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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1963)
4 A ItofOU.Jt&.TBUUNl " -Eiaijope In Smith-" Oregon tuUliM bally excejrtSaUirdayby MEDFORD PR1NTLNG CO 11 NortbTlrsj, rnii'li Aani- ur Mtm. Editor HERB GREV Advi, llin Manager SsSSTo il i r.N JR Mnt Editor carL h ADAMS. City Editor 5.uuimn Trie. Editor SASt.Dn ivuf.tt soorti Editor OLIVE WAJICHER Women Edlto, DALE ; ERJCKSON Cliculeuon Mjr An Independent Ntwifip" Intend Gcond cUm melterat Medford onion " March a. 18' SUBSCRIPTION RATES Wo5S ' aid auSd.y-l "J5o2 d"i v nd Sund.y-J mo. 10.00 K! !I ia Sunday 3 mo. 3 0? By 'carnw-Wd, Motor Daily and Sunday-1 year Ml 00 Dally and Sund.y-1 mo US IS.irnd'v.ndor.Cop, 10c SfSa Paper of C'ty of MedtorJ ni,i.i paner ot Jackiun County tnlted Preu International U. P t Telepholo Newplcturei 'MEMBER OF AUDIT Bunr.ju "gig? CIRCULATIONS R0fiERTs ASSOC.. ATES OIMcee In New York. Chi SK Detroit. S.n rrancl.cn Lot Anielai. SaatUe. Portland Denver. Mem rr California New.pper Publishers A-oeia.Uon Flight o' Time Mdford and Jeckspn County History from the file, of The Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 year. ago. 10 YEARS AOO April I. 1S3 (Wednesday) The city superintendent's office was authorized to pre pare cost estimates for a mini mum survey of off street parking facilities In Medford at last night's council meet ing. 20 YEARS AOO April IM (Thursday) Air Force MaJ. Glenn Jack son returns to Medford on six day leave from Washington, D.C. 30 YEARS AOO April a, 193J (Friday) Walter Olmschcld lo be sworn in as Jackson county sheriff tomorrow. Medford beer supply runs out as supply unable to keep up with demand on tne first day after repeal 01 proiuoi tion. 40 YEARS AGO April I, 1(23 (Saturday) Rich gold strike reported from Josephine counly. First smudging of season predicted for Jackson county orchards. SO YEARS AGO April S. 1(13 (Monday) Two prominent Medford at torneys tangle in circuit court room in Jacksonville; "after u sharp exchange of blows, the men went to the mat and rolled over on the floor, little damage being inflicted by cither contestant." What's Your I.Q.? Nine or Un correct li .upcrior; Mvtn or eiqht it sctllcnt; fx It food. 1. In what Psalm are these words: "Thou prepares! a la blc before me in the presence ot mine enemies 7 2. In what famous novel is Simon l.egrec a character' 3. Which two slates of the union are each bounded by eight other stales'.' 4. What Is the minimum age specified in the Constitution for eligibility to be a U.S. Senator, and for a U.S. Rep resentative'.' 5. In case of the death, res ignation or inability lo act ot both the President and Ihe Vice President, who guccodl lu the office of President'.' 6. Who said in what famous document "A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act Which may define B lyraiu, is uiuiv m in un ruler of a free people"? 7. Recently what Evangelist sat with President Kennedy on the platform at what an nual function? 8 On what continent is the Brenner Pass? 9. Complete this quotation from Wordsworth's poem: "And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with lira 10. The city of Sanlu Do mingo formerly Cludad Tru jillo) is Ihe capital of what re public? ....Anawem 1. Twtnty-third psalm. 2. Uncle Tom i Cab in." 3, Missouri and Ttnnei sae. 4. Snator-30; Baprtian-UliTe-25. i. Sptaktr ol lha Houm of Rrpreianutttai. 6. Thomas Jaffarion In Didara tion of Indeptndance. 7. Billy Graham al Iht Prtudtnt't Prayer Breakfait. t. Europe, t. "....daffodiU." 10. Domini can Republic. tSJJJ'A'MoeMTioN NATIONAL fOITOIUl 1IAC6T,3N MONDAY, APRIL , 1963 A Problem of Adolescence The Jackson countv Democratic Central com mittee, which seems to take an unusual delight and relish in being a house divided, demonstrat ed once again last week that many ot its mem bers nlace personality over party welfare. When the announcement was made at the committee's meeting Tuesday night that Al Brad ford had been appointed temporary Medford nostmaster a move which had been anticipated for at least two or three weeks the group sub sequently voted 24 to 14 to send a letter to the Oregon delegation in Washington expressing re sentment that the committee's choice, County Clerk Marvin Madden, had not been named. The obvious target of the letter was Rep