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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1961)
BUNB "Everyone in Southern Oregon n J - m.- .(.I, 1..K..,." rVCU 1 1 1 U iUU. ...WW.. Published Dally except Saturday by MEDFORD PRINTING CO 33 North a u St.. ril or ROBERT W MJHL. Editor HERB CREV Adveitttlng Mnnaser GERAU3 T LATHAM Bua Mgr ERIC W ALLEN JR . Mng Edltol EARL H ADAMS. City Editor HARRY CHIPMAN. Teles Editor RICHARD JEWETT Sporta Edltol OLIVE STARCHER Women't Ed'.tor DALE ERICKSON, Circulation Mgr An Independent Newspaper Entered aa jiecond class matter at Medford. Oregon- under Act of March 3. 1897 ' SUBSCKJr-i'lun ira By Mall - In Advance Copy 10c Dally -nd Sunday 1 year $19 00 Dally and Sunday 8 mot B OO Dally and Sunday 3 mot 4.25 Sunday Only One vear 4 SO By Carrier In Advance meoToro Ashland. Central Point Eagle .... l . .1 T I flrttli Hill m. i tW f-nu Rnfflia Rlv ' er Talent and on motor rou' Dally and Sunday 1 veal 118 JO Dallv and Sunday 1 mo 1 50 Carrier and Dealwa copy 10c All Termt Cash In Advanca "Official Paper of City ot Medford Official Papar of Jackton Count United Pfett International Full Leateo wire i rj P.I Telephoto Kewsplcturet ' "MEMBER OT AUDIT BirREAlT OF CIRCULATIONS Advertising "Represenikttoef WEST HOLIDAY CO.. INC Of Meet In New York Chicago. De 1 trolt. San Francisco Los Angelet ' Seattle. Portland St Louit. At. t lat-ta Vancouver. B.O NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION NATION At EDITORIAL jgjg,Asc8TitN Flight o' Time Medford and Jackson County History from the files of The Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO March 30. 1951 (Friday) : A committee of radio indus try representatives, including Jennings Pierce, manager of radio station KMED, Medford, was to call upon Gov. Douglas McKay today to urge him to proclaim daylight saving time in Oregon this summer. Police chief cautions all Medford dog owners today that dogs must be on a leash or penned up during April, May and June. 20 YEARS AGO March 30. 1941 (Sunday) scheelite-the ore from which tungsten is refined - having been found In southern Ore gon. From Arthur Perry's "Ye Smudge Pot'' column: "Com munists are busy throughout the nation pulling Uncle Sam s whiskers. The commu nists are funny people. If out of a job they protest vehement ly, and when they get one go on a strike, forthwith." 30 YEARS AGO March 30. 1931 (Monday) City Superintendent Schef fel is at work on a survey for the proposed sewage dis posal plant which will be voted on by the voters soon. The road to Crater Lake park was cleared, ot snow last week. 40 YEARS AGO March 30, 1921 (Wednesday) The Ashland Chamber of Commerce voted 67 to 59 yes terday in favor of the Com munity Chest principle of han dling charitable fund drives. . Orchardists are being urged to have their thermometers tested before frost season starts. 50 YEARS AGO March 30. 1911 (Thursday) Excavations for the new grade school building on Queen Anne St., were com pleted this week; the base ment for the new Jackson st, school is also finished. The local post of the Grand Army of the Republic will help celebrate the 45th annt versnry of the GAR shortly. What's Your I.Q.7 Nine er ten correct li superior; seven er eight Is excellent) five or six it good. ;'. 1. Are strikes by workers permitted in Soviet Russia? 2. Did General Douglas MacArthur ever serve as Chief of Staff ot the U.S Army? 3. The U.S. Secret Service Is a division of the Depart ment of Justice, Treasury De partment, or Department of Commerce? 4. Correct the following sentence: Neither the Ambas sador not his wife are in vited. 5. A bottle and cork cost $1.10; the bottle cost $1 more than the cork. How much did the cork cost? 6. All foreign born persons are aliens; true or false? 7. Which of these amphibi ous animals has the more valu able pelt; sea lion or sea otter? 8. Is the principal food used in Ceylon corn, wheat or rice? 9. Do shamrocks have three, four or five leaflets? 10. Do you associate the Grand Prix with auto racing, horse racing or Slooplochas- ing? Answern 1. No. 2. Yet, 3. Treasury. 4. Neither ... IS ' Invited. 5. Five cents. 6. False, 7. Sea otter. 8. Rice. 9. Three. - ID. AUIO HClBeT- Medfo: THURSDAY. MARCH 30. 