TWO MEDFOBD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Monday. May 27. 1957
RADIOING FOB HELP, five men aboard bamboo raft Tahiti Nui are awaiting arrival
of Chilean frigate Baquedano 900 miles off South American coast. Raging storm dis
abled craft which has floated from Tahiti in attempt to reverse 102-day voyage made
in 1947 by Thor Heyerdahl and crew. Eric De Bisschop, skipper of Tahiti Nui, believes
trip will prove Polynesians settled South America. (International Soundphoto)
Russian Educational System Said
Tougher on Students Than in U.S.
Editor' note: This Is the last of two
dlspatrhes on the Soviet education
system by the vice president and di
rector of the Fund for the Advance
ment of Education established by the
Ford Foundation.
By ALVIN C. EURICH
Written lor United Press
New York (IPI The Russian
looking at our educational sys
tem would probably say, "pret
ty soft."
In Russia, the schools are in
session six days a week, 10
months a year. For the ninth
and 10th grades, youngsters are
in a class about seven hours a
day. They are expected to spefid
another five hours or so on
homework.
Compulsory Education
By 1960 all Russian youth
will be required to complete
secondary education which ex
tends from ages seven to 17.
Such compulsory education is
now in effect for about 70 per
cent of the young people.
Rigid curriculum, including
five years of physics is prescrib
ed by the Ministry of Education.
The only freedom of choice is in
foreign languages, where in
larger schools the student elects
French, German or English. Aft
er making his choice, he studies
the language for six years.
Science Emphasised
Other requirements include 10
years of Russian language and
literature, seven years of history
and social studies, with empha
sis on the Soviet Union and the
Communist Party, 10 years of
arithmetic, four years of chem
istry, one year of astronomy,
years of biology and botany and
six years of geography.
Students also take practical
covrses in surveying, drawing,
machine construction, wood
working, metal working and ag
riculture. And before they finish the
10-year school they must know
how to drive an automobile, a
tractor and a truck.
At the end of the seventh and
10th years the Ministry of Edu
cation checks on the school sys
tem and individual pupils
through state examinations,
written and oral.
College Based on Tests
Admission to a university or
Jome other institute of higher
learning is based on these ex
aminations, scholarship records
and such additional tests as the
faculty may require. Russia has
therefore surpassed us in provid
ing equal opportunity for higher
education in relation to ability
regardless of economic status.
Throughout the Soviet Union
there are almost 800 institutions
of higher learning with more
than 2 million students this year.
For others there are 1,000 post
secondary technical schools
(tekhnikums) training technici
ans for industry, medicine, edu
cation and other fields.
During the next four years the
Russians are likely to graduate
two and one-half to three times
as many engineers and scien
tists as the United States.
System Isn't Static
In contrasting Russia's educa
tion system to ours, I was in
clined at first to think that we
must be educating more crea
tive minds. Then I recalled the
kind of education which pro
duced the creative minds that
spawned our new major develop
ments of this century Einstein,
Fermi, Urey, Bohr, Rutherford
and others.
Most of them were educated
in a system far more rigid than
ours. Without a reexamination,
we must not jump to the con
clusion that our system is better
for developing creative minds.
Nor can we conclude that the
Russians have the best, educa
tional system. They themselves
are working intensively to
broaden and improve it.
The very able director of the
University of Leningrad, A. D.
Alexandrov, in talking with us
about their weak points, said
they must raise ffie quality of
their scientific training, provide
students with more freedom for
study and not merely stuff them
as sausages.
Clearly Russian education is
by no means static. If a thor
ough education means anything
in strengthening a nation, Rus
sia is clearly gaining ground.
wonalYoWSi
dUSa STEVENS
5?
DISCUSSING aerial inspec
tion, President Jbisennower
tells newsmen he does not
think U. S. can agree to
Russia's mile -for -mile pro
posal. (International).
Remember Mallhus?
In the time of Thomas Jeffer
son a grim and gloomy preacher
of the Gospel, the Rev. .T. R.
Malthus, won a considerable
place in the public eye by ex
posing increase in human popu
lation as an evil on the earth.
There was nothing joyful about
babies in his sight. The Rev.
Malthus looked on babies and
warned, "Stop having 'em, folks,
or there'll be hell to pay."
Nobody paid the doctrine
much notice in this country. The
Louisiana Purchase was made,
the Lewis and Clark expedition
was concluded. Too little land?
Too many people? Phooey!
Europe was over-crowded
with humanity, to be sure
famished, diseased, miserable
humanity. Many wise men saw
eye to eye with Malthus there.
But most European people were
not wise. They went right on
having babies, amid disease,
misery and starvation.
And so they do today, with
Europe suffering a hundred mil
lion more people now than when
World War II began. With
babies being born in this coun
try at the rate of seven a min
ute, we of the U.S.A. are be
ginning to take the old-time
warnings of the Rev. Malthus
right seriously. We know that
nothing breeds Communism like
hunger, cold, disease , and .poor
housing. Thus, slum clearance.
