Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current, January 15, 1963, Page 6, Image 6

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    PAGE-4
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Or.
Tuesday, January IS, 1963
EDSON IN WASHINGTON .
"That Man's Here Again!"
Railroads Face Year
Of Reforms And Crises
"Bureaucracy" is an epithet usually re
served for talking about the government.
Lately, however, many businessmen have
become aware that the word, with all its rami
fications of inefficiency and waste and red
tape, is a pretty fair description of the pres
ent state of many American companies.
Almost imperceptibly over recent years,
while attention has been focused on increas
ing the productivity of blue collar personnel,
the number of white collar workers has crept
upward, resulting in top-heavy corporate bu
reaucracies. The Wall Street Journal reports that
since 1947, the number of white collar workers
employed by manufacturers has climbed over
65 per cent, while over the same period total
production force has shrunk by 7 per cent. In
1947, white collar payrolls were 25 per cent
of the total manufacturing payroll; they now
constitute 35 per cent.
To remedy the situation, management is
attacking it in the most forthright manner
possible clearing out the dead wood.
Most famous example is the belt-tightening
operation carried out by Chrysler Corp.
in 1961. Nearly 20 per cent of its 36,000 white
'collar employes were fired. This, along with
other economy measures, lowered the com
Broad
(Th Saeramanto Bob)
Governor Edmund G. Brown's Inaugural
address presents to the legislature a broad
.program for California, some phases of which
will be received with acclaim, others with res
ervations. The governor proposes to bring his pro
gram into being without imposing new taxes
or increasing old ones. How he hopes to
achieve this seeming bit of financial leger
demain must await more detailed plans and
the submission ot his formal hudget to the
legislature later this month.
In any event, Brown has laid down the
pattern of his concept of dealing with the
problems of California in its first year as the
most populous state and the problems which
will multiply as it continues to be the most
rapidly growing state in the Union.
The governor wisely places stress on over
all planning, on a state, urban, rural and re
gional basis to cope with the problems of
growth and astutely urges a revenue study
commission to examine California's tax struc
ture. These should be musts on the legisla
tive agenda.
One of the items of Interest to all tax
payers is the governor's proposal that the
slate assume more of the burden of the cost
of education, lightening the load on the prop
erty owners. This is in line with the recom
mendations of many educators that the cost be
THESE DAYS . .
Olive Branch For Acheson
By JOIfN CHAMnEM.AIN
When they are talking about
foreign affairs, conservatives and
old-fashioned liberals are fond of
citing the warnings of President
Washington against letting ancient
partisan friendships sway deci
sions in international policy. The
ally of yesteryear, so the Fa
ther of Our Country advised us,
may be the enemy of tomorrow.
And tile converse is also true:
the enemy of yesterday may be
the friend of tomorrow.
President Washington's warning
that international grudges may
outlive their usefulness should also
b extended to the domestic scene.
For example, there is Uie deep
seated grudge which conserva
tives and old fashioned liberals
hold against ex-Secretary of State
I)oan Acheson. How we hated hurt
back in the early itijos! In those
days we considered that It was
Acheson who had invited the Ko
rean War by making an injudi
cious speech in which he had
placed South Korea outside of our
defense permiter in Asia.
Well, to my mind, that particu
lar Acheson speech will always
live as an example of grievously
mistaken statecraft. But no man
is perfect, and every public fig
ure is enUtled to forgiveness for
an early error In the light of
subsequent performance. The time,
has come, 1 think, for the grudge
bearing conservatives and t h
dedicated anti-Communist to re
assess their attitude toward Dean
Acheson.
In bis own urban way, which
Bureaucracy In Business
pany's break-even point on sales from a mil
lion cars and trucks to 750,000.
The process is being repeated in many
other concerns, though not usually so drasti
cally. The American Management Assn. has
launched a program to aid companies to eIimi-
nate while collar inefficiency. Some 200 firms
are participating by exchanging information
on the number of people they employ in var
ious categories.
This minor revolution in business is facili
tated by the absence of unionism among white
collar workers. Heretofore, while sharing in
financial gains won by the unions, white collar
workers have been considered part of manage
ment and have generally been immune to lay
offs. This long thwarted the AFL-CIO's an
nounced goal of proselyting in white collar
pastures.
The thorniest issue in the labor field to
day is the attempt by companies to eliminate
no longer needed workers. Strife in the steel
industry, on the railroads and currently in the
maritime industry reflects blue collar resist
ance to this.
It remains to be seen whether the same
process in the area of management will lead to
any significant' movement toward collective
bargaining among white collar people.
