MONDAY.
MEDFORDJTRIBUNB
""""Everyone-in Southern Oregon
Readi The Mall Tribune"
Published Daily except Saturday by
MbOFUKU rHIPITINU LU,
33 North irSt., Ph.77a-.3141
" ROBERT W. RUHL. Editor
HERB GREY Advertlilng Manater
(j EH ALU T. LATHAM. BUI. Mgr.
ERIC W ALLEN JR.. Mng. Editor
EARL H ADAMS. City tailor
Harry chipman. Tele Editor
RICHARD JEWETT. SporU Editor
OLIVE STARCHER Women'i Editor
DALE ERICKSON, Circulation Mgr
An Independent NewiDBDer
Entered as tecond claia matter at
Med lord, ureyon, unaer aci oi
March 3. 1697
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Rv Mail In Advance.
Daily and Sunday 1 yearflBOO
- Daily and Sunday 6 mot. 10.00
Dailv and Sunday 3 moa. 9.00
Sunday Only One year $5 00
Single Copy (Malted) 20c
By Carrier And Motor Route.
Daily and Sunday 1 year $2100
Daily and Sunday 1 mo. 175
Sunday Only 1 mo. 50c
Carrier andVendora JJopy 10c
Official Paper of City of Medford
Official Paper of Jackson County
United Preia International
Full Leaied Wire
U. P. I. Telephoto Newaplcturei
"MEMBER Or AUDIT BUREAU
OF CIRCULATIONS
Advertising Representative:
NELSON ROBERTS St ASSOCI
ATES. Ofticea In New York. Chi-
rago. Detroit, San Francisco. Los
Angeles, Seattle, Portland,
Denver.
NIWJPAM
UitlSHI $
ASSOCIATION
NATION A I
(0ITORIAI
uiiinig'.ii.'iiM
Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from tha files ot Tha
Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
md 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
Sept. 3, 1952 (Wednesday)
The Rev. Shelvy Anglemy
er, pastor oi First Christian
church, was elected president
of Medford Ministerial associ
ation here thic week.
Three Jackson county girls
win 4-H livestock judging hon
ors at the Oregon State air,
Bernice Binghnm, Eagle Point,
and Doreen and Marilyn Boh
nert, sisters Irom Central
Point.
20 YEARS AGO
Sept. 3, 1942 (Thursday)
Glenn Jackson resigns as
president of Jackson County
Chamber of Commerce be
cause he is leaving temporar
ily; Mark Goldy named acting
head.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "The
government Is now after the
packers for alleged removal
of price ceilings on meat, so
the old cow could jump over
the moon. Legal steps have
been taken to determine if
cither one or both has a beef
coming."
30 YEARS AGO
Sept. 3. 1932 (Sunday)
Jack Stevens' G 1 e e m e n
make debut in dedication cer
emonles of new Jackson coun
ty courthouse.
County prisoners moved to
new courthouse but Jailer O.
W. Dunford announces they
will have to eat prepared
meals because county court
does not feel justified to spend
$500 to equip the jail kitchen.
40 YEARS AGO
Sept. 3. 1922 (Monday)
County Jailer E. D. Collins
Is clubbed twice on the head
but manages to prevent pris
oner awaiting arraignment for
car theft from escaping; dazed
jailer wrestles club from pris
oner's hands and forces him
back Into cell.
Mayor Gates ia Informed
that fire conditions in Med
ford are "very bad."
50 YEARS AGO
Sept. 3. 1912 (Wednesday)
Chinese laundryman Indict
ed for murder by grand Jury
in Medford following testimo
ny of "white slave girl" asso
ciated with him
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct is superior)
seven or eight Is eicellint; five ei
sis is good.
1. Which Is the heavier
copper or steel?
2. The earliest forms of
measurement were related to
what?
3. Where is Churchill
Downs?
4. Would you guess that
1.0UO, 000,000 dollar bills
would stretch around the
world 3, 4, 5, or 6 times?
5. Milk Is heavier than
cream; true or false?
6. Name the fifth President
of the United States.
7. Icebergs are approxi
mately 5 9ths. 7'9ths, or
8flths under water?
