Prairieland Talk . . ..
Einstein Is Frank About It
By ROHA1ME SAUNDERS, Retired, Former Editor The Frontier
MARION, IND. — Albert Einstein, the famed
scientist who has toyed with the mysteries of na
ture and who has given to the world theories too
deep for the most of us, at the age of 76 declines
further public attention, saying he is now “a has
been.”
Approaching and a step beyond the three-quar
ters of a century passing down time’s highway,
most all sense the same condition. Few are as frank
about it as Doctor Einstein.
Scientists have a place in the complexities of
human activities but they, too,
must lean upon the staff of life
which is the fruits of the toil
worn hands of the commoner.
And there goes to make up this
human aggregation strutting
across the scene some strange
specimens with fantastic mental
slants. There came a story from a
southwest desert of a gathering of
such individuals, one thousand of
them, gathered to listen to and _
thrill at the stories of a few fa
vored ones who had burst the sur- Remain*
ly bounds of earth, glided out in/ Saunders
to the depth above and beyond and reached the
distant shores of Venus, Mars and other man-for
bidden planets, talked with the inhabitants who are
said to have a classic command of our language
and are glad to hobnob with creatures of the
earth. ,, ,
One emotional sister told the desert assembled
group that she had a “beautiful romance” with a
Venecian Lochinvar. But a cheeiing wor came
from these space explorers—there will not be atom
ic war!
* • *
A magazine master of imagination begins his
two-page offering by putting in caps, “WE ALL
ENJOY . . .” Yes, there is at least one thing that
“we all enjoy.” But this literary cloud explorer
was not thinking of sitting down to a good meal
when you are half starved, but rather announces
that all and sundry enjoy reading about the achieve
ments or efforts at achievements of various per
sonages when real or fancied tales may be a bore to
you. It is said that everybody loves a lover. While
that universal and all-inclusive attitude toward
such things predominated in the time of Romeo
and Juliet there seems to be a different reaction
to royal romances at this period of tumult in all
lands. As I write this 17th day of March, memory
unrolls the scroll of years and I see writ upon its
hallowed page that all enjoyed—Irish, Yankee, Bo
hemian or Scotchmen alike—pinnmg on a green
ribbon and strutting the board walks and cow paths
of a village called O’Neill and in the evening gath
ering at McCafferty’s hall where John Harmon’s
dramatic performers gathered off of the streets and
enacted ‘Robert Emmet,” the deep-voiced hero ex
claimed, “O, Erin, mighty nation thou were once,
though now the chains of thraldom bind thee fast
to an unrelenting foe!”
* * *
The United Nations, through the medium of
the economic and social council, toys again with a
proposed calendar change that a world calendar
group in this country has been spreading propa
ganda for for years. Preston Hotchkiss, the United
States representative on the council, said at the
annual session of '.e council that this government
will support no action to change the calendar with
out the prior approval of congress. The proposed
calendar change does away with the historic week
and introduces a blank day feature as much as to
say there is no sunrise and sunset at certain year
end periods. It would appear that there is trouble
enough in national and world affairs without intro
ducing such a thing to bring on more confusion.
• * •
One in every six American alcoholics i$ said
to be a woman, and among the female popula
tion of our country the trend to alcoholism is
greater than among males.
“To serve God, be a credit to my country and
to make my city a better place in which to live,”
to this program 30,000 teenage youth of Chicago,
111., have committed themselves during ceremonies
held at the International amphitheater marking
the beginning of a movement in that great throb
bing center of good and bad humanity to combat
uveile delinquency. The most eloquent of all the
oratory on that occasion came from a girl, a shop
lifter, when she said, “I can tell you that to be a
delinquent is no fun.” Had the wag who crashed
into the county treasurer’s quarters here in Marion
the other night and made away with $476 been
given the opportunity as a teenager to have identi
fied himself with such a group of youth minions
of the law would not be on his trail today.
• * *
All is quiet on the Potomac. Nothing note
worthy on capital hill . Congressional scenery
stale, flat and uninteresting since Senator Joe has
been relegated to a backseat.
