4 Sunday, March 22, 1959
MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE.
"Everyone In Southern Oregon
Reads The Mail Tribune"
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ERIC W ALLEN JR..
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DALE ERICK5QN, circulation Mgr.
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March 3. 1897
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Flight 'o 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 22. 1949 (Tuesday)
Mayor Thomas Williams of
Ashland suggests four names
as replacements for the three
city council seats vacated
when councilmen were re
called in last week's special
election.
Medford Mayor Diamond
F 1 y n n discusses municipal
problems before a women's
group, including the problem
of the budget's not permitting
him a stenographer.
20 YEARS AGO
March 22. 1939 (Wednesday)
Consolidation of the Gold
Hill and Alderbrook school
districts is approved at a spe
cial election.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "Con
siderable backyard spading
has been completed, resulting
in a callous on the hand that
swings the golf stick."
30 YEARS AGO
March 22. 1929 (Friday)
The interstate commerce
commission opens a freight
rate hearing here.
Seeding starts in the Table
Rock district.
40 YEARS AGO
March 22, 1919 (Saturday)
The Commercial club mem
bership now totals 363 as a re
sult of recent interest.
A Red Cross drive for old
garments is planned.
50 YEARS AGO
March 22, 1909 (Monday)
A department of agriculture
pathologist asserts that pear
blight has been all but eradi
cated here.
The Southern Pacific's farm
demonstration train draws
large crowds.
What's Your I.Q.7
Nine or ten correct is superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five or
six is good.
1. Choreography concerns
dancing, singing or map mak
ing?
2. Is the average weight of
a standard bale of American
cotton about 49, 490, or 4,900
pounds. -
3. Is a diving bell open, or
closed, at the bottom?
4. Name the city in the U.
S. which is said to be "the
home of the bean and the
cod."
5. If an automobile is driv
en at 30 miles per hour, how
many feet per second does it
travel?
6. In honor of whom is the
Soviet city of Leningrad
named?
7. "Windy City" is a nick
name applied to which TJ. S.
city?
8. What does a barometer
register?
9. How many sheets con
stitute a quire of paper?
10. Correct the following r
"The condemned man was
hung."
Answers: 1. Dancing. 2.
490. 3. Open. 4. Boston. Mass.
5. 44 feel. 6. Nicolai Lenin.
7. Chicago. 8. Atmospheric
pressure. 9. Twenty-four. 10.
"The condemned man was
hanged."
Russians eat three times
more ice cream per person
than Americans do, according
to Dr. George Borgstrom, an
international food expert.
Coming Car Shortage
Blame for an impending freight car shortage
in Oregon described as the "granddaddy" of
them all should not fall upon the shoulders of
Western railroads alone.
An article in the Wall Street Journal last
week points out that the problem arid its causes
are nationwide.
The Journal article cites as one cause a
"squabble" between Eastern and Western , rail
roads over possession of badly-needed cars.
During the recent recession, the article points
out, railroads in this part of the country fared
better than those in the East and were able to
carry out for the most part their car-buying and
repairing programs.
'"THE shrewd, perhaps envious Eastern lines re--
portedly have taken advantage of this by the
legal if not entirely ethical practice of "pirating"
Western cars.
When these cars enter Eastern systems in the
normal course of commerce they can be kept there
for indefinite periods
them pays a $2.75 daily
The article quotes an irate Midwest rail execu
tive as saying the Eastern roads "figure it's cheap
er to use one of our new cars for $2.75 a day than
it is for them to build or
"So," he adds, "they've just let their car pro
grams go to pot.
TTHE Eastern railroads, according to the Journal,
have found it necessary to cut down on main-tainino-
their own rollins- stock because of shrink-
0 - o -
ing capital. The Pennsylvania road, for one, re
portedly lavors establishing a iederal agency to
purchase new equipment and lease it to the hard
pressed private lines.
Many Western railroads apparently view the
$2.75 rental fee a major culprit. They point out
that it provides insufficient reimbursement for a
car that cost them anywhere from $8,50(Mo $20,
000 to acquire.
"So long as it is cheaper to rent a car than it is
to own one and that is the situation today underbuilding-
will be the nolicv of strategically-
situated railroads." The
road who made this statement believes, according
to the Journal, that raising the rental charges
would increase the national car supply automa
tically "by the operation of natural economic
laws." . ,
'
( EORGE Ehlen, traffic manager for the Spo
kane, Portland and Seattle railway, is quoted
as saying recently that "more teeth" in the Asso
ciation of American Railroad's rales would dis
courage the Eastern roads from hanging on to
Western cars for long periods.
