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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1963)
10 A WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 14. 1963 MKDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD. OREGON Rivalry in the Ocean Ujniittecl States Embarked on Program of ceami Research Editor's notei ThU ii tht second in sarin by our Washington correspondent on the intense rivalry baiwatn tha Unitad Statas and Russia in tha newly axpanding fiald of ocaanography bacauia of its military as wall as peace- iul utility.) By A. ROBERT SMITH Mail Tribune Washington Correspondent Washington - Soviet Rus sia's oceanography fleet, de ployed to learn the vital se crets of the world's oceans, is more than twice as large as the American oceanography fleet But the United States has embarked upon a shipbuilding program as part of the Ken nedy administrations quiei but determined effort to over come the Soviet lead in under sea research and exploration which has certain military importance and peaceful ec onomic significance of un certain dimensions. While the race to land a man on the moon has cap tured world - wide attention, both powers have simultane ously entered a race to get to the bottom of the seas to unlock the treasure house of scientific knowledge which the oceans have guarded from man ever since he pushed off from shore in ancient times. The Soviet oceanography fleet consists of 158 ships, according to U. S. Navy estimates. The American oceanography fleet consists of 76 vessels, and most of these are over-age ships con verted from some prior use or taken from the "moth ball fleet" to conduct oceanic research on a make shift basis. But during the past year the first three brand new American ships, designed and built specifically for modern oceanographic research, have put to sea. This is the first in stallment on a construction program which a high Navy official says we "desperately need." The administration's 10 - y e a r oceangraphy plan calls for 120 oceanography ships by 1972. Government officials say Small Worlds Around Us By LYNN M. WATKINS (Register end Tribune Syndicate: '.V3 More Than Man Interested In Arrival Of Baby Turtles The mud turtle left the sheltering waters of the pond and laboriously climbed the sloping bank. We watched her with binoculars as she exca vated a deep hole in the beach, up at the highest point, and some distance from the water. She covered the eggs by kicking the sand , over them with a sweeping motion of her rear legs. She seemed in a great hurry, anxious probably to get back to the safety of the pond. Of course, we didn't know it at the time, but other eyes, aside from ours, must have observed the incident, for later events indicated we were not the only ones inter ested In those turtle eggs. Mrs. Turtle returned to her natural environment and probably forgot the eggs she had laid. She had lost all in terest in them. What happen ed to them from now on was no concern of hers. Neither did she care whether or not any of her future offspring ever survived to reach the home pond. ' Our Interest however, was more farsighted. We marked the date of the egg laying on a calendar. We wanted to be back about the time the baby turtles would leave their sandy nursery. Neither did we know then that the hatch ing date was registered in the minds of other creatures also interested in baby turtles. And too, this seemed like an ideal time and place to try out an idea. It has always been argued among students of wild creatures that baby turtles newly hatched, found tho water merely by walking down the hill. This was a reasonable deduction, for the bank of a pond or stream is always higher in elevation than the water, often so steep in fact, that a newly hatched turtle could Just about turn ble, head over tail, down hill and into the pond, or stream. The weather favored us considerable. The summer was hot, the rains were few and of a skimpy amount and the waters of the pond had re ceded until the shore was several yards wider than when the eggs were de posited.; Those baby turtles, now nearly due to arrive, would have to travel much farther than did their mother when she laid the eggs. Made Changes It was work, but we changed the contour of the shore in between the nest and the edge of the pond. We also altered the Incline, we slanted it back away from Its natural inclination. If the new-born reacted to gravity alone, they would go away from the pond, following the incline backwards. We watched carefully dur ing the critical days. We wanted to be there when the youngsters put in their first appearance. We missed the hatching, but we could read the tracks in the sand.' There had been no hesitancy on the part of the newly hatched turtles, they wasted no time on inclines, or ground slant, tney went over the artificial hill, directly toward the water. It was, in terms of dislance, short trip, but It was a dangerous one. The marks in the sand told where the great blue heron stood while he gobbled some of the baby tur tles. Plain too, were the paw marks of a pair of raccoons; tney ate some of the hurrying youngsters. One question at least was partly answered; turtle babies would seem to know where they want to go, In spite of up, or down hill. But those other eyes that had watched the egg laying, both bird and animal, how did they know? Did they remember a dnte, a time, and a place; or did they Just happen to be there on the day of the hatching? . Russia has 75 ihips operated by its Navy and 83 non-Navy snips, some of these are mod ern, well-equipped vessels as signed to basic research. Their best known research ships in elude the 6,000-ton Mikhail Lomonosov, built in 1957 with 16 oceanographic laboratories and space for about 75 scien tists aboard; the 12,000-ton Ob, built in 1953; and the bvcryanka, a research sub marine. Some Russian vessels com bine oceanography data col lection with military intelli gence and commercial fishing not