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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1963)
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Ore. Thursday, October 3, 1963 It's An Entirely Different World Like Birmingham' Heron WILLIAM S.-WHITE Historical Political Shift PAGE-8A EM rats "2 i J '.- Beating How far bureaucratic insolence has etched its way into the federal offices and into some of the personalities employed by the federal government has been amply dem onstrated In Brookings, S.D. ... Here's the way we get the story. A few months ago an agent of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service came to town on official business. He parked in a meter zone and went about his business. His allotted time expired. The Brookings Police Department slapped a ticket on his car. Hearing nothing from the agent, the po lice department notified him, as is customary with police departments the nation over. He was reminded he owed a parking ticket. Back came a letter from the U.S. Comp troller's office saying, you can't fine an em ploye of the government. "Parking meter fees constitute an unauthorized attempt to tax or burden the federal government in car rying out its function," was the word. Well, Editor C. A. Mitchell of the Brook ings Register didn't like the word. In an edi torial he asked: "Are federal employes a mas ter race apart, exempt from petty annoyances that beset the rest of us common mortals?" Another editor, Alan C. Mcintosh, of the Lu verne Star-Herald hopped on the matter, too. "We do not want," he said, "any super state in America although we are growing steadily in that direction ... We do not want any government employe, federal, state or lo cal ever to get the delusion for one moment that he belongs to a 'master race' and is not Students Congressman Robert Taft of Ohio is urg iiljj the government to lower the boom on eager beavers who are enthusiastically pro moting additional trips to Cuba by U.S. "stu dents" who yearn to revel firsthand in the glories of the Castro culture. The congressman is making sense. X These freeloading junkets by American youngsters to soak up Castro hatred of their country go a little beyond good, clean fun. They come uncomfortably close to being field (dps in rebellion. :: What kind of a misguided kid is it who joyfully latches on to a free ride offered by one of the loudest enemies America has? How much more disloyal to your own country can you get than to woo unsubtle vl WASHINGTON CALLING ": By MARQUIS CI10.DS WASHINGTON There's a lion In the streets and his name is Edwin P. Ncilan. While he has been president ot the United States Chamber of Commerce less than five months, Ncilan has stirred more ot an up roar than Utt staid chamber has heard In many years. He says he fir going right on regardless of How heavy the barrage of brick bats aimed at him by Congress, fhs roar of the chamber ajiinst government is so familiar a; sound that it has come to be taken for granted. What Is new about Neilan Is that he seems to be genuinely shocked at the Iniqui ties of big federal spending and its effect on the vote-getting pro cess. And he reacted with hurt surprise when leading members ot Congress attacked him for his Ini tial blast. ! 'That was his National Press Club speech in which lie said that foto buying and selling in this Country was Infinitely more im tribal than Brltish's call girl and seeiirity scandal. Apparently It had not occurred to this Delaware banker that he would be de nounced fur such a sweeping ac cusation. But the denunciations began on the floor of the Senate and the House, on the basis of advance texts, even before he had made the speech. It Is to be reprinted in Hie Reader's Digest which will give extensive additional circula tion. And Ncilan has been going ground the country making the setae charges and lecturing his audiences on the wickedness of Congressional "bagmen" who rib for their share of spending area redevelopment, accelerat ed public works and other federal programs. ; Thus far Neilan has made only glancing references to the bene fits that business gets from gov ernment In the form of huge cost : (this contracts in defense and itpac. This type of spending Is on a far larger scale and a pattern has grown up in the Department of Defense and the spies agency Down Bureaucrats We Can Do Congressional 'Bagmen' of giving Senators and Congress men I ho right tn make the first announcement of new contracts going to their areas. Even when he spoke in Seattle, Wash., one of the principal bene ficiaries of defense contracts, Nei lan made only a passing reference to the cushion of defense contracts supporting a sizable segment of American industry. But he says he intends In future speeches to tell business that It's Ume to end the subsidies and regain its inde pendence. Nor has he so far talked about what Is perhaps not