' _ __ ..
BILLIONS of TOOTHPICKS
A Yankee Brought the Idea from South America;
Dio tv These Tiny Splinters Provide a Big
Industry in the Busy State of Maine.
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington. D. C.-WNU Service.
BY WHATEVER avenue
he enters the state of
Maine, the newcomer
promptly realizes that it can
best be described as a land of
trees. Forests cover more
than three-fourths of the
area. The present 15 million
acres of woodland represent
a shrinkage of less than 20
per cent from the primeval
condition. In recent years
the few salients slowly won
along the forest border by
newly cleared farms are
much more than offset by the
steady push of pine, spruce,
fir, and hemlock seedlings, every
where winning back abandoned
fields.
At the first session of its legisla
ture, Maine adopted a seal with
the north star as the crest, below
which the shield carries the white
pine and moose, the two monarchs
of the Maine woods. The descrip
tion of the seal, in the 1820 laws of
Maine, says of the pine: "It is as
well the staple of the commerce of
Maine, as the pride of her forests.”
Seventy-five years later, the pine
cone and tassel was declared by
legislative resolve to be the floral
emblem of Maine, having been se
lected by an informal popular ref
erendum.
As early as 1656, the town authori
ties of South Berwick passed an
order against waste of timber. In
more recent times forest conserva
tion was accepted as a business pol
icy, and protective measures
against fire were early adopted and
generously supported by timberland
owners, even before state laws were
passed. Maine was the first state
to erect lookout towers and also the
first to build them of steel. The
first lookout station was erected by
private landowners on Squaw moun
tain in 1906. At present the state
maintains 86 fire stations.
The first sawmill in America was
built near York in 1623, and another
at South Berwick in 1631; and 50
years later there were 24 mills in
the province of Maine, including the
first gang sawmill on the continent
at a site aptly named Great Works.
Opportunity for the infant colo
nies came from the depletion of
After the spring breakup in
Maine, logs are drifted down rivers
to the saw mills. It’a the Job of
these log rollers, with caulked shoes,
to keep the lumber moving.
England's forests. During the Sev
enteenth and Eighteenth centuries,
naval reserves meant oak, not oil,
but Queen Elizabeth and her Stuart
successors squandered the royal for
ests to provide increased revenues
independent of parliament, while ad
mirals protested. There was a
scarcity of oak timbers, and the
white pine of New England gradu
ally became England’s chief source
of the masts sorely needed by its
navy.
In a way the royal navy’s timber
policy contributed to the Revolu
Much of America's paper
comes from trees felled in the
Maine woods. Here the timber
is being shredded preparatory
to paper manufacture.
tion. The "broad arrow,” which
in English forests was the sign of
naval authority over chosen trees,
did not hit the mark when intro
duced into New England. The com
mandeering of mast pines was re
garded by the colonists as an inva
sion of property rights. An official
complaint is on record that only
1 tree in 500 suitable for masts was
sent to England.
A diameter of two feet being the
lower limit for "broad arrow” trees,
the Maine sawmills turned out
boards just within the limit, so that
roofs of old houses of that period
show splendid pine boards 22 or 23
inches wide, but almost never one
of 24 inches.
Scores of “broad arrow lawsuits
were tried, but impartial juries were
impossible to find for mast cases.
The prejudice against masts
reached a climax at the outbreak
of the Revolution, when the exporl
of masts was violently stopped, the
opposition at Falmouth leading lat
er to the bombardment and burning
of that town. Shutting off the supply
of American masts for seven years
so weakened British fleets in their
rigging that they suffered unduly
from storms during the Revolution.
One “broad arrow" inspector in
his report mentioned one pine of
over 17 feet in circumference.
In time Bangor became the
world’s largest lumber - shipping
port, and in 1830 Maine led all
states in output of lumber. Through
out the timber states of the West
many of the most skilled lumber
men hall from the Pine Tree state.
