PAGE -A
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Oregon
Friday, July 19, 196
EPSON IN WASHINGTON . . .
South Africa, Portugal
Questions Bother UN
New Door Mat? .;
The Middle Ground
America needs its middle ground. This
l where its conflicts are resolved, its debates
turned into action. This is where factions
meld together to become consensus, and the
country moves on.
Where such ground does not exist, an ef
fective free society cannot function. For there
is then no meeting place for negotiators, for
those who would make a consensus by rea
sonable accommodation of differing views.
: When that is impossible, decision can only
ie had by the process of conquest and surren
der, that is, by a dominant (not necessarily
majority) group imposing its will on all who
jlisagree with it.
This can, of course, be accomplished by
ihe actual use of force, or the threat of it. It
can also be achieved simply by holding within
the dominant group all the elements of power
a modern society can muster.
A society that is governed thus is, for all
practical purposes, totalitarian. It listens to no
dissent, entertains no debate. All matters are
considered settled when the dominant group
speaks. The extremists are at the helm.
Fortunately for us all, the United States is
not in this condition. It still has an immense
'middle ground. Debate flourishes richly in
linost areas. The rivalry of ideas is encouraged
i; Yet from time to time our middle ground
glands in somewhat more than ordinary peril
jfrom our ever-present extremists at right and
left. This could be one of those times.
: Weeks ago in Washington, Michigan's
Gov. George Romney properly observed that
we always had our extremist factions, and
that at other periods in our history they
bulked relatively larger than they do now.
They then had fairly sizable political parties
of their own, and won major offices.
We dare not, however, find base for com
placency in this. For we live in an age when
extremists on many sides shout stridently
from well-fortified positions. They have not
only vocal power but the hard financial sub
stance needed to advance their causes.
Extremists always are bent on destroying
not only their opposite numbers at the other
pole, but on capturing, intimidating or other
wise neutralizing all who stand between on the
expansive middle ground.
Probably they always succeed in affecting
some this way. But sometimes their encroach
ments are quite broad, until men scanning the
field will report "there is no middle ground."
Generally it is in fact still there. It has
the look, though, of occupied territory.
That is a dangerous look in any free so
ciety. It can lead to weapons being taken up
in civil war. Short of that, it can produce a
national condition which some call "mental
civil war."
The smell of such uncompromising con
flict hangs over some of our hard political
struggles today. It is not a good omen.
This is a moment in our history when
we ought to be continuously on guard against
destruction of that "truce ground" where we
must forge a workable free society. .
Voices That Must Be Heard
The governors who shortly convene in
Miami Beach will face something of a dilem
ma. They will have to decide whether or not
they want their .conference to exert any in
fluence on the course of national public
policy.
S; The principal work of this conference is,
if course, a mutual study of state problems.
;The idea is that most state leaders can learn
jnuch by trading information with their coun
terparts in other areas.
Beyond this, they also discuss applica
tion of uniform codes in fields where these
seem desirable, as in highway safety laws.
And they look for ways of interstate co-operation,
to the end that they may thereby
solve problems without drawing the federal
government into the picture.
Yet one cannot gather 40 to 50 gover
nors under one roof without reasonably ex- -pecting
that they bring interesting views on
major national issues and wish to express
them.
Thus, inevitably, the governors' confer
ence has taken to voicing itself annually in
resolutions on important topics.
; In 1962 at Hcrshey, Pa., however, this
practice suddenly came into challenge. The
jcause was a resolution bearing on civil rights.
jSince this is an issue which divides northern
-and southern governors very sharply, the fur
flew.
It now takes a two-thirds majority of gov
ernors to approve a resolution. This year the
conference will be asked to modify this rule
to make unanimous approval mandatory.
The effect of this, obviously, would be
to bar any resolutions which could not com
mand the support of governors from every
region. Many matters beyond the critical one
of civil rights thereby might be placed beyond
the governors' consideration.
Practically speaking, such a new rule
would really silence the conference as an
organ of opinion on important national and
perhaps world policy.
