or physical exercise?
5. '"Happy" Chandler, former
baseball "Czar," is now U. S.
Senator from Kentucky, gover
nor of that state, in private law
practice, or head of a race track
in Louisville?
6. Florida is pretty much de
serted by vacationers during
mid-summer; right or wrong?
7. A catamaran is a kind of
wild animal, boat, malicious
woman, helicopter or household
pet?
The answers: 1. Greater. 2.
British auto. 3. Wyoming. 4.
Fear of narrow spaces. 5. Gov
ernor of Kentucky. 6. Wrong.
7. Boat.
Salem (U.R) Delbert Bauer
of Portland has been named
Oregon's outstanding electrician
apprentice for 1956.
MAIL TRIBUNE
"Everybody Likes Ike "
When man bites dog, or Harry S. Truman if giv
en a chance doesn't bite a Republican that's news.
And that is exactly what f ormer President Truman
did when he arrived in New York from his trip
abroad, with an honorary degree from Oxford in his
pocket.
One of the dock reporters asked H.S.T. what he
thought of "Ike" ? "I like Ike" was the prompt reply,
"if I did not I would never have named him Commander-in-Chief
of the US forces in France or head of
'Nato'. I hope he has a quick recovery and will soon
be able to resume his duties as chief executive of the
United States."
"IXTELL, that just about makes it unanimous. "Every-
body likes Ike." No one no one willing to be
quoted today at least dislikes him, and this regard
less of party.
So as far as the presidential popularity contest is
concerned, President Eisenhower wins hands down,
and probably over any US President in the nation's
history.
Wherefore and to-wit: why not give him a second
term by acclamation and thus save the time, expense,
and strain on the eardrums involved in holding
two major party conventions?
The answer is quite simple, of course.
While "everyone" LIKES "Ike" as a PERSON,
everyone DOESN'T like him as a PRESIDENT for
four more years, and it is a safe guess many millions
in November will vote accordingly.
Whether the record made by Governor Stevenson
in noDular vote four years ago will be equalled or ex
ceeded remains to be seen, but there is no reason to
believe, at this stage of the game, that the lowly don
key won't at least make a race of it, and thwart the
determination of the proud and mighty pachyderm,
to transform his traditional opponent this year into a
30-cent hamburger without mustard.
The Wall Street odds, however, are about 3 to one,
at the present time based of course on the assumption
Ike will run. And far be it from this department to
take issue with Wall Street when it comes to making
election odds though the wise boys were 100
wrong eight years ago.
However, as has often been remarked, ' there is
often a slip between the cup and the lip, and even the
self-confident GOP would be unwise to count their
chickens before they are hatched.
MEANWHILE, even President Eisenhower can't
have his cake and eat it too. That is, he can't be
one of the most popular Presidents in the nation's his
tory, and not have to pay a price for it.
Judging the present and future by the past, that
Drice will be a minor place in the list of great Presi
dents it listed at an. ine
American historv have been without exception the
most abused and the least
sidering both the support and opposition.
FROM Washington to Abraham Lincoln and on
through Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson and the two
Roosevelts, the country was during the administra
tions of each pretty well divided between those who
swore by the President" and those who swore AT him.
This is not true of "Ike." While only a minority
bow down before him as a "Second Messiah," prac
tically everyone LIKES him, and few if any, ever,ques
tion the man's complete devotion to what HE regards
as the best interests of his country and the free world.
Only there are many and before the campaign
ends there may be many more, who don't agree with
General Eisenhower as to what IS best for the country
and the free world, especially the former..
In fact, the very circumstances' and personal qual
ities which have made the President so tremendously
popular, form the basis of this opposition to his being
given a second term.
This opposition is not based upon what the Presi
dent has done so much as what he has failed to do.
That failure, in a word, is supplying active and ag
gressive leadership, in the realm of domestic politics,
particularly.
..They don't think following the Dale Carnegie
technique of "How to Win Friends and Influence Peo
ple" is quite enough, even when implemented by Rob
ert Montgomery's highly successful instructions in elo
cution and pronunciation.