Cut Fast, Grows Fast
The three decades of the Twenti
eth century have witnessed the heav
iest cuts of the whole 300 years of
lumbering in Maine. But there is
good reason to believe that at pres
ent Maine spruce and fir are grow
ing faster than they are being cut.
More spectacular than the 300
year life of the lumber industry has
been the development of pulp- and
paper-making. This has become the
state’s largest industry, with Maine
leading all other states in pulp pro
duction from 1914 to 1930. The
spruce, poplar, fir, and hemlock
from the forests of Maine are con
verted into newsprint, and also into
high-grade paper for books and for
the popular magazines, and into
writing paper and wrapping paper
of all grades, including the finest
tissue. Paper bags, cartons, even
pie and luncheon plates, demon
strate the variety of wood-pulp uses.
The white birch, which adds so
much beauty to the scenery of river
bank and lake shore, is converted
into spools, shoe-pegs, clothespins,
and toothpicks. In the form of tooth
picks, the annual output of which
reaches scores of billions, Maine
birch is exported largely to the Lat
in countries on both sides of the At
lantic.
Clipper Days
For more than two and a half
centuries shipbuilding flourished
and became the chief industry in 50
coast and river towns. The clipper
ship era was when Maine came into
her own with these beautiful ships
built of Maine timber by Maine
builders, and largely officered and
manned by natives of Maine whose
birthright was a knowledge of the
ways of the sea.
Bath not only won fame for its
wooden ships, but when iron and
steel replaced oak and pine, Bath
met the new demand by building
the first steel sailing vessel, a four
master. This vessel and the last
wooden four-master built in Bath
were both sunk by the Germans,
the wooden William P. Frye being
the first American ship thus sacri
ficed. Battleships, cruisers, gun
boats, and destroyers, as well as the
ram Katahdin, are included in the
total output of more than c million
and a quarter tons of shipping
launched at Bath alone.
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Reviewed by
CARTER FIELD
President not distressed
by election of Republican
“Liberals”... New “purge”
now under way plans to
sidetrack Garner . . . Mari
time commission distressed
over defeat of Senator
McAdoo . . . Every “Yes,
but” Democrat wins.
WASHINGTON.—President Roose
velt's declaration that election of
Republican “liberals” will not dis
tress him was the first public state
ment to this effect, but for nearly a
week before that there had been
grave concern down at the depart
ment of agriculture, and among
Kansas Democrats, over a much
more pointed statement of the same
generality.
Several important New Deal offi
cials were talking with the Presi
dent about the Kansas situation. Mr.
Roosevelt was told that the belief
of his callers was that the Demo
crats would elect a governor, but
that they were very much afraid
SENATOR McGILL
Clyde M. Reed, former governor
and editor, would defeat Sen.
George McGill.
“That will be all right with mo,”
said the President, cheerfully.
“But, Mr. President, this man
Reed has criticized almost every
farm policy this administration has
attempted,” protested one of the
visitors, “whereas Senator McGill
has voted for every agricultural
measure the administration has sup
ported.”
“Nevertheless," the President re
plied, "Clyde Reed is an aggressive
progressive."
Not anxious to provoke trouble,
but hoping to get the President “in
line" one way or another, the call
ers left. Talking together afterwards
they canvassed the McGill situation.
What had he done to offend the
President?
President’s Attitude on
Senator McGill Puzzles
None of them could figure, then
or since. So the word drifted around,
confidentially of course, until if
there is anybody in the department
of agriculture or in high Democratic
circles in Washington who has not
heard it, he or she is pretty nearly
gossip-proof.
For the amazing fact is that
George McGill is as nearly a 100
per cent administration supporter as
sits in the upper house. Much more
than Robert F. Wagner of New
York, for example. Wagner voted
against the reorganization bill, one
of President Roosevelt’s pets. He
voted against ratification of the St.
Lawrence seaway, which Roosevelt
is seeking to revive.
Much more than William Gibbs
McAdoo, so cordially endorsed by
Roosevelt in his disastrous primary.
