Matter of Fact By Joseph Alsop
if
K 4 M
DEAF MINK.
PLUS KENNEDY
Wausau, Wise. What may
be called the new sights seen
along the road are often the
" best rewards
of the report
er's trade.
You come
here to Wau
sau, to test
the climate in
the swing dis
trict of Wis
c o n s i n ' s
make or -
jdskph Ai.snp Dreas jjeinu-
cratic presidential primary.
- You learn that the climate fa
vors Sen. John F. Kennedy
of Massachusetts. But you
also learn about deaf white
mink.
The mink story came from
' Leroy Jonas Jr., the pleasant,
shrewd young chairman of
Rib Mountain, which is one
of the more considerable
townships of Marathon coun
ty. Jonas, himself a Repub
lican, also offered a remark
ably positive forecast that his
Rib Mountain would choose
Kennedy rather than Sen. Hu
bert H. Humphrey of Minne
sota in the Democratic pri
mary. But the mink story, for
.reasons to be explained, de
serves to be told first.
The Jonas family, then,
"got into mink by accident,"
. as Leroy Jonas put it. The
-accident in question tragic-
-ally all but blinded Leroy
Jonas' younger brother. To
give the boy an occupation
"and a hobby, the father
t bought him a few mink. It
.was an odd but imaginative
present, so well chosen that
the handicapped brother's
" hnhhv soon became the
whole family's business. To
day, the Jonases not only
have a highly successful
mink ranch; they also own
an even more successful small
factory that produces equip
ment for other mink ran-
' chers.
IN this success story, the
only unhappy chapter be
pan when the Jonases first
tried breeding white mink.
Horribly enough, the mink
strain that produces the most
. delicately white skins is also
deaf-mute from over-breed-.
ing. For the Jonasers, these
monstrous but luxurious ani
. mals obstinately refused to
. multiply their kind; and so
the Jonas ranch now mass
produces a commoner but
.healthier strain of white.
"Is that just common white
mink, or is Mrs. Jones' new
..coat made of deafmutes?"
. This splendidly macabre ques
. tion for the status-seekers was
only one of the by-products
of a long day's political re
porting. Another by-product
was the surprising informa
tion that Marathon county,
Wisconsin, produces much of
the world supply of ginseng,
an astringent root much val
ued by the Chinese as a res
torative of male vigor.
- I record these facts, I must
add, with a perfectly serious
purpose. They illustrate the
marvelous diversity, unex
pectedness and richness of
this country of ours. -which
political reporters joyfully re
discover in each election
year. Pazans of gratitude for
the glorious un-boringness of
the United States are not easy
!o fit into a political report;
and this recurring gratitude
as therefore been repressed
Wake up
rarin'to go
hitherto. But it came alto
gether irrepressible when this
reporter and his brother,
Stewart, spent a day with
Leroy Jonas, the mink ran
cher, Frank Volhard, the gin
seng grower, and the other
farmers and businessmen who
compose the Board of Mara
thon county.
THE County Board meeting
brought together all the
elected leaders of all the vil
lages and towns in Marathon,
the key county in Wisconsin's
key Seventh Congressional
District. Of these 70 or so
men, we managed to talk at
some length with 23. The 23
men questioned in turn rep
resented every kind of com
munity from industrial work
ers' ward of Wausau City, to
a tiny dairy farming village.
All knew their communities
intimately, and their commu
nities added up to a complete
cross-section of the country
as a whole.
In all cases, we asked
these men to forget their own
preferences. We requested a
coldly impartial forecast, off-
the-record if that was pre
ferred, of each community's
probable choice in the Demo
cratic primary. The results,
as already suggested, were
strongly favorable to Senator
Kennedy. He was the predict
ed winner in 15 communities,
including almost all the more
populous places like indus
trial Mosinee and Rib Moun
tain, which is a residential
suburb as well as a mink-
metropolis.
Elderon Village, a potato-
growing center, was "just too
evenly divided between Ken
nedy and Humphrey to allow
even a guess either way,
Senator Humphrey, was the
predicted winner in only sev
en communities, all but one
of which were country vil
lages. On this evidence, Sen
ator Humphrey has some hard
work to do in Marathon
county. Another experience
of ours on this same day in
dicates that Senator Hum
phrey's work in Marathon
County has not as yet begun
-
TN - brief, we chanced to
meet the chairman of the
Marathon County Committee-for-Kennedy,
an able young
lawyer, Robert Dean. Chair
man Dean has had his 26-man
group fully organized and on
the job for some weeks. Seek
ing a comparison, we then
telephoned the Humphrey
headquarters in Milwaukee,
to locate the Marathon coun
ty chairman for Humphrey.
At first, no one seemed able
to think of a name. Finally,
a union leader, Hal J. .Ver
hoven was somewhat tenta-
Crime Conference
Explores Cause,
Nature, Extent
Salem - (UPD - The cause, na
ture and extent of crime and
what to do about it was ex
plored Tuesday at the first
state - wide conference on
crime prevention.
One - hundred or more
judges, lawmen, district at
torneys, educators, lay and re
ligious leaders and others
gathered for the one-day ses
sion.
