FOUR -MEDFORD (OREGON)
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Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30 and
40 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
May 12, 1947 (Monday)
Annual pear packing school,
sponsored by the Fruit Growers
league and the Vocational Edu
cation unit, will be held here
July 14-26.
From Arthur Perry's Ye
Smudge Pot column: The latest
automotive invention is a "tube
less tire." This will be good
news to thousands of car-less
drivers.
20 YEARS AGO
May 12. 1937 (Wednesday)
Jackson county expenditures
up to May 1, are 38 per cent
below the budget allowances
and 29.8 per cent of the budget.
Jersey breeders of the Rogue
river valley will hold a picnic
and tour Saturday. '
30 YEARS AGO
May 12. 1927 (Thursday)
C. C. Chapman, editor of the
Oregon Voter, Portland, dis
cusses general tax situation
throughout the state at Lions
club meeting.
Pupils of Medford schools fa
vor adoption of Meadow Lark as
the state bird, according to Ore
gon Audubon society survey.
40 YEARS AGO
Miy 12. 1917 (Saturday)
A 5,000-foot mountain pea
in the vicinity of Jacksonville
will be named by the Grizzlies
after Will G. Steel, superintend
ent of Crater Lake National
park.
Local chapter of the Girls N
tional Honor .Guard holds first
drill practice, under direction
of Captain Vance.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct Is superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five or
six Is good.
1. Charles Goodyear complet
ed the process of vulcanization
of rubber in 1844. Did he dis
cover the secret of vulcaniza
tion? 2. Is it correct to say "geisha
girls"?
3. Bible: What was Paul's
trade?
4. What immortal sentence was
spoken by the patriot Nathan
Hale on the eve of 'his execu
tion during the Revolutionary
War?
5. Is Iran in the Near East or
the Far East?
6. What family of actors has
been called "The Royal Family-"
7. Yehudi Menuhin is famed
as a -
8. Which breed of cat is fa
mous for being tailless?
9. "Either" means "one" or
"the other of two," and is singu
lar. Neither" is also singular:
does it also refer to only 'two"?
10. "Better late than never."
Livy. "For better than never is
late." Chaucer. Whose is the
earlier proverb?
Answers: 1. Yes. about 15
years earlier; 2. No, "geisha"
means girl or airls and it is
unnecessary and improper to
add girl or girls; 3. Tentmaker;
4. 'I only regret that I have but
one life to lose for my coun
try"; 5. Near East; 6. The Barry
more; 7. Violinist; 8. Manx; 9.
No; 10. Livy.
MAIL TRIBUNE
Editorial Correspondence
New York, N.Y., May 7th It is the same time, the same place
and the same rooms, but it is not like getting home. Which is for
tunate, for we were seeking a change. And from Main Street,
Medford, to Madison and 69th, New York City, in three nights is
QUITE a change.
We stopped in Chicago for luncheon with an old friend and it
was a beautiful day, for Chicago. Chicago isn't famous for its good
weather. The "old friend" has lost little of his hair and none of his
sense of humor. He has been spending his winters at the "Smoke
Tree" in Palm Springs and related how he played a good deal of
bridge. One night he had a new partner, a visiting Englishman
about his own age, who was apparently quite a choleric old John
Bull. It seems spades were trumps and when the Britisher refused
to follow F.R.D. (NOT F.D.R.!) made the customary inquiry, "No
spades partner?" "J.B." drew back, bristled, then leaning toward
his partner said testily:
"You play your game and I will play mine!"
(We are sure Roy Pruitt, Medford's veteran bridge player and
crack golfer will appreciate that, if no other members of the
Medford bridge colony do.)
He also had a good golf story.
He was playing golf at Chandler, Arizona, also with an English
man and" a caddy equally advanced in years. He (the friend) was
having his usual trouble looking up and thus lousing up his shot.
Noting that the venerable caddy seemed much concerned with the
results also, he asked him how to correct it.
