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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1958)
Uj n ASUS PROBE OF BOO TOTE MCT OH Bems Bong Farm Secretary Peppered With Hostile Questions Honesty Needed, Humphrey Asserts Washington 'IP Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Ben son, long the butt of congres sional discontent with admin istration farm policy, got a rough going-over today when . he presented President Eisen- hower's new farm program to the Senate Argiculture Com mittee. The mild-mannered secre tary was accused at one point of "false advertising." "You would be a lot more enlightening if your state ment were just honest," Sen Hubert H. Humphrey ID Minn.) told the embattled sec retary. Republicans and Democrats joined in peppering him with hostile questioning. They in terrupted him so frequently that he was able to get through only two pages of his prepared statement in his first hour at the witness table. A Democrat. Sen. Spessard Holland of Florida, finally came to the secretary's de fense. Reading Interrupted Holland complained to his quizzing colleagues that their procedure "violates all rules of fair play." Holland said Benson should be permitted to read his 24-page statement before he was questioned on it. At one point in the often hot-tempered hearing. Sen. John J. Williams (R-Del.) told Benson "I left the hearing an hour ago and jou were at the end of page two in your testi mony. Could you tell me where you are now?" Benson replied that he had reached the end of page three. There was a burst of laughter. At that point, Benson began reading again, but finished only two sentences before questions started flying again Benson went before the group to ask prompt approval of the administration pro gram for reducing farmer de pendence on the federal gov ernment through lower price supports. He said he must be given "administrative discretion" to reduce price supports on basic ' crops cotton, corn, wheat, peanuts, rice, tobacco as well as dairy products as low as ou ner cent of parity. 'But before Benson reached page three of his statement. Chairman Allen J. Ellender (D-La.) accused him of pre senting a misleading picture of the farm economy. Hum nhrev followed with his charge that "you would be a lot more enlightening if your statement were just honest." "There's nothing false about It at all." Benson countered, v pursing his lips slightly. Much of the sharp comment was evoked by Benson's state ment that the "realized loss under programs primarily for the support of farm prices and incomes was $3,250,000,000 in the 1957 fiscal year, far above the $1,900,000,000 cost in 1956." Argue Over Figures Ellender contended that the $3,250,000,000 figure includ ed 14 items described as "price support losses", but actually involving other pro grams including school lunches and disaster relief. He said actual losses suffered by the Commodity Credit Cor poration, the principal price support agency, were by Benson's own figures $1, 299,000,000 and the secretary "should not try to inflate it." Ellender, commenting that he had made similar objec tions before about Benson's loss statistics, said the people reading their papers will as sume that the farmer got all that money. Humphrey agreed that money spent to "feed children . . . feed troops" should not be charged against the farm program. Cresdell Cabins, Garage Destroyed Crescent Lake, Ore. IP Four cabins and a garage at the old Cresdell lodge site on Highway 58 midway between here and Odell lake were destroyed by fire sometime Thursday. No one saw the fire and cause was not known. j Sim on 'Or Maybe You'd Rather Put In A-New Floor" Council Calls for Bids on Sewer Work The Medford city council last night called for bids on storm sewer laterals to con nect with the recently com pleted 10th st. storm sewer. Bids will be opened at 11 a. m., Jan. 31. Estimated cost of the proj ect is $13,250, and will be fi nanced from bonds approved by voters last November. The work is part of the city's six- year program to improve storm sewer facilities. The city will furnish pipe, and the con tractor will install it. Laterals are planned along 11th and 12th sts., and in an alley between Grape and Fir sts. from 12th st. to connect with the present 10th st. storm sewer. Catch basins m ine area now drain into the sani tary sewer system, and during heavy rains water stands at intersections in the area. Contract Approved A contract was approved with Howland, Hayes and Merryfield, engineering firm of Corvallis to pfepare plans and