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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1963)
The Numbers Gam fh Replacement of Human Identity With Numbers Product of Mid -20th Century AWARDS PRESENTED - Four Congressional members who were recipients of the American Political Science Association's distinguished service award chat with Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) after the awards ceremony in Wash ington. The awardees are, from left, Reps. George H. Mahon (D-Tex.) and Thomas B. Curtis (R-Mo.), and Sens. Clinton P. Anderson (D-N.M.) and Leverctt Saltonstall (R-Mass.). They were honored for their work during the 87th Congress. (UPI) Editor's Note The "num bers game" the lengthening list of digits tacked on to the name of every American is becoming an increasingly dom inant factor in modern compu terized culture. The following dispatch, the last of three, re ports on the past and speculates on the future of the numbers svstem. By BARNEY SE1BERT I'PI Correspondent ' Your grandfather couldn't have played the numbers game. The gradual replacement of human identity with numbers is a product of the mid-20th Cen tury. In the 19th Century birth reg istration was uncommon and a task for the churches in many areas. Death certification was not required. There were no credit cards, Social Security numbers, or Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint files. Military serial numbers came into existence with World War I It wasn't until the final decade of the 19th Century that auto licensing began. Before that, many were sus picous of numbers. Puritan Oli ver Cromwell said, "A few honest men are better than num bers." Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison said, "The success of any great moral enterprise does not depend on numbers." Bcilby Porteus, an 18th Cen tury poet, said, "Princes were privileged to kill and numbers sanctified the crime." 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This wide-zone mercury-vapor lighting service provides an extra measure of security, safety and convenience around your home, farm or business property. Brightens driveways, work and recreation areas, parking lots. Helps prevent accidents and dis courage prowlers and vandals. The $4.00 monthly charge for this lighting serv ice is a flat rate payment that includes the cost of electricity used by the Light Guard. There is no additional cost to you. Installation, operation and maintenance, includ ing mercury-vapor lamps as needed, are included in the small payment you make each month. These modern outdoor lighting units offer you completely automatic oper ation. Light-sensitive photo-electric cells turn the illumination on at dusk, off at dawn. Call your PP&L office today . . . order your Friendship Lantern or Light Guard by telephone. Or drop in for information and assistance on your outdoor lighting needs. Pacific Power & Light Company Johnson said. "Round numbers ; general depersonalization of so- are always false. Essayist Svd-1 ciety. We must take steps to ney Smith said, "Nothing was so fallacious as facts, except fig turcs." Accepts German's Motto But 20th Century man accept ed the motto of 16th Century German mathematician Adam Riese: "Figures don't lie." With the multiplicity of num bers, the gradual conversion of identity into a digit is causing many 20th Century scholars con cern, Semanticist S. I. Hayakawa of San Francisco State College says "A man needs recognition of himself. He needs to be iden tified as a unique individual. He doesn't want to be known by a number and he will rebel against it and the system." Sociologist Bruno Bettclheim of the University of Chicago says the numbers game "is a part of the general mechaniza tion of the world in which we live. It is a symptom of the preserve the dignity and identity of the individual." Even in the prisons, where every man has a number, there was revolt against the numbers systems. Myrl Alexander, Southern Ill inois University criminologist and former assistant director of the U. S. Bureau of Prisons, said the trend away from num bers began in the federal penal system about 25 years ago. Called By Name Numbers are still used in federal prisons, but only for record keeping, the prisoners are called by name, not number "It is significant that the in herent dignity of a man's name need not be taken away from him merely because he enters prison," Alexander said. But such isolated revolts show no sign of stemming the nu merical avalanche elsewhere. FALL NEEDS! Reg. $26.95 FIRFMRFFN SPECIAL s2188 9 v is Small Worlds Around Us By LYNN M. W ATKINS (Regtit.r and Tribuna Syndicate .963) A Dollar Moves Slowly Across Floor of Ocean Sliding along in the sand while feeding or laying eggs and still be completely hidden from enemies is a rare and unusual accomplishment. Amaz ingly enough this is done by a very lowly marine animal whose body design and shape is cleverly built for just such a means of locomotion. There is hardly a limit to the clever devices and stratagems devised and used by living crea tures whereby they can hide or fool their enemies. There is none stranger nor more effective than that employed as a regular way of life by the common sand dollar. To appreciate the artifice em ployed by this lowly animal of the ocean bottom, we. must take note of its shape. An adult sand dollar is more the size of a pan cake than a silver dollar. It is a creature designed on the wheel plan, a distinct advan tage to its way of life. Any Direction Like a wheel, the sand dollar lies flat on the sand. It can move in any direction and still be going straight ahead; coming or going it looks the same. An other advantage to this disk shaped animal is the raised cen ter section, much thinner at the edges than in the center, which is an added help in sliding through the sand. The bottom and top of this flat animal is covered with spines, but very fine spines, so fine they appear more like hairs or even fur. Some describe it as "felt." All the hairs which are really move able feet can be moved in any direction. In the common, round sand dollar there are from three to five slit-like openings, shaped like keyholes. This is enough to call the animal "keyhole ur chin" as it does belong to the sea urchin family, the cchino derms, or spiny skinned. It is by moving these hair-like spines, I (I or tube feet, that the sand dol lar moves or slides along in the sand. Flopped over on its top, the animal can right itself by waving its many lube feet. These feet, or silky spines, give the animal a purplish-brown color; removed from the water this felt-like material turns green. Snail's Pace There's nothing speedy about the locomotion of the sand dol lar, in fact a snail's pace is fast in comparison. A sand dollar's crawl rate is just a little above a complete stop. Bui if the sand is water covered, the creature can move and hide at the same time. In spite of a shortage of flesh inside the limey case of the sand dollar, it does have its ene mies. There arc fish in the ocean that seem to relish this gritty character for a tasty lid bit. The cod, the haddock and some of the flounder family hunt out and eat many of these living disks. So, to continue the sand dol lar population, the lowly crea ture has been endowed with a peculiar safety measure. A means of partial survival where by they can be there all the time, but cannot be seen, is to lie hidden while still eating and laying eggs. They hid by allowing sand to flow constantly over their backs. The thin edge of the disk body cleaves to the sand while the wet sand flows backwards over the top of the body as the ani mal moves forward, and slides off the back edge. The animal is always covered with a con-1 coaling film of sand; a clever method of concealment that could hardly be improved upon. SAVE NOW AT THIS LOW PRICE New, modern, portable and adjustable to fit your fireplace. Adjusts from 27" to 31" high, screen is 38' wide includes poker, brush. Gome in today & SAVE 1.00 or 2.00 Sturdy, Long-Lasting FIREPLACE ONLY GRATES SE95 I Reg. $6.95 Value J I !J RESERVE YOURS NOW! Famous KRESKY "BUCCANEER" Automatic WOOD HEATER Forcod-air heat at the floor level, quiet, t li o most scien tific designed heat circula tor, attractive, efficientl II I 9 lis S?"5 i.,-.v phmI 9awl feSSSi atB&a3 lummmmr 1 Priced From $159.95 Economy Models from Low Monthly UUWli. 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