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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1963)
PAGE (-A HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Oregon Wednesday. July 17, 193 EPSON IN WASHINGTON . . . . Kennedy Holding His Own In Public Polls 'He Says It Can't Wait!" Battle For The Young ; ' During the heyday of the New Deal and its early aftermath, it was a commonplace to say that young Americans were voting heavily Democratic. Lately the political interests of the young folk have not seemed so clearly one-sided. The Young Republicans recently finished another of their fire and brimstone conven tions in San Francisco. You would hardly Jcflow the Young Democrats are alive. j; In a wide arc across the Old South, into the Southwest and well sprinkled in the Mountain states are new Republican leaders n their tender 30s. They are giving the GOP organization a new face, and some observers dare to suggest they may have already altered the party's power structure. By contrast key portions of the rival Democratic organization look old and tired and here and there corrupt. Sen. Barry Goldwater reminded the Young Republicans of this in his speech stressing liberal (Demo cratic) dependence on "corrupt big city ma chines" for voting power. : Yet, despite all the sights and sounds of youthful upsurge on the Republican side, it is not clear that young voters are turning con sistently to Republican choices at the polls. Dwight Eisenhower won many of them, "Sir, you have knocked down many things we believed in, but have not put anything in their place." This was an earnest student's lament to a teacher who was busy trying to instill in all his pupils a healthy skepticism as they plunged into the varied fields of knowledge. In the view of Bergen Evans, a North western University professor, the job that teacher was doing is vital. Writing in Cosmo politan magazine, he says of the American youngster in school: "The boy must be encouraged to doubt, to question, to demand the credentials of every blustering assertion that claims to be Incontrovertible. ' "It seems almost cruel. The innocent trust of youth is so attractive that It seems wrong to undermine it. But the questioning spirit . . . will be the boy's first line of de fense as he passes into manhood. "The predators of the modern world work through thought control through slogans, cliches, dogmas and isms, all clam oring for the boy's allegiance and blind ac ceptance." What is at stake in the proper schooling of our young should bo obvious to us all. In two years there will be more than 20 million pre-teen and teen-age boys in U.S. schools. How their minds are shaped will clearly af fect the course of national and world history. Professor Evans calls for careful balance to assure fair treatment for students through the whole spectrum of talent. HOLMES By HOLMES ALEXANDER WASHINGTON, D.C. - Son. Mike Monroncy (D., Okla.) is a tall, silvered ex-journalist, lolly of purpose, gifted with gray mut ter, and co-auUior of the only modern reorganization of Con gressional procedures. Monroncy had been talking a little and brooding a tot over Uio Public Accommodations bill before Uio Commerce Committee. This bill would make use of the overused interstate commerce clause of Uie Constitution. It would force virtually all propri etors of private businesses to serve the public, regardless of the owner'i desire to discrimi nate. "I'm all in favor of ending dis crimination," Monroncy told a re porter, who had been observing his meditation from the press tu ble. "But I'm wondering how far this bill will take us in bring ing the federal government into privalo business. I wouldn't want a situation where the federal gov ernment would be licensing, say, plumbers." Monroncy still has a lot of thinking end consulting to do. so it would be unfair to pin him to a premature conclusion. But one of uie ideas he's weighing is a Constitutional Amendmnt which would outliw discrimina tion in places of employment and accommodation, yet not open Die door to unlimited federal inter vention. But in the present Civil Rights but President Kennedy scored well among them, too. The 1962 election results, strongly weighted with Democratic victories in Con gress and at the governorship level, did not suggest the Democrats are suffering material defections. But every election is a new ball game, and the Republicans will have a golden chance in 1964 to cut into the ranks of youth and build overall vote totals to winning, levels. The Census Bureau says, in response to inquiry, that by November, 1964, there will be 10,300,000 persons who will have come to' voting age since the 1960 election. Not all these will register, or otherwise be eligible