Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1954)
Prairieland Talk . . . Washington Tempo a Killer By ROMAINE SAUNDERS. Retired. Former Frontier Editor LINCOLN—Governor Crosby has made two appointments to fill vacancies because of the death of both U.S. senators from Nebraska, and his predecessor made one such appointment, three called by death within three years. A striking similarity in the death of each. During visits to Washington the engineer of this department thought it would be a killer to live there and each time felt impelled to get back to prairieland. The long list of names to appear on the primary ballot under “United States sen ator — vote for one,” discloses that there are many Nebraska patriots ready for the sacrifice. The possibility of entering the contest — perish the thought— for the two-months’ term sug- _ gested itself to me, more or less Romaine an idler at home, as it seemed a pity to take worthwhile citizens Saunders who are needed at home out of circulation and send such a one to Washington. * * • Fire that destroyed the house and everything in it two miles south of Emmet a day in August, 1901, left the John Maring family without a place to lay their heads. A guest who had been visit ing the family, Miss Atkinson, sustained the loss of $54 in money, a gold watch and some other things. The family was away and the origin oi the fire was not known. . The First National bank people that summer opened a bank in In man. . . The 3-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Walt O’Malley sustained more of a fright than serious iniury when he tumbled off a wagon. . . Modem trends in O’Neill that year: Con Reka got an auto mobile, and John Weeks promoted telephone in troduction into the community. . . Jim Triggs and Sherd Simmons went to Rosebud, S.D., to work on a large church being built there, maybe the only church relationship for either. * * * O'Neill has been a focal point for a few shooting scrapes, a Barret Scott lynching, po litical scraps and after-election knock-downs. Little Arctic, wind and atmosphere experiments and favored as the only spot where a total eclipse of the sun could be witnessed in the Twentieth century. * » * A 5-year-old lad came across the street pull ing his wagon. But the concrete pavement ended at the curb. That meant difficulty. But the engi neering ability to overcome difficulties shows up early in the young. The little fellow rolled the front wheels over the curb by simply pulling on the hand-grip. Then he went to the back of the wagon, raised it up and gave a push. He was over the hump with his load. There are humps along life’s highway to be surmounted. These are the things that build human character and develop fortitude. The difficulties of life are overcome, as the little boy solved the problem of getting his wagon over the hump. * * * Another of the pioneers who had to do with educational interests of O’Neill and county schools has gone the way of all the earth. Mrs. Grace Shanner died July 6 in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Shanner was the widow of the late L. T. Shanner, an early day merchant of Inman, a state senator in the ’90’s, and an uncle of Paul and Luther Shanner of Page. Mrs. Shanner, a sister of mine, may be remembered by a few in O’Neill, now greying at the temples, who were her pupils in the public schools in the long ago. * * * The day was hot. The downtown business street was thronged with "special sale" shop pers hurrying to bargain counters. A little black dog lay down in the shade on the sidewalk clat tering to the tramp of hurrying feet, laid his head between outstretched paws and went to sleep._ Through a recent government move to stimu late industrial activity, the federal reserve has cut the bank reserve requirements. This is ex pected to make money available for loans here tofore held in reserve funds and also have the ef fect of reducing interest rates and stimulate building and other industry generally. Behind all the speculation as to ultimate results lurks a big IF. More homes built and a flood of mortgages to be registered. The one-room “love nest” free of debt of a vanishing generation no longer suf fices. Tobacco men of the department of agricul ture in Washington are reported disclosing a slump in the industry following the harmful pro nouncemetns of medical science. The farm end of the tobacco business is a one-billion-dollar indus try and the factory and marketing end reap a harvest of five billion, according to government reports. * * * All is hushed; not a leaf quivers. The day has been hot, night will be hot. Merciless heat hung over the