only the big gest federal grab bag but one that cuts directly across the author ity of the states and local com munities. Til is is the $41 billion federal highway program. The federal government pays for no per cent of the construction cost. But for this carrot states and cities surrender Uie right to say how and where their high ways will be built. The program has the backing of autos, oil and cement which is a powerful chunk of private Industry. Neilan is speaking next week lo the Defense Transportation Indus, try convention in Chicago. This offers, as he is well aware, a splendid opportunity tn talk alxmt the dependence of Industry on vast defense spending. A novelty In Die Ncilan ap proach Is the way he bends over backward to try to be fair. In his Seallle speech he said, al most wistfully, "Although I am relatively new in Washington I have the impression that things today are not far diffoivnt Uian they were when the Republicans were In power." As he noted in his first attack, the constant demands on mem bers of Congress from back home, coming both from state and city governments and from Industry, take more and more of the law maker's attention. He has less and less time, said Neilan, to give lo our real national Interests and tlie national problems Involved. As the tourist to Washington dis covers from a visit to the Capi tol, only on rare occasions are there more than scattering of subject to the laws the citizenry must abide by." In Sioux Falls, a local businessman had his two bits worth to say and he said them in the right spots. He sent a letter to the Brook ings Police Department urging it to stand its ground and collect that parking fee from the great big income tax man. He sent copies of his letter to Sens. Mundt and McGovern and Reps. Berry and Reifel. The Washington del egation was quick to act. They asked the U.S. Comptroller's of fice how come? First, back came the usual bureaucratic replies; that a city had no right to levy a parking meter fine against a fed eral car. One reply was in the form of a three page typewritten letter and contained the usual gobbledegook from a Washington bu reau. South Dakotans did not let the matter die. Now the Comptroller's office has backed down and said it is "recommending new pro cedures which should minimize recurrence of this problem in the future." We hope it will mean federal employes will get the idea out of their heads, if it is there, that they are special characters, and put the thought in that should be there, that they are paid by the taxpayers and should act like anyone else. There's "another little moral to this event. It's what can happen when an aroused public has its say. Remember this when you feel like writing a letter to a public official. Without brainwashing by such a host and then come back to sneer at American democracy as a poor imitation of the real thing as practiced by Castro in Cuba? And how can you be much more contemp tuous of your government than to storm into the U.S. Congress and scream profane insults at our lawmakers? Sure, this is a land of freedom. But we like to think it is also a land of loyalty, pa triotism and decency. If these "students" haven't learned this in their studies, then they had better shave off their beatnik beards, scrub themselves inside and out, put on some clean clothes and go to a different school. members on the floor of either house. You can be sure a num ber ot the absentees are scout ing around the agencies, as like ly as not on the prompting of the chamber of commerce back home, tn nail down funds for a new sewer system or a defense plant. This may lie a battle against the windmills by a Don Quixote come at a late hour to the full centralized government. Much of the Ncilan target area Is the old familiar ono covering all govern ment spending and invoking the familiar fetish of a balanced budg et. But, windmills or no, tlie bat tler shows no signs of calling it off. Al manac By I'nllrd Press International Today is Thursday, CkL 3, the 276th day of 1963 with 89 to fol low. The moon Is full. The morning stars are Mercury and Jupiter. The evening stars are Jupiter and Saturn. Those born today Include the American novelist, Thomas Wolfe, in lino. On this day in history: In la, Mrs. Rebecca Felton. a Georgia Democrat, was ap pointed to the V. S. Senate and became tlie first woman to serve In that body. In li5, Italy, under dictator Benito Mussolini, launched an un provoked invasion of Ethiopia. In I960. Soviet Premier Nikila Khrushchev wrecked a Paris sum mit meeting when he said he would meet with President Eisen hower only it he admitted Ameri can V-l flights over Russia were sets of aggression. In 15. 