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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1956)
f Communications ftttr to th Editor mult bear tha nam and address ot tha writer, although inder certain circumstances tha uia ot a pen name or initial tor publication s permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the right to edit alt letters with a .iew to clarification and condensation, tot exceed 400 words. fSuggasti Fifth Route I To the Editor: The highway I commission meeting at the Cra I lerian Theater heard assorted I testimony from people who did I net want the proposed super I highway going near them, and I a few persons who expected I 1? benefit from its staying in i town. it is my impression mat ine original survey wad the route jp Xancs creek through the Ap plegate, down past the Griffin Creek Grange, through Dark Hollow to Talent. If it didn't, that seems a route that would cause the least disturbance of valuable agricultural land and annoyance to the people living in Medford, who don't like noise and fumes. In Salem I was told that the merchants expected to lose trade from the town's being bypassed but contrary to their expecta tions trade improved because 1-eople would come into town to shop who didn't like to buck traffic while through traffic was going through town. From my own experience I know that when one needs gas. food or a place to sleep it is easy enough to get off superhighways and get what one wants. I and many others prefer to find a niuiel that is away from the noise of traffic. This route goes through un developed country where right of way could probably be ac quired cheaply. Mrs. George B. Dean 265 Janney lane, Medford, Ore. Tiller-Trail RouteT To the Editor: Now that all th pressure groups and per sonal interests have had their say regarding the location of the proposed new Highway 99, it Is evident that none of the routes proposed will get a majority , vote. In the final analysis. Uncle Sugar the Federal government and the State Highway people will go ahead with their own plan that of routing the Thru way from a point south of Myr tle Creek, via the South Ump qua. Tiller, Trail, Eagle Point and south to a point southeast of Ashland, saving 40 miles or more, and maintaining an alter nate 99 via Medford, Grants Pass and 199. Well, why not? Long line trucks and hot foot tourists are no help to us and they can speed their way. The rest of the traf fic passing more leisurely through the valley may enjoy our hospitality, comfort and scenery. Genessee, Bear Creek Hillcrest and the West Side will still be ours. D. W. Robertjon, 623 Dakota ave.. Letters submitted for publication must Democratic Brain Washing To the Editor: Brainwashing is not confined to Eastern Eu rope although it is done more subtly in this country. Let's take this business of trying to per suade the gullible that the Re publican is the party of cash and corporations. Who is probably the richest man in active politics today? Averell Harriman, heir to a not-so-clean rail fortune, Democrat governor of ' New York, and nearly their candidate for presi dent. Where have the Republi cans a governor with the in herited wealth of Mennen Wil liams, Democrat governor of Michigan? Where is. there a Re publican senator with the oil wealth of Democrat Kerr of Ok lahoma? Did the Republicans pick a presidential candidate born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who wouldn't under stand problem of the average man? No, they picked a man who, by his talents alone, rose from a poor boy in a small town to inspired leadership in this country and the world. Did the Democrats pick a man whose background would give bim un derstanding of our problems? No, they picked a man of in herited wealth with assets in 1952 of at least three-quarters of a million; a man who certain ly has had to depend on divi dends from corporation stocks In his inheritance to live as he has lived. Here in Oregon we have an other example. Lately I saw a snide remark about Doug Mc Kay dealing in Cadillacs. Ap parently they thought that this would damn him with those of us who ride in Fords, Chevro leti and Plymouths. What is the truth? The truth is that Doug McKay fought his way up from a poor boy Xo a successful small businessman principally by sell ing Chevrolets; if he sold Cadil lacs, it was incidental. Was the remark the truth? Partly, per haps. Was it the whole truth? Certainly not. Was it made with intent to deceive? Of course it was. Locally, who's for the corpor ations? Let's look. While Phil Lowry, our popular Republican state senator, is spending much of his time working for us to get Southern Pacific passenger trains restored, who is head of the law firm representing the Southern Pacific? None other than one of the candidates that the Democratic party offers us for representative in the legisla ture. The above are facts, easily checked. Look for more of them covered up by Democratic fic tion. D. H. Barber, Star Route, Trail, Ore. We Believe MEASURE No. 4 Should Be Approved! The following is reprint of an editorial published in the Oregonian, Saturday, Oct. 6, 1956: Whither Coroners, Surveyors' Measure No. 4 on the state ballot, which would remove county- surveyor and county coroner from the list of elec tive county officers prescribed by the state constitution, is the outgrowth of a 1953 state Supreme Court decision. The high court ruled that the legislature was powerless to establish qualifications for the constitutional county offices (clerk, treasurer, sheriff, coroner and surveyor) other than the single qualification noted in the constitution: That the officer be an elector of the county. The case had come to the high court on the appeal of Peter W. Welch, whose election as Multnomah county sur vevor had been invalidated in circuit court on the basis of a 1949 statute (ORS 204.015), which read: "A person is not eligible to hold the office of county surveyor unless he is registered under the laws of this state as a registered pro fessional engineer or a registered professional land sur . veyor." "The law is well established that, where a state con stitution provides for certain officials and names the qualifications for such officers, the legislature is without authority to prescribe additional qualifications," the court ruled. Mr. Welch was confirmed in the office he still holds. The argument of the proponents of Measure No. 4 is that the duties of both offices require a technical compe ' tence which can be assured only by the statutory require ment, of qualifications for office. But it should be noted that the amendment does not provide for such qualifica tions. It merely eliminates the constitutional status of the offices of county co.