It was called by the Oregon
Department of Justice.
Attorney General Robert Y.
Thornton said response to the
conference was "greater than
expected." He said he hopes
the discussions and exchange
of information can be a con
tinuing thing.
Increased Effort Asked.
Keynoting the conference,
Circuit Judge Virgil Langtry
of Multnomah county called
for increased effort for work
in family problems. A great
number of criminals, he said,
develop from a distressed
home life.
Among causes of crime in
Oregon mentioned were
break - down of families and
lack of religious and citizen
ship training among young
people. It was also felt that
the courts do not deal severe
ly enough with first offenders.
Executive Director
Of Churches Resigns
Portland -(UPD Dr. Mark
Talney Tuesday offered his
resignation as executive di
rector of the Oregon Council
of Churches. The resignation
is effective May 31.
Dr. Talney will become
Pacific Northwest Associate
Secretary of the American
Bible Society July 1.
He has been with the
church council for seven
years. ' '
tively indicated. But when
we got in touch at last with
Hal Verhoven, he told us:
"Sure I'm for Humphrey, but
nobody ever told me I was
county chairman of any
thing." At this stage, in short, one
would be inclined to prophesy
a Kennedy victory in Wiscon
sin, without any qualification,
if it were not for one bother
some point. Wisconsin's make-
ARCH N. BOOTH
To Be in Salem
Chamber Official
To Be at Session
Arch N. Booth, Washing
ton, D.C., e x e c u tive vice
president of the United States
Chamber of Commerce, will
be in Salem March 1 in one
of a series of meetings
throughout the country in
which national chamber of
ficials discuss proposed legis
lation of interest to local
businessmen.
Don McNeil, manager of
the local chamber, said reser
vations to and from Salem are
being handled by the Medford
Chamber of Commerce office,
and local businessmen and
chamber members are encour
aged to attend.
Booth is a member of a
national chamber team tour
ing the country to discuss
legislative matters of interest
to businessmen, who are ex
pected to participate in the
program.
The Salem meeting starts
at 9:30 a.m., and concludes at
3:30 p.m., McNeil said.
Booth is in general charge
of all the chamber's projects,
activities and operations in
Washington, D.C., and in the
field.
Truck Loaded With
Eggs Hit by Train
Salem -(UPD A truck loaded
-with eggs collided with a
freight train at a Southern
Pacific railroad crossing near
Aurora Tuesday.
The truck was demolished
but driver Daniel H. Weis-
or-break primary will only be gram of Salem escaped ser
won on the stump, and the ious injury. Eggs were splat
contestants are just now be- tered along the tracks for a
ginning to take the stump. distance.
(c) 1960, New York Herald The truck was owned by
Tribune Inc. Oregon Egg Producers.
Jobless Compensation
Claims Dip To 30,200
.- Salem (UPD The Oregon
Employment Department said
today that despite heavy rains
in western Oregon, unemploy
ment compensation claims
dropped to 30,200 last week,
1,382 less than the week be
fore. '
The Department said many
workers, mostly loggers, were
forced out of work because
of high water or poor road
conditions.
ECLIPSE TIME
Berkeley The maximum
duration of a total eclipse of
the sun in the Tventieth
century is 7.3 aninutes. '
Thousands Believed Given in Payola
Washington -(UPD A House
investigator said today it is
evident that record companies
have shelled out "hundreds of
thousands of dollars" to disc
jockeys and others to get
songs broadcast.
Rep. John E. Moss (D-Calif .)
told United Press Internation
al that would be "a conserva
tive, a restrained estimate."
Moss is a member of a
House subcommittee which al
ready has uncovered side pay
ments of more than $70,000
in the Cleveland and Boston
areas alone.
The subcommittee was call
ed behind closed doors today
to consider a plea from one
of the men responsible for
the side payments that he be
allowed to testify in secret.
Three Judges To
Seek Reelection
Salem -(UPD- Three judges
filed for reelection Tuesday.
They are Circuit Judges
Malcolm W. Wilkinson of The
Dalles and P. K. Hammond
of Oswego, and Multnomah
District Court Judge John
Mears, Portland.
Also filing for reelection
was Lincoln County District
Attorney - A. R. McMullen,
Body of Worker
Found in Millpond
Tygh Valley-WPD-The body
of Edward Franklin Stephans,
62, of Portland, was found in
a mill pond here Tuesday.
Wasco county ithorities
speculated that Stephans fell
into the pond sometime after
4 p.m. Monday and drowned.
Stephans was found after
he didn't show up for work
at the mill and the mill fore
man found his empty lunch
box and work gloves in the
cab of the log unloading
boom he operated.
SIZE COMPARED
Portugal is about the same
area as Indiana.
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. C
Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1960
BLOCKED BALLOTS
Mobile, Ala.-(UPD-Would-be
voters who arrived at a poll
ing station Tuesday to cast
ballots on 19 constitutional
amendments found the sta
tion locked tight. The offi
cial who was supposed to
open up had overslept and
didn't get there with the key
until three hours later.
We Give
GREEN STAMPS
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