Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, August 23, 1956, Image 4

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Medford mail tribune., August 23, 1956, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextFOUR MEDFORD (OREGON) XvcrLK;U Ul bL.:ii Ottawa Ream fr.e Aiaii iTibune" fubliJhed Dally Except Saturday by MEDFORD PRINTING CO 7-23 North Fir St. Phone 2-6 1M KUBtKJ w hukl Editor HERB GRY Advertiauie Manaaer GERALD LATHAM Businesa Manager t(L ALLt.-S jk. Managing MJUir Karl h ada.us City Editor HARRY CHXPMAN Telegraph CCltot Hlt-HARU Jtw E TT Sport Editor OLIVE SIARCHxlR Society Editor DALE ERICKSO.N Circulation Mgr. An Independent Newspaper Entered as second oiasa matter at Medford Oregon under Act oi March 3. 1897 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Et Mail In Advance Per Coo 10c Daily and Sunday One ve.u $12 UO D. ily and Sunday Six month 6 AO Daiiv and Sunday- Three mm S0 Sunday Only Ont veai 3J0 By Carrier In Advanre - Medford Ashland Central Point Eagle Point. Jacksonville Gold Hill Phoenix. Shaeiv Cove Rogue River. Talent an I on motoi routes. Dnnv and Sundfv One year SIS 00 D.'itv and Sun:iav One month 1.23 Carrier and Dealers-Ac pet copy All Term Cash in Advance 5f7iri.il P;er of the Cil of afedford Official Paprr oi Jaiksun County Lnited PreasTulI Lfased Wlra IXEMBE7? OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION Advertising Representative WEST-HOI. LID AY COMPANY INC Offices in New York Chicago De troit San Francisco Los Angeles Seattle Portland St Louis Atlanta Varioou ver B C n a t i o n a i e d i t o r i a i ! IasTocPailon Flight o' Time Medford and Jackson- County History from the files ol The Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO Aug. 23. 1346 (It was Friday) L. ,L. Lewis, Central Point, . and Kenneth Miller, of the bu reau of reclamation office here, return to Medford from Star Gulch in the Applegate region with huge cougar which they killed Thursday morning. From Arthur Perry's Ye Smudge Pot column: Huckleber ry pies are available. They are fine eating, but apt to leave the diner looking like he had been in a battle with an ink-squirting octopus. 20 YEARS AGO Aug. 23. 1938 (It was Sunday) Now is the time to save flower seeds to insure a repetition next year of this year's lovely garden, according to Jane Snedicor, pres ident of the Medford Garden club. Fletcher Fish will address the Medford Kiwanis club Monday. 30 YEARS AGO Aug. 23. 1926 (It was Monday) Judging of beef cattle at the Jackson County Fair, Medford, Sept. 15-18, is to be of real value to every person interestd in live stock, announcs Secretary Brown. The elevation of Medford, as determined at the post office, Is 1.382.3 feet above sea level. 40 YEARS AGO Aug. 23. 1916 (It was Wednesday) Top price of the season is re alized today when a car of Blue Triangle Bartletts sold at Boston for an average of S3.33. per box. There were 6,450 vistors at Crater national park in 1916 as compard to 7.660 in 1915. accord ing to Will G. Steel, supervisor. What's the Answer? Can Yon Get 4 of the 7? Copr. 1955 Editorial Research Report I VS ASSOCIATION 1. The Republican party has always . renominated an incum bent Vice President; right or wrong? 2. After two years the value of a new car is about 35, 50 or 65 per cent of its original price? 3. Permanent chairman of the GOP convention is Rep. J. W. Martin, Vice President Nixon, national chairman L. W. Hall, Sen. Knowland or Governor Langlie? 4. Which of these states has the largest proportion of Catho lics: New York, Illinois, Massa chuetts. Maryland, Wisconsin? 5. The Italian Line admits that Its Andrea Doria was going at full speed when hit by the Stock holm or claims it. had reduced speed? 6. The small state of Monaco is surrounded by the Mediterran ean Sea and Italy or France and Spain or Switzerland? 7. A choreographer arranges ft choral singing, the work of hired men on the farm, dances, or a certain yellow flower? The answers: 1. Wrong. 2. About 50 per cent 3. Rep. Mar tin. 4. Massachusetts. S. Claims It had reduced speed. 