-oner and county surveyor and leaves the specification of qualifications, if any, to the legislature. This is probably a good idea, whatever one thinks about the need for qualifications. Both offices are in a sense outmoded, and in many states their duties are per formed quite adequately by administrative technical per sonnel. There is no good reason why they should be elective, and the passage of Measure No. 4 could be the first step in removing them from the ballot. Should that be done, the question of professional qualification for office would be settled. That would be the responsibility of the appointing authority. No one suggests, for example, that the office of county road master a much more exacting one than that of either the coroner or the surveyor be elective. Nor would we expect it to be occupied by any but an experienced engineer. Measure No. 4 should be approved. Vote X 4-Yes! FRANK & BILL PERL FUNERAL HOME Fd. Political Adv. Against McKay To the Editor: I have been watching TV for the last few weeks and have been astounded by the false statements and per fidy that are used by the GOP speakers, especially when at tacking Senator Morse. According to their say-so, the Senator has been extremely neg lectful of his duty in the Sen ate He is accused of absentee ism, opposing the President and well; just about all the crimes in the calendar. He is accused of lying, mis-representing facts. trading votes and the Lord knows what all. It is too bad that the general public does not know or is too lazy to send to the U. S. Printing Office in Washington and ask for a copy of the Congressional Record. If people would do this simple little thing they could find the truth for themselves and not be fooled by lying state ments, of cheapest kind of cheap politicians who are in desperate need of feathering their own nests and arc stooping to be smirch one who is so far above them that there is no compari son. His principal opponent is known by his record, and it smells to high Heaven. He is known to be liquidating the Indians by doing away with Reservations, selling their tim ber for a great deal less than it is worth, some of which is even now being taken by the big timber outfits. He has turned over to the oil interests the Na tional Parks and Game Refuges to be mulcted of all value or potential value, so there can be no great desire to visit such places. He has been hand in glove with the power interests, furth ering their desires in every way he can, and while doing so lay ing a heavier burden upon the foolish taxpayer who gladly swallow his vituperations as tho they were Gospel; which they are by GOP interpretation. But not by the understanding of the intelligent ones who have the common sense to vote in their owti interests. Only a complete ouster of all GOP members can do the trick. Vote for Morse, who has stated time and again that he will go along and all the way with us who pay all the bills. Veterans, take heed; Morse is with us, as is Neuberger. They will not let us down. A. L. Unger, 635 Pennsylvania ave., Medford, Ore. Tha S.P. As An Issue. To the Editor: Public senti ment in Jackson county, as ex pressed both by a series of ex cellent editorials and by the comments of the people in gener al, is solidly against the policy of exploitation and isolation that Southern Pacific Company has consistently applied against the people of Southern Oregon. It is a matter of public record that in the area affected by this discriminatory policy of S.P., the people who have taken posi tive action in the recent hearings before the Public Utilities exam iner were our Republican legis lators. It is a matter of public record that Representatives Mann and Littrell appeared at these hear ings and testified as witnesses on behalf of the public and against S.P. It is a matter of public record that Robert B. Duncan and Rob ert A. Boyer, both Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives, did not appear and testify at these hearings as witnesses for the public. It is a matter of public record that Robert B. Duncan is em ployed by S.P. to serve its in terests as an attorney, and I am sure Mr. Duncan would not pub licly deny that he has had a pass that entitled himself and members of his family to free transportation on S.P. trains. The Oregon Railroads Assoc iation (of which SP is a mem ber) has a powerful lobby at tempting to influence the votes of the legislators. We need men in the legislature who can with stand this pressure, and Rep resentatives Mann and Littrell by their public actions have lax Questions To the Editor: Here are a cou ple of questions that I and oth ers have been getting the run around on. Can you help us out through your paper, which will also per npps help out others to under stand just what Measure No. 1 means on the ballot? 