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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1938)
f >reat akes ■ -' » Unloading Iron Ore at Detroit. Story of Our Inland Seas Is One Of Transportation and Commerce Prepared by National Geographic Society. tWashington, D. C.-WNU Service. HE Great Lakes con tain half the fresh wa ter on earth; enough to cover the continental United States 10 to 18 feet deep, or to fill a 30-foot ship canal from here to the sun! Africa's largest lake, Victoria Ny anza, would cover most of Lake Su perior, but it would take 71 Vic torias to fill it Asia's premier lake, the Aral Sea, is a bit larger than Lake Huron, but it would take four Arals to fill one Huron. Two Lake Baikals would scarcely reach be yond the edges of Lake Michigan, although they would contain nearly three times as much water. If they only lay there, basking in the sun or raging with storms, our irland seas would be impressive. But they have served America as no inland sea has served another land. At every corner of the Great Lakes, and because of them, busy cities have risen. On the banks of a hundred tiny creeks commerce has planted its loading piers or elevators. Our bridges crossed our lakes as ore before they crossed a river. Scarcely a skyscraper whose frame work has not wallowed in the swell of our "Big Sea Water” before combing our urban skies. The story of our Great Lakes is one of unbelievably cheap freight rates, of marvelously active freighters, of fur and lumber, iron and grain. fur trade Incited Exploitation. In the days when the principal crop of America was cold-bred fur, the St. Lawrence was the gateway to our Midwest. While the English were seeking the Northwest Pas sage to the alluring Orient and col onists along the Atlantic were con solidating their position against the wilderness, French voyageurs and missionaries were following stream and portage to the heart of America. Colonization was caught between sea and mountain. Exploration pad died its swift canoes on lakes and rivers. Fur was the incentive, and tem poral or spiritual empire the dream, of Nicolet, Joliet, Marquette and La Salle, to whom the water shed between the Great Lakes and the wide Mississippi basin was fa miliar while the British were still settling the seacoast. As early as 1700 one could ride horseback from Portland, Maine, to Richmond. Vir ginia, sleeping each night in a vil lage. But the Appalachian barrier held. Meanwhile the French, more nomadic, were spread thinly over a tremendous inland empire. In 1803 most of this land became ours through the Louisiana Pur chase, and the vast territory which fur trade and Indian alliances had won for France gave trans-Appala chian colonization new impetus. For a little less than four cents an acre the young American republic ac quired rich agricultural lands stretching to the headwaters of the Missouri and the Yellowstone. Grain, Lumber, and Then Iron. Around the lakes, fur ceded its primary place to grain or lumber. Hiawatha’s "forest primeval" crashed before Paul Bunyan's saw and ax. Hills of sawdust began to rise like sand dunes, and countless Jig-saw verandas embraced Amer ican homes. men came iron! At the northern end of the lakes whole rust-red mountains of ore stood ready for the steam shovels. Coal moved north and iron south, a combination providing profitable return cargoes. Wherever a creek reached the south shore of Lake Erie, coal and ore were tossed back and forth by car tipple and "clam shell.” Protected from early traffic com petition by the Niagara falls, which were later to furnish its light and power, Buffalo stands at the east end of the upper lakes and the west end of the only convenient break in the Appalachians. Superlatives, which swarm around the Great Lakes, hive at Buffalo. This favored spot no more sug gests the bison than Rome does Romulus or Syracuse Sicily. And, had an Indian interpreter not made a mistake, it would have been called “Beaver,” a startling but suitable name for this busy cr-'ek-side port. A dozen railways ni obscure the fact that Buffalo is nci a creature of the plains, but an aquatic city, founded on the creek that still sus tains it. Its real greatness began on October 26, 1825, when the Sen eca Chief started down the four foot-deep Erie canal. The news of its departure thundered by cannon fire from Buffalo to New York, 500 miles in 90 minutes—shots which, like those of the Minutemen, were heard round the world. On November 4, 1825, the canal boat flotilla