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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1963)
HERALD AND NEWS. Klamath Falls, Oregon Sunday. August II, 1963 NOTHING SPECIAL It May Be Irrelevant and Immaterial But Congratulations Mr. Douglas!" fcdihyxiaL (paqsL IW. 8. S.I FACE I Q Klamath Falls and Klamath County get their share (and sometimes, more) of unfavor able publicity. Therefore, it is gratifying and heartwarm ing to wish well to our Nationals' Babe Ruth baseball team as they prepare for the World Championship playoffs in New Mexico this week. The Nationals won their way to the inter national playoffs the hard way in Kellogg, It A biologist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, says that a major nu clear attack likely would destroy all exposed plant and animal life except crab grass, pig weed and insects. The two types of weeds showed no marked alteration after daily laboratory ex posure to radiation many thousands of times more intense than in the fallout from nu clear tests, Dr. George Woodwell reports. The findings support what we have known all along about crab grass it has Too Much Depicted Violence (Salt Lake Desert News) Television and the movies in fact all media of mass communications are playing with social dynamite when they depict acts of violence. This is no longer just an educated guess. It is a hard fact established by some recent scientific studies. The public can ignore these studies only at its own peril. To get down to specifics, Dr. Leonard Berkowitz and Edna Rawlings of the Universi ty of Wisconsin recently conducted psychologi cal tests on 80 young men and 80 young women. They found that witnessing even the kind of violence that supposedly is "justified" for instance, the punishing of a villain has harmful effects. Namely, it makes it more likely that an angry person will resort to violence himself. This means that society should toss into the ash can the old idea that people "purge" HOLMES By HOLMES ALEXANDER WASHINGTON, D.C. - "We have got to keep on with our testing program," says Son. Clin ton Anderson who expects to vote to ratify tlie Nuclear Treaty, "t would feel better about it If the treaty-signing were accompanied by a strong statement that we intend to return to the atmosphere in case of violation. That way we would have our test pre parations ready last." As past chairman of the Joint Atomic Energy Committee and presently chairman of the Space Committee, Anderson is as sav vy as they come about the tech niques of lite atomic sciences. To understand his insistence that we stand poised to resume air-tests, let us hark back to a dialogue which took place behind closed doors last Feb. 20 in a meeting of the Armed Services Commit tee. Secretary McNamara: "We are weaker today than wo were 18 months ago because ... in Die fall of 19BI . . the Soviets re sumed nuclear testing, having prepared (or it. We had not pic pared for it." Senator Jackson: "Some of us tried to suggest tlwt we be pre pared to go ahead and no one would listen. ... I was convinced right along that the Soviets were going to do w hatever tlicy needed to do to pot an advantage over the United States." It is a repetition of this trust ful, sleeping - sentry altitude on our fan that Anderson and other powerful Senators want to avert. He himself will he satis fied with a pledge of vigilence on the part of tlx- Secretary of State, but he concedes that some of his colleagues may demand that a reservation (or automatic reac tivation be written into tltc treaty. Anderson looks tor ratification with only 10 or 12 dissenting votes unless Sen. Richard Rus sell, the Armed Services chair man, comes out (or rejection. Russell, in Anderson's opinion, is M Good Luck, Gang! Idaho. Hardly any resident of the area, be he or she interested in baseball or not, would deny that the boys and their managers and coaches did the community proud in Kellogg. We know the Nationals' roster is com prised of boys who will bring honor and pride to the community regardless of the won and lost statistics they compile in New Mexico. Good luck boys and to your coaches and managers. We're proud of you all. Indestructible? proved practically indestructible in the long struggle against herbaceous pests. We would like to see one additional test applied to this bane of gardeners. Let Dr. Woodwell plant a plot of crab grass from seed, water and fertilize it with the energy and loving care we give the blue grass; destroy all competing plants. Make sure sunshine and warmth is just right. Under these conditions, if our experience is any criterion, the crab grass would turn up its collective toes and something else we were trying not to grow would take over. their pent-up anger harmlessly when they wit ness violence. Moreover, since the test sub jects were normal young adults, it's easy to imagine what effects depictions of violence might have on children and on adults with se rious emotional disturbances. Nor is the Wisconsin report the only one that supports such conclusions. Dr. Frederic Wertham, a New York psychiatrist, has long decried the deleterious effects of TV and movie violence. Not all children, of course, are affected by it. But a good many are. Surely it's significant that in the U.S. crimes of violence are being committed by younger and younger children. In no other country, Dr. Wertham notes, is this true. The responsibility for dealing with this situation falls not only on TV and movie pro ducers but also on those who patronize their productions. When it comes to depictions