r
PAGE-
IIKKALD AM) NEWS, Klamath Kails, Oregon
Tuesday, December 10, 1961
'Whatever Became of Lyndon Johnson -That
Fine Southern Gentleman?"
WILLIAM S. WHITE
LBJ Pushes Tax Slice
Barometers Of Prosperity
Business trends were good for Klam
ath Falls for the first 10 months of this
year.
In all the happenings at the end of No
vember, we completely overlooked the busi
ness trends of the area as published in the
Klamath Keynotes, chamber of commerce
bulletin.
One would naturally expect the cham
ber bulletin to be optimistic, but little ma
nipulating can be done with figures on
such things as bank debits, postal receipts,
parking meter receipts, building permits
and water users.
These items provide a pretty accurate
barometer of economic conditions in the
area.
As of November, they presented a pic
ture of a sound, progressively healthy econ
omy on the local scene.
Bank debits, which indicate the rate of
turnover of money in the community were
up $35 million over comparable figures for
19G2. This is a sizeable jump.
Postal receipts also reflected a con
siderable boost upward. Despite all the at
tendant problems of post office moving, re
ceipts soared from $331,000 to over $392,-
mpede
There is strong evidence that the
amendments which Congress (in a state of
shock over the drug thalidomide) tacked
onto the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act last
year now threaten to impede medical
progress in this country. .
Although it is still loo early to assess
the full impact of the new laws on drug
research, some ominous signs have already
appeared.
The most recent arc contained in the
findings of a survey by Dr. William M. M.
Kirby,. Professor of Medicine at the Uni
versity of Washington School of Medicine.
Dr. Kirby surveyed 650 medical school in
vestigators on their reactions to the strin
gent drug testing regulations issued by the
Secretary, Health, Education & Welfare, in
the wake of the Congressional drug amend
ments. Here are some of the things Dr Kirby
reported at a .recent meeting of the Associa
tion of the American Medical Colleges in
Chicago:
"A .substantial majority (57 per cent)
of those medical investigators responding,
indicated interference with research." Their
ibitial reaction to the New Drug Regulations
is) one of "concern and alarm," Kirby re
ported, and there is "at present a strong
tendency to abandon the field of drug re
search rather than enlarge and improve it."
Dr. Kirby also stated that almost three
out of four medical researchers who an
swered the survey questionnaire said they
FTsT' WASHINGTON CALLING .
. Ily MAUIR IS C1IILDS
WASHINGTON - Of all the
memorials (o President Kenne
dy none promises more for (lie
future than one which In a
dense he initialed himself.
In tlie deep frulralion he
experienced in Ihc last months
of In.' Administration, as a
halky and often hostile Congress
lield up the principal proposals
in his legislative program, one.
satisfaction stood out. 'Mint was
tlw $329,0(10.000 mental health
prop-am finally passed and
signed into law. Willi the liclp
of powerful allies in ami out of
Congress he had pushed this im
portant step quietly und per
sistently. Although Congress cut his ini
tial request by more llwin half,
sliearing away important as
pects of (lie program, it is nev
ertheless a big step forward
The goal is community mental
health centers which, in the tes
timony of Dr. Robert H. Felix,
director of the National Insti
tute of Mental Health, can cut
down care in instiUilions by half
within 15 years. One of Kenne
dy's last acts on tlw day be
fore he was assassinated was
to send Congress budgetary re
quests for Uireo of tlie five sep
arate programs so tlicy could
be started as quickly as possi
ble. How much this meant to Uie
lata President lie revealed to
only a few friends and co-wot k
ers. Behind the triumphs of the
Kennedy family, their worldly
success, was a private sorrow.
The eldest daughter Rosemary,
mentally retarded, lias spent
000 for the first 10 months of this year.
That's a boost of $61,000.
Building permits also reflected a sharp
upward trend. While there were a number
of reasons for it, the total of building con
struction in the city jumped from $2,821,000
in 19G2 to $5,744,000 for the same period of
1963. That is a jump of about 100 per cent.
Even the number of water users inside
the city limits came in for a significant in
crease. The average number of water users
in the city for 1962 was 9.488. This climbed
to 9,606 for the first 10 months of this year,
an increase of 118 new water users, or more
accurately 118 new added families in the
community.
One area that failed to reflect signifi
cant growth, however, was the receipts from
the parking meters in the downtown areas.
The net increase in receipts from park
ing meters for the first 10 months of the
year totalled exactly one dollar. Receipts
through October rose from $48,756 in 1962
to $48,757 in 1963.
One can easily gather from these re
vealing facts that the community is healthy,
economically, and moving toward one of its
finest business years.
