Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, April 11, 1961, Image 4

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Medford mail tribune., April 11, 1961, Image 4

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Newspaper Page Text4 A Iwrom In Southern Oregon D in,. Wail 1Vllinn fuBTiihed Dtlly except Saturday by U North Fir St., Ph. 8PMU1 ,' HOBrRT w. RUHL. Editor JntRB CRIY. Advertising Manager r.irnArj) t Latham, bub. Mar. - SIMC W. ALLEN JR., Mnl. Editor EAKL n. AUAM5. city bailor nrrHARn jewktt.- Snort Editor OUVE 4TARCHER. Women's Editor DALE EKHJftsuw, circulation wigr, An Indeoendent Newf paper Xntered aa second class matter at Medford. Oregon, under aci 01 March 3, 1S97 V :.,. BtlRSCRIPTION RATES ; By Mall In Advance, Copy 10c i vajiy ana wjnasy i jw e.w.w r Dally and Sunday 6 mas. I, 8.00 Dally and Sunday 3 mos. 4.19 Sunday Only One year M.20 By Carrier In Advance Medford Ashland. Central Point Eagle Point, Jacksonville, Gold Hill, Phoenix, Shady Cove, Rogue Riv- er, Talent and on motor routes, ; Dally and Sunday 1 year tU.OO : Dally and Sunday 1 mo. 1.50 i Carrier and Dealers copy 10o All Terms Cash In Advance "Official Paper of City of Medford Official Paper of Jackson Cennty United Press International rull Leased Wire U.P.I. Telepholo Newsplctures "MEMBER OP AUDIT BUREAU Tri.- wilVt . 'nnruintatlve: . WEST HOLIDAY CO.. INC. Of ; flees In New York, Chicago, De i ' trolt. San Francisco. Los Angeles, ' Seattle, Portland, St Louis, At- : lanta, Vancouver, B.C. NIWSAMt PUtLIIHIIS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL EDITORIAL Fli-hi or Time Medford and Jackson County Hlitory from the file of The Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40 and SO yean ago. 10 TEARS AGO A plan for preliminary d wlopment of the Rogue Riv er bagln't water and electric resources, with controverital 1 mi eliminated, wag put for ward today by the Rogue l iver Basin Irrigation assc cation. ., . Employees of the White City Lumber company yes t irday rejected union repre sentation in a national labor relations board election, : - TEAM AOO ' Churches of the valley we en"-pitted arrangements ; r I t Sunday; Good Frl- i war held today. '? i !hur Perry's "Ys i kiit" column: "The i .-, -w of the year , n V. ednesday in the .41 sr. J. A delegation of local robins flew out, and pre- t -ded they were aghast and awed no. end." M YZKT. AOO , "& 11. 111 (ataturday) . ort!and Mayor George L r, t-d his wife, were ut 1 to visit here brief- r. i L, Bennett. Med' i i e stor, won district t a e-ibate In Grants M iiUjy..'.''.. 1 oo . .1.1 (Monday) . a Olcott is a pas- ea an Army plane i Is racing a flock of ; . p'ceons from Port . 1 1 tan Francisco; the i a-oratd here for re- .jo contract hag been let ! i construction of a monu- iat in Ashland to honor world war heroes. IB TEAM AGO "U 11. 1111 (Tuesday) The Medford Realty asso ciation met here today to dis cuss means of boosting the Rogue valley and attracting settler from the East here. . The first heavy fog of the season is expected to follow a snowstorm here today: or- chardUts have been alerted to be ready to smudge. Vhal's Your I.Q.? Nina er ten correct Is luee'lerj seven er eight h encellenti flva er ia h tees'. - 1. With the manufacture of what commodity do you con nect "peeler logs"? 2. The date of the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan was Dec. 7 of what year? - 3. Which of these are not mammals - eel, whale, arma- dlllo, anteater, pigeon, stur geon, penguin? . 4. Atlantic City, N.J., is a summer resort only, and Is closed during the winter - months; true or false? S. If a cubic foot of water is frozen, will its volume as ice be greater or lesi than a cubic foot? ..; 6. With which major league baseball team did Lou Gehrig play? r 7. Is a PT boat larger In tonnage than a destroyer , .: .8. Manell Antonio deVarona is interested in overthrowing the government of what coun try?, ' " : ' " .I' - 9. In which large eastern City is Grant's Tomb? i-10,; What does the name '.'Stalin" mean? : Answers: 1. Plywood, i. 1941. 3. Etl, pigeon, sturgeon, penguin. 4. False. S. Greater. 9. New York ankeet. 7. No. 9. Cuba. 9. Mew York City. 10. Steel. ' . I TUESDAY. APRIL 11, 1961 The Secret Crime Every once in a while we are called upon to wonder what sort of mentality it is that can make an anonymous, threatenting telephone call, and still live with ltseil. , How cowardly can you get? There are a few things that these people should remember: Making threats of physical violence is a crime, punishable by a term in the penitentiary. And committing this crime threatening the commission of a felony under the blanket of anonymity is not only criminal, it is evil, in the deepest and darkest meaning of the word. ....... . . 0. ! ; LJANDLING a rash of this sort of thing is a matter for the police and other law enforce ment agencies. : ; ' But more basic than that, it is a matter of fundamental human decency and morality. . People that allow themselves to do such an evil thing should be warned warned not only of the legal and criminal consequences if they are discovered, but also of the consequences to them' selves as human beings. No person can live long with such evil and still retain a right to think of himself with any respect. a.A. . . . .