of violence, what you don't see can't hurt you. ALEXANDER . . Senators Are Skeptica the one single Senator whose dis approval could almost surely kill the treaty. A non-oxpert on international polities, Anderson is unimpressed with the Sino-Soviet quarrel, hut will take the judgment of c o 1 lcagucs whose evaluation he trusts. A non - lawyer, Anderson has spied a loophole in the treaty that needs plugging. Contrary to public misconception, the treaty does not fully authorize under ground testing. It merely forhids testing in any environment which would pollute tiic air of another nation with radioactive fallout. Fallout cart accidentally hap pen, as it did in the Plowshare tests a while back, when a few atoms were inadvertently "vent ed" from tlie underground site. Thus any party to tlie treaty BERRY'S WORLD "Mow if you you'll out mt could innocently violate it, and bring it to an unscheduled end. While Anderson doubts the sci entific possibility of a missile-to-hil-amissile, he regrets that the opportunity of anti-missile test ing in space would be foreclosed by tlie treaty. A mild skeptic, Anderson does not belong to the brotlierhood of unbelievers who openly, or se cretly, wish that the treaty had never come down the pike. But neither is he a rubber-stamp rat ifier. It may he that as Dick Russell goes in this matter, so goes the Senate. But it is also true that Anderson, an old inhabitant of what is know n as tlie Inner Sanc tum, will have a lot to do with decisions that are still in the making. mitt this enc, fivt Joltaril0 IN WASHINGTON An By RALPH de TOLEDANO By the time this appears, Gen. Leon Cantave may be dead. But the chances are that he will still be one more guerrilla fighting against a repressive government. Or so the available evidence would indicate. The news stories on General Contave's efforts to overthrow the pernicious Duvalier dictatorship have brought to the fore of recol lection a long meeting I had with him back in July of 1957. He was in the United States pre sumably for a check-up at Walter Reed Hospital but actually to meet with American officials he knew personally and with news papermen he felt might be friend ly to his point of view. I was included in the group be cause I could talk French. (Gen eral Cantave can speak no Eng lish.) In the past, I had met "dip By SYDNEY J. HARRIS Purely Personal Prejudices: One sure way to detect tlie true expert in any pursuit is by his un failing courtesy and consideration toward those less skilled than he; it is only the second-rater w ho is brusque and contemptuous to ward the duffer, it is only the person who is not sure enough of his prowess to be charitable and forbearing. Children who are not trained to do what is right for its own sake (rather than out of fear or promise of reward or because "it's !ne best policy"), will soon er or later escape by doing what is wrong for its own sake and this is the meaning of so much "senseless" delinquency by adol escents. Habitual critics of an estab lished order are generally the worst people to reform that or der: for, as Burke pointed out long ago, "those who are chroni cally employed in finding and displaying faults are unqualified for the work of reformation; be cause their minds are not only unfurnished w ith patterns o' t h e lair and good, but by habit tlwy come to take no delight in the contemplation of these things." II Is foolish to say that mm and women should marry for love: everyone marries lor love and if what he or she loves most ts money or position or security, thrn this is the love that the marriage ts based on. Tlie fastest way to break up a "disarmament conference" would be for one side to accept tlie proposals of tlie oilier this would create such consternation Unusual Genera lomatic" Haitians members of their country's delegation to tlie U.N., for the most part. General Cantave was different. For one thing, he spoke a softer, back country French. He was tall and thin, with a Marine-type haircut, a scholarly look, and none of that military pomposity so common among officers of Latin American nations. He was unusual, too. because his political ambitions, if they ex isted, w ere not showing. As Chief of Staff of the Haitian army, he had prevented tlie military from seizing power. He had also re fused to lead a new dictatorial government. The solutions for his country's problems were eco nomic and political. Substituting a military for a civilian dictatorship was hardly the answer for a coun try suffering from poverty, illiter acy, and hopelessness. During our conversation. Gener- STRICTLY PERSONAL that negotiations would have to be broken off, for all such pro posals are based on the tacit understanding that they will not be acceptable. A small town or a village is a unit, a city is not; a city is really composed of many small er cities within it, and the inhabi tant can freely choose which of these smaller cities he will move in: and it is this freedom of choice that, despite its manifest disadvantages, makes a big city so appealing to so many people. The best way to estimate the nature of any group's miseries is to study carefully the nature of their pleasures; what they are running toward tells us what they are running from. To communicate to others the knowledge that he possesses Is only part of the task of a writ er; the more Important part Is to communicate to himself what he does and does not know, and in the very act of expressing himself he works to ward clarity and cohcsivcncss in his own thoughts; writers who seek only to persuade rarrlv develop