Raising the rent would probably help the
Western lines. On the other hand, it could well
put that much more pressure on the profit squeeze,
of which most railroads, particularly in the East,
complain so bitterly.
Another investigation, as demanded by Ore
gon officials, might come up with a partial solu
tion, or at least some valuable insights. But from
all reports the problem can only be licked on a na
tionwide basis.
The need for action
railroads have gotten on
lead to economic calamity, both for them and tor
their patrons. E.W.
More Than Lip Service
Some wise men believe that a student ex
change program, in, which all the nations of the
world participated would, if permitted to operate
a. sufficient length of time, remove virtually all
threats of another world war.
These are the men who originated the Ameri
can Field Service program whereby students from
foreign lands come to the United States for a year
of study in a high school and Americans go abroad
to live with families in which there are children of
approximately their ages. (The program is to be
expanded this year so that American high school
students can study abroad for a year.)
HTHESE are the men who have devised many
other programs which permit American col
lege graduates to study abroad and college gradu
ates of many countries to come to the United
States.
One of the very best of these is the Rotaiy
Foundation Fellowship program. The program
was inaugurated in 1947 as a memorial to 5 the
founder of "Rotary International, Paul P. Harris.
Since 1947 Rotaiy Foundation Fellowships have
been awarded to 1,201 young men and women
from 66 countries for study in 43 countries. Total
grants for this Rotaiy contribution to the promo
tion of international understanding have been
in excess of $3,000,000.
VER the 1959-60 academic year 131 graduates
from 34 countries wall set all-exnense Rotarv
Foundation Fellowships,
We cite this because
Club in your communitv
And because there is nothing Rotarians do as
Koianans tnat tney consider more important.
Their organization exists in most of the countries
of the world. Thus thev know the imDortance of
international understanding. Their financial .par
ticipation in this immense graduate study program
is pi ooi tnat tney give international understand
ing more than lip service. Pendleton East-Ore-
goman,. .
so long as the line using
rental charge.
repair their own.
a. v v
president of a Midwest
is urgent. The nation's
a wrong track that could
totalling approximately
members of the Rotaiy
have contributed to it
Dennis the
''AWd&JtfSrVW I WENT TO
samuCpu Aiy knee wmffSHmmn? wii,w,WI$Wfc
Drummond Reports
(Walter Lippman is again traveling in Europe. Roseoe Drummond
reports from Washington in his absence.)
ALLIANCE VS. FORTRESS
Washington It is time to
get ready for the most signif
icant debate and the .most
fateful decision which will be
taken at this session of Con
gress. The debate is: whether to
seek survival by helping our
allies do what they cannot en
tirely do themselves or to turn
into a Fortress America and
try to do it all alone.
The decision is: whether to
approve the President's "min
imum" mutual security pro
gram of $4,000,000,000 or to
hack it to pieces in order to
spend it some other way.
The opponents of the mutu
al security appropriation are
counting on you to be ade
quately gullible, uninterested,
and misinformed, so that it
can be slashed with impunity.
The unanimous conclusion
of the Draper Committee, a
panel of distinguished and
knowledgeable Americans
who have earned the right to
be heard, is that nothing could
be more wasteful and so im
peril the national interest than
to enfeeble the mutual secur
ity program so that it can't do
the job.
I AM NOT suggesting that
the President's military and
economic aid request should
slide through Congress with
out being questioned and with
out being argued. There
should be debate, very earnest
debate. It seems to me that
the debate is coming at a good
time and under circumstances
which will enlist the largest
public interest.
It comes at a time when the
Communist military threat is
greater than ever before and
when, because of events in
Berlin and Iraq, the Commu
nist threat is more visible
than ever before.
The debate comes at a time
when we must either rescue
the mutual security program
from being gradually choked
to death by inadequate funds
or given the resources equal
to the need.
It comes at a time when the
Democratic leaders of this
Democratically controlled
Congress who almost unani
Washington Report
By WILLIAM
Washington - The warning
bells for the future of foreign
aid are ringing with rising
1 stridency, but
! there is little
indication that
1 1 h e Adminis
tration gener
ally is paying
J much heed.
The program
no doubt will
survive the
short run-this
year and next
at least-if only because of the
Soviet Union's habit of fo
menting crises like Berlin. Its
most effective,, if unwitting,
lobbyists, indeed, have been
the Russians. They largely
caused foreign aid to be adopt
ed in the first place, in its
initial form known ' as the
Marshall Plan.