city as the sun, now disappearing, trav eled the highway of centuries once more across , the unclouded blue above prairieland. We have sweat it out another day. Out in the gloaming sings a lone katydid. Those wise to the ways of the weather have said that frost comes down the walk of time within six weeks following the katydid’s first serenade. The weather bureau at the nation’s capital warns us that July is to be hot and dry throughout the Great Plains region. And July is the season of vacation trips. Will it be Long Pine canyon, Chadron park, a Rocky mountain resort or a cooling sea breeze as you stand at the ocean’s shoreline watching the breakers wash the sand at your feet? Probably neither. * * • The public purse is constantly raided witty those creating it having nothing to say about the raids. A young outlaw is confined in the Nebras ka penitentiary for crimes committed and now added to his criminal career he has been charged with killing a penitentiary worker. In step the “psychiatric experts” and pronounce the young devil “mentally ill,” and collect a fee for saying what any sensible person already knew. Mentally ill is a nice way to gloss over the spawns of hell who defy the laws of God and man. Mentally ill indeed! The criminal is a crazy, vicious specimen of mankind, by deliberate choice flouting moral values and honorable life in organized society. The recourse to “mentally ill” is coddling all too many desperados. * * * Have Nebraskans no concern any more over national and public affairs? No community puts on an independence day program worth going two blocks to attend and candidates are discover ing indifference as to who is elected. One candi date for the nomination for U S. senator drew a gathering of 10 patriots at one stop to listen to his talk and 12 turned up in another town. Maybe the little interest shown indicates citi zens are satisfied with the federal and state af fairs as now carried on. An earlier generation put on the “grand Fourth of July celebration” and if a political speech was given the “town hall” could scarcely accommodate the crowds. A political spellbinder drew a crowd like Billy Graham con fronts. * * * The 1954 Nebraska wheat crop got started to market in late June and the lucky guy with a few carloads was enriched a fraction over $2.15 a bushel, which probably means two bits for a dime loaf is to continue indefinitely. Federal price supports place a gold crown on the wheat farm er and place a burden on the community laboring man toiling to feed his family. Editorial . . . Buffet Gets Cold Shoulder Three times during the past three years -death has created vacancies among Nebraska’s U.S. senators. Each time the powers that be over looked an outstanding candidate for the job in se lecting a replacement. We are referring to Former Congressman Howard Buffett of Omaha. The senators who died in office, in order, were Kenneth S. Wherry, Dwight Griswold and Hugh Butler. Certainly Wherry and Butler were the epitome of conservatism and both were ex tremely popular among Nebraska republicans. It would be reasonable that Buffett, who served several terms in the house of representatives, would be a logical successor because he, also, wears the conservative label and is spokesman for the right wing of the party. Buffett is an invest ment banker in Omaha and bas yearned for the seat in the upper house, yet he was never willing to oppose Butler at the polls. Buffett also is much younger. Nebraska politics have several curious as pects. The rule of thumb is that one U.S. senator should come from Omaha or Lincoln, the other from outstate. Hence, when Wherry died an out stater was appointed; when Griswold died an out stater was called upon to fill the vacancy; when Butler died an Omahan—Sam Reynolds—got the interim nod. Likewise, Roman Hruska, presently a congressman from Omaha, received the bless ings from the state GOP bigwigs to land his name on the primary ballot next month. Butler’s term had four years to go. The law provides an appointment shall be made by the governor to serve until the next regular election. That is why Reynolds got the interim nod and is already seated. Hruska is pulling out of the house (where he is a freshman) to be the GOP nominee, and James A. Green, Omaha attorney, becomes the demo nominee, also by delegate vote. Why Buffett should be given the cold shoul der by the GOP leaders is more than we can understand. Hruska, while an extremely fine fellow, hardly has proved himself on capitol hill. Buffett knows his way around that place and knows well his history lessons, too. He’s been a keen student of national and international