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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1963)
PAGE IB HERALD Tending To Liberty The uses of liberty are never easy to determine and maintain, even in a nation with a long history of freedom. The United States has had freedom for 187 years, and its people are still arguing often bitterly about how it can best be en joyed and preserved. The political divisions represented by conservatism and liberalism reflect this con tinuing controversy. Baiscally, this spread of view is not only inevitable but healthy. Ar guing about what freedom is helps to bol ster it, to keep it vibrant. The strains upon liberty are greater today than when this country gained its in dependence. : Then the adversary was a distant gov ernment In England which, though moving steadily toward a constitutional democracy at home, was cracking down on colonial America with the autocratic power. Today the old notions of an uncompll- cated freedom struggle against heavy coun- terweights. At first, government reached out to regulate against flagrant abuses of liberty. In the Great Depression, it reached out to assist the destitute, the aged, the unem ployed, the handicapped. World War II, the Korean War and the' cold war brought a massive enlargement of the government's role in American life, with defense and related activities holding sway Sale (Corvallii Gazatta Times) Even before the assassination of Mr. Kennedy with a mail-order rifle cost ing $19.95, there was a bill pending in Con gress (by Senator Thomas J. Dodd, D-Conn.) for tighter control over the sale of fire arms. This bill was originally aimed at mail order sales of concealable guns, such as pistols but it has now been broadened to in clude "all firearms." Presently it is legal to ship shotguns and rifles to licensed dealers and manufac turers and to private individuals who have not been convicted of or indicted for a crime punishable by Imprisonment of more than one year and are not fugitives from justice. Senator Dodd's measure would make the seller and the deliverer responsible for refusing to deliver a weapon to a minor. It would also require purchasers to submit a notarized form giving age, name, address, WASHINGTON REPORTS . . . By FULTON LEWIS JR. WASMNGTON-The "image" of Lyndon Johnson carried by coaxial cablo and bounced olf Telslar Is that ot an austere man. lie is not . There lies the nub ot his problem. The President looks slilf and sometimes awkward when on television, lie delivers an ad dress looking through clcar rimmod spectacles at his text, rarely looking up at the cam. era. When Interviewed, he may appear nervous and irritable. He Is riled easily, lie dues not have tlio warmth of a J n h n Kennedy or a Harry Goldwa lor. These are the fads of puliti cal life. They make it inciens ingly doubtful that President Jolinsun will debate his COP opponent next year. White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, queried by this . office, issued a terse "no com ment" when asked alxnit re ports (hat Johnson w ill turn thumbs down on any fact-to-lace confrontation. John Kennedy promised more than Hires years ngo he would debate again in l:W. Barry Goldwatcr has remained silent, ; publicly, because he Is not an announced candidate. Hut lie was ready to take on Kennedy and will debate Johnson if riv en the opportunity. The other GOP hopefuls Rockefeller, Scranton, Romney, Morton, Nix. on would almost certainly AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Oregon over a greatly expanded federal budget and biting deep into the economic and political structure. Nearly all these enlargements have oc curred in a brief 30 years, less than a sixth of the country's history as a free land., Small wonder, then, that millions of Americans shape a mood of protest against the steady encroachments. With the nation growing ever more populous and its prob lems mounting, the prospect clearly is for more of the same. No American genuinely wedded to lib erty can wish to yield an inch of it cas ually. Conservatism which acts as a brake and corrective against any cavalier aban donment of freedom serves all free men well. Conservatism moves toward unreality only when, at its fringes, it calls for such sharp reversals as would leave great prob lems not only unsolved but largely un touched. Liberalism is similarly unreal when it calls for an end by the day after tomor rowof the struggles against poverty and for peace. Congress cannot appropriate enough money to bring on the millennium. Our incredibly difficult task, now and for perhaps decades to come, is to find the sane, plausible