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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1963)
PACE. I HERALD AND NEWS. Klamath Falls. Oregon Monday, June 17, 13 EPSON IN WASHINGTON . . . Don't Take Lightly Right Wing Force "Well, Just Don't Sit There!' fcdihfdaL (paqsL Racing For The Moon if r-H n I I mul i. Would the people of the Klamath Basin be willing to put up $10 million dollars to make certain that the United States gets to the moon first? Or even closer-to-home, would every man woman and child in the Klamath Basin be willing to put up $200 each to see that the United States is the first nation to get to the moon? When we talk about a $40 billion proj ect to be the first to put a man or men on the moon, that's the amount we're talking about in terms of what it will cost locally. The hue and cry is on as to whether or not the U.S. should invest a sum, estimated between $30 and $40 billion, for this purpose over the next five-year period. Last week, former President Dwight Ei senhower rapped the plan to spend such a fan tastic sum for this purpose as "nuts." Scientists engaged in the project are clamoring for even more speed, and stressing the angle of national prestige as being of up permost importance. Examining the problem coldly, we must arrive at the conclusion that there are only two ; .basic reasons for such a project in the first : place. One is the question of national prestige, namely, getting there ahead of the Russians, and the other Js man's insatiable curiosity about the universe. Of these, only the first would support a full speed ahead moon conquest plan. Certainly, we cannot turn our back on space and Its importance to the future of not drily our nation but all the world. We also realize that the moon is only a jumping off joint for space. But, we are inclined to face economic facts just as squarely. Ten million dollars would build at least two hospitals and perhaps three that would in turn provide material aid and comfort to un told thousands, of the area today and tomor row. It would seem to us that if we are to . (Register Guard, Eugene) : Contract troubles have developed in the lumber industry. Not to anyone's great sur prise, however. Nor to anyone's joy. Talk of strikes against Pacific Northwest mills, particularly the larger operations, has been in the air for months. And now the strikes have begun. And so have retaliatory lockouts. ' Outsiders are in poor position to judge who's right and who's wrong or to what degree both management and the unions are ignoring logic and practicability in this sit uation. Trustworthy information upon which judgments might be based has not been made pubic. Whether the prevailing average wage in the industry is around $2.10 an hour, as union spokesmen have said, or whether it is between $3 and $4 an hour, as management has declared, is probably a question of how IN WASHINGTON . . . By RALPH dr TOI.KDANO The United Nations i.i already verging on bankruptcy because, emong other matters. It must maintain an occupation force in Uw Congo. For this, tlie Ameri can taxpayer is stalling out mil lions of dollars, through his gov ernment, for V.N bonds of doubt ful value. The operating cost of the UN forces in the Congo. however, is but a part of the money entailed. David F. Renwlck. a former of ficial of tle I N in the Congo who resigned in dispist, lifts the lid on what is going on and what K means in dollars and cents. Ik is so Indignant that, in typical British fashion, he has been writ ing to tlie 1ondon newspapers (bout it. During his I N tour of duty in North Katanga, Mr. Rcnwick was appalled by "the massive amount of black markotcering, pilfering, and outright stealing by certain IN military personnel." Both civilians and tlie military use Con go francs for black market activi ties, convert their great profits in to hard currency, and ond It home thereby siphoning off much Of the money that is sent into the African country. "The UN will do nothing about this owing to politi cal pressure from New York and more especially by tlie govern ments of the troops concerned." Mr. Renwlck asserts. Tax-free luxury items bought at CN PXes are also being black marketed. This I costing tho I'N some 500,000 pounds i$l.400,onni a month. Repair of property used by spend $10 million of money belonging to people in this basin for a project, it should be for something such as this hospital. We are as curious about the universe as the next person, but feel there are more urgent matters closer to home than an all out assault on a "moon first" program. Would our national prestige suffer if the Russians were the first to put a man on the moon? Undoubtedly they would. The Russians in the past have handed us a number of set backs in the space race principally because they aimed their space exploration at the speclacular projects. In the interim, we were busy not just planning spectacular one and two-man orbit shots, but