4 A-
""Everyone In Southern Oreaon-
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OF CIRCULATIONS
THURSDAY. JANUARY 3. 1963
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NATION A I EDITORIAL
Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History rom the files of The
Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and SO yeart ago.
10 YEARS AGO
Jin. 3, 19S3 (Thundiy)
Ashland boy impeded o
being first polio case of 1953.
Winter term enrollment at
Southern Oregon college is
413 at end of first day of
registration.
20 YEARS AGO
Jan. 3, 1S43 (Wednesday)
City Judge W. A. Allen re
ports busiest year in history
of police court; 1,587 cases
handled and $9,018.52 taken
In fines and bails forfeited.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "Publi
cation of weather reports is
prohibited for 48 hours after
it occurs. A citizen can start
cussing it forthwith."
90 YEARS AGO
Jan. 3, 1933 (Friday)
Fake one-half dollar gold
pieces circulated In Medford;
state police start investiga
tion. Medford Shrine club hon
ors Bill Morgan, Medford,
who was captain of 1922 Uni
versity of Oregon football
team and star of 1923 East
West football game.
40 YEARS AGO
Jan. 3, 1923 (Saturday)
Medford post office reports
no mail received from east,
nr nnr'h of Rnsebure. for two
days because of floods In Wil
lamette valley.
Arthur Miridlelon, "famous
baritone and formerly wilh
the Metropolitan Opera com
pany," to sing at Page theater
in Medford.
50 YEARS AGO
Jan. 3, 1913 (Monday)
Fourth post office robbery
within 10 days In Rogue val
ley reported from Gold Hill;
thieves make off with $8 in
pennies and S2 bills.
Grant Harrison. Medford.
discovers unsuccessful at
tempt to dynamite his barn;
seven sticks of dynamite
found under building.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine ei ten certect ll luperier
even ei eight li eicellenti five or
1. In what American city
did the first execution for
witchcraft take place?
2. If a circle has the dia
meter of four inches, would
the circumference be about
10. 12. or 18 inches?
3. Which Is higher In rsnk,
a marquis, or an earl?
4. Who wrote the follow.
Ing: "Nellie was a Lady,"
and "Oh! Susannah?"
5. From what part of the
lasparilla plant is the bev
erage made?
6. What do the following
have in common: string.
moxican and kidney?
7. What was the family
name of Mary I of England?
8. Can a rabbit run faster
uphill than downhill?
9. The "Pro Bowl" game
of professional football will
be played In which city this
year?
10. Would you guess that a
new-born black bear weighs
bout '., 4, 13, nr 28 pounds?
Aniwern 1. Boston. 2. 12
Inches. 3. Marquis. 4. Stephen
Foiltr. 3. The dried tools. 8.
Types of baans. 7. Tudor. 8.
Yei, because of longer hind
legs. 9. I os Angeles, Calif. 10.
One-half.
A Hopeful Look Ahead
It is only natural indeed, it is a tradition
stretching far back into history, as Frank Jen
kins explains in his column today to enter a
new year with a feeling of optimism, a hope that
the "fresh start" offered by the flip of the page
of a calendar somehow will bring better things.
There is, we feel, more cause for optimism
now than there was a year ago,
Oh, 1963 will have' its tragedies and its heart
aches, its threats and shootings and crashes and
brushfire wars, its floods and miseries. The year
just past had these things too, but it also was
a period when a little progress in human affairs
was made, here and there.
e
ECONOMISTS have a phrase, "self-justifying
" expectations, which' means that optimism
breeds optimism which in turn will help bring
a better business climate, and vice versa.
Such a mechanism can work in areas other
than economics, too. It can work in the political
arena, in international diplomacy, in the general
attitude of whole peoples.
And, not forgetting that a wide range of
problems and dangers remain, we seem to sense
that there is, in the United States this first week
of January, a feeling that things are a bit better
than they were, and that the chances for this to
continue are good.
(")UR formidable opponents, in the world behind
the iron and bamboo curtains, have been re
vealed to be less monolithic than once we feared,
and thus perhaps a bit less dangerous.
James Reston of the New York Times sums
it up this way:
"There (in the Communist world) the tides are run
ning hard against the power structure. Centralized
authority, the cornerstone of the Communist sor
cery, Is no longer what it was a few short years ago.
Moscow and Peking are squabbling in the open. The
Co.nmunist empire, from the Adriatic and the Elbe to
Vladivostok, is riven with Ideological dissension that
makes the differences in the West seem small.