The caddy deliberated for some time, looked F.R.D. over
appraisingly, then remarked:
"I think the best way would be for you to grow a long white
beard, and then stand on it!"
Chicago has wonderful Lake Shore drive and in spots is a
beautiful city, but anyone judging it from a train window com
ing in and going out as we did would never suspect it. In fact it
is about the most sordid, trappy and depressing metropolis in the
U.S.A. from that viewpoint.
We hated to leave the "City of Portland," .so" clean, courteous,
and thinly populated, but never suspected what a complete and
shocking change the New York Central and our old friend the
"Commodore Vanderbilt" would be. It wasn't from the frying
pan into the fire exactly but it was from one of the finest trans
continental trains to one of the worst. No wonder Promoter
Young has taken the NYC from the red to the black. The demand
is so strong there are two sections running an hour apart and if
there were any unoccupied seats we failed to note them. The
dining and club cars the same, noisy, dirty, confused, and the
prices at least in the diner were 25 higher and the food less
than half as 'good. As for the road bed Lord we grant a high
speed is maintained, but anyone susceptible to "car sickness"
should never ride on the C.V.
They use life belts on planes and are putting them on some of
the new cars, but the Commodore Vanderbilt furnishes the type
of transportation that REALLY needs them. In sharp contrast to
the Union Pacific, everything is too crowded and hectic to THINK
of good considerate courteous service, much less give it.
We know what is the matter with the NYC just as we know
what is the matter with the "Friendly SP" altho neither the two
railroad chiefs or many of the long suffering travelling public will
believe us. The "matter" is briefly: the fixed policy of both rail
roads is not how to best serve the public but how to best satisfy
the stockholders and the big bankers. It is with both not a question
of public service, but solely a question of PROFITS! Commodore
Vanderbilt in fact originated the idea; when he was told about cer
tain public demands in the line of better service, he coined that
long-surviving phrase "The public be DAMNED." And he meant it.
The logical outcome of persistence in that policy is public
ownership and operation of railroads, but all that sort of talk
is dismissed as "creeping socialism." We don't want public owner
ship either, but if it comes railroad heads such as those in control
of the SP and NYC, not the long-suffering public, will be to blame
for it. ;
This is our first trip to New York in three or four years. It is
still an incredible place, one must really see it to believe it and
even then one is in the fix of the King of Siam who really did not
know if what he knew to be true really was.
It is a place where everyone knows the price of things but no
one knows their value. That is not original with us but we have
forgotten who coined the phrase,
tion. It is a supremely materialistic Babylon and yet the more one
really comes to know the place the more obvious are the excep
tions. One just has to live from day to day and not become too an
alytical or subjective about it, or he won't get the enjoyment he
should out of it.
As always at home or abroad the weather is important. We
might say that ever since leaving
the Weather Bureau has done a perfect job. It is a bit on the hot
side in New York as this is written, but the sun is setting in a
cloudless sky, and above the sky scrapers (wonderful term!) the
big passenger planes are coming in from the Pacific Coast and
starting out.
Under the heading of "coincidental" intelligence the Leonard
Carpenters, formerly of Medford now of Carmel, California, arriv
ed by plane the day we arrived by train and as chance would
have it, took our old rooms at this hotel on the 6th floor while
they flew us up to the 15th. It is cooler and quieter up here and
one can feast on the greenery of the tree tops in Central Park
only a block away. When the grand children come down from
Mt. Kisco, the zoo at the park will be a great "escape."
