iAGE 6A
HERALD
dtbiial (paqsi
Studebaker's Demise
In South Bend, Ind., the community is
faced with a crisis due to the announcement
by the Studebaker Co., that it will close its
plant there within a matter of a week or so.
Reason given: The company has lost $40
: million "in trying to keep the South Bend
: plant open."
But the concern makes further an
: nouncement that it will move to Hamilton,
' Ont. and continue manufacturing automo
I biles.
' At first, South Benders were shocked
at the announcement. It meant 7,000 work
ers in the Studebaker plant will be forced
to find employment elsewhere' and at a
very bad time, just before Christmas.
Business leaders in the famed Indiana
city then braced and have taken the atti
tude that South Bend was in existence before
Studebaker came on the scene; that South
Bend is a good industrial town and that some
how, some way, the community will go on.
They have taken a positive attitude toward
the economic setback rather than a negative
view.
At first blush you would get the im
pression that Studebaker's demise in South
Bend would take with it most of the job op
portunities In that city. But apparently only
about three per cent of the employable peo
ple will be affected. Three per cent is big
percentage when you are talking about jobs
but a strenuous campaign by the industrial
Ask
A rather curious little item comes from
North Dakota. There rural telephone co
operatives propose a change in the tax sys
tem affecting them, which would result in an
increase in their tax payments.
The proposal has been made to a leg
islative subcommittee which has taken it
under advisement. According o a co-op
spokesman, "We offer (his proposal as one
our member organizations could tolerate
without jeopardizing their operations to the
point of requiring increased rates to their
customers."
': The proposal, it would seem, has merit
-s-as would any move which would do away
with the very substantial tax and financing
advantages, which are forms of special
privilege, these and other utility co-ops now
enjoy. But there is still another element that
deserves some notice.
WILLIAM
By WILLIAM S. WHITE
WASHINGTON - President
Johnson's action to bring the
next man in line for the Presi
dency, Hop. John W. JlcCor
mack of Massachusetts, into the
highly secret National Security
Council puts a Speaker of the
House for the first time into the
most intimate war-and-penco de
liberations of this government.
It will do a great deal more,
however, than (his. It w ill enor
mously increase Speaker Mc
Oormack's real power base out
side Congress, and most notably
within it. There, a quietly gath
ering "revolt" by a handful of
ultra-liberal democrats i, gainst
MoCormuck's autlvority had
been signalled several weeks
ago by sonic of those directly
involved.
This whispered coming palace
revolution or, more exactly,
this potentiol putsch of good in
tentions and disorderly implica
tions for responsible operation
of the House .May now be said
to be doubly dead before it
started. Its chances had In any
event been thin in the extreme,
ijnee a very considerable num
ber of tliose counted upon to
be eager to "go out against
'John" were in fact always loyal
to his elected leadership and
meant 'to remain to.
Now, however, the substan
tial certainty that Uie Speaker
could not be effectively chal
lenged by small rump move
ments wiuiln his own party had
become an absolute certainty.
For power is power, and while
iMcormack is in no way short
of that commodity singly as
Speaker of the House, he it now
amply rearmed by tlw fact tliat
AND NEWS. Klamath Falls, Oregon
development arm of the South Bend Cham
ber of Commerce should, in due time, pick
up that slack. Naturally it will take a lot of
cooperation on the part of the city council
and other civic units.
Studebaker says it will capitalize on the
eight per cent dollar differential which now
exists. And the chairman of the board thinks
that there is better opportunity of cutting
costs in Hamilton. Probably from the stand
point of labor. On the other hand how can
Studebaker, or other companies which are
manufacturing products abroad, continue to
flood the United Slates market with items
which are produced much more cheaply than
they are here? You'd expect the person who
makes the world's top wages would insist on
"buying American."
We hate to see a concern like Stude
baker, which has been an important com
pany in the nation for more than 100 years,
leave the United States. For most of this pe
riod, Studebaker was a healthy, prosperous
company. Why, suddenly as opposed to
other automobile manufacturing companies
has Studebaker fallen on such evil times?