1961 Transcontinental Notes-IX Our last glimpse of airport limousine, and Irom the Capital Airlines Viscount plane, was on which clothed the beauty aura or approaching spring. The flight was a pleasant one, much of it over clouds, and we both liked the plane, a four-engine turbo-prop model not frequently seen on the west coast, but very popular among airlines in the east. We stopped briefly in wind was blowing over blizzard of the week before, and then on, over the southern part of Lake brie, over Michigan, and then across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee. THEORETICALLY, we fanf r$ T .nra TVT i aVi I nro flew across it that the actual size sank in. It must have taken better than an hour to cross this huge inland fresh-water sea, and even from high in the air,' there was a period when no land was visible m any direction. As we flew west, the clouds gradually disap peared, permitting an excellent view of the wind driven whitecaps far below. As we approached Milwaukee, the bright blue of the lake turned to a dirty brown, for reasons we never did learn authoritatively. Milwaukee, too, and the surrounding country side, was largely covered with snow from an earlier storm, and the wind was bitter as we deplaned, despite the bright sunshine. (OUR 24 hours in this w was devoted in most part to family visiting, and the loving warmth, affectionate hospitality, the personal interest in the Medford visitors and their experiences, and in the family in the west, was like a benison after the hectic, hurried and sometimes unhappy experiences in New York. Aunt Amy, Aunt Marjory, Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Reeder, and Margaret, who lives with them, were the souls of kindness and thought fulness, made sure we were comfortable in every respect, and showed us as much of Milwaukee as time permitted, with pride and affection. We drove around the city, along the lake front, and, among other things, visited an excel lent art school and the city's War Memorial Cen ter, houseing the Milwaukee Art Center. . THE memorial building tectural achievement Saarinen, high above the the cantilevered, open and airy designs permit ted by the use of concrete. The murals on the face of the building, done in mosaics and reportedly among the largest such works of art in the world, are tastefully and sym bolically done, commemorating those sons of Mil waukee who died in World War II and the Korean War. The show featured at the Art Center was entirely of portraits, done in every conceivable style and medium, and constituted a tour de force of the art exhibitor's skill. They ranged from hilarious portraits of Elsa Maxwell (dead ly realism) and Marilyn Monroe (deadly im pressionism) to a moving Albert Schweitzer. THE evening was spent nam oVinrminrr nnnrnr Fields, a little shopping at the huge and colorful store, and a family discussion, interspersed with an Edward R. Murrow TV documentary with the electronic voice of Murrow reminiscent of his in-the-flesh voice we had heard two days previ ously. A good sleep, a huge breakfast, warm and fond farewells said, and we left, regretfully, for the last day of travelling, which took us from Milwaukee to Medford between 11 a.m. (Mil waukee time) and 7 p.m. (Medford time). The flight to O Hare held in Chicago was a brief one, on North Central airlines DC3. At O'Hare, we had only an hour until boarding the west-bound United Air Lines DC8, and most of the hour was spent in finding our way around the immense airport terminal, busiest in the world, and glancing through the Chicago papers. THE flight west was uneventful, but, to the neophytes, still an exciting experience, as state after state unrolled 31.000 feet below. Our attempts to keep track of where we were, assist ed by maps and infrequent announcements by the pilot, were only partly successful. But once we got to the Rockies, rising in snow clad splendor below, we knew we were "west," and getting closer. Our route took us over Des Moines, Denver, across Nevada, and right over Yosemite, which we could recognize even from high above. We began descending soon thereafter, and skimmed over the new-green hills and fertile fields of the great valley, and, still coming down, broke out over the bay, circled, and landed smoothly at San Francisco International airport the cleanest and best organized of any of the large airports we had seen. A BRIEF wait for a connecting plane to Med ford, and we were off again on the last leg of the trip, flying first over the ocean, then back inland again in a pattern that gave us the best view we have ever had of San Francisco, Marin county, the massive bridges across the shining bay, and the building-clad hills of the east bay. Darkness