their own minds. "Women have two weapons cosmetics and tears." Napoleon once remarked; but this formida ble aimory was placed in a prop er perspective by Philip Pres ton, when he added. "Lucky for men that tlie two are scarcely to be used w ith advantage at tlie same time." When a man tells me he walked seven miles to school as a boy, I can understand why he learned so little he was too fatigued upon reaching the school-house al Cantave pointed out that one of Haiti's troubles was the phony universal suffrage. In the past, the vote had been more or less re sponsibly held by about 10 per cent of the population. One of the reigning demagogues had given the vote to the entire population and then proceeded to subvert the popular will be trading food for votes. At the same time, an Amer ican, Syrian, and Haitian financial group had been able to con trol the government and the peo ple through its hold on the coun try's single bank. Whenever a Hai tian leader came along who vyould not knuckle under, this group called a "strike" of shopkeepers which paralyzed the country. At the time I spoke to General Cantave, he had no ambitions for any political organization. He was in a kind of exile, being out of favor with the current dictator. But he felt that the American peo ple, who were aware of almost nothing that was going on in the Haitian half of tlie island of Hispaniola, should know of the terrible situation there. The general warned that condi tions would get steadily worse, with the possibility of trouble for the U.S. (Fidel Castro was not yet in power and the Carib bean threat seemed to come from General Trujillo's Dominican Re public.) "We need roads, rail ways, new industries, new farm ing techniques, the organization of agricultural cooperatives, tourism and freedom," General Cantave said. Overpopulation plagued the country. The United States had helped Haiti lick the malaria problem, but as always this mere ly complicated the demographic problem. What was most impressive about General Cantave was his sincerity. Clearly, he stood lefl-of-center, but not violently so. In some ways, he reminded me of Governor Luis Munoz Marin not in manner or personality, but in his approach to political prob lems. By that I mean that his liberalism was tempered by a practical view of political and eco nomic verities which made him sometimes espouse conservative positions. W hen I heard of the fighting in Haiti, I thought of that long, quiet conversation here in Wash ington. General Cantave is an im pressive man and obviously a courageous soldier. It takes real guts to invade a dictatorial state w ith a handful of troops. My first reaction was one of admiration. Why wasn't the United States, so ready to give a Fidel Castro help, not standing behind General Cantave'.' 1 doubt that Uic State Department has an answer. But it struck me suddenly that repeatedly Americans are drawn into the defense of indi viduals and movements without really understanding them. I believe that General Cantave would have helped to stabilize conditions in the Caribbean and that he would have been a friend of the United States. But I don't know. The Central Intelli gence Agency should have the facts, however. And if General lontave is tlie kind of leader 1 think him to be, then CIA's se cret billions should be mobilized to hjip him. My Sidewalk Observer observed the other day: Statistics may be likened to Bikini bathing suits. What they reveal is enticing, but what they conceal is vital. All this fussing about test ban treaties, etc., brings to mind the statement by Mr. McNamara that the U.S. has so many tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. Their purpose, I gather, is to as sure that the U.S. will never have to go to war. In other words, we are spending billions on nuclear and other exotic weapons in order that we may never have to use them. Well, II figures. Look around you. You'll see we're spending a lot of time and money pro ducing things and performing acts so that these things should not lie used, nor these acts as effective. For instance, take the "back ground" music one hears in the lobbies of big buildings lor all over the building for that mat ter) music NOT to listen to. In other words, it has been written deliberately so that it will not "intrude" upon the thoughts of a thinker or a worker. It is just there. Doesn't it seem strange that someone should devote his or her time to an occupation of com posing music with the intent that it is not to be listened to? Look at your car. It prob ably has bumpers. But are they for bumping? Of course not. They were originally designed to prevent bumps to the fenders of your car. Npw the bumpers have bumper guards to prevent nicking up the chrome mon sters called bumpers. What we really need now is a guard lo protect the giistd 11, at protects Ihe bumper that was originally designed lo protect the fender. And how about scat covers? Every seat in a car is covered (some car upholstery is much fan cier and more ornate than any thing we'll ever have in our homes) since seats are designed lo be sat upon. But what hap pens? The proud owner prompt ly covers his beautiful seats with some foreign device. There is a WASHINGTON j Mail Order Business Heavy By FULTON LEWIS JR. A Los Angeles boy, suffering from mental illness, recently shot and killed his 14-year-old brother. His reason, given to police: "My brother was inferior." Three thousand miles away, in Fairfax, Va., a youngster acci dentally shot and killed a neigh bor child. Investigation revealed the Virginia