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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1934)
See Undersea Life at Record Depths Observers Study Fish New to Science. Wskiington.—Throngs of tourists lined the cliffs along St. George’s harbor, Bermuda, as Dr. William Beebe', and Otis Barton, Intrepid deep-sea divers, steamed out to sea, there to climb Into their steel ball, the bathysphere, and be lowered to record depths In the Atlantic off Nonsuch Island, according to the National Geographic society, spon sor of the expedition. Already the holders of the record deep-sea dive, Doctor Beebe and his companion, In their first attempt, took the bathysphere to 2,.r>l0 feet Their prior record was 2,200 feet In this dive Doctor Beebe report ed by telephone that he saw scores of fish new to science. He dictated to his secretary above, thousands of words of description about little known denizens of ”a world as strange as Mars.” Barton, with the aid of s special, high-powered light, took motion pictures of weird crea tures that floated nnd swam by the thick quartz eyes of the bathy sphere. After an hour at the record depth, during which Doctor Beebe report ed the searchlight showed many new forms of life while other creatures could be observed owing to lights they carried on their bodies, the or der to haul up was given. Depths Rich in Fish Life. Upon emerging Doctor Beebe ■aid: *i have never seen so much material In my life, and new ma terial, too. Much of It is entirely different from that which we ob served during previous dives. It Is the silliest thing in the world to at tempt to describe In a few words, but we saw more fish and larger fish than during any other dive. Every dive convinces me of the fu tility of trying to get the true Idea of deep-sea life through nets. Many deep-sen creatures are such rapid swimmers that they can easily get away from nets. One of the most amazing finds of the day was a flesh-colored fish which I observed at the 2,500-foot level. We observed schools of rare lampanyctus, sliver hatchet fish, and th 'usnnds of tiny squid.” During the dive live pho tographs were taken with supersen sltlve plates. The latest dive, at approximately the same spot as the former record dive, was to 3,028 feet. The bathy sphere remained at thnt level for only live minutes—sufficient time, however, to make possible Interest ing selentltlc observations which were dictated by telephone to a stenographer on the barge from which the heavy ball was lowered. Doctor Beebe reported that the pressure at the maximum depth wag more than 1,300 pounds to the square Inch, but the bathysphere, used successfully on many previous deep-sea dives, showed no leak age. It took 2 hours and 40 minutes to make the dive, 2 hours and 41 minutes of which were spent In de scending and ascending. Some Fish Carry Lights. Ab in the former dive, fish and other forms of undersea life, some recognized on the previous dive, and others that were new even to Doctor Beebe and Mr. lfarton, flashed Into their vision us they peered through the bathysphere windows. In this dark region, na ture has provided many of Its crea tures with lights which glitter around their bodies. Whether these lights are for illumination or for the purpose of finding food or at tracting mates. Is a problem which Doctor Beebe hopes to solve during his diving expeditions. At 2,7f>0 feet, Doctor Beebe glimpsed *'an amazingly lurge ttsh” which was about JO feet long. He said this is probably the largest liv ing thing ever seen In the deep sea. The movements of tlie huge mass of flesh, he reported, could he fol lowed In the blackness by the lu minescence of the thousands of ■mall creatures It disturbed. Fishes and other creatures In the zone near the half-mile depth, the naturalist believes, are larger, more numer ous, and more brightly lllumlnuted. than In the shallower regions. The bathysphere, which hears the name of the National Geogruphlc •oclety and the New York Zoolog Putting Uncle Sam’s Brands on Drouth Cattle A federal worker with ft' brush ami paint is putting a few daubs on Bossies coat to show that alto bus been purchased by fuels Ham. other cattIs bought in the drouth area la Kansas are nearby waiting to he checked off and marked. leal society, is a steel ball 4^ feet In diameter, with a shell 1% inches thick. It is too small to permit the two explorers to stand erect. Despite their close quarters, they were able to take photographs, and opernte searchlights and motion picture cameras. Also inside the bathysphere wns apparatus for purifying the air. While one of the objects of the expedition was to go down a half mile, It was not solely record depth that Doctor Beebe sought. Before, between, and since the two record dives, he and his aids have made many dives to observe sea life at various depths. During one dive with only u helmet, In only 40 feet of water, Doctor Beebe had just shot a sharp-nosed puffer when a 15 foot shark swooped down on the stunned fish. Doctor Beebe fought off the shark with the iron handle of a net he held In his hand, and obtained his specimen. loiter, the same day, he was Interrupted in his observations by sharks, barracuda and a green moray eel, but none at tacked him. On these shallow dives he collected excellent specimens of beautifully and weirdly colored fish. College Professors Lead Others in Foiling Death New York.