mw1 a? fw 1
PREPARES FOR TRIP - Dr. Anthony M.
Opisso, 35, is shown above in Napa, Calif.,
as he gathers medical supplies for his trip
to the island of Dominica. Dr. Opisso is
leaving a five-year practice in Columbia
Falls, Mont., when he departs tomorrow.
The island of Dominica has only a small
hospital staffed by three nuns. Leprosy, tu
berculosis and various parasitic diseases
thrive on the island. The young doctor is
receiving no pay and buying all medical
supplies out of his own pocket. Dr. Opisso,
a native of the Philippines, who gained Am
erican citizenship through service in World
War II, will remain on the island five years.
(UPI Telephoto)
Radio Signals From Planets
Bring Astronomical Surprises
Chicago-(Science Service)-
Radio "messages" from Venus,
Jupiter and Mars have allow
ed exploration of these plan
ets from the earth and there
have been some surprises.
A newly discovered radia
tion hazard to space vehicles
entering and leaving the at
mosphere of Jupiter will be
roughly a hundred times
greater than the hazard of the
earth's radiation belts, discov
ered bv satellites. Dr. Frank
D. Drake of the National Ra
dio Astronomy Observatory,
Green Bank, W. Va., told the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science here,
Electrons Trapped
Jupiter is emitting continu
ously at least three billion
watts in radio radiation at
frequencies above about 100
megacycles per second. Dr.
Drake suggested that this kind
of radiation is caused by high
energy electrons trapped in
Jovian radiation belts similar
to the terrestrial radiation
belts that may worry future
space travelers. The number
of trapped particles in the
belts around Jupiter may be
a million times greater than
in the terrestrial belts. The
Jovian belts would require
for their origin a magnetic
field on Jupiter at least ten
times stronger than the earth.
Giant antennae forming ra
dio telescopes allow the ob
servation of radio emissions
of heavenly bodies. The great
new national radio observa
tory in a sparsely populated
West Virginia area is one of
ihe principal receiving posts
lor this new kind of look at
the planets.
20 Megacycle Radiation
Jupiter emits extremely
strong 20 megacycle radiation
that seems to be caused by
great electrical storm disturb
ances in the Jovian atmos
phere. This comes from only
a few points on the planet
and has been observed for
about eight years, this year's
being less than before, sug
gesting that solar activity con
trols this radiation to some
extent.
The radio telescope
also observed the hard sur
face of Venus for the first
time. It has a very high tem
perature, very nearly 585 de
grees 'Fahrenheit, which is
likely to be caused by the
atmosphere acting like a
greenhouse, the same effect
that keeps the earth warm
at night. The variation in sur
face temperature from day to
night is extremely small on
Venus.
Because the temperature is
very much higher than the
expected boiling point of wa
ter on Venus, no liquid water
is believed to exist anywhere
on Venus' surface. Because
of absence of water in the
liquid state, Dr. Blake be
lieves life is very unlikely
on Venus. What water there
is on Venus is in the form
of vapor in the atmosphere
and the planetary surface
probably consists of barren
rocks and deserts.
Older ideas on Mars have
not been changed by radio
observations. The radio emis
sions from space are. of
course, not from artificial
sources like our radio stations
but are natural and more like
static.
Better Moon Maps
Even before explorers from
earth arrive on the moon,
there can be better lunar
maps, D. W. G. Arthur, re
search associate of Yerkes Ob
servatory, Williams Bay, Wis.,
told the astronomers.
Moon photographs contain
a wealth of detail that has
has j not been translated into maps,
Dr. Arthur said, and the pho
tographs have not been used
correctly so that the major
maps compiled in this century
are only low-grade sketch
maps. The best lunar map
that could be made would
still be inferior to a military
topographic map compiled
from very poor quality high-
altitude aerial photography
Tlie best moon photograph is
equivalent to a naked-eye
view from about 2,000 miles
above the lunar surface and
a telescopic observer at the
best moments obtains an im
pression equivalent to a view
from 600 miles.
Foreseeing the day when
space navigators will require
a map giving an overhead
view of each part of the
moon's surface, Dr. Arthur
outlined ways of achieving
new maps that will be incom
parably superior to those
available today. Optical-mechanical
plotting equipment
especially designed for the job
and based on principles paral
lel to those used in aerial
photography would do the
job.