was descending as we passed the white peaks of Mt. Shasta, and the final, descent into the Rogue valley, from an unusually high flight at 13,000 feet, was made through clouds. Family and friends gave us a warm and lov ing greeting at the Medford airport. We were home again. E.A. Washington, from the a fresh, sunny morning, of the city with a bright Cleveland, where an icy snow remaining from a had known of the ex- m Ktif if urna tint nfi1 lira interesting, gracious city is a spectacular archi- by the noted Eero lake front, and using rendition in oronze or in visiting a spectacular fni' rlinnnr nr. Marshall Dennis the Menace ' I don't know WHATk is. IT ALL BY WSELrV Communications Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer, although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the right to 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 case. On VA Hospitals To the Editor: This is in answer to Oliver Lankford's letter from White City. . My husband was discharged from WWII with the rank of TSgt. He was given his mus tering out pay. He was then a member of the Oregon National Guard until going back on active duty in the Korean War. He was discharged , before the mustering out pay was passed in 1952 by Congress. I don't believe any mustering out pay was paid until November, 1052. When he was discharged all the Korean Vets received was traveling pay.: That is what the $33 was for. My husband is receiving $100 a month non-service con nected pension. The rest of our income comes from the county. As for epilepsy being in herited always, that is folk lore. It can be caused from a blow on the head or from fever that my husband con tracted In service that has damaged the brain. As for a non service con nected veteran entering a hos pital for any kind of nervous disorder, , you just don't do this in the state of California. We have over 8,000 veterans in California state hospitals. We have over 4 million vet erans in this state. The money from the federal government is allotted by the amount of overall population, not the amount of veterans in need. He has been on the waiting list since 1054. Enclosed is a letter from the head of the Veterans Ad ministration In San Francis co, also one from Congress man John Moss stressing the need for more hospitals. There has been a hospital bed short age in the veterans mental hospitals since 1947. The Truman administration did nothing. President Eisen hower's administration did nothing. Most of our veterans die in county hospitals. (Name withheld) O Editor's note: Enclosed with the letter printed above were letters from the VA hospital at Palo Alto, showing our cor respondent's husband was No. 898 on their waiting list; the letter from Congressman Moss which says, In part, ". . . for many years there has been an acute shortage of facilities to care for our deserving and incapacitated veterans"; and a letter from the VA office In Sun Francisco, which said, In part, "It Is true that VA nouropsychlntric hospitals in California have had extreme ly long walling lists for the admission of non-service-connected veterans. This condi tion existed prior to 1952 and continues to exist." This let ter was dated March 7, 1961. Missed th Point To the Editor: Helen B. Townsend of Eagle Point seems to have missed my point: Shoring up our civil liberties while tolerating American communists' prat lugs Is a better way to fight communism than to make martyrs of the fools and un dermine our own civil liber ties In the process. This, she says, Is the kind of "sleeping, dreaming and saying it enn't happen here, it won't" that led to Commu nist gains In the Congo, Laos, Cuba and Korea. I think the situations In these countries substantiate my point perfectly; the Com munist gains were made there after the breakdown of civil liberty, such as there was. I don't think any one of these countries would be in trouble today If it had had our Con stitution and a history of free people backing it up. I don't say It can't happen here. I say It can't happen but i AWpb here if we strengthen our free institutions; but it can happen here if we panic and throw out the baby . with the bath water. I think, too, that Mrs, Townsend does a disservice to the Rev. Billy Graham in saying that he advocates that communism be taught in schools as a religion. The Rev. Mr. Graham advocates that communism be STUDIED in schools as a religion. There's a great difference in connotation. Whether as a religion or as a political or economic force, communism SHOULD be studied in our schools. It would be to our great advan tage to know our enemy's goals, techniques and strate gems in order to cope with them better. Anyone who .fears that our schoolchildren would be taint ed hasn't much faith in the basic attraction of our free system with its obviously su perior tenets. Ken Johnson, . 