Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1959)
Japan's National Output Rising Faster Than U. S. By LORN A MORLEY Washington Japan's na tional output, spurred by a business boom of unprecedent ed proportions, is rising faster than the national output of the United States. Fewer than 15 years have passed since the surrender terms signed aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay deprived the Japanese of the last of their imperial possessions. Yet Japan already has become a formidable trade competitor of the countries that humbled her in World War II. Japan's economy was kept afloat in the first postwar years by a large infusion of dollars from the spending of occupation troops and per s o n n e 1. American expendi tures for defense of Japan continued to contribute for years to the support of the economy, as did procurement spending for the Korean War and spending by the many foreign troops who passed through or went to Japan on leave during the conflict. By the time the Korean War ended, the country was in a strong economic position. ' Curtailment of outside as- Capital of Laos Said Mishmash of Old World and New Vientiane - (UPO - Vien tiane is a curious mishmash of the' old and the new. The capital of Laos has no water or sewage system and few telephones. Yet its streets are dotted with big American and European cars, its shops filled with Western goods. The population of Vientiane Is estimated (according to a recent incomplete census) at 68,000, tiearly double the ' figure of 10 years ago. It is a mixture of Lao, several racial strains common to Laos, Chi nese, Indian and Pakistani Its big businessmen are Chi nese a common situation in Southeast Asia. Vientiane s lone power plant generates 2,572 kilo watts, not enough for the ex panding urban area. Lights frequently blink off, then on, then off again. Water is distributed by tanker-trucks, and buildings, stores and houses keep their own storage tanks. The city will eventually have a sew age system. Today, it has none. But few Lao notice its absence. Phones Installed About 300 telephones are installed in the city, but' the majority don't work. The French government has prom ised Laos new telephone ex change equipment which could handle 1,500 sets, but so far the machinery hasn't arrived, and, as one Lao offi cial says, "Why worry? Tele phones don't seem to work here anyway. It is quicker to send a messenger with a note." Despite the primitive ele ments, Vientiane has the air of a prosperous city. There are some 2,500 registered autos, and the most popular single make is the expensive Mercedes-Benz, practically a must for a government offi cial who wants to make face. The principal mode of trans portation, however, is the bicycle - some 5,000 of them. Complicating the motorist's life is the network of one-way streets in the downtown area, which causes drivers to go five times as far to get where they want to go. Sometimes it is easier to walk. Royal Capital . Vientiane itself (the name means "City of Sandalwood") was made the administrative seat of government in 1949. Luang Prabang, northwest of here, is the royal capital where the King, Sisavang Vong, lives in Oriental splend or. His son, now the regent, commutes between the two cities. The Mekong River slides turbulently past Vientiane to form the border with Thai land, and most of the goods which reach the capital must use the waterway. Some food stuffs come down river from other towns in the province, but the bulk of traffic is from Nong Khai across the Me kong in Thailand. Nong Khai is a railhead linking the re gion with Bangkok. One thing a traveler quick ly notices in Vientiane is the almost total lack of beggars. Kids prefer to shine your shoes or run errands to beg ging for pennies. The city's two principal nightclubs are dimly-lit clip joints where a half-ounce of whisky costs $2. In the dark, bills frequently are well padded. The world's oldest profes sion flourishes, with its chief operators Chinese girls im ported from Hong Kong and Bangkok. Prices are steep, ranging up to $100 per night. Luxury Items Found In small shops along the main streets can be found just about every luxury item one would want except perhaps gadgets which require ' elec tricity or power of any sort. But American canned goods, soap, cigarettes, Scotch whis ky - name it and it can be had for the asking. If you can afford the prices. For a nation