1950s Considered a Decade of
Revolution for Most Farmers
Washington - (UFA - For the
people who produce the na
tion's food and fiber, the 1950s
was a decade of revolution.
It was a r e v o 1 u tion of
science and technology. With
it came a host of still-unsolved
political and economic prob
lems growing out of the fact
that farmers have learned to
produce more than American
consumers want to buy.
The production revolution
was as dramatic as anything
in the nation's economic his
tory. Research stations pro
duced new farm tools, chemi
cals, feed formulas and production-boosting
methods at
a dizzying pace. Farmers me
chanized their operations, en
larged their farms, and pour
ed hundreds of millions of
dollars into new investments
in their producing plants.
By the end of the decade,
farm production had risen
nearly one-fifth to a record
high in spite of the fact that
the number of people on farms
was steadily declining.
Number Drops
In 1950, there were more
than 25 million people living
on American farms. By the
end of 1959, it was estimated
that this number had dropped
to about 20 million and no
government expert was will
ing to predict the decline was
near an end:
The fewer people on farms,
equipped with more and bet
ter tools and vastly better pro
duction methods, were the
world's most efficient pro
ducers of food and fiber.
In 1950, the average Ameri
can farm worker produced
enough to support himself
and nearly 14 other persons.
By 1959, the average farm
worker was turning out
enough to support himself and
24 others. In contrast, the
average farmer in the Soviet
Union produces enough to
feed himself and just one
other person.
To take advantage of the
production potential in new
machines and methods, farm
ers expanded their operations
through the 1950s. In the pro
cess, small farms were swal
lowed up by the hundreds of
thousands.
5.6 Million Farms
The census bureau counted
more than 5.6 million farms
in 1950. A 1959 count still un
derway was expected to show
a decline of substantially
more than one million farms
during the decade.
The acreage of the remain
ing farms was, of course,
growing each year. In 1950
the average farm had 215
acres. In 1954 it was up to
more than 240 acres. The cur
rent census will show another
big jump.
Some of the small farmers
who sold out or leased their
land to neighbors did so
through choice because they
saw a chance for better pay in
business or industry. Others
were forced out as heavy pro
duction shoved farm prices
down while costs especially
on smaller units with less
machinery rose relentlessly.
In 1950, total farm produc
tion costs were estimated at
about S19 billion. In 1959,
total production costs on a
much smaller number of
farms were up to an all-time
high of about $26 billion. And
net farm income, sliding 15
per cent in 1959 after a rela
tively good year in 1958,
threatened to keep the farm
problem alive as a major po
litical issue even though the
farm vote was dwindling in
numbers and influence.
Political Force
When the 1950s began,
farmers were still counted an
important political force.
President Harry S. Truman
was in the middle of the term
he won by his surprise victory
over Thomas E. Dewey. An
important factor in that upset,
many politicians believed, was
Truman's success in exploit
ing the unhappiness among
Midwestern farmers over the
way the Republican 80th Con
gress voted on grain storage
bills.
The farm bloc in the Con
gress was still strong at the
beginning of the decade. Re
publicans from the corn-hog
belt and the wheat states had
close working ties with Demo
crats from the cotton, tobacco
and peanut sections of the
South.
A decade later, partly
through the persistence of the
Eisenhower Administration's
two-term Secretary of Agri
culture, Ezra Taft Benson, the
power of the farm bloc had
been greatly reduced and
farm price supports were sub
stantially lower.
Benson weaned some farm
belt Republican lawmakers
away from their historic al
liance with the Democrats on
farm affairs, and won the
backing of some House Demo
crats from city districts. The
result was that, with the ex
ception of tobacco, farm price
supports in 1959 were at the
lowest level of the decade, al
though Congress rejected ad
ministration proposals for fur
ther cuts this year.
Results Studied
The political results of this
course, past and future, were
being studied closely in both
parties as the decade closed.
Democrats had gained
strength in traditionally Re
publican farm areas in the
1954, 1956 and 1958 elections,
and many farm belt Republi
cans have blamed this trend
on farmer resentment against
the Benson programs of lower
price support and fewer pro
duction controls.
Benson's department esti
mated that net farm income
would be down about Sll bil
lion this year compared with
the 1950 figure of $12,857,
000,000 and the 1951 total of
more than $14 billion.
