Prairieland Talk . . .
O ° O o •
Scattering Smiles, Sunshine Pays
By RO MAINE SAUNDERS. Retired. Former Frontier Editor
LINCOLN—It costs ^nlyca penny for a bit of
candy to make a little child happy. Toss a puppy
a scrap of your leftover dinner—he wiggles all
over with puppy gratitudes
Out of work, out °of money, homeless and,
as he thought, friendlesscin a strange place, a man
° of clean countenance sat in a
W ^ Q |
railroad station where I oawait
ed the arrival of a midnight
train. He planned spend the
night there away from the out
side winter cold. He had no
O U o
money. What would the morn
ing bring? Handed sufficient
funds to o supplyo his hunger
needs his eye lighted with the
flame of gratitude voice could
not express. You fitay hand a _ _
o hungry man a crust cof bread
° but nothing fbvives hofje, in-L
o spires to trenevled effort like the 11,1 n
feel cof real cas^. A new {fair Pf shoes brought a
o thrill of jjtappiness to the onfe receiving them and
to the giver. A cup of cgld water brought to a
mother whose; crying child in her arms was thus
°soon put to sleep.0Ail of which costs a little in ef
fort and money — but so little! Then “scatter
smiles and sunshine all along -your way; cheer
and brighten every passing day!” 0
O O'-'
, „ • * •
o In the election of November, 1902, M. P. Kin
c kaid of, O’Neill was elected a member of congress,
the first republican to be elected-in the Sixth Ne
braska congressional district, now the Fourth. . ,
Jack Meals0 was shaping his affairs to move his
ofarhily-to; Valdez, Alaska. .°. -At a 6 o’clock cere
mony the morning of November 19, 1902, Gjeorgg
Shoemaker and Miss Nellie Joyce were married
by Rev. M. F. Cassidy. . .^Another wedding was
o that on0November 25 that year when Harvey
Stocking and Miss Kittie Bright were married,
the ceremony taking place at the home of Miss
Bright’s brother, C6 L. Bright, a minister from
c Norfolk officiating. , . Mr. and Mrs. T. F. Birm
ingham and Mr and Mrs. D. Clem Deaver formed
a group of O'Neill citizens who went to Neligh
to spend the day with the B. J. Ryans, formerly
cot QlNeill. . . December 17, that year, two of O’
Neill's prominent housewives died, Mrs. M. M.
Sullivan, wife of a prominent merchant, and Mrs.
G- W. Smith, wife o^the Short Line agent.
School dismissed and0 district court adjourned for
the funerals. °
o ° 0 * * *
O
A home and family life are not for the pa
triot who has been drawn into the army. And
home and family life are- the American's her
itage because of those who left home and fam
ily life to fight to establish a nation of free
people.
o
It may be aQcase of “must,” but is it neces- I
sary or merely one man’so iglea who desires to
desires to exercise his authority? The streets of
O’Neill were wide enough for the array of cover
ed wagons, for the burkuf horses plunging high,
wide and nandsome and the clutter of automo
biles and trucks racing through town. That re
routing highways has anything to-do with reduc
ing highway^ accidents is questionable. If the
changes suggested for O'Neill are made, who
pays all the ex'pensei? thus involved—the hapless
property owner? The streets of O’Neill are much
wider than the strgets found at Grand Island and
oother cities through which many overland bus
es aqd much heavy traffic moves and which are
ample £pr present gay needs.
It was immediately following the world trag
edy occasioned by the ambitions of Kaiser Wil
helm that frightening tales were circulated warn
ing us of deadly things science had introduced
to wipe out the earth’s living. We are still here.
Now it’s the H-bomb that’s going to do it. Val
Peterson of the civil defense office is going to
exhibit pictures of what the latest cargo of de
struction can do, not to frighten but to inform.
And being informed, if you are of normal human
makeup you are also frightened. A mob may wipe
out any city any minute, is the warning. If so,
you can’t do a thing about it when blown to
atoms. Ancient Ninevah had 40 days warning
that a celestial bomb would fall on that great
city if the inhabitants did not mend their v/ays.
