Prairieland Talk . . .
Russian Kin Faring Badly
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS
LINCOLN—Met a man yesterday in front of
0 a large church and we fell to talking. The gen
tleman had a Bible under one arm, and this in
spired confidence. Learned something of what
has been going on in Russia since the reds took
over, he being a native Russian.
His father’s family came to this country long
enough ago so that after becoming a citizen he
started life in America as a homesteader in North
Dakota. Some of the family re
mained in Russia, among them
being a sister of my informant
and his grandmother. After the
communists took over the coun
try their once prosperous rela
tives were little by little reduc
ed to want.
Government brigands first
would take a chicken, then
come again and take more and
also some of the stock. When
there was nothing left but one
cow and five chickens his folks
thought they might be allowed Saunders
o to keep them but one day they were taken away.
The last letter my informant’s sister wrote
0 told them she had just four potatoes left and
when they were eaten starvation faced them. And
death by starvation was the fate of this man’s
people, along with others, under Bolshevism.
And this with enslavement is what the Mus
covites offer the world.
m m m
The 1953 number of The Scribe, edited by
the Writers club of Lincoln high school, devotes
two pages, 24 picas wide by 42 deep, to “The Fab
ulous Sandhills.” Beverly Buck is the author and
as you read you may fancy Beverly in the classic
halls of learning looking out of a window across
the jungle of buildings until her vision reaches
out to the farflung landscape where rises a grass
grown sandhill, where verdant valley reaches to
the flag-rimmed margin of a lake, perhaps hear
the thunderpumper’s salute to the morning sun
peeking through a distant cottonwood grove.
The founder of The Frontier wrote with a
gifted pen of “God’s Country.” Beverly Buck
calls the sandhills “God’s own cow country.” The
sandhills region comprises more than half of the
state, is the one area that suffers least in famine
seasons and, as Beverly Buck points out, very
few people leave the sandhills ranches when
once they are established.
“I find the most prominent characteristic is
love,” writes this former sandhiller. “There’s
love for life, work, people and country that is
unsurpassed anywhere by anyone. The extremes
the folks go to—to be neighborly—is amazing!
All you have to do to be accepted as part of this
feeling of love and security is to be yourself and
be humble. You are judged by what you are and
do, never by what you have and put on.”
* * •
In memory of iheir ancestors who were
fugitives from persecution, crossed the plains
and sought refuge in the Rocky mountains, in
turn became themselves persecutors, a Mor
mon bridge has been dedicated at Omaha, par
ticipated in by public officials of Nebraska and
Iowa and prominent Mormon churchmen.
Nebraskans can match most anything un
usual involving human skill and the grit to do
things. A 74-year-old woman running a newspa
per in a little town in eastern Michigan all by
her lonesome received attention in a full page of
pictures showing her at work in her print shop,
setting the type by hand, feeding a cylinder press
and the hundred other things connected with get
ting out an eight-page paper. We have a match
for you, sister, down here in Lincoln, except that
she does not edit a newspaper. Competent, inde
pendent as a hog on ice, and knowing the print
ing game, a Lincoln spinster operates a commer
cial printing business all alone and doubtless
more satisfactorily to herself and the few custom
ers than if organized with a lot of guys around.
• » •
Something like a half - century too late
there comes to Prairieland Talker a proposal to
take over a printing concern in Havana, Cuba,
that long narrow stretch of country some 200
miles below the lower tip of Florida, where
Henry Grady and Charley Harding and a lot of
other fellows from Holt county went back in
the 1890's to lick the Spaniards. Hardly worth
while now to start chasing after a fortune that
has thus far escaped toilworn hands. Besides, I
can salute no other flag but our own stars and
stripes. ^ #
* * *
In the United States a birth is recorded every
nine seconds, a death every 21 seconds; an immi
grant arrives every two minutes and one leaves
for other parts every seven minutes. The nation
al increase in population the past 20 years is put
at 22 percent. In the state of California, during
the same period, the increase is 86 percent.
* * *
A statement condemning drunkenness., and
misconduct on the part of some members of
diplomatic staffs in foreign service was promul
gated at a recent convention of the American
Baptists in Denver, Colo. The housecleaning in
Washington has accounted for something over
10,000. Maybe diplomatic circles will come next,
when the guys will be taken care of who went
abroad to go on a high lonesome.