specifications for a sani tary sewer system in the Ber rydale area. The district was annexed last year. The firm Gas Leak Found, Fixed Thursday Crews of the California-Pacific Utilities company early yesterday afternoon found and repaired an explosion causing gas line leak at Canon ave. and Eighth st., company officials have announced. Early yesterday morning at least four storm sewer covers on Eighth st. were blown off and others were disturbed after an explosion which city officials said was caused from an accumulation of domestic gas in the recently completed sewer line. One window was reported broken, but there were no in juries. Gas company otiicials said a one-inch line at Eighth st. and Canon ave. was broken at a DiDe coupling. They said apparently it was damaged when the storm sewer was in stalled and was not noticed at th time. The principal blast oc curred about 3:20 a.m. yester dav. and was followed by a series of smaller explosions when sewer covers were blown off along the sewer line. WEATHER FORECAST: Focgy In val leys with some clearing during afternoon hours throiuh Saturday. Vari able cloudiness above fos. Low tonight 35. High Sat urday 45. Temp. Highest Yesterdav 52 Lowest this Morning 40 Prec. to 10 a.m. Today 04 Our Skies Tonight Simrisl 7:38 a.m. Siincpt ' 5:0fi -a.m. Moonrise Saturday 6:25 "a.m. New Moon Sunday PROMINENT STARS Albebaran, high in south 8:58 p.m. Regulus. tn the east 9:25 p.m. Sirius. due south ... 11:08 p.m. Arcturus. rises . .11:49 p.m. Vega, low in north east 3:11 a.m. d si also has a contract for a simi lar project in the Grandview Kenwood district. The council also authorized preparation of plans and speci fications for a sanitary sewer on Siskiyou blvd. between Mo doc ave. and the next undedi cated street east. Residents of the area recently requested the sewer, which will be necessary when construction of a proposed grade school on Siskiyou blvd. is completed. An agreement with South ern Pacific was approved for construction of sewer lines un der railroad property at 10th st. The Woodlawn sanitary sewer project, recently com pleted, was accepted. Ordinance Adopted An ordinance was adopted segregating sewer assessments in Southwest Medford. The as sessment change was neces sary because of a land owner ship change in the area. A public hearing on instal lation of an eight-inch water main, on Siskiyou blvd., east of Modoc ave., will be held Feb. 6. Property owners will be assessed for a six-inch main, and the rest of the cost will be financed from the gen eral fund. An eight-inch main was deemed necessary for an ticipated future use. The council approved a re quest to transfer a package store license for the Beverage Shop, 124 South Central ave., and an application to change the type of license for the Spot, 17 Souh Riverside ave., was referred to a committee for more study. Revenue from O&C Land Is Estimated President Eisenhower in his budget message to Congress Monday reported that an esti mated $11,065,000 would be distributed by the federal gov ernment to counties in west ern Oregon for revenue from timber sales on O&C lands. County Treasurer Karl Janouch reported that Jack son county receives 15.67 per cent of the total O&C land revenue each year. The ap proximate amount to - be re ceived by the county for the fiscal year, based on the pres ident's budget message, would be $1,733,885, an increase of $196,357, Janouch said. Lumbermen's Group Protests Rate Hike "Washington HP) The West Coast Lumbermen's Associa tion, with headquarters in Portland, today joined the list of protestants against pro posed two per cent increases in railroad freight rates for lumber scheduled to be effec tive Feb. 1. The Association asked the Interstate Commerce Commis sion to suspend the increase and to substitute a two-cent "hold-down" so that the in crease would be in line with the dollars-and-cents increase affecting southern mills. Portland (IP) Dewey Short, assistant Army secretary, will be here next Tuesday and Wednesday to -inspect Portland-area installations. 