Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, March 08, 1959, Image 4

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    4 Sunday, March 8, 1959
MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORO, ORE.
MedfordSkTbibukb
"Iveryone ie Southern Oregon
Read The Mail Tribune"
Published Dail except Saturday by
M7J3FORD PRINTING CO.
33 North Fir St. Ph . SP 2-6141
ROBfcBT W RUHL. Editor
HERB GREV Advertising Manager
GERALD LATHAM. Business Mtfr
ERIC W ALLEN JR..
Managing F.ditor
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
Znterea as second class matter al
Medforri Oreeon under Act of
March 3. 1897
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
By Mall In Advance. Copy 10c
Dail- and Sunday 1 year. $15 00
Daily and Sunday 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 SunUzy 1 mo. 150
Carrier and Dealers c o p y 10c
All Terms Cash in Advance
Official Paper of City of Medford
Official Paper of Jackson County
United Press International
Full Leased Wire
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OF CIRCULATION
Advertising Representative:
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fices in New York. Chicago. De
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PUBLISHERS
1
ASSOCIATION
HATIONAl EDITORIAL
Flight fo Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
March 3. 1943 (Tuesday)
The House at Salem refuses
to repeal the 1947 state in
come withholding tax act.
The fire department works
on an extensive study of
. downtown buildings in Med
ford's business district.
20 YEARS AGO
March 8. 1939 (Wednesday)
Repaving of Medford
treets under the WPA pro
gram is scheduled to begin
in about a week.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "Re
ports persist an Applegate
gold mine has proved it is
. one."
30 YEARS AGO
March 8, 1929 (Friday)
Eagle Point's park is to be
improved for summer visi
tors. Medford's mayor instructs
fie police to keep roller
skates off the streets.
40 YEARS AGO
March 8, 1919 (Saturday)
Rogue valley Jersey breed
ers plan to organize.
Work on Pacific highway is
to start as soon as contracts
are let.
SO YEARS AGO
March 8, 1909 (Monday)
By July 500 men are ex
pected to be at work in a lo
cal coal field.
Desert Oil company sinks
a well on the Gore tract
northeast of town.
Whal's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct is superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five or
six is good.
1. With what industry do
you associate the words Chelt
enham, Caslon, Gothic?
2. Does the Statue of Liber
ty hold the torch in her right
hand, or left hand?
3. In what country is Guy
Fawkes Day celebrated?
4. Name the man who pre
ceded Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the office of Governor of
New York.
5. The title of the wife of
a Maharajah is what?
6. What are the male, fe
male, and young of a deer call
ed, respectively?
7. What is the name for the
tribunals that try military per
sonnel for military offenses,
8. In which U. S. city was
President McKinley shot?
9. Which of, these planets
can most closely approach the
earth; Venue, Mars, Mercury?
10. Which is the larger
amount six dozen dozen,
or one-half dozen dozen?
1. Printing. 2. Right hand.
3. England. 4. Alfred E. Smith.
5. Maharenee. 6. Buck, doe,
fawn. 7. Courts-martial. 8.
Buffalo. N.Y. 9. Venus. 10. Six
dozen dozen.
Judge Kelly to lafk
At Roundtable Meeting
Circuit Court Judge Edward
C. KeUy will discuss the op
eration of Jackson county's
juvenile court Monday noon
at the Jackson County Cham
ber of Commerce roundtable's
weekly luncheon.
Judge Kelly is expected to
describe the function of the
county's juvenile detention
home as well. The public is
invited.
State
The legislature has passed, and the governor
has signed into law, a bill which will:
1. Result in a contest to be conducted through
the schools seeking a state slogan appropriate for
use on Oregon's automobile license plates ;
2. Cause the use of the winning slogan (as de
termined by a committee of the governor, the for
mer governor, and the superintendent of public
instruction), on the plates.
ITE HATE to see Oregon's licenses cluttered up
y with slogans. They don't do anyone any par
ticular good, and, in some cases, are a subject for
ridicule.
