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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1963)
PAGE- HERALD AND NEWS, Ktanuth Falls, Ore. Tuesday, March S, 1961 EDSON IN WASHINGTON "These Days We Call It Free Collective Bargaining" Congress Still Mulls President's Requests Mc v Finding Out What's Going On The continuing flurry of charges that the Kennedy administration-seeks to "man age the news" needs to be put in some balance. ': The President himself has taken a hand, trying to minimize the issue by treating it wittily as he often does when under some fire. ' Yet there are probably few responsible newsmen in Washington and elsewhere who doubt that management of the news is tak ing place. What has to be understood is that this is not something unique to President Kennedy. The Eisenhower administration practiced news control, as did the Roosevelt and Tru man regimes before. In fact, this is a technique as old as memory. Nor is it limited to the national govern ment. Sleuthing reporters have been complain ing about "invisible government" at the state level for decades. The fact it is both commonplace and old does not justify it as a policy. Within the limits dictated by security, the proper needs of diplomacy, and the effective operation of 'govermcnt, the public is entitled to know what its elected and appointed officials are doing and saying. But the record of history, right up to the most current events, indicates that govern ment officials have a strong self-protective in- stinct. They are not about to hand out grace (Portland Oregonian) ,; Oregon's individual income tax law was adopted by the voters originally, after many defeats at the polls, as a property tax relief act. It was so considered for many years. But the relief afforded was to state property taxes. When the growing earning power of the personal income lax, plus the smaller corporation excise tax, made it unnecessary for the state any longer to collect property taxes, in 1940, the income taxes look over the main job of supporting state government. Local real and personal property taxes, cMef source of revenue for counties, cities, '.schools and special districts, continued to -grow, however. Slate income tax funds were .diverted, to some extent, to reduce the impact of burgeoning school costs on property tax payers. But local property taxes now raise twice as much money as the state income taxes. And the school burden continues to get heavier. This is the reason Rep. Richard Eymann and Sen. Boyd R. Overhulsc, Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate Taxation committees, have joined in a bill to increase IN WASHINGTON jjfflh Red By RALPH de TOLKDANO American scientists arc express ing serious doubts that a salaman der, frozen in the Siberian tundra S.OOfl years ago, was brought back to li(c or bad hibernated. This is a healthy attitude and sci is. Hie "why haven't the Russians lc.t us see it" response to the So virt claim. H would lie nice if they were as dubious about other So viet scientific boasts and applied to thein the same criteria. But in thus ease, I believe Ilia! the arc Rood pounds lor con sidering the Soviet claim seri ously and lor doubting American scientific skepticism. If our sci entists admit Uie possibility of the resuscitated salamander, they must also accept the Velikovsky Hypothesis and tliey would rath er turn in their l'hi Beta Kappa leys than do this. C The Velikovsky Hymthcsis is feiiHthcma to American scientists. When the distinguished scholar. r. imniantiel Velikovsky, Issued his findings, the scientific com munity was so incensed that it forced his publisher to (Imp the book, tear up Uie contract with Dr. Velikovsky, and fire the edi tor who had worked on tlie manu script. Without answering Dr. Vc likovsky's arguments, outraged fdenlisus simply (hiratcned to put the publisher on a blacklist, thereby destroying its (cxtliook business, unless the book, "Worlds In Collision," were consigned to Outer darkness. Among those sci entist responsible or this cen sorship were several who have made a career of shouting about academic freedom. : Now what i the Velikovsky Hy pothesis and hnw does it fit in w-iuj Uie Siberian salamanders? fully and ungrudgingly information which in any way will damage them personally or po litically. They do iTTi need,, al tlin, iialioiui ito'tci, to tell themselves they are deliberately with holding information for these reasons. The great emphasis on defense and security gives them an easy way of rationalizing news con trol. On top of this, there is a natural tendency for men in office to believe they know better than anyone what is wise and proper and safe to disclose. As a matter of fact, men in government are not the only ones who set themselves up as judges of what the public should know. Giant business corporations, affected with a public interest to the extent that gov ernment