Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1963)
2 g SUNDAY. JULY 28. 1963 MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEPFORD. OBECOW . . MGrificB mi PeffemiSDve IFiirsft Time in 3 Years By RAY MOSELEY United Press Iniernatlonil Palermo, Sicily -flIPtt- Ital ian liberator-hero Giuseppe Garibaldi tried to do it the last century. Benito Mus solini claimed to have done it in this century. Now, modern Italy is trying again wipe out the Mafia. For the first time in 30 years, the Mafia, perhaps the largest and most feared under ground criminal organization in the world with influence strong even in the United States, Is on the defensive, Its leader are behind bars, or in hiding. Temporarily, at least, it has ceased to be the unchallenged bully boy of Si' cilian life, threatening and shooting down those who get in its way and keeping the nearly 5 million people of this island in abject poverty, The police, and the entire Italian nation, have declared war on the Mafia. On the outcome depends whether a band of outlaws is more powerful than the legal authority of a modern govern ment, and whether Sicily is ready at last to take its place in the 20th century. Attempts to wipe out the . Mafia have been made before, most notably by the late II Duce. No one has ever succeeded. The present "war" began to take shape last year, when several Capuchin friars were found to have become involv ed in the murder and extor tion rackets of the criminal society. Civic and political groups In Sicily, shocked by testimony coming out of the trial, demanded that the cen tral government in Rome act once and for all to eliminate Mi tMf$M ti' M PI ' ' l ... ,A. INTERROGATED Father Antonio Juluana Agrlppino is shown being interrogated by a panel of judges during a trial at Messian in this 1962 photograph. (UPI) the Mafia. The Italian parliament vot ed to investigate the "honored society," as Sicilians had long been accustomed to calling it, But months went by without any action. Last June 30, a group of Italian policemen and soldiers was sent out to investigate a suspicious looking abandoned car in a village near Palermo. As one of them raised the trunk lid, a charge of TNT went off. Seven men were blown to bits. Police reinforcements swarmed to Sicily. A roundup began. Backed by armored cars and armed with machine guns, the police went into the back streets of Palermo and the little outlying towns dot ted with orchards or orange, lemon and almond trees. Stockpiles of TNT, dyna mite, machine guns and rifles were confiscated. Prepare To Work In Rome, the parliamentary commission charged with in vestigating the Mafia elected its officers and prepared to get down to work. It has been a good begin ning. But will it, Sicilians are wondering, kill the Mafia? Will law and justice triumph? Or will there be simply an other cycle of bloodletting and fear, with the Mafia wounded, but still alive? If arrests and investigations were the whole solution to the Mafia problems, it would have been eliminated long ago. The real problem is getting evidence 'that will stand up in court, finding witnesses who will talk and courts that aren't afraid to convict. The problem is in many ways much like that which ex isted in the United States a few decades ago when Al Ca pone was brought to trial for income tax evasion because authorities could not estab lish cases on more conspicu ous criminal activities. Situation Complicated In Sicily, the situation is complicated by "omerta" silence to death - the tradi tion of refusal to talk with authorities. This tradition has its roots in the fact that for nearly 2.000 years Sicily was under foreign domination. The word Mafia itself (which also is sometimes spell ed Maffia) is of obscure or igin. One theory is that it comes from the Arab word "maehfil," meaning union or assembly. When Garibaldi landed in Sicily in 1860 he promised to break up the big feudal es tates and give the peasants their own land. But after the was victorious and the peas ants had occupied the land, one of his own lieutenants was sent to shoot them down. The peasants turned to the Mafia for protection. When Mussolini came to power in 1922, he instituted police state methods to try to eliminate the Mafia. As many as 150 Mafia leaders at a time were hauled into court. Their victims testified against them. The ringleaders were given life sentences or banished to lonely islands and Mussolini eventually proclaimed that the Mafia was dead. Many reference books today say that Mussolini destroyed the Ma fia. But with the end of World War II, the Mafia came back stronger than ever. The feudal estates had been broken up by the Italian gov ernment, but that failed to stop the Mafia. The rustic out laws in peasant costumes just put on flashy suits, bought expensive cars and moved in on the citicf. In doing so, they were copy ing the style and methods of the big-time gangsters in the U. S. Sawcd-off shotguns and kidnapings for ransom were old-fashioned. The postwar Mafia relied on machineguns dynamite and TNT, and they went after the lucrative busi ness enterprises in the cities Fruit Market Prise The bustling Palermo fruit market was one of their prizes. Rival factions fought for control of it, and men were shot dead in broad day light in the market itself. The faction that eventually won control decided who would buy and sell in the market and the prices that would be paid. There is hardly any busi ness activity in this city of half a million people that has been untouched by the Mafia. A few months ago a bridge contractor decided to operate without the Mafia's services. One night, all his trucks