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FS Plain NRO RE Se er la SA in saia REPRE IE Sa who das #onadtak 55 Summing Up The Medicare Crisis The bitter local experience in Saskatchewan has alerted Can- ada as a whole to the difficulties it must face if it decides to estab- lish a national health insurance scheme, Unhappy as it was at its incep- tion, the Saskatchewan experi- ment may be a useful warning to the nation. But however the provincial scheme may be regard- ad, it is probably the forerunner of a national scheme on some other basis. While the Saskatchewan Gov- ernment was trying to force its legislation on the medical pro- fession and the doctors were re- fusing to practice, except in cases of emergency, a royal commis- sion was studying a broad na- tional approach to these prob- lems. It is expected to file a report with the federal govern- ment not long from now, and no doubt it will take full account of the quarrel in Saskatchewan, as recently settled by compromise. That Canada will adopt a na- tional insurance scheme of some kind appears certain, since all political parties are committed to it and the Progressive Conserva- tive government has been strong- ly criticized by the Liberal op- position for delaying it. The government replies that it would be folly to undertake such a costly project without the full- est advance inquiry, the explora- tion of all alternatives, the fig- ures of prospective cost. After what happened in Sas- katchewan the government no doubt is glad that it refused to rapidly go ahead, In the light of this experience most Canadians realize now that medical insur- ance under state; control will be more difficult and complicated than it looks in the simplicities of political debate. Apart from everything else, medical insurance raises grave financial problems. Nevertheless, the Canadian people, as reflected in their Parliament, seem deter- mined to have it in one form or another to complement the pre- sent scheme of hospital insur- ance. ° In the Saskatchewan experi- ment they have learned several lessons that will deeply influence national policy later on. First, it has been demonstrated that no Canadian government can compel the cooperation of the medical profession. Like other workers, the doctors can go on strike as they did in Sas- katchewan, though they did not --use that term. ---- Se The provincial government made the mistake of enforcing the insurance scheme before it was sure that the doctors would work under it. No Canadian gov- ernment is likely to repeat this mistake. TT Second, it is clear that the Saskatchewan public has no wish | to disturb the free and personal relationship between doctors and patients. It regards insurance as purely a financial matter, a method of paying medical costs collectively with no state inter- ference in the practice of medi- cine, writes Bruce..Hutchison in the Christian Science Monitor. The Saskatchewan government denied throughout the recent trouble that it wished to inter- {ere or that it was attempting to turn doctors into civil servants. But the wording of its legislation convinced the doctors that it had ISSUE 33 -- 1962 taken the power to interfere and might do so later if the law were not clarified before the scheme started, The strike ended only when the government agreed {fo suin- mon the Provincial Legislature and rewrite the law generally along the lines of the doctors' wishes Third, it is clear that private insurance schemes, now covering a large proportion of the Cana- dian people, will not be abolished and that doctors can practice outside the public scheme if they wish. To this the Saskatchewan gov- ernment has agreed, and any province embracing state insur- ance in any form is likely to do likewise, But everybody, whether he wants state insurance or not, will have to pay his share of the cost, one way or another, in taxes. Irving's Back At Work--No Fooling At 9:20 on a muggy morning in New York City last month, while most theater people were in bed or on vacation, 74-year- old Irving Berlin strode briskly up to the St. James Theater to kick off rehearsals of "Mr. Pres- ident." "Irving, what are you trying to do?" asked a friend at the door. "Make an entrance?" Berlin was not so much mak- ing an entrance as a re-entry -- about the most heralded re-entry since Scott Carpenter's. In 1950 with "Call..Me Madam," Berlin quit Broadway, 'ahd four years later the most prolific (900 songs) and popular composer of his day retired completely from song- writing. "You can't manufacture hob- bies," Berlin remarked as he ex- plained his decision to write a new show, "If your mind is ac- tive you have to do something with it. Even if it's bad.- But if you haven't done something for twelve years, you get frightened. 