Robert Duncan, whose office released the infor mation that Bradford had been appointed. A FACTION within the committee which had supported Madden turned on a scapegoat and shouted for the resignation ot uommiaee vnair man Jean A. Mills, a lone-time Duncan man. Mills apparently kept his head under the fire and refused to resign, but it's clear the faction will continue its attempts to get his scalp, one way or the other. By its peevish, sulky action, the faction (by and large the same group which so strenuously opposed the home rule charter last year) has i . . t-i i .I- ah ila i i . Diougnt, naming uisciuuii. iu we lciuuiiv party as a whole ia Jackson county. And by extension, they have also cast a sha dow on the goon name ot tfraciiorci, a iauniui party worker who probably has more genuine friends and fewer real enemies than nearly any other man in Medford. What the btoud hoped to train with their pro test letter is beyond the pale of logic. They can't have imagined for a minute that the decision would be reversed. NOR could they originally, as practical men, have assumed that their recommendation would have anv other force than that of a sug gestion, which those who the appointment would teel tree to accept, or reject as they saw fit. One can onlv conclude that they, in their anger and disappointment, hoped to bring public embarrassment to Congressman Duncan. But. clearly, rather the reverse has happen ed. It is the Democratic at least the majority of should be, embarrassed. And we re embarassed too. It is never a pleas ant thing to see adults act like children. G.H.B. Fixed Date The date of Christendom's principal holy day depends on phases of the moon. It can come as early as March 22 or as late as April 25, and the confusion is compounded by the fact that Eastern Orthodox churches frequently celebrate Easter on dates which do not coincide with the one on which Western churches Leading Christian churchmen now are ques tioning anew the wisdom of leaving to astro nomical observation the annual appointment 01 Easter. Roman Catholic fathers meeting at the Ecumenical Council in Vatican City last Decem ber suggested negotiations with non-Catholic Christian churches to agree on a common, fixed date for Easter. "The Christian Century , a leading Protestant periodical, had proposed earlier that the Roman Catholic Church initiate a world conference of Christian leaders to fix an annual date for cele bration of the resurrection of Christ. rVFFICULTIES in establishing a universal date for Easter have existed ever since the church first appointed Easter as dred years alter Uinsts cruciiixion, western churches generally celebrated Easter on Sunday (the day of the week the resurrection had occur red), and the Eastern churches observed it on the 14th of Nlsan (first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar), regardless of the day of the week noon which it fell. In A.D. M25, Constantine convoked the his toric (JOUnCll 01 tlie Uil'ISliail l IHUCIICS at IN K'Ca. By that time, pilgrims were traveling bv the thou- i . ,i ti i i .li. ,1,1 .. .i il, wuninua .sands to the Holy Land to celebrate the i esiu i ee - tion. So the Council decided that Easier should personally, that are IS .vcars be fixed at a time when the pilgrims could be old, and don't look that Hqw guided in safety bv the light of thg full moon. Easter WAS Set on the t li st Sunday after the t li st j u,,., boys and thus they union, o owinc t ie viM'na coliinoN.. BUt the time of the conliiic to lonciuuie, ami opinions continued to cliveriTt? as to what date . . RACK in 1923, the League of Nations called a IJ , , r. n iV n w i conference attend by Unman t atholic, ba.t - ern Orthodox ami Anglican church delegates to Still V the Kastcr (late COlltllSlon. A general desire waf expressed that the as the date tor Celebration OI llll'IStS bllth 18. 'l'li,, RtritUh P n-li-iMinnl ovimi ii:imj -in Knstcv act in 1828 designating . ,,v .,,..