The mayor of the city started a reform movement
and Jonah was disappointed that the Ninevehites
were spared. Not that Val would be disappointed
if neither an enemy nor a bungling patriot get
around to blow up some of us.
* * *
The GOP in Nebraska will probably nei
ther gain nor lose prestige as a result of bring
ing that fighting Irishman from Wisconsin,
Senator Joe McCarthy, into the state for the
preprimary keynoter. But he will at least be
entertaining as he has not only the gift of gab
bu tan originality that sets him apart from the
mill run of political spellbinders.
* * *
March slunk away leaving a bit of melting
snow, in came April on a big blow, the sun
marked off the hours in flaming grandeur and
tints the west at eventide with a flash of gold of
departed day. With the gathering shadows the
wind goes to rest. April is on its way down the
pathway of time and introduces to prairieland
another season of wind and rain necessary to the
fulfillment of human hopes forever anchored to
the soil. Wind and sunshine and showers wipe
away the picture drawn by winter’s frosts upon
the window pane and bring to life another sea
son’s flowing robes of green and crowns of gold.
And so in our lives, the winds of adversity blow
away the dust of time and the shqwers of count
less blessings wash away life’s shadows and let
the sunshine in, so at the dawn of each new dav
you awaken to get out and do your stuff for an
other eight hours.
± ± *
Whether Gov. Robert Crosby’s varied taxa
tion proposals would be any improvement over
the present setup is anybody’s guess. What we
have today is certainly no advance step from the
old way of precinct assessors going the rounds
from citizen to citizen and listing the property,
which for the most part meant an honest return
of goods and chattels. But this is a day of big
ideas and we will have something to chew the
rag about.
* * *
Governor Crosby is kept busy explaining
his “taxable” ideas. It is something like 50 years
ago Governor Savage was busy explaining why
he paroled Joe Bartley, judicially assigned to the
pen because of a half-million dollar shortage as
state treasurer.
* * *
The county attorney of Lancaster county
joins the chorus of those who think the world's
problems can be settled by a special session of
the legislature.
* * »
It is harder to be poor without complain
ing than to be rich without boasting.—Chinese
Proverb.
c Editorial0 . .Q. 0 [
*e & • -More of the Same?
° n o
Inauguration a few months ago of 12 stra
tegically located truck weighing stations on the
Nebraska highway system is producing some in
teresting:: reaptipns0 ° o
Tlje stations, are doing 'aolandoffice business
and the penalty money is pouringjfhto school cof
fees in “ the counties in which the stations are
o located. On any given day the Nebraska highway
patrol elects0 to open a weighing station, all
truck traffic on the routes on which the station
is situated is obligated to stop for weight check
o o
For years the behemoths of the highway
have been getting away with Gmurder,0 overload
ing their outfits to the hilt. (The Nebraska leg
islature has ordered a^ “g-et tough” policy and the
carrier^, guilty of overloading are0,being nabbed
right-and-left and frequently are ordered to re
duce their: cargo before proceeding. o
Some of tt}£ national truck lines vary in their
approach to the° problem when their drivers are
detained. In one instance a roving peacemaker
comes along periodically, °graciously pays the
accumulated fines and costs and moves to the
next county^ in which his°boys have been: in
weight station trouble. On the other hand, an
other national concern turns out a ream of gob
bledeegook °with the idea their legal beagles will
wear down the hick county officers and charges
will be dropped. One truck line operating
o through O’Neill has had on^ of its drivers found
guilty of overloading 0six times at the station
located east of Inman at the iunction of TT s
highways 20 and 275% o
° ° The weighing1 stations are ° c distributed
0 throughout Nebraska without particular regard
% to population but with the interception idea in
O - mind, making it difficult for ^ny truck driver to
wilfully bypass a check point while a weighing
o seige is in progress. 0
(Of course, oncoming drivers osometimes’get
signals from°others who have been through the
mill. The oncoming guy thereupon pulls off to
the side of the road for a snooze or s\yeats it out
in a town for the duration, resuming his trip a
few hours behind schedule. And, occasionally,
patrolmen are not outfoxed by this and simpiy
wprk overtime to finish the job.)
