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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1958)
Tuesday, December IS, 1951 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, KteDF0RDt5STRIBUNB "Everyone In Southern Oregon Read The Mail Tribune1 Published Daily except Saturday by Miur ukij ytui iXNti co. 33 North Fir St. Ph. SP 2-6141 ROBERT W. R'CJHL. Editor HERB GREY. Advertising Manager GERALD LATHAM. BuaXneta Mgr. ERIC W. ALLEN JB Managing Editor EARL H ADAMS, City Editor HARRY CHIPMAN. Teleg. Editor RICHARD JEWETT. SporU Editor OLIVE STARCHER, Women'i Editor DALE ERICK5QN, Circulation Mgr An Independent Newspaper Entered at second elasi matter at Medford Oregon under Act of March 3. 1897 SUBSCRIPTION BATES Br Mail In Advance: Copy 10c. Daily and Sunday 1 year $13.00 Daily and Sunday a 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 HiU Pnoenix. Shady Cove, Rogue Riv er. Talent, and on motor routes: Dai.v and Sunday 1 year 118.00 Daily and bundayi mo. 1.50 Carrier and Dealers c o p y 10c All Terms Cash In Advance Official Paper of City of Medford onictai Paper or jacKson county United Press International Ful.. Leased Wire MJMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION Advertising Representative: wrcT.nrtT itSav m Tvr nf. fices in New York. Chicago, De troit. San Francisco. Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, St. Louis, At lanta, vsncouver. B.C. NEWS PA Pit k rUBLISHIIS "ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOC(rATIN J J Flight 'o Time Medford and Jackson County History from the files of The Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO Dec. 16. 1948 (Thursday) Eight white swans are re ported on the Hoover ranch on Butte creek, being possi bly fugitives from Portland. Medford votes today on the $685,000 school district bond ing measure to finance addi tional classroom facilities. 20 YEARS AGO Dec. 16. 1938 (Friday) Harry and David, after con ceiving the Christmas gift package idea five years ago, have "taken the Rogue River valley Cornice pear out of the dog house and placed it in the drawing room." From Arthur Perry's "Ye Smudge Pot" column: "Ohio chestnuts are on the market. They are the kind that pulls themselves out of the fire." 30 YEARS AGO Dec. 16, 1928 (Sunday) Pruning demonstrations are to be held in various parts of the valley under the auspices of the county agent's office. Southern Oregon Fotovox, backed by some dozen Med ford business and professional men, is incorporated for talk ing moyie ventures. 40 YEARS AGO Dec. 16, 1918 (Monday) The city council lifts Med- ford's ban on church and theater gatherings, but dances are still prohibited and flu masks must be worn at all times. Ashland reports an increase In its grain crop. What's Your I.Q.? Nina or ten correct is superior; seven or eight is excellent; five ei sis is good. 1. What is the principal re ligion of the people of Indo nesia? 2. Was Lorado Taft a wellr known actor, sculptor or play wright? 3. The Grammos mountains are in which European coun try? 4. An army led by what Carthaginian crossed the Alps to invade Italy in the Second Punic war? 5. What was the relation ship between Johann Strauss and Richard Strauss? 6. In which harbor is Bed loe's island? 7. The Zeiss camera lenses are well known-are they pro duced in Switzerland, Ger many, France or Italy? 8. Who wrote the verses about, the characters Wynken, Blynken and Nod? 9. Name the highest moun tain peak on the North Amer ican continent. 10. Who wrote the novel, "Old Curiosity Shop"? Answers: 1. Moslem. 2. Sculptor. 3. Greece. 4. Hanni bal. 5. Not related. 6. New York harbor. 7. Germany. 8. Eugene Field. 9. Mx. McKin ley. 10. Dickens. IN SELF DEFENSE Atlanta-flJPD-Merchants are hoping to head-off vandals who annually chop down and carry away decorated Christ mas trees along Atlanta's famed Peachtree Street by of fering free (but undecorated) trees to citizens unable to afford them. Smog at 'Nuisance' Lztiel The state sanitary Medford the level of reaches the nuisance level. The report was based on scientific samples. We could have told them the same thing with out the scientific samples, but we're glad to be backed up by the authorities. When one can park a freshly-washed auto mobile in the downtown area in the morning, and find it in the afternoon covered with a fine silt of ashes, we are convinced the "nuisance" level has arrived. "THEREFORE, we are indeed glad that the city , plans to go ahead with a more extensive field survey of the area. This will be done jointly, with the authority, furnishing the equipment and professional guidance and analysis, and the city