4 A- -
ISDTORlwCilkTBIBUNI
"Ivaryona la Southern Oregon
r..k. Tha MU Tribune"
fubltihed Daily except Saturday b
n worth fit at., Ph, gpa-in
" ROBERT w RUHL. Editor
HFRB GW!V. Advertising Mannar
GERALD T LATHAM. Bum. Mir.
ERIC W AIXIN JR.. Mng. Editor
KARL H ADAMS, atj Editor
uarrv chipman. Telee. Editor
Z. ........ n ivmrTCi C ......a VHItn
OLIVE STARCHXR. Woman'! Editor
DALE Ernunauri, ureuwww
An Indanandant NewlDaper
Entered at aecond elaia matter at
Medford. Oregon, under aci oi
March J, 1897
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NEWS pAMft
PUtllf HERS
ASSOCIATION
NATION At EDITORIAL
Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from tht filet of The
Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
end 50 years ego.
20 YEARS AGO
One of the last official acts
of the late county school su
perintendent C. R. Bowman
was to outline new and itlff-
er procedure for dealing with
truancy in county ichoola, and
his successor Alt Mekvold hai
said he will carry on the pro
gram. Southern Oregon bee keep
ers will meet tonight in the
courthouse to have new state
laws pertaining to bees ex
plained to them.
10 YEARS AGO
May 1, 1141 (Friday)
Jackson county's two draft
boards together have received
a May quota of 12 new in
ductees. From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smude Pot" column: As usual,
the first straw hats of the
season show up the noodles
of citizens financially able to
stay in the shade until snow
flies." f
SO YEARS AGO
May 1, 1131 (Saturday)
The state of California has
announced plans to build a 80
mile highway link between
Weed and the "state line south
of Klamath Falls.
Only 11 couples remain In
the walkathon championships
t the Medford Natatorlum.
40 YEARS AGO
May 10. 1.21 (Monday)
More Indictments have been
returned by the grand Jury in
the bank of Jacksonville fail
ure scandal.
More than $7,000 worth of
Crater Lake National park
company stock nai been pur
chased locally.
50 YEARS AGO
May II, till (Tuesday)
Because of the increase In
business, the local telephone
system will be expanded with
four more sections of switch
board being added. '
A supreme court decision
breaking up the Standard Oil
company trust has caused i
flurry of excitement through
out the business world.
Wfcil's Yesr I.Q.?
Nine er fee term! It
Sevan er etflrr la excellent) five er
Ml It tM,
1. Which country In Cen
tral America la largest 1 n
area?
2. Was Roger Bacon a
Monk, chemist, or an author
ity on optics?
t. What legislative body ex
ercises exclusive Jurldlctlon
over the District of Colum
bia? 4. What Federal agency en
forces requirements as to
properly labeling wool prod
ucts? (. Does wombat most re
semble a snake, a bear, an al
batross, or a whale?
4. Is an Invidious remark
most likely to provoke laugh
ter, Ill-will, or good-will?
7. "Colonel Pyncheon" Is a
character In which Nathaniel
Hawthorne novel?
8. In which European
country did Wilhelm, former
Emporer of Germany, die?
0. Norway Is a republic;
true or false?
10. The Inhabitants of Mad
agascar art known as M g--ans?
1. Nicaragua, t. AU three.
9. Centre. 4. Federal Trade
Commitaioa. I. Bear. i. Ill
will. 7. "The Haute of Seven
Gables." I. The Netherlands.
. False Constitutional Monarchy)-
Melafaslana.
A
TUESDAY. MAY II. IM1
A Valid Question
Oregon higher education has suffered three
major losses in recent months.
First it was the departure of Dr. O. Meredith
Wilson from the presidency of the University of
Oregon.
Next it was the announcement of the pending
retirement of Dr. A. L. Strand as president of
Oregon State college (university).
And now it is the resignation of Dr. John R.
