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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1963)
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Fallt, Or. Friday, December 20. 196J ...The Readers Write Letters To The Editor . : . PAGE (A Day In, day out, life can be drab for patients of the Klamath County Nursing Home. Today it was different. This after noon Santa Claus paid them his annual visit. He arrived loaded down with artistically wrapped packages for the folks confined. Almost all of the gifts were essential things like slippers, socks; other items of cloth ing. But there were some "luxuries" too, ; like tobacco, shaving lotion, hand lotion and ' the things ladies always have liked in the ; cosmetic line. And there were good things to : eat, too! All of these items were contributed by the people of the Klamath area. They, really, were Santa Claus. They responded whole heartedly to the Herald & News appeal for aid in making the annual party at the home bigger than ever. None of the patients were forgotten. Testing Our Defenses Your chances for survival can depend directly on the speed with which you can mount a defense. This is a common sense bit of military logic that brooks little argument. In this world of jet and rocket pro pelled missiles, a shattering attack can be launched in an instant, and the defense of a nation must rise to the occasion just as quickly or face complete annihilation. The events of Tuesday of this week proved that Kingslcy Field is doing its ut most to maintain the sharpest possible edge on its defensive capabilities. In a 10 hour period, a total of 101 mis sions were flown from the field. A mission is completed when a jet fighter Intercepts a simulated enemy air craft and returns to base. In the course of 10 hours, 101 jets from the field took off, intercepted a simu lated enemy aircraft and returned to base. As they did, they were serviced, fueled and took off again. WILLIAM By WILLIAM S. WHITE WASHINGTON - Politicking for the Vico Presidency, alrea dy softly going on, will move after New Year's Day into the most quietly Intense such activ ity seen in this century. Twice within recent years, even before the death of John F, Kennedy, the importance of the office of Vice President had been so profoundly proved as to make irrelevant and in very bad taste all the old jokes about fifth wheels and Throttlebol toms. First, there was the serious illness of President Dwight Eis enhower which thrust Richard .Nixon into a fur higher place In terms of real power than had ever before been occupied by a second man in the American government. Then, at the Democratic con vention in I960, Mr. Kennedy took two command decisions of historic political importance. One was that a single "avail- able" for the Vice Presidency. Lyndon Johnson, was nothing less than indispensable, both to the success of the Democratic campaign and to the subsequent conduct of the Kennedy Admin istration. Tlie old stereotype that a Vice President was a nobody going nowhere died for good as Mr. Kennedy carried through Into the operations of his Adminis tration his full and unexam pledpurpose to make his Vice President a totally informed, fully consulted and working as sociate holding high rank In ac tuality as well as in constitu tional structure. President Johnson's success thus far in earning the country forward without a hitch, in the aftermath of Mr. Kennedy's as sassination, w as a consequence. For President Johnson had been completely involved, all along and at every step, in the plans, policies and actions of Mr. Ken nedy. The lesson that this kind of continuity and competence is ahsolutely necessary in the world in which we live has been lost on nobody and no party. So both parties now approach the 1954 campaign year with an attitude of gravity toward their ultimate choices for Vice Presi People Are Terrific And it would make a person's heart feel good to watch the delight in the eyes of the folks at the home as they received their gifts, enjoyed the refreshments and the en tertainment which followed. Donors to the Klamath County Nursing Home party remain anonymous. But there were hundreds of them. And we are grate ful to every last person here who had a hand in making the party for residents of the home a tremendously successful one. Our only wish is that the donors could have watched several members of the newspaper staff working hour after hour getting the packages ready and marked for proper dis tribution so that the old fellow who humbly asked for a can of tobacco wasn't given a gift for a lady. When Santa's helpers' job was done a pick-up truck, loaded to the guards left for the home. It was a sight to contem plate. People had remembered. This means, on an average, that a jet took off at the field every six minutes, and that another landed every six minutes. This required the utmost in teamwork, maintenance and precise workmanship. It was a grueling test of men and equipment, but just the fact that it could be done is cause for the highest commendation. As Colonel Ed Wilzenburger comment ed, there are many new personnel at the field and the successful completion of this simulated defense against air attack welded them together in an efficient working unit. During