affairs and would give Nebraskans the kind of representation Ne braskans traditionally want. Our guess is that Buffett will be heard from in due course and one dav will be in the U.S. sen ate. Kids splashing in the new swimming pool gladden the hearts of any adult visiting the scene. The pool is a great asset to our city and its value will be appreciated increasingly as time goes on. Gone, but Not Forgotten The Reconstruction Finance corporation, a “temporary” government agency created 22 years ago, officially has expired: It has been like killing the cat with nine lives to get rid of this outworn institution. It was set up to bail out banks and railroads at the start of the great depression. First thing we knew, it was a big banker, lending money right and left, to alphabet agencies in the gov ernment and comers of all kinds. When the war came along, it speedily was converted into a war agency, and made bigger. After the war, it went merrily along dishing out loans to snake farms, gambling joints and what not. Pretty soon it was swamped in scandals — mink coats, free vacations and other favors for its officials; bad deals for the taxpayers. In the windup, the RFC claims a net profit of $647,000,000. But there were some fancy losses— such as the $30,000,000 Lustron deal in prefab ricated houses. Now that the RFC is more dr less dead (some of its functions simply are being shifted else where) perhaps the president and congress can go to work on some of the other “business” agencies which are spread all around Washington. A headline in the current issue of Collier’s magazine suggests the United Nations organiza tion is dying. Maybe it should. No nation in all history has grabbed more pjeople, land and natural resources than has Russia on the floors of the UN assembly. LFrontier CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher Editorial & Business Offices: 122 South Fourth St. Address correspondence: Box 330, O’Neill, Nebr. Established in 1880—Published Each Thursday Entered at the postofficp 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, $2.5G 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—2,335 (Mar. 31, 1954) News, Views and Gossip BY THE EDITOR Reunion with Davey I found him stretched out on a sofa on the 30th floor of the Time & Life building. He was reading a pocket-size novel. It was mid-afternoon on Saturday —day before the Fourth of July. Most of the desks in the ed itorial offices of Life magazine were deserted and most of the desks compared favorably in terms of tidiness with the work bench of a weekly newspaper editor. His secretary was busy with her nails and contemplating the long weekend—perhaps an out ing on Cape Cod. I marched in and extended my hand. “How the hell are you, Cal’” quizzed the little bespectacled man, fatter and balder than when I knew him during our World War II days together in England. “Have you looked up Tex?” he asked in a quick succession of questions. These from a little guy I had sought out in the lofty office suite oyerlooking the East river in New York City. “No,” I responded, “and I wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to hunt. David E. Scherman was re ferring to Tex McCrary, radio and television star whose claim to fame, among other things, is being a top flight showman and also being the husband of Jinx Falkenberg. “Guess you know Dugan hit the jackpot,” Scherman mused. “He scooped up 60-thousand bucks from the book-of-the month people and took off for Europe. “Jimmy was at the bottom of the barrel and I’m glad he hit. His book, ’The Great Iron Ship,’ is going great and I guess Jimmy has made a fortune.” (Dugan’s book appeared in condensed form in the February issue of The Reader’s Digest. It’s an unusual story of a rare mon ster of the seas—the Great East ern.) The four of us worked to gether during the early stages of World War II on Eighth air force publicity projects under the heading of public relations. McCrary was a captain. lie had received preferential treat ment from Gen. Hap Arnold. As chief editorial writer for Hearst’s New York Mirror, McCrary used to point out defects in the U.S. air force and the strong fea tures of the British and German air forces. Those were the days immediately prior to World War II. When the U.S. got into the war and Arnold thought he need ed someone to make the folks back home conscious of the Eighth, operating with a skeleton force from England, he hired McCrary and put captain bars cn him. Scherman was a war corre ! spondent for Life magazine. Dugan was a buck sergeant; I was a corporal. * * * Zam Zam I want to tell you about Dave Scherman because