8. In miles, what Is the ap
proximate diameter of the
earth?
9. After which war did the
observance of Memorial Day
originate?
10. The Revelations of
Joseph Smith led to the found
ing ol what religious faith?
Answers! 1. Copper. 2.
The body. 3. Louisville. Ky.
4. Four. 5. True. 6. James
Monroe. 7. 8'9lhs. 8. 8.000
miles. 9. War Between the
States. 10. Mormon.
Piltfhurgh About 400 mil
lion gallons of paint are sold
to amateur painters yearly.
4
TO
SEPTEMBER 3. 196a
Big Schools
Medford's hizh school is too small. The com
munity has decided to build a bigger one, rather
than to add another to the system. Reason: Big
nigh schools are more efficient, offer the student
better educations.
This doesn't square
friendly little high school where everybody
knows everybody. Yet, school officials make a
good case for it. Curriculum in a large high school
can be more varied, providing better for the ex-
, i : 1 ..i i l . r 1 1 i
cejjuunai Biuueiii eiuier me one wno is excep
tionally smart or the one who is exceptionally
siow.
IT IS not economic, for example to organize a
class in advanced mathematics in a high
school of 1,000. Perhaps only five or six students
would show up. But in a
as many as 15 might
sense, and the students
wouldn t have otherwise.
So with foreign languages. A fourth year of
German or Latin might
in a small school, or in
a large school, it is more
The big high schools
critics say, it's too hard
ognition. He's lost in the
be a valid, or somewhat
balance, large schools seem to make more sense.
-bugene Register-Guard.
Court Decisions Supported
Following Is the text of a statement adopted last
month by the Council for Christian Social Action at
Its meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
The Council for Christian Social Action of the
United Church of Christ
the United States Supreme Court in its decision
in Engle v. Vitale for the following reasons
1. Ihe decision upholds the principle of
church-state separation. The Council for Chris
tian Action believes that because the New York
State Regents' prayer was created, adopted, and
administered by state officials and used as a re
ligious exercise in the public schools, it violated
the establishment clause of the first amendment
of the federal Constitution. The fact that the
prayer was non-denominational and its recitation
voluntary does not alter the fact the state pre
scribed a particular form of prayer to be used
as an official activity. Thus the state was carry
ing out a function which is not its business to
perform.
2. We believe that
ligious education and
church and home where
performed. Significant
- e -.! l "ll.
oi cieep religious iaim ana conviction wmun can
not be appropriately expressed corporately in a
public school setting where there is a wide variety
of belief and non-belief.
3. There is nothing in the decision which bans
private prayer. Nor is there anything in the de
cision which restricts teaching about the contri
butions religious leaders, movements, and ideas
have made in the shaping of our history and cul
ture; and we would encourage the public school
to do this more effectively.
The Council for Christian Action calls upon
the members of our churches to support the Su
preme Court decision . . .
God in Russia
Thirteen American churchmen now visiting
the Soviet Union as guests of the Russian Ortho
dox Church will find a hardy core of believers
whose faith has withstood the manifold pressures
of a totalitarian state. Not the least of these
harassments is the jocular derision emanating
from Premier Khrushchev himself. In his cele
brated interview with C. L. Sulzberger of the
"New York Times" last September, Khrushchev
told of sending cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aloft to
find out if there was a paradise in outer space.
"Its pitch dark there, he (Gagarin) said; no
Garden of Eden, nothing like heaven. So we
decided to send another. We sent Gherman Titov,
and told him to fly for a whole day. After all,
Gagarin was up there only an hour and a half.
So he might have missed paradise. We told him
to take a good luck. Well, lie took off, came back
and confirmed Gagarin's conclusion. He report
ed there was nothing there."
lHRUSHCHEV'S primitive and negative view
'of the religious experience is not shared by all
Russians. Latest membership figures of the Rus
sian Orthodox Church, supplied by Russian
churchmen before their acceptance into the
World Council of Churches in New Delhi, India,
last November, put the number at 50 million
one-quarter of the Soviet Union's population.
Still, about 1,500 churches were reported closed
in the Soviet Union last year, partly because of
cocercion by Communist Party authorities. The
Communists' current anti-religious campaign has
fallen with particular severity on Russia's three
million Jews.