and equipment were blown up. Another Palermo firm, to avoid having to do business with Mafia truckers, bought a boat to haul its materials from one city to another. The boat was blown up before it made its first voyage. Since the war, the Mafia also has gone into politics for the first time, and in some areas no candidate can be Japanese Freighters Carry Supplies to Chinese By ROBERT CRABBE United Press International Tokyo - (UPU - Freighters flying the Rising Sun flag glide daily out of Japan's har bors into the blue Pacific headed for Communist China. Stowed in their holds are economic vitamins that Chi na, big but industrially flabby, needs to harden her bones and strengthen her muscles. At ports like Shanghai and Tslngtao, the Japanese ships unload fertilizer for Red Chi na's communal farms and steel for her tractors. There are Insecticides to protect the crops that the Chinese Com munists desperately need to feed their people. Returning to Japan, the freighters carry Red Chinese coal, pig iron and soybeans. All of these Japan could buy albeit at higher prices - in the non-Communist world. Sterngthening a Menace The United States doesn't like It. U.S. policy is that any body who trades with China is strengthening a menacing international bully. "Americans feel that it is incongruous to trade with a country of such unstable be havior as Communist China," says a Slate department ca reer man whose duties at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo keep him In clnso touch with far Eastern trade. Construction of New Safeway Store In Center to Start Construction of a new Safe way supermarket at the Med ford Shopping Center, almost twice as large as Its present market there, will start "Im mediately," Mark A. Goldy, hopping center manager, an nounced today. The new supermarket will be located on the east end of the J. J. Newberry store In the shopping center, to the north of the present market. The new building will face east. "We anticipate a late full opening," according to Goldy, who also announced that when Safeway vacates its ex isting market the space will be taken over by PayLcss Drug store, which now occu pies the building immediately to the west. Latest Safeway Design The new Safeway store will cover over 28,000 square feet of area, compared to the pres ent store's size of 16,000. "The store will be of the latest Safeway design," Goldy ad ded, "and will feature Its own bakery, wider aisles and many more checkstands than the present store." Be Choosy . . , Get Jacuzzi PUMPS! Vi H.P. DEEP WELL PUMP With 42 Gal. Tank and Air Charger $15.95 down, $13.15 per me. Centrifugal Irrigation Pomps $0050 and uo Siskiyou Hardware 225 W. Main Pa. 772-293 SiH GR1IN STAMPS The cost of the new store is expected to run about $300,000. It will be the third new Safeway store to be con structed in the Rogue valley this year. A new market on West Main st. In Mcdford and one in Ashland are now near ing completion. When the new shopping center store Is completed, it will bring the Intnl square footage of buildings in the center to 230,000 square feet Construction of the store at the northeast corner of the center also is expected to help relieve traffic congestion on the Jackson st. (south) side by diverting more shoppers to the north and cast sides. When the present Safeway space is vacated, the building will be remodeled for use by Payless Drug store. This pro) ect will Increase PayLcss' floor area from 9.000 to 25, 000 square feet. He adds that there are no signs that the American view point is going to change. A questioner asks him how China, industrially backward and still in the infancy of atomic research, can be re garded as a threat to the United Stales. 'Great powers don't get powerful overnight," is the answer. "It's a slow process of accretion, of adding little increments of power here and there. If you're going to get tough with them, the time to do it is in the beginning." Make View Known American diplomats in To kyo have not hcstltatcd to make the U.S. view on Red China trade known to the Contract Awarded For School Rooms Construction is expected to start Monday on a classroom addition to Wilson school, and bids for a classroom addition to Lone Pine school will be opened Aug. S. Ausland Construction com pany, Grants Pass, who sub mitted the low bid , was awarded the contract at a special school board meeting last week. Ausland's bid, which includes the base hid with one alternate, was $R0, 100. Other bidders for the proj ect were Murphy Construc tion company, Roseburg; 11. Barnhart, Mcdford, and Myers D. Junes, Mcdford. The Wilson school addition will be a team teaching com plex which will include two large teaching areas with fa cilities to divdc them Into regular size classrooms, and a teacher's conference area. Bids for a classroom addi tion at Lone Pine school will be opened by the school board Aug. 9. Both addtlons are ex pected to be ready for stu dents this fall. Japanese public. But so far, the United States has made no move to apply the eco nomic pressure that it obvi ously could put on Prime Min ister Hayato Ikeda's government. One reason is that when the Japanese freighters dock in China, they have a lot of company. A cargo ship from Yokohama may well be found sharing a Shanghai pier with a merchantman from Norway, Britain, France or West Ger many. The fact Is that the United States has encountered a great deal of difficulty in selling Its allies on boycotting Red China. Last year Japan's two-way trade with Red China reach ed $80 million, with Japan selling about $36 million worth of goods and buying about $40 million worth. Worth This Year