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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1963)
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 14. 1963 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON 'Trattlh oim Lemidiiinig' (Editor's notes Sen. Piul H. Douglas (D-Ill.) U preparing to reintroduce hii "iruth-in-lending" bill which tu kill ad last year by formidable oppoiiiion. Wht this legisla tion is about and why Sen. Douglas is so persistent in trying to get it enacted is outlined in the following dis patch.) By HALE MONTGOMERY United Press International Washington-WPD-Mr. J. B. bought a television set for $285 and agreed to pay the dealer about $14 in monthly installments. After paying a total of $147 lie found to his dismay that lie still owed $206, and that It was entirely legal. He had not Inquired into the dealer's financing charges and the dealer, perhaps pur posely, had neglected to sup ply them. They added up to 33 per cent In simple annual Interest. J. B. Is fairly typical of a documented list of "horror cases" In the files of a Senate Banking subcommittee which periodically has investigated consumer credit policies. In the same file is a Uni versity of Michigan survey of college-educated consumers. It chows that 39 per cent of those polled had no Idea what it cost in invisible charges to buy their automobiles "on time." Half Pay Installments About one-half of all the families in the United States, or 90 million Americans, are paying installment debts in some way, says the university. The Federal Reserve board's last figures, for November, 1962, shows their debt out standing at $47,274,000,000. The subcommittee file shows that the American con sumer often wanders confused in a wonderland of complex credit costs - discount rates, revolving credit, add-on rates and investigation and insur ance charges. fee PROTECT CONSUMERS Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D-Ill.), has for three years vainly sponsored a bill to protect consumers who buy products "on time." A credit union manager who testified before the sub committee described the buy now, pay-later market as a place "where percentages multiply and divide at will; where finance charges mate rialize on command, and fees are collected on the way out . . ." with the consumer holding the bag. There is a man in Congress who would end all this. He would force the lender or seller to put his financing charges on the table in plain view of the unsuspecting and sometimes gullible consumer. He la Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D-Ill.), a white-haired former economics professor who, for three years, has vainly spon sored a "Truth in Lending" bill. Measure Killed Each time the measure has been killed in Douglas' Sen ate Banking subcommittee by Republicans and one conserva tive Democrat - Sen. A. Wil lis Robertson of Virginia who also heads the parent Senate Banking committee. But the 70-year-old Doug las Is a persistent man and he devoutly hopes the con suming public will take the cue and get on his band wagon. Ho plans to reintro duce the bill in this Congress and fight hard for it even though the odds against pas sage are immense. In his corner is President Kennedy who urgently re quested consumer-protection legislation last year but got Hi seafood rock EASTERN BLUEPOINT LOBSTER TAILS OYSTERS 4 to 6 or. ' . 'i Pints-Pints-Bulk Try them! Ea. 3 T 'e,', n'Pmen' ' Seasonl BABY LOBSTEH TAILS ZZZL 69c Halibut Steaks """prSM OKED " S MELT 7c7" Thrifty Pack ....lb. JJ i A real taste treat Dlb. CRABS "r"! SMOKED FISH Special TPw Ocean Fresh .... lb. 0 7 ' Halibut, Cod, etc J lb. .j:E:: shmtCMt' Columbia River Jt j "" X f SMELT wM f Fat' Cuf"Up lb "' LARGE FRYERS " Aft . , And Young Bakgrj 47 lb. F I IT S " VrTsh "g r ad i "a a" "eggs " B . I u? SMALL 2 DOZ. 89c Seafood & Poultry - - - - -- -- -- -- - - - - - mw.Msin . Ph. 773-8497 I G'"ard & Hearts 45c lb. little in return. Powerful In terests in and out of Congress saw to that. Drug Bill Favored On the positive side was a drug control bill. But it took the tragedy of thalido mide - a sleep-inducing drug blamed for many baby de formities - to swing Congress into line. The legislators re fused, however, to tamper with drug patents which al legedly influence drug p ices The Douglas bill would re quire a lender or a store to reveal to a consumer in ad vance the total financing cost involved and also any costs expressed in terms of the sim ple annual interest rate on an unpaid balance. This would mean that a store advertising an easy pay ment rate of 114 per cent per month on a charge account would have to declare that this actually adds up to 18 per cent a year. A bank which loaned a cus tomer $100 and asked that he pay back $108 spread over monthly payments, also would have to disclose that the fi nance charge was 11.5 per cent on an annual basis, not 6 per cent as the borrower was perhaps led to believe. Bill Tells All The friendly corner finance company also would have to declare its interest