Wednesday, January 1, 1938
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE FIVE
I
Legislative Session, Portland Vice Probe
Ton
By UNITED PRESS
A record-breaking Legisla
ture, the Portland vice furor
which still hasn't completely
lubsided and a sorry traffic
record by the state's motorists
topped Oregon's news parade
In 1957.
The Legislature got off to
sone kind of record when it
took two weeks to organize
the Senate. Split along party
lines 15-15, the senators
wrangled over who was going
to preside and finally settled
on Democrat Boyd Overhulse
of Madras. It was the first
time since 1878 that a Demo-
Russians Send
New Year Greetings
London M The Russian
leaders sent New Year's greet
ings to heads of state through
out the world Tuesday night
and called on the big powers
to help the Soviet Union set
tle "the international cli
mate." The messages were signed
.by Premier Nikolai Bulganin,
Communist Paty Chief Nikita
S. Khrushchev and Soviet
President Klimenti Voroshi
lov. They went to President Ei
senhower, British Prime Min
ister Harold Macmillan,
Queen Elizabeth II and the
heads of other governments
on every continent.
The message said Russia
hoped "the coming yeai will
be one of the strengthening
of friendship and peace . . .
so that people everywhere
need have no fear for the fu
ture for xheir children and
their loved oi.es."
Young Barrymore
Ordered To Jail
Hollywood HP Actor
John Barrymore Jr., 25, must
spend the next three week
ends in city jail on a convic
tion of being drunk and dis
turbing the peace.
Municipal Judge Henry
Draeger fined Barrymore
$100 and sentenced him to jail
after police in nearby Beverly
Hills arrested the j oung actor.
Police said Barrymore, son
of the famed actor John Bar
rymore, had been quarreling
with his wife and became
belligerent with investigating
officers.
crat had been Senate presi
dent. The legislators sat in regu
lar session a record 128 days,
passed 700 new laws and ran
up a 51,100,000 bill, most cost
ly in history.
The Legislature, among
other things, appropriated
$272,000,000 for the next two
years; abolished the 45 per
cent surtax; increased person
al income tax exemptions
from $500 to $600; revised
the tax withholding laws;
raised the effective average
rate of corporation excise
taxes from 5.2 to 6 per cent;
increased the basic school sup
port fund; increased teacher
salaries; voted $20,600,000
in highway bonds and $7,000,
000 for a higher education
building program; increased
the maximum weekly unem
ployment compensation bene
fits and boosted the public
welfare budget.
Session Called
When an estimated $70,000,-
000 surplus was discovered
in the state treasury, Gov.
Robert D. Holmes, inaugurat
ed in January as Oregon's
first Democratic governor in
22 years, called a special ses
sion of the Legislature to re
duce the surplus. During 19
days of almost continuous
bickering, the legislators cut
income taxes overall 20.3 per
cent; repealed the state prop
erty tax: provided tax relief
for persons over 65 and the
blind, and added $10 a census
child to the basic school sup
port fund.
An investigation of vice and
alleged corruption among
public officials in Portland by
a succession of grand juries
made black headlines and car
ried to a Senate investigating
committee in Washington. The
final chapter of what started
out to be an expose of Team
ster Union infiltration into
the rackets and attempts to
influence high public of
ficials hasn't yet been writ
ten. But of 116 grand jury in
dictments, 83 cases have been
dismissed; four have been ac
quitted; one has been con
victed; one plead guilty and
fines have totalled $350.
There are 27 cases still pend
ing. The weatherman made his
usual splash across the state.
As the year opened, a cold
spell halted work on The
Dalles dam, idling several
hundred workers there and
on other construction jobs.
Floods plagued eastern Ore
gon, especially in the Vale
area. Near record winds
lashed the state and two ships,
tied up for salvage, broke
their mooiings in the Willam
ette river at Portland and
smashed into the Hawthorne
bridge, tying up traffic over
the span for a day. Unseason
al 90-degree temperatures hit
the state in April and violent
thunderstorms killed a 7-year-old
girl and knocked down
power line towers, resulting
Oregon Passed Some Financial
Milestones, Unander Declares
Editor's note: Th following re
port on Oregon's financial condi
tion was prepared for the United
Press by State Treasurer Sig
Unander.