recently he has been in Nebraska and many cf our readers no doubt are aware of his work. A bright Jewish boy from the big town, Davey attended an up state New York college. He and his roommate dreamed up a package deal for the republican big wheels the year Alf Landon was the candidate for president. They reasoned the GOP would be a good market for a rotogra vure supplement loaded with pictures of the Roosevelt family and prominent new dealers tak en from uncomplimentary angles (ie.: Eleanor with a toothy grin; Franklin D., in a pall of smoke, etc.) Naturally, the roto section was to be distributed in good repub lican Sunday papers throughout the country. The package price, including publishing and distri bution, ran into six figures, as I recall. Davey told the story to me one winter’s evening back in 1943. To make a long story short, Scherman and his partner hired a staff, did a tremendous amount of research, hired a roto printer, and did a superb job of psyco logical warfare against the new dealers — except they neglected to hire a professional distribution agency. Instead, the roto sections, neatly wired and labeled, stood stacked high on rail platforms | on Sunday mornings instead of being circulated. The GOP bigwigs cancelled the contract, ! Roosevelt won again, and Da vey and his partner got out with experience. The abortive try in the big time helped Davey to land a job later with Life. Whether or not you agreed with the principles, you must admit Davey and his friend were resourceful. In 1939 Davey was headed for the Middle East aboard the Egyp tian liner Zam Zam. A German U-boat surfaced off Rio de Ja neiro and pumped several tor pedoes into the Zam Zam. Women and children took to the lifeboats and many of them floundered in the water. Some perished. Davey, well armed with cam eras, proceeded to record the event on film. By the time the nazis moved close to the scene to pick up survivors, Davey had pulled the film out of the camera and inserted it inside a tube of toothpaste. Resourceful? He tossed his equipment into the water, but guarded the paste. Davey was taken to Ger rnany and interned for 10 months. The U.S. state depart ment finally got him and his dental kit liberated in the days before we got into World War II. * * * Life — 1 6 Pages Back in New York, you guess it, Davey opened the tube of toothpaste and Life opened its pages—16 of them—for the ter rific Zam Zam picture story, which won for Davey runnerup Pulitzer prize honors. Little wonder Dave wouldn’t expose himself to the nazis dur ing World War II. Being a Jew, who had '•-nbarrassed the na^. s no end in the Zam Zam sinking, Davey feared the krauts would cut him wide open if they could have laid their hands on him. This was a fair guess because thousands of Jews with lesser "crimes" were exterminated by the nazis. During World War II, Simon & Schuester (New York book publishers) came up with a book, “Literary England,” by David E. Scherman. I had scooted around the little island with Dave on several pic lure-taking excursions in connection with that book. Davey had a car, could get petrol (gas), and he had an unlimited supply of flashbulbs. Photo sub jects were “The Rock of Ages, ’ “Mill on the Floss,” “King Ar thur’s Round Table,” which we sought out. I would run the er rands. Several O’Neill homes have the book in their library and I like to point out the odd little car which creeps into several of the pictures. It’s the British made four-cylinder Austin in which I got to see a good bit of England—thanks to Davey. Life magazine was closing its forms that Saturday afternoon and Davey was one of two exec utive editors obliged to stick around. He had just finished a satirical ditty about Ogden Nash —sort of an inducement to read the July 12 issue. Executive editors must linger until the last page is locked. This .is because news can pop in an distant, forcing late changes. Sometimes entire pages have to be yanked and others inserted. During the visit we purposely didn’t discuss such things as the Army - McCarthy hearings, be cause it’s a fair guess we’d been at opposite poles. Instead we talked about “characters” we had known. Everybody is a “character” with Davey. I have always credited him with a saying that runs like this: “I’m going to turn in my eyes. IVe seen everything!” The wife of a Red Cloud bank er for years had been fascinated I by Nebraska’s Willa S. Cather, the ! writer who died in 1947. Davey | came to Nebraska to make pic I tures of the Cather homestead i and to assist with the book, pub lished last year by Simon & Schuester. A portion of the book vvas featured in Life about a year