Later: Just returned from a stroll down Madison Avenue and
back. Much the same as things were four years ago. A few chang
es however; the Madison Ave. busses are 15 instead of 10 cents;
the dress shops appear a bit more
distaff side ; women old and young are smokmg on the streets as
before only more so; and both sexes pay no heed to red lights but
only to the traffic. They go against the "light" whenever a free
space appears, and why more pedestrians aren't killed is as much
a mystery as it was in 1953. One reason we believe is the cross
town traffic is too congested to go fast, the average pace is so
slow and the NY pedestrians are such artful dodgers, that casual
ties are exceedingly rare. The number of French poodles and well
groomed dachshunds seem about
walk (for a pedestrian) is close to
Matter of Fact
Defense: Put Up or Shut Up
Washington A dramtic pro
posal which could revolutionize
American defense planning is
under serious
c o nsideration
by the top De
fense Science
Board and
Secretary o f
Charles W i 1
son. The plan is
simply to take
the ancient
1 A A 1 - 1
Stewait All op o a i n e s ue-
tween the services, which have
so long plagued the defense ef
fort, out of the realm of theore
tical argument, and subject the
services' claims and counter
claims to actual, physical, put-up-or-shut-up
tests.
Takeone example. Air Force
spokesmen have long claimed
that the Navy's huge super-carrier
program is a waste of the
taxpayers' money. The carriers
and their huge supporting task
forces, the Air Force claims, are
sj vulnerable to nuclear attack
that they would be blasted out
of existence in the first days of
a war.
Sunday. May 12. 1957
whoever did had keen percep
Medford last Saturday morning
elaborate and attractive to the
the same and the place NOT to
the curb. RWR.
By Stewart Alsep
HPHIS charge was made most
-- recently in testimony before
a House committee by Secretary
of the Air Force Donald Quarles
and the Air Force Chief of Staff,
Nathan Twining. The Quarles
Twining testimony enraged the
Navy, the more particularly be
cause both have since moved up
in the Defense heirarchy, Quarl
es to Deputy Secretary of De
fense, Twining to Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs. (The Quarles
testimony ensures, incidentally,
that he will move all the way
up, to replace Wilson as Secre
tary of Defense, only over the
Navy's dead body.)
In testimony before the same
committee, former Secretary of
the Navy Charles Thomas and
Chief of Naval Operations Ar
leigh Burke hotly denied the Air
Force claim. They contended
that a Naval task force would
be difficult to locate at sea; and
that even if located, the task
force's powerful air defense
would prevent the attacking
planes from destroying the big
carriers.
This is the Navy line, as it
has been for years, ever since
the Air Force first began attack
ing the carrier program. The
k Okay,okav but when i gbtbg m qdma
( HAVE HOT DOGS FOR BREAKFAST "
purpose of the plan submitted
to Wilson (which was largely
originated by former Assistant
Secretary of Defense Clifford
Furnas) is simply to settle such
ancient arguments once and for
all.
A NAVY task force, for exam
ple, could be given the mis
sion of launching simulated carrier-borne
attacks on the East
Coast of the United States. The
Air Force would be given the
mission of finding and destroy
ing the task force before it could
perform its mission. Modern
techniques for simulating com
bat conditions, proponents of the
plan contend, are such that sev
eral such tests" would rather con
clusively settle the hoary dis
pute one way or another.
Other disputes also need set
tling. The Navy now charges (as
it charged of the old B-36) that
the Air Force strategic bombers,
the B-52 and B-47, are far more
vulnerable to interception by
modern jet fighters than the Air
Force admits. This charge is the
main basis for the Navy's claim
that other means of delivering
the nuclear weapons, like carrier-borne
planes and submarine-launched
missiles are essen
tial to maintain this country's
long range striking power.
Again, this dispute could be
subjected to a put-up-or-shut-up
test, by pitting the Navy's su
personic interceptors against the
heavy .bombers. Other such tests
could also be made the ex
pensive air defense Dew Line
Today and
By. Walter
POPULARITY AND POWER
The President has been at a
loss to understand why, after his
enormous victory in November,
he has run in
to such heavy
opposition in
Congress. His
majority, h e
teems to
think, was a
national man
date from the
people which
ought to be
Walter Uppmann obeyed not on
ly by the Republicans in Con
gress but by the responsible
Democrats as well.
Yet, in fact, there is virtually
no connection between the pop
ular vote for Eisenhower in No
vember and what the Congress
is willing to vote for now.