furnishing the manpower, the part-time efforts of a city employee. Such a field survey, more extensive and com prehensive than the spot sampling, should provide a sensible analysis of the problem facing the city, and an indication of what can be done about it. THE CLEAR Rogue Valley air has always been one of its greatest beauties and attractions, and we have hated to see the encroachment of smog some days so bad one cannot see the range of hills across the valley. We re still not as bad area. (Mrs. M. Chandler of Y4z west I4tn St., Medford, recently sent us some clippings from the Van Nuys News. One headline read: Smog Seizes Valley Area m Merciless Grip for Four Days; Health Peril day7.") But we do have an air it probably will get worse before it gets better. Now Is the time to start to work on it. L. A. Tool of the Trade Two Oregon editorial writers last week turned their thoughts to the principal tool of their trade, the typewriter. One of them, Ken Holmes of the McMinnville News-Register, reviews the many ways in which the ability to use a typewriter is almost a neces sity, and comes to the conclusion that typing classes should be pre-requisites for college en trance. ' He says : "We are living in a might as well awaken to a fundamental subject of do now." . HOLMES also points out University of North Dakota has experimented with teaching typing to f ourth-graders, with con siderable success. He quotes Rowe as saying: "I think the child who goes through school knowing how to type learns faster, picks up grammar, spelling and punctuation easier, finds homework less work, improves his muscular coordination . . . Well, I could go on." Personally, we learned to type in the seventh grade. And it was a good thing, too, for our hand writing was (and is) about as legible as the av erage doctor's prescription. We figure we've turn ed out something more than 100,000 words in the past six months which adds up to a monumen tal case of writer's cramp if done by hand rather than by machine. FORREST Amsden of the Coos Bay World also talked knowingly about typing, but he was in a somewhat philosophical mood, and rambled on about the use of different colored paper (he switches frequently to avoid monotony), differ ent machines (ditto), and the need for a type writer for newspaper writers rather than secre taries. He'd redesign the keyboard, leaving out some of the symbols for which he has little use like -f t etc., and substituting others more fre quently used. He says : "One gadget we'd like is a , or long dash, which is frequently substituted in news style for the comma. When typers want to indicate the ' for a printer (who has a on his Linotype) they must strike the - twice. If he had a on the typewriter, just think of all the finger movements a fan would save in a week!" A MSDEN rejoices that some machines have re- cently added a !. "Old-fashioned typewriters (and almost all type writers you'll find in a newspaper office are very old-fashioned) you had to hit an and then back up and hit the . in order to get an exclamation point. Now you can just ! ! ! ! away for all you're worth!" Be that as it may (and few newspapermen use the ! very often), we think the typewriter people do pretty well. There are a fewjmprove ments which, we suggest, would be even more welcome than the ! . We'd like a typewriter that spells better than this one, for instance. E. A. Hawaii Should Be a State With Alaska due for the 49th star any day now, we see no reason why Hawaii should not have the 50th and during 1959. It would be singularly appropriate from Oregon's stand point to have the islands become a state on the 100th anniversary of Oregon's own statehood. Hawaii should be admitted, and soon. E.A. authority reports that in air pollution occasionally off as the Los Angeles Acute on 'Black Mon pollution problem, and ' typewriter world, and we the fact and make typing study much earlier than we , that Dr. John L. Rowe Dennis the Menace NUBN )W PICKED MB UP, PtGBOH E6QS I FOUND IN 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 tact the contrary often We Are? To the Editor: Why do you hide things that should be placed on the front page, you place them way inside your paper. About the article "High Schools Too Easy," in Sun day's paper, Dec. 15. That should of been on the front page, and you should write your Editorials on a subject like that till you . get . some action, as only through your paper could any good come to change the outdated school system we now have. And some sort of segrega tion to keep those with a poor IQ away from those that want to study and get ahead. Instead you write