Richards as chancellor of the state system of
higher education.
a a a
IT IS probably coincidental that the state's three
top educators all are leaving within a few
months of each other.
Dr. Wilson left to become president of the
University of Minnesota; Dr. Richards will as
sume the new post of director of the California
Coordinating Council on Higher Education, and
Dr. Strand will tro into semi-retirement, to per
form some as-yet unspecified duties with the
state system.
All three are ton men, acknowledged nation
ally and even internationally as able, astute,
scholarly administrators.
rNLY in the case of
been any hint at reasons other than the nor
mal attrition of age, or
tion, in the actions.
Dr. Richards emphasized that his resignation
could in no way be construed as a protest to
trends in education in uregon. cut ne aiso saia
that he has long looked with concern on a trend
in many states (including Oregon) for the leg
islative and executive departments of the' state
to dictate how the academic community should
do its lob.
He declared that the
cil in California represents a chance to reverse
that trend, and to nut scholars and academic ad
ministrators in charge of
are responsible.
a a
THERE are two schools of thought here.
One is that the legislature is responsible for
raising state tax money, and for the efficient
spending of it, along with the governor, and
therefore the legislative and executive branches
are duty-bound to oversee the minutiae of educa
tion as well as to make the appropriations.
The other, opposing view, is that the state
board of higher education, its administrators and
its teachers, have spent
ing in education, are professionally qualified tor
the ob, and can do it Better witnout amateurs in
a, . a . a
education looKing over tneir snoumers. ,
"THERE is merit in both arguments.
And as a result, state-supported higher edu
cation has long lived in
compromise between the
monev raisers should dictate policy, or that the
professionals should do
It is of significance
should be to an entirely new position in Calif
ornia, where the legislature has gone along with
a series of reorganizations which add up to great
er control of educational plans and policies by
professional educators. ; v
Dr. Richards chose to postpone announce
ment of his decision until after the legislature ad
journed. This was gracious of him, and avoided
an implied protest against
DUT there is little doubt that he feels the ex
D periment in California offers a new chal
lenge to work out a modus operandi whereby the
academic community will do its job with a mini
mum of interference from the political arena.
It will be interesting to watch how the new co
ordinating council works, and what effect it will
have on the largest state system of higher educa
tion in the nation, and on private institutions too.
It might be worth while for some basic think
ing on the problems involved to be done in Ore
gon, in academic as well as political circles.
Who is to set educational policies? Politicians
harried by a hundred distractions? Or academi
cians and administrators who have spent their
lives equipping themselves to do so I It s a valid
question. E. A. 1
4 p.m.
In recent months, the
to announcing many of
Friday afternoon. There are those who are in
clined to believe that is a petty way of protesting
the Mail Tribune's constant search for news.
Whether that's true
marked, after the appointment of Thad Hatten
as assessor was announced last Friday, "I'll bet
that if Judge Miller ever
nounced at 4 p.m. on a iriday." Hi. A.
Tribute to
Gary Cooper may not
greatest actor. But judging by the evidence avail-
aDie, ne was one or the world s nicest guys.
In contrast to many Hollywood personalities,
he was a man of personal integrity and honor.
and these showed through in the many roles he
played in his long career.
The general mourning among his colleagues is
a tribute to "Coop", not so much as an actor (al
though he always was honest and straight-forward
in his acting) as much as it was as a man
a decent, moral man who proved to the world
that Hollywood is not, really, all publicity, adul
tery and f lashy nothingness. E. A.
'
Dr. Richards has there
normal academic ambi
new coordinating coun
the worK lor wnicn tney
most of their lives wont
the atmosphere of uneasy
two positions that tne
so.
that Dr. Richards' move
tne uregon siiuauun.
v
Friday'
county court has taken
its major decisions on a
or not, one observer re
resigns, it will be an
"Coop
have been the world's
Dennis tha Menace
I . e m
Put on vouf?
