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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1962)
MONDAY. Bedford 5&&Tribunb cEverVoneTnSoiitherrroregolf Reads TheMnilTrlbune;' Published "Daily except Saturday by MEDFORD PR1NT1NO CO. S3 North Fir St., Ph."2-6Mt ROBERT" W7 RUM.. Editor HERB GHKY Advertiiini Manajer GERALD T LATHAM. Bui. Mgr. ERIC W ALLEN JR.. Mng. Editor EARL H ADAMS. City Editor HARRY CIIIPMAN. Teles Editor RICHARD JKWKTT. Spuria Editor OLIVE STARCHER Women a Editor DALE ER1CKSON. Circulation Mgr ' An"Independent" Newspaper Entered aa second claaa matter at Medford. Oregon, under Act of March 3, 1807 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail In Advance. Daily and Sunday I yearSIBtm Dsilv and S mday moi. lO.im Daily and Sjllday 3 moa. 5.0 Sunday Only One year S 00 Single Copy (Mailed) 20c Bv Carrier And Motor Route. Dailv and Sunday 1 year 21.00 Dallv and SundayI mo. Sunday Only I mo. M'e Carrier and Vendor- Copy 10c Official Paper of Cllv ill Medford Offlrlal Paper of Jackson County ' United Press International Full Leased Wire TJ. P 1. Telrphoto Newsplcturna "MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU" Advert 111 ng Representative : NELSON ROBERTS t ASSOCI ATES Ofllcea in New York, Chi cago Detroit. San Francisco. Loa Angelea, Seattle, Portland, Denver. 6" NEWSPAPM Km PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION NATION A L f 0 I T 0 R I A L Wirwinni'.u..iiii Flight o' Time Medford and Jackson County History from the files of The Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ego. 10 YEARS AGO Sept. 17, 1952 (Thursday) Trapper charged wllh June 24 murder of state police of ficer here is captured at cabin in woods north of Salem. Sen. Richard M. Nixon, Re publican candidate for vice president, to speak from rear platform of special ( train on trip through Medford. 20 YEARS AGO Sept. 17, 1942 (Friday) City Recorder Mose L. Al ford reports no petitions for four Medford city council po sitions with deadline for filing only four days away. From Arthur Perry's "Ye Smudge Pol" column: "Old weather prophets ot the val ley fear Indian summer will be short, followed by squaw winter. It has been cool as a cucumber." 30 YEARS AGO Sopt. 17, 1932 (Sunday) State highway commission "census" shows 23,554 cars using highways in southern Oregon during 16 -hour pe riod. Petitions circulated protest ing change of highway south of Ashland as "extravagant and unjustified . . . and will mainly benefit the tourist trade only." 40 YEARS AGO Sept. 17, 1922 (Monday) Total of R85 carloads of pears shipped from Medford since start nf fruil packing season. Jackson county 4-11 club members attending state fair in Salem include Juhn Bohn crt, Central Point, 50 YEARS AGO Sept. 17, 1912 (Wednesday) Eleventh si. not to he paved at this time, "owing to the condition ot the car paving plant at Husebuig which can not be moved at this lime ow ing to its condition." What's Your I.Q.? Nine or leu correct it superior; seven or eight is eaccllcnt; five el tit is eood. 1. W h i c h Scandinavian country wasn't invaded by Germany during World War II? 2. Which book in the Old Testament tells of Solomon and the Shulamile maid? 3. Where did Peter Pump kin Eater keep bis wife? 4. Correct the following: "The young couple got mar ried." 5. Is Ihe name Miami of Spanish, French, or American derivation? B. Who w role "Sonnets from the Portuguese"? 7. Do the Hawaiian Islands lie closer to the Japanese or U. S. mainland? R. Within the boundaries of which three States docs Yel lowstone Park lie? 9. On which river is (he Hells Canyon controversial dam site? 10. What finality in wine is described bv the adjective "dry"-1 Answers: 1. Sweden. 2. The Song ol Solomon. 3. In a pumpkin shell. 4. The young couple married. 5. American (Indian). I. Elisabeth Barrett Browning. 7. U. S. mainland. 8. Wyorr.ing. Montana and Idaho. S. Snake River between Idaho and Oregon. 10. Non tweet. I 4 A SEPTEMBER 17. 