Idaho has used slogans to advertise its pota
toes, Michigan its lakes, Florida its sunshine, and
so on. It's a silly business.
Now comes Albert Weisendanger, of the Keep
Oregon Green association, who suggests that the
word "Oregon" be retained much as it is in fairly
large letters, and the word Keep be placed be
fore it and "Green" after it, both in small letters,
resulting in the slogan, "Keep OREGON Green."
If we have to have a slogan, that's about as
good as any. E.A.
Its Hypocritical
Our objection to a license-plate slogan, while
firm, is mild compared to our irritation with the
hypocrisy involved in the over-frequent use of the
so-called "emergency clause" on legislative en
actments.
This clause, tacked on
the legislators want to
diately, reads as follows :
"This Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace,' health and safe
ty, an emergency is declared to exist, and this Act
shall take effect upon its passage."
-
THERE are occasions, a few of them, when the
emergency clause is an accurate description
of the situation.
But, believe it or not, the emergency clause
was attached to the state slogan bill.
The legislative calendar does not indicate it
was eliminated before the
Now if anyone can tell
tic stretch of a warped imagination, there is an
"emergency" affecting the public peace, health
and safety" because we don't have a state slogan,
we'll eat the damed bill, amendments and all.
I TSE of the emergency clause on such legislation
is hypocritical, and every legislator who vot
ed for the bill with the emergency clause should
be ashamed.
We are informed that there is a group of mem
bers of the house of representatives, led by Rep.
Katherine Musa of The Dalles, who feel the way
we do, and make every effort to eliminate the
hypocritical emergency
More power to them.
members see the light
Sunday Ride
The Kansas City Star
the Sunday ride.
In a mood of nostalgia, it ruminates :
"Perhaps the family jaunt fell into disfavor because
of wartime rationing when rare coupons were not to
be wasted for whimsical purposes . . . But certainly the
family that tries this remedy for Sunday doldrums will
discover what it has been missing.
"The destination need not be far, or even planned
. . . Spring or fall, north or south, time and place are not
important. The mind is refreshed by the mere process of
going somewhere, even a few miles. The road stretches
- homeward, and there is the silence of young sleep from
the back seat."
TXTE SHARE with the Star an affection for the
Sunday ride.
But the writer of that editorial should have
been in the Medford vicinity last Sunday.
The day was choice warm, sunny, clear; the
air was balmy and breezy.
And on the streets and roads in and around
Medford were probably more cars than are seen
on an ordinary, busy week day.
In early spring in the Rogue valley, there is
no lack of appreciation of the Sunday ride. E.A.
New Protest
The National Council of Churches has joined
those who already have urged Congress to knock
the loyalty oath requirement out of the 1958 Na
tional Defense Education act. The council gave
religious reasons for its disapproval of the re
quirement, but it also pointed out that the Amer
ican political system rests on "trust and integrity
of its free, uncoerced citizens."
The council's general board repeated the warn
ing that "persons genuinely disloyal to the United
States would not hesitate to sign." That is the
trouble with loyalty oaths; they do not expose
traitors, they merely create a false sense of secur
ity. They are a gratuitous reflection on the integ
rity of those asked to sign them. Instead of en
hancing patriotism, they create resentment.
And there is the risk that potential scientists
who might be of great service to the nation will
not be trained simply because they refuse to sub
mit to this indignity to get a loan or grant for
study. So self-defeating a provision should be
killed. St Louis Post-Dispatch.
Slogan
to the end of bills which
become effective imme
bill was passed.
us how, by any fantas
clause whenever possible.
We hope other house
E.A.
mourns the passing of
Dennis the
4& ,
'NOIV.imtS AH' GENTLEMEN. IF I CAN
HW& WUK ill tfNTiON
Matter of Fact By Joseph Alsop
PEACE OR A SWORD?
Washington There is on
ly one thing that is fairly cer
tain about Prime Minister
Macmillan's forthcoming visit
to discuss the Berlin crisis.
Macmillian will inevitably de
mand that the President
choose between waging peace,
or taking up his sword.