HOW YA SfflMETHIN OUT
Communications
Letters to the Editor must bear tha name and address of tha writer,
although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or iniial
for publication (s permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves tha right 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 tha
paper; In fact tha contrary Is often the case.
Gentian
To the Editor Blue gen
tians always have ranked
high In the esteem of flower
lovers. They are characteris
tic of high mountain, mead
ows, as when climbing Switz
erland's Jungfrau or Matter
horn. One enjoys them hiking
the Dolomltenstrasse on the
Austrian-Italian border. One
notices them- all along our
own Sierras. They are in the
Rockies, whether your Na
tional Park is in Colorado or
in Canada. They also contrast
with the gold of "Iceland"
poppies on tundras north of
the Arctic Circle.
There is another gentian
that Is not quite so wide
spread over the Northern
Hemisphere. Its color is pink.
Its botanical name is Eryth-
raea. It is one of our disap
pearing California wlldflow
ers. Were It not for State
Parks and National Parks,
many of such species already
would be extinct.
In writer's boyhood, he en
joyed miles of these pink gen
tians where now are stretches
of bungalows. The last good
masses of this lovely flower
he observed was some years
ago at the old Ghost Town of
Timbuctu. Legend says it was
named for a Negro. He want
ed to mine. The white miners
thought it a big joke to send
htm to barren ground. To
their chagrin, he struck it
rich, When writer last visited
the old diggin's, they were
colorful with these pink gen
tians.
The Mexican California
knew Erythraea's medicinal
value. In their adobes under
their tiled roofs one saw bun
dles of this "canchaluga" sub
terfuge drying. It also was an
excuse for "bitters" when one
felt the need of an alcoholic
stimulant under such a sub
terfuge. C. M. Goethe
3731 Tea St.,
. Sacramento 16, Calif.
Cat Care Aims
To the Editor: To correct
rumors being circulated, the
Cat Care Society wishes to
make these facts clear:
1. The Cat Care Society has
NOT asked the county court
for funds for their society
and wlll'never do so. We feel
that private agencies should
not expect taxpayers to fi
nance their programs.
2. The Cat Care Society has
no quarrel With the Southern
Oregon Humane Society. .Evi
dence of this is the fnct that
In the fall ot 1960, because
the Humane Society had leas
ed out Kelt facilities original
ly built for the caro of home
less cats and dog.-i, to a com
mercial business (or $200 a
month, ami did not have any
facilities at their present site
for cats, thu Cat Care Society
offered to furnish building
material tor a small cat shel
ter and th.u o'fored to pay
gasoline costs if th-y would
help with the cat pick-ups
and problems in the valley.
These offers were not accept
ed. Our society respected their
right, as a private corpora
tion, to conduct their business
as they saw fit, but finding
it impossible for a small
group ot volunteers to cope
with the county wide prob
lem, we circulated petitions
requesting county participa
tion.
3. These petitions were pre
sented to the county court.
The court appointed a fact
finding committee to Investi
gate and show proof ot the
need tor county participation
and to make recommenda
tions. The need was estab
lished and recommendations
submitted that the control
program be carried out under
the direct supervision of the
county, using their already
existing facilities and work
ers, which could be done at
glasses ! i wanna
THE WINDOW J
a minimum cost.
4. At the hearing where
these, recommendations were
submitted, the Southern Ore
gon Humane Society present
ed a minority report stating,
and 1 quote from their re
port, "that if funds are allo
cated by Jackson county court
for a control program then
such funds be allocated to the
Southern Oregon Humane
Society." .
5. The Cat Care Society
does not agree with this rec
ommendation and is taking
the issue to the people: We
believe that if any allocation
is necessary it should be kept
under the direct supervision
of the people through their
county court, where public
control of funds used will
keep the program economical.
We do not believe that an al
location should be made to
any private agency to be dis
bursed at the discretion of the
agency with no direct super
vision or public control pos
sible. This is not what-the
petitioners requested.
Rita B. Shogren, President
Cat Care Society, Inc.
