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
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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,
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inuan Republic, Z X 5 l
long Kong. Iran, cUv ;l -W- .
Macau. MmlM. I I. - VV-'Vi 1 t'.
T1
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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
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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.
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