Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, November 10, 1959, Image 4

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or.
Tuesday, Nov. 10. 1959
"Everyone tc Southern Oregon
Reads The Mail Tribune''
Published Dh11 except Saturday by
mjjdforp printing co
83 North Fb St Pb SP 2-6141
HOBiP.I W RUTH. "Editor
KERB 5RE AiOvertisltg Manager
GEPALD LATHAM Business Mgt
ERIC W AULXN JR.
Managing "alitor
tAhL H ADAMS City Editor
HARRY CHIPMAH Telef Editt
RICHAKO jwm Sports Editor
OLIVE ST ARCHER Women's Edit
DALE ERiCKSQN Clreulstlon Ms?
An Independent Newspaper
Entered sernnd class matter al
' Medfow' Oreeon under Ac of
March S 1897
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
fcr Mai v In Advance Codv 10c
Dall- and Sunday 1 year SIS 00
Daily and Sunday 6 mos 8 00
Dailv ant Sunday 3 mos 4-25
Sunday Only One year $450
stv Carrier In Advance Medford
Ashland Central Point Eagle
Point Jacksonville. Gold Hill
Phoenls Shady Cove Rogue Riv
er Talent and on motor routes
Daily md Sunday 1 year 818 00
Daily and Sun-Jcy 1 mo 1.30
Carrier and Dealers copy 10c
All Terms-Cash in Advance
Official Papr of City "f Medford
Official Papei of Jackson County
United Press International
PuD Leased Wire
MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU-
OF CTBCULATION
Advertising Representative:
WEST HOLIDAY CO, INC Of
fices in Nev York. Chicago De
troit. San rancisco. Los Angeles
Seattle, Portland St. Louis. At-
lan'4 vanenvver B C
vT NEWSPAPER
k PUBIISHERI
"ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL EDITORIAl
Flight 'o Time
Medford and Jackson. County
History from the files of Tht
viail Tribune 10, 20, 30. 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
Not. 10, 1949 (Thursday)
Families of Chinese nation
alist government officials pre
pared to flee the nationalist
capital of Chungking today.
Northwest Medford was
blacked out for several hours
last night due to mechanical
witch trouble.
20 YEARS AGO
Nov. 10, 1939 (Friday)
A new road from the north
west will be constructed to
the, Oregon Caves national
monument.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "War
news indicates a Norwegian
ship in the North Sea can get
in the road of a U-boat tor
pedo, as often as an American
citizen in China used to get in
sulted by a Japanese sentry."
30 YEARS AGO
Not. 10, 1929 (Sunday)
Medford to play Ashland
. high tomorrow in big game
of the year.
Wall Street takes another
drop and pessimism of people
increases.
40 YEARS AGO '
Not. 10. 1919 (Monday)
City ready for its first cele
bration of Armistice day to
morrow. Sunny and chilly weather
comes to valley.
SO YEARS AGO
Not. 10, 1909 (Wednesday)
Residents of North Medford
are planning to have a bridge
built at the foot of Jackson
st, across Bear creek.
Assistant superintendent of
the railway mail service in
Medford looking over the pos
sibility of making a more ef
fective postal system here.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct is superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five es
sis is food.
1. A pint is th, i8th, or
l16th of a gallon?
2. What is the English trans
lation of the Latin phrase
"Anno Domini"?
3. What is the three-letter
word for a wooden tray or
trough in which a laborer car
ries mortar or brick?
4. Berkshire is a breed of
horses, cattle, or swine?
5. The human stomach has
a capacity of about 5, 10, or 15
pints?
6. "Huckleberry Finn" and
"Tom Sawy er" are well
known characterizations cre
ated by which American au
thor? 7. Does water contract, or
expand, upon freezing?
8. Oak Ridge, the "atomic
city," is located in which one
of these states - Georgia, New
Mexico, or Tennessee?
9. German U - boats were
battleships, cruisers, or sub
marines? 10. A specialist in rhino
plasty would most likely per
form plastic surgery on the
hand, foot, or nose?