'mind to eommit myself." Berlin committed himsel; to what seemed a sure thing. His collaborators on "Mr. President" are Broadway names almost as fabulous as his: Authors Howard Lindsey and Russel Crouse, di- rector Joshua Logan, producer Leland Hayward. His stars are Nanette Fabray and Robert Ryan, and his theme contemporary poli- tics. At first rehearsal the ad- vance sale had soared to $1.6 million. "It scares me," said Ber- lin. "It's the two sides of a coin. On one side I'm flattered that, no matter what, it will run for a because I have to live up to it." As Berlin walked into the St. James, he mused about the re- hearsal. "I'm anxious, but the minute you do anything for an audience you get a reaction. You become enthusiastic and the-mo- 'mentum of enthusiasm keeps you going" -- Backstage, Berlin stripped to short sleeves. Then he stepped in front of the rehearsal piano and began sjnging his show. Ber- lin's voice, a croak in 1918 when he sang "Oh! How I Hale to Get Up in the Morning," had weath- ered to a creak in 1942 when he appeared in his "This Is the Army." Now it was a throaty whisper but unmistakably Ber- lin. Three hours later he belted out the last song, a rhythmic, flag-waving anthem which be- plauded and joined in the patrio- tic refrain. Berlin smiled and led the singing. ty's "'white-only" ro anti-segragationists, vities, KED -- Albany, Ga., police carry a teen-ager from the library following a demonstration by The arrests came as lawyers "nearby saurthouss argued the legality of such protest Last year I just made up my -year, The other side is I'm-scared' - "gins: "This is a great country .." In salute to Berlin the cast ap-: bs DRUG PROBE -- Dr. Frances Kelsey, Canadian-born and educated Food and Drug Administration medical officer who kept Thalidomide off the U.S. market, and George Larrick, FDA commissioner, appear at Senate hearing in Washington. The Senate committee is investigating the drug which' may have induced prenatal deformities in babies. Ea My temporary address as 1 start this column is Stoney Lake, Peterborough, Joy and I and the two little boys drove up here last Tuesday to spend a few days with Dee and her boys. It was a beautiful day, the traffic wasn't heavy and we made good time. And then during the night it started to rain anf on Wednes- day it rained and stormed off and on all day. I never saw such rain for so long a period, There were short spells of clearing during the day during which the boys donned slickers and rubber boots and enjoyed themselves paddling in all the deep puddles. Wednesday night -it again but Thursday was more promising so we took off to Campbellford to visit my niece Betty and her family -- and then we brought them back with us -- that is, Betly and two of her -"children. So there we were, three women and seven boys ranging .in age from eight months {o nine years. I couldn't see how we were all going to get into one cottage but Dee said it would take a dozen. And it did... with the help of two pullout couches in the sunroom, another in the living room, two rooms with double beds, one with a crib, and there was also a Boy Scout tent and endless bedding. for eating were also adequate with a fair-size table in the kitchen-livingroom and another in the sunroom. Another "con- venience" was a little house at the back of the lot which takes the place of plumbing! Drinking water has to be fetched from a nearby store and washing water {from the dock. Two boats add to everyone's enjoyment as well as all kinds of garden chairs on a well-treed lot right on the edge of the lake. - We really had a wonderful time-but next time I_go up I'm going to wear a couple of ear- plugs. When it was chilly Dee was telling the boys to shut the door each time they went in or out. "Shut" doesn't describe what they did, "Bang" would be nearer the mark -- and every bang went through my head until what I have left in the way of brains just about rattled together. Going and coming from here to wonderful scenic roads as we didn't always stick to the high- way but cut across country, oc- casionally along gravelled roads with sometimes a swamp on eith- er side and very few dwellings. That is also what happened when we went from Stoney Lake to Campbellford. Campbellford I got quite a sur- prise. I was introduced to sev- eral girls and their parents who are readers of this column. I lost track of the number I met as there are nine in the family! And they were all very busy as one of the girls was being married at the end of the week. When we got there they were arranging the wedding presents and shower gifts. There were many lovely things -- I couldn't begin to de- scribe them all -- but one shower gift struck me as being -- not exactly beautifu! -- but decided- ly origina. "The donor had bought a collection of kitchen gadgets, such as a grater," moas- uring Spoons, measuring cup, 'about 30 miles "north-east of ~ stormed Facilities the cottage we {travelled along Incidentally, at' | INGERFARM Pp ke Gwendoline P. Clay clothes' pegs and so on and had dolled them up with ribbons and "bows and packed them-in-an-at-- tractive container. And that was that. We also saw the bride's dress -- white, of course -- but street-length and not so fussy but