The Russian Orthodox Church has managed
to survive either by supporting Soviet policy, if
pressed, or by divorcing itself from moral assess
ment of non-religious affairs. Many Red clergy
men see the more spiritual approach to religion
as a means of avoiding a choice of sides in the
struggle between two forms of socio-economic
organization. But Communist leaders will always
fear and resent the survival in their midst of a
body worshiping an authority higher than the
State. E.R.R.
with the folklore of the
school of 2,000 or 2,500
show up. It makes more
get an opportunity they
be out of the question
two small schools. But in
feasible.
is criticized because, its
for a student to get rec
sea of faces. This may
valid, criticism. But in
declares its support of
the responsibility for re
worship belongs to the
it can be most effectively
prayer is an expression
1 i-
"And Where Are You
Timber
COMMUNICATIONS
Letters to the Editor must bear the
although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial
for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves tha rtght to
edit ell letters with a view to clarification and condensation. Letters
submitted for publication must not exceed 400 words. Tha letters
printed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of the
paper; In fact the contrary Is often the case.
Modern Occultism
To the Editor: A Christian
worker In calling upon homes
in a certain place was
met by cold reserve by the
lady in one house. The con
versation, however, seemed to
invite the lady's confidence,
and soon she explained her
bitterness toward all religion.
The government, during the
war years, had sent her a tele
gram, stating her husband was
missing in action. She waited
long months with no word.
Then well-meaning friends
urged her to try and contact
her husband through seance,
for they felt that he must be
dead.
She complied with their
wishes and to her amazement
the likeness of her husband
appeared. His voice was recog
nized and they talked over
many personal things .
But some months later her
husband, alive and well, walk
ed unannounced through the
front door. He hadn't been
dead nor ever seriously
wounded. This disillusioned
woman became bitter toward
religion because of the ad
vantage taken of her sorrow
by wicked and lying spirits.
Another lady I know of had
her "missing" son "appear
and he told her to quit study
ing the Bible that it was not
true.
Reminds me of the "spirits
of devils working miracles"
told of in Rev. 16:14.
A personal friend told me
that he once saw King Gus
tavus Adolphus in a a seance,
and a lady recently wrote me
that she had visited with a
number of her dead relatives
through the seance.
Now some of your readers
may wish to comment on
these Items. When King Saul
sought out an answer to his
problems through a seance,
was It actually Samuel who
appeared to him? Or was it
an evil Intelligence playing
the part of Samuel in psychic
drama forbidden by God?
In a book, "Practical Occul
tism," by F. F. Morse, he says
on page 85: "The phenomenal
aspect of modern spirttul'sm
reproduces all the essential
principles of the magic witch
craft and sorcery of the past.
The same powers are Involv
ed, the same intelligences op
erating." Very revealing. Isn't it?
I say this with kindness,
but according to God's word
these spirits which appear and
claim to be our dead loved
ones, are not dead people.
They are fallen angels mas
querading In the form of
loved ones.
It's time we began study
ing our Bibles.
Henry Johnson Jr.
23 IS Highway 66
Ashland, Ore.
Women of the Future
To the Editor: The habits of
our teenagers are discussed
far too much, but I have Just
had a revelation that I feel
needs shouting from the
housetops. Teenage girls have
always been a delight to me.
But sometimes when 1 have
seen them In knee knockers
and bare feet, discussing eye
shadow and lipstick. I have
been guilty of wondering
whether they were accumula
ting the necessary common
sense to be our future cradle
rockers.
This was before I saw a
half dozen of these same girls
In action for week They,
with no expectation of any
reward except their own sense
of accomplishment, did an In
credible amount of work.
They helped to guide a group
of 45 youngsters, ranging in
age from 2 to 12, through a
hectic and beautiful time of
learning.
They assembled and served .