"Instead of peace and brotherhood, the spread of
Communism has created a kind of internal religious
war, and Instead of stamping out colonialism, Com
munism has revived it and turns the anti-colonial sen
timents of the world against itself."
X7E BELIEVE the cold war will continue. But
there are signs, especially since the grim
Cuban confrontation, that the two major nuclear
powers particularly Russia have been shocked
into a greater sense of responsibility in their nu
clear missile-rattling.
The principal problem areas of the world are,
it appears to us, Latin America, sub-Saharan
Africa, and southeast Asia. For these we fore
see continued dislocations, and very possibly but
little progress in the year ahead.
In Europe, despite many serious political and
international problems, there is a new era well
under way, where growing economic and polit
ical cooperation, even a degree of unity, is cre
ating an entirely new outlook.
HERE at home, our blessings, while mixed,
ni'o nnmopmic
California is celebrating (Ihoucrh we don't
understand just why) its becoming the most popu
lous state. Business is looking forward to a good,
though not spectacular, year. Wages and salaries
are up. Prospects for a federal income tax cut,
while not completely sure, are not entirely hope
less, either. The automobile industry is in the
midst of what it hopes will be its best year ever.
And so on.
We have yet to solve many problems which
will continue to harass us, but there is a disposi
tion to continue working on them, and that's the
important thing. All is not lost if hope and de
termination remain.
CO, IF no great and unrestricted optimism is
permissible, one can look forward, cautiously
but hopefully, in the expectation that 10(53 will
be no worse than liibz, and quite possibly better.
Reston put it this way:
"The creat forces moving mankind at the
end of 19(52 seem to be running a little more in
our favor.
If believing that things are going to be better
will help make them so "self-justifying expec
tations" let us all look forward with increased
confidence to the year now begun. E. A.
Bad and Good Days
J. W. Forrester Jr., editor of the Pendleton
East Oicgonian, is a man of many parts and du
ties. One of them not the most important but
not the least important either is that of writing
a daily column for his newspaper.
The column observed an anniversary he
didn't say which the other day, which caused
him to muse on some of the joys and difficulties
of this particular task.
One paragraph of his struck a responsive
note in the breast of at least one person who
grinds out editorials five days a week.
"That Lat GuyLooked Lika Kennedy"
" i-A-(t
'
Communications
Letters to the Editor miut
hear the name and addreig of
the writer although under cer
tain circumstances the use of a
pen name or Initial for publica
tion is permissible. The Mail
Tribune reserves the right to
edit all tellers with an eye to
clsrlfication and condensation.
Letters suhmllted for publica
tion must not exceed 400 words.
Medford Featured
To the Editor: We thought
you would be interested to
know a complimentary story
about the Medford district is
featured in the "Hobbies"
magazine for January. Mr.
Mintzcr, a rockhound of Med
ford, and his Rock Shop are
featured and pictured in this
story. A copy of the maga
zine may be obtained by writ
ing to Lightner Publishing
Corp., 1006 South Madison
Ave., Chicago 5, III.
H. D. Brown
1030 Mignonette si.,
Los Angeles 12, Calif.
We Won't Change
To the Editor: Congratula
tions to Bert Harr on his let
ter to the editor, 1-1-63.
No, I don't think we will
ever change our arrogant
ways. Did you ever try to
change the ways of the neigh
borhood bully?
There is a. faction in this
country that doesn't want
peace at any price, and they
will got what they are asking
for one of these days.
Ray Prichard
414 South First, st.
Central Point, Ore.
In the Day's News
ly FRANK JENKINS
This ia written on the
morning of the New Year.
Last night, on the stroke of
midnight, Old Man 1982 - his
hair and his beard long and
white, his face wrinkled, his
eyes dim, his shoulders stoop
ed - stepped out of the pres
ent and entered the limbo of
the years that are past.
A moment later his little
face plump and pink and
wreathed in a smile, his
eyes bright and snapping,
his chin smooth and on his
head as yet no hair to speak
of, but from crown of his lit
tle pate to the tip of his pink
toes radiating vim and vigor
and enthusiasm-Young 1963
stepped out on the stage and
was welcomed with wild enthusiasm.
AND so there came to pass
last night a thing that has
been going o nfor countless
centuries. The historians have
no accurate record of when it
began.
We call it New Year's Eve.