It must either be poor management, or be
cause it has manufactured a product that
hasn't been acceptable. It's hard to believe
that the company will "get well" in Canada
because it will be paying its employes less
wages or because it will get the benefit of
the Canadian-American exchange.
Tax Increase
According to the news accounts, a
search has been going on for two years for a
tax system which would place co-ops on the
same tax basis as private utilities without
excessively burdening them. This kind of
consideration, needless to say1, is not given
to private utilities or any other private en
terprise. Private enterprise and its custo
mers must pay taxes in rates charged under
the general existing system and make or
break in the process.
So far as telephone or electric co-ops
are concerned, everywhere in the country,
the fair and reasonable step would be to
place them on the same tax basis, and fi
nancing basis, applied to private utilities of
a comparable nature. They certainly should
not be penalized. They shouldn't be favored,
cither.
S. WHITE
Speaker's Power
in human truth as well as in
law he is the next man to tlie
President of the United States.
That official who is truly next
to Uic President this or any
other President is not lightly
rebelled against. Even less is
he successfully rebelled ugainst.
All this aborted and minor
cloak-and-dagger stuff is only
accidental and incidental, how
ever, In the true meaning of
Speaker McCormack's elevation
into a second hierarchy, that of
tlw executive branch. The genu
ine and lusting significance of
what has been done is this: The
United States has made certain
before history that there cannot
again be such a situation as oc
curred when Franklin Roosevelt
died in 1945 and left his succes
sor without any real knowledge
of what had loen going on in
the White House.
Of course, there was then an
elected and sitting vice presi
dent, Harry S Truman. But Mr.
Truman had to assume the
Presidency at a moment's no
tice In almost total ignorance of
what his Lite chief had been do
ing and thinking and planning
and promising. Because he had
not been taken into Mr. Roo
sevelt's confidence perhaps be
cause of the cruel pressures of
a tuo4runt w ar Hai ry Truman
had not even been aware that
something called an atomic
bomb had been made.
The failure was one of liai
son. All the same, it couki have
been catastrophieally cosily to
this nation had not Mr. Truman
shown an almost incredible ca
pacity to bring himseif abreast
of die state of affairs ali around
the world. He soon poinled out
Thursday, December It, 1963
Rises
that he had no vice president at
his side and that as matters
tlien stood, the presidency would
pass to a non-elected official,
the Secretary of Stale, should
he himself suddenly become in
capacitated Congress responded with a
bill to make the Speaker of the
House Uie next in line of suc
cession for the presidency in
such circumstances. Today, Mr.
Johnson, too, has no vice presi
dent. Today. Speaker McCor
mack is by law his appointed
successor, should trugedy strike.
Thus, one of tlie first ads of
the new President is to make
sure not simply that he lias a
successor qualified by law but
a successor qualified also to
act, not simply alter boning up
on live facts but in concurrent
possession of the facts all along.
As it happens, too, the close
association is not only a clearly
necessary one. in the highest of
national interest, but also a
happy ami relaxed one. Speaker
McCormack and tlie President
hae been lor nearly two dec
adesa time going back to Mr
Johnson's service in the House
on a "John and Lyndon" bas
is. The Speaker, moreover,
though an early backer of tlie
late John F. Kennedy for the
I960 Presidential nomination,
was an equally early backer of
L)mln B. Johnson for vice
president. McCormack was one
of Uie few wlio believed from
tlie beginning rightly, as it
turned out that Mr. Johnson
wouk) accept second place if
this became necessary to pro
mote Democratic fortunes.
By BRUCE B10SSAT
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
NEW YORK (NEA) - Mrs.
Jacqueline Kennedy has told
President Lyndon B. Johnson
she would be happy to play
any political role he might ask
of her in the 1964 presidential
campaign.
A source high in Democratic
circles says the late John F.
