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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1958)
o fti&t. TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. 4 Wednesday, May 14, 1958 toFORDTRIBDNE Jveryone la Southern 'regon Reads The Mail Tribune" Ffblished Daily except Saturday by MEDFORD PRINTING CO 3 North Fir St Ph. SP.2-6141 ROBERT W RUHL. Editor VERB GREY Advertising Manage! CMi ALB LATHAM. Business Mgr. JRIC ALLEN. JR. Managing Editor TRL H ADAMS. City Editor HARRY CHIPMAN Teleg Editor RICHARD JEWETT. Sports Editor OLIVE ST ARCHER. Society Editor 4) ALE ERICKSON. Circulation Mgr An Independent Newspaper Entered as second class matter at Medford Oregon under Act of March 3. 1395 - SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail In Advance: Copy 10c Daily and Sunday 1 year $15.00 Daily and Sunday 6 mos. 8.00 Daily and Sunday 3 mos. 4.25 Sunday Only One year $4.20 By Carrier In Advance Medford Ashland, Central Point. Eagle Point Jacksonville. Gold Hill. Phoenix. Shady Cove. Rogue Riv er Talent, and on motor routes: Daily and Sunday 1 year $18.00 Daily and Sunday 1 mo. 130 O Carrier and Dealers copy 10c All Terms Cash in Advance Official Paper of Ctty of Medford Official Paper of Jackson County United Press Full Leased Wire MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION Advertising Representative: VEST-HOLIDAY CO.. INC, Of fices in New York, Chicago. De troit. San Francisco. Los Angeles. Seattle. Portland. St Louis. At lanta. Vancouver. B. C. NEWSPAPEI k PUBLISHERS 'ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EDITORIAL IassocPatiQn 7 U KJ Flight fo Time Medford and Jackson County History from the files of The Mail Tribune 10. 20, 30 and 40 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO May 14, 1948 (Friday) Plans and specifications have been received and bids requested for construction of a 64 by 75 foot reinforced con crete addition to the Medford Public library. Jackson county furnished over 3,000 of the signatures on petitions filed yesterday in Salem for a vote Nov. 2 by the people of Oregon on ac quisition of Camp White hospital. 20 YEARS AGO May 14, 1938 (Sunday) A wild brawl in the hobo camp on the southern out skirts of Medford late yester day afternoon landed the "mayor of the jungle" in Sa cred Heart hospital. From Arthur Perry's Ye Smudge Pot column: "Haying has started. Showers, and a shortage of hay-hands are predicted." 30 YEARS AGO ' May 14, 1928 (Monday) ,A local sporting goods deal er told recently how he caught a 26 pound salmon in the Rogue rivr with his bare hands. From local and personal column: "It took over an hour for Orbin Cooksey, local young fisherman to land a 20-pound salmon which he hooked Saturday afternoon at Gold Ray dam." 40 YEARS AGO May 14, 1918 (Tuesday) Adjutant General Williams will be here Wednesday or Thursday night to muster the home guard company into state militia service. .An agricultural camp for -sie -.,,511 v. organized on the Ollaway orchard beginning the first of June. Vhal's Your I.Q.? Nina or ten correct is superior; seven or eight is excellent; fivo of six is good. 1. Carson City is capital of which western state? 2. Bible: How long was Noah jhut up in the Ark? 8. The initials WCTU ident 35y what women's organiza tion? 4. Who succeeded Will Hays ;i''Czar" of the film industry? f. Geographically, Mexico a part of North or South, merica? . The young of moose are ryalled cubs or calves? 7. Catacomb is the name of special brush for grooming sBts; true or false? V There are 28, 32, or 36 aills in one gallon? 9. Name the author of Rob inson Crusoe? 10. What is the meaning of the name Philip? Answers: 1. Nevada. 2. 350 days. 3. Woman's Christian Temperance ..Union... 4. -Eric Johnston. 5. North. 6. Calves 7. False. (Subterranean burial ground). 8. Thirty-two. 9. Dan iel Defoe. 10. Lover of horses. The "Tax Base " Measure At the bottom of the non-partisan ballot which all voters in the county will receive Friday, appears a county measure. It is entitled "County measure establishing permanent tax base." And the descriptive mater ial reads as follows : "Referred to the Voters of Jackson County, Ore gon by the County Court of Jackson County, Oregon. . Purpose: To establish the present county tax base of $652,386.68 as a permanent county tax base of $652, 386.68 under Article XI, Section 11, Oregon State Constitution, as amended. Under the above constitu tional provision it is necessary to levy taxes at least once every three years for the sole purpose of pre serving the tax base, unless a permanent tax base has been established. If a permanent tax base is estab lished, taxes will only have to be levied when funds are needed to meet County obligations." TTHE constitutional provision, stripped of its "legalese," provides that no taxing unit (in cluding counties) can levy more taxes than the amount of its tax base. There are two types of tax base, temporary and permanent. The first is the amount of money levied during one of the three preceding years (except that for the payment of indebtedness or interest thereon), plus six per cent. The other is an amount approved by the voters. The first is the type under which Jackson county is operating at present. The second is the kind proposed for adoption. Unlike other counties which do not have sub stantial sources of income other than taxes, Jack son county receives considerable sums from the