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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1957)
FOUR MEDFOHD (OREGON) MedfordJTribune ""Everyone in Southern Oregon Reads The Mail Tribune" F-ubliihei Dally Except Saturday by MEDFOHD PRINTING CO 27-2S North Fir St Phon 2-6141 ROBERT W RL'HL. Editor FERB GREY Advertising Manager GERALD LATHAM Buainesa Manager ERIC ALLEN JR Managing Editor EARL H ADAMS City Editor HARRY CHIPMAN Telegraph Editor RICHARD JEWETT Sporta Editor OLIVE STARCHER Society Editor DALE ERICK SON Circulation Mgr. An Independent Newspaper Entered as second class matter at Med ford Oregon under Act f March 3. 1837 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Br Mail In Advance Per Copy 10c Datly and Sunday On a year $15 00 Daily and Sunday Six months 8 00 Daily and Sunday Three mos 4.25 Sunday Only One year $4.20 By Carrier In Advance Medford. Ashtand Central Point Eagle Point, Jacksonville Gold Hill Phoenix, Shadv Cove Rogue River. Talent, and on motor routes: Daily and Sunday One year $18.00 Daily and Sunday One month 1-50 Carrier and Dealer 10c per copy vu terms iasn in Advance Official Paper of the City of Medford Official Paper of Jackson County United Press Full Leased Wire MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OP CIRCULATION Advertising Representative: WEST-HOLIDAY COMPANY INC Offices in New York Chicago, de troit San Francisco Los AngeJea Seattle Portland St Louis Atlanta Vancouver B C NATI ONAL EDITORIAL assocCatlqn NEWSPAPER V PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Flight o' Time . Medford and JacksoD County History from the files of The Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40 and SO years ago. 10 YEARS AGO Jan. 1, 1946 (Wednesday) Plant failure of California Pacific Utilities company stops flow of gas to homes on west side of town yesterday. From Arthur Perry's Ye Smudge Pot column: Record crops were produced in Oregon last year. Everything grew like a weed, all statistics show. 20 YEARS AGO Jan. 1. 1936 (Friday) Expressions of gratitude con tinue to be received here for aid extended to the people of Bandon, the coast city destroy ed by forest fire last September. The year 1936 saw S4S arrests made by city police with the resultant placing behind bars of the offending persons. 30 YEARS AGO Jan. 1, 1926 (Saturday) Sale of War Eagle Mining property, 20 miles northeast of Medford in the Beagle and Sams Valley district, to a Chicago syndicate, is announced. Preliminary plans are made for constuction on a water grade road up the Rogue River to the head of Diamond lake. 40 YEARS AGO Jan. 1. 1916 (Monday) December rrad a total precip itation of 1.71 inches, making the total for the year 1916 14.51 inches compared with 25 year average of 25.6 inches. Stockholders of Rogue River National Farm association elect A. W. Stone president of the board of directors at recent meeting. What's Your I.Q.? Nine or tMi correct Is superior: sev en or eicht is excellent: five or sl Is rood. 1. Did most ancient nations observe the custom of celebrat Ing New Year's Day by festive rejoicing? 2. Were the Persians. Chris tians, or Romans the first to cel ebrate New Year's Day by ex changing presents of eggs? 3. Was Dec. 25 ever celebrat ed as New Year's Day? 4. The Jewish New Year is reckoned from the first Ynonth nt TishH (Sent. 6-Oct. 5): Is this their ecclesiastical or civil year? 5. Does Egypt have one. two. or three New Year's Day cele brations? 6. The Chinese celebrate all their holidays for the year at one time: Is this at the beginning of the New Year? 7. Which day in France is more festal: New Year's Day or Christmas Day? 8. The world's most colorful New Year celebration is held in which country: Japan, Thailand, or China? 9. Does Greece observe New Year's Day on Jan. 1? 10. Are gifts to children in Italy given on Christmas Day or during the New Year ceieDra tions? Answers: 1. Yes. 2. Persians. a. Vp. in Analo-Saxon England 4. Civil year. 5. Two. The Chris tian Copt and Moslem, o. ibs. 7 Wow Year's Day. 8. Japan. 