course that will hold the great substance of our liberties while giv ing us some solid hope of effective assault upon our baffling array of problems. Of Firearms criminal record if any and a state ment of non-violation of local law in buying the gun. This affidavit would have to be "authenticated by the highest local law-enforcement authority in the purchaser's com munity." The problem of gun purchase and own ership Is a sticky one. The federal constitu tion says in part, ". . . the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be in fringed," and the Oregon constitution says, "The people shall have the right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state . . ." The problem is to keep the "bad guys" from having the guns while permitting the "good guys" to have them for their own protection or for hunting. Do you have an answer? No TV Debates press for a debate if nomin ated. The turning point in Rill Scran ton's 1913 gubernatorial cam paign was a debate televised throughout Pennsylvania. S u r prising many experts, tlio. Re publican candidate completely nutshlnod Richardson Dilworth, his supposedly invincible oppo nent. He went on to trounce llil worth by almost hall a million voles. Will Johnson ask his Con gressinnal lieutenants to quietly kill a bill that would peimil televised debutes next year? That lull would suspend Sec tion .115 of the Federal Commu nications Act for Republican and Democratic candidates. I'll less this is done, free time giv en the major candidates would oien the way lor equal time demands by candidates of ob scure splinter parties who would clutter the airwaves. Tlio bill has passed both houses but the Senate made mi nor changes necessitating 1 1 s recommittal to the House Com merce Committee. That was more than a month ago. If Johnson attempts to kill Hie bill you may expect an guished cries from the COP. The President finds himsell in a real bind. Ho is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Robert Wagner, Democratic mayor of New York, is men tioned as a likely vica presi dential running nut for Lyn Friday. December 13, 1961 In 1964? don Johnson. The astute San ford E. Stanton, veteran politi cal analyst for the New York Journal-American, has Rone way out on a limb and said Wagner's nomination Is almost inevitable. Wagner, a Catholic, might be expted to strengthen the Hem ocratie ticket in Northern slates. He has a strong record on civil rights and is known as a friend of organized labor. (His father authored the Wag ner I-alnir Relations Act as a memlier of the Senate ) Tliere are drawbacks to the Wagner candidacy. The mayor is little known outside of New York. He has no cxericnee in national affairs or in the field of foreign policy. He is a poor soakcr. He is short and ordi nary looking. Tliere is little glamor to him. Other vice presidential possi bilities include Robert Kennedy, Sargent Shriver, a brother-in-law of the late President, Sens. Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey, California Governor Pat Brown, Chicago Mayor Richard llaley and Ad lai Stevenson. None of tltcse would lie the ideal candidate. Bob Kennedy remains unpopular In the South. Shriver has never ran for pub lic office and Is little known. McCarthy Is rather dull Hum phrey is too garrulous and too liberal. Brown is something less than dynamic. Daley is a "boss." Stevenson is a two time loser. 'It Is Later Than You Think" - 1 . , . J '..JtlTirila I . ' EPSON IN WASHINGTON . . . Rights Bill Petition First Johnson Test By PETER EDSON Washington Correspondent Newspaper Enterprise Assn. WASHINGTON (NEA) A first test on President John son's influence w ith Congress is shaping up on civil rights. The Johnson goal is simply to get the administration's civil rights bill cleared by the House Rules Committee before Christ mas, for floor action early next year. Octogenarian Howard W. Smith, D-Va., chairman of the Rules Committee, has made a flat statement that he will not let the civil rights bill be re ported out this year. He is sup ported in this position by south ern Democrats, the House Re publican leadership and a House GOP caucus. President Johnson has ap proved an effort by liberal Democrats to force the bill out of the Rules Committee for ; floor vote. This can be done only by a petition signed by 218 of the 435 representatives. According to House rules this petition was not to be placed in the well of the House for signing before Dec. 9 and can not be considered by the whole House before Dec. 23. This makes it a battle against time. Many congressmen want to adjourn the session for the Christmas holidays on Dec. 20. Some