Kennedy's widow made this of
fer to the President in his of
fice, on the occasion of her "last
look'' at the Oval Room where
her husband had worked f o r
nearly three years.
Mrs. Kennedy is said to have
told Johnson she never before
had been really closely involved
in politics nor experienced in
it. but that she would "do any
thing" the President might
think helpful.
The impact of any measur
able participation by her in the
1964 campaign could be im
mense, in the view of political
observers. Remarks one:
"Can you imagine the effect
One That Wasn't On The Map
WASHINGTON REPORT .
By FULTON LEWIS JR.
WASHINGTON By the mid
dle 1950s a logjam of litigation
threatened to paralyze the fed
eral courts.
With animal regularity, begin
ning in 1U54. President Eis
enhower would ask Congress to
create new judgeships, citing
the heavy work load and the
ever - increasing backlog of
cases on tlie docket.
Just as annually, tlie Demo
cratic leaders of Congress
would reject Ike's request. They
did not wish the President to
have new tools of pauonagc.
Attorney General William
Rogers went so far as to as
sure Democrats that Eisenhow
er would "(ill the new posts on
a 50-50 basis from the two poli
tical parties."
The Democrats' answer: no.
Tlieir reason was simple, as one
correspondent wrote: "With all
bets riding on tlie outcome of
llie I960 election, the Democrats
rejected a half-loaf in hopes of
winning the whole loaf."
The gamble paid off. A Dem
ocratic President pushed
through a Democratic Congress
a bill creating 73 new judge
ships. With 42 other vacancies
caused by death or retirement,
the President had a patronage
lever unprecedented in judicial
history.
Of the President's first SO ap
pointees, 79 were Democrats.
The ol her was a member of
New York's Liberal Party,
which supported John Kennedy
for President. Of Uiose 80 ap
pointees, seven were found un
qualified by the American Bar
Association.
Now controversy swirls about
two men named to tlie bench by
President Kennedy a low
months before his death. They
are David Rabinowitz. named
federal district judge or west
ern Wisconsin, and George Chi
ton Edwards Ji , appointed to
tlie Sixth Circuit Court ol Ap
peals in Deli oil.
Rabinowitz is an old colleague
of Walter KouUier's. As far
back as 19M. he was defending
strikers at Kohler, Wis. Two
decades later, lie was still on
the union payroll as the lawyer
for United Auto Worker pickets
arreted in the violent strike
against the Kohler Company
Rabinowiu first caught John
Kennedy's eve during hearings
of tlie Senate Labor Rackets
Committee. Rabinowiti was a
UAW counsel, representing la
bor statesmen sunpoenaed for
testimony.
Mrs. Kennedy
of having Jacqueline Kennedy
go on television and even just
introduce Lyndon Johnson'.'"
Mrs. Kennedy would stand
as tlie living reminder of the
dead President, the focus of
whatever sympathy for him
might still be at work in vot
ers' minds as election time
nearcd. And she would have
great stature in her own right
for the example of courage and
dignity she exhibited in the or
deal of her husband's death.
If taken up, her offer to John
son would represent for her
an ordeal of another sort. The
former First Lady, as she told
the President, has done little in
politics up to now.
Until the fateful trip to Tex
as, which she happily entered
upon in a manner thought to
foreshadow heavier political ac
tivity with her husband in 1964,
she had not made a purely po
litical journey since late Octo
ber, 1960.
Her final venture in that
campaign was on tlie day Ken-
Politics Rule Choice
For Federal Judge
The liberal Capital Times,
Madison's chief paper, called
Rabinowitz' appointment "al
most unbelievable." The Amer
ican Bar Association said Rab
inowitz was "unqualified" to
serve on the federal bench. A
solid majority of Wisconsin at
torneys, polled by the Slate Bar
Association, urged Rabinowitz'
rejection by the Senate.