9. Yes. 10 New Year celebra tions. On Epiphany (day of lh Three Wise Men). MAIL TRIBUNE Another Suit for Libel We can sympathize with the Eugene Register Guard. It has been sued for 600,000 by a circuit judge who claims he was defamed, degraded, humili ated and libelled to that MODEST sum. THE Mail Tribune was sued for $100,000 libel several years ago so many in fact that the dollar then was worth about twice as much as it is now and the MT had about half as much borrowing power. It was, we thought at the time an ABSURD and purely vindictive charge, and still think so. For the paper was not sued for anything it had said editorially or in its news columns, the damaging item was a single word in a communication to the paper, signed by the writer who was a well known and responsible citizen (now deceased) whp was at the time active in Republican politics and work ing hard; he was a hard worker and 100 percent partisan in every cause in which he took an interest- j for the new High school site on the west rather than the east side of town. . The term used in the communication was "pet-j tiiogger . It applied to certain proponents of the east-side site, and it not only passed the editorial blue-pencil but passed the proof reader, as mild and innocuous as compared with certain terms in general circulation hereabouts during that heated local com paign. But the citizens thus designated wrere lawyers and they knew better. A "pettifogger" it seems was and is what the legal profession calls "libel per se", for it meant, and presumably still means (quoting the dictionary) "an inferior lawyer who uses petty, mean, cheating methods." WOW ! That taught the Mail Tribune editorial staff a needed lesson. It has never been forgotten moreover namely: Never use a word, editorially or otherwise with out first knowing its exact meaning and all the im plications thereof. Even so, the editorial staff then functioning, was confident no jury would ever award any such sum to the gentlemen in question, or one half of one per cent, if any, of such an amount under all the circum stances existing. HOWEVER, the libel action was duly filed, the nnnow pftWTfl s on1 4-T-ia 7 T o t 1 Ti'i Vnm r -J " i -J -1 ocncu, emu cue irxaii iiiuuiic ucviucu as no doubt the Register Guard will have to decide that it could not take a chance by allowing the action to go by default. bO, the then M.T. attorney took over and after several months of demurrers and legal motions, etc., etc., allowing the agiieved gentlemen-of-the-law to cool off somewhat, the latter, probably then agreeing in general, with the opinion of the editorial staff previously held withdrew the suit. Everybody shook hands and the incident was itics, too highly stimulated ten. DUT the bill for various court actions and legal services was not and could not be forgotten. We can't recall the exact cost of the libel suit to this newspaper, but we remember clearly it took us over 6 months to pay it, via various and sundry in stallments, and careful economizing. AXHICH brings ws to the point of this offering namely: We don't know what if any grounds the plaintiff in this Eugene action had or has for filing a suit for such a flattering sum, but if the case should be brought to trial and the jury should as we predict it will return a verdict of "not guilty" then the costs should be charged against the disgruntled plaintiff not against the newspaper. Otherwise the principle of "black mail" would be upheld and sustained. For by merely threatening to file, or actually, filing such a suit, the newspaper realizing the cost of defending it, regardless of its merit, might well be impelled to save money by reach ing a settlement out of court, and that would in all probability be what the plaintiff was after in the first place. AXfE TRUST the above will not call for a contempt '"of court citation or a suit for vicarious libel! There is one thing for sure, we have not used that term "pettifogger" above since and so long as the MT is under its present management it never will be AGAIN! In the letter-box or elsewhere. R.W.R. "IS" the Climate We will let the prophetic and pontifical Mr. Bab son consult his crystal-ball and tell the waiting world what the year 1957 is going to be and not be. He was one of the few "wise men" who called his shots correctly back in 1928, and he may be 100 correct this time. As far as the present writer is concerned he hasn't the slightest idea what will transpire in the next twelve months and has no desire to guess. The undersigned ONLY HOPES Lady Luck will be as active as in 1956 and the Weather Man won't be. (PERIOD!) DERHAPS there have been worse years climatically 1 since General Grant slept in Grants Pass it's a fine place to sleep they say but if so we made no record of them. The final two months of '56 have been particularly obnoxious. We did not expect much sunshine or entire ab sence of rain, but we also did NOT expect, no sun shine at all, wind and snow, floods and above all this eternal reprehensible and perpetual fog! (Anoth er -period please). Tuesday, January 1. 1937 charged up to local pol adrenal glands and forgot Influential May Have BY A. ROBERT SMITH Mail Tribune Correspondent Washington The most in fluential congressional commit tee as far as the West and the J-OB fV" territories are t s2 "ta? con cerned is expected to be composed e n tirely of west erners for the first time in history when the 85th Con g r e s s is o-r Root Smltl. 