to vote. But perhaps 6 million new voters will be on the rolls, two thirds of them in cities and suburbs. These youngsters inevitably will repre sent one of the important battlegrounds of the 1964 campaign. Who will get them? Is conservatism the theme they want to hear? On the assumption it is, Republicans bang hard on that drum. Or is there still a quiet, somewhat unas sertive but pronounced majority for the Dem ocratic party's philosophy and programs? The answer should be one of the most fascinating political results of 1964. A Place For Greatness Like many others, he urges patience and eternal vigilance to the end that creative in dividuals be identified and encouraged rather than suppressed by the routine rigidities of the large class. At the same time he would not have the great mass of average students down graded by teachers or any others: "No good is accomplished if, by dispar aging contrast with the fortunate few, the many are led to feel inferior." Evans is equally solicitous that reason able attitudes be shown toward those who learn slowly or exhibit limited powers. Says he: "They, too, are human beings. They, too, will be men with a place in society . . . They are helpless in the face of eternal blame and open or implied contempt." A good school he adds, must protect the individual boy against those in or out of the school who would stigmatize him for fail ure, corrode his creativity, embarrass him in his averageness. "The purpose of the protection is often the highest educational aim of all to pre serve that boyish eagerness . . . that inno cence permits. "For much human greatness is simply a retention of the boy in the man." If that spirit were instantly applied in all U.S. education, then the waste of human resource among America's 20 million school boys would be far less than it is in sad fact likely to be in 1965 and thereafter. ALEXANDER Atmosphere Of atmosphere of "Action Now." Monroncy's contemplative ap proach would seem to have little chance. It would take at least two years for Congress and Uie stales to approve Constitution al Amendment. It would take this session of Congress and the next to conduct a depth study of how to apply the commerce clause to Civil nights without inadverlcnt ly making it apply to other as pects of business. Tlie Kennedy Administration seemingly can't wait and tltc Ne gro insurrectionists won't wait that long. At Uie same Commerce Committee meeting at which your reporter had a chance to ques tion Monroncy, there wasn't an out-of-order ovation for Secreta ry Husk, who testified for the bill. A tough-minded chairman like McClcllan would have gaveled the audience down. Rut Pasture, the acting chairman, and Mag nuson. tlie regular chairman, both sat still and allowed the demon stration to run its course. Such is tlie atmosphere of the Civil Rights hearings. It will greatly intensify when the legis lation comes to Uie floors of House and Senate, with h u n dreds of Uiousands of Negro dem onstrators in town. In a late afternoon Senate ses sion, with only himself on the floor, and with Uie President's brother in the chair, Hubert Hum phrey filled six columns of the Congressional Record with a rab Voters Action ble-rousing harangue that was more like the radical young agi tator of 10 years past than the respected and mature veteran of parliamentary atfairs that Hum phrey has become. His fiery di atribe was not meant for his colleagues, who weren't around to hear him, but it will doubt less go Uirough the mails and add fuel to the flames of dema gogucry which arc already lick ing tlie edges of our cities. Humphrey, acting floor loader in the absence ol Mike Mans field, quoted an Administration columnist to attack the Senate it self ("What kind of a legislative body is it lliat cannot or will not legislate?"'. He jeered at the "bleeding of tlie hearts" of fel low Senators who. earlier in the day. had spoken against the slave slate of Cuba. He threatened Con gress with the warning that tlie best way to prevent a massive Negro demonstration next month would be to pass the Civil Rights package now. Plainly this is a bad tune of history for the contemplative leg islator, of whom Monroncy is not the only exemplar. It is a had time for the reflective citiien who might hope for something belter than laws passed in haste and repented in leisure. In the atmosphere of "Action Now," it's devil take the hind most, alias tliose Americans who might want time to think these matters through. f. t -" - -p tot r;t; . &f jS IN WASHINGTON By RALPH do TOLEDANO In the guise of investigating im proper lobbying by fureign gov ernments. Senator Fulbright's Foreign Relations Committee has come perilously close to impinging on the protections granted