- ,,v the second Saturday in Ungent upon its acceptance internationally. N desired acceptance has nol OCCll OrtnCOITUng. InCldent&liy, the word Eastd' IS derived from "Eostre" or "Eastio," the Anglo-Saxon name for i , , , , r,M... ....... tne kuuuvm ul npi o'K- 1 111 n avuvv in enwiiK vsv on Easter Sunday and of giving them to children Probably arose because, the church', eggs were forbidden food during Lent. The conception of the egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back, of course, to pre-Christian days and readily found accept ance as a symbol of resurrection. E.R.R. made the decision on Central committee, or it, which has been, or for Easter celebrate. a holy (lay. Three hun vernal equinox varied ac- was the correct OllC. . . date of Kastei he fixed ... v - v , ... . .... ... the first Sunday after April as Eastd' da.V, COll - in the earlier days ol i . "Thoio craiy exilof re ready lo defy ihe whole U.S. Navy to carry oul their raids on Cuba the lovable little hotheads!" Communications Letters to the Editor must bear Ihe name and address of the writer, although under certain circumstances the use of a pen name or initial for publication is permissible. The Mail Tribune reserves the 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 not necessarily represent the views of the. paper. In fact the contrary is often the case. Do Away With Monty To the Editor: In your edi torial, "Opportunity for Lead ership," should get a few of the labor force that still have jobs away from their TV sets long enough to look around and see what is going on in the world around them. Automation is one of the best things that ever happen ed to mankind. If we had any labor leaders, instead of political stooges, they would have the answer, and could demand a peaceful transition. But they haven't got the guts and with a government that is as confused as ours is, you can expect exactly nothing. Labor produces the wealth of any country and should share accordingly. We never think of anything, only in the terms of money. Money never produced anything, only trouble, greed, graft. corruption, murders, gang sters, dope peddlers and all the other vices. Eliminate the profit system and they will all disappear. Ninety-five per cent of persons in penal in stitutions arc there tor person al gain. Do away with money, we will never have a society fit to live In as long as wc have money as a medium of exchange. Run the money changers from their temple and wc will be on the way. No, not the barter system, just a sensible system that we already have a blue print of. There is only one sensible solution to auto mation. Labor must get the benefit of the machine. Like it or not the profit system must go. The only alternative is the bomb. Take your choice. Ray Prichard 414 South First st. Central Point. Ore. Equal Enforcement To Ihe Editor: This letter is in reference to this city's unorthodox style of enforce. ment of the curfew laws. Last week end, two of my young friends were arrested on a curfew violation charge. Now this is a necessary law, 1 know, and I know why, but 1 believe if this law is going to be enforced, it should be enforced impartially. This 1 say because the night my friends were arrested, one of the officers that was there al the time of the arrest, return ed later to this same locale, made a few Inquiries as to the age of three or four yotlUll present there. These guys arc j over ihe age of 18 l know. but there wore at least two 1 b lhcrc ,, , nlso know voucneo ior mem ana un oi PfSL-iil- occulted .1 1 j friends were ,,.kl.ri at l -m a.m. This dbgtllta me. Sure these boys Wtren't doing any harm, but : '" " 'aJ??d? ol gov, mv friends, who weien I do-,hemo j,nB anv iarm cither, can bein prop . .... , ..., if that what the law sas If arrested why not me other " ... i ; boys'.' If tliev arc uemt; arrest anyone, arrr.-i (he UU ty one.-, all (be giiiny ones, 1 rich, poor, cops sons, and bums' sons . . .xlram, dliuite for ottlcen 1 of the type mentioned earlier, - - na T1(J ls (,, nature, everv uncorruptcd person laato Uvaaamt. Wayne Howard MO Murray Medford. St. Vliltor From Space To the Editor: Wc cannot see ourselves as others sec us. but 1 am sure that if a p.f'-- man were to appear and view our passing scene, he would emphatically agree w ith our MLDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON movie comic who used to ex claim, "Ain't wc cwazy!" Approaching the earth, he would encounter our blanket of smog, but perhaps would be able to notice that our streams were contaminated and our forests ravished. Reading our newspapers, he would come across s u c h "zany" items as: The English group insisting that the earth is