federal government, from the sale of National Forest and Bureau of Land Management timber. These sources of income are so large, in fact, that for the past several years they have been enough to pay all the costs of county government. IN THAT case, one may say, why worry about a tax base at all? Why not just go on using the federal timber receipts? The answer to that is, the timber receipts may not continue, indefinitely, to provide all the money the county needs. If these receipts were to fall off to any great extent, the county would have to levy taxes to raise funds to continue oper ating. And if that happened, it would need a tax base so it could levy those funds. As a result, it has had three choices either levy a tax each third year, to protect the old base (which is what it has done so far) ; or call upon the voters to establish a permanent tax; base; or lose the right to levy a tax without a vote. This year, for the first time, it is asking the voters to approve the second alternative. IF THE tax base request is rejected, the county will continue to operate as it has in the past, receiving large sums from the federal govern ment for the payment of operating expenses, and presumably levying an unneeded tax of more than $600,000 eveiy third year to protect the tax base. (It could, of course, abandon the tax base altogether, but we have yet to see any public body give up its right to tax once it is estab At best, this levying each third year is a polite, could be said to be a hindrance to good, economi cal government. IF A permanent tax base is approved Friday, in the same amount as the old system, the county would not have to levy an unneeded tax each third year (including this year) just to protect the tax base. It could continue with tax-free budgets as long as the federal timber and other receipts were sufficient to pay for the costs of county operation, and levy taxes only as they became necessary, either because of a decrease in income or an increase in necessary expenditures. On the other hand, the measure would give the county a sort of "blank check" to levy up to $652,386 m taxes in any year it feels it necessary. In doing so, it would remove the final say in the county government another step from the people, and would make it easier for county courts and budget committees in the future to succumb to those demands for more and more county funds which many people feel should be spent. THE constitutional amendment which author ized the approval of a permanent tax base was not designed for counties with ample sources of income. To the contrary, it was designed for cities and school districts which long ago outgrew their old tax bases, because of increased population and rising costs, to permit them to get on a sound financial basis without seeking a vote of the people every year at budget time. This is a valid use of the tax base provision. Whether or not it should be used by a wealthy county to avoid the levying of unneeded taxes each third year is a question which can, and should, be answered only by the voters and tax payers of the county concerned. We are inclined to doubt it. E.A. Polls - And Rides A correspondent points out correctly and thoughtfully that, since many of the precincts this year will use consolidate polling places in Friday's election, this offers a better-than-ever opportunity for the neighborly offer of a ride. Particularly in the rural districts, where one polling place serves several precincts covering a large area, this suggestion is a good one. Vote as you please Friday, but vote. And if you can offer a ride to someone lacking transportation, so much the better. E.A. of unnecessary taxes but practical, fiction. It this year's tax base under Dennis the 'WWT XJUR BACK SCRUBBED?' Difficult Questions Face U.S. Attorney In Grand Jury Case By LYLE C. WILSON United Press Correspondent Washington (IF) It is news when a man bites a dog or when a mouse nips a cat. So it must be news when a potential crim inal heckles and harasses a U. S. district attorney to hv diet him. The heckler and potential criminal is i.i. n Tun.nn William F. Buckley Jr., editor of a smart ly conservative weekly news magazine called National Re view. Potential criminal he may be, but Buckley's con science in this matter is as sweet and clelan as a babe's. If anyone is in trouble it is Paul W. Williams, U.S. dis trict attorney in New York City and, perhaps, the U.S. Department of Justice. What it's all about is this: Beginning last Dec. 14, in a special article full of em barrassing questions and im plications, Buckley's National Review began suggesting that something smelly had hap pened to a Grand Jury which was supposed to be investi gating charges of income tax evasion against Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-N.Y.). Powerful Politician Powell is a clergyman, pas tor of the largest congregation in Harlem where is concen trated most of the Negro pop ulation of New York City. He is one of three Negroes in Con gress and powerful political ly with his race. On Oct. 11, 1956, Powell bolted Adlai E. Stevenson, the Democratic presidential nom inee, to endorse President Ei senhower for reelection. Re publicans welcomed Powell's support. Republicans know they probably must remain a minority party unless they can win back from the Demo crats the Northern Negro vote which was absorbed into Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The