PAGE 2.—Thurs.. Apr. 3. 1952.
Editorial m Business Offices: 122 South Fourth Street
CaKROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
Established in 1880—Published Each Thursday
Entered the poatoffice at O’Neill, Holt county, Nebraska, as sec
ond-class mail matter under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
This newspaper is a member of the Nebraska Press Association,
National Editorial Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Terms of Subscription: In Nebraska, $2.50 per year; elsewhere
In the United States, $3 per year; abroad, rates provided on request.
All subscriptions are strictly paid-in-advance.
Whan You and I Were Young ...
200 Acres Beets
Will Be Raised
50 Years Ago
Miss Mollie Hanley, who has
been teaching the Benson school,
has closed a six months term in
that district . . . William Hobin
son, the crack chicken hunter of
the South Fork, accidentally dis
charged a Winchester shotgun
and tore off half of his left hand
. . . Officers ot the Norfolk sugar
factory were in O’Neill and made
arrangements with the irrigation
company to put out 200 acres of
beets on the irrigated lands south
of the Elkhorn river . . . Mrs. S.
Smith enjoyed a visit from her
daughter, Mrs- Walrath (nee Coi
la intley), oi Atkinson. Miss Ne
vada Hall accompanied Mrs. Wal
rath.
25 Years Ago
Work is progressing rapidly on
the bridge across the Niobrara
river . . . Miss Margaret Sullivan
accompanied her father, Super
visor John Sullivan, to Omaha . ..
Mrs. R. H. Murray was called
to Sioux City by the serious ill
ness of her daughter, Mrs.
Dean Streeter. . . Harry Haffner
went to Omaha on business
. . . T. V. Golden went down
to his ranch at Ewing . . . Miss
Roberta Arbuthnot returned to
her studies at the state universi
ty.
10 Years Ago
C. E. Lundgren and Kerman
Rahn made a business trip to
Yankton, S. D. . . . Mr. and Mrs.
Paul Shierk went to St. Charles,
S. D., to visit Mrs. Shierk’s moth
er, Mfs- Marie Petranek . . . Alex
Cleary, of Atkinson, has accept
ed a position at the J. C. Penney
Store . . . About 100 of Holt coun
ty’s young manhood leaves Fri
day for induction in the army.
1 Year Ago
The J. M. McDonald company
store completed an interior dec
oration project . . . O’Neill fire
men were summoned at 3:05 p m.
to a grass fire at the Pete Peter
sen place in West O’Neill ... A
sign of spring: Charlie Cay wood,
goes fishing.
..DANCE..
AT O’NEILL
American Legion Auditorium
SATURDAY, APRIL 5TH
MUSIC BY
ACES OF RHYTHM
ORCHESTRA
Admission: Adults 75c, Students 50c
S dson's
Op iting...
* * ★
SNO-CREME
DRIVE-IN
West O’Neill
SATURDAY, APRIL 5TH
★ ★ ★
FREE CONES
for Kids and Adults
LIMIT: One Per Person
Open Daily
Noon to 11 P.M.
Sundays
10 A.M. to 11 P.M.
STUART HARTIGAN, Owner
' O @
1951 Narrative Report
of the
Holt County Soil Conservation District
Practice 1951 Todate
Tree planting-' 214 acres 1,109 acres
Woodland management - 167 acres 2,180 acres
Seeding of range_ 604 acres 4,487 acres
Seeding of permanent hay_ 205 acres 1,670 acres
Rotation of hay and pasture_911 acres 8,529 acres
Range properly stocked_7,156 acres 62,577 acres
Range improvement-9,207 acres 23,701 acres
Strip croping_ 777 acres 11,018 acres
Stubble mulching_1,903 acres 24,484 acres
Approved crop rotations — -3,230 acres 10,685 acres
Farm and Ranch Ponds---26 (Number) 63 (Number)
No. Acres No. Acres
Basic conservation plans- 27 13,584 363 224,369
Applications received -- 98 104,873 566 440,729
Active applications on file - 184 198,010
Cooperation with Other Agencies—
The U.S. Soil Conservation Service has worked hand in glove
with the local district activities. The local staff has done an efficient
job of getting sound conservation practices on the land and has
made a sincere effort to put first things first. However, with a work
load nearly double what they are able to accomplish not all of the
needs can be filled. We as a board feel that the local office would be
in a better position if two additional full time professional em
ployees could be added to the staff. ,
V/UUperauUil witil uic caicu&iuu aci vitu Held UCCU guuu. xii
the preparation of news releases, and special meetings or tours the
activities of the two agencies have been good. However, more must
be done in the future. Both the extension service and the local dis
trict must make more definite strides to work with groups interest
ed in doing conservation, and must in general increase the conser
vation education activities.