52nd Year MEDFORD 18 Pages Sen. Morse Sees Ike's Message as Farmer Squeeze Greater Surplus Seen as Result Washington Wl Sen, Wayne Morse (D-Ore.) said to day "the farm message of the Eisenhower administration re flects a policy of destroying the ability of the small farm ers to continue on the land." After the President's farm message was read to the Sen ate inursaay, Morse com mented, "the administration's theory is to force small farm ers, by an economic squeeze, into a congested urban area where they will join the ranks of unemployed and unskilled labor." Big Business Philosophy Morse accused the President of "faithfully carrying out the big business philosophy which seeks to transform our fam ily farms, traditionally the backbone of American agri culture, into 'factories in the fields.' If the Eisenhower ad ministration should be suc cessful in transferring the land from the small to the factory - type operation by driving the small farmer into the city one inevitable result would be an even greater pro duction of surplus commod ities." Increased Production Seen Morse said "the adminis tration farm message ' prom ises to work diligently for power price supports for the farmer. This means lower prices at the farm gate for the unit of food or fiber sold. With lower prices to get the same cash income, it forces in creased production." Morse also accused the President of attempting to force the REA co-ops "to .swal low the sugar coated strych nine pill of private financing" which he said would cause them to "die by the scores as a result of interest rate in creases and skyrocketing over head charges." Camp Adair SAGE Work Staled Soon Washington OP) The Air Force today advised Rep. Walter Norblad (R-Ore.) that it has released $1,826,000 for construction of "support fa cilities" at the SAGE installa tion on the old Camp Adair site near Corvallis, Ore. Norblad said construction should proceed during the coming spring and summer months and would include all facilities normal to an active military base. Due for con struction would be dispen saries, post exchanges, head quarters barracks, mess halls, gymnasiums, motor pool, warehouse and service build ings. The SAGE installation would be part of thejiational air defense and detection network. Medford Youth on Burton Antarctic Tells of Operation There (Editor's note: Charles A. Langston. a Navy store keeper aboard lhe USS Burton Island, is now in the Antarctic, and in lhe following article he dis cusses the South Pole and the purpose of the Navy's visit. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Langston, 256 Beatty st.. Medford.) By CHUCK LANGSTON The- USS Burton Island AGB-1, a Navy ice breaker, is now weathering the west erly gales that tear through the Roaring Forties and Screaming Fifties. We are at the bottom of the world, the Antarctic continent which is perhaps 5,000,000 square miles in size, and on this continent is a plateau which rises to 10,000 feet and in the middle of this barren waste is the South Pole, just a compass point, but it has fascinated man since he first thought about the shape of the world he lived on. The first men to venture into the Antarctic seas were whalers and sealers, such as Captain James Weddell, after whom the Weddell sea is named. In 1840 the first expe ditions were sent to explore this vast continent, alter MEDFORD, imvoy 'Home - Radar Outposts To Detect SoYie. Missiles OK'd 15-Mihute Warning Would Be Provided Washington (IP) The Unit ed States plans to build three secret overseas outposts equipped with radar that could pick up Russian 'mis siles minutes after they left the ground, it was disclosed today. The outposts could give the Strategic Air Command at least 15 minutes warning of a Soviet missile attack and enable SAC to launch a re taliatory attack. In Emergency Bill - Authority to begin construc tion of a $189 million ballis tic ' missile detection system was contained in an emergen cy bill pas'sed by the House Wednesday and now before the Senate. A few details on the top secret project were revealed with publication today of heavily censored Air Force testimony last Monday before the House Armed Services Committee. Chairman Carl Vinson (D Ga.), apparently referring to previous closed door testi mony, said three detection centers would be built abroad to "furnish the information when a ballistic missile leaves the ground from enemy ter ritory." Support Merger , ; -' In other defend develop ments: Chairman D o n a I d W. Douglas of the missile-building Douglas Aircraft Co. call ed for "more guts and less gobblegook" in defense planning, and said his com pany is ready to build an anti-missile missile whenever it gets a go-ahead. The Air Force Associa tion recommended that Con gress order a gradual merger of the armed services into a single military service. Its president, Peter J. Schenk, Santa Barbara, Calif., cau tioned against any "drastic" shake-up on grounds "this is not the time to rock the boat." Hamburger Rulings Set Up By Department Salem HP) The State Ag riculture Department Thurs day