Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1959)
4 Friday, March 20, 1939 MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. "Everyone It Southern Oregon Keaas ine atau inuunc Published DjIIv except Saturday by MJ.DFORD PRINTING CO 33 North fHStPh.SP 2-6141 ROBEP.T W RTJHL, Editor KERB GREY Advertising Manager GERALD LATHAM. Business Mgr ERIC W ALLEN JR, Managing F.ditor EARL H ADAMS. City Editor HRRY CHIPMAN. Teleg Editor RICHARD JEWETT Sports Editor OLIVE STARCHER Women Editor DALE ERICKSON. Circulation Mgr An Independent Newspaper Entered as second class matter at Medford Oregon under Act of March 3. 1397 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Bv Mall In Advance. Copy 10c. "Dail- and Sunday 1 year $15.00 Daily and Sunday 8 mos. 8.0(. Daily and Sunday 3 mos. 4.-25 Sunday Only One year $450 By Carrier In Advance Medford. Ashland. Central Point, Eagle Point, Jacksonville. Gold Hill. Phoenix. Shady Cove. Rogue Riv- T4li anH nn mntrtr rmiten Daily and Sunday 1 year $18.00 Uaiiy ana auin,y i mu. Carrier and Dealers c o p y 10c All Terms Cash in Advance Official Paper of City f Medfor Official Papei or jacnson manij United Press International ' ' r .1 r i nr; ' MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU or .m. umnmt A'irT-fiin0 Renrenentative WEST-HOLIDAY CO, INC. Of " fices in New York. Chicago. De tmit Francisco. Los Aneeles. Seattle Portland St. Louis. At lanta. Vancouver B C. NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EDITORIAL AS(sbc5ATl(o)N Flight 'o Time Medford and Jackson County History from ths files of The Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO March 20, 1949 (Sunday) The new Greyhound bus terminal is to be opened Wed nesday with B. W. Riebe ap pointed agent. Mrs. Don J. Stoner, winner of the "Sleepy Hour" swim ming pool benefit quiz show, has her portrait painted by Hal Bsihop as one prize. 20 YEARS AGO March 20. 1939 (Monday) Robert Kent, project super intendent at Camp Prescott, is reportedly named manager of the Talent irrigation dis trict. From Arthur Perry's "Ye Smudge Pot" column: "Edi tors of the state are busy these days, noting the failures of the legislature, and the home-town basketball teams at Salem." 30 YEARS AGO March 20. 1929 (Wednesday) Orchardists are urged to hurry their thermometer tests. The Medford city council passes an ordinance prohibit ing roller skating on city streets. 40 YEARS AGO March 20. 1919 (Thursday) Saturday school days are dispensed with as the curricu lum has caught up with time lost during the flu epidemic. A total of 250 people are expected tonight at a get-to gether banquet of various commercial clubs in the area. 50 YEARS AGO March 20. 1909 (Saturday) Citizens Telephone com pany wins the city franchise 3c Mpriford votes for it 322-125 in a special election. The Jackson county court is in session to consider tne $50,000 Crater Lake road ap propriation. What's Your I.Q.? Nine or ten correct is superior; seven or eight is excellent; liva or six is good. 1. Which state names have only four letters? 2. What rank do students at the TJ. S. Naval academy hold? : 3. Did Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney contest against each c'.her for the heavy weight title once, or twice? 4. In which city is the U. S Naval observatory? - 5. In what country is the Chongchon river? 6. In Army slang, what is a "shavetail?" 7, A clavichord is a bone of the human body, a forerunner of the modern piano, "or a crossbow? 8. William Bradford was the Governor of which Eng lish colony? 9. Were the famous clipper "ships sailing vessels, or steam propelled ships? 10. Which holds the higher rank, a captain in the Army, or a captain in the Navy? Answers: l". Iowa, Ohio, Utah. 2. Midshipman. ,3. Twice. 4. Washington. D. C. 5. Korea. 6. Second Lieutenant. 7. Forerunner of piano. 8. Massachusetts. 9. Sailing ships. 10. Navy. PLAYWRIGHT DIES .; Moscow - IUPD - Salva Dadi ana, 85, noted Georgian play wright and actor, has died, Pravda announced Thursday. The State and Its Schools Housewives know about inflation. It is what causes them to spend far more for necessities than they did 10 years ago. Fathers of growing families know that addi tional members of the family bring an increase in the cost of supporting the family. Oregon's schools are suffering from both phe nomena. Inflation has made everything more costly salaries and wrages, textbooks, paper, school con struction everything. Growth 'also skyrockets costs. Each year in Oregon, 12,000 new-students enter the schools. "THESE are the two basic reasons (coupled with " a commendable desire to maintain and im prove standards and methods) why school bud gets have gone up and up and up. This is why school districts nave to run as hard as they can just to stay in the same place. In this race to stay competent and efficient, they have had the whole-hearted support of the people of Oregon, who, time and