Answerst 1. Vsth. 2. In the
year of our Lord. 3. Hod. 4.
Swine. 5.' 5 pints. 6. Mark
Twain. (Samuel L. Clemens.")
7. Expand. 8. Tennessee. 9.
Submarines. 10. Nose.
Purity
The television networks particularly 'CBS
are on a purity kick, now, in the wake of the
quiz "scandals."
Everything is to be just as it'is, with no mis
representation. No recorded applause ancUaugh
ter, even, in some of the taped showb which are
filmed without audiences.
Well, if we're to go to this extent (and we
are inclined to approve such a plan), how about
the practice of turning the cameras away when a
football player is "shaken up" (as the announcers
euphemistically put it) during play?
ISN'T this part of the game? And isn't it some-
times a crucial part, as in the USC-Cal game
of a week ago, when charges were made of deliberate-roughing
up? And aren't the TV fans
entitled to know that it is, essentially, a rough
game and that injuries are an almost inevitable
part of it?
The same questions apply to fights which oc
casionally break out among players on the field.
We understand the national league rules require
that they not be televised.
Maybe the nice-nelly business of turning the
cameras away is a concession to the squeamish.
But it also tends to misrepresent football as it is
played. E.A.
Iron
. We mentioned here the other day the ex
traordinary amount of energy which a successful
politician must possess.
We are now in receipt of a detailed itinerary
of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller's visit to the west
coast this week. It bears out, in spades, our con
tention. Only an iron man could stand up under
a schedule like this.
The Oregon portion, onlv, follows i
FRIDAY '
11:50 p.m. Arrive Eugene airport.
SATURDAY
12:05 a.m. (!) Arrive Eugene hotel.
8:50 ajn. Leave hotel.
8:55 ajn. Arrive University of Oregon campus
for press conference.
9:30 ajn. Radio and TV interviews.
10:00 a.m.-Convocation of Students, Faculty and
Public.
10:05 a.m. Governor speaks, questions and an
swers follow.
11 a.m. Attend luncheon on campus.
' 12 noon Leave for airport. ,
12:25 pjn. Depart airport for Corvallis airport.
12:55 pjn. Depart Corvallis airport by bus for
Oregon State .college stadium for OSC-Stanford foot
ball game.
1:15 p.m. Arrive at stadium.
1:30 p.m. Game kickoff. , ' '
4 p.m. Attend reception, OSC campus.
4:45 pjn. Leave for Salem.
5:30 pjn.-Arrive Marion hotel, Salem.
6:20 pjn. Depart hotel for Willamette University.
6:30 p.m. Attend dinner, Willamette University.
8 pjn. Arrive WU auditorium for address by
governor.
SUNDAY
7 ajn. Depart hotel for airport. r
7:15 a.m. Depart airport for Seattle.
THIS is just a sample, in one state. His trip starts
at 9:30 "p.m. Wednesday in New York, and
concludes Mondav at 11 a.m. with a talk in Buf
falo, NX, and also includes Los Angeles, San
t-i . .1 n
r rancisco ana cseatue.
Thus he has 4 days of steady handshaking,
making speeches, traveling, eating the meat
mashed potatoes-and-peas of political meals,
catching naps and relaxation when and where
he can always under pressure, always expect
ed to perform at his best, always expected to be
pleasant and friendly and on top of things.
; How do they stand it? E.A.
Cigarette Law
In the past week or so, several under-18
youngsters in this area have been arrested on a
charge of illegal possession of cigarettes, taken
to court, and fined the statutory $5.
Last week the city council passed a new cig
arette ordinance, which conforms with the state
law.
As long as this law is on the state statute
books, it should be enforced, axid the city's rules
should conform.
Granted it may be difficult to enforce.
But we are informed that a good place to
start would be the lobby of the Craterian theater
on Friday and Saturday evenings, particularly
at the intermission betwen films. E.A.