declared hamburger and ground beef to be the same thing and announced a regu lation setting up standards of identity for the product. The order said "hamburger or ground beef shall consist of chopped fresh beef (with or without the addition of beef fat as such) and shall not con tain more than 30 per cent analysable beef fat." CHARLES LANGSTON Writes From Antarctic which many great men have followed. Today the continent is di vided between many coun tries, all of which are send ing expeditions each year to their sections of this land. The U.S. government's Opera tion Deep Freeze III for the, international geophysical yea 1957:59 includes many me some of whom will be speni OREGON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1958 To Fo - is Seen flf 0reement Made For Disarmament Washington (IP! Budget Director Percival F. Brund age said today agreement with Russia even on prelimi nary steps toward disarma ment could open the way for a substantial tax cut. But in the absence of such an agreement, he said, exist ing tax rates must be con tinued. He added that "the fullest cooperation of Congress in cutting non-essentials will be needed to foot bills for de fense and domestic programs without an increase in taxes. Brundage and Treasury Secretary Robert B. Anderson appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee to appeal for a $5 billion in crease in the statutory limit on' the national debt. They said the increase from $275 to $280 billion is nec essary to give the government a little more elbow room in Joe Dispenziere Dies of Heart Attack in Office Joseph Anthony (Joe) Dis penziore, 39, .of 1808 Strat ford ave., for the past seven years a resident of Medford as regional officer for the state board of parole and pro bation, died unexpectedly, ap parently from a heart attack in his office in the Leverette building yesterday afternoon. Funeral services are tenta tively set for Monday. The body will lie in state at Chapel Mortuary until time for services. The family has requested that those wish ing may make a contribution to the Heart Fund in care of the local postmaster, or to the Memorial Library fund of the First- Presbyterian church. Born in Newark Mr. Dispenziere was born in Newark, N.J., Feb. 24, 1918. He was a veteran of World War II, serving with the Army's military police. For the past seven years he has been with the Oregon board of parole and proba tion. He was married in Port land Aug. 6, 1950, to Trudy Churchill, who survives. Other survivors include a son, Andrew Joseph Dispen ziere; his father, Thomas Dis penziere, of East Orange, N.J.; a brother, Anthony J. Dispenziere, Nashville, Tenn.; and a sister,' Mrs. Caye Ma guire, Irvington, N.J. Island in ing as much as 15 months in the ice without any contact with the outside world other than the planes bringing in the mail. The reasons for these expe ditions are many, one being long range weather observa tions. Another of course be ing the defense of our coun try. This ice breaker, Burton Island, is breaking passage for the Pvt. John R. Towle, a cargo ship bringing provi sions down for the wintering over personnel, and the USS Nespelen, an oiler bringing fuel down for the operation of equipment which is to be used for the building of run ways and buildings. After safely delivering her men and the ships to Mc Murdo Sound at the base of Mt. Erebus the Burton Island will start making her way pome to Seattle via Sydney, ustralia, and Wellington, ew Zealand, arriving in Se ttle about April 1. There are quite a few Ore- eonians taking part in this expedition, another which is from Medford. His. name is Dewayn E. Keys,' fireman, USN, also of the Burton Island. TRIBUNE AAscov Galled its fiscal maneuvering. Short of Reserves Anderson said the govern ment since last summer has had "little or no margin" to meet "contingencies might de velop in a world filled with uncertainties." On several occasions, he said, the Treasury had a cash balance sufficient only to pay operating expenses for five days. Brundage, in his discussion of taxes, ran through steps ordered by the President to hold down non-defense spend ing where possible. "We will need the fullest cooperation and assistance of the Congress if we are to do what is required for our de fense and domestic programs without an ' increase in tax rates," the budget director said. Possible Tax Cut "If we can reach some sat isfactory agreement with the Soviet Union containing even early steps toward disarma ment which are accompanied by inspection to assure com pliance, then we can