would like to push ad journment to Dec. 17 or even Dec. 14. Congress would then reconvene on Jan. 2. Roy Wilkins. executive secre tary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and chairman of the 80 organization Leadership Confer ence on Civil Rights, thinks that the 218 signatures can be ob tained. NAACP and other Negro or ganizations have counted con gressional noses on this score often enough to know. But Wil kins admits that he doesn't have absolute pledges to sign and (hat after 200, the going w ill be tough. So the outcome will be close and it could be failure. But Wilkins says: "We won't make a bow to anyone's Christ mas vacation to get action this year." In other words, he wants Congress to work right through the Christmas holidays., M o s t BERRY'S WORLD "No, wise guj ,. . Lady Bird can't come to the phone!" ctftl- -lil t I " l i vi . .tr-mjtil . congressmen say there isn't a chance. But Wilkins, speaking only for himself and not for his organi zations, says: "This is a cru sade. It can't be guided by cold realism. You have to believe in fairies and magic will be accomplished." This is like be lieving there will be another Christmas miracle this year. The political question is what will happen if there isn't a mir acle. Wilkins promises retaliation at the polls in the 1364 elections. Failure to sign the petition w ill place a congressman under sus picion, though it won't necessa rily blacklist him. But he will have to have a good alibi. Failure to vote for civil rights legislation on final passage will subject a congressman to NAACP opposition. Wilkins says that a moratori um on direct political action of this kind has not speeded con gressional passage of civil rights legislation in the past.. "This year's demonstrations have sharpened appreciation of the issue," he adds. He refers to "the terror, the persecution, the assassination of Mcdgar Evcrs in Mississippi, the death of four little girls in a Birmingham Sunday School bombing as an accumulation of events demanding faster ac tion now. "Within 24 hours after Argen tina threatened to confiscate American oil properties, there were demands in Congress that foreign aid lie cut off," Wilkins points out. "If Congress can get that ex cited about oil," he asks, "why can't it do something about kill ing little girls?" From 23 to 50 Washington rep resentatives of the 80 organiza tions in the Leadership Confer ence on Civil Rights are being reinforced by 30 special legis lative lobbyists from the United Steel Workers Union to pres sure congressmen into signing the House discharge petition. These'forcos will lie supple mented by volunteers from oth er labor unions, church groups and Negro organizations in a drive to get sonic House action on civil rights Uiis year. It is admitted tliere is no chance to get Senate action before late spring or early summer. Error Of Snap Judgments By BRUCE BIOSSAT The slender young woman who walked away from the White House a bare fortnight after her husband was cruelly struck down will he remem bered as a First Lady unique in American history. Millions in America and the world saw the incredible cour age and dignity with which she met the ordeal of John F. Ken nedy's violent death and his sol emn burial. It is not clear how many, particularly in her own country, grasped the full import of Jacqueline Kennedy's illustri ous example. For the hard truth is that, un til tragedy struck, countless Americans had been sadly mis judging her as a frivolous, flighty, glamor-conscious, pleasure-seeking woman who graced the White House poorly. All the solid evidence was against this harsh verdict, but unhappily, many Americans perhaps many in the world are given to measuring people according to shallow stereo types. In Jacqueline Kennedy's case, the stereotype was made of such fragments as these: a "breathless" voice that sounded to some like affectations, pic tures of her in such informal attire as Capri pants, or with IN WASHINGTON . . . GOP By RALPH de TOLEDANO From the moment that John F. Kennedy was assassinated some in public life have tried to make political capital of that tragic event. This docs not hon or Jolm F. Kennedy or h i s memory. It is clearly a partisan maneuver to hurt the Republi can Party at a time when its leaders are abstaining from po liUcal activity out of deference to our national mourning. But the GOP could not remain silent forever. The House Republican Policy Committee has finally offered a dignified rebuttal to attempts at waving the bloody shirt. What they say is of historic impor tance and if it is not heeded the present excesses of the anti-anti-Communists