Mb Official Paper of Box Butte County TWICE A WEEK TUESDAV AND FRIDAY Official Paper of the City of Allianca VOLUME XXIX (Eight Pages) ALLIANCE, BOX BUTTE COUNTY, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1922. No. 20 summary oft;;c POTATO CROP K PRESENT SEASOu AN INCREASED ACREAGE, BUT SLIGHTLY LOWER YIELD. Cheaper Farm Labor and Somewhat Better Prices During Digging Time Than in 1920. "Olin D. Miller, special representa tive of the federal bureau of markets and marketing, who was stationed in Alliance, at the beginning of the potato shipping season and sent out a daily -market report to the growers, and is iavr in the office of the state bureau of markets, where he is continuing this Renrice, has. issued a summary of the western Nebraska .white potato roi for the season. Mr. Miller says: The planting in western Nebraska In 1921 were considerably' larger than in 1920. The average in the important counties raising potatoes on a com mercial scale was reported by asses mors as follows! In the dry-land area, "Box Butte 17,774, Sheridan 11.Z66, Dawes 3.763. Brown 8.797, Kimball 1.453: in the irrigated area, Scotta Bluff 6,520, Sioux 5,135, Morrill 3,299. The Increase in the dry-land area amounted to 65 per cent over that re ported for 1920, and was almost all in Box Butte and Sheridan counties. In irrigated land it was more than 40 per eent and showed mostly in Sioux and Morrill counties. Although at the be ginning of the digging ft was the gen ral opinion of growers that the large acreage increase in the dry-land dis tricts would be c on ter balanced by the poor stand resulting' from unfavorable conditions at planting time and the of cull stock as seed, it developed . -that the average yield was nearly up to normal. Yields on dry lana rangea from 20 to 175 bushels an acre and averaged slightly better than 80 bush els, compared with 90 for the previous .season. On irrigated land they ranged from 50 to 450 bushels an acre and averaged about 155, compared with 150 -for 1920. . - The quality of the 1921 crop was somewhat below normal. The extremely-hot summer" weather, together -with considerable rain, caused' an un usual amount of fusarium wilt (de veloping as "stem-end rot"), and this "disease disqualified for seed much of the stock raised for that use. The per centage of growth cracks and second STowth in all districts, and scab as well, in the central and northern dis tricts, was too high for much of the stock to meet No. 1 requirements. Of the shipments to November 15 (tabu lated by grade on page 4), shipping point inspection showed 16 per cent of the dry-land stock to have rolled as No. 2 grade. This does not mean that all the potatoes in the cars so graded were necessarily No. 2's. Since the state grading law requires that all carlot shipments of potatoes meet the rreauirements of at least the No. 2 srade and must be so designated un less they make the No. 1 grade, a car of No. 2 potatoes may contain stock which is anywhere between the No. 2 and the No. 1 requirements. Because size was rarely a disqualifying item in (Continued on page o) Local Men Are Chosen Inspectors for Federal Loans Three new insilnctors have been ap pointed to see that security offered for war nnance loans is as represent!. Thev are Oscar Biaman and E. A. Hall of Alliance and Ode Black of Lakeside, The board in charge of the loan3, of which Dr. H. A. Copsey is president, is at present engaged in inspecting the security for former loans and it is not taking any new paper. About $110,000 V alreadv been loaned. Before the appointment of the new inspectors it was necessary to bring inspectors from other towns to do any business. The inspectors for this district are all cattlemen and land dealers of wide ex perience and are wen aoie w iw after the board's interests. Methodist Church to Have Special Musical Program Sunday Eve K special musical program will be printed at the Methodist church Sunday evening, when the choir of thirty voices, in oriental costumes, will tell the "Story of the Orient." The following numbers will be included: Musicul prelude, "Birds and Flow- Chorus, "The Rose of Sharon." Quartette, "At Eventide." .Solo, "Living Water." Chorus, "Disciple's Song." rhnrus. "Beatitude." Ladies' two-part chorus, "Scatter the Seed." Chorus, "The Tempest." Duet, "Peace Be Still." Chorus, "Bread of Life." Full chorus, "Ready to Serve." Alton Slaten of Hemmgford was operated on for appendicitis last Fri day. '.. - THE WEATHER For Alliance ami vicinity: Fair to night. Somewhat warmed. irles Pcltz Draws Tine of $200 for Illegal Possession Charles Peltz was fined $200 and costs in county court this afternoon on the charge of illegally having in nis possession and transporting liquor. The witnesses in the case, Thomas R. Alanion, John J. Watson and Max Mucker all agreed perfectly on their story which was that they had at tended a dance at the home of Watson and that some of the guests seemed to be intoxicated. On deciding to stop this the three witnesses searched Peltt's car and found in it two quarts