flat; the American reform er organizing a "Decency So ciety" to put breech-clouts on zoo animals; the eight high school students in Dixon, III., setting out on a 100-mile hike lo protest 50-mile hikes; the homesick Cuban trying to cross the Atlantic from the Canary Islands in a barrel; and the San Francisco bank announcing t h e presumed burning of $7.5 million in se curities. (And I could tell him about the mourner who. con fused by his first encounter with a twin funeral parlor, attended the wrong service!) Our cosmic observer would learn that conversation, once considered an art, is now but a liodgc-podgc of argument rather than discussion. Then he would find that individual THINKING has become passe - taken care of "from cradle to grave" by the clergy, law yers, scientists, psychologists, economists and politicians -to say nothing of the censors who tell us what publications are "vcrbolen ' and what movie and TV programs arc "out." Then there arc the myster ious "informed sources" lhat open for us their Pandora's boxes of propa ganda and myths. He would find our workers In the Day's News By FRANK The other day. a moderate ly well-to-do friend said to inc: "It costs me about $15,000 a year for the privilege of living in the United States." He was referring to his feder al income taxes. "It costs me about S5.00U a year for the privilege of living in the state of Oregon." By that, he meant his state income tax. "It costs me about $430 a year for the privilege of liv ing in Klamath Falls and Klamath county.'' By which he meant tils iucal taxes on his modest but comfortable home. (By way of explanation, this is written in Klamath Falls.) kll, thai s another way f .savins that the CLOS- BR HOME wc can keep the bulk o( government Ihe more reasonable the cost of govern ment will be. The F A R T HER AWAY Pl 1 llll mm n,.i-mit I lir Kllllf I"" r U government to be taken, more government will cost nrnriiirlinn tn xih.il UT CtM . j vl Why is REMOTE govern- I IJ .V.t.. ....r- mam n expensive r Let me cue an instance ! .,.TTT 77" 'I'll!'. O I ' 1 C I . 1. CSMno M 1 Al Ullman, member of ihe congress of Ihe Imtcd States SL - county is a part, announced O You see - mat s.iu.uun nas been inciuri- ed in the coming fiscal year s federal budget to initiate a lUldy of algae conditions in the Klamath River Basin He said in li is message: "j am particularly pleased to have been able to obtain budget approval for the fl nancing of tins- research proj ect in tne budget that con - gress is now considering We I had previously bean advised Foreign News: French Labor Stability Seen; Amnesty Forecast in Viet Nam By WILLIAM J. FOX United Prasi International Notes from the foreign news cables: Labor Troubles Settlement of the current wave of labor unrest in France is expected to be fol lowed by a period of calm and hard work. But there is trouble ahead on the West German labor scene. French workers normally take their vacations in the month of August. Other considerations apart, they will be under pressure from now on from (heir families to stay on the job and build up a little re Matter of Fact y jepn ai.op (c) New York Herald Tribune Syndicate THE HOLDING OPERATION Brussels There is some thing very strange, and one must add, something al most frighten ing about the spectacle now presented by the European Common Mar k e t head quarters here i n Brussels. This ostenta tiously inter national es AJmp tablishment on the Avenue of the Joyous Entrance glor ious address! once seemed to hold the whole secret of the European future. Here a new Europe was being briskly constructed by a new sort of European. Then Gen. de Gaulle ut tered his resounding "no," not just to President Ken- oing through the agony of displacement by automation and our college graduates the frustration of "no job" - un less they joined one of the armed services. How appalled he would be lo learn that such as disease, poverty and crime are rampant in our world! And when he saw our chil dren playing mock war games, while their fathers were "playing around" with the hydrogen bomb, 1 can imagine him exploding: "No wonder you people want to rocket to another planet! You have outsmarted yourselves in your creations for destruction and are now lost in a labyrinth of social ignorance. I've seen enough! I'm leaving for home - where I can help prepare a new Garden of Eden for Earth's eventual only surviving cou ple!" George M. Babcock 427 Hospital dr. Ashland, Ore. JENKINS that funds would nol be avail able." He added: "Budget approval means the passing of a major hurdle. However, the legislative proc ess, especially for money bills, can be long and difficult. I shall do everything I can to insure that the $50,000 amount is included in full at the appropriations bill for the Department of Health. Educa tion and Welfare." WHAT shall we The problem B do abotit it! problem of algae in Upper Klamath Lake and the trinmnih Dtin Dal I,.,.