again, have shown they are willing to pay for schools and for good ones. HTWO years ago the legislature undertook to set the level of state financial support of the schools at about 38 per cent, leaving some 62 per cent up to the local districts to raise from property taxes. This is done through the Basic School Sup port Fund, which comes from state income taxes. This year, while there are proposals to increase this fund, they stand little chance because of po tential disagreements as to whether the distribu tion formula should be changed. But, if additional state funds are not made available to local school districts, the degree of state support will fall below the 38 per cent figure simply because inflation and growth have raised the over-all costs of school operation. IF THE degree of state financial support is not maintained, through increased appropriations, the legislature is, in effect, telling local school dis tricts they have two choices : 1. Increase your property taxes to maintain your schools at existing levels, or 2. Let your standards slip; cut your budgets; decrease the. quality and quantity of education available to your children. If the legislature does that, it will be ignoring the repeated mandate of the voters to provide ample support for local schools from the state. A BILL to keep the state's share of school sup- uuii du uuul cue oo pel ueiii icvci 10 nuuac Bill 514. It would provide an additional $20,400, 000 in state funds for schools during the next two years, to be distributed as flat grants, based on the number of children irf each school district. (The bill is not to increase the Basic School Fund it would provide a temporary allocation over and above that amount.) If this bill, or something very similiar, is not passed, it will mean in the Medford district, for instance, an increase in school taxes of about 5 mills or about $187,000. Either that or a lower ing of existing standards by that amount. The same situation would apply in greater or lesser degree to all other Oregon school districts. The state, at a very minimum, should continue contributing to school support at no smaller level than at present. E.A. Who's To Pay? If House Bill 514 (discussed above) is passed, it will throw state budgetary plans into a muddle. Existing taxes just won't provide for such an in crease, on top of other demands. ' State Senate President Walter Pearson has proposed a sales tax to pay educational costs. House Speaker Robert Duncan believes that a sales tax is inevitable some day but not yet. The legislature today is no nearer a decision on the size of the budget, and how it is to be met, than it was when it convened Jan. 12. IXE HEARD one highly - placed Democrat not Y long ago say that, before the people of Ore gon will wake up to the needs of the state, and become willing to pay the bill, they'll have to go through a period of real governmental austerity. In pther words, he thinks that state services including: education, institutions, and all the rest a 7 will have to suffer before the voters realize their necessity. Maybe he's right. We'd prefer not to believe it. And we'd hate to see the legislature funk its responsibility just to test this theoiy. It Is the responsibility of the legislature to find out what the state needs, and then find a way to pay for it. ,.'. IN" THE past, educators have come to the legisla ture to point out the needs of education, and have also brought suggestions as to how the neces sary funds can be raised. They've been slapped down for these sugges tions, being told that it's none of their business how the funds should be raised; that this is a legislative prerogative. It's now wrvlv amusine- to hear legislators. when faced with requests such as House Bill 514 (which educators think is vital for continuation of good schools), complain that educators and inter ested citizens are not, this time, making any sug gestions as to how the money should be raised. We have a feeling that if the legislature would face up to Oregon's real needs, pass a realistic tax program, and then tell the voters, factually and realistically, why it is needed, it would be ap proved. E.A. Dennis the I AVMlSSOH " ADULT ft gill -1, 'kvMi fbwb u&to sir D'Aufremorif Prosecutor Holds Hugh Led Brothers ira Murder . To the Editor: It has never been my practice nor policy to write letters to the Editor and thereby possibly inaugu rate a newspaper controversy, but on the front page of your newspaper several days ago there appeared an article which apparently purported to place a halo on the brow of Hugh D'Autremont and de pict him in the role of a hero, and wherein, for some un known reason, not only was he characterized as a martyr but as a tool and innocent victim of his twin brothers' ingenuity and influence. Having acted as a special prosecutor in the two trials which were had in this coun ty, at which time Hugh was convicted and given