1150 Shamrock St., Salem, Ore. Story a "Blessing" .To the Editor: Your front page story about the "Assem bly of finri" missinnarv wan a blessine to mv heart. This is a real life story of a once- sinner now converted to Christ, serving his Lord Jesus wholeheartedly. I would have been very happy to meet this saint of God and shake his hand and have real Christian fellowship with him. This man has riches much greater tnan a worldly billionaire. I think it is nitifnl mhm professing Christians are ashamed of some of the Lord's people because of their broken-down trucks, trailers, or patched clothing and humble homes. There are many peo ple nowadays professing the Name of Christ who are mov ing about in new ears in this world with their broken-down back-slidden. destitute snirit- ual conditions-living in ac tual disobedience to God-yet feeling superior to our Spirit filled brother in the "broken. down truck." God says. "Take heed, be ware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth NOT in the abundance of the thines he possesseth." God also says, "Examine yourselves to see if ye be in the faith." Your news storv about this godly man might have caused "moral damage' to Mr. Rav's worldly church "organiza tion' (as nis letter stated), but it caused mv heart to hp blesed, and I praise the Lord lor the story. Anna Jeanne Johnstun P.O. Box 511 Central Point, Ore. Conflict of Interest To the Editor: I have writ ten the following letter to the chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central Committee: Dear Mr. Shangle: After reading a great deal recently about the beliefs of leaders and members of the John Birch Society, I would like to ask you how you can ef fectively practice the precepts of, and promote the growth of. the Republican party In Jackson county. Since there appears to be a wide difference In the two philosophies, how can you continue to hold the office of Republican Central Commit tee chairman while believing Birch Society doctrine? It would seem to me that under the circumstances, your resignation might be submit ted In order that confidence in the leaders of our party here may be restored. I cer tainly uphold your right to hold and advocate any po litical views you wish, but since I am genuinely inter ested In the promotion of the Republican tenet, I am dis MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOhD. ORE Prosperity, Poverty, Anti-Communism All Present By PHIL NEWSOM UPI Foreign News Analyst Mexico City - IUPB-- Fifty years ' after its revolution, Mexico is stable, prosperous and anti-Communist. Yet it is also a nation about which gener alizations are I'M dangerous. One of Mex ico's greatest assurances of future stabil- Newtom i t y comet from its growing middle in come group which owns prop erty, goes to school and will fight to protect what it' has. Even the poorest worker may aspire to own his own home, and the son of a street peddler may become a distinguished doctor or lawyer. Among' Mexico's 39 million inhabitants, the Communists and their affiliated parties are a distinct minority. Yet, aided by a large So- tressed about the threat of the party suffering because of your divided loyalties. Marina S. Gardiner P. O. Box 1148 Medford. A Different View To the Editor: After read ing Mrs. Casey's letter of March 28, saying we need more men like Harry Shuster, I would like to add my com ment, "God forbid," and I speak as one with "Voice of experience." As it was our car that was damaged, and after hearing Mr. Shuster's story, like many others my husband had pity for him and offered to let him work a few days to help pay the damage. We soon saw that was a mistake. He first informed us he would work only if told what to do, then leave him to do it his way as it made him nervous to have anyone around. Also he never got up before 9 or 10 of a morning. We saw then he was of no use to us and urged him to get his car in running order and on his way. Two Medfo.rd Ministers went to the jail to see him and to the expense of calling long distance to see if he was deserving of help. They found he was not connected