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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1936)
r “ Hands Up ” By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter ELL, sir, you boys and girls seem to have had adventures with about everything there is, but here’s a bird with a new one. He is Morton Grecnbaum of New York city, and he had an adventure with the English language. Of course, that wasn’t all of the adventure. 'I here was a dark, sinister looking man in it—a man that frightened Mort al most to death. But the English language certainly played a big Dart, and to my mind it deserves most of the credit for the affair. Mort came to this country from Hungary In the fall of 1921, and made hla home, at firat, with a aiater In Cleveland, Ohio. Hia aiater conducted a grocery buaineaa there and ahe and Mort lived In rooma upatalra over the atore. He atayed with hia aiater while he waa learning Engiiah. Mort worked hard over his Kngllsh, for he realized that the sooner be had It learned, the sooner he could get a Job and take his place In the community. Kvery evening he went to night classes at the Central High school, and In between times he brushed up on hla class work by reading the newspapers. Mort Believes Stick-up Guys Were Real Peril. And from those papers, Mort got a mighty funny conception of what these United States were like. The post war crime wave was on, and the papers were full of stories about hold-ups. Mort didn’t stop to think that those crime Items were gathered from all over the country, and from nil over the environs of Cleveland. He thought of them fn terms of the small towns In Hungary which he knew. And the result was that he began thinking of America as a place where law and order had broken down com pletely—where bandits ran wild all over town—something like our own conception of the banditry in China. He felt that, almost any minute, he might run across a stick-up man. And the thought wasn't very comforting. Then, one day In October, It happennd. Mort had been plugging along on his English, and had learned a bunch of words that he recog nized when he buw them on paper, lint when people pronounced them, or when he tried to say them himself—well—that was a different matter. Pronunciation was the thing that was bothering him most when, one day, aa he was watching the store while his sister had gone upstulrs for a few minutes, a man came walking In. This Looked Like an Honest-to-Goodness Hold-up. □e came In silently, and that frightened Mort right at the start. He was a huge colored man and he stood In front of Mort with his right The Colored Man’s Right Hand Was Hidden In His Pocket. fland bidden In his pocket. “The pocket bulged,” snys Mort, “and some thing in it gave out a metallic sound. The mnn looked straight at me •nd, In a depressed but energetic tone, hissed one word: "Hands’p." Hands upl Mort knew that word all too well. He had seen it In the newspapers too many times not to know what It meant. “Strangely enough,” he saya, ”1 didn’t seem to be afraid to die. True, my legs gave way and I could hardly rise from the stool I was sitting on, but the prospect of my own death was not se disturbing as the thought that my only sister, a mother of five little children, might come down any minute. “Accordingly, with all the self-control 1 could command, 1 began retreating ulong the counter toward the stairs so that If my sister appeared I might give her a sign to apprise her of the danger.” Black Man Has a Single-Track Mind. At the same time, Mort felt that be ought to say something to keep that bird's mind off such ideas as shooting Mort. Hut the only thing be could think of wus a feeble “Wh-a-at?" The big colored man seemed to be losing patience. “Hands’pt” he growled, this time louder and more Insistently than before. “I had nearly reached the atairs,” say* Mort, “when the man aeemed to loae hla patience entirely. He brought hit hand from hit pocket—without a gun In it, to be aure—and geaticulating savagely In a certain direction above my head, bellowed from the depths of his lungs, ‘Handsopl’” And at that same moment, Mort heard his sister coming down the stairs. The thing he most fei.red had happened. Ills brain reeled and hlH knees began giving way under him, but he pulled himself together and whispered to his sister In Hungarian: “Honey—man says "Handsopl”’ This Hold-up Has an Extremely Happy Ending. But the dread warning didn't seem to make any Impression on Mort’s sister. She kept right on coming down those stairs. This time, Mort lost all eense of caution. “Honey," he almost shouted. “Dou’t you bear? Handsopl” And Mort’s sister looked at Mort at If to say, “Well, what are you yelling about?” What she did aay, wa«: “All right. Give him one of those red cane on the second shelf.” Puzzled, bewildered, Mort turned In the direction she was pointing. “And on the sides of those little red cans,” says Mort, “my alien eyes spelled out the legend ’hand soap'! 