McAdoo opposed the President on
the World court issue. In fact Mc
Gill is one of the very few Demo
cratic senators with not a single
black mark against his record so far
ns blind obedience to White House
wishes is concerned. He is a “yes
man” plus.
Whereas Clyde Reed, as every im
portant bureau chief in the depart
ment of agriculture knows, has been
a thorn in Secretary Henry A. Wal
lace's side. He is very critical of
both past and present performances
of the Roosevelt-Wallace farm relief
program. Presumably he would
vote with the critics of Wallace if
he comes to the senate.
The only answer anyone has been
able to figure as to the President’s
logic is that Clyde Reed, although a
Republican and a former governor,
was almost openly for Roosevelt in
1936.
A New "Purge" Is Started
To Sidetrack Garner
A new ‘•purge" is now under way.
Undismayed by crushing defeats in
South Carolina and Idaho, and de
feats to come indicated by polls and
information in Maryland and Geor
gia, the New Deal is planning to
strip all recalcitrants of their pa
tronage, and build up new machines
in Maryland. Georgia. South Caro
lina and other states where the or
ganizations at present are controlled
by men who might not see eye to
eye with President Roosevelt when
the next Democratic national con
vention is called to order.
The whole object is to make sure
that the convention does not nomi
nate a man of the type of Vice
President John Nance Gamer, or
Jesse H. Jones, or Harry Flood
Byrd. What is wanted of course is
a convention which will nominate
some 100 per cent New Dealer.
Leaving out California, where nei
ther of the leading Democratic can
didates for senator
was anti-New Deal,
and the paramount
issue was the $30
a - week pension
scheme opposed by
Sen. William Gibbs
McAdoo and the
President, the box
score to date is not
very comforting to
the New Deal.
The “lame ducks" •"* '
so far are William G®®rKe L
Dieterich of Illinois, erry
George L. Berry of Tennessee,
James Pope of Idaho, and McAdoo,
all 100 per centers. Senators of the
“yes, but” variety who have been
renominated are Alva B. Adams of
Colorado (not actually nominated
but with no opposition candidate
whose name can be printed on the
ballots), Bennett C. Clark of Mis
souri, Guy M. Gillette of Iowa, Elli
son D. Smith of South Carolina, and
Frederick Van Nuys of Indiana.
“Yes, But.” Democrats Are
Successful in Every Case
Curiously enough, many commen
tators spoke of the South Carolina
result as the first test of the purge.
It is true that President Roosevelt
himself never asked for Senator Gil
lette’s defeat in Iowa, but the fact
that James Roosevelt did, plus the
fact that not only Harry L. Hop
kins injected himself, but that the
President approved Hopkins’ action,
led to the Iowa result being classi
fied as a "purge that failed.”
Sitting senators who are 100 per
cent New Dealers and who have
been renominated include Alben W.
Barkley of Kentucky, Claude Pep
per of Florida, Lister Hill of Ala
bama, George McGill of Kansas,
and Robert R. Reynolds of North
Carolina. Of these McGill is gen
erally conceded to be the only one
who faces any danger.
Meanwhile two Republican sitting
senators, James J. Davis of Penn
sylvania, and Gerald P. Nye of
North Dakota, were renominated
over opposition in primaries al
though they had opposed certain
New Deal measures.
So far every “Yes, but”* Democrat
facing a renomination fight has won,
while the score of the 100 per cent
ers is no better than 50 per cent.
Maritime Commission
Is Worried Over McAdoo
At the maritime commission there
is more than a little distress over
the defeat of Sen. William Gibbs
McAdoo in California for renomina
tion. The fear is not based, to any
noticeable degree, on affection for
the senator. Quite the contrary. It
is based on the possibility, as the
maritime commission crowd views
the situation, that President Roose
velt may appoint Mr. McAdoo to the
existing vacancy on the maritime
commission.
All of which is perplexing to those
who have the pleasure of knowing
Mr. McAdoo personally, for few
men in public life in the last 30
years have had more charm, or
were easier to get along with. Mr.