* • •
II was "the law" in a certain eastern stale
that motorists must have a windshield wiper.
No legal provision had been made, however,
that the motorist have a windshield. Now that
has been corrected in a serious legal fashion
and the law provides for both the windshield
and the wiper. It is such monkey business that
cumbers the country with senseless laws.
• • *
Mr. Hoover of the FBI reports the crime
picture the worst in our history. And if it were
not enough to plunder the living depravity ac
counts for the heaping of insults on the memory'
of the dead. The smearing with paint of the fig
ure of Bryan which stands at the entrance of the
state capitol could be the work only of a deprav
ed and brainless fool.
* * •
No, a dollar won't do as much for us as it
used to. But then, as has been said, neither will
we do as much for a dollar as we used to.
Editorial . . .
‘He Changed Looks of Townf
“He was a fellow who changed the looks of ^
this town."’
Such was a comment uttered Friday as the
funeral procession wended through the streets
and the remains of Charles Sumner Downey, 65,
were taken to Prospect Hill cemetery for burial.
The late Mr. Downey, who entered the busi
ness field some 45 years ago in a most modest
way, developed the O’Neill Photo company into
one of O’Neill’s major industries. Magnitude of
the business is reflected in its staff ranging from
a minimum of 10 people to a maximum of 25. It
is further evident in the fact that the O’Neill
Photo company for years has been one of the
leading users of the U.S. mail service west of Om
aha on the main line of the Chicago & North
Western railroad.
The street-corner observer was not thinking
of the retail and wholesale photo operation,
which is unique in many ways. Instead, he was
thinking of the late Mr. Downey’s investments
and personal financing that helped to create O’
NeUl’s postwar building boom. No few of O’Neill’s
newest business buildings were personally fi
nanced by Mr. Downey during construction. The
same might be said for residential properties. In
addition, frequently he bought already-built and
invested in business and residential properties.
The photo business established Mr. Downey
and from then on he and Mrs. Downey were not
hesitant to loan money on sound construction
programs. And it was this Downey-backed activ
ity that prompted the observer to say:
“He was a fellow who changed the looks of
this town.”
Mr. Downey most certainly was progressive
in the conduct of his photo business and compet
ed successfully in Nebraska, South Dakota, Min
nesota and Wyoming. While he spent consider
able time on the road in pursuit of business, he
brought back to O’Neill many ideas and thoughts
gleaned from abroad and applied them at home
or else passed along the word for others to use
as they saw fit. He was a perpetual booster for
O’Neill and his firm name is a household word
in thousands of homes in the four-state area.
It’s a long way from a primitive frontier
home in northeast Holt county, where he was
born and where his father operated a stage line,
to the pinnacle of business success in a small
midwestern city, especially when you consider
the business operation expanded to be conducted
in several states.
With his own son and daughter reared and
gone out into the world, the late Mr. Downey and
his wife reared, educated and helped provide for
six nieces. This also is a singular tribute to a man.
We knew Mr. Downey quite well and we
think the street-comer patriot’s observation an
appropriate epitaph.
“He was a fellow who changed the looks of
this town.”
We note in the dailies an explosive - laden
truck smashed up, caught fire, and created quite
a stir in Scabbeth, Kans. Firemen were afraid to
go near the blaze and all kinds of complications
arose. We wonder if Nebraska wouldn’t do well
to restrict the transportation of TNT to rails.
Hundreds of trucks marked “explosives” have
passed through O’Neill thus far without a Scab
beth incident.
President Eisenhower says the crux of the
Korean truce is that the U.S. went into Korea
forcibly to stop aggression, not to impose a pol
itical unity of North and South Korea. Any way
you look at it, the U.S. bit off a costly bite and
the high-level talking and peacemaking doesn’t
compensate for the lives that have been lost or
ruined.
Whatever happened to the fabulous Hadacol?
►__ ___
Take Second-Look at Home
There’s not much evidence on the surface but
plans are progressing for the air force’s wind test
to be conducted here later this summer. The
Chamber of Commerce busily is arranging for
housing accommodations, some downtown office
space is being provided in the J. B. Ryan esta'e
building, formerly known as the Bazelman lum
ber yard, and in a few days a steel windmill
tower will rise on the wind test site, located five
miles northeast of the city.