concerns itself with their disputes, their pricing policies, and the like, are ex tremely guarded in what they tell the public. Their excuse, also often a rationalization, is that to disclose too much may be to give valuable information to their competitors. Few individuals or agencies deeply en twined in public affairs believe they have a duty to "tell all." In one degree or another, they all "manage the news" they take part in. Where the Kennedy regime went astray was in openly avowing, even for one day, that news management was official policy. The re tractions and denials, however humorously stated, probably will never catch up with that one. Tax Shifting Bill state income taxes by 20 per cent and to kick back the money to local governments and schools. The offset would amount to about a 10 per cent reduction in real and personal property taxes. The 6 per cent property tax increase permitted each year under the law, without vote of the people, would tend to wipe out the benefits in a few years. But the immediate impact would be a reduction of the property lax, and the long-term im pact would he a lessening of the seemingly unending increases for school and other pur poses. This is not, however, the whole story. The other side of the coin is that Oregon now lias one of the highest personal income tax schedules in the nation, having consist ently refused to offset it and real property taxes as well with a general sales tax, Also, the income tax must he increased to meet the budget increase which is sure to range from $25 to $50 million for the next biennium. The Eymann-Overhulse boost would have to go on top of that. Legislative and public re sistance to such a major increase in income taxation ought to be considerable. Claim May To analyze rr. Vclikovsky's find ings would take up many columns, i Bit by bit, the scientific com munity has been forced to accept parts of the hypothesis, but I have not heard any aKlogics from those who called Dr. Velikov sky names. I Evidence was presented by Dr. Velikovsky to show that what is now the icy Siberian wastes were once temperate in climate. Plants and animals nourished there which can no longer survive in the Soviet icebox. Among those animals were great herds of mam moths These were wiped out when Siberia became Arctic in climate. Darwin could not explain the extinction of the mammoth. Theories were proposed w h i c h held that because of a gradual sinking of the land, tlte mammoth was forced to Uie hills where it was trapped and starved to death. However, these theories did not conlorm to the facts. As far back ns IT'.iii. mammoth corpses were lound in Siberia. Flesh was so well preserved that sledge dogs ale it with no ill ellccts One observer noted years later that the flesh was "marbled with tat and looks as fresh as wcllfrivcn beef." Examination of the ani mals showed Uio remains of un digested food in their stomachs. Obviously they had not starved hut had died suddenly and lieen dozen immediately. Velikovsky demonstrated, at least to the saUsfaction of a few scientist who were willing to examine his evidence belore at tacking him, Uiat large legions of the eaith, once covered by a heavy ice lap, suddenly became temperate, whereas others in a Be True matter of hours became frigid. He has found human records which support his belief that at some point in history some 5.000 years ago or more the earth was pulled out of a smaller orbit into its present path and that in this process the climatic patterns of the glolie were rear ranged. No one. for example, has been able to rcxplain why massive F.gyptian sun dials, built hy a people with n good foundation in astronomy, should have been con structed for a 300-day year. In several years, these sun calendars would have put winter in sum mer, yet they were used success hilly until they suddenly were no longer accurate. Those sun cal endars still remain to trouble Dr. Vclikovsky's pursuers. I According to the Velikovsky Hy pothesis, the Siberian region was suiklent'y encased in ice at just about the lime that the Soviet salamander was iuick-lro.en. This freezing process was so sudden that It is conceivable the sala mander did not die but existed m a slate of susendil animation. I say this is conceivable. Just recently an American scientist suggested that those of us who die should be thrust quickly into a dcepfreee because science with in a reasonable period of lime will know how to reanimate us. I d like to know more alxiut lite salamander. I hope Comrade Khrushchev deckles that it will not endanger Soviet security to give us mm lads. It would he iiomc if in a country which has contributed so much to the ait o( death, the secret of hie may be buried. mm. Africans'" By GLADSTONE WILLIAMS (In The Sacramento Bee) It is becoming more and more apparent that the colonial powers made a great mistake whn. un der the pressure of postwar events, they turned their colonics back to the native people and ' gave them freedom to organize their own governments and op erate as independent nations. That applies in particular to the great number of African coun tries, large and small, which have come into being since World War II. At the latest count there arc 27 of these and the number is expected to go to 35 in anoth er few years. Of the 27 autonomous tropical African countries which have ben admitted to Uie United Nations sice liljti we have the word of competent sources that at lca.