Less than tactfully, they
overran Czechoslovakia just
as Congress more than a dec
ade ago was being asked by
the Truman Administration to
face up for the first time to
the postwar economic and
military vacuum left in Eu
rope. Congress was under
standably weary of shoving
out the billions as it had done
all during the war. But it
simply could not look the oth
er way in the face of this
brutally candid disclosure of
Russian intentions.
THE LONGER outlook for
foreign aid, however, is far
from good. President Eisen
' William S.
White
Menace
! TT
THE DOCTOR? 'MBM6BR. HE
mously say they want to put
more into our defenses can
show whether they really
mean it. The mutual security
appropriation puts the issue
squarely and fairly before the
Administration's Defense crit
ics. If fthey want stronger de
fense, as they avow they do,
they must either support the
President's mutual security
appropriation or be prepared
to spend at least three times
as much as they cut from it
in order to get the same mil
itary result.
Let us not forget that the
mutual security program
brings into being many times
as much military, strength as
the U. S. pays for and de
spite some admitted waste,
despite some bad administra
tion is the economizer's way
of getting the greatest secur
ity for the free world at the
least cost.
AT STAKE is not whether a
half billion , or a billion
dollars will be struck from
Mr. Eisenhower's request. For
several years now Congress
has so cut back and truncated
the mutual security program
that it can neither be planned
well at home or used to best
advantage by our allies.
At stake is not a little
trimming here, a small cut
there; at stake is the basic de
cision whether the U. S. is go
ing to seek survival in isola
tion or in a common effort
with our allies. On this point
the Draper Committee says:
"The choice our country
faces is very real and near at
hand. In our fascination with
our own mistakes," and the
constant use of foreign aid as
a whipping boy, we may be
gradually choking this vital
feature of our national secur
ity policy to death.
"What we do this year is
an important step in one di
rection or the other. By forth
right and affirmative action
we can set the example ex
pected of us. The penalty for
failure to do so can well be
the beginning of the end of
the free world coalition."
Those in Congress who are
willing to bring about this re
sult are counting on you not
to care.
S. WHITE
hower himself has put more
heart into backing the pro
gram than into anything else
in his tenure. No one familiar
with the inner situation de
nies him good marks here.
Down below, however, where
actual operations go on, the
Administration's leadership is
progressively less impressive.
In the first place, there is
massive, cumulative evidence
-not merely the prejudiced
evidence of isolationists-that
there is a good deal of waste
and bureaucratic nonsense in
foreign aid.
The President's own dis
tinguished advisory commit
tee, headed by industrialist
William H. Draper Jr., has
more politely now said just
about as much. Foreign aid's
best friends in Congress have
been saying the same thing
for years, and for the same
reason. They hope, and so
does the Draper commission,
that the Administration can
be prevailed upon to clean
up this situation before Con
gress becomes completely fed
up and throws out the baby
with the bath water.
COMPLAINTS about waste
have been treated as though
they were irresponsible at
tacks on the principle of the
program. Some of them have
not been in good faith, but
many have been. And the"se
need urgent attention; the
time for alibis is running out
fast.
In the second place, the
Matter of Fact
THE SUMMIT CASE
Washington-Nikita Khrush
chev's first dividend from his
Berlin crisis is the serious dis-
c u s s ion of a
summit meet
ing that is now
going on be
tween Dwight
D. Eisenhow
er and Harold
Macmillan. If
the President's
hand had not
been forced,
4osoh Alsnn he would not.
be talking with Macmillan
about what to sav at the sum
mit. He would be trying to
avoid going there.
Realism reauires this admis
sion that Khrushchev has had
considerable success alreadv.
in the sense of compelling
the American policy makers
td do something they greatly
wished not to do. In a lesser
sense, Prime Minister Macmil
lan has also had a success.
Macmillan's Moscow visit, its
European sequels, and the
certainty that he would press
tne resident very strongly
for a summit rally, all com
bine to crystallize the reluc
tant American decision that
a summit was unavoidable.
The record clearly proved
the distaste of a summit meet
ing that is stronelv sharpH
by the President and Secre
tary of State John Foster
Dulles. For the past two years,
they have used everv imag
inable dodge to avoid such
a meeting. During all the first
months of the Berlin crisis it
self, they followed the same
line. As in the past, the chief
expedient was insisting that
all the real work must be
done by a Foreign Ministers'
meeting, before the meeting
of heads of state.