1 had tripped up on nothing more dangerous than the niceties of pronunciation of the syllables ‘up’ and op.’ And the metallic aoumilng thing In the colored man’s pocket was ouly the Jingle of a few pennies with which he paid for hits purchase.” O-WNU Service. New York Stock Exchange Traced to Year of 1789 Up to March 4, 1780, trailing, to Americans, meant hitching up the bays, driving three or four miles to town, and swapping seven dozen eggs and a clot of butter for a bolt of calico. What little cash circulat ed was kept In private banks, or un der the mattress. There were no such things as stocks and bonds, says Literary Digest. On that date the New world be came, overnight, a nation of inves tors; for the first congress of the United States, meeting In the Sub Treasury building In New York city, authorized the issuance of $80,000, 000 of government bonds, to consol idate and refund the cost of the Revolutionary war. Thus, by the scratch of a pen, an entirely new form of property was created—a form of property for which there was no regular market nearer than London or Amsterdam. How could such a vast dotation be Bold to thousands of small Investors scattered throughout the 13 stntes? Twenty-four alert auctioneers saw their chance ;’with a rude wool en table and a bench from a nearby tavern, they set up business under a buttonwood tree on the site of what is now 08 Wall street. When inclement weather drove them ip doors, they sought shelter in .one of the convenient taverns or coffee houses. Within three years their business had grown to such proportions that these early traders found It neces sary to organize. On May 17, 1792, the 24 signed an agreement fixing certain rules; that was the begin ning of the New York Stock ex change. •kTIvz 'PejdlaJvc.tion ★ A hundred years before, in 1676, Nathaniel Bacon (above) signed a famous Dec laration of the People of Virginia" wherein the king's governor was vigorously ar raigned. Bacon led a rebellion against royal misrule (he is shown above at the burning of Jamestown) but it collapsed when he died suddenly. Millions Yearly View Declaration MORE than a million patri otic pilgrims a year pause before a marble shrine on the second floor of the Library of Con gress to gaze with rever ent eyes at a document —sheltered In a contlng of gelatin to prevent Its further Injury—which Is a certain Declara tion of Independence signed In the city of Philadelphia on July 4,1776. Most of the signatures, writes Elizabeth Elllcott Poe In the Wash 1 n g t o n Post, are i n d I s 11 n gulshahle at the present time hut on the front of the top row of names Is a name written In large script. “J o h n Hancock," It reads, and the historically minded remem- I her that when that sturdy Massachusetts patriot bent over to put his signature to this fateful paper he remarked: ‘‘I’ll write It large so King George can rend It without his spectacles.” John Hancock, one of the richest men of Boston town, had much to lose by his stand. It was no Idle gesture to him, this ndoptlon of the cause of the colonies. His proper ties were to be forfeited to the crown for what would be consid ered an act of treason, but John Hancock did not hesitate becnuse of this. He was a nntlve of Brain tree, therefore n friend and neigh bor, no doubt, of John Adams, who was afterward to be the second President of the United States. The adopted son of an uncle, Thomas Hancock, who left him a large fortune, young Hancock was a graduate of Harvard In 1754, and was one of a numerous family of Hancocks in the vicinity. As a member of the Committee of patriots appointed after the mas sacre In Boston asking the British to withdraw, Hancock had coun seled every honorable means to avoid the conflict Impending. At the funeral of the slain he preached an oration In which he flayed the cowardice of the British officers anil men In slaughtering unarmed men. When the Continental Congress was formed John Hancock repre sented Massachusetts therein and In 1775-1777 served ns Its president. In hts spacious Boston mansion meanwhile Lord Percy. Britain's pet, held sfcvay. A price was put on the head of John Hnncock as well, which only moused the game pa triot. Hancock was so easier to fleht that he let It he known thnt he was wllllnc to face the hard ships of the field. But consiress was wise and kept him In his post as Its presiding officer. After his Itevolutionary service was over, Hancock wns elected the first jrovernor of Massachusetts.’ which office he held from 17S7 un til his death. John Adnms spoke of hint ns a “clever fellow, n hit snolled hv a lesracy.” He left no descendants, and so hnsv were his heirs In dis tributing hi* prooerfv after his death that thev did not erect n tombstone. Massachusetts In later I vears renamed this omission nnd a monument now stands over his crave In the Old Oranarv Burvlnc •wound, on Tremont street. |n Bos ton. I I When the Fourth Was Noisiest Day w OOKING back from the secur 1 ity of our present Fourth of 1 July saneness to the early ry-X/*- 1900s when all Fourths ' ■1 it. were Insane, we are com Spelled to admit that we \did pretty well In those * days considering the 11m ited means we had of being Insane compared to the advantages we en joy now in our state of scientific sanity, states a writer in the Kan sas City Star. To a boy of the Insane Fourth era, the fourth of July ranked only with Christmas in fiscal impor tance. On Christmas we knew it was 192 days to the Fourth, and on the Fourth we knew we had only 173 days until Christmas. Christ mas sa v 1 n g s funds had not been invented at that time, and would have been of no in terest to boys anyhow, because boys were on the receiving end at Christ mas. On the night before the Fourth, the chll dren began showing strange symptoms espe dully un unnatural willingness to go to bed early. That gesture was deceiving and specious; the chil dren were not Interested In getting their rightful rest before a strenu ous day, but were insuring them selves ngainst the sad accident of sleeping past three o’clock In the morning. Any boy who wasn’t out by three o’clock in the morning shooting firecrackers under the re spective windows of the pastor, the school principal and the truancy of ficer was deemed a si^sy. The opening ceremony was the only one unanimously attended. From that time on, too many things were happening to engage the en tire juvenile attention at one time. There was the sunrise salute of 21 guns, engineered by the village blacksmith who placed one great anvil upon another with giant pow der In between, touched off from a daring proximity with a red hot Iron. Usually the nether anvil grew very hot before the 21 sa lutes were fired and this was one of the causes of many distressing accidents in the Insane era. Hostilities usually were suspend ed at noon for the community din ner in the city park, where fried chicken, watermelon and lemonade from a barrel engaged the general attention until satiety was reached. The afternoon was n dizzy proces sion of patriotic and athletic events, wherein the popular candidate for congress vied w'ith a greased pole, a pie-eating contest and a hall game, for popular attention. If the honorable candidate wound up with thirty In Ids audience, and the ball game wound up in a fight with victory for the home club, the celebration was considered a success. The only remaining item of importance was the stupendous fireworks display, staged on a hay wagon at the north end of Main street; an event which sometimes was mined out, and sometimes pre maturely Ignited by over-zenlous manipulators, resulting in bad burns duly chronicled In the vital sta tistics column of the home paper in the succeeding issue. Such was the Fourth of July cel ebration in the early 1900s, fraught, as one may see, with great dangers later minimized by the Sane Fourth campaign. SEE N and HEARD around tAe h NATIONAL CAPITAL^ By Carter Field ^ FAMOUS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT ^ J Washington. — Out in Montana, Landon enthusiasts are organizing “Republican Typical I’rairie State" clubs. Word of this activity has just reached Democratic member; of congress from Butte and Helena, and it is, they admit privately, rath er disturbing. In fact, it Is giving a good deal of concern to Senator James E. Murray, who is up for re election this year and up to now had not contemplated any particu lar trouble in winning six more years in the senate. Montana has not elected a Re publican senator since the Bull Moose split of 1919. Even in the wet wave of 1930, Senator Thomas J. Walsh, Democrat, was easily re elected. Nor is Montana by any means a "typical prairie state.” It comes much closer to being a typical moun tain state. While it is more noted for its