Medical Progress
would be reluctant to undertake future stud
ies of new drugs because of the vastly in
creased paper work now required by the gov
ernment regulations. "Unfortunately," Kirby
said, "The restrictive requirements aimed at
policing unqualified investigators actually
apply to all investigators, and may, it is
feared, greatly hamper the efforts of quali
fied scientists."
Concluded Dr. Kirby: "It is evident
from the results of this questionnaire that
the new regulations have not been received
enthusiastically by medical school investi
gators. Far from participating much more
actively in studies involving new drugs,
thereby improving scientific merit as well
as increasing drug safety, clinical investi
gators in academic institutions are likely to
undertake less of this type of research."
Coining as it docs on the heels of the
disclosure by Dr. Austin Smith, President of
the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associa
tion, that several of the nation's major drug
producers have curtailed research and de
velopment of new drugs. Dr. Kirby's find
ings focus further attention on the danger
of excessive government regulation of
scientific research, particularly in the med
ical field.
Certainly the public has a right to ex
pect safe drugs, but this nation lias far too
great a stake in Ihc continuation of medical
progress to allow burdensome laws and reg
ulations to block the quest for new, life sav
ing drugs.
Measure Is Memoria
much of her lite in an institu
tion. This gaie .IKK special inter
est in mental rehabilitation and
psychiatric care. The Joseph I'.
Kennedy Jr. Foundation was
given large sums for the study
of retardation.
The President's concern as,
however, much broader than
this one phase of a brunch of
medicine still in a tonnative
stale and in urgent need ol ex
pansion Mli in research and in
training. He was convinced that
the program he initiated would
provide a broad, new base for
treatment of the mentally sick
He felt gratified llvat at Wast
a start li.nl been made.
l.ee Harvey Oswald, it has
boon disclosed, showed in curly
akilcsconce symptoms of a se
rious mental disorder. That was
wlulo he lived briefly in New
York. Commitment for psvcln
atric care was recommended
but never carried out. Facili
ties are always overcrowded,
waiting lists long. Oswald and
his mother resumed the wan
dering th.K took tliem from
stale to stale hi search of a
livelihood.
Who can say that Hie course
of history would not liave been
different if this sick adolescent,
growing into warped and men
acing manhood, had had ade
quate care or had il necessary
been confined. And who can say
how many Oswalds, harboring
murderous hale and paranoid
lear and suspicion, are abroad
in the land?
Thousands of words have been
written since die assassination
about the sick hatreds that have
spread like a plague in recent
years. It may be that this ter
rible act will mean a true awak
ening and put a stop, as Presi
dent Johnson so movingly said,
to the virulence that breeds vi
olence ami a defiance of law.
The border line between rea
son and irrationality is a n a r
row one. That any substantial
number of Americans could fol
low a leader who found John
Foster and Allen Dulles to be
members of Uie Conuntmist con
spiracy and General Eisenhow
er a dupe if not an agent of
that conspiracy is liard to be
lieve. Likewise that any consid
erable number of Americans
could have accepted the d i c
tales of Leninism and the sav
agery of Stalinism that followed
scorned impossible.
Yd, (lie damage that even a
few disciples of the extremes of
hate and violence can do is
groat. II lies not alone in a sin
gle act, however monstrous
1'oisomng the wells of thought
and belief is as destructive in
Uie long pull as lo poison the
source of the water we drink.
Tlie mental health progiam
now adopted will mean a gicat
upsurge in mental care and un
derstanding of the p r o b I e m
throughout tin- nation. Congress
has an opportunity lo act quick
ly lo repair tlie damage done
during passage of Uie measure.
Tlie most serious blow was
elimination of help in the slav
ing of the local mental health
centers.
Kennedy said so often, "II is
better to light a candle than to
curse tlie darkness." As a tes
tament to tlie belief in reason
of a martyred President no
light could shine so far.
EPSON IN WASHINGTON . . .
-Our
Spur
By PETER EDSON
Washington Correspondent
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
WASHINGTON I NEA - In
creased consumer expenditures
for 1903, continuing well into
V.KA, are predicted by the lat
est reports from U.S. Depart
ments of Commerce, Agricul
ture and Labor.
Since consumer purchases ac
count for two-thirds of the total
sales of goods and services in
the United Stales, these fore
casts give a good indication of
business trends.
For the six months immedi
ately ahead, Ihc Department of
Commerce reports high c o n
sumer buying intentions on au
tos, houses and huusehold appli
ance, the so-called hard goods.
Reporting a record personal
income at the annual rate of
$470 billion for October, the
Department of Commerce cred
its the recent pay raise granted
U.S. armed forces for one-thud
of the S3 billion increase over
September.