Program Proposed
restored to the 50-50 split between the state
and property owners. At present the latter
bear more than 60 per cent.
The governor also pledged his support to
protecting the state's resources, ranging from
its precious water supplies to the preservation
of its scenic beauty including strict controls
on billboards.
Brown correctly appealed to the legisla
ture for a reexamination of the criminal code,
which has not had a major revision for 35
years, and called for stricter penalties for the
sale of dangerous drugs.
Certain to provoke controversy is the gov
ernor's proposal for abolition of or a mora
torium on capital punishment except to pro
tect penal institution staffs and inmates. Here
the governor fouls off a pitch. For if he be
lieves the death penalty is a restraint upon life
termers killing prison personnel or fellow
convicts, why is it not also deterrent to the
killing of men, women and children in their
homes and on the streets?.
The governor's inaugural address cov
ered almost the whole gamut of state affairs.
It will stir controversies and debates in the
legislature. Some phases will drop by the way
side. Californians only can hope that out of
the legislative mill will come a program meas
uring up to what the governor picturesquely
described as a beachhead on the future.
some people dislike because it oft
en seems to contain a suggestion
of superciliousness, Acheson has
been standing up against the
"softs" in the mailer of our poli
cy toward Soviet Rutsia ever
since he tangled with George K.
Kennan in l'.i.Mt. Kennun was then
arguing for "disengagement" in
Europe, suggesting that the Cold
War might be liquidated if Rus
sian and American forces were
simultaneously to be pulled out
of Germany. .Said Acheson at the
time: "When ou are engaged all
across the Arctic Circle, when
you are engaged in every coun
try of the uncommitted world in
which we have economic opera
lions, to move troops apart in
Kurope means nothing at all . . .
it seems to me Mr. Kennan with
draws from the whole conception
of the I'niled Stales leading the
world "
In that same year of IM Ache
son opposed the propaganda for a
summit conference ot the I' S.
President and the Soviet dictator.
A President's judgment, he said,
"should not be caught up in the
ebb and flow of the struggle in
lha negotiating chamber " True
enough. Acheson was still under
rating the importance of Asia in
19..8. But he has continued to
battle for the idea that the unifi
cation of Germany, when it
comes, must be on terms that will
extend freedom to (he east, and
not slavery to the west.
Acheson lias no official posi.
tion in the Kennedy Administra
tion, but his unofficial relai ion-
ship with the President is a force
for strength when it comes to
opposing Soviet machinations in
Kurope. In his recent speeches
Acheson has emerged as Uie '
strongest contemporary support
er of a bcofedup NATO. Against
the supine pragmatism that would
regard the division of Germany
into free and slave sectors as
something destined for perpetuity.
Acheson has insisted that the
Western nations must stand for
something far more positive than
Hie mere right of West Berlin
"to remain beleaguered but un
subdued " The Immediate impli
cation of Acheson's position is
thai NATO sltould be provided
wiih both the will and the force to
prevent any Soviet action de
signed to block access routes to
Berlin. A more far-reaching im
plication is thai a well-armed and
a (irmly-committed NATO might
enable the West to take a diplo
matu oiiensive that could lead to
the dismantling o( the Berlin wall
Acheson has said, that the busi
ness of the United Stales is "lo
bung some kind of a workable
system out of the remains of what
is left of the Nineteenth Century
world." That is good conserva
tive or old fashioned liberal doc
trine. So let's not cherish our old
grudge against A 'beson 1h ause
o( an ancient blunder. If and when
he makes new mistakes, we
can always tell him oil. Mean
while he should be commended
for being a force for bracry and
sanity in the matter of standing
up to Khrushchev in the battle
for central Kurope.
IN WASHINGTON . . .
By RALPH de TOLKDANO
When Attorney General Rob
ert F. Kennedy was helping to
raise ransom money for the Cu
ban Bay of Pigs prisoners, he
told the head of a pharmaceutical
firm, "My brother made a mis
take." He was referring to the
Presidential decision which cut
off the air cover necessary to
make the invasion of Fidel Cas
tro's island a success.
This revealing remark I got
from Representative Craig Hus
mer ol California, who has been
busy doing some arithmetic. What,
he has sought to learn, did that
"mistake" cost the American tax
payer in dollars? As ho quickly
points out, the "monetary price
lag" docs not include the suffer
By SYDNEY J. HARRIS
A friend of mine who did not
succeed in getting a famous ac
tress to attend one of her soirees
during the holidays was vastly
disappointed. " I was so hoping
to have my friends meet her
while in town," she said.