They believe the next four years will be critical
ones in the nation's history, and the great need in the
White House will be, not for a program of concilia
tion making friends and avoidance of making en
emies, but a willingness to enter the lists and if neces
sary make enemies even of members of one's own
party, when the principles in which the chief execu
tive believes are threatened. R.W.R.
Tammany and the Nomination
Gov. Averell Harriman of New York has returned
to New York City from a three-day "speaking tour"
(that is, quest for delegates) in Iowa, Minnesota and
North Dakota. That area is especially prone to pon
der the Governor's close political alliance with Car
mine G. DeSapio, leader of Tammany Hall, in assess
ing Harriman for the Democratic presidential namin
ation. A Tammany partnership might not really handi
cap a candidate among Middle West local leaders.
These, after all, appreciate what a political organiza
tion must do to get out the vote. But they in turn have
to know whether "Tammany" is to most of their
voters as much a dirty word as it proved in 1928 when
the late Alfred E. Smith was the Democratic nominee.
Smith never tried to belittle his debt to "The Hall"
in his rise from the sidewalks of New York, and his
presidential nomination was a Tammany triumph on
the national level. But Franklin D. Roosevelt was
Sunday. July 8, 1958
truly great rresiaems in
popular while in office con
Today and
By Walter
STEVENSON LEADING
There is general agreement
among seasoned political corre
spondents that Gov. Stevenson
has recovered
from the set
b a c k he suf
fered in Min
n e s o t a and,
barring acci
dent, is virtu
ally certain to
be nominated.
The opposi
tion, which
Walter Lippmann Came from
two directions, has failed to raise
an issue a g a in s t him and is
fading away.
Senator Kefauver's case was
not based on anything more sub
stantial than a claim that he was
a better vote-getter, and that
claim was refuted in the Cali
fornia primary.
The Harrmian candidacy has
fed on the -hope that Mr. Tru
man would move actively
against Stevenson. His candidacy
has made no progress. Why? Be
cause the Democratic leaders and
politicians in the North and in
the South are opposed to the
Harriman strategy which is to
gamble on splitting the party, to
drive the Southerners out by
taking extreme positions which
would be supposed to pull in
Negroes, labor, discontented
farmers in the north.
This strategy is imitated from
Truman's in 1948, and is meant
to be a gamble at long odds for
the Presidency against the heavy
popularity of Eisenhower. But
the Democrats in Congress and
the Governors in the State
Houses have no interest in gam
bling for the Presidency at the
price of dividing and confusing
the Democratic Party.
IHE Democrats, who are dis
satisfied wtih Stevenson have
usually said that as a "moder
ate" man he has raised no fight
ing and winning issue against
Eisenhower. Behind these com
plaints there is the assumption,
quite unexamined I venture to
think, that fighting and winning
issues could be raised by a bold
stand on the farm problem, on
labor legislation, on desegrega-
tion, on national defense, on for
eign policy.
There must be something
wrong about that assumption.
For not only have the Congres
sional Democrats and Gov. Stev
enson failed to raise such issues,
Sen. Kefauver and Gov. Harri
man have done no better. Sen.
Kefauver has promised a little
more and Gov. Harriman has de
nounced a little more. But what
are the great issues against Ei
senhower that they were going
to raise?
The reason that there are no
issues of this sort is that the
President has made it his par
ticular political business to de
flate the issues. As soon as there
has appeared to be a grievance
which looked as if it meant votes
the President has made a con
cession which took the heat out
of the discontent. His method,
to change the metaphor, has been
never to leave the Democrats a
target at which they could keep
on shooting. Does it appear that
they have the aim on a political
buU's eye? He has shifted the
target, usually to the left, caus
ing them to miss.
TS THERE discontent over farm
income? He has vetoed the
farm bill and then conceded so
much of what it promised to the
farmers that it is no longer ob
vious how much smaller is the
Republican subsidy than would
have been the Democratic. Is
there feeling in the Northwest
about the give-aways of natural
resources? He replaces Mr. Mc
Kay with a Secretary of the In
terior whom the conservation
ists like and trust.
