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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 1959)
54th Year Subscribers Price 10 Cents Recommended To report improper or Bon delivery of the Mail Tribune in Medford phone SP 2-6141 Ash land Ml) 2-1021. Treka VI 8-40TT before 6:45 pjn. daily and 12:30 pjn. Sunday. If regular delivery arrives shortly after you call pleas notify office thus eliminating special messenger service. MEDFORD RIBUNE United Press International Full Leased Wire A story about the return of horses to the logging industry in Jackson county appears on pafe 14 of today's Mail Tribune. United Press International Tull Leased Wlro 52 Pages MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 1959 No. 133 11 i Spectacular Fire At Morton Milling Levels Landmark A $400,000 fire here Friday night gutted the Morton Mill ing company's plant at 10 West Jackson st. More than 40 firemen and almost as many law officers were called to the scene as hordes of spectators gathered to watch the spectacular blaze. A crew of firemen remained at the site yesterday as hay, grain and some timber con tinued to smolder. Oliver Morton, owner of the three-story plant, estimated the building loss at $100,000, the loss in hay, grain and feed at $200,000 and the machinery and equipment loss, including two trucks, at $100,000. , Pending investigation and the computation of exact fig ures, Morton estimated that about one-third of the loss was covered by insurance. It was Medford's most seri ous conflagration since Bruce Typhoon Joan Batters Formosa Tairjei. Formosa (UPD Ty phoon Joan's 100-mile-an-hour winds battered densely popu lated western Formosa today 'leaving seven persons dead and ten inpured. Telephone communications between Taipei and the east coast were knocked out. Most power lines were down in this capital city. All international and domestic plane flights were grounded for the second straight day. One person was killed when a house collapsed in Taipei's grass mountain resi dential district. The storm began abating here around noon (7 p.m. Sat urday PST). Police said preliminary casualty reports were "re markably light" in view of the fierceness of . the storm The typhoon, with gusts of up to 140 miles an hour, slammed Into Formosa last night. Police said 140,000 persons were removed from flimsy houses in flood - threatened areas throughout the island Six persons were killed and seven others injured wnen powerful winds crushed their homes in ChinmeL four miles from Taipei. Two dikes were broken on the east coast by jet-like winds. Two Area Schools Opening Tomorrow Two schools in Jackson county will open tomorrow, the county school superintend ent's office reminded patrons this week end. Butte Falls and Prospect schools will open the 1959-60 school year tomorrow mora ine. On Wednesday, Sept. 2, Ap- plegate school is scheduled to open,, and on Friday, Sept. 4, Ashland schools will resume classes. Scheduled to start classes Tuesday, Sept. 8, are Eagle Point. Talent and Pinehurst schools. Rogue River and Evans Valley schools will open Friday, Sept. 11. Schools in Medford, Phoe- i n:.i.: ...v. : nv in nix anu xsisuici uv, wiuni .in cludes Central Point, Gold Hill and Sams Valley, will open Monday, Sept. 14. President Signs Vets' Pension Bill Washington - (UPD - Presi dent Eisenhower signed into law yesterday a liberalized veterans pension bill that will cost the taxpayers an extra $10 billion over the next 40 years. There had been some specu lation he would veto the meas ure, which benefits World War I and II and Korean vet erans with non-service con nected disabilities and their widows and orphans. The President signed the bill while at Chequers, the residence of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The new pension system be comes effective next July 1. Its main feature is that it sub stitutes a sliding scale of pay ments based on need and the number of dependents for the present flat pension rates. Bauer Lumber company at 765 South Riverside ave. burn ed Oct. 13, 1957. Morton said he has no plans to rebuild the plant, which was mostly reduced to charred and twisted wreckage. Some machinery and equipment was salvaged, as well as some feed and grain, which Morton said he would possibly dispose of to hog raisers at a reduced price. Old Landmark But gone in the blaze were a three-generation-old landmark and a large part of a brand new building. The t h r e e-story building that burned like tinder dur ing the height of the blaze was built as a flour mill in Cen tral Point in the 1890's, Mor ton said. He transferred it to its location here as part of his plant in the mid-1920's, he added. It was leveled Friday night. And the new timbers of a pelleting unit, still under con struction and not expected to have been completed for an other two months, poke in congruously out of the de bris