The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 36

CAN'T FOOL EM, SENATOR Robert Ruark 'Insane' Killers Not Entitled To Sympathy; Let 'Em Hang THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Pnbllshed by THE TRIBUNE COMPANY, Lafayette and Morgan Sts, Tampa, Fla. J. COUNCIL, President and Publisher E. D. Lambright, Editorial Director J.

A. Clendinen, Editorial Page Editor V. M. Newton, Managing Editor I FOR THE. PEEPUL There's mivwrn I EDITORIALS Sunday, September 7, 1958 Page 12-B MY RECORD.

BIBLE THOUGHT "And we know that all thlnra work together for good to them that love God." Rom. 8:28. When things go wrong and burdens are heavy and life is tragic, it is good to remember Paul's words that God controls. mm Mm 0 Who's For The People? At0 mm A 11-1 mi waste of the state's time and money to keep him in a kind of country club where the food and white-coated service are free. Insane killing has to be premeditated, or else what would this current madman be doing in another man's house, attempting to murder a child, and then killing the parents as an afterthought? THEY HANGED Mr.

Christie in England, before the anti-hanging notion started, and he was a touch peculiar, too. He was a moral man who disliked the idea of women smoking, drinking, or soliciting, so he carefully picked sinful dames, killed them, and then hid them carefully away in his garden. Even if he could be called a frustrated horticulturist, this is a hard way to fill the room with flowers. He was clearly insane, but they danced him off anyhow, for which I say jolly well done. In just one day's newspaper we have news of a man who kidnaped a boy, led the police a merry chase, and endangered the lives of countless motorists.

errand was simple, he said. He had a job of work to do. He was going to kill his wife. Nuts? Certainly. But If half a dozen motorists had been murdered by this idiot, they are past caring whether his estranged wife had "rejected his pleas for reconciliation for the last six weeks," so he took a cab from Washington, kidnaped a youngster, all for the avowed purpose of curing everything with a gun.

THEN WE HAVE this charming naval gentleman who beat his wife to death with a jack handle, because she wasn't neat around the house, and who then did in his year-old daughter because she was crying. And, I suppose, she was unhappy because her mother wasn't neat. Then this uncontrolled jerk tried to kill himself, and, as usual, failed. It would be nice if somebody fulfilled his death desires more competently. I am real sick of the sick ones who get away with murder.

Anybody with enough sawy to bury his wife and child after he's beaten them to death is a candidate for not being around any more. I have posed a premise before, which deals with the dead on the deck. It is simply that one does not need to understand the murderer. I personally don't care about what led him to kilL What bothers me is the people who will never more see the sun set, smell the flowers, eat a steak or enjoy a ball game. My sympathy is entirely with the innocent bystander who suddenly winds up dead.

The fact the murderer hated his father and loved his mother or once was frightened by a strange dog does not excuse the wanton taking of another's life. With rare exceptions, the old Mosaic law was good enough for Moses, and it's good enough for me. An eye for an eye. AS THIS WAS writtenwe have not yet collected the awful person who killed two young, attractive, happy, provident people, Dr. and Mrs.

Melvin Nimer, in Staten Island. They were killed with a knife because they tried to keep the killer from strangling their 8-year-old son, in their own home. The killer left a terrible perpetual stamp on young Melvin, who saw the horror, and he also orphaned two more kids, Gregory, 2, and Jeanette, 5 months old. And he, of course, removed the doctor and his pretty wife forever from the world of love and happiness. Certainly the man must be crazed.

Nearly any callous killer has to be nuts unless he's working for the mob for a fee, and even then he has to be slightly psycho or he wouldn't be killing for money. But at least purposeful slaying, such as any gangland murder, has something to say for itself, because one rat eliminates another. BUT THE THRILL killer, the mad killer, the perverted killer seems to me to be less deserving of consideration than the hired hood. Of course, he's crazy, but he wantonly takes lives of strangers, and then he is sent quietly back to the nut hatch to write his happy memoirs in the name of therapy. I would like to make the brutal point that a man who is crazy enough to kill without reason is crazy enough to be exterminated as one would put down a rabid dog, and I resent the r-K i tmvf i "7 r.