Powell Grand Jury was impaneUed in December, 1956. , ff In the Day's News By FRANK Fantastic note in the news: Vice-President Nixon has been planning tentatively to visit European capitals late this summer on a friends making mission. However in the light of rowdy demon strations that have greeted some of his Latin American appearances (notably the stone-throwing ruckus in Peru the other day) a question has now arisen in Washington as to whether the good wUl he might engender overseas would outweigh the AMERI CAN resentment that would ensue if he were greeted with the kind of . Yankee-Go-Home displays the communists are said to be able to organize in some Western European coun tries. As a result of this situation, Washington correspondents re port, Vice-President Nixon's European trip may be called off. THAT is to say: It may not be a good idea to send our vice-president to European capitals on a friendship tour because he might be heckled and insulted and this heckling and insult ing of a high American of ficial might MAKE US MAD. That is a pretty pass to be reached by a nation that has given some 60 BILLION DOL LARS of its treasure to help out peoples who are less for Menace It sat for two months when, according to Buckley's Na tional Review, the proceed ings were halted on orders from Washington. The Grand Jury remained in limbo and almost forgotten until Dec. 14, 1957, when Buckley's mag azine began asking questions. Had' there been, for example, a political deal to let Powell down easy? The magazine reported that Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Bolan, in charge of the Grand Jury proceedings, had been informed that the Powell case was being turned over to the Treasury Depart ment on orders from Washing ton which, obviously, would have to come from the Justice Department. Indictment Issued Treasury investigators i h New York, however, showed no interest in taking over the case. Months elapsed and nothing happened except that National Review each week continued to spotlight the Grand Jury's inactivity. Jury members began bombarding U. S. Attorney Williams with letters threatening to recon vene on their own if they were not called back Williams called the jury back April 17. Powell's in dictment on three income tax counts came down May 8. Buckley evidently applied the hot foot which caused jurors to write to Williams. The young editor sent to each jur or a copy of National Review's Dec. 14 article, "The Wheels of Justice Stop For Adam Clayton Powell." And that ac tion was a federal offense, punishable by fine and im prisonment. Buckley admits all. In its current edition, Buckley writes: "National Review pleads guilty." It, looks like Williams) move. And if he movesito in dict Buckley how can he pre vent the trial from becoming an investigation of: Who called off the Powell Grand Jury, and why? Tough ques tions! JENKINS tunate than we. It calls for some rather ser ious thinking on our part. THIS thought is advanced by those who support con tinued American aid spending in Europe and Asia and else where in the older world: If we don't do it, RUSSIA will. not let Russia do it? CONSIDER this possibility: It isn't wholly improb able that if we retire from a giveaway field and Russia goes into it in a big way the peoples who receive Russia's bounty will TURN AGAINST HER, as they have turned against us. - , We have proved rather con clusively in our foreign aid ex periment that you can't BUY friends. WHY NOT? ' Let's put it this way: Suppose some VERY rich person from a distant state sent a member of his staff around to you and that this person said to you, in effect: "Why, you poor thing, you are in a bad way indeed. My boss is terribly sorry for you. Here's $10,000. The- only string attached tc the gift is that you agree to be friends with him." . I suppose you'd take the Short Step Seen in New Russian By CHARLES M. McCANN United Press Correspondent Soviet Russia seems to have taken a short step toward agreeing to start negotiations on disarm ament. Premier Ni kita S. Khru shchev, in a letter to Presi dent Eisen hower, accept ed in principle a United States propos al that experts start discussing means of su pervising a possible agree ment to suspend nuclear wea pons tests. Khrushchev's offer was hedged about by qualifica- L mi ffife t Charles M. McCann Communications Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer, although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the right to edit all letters with a view to clarification and condensation. Letters submitted for publication must not exceed 400 words. The letters printed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of the saper; in fact the contrary is often the 'as' Fir Trees and Atom Bombs To the Editor: A recent con tributor to your "Communi cations" department, Mr. John Hale Foster, 238 King st., Medford, commented May 5, 1958, on my efforts on behalf of encouraging Oregon devel opment and in our country's adopting a sane nuclear pol icy. Apparently he disagrees with these aims or at least with my methods of further ing them. For the record I want Mr. Foster to know that I trav elled by train to New York City one night, arriving there about midnight, and return ing by train three hours later. I went at the request of Gov. Robert Holmes as Oregon's of ficial representative at a cere mony planned to foster inter est in a