PAGE -A
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falli, Ore.
Wednesday, March 6, 196J
ED30N IN WASHINGTON . . .
Plastic Chair Mat
Is Status Symbol
The Yo-yo
"A rose by any other name would smell as
sweet," a well-known playwright once wrote.
Then again, maybe it wouldn't, especially
if it were called something like barbed cat
weed or flowering dogwort.
Some suchjsvcholofiical connection be
?cysfifc.lftd their. names sfe'ems to oper
ate in many areas of life. Sometimes it can
lie serious, as in the case of food that hungry
people could eat but don't simply because
of its name or looks or because of certain
taboos.
John Fridthjof of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization, a Dane
who has spent his life championing the uses
of nutritious and economical fish, recently
told of some of his experiences.
It seems that one of the tenderest, most
Anguished
(Register-Guard, Eugene)
:j At hand is a letter, far too long for the
Mailbag. It is from a man who says he is
"bitter and angry," and "justly so." This is
a moving letter, and it raises questions that
many others have also asked, although few
have had better reason to ask them. The writer
was the father of a 19-year-old-girl. "Was"
the father. The girl is dead now. She and a
20-year-old companion died on the highway
when their car was hit by another, driven by
a drunk.
The drunk driver was charged with negli
gent homicide, tried, found guilty and sen
tenced to 18 months in prison. The father, a
titter and angry man, reads that in Portland
a fellow who stole and sold 217 Christmas
trees was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
"I must speak out, I must protest," he
writes, "for even in death my lovely daughter
would not respect me if I did not." He docs
speak out in protest of a system that seems to
equate the theft of 217 Christmas trees with
the deaths of two girls.
He asks, "Have you ever received a
telephone call from hundreds of miles away,
impersonally stating that your daughter was
killed on the highway? Think a little. And
then, later, after she is buried to receive a
fiote from the Memorial Gardens that a bronze
plaque had been Installed 'to commemorate
an earthly mission that began September 15,
1943, and was completed October 27, 1962.'
I am aware that it has ended. But was it com
pleted?" One can have only sympathy as he reads
this touching letter. And every reader will
understand the father's bewilderment and
anger. Two young girls are only equal to 217
Christmas trees?
However, there can be no sentencing in
which the punishment really fits the crime.
Js'o penal system is really efficient. But one
IN WASHINGTON .
By RALPH it TOLEDANO
In the past years. Democratic
Senator Thomas J. Dodd of Con
necticut has shown himself to
be one of the most hard-headed,
members of the "world's most ex
clusive club." His speeches on
foreign policy have become minor
c!aisics in close reasoning based
on excellent research.
I say this as introduction to
material which Mr. Dodd h;is
gathered together and placed in
that graveyard of Information, the
Congressional Record. It Is ma
teriai which will Rive the Adminis
tration little comfort in its ef
forts to convince the American
people that a nuclear test ban
at any cost is mandatory. Sena
tor Dodd does not buy this "at
any cost" line and his opposition
will certainly (jive added power
to those In the Administration
ho hope to force him out of pub
lic life.
Senator Dodd has prepared a
table listing the steady retreat of
our test-ban negotiators since the
first Geneva conference in lifts.
As of today, we are ready to ac
cept almost any terms if only
Comrad Khrushchev will put his
name to a paper which says, "I
ain't gonna lest no more,"
In ItKfl, for example, the U.S.
called for the right to inspect all
seismic events nf Indeterminate
origin above five kilotrons, and 20
per rent below that level. This
ould adequately police any se
cret testing. By February, I960,
er asking for only 20 on
site Inspections per year. By
May, 1961, the Konnedy Adminis
tration was ready to settle lor as
little as 12 such Inunctions ht
annum. Last December, the Ad
By Any Other Name
savory fish caught off Denmark is the lowly
catfish. But the Danes had long rejected it
because of its name and ugly appearance.
Then it was decided to market only the clean,
white fillets and also to give it a new name:
"cutlet fish."
Today, catfish j,s still unavailable in Den
mark, but you can get cutlet lish in any res
taurant, including the best.