111 January. This is the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, which handles all irrigation and power bills, public lands and Indian problems, mining and all territorial issues from statehood on down. Until a few years ago nearly a third of the 15 members of this blue ribbon committee were non westerners. But one by one the southerners, easterners and mid westerners have been shifting to other committee posts. Reason for Shift i One big reason for the shift is that the big controversy over the disposition of the tidelands or off-shore oil lands has been settled by Congress. Bills to grant title to these lands to the coastal states wire handled by the Interior committee year after year until one was finally passed into law early in President Eisen hower's first term. As long as this legislation was pending, senators from such states as Texas, Louisiana and Florida held tight to their seats on the committee and gained seniority in the process. These same senators took gen erally conservative attitudes to ward many other bills that came up in the committee, from Hells Canyon to statehood for Alaska and Hawaii. Often their votes against such legislation was a Matter of Fact JOHNSON and THE LIBERALS ' Washington The much-heralded "revolt of the Liberals" in the Democratic party has turned into the dampest of damp squibs, at least for the time being. The main reason it is a damp squib is to be found in the person of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, the dominant man in the new Senate, and about the most interesting figure on Cap itol Hill. Already Johnson, together with House Speaker Sam Ray- burn, has briskly squashed the proposal advanced by the party liberals for an "advisory com- Jueub AiAuo Stewart Alsop mittee' to guide Democratic policy. Now the attempt by the same liberal forces to knock out Senate Rule 22, led by Senators Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Paul Douglas of Illinois among others, is to be squashed in its turn. The net effect of Rule 22, of course, is to make it virtually impossible to break a filibuster. The 1956 Democratic platform is explicitly cpmmitted to elimin ating the Rule, and the North ern Democrats in this instance have been joined by a number of Republicans, like Ives of New York, Potter of Michigan, and Kuchel of California. But the highest current estimate of the anti-Rule 22 vote is 30. Johnson opposes the attempt to knock out Rule 22, and what Johnson says goes. DART of the reason for John- son's extraordinary influence is personal. The Northern Lib erals like Johnson and respect him it is as simple as that. Take the case of Senator Humphrey, who made his national reputa tion when he forced a strong civil rights plank on a reluctant Democratic convention in 1948. In the last two sessions of Congress Humphrey, who enter ed the Senate with the reputa tion of a wild man of the left, worked very closely with John son, becoming in the process an intimate personal friend. Unlike Douglas and others, Humphrey did not tell Johnson in advance that he meant to join the "Lib eral revolt." As a result there has been a slight chilliness between them. But there is reason to believe that the main reason Humphrey did not discuss the matter with Johnson was that he suspected the persuasive Johnson would talk him out of it. And after the W -f il 'i v 4 IS E SHALL leave the final statistics to the Weath er Bureau where they ing: If the Weather Man doesn't do a better job in tne coming year than in the passing one, then we suggest a sabbatical year for him in the everglades of Florida, and moving Medford bag and baggage to the top of Roxy Ann or the upper reaches of the Applegate river as soon as arrangements can be made. Do we hear a "second?" R.W.R. Committee AH Western critical factor in the outcome at the time. Responsible for Bill Sen. Russell Long (D-La.) was principally responsible for bot tling up the high Hells Canyon bill in this committee during much of the 84th Congress and that bill came out to the floor' only after he transferred to an other post. Sen. George Smathers (D-Fla.), was and continues to be one of the most articulate oppon ents of statehood but he, too, is gone to another committee. So is Sen. Price Daniels, (D-Tex.) an ex-member since his election to the governorship of the Lone Star state. The three vacancies on the committee are expected to go to two Democrats probably Senators-elect Frank Church of Idaho and John Carroll of Colo rado and one Republican Sen. Gordon Allott (R-Col.). If this lineup