Fourth Congressional District prime natural re source the Douglas fir. My train fare will be paid by the public relations firm responsible for the advertis ing. As I told onlookers that night, "you probably think this is a publicity stunt to ad vertise Oregon. You're right. It's interesting to note, I be lieve, that more than 12,000 persons have requested Ore gon Douglas firs and that these requests have come from all parts of the nation. Finally, Mr. Foster implies that I serve a- Communist cause and waste taxpayer money when I go to the Mar shall Islands to learn about safeguards in nuclear testing. Rather than detail my find ings here, I will say that they were deemed valid enough to receive considerable attention from the Atomic Energy Com mission, from the press, which had not been told that the tests had begun, and from citi zens who believe the AEC, un der present policy, is impair ing U.S. domestic and foreign policy. I travelled to the test 'area on regularly scheduled mili tary flights which would have been made whether I was there or not. The AEC had designated me an official ob server and was providing rou tine transportation, just as It does for each official observ er. I paid for my own meals and lodgings. In order to return to Wash ington from Eniwetok with out undue delay, I took a com mercial flight from the t West Coast paid out of taxpayer Charles O. Porter's pocket. The flight and incidental ex penses cost me well over $200. I'm sending Mr. Foster a copy of this letter along with the remarks I made on the floor of the House of Repre sentatives the day following my return. I hope he will read both. Charles O. Porter, Member of Congress. $10,000. But of this I'm cer tain: You'd be HIGHLY SUS PICIOUS of the honor, and you'd watch him like a hawk from then on. You'd wonder what he was up to, and you'd be pretty sure he was up to no good. Human nature is human nature. ANYWAY We haven't had much luck with our foreign pro gram. In spite of our sixty billions, we seem to have got everybody down on us. Why not let the Russians take a whirl at it? FALSE TEETH That Loosen Need Not Embarrass Many wearers of false teeth havr suffered real embarrassment because their plate dropped, slipped or wob bled at just the wrong time. Do not Uve In fear of this happening to you. Just sprinkle a little FASTEETH. the alkaline (non-acid) powder, on your plates. Hold false teeth more firmly, so they feel more comfortable. Does not sour. Checks "plate odor" (den ture breath). Get FASTEETH at any Srug counter. Toward Negotiations tions which left a lot of room for doubt whether he is act ing in good faith or is mere ly launching another propa ganda balloon. But it was received in Washington as appearing to justify some hope that the long deadlock on disarma ment talks might be broken. A White House statement said that Khrushchev's offer might "serve as the basis for progress toward agreement on disarmament." Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was consider ably more cautious. He called Khrushchev's offer gratify ing. It appeared to recognize "to some degree at least" the insistence by the United States that the problem of Resents Attack on Bar Poll To the Editor: The poll by the Oregon State Bar associ ation is intended as an aid to the voting public and if it does not serve that purpose, it should be abolished. There is no better way of finding an answer to this question, than to go back over the years since the poll was instituted My first experience with the Bar Poll was about 1928 At that time, the late Harry D. Norton was a candidate for Circuit Judge. He had the endorsements of about 90 per cent of the Bar. At that time. the same propaganda was used, such as: "It is only a popularity c o n t e s t", "The lawyers want him because they can control him", and many others of like kind. In spite of that propaganda, Har ry D. Norton was elected and he soon became known as one of the best judges in the state of Oregon. The people's con fidence was demonstrated by the fact of his re-election to another term and if age and health had permitted, . he would still be our Circuit Judge. ' About 1940, Judge H. K. Hanna became a candidate for Circuit Judge. Judge Han na had the endorsement of about 95 per cent of the Bar The same propaganda was used in that campaign as was used against Judge Norton and is being used today, Judge Hanna was elected and soon became known as one of the finest Judges in the state of Oregon, not only so con sidered by the people of this county, but also so considered by the members of the Su preme Court of the state of Oregon. To demonstrate the confidence that the people had in him, he was twice re elected to another term and only age and health prevent him from serving permanent ly. I could give you the same illustration with references to the candidates for the Su preme Court of Oregon. A good conscientious voter should gather all of the infor mation possible concerning a candidate, in addition to the information of the Bar Poll, and then decide who to vote for. The evil, if there is any evil, is if the voter relies en tirely on the Bar Poll with out making further efforts, to ascertain the qualifications of the candidate. The Bar cer tainly does not intend to tell the " voters how to vote. It does not intend for nor want the voters to rely entirely up on its recommendation. The voters are not doing their full