arrived at Sandy Hook, where Governor Clinton poured Lake Erie water Into the Atlantic near New York city, which "Clin ton's Ditch” was to lift to the posi tion of America's premier port. Up From the Gulf to Chicago. On June 22, 1933, at Chicago, salt water from the Gulf of Mexico was blended with Lake Michigan water when a flotilla of Mississippi river barges, bearing spices, coffee, and sugar, arrived at Lake Michigan. Bascule bridges, pointing like how itzers at the tall-speared phalanx of skyscrapers, aroused with raucous protests of a chorus of Klaxons, and pseudo-Indian warwhoops sounded over the busy waters beside which lonely Fort Dearborn first rose on a swampy shore. The nine-foot channel does today what river and glacier did more than once in the past—links the Great Lakes with the gulf. St. Louis has become an export port for north ern wheat. It took 260 years for Joliet’s dream of a Lakes-to-Gulf waterway to come true, although Lake Michigan water has flowed in to the Mississippi basin since 1871. Try to force your way through un derbrush or struggle along on foot beneath such a burden as is easily carried in a light canoe, and you will realize why the French pene trated this continent by following In dian guides upon its rivers. Canals extended the natural wa terways. Then wagon wheels over rode the objections raised by the owners of pack horses and rail ways won their share. The motor car, bringing broad, smooth high ways, set the tax-collecting tilling station in the place of tollgates, and passenger car and truck invaded the steel-webbed empire of the Iron Horse. The Panama canal, opened in time to do its bit in the World war, brought our coasts together. The new Welland canal and the Illinois waterway are additional transport factors in a region where motor manufacturers, having vied with steam engines, now face com petitive traffic problems involving railways, lake steamers, truck aways, new car convoys, and wide ly distributed assembly plants. Each form of transportation, fight ing for its share, now forges ahead, now lags behind. But were traffic stopped on our inland seas, our industrial life would sustain a ma jor shock. Four Routes to Tidewater. Four routes to tidewater now ex ist: the Illinois waterway, with a nine-foot channel; the New York State Barge canal and its branch to Oswego, both with a depth of 12 feet; and the St. Lawrence canals, in which there are 14 feet of water. The deepest artificial link is the new Welland canal, which not only has 30 feet of water on the sills of its spectacular locks, but also ac complishes the steepest lift — 326% feet in 25 miles. Even before the war occasional tramp steamers entered the Great Lakes from tidewater, and today ocean bottoms are no novelty. In 1933 over a hundred steamers from overseas ports brought in cod-liver oil, canned fish, and merchandise from Europe to Detroit, and depart ed with pitch, wood pulp, and motor cars. Shiploads of automobiles have been sent direct from Detroit to London and Hamburg. Rumanian oil, coming direct from the Black sea, competes with American gaso line in Detroit. Ships regularly sail from the River Rouge to ocean ports around the world. The economic balance beam is seldom at rest. Buffalo, welcoming western grain and sending back return cargoes of immigrants and pioneers, helped feed the East with bread and the West with brains and brawn. While retaining its pre-eminence in the transfer of grain, it has since be come our milling metropolis. First High School Boston Latin school, the first high school in this country, was started in 1635. SEEN and HEARD around the NATIONAL CAPITAL By Carter Field ^ Washington.—In considering the new naval appropriations it must be remembered that this billion-dollar program, as it is called, is in addi tion to the regular 1939 program, j which had already been provided. , Besides, it is in addition to new building now going on but author ized previously. For instance, two battleships, to taling 70,000 tons, are now under construction. Two more of 35,000 tons each, are in the so-called regu lar 1939 program. But three more with 105,000 tons additional tonnage, are in the so-called billion-dollar program. This makes the total ad ditional tonnage to be eventually added to the present United States navy 245,000 tons! Incidentally even this may be boosted. The navy had been figur ing on still bigger ships, and may get an amendment in before the keels are laid, which would make the tonnage of each of the three