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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1933)
The Frontier D. H. Cronin, Editor and Proprietor Entered at the Postoffice at O’Neill, Nebraska as Second Class Matter. ADVERTISING RATES: Display advertisments on Pages 4, 5 and 8 are charged for on a basis of 25 cents an inch (one column wide) per week; on Page 1 the charge is 40 cents an inch per week. Local advertisements, 10 cents per line first insertion, sub sequent insertions 5 cents per line. SUBSCRIPTION RATES One Year, in Nebraska-~$2.00 One Year, outside Nebraska-$2.50 Every subscription is regarded as an oDtn account. The names of sub Beribers will be instantly removed from our mailing list at expiration ol time paid for, if publisher shall be notified; otherwise the subscription remains in force at the designated subscription price. Every subscriber must understand that these conditions are made a part of the contract be tween publisher and subscriber. NATIONAL AFFAIRS By Frank P. Litschert We have heard a great deal of late about the failure of the nation’s banks to lend money to private firms for the expansion of business and have been told that this is one of the things which is retarding our economic recov ery. There has even been strpng in timation from Washinton that unless the banks “loosen up" so to speak, the government itself will take the credit situation in hand. There are, of course, two sides to the question. On the one had the banks are being urged to ex tend credit in every direction, while on the other they are compelled to comply with the new banking laws which pro vide for a more stringent examination and much harsher penalties for bank ers who lend their customers’ money in poor speculative enterprises. In thinking about this situation it must be remembered that banks can not make money for their stockholders unless they put to work the money which is left with them on deposit. It is hardly likely therefore that the bankers of the country are in some deep conspiracy to restrict credit, since they can only show an operating profit by extending credit. During the past few years it has been necessary for the banks to remain as liquid as possible. Granting, for the sake of argument, that this period is now com ing to a close, it must be admitted that the bankers must be more careful than ever in extending credit because of the provisions of the new banking law. They are compelled to go slow ly also in that the future monetary policy of the country is now decidedly “up in the air” and nobody knows just what sort of inflation or currency or credit expansion we are to have, if any. But there is another phase of the general situation which must not be lost sight of. It is easy to overestim ate the importance and extent of the tightness of credit. The average sound and conservative business firm is able to get what credit it requires. It is not credit that it needs, but customers. The Alexander Hamilton Institute recently well summed up the credit situation in one of its bulletins when it said: “The credit situation is giving ser ious concern to the administration. Al though the banks have loanable funds in most instances, except those banks that are still closed by the govern ment, these funds are not moving out to finance business activities. Bankers have been charged with holding back on the granting of credit because of the supposed heavy risks. For this attitude the bankers could hardly be blamed, because of their recent har rowing experiences at the hands of the government and the public, and the watch that is being kept on banking operations. The Reconstruction r in- j ance Corporation has offered aid thru preferred stock in banks or by loaning banks money at 3 per cent that they i can reloan at 5 per cent as a maximum, to trade and industrial organizations. If such offers are not accepted by the banks, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation has threatened to set up so-called mortgage companies in var ious centers to loan directly to busi ness without the medium of bankers. Studies of the situation, however, show that merchants and manufacturers alike, both small and large have no im mediate need for the wide extension of credit. What they do need is sales, and sales are not sufficiently brisk to warrant increasing production and building up wholesale and retail stocks on borrowed money. There are many loan applications from individuals and organizations whose credit qualifica tions are so meagre that they would not pass even in times of prosperity, Sound organizations are not on the market extensively for the borrowing of funds." This undoubtedly states the situa tion as it is today. One of the sound est and most conservative business men in the Middle West recently