—Hostlers und stable hands have a higher death rate than any other gainfully employed mnles between the ages of fifteen to sixty four, according to a study conduct ed by the National Tuberculosis as sociation In co-operation with the United States census bureau. The hostlers and stablemen group had a death rate of 30.22 per 1,000. Garage workers had only 0.05. Opera tives In harness and saddle fac tories had a death rate of 30.55. Aviators had 28.73. Laborers In chemical and similar factories had 6.13, while lawyers and Judges hud a rate of 7.89, physicians and sur geons 10.09, clergymen 10.33 and col lege presidents and professors 2.09. The average death rate of all occu pations was 8.70 per thousand. MORE RIBBONS Iiy CHKBIK NICHOLAS Wutch hair ribbons! Even the old er girls nre wearing them, and with flattering results. It Is quite a fad to tie a wee ribbon about one's muchly curled anil waved tresses, as one lounges ubout the home In becoming negligee—also on the beach for convenience. Growing girls, of the uge of the little miss pictured, or thereabouts, are most prettily berlbbonod these days. The dainty party frock of sprigged or gandie which this charming maiden is wearing, Is set off to perfection with a girdle tie of pastel ribbon which Is generously bowed and streamered at the front. Little bows of ribbon on the pufTed sleeves, too! The styling of this party dress Is so winsome, the thought occurs that It would be an excellent model to copy In wool challis for fall or In one of those very attractive washable rayon prints which Hre so practical for children's wear. TEAR GAS DOESN’T BOTHER PARK BEARS “They Certainly Can Take It,” Says Ranger. Yellowstone Park, Wyo.—One of the most difficult problems con fronting Yellowstone park rangers is to discover a method by which the over-friendly black bear can be discouraged and driven away with out permanent injury to the bear. The disappearance of hams and ba con from campers’ larders, bruin’s midnight forays into the pantry and kitchen of ranger stations and gov ernment mess houses—all that petty banditry makes the black bear a j real problem, and the rangers are determined to do something about the matter. Park Hangers “Gus” Wylie and Frank Childs thought they had found the solution in the use of tear gas. Three black bears, ranging in age from two to five years, were selected ns subjects for the experi ment. The first bear was fired upon at a distance of 25 feet. The tiny 10 Inch gun almost leaped from Wylie's hand. The gas sprayed the head and one side of the bear, but only star tled him by the loud report, and he loped slowly away. Bear number two received the full charge in the face at a distance of 10 feet. At the detonation of the 12-gnuge shell the bear Jumped, ran a short dis tance, and then quite unconcernedly returned to the meat scraps he had been eating. Finally a five-year-old mother was approached. Meat scraps enticed her within 5 feet from the spot where Wylie stood with the tear gas gun. Childs stood by with a camera to photograph the results. The bear sniffed at her lunch and looked up Inquiringly at Wylie. Boom I went the tear-gas gun while the camera clicked. But the bear did not go; she simply flinched, glnnced back at her cubs, and then settled down to enjoy the meat scraps. "Those bears certainly can take It,” commented Wylie. "And to think we had first planned to try It on a grizzly I” Blessed Events in Sheep Flock Stir Up Argument Great Falls, Mont.