19S2 Mountain Lakes' Future The proposal made last week that the Sky Lakes Limited Area be reclassified and enlarged is deserving of serious consideration, The forest service has been studying some such a possibility for some months now, and we are unofficially informed that a recommendation is nearly ready to be presented to the regional for ester. The nature of the recommendation has not been made public, but an educated guess would be that it would he for a Wild Area of some 50,000 or fewer acres, or some 110,000 acres small er than the present Limited Area, eliminating the portion near Crater Lake. (A Limited Area is based on regional admin istrative action; a Wild Area is 100,000 acres or less designated at the Washington level; and a Wilderness Area is 100,000 or more similarly designated. All are under similar restrictions and management.) ""THE new proposal was made by 'J. Michael McCloskey of Eugene on behalf of the Fed eration of Western Outdoor Clubs and the Ore gon Wildlife Federation. J he major change from the exisitlng bound ary would be a loop to thus adding enough area ness Area, rather than the smaller Wild Area. Other boundary modifications are largely to follow natural topographical features, such as ridges or countour lines, strictly to sections lines. aim is to give a minimum of two miles ot butter zone, where possible, to protect the little Cas cade lakes from overuse. IF OUR guess is correct, the chief difference between this proposal service is considering McLoughlin, and of the just south of Crater Lake National rark. McCloskey's brief makes a good case for both. Of the latter, he says: "It is felt thai the Oregon Desert country merits dedicated status for four reasons. One, the area's special geological qualities exemplifying the aftermath of the collapse of Mt. Mazama can best be appreciated in the undisturbed conditions of wilderness . , . Two, the area is the scenic foreground, in a panoramic sense, for views of Crater Lake Park from Devils Peak, which is the dominating viewpoint of the en tire region. The desert country is an Intervening part, of a continuum of high country connecting with the park . . . Three, dedication of the desert country would prevent connection nf Ihe roadbeads not four miles apart which impinge on the east and west sides of the Seven Lakes Basin . . . Though a transmounlain connecting highway has been suggested here . . .the need for such a route will be obviated by the con struction of an even lower route in the new Win-nomucca-to-lhe-Sea highway north of Lake of the Woods . . . Four, by keeping the area north of Seven Lakes Basin roadless, opportunity is afforded of re taining the unique recreational a.ssel of a 45 mile long continuum of near wilderness mountain scenery free of commercial and commodity developments. " Regarding Ml. McLoughlin, he adds: "It is fell thai II is desirable to dedicate this area around Ml. McLoughlin (al an average of 2 'a miles (roirs the summit) to protect the Immediate slopes of mountain from further incursions that are Inconsistent 1 with its scenic character. Logging roads now run to within 2'i miles of the mountain's summit, and culling units arc working their way up the soulhwcsl ap proaches lo the mountain." MCCLOSKEY also proposes some suggestions no it m-innrrnnmnl nf tlin Qi'an Pro ita nrntop. lion suggestions we have often heard discussed by forest service personnel who are concerned with the possible damage and oilier factors: These include road standards as they ap proach the area, overnight camps just outside the area to encourage day use rather than over night use, trail standards sot to conform to wild erness application and discouraging vehicular use, basic sanitary facilities for the protection of humans, livestock, wildlife and fish life, and a summertime patrol crew to "direct traffic," service the facilities, and make needed repairs. The entire area would total lOo.ti-IO acres (compared to 82,000 acres al present), and would span the Cascade summit for 28 miles, averaging six miles in width. There are al present 21 points of access by trail, and a well-developed system of trails within the area. There are approximately 30 good-sized lakes, and .countless smaller ones, ranging from ponds upward. X7M ARE not intimately familiar with the area, ' but we are acquainted with it. Last sum mer we were with a horseback party t hat trav versed some o" miles of its trails in two days, and we have flown over it on several occasions. It is, indeed, one of the most beautiful areas of its type we have ever seen. It has a character and loveliness all its own, and is well loved, not only by fishermen, but also by hikers and camp ers who merely want to get away from civiliza tion's pressures and