ago. It w’as entitled “Cather Country,” a picture story, Dy David E. Scherman. Dave’s biggest thrill during his visit to Nebraska on the Cather story came when the Red Cloud Commercial - Advertiser, weekly newspaper, announced m a page one story that David E. Scherman, Life photographer, was in town. —CAL STEWART Mr. and Mrs. Glen Robinson and family of Columbus, Kans., arrived Monday and will visit her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Everitt, for a week. i REX W. WILSON, M.D. | ROBT. M. LANGDON, M.D. PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS { 128 W. Douglas St, O’Neill Phone 138 I POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT Vote for JACK ARBUTHNOT Republican Candidate for CLERK OF THE DISTRICT COURT ★ Lifetime Resident of Holt County ★ Overseas Veteran of World War II Primary Augusi 10, 1954 Opening for Grove Lake July 24th ROYAL—Grove lake will be opened to fisherman Saturday, July 24, Game Conservation Of ficer Mike Burney said at Ne ligh last week. Earlier, the state game com mission had planned a full open ing of the lake north of Royal. Stocking of the lake with 10 to 16-inch rainbow trout has been done periodically over the past two months. Large sandhill crappies have also been stocked in the new lake. The lake is a game commission project to provide recreation grounds for Northeast Nebras kans. It was created by a dam on the Verdigris creek. The dam was finished this spring. Residents Asked to Conserve Water EWING—Residents here have been requested not to water lawns or use extra water between 9 p.m., and 7 a.m., to conserve water during the hot summer months. The request was made by the town board at a meeting Tuesday evening, July 6, at the public library. The board members wanted to be certain of enough water in case of a fire. The meet ing was conducted by Ralph Munn, chairman. Power Line Hearing Set by Commission— The state railway commission has scheduled for July il9 a hear ing on the proposal of the Nio brara Valley Electric Member ship corporation of O’Neill to build 97 miles of transmission line in Boyd, Holt Garfield and Knox counties. Tune In! Voice of The Fron tier” . . Mon., Wed., Sat., 9:45 a.m. WJAG (780 k.c.) Marston with 44th | Squadron in Philippines— A/lc Charles R. Marston, hus band of Mrs. Wauneta J. Mars ton of O’Neill, recently arrived in the Philippines to serve a tour of duty with the air force. Following his arrival overseas, Airman Marston was assigned to the 44th fighter bomber squad ron, headquarters, 6200th air base group at Clark air force base, 60 miles north of Manila. The Philippines is the first overseas assignment for Marston, who enlisted in May, 1951. A graruate from O’Neill high school, he completed an electron ics fundamentals course at Kees ler, AFB, Miss., and a radar course at Lowry air force base, Colorado. Airman and Mrs. Marston have a five-month old daughter, Debra Sue. I o Burlington to Close Station at Page PAGE—The Burlington rail road has received permission to discontinue station service at Page, although the closing date has not been announced. Willaim Howell, who has been Station agent here 23 years, will be transferred. Sunday guests of Mrs. Edna Coyne were Mrs. Lawrence O’ Malley and Jerry and Leo. PONTON INSURANCE i I Florence Ponton, Prop. Insurance of All Kinds & Bonds Phone 106 — Golden Bldg, j ----—f ..DANCE.. AT O’NEILL American Legion Auditorium & BALLROOM SATURDAY, JULY 17th WAYNE ALLEN and His Orchestra Adm.: Adults $1; Students 50c .. —* WE WONT BE UNDERPRICED! WE WONT BE OUT-TRADED! I I OWN AMERICA'S STYLE STAR AND ECONOMY CHAMPION Cash in on this cash-saving deal! Save money sensationally on the car that holds 30 international style awocds—a big, beau tiful 1954 Studebaker sedan, sports model or station wagon. We are out to top all records for selling new Studebakers in a single month. We are S2LSXiird—believable Terr/fi'c cast samgs for Here’s your chance to own America’s (//)// A/f)IASOft No. 1 economy car-winner of the Mobilgas jfUU tSfWfW f fW WWW ISfr Run—at incredibly low cost. The lid is off! .// f/tC/t / See us before you take anybody else’s deal! Crff •✓fCfC* &« SMITH MOTOR CO. Phone 562 316 E. Fremont St.. O'Neill. Nebf. Cool refreshing idea from the land of sky blue waters A bit of the cool refreshment of this customer every 31 seconds—day enchanted land is yours—rightnow! and night! Discover refreshing —with a frosty bottle of Hamm’s Hamm’s Beer—from the land of Beer. Just reach . . . and discover sky blue waters. 1^,, the flavor that wins a brand new Theo. Hamm Brewing Co., St. Paul, Minn. y*| Refreshing as the enchanted land it comes from