were carefully scouting the path ways into outer space for such things as radia tion belts, weather capabilities and many other fields. In other words, we have built a careful scientific approach to the conquest of space. This careful approach should not now be dumped aside just to make a spectacular jump to the moon. For, if the administration gives the green light to this project and attacks it on a "crash" basis, all other types of space research will have to be curtailed and activity concentrated on this one project alone. Space has been with us from the begin ning and will be around to the end. Let's ap proach space in a calm, careful manner, con tinuing our broad, inquisitive approach over the years, pushing our projects deeper and deeper into space, but not at the cost of na tional bankruptcy. If the Russians want to spend $40 billion on being first to the moon, good! That's $40 billion less they'll have to spend to make trouble down here, and will serve to deprive then- peoples of $40 billion less in material comforts and hasten the day when they'll cast off their communistic chains. s This The Only Way? figures are figured. Whether the industry's workers should receive raises of a little more than 20 cents an hour over the next three years, or whether their pay should go up 35 cents an hour during that period cannot be fairly evaluated by guessing. But labor is going to battle for the 35 cents, and lumber employers seem set on the lower figure. It all seems so futile. Right now, certainly, the economy of the Pacific Northwest could use all the wages and profits that continued lumber industry operations would bring. But, because logical practices of settling labor management differences, fairly and squarely, have not yet been devised, the prospect is that everyone workers, mill owners and the general public will suffer losses. It may take months, possibly many months, to offset these after peace is restored in the lumber industry. Congo Force Expensive civilian and military UN person nel will be "astronomical, amount ing to tens of millions" of pounds. (Tlie pound is worth about $2 80.) "I have myself seen property damaged beyond repair by certain military tie. removal of all fit tings, pipes, toilet equipment, fur niture, floors, doors, ami even window!," says Mr. Rcnwick. A I'N niidicr admitted that he had stolen 2an doors from various houses for making crates to be used for shipments of this "liber ated" property by his officers. "Very many houses and buildings have been left empty shells by military personnel, and quite unlit for habitation ever again." Tlie removal of such equipment, furniture, and anything not per manently nailed down as well as the thett of cars will cost (be I'N. when it settles up, another (1 million pounds ($17 million1. Hoalkwds of this stolen property have gone to India. When Mr. Rcnwick tried to have one ship searched, he was prevented by higher UN authority. Is anything being done to put an end to those practices or to punish tlxise who indulge in tliem? Tlie I'N sets up "courts of inquiry." but their main lob seems to be a cover-up. Whitewash. Inc., has taken over fully at Ulcse hear ings, and no I'N oincial will dare to apportion blame or to take steps against tlie Indian troops. This miglit ollend Prime Min ister Nehru, a world leader who has yet to put his country's morality where his mouth is. Tie most tragic aspect ol this wholesale looting by troops sent to bring law and order is Uiat money will be tlie least of tlie costs to tlie world. The VN occu pying force was sent in. we are told, to keep Communism out. But how w ill tlie Congolese feel about the United Nations? Or the Unit ed Mates which was so deter mined to thrust the UN's nose in the Congo? Premier Adoula remains in pow er only because the I'N props up his corrupt regime. If Ute I'N is withdrawn, then the central Con go will become a cockpit in which the blood of those w ho collaborat ed with tlie occupiers will flow in the streets and tlie jungles. Tlie "dim. drums groaning" of Vachel Lindsay's poem will really pound. Whatever remains of the tidy framework of government put up by tlie Belgians will be swept away. Tiiis is tlie kind of maelstrom Comrade Khrushchev and his trained Communist activists like to see. They can profit by it, no matter what happens while tlie I N pays tlie bilLs. And none of it was necessary. The Congo could have, with the aid of Kuropeans there, made a peaceful transition to tndcionoVnc. But. of course, that would ha boon too easy. For different rea sons, tlie State IVpartment and the Kremlin could mi tolerate a strong, economically-sound Ka t.mga. So the occupation was launched. Tlie United .States he came the co-author of one of the dirtiest chapters in contemporary history. A Careless Accusation The Wall Street Journal The President will find much sympathy with his impassioned pica to all Americans: To start solving the racial