far off the American coast, both East and West, in international waters. While the comparative sizes of the fleets provide an index of the Soviet and American oceanography efforts, Rear Admiral E. C. Stcphan points out that more than mere ships arc required for an effective program. The ships collect a large amount of data about the oceans, but this data must be processed and reduced to usable form for various mili tary and civilian purposes. In this vital area American offl clals believe they are ahead of the Russians.' Their oceanographic pro gram is hampered by lack of precise positioning. capability, lack of modern precision in strumentation for data acquisi tion and by the lack of mod ern data processing equipment for rapid handling of survey research data," said Admiral Stephan, director of oceanog raphy under the chief of naval operations. There is every indication that the Russian oceanography fleet has a data acquisition This Data Center is but one of the new functions of an old line Navy agency, the Hydro graphic Office, which a year ago was renamed the Naval Oceanographic Office, to sug gest its expanded functions. Previously, it was limited to producing the navigational maps and cnarts mat guiae every vessel, large and small, on the oceans or coastal and inland waters. Today the Oceanographic Office is hard at work map ping the bottom of oceans, de termining wave conditions which alfect shipping and na val operations, and research ing sub-surface temperatures and currents-all of which has immense military value in this age of deep diving, long ra n g e nuclear-powered missile-firing submarines. It is presumed ihe Soviets are do ing similar work for similar reasons. The cost of keeping an oceanographic research ship at sea is about $2,000 per day. Each temperature reading of the oceans at different seasons and vary ing depths costs about $20 capability that has far out stripped their ability to ana lyze and process this data into usable form. They probably are better equipped to do oceanography in support of fishing operations than they are to do the more precise nd complicated military ocennography." To solve its own data analysis problem, the U. S. Navy created the National Oceanographic Data Center, located in an abandoned naval gun factory in Wash ington, D. C. With modorn compulors, the Navy ex pects to analyse raw data transmitted from ships at sea: then the processed data will be transmitted back to the ships where scientists aboard will be able to de termine when their ocean ographic research has been adequate in that area and they can move on to an other part of ihe sea. when taken from a ship. To cut this cost, the Navy has developed buoys equipped with thermistors which cut the cost to about 75 cents per measurement. "We are keeping ahead of everybody in this field Navy oceanographer declared. Mapping the ocean floor is the major function of the ocean survey effort, which Z X9'H i ... QUEEN-SIZE SANDWICH - August is Na tional Sandwich Month and pretty Marcia Good, 23, of Las Vegas, Nev., is celebrating in a big way as she prepares to bite into a "queen-size" sandwich. (UPI) Vote Expected on Tax Cut Proposal Washinglon-(UPII-The House Ways and Means committee today was expected to start voting on President Kennedy's $10.6 billion tax cut plan. The committee was report planning to approve al most all of Kennedy's recom mendations to lessen the tax burden on individuals and corporations. But the commit tee is not expected to make s final decisions until Thurs- ay or Friday. The Democrats on the com mittee were generally enthu siastic over the central fea ture of the program an across-the-board cut averag ing 20 per cent in tax levies for individuals. Rep. John W. Byrnes (Wis.), the committee's senior Repub lican, said the GOP members would feci the same if they thought the admiuistration would launch an all-out drive to hold down deficit spending. Bears Can Be Dangerous, Warn U. S. Park Rangers Beton Addresses Insurance Convention Portlnnd-OIPIl - All citizens should give "active, sincere and dedicated interest" to the business of government. Stale Treasurer Howard Belton said Tuesday. He spoke at the National Association of Mutual Insur ance Companies convention here. To neglect an interest in government, Belton said, is perilous. He warned against exces sive legislation and urged strengthening of morality and ethics. YOU ARE INVITED Get Yeur HANDY HUNDRED er . Call Crater Finance! T$V "Meney 'rem Crater Finance V Is Like Menty from Home" CRATER FINANCE X Cascade Shopping Center A FRIDAY, August 16 We are delighted to open our second Rogue River Valley office in the all-new, White City Cascade Shopping Center! Stop by and meet our manager, Bob Gemaehlich, he'll be happy to show you around and discuss your money needs. With offices in Central Point and White City we hope to better serve you. ALFRED McCORMACK, JR. Smokemont, N.C. - (UPI) - Never trust a friendly-looking bear. He may be cute, but he's also the most dangerous of North American wild ani mals. This advice comes f'-om rangers here In the Great Smoky Mountains' national park. But it's valid anywhere a bear's loose - from Maine to Glacier park, Mont., and the Sierras of California. Every summer unwary tourists across the land and in national parks arc scratch ed, fanged or badly frighten ed .by a suddenly angry bear. People who try to be hos pitable to bears regularly find that Mr. Bear enthusiasticully bites the hand that feeds him. Take the case of a Dubuque, Iowa, man who visited the park here several years back. Disobeying signs and printed advice, he hopped out of his car and went up to a friend ly-looking mamma bear and her cubs with an offering of peanuts. Mamma Bear The she-bear, known as a sow, thought the corn - state tourist was trying to get be tween her and the cubs, and she look immediate excep tion. When a park ranger drove by on patrol in his pickup truck a few minutes later, the motorist