The work the governors do on their own
problems is solid and good. But they are now
looked to for more than that. P'rom among
their numbers may come the national lead
ers of tomorrow. They are expected to speak
out on the big issues.
So what they have to decide is whether
to silence themselves at the time when the
nation needs every responsible organ of opin
ion it can get or whether to plunge into the
hard questions regardless of the divisive ef
fects. After all, the divisions within the ranks of
governors simply reflect the divisions within
the country itself. If the nation can live with
this, perhaps the governors ought also to be
able to endure it. We need their voice.
nstant Affluence
Admittedly there is a wide difference be
tween being trained for specific jobs in par
ticular new factories and being given skills
in a broad field that may or may not offer
quick job opportunities.
Nevertheless, it was something of a jolt
.to read that a $3 million federal-local program
f job training for 20,000 jobless New York
youths is looked on skeptically by many of the
Effected youngsters themselves.
Their chief complaint, disclosed in ran
dom interviews: They don't care to study or
train. They want jobs today. Not just any
jobs, but work like operating a crane or bull
dozer, which draws high pay.
These lads talk, in other words, as if
somehow they could miraculously acquire in
stant skills. They want none of the drudgery
of learning, of battling up the ladder. Open
.the golden door now!
They should talk to some of the men who
jonce had good jobs in West Virginia but lost
:thcm. They now drive hours to and from train
ing classes, getting a paltry subsistence wage
;as they prepare for "new jobs" that may or
Tmay not materialize in auto repair, woodwork
ling, machine shops and the like.
Lots of those who are upgrading their
'skills in the South are in fact marked for
definite jobs in industries moving in.
But the nearly universal testimony of in
dustrialists and economic experts who have
observed the South's economic growth is that
these workers generally put out effort as if
their lives depended on it. They spend no
time grousing about not being crane operators.
What has fed the delusions of these New
York youngsters, many of them presently un
employable school dropouts, that they can, in
effect, join the union and see the world?
In the old days we could blame it all on
Hollywood movies which catapulted their he
roes from bottom to top in half a reel., But
you don't see these any more even on the
late, late show?
The explanation today may be deeper and
wider. Our society in many ways encourages
people not to wait for anything. There are
shortcuts to everything to maturity, to col
lege diplomas, to homeowning, to success.
Many kids at the young end of the teen
age scale have material goods that would have .
thrilled their grandparents at 50. Some who
don't have these things "take" them. One
must keep up. Others sit around waiting for
their magic chance at youthful affluence.
Some less well off sectors, like parts of
West Virginia and the South, have not yet
been caught up in the vortex of this "here
today and have it all tomorrow" mood that
afflicts so many places. That may explain why
they still believe in laying hard labor on the
line.
But even the worst pockets of poverty
and joblessness in New York are hard by the
great displays of modern-day economic rich
es. And the poor can very quickly pick up
from the more fortunate the happy notion
spurred by many parents that what one sees
and likes one should have.
In this at;e of fingertip control, why
wait? Just touch a button and the world is
yours!
WASHINGTON NOTEBOOK
Jll Boy Scouts And Girl Scouts
By WASHINGTON STAFF
WASHINGTON (NEAi A pan
el of economists reviewing busi
ness prospects for the second half
of 1963 at the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce board of directors
meeting came up with some cute
observations on their trade.
"A New York banker told mn
he was hiring only one-armed
economists," said the chamber's
research director Emerson P.
Schmidt. "His explanation was
that he got tired of hearing his
advisors say, 'But on the other
hand. . . .' "
William F. Butler, vice presi
dent and research director for
Chase Manhattan Bank, didn't
put himself in that class. "
am frequently wrong," he con
ceded, "but never in doubt."
Calling atlention to the fact
that there will be one million
more war babies reaching age
Hi this year than there were in
19(12, Robert J. Eggert, Ford Mo
tor Company marketing research
manager, observed, "Sixteen is
tile magic age when Boy Scouts
become girl scouts."