In other words, Macmillan
will argue that his experiences
in Moscow now leave only
courses open to the West. Eith
er the United States and the
other Western allies must
agree on the kind of conces
sions that may produce a nego
tiated settlement of the Ber
lin problem. Or the West, and
the United States above all,
must immediately make the
kind of military preparations
which will convince the Krem
lin that our "firm" Berlin poli
cy is more than empty talk.
The Macmillan argument
will not make pleasant hear
ing for the President, who in
dignantly denounced the idea
of mobilization at his last press
conference. Nonetheless the
Prime Minister will oppose
going on any longer as we
have been going, loudly pro
claiming that "we won't give
an inch," and simulataeously
'though less loudly adding,
"or mobilize a man either."
IN VIEW of his public exper
iences in Moscow, it would
be only natural for Macmillan
to insist upon getting ready to
give several inches or mobil
ize a great many men. The in
terruption of Macmillan's ne
gotiations by Nikita Khrush
chev's brutal public speech
about Berlin, was not just a
piece of flagrant rudeness to
the British Prime Minister. It
was an open warning to the
whole West, and a warning of
the sharpest kind at that.
But it is known that Mac
millan's post-Moscow attitude
also has another, thus far non
public source. In his talks with
Macmillan before their nego
tiations, were virtually broken
off, Nikita Krushchev consid
erably surpassed aU his pre
vious boasts about the new
superiority of Soviet nuclear
striking power. The details of
Khrushchev's latest claims
are still hidden. No doubt Mac
millan took the claims with a
grain of salt. But they at
least convinced Macmillan of
the unwisdom of trying to
combine tough talk with total
neglect of all military aspects
of the crisis.
" On this- same point, an
American voice that deserves
to be heard with extreme re
spect has now spoken out.
With great disinterestedness
for he owes no debt to John
Foster Dulles Dean G. Ach
eson has consistently and vig
orously supported the firm
policy of his successor as Sec
retary of State. In a major
article just published in the
"Saturday Evening P o s t,"
Acheson does not withdraw a
word of his support for the
Dulles policy. But he vigor
ously insists that prosecution
of the Dulles policy demands
full, immediate and national
mobilization, including large
scale mobilization of ground
forces.
ACHESON couples his de
mand for mobilization with
a deeply interesting proposal
for conducting the test at Ber
lin without final resort to the
nucleardeterrent if any test
is necessary after mobilization
shows we mean business. But
this part of Acheson's plan of
action is too complex and too
interesting to be presented in
summary. It deserves to be
studied at length.
Acheson has gone further
than anyone else who has
spoken out to date. Yet there
is also a powerful behind-the-scenes
ferment inside the Ad
ministration. In his Congres
sional testimony, the Chief of
Staff of the Army, Gen. Max
well D. Taylor, has come pret
ty closeto acknowledging the
need to mobilize. Even more
important, the leader of the)
Menace
"
Strategic Air Command, Gen.
Thomas S. Power, has asked
for authority to mount an air
borne alert of his vital, dan
gerously exposed force; and
although he has been refused,
the air-borne alert is ceasing
to be a closed question. There
are stirrings, too, at the State
Department.
Pressure is beginning to be
felt, as well, from quarters to
whose pressure the Adminis
tration generally responds.
Until now the reverence of
"Time" and "Life" for the Ei
senhower administration has
continously surpassed the rev
erence qf the pre-Munich Lon
don "Times" for the adminis
tration of Stanley Baldwin and
Neville Chamberlain. But this
week the Luce press endorsed
the call for national mobili
zation made on the floor of
the Senate by the freshman
Democrat, Thomas Dood of
.Connecticut.
All the signs suggest, in
short, that the time is getting
nearer when a serious choice
will indeed have to be made,
however reluctant the Presi
dent may be. All the nations
of, the West, most specifically
including the United States,
have been the targets of the
most naked military threats
from the Kremlin. The due-
date for the threats is rapidly
approaching. In these circum
stances, it is downright friv
olous to go on talking about
"not giving an inch," while
not mobilizing a man. It is to
be hoped, therefore, that Mac
millan forces the choice, with
out further delay.