had retreated to the top of his car - minus part of his jacket and shirt -and with a nasty scratch down one arm. The bear was I trying to get inside the car. The lowan s wife was hys terical. There is almost nothing lie boorish tourist will not do to and with bears. One man tried to shove a grown black bear into the front seat of his car so he could take a picture of j it sitting next to his wife. I A horrified ranger spotted j this stupidity and put a stop to it before something hap ! pencd. The couple, lacking in i knowledge of ursine ways, i was highly indignant. Human-like Bears have a human - like ' quality which is highly decep tive. They eat the same food as man, and many a bear in captivity has learned to guz ' zie beer and whisky, dance to music, and perform tricks. Actually, the bear is a neu rotic with mcrcurical swings of temperament and an anti ' social mien. He is more cun i ning than most hunters and likes nothing better than to' ! double back on his own long track and pad silently along parallel to a hunting party, the bear tracking the track ers. While big bears may look Sid act friendly from afar, there is almost nothing cuter than a bear cub. They are soft, cuddly, furry creatures which love nothing more than : to play and romp. They can roll over like a dog, retrieve a thrown ball or play fiead I like a possum. The teddy bear of yester day quickly becomes a hun dred - pound demanding ani mal, however, who is friend ly one moment and a snarling wild creature the next. "If thine enemy offends thee, give him a bear cub," a naturalist once remarked. ""e best place for bear watching is from a distance. also includes ascertaining the magnetic and gravity prop erties of the deep sea, the physical, chemical and bio logical characteristics of bot tom sediments, and the me teorology of the overlying atmosphere. The Navy is aided by the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Bureau of Commer cial fisheries in this effort. A new Navy ship, designed just for this purpose, is sched uled to start operations next year. Today the only manned vehicle for exploring the bot tom is the Navy's Trieste which has only a two-mile horizontal range. The Navy is considering building more advanced vehicles for cruising along the ocean floor at depths ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 feet, which would take care of 90 per cent of the bot tom, and two other vehicles capable of descending to 36, 000 feet for deep trench investigations. Ocean surveys and bottom mapping are crucial to 'the Navy's expanding fleet of Po laris submarines which today cruise assigned stations at sea as an effective deterrent to Soviet aggression. Speaking of the Polaris sub. Rep. Daniel Flood (D-Pa.). a member of the House subcom mittee on defense appropria tions, said in recent hearings: "Here we have this fantastic weapons system about which we are all excited. We are grinding them out like pan cakes. Everybody tells us they will protect the free world from this and that, and they are not worth very much without oceanography." Congressman Flood said the Navy, with congressional sanction, wants to place a circle of Polaris subs around the Communist-held land mass within four years. Admiral Stephan said the oceanogra phy program is geared to meet such a time-table. Before each Polaris sub takes its assigned station at sea, the Navy makes an ocean survey of the area. Currently the Navy has 11 Polaris subs in the fleet of 28 atomic power subma rines. The goal of 86 nu clear subs by the end of the decade is divided about equally between Polaris subs, which could fire at inland targets thousands of miles away, and attack subs, used against foreign sub marines. To clear their watery sta tions far at sea, the Navy must continue to step up its work for deep sea secrets, locating unknown sea mounts, chart ing the courses of raging deep sea rivers. This is the reason for allocation of much of the oceanography budget for de fense purposes. Of $2.3 billion budgeted diving.) for the 1963-1972 oceanogra phy effort, $835 million is for the Navy. Not included in either of these figures is an-" other half billion for secret activities related to the under sea cold war with Russia. But whether Congress will a c t u a 1 ly appropriate this much for oceanography in the years ahead is somewhat doubtful, judging by the beat ing the oceanography program has been receiving in Con gress this summer at the hands of the budget cutters. (Next - Capitol Hill skin- K!3 Learn How Experienced Investors Increase Earnings with COMMONWEALTH E3j7 SECURED BONDS 1 ! A growing number of income-minded Oregon investors now use Commonwealth 5 se cured bonds to up-grade investment earnings. If you have need of additional income you will want to consider the financial advantages of x these high-grade securities. A prospectus con taining full information is available to you. In MEDFORD Mr. Harry Clement, Investment Coun selor and assistant Vice President of Commonwealth Investors. Inc. will be at the Medford Hotel in Med ford. August 21st. to answer your personal questions relative to the advantages, earnings and security of Common wealth bonds. For Complete Information Mail Coupon or Call Mr. Clement at the Medford Hotel, Aug. 21st n yOM MO N WEALTH j ZUMSfeU.NC. CA 8-8141 I 200 Equitable Bldg., Portland 4, Oregon j Send complete information about j Commonwealth Bonds. Have Mr. Clement call me for appointment. I 1! ;l NAME j ADDRI ; j CITY PHON for those who think young C r r-i fh pnwaWnnnn iiiiimiiintiinii V n ' '&AryV"' """"Ha) x i 1 Sunshine brings more people out today-and more people bring out Pepsi! Light, bracing Pepsi matches modern activities with a sparkling-clean taste that's never too sweet. And nothing drenches your thirst like a cold, inviting Pepsi-Cola. Think young -say ' 'Pepsi, please! ' ' o 4 pepsi com Bcrt'ed bv Pcpsi-Co'i Bottling ComcJ"V. Bedford, u"dtr ADcomtmcnt from Pcosi-Col Company, N V f U Y