today. Morton said that his hay - pelleting operation was the only one locally and that the closest such plants now are in Klamath Falls and beyond Montague, Calif. He said that he might con tinue with the unit's construc tion, although the building was extensively damaged. Like Burst Sausages Ten grain - filled storage tanks, 40 feet high, were also destroyed in the fire. They lay crumpled on the ground yes terday morning like fat burst sausages. , , ; Fire Marshal Truman Nel son said the fire may have been touched off by sparks from a stray piece of metal that fell into a hay grinder. Bill Robert Smith, an em ployee of the plant who was working on a loading dock at the rear of the building, said he smelled smoke about 6:30 pjn. Friday, but found no fire when he searched the build ing. Noticed Flames He said he later started to grind some hay and noticed flames on the floor near the grinder. After spraying the flames with a fire extin guisher, he said he was sure the fire was out. But he went to get a hose to spray the sur rounding area and found the building in flames when he returned. The blaze was reported well under way when the fire de partment arrived after being called at 6:45 p.m. Nelson said when the grind er was started sparks from a small piece of metal or wire could have touched off the fire. He said such happenings are "not uncommon. Three trucks and an aerial ladder from the Medford fire department were at the fire, as well as 28 regular firemen, 11 volunteers, Chief Gordon Barker and Nelson. For Stand-By . The Central Point rural fire department sent a 1,000-gal-lon pumper and a crew of six men for stand-by duty. The Medford fire depart ment began reducing crews about 10 pjn. Friday, but a four-man crew remained on duty at the fire during the night. About 25 city policemen and about six sheriffs offi cers were on hand to direct traffic and try to keep spec tators back. Starting about a half-hour before sundown, the blaze sent a pillar of black smoke gushing upward and attracted spectators from all over the valley. Fearing Explosion Police, fearing an explos ion, fcept bystanders well away from the fire area. More than a ton of ammonium ni trate, the potentially explos ive chemical involved in the recent Roseburg blast, was stored in the mill, Morton said. Morton said he had been apprehensive in regard to storing the chemical, but that after reading literature about it he was convinced it was not dangerous when stored by itself. The nitrate was in the heat of the flames Friday night but lacking a "trigger" de vice, it burned but did not explode. , 'a, - "' '''' ' ' ' ( Ill Ill l I III II . I IIWIMMlrtilMMMIMlMMMMi i HOSE CREW Jackson railroad tracks was a maze night as firefighters braved sj? ' Lpz TANKS ABLAZE Flaming storage tanks flared like torches while below, the fire r burrowed its way through stacked bales of hay, which continued smouldering hours Morse, Neuberger Hit Works Bill Veto Washington-flJPD-Leaders of both parties began an inten sive round-up of out-of-town members this week end in preparation for, a show down this week on overriding Presi dent Eisenhower's veto of the $1,206,784,549 public works money bill. Republican and Democratic party .whips in the House were summoning members back to Washington both from their home' districts and abroad. The House vote is scheduled Wednesday. At stake in the fight is the fact that Congress has never been able to over ride an Eisenhower veto. Both sides need all the votes they can muster. It takes a two-thirds vote of those present in both the House and Senate to enact a law over a veto. Senator Wayne Morse CD Ore.) said yesterday Presi dent Eisenhower's veto of the appropriation bill is "unwar- Foresters Report Three Local Fires Three grass and brush fires were fought Friday and Sat urday bv the state forest pa trol, the state department of forestry said. Friday afternoon some 250 acres of grass and brush burn ed at Murphy, about 5 miles south of Grants Pass. The fire was under control in six hours, according' to foresters. A smoker fire occurred Sat urday just off Foothill rd. near Big Boulder orchard. Nine acres of grass and brush were burned due to careless flipping of a cigarette, it was reported. Late Saturday afternoon 20 acres of brush and grass were burned at McMullin creek, 5 miles west of Selma. A spark from a logging caterpillar type tractor ignited some old slash, foresters said. A REMINDER Medford's parking meters begin operating at 9 a.m. in stead of 8 as heretofore, ef fective tomorrow. They will continue operation until 6 pjn., and rates are unchanged. st. west of the of hoses Friday heat and smoke ranted" and "places a po litical slogan of balancing the budget above the facts as to the public need of projects included in the bill." The President vetoed the bill before he left for Europe, saying it "ignores the