By SIG UNANDER
Written for United Press
Salem (IP) In 1957, Ore
gon passed some financial
milestones. For the first time,
our bonded debt crossed the
$200 million mark and now
rests at the approximate con
stitutional maximum of $220
million. The state's bonds,
however, maintain their AA
rating. Less than $50 million
of . these obligations depend
upon general taxation. The
rest, for example highway
bonds, are redeemed from
gasoline taxes, motor vehicle
and motor carrier receipts.
The last biennial period of
1955-57, the state had a Gen
eral Fund budget of $221,
846,968. We now operate on
a General Fund budget of
$277,966,546, and there are
some who wish to see this in
creased; possibly to $330 mil
lion plus in the next bien
nium. I am not among the
sponsors of big spending.
Total Nearly $800 Million
In addition to the general
fund, the so-called dedicated
or self-sustaining funds like
the Highway Commission,
Fish Commission, and Game
Commission, etc., have budg
ets approved by the Legisla-1
ture and revnues coming
from fees and licenses. In
cluding dedicated funds, to
gether with the General
Fund, we have a total bien
nial expenditure of $794,406,
114. On an average in 1958,
therefore, , the operations of
the state government not in
cluding municipal,, county,
and local governments will
amount to $33 million per
month.
Our timber industry has
been in an unsatisfactory po
sition. I look for improve
ment. I have taken action to
secure release of approxi
mately one billion board feet
of federally-owned timber- for
sale primarily to the small
mills which have no private
timber resources.
Interstate rates affect our
timber and the housing con
struction field, and I have re
quested and there has been
granted a decrease in the
Federal Reserve rediscount
rate which should tend to
ease credit. In the housing
field, we constructed slightly
less than a million houses in
the United States in 1957.
Forecasts call for improve
ment here and in general con
struction activity. This should
improve prospects in 1958 for
the entire timber industry
which is the etonomic main
spring in the state.
Outlook Said Good
Our two other large sources
of income are agriculture and
the tourist industry, and a
close eye should be kept on
prospects here as these de
velop. Very substantial in
come is derived, in approxi
mately equal amounts, from
mining and fisheries. The im
mediate prospects for these
appear at least as good as in
1957.
The overall effect of the
rearmament and defense pro
grams must be watched. Pres
ent indications indicate a fa
vorable derivative for Ore
gon's economy from these ac
tivities. The stepped-up high
way program will account
for expenditures in 1958 of
$84 million.
There are many indica
tions, therefore, that more
people will find good employ
ment opportunities and that
we will make substantial
progress in 1958. Nationally,
construction is rated several
billion dollars ahead of 1957.
In Oregon alone, many large
projects will materialize in
1958.
mm
PRICES are
UP TO
DURING OUR
THIS SALE IS STORE -WIDE!
UP
TO
50 Off on
No Discount Less
verything
an 20!
""
"V. f 1 I II II -X. M
Q
n
ffl&QDra&QG G0o I
SPECIALISTS IN HO MEW ARES!
Specialists in
HOMEWARES!
O
Please No
Refunds or
Exchanges
on Sale
Merchandise!
in $200,000 damage. There
were grass fires in eastern
Oregon and a scattering of
forest and range fires, al
though the number of fires
and acres burned was less
than any of the previous five
years.
The most shameful story
was written on Oregon's high
ways. Through December 27
the dead in traffic accidents
totaled 463. It was the worst
slaughter on the highways
since 1946 when 482 were
killed. Some 25 others were
killed in mishaps involving
vehicles on private lands, but
the state traffic safety division
does not consider these of
ficially as traffic deaths.
Crime Noted
Crimes of violence had
their share of attention during
the year. Perhaps the most
spectacular was the shooting
to death of John Troy Law
son, 60-year-old acting town
marshal at Paisley, in the
holdup of the southeastern
Oregon community's post of
fice by two liquor-sodden des
peradoes. In the crime which
had overtones of the Old West,
Donald Lee Ferguson, 32, and
Jesse Thurman Hibdon, 30,
pistol-whipped the postmaster,
Mrs. Norman Bannister and
robbed the post office of $150.
Lawson, a plumber who
acted unofficially as the
town's law officer, attempted
to stop the gunmen but was
shot dead as he stepped across
the threshhold of the post of
fice. Angered townspeople
957 Oregon News Stories
Market Predictions
For Coming Year
Worry Forecasters
BY ELMER C. WALZER
United Press Financial Editor
New York PI The una
nimity of the forecasts for
1958 down in the first half
steadier and
rising some in
the third
quarter with
a strong push
in the fourth
quarter for
business and
the market
is worry
ing the prog-
Elmer walzer n o s t i cators
who have said just those
things.