I murmured some politely eva
sive regret, hut privately I could
.ympathie with the actress. She
simply did not rare to be used
as we ordinarily and thought
lessly use such people as a tro
phy or a door prize to attract
party guests.
Some years ago, when he was
performing in New York, Sir John
Giclgud candidly told a reporter,
"It s alarming, whrn you go at
this rale, to be invited out."
Asked why. he explained: "Peo
ple want you lo scintillate im
mediately and put on another
show', when what yon want is
them to talk lo you. Rut they're
too shy and you're afraid of being
indiscreet or too colloquial or in
some way letting down the side."
Marie Tempest once remarked
that "Actors should he like dolls,
they should be put in tissue pa
per and a cardboard box alter a
performance and nut brought out
again until the following night,
just before the curtain goes up
again "
Must peiloinieis aie disa;
pointing to meet in person rat
because they are dull or stupid,
but simply because people expect
so much of them, and they over
react, either by becoming with
drawn and cold or going to the
other extreme and behaving in
an exhihitiomstic fashion. Few
celebrities of any sort i.m nu:n
tain a public equilibrium midway
between the chilly nr.d the fi an
tic Psychological!), the piohloni is
that the social lion wants two op.
posile things at the same tunc:
he wants lo be recognized and ic
spectcd for his talents, bit he
also wants to be treated like an
ordinary human being and ;e
sems it when peop'e who have rot
met him come up with pi con
ceived notions oi what hp i
"really" like
This ambivalence on the part
of the celebrity account. I t.-..;:k.
for the. strained leelirs a! -o
Costly Kennedy Mistake
ing to men caught between gun
fire and tire deep blue sea. Neither
docs it take into account the bill
which must be paid in fear and
degradation by the free world.
Mr. Hosmer was simply looking
or direct cash outlays.
Because the President listened
to Ambassador Stevenson and ad
viser Arthur Schlcsinger Jr.. the
American people have been stuck
with a preliminary bill for $349.4
million, with more to come. The
Cuban adventure could have been
ended quickly and decisively
had Mr. Kennedy been ready to
live up to the promises he made
to the brave men who invaded
the Communist bastion in the
Antilles.
In his tally sheet, Represcnta-
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
many gatherings, when guests
have been summoned to stroke a
lion's mane and examine his
claws. And when the lion is also
expected 'as so often happens
to jump through his hoops, then
he is likely to turn and snarl on
his audience.
"I want to be regarded as a
person, just like anyone else,"
says the actress and she does,
and she doesn't. Until performers
learn to reconcile their contrary
desires, and until hosts and guests
learn to commingle deference and
casualness. there will always be
a sticky time at those soirees to
meet this season's Lady Macbeth.
POTOMAC
FEVER
The postage stamp goes up
to a nickel with a picture of
George Washington. Postmaster
General Day hoies that you. like
the father of our country, will
tend to blame it all on the British.
Red China hints Sulci Rus
sia again. The trouble with this
quarrel Is that It may get Wo
trivial for comfort.
Oklahoma's Gov. Edmondson.
37. gels himself appointed to the
Senate. It's the Democrats' slo
gan for young people: Continue
your political education. Don't be
a dropout.
Congress comes back to Wash
ington. That's the way it giios in
this administration. No sooner do
they solve one pioblem than they
get another.
Senator Proxmlre savs nation
al campaign costs are getting In
be a scandal. All thai nvney
spent and not a Pioxmire near
the White House ypl.
Artist R.vkwell Kent lauds
Khrushchev for swatting abstract
ait. U s signilicant that the only
thing Fast and West ran gel to
gether on is something that makes
no sense.
FLETCHER KNEBEL
j
five Hosmer lists 20 items includ
ing $66,000 for positioning the
L'SS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. so
that it could he the first naval
vessel to order a Soviet freight
er to heave to. Perhaps $66,000
is not loo much to allow a Presi
dent for a sentimental gesture
but we could use Uie money.
In any case, it is a piddling sum
when compared to the millions
which were spent w hen the Presi
dent "discovered" that Dictator
Khrushchev was doing what
comes naturally to him by plant
ing offensive missiles in Cuba.
Mobilization of the Army, Navy,
and Air Force just in case the
Communists tried to get tough
about Uie blockade nicked the
Pentagon for $35 million. Fleet ac
tivities cost $32 million, which
might have been spent somewhat
more productively. Reinforcing
the Navy's base at Guantanamo
and evacuating dependents came
to more than $20 million. The mo
bilization and demobilization of re
serve units cost thee and me
another $26 million. The ransom
... $33 million, with another
M5 million lost in federal and
state taxes when the blackmail
payments were made deductible.
