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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1959)
12 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford', Or. Tuesday, Au9. 18, 19S9 fed Small Worlds Around Us By Lynn M. Watkins Yes, Fleas Do Tricks, Bui Not Because They're Trained "On a recent trip," writes a lady, "we saw a troupe of per forming fleas. How are they trained, or what is the gim mick?" . "Flea training" goes back a great many years and has lost a- lot of ground, but possibly someone will show up with a troupe of these six-legged ac robats some night on a TV show and start the thing all over again. Actually there is no such thing as a "trained flea." They do tricks, but only because they are agitated, or forced to react in such a way as to appear to be performing. A flea, like any of us, will jump when pricked, or move fast when pushed. What They Do They will pull tiny carts, climb little ladders, hide in lilliputian houses, scamper up long threads, and do other sur prising tricks to the utter amazement of the onlookers if their vision is good enough to enable them to see the little performers. The trainer of a troupe of fleas must be a very patient man, for hooking a harness onto a flea is like trying to thread a needle while wearing a pair of boxing gloves. The trainer has to use tweezers, and usually uses spider web for reins and tugs. , The jumping ability of a ilea is phenomenal. One curi ous person figured out that if a boy could jump as far and as high, in proportion to his height as a flea, the boy could leap around the entire earth in about three hours. In sci "entific tests these insects have 'actually been found to jump a horizontal distance of 14 inches which is about 100 iimes their own length. : A flea is a wingless insect, :with a flat, cleverly designed 2ody which can easily slip be tween the hairs on an animal's ."back. The flea is covered with tiny over-lapping scales which gives it an added advantage' in close quarters. ; Nearly every, warm blooded -animal in the world plays -host to the flea. The rat-flea ;is known to be the carrier of the black jlague, as well as many other diseases. Fleas have played a major part in the history of the world; they have helped -to win and lose wars, and have caused untold suffering. Napoleon was com pletely stymied in his Egyp tian campaign by fleas; they did more to stop him and change the course of history than did the opposing armies. The female flea drops her eggs wherever she happens to be, and the young hatch out and scurry into cracks and crevices, where they eat dust and lint, which usually con tain some animal matter. There are about 30 species of fleas in the U. S. and many of them, or all, will prey on hu man blood if given a chance. A full grown flea is about one tenth of an inch long. And the puzzling thing about the whole setup is that even the tiny flea, as small as it is, has smaller fleas that are biting him. (Released by The Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1959) a l ' Hospital Patient Total Increases Chicago-(Science Service)- The number of cases cared for last year in hospitals in the U. S. increased 700,000 over 1957 figures, the American Hospital Association has re ported here. There were 23,697,000 hos pital admissions in 1958, com pared to 22,993,000 in 1957, statistics in the annual Guide Issue of Hospitals, the asso ciation's journal reveal. The information was - compiled from questionnaires received from 6,786 hospitals in the continental U. S. The hospitals reported an all-time high of 3,742,000 births in 1958. Each day last year there were more than 1,300,000 patients and 43,000 newborn babies in hospitals. The hospitals reported total expenses of $7,133,493,000 of which $4,660,191,000 was for payroll. The hospitals em ployed 1,464,829 personnel in 1958, an average of 111 per sonnel per 100 patients, as compared with 107 in 1957. Voluntary short-term hos pitals cared for 15,825,136 cases: the average patient stay in these hospitals was 7.4 days. These hospitals spent an average of $29.24 per day for the care of each patient, an increase of $2.43 over $1957. RESTING IN HOSPITAL at Worcester, Mass., are David (in bed), Donna, 6;; Michael. 3, and Kenneth Majeau, 8, stricken with non-paralytic polio after their mother, Marie 27, failed to have them given anti-polio shots. They were the only tots in area stricken with polio following mass polio injections for thousands earlier in year. Most States Failed To Make Headway in Labor Legislation Editor's note: Several leading governors tried to get tneir states to enact labor reform bills this year. A UPI survey shows they made little progress in the face of union opposition. By RAYMOND LAHR UPI Correspondent Washington (DPD Pres sure for labor reform legis lation splashed over from Congress into state legisla tures this year but failed to make much headway in the face of union opposition. In 46 states with 1959 legis lative sessions, only New York has enacted a general labor reform law to deal with corruption in unions. A more limited law in North Dakota would bar convicted felons from holding office in unions. The Nebraska Legislature enacted a law prohibiting sec ondary boycotts, and New Mexico lawmakers passed bills to regulate organization al and mass picketing. Pro posed restrictions on both secondary boycotts and or ganizational picketing are in volved in the congressional battle over a labor reform bill. Labor Opposed State Bills Labor leaders generally op posed state labor reform measures. They argued that Congress was dealing with the issue at the national level and states should not tackle it piecemeal. There were spirit ed battles in some legisla tures, however, before such bills were killed. Labor opposition to the New York law was relatively mild. The law requires fi nancial reporting by unions. It . makes union officials re sponsible for funds handled, forbids them from having a financial interest in the busi ness of employers with whom they deal, and bars them from taking gifts worth more than $100 from these employers. The New York law was passed under sponsorship of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller's new administration. Two Democratic governors of big states - Edmund G. Brown in California and Michael V. Di Salle in Ohio - backed labor reform measures which died. Brown Bill Blocked Brown supported a labor backed bill to repeal the state law against jurisdiction al strikes. When it was killed, labor moved in to block pass age