-t 20 are already in trouble financial ly. And considering the rate at which new members are boi.ig added to the world peace organ ization, the same sources estima'e the number of financially dis tressed among them will be new er 30 than 20 in five years. The sad fact is these African countries are no more competent to lake over the responsibilities of government than the Eskimo.; would be if we gave Alaska back to them. Events are proving tha rapidly. Take for example t! Congo, one of Uie trouble sxLs in Afri ca. The Belgians had held it as a colony for years until the wave of post-war liberation of colonial oplcs forced them to give it back to the natives. Under Belgian rule the Congo was doing very well. The coun try's resources were being de veloped in an orderly way, with jobs and a degree of prosperity taking care of the needs o( the people. But once the colonial rul Field of Song L ACROSS 1 "My Kehtui-ky Home" 4 Sinajnc Perrv 8 "Smith of the Porder" coin 12 Heart 1.1 Wine vessels 14 Footless tnimal 15 Biml Id Author 18 Wild donkeys '-0 Arrow poisons IM Cow s sound '2'i Sen bird 24 Soor (or one lit. Notion 27 Cat's sound .10 Rubs out a'J Recess :i4 Hindu queens o5 Lower .is Conmnction .17 Deep grooves .in Aulo accessory 40 Rmr 41 Soak (tax 42 Musical 45 Indonesian Rroups 49 Puis up with M 1'nrooked 52 Feminine appellation 53 Low sand hill 54(iindo s high note 55. Flesh food fifi Greek war god 57 Low haunt DOWN 1 Kifhl iconib. form) 2 Meal cut i "Meet Me Tnnichl in 4 Clem carved tn relief 8 Persian poet ft Assembled 7 Chemical suffix 8 PainMeleer I 12 13 I U 15 ItS 17 I 3 19 110 111 il il r5 is rr 121 r-pr2j 1 1 ' 33 31 " H 33 n is 35 D35 4 50 ""51 3 si U 53 55 13 St .il r- (11! I . ' : t t .:?J4ir:Xiu - st-:i "cvsr 7-, Botch Freedom Move ers left, the country became a shambles, with so little law and order that it became necessary for the United Nations to send a large force in to police things. Here is what a recognized au thority on the subject said in a recent interview published by the U.S. News & World Report of Washington, D.C. Dr. George H. T. Kimble, who holds the chair of professor of geography at India na University, was asked h i s opinion about conditions in the Congo, based upon seven years of research and many trips to Afri ca. "You've got chaos and you are going to have it for 30 or 40 years, unless the Belgians go back and finish the job they began," he said. "What's more ridiculous than having 20.000 UN people in the Congo, who aren't proving any thing except that Uncle Sam has got a bottomless purse? I gath er he's putting in $130 million ol the $300 million that has been spent in the Congo operation al ready. And what have we got for it? Not a thing not even the con fidence of the Congolese." Dr. Kimble said it is unreason able to expect stability in a coun try "that is so far ill prepared for the responsibilities of self gov ernment, and so beset by tem pers and tyrants." He found the same Uiing gen erally true of most of the other tropical African countries. Of the lot he was able to rate only four or live as "viable states" capa ble of maintaining themselves with some semblance of success. The inference is the others are bound eventually to become wards of the United Nations or surren der their independence again to colonial powers. Asked about the concept, which some of our government oflicials Answer to Previous Puzzle Kencins weapon 29 Have existed riainsn i Meiroer Probabilities ' Crand i Tailor's implement 1 Measures of p.iper I Whevs n( milk i Algerian seaport : t'pshol Checked rsdto signals I lujs .11 Supplv food .18 Staler 40 Picnic for instance 41 Flowers 42 Stalk 43 Nat "King 44 Spanish pot 4fi Mr. Kelly 47 Story 4 " Sons" SOCttcllhiTna ntv seem to hold, that Africa will he another great part of the world, Dr. Kimble replied: "Yes, 'wave of the future' and all that. I confess I don't share this confidence. I wish I could. Now, if you are thinking of a fu ture nearer 500 than five years ahead, okey. It took Euroe about 500 years to shape up a civiliza tion that you could be proud of and I see few signs of any speed ing up in the spritual processes (in Africa' that bring civiliza tions into being." That from a respected student of African affairs is a pretty se vere indictment of the program we have adopted, in collabora tion with the United Nations, of