charges in terms of the simple annual rate, and list all other "car- yghft By yglos News About Schools Griffin Creek School In order to be on the Grif fin Creek school Honor Roll, a student in Grades 4, 5 or 6 must make an average grade for the six weeks period of A or B in all subjects except art and physical education. Those on the Honor Roll for the second six weeks term were: fourth grade. Valerie Raffhv Marin Cuozzo. Chris tie Greer. Pam Moore, Gary Wade, Terrl look, wnaa pen man, and Susan Mitchell; fifth oraHn Viclc Bannister. Barbara Finch, and Marcla Priebe; sixth grade, Mary Jo Minear, Kay Smith, Yvonne Walker, Stephen Lee, Becky Moore, and Wynne Perryman. Those on the Honor Roll for the third six weeks term were: fourth grade, Valerie Bagby, Mario Cuozzo, Debbie Gee, Christie Greer, Paula Keith, Terri Cook, Dianna Ragsdill, Hazel Dennis, Linda Lehman, Susan Mitchell, and Rhonda Stevens; fifth grade, Vickl Bannister, Julia Baum, Barbara Finch, Verne Laurlt zen. Donna Leon, Larry Mc Culley, Marcle Priebe, and Mark Savace: sixth grade. Sharon Bewley, Kathy Gar rett, . Stephen Lee, BccKy Moore, Wynne Perryman, Marv Jo Mlncar. Rodney Peterson, Kay Smith, and Yvonne Walker. The chorus elected officers for this semester recently. The president is Dcanna St. Martin. Vice president is Rol ney Peterson, and secretary is Becky Moore. The chorus Is working on music that will be presented at the spring vocal program of the Medford public acnoois in May. Cub Scout Dens 1, 2 and 3 are now preparing for their Blue and Gold Banquet. Each scout plans to take his family. All Cubs are now working on projects for this month's theme, "Freedom Festivals." All three dens compete for the first prize and all the boys endeavor to make their theme the best. "f1," ' '-" -, mmkmsii fat: how do you answer the hunger in a child's eyes, if he lives thousands of miles away? By joining CARE'S Food Crusade, ; you span the world to help feed hungry school children, orphans, refugees, the , aged and sick, desperately poor families. I what you do Is share oui farm abund- t ance staples donated by the U.S. Food j for Peace program. CARE adds other i foods, packs various units to match coun try needs. Every $1 you give sends one package with your name and address, to bring a personal message of friendship from the American people. When the patrol meeting was held recently, Mary Jo Minear was appointed Ser geant of the School Patrol. The captain, Becky Moore, received a new badge. Stan ley Peters, Dunne Graham, Julie Ells, and Sandra John son received badges. where need is urgent, CARE delivers your gilts. You cannot specify persons, but you may choose any Colombia, Cyprus, Doniinii Ecuador, Greece, Haiti, Hong Israel, Jordan, Korea, Macau, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Sierra Leone, Turkey, West Berlin, Vietnam, Yugoslavia. of these places: inuan Republic, Z X 5 l long Kong. Iran, cUv ;l -W- . Macau. MmlM. I I. - VV-'Vi 1 t'. T1 tiial New York 16, N.Y. or your local CAItK office. Here is $ for the Food Crusade. (Make checks payable to CARE, Inc.) (Your imino) (Addre.'l) i 1 Courtesy of Mail Tribune In Roland Griffith's room. the fifth grade is studying about mammals, reptiles, am phibians, birds, and fish. Stu dents are going to write re ports about mammals. Some animals lliat were chosen for reports are jaguars, polar bears, walruses, and coyotes. prizes were awarded as fol lows: comical, Rosetta Bow en; combination, Cheresse Of cutt and Caroline Fields; ori ginality, Beth Kroon and Michelle McCalvy. A total of 10S students of the eighth grade class had a skating party recently after weather delays. All the Junior high stu dents visited the Crater multi-purpose room to see "The Boy Who Changed The World," presented by the Cra ter drama club recently. It was the story of a boy in the stone age who invented the wheel. The Junior high wrestling team has had a tough season. Boys on the seventh grade team had no wins and six losses. They were up against strong competition, yet they usually had fairly close scores. The eighth grade had a team score of three wins and eight losses. surance or credit investiga tion costs. Maryland's Demo cratic governor, Millard A. Tawes, is sponsoring a similar bill in the state legislature. He appointed a committee in 1961 to study Maryland's usury and Interest laws and make recommendations. Despite its obvious appeal to the unorganized mass of consumers, the Douglas bill always faces formidable op position. Besides its natural enemies - the finance com panies - It is opposed by auto dealers, department and fur niture stores which operate large-scale revolving credit systems, and many others. Prospects for passage this year are little better than in the past unless Sen. Douglas can generate a huge ground swell of consumer support. This, In turn, would have to manifest itself in letters to members of Congress. In previous years, oppo nents have argued that their interest tables are set up for different operations; that to force them