suffering a military - political crisis, one curious situation is the ab sence of policemen on the streets during the daytime. They exist, about 1,000 of them, but they are mere shad ows whom one can't seem to fget into focus. Crime, however, is a com paratively minor problem. People apparently have too much else on their minds. That is Vientiane, 1959, a city half-modern, half-ancient, but alive. Kennedy Opposes Birth Control Idea Denver - (DPB - Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Satur day he thought it would be unwise for the United States to try to sell birth control abroad. "The use of public funds of this country for birth control in other nations would not be a wise or good public policy," he said.' Kennedy, an unannounced but often-mentioned candidate for Democratic nomination as President, also said he thought Vice President Richard M. Nixon was ahead in the Re publican race for presidential nomination but added the "primaries might change that." FIRE PREVENTION New York-(CP&-Nearly 300, 000 homes are destroyed or damaged by fire each year, according to the Allied Chem ical Corporation's Barrett Di vision. It suggests that greater use of fire-resistant materials such as asphalt shingles, rock wool insulation and fibre board products will help re duce such losses, said to have totaled $1,056,266,000 in 1958. sistance in the following years was offset by the vigorous steps then taken to modernize Japan's industrial plant. An extensive investment splurge in 1956 and 1957 financed not only new equipment but also the launching of new products and new technol ogies. Although the accom panying sharp increase in im ports soon led to a heavy defi cit in the country's interna tional balance of payments and necessitated stringent aus terity measures, the moderni zation enabled Japan to rally rapidly. New Production Peaks Recovery, starting in the autumn of 1958, reached boom proportions in the spring of 1959. The steel and machin ery industries touched new production peaks; the stag nant textile industry showed new signs of life; exports, es pecially to the United States, mounted; and exchange re serves increased. Exports form the chief base of the current prosperity. Shipments abroad this year are expected to total a record S3.6 billion. Exports to the United States may constitute nearly one-third of the whole, which would be almost 50 per cent more than in 1958. This huge influx has brought com plaints from American pro ducers and has led to move ments for new restrictions here on Japanese imports. Conversely, the lower wage and other production costs prevailing in Japan have drawn substantial amounts of American private capital into manufacturing enterprises in that country. Many U.S. com panies are finding it more profitable to produce in Ja pan for the Japanese market and for other overseas mar kets than to manufacture in this country for export. By the same token, American ex porters are finding it increas ingly difficult to compete with Japanese exporters in world markets. Competition Difficult American competition in the domestic Japanese market has been made especially dif ficult by persistence of trade barriers that were introduced early in the postwar period to restrict imports of dollar goods and protect sparse re serves of hard-currency for eign exchange. Japan and other countries are now being put under pressure by the United States to get rid of import controls imposed in the period of acute dollar shortage. Japan finally prom ised early in November to free from dollar exchange al locations four classes of im ports from this country and the Philippines. That step is to take effect in January, and six other categories of imports are to be similarly freed "at the earliest possible moment." The chief aim of the United States in bringing such pres sure is to open the way to ex pansion of American exports. Stepped-up exports constitute one means of reducing a growing deficit in this coun try's balance of international payments. American exports may be stimulated to some degree also by the policy of requiring a large part of for eign aid disbursements to be expended in this country. That policy in turn is intended to push newly prosperous coun tries like Japan into assuming a fair share of the foreign aid burden. If American foreign aid payments can no longer be spent in. Japan or other low-cost countries, those coun tries will be