—The problem of birth control Is worrying the United States customs officials here. The officials wish they could es tablish some sort of control over the blessed events of sheep, or at least could settle this question: "If a Canadian firm brings sheep Into Montana for pasturage, Intend ing to return them to Canada, and if those same sheep have lambs while temporarily on this side of the line, are the In mbs American sheep or Canadian sheep?” The question has been posed ns a result of activities of Mormons of the Latter Day Saints church at Cardston, Alberta. Last November, due to a pastur age shortage in Canada, the Mor mons herded a large flock of sheep across the line near Browning, fed and fattened them. That was permissible under United States customs laws, which required the posting of bond. Everything would have been fine, but a lnrge number of ewes saw fit to yield lambs. Whereupon, Cnnndlnn customs of ficials clnlmed they were Canadian lambs and not subject to duty. W. H. Bartley, collector of cus toms here, isn't sure but that Amer ica should get some revenue from these blessed events, and has sub mitted the question to Washington. Long Line of Firsts Is Tallied by Infant Bryan, Texas.—It’s John Sidney Borlskle the First at the Frank Bo rlskles. For these reasons: John Sidney Is the first child of his par ents, the first grandchild of both his paternal and mnternul grand parents, the first great-grandchild of Fritz Brandies, who has 16 grand children, and the first child born In the recently reopened Bryan hos pltul. Fitch Mother of IS Babie* Idaho Kalis, Idaho. — A fitch, small fur-bearing animal, recently delivered 1ft offspring at one time. The number was twice the custom ary quota for the nntmal and all the youngsters were larger than normal. , .. II SEEN-”* HEARD •round th* National Capital ■Baa-Si By CARTER FIELDS-—asa Washington. — Germany’s land division and national farming plan, perhaps the most socialistic agri cultural development In recorded history, with the possible exception of Russia's, is Interesting experts of our Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Adjustment ad ministration no end, though it has received almost no publicity In America. With the exception of the estate of the Hlndenburg family, specific ally exempted from the law, every estate larger than 125 hec tars—Just 300 acres—must be di vided into units no larger than that. All farms of that size, and ranging down to 7 hectars— 16.8 acres, a hectar being about 2.4 acres—are put under strict govern ment supervision. The government bureau in charge decides what the farmer shall plant in any particular field. When the crop is harvested, It directs him when and where to send it to mar ket. Eventually, though this has not arisen yet, the government will de cide about farm machinery etc. Meanwhile the farmer pays the government 1 per cent of the value of the land as determined by the government. If there was a mortgage on It, the mortgage is turned over to the government, the Itentenbank being the agency in this case. Then the farmer pnys an additional 1 per cent on the value of the land, and also the interest on the mortgage. His advantage here, making up for the special charge. Is that the Interest rate on the mortgage Is sharply reduced. Holders of the mortgages are compensated not by cash for their Investment, but by 50-year bonds, paying In some instances 3 per cent and In some 4 per cent. As there are about eight and one-half billion In mortgages, this is a finan cial transaction of considerable magnitude. It has not been com pleted yet, ns the plan Is Just be ing put into operation. May Not Sell Land Another interesting feature of the plan Is that no one may sell any land. In a way the farmers are chained to it—they and their chil dren forever and ever. Nor shall any fnrm of 125 hectors or less be divided between the children. The fnrm goes by lnw to the youngest son. If there is no son whatever, then the farm may not go to the son-in-law, for the daughters nre specifically barred from the Inher itance of land. It passes to the nearest male relative who hap pens not to be a fnrm owner. If a seventh cousin Is the nearest male relative, but he happens to already own a fnrm. then it passes to some even more remote male relative. The idea of the framers of the lnw in deciding that the fnrm shall pass to the youngest son, instead of the oldest, as hns always been the cnse In Rrltish estntes. for In stance, was that the older sons had the most advantages, in being sent to college for professional training, or in being nided by their families in getting started In some other field of endeavor. So the land was reserved for the youngest son. Farms smaller than 7 hectors do not come within the requisitions of the lnw. Incidentally, there is no doubt In governmental circles here based on their latest information from Ger many, that the laws are going into effect,and that they will not only suc ceed In breaking up the estntes, but nre certain to have a trial for a fair period of time. Information here also Is fhat Hit ler is only an Incident In this par ticular scheme. All the informa tion is that it would have been put Into effect If Hitler hnd never come into power. In fact. It was well under