of what they took to be high test moonshine. This they took to the house and locked up in spite of the protests of the defendant who was in the ear tft.the time. Thfc next day there" men brought the liquor to town ana turned it over to tne sfterm. -- Pelt, who acted as his own attor ney,' svered that he had found the fire water In Watson's milkhouse and had decided to take it away and throw It in a gulch and had earned out hia inten tion only so far as putting it in his car when the other men had taken it away from him. Judge Tash ruled, however, that which ever story was true that Felts had had In his posssesion and trans ported the liquor and assessed a fine of two hundred dollars and costs. Charity Ball to Be Held Saturday EVe at the Roof Garden The ball for the benefit of the local charity council will be held'at the roof garden on Saturday night of this week. First plans were to hold the dance at the armory, but so many tickets were sold that this was found to be im practicable. There will be a huge at tendance, and it will be a great even ing's entertainment.: FRIENDS HOPING TO ARRANGE FOR' GRAYTRELEASE RUMOR THAT PROBLEM WILL BE PUT UP TO WESTOVER. Say They Can Raise $500, and Want Balance of Fine Remitted Failure Forecasted. Friends of Tom Gray, self-confessed bootlegger, who was arrested Novem ber 4 in the act of operating a moon shine still in a cave thirteen miles southeast of Alliance, and who was sentenced three days later to a month in the county jail and a fine of $1,000 has visions of liberty. Some weeks ago the county commissioners were apuroaclwnl by. an attorney, who wanted them to pass a resolution re questing District Judge W. H. West over to reduce the fine to $500. The commissioners refused to take this ne tion, but Tom and his friends have not given up hope. According to fairly reliable rumors the friends of the prisoner are plan ninjr another similar attempt. J hi time, it is said, they will make their appeal direct to the district judge Judge Westover didn t impose the sen tence, as he had traded benches with Judge Harry Stuffer of the Omaha dis tnct at the time. Gray started immediately serving his fine out. at the rate of $3 a day with the prospect of spending at least a year in the county bastile. He has steadfastly kept a stiff upper lip, and has refused to implicate any of hi friends in the moonshine traffic, but the last week or two he is said to have intimated to the officers that he believed his friends had forgotten him. This, the county authorities believe, will result eventually in inonris spilling the beans unless his friends come to the rescue. The fact that they have not been Kile is looked upon as evidence either that they are most loyal friends, or else they are getting a trifle worried. Tom has told the officers that "some of his friends were standing by him," and he is apparently cognizant of the fact that some efforts are being made in his behalf. The rumor has it that they can still raise the $500 they had n mind at the time tne county com missioners were asked to intercede, to save the county a big board bill, lorn has served just three months, and there are nine months ahead of him unless the court relent:, or his friends dig down deeper into their jeans. It is fairly probably, however, that Tom and his few loyal friends are doomed to disappointment Attorneys sav that Judge Westover will in all probability not look kindly upon the application. In the case of a similar application made while he was holding court in Chadron, Judge Westover ruled that his hands were tied, and the matter of release of reduction of fine was wholly up to the board of pardons. READY TO FIGHT INEQUALITIES IN LIVESTOCK RATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ATTOR NEY COLLECTS DATA. Dale P. Slough May Meet With In terested Ranchers and Busi ness Men Saturday. Dale P. Stough, Grand Island attor ney, who has been retained by the transportation committee of the Alli ance chamber of commerce and other commercial organisations' in western Nebraska, plans to stoo over in Alli ance the latter end of the week, and if possible, a meeting will be arranged for av the chamber- of commerce rooms, at which Alliance business men and interested stockmen and ranchers may learn of the evidence he plans to present. Some weeks ago. a Washington dis patch brought the news that a special representative of tne interstate com merce commission would visit Omaha to hear evidence in connection with al leged discriminatory rates on live stock charged by the Burlington rail road between various Nebraska points and umaha. Through an order of hte federal commission, rates on livestock in JNe braska were nominally reduced 20 per cent. The order, as relating to the Burlington, covered only towns 500 miles distant from Omaha, and there is but one town in the state Henry, on the Wyoming line which benefited from the cut. The Union Pacific and Northwestern roads, however, reduced rates 20 per cent over the entire state. The result has been that shippers have been trailing