battleships provided in the new bil lion-dollar program as much as 43, 000 tons. Which, if it happens, as it probably will, would make the boost, in battleships alone, 269,000 tons. No new aircraft carriers were provided for in the regular 1939 program. But there are two now building, with a total tonnage of 34,000. In the billion-dollar program two more, with 30,000 total tonnage, are added, making four now carri ers and a total of 64,000 tons to be added to the navy. Eight cruisers are now under con struction, totaling 80,000 tons. The regular 1939 program added two, totaling 10,000 tons, but the billion dollar program adds nine more, with 68,754 tons additional. Thirty six destroyers are under way, with a total of 56,200 tons. The regular 1939 program added eight more, with a total of 12,000 additional tons. Along comes the billion-dollar pro gram with 23 more, adding 38,000 tons. Needs New Destroyers So no less than 67 destroyers are to be added to the navy! This is not so surprising when one considers the history of destroyers in the American navy. At the time of the World war this was one type of vessel which could be rushed to completion with some hope that they would be finished before the war ended. Moreover, the destroy er was considered one of the most effective agencies with which to fight submarines, at the time the chief danger to the Allies. So America rushed out destroy ers. The end of the war found the navy with more destroyers than it knew what to do with. Most of them were tied up, their parts greased, and kept in storage, so to speak. As a result there was not much destroyer building, especially as the armament limitation confer ence came along in 1922. But naturally these have all grown obsolete together. So the navy really needs a new fleet of destroyers, Now under construction also is one destroyer tender, of 9,450 tons. The billion-dollar program adds five more, with a total of 45,000 tons. It also adds four seaplane tenders, with a total of 33,200 tons to the one authorized previously, at 8,800 tons. In the regular 1939 program the navy got an oiler of 8,000 tons, a mine sweeper of 600 tons, and a fleet tug of 1,150 tons. To these will be added three repair ships, to taling 28,500 tons, in the billion-dol lar program. Chinese Get a Hunch A Chinese commerce raider, aimed at accomplishing against Japanese commerce what the fa ous Confederate privateer Ala bama did to United States shipping during the war between the states, is under serious consideration. Offi cially this will be denied, of course, but several factors in the Alabama situation are being studied by those interested. The Alabama, it will be recalled, j was fitted out in England, and had a very long and effective adven ture in destruction before she was finally sunk by the U. S. S. Kear sarge off Cherbourg. The present idea is said to have originated due to publicity for the grievance of American fishermen and the salmon industry generally in the Pacific Northwest and Alas ka. In fact, the germ of the idea is said to have been sprouted when • an indignant union leader wanted 1 to know why the United States couldn't have an "accident” simi i lar to the sinking of the Panay by Japanese, and then be very, very “sorry” in' a note to Japan. "If," he added grimly, "Japan ever heard about it.” A shrewd Chinese official is said to have read this, and then remem bered the Alabama episode. “If the British could fit out a pri vateer for the Confederates back in the sixties," he is said to have rea soned, "why could not the United States flt out a warship—just a lit tle gunboat or an obsolete destroyer maybe—for the Chinese?” Vigorously denying that anything of the kind would be tolerated, an official pointed out the rigidity of the neutrality laws, and the Presi dent's proclamation so recently re stated by Secretary of State Cor dell Hull, and then slyly added: That's Different "Of course, if the Chinese should succeed in doing anything of the sort from any other country’s ports, it would be none of our business. Virtually we have recognized a state of belligerency, and even if Japan should argue that the commerce raider was in truth a pirate, it seems to me we have been both ered, in the very recent past, with so called pirate submarines in the Mediterranean.” “I don’t think such a thing would fcnnoy the Russians any,” another official Commented slyly. "It just might be that they would lend a lit tle help.” This last, so far as is known here, is not in the picture