6. Franc. T. Dances. . MAIL TRIBUNE TV And The Convention If it were to be left to the television audience, the five- , day national political convention would be doomed. Portland Oregonian. This condemnation of the convention system, it is hardly necessary to add, referred only to the Demo cratic show at Chicago, not the GOP convention at San Francisco, a very different form of entertain ment to the Oregonian, of course. Speaking as one member of the TV audience, however, we not only disagree 100 per cent with that statement but are convinced a vast majority of the TV audience would, if permitted, do likewise. We have never seen arouse our interest and an hour, and usually 30 minutes has been enough. But in Chicago were five days and several nights, that not only aroused our interest and held our at tention but crave such a human and intimate view of the American convention tick, presented such a living breathing chunk of politi cal "Americana" in such an exciting and dramatic way, that instead of dooming such a performance to extinction the TV audience would, we believe, almost as a unit vote for its continuance. XI7HAT need was there to call in Alfred Hitchcock " to provide mvstery and suspens'e, as the Ore gonian suggests, w:hen "the rise and fall" of Harry S. Truman was depicted screen. There was his first press conference for ex ample and his startling announcement of his support of Governor Harriman and his opposition to Adlai Stevenson. Then his final retraction, head bloody but unbowed, he turned his eruns away from Stevenson and Kefauver, and turned them on the GOP in his most approved "give 'em hell" fashion. When and where did TV ever put on a more ex citing "hoss-race" including Swaps and the Kentucky Derby than that "photo finish" for the vice presi dency between Senators Kennedy and Kefauver, neck and neck to the finish line. MOT only does the Oregonian suggest if the party ' convention is to be saved Alfred Hitchcock must be called in to handle the suspense, but Phil Silvers should handle the comedy, and the five-day show then should be replaced by "a 90-minute spectacular." The Oregonian is not serious, of course, this is only its way of checking off the lot of "noise and fury and another partisan circus, Carthy. AS IN everything else the Oregonian is entitled to " its opinion, of course, but in the judgment of this department seldom before' wrong. We venture the judgment that of the millions who viewed this convention thrilled by it, held in their fury" and at the end felt like extending a word of thanks and an acre of orchids to the TV companies for the superb service they rendered. DERHAPS there wasn't, as the Oregonian notes, much in the way of the "smoke-filled" rooms re porting, but they did get the private quarters of the leading candidates, and the halls and corridors leading to them. They also covered the caucus rooms of many states, and every newspaper man who has ever covered a convention knows how hard that is to accomplish. Moreover there were not "smoke-filled rooms" -in the Black stone this time, the Republicans originated them and still have a monopoly. In fact the members of the TV audience were not only given drama, mystery, suspense and excitement, but they were given "a magic carpet" that took them all over the Chicago area six miles to the stockyards and back to the city again, and all for free, with a front row seat at every scene of important action, only well out of the hub-bub, the dirt and the humid ity, and safely and comfortably in one's living room. Even the Weather Man cooperated (perhaps he is a Democrat) at least not until the show was over did the thunderstorms come on. And it was a superb absorbing spectacle that TV put on from the opening gavel to the final curtain. We must grant there was not much comedy in the stockyard performance, there was at least one member of the TV audience,' in fact, who would have preferred Phil Silvers to Governor Clement as far as the keynote speech was concerned. But that was, after all, a mere detail. All in all it was a GREAT show, and TV is to be congratulated on its vivid, thrilling and comprehensive coverage. Instead of the five day convention being doomed if left to the TV audience, we have no doubt that a poll of the millions of viewers, including Republi cans, would be practically unanimous for a "repeat" if the high quality of the Chicago performance could be maintained. The only fly in the ointment is that judging by the San Francisco "cocktail party" thus far (August 22) we fear it can't be. R.W.R. GOP Praise for Morse As a postscript to the above we would like to pin a rose on the Oregonian for its fair and objective covering of political news, and its generally restrained and enlightened political attitude editorially. The Oregonian naturally is for the Republican party and all Republican candidates as it has been approximately since the