Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, February 22, 1959, Image 4

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Medford mail tribune., February 22, 1959, Image 4

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1959)

Prev Page of 52 Next Prev Issue Next Text PDF JP2 (4.4 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Prev Page of 52 Next Prev Issue Next

Newspaper Page TextI MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. 4 Sunday, February 22, 1959 MEDFORDtwTBIBUNS "Everyone In Southern Oregon Reads The Mall Tribune" Published Daily except Saturday by MEDFORD PRINTING CO. 33 North Fir St. Ph. SP 2-6141 ROBERT W RUHL. Editor . HERB GREY Advertising Manager GERALD LATHAM, Buxines Her ERIC W ALLEN JR, Managing Editor EARL H ADAMS, City Editor HARRY CHIPMAN. Teleg Editor RICHARD JEWETT Sports Editor OLIVE STARCHER. Women's Editor DALE ERICKSON. Circulation Mgr An Independent Newspaper Entered as second class matter at Medford Oregon under Act of March 3. 1897 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mai 1 In Advance, Copy lOe. Dail" and Sunday 1 year $15.00 Daily and Sunday 8 mos. 8.00 Daily and Sunday 3 mos. 4.25 Sunday Only One year $4.20 By Carrier fii 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. 1JS0 Carrier and Dealers copy 10c All Terms Cash m Advance Official Paper of City of Medford Official Paper of Jackson county United Press International " Full Leased Wire MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION Advertising Representative: WEST-HOLIDAY CO.. INC. Of fices In New York. Chicago. De troit. San Francisco. Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland. St. Louis, At lanta. Vancouver B.C. NEWSPAPER Wl PUBLISHERS 'ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EDITORIAL Flight fo Time Medford and Jackson County History from tha files of The Mail Tribune 10, 20. 30, 40 and 50 years ago. . 10 YEARS AGO Feb. 22, 1949 (Tuesday) Local YMCA officials plan an open house and parade for the grand opening of their new building here this week. Heavy rains raise the dan ger of Rogue valley floods. 20 YEARS AGO Fab. 22. 1939 (Wednesday) The Medford city council Is advised to authorize a blan ket fire Insurance policy for city-owned property. From' Arthur Perry's' "Ye Smudge Pot" column: "Spad ing of gardens that will need hoeing, when the fish start biting, is underway in resi dential areas." 30 YEARS AGO Feb. 22. 1929 (Friday) The sheriff is called to ap prehend a mad dog in the Phoenix area. The Rogue river steelhead bill is killed in the legisla ture. . 40 YEARS AGO Feb. 22, 1919 (Saturday) Legislators fail to finish their business in 40 days, and ask their constituents for a raise. SO YEARS AGO Feb. 22. 1909 (Monday) F. H. Ray plans to develop his lime deposit at Gold Hill. The telephone franchise question is to be referred to Medford's voters. What's Your I.Q.? Nine or ten correct is superior; seven or eight is excellent; five or six is good. 1. In which City in Louisi ana is Tulane university? 2. The milky way is a cloud of meteors; true or false? 3. Identify the German breed of dog that is noted for its short legs, long body, and ability to enter badger holes? 4.- Name the capital of California. 5. Was it the 13th, 14th or 15th Amendement that abol ished slavery? 6. What most powerful U. S. House of Representatives Committee 4an and often does stymie bills, which may be desired by a large number of Representatives? 7. Who was President of the U. S. when the Panama Canal Zone was acquired? , 8. Is a child most closely related by blood to its father, mother, or brother? 9. How many Senators comprise the U. S. Senate, when all Senatorial offices are filled? 10. Are icebergs ever form ed from salt water? 1. New Orleans. 2. False, (cloud of stars.) 3. Dachsh und. 4. S a c r a m enio. 5. Thirteenth. 6. Rules Com mittee. 7. Theodore Roose velt. 8. Brother. 9. Ninety eight. 