Baseless Feai
Col. W. L. Winegar, Portland division chief
of the Army engineers, sees no reason why con
struction of Agate dam should, "from an en
gineering standpoint," hinder later appropria
tions for other works in the Rogue basin project.
Since the entire Rogue Basin project was, in
effect, given preliminary Congressional author
ization when the Talent division of the Rogue
project was authorized, there is no reason why
other segments cannot be added as plans are com
pleted and recommendations made in the same
manner as has been done in the Willamette Basin
project." . . .
m Fear that Agate a solid, feasible and bene
ficial project now nearly ready for presentation
to Congress would imperil other portions of the
Rogue project, is, we repeat, a paper tiger. E.A.
Kick
Men
Dennis the Menace
Matter of Fact b Joseph aisoP
A SAMPAN-BORNE STORY
Hongkong At dawn on
Sept. 3, a lealcy sampan made
- safe landfall in, Hongkong
waters, after
a breathl ess,
. all night sea
t voyage along
the heavily
patroll e d
coast of Com
munist China.
The little
craft came
from Chung
Jm-ph Aisnp Shan, one of
the richer coastal farming dis
tricts, from a place I shall call
the Wide River . village. It
brought a veteran farmer -let
us christen him Lao Mok -his
grown son, and four neigh
bors of the same clan.
I found Lao Mok and some
of the others, and I got their
story, with - the help of an
invaluable partner - reporter,
Richard Wu of the "Hong
kong Standard." We tracked
down Lao Mok in an old
clothes shop, where he now
thinks himself rich on a salary
of 12V6 American dollars a
month plus a pallet to sleep
on and three rice meals a day
provided by his boss.
T AO MOK . is ,a wiry, pleas
ant faced Chinese who
looks older than his age. He
told his story quietly, in a
matter of fact tone, with an
occasional Chinese flash of
humor or irony. You may find
this story hard to credit, but
bear in mind that it was in
pendently confirmed. It is ter
rible, unadorned, and full of
meaning.
' Lao Mok was born 45 years
ago in Wide River village; and
from that time until he slip
ped at dusk into the sampan,
he hardly left this big farm
ing community strag g 1 i n g
along a fertile river bank. His
father' was a landless share
cropper; and when Lao Mok
married at the age of 27, he
too rented a few acres from
one of the village landlords.
It was a hard life "in the
old times"; for Lao Mok paid
landlord Li half of his fields'
two annual crops of rice. But
he had a pig and a few chick
ens; he grew his own vege
tables; and he had his little
house and a few sticks of fur
niture, y
"Even after the landlord's
share and the rice we sold to
buy cloth," said Lao Mok, "we
had still rice enough and such
like for poor people like us.
Why, every day we would
have bean " curd, or a little
fish, or sometimes meat, and
once a month we would kill
a chicken for a feast. And
there was always oil for the
vegetables too!"
'
CHINA'S long disintegra
tion, and the Nationalists,
and the Japanese, and a great
World War, had all failed to
make much change in Lao
Mok's immemorial little
world. But change began 10
years ago when a Communist
cadre appeared in Wide River
village and told the people
about the "victory of the revo
lution." After that the slogan,
"Land to the Peasants," was
carried into effect. Three of
the local landlords, unloved
men, were publicly executed
after much commotion. And
everything went on as before
for a while.
The share of land given to
Lao Mok and ' his wife was
rather less than he had pre
viously farmed. But after pay
ing taxes and giving a little
rice under the table to the
former landowner's family (as
was only proper between
neighbors) Lao Mok was just
a little better off after land
reform. The next stage, when
he and five of his neighbors
were grouped in a mutual aid
team, was not bad either. They
built a small reservoir to
gether, which made watering
the fields a bit easier. Alto
gether, there was nothing to
complain about at first except
tit
'Don't ser gore iu have we whoie
family ana vsxb in just a sect
the Communist village-leader's
distressing fondness for
calling meetings and giving
lectures.
"The first big trouble," said
Lao Mok, with i a wry grin,
"was the collectivization,
which we hoped would make
us all rich."