170S South Columbus ave.
Medford.
Interpretation, Please!
To the Editor: Many years
ago while reading my Bible
I came upon two verses there
in which seemed to be pecu
liarly applicable to me. They
were Proverbs 31, Verses 6
and 7 and I quote them below:
"Give strong drink unto
him that is ready to perish,
and wine unto those that be
of heavy hearts."
"Let him drink, and forget
his poverty, and remember
his misery no more."
Then and there I firmly re
solved that I would make
every possible effort to com
ply with these teachings at
least, even though I did not
do too well with many others.
However, as the years ad
vance upon mc, I now find it
increasingly difficult to give
my best effort's, as is directed,
due to the strain it places on
my financial and . physical
well being, and possibly
brings about other complica
tions as well.
I very well know, from con
stant perusal of your Com
munications column, that
many of your readers have
more than a casual familiari
ty with the Book and it is to
them that I ask for their in
terpretation of these verses,
as I am beginning to believe
that I have been accepting
them too literally.
William A. Allen
U.S.V. Domiciliary
White City, Ore.
Try and
By BENNETT CERF-
THOSE TWO MARTIANS are back In town again! Thia
time their attention was attracted to a snazzy white
motor scooter at a Third Avenue curb. "Isn't the a honey?"
enthused one. "I think
I'll take her back to Mars
with us." "Careful, boy,"
warned the other. "She
may be under age."
a a
Dr. Seusa, creator of the
all-conquering "The Cat In
the Hat." explains, "A kid
Is a guy I never writ down
to. Ha ia the last possessor
of a pure sense of humor,
which become tainted as
h grows older. Then he
becomns an adult and an
adult Is an obsolete child!"
a a
"What floor diya want?"
scowled the busy operator of an elevator in a Madieon Avenue
skyscraper. The sole passenger squeaked, "Tha eighth floor if
It Isn't out ot your way." .
O WM. x Benntt Off. &uiuted Klaf Featurae lyaaia .
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREOON
Faith of Southeast Asia in U.S., SEATO,
Said Shaken by Presumed Losses in Laos
By PHIL NEWSOM
UPI Foreign Mews Anayst
It seems a more than safe
assumption 'that leaders of
Southeast Asia were unani-
mmia In Hpliv
'"'fSi erlng to Vice
. j-r-reiiueiu
I T n n n T3
J XJ J A V U
Johnson a sin-
gle warning
message. That
would be:
There can be
. . i
sJftijJ treats such as
ajewaom itflB uwuucu
in Laos if the United States
wants to retain its friends in
that area of the world, or,
what is worse, save them
from being swallowed up
quickly by the Communists.
The Laos debacle has shak
en badly Southeast Asia's
faith in the United States and
in SEATO, the organization
that was founded specifically
Washington Report
By William S. Whit
(ci United Feature Syndicate
TAUT ROPE
Washington Richard M.
Nixon is walking a taut rope
in trying to prepare the
R e p u b ucan
Party for the
1062 Congres
s i o n a 1 cam
p a 1 g n, on
whose : out
come he be
lieves will
hinge all the
G.O.P.'s hopes
and his
wwte own tor tne
presidency in 1964.
The area of permissable at
tack for the Republicans has
been sharply limited, not in
principle against Mr. N'xo-'s
will, but certainly to a de
gree he himself would haru
ly have contemplated.
This has been done by Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the
symbolic and unfading leader
from a Republican past who
still has a greater actual au
thority with the rank and file
than does the party leader of
the present and probable fu
ture, Mr. Nixon himself.
l?OR eight years as
vice-
j.
president, Nixon remained
always under the amiable sha
dow of General Eisenhower.
And now, even though he led
the Republican ticket last fall
and lost the presidency in on
ly the narrowest way, he is
still plainly the second man
to a majority of G. O. P. vot
ers. "What Ike says" still
means more than "what Dick
says," even though it is
Dick and not "Ike" who
must do the job of directing
the party in the wars of 1962.