at all, though use of adventuresome young Americans is said to be distinctly a part of it. For the scheme, the Chinese would need men experi enced in handling small naval guns, though they need not be anything like as expert in their line as the American aviators already aiding the Chinese. The idea of a submarine, it is said, has been considered but re luctantly abandoned. Unless the Russians would actually supply an experienced crew, it was consid ered impossible, it is understood, to obtain men capable of operating such a craft, even assuming the Chinese could get possession of an undersea boat. But even a little gunboat, it is contended, could cause Japanese commerce a lot of grief before it was finally run down. Reorganization President Roosevelt has succeed ed better than any but the most optimistic of his advisers had dreamed, a couple of months back, in his drive for reorganization of the government. It is due to one of those strange political factors, and is directly connected with the President’s technical defeat on the Supreme court enlargement battle. Unfortunately for those who dis agree with the President on his re organization proposals — and pri vately the measure has very few friends even among the most loyal administration Democrats on Capi tol hill—the men who took the lead ership in the fight to hamstring it were the same men who led the fight against packing the Supreme court. At first blush this anight appear an advantage. They were the vic tors in that more spectacular bat tle. Victory should be like a snow ball, growing as it rolls. As with Napoleon up until Russia. As with Hitler up until heaven knows when. But this is politics, not war, and while there are some similarities, there are some sharp differences. Any fight on Capitol Hill can be won only with the aid of a very large number of Democrats, men who are elected by the Democratic organizations back in their states. It so happens that the Democrats have almost unprecedented majori ties in both house and senate. Now a Democratic senator, figur ing both on his renomination and re-election fight, has to walk care fully. Watch Their Step A great many of the senators who made the victory of the anti-court packing leaders possible were not so spectacular as Sen. Burton K. Wheeler in that fight. Now they are unwilling to side with Wheeler again, lest to them be attributed all the hostility to the administration that is connected with Senator Wheeler’s motives. In short, if there had been no court fight, the President would have less strength in his present fight to win more power for the chief executive in the conduct of the government. oeyonu me snaaow oi a uuuui, had there been no court fight, Sen ator Wheeler’s amendment, which would have required the approval of congress to any change in the government the President might make, would have carried instead of losing by a vote so close that the change of three senators would have reversed it. Had there been no court fight, the amendment of Sen. David I. Walsh of Massachusetts, to exempt the civil service commission from the President’s dictatorial powers would have prevailed instead of be ing defeated. But Walsh, too, had some prominence in the anti-court packing fight. The Bay State sena tor is not afraid of being branded. He knows his state pretty well, and has never been accused of political stupidity. But others, lacking his grip on their states, also lack his courage, however they may agree with him on this issue down in their hearts. © Bell Syndicate. —WNU Service. South American Names People visiting South America will be interested in the following words and their pronunciations: Bahia—Baa-ee-yah. Barranquilla— Bare-ran-keel-ya. Buenos Aires— Bwa-knows-eye-race. Rio de Janeiro —Ree-oh day zhah-nay-row. Car tagena—Car-tay-hay-na. Llao-Llao —Yow-yow. Llanquihue—Yankee way. Llama—Yah-ma. Toquilla— Tok-kell ya. WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK By LEMUEL F. PARTON NEW YORK. — Leslie Hore-Be lisha, British secretary of war, made himself somewhat of a na tional hero several months ago i ... when he shook up Britain in the army com Race to Get mand, upped the Army Ready youngsters and sent the oldsters back to their club chairs. The re port of his ultimatum demanding change of foreign policy is a stand out in the current news. There was something like conster nation mong British conservatives early in 1937, when Prime Minister Chamberlain named the incidentally Jewish Mr. Hore-Belisha for the