their cattle overland in order to ship on the Union Pacific or Northwestern, to the detriment of the Burlington towns. Several of these united and have employed Attorney Stough to present their case to the commission's representative. - Hearing Postponed. According to a letter received from Mr. Stough by Airs. 1,1, 1 nomas, sec retary of the chamber of commerce, the hearing, has been postponed, but Mr, Stough plans to pass through Al liance and talk over the cose with in terested parties. The chamber of com merce has requested Mr. Stough to at tempt to be in Alliance Saturday, and has invited interested parties to talk with him. The following letter received from Mr. Stough, outlines the result of some of his investigations: "After the live stock rate case was postponed beyond today. I came to North Platte for a term of court an probably will be here until I go to Hyannis for court on February 6. If I get through here with proper time that I can make Alliance in the day time, 1 may stop there a few hours, even if it should be on Sunday, the 5, and might get an hour or so for an interview with Mr. Lunn and Mr. Hampton and a chance to show them some of the interesting evidence and data already gathered. "I will outline briefly some of the data 1 have at hand. A comparison of live stock rates from the point of origin on the Burlington to Omaha, with rates of equal distant points to Kansas City and St. Joseph. This comparison includes, say, the rate from Anselmo to Ashby, ranging from 401 to 4!2 miles from Kansas City and St. Joseph (taking a halfway point as the average) with Antioch, 397, to Marsland, 4;)2, to Omaha. For in stance Natick to the lower river mar kets, Kansas City and St. Joseph, on cattle .385 per cwtj Alliance to South Omaha, 413 miles .415 per cwt, show ing the present discrepancy in favor of the Missouri markets and against Al liance. "My data also includes different tables showing earnings in eents per car miles, covering Angora to Craw ford and down to Scottsbluff and Mor rill, comparing the Omaha and Mis souri markets, with Union Pacific sta tions for comparisons. There are sev eral hundred tabulations in this col lection of data and only by going over it thoroughly personally, if 1 can pet to Alliance in the daytime, could 1 give a real idea or it. The Rotary Club Held Interesting Session Wednesday The Rotary club met Wednesday evening at the Alliance hotel with Arthur Melville as a visitor. Mr, Melville recently purchased the Fowler l.umocr company and he stated in a short talk that he considered Alliance one of the best business towns in the state. He nlo said that the people of Alliance did not realize this as well as people in other places. Jlr. Melville is a memlier of the Rotary club of Broken How. Hrown's Saxophone Six, wl.ich appeared later in the evening at the Imperial theatre, gave a concert which was greatly enjoyed bv all. F. C, Irince. principal of the hiirh school and former army officer, was to have leen present to demonstrate some setting up exercises, but was detained. J. P. Jensen of Hemingford was in Alliance lor a lew hours Thursday. Irvrnn orooinu CAIIiH 0L00IUIY OF LEGISLATURE COMES TO END ADJOURNED THURSDAY AFTER NINE DAYS' WORK. Appropriations Cut $2,051,755, Or $21,000 More Than the Gov ernor Suggested. The special session of the legisla ture ended Thursday afternoon, after working nine days. Appropriations were reduced $2,051,755, a total of $21,000 more than the cuts recom mended by the governor. The expenses of the session were 917,710. It was the sentiment of the special session that road construction with federal aid ' shall ' be -continued this v.or in umnliiiH with tlut nlwlr tit fthe state for a five-year program of road work, but both houses passed a resolution as a sort of an aside saying that in the future the policy of match ing dollars with Uncle Sam shall I e frowned upon and the Nebraska repre sentatives in congress are asked to do their blamedest to stop the flood of federal money into the state, says the State Journal. Any number 6f members of the leg islature insist that Governor McKelvie didn't have the gasoline tax in the front of his mind at all when he made the call for the extra session. Their theory is that he put this forward to be shot at while he- secured other things that he wanted a good deal more. They give the governor credit for being a deep political strategi.it, when those closest to him think that he is as transparent as plate glass. , Bills Passed. . - Eleven bills were passed by the spe cial session, including two appropriat ing a total of $19,040 for the expenses of the session. Five bills introduced in the house and six in the senate be came laws. It was announced that Governor McKelvie would sign those sent to him late Thursday afternoon. These include the general appropria tion bill, II. R. 1, reducing appropria tlons. 1 H. R.'