-v Rjmiusi- v. M- ti'in a i ----1s Joseph Alsop It's Too Late To Abandon Quemoy with a delaying referendum which weakened the city's bargaining position with the railroad. Was he "for the people" in obstructing a project which could mean so much to all of Tampa? Sam Gibbons never wavered in his support of this community improvement. 4. The people want a clean community.

In a speech introducing Kickliter Thursday night, one of his Ybor City campaign managers sneered at the Hillsborough County Crime Commission and implied that Kickliter shared his feeling. Kickliter did not repudiate the implication. Yet the Crime Commission grew out of public anger against revelations of underworld crime and corrupt law enforcement which had given Tampa a black eye all over the nation. The Commission was composed of public-spirited citizens working to make this a clean community. Is Kickliter "for the people" when he silently assents to attacks on the Crime Commission by his campaign spokesmen? Sam Gibbons has been a consistent supporter of vigorous law enforcement.

5. The people want to be honestly dealt with. Time and again, Senator Kickliter has misrepresented the facts in this campaign. His. record shows he not only has switched his position on controversial issues but he has switched his explanations of why he switched his position.

He has given at least three different excuses for shifting on the civic center project; he has given at least two alibis for voting to put a 3 tax on groceries. Even his campaign expense report for August did not square with the known facts: a newspaper survey showed his provable expenses, in advertising alone, exceeded by about $3000 the amount reported. Sam Gibbons has convictions and sticks by them. In six years in the Legislature he has never been accused of fence-straddling or of hopping from one side of the fence to the other. He has shown respect for truth and fairness.

So who's really "for the people" in the contest to represent Hillsborough County in the State Senate in the next four years? The answer, to us, seems clear enough. "I'm for the people A This is the oldest refrain in politics and the most meaningless. Whether a man is "for the people" that is, for the best interests of the majority can only be determined by the record of what he has done. State Senator Paul Kickliter, a wealthy lawyer-land owner who leaves his pink Cadillac at home when he goes forth to harangue against the "silk stocking is shouting that he's for the people. Well, let's analyze the people's interests and see how his record stands up.

1. The people want fair taxation. In the 1957 Legislature, after pledging that he would oppose any new taxes, Kickliter voted to put a 3 per cent sales tax ON GROCERIES. A grocery tax falls most heavily on the people who can least afford it, for the low wage-earner with a family spends most of his income on food. Was Kickliter "for the people" when he voted to tax groceries? Sam Gibbons, his opponent, helped kill the grocery tax when the Kickliter backed bill reached the House of Representatives.

2. The people want fair representation. In the 1957 Legislature, Kickliter voted for a plan of distributing legislative seats which would have given the 14,000 people of Suwannee County as much additional representation as the 360,000 people of Hillsborough County. Does Senator Kickliter think so little of the rights of the people of his district that he believes Suwannee is entitled to a representative for every 7000 people but Hillsborough is only entitled to a representative for every 90,000 people? Was he "for the people" when he voted for such an unfair plan? Sam Gibbons voted against this constitutional swindle in the House and, after it passed the Legislature, he campaigned against it publicly. 3.

The people want a progressive community. One of the stumbling blocks to Tampa's development has been the ACL freight yard which hugs the downtown riverfront. To clear out this blighted area and build a downtown civic center as Jacksonville has done, Tampa needed an authorizing act of the Legislature. 'Kickliter switched his position, finally refused to pass the bill except Breadbasket Issues Topmost In 1958 Election Campaign WASHINGTON The only way to make sense about the ugly crisis in the Formosa Straits is to distinguish very clearly between the "why" of the existing situation and the "wherefore" of the policy for dealing with that situation. It is easy enough to give the "wherefore" of the decision to use U.

S. forces, if need be, for the defense of Quemoy and the Mat-sus. The following main points have been anxiously canvassed by the leading American policy-makers in the past three weeks. First, the loss of the Islands could very easily result in the subsequent loss of Formosa itself. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has nearly a third of his army, and more than a third of his very best troops on Quemoy and the Matsus.

