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.
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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.
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