General Elsenhower's re
cent meeting at Gettysburg
with the old associates ot his
administration has put the
party on notice that he means
for it to "be completely bi
partisan" on foreign affairs.
In this field, he says, it must
'stand behind" President Ken
nedy.
To be sure, Mr. Nixon hlra
self had shown no wish to
tear the Kennedy Administra'
tion apart. But the general
order now issued from Get
tysburg calls for a most un
qualified restraint, indeed. It
means that no Republican
will have Eisenhower support
in the 1962 Congressional
campaign for an sharp attack
in the one area in which Mr.
Kennedy is politically weak
the state of this world.
This means, in turn, that
the Republicans must hit the
Democrats where they are
strongest on domestic is
sues. The Democratic Con
gressional domestic record
plainly will be a pretty solid
one by 1962. This the senior
Republicans do not in private
deny. ,
llfOREOVER, the one point
111 of potential domestic dan-
Stop Me
&a
to save nations from the fate
which now appears about to
overtake Laos,
The experience was all the
more a shaking one, coming
as it did Immediately after
Secretary of State Dean
Rusk's promise that the Unit
ed States would not permit
the sacrifice of Laos.
Southeast Asia nations feel
that sacrifice already has
been made, regardless of what
may occur at Geneva.
Japanese government lead'
era have been quoted as be
lieving that the whole of
Southeast Asia wlU slip be
hind the Iron Curtain within
24 months if Laos Is written
off.
Both the Philippines and
Thailand have made no secret
of their disappointment at
SEATO's failure to take
strong action against the
Communists in Laos, and
Thailand even has hinted it
ger to the Democrats, the
business slump, may well
have wholly disappeared by
then. The economy for weeks
has been obviously on the
rise. And now there are solid
reports of the first really Im
portant job increases since
last fall.
There is no purpose In this
column to criticize general
Eisenhower's unusual generos
ity in putting foreign policy
partisanship, out of bounds,
Far from it For his action is
not only right; there is also
a special justice in it. He him
self as president was protect
ed by his Democratic opposi
tion in world affairs. He is
now properly repaying a pro
per debt, aside from the far
bigger thing of serving the
country's highest interests.
Still, these facts do remain:
It is Mr. Eisenhower and not
Mr. Nixon who is making the
real command decisions, as to
the nature of the 1962 Repub
lican campaign effort. But it
is Mr. Nixon who must car
ry out these decisions. And
so his own hopes must rise or
fall on a campaign policy he
will not really make.
HISTORY is repeating Itself
with oddly Insistent rhy
thm. For the very same Nix
on, not denying that he had
reached his elevation precis
ely because of Dwight Eisen
hower, nevertheless was never
entirely free in 1960 to run
his own show. The Eisenhow
er shadow was forever over
his head; as a part of the Ei
senhower Administration he
had to defend it everywhere.
Now that shadow is to per
sist in 1962, the year in
which Mr. Nixon has two
great necessities: to show that
he can lead the G. O. P. to at
leats some relative Congress
ional victory and thus to jus
tify his own claims to the
Presidential nomination in
1964. And to show, by what
the 1962 returns may say,
that the Republican party
with himself at the top would
have a genuine chance at the
White House in 1964.
Strictly
Personal
By Sidney J. Harris
(c) General Features Corp.
MAGIC IN MEDICINE '
We were trudging through
the museum Saturday morn
ing, when Barbara halted be
fore a case of
Indian models
and a iked,
"What's that
man doing?"
Without giv
ing me a
chance to re
ply, Michael
told her con
t e mptuoualy,
"Cm'tyou
Rarrla
see? They're a
bunch of In-
dians having a dance, and the
one in front is a wish-doctor."
"What's a wish-doctor?" she
wanted to know. "You tell
him your wishes, and he tries
to make them come true," Mi
chael explained loftily.
l said nothing, because
really a "wish-doctor" is
much more to the point than
a witch-doctor. Again, out of
the mouths of babes and suck
lings we are treated to an un
conscious vision of the truth.
