Sunday. Jun 9, 1937
MEDFOHD (OREGON) M1?L YSIBTJJJE TJTE
Of 1957 S
usncan Gives ivaluatio
essoon o
(Editor's note: Trie following
suAsoaxy nsd valuation oi
the 1937 seisioa of lhe Oregon
Itaie legislature was written
by Boom B. Duncan, fresh
mail emocrlic representa
tive fiom Jackson county, as
the f-aai one in a series ha has
wnltia since the start of the
Mtnoa. Stale Sen. Philip B.
Lofiy, Republican, has indi
Cowd he is preparing a similar
summary which will be pub
lishud vr'aeo prepared.)
! the session in the Smith budget; collect the tax as income is
j the above mentioned necessary earned, avoiding a big tax bill at
! or desirable expenses were budg-1 the end of the year when the
eted: the institutions were pro- j money is spent. A sales tax and
j'vidcd for; salary increases were the ad valorem tax on property
j given to all state employees, : become due and must be paid
'civil service, statutory and elec-1 regardless of earnings, and there
; tive officers, and. in addition, j in lies their chief drawback.
Or eg
on Legislature
By BOBEBT B. DUNCAN
State Representative
Now that the Legislature has
diOi.rnd. perhaps a brief sum
mary might be in order, and so
inrpiM once more upon the space
offered be this paper.
Tii- si-sMon lasted for 128
days. The delay
3 ') in getting the;
4'f Senate organ-
r -A
1 ' n : ,T
I academic salaries for college per
! sonnel were increased by some
lb per cent. The budget came out
i close to S272.000.000 a far cry
from the S330.000.000 which the
press of tne state anticipated up
through the first 90 days of the
session.
Further Savings
From my personal standpoint
ti ere are further savings which
I vanted to see made and which
I think could and should be
made. The majority didn't agre.?
with me, however, and the dem
ocratic process prevailed. The
budget, when compared with an
ticipated income, should leave
In regard to a sales tax, I
result of a letter written by a
member of a non-high school
board from Trail.
UCC Trend Halted
The dangerously downward
trend in the reserves of the Un
employment Compensation fund
has, we hope, been halted. Mod
est increases in benefits was
worked to keep the sales tax, also granted. The maximum ben-
proposai auve in commiuee . eit went up t0 s40 from s35
when it was brought out to the ; witl. tne average increase esti
floor early in the session. I ; maled at about s2.75 per week,
wanted to see the alternatives j lncreaspri wn-km s rnmnensa-
izcd cost time; surplus of some S8,000,000 to
addi-
but
tional reason
for the long
session was the
ria v.;n.-
iiOiji&siiti memorials in-
na an iroaucca. all ot
who.h required time for consid
eration. And I think each bill
was considered in at least one
cooimittee. Those that were
passed had in most instances
been amended evidence of a
Sim ere desire on the part of this
Legislature to do a good job
There is little hope for shorter
essi'jj.t as our state continues to
grow, iiut xthe rate of increase
might be held down if some lim
itation on number of bills intro
duced could be found. A rules
committee to screen all bills
TO gilt well be to powerful and
itife the democratic process.
One suggestion I have heard is
to insist that no bills be spon
sored at the request of someone,
the theory being that if the bill
could not be sold without quali
fications to one legislator, it
shoud not be introduced.
On Expenses
- On state expenses former
Governor Smith's budget called
for expenditure of 5259,848.743.
Nothing was included in this for
Basic School Support, for pur
chases of land in Capital Mall
area, for increased welfare pay
ments to nursing homes and oth
er expenses, all of which every
one knew would have to be
budgeted. Nor did Smith budget
for meat inspection, ragweed
control, the Centennial Celebra
tion, educational television and
many other items. Had he done
jo. his budget would have been
close to S279.000.000.
Economies were effected by
ts a i
510,000,000, which is about the
right amount. Larger surpluses
encourage raids on the treasury
tor all kinds of new or expanded
projects and in my opinion are
unwise. I think we should plan
to raise what we need and only
enough more for emergencies.
The money will do more good in
the taxpayer's pocket than in the
state treasury. Neither do I favor
deficit financing for the state,
and I resisted all such proposals
except for a bond issue to get
the federal highway program off
on a maximum basis. Many peo
ple point to short sessions in
Washington and ask why we
couldn't do the same. The Wash
ington legislature left for home
with a large deficit. Need I say
more?
It is always difficult to be
come enthusiastic over any tax
program. No one wants to pay
taxes, and if as many people ex
pressed themselves against
spending proposals as, write sup
porting them, we'd have less to
pay. But each group thinks its
idea is absolutely essential and
cannot be cut or put aside. The
result is a constantly larger
budget which must be met.