"And at 18," added Chase Man
hattan Bank's research director
William F. Butler, "as economic
statistics, they become subject
to the hazards of matrimony."
Using "himself" as a nickname
to designate President Kennedy
or almost any high official you
can think of is a current way of
conferring status in this status
conscious age.
The other day ,a reporter
stepped into the Justice Depart
ment's information otfice, seek
ing Edwin Gutham, Atty. Gen.
Robert F. Kennedy's press chief.
"Where's himself?" the news
man asked.
A secretary replied:
"Himself is in with the Higher
Himself." (She was referring to
the attorney general).
The fact that U.S.
lots lost the chance
women pi
to he first
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
By SYDNEY .1. HARRIS
One of the ironies of the film
as an art medium is that it seems
to do much better with the
second-rate than with the first
rate. Greatness in a novel or
in a play does not transcribe it
self well (into the screen.
Two recent movies. "No Exit,"
adapted from Sartre's play, and
"The Trial'' adapted from Kaf
ka's novel, arc depressing exam
ples of this truth. Each was ex
cellent in its own medium; both
lail dismally as films.
The best movies I have seen
from a cinematographic point
of view have been second-rate
works, like "Rebecca" or "Gone
With the Wind." And "David Cop
perfield." which is not one of
Pickens' superior novels, made
an absolutely stunning movie.
Yet the great Shakespearean
plays, such as "Hamlet" or
"Macbeth" have never been done
well on the screen. Laurence Oliv
ier's film version of "llamlet"
was a disaster; and Orson Welles'
"Macbeth" was even worse. The
more profound a novel or play,
the less successfully it seems
to lend itself to film treatment.
Perhaps t Itis is because the
greatness of a play or a novel
consists, to a large degree, in
disclosing the inner lile of its
characters, in placing a micro
scope close to the secret springs
of their motivations.
The lilm, on the other hand,
is an enormous magnifying glass,
fit for showing us the craters on
the moon. Its very scope may
deleat the purpose of art: it calls
for so many people, so many
scenes, so much activity on the
surface that the symbolic mean
ing becomes obscured and lost.
When a movie decs not try
to do ve much, it succeeds ad
mirably, for it can depict (lie ap
pearances of things in huge,
broad, commanding strokes.
When, however, it tries to cap
ture the inner feeling of the pro
tagonist in "The Trial," or the
three people tiapivd without exit
in Sartre's personal hell then it
falters and falls, tripped by its
own cumbersome size.
Each art form has its own pe
culiar limitations, which may be
organic; nor are they easily in
terchangeable. The novels of Hen
ry James simply do not make
good plays or movies; what is
lost is tile "interior movement"
within the author's mind and
no external action can substitute
for this. It is significant that
when James himself wrote for
the stage, his productions were
hooted down after a few per
formances. I think that a survey of great
film adaptations of the last 30
years would show that they have
invariably been taken from
minor works, and have been im
proved in the screen version. Per
haps one of the measures of the
greatness of a novel or a play
is its refractory resistance to
being changed into another medium.
in space to Russian cosmonaut
Valentina Tereshkova has evoked
some bitter comments from the
fairer sex.
Jerrie Cobb, consultant for the
National Aeronautic' and Space
Administration since 1961 and
one of 13 American women pi
lots who have passed tests for
space flight, says she warned
both Congress and NASA more
than a year ago that Russia
was preparing to put a woman in
orbit. Miss Cobb added acidly:
"I'm the most unconsulted con
sultant in any government agen
cy." From another woman pilot who
also has passed her astronaut
tests, Jane Hart, wife of Michi
gan's Sen. Philip A. Ifort, came
this remark: "I'm, tempted to
go out to the barn and tell the
whole story to my horse and
listen to him laugh."
At the recent Denver meeting
of the Republican National Com
mittee, , Kentucky's Sen. Thrus
tort Morton took note of a phe
nomenon. The preacher who delivered the
invocation one day seemed some
how to infuse his message with
strong political overtones. When
introduced later, he drew heavy
applause from assembled Repub
lican leaders.