trying to put the young African countries on their feet. It prob ably means we will be supporting them from here out at a cost of untold millions. Other Editors Say . . . PARENTS FLUNK The Portland Oregonian) Parents ask themselves how youngsters could possibly commit some of the crimes of vandalism and authority-baiting charged to them. Well, here is a Portland story that may hold a part, at least, of the answer. On the night of last Nov. 30, more than a score of youngsters, during tlie course of an all-night party, wrecked the interior of a penthouse apartment in Uie Trav elers' Motel in North Portland. Owner of the property, John Goss, wrote a restrained letter to the parents of those identified as at tending (ranging in age from 17 to 21'. He said that their child had been named as a partici pant and asked that the parents inquire of him (or her) whether the information was correct. If the answer was yes, he united the parents to an open house in the battered apartment to see for themselves tlie extent of the damage. Mr. Goss sent 20 such letters to patents of 21 youngsters: and the astounding fact is that lie had responses from only three sets of parents. The assumption must be that the other 17 just did not care what their sons tor daughters' had done. or. if they cared, they wanted no responsibility for it. Two youths. 19 and 21, were convicted on larceny charges growing out oh the party and were ordered to jail for 20 days. A third participant, a 17-ycar-old juvenile, joined the Army. Thus far. we have no word that any of the others were disciplined even at home. Particularly at home, one should say. For the most shocking thing uncovered by this shameful incident is not the senseless damage done to the apartment or the larceny for which two boys were convicted: it is the evidence nr a lack of con cern and responsibility on the part of such a large group of par ents. Is there any doubt about where some of tlie kids learn their contempt for authority and for the rights of others? QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q What is meant hy the rltht of assembly? A The right of croups of peo ple to come together peaceably lor discussion and to petition the government. By PETER EDSON Washington Corrcspondeat Newspaper Enterprise Assn. WASHINGTON NEA, - The 83th Congress is now nearly two months old. But in the words of House majority leader Carl Al bert of Oklahoma, "It hasn't jelled yet." Every session of Congress is dif ferent, he explains. You have to wait till it gets orgar:;ct1 you can get tlie feel of it and make any predictions or even guesses on what it might do. Some of the elements shaping up the record which this Congress will eventually make are out in the open, however, and are worth keeping in mind. For one tiling, Ihe President has sent about a dozen messages to Congress and there are more to come. Most important of the lot is the tax message. It is at the top of the White House "must" list for action this session. And it is the one thing that can keep the Congress on the job (or a long session, which this one probably will be. There seems to be little enthusi asm in Congress or out for tax re form. Without tax reform there will have to be either a reduced tax cut or considerable reduction of government spending. There is no indication yet how economy-minded this Congress is going to be. There is some reali zation that a tax cut smaller than the one recommended by the President cannot accomplish his objective of stimulating em ployment, reducing unemploy ment. With so many controversial is sues in tlie President's tax plan to fight over, it is doubtful if a tax bill can be passed before Labor Day. Other legislation, in eluding an increase in the nation al debt limit, will be whatever can be passed between or after the tax bill battles. Nobobdy seems to know just hnw badly the President wants his vast programs for medical care of the aged, general and mental health measures, every thing in the omnibus aid to edu cation message, tile youth pro grams, the farm programs. The mental retardation and National Service Corps proposals are the only really new apples in the barrel. All the others have been taken from the freezer to which they were consigned after By SYDNEY J. HARRIS "I had the jitters the other day," said a friend, "and then I thought to myself w hat a wonder ful word 'jitters' is, and I won dered how it got in the lan guage." Nobody really knows the ori gins of some Of tlie most vividly descriptive words in English: they have no ancestry, and even no parentage: they simply ap pear one morning, fill a real need, and persist in the body of stan dard language. Ins' as the more dubious kind of genealogist will make up a "family tree" for the newly rich, so will some philologists make up a phony ancestry for words of un known origin. Indeed, the word "phony" is a prime example. Nobody knows where it came from, or how it got into tlie lan guage. Eric Partridge, the Brit ish etymologist, traces it back to Irish slang, and who is to con tradict him? But the truth is that nobody knows; it has been said to originate in "funny busi ness," in "telephone." and in the name of a Mr. Forney, who sold imitation jewelry. At any rate, "phony" has by now totally sup planted the old English "bogus." It will surpri.