materializes, it will mean the 15-member group will be composed, entirely of western senators for the first time. It w i 1 1 be headed by Sen. James E. Murray (D-Mont.), pro viding the Democrats have suf ficient votes to control the Sen ate and thereby gain the impor tant chairmanships of com mittees. Two Members The Pacific Northwest already has two members Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D-Wash.), who has served as chairman of the sub committee on territories; and Sen. Richard L. . Neuberger (D-Ore.). Idaho is already rep resented by Sen. Henry Dwor shak (R). The importance to western states of this committee is illustrated by the prospect of Idaho's other senator, Frank Church, taking a seat on it. Both of the senators from Wyoming and Nevada also sit on this committee, While California, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona ByJo. and Stewart Alsop leftwing Americans for Demo cratic action, which has been in strumental in sparking the "Lib eral revolt," called for Johnson's ouster, Humphrey took great pains to assure Johnson of his continued support. e DERSUASI VENESS is one I secret of Johnson's power. His genius as a Parliamentarian is another. Another is his infinite capacity for taking pains. With in 24 hours of the recent elec tion, Johnson had telephone each newly elected Democratic Sen ator to congratulate him per sonally, and to chat about the forthcoming session. But another reason why the Liberals have no real stomach for a fight twith Johnson is the simple fact that on most issues he is one of them. On civil rights and oil, a Texan can only vote one way. But on issues like the. Minimum Wage, Public Housing, Public Power, Farm Aid, and so on, Johnson stands foursquare with Humphrey, Douglas, and the rest of the Northern Demo crats. ' Moreover, Johnson derives im mense prestige from the simple fact that the Senate stayed Dem ocratic under the "moderate" Johnson, while the "Liberal" Adlai Stevenson was murdered at the polls. Yet Johnson, for all his power and prestige, is caught in a dilemma. 1VITH his central position in ' the party hierarchy, with his Liberal record on many is sues, Johnson will be an obvious candidate for tho Democratic Presidential nomination in 1960, if his health hold out. His friends do not believe that this thought displeases him. Yet Johnson is also up for renomination in Tex as, where he has numerous enemies, in 1960. In the coming years, it will not be easy for Johnson to make a record which will please his lexas constituents without final ly alienating the Liberal forces which exercise a veto power at Democratic conventions. And the Northern Democrats who staged the abortive "Liberal revolt" are also faced with a dilemma the same dilemma in reverse. For they have read the elec tion returns, and they are un happily aware that the minority groups which have been solid for the Democrats in the North for more than a generation especially the Negroes are slip ping over to the Republicans. This is why the "revolt of the Liberals," however much the Liberals may like and respect Johnson, may not turn out in the end to be quite as dead as it looks now. At any rate it will be interesting to see how the agile and brilliantly astute John son handles the situation in which he now finds himself. 1956 New York Herald Tribune Inc. belong but with this warn- in West Senators all have one senator each on the roster- If Alaska and Hawaii should become states during the 85th Congress, one senator at least from each of these new states would doubtless request a seat on this committtee. Because while statehood, their most im portant bill, would have become law, they would then be in much the same position of the western states in having a great stake in the progress of legislation affect ing resource development. Editorial Comment EDUCATORS GO IF.. WAGE LOW The unofficial news that our favorite professor in our favor ite institution of higher learning in Oregon will leave next year for a higher paying job in anoth er state brings home painfully the urgent need for more funds for higher education. The loss of this professor, recognized world wide as an authority in his field, follows other losses in a pattern which can be described only as an exodus. Our finest professors and our most promising instruc tors and assistant and associate professors are leaving for green er fields to be found in many other states. Oregon cannot afford these losses. At the same time, it can not afford to match the highest competitor, but the state's only hope to keep good educators lies in doing the very best it can for them, which is considerably more than is being done now. Chancellor