But the real point we wish to make is this:
Counties (like Holt) are now enjoying an advant
age over counties without stations (there are 81
in the latter category). As we’ve stated before,
the big portion of the fines collected goes to the
schools in thp counties in which the charges are
pressed. Already a substantial sum has found
its way into Holt county schools—perhaps $5,000.
Many persons and3 some state legislators are
now aware of this situation and already are lick
ing their; chops and devising ways and means of
a more equitable distribution of weighing, station
spoils. North-central ar.d western Nebraska 'peo
ple, who have been close to the school land lease
issue for years are not shedding tears for eastern
Nebraskans, who all of a sudden are squawking
for weight station revenue. Eastern Nebraska
school land long since has been sold and placed
on the local tax rolls. In the north-central ando
c <
. I
\
western portions of the state, where most school
land is located, lease rentals have gone sky high
and schools throughout the state benefit propor
tionately. Many lessees wouldn’t resent the rough
rental treatment of recent years if the moneys
were spent locally—in the county.
Comes now the order to liberate a half-hun
dred or more patrolmen from desk jobs and
weighing scales and put them on the highways
to crack down on speeders and other traffic of
fenders. They are to be replaced in the admin
istrative work by non-uniformed employees,
whose pay will come from the state highway de
partment’s budget. Or stated another way, pay
for the 63 new employees will be subtracted from
new highway construction projects.
Howsoever noble and well-intended are Gov.
Robert Crosby’s desires to cut highway injuries
and deaths by liberating a half-hundred or more
patrolmen, we wonder if it isn’t a mistake. It
apparently makes no difference how many pa
trolmen there are—they seldom arrest the driver
of a highway boxcar for speeding. We can’t recall
when last a big bruiser was arrested and fined
for speeding in these parts, and neither could a
court official with whom we checked. In visiting
with other newspaper men we find that, strange
ly enough, very few big boys are hailed into
court for speeding in other sections of the state,
and it takes only 30 minutes or less to find two
or three of them pounding the roads at unlawful
rates of speed, inflicting tremendous punishment
of the roadbed and compounding the risks of the
open road.
The legislature authorized the weighing sta
tions to defeat an overload abuse that had been
generally practiced for years. We’d like to ask
Governor Crosby if the half-hundred or more
liberated patrolmen are going to give us more
of the same or if they are really going to crack
down on the big boys as well as the passenger car
operators?
Your temper is one of the few things that
improves the longer you keep it.
3 o
iSigE FrontTer
CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
Editorial & Business Offices: 122 South Fourth St.
Address correspondence: Box 330, O’Neill, NeLr
Established in 1380—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, 187a. 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 paiti-in-advanee.
Audited (ABC) Circulation—2,258 (Sept. 30, 1953)
)
O
When You and I Were Young...
Gets Idaho Post
at $60 Per Month
©
Lillie Galleher Is
Leaving Stuart
SO Years Ago
For want of a better place to
go, Dan Cashman returned to
O’Neill after extensive travel
ing pver the United States. . .
A new soda fountain has been
installed at the Gilligan & Stout
drug store. . . Miss Lillie Galle
her will resign from her teach
ing position in Stuart to go to
the Cour d’ Alene public scho^'S
at a salary of $60 per month.
20 Years Ago
A furnace explosion in the
Scott building caused property
damage estimated at close to
$1,000. . . Six inches of snow
blanketed O’Neill the latter part
cf the week with more on the
way, according to predictions of
the weatherman. . . C. E. Melena
began work on Mrs. Margaret
Clauson’s beauty shop building.
. F. M. Reese of Valentine ar
rived in O’Neill to assume the
duties of agriculture agent, a po
sition made vacant by the resig
nation of James W. Rooney.