So now they are. toning
down their advices, pointing
out the pit falls ahead in the
market with stress on one
word selectivity.
Jacques Coe, head of the
brokerage firm that bears his
name, says "the neatest trick
of the (year wil be to try to
ferret out those groups which
may do better than average."
Downtrend Predicted
He believes more groups
will go down than will go up.
One which he thinks will
produce more profits in 1958
than in 1957 is the meat pack
ing industry and here's why
he thinks so:
"When hogs and cattle are
at low prices, the margin of
profit increases substantially,
"During thhe forthcoming
year, it is quite evident that
there will be a plentiful
supply of hogs. The hog-corn
ratio is an index that guides
farmers in their decision
whether it is more profitable
to sell the corn than feed corn
to the hogs and sell the hogs.
"This ratio is between 15
and 16 per cent. Last year at
this time it was 12.4 per cent.
Should the ratio fall below
12, it would be better to sell
the corn rather than feed it
to the hogs."
However that works out, he
thinks thhe packing compan
ies which in recent years have
brought cost and inventories
into control, should be prosperous.
Some Exceptions
Edmund W. Tabell, analyst
for Walston & Co., is worried
over the unanimity of the
forecasts, and he, too, selects
several groups which might
profit in 1958. His first choice
is the consumer goods line
which he has been suggesting
for some time.
He believes three other
likely candidates are groups
that topped out a year and a
half or two years ago, name
ly building supplies, chemical
and paper.
He suggests watching bonds
and money rates. A further
rise in bonds, he says, should
stimulate some equities, not
ably electric utilities.
Tabell also finds benefici
aries from easier money
might include some container
issues, electronics and build
ing stocks.
He lists some of the rail
road equipments because they
supply the railroads with
cost and labor saving pro
ducts.
quickly organized a posse and
gave chase. Ferguson was
dropped by a bullet fired by
Douglas Houston, a truck driv
er, and captured a short time
after the holdup. Five days
later Hibdon was captured by
Hammond Fire Chief Harold
Broderick who was hunting in
the Summer Lake area north
of Paisley. Both gunmen
pleaded guilty to second de
gree murder and were sen
tenced 'to life imprisonment.
Guy Earl Cramer, a dis
gruntled 76-year-old Bonanza
pensioner, shot and killed
Fred Peterson, 75, Klamath
County Welfare Commission
chairman, over an imagined
wrongdoing, and wounded
Mrs. Altha Urquhart, welfare
administrator, and Commis
sioner Jerry Rajnus. Tried
and asquitted by reason of in
sanity, Cramer is confined to
the Oregon State hospital at
Salem.
At Eugene, Albert Wach
smuth, 65, , shot and killed
State Policeman Charles C.
Sanders and fatally wound
ed Lane County Deputy Sher
iff David D. Hefner when the
two officers attempted to in
vestigate a complaint of a dis
turbance at the Wachsmuth
home. He was convicted of
second degree murder and
sentenced to life in prison.
In another sordid and sense
less crime, 14-year-old Law
rence Zink of The Dalles
killed Mary Matthew, a 9-year-old
neighbor girl, with
an ax as she slept in her back
yard with a friend. The Zink
boy was committed to the
State hospital at Pendleton.
Robberies Rife
A rash of bank robberies,
mainly in the Portland area,
made the news. Biggest haul
was $19,500 taken from the
Sherwood branch of the U.S.
National Bank of Portland by
Ross Neal Porter of West
Linn. Captured a week later,
Porter confessed and was sen
tenced to 10 years. The same
bank was held up again and
robbed of $3,900 and the gun
man is still at large.
A story of heroism and cour
age was unfolded at Coos Bay
when the Norwegian freighter
Thorshall collided with the
government dredge William
T. Rossell. Four crewmembers
of the Rossell were killed but
15 others were rescued dra
matically by a helicopter as
they clung to spars and the
mast of the stricken dredge.
Thirty-one of the crew were
taken from the icy waters by
rescue boats.
In Portland Sherry Fong
was acquitted in her fourth
trial for the second degree
murder of Diane Hank, a 16-year-old
school girl.
The governor, in express
ing his opposition to capital
punishment, spared the lives
of two inmates of the Oregon
prison's death cell. George
Sack, sentenced to die for the
murder of his wife, had his
sentence commuted to life.