The Republicans in Congress
are led by men "like Mr. Know
land and Mr. Bridges who are
opposed to the President on
many of the critical issues of the
budget and of foreign policy.
The Eisenhower Republicans, as
Sen. Francis Case put it, are
those who greatly admire Presi
dent Eisenhower and resolve
most of their doubts in his fa
vor. They are a small minority.
The Democrats, who gave the
President such effective support
after they won control of Con
gress in 1954, are now a partisan
opposition preparing for the
Congressional elections of 1958.
In Congress today the practical
politicians who manage the two
parties are acting on the assump
tion that the voters will not pun
ish them if they oppose the
President and will not reward
them if they support him.
Thus, despite his great per
sonal majority, the President
has no party behind him, and
he finds himself unable to trans
late his popularity into the hard
cash of practical political power.
TN THE famous broadcast of
Feb. 29, 1956 when, after his
recovery from his heart attack,
he explained his decision to run
for a second term, the President
was already concerned with this
problem. He knew he had not
succeeded, as he had hoped to,
in rallying the Republicans be
hind him. "The work," he said,
"that I set out four years ago to
do has not yet reached the state
of development and fruition
that I then hoped could be ac
complished within the- period of
a single term in this office."
p
could be tested under battle con
ditions, and so could the Air
Force forward base system,
which the Navy claims is a sit
ting duck for surprise attack.
THE IDEA of testing the con
flicting claims of the serv
ices is of course an old one
it goes right back to Billy Mitch
ell. But both Generals and Ad
mirals tend to regard with hor
ror all such proposals.
They argue that the tests might
give an enemy valuable infor
mation; that real combat condi
tions cannot be duplicated; that
the tests are sure to be weighted
in favor of one service or an
other; and so on. Actually, their
basic fear is that cherished stra
tegic concepts and cherished
budgets will be upset in the
process.
The resistence to the plan for
actual tests is so fierce that the
whole thing may come to noth
ing in the end. But, both for bud
getary reasons and because the
new weapons have knocked so
many old strategic concepts in
to cocked hat, there is also
heavier pressure than ever be
fore for a serious new evalua
tion of American defense plan
ning. Obviously, the best way
to make such a new evaluation
is not in theory and on paper,
but in actual tests in the air and
on the sea. Thus the proposal
Secretary Wilson is now con
sidering may yet transform and
vastly improve the defense of
the United States.
(c) 1957 New York Herald
Tribune Inc.
Tomorrow
Lippmann
What was this uncompleted
work? It was the conversion of
the Republican party to what it
has since become the fashion to
call "modern Republicanism"
to a "program," as he put it in
his broadcast, that "adapts gov
ernmental methods to changing
industrial, economic, and social
conditions."
He thought that he had not
brought about this adaptation
because four years were not a
long enough time, and that he
could bring it about in his sec
ond term. But as a matter of
fact, his political power is de
clining, not increasing, and he
faces more trouble to drum up
support now than he did in his
first term.
'
CTHE decline of his power is no
doubt connected with the
fact that he can never run again.
But why is it that he has not
been able to translate his great
personal popularity into effec
tive political power? Franklin
Roosevelt became the undisput
ed leader of the Democratic par
ty in his first term. Why did not
President Eisenhower?
There are, so it seems to me,
two main reasons.
The first is .that he had never
understood, or at least has never
been willing to believe in, the
measures by which practical pol
iticians translate popularity into
power. He has wanted to remake
the Republican party in the fif
ties as Roosevelt remade the
Democratic party in the middle
thirties. But he has never been
willing to break the eggs that
are needed for the omelet. He
has hoped that the Republicans
who did not share his views
would have a change of heart,
that his own sincerity and gen
iality would win them over. He
has never been willing to do
what practical political leaders
have to do, which is to fill the
posts of command with men who
share their views, to defend and
to reward their supporters, and
to put out or put down their
opponents.