H
E SAID:
". . . There are so many days when a column goes
through Indescribable torture. The words won't come
because there are no thoughts to put Into words.
When at last they do come, they come painfully and
haltingly. When at last all t lie words are down, and
they are sent to a type setting machine, the column
reads as if It were something to fill space, not some
thing to Inform or entertain "
But he also countered this by saying:
"Bui for every bad day the column has a good day.
That's what keeps it going. There air always the
good days to look to when the words will (low easily
and there will be more than enough ideas to go
around "
There are had and good in al! jobs. E. A.
No Brotherhood
To the Editor: Mr. Jenny
in "Rebuttal" (MT 12-30-62)
says that my theology is con
fused. He feels that the Com
munists are his brothers and
he welcomes them into a
brotherhood which he says is
based on Luke 6:27-36. Such
an assumption must be based
on both ignorance of the na
ture of communism and a mis
conception of the world of
God.
Communism, briefly defin
ed is, "A Marx-inspired, inter
national criminal conspiracy
against civilization, based on
a God-denying philosophy of
life, sustained by faith in the
dialectic, backed by the devo
tion of its fanatical followers
and to an uncertain extent
by the Red armies."
I include some quotes to
help you further understand
the nature of communism.
"We Communists are athe
ists." Chnu En-lai, Bandug
conference.
"All I needed for a com
pletely materialistic outlook
on life were the works of
Marx and Engcls," William Z.
Foster.
"Atheism is the 'ideological
weapon which enabled the
progressive social classes' to
put an end to the social, eco
nomic and political conditions
which had 'hindered the evo
lution of productive powers,
science and culture," " the
Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
"II is difficult, but neces
sary, to recognize that the
Communist ideology has no
resources within it for coming
to terms with other systems
of thought." Reinhold Nie-
huhr. the Moral Implications
of Loyalty In Ihe United Na
tions, July. 19V2, page 7.
The word of God holds no
philosophy of brotherhood
based on the love of fellow
man alone. God wants:
Faith in God, repentance of
i past sin, baptism lor remis
sion of those sins, a life show
ing forth the fruit of the
spirit.
Communism believes in:
Faith in itself, no repent
ance for any sin. baptism in
the blood of its victims, a life
showing the fruits of Hie Dev
il. So you see, Mr Jenny, It is
your brotherhood which is
confused. From Ihe above you
must realize that a compro
i imse with communism is to
j compromise with S.itan him
: self.
Any brotherhood, the t'N
j included, which admits them
s equal partners, is doomed
I to failure as history has and
j w ill continue to show.
II .lames K. Shalcr
Route 2. Box 210X
Medford.
EVEN the earliest of the an
cient nations had customs
that celebrated New Year's
Day. The Chinese, the Egypt
ian, tha Jewish, the Roman
and the Mohammedan years
all began at different times.
But the first day of each year
was marked with elaborate
ceremonies. Thousands of
years ago, the Egyptians cele
brated the New Year about
the middle of June. This was
the time when the river Nile
usually overflowed its banks.
In ancient Rome, the first
day of the year was given
over to honoring Janus, the
god of gates and doors and
of beginnings and endings.
It was Janus who gave to our
first month of the year its
name. Janus had two faces,
and looked both ahead and
backward.
THE first day of Ihe year
the Roman people looked
backward to what had hap
pened during the past year,
and thought of what the com
ing year might bring.
As we do, they were in
clined to think of the old year
aa something that had been
pretty rough and thai they
were glad to be rid of it, and
to the new year as something
bright and fresh and wonderful.
In the new year, all the mis
takes they had made in the
old year were to be rectified.
so that life in the new year
might he everything that it
should be.
'pHAT brines up our custom
(which we practice with
our fingers crossed) of mak
ing resolutions lo correct
("mills and bar) hahits. and re
solving to make the new year
better than the old year had
been.
How did that get started?
It came from the ancient
English custom of cleaning the
cnimncys on isew ears uay.
This was supposed to bring
Rood luck to the housrhotd.
Today we say "cleaning the
slate" Instead of cleaning the
chimney. But the idea is the
same.
Following another ancient
English custom, English hus
bands save their wives mon
ey on New Year's Day to buy
enough pins tor the whole
year. This custom disappear
1 rd in the 1800 s. when ma
I chines w ere developed to
make pins, thus reducing the
cert The term "pin money''
survives, as referring to small
' amounts of spending money
u'H.vr of inti;r
" Well, the long record of
history tells us that in all
probability it will he JUST
WHAT WE MAKE IT.