He also has a large share of his best American military equipment on the islands about half a billion dollars worth. The Formosa combination of mainland leadership and native population is inherently fragile. A shattering defeat on the offshore islands would therefore shake Chiang's government to its foundations, opening enormous cracks and fissures for the levers and crowbars of Communist subversion. SECOND, FOR REASONS that will be given, America's prestige in Asia is just as much committed on the islands as Chiang's prejstige. Thus a Communist victory on Quemoy and the Matsus would surely cause a far-spreading political earthquake.

It would, in fact, alter the policy or even endanger the existence of every Western-oriented and non-Communist Asian government from Japan around the great crescent to Burma, Including even the Philippine government. Third, and perhaps most important of all, the repercussions of a Communist victory on Quemoy and the-Matsus would by no means end in Asia. Another backdown, another surrender on these little islands would encom-age new Communist adventures at other points around the world, with Western Europe itself not excluded. Berlin is the most exposed and one of the most vital of all the positions vital to the West. The Communist need to cut this infection-spot of freedom out of the heart of East Germany is currently more urgent than ever.

THE "WHEREFORE" of the American policy can in fact be quite simply summed up. It is designed to prevent a chain-reaction of other Communist challenges and Western defeats, that would begin on the rocky islands in the Formosa Straits, but would end in very much more critical areas. But that leaves the question, why on earth was a situation ever allowed to arise, in which so much depends on holding a position like The "why" story begins with an adman's foreign policy gesture, the famous "unleashing" of Chiang Kai-shek. Even after the unleashing, Chiang himself saw that his regular troops and his political prestige ought not to be committed on the offshore islands, which he was then treating as entirely expendable. He made the commitment on the islands under severe American pressure, which was applied to give substance to the unleashing.

Then the American government itself saw that Quemoy and the Matsus had better be quietly abandoned, after the warning crisis in the Winter of 1956, which ended in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands. Assistant Secretary of State Walter Robertson was charged with persuading Chiang to make the move. But Robertson used only the gentlest persuasion. Chiang recalled the past American pressure, and argued that his government could not stand the blow of another evacuation. Chiang was quite openly encouraged by Admirals Arthur Radford and Felix Stump, who even approved the continuing build-up of Chiang's island garrison.

EVEN SO, Moscow and Peking would probably not have risked an attack on the offshore islands at this time, if the Communist high command had not just been treated to such a display of American feeble-force-fulness during the Middle Eastern crisis. As events are proving, an enormous Western defeat was concealed behind the Lebanese landing and the strange transactions in the U. N. And as this reporter wrote at the time, our acceptance of the defeat in the Middle East directly invited attacks on every exposed position, depending for its defense on American firmness and resolution. The offshore islands were and are the most exposed position of this type.

Over-all, therefore, it is impossible to defend the way we got into this very nasty mess. But it is easily possible to defend the decision that has now been taken about the mess. Nor is there any sense in the wailing that "Quemoy and the Matsus are such bad places to take a stand." The enemy, alas, also chooses the places where stands have to be taken. The enemy always chooses the most embarrassing places. And today, it is already very late to take a stand.

fore the country, while editors ranked it eighth. Democrats put in a strong plug for Social Security benefits their third-favorite talking point but this topic fell far down the list for Republicans and editors. EDITOR'S CHOICES The top ten issues as selected by the editors: 1. Cost of living 2. Recession and unemployment 3.

Controls on labor unions 4. Ethics in Government 5. U.S. foreign policy 6. Federal spending and taxes 7.

Eisenhower's performance 8. Farm policy 9. School integration 10. (tie) Tax cuts Missile race with Russia REPUBLICANS' CHOICES The Republicans' top ten issues: 1. Federal spending and taxing 2.

Control of labor unions 3. Cost of living 4. Recession and unemployment 5. Farm policy 6. (tie) Reciprocal trade Aid to small business 7.

U.S. foreign policy 8. (tie) Social security benefits Foreign aid 9. Federal aid to education 10. Ethics in Government DEMOCRATS CHOICES The, Democrats choice of the top ten issues: 1.