Tax Structure
This legislature elected to rely
again on the income tax. replac
ing the surtax with graduated
rates, together with modest in
creases in business taxes. The
rich were not soaked and tax ex
emptions for dependents were
raised again to Sb'00, a definite
help to taxpayers. This means
that Oregon taxpayers contrib
ute to their government accord
ing to their ability. If the mill
shuts down, the workers do not
have a tax to pay. If they are
working, they will have the
money to P'iv their taxes. A real
istic withholding program will
Savings Deposited
by June 10 will
receive dividends
from
w m mm mm m mm a
.: t J . ' 4- .-V I LV It riJ -
nil WM,v v ne i i
i mm, 5Mn uiir i
ft tuck A d
before discarding any tax pro
posal. While we may in time
come to a sales tax, I prefer to
work on the income ax basis so
long as possible for reasons noted
above. To many, the sales tax
represents an inexhaustible res
ervoir of money to which no one J
has to contribute. All taxes must ;
be paid by you and me. And I j
venture to say that had we gone
to a sales tax. the budget would
have been substantially larger.
Again the philosophy of "let's
get ours" from this sales tax
would have made budgeting
doubly difficult.
Small Increase
No average family under the
new program will pay more than
an Sll increase, and for many in
the lower brackets there will be
modest tax cuts. While our in
come tax is higher than adjoin
ing states, the analysis made by
the Interim Tax Committee of
the 1955 legislature indicates
that our over-all tax picture
considering total tax burden in
cluding sales, income and ad va
lorem, taxes in the respective
states does not put us in an un
favorable position compared
with Washington and California.
For education we passed a
bill appropriating S15.000.000
more for Basic School Support
and re-wrote the distribution
formula. No other legislature has
ever given a nickel to the Basic
School Fund. Everyone wished
it could be Vnore, but the major
ity could not justify it consider
ing other demands for state
money. The formula for distri
bution is a compromise that few
are fond of and only the next
two years will tell if it is sound
or not. It will give a little tax
relief for the real property tax
payer, but this will probably go
more to holding down increases
rather than showing as a reduc
tion. Colleges Fare Well
Our colleges fared well with
some 57.000,000 going to new
construction. S.O.C.E. will get
their needed heating plant and
dormitories. The latter were in
considerable jeopardy as the
chancellor had assigned them a
low priority, and if cuts had
been made it would have been a
fight between a swimming pool
at the University of Oregon and
steam line tunnels at Oregon
State on the one hand and
S.O.C.E.'s dorms and other proj
ects at the smaller schools on the
other hand. Believing in the
value of the small college and
S.O.C.E.'s needs, I was glad to
do what I could to secure the ap-
propriation.
Salary increases to academic
staffs should halt or slow down
the mass exodus of teachers; and
the educational television and
community college proposals
should take education to the peo
ple and take a little pressure off
established colleges.
County school reorganization
passed and should result in in
creased efficiency and economy
of operation. The life of non
hign districts is prolonged for
two more years until the county
reorganization can take over.
This latter bill was sponsored by
Senator Lowry and me as the
You don't have to be a juggler to handle
your money successfully. It's all very easy
v.hen you get the big idea . . . which is as
umple as this: budget your expenses to
allow a reasonable margin for saving. First
thing every payday, deposit this amount in
our savings account here, where it can
earn more money for you. If you have the
will, this is the way to get ahead finan
cially. It's no trick at all!
tion benefits were granted; they
still are not compensatory, but
it is some improvement.
One measure in which I was
quite interested and happy to see
passed was the resolution to re
fer to the people a constitutional
ar-endment to substantially re
pel capital punishment. It
would still be permissible but
not mandatory in cases of first
degree murder committed while
the accused was serving a life
sentence and would be manda
tory for treason. The latter is
academic as there has never been
a conviction, so far as I know,
for treason against a state. The
former provision was included as
a measure of protection for pris
on authorities during riots.
This is a most important bill,
and if passed by the people will
be, in my opinion, the most pro
gressive thing done by this legis
lature. My prime reason for ad
vocating this is my knowledge
that the punishment is unevenly
applied and that juries and
courts, being human agencies,
can and do make mistakes. Bad
as I deem it to" be to take any
life, I can think of nothing more
revolting than the execution of
an innocent man. We can and
must protect society but we can
do this without the brutal, de
grading institution of executions.
The bill which passed the legis
lature and which will become ef
fective if the people accept the
constitutional amendment, tight
ens the parole laws so as to give
us reasonable protection against
premature release. It was inter
esting in the hearings on this
matter that three people ap
peared who had close relatives
who had been murdered all of
these people supported the meas
ure to abolish the death penalty.
Even Warden Gladden, a stern,
practical prison administrator for
many years, urged that capital
punishment be abolished. I hope
you will all give the matter ser
ious thought.
Many Other Matters
There were many other im
portant matters considered. Elec
tion laws were given a thorough
and long overdue rearranging.
There is doubtless still room for
improvement, but registration
and voting, those most priceless
privileges of a democracy,' have
been made easier and the cor
rupt practices act has been
strengthened. Workmen's com
pensation was extended on a re
ciprocal basis to cover Oregon
workmen and employers when
the employee is temporarily out
of the state. This gives the work
man and employer certainty of
coverage and eliminates the ne
cessity of the employer having to
have private employers liability
insurance for occasional out of
state business. This will be ef
fective soon insofar as Califor
nia and Nevada only are con
cerned. Do not rely on it without
checking with the Compensa
tion Commission as to the ef
fective date of the Act and the
state involved. This bill was
sponsored by Senator Lowry,
Representative Littrell and my
self and took lots of work to get
it through the rules and Labor
and Industries committees. I ap
peared before the latter commit- i and the matter was referred to a
tee one evening at 6:25 p.m. be- sub-committee of Wavs and
fore the afternoon's work ended
and the evening's work began.