(c) 1959 New York Herald
Tribune Inc.
Communications
Letter to the Editor must
bear the name and address of
the writer although under cer
tain circumstances the use of a
pen name or initial for publica
tion is permissible. The Mail
Tribune reserves the right to
edit all letters with an eye to
clarification and condensation
Letters submitted for publica
tion must rot exceed 400 words
Fo? Deer Hunters
To the Editor: Calling all
deer hunters. You guys had
better snap out of it and come
out of hibernation or come
next faU you may find that
the price of those little slips
known as "Deer Tags" has
gone up just 100 per cent.
Very little or nothing has
been done for our deer with
the dollar paid in the past.
Now we may have to pay two
dollars and still see nothing
done for the herds. The few
that are left in Eastern Ore
gon may be counted as usual.
Always a great help we are
told.
House BUI 319 was defeat
ed once. Now it has been re
vived and introduced into the
House again. Before it is too
late, write to our representa
tives, Speaker Robert Duncan
and Evelyn Nye, and give
them both barrels on this deal.
Looks like we have enough
"Inflation of the Outdoors"
now, without any more added
to it. To see what a small frac
tion of the large amount of
money derived from licenses
and tags, was spent on our big
game, just read the game com
mission's biennial report for
57-58. It is really a dilly of an
eye opener on where our
money went. Now more is said
to be needed to pour down
the old "rat hole." Or maybe
there are two of them now.
Who knows?
Bill Brewster
Secretary
Oregon Sportsmen club
Shady Cove, Ore.
She Says "Thank you"
To the Editor: Will you
give a few lines announcing
my thanks to the many friends
who sent me cards on my 74th
birthday March 3. On account
of poor eyesight I am unable
to answer them. Thank you.
Martha Hill,
369 North Second St.,
Central Point, Ore.
Today & Tomorrow
By Walter
THE STULTIFYING DRAMA
The President's budget is
now a football in a political
scrimmage. Both parties are
pret ending
that they are
struggling to
balance the
budget. In fact
neither the
Administ r a
tion nor the
Cong r e s s
shows any
sign of being
willing to vote
the taxes which are absolute
ly essential if the budget is to
be balanced.
As of now, both parties re
gard as untouchable the in
come tax rates which were
fixed in 1954, the date of the
Eisenhower reduction of taxes.
The President's budget plan,
if we accept some rather
fancy calculations, can be
brought into balance - but
only if Congress will raise
postal rates and increase the
gasoline taxes. As Congress is
certain to reject the new taxes,
the official theory of the
Democrats seems to be that
they can balance the budget
by cutting down on what the
President has asked for in
foreign aid.
TOTH parties have now
worked themselves into a
jam which, considering the
state of the world, is not an
inspiring thing to look at. The
Republicans have gotten them
selves into a position where
they must "save" on spending
for native -American needs -such
as education and public
facilities, almost certainly also
the national defense. But the
Republicans, as the great sav
ers, are implored by the Presi
dent to spend abroad on for
eign aid the sums they would
like to spend here at home.
The Democrats on the other
hand have worked them
selves into the embarrassing
position where they, the party
of Wilson, Roosevelt, Tru;
man, a nd Stevenson, are
threatening to save on foreign
aid in order to spend more at
home.
Surely, there is something
inherently absurd in a situa
tion where the Republicans
are the globalists and the
Democrats are the isolation
ists. Could such a topsy-turvy
situation have developed if
politicians in both parties had
not forgotten the realities of
Walter
Lippmann
Washington Report
By WILLIAM
ROCKY AND DICK
Washington PnUtiral lih
eralism in both parties is long
on gooa ideas lor spending
public money
for the pub
lic good, and
sometimes for
the public
safety as well.