10. No. WAX FOR WINTER - New York - (UPD- For win ter protection, says a wax manufacturer, apply wax to the chrome bumpers, radiator and hubcaps of your car. S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc., points out that these parts are particularly subject to erro sion from salt or chemicals used on icy roads. It also recommended waxing your snow shovel to keep the snow from, sticking to it. The Missile "Gap "Your arms are too short, gentlemen." This smug, forboding remark was addressed to the United States recently by Soviet Defense Minister Rodion Y. Malinovsky. The Kremlin, it appears, is confident of its lead in missile development especially in the intercontinental ballistic missile field. Meanwhile, we notice in Washington in creased concern over the are the Russians ahead, ii i are increasing tneir ieaa. DUT U.S. Secretary, liixuiiuo uo we die boviets "missile for missile" m the ICBM field. Instead, he told two- Senate committees late last month, we are to maintain over-all military superiority through what he calls, borrowing a phase popular to corporate circles, a "diversified arsenal missiles of various .ranges and, for the time being, bombers. It is a familiar, and proach. What we lack m tor with curves, knucklers and sliders. . McElroy asserts, and that right now the Russians lack an ICBM stock pile sufficient to pulverize our bases. But he has also conceded that at ICBM cupboard for military purposes is absolute' lybare. IF IT were true as McElroy implies that we possess a compensating: strength in shorter- range missiles and bombers, then the logic of diversiiication would But intelligence estimates, as summarized in several reports from the that m shorter-range missiles the gap if any thing yawns wider. The U.S. missile arsenal shows to best ad vantage in the plastic youngsters m toy store windows. It shows to worst m Pentagon inventories, and in program timetables. OTHER factors besides just quantity are im T"sMf ovif 4r OTTolnofin a wi i cot 1 " of vam nrTi Pn KfyjL lydllU IIS V CA Ltd. lvJ.IJ.ti J.J.JJ.OQJ.J.C- OlX Csi.-I.fi. Ivli J. W tency and precision, for if the reports from Washington are to be believed, we are weaker than the The most troubling aspect of the "missile gap" is this: it appears to be widening, and could con tinue to widen for several years at least as the Russians build up their stockpiles with missiles, including ICBMs, already in production. ben. Stuart Symington, Missouri Democrat and former secretary of the Air Force, has been quoted as saying a period is imminent when we will be unable to retaliate effectively should Rus sia launch an all-out war. JVyfLLITARY superiority, T 4 tor in the cold war, the diplomatic table. If Russia is allowed to widen the missile gap too far, a dangerous disadvantage. Our hopes for success including, paradoxically, disarmament de pend on our ability to match or surpass the So viets' military strength. our own missile program into higher gear, then it is high, time we did so. E.W. Consent Rather Than Force Where it's voluntary ben. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, school deseg regation will work better. So his civil rights bill provides federal "conciliation service" to states and localties m disagreements or difficulties over the federal laws or Constitution. For precedent, the points to the federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. This unquestionably prevents many strikes and lockouts, by persuading Management and Labor to agree on Some state labor mediation bodies have been similarly successful. OLUNTARY consent T ly used by state commissions working against discrimination in employment. Yet retiring chair man Charles Abrams of the New York commiss ion recently reported that complaints of job dis crimination in -the state had risen sharply. His agency may intervene only on complaint, not of its own initiative. President Eisenhower is skeptical, he said, about the Johnson plan proving "fruitful." The Administration's pwn civil rights bill offers fed eral funds to help meet the costs of desegregation school programs. However, would Deep South states request federal aid for school programs that they call entirely their own affair? In 1950 Southern Senators, filibustered to death a House-passed bill for a federal Commission against discrimina tion in employment (FEPC). And the Commis sion could have tried only to persuade, not en force. E.R.R. Yearbook Printing In State Requested Salem-UPD-Rep. Ed Whelan (D-Portland) Thursday intro duced a bill to require print ing, in Oregon of any state college student body year book or other printing. Present law requires the state, counties and cities . to have printing done in Oregon unless cost is excessive. Whe lan said the bill was prompt ed by Portland State college's saving its 1959 yearbook printed in Houston, Tex. 99 "missile gap." Not only reports indicate, but they i of Defense Neil McElroy nut cu uv inatniijug lug hence appealing, ap a fast ball, we make up some observers agree, the same time the U.S. be acceptable. nation s capital, indicate