McAdoo was on good terms, when
he was secretary of the treasury
during the entire first Wilson ad
ministration and all through the war
days, with almost everyone who had
to do with his department, or with
any of the many additional activi
ties, including the railroads, which
were entrusted to him by Wilson.
The only real row he ever had
with a newspaper man was over a
story intimating that there was a
big profit for Mr. McAdoo person
ally if the ship purchase bill, then
being filibustered to death, should
pass.
A short time later the same news
paper—the old New York Herald
printed a story that Wilson and Col.
Edward M. House had broken. It
was premature, by a couple of
years, and Wilson was enraged. He
wrote the editor that he understood
the story had been written “by the
same reporter who recently so in
excusably libeled Secretary Mc
Adoo."
Never Harbored Malice
Against His Defamers
But not only did McAdoo get
along beautifully with all the other
newspaper men, but remembers
them to this day, calling by their
first names and with every indica
tion of affection men who went out
of their way to attack everything
he did, and to thwart his every ob
jective. This also goes for every
thing connected with his unsuccess
ful fight for the Democratic presi
dential nomination in 1924. Actually
‘‘Smear McAdoo" stories caused the
ill Wilson to turn against him, be
fore the end, but McAdoo harbored
no malice against his newspaper de
famers.
Also very unlike some well-kno>vn
present day government officials,
McAdoo never used the power of his
office to punish personal or politi
cal enemies.
Lawyers for a very prominent and
immensely wealthy Republican fam
ily, which owned a leading G. O. P.
‘‘organ,” were dismayed after the
Harding administration came into
office to find that the treasury was
not as benign to them as in the Mc
Adoo days!
HO Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI
“The Fall Into the Bottomless Well99
IT ELLO EVERYBODY:
A 1 Can you imagine falling into a well and never reach
ing bottom? That’s what happened to William J. Sternberg
of Long Island City, N. Y., who tells today’s yarn.
In the spring of 1885, Bill Sternberg, then a lad of 19, was putting
In panes of glass along the side of a building in Long Island city, N. Y.,
since burned down. A steep slope fell away almost vertically from the
building, and below this slope was an old well, whose rotting timbers
had been removed preparatory to making a new cover. Now watch and
see what happened.
Bill Sails Off Into Space.
Along the far end of the building, the ground fell away so steeply
that Bill had to go look for the ladder he had left against the one-story
extension. To make sure the ladder was still where he had left it, he
took a step backward to look over the edge of the roof. Suddenly his
left foot went completely into space!
Bill says, *‘I knew in a flash where I was about to go. It was
too late to scramble forward, so I braced my foot, and with all
my might I threw my body back ...”
And right below lay—you guessed it—the open well!
Bill’s quick thinking may have saved his life, but it didn’t keep him
from going through a bad experience. His shoulders struck the far edge
of the well and his feet scraped the near edge so that he lay across the
top opening like a stiff stick. Only he wasn’t so stiff, worse luck. Bit
by bit he started to slip down the sides of the well, the weight of his
body held in space only by the fierce pressure of his braced feet and
shoulders against the rough brick sides of the well.
And Then He Started to Slip!
Had that well been an inch wider in diameter, boys and girls, Bill
wouldn’t be telling this story. As it was, he had all he could do, press
ing with all his strength, to keep his body out straight, to keep pressure
on his toes and his shoulders and neck.
AND THEN HE STARTED TO SLIP!
Picture for yourself what he was up against. If either his
head or his feet started slipping faster than the other end, he
might drop so much on one end that his body would no longer
meet the wail on both sidc$. The minute his legs or his shoul
ders slipped enough to fall away from the wall—HE WOULD
PLUNGE TO THE DEPTHS BELOW!
But worse was still to come. Working with Bill on the job was a
man by the name of Franz. When the first terror at his predicament
And right below lay the open well.