TTE HAS thought of himself as
accomplishing his hopes for
the Republican party by stand
ing above that party. From that
eminence he would be the radia
tion of his popularity change
the course of American political
history. This image of the presi
dency has in fact done much to
increase his personal popularity.
He has kept aloof from the con-
Communications
Letters to the Editor must bear
the name and address of the writer
although under certain circum
stances the use ot 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 conden
sation. Letters submitted for pub
lication must not exceed 400 words
Demands Safeguards
To the Editor: Enclosed is a
copy of a letter to P.U.C. in Sa
lem, as to the lack of safety in
Medford city limits re railroads
operations. I feel more such good
editorials are indicated to arouse
the citizens of our town to de
mand action by authorities for
proper protective measures,
such as train speed limit of 10
miles an hour within our city
limits, and safeguard rails at
ALL crossings, and an over-pass
or under-pass at the important
intersections.
M. J. Fowler, M.D.
815 East Main Street,
Medford, Ore.
Dr. Fowler's letter to the Pub
lic Utilities Commission fol
lows: t
As one of the vitally inter
ested, aroused citizens of Med
ford, Ore., I urge your immedi
ate thorough investigation of the
auto-train crash here on Wed
nesday, May 8, 1957. I plead
for restricting safety measures
to be enforced, upon ALL RAIL
ROAD ACTIVITIES within our
city limits, in agreement with
the excellent editorial fron- our
r-wspaper, enclosed.
M. J. Fowler, M.D.
815 East Main Street,
Medford, Ore.
When Do We Do Something?
To the Editor: I have just read
the account of the tragic death
of a Medford woman at the
Stewart Avenue railroad cross
ing, and since I was born and
raised within half a mile from
this particular place, I have
taken a special interest in the
account. WHEN are the city of
ficials and the people of Med
ford going to do something
about the crossings in my home
town?
Surely this tragedy would
have been averted if the city,
with perhaps the co-operation of
the Southern Pacific, had pro
vided underpasses. The same
thing could happen at the Sixth
and the Main Street crossings
where there are traffic signals
at the next intersections. And
during the fruit season, how
many times does one find that
it is impossible to cross the
tracks at any of the not too
numerous crossings?
During the war years I. lived
for a .time at Abilene, Texas,
which small city is separated
by. railroad tracks BUT each
crossing is provided with an un
derpass and at that time Abi
lene had approximately the same
population that Medford has
now. Perhaps we might take a
troversies which arouse opposi
tion and cause unpopularity.
But, though it has increased
his popularity, it has diminished
his influence. For men do not
follow leaders who do not lead,
and they do not care to be shot
at while their commanders are
appeasing their foes.
THE second big reason why he
has not succeeded in becom
ing the leader of a regenerated
party is that, quite sincerely and
genuinely, he has incompatible
objectives. He would like to be
a "modern Republican" in pro
moting welfare measures and an
internationalist in foreign pol
icy. But he would also like to be
somewhere between Secretary
Humphrey and Senator Byrd
when it comes to paying for
modern Republicanism.
. On the one hand he would
like, as he said in his accept
ance speech to the San Francis
co convention, to make the Re
publicans "the party of the fu
ture" and to meet the "new
kinds of challenge of Federal
and local governments: water
supply, highways, health, hous
ing, power development and
peaceful uses of atomic energy.
With two-thirds of us living in
big cities, questions of urban or
ganization and redevelopment
must be given high priority.
Highest of all, perhaps, will be
the priority of first class educa
tion to meet the demands of our
swiftly growing school age pop
ulation." But while meeting these big
challenges, he would like at the
same time to reduce rather than
to expand the functions of the
Federal government and to
avoid somehow the rise in Fed
eral expenditures which is un
avoidable if the challenges are
to be met.
THIS incompatability within
his own philosophy has come
to a head in the present budget.
As presented, the budget reflects
a cautious and moderate attempt
to meet the challenges and to
act like the modern Republican
party which he desires. But as
this means money, and therefore
a big budget, it runs counter to
the other side of his philosophy.
