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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1963)
a i n SUNDAY. AUGUST 4. 1963 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON , O . r) Voice of America Receives First Fan Letter ffom Communist China 'J By DONALD H. MAY United Press International Washington -IUPD- The Voice of America, the U. S. Govern ment's overseas propaganda broadcasting agency, has re ceived its first direct "fan" letter from inside Red China. It wag written on poor qual ity, semi-transparent paper, in a legible hand, in ink and in English. It was postmarked Peiping and arrived by reg ular mail in Washington in 17 days. It said: Sirs: I have been listening to your English language broadcasts for the past five months. I used to listen to the 9 p. m. news and com mentary and the 10 p. m. special English program. The latter suits me better because it is slower in peed. Yesterday for the first time I managed to receive a program in Chinese at 8:20 p. m. on 11.8 megacycles and heard a commentary by Liu Da-Wei. Your announce ers gave the frequencies too quickly (so) that I have never managed to put them all down. If possible could you send me copies of your program schedule or any other materials giving de tails of your program. Thank you in advance. Sincerely, It was signed with a Chi nese name, spelled out in the western alphabet, and includ ed a return address. In recent years, ,U. S. offi cials have received occasional reports, including letters from refugees, which indicate' some listening audience in Red China but never a direct let ter from Red China. There is no. way of knowing whether it was written by a brave or a very foolhardy man; by someone trying to get another person in trouble; by a Communist functionary per haps to test the Chinese mail censors; or by a Chinese gov ernment radio monitor who wished the U. S. announcers would slow down, and who had a sense of humor. Does Not Answer The Voice of America does not plan to answer. It was a small and perhaps pathetic event in a very big propaganda war, and it is as good an introduction as any to an account of this world con test of information-a scram ble by nations to disseminate ideas which, as much as the atom, distnguishes the present ace. The U. S. government has been accused recently of los ing" the propoganda war for failure to put enough money into it. Arguing to Congress against a SIS mililon cut in his appro priation, Edward R. Murrow, director of the U. S. Informa tion Agency (USIA), said "We are being out-spent, out published, and outbroadcast, We are a first rate power. We must speak with a first rate voice abroad." Ranks Third In cold statistics this is true The United States ranks third after Russia and Red China, in hours of international broad casting. USIA's budget this year is $124 million. Murrow wants $137.9 million in fiscal 1964. The agency has no very good estimate of Russia s budg et but believes it may be 10 times that or more. it's coming.. . NATURAL GAS mill you be ready for it? V 30-GALLON GLASS-LINED DAY A NIGHT gas mm hem 10 YEAR GUARANTEE REGULAR PRICE $89.50 LESS TRADE-IN ALLOWANCE $30.00 YOU PAY ONLY 5950 SEE YOUR PLUMBER OR DEALER TODAY 1WCALIFORNIA-PACIFIC w ..u.T?.f-.?5-PA.?.?!- Miona 772-5281, Medford 482-2116, Ashland CAS WATER HEATER DEALERS A-l Day l Nita Plumbing 772-6978 Baavar Elactrlc 773-4549 Bowers Plumbing 773-4953 Don't Plumbing 4 Coating, Inc 772-8587 Haggard Plumbing 535-2522 C. A. Lefflar Plumbing 772-6659 leslia Plumbing Co 772-5845 McLaughlin Plumbing 773-6675 Merit Plumbing Co 664-2463 Modern Plumbing Co 773-5368 Norpet Supply 773-4645 Patterson Plumbing Co 773-2768 Stavani Plumbing 773-3503 Stuart Mechanical, Inc 773-4501 Valley Plumbing 773-3102 But the information battle is far too complex to be meas ured in such statistics. USIA's own operations are far more intricate than the American public generally knows. USIA is, for example, often involved in covert operations. In a number of new countries it puts out publications in the local language which beer no attribution to the United States and appear to be the work either of the local gov ernment or local publishing houses. Where there has been fight ing within a country, USIA has gotten heavily into the psychological warfare b u s i ness, such as preparing and dropping leaflets behind enemy lines. The Communists, of course, do it too. Murrow, in a recent speech, took the security wraps off USIA operations in South Viet Nam where aCommunist guerrilla war is going on in which the United Slates has helped set up fortified villages called "strategic hamlets." Murrow said: "We have mobile informa tion teams, accompanied by a