Is there complaint about for
eign policy? He lets most of the
steam out of the criticism by
recognizing that in a measure at
least it is valid criticism. The
critics are vindicated. But the
opposition is frustrated, and
finds itself lunging fiercely at
something that is no longer there
to be hit.
QOV. Stevenson has shown wis
dom and great political good
sense in not Trying to pretend
there is any radical difference
. A.
considered anti-Tammany in New York state politics.
His rise meant Tammany's eclipse by the Flynn or
ganization, pro-Roosevelt, of the Bronx Borough of
New York City.
JN 1952 most of the New York state delegation at
the national convention first voted for Harriman,
then Mutual Security administrator and not taken too
seriously even as a favorite son. Soon Harriman help
ed to put Adlai E. Stevenson across by diverting the
Harriman votes to him.
Tammany was more often a major factor in na
tional politics in the early days of the Republic than
after the Civil War. It was in favor with Jackson
and Van Buren ; helped to get the presidential nomin
ation for Polk in 1844, for Cass in 1848, for McClellan
in 1864, also for Seymour in 1868. But the choice
of Tilden in 1876, Hancock in 1880, Cleveland in 1884
and 1892, Bryan in 1896 and 1900, Parker in 1904,
Wilson in 1912, and Roosevelt in 1932 were out-and-out
Tammany defeats. E.R.R.
Tomorrow
Lippmann
between the Eisenhower Repub
licans and the Democrast on
these specific problems. For the
paramount question before the
voters this year is not this "is
sue" or that but continuity in
the administration of the gov
ernment. The country would like
to re-elect Eisenhower and to
have him continue. The question
is can he continue, and if he
cannot, who will replace him.
It is to this question that the
Democratic leaders in Congress
and with them Gov. Stevenson
have addressed themselves. They
have set out to prove to the
people that they can take over
responsibility affectively. With
Stevenson and with the Con
gress, as proved by its perform
ance, the Democrats have a for
midable alternative in Eisen
hower. They are in the best pos
sible position to appeal to the
Eisenhower Democrats who, al
most certainly, hold the balance
of power.
THIS does not mean that Stev-
1 , i -V..i
enson wouia ue a LJlJil
copy of Eisenhower. Though they
are not far apart on immediate
problems, such as the farm, the
desegregation, defense, foreign
policy, there is a difference be
tween them about the future. If
there is a case against Eisen
hower, it is that he lives too
much in the immediate present,
deciding issues only when he has
to and when they are brought
to him by his staff, but is not
alert to anticipate the future
and to prepare for it. As he
grows older, this case against
him is likely to become stronger.
and for many a voter this will
be a decisive consideration.
Copyright 1956,
New York Herald Tribune, Inc.
In The Day's
Sen. Charles Potter of Michi
gan suggests in Washington that
Congress suspend the 10 per cent
excise tax on cars for the next
six months.
He says a serious emergency
exists in Michigan because of the
layoff of more than 200,000 auto
workers. These workers have
been laid off because the automo
bile industry has recently pro
duced more cars than the public
is willing or able to buy.
tie ngures that more cars
might be sold if the tax were
suspended.
TTE'S probably right.
I'll go him one better.
If Congress suspended ALL
TAXES, the people would have
a lot more money left in their
pockets and would undoubtedly
be able to buy a whale of a lot
more cars.
MORE of the same:
The state of Washington's
Congressman Thor C. Tollefson
proposes that flour ground at
mills in the Pacific Northwest be
used in the country's foreign aid
program. In a letter to the de
partment of agriculture, he says
he has been advised that flour is
being sold under the program
authorizing disposal of surplus
agricultural commodities over
seas. He wants Pacific Northwest
flour given the nod.
TI7ELL, that would be nice.
' If Pacific Northwest flour
were given away to the hungry
and the needy all over the world,
the result would be a rather
prompt emptying of the flour
warehouses in the Northwest.
With the warehouses emptied,
the Pacific Northwest's mills
could turn in and grind up a lot
more flour. The wheat required
to make the flour could be taken
out of the bulging wheat ware
houses including mothballed
ships in all the harbors and as
soon as they were empty the
wheat growers could grow a lot
more surplus wheat and thus fill
up the warehouses (including the
mothballed ships) again.