war post. There was no hint of anti-Semitism in their attitude, but j just then certain optimists mong | them were trying to tool Britain into the German orbit, and there were alarmed predictions that Hit ler would be enraged and seek quick vengeance. That didn’t come off, and the new war secretary started a whirlwind army clean-up and all-round reconditioning cam paign, to the satisfaction of all hands. Seventy-nine-year-old Sir Ian Hamilton, who had been in command at the Dardanelles, said, “Thank God we are under a proper soldier and will not be shot sitting down.” He has spent a lot of time badger ing his elders, and still has many * of them to work Clever at on, as he is only Badgering forty-three. When, His Elders a brash younS Ox onian, he ran for parliament, his opponent tagged him as “the nonentity of the col lege bench.” He nailed this on his mast-head, spoofed the opposition cleverly, and romped in. He was dispatch carrier in the war, then a major, a reporter on a London newspaper, with conveni ent underground pipelines to the front page and the headlines. He became financial secretary of the treasury in 1932 and later minister of transportation. He is a demon for detail and has swarmed all over England, in specting equipment, barracks and army kitchens. He is of medium stature, round headed, with roached, graying hair, unmarried and given to night for ays, checking this or that detail of the military establishment. • • * | AT LEAST six times in the past j ** 150 years, the Rothschilds have been counted out, and they have always come back—like John Bar j leycorn and Old Conquerors King Cotton. Now Old Stuff to the arrest of Bar- i Bank Family on Louis von Rothschild is re ported from Vienna. The era which founded their dynasty was disquiet ingly like this one. The Romanoffs, and the Hapsburgs, Matternich and Disraeli and all the other kings, ' conquerors and statesmen came to terms with them. Baron Louis is the head of the | house. The catastrophic fall of the Creditanstalt bank of Vienna in 1931 ! was supposed to have wrecked them. A few weeks later, they were shoveling money into American securities, and, it was reported, snagging a stray million here and there by a fast overseas • play on francs, an old family custom. Louis and his brother, Alphonse, ; were living in regal splendor when n > the Creditanstalt Deer Parks failed. They had and Castles great estates. Faded Away maSnificent art galleries, shooting lodges, a huge Franz Lehar chorus of retainers, deer parks and a brace of medieval castles. Much of these holdings slipped away, as Louis, with somewhat less than the usual family zest and acumen in finan cial affairs, turned to a study of philosophy and the arts. It is 132 years since Napoleon, ! after Austerlitz, made mince-meat i af the Holy Roman empire and even more ruthlessly dismembered Aus ! tria. Nathan, James and Solomon von Rothschild, sons of Mayer Ans elm, founder of the line, not only saved their holdings, but extended | their dominions to the remotest cor | aer of Europe. These vast ramifications of their fortune, one of the largest in the history of the world, were in land, steel, coal, manufacto ries and munitions, and. in later decades, in oil and hydroelectric power. Libraries have been written about them, one notable record being Zo la’s ’’L’Argent.” Their continental money matrix has been a stabilizer at times. It is possible that the Vienna jail door clangs the end of a dynasty and an epoch—but not quite certain. History will telL © Consolidated News Features. WNU Service. Smart Daytime Fashions | A CHARMING basque frock for ! ** growing girls, and a house dress for large figures, both smart and becoming, both easy to make. Even if you’ve done very little sewing, these patterns are easy to follow. Each one is accompanied by a complete and detailed sew chart. And a tour II-1 through the shops will show you irresistible new fabrics to make them up in. Basque Dress for Girls. No wonder girls love a basque dress like this! The fitted waist with its basque point in front gives them such a grown-up feeling. The full skirt, square neckline and puff sleeves are so becoming. Make this dress up for your daughter in taffeta or silk crepe in time for Easter, and later on in printed percale or dimity. Large Women’s Dress. The diagram shows you how easy this dress is to make, and it fits to perfection. Notice the raglan shoulder line, the waist line snugged in by darts. The roll collar, with the smart little tab in