,
THE President still says that
a foreign Ministers' meet
ing must "justify" the sum
mit meeting. But the Foreign
Ministers' meeting is no long
er being used as a blocking
tactic. Ihe summit meeting
is accepted as virtually un
avoidable. That is the big con
cession.
Yet the fact that the Ameri
can policy makers have been
forced into this . concession
does not necessarily mean
that the concession itself is
a mistake and a misfortune.
To begin with, our highest
policy makers' reluctance to
go to the summit had some
pretty personal motives be
hinri it Onfl cimVi -fny incfanno
was Secretary of State Dulle's
almost passionate preference
for doing all the negotiating
himself.
The Secretary is an admir
ably tough negotiator, but
there are certain kinds of ne
gotiations he cannot carry on.
There are certain things which
it mav be desirable to sav.
that only the President can
say with full authority' Equal
Iv. Nikita Khrushchev mav
have highly important things
to sav. which he cannot easilv
say through the mouth of Sec
retary Dulle s opposite num
present mixture of military
and economic assistance in a
single Congressional bill and
program is a case of oil and
water. There is a world of dif
ference in the two objectives.
The one, military security, is
totally intertwined with our
national security. Military aid
thus could be more rationally
handled by simply and frank
ly throwing it all into the
same large pot with the Penta
gon's functions. One bazooka
is pretty much like another,
no matter the nationality of
the corporal who fires it.
The second objective, eco
nomic aid, is both economic
and political in purpose. It
is unwisely involved now with
our purely military planning.
AGAIN, in its longer mean
ing economic aid to our
friends is really only our pres
ent substitute for a fully ra
tional policy of freer world
trade. And it is at this point
that the whole of the Admin
istration, this time including
the President as well, is per
forming in what can only be
called an odd way. More and
more we are putting petty
protectionist devices on world
trade. Here we deny to a for
eign firm a construction con
tract it has won in open bid
ding. There we lay down im
port restrictions.
Thus, one hand of the gov
ernment assists other coun
tries in foreign aid. The other
hand hampers them in for
eign trade. And foreign trade
is, after all, the oldest and
cheapest of all forms of "for
eign aid," and the best in the
end for both parties to the
transaction.
Finally, to one who has
watched thel program from its
very beginning it increasingly
appears that the Administra
tion officials before Congress
are putting the "secret" label
on too many things too often.
For years we have been spend
ing millions on foreign mili
tary installations, some of
which are right next door to
Soviet or satellite territory.
It is not likely that the Rus
sians have got to read the Con
gressional Record to discover
as much.
(Copyright, 1959. by United
Feature Syndicate. Inc.)
By Joseph Alsep
ber, the wooden Andrei Gro
myko. WITH regard to Khrushchev,
in fact, the story of the
summit agitation is highly
suggestive. From the outset,
the Kremlin's campaign for
another rally on the heights
took a most curious form. The
first official call for such a
meeting came from Nikolai
Bulganin, then still official
chief of the Soviet govern
ment. But the Bulganin call
to the summit was solely aim
ed at the woolier sort of
"world opinion." Since he de
manded a meeting on the scale
of an international garden
party, Bulganin's official pro
posal was plainly designed to
horrify any practical diplomat.
Concurrently with Bulgan
ing, however, the man with
real power in the Kremlin,
Nikita Khrushchev, carried
on a seeming-unofficial cam
paign for a quite different
sort of conference. He spoke
first through semi - private
persons like Mrs. - Franklin
Roosevelt and Aneurin Bevan.
He finally made his proposal
quite openly, in a famous New
Year's toast at the Kremlin.
What he proposed was no in
ternational garden party, but
a meeting in a corner between
himself and Eisenhower, with
no other nations' represented
except the United States and
the U.S.S.R.
VERY obviously, Bulganin's
proposal was solely intend
ed to force acceptance of
Khrushchev's proposal, as the
more bearable alternative.
Nonetheless, Khru s h c h e v's
messages and his toast were
firmly ignored by the State
Department. Still seeking a
chance to talk with the Presi
dent. Khrushchev thereupon
agreed to a summit meeting
in the U.N. Security Council,
which was only prevented by
Chinese Communist protests.
The same theme emerged
again during Prime Minister
Macmillan's visit to Moscow,
when Khrushchev so brutally
underlined his lack of desire
to talk seriously with any
Western leader except the
President of the United States
himself.