way, as the avowed policy of ninny leaders, before the Hitler as cendancy. Pepped by Sinclair Since talking with Upton Sinclair, New Deal lieutenants are rather pepped up about the prospects of their eleven Democratic congress men in California, and of some of the Democratic candidates In dis tricts now held In California by Re publicans. The Socialist novelist convinced them that he has no horns, hut. far more important, he convinced them by his adroit handling of questions that he Is really a masterful cam paigner, and has an excellent chance to win. Which, of course. Is what they are Interested In at the mo ment, not what he will really do If elected governor of the Golden Gnte state. That his election will he regard ed as a mandate to go ahead with the New Deal In Washington Is rather generally accepted. Rut that his victory. If he wins, will In all prohnhlllty pull through enough Democratic candidates for the house to Insure President Roosevelt the necessary votes to continue his pro gram Is even more Important from a moral standpoint. While not the most spectacular fhlng he is saving, bv a long shot, ope of the point* that Impressed I*emocratlc and New Peal polltl ! clans the most here was the very subtle nature of his ap|>enl to the conservative Californians. He has not only an api<eal to the "have nota,” they discovered, but to the I "oaves.” Not to the "have*" who art still accumulating money—If anyone is these days—but to the “haves" who are living on income from invested money. This is the very type, especially because so many retired business men and others living on their in terest and dividends have gone to California, that the conservative Republicans have been counting on to beat Sinclair . And by the same token, that the New Dealers feared would defeat him, and so drag down many Democratic congressmen to defeat Now they are not so certain. Things seldom are in politics, and this is a case where it is pretty hard to figure the average conservative voter’s mental processes. An Average Case For Instance, take John Smith, with an income of $8,000 a year from investments, living in San Ber nardino, or any one of the many small towns surrounding Los An geles. At heart he is Intensely conservative. He is strong for prop erty rights. He is bitterly against any governmental action which might result in decreasing his in come, taxing more heavily the cor porations paying it, and so forth. So it might be reasoned at first blush, that he would be desperately opposed to Upton Sinclair or any one like him. But—John Smith Is also a heavy taxpayer In California. He is not only paying high taxes at present to help support a million and a quarter of unemployed in California, but he sees the state debt being in creased for that same purpose, which means that he and his chil dren will have to go on paying for this support of the Idle for years to come. What will be his reaction to Sin clair’s proposition: “Let me put these people to work, producing necessities which they can nse and trade with each other. They will not compete with any existing busi ness. On the contrary, they will be self-supporting and thus save the state from bankruptcy. They nre no good to business now, for they have no money to buy any thing except that which you give them." It is a question. Until Sinclair ar rived in Washington, most people were figuring the conservative vote would all be against Sinclair. Now they are not so sure. Old-timers here remember a sit uation in Maryland Just before pro hibition. The liquor interests made a deal with the drys w’horeby the Maryland legislature ratified the eighteenth amendment, and the drys let up so as to permit liquor sales in Prince George’s county. The liquor boys of that day were look ing for an immediate advantage and not worrying about the future. There may or may not be a parallel. Exchange Naval Views Leading naval powers have been for some time conducting informal exchanges of views preparatory to the general naval conference ex pected to be held next year in view of the approaching expiration of the London naval treaty supplemen tary to the Washington treaty. The London treaty expires December 31, 1936, and it is planned that the whole subject of naval limitation will be reconsidered with the hope of wmrking out a new agreement which will replace the naval limita tion program adopted in Washing ton in 1921 nnd supplemented by the cruiser agreement at London in 1930. The diverging views of Great Britain and the United States over gun calibers Involve the historic conflict between them over capital ships. Great Britain, with numerous bases scattered about the world, has less need of long cruising radius and therefore