able to keep their exports to underdeveloped na tions at or near their present levels only if they initiate aid programs of their own. Long-Range Measures The Japanese already have devoted considerable atten-j HILTS Talent Show Staged By MRS. M. F. CAVIN Hilts - Seventh and eighth grade students staged an ama teur talent show in the school cafeteria here Nov. 20. Master of Ceremonies James Blanchard introduced the numbers, which included a piano solo by Marsha Sim men; a square dance by La Wana Trinca, Marilyn Thomp son, Barbara Rainwater, Mar sha Simmen, Gayel Ward, Lee Roy Green and Shirley and Sherrie : Staley; a poem . by Gayel Ward, and several jokes by James Cain. Other acts were a panto mime . by Barbara Rainwater and Lester Chase; a play fea turing Dennis Williams,' La Wana Trinca, Marsha Sim men, Gary Tollis, Lee Roy Green, James Blanchard and Robert Jordan; a ventriloquist act by Gary Tollis; an imita tion of Elvis Presley by Lee Roy Green; a piano solo by Joan Caster; a tap dance by La Wana Trinca, and a dance by Marilyn Thompson.. Members of the cast, accom panied by . Mrs. Alec Rutledge on piano, sang three songs as their finale. . . Proceeds from the show will go' to a fund established to pay for a trip to Alturas by the two classes this spring. Mr. and Mrs. Dick Williams accompanied their daughier-in-law, Mrs. Russell Williams, to Ashland Tuesday on business. Mrs. Fred Haynes went to Redding Saturday as a week end guest of her son, Fred Jr. and family. On Sunday they drove to Oroville to meet Mrs. Haynes' mother, Mrs. Gwen Evans of Ogden, Utah. Floyd Evans, Mrs. Haynes' brother, accompanied his mother, on her trip to California as she is 84 years old. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Haynes Jr., son Mike, Evans, his mother and Mrs. Haynes ar rived in Hilts Monday after noon. Mrs. Evans will spend the next several months here with her son-in-law and daughter. William Tallis was guest speaker at the Boy Scout Troop 38 Court of Honor in Hornbrook Nov. 13. Attending the church ba zaar held recently in Horn brook were Mrs. M. E. Bar ron, Mrs. Cal Sharp, Mrs. Roy Middleton Jr., and Mrs. Pat Killingsworth. Mrs. Grady Rabjohn, who is now living at the Frank Oh lund home on Cottonwood creek, entered the Ashland hospital Nov. 12 and under went major surgery the fol lowing morning. Mrs. Walt Adams made a business trip to Redding Thursday and returned that evening. In remembrance of Mrs. Fred Haynes' recent birthday, Mrs. M. G. King, Mrs. Louis Dettmar and Mrs. Walt Adams met at the Dettmar home the afternoon of Nov. 4 tion to long-range measures to expand exports to South and Southeast Asian countries. By offering liberal, long - term financing for industrial de velopment, they, hope to in crease the national incomes of the underdeveloped lands and thereby increase their capacity to absorb Japanese exports. Japanese export ef forts may discomfit many Western producers, - but strengthening of Japan's econ omy and of the economies of Southeast Asian countries ought to-help the free world in general to meet more dan gerous potential competition from Red China and the So viet Union. ' and surprised the guest with a birthday cake. Mrs. Walt Laustalot of Yreka visited at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Shuck and family recently. A family dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Goodwin last Tuesday evening honored the birthday of Osie Bernhei sel, Mrs. Goodwin's father. Others attending were Mrs. Bernheisel and the Goodwin girls, Linda and Donna. BIG SAUII1GS Oil rw-J STEREO - ma Mtfro:? feSo I 1 00.62 in Stereo Albums when you buy NEWSMAKING STEREO HI-FI and Matching Record Cabinet! YouH save money and Gei Bin Value, too during this great Festival of RCA Victor Newsmaking Values. Like the 4 big values shown here, every RCA Victor Newsmaker gives you new "extras" in features, "extras" in dependability, "extras" in quality. And . every Newsmaker gives you big savings when you buy it gives you more pleasure when you use it. See for yourself. But hurry values like these don t last long! OPEN TONITE 5 ( iiiF v Bill iisr X I lawfcar Ciimlll wild 17-won loot amplifier, diamond styhn, 4 spaken. tn 4 stuntiag IMjImi. Tto Mart XXIIID, PM230. Stereo Consolette 199.95 Record Cabinet 49.95 Record Alborm 100.62- Total Value 350.52 Festival Price 259.95 r W CA Victor Stano rfc ofeonB, whtm yam buy 7h Mar HK ad rH bwrotrMly aatdMd Mr., and Mrs. Michael J. Nunes visited over the week end with Mr. and Mrs. Mark Bonner and son Bruce. They also visited Mr. and Mrs. Clin ton Gano and son in Corning. Mrs. Gano is Mrs. Nunes' aunt. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stick ney of Medford, accompanied Vicky Van de Weghe to Yreka to attend the Yreka-Weed football game. Alanna Stick ney stayed with her grandpar ents and they drove to Horn- brook where they 'isited at the Florene Van de Weghe home. Mr. and Mrs. Ted Clark of Glendale, Ore., spent a recent week end visiting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Trinca and daughters La Wana and Nancy. A surprise party given by her mother, Mrs. James Cain, Saturday evening, Nov. 14, honored the 11th birthday of Edrith Cain. Guests were Paula Eastman, ' Gayel Ward and Barbara De Clerck. Mr. and Mrs. M. M. Silf drove to Ashland Sunday aft ernoon to visit "Mrs. Grady Rabjohn, who was a patient in the Ashland hospital at that time. The Nar.arene churches of the Rogue valley are taking over the ranch house on the. property formerly owned by Firch and now part of the SS Bar ranch. They plan to make a recreational camp of the home to be used by churches in this area. George Eaton of the circula tion department of the Siski you Daily News in Treka was calling on residen 6 Wednes day, working on a new sub scription program. Freddie Raymond, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Ray mond, was guest of honor at a party on Nov. 2, honoring his first birthday. Mrs. Ernest Spannaus was hostess to the bridge club Thursday afternoon, Nov. 19. High score was won by Mrs. Al Simmon, second high by Mrs. Fred Haynes, and low by Mrs. .v Art Blanchard. ' Other guests were Mrs. Frank Oh lund, Mrs. H. G. Thompson and Mrs. Frank Graves. Mrs. Eugene Arias and son Mark returned to their home in Union Creek Sunday after spending a week at the Fran cis Gwin home. Other guests have been Mrs. Gwin's father, Leonard Gaines from'Los An geles and Mrs. Jack Lange and two girls, Patty and Deb ra of San Francisco. Mrs. Lange is Mrs. Gwin's sister. Mr. Gaines also left on Sun day to visit with relatives in and around the Medford area. Divorced Couple Shot to Death Independence-flirD - A man and woman were found shot to death in a trailer house here Friday. Police said it ap peared to be murder-suicide. The victims were identified as Milton Bressler, 36, a truck driver, and his former wife, Alta, 37. Police said the deaths apparently occurred late Thursday or early Fri day. The bodies were found by John Peterson, a fellow work er of Bressler's at Valley Concrete company. The woman had been beat en. Polk county authorities theorized that Alta was shot and then Bressler turned a weapon on himself. The wom an was shot with a .22 caliber pistol and Bressler with a 25-20 hunting rifle. The two separated last sum- MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. 0 Monday, Nov. 30, 1955 ? mer and the divorce was final two weeks ago. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Patton of Etna visited Mrs. Patton's raients, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Johnson, last week end. WE FILL ALL PRESCRIPTIONS with unfailing I M accuracy from j fresh stocks of J. jf pure, potent drugs. Leave your Prescription here while you PARK & SHOP Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily Closed Sundays Green Stamps CENTRAL tora I DRUG Main and Central FREE DELIVERY At Parker Woods' A Wonderful Time to "Stretch" That Christmas Budget . . ... For This Week Only You Can Find Some of the Best Values Ever in Shoes . . . Sportswear . . . Coats and Dresses ... So Hurry Down and Take Advantage of These Great Savings. 21 N. Central "COATS" C J C jKirrs ana swearers Beautiful plaids . . . lovely plain wools and nationally known lines of sweaters . . . values to 16.95 ... II Rain Coats . . . Storm Coats . . . Wool Coats . . . values to 39.95. 99 n DRESSES" Dozens of dresses reduced for this pre - Christmas sav ings event . ' values to 24.95 . . . ' $t jtL TTrrn 7s 99 JPffex 11 (d)95 t0 jsrk " "SHOES" Flats . . . casuals . . . school shoes ... not all sizes but terrific savings ... Dress Shoes" From 11 our well known brands . . . mid and high heels . . . lots of blacks and colors . . . values to 18.95 . . . broken lots only ... 99 (5)99 Save at Leomi's NoHcaBy A&nrtM lot PHn SPECIAL $259.95 Complete Time Pay Plan Available v