mining. It has a good deal of cattle country, as have its neigh bors, Idaho and Wyoming. The significance of the fact that this “typical prairie state” thing has been taken up there is It is ap parently resented all over the West, not as a slur on Kansas, which of course was meant, but as a slur on all the country west of the Hudson river, made by a "typical Tammany politician.” All of which makes the real story of this slip, which may prove his toric, of some importance. The speech was originally written by Charles Michaelson, not for James A. Farley, who delivered it, but for Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, who comes from Iowa. Had Wallace delivered the speech there is no certainty that it would have been picked up, though the phrase lends Itself to use. The terrible part of it lies not in the phrase itself—though no one particularly relishes being called “typical”—but in the fact that it came from a New Yorker. People sensed that it was a slip but that it was the kind of a slip that re veals the real thought of the person making it. It just crops to the sur face when the writer, or speaker, is really trying to make another point, but is more revealing of the slant of mind of the writer than the thought he is trying to convey in the context Edited by Early When It was decided that this particular speech was to be deliv ered by Farley and not Wallace, the document was sent over to the White House for approval. There it was carefully read, and edited, by Steve Early, secretary to Presi dent Roosevelt, and In charge, among other things, of press rela tions. Early did not skip over the "typ ical prairie state" line. He was shocked by It, and carefully crossed out the whole paragraph containing IL Whereupon he returned it to Farley's office. Now comes one of iliose frequent cases In government life where It Is customary to blame the stenog rapher—though all the reports about It are different. Rut at any rate. Parley wanted the manuscript neat ly typed—not showing the savage editing done by Early. So a new draft was made, and lo and behold, there was the "typical prairie state" line when It was com pleted. Those concerned are not talking, but It Is whispered that Michaelson defended the line, and Induced Far ley to put. It hack. Which puts both f arley and Michaelson on the spot, the former for yielding and the lat ter for arguing. Hte-ve Early was furious. He has more work than can reasonably be expected of any one since the va cancy left by the death of Louis Howe has not been filled. And the idea of his reading speeches and editing them, only to have his de letions restored, angered him aside from any stupidity Involved. But the Republicans out In Mon tana, not to mention Kansas, seem pretty well pleased. Note—Michaelson was brought up in San Francisco, which thinks even less of typical prairie states than New York. Another Hamilton Back in the days when Woodrow Wilson was President there was a closely knit group of Republican members from what Is popularly called upstate New York In the house of representatives. They loved politics for Its own sake, as some men like golf, and some poker. But they were really business men be fore they were politicians. One of them, Charles M. Hamil ton, from the little town of Ripley, in the western part of the state, down near the Pennsylvania line, got interested in the oil business in Kansas. He immediately proceeded to get half a dozen of his colleagues in the house Interested. One of them was Bertrand U. Snell. Hamilton got so interested in Kansas and oil that he decided to give up politics. So he voluntarily retired from the house, his friend Daniel A. Reed of Dunkirk succeed ing him. It is a safe Republican | district, and Reed has been in the house ever since. from that time on Hamilton has spent more time in Kansas than he has in New York. But he kept np his old friendships, and for ob vious reasons, personal as well as friendly, some of his old buddies retained their Interest in his doings. All of which Charles Dewey Hilles did not know when he thought of heading a “Stop Lan don” movement some months back. There were no banners and shout ing about the work that Charley Humilton did for Landon, but how It told in New York state! Hamilton not only retained his old political friends and colleagues. He kept the friendship of impor tant upstate editors. And the group popularly known as the “Old Guard" suddenly found that New York state had run out on them. In fact, the work done by Charley Hamilton had a good deal to do with the sur prise that came