Question Eliminated
Another bill which I spon
sored and which will be of bene
fit in the workmen's compensa
tion field was one to eliminate
the question of whether the
workman is an employee or an
independent contractor and thus
eligible for benefits or not. This
uncertainty has produced many
lawsuits and much heartache and
is important in an area such as
ours where there are many owner-operators
of logging equip
ment. When the bill becomes
law, the employer and workman
will determine at the time of em
ployment whether workmen's
compensation coverage is to exist
or not. It is not mandatory.
Locally the procedure for pay
ing bounties has been simplified,
the consolidation of Oak Grove
and Medford School Distriots
validated, and an amendment
passed which will help the City
of Medford to work out prob
lems of assuming obligations of
water districts when they are
partially annexed to the City.
The bill to permit industrial use
of the Rogue River waters was
tabled, but the State Water Re
sources Board and State Engi
neer were directed to study the
problem and make recommenda
tions to the next session. The
Klamath River compact insuring
against diversion of the Klamath
River waters to southern Cali
fornia was likewise passed and
will be submitted to Congress
for approval. A new circuit judge
was added for Jackson county.
Gov. Holmes' Program
A word about Governor
Holmes and his administrative
branch of government His an
nounced goal was a progressive
one. It set a goal, and many steps
were taken toward that goal. All
of his ideas did not become law.
The legislature exercised its pre
rogative of accepting, rejecting
and modifying his suggestions,
as they properly should, and
some were postponed for future
consideration. Governor Holmes
is and will be a fine governor.
He was always available for con
ference on any problem, and I
know he is interested in main
taining close communication
with the people and problems of
this state. I was, for instance,
able to arrange an appointment
on very short notice for people
from this area to discuss with
him their concern over a gaso
line price war in the state. Should
anyone else wish to confer with
him, I will be happy to do what
I can to facilitate the matter, and
I know that you will find him
sympathetic and anxious to help.
Interim committee appoint
ments havo not been made up to
this writing, but I have been de
signated to serve on the Emer
gency Board and the Legisla
tive Counsel Committee. The
former is composed of four
members of the House and three
members from the Senate and is
vested with certain powers of the
legislature which it can exercise
while the legislature is in ad
journment. The latter handles
the compilation and publication
of the laws and provides bill
drafting and legal assistance to
the legislature. .Both will meet
from time to time during the in
terim. One Disappointment
It was a disappointment not
to be able to do something for
those deserving teachers who re
tired prior to the time they
would be eligible for retirement
payments. I worked closely with
Senator Lewis on this problem,
Means on which I served. Serious
constitutional objections were
raised to the bill, which I think
probably had merit. The only
way they could be avoided would
be to amend the Constitution,
and that could not be done by
tne legislature, but only by the
people. The bill was tabled with
out any vote as I wanted very
much to help these people.
All in all, it was a hard work
ing session. It was the hardest
work I have ever done. It is an
expensive experience to serve in
the legislature. It is frustrating
and disappointing at times. I
know many must have disagreed
with me from time to time, and
I know already that I have made
mistakes. But there are compen
sations to the legislator in know-
30 Youngsters Go
On Overnight Trip
Approximately 30 youngsters
from 4-H forestry clubs in Jack
son county went on an overnight
camping trip to the Four-Bit
Ford forest service camp on
Fish lake rd. Friday.
County 4-H Agents Glenn
Klein and Miss Marjorie Hatten
accompanied the group.
Members hunted fire hazards
and forest specimens and stud
ied pacing, fire building and ex
tinguishing. They visited Rock
Point lookout and the Medford
watershed reforestation area Fri
day afternoon.
ing that he is playing a part in
keiping representative govern
ment, with all its imperfections,
a vibrant, vital agency for free
dom. I tried to give every bill
thoughtful consideration, every
letter and request an answer and
such action as time and its merits
would permit. I hope you will
fejl that I served you well. For
my part, I am grateful for the
opportunity which you gave me
to serve.
Atlas Missile Said
Due for Tesf Firing
San Diego H The San
Diego Union said in a copyright
ed story Friday that the first fir
ing of the Atlas intercontinental
ballistic missile probably would
take place today at Patrick Air
Force base, Fla.
The Atlast is built in San
Diego by the Convair division
of General Dynamics corpora
tion. It is reported to have a
range of 5.500 mile and travel
at 15.000 miles per hour.
A new magnetron tube is Said
to double the range of radix.
It delivers 1 million watts at
peak and its temperature retch
es 3100 degrees Farenheit With
each pulsation.
See "SHADY"
for SHADES
VENETIAN and ROLL
Wakefield Drapery
1 1 00 Crater Lake Ave.
SP 2-6010
i .
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Sin. I10
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