tensions. It would not "lock up" (in the lumbermen's phrase) any appreciable amount of exploitable resources. Most of the timber is sub-standard, and it is not mineralized country. JVCCLOSKKY'S presentation was based on de- tailed study of the area, on the spot anil otherwise. It is an expert job. The forest service should give it detailed consideration. The Sky Lakes area is one of only two in southern Oregon (not counting Critter Lake Na tional l'ark) that is held in wild or wilderness status. The other is the much smaller Mountain Lakes Wild Area, southeast of Lake of the Woods. We hope the forest service will not succumb to "practical" considerations in arriving at its determination and make the reserved area too small. E.A. include Mt. McLoughlin to qualify as a Wilder rather than adhering In laying them out, the and the one the forest are the inclusion ot Mt. so - called Oregon Desert to the area by overuse We Didn't Go Far Enough We Should Havei Been Against Voting 7a f 4k ifm luiir 'THE BATTLE OF THE DOLLAR IS WON' There will be no "sick, sick, sick" jokes about the U.S. dollar in the corridors and meeting halls of Wash ington's Sheraton Park hotel today as the free world's fi nancial leaders gather to open the 19(12 meetings of the World bank and International Monetary fund. For the U.S. dollar is hard ly as sick as is claimed by ma licious critics of our country, uninformed newspaper com mentators and ruthless cur rency speculators - and the central bankers of the Wesl know It. In fact, even as the speculators have been trying to stage a last-minute bear raid on our currency, "the bat tle of the dollar," in the words of the respected financial trade paper, "The Weekly' Bond Buyer" is, "to all prac tical account, won." We are not going to deva lue our dollar under pressure now by raising the price we pay for gold from its long bold $35 an ounce level and thereby permit the gold spec ulators to make a killing. We are not going to stoop to notice the dollar-baiting talk In countries which are free and prosperous today on ly because we have given and loaned them our dollars so generously. We ara not going lo be pushed by incredibly short sighted, selfish foreigners into acts of desperation that would undermine the entire free world and hand the Soviet Union an enormous victory. Again lo quote The Bond Buyer, it is ludicrous "That so great a currency as the dollar is or can be imperiled by other relative ly pip-squeak currencies, some ot which were flat on their back a dozen years ago and would still be there it the dollar had not rescued them." Yes, we are still running a deficit in our balance of pay ments spending more abroad than we're taking in from other countries, thereby al lowing our foreign creditors to continue to build up claims against our dollar which they can (and do) withdraw in part in the form of gold. We arc losing gold, we will lose more, and our gold reserve, already at a 2:i-yeur low of Slfi bil lion, will be still lower be fore year end. But the dollar is being pro tected by a series of unprece dented measures and the pro tection will go on until no longer necessary. The cooper ation among the free world's financiers to defend the dollar and conserve the U.S. gold re Try and By BENNETT CERF- MRTS;. GEORGE ALLEN, wife uman and Eisenhower, modest Navy football coach victory over Army in years, quietly left the train in Baltimore on the way back to Annapolis so his team could get alt the huzzuhs when it ar rived home. Allen nodded and said. "That's exactly what I would have done under similar circumstances." "The heck it is," hooted the knowing Mrs. Allen. "You'd have put the TEAM off at Baltimore:" Brian Jamea tells of a well-heeled tourist who dropped into a liny village ctitirvh In Essex County, Knglund, for the Oinstiiia.s en-Ice. Before It begun, he button-holed the rector and said rpanively, "I mean to give you a hajvlaotne contribution. I only hope you'll put on a good show today." The revlor answered quietly. "U won't be a bad one. It I been running new foi almost two trtousajid years;" MEDFORD MAIL By White People Too" mA lMSt All'A iiiuiicy s IUIUI By SYLVIA PORTER Copyright, Hall Syndicate, Inc, served in recent months has been nothing short of magni ficent. The way the Interna tional Monetary Fund came to the rescue of the pound ster ling a year ago and is now