what it could be changed a bit and worn as a party dress after- wards. From all this excitement we enticed my niece away, back to the cottage with us along with her son Michael and baby Step- hen. Betty also has a daughter Susan but Susan had previously arranged a few days from home with one of her little friends. Betiy's one condition in coming back with us was that we must guarantee to have her back in time for the wedding the follow- ing Saturday. Of course we promised -- what could be simpl- er? What indeed! - We thought it was made even easier as Art came up to the cot- tage Friday night and-as Dee still had a bit of shopping to do he said he might as well take Betty back and they would shop on the way home. So they start- ed out, but alas Art's car isn't as new as it might be and on the somewhat rough cross-country road that I mentioned before he broke some kind of spring and the 'brakes seized up. 1 don't know the exact details. He and Dee did get back to the cottage eventually but then Art had to spend most of his Sunday morn- ing in a garage getting his car "fixed, It would appear it is some- times better {o choose a road for smoothness rather than scenery. Any way when Joy and I return- ed home on Sunday we stuck to the highways and got along fine. Which means I am typing this § column from our usual home ad- dress. Since I got home there have been nothing but phone calls, visitors -- and one mis- hap. Taffy was tied up outside on a long rope. One time I heard growling and : foun dTaffy being attacked by a mongrel Shepherd dog. Taffy was fighting right back but he was no match for the size and strength of the other and got bit- ten on one ear. I was glad it didn't happen while I was away as Partner would have hated to greet me with such unwelcome news. Thank goodness, both dogs had had rabies shots. Q. How can 1 repair cracks and small tears in a child's in- flatable swimming. pool? A. Try pressing some plastic electrical tape over the-damaged spots. rr fan A) Ri } t y Cho form 8 "fe Ne, 0D Wolf ile ard "Battle medals! I've -been through a lot of engagements bh never got medals for LR 'market, snapping and Sold Lipstick And Got Shot An elegant young Moscow lady slips a §-ruble note into the sales- clerk's hand and walks out with a pair of hard-to-get spike-heeled shoes from Czechoslovakia. A well - known author rents out rooms in the country villa given to him by the state. An old lady wrapped in a shawl stands out- side the GUM department store, whispering an offer to passers: by for scarce cotton socks. By 1980, Premier Khrushchev has assured the Soviet people, Communist society will have produced the good life -- plenty of television sets and refrigera- tors, decent houses, and non- squeak shoes. In the meantime, of course, consumer goods are scarce, and many of Khrush- chev's countrymen are impa- tient. They are "going nalevo," which means taking liberties with the law for a bit of personal gain, Nalevo is usually trivial. But in recent months, reports NEWSWEEK'S Whitman Bassow from Moscow, some Soviet citi- zens have gone nalevo on a grand scale. There was the sensational case of Nikolai Kotlyar, the so- called Lipstick King, who made more than $1 million by illegally manufacturing the cosmetic in his basement outside Moscow, There was Lazar E. Koshcher, a procurement officer in Dnepro- petrovsk, who swindled the gov- ernment out of $400,000 by up- grading second - class apples to first-class and pocketing the dif- ference in price. Both Kolyar and Koshcher were caught, convicted -- and shot, Since last spring, in fact, some 50 persons have been sentenced to death for a variety of "eco- nomic crimes," and last month the toll mounted sharply. In Mos- cow, K.D. Degtyarev, a former - high official in the Finance Min- istry, was sentenced- to the firing squad for extorting bribes. In Frunze, capital of the Central _ Asian Republic of Kirghizia, nine 'more were given the death pen- alty; a number of others, fifteen years in jail, The Frunze mob-- with the connivance of local offi- clals -- had embezzled the state out of more than $3 million by illegally manufacturing knitwear in a state factory and selling it through normal government re- tail outlets. The ringleaders, L. Y. Feldsher and IM. Dvorkin, each amassed fortunes of more than $1 million, and the wealth confiscated from all the convict- ed men included more than $4 million in cash and $7 million in _property, The downfall ~of the Frunze racketeers, like the other illegal: Soviet millionaires, came because they could not conceal their ill- gotten gains. Some invested their loot in gold coins or foreign currency - bought "onthe black Others purchased dia- monds-- or Soviet Government bonds. But most of them could not resist buying expensive hous- es and cars -- a suspiciously showy display in a society where only successful writers, 'musi- cians and movie stars can 'earn enough to-pe legal millionaires. Though it is hard to get away. with it, there seems little doubt