- U.. j . . j surveyed and resurveyed and then surveyed stunc mure. Speaking with butal candor, surveys of the algae problem in this part of the worid arc running out of our ears. Still tnother survey might hit the jackpot. IlKSinKS O The making of this addi - uonal survev would add SoO.- 1 . tl uuu 10 ine ecuiiuin ui uic tri.n.ih n, uhiM, i ' condition not whollv to be . j h Umc additional jobs - which certainly wouldn't be any thing to kick up a fuss about ; ND- AND Tl ' There's this thought m .,nNFV somkhody ki se , Xi,c money will be spent , anywav. and we will have to I pgy om- share of the reaultfhf taxes just the same as if the money had been spent here. That s the way it stacks up IN CONCIA'MUV All this may give you so omc idea of why REMOTE govern i ment is more expensive than j government that is close at I hand. serve for that all important vacation spree. Hence, the prediction of staoility. In West Germany, however, it is dif ferent. The president of the Federation of German In dustries, Fritz Berg, has urg ed a freeze on wage increases for the time being. But the leader of the Hesse Federa tion of Trade Unions, Ernst Leuninger. was quick to counter that a freeze in profit taking by industry would be more to the point. Leuninger i said the simple answer to any economic problems was to stop price-hiking for addition al profits rather than call for a pay pause. ncdy's "grand design" for the Western Alliance, but also to the Eurocrats' design for the European future. TT CANNOT be too often X emphasized that the ex clusion of Britain from Europe was not the most im portant aspect of this "no" of the General's. The most im portant aspect was, rather, de Gaulle's brutal assertion of super-heated, glory-intoxicated French nationalism in the bosom of a European com munity dedicated to and de pendent on the submergence of nationalism. The contradition, as the Soviets would describe it, had always been there. On taking power, Gen. de Gaulle accord ed a single, intensely disa greeable interview to the leading French Eurocrat, Robert Marjolin. In the course of it, the General described the Treaty of Rome with su preme disdain as "your little commercial treaty." But de Gaulle did nothing lo disturb the Eurocrats un duly so long as he regarded their activities as mere "in tendance" one of those spec ial Gaullisl usages with strong overtones of the old French monarchy which means, ap proximately, petty financial and economic administration. The "no" was spoken, and thus the contradiction became flagrant, when the labors of (he Eurocrats seemed about to pass the limits of simple "intendancc." CQUARELY faced with this contradiction, as they now are, what are the Eurocrats going to do.' The answer, crudely speaking, is that they arc going to attempt a holding operation, which may lead to some forward movement In a year or two. There are three main fac tors involved in this holding operation. First of all, the French very much want the completion of the Common Market's common agricultur al policy because France has far the best land in Europe. A common agricultural policy will help France importantly. while conferring little bene fit on the other Europeans and actually calling for polit ically painful sacrifices by the Germans. Secondly, all the other Europeans arc eager, in vary ing degrees, for an outward looking approach to the "Ken nedy round" of trade bargain ing with the U. S. Here, the French attitude is doubtful But it is thought that Fac tor One can be played off against Factor Two. In other words, it is thought that a package deal can be bar gained out in the next year or so, providing both the needed arrangements to complete the common agricultural