helping to develop dollar sta bilizing techniques also i3 nothing short of magnificent. The U.S. dollar is the pivot of the free world's currencies and economics - and one reason Is that no olher cur rency could do the job. No other nation except us puts absolutely no controls over currency movements; you can lake any amount of dollars you have wherever you wish. No other nation except us says to any foreign borrower that he may enter our mar kets and borrow as much as our investors are willing to lend at a cost set by a free market. No other nation ex cept us runs a balance of pay ments deficit just because we spend so much for the free world's military defense and economic welfare thai this spending more than wipes out our huge surplus of exports over imports. The sick, sick, sick jokes began when the financial leaders met In New Delhi for their 1958 meeting. The big story that year was that a Zurich banker had offered to bet Federal Reserve Board chairman Martin a bottle of champagne that the dollar would be deval ued. Martin had refused lo lake the bet - and that meant devaluation was im minent. They were revived when the financiers met in Washington in l!)50. The big jokes that year were that we were the "world's poorest developed nation" and had the world's "firth strongest currency." They readied sickening crescendo in Vienna last year when our financial delegates had to spend endless hours ex plaining to the European Fi nanciers that because a small town U.S. banker on a Euro pean vacation said the dollar was going to be devalued didn't mean he knew any thing about the subject and the same went for some of our newspaper re porters. This year, the mood is dif ferent. It's serious, attentive, cooperative, for tltc dollar, even If the amateur rumor mongers haven't caught up with the news yet. j Some day, when the timing ; is right, we will take major new .steps (o strengthen the I currency system of the free world. But we'll take ihe steps I when WK are ready not when Ihe raiders in pip- squeak countries shrilly tell us to. Stop Me of the famous put of F.D R., read in the paper about a who, following the first Navy TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON Men-Around-Kennedy Will Be Republican Strategy By LYLE C. WILSON United Press International Washington -WPIt- National Republican strategy in this year's congressional campagn will be to cen I e r fire on the men. around - Ken. nedy (TMAK). That w a i Deinoirn tic a t r a t e. Cy.wh.eQ Dwight P, Eis. enhower was President. Ike was deemed too popular for sustained attack on him until John F. Kennedy came along in 1960 to blame the President for a condition of national stagnation and for a missile gap. The missile gap issue may have been a phony but it was most effective, its doubt ful nature being unknown until afler Kennedy took of fice. Kennedy's personal popular ity probably is a factor in Re publican plans to center fire on TMAK. But another factor is that TMAK seems especial ly vulnerable from the Repub lican viewpoint. The Republi can target is not so much the Kennedy cabinet as some les ser figures who are relatively obscure. Men such as Arthur Schlesinger Jr.. a special as sistant to the President, and Walt W. Rostow, chairman of the State Department policy planning board. Rostow is challenged as the inventor of the missile gap issue. What the Republicans hope to do is to make Schlesinger, Rostow and others on their level better known to the vot ers before this campaign is ended; much better known. Schlesinger reminds some old timers of FDR's famous Thom as G. Corcoran, a short-tempered, sometimes abrupt indi vidual. He was well equipped with brains and a profound admirer of his own ideas and opinions. Rostow is suspected by Re In the Day's News By FRANK JENKINS In Washington, President Kennedy declares that t h e United States will be "alert and fully capable to deal with any offensive threat from Soviet-backed Cuba against the United Slates or 'any country in this hemisphere. He warns the communists against threatening or using force against the U. S. Naval base at Guantanamo (in Cuba), the Panama Canal, the Cape Canaveral rocket base or the lives of American citizens in this country or ANY NATION in this hemisphere. But in a carefully weighed and prepared statement he also said that recent Soviet arms shipments lo Cuba