* * *
Stanley Weinstein, a Marion high school senior,
has perfected a telescope that carries him in vision
to the moon and other heavenly bodies. His home
made telescope magnifies 96 times and brings the
hills and valleys or whatever they are on the moon
out clearly for the young star gazer to study. Three
other young men, students of the high school, are
devoting time and study to radio, explaining that
it gives them experience they feel will be helpful
in their chosen professional careers after school
has been finished. These young men will doubtless
be heard from otherwise than as “juvenile delin
quents.” Youth who devote themselves to worth
while undertakings are the ones who become
worthwhile citizens.
* * *
A Pennsylvania town reports 35 applications
for the job of dog catcher, generally supposed to be
at the bottom of the political ladder. Whether the
urge to get a hand on stray dogs or the lure of the
$3,800-a-year salary is the incentive has not been
officially disclosed. . . “I don’t figure my age is any
of the government’s business. I don’t ask them no
questions and they don’t need to ask me none.”
That’s how an oldtimer up a mile high in Denver,
Colo., feels about it.
* • •
The budget of a few hundred million dollars
voted by the Indiana legislature includes eight and
a half millions for bonuses to go to veterans of the
Korean battlefields whose homes were in this state.
Thirty thousand public school students have vis
ited the legislature during the 1955 session. A polio
fund of $15,389 has been raised in Grant county
through the recent march of dimes. One labor union
group and the Moose lodge contributed checks to
taling $675.
* * *
"A woodpecker pecks out sawdust when building a
hut;
He works like a nigger to make the hole bigger—
He doesn’t bother with plans of cheap artisans.
But there’s one thing can rightly be said,
The whole excavation has this explanation—
He builds it by using his head!”
* * *
An Episcopal church group down in Tennes
see, in deciding to pay the expenses for Mrs.
Florence Greenwood to accompany her husband
1 to a convention in Hawaii, explained: “Husband
can’t be allowed to go running all over the globe
alone.”
• • *
A couple riding in their automobile when the
car went out of control, missed the bridge and
plunged into the Mississinewa river. The husband
got out. His wife’s body was recovered three days
later three-quarters of mile from the point of
disaster.
* * *
The earth has 141,055,000 square miles of
water and 55,885,000 square miles of land. At
the end of the trail the most anyone can claim
as his is a six-foot strip.
Editorial . . .'
Make Trucks Pay Way
(Guest editorial from the Valentine Republican) "
. Senators Anderson, Hoffmeister and Cole have
introduced in the Nebraska legislature LB 362, de
signed to offset the advantage enjoyed by big com
mercial trucks over automobiles and small trucks.
This bill would apply a ton-mile tax to huge com
mercial trucks, but would not apply to smaller
commercial trucks or to any farm or local truck.
The owner of a large truck uses the highway
for a business profit. Such use is many times that
of the automobile when both weight and distance
are considered. The trucker bases his charge upon
the weight he carries and the distance he travels
over the public highway. Why then should not the
tax for use of the highway for profit be so meas
ured?
The gas tax is not a fair charge for such use.
It does not give enough consideration to weight.
A small truck or automobile, weighing under two
tons and averaging 15 miles per gallon, carries a
ton of weight approximately 30 miles for six cents
tax. A diesel truck, weighing 30 tons and averag
ing five miles per gallon, carries a ton of weight
150 miles for six cents tax. Thus the automobile
owner pays five times as much tax as the diesel
truck owner.
The added cost of building highways necessary
for big trucks is not included in the above com
parison. All highway builders will tell you that
highways would cost only a part of their present
cost if built only for automobiles and small trucks.
Neither is the tax advantage enjoyed by large
trucks offset by the license fees they pay. The li
cense fee paid on a heavy truck will offset the tax
advantage enjoyed by the truck over an automobile
until the truck travels 16,000 miles. From then on,
and most trucks travel 75,000 to 100,000 miles per
year, the truck enjoys the tax advantage cited
above.