In the same week that Presi
dent Kennedy named Rabir.o
wilz to tlie bench he also ap
pointed Edwards, another for
mer LAW leader.
Edwards' legal experience
dates back to February, 1935,
when he was thrown hi jail in
Fort Smith, Ark., on a charge
of barratry (habitual lawsuits'.
A self-styled class warrior. Ed
wards had visited Fort Smith
to help "downtrodden share
croppers." Out of jail. Edwards became
the first national chairman of
the American Student Union, a
group later declared by a Con
gressional committee to be a
Communist front. In that po.-t
he helped plan a nationwide
strike "against war" and urged
students to refuse to serve in
the armed forces.
Soon after, Edwards became
an organicr for the UAW,
during which the bloody Yale
and Towne strike occurred when
strikers threw lead weights and
tear gas bombs at the police.
He ignored a court order to call
off the strike, staged a sitdown
in the company plant, and wxin
a 30-day jail sentence for his
elforts. Behind bars, lie tried
to organize fellow inmates in
a L AW local, confident he could
win them a 40-hour week and
vacations with pay.
Leaving prison. Edwards rose
quickly m the UAW hierarchy
to become welfare director,
then went into politics. In a
phenomenally successful career,
he was elected Detroit city
councilman, president of t h e
city council, probate judge, cir
cuit judge and Michigan Su
prcme Court judge.
Only in 1949, when he sought
Uie Detroit mayoralty, did Ed
wards meet defeat. In that elec
tion, a former UAW vice pres
ident. Richard Frankenstecii.
Iiclped torpedo his old col
league: "I worked with Ed
wards when he first came to
Detroit and believe me when I
say he came here to organize
the Socialist Tarty "
Both Edwards and Rabmowru
must win Senate contirmatinn
belore Uwir appointments are
otfictal.
O
Offers 1964 Election
nedy rode up Broadway from
Wall Street to midtown New
York. She left the cavalcade at
lunchtime. She was then ex
pecting her second child, and
doctors had advised her against
further public appearances.
Beyond this, however, report
ers who had observed M r s.
Kennedy on the campaign trail
in I960 and earlier in Massa
chusetts found her basically
shy.
This reporter recalls a small
incident in the bitter cold of the
Wisconsin primary of 1960.
The late President and his
wife came to a tiny movie
theater for a morning rally.
Kennedy mounted the stage but
Mrs. Kennedy sat down in a
shadowy corner in the first row
of seats.
He motioned to her to come
up. "Can't I stay here?" she
pleaded. He shook his head and
beckoned again. She went up
and sat beside him.
Though she repeatedly
braved the harsh weather and
Politics. In State Of Flux
Bv DORIS FLEESON
WASHINGTON - Behind the
scenes the profcssonal politi
cians are feverishly attempting
to adjust to changed conditions
and a new President.
Lyndon Johnson differs from
John F. Kennedy in b a c k
ground, temperament, style and
spirit. He shares some Kenne
dy virtues and professes t h e
Kennedy aims.
But his faults are entirely dif
ferent, and this is where the
politicians must change pace,
both Democrats and Repub
licans. Democrats have a new
product to sell and to defend.
Republicans w ill run against a
fresh set of faults.
The 30-day period of mourn
ing, added to Uie near approach
of the Christmas holidays,
cloaks much of the current dis
cussion. Still it is starting to
break through, and it can be
expected to erupt when Con
gress convenes in early Janu
ary. For example, there is the
cautiously worded statement
which the House Republican pol
icy committee released. It said
that we should not lose sight of y
why we mourn, but adds:
"Neither should we permit
the tragic event . .' . to be used
EDSON
By PETER EDSON
Washington Correspondent
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
W ASHINGTON ( NEA l There
is still hope that some new
larm legislation may make a
little progress in the final days
of this session of Congress but
it's very faint. Of a score or
more major farm bills, only
three or four are given any
chance.
Wheat legislation is given no
chance at all. in spite of pres
sure from farm organizations
and wheat state congressmen,
particularly the Republicans.