about, Senators' Differences, Social Security, and of all things, you are taking sides with something I don't think its any of your business. Married people should t ake corres pondence courses, or stay single till they have their education out. And you say the "World" is wrong, in upholding decency, and backing the school board in their ruling. YOU ARE THE KIND THAT BACKS JUVENILE DELINQUENCY. W. O. Burns, 3761 South Pacific Hy. Medford , Second The Motion? To the Editor: Regarding the results of the recent elec tion First, I want to thank the majority who voted down this - ill-advised amendment. Secondly, my , views as to why they voted as they did numerous comments before the election brought out the following facts: The average citizen wants fair play, hon esty and all the facts before he will give his consent to any measure on the ballot. Many questioned the need for a special election a few weeks after a general elec tion, especially after being told that five to seven years had gone into the measure, plenty of time to place it on the November ballot. Many statements and figures which could have been more exact were given as vague promises, guesses and estimates. This, and more, 'eft too many doubts in the voter's mind and he would have none of it. We, of the Citizens' Com mittee,' are not against Off Street Parking. We are against the manner in which it was proposed and the fact that those wanting it most the downtown merchants are attempting to ring the al ready overburdened taxpay er in- on a business venture that should be established and run by private or cooper ative enterprise. We feel that the need for more off street parking is not presentlycat the critical stage but we can foresee the time in the next two to five years when such space will be need ed. Could not the many bus inessmen in the downtown area, form a "cooperative to create their own parking lots m the near future? Each store, business and property owner could invest $100, $500 or more, depending on its size, into a "pool" to be bank ed drawing interest until it is large enough to buy prop erty and establish one or more parking lots of its own, the profits from this to re vert to the pool and eventu ally more lots as needed. The merchant is thereby taking care of a problem that is es sentially his at no risk to the taxpayer. Oddly enough, the taxpayer would eventually pay a good shart of this YA 5USTBD A COUPLA THE PARK. !h case. through his use of the park ing facilities, and in time will pay back the original inves tors. Other cities are using pri vate capital to lick the prob lem. I don't want this to sound like flag waving but this country was built on free en terprise not a benevolent gov ernment that first has to take away and then give part of it back. i am reaay to invest in the future of Medford any one second the motion? Mr J. Olsen, Route 4, Box 325, Medford. Too-Early Retirement To the Editor: Carroll Pow ell s communication in the Dec. 11 Tribune anent requir ed retirement at 65 prompts me to submit a bit of the re port by the National Commit tee on the four days North western Regional Conference on Aging, held at Reed Col lege, Portland, last summer. Life expectancy the last 50 years has increased more than in the previous 2,000 years, in 1855, Z per cent of U. S. population was 65 or older; 1955, 8.5 per cent, and in 1975, 10 per cent will be 65 or older. All retired from productive service still are consumers and must be pro vided for if not by their own savings, prudence, thrift, then by insurance, annuity, Social Security, welfare, nearly . all of which adds a drain on the national economy. Many men and women are better qualified, more effici ent, more dependable at or after 65. And the experience, knowledge, wisdom, gained through the years by educat ors, instructors, administrat ors, teachers, is most valuable to the younger generation. One of the conclusions arrived at by the workshops was: "Devaluation of oldsters has the effect to encourage youth's rebellion against au thority." Arguments pro and con re quired retirement at 65 were: For: Removes employees de clining in efficiency. Prevents workers from working be yond their own ability. Avoids favoritism. Opens channels of advancement for younger men. Encourages preparation for retirement because there is a definite date to look for ward to. Ties in with Social Security which starts at 65. Against: It costs 25 per cent less to retire a man at 68 than at 65;-45 per cent less at 70. The employee is better off after 65 than before. A person 65 may be physiologically 80 or 40. Most workers don't want to retire if in good health. Young men don't