For is this not what most
people want - the so-called
sophisticated as well as the
primitive - a medicine man
who will grant their wishes,
a magician who simply by his
presence, by the knowing eye
and the cool touch of his
hands, will make their illness
es and Infirmities vanish into
thin air?
Medicine aims more and
more at being a science, but
at bottom it remains an rt,
and a lark art at that Tor
may have to re-examina its
whole alienment with the
SEATO forces.
American diplomats in
Thailand say the Thais al
ready have had down-to-earth
talks with the Russians, with
a view toward improving re
lations between the two
countries. .
There also is talk that Field
Marshal Sarit Thanarat, bul
wark against communism in
Thailand, might be permitted
to resign so that a neutralist
government could take over
In the manner of Burma and
Cambodia.
Matter of Fact joePh ai,op
(e) New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
THE BREAKDOWN
of DISCIPLINE
. Hong Kong-There is much
meaning in the tale of the
suspiciously fat cook who was
Drougui m
Hong Kong
from Taiwan
by a recently
t r a n sf erred
American dip
lomat.
Briefly, the
American and
h 1 s Chinese
cook moved
Alae
into an apart
ment on the very day air
rnnrlltlonlns was to Be in
stalled. The workmen sent by
the contractor arrived as the
AmM-iran left for tne omce.
When he returned, his living
room was Jn some disorder,
since the workmen had been
oicnickine there all day.
Nothing whatever had been
done about the air condition
ing. The same thing happenea
the second day.
The cook, being a Shanghai
Chinese by origin, could not
talk 'with the Cantonese
speaking workmen. But on
the third day, he wrote them
a letter of protest. All liter
ate Chinese can communicate
in writing. The leader of the
work crew was literate. It
then developed that the work
men, all refugees from the
mainland, had decided that
the American was a Russian
and his cook a Chinese Com
munist, simply because the
cook was fat.
"VOU are a northerner, and
-- many of the leading par
ty cadres in the south are
northerners," the leader of
the work crew laboriously in
formed the cook. "You have
just come to Hong Kong yet
you are very fat. No one on
the mainland is fat who is not
a Communist cadre. There
fore we thought you must be
a cadre and your master must
be a Russian."
The workmen ended their
sitdown strike and finished
the air conditioning job the
same afternoon, in a comical
round of apologies. But there
is nothing comical, at least for
the Communist masters of
China, in this little incident's
implications. It implies no
less than a breakdown of the
iron, super-spartan discipline
which the Chinese Commun
ists enforced with such as
tonishing success during their
first 12 years in power.
This breakdown is the
really novel and significant
element in the grim situation
In Communist China. When
this reporter last did a similar
series of articles here in Hong
Kong,' back in 1959, it was
easy enough to predict all the
present situation's other ele-
the personality of the doctor
is often the imponderable ele
ment making the difference
between recovery and regres
sion. Not long ago, In a lecture
at the University of Chlcaoo.
Dr. George Engel of the Roch
ester School of Medicina
made
more
said:
the same point in a
learned fashion. He
"That the physician can ex
ercise a healing effect with
out the exhibition of any spe
cific treatment ha
known and exploited by phy
sicians tnroughout the ages.
Indeed, so striking are the
effects of physician on patient
that one might wonder how
much this contributed to the
survival of medicine as a pro
fession, since what we know
as scientific medicine is hard
ly iuu years old and even
now the number of specific
curative remedies are few
and far between
"From time immomnrlai
he went on,' "human beings
" aougm, round and used
healers, and it is this need of
the suffering and ill which
has kept medicine as a profes
sion alive throuih Its mili.ni.
of dark ages and Into its pres
ent scientific infancy."
incre is, I am sure, some
p r o f o u nd psychobioloelcal
process which works between
doctor and patient, not on the
level of potions and pills, but
on the level of sympathy and
understanding, c o n f 1 d e nee
and good will. In some ob
scure but very real ways,
wishes ARE granted hv heal.
ers. and Michael's verbal con-
tusion was closer to the truth
than he knew. !
