PAGE-
HERALD AND NEWS. Klamath Falls, Orf.
Monday, March 11, 1963
EDSON IN WASHINGTON . . .
dvbilaL (paqsL
Recognizing The Problem
One of the hottest, and bitterest, contro
versies in the last Congress had to do with the
problem of medical tare for the elderly. The
Administration's proposal was Medicare a
plan under which everyone drawing social
security benefits would have been eligible for
a variety of government-paid medical services.
An impressive bill of particulars against Med
icare was drawn by its opponents, who held
that it would mark a long step toward gov
ernment domination of medicine; that it did
not take adequate account of the actual need
of the individual, hut, rather, took a shotgun
approach to a certain selected group; that it
would not cover millions of elderly people who
are not within the social security system; that
the costs would be enormous, and, probably
far beyond Administration estimates, and that
it would result in the concentration of federal
power and authority al. the expense of local
government.
Medicare got nowhere. But it will be back
this year, probably in a somewhat changed and
possibly expanded form. So whatever hap
pens to any particular bill the problem of
how to ensure a better life for the nation's
elderly people not only in medical matters
hut in other associated ways will again be a
major issue.
The American Medical Association's
Board of Trustees has now proposed an eight
point program designed to deal with the prob
lem of the elderly in its many ramifications.
In announcing it, Dr. Percy Hopkins, the
board's chairman, said: "It recognizes that
some of the aged have problems, some need
help. It also recognizes that most of them
aspire to be independent, self-reliant, useful
citizens who want challenges and opportuni
ties. They do not desire to be classified as a
mass problem."
The specific points of the program cover
many latitudes. Among them: 1. A re-cval-uation
of attitudes toward the elderly in order
that they may be given the chance to use their
time, talents and capabilities in worthwhile
activities that encourage self-reliance and in
dependence. 2. Support for, and implemen
tation and revision of the existing financial as
sistance to the elderly who need it to meet
the cost of medical care. 3. Changes in the
income lax laws, to liberalize medical care
deductions for dependents over 65. 4. To
assist in the continued expansion of health
insurance and prepayment plans Blue Shield
and Blue Cross which have shown an "ex
plosive growth." 5. More flexible retirement
policies in business and industry, so that pro
ductive workers who wish to can continue at
their jobs instead of being forced to retire
at an arbitrary age. 6. Encouraging construc
tion of additional nursing homes. The number
of beds in these homes has increased dramati
cally since 1954 from 180,000 to more than
338,000. But still more are needed. 7. Expan
sion of community programs for the aged,
under state and county medical society lead
ership. These would be broad programs in
cluding, in addition to health services, de
velopment of recreational facilities and job
opportunities, and so on. 8. Increased atten
tion to measures aimed at prevention, cure
and rehabilitation in the area of mental illness
among the aged. This particular problem,
says the AMA report, ". . . presents a unique
challenge to the medical profession. . . . The
aged occupy a disproportionate number of
beds in mental institutions. Many of these '
people, are not mentally ill and should not
be languishing in these institutions which
are serving in too many cases primarily as cus
todians of the aged."
This broad program certainly proves
that the medical profession is not in any way
indifferent to the problems of the elderly
and that, instead, it is most vitally concerned
with finding the right solutions.
High Cost Of Politics
(Press-Herald, Portland, Maine)
As the cost of politics grows, politicians
and their parties adopt novel and often desper
ate measures to finance election campaigns.
The talk of Washington recently has been
the gala put on by the Democrats to pay off
a million-dollar debt left over from the 1902
elections. This was not the ostensible reason
for the double-docker affair; party faithful
who gathered from all over the country as
sumedly were celebrating the second anni
versary of President Kennedy's first inaugu
ration. Moreover, they paid handsomely for
the privilege. Seven hundred Democrats paid
$1,000 each for a dinner at the new Interna
tional Inn in the national capital. At the Wash
ington armory another huge throng paid $100
each to see a floor show, but no dinner. The
President and Vice President and their en
tourages showed up at both occasions, and the
whole thing was an apparent success.
Massachusetts, on the other hand, which
produces more droll politics than any state
we can think of, is still chuckling over the
testimonial dinner the insurance industry
planned for Slate Insurance Commissioner C.
Eugene Farnam.
This was apparently a good-will affair in
tended to improve insurance firms' relations
with the state government and the legisla
ture. But sponsors overlooked the fact that
only recently the lawmakers, fed up with pure
ly political "testimonial" dinners intended to
pay election debts or build a campaign fund
for the future, enacted legislation against the
practice. So, after a ruling by the New Attor
ney General that the dinner would violate the
law, it was called off and ticket money re
lumed to about a thousand Bay Staters.