The daily bill introduced by
Sen. W illiam Proxmire, D-W'is..
passed the Senate but no House
action is scheduled.
Department of Agriculture
would like action to extend the
Kennedy administration conser
vation reserve program beyond
1964. but prospects are doubtful.
If not extended, all the acre
age in the Eisenhower adminis
tration soil bank reserve could
be brought tack into production
next year.
With nearly 10 years of new
farm technology available since
tiie soil bank bill was passed,
Uiere is considerable fear over
what will happen.
Production of most major
crops might soar, leading to still
larger surpluses and necessitat
ing huge increases in govern
ment farm program costs for
OUESTIONS
AND
ANSWERS
Q Which was (he first state In
the Union to be permanently set
tled by Europeans?
A Florida, in 1563.
Q What name did Columbus
give to the Island ol Cuba?
A Juana. in honor of tlie daugh
ter of the king and queen of Spain.
Cuba is its Indian name.
tr-By what treaty in M3 A. P.
Is France considered to have be
gun lis history as a separate n-
lion?
A The Treaty of Verdun.
other hazards of the early 1960
struggles, Jacqueline Kennedy
seldom if ever stayed on the
road more than three days at a
' time.
She told this reporter in a
1960 interview that her reasons
were two: she did not want to
be away from her daughter,
Caroline, any longer than that,
and she found her energy run
ning low.
Even to keep her energy at
working levels for three days,
she often quietly slipped away
after lunch on a crowded cam
paign day and went on to the
evening stop where she rested
a while before dinner and re
ception. She had .no wish ever to
speak on her trips w ith her hus
band, but a few times she did.
Once in Wisconsin in early
March, he was called back to
Washington to act on important
legislation. Mrs. Kennedy
filled in for him all the next
day. making simple direct ap
as a device to cloud the future
of honest debate and dissent.
Efforts to make Americans feel
generally guilty cf the crime
now are obscuring the nature of
the crime.
"There is guilt, but it is not
American guilt. It is the guilt
of the murderer, If it was ha
tred that moved the assassin,
that hatred was bred by the
teachings of communism."
Thus the verdict of the War
ren commission is anticipated
and a backfire set against the
present trend toward self-examination.
It is not yet the Re
publican party line, of course,
but it is the beginning of a de
bate which w ill not long be car
ried on privately.
Most sharply frustrated are
the draft-Goldwater forces. The
Senator's personal grief w a s
sharply etched on his face as
he moved slowly past the Ken
nedy bier in the Capitol Ro
tunda. For the first time, at 54.
he did not seem to be quite a
contemporary of the President
slain at 46.
The Goldwalcr drive now con
fronts a President one year the
Senator's senior and widely ac
cepted as a moderate conserva
tive. The President is a South
erner, and while he has 'had
IN WASHINGTON
Farm Bill Outlook Poor
support prices and storage.
A major effort is being made
to enlist President Lyndon John
son's support for pending bills.
Farm organizations and lobby
ists vie w ith each other in pro
claiming that the new president
from Texas is indeed the farm
ers' best friend.
This has succeeded to a limit
ed degree on a bill to make the
Kennedy food stamp pilot plan
program a permanent govern
ment operation and to get ac
tion on a new cotton bill.
Agriculture Secretary Orville
L. Freeman declared in a
Thanksgiving letter to 50 state
governors that President John
son had asked for a "redou
bled" elfort to insure mat Unit
ed States food abundance is
"fully" available to all who
need it. This would include food
stamp, school lunch and Food
for Peace plans.
On cotton legislation, the late
President Kennedy over a year
ago advocated congressional
consideration of ending the two
price system for domestic and
export cottcn sales, in effect
since 1957.
A bill to make this change,
introduced by House Agricultur
al Committee Chairman Har
old D. Cook-y. D-N.C. is sup
ported by the American Cotton
Council, Textile Manufacturers
Institute and other trade or
ganizations. The Cooley bill would substi
tute a "payment in kind" of
surplus cotton to persons other
than producers so as to elimi
nate the cost differential now
paid by foreign and domestic
nulls.