But political
liberalism
generally is
short indeed
r n w i 1 1 i n ff-
WS- nesstofaceup
to plain, if unhappy, fact:
when money goes out money
has also got to come in, un
less government is to become
a Kind of spenamg-naypy,
grinning farce.
This built-in tendency to
ward irresponsibility is the
greatest single long - term
weakness of the noerais,
whether Democratic or Re
publican liberals. And it is, to
rpasonablv detacnea peopie,
the hest single argument for
preserving conservatism as a
counteriorce.
T.iheralism. in a word, often
comes close to the classic defi
nition of the demagogue. This
fellow, being bravely consist
ent, always votes for all ap
propriations ano against an
taxes except, of course,
those on corporations and the
rich.
This small lecture having
hppn dulv entered into the
record, it is possible to report
tht two young noerai poli
ticians are now trying to do
something about it all. And
while they no doubt wiu laii
in their ultimate objectives
they are making genuine con
tributions to reason in me
current budget debate.
A LIBERAL Republican,
Governor Nelson Rocke
feller of New York, is trying
to persuade the New York
legislature to put on large new j
state taxes to pay for the new I
welfare programs he is pro
posing. He is having very hard
going. But, at any rate, he is
serving candor, and something
else as well. He is giving valu
able warning to fellow liber
als that more and more voters
who are not necessarily black
reactionaries are tiring of the
liberal notion of trying to oo
much for most everybody
without asking anybody much
to pay anything much back.
A Democratic liberal in
Washington, Sen. Richard
Neuberger of Oregon, is hav
Lippmann
our national needs while they
play politics with the budget
and with taxes?
ITHAT has happened to all
these parnpst anH natri-
otic men? They have become
entangled in a dogma which
few of the members of Con
gress and none of the leaders
in Washington have the cour
age to challenge. What is the
dogma? Is it that the budget
should be balanced? No. The
budget should if possible be
balanced, and if that is im
possible, there should never
theless be a serious attempt
made to balance it.
The dogma which confuses
the whole situation and the
position of both parties is that
the budget must be balanced
without raising the income
tax rates. The crux of the mat
ter is the acceptance by both
sets of political leaders of the
dogma that the income tax
rates of 1954 are sacrosanct.
rjNCE that dogma is ac
" cepted, the budget cannot
be balanced except by two
equally unacceptable methods.
One is to balance it by taxes
on consumption. This is some
thing that Congress will not
now do. The other method is
to balance the budget at the
expense of our national de
fense and of our foreign poli
cy, and of our internal public
needs and development. This
is something that the country
cannot afford to do.
Here, having accepted the
dogma about the 1954 income
tax rates, we have locked our
selves in a room from which
there is no decent exit.
IITHAT is in prospect now,
" unless there is a revival
of national leadership at both
ends of Pennsylvania avenue
is, first, a budget which does
not balance because Congress
and the President between
them will not produce the
taxes necessary to balance it;
second, a budget which does
not support our national in
terests at home and abroad,
and will, therefore, have to be
supplemented in the near fu
ture by extraordinary appro
priations. .
While this is going on we
shall have to pay the price of
having neglected our national
needs because we were too
soft and too timid to tax our
selves enough.
(c) 1959 New York
Herald Tribune Inc.
S. WHITE
ing his own try for similar
motives. Neuberger has asked
Congress to raise taxes by
about $3 billion before it ap
proves more housing, more
unemployment benefits and
other inherently desirable
things.
Neuberger wants to soak
everybody at least a little bit.
He would raise federal gaso
line taxes and he would allow
the Post Office department to
lift postal rates to sensible
levels. And he wants to hit
some of "the interests." He
proposes excess-profits levies
on the arms makers and re
ductions in the tax write-offs
long guaranteed the oil in
dustry because of the highly
chancy nature of its opera
tions. Congress is perhaps even
less likely to do all this than
the New York legislature is
likely to let Rockefeller slap
on new taxes to the degree he
wishes. But Neuberger, a lib
eral of the liberals, is deter
mined at all events to force
his own liberals into some
self-examination. If he is able
to do only this much he will
be content.