the press under the First Amendment. It is one thing to look into the matter of highly-paid lobbyists who may be influencing legisla tion as they swarm over the Capi- lol. It is anoUier to go prying into the affairs of public rela tions outfits which supply fea tures and pictures to the press, movies, and television. Where, how, or why the press publishes what it does is the con cern of the reader. But Congress has no business to move in on this process. There can be no legisla tive purpose, since Congress is forbidden by the Constitution to enter this area. And we have been told repeatedly though almost al ways in Communist cases that legislative committees cannot in vestigate solely to inform the pub lic. The Fulbright Committee has for some time been Running fur the Hamilton Wright Organization which does public relations for foreign governments. Its work is no secret and it abides by the laws. It runs, moreover, an ethi cal operation. The Fulbright Com mittee is terribly upset because the Hamilton Wright outfit ar ranges free junkets for newspa permen to the countries it repre sents. (It would seem that the honorable Senators believe that they alone are entitled to all- lly SYDNEY J. HARRIS 1 was pleased to read that at a recent meeUng of advertising people in New York, tlie director of creative projects at NBC news told tlie group that the worst word ever coined by advertising people is "image." As reported in Advertising Age, he said that "substance and truth are Uie important things, rather than image, even if the picture is at times unpleasant." The "image'' is what the public sees and hears; (lie reality behind the m wee may be quite another thing. If we labor heavily and expensively at the image, and make the public believe what we arc not, then there is little incen tive to change the reality itself. There is tlie same difference between the old-fashioned words "character" and "reputation." A man's reputation is what others have been trained to think about him: his character is what lie really is. 11 he devotes most of his elforts to improving his reputa tion, for its own sake, then his character will inevitably sulfcr. "We must change our image" says a company but an image must be a true reflection of real ity, or it is a fake. And Uie only permanent, meaningful way to change an image is to change the substance behind it. The substance cannot lie changed by publicity, by promo tion, by advertising but only Junketing Newspapermen costs-paid trips abroad, presum ably because the American tax payer picks up the tab. ) Now junkets for newspapermen have been standard operating pro cedure as far back as living mem ory goes. They allow reporters to visit places where news is breaking or to give them back ground which will come in handy later. Businesses, trade associa tions, the U.S. military services, foreign governments and on ad infinitum arrange these jun kets. Every publication in the the world has at one time or an other made use of the junket. As a reporter, I was on many of them. I never experienced any arm-twisting. And I can think of no reporters who were so over come with gratitude, that they wrote what they didn't believe in order to pay off. I have also seen the good that an organization like Hamilton Wright can do. Let me give an example: When Governor Luis Munoz Ma rin of Puerto Rico began his Op eration Bootstrap, the island meant almost nothing to informed people in the states. The Hamil ton Wright Organization w a s called in. Newspapermen were flown down tu Puerto Rico and talked to the governor and to oth er officials. They looked at the island and saw what was being done to raise its standard of liv ing and get it on its feet. To a man, they were tremendously im pressed. They began putting Puerto Rico on the map and describing Oper ation Bootstrap. Businessmen be- STRICTLY PERSONAL by a radical recxaminaiion of one's goals, standards, and values. This is hard work, and often un pleasant to face, but it is tlie only ultimately rewarding way to merge the reality with the im age. What others think of us, is. of course, important; and we do not want them to have a wrong con ception. Yet. merely dressing up our image to please and flatter and beguile the public is a form of prostitution, unless the inner self conforms to the outer ap pearance. When a professional group, such as doctors or lawyers, feels that its image lias become somewhat tarnished in recent years, it us ually opens a barrage of pub licity about the "dedication." the "service." the "high ideals" thai animate these professions. Rarely is any attempt made to remedy practices ami reform procedures thai have tarnished the imago. It is generally considered suf- hcient if the public is persuaded to adopt a newer and bristlier image; but this, too, will fail the test if the substance is nut al tered and successive campaigns will have to be mine intense and hysterical to offset the re newed cynicism. "Image" is a word we should all forget as quickly as possible. 