For all these reasons, the
able American Ambassador to
Moscow, Llewellyn Thomp
son. has advised the State De
partment that Nikita Khrush
chev almost certaily has some
thing important that he wants
to sav in person, and to no
one but Eisenhower. What
Khrushchev has to say may
be most unpleasant, but it is
worth finding out what it is.
That is one justification for
a summit meeting. The other
iustification is the chance the
President will have to warn
Khrushchev privately but
solemnly that he can push the
United States just so far, but
not a millimeter further.
Copyright 1959 New York
Herald Tribune Inc.
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
Highway problem:
Shall we have white lines
in our highways?
Or should they be yellow?
OREGON has yellow lines.
So does Wyoming. Both
states want to keep 'em yel
low. Yellow, -they say, shows
up better through a thin skim
of snow or frost.
But Uncle Sam says NO
that most states have white
lines, and we ought to have
uniformity and if we're to
have uniformity the majority
should rule. So Oregon and
Wyoming will probably have
to conform.
Uncle holds the purse. It's
our money that goes into the
purse, of course. But UNCLE
SPENDS IT. That gives him a
lot of authority.
ANOTHER highway prob
lem: What shall we do about
the drivers who smack into
other people, smashing cars,
breaking bones, running up
big hospital bills, etc., and
turning up WITHOUT INSUR
ANCE? Shall we pass a law
compelling everybody who
drives a car to carry insur
ance? It's quite a problem.. There's
a lot of talk about it, but noth
ing much has been done yet.
Maybe the best IMMEDIATE
solution for provident drivers
is to take out insurance
against getting hit by the oth
er fellow. That's at least the
rugged individualist's way.
fTVHE federal government has
A a new idea. It would like
to be authorized by congress
to establish a national clear
ing house for the names of dri
vers whose licenses have been
suspended or revoked.
It might be a good idea. It
would make a lot of new fed
eral jobs. New federal jobs
cost money. The money comes
out of the taxpayers' pockets.
The more Uncle takes out, the
less the taxpayer has to spend.
Maybe all these things are
essential. Maybe they should
all be enacted into law. May
be they are all so important!
Communications
Letters 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 not exceed 400 words
Swallows Debunked Again
To the Editor: It is not at
all necessary to be an ornithol
ogist to know there is no vest
ige of truth in the front page
item of the Mail Tribune stat
ing: "The swallows returned
to Mission San Juan Capis
trano today to keep alive their
traditional St. Joseph's Day
appointment." Just common
sense reasoning will convince
anyone willing to learn, that
no swallow or any other bird
can be induced to break age
old established habits to keep
an appointment with some human-designated
day, be it
saint or sinner.
Swallows, feeding only in
flight, must follow the hatch
of air flying insects. This de
pends on the weather. Thou
sands of swallows and other
members of the finch family
died in the south when an un
timely freeze killed air-flying
insects that such birds feed on
in flight only.
Back following depression
days, Capistrano first came
out reporting the padres of the
old mission claiming that old
St.. Joseph fed the starving
swallows on March 19 some
160 years ago. So, ever since
in gratitude for this kindly
act, the swallows have re
turned on that date to the old
mission. It surely does tax the
imagination to know how
St. Joseph could scatter the
millions of live flying insects
into the air for the swallows
to gulp down in flight.
The M.T. item goes on to
state that the swallows came
in greater numbers than ever.
This could be true as this is
a very early spring and the
swallows would arrive earlier
than usual which I am willing
to go on record as saying, de
spite the claims of one Ted
Hodges to verify the swal
lows' arrival on the date
named for 25 years. Where
was Mr. Hodges on March 19,
1938 when this writer was
there and no swallows showed
up all day? When newsmen
finally cornered the old padre,
he said so many people coming
scared them away. This is just
not true, as we were almost
the very first arrivals. This
never made the printed page,
But a bannered news item in
the Los "Angeles Times did
run "SWALLOWS RETURN."
When we called the managing
editor on it he stoutly main
tained there must have been
swallows there. When asked
how come his staff-photographer
had to photograph a
cock-sparrow to go with the
news item, he promised a cor
rection on the false news, but
never printed it.
F. J. Clifford,
Route 2, Box 200F,
Central Point, Ore.
Rigamarole and Rime
To the Editor: A Rime For
You:
I like to see a man of his word,
A man whose words ring true;
I like to know that what he
1 says,
That is what he will do.
We don't print poetry in the
M.T.,
Nor writings of literary
charm,
That's what the editor says,
says he;
And hopes it will do no harm.
Then straightway the corres
pondents' page
Is filled with mush and some
slime,
Enough to make a heathen
rage,
And feeble efforts at rhyme.