battle of Bull Run. But it doesn t slant its news, it gives a fair break to the opposition in publicity and communication col umns, and edtorially it is always well written, well Thundar August 23, 1958 a drama on TV, that could hold our attention for over system and what makes it day to day there on tne Chicago convention as a signifying nothing" just according to Senator Mc has it been so completely 99 per cent of them were seats by the "noise and everywhere else including Today and By Walttr THE REPUBLICAN HARMONY The harmony which reigns at San Francisco is not something automatically given because the Republi cans, unlike the Democrats and for the first time in their own recent history, all think and feel alike. The harmony has been arrived Walter LrDBmann at by skilled political maneuver and negotia tion during the few months pre ceding the convention since, one might say, February when the President announced that he would run again. Among the professional poli ticians, who are hardboiled, tne President's decision was, of course, welcomed unanimously even by the anti-E isenhower wing of the party. But at the same time it posed the problem of the succession: Who was to control and lead the party after Eisenhower? This problem was posed not only because of the President's age and his illnesses but also because, now that the Constitution has been amended, he will be the first President de barred by the "Constitution from running or threatening to run for a third term. The crucial question of who is to control the Republican party may therefore arise in the next four years, and is bound to arise at the end of the next four years. If anybody thinks that Chairman Hall, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Knowland, or Mr. Dewey have not been acutely aware of all that, he does not know American Politics. EARLY in the gme it was evi dent that the old Taft wing of the party, including the fringe which was to the right of Taft, had picked Nixon as their man. They became hot for his renomi- nation, being justifiably , con vinced that they would be domi nant in the party if he succeeded Eisenhower during the second term, or at the end of it in the Convention of 1960. They are far more ardent for Nixon than for Eisenhower, and indeed have often sounded as if they were shouting for Eisenhower in order to be sure that they might get Nixon elected.' The Eisenhower wing, in which Dewey is the most power ful figure, was faced with a choice to displace Nixon or to embrace him for the purpose of hanging on to him. Among the Eisenhower professionals and their big supporters a lot more went on behind the scenes last Spring than could ever be veri fied for publication in the news papers. I believe from what I have heard from men in a posi tion to know that the movement to displace Nixon gained consid erable headway and then col lapsed because the President re fused to assist it. Parenthetically, it seems reas onably clear that Stassen played no part in this episode, and that it occurred while he was in Lon don at the disarmament confer ence. This may explain why Stassen, though he has been say ing what so many Republicans think, has in the practical pol itics of his effort been so wide of the mark. He has tried to reopen an issue which had already been fought out and settled among the Eisenhower leaders. VTHEN the leading figures in " the Eisenhower wing saw that Nixon's renomination was certain, they followed the old1 rule that if you can't fight them,.! mannered and persuasive, at least ALWAYS convincing. ! m m flE WOULD like to pay ' its coverage of the conventions by its staff writer, Herb Lundy. Lundy's offerings have perception and considering the necessary partisan fixation a refreshing impartiality. In his offering of Wednesday, for example, Lundy aimosi paia a compliment, to senator w ayne Morse, one of the paper's pet aversions ALMOST, but not quite. Here it is, quote : General Eisenhower and Mr. Dulles, Langlie recalled, had been chosen by Presidents Roosevelt and Truman for the highest military and diplomatic assignments, and Presi dent Truman "offered (Eisenhower) his party's presidential nomination in 1948." "And the American people could see for themselves that the only offense these two fine Americans have committed, in Democratic eyes," said Governor Langlie, "is to be Re publicans. This is a naked admission that-they are now ad dicted to the principle that loyalty to a political party comes ahead of devotion