Past opinions provide perspective
Looking Back reviews opinions published in The Spokesman-Review during this week in history.
Suez Canal, Nov. 16, 1956
A looming war over the Suez Canal caught the S-R editorial board’s attention.
“Intervention of an armed United Nations police force in the Suez trouble spot is, undeniably, a great gamble. If it succeeds in restoring order and ending an incipient war, then it will have marked a milestone in the world’s long struggle for permanent peace. If it fails, the United Nations will suffer a loss of prestige that could limit its effectiveness for a generation.”
The editorial went on to say: “The U.N. force, the first of its kind, now is moving in. Its duties will be to do no shooting except in self-defense and in defense of the canal. It is a venture subject to many possible slips. It could embroil the neutral soldiers in fighting that could rouse their home governments to anger and demands for redress. Or it could prove that an international police force, under direction of an international peace organization, really can nip a war in the bud.”
Mount Spokane, Nov. 17, 1946
The S-R editorial board extolled the potential for the Mount Spokane ski area.
“Spokane can take its place among the top skiing attractions of the nation. Idaho has its Sun Valley. Salt Lake City has three areas to take care of the crowds. Several other cities around the country all make a bid for the winter sports’ enthusiasts – and mention the chair lifts as their big talking point.
“Spokane has Mount Spokane … and has the only chair lift in the state. And the weather in Spokane is ideal for the sport. In the coastal districts, there is too much snow, a paradoxical statement for good skiing. On Mount Spokane there is usually plenty of snow but also day after day of sunshiny weather.
“Skiers are free spenders … and can mean a considerable amount of money in the pockets of hotels and merchants. A chair lift will draw them from coastal points and from other faraway cities and towns.”
Cost of college, Nov. 15, 1966
The rising cost of higher education has been a long-standing problem, as noted in this S-R editorial.
“Leaders of publicly supported colleges and universities meeting this week in Washington, D.C., are tackling the problem of how to meet their budget needs without raising tuition. Students of modest means may be priced out of the market if public colleges continue their tendency to meet cost of operation by increasing tuition, in the opinion of Earle T. Hawkins, head of the National Association of State Colleges and Universities.”
The editorial continued: “With the prospect of a continuing increase in enrollment in the already heavily filled publicly supported institutions of the nation and the generally inflationary pressures on the nation as a whole, the financial problems are significant. It behooves those administrators to find a realistic balance both between a lavish budget and a deficient budget and between a token tuition and unduly burdensome tuition.”