.s 5 and 6 were duplicates of bills passed by the senate and weie therefore indefinitely postponed. H. R. 7 was the ill fated gasoline tax bill. Senate file No. 1 by Warner of Lan caster, relating to proof of publication of legal notices was indefinitely post pone I at the request of the introducer to make way for the passage or b. r . 7, a bill on the same subject. Senate file No. 3 was indefinitely postponed in the house. It was one .of the bills authorized by the governor to correct the Omaha charter relative to Davment of assessments for -benefits accruing to property from widening of Ftreets. It was found impossible to correct another section of the charter which provided for the payment of damages accruing from the same cause, so it was sidetracked. The following are the bills passed and signed by the governor: H. R. 1, the general appronations bill carrying a reduction for the cur rent year, in appropriations, or Of. 1,755. Emergency. H. R. 2, appropriating $,uuu or so (Continued on Page 8.) R. M. Hampton Talks to Alliance Lions on Business Conditions R. M. Hampton was the principal peaker at the Thursday dinner of the Alliance Lions club. He discussed the nresent business outlook, largely fol lowing the same line of thought as in an address to the Rotary club last week. Future tro3Penty. Mr. Hampton said, is not a matter of law, but oi iiiv,-i,lnnl pffnrt. Whenever the coun- trv as a whole, turns seriously towurd conservation and economy, the effect will be instantaneous. The same rem edy will apply to foreign nations, he declared, for as soon as the c'tizens in.iifwiuuilir turn toward v Droduction pnd economy, exchange values will "if-e. .. . Normal business conditions are headed this way. Mr. Hampton de clared, and by the latter part of 1922, there should be business as usual. Dr. J. H. Jeffrey was a guest at the dinner, and contributed a brief talk on the advantages of Lionism and the need for a spirit of toleration in business and social life. Express Company Is Moving to Its New Quarters at Depot The work of moving the express company headquarters I t orn tne Ala- sonic Temple buiding to the mainten ance building, just west of the Bur lington station, began on Welnestlay. It will take at least two weeks to complete the job. W. R. Harper writes from Chicago that he is busy buying and some of his purchases in the way of spring goods are already arriving. Allhncc Elks Plan Vaudeville Show for Friday, February 10 Under command of A. H. Harper, members of the Alliance Elks lodge have perfected a vaudeville program convisting seven numbers that are fir above the average. The program is (mite varied, and all of it is good, ac cording to the report of a committee called in to pass Judgment. The com mittee unanimously decided that the show was just the kind that the- Alli ance Elks want to sponsor, and the program witl be put on at the Imperial next Friday night,' and possibly taken to Chadron later. Further announce ment will be made later. The admis sion will be comparatviely low, and it is expected the house will be packed to the guards. Two Fire Calls . Last Night From ' . ' : Railroad Yards k - The Alliance fire department' was called out twice last night The first call came at 8 o clock on account of a fire in a refrigerator car loaded with potatoes. The fire was in the packing between the outer and inner walls of the car. After the blaze had been ex tinguished, the city fire bovs left it to the railroad fire department to look after it and see that it didn't break out again, but another call came at 8:30 when the car again broke out in flames. Burlington Adds New Train Crews to Present Force Two new train crews have been put on this week and white it ! not definitely known whether theywill re- "in iwii:jr ww pruftijcvwi ii this seem good. Business has been picking up some lately and it s hoped iSf E ilih "It iT ... f"" HEARING ON THE PHONE INCREASE WAS INFORMAL CITY MANAGER KEMMISH AP- PEA RED FOR ALLIANCE Commission Agrees to Accept Com. pany's Book Values, But Alliance May Make Valuation City Manager N. A. Kemmish, who, left Alliance Tuesday noon for Omaha and Lincoln, to attend the hearing be- fore the Nebraska railway commission ! yesterday, called his office force by telephone this morning and reported the results of the hearing. The meet ing, he said, was informal, and the commission clul not attempt to go into; .u" V... .i :. .' increase at that time. The commission, Mr. Kemmish says, decided to accept the book value of the Northwestern Bell Telephone company, and will not conduct an investigation at fdate expense to determine whether the figures submitted by the company are correct. News reports recently have indicated that the commission would take this attitude, one of the members having stated that a similar investigation in another state had cost $205,000, and there were not sufficient funds at the commission's disposal to permit an exienditure of this size. Ju."t what effect the hearing has had on the matter of the rate increase asked by the telephone company will not be known until Mr. Kemmish re turns, which will be on Sunday. It is understood that the Alliance represen tatives, Mr. Kemmish and Mr. Romig, secured