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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1963)
PACE HERALD AND SEWS, Klamath Falls, Ore. Thursday, June 20. 1M1 NOTHING SPECIAL Even Liz Never Had It 5o (jood A . IW. B. S.I States' Temporarily, at least, state legislative ac tion on three controversial proposals to amend the U.S. Constitution In a manner favorable to the states has slowed to a crawl. A score or more of legislatures still are in session, but observers say only a few might act favorably this year on the matters at issue. The proposed amendments would: 1) es tablish a 50-state Court of the Union, , su perior to the U.S. Supreme Court in critical questions affecting U.S.-state relations; 2) bar the federal courts from acting in state reappor tionment cases; 3) ease the process by which the states can initiate changes in the U.S. Constitution. ; Up to now just four slates Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Wyoming have had their full legislatures approve the Court of the Union proposal. Not many additions are looked for. Ten to a dozen stales (some action is a bit cloudy) have endorsed the other two ideas.' To get anywhere, such a proposal launched at the state level must be approved first by two-thirds (34) of all the slates. Then Congress must call a national constitutional convention to consider proposed amendments. Thereafter, three-fourths of the stales must ratify whatever action flows from convention. : It is Interesting to note that not one of the 23 existing amendments to the Constitution was adopted by this process. All were ini tiated by congressional action. The whole story of the three controversial (Oregon Sttimn, Salem) The Oregon constitution does not per mit the Legislative Assembly to attach the emergency clause to a tax measure. This means that such a measure will not go into effect as law until 90 days after the session is adjourned. In that interval referral peti tions may be circulated, and if enough qual ified signers are obtained the measure Is suspended until it is voted on. The Legisla ture which has just adjourned passed a com prehensive revision of the income tax. Now the question is raised over whether It will en counter a referendum. One of the main features of the new piece of legislation is denial of deduction of income taxes paid the federal government. The 1959 session passed a bill with a similar provision. It was held up by referendum and then soundly defeated at the election in 1960. There is a difference now in that the public is pretty well informed that more rev enue Is needed. There isn't the comfortable surplus that used to carry the state along through the 1950s. With that knowledge and the knowledge that this Legislature would find it difficult to agree on any alternate which IN WASHINGTON . . . TFX By RALPH de TOLEDANO The TFX investigation of the Senate Government Operations subcommittee drags along, but what K will accomplish is in the laps of the political Rods. Perhaps there w ill come time when the story ot this experimental plane and the $6.5 billion earmarked (or its development and production will be told. It is all in the sub committee's record but no news paper would have the space to publish It during the unfolding and few would want to. There will he some who insist that all (he sound and Jury ol a senatorial investigation is not worth (lie bother. Probably the TFX w ill never go on tlie produi -t)(m line. A billion dollais or so wjU be spent in developing it and (lien tlie Whiz Kids, Uieir slide rules squeaking, will be chas ing another weapons system will-o'-the-wisp. This has been the story of Defense Secretary Rob ert McNamara's Pentagon ever since (he military men were told to go polish tlicir belt buckles so the Ph.D'a could take over. While (h Soviets bun away her and there, translating from blueprint (o actuality their ideas of olfensivo and defensive sys tems, tlie United States has pro diced nothing but a lot of expen sive art work since President Ken nedy took over. There has been not one new weapons aystem tine January. IWI. Every time some tiling begins In look good, (he Mu Kids decide not to go into production because another thing looks better. When the day of reckoning comes, we can wave blueprints At (lie Soviets. The TFX acandal, however, has had one terrible effect. It has shaken the faith many of us have had in the Defense Department. Other outfits in government play footsie with facts, but the Penta gon (whether right or wrong' was Power Moves Falter proposals has been fogged with misinforma tion. Some accounts have said the proposed change in the amending process would elimi nate Congress from all amending effort. In fact, Congress