one of the operations, a plane landed, ground crews refueled the plane, maintenance crews checked it over and it was ready to go again in just two and one half minutes. We can only add that this performance re-assures us that the sounds of jets taking off and landing at Kingslcy Field are truly the sounds of defense ready to repulse any attack. S. WHITE Selection Of VP dent never before seen. As al ways, the Presidential nominee of each party will no doubt have the final say lis to the identity of his running-mate. But President Johnson is al ready as good as nominated for election in his own right, where, as there is a long way to go before the country can know who is to top the Republican ticket. Thus, interest now cen ters, and for months yet will center, un the probable Dem ocratic choice (or the Vice Pres idency. President Johnson, it goes without saying, has not even be gun to make a decision as to his own preference, though many names havo been thrown about In speculation, they in clude Sargent Shriver, head of the Peace Corps and brother-in-law of the lute President Ken nedy, Ted Kennedy, whose qui et, performance as a freshman Senator from Massachusetts lias surprised some of his early crit ics: Gov. Richard Hughes of New Jersey: Sen. F.ugenc Mc Carthy and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, and so on. Teach All Of History ! enjoy the letters to the editor very much, whether I agree Willi tliem or not, and this time I fell 1 must put my say-so in. It seems to me, that some one is taking too much author ity on sayuig what sliould be kept in history books. Alter all. It took all of tliese men and tlieir deeds to make our American Heritage what it is today. Why bother to teach Ameri can History at all. if they are only going to teach the lu turo generations half of it? OIK AMKRK'AN III H1T A(iK By l,rn l'rlllnm It took men like Jones n' Hale 'n' Henry, As well as others of Uiat genre, To make our world what It Is today. So wlio are you to have the say Is Vital Now, no presidential list of "must" qualities for Vice Presi dent has been drawn up, or even seriously considered, but one factor is undoubtedly in Mr. Johnson's mind. Everything else being equal, it is very probable that he would look with favor un a running-mate who, grant ed high general capacity, was of the Catholic faith. The President, himself a Prot estant, feels that a special trag edy in the many tragedies sur rounding the murder of Mr. Ken nedy was the fact that this first Catholic President in history w as unable to complete even his first term. In a broad sense, the Presi dent's view of the characteris tics necessary for consideration for llio Vice Presidential nom ination may be expected to stress character and competence much more than such tradition al factors as geographic loca tion. He has never liked the sec tional approach to politics and is not likely ever to make a man's geography a decisive point eitlier way. Of what sliould be in history books, Where future generations can not look , To see wlio did, or, who said what. Do you think that fair? Well. I do not! American history began 'way back when Ladies were LADIES and men were MEN. And old deeds ar important loo. As much as those that are so new. I 'poc if they should reach the moon They wouldn't want THAT forgotten soon. Weill Remember this, so it will last: "Tliere'd be no future if Uiere were no PAST!" Mrs. A. H. JVIhnen, 1U "D" Stiwt. 'Patriotism In Textbooks' Draws Your editorial "Patriotism In Textbooks" carried Dec. 11, 19U3, should be of the utmost concern to every parent, teach er and all others living in the area served by your newspa per. I believe that all the famed words and deeds of our nation al heroes should be preserved and taught to our children in our public schools. Enclosed in my letter is a copy of a speech made by a relatively unknown California educator in 1961 on the very subject of your editorial, and since he expresses so well what most of us think and feel about teaching patriotism, I do hope that you will print his speech on your editorial page. This California educator stirred up quite a storm in Cal ifornia politics beginning short ly after making this speech. Despite a vicious smear cam paign launched against him in the November 1962 elections, hundreds of thousands of California's parents and other informed and responsible citi zens elected him the state su perintendent of public instruc tion, for the state of California. I well remember the wonder ful speech by Jenkin Lloyd Jones, "Who Is Tampering With The Soul of Ameri ca." that you printed on your editorial page. The people of Klamath Falls and Klamath County should be very proud to be served by a newspaper of the high standards of the Her ald and News. , Jason R. Burk. Box 67. Dunsmuir, Calif. By DR. MAX P.AFFERTY 1 want to talk to you about a vanishing species the Ameri can patriot. I hope to show you what you and I have done dur ing the last 20 years to make possiblenay, to render inovi tible this dwindling decline of a once noble breed. And. at the end, I shall propose to you a simple question: "Is this what we want?" First, go back with me in time 185 years. Our country is in a strange sort of undeclared war against the forces of despo tism, then