In another instance, in West Africa,
fishing fleets and packing plants thrive and
human diets have been greatly improved be
cause of an abundant fish that was once ig
nored all because its name was dogfish.
Fridthjof renamed it "Fish 45," the num
ber representing its protein content. Now
West Africans can't get enough of it.
Does this indicate anything can be done
for our own lowly mullet? '
Father Views
that seeks to be efficient must try to make the
punishment fit the criminal rather than the
crime. "The law," of which this father speaks
so bitterly, recognizes this to a degree. It
provides a list of crimes and maximum pun
ishments. It provides, in most cases, that a
jury will determine innocence or guilt, but
not the penalty. The penalty is left to a judge
who has experience, and likely information,
that a jury does not have. This fixing of the
penalty is the chore judges relish least.
The drunk who went to prison was sen
tenced by one judge, the tree thief by anoth
er. The penitentiary is full of fellows who
compare notes on their crimes and their per
sonal backgrounds and who find seeming in
justices as great as the one the father men
tions. Each of these bitter men must know,
too, that the sentence he got was the sentence
imposed by one man who had to look at the
criminal, as well as the crime, and determine
what sentence would be best for society and,
eventually, for the fellow in the dock, the fel
low who would return to society as either a
better or a worse citizen.
The system has holes in it. The anguished
father found one of the big ones. Yet, what
other system can there be? Certainly we can
not say that a certain crime will be paid for by
a certain penalty, with no latitude, no allow
ance for the backgrounds and potentials of
the criminals. Some jurisdictions have had
good results with a system under which pen
alties are meted out not by a variety of judges,
but by a single board that could deal with
both the drunk and the thief.
Perhaps one day Oregon will come to
such a system. But we must never forget
that the purpose of the sentence is neither
vengeance or retribution. It is the long-range
good of the community based upon the
protection of the community from dangerous
people and the return of these people, w hen
they are no longer dangerous, to a useful life.
Nuclear Test Ban Session
ministration was talking hopefully
of eight - lo - 10 inspections. In
February there were planned
leaks to the U.S. press that Mr.
Kennedy's negotiators wore will
ing lo accept a "compromise" of
five on-site inspections.
In order to protect against sneak
testing by any country, scientists
estimated that a world-wide net
work of 600-6SO seismic inspection
stations would be needed. At Gene
va, however, our negotiators
agreed to 180 stations only 21 of
them to be within the Soviet Un
ion. Last August, the U.S. of
fered a "substantial" reduction
of this number HO stations, with
merely cight-to-IO in the USSH.
Who would man these stations?
In l!G8, the U.S. insisted that Ihe
monotoring stations should lie
manned by non-nationals of the
country in which they were lo
cated. This made sense. No one
would expect a Soviet national to
report on illegal nuclear test.
By August, 19t2, the U.S. had
retreated to the position thai I lie
stations should be manned by
nationals of the country Ihey were
in. with international inspection.
Last February, in his efforts lu
woo the Soviets, chief U.S. negoti
ator William C. Foster dropped
mention of international Inspec
tion. In I!i58, the U S. set as a thresh
old for inspection all seismic
sluxks above five kilotrons and.
as 1 have noted, 20 per cent of
those below that figure.
By January, 11159. the thresh
old for inspection had been raised
to 20 kilotrons. In August, IW2.
the U.S. didn't mention any
threshold In its draft treaty. This
The Law'
means that the Soviets could claim
Ihat 11 50-kilotron seismic disturb,
ante did not come under the terms
of Ihc "inspection" agreement
making it a scrap of paper.
When the U.S. went to Geneva,
it proposed n control body maile
up of Britain, United States, and
the Soviet Union with no vein
right. Spelled out, this meant Hint
if the U.S. and Britain decided an
inspection was warranted, the So
viet Union could not block it. In
August, 1W2, Mr. Kennedy's ne
gotiators accepted the principle of
parity for Communist and West
ern nations on the control body.