The death sentence for James
Norman Jensen for the ax
murder of Mrs. Fern Hile of
Medford was commuted to 99
years.
Death took the lives of for
mer Gov. Jay Bowerman;
Mrs. Cornelis Pierce, widow
of former Gov. and Congress
man Walter Pierce, and Bern
ard Mainwaring, publisher of
the Salem Capital Journal
and member of the State
Board of Higher Education.
Asian flu came to Oregon
in 1957 and sent moppets and
oldsters alike scurrying to
their doctors and health of
ficers for shots against the
disease.
Mice Damage Crops
Toward the end of the year
Oregon suddenly discovered
it was the victim of one of the
worst mouse infestations in
modern history. Crop damage
estimates ranged upward from
$5 million in portions of
southeastern Oregon and the
public was warned to handle
dead field mice with care duo
to the danger of tularemia In
fection. By the end of the year
both federal agencies and
state officials were in the
field to wage war against the
rodents.
A slump in the lumber mar
ket brought unemployment to
thousands of loggers and saw
mill workers and seriously af
fected the economy of the en
tire state.
On the lighter side, an 88-year-old
cellblock at the Ore
gon state prison was aban
doned for a new, modern wing
with accommodations for 156
inmates.
Dr. Archie McMurdo of
Heppner was named Oregon's
first Doctor of the Year. H.
The Nautilus, world's first
atomic submarine visited
Portland and attracted thous-1
ands of curious to the harbor
seawall.
Elvis Presley performed t
Portland Multnomah stadium
to the screaming delight of
thousands of teen-agers. And
Oregon's first penguins ar
rived from the South Pole.
But as the year drew to a.
close a fatal lung disease
struck the entertaining, white
vested birds at their tempor
ary home in Portland's Penin
sula park and many of them
died. There was still hope,
however, that some of the pen
guins would survive to live
in their permanent home at
the new Portland zoo.
jjeaim Unfair it
CILCDSIEIID
JAN. 2 For Inventory
HAPPY NEW YEAR
TO ALL!
Shop at the Pink Store ...
Where You Park at the Door
617 East Main Phone SP 2-8992
Box Canyon Dam
Settlement Near
Spokane (IP) A formal set
tlement, ending the Box Can
yon dam case, is to be agreed
upon here Friday.
The out-of-court settlement
provides that Pend Oreille
County Public District No. 1
would receive $2 million from
Pacific General Shea Con
tractors. The PUD brought suit in
connection with alleged de
lays in construction of the
dam on the Pend Oreille river
in northeastern Washington.
The utility cancelled Pacific
General Shea's contract and
brought in Morrison-Knudsen
to finish the job.
The case was technically a
Pend Oreille County Superior
Court case, but was heard
here by Superior Judge Ray
mond Kelley.
T
Mexican Labor
Fees Increased
San Francisco (IP) The
U. S. Department of Labor
announces that fees charged
employers of Mexican farm
workers entering the United
States under the migratory la
bor pact with Mexico have
been increased, effective to
day. Glenn E. Brockway of the
department's regional office
said the contracting fee will
go up from $7 to $10 per
worker, and the recontracting
fee from ..4 to $5 per worker.
The increases were ordered
to bing collections more close
ly in line with actual trans
portation and subsistence
costs incurred by the United
States in bringing in Mexi
can Nationals, Brockway said.
FUE5S
Storage Restyling
Repairing and Relining
Cleaning and Glazing
Frances' Furs
Formerly Frances Dallaire .
1100 Crater Lake Ave.
Telephone SP 2-6526
y
I J ANUARY L
until ALL of our unwanted
merchandise is SOLD!
FURNITURE CARPETS DRAPES
We Still Have A Good Assortment of:
O LIVING ROOM FURNITURE Sofas, Chairs, Sectionals
O OCCASIONAL TABLES Lamp Tables, Desks, etc.
O BEDROOM FURNITURE Including Twin Beds, Night Stands
O DRAPERY FABRICS
O WOOL CARPETS
Limited Quantity 1
2 Rolls Only Drastically Reduced in Price
DINING SETS
DINETTE SETS
MATTRESSES
& Box Springs
O BED SPREADS . M O ASSORTED LAMPS
AND MANY, MANY OTHER VERY FINE ITEMS
at Savings up to
50
OPEN MONDAY NIGHTS
8 u
220 North Barrier VPhone SP 3-4394
Furnishings with a Sense of Style'
7
it