20 persons were killed and 93 injured when a boiler ex ploded In a telephone building in New York City., A thought for the day Form er President Eisenhower Mid "Sim this century's beginning s time of tempest has seemed to come upon tlie conUnents of the earth." era n SYDNEY J. HARRIS Purely Personal Prejudices: To justify our dislikes, we gen erally say that what we dislike is contemptible or valueless; it takes a rare and large character lo acknowledge that what he dis likes may be admirable but he is incapable of such appreciation. People In villages are both kinder and crueller than people In cities: They are kinder tn those who suffer misfortune through no fault of their own, hut crueller to those who violate the rigid canons of the communi ty. Each class has its own "key words" which must be decoded in order to be fully understood: for instance, when the upper class calls a man "civil," it doesn't mean merely that he Is polite it means that he tacitly accepts the superiority of those born above him. All genuine progress depends upon not more than a dozen indi viduals in each generation; and the best argument for democracy is that wo can never tell from which segment of society they will arise therefore, that sys tem which most encourages tal ent to come to Uie surface is best, despite the clumsiness and abuses and dangers inherent in the dem ocratic process. Tlie self-righteous person who Is secretly proud that he does not need to ask God to forgive his sins should, from time to lime, remember to ask his neighbors to "forgive my virtues." As Santa yana once acutely remarked, "It is easier for a libertine to become a saint than for a prig." Very often the woman whose ' ambition Inspires a man In great deeds is the same one whose limitations prevent him from enjoying the fruits of his acopmpllshmcnts. The barbarism that precedes civilization is never as vicious or coiTupt as Uie barbarism that fol lows it; for real bestiality, prim itive societies can't compete with those that have rebelled against the restraints of civilization. Speaking of this, it would lie wise to keep in mind Ortega's astute warning: "In history, as soon as the 'man of action' puts in an appearance and is dis cussed and pampered, it means that a period of rebarbarization looms." Tlie greatest fallacy that most people make is in assuming Uiat by opposing tlie "wrong" they are guaranteed of being in the BERRY'S WORLD " buy f&if, Ktnnriy won't b tht only on uilb 'BaUnc of Ptymtntt'Jrtbltm," STRICTLY PERSONAL. "right;" but most wrongs are opposed by different kinds of wrongs, and it rarely occurs to ordinary minds that two conflict ing principles can be false at the same time. Letters To Spenders On Oct. 15 we go to the polls to vote on tlie $60 million tax bill. I certainly will vote against it. This bill has been cussed and dis cussed. We have been led to be lieve if we vote against it, disas ter will be the result. The only disaster is to the big spenders. Why don't they tell the truth about education? Why don't they admit that they have known all the time the governor couldn't take one cent of the basic school support fund. The truth Is the big spenders have always wanted tn scare people into voting. Yes. They are mad as us who signed the referral petition and not giv ing them this $60 million. All of a sudden the heads of several state departments now admit that I hey can reduce their budgets. None of them seem to have any doubts but that they can cut their budgets and reduce waste and ex travagance in departments. Never before have they admitted this. People by supporting and signing the referral petition, so we could vote on this $60 million dollar is sue have made the big spenders stop and think. A good healthy condition. People are paying too much tax. It's run out our ears. Too much weight on one end of a board soon upsets it, and it's a grand tiling to know people are tired of being pushed around by people we vole into office on a platform nf "I will keep taxes down," and they are the first to raise them. As for schools, they have be come like a horse with a bit in its mouth. It's time the people handled the reins for a while. The schools can hold down their spending too. And it will hurt no one. I have always been under the impression all poliUcians were en dowed with humanitarian prin ciples, hut after reading the pro visions in the $60 million income tax bill I realize how badly mis taken I was. The filing fee es pecially is designed tn take from those that haven't and give tn those who have. Mr. Editor, if it doesn't violate political etls'cs, I will appreciate it if you can get the names and home addresses of each ot those who opposed this bill, then come next election time I will know By WILLIAM S. WHITE WASHINGTON Increasingly it appears that the South and West but notably the West, with its vast leap in political power in the years since the war will be the great battlegrounds in the po litical campaign of 1964. For the first time in our his tory the real center of gravity in a Presidential contest will not be in the East. Both