The Bay of Pigs operation ate into
tlie Treasury at a rale of $20 mil
lion. Since all of this added to
the national debt, chalk up an
other $10 million for interest on
the Kennedy mistake.
There arc other small and large
items, of which $6.3 million go
to the Central Intelligence Agency
for keeping tabs on Fidel's ac
tivities. Aerial surveillance of Cuba, at a
minimum cstimale. costs the
Air Force some $53 million a
year and this, we assume, will
continue indefinitely.
No matter how you look at it.
one-third of a billion dollars for
what the President's brother con
cedes was a "mistake" ain't
hay. That it could have been
avoided makes it even worse. ;iut
it will be money well spent if the
President and ins advisers have
learned a lesson. It would have
cosl less than $100 million to give
the Bay of Pigs invasion adequate
support. Castro would by now be
a small black spot on tlx1 pages
of history. Today, it would cost
close to a billion dollars, accord
ing to expert estimates, to dis
lodge Fidel and his Communist
armies from Cuba. What it will
le six months from now is any
bodv's guess.
Tlie price of timidity or indeci
sion is a high one. The price of
wishful thinking is even higher.
Yet tiie President's adv isers con
tinue to counsel "patience" and
half measurer. The blockade of
Cuba was called otf he-lore Com
rades Khrushchev and Castro had
complied w,th the President's ma
kt condition inspection. Now ue
have nothing more than their word
thai the IRBMs are off ti e island
and not stored away in convenient
caves. For the next crisis, we may
be cortrontod by the same weap
ons In making his cos -accounting
rep. 'it on the "m.stake." Repre
sentative Ho-mer re:eis lo Cas
tro s C.iha as a "cancer " Sur
gery is needed to rid Ihe Weste n
Hemisphere of this spread. ns evil.
Will e he told by the Attorney
1. racial a vear from today that
li s brctiyr made anoiher error
V not pushing h.s advantage'
By PETER EDSON
Washington Correspondent
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
WASHINGTON (NEA - Rail
road management and railway
labor agree on one thing, at any
rate; 1963 is going to be a
year of crisis for America's uans
portation system.
Responsibility for doing some
thing about it is being put up to
government by both sides, but
with different formulas.
In the most far-reaching state
ment on this subject yet issued by
a railway labor union offi
cial, President Louis J. Wagner
of the Order of Conductors and
Brakemen has just declared that
while:
"We prefer to deal with private
ownership ... if management
cannot run the railroads in the
public interest and unless there is
drastic change in labor-management
policies, we will be forced
to answer, 'Y'es!' to the ques
tion, 'Should we have public own
ership of the railroads'.'' "
Nationalization of American
railroads has been discussed aca
demically ever since the govern
ment took over the roads for uni
fied operation in World War I,
but it has never been considered
seriously. Europe's costly expe
rience with nationalized railroads
in more socialized economies is
the best argument against it.
Though the railway labor lobby
is powerful in Washington, it is
doubtful if public ownership of
American railroads could ever
pass Congress unless there should
be a' complete breakdown of the
U.S. transportation system.
Such a possibility is foreseen,
however, by no less an authority
than David I. Mackie, chairman
of Ihe Eastern Railroad Presi
dent's Conference. Unless the
U.S. transportation system can
be pulled together and given uni
fied direction, he believes there
is not the slightest doubt it will
soon begin to fall apart, piece
by piece.
This crisis can be avoided, says
Mackie in the January Reader's
Digest, only by putting transpor
tation's legal framework in or
der. The first step he advocates
is President Kennedy's sweeping
transportation reorganiza
tion plan, sent to Congress last
April.
Undersecretary of Commerce
for Transportation Clarence D.
Martin has given assurance that
Letters To
Freedom
County zoning as proposed takes
in too much territory, and will
impose more government and
more expense upon us. It will be
an extension of police power, while
the restrictive powers already laid
upon us by governmental agen
cies hamper and diminish our ini
tiative. Unlike many California commu
nities, our suburban area is not
loaded with the wealthy, nor will
it ever be. The common man pre
dominates here, and we love our
homes, and do not want to be
taxed out of them. Real estate
taxes are admittedly high, and
one way or another we will have
to pay extra for the added load of
controls, regimentation, and zon
ing inspectors.
The creation and approved loca.
tion of any new streets, parkstrips
or alleys, as well as all sewage
disposals, and size of lots being
plaited, is already well controlled
in the county, and has been for
several years by the County Court
and inspectors on the job at pres
ent. They are doing a good job.
