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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1963)
Elacial Situation WHAT IS DOLLAR DEVALUATION? II (2nd in a Serial of 5 Columns) "Devaluation of the dollar would be as shattering a blow to U.S. power, prestige and health and to the well being of every American as a takeover of the entire U.S. by the Russians," one of the nation's top currency experts said to me in an off-the-record talk the other day. "It would mean instantaneous disaster for the foreigners who own $20 billion of dollar claims today and it would lead to a com plete breakdown of our entire international financial sys tem." In less dramatic words. President Kennedy, Treasury Secretary Dillon, Reserve Board Chairman Martin to name just a few have said the same thing on-the-record and there is no possibility whatsoever that we will devalue the U.S. dollar in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, fears about devaluation are spreading as we continue to spend far more abroad than we earn abroad, as the deficit in our balance of payments remains danger ously high, as foreign claims against our gold reserve mount, as our gold supply sh-rinks. Here's an attempt to translate the devaluation bafflegab into our words. Q. What it devaluation of the dollar? A. The dictionary definition of devaluation it "to diminiih the value of something." In the case of the dollar, if we devalued, we would diminish its value in lermi of gold and also in terms of other currencies assuming other nations did not immediately copy us and devalue their monies to precisely the same de gree as we did the dollar. We would devalue by rising the price at which the U.S. Government stands ready to buy from or sell gold to any qualified foreign government or banks or interna tional organization. The price of gold today is $35 an ounce and it has been frozen there since we last devalued in 1934, almost 30 years ago. Say we raised this price from $35 to $70 an ounce. The gold value of the U.S. dollar would be l70th of an ounce instead of l35th. The dollar would have been devalued by half. Q. How could devaluation be achieved? A. It could be done only by an act of Congress. Under the Bretton Woods Agreements Act of 1945, the President cannot even propose devaluation unless Congress first gives him the authority to do so, and even a rumor of this re quest would plunge the free world into monetary chaos. Also we would have to obtain the approval of the Inter national Monetary Fund, to which we and most nations of the West belong, for all member countries have pledged not to make any major change in the value of their cur rencies without the IMF's okay. Despite widespread belief to the contrary, the dollar could not be devalued by any "stroke of the pen" deal: Q. Why does anyone favor dollar devaluation? A. Because our foreign creditors have such enor mous dollar claims against our gold reserve and our hoard has been shrinking, the proposed "solution" is that we write up the value of gold so we'll have a "profit" and so will all other countries owning gold the basic precious metal that backs paper curren cies today. If we raised the price of gold from $35 to $70, our $15.6 billion gold reserve would be worth $31.2 billion. We would have doubled the amount with which to settle claims against us. At $70 an ounce, our gold would be a much Jess attractive buy to foreigners. Because our dollar's value in other currencies would be cut in half, the cost of our goods to foreigners would be cut in half too. Theoretically, our exports would be twice as attractive, and theoretically this would boost our sales abroad. At the same time, the value of a dollar to a for eigner would be cut in half and the cost of goods we im port would be doubled. Theoretically, imports would be much less attractive and we'd be less eager to buy im ported goods. For instance, a German car costing $2,000 or 8,000 marks would cost $4,000 for the same 8,000 marks. All this assumes other countries would sit by and let us devalue our dollar by ourselves and not follow suit. They could not sit by and let us do this which is why a unilateral devaluation by che U.S. is unthinkable. Circuit Rider To Be Returned To Park Salem -IUPU- Oregon's cir cuit rider was scheduled to re turn to the Capitol park this afternoon to resume a stand taken on April 19, 1924. The bronze statue of a cir euit rider atop his horse was toppled and smashed by a falling tree during last year's Columbus Day storm. The rid er's head was crushed, seams iplit, and mounting bolts itripped. It cost $5,400 to have a new head recast and other repairs made by Vancouver, Wash., gculptor James Lee Hansen, the secretary of state's office announced. The Oregon National Guard and Highway Department loaded the statue on a special truck for the return to Salem this morning. No special ceremonies were planned for its return. Phimister Proctor created the statue which was a gift of Robert A. Booth, former state senator and Oregon pioneer. The statue was unveiled April 19. 1924. Senate Extends Aid Funds for Airports Washington -WH- The Sen ate, beating back an economy drive, voted Monday to ex tend for three more years the current authorization of S75 million annually in federal aid for airports. The Senate rejected 64 to 14 a move by Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.) to cut the program back by one third, or to $50 million a year. The following funds would be allocated, to states on a JO-30 matching basis in etch of the next fiscal years begin ning July 1. 