The Administration took
some comfort from the fact
that the per capita income of
the American farmer is up to
about $1,040 for 1959 - in
cluding some $300 of non
farm income - compared with
a per capita average of $838
in 1950.
But despite the fact that the
farmers still left in agricul
ture are averaging more be
cause there are fewer of them
than a decade ago, the in
crease has not kept pace with
the vast growth in farm in
vestment. This investment,
valued at $133 billion a dec
ade ago, is now estimated at
more than $208 billion.
' And the average farmer,
trapped by his ability to pro
duce more and more each
year, lost ground through the
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford. Or.
Thursday, Jan. 28, 1960
decade compared- with the
average city man. In 1950,
per capita income for farm
people was 53 per cent of the
income of the average non
farm citizen. In 1959 econo
mists estimate the farm per
capita figure will be less than
half the income of the aver
age non-farm resident.
OSC Foresters Set
Annual Events
Corvallis - The Oregon
State college school of fores
try will hold its 28th annual
Fernhopper Day and banquet
Feb. 20 with more than 500
foresters, lumbermen and
loggers from throughout the
Northwest expected to attend.
The all-day program will
include a special display of
forestry equipment planned
by the Society of American
Foresters, and open house and
research reports at the school
of forestry and the Oregon
Forest Research Center, the
state-owned research center lo
cated adjacent to the campus.
The Fernhopper banquet,
one of the west's largest gath
erings of foresters, has been
scheduled at 5 p.m. this year
so those attending may see the
OSC-University of Washing
ton basketball game later that
night.
Eliot Jenkins, president of
the West Coast Lumberman's
association, will be banquet
speaker.
Gold Hill Scouts
To Continue Drive
Gold Hill-Boy Scout Troop
No. 43 will continue to collect
bottles to raise enough funds
to purchase one American
flag and one Boy Scout flag
for the troop, according to
Clayton Netzel, assistant
Scoutmaster.
Netzel said he and Scout
master James Coward wished
to express their appreciation
to everyone who donated to
the drive last Saturday.
Others who wish to donate
bottles may telephone Cow
ard at ULrich 5-1388 or Net
zel at ULrich 5-1318. The two '
men will make arrangements
to assist the Scouts with pick
ing up the bottles this Saturday.
St. Peter's in Rome is the
world's largest cathedral, cov
ering 18,000 square yards.
JAMUARY WHITE
NATIONALLY FAMOUS
ALL PENNEY PERFECT QUALITY SHEETS
Nation Wide Muslins
81
72"xl08;' flat
or Twin
fitted bottom
'x!08" flat
or full
fitted bottom
133-thread
count
42"x36"
pillow cases
2 FOR
158
ft78 78
63"x 108" flat :
. PENNEY'S STREET FLOOR
Luxury Pencale Percales
71
1 86-thread
count
72"xl08"flat
or twin
fitted bottom
'xl08" flat
or full
fitted bottom
42"x38'2"
pillowcases
2 FOR
L 1.48
3L97 215 99
Twin bottom sheets.. 1.97 full 2.15
90"xl08" flat : 2.79
Pi
St-XviHS &vXK$ Vkss ttciiwae wSM Kauai.
I W v. Mm aem ( mim Stcujjjit "m&t" turn u S VrJWX
ANOTHEI
EDowntown
Bargain!
VuwWft WUN 4vta&
spe
cial
purchase
o ALL YEAR WEIGHT!
o CRAVENETTED!
MILIUM LINED!
Sensational once-a-year savings on cottons, poplins, ribbed
cottons, cotton Bedford cords, cotton tapestry tweeds.
Rayon acetate checks, more. Choose from the newest to
beloved styles all beautifully detailed. Everything you'd
want is here. Remember when 1689 coast-to-coast Penney
stores shop together, you shop to better advantage. Misses'
sizes.
Penney's Mezzanine Fashion Floor
and
On Sale Tomorrow
300
IHKDejSE
Special
SIS
in
Crisp cotton house dresses in doezns
of styles . . . many drip-dry fabrics'
Choose from winter and spring prints,
floral, stripes and solid colors, in dark
and pastel shades. A wonderful value
. . . good-looking, and so practical'
Machine washable, in misses sizes 12
to 20, juniors 7 to 15, and half sizes
14J4 to 2412.
SUPER BARGAIN PENNEY'S
MEZZANINE FASHION FLOOR!