-. Medical Care Plans . . . It is astonishing how invariably spokesmen for American organized medicine invoke the specter of the British "experiment" (National Health Service), when debating on the Forand Bill or itstoumerous successors. What is even more invariable is the way in It. . . '. -T- In addition to pointing out that the "Service" has been a most welcome if qualified success, Dr. Fox (Dr. T. F. Fox. editor of the noted British medical magazine, the that its inception was pressures, not ideology: patient freedom have not been impaired to any noticeable extent; that medical service is infinite ly superior now to what obtained in pre-Service years; and that, contrary to the persistent allega tion by American doctors that the Service has been a great wasteful extravagance, the British in fact spend somewhat LESS of their national income on medical care than we do and that the SAME care would have cost considerably more if rendered without the Service. ; FHE sad thing is that 'the two main institutions fighting this development (financing of med ical care for the aged via Social Security') or ganised medicine and sectors of the insurance business fail to welcome it on their, own terms. The doctors should rejoice that government fund ing of medical care for the dependent popula tion will mean the chance to bring more care more easily to millions who need it the most. And for government to take care of the in digent and semi-indigent (the medically in digent) will open up a the health insurers because, with the basic cov erage met bv crovernment. the aered will then have some money left to buy mental coverage irom private insurance ; ana aiso uie insurance companies, will be able to offer more rest of the population. Just as social security helped the private fiension business, so it will help the private health nsurance business. The prediction here is that all this will become quite clear within the next lew years to all the parties concerned, even the A.M. A. Edward T. (Jhase, writing in The Uom monweal. Save Roadside Beauty ' Where are the roadside pussywillows? Not many years aero, from the city would pay lurry stains anyume in m i j : reoruary., ineir iavonte empty now, the result of brush control. The use of weed and control roadside growth has proved to be far more economical and permanent than the manual pruning and clipping methods used heretofore. The price of this piece of progress, however, has been the loss of much of the roadside beautv which accompanied the THE killer sprays sweep an indiscriminate scythe of death along the roadside, wiping out the brush that encumbers the driver's vision, the blackberries which threaten to spread into the road itself and also the flowers which bejewel the roads in the spring. The trilliums, lamb's toncues and violets were among those which found the roadside shoulders especially suited to their needs. The masses of buttercups were spectacular as well as fragile. In the background, wild currant, Oregon Grape and wild roses provided theproper backdrop. CVEN if the covnty and state road crews modi- fy the "scorched earth" policy, it will take years for these flowers ineir roaqsioe naunts. remaps we snouid set aside "pussywillow reserves" in the same way we offer havens to wild fowl. At least, there should lse between the esthetic and the efficent. When ever decorative roadside shrubs do not threaten to become a hazard to driving, they should be saved from the chemical executioners. Oregon States man, Salem, which1 they misrepresent "Lancet") established attributable to economic that doctor freedom and much bigger market' for desirable and supple ireea oi me indigent,, attractive rates to the a 15-minutd auto trip off in an armload of latter January or eany i.ii , roaasiae naunts are more effective roadside brush killer snravs to brash and weeds. and shrubs to return to be more of a comprom- Dennis the Menace GEB,HO. DO 1 GOTTA HAVE 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 Inilal for publication it permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the rioht to edit all letters with a view to clarification and condensaton. Letters submitted for publication must not exceed 400 words .The letters printed in his column do not necessarily represent the views of the paper; in racr tnecomrary is orten Not Quite Right To the Editor:-1 read with interest the letter written by the woman in Ashland who is having so much trouble with her creditors. It seems like there's always someone ready to kick you when your down and out. I agree with her, there should be some kind of pro tection for people who are in this kind of a situation, es pecially when tney are try. ing to do their best. The labor problem has affected a great many people all over the Unit ed States and It s beyond the control of the every day work ing man and I certainly think that in a crisis of this kind that the creditors could be a little lenient and understand' ing. i What really gets me is that when a man is laid off, or put on call and works 2 or 3. days out of a week and earns $40, he has to pay taxes and father benefits out of it but when he doesn't - work he still draws $40 unemployment and does not pay . anything. Doesn't seem quite right somewhere. ; , ; f. .' (Name on, tile) v. V Medford ' :'' What We Have in Common To the Editor: Your review of the John Birch Society's Blue Book (Mail Tribune Ap ril 5, 6, 1961) seems only to have added to the confusion in regard to the purpose of, and the means used by, the Society. The John Birch Society has adopted 'some of the means used by the communists (their constancy, concertedness and dedication); but the' Society has substituted the powerful truth for the communist de ception. And in barely more than two years have grown to a force that the press would have us believe seriously threatens the American Way of Life, Doggrell The John Birch Society Is a threat only to what has at times been cleverly ' veiled comrdunism, and at other times open avow- ment of ruthless totalitarin ism. - - The communists make it a prime point to take advantage of any and all methods (tac tics) in spreading their poison This does not mean that all methods used by the commu nists are base and contemptu ous. Some are many are but some are not. Some are perfectly legitimate, adopted by the communists because they seemed valuable, and la ter proved to be. The commu nists then, In part, use legiti mate means in acquiring their vile goals. The John Birch Society uses some of the same legitimate means as Justifiable means toward preserving the American Way, as it was con ceived. The John Birch Soci ety thinks it worth the effort. These legitimate means are not therefore repugnant to reasonable men. Such for ex ample the concerted action advocated by Robert Welch. You berate Robert Welch because you claim he smears all who differ with him; but in your editorial you are guilty of the same thing you accuse him of. Thus: Robert Welch, in the Blue Book presents a different view of history than the one you have been expos ed to, and you automatically accuse him of "twisting" his tory. Perhaps you could ex plain why you are able to do this and remain pure; but Rob ert Welch is guilty of smear when he claims history In part has been falsified. We think the press is em barrassed, and well they might be. Now might well be the time for the press to explain, it they will, why most of the bias against the John Birch Society Is to identical to the original attack leveled against the Society, which appeared in the official communist pub lication, The People's World. MEDFOHD MAIL A UBRW CARD ? tie case, , What is it you have in com mon with the official commu nist press? Robert J. Howard 828 B West 14th St. : Medford, Ore. Humanity . To the Editor: On Sunday lastr April 9, 1 made a hurried tour through the Hobby Show at the V. A. Domiciliary. I didn't haye much time, be cause i nad to catch my bus and go down to skid row. (My funds are insufficient for a visit to the Medford Hotel bar.) I was amazed, astounded and overwhelmed at what I saw on exhibit there. Land scape pictures of marvelous and stupendous majesty; pho tographs of nature equal to any I ever saw in any maga zine or book; magnificent gems created from the rude, rough stones of nature; leather-work fit for the elite of Park Avenue; intricate weav ing woven by hard-won skill and artistry. And many, many other works of almost cre ative genius. Tears of -understanding weiiBQ up in my eyes, unbid den and - unashamed, as viewed this triumph of the human spirit over odds almost insurmountable to man. knew full well that weak and trembling hands; spirits al most crushed by the cruel fist or fate; failing eyes and ach ing bones; despair, despond ence, and resignation to the grave, had gone into much of what I saw. You call White Citv a anlrl. ier's home. Actually, we are men without a home, else we would not be living here. You see us staggering on skid row; we have no place else to go. I've seen your citizens, too, in just as bad a shape. What goes on in the seclusion of your private homes r rich and poor alike - oftentimes is much worse than what we are forced by circumstance to do in public. I know, because once I lived at the top of the heap. It too, is a sordid mess. iry to understand that we are human beings too; desti tute, alone and sick, without a name that longer counts for aught; doing what we can, the best we can, with the burden fate and , God have placed upon our stoned and wearv shoulders. "We are but help less pieces, in the game he piays, upon this checker board, of nights and days." And never, never forupl this timeless truth when you see a sodden, drunken wretch shambling down the street: mere, but for the eraee of God, go I." we are White Citv are not all like that. Be that as it may, my plea is for the worst of us. Let the lamp of love and mercy; the candle of peace on earth, good will to ward men; pity, understand ing, and forbearance, light the hopeless, dark and dismal shadows, through which you see us all - outcasts of a cruel and a heartless world. (Name on file) White City, Ore. Clean the Rogue To the Editor: The time has come for the residents of this Rogue River Country to help in efforts