230 lunches. They washed i
MEDFORD MAIL
Going?" Aaked The
Wolf
rcme and address ot the writar,
dishes, mopped up spills,
washed little hands and wiped
tears from baby eyes. They
also helped color, paste and
cut when things were diffi
cult, hunted lost articles, ran
errands, kept attendance' rec
ords and helped with the
music. They held little ones
and softly closed their eyes to
help them learn to pray. All
this they did with wonderful
patience and high good humor
and with no attempet to draw
attention to themselves. At
the same time they were baby
sitting and helping their moth
ers at home.
If these girls are any indi
cation of our future home
makers, and I believe they
are, we need have no more
worries about those homes. If
they can accomplish the things
I saw them do in a Bible
School, then I am sure their
own homes will be filled with
love, understanding, beauty,
reverence, joy and a wonder
ful sense of humor.
Being the mother of sons,
I confess that I have wonder
ed if the teenage girls were
developing Into capable help
mates for the men of the fu
ture. Now I shall spend even
more time trying to prepare
my sons to take their places
alongside the women of the
future.
(Name on File)
Gold Hill, Ore.
Murder Is Murder
To the Editor: The 1,700.000
residents of the state of Ore
gon have committed a murder.
I do not condone the actions
of the victim which were the
cause of his murder by the
people of Oregon. After all,
there is evidence that he, too,
committed murder. But do
two wrongs make a right? Ab
solutely not!
How many of those who
read the Mail Tribune, have
done something which had a
legal penalty, but which they
were only too happy they
weren't caught? It may have
been failure to see a stop sign
or it may have been infinitely
more serious.
Now if the combined 1,700,-
000 people of Oregon can com
mit murder then why can't 1?
1 know several who would not
be missed by the world. In
fact, I have a more or less
faint idea I should get a medal
for their removal. Of course,
I must concede, they have as
much right to life as anyone
else.
It did no one any good, the
people of Oregon, collectively,
the dead mother and her little
boy, the district attorney,
sheriff, state police, circuit
court judge, Jury, or anyone
else. Not even the taxpayers.
If and when a measure ap
pears on the ballot in the fu
ture, to abolish capital punish
ment, you may rest assured I
shall vote yes.
Floyd R. McCabe,
Mt. Pitt Star rt..
Butte Falls, Ore.
Burke Sees Threat
In Red Shipments
San Diego, Calif. -rt'PP- Re
tired Adm. Arleigh Burke,
former chief of naval opera
tions, said Sunday that ma
terials recently shipped into
Cuba from Communist coun
tries posed a threat to the
United States.
"The material going in is
surely intended for an at
tempt at the destruction of
our social order." said Burke
at a news conference aboard
the guided missile destroyer
Henry B. Wilson.
Burke also said he hoped
that the new chairman ot the
Joint Chiefs of
Staff. Gen.
"carries out
Maxwell Taylor
his responsibilities with a
great deal of restraint."
TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON
Foreign News: Exodus From Algeria;
Euro-Market Fears; German Peace Pact
By PHIL NEWSOM
UPI Foreign News Analyst
Notes from the foreign news
cables:
Exodus
French officials fear the
latest threat of civil war in
Algeria will spur the remain-
1 n g 330,000
Eur o p e a n f
there to flee
to Francs.
The French
govern m e n t
says it can
IX.- I nanaie me in
e I flux, although
-JXLJj it will cause
Nawsoin and employ
ment difficulties. But officials
fear It will spell economic
disaster for Algeria and the
Washington Report
By William
(e) United reature Syndicate
TOUGH COURSE
Washington How an op
position should behave in the
delicate field of foreign policy
- neither roll
ing over and
playing dead
nor yet taking
up a harshly
critical 1 i n'e
d e s t ructive
both of na
tional unity
and national
interest is
gravest prob
lem before any minority
party.
The Republican party in
this slowly expiring Demo
cratic Congress has met and
solved the problem decently.
It has found a way to offer
constructive criticism of the
administration without giving
aid and comfort to those
forces abroad which don't In
the least care who is a Demo
crat and who a Republican
in their simple, total hostility
to all the United States of
America.
All session long, and all
last session too, the Republi
can congressional leaders have
loyally followed a tough
course of responsibility and
self-restraint. They have gone
the last mile in support of the
President whenever in con
science they could.