doctor, which circulate the countryside visiting villages, gathering the leaders and as sembling the people, discuss ing and treating their needs, both medical and psychologi cal, seeking to tic the country together and rousing interest in their own self-betterment. We are in the strategic ham lets with newspapers and pamphlets and films and ra dios, with guidance and in struction and advice . . ." In Asia, USIA has put on its payroll singing story-tellers, a cc ntuires-old method of Asian communications. In Latin America 64 per cent of its standard wave broadcasting is unatlributed to the U. S. gov ernment. It is taped and ac cepted by local radio stations as say an interview or a soap opera with a message. In Latin America, USIA has sent people to live with and work with labor and student groups tn tell them about America. It has broadcast di rectly to Soviet troops in Traffic Volume on Area Highways Has Decreased in Year For the first time in 21, years, the monthly traffic count on most major highways in Oregon has taken a drop according to the Oregon state highway department. A decrease of 3.6 per cent was noted on all rural high, ways with a 1.7 drop in ur ban traffic over the 1962 count. Interstate highway sys- Dennis the Menace IVmt iwe is sic oom w m' mmb to eeo? terns were included in the fig ures. The first six months this year show a 3.5 per cent net increase in rural traffic vol ume over 1962, and a 4.2 per cent increase for the urban traffic. The first figures indi cating a downward trend oc curred last May. Forrest Cooper, slate high way engineer, pointed out that 1962 figures included a large volume of World's Fair traffic and that it would be more logical to compare this year's figures to those of 1961. On this basis, June, 1963, had a 10 per cent Increase in rural traffic and an 8.3 per cent in crease in urban traffic over June, 1961. At Ruch there was a 5 per cent decrease from the 1962 totals, while at Shady Cove, Highway 238 had a 2.2 in crease in traffic count. Near Grants Pass, the Grave Creek count recorded a 16.9 per cent decrease, but traffic near Jump Oif Joe rd. in the same area showed a 17.6 increase. Near the Oregon-California i state line, one mile north of 1 O'Brien, traffic count showed a decrease of 5 per cent over last year. Locally, traffic showed a minor decrease over last year's total. Near Talent on Highway 99, traffic count de creased 7.6 per cent. On High way 66, a 211 per cent de crease was noted. In Medford, I east of Geneva st., the traffic count decreased 11 per cent from the totals last year. Cuba. It once managed to show USIA films on the floor of the Brazilian senate. Around the world it pro duces television shows, movies, traveling exhibits, operates libraries and teaches English. Some years ago former President Eisenhower gave USIA an official definition of its "mission" which boiled down to "explaining and in terpreting to foreign peoples the objectives and policies of the U. S. government." This concept has now be come totally oldfashioned. Last Jan. 25 President Ken nedy redefined USIA's job in a memorandum to Murrow which until now has been marked "confidential." It consists, Mr. Kennedy wrote, of "influencing public attitudes in other nations" and advising the administra tion on the foreign opinion im plications of its policies. Should Promote Concept The agency, Mr. Kennedy said, should promote the con cept of a "community of free and independent states," iden tify the United States with such a free world, and "un mask" hostile propaganda. Who then is winning the overall information war? It is clear the answer will be a long time coming. The outspent United Stales is at least in the running. Murrow has summed up the imponderable quality of the battle: "Our concern is with the idea and the ideal. We cannot gauge our success by sales ... no cash register rings when a man changes his mind, no totals are rung up on people impressed with an idea . . . often, one's best work may be merely to introduce doubt into minds already committed." NEW POLICEWOMAN Mrs. Mary Ellen Kendall, 26, of route 3, box 233, assumed her new duties recently as a policewoman with' the Medford police department. She was assigned to the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, but will eventually vary her work schedule to relieve other personnel for vacations and days off. She was a stenographer for a Med ford firm before accepting the position with the department. Man Pleads Guilty To Assault Charge Ned Orvie Tucker, 318 East 12th st., was fined $35 after he plead guilty to charges of assault and battery in Med ford municipal court Friday. 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