lad had obtained his weapon a .38 snub-nosed pistol from the same source as the boy in Los Angeles: a mail order gun house specializing in low-cost foreign-made pistols. Investigators for the Senate Sub committee on Juvenile Delinquen cy told the California dealer of the tragedy that followed his sale. He was unmoved: "I didn't break the law, did I? If they've got the money, I sell them the gun. I'm not rcasponsible for what they do with it." For two years, investigators, working under Sen. Thomas Dodd, Subcommittee Chairman, have probed the mail order gun field. Their findings are shocking. Twenty five per cent of those District of Columbia residents purchasing mail order guns have criminal records. Typical convic tions: assault with a dangerous weapon, homicide, possession and use of narcotics, assault with in tent to kill a police officer. The five local police precincts with the highest crime rates are the same five precincts with the highest number of mail order gun deliveries. Police officers from coast to coast, from New York to Los An geles, offered testimony to the Dodd Subcommittee. They sub mitted case histories of crimes armed robberies, homicides, acci dental shootings committed by individuals toting mail order guns. Many were committed by teen agers and subteenagers, by hard ened criminals and drug addicts to whom weapons cannot legally be sold. Police in virtually every large city have repeatedly lound wea pons in hands of juveniles and ju venile gangs. The guns, all too olten, arc purchased hy mail or der. Many mail order dealers, Sen. Dodd learned, conduct their busi ness operations with calculat ed carelessness. The coupons in their advertisements may specify that no one under 18 or possess ing a criminal record may pur chase a gun. No effurt is made, however, to check the identity of big industry in this country which has as its aim tile design and manufacture of a seat cover to cover seat covers in automobiles. And, how about food for not eating? Order a sandwich in a restaurant, or a plate lunch of some kind. What do you gel? Well, with your order, it seems inevitable that there will ac company it a sprig of parsley. What's it for? Just for spile. I've gotten into the habit of eat ing the darn stuff because it's there, and it must be there for something. But my wife, who has better manners, insists Ihe stuff is not there for eating it's just there. Really, though, parsley does have some use, in that I'm told it's symbolic. At Roman funerals" during the dawn of the Christian ' era. the corpse was decorated with parsley or some such greenery, so when you get parsley with your fish or your sandwich or steak, it is merely an assurance to you that the entree is dead. And what is more innocuous or unnecessary than talk-for-the pur-pose-of-not-communicating? That is, we ask each other such things as how are you doing, and how's old-so-and-so, and how are things, and so on. If the guy would give an honest answer, we'd be shocked if we managed to remain atten tive long enough to appreciate a good answer. And In some of our homes (although I'll admit the age of plywood has done away with this practice a great dc'ai) we'll put In the most precious hard wood floors. So what happens? We cover them with even more precious wall-to-wall carpeting with obvious success in covering Ihe original beauty of our floor. But then, I suppose if we did not go into the production and use of things we do not need, and use less performances, we'd worry ourselves to death about such things as nuclear test ban treaties, civil rights promotion, taxes, be ing broke, women, and a host of related problems. Just forget the whole thing. REPORT In Firearms a mail order buyer. Some dealers evade postal regulations by ship ping guns by express, because only four states have regulations against gun shipments by this route. All too often the packaged guns are unmarked, and the express company employes are unaware of the contents they must deliver to the youhtful purchasers. Under present Federal statutes, the trade in mail order guns to juveniles is, for all intents and purposes, virtually unrestrained. "Unless some effective action is taken to halt this highly danger ous t r a d e," Senator Dodd says, "needless tragedies will be re peated time and time again." The Connecticut Senator has urged passage of his carefully drawn bill (S. 1975) that would curtail the shipment in interstate commerce of mail order guns to children under 18. The Dodd bill would require any mail order gun purchaser to enclose with his or der a sworn affidavit establishing his age and criminal record. It would require mail order dealers to give written notice to common carriers of pistols shipped in in terstate commerce. The Dodd bill has been endorsed by the gun industry and gun clubs, and by the National Rifle Associa tion. Al manac By United Press International Today is Sunday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 3 with 135 to fol low. The moon is approaching its new phase. The morning stars are Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Mars and Saturn. Those born today include the first child born of English par ents in America, Virginia Dare, in 1587. On this day in history: In 1856, tlie patent office doubt ed that tlie condensed milk it patented that date would be of much commercial value. In 1916. Abraham Lincoln's birthplace at Hodcinsville. Ky., was given to the US. as a na tional shrine. In 1KU. French troops followed up tlie Versailles Treaty by pe ginning the evacuation of the Ruhr Valley.