HERE HE WAS speaking of
the final collectivization in
1955. What he meant by
"trouble" was a drop in his
little family's rice - income
from about 700 catties (or 770
pounds) per year down to 500
catties per year. Besides the
loss of rice, there were acute
shortages of cooking oil, meat,
and fish. But they kept their
pig, their chickens, and their
plot of vegetables. So they
"still managed somehow" al
though they sold a few posses
ions to get food iiwl957.
Then came the "big meet
ing," said Lao Mok dramatic
ally. It was in June, 1958,
when the leader of their col
lective gathered them all to
gether and told them how a
kind of heaven on earth would
be achieved by formation of
a rural commune. After that
all the land, all the tools, all
the animals, and all the people
-about 20,000 of them in all
were grouped together in the
new Wide River commune.
The commune began with
glowing promises and high
hopes. Until the mess hall was
built, the rice issue was gener
ous; and in the first month in
the mess-hall they "ate like
the landlords in the old
times,"as Lao Mok put it. As
long as this land of Cockaigne
endured, they hardly minded
being asked to work 15 hours
a day. .
THEY RIGHTLY thought
the backyard steel furnace
the commune built was a' bad
and bothersome joke. They
were delighted when the com
mune leaders decided not to
p u t everyone i n barracks.
They had a very low opinion
of "Mister Mao's new farming
methods," as Lao Mok ironic
ally described the famous
deep plowing and close1 plant
ing system. . But the real bit
terness did not well up until
the rations were gradually cut
to the starvation level.
First the mess -hall table
was rapidly impoverished.
Then, in the winter, dry ra
tions began to be handed out,
for home cooking. From
March onward Lao Mok and
his son" were each drawing no
more than half a poun I of dry
rice a day. Lao Mok's wife,
not being a "first category
worker," got a little less than
half a pound. Furthermore,
this was nearly all they got.
Meat, fish, bean curd, cooking
oil, all were hardly more than
dreams of the past. The vege
table plot had been commu
nized of course; but "some-
! times we ate wild herbs and
leaves of trees."
TT MADE no difference in
the summer, when they
were told they could again
keep pigs and grow their vege
tables. The ration did not rise.
The work hours remained
about 12 per day, with no rest
day in the week. Few war
time prison camps, indeed,
can have been such grim
places as the Wide River com
mune this summer.
So Lao Mok and many of
the other farmers decided
they must make a break for
freedom, and 20 sampans slip
ped down the river in dark
ness on the appointed night.
Lao Mok thinks two of the
others got to Macao. He does
not know . what happened to
the rest of the little fleet.
"We could not - go in a
group, for they would have
seen us," said Lao Mok. "And
the man who knew the sea in
our sampan chose to steer for
Hongkong, though it was fur
ther. We were the lucky ones.
Now all I, worry about is
Communications
Letters to the Editor must bear the name end address of the writer
although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initia'
for publication is permissible. The Maii 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 ce.
Veterans Day
To the Editor: On this Wed
nesday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m., a
parade will march down the
streets of Medford, and of
many other cities throughout
the nation, to commemorate
an event of some 41 years
Drummond
Reports
Roscoe Drummond reports en
the Washington teen in the ab
sence of Walter Lippminn.
FOR A SILENT PROTEST
Washington-Are you, per
sonally, willing to do some
thing to make sure that de
ceit and dishonesty are ban
ished from the television
screen in your home?
I believe that something
useful and dramatic can be
done by the public-and this,
if it is to have any effect,
means you, not somebody
else.
I believe that, something
dramatic and forceful can be
done by the millions of TV
viewers to bring home to the
sponsors, to the networks, to
the producers, to the writers,
to the performers, that we
mean business, that we aren't
fooling, that unless this awful
sordid, squalid mess of rigged
shows is totally cleaned up
or cleaned out, something
painful is going to happen.
A RE WE individual and un
organized viewers abso
lutely helpless to register a
collective protest and a col
lective demand? .