with any church but just a self appointed missionary. I am sure that a God-called mis sionary would not break the laws by traveling with the equipment he had. I agree with Mrs. Casey we need God-fearing men to work for Him, but they should also be willing to work to help promote the cause. Mr. Shuster admitted to us he was with no church, was not a preacher, did not work for the world and depended on God to supply his needs. We have worked for many years in object lessons and visual work in many denomi nations, but never have found anyone who had a religion and belief that he has. It seems he has one all of his own. He may not have had but a penny in his pocket, but what else he had, and where, could be a question. Even if one does not have much money there is no need not to be tidy and clean. I believe the officers and min isters will agree with me on that. If Mrs. Casey could have seen him and talked with him she' would not be so anxious to have him in her organiza tion. He surely needs the prayers of the Christian peo ple. With his pleasing person ality he could be very instru mental in God s work. Mrs. Ernest Santo 204 Lozier lane Medford. Legislative Watchdog .To the Editor: Inclosed is an article from the editorial page of the Record-Courier, Baker, Ore., which I believe should have a wider circulation than the Record-Courier gives it. R. F. Lamb, 728 Newtown St., Medford. O The article follows: NO NEED FOR SI PLATE The legislature has a watch dog in Beulah Hand, member of the House highway commit tec at Salem. Rep. Hand is of no mind to let the legislature authorize $800,000 extra to pay a private firm for reflec- torlzing auto license plates. Present plates cost 38 cents, reflcctorizcd plates would cost $1.05 and the mo torist would pick up the tab at a suggested $1 extra In his license fee. Rep. Hand, Dem ocrat from Milwaukie, has the right idea. Who, except the company holding a monopoly on the rcflectorizing process, wants a reflectorizcd plate at $1 extra? Surprising thing is that the highway committee in a pre- m v n mm viet embassy which distributes anti-American literature throughout the whole of Latin America, the Communists work with a purpose, with schools a special target. Arnong Mexico's 90,000 uni versity students, it is estimat ed that nearly 10 per cent are followers of communism, well led, well organized and miss ing no opportunity to agitate against existing authority or the United States. Last summer they took to the streets to protest govern ment, ouster of some Red-line teachers. At the peak of the demonstrations, 3,000 of them clashed with riot police. In the ensuing battle more than 60 persons ware injured. As a nation, Mexico is pros perous. . In Mexico City, tall, glass encased new buildings arise along broad clean avenues. , It is a boom town, with factories rising on the out skirts, new workers' homes going up and the former un sanitary, open - air markets now enclosed in modern, one story concrete structures. liminary vote failed to kill the proposal so Mrs. Hand needs help in stopping the nonsense. Salem leadership should be devoted to streamlining all phases . of things which re quire the expenditure of mon ey. Lobbyists for special in terests, tax-shifters and spe cial pleaders get too far with the legislature. The taxpayers wonder what goes on, any way. Dogs In Central Point To the Editor: All of you dog lovers, bring your dogs and come to Central Point, where they have the whole town to run in. Our council here seems to give the dogs more provileges than they do the people. They pad along the streets and spray the stuff the stores have out on display. We need dog control pretty bad. The council neglects that, but they don't neglect our money. All of you people who wish to have dog control, please contact me at 532 Maple St., Central Point, and further more, if you want the low down on the last meeting, con tact me at the same address. D. F. Perkins, P. O. Box 514, Central Point, Ore. Voting Record To the Editor: It is with great interest that I have watched Congressman Durno's voting record in Congress. His vote against expanding the rules committee was among his first votes against the people of his district, as this committee has in the past years stopped legislation on housing and other matters re lating to us from coming to a vote before the house. And what of his promise in his campaign to stop Japanese imports of plywood? On T.V. March 27 he said It is still a