as now. A young man volunteers to go behind the enemy lines to collect informa tion. He is captured and Lied as a spy and publicly ques tioned. Surrounded by the jeer ing foe, cut off beyond all hope of rescue, the rope al ready knotted around his bared throat and the pallor of ap proaching death already on his cheek, he breaks his steadfast silence. With the wind of anoth er world cold upon his forehead, . he speaks one short sentence, and his words echo down the corridors of time to us today, ringing and lightheartcd and magnificent: "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." His. statue, with the throat still bared, stands today gazing w ith blind stone eyes across tile green .park in New York City, where I saw it not too long ago. He was a schoolmaster God rest his soul and he did not live to sec his 22nd birtbday. What were those blind eyes looking for a few years ago, I , wonder, when for the first time in our history a substantial number of young men sold out tlieir fellow American sol diers, and licked Uie boots of brutal Chineso and North Ko rean invaders, and made tape recordings praising commu nism? What do those stone ears make of the other young men and women who seem to .spend yQy jjX' every waking moment agitating against KOTC, booing authorized Congressional committees, and parading in support of Fidel Castro? Whether we like H or not, this is our doing yours and mine. For the past 20 years, the great mistake has been made by my profession, and by the vot ers and taxpayers who permit ted it. This sizable minority of spine less, luxury loving, spiritless characters came right out of our classrooms. They played in our kindergartens, went on i e 1 d trips to the bakery, and stud ied things called "social living" and "language arts" in our jun ior high schools. They were "adjusted to their peer groups." They were taught that competi tion was bad. They were told little about modern democratic capitalism. They were persuad ed that the world was very shortly to become one big, hap py family. They were taught to be kind, and democratic and peaceful. These last are praiseworthy goals. What went wrong? There were two tilings, you see, that we DIDN'T teach them. And oh! how they needed to learn these. One was that most of the in habitants of this big, bad-tempered, battling, planet hate our American insides. This is hard to teach, and unpleasant to learn. It is the simple truth, nevertheless. The other should have been simpler. It was to teach the children Hie real meaning of Decatur's great toast: "Our country? In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be right, BUT our coun try, right or wrong." Had they been taught these things, they would not now be wondering what all the fuss is about. They would know that their country was in danger, and that would be enough. It was enough is 1898, and 1917, and 1941. It's not enough today. Too many of them neither know nor care. It's our own fault. What wilt History have to say of my generation of educators the generation of the '30s, the '40s. and the '50s? We were so busy educating for "life adjustment" that we forgot that the first duty of a nation's schools is to preserve that nation. Words that America had treasured as a rich legacy, that had sounded like trumpet calls above the clash of arms and the fury of debate, we allowed to fade from the classrooms and the consciousness of the pupils. "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and insepar able . . ." "We have met the enemy and they are ours . . ." "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute . . ." Search for these towering phrases in vain today in too many of our schools, in the hearts and minds of too many of our children. The golden words are gone, and in their place brain - numbing projects on the nation's second class mail service, units on tlie or ange packing industry of Los Angeles County, or accounts of tlie trucking business on High way 6fi. We must all, you see, grow up to be orange packers or mailmen or school adminis trators. We have no further need of Websters nor of Nath an Hales. Our sin was greater than this, however. Patriotism feeds upon hero-worship, and we decided to abolish heroes. Even t h e fairy tales and nursery rhymes. 'And That's an Order!" 0$ , IT l -TV X beloved by generations of chil dren, we pronounced too "vio lent" and "brutal" for the chil dren to hear until after we had tinkered with them. Hansel and Gretel j neutralized to the status of children on a Sunday School picnic, and Jack the Giant-Killer to a schoolboy swat ting flics. Everything that was fearful and wonderful, we lev eled off to the lowest COM MON denominator. Ulysses and Penelope have been replaced by Dick and Jane in the textbooks of our schools. The quest of the Golden Fleece has been crowded out by the vis it of Tom and Susan to tlie Zoo. The deeds of the heroes before Troy are now passe, and the peregrinations of the local milk man as he w e n d s his way among the stodgy streets and littered alleys of Blah City are deemed worthy of numberless cages in our readers. Tlie ster ile culture of the Pueblo Indians looms large in our curriculum, but tlie knightly Crusaders are glossed over. Bobby and Betty pursue their insipid goal of