her policy has favored smaller fighting ships. The United States on the con trary, having few bases, has always taken into consideration the possi bility of having to cruise its fleet over long distances nnd has there fore favored larger craft, both in battleships and in cruisers. This conflict became so acute at the Geneva conference In 1027 that It broke up with Great Britain hold ing out for light cruisers and the United States insisting on heavier auxiliary craft. This difference was somewhat reconciled later at the 1030 naval conference with the United States accepting more light craft than many American naval of ficers had favored. Britain’s Idea Recently Great Britain, having a preponderance of 12-inch gun bat tleships, suggested that in revision of the naval limitation treaty this be made the maximum caliber for the future instead of the 10-lnch limit agreed upon at the Washing ton conference. On the American side It was felt that this would reduce the size of battleships below the requirements of sound naval policy. The United States has always Insisted upon the 36,000 ton limit for capital ships. The view is that a ship propor tioned to 12-Inch guns Is "too small to live,*' as they say in the navy. However. In the interest of reach Ing a preliminary agreement, the United States is now suggesting i that it would he willing to meet '■ Great Britain halfway and accept H-Inch guns, which would mean perhaps battleships of possibly 32. 000 tons instead of the S6.0(l0-ton, ld-inrh gun fighters now permitted. The California and the Tennessee, which have 14 inch guns, are rated at about 33,000 tons. Cepzrtsbt — WSV Service. <5 mfxirp State/ Hudson River Vista From West Point. Prepared by National Geographic Society. Washington, D. C.—WNU Servlca. □RCHEOLOGISTS have uncov ered near Morrlsville, New York, a walled tunnel and well-like enclosure ten feet under ground which is something of a mystery. Who dug It and for what purpose It was used. Is a problem historians are attempting to solve. New York, the Empire state, from colonial times has beeu a state of startling discoveries and marvelous development More than 11 years before Plym outh Rock and less than three years after Jamestown, a sword-girt fig ure in steel corselet und plumed helmet stood proudly defiant before a band of hostile Indians. The scene was the shore of a lake in a mountain-bordered valley, the time the morning of July 30, 1009. As the redskin warriors rush to ward him with bloodcurdling war cries, the Intrepid adventurer is un perturbed, Not until the savages approach within bowshot does he move. Then he raises his tiaring muzzled arquebus and fires. Three of the four leaden slugs find tiieir mark. Two chiefs fall dead and one of their braves clutched at a mortal wound. Samuel de Champlain, the great French explorer, to win the favor of the Hurons of the St. Lawrence country, thus brought war into that delectable land which we now call the state of New Yorji. The immediate result of that shot on the shores of Lake Champlain was victory. Though the martial Iroquois for generations had schooled themselves to face death in every form that savage cunning and barbaric cruelty could Invent, still, for the moment, they could not stand up against this new, strange weapon that spoke with the voice of thunder and flashed with the tongue of lightning. Shot Gave Regions to the English. Who can measure the full conse quences of that shot! The enmity toward the French it engendered in the breasts of the Iroquois forever sealed that land to French colonization and made the Iroquois lifelong allies of the Eng lish, who were soon to arrive. It made northeastern New York the Belgium of the colonial wars, with the fertile Champlain valley as the Immediate objective, but with all America as the ultimate prize. It raised Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and led Wolfe and Montcalm—the one to victory and the other to defeat, but both to death—to that fateful field on the Plains of Abraham before Quebec. That shot, Indeed, led to the low ering of the flag of France from the parapets of New France find to the hoisting of the Union .Tack of Brit ain over the latitudes above the St. Lawrence. One %vell might believe New York would speak French today instead of English; that there would be no United States, if Champlain had come first to the forest at the foot of the Adirondacks with peace in stead of war. Statistics seldom sparkle, but once In a while some of them tell so eloquent a story that they are actually dramatic. Their measure of New York's place In our coun try’s economic situation discloses that the state, with only one-sixtieth of the nation’s land and only one tenth