problem, but NEXT year they would talk about it in Con gress. His latest vote against a $1.25 an hour minimum wage law for an employee who works for a company engaged in intrastate commerce was a real shocker. Even this bill was a modified version of the administration proposal and was defeated by one vote. Congressman Durno's one vote could have helped mil lions of people buy a little extra food for their families. It evidently was of little in terest to him that the latest Gallup poll published recently showed 75 per cent of the peo ple supported this bill. Now that he has voted against the working people, there is little doubt mat ne is preparing to vote against our elderly people by voting against medical care for the aged under Social Security, when this bill comes before the house. During the campaign Con gressman Durno said "Let's wake up with a doctor in the house." But a doctor is sup posed to cure the majority of his patents, not make them sick. Now that spring training Is about over I am hopeful that he will change his brand of antibiotics, and improve his batting average in the interest of the nation and our district. Neil Rayburn, 814 Sherman St., Medford. Commodity Inspection Lowesf in Five Months Salem - Perishable com modities inspected by state federal shipping point service in February has dipped to the lowest figure of the past five months. Total number of carlots checked in February came to 2,775. The last low count was in September, 1960, when 2,150 carlots of produce were counted. Figures for Febru ary of 1960 totaled 3.465 about 690 carlots more than were counted in the same month of 1961. The February count this year was almost 600 carlots under January. Communism, and Yet Mexico City is not the whrle of Mexico. For instance, take what President Adolfo Lopez Ma teo found on his first "work tour" of 1961. - In the central Mexican state of Zacateeas, he found 91,000 persons unemployed out of a total of 741,000. In addition, some 60,000 men had emigrated to the United States to work as transient "bra ceros" in U.S. agriculture. - The government is press Matter of Fact by Joseph ais0P IF IF IF - Bangkok The first thing to remember about the Laos crisis is that this was not grwtrrnr mere summer! tl;r " o without tnreai of any serious storm. The storm could have been very serious a? indeed it m- klta S. Khru shchev had Aisop not changed the signals at the last moment. , The U.S. Pacific Fleet was on a war footing. The U.S. Marine helicopter company that recently moved into the Udorn airbase on the Laotian border here in Thailand was only the advance guard of much larger American forces that were steaming toward the scene of potential action. Thai army units were moving into position. The Pakistanis were to contribute a conting ent. On Sunday, President Kennedy asked Prime Minis ter Macmillan for men from the Commonwealth Brigade that is stationed in Malaya. In other words, there was the grimmest sort of hard meaning in the .President's decision to intervene milita rily in Laos if Khrushchev did not promptly agree to a ceasefire and negotiations on the basis . proposed by the British. It was not an empty decision. There was no bluff about it. And when this re porter left Washington on Saturday, the highest Ameri can authorities were giving even odds on negotiations of intervention, either way. MAYBE the odds then given were overpessimis tic, since the Soviets kept up the ugly test of will until the last possible minute. They planted "authoritative" warn ings, sent through satellite sources, for instance, that a ceasefire was unthinkable and that President Kennedy could have a war if he want ed one. These reached the American policy makers Fri day evening and Saturday morning, almost concurrently with the news that Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gro myko wished to be received by the President. Now, however, those who bet on negotiations have won the wager. They would not have won, and the Commu nist military conquest of Laos would have proceeded to its long-planned conclusion, if President Kennedy had not made the harsh decision to prepare to fight. In this way at least what has happened is a textbook illustration of the rule that guts are needed for successful dealings with the Kremlin. But although the accept ance of negotiations effective- CIRCULATION RISES New York - IUPD - Daily circulation of newspapers in the United States last year rose over 1959 by more than a half-million