This year, the two-way flow is expected to be worth about $150 million. It still is substantially below the lev el of the 1930s, Japan's great period as a trading partner of China. From 1930 to 1939 two-way trade between China and Ja pan annually averaged $214 million. On the average, Ja pan traded with China at an annual deficit of $17 million, because Japan needed Chi nese raw materials worse than China needed Japanese goods. In the foreseeable future, China is quite unlikely to play as large a role in the Japa nese economy as it did in pre war days. The Chinese simply haven't got enough money to buy much in Japan. China can offer raw materials rath er than cash, but its ability to do so is limited by two things. Not Richly EndoweG. In the first place, China is not richly endowed with nat ural resources. In the second, Japan now has other sources of supply in the West. How ever, traders in both London and Tokyo believe Red Chi na will provide an improving market for the things they have to sell. L. E. Ross, secretary of the British legation in Peking, re ported recently that there were good prospects China would eventually be "a major importer of capital goods." Britain's China Export as sociation noted in its last an nual report that nations of the Communist bloc now ac count for only 47 per cent of China s foreign trade - a drop of 21 per cent since The implication is that China's dif ficulties with the Soviet Un ion are forcing her to buy in the non-Communist world. Britain's sources in Red Chi na report that a substantial 1962 harvest and good 1963 prospects should enable Chi na to spend less on food im ports and more on factory equipment. This view was borne out when a Canadian grain trad ing mission recently returned home from China empty-handed. The Chinese have been paying cash for Canada's wheat for three years. Now they are demanding that Can ada accept part payment in goods, a sign that the Chinese at least feel strong enough to bargain. POLISHERS for RENT at A to Z Rental 1213 N. Rivenid. 779-1474 elected who doesn't have Ma fia approval. Some of the stiffest opposi tion to the Mafia has come from the labor unions and scores of labor leaders have been among Mafia victims. Police estimate that about 500 persons have been killed by the Mafia in the last 15 years. The toll for this year so far is estimated at 23. The area's brightest young people move elsewhere when they reach maturity because there are few opportunities for them as long as the Mafia is in control. Tourists stay away for fear of being kidnaped or killed. Until Italy finds a means to eliminate the Mafia, millions of its citizens are destined to continue living in fear. s ' . hf s C198S VOLKSWAQEM Of AMCKICA, IHt Regular size. Large economy size. Volkswagens come in two handy sizes: Sedan ond Stolion Wagon. The packages ore very different, but the works are about the same. There is a genuine Volkswagen engine In the back ol each. It gives both cars solid traction on ice and snow. The engines are air-cooled, too. So you never mess with water or anti-lreeze. The Volkswagen Sedan seats 4 odults comfortably or 5 adults uncomfortably. I A mother, a father and 3 kids are about rijht.1 The Volkswagen Wagon is only 9 inches longer than the Sedan, a neat trick all by itself. It seats 8 comfortably, 9 uncomfort. ably and 10 very uncomfortably, but it's been done. (The kids that fit are count less.) The WV Sedan averages 32 miles to the gallon, the Wagon a mere 24. -Once upon a time, people had trouble deciding whether to buy o VW or not. Now they hove trouble deciding which size. MORSE MOTORS 6th & Ivy 772-7155 D Dennis the Menace HlNRVlWlllWaWEUPHEBE CMCf CENNIS' t'itm MMWS HfflSSJIGKIte" S3 vented-recessed gas Counter-flow Wall Furnace So simple to install. No re modeling. No expensive duct work. Fits snugly into or against wall. Saves space. 1'onvrful blower pulls room air in at top, delivers heated air at bottom. Spreads a car pet of warmth and circulates comfort from room to room. Fully automatic with safety shut-off and safetv vent. 50,000 and 65,000 BTU in put. Backed by exclusive $500 Warranty Bond, NATURAL GAS EQUIPMENT CO. MJtifif) And Air Conditioning 111 W. Main, Mtdford Phont 772-2322 For Tank Gas or Natural Gas CALL US TODAY for FREE ESTIMATES TERMS Nothing Down Up to 36 Months To Pay INSTALL NOW . . . Pay Later! DOMESTIC GAS COMPANY Serving Jjckien and Joiephina Countttt Mtdtsrd: Phont 773-331 2990 No. Pacific Hwy. G..M. f,M. PS. 476-4603 912 Ragut Rivtr Hoy- Meet Mr. A. B.C. 0 G u '8$ -He Works for our Advertisers He is one of the experienced circulation auditors on the staff of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Just as a bank examiner makes a periodic check of the records of your bank so does Mr. A.B.C. visit our office nt regular intervals to make an exacting inspection and audit of our circulation records. The circulation facts thus obtained are condensed in easy-to-read audit reports which tell our advertisers: How much circu lation we have; where it goes; how it was obtained; and many other FACTS that tell advertisers what they get for their money when they advertise in this newspaper. Advertisers ere invited to ask for a copy of our latest A.B.C. report. Ihe Audit Bureau of Circula tions, of which this newspaper n a member, it a cooperative, nonprofit association of nearly 4,000 advertisers, advertising agencies and publishers. Or ganized in 1914, A.B.C brought order out of advertising chaos by establishing: A def inition for paid circulation; rules end standards for auditing and reporting the circulations of newspapers and periodicals. XT 11 KimjINfc