The Chamber reports housing plans progress
ing satisfactorily. However, The Frontier this
week received a letter from the renowned scien
tist, Dr. Guenther Loeser, the German meteorolo
gist now engaged by the air force research cen
ter. He wants to bring to O’Neill his 14-year-old
son, Rudolph, and would like to share a furnish
ed home or large apartment (minimum of two
bedrooms) with two fellow scientists and his son.
The convergance of scientists, university
professors and scholars from the air force re
search center and from a dozen leading campuses
in the land may strain O’Neill’s housing facilities
—at least if facilities are made available compat
ible with the background of the visiting persons.
Please take a second-look around your house
and be prepared to proffer a room if the Cham
ber finds it necessary to sound an SOS. This isn't
anticipated at the present, but there’s an SOS
possibility, especially if many of the civilians
bring along their families.
Uniformed personnel, generally, will be com
ing from Offutt air base, Omaha, which is with
in reasonable commuting distance with their
families. This is in contrast to those coming from
the campus of California Institute of Technology,
University of Michigan or the Cambridge re
search center at Cambridge, Mass. Of course it
is natural for some of them to want to bring
along their families, especially in the case of for
eign scientists who want one or more of their
own to see the prairie.
Not all of the air .force research center’s field
trips are for an extended period of time. The first
of the test personnel are expected to arrive July
8, others July 14, and during the latter part of
July the bulk of the contingent will arrive. The
tests actually are to begin August 1. The univer
sity people, of course, expect to be back on their
home campuses in time for the start of the fall
school term in September.
Miss Alice L. French is the housing coordi
nator. Her telephone number is 224 and her office
(office of the county superintendent of public in
struction) is in the courthouse basement. Miss
French is performing the coordination work in
behalf of the Chamber of Commerce.
Editorial & Business Offices: 122 South Fourth St.
Address correspondence: Box 330, O’Neill, Nebr.
CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
Established in 1880—Published Each Thursday
Entered at the postoffice in O’Neill, Holt
county, Nebraska, as second-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; rates abroad, provided on request. All sub
scriptions are paid-in-advance.
Audited (ABC) Circulation—2,200 (Mar. 31, 1933).
Out of Oid Nebraska. . .
Applies U.S. Navy
Teachings to Roads
Late Senator Howell
Once Engineer
Robert Beacher Howell, who
served Nebraska in the U.S. sen
ate from 1923 until his death in
1933, was bom in Adrian, Mich.,
January 21, 1864. After attending
the public school in Adrian, he
was appointed to the U.S. naval
academy, from which institution
he graduated in 1885.
He moved to Omaha in 1888,
then went back to Michigan to
attend the Detroit school of law,
from which he graduated in 1893.
His subsequent career in Nebr
aska utilized both his background
and the engineering he acquired
in the naval academy.
Mr. Howell served as state en
gineer of Nebraska in 1895-‘96,
then went to Omaha to serve a
couple of years as the city engine
er. He served as a lieutenant in
the U.S. navy during the Spanish
American war, after which he
returned to Nebraska to take his
first active part in politics when
he ran successfully on the repub
lican ticket for the state senate.
He served one term in the
stale senate then became a
member of the board of direct
ors of the old Omaha water
board, later served in the same
capacity with the Metropolitan
Utilities district.
In Omaha affairs, Mr. Howell
probably is known for his fight
for public ownership of the city’s
utilities. As a state senator, he
fought for enactment of a law
compelling the Omaha council to
obey the mandate of the people
and buy the Omaha water plant
Of this phase of Mr. Howell’s
career Senator Norris once said,
“He became an outstanding fig
ure in the state of Nebraska in
favor of municipal ownership of
all public utilities. His reputation
in this respect was given great
consideration by the voters of
Nebraska and was one of the
material factors in his subsequent
nomination and election to the
U.S. senate.” Further activity in
politics came in 1912 when Mr.
Howell was elected republican
national committeeman for Nebr
aska, a post to which he was re
elected in 1916 and again in 1920.
He received the republican nom
ination for governor in 1914, but
was defeated by John H. More
head, his democratic opponent.
His next foray into politics as a
candidate for office came in 1922
when he was elected to the U.S.
senate, defeating Sen. Gilbert M.
Hitchcock. During the second de
cade of the twentieth century
Mr. Howell served as general
manager of the metropolitan util
ities district, a lieutenant in the
U.S. naival reserve and in 1921 as
chairman of the radio commission,
United States post office depart
ment.