It should be noted that Republicans raised
the question of violation of federal law (the
Hatch Act) against Kennedy's gala, but were
only laughed at for their presumption. (The
GOP is now planning a $500,000 Goldwatcr
dinner of its own.) This does not necessarily
prove that the Kennedy administration's eth
ics are showing. It does, so far as we are con
cerned, ring an alarm bell over the increasing
cost of running for public office in this coun
try, meanwhile noting for the record that hard
ly anyone is doing anything about it, in a con
structive way.
Perhaps this is tiresome repetition, but
the nation ought not to drift into a situation
whereby only rich men can afford to run for
high public office, In the slates and the fed
eral government, unless they arc willing to
accept help from special interests that infercn
tially has strings attached.
There is something of a Roman circus at
mosphere about a lush Washington affair that
attracts 700 persons able and presumably will
ing to shell out a thousand dollars each for
the privilege of saying "I was there." It
causes us some anxiety, looking toward the
future, but it and similar events will continue
until public opinion recognizes the potential
risks involved, too.
BERRY'S WORLD ,
Al
manac
"Vby ctn't wt ketfi ufi uttb the Satiugtrt InsUtd
tbt KtnneJyi"
By I nilrd Press International
Today is Monday, March II, the
Tin h day nf with 295 In fo.
low.
The moon is approaching its
last quarter.
The morning Mars are Venus
and Mais.
The evening star is Mars.
On this day in history:
In 18.13. the great blizzard be
gan in New York City and snow
fell or (our straight days.
In IMii, William Howard Tall
became the first President of the
I niled Stales lo be huried in the
National Cemetery at Arlington,
Va.
In President Roosevelt
signed the holly debated lend
lease bill and immediately or
dered goods sent In Britain and
llreece.
A thought for the day: British
statesman Sir Winston Churchill
said: "I cannot forecast lo you
the action of Russia. It is a riddle
wrapped in a mystery inside an
enigma "
State Taxes Penalize, Hobble Business
By PETER EDSON
Wakhingtoa Correspondent
Newspaper Enterprise Ami.
WASHINGTON i.NKAi SUule
Congress and the country crab
against lax reform and new trade
iv.ar Christian A. Herter prepares
lor negotiations with foreign coun
tries to lower tariff restrictions
on international trade. American
businessmen are faced with a
crazy quilt of state and local
income, sales and use taxes which
have the same cflcct as tarifls
on interstate commerce.
The abuse arises when one state
levies an income tax on the busi
ness done within its borders by
merchants, manufacturers or oth
er concerns located in other states.
These oul-of-date businesses also
may be required to collect sales
and use taxes on their goods sold
in the taxing state.
Forty - seven states now levy
one of both of these taxes on
business originating in other
states. The total take on these
taxes is over $ billion a year,
from both local and out-of-state
sources.
Thirty - six states collected S4.5
billion in use taxes in 1961.
Thirty - seven states collected
$1.2 billion in income taxes.
Business gripes against these
taxes as they apply to interstate
commerce. The administrative
cost of complying with a code of
over 100 fal volumes of conflicting
state tax laws is necessarily .
great. There is a duplication of
taxation by the state in which
goods arc manufactured and the
stales in which they are sold.
Companies doing interstate
business are faced with tax lia
bility which often leads to heavy
assessments (or back taxes, in
terest and penalties. Companies
in some cases are forced to pay
traveling expenses for inspectors
Irom other states who come in to
audit their books.
All this trouble may in some
cases make small business reluc
tant to try tu expand tlieir oper
ations into other states.
A Special House Judiciary sub
committee on State Taxation of
Interstate Commerce under Rep.
Edwin E. Willis, D-La.. has been
quietly investigating those prac
tices for over a year. It has as
sembled voluminous data from
all 30 statrs and (rom thousands
of business firms all over the
country.
This materia! now is being ana
lyzed by the committee's slafl
under Murray Drahkin. A report
will be made before July I. Then
it will be up to Congress to decide
what to do about the situation.
I'nder the l" S. Constitution. Ar
ticle I. Section 8. only Congress
has the power to regulate inter
state commerce. Many business
men now feel, however, that stale
taxes interfere with tlieir doing
business across stale lines and
restrain trade.
More than 300 Supreme Court
decisions and perhaps thousands
in slate courts-have tried to draw
Hie line between what constitutes
a tax on interstate commerce and
what is a permissible business
lax.
The Supreme Court has recog
nized thai it is institutionally in
rapahle of solving this question
as a broad national policy. But
in IttiH the court held that a
Crazy Quilt of State Taxes
WAWMNr.zV4'.N. dak.'
