Nebraska Newspapers

    f _
Washington Not Always Glamorous
A - - ■■■■ ■. . .....
World’s Greatest Capital
Has Its Seamy Side Too!
By BAUKHAGE
Newt Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, 1816 Eye Street. N.W.,
Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON.-A boy joined the
•tail of a four-page paper of which
he was one day
to become editor.
The office was a
rattle-trap build
ing whose notable
characteristics,
he later said,
were “sewer gas.
rats, dirt, over
grown rowdy
newsboys who
had to be held in
check by a long
whip and fire
arms,"and it was
"positively dan
gerous at times to go into the al
ley which they infested, leading to
the composing room."
The town as the boy had grown
up in it was a straggling over
grown country village “with zigzag
grades, no sewerage, no street cars,
no water supply except from pumps
and springs, unimproved reserva
tions, second-rate dwellings and
streets of mud and mire."
That doesn’t sound like the na
tion's capita) whose budget for the
coming year is $76,755,009—but that
was the way it was in 1858 as de
scribed by the editor of the Wash
ington Evening Star, Theodore
Noyes, who died early this month.
He joined the paper in 1877.
Except for the Australian capital
of Canberra which arose almost as
Camelot at a wave of Merlin's wand,
there is nothing to compare with the
bizarre history of a city whose site
was based on a political deal and
no city which has gone through
more vicissitudes than this Bagh
dad-on-the-Potomac.
No city was ever more magnifi
cently planned, or more discredit
ably neglected in its early days, as
Mr. Noyes’ description indicates. To
day, as the undisputed capital of
the world, it still has to battle with
a grudging congress for its budget.
It remains the chief city of the
greatest democratic republic whose
938,000 citizens have no voice in their
own government and whose citizen
ship itself is a bar to the basic priv
ilege of a democracy—the ballot.
Mr. Noyes was, as is the news
paper he served, a Washington in
<4r +
stitution. He will be remembered
for his long campaign to give Wash
ington a vote in congressional and
national matters.
• • •
Rata Were Menace
To City's Health
Some time ago I had occasion to
mention the invasion of Washington
by rats and how the city hired a
modem Pied Piper who has done an
effective, if silent, Job. This was
brought to my mind recently when
1 encountered a fat, black cat on my
way to work early one morning.
The cat had a guilty look, and I had
a hunch he had spent the night in
riotous living and was merely
sneaking in to change his collar.
However, the cataclysm caused by
the rat-invasion in which, believe it
or not, a baby’s hand was eaten
brought hasty action and 1 see that
It was considered worthy of com
ment by experts, including the edi
tors of the magazine of the Amer
ican Museum of Natural History.
The campaign began when a case
of typhus which is spread by fleas
and mites on rats, was discovered.
Traps set in the neighborhood
caught a number of rats whose
blood was typhus-infected. The
United States Public Health service
got busy, shocked to learn that the
scourge of Europe two centuries ago
was a possibility right here in our
fair capital.
An expert was called in. He first
sealed up all points where commer
cial transportation entered the city.
Then 300 traps were set up in the
zone where the infection had been
found. Five days later the traps
were taken in and the area was
thoroughly dusted with DDT, the in
secticide which the army perfected.
Next red-squill bait was distrib
uted. It kills rats, but not pets or
children who might pick up the bait.
In places where there was no dan
ger to human beings the deadly
“1080” was distributed. The cam
paign was successful. Meanwhile, a
clean-up of potential rat-breeding
premises was started with court or
ders to enforce it. Today Washing
ton has a complete scientific rat
control program which will cost us
about $75,000 annually.
However, it still leaves a few rats
for energetic cats.
_A_
When People Vote, They Win
The June "Economic Outlook."
published by the Congress of Indus
trial Organizations, contains an ar
ticle entitled "When the People Vote
—They Win.” That might be in
terpreted in more ways than one.
The article points out that an “off
year” is so designated politically
not only because the presidency is
not at stake, but because the poli
ticians know that general apathy on
the part of the voter has marked
those elections in the past: 1938 (off)
thirty million voters went to the
polls; 1940 (on) fifty million votes;
1942 (off) twenty-eight million; 1944
(on) forty-eight million.
The CIO takes the attitude that
what the people as a whole want is
what they (the CIO) want, and that
the people get what they want when
they vote for it. They say: "Mass
registration and mass voting is the
best guarantee of liberal progres
sive government.”
