MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, Monday, January 3, 195 3 j
High Ranking Russian Official
Has Personality That Clicks
United Press International
The world's foremost au
thority on Russian roulette is
t 63-year-old Armenian named
Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan.
For more than 30 years he
has guessed correctly which
chamber was loaded when
Communist purge guns went
off.
Mikoyan is now Russia's
No. 2 man. He is the highest
ranking Soviet official to
come to the United States
since World War ' II. And
Washington's diplomatic and
social set are in for some
thing novel.
He has the kind of person
ality that clicks with Ameri
cans. His hook-nosed face is
matched by a sharp sense of
humor and a keen mind. West
erners after meeting him fre
quently remark that if he had
migrated to America he would
probably be a millionaire busi
nessman by now. '
Khrushchey's Collaborator
Mikoyan gives every ap
pearance of now being Pre
mier Nikita Khrushchev's
closest collaborator. How he
got that way is one of the
success stories of modern day
Russia. He is one of the old
Bolsheviks. Most of the rest
are dead or banished.
Mikoyan has survived
through a variety of talents,
the most important being his
tremendous ability in running
the economic side of the So
viet state. He negotiated the
multi-billion lend-lease agree
ments with the United States
Is That So?
By OLGA BURNS
The sourd and sight of a
woodpecker on a frosty morn
ing as he hammers, on a tree
trunk are unforgettable. How
can he bear to hit it so hard?
In effect, his chisel-tipped
bill is nothing other than an
extension of his head. But
that is only part of it. Prob
ably fully as important is the
remarkable structure of his
hyoid or tongue-bone.
His tongue-bone - and we
have one, also - is a Y-shaped
thing, except that the arms of
the Y curl around and over
the back of the skull to the
forehead, thus binding tongue,
bill and head into a single
unit.
Hard-Polnlod Tongue
The tongue, furthermore, Is
a hard-pointed, barbed, cy
lindrical Instrument that is
just as important to the own
er in captuimg food as the
bill itself. When the bill
breaks through the wood to
where a grub is hiding, the
woodpecker thrusts his tongue
into the hole, hooks the grub
-much as we do a fish-then
hauls it out and swallows it.
Since a woodpecker often
finds his grub on a tree trunk
that Is vertical, the problem
of getting sufficient purchase
for his hammer blows looks
difficult. It seems as If
does the job standing up.
clinging desperately to the
bark by his claws. The fact,
is, however, that though he
does use his claws, he is actu
ally sitting down.
His tail is stiff, stubby and
strong. Thus, by comfortably
adjusting its edge in a crevice
of the bark and clinging light
ly with his four toes, he can
hammer away to his heart's
content.
Locales by Hearing
He locates his prey often
apparently by hearing. At any
rate, I have watched a wood
pecker stroll up a tree trunk,
cocking his head as if listen
ing until he finds the right
place to drive a hole. And
since examination of the hole
sometimes indicates no other
visual evidence of a grub, the
probability . is that the un
fortunate creature made a
sound audible to the bird.
But hunting is only one of
the uses of his bill. He also
employs it to chisel out a nest
in a branch or tree trunk big
enough to hold the female's
clutch of as many as eight
white eggs. Usually, there is
no attempt to line the nest.
Chips are considered quite
satisfactory for baby wood
peckers to sit on.
(Released by McClure .
Newspaper Syndicate)
Sorry, I simply cannot
answer your many friendly
letters individually, but I
will be glad to answer letters
of general interest, through
the column. Please address
your letters to: IS THAT SO!
co Medford Mail Tribune,
box 1069, San Franciso, Calif.
Many green stones, such as
emeralds and serpentine, owe
their color to the presence of
he chromium.
and Britain in wartime, then
wrenched 30 billion dollars
out of the East European satel
lites after the war to put
Russia back on its feet.
But also figuring in his sur
vival have been his engaging
personality, his personal popu
larity with party members
and the Soviet people and his
great ability to know when to
jump and where.
Although at Stalin's side for
24 years, Mikoyan was the
first even before Khrushchev
to denounce the deceased
dictator at the 20th Commu
nist Party Congress in 1956.
In the post-Stalin struggle, he
by-passed Georgi Malenkov
and Nikolai Bulganin and
stuck with Khrushchev.
Amusing, Alert Man
Mikoyan is an amusing,
alert man. He seems always
full of energy. He is known
as a boy vivant and appre
ciates good wine. He is an
agile dancer and adept at flat
tering the ladies. As an en
livener of diplomatic parties
in Moscow, he is second only
to Khrushchev.
Luck is one reason for
Mikoyan's survival. Even he
admits Stalin died in the nick
of time for him.
"Stalin held us in his
hand," he once said. "Only
one escape was left to us -suicide.
At the end of Stalin's
life, I was about to be ex
ecuted." But it is his uncanny flair
for trading and business that
has taken him so high. At the
age of 31 in 1926, he held the
post of commissar of internal
and external trade. Mikoyan
had the job of feeding the
vast country at the same time
Stalin was exterminating the
Kulaks and forcing peasants
to make their farms ''collec
tive. Made Previous Visit .
Mikoyan visited the United
States once before. That was
in the depression year of 1936,
but he found America stimu
lating and said he liked its
initiative, investiveness ' and
ability to get together. He
took back for production in
Russia samples of ice cream,
corn flakes and canned crab
along with machinery to bat
tle, preserve, can and pack
food.
, As Khrushchev's right hand
man, Mikoyan now is in the
midst of political as well as
economic decisions. Western
experts believe Mikoyan is
responsible for the foreign
policy of trying to win over
neutrals through trade and
aid.
Mikoyan has never tried to
build his own political ma
chine. Perhaps the main rea
son he is still around is that
he apparently has no desire to
be No. 1.
' 'r ' -
The Happiness Business
People speak of saving for a rainy day. . . and family security is still the
best of all reasons for having a savings account. But more 'and more
Americans are now saving for a sunny day. . . saving to buy the good
things of life that every family wants. Helping people
secure a greater measure of material happiness and
the peace of mind that goes with it is the business of
Insured Savings and Loan Associations.
CURRENT DIVIDEND 3tt PER ANNUM
December 3 Id Extra Dividend Vi Per Annum
Investments made
by the 10th
of the month
earn dividends
as of the first
Ify tsui swims van
FIRST FEDERAL
Savings & Loan Assn. of Medfoft
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