During the senatorial contest
of 1922. Mr. Howell talked a
great deal about radio's future.
In this he seemed like some
thing of a visionary.
Senator Howell was re-elected
in 1928, over Richard L. Metcalf,
his democratic opponent. He had
an easier time of it in the general
electon than he did in the repub
lican primary, being contested for
the nomination in a close race,
by O. S. Spillman of Norfolk.
Senator Howell died in Walter
Reed hospital in Washington,
March 11, 1933. He was buried in
Forest Lawn cemetery, Omaha.
City School Supt. and Mrs. D.
E. Nelson and family went to
Boulder, Colo., Friday, where
Mr. Nelson will attend summer
school.
Stop Taking
Harsh Drugs for
Constipation
Avoid Intestinal Upset! Get Relief This
Gentle Vegetable Laxative Way!
For constipation, never take harsh drugs.
They cause brutal cramps and griping,
disrupt normal bowel action, make re
peated doses seem needed.
Get sure but gentle relief when you
are temporarily constipated. Take Dc.
Caldwell’s Senna Laxative contained in
Syrup Pepsin. No salts, no harsh drugs.
Dr. Caldwell’s contains an extract of
Senna, one of the finest natural vegetable
laxatives known to medicine.
Dr. Caldwell’s Senna Laxative tastes
good, gives gende, comfortable, satis
fying relief for every member of the
family. Helps you get “on schedule”
without repeated doses. Even relieves
stomach sourness that constipation
often brings.
Buy Dr. Caldwell's 30*f size today.
Money back if not satisfied. Mail bottle
to Box 280, New York 18, N. Y.
I SLIDE HAY
STACKERS
We have the original Slide
Stackers built by J. B. Sorey.
Can furnish with steel or
wood pulleys, cable or rope.
Other extra accessories in
clude cage, steel arm facings,
or steel shod runners.
Write:
Farmers Lumber &
Supply Company
Bassett, Nebraska
Or Phone 333, Collect
•
Miller Confers
with Eisenhower
Nebraska’s Fourth District
Congressman A. L. Miller of
Kimball last week had a con
ference with President Dwight
Eisenhower.
Writes Congressman Miller:
“My conference with the pres
ident was very gratifying.
“I sincerely feel it will bear
fruit. I was quite honored since
the president allowed, in fact
insisted, that I stay longer than
my a 11 o t e d time to more
thoroughly discuss the various
problems which have come or
will come before my committee—
interior and insular affairs—
during the 83rd congress.
“It appears that irrigation and
and reclamation will prosper
under this administration, since
the president instructed me
to ask Secretary McKay to bring
up the question of “no new
starts” in irrigation at the cab
inet meeting. He showed much
concern over the last adminis
tration’s order which had forbid
den any “new starts” in the U.S.
and realized that if this policy
were to be continued, irrigation
would be strangled and stopped
in its tracks.
“The future looks very bright.
“I took the liberty of inviting
the president to western Nebr
aska this fall to do a little pheas
ant, duck hunting—pointing out
there’s “no place like Nebraska”
when it comes to good hunting.
I gave a little free medical advice
and told him he would be need
ing some complete relaxation
and advised him of the wonder
ful fresh air he would get Nebr
aska.
“Much to my surprise, the
president said that he remember
ed back in 1919 he was in Kim
ball on a hunting trip and stay
ed the old Wheat Grower’s hotel.
The hospitable people must have
made a good impression, because
he said he would return.”
ROYAL THEATER
Thurs. June 18
Mario Lanza sings again in
BECAUSE YOU'RE MINE
Color by technicolor. Musical
introducing Doretta Morrow
with James Whitmore. America’s
singing’s singing idol . . . sing
ing the love songs of today
Family night $1.00; adult 50c;
children 12c; tax incl.
Fri.-Sai. June 19-20
Big Double Bill
Routing Voodoo vengeance!
VOODOO TIGER
Johnny Weisemuller as Jungle
Jim with Jean Bryon, James
Seay, Jeanne Dean and Tamba.
— also —
WINNING OF THE WEST
Adult 50c; children 12c; tax incl.
Matinee Sat. 2:30. Children un
der 12 free when accompanied
by parent.
Sun.-Mon.-Tues. June 21-22-23
Ethel Merman, Donald O’Connor,
Ve^-Ellen, George Sanders, in
Irving Berlin’s
CALL ME MADAM
Color by technicolor. The most
glittering banquet of entertain
ment the screen has ever pre
sented.