HIS VIEW, and it seems per
fectly sound here as in
Albany, is that the voters
have pretty well come to
know a hack from a handsaw;
or that anything that is any
good will cost somebody some
thing. He even suspects that
the people know that consist
ently supporting in Congress
the most madly "liberal" pro
grams, and simultaneously
crying out for lower taxes on
"the little man," is not really
liberal.
The word for that kind of
policy is not liberal; the word
is spelled p-h-o-n-y.
Neuberger himself has pain
ful memories of the real
spelling of the word. Last
year in the Senate he had the
duty to guide a bill to raise
postmen's pay. At this point
his fellow liberals regarded
him as a very sound man. But
then he came along with the
obviously necessary second
part of the thing, a bill to
increase postal rates to pay
the freight. A great chill fell
upon some of his fellow lib
erals. "They acted then," he says
wryly, "as though I had come
out for a bill to nationalize
women and children."
(Copyright, 1959, by United
Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
cwiiuac
(By M-T Staff and Contributors)
We will pay our Copco bill
this month, like a law-abiding
and conscientious citizen, but
our heart won't be in it.
By an unhappy coincidence,
the bill arrived on the same
day that a Copco crew re
placed an old power pole just
across the street from the
office. The newsroom had
ringside seats for the opera
tion, and it proved fascinating.
There were, at various
times, up to 12 men involved
In the Day's Hews
By FRANK JENKINS
Oregon's Governor Hatfield
is worried by what he calls
the possibility of a legislative
plot to promote enactment of
a sales tax.
At a news conference held
in his office the other day, he
told the reporters that "a
group of Republicans are send
ing up a trial balloon for a
tax set-up that would have the
state's building program fi
nanced by a four-cent cigarette
tax with no increase in the
income tax."
At the same time, he added,
"the Democratic leaders who
over the week end advanced a
sales tax proposal are trying
to make the picture gloomy
enough that we will be faced
with no alternative but their
past proposal."
He concluded that maybe a
plot hatched to paint the situ
ation in such a gloomy light
that we will appear to have
our backs to the waU and in
the ensuing hysteria we will
get ourselves into a sales tax.
This, he thinks, would be fis
cal brinkmanship.
A SALES tax, he said, "will
hit the low income earner,
the retired, the welfare recip
ient, the widowed."
True enough.
But
So do all other taxes. Taxes
are a part of the cost of doing
business, and have to be ad
ded to prices. So EVERY
BODY pays.
PERSONALLY, I'm not en
amored of a sales tax. Es
pecially when it is added to
THE TAXES WE ALREADY
HAVE. .
In that event, it merely
raises more money. When
more tax money is raised, the
modern tendency is to SPEND
IT. The more money govern
ment spends, the more money
it has to reach into the tax
payers' pockets and take it
out.
Many of the problems and
many of the disappointments
of the modern world arise out
of the fact that government
at all of its various levels
is taking so much out of the
people's pockets that the peo
ple don't have enough left to
buy for themselves all the
wonderful mondern conveni
ences they'd like to have.
WHAT shall we do about it?
I'm coming to believe
that the only feasible way to
keep taxes from rising is for
government to SPEND LESS
What do you think about it?
Editorial
Comment
HIGH WAGES
It's possible for a boy of 16
to make $5 an hour. By the
time he's 18 he can be mak
ing S10 an hour, attending
school at the same time, and
also be taking full advantage
of the most valuable years
of his life. At least that's
what statistics show. Here's
how to make all that money.
The average high school
graduate will make, during
his lifetime, $24,000 more
than the average grade school
graduate. The average college
graduate, during his lifetime,
will make 556,000 more than
the average high school grad
uate. A Grants Pass insurance
man got to figuring. If there
are 180 school days a year,
multiply by four to get the
total high school (including
ninth grade) time involved.
That is 720 days, and at 6
hours of classes a day, the to
tal is 4,320 hours spent in ac
quiring a high school educa
tion which is worth $24,000.
That comes to $5.50 an hour,
or almost 10 cents a minute.