need retirement of older workers as an opportunity to advance. There is no dearth of oppor tunity. Where older, experienced, worker specialists were placed in public employment offices, placement of oldsters rose from 18.2 per cent to 20.1 per cent in six months. We cannot afford to lose the productivity of those able and willing to . produce. Al ready there are too many non producers, drones, leeches of various types on our society, economy. Businessmen, bank ers everyone must be come interested in this sub ject. A flexible, higher normal age retirement can save 25 per cent of pension costs and add . billions to productivity, to say nothing of the inde pendence and social values to millions. John E. Gribble 139 Kenwood ave. Medford Matter of Fact By Joseph Alsop CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE. Cairo Gamal Abdel Nas ser's government has just be gun to search for the right r e s p onse to the new So viet challenge in the Middle East. The out come cannot be predicted. But the search itself has the deepest moral, political and historic inter est. Joseph Alsop As this correspondent has perhaps tiresomely insisted in recent reports, the entire Middle Eastern pattern has now been radically transform ed by a sharp change in the Kremlin line for this area. No longer content with sup- Editorial Comment MEDFORD BEATS THE BOND ISSUE Further evidence of the trend of the times may be seen in defeat of Medford's proposed off-street parking amendment. This would have authorized issuance of general obligation bonds .up to $500,000 for the construction of off-street park ing facilities in downtown Medford. The bonds would have been self-liquidating and business men who would have benefited would have contrib uted a substantial share. through special parking dis trict tax levies. A strong campaign was made on behalf of the bond issue. The Medford Mail Trib une gave it unqualified edi torial support. The Chamber of Commerce endorsed it. Radio and television speakers pointed out repeatedly that home owners and other tax payers oustide the main busi ness district would not have to pay. Yet, the voters turned it down. The mere fact that gen eral obligation bonds were in volved apparently was suffic ient to create suspicion. The amendment could have called for revenue bonds, such as some municipal corporations use to finance the construc tion of toll bridges, public power systems and other self liquidating improvements. Incidentally, we have seen legal opinions to the effect, that, under certain circum stances, revenue bonds can be come general obligations of a city, county or PUD, in event of default. The process is a bit more complicated, how ever. Hence the preference for outright, tax-exempt general obligation bonds. This is the second time Med ford has defeated an off-street parking district proposal. This time the outcome was deci sive, 1,623 to 1,100. That prob ably means it is the last time it wil be attempted, at least in the present form. It ,is imperative, however, that cities develop more off street parking in the years to come. Otherwise, they will wither and die; victims of sub urbia and the big shopping centers with ample free park ing space. Grants Pass already has parking problems and they will become worse as this city continues to grow. Perhaps we can profit from Medford's ex perience and devise a system that is more acceptable to the taxpayers. One constructive move along this line would be a re quirement that no new con struction be permitted in the central commercial zone un less adequate off-street park ing is provided. Many cities the size of Grants Pass and Medford already have adopted this regulation. This imposes on the business involved the responsibility for providing parking space for its customers, but it doesn't solve the main problem, espe cially in a congested city where property values are high. That is why off-street parking districts are author ized by law. Under provisions of this statute all business men of a specific area can band to gether and provide off-street parking for mutual use. It might as well be accepted, however, that business men will have to bear the entire cost of such improvements. Sure, You Can- fi)U porting the anti-Western drive of Nasser's Arab nationalism, Nikita Khrushchev has now ordered the Arab Communists parties to enter into an open, direct power competition with the Nationalists. Thus far, the Communist challenge to Nasser's nation alists centers in Iraa. Yet the new Kremlin line plainly ap plies to the whole area all the Arab lands that Nasser claims to lead and to inspire. As already indicated in this