to quote every thing in simple annual rates would be a costly burden. Horrify Consumer Quite candidly, they also asserted that if the consumer was informed what his credit costs added up to in annual terms he would be horrified. "It is felt," one retail store owner testified, "That the statement of the unrealistic 18 per cent annual rate would create an undesirable psycho logical effect on the con sumer's present buying hab its . . ." Besides, it was argued, what the consumer really wants to know anyway is the dollar cost, not the percentage cost, and this is always disclosed by reputable lenders. Supporters, equally frank, acknowledged that the con sumer may have to learn that "6 per cent interest" is no set figure; that, in fact, It is too low for many businesses to profitably offer credit terms. Home mortgages (but not home improvement loans) i re the largest source of credit still offering a true 6 per cent annual interest rate. Give Consumer Chance Douglas contends that full disclosure would give the consumer a chance to shop around for the best credit bargain; that universally used annual interest figure would give him a common yardstick with which to com pare financing costs. He em phasized that the bill would not control interest rates but merely require full disclosure of financing charges. Sen. William Proxmire. (D Wis.), commented that is was a modern financial paradox that many persons readily ac cept a 4 per cent annual in terest rate on their bank -av- ings, yet never question the rate at which they borrow. "The average Individual," he said, "long ago discovered that 2'2 per cent means 2H per cent per year, not per month, when he collects in terest on his savings. But a quoted rate of iVt per cent when he is paying someone else does frequently turn out to be 2Vj per cent per month - or 30 per cent per year." No One Wants Job One of the problems dis cussed in relation to the Doug las bill was which federal agency would administer such a law. The Federal Reserve board stated flatly it did not want the job. And if the 'sk were assigned to the price policing Federal Trade com mission, legislation might be necessary to extend the agen cy's power to embrace some banking operations. President Kennedy's posi tion is that the consumer 's entitled to protection. He also has endorsed a "Truth in Packaging" bill which Sen. Philip A. Hart (D-Mich.), is pressing. But like truth-in-lending, this measure attracts more attention from home makers and consumer groups than it does in Congress. Last March, after sending up his consumer-protection message, the President set up a consumer-advisory council of 12 members. But its value still remains to be tested. It has been working on siudies designed to help the consumer get the most for the dollar he spends. THE DANMOORE HOTEL 1217 SW Morrison St. PORTLAND, OREGON All transient guests. All those who come, return. Rstes not high, not low. Free garage, new location yi block from hotel. Open until 10 p.m. TV's and radios. Reputation tor cleanliness. CHILDREN UNDER SEVEN NO CHARGE Here's more good news! REDEEM THIS COUPON for 1 Full Saver Book Pago of FREE GOLD BOND STAMPS I"' i i FREE 3 GOLDEN TENS Enough to Fill 1 complete Savers Book Pate at Town & Country Market, Eagle Point j REDEEM THIS COUPON FOR 3 GOLD BOND GOLDEN TENS With Your Next Purchase At TOWN & COUNTRY MARKET, Eagle Point ADDRESS. CITYZONE STATE Limit one coupon per family. Coupon expires Feb. 24th Happy Dayze is the name of a clown. His real name Is Art Jennings and he is from the National School Assem blies Agency. Ho was at our gym recently. Many parents enjoyed the performance, too. He did many tricks and told jokes. Many useful lessons were incorporated into his program. We have started to make cameras in Maurice Nelson's fourth grade room. They are made out of boxes. Wo are going to take and develop pictures ourselves. One room is having a play In geography. We have our own writers and costume makers. We make the scen ery all by ourselves. The play is about the Lewis and Clark expedition. One fourth grade class is working on SHA. We started it about a week ago. Maurice Nelson gave us a color and we worked on It. There is the power builder section and the rate builder. CP Junior High Dressing In clothes to rep resent their future careers, students of Central Point Jun ior High recently conducted a contest. Judging was done during the activity period, and I r?T5& !w playing "until fl. I v Vnter Ring Paint Yaiies-SAVE up to $100 a GALL0N 'X4fC JPWallFashM JWall Fashion Semi-Gloss EnamSv ..--.. JV 0p.lrtrt.jQ;SHI(x I FASHION' I $ I Aft mmm. i . At price. O-oicXlOoolor. tf 7 O I "u,2.'" F I I 70 match Wall Fartlon late.. Spacklins Paste Century 0 1 A A .f lautiM Brushes MB IVa . 1 1 "" I SA? I i. ",,,! "-winnow, itn .n.m ,S?l R.uvi.t. Md lUt. CTP. KullU KM .nd ,i. Tm InniMiSnltta I j qyc , oqc it a-. rrriMll ilnn.ss lliJs099"- J 3 Plastic Drop Cloth Wood Step ladders "" 1 " "V $ p. row .... c.. 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