a ride in the dis trict garbage truck with good old crotchety Mr. Jones, whi'e the deathless ride of Paul Re vere goes unwept, unhonored, and unsung. It is interesting and significant, I think, that ed ucation has deliberately de bunked the hero to make room for tlie jerk. Today's hero if there is one is fashioned in the blasphe mous image of Ourselves. He is "Daddy" in the sec ond reader, who comes mincing home with bis eternal briefcase from his meaningless day in his antiseptic office just in time to pat Jip the dog and carry blonde little Laurie into the inev itable white bungalow on h i s stylishly padded shoulders. He is "Mommy" in the third grade books, always silk-stockinged and impeccable after a day spent over tlie electric range, with never a cross word on her carefully made-up lips and never an idea in her empty head. He is all the insufferable non entities who clutter up the pages of our elementary textbooks w ith their vapid ditherings about humdrum affairs which could never be of conceivable interest to anybody. In my right hand I hold one of our California third grade read ers. Two of the main char acters are Paddyfoot tlie Indian iBoy, and Uncle Will the Cotton Picker. Harmless they are and gentle and as dull as dishwater. In my left hand I hold a Me Guffey third grade reader, pub lished in 1879. It contains a hair-raising description of a trip through the Himalayas to Tibet, a short story illustrating the hor rors of drink, a series of fictional talcs dramatizing Aesop's Fa bles, and several poems by Wordsworth and Whittier. Quite a contrast. Now, please don't quote Max Ralferty as advocating a return to McGuffey. Some of this old fashioned material we would consider unsuitable for today's children especially the story of the town drunk who ends a career of crime breaking b i g ones into little ones at the coun ty rock pile. But it moves. It sparkles. IT INTERESTS. Tlie boys and girls who were raised on this fare never for got it. Even today, some old gaffer is apt to walk up to me after one of these talks and quote McGuffey verbatim alter 60 or 70 vears. Which of our 0 o Replies present-day pupils, I wonder, is going to recall after even one year how Richard Lane and nice Miss Allen planted the flower bulbs in the school win dow box for 15 pages and 2600 words in today's reader? No wonder so many of tliem don't read very well. We haven't given them anything worth reading for almost a generation. When I think of tlie doors we've closed upon tlie children! Tlie wonderful pantheon of youthful gods and goddesses that my generation knew and loved; tlie great parade of he roes who made old Earth a ma gic place for boys and girls. Wilford of Ivanhoe rode stir rup to stirrup w ith Richard tlie Lion-Hearted, and the evil hold of Torquilstone burned eternal w itness lo the power of youth and goodness. Laughing and shouting in the same great com pany rode Arthur with his Ta ble Round, forever splintering their lances in the cause of Right. Roistering and invincible swaggered Porthos, Athos and Aramis, with the young D'Ar lagnan, ever ready to draw those magic blades for truth and glory and the Queen. Remember? The horn of Roland echoed throuch tlie pass at Roncevalles, and somehow caught and min gled in our memories with the far-off blast of Robin Hood, calling down the misty years upon his merry men of Sher wood. Were not these fit heroes for the children? Apart and in a happy com pany leaped and plaved the Child IMMORTALS. Hand in hand with longhaired Alice walked Christopher Robin, bright eyes alert for talking rabbits and greedy little bears. Sturdy Jim Hawkins counted his pieces of eight and chatted with Captain Flint, while young Tom Sawyer kept a wary lookout for the menace that was Injun Joe. A battered raft floated to im mortality upon tlie broad bosom of the Father of Waters, and Huck became the apotheosis of all boys everywhere. Meg. Jo and Beth chattered gaily to Amy, and Dorothy skipped arm and arm with the Scarecrow down the Yellow Brick Road. Remember? When in any age have chil dren had such shining exem plars? It remained for our genera tion to turn its back upon the heroes of the children. For Sieg fried in the lair of Fafnir, we have substituted Muk - Milk the Eskimo Boy, and we have replaced Horatius at the Bridge with little Pedro from Argenti na. Mark this. Until the coming of Ccnant a few years ago, most schools on all levels were teaching trivia. Today, too many especially on the elemen tary level are still doing so. If you doubt this, don't take my word for it. Visit classroom after classroom in widely sep arated regions of this country, as I have done. Watch the abler pupils grow dull and apathetic, bored and lackluster, as they yawn over Bill and Tom's trip to the Farm, or Sally's Fun at the Or ange Grove. Then, suddenly as though opening an enchanted window un a radiant pageant give them the story of the wrath of Achilles. Let them stand w ith Casabianca upon the burning deck. Trek with them in spirit to the Yukon, and with glorious Buck let them answer the call of the wild. Place them upon the shot - swept shrouds of the BonHomme Richard and let them thrill to those words flashing like a rapier out of our past, "1 have not yet begun to fight." Kneel with