could still launch amendments as always. It would be blocked out only when states initiate the action. One often sees the complaint that the drive for these three amendments occurred in deep secrecy. But at least two national news services and some other publications wrote of it soon aflcr it began last December at a ses sion of the General Assembly of States, a body made up of legislators from the various states. The evident truth is that many people were inattentive until a few knowledgeable persons called on them to note the signifi cance of the proposals for future federal slate relations. Suggestion is made, too, that the legis latures which have adopted the proposals mostly in southern, midwestern and western states did not really know what they were approving. The evidence indicates, however, that these ideas fit admirably the conservative leanings of state legislators bent on holding or enlarging present power. Only New Jer sey's upper house has had real second thoughts and reversed itself. The drive is real enough. But so are the huge roadblocks still standing in its wa. Tax Referral? would produce enough revenue, foes of the 1963 tax program, may be reluctant to start a referendum movement. "Just in case" one was started and got sufficient signers, the Legislature has pro vided a protection. It specified Oct. 15th as a date for such a statewide election. That would allow time for a special session to be called, if the voters rejected the measure, and the redraft of a new program. The favored alternative is a sales tax: but rejection of the 1963 tax package would not insure a sales tax. That undoubtedly would be referred if passed by the Legisla ture. There is the possibility of initiating a sales (ax; but agreeing on a draft is not easy: (he rale, (lie exclusions, the distribution of proceeds. The two houses fell apart on this, although the House was unfriendly to any kind of a general sales tax. Assuming that Governor Hatfield signs the tax bill which seems safe, for he sure ly doesn't want the Assembly back on his hands we will just wait and see whether a referendum is agitated and whether it gains momentum. Our guess is that there will be a lot of grumbling but no referral. Scandal Shakes Faith honest. We could disagree, let us say, w ith the polices of President Truman's Secretary Louis John son, i Ttiey led to Uie parlous stale of American military defense when the Korean War broke out.' But there was no hanky-panky about It. In the case of the TFX. we have been given phony facts and phon ier figures. And the evidence has conclusively demonstrated that the plane which tbo Defense Secretary contracted for was cost lier (over Moo million! and less satisfactory than tlie one recom mended by the Navy and Air Force experts. Mr. McNamara s arguments in favor ol his decision have been shown to be specious. And lltere is uncontradicted evi dence that he had a team of as sistants preparing these argu ments long after he had award ed the contract to General Dynam ics. A study of the s-yet unprinted testimony turns up a real shock er. It should be recalled tli.it tlio rejected Boeing plane included thrust reversers necessary tor shorter landings. Tlie General Dy namics plane did not, (hough (he Navy and Air Force had listed them as a vital requirement. Secretary McNamara, however, told the McClellan subcommittee: "I want to point out that in select ing tlie General Dynamics propos al, we retained tlie option (o apply thrust reversers (o the aircraft de sign." A little over a week alter Mr. McNamara'a categorical state ment, tliere was testimony to the contrary (rom A. W. Blackburn, former Marine flier, test pilot, an aeronautical engineer perhaps tlie most expert witness to ap pear. Major Rlackbum had been on (lie inside at the Pentagon through tlie period wlien Boeing and General Dynamics were com-peung. In his testimony, Major Black hum said (hat he had no knowl edge of any option (or thrust re versers. "General Dynamics is given credit (or a dubious option which Uiey themselves never pre sented." he swore. And he pointed out that to apply thrust reversers to the General Dynamics TFX would require re-designing the plane. In short, the option, if it existed, was worthless. It has been this kind of word juggling and disingenuous expla nation which have turned tlie subcommiUee's members against Secretary McNamara and done such horrible damage to a repu tation which was among the high est in Washington. So far. tlie only case made (or the McNamara decision has been that lie had (lie authority to make it. This is true. The civilian duels outrank the military. Rut (his does not se any Cabinet member the l ight to make arbitrary decisions .and tlien to pull