replicas displayed for m production figures example. Yet here too, Soviets. while not the only fac- provides vital leverage at we will find ourselves at on other cold war fronts If this requires shifting instead of imposed, avers Senate majority leader disputes between them. is also the weapon chief- Inept Horseshoeing Curb Offered in Bill Salem - (UPD - There is evi dence that some people in Oregon are injuring horses by inept shoeing, Sen. Walter Leth (R-West Salem) said Thursday. He and Sen. Eddie Ahrens (R-Turner) introduced a bill requiring horseshoers to take out licenses from the depart ment of agriculture after tak ing an examination on ability. Dennis the VVELL. THEf?'S AtKUff&YAm tO BETTER STAV OUT Of IF I KNOW WHAT'S GOOO KMe Matter of Fact THE KENNEDY POLLS Washington One thing, and one thing only, makes Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massa chusetts the front-run- n e r of the Democr a t i c President i a 1 nominat ion. Without the e v i d e nee of his extraordi nary appeal to the mass of 4os-Oh A1SOD -r"." ers, K-enneay wouia naraiy be in the running at all. Some of the evidence for this mass appeal is drawn from a series of state and city polls taken by the profession al opinion-tester, Louis Harris. These fairly staggering docu ments - even worse in their meaning for the Republicans than for Kennedy s Democrat ic rivals - have been confided to a small circle of politicians friendly to Kennedy. Copies have been obtained from a member of this circle. In view of their origin, the Harris polls will no doubt be denounced as less than impar tial. But in the first place, Kennedy is only one of many candidates, Republican as well Democratic, concerning whom Harris has made opin ion tests; and the record shows that the Harris tests have been useful. Then too. the more general results of the inquir ing Dr. Gallup's recent na tional Presidential poll strong ly confirm the Harris results. Finally, this reporter has often rung doorbells with Harris, and can vouch for the care Harris takes in his polling. I N SUM,- if the findings of any polls deserve attention (which can be argued), the findings of the Harris polls deserve it. For the main find ings, Kennedy was tested against the Republican front runner, Vice President Rich ard M. Nixon. State by state, omitting the undecided voters who generally form about a quarter of those polled, the percentages of Kennedy-fanci ers and Nixon-fanciers were as follows: State Kennedy 55 Nixon California 45 Florida Maryland Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania West Virginia 72 58 54 59 57 56 ' 50.4 state 28 42 46 41 - 43 44 49.6 Wisconsin All these tests of Kennedy versus Nixon were made during the last elections, as interesting extras, so to say, when Harris had been com' missioned to do other political polling in the same states. In some of the states, other Democratic candidates were also tested against Nixon, again with fairly startling re sults. T?OR example, in Pennsyl- vania and Oregon where Kennedy had such heavy ma jorities, Sen. Stuart Syming ton of Missouri actually lost to Vice President Nixon, both times by margins of 51-44. Again, Symington was snowed under by 61-39 in Wisconsin, where Kennedy won by half a point. Yet again, Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota car ried Oregon against Nixon, but by a margin of only 2 percentage points, whereas the Kennedy margin was 18 points. And Humphrey also lost in Wisconsin, although by a much narrower margin than Symington. West Virginia was the one state where the Kennedy, Humphrey and Symington performances w e ie closely comparable., Adlai E. Steven son was not run against Nixon in the same state where the strength of Humphrey and Symington was tested. But in Ohio, where Kennedy beat Nixon easily, Stevenson was also run against the Vice President and lost the race by a hair, 50.5 to 49.5. Menace Bv Joseph Alsop Another, much more recent Harris poll indicates that the support for Jack Kennedy is not just a passing mania of the people in the walk-ups, the split - levels, and the farm houses. Farmhouses, to be sure, did not enter into this one, which was taken within the last weeks in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sac ramento, San Francisco, Port land, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix. This time, the news for the Vice President was even worse than in the other polls, since he did markedly less well than New York's bustling Gov. Nelson