WHEN, on rare occasions,
the last mile has been
reached and passed and they
could go on with him no long
er, they have declined the
easy opportunity to take small
partisan advantage of this
country's difficulties by adver
tising these national differ
ences to the world.
They stood with the Presi
dent in the lost invasion of
Cuba and, more important
ly, they did not go about
shouting "I told you so" when
It failed. They have backed
him all the way in his gen
erally strong stand over Ber
lin. They not only supported
him in his resumption, at long
last, of nuclear testing. They
also consistently urged him to
make that decision in the first
place, against all the mutter
ing and hissing of the peace
at - any - pricers here and
abroad.
Most of them have given
him decisive and indispensa
ble assistance in his efforts to
shore up the United Nations
wtilt-
In the Day's News
By FRANK
As this is written, it looks
like the Russians, betting their
shirts on the admittedly su
perior power of their booster
rockets, made an effort the
other day to beat us to the
vicinity of Venus, but FLOP
PED. fTiHE story?
It boils down to this:
Our scientists say they have
definite evidence that a Rus
sian space shot failed. They
report that four fragments of
a Russian rocket were tracked
in a slow orbit around the
earth. By Saturday morning,
they add, one of these pieces
of space trash had re-entered
the earth's atmosphere and
disappeared, apparently burn
ed to ashes by the heat of
friction.
The others are expected to
be short-lived in space.
rUR scientists say they had
" no indication from these
objects in orbit what the pur
pose of the shot was, but they
think it is highly probable
that it was a Venus shot be
cause of the very narrow
"time window" available for
such events.
In space language, a "time
window" means the period of
time in which Venus and the
earth are close enough to each
other to make such a shot
possible. They add that they
have been unable to find any
Russian object headed for any
other planet.
So
They deduce
The Russians took a long
end of any possible economic
and technical cooperation
with France.
Cross Currents
British negotiators are con
vinced now that, despite
words to the contrary, De
Gaulle opposes British entry
into the European Common
Market and they fear that
West Germany's Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer is moving
closer to De Gaulle's position.
In any event, the British con
cede privately that there Is
no hope of British entry be
fore the end of the year and
probably hot before the mid
dle of 1963. Meanwhile, the
delays and foot-dragging are
having a paralyzing effect on
over-all policy decisions at
home and abroad. Britain may
S. White
financially. This they have
done even though they are
sorely troubled at some of the
attitudes of the organization.
This they have done even
though their own views as to
what our positions should
have been on many UN mat
ters have not had the slight
est acceptance at the White
House.
NOW, they have presented
to President Kennedy a
proposal that we loose a
worldwide p r o p a g a nda-of-truth
offensive against the
infamous wall which a year
ago the Russians raised in
Berlin. They suggest that
while America knows that the
wall was built not to keep
people out but to keep people
in within the slavery of East
Berlin, the world at large may
not be so well aware of its
central meaning:
"Without walls, without
barbed wire, without guns and
without terror, the Commu
nist regimes, wherever they
be, cannot thwart man's flight
to freedom."
Since year upon year Com
munist stooges and dupes have
endlessly picketed the West,
not excluding the White
House, why cannot the free
world now do some worldwide
picketing, parading and peace
ful protesting of its own
against the wall of Berlin?
This is what the Republican
leaders ask. And why not,
indeed?
THIS is a reasonable plan.
a- in no way partisan and in
no way encroaching upon the
President's due authority. The
administration would be wise
not to thrust it casually aside.
For it comes from Republican
politicians, notably Sen. Ever
ett Dirksen of Illinois, the
Republican Senate leader, to
whom this administration and
country owe much for their
self-denial and sense of na
tional responsibility in the
hard times through which we
pass.
No fair man could deny
that Dirksen, who is up for re
election this year, could have
profited much in selfish, par
tisan terms and kept his name
in high and useful headlines
had he taken the route of
damning the administration
for every American weakness
and setback everywhere in
the world. And so easily this
could have been done.
JENKINS
chance to beat us to the vicin
ity of Venus and FAILED.
TF SO
Their faces are red.
It will be interesting to see
what comes of it all.
THAT brings up something
- else:
What cooks in Cuba?