What can be done? This
can be done: '
Why don't a few million
viewers - all who want to
raise their voice to say that it
isn't going to be enough to
pretty up the edges of the
TV screen-pick a date and a
prime time of adult program
ming and all at once observe
an hour of television silence?
Any date, any evening time
would do it, but viewers who
want to join in such an hour
of silence, an hour of warn
ing, would need to pick it
far enough ahead so that they
could act simultaneously.
Therefore, why not the fol
lowing: The date - Tuesday night,
Nov. 17.
The time - 10 p.m. local
standard time.
The place - Your living
room, and at this hour, Tues
day night, Nov. 17, at 10 p.m.,
if you are looking at televis
ion, you can join with other
Viewers across the country in
simultaneously clicking off
the dial; and if you are riot
looking at television, you re
frain from doing so between
10 and 11 p.m.
HAVE NO doubt that the
networks-a n d sponsors
would watch and measure -such
a demonstration very
sensitively.
I don't even know what
programs are scheduled ,for
Tuesday evening, Nov. 17,
but since 10 o'clock, E.S.T.,
would be 9 p.m. in the Mid
West, the hour of silence and
the hour of warning would
be aimed at no single pro
gram. The latest testimony re
leased by the House Investi
gating Committee shows that
even the little tots, the fam
ous "Quiz Kids" of some
years ago, was a rigged per
formance, and that 11-year-old
Patty Duke was enlisted
to engage in the fake ques-tion-and-answer
on the "$64,
000 Challenge." and then
sternly cautioned that she
must not tell the truth about
the rigging.
NO WONDER the President'
of the United States has
said that television "has done
an awful thing to the Ameri
can people."
You can telephone your
disgust to. your local station.
You can write a letter to
your newspaper. You can tel
egraph your Congressman.
But the only way you can
register a monumental pro
test which says: Clean house
or else, is for several million
TV viewers to act together
simultaneously.
Wouldn't an hour of tel
evision silence which would
be an hour of warning - on
Tuesday evening, Nov. 17, at
10 p.m. local standard time,
do it?
(c) 1959 New York Herald
Tribune Inc.
whether my wife gets the
money I send her."
Such is Lao Mok's story - a
standard and characteristic
story of one of the thousands
of Chinese peasant - refugees
who have fled from the re
gime that "liberated them
from the feudal past."
(c) 1959 New York Herald
Tribune Inc..
ago, the signing of Ihe armis
tice that ended hostilities of
the first World Fracas.
I've been wondering how
many of us remember the ex
act date of the signing of the
Korean armistice. Even those
who have the best reasons for
remembering are a little hazy.
The date was July 27, 1953.
I know because I have just
looked it up.
And looking back just 14
years, we can remember the
end of another war. Pearl
Harbor, Bataan, Sicily, Nor
mandy, Guadalcanal, etc:
All of us remember these
two conflicts only too well,
because of what they have
meant to our nation and to
our people.
Looking back still further,
we can remember when the
dads and uncles of the World
War II G.I.s and their young
er brothers of Korean con
flict, came home from their
little chore.
Changing of name of this
day from Armistice Day to
Veterans' Day, while fitting
and proper, still does not alter
the fact that IT IS the anni
versary of the armistice agree
ment that ended the shellack
ing of the Kaiser's men.
With all the later military
actions of our nation, World
War I veterans have become
the almost forgotten men,
since they are not quite old
enough to be revered as vet
erans of wars previous to
theirs, and too old to be con
sidered equally with those of
later wars.
But this is one day of the
year on which the old boys
who wore the choke bore
pants and the wrapped O.D.
leggings, like to trot out the
images of the Kaiser, Von
Hindenburg and the Crown
Prince, for reminiscence, even
though we do have to get back
into some obscure corner
away from the louder noise
and faster action of the re
hashers of the later Donney
brooks. Pat Graham
Service Officer
Post No. 8, Disabled
American Veterans
175 Jeanette st.
Medford.