The fish and game commission has supplied fish for a number of
farmers’ and ranchers’ farm ponds this year and the wildlife area
plantings have continued.
The county supervisors continue to provide good office space
at a cost possibly below the cost of light, heat and janitor service.
Some of the county supervisors attended the drainage meeting held
at Stuart last November, and it appears that they will be willing to
cooperate on drainage problems where they are involved.
The directive of the secretary of agriculture to coordinate the
activities of the various branches of the department of agriculture
was given the test last year. This year it may work better because of
the experience gained and being able to set up the machinery dur
ing the winter months. However, it does not appear to be the an
swer to efficient spending of the tax money. It is our belief that
payments should at least be limited to only a few of the most im
portant permanent practices.
Government spending is continually growing with no apparent
end in sight. It may be of small consequence to the national budget,
but it seems a good move to make a start in the reduction of federal
expenditures. Perhaps if farmers and ranchers and their organiza
tions will unite in an effort to reduce these expenditures we will
have made a start in the right direction. Surely to see that this
money is spent where it will do the most good and bring back the
largest return is in the interest of every American citizen.
District Equipment—
In the early months of 1951 a 167D Clipper cleaner was purchased
and put into operation. It was too late to get a big run of grain
cleaning, but all of the grass seed harvested the prt/vious summer
and fall was cleaned. Some custom work on alfalfa, sweet clover
and brome grass was accomplished. ,
During the spring months five men (three with trucks) were
hired. Two crews of two men 4ach operated the tree planters and
one man with a truck took care of grass seeding.
During the summer the combine was operated—first on small
grain, later on crested wheat and vetch, and then on to the native
grasses, sand lovegrass, switchgrass and Indian grass. Although the
prospects for a large big bluestem crop looked good, it did not ma
ture and none was harvested
ucginmng oepiemuer 1, r. >5. oinwu was uueu as a j.u.1.1-tune
employee, serving as equipment manager. In this way someone Lj
always available to operate the cleaner. He will also be able to take
a considerable load of seed and tree handling off of the local staff,
keep machinery in good repair and in many ways better the quality
and efficiency of the district’s operations.
It has been the aim of this district to make equipment available
to cooperators that it is not profitable for individuals to own. For
example, the two tree planters planted over 200,000 trees on more
than 75 cooperators’ farms or ranches. Grass seeding equipment is
not available on many ranches, so the drill and seeder treader is
used exclusively to aid the grass seeding program. Realizing that
generally speaking each year enough grass seed was produced, but
not harvested, in Holt county to more than supply local needs, the
district purchased a combine in 1950. Then came the problem of
cleaning. The decision rested on a large mill so that custom cleaning
could help pay the cost of the mill and encourage the planting of
more uniform, weed-free grain, grass and legume seed.
The advantage of seeding clean seed is many fold. Seeding is
much less of a problem where there is no trash to contend with. The
rate of seeding can be determined more accurately. Where fertiliz
ers are used for increasing the yield, it is sheer folly to plant weed
infested seed. For more profit and pleasure cleaning is certainly a
worthwhile investment.
Did the government finance the purchase of this machinery?
