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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1957)
fTjTISJ MEDFOHD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Mondar. February 23, 1937 Air Pollution From Cities May Have Effect On Plants People Eat, Scientists Believe ty DELOS SMITH Oa)iie Ptnt Scienc Writer ew York U.RJ Because plants breathe, like people, it should surprise no one that sci ence is keenly interested in what polluted Stmospheres do to growing plants, especially plants which people eat. A team of scientists has dem onstrated that one thing atmos pheric pollution can do is to give plants a content of hydro gen fluoride they wouldn't have otherwise. Although a fluoride in a large enough amount is very poison ous, no Oconclusion-jumping is permissible at this staje of knowledge. There is reason to suspect atmosphere pollution has a part ;n causing some can cers in the lungs of people, but that isn't psoven either. Polluted atmospheres are cre ated by cities-, These atmos pheres drift outward for surpris ing stances. Some of the na tion's most productive food growing areas New Jersey, Long Island, and southern Cali fornia, for instance are within reach of drifting city atmos pheres. Fluorine, a gaseous element and extremely poisonous, is to be found among industrial and other fumes rising into city at mospheres. It combines easily with other elements. In the at mosphere it combines with hy drogen, making hydrogen fluo ride. Plant Sicknesses O What interested the plant sci entists of the University of Washington was whether plants took up hydrogen fluoride and in what amounts and at what rates. Plant sicknesses have been appearing in a number of agricultural areas which were attributed to hydrogen fluoride 'breathed" in by the plants. Il-page condensation O from the J3.S0 book: "TheBridgeatAndau"' by James Michener You won't know the heroism behind the barricades of Buda pest nor the horror of Russian Communism until you read this true and tragic story. March Reader's Digest brings you this v?vid, on-the-ot report by famed author James M ichener. It is one of the most devastating indictments of Communist mleever written. Get March Reader's Digest t-your newsstand today: 35 ar ticles of lasting interest, includ ing the best from leading maga zines, newspapers and books, condensed to aavs your time. The scientists grew 40 kinds of plants in fumigation cham bers where the chemical nature of the atmosphere could be pre cisely controlled. They found that only one and one-half parts of hydrogen fluoride per billion parts of atmosphere, were enough to produce visible leaf injury irf 22 of the 40 in a mat ter of weeks. The plants were exposed at this rate for eight hours daily They accumulated more hydro gen fluoride than plants which were exposed either to an at- of fluoride per billion parts for eight hours every third day, or to an atmosphere containing 10 parts per billion for four hours every third day. This suggested, the scientists said, that plants have a 'natural ability to recover from periodic exposures, even at rather high rates. Which is well because city at mospheres vary in their degree of pollution from day to day, even from hour to hour. And, of course, She diffusion of city at mosphere out over agricultural districts is much more variable mosphere containing five parts than that. The scientists were D. F. Adams, J. W. Hendrix, and H. G. Applegate. They reported to a technical journal of the Amer ican Chemical society. A few more words about the fluorides we now have them in tooth pastes and in the drinking water of many municipalities. In very tiny amounts they harden teeth and bones. Before they poison, the amounts have to be consid erable. So a very little bit of hydrogen fluoride" in a carrot could help, rather than harm the rabbit or person who ate it. Reports Indicate That Russian Bomber Strength Over Estimated By CHARLES W. CORDDRY United Press Correspondent Washington (U.R) The gov ernment has reports from inside Russia which indicate the United States greatly overestimated the Soviet Union's heavy jet bomber air strength last year, it was learned Saturday. Discovery of the error ap parently influenced President Eisenhower's decision to cut back Air Force funds for B-52 bomber orders in the fiscal year starting July 1. The Defense Department re leased the erroneous informa tion last year during congres sional furore over the compara tive might of Russian and American air power. New Estimates The new estimates also are a factor in current Pentagon stu dies which may result in cutting the planned B-52 production rate from 20 to 17 a month. The present rate is 10 or II. Ten months ago intelligence estimates indicated Russia had more than 100 Bison Intercon tinental jet bombers compared with 78 B-52's the American Air Force then had. The estimates represent the vast combined evaluations of all government intelligence services. It now appears, according to authoritative sources, that Rus sia probably had no more than 50 Bisons last May and probably will not surpass the United States in numbers in the "foreseeable future." Organized Wings The U. S. Air Force has roughly 150 B-52's o which about 90 have been assigned to two organized combat wings. It will, under present plans, have 11 wings of 45 B-52's each and enough extras to make a total of more than 600 planes some time in 1959. How American Intelligence came to over-estimate Russian production rates was not made clear. After the Russians flew Bison formations over Moscow in May, 1955, the United States revised upward its estimates of Russian aircraft production. General Nathan F. Twining, Air Force Chief of Staff, told the House