The city of Klamath Falls has had
an official planning commission in
effect ever since 1934 under the
Oregon Enabling Act. We appreci
ate the hard work they do, but
can we honestly say that more
progress has been made inside the
city than out during these 29
years? Most anything reasonable
can be worked out by private ne
gotiation out here, and without ex
tension of police power.
Nationally we arc over 300 bil
lions in debt, while commitments
continue to grow. During the last
30 years especially, there has been
an' increase in these ever creep
ing controls, that threaten to hind
us hand and foot. One control
calls for another as each new bu
reaucracy is formed. It is a vi
cious circle and can destroy our
basic rights. It Is our constitution
al right lo vote on whether we
are In submit to additional con
trols We think that we still have
a government of the peop'e. by
Lie people, for the people, but it
may be that we are forfeiting
our rights by default. It is our
duty to work as best we can at
the local level toward getting our
government out of the red mess 't
is in. and decide at the (soils
whether we are lo part with some
mote of our precious freedom.
My vote is NO.
Eveieit Dennis Rea'tor
Thanks
We take this means to express
our appreciation on your publica
tion of items concernirg the em-
I
this program, on which Congress
took no action last session, will
be presented to the new Congress
practically unchanged.
The situation and the conditions
which the President's program
would reform are described by
Mackie as a dozen federal agen
cies and 100 state commissions,
juggling bits of Die transporta
tion system among themselves.
"Nowhere' among the tens of
thousands of public officials in
volved is there one person whose
job it is lo look after the over
all efficiency of the system."
Kennedy called it "a chaotic
patchwork of inconsistent and of
ten obsolete legislation and reg
ulation." Railway labor and management
have their own relations with
each other to put in order, as
well as their relations with gov
ernment. "Government interven
tion, court rulings and manage
ment practices have resulted in
a snarl of red tape." says Vice
President John W. O'Brien of the
Sheet Metal Workers Union.
"Issues which must be settled
in 1963 include railroad mergers,
the work rules dispute with the
operating unions and extended job
stabilization to ease automation's
impact."-
In connection with this last
mentioned issue, a presidential
fact-finding board has just recom
mended that Southern Pacific
Railway clerks who lose their
jobs as a result of automation
should have a share of the sav
ings. The clerks, in a dispute go
ing back to 1958. had asked full
pay for five years if laid off by
automation.
The rules dispute with the oper
ating unions is still pending. Rail
way brotherhood chiefs are seek
ing reversal of a U.S. Court of
Appeals decision that railroads
have tlie right to overhaul their
work rules to lake advantage of
labor-saving practices made pos
sible by automation.
In another case, a U.S. District
Court has dismissed the Brother
hood of Railway Trainmen's ef
fort to have the railroads strike
insurance agreement declared il
legal. The big showdown comes next
May when the 11 nonoperating
employe unions, with 450.000
members, open negotiations with
the Class I railroads for a new
wage agreement.
The Editor
ploying of the handicapped dur
ing the past year.
The Herald and News has ren
dered over the years a great deal
of public service in drawing at
tention to the valuable source of
workers which the handicapped
provide. The handicapped have
definitely proven their worth as
consistently productive workers.
All they need is a chance to
prove it.
We thank you again for your
cooperation and service and wish
you continued progress during the
year 1963.
Robert A. Mitchell. Chairman
Klamath Falls Employ
Tlie Handicapped Committee.
Enforcement
After being awakened through
out the night several times by
dogs barking, I was a bit amused
the next morning in reading the
council report in regard to Ihe
enforcement of the dog leash law .
"It cannot be enforced for one
reason or another" sounds a little
weak talk to me. Other laws can
bo enforced. It makes one wonder
who has dogs that they don't want
to take care of.
I believe the pound master can
at least pick up dogs without a li
cense on. "You catch him and
tie him up." doesn't sound exact
ly right to me.
Well, to make a long story short,
if they want to enforce the law
they can. The people voted It in
and I believe Ihey knew what
they wanted.
Sam Matthews.
1620 Washburn Wav.
Al
manac
Bv I'nited Press International
Tod.1v is Tuesday. Jan. 15. the
13th dav of lOrci with 350 to fol
low. The moon is approaching its
last quarter.
Tlie morning stars are Venus
and Mars.
The evening stars are Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn.
On this day in history:
In 1831. the first practical loco
motive built in America "The
Best Friend of Charleston" made
its maiden run over the Charleston
and Hamburg Railroad in South
Carolina.
In 1919. the pianist. Ignace Jar,
Paderewski. became the first pre
mier of the Republic of Poland.
In 1922, the Irish Free State was
born.
A thought for the day-It Is
written in the Gospel of Matthew:
' All they that take the sword
shall perish by the sword."