tlie wwl over the eyes of Congress and the public. Almanac By United rress International Today is Thursday. June 20, the 171st day of 19M with 1M to follow. Tlie moon is approaching its new phase. The morning stars are Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. The evening star is Mars. On this day in history: In I7IB, Congress adopted the Great Seal ol the I'nitcd States. In HOT, the Victorian age began as Princess Victoria learned her uncle, tlie king, had died and she was the new British ruler. In Ifttt. the I'nited Slates seued Guam, in the Spanish-American War. It X J. ft vX " II Www. vTt j 1 By PETER EDSOX Washington Correspondent Newspaper Enterprise Assn. WASHINGTON (NEA) With May unemployment 6.9 per cent of the working force and likely to go higher for June as the high schools and colleges pour out mil lions of new job seekers, the No. 1 economic problem is to use every facility available for cutting down relief rolls and finding work fur more people. While Uiis is going on. private employment agencies that charge a Ice for placing people in new jobs are currying on a campaign to restrict the free services of fed eral and state employment olfices to finding jobs for only those who are unemployed. Anyone wanting In change his job would tlicn be forced to go to fee-charging agen cies. There arc over 2.000 of (hose private employment agencies. Most of the big ones and better ones are members of tlie National Employers Assn. It operates under a code of ethics which seeks to cut By SYDNEY J. HARRIS Purely Personal Prejudices: Freedom of speech is an essential right, without which a civilization cannot flourish: but what use is it to people who refuse to exer cise freedom of thought? We do not miss what we lack nearly so much as what we are deprived of: nobody misses an eye at the back of his head, but everyone would feel deprived if he lost one eye in front; it is the taking away that upsets us more than the not having in the first place. There Is an optimum point in compassion it is a sentiment rarely (ctt by (hose whs have not sulfrred at all, and never felt by those who have sullered too much: (or (he absence pi suflerlng makes men think they are gods, and the excess o( it (urns them Into beasts. Perhaps tlie central paradox at tlie root of the human personality is that everyone agrees with Soc rates' injunction: "Know thyself" and everyone resists such self knowledge with all the power at his command. The men uho lack "ambition" get nowhere; but the men who possess it in abundance too oiten lack the sweeter virtues that jus tify it. The trnny of the skeptical temprrament was tersely de scribed hy Rosenslock-Huessy. hen he observed: "He wh be lieves tn nothing still needs a girl tp believe In him." Tlie boy who receives a "good" education in a protected envir onment, with only his own kind around him, pays Uie possible price of never becoming a man; whereas the boy who grows up in a more barbarous and diverse aiid threatening emironment. Jl- ft, JI . i fir- -.. !; I EPSON IN WASHINGTON . . . Employment Aid Fought out the racketeers and to give job hunters responsible service. At (he Employers Assn. conven tion in Cleveland last October, however, a $l,0O0-per-member club was formed and $163,000 raised to launch a campaign against gov ernment free employment serv ices. A public relations firm was hired and a drive began for a congressional hearing, which has just been held without very con crete results. The pilch of the fee-charging agencies is that the 2.000 state em ployment offices and the 1,900 part-time U.S. employment offices in the smaller communities and rural areas where private agen cies don't operate are trying to destroy free enterprise and con trol the American labor market. Behind (his charge is a lurking fear that there will be a repetition of government manpower con trols which were in effect through World War II and the Korean War. In these periods, when jobs were plentiful and unemployment was low. ahout 2.000 of the private STRICTLY PERSONAL pays the possible price of becom ing a man too soon another form of immaturity that is just as crippling to the personality. The former learns nothing of the real world until too late: the latter learns it too early; and the basic task of modern society is to cre ate an atmosphere for children in which a creative tension is main tained between the dangerous and the protected. To the of (en-asked question. "Which part of medicine is a science and which part is an art?" it is tempting to answer that treating the patient is a sci ence, and keeping him from going to someone else is an art. BERRY'S WORLD UP- j ill .!. r&r-i "Yon think YOU f frtbltmsttk a tok mt tilt v ! i agencies went