Recession and unemployment 2. Cost of living 3. Social security benefits 4. U.S. foreign policy 6.

Federal aid to education 7. Aid to small business 8. Ethics in Government 9. Reciprocal trade 10. (tie) Eisenhower's By Congressional Quarterly WASHINGTON.

The Big Three of economic Issues inflation, recession and government spending will dominate the 1958 election campaign, according to editors and congressmen polled by Congressional Quarterly, Editors from all sections of the country put the cost of living at the top of their list of issues, with recession and unemployment In second place. Republican Senators and Representatives said federal spend--ing and taxing was the biggest issue they could see, and put inflation and recession third and fourth on their list. Democrats said the recession would be their biggest talking point, with inflation next in importance. THE ANNUAL Congressional Quarterly survey of issues drew responses from 325 leading editors and 190 members of Congress this year. With the pocketbook problem so much in the forefront, few other topics appeared on the list, of the top five issues.

The editors gave third place to control of labor unions, which has become a hot issue since the 85th Congress failed to pass the Kennedy-Ives bill. Republicans put the same issue in second place, but Democrats largely ignored it. The problem of ethics in government with specific reference to the Adams-Goldfine investigations rated fourth place on the editors' list, eighth with "the Democrats and 10th with the Republicans. Foreign policy was the fifth choice of the editors, ranked fourth with Democrats and came in eighth on the Republican list. Republicans and Democrats What Maine Can't Live Down Jack Anderson Phil ipplnes Say Hold Quemoy i Maine, conformist at last, will hold Monday the last of the early elections to which politicians have long looked anxiously for signs of national trends.

After this one, Maine will abandon its granite-like New England individualism and elect officials at the same time as everybody else in November. We are not informed exactly why the Maine Legislature chose to abandon September, but we'll bet it was from pure embarrassment. In the main, Maine has been a pretty good barometer of national political pressures but at least a couple of times its readings have gone giddy. These are the times people remember, not the times when the readings were right. The classic case, of course, was 22 years ago.

In 1936 Maine voted for Alfred M. Landon, and for 22 years they've been reciting the new litany that as Maine goes so goes Vermont Then, in 1956 Republican congressional candidates didn't get the vote which was traditionally their due, and actually lost a House seat. While this forecast a Democratic Congress accurately, it was also construed as reading fair and warmer for the Democrats in the presidential election. But Eisenhower, in his own great popularity, overwhelmed the Democratic candidate. Maine was embarrassed again, even if she couldn't be responsible for Ike running better than his party.

At issue this September are a Senate seat held by Republican Frederick G. Payne and the three seats in the House. The Democrats are running their immensely popular Governor, Robert S. Muskie, for the Senate and trying to upset the two Republican House members. In truth, there will be some barometric signs emerging from the Monday elections and they may afford a hint of what's coming nationally in November.

But either way it goes, no bandwagon will start rolling. Whoever loses in this last September election will sound the old cry going back to 1936 which Maine pn never quite live down. agreed that farm policy was the Federal spending and fifth most important issue be fth most important issue be- taxing III III TIa Tan Iff A I II IP I IN THE 1958 CAMPAIGN If 5 IIll! ill Will MANILA, P. I. Although there Is little love lost between them, Philippine President Carlos Garcia added his voice last week to Chiang Kai-shek's appeal for American intervention in case the Chinese Communists try to seize Quemoy or Matsu.

Any other course, Garcia warned in an interview with this column, would be a severe blow to our Asian allies who have stuck their necks out a giraffe's length to support our Formosa policy. He added that, the Philippines are ready to fight on our side if shooting should break out between the United States and Red China. The Philippines a shotgun blast of 7000 islands splattered across the South Pacific are connected by a short fuse to two powder kegs. To the north, the Formosan crisis is about to explode less than an hour away by jet bomber. To the south, Indonesia is racked by civil war which rages at some points within motorboat distance of Philippine territory.