When Morton rose to speak, lie
commented:
"This is the first political gath
ering I've ever attended where
the preacher got' more applause
than the speakers."
Sen. Kenneth Keating, R-N.Y.,
is reminded of a little incident on
a hot July day last summer when
a group was waiting in line to
enter the Senate gallery..
One old gentleman in line whis-'
pered to the person behind him:
"Take a look at the character
in front of me with the poodle cut
and the blue jeans. Is it a boy or
a girl?"
"It's a girl," came the sharp
answer. "I know. She happens
to be my daughter."
. "Oh, forgive me. sir!" apolo
gized the old fellow. "I never
dreamed you were her father."
"I'm not!" snapped the parent.
"I'm her mother!"
BERRY'S WORLD
l .
i.H.
( '
!
By PETER EDSON
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NEAi Just as
if civil rights problems at home
weren't bothering the American
government enough, African af
fairs are coming into the Wash
ington spotlight to complicate the
international situation.
They will give the United Na
tions the gravest test it has had
since Soviet Russia proposed its
"troika" plan for administer
ing all U.N. activities.
A four-member Africa delega
tion headed by Mongi Slim of Tu
nisia is due in New York soon and
probably will come to Washington
to discuss the South African
racial policy of apartheid and
Portuguese colonial policies in
Angola and Mozambique. Both of
these issues will be before the
U.N. Security Council in the last
10 days of July and early August.
They will also be important
items on the agenda for the Gen
eral Assembly session opening
in mid-September. The question of
financing continued support for the
Congo will also be a related and
most important assembly issue.
The Mongi Slim mission was set
up by the new Organization of Af
rican Unity, founded at Addis
Ababa in May. ,
The sentiment expressed at his
Pan-African conference of 31 in
dependent countries was that
South Africa which did not at
tend the meeting and is not an
OAU member should be expelled
from the United Nations or that
sanctions be applied against her.
Similar views were expressed on
Portugal.
If the Slim mission expects to
have South Africa and Portugal
excluded from U.N. affairs, it is
probably in for a disappointment.
The Security Council can vote
only to recommend exclusion of
a U.N. member by the General
Assembly. The question is subject
' to veto in the Security Council.
How the Soviet Union would vote
on this is unknown.
A likely procedure is that
enough members of the Security
Council would abstain from voting
to make a majority decision im
possible. Securing a two-thirds
majority vote for exclusion in the
General Assembly would be just
as difficult.
The only time a country was
ever kicked out of an international
organization was when Italy was
expelled from the old League of
Nations for its invasion of Ethio
pia. The alternative to expulsion
would be the application of eco
nomic or political sanctions to
force South Africa and Portugal to
change their policies. This will
also be a difficult move to put
over, for there is another issue at
stake.
The question of whether Soviet
Russia can be deprived of its vote
in the United Nations for failure
to pay assessments in support of
the U.N. Emergency Force peace
keeping operations in the Con
go comes to a head in 1964. The
U.S.S.R. will then be two years in
arrears. France will also be two
years in arrears in 1963 if it con
tinues present policies.
Neither country would want to
vote for sanctions against South
Africa or Portugal if that would
set a precedent for action to de
prive Russia and France of their
U.N. votes later on.
Assistant Secretary of State
Harlan Cleveland, in charge of
United Nations affairs, has just
returned from Europe where he
discussed strategy for the com
ing Security Council and General
Assembly sessions with British,
French and Organization for Eco
nomic Cooperation and Develop
ment country officials, which in
clude Canadians and Japanese.
Together,, these OECD coun
tries give the U.N. 80 per cent of
its funds and 83 per cent of the
people doing its work. The desire
is to secure as united a front as
possible in handling these import
ant issues in the coming months.
WASHINGTON REPORT .
U.S. Communists In
Inter-Party Struggle
" know Ite parly uat bomb . . . tbty all juit lat
ground trying to think of Tom Suiftiri!"