space, the Kremlin's adop tion of this new line, and its at least temporary success in Baghdad, are causing some thing very like consternation here in Cairo. THE consternation is only natural TTrnm iha mntnunf when Soviet arms were pro vided for the Egyptian Army, Gamal Abdel Nasser has de pended very heavily on the' Kremlin's support. The Egyptian development program has achieved striking successes against heavy odds, and the Egyptians themselves have made great efforts. But the Soviet development cred its to the United Arab Repub lic, amounting to only a little less that $350 million for Egypt and Syria together, also constitute a considerable item in the balance sheet. Still an other considerable item is the special Soviet credit of only a little less than $100 million, recently granted for the fam ous Aswan high dam project. More important still, there is the simple fact that both the Egyptian and Syrian arm ies are now completely and fairly lavishly equipped with Soviet weapons. Some expert foreign observers maintain that this fact alone must be decisive. In reality, Nasser has done his best to prevent his Soviet arms contracts from turning into a mortgage on his independence, insist ing for instance, on buying several years' supply of spare parts for all weapons pur chased. Yet the source of their weapons must still influence Nasser's soldiers, and through them Nasser himself. , TjOR these reasons, many foreigners and not a few Egyptian observers think that Nasser is too entangled to be able to respond to the new Kremlin line. This is evidently the theory of Nikita Khruchchev. The new line was first tentatively sketched in the Syrian coup d'etat of the - summer of 1957, when Nasser's situation was. tempor arily much weakened. Then the new line was applied with full force in Iraq (where the Communists are now open ly anti-Nasser). Simultaneous ly, the Kremlin offered Nas ser the Aswan high dam as you might offer a dog a bis cuit for being good. The role that the Kremlin has allotted to Nasser is very plain. While the Communists seek to fasten and extend their grip on the Eastern Arab lands, which just hap pen to be the oil - bearing lands, Nasser is to remain passive. As a reward for re maining passive, he will re ceive generous further sup port. With this support, he is to continue his power drive, but into North Afria, the Su dan and Central Africa. It must be' added that the initial Cairo responses to the new Soviet challenge is not encouraging. Maybe it is be cause the habit is now so rooted here of blaming the Voters have shown they simp ly will not countenance any hint of a subsidy, such as the proposed 25 per cent diver sion of all parking meter funds if additional money were needed to amortize the Medford bond issue. Grants Pass Courier. WANTED: OLD PARROT Norwich, England-(UPD-The. local theater company adver tised today for an old parrot to play a role in "Treasure Island." "No young parrots need ap ply, since the young ones only peck at stranger's ears and repeat everything they hear," said production manager Ger ald Batty. ELECTED TO UPI New York-(UPD-Frank Tre maine was elected a vice presi dent of United Press Interna tional at a meeting of the board of directors .Monday. Soon, Now! IE Washington Report By William S. White Headquarters U.S. Army in Europe, Heidelberg - This is a bleak Christmas season for 250,000 A m erican troops in Ger many, but there is no fear or even excitement in this most pro fessional mili tary force un der our flag. William S White l D. e run ning crisis over Berlin, from which the Russians are trying to drive us sooner or later, means both much and little here. It means much to the American commander, Gen eral Henry I. Hodes, in the sense that it poses a keen problem for him. A man of massive calm and still, im personal eyes, he is the reas suring picture of the imper turbable and unimaginative pro as he awaits the outcome of negotiations over Berlin. He is neither brooding nor in any visible way is he troub led. Will there be a war over Berlin now or a little later? He weighs the question. He tabulates the degree of chance on both sides and then he says: "Can't tell. If it comes we are ready." TY the soldiers themselves, and indeed by the West German civilians hereabouts at least, the issue is hardly ev en discussed. The soldiers, of whom about 40 per cent are old Army hands, go about their drab business with the touching and unintentionally gallant unconcern of all old- time Armv hands. Our tanks are ceaselessly patrolling the 435-mile East wicked West for all imagin able troubles, almost includ ing the occasional cloud in Cairo's