President Garcia's aim is to discourage the spread of Communism in either area. Despite bitter hassles with Chiang over Chinese refugees neither country wants and disputed islands both countries want, Garcia declared his firm support of the Formosa regime. HE EXPLAINED that our Far Eastern friends had followed American policy to the point of no return. Even if the United States should unexpectedly recognize Red China, Garcia said, "the Philippines would continue to recognize the government in Formosa." The leader of 20,000,000 Filipinos also expressed grave concern over the Indonesian conflict raging in his back yard. He recalled a private conversation with Indonesian President Sukarno whom he quoted as saying: "I would accept Communism for Indonesia if it were the will of the people." In such an event, Garcia commented, "We would have to make a careful review of our relations with Indonesia." He claimed that the government had completely crushed the Communist-inspired Huk movement in the Philippines, except for a few fanatics still hiding out in the jungle.

He acknowledged, however, that Communist China may still be landing infiltration teams in the country. His small navy was patrolling the islands, he said, for submarines that reportedly had landed Red agents. THE DUSKY, DIFFIDENT Philippine President seemed embarrassed about discussing the subject that was obviously uppermost in his hind: his country's economic needs. He told of his efforts to strengthen the Philippine economy by bringing in basic industry. But the capital investment, he complained, was draining his dollar reserves.

He squirmed in his chair and smiled apologetically at the mention of American aid, but acknowledged that he could use more. He suggested that the United which invests heavily in troublesome countries, sometimes took her friends for granted. But he added with a grin that no one could be elected president of the Philippines who was anti-American. Note Chain-smoking, chess-playing President Garcia is equally at home fighting with guerrillas against the Japanese or writing romantic poetry in his native Visayan dialect. He also goes without eating for two weeks each year during Lent.

UNKNOWN to American authorities, four World War II deserters are happily rearing families on an uncharted tropical isle in the Philippines. A high official confirmed to this column that a Philippine patrol boat once stumbled upon their secret Shangri-la and radioed for instructions. Apparently the four GFs had declared their ovrn armistice after being reported missing in action. They had married Filipino girls and had settled down on an uninhabited island where.as far as the Philippine Government is concerned, they can live happily ever after. Who are they? Where is their island? The Philippine official wouldn't say.

"They are doing no harm," he said with a toss of his shoulders that suggested romantic conspiracy. The orders to the patrol boat, he admitted, were not to disturb their bliss. IT ISN'T SUPPOSED to be mentioned, but Uncle Sam caused consternation in the Philippines when he suddenly switched sides in mid-revolution in nearby-by Indonesia. American "spooks," as cur intelligence agents are playfully called in the Far East, were advising the Indonesian rebels. American arms were also parachuted to the rebels by Australian and Chinese Nationalist planes.

Then, out of the blue, Washington washed its hands of the revolution and begau shipping arms to the Indonesian Government. This caused considerable scurrying among our Asian friends to get on the same side of the fence without ripping their pants on the way over. Note The United States helped win Independence for Indonesia in the first place by threatening to withhold Marshall Plan aid from the Netherlands until the Indonesians were granted their freedom. Will Tampa Be Next? i 9 farm POW and passenger stations to a point west of the city, breaking the congestion which has long hampered Lakeland's downtown growth. In both instances the agreements were reached through direct negotiations with railroad officials.

The ascendancy of W. Thomas Rice to the presidency of the ACL has produced a spirit of cooperation which is bound to prove beneficial to the railroad and the cities alike. Tampa's negotiations for the ACL's downtown riverfront property have not been completed. But the success experienced by St. Petersburg and Lakeland provides a hopeful sign that Tampa's efforts soon will come to a similar climax.

It is good to see that Florida cities which have struggled long and vainly against the congestion and blight resulting from downtown railroad facilities are now making good progress toward their removal. A few months ago St. Petersburg signed contracts with both the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line for the relocation of their downtown tracks and stations to outer areas. The success climaxed a struggle of more than a quarter of a century wrhich included litigation against the ACL in the courts and before the State Railroad and Public Utilities Commission. Now the city of Lakeland has reached an agreement with the ACL for the relocation of its downtown freight 1 vim Pi i i IWI.