-e many that tlie word "quiz" is less than a cen tury old. and is an utterly fab ricated word. A showman in Dub lin once bet an editor that he could have the whole city talk ing about a new word overnight. He sent his men out to write "quiz" on walls and fences all over tlie city and tlie next day everyone was asking "What is qum?" And thus the word has come to mean a question of that sort. In his book, "You English Words." John Miwe points out that the word "slum" presents a complete mystery, appearing out o( nowhere in the l!th Century. Dickens used it in the current scn.-e in 1851. but nobody knows where it came from, or why it tik hold so firmly. In our own time, Gcictt Bur gess, tiie author (best known (or his quatrain "The Purple Cow"1, has invented two words that have Congress ignored them last ses sion. If the President is merely pol ishing them off again to make the record of his requests look good, that's one thing. U he real ly wants them and will make a fight for them, that's something else. Even so, there are many grave doubts that measures like the medicare plan under Social Security, or the aid for only pjb- can be passed uus year. The White House so far has shown no enthusiasm for new labor legislation. Public clamor for action has subsided a little, following settlement of the mari time strike. But a new wave of railroad strikes or shutdowns in the steel or rubber industries w here contracts run out t h is spring and summer could kindle congressional concern and initia tive in this field. Congress has a bear by t h e tail in the $500 million supplemen tal appropriation President Ken nedy has requested to complete the $900 million Accelerated Pub lic Works program this year. It was intended to be a one-shot emergency measure to relieve un employment in 1,200 depressed areas. Some 2.900 local projects were approved in 900 areas, but there is a backlog of applications for another billion dollars' worth of projects for which no funds are available. Area Redevelopment Adminis tration, in charge of the program, has had to stop processing appli cations from 960 areas to concen trate available funds in the 240 areas hardest hit. This has built up a tremendous pressure in Congress from local communities to get more projects approved. It would be no surprise if Congress extends this program on its own. In general, this Congress is sized up as being a little more liberal than the last session. But the division is still so close that many cliff-hanging votes are ex pected on the more controversial issues. Liberals from both parties in Senate and House are clamoring for some action to modernize con gressional procedures to speed legislative action and shorten Uie session. No such action is expect ed this year, however. Unless some of the all-powerful chair men of existing committees are recruited to this cause, no prog ress is expected al all. STRICTLY PERSONAL found their way into permanent English "blurb" and "bro mide." It is extremely rare, how ever, that the coinage of a word can be credited to any individual. Shakespeare changed words, but didn't invent them. Lewis Carroll, of course. gav us "chortle;" Thomas Huxley made up "agnostic;" Alexander Pope coined "bathos;" and there are only a handful of such others that we can be sure will stay in the language. My own nomina tion for the most imperishable word-coinage of tlie 20th Century is Stephen Potter's "gamesman ship," which has in less than a dozen years fathered a whole fam ily of "manship" words. Almanac By United Press International Today is Tuesday. March 5. tha 64th day of istu with 301 to fol low. The moon is approaching its full phase. The morning stars are Venus and Mars. The evening star is Mars. On this day in history: In 1770. the Boston Massacre occurred as British troops fired on civilians. In 1933, election returns in Ger many gave the Nazis and their nationalist allies 52 per cent of the seats in the Reichstag. In 1953. Soviet Premier Josef Stalin of Russia died at his apart ment in the Kremlin. The Com munist government said the 73-year-old dictator had been strick en with a cerebral hemorrhage. In I9fi2, Premier Khrushchev warned the Soviet Communist par ty's central committee that the seven-year plan was in serious danger as a result of agriculture management. t A thought for the day Josef Stalin said: "In the U.S. S R.. work is the duty of every able-bodied citizen, according to tlie principle nl he who does not work, neither shall he cat."