tf our beloved country. We reject that false concept; and so, I believe, do the overwhelming ma jority of American citizens." But isn't this just what Senator Morse, who flipflopped from Republican to independent to Democrat in two years, has been saying all over the land? It is thus, on the allegation of high principles outweighing loyalty to party, that he explains his apostasy. It was no help to Doug Mc Kay, the Republican nominee running against Morse, to . . have the keynoter he introduced lay this out as the party line. . How true! . But Governor Langley when he declared putting principle above politics represents a moral position an overwhelming majority of American citizens WOULD sustain, was 100 per cent right. All they need is an opportunity to vote on this issue. R.W.R. - ' Tomorrow LIppmann J you must join them. That is what Dewey and the others have done, thus assuring themselves a coun tervailing if not a controUing voice in the Nixon Administra tion which they regard as pre destined. This is the structure of the harmony which prevails in San Francisco. What it amounts to is a political truce between the two wings of the party. The terms of the truce, one might say, are Eis enhower and Nixon to win the election, for the succession equal access to Nixon, and, no doubt, assurances from Nixon that he will stay in the middle of the road. In Gov. Langley's keynote speech there was, I thought, in the overtones, an assurance to the liberal Republicans that the campaign would not be con ducted in the old Nixon style. As the campaign develops, the terms of this truce are likely to become a dominant considera tion. For this is what the Repub licans have done about the cru cial question of the President's health with Nixon as his suc cessor. (c) 1956, New York Herald Tribune, Inc. Communications Labor and The Farmer To the Editor: Isn'tlhere some way in the long reach of the press whereby some sort of an explanation can be had from the union labor power combines as to what their objectives might be, what they are up to? They just won a three year contract from the steel companies that guarantees them some 6 to 8 cents per hour increase each of the three years, fringe benefits, retirement pension and on top of aU this according to news re leases, 50 weeks of paid vaca tion for those of proper senior ity, over the three years. Just how did the union chiefs show their appreciation for aU this? From Chicago, Aug. 15, came a pictured news release showing George Meany, of the AFL-CIO, barking in to a bunch of microphones that relayed his orders to the builders of the Democratic platform committee that the unions would stand for no "weasel words, glittering gen eralities or the advertising man's glib sincerity." Would their answer for the above be the same glib evasive one they have for the reason of the bankruptcy-faced farmers who cannot pay the high cost of today's farm machinery? They don't like to talk about that or the number of farm machinery factories on part time output or closed down. What can the union brass be up to? On one hand they make demands on industry that, if com plied with, threaten bankruptcy, Yet, in the same breath, they de mand retirement pay for life. In the name of all that is fair to live and let live, how can they make such preposterous, unrea sonable demands that if granted by the bedeviled industry, wiU pitch us into the dread economic inflation spiral. And when the cashier at the market and bank takes that first hesitant, reluc tant look (like they once did at the sadly remembered school- warrants) at our social security and unemployment cheques, the debacle will be on and we can thank" the labor unions for it. F. J. Clifford, 1211 West Main St., Medford, Ore. if not to this department a special compliment to shown intelligence, keen Tom Dewey Said Vastly Changed And Matured in Political Ken By LYLE C. WILSON United Press Correspondent San Francisco (U.R) There's a long, long trail a'winding be tween Mechanics Hall, Boston, Mass., back there in 1940 and this Cow Palace where the Republi cans and Pres ident Eisen hower have just re-plighted their troth. Nobody knows that better than Thomas . E byte C WUsob Dewey, of New York. It was in Mechanics Hall some months more than 16 years ago that a brash young county attorney made his first big speech as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Your correspondent was there. It wasn't a very -good speech. Moreover, it ran over the al lotted 30 