a life sentence, I believe that I am in a position to know some thing about the situation, and consequently I deem it my civic duty to make some com ments relative thereto. Now I have nothing against Hugh personally, except the feeling in common with all good citizens that any mur derer should be punished. While I was not in favor of his parole, nevertheless I did not oppose the action of the Parole Board in granting him freedom, because I deemed that to be within its province, but I do remember this trial and the evidence which was adduced therein very vividly. I know that Hugh and his twin brothers murdered four innocent men in cold blood without any reason, cause or justification, and that these were, perhaps, four of the most brutal murders ever committed within the State of Oregon. Unquestionably, the only reason that Hugh D'Autre mont was not found guilty of first degree murder without any recommendation and ex ecuted, was because of the fact that all of the evidence against him was circumstan tial, and the jury, in keeping with the reluctance : of juries generally not to convict upon circumstantial evidence, saved his life by making a recom mendation of life imprison: ment. There was no question as to his guilt a that time, nor later, because subsequent to his conviction he and his brothers confessed to these heinous murders. The twin brothers, incident- DEFEND FOREIGN AID Wastfington-IUPD-The admin istration plans to send every member of Congress a 153 page book spelling out its arguments for President Ei senhower's embattled $3,930, 000,000 foreign aid program. The publication will be put out jointly by the Senate and Defense Departments and the International Cooperation Administration. Try and Stop By BENNETT CERF MARK TWAIN once was allowed to buy stock in a publish ing house, and boasted to a friend, "This will net me a for tune. They've let me in on the ground floor." Ten months later the pub lishing house went bank rupt, and the friend taunt ed, "I thought you said they let you in on the ground floor?" "So they did," main tained Twain, "but there was a son of a gun in the basement!" Mark Twain explained another time that all true humorists find themselves in the same position: "We have to make people, who would otherwise hang us, believe that we are joking." A tourist wandered into a flea circus and watched spellbound while the head flea did his tricks. "Did you educate that flea yourself?" he asked the owner of the show." "I did," was the proud reply. "I raised it from a pup." C 1259, by Bennett Cerf. Distributed by King Features Syndicate. Menace in m o?ms my ally, were not apprehended until after Hugh's conviction and thereafter pleaded guilty and made some kind of a deal with the then authorities without the knowledge of George N e u n e r or myself. George Neuner -was then the United States District Attor ney for Oregon and he and I acted as special prosecutors in the trial of Hugh. Hugh, in our opinion, was the "brains" in this crime and did most, if not all, the planning, and ra.ther than being led by his brothers actually influenced and led them. While I have the greatest respect and admiration for the ability and sincerity of those who have sympathy for Create Problem, Possibility By LYLE C. WILSON Washington -0JPD- President Eisenhower and others are fearful that the Russians are not convinced that the Unit ed States and its allies real ly mean to stand firmly on the ques tion of Berlin even though it may mean ,war. yie c. Wilson Perhaps the Kremlin would be more will ing to believe if the armed forces of the United States in Western Europe were not part time baby sitters as well as soldiers, airmen and the like. Not actually baby-sitters, of course. But, what about the 255,000 or so dependents of American troops who are on the West ern front? They are the wives and children of the enlisted and commissioned personnel who compose a first line of defense in a dangerous spring time. Unquestionably it is good for morale good for morals, too for the families of the overseas forces' to be stationed handy-by. Estimate Total of Dependents The Pentagon is cagy about how many dependents are in Western Europe; cagy about how the problem of depend ents will be handled if war comes. A pretty good estimate today is that there are 165,000 Army dependents there and 90,000 Air Force. The Navy has few ashore and, of course, the Navy afloat remains the last bastion of modern times. Plans to get the dependents out of the way of a shooting war have been made. The plans involve an instant con centration of the dependents at various military stations preliminary to a great parade of women and children to sea ports and shipment home. It is quite obvious that this l:L 1 Subtle Change in Egypt's Attitude On U.S. Noted; Two Reasons Seen as Cause By PHIL NEWSOM . I UPI Foreign News Editor Cairo. United Arab Renub- lic-UPD-There has been a sub tle