Good years don't iust hap
pen. They are MADE to hap
pen. Tht is the lesson the
past hands down to tis.
The Congo Still a Maze of Contradictions;
Conflicting Motives Add Complications
By PHIL NEWSOM
UPI Foreign News Analyst
Almost from the beginning,
the Congo crisis has been a
maze of contradictions. If the
casual reader
finds himself
lost in its
t w i s t a and
turns, surely
no apology is
needed. For
I l"V. I example: O n
I VjJI I Dec. 14, 1961,
Leaa SteaJ PresidentKen-
tewsam nedy, a strong
supporter of the United Na
tions campaign to unify the
Congo, received from Katan
ga's secessionist Presi dent
Moise Tshombe a request that
he intervene so that Tshombe
could begin negotiations with
central government Premier
Cyrille Adoula.
Out of this came the agree
ment at Kitona in which
Tshombe agreed to end Ka
tanga's secession.
Yet, almost exactly one
year later, the agreement not
only had not been implement
ed, but Katanga students were
shouting "Down with Ken
nedy," trampling the U.S. flag
and starting a fire on U.S.
consulate grounds in the Ka
tanga capital of Elizabethville.
Tshombe himself was de
nouncing Americans-in gen
eral as "racists who think
they can buy the African with
dollars."
This was an initial result of
a U.S. decision to send a mili
tary team to the Congo to de
termine military needs of U.N.
forces there.
Within the dispute between
Today & Tomorrow
By Walter lippmann
(cl 1963. The Washinnton Post
THE PAUSE AND A
LOOK AROUND
In a newspaper interview,
Mr. Khrushchev has just said
that the Cuban crisis in Oc-
t o b e r will
"leave a very
deep imprint
on int e r n ac
tional rela
tions. This
was a moment
when the sin
ister shadow1
of nuclear
war raced
o v e r t h e
world. People started looking
at questions of peace and war
in a new way." The new way,
he added, is to forestall dan
ger by "way of compromise."
We are not, I think, at that
point. That is to say, we are
not at the point where a
settlement of the cold war
by compromise is in sight.
It is more exact to say that
after the Cuban crisis the nu
clear powers know better
than they did before that they
cannot initiate as against one
another important changes in
the balance of power. As be-
Lippmann
Strictly
Personal
By Sydney J. Harris
(ci Field Enterprises. Inc.
PERSONAL PREJUDICES .
Most people live in their
expectations rather than in
their senses: In fact, they de
liberately blunt their senses
in order to make more en
durable the waiting - period
until their expectations "come
true - but by that time, they
have rendered themselves
sensuously incapable of en
joying the future when it ar
rives.
As an indication of our
deep departure from the
ideas held by the men who
wrote and ratified the Dec
laration of Independence,
not one modern American
in a hundred, reading "We
hold these truths to be tell
.evident, that all men are
created equal." would un
derstand what was meant
by the phrase "created
equal." and not one in a
Thousand would agree that
this idea is "self-evident."
All of us live, to some de
gree, by dogmatism; but we
should keep perpetually in
mind Santayana's warning:
"The more perfect the dog
matism, the more insecure - a
great high topsail that can
never be reefed nor furled is
the first carried away by a
gale."
To be utterly reasonable
in an unreasonable world is
a form of insanity.
When a woman feels forced
to ask a man, "Do you really
love me?", she already knows
that the honest answer is
something less than a hearty
affirmative.
A simulated indifference
can pry out more secrets
than a pressing curiosity:
there's something about a
secret that's dying lo be
told - at long as it's not
urged to.
Parkinson's First Law -ahont
expenditures rising to
meet, and outstrip, income -was
more tersely and pungent-
ly expressed a full centry ago
by Thorrau, when he ob
served: "If you wish to give a
i man a sense of poverty, give
him a thousand dollars; the
next hundred dollars he gets
will not be worth more than
ten that he used to get."
The shortest excuse it al
ways the belt and manliest:
the firtt lime my boy laid.
"I goofed." rather than gi
t.ig tome elaborate explana
tion, he had taken a giant
Hep toward manhood.
Everything seems to rub
up against a sore finger: and
the same is true of a wounded
personality, which blames its
own rawness on the abrasive
nature of the world.
The arm-chair philoso
pher who tells you that "ev
erything It relative." would
be bellied if you responded
hat his remark was only
"relalively true."
twecri East and West, military
power cannot be used to
change exisUng boundaries.