neces sity for an orderly develop ment of America's water re sources within the nation's fiscal ability." His principal reason for ve toing the bill, according to reports, was because several new starts were included in the measure. "These projects should not be started this year if we are to have a responsible federal fiscal pol icy," the President said. Sen. Richard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.) said the veto has "crippled" Oregon projects, and he indicated he would vote to override the veto, if the move to do so is made as scheduled. Neuberger stated: "Because of Oregon's abundance of wat er resources, our state has been crippled particularly, by Presidential veto of funds for public works." GOP's Gunnar Charges Rep. Porter With 'Irresponsibility' on Capitol Hill Republican State Chairman Peter M. Gunnar, Salem, ad dressing a GOP gathering here Friday noon, said that "the brash irresponsibility of Rep Charles O. Porter has disturb ed our nation's relations abroad, and has left Oregon's Fourth Congressional district without any real representa tion in Congress at a time when the district urgently needs effective, responsible representation in Washing ton." Speaking before a Jackson County party finance lunch eon, Gunnar said, "Porter's ir responsibility is common knowledge in Congress, where the press reports he has been passed over three times for responsible committee assign ments. "Porter's lack of interest in domestic matters and his em barrassing connivance in the affairs of Spain, Nicaragua, Cuba and other countries indi to check the rampaging flames at Morton Milling company. after the main fire was controlled. The two trucks, and much valuable equipment, were destroyed. (Photo by Simonson) (Other pictures on Page 10) Hunt Suspect To Be Quizzed Wihtehall, Mont. -(UPD- The lone remaining suspect in the murder of Dr. John Hunt Jr., Portland forest pathologist, was being held here for ques tioning by Idaho authorities. Samuel McGuffee, 40, of Lodi, Calif., was arrested Thursday by Montana state patrolmen on a drunk driving charge. McGuffee was turned over to sheriff's officers here when bloodstains were found in his car. The car matched the description of a vehicle seen Monday midnight near the scene of Hunt's murder near Bliss, Idaho. Police here said officers from Gooding, Idaho, will ar rive Monday to grill McGuf fee in connection with the death qf the 37-year-old Port-lander.- Hunt was en route to New Haven, Conn., to take a position as assistant professor of forestry at Yale university. Earlier yesterday police in Memphis, Texas, released three suspects after the trio had passed a lie detector test. The three had been picked up on a charge of stealing gas. cates that Porter never did in tend to represent the fourth district in Congress. Instead, his purpose in being elected was and is to promote his pe culiar, one-man foreign pol icy," Gunnar said. "Porter will not and cannot provide proper Congressional representation of the fourth Oregon district. In Porter's place we need a man of stature and effectiveness in Washing ton, and this man will be pre sented to the voters of this district by the Republican party in 1960," Gunnar said. Gunnar appeared here at a luncheon meeting of the Jackson county Republican executive board and finance committee at the Medford hotel. The committee, in the midst of a fund-raising drive, an nounced that it would issue a challenge to Lane county Re publicans on a percentage-of-goal basis. Jackson county's, COBflBflUE3IS7 MIS, Outpost 16 Miles From Capital Hit By Cagey Rebels 'Slipper Methods Prove to Be Effective Vientiane, Laos - (UPD-Com munist rebels in Laos yester day struck at an outpost 16 miles from the capital city of Vientiane and vanished in the jungles with the slippery tac tics that won them a vast area of Indochina in 1954. Against the Red's hit-and run attacks, the Royal Army of Laos trained by French officers is manning fixed positions. And many here re member that it was this watcn-and-wait style of warfare which led to the disaster of Dienbienphu in 1954 and the winning of North Viet Nam by the Communists. The brief skirmish south of Vientiane yesterday w a bloodless. Only a few shots were fired. But it showed the Reds are there, and that they remain a threat. Thp Communists are able a roam the jungles, occupy ing villages long enough to indoctrinate the illiterate, poverty-stricken residents with Marxism and then drift on. The Roval Armv remains in fortresses awaiting assaults that rarelv come. The government claims it will launch an oftensive in Spntemher when the Monsoon rains end. Whether it succeeds probably will depend on whether the army fights fire with fire and goes out to hunt the Pathet Lao 1 (free Laos In terms of manpower, the army is far superior. Its men are well armed ana weu trained. The rebels are esti