change here in the rela tionship between the United States and Egypt. It is visible in . the treat ment given ' the United $ States by the '-SEevntian J n e w s p apers 3 and the Cairo Phil iSewsom raoiO. Today the newspapers are playing the news "straight." The story of the Berlin crisis is being played generally with what U.S. readers would call objectivity, minus the former line which " portrayed the United States as an imperial ist and an enemy of Arab unity. Formerly, the press here Hugh, which they have ex pressed, I respectfully submit that notwithstanding their emotional desire to do good, our sympathy and considera tion should be directed to ward the widows and chil dren and riear relatives of those four unfortunate men who were so foully slain and murdered by the D'Autre monts. Remembering the unpro voked, callous, premeditated and terrible killing of these four innocent men, I should say that Hugh is lucky to have been alive all of these years. . George M. Roberts U.S. National Bank Bldg. Medford ependents in Europe majestic assembly of wives and children, nursemaids, pets and such impedimenta would work only if there is what the generals call a strategic warn ing, that is, a warning several days in advance of actual fighting. A tactical warning of a few hours or a surprise attack leaves much to the imagina tion, most of it bad. There would be again the panic of flight such as made road trans portation collapse in France in 1940. Instead of orderly concentration and movement to the seaports there might, probably would, be a dis orderly rout. ' The logistics problem is ap palling. Food for 255,000 frightened refugees can not be carried in a nand basket. Fuel for multi-thousands of military and commandeered private automobiles cannot be carried in a five-gallon can. ommunications Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer, although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initia tor publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the right tc 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 Heart Fund Thanks To the Editor: On be half of the Oregon Heart Asocia tion I wish to thank the Mail Tribune for its generous con tribution to the success of the 1959 Jackson County Heart Fund Drive. Your coverage of the drive helped make it pos sible to raise the money which is needed for vital research to continue. For my own part, I wish to send my greatest thanks. Mrs. C. H. Buffington, Jackson County Heart Fund Chairman. Review of Review To the Editor: Tuesday eve ning I attended the Footlight ers' production of "The Tend er Trap." Your Wednesday edition carried a review of the play. "The Tender Trap" was staged by a local amateur group. May I compliment your judgment in assigning the re view to one of like experience. The M.T. coverage seemed to hang midway between straight reporting and cri tique, and finally fell absy mally between. Reading your paper's re view conveyed the impression that I was actually re-reading something from some previous occasion. This impression was, quickly clarified. A study of prior treatments of other Foot lighter plays during the past year reveals a consumate sameness in each writeup. There are the same homely irrelevancies; the same omis sions of pertinent items; the same impaired perceptions and absence of objectivity. The amateur endeavor of those on the stage differs from that of the one on the page in one major respect: their performance is given jibed at the American space exploration program, taunt- mg the United States to aban- don its space race against the Russians. When the U.S. Pioneer IV soared into orbit around the sun the Egyptian press played it straight. Our Policy Changes Two explanations are given here for the change. The first is a change in U.S. policy itself. This change has been unad vertised, but it was a switch from the strict U.S. line which demanded that Middle East nations either be for or against Western policies in general. It was a recognition that the neutrality line es poused by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic, President Tito of Yugoslavia and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India exists and might as well be recognized. U.S. diplomats attributed the other side of it to a gen eral recognition by Nasser's regime of the danger of in ternational communism. All of this is not to say that Egyptians consider the United States a friend of Egypt, nor that there is a veering here toward the West away from the East. In fact, Egyptians profess not to understand U.S. rea soning. An Economic Necessity This is a report of a conver sation with a prominent Egyp tion publisher educated in the United States. "The United States," he said, "fails to recognize that the Nasser government essen tially is anti-Communist. "Instead, when .Nasser says he either must sell Egyptian cotton to the West or the Rus sians, you cry