out of business. Since then, they have increased (rom 800 to over 2.000. When the Kennedy administra tion came to town and made re duction of unemployment a prin cipal goal, a task force was set up which launched the- depressed area development and manpower training programs. A build-up of the U.S. Employ ment Service was approved by Congress and its budget raised hy $29 million, to $169 million for the year. That scared the fee-charging agencies. They made demands that federal and state employment olfices refuse service to employed workers, professional workers, col lege graduates and' government workers. The private agencies charged that "60 per cent of the job placements made by pub lic employment offices in 1962 were people who were already employed." This charge was finally tracked down to a U959 Census Bureau household spot and sample survey. It showed that out of every five newly hired workers all over the country, three were employed workers changing jobs, one was unemployed and one was a new entrant in the labor force. But this was for all workers not just those placed by government. U.S. employment service figures show that in lt2. 78 to 80 per cent of all workers taking new jobs found those openings them selves, through friends or hy an swering newspaper ads. Only S to 6 per cent found (heir jobs through fee-charging, private employment services. Fifteen (o 16 er cen( go( (heir jobs (hrough free federal or slate offices. These public employmcn( offices are now required by law In help anyone who applies. In 1962 they placed 6.7 million workers in non agricultural jobs and 8.5 million rural and agricultural jobs for a 13 2-million placement total. Actually, from 85 (o 95 per rent ol the job seekers registered with I S. and state unemployment of-lii-os are unemployed, and 97 per cent of the workers they placed in t9H2 were unemployed. This probably should go into the editorial columns at the left, but what the heck. There isn't much of anything else to write about for today, and I must get this space filled some way or oth er. For those who like (he P-TA, I guess it's fine. I have become disenchanted with (he organiza tionbeing convinced that pol icies and practices of the local units are dictated at regional and national levels. Too many of those policies and practices are (or the birds. Now comes a long article in the Wall Street Journal which reports that community P-TA leaders throughout the nation are finally getting on their high horse, par ticularly on the question of fed eral aid to education. It seems that the National Congress of Par ents and Teachers insist that the P-TA go on record favoring federal- aid. This insistence has brought some local units to break away from the national gang. No body asked me. but I'll say it's about time, anyway. I'm not saying that the P-TA is no good. Once upon a time, 1 recall, it was a pretty good or ganization, and it did some good. In fact, I served as president of two units. But it has gone far beyond its original concept of helping solve local school prob lems, and establishing a working relationship between teachers and parents and interested citizens. A good many people agree with Ad miral Rickover who has said that P-TA's are an infernal nuisance and ought to be abolished." The government has aban doned the policy of backing one and two dollar bills with silver. From what we've seen of the New Frontier, it la reason able to assume that our bucks are backed with baloney. Which reminds me: there are bigger things than money. Bills, for instance. Quick now, can you tell me the WASHINGTON REPORT By FULTON LEWIS JR. Has (he Kennedy Administra tion violated the federal statutes it is sworn to enforce? Republicans suggest that it has. Democrats call the charge "ludi crous." The question was first raised, publicly, by Robert Bau man, chairman of Young Amer icans for Freedom, the country's largest and most influential con servative youth group. In an appearance before t h e House Special Subcommittee on Labor, Bauman spoke of the proposed National Service Corps, or so - called Domestic Peace Corps. He pointed to Title 18, Section 1913 of the United States Code: "No part of the money ap propriated by any enactment of Congress . . . shall be used direct ly or indirectly .... to influence in any manner a member of Congress, to favor or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation or appropriation by Congress." Said Bauman: "Despite this well known prohibition against lobbying by federal employes, of ficials of (he National Service Corps 'study group' have used government funds and government time to lobby and to cause others lo pressure Congress in support of this legislation." There is no