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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 1958)
16 MAIL TRIBUNE, M.dford, Oraqoft, Friday, December 26. 195t (Farmers Cash in on Improved Prices; End off Nation's Problem Wot Dndicafed Washington -JUPB- American farmers cashed in during 1958 on improved prices for many of the things they raise com bined with near-ideal grow ing weather. But an estimated 20 per cent increase in net farm income did not signal the beginning of the end of the nation's farm problem. The record - breaking har vests of 1958 and the prospect of another big production year in 1959 brought predic tions of some relief for con sumers who paid record-high retail food prices this year They were expected to aver age a little lower in 1959 But Agriculture Depart ment economists were predict ing that farm income would head down again next year With that decline, administra tion farm officials will face new problems in handling crop surpluses which began to build up again in 1958 And Agriculture Secretary Zzra Taft Benson's plans for adjusting the nation's agricul ture to a big-volume produc tion era faced heavy going on Capitol Hill following wide Democratic gains in farm areas at the polls in Novem ber. Political Ferris Wheel Benson must feel this win ter like a man riding a poli tical ferris wheel. Early in 1958, he seemed to be about as popular among Midwest Republicans as an ant at a picnic. They de nounced him as a political lia bility and demanded his resig nation. Benson refused to quit. And as the year wore on with live stock prices high and crop prospects soaring, the open grumbling in party circles seemed to fade away. Then, late in the summer, the Sec retary scored a notable vic tory when the Democratic controlled Congress approved a bill easing production con trols and reducing support floors for three major crops cotton, corn and rice. Benson hailed passage of the 1958 farm bill as a step forward in his campaign to get the government out of farming by relaxing Federal controls and' bringing price supports down toward free market levels. When the con gressional campaign opened, the administration farm chief became one of his party's busiest speakers. He served notice he would push for more price-cutting legislation when Congress returned in January. The election results, how- the Benson program. Several GOP lawmakers from farm states interpreted them to mean that the Midwest and Great Plains farmer, once a solid Republican, now dis trusts the party and its lead ing farm spokesman. But Benson preferred to read farm opinion from the results of a Nov. 25 corn ref erendum in which corn grow ers were asked to decide whether they wanted continu ation of acreage controls and present price support levels or were willing to abandon the controls and accept lower supports. About 71 per cent of the 346,539 fanners who went to the polls in 26 states voted to shift to the no-control system. This will take effect for corn with the 1959 crop. Critics of administration farm policy charged the ref erendum was "loaded" and said Benson had rigged the proposed level of 1959 allot ments, and price supports to produce a vote in favor of his own policy. But the Agri culture Secretary hailed the result as grass roots endorse ment of his program. Most in Opposition But most farm commodity groups and general farm or ganizations were still lined up in opposition to Benson's policies. With the major execption of the American Farm . Bureau Federation, they were ready to ask Congress to turn away from Benson's path and con sider a variety of alternate plans, including direct sup port payments, two-price pro grams with high domestic prices balancing low export levels, food stamp aid to the needy and self-help programs in which farmers would tax themselevs to prop up prices. With some 25 million acres of cropland held out of pro duction in the soil bank, and Federal production controls Hollywood (DPD Movie town made some of its best pictures and some of its worst - in 1958, a year that could hardly be called a howl ing financial success, But a handful of quality films established a trend which most cinema folks agree will continue next year, and for years to come. Fewer flicks will be made in 1959 (a new low of 194 fea tures were produced in 1958) but they will continue to im prove in quality and cost. Most Expensive This year's goodies were the most expensive in history - "Auntie Mame," "Gigi," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Teacher's Pet," "Vertigo" and "Peyton Place," which turned out to be one of the big-money makers. "Perfect Furlough," "The Young Lions," "The Old Man and the Sea" were counted among the best pictures of 1958, too. But perhaps the best of the lot was "The De fiant Ones," which won criti cal praise from everyone. These pictures overshadow ed some of the bombs that em barrass Hollywood. Though they were money makers among teen-agers, science-fiction and horror epics bounced to new lows, with the woist of the lot being crime sensationals. "Girls, Guns and Gangsters," "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," "Hot Rod Gang" and "The Curse of the Face less Man" prepresented colos sal cinematic trash. No Bright New Stars For the first time in many years .Hollywood laiiea to come up with any bright, new ever, spelled new trouble forstars in 1958. The top roles 1958 Could Hardly Be Called Year of Success in Hollywood continued to fall to graying older stars, or to the crop of young Actors' Studio per formers who invaded the town two years ago. Too performances - al ready being rumored as Oscar material were turned in by Elizabeth Taylor ("Cat on i Hot Tin Roof"), Spencer Tra cy ("The Last Hurrah"), Tony Curtis ("The Defiant Ones") and Marlon