tliem behind the cotton bales at New Orleans w ith Andy Jackson at their side, as the redcoats begin to emerge from the Louisiana mist and the sullen guns of Lafitte begin to pound. Watch tlieir faces. See the eyes brignten and the spirits ruffle. See the color come, the backs straighten, the arms go up. They dream, they live, they glow. Patriotism will come eas We Must Teach Liberty I read your editorial of Dec. 11. regarding history books which tend to eliminate teach ing patriotism in schools and those gems of wisdom by past statesmen. I heartily agree wiih jou. Our educational system is costing more money and there seems to be no end to the de mands. Less is being written and comcidentally taught about the wonderful privilege of liv ing under a free republic. In stead, Mr. Minear says we must teach Communism. It makes my heart sick because I love my country and I love lib erty. Only last year an attempt was made in Oregon to take aay our religious freedom through Sunday legislation. We ily to them now, as h does to all of us who know our nation's past and love H. Teach them the grand old songs. How long has it been since California children learned to sing "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean?" And why was it dropped? Probably because someone decided that the lines which end, "The Army and Navy forever! Three cheers for the RED. WHITE, and BLUE?" were hopelessly out of p 1 a c e in our brave new world of foreign aid and peaceful co existence and collaboration. I say t h a t we had better thank God for the Army and Navy. And with half the world at our throats we had better teach our children that it is not a disgrace, but a priceless priv ilege, to wear our country's uniform. The crux of the problem, of course, is this: "Do we believe it ourselves?" I am convinced with all my heart that we do. It's not the fault of teachers that our wofession has been brainwashed for 30 years with slogans like: "There are no eternal verities"; "Teach t h e child, not the subject"; and worst of all "Nothing is learned for the sake of learn ing." The results are plain for all to see: tlie worst of our young sters growing up to become booted, sideburned. ducktailed, unwashed, leatherjacketed slobs, whose favorite sport is ravaging little girls and stomp ing polio victims to death; the best of our youth coming into maturity for all tlie world like young people fresh from a dizzy ing roller-coaster ride, with ev erything blurred, with nothing clear, with no positive stan dards, with everything in doubt. No wonder so many of t h e m welsh out and squeal and turn traitor when confronted with the grim reality of Red military force and tlie crafty cunning of Red psychological warfare. We as a people have been taunted and reviled and chal lenged in the last few years as we thought no one would ever challenge us. A soulless tiling slavers at us today on all the continents, under all the seas, and out into the void of interplanetary space itself a rotten, hateful, vicious entity. Our national nose has been first tweaked and then rubbed con temptuously into the dirt. Tlie flag for which our ancestors bled and died has been torn down and unspeakably defiled by a dozen little pipsqueak comic-opera countries emboldened by our spinelessness and en couraged by our sneering Ene my. I don't know when at long last the American people will rise in all the power and ma jesty of their great Uadition to put an end to this role of inter national doormat w h i c h we have assumed of late, and which becomes us so poorly. But I do know one thing. When that time comes and it cannot be too far distant we educators had better not be caught short. We had better not be caught withholding from the nation's children the wonderful, sharp-edged glittering sword of Patriotism. What is the alternative? You see that all about you now. in all the headlines. Do you like it? As I said in the beginning, "Is this what we want?" Or rather, do we want our young people informed and dis ciplined and alert militant for freedom, cleareyed to the filthy menace of Communist corrup ' tion? Do we want them happy in their love of country? If your answer is "Yes." then go home and get busy. It is to this that I propose that we dedicate ourselves in the years to come. We have not an hour to spare. If Almighty God grants us the time and the will, we may still be able to pre serve this lovely land of ours as it once was and please God will yet be again: a na tion fit for heroes serene in the knowledge of our past con fident and ready for whatever the future may bring stretch ing in w armth of heart and uni ty of purpose "from sea to shining sea." need to get back to the Constitu tion. For several years now spon sors of the proposed Liberty Amendment have attempted to have this amendment broueht to a vote in our state legisla ture. Unfortunately the bureau crats, using our tax money, are so strong and they ' have brought so much pressure to bear they have prevented it. This amendment would provide for a return to our Constitution and freedom from excessive tax ation. Every ciUzcn and every school child should acquaint themselves with it. Incidentally Mr. Editor, couldn't we have a little more publicity on the sub ject? Rosie Wilkins, Keno.