They might also add that if you
want conservative rather than lib
eral progressive government, you
have to vote for it, too. In any
case you can’t get what you want
unless you go after it. The "Out
look" prints a table showing how
the vote shifted in certain districts
in off-years. The table showed that
when the vote fell off, it was the
Democratic vote. Districts which
swung from Democratic to Repub
lican candidates in most cases shift
ed with a decrease in the total vote
. . . “the Republican vote remain
ing relatively stable, while the Dem
ocratic vote dropped sharply.”
Does this prove that Democrats
are sleepier than Republicans, or
that the Republican is a creature of
habit?
• • •
War Profiteering
Will Be Scandal
The Juicy scandal uncovered by
the senate war investigating com
mittee in which "profiteering at its
worst,” as Senator Mead called it,
was exposed, is, I fear, only the be
ginning.
Any moment I expect to hear an
explosion in connection with surplus
property. War breeds waste, and
the cloak of patriotic endeavor as
Samuel Johnson indicated even
more bluntly, often covers skulldug
gery.
The same thing happened after
the last war, and on a smaller scale,
after all wars. But what is prob
ably making people squirm all over
Washington is the revelation of the
fact that telephone wires were pret
ty generally tapped, and heaven
knows what may be in the FBI files.
It is a strange thing about the tele
phone. People have Just come to
take foi granted that because you
can't see anybody on the line, no
body is there.
1 wouldn’t be surprised to learn
that telephone conversations with
most of the government departments
are being recorded right now. I
have reason to believe that when
the question of installing these re
corders in the White House was
brought up, it was flatly turned
down. White House employees have
a long and excellent record for fidel
ity. Of course they are carefully
screened, and when the campaign
to get everybody fingerprinted (an
excellent idea if you have nothing to
conceal about your past and no plans
for an over-adventurous future) was
begun, the White House employees
voluntarily came forward and of
fered their thumbs, fingers and
hands for the ink-pad.
• • •
The senate galleries were full. It
was a scorcher of a day and a fili
buster was going on. The senate
chamber is air-cooled. What caused
the crowd? The heat or the stupid
ity?
• • •
Pretty Goldwyn Girl Georgia
Lange (who visited Washington with
her five pulchritudinous pals of ”Kid
From Brooklyn”) stepped up "to a
newsstand and moved a paper
weight oil the face of the cover girl
on the July Coronet. Why? I asked
her. Because it was her face.
• • •
I never saw a purple bear, I
never hope to see one—but I’d like
to see that little silver-blue fellow,
born recently in the Bronx zoo.
TRIP TO CAPITAL . . . Mrs. Evelyn Baker and Mrs. James'Magee
won a trip to Washington in a contest conducted by radio station KOTA
in Rapid City, 8. D., to honor women who did their Jobs quietly and
well during the war. Mrs. Baker’s husband was killed on Okinawa
and she has two children. Mrs. Magee lost a son In the war.
NEWS REVIEW
Truman Sets Jaw, Shows
That Job Irritates Him
TRUMAN:
Temper Short
Maybe it’s hot weather, but Presi
dent Truman’s temper is consid
erably shorter than it used to be.
This was evident recently when
he spoke out at a press conference
stating that John O’Donnell, a re
porter, had spread "another lie.’’
(Incidentally, O’Donnell once re
ceived an iron cross from FDR.)
Other displays of irritability have
been noticed by those close to him.
Is it his health? No, says his doc
tor; it’s Just being President.
"I don’t know of any President
who kept so many appointments,”
said Col. Wallace Graham, the
President’s physician.
Mr. Truman wakes himself be
tween 5:30 and 6:00 each morning,
showers, shaves and dresses without
the aid of a valet, and goes for a
mile walk. He sometimes splashes
in the White House swimming pool,
but never plays golf or engages in
any game more strenuous than
pitching horseshoes. He may keep
eight or ten appointments of 10 to
20 minutes each, see visitors, legis
lators, foreign diplomats, head a
reception line and do some work in
his office, all in an afternoon and
evening. He sleeps soundly too.
But sometimes these days, he’s a
little irritable! Maybe he's Just like
the rest of us.
INVISIBLE DEATH:
Surrounds Bikini
Some of the things that happened
at Bikini atoll when the atomic
bomb exploded are still a mystery,
correspondents aver. The A-bomb
rays, for instance, clung like a se
CANDIDATE . . . Mother of four
children, Mrs. Elisabeth Chilton
Murray is a candidate for the
Democratic nomination for con
tress in the eighth district of Vir
ginia. Her father was former
U. S. Senator William Chilton.
cret weapon or invisible death
around that South Pacific area for
hours and days—and even longer
perhaps.