do not present a threat lo this country. He declared emphat ically that unilateral (mean ing one country only) U. S. intervention in Cuba at pres ent is not justified. ASKED at his news confer- enee at what point this country would consider the military buildup in Cuba to be offensive rather than de fensive, he replied that this point has been made quite clear in his statements on the Cuban situation. He gave as an example the presence of possible OFFEN SIVE MISSILE CAPACITY. rjMlAT is lo say; - If we learn on unimpeach able authority that Soviet Rus sia is establishing OFFEN SIVE missile bases in Cuba, we will ACT and will act decisively. IT HIS news conference, the President calls on the American people to keep both their nerve and their head, and points out that he has full power as commander-in-chief of U. S. armed forces to take any action thai may become necessary. It Is good advice, of course. Nothing could be more tragic than for the United States to rush into a hasty and ill-prepared attack on Cuba without clear and positive evidence thai Communist Russia is plan ning to tise Cuba as a base for an all-out attack on us or as a base (or an all-out mili tary move to EXPAND com munism's present bridgehead in Cuba. That could be falal. We would feel much easier it it weren't for the Bay of, Pigs in the nol loo distant background. But We must remember that President Kennedy was then very young and inexperienced in his job. He had hardly got his official chair warm. He bus had the opportunity to learn a lot since then in Ihe hard school of experience. He has seen Fidel Castro building up to what the Bay of Pigs enterprise was design ed to prevent which is a COMMUNIST BASE in t h e Western Hemisphere. He must he aware by now of the grav ity of his error then. publican as a lop policy plan - ner who lacks confidence in the American way of life, who doubts the ability of a democratized capitalism to beat down the challenge of a communized socialism. And like Corcoran before him, Rostow is resented by Re publican! as an individual who exercises great power without any clearly defined evidence that he has earned Washington Report By William (c United Feature Syndicate DOESN'T LIKE PROSPECT Washington-It rather looks that somebody up there in the United Nations doesn't like the pros- peel of any real settle ment of t h e difficulties in the Congo. On Sept. 3 Presi- d e n t Moise Tshombe of Separatist, an ti - Communist Katanga principle, under heavy pressure, to a UN scheme for placing the prov ince under the general author ity of the Central Congo gov ernment. He agreed even though the UN put the thing to him with rare arrogance, throwing down an ultimatum with the public warning that it was to be neither debatable nor negotiable. Putting aside all questions of ordinary man ners and tact, this was an ex traordinary way to appeal for unity in the Congo. After all, the very right of the UN to in tervene at all in the internal affairs of this or any other county is open to honest dis pute. B UT, to repeat, Tshombe through the good offices of the Belgians. Though long since themselves driven from the Congo as evil "colonial ists," they have patiently tried to help pick up the pieces there. The United States also was of great as sistance in the proposed com promise, our people having meantime dropped some of their excessively harsh early attitude toward anything con nected with Tshombe. But once Katanga had prom, ised to go along, new provo cations followed. The UN Sec retary - General, U Thant of Burma, needlessly slapped Tshombe again by allowing some of the troops of his op position in the controversy, the Central Congo govern ment, to become part of the UN force in Katanga. The Central Congo govern ment, meanwhile, had done its bit by provoking some of the Western Allied govern ments. With loud huzzahs, it donated a base on Congo soil to train Angolan rebels who Trull agreed in intend to take the colony ofiments? COMMUNICATIONS Letters lo Hie Editor must bear the nsme and address ot the writer, although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves Ihe 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 nol necessarily represent the views of the Daper; in tact the contrarv is otten the case. Varities of Selfishness To the Editor; In regard lo Ihe squabble over the wreck ing yard in Talent: Those people who are complaining about it care for no one but themselves. They are the same type of people who are always trying to gel me lo sell my pile of scrap iron -for one cent per pound (yes, that is what 1 or any one else gels for scrap iron)-and then buy new steel for 20 cents to S1.00 per pound and then go to additional work and ex pense to fabricate the items they insist 1 sell al one cent per pound. This- of course would make it economically impossible to pursue my hob by of building machines I can use. Those kind of people think the only way to live is to have 10 acres of lawn in front of their house with some ser vants to keep the lawn mow ed and the iiowers (which I doubt would make very good eating, wouldn't keep em warm or give 'cm a ride or haul anything for them) trim med. For me. the way to live is to have a good shop to (abri cale the thii-gs I cannot et ready made, and a well stock ed scrap iron pile of automo tive channel iron, brackets, gears. pulleys. sprockets. shafts, cranks, chains, angle iron, l iron. tuning, pipe fit tints and other metal objects. If I could afford it I'd spend half my time in a good well stocked wrecking yard. There's lots and lots of use ful thing there, I'm not the kind of feller wno tries to keep ahead of the I Joneses - to heck (I have I stronger terms) with them, j For a hobby I'd rather run j mv shop equipment than, to I in Fall Campaign J the right to such power or that he will evercise it pru dently. The Republican Po!;y Committee of the House of Representatives let fly at Ros tow. It distributed a circular with the text of several House speeches on Rostow policies, past writing, and more specifically, the con tents of a secret State De partment paper in which Ros- S. White Angola from Portugal by arms. This, of course, was a great contribution in re verse by those who say and say again they want lo end bitterness and disunion in Africa. SOME would think, quite simply, that it was a prep aration for aggression. But the UN, these days, can rare ly find anybody guilty of ag gression unless he is a West erner. When the good "ex colonial peoples" mount an ag gression, it is only self-de fense, or simply justice, or something. Anyhow, since the Central Congo government is a creature of the UN, it is perfectly obvious that the UN could have stopped this point less provocation of Portugal had it wanted to do so. And now, to cap it all, there has been another armed clash in Katanga between UN troops troops supplied by Nehru's India, which has gone unrebuked for its little ag gression in Goa and the Katangese. Tshombe says the UN first opened fire. The UN says Tshombe's troops did. It is possible thai in this area of tough power politics and maneuvering the UN may be right as to the details this time though its past rec ord for candor is not impres sive. BUT the UN, which claims i I s e 1 f to be terribly re sponsible, and Tshombe to be irresponsible, had the plain duty to avoid this incident in the first place, particularly in the present circumstances. Surely, avoiding it could not have been too desperately dif ficult if, as the UN itself claims, there were no casual ties whatever. If the Katang ese really did open fire first, how did they manage to hit nobody at all? And what of the bodies of Katangese which Tshombe displays in a mortu ary? In any case, who fired firsl is nol the real point. The real point is that Tshombe now can and does challenge the good faith of the UN. Again, does somebody up there in the UN really like the idea of a peaceful settle ment? Or is somebody up there in the UN more inter ested in making more bitter incidents rather than in settle- eat, and it's lots more fun than fishing, playing baseball, basketball, football and golf. Floyd R. McCabe. Mt. Pitt Star Route. Butte Falls, Ore. Does Make Difference To the Editor: I just read your criticism of the judges decision on condemning a "balloon" bread. Perhaps it is because of your ignorance on the sub ject. And may I say at this time I feel I'm a fairly good judge on the subject. We just moved here ftom where bal loon bread was allowed. And we were in the bread busi ness. iMuwii people are worse than children. As long as it's "big" Quality is slowly creep ing oul oi American values.. You say it doesn't make a difference. It does make a difference. Maybe you ought to eat some for a while. If a bakery, particularly the small bakeries, like yoii have around here, has a good loaf of bread, II will be crowded off if balloon bread is allowed lo be produced. People say jusl as you; What difference does il make, bread is bread. No, bread is not bread. We have bten here only a few weeks and "no balloon bread is one thing which we have enjoyed We still appreciate qual ity, and are nol foolish enough to think something blown up bigger makes it better. allies are not based on size, lou know, dynamite comes in small packages, Mrs. Leonard Combs. 