said to me, in discussing the bank credit situation: “It Is not bank credit which my firm needs, but orders for good*. W e can get all the credit we need for our Wultfe** operations. What we want now is customers. Given customers, we can get the credit we require to expand.” The same is doubtless true of thous ands of business institutions in the United States. What good will it do to borrow money of the banks to produce or purchase more goods if the public ! demand is not forthcoming ? SOUND CURRENCY FIRST Syracus Post-Standard: The ad ministration is facing the task of put ting capital and credit to work. And they don’t really go to work until the currency is stabilized. There are many good reasons for such a stand. The insurance company protecting the investments of thous ands of families will not put its funds into enterprises it is not sure of; it must have assurance. The same is true of the savings banks. They will not put money into mortgages unless there is a demand for housing and values are established on a sound foundation. The individual will not invest in an enterprise that has no sure basis upon which it can exist. That is why the growing tendency towards price fixing will not help. Nobody believes that price fixing will work. It is based on false premises. It is one reason why the NRA alone will not solve the problems in volved. No one is sure that the new level of prices and purchasing power secured through its operation can be maintained. Many believe it can’t. A satisfactory level of prices must be decided upon and the currency of the nation stabilized upon that level, preferably with gold backing. It is not a coincidence that all economists generally agree upon the virtues of returning to the gold standard. A level must be found at which goods can be exchanged freely and it must be maintained by the gold stand ard. The nation and the world are ac customed to this arrangement and cap ital and credit will not work satis factorily until it is followed. If the administration wants capital and credit to start things moving, it will have to establish a definite and a sound monetary policy. AMERICA WAS CAUGHT ONCE Detroit Free Press: Wickham Steed, h correspondent who knows his Europe inside and out and upside down, re cently addressed the London conting ent of the American Chamber of Com merce and told his listeners that con certed action by the United States, Great Britain and France against Hit lerism is highly necessary because the Nazi regime is threatening "Western civilization with the greatest crisis since the French revolution” unless there is a “vindication of the principles of liberty by these three nations as a lead to the world." It would be a piece of temerity to dispute Mr. Steed's diagnosis of the tendencies and perhaps conscious aims of the Nazi movement, and there is no room for disagreement with his asser tion that “we are confronted with the growth of systems which have nothing in common with ours, based upon un controlled violence and the overriding of individual rights by the supposedly superior rights of a state controlled by an armed minority.” Nor will there be any indication to dispute his dec laration that we “cannot have the Declaration of Independence and the Magna Charta swept away by the ] doctrine of violence.” But somehow the speaker’s state ment that he would “welcome a con I certed declaration by the governments j of Ameria, France and England which j stand for liberty, that those who ] trample liberty underfoot cannot ex ! pect our good-will” leaves us quite | cold. It is not the habit of this republic to try to tell the people of other countries what form of government they should have, as <long as they at tend to their own business and do not try to interfere with ours. Nor was the refusal of Washington to recognize Soviet Russia caused by the commun istic form of its regime. It was the result of debt repudp.tion and attempts to spread seditious propaganda among the people of the United States and generally undermine our government and institutions. So far, there is no evidence that the Nazi government has attempted anything of the sort. Beside that, America has about had its fill of trying to aid Europe when it gets into difficulties. What this country did for the allies during the i war period has caused it nothing but grief, suffering and loss, plus the fiagrant ingratitude of France, the na tion which of all others is indebted to ; us for continuance as a free people. I If the American government ever finds j it necessary to talk plainly to Herr Hitler, it should do so exclusively on i : its own account and not to please or j assist any third nation. _ ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS “Not another winter like the last!’’j That was Mr. Roosevelt’s