We heartily recommend passage of LB 362,
and urge our readers to write their senators in sup
port of it.
Best guess is the Tuesday, April 5, municipal
election will be a humdinger in O’Neill with con
siderably more interest than normally. Regardless
of how you vote, be sure to go to the polls next
Tuesday.
This is the time of the year when the man who
has been lazy all winter starts complaining about
spring fever.
'The national guard tank company in O’Neill
is now a reality.
There is no place like Nebraska.
Reds Use Island for Talking Point
It is hard for Americans, sure of their own non
aggressive purposes, to understand how other peo
ples may feel about American operations in far cor
nors of the globe. Particularly do Asian peoples,
sensitive from their colonial experience, feel that
American military forces are defending the United
States very far from home.
The Formosa Strait offers a natural buffer—
an unusual opportunity to draw a clear line. Cross
ing it would plainly spell aggression. Actually the
United States sought to draw that line with its dec
laration on defense of Formosa. It intended to dis
engage cleanly from Chiang’s project for invading
the mainland. But the islands, plus certain military
and political crosscurrents, have been allowed to
blur the picture.
There has also been a hope in Washington,
D.C., that the coastal islands could be used in bar
gaining for a cease-fire. But Peking shows no in
terest in a cease-fire. Quite possibly the reds pre
fer to use the islands as talking points at home
and abroad. If they would rather push the United
States out, why bargain?
The bargain Washington might better be inter
ested in is trading the military and phychological
incubus imposed by support of the nationalists on
the islands for a clean and plainly defensive line
in the Strait of Formosa. In such a bargain it could
win the confidence of many Asians and turn them
against a Peking move on Formosa. It could
strengthen its own position militarily and morally.
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 postoffice in O’Neill, Holt coun
ty, Nebraska, as second-class mail matter under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. This news
paper is a member of the Nebraska Press Associa
tion, 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 subscriptions
are paid-in-advance.
Audited (ABC) Circulation—2,335 (Mar. 31, 1954)
When You and I Were Young . . .
E. P. Hicks Reports
Good Times in East
James Stanton Feted
by Old Soldiers
50 Years Ago
A prairie fire last Sunday night
four miles southwest of here de
stroyed two or three hay stacks
belonging to Charles Pettijohn. . .
E. P. Hicks returned from the East
Saturday last and expects to re
main here this summer. He reports
good times and active business in
the East. . . At a meeting of the
firemen, John Sullivan was unan
imously elected an honorary mem
ber; of the Athletic club. . . The
fire alarm sounded for the first
time in many months over the
weekend. It proved to be not a
very extensive conflagration. A
barn belonging to Charles Thorn
ton was consumed. . . A. W.
Knapp and Samuel Beavers and
their wives and Dave Moler went
down to Ewing to attend an anni
versary gathering of old soldiers
given in honor of James Stanton’s
84th birthday anniversary.
20 Years Ago
One of the worst dust storms in
years struck the county one day
during the week and raged un
abated for about four hours. . .
About 50 fathers and sons were
present at the father-and-son ban
quet held at the Methodist church.
. . . John O’Donnell, financial re
lations manager, and V. A. Hall,
associate state director of the fed
eral housing administration, were
in O’Neill preparing to set up an
FHA program for O’Neill and Holt
county. . . Phillip Sheridan
(“Sherd”) Simmons died sudden
ly at the Western hotel.
10 Years Ago
Sgt. Merrill C. Hicks has suc
cessfully flown 35 combat mis
sions on an AAF Flying Fortress
of the Fifteenth air force. . . Hen
ry Kaczor, resident of this area
since 1884, died at the home of his
brother in Spencer. . . H. J.
Birmingham and Ira H. Moss are
candidates for the board of edu
cation in the coming election. . .
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Clauson, Dr.
and Mrs. L. A. Burgess and Mr.
and Mrs. H. L. Walling ushered
in the fishing season at Peter
Greeley lake and they returned to
town with an enviable catch. . .
