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.