will be f o 1 lowed by a swing of the pendu lum w hich can do much damage to American institutions. in its statement, approved by House Republicans, the policy committee asserts: "If it was hatred that moved the assas sin who s-truck down our Pres ident, that hatred was bred by the teachings of communism. Almanac By United Press International Today is Friday, Dec. 13. the 347th day of 19B3 with 18 to follow. The moon is approaching its new phase. The evening stars are Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. On this day in history: In 1042, New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Aliel Tasman. In 1018. American soldiers at tached to the Third Army crossed tlie Rhine River at Co blentz, Germany. In 1928, tlie -New York Phil harmonic Orchestra premiered George Gershwin's poem, "An American in Paris." In 1037, Japanese soldiers captured Nanking. China, and began systematic looting of the city. A thought for tlvc day Brit ish novelist A. Coiwn Doyle, physician ami creator of Sher lock Holmes, said: "Whenever you have eliminated the impos sible, whatever remains, how ever improbable, must be the truth." THEY SAY... This is tlie century ot science. Tlie artist is only a luxury memlier of society. Architect Waller Gropius. We give Admiral Perry a cou ple of dollars for some dog sleds and he discovered the .North North Pole. Today it would cost a billion dollars to do the same thine. Rep. Michael Kirwan. D-Ohio. To solve two of the world's big gest problems, have Castro and Chiang Kai-shek trade islands. Kriilor W. M. Kiplincer. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q IV hat tvpe of plant Is the Canada Uilslle? A A perennial. It reproduces by weds or by root runners. wind-tousled hair, or laughing gaily on some foreign beach. The root truth is that she is a woman of high breeding and great sensitivity, well versed in literature and the arts, indepen dent ot spirit tshe held her own against the army of Kennedys', a devoted mother determined that her spotlighted children should have as nearly a normal life as possible, a faithful, duti ful wife to a man who held the world's most demanding job. Far from treating her White House years as a time for fri volity, she used them as fruit fully as any First Lady in the nation's whole history. She set about with unmatched intelligence and' dedication to make of the White House a liv ing repository of all the best in the nation's background. Her restoration efforts were remark able for their taste and thor oughness, and the new First Lady, Mrs. Lyndon Johnsun, is wisely urging her to continue them. Mrs. Kennedy also made of the White House a center for the celebration of the arts, a place where the greatness of the spirit could be honored again and again. Here came poets, dramatists, musicians, dancers of high fame. At no time did this make the Raps Guilt Efforts to make Americans gen erally feel guilty of the crime are now obscuring the nature of the crime. . . . The tragic event should serve to set the face and heart of all Americans firmly against the warped and alien doctrine which, alone in the world today, preaches destruc tion of societies and freedoms, employs murder as a tool, and threatens aggression around the globe from a base of major na tional power. That doctrine is communism. The Republican policy state ment notes, with justifiable concern, that "critics, well meaning and otherwise, have chosen to take this time to re vile the Republic and to decry its weaknesses. Let Americans take this time to recognize the strength of institutions which permit us to proceed beyond tragedy. It is this strength which is our living memorial to all those who, in high places or humble, give their, (lives in the cause of freedom." But the Republicans' sober statement goes beyond this to a call for reason at a time when emotion can misrule. "We have our nation's business to do and we have our nation's proved and tested ways to do it." the GOP emphasizes. "There must be no inhibition of dissent or quieting of the de bate through fear of seeming to disregard the memory of the late President. The denial of discussion would do tlie great est disservice to his memory, and to the living nation." In short, the Republicans in the House call on the Democrats to cease using John K. Ken Purely Personal Prejudices: There is a certain prevalent type of pseudo-religious person wiio not only feels that repent ance washes out past sins but also gives sanction for future ones, so tint each act of re pentance somehow buys "cred it" for tomorrow's transgres sions. People are neatly divided into those who talk