No, not one cent of tax money was used. The district is purely a lo
cal, countywide organization. It receives no federal or state ap
propriations—it levies no taxes. The only federal funds used are for
the local staff—their equipment, pickups, survey instruments, office
supplies, etc. All this is provided by the U'.S. Soil Conservation Ser
vile in cooperation with the local district. In fact, the Holt Soil Con
servation District and the U.S. Soil Conservation Service are two
disinctly separate organizations. Yet, because they work so closely
together, they are spoken of and thought of as one and the same
thing by a large majority of the people.
Oh yes, the equipment—where did the money come from? From a
growing business—your Soil Conservation District. From the sale of
trees and seed and the rental of equipment. “Will the Holt district
expand to all phases of equipment for conservation farming?” Def
initely not! Especially where private contractors are filling the
need. Terracing equipment, dam building and, in most cases, drain
age equipment is available from private contractor sources. In near
ly every case the contractors are very willing to cooperate with the
local technicians in getting the job done right. These contractors
knew long ago that quality work meant larger demand for their
work.
’ Publicity—
The district is indebted to a lot of people for helping promote
the work of conservation farming and ranching. This report will be
carried in the third annual soil conservation edition of“The Fron
tier. In each edition The Frontier has featured the annual report
and carried a large amount of material on conservation in the area,
Also, every newspaper in the county has cooperated wholehearted
ly in the frequent articles prepared by the local staff and the coun
ty agent. Countywide coverage of the stories concerning the devel
opment of the conservation program has done much to acquaint the
townspeople as well as rural folk with the great need for conserv
| ing the soil and what is being done about it.
Operations Program—
The tree planting program reached an all-time high for Holt
county with over 200,000 trees planted. Of these 109,000 w'ere pur
chased from a private nursery, 44,450 from U.S. Soil Conservation
nurseries, 23,700 from Clarke-McNarv, 5,100 from the game com
mission and 10,000 cottonwoods were gathered locally.
No records were broken on the seeding program, but consider
ing the wet spring it was more than expected.
More farm and ranch ponds were built than in the last year,
but not as many as would have been had it not been so wet. Con
tractors were kept busy by road repair work much of the time,
which resulted in less dam building.
There was much interest in drainage and some projects were
completed. However, most of them involving a number of landown
i ers were unable to reach an agreement s0 that proper easements
| could be drawn up and the jobs completed. Considerable technical,
time was spent on drainage where the projects were not completed.
Zone technicians spent three days in the county looking over drain
age problems. The fourth day was spent by holding a public meet
ing in Stuart.
beverai more grass increase plots were seeded this year. Such
grasses as intermediate wheat, sand lovegrass, switchgrass and Indian
grass were seeded for seed producing purposes. Two cooperators,
M. G. French, of Page, and Jim Allyn, of Stuart, harvested their old
stands of certified switchgrass. A grass variety plot was established
on the R> an estate. It is located on the south side of highway 20, six
miles west of the Danceland corner. Plots of every kind of grass
seed available were planted last spring. The county agent assisted
with the establishment of the plot and started some fertilizer checks
on it. Additional fertilization will be made from year to year.
Recognition Programs—
Forty-three cooperators were entered in the Sioux City per
manent agriculture contest. Joe Wagman, of Atkinson; Frank Beel
aert, of Page, and E. J. Revell, of Star, wer selected to represent
the district in area competition. Wagman and Beelaert attended the
banquet in Sioux City the last of November.
Also in 1951 the Holt district won the Omaha World-Herald’s
award for the second time. In a new type of contest initiated by the
World-Herald in 1950, only districts that have won previous awards
were eligible. Competition was based on progress of the district. Al
though t.iis reflects supervisor activity, the large part of the credit
goes to the cooperators of the district and the many organizations
and individuals who have helped promote the local program.
A banquet was held at the American Legion club in O’Neill on
November 22 to celebrate the winning of the award. All of the pres
ent supervisors and their families as wrtl as all of the past super
visors and their families were present. W. W. Derrick was the fea
tured speaker of the evening. The World-Herald reprsentative, E. T.