10 Years Ago
Margaret Hammond, daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Ham
mond, and Lt. W. H. Bowker of
Neligh were married at St.
John’s Catholic church in Om
ana. . . Constance Golden left
for Hunter college, N.Y., to begin
her training in the WAVES. .. .
A former O’Neillite, Gerald
Cress, is campaigning for city
councilman in Denver, Colo.
One Year Ago
The air force research center
has selected a location north and
east of O’Neill for the site of
the largest and most exhaustive
wind research field tests ever at
tempted in meteorological his
tory. . . Miss Carolyn Watson
will be presented in a recital
by Mrs. Charles B. Houser at the
St. Mary’s auditorium. . . The
junior American Legion auxil
iary held an Easter egg hunt in
the American Legion auditori
um. Fourteen children w’ere
■esent. . . George Hammond,
“Voice of The Frontier” an
ouncer, preached for two min
utes on sane and safe driving
ver the Easter holiday—a re
sult of a hair raising trip from
Sioux City to O’Neill made by
the Hammond family. “Many
travelers depend upon the sane
ness of others for tneir own safe
ty on the highways.”
'Dish Washing*
to Be Demonstrated—
The Evergreen 4-H club held
its sixth meeting with all but
one member present. At the
session, Pat Wabs and Anita
Doty demonstrated setting the
table and serving a meal. Shar
on True demonstrated how to
make a potholder. Other mem
bers judged potholders made by
older members.
The next meeting will be Ap
ril 20 with roll call a safety slo
gan and a picture to match the
slogan. A shoulder cover or
laundiy bag is to be made by
the older members for the meet
ing.^_
Mike Wabs and Shirley Stor
johann will demonstrate how to
make a shoulder cover. Susan
Margiitz and Linda Storjohann
will demonstrate how to wash
dishes. — By Bonna Margritz,
news reporter.
Nifty Needlers Gel
Record Books—
A demonstration on plain muf
fins was given by Connie Riege
in the presence of the Nifty
Needlers 4-H club. Mrs. J. O.
Balantyne and Faye Irene were
hostesses to the girls Monday,
March 22.
Record books and project les
sons were given to the members.
Marlene Frahm and Diane
Cork were guests of the girls.
Diane decided to join the club.
Songs led by Donna and Janis
Crumly opened the meeting.
Games were led by Faye Irene
Ballantyne. A lunch of jell c,
cake and cocoa was served.—By
Connie Riege, news reporter.
To Minnesota—
Rev. and Mrs. Wayne A. Hall
departed Monday f o r Blue
Earth, Minn., where they will
visit his parents, Mr. and Mrs,
John Hall, formerly of O’Neill.
DR. H. L. BENNETT
VETERINARIAN
Phones 316 and 304
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— O'NEILL —
L. G. GILLESPIE
AGENCY
Established in 1893
_ ^
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SUPERB-Thick Rich JW
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TOMATOES »».19c
CARROTS.2519c
HEAD LETTUCE Large head .. .15c
COBBLER OR PONTIAC
POTATO SEED SETS tal»«..1J9
SELECT AND CERTIFIED SEED POTATOES
FROZEN FOODS
ADAMS BOOTH'S TASTYIXHH
ORANGE JUICE NORTHERN PIKE
2 £ 23c FILLETS £ 39c
A Meaitima
V. S. GOOD BEEF f*
RIB STEAKS- 53 -
D. S. GOOD BEEF Af*
SIRLOIN STEAKS-. 65
U. S. GOOD BEEF O gk ft*
ROUND STEAKS- ■ 69 ..
SLICED DRIED BEEF OC< L'
Swift’s Premium, V4-lb. pteg.w Ar
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Skinless Dinner Site. Lb. w¥
RING BOLOGNA 0 OQ* o
Country Style. Coarse Ground. Lb..ww^P
Brookfield PORK SAUSAGE AC*
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* * ; • - ;■( .? . u
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