TV Ads
To the Editor:
Rigged TV shows, mislead
ing ads;'
Enough of this nonsense we
have had.
"Three out of four physic
ians say ..."
Fail utterly in tries to sway.
Advertisements on diet pills
Give me no reducing thrills.
Some promise new hair orf
your head,
You could wait for this un
til you're dead. .
Chewing gums ads do make
me sore,
And I could name so many
more.
Honesty's best, so we've
been told
Ads should observe this
adage of old.
Mrs. Delbert Casey
Route 1, Box 358
Central Point, Ore. .
Objects to. Name Use
To the Editor: The night
of Halloween something
shameful happened in Ash
land, Oregon. Two days later
something much more shame
ful happened in Ashland. The
first event was destructive
mischief. The second was the
destructive display of names,
addresses and character- of
young boys on the front page
of the Ashland daily news
paper. In my. estimation the writer
and editor of that article and
newspaper are more guilty
than the young boys. The mis
chief has been repaired (by
the boys and their parents),
but who can repair the dam
age done to the personal feel
ings of those parents and their
children when they are so
publicity displayed?
I am proud that the Med
ford paper has higher stand
ards about their publishing.
You Ashland people should
do something about this prob
lem. Perhaps some day it will
be your child's name publicly
displayed.
As a parent I feel it is my
duty to punish my children,
and not the police force by
use of a jail cell. Our county
has a detention home, yet Ash
land police prefer . to put
juveniles behind bars in their
own jail. For shame, Ashland!
Most people who read the
mischief " articles probably
sighed or gasped, not think-
Husbands! Wives!
Get PeD. Vim: Feel Younger
Thousands of couples are weak, worn-
out tired, exnaustea Decause ouuy
lacks iron and Vitamin Bi. For a
younger feeling after 40, try Ostrex
Tonic Tablets. Contain iron and
high-potency dose Vitamin Bi for
quick, new younger pep. vim. "Get
acquainted"' size 69f. All druggists.
Washington Report
By WILLIAM
MODERATION
Washington - History now
records the '30s as a period of
political extremism nearly all
r" "" ww,' over t n e
world. These
years brought
Fascism in
Italy, Naziism
i n Germany,
i m p e r ialist
militarism in
Japan, the
bloody purges
Willism S. TT
Whiu Union.
Even in the United States,
it was a time of political ex
perimentation - though hard
ly of that wild "socialism"
which Old Guardists liked to
attribute to Roosevelt's New
Deal.
But the '50s now draw to
ing it could happen to their
children. Parents, it could
happen to anyone's children.
My children are still too
young to have been put into
this Halloween night situation.
I hope and pray they never
get themselves into a similar
situation. But if they do
wrong, I believe I should be
the .first to know about it.
You may publish my name
if I'm a delinquent parent,
but please let my children
grow up.
Mrs. R. E. Miller
Route 1, Box 329
Talent, Ore.
She's Ashamed i
To the Editor I for one am
ashamed to think we sit back
and let a newspaper (The Ash
land Daily Tidings) publish
the names and addresses of
children in stories of juvenile
delinquents
For instance, this Halloween
thing of painting on . the
Shakespearean Theater, was
it so much a t greater- crime
then other things that were
done? Destructive yes, but the
boys and parents repaired the
damaees and the boys were
given a 15-day sentence, two
of those days in a jau ceu,
not the detention home we
as taxpayers built for the
young, but a jail cell at the
Ashland city jail.
These boys aren't the van
dals some believe them to be.
One boy .we know, he has
been to our home many times.
He is 14, not 15. He is an
average 14-year-old, usually
polite and 'thoughtful. His
folks have worked at raising
all their children properly
with love and companionship.
He has never had a record
until now. So now when this
child has done something on
th sour of the moment, as
most young people do, he and
his family are being ridiculed
by their daily newspaper.