Attorney Thomas Nolan reports
that in Rock county the water
holes everywhere are floating
mobs of wild ducks.
One Year Ago
Miss Patricia Brennan, former
ly of O’Neill, presented a recital
for the Phi Rho chapter of Mu
Phi Epsilon. Miss Brennan is a
flutist. . . Paul Beha was chosen
to be vice-president by the Na
tional Highway 20 association at
a meeting held here at the K.C.
hall. . . Mr. and Mrs. Deemer E.
Conner of Ewing were honored
at a family dinner on the occasion
of their 58th wedding anniver
sary. . . The annual district music
contest will be held in O’Neill this
week. An “army” of high school
musicians, two thousand strong, is
expected to converge on O’Neill to
participate in the event. . . James
Carney will go to Burwell to be
come resident engineer of the Bur
well district for the Nebraska de
partment of roads and irrigation.
Regional Deaths
Carl Jaschke
NELIGH — Carl Jaschke, 65,
died Wednesday, March 23, at a
Tilden hospital. Funeral services
were held Friday at the Neligh
Methodist church with Rev. C. E.
Copley officiating. Survivors in
clude: Widow; sons — Paul of
Wichita, Kans., and Robert, a stu
dent at the Milford trade school.
Carl Boelter
VERDIGRE— Funeral services
were held Sunday at Creighton
for Carl Boelter, 52, of Verdi
gre. Mr. Boelter is survived by
two daughters, one son, mother
and three sisters. Death was
:aused by a heart attack.
Mr. and Mrs. P. F. Morgan went
to Omaha last week to attend the
Ice Capades.
..1
Spring Special
Now on Your
Tractor Oil
and Gun Grease
AT THESE
Phillips “66”
Dealers:
Borg “66” — O’Neill
Jim’s “66”—Spencer
East End “66”—
Atkinson
Clark & Matson—
Inman
Jensens’ Store—
Midway
Shelhamer Equipm’t
O’Neill
Orders can be made up with oil,
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BIG SAVINGS!
State Capitol News . . .
Sharecrop Methods Pose Problems
LINCOLN — It usually takers
strife and controversy to make
news. But this week in the legis
lature there were signs that one
of the big stories of the session
would be the settling of an acient
controversy.
The indications were that the
school land leaseholders and edu
cational organizations were cau
tiously approaching each other to
find a way to heal the bitter
breach between them.
Up to now the leaseholders
have insisted that either the lands
should be sold or something done
about cutting rent. School groups
have been unsympathetic toward
anything that would decrease the
revenues which go to all the
schools of the state.
But a new approach appears to
be in the wind and it may be one
both sides can agree upon.
This would be the share-crop
method of renting. Often used in
private arrangements, it means
that the renter gives a set share
of his production each year to the
landlord and keeps the rest. Its
advantage over a fixed rent is
that it takes into account both
lean years and bumper crops,
giving both parties a fair share no
matter what the crop outcome.
Such a method would replace
the present system of charging |
a 6 percent rental on the ap
praisals—and hence rent—in
recent years has been one of the
big reasons the leaseholders
have demanded relief.
Don Kline of the Nebraska
State Education association said
he thought his group would ap
prove of such a method, although
he could not commit himself be
cause the association hasn’t spe
cifically discussed the matter.
Western Nebraska senators in
the legislature have declined di
rect comment. But the picture
seems to be that they have decid
ed that the legislature definitely
isn’t going to go along with LB
26, a bill to sell the school lands.
And chances are 'thin that
they’ll do anything about three
bills to change the appraisals. The
public hearing on these bills—LB
277, 321, and 521—set for this
week, was cancelled. It will be
held later.
There is some talk that LB 277
and 521 will be dropped and the
effort concentrated on LB 321,
which would cut the rental from
6 per cent to 4 per cent.
The share-crop proposal is pro
bably being made to salvage
something out of the leaseholders’
effort.
The big news may be that both
sides can agree on it.
Technical Problems—
Setting up a sharecrop system
won’t be done with a mere snap
of the fingers.