John Richards has appealed for $47,569,395 in state money from the 1957-58 Legis lature. This is over $14.5 million or 44 per cent more than the 1954-55 Legislature granted and it is money that won't be easy to raise. But the greatest effort must be made to meet the need. It is not only the loss of edu cators which threatens the state, although this, to us, is the great est peril. There are other con siderations such as the growing increase in enrollment and the boom yet to come, the fact that we are even now budgeting less than is needed just for current education costs, and the fact that the economy is now somewhat inflationary and money does not go so far as it used to. A greater increase in enrollment even than what is expected or a marked inflation could just about ruin higher education in Oregon if there were no corresponding in crease in the budget. We don't expect miracles from the Legislature, but we expect improvement in education bud geting. Coos Bay Times. FREIGHT RATES The freight rate increase awarded last week to the rail roads puts the bite again on the farmer of the Northwest. When rail rates go up he gets it, and from two directions. This latest increase of 5 per cent will in crease the farmer's shipping costs on grain approximately of a cent per bushel. He must absorb that. He can't add it to the price he gets for his grain. That isn't the extent of the farmer's loss, however. The man ufacturer who supplies the farm er with machinery and other products adds the freight rate in crease to the cost of those products. All things the farmer uses will cost more. The net ef fect of this double-edged assault is to reduce the farmer's income. This is a situation that will continue to exist until there is a sufficient population in the Northwest to consume the farm produce of the region. Recogniz ing the situation does not, how ever, make it any more palatable for the farmer of the Northwest. Pendleton East Oregonian. DISCRIMINATION Senator Richard L. Neuberger advises that he and Congressman- Elect Charles O. Porter will attempt in the next congres sional session to secure repeal of the 3 per cent federal excise tax on freight shipments. The sen ator contends the tax bears too heavily on Oregon shippers, largely because of the distance between Oregon and great mar kets. The senator has a hatful of facts to back up his contention that the tax is discriminatory. He points out, to cite just one ex ample, that the freight charges on a carload of lumber amounts to S675. if the lumber is shipDed from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. The but $410 if the lumber is shipped fro mAtlanta to Pittsburgh. The Oregon shipper must pay 40 per cent more not only 40 per cent more in freight charges, but 40 per cent more in tax. Thi sen ator says that's discrimination. And it sounds like discrimina tion to us, too. We hope Oregon shippers who are concerned about this prob lem will keep the senator's office supplied with ammunition for his battle to keep Oregon's economy healthy. Politics should be for gotten In this connection and the Republicans and Democrats alike should work together to secure a better break for Oregon prod ucts. Eugene Register-Guard. fx "!i Visa k SOVIET SHAKEUP Maxim Soburev (top), top Soviet eco nomic adviser, was fired as head of State Economic Commission and replaced by First Deputy Premier Mik hail Pervukhin (bottom) in major Moscow sbakeup. Per vukhin has been ordered to step up Russian production and streamline Soviet indus try. Animal Disease Class Scheduled Eagle Point A 10 - week course in "Control and Preven tion of Disease With Farm Ani mals," the first adult education class to be offered at Eagle Point High s c h o o.l, win begin the new vocational agriculture building Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. Classes will be under profes' sional instruction of Dr. E. M Hanawalt, D.V.M., Central Point: and will meet once a week for two hours. Subjects will include symptoms in diagnosis of dis ease, internal parasites and foot diseases. Movies, lectures, ques tion sessions and farm demon strations will be used in the course. Registration will take place at the first class meeting, but late registrations will be accept ed if there is enough room in the class, it was pointed out. There will be a five-dollar charge for the 10 sessions. Of this amount, $3.50 will be for tuition, one dollar for refresh ments and 50 cents for complete supplements of Dr. Hanawalt's notes. Additional information may be obtained from Darrell Stan ley, vocational agricultural ad visory board chairman, or Nat Etzel, vocational agriculture in structor at Eagle Point High school. Threatened