That would give us a brand
new start.
BUT
There's a FLY in the oint
ment. Suppose that Congress
SHOULD decide to suspend ALL
taxes, so that the people would
have more money left in their
pockets with which to buy
Matter of Fact By Joe and Stewart Alsop
STEVENSON. NIXON
AND HEALTH
Washington Adlai Steven
son s strategists are using the
bandwagon technique to a fare-
thee-well. There is. thev sav
with careless
confidence, no
longer any ser
ious question
about the nom
ination Stev
enson can
probably
have it on the
first ballot if
he wants it
ou&epti Ai&up
that way The
real questions now, the Steven
son men say, are the Vice Presi
dential choice and post-conven
tion strategy.
The bandwagon technique is
a very old one, of course. But
the confidence
expressed i n
the Stevenson
camp sounds
convincing and
most observ
ers agree that
it is probably
justified. .The
Stevenson
men sound a
Stewart Alsop good aeai less
convincing when they claim that,
having been nominated, Steven
son can also be elected. But
their version of how the thing
can be done is worth describing.
They claim that the South,
including Texas, but probably
excluding Florida, will return to
the fold this year. In that case,
Stevenson only needs to win the
normally Democratic border
states, plus a handful of North
ern industrial states Pennsyl
vania, Michigan and Massachu
setts are cited as examples of
states in which Stevenson should
have a good chance.
BUT the Stevenson men assume
that the Republican ticket
will again be Eisenhower-Nixon,
News by Frank Jenk
ins
MORE of the things they want,
thus creating a fabulous new
prosperity.
In that event, where would the
money come from with which to
pay the tax-financed subsidies to
the wheat growers while they
were filling up the warehouses
again with more surplus wheat?
T SUPPOSE or at least I HOPE
A that Senator Potter and
Congressman Tollefson aren't
kidding anybody (much.) If we
aren't hep to what they're up to
after all these years of screwball-
ery and demagogism, we ought
to be.
They're much too smart to ex
pect that the Congress might fall
for their proposals to benefit
THEIR OWN STATES by special
legislation. They know there
isn't a chance of that.
What they DO expect is that
their schemes will tinkle pleas
antly in the ears of the voters of
THEIR states who will thus be
induced to go to the polls and
mark an X before the names of
Potter and Tollefson on the gen
eral theory that they are good-
hearted guys who at least TRIED
to do their home folks a favor.
That's modern politics.
Communications
Letters 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
sible. 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 No Flags?
To the Editor: For shame! For
shame! From Oakdale to R.R.
tracks on Main st. (2) two flags
were displayed, to-wit: Valley
Fuel and Maury's; south on
Grape (2) two flags displayed,
Patriotism? Some times I won
der. We of W-W-l that gave our
all and then to see or rather not
see OUR FLAG displayed on this
of all days is beyond my com
prehension. J. C. ADAM,
GeBauer Apt.
P.S. Sometimes 1 wonder
wonder! J.C.A.
Two More Men Join
Police Department
Two new patrolmen have
been hired for the Medford po
lice department, according to
Police Chief Charles Champlain.
Gene Melvin Depuy, 231 A
Old Pacific highway. Talent, as
sumed his duties Friday and
Lewis Merland Tycer, route 1,
box 630, Eagle Point, will begin
Monday.
Depuy, 25, is a graduate of
Rogue River high school and at
tended Southern Oregon col
lege. He served four years in
the Navy medical corps. During
two of those years his unit was
attached to the Marines. Depuy
is married and the father of one
child. He and his family plan to
move to Medford in the near fu
ture. ...
Tycer, . 21, is a graduate of
Eagle Point High school and at
tended the University of Oregon
from 1953 to 1956.
Salem (U.R) Gov. Elmo
Smith has designated July 9-14
as all Oregon Products Week.
It- v
hi
iS rf JV 1
1
in ;u 1
and they agree that, in order to
win the needed handful of North
ern industrial states, something
effective must be done to counter
the Republicans' great central
asset, the President's remarkable
personal popularity. The "some
thing is summed up in a slogan
which will be much heard in
months to come "A Vote for
Eisenhower Is a Vote for Nixon."