If outside monitoring detected a
serious and undetermined .seis
mic shock within the Soviet Un
ion. 11 vote to inspect would be
deadlocked, on a one-to-one basis
with the Soviets in effect having
veto power.
The record, as outlined by Sena
tor Dodd, shows conclusively that
the United Stales has steadily
pulled back from a position work
out by its scientists. Our negotia
tors have listened lar more lo the
propagandists for a test ban than
to scientists like Dr. Edward Tell
er, father of the H-bomb, who
has expressed deep concern over
the proposed concessions A n d
while the U.S. lias shown such
sweet reasonableness, what have
the Soviets t'"nc.' The record
slums that they hate always
asked for a little more than ue
oiler. When we agree lo that,
they up Iheir offer.
At (his rale, the United Stales
will be Agreeing to a nuclear
lest ban with no safeguiiids. That,
at least, is wh.it many Senators
ami Congressmen have begun lo
I cur.
LETTERS
Dogs
I'm writing in regards to the
many dogs running loose in the
Shippington area (some of which
is within the city limits.) Some
of the dogs are old and lay around
and don't bother anybody, but
others are young and don't know
the meaning of obedience. These
are allowed to run wherever
they please and in doing so, cause
much damage.
There are two sides to every
story. In this case, the dogs and
the gardeners. So as a gardener,
I'm speaking in my behalf.
I have nothing against owning
a dog. We did for 14 years, and
we love dogs in their place. I've
never once blamed the animal
but I do blame their owners.
Our dog slept in the house at
night on his blanket, on the floor,
and ran on his chain during the
day, when out. If he bothered
anybody at all, it was only us.
We took him hunting, fishing
and most of the places we went
in the car where wc could, and
a good many places where he
could run loose without hurting
anybody or any property.
So, dear reader, please don't
think he was abused, we loved
that old dog. He had a good home
and worshiped us and the chil
dren. Wo all enjoyed outings
together dog and all.
We have a lawn and flower
garden that wc take a great deal
of pride in, and while away many
hours there. Seems like older
folks would be entitled to a lit
tle icacc in age, but that's not
true, I guess, when you can look
out and see several big dogs
roaming in your lawn and gar
densome roam and bark all
night long, even bury bones in
the rose garden most prized of
all.
Dogs bounding from here and
there can do much damage to
Birds
ACROSS 40 Three IRoman)
1,5 North 41 Look closely
American bird Bird's belly
Sonsbird 48 tnsuing
12 Reprinted (ah.) 49 Era
13 Having card 50 Tempt
14 Tropical plant 51 shleW hearina
15 "Mow Groen M MaiculiM name
W as Mv Valley" 53 Goddess of
heroine ..S1,c?,riJ. ..
IflUur 54 Small bird
17 Crude horn hs I'ound
IS Oscine bird
SOMinll alarm
21 Wool measure
22 Noise
2.1 Charming
; Small bird
SO Top brats lab )
31 Clean the pan
Rinnan rner
3:1 Abridged lab )
34 Hut
3.i Toon In I'tah
3rl Feathers
Ss Curl
3u I'everaee
56 Posted
DOWN
1 British (atil
2Kulk:arian coin
3 Preposition
4 Wandering
5 lAlmistcd
6 Maple cenus
7 I rue (slanjy
8 Ties
9 W inued
10 Roam
11 Alert
19 Almighty
'JO Basin
1 P 3 14 I 15 16 17 I J3 9 110 111
13 13 U
f T5 17
J Ji
33 F 1 Li
3t5 37 " Jfy
TPEr!" rTju J!!-Jo" JT"I
iS a m
ST 5l 53 i
54 a5 jo
I I I I 1
urn
By SYDNEY J. HARRIS
A reader in North Carolina calls
my attention to a recent case in
which a judge, during the same
week, sentenced two juvenile of
fenders for committing the same
act. One of the boys was given
a "hard" sentence, and the other
was given a "soft" one.
.My correspondent was indig-
nant at this act of what he called
"injustice." He thinks that the
two offenders should have been
treated "equally" for equal of
fenses. And he asks me to share
his indignation.