The blast of x-rays and invisible
alpha, beta and neutron rays that
hit ships from the atom bomb were
more crippling than the blast that
smashed down and the heat that
wrecked some. One of the navy’s
"drone” ships, which went pilotless
into the cloud and returned, was un
safe to approach for more than
three days. It is believed that had
there been pilots in the planes they
would have been killed. Mice that
flew into the cloud changed color.
White mice became brown. Hair
usually turns white or gray when
exposed to radioactive rays. All
the drones brought back evidence of
extreme radioactivity in or near the
cloud. This invisible ray attack
was worst at about 15,000 feet alti
tude. The roof of x-ray is placed at
about 2,000 feet, so the other rays
were different.
So far the scientists have made
no report. But newsmen are ask
ing: "Could human beings have
lived on airplanes and ships after the
blast?”
COTTON:
Crop Is Bigger
There were 18,316,000 acres of cot
ton in cultivation on July 1, or 3.2
per cent more than a year ago, the
department of agriculture has es
timated.
The acreage in cultivation July 1
and the percentage of the 1945 acre
age, respectively, by states included:
Missouri, 310,000 acres and 116 per
cent; Virginia, 20,000 and 105; North
Carolina, 580,000 and 102; South
Carolina, 950,000 and 98; Georgia,
1.235.000 and 98; Florida, 23,000 and
100; Tennessee, 600,000 and 99; Ala
bama, 1,510,000 and 107; Mississippi,
2.420.000 and 106; Arkansas, 1,660,
000 and 107; Louisiana, 900,000 and
104; Oklahoma, 1,120,000 and 95;
Texas, 6,350,000 and 104; New Mex
ico, 116,000 and 99; Arizona. 145,000
and 94; California, 359,000 and 113,
and all other states, 18,000 and 99.
WHEAT QUOTA:
To Europe Passed
The United States was ahead of
its quota of wheat shipments to Eu
rope in the first six months of 1946,
Secretary of Agriculture Ander
son reported a few days ago. He
reported to President Truman that
50,000,000 bushels were shipped in
June, bringing shipments for the
year up to 397,000,000 bushels.
COAL LAND:
Good for Farming
At Altoona, Pa., tests have shown
that stripped coal fields, properly
backfilled, are better farm land
than before the coal was removed.
It was the opinion of the state
mine inspector that practically all
of the land can be restored for agri
cultural purposes, either for crop
ping, grazing or planting orchards.
3.3 BILLION BUSHELS
Record ’46 Corn Crop Forecast
WASHINGTON.-The largest crop'
of corn ever raised in the United
States, and near record production
of wheat and oats has been forecast
by the department of agriculture.
The department stated the current
outlook for total crop production has
seldom been surpassed. Except for
1942, the reported condition of all
crops is the best in seven years.
Continued favorable weather is
necessary to bring this prospect to
realization. Indicated corn crop is
3.341.646.000 bushels, compared with
the preceding record of 3,203,000,000
bushels harvested in 1944 and with
3.018.410.000 bushels in 1945.
Winter wheat crop of 857,163,000
bushels would be a record and al
though spring wheat promise is only
232.929.000 bushels, the total wheat
harvest looks Uke 1,090,092,000 bush
►
els based on present condition.
Production of oats is estimated at
1.471.026.000 bushels, compared with
1.547.663.000 bushels harvested last
year, which was the largest oats
crop ever raised. Barley production
is placed at 230,278,000 bushels,
against 263,961,000 bushels last year
and 1935-44 average of 289,598,000
bushels.
Corn Peak in Prospect.
In commenting on the report, the
department said the nation’s corn
cribs will have more corn in them
this year than ever before if the all
time high production indicated by
July 1 prospects materialises. The
expected yield an acre of 36 bush
els on the 91,500,000 acres for har
vest which is virtually the same as
last year, would also be an all-time
high. Measured by the 1935-44 aver
age, the 1946 acreage for harvest Is
only a trifle less but the prospective
yield an acre is 8.0 bushels more
and the production over a fourth
larger.
Acreage and yield an acre
changes from last year fall into
simple patterns. A big wedge of
states extending from Kansas and
Oklahoma northeast to the New Eng
land states show either increased
acreage or no change while almost
all states outside the ‘‘wedge” show
decreases. Another broad wedge of
states extending from South Dakota,
Nebraska and Kansas southeast to
Virginia and North Carolina shows
good to excellent yield prospects.
Outside this ‘‘wedge” prospective
yields show wide variations.
SECRECY PREVAILS
Ships Regrouped for
Second Atomic Test
By WALTER A. SHEAD
WNU Correspondent.