We did a little figuring our
selves. For most courses, the
University of Oregon re
quires 186 term hours for
graduation. There are 10
weeks in a term. Total 1,860.
Each term hour requires, on
the average, an hour of class
attendance per week plus two
hours of outside preparation
for the class. Add the 1,860
hours spent in class to the 3
720 spent in preparing for
class and you find the student
gets a degree in 5,580 hours.
For this he will get $56,000.
That comes to $10.03 an hour,
a mighty husky wage for an
18-year-old.
-Eugene Register Guard
in the project, along with four,
or five vehicles.
There was one point in the
proceedings, when the new
pole was feeing lowered into
the hole, that a grand total of
seven men were working all
at the same time.
During the rest of the op
eration, however, the usual
maximum of men-at-work was
two, with the rest of the crew
standing around in various
stages of idleness and lassi
tude. At one point, we observed
one man operating the power
auger, one man wielding a
hoe, another a shovel, seven
men watching with interest.
and another standing in the
street directing traffic.
We take it on faith that
Copco crews work at a maxi
mum possible efficiency, and
presume that this type of
thing is inevitable under to
day's conditions.
But, as we said, when we
pay our bill this month, our
heart won't be in it.
We hope this impression of
a Copco crew at work will
fade with time, and be sup
planted with another, earli
er memory, which stems
from the early, early morn
ing hours during a howling
gale of a couple of winters
ago. when a two-man crew
repaired a transformer
across the street from our
house, under almost im
possible conditions of wind,
rain, lashing branches and
darkness, thereby restoring
heat and light to the house.
At the end of THAT month,
we paid the Copco bill with
real pleasure.
A'staff member recently re
ceived a letter which she be
lieves contains the understate
ment of the year.
The letter, received from
the county clerk of a county
in another state, says:
"On April 26, 1957, you
wrote the county clerk and
recorder asking for a photo
static copy of a document.
This letter was evidently mis
placed in another office as it
was just given to us today."
The letter was dated Feb.
19, 1959.
Enclosed with the letter was
the same dollar bill mailed
nearly two years before. No
charge was made; the clerk
didn't send a photostat, he
sent the original document. . .
The staff member's faith in
the honesty of government em
ployees was resvored, but her
faith in the efficiency of some
unnamed office employee was
somewhat Impaired.
For no particular reason
that we know, a couple of
staff members, in a light
mood, were talking about
tongue twisters, and came
up with this one, which
they call 'The Igloo Dig
ger's Holiday": Anarchic
Antics of an Archaeologist
in Archaic Antarctica." Oh,
well never mind.
I Two county commissioners,
Chester Wendt (Republican)
and Ralph James (Democrat)
engaged in a "quick draw"
contest the other day.
No blood was spilled it
wasn't that kind of quick
draw.
When James entered the
county court room, Wendt
quickly drew a packet of
tickets to the Kiwanis Kapers
from his pocket, and tried to
sell some to James.
A little while later when
Wendt re-entered the room.
James quickly drew a packet
of tickets to the Roosevelt Me
morial dinner from his pocket
and tried to sell some to
Wendt.
We're informed that the
"quick -draw" contest wasn't
a draw, and that Wendt suc
ceeded in selling James, but
that James didn't succeed in
selling Wendt.
Have you noticed how
smoothly and quietly things
are operating around the
courthouse these days, in
cidentally? Since the turn
over in elected officials,
some courthouse observers
have remarked that the at
mosphere seems "almost
perfumed."
Puzzle fans might take note
of this one.
Up at the jail there is a
Chinese puzzle. One prisoner
worked at it for two months,
without solving it. He turned
it over to his fellows, and they
had it anotner 60 days without
solving it.
When they gave up, how
ever, it was given to another
prisoner, who came back with
it 15 minutes later-all worked
out.
Some people are already
referring to the new build
ing, which houses the wel
fare commission and the
state tax commission as
"Robin Hood Hall." One
agency takes from the rich
and the other gives' to the
poor.