problem in their communities, homes and hearts. It ought indeed to be possible, i as Mr. Kennedy said, for Ameri can students of any color to at tend any public institution without having to be backed up by troops; for anyone to be served in places of public accommoda tion; to register and vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal. The Chief Executive also ac knowledged other aspects of the By SYDNEY J. HARRIS What impressed me most about the Edward Albee play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" apart from tlie stunning perform ances of the brilliant New York company was the playwright's choice of characters and setting. It is a devastating and shatter ing play, and it can be effective ly criticized on a quite high lev el tas, for instance, in a recent issue of "Commentary" maga zine': but. apart from its inborn defects. I thought that Albee showed courage and imagination making his characters intelligent and educated, and placing them in the groves of academe. It is simply too easy for a playwright to attack and lam poon all the familiar stereotypes of bourgeois life in America to day to mock the advertising man or the business man or the world of clubs, of fashion, of small town insularity, of his city opportunism. Instead. Albee aimed his shafts at those who profess higher things: the faculty people, articu late, oriented, and presumably civilized. His play is not "anti intellectual:" he does not deride these people's intellectual supe riority. He merely riemonstates that they are, as much as any body else, the victims of their own unconscious conflict. These people have mure sensi tivity, more knowledge, more BERRY'S WORLD III . . And bad I knou m I iu in problem, such as the responsi bility of the Negro community to uphold the law. He paid tribute to those citizens who have been working in their communities to make life belter for all. Vet the unavoidable impression left by his television speech as a whole is that 90 per cent of the American people are engaged in bitter and unremitting oppression of the other 10 per cent. "They arc not yet freed from the bonds of injustice." And the President of the United States described the blessed land in terms of "caste system." "ghettoes," and "mas ter race." We find it unfortunate that Mr. STRICTLY PERSONAL freedom from the pressures of competitive life, at least in the grosser ways. Yet none of this helps: faced with a bad marriage, with professional frustrations, they turn on each other ferociously and behave (because of their very articulatenesst worse than the Philistines lliey look down upon. What Albee forces us to recog nize is that psychic disturbance and emotional malaise are not a matter of class, of culture, even of mental stature. Immaturity cuts across all lines: it is as prevalent in the seminar as in the saloon, as self-defeating in the faculty lounge as in tlie fac tory lunchroom or the hunting lodge. Some ways of life, some occu pations, it is true, may tend to bring on these disturbances more quickly or more dramatically; while others may mask them for a longer time. But, inevitably, the price of not growing up is the same everywhere bitterness, blind rage and suffocation by the illusions that do not comfort. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" may be marred by some serious flaws in the playwright's own view of life: yet. for denying himself the luxury of aiming at easy targets, and for probing be neath the flesh of tlio very people who most admire him. Albee makes a point that is missed by most of the satirists and ana tomists of the social scene. Vrofumo us LIBERAL . Kennedy neglected to present a more careful and rounded pic ture. The omissions are a dis service first to the Negroes them selves. By dint of ability and work in a climate of opportunity, . lany have made enormous economic strides; nor arc their legal and political gains insignificant. To that extent they are repeating the experience of many other minori ties once subjected to discrimina tion. A misleading picture is also a disservice to the image of Amer ica in the world. Much concern is understandably expressed at the impact abroad of incidents of racial violence, but what is anyone anywhere to think when tlie nation's highest voice speaks of the conditions of Negroes as little better than slavery? It is a disservice, not least, to the U.S. Government. Through its judiciary, executive and leg islature and its influence on public opinion, it actively promotes equality of treatment. This, we v.ould say, is the reverse of a public policy rooted in notions of p master race. It is a disservice, finally, to the overwhelming majority of Amer icans, North and South. They be lieve in equality before the law; they have long since accepted the Negro, economically and social ly, in many places; a great many have worked to the best of their knowledge to improve his posi tion locally and nationally. Even