blackmail. , "You look for the hidden motive. "The motive is right before There is the further ques tion of the efficiency of a fighting force in which the enlisted and commissioned ranks were aware that their loved ones were in panicky progress toward evacuation ports with the Lord only would know how many Rus sian MIGs strafing the civilian columns. A man might desert his post of duty- with such thoughts in his mind. There has been no move nor the indication of anv intention to get the wom enand children out of West ern Europe before the storm breaks if it breaks. . United Press International got the idea unofficially that only Eisenhower could order the dependents to come home. Such an order on the eve of the up-coming foreign minis ters conference might have an interesting impact on the Kremlin state of mind. with vitality ana enthusiasm It is neither jaded nor OSsi- fied. .. It is obvious that certain plays because of their sub stance or technical demands upon players . and crew, or both, should hot be undertak en by amateur groups. This would appear to hold true to plays for prospective review. I do not know what is next on the Footlighters' production calendar; but to facilitate the task of your reviewer I would suggest they consider "For Whom the Belle Claques." Alvin Reiss, 513 Dakota ave., Medford. A" "Misfit" Speaks To the Editor: I am writing in regard to the articles that have appeared in the Mail Tribune and also over TV about hiring handicapped per sons. Just what rules and regula tions are set up that a person must comply with to be a handicapped person? Take the blind institute for example. They will not help a person that is extremely nearsighted. One has to be darn near blind before they will help. Yet they say save your sight. After you are darn near blind I think it's a little too late to try and save it, don't you? When one goes to them for help they say: Oh no, you can"t be helped, you have too much sight, although all your life you have had to put up with missing the most of life, the beauty of nature, and it's all around us. In fact it was no fault of anyone's that you were born with very little sight, but glasses improved you. You say to Nasser, 'You can't sell your cotton to Rus sia, but you can't sell it to us either.' You provide no market. "But Egypt must sell its cotton. So it sells its cotton to Russia. It is a matter of eco nomic necessity. "Egypt wants to buy from the West, but you make it im possible for Egypt to obtain foreign exchange. Washington Report By WILLIAM THE KNIFE OF DISCORD Washington - The most un secret of all Republican wea pons is never found in any IRepubli- v c a n arsenal. I This top wea- on is a strict- ly Democratic t knife, knife of dis- cord which some of the Democrats ar unable to William S. , . , White refrain from sticking into other Democrats before each Presidential elec tion. True, the Republicans are not always above family fighting. But they never even start intraparty war without some rational purpose. And in any case they never inflict among themselves wounds impossible to poultice over before election day. Such self-restraint is not for the Democrats. Their au tomatic trouble-makers used to be the Southern ultra-conservatives. These old boys went to every convention happily doing their best to College Students Escape Injury Three University of Oregon students escaped injury Thursday evening when the car in which they were riding hit a guard rail on highway 99 south, 1 mile north of the state line, state nolice re ported. Operator of the car, Sam uel Joseph Spooner, 18, told police his auto was forced to the rail to avoid striking a truck towing a house trailer, which was passing a second truck on a curve. Passengers in Spooner's car, Marcia Gayle Currlis, 18, and Jack Arthur McKay, 20, were uninjured. They were traveling south on vacation from the University of Ore gon, according to reports. FIRST THINGS FIRST London - (UPD - When a fire swept the Pembroke dock fire station today, firemen were unable to save two fire en eines and other equipment but manaeed to carry a TV set and a billiard table to safety. it a little. Oh yes. but not enough for the so-called em ployer to consider you had enough sight to do 8 hours work for him. All he could think of was, well, there is for this job, we won't take for this job, we wont' take a chance on the misfitted, nearsighted person. I could go on forever and tell of the employers that sit behind their big shiny desks and look down their long skinny noses at the misfits in this world, never dream ing that some act of God or freak of nature could do the same thing to them. Their motto is, hire only the perfect ones, they are right for the job. Never take a chance on the guy that is a little short or maybe too tall, or that one that is a little too heavy or a litle too thin, or the one that walks with a limp or maybe a little hunched back, or just