Adult 50c; children 12c; tax incl.
Matinee Sun. 2:30. Children un
der 12 free when accompanied
by parents.
Price was selected from the
O’Neill chapter on the basis of
his farming program, scholas
tic standing and his leadership
abilities. While taking voca
tional agriculture, he has had
both dairy and beef cattle in
his farming program. He has
recently gone into partnership
with his father in purchasing
and managing a 149-acre farm.
Attending the 25th annual
convention with Price were
Dwayne Devall, Bob Sanders,
Russell Closson and their in
structor, C. H. Stone. Closson
was promoted to the “state
farmer” degree last year.
Venetian blinds, prompt deliv
ery, made to measure, metal or
wood, all colors.—J. M. McDon
ald's.
DRS. BROWN &
FRENCH
Eyes Tested—Glasses Fitted t
Broken Lens Replaced in !
24 Hours
Other Repairs While Toa *
Wail |
Complete X-Ray
Wins State Degree
Eddie Price (above), son of
Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Price of
O’Neill, was promoted to the
“state farmer” degree of the
Future Farmers of America
organization at Kearney, June
4. This honor is bestowed to
only two percent of the FFA
members in the United States.
I
She knew only one word—
and that was wrong
The woman with the frightened eyes sat across from
Father Flannery desperately trying to tell her story in
sign language.
She was a DP, escaped from behind the Iron
Curtain. Now in a midwest city, she was seeking her
only living relative—a daughter attending a Texas
university on a scholarship.
Bad luck had carried her hundreds of miles the
wrong way—for all she knew of America was a street
address and one English word, the name of a city
which in her clouded accent sounded like “Houston”.
To Long Distance Operator Joan Gray, Father
Flannery explained the problem. Sorry, she reported, :
there was no such street address in Houston. Dis- j
mayed, the priest was about to put the phone down.
But Joan Gray was thinking fast . . .
“Suppose we try Austin,” she suggested, “the names
sound somewhat alike.” And Austin it was! Soon a
joyous mother was reunited with her daughter.
The story above is true, but names have been changed
to protect the privacy of the people in it. Resourceful \
Joan Gray might be an operator in your town—for ,
this is but one example of the helpful spirit of the men
and women behind your telephone service.
To attract and hold good people like Joan Gray, to
train them well and provide them with good equip
ment, your telephone company must have reasonable
rates for service. We must stay financially sound to
continue to bring valuable telephone service to every
one who needs it ... to continue to make your tele
phone worth more than it costs.
Do you know a true telephone story
like this? Send it to Northwestern Bell
Telephone Co., Omaha, Nebraska.
Northwestern Bell Telephone Company
The insiders”call it^j||
the buy of the year! ^p
This great new medium-priced line
is making the kind of news you like to read: "a truly big car
that even 'lowest-price’ buyers find interesting.”
famous the world over for power
and ruggedness.
Visit your Packard dealer soon
and see for yourself why people who
know motorcar values best call the
CLIPPER "the buy” of the year.
•
l
k
In addition to the Clipper, PACKARD
is budding today a car so beautiful and
that it is applauded, everywhere as
"America's new choice in fine cars."
Ask the man who owns one—today!
—_ N-93-DT
Maybe you're a confirmed "lowest
price” car buyer, but are be
ginning to wonder whether you
couldn’t use a little more automo
bile on today’s crowded, high-speed
highways. We’d especially like to
have you see and drive the new
CLIPPER.
For, if you’ll think a minute,
you’ll realize that with a dolled-up
"lowest-priced” car you’re really in
the medium-price field anyway, or
close to it. And you’ve still got,
basically, a smaller, lighter car, with
no chance of adding the BIG Im
portant Three of today’s driving:
power steering, power braking and
power shifting ... all of which are
available to CLIPPER owners.
Every inch your big-car dream!
That 122-inch CLIPPER wheel
base and overall length of 213 inches
is Big Car! Yet the CLIPPER is
perfectly parkable in metered spots
and tight spaces. And on the road
it’s a dream!
Power? Ever since you took your
first jalopy to your heart, you’ve
heard that Packard engines are
FOREE TIRE & SUPPLY CO.
126 W. DOUGLAS O’NEILL, NEBR.