But where's it to- end?
Where's hope? Maybe in trees.
Too Many Trees
Militarists have used the ideas
of Malthus to justify war as a
"necessity," as an old, tried and
true means of reducing over
population. But it hasn't worked
that way, even in Communist
China, where famine and pesti
lence have helped war kill peo
ple off and so somewhat restrict
population growth.
Ten years ago we read how
the Swedes have lived well
through the war on "oceans of
milk" from cows that were fed
on proteins made from wood.
That process has been steadily
improved. There are 'many
other processes that promise in
creased use of the forests to sup
ply food and clothing for which
the raw material is now prin
cipally grown on acreage classi
fied as "crop land."
If the world has too many
people, it also has too many
trees. In the United States latest
surveys show that growth ex
ceeds harvest. The last credible
report from the Soviet Union
tells that annual growth in Si-
berian forests is eight times an
nual cut. Then, too many trees
yet bar exploration from vast
areas of the earth. Those trees
may feed people.
Our Own Food Forest . . .
The United States has around
550 million acres of crop land
and 489 million acres of com
mercial forest land. Our govern
ment and the general public
still do not value the nation's
forest acreage enough to jail
the morons and arsonists who
cause the burning of millions of
acres a year. We still think of
the forest as simply a source of
lumber, and. lumber is looked
on as the most of anything
valuable in use that a dollar will
buy nowadays.
When we come to the point of
eating lumber, as more babies
are born per minute, year by
year, then we shall learn, better
appreciation of the real values
of the forest. "Meals make the
man," said Paul Bunyan. And
science will produce pine pap
and fir gruel for the babies, hem
lock steaks for the men, and
spruce salads and tea for the
ladies. Come and get it!
Hens' Intake, Output
Claimed Increased
Ithaca, Ne. Y. (IP) While hens
have increased their output by
39 per cent in the past 30 years,
their intake has increased by 38
per cent during the same period
of time, according to Prof. C. D.
Kearl, economist at the New
York State College of Agricul
ture at Cornell University.
"There has been only a very
insignificant decrease in the
amount of feed required to pro
duce a dozen eggs in the past
quarter century, he said, adding
that no one yet has been able to
do much about getting more eggs
from less feed.
Kearl attributed any reduc
tions in cost of feed per dozen
eggs to efficiencies in milling
and grain handling or from using
less costly materials in the ra
tion.
Hens in 1925 produced about
136 eggs a year, but in recent
times they have increased to 189
a year. But to keep up with the
increased laying, feed require
ments during the same nerind
jumped from 79 pounds to 109
pounds.
The feed item is of serious con
cern to farmers, Kearl said, ac
counting for 55 per cent of the
cost of producing eggs. He said
a survey showed that feed cost
$4.23 out of $7.59 net cost of
producing eggs per layer.
Tito Celebrates
65lh Birthday
Belgrade, Yugoslavia HP
President Tito celebrated his
65th birthday Saturday by at
tending "Youth Day" ceremon
ies along with more than 50,000
of his countrymen.
The president received the ba
ton used in the youth relay to
mark his birthday. Tito initiated
the organization of this first
"youth day" to replace his tra
ditional birthday celebrations.
Among the congratulatory
messages received by Tito was
one from Soviet President Kli
ment Voroshilov who sent "best
wishes of health and fruitful ac
tivity for the progress of So
cialism in your country and the
strengthening of friendship be
tween our peoples."
Only yesterday Tito said in
an interview in the official news
paper Politika that -Yugoslavia
should maintain good relations
with Russia and other eastern
countries.
Germany's Plan To Use Suicide Squadron
And Piloted Missile in Last War Revealed
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Sunnyvale, Calif. (ffl The i
little-known story of Adolph
Hitler's "suicide squadron" and
the piloted model of the VI buzz
bomb missile was related here
the other day by a mild-mannered
scientist who was once
one of Germany's top rocket and
jet experts.
It is the story of a desperate
plan by a group of Nazi fanatics,
led by an attractive woman test
pilot, who hoped to turn the tide
of World War II with a German
version of the Japanese "kami
kaze" corps.
Fortunately, the war ended
before the Nazis could pull the
trigger on this secret weapon.
But when the armistice was
signed in May of 1945, some 250
manned models of the VI jet
missile were ready to fly with
1,000-pound explosive warheads
built into their noses.
The story of this bizarre facet
of the European war was told to
the United Press by Willy A.
Fiedler, the man who designed
and first flew the suicide missile.
Given U.S. Award
Fiedler, a soft-spoken man of
49, came to the United States in
1948 as a missile consultant to
the U.S. Navy and subsequently
was given the Distinguished
Civilian Service Award for his
contributions to America's defense.
He is now employed by the
Lockheed Aircraft Company's
Missiles Division here as a mem
ber of the technical staff devel
oping the Polaris intermediate
ballistic missile.