doubt that adminis tration officials have lobbied in behalf of tlie National Service Corps. They claim the statute in question does not prohibit "in formative lobhying" by federal employes. One thing is certain: The Na tional Service Corps was set up and financed with federal monies lone before the Congress knew anything ahout its existence. Qn Jan. 18, 193, a special as sistant tn the attorney general. David Hackett. dispatched to ev ery member of Congress a report drafted hy something called (he Nadonal Service Corps "s t u d y group" urging creation of such a corps. A puzzled Congressman. H. R. Gross. Republican of Iowa, wrote Hackett that he was "unaware of any action by Congress authoriz ing a 'national service pro gram.' " Gross then discoxered t h a ( Hacked and a score of others were lobhying out of offices on Jackson Square, a stone's throw from the White House. With Rep. Sam Devme. Ohm Republican. Gross paid the of (ices a surprise visit on Jan. so. I'nmvitfd, the two popped in and found employes of the Justice De dates of V-E Day and VJ Day? Returning home from the state capitol. a businessman looked out the window at the frothing Salt Creek and saw a big log floating down the stream. He pointed it out to his friend. "See that log?" he asked. "That's just like Salem. If you'll examine it closely, you'll find 10,000 ants on the log and each one thinks he's steer ing it." Before long. American astro nauts may be conquering the universe in banana - flavored spacecraft. That's (he word (rom a scientist working on the Apollo moon project. Actually, the idea is to pack age scientific equipment and othc necessities of the journey in edible material made of milk powder and starch, and use an aggregate made of hominy grits and ba nana flakes. After it has served as packing crates it can be soaked from eight to 10 hours in water and eaten, says the scien tist. It will taste like cereal with a slight banana flavor. This probably shows admirable forehandedness on Uie part of the scientists. But as to the astro nauts, it seems like a dirty trick to send them to the moon and then feed them the same kind of breakfast that made them willing to leave home in the first place. Don't think for a minute just because the legislature didn't pass the proposed new Consti liltion for Oregon, thai the proj ect is dead. Far (rom it. A group of interested citizens is attempting lo get one of the ver sions o( (he doeumen( In a vole of the people. From the steam and de(erminaiion I saw at (he first meeting o( (he group, I'm ready to bet thai there will he an Initiative If no legal blocks show up. Our youngest came up with (he perpetual question the oUier day wlien she asked her mother: "Mama, why does that operator 'telephone) always say to ma 'hang up?' " Peace Corps Subject Pulls Much Lobbying partment, the Peace Corps, and Health, Education and Welfare toiling on plans for tlie National Service Corps. To Gross, a veteran foe of gov ernment waste, this meant one thing: "The other departments of government must lie liberally overstaffed with stenographers and organizers, and what have you. Congress ought to be inter ested in finding out how they ob tain these surplus employes they have available to move around with the greatest of ease through out the government." Note: In his testimony. YAP'S Bauman raised a new objection tn tlie corps. "It is obvious to me." he said, "that the corps could definitely be used to pro mote the political ends of the jiarty in power." Under tlie terms of the adminis tration bill, corpsmcn are ex empted from Civil Service Status as far as the Hatch Act is con cerned. They arc completely un der the control of the President and tlie directors of the corps. "It is impossible." said Bau man. "to ignore the political im plications of a group of 5.000 rov ing welfare corpsmcn who owe their jobs (o (lie Prcsidenl and who can be sent by him to al most any part of tlie United .States. In view of the past rec ord of this adminislratinn with regard lo political use of govern mental acencies. this corps could well be a threat to our democrat ic way of life. ' To those who scoff. I need only recall lo you the use which was made of summer student em ployment in the Moral govern ment until tlie Civil Service Com mission stepped in and put an end In it. Tlie CSC had the authority to act in that instance, but I see no power in (his hill." ' QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q How minv hells are anal ly Included in chimes? A Chimes seldom have more than 12 hells. larger numbers ot hells set tocethrr to piay tunes are called carillons. Q - In I famous oVI. this man. later a president, thM ami killed Charles Dlrkinvm. h was he? A Andrew Jackson.