22 Geneva, Medford. Center of tow is alleged to plump for a "no-win" policy in the cold war with world communism. Rostow Theory Rostow is accused of seek ing to base Kennedy adminis tration policy on the theory that Russian communism is mellowing, thai, in time, we all will be one happy world family, more or less. "And so." said Rep. Robert T. Stafford (R-VO. "we will at last come into the Rostow millenium - that wonderful day when communism has moderated into democratic so cialism and capitalism has faded into democratic social ism and the entire world will live blissfully forever in a bright new dawn of a demo cratic world socialist order. Mr. Rostow in the govern ment represents a peril. I have taken only a cursory look at Ihe theories of Dr. Rostow. But I think that it is obvious that they are dangerous to our security." The Republicans are trying to flush out of the State De partment the text of Rostow's controversial proposal known as "A Guide Line to Future U. S. Foreign Policy." They can't get it. Strictly Personal By Sydney J. Harris lo field Enterprises Inc. CHEAP DEATH Those citizens who are dis turbed and alarmed about tha "high cost" of our arms pro gram have not really studied ihp n.nnmln of m n rf . - warfare. Th total picture i.e "K ! bright indeed. . A Til. . .... . - J iue pinions we are spend- mg for arma- - m e n t s m a y seem high, but icauiy tn Harris cost of killing men (not to mention women and children) has become cheaper than ever before. It is almost, one might say, a bargain. It has been estimated that in the American Revolution, it cost about $500 to kill a single man. During the Civil War, the cost rose to about $5,000. In World War I it was $25,000; in World War II it was $65,000. ' Thanks lo the brilliant technological innovations of the last doten years, in a nuclear war we will be able lo kill a man for only $50. As Norman Cousins has pointed out. "a hydrogen bomb with the power of 30 million Ions of TNT costs no more lhan $250,000. If TNT had been used, the cost would be more than $10 billion." Nuclear bombs have ex tremely high explosive pow er per dollars of investment, when you double the destructive power, you don'l add much lo the cos!) ven when you increase tha power a thousandfold, the cost is low. Attractive as this is to us. from a sound bookkeep ing point of view, it i, also democratic the nuclear bomb is a boon to tha small er, poorer, mora backward nations. After tha initial in vestment, Ihe smaller coun tries can afford to stockpile enough bombs to blow up half ihe world. This gives them a parily with tha larg. er nations, and allows the less privileged peoples ot the world to share the bless ings of the more advanced nations. At last, war is becoming thoroughly democratised. In Ihe darked ages behind us, only large countries were able to wage effective war -usually against their small er and fatter neighbors. In the atomic aae. hownv.r. even a third-rate power can amass enough bombs to blow our planet into tha next gslaxy. Tha nuclear bomb offers real equality of opportunity lo all. On a cost-accounting basis, not many men were killed in World Wars I and II. The ra tio between fatalities and total war expense was embarrass ingly low. Men were hardly worth murdering at those ex orbitant prices. Modern efficiency, howev er, has finally caught up with the facts of extinction. The cost of living may be risinj steadily, but the cost of dying has become a source of fiscal gratification. When you can kill tens of million at only $50 a head, you are pretty near the break-even point, I hope that these warm and encouraging words give heart lo the disturbed among us. No dollar the government is spending brings such a high return on investment as the nuclear bomb program. You can be dead certain of that
