Mr. Tugman aimed one stone at two birds June 18 when he pointed out in an interpretative article in the news columns (page 1), with the aid of diagrams, how a school tax levy for a postwar high school building would save the taxpayers in bond interest. At the same time the high school would get a much-needed up-to-date plant. A few days later the proposed seven-mill tax levy for this purpose was passed by the in a ten to one landslide.
In an editorial on the result the Register-Guard commented: "We do not think the people of this community will ever want to go back to bonding and the long grind of paying for 'dead horse,' which stymies real progress."
Planning of public works and of the development of resources has been the subject of much of this editor's writing for several years, and last year his output on this general subject was large. An editorial February 18 called for putting this local planning under the direction of the "very best man to be had."
This was followed two days later by an editorial on the fruition of the project to move the Southern Pacific track north to the edge of the river as part of a road and traffic development long advocated by the newspaper. "One of the greatest improvements in the history of Eugene," the article began, "is the shifting of the Southern Pacific's main line to the Willamette River bank as the first step in the development of a modern highway approach on the east side of the city...."
The editorial concluded with a further suggestion on the parking and traffic problem. "A few years ago," the article read, "this newspaper made a study of this sort of clearance in relation to taxable valuations in the downtown area which are jeopardized as long as the problems of parking and traffic handling remain unsolved. Suppose such a clearance project were to cost the city $1,000,000 over a period of 10 or 20 years....Eugene can afford to be daring in planning the future of Eugene."
Two weeks later "Problems of Eugene's Growth" were considered in an editorial under that heading. The writer asked three questions:
- Are we "mining" our resources, especially our forests, faster than they can be replaced?