I. M Wa... 'J N.H-KVVL
n
f iSr
41? IJ SALESUSE TAX V
Rga STATES WITH BOTH
PROBLEM FOR CONGRESS Taxing income or imposing use or sales taxes on out-of-state
business firms has become big business for almost every state. Newsmap shows
states which tax income, those which have usesales levies and ones which have both
types. Only three states Nebraska, Indiana and New Hampshire do not have such taxes.
Because interstate commerce is affected, Congress may be called upon to clear up states'
taxing powers in this area.
state can tax a reasonably appor
tioned share of the income irom
a business whose only activities
in the state are in furtherance
of interstate commerce.
The court also decided that a
state could tax a business which
maintained a sales office withm
its borders.
- Subsequently, the Supreme
Court declined to review two cas
es appealed from state courts
which upheld the pow er of a state
to tax the income of an out-of-stats
business engaged solely in inter
state commerce, even though it
maintained no offices in the
state but only sent in salesmen
to solicit business.
The laws of the 47 states in
this field now present a wallow
of confusion. No exemptions are
made for small business. In some
stales taxes are levied onlv if
the manufacturer has a branch
plant in the taxing state. ln a
few states, taxes are levied on
an out-of-state manufacturer if
he merely advertises in the lax
ing stale. In still other states, if
.? manufacturer sells only
through local dealers and not di
rectly, there is no lax.
Taking its first step to clarify
this maze, Congress in 1959 passed
its first law on the subject. It
prohibits taxation of interstate
commerce if the only activity of
an out-of-state manufacturer or
merchant is solicitation.
This law also sets up a con
gressional study now being made
by the Willis committee lo de
termine whether additional legis
lation is necessary and recom
mend what it should be.
But Congress may not act on
this before next year maybe
after it gets through reforming
U.S. tax laws.
alii
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By SYDNEY J. HARRIS
A man I used to know some
years ago died in New York re
cently, and when I asked a mutual
friend twho happens to be a doc
tor I the cause of death, he an
swered "Secrecy."
This was a most provocative
reply, and 1 pressed him to let
down the medical barriers and
explain what he said. It was real
ly quite simple and, so the doc
tor added, fairly common.
The man had had two ailments,
one affecting the heart and Ihe
other Ihe blood. He went to sep
arate doctors for treatment and
did not tell either doclor about the
olhcr ailment, because he did not
want to be loo severely restricted
in his diet, his work, or his so
cial life.
As a result, Ihe regimen
prescribed for one of the ailments
adversely affected the other, and
he was carried off before either of
his physicians knew what was
happening.
This may seem a bizarre little
talc, but it occurs more often than
the layman realizes. More than a
century ago. F. B. Winslow, in
his book. "Physic and Physi
cians." wrote: "Secrecy is com
monly mixed up in medical af
fairs. Some great city practition
ers have little closets to indulge
this feeling nf fanciful patients
who do not want to be seen by
their fellow sufferers."
Winslow goes on to relate the
I On the Farm
case of the Comte de Virey. "who
carried this mystery so far as
to make the slightest indisposi
tion a state secret."
One day the Count called a sur
geon to dress a wound in his leg;
and when a similar one broke out
on the other, he sent for a differ
ent surgeon, so that the disordered
slate of his limbs might not he
known. "A circumstance," adds
Winslow, "which was the cause of
his death."
As an ironic footnote, to a per
son who inquired for the Count
shortly after his death, his secre
tary said. "He is dead, but he
docs not wish il lo be known."
The recalcitrance of patients
must be cited as one of the ma
jor factors in the mortality ta
bles. Patients who lie about their
symptoms, who fail lo follow in
structions, who pour pills down
the drain and toss diets into the
fire, who think that merely visit
ing a doctor or holding a pre
scription will magically cure them
all these contribute heavily to
ward the total of medical "fail
ures. "
Asked about the reception of
one of his comedies on opening
night, Oscar Wilde quipped, "The
play was a success, but the audi
ence was a failure." Likewise,
patients can fail doctors quite as
much as the reverse: for all
thcreapy involves a collaboration
of candor.
ACROSS
1 Weeding
instrument
4 Orourtd-
brraking firm
tool
ft Farm crop
12 Sick
13 Uncommon
14 Operatic solo
15 Farm dessert
16 Of latinmn
substance
IPs Communists
30 Arthurian lady
21 Conjunction
22 Veined p" m
24 Pokrr staka
2 Shred
27 0reek letter
.10 Defectively
.12 harm
34 Selector
3A Landed
property
3ft Abstract being
.1" 1-ayer
.19 (lenu f
freshwater
ducks
40 Asterisk
41 Bitter vetch
42 Retinue
45 Small brook
49 Undervalue
51 Hawaiian
pepper
52 European
stream
53 Solar disk
84 Poetic
contraction
55 Medicinal
Quantity
5ft Farm meats
67 Wapiti
nows
1 Body parts
2 HodcepodKe
3 Oram
4 Scrutinised
5 F.ndure
ft Prayer
7 Small tumor
6 Chalice
"Relax, We're Following Through
On Your Program!"