pledge when j he came to office. The N. R. A., the j N. I. R. A., the A. A. A., and the rest j to give them the initials by which j they are now usually known, were1 brought into being for that purpose, i The President himself has said that they aH represent emergency, as dis-l tinct from longview measures, and the theory is that they will be discarded when emergency passes. The N. R. A. has done some excel lent things, and it has made good headway. But it hasn’t done all that was hoped. Men have been put back to work—but not nearly so many as was anticipated. Wages have been upped in most industries—but it’s ob vious that many units within those industries aren’t going to be able to pay them unless credit strings are loosened. The problem is not only to make further gains again&t depression, but to hold unimpaired the gains that have already been made. The way the wind is blowing is in dicated by the latest Presidential an nouncement—he is planning a great federal non-profit corporation to buj essential supplies and distribute them to the needy during the winter. It has been the hope that direct relief of this sort would not be necessary, but as matters have developed it appears necessary if the bitter experience of last winter is to be avoided. That’s why inflation talk has bobbed into the headlines again. Many ob servers, including some who have qualified as experts, believe that if the recovery drive is to be continued on present lines, inflation is unavoidable. Senator Thomas, Senate Number 1 inflationist, has been threatening a march of 100,000 men on Washington unless the printing presses Tn the Treasury building begin humming. Senator Pittman of Nevada, whose principal mission in me is 10 gei Den fits for silver, wants inflation through the free silver route. Farm groups have been hot on the' trail of Secretary Wallace, because he said that inflation wouldn’t be a farmers’ cure-all. In the face of all this, Mr. Roose velt has kept his head, his humor and his sense of balance unimpaired. He has learned how to say “No" with polite definiteness, and he is a master of evasion when that seems the sound est course. He doesn’t want currency inflation, and he will accept it only when everything else has been tried and has failed. His solution is is of an entirely different kind—credit infla tion. There is especial lack in the country of money—the problem is how to get it out of hiding and put it to work. If that can be done, he believes, it will be found that currency inflation is unnecessary. The Federal Reserve and the Reconstruction Finance Cor poration will be his principal tools at first. On the latest report, the Presi dent was preparing to have the latter buy the preferred stock of banks which are still closed, thereby releasing bil lions now frozen in deposits which the owners can’t get, to provide additional purchasing power. Intimately associated with inflation and recovery, is the question of the dollar. A while ago the managed dollar was news. In the near future there is going to be a lot of talk about the compensated dollar, the creation of George F. Warren, a Cornell pro fessor, who was given the job of study ing dollar devaluation and stabilization by the President. The compensated dollar would, like the familiar one, be redeemable in gold, but with this basic difference—the amount of gold it was worth would not be fixed, but would vary with the wholesale commodity price level. As Professor Warren said, “This proposal would give the dollar a fixed value and a rubber weight.” The dollar we know is all goid—his dollar is what he -thinks to be judicious blending of the fixed and the pliable. Some items of general interest fol ow: Steel—According to the Iron Age, the market is reviving because of public works activity and renewed steel buying. The downward trend in production has became less pro nounced. Retail Trade—When evidence of re covery appeared a few months ago, this was a disturbing factor, as it showed little improvement while other fields showed much. Recently there has been a sharp gain due, in the view of Dun and Bradstreet, to the N. R. A. Best experience of al! was in the Midwest and on the Pacific coast. Cost of Living—Up 2.3 per cent in August; still 23 per cent below August, 1929. Employment and Wages—Employment gained 760,000 in August. Factory employment gained 6.4 per cent and payrolls 11.6 per cent. A very interesting fact appears in the Treasury statement of August 31: The post office department, after long years of teriffic deficits, is practically self-sustaining. The deficit on August 31 was less than $3,000. For the cor responding period—two months—of the 1932-33 fiscal year, it was more thun $15,000,000, and for 1931-32. $20. 