Actually, I feel quite the con
trary. I don't know what the
facts in each case were, but the
principle followed by the judge
is the only sound one. It is not
"equality" to treat unequals
equally; it is gross unfairness.
It was the portentous Mikado in
tender young shoots bursting from
the ground.
If we speak to the owners, we
are termed "old grouches." Are
we so wrong in wanting to pro
tect what is ours to enjoy? Why
do people have to be told what
they can plainly sec?
There shouldn't have lo be
any trouble at all. Seems sort of
useless to vote anymore.
We realize our lawn and gar
den doesn't mean a thing to any
body else, since the expense,
work and enjoyment isn't theirs,
but to my husband and me, it
means a great deal, and many
happy hours are spent there, just
as God meant it to be.
I'm sorry if I've slopped on
someone's toes, but I can't help
feeling the way I do.
Mrs. R. E. Jones,
2535 Bly Street.
Answer to Previous Pu!
S3
52 Cut inlo
small cubes
?3Jtimt
35 Yellow birds
37 Fur
38 The right time
40 Structural
section
4t Weather
forecast
42 Territory (lb )
4:1 Spindle
44 Indian city
4s Squeeze
4 Ireland
47 Bird home
49 Ventilate.
24 Exchange bill
of lading lab.)
L'5 South
American
countrv
28 Screech owl
27 Learning
28 Increases
29 Capa
31 Thoaler box
34 Cain ipl.l
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
the operetta who believed in
"making the punishment fit the
crime." But the punishment
should fit the criminal; justice is
blind, but it cannot be stupid
also. And nothing is more stupid,
in criminal jurisprudence, than
failing to distinguish real differ
ences between those who com
mit similar crimes.
Three boys may sleal separate
cars: one as an ill-advised es
capade; another as an act of re
bellion against his parents; and
the third for dark and ugly rea
sons. Must all three be punished
in the same way?
Unless we have a philosophical
grasp of what "justice" is, we
cannot understand the principle
nf equality. For instance, parents
who claim that they give their
children "equal treatment" are
guilty of a great fault if by this
they mean that they judge all
their children by the same stan
dard. The loving and intelligent par
ents take into account the pro
found differences between their
children differences in tempera
ment and ability, brains and bod
ily structure. To discipline one's
children fairly means to give un
equal treatment to unequals; for
to treat them the same would
be manifestly unfair to the weak
er, the more delicate, the less in
telligent ones.
Justice consists in correctly
proportioning the means to the
ends. And this can be accom
plished only by know ledge of the
individual case. A judge who sen
tenced all auto thieves to the
same term would be a superfluous
official: the statute books can do
that without the need of a judge.
Indeed, one of the tragedies of
our crowded and archaic system
of jurisprudence is the lack of
time, talent and resources that
would enable the court to analyze
cases on an individual basis, tak
ing into account all the social and
psychiatric variables in each case.
II is tlie "mass production" as
pects of American courts thai
create as much misery as t h c
crimes that confront them.
Other
Editors Say . . .
POIGNANT PLEA
(Oregon-Statesman, Salem)
A poignant plea to give an ex
convict a chance comes from a
Salem area woman who for ob
vious reasons prefers her name
w ilhhekl.
"I encourage my guy Ihc best
I can." she writes. "And I pray
'Lord, let this lie the day he finds
a decent job instead of those
lor $1 15 an hour in mud and
slime a job that would give hack
self-respect, the most needed ar
ticle in rehabilitation ' "
The fact that her plicht. and his.
is not new is little comlort
She signed her letter and wrote
this postscript: "I have faith m
my husband and know how much
he wishes lo be self-supporting
and lo do for his family, and I
also know how discouraging it is
to look for work and not get
it " She added that she sicned her
name because "1 am not ashamed
of my husband or what I have
written "
With a wife like that, this man
who made a mistake and has paid
Ins debt can t fail, discouraging as
tlie road may he. Ami site has set
forth the problem inherent so well
that no words of ours arc needed.