As a result, he presented a mod
ern Republican budget and then
did not defend it against its un
modern Republican critics.
It is not easy for him to have
his cake with George Humphrey
and also to eat it with Arthur
Larson.
(Copyright, 1957 New York
Herald Tribune, Inc.)
POYLUCCC
(By M-T Staff and Contribution)
Jack Creager, the obliging
telephone company manager,
tells us there's been a little con
fusion, but not much, in the re
cent change-over to the use of
exchange prefixes for telephones
hereabouts.
Most people have discovered
by this time that in calling a
number in their own exchange
(from a SPring number to an
other SPring number, for in
stance) it isn't necessary to dial
the prefix letters. It is necessary,
however, in dialing to another
exchange.
We're glad the transition was
made smoothly. And perhaps,
for some of us forgetful folk,
it's a good thing the prefix isn't
always necessary. It's a good
thing, too, for the nice lady at
the telephone office who receiv
ed a call for Jack Creager the
other day, and asked the caller
to dial him at another number.
She politely gave the caller the
number 2-6101 and like the
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
Bulletin from Washington:
The education and labor com
mittee of the house of represen
tatives has approved a one and
a half billion dollar federal
school construction bill.
The committee vote was 20
to 9, including considerable
sentiment in the house for fed
eral aid for construction of
schools.
flUESTION:
l If this bill should become
law, how much would Oregon
get?
Let's do a little rough figur
ing. Oregon has approximately
one per cent of the population
of the United States. So with
out knowing what the exact
formula for the distribution of
the school construction money
among the states may be it can
be assumed that Oregon would
get about one per cent of the
federal dole.
One per cent of $1,500,000,
000 amounts to 15 million dol
lars.
THAT, admittedly, isn't hay.
But
Before concluding that this 15
million dollars would be a free
gift from kind old Uncle Sam,
let's take a look in the horse's
mouth.
In other words, how much
might it cost us to accent the
gift? -
ON that point, some figures
compiled by the National Tax
Foundation, Inc., are interest
ing.
These figures show that for
every dollar received from the
federal treasury in 1956 Ore
gon PAID BACK to the federal
treasury, in the form of federal
taxes, the sum of 96 cents.
That is to say:
Out of each dollar received
in 1956 from our good old uncle,
only FOUR CENTS was manna
from heaven.
It doesn't amount to much,
does it?
LET'S put it this way:
If this billion and a half
is appropriated for school con
struction in the states and if
Oregon gets one per cent of it
or 15 million dollars we will
pay back to Uncle Sam (on the
basis of our experience last year)
$14,400,000.
That would mean that at the
best the net avlue of the gift
would be only some $600,000.
And quite a little might be
squeezed out of that in the pro
cess of sending our dollars to
Washington and then getting
our share of them back.
All in all, it looks to me like
it would be better for Oregon
to pay for the schools she needs
out of her own pocket and be
done with it.
lesson from the Texans.
My heartfelt sympathy goes
out to Mr. Donovan and I think
It should be accompanied with
the sympathy and the apologies
of every citizen of Medford.
Mrs. C. M. J.
I (Name on File)
Sandy, Ore.
More "Dynamite"?
To the Editor: Someone has
said "Religious argument is dy
namite." Here is a spiritually
poetic bombshell by Margaret
Locke, McMinnville, Ore.,
which,' though' it may not con
vince the skeptics, agnostics and
infidels who pit their hearts and
minds against that of their great
Creator, will at least expand
their thinking powers:
O skeptic, can you make a star
Like those that gleam in heaven
afar?..
Can you make a honey bee?
O skeptic, can you make a sky?
Can you make a bird and make
it fly?
And can you make a tree?
Can von make a lilv fair.
v -
An ocean wide, or sunset rare?
Or create a being line you?
And let me say, until you can
Believe in God,' poor, puny
man
Believe that He is true.