parties are pitching their campaign tents on the westward slopes as never be fore they have done. Two major reasons underlie this historic shift. The one is the root act that the West now encom passes our biggest state in popula tion, California, and, in general, now measures our fastest growth. The other is that the struggle for the Republican Presidential nomination is so undeniably and so strongly centering around a Westerner, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona. More and more it looks that if he is to be stopped for the nomina tionand the "if" is a large and formidable one the task will re quire an incomparably greater co hesion of purpose among the anli Goldwater Republicans than is now either in motion or in sight. And even should the party at last turn to another in the Republican National Convention next sum mer, the G.O.P. will in any event have been Western-flavored and The Editor ' for whom to vote. What would this $3 filing fee do to old people when some of them only receive $57 a month? If people who wrote up this $60 million tax bill wanted to do some good why not make these old people tax exempt, and their property too, instead of try ing to add more tax to the al ready burdened taxpayer. People who have worked hard all their lives deserve far better than being forced onto welfare, and living on so little. I feel that the $60 million tax . bill could be easily forgotten if some of the gold bricks were kicked out of the county and state offices and work those who are left. Another thing, Mr. Editor, have you noticed all the cars on the highways with the Oregon State seal on the side? People out on vacation use the state cars. And what about the $1,000 a month for Mr. Hatfield's guards? Isn't this carrying things pretty far? Seems to me a lot of slicing can be done. AH I can say is, Mr. and Mrs. Voter, vote "No" Oct. 15, don't be scared and threatened. The fight against the "big spenders" is just the first one to save Oregon people from being taxed to death and losing their hemes. Mrs. B. J. Squires, 2804 So. 6th St. Cake-Walkers To anyone who has been con cerned about the lack of law en forcement in Klamath Falls as I have been for the past 17 years, there are some encouraging signs that this is in the process of change. The first indication of this was one afternoon recently when I parked my car downtown and found that I had no change for tlie parking meter. I entered a store directly in front of the me ter to obtain change. This took about 45 seconds, but I was much too slow for one of our meter maids. Slie already had her book drawn and was preparing to write the citation for this violation of the law. I pleaded with her not to con tinue and quickly jammed a pen ny into the meter, but she was not to be deterred from enforc ing the law. The same afternoon I picked up my copy of the Herald and News and read of District Attorney Dale Crabtree's intentions to wipe out all gambling in Klamath Coun ty, bar none, and nobody is ex empt from the state's gambling laws, not even tlie cake-walkers. Now these cake-walks are a vi cious form of corruption. They even take place at our county school carnivals and worse, they have them at some churches. Here is a scene I am sure all those in Klamath County inter ested in good law enforcement are eagerly awaiting stainless Steel Crabi ve leading his crime busters in a raid on one of the school carnival cake-walks. May lie a little tear gas tossed in to subdue those who would resist, and tlie confiscation of the cakes. This is the way lawlessness and disrespect for the law gets started in a community such as ours, right in the schools and churches, so let's all get behind our dis trict attorney's oflice ion per cent in this movement. It has been nearly impossible to get a murder conviction from that oftice and thereby discour age that sort of thing in Klamath County, but here's hoping can do something with these other law breakers. Bobby T. Jones Western-oriented as it has never been before. And there is a third and lesser hut itself still significant reason for this new emphasis on the great stretches beyond the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. This is the circumstance that here also is the one best hope of the Republicans to make important gains in the battle for Congress. At least seven presently Democratic Senate seats are now quite plainly up for grabs in the West. This is at once the area of greatest Democratic vulnerability and of greatest Republican opportunity in all the country. To see how poignantly "the West" lies upon the minds and plans of the politicians in both parties it is only necessary to note that for months now the most basic of the political news has' consistently been made there. The most recent illustration is the speech delivered by Sen. Frank Church of Idaho, a liberal Demo crat more or less in the Kennedy model, at the Western States Democratic Conference in Salt Lake City. Here was an ostensibly regional party meeting which was in truth a strictly national effort to begin to break both the Goldwater move ment itself and the surge of con servatismin both parties which nearly every independent observ er has found out beyond the mid dle of the country. And not merely Church was there to sound the alarm at this theoretically localized affair. Weighing in was California Gov. Edmund Brown and also John Bailey, the Democratic National Chairman, a "Westerner" from Connecticut. 