Rockefeeller in these cities in his own home territory. EMITTING the undecided v voters, Kennedy beat Nixon 61-39; Symington beat Nixon 53-47, and . Humphrey beat Nixon 54-46. Kennedy also beat Rockefeller 57-43; but Rockefeller defeated Sym ington 52-48, and he barely defeated Humphrey, 51-49. In this poll of West Coast cities, it may be added, all three Democratic entrants ran es pecially well among Catholic voters, with Kennedy strong ly in the lead, rather natural ly. The Protestant voters were more Republican-minded, but they too like the Catholic Kennedy, better than they liked their fellow-Protestans, Symington and Humphrey, For instance, Kennedy and Rockefeller ran 50-50 among the Protestants, whereas Rockefeller led Symington, 57-43, and Humphrey too, 58 42. One would hardly dare to present these figures if it were not for the recollection of such experiences as the doorbell ringing in the district of Queens that went for Eis enhower in 1952, for Harri- man quite comfortably in 1954, and for Eisenhower again in 1956. Harris went along on that occasion. We found the kind of switch from Harriman to Rockefeller that eventually gave Rockefeller the victory. Yet in a Kennedy Nixon test which we did ndt publish, we also found Ken nedy leading Rockefeller and swamping Nixon by about 20 percentage points. Here again, the Protestants included many Kennedy-fanciers. The election is far ahead, of course, and delegates are not won by opinion-polling. But there is much to jnterest any political handicapper in the data presented above, (c) 1959 New York Herald Tribune Inc. Pear Promotion Planned by Bureau A three -week advertising and sales promotion cam paign for Anjou and Bosc pears from the Rogue river valley and other west coast orchards will begin March 5 in 34 cities, according to R. A. (Dick) Patterson, general manager of the Oregon-Washington-California' Pear bu reau: The promotion will include radio spots on 75 radio sta tions and newspaper -advertising, as well as chain store, supermarket and other outlet merchandising. The campaign, known as "Fresh as Spring" promotion, emphasizes that Anjou and Bosc "are about the only fresh, sweet fruit on the mar ket this time of year." Bosc should be in ample supply well into 'March and Anjou supplies appear ample through most of May, Patter son said. ETERNAL VIGILANCE Bethel, Conn. (UPD Police Chief Jackman observed his birthday by stepping into a church to pray. He wound up arresting a youth accused of robbing the poor box. 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 paper; in fact the contrary is often the case. Reviews Promises To the Editor: Rep. Evelyn Nye is one of the few Repub licans in the Legislature who isn't furious at Mark Hat field for promising reductions in taxes and spending, and then calling for increases -in both. She says she-doesn't be lieve he' promised reductions. Now, I'm sure your readers feel that he did because, ev en in his most equivocal state ments he tried to create that impression. But, just for the record, here are some of his promises: 1. To reduce capital gains taxes to encourage business expansion and investment capital. 2. To reduce the merchan dise inventory tax. 3. To reduce business taxes through a small business loss offset. : This is from radio spots running Oct. 26, 1958, and forward: Announcer: Mr. Hatfield, what effects can reduced tax ation have on Oregon's econ omy? Hatfield says, in effect, more business and more jobs. The announcer's script was, of course, written by Hat field's staff. His greatest blunder from the plan of not being too def inite was his statement in a statewide ad: "I do not pro pose additional taxes." Hatfield slipped up on ex penditures, too. Again, he was straightforward once in Klamath Falls, the Oregonian reported, in "pledging the presentation 'of a reduced budget for state expenditures to the next session of the le gislature." . The rest of his reduced budg et promises were carefully couched in general terms, but the impression was nonethe less there. As for results, Hatfield has submitted a bill for a new gross income surtax that would hit low income fami lies and those with many de pendents. He has asked for a new cigarette tax ana a one- cent increase in gasoline tax es. He has no chance of get ting the capital gams relief through, and he knows it, be cause he has tied it onto the cigarette tax, which has been defeated at the polls four times. He has offered no bill at all for small business tax re lief