000,000. PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOLT COUNTY HOARD OF SUPERVISORS O’Neill, Nebraska, September 26, 1933, 10 a m. Holt County Board of Supervisors met as per adjournment taken on I September 2, 1933. Members pres ent: Sullivan, Carson, Root, Reimer, Stein and Steinhauser. Meting called to order by the Chair man. Minutes of the previous meet ing were read and upon motion were approved as read. The petitions of School Districts 1, 5, 10, 19, 20, 22, 40, 44, 46, 51 69 71, 86, 87, 99, 132, 143, 145, 152, 157 163, 94 and 165, 187, 192, 218, 225, 238 for transfer of all funds remain ing in the Bond and Judgment Fund to the General fund of the Districts were read and on mtion by Stein, seconded by James, that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that the County Treasurer be instructed to transfer the Bond and Judgment funds to the General Fund of the respective School Districts. Carried. The following claims were audited and approved and on motion were al lowed and warrants ordered drawn on Salary Fund in payment of same: C. C. Bfergteti’dm ■-1_$ 66.00 Margaret Joyce . 10.00 Harry Bowen_:- 75.00 C. D. Keyes ,_ 2.00.00 Harry Bowen 10.00 C. J. Malone _ 183.34 Julius D. Cronin - 325.00 Ira H. Moss _____— 183.66 Teresa Connolly _ 65.00 Inez O'Connell . 83.33 W. E. Conklin ..... 400.00 Ruth S. Oppen ____ 65.00 Grace M. Carlon . 11.75 Luella A. Parker . 158.33 Edith J. Davidson_ 65.00 Loretta Phalin .. 104.17 Peter W. Duffy . 150.00 B. T. Winchell . 65.00 Marjorie Dickson _ 65.00 oJhn C. Gallagher _ 166.66 Esther Cole Harris . 125.60 Della M. Harnish _ 65.00 The petition of Anges Winkler for refund of taxes paid erroneously on improvements on north half of 20-30 \12 for the years 1930-1931-1932 was read and on motion by James seconded by Carson that the prayer of the petition be granted and refund warrant be issued in the amount of $42.62 in payment of same. 12:00 o’clock noon, on motion, Board adjourned until 1 p. m. John Sullivan, John C. Gallagher, Chairman Clerk. O’Neill, Nebraska, September 26, 1933, 1 a. m. Holt County Board of Supervisors met as epr adjournment. All members present. Meeting called to order by the Chairman. The petition of Meredith Crandall for refund of personal tax for the year 1931 paid erroneously in Josie pre cinct was presened and read at this meeting. It was moved by Steinhaus er, seconded by Stein that prayer of petition be granted and refund war rant be issued in the amount of $7.35 in payment of same. Carried. The following claims were audited and approved and on motion were al lowed and warrants ordered drawn on General Fund in payment of same: Ed. Jones ..._..$ 8.00 Luella A. Parker_ 30.75 Julius D. Cronin _ 20.75 Luella A. Parker__ 17.01 C. C. Bergstrom _ 16.00 W. E. Conklin_ 9.05 Peter W. Duffy _173.84 C. J. Malone _ 9.00 The following claims were audited and approved and on motion were al lowed and warrants ordered drawn on Emergency Bridge Fund in payment of same: L. W. Reimer_$18.50 Harry Sullivan __ 10.00 John Sullivan _ 12.50 W. R. Johnson.. _ 17.00 J. C. Stein - 12.10 Herb Jensen _ 14.20 John A. Carson _ 42.00 John Donohoe __ 1.25 Fred Sisson _ 2.00 R. C. Root_ 2.25 Richard Minton .._ 10.00 Albert Heeb _ 2.00 Fred Ermer _ 2,25 James Conway _ 5.65 Carl J. Thiele _ 12.80 5:00 P. M., on motion, Board ad journed until September 27, 1933, 9 a. m. John Sullivan, John C. Gallagher, Chairman Clerk. O’Neill, Nebraska, September 27, 1933,9 a. m. Holt County Board of Supervisors net as per adjournment. All members present. Meeting called to order by the Chairman. Minutes of previous meeting were read and on motionn were approved as read. Board spent the forenoon in audit ing General claims for the care of the poor and also road claims. 12:00 noon, on motion, Board ad journed until 1:00 P. M. John Sullivan, John C Gallagher, Chairman Clerk. O’Neill, Nebraska, September 27, 1933, 1 p. m. Holt County Board of Supervisors mfet as per adjournment. All memb ers present. Meting called to order by the Chairman. Board spent some time in the dis cussion of the care and support of the loor and needy of the county. Board also held conference with Dis trict Judge Dicksdn and also Mr. John, son of Lincoln in regard to the handi ing the services of an emergency Re ing and distribution of Relief Funds in the county. The advisability of secur lief Director for the county was also discussed. 