front, is very soft and becoming. Very comfortable to work round the house in, this dress is sufficiently tailored so that you can go shopping in it, too. TIPS (jrardeners Combinations TPO INCREASE yield from the ■■■ vegetable plot, the home gar dener should grow “combined cul tures.” The theory is to plant in closely spaced adjacent rows vegetables harvested at widely different times, using one before the other begins to mature. Combine cauliflower, lettuce and radish, for instance. Plant cauli flower early in rows three feet apart. Between the rows plant lettuce, and between lettuce and cauliflower rows plant radish. Radishes are harvested early, then the lettuce, and later the cauliflower. Following are several other combinations recommended by Harold Coulter, Ferry Seed Insti tute vegetable expert: Carrots and parsnips in alter nate rows two feet apart; rad ishes between first two rows; let tuce between second and third rows, and spinach between third and fourth rows. Spinach rows two and one-half feet apart; radishes between spin ach; pepper plants set between spinach when radishes are pulled. Make it up in percale, gingham, broadcloth or tub silk. The Patterns. 1491 is designed for sizes 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 years. Size 8 re quires 2y8 yards of 39-inch mate rial, plus iy4 yards of bias fold to finish the neckline and sleeves. 1395 is designed for sizes 36. 38, 40, 42, 44, 46. 48, 50 and 52. Size 38 requires 3% yards of 39-inch material. For contrasting collar, % yard, cut bias. Spring-Summer Pattern Book. Send 15 cents for the Barbara Bell Spring and Summer Pattern Book which is now ready. It con tains 109 attractive, practical and becoming designs. The Barbara Bell patterns are well planned, accurately cut and easy to follow. Each pattern includes a sew-chart which enables even a beginner to cut and make her own clothes. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Price of patterns, 15 cents (in coins) each. © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. Me Another 0 A General Quiz 1. How many watts in the bulb on top of the Edison Memorial tow er? 2. Do animals grow during hi bernation? 3. What is the average per cap ita savings of inhabitants in the United States? 4. Does all ice float? 5. What per cent of persons en rolled in schools attend public in stitutions? 6. What is the difference be tween green and black tea? 7. Can X-rays be used on fruits and vegetables to determine their soundness? 8. How many of the elements of the universe are unknown? I he Answers 1. The bulb is of 5,200 watts, and is 14 feet high. 2. They do not row. All body activity is at low ebb. 3. In the year ended June 30, 1937, it was $191. 4. Ice that sank resulted when Harvard scientists recently froze water under a pressure of 30,000 pounds to the square inch. Or dinary pressure is only 1414 pounds. 5. Approximately 90 per cent of all persons enrolled in school go to public educational institutions and 10 per cent of them go to private schools. 6. The difference is not in the tea plant but in the processing method. The leaves selected for black teas undergo a fermentation which changes their color and flavor. Leaves for green tea are' dried without being fermented. 7. It has been found that or anges, apples, potatoes and other fruits and vegetables may be sort ed by X-ray. The method has al ready been started in the Florida citrus fruit belt. 8. Only one of the ninety-three elements in the universe is un known. Element No. 87 is worth $4,000,000 a pound. ARE YOU 3/ ..IICC9 ONLY A 74 WIFE? Men can never understand a three-quarter wile—a wife who is lovable for three weeks of the month—but a hell-cat the fourth. No matter how your back aches—no matter how loudly your nerves scream—don’t take it out on your husband. For three generations one woman has told another how to go “smiling through” with Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. It helps Nature tone up the system, thus lessen ing the discomforts from the functional dis orders which women must endure. Make a note NOW to get a botUe of Pinkham’s today WITHOUT FAIL from your druggist—more than a million women have written in letters reporting benefit. Why not fry LYDIA E. PINKHAM’S VEGETABLE COMPOUND? DIZZY DRAMAS By Joe Bowers Now Flaying—“ZE ARTIST” i HOTEL | -uiH f I ze best I / i aia ze \ HOUSE ^ ART\ST J \V UUy r^Zl IT l -- / o K' PAL - - \ I/I’LL GIVE 'iOU THE ) ( DRAWING ROOM ) r \-- --- 1_1_1 1\ J I . ..J ® Public Ledger, Inc.—WNU Service.