The increase over October
1962 is five per cent, or $22 bil
liun. Another five per cent in
crease is predicted for 14. All
this adds lo purchasing power,
so it is a direct stimulus to the
economy.
Principal focus of the Depart
ment of Agriculture's Oullouk
Conlerence, held at this time
every year, is on the prospects
for farm production, prices and
marketings.
Farm output this year will
be about 10 per cent above the
1937-39 average, establishing a
new record high of $41 billion.
Willi higher farm costs, howev
er, the net may be below liltB's
$12.o billion, and a little lower,
in 19114.
Along with the commodity
forecasts, the Outlook Confer
ence holds four half-day s o s
sions on family living. This jear
analysts from Agriculture's Bu
reau of Family Economics and
the Bureau of Labor Statistics
have come up with new materi
al to show changing trends in
consumer budgets.
This is the result of the first
survey in 20 jears on com
parative spending by urban,
rural and rural nonfarm fam
ilies. Preliminary data indicate av
erage spending by city families
has risen from S3.8CO in 1930 to
$o.3(ij in I960.
Food. clothing, house furnish
ings and recreation now account
for smaller shares of tlie spend
ing than 10 years ago. Shelter,
utilities, medical care, educa
tion and transportation take
larger shares.
Although tlie consumers' price
index, or cost of living, rose 24
per cent in tins decade, toed
expenditures are reported lo
hae dropped from 29 per cent
of tlie family income to 24 per
cent.
The reason given is that while
per capita consumption of
Al
manac
By I nitcd Press International
Today is Tuesdav . Dec. 10, the
344th day of 19K1 with 21 to bil
low. Tlie moon is approaching its
new phase.
Tlie evening slat s are Jupiler,
Saturn and Venus.
Those born today include
American poet Emily Dickinson,
in 18.10.
On this day in history:
In 1S17. Mississippi was ad
mitted into the I imm as the
20th state.
In law, Spain signed the
Treaty of Tans officially end
ing Uie Spanish-American War
and giving Guam, Puerto Rico
Spending Spree;
To The Economy
meats has increased, consump
tion of cereals has declined.
Increased home ownership
from 53 per cent of all dwell
ings in 1030 to 62 per cent in
I960 and increased ownership
of automobiles from 5a per
cent of the families in 1930 to
72 per cent in 1960 account for
larger expenditures.
A continuing shift from nat
ural to synthetic fibers is cred
ited with reduction of fam.ly
clothing expenditures. Lowered
prices on household appliances
f'om the Korean war days to
la:i0 account for another drop.
Food produced fur farm-home
consumption has dropped from
57 per cent of the retail value
in 1941 to 40 per cent in lil'10.
Deflecting tlie increase of off
farm employment in rural fam
ilies, 88 per cent of the rural
families owned cars in I960,
and one-fourth of them were
two-car families.
If these trends of the last
decade or Iwo continue, rural
family spending patterns are
expected to become much more
like those of urban families. The
proportion of shelter, transpor
tation, medical care and educa
tion expenses will rise. The pro
portion for home furnishings,
clothing and perhaps food will
decrease.
As a basis for comparison,
this is the budget given for an
average family with expen
ditures of $3.3113 in 1960 with
item, cost and percentage in
that order:
Food, at and away f r o m
home. $1,300, 24 4: housing and
furnishings. $1,590, 29.6: cloth
ing and services, $350, 10.2;
medical and personal care.
S500, 9.3: recreation and edu
cation, $325, 6.0: transportation,
$790, 14.7; tobacco, alcohol,
miscellaneous, $'110, 5.8.
There is a kind of magic in
the naming of a large sum of
money, a sort of incantation
that hypnotizes people into tak
ing tlie name for the fact the
way a child uses "a million dol
lars" to express some infinite
and unattainable sum at the
rainbow's end.
1 thought of this while over
liearing two women in the booth
next to me at lunch, who were
talking about a television come
dienne recently signed to a 10
year contract for $t,000.000 by a
network. The wemen seemed to
feel that this was a staggering
sum lo receive.
It amounts lo $100,000 a year.
If tlie performer receives this
as straight salary land not as
capital gain', she will pay
abom half of it m federal tax
es, otf Uie top.
Another 10 per cent will go tn
her agent. Her lawyers wiil re
ceive a substantial cut. Her
personal manager must be paid
out of this, as well as her pub
licity man. And. in most cases,
comedians pay the writers of
their material out of their own
iiuvme.
Out of tlie half remaining,
then, she is lucky if she retains
and the Philippine Islands to the
L'nited States.