consider tax reductions and savings that would be indeed worth while." It appeared that the admin istration, adopting a more flexible economic policy, has added tax reductions to its arsenal of possible weapons to be used to avoid a serious recession. Laborers, Area Contractors Work To Agreement Negotiations' are under way between the Laborer's union local 1400 here and the Con tractors' Association of South ern Oregon, according to Fred Morlan of the Industry Council of Southern Oregon. The laborer's local is seek ing 20 cents an hour increase for 1958, plus 15 cents an hour increase for 1959 and 15 cents an hour more in 1960, plus a travel time increase, Morlan said. Contract negotiations are expected to be settled with in the next 10 days, Morlan predicted. Reach Agreement Carpenters' local 2067 here reached an agreement with the association on Jan. 7. The contract is effective as of Jan. 1. According to the contract journeymen receive a basic wage scale of $3 per hour and a cost of living increase of 10 cents per hour making the total scale $3.10 per hour, Morlan and officials of the carpenters local said. The basic wage scale is covered by a one-year agreement and all other conditions are cov ered by a two-year agree ment. Among other condi tions is pay for travel time. On the same date, Jan.-7, an agreement was made with the Plasterers' and Cement Workers local 134 here ef fective Jan. 1. Members 'of this local were granted an increase of 10 cents per hour making the total scale $3.10 per hour for cement workers. The agreement is in force for a two-year period, Morlan said. This agreement also in cludes medical coverage ef fective July 1 for employees and families at a cost of 10 cents per working hour to the employer, Morlan explained. The agreements apply to Jackson county only, Morlan said. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York Iff) Dow-Jones final stock averages: 30 in dustrials 444.12. off 1.11; 20 railroads 107.10. up 2.97; IS utilities 71.38. up 0.02. and 65 stocks 151.41, up' 0.59. Sales today were about 2, 200,000 shares compared with 3,950,000 shares Thursday. Price 10 Cents No. 230 Ambassador To Discuss Possible Summit Parley Space for Peace Proposal in Works, Washington OP) Llewel lyn E. Thompson Jr., U. S. ambassador to Moscow, is be ing called home for "consulta tions" soon on a possible new summit conference with Russia. Thompson, who knows the Russians well, will confer with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and may meet with President Eisenhower. Officials disclosed that the U. S. is now working on de tailed proposals which, if Russia agreed, would put out er space under international control for peace. So far, they said, the Russians have dodged repeated American efforts to work jointly on the project. Thompson is expected to leave Moscow about Jan. 23. Diplomats said there are no plans for him to confer with top Soviet officials before coming home. But on his return to Mos cow in early February, he would be expected to take up the summit issue through reg ular diplomatic channels. Pre sumably he would suggest a foreign ministers meeting to do preparatory work that Ei senhower and Dulles have said would be essential to a new summit parley. It was understood here that Thompson is not entirely pessimistic about the possibil ity of getting some limited agreements with Russia on disarmament and other sub jects. His reports to the State De partment are understood to follow the line that some agreement may ' be possible this year since the Russians are expected to turn their at tention more and more to in dustrial and agricultural problems. Treasurer Gets Four State Checks Four checks totaling $137, 650.41 were received this week by County Treasurer Karl Janouch from the Ore gon department of state. Largest of the checks was for $129,959.49, the county's share of motor vehicle regis tration, motor fuel tax, motor carrier fees, and fines of mo tor vehicle laws. The amount received by the county de pends on motor vehicle regis tration in the county. The amount, according to Treas urer Janouch, will go into the county general road fund. Smallest check received was for $9.56 for moneys re ceived from amusement de vice tax accounts. This money is added to the county relief fund and is considerably low er than the $2,059.06 received for the same quarter in 1956. Also received were checks from revenue collected on the tax on alcoholic beverages. The amount received, based on county population, was in two checks. One for $6,617.63 will go into the