mated to have less than 2,000 regular troops. It is lairiy certain that there are no Vietminh (North' Nietnamese) troops or Red Chinese soldiers actually in Laos. But some of the rebels are Chinese trained and saw service at Dienbienphu. The rebels work in the fer tile field provided by two million tribesmen in the northern jungles, who grow their own food, weave their own clothing and use bows and arrows and hand - made muzzle loading rifles. The tribesmen, whose racial strain is mostly Thai (Siamese) know little of civilization. The $200 -million in Ameri can aid to Laos in the last five years has done little for them, although it has helped the government arm its sol diers. What is hobbling the gov ernment is not the shortage of arms and trained men to use them but the lack of sage advice. Two decades ago. Chinese Communist party leader Mao Tse-Tung drew up the now classic Communist strategy of mobilizing the countryside. surrounding the cities, and suffocating the enemy. goal has been set at $30,000 Medford lawyer Frank Van Dyke, finance chairman of the Fourth Congressional dis trict, which includes both Jackson and Lane counties, said that he would furnish the prize, probably a trophy. The fund-raising drive here is part of a state-wide Re publican campaign to raise $500,000 to finance Oregon Republican activities through the 1960 election. Gunnar said that 1960 would be the "crucial year" for the GOP in Oregon and that Multnomah, Marion, Lane and Jackson counties are the ones that "must do the job." The drive for funds here be gan on June 16. Clif Ouellette, finance chairman, said he was going to call for all re ports to be turned in this week and that a possible re organization of the finance committee might be made. 1 INBIAGa FRONTIER "Why, That Crazy Labor Bill Deadlock Break Held Possible By GOP Strategists Washington (DPD - Senate Republican strategists claimed yesterday they have the votes to break the deadlock on the labor reform bill in favor of the drastic house provisions. A source close to the Demo cratic leadership agreed that senators in both parties will be under heavy pressure to accept the house approach on three disputed points which wrecked efforts of senate house conferees to draft a compromise bill. Republicans were counting on public support for the house-passed Landrum-Griffin bill to bolster their position when the issue comes to a vote on the senate floor Mon day. Since the senate passed its bill earlier this year, they said, public opinion has been aroused for tighter union con trols. Some lawmakers said they have received more mail on this issue than at any time since former President Tru man fired Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur. Senate GOP Leader Everett M. Dirksen (111.) brought the controversy back to the sen ate floor Friday night after a stalemate developed in the conference committee. He asked the senate to in struct its Democratic-controlled conferees to accept the house provisions on the three sections which had blocked agreement secondary boy cotts, organizational picketing and federal-state jurisdiction in labor disputes. 'Absurd to Quit' Rep. Frank Thompson Jr., (D-N.J.), a House conferee who opposed the Landrum-Griffin bill, charged the move was dictated by politics," He said it was "absurd to quit when you're 99 per cent finished." Sen. Barry Goldwater (R- Ariz.), who supports the House bill, said "dilatory practices" in the conference made it nec essary to force a showdown on the Senate floor. There was some speculation that the Republicans hoped their maneuver could cause the Democratic conference to retreat before the Dirksen resolution is called up for ac tion Monday afternoon. The conference is scheduled to meet again Monday morning. Sen. John F. Kennedy (D- Mass.), head of the Senate conferees and chief sponsor! of the Senate bill, was expect ed to stand firm. He has of fered a substitute resolution' which would have the Senate accept most of the House bill language but would include safeguards he insists are nec essary to protect small unions. A Roaring Fight It thus appeared the Senate was headed tor a roaring fight that may match the rec ent emotion-packed House battle over the Landrum-Griffin bill. Asked -for a prediction; Thing Is a Hybrid!" Goldwater said the vote would be very close. He said some GOP tacticians figured they had at least 55 of the 100 senators on their side. But he said " I can't count more than 50" at th.'s time. une important tigure was Chairman John L. McClellan (D-Ark.) of the Senate Rackets committee, whose investiga tions of labor-management corruption touched off the drive for reform legislation. McClellan told newsmen he favored the Landrum-Griffin proposals in the disputed area. His support of the Dirksen resolution could bring other southern Democrats into the camp. Ike, Macmillan Talk at Chequers