duty if they do not inform themselves as to the qualifi The Verdict is Yours - r Friday YW Decide . . . Shall we continue a coroner in BUSINESS another 4 years? (making 20 out of the last 22 years) OR- Shall we bring Jackson Co. up to date and nominate Frank Perl with the "Rotation Plan"? Mr. Perl is qualified by experience to administer efficiency and econ omy, co-operate with funeral and law enforcement men. Extend free dom of choice to families first, use the Rotation Plan second. Will keep records safely and supervise deputies carefully. A vote for Perl is a vote for fairness, and justice to All. Favoritism to none. We need a change in Jackson County. Vote 29 X Frank Perl. C M. Litwiller, G. W. "Bill" Drew and Chapel Mortuary Pd. Pol. Adv. Litwiller Funeral Home, 83 North Main, Ashland, Ore. Talk Offer controls is the prime essential in any disarmament agree ment. Dulles added that he did not mean to say that he thought the prospects for any disarmament agreement were good. He said it would take a lot of study to determine whe ther there was any ground for optimism. "But at least," he said, "there is some prog ress. The Washington reaction showed plainly the feeling of officials in allied countries toward any development, however slight, in the at tempt to negotiate a "sum mit" conference on world is sues and get started on dis cussion of disarmament by experts. First, there was eagerness to grasp at any apparent con cession by the Soviet govern ments Secondly, there was the natural suspicion of every Russian move, and the doubt whether the Russians will agree to conditions that would justify a summit con ference or would permit the first step to be taken toward cations of a candidate in addi tion to the recommendation of the Bar. I had no intentions of tak ing any part in the campaign for the judicial offices and I do not now intend to help any candidate nor to harm any candidate, however, I do resent the attacks being made upon the lawyers generally for trying to do their duty in assisting the voting public. The foregoing facts are his tory. - J. F. Fliegel 34 North Central ave. Medford. From "Coming Out" To Coroner To the Editor: I am a grand mother and ' heartily agree with Mrs. Farfan's answer to "coming out gowns," in May 7 edition. I sincerely hope and pray that my four grandsons will grow up to be reverent Christian men. . I think they will be helped by their mod ern parents who respect other people's rights and opinions. I would also like to men tion our appreciation to Mr. Carlos Morris for . the many fine pictures we have seen, free of charge, shown by him at Grange and PTA meetings during the 14 years we have lived, in Jackson county. We also appreciate the fine weather reports on TV. When we get through with our sun tanned bodies, cer tainly we expect Conger Morris to be in charge of .the things necessary at such times, whether or not Mr. Morris is county coroner. We hope he will be. Fayetta Gribble, Box 461, Gold Hill, Ore. Oppose Tax Base To the Editor: The board of governors of the Jackson County Taxpayers league by resolution state that: "After careful study and consideration we find that the establishment of a perman ent tax base is not needed in Jackson county at the present time or in the foreseeable fu ture. "We know that a tax levy is unnecessary. The county will have an expected income from all sources this year of at least $4,080,000. We be lieve that the people of Jack son county should decide by their vote at regular election if and when an emergency should arise making a tax base necessary to the finan cial security of our county government." Tom R; Williams, ' North Stage rd., Central Point (More Communications On Page 5) broad disarmament negotia tions. Eisenhower, in a letter to Khrushchev on April 28, sug gested among other things that East and West start tech nical talks on means of de tecting any violation of a pos sible agreement to suspend nuclear weapons tests. The President also pro posed the establishment of an Arctic zone air watch to les sen the danger of a nuclear weapons attack by planes fly ing over the North Pole route between Russia and the Unit ed States. Khrushchev reiected this proposal. He said it seemed aimed at gaining advantages ior the United States over Russia because of the pres ence of American air bases in countries within attacking distance of the Soviet Union. The acceptance of the pro posal for technical talks on an agreement to suspend nu clear weapons tests was high ly qualified. "The Soviet government is agreed to have either side ap point experts who should im mediately start work on studying the means of detect ing possiDie violations of an agreement to end nuclear tests, with the Droviso that work should be completed in the shortest term agreed upon before hand," Khrushchev said. This reference to "the shortest term agreed upon be forehand roused suspicion that Khrushchev's apparent acceptance might contain what Eisenhower has called a "gimmick." c Let's Keep an Experienced Fair and Competent Judge on the Bench! VOTE FOR Judge Edward C. KELLY (Incumbent) CIRCUIT COURT POSITIOII No. 3 (Non-Partsan Judicial Ballet) PRIMARY ELECTION, MAY 16 Remember! Vetel 43-X - Edward C. Kelly "Incumbent. Judge Kelly experi enced by thirty years varied active practice." ' PA AHv. Kellv for Circuit Judoa Committee, Otto J. Frohnmayer, Chairman, 1656 Spring St. Med ford. L J $ J '(A fS -
