The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-03-18
The Gal Is Jealous of Us
Portland Oregonian)

Portland Oregonian)
 Colonel c. B. Blethen of the Seattle Times sat down to write page l editorial the other day and did write It. while he was so hot under the collar that he sizzled. He was emitting sparks like an emery wheel tacklng rat-tal file The Oregonian is glad, indeed, that he didn't cool off before he began cuffing his typewriter and 1t feels sure that in saying this it voices the reaction of every north western reader who the Times editorial about Los Angeles and the weather. Said Colonel Bethen in very minor part he launched into his grievance and
 ''Way back in my boyhood days, I remember an eighth grade bully, who caught by member of the high school football squad in the act of in- flicting some minor torture upon another youngster The bully ran bawng home and then proceeded to kick his younger brothers all over the lot One is compelled to judge city by its newspapers Today Los Angeles-as represented by its newspapers s-is behaving exactly like the bully mentioned. Beaten battered, Soaked-but above all angry and humiliat ed-by an extraordinary series of storms Los An geles vents southern Californias fury and resent ment on poor Washington and Oregon - little brothers of the Pacific Coast
 By this the colonel mean that, far from taking the weather God has sorted out for them and being phosophic about it. the Los Angeles papers seriously are arguing that the regional storms which brought flood conditions in point of fact strays from our part of the coast which is represented being in chronic condition of melancholy dampness To account for their visitation of providence they deem it good strategy if downright dishonest, to islander our northwestern climate And as a matter of fact their newspapers, quite as Colonel Bethen charges have been doing it for years. To prove how comparatively fortunate they are when their basements are full of water and there is skiff tethered to the back steps, they represent that such conditions are commonplace to "rain-swept Oregon" And if 1t were to rain 40 days and 40 nights on southern California it just about did this time, their newspapers would keep right vowing tha. cit1I o,,sfo fio, shower in Oregon and Washington What are we going to do about this variety of misrepresentation We'll Colonel Blethen swears that if they don't stop 1t the Seattle Times will follow the example set by the Los Angeles Times and on occasion print some thing of this sort:
 Last night Seattle experienced one of the worst storms in years It was a typical southern Call fornia storm, and, matter of fact the storm should have reached the coast in the vicinity of Los Angeles, but by meteorological freak it was diverted to the north However, this accident of nature gave the residents of this district an oppor- tunlty to see what Los Angeles has to put up with winter after winter"
 Except for the place names Colonel Bethen testifles this rather shocking example of spite and i'll will is copied almost word for word from edi- toral comment in the Los Angeles Times on the recent southern California storms And if still those bad neighbors are looking for trouble, the colonel, whose dander increased to ncandescence as he warmed to the theme, northwestern news papers can give them now and then few digs about earthquakes that will make them squirm like the ver1table worms the colonel believes them to be They have asked us, through big civic organiza- ton of Los Angeles to sotpedal their earthquakes because such publicity is bad for L. A. and would conceivably hurt the rest of the coast. But why should we? The question is pertinently put, as is also Colonel Bethens suggestion that the publishers of Washington and Oregon mediate on what he has said
 The Oregonian agrees-give it to them when ever the occasion presents itself Teach them man. ners and team work by perhaps the only means of converting them. We of the northwest, in our deal ings with this capricous southern sister of ours this 1owan -mestizo this gentle hellcat who wants everything her own way always, have been doing to others as we would be done by long enough It is time we began the punitive collection of few southern California and ncisors, and an occa- sional moar, to make us feel better You are dead right. colonel-et's make her say uncle"
 But meantime let remember this and remem- Der 1t we'll for it is the explanation of the caprcious and catty southern California way-the gal is jealous Of us, colonel; the gal is jealous of us Chiquta just can't stand the competition.