in the places where Fed oral troops have been called upon to guarantee enforcement of Fed eral court orders, the action has not usually boon necessitated by tlie community. In more than one case it has been the prohlem of a particular politician standing in all but solitary defiance. Neith er that community, nor the na tion, deserves castigation for the action of one man. It must also be wondered what effect the President's picture will have on the existing racial ten sions. "Tlie fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city. North and South. Where le gal remedies are not at hand, redress is sought in tlie streets." Unless, he said further. Congress enacts the legislation shortly to be proposed, tlie Negroes' only remedy is the street. It is not clear how such lan guage will encourage the Negro leaders to observe their responsi bility to uphold the law. That re sponsibility, it seems to us, needs to be stressed, especially since so many legal remedies are avail able and public order and safety are increasincly endangered by choosing the street instead. And in such circumstances the respon sibly of high office might well include a much si run nor appeal to all groups for moderation anil adlierenee In the law. America, of all nations, has assimilated a host of ethnic ami. cultural strains. If the assimila tion has not always been com plete, smooth and instantaneous, it has nonothclcvt evolved into a society of high tolerance and mu tual respect. The process includes tie Ncairo; tlie process can and will be speeded and improved, es pecially, if. as tlie President sue gosts. people w ill con! inoe to work mit their problems in their own communities. But the cominons are not so grievous that the whole nalun must be worked into a frenzy which can aggravate l he tensions. And ;n order to improve the con ditions of an aspiring minority, it should not he nevetry to maiun the gHxi nvHues ami (vntinuir.g eiforts of the majority. By PETER EDSON v Washington Correspondent Newspaper Enterprise Assn. WASHINGTON i.NEAi Any one believing that the reactionary ripht-wing element in America is a- minority not worth bothering about may have to revise his thinking in the light of recent developments such as: Defeat of the Kennedy admin istration's wheat control plan in a national referendum of farmers. Continued southern resistance to civil rights. Unexpected state legislature endorsement of three states rights amendments to the U.S. Constitu tion. Early organization of conserv ative political action groups to in fluence the 1964 congressional elections. The new Business-Industry Po litical Action Committee IBIPAO launched with a $100,000 contri bution from National Association of Manufacturers is expected to draw support from American Med ical Assn. and similar organiza tions. The group intends to offset efforts of AFL-CtO's Committee on Political Education-COPE. This will lend added strength to the four-year drive by Ameri cans for Constitutional Action to elect more conservative members o:' Congress. ACA has just given public awards to 154 congressmen whose voting records show consistent support for conservative causes. Twenty freshman congressmen who have not yet compiled exten sive voting records, but are on the "right" track, also were given awards. If this is an accurate measure of conservative strength in Con gress, it is still decidedly a mi nority. It consists of 20 per cent or 20 senators 12 Republican and 8 Democratic out of 100 sen ators. H has 35 per cent or 154 representatives )30 Republican and 24 Democratic out of 435. Right-wing strength cannot be measured in Washington, however. It is found in roughly 1,000 or ganizations of all kinds and sizes with an unknown total member ship scattered throughout the country. So far, it has been impossible to unite them all on any one Cuuse or program, and that is their greatest weakness. Up to now, the prevailing analy sis of right-wing movements is that the country has always had them and always will. They are considered a necessary part of the democratic process to balance the far left. This was the viewpoint of Mich- WASHINGTON REPORT . . . Communists Aiming At Panama Canal By ri'LTOX LEWIS JR. Four times since January, 1959. a dark-haired young wom an named Thelma King has lelt Panama for the Promised Land, Castro Cuba. There she has broadcast in flammatory messages over Radio Havana and huddled with prom inent Cuban Reds, including Fi del Castro and Che Guevara. They have mapped strategy for one of Castro's most ambitious projects, a campaign to nation alize the Panama Canal. Ever since the Hay-Bunaul-Va-rilla Treaty of 1903. the United States has possessed "perpetual" sovereignty over the Canal zone. Uncle Sam dug the ditch and paid for it. He gives the Panamanians almost $2 million a year and threw in $24 million worth of real etatc in 1955. Nevertheless, the Communist inspired drive to nationalize the Canal grows in intensity. A ma jor reason, says Congressman Dan Flood, is the policy of appease ment laid down by occupants of the State Department's fourth lloor. Tlie blame does not rest en tirely with the Kennedy Adminis tration During the last years of the Eisenhower ropme a major change in U.S. policy toward Pan ama was foreshadowed. To fore stall any retreat, the House of Representatives, on Feb. 2. 