1l is a dehasco currency, whose purchasing power decreases the more we inflate it with publicity. came interested. Today, Puerto Rico is in many ways an Ameri can showcase its standard of liv ing has doubled and some of the credit belongs to the public relations job done by the Wright people. As an editor on Newsweek, I went on the first Wright junket to Puerto Rico. I was told, and the words were sincere: "Look around. If you see a story write it. If you don't, no one will hold it against you. See anyone and go anywhere. If you write a story that's tough on us, no one will be mad.". The Fulbright Committee is at tempting to make it seem sordid and underhand. There is nothing underhand about it. When a re porter gets a free trip to Ger many, Egypt, or points cast and west, his editor knows about it has to know about it and so do his colleagues. The junket is a legitimate part of news gather ing, and this is something of which Senator Fulbright would be aware if he knew anything about the newspaper business. Among his aides, he has a former news paperman the person responsible for the present attack on jun kets, in fact. Has he listed the trips he took? And is he repaying tlie hospitality by turning on his' hosts? Of course, public relations out fits prepare material which puts their clients in the best possible light. This is what industry ex pects. Why shouldn't foreign gov ernments expect the same. Until it is shown that these public rela tions organizations act unscrupu lously or illegally, they have a right to conduct business without having the details of their oer ntions spread out in the public record. I have taken junkets. So have most other newspapermen. 1 have seen the travelogue short subjects prepared by Hamilton Wright for distribution to neighborhood the aters. They are clearly labeled for what they are and technically su perior to the Hollywood product. I will continue to enjoy the short subjects and if I get a bid for a junket tomorrow, I'll take it. BERRY'S WORLD M Wt& "It certainly It tooi to tbt hotel By PETER EDSON Washington Correspondent Newspaper Enterprise Assn. WASHINGTON (NEAl - Is it true, as some are saying, Uiat fewer Uian half of the American people are in favor of tlie policies President Kennedy is advocating- Not if tlie' current public opin ion polls accurately reflect pub lic opinion. Recent copyrighted polls taken by George Gallup's American ln: stitute of Public Opinion give Kennedy a 61 per cent populari ty rating. While this is his low score to date a 15 per cent drop in the first six months of 1963 and a 22 per cent plunge from his all time high in 1061 it still doesn't indicate that more than half the people oppose his policies. Popularity polls undoubtedly re flect news trends. If the news is good, the rating goes up. If the news is bad, Uie rating comes down. This is true, it seems, whether the president is Democrat or a Republican. For example, the low point for President Eisenhower a popular ity rating of 49 per cent came in January 1958 at the depth of the depression. But when h i s Summit conference in Septem ber 1955 offered hope of a Berlin solution, his rating jumped up to 79 per cent a peak equaled only after his re-election in 1950. Similarly, a large factor in Ken nedy's low score of 61 per cent in the most recent Gallup poll seems to be Southern opposition to his civil rights program. The South gave him an approval rating of only 33 per cent, c o m parcd to 71 per cent approval ' outside the South. Curiously, when a president is WASHINGTON REPORT . . . Controversial Bill Maintains Pressure By FULTON LEWIS JR. Chief White House lobbyist Larry O'Brien is hard at work picking up those handful of votes he needs for passage of the con troversial Area Redevelopment bill. He was stunned a month ago w'hen House members voted 209 204 against an Administration pro posal that would have provided another $455 million for the Re development Agency (ARA). Congressional leaders then breakfasted at the White House, agreed a similar bill would be passed by the Senate (it subse quently was) and returned to the House for consideration. Now O'Brien, working closely with Speaker John McCormack and Majority Leader Carl Albert is looking for those few House "switches" that can give him vic tory.' He hopes to find them in the ranks of Republican liberals. Manhattan's John Lindsay, an original supporter of ARA, helped lead opposition to the Adminis tration