1964: Oregon, S901.766: Idaho Hf57.532; Washington S873,- Your Money's Worth By SYLVIA PORTER Copyright, Hall Syndicate, Inc. iii liniiij Customers Say They Like Poly Clean DRY CLEANING Bright Clean Results Everytima COURTEOUS on Duty to Assist & Advise You 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. DAILY POLY CLEAN C AIR CONDITIONED COIN Brothers Killed in Light Plane Crash Puyallup, Wash. iUPD- Two brothers were killed when their light plane crashed into trees at the south end of the runway at Thurn Field early today. They were Al and Wayne Wiles, both of Puyallup. Al, 35, was piloting the Stinson four-placer when it crashed. Pierce county sheriff's dep uties said the plane either hit a fog bank and then went into the trees or the plane's motor stalled as the craft went into a turn. Hatfield Appears 'Calm' on Filmed Television Show Salem-lUPll-Gov. Mark Hat field and newsman Charles Collingwood will appear calm and relaxed at 10:30 p.m. Fri day when "Portrait" is broad cast over CBS-TV. Their apparent calm belies the electric air of frantic ac tivity which surrounded the taping of the program at Hat field's home here Monday. Scores of cameramen, di rectors, producers, technic ians, and truckloads of equip ment converged on the north west corner of High and Kearney streets early Mon day. Lights were installed, furni ture moved, cameras placed, microphones set up. Crowd Gathers The Hatficlds. who were away for the week end, met Collingwood in Portland in the morning. They arrived in Salem shortly before noon. Streets were blocked off while pictures were taken of Graham Calls for Start of New Fad Los Angeles - IUPU - Evange list Billy Graham Monday night called on the youth of Southern California to start a "new fad" of religious de votion. "This could bring about a youth revolution which is needed desperately in our country," Graham told 42, 108 persons attending the 10th meeting of his current crusade, which ends Sept. 8. "As a group of young revo lutionaries, you could turn your world upside down," he said. "You could play a part in the history of our times." Noting an increase in teen age crime, Graham said there were "thousands of lfi-year-old failures in American life" whose problems were "basic ally spiritual." "If ever the church needed to make the Gospel relevant to the teen-ager, it is today," he said. "These young people are looking for something to believe in, something to which they can commit themselves." Odor Free Wrinkle-Free PERSONNEL rr CT w MldFORD maii. thibuhe. MEDf ORDi OHEGON in Nation's Capital a Editor's noie: What kind of city will civil rights dem ontrators find when they stage their "March on Washington" Wednes day. The following dispatch re reports on the capital's racial situation. By LOUIS CASSELS United Press International Washington - IUPU - March ing on Washington to call at tention to racial problems is like carrying coals to New castle. The nation's capital already has plenty of racial problems of its own. It is the only U.S. city in which Negroes outnumber their house. Crowds of on lookers gathered. Mrs. Hatfield had left in structions to prepare lunch for 14. She ordered a quick change, and 40 were fed. After lunch the taping of the interview began. A sound recorder went out, and they had to start over. Then a grass fire threatened a nearby television relay, and fire trucks roared past the house while Hatfield chatted unconcernedly inside. Wife Watches in Truck Mrs. Hatfield, still wearing an apron from lunch, sat in one of the television trucks and watched the program on a monitor. The Hatfield living room became oven-like from the heat of television lights. When it was over, a direc tor commented on Hatfield's relaxed air. "I don't feel relaxed," the governor smiled as he wiped perspiration from his brow. A director, after reviewing the taped interview, comment ed "that's the best interview we've ever done. The govern or is charming, and he's so articulate." Destroyer Collides With Japanese Ship Eureka, Calif.-IUPII-A Navy destroyer escort collided with a Japanese motorship in the fog in Humboldt Bay Monday, but no injuries were reported on either vessel. The destroyer escort USS Edmonds, under the com mand of LI. Cmdr. Sandy Locheim, had been on a Navy week end in Eureka along with another destroyer escort and a destroyer. As the three ships left in the fog with vis ibility less than 100 feet, the Edmonds scraped the side of the motorship Kinko Maru, which was riding al anchor. The Navy ship bore the brunt of the damage with its port side davits and lifeboat smashed and some radar rig ging damaged. TOE POLY CLEAN CEMTE1 is a Clean, Comfortable. 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About three-fourths of the residential areas within the District of Columbia boun daries are occupied predom inantly or exclusively by Ne groes. To white residents, t h e change has been dizzy fast. They grumble about Negroes "taking over" the city. And they blame Negroes for the high rate of aggravated as saults, robberies and other crimes which have made it unsafe to walk the streets of the capital at night. To Negroes, the barriers which have fallen are less con spicuous than the formidable ones which still remain. They grumble about the informal but effective conspiracy be tween lending institutions and real estate interests which keeps them from obtaining homes in the all-white sub urbs, and compels them to pay outrageous prices for over crowded housing in the inner city. They blame discrimina tion for the fact that Negro incomes average only 70 per cent of white incomes, and Negro youths are four times as likely to be unemployed as white youths. Despite their frictions and mutual resentments, Washing ton's whites and Negroes have one great common bond. Both are frightened by the possi bility that accumulated ten sions might blow off in a major race riot. This specter has haunted the city since last Thanksgiv ing day, when 300 persons were injured in a Negro-white melee which broke out in the D. C. stadium following a football game. Fear of a race riot has made responsible Negro leaders chary of resorting to such weapons as massive sit-ins or picketing demons t r a t i o n s here. And it has made re sponsible while leaders aware that