minutes of radio time there wasn't any television by a good 12 minutes. And Dewey, in his freshman's uncer tainty how to handle a crisis in public, tried to cram all the words into that fleet 30 min utes. He had realized midway thriugh his effort that the speech was far too long. That January, 1940, swing from New York through Rhode Island and Massachusetts to Maine was Dewey's first clutch toward high office. He missed that year when Wendell L. Will kie charged out of the Wall Street boondocks to kidnap the Republican nomination. Won Two Nominations Dewey's capacity to make friends and enemies was hardly strained in 1940. But in 1944 and 1948 he won the big nomin ation prize and piled up a big score of those who admired him. More especially, those who did not. Next time there was a war on and 1944 was not a fair test. The Republican candidate was hobbled, handcuffed, almost haltered by the opposition of FDR. Four years later after 1948 there was another story which usually began like this: "If that so-and-so Dewey had got off his pants and made a real campaign, he coulda licked that Truman." It is fair to say that Dewey, after the 1948 election, was bucking for top honors' as the Republican Party's most severe ly criticized public figure. Times' have changed. Dewey, more than any other, obtained Dwight D. Eisenhower's nomina tion foe- president in 1952 by making his own 1950 guberna torial campaign a stem-winder. He was plugging Ike-for-presi- dent then, and he continued to Plug. More than any other, Dewey obtained the defeat in 1952 of the late Sen. Robert A. Taft who sought the Republican presi dential nomination. Tie loose and sweating, down there on the 1952 convention floor and in the hotel huddles, Dewey was a skillful strategist, and success ful. More than any other, Dewey had to do with putting Richard M. Nixon on the 1952 ticket with Mr. Eisenhower. There was that crackling night in 1952 when Illinois' Sen. Ever ett M. Dirksen fingered Dewey from the convention platform. Pointing to him out there with the New York delegation, Dirk sen indicated Dewey as the au thor of Republican disaster and defeat. There was a time when such would have blistered Dewey and he might have slid hunch shouldered low in his seat to escape the fire. But, times had changed and Dewey was stand ing on his chair seat the night Dirksen went after him to get the full flavor of 'the attack. During recent months when some men - around - Eisenhower and elsewhere have been trying to ditch Nixon, Dewey backed his man. He said he had retired MAKE A WILL! OAs Funeral Directors we know only too well how much confusion, heartache, and even fi nancial distress can be created by.the lack -of a will. -i' Where only small amounts are involved, if Is even MORE important that both husbands nd wives make will. If you haven't made yours,- don't delayl Chapel Mortuary from politics, but it was known among Dewey's friends that if Nixon were knocked, out he would take the vice presidential nomination had Mr. Eisenhower requested. From any angle, there would not have been a better qualified candidate. Speech Struck Fire Dewey made a speech Wednes day during the nominating do ings here. It was not a nominat ing or seconding speech, but it struck more fire from the dele gates than anything which had gone before. His listeners whoop ed and cheered and a lot of them told each other: "There's a new Dewey about." Mattel" Of FaCt By Jo. end Stewart Alsop THE SEWED-UP CONVENTION San Francisco The endless babble about an "open conven tion" here in San Francisco simply proves that American politicians are just about the most supersti tious people on earth. There is a superstition in favor of open conven tions, so they uepa Aikop go on talking about an open convention. But this is a sewed-up convention just about as completely sewed up as a convention can be. Furthermore, this could never have been an open convention, because there were only two ways to open it up, and neither was feasible. The President was not wiUing to open it up by s p o n soring a m o v ement to get another vice president. ' And no other serious Republican contender was willing to open it up by coming forward as an active candidate and seeking nation wide support for his candidacy. This leaves only one question unanswered. Why has the Presi dent himself, a deeply sincere man, gone on talking about an open convention and even max- ing gestures to suggest that the convention really is open? rpHE