This is a very great lesson
to have learned. But it does
not mean that we are now
in a position to begin nego
tiating a settlement of cold
war. Where we have actually
gotten to ia a willingness un
der the compulsion of the nu
clear danger to live with the
situation as it is.
WHAT we have then Is not
" peace but a pause, and in
this pause a reduction of the
pressures at the vital points,
notably Berlin, where the
danger of nuclear war is most
threatening. The effect of the
pause in the East-West con
flict is to make more em
phatic and urgent the internal
problems and issues within
the Communist world and
within ours.
These internal problems are
one reason, perhaps the main
reason, why the pause does
not mean that we are in sight
of a settlement. Neither side,
neither Mr. Khrushchev nor
Mr. Kennedy, has the power
to make a settlement. Mr,
Khrushchev is entangled in
a struggle with China for the
leadership of the Communist
world.
In the West, American lead
ership of the Western Alli
ance is no longer accepted.
It would not be going loo far
to say, I think, that, given the
pause which resulted from
the Cuban affair, President
Kennedy's greatest task will
be to reappraise, redefine and
readjust the American role
in the Western World.
fFHE era which began with
A World War II has ended,
the era in which the United
States was at the same time
the defender and the banker
of the Western World. The
United Slates, to be sure, con
tinues to have a virtual mo
nopoly on nuclear weapons.
But the time has arrived when
the military defense of the
Western World, and particu
larly of Western Europe, can
no longer be borne in so ex
traordinarily large a measure
by the United Slates
At the same time, the Unit
ed States is no longer able
lo be the preeminent banker,
and if it is In continue lo
play the part it is now play
ing, it will need to have still
greater cooperation from Eu
rope. 11 will have In have
greater cooperation in pre
serving the international use
fulness of the dollar, greater
cooperation in the opening of
markets lo American exports,
greater cooperation in financ
ing the defense of Europe and
the development of the na
tions of the Southern Hemi
sphere. The coming session of Con
gress will be under the shad
ow of these American needs.
Can the President obtain from
Congress the legislation lo try
- conceding that no one can
be absolutely sure it will suc
ceed - to try to overcome the
sluggishness of the American
economy since the middle of
the Fifties? This must be done
if the United States is to hold
its place in the world.
"AN the administration ne-
gntiate successfully In Eu
rope a cooperative defense of
the dollar - which is the re
serve currency of the non
Communist world? Unless the
administration can do this, the
withdrawal of gold - now run
ning at nearly a billion dol
lars a year - will cause the
kind of reaction in Congress
and in this countr. which
I could end in an insistence
I upon restricting American in
j vestment abroad and on rais
; ing the tariffs and Imposing
quotas to reduce imports into
; the United States.
The great design of a lib
eral low-tariff area through
out the whole non-Communist
1 world is not only a long way
from being realized. Because
of the condition of our inter
national balance of payments,
the treat design is threatened
by a ernnus relapse into protectionism.
Tshombe and the central gov
ernment itself there is danger
of over-simplification even if
one makes no attempt at a
judgment.
It could be declared a sim
ple question of self-determina
tion - whether the people of
Katanga have the right to de
cided thier own future rela
tionship with the Congo as a
whole.
It also could be declared
simply the result of the cen
tral government s desire to
take over the income from
Katanga's copper and cobalt
wealth.
It also could be regarded as
a question of Tshombe's own
desire to remain in power and
his refusal to surrender to cen
tral authority.
It is doubtful that the
tribesman in the bush has
much interest in any one of
the three, so a certain amount I Angola.
of self-interest must be in
volved.
The U.S. and the U.N. take
the position that Katanga has
no more right to secede from
the Congo than would a stats
to secede from the United
States.
Katanga's tax income from
the' Union Miniere copper
mines this year will amount
to between $30 and $40 mil
lion, just about enough to cov
er a one-month deficit for the
central government. So the
money itself cannot be, at the
moment, a controlling factor.
The U.N. position is that
neither Katanga nor the re
mainder of the Congo can
achieve stability without each
other. Katanga needs the Con
go's agricultural produce and
a port through which to ship
its minerals without depend
ing on Rhodesia or Portuguese
Matter of Fact
By Joseph Alsop
(c) New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
if
THE STRAINED ALLIANCE
Washington For the short
run, at least, the U. S.-UN
policy in the Congo looks like
it's succeeding.