McClanahan presented the chairman of the board with a bronze
plaque. The district did not receive a $500 award as was erroneous
ly stated in a local paper and in a World-Herald release.
lhe district is deeply appreciative of the award and wishes to |
take this opportunity to thank the World-Herald. Their program |
of recognition am districts in Nebraska and
southwestern Iowa has meant much more than the monetary value
of their awards. It has created a spirit of competitiveness among
districts and has been an outstanding means of telling the story of
conservation to countless numbers of people in the midwest. May
we say thanks for a job well done to you, the people of Holt coun
ty, for helping the district win the award, and to the World-Herald
for promoting so effectively a worthwhile venture?
Four supervisors attended the annual state conference in Lin
colnn during December. The other member had made arrangements
to go but because of illness was compelled to make a last minute
change of plans.
Technical Service—
With all the publicity that has been given “complete” soil con
servation plans a large majority of people contacting the techni
cians for the first time do so for one particular problem, such as tree
planting, grass seeding, drainage, dams, terraces, fertility problems,
etc. Most of them are surprised to find that for the most effective
use of any conservation practice it must be joined with all practices
applicable to their particular units and their ways of operation. How
ever, after complete plans are developed a majority realize the im
portance of the completeness of the program and strive to put it
into operation. Generally they find that many of the established
practices exemplify their good management and fit perfectly in
their overall plans of complete and sound soil and water conserva
tion.
We, as supervisors of the local district, sincerely believe in the
district program as a democratic means of uniting to combat the
forces cf erosion and apply the needed conservation measures to
make an even greater and more productive American agriculture.
Financial Statement—
Cash balance on hqpd_ 253.76
Equipment and real estate_ 5,505.07
Materials - 1,821.84
Bills receivable_' 200.16
Total/assets of district_ 7,780.83
Bills payable- 455.01
Net worth of district_ 7,325.82
Total receipts for year_ 11,850.50
Total expenditures for year_14,215.56
Golden Keys Boys
TO Erect Birdhouse —
The Golden Keys club met on
1 Friday, March 28. Jerry Schaaf
called the meeting to order. Roll
call was answered with our fav
orite newspaper. Next week we
will answer it with out favorite
; Indians.
Donna Perry gave a book re
port. Kathleen Grothe will give
j one next week.
The girls popped some popcorn
this week.
The boys are going to make a
birdhouse.
“Voice of The Frontier” WJAG
. . . thrice weekly, 9:45 a.m.
It’s Spring
House CleaningTime!
Springtime means a general
session of painting and pol
ishing throughout our state.
Homes are scrubbed inside
and out. Yards, gardens and
fences are prepared for
summer enjoyment. Spring
housecleaning is a good
American custom which en
hances the appearance of
our neighborhoods.
Housecleaning is not confin
ed to homes, either. Your
tavernman does a Spring
clean-up, paint-up job, too!
He takes pride in his place
of business.
Encouraged by the brewing
industry, your tavernman
endeavors to operate a neat,
attractive place where you
can relax in clean, whole
some surroundings.
This clean-up, paint-up,
maintenance drive is fur
ther evidence of the contin
uing educational program
carried on by the brewing
industry.
NEBRASKA DIVISION
United States
Brewers
Foundation
TlO^I^rs^NaPIJRanl^JtMje^^incolii 1
Pardon Me
but did you say, over
12,000,000* dollars?
■“ ■■■" ■ ' —
Yes, Sir! In fad, approximated 12,939,000*
dollars or, nearly thirteen million* dollars in bonds have
been retired by your Consumers Public Power District in
the relatively short period of its existence!
Your Consumers Public Power District is constantly
retiring its debt with funds derived solely from earnings!
1 hese earnings come from the sale of electric power on
rates that are among the loirest in the nation! Your
Consumers Public Power District, a taxpaving, seldsupporting
organization, receives not one cent in benefits from either
Federal. State or Local taxes!
includes Funds Reserved for Bond Retirement
Serving Nebraska Electrically — Economically!