The slogan neatly wraps up in
one package the "health issue"
and the supposed unpopularity
of Vice President Nixon among
muepenaents and others.
The Stevenson Dost-convention
strategy is largely based, in
short, on hammering home tho
Nixon-health theme. Indeed, the
hammering will start in earnest
at the convention, which is be
ing carefully planned for maxi
mum emphasis on the importance
ux uie vice residency.
The Democratic National Com.
mittee has proposed a plan to
this end. The balloting for the
Presidential nominee, according
to this plan, would end on
Wednesday, August 15, followed
by an interim day to build sus
pense, with speeches by former
President Truman and Mrs.
Franklin Roosevelt. The high
light of the final day, Friday,
wuuia De tne vice Presidential
nomination, and the acceptance
speeches of both candidates.
HPHUS, for once, the Vice Presi
dential nomination would not
be an anti-climactic afterthought.
There is no unanimous enthus
iasm for this idea in the Steven
son camp, since it is feared that
Stevenson's acceptance speech
on Friday night would be un
heard by voters bent on week
end holidays. But Stevenson and
his advisers strongly agree on
the need for emphasizing the
Vice Presidency at the conven
tion, and centering Democratic
fire on Nixon thereafter. ,
Stevenson himself will do his
share of the firing. Stevenson
heartily dislikes the Vice Presi
dent. "If there's anyone the Gov
ernor's emotional about," one
Stevenson adviser has remarked,
"it's that guy. If- Nixon tries to
play the high level stuff, the
Governor will needle the hell out
of him, and he'll soon come down
to earth."
This seems a shrewd apprais
al of the high partisan instincts
which Nixon has always dis
played at campaign time. But
the Democratic Vice Presidential
candidate- will have the main
Nixon-needling assignment. This
is one reason why Sen. John
Kennedy of Massachusetts is cur
rently considered the leading
contender for second place on a
Stevenson ticket.
ITENNEDY is an able' and at
tractive campaigner. He is
also a devout Catholic with a
strong anti-Communist record.
He is thus considered impervious
on the "Communist issue," which
Nixon has used repeatedly
against the Democrats. It is also
felt that Kennedy would attract
back mto the Democratic column
many of the normally Demo
cratic Catholic voters in the big
industrial states, who strayed to
Eisenhower in 1952.
Kennedy's vote against high
rigid priority in the current ses
sion is the main talking point
against him, since the Stevenson
camp is also relying heavily on
farm disaffection. At any rate,
the Vice Presidential candidate
will certainly be chosen with
great care and a maximum flour
ish, and with Vice President
Nixon very much in mind. But
the heavy emphasis on the
Nixon-health theme in the Stev
enson campaign planning also
suggests how hard put the Stev
enson camp is for other winning
issues.
Copyright 1956, New York
Herald Tribune, Inc.
Congressional
Quiz
(Copyright. 195
Congressional Quarterly)
Q True or false? The Consti
tution provides that if the Presi
dent is unable to discharge tne
powers and duties of his office,
the Vice President shall take
over.
A True. Article II, Section
I says. "In case of the removal
of the President from office,
or of his death, resignation,
or inability to discharge the
powers and duties of the said
office, the fame shall devolve
on the Vice President . ."
Q A number of bills are
pending in Congress to define
more clearly the procedure for
transferring the responsibilities
of the Presidency when the
President is incapacitated. The
precedent most frequently cited
is the President who was so
gravely ill that he was unable
to meet with his Cabinet for
seven months, but whose illness
was concealed from the public.
Who was it?
A Woodrow Wilson, who
was stricken in his second
term of office. He did not meet
with his Cabinet from Sep
tember, 1919, until April 13,
1920, and was only partially
recovered when his term end
ed in March, 1921.
Salem flJ.R) More than 400
sheep are expected to be en
tered in the 1956 Oregon State
Fair her Sept. 1-8.