policy I and the preparations for the right kind of approach to the "Kennedy round. ' AS CAN two v be seen. t least be re- cars will quired to complete the initial ;.,, r '., , . inter - European chafferin about the package deal, plus the subsequent chaffering of the "Kennedy round" itself. In the end, (he Eurocrats hope for mutual American-Euro- pean tariff cuts averaging about 30 per cent Which means that they no longer have such high aims as they 1 cherished a little while ago Then, third and finally, de Gaulle will lose his veto power, under the terms of the 'ealy Koin.e' Ju?! auou when the above-described processes are complete. Be ginning in 1966. in lac'., the Common Market can take de cisions binding on all its members, including political decisions, by weighted ma;or- ..,. When de Gaulle's veto is thus annulled, the Eurocr think they will be abie to go forward more briskly. They do not believe that Gen. de Gaulle will wish to break up the Common Market, thus iso- I latlng ance and creating the j conditions for a transformed Common Market including the other five European states. Britain and some ot the other free trade area countries i In some degree. :n fact. i they hope they can eventually j impose their will on de Gaulle It is a bold hope. Vietnamese Amnesty . The South Vietnamese gov ernment is expected to an nounce later this month an extensive amnesty program designed to win back villag ers recruited by the Commu nist Viet Cong rebels. The an nouncement probably will be made by Ngo Dinh Nhu. Presi dent Ngo Dinh Diem's broth er and political adviser. Nhu has been the driving force be hind the successful "strategic hamlet" program which has grouped scattered villagers into concentrated strong points and deprived the Reds of much support. His aim with the amnesty is to get at least 50 defections a month from the Viet Cong organization in every province. The chances of success: Fair to middling, Reform in Louisiana And Other Oddities By Arthur Hoppe New Orleans - As you prob- ably know, lovely Louisiana ranks among the very highest states in this great land of ours. In corruption. And few cities can hold a candle to quaint old New Orleans when it comes to crime, vice and sin in general. So it's good to know they re reforming it. Again. Only this lime the reform er is the District Attorney himself, Mr. Jim Garrison. And that's pretty unheard of in these parts. Moreover, peo ple are beginning to think he really means it. Because after ten short months on the job the politicians want his scalp, the police chief wants his head, all his investigative funds have been taken away, he's under a jail sentence for questioning the honesty of eight criminal judges and he may get kicked out of office at any minute. How's that for proving your sincerity? Well, personally, while I'm all for reform, I've found I don't care much for reform ers. They're so righteous. So it was with some hesitation that I put on my ace news man's hat and dropped by Mr. Garrison's office to pay a duty call. I found him - a huge-handsome, slow-speaking man of 41 - sitting in his shirt sleeves, feet on the desk, talk ing strategy with his bright, young staff. "Let's," said Mr. Garrison as the clock struck 5 p.m., "all go have a drink." And right there, I knew I'd found a reformer I was going to like. So wc ail wandered along Bourbon street, Mr. Garrison proudly pointing out the clip joints he'd closed. "It wasn't only that they were running prostitutes," he said, "but they'd go for the whole entire wallet. Very greedy. Then the young lady would disappear before delivering. And that," he said shaking his head wry ly, "is a real crime." Over a drink at Pepe's (very Strictly Personal By Sydney (O Field Enterprise!, inc. I was given a fountain pen for my twelfth birthday. It was a handsome, substantial i n s t r u ment which I kept and used for more than a dozen years, and f e 1 1 a keen sense of $'m loss when it d i s a ppeared one day. Now a full genera Hrri tion later, I own no fountain pen. Instead, like most of us, I am forever , Thrv " rlvrthpv rh:ivt no character, and they seem to vanish from sight over night. The case of the ball-point pen is almost the prototype of our modern social order. Wc have more of everything, but less of anything. A dozen ball-point pens, scattered