We don't print poetry in the
M.T.,
Repeat it from time to time.
We don't print poetry, no
siree;
We print rigamarole and rime.
(Ex exemplia, for what it
is worth).
L. G. Weaver,
301 Haven st,
Medford.
that we just can't get along
without them.
But
They'd all cost money.
A LOT of money.
IlfHY not close this piece by
' " talking for a moment
about something that would
perhaps contribute more to
highway safety than anything
else that could be done and
it WOULDN'T COST A CENT.
I'm referring to courtesy.
Just common, everyday
courtesy.
The same kind of courtesy
we employ more or less
EVERYWHERE ELSE, but
fail to display on the high
ways. If we were all as courte
ous to others, as considerate of
the RIGHTS of others, when
we are out on the highways
behind the wheel of a car, as
we normally are in our homes
and on the sidewalks on foot,
our highways would be
FABULOUSLY SAFER.
And it wouldn't cost a red
cent.
POTLUCK
(By M-T Staff and
Contributors)
A recent news item told
how the Centennial caravan,
which will move via covered
wagon from Independence,
Mo., to Oregon this spring and
summer, will be taken to
Missouri from Oregon aboard
a big freight truck. This mo
tivated one of our staff writers
to poesy, as follows:
Wagons, wagons, eastward,
ho!
On to Independence, Mo.
Truck and trailer will pro
vide A horseless, uneventful
ride.
There your true trek will
begin:
Two thousand miles back
home again,
On highways. In a hundred
days
A trail for tourists you must
blaze.
"On to Oregon," caravan!
And with you, yes, that spe
cial van
Filled with feed, parts, .
tools, supplies;
For beards, no doubt,
assorted dyes.
Polaroid glasses for the
eyes,
And bug-bombs, just in case
of flies.
The pioneer, that early bird,
Got no such worms, from
what we've heard.
The Indians you need not
fear.
They're licensed drivers,
too, out here.
Remember, though, the
trucker's code:
Endeavor not to hog the .
road.
The people in the welfare
department spend most of
their lime working for ihe
benefit of others, or, in the
rather cynical phrase of
some critics, do - gooding.
Last week, be it noted, the
office moved into a new lo
cation, and not a single
person sent flowers.
Bud Forrester, the able
editor of the Pendleton East
Oregonian, recently wrote a
little column which does two
things:
1. It proves that the Mail
Tribune is not the only news
paper in the. land to be
plagued on occasion with
gremlins.
2. It tells a sad story so well,
and it comes so close to home,
that we herewith reprint his
remarks:
"Some of the terrible things,
none of which can be explain
ed, that happen in a newspa
per plant on Mondays, have
been spoken of in this column.
We did not speak of something
that the gremlins that inhabit
newspapers do any day that
they think the editors need a
little needling.
"This little game the grem
lins enjoy is taking some type
that belongs in one story and
moving it into another story.
You say, 'Pshaw! How could
gremlins do that? How could
they pick up type and move it
around?' Well, we used to
scoff at it, too. But we have
had to conclude that it is grem
lins that do it bcause no print
er has ever confessed having
done it.
"This is something that hap
pens on all newspapers, not
only at the East Oregonian.
Just last week we saw this in
the Coos Bay World:
'The Congress took no ac
tion. But Truman remarked:
"Zud removes rust and stains
from bathtubs".' "
The gremlins get in their
dirtiest licks when they ex
change the lines of type under
two pictures. Editors who
have had that experience,
awaken in the night with the
screaming heebie - jeebies. We
recall the case of Tom Shea,
managing editor of the old
News - Telegram in Portland,
who never was the same after
the gremlins exchanged the
lines of type that were under
a picture of a bride with those
under a wrestler's picture. The
wrestler didn't complain, but
what the bride and her rela
tives said left Mr; Shea in a
state of shock for days.
There is no explanation for
this. So, if it ever happens in
a story that involves you, don't
A 1 - J ' . T
expect, an explanation, iou
can only be given an apology."
Just io prove things, the
gremlins arranged for a
typographical error io ap
pear in Bud's column that
day. The word gremlins
came out spelled "gremi
lins." The Mail Tribune's unoffi
cial gremlin-counter, that man
in Phoenix, points out that a
recent story talked about a
"reinformed" (instead of rein
forced) bridge.
He commented, "And I al
ways thought that 'talking to
a stone wall' was a figure of
speech: Will the information
poured into the new structure
bring it up to date historically,
or physically?"