when the Empire State delegation was finally polled. White Makes Slip All of which Is the more Inter esting because of the rather sur prising typewriter slip by William Allen White. Aboard a winning na tional bandwagon for the first time in his life, Mr. White proceeded to do syndicated articles for the newspapers also. On the day after the convention adjourned, he told the story of Landon’s nomination, giving full credit to Ray A. Roberts and his lieutenants among the Kan sas editors, and to John D. M. Hamilton, though he never did men tion that Hamilton got his political training at the knees of the old boss of Kansas, Dave Mulvane. But, apparently forgetting that he was in the inner Landon coun cil, and lapsing to his old-time cru sading self, he talked about Hamil ton (John D. M., not Charley), rais ing money In downtown New York. “Not much,” he said, but some. And then he talked about Hamilton (again J. D. M.) walking in and out of the higher Income brackets. To which due attention will be paid by Charley Michelson and the New Deal orators. But the man who came back into New York state politics after stay ing out for four national adminis trations, who came back for the man he hud grown to love out in Kansas, and who ripped the heart out of the Northeast’s “Stop Lan don” movement, was Charley Ham ilton. All of which proves something— when added to the enthusiasm for Landon of all his old classmates, who have been working their heads off for him wherever they might be. Charley Hamilton never met Lan don until he had retired from pol itics and gone to Kansas to seek his fortune in the oil business. Ham ilton Is the kind of person whose enthusiasm does not run away with him. When he speaks. It means something to his old friends. And he took them ail with him for Lan don, though many of them had nev er seen the Kansas governor! Hit in the Dark In framing their platform, and for that matter in their oratorical at tach# on the Roosevelt administra tion, ihe Republican* had to hit without knowing Just what the new tax hill would he whether it would take the form of the house measure, us desired by President Roosevelt, or the senate measure, which the Republicans admit is much better, or be a hodgepodge compromise of indefinite coloring Two outstanding member* of the resolutions committee which framed the Republican platform, Henntor Daniel O, 1 lusting* of Delaware, and Representative Allen T Trend way of MNS*u<‘liu*eiI*, ranking member of tiie Republican minority of the house ways and means commlllee were a Iso on the conference committee wlilch was supposed to l*e willing tiie final drufl of ilia lux measure Hut that did not help them any. For no member of Him conference committee, whether be was In Wash Ington, or Cleveland, or on a Halting trip, had an l«h*a what iSn- Until hill would he before the Unnl gave] i,i Cleveland. The answer Is simple. The only man who knew wlint the answer would be, assuming lie hud made up hhs mind, was Franklin D. House velt. And he preserved a discreet silence. Naturally he could not even confide in the little group of news paper men who go wherever he goes. For to do so wus to admit that he was giving the orders, and, while every one knows he Is, It would not be tactful, nor even perhaps politic, for him to admit it. And Roosevelt Is generally both tactful and politic! All of which made the problem of the Republicans at Cleveland on the one point on which they hope to score more than any other in the campaign just opening—taxation_ considerably more nebulous than is ordinarily conceivable with respect to the paramount issue, gl Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. Little Rain Fall* in Cairo Rain falls in Cairo, Egypt, for only four to sis: days a year, aver aging about one inch of rain a year. Foreign Words and Phrases Aequo animo. (L.) With equal (equnble) mind. Coup d’oeil. (F.) A comprehensive glance. Dulce est desipere in loco. (L.) It Is delightful to unbend upon occa sion. Ex post facto. (L.) After the fact or act. In extremis. (L.) At the point of death. . jj Lapsus linguae. (L.) A slip the tongue. Necessltas non habet legem. (L.> Necessity has no law. Volente Deo. (L.) God willing. r ^ RO: AND IF YOU HAVE TO N PI: IF YOU WANT GOOD PRESERVES YOU HAVE TO SEAL THEIR DELICIOUS FLAVOR IN TIGHT, L_ _J SEAL THEIR FLAVOR IN TIGHT YOU HAVE TO USE GENUINE PE-KO EDGE JAR RINGS. THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT! UNITED STATES RUBBER COMPANY Unttd Stain Rubber Product!, tec. 1790 ftreaduay. 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