• i
lifted. Bill thought of Franz and yelled for help. Picture his horror when
he got no answer.
All along he had been hoping that before he lost control, rescue
would arrive. Now his voice rang mockingly in the dark depths below.
Franz did not answer.
Bill Sees a Dim Ray of Hope.
Lower, lower slipped Bill. The rough bricks scraped his shoulders
raw. Blood ran from his tortured flesh, soaked his shirt. The pressure
was agony, yet he dare not ease up. To let up meant dropping.
Bill wormed around till his eyes could examine the depths of
the well below. And for a moment hope returned to him. Directly
below, about seven and a half feet down, he saw the ribs of the
form for the brickwork projecting on the inside, about two or three
inchc,s beyond the brickwork. The masons had left the form with
the ribs and built around them.
"Now,” Bill told himself, “if those ribs will hold my weight, I’m safe!"
But could he reach them?
Seven and a half feet! Seven and a half feet of creeping, of tortured
shoulders, of risky probing with one foot when an instant’s let-up in that
pressure meant—Bill Sternberg tried not to think what it meant while
he groped with one foot for a hold, wormed his raw shoulders lower on
the bricks that were like sandpaper on his raw shoulders.
New Danger Worse Than the Old.
Just as he reached the ribs a new danger presented itself. His shoul
ders started to go lower than his feet!
Bad enough to plunge feet first. But head first! And backward,
at that!
It took all the flagging nerve of Bill Sternberg to grind those
raw shoulders Into that wall and work his feet down to—yes, the
rib. Bill made it. And what’s more, the ribs held him. Feet
and shoulders.
But how loqg was he to, remain here like this? Frantically he lifted
his voice in a hoarse shout And now to his ears came a sound—the
sound of Franz’s hammer. Franz, hammering and whistling at his
work, had perhaps not heard. Bill summoned all his strength, fairly
bellowed: “Franz, FRANZ!” _
This time Franz came, and with one unconcerned tug yanked up his
companion. Bill landed hard on the safe ground. It felt good—better
than his shoulders. But worst of all, he says, was trying to square
himself with his mother for ripping his shirt, when he got home!
Copyright.—WNU Service.
Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin
Between Fond du Lac and She
boygan, Wis„ is an area known to
geologists as the kettle moraine,
says a survey of Wisconsin’s nat
ural wonders by the American
Chemical society. The region re
sembles the deserted kettle holes of
Paul Bunyan’s lumberjacks. The
kettles appear like the interior of
volcanic cones, except that they are
only a few hundred feet across, are
from 50 to 200 feet deep, and have
their steep slopes covered with
trees.
Leading Producer of Silver
Mexico is the leading world pro
ducer of silver and in the last five
centuries has yielded about 5,500,
000,000 ounces of silver, more than
33 per cent of world production dur
! ing that period.
Florida Talk
Pity the poor trainman who calls
stations out of Orlando, Fla. Some
of the line’s tongue twisters are Ko
lopee, Chuluota, Bithlo, Pocotaw,
Salofka, Tohopee, Holopaw, Illahaw
and Apoxsee.
Making Wallpaper in Rolls
Paper in continuous rolls was in
vented by Nicholas Louis Robert of
Essones in 1799, and the English
patents “to make paper without
seam or join” were obtained in Lon
don in 1801 by John Gamble and
Didot St. Leger. The use of paper
in continuous lengths was not. how
ever, permitted in England before
1830, because of the important rev
enue derived from the tax stamps
on the small sheets. France, mean
while, made use of the new invention
after 1810.
Be Good. Not Too Trustful
"Be good and be kind,” said Hi
Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “but at
the same time don’t be too trustful.
The fact that you own an umbrella
that some rascal has borrowed will
not keep the rain off of you.”
__
Some Birds Make Clay Nests
Three kinds of Australian birds
make clay nests so amazingly true
in form that if they were not at
tached to a support they could not
be told from crude human-made
pottery.