Strike Called Off Today Portland (U.R) A threat ened strike by AFL-CIO iron workers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana today has been called off. The threat of a strike in the near future still remained however, as the execu tive board's action only cancel ed the strike deadline. Spokesmen said the deadline was cancelled, pending a meet ing of the full district council Saturday. About 3500 members of the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Orna mental Iron Workers are involv ed in the dispute over wages. Extension of Time Granted in Fong Case Salem (U.R) An extension of time until January 31 was granted the Multnomah county district attorney's office to flie its brief in the case of Sherry Fong, who is under life impris onment sentence for the slaying of her teenage baby sitter. An appeal to the state supreme court from her conviction has been filed by Mrs. Fong. Briefs were filed by her attorney's sev eral days ago. She was convicted by a Mult nomah county jury after a stormy legal proceeding for the slaying of 16-year-old Diane Hank, in Portland in 1954. WATCH FOR JANUARY CLEARANCE SALE! BEGINNING FRIDAY, JANUARY 4 In the Day's News By FRANK JENKINS It seems reasonably certain that in the California legislature that is due to assemble shortly redivision of the state's water will be the No. 1 Issue. This is the situation: The bulk of California's water originates in the northern coun ties that is, the counties lying north of say Sacramento. The bulk of the state's NEED for water lies south of Sacramento. The problem is to 'determine how much of the northern coun ties' water is SURPLUS and therefore can be spared to the rest of the state. The problem is complicated by the fact that at present no one knows what the future needs of the counties where the bulk of the water or iginates will be. TTNDER existing law, the coun ties of origin have a prior right to the use of the water or iginating within their borders. It seems certain that at the com ing session of the legislature an effort will be made to limit this prior right. The battle will devo'op over the terms of the limitatioj. T WOULD be difficult enough at any time to engineer a re- division of California's water supplies that would satisfy both the far north, where the bulk of the water originates, and the areas to the south whose water needs seem to be limitless. But this year it will be harder still. The reason is that presently California is facing a drouth that might turn out to be a bad one. Red Bluff reports the worst drouth in 80 years. Grass that a year ago was green and lush is now dry and sparse. In the past two months, only .28 of an inch of rain has fallen at Sacramento. In the same period, San Diego has had only .18 of an inch 3.73 inches short of normal. The whole San Joaquin valley is far short of normal rainfall. - Los Angeles county has had a bare .46 of an inch since July, as compared with a normal of 4.4 inches. With a possible drouth in the offing, people will be apt to be a lot more particular about a reshuffle of the state's water supplies than they would have been last year, when the big news was the flood situation. UP HERE in Southern Oregon and far Nbrthern California, we believe as firmly as anybody could believe anything that pre cipitation in the form of rain and snow is a NATURAL RE SOURCE. We think that if any body wants to use our water HE SHOULD COME UP HERE AND USE IT. We think it would be the rank est kind of injustice to take our water away from us to be used by people in areas that don't have water enough to go around. Sunshine and year-around sum mer weather are natural re sources that have been responsi ble for much of Southern Cali fornia's spectacular growth. It isn't possible, of course, to MOVE sunshine and year-around summer climate. But if it were possible, we are quite sure up here that Southern California would resent bitterly any at tempt on our part to move them UP HERE. WE WANT it clearly under stood, of course, that if and when it can be proved that over the long years of the future we are going to have more water than we need for our own devel opment we will be wiUing to share our surplus with those who don't have enough water. But we don't know yet what our future water needs will be. Until we do know, we shall be in no position to bargain about disposal of our "surplus" water. Mr. Insurance FRED BRENNAN Phone 2-4940 . SORRY, NO POLICY! We don't hve a policy to cover the breakage of NEW YEAR'S RESOLU TIONS. But we do have a sincere dssire to wish each of you A HEALTHY, HAP PY AND SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR. MEDFORD INSURANCE AGENCY QRFIELD'S