answer, clearly, comes in two paris. r-iseunuwci w not at first fully aware how far key people in his entourage were taking advantage of his own pas sivity, in order to sew up the convention for Dick Nixon. And when he was finally -confronted by the accomplished fact of a sewed-up convention, he was just superstitious enough to go on with the elaborate pretense of encouraging a convention open to all contenders. The crucial stage of the sew- ing-up process occurred in the period between the President's decision to run again despite his heart attack and the Presi dent's emergence from his ileitis attack. The man who carried the ball in public was Republi can National Chairman Len Hall, who kept saying that "it was stiU going to be Dick Nixon." - The efforts of HaU, the atti tudes of such leaders as Thomas E. Dewey of New York, the ex Taftites' liking for Nixon, all combined to create what might be called a Republican concen sus. In this period, no pledges were asked or given. But by the time of the President's opera tion for ileities,, when Hall de clared that "it was still going to be Dick Nixon," he was stat ing a practical fact. THIS stage was ended by the sudden intervention of Har old Stassen. Stassen. was sinking Stewart Alsop Across from the Courthouse Frank Morgan Harold Snodgrass FUNERAL DIRECTORS There's been a new Dewey about for some time now. He's only 54 years old and stands a reasonably good chance to ba nominated for president again in 1960, or even in 1964. He's a man to watch and a lot of people have been watching him with vastly changed opinions since way back there in 1940 when the 38-year-old district attorney of New York county first as pired to the White House. It was then that the late Harold L. Ickes convulsed a nation with the crack: "Tommy Dewey has thrown his diaper into the ring." Thomas E. Dewey has come of ripe political age. into political oblivion. His ac tion seems to have been as pure ly instinctive and un-thought-out as the last desperate wallowlnga of a moose just before the quick sand sucks it down. At any rate, the principal effect of Stassen' intervention was to produce a blitz campaign to round up dele gate pledges for Nixon. Stassen'i call for support for Gov. Chris tian Herter was taken as liberat ing Nixon from the self-denying ordinance, by which he had previously refrained from seek ing delegate pledges. Former Governor Dewey, Sen. Andrew Schoeppel of Kansas, Rep. Richard Simpson, other Nixon supporters, and Nixon himself got on the telephone to sew up the votes. Before very many days had passed, they had solid pledges from a very great majority of the future Republi can delegates. After that the convention was sewed up in form as weU as fact. EVEN so, partly because of the impression left by the excit ing Democratic Vice Presiden tial race. President Elsenhower was stiU anxious to preserve the open convention fiction. To this end, he actually requested his chief of staff, Sherman Adams, his close friend, Gen. Lucius Clay, and one or two others, to do something about it here in San Francisco. These men in turn briefly tried to encourage Governor Langlie of Washing ton, Governor Thornton of Colo rado and one or two 'more to come forward as Vice Presiden tial candidates. But this was just for the look of the thing. There was no in tention of stopping Nixon, if only because it was already weU known that Nixon had a solid majority in his pocket. But for exacUy the same reason, the curious attempt to maintain the pretense of openness was doom ed to early failure. No other candidate could muster even the minimum number of delegates that would seem respectable. To avoid ridicule, the invited con tenders aU declined. - IN THESE circumstances, tha President's renewed invitation to possible contenders to come and have a jolly chat with him at the St. Francis Hotel, is as. near to being a phoney stunt as anything Dwight D. Eisenhower has ever staged. When he keeps saying that the convention is open because he is perfectly willing to accept any suitable substitute for Nixon, he is being technically sincere of course. But he knows -very well that the convention has already made up its mind in Nixon's favor. and that he and his lieutenants have helped it to do so. Why, then, go on with these gestures? . Copyright 1956, New York Herald Tribune. Inc. McCANN ON VACATION ' Charles M. McCann Is on vacation. His weekly news out look and dally foreign news commentary columns will be resumed upon his return.