I_
MISCELLANEOUS
t ARMS FOR SALE
Write for your copy of Illustrated Ne
braska and Western Iowa farm catalog.
The Travelers Insurance Ce.. Omaha, Nee.
RAZOR BLADES
IrDET GILLETTE
■ n Ce c. razor
with purchase of 100 guaranteed J
blades for $1.00, postpaid.
Satisfactory or Money Refunded
F. A. ALEXANDER
49It North 42nd St., Omaha, Nebr.
Ideal Hot Dish Mats
Made of Cable Cord
By RUTH WYETH SPEARS
T^HIS mat is made of white cot
ton cable cord such as you buy
at the notion counter for corded
seams and trimmings. The orig
inal mat from which this design
was taken was made of—no one of
this generation- would ever guess
what! Corset strings. These were
once a common commodity along
with collar boning, hat pins and
side combs. There was quite a
MAKE CIRCLES
IN PAIRS
0 JOINING IN
L PLAIN .
QvBRAIDING f
fad for making luncheon sets of
them braided or arranged in va
rious designs and sewn with fine
stitches on the wrong side.
The design shown here is com
pact and, copied in rather heavy
cord, makes an ideal hot dish mat.
Follow the sketches for directions.
Make the circles in pairs, as
shown, using No. 40 cotton thread
to sew them. Braid three cords
together and then sew the braided
strip around and around to make
the center of the mat. Sew a
row of the circles to the edge of
this center part, then add another
braided row, being careful to
“ease in” the inside edge just
enough to keep the mat flat. Con
tinue adding alternate rows of cir
cles and braiding until the mat is
the size desired.
To join the ends of the braided
rows, pull one end through the
braiding to the wrong side of the
mat; then trim the ends and sew _
them flat. It is not too early to
begin thinking of Christmas gifts
—and you will be wanting to make
something a bit unusual for that
next bazaar when it comes rolling
around. Sewing Book 2, Embroid
ery, Gifts and Novelties, is full of
new ideas all clearly illustrated
with step-by-step pictures. Send
for it today and give life a new
interest by starting some fascinat
ing piece of hand work. Enclose
25 cents and address Mrs. Spears,
210 S. Desplaines St., Chicago, 111.
__
All-Time Looker-Out
More than 500 years ago, the
fleet of France invaded and
sacked the litWe town of Winchel
sea, on the Sussex coast of Eng
land. Every morning and after
noon since, a guard has gone to
his lookout post and scanned the
horizon for enemy ships. The
election of this man, who is known
as “The looker-out for the French
Fleet,’’ takes place on Easter
Tuesdays and his annual salary
is $5.48.—Collier’s Weekly.
NERVOUS?
Do you feel so nervous you want to scream?
Are you cross and irritable? Do you scold
those dearest to you?
If your nerves are on edge and you feel
you need a good general system tonic, try
Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound,
made especially for women.
For over 60 years one woman has told an
other how to go “smiling thru" with reliable
Pinkham's Compound. It helps nature build
up more physical resistance and thus helps
calm quivering nerves and lessen discomforts
from annoying symptoms which often ac
company female functional disorders.
Why not give it a chance to help YOU?
Over one million women have written in
reporting wonderful benefits from Pinkham’s
Compound.
WNtT- IT 38—38
I
To Get Rid of Acid
and Poisonous Waste
Your kidneys help to keep you weB
. by constantly filtering waste matter
from the blood. If your kidneys get
functionally disordered aDd fail to
remove excess impurities, there may be
poisoning of the whole system and
body-wide distress.
Burning, scanty or too frequent uri
nation may be a warning of some kidney
or bladder disturbance.
You may sufTer nagging backaches
persistent headache, attacks of dizziness^
getting up nights, swelling, puffinesa
under the eyes—feel weak, nervous,' a*
played out.
In such cases it is better to rety'un a
medicine that has won country-wida
acclaim than on something less favor*
ably known. Use Doan's Pills. A multi
tude of grateful people recommend
Doan’s. Ask your neighbor 1