1960. adopted a resolution, by vote of 3HM2. urging the State Depart ment not to fly the Panamanian Hag anywhere in the zone. Ignoring the vote, tlie State Department waited until Sept. 17. 10. when Congress adjourned An cecutie order was then is sued, and proclaimed in Panama by Joseph Farland. our ambassa dor there It ordered, for tlie fir.-t time in history, the Panamanian lias to be flown along side the Stars and Stripes throughout the Zodc. This exhibition of American weakness, in the face of outrace ous Communis demands, has led to sharp decline in American ipan Gov. George Romney the silver-haired boy of many conscrv rtive businessmen on his last ap pearance in Washington. "The Know-Nothing Party of Abraham Lincoln's time was stronger than the John Birch Society of today," Romney commented. I think both (the radical right and loft ) are deplorable," the governor de clared. On another manifestation of right-wing sentiment in America today, the governor was even more emphatic. This was in ref erence to the three constitutional amendments put forward by the Council of State Governments' Vol unteer Committee on Dual Sover eignty. They would give the states more power to amend the Constitution without participation by Congress, to nullify the Supreme Court deci sion on state legislative reappor tionment, and to set up a super court of one judge from eacln of the 50 states to pass on U.S. Supreme Court decisions. "This smacks of the states pass ing the Supreme Court instead of the executive passing it." said Romney, "and one is as bad as the other." This was one of three authorita tive denunciations of the proposed amendments on the same day in Washington. The American Bar Association Board of Governors adopted reso lutions ppposing the two amend ments affecting the Supreme Court. ABA then referred to its full House of Delegates meeting in August the proposed reapportion ment limitation. Finally, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, speaking be fore the American Law Institute, called for "a great national de bate" on these states rights amendments to prevent their slip ping through to adoption without challenge. When these amendments were first proposed they were general ly dismissed as so unconstitutional in themselves that they could nev er gain acceptance. But in less than six months. 20 state legislatures have acted fav orably on one or more of the pro posals. Additionally, six states have acted favorably on the so called "Liberty Amendment" which would abolish personal in come taxes and force the govern ment to turn over to private en terprise some 700 of its service operations. All such proposals are consid ered well worth as much scrutiny as the reform programs advocat ed by the far left. prestige. It was a clear invitation to Thelma King and her cohorts to step up agitation. The present governor of t h Canal Zone. Robert J. Fleming Jr.. in a recent speech cham pioned "the social revolution of the 19th and early 20th centuries." and scoffed at "conservatism and silly resistance to change." Congressman Flood warns that further chance is inevitable un less Congress spells out exactly what the Panamanian position is. This could be done, he says, by passage of Concurrent Resolu tion 105, introduced by Rep. Clar ence Cannon, distinguished chair man of the House Appropriations Committee. There have been ominous signs in recent years that further chances in U.S. policy are im minent. Ambassador to the Unit ed Nations. Adlai Stevenson, has told Panamanians that "the logi cal future of the Canal may be some form of internationaliza tion." A university study made for Sen. Wayne Morse, chairman of the subcommittee on Latin America, urged "regionalization" of tlie Canal, giving all hemis pheric nations a voice in its manacment. Earlier this year tlie State De partment brought to Panama Ab dul Hamid Abu Bakr. secretary general of the Suez Canal Author ity. This is the bird who carried out Abdul Gamal Nasser's na tionalization of the Suez. While in Panama, as a guest of Uncle Sam. Abu Bakr was photographed with Governor Fleming and lec tured audiences on Nasser's seiz uie of the Suez Canal. "Only with passage of the Can non resolution can we demon strate our opposition to the piece meal liquidation of U.S. sover eignty in the Zone." says Rep resentative Flood. That resolution demands th US "not, in any wise, sur render to any other government or authority its jurisdiction over, and control of the Canal Zone, and its ownership and protection o! the Panama Canal."