By PETER EUSOV
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON I NEA I Newest
status symbol for big bureaucrats
in Washington is to have a trans
parent plastic mat in the office.
There aren't very many of them
around yet, but wait till the word
gets out and the fashion catches
on.
Pretty soon you'll be able to
tell whether the government olfi
cal you call on in his spacious
.diggin;'really amounts to any.,
filling by one simple le
It will be whether he has a
sheet of quarter-inch thick Plexi
glasssay 6x10 under the vast
acreage of his flat-top desk and
the space behind, where he rolls
his $300-and-up, three-way-stretch,
swivel - and - ballbearing - cas
tered, deep - cushioned leather
covered chair when he rises to
greet you or bow you out.
No plastic chair mat, as it's
called, no big shot.
The evolution of this new badge
of prestige is fascinating. First,
there was the marble floor, in the
old government buildings. Hard
on the dogs and cold. Then there
were scatter rugs. Then hard
wood flooring. Then parquet floor
ing. Then more and bigger rugs.
Then wall-to-wall carpeting. Only
the biggest shots rated wall-to-wall
carpets.
But wall-to-wall broadloom cre
ated other problems. Shuffling the
feet under the desk in nervous
irritation wore holes in the rug.
Pushing the chair back and pull
ing it up wore the nap off the
carpet and wore down the knee
high pile to the coarse foundation
fabric beneath.
This was expensive. For t h e
only way to replace wall-to-wall
carpeting is with wall-to-wall car
peting. At $12 a square yard in
a 100 to 200-sqaure-yard office,
that runs into money.
And a palch on wall-to-wall car
peting, even under a desk, would
be a worse loss of face than a
palch on the pants.
And so there was invented the
fibcrboard carpet saver. It was a
T-shaped piece of hard-surfaced,
brown composition something or
other. The stem of the T fitted
under the center well of the desk
and kept the feet from wearing
out the carpet. The head of the
WASHINGTON REPORT . . .
Powell Committee
Fund Slash Sought
By FULTON LEWIS JR.
As an orator ltep. Adam Clay
ton Powell (D-N.Y.) has few
peers.
Not so John James Williams,
the wispy-voiced, mild-mannered
Republican Senator from Dela
ware. Yet there is no doubt that
"Whispering Willie" Williams has
come off on top in his battle with
Powell, the handsome playboy
chairman of the House Labor and
Education Committee.
Ix'ss than a month ago
Williams took to the Senate floor
with a speech that made nation
al headlines. He lashed into the
Administration for dishing o u t
funds and favors to Powell, said
to be the nation's most powerful
single Negro.
Powell, resting in Puerto Rico,
sauntered back to Washington
when ready, called a Klieg light
press conference, and told assem
bled reporters that Williams had
criticized him because he i Pow
ell i was a Negro.
Informed that Williams had vol.
ed for the only civil rights bills lo
become law in this century, Pow
ell was undisturbed. He stuck by
his guns.
To buttress his case. Powell
said that Williams opixised the
creation of a Cabinet-level De
partment of Lrhan Aftairs be
cause he did not want Robert
Weaver, a Negro, to head the
department.
He conveniently overlooked the
fact that Williams voted to con
lirm Weaver for director of the
Federal Housing Authority.
Powell denied Williams' asser
tion that he 'Powell' had pulled
strings to get a S25ti,tKio Federal
giant for Associated Community
Teams, a Harlem project of w hich
he was a director.
Powell neglected, howevci t,i
quiet Livingston I.. Wingate.'the
project director. Wjncalc told the
Washington Star s Cecil Holland.
"It's a fact that Adam Clavton
Powell negotiated tins grant.' His
influence was used to "el it "
The nation's Inchest official
who served with Jnhn James Wil'
liams in the Senate for cisht
vcars. is reluctant to entire
Powell President Kennedv told a
news conference that 'the best
answer to any attacks" on Rep.
reventative Powell would lie le-is-lation
passed by the committee
Ami. said the Chief Executive
that record is a "f,l one. a vcrv
uselul one."