In 1901. distribution of the
fust Nobel Prizes got under way
on Hie death anniversary of Al
fred Nobel.
In 1941, Japanese troops land
ed on Northern Luzon in the
Philippines.
thought for the day Emily
Dickinson. Uie American poet,
said. "Success is counted sweet
est by those who never succeed."
Bv WILLIAM S. WHITE
WASHINGTON - President
Johnson is moving powerfully
to isolate and break all Con
gressional opposition to the tax
reduction bill, one of the two
great legislative priorities of
his Administration, by removing
the one biggest objection to it.
This is high governmental
spending.
He has done so by anticipat
ing by several days what he
knew would be an inevitably
renewed Republican attack on
the bill once the first period of
mourning for the late President
Kennedy had ended. Even as
Rep. Charles Halleck of Indi
ana, the Republican leader of
the House, was reopening warn
ings that tax cuts must be ac
companied by "commensurate"
cuts in federal spending, the
President had already put in
motion a series of measures to
lead to demonstrable savings
lor the current fiscal year.
These are Mr. Johnson's first
steps to redeem the pledge he
made in last week's message to
Congress to "get a dollar's
value lor a dollar spent."
What it amounts to is not a
counterattack upon congres
sional resistance lo tax cuts
without spending cuts. It is a
campaign to convince the most
doubtful that the second will in
fact march along with the first.
It is. in the President's view, a
question not of fighting but of
leading Congress.
Mr. Johnson's principal ally
"in this campaign is Secretary
Letters To The Editor
Food On Credit
If we are going to give away
our surpluses, why not give
them to people who really need
them and w ill work to earn
them? Allowing the Soviet Bloc
to have cur focd on credit is
equivalent to giving it to them.
They haven't been paying their
bills. In this ca-e the taxpay
ers of the USA would have to.
The food would be used to lur
tlier communism.
Why give focd to people who
plan to eventually bury us? If
their people are hungry, they
have gold to buy focd for them.
Or would they rather build
bombs to kill us than feed their
own people?
There are many people in Ihe
world who will work to im
prove their lot by building
schools, irrigation systems, hos
pitals and any number of use
ful projects, taking their pay
(or labor rendered in food. Why
not give our surpluses lo them?
You can do this through organ
izations like CROP or Church
World Service. You can give
your surpluses direct or cash
lo buy up surpluses. Y o u r
church will take care of your
gift-
If our economy is stagnant
STRICTLY
PERSONAL.
By SYDNEY J. HARRIS
a half of that. Her personal en
tourage will include a maid, a
hairdresser, a wardrobe super
visor. Her living expenses, sim
ply to maintain theatrical stan
dards in New York, will be
crushing.
At the end of tlie vear, unless
slie is able to supplement her
income through personal ap
pearances or other marguial ac
tivities, she is quite likely to be
broke. For she is being paid ui
modern "paper" money, that
sounds big in print, but lacks
the real substance out of which
profits are made.
We are living in a paper econ
omy. Salaries sound high, but
they are illusory, and still based
on standards we dimly remem
ber from a quarter-century ago.
The "bile" taken out by taxes,
heightened living expenses, and
the shrinking power of the dol
lar, makes such figures almost
meaningless, and always mis
leading. A man making $200 a week
20 years ago would have been
able to accumulate more prop
erty and more savings tluin the
comedienne making $1,000,000
for the next 10 years. Money
has only relative value, and no
absolute value it is relative not
only to lime and place, but also
to the needs and activities of
Ihe persons who earn it.
A country doctor earning even
$1,000 a vear today may be rel
atively better otf than an ac
tress making 10 times as much
in Hollywood or Manhattan. Ab
solute figures in money hi.ve as
Uitie signiticance as absolute
temperatures for 20 below zero
in dry skiing country, as every
one knows, is not nearly as cold
as 15 ahoe zero in the damp
and windv citv But the njacic
el the big nunSier moves us all.
of Defense Robert McNamara.
They are putting massive pres
sure on defense contractors, to
whum goes a vast percentage of
this government's total outlays,
to reduce not their output of
arms but their cost figures for
(hose arms. II is being made
perfectly plain that contractors
persistently refusing to cooper
ate in stripping otf all expend
able fat from the military budg
et will not be looked upon kind
ly when contract-renewal lime
comes.
And officials all over the gov
ernme'it are getting this poig
nant message from headquar
ters: Fellows, one of the best
ways to look for promotion in
the bureaucracy is to find and
orint nut specific places where
avoidable expenses can be end
ed. Within the Pentagon alone,
the President has set an objec
tive of actually accomplished
savings of $1.5 billions in this
fiscal year. That this is a
fixed demand, and not a pious
hope, is being drummed into
evcrvbody in official Washing
Ion in an unmistakable way by
a President who is in a hurry
on this matter and is making
certain thai everybody knows it.