Chequers, England (UPD President Eisenhower told Prime Minister Harold Mac millan yesterday at the open ing of their private talks that he will make no go-it-alone at tempt to reach a settlement of the cold war during his meet ings with Nikita S. Khrush chev next month. The two heads of govern ment held a two-hour meeting at Chequers, the ancient es tate 40 miles from -London that is the official country mansion of British prime min isters and discussed a report drawn up by Secretary of State Christian A. Herter and British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd. After that they had "just a general talk on the world situation," according to White House Press Secretary James C. Hagerty. They did not discuss the situation on the Indian border where thousands of Red Chi nese troops are reported massed along the northern frontier. But Hagerty, reporting lat er on their initial meeting, said Eisenhower and Macmil lan delved into the issues in volved in the forthcoming ex change of visits between Eis enhower and the Soviet Pre mier - the primary reason for Eisenhower's European trip. WEATHER FORECAST: Fair and mild through Monday. High today 87; low tonight 48. High Monday 85. , . ; . TEMP. Highest Saturday 85 Lowest Saturday . 48 Our Skies. Tonight Sunset today 6:50 p.m. Sunrise tomorrow 5:35 a.m. Moonrisae tomorrow 3:06 a.m. The Milky Way now can be traced from the constellations, Scorpio and Sagittarius in the south, up through Aquila and Cygnus in the east and down Into Cassiopeia in the northeast. Nehru's Cabinet Orders New Men To North Border Red Troops Reported ' Massed in Thousands New Delhi (UPD The cabi net yesterday ordered Indian army troops rushed to the northern frontier where thous ands of Chinese Communist soldiers were massed along the border, authoritative -ources reported. The troops had orders to loot if necessary and to re eve the auxiliary forces hich have faced assaults by robing Chinese units during ie last two months. Army au horities were said to have ar anged to set up a field head luarters near Jorhat to direct the defense of the 1,500-mile northern frontier. Estimates of the number of Red troops deployed along Communist-held Tibet's south ern borders with India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim, from Kashmir to the northeast fron tier agency, ranged up to 40, 000 men. Authoritative sources ' said the Indian cabinet had order ed the army to take over bor der patrol duties in view of the reports of Red troop con centrations. Ordered lo Shoot The sources said Indian sol diers have been ordered to shoot any Chinese "trespass ers" if they ignored warnings to withdraw. . Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru already has warned Peiping that India would re gard aggression against . the tiny Himalayan buffer states as an attack on herself. Nehru was reported to have ordered the defense ministry to set up an operational com mand with full authority to take any action necessary to oust Chinese Communists from occupied areas in the northeast frontier agency (NEFA). The reports said about a dozen of the country's top army experts were drafted to direct all operations. There were conflicting re ports, meantime, that Chinese Reds had crossed into Nefa at two more places and planted the Communist flag. Unable lo Cop Previously, border patrol duties were carried' out by armed police under control of the border states. But the poorly-trained and armed po lice have been unable to cope with the increasing number of Red Chinese encroachments on Indian territory. (There has been no official comment from the United States and Great Britain on the reported Chinese actions. American and British spokes men said their governments were waiting detailed reports. (White House Press Secre tary James C. Hagerty con firmed reports that President Eisenhower would meet Tues day with Mme. Vijaya Lak shmi Pandit, India's high com missioner in London. He indi cated however that the bor der situation would not be discussed. Hagerty said the meeting was arranged some time ago and that several oth er persons also were invited.) Considerable Increase There were reports of a considerable increase in com munist aerial activities over the border areas during the past three days. Porfer Explains Money No Object Washington - (UPD - Rep. Charles O. Porter (D-Ore.) de nied yesterday that he actu ally is seeking $10,000 dam ages in his suit against the state department for a pass port to travel to Red China. He conceded that his peti tion, filed in federal court here Thursday, alleged that $10,000 is involved in the passport controversy. As a re sult of this, he said, some news stories stated that he was seeking $10,000 damages. Porter said the court could not hear the case unless a claim of at least $10,000 was involved. He added that he is asking for just the passport.