Furthermore, it is not easy
t o find any
logical argu
ment against
this policy.
The aim is to
promote t h e
stability of the
non Commu
nist govern
ment of Con
go 1 e s e Pre-
AisoD mier Cvnlle
Adoula, by forcing the rich
state of Katanga to recognize
the authority of the Congo
lese Republic.
None of the opponents of
the U. S.-UN policy has ever
argued that the present Con
golese government can sur
vive for very long if the Ka
tanga problem is not rapidly
solved. The alternative lo the
U. S.-UN policy has been
rather openly suggested by
Sergei Nemchina, the Soviet
Ambassador in Leopoldville.
Nemchina has long been urg
ing Premier Adoula to banish
the "neo-colonial" UN forces,
and lo seek military aid from
the Soviet bloc.
.
VET it is a fair prediction
that the success of this un
impeachably motivated policy
will further strain this coun
try's already badly strained
relations with the two chief
Western allies, Britain and
France.
Neither London nor Paris
has any very clear alternative
policy. The main rub will be,
quite simply, that the Ameri
can government has again tak
en independent action, by go
ing beyond British and French
wishes in supporting the "plan
for national reconciliation" of
fered to the Congo by UN
Secretary-General U Thant.
The fact that the results of
this independent action seem
likely to be good on the
whole, at least for the time
being, will be treated as al
most irrelevant.
In official Washington, the
standard reaction to this sort
of Allied behavior is marked
quite open, extremely impa
tient irritation. This is under
standable enough.
Yet wise troop command
ers do not content themselves
with crossly blaming their
troops when they find the
men under their command be
ing unreasonably difficult.
They look for deeper causes,
beginning with their own
methods of command. The
same rule needs to be fol
lowed, alas, by leaders of
great alliances, including the
Western alliance which the
U. S. now leads.
IF THE Kennedy administra
tion wants to undertake this
kind of self - examination,
which is distinctly overdue,
a good place to begin is the
Skybolt affair. The so-called
"Pact of Nassau" has by no
means undone the harm of
Skybolt. In Paris as well as in
London Skybolt is still a very
dirty word, generally accept
ed as speaking volumes about
American ruthlcssness and ar
rogance. All this, once again, is an
noyingly unreasonable. The
British government was on
notice from the beginning of
November that the U. S. gov
ernment had decided Skybolt
was a non-starter. Yet when
Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara visited London at
the beginning of December,
the announced aim of British
Defense Minister Peter Thor
neycroft was to change t h e
American decision on Sky
bolt. The facts were only faced
in London after the McNam
ara visit. The result was a
British decision that they did
not wish to buy Skybolt after
all. This was the decision that
"Prime Minister Macmillan
brought to Nassau, after such
a resounding preliminary row.
But if the British were un
reasonable, what of the Amer
icans? The answer, alas, is
that the Americans were quite
exceptionally insensitive and
far from forehanded. Unaware
of the change of view in Lon
don, President Kennedy took
to Nassau a most generous
offer to share further Skybolt
costs wilh Britain, and In sell
Britain as many Skybolts as
might be desired.
'PHIS was refused. But if
such an offer had been
made in November, when the
Pentagon decided against Sky
bolt, or at latest at the begin
ning of December, when Mc
Namara went to London, the
British could hardly have re
fused it. Or if they did refuse
it, they could not have com
plained as bitterly as they did
of the "rug being pulled from
under them."
By the same token, if the
arrangements embodied in the
"Pact of Nassau" had been
suggested lo the British at the
beginning of November, t h i:
outcome would have been a
major gain for both govern
ments. Prime Minister Mac-"
millan might then have an
nounced the Skybolt-Polaris
substitution as a major step
forward, with emphasis on the
escape clause in the "Pact of
Nassau" which assures I h e
British deterrent's continuing
independence.
It should not have been
necessary for the Prime Min
ister to make an emotional
personal pica to the President
for this escape clause. T h e
strong feelings of "proud and
ancient nations" which Mac
millan stressed should have
been understood from the first
in Washington. The need for
the escape clause should have
been grasped at the outset,
rather than at the last mo
ment when Kennedy and Mac
millan were face to face.
What is finally done is not
wrong, in short. What strains
the Western alliance is t h n
way it is done. And this i.i
worth noting as the New Year
opens, for the strains within
the Western alliance are now
becoming so severe that they
nr-d urgent attention.
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