Appropriations com mittee a' year ago that "we be lieve the Communists can build strength faster than we original ly predicted." More Bisons He said at that time that the Soviet Air Force had "more Bisons than we have B-52's right now and they can maintain this advantage for some time if they keep on the production curve we are now predicting." The United Slates now has about 2,200 B-52, B-36 and B-47 bombers, predominantly B-47 medium-range types. Russia has an estimated 1,100 Bison and Bear heavies and Badger me diums, likewise predominantly medium jet taypes. It is now estimated the Ameri can air fleet will remain at an overall 2,200 allowing for re tirement of older planes like the B-36 into mid-1959, while the Russian fleet will increase to about 2,100 of all types. During the next two years Russia also will have well over 1,000 slow moving piston engine bombers, copies of the World War II American B-29. fv n w ii mm nil..!' ii i ni) i WS"" ""f'M m minu -tv aS? ir vt. - , Woodway Growing Home ... One night 20 years ago I awoke in the solemn watches be fore dawn with an idea that was to take shape as "The West Coast Woodway Growing Home" and which was to be shown, in the form of a mechanized model, all over the land. The basic idea was as old as Adam and Eve and their need to build for. two at first, and then to "add on," when Cain and Abel were born. The original touch was in the thought of "growing" a home from a start of minimum home size and cost a seedling home. "Wood is alive, adaptable, flexible, workable," I mused, in the dawn's early light. "Plant the 'growing home' properly at the start, and if it's wood, then the way is clear and sure for future growth, unit by unit." The idea was taken to Chester Hogue, the founding father of timber engineering in the Pa cific Northwest. He called in an architect to draft the idea into 1 Golly... Guess ) J V- w ( I'll Never Get x fe ' worryy l I ' Vf DRY CLEANING I f will fix it! I I if Too bad this little lady hasn't I f & yet learned our Sanitone Service I I S really does restore like - new frA kx freshness to colors, patterns and K m 14 Nw. texture through cleaning after m K T ifr ii cleaning. So clothes give you a K M dfBSV nl lot more dress-up wear and that's M m wfjS. " Y3 real economy. See for yourself. m I Pto ' cauforsanitne l Free Parking Right at the Door! JJ -e----k I 601 Est Main Street Phone 2-9169 visible shape. A design and speculations were worked up to provide a young couple, as yet childless, with an individ ual 'dwelling unit from modern living at a cost of S3.000.00 (1937 dollars). Programs for two ad ditional future units were pro vided. "Gee Whii . . ." What happened thereafter would fill a book. First, the pic tures and the story were circu lated among all the retail lum ber dealers in the USA by the wesi ioasi LumDerraens asso ciation. Northwest newspapers played up the Woodway Grow ing Home. It was talked about on radio programs. Engineer Hogue had a mechanical model built for exhibition at lumber conventions and at the San Francisco World' Fair. A motor and a geared mechanism raised Unit 1 above a platform. Then up rose Unit 2, and Unit 3. The home "grew" in plain sight. It would disappear and then grow again. The Woodway Growing Home got itself built in many places, and in not a few it grew. One place was in the neighborhood where the missus and I have lived since 1940. A sample of Unit 1 could be seen from our porch. It could be heard, too, for a retired wrestler who bought wine by the barrel resided there. He howled in his sleep. The old wresuer was succeeded by a fine war veteran and his wife and one child. They proceeded to start the house growing out on a plan of their own. And it is still growing strong That's the trouble I've seen in oiner examples. ijiKe raul Bun yan's towering cornstalk, once the Woodway Growing Home was started growing there seem ed to be no way to stop it. 'Right now, one end and one side have a SIXTH addition in new frame roof and floors extending out irom tne old walls, to provide a new kitchen and two new bed rooms for two more children. An overhang on the side is to give the family a modern "lanai" for outdoor living. After 20 years. Gee whiz. Call An Architect ... In my neighborhood case, as in most others, the orginal plan was mainly used as a pattern for individual planning. That is, an architect was called on for counsel. He was shown a design for the first unit room that in cluded minimum size bath, kitchen and utility sub-units, with yet another for double-barreled bunks, dressing room and clothes closet. The units to be grown for the future were, first, two. bedrooms with bathroom, and second, a garage. The first unit really could be built for 53,000.00 (to repeat, in 1937 dollars), with standard, modern equipment. One wealthy couple had an architect adapt the idea for a summer cottage. But, in the main, the appeal was to youth of marriageable age and small income, looking for ward to a growing home for a growing family. When an architect was called in, the Woodway Growing Home idea could really be made to work. And how it WOULD grow! All from a dream at dawn: Gee whiz! A LOST ISLAND Nantucket, Mass, U.R From 1660 to 1692, when it was ceded to Massachusetts, Nan tucket Island belonged to the Province of New York. ft jpQ w5 GOING BACK As members of the mixed Yugoslav-Hungarian Refugee Commission look on, this group of Hun garian refugees waits to cross the border back into Hungary at Baranjsko Petrovo Selo, Yugoslavia. Some 459 Hungarians were repatriated from Yugoslavia. How you can tell if you should take the DALE CARNEGIE COURSE " Do YOU earn enough money? 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