During World War II, Fiedler
was a leading engineer and chief
test pilot for the Fieseler Air
craft Company at Kassel, Ger
many, and was one of the origi
nal designers of the VI pulse jet
missile with which Germans
started bombarding England dur
ing 1944.
Fiedler said the idea of the pi
loted version of the missile
started late in 1943 when "some
idealistic people began to worry
about the consequences of losing
the war.
He said a group of these peo
ple, reportedly several thousand
strong, volunteered to give their
lives to prevent this from hap
pening and demanded the piloted
model of the VI as a suicide
plane to carry out their mission.
"With them it was not so
much a question of Hitlerism,"
he said. "It Aas a question of
Germany or no Germany."
Woman Pushed Idea
Strangely enough, the guiding
force behind this suicide corps
was a woman, Fiedler said. She
was Hanna Reitsch, Germany's
leading woman test pilot and a
confidant of Hitler himself. She
was one of the first volunteers
and the one who had the stand
ing and the audacity to go to
Hitler and suggest the plan.
"Hitler did not give his out
right permission for the suicide
idea," Fiedler recalled. "But he
did give his approval for us to
build the plane they wanted."
The engineer said the volun
teers were eventually attached
to Bom Squadron KG200 to
await further orders. "They all
signed papers declaring they
were willing to die for the mis
sion," he said.
"I don't know how many
there actually were," Fiedler
said. "I heard there were 15,
000, but suspect the number was
more like several hundred. I,
myself, met about 10 of them."
Fiedler described Hanna
Reitsch as a small, attractive
woman of about 30 years old.
"She had intense blue eyes and
a good, firm handshake," he said.
"She could captivate people
very easily."
Fiedler said his company
dubbed the project "Reichen
berg" and placed him in full
charge of developing the dead
ly offspring of Germany's first
guided missile.
Due to the nature of its design
and small fuel supply, the VI
plane could not take off by it
self, but had to be dropped from
a mother plane much the same
as the X-model rocket planes
now being flown in this coun
try. Two Planes Crashed
Fiedler was the first man to
successfully fly . the VI. after
two other test pilots had crashed
in their attempts to try out the
tricky little buzz bomb.
He said he nearly came a
cropper himself on his first
flight.
The first flight lasted only 10
or 12 minutes, he said. The
plane reached 450 miles an hour
and had to be landed on a
wooden skid-type landing gear
"I came in too high and too
fast," he said, "and by the time
it stopped skidding, the nose
was sticking between two posts
marking the end of the run
way." Fiedler said the plan was to
use the VI planes as aerial
depth bombs in an attempt to do
what the German U-boat fleet
had failed to do stop the Allied
shipping and prolong the con
flict until the country's war ma
chine could get back in gear.
The tactics were to crash the
plane in front of Allied ships
and sink them with underwater
explosions.
"About 250 of the planes were
finished and ready to fly war
heads and all when the war
ended, but none was ever used,"
the German scientist said.
"Actually, a few of the suicide
pilots were asked to fly against
Russian trains in the latter stage
of the war, but they declined be
cause they didn't feel the target
was worth the sacrifice," he
said.
Fiedler said he had always
been thankful his suicide plane
was never used.
"It probably would have pro
longed the war," he said, "and
that would only have brought
the atomic bomb into Germany."
Holmes Hits at
Opposition Factors
Pendleton (IP) Oregon Gov.
Robert Holmes hit hard at the
opposition factors in the Oregon
Senate in a speech before more
than 250 Umatilla county Demo
crats here Sunday.
He said the Democrats' ac
complishments in the legislature
were pretty good "for the first
time at bat." He said if it hadn't
been for the 15-15 situation in
the Senate, it would have been
much better.
"The Democratic party in
1958," said Holmes, "is the par
ty that will return with a smash
ing victory in the legislature."
"During the past session," he
said, "both parties have had to
assume new rolls. In all candor,
I have to admit both of them
made mistakes, but the Demo
crats have done a little better
job of learning than our Repub
lican brethern. We lost progress '
only by what I can term as the
obstructionism of the 15 Repub
lican senators."
Fourth Air Force
Commander Moved
Hamilton AFB, Calif. Maj.
Gen. Robert B. Landry, USAF,
commander of the Fourth Air
Force, is to assume new duties
as assistant deputy chief of staff
for personnel, headquarters
United States Air Force, Wash
ington, D.C., effective July 1.
He has commanded the
Fourth Air Force since January,
1955, having been deputy com
mander of the Second Air Force
of the Strategic Air Command
prior to that time.
The Fourth Air Force is in
charge of all Air Reserve activ
ity in the eight western states,
trains and inspects the Air Na
tional Guard, and is the coor
dinator for search and rescue
operations for all military and
government agencies in the
eight states.
The new commander to suc
ceed General Landry has not
been named.
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