POTLUCK
(By M-T Staff and
Contributors)
Overheard, a disrespectful
county resident on new public
officials: "They do just fine
until they've been in office a
while and learn the ropes."
The Fourth of July passed this
year and we didn't hear one un
organized firecracker explosion
the whole day. Signs of mem
ories of the independence we
remember were:
9:15 a.m. Our across-the-
alley neighbor mowing the lawn,
stopping, picking up ,a rock in
front of his mower and angrily
pitching it over the fence . . .
continuing mowing.
12 noon Main street stretch
ing out for a short rest with a
sigh while all the feet and rub
ber tires were away to the hin
terlands. 1 p.m. A shirtless man climb
ing down the ladder leaning
against the side of the house
which was slowly but fairly sure
ly receiving a new coat of white
from the paint bucket in his
hand.
3:30 p.m. Our neighbor's TV
set turned up full blast, roaring
at us through their open frontf
door.
4:15 p.m. A little girl, mav-
be five years old, prancing down
our sidewalk as proud as George
Washington at having found a
recently dropped fir cone.
7:40 p.m. The hills south of
Ashland looking spotty as the
sun went down behind facing
mountains and peeped through a
batch of gathering clouds.
10:50 p.m. Our bedside clock
alarm hand ... set at 6:30.
That's all. And it was a fine
day.
Two of our younger staff
members went boating on
th3ir day off and after rowing
around a lake and napping
beneath a beautiful bright sun,
they were only able to say as
they sat bolt upright in their
chairs the next day, "A sun
burn is more than skin deep."
If you are one who reads this
column through the bottom part
of a pair of bifocals, you'U ap
preciate the following item:
One of the three Women In
Our Office was talking over the
phone to a lady one day last
week when the conversation
turned to eye glasses. Our wom
an herself is a veteran member
of the "head-bobbery." (Those
who wear bifocals and don't give
up typing).
She was bewailing the plight
of glasses-wearers when the lady
on the other end of the line said,
"Yes. And I think I'm going to
have to get me a pair of glasses
pretty soon. My arms are getting
too short."
Our sports editor is gen
erally about the bounciest per
son in the office. But THurs
day, we. found him yawning
and rubbing eyes with a be
draggled droop io his cheeks.
We asked where he'd been
over the holiday and he said
to ' a nearby resort where
"there were 12 people in our
cabin ... and a rat." SmaU
wonder droopy cheeks.
Recently, the news staff chip
ped in $1 apiece and bought it
self a new hot plate.
The old one had a history of
despair mixed with spilled cof
fee. It was not made to do all
the chores demanded of it heat
when the button was pushed
"on,-' cool when it was pushed
"off"; sit under pots of boiling
water, stewing coffee, and sim
mering chop suey (Saturday
deadline special); survive tum
bles onto the floor, Webster's in
ternational dictionary dropped
upon its topside, and sunoca
tion by piles of newspaper, copy
papers, waste papers; and after
all that, keep clean.
The new one looks pretty,,,
sharp in its suit of chrome and
tungsten.
But we're waiting. We haven't
seen one yet that we couldn't
defeat in time.
The United Press reported a
"monstrous fireball" had been
sighted by an airlines pilot last
Friday night when he was fly
ing over the Columbia river. It
was thought to be a meteor.
This paper carried the story
Sunday, and below it a para
graph explaining that someone
from Prospect had seen a bright,
meteor-resembling object the
same night.
By Monday, the skies were
still not clear in our newsroom.
A reporter was told by a man at
a local lumber company that he
had sighted the same fireball
around 10 p.m. last Friday.
Our reported typed up the
story thus: ". . . said he noticed
a bluish-green baU traveling
about 3,000 miles per hour in a
northeasterly direction leaving
a trail of bright orange. He esti
mated it was 15 to 20 miles above
the earth when he saw it."
Well sir, progress has been
made. But somewhere there is
a gnawing at our conscience
and - a longing for the days
when men could glance into
the sky, see a blazing streak,
and be so excited that they
wouldn't bother to take speed
ometer, altimeter, and com
pass readings before calling
the newspaper to say they'd
seen a flying saucer.