to keep the Rogue River clean for everybody to enjoy, rteierence is made to the deplorable muddy waters that have been occurring off and on since last fall. The public and representa tives of our State Agencies are often powerless to stop road contractors, gravel wash ing and crushing operators, miners and loggers from mud dying up our rivers and streams. Ruined are many of the values needed to keep tourists here. Hundreds of fish- ermcn go to the river to spend an enjoyable day of re laxation, see the mud and' TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, ORE. U.S. Financed South May Develop Into Another Laos By PHIL NEWSOM UPI Foreign News Analyst Next to troubled Laos lies the republic of Viet Nam, about twice the size of Maine and second only to South Korea as the recipient o f United States aid. The United States trains and pays South Viet Nam's 150, 0 0 0 - m an ?4 Newsom army. Exclusive of military aid, the United States has poured nearly a billion and a half dollars into the country since 1953 in an attempt to bolster its economy and stability. Yet with all this there is mounting concern that in South Viet Nam the United States may well face the Washington Report By WllllAM THE SECOND VOICE r Washington - (UPD - Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson has become the nation's sec ond voice to a degree never before seen in history. - He has been granted by P r.e s i dent Kennedy a n unequalled in timacy in the preparation of scute tne nignest na tional policy. Not even Rich ard Nixon in the Eisenhower administration was given so responsible a role. Being human, Johnson has responded to Kennedy's gen erosity with a magnanimity and loyalty toward his young chief. The association is not too unlike that between an infantry officer and his most trusted top sergeant. This is the short and simpli fied truth as .between John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lyn don Baines Johnson, And these very same two were reaching for each other's ar teries only last summer when both aspired to the presiden tial nomination. - e rTVHERE is, however, a long- e- and . mora comnllcated return home disgusted. Val uable gravel spawning bars become silted in, eggs are smothered in the gravel and insects as Important fish food are killed. Fish are scarce enough without killing off more, ! ' State laws for the control of mud in our public waters are weak. We have the oppor tunity to gain some strength with respect to gravel remov al with three bills that are being considered by the Legis lature now in session. All are reasonable bills and are pat terned from laws that for many years have been used in the State of Washington where good, adequate control of gravel operations is afford ed. H.B, 1638 incorporates and and gravel dredging and min ing operations into existing statutes on pollution. H.B. 1637 has received a "do'pass"- by committees and will be voted upon by the House and Senate soon. This bill relates to removal of sand, gravel and other materials from valuable fish spawning areas. H.B. 1629 regarding con trol of pollution and gravel removal by requiring clear ance from the State Natural Resources Agencies is still be fore the House Natural Re sources Committee, Clinton Haight, chairman. These bills will be voted upon soon. All disgusted per sons and fishermen should write their State Representa tives and Senator, both Salem, Oregon, and urge that they promote and vote the passage of these bills. Patience-thin, Rogue Rod, Gun and Archery Club Herbert F. Waller, President 300 S.E. "H" st. Grants Pass, Ore. Pill for Alcoholism? To the Editor: Isn't it pos sible that we already have a pill or serum, which, when given to a human alcoholic, would make him lose his crav ing for alcohol? Isn't It possible that the grent sugar producers and dis tillers with their multi-millions of dollars say, "no"? Any country which expects to send a human being into orbit and bring him safely back to earth should be able to give these other human derelicts a capsule to bring him out of orbit and back to earth just as easily. , Well, it s none of my busi ness anyway, just a thought. Thanks to my friends for your letters. Malcmute Slim ; White City, Ore. same situation that it present ly does in Laos. Reds on Offensive Aided by geography and increasing unrest among the 10 million people, commu nism has been on the offen sive there for more than a year. , Last week, as Viet Nam prepared for the national elections which returned Pres ident Ngo Dinh Diem to of fice, they carried that offen sive into Saigon itself, aimed especially against Americans, A U.S. aid administrator was injured by a bomb tossed into his home. An American sergeant was injured by an other bomb exploded near a hotel housing U.S. military advisers. Last November a U.S. pub lie safety adviser and his driver were killed in a day light ambush outside the sea side resort of Long Hai. S. WHITE. truth in the relationship. It is friendly, yes; but it is no sen timental tableau. It does not lack a common liking, but it restn far more on common ser.be. It is, in fact, a highly prac tical concert between two tough and honestly ambitious men. They . do not see abso lutely eye to eye on every thing, and don't pretend to. But they are absolutely to gether on the two vital points which have made and will prserve their partnership. They are together on the one great issue: How to con duct thecold war. And they are together in their full awareness that only by stay ing together can they avoid disaster to. their own admin istration and to themselves. Kennedy knows that, though polls indicate a great rise in his popularity since the elec tion, the fundamental fact re mains that he won very nar rowly. He knows that a break with Johnson, the leader of the moderates, would leave him isolated, with only the liberals and ultra-liberals' for company. '; : THE President is no more than moderately liberal himself. He is not comfortable with the ultra-liberals, even apart from his awareness that ultra-liberals .will give any Democratic administration as much unnecessary trouble as effective help. Vice-President Johnson also knows several things. One is that there can be only one president at a time. Even if any vice president wanted to challenge any president, he would be almost certifiably insane to do so. - Another is that the success of the Kennedy administra tion is as meaningful to him as to the president. After all, if Kennedy's job is such as to bring abut his reelection, the end of his second term will open an opportunity for John son himself. Without Kennedy active consent, Johnson could never receive such a nomina tion. And, finally, the vice presi dent well knows that he has been able to become the coun try's second voice precisely because he has kept it the sec ond voice and never tried to make it the first. rTHIS was the reason for the success-both in Africa and in Kennedy's estimation - of Johnson's recent African mis sion, his was why he was en trusted with major policy declarations to our allies in Paris and to the disarmament negotiators in Geneva. And all these are also the reasons why leading Repub licans themselves never shar ed the delusion of the ultra liberals that "Jack and Lyn don" automatically must "fight." These Republicans are themselves sensible poli ticians. So they knew that Jack and Lyndon" did not share the ultra-liberals' view of politics as a steamy melo drama in which good guys are doing nothing unless they are hitting bad guys over the head and crying loud doctrinnaire slogans. Kennedy and Johnson, of course, may well turn out to have a poor administration in the end. But if they do. it will not be because they held this high-school notion of politics. (Copyright. 1961, by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.) Halsey Man Dies In Violent Collision Albany-IUPD-A violent car- truck collision eight miles south of here on Highway 99 Monday night claimed the life of Donald E. Soper, 26, Hal sey, state police reported. Sioper was in a southbound car. Walter Ruby, Albany, driver of the truck, suffered broken arm. Authorities said the impact knocked the engine from the car and overturned the truck. Viet Nam Each month from 250 to 300 government officials are murdered by Communist guerrillas. Orders from Peiping The guerrillas operate un der orders from Red China and Communist North Viet nam. Supplies reach them through a series of guerrilla posts running down the moun tainous spine from North Viet Nam along the border of South Viet Nam and Laos. These posts in turn support guerriUa nests along the bor Matter of Focf a jo..Ph ai.p THE PICKLE WE'RE IN Vientiane. Laos-Every sen sible person in this little city, who has- either Laotian or Western interests at heart, looks forward to the new phase of the Laos crisis Jwitn extreme concern and gjai mfr m apprenension. 1 If you are I l -i several thou' sand miles away from Alsop Laos, it may seem very hopeful indeed that a ceasefire seems likely and that negotiations are ex pected to begin. . But if you are in Laos, the new phase looks just about as dangerous as the phase that is now com ing to a close. To begin with, the Commu nist forces here, with the as sistance of lavish Soviet sup plies and large numbers of invaders from North Vietnam, have occupied far too large a part of Laos. The position, is much worse than in 1954, when the Gen eva accord left the Commu nist Pathet. Lao movement in control of the two northern provinces, Phong Saly and bamneua. , ' TTOAT was bad enough, as experience proved. But a ceasefire now will presumably leave the Communists in con trol of these two frontier prov inces, plus important bits of other . provinces, plus . the whole of Xien Kuang prov ince with the Plaine des Jar res and the important Xien Kuang airfield. ' Their hold on Xien Kuang gives the Communists a grip on the strategic heart of . Laos. It is wishful nonsense to talk about a stable, truly neu tral Laos as long as the Com munists retain military con trol of the heart of the coun try. It is just as wishful to imagine that a Communist pullback can be arranged by the eloquent persuasions of an Indian chairman of a restored International Control Com mission. In fact it is hard to imagine any Communist pull- back at all, except under threat of force or as a result of actual military pressure. Thus the situation on the ground is very grave indeed. Yet there are reasons for be lieving that the general poli tical situation is even worse. To understand why this is so, one must look at the origins of the present Laos crisis and the singular response of the Eisenhower administration. N PARTICULAR, one must look at the coup d'etat of Capt.