Eleanor M. Johnston,
1620 Ferry St.,
Salem, Ore.
rest of us forget to give the
SPring prefix.
Our city editor never seems
to get flustered, or harried,
or particularly bothered, no
matter how high the pressure
of newsroom life becomes. Ha
takes it all in stride, walking
slowly, talking slowly, and '
getting a tremendous amount
of work done. We learned the
secret of his equanimity the
other day, when he comment-
ed. "I'm glad I'm too stupid
to have problems."
The copy of the Mail Tribune
destined for the Neva Clarke
residence at 904 South Thirrl
St., Jacksonville, disappeared
each day quite regularly for a
time recently, baffling both the
occupants of the house and Trib
une Carrier Gordie Kirtland,
who was careful to dace it ir.
the box on the fence.
The mvsterv was solved th
other day, though. Young Kirt
land saw a small, part-toy Shep
herd dog laboriously reach up,
to the box, extract the paper,'
and trot away with it. It de
veloped he had a growing cache
or old Mail Tribunes.
Bette Hoskins. our corrcsnnnii.
ent who told us this storv. savs
it's hard to decide if he was
just being a dog-goned nuisance,
a faithful reader, or a new sub
scriber. One of Medford's prominent
citizens has been losing
weight. Asked how to do it.
he declared. "It's real easy,
and you can eat anything you
want as long as you don't
swallow.".
Some i time ago we (in our
capacity as Potluck editor) re
ceived a long, ungrammatical
and involved note from a young
man of our acquaintance, tell
ing about an experience he had
in Ashland one time earlier this
year.
It seems he was in a music
store, and was approached by
an officer who started question
tioning him. Our young friend
started to explain, then began
"dropping names" to the offi
cer, because, he said, "I found
out it isn't who I am, but it is
what I know about what some
body else is which gets the mes
sage across."
The officer apparently thought
the young man was' somebody
else a situation the , victim
found distasteful, because, "It's
just that I don't think I'm the
kind of boy who would look like
somebody else, . particularly the
kind of person wtio would make
a meterman act hesitant."
For some time we have
been confused about the little
town in northern California
known variously as "Hilt" and
"Hilts." Some maps show it
one way. some another. The
postal guide uses the "s" and
postmarks from the town also
have the "s".
Mrs. H. H. Chapman, our
Hornbrook correspondent, was
in town yesterday, and told
us most people there are con
futed, too, and that she be
lieves "either or both" names
are correct. It was named aft
er the early-day Hilt family.
Wilmer Hilt, son of the town's
founder, lives in Ashland, she
reported.
We speculated that before
it was a town it was known as
"Hilt's place," and that when
the town grew up. some peo
ple continued saying "Hilts."
dropping the apostrophe, and
others dropped the "s" alto
gether. If anyone wonders how the
MT's facelifting and remodeling
job is coming along, it's com
ing along fine. Should be com
pleted in another week or two.
Meanwhile, the saws continue
to whine, the hammers to pound,
and the staff members to be
confused.
The job superintendent, who
doubles as business manager,
says he may have to print maps
for us so we can find our way
around until we get used to it.
Boyer Speaks at
Tillamook Meeting
Robert Boyer, Medford attor
ney and Democratic state chair
man, was guest speaker Satur
day at the third in a series of ge
ographic conferences in Tilla
mook for Democratic county
chairmen and workers.
Host for the meeting was Ed
Riddeiusch f county chairman.
The session was geared at con
ditioning the party for the 1958
campaign.
Boyer urged county leaders to
plan $5 a plate dinners to fill
county coffers. He also empha
sized the need for Democratic'
organizations to raise money on
a precinct level.
REPORTS ON SELF
Napoleon, Ohio (U.P.) Police
did a double taken when a 19-yea'r-old
.youth walked into the
police station to report a gas
station robbery. Sharp-eyed of
ficers noticed that the teen-ager
had injured his hand. They final
ly got him to admit that he cut
his hand while breaking into the
station.