that large-scale nalevo will con- tinue in the Soviet Union -- at least until that day Khrushchev has been promising when each citizen will have everything "ac- cording to his needs." Modern Etiquette By Anne Ashley "¥Q. Ts it proper to tip the hotel | doorman who lifts your bags out of your car to the sidewalk? A. No. Q. How are canapes eaten? A Canapes that are served be- "fore a meal are eaten with the |- fingers and with cocktails in the living room. At the table, how- ever, they are eaten with the fork. SKI BREEZE--Balancing atop an ordinary kitchen stepping stool is a breeze for Nancy Andrews, as she zips along Kaneohe Bay near Oahu, Ha- waii, at about 11 knots. Fighting Against Costly Funerals In old-world communities from Cork to Canton, the funeral has always vied with the wedding as a treasured excuse for interrupt- ing workaday toil and appeasing the human hunger for variety and spectacle. In the modern U.S., where diversions are more plentiful, the elaborate funeral is something of an anachronism. Moreover, as a growing number of infuential clergymen have be- for the esteemed departed may be downright offensive. Part of the clerical objection to the funeral with frills arises from humane concern for the family which has to foot the bill, Fifteen years ago, one could be decently laid away for a cost of from $300 to $500. Nowadays, the figure is $900 to $1,200. More- over, some clergymen argue that an exaggerated fuss over a dead body has pagan implications. What these critics would like to see substituted for the elaborate tious burial followed by a mem- orial service. Already a rooted trend, this revolt against the old-time ob- sequies has taken organized form in_the growing number of "mem- -orial societies" now spread across the country. These are coopera- --tive groups whose members pay a nominal initiation fee ($2.12) to insure the preplanned dispos- al of their bodies (usually by cre- gun to:-insist, the all-out send-off ~ funeral is a simple and expedi- mation), and a corpseless service in a church instead of a funeral parlor. Much of the appeal of the memorial societies (there are close to 100 today) is patently due to thelr success in shaving the high cost of dying. In Chi- cago, for example, since'the local group (1,000 families) was founded three years ago, the cost of services for deceased members has averaged $260, as compared with an average of $1,200 for Chicago-area funerals. Although the most outspoken advocate of the memorial societ- jes have been Unitarium minis- ters, the Chicago Board of Rabbis "recently issued a statement of concern over funeral practices "which violate the letter and spirit of Jewish tradition." And last May, the Texas Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern) adopted a resolution condemning "neo-pagan corpse worship." If laymen are upset by heavy expenses and clergy by lack of religious tone, both object to what they see as the vulgarity of current funeral customs. "Most services are stupid, barbaric, and savage,' says Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin of Los Angeles. "Our people," says Helen Farmer, sec- retary of the Los Angeles mem- orial society (900 families), "don't have to suffer the em- barrassment of undignified com- mercial services. Funeral direc- tors have brought this on them- selves -- by putting high-pres- gure salesmen on bereaved fam- ilies, by being garrulous and ob- noxious." Undertakers not only resent such criticism, but believe the memorial idea can only thrive on publicity; consequently, most re- main as tight-lipped as the "gverseal" caskets some of them recommend. However, in a re- cent issue of a mortuary trade magazine, Ralph Head, president of a chain of funeral homes in California, opens up: "Without a funeral director with crema- pickup . . . the memorial society would be nothing more than a propaganda organization trying to sell an-ided in exchange for a $10 handout." Although Head's bitterness 'is shared by many morticians, others see the socleties as inevit- able. Boston's Chester Eastman feels that funeral directors will simply have to adjust to the new trends. "We're planning to stay 'in business," he says, "by con- ducting funerals the way people want them conducted." If the memorial societies are _here to stay, they are not going to find Eastman"s cooperative at-- titude everywhere. "The very concept of the memorial society," said one more representative funeral official recently, "is alien to every principle of the American-way--of life." The ruffed grouse. is also - known as mountain pheasant, thunder bird, partridge, and drummer, =~ : oe cial light in her basement. illis Alderman tends some of the more than 40 varieties of African violets she raises by artifi- SWEET VIOLETS -- Mrs. W PREMIER MEETS PRESIDENT -- Prince Souvanna Phouma, neutralist premier at Laos, meets in the White House with Pre-i"2nt Kennedy. : Ba {or _ tion facilities willing to provide i REL Sa 5 SEINE Er ---------- Ts A 4 mr ET -- wy | Ul i AN