winter sky. At any rate, incredible as it may seem, the West is also being blamed here for the Commu nist successes in Baghdad. Even such a cool-headed and sophisticated man as the Egyp tian Foreign Minister, Dr. Mahmoud Fawzy, suggested to this reporter that the American and British Embas sies in Baghdad were 'collab orating" with the Iraqi Com munist party, in order to di vide the Arabs." ' IN TRUTH Nasser may play the role desired by the Kremlin in the end. It is the easy course to adopt, and some of his advisers will think it is the best course, at least for the time being. In con trast, it will be very difficult indeed for Nasser to fight all out against the new foreign intrusion into the Arab lands, if only because the Arabs have had their bellies - full of "Western imperialism" but have never tasted the sterner Soviet brand. There is only a single fact, indeed, to suggest that a firm response to the new challenge is still possible despite all the difficulties. It is possible because Gamal Abdel Nasser himself knows that failure to respond to the challenge will mean the doom of his grand ambition to free the Arabs from all "foreign interfer ence," the end of his own hopes for Arab unity, and his own eventual transforma tion into a mere Soviet client and agent. The question is whether Nasser will act on this knowl edge of his. He believes he cannot act on it if he must fight what he calls a "war on two fronts," against the West and the Soviets at the same time. . (c) 1958, New York Herald Tribune Inc. Counsel With . . v Mr. Insurance Fred Brennan HVm lMILJ Fred Brennan Or Call Mr. Friendly Bill Fish Phone SP 3-7343 MEDFORD INSURANCE AGENCY 27 NORTH HOLLY ST. German nd Czechoslovakian borders that form the Iron Curtain in this area. Four thousand of General Hodes picked troops are in West Berlin, a little American is land surrounded by a vast Communist sea. Behind that curtain nearly half a million Soviet troops and 95,000 East German Communist troops are confronting us, according to intelligence reports at this headquarters. Back of all these ' are 542,000 satellite troops, standing from Poland down to Bulgaria. On the Western side are West German, British, French and Italian troops, though all together they obviously are no match for the legions to the east. The heart of West ern defense and the heart of Hodes' command is in the American Seventh Army. TUT there is no alert on and none will be put on. There is, as Hodes says, no need for that. For our troops in Germany it is always a time of alert. They accept this as businessmen living in the suburbs accept the necessity of the daily commutation train. It is an annoying thing, but it is life. Those at home who believe our people in Germany "nev er had it so good" are not well informed. This head quarters city is perhaps the prize assignment and it is hardly a gay vacation place. The gloom of medieval Heidelberg now is like the dark forest of childhood dreams. Cloud banks scowl from the frowning hills, the rain falls in an endless twi light. Our headquarters are in angrily ugly stone buildings, with a prison severity that only the Germans could have managed. It was they who did manage it. Our command is housed in captured German barracks and the sullenly col ored German flag hangs alongside our own over a gray and sodden parade ground. M PUT up this alien flag, with all its associations for one who remembers Ger many 14 years ago when Ger man guns were blazing against us, because now the Germans are our allies. We must have them as allies and they must have us. The fact that the Russians have made this necessary is not the least of all their international crimes, for it is not a pleasant thought that we must main tain this alliance as beyond any doubt we must. And it is not pleasant that the German civilians seem so unconcerned about Berlin, be cause they know that if war comes we, who once helped defeat them, must now defend them. Yes, both sides "get along," but the message to one 'ob server from German eyes is this: "Yes, you Americans are not much, but you are here." And so we are and must con tinue to be, even though this is not the world's happiest place to be-this gaunt, gray Heidelberg in the rain. (Copyright, 1958, by 1 United Feature Syndi cate, Inc.) Phoenix Hardware PHOENIX, ORE. WILL BE OPEN Wednesday Night DECEMBER 17 and . Monday Night DECEMBER 22 for Your Shopping Convenience IF SANTA GETS STUCK ... in your chimney and the house suffers smoke damage are you covered? We've set up a complete insur ance plan for Santa but if you're in doubt about your coverage we'll "be happy to discuss it with you. Bill Fish
