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