HONOLULU, OPERATIONS CROSSROADS — With
much attendant secrecy the target fleet in Bikini lagoon has
been regrouped for the second atom bomb test scheduled for
July 25. Although most of the correspondents have returned
to the States, several made application to remain in Bikini
during the interim so they could cover the arrangements
being made for the second test. This request was refused by
the navy, however, and all newspaper men were ordered to
proceed to Kwajalein, where they were either transported
immediately by air to the States or to Honolulu, or were
housed aboard the press ship Appalachian.
-—
In the meantime the Appalachian
made a leisurely trip to Pearl Har
bor where she underwent some mi
nor repairs, and now is proceeding
back to Bikini, where she is sched
uled to arrive on B-Day minus 1, or
July 24.
Nearest Center.
It has been announced that ships
nearest the bulls-eye of the second
test will include the battleship Ar
kansas, the heavy cruiser Pensa
cola, the Jap battleship Nagato,
the aircraft carrier Saratoga, the
destroyer Mayrant, the submarine
Pilotfish, the transport Fallow and
a tank landing ship.
It may be thr.t the Pilotfish
will be nearest the bomb burst,
which, as has been announced,
will be an underwater detona
tion. Other ships of the target
fleet have been placed in various
positions ranging up to 1,800
yards away from the blast.
The Arkansas, the Pensacola and
the Nagato all were severely dam
aged as to superstructure in the first
blast. The Pensacola particularly
suffered heavy damage to her fire
control; her stacks were blown off
and her deck plates buckled. This
correspondent went aboard the Pen
sacola after the first test and noted
that her decks amidship were driv
en downward about 12 inches and
with such force that steel supports
beneath were driven through the
steel deck plating like toothpicks
through paper.
Await Report.
There is considerable speculation
as to the coming report of the Mili
tary Evaluation board as to the ef
ficacy of the atom bomb as an of
fensive weapon in naval warfare.
If the board decides that future na
val construction must meet the dan
gers of atomic blasts, then we may
expect an entirely different warship
of the future.
The experience of the first blast
indicates that firepower exposed
upon high superstructure is partic
ularly susceptible to the heat and
blast of atomic power. The specu
lation is that to meet this threat,
future construction will see stream
lined warships with low superstruc
tures, enclosed as much as possible,
looking something like a modern
deisel locomotive with curved sur
faces to deflect blast.
Installation of ventilation systems
also will be given close scrutiny
since it was learned that the blast
in some cases, particularly aboard
the Pensacola, entered the ventila
TERRIFIC BRILLIANCE . . .
Camera catches terrific brilliance
of atomic blast in this photo taken
just at time of detonation of
the atomic bomb.
tion openings and followed the ducts
below decks, breaking out at the
weakest points, shoving through a
bulkhead and smashing other ob
stacles in its way deep in the ship.
This was particularly notice
able in a comparison with the
German ship Prim Eugen,
which has no ventilation system
and depends upon row upon row
of portholes for ventilation for
its crew. Not a porthole was
smashed and no damage done
below deck, but she was admit
tedly much farther from the
center of the blast than the
Pensacola.
In reflecting upon the damage
done to the ships in the first blast,
the remarkable thing to this writer
is that not a single live mine, bomb,
shell, bag of powder or any other
ammunition aboard any ship was ex
ploded either by the heat or blast
force of the bomb. Torpedoes
on the Independence exploded due
to a fire which finally exploded her
powder magazine and her aviation
MUSHROOM CLOUD . . . The
huge mushroom cloud rises over
Bikini shortly after the atom
bomb was dropped. This picture
was made by a photographer
flying in a B-29.
gasoline. But on most all the ships
were placed live mines, bombs,
shells were in guns or on loading
apparatus, and each ship had a
full load of ammunition. None of it
was exploded and the safety crews
which boarded the ships following
the blast were careful in their ex
amination.
Then the speculation goes to the
use of lead lining against X-rays,
rock wool or some other protection
against heat, and concrete or some
substitute against neutrons and oth
er radioactivity.
Opinions Vary.
There are two schools of thought
as to the damage likely to occur to
ship hulls from the underwater
blast. Having in mind the fact that
depth charges of presently used ex
plosives have sunk or damaged sub
marines and heavily damaged de
stroyers and other lighter craft, one
school declares that the atomic
bomb will play havoc with the tar
get fleet and predicts that even cap
ital ships closest to the blast will
be capsized and sunk.
Others, however, predict that
much of the force of the blast will
be absorbed by the water and that,
although there is danger of light
ships capsizing, the larger ships will
merely roll with the water and their
heavier underwater armor will not
be damaged. They predict the
heavily armored ships will not suf
fer as much underwater damage as
could be inflicted with a torpedo.