about the house, with half of them inkless, do not some - how ?' p to one good foun- I tain It it a trivial example, but not without signific ance. The old - fashioned fountain pen did not really become obtolete; good pent of this tort today are tvtn better than they were 30 yeart ago - but we hive got out of the habit of buying them and keeping them. It teemt eetier and cheap er to pick up a dozen bail pointt: but it it, in reality, neilhtr eetier nor cheaper. For the pent don't work when you want them to. and over a period of a year thay add up to more than the price ot- a decent pen MM ISM Bali Volcano Gunung Agung Volcano on the fabled Island of Bali, which erupted March 17 and snuffed out more than 1.600 lives, could blow up again at any time. But voicanologists say the eruption would be im possible to predict, particu larly with a volcano whose past behavior is largely un recorded. Their seismographs ;-how no new lava plug form ing, and such a plug general ly is a necessary preliminary to any dangerous new erup tion. As long as Gunung Agung literally keeps letting off steam as it is now, the pressure is unlikely to build up again to the danger point. But if it does blow again, the damage could be far worse than before because of the thinner, weakened walls of the existing crater. respectable). Garrison told his story. It goes like tins: He was elected last May, the only winning candidate in New Orleans history not endorsed by one of the various political machines. He prompt ly knocked over the historic bailbond racket, began clean ing up Bourbon street and suggested that as the jail was bursting at the scams, per haps the judges could work a little harder too. Consider ing they traditionally took off no fewer than 223 days a year. This didn't make the judges happy. And led by Judge J. Bernard Cocke, a hangover from the old Huey Long re gime, the judges cut off Mr, Garrison's funds for investiga tion, saying New Orleans aft er all did have a police force. Which is generally considered a laugh. "This action," retorted Mr. Garrison cheerfully if brash ly, "raises interesting ques tions as to racketeer influ ences on our eight vacation minded judges." Great. Mr. Garrison is now appealing a sentence of four months in jail or a $1,000 fine for def amation of character. Eight characters, actually. "That's only $125 a character," says Mr. Garrison. "Of course," he added modestly, "it was an understatement." Well, the only reason I bring the whole thing up is (1) to prove there are such things as likable reformers. And (2) to get you to think I understand Louisiana poll tics. Because, as I explained the other day, I'm on my way to South America to bring you an up-to-the-minute re port on politics down there. And you know how politics are down there: dynastic, cor rups and absolutely incompre hensible to Americans. Or to put it another way. pretty much like Louisiana's. J. Harris thai might last a decade. It it too easy to blam the manufacturers, or the marketing procaai, or the advertising agendas, for this tad decline in our hab its and praclieet. What la harder to do is accept the fact that permanence, con linuity, excellence of work manthip, are no longer the ttandardt we live up to in our own lives. And perhaps it must be so in our "affluent society." Per haps our rise in the material standard of living demands that wc purchase inferior ob jects, discard them speedily, and buy new ones just as in ferior. To keep a pen. or aiiy object, for a iong time, is to limit our "productive capac ity." Perhaps, as some eco nomists argue, waste makes wealth. Each people develop their own national style. Our siyle. ! as the 20th century proceeds. seems to be more and mora in the direction of change, novelty, tcmporariness, lha annual model turnover, and "planned obsolescence." It used to be considered a I Yankee virtue lo buy some- thing that would last a long time; now it seems a sin against our economic deities. A ball-point pen is a pecu : liarly American phenomenon, along with the frozen dinner, I the instant coffee, the dispos i able diaper, the plastic dish, I the paper-bound book. In each case there is some advantage; : but we have not yet com? to ask ourselves whether our ideas and ideals are becom. j ing as temporary and dispos- able as our objects. Mr. 1