While the resident is reluctant
T was behind the desk and there
the bureaucrat could spend hours
of deep thought, rolling his
wheeled chariot to and fro or
rocking, without wearing out the
carpet.
The trouble was, this sheet of
brown hardboard looked lousy and
it warped, tripping up hurried bu
reaucrats. All these troubles made it in
evitable that some genius he
happened to be working for the
Delta Division ofir Associates, in
Fort Ub, Tex. should get the
idea, ol putting a sheet of Plexi
glass under the desk and chair,
over the rug, to save wear and
tear. It's transparent.
You can see the wall-to-wall
carpeting beneath it, color and
all.
Rohm and Haas of Philadel
phia, who make Plexiglass a
pure plastic acrylic, methol meth
acrolate monomer were doubtful
about this use of their material
when they first heard of it. They
happily admit now they were
wrong.
It doesn't scratch if rubber-tired
casters are used. It doesn't get
brittle, yellow or opaque. It's slick
but nobody has yet reported fall
ing and breaking his dignity on
it. Spilled codec and snacks can
be wiped off and don't stain the
carpet.
This reporter saw his first plas
tic chair mat in the office of In
ternal Revenue Service Commis
sioner Mortimer M. Caplin. There
are several others in IRS. That's
where your money goes, citizens.
A 10O-square-foot mat, at $1.75
a square foot retail, would cost
you-know-what.
Inquiry at General Services Ad
ministration discloses thi't plastic
chair mats aren't being stocked
as regular equipment yet. But
agencies that have special interior
decoration funds for fussing - up
big-shot offices are permitted to
buy extras like objels d' art and
spittoons. New fads calch on fast.
State Department and NASA,
the space agency, have a few
for their top brass. Commerce De
partment's new business center
has one. GSA has a few smaller
ones in its public buildings and
space management offices, and a
few were put out at Fort Eusticc,
Va., for field office testing.
to offend Powell in any way, not
so John Ashbrook, a second-term
Ohio Congressman who serves un
der Powell on the Labor and Edu
cation Committee.
Ashbrook appeared before a sub
committee of the Committee on
Administration to oppose his
chairman's record request for
$H!J7.000 to run the Labor Com
mittee. In the 86th Congress, Ashbrook
pointed out, Committee Chairman
Graham Barden was authorized
$323,000 and returned $53,640 to
the Treasury at the end of the
second session.
Powell spent $633,000 during the
87lh Congress, his first as chair
man, and now wants almost $700.
000 for the 88th. He has packed
the committee with political ap
pointees, while reducing the num
lior of Republican employes from
four to two. He has quadrupled the
number of Democratic aides, who
totaled 12 two years ago.
One of Powell's appointees. John
Young III, a New York public re
lations man. was sent to S o u t h
America to make a 30-day "cul
tural survey." He received $1,000
for services as a "consultant."
and spent $2,000 for hotels and
expenses plus another $1,000 for
travel.
"Young's report." says Repre
sentative Ashbrook. "tells very
little that any member of Con
gress could not obtain on a
straight request for information
from Ihe Library of Congress."
Examining committee vouchers.
Ashbrook discovered that Powell
regularly received funds for trav
el to Puerto Rico, where he lives
in a $50.W10 villa. Frequent pay
ments were made to Powell for
miscellaneous expenses in the
Cnited States and the Virgin Is
lands. Examples:
Miscellaneous and per diem.
Dec. 3-15. 12 place not known:
$178.
Per diem, and taxi. Nov. 1!
24. 1W2, place not known:
Per diem and taxi, etc.. Nov.
3. 11112, place not known: $25.
Per diem and taxi, place not
known, no date: $105.
Per diem. Oct. 9-13. place not
known: $120.
t'oneressman Ashbrook demand
ed that $200,000 be slashed from
Ihe budget for Powell s commit
tee He was hacked up by Re
publican Congressmen C roil
'Iowa'. McClory 'Ill.i. Alger
'Texas'. Curtis 1 Missouri '.
Younger 'Calif.', and Findicy
'III..