on. merchandise inventor ies and through loss offsets. Hatfield's spending budget is $38 million higher than the present one because, as he well knew before the elec tion, it had to go up if state services were to be maintain ed, even at their present lev el, in the face of rising costs. Now, Mrs. Nye complains that we Democrats are "snip ing" at the governor. Well, were calling on him to pro duce what he promised. If thats sniping, it's a good thing for the public that it has snipers to make politi cians keep their word or suf fer the consequences. Ken Johnson. Public Information Director Democratic Party of Oregon 360 State st. Salem, Ore. - Thanks Readers To the Editor: I wish to ex press my sincerest thanks to the Mail Tribune and the many readers that help in the worthy task of paying Tom Bjornsen's taxes. Mrs. N. Hollis 112 W. Calif. St. Jacksonville. On Prescott Park To the Editor: The recent ly appointed members of our city parks and recreation commission have assumed a tremendous , and challenging undertaking to formulate and develop a well planned, use ful playground "and recrea tion system. The current parks and rec reation commission's action in cooperation with the county court is the beginning of the realization of the dream of .the many groups and indi viduals who have through the years worked on, and urged that Prescott pari be developed. The improvement of the road and the eradica tion of the poison oak is one of the major steps now being taken so that we may look forward to the utilization and future development of this potentially beautiful park. It is gratifying, indeed, to hear the expressed desires of the many citizens of this area who wish that Prescott park be rehabilitated and devel oped and that it be included in our plans concerning parks and recreation. It will be nec essary for all of us to work in cooperation with our offi cials to lend a hand and en courage them. Let us be proud of our parks and reflect our appreciation by the way we make use of them. Welcome Wagon club, Medford i Air Pollution To the Editor: Copies of this letter has been sent to our representatives in the state legislature. I am writing you to ask your help to keep any indus tries which would pollute the air in any way or our streams, from entering the valley. We do need more industries, I suppose, but there should be industries that would use electricity for power and which would not throw sul phides or other pollutants into the air or into our streams.- It would seem that legal means should be used rather than a commission, for since a commission consists of only a few men, these can be pres sured into action detrimental to the population they should serve. The contour of our valley is such that stagnant air carrying large quantities of pollutants hangs overhead sometimes for weeks at a time. It is just at such time that illnesses begin to occur. These affect all ages. This winter school attendance was cut almost 50 per cent some days. With each succeeding year, the amount of pollutants increases, due in part to popu lation increase, and also to in tensified spray programs in the orchards. These are facts that must be faced and met with intelligent action. Anna M. Streed 36 North Peach st. Medford. Expresses Appreciation To the Editor: May I ex press appreciation through communications to KBES-TV and Playhouse 90 for the radical change, and marked improvement of their last night's offering -over the un holy, vicious thing of two weeks, ago depicting deprav ed and unreasonable murder of the innocent, under the harmless sounding title of Quiet Game of Cards"? -The latter- offering, "The Raider," showing the inside workings of boards of direc tors of big corporations was interesting, logical, informa tive and showed . excellent acting throughout. May we hope that th storm of national protest which followed the former story has reached the consci ousness of exhibitors and pro ducers so we may be spared repetition of such a spectacle, If such is the case, many less TV sets will remain dark, to the profit of sponsors and benefit of TV stations, for believe the vast majority of TV viewers are fed up with the ever-increasing flood of blood and murder stories be ing inflicted on TV viewers, If sponsors would demand wholesome programs accom panying the names of their products, such products would certainly command more re spect from the public than to appeal solely to that segment of humanity who are interest ed only in murder. So congratulations to Play house 90, and may the good work continue. - Frank Gray, 122 Valley View, ' Medford Thanks People To the Editor: I should like to thank the people who call ed in reporting tne fire in our home on 2350 Meadows lane, the persons who helped get some of our things out of the house and who have been "so very wonderful to us since the fire. I should also like to com mend the members of the Medford fire department who got to the fire so quickly and worked so efficiently in getting the fire put out so soon against the almost im possible odds of a terrific wind storm. One doesn't fully appreciate the teamwork and skill of these men until they are needed. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Robnett and Family, 2350 Meadows lane, Medford TODAY In Oregon History (A Centennial Feature) FEBRUARY 22, 1825 Weather fine. Six men started to examine road. I feel anxious regarding our route; we are now but eight encampments from ihe main Snake river and all accounts thai we can never reach ii with our horses in their present state . . . party sent on discovery returned this day with nost unfavorable' accounts of ihe road ... I must confess the prospect is gloomy. Journal of Peier Skene Ogden (By M-T Staff We have a lot of corres pondents who help gather the news for their organizations and communities, and we'll never tell which one it was that wrote "Many visitors came dressed in authentic clothes." What called it to our atten tion was a note from ANOTH ER correspondent who inno cently inquired what kind of clothes the rest of the people attending wore. One member of the plan ning commission, in argu ing for a more orderly way of assigning rural addresses, pointed out that his postal address is Central Point, his home is in Sams Valley, and his telephone is listed in the Gold Hill part of ihe book. All this discussion about the Centennial, history, how things were done in the old days, and so on, has prompted our farm editor to do a bit of junior-grade philosophizing on bread. He says that people who, now, carry bread home neatly wrapped in sanitarily - sealed wax paper can be thankful. Old timers, he says, can re member when one bakery would load up a horse-drawn wagon with freshly baked loaves of unwrapped bread, then whip up the horses. . Sometimes the wagon would bounce over a bump in In the Day's News By FRANK JENKINS World of the future stuff: Experiments to determine if man can be frozen solid for years-long trips to other sol ar systems are UNDER WAY at the University of Califor nia at Los Angeles. ' Dr. John Lyman of UCLA's biotechnology labor atory plans to freeze mice and rats at first, but believes his find ings can be used to turn hu mans into ice-like statues for AGELESS trips through space. WHY? Well, it's like this: The problem ISN'T to get man into space. That, Dr. Ly man says, will be done within a very few years. But, he adds, giving man a NATUR AL environment - that is, j building ships big enough to provide oxygen, food ana so cial and recreational facili ties designed to enable him to live as human beings have become accustomed to live mav be prohibitive in cost. The best answer, he thinks is FROZEN SLEEP. T ET'S go on from there J Experiments with mon- kevs Dr. Lvman says, have shown that their temperature ran be lowered to 39.2 de- erees for ud to two hours without detectable after-ef fects. However, he goes on, mon- kevs were merely in a stage -of hibernation, what we neea to do is to STOP THE Llt ii; PROCESSES COMPLETELY AND THEN RESUME THEM AT WTLL. "If we can do this witn .. . Ki m : man, ne says, ne wm onivc at a distant star - wnicn miiriit take him several life times to reach - JNUT win. DAY OLDER THAN HE WAS WHEN HE LEFT THE EARTH. Another frozen sleep would bring the space travel- pr hnme vears or even cen turies after his departure and he would have aged only for the oeriod between frozen sleeos." What an awakening ne would have when he got back to earth maybe five centuries from now! OR example: Leonardo . Da Vinci, who lived some 500 years ago, imagined an airplane and, since he was an engineer as well as a great artist, he drew sketches of it. His sketches look surprisingly like the rudimentary puddle- jumper that was first flown by the Wright brothers, ine only trouble with his idea was that the internal com bustion engine hadn't yet been invented and a man's arms and legs didn't provide power enough to get the thing into the air. Da Vinci also imaginea a machine gun and drew sketches of