It is no secret that Red
China long has been prepar
ing forces to Infiltrate That,
land.
It can be reported with au
thority that influential per
sons in the Philippine For
eign Office feel if Laos falls,
the Philippines should adopt
a more "flexible" attitude to
ward the Reds.
It may be that the United
States will get a second
chance In Southeast Asia. But
as of now it has a long way
to go to recapture the former
faith of Its allies.
merits - the increasing horror
of the creeping famine in the
countryside, the more and
more widespread Incidence of
deficiency diseases, the more
and more, numerous symp
toms of a steep rise in the
death rate. But a breakdown
of discipline then seemed to
be unthinkable.
a
A MONG the many scores of
"refugees personally Inter
rogated in 19.59, not one
charged any dishonesty to the
Communist cadres. Hie ca
dres, then as now, were sup
posed to live on the ration of
a first class farm worker,
which was already shocking,
ly inadequate. Yet the 1959
refugees were downright as
tonished by the suggestion
that the cadres might use
their authority to supplement
their rations illegally.
"They live as we lived,"
one of the shrewder farmer
refugees then said. "They get
their only reward by bullying
the rest of us."
This time, in sharp con
trast, not a single refugee,
whether from town or coun
try, failed to charge the ca
dres with habitual pilfering.
The, bitter statement of the
refugee workmen to the fat
cook, that Communist cadres
were the only fat Chinese
nowadays, was spontaneously
made at least twice to this re
porter. And the same kind of
evidence of a relaxation of
the Communist party's for
merly stern grip on" its own
people has lately been ob
tained In mass by others who
take the trouble to secure
eyewitness reports on the real
situation in China.
Universal food pilfering by
officials may seem a petty
thing; but it is not a petty'
thing in a country like a war
time prison camp; where
mere nourishment is the be
all and end-all. In particular,
it is not a petty thing for a
regime whose primary boast
used to be that it had found
the cure for the ancient, re
curring tendency of Chinese
officialdom to take "squeeze."
'THAT might not matter so
much, if the story ended
with this humanly under
standable weakening of cadre
discipline under pressure of
the creeping famine. But the
stpry does not end there. The
public discipline, which has
also been one of the most
publicized achievements of
the Chinese Communist reg
ime, is also breaking down.
Beggars, supposed to have
been eliminated long since,
have not merely reappeared
in many Chinese cities. Ac
cording to an eyewitness re
port from two of the largest
cities, the beggars are now so
bold that they often enter the
few permitted restaurants to
bully the diners and even,
sometimes, to snatch food
from the tables.
In the same fashion, Hong
Kong Chinese going to the
mainland to take food parcels
to their relatives, as many
still do, can no longer count
on traveling in safety. The
forcible snatching of food par
cels is a common thing. It
happens quite openly. Groups
of intending parcel snatchers
have even been known to as
semble at the Canton station,
to wait under the noses of
the police for the incoming
trains from Hong Kong,
a a a
TN ADDITION, small food
1 riots have become fairly
common, and so have raids by
hungry villagers on the care
fully locked ud communal
grain stores. The police-enforced
compliant silence of
the people is being broken
too. Bitter rhymes and slogans
mocking the Communists are
now quite often reported bv
refugees. At least two reports
from Shanehai have even de
scribed a sudden rash of hast
ily scribbed wall slogans at
tacking the government.
In any other country, these
new phenomena might be re
garded as relatively Insignifi
cant, But In Communist
China a different standard
was long established. The in
fractions of discipline wnicn
are now both general ana
apparently accepted would
formerly have been punisnea
with five years In a work
camp or even with death -which
means that the break
down of discipline is quite
genuine and potentially quit
serious. r