copies, accord ing to Editor & Publisher. In the past two years the gain has been almost Hi million, it said. ZINC FIELD St. Louis - About one-third of the zinc needed for U. S. arms during World War II cames from the mh'es located in the Missourl-Kansn ; Okla homa field. Try and VJ2 -By BENNETT CERF- TRITZ KREISLER, groat violinist, also fancies himself as a penormer ot difficult card tricks, his genuine skill in that department at guest said, "I'd like to engage you to perform at a banquet I'm hosting next month." "See my agent," sug gested Kreisler. A satis factory deal was made, and Kreisler turned up at the appointed time with his precious violin under his arm. "Say," said his admir ing patron, "you're pretty versatile, aren't you? Play the violin, tool" a a A man who thinks ahead like a champion chess plaver is Walter Bliss of Paramus. N.J. For her birthday he gave his Wife the costliest set of china ho coulU find. Now h. not only doesn't have to wash the duhes any more; she won't even allow him in the kitchen. C 1961, bjr Btnnttt Cerf. Dittrltmted by Kln Feature Sj-ndicats in Mexico ing hard its campaign to open up new lands and to place peasants on their . own farm plots. Yet evidence of unrest may be found in the steady stream of peasants seeking the higher wages of the big cities, and the charge that huge landed estates have been disguised as "ejidos" (community farm sections), defeating the gov-' ernment's program and hold ing peasant farmers in a state of peonage, ly disposes of one of the fairly awe-inspiring sets of "ifs" which have been hanging over the future, the other set is by no means disposed of. The point is that the kind of conference on Laos proposed by the British can be very dangerous indeed; and the So viets will no doubt do their best to make it more danger-. ous, both at the conference table and on the scene in Laos. THE Soviet aim, now, is quite obviously to secure a diplomacy plus some politi-' cal maneuvering and pressure in Laos, what they had pre viously been trying to secure by military means. They want a Laotian government under effective Communist control, . which will of course be called a "neutral government" at' the outset. And here is where" the other set of "ifs" comes in. '.!,. The other set of "ifs" com-) prises all the reasons which; remorselessly drove Presi-" dent Kennedy to his decision' to fight for Laos if need be.; For if Laos falls under effec-: tive Communist control I (which is the main "if" now) the consequences are almost mathematically predictable. : Politically, Laos may be; pulpy and insignificant; but. geographically, Laos is the! key. It is the high road to. Siam, to Cambodia, and to South Vietnam where the government of courageous President Diem is already under heavy Communist guer-' rilla attack. If Laos falls under effective -Communist control, South . Vietnam will be automatical-' ly doomed. Cambodia's capri cious but genuine neutrality, will turn into something very different. Thailand's present Western orientation will be all but impossible to maintain And if these things happen,' the process will not end in the countries that border on Laos.. - npHIS kind of disastrous; chain reaction in South--east Asia, if it is ever permit ted to happen, will not only . affect all the other Southeast ; Asian nations like Burma, '. Malaya, and already - dis-. ordered Indonesia. In the rest; of Asia, it will produce vol-" canic repercussions in Japan,.' in South Korea, and in the' Philippines. And from all : this, if it ever happens, there -will be a rapid, terrible; feedback in the Middle East, in Africa, and in South. America. Last Friday in Washing ton, a list was circulating in the government of four Latin! American countries, two in the Caribbean, where early Castro-like explosions had to be expected as a result of this ; process which threatened and still threatens to get' underway in Southeast Asia.: The Thais and the Filipinos, who pressed for the decision that Kennedy made, did so : for Asian motives. But this is a drama which cannot be lo calized if it turns sour. . Hence the result of any ne-. gotiation about Laos has to be weighed with the same", toughness that was shown; when the Pacific Fleet was ordered onto a war footing." But although the need to be' tough-minded is still as great as ever, Die first fruits of tough-mindedness are at least: pretty encouraging, (c) 1961 New York Herald ' Tribune Inc. Stop Me He was showing a party when a