county relief fund, and the other, for $1,063.73, added to the gen eral county fund. The smaller check is the county's share of expenditures for enforcing liquor laws. Commitfee Votes Debt Limil Boost Washington W) The House Ways and Means Com mittee voted 20 to 3 today to increase temporarily the na tional debt limit by S5 billion. The legislation, requested by the administration, would boost the debt ceiling to $280 billion through June 30, 1959. Approval came after Budg ed Director Percival F. Brund age told the committee a sub stantial tax cut might be pos sible if agreement could be reached with Russia even on preliminary steps toward disarmament. Procedure Said Damaging To Public Welfare Log Hauling Rates Would Be Increased Salem Gov. Robert D. Holmes Thursday called for a Congressional investigation into what he termed "pos sibly illegal" action of the Interstate Commerce Com mission in handling of new railroad freight rate propos als which would cost Oregon shippers hunderds of thou sands of dollars. Procedures of the ICC, barring adequate arguments against the rate increases, and the resignation of ICC Chair man Owen Clarke to take a top position with the Chesa peake and Ohio Railroad were principal bases for Holmes' actions. "It is my opinion that the Commission handling of the present railroad freight rate increase procedure, while Clarke was chairman of the Commission, .has been ex tremely damaging to the pub lice welfare including that of the State of Oregon," Holmes said. Included In the rate pro posals, which he said gave the Oregon Public Utility Commission only six days to study and prepare opposition, was a flat 10 per cent in crease in log hauling rates, discriminating against west coast shippers. Southern shippers, the only other major lumber producing section of the U.S., is exclud ed from the increase, the gov ernor pointed out. "This is the grossest "kind of discrimination," he said. In addition. Holmes charg ed, the proposed two per cent increase on lumber and lum ber products is discriminatory against Oregon and other western states. "This will give southern lumber producers added advantages and cost Oregon lumber Industries hundreds of thousands of dollars." The request for Investiga tion, included in letters to Oregon's Congressional dele gation, said, "My principal concern at the moment is with the crude, arrogant .and I believe unethical and very possibly illegal behavior of the ICC and its former chair man (who had already an nounced his resignation and knew where he was going) in setting so important a matter for public hearing and dispo sition on such short notice as to deprive the shipping pub lic of its rights. "It is my opinion that in addition to violation of ac cepted ethical behavior by the chairman, the commis sion has by this procedure violated the policy and spirit of the Interstate Commerce Act and the Administrative Procedures Act," Holmes said. Holmes said many letters and telephone calls had been received from shippers throughout the state asking what they must do to defend their interests because they had heard of the proceedings only this week. "Uniformly they told the same story and that is that they do not even have time to get together data and people in their or ganizations and prepare them to make any showing in this proceeding in defense of their businesses and industries," the governor added. "It is a shocking travesty of our U.S. ideals of fair treatment for all when the Oregon lumber industry, al ready undercut by unsound money policies of the admin istration, is knifed from be hind by another federal agency." Public answers are requir ed by Jan, 20 in the ICC pro cedure. Holmes said he had been advised that no Pacific Coast commission had receiv ed the order on hearings prior to Jan. 6 or -7. The order was issued Dec. 27 while Clarke was still chairman, the gov ernor said. The notice of hearing and the exhibits of the railroads were only sent out to public service commissions and par ties appearing in past hear ings. Many of the selective rate increases in this case will affect business and industries in this state which have not been seriously affected before and therefore have not been parties to past proceedings, and so were not notified, the governor pointed out. The procedures act under which the rate increase pro posal is being processed, calls for a minimum of 30 days notice unless an emergency is involved. No such emergency appears to exist, and the pro cedures act makes it unlawful to proceed otherwise, the gov ernor said.