TT IS beginning to look like
the Russians are in the
process of establishing some
kind of base there. As this is
written, a report from Wash
ington says:
"One reliable intelligence
estimate indicates that
Khrushchev has given the
green light to his military
leaders to use Cuba as a test
ing ground for their newest
"jamming" devices . . . These
jamming devices can be used
to interfere with U.S. aircraft
guidance control and ground-to-air
communication systems
throughout the area . . . This
could be the beginning of an
attempt to establish air con
trol over the Caribbean for
Castro's growing jet air force.
IF SO, what should we do
a
bout it?
It might be argued that we
have bases all around Russia
so what grounds do we have
for objecting to Russia's es
tablishing bases in Cuba?
The answer to that is that
Russia has no Monroe Doc
trine. We DO have a Monroe
Doctrine. The basis of it is
that we will retard any at-
, tempt on the part of nations
make a new approach to Euro
pean leaders behind the scenes
soon to try to quicken me
pace.
Peace Treaty '
Informed observe In West
Germany are speculating that
East German Communist Boss
Walter Ulbricht flew home
from Russia with a firm com-
Drummond
(Walter Lioomann b en vacation. Roscee Dnimmenal reeeifi I
WasMneten In his absence.) (c) 19e2 Hew Vera Herald Tribune Inc.
JFK'S TROUBLES
WITH CONGHESS-I
Washington - There is no
doubt in my mind that Sena
tor Kennedy was absolutely
sincere in telling the Ameri
can people in the 1960 cam
paign that, if they would elect
Democratic President to
Strictly
Personal
By Sydney J. Harris
(c Field Enterprises Inc.
WOMEN AND HAIR
What would women do
without their hair? Ionesco
has written a playlet called
"The Bald
headed So
prano," but I
haven't seen
It, so I don't
know his ap
proach to the
subject. But it
occurs to me
that taking
care of their
Harris hair is almost
a way of life to most women.
Not one woman in a thousand
is actually satisfied with her
hair in the way that God gave
it to her.
It is either too straight or
too curly, too fine or too
coarse, too limp or too un
manageable. A man doesn't
think about his hair at all, ex
cept when he is losing it; but
a woman spends a huge pro
portion of her time, energy
and (husband's) income on the
upkeep of her tresses.
"I can't do a thing with
lr.y hair" ia the universal
lament among women - but
it's not for lack of trying.
American women will try
to do everything with their
hair, changing ita contour,
length, texture and lint at
least every three months,
in their Utopian search for
hirsute happiness.
For girls who are rela
tively dateless, "washing
my hair" occupies a good
many otherwise empty eve
nings. This procedure, ap
parently, can be stretched
out for about thrje hours
or about the time it would
take a man to wash three
full-siied automobiles.
This feminine preoccupa
tion with hair, I feel sure,
must be an unconscious dis
guise for something else on
ihe part of most women.
Hair actually isn't that im
portant to a woman's looks;
despite the commercials,
men don't go into raptures
because a woman's hair is
soft and glistening with
high-lights. In fact, unless
the hair is obviously dirty
or unkempt, men scarcely
notice it.
A wife, in fact, can re
arrange her hair every
week, and her husband
would not know it until she
brought it to his attention.
Other women would notice
immediately, however, be
cause all of them are ob
sessed with hair-dos.
In my naive youth, I used
to think that a woman got a
permanent once every three
months, and that was that.
Since then, I have learned
that nothing is more tempor
ary than a permanent: it
needs to be supplemented by
"sets" and curlers and rinses
and lotions and bandanas and
sprays and whatever other
illusory device some rannv
manufacturer put on the mar-
Kei.
Perhaos all this hair hi.
ness is what the psychiatrists
can a "displacement. Women
know they can do little about
their other natural HpfoM.
bad legs, flat busts, indiffer
ent features. And so they dis
place their anxitv imwoivi.
to the hair, in the desperate
nope tnat a stunning coiffure
will comDensate for rfofiHon.
cies elsewhere.
But a man ia alwavi in tm
deep water when he tries to
analyze a woman' mntiv-
and maybe many a wife's
nocturnal preoccupation with
her tresses is simply a way
of keepins her husband mil nf
her hair.
of the Old World to plant
their systems of government
in any part of North America
. . . as dangerous to American
peace and safety.