of Its population, contributes tive-elghts of Its hnnk clenrings; earns one-third of its taxable in come; possesses one-fourth of Its bank deposits; produces one-sev enth of its manufactures. In scores of other ways they add to this bril liant record of human achievement. Whoever wanders from the over powering roar of the mighty, man made canyons of Manhattan, up the Hudson and through the Mohawk valley to Buffalo, nnd thence to the inspiring thunders of the waters of Niagara, noting ns he goes the mighty artery of commerce and In dustry that ties them together, dis covers that within ten miles of tills most-traveled tune In America SO per cent of the state's population work like heavers that once roamed where they live, to serve varied needs of the nation. What the Erie Canal Maant. New York's people have ever 1 been ready to capitalize every ad rantage of geography. They built , their chief city at the crossroad* between New England and the sea board colonies farther south. Pres ently foreign shipping came in in creasing volume, and counting houses flourished. Then the trade of the Missis sippi valley grew consequential and the several states began to battle for it. Even George Washington lent his prestige to the endeavor to hold it for Virginia. But De Witt Clinton outwitted them all. Never had old Cato cried out more earnestly or more persist ently, “Delenda est Carthago,” than De Witt Clinton urged that "The Erie Canal must be built!” It was a momentous undertaking in those days to raise $50,000,000 for a waterway. “Clinton’s Ditch” won, and pres ently the lion’s share of the Missis sippi valley trade was moving through the Mohawk country and down the Hudson, because it could float to the sea on lake and canal and river, while other states la bored and tugged over the moun tains in Conestoga wagons, railroad inclines, and the like. Gone is the glory of Erie canal. The elite, who once traveled through the state atop its leisurely moving barges, now roll at high speed in modern motor cars on superhigh ways, rush along on world-famed express trains, or fly like birds along the sky paths, seldom giving it either glance or thought. Never has a state possessed a clearer title to its sobriquet than the land of the Hudson, the Mo hawk, and the enesee holds to its name of Empire state. Measured by the hosts of its peo ple, by the magnitude of its wealth, by the extent of its industry, by the splendor and variety of its scenery, or by the magnificence of its pro gram for the public weal. New York lnsplringly lives up to that title. Really an Empire. With more than twelve and a half million people, it is indeed an empire, outranking Canada by a margin of two million and coming close to doubling Austria. It has two people for every one on the en tire continent of Australia and three for every two in the Union of South Africa. With $37,000,000,000 of wealth, it stands ahead of half of the nations of the earth. Even the whole Unit ed States, as recently as 1870 could not match that figure. Most assuredly in the variety and splendor of Its scenery it Is au em pire. After rambling throughout the entire state—gridironing Long Island; checkerboarding Westches ter county; zigzagging up the Hud son and down the Champlain coun try; crisscrossing the Adirondaks and Catskills; skirting the St. Law rence and Lakes Ontario and Erie; peeping Into every corner of the Niagara front; exploring the Gene see area; threading in and out among the interior lakes, from lit tle Conesus to big Cayuga, and from beautiful Skaneateles to gorgeous Otsego; reveling in the many beau ties of the valleys of the Mohawk, the Chemung, the Susquehanna, and the Delaware, one thinks he knows something of Empire state scenery, and Is ready to say of It, as Wallace Nutting says of the Hudson, that here we find "civilization set In beauty.” The mngnitleence of Its park sys tem, the perfection of Its parkways and boulevards, the fine quality of Its schools, the care it gives Its de pendent population, and the plans It projects for ihe future, nil stamp It as Imperial alike In understand ing. vision, and purpose. There is no flner chapter In the history of any state than that which deals with the deep concern New York shows In the conservation of Its scenic, historic, and recreational resources. From Lake Champlain to Nlnga ra falls, from the western end of Chautauqua county, on Lake Krie, to the eastern tip of Suffolk, at Montauk Point. New York has set up a series of CO parks of varying type nnd area, to provide recrea tion centers, to save scenic regions, and to safeguard historic shrines] and is developing them In a manner that no great community hs« ever surpassed and few have equaled.