III 'jfr ' .'1
Letters To The Editor
Pay Scale
9 Algerian
seaport
10 Rebel
1 1 Cartoonist
17 Archaeological
rictoftraphs
.etharfiic
23 Finer
24 Section of
a church
25 Middav
26 Middle East
nation
37 Carry over
?P Philippine
ahoriginft
2fl Km ploys
3t Missive
33 Japanese city
38 Priming
mistakes
40 Cubic meter
41 Uvels
42 Prosecuted
43 Bring lo ruin
44 Koman date
46 ledger entry
47 Wicked
48 Work
SO College rheer
1 12 13 I 14 15 IS 7 33 19 110 111
il 13 14
F5 il w
re 19 mP
"""H51 ir
zT" 2i I j j 27 28 29
3(3 31 P" 35 33
51 1 33
35 JJ7 38 35
i4o In 41
TP 77" 77" i 46 47
4? 50 51
52 53 5?
55 56 37
li
In Ihe February 21, l3. is
sue of the Herald and News was
an article where the Chamber of
Commerce opposed ScnMe hill
No: 1281, which would reduce the
number of hours served by fire
men from 72 hours to oft" hours
per week.
In expressing opposition to Ihe
hill Mr. Orth Sisemore relcrred
to a letter rom City .Manager
Rob Kyle, in which it was stated
that the city would be required
lo hire an additional 12 firemen
at an annual cost to the city of
$.",4.(100 if the bill were passed.
I would like to take exception
to the statement supplied to the
Chamber of Commerce by City
Manager Bob Kyle. 1 don't know
how he figures as tlie salary for
12 additional firemen, at tlie low
starting salary o( S.W5 er
month would onlv hr SAT, wo
per year, but to bring the lire
department tin fu .strength
this Senate Bill No. 12.11 passes
would only require the hiring of
7 additional firemen inot 12'
at Kite per month, at a yearly
cost of only JoO.firt).
As the low starting salary of
MiVS per month, for Ihe first
lour years a such a low scaie
of pay, I doubt very much that
Hie city could hue the seven
needed liremen at the low wages,
let alone hiring of 12 firemen
Tne aera;e work week all over
the nation is 40 hours, and fcr tl'f
city manager or Chamber -' Com
merce to (eel thai these liremen
if
should continue to work a 72-hour
week is out of reason, not to tlie
best interest to our city or proper
ty owners.
As a member of the Klamath
County Taxpayers League, 1 have
made a six-month study of our
city fire department, and the ef
ficient way it is run, and some
of these liremen have up lo 2:1
years of service, they are skilled
in Iheir work, and have the know
how to fight any fire, and to save
lives when persons are trapped in
burning buildings. Now how long
can tltese men continue to go on
working ?2 hours per week at such
a low rate of pay without getting
disgusted and seeking employment
elsewhere? Then if we liad a
green horn fire department, and
they had to answer the call to
a major fire, what kind of a job
could they do? I shudder to think
what would happen when such a
fire got out of control because
of the lack of experienced fire
fighters.
I believe that the city manager
and the Chamber of Commerce
should feel just as proud as 1 do
of our city fire department and
city firemen, and instead of try
in? to make serfs out of them,
should look to their welfare and
do even thing in their power lo
improve their pay scale and work
ing hours.
Hollo J. Shaw
1012 Eldorado Ave.
Disagrees
The front pa;e "In the Day s
News" column of the Herald and
News of Feb. 3 lauded the cat
tlemen as people that ask for rit
give no quarter. So that must
make them great people.
The article, however, is at Uu't
or false. I think the cattlemen
have a very strong lobby in Wash
ington and spend a lot of money
to further their ends. Not only
that. These people take up a lot
ot lime of our public servants,
such as county extension service
employes who arc paid by tha
public at large.
1 made a trip around the small
water impoundments last year,
and found poison scattered all
over in swonsful and not a trace
of any birds or small game. Noth
ing but cattle and poison. All this,
no doubt, furnished by county ex
tension services and scattered by
Ihe cattle people. '
If you doubt my word, look for
yourself. I've seen it in Montana.
Idaho. Wyoming and other West
em states. It s all over the grass,
and in some places is down to
the grass roots.
1 am not trying to condemn th
cattle people. What 1 am trying
lo bring out is that they are not
the holy of holies, but just people,
and they are just as greedy as the
rest of us the spirit of "I'll get
mine and if there's anything left
ou can have it but remember.
1 come first."
Paul R. Oshanic.
P.O. Box 541.
Klamath Falls.