The presumption is that if
such an attempt is made we
will go to war. if necessary,
to prevent u.
That makes a lot of differ
ence.
mitment from Nikita Khrush.
chev for an early signing of;
a separate bast uerman-Soviet
peace treaty. In anticipation
of this treaty, it Is expected
that the Soviet puppet leader
will demand transit visas for
all road traffic to and from
West Berlin in a further move
to promote diplomatic recog
nition of East Germany.
Reports
give leadership to a Demo.
cratic Congress, all would go
wen. Ana ne was aosolutely
wrong.
Mr. Kennedy Is now near.
ing the end of his first tva
legislative years, and it is onlv
factual to report that this 87th
Congress has been one of tha
most uncooperative, unre
sponsive, unproductive Con.
gresses since the end of World
war 11.
The record is not in disDute.
Last year this Congress re.
luseo. me rresiaent 80 per
cent of his 277 legislative re-
quests and thus far this year,
according to the Coneression.
al Quarterly, it has rejected
more than 80 per cent of hii
ZB3 legislative requests.
This is the quantitative
record. Measured against tha
assurances that a Democratie
rresiaent cooperating with a
Democratic Congress would
really "get things moving," it
is woetuuy deficient.
With respect to the Prest.
dent's major legislation, tha
record is gravely in default.
This Congress has defeated
medicare and the bill for
creating a Department of Ur
ban Affairs. It has mutilated
the farm bill. It hasn't even
taken up the promised, civil
rights legislation and tha
promised aid to the public
schools. The tax bill is being
cut away.
WHY? Why. has. this 87th
" Congress, w.th ita larga
Democratic majorities in both
Houses, been so uncoopera
tive, unproductive, and un
responsive to the leadership
of a Democratic President?
Most of the answers seem
to me to miss the point. Mr.
Kennedy is criticized for not
"going to the country" suffi
ciently to put pressure on
Congress and he is criticized
for putting too much pressure
on Congress. He is accused of
twisting the arms of Congress
too vigorously and not vig
orously enough. He is accused
by Democratic conservatives
of not being willing to com
promise enough and he is ac
cused by Democratic liberals,
as in the satellite communica
tions filibuster, of compromis
ing too much. ;
You can slice these argu
ments anyway you wish, but
in my judgment the bleak
record of the 87th Congress
and its failure to enact much
more than a token of the
President's legislative pro
gram do not stem from an
personal or political deficien
cies on the part of Mr. Kern
nedy.
The responsibility o e I
much deeper, and it is little)
related to the personality of
the popularity of the Presi
dent. 'TO BLAME the President fof
t h e unresponsiveness of
the Democratic Congress over
looks the political realities of
nearly a quarter-century. If
you look at the pattern of
events spanning this period
you will find, 1 think, that it
justifies these conclusions: .
1-The least productive Con
gresses - except in war of
acute national emergency .
have been Democratic Con
gresses serving under Demo
cratic Presidents: 1939 - 40
under President Roosevelt,
1949-52 under President Tru
man, 1961-62 under President'
Kennedy.
2 - The most productive
series of Congresses have been
the Democratic Congresses
serving under a Republican
President: 1955-60 ur.der Pres-.
ident Eisenhower.
3 - Since there has been
only one Republican Congress,
serving under a Republican;
President for only two of tha
past 30 years, this is hardly'
enough experience to Justify
a firm judgment. The short
period that Mr. Eisenhower
had a Republican Ccr.sress
produced a good deal of con
structive social and fiscal leg
islation, but more experience)
would be needed to decida
whether that was exceptional
or a foretaste of more to
come.
What is clear is that tha
political arrangement which
had produced the most ba.Ten
legislative periods of a quarter-century
is a Democratie
Congress under the leadership
of a Democratic President
President Kennedy is hav
ing no more trouble - but no
less - than F. D. R. had in tha
last two years before the war
or than Mr. Truman had after
he succeeded in electing a
Democratic Congress in 1948.
I am not advocating the merits
of divided government; I am
simply pointing out the fact.
4