-Kong Le and the subse quent assumption of the 6,000 Expected To Hear Welch Speak Los Angeles-flJPD-A sell-out crowd of 6,000 is expected to night to hear a speech by Rob ert Welch, founder and lead er of the anti-Communist John Birch society. A spokesman for the Free dom Club of the First Congre- grational Church where Welch will speak said tickets were sold for $1 each. Welch, Belmont, Mass., ar rived in Southern California Saturday for a series of talks about his controversial group. Try and Stop Me By BENNETT CERF A HAM ACTOR'S wife had been dead for two years and -hadn't acknowledged his existence for five years before that, but still he burst into tears at mention of her name. ' "Arn't you putting it on a bit; he was asKea finally. "You don't real ize what a wonderful woman my wife was," sobbed the ham. "Never once did she slip me a check that bounced." Matrimonial bliss In Hollywood: At dinner one evening Producer Billy Wilder's lovely wife Audrey (Wilder is' responsible for "Some Like It Hot," "The Apartment," and a dozen, other screen triumphs) an nounced blithely, "Darling, do you realize this Is our anniversary?" Wilder poised s fork in midair and reproached her, "Please not while I'm eating." A morose character at the Metropolitan Bar kept complaining that modern science had cost him over twjnty years of his life. "An unsuccessful surgery?" hazarded the bartender. "No," re plied the character. "Fingerprints." C IMi. by Bennett Cert. Distributed by King Features Syndicate der with Cambodia and in th: Mekong River delta. . So far, there is no cen trally organized Communist army such as the Pathet Lao in Laos. . Political unrest centers pri marily on complaints against the iron-fisted rule of Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem insists that his coun try, with its ancient tradi tional and long experience -with colonialism, ' is not yet ready for democracy as it is known in the West. He has limited authority to himself and members of his family, and a puppet par liament faithfully carries out his orders. ' - Premiership by Prince Sou vanna Phouma. The coup in stalled a neutral government, or at any rate a "neutralist" government in Laos. The Brit ish, the French and even the American Embassy here rec ommended acceptance of this accomplished fact. The Eisenhower administra tion rejected this recommen dation, and persevered in its earlier policy of promoting a pro-Western Laotian govern ment. , With open American support, Marshal Phoumi drove Kong Le, Prince Sou vana, and their collaborators out of Vientiane. This would have been perfectly defensibls if the Eisenhower administra tion had meanwhile steeled It self for the possible conse quences of its own decision. . - Instead, the Eisenhower ad ministration seemed to bo taken wholly by surprise when the quite foreseeable consequences ensued. The Soviets and Communist North Vietnamese jumped into Laos with both feet. -All Marshal Phoumi's gains - and more were lost. But the American government, which had been so bloody, bold, and resolute before, was now flaccidly im potent. ' AFTER these events, Prince Souvanna Phouma is probably the last remaining truly neutral important per sonality in Laos, if indeed his claims on this point can be believed. In order to see why this is so, it is only necessary to" consider the recent expe rience of the next most im portant figure in the former Souvanna Phouma govern ment, the able non-Communist leftist Qinim Bolsena. Quinlm, a man with a large chip on his shoulder, came into office as the result of a severe setback for American policy. He was driven out again at the point of Ameri can guns., He has now been carried back toward power again, so to say, on the should ers of Communist armed forces. Who should be sur prised if there is much first hand evidence that Qinim and all the other men like him are now ten times more bit terly anti-Western as well as rather actively and openly pro-uommunist. .-. fTHERE are one or two shreds of more hopeful evidence, such as the report that Kong Le has fallen out with his Communist partners, and. has been pushed around by them. But it is still likely that in the present circum stances this kind of govern ment is virtually certain to give the Communists effective control of Laos before very long. Such are the general charac teristics of the pickle we're in here. It may be, of course, that President Kennedy's handling of the Laos crisis has been designed to mask a gradual but decisive retreat behind a show of firmness. But if the President means what he says about the fatal effects of Communist control of Laos, he is going to have to show a great deal more firmness, and to be infinitely dexterous too, in order to achieve the truly neutral Laos he has been talking about. (c) 1961 New York Herald Tribune Inc.