Does it help or hinder the
child? How can the editor be
the judge of that without
having met the child or par
ents? Had it been your or my
child, how would we feel? I
have children of my own. I
hope and pray they never get
into trouble. If they should I
also pray I have the first
chance to hear about it and
not see it splashed on the
front page with names and
addresses.
His antics may be news
but his iame doesn't help the
story.
Mrs. C. V. Seavey
Route 1, Box 36
Talent, Ore.
Who's Kwaiy?
To the Editor: The steel
workers lost over one billion
dollars in wages. The steel
companies lost millions, the
Government lost millions in
revenue. Workmen laid off,
lost millions. Somebody is
kwazy besides monkeys.
Everett Acklin,
Ashland, Ore.
Counsel With . .
Mr. Insurance Fred Brennan
'Fred Brennan
or call
Mr. Friendly
Bill Fish
Phone SP 3-7343
MEDFORD
INSURANCE
AGENCY '
27 NORTH HOllY ST.
S. WHITE
the end in a worldwide tri
umph for "moderation."
Twice moderation sent
Dwight Eisenhower to the
White House. Recently, mod
eration won a smashing vic
tory in the re-election of Brit
ish Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan's government over
Labor.
Even the present Russia of
Nikita Khrushchev could be
said to be moderate - rela
tive to the Russia of Stalin
and Company.
. -
A ND now ancient Israel has
confirmed the vast, quiet
movement toward the politi
cal center. David Ben-Gur-ion's
moderate Mapai party
has just been returned with
greatly increased strength. .
The election exactly followed
the new free-world pattern:
a progressive voter rejection
of both the left and right wing
extremists. The Communists
have fallen to a new low in
Israel. So have the far right
ists. Ben-Gurion, one of the
world's durable elder states
men, has already been 11
years in the prime minister
ship. And it appears he is no
where near the end of his
long road. Even the Arab
born minority in Israel - not
withstanding the radio efforts
of Egypt to enlist them . to
communism - are more nearly
pro-moderation than before.-
Israel's election, according
to qualified and impartial
diplomatic informants, went
off much as did the British
election. There was no real
foreign policy issue. There
was not even a sharp domes
tic issue. The point was
simply this: . Did the voters
approve Ben-Gurion's middle
way? The answers was a calm
but very general yes.
AND this latest success for
the political moderates
was fed by the one just before
it. Ben-Gurion's people in the
campaign pointed to Macmil
lan's victory. And Macmillan's
people themselves earlier had
pointed in " his campaign; if
rather more quietly, to the
victories of moderation in the
United States.
A good many - particularly
in Washington, whose one in
dustry is politics - look with
alarm or with loud hostility
upon "moderation." They be
lieve it to be dangerous for
the long run because it "blurs
the edges" of great issues.
They have a point - to a point.
One possible - alternative to
what they fear, however, is
even more risky. This is a
politics of such violent draw
ing up of the lines as- to
amount to a wordy if. blood
less civil .war. , .
In a perilous world, we
could not afford a national
disunity reaching this point
not even to satisfy the shrill
theoreticians that all the "is
sues" were at last being fully
met, fully unblurred.
ANYHOW, no matter "what
some of the experts may
think, the voters still like
moderation all the way to
Israel. One of this columnist's
correspondents in Chicago il
lustrates moderation with this
anecdote:
A father-in-law had out
stayed his welcome and the
young couple considered ways
to get rid of him. This was
their plan: When the soup was
served, the husband would cry
that it had too much salt," the
wife that it had too little. The
father-in-law would be - re
quired to side with one or
the other. Whoever he sided
against would then grandly
order him from the house.
But the old boy crossed
them both up. He simply
sipped the soup carefully, re
flected a moment, and then
declared: "Suits me."
(Copyright, 1959. by United
Feature Syndicate, Inc.) .
STORM WARNING!
Pirates operating off the Marsh
field Coast are warned of Black
Tornado due to hit about 8:30
Friday night. Any ideas the
Pirates have about making
someone walk-the-plank will be
Gone with the Wind.
Bill Fish
ft