of his code-"of-ethics bills to govern the conduct of in ternal union affairs. DiSalle also favored a bill to regulate internal union conduct despite protests from labor leaders who supported him in his election campaign de-58 last year. The bill was feated in the House by a to 54 vote. In Indiana, a stalemate be tween the Democratic House and Republican Senate block ed passage of both a labor reform bill and a measure to repeal the state right-to-work law. In Iowa and Utah, the labor movement also fought but lost battles for repeal of right to - work laws, which outlaw contracts requiring employees to join unions to hold their jobs. The New Mexico Legis lature refused to submit a right-to-work proposition to a referendum vote. Labor reform bills were introduced in several other state legislatures but got less attention. One of them died in committee in the Washing ton Legislature after Gov. Al bert D. Rosselini said state ac tion was not needed. Burglars Fail To Open Safe at Junction City ' Junction City-flJPD-Burglars failed early Monday in an at tempt to blow open a safe at McKays market here. Washington-(UPD-The House has passed and sent to the Senate a bill to outlaw mech anized roundups of wild hors es on public lands. MEW SHOPPING CENTER Medford's Retail Merchants offer their sincerest welcome to Med ford's newest shopping center . . . Sears, Safeway and other parti cipating firms. Medford, Southern Oregon's Major Marketing Cen ter, has constantly strived to keep pace with our rapidly growing scenic wonderland. In keeping with this tradition it gives us great pleasure to welcome each and every member of the New Shopping Center to share in the expansion and development of a better community. retail merchant Medford Chamber of Commerce COMMITTEE Dividend Payments Expected To Set New Record This Year By ELMER C. WALZER UPI Financial Editor New York-OJPD - Dividend payments will set a new high record in 1959, according to predicitions of many of the experts in finance. And that sit-. uation indi cates that many a corpo rate manager is going to 'i have to squirm around a bit to satisfy the s t o ckholders who don't Elmer Waller want divi dends but would prefer capi tal gains, and those stockhold ers who want the absolute maximum. Gerald M. Loeb, partner in the nationwide brokerage firm of E. F. Hutton & Co., writes on this dividend dilemma in the current "Dun's Review and Modern Industry." To the management of a corporation with public stock holders, dividend policy is a matter of shareholder rela tions and status, he says. In the privately owned compan nies dividends primarily are a matter of taxes. Several Tendencies Loeb notes several tenden cies in today's dividend situa tion: A tendency to reduce cash payout and supplement it with stock "dividends. Striving for continuity of dividends by keeping cash payments low and supplement ing them with year-end extras in good years. Smaller dividend pay ments by some companies to provide cash for expansion and modernization. Generous dividends by some companies which raise capital through equity financ ing. A growing group of com panies paying monthly dividends. Some companies able to make tax-sheltered dividend payments. Some companies making no payments at all on the be lief stockholders benefit more by capital appreciation. Dividend policy of corpora tions, says Loeb, is largely in fluenced hy capital require ments. Often not Sufficient "However," he adds, "in these inflationary days, the allowable deduction for de preciation, depletion and ob solesence are often not suf ficient to pay for needed re placements. "Many corporate managers feel therefore, that in order to provide these funds a tax paid reserve becomes neces sary. This reduces the funds available for dividends. How ever, it benefits the stock holder by minimizing the need for either new bond financing or stock financing which would dilute his equity." Dividend policies of the fu ture, Loeb feels, hinge on the possible reduction in the dou ble taxation existing today on dividends. Corporate growth will be aided immeasurably when management can have a low- Airborne Ditch Digger Being Tested Fort Belvoir, Va. (Science Service)-An airborne mechan ical ditch digger that can tra vel 35 miles per hour on the road is undergoing testing at the Army Engineer Research and Development , Center here. The mobile ditcher can dig a trench four feet deep and two feet wide at the rate of 12 feet per minute. If a nu clear attack should come, the ditcher may be needed to pro vide protection for front line and rear echelon troops against the blast and fallout, Fort Belvoir reports. er dividend payout and the investor can keep more of his dividends, he holds. More Careful Explanation A corporation could reduce some of its problems, says Loeb, by explaining its divi dend policies more carefully in its annual report. This, he finds particularly true of new, unseasoned stock issues. Incidentally, with earnings good this year and dividends high, corporate heads aren't going to be heckled at the an nual meetings as much as if they had to face the owners of the company after a divi dent cut. Up to now stockholders still consider the dividend as the big thing and woe to the chair man of the board or president who tries to explain why a dividend was reduced or omitted. BEN-GURION TO REST Jerusalem - IEPD - Premier David Ben-Gurion's doctors said today they have ordered him to rest for at least a week even though a checkup show ed the 74-year-old Israeli leader was in good condition. He left for an undisclosed destination. WHY? Wareside, England (UPD- Spinster Hannah Ede cele brated her 101st birthday to day and advised those who want to imitate her: "Don't drink, don't smoke, and don't get married." CLOSE SHAVE New York - (UPD - Police rushed to the post ofifce Sun day night to investigate a ticking package and cautious ly opened it. Inside was a battery-powered electric razor. BOARD CHAIRMAN DIES Glen Cove, N. Y.-(CPD-Rich-ardson Pratt, 65, chairman of the board of Pratt Institute and senior partner of Charles Pratt & Co., investment bank ers, died Sunday. ... when a food shopper's "paradise' will be opened to you Watch for it! Buttermilk Sniffer's Quality DAIRY FOODS car coats and all-weather coats by Jffofe WHENEVER THE OCCASION IS CASUAL AND THE WEATHER'S CHILLY, YOU'LL NEED A CAR COAT. AND WE MEET YOUR NEED WITH A WONDERFUL SE LECTION OF NEW -FOR -FALL STYLES, AT MODERATE PRICES. SEE, CHOOSE YOURS NOW. 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