It would in effect reduce the
price of cotton and cause ma
jor readjuments in the cotton
industry. But its spokesmen in
sist this is necessary because
tiie two-price system which
they originally supported
hasn't worked.
Shaker John W. McCormack
got President Johnson's approv
al for the House to take up the
Cooley bill Doc. 2. so that it
could be brought before the
Senate this year.
Passage or defeat of this bill
is not considered a first test of
President Johnson's intli.'cnce
with Congress. It was foreseen
Aid
peals to voters in town after
town. .
Later, pressed into a brief
television appearance on the
road in West Virginia, she
heard a station manager com
p I i m e n t her performance.
Mindful of her "breathless"
voice which seldom projects
easily, she replied:
"You caught me on one of
my good days."
The swirling confusion of pol
itics seemed often to puzzle, if
not upset her. Giving this re
porter her impression of a na
tional political convention, she
remarked the general chaos
and added:
"All those men not going to
bed for five days, and shout
ing and stomping around."
, Against the background
of s u c h recollections, Jacque
line Kennedy's offer of political
assistance to President Johnson
stands out as a striking new
departure. It may well be read
as impressive fresh evidence of
her devotion to the causes John
F. Kennedy espoused.
troubles in his own Texas, the
fact is bound to affect the vot
ers in the territory marked out
as Goldwater's own next year.
Even more discouraging to
Goldwater admirers is the fact
that not one of them is able to
say that the Senator promised
him categorically that he would
run for President. They were
assuming that the enthusiasm
of his crowds would create
enough momentum to sweep
him into the race.
They are less sure now. A few
are saying that they believe his
promised January announce
ment will make him a candidate
for reelection to the Senate.
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller
makes no secret of his own be
lief that his chances are
strengthened. He is trying hard
to wrap up his New York state
legislative message and budg
et so that by mid-January he
can spend much lime campaign
ing in the New Hampshire pri
mary. Some New Hampshire politi
cal veterans are not convinced
Rockefeller will be helped
there. They recall that a well
organized write-in vote served
Richard M. Nixon well in the
state in 1956. They expect it to
appear again this spring.
that the House vote would be
close.
Cotton Council and Textile In
stitute spokesmen concede that
there is little chance the Senate
will pass the Cooley bill this
year. Senate Agriculture Com
mittee Chairman Allen Ellender,
D-La.. opposes it on Uie grounds
that it would cost the govern
ment more money than existing
cotton programs.
There is more Senate support
for a bill introduced by Sen.
Herman Talmadgc, D-Ga. It
would provide a direct subsidy
payment to cotton producers,
like the old Brannan plan.
In the meantime, it is general
ly expected that cotton produc
ers voting in referendum will
approve continuance of support
price payments with acreage
production controls under exist
ing legislation.
For cotton farmers to reject"
this plan would be a far great
er upset than when wheat farm
ers rejected controls in last
May's referendum.
Al
manac
By United Press International
Today is Thursday. Dec. 12,
the 346th day of 1963 with 19 to
follow.
The moon is approaching its
last phae.
The evening stars are Jupiter.
Saturn and Venus.
On this day in historv:
In 1930. Edward D. White of
Louisiana became chief justice
of tiie United States.
In 1947. John L. Lewis with
drew his United Mmc Workers
Union from the American Fed
eration of Labor for the second
tune.
In 193.1. Maj. Charles Yeager
flew a research jet plane more
tlvan two-and-one-half times Uie
speed of sound
In 1939. the Paraguayan gov
etument announced an invasion
by 1.000 rebel exiles based in
Argentina had been crushed.
A Uiought for the day Amer
ican theologian Jonathan Ed
wards said: "I assert that
nothing ever comes to pai
without a cause."
O
o