1. Under Measure No. 1 could tax legislation become law with out the vote of the people' 2. If this measure is passed does it mean that a Sales Tax could be passed without the vote of the people, and without stat- .'ng just how the money so col lected is to be expended. There have been rumors that IF a Sales Tax was passed that it might be used to offset prop erty taxes and income taxes, or at least applied to them. Robert H. Worrall, Route 1, Box 265-A, Rogue River, Ore. Editor's note: Question No. 1: Yes. At present, acts passed by the legislature become law 90 days after the legislature adjourns, unless (1) they are referred to a vote of the people (either by the legislature itself or by peti tion), or unless (2) they have the "emergency clause," in which ccse they become effective im mediately. The constitution now prohibits the emergency clause on tax legislation. If Proposition 1 is passed, this constitutional ban would be repealed the emergency clause could be placed on tax legislation, and it would become effective imme diately. It could be referred to a vote of the people, but not for about two years, and it would be in effect in the meantime. Question No. 2: Yes and no. However, Gov. Elmo Smith, the Republican candidate to suc ceed himself, has stated he would veto any sales tax bill unless it is referred to a vote of the people, and Robert Holmes, Democratic candidate, has stated he would veto a sales tax. Therefore it is unlikely any rales tax could be placed in eifect for at least four years unless given the people's ap proval at an election. If the legislature does pass a tales tax (either with or with out a referendum provision), it would be up to it to decide any details of the tax, including ine percentage, any exemotions (such as food and housing), how it would be collected and spent, and whether or not it would be used as general fund revenue, as an offset to income or prop erty taxes, or as "earmarked" income for a particular purpose. These details would be contain pa in the tax measure itself. But rumors about what the legisla ture might or might not do are purely speculation. Monday, October 29, 1958 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBTJrTE nTat New Concept Makes Big Roof Possible Chicago U.R) A simple but radically new engineering con cept has enabled a Chicago firm to build the world's largest trussless steel roof over the new Phoenix (Ariz.) Coliseum. The huge roof, a clear span 120 feet wide by 260 feet long, was erected by the Wonder Building Corporation in 7Vi days. The firm said the roof is the first in a new line of low-cost, long-span roof decks being mar keted for convention halls, are nas, school gymnasiums, super markets, hangars and similar buildings. Costs were said to be about a third less than conven tional roof structures. The Phoenix Coliseum roof will make possible an un proved that they are immune from S. P. influence. Could Duncan and Boyer withstand this influence? One of them is already on the S. P. payroll, neither of them came forward to oppose S.P.'s dis criminatory policies, and both of them seem to have plenty of money behind them to pay for signboards and advertising. The issue in the campaign by Duncan and Boyer to get Mann and Littrell out of the legisla ture is simply this: Do the peo ple of Jackson county want to make it easier for S.P. to steam roller us, or do we want to re elect two men who have al- I ready proven their willingness to stand up and fight S.P. on our behalf? Jerry A. McGee, 1127 West 10th st., Medford, Ore. obstructed view of the floor from any of 5.000 permanent seats. There are no posts, pil lars, trusses or supports of any kind. The roof consists of curved, galvanized and corrugated steel sheets, two feet wide and from six to 10 feet long, fastened to gether by nuts and bolts to form self-supporting arches. Although it is less than 116 of an inch thick, the steel roof is designed to withstand hurricane-force winds of more than 113 miles per hour, and to sup port loads of 42 pounds per sauare foot, equivalent to feet of snow. such collisions involving the darkened sections of trains be hind the locomotives was about eight times higher at night than in daylight. Reflective material being used by the railroads reflects the headlights of approaching "cars and can be seen more than 1,500 feet. Oi 10 railroads using such measures, the Great Northern has the most extensive program. It has reflectorized 5.000 box cars, numerous warning signs and all new passenger trains. For Action, Use Tribune Want Ads Just Call 2-6141 5,a Railroads Work To Cut Auto Collisions Chicago U.R) Railroads are making their equipment easier to see at night as part of a pro gram to reduce collisions with automobiles. Western and midwestern rail roads, guided by a study at Iowa State College, have been put ting large reflective emblems and letters on their cars and crossing signs. Railroads participating in the program include the Great Northern. Union Pacific, Chi cago and North Western and the Burlington. According to the National Safety Council, more than 1,200 motorists were killed last year in crossing collisions. A study by Iowa State Col lege's driver training laboratory showed that the incidence of - AFTER 3 YEARS Five Years of Study and Research By Trained Traffic Engineers Has Resulted in a Sensible Plan To Solve the Parking Problem In Medford. NOW IS THE TIME Now Is the Time to Inaugurate This Self-Supporting Off-Street Parking Plan. Make Parking Pay For Itself By Voting 51 X YESI INFORM YOURSELF AND VOTE 51 X YES CITIZENS OFF-STREET PARKING COMMITTEE 1 T I I "'""'''"assss that tecs to break theTime barrier; In one flaming moment, Plymouth's traditionally great engineering brings you the fabulous new Fury "301" V-8 ... revolutionary new, Plymouth leaps 3 full years ahead-the only car TorSion-Aireride...exhiJarati Stylh mS- The car yt ln sports-car handling -. new ou ejected super-safe Total Contact Brakes... dram J"n I960 is af , Is a' your Ptyu, atic Flight-Sweep. ou'h krs right Since wood came into com mon use in the making of paper around 1880 the per capita i consumption of pulpwood in. the i U.S. has increased seven-fold, to i nearly 800 pounds annually.