permission to start work on a valuation of their own and that they would be given an opportunity to pre- sent me resuns oi meir investigations to the commission Mr. Kemmish took with him a carefully prepared brief in which he presented arguments against allowing the increase, but it is not known whether it was filed or will be presented later if Alliance is given a separate hearing. At yesterday's ses sion there was considered only mat ters affecting all of the towns at which the increase was asked. Plans for New High School Are Nearly Completed The plans for the new high school building will be completed soon, ac cording to W. R. Pate, superintendent of schools. A small draft of the ground plan was sent last week to the board in order that they might decide just where to place the building on the lot. A decision was reached to place the new structure in the center of the block on which the present high school standi and, to face it to the west. Deputy U. S. Marshal A. M. Wright ox v. uauxon was m ue city waay. CHECK WRITING ROMEO IS AGAIN ' THE LIMELIGHT DEWEY L. RUSSOM NOW IN BADr AT FAIRVIEW, OKL. Sob Story Told to Alliance AntbecK ties Evidently Part of His Regular Line. Dewey L. Russom, twenty-twe-ye old Romeo writer of worthless cheeky who got into trouble at Alliance th latter part of December, and who wm released after a nobbing promise tore form when a letter offering him hi) old job was received, is again in, tcee ble"The sheriffs office yesterday ra ceived a postcard from Sheriff Jeh & Horn of Fairview, Old., which here tfet heading, in large type, "Escaped,' VtA which contained the following: lllunift atlng message: "Escaped From the Major eeuafqt jail, January 27, 1922, Dewey L. Jtqs som, age twenty-six years; wtcafc about 165; 6 feet 10 inches tall sua built; has black hair and dark ttt one leg shorter than the other; wtar a built-up shoe and limps slightly. Kej is a bad check artist. Arrest. M4 wire at my expense." In all probability, Russom will stfteQ dear of AUiance, where he has a ih row escape from being sent to jaJd, b the message from the Oklahoma sheciS brings up .interesting recollections. & his experiences in this city. The day before Christmas, Rus.eB who called himself Russell, waa a rested by the Alliance police, charged with cashing two worthless checks Jt , -k t k. u,.i ur mcnt store. The last session ofthf legislature was all that saved: hi bacon, for the legislature changed ttM. i.w in reran! to writing wosthtassi cnecks anJ p,aced l offense on a p Mi d and petty larceny, depeK ing on the amount of the checks, for tunately Russom had not written an check in an amount sufficient to held) him for grand larceny, and so, after rather damn session before Judgt Tash, in which the crippled bOy wept copiously, he was ?lven but thirty dan in jail. - ( ' v," ' J 'Alfowed to Co'ttf Work. A day or two later, a letter cam from his sweetheart in his home town Green River, Wyo., which said that hia I job as Union Pacific timekeeper wa open for him, and the judge released mm. it. nan Dcen supposes mat oi& reformation was genuine, and that he was now hard at work trying to re deem himself in the eyes of his Greejk River sweetheart, but apparently notv The officers, with later facts to guide them, are now of the opinio I hut fvpn thftiio-h Uiissom was t bm time a railroader, he has found th . check writing game profitable. Hia crippled condition undoubtedly won I c v' money. Shortly after he was released from the Alliance jail, a message from . rvr " , . .. z was wanted there for a similar offense) at the expiration of his sentence. word came too late. (Continued on Page 8.) Vandals at City Park Lectured by County Attorney Half a dozen boys have been called before County Attorney Basye since Tuesday and informed that their be havior at the city park was not ap proved. The boys say that they may have been rough with the smaller boys, but it is a pretty small skating pond) and the little boys ' naturally get crowded off. They promised to try ta do better. Mr. Basye couldn't get any of them to admit tearing down tree to make bonfires, each one insifJng; that he had brought wood from hoan for the purpose. Juvenile Offenders Report Promptly to County Judge Tash The ten juvenile offenders who ad mitted in juvenile court that they had entered the Morgan grocery company building and taken therefrom various comestibles, and who were lectured and told to report to Judge Tash on Tuesday of this week, were on hand promptly at the appointed hour, only one missing the appointment. The missing lad had run a nail in his foot and was permitted to stay at home. The boys talked the matter over with the judge quite frankly, one of them saying' that every boy, at some ime in his life, has to have the lesson brought home to him. The two boys. who were told to attend Sunday school annouced they had found one to at tend. Dr. F. M. Knight, president of th Alliance National bank, will leave th last of the week for Decorah, la, for a week's visit with hia mother Jink Ruff ridge, , . , t