there is no time to lose in removing the remaining roadblocks to equality of op portunity. It has also made both groups a little nervous about Wednesday's "March on Washington." That's why Ne gro leaders have been at such pains to insure an orderly, peaceful rally. And it's one reason why white religious bodies have gone to great ends to make the march a biracial protest against injustice in stead of an all-Negro show. Because both groups recog nize the powder-keg potential of Washington, some observ ers feel that the capital is actually less likely to exper ience a major race riot than a city which is complacent about the state of its race rela tions. Another safety factor in the Washington situation is the feeling, which exists even among the most impatient Ne gro leaders, that the city IS making progress, that it is moving steadily in the direc tion of greater equality. Housing is the chief bone of contention at present. Ne groes are demanding a chance to buy homes and rent apart ments in the suburbs which are now almost exclusively white enclaves. The District of Columbia. 69 square miles of federal territory, today constitutes only the inner city of the W a s h i n g ton metropolitan area, which stretches far out into Maryland and Virginia, and which has a total popula tion of 2,200,000 persons. In the metropolitan area as a whole, whites outnumber Negroes by 3 to 1. It is only in the inner city - the District of Columbia - that Negroes are in a majority at present, about 57 per cent. Even in the district, Ne groes are effectively barred from the area west of Rock Creek Park, which contains most of the city's best resi dential sections. There is one swank residential section -along 16th Street Northwest -which is now heavily occu pied by Negroes. It is known locally as the "Negro Gold Coast." But the vast majority of Negro families live in row houses, apartments and tene ments in the wide arc of the city that lies east of 16th Street. They pay up to twice as much as a white family has to pay for comparable $ $ $ $ s $ ! Double Load TUMBLE ACTION RCA Whirlpool WASHERS 35 EMM space in the suburbs. And they don't like it Recently the President's committee on equality of op portunity, headed by former Gov. David L. Lawrence of Pennsylvania, has been meet ing with leaders of the priv ate housing industry in an effort to open up suburban areas of Negro occupancy. A few cracks have already ap peared in the white cordon. One major Virginia apartment development (Parkfairfax) op crated by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., announced this month that it will open its doors to Negroes. Second only to housing on the Negro's wants list is equal ity in employment opportun ity. A cabinet-level commit tee head by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson has been laying the lash on federal agencies to upgrade Negro em ployees, who are heavily con- centratcd in the lower civil ' service grades. The Washing-1 t TTUnn T . i i.: l iuii uiuciii L,t:i;ue lias aimcv- cd major breakthroughs in re cent years by persuading all of the major downtown de partment stores to begin hir ing Negro clerks. Peoples' drug stores, a city-wide chain which is perhaps the largest single private employer, now has a high percentage of Ne gro employees in every cate gory, including pharmacists and store managers. Outside of government, con struction is Washington's big gest industry. Negroes are still concentrated heavily in the unskilled jobs, but the Labor Department is applying steady pressure to get con struction trade unions to give Negro youths a fair break in apprenticeship training. A few unions the operating en- gineers, for example have gone out of their way to make room for Negroes, but I others are resisting. The car penters' union has only 20 Negroes among 4,500 mem bers. Whites also have griev ances. The principal one is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Short On Income? Long On Expenses? 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That's twice as many as New York, four times as many as New Orleans, and ten times as many as Seattle, Wash. Police statistics show that Negroes are involved in about 85 per cent of the felony ar rests here. They also show that about 80 per cent of the PACIFIC NORTHWEST COMPANY Investment Securities Sine 1921 302-3 Fluhrer Bldg. Central and Main Phone 773-7319 Bruct T. Mill Registered Representative Telephone 773-7319 to consult with Mr. Hass or Mr. Mills on investment and retirement programs using the securities of utilities, banks, insurance, industrial, and Mutual Fund shares. Other offices in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Aberdeen, Bellingham, Yakima, Wenatchee, Walla Walla, Kennewrck, Boise, Lewiston. ACIF1C IvIORTHWEST COMPANY investment Securities Members: Midwest Stock Exchange Correspondents of . . . KIDDER, PEABODY and COMPANY Members: New York Stock Exchange have only one place to pay and one small payment. 1 phone call, I office visit and you have the CASH you need. Finance Medford 2739 North Pacific Hiway Our washers take out most of the water. Our dryers are kept lint clean. You dry fast and economically. victims of crime for Negroes. The largest number of street crimes are committed by un employed Negro youths who have dropped out of school and who have little hope of finding decent jobs. Some white people, includ ing southern members of Con gress who play an influential role in governing the federal city, are persuaded that the rising crime rate is the result of "coddling" by the courts, and that sterner police meas ures are the only corrective needed. Most Negroes and some whites agree with the conclu sion of the Washington Post that "this is a poverty prob lem, not a racial one" and can best be attacked by providing vocational training and job opportunities for slum youth. Edmund E. Hais Vice President ifi Co. ifi DRY nfni 10 (2) 0