'You Can Stay But It is hardly possible to ques tion the legality of the recent ac tion of our district attorney re garding his ban on gambling in Klamath County. But his judg ment certainly is open to question. Persons who want to gamble will do so anyway, and there are so many ways for the serious gam bler to ply his trade it is doubt ful that the DA could do anything about it, anyway. Admirable as his objective may be (and some question how admirable It is) one can't help but hope that he would practice the same diligence and direct as much energy toward control pf more serious crimi nal elements in the county. Such as murderers, hoodlums, thieves, muggers, had check passers, negligent fathers, etc., etc. From the newspaper reports I read it is apparent there is quite a field of endeavor for our DA and his staff to concentrate on if they are looking for things to do. The Oregon Statesman conduct ed a poll recently to see how peo ple feel about the 1963 tax pro gram of the legislature which will be referred to a vote Oct. 15. The poll showed readers opposed lo the program almost 2l to one. Thousands of votes came in from all over the state in the States man's balloting. Response to the four questions posed in the poll was as follows: I'phold legislature's YES NO tax program ... 28 97 7103 Have governor whack biennial budget 51 26 38 74 Special legislative session 47 64 52.36 Consider sales tax 68 09 3191 Between them, these speakers set up two themes of which much more will be heard: That Gold water, an opponent of the nuclear test-ban treaty, is the symbol of a bellicose "radical right" which might get this nation into nuclear war. That this "radical right" is about to take over the whole Re publican party and especially in the West. To the extent to which such vio lent accusations might be said In liava anv hacic lllpv flrp grounded upon foolishly ultra-conservative manifestos recently adopted by a "young Republi can" group in California. They are, of course, absurdly over drawn. They are, for example, ai absurdly overdrawn as would be any Republican counter-accusations that the entire Democratic party is for appeasement simply because of certain equally foolish leftist manifestos, also recently adopted, by "young Democrats" .' in California. All this, on both sides, is kiddie-stuff; and every ' political adult on both sides knows it. But the point of the moment is . this: The simple fact that such urgent acuon is going on in me West, more than a year ahead of the Presidential election, is the strnnnnst nnccihlA indinalnr ..0 , what the West has become in terms of 1964 strategy. For nearly 200 years the thrust nf party maneuver and counter-' maneuver, and even the thrust of the news, has been from East to West, inevitably losing both some momentum and some power as it crossed the plains and mountains. In 1964, the movement may well be reversed from West to East. He's Gotta Go!' NOTHING SPECIAL (W. 8. S.I It's rather obvious that people are not so adamant against a sales tax as some of our legislators . and labor union leaders want lu believe they are. A reader dropped a note In which he says "SHAME on YOU!" for the editorial about the test ban treaty that ran Sept. 21. In K we called the document "A Worthless Trea ty." Not worthless, says our reader. And I quote, "It is very worth while to Russia. Sections 1 and 2 provide that at any time a ma jority of the concurring rations can amend this treaty, and this, or these amendments become binding upon all parties. The treaty is also without time limit. "Shortly it will not he safe lo be pro - American unless we change those in power." Amen. Esquire Theatre management people have come up with a won derful schedule of movies this fall. They have six wonderful pic tures based on famed books. They include "Captains Coura geous" (Rudyard Kiplingi, "Da vid Coppcrheld" (Charles .Dick ens'. "The Good Earth" 'Pearl Buck', "Julius Caesar" (Shake spearei, "Little Women" lLouisa May Alcolti and "A Tale of Two ' Lines' iDickens'. The pictures will carry all star casts, and will do much, I'm sure, to dissipate some what the Idea that movies car. ry nothing nowadays ceepl ft stories. From the way things are go ing, we can expect sny day now the announcement that 'Khru shchev is really a Western intelli gence agent.