This is all in the realm of specula
tion, however, and the navy remains
mum about its own expectations.
In discussions aboard the Ap
palachian among scientists and
off-the-record comment by na
val officers, there is some rea
son to presume that the atomic
bomb as an offensive weapon
against ships at sea is not as ef
fective as other weapons. How
ever, its effectiveness against
naval bases would be devastat
ing and a fleet without naval
bases would be rendered im
potent.
Atoll to Remain.
This writer believes that Bikini
atoll and its cocoanut groves will be
there after the second test is over
and even after the third bomb sched
uled for November or later is
detonated in hundreds of fathoms of
water in the ocean outside Bikini la
goon. We do not expect any 100
foot waves nor 1,000-mile-an-hour
wind although some wave may wash
over the island. A 15-foot wave could
do that.
But the test which has changed
from a joint army-navy operation,
about which so much stress was put,
into strictly a navy show and which
is probably costing about a half
million dollars a day, likely will give
our military men all the knowledge
they will need to prepare for or
against the atomic bomb in the fu
ture ... if indeed there is any way
of preparing against it.
Rats Horn in Defiance of Atomic Death
Despite deaths from radioactiv
ity among animals aboard target
ships in the Bikini atomic bomb test,
the animal population remains al
most stationary, reports from the
USS Burleson, animal ship of Joint
Task Force 1, reveal.
To offset the deaths from radio
activity, a litter of white rats was
born aboard the USS Pennsylvania
and the new arrivals were unaffect
ed by the bomb. Originally there i
were 150 goats, 150 pigs and 3,100
white rats placed aboard 22 ships
of the target fleet. Deaths from
radioactivity are continuing, accord
ing to reports from the Burleson.
Loss of life among the animals al
ready has exceeded the 10 per cent
figure originally announced.
The little pig, found swimming
vigorously toward land after sinking
of the Sakawa, is presumed to be
still alive.
| #
Pegged Lawn Chair
Easily Taken Down
—
CHAIR
pattern
292
REMOVE PEGS
TO STORE
PIECES FEftT
'T'HIS chair has such smart lines
1 that it may be used in any in
formal room as well as out of
doors. It is made with simple cuts
of the hand saw from stock widths
of lumber.
The *ides. the seat and the back are
separate sections which are put together
and held rigid with pegs. Remove the
pegs and you have four flat pieces.
• • •
Pattern 292 with large cutting diagrams
for all pieces of the chair, illustrated di
rections and list of materials, is 15 cents
postpaid. Send order to:
MRS. RUTH WYETH SPEARS
Bedford Hills, N. Y. Drawer 10
Enclose 15 cents for Pattern No. 292.
Name_
Address_
CLASSIFIED
DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS & INVEST. OPPOR.
ATTENTION—JOB RETAILERS!
Khaki trousers and shirts, 8 oz. chino.
sizes small, medium and large. $7.80 a doz.
Sold in 5 doz lots f.o.b. Omaha.
L& B MERCHANDISE CO.
SIS s. 11th St. - - Ja. 5882
_ DOGS, CATS, PETS, ETC.
CHESAPEAKE PUPS
A. K. C. registered, from real hunting
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BEADLE’S KENNELS GL 2199
8904 Biondo St. - Omaha 4, Nebr.
FARM MACHINERY & EQUIP.
WE HAVE nAYING EQUIPMENT IN
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FARMERS SUPPLY COMPANY
80th & L Street, Ma. 6159, Omaha, Nebr.
VEE-BELTS and PULLEYS for all farm
machinery. Sheller and Hammermill belt V
drives. Pillow blocks and take-ups.
J. H. NICHOLSON SUPPLY CO.
717-S 16th St. Ha. 2776 Omaha, Nebr.
_MISCELLANEOUS_
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IHC.. No. 20 or 22B. State price.
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Buy U. S. Savings Bonds!
SUNBEAM & G.E. IRONS
FOR Sale—Sunbeam and General Elec
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WNU—U_ 30—46
For You To Feel Weil
24 hours avery day, 7 day* every
week, never stopping, the kidney* filter
waste matter from tna blood.
1 II more people were aware of how the
kidneys must constantly remove sur
plus fluid, excess acids and other waste
matter that cannot stay In the Wood
without injury to health, there would
be better understanding of wAg the
whole system Is upset when kidneys fail
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Burning, scanty or too frequent urina
tion sometimes warns that something
is wrong. You may suffer nagging back
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pains, getting up at nights, swelling.
Why not try Doan’* Pills? You will
be using a medicine recommended the
country over. Doan't stimulate the func
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Get Doan’s today. Use with^onfulenoa.
At all drug stores.