the one that didn't get an education like the rest, one that is retarded a little, and couldn't read or write, had some illness that left a mental block for the rest of their lives. Don't hire these misfits, just hire the perfect ones. Readers, this is no joke. It happens every ' day all over the United States, but what can one do when they are misfit and cannot run in com petition with the perfect ones? I know as I am one of these misfits and cannot even get employment so I can support my three children. I will either have to place them out for adoption or have the Welfare place them under foster care. I am no longer able to fight my handicap any more. The Bible says that men are all created equal. What about us women? If so, why are there so many misfits in the world like myself? And why should we have to com pete with the perfect ones? Why don't we have an equal right to work and earn a liv ing instead of asking or beg ging for charity? D. H. Name on file. "Therefore, Egypt must buy from Russia." Diplomats here recognize some truth in Egypt's claims. "If we had 100 million dol lars and could buy up the Egyptian cotton crop and then dump it all in the middle of the ocean, we could save a lot of problems here. But right now, we see nei ther the hundred million dol las nor another solution. S. WHITE shoot down with their squir rel rifles any Democratic nominee who could conceiv ably carry all of the United States. This breed has largely gone now. NOW, Democratic difficul ties come from the ultra liberals. These mainly are al lies of a small, grimly articu late, high-minded, self-right-ecus and profoundly inept group called Americans for Democratic Action. Most ADA people are knee-jerk liberals; they react automa tically to certain slogans. To ADA, only ADA is com petent to decide who is ade quately "liberal." The defini tion, moreover, is reached by incantations which the work ing Democratic politicians, who are merely professionals, have difficulty in following. Thus, ADA code processes sometimes exclude politicians whom the unexcited onlooker might have thought to be pretty liberal, on such hum drum tests as their public rec ords. ADA, with the best possi ble intentions and the least possible sense of humor, is now primly at work to set the Democratic party straight for 1960. And to the pros, it is a case of run for your lives, boys, the dam has bust. FOR an immediate . result of ADA's earnest efforts is to do a job on the three ablest - and probably the three most responsible 1960 Democratic Presidential pos sibilities. Among the amused and gratified spectators is the Republican National commit tee. ITEM: Three ultra-liberal and highly decent Democrats, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, former Senator Herbert H. Lehman and former Air Force Secretary Thomas K. Finletter, have solemnly set out to oust Tammany boss Carmbine De Sapio. He is the only surviving New York Democratic leader of obvious ' competence. Naturally, he must go; he has been found not to be liberal enough. It is widely known that Mrs. Roosevelt and Finletter, at least, have been strongly attached to Adlai- E. Steven son. Few things could be more harmful to Stevenson's chances for a third Democra tic Presidential nomination than to be associated, willy nilly, with this absurd at tempted purge of the regular New York Democratic or ganization. There is a side jest here, too. It is no secret, except possibly to ADA ultra -liberals, that Stevenson is es sentially a civilized conserva tive. ITEM: The ADA is sniping tirelessly at the Senate Dem ocratic leader, Lyndon ' B. Johnson. Johnson's principal disability is that he neglected . to inform his parents that he must not be born in Texas. The ultra - liberals, under standably from their view point, would not want to see him President. NEVERTHELESS, who would have supposed that they would prefer Johnson in a pinch, at any rate, to Vice President Richard M. Nixon, against whom ADA has been quivering with outrage (some of it wholly justified) for years? And it is a secret only to ADA that Johnson might conceivably be nominated by the regular Democrats in a hung-up convention. Against such a possibility it really would not seem wise to try totally to destroy in advance his combat potential against the quite possible GOP nomi nee, Mr. Nixon. ITEM: Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, one of the few members of ADA who knows the score, is run ning for President under manifest difficulties. The greatest of these is his loyal, but not very wise, continued association with ADA. There fore, it would appear sensible for ADA not to embrace him too publicly and too often. But, naturally, ADA's af fection for Humphrey is not being restrained. All the same, you can kiss a man to death in politics almost as easily as you can kick him to death. (Copyright, 1959, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