proposal a month ago. It is thought doubtful he can be won over. But O'Brien has high hopes of picking up tlie 'vote of West Vir ginia's Arch Moore w ho h a s come under heavy criticism in a district where unemployment is high. Local newspapers egged on. no doubt, by Washington have been savage in their attacks upon Uie Congressman. Another GOP vote that O'Bri en hopes to win is Massachusetts' Silvio Contc. Immediately a.'ter Conic voted against ARA, tlie Democratic State Committee staged a "unity dinner" in which all speakers attacked the Con- tee- tome new facet around fail yearl" in deep international trouble, his popular support is apt to go up. Eisenhower's rating soared from 62 to 71 per cent in June 1960 aft er the U-2 was shot down over Russia and the second Summit conference blew up in Paris. Similarly, Kennedy's all . time high of 83 per cent came after the Cuban invasion fiasco in April I'JCi. The Kennedy rating stayed above the "0 per cent mark through his first two years in office a record. At the end of 1961, it was 78 per cent. At the end of 1962, after Uie forced withdrawal of Russian missiles from Cuba and Uie 1962 elections in which Democrats made big congressional gains, it w as 76 per cent. Lack of action on Kennedy's program in Congress may be part ly responsible for his sharp drop in popularity rating in the first half of 1963. , The surprising thing in Kenne dy's poll ratings is that he still shows as favorite over the lead ing Republican possibilities to run against him in 1964. In the Gallup poll made at the end of June, Kennedy and John son were favored for re-election over a hypothetical ticket of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Sen. Bar ry Goldwater by a vote of 56 to 38 per cent. This may be a little tricky, for the pollsters' question was asked in such a way that Rocke feller was put at the head of the ticket. Only in the South did the Republican ticket fare better 47 per cent to 45 per cent for the Democrats. Such figures seem to indicate Kennedy's slipping personal pop ularity has not vitally affected his standing against his most likely 1964 opponents. gressman for taking bread out of children's mouths. O'Brien helped lead the at tack. Others joining in were Gov. "Chub" Peabody and District At torney Matthew Ryan. They served notice on Conte Uiat "Mos sy" Donahue, Democratic floor leader in the State Senate, might challenge him next fall unless he got back on the right track. Sen. Ted Kennedy did his part too by telling 200 business and political leaders to pressure Con tc into backing ARA on the up coming vote. But Conte has not backed off. He has told Peabody to begin worrying about his own reelec tion and Ryan to start enforcing the law in his domain. From Ken nedy he had demanded a de tailed explanation of how govern ment participation in the c o n struction of motels throughout rural Oklahoma will help relieve chronic unemployment in hard . core distressed areas. Conte says he now opposes ARA because it simply has not done the job. Massachusetts tax payers have paid more than $14 million into the ARA kitty, and have yet to get their money's worth, he says. To Conte, one of the most dis turbing ARA projects to dale has been one that delivered a shoe manufacturing plant to Indiana. Before the firm would locate there. ARA had first to provideMi loan of $474,000, a grant of $1307 000, a water and sewer project worth $105,000 and a job retrain ing program pricetagged at $64, 272. "In one fell swoop," Conte says, "the ARA made itself a party to the promotion of cut-Uiroat competition, to the creation of ad ditional unemployment in a de pressed industry, to the lowering of industry wage levels, to Uie encouragement of anti-union ac tivity and to the subsidy of racial discrimination in employment. "My information comes not from diehard conservatives who oppose any or all measures of the Kennedy Administration but from responsible spokesmen of the United Shoe Workers, AFL CIO. I have one shoe factorv left in my district and that kind of pirating, even without the aid of taxpayer money, is always like a sword hanging over our heads." Conte points to the following ARA programs with something less than enthusiasm: , "ARA funds were used to train machine tool operators for the Mack Truck Company in Hagers town. Md after it had vacated an old plant in Plainfield, N.J.. where it had employed 2,000 workers. "ARA maile a grant not a loan-o( $75,000 to help moder nize the Hawthorne. Nev., Muni cipal Airport. Hawthorne has a population of 2.828. "ARA loaned $418,000 to the Tomahawk. Wis., Paper Company for tlie manufacture of household tissues even though the industry . now produces 400.000 tons more a year than consumers demand.