By FULTON LEWIS JR.
The Sino-Soviet split is by no
means the only chasm within
Communist ranks.
Youthful members of the Com
munist Party, U.S.A., are fight
ing like cats and dogs. Several
top-ranking young comrades have
been expelled for supporting the '
militant Chinese Reds.
And Mortimer Daniel Rubin,
National Youth Director of the
party, faces growing internal op
position, particularly in New
York.
Primary reason for the anti
Rubin sentiment is personal, not
ideological. He was installed as
youth czar in I960 by party boss
bus Hall.
Brought from Philadelphia to
national headquarters in N e w
York. Rubin from the start an
tagonized local young Commu
nists. He altered party structure,
then assigned all young comrades
in New York to one of four
branches under his control.
Despite the fact that he had
been out of school for many years.
Rubin appointed himself head of
the student branch. His wife Dor
othy, identified as a Communist
before a Subversive Activities
Control Board ihearing in New
York on June 6, 1963 , was put
in charge of a second section.
A Philadelphia Negro was named
to head up a third. Only one New
Yorker was permitted to head
a branch.
The New York kids hope to de
pose Rubin and replace him with
Fred Gilman. managing editor of
Communist Viewpoint, the party
organ of which Rubin is editor
in chief. Gilman. using the name
"Joseph Bauer," was managing
editor of New Horizons for Youth,
another party sheet and now con
tributes articles to tlie Worker.
Chances arc. though, that Ru
bin will stay in the driver's
seat. He has a total backing of
Hall and other party ciders. And
Gilman several years ago was
considered a close ideological
ally of Jacob Rosen, a young
Communist leader since expelled
for "Chincsc-Albani.m" sympa
thies. Gilman has made peace with
leaders of the Party. His best
chance (or advancement probably
lies in legal action that has been
instituted against Rubin.
The Subversive Activities Con
trol Board, having taken sworn
testimony that Rubin is a party
power, is expected to soon de
mand that he register as a Com
munist with the Attorney Gener
al. If lie refuses, again as expect
ed. Ruhin faces a possible jail
term. And the job of National
Youth Director may be vacant.
Sen Strom Thurmond. South
Carolina Democrat, continues to
insist for the record that he has
not yet committed himself to any
one for the Presidency in 1964.
Those directing the campaign to
elect Barry Goldwater, however,
are confident that Thurmond will,
when the opportune moment
comes, announce his support
for the GOP conservative.
With backing of Thurmond, and
other Dixie conservatives, Gold
water would be well on his way
toward a Southern sweep. Re
fusal of Virginia's Harry Byrd to
support Adlai Stevenson or John
Kennedy is considered the major
reason that Republicans were able
to carry the Old Dominion in the
past three Presidential elections.
The GOP was unable to pick up
South Carolina in any of those
ycars. Party strategists are con
vinced that Thurmond's support of
Goldwater could well make the
difference!
Thurmond has publicly said that
only Goldwater's conservatism is
in line with Southern thinking. This
is acknowledged by virtually
all Dixie Democrats.
One thing is certain: Goldwa
ter needs a massive electoral
vote south of the Mason-Dixon
line if he hopes to win the Presi
dency. And to get that vote he
needs all the help he can get from
Democrats of the Thurmond.
Byrd camp.
Al
manac
By United Press International
Today is Friday, July 19 the
2K)th day of 1963 with 163 to
follow.
The moon is approaching its
new phase.
The morning stars are Jupiter
and Saturn.
The evening star is Mars.
On this day in history:
1848. at the first woman's
rights convention, bloomers were
introduced, a radical departure in
women's dress.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian
war began.
In 1914, German armies began
'" rclrcil' across Uie Marne Riv
er in France, after their last
great world war olfensive In
r ranee.
In 1941, the World War II "V"
or Victory campaign was
launched in Europe with a broad
east by British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill.
A thought for the day-Author
William Somerset Maugham said:
"People ask you for criticism, but
they only want praise."