Brando ("The Young Lions"), During 1958 many top- notchers were filmed, but will not be seen by the bulk of American movie-goers until next year-among them, "The Journey" with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, and "Inn of the Sixth Happiness," star ring Ingrid Bergman and Curt Jurgens. Both were produced abroad Two Captured After Attempted Robbery San Carlos, Calif. -(UPD-Two men who failed in an attempt to rob a discount house ' of $J0,000 were captured Wed nesday after a police chase. The suspects were identi fied as William Fair child, 31, and Henry M. Lang, 19, both of San Mateo. Fairchild said he had been out of work and wanted the money to pay rent and buy Christmas presents for his four children. Police said the two gunmen, wearing a disguise of lip stick, mascara and hair dye, burst into Dahnken's d i s count house, pistol whipped the manager and another em ployee and tied up a clerk. The Buccaneer," another multi-million-dollar extrava ganza (starring Brynner and Charlton Heston) holds prom ise of capturing a large audi ence and considerable in come. What else is in store for 1959? , Foremost is MGM's "Ben Hur" without argument the most expensive film ever pro duced. It will cost 15 million dollars, and should be ready for viewing late next year. Also on tap is "Some Like It Hot," Marilyn Monroe's first picture in two years. A kaleidoscope of block busters will come tumbling out of Hollywood to woo the 1959 televiewer away from the family set. Here are some samples of what is heading your way: "Porgy and Bess," Sam Goldwyn's all-Negro musical film version of Gershwin's famed operetta; "The FBI Story," starring Jimmy Stew art; "Green Mansions" with Tony Perkins and Audry Hep burn; "Never So Few" with Frank Sinatra; - and Alfred Hitchcock's "North by North west" with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Pulling Out Stops Add to that list "The Diary of Anne Frank," Lana Turner in "Imitation of Life," "This Earth is Mine" starring Rock Hudson, and "Rally 'Round the Flag," and it becomes ap parent Hollywood is pulling out all the stops. The new year could be a make or break" 12 months for movies, and the men who make the cameras turn, are determined to "make it" - big. in effect for many major crops, farmers still managed to produce the biggest crop harvest in history. Per-acre yields averaged an amazing 43 per cent above 1947-49 while total crop out put rose to 18 per cent above the average for those post war years. There were new records for "such crops as Simple Rites for Victim of Triangle . Berkeley, Calif .-(UPD-A sim ple funeral service was held today for Wolfgang Liidwig Marx, 26, German physics student at University of Cali fornia who was shot to death 10 days ago by a jealous hus band. The service was arranged by Marx's second cousin, Miss Anne Lamotte, a New . York City nurse who came here ear ly this week. Marx will be buried in the Golden Gate. National ceme tery near San Francisco. He was buried in a military cem etery because he served for a while in the U.S. Army. A research chemist, John Hampton, 31, shot and killed Marx1 on Dec. 16 in a physics laboratory.. He said he did so because' Marx and his rretty German-born wife, Made leine,' 29, had been having an affair. Chinese Nationals Shelve Amendment Taipeh, Formosa- (UPD -The National assembly has formal ly shelved a constitutional amendment which 'would have made it possible, for President Chiang Kai-shek to seek reelection in 1960. ' Chiang announced Tuesday that he opposes any amend ment of the Constitution for the purpose of extending his tenure in office. When the proposed amend ment came up at Thursday's assembly session, it was re ferred to the Assemblymen's association for "further study" s t a n d a r d procedure for shelving a measure in the Chi nese parliament. It is not like ly to come up again. APPROVE BUDGET Belgrade, Yugoslavia (UPD The Yugoslav National As sembly approved Thursday a 1959 federal budget calling for a $56,700,000 increase in defense spending. - wheat, corn, soybeans, and grain sorghums. The government's multi-billion-dollar pile of surplus farm products, which had been dwindling with the aid of subsidized export . pro grams, began growing again as the big crops poured into the price support program last summer and fall. The Agriculture Depart ment's price support invest ment rose from $6,854,250,000 on Sept. 30, 1957, to $7,498, 532300,1351 Sept. 30. Parity and Politics The generation-old theory that farm programs should be aimed at a "fair earning pow er" parity price came under heavy attack in 1958. In draft ing a corn-cotton-rice bill last summer, Congress considered junking the parity approach in favor of price supports fixed, slightly below actual market prices of recent years. As finally approved, however, the new approach - sponsored by the American Farm, Bu reau Federation-was adopted only for the corn program. City legislators, meanwhile, were showing increasing re sentment against farm pro gram costs and rebelling against votes that might be interpreted as , leading to higher food costs. The National Grange, tak ing note of that attitude, warned recently that a cam paign to "improve rural-urban understanding" should pre cede any, attempts to write a major new farm law. Agricultural Science Government farm scientists put more emphasis on the task of finding new industrial uses for farm crops and develop ing new food products. Other highlights of 1958 on the farm front: Income Farm prices rose to the highest levels in five years, due largely to reduced sup; plies of and higher prices for beef, pork and citrus prod ucts. A step-up in soil bank payments, which will be cur- CUSTOM KILLING CLEAN RELIABLE at. 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