He has not only so advised
nil principal officials in writing.
He is calling them in. one by
one. to emphasize the point face
to face.
Favorable congressional ac
tion on the tax bill the meas
ure which held the highest pri
because of surpluses, we should
do something about it. But let's
give it to needy people w h o
want lo help themselves and
not to those whose leaders w ish
we'd all drop dead.
Frances Ray,
Ralston, Wash.
Pet Killed
During early November,
friends of mine left their black
Labrador retriever with us for
safe keeping while they were
away. He was a lovable, affec
tionate dog. Our children played
w ith him all of the time.
Coffee disappeared Thanksgiv
ing morning. We reported it to
local and state police and the
city and county dog pounds, but
it was not until an ad appeared
in the losl and found column of
the Herald and News that we
learned anything of his where
abouts. A neighbor reported having
heard a muffled gun shot and
later found tlie dog in an alley,
about two and one-half blocks
from our home.
We do not know whether this
was the work of juveniles or
adults, but in any case the
shooting of firearms within Ihe
city limits is a misdemeanor
and makes the neighborhood un
safe for small animals, as well
as our children w ho play in and
around the parks.
Sy Rcdakowski.
1515 Eldorado Street.
Smear At Work
I would like to draw your at
tention to a statement in your
paper of Dec. 4 on page four.
You quoted Sen. Stephen M.
Young of Ohio as referring to
fellow Americans as people who
u-c "lunatic, right - wing vio
lence." It is hard (or me to believe
that a man who is smart enough
to be a U.S. Senator would
make such an un-Christian
statement. I would rather think
that some left wing, lunatic
smear artist is at work.
Possibly you can tell me why
"We're jof to ttep meeting
people will think
BERRY S WORLD
ority with the late President
Kennedy is of enormous im
portance to the new adminis
tration. First, the President sees
it as an urgent requirement of
Ihe national economy and an
earned reward for business.
Second, he is quite determined
It carry out his promise to the
late President to do his damned
est tn put tax reduction throuali.
Third, this is both the first
maior challenge and the first
realistic opportunity for the new
President to vindicate in a new
ottice his old reputation a a
master worker on Caoitol Hill.
President Johnson's No. 1 pri.
nrity enactment of a c i v i I
rights bill is receiving perhaps
even more urgent treatment at
the White House. No informed
man. however, supposes that,
given the best of fortune, it can
be passed within the short time
remaining of this year. With the
tax bill there is just a thin
ghost of a chance to bring off a j
victory before the old year
ends.
The all-out mish now ordered
bv Speaker of the House John
W. McCo-mnck lo bring the civ
il rights hill to Ihe House floor
by-passing the traffic-regulating
Rules Committee, if neces
sarv has improved civil rights
prospects in the House. All the
same, there is yet a brooding
Senate lo contend with. An infi
nite persuasiveness w ill be need
ed lo bring it around to action
on the section to forbid racial
discrimination in private busi
ness. so many newspapers go so far
out of their way lo smear peo
ple who are doing all they know
how to keep this country out of
the hands of communism? You
never pass up a chance to
smear such great Americans as
Joe McCarthy and Richard M.
Nixon: men who sacrificed
their political career to rid this
country of men who were anti
American. I am not a Republican nor
am I a Democrat, but if I were
forced to make a decision, I
would choose the lesser of the
two evils and be a Republican.
W. Woods,
Dorris, Calif.
America United
During the lasl ten 'days,
much was said about President'
Kennedy's life and death. The
sorrow of ihe nation, of the
whole world, is beginning to
calm down, bul the light burn
ing at his grave will show us
Ihe way lo love God. our coun
try and every fellowman.
What I have experienced dur
ing Ihose tragic days was some
thing I had never hoped to see
during my lifetime. I h a v e
seen our America united. Mat
ter of fact, practically t h e
whole world became like one
nation, and even our worst ene
mies had a kind word to say
about someone we loved.
Also. I have seen all church
es united in fervent prayer.
How much God must have been
longing to see that day. How
very much He must have
been pleased.
It was so peaceful during
those four days. Not a word of
hatred from anyone. With all
the business, commercials and
lies set aside. I believe for the
first time in many, many years
God was able to take a" long
walk upon this earth, and say.
1 think, "People can hear me
now."
If President Kennedy could
have spoken to us during those
days, he would have said, "It
was well worth it to die."
Mrs. Frank Krok,
604 N. 7th St.
in the museum, Arnold .
we're gone artyl"
I