it, but the ma chine shoos of his day weren t advanced enough to build the thing. N conclusion: Let's tell Dr. Lyman to go on with his rat-Killing u he so chooses and can find the money to finance it. But, as for the rest of us, I think maybe we'd better devote our energies to more immediate problems - such as how to fi nance all the luxuries the po litical spenders want to pro vide at government expense without bankrupting ourselv es with taxes. and Contributors) unpaved streets, the wagon's rear doors would fly open, and out onto the dust tumble the golden - brown loaves of bread. The driver would jump down, pick up each loaf, brush it off, and toss it back in the wagon. He also declares that the spirit and courage of the pioneers was admirable for more reasons than those as sociated with flood, starva tion or getting lost. It took courage to fire off ihe dog gone rifles ihey had in those days, the F-E declares, for he recently watched ihe firing of 45-70 Springfields like those carried on ihe Oregon Trail and used in -the Civil war. He said, "If ihe rifle didn't knock you over backwards, the smell of the black powder-worse than rotten eggs almost overcame ihe gunner." Speaking (as we were) of horse-drawn conveyances, one long-time resident in the. area -used to drive a milk wagon. His horse at the time had, previously, been a fire horse. When jogging along his route, he knew he was in for trouble and would hang on for dear life when the fire siren sound ed, for the old fire horse in variably would take off at top speed for the fire - drag ging the milk wagon behind him. The same old - timer con fesses he knows how the horse must of felt, for on his visits to Medford, occasionally, he ' sometimes finds himself driv ing along his old milk route 1 without thinking. We received a letter the other day from Jackson ville, Ore., discussing cor- . -respondence with Jackson ville, Fla., and suggesting that residents of the latter . community be invited here for ihe Centennial. . Our proofreader plaintively sent us a little note which said. How about the residents of the Jacksonvilles in Ala bama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont? Well? One of our favorite people, a woman who lives in the foot hill country some distance from Medford, had big plans for herself and her family on Saturday, Feb. 14, the state's Centennial anniversary. They were going to drive to Medford, watch the parade, and then, clad in Sunday best. go to dinner - rather an event for this family. t Saturday dawned, as every one recalls, wet and gloomy, with heavy rain in Medford, and in the area where this family lives, heavy snow. The snow continued. By noon it was so deep the group de cided that even if the "pi oneers" were hardy enough to put on a parade, they (the family) weren't hardy enough to get in to see it. And as the snow deepened, they finally and reluctantly abandoned their plans to "go out" for dinner. About 5:45 p.m., when they began to think about fixing their own meal, the telephone gave a jingle and the lights and TV set flickered, and then went out altogether. There they were, no lights, no TV, no radio, little water (the pump runs by electricity and only the gravity-flow left in the pipes was available), no cooking stove, no communica tion with the outside world. They had warmth from the fireplace, candles, and some water in a pail. Their appetites grew. The electricity remained off. Final ly a camp skillet and wire steak-grill were pressed! into service, placed over the fire place fire, and dinner pre pared. The family clustered around the coffee table be fore the fireplace, ate hearti ly, and began discussing the situation of Oregonians of 100 years ago. None could think immedi ately who was president at that time, and a book of presi dents was dragged out. They read about President James Buchanan, and became fas cinated in reading about other chief executives. They took turns reading aloud, and, in short, enjoyed the evening as much as any they'd ever spent together. At bedtime, they piled wool blankets over the non-func tioning electric blankets, and found how much different the heavy covers feel. Our friend concluded her letter thus: "The lights came on again about 4:20 a.m., so today things are a lot more con venient, if not half so much fun, and not nearly so quiet. In one room the radio is blar ing and in another room the TV is going. The telephone still is out. Going back 100 years, if inadvertently, was a satisfying experience."