5 p. M., on motion Board adjourned until September 28, 1933, 9:00 a. m. John Sullivan, John C. Gallagher, Chairman Clerk. O’Neill, Nebraska, September 28, 1933, 9 a. m. Holt County Board of Supervisors met as per adjournment. All memb ers present. Metting called to order by the Chairman. Minutes of previons meeting were read and on motiion approved, as read. Dr. Brown and Dr. McKee, repre senting the Holt County Medical As sociation, met with the Board in re gard to claims filed for medical and surgical care of County charges and also discussed the possibility of se curing funds from the Federal and state Emergency Relief Funds for car ing for medical and surgical services for those in need. Motion by Carson, seconded byReim er that The Frontier, the Stuart Ad vocate and Page Reporter be designa ted to publish the delinquent tax list for the year -932, same to be published at one third the legal rate. Carried. 12:00 p. m., on motion the Board adjourned until 1 p. m. John Sullivan, John C. Gallagher, Chairman Clerk. O’Neill, Nebraska, September 28, 1933, 1 p. m. Holt County Board of Supervisors (Continued on page 8, column 4.) RUPTURE SHIELD EXPERT HERE H. M. SHEVNAN, widely known ex pert of Chicago, will personally be at the Norfolk Hotel, Norfolk, Tuesday and Wednesday only, October 17-18 from 9 A. M. to 5 P. P. Mr. Shevnan says: The Zoetic Shield is a tremendous improvement over all former methods, effecting im mediate results. It will not only hold the rupture perfectly but increase the circulation, strengthens the weakened parts, thereby closes the epening in ten days on the average case, regard lss of heavy lifting, straining or any position the body may assume no mat ter the size or location. A nationally known scientific method. No under straps or cumbersome arrangements and absolutely no medicines or medical treatments. Mr. Shevnan will be glad to demon strate without charge or fit them iij desired. Address 6742 NORTH ROCK WELL. CHOCAGO. For 15 years assistant to F. H. See ley, famous rupture expert of Chicago. BEER IMPROVES STUDENT MORALE, SAY LEADING EDUCATORS —-j-By CORNELIA STRASSBURG_ Dean Herbert E. Hawkes Columbia University __e._~_ E Prof. Walter B. Pitkin I Columbia University at... — . ... The educators of "Young America" are watching with keen- J eat interest the first steps toward a new accepted national tem perance. Deans or other officials of lead ing universities in widely sepa rated localities have reported that the legalization of beer has produced beneficial mental and moral results among their stu dents With the opening of col leges after the summer vacation, this fact is becoming increasing ly apparent President Ernest M Hopkins, of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N H., where beer is sold on the campus says. "There would seem to be a definite tendency for beer to displace hard liqu»s In undergraduate consumption, and the availnbit 'y of beer in Han over has mingly quite deft nitely decree <ed the disposition of undergraduates to seek out liquor rex rts in neighboring com munities." He declared further that satis faction Is being expressed by students at being able to have beer In connection with group (linnets and that students have shown a dispos, n to r* their dinners more leU * ly am. .it •round In conversation *er wards aince the a en’ >f ueer At Columbt ’ntv« ty, New York, where l not yet sold in campus re ud i Ca tenas, Dean H *ae» ■ • Pres. Ernest M. Hopkins Dartmouth College pointed out, however, that beer is easily ac cessible to all students who care to drink it He said its availability would lessen certain problems inasmuch as it is not "a bait to drunkenness" but a "promoter of geniality and gemutliehkeit ” Temperance as ex pressed through the dis Dean George A. Works University of Chicago ^ favorable signs among students that reveal they are entirely in sympathy with the new order. He stated there was an appar ent decrease in the consump tion of hard 1 i q uor. Presi dent Albert Britt, of Knox College, Gales burg, 111., said he expects the new order to effect a reduc tio n in the d r i n k 1 n g of hard liquor. lummauun luwaru niiiu man beverage* a* against distilled l'quor. received approbation from Prof Walter B Pitkin, of Co lumbia University, well known author and commentator on cur rent topics "Beer is a great in strument for simple relaxation, for enormous masses of peopto, particularly when taken with food," he declared. "People are in a much better position and cunditiun to act sensibly when relaxed than when tense.” For this reason, he said, beer is par ticularly valuable to American society Dean George A. Works. o( the University of Chlcsfo. reports 1 Dr. Henry Pratt Fairchild, prominent sociologist of New York University, declared that the availability of light malt bev erages together with the healthy development of today's students will do much toward furthering the highest interest of American civilization. All of the educators consulted stressed the fact that college students of this generation have sen opportunity to point the way to true temperance and that the arrival of 3.2 beer at a crucial point in American his tory has already effected im portant and beneficial changes in student morals.