about things they don't do. and those who do things they don't talk about: and society conies down hard only on those rash enough to try to combine tlie two. Shaw said so many true ami vondorfully witty things that U s a pity one oi his silliest re marks is Uie most often quoted that "youth is such a wonder ful thing, it's a shame to w aste it on children" iur in the first place, youth i also a time of trials and terrors which we mer cifully forgot as we grow okier; and. in the second, it is not at all w astod on children, but would be utterly wasted on adults. Speaking of children, it ap palls me to see so many moth ers holding Uieir small children in the front scat of the car with Uiem. while the father drives: they would not permit the chil dren to sit on tlie ed;e of a second - story porch, yet tins "suicide seat" in an automobile is far more dangerous. Tiie Uuce most important problems facing tlie 20th cen tury, m my opinion, are ill White House less than a borne for her, for her late husband and for their children. Somehow it managed also to be school, playground and comfortable home all the while she was busy enhancing its symbolic image for the good of all Amer icans. This, then, is the woman whose character and quality were given supreme test in the searing, gruelling hours from midday, Nov. 22, until now. " The manner in w hich she bore herself in that test was no sur prise to anyone who had trou bled to look beyond the fragile stereotype. She behaved exactly as she had always behaved true to herself and those she loved. Now that millions have been awakened to her always visible qualities, perhaps they will move with greater care hereaf ter in judging not only the broad range of public figures, but their friends and associates as well. Jacqueline Kennedy should have taught us all to measure people not with surface labels, not by artificial standards which in fact are merely the apprais er's own, but by the only fair gauagc: fideliety to oneself, the best in oneself and in humanity. Complex nedy's death as a device to smear the opposition or h i s memory to enact legislation not wanted by the Congress or the nation. No law should be passed as a "memorial" if it is not a good law. The irresponsibility I am forced to note, of using Presi dent Kennedy's death as a means of stirring up anti-conservative sentiment has been tied to a new campaign to ab solve the Communists of guilt in all political assassinations. "Direct action" and "in dividual terror" run counter to Marxist doctrine, we are told. True, but in full accord with Marxist Leninist and Com munist doctrine. To say otherwise does dishon or to others murdered by Com munist assassins. Jan Masaryk, we know today, was killed by Communist thugs because he tried to slow tlie Red seizure of power in Czechoslovakia. He was but one. Refugees from the Soviet Un, ion were systematically mur dered in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Ignace Reiss, who called Stalin a murderer, was gunned down in a Sw iss forest. Leon Trotsky was killed with an alpenstock by an NKVD agent. The list is endless. The man who assassinated John F. Kennedy w as follow ing a bloody Communist tradition when he squeezed the trigger. Those who try to blame Ameri cans for this crime are playing a dangerous game. Those who obscure the record are cheat ing history and their con sciences. JFK would not have approved. STRICTLY PERSONAL By SYDNEY J. HARRIS Automation. (2 Population explosion, and i:i Peaceful use of atomic energy; and while the world quarrels about out moded political and economic concepts, none of these prob lems is being realistically at tacked by any nation or com bination of powers, who are still slogging through Uie mire of 19th century Machtpohtik- Of all traits, I find tliat of giving unsolicited advice (he most offensive especially since the chronic advice-giver is usu ally a person whose poor judg ment and rigid convictions have made a mess of his own lite. A father tinkering with his motor was asked by his little boy what a certain part was; "Never mind!" I heard tlie fa tlier say. and the boy slunk away; 10 years from now, the father will wonder why the boy never minds. A person who is sick and checriul arouses our admir ation, while one who is healthy and sad excites our contempt: however, if we could realize that, wan the latter, sadness is their sickness, we might be more sympatlictic toward their unaUraclue ailment. There may be many disasters and reversals, but only one tragedy in life: to grow old without growing up. to die a withered acorn, without ever knowing what it is like to be an oak tree. r