It probably would require hir
ing a private land management
firm since 1,630,000 acres are in
volved. This would mean the le
gislature would have to appro
priate more tax funds to the state
board of educational lands and
funds. Under the constitution in
come from the lands themselves
cannot be used for administration.
Another problem would be de
ciding how to share crop grazing
land. It’s easy to divide up corn
or wheat but cattle is another
matter.
It probably would require es
tablishing a per unit per acre ba
sis of rent. In such a formula
would have to be provisions for
changes in the cattle market and
for dry years when grass is short.
* * *
Tax Reform—
The legislature have the green
light on general file (first major
debate test) to LB 148, the “key
stone” bill in a tax reform pro
gram in this session.
Assessors under present law
are supposed to use only one fac
tor in assessing property—the
current market value. LB 148
would allow them to use earning
capacity, desirability, location, re
production cost, and comparison
with other properties in deter
mining the value.
Although the railroads and
some large industries have been
fighting this bill hard, on a deci
sive test vote an attempt to kill
the measure lost 6-30. This
smashing victory for the bill pro
mised well for other measures at
tempting to “doctor” the ailing
property tax system in Nebraska.
Debate on this important
measure took parts of four
days. Sen. Otto Liebers of Lin
coln, chairman of the special
committee which wrote these
tax reform bills after two years
of study, had to answer ques
tion after question on the mea
sure.
“This bill will make legal what
assessors have been doing illegal
ly. Under the present market
value law it was just impossible
to get fair equalization,” Sen.
Liebers said.
So 53 counties have had scien
tific reappraisals in which “basic
value” formulas simular to LB
148 have been used. Liebers esti
mated the 80 percent of the pro
perty in the state has been assess
ed this way already.
Liebers said that while market
value sounds fine in theory it
falls down because of local in
flation, or the fact that some pro
perty seldom or never is bought
and sold.
• • •
Turnpike Bill—
A bill to abolish the state turn
pike authority received a favor
able vote from the legislature
public works committee and was
sent to the legislature itself for
consideration.
Proponents say the authority is
too all-powerful under the pre
sent law and that N ebraska
shouldn’t have a turnpike be
cause it would divide farms and
trade territories.
Opponents of the measure, LB
271, and friends of . the turnpike
idea contend a toll road across
the country is inevitable and that
Nebraska should work to get it.
* * *
New Welfare Program—
A favorable vote by the public
health committee was given LB
108, which would establish a new
type of welfare program in Ne
braska. It would be assistance for
the totally disabled.
It is called the “fourth cate
gory,” because it would be in ad
dition to the present programs of
old age assistance, aid to the
blind, and aid to dependent child
ren.
At least 40 states have adopted
this program, which brings con
siderable federal aid with it. But
senators anxious to hold down the
budget winced at the $3.2 million
it would cost nebraska taxpayers.
The necessity for such a pro
gram was pretty clearly demon
strated. But senators were be
coming resigned to a soaring bud
get close to the $220 million
mark. In recent weeks the legis
lature passed two bills which
tacked at least $21 million on the
estimated $196 budget. One was
the sixth cent of gasoline tax ($18
million) and the other was re
newing the half-mill tax levy for
the state teachers’ retirement
fund ($3 million).
Guest at O’Neill—
Janet Lampei't of Ewing spent
the weekend with her grandpar
enst, Mr. and Mrs. Ira H. Moss.
Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry
Lampert, were in Omaha over the
weekend. While there they at
tended the ice follies.
^_______
|
I
-——-:
ft
SURELY it’s time you blossomed out in a
big, bold, bright new Buick-just for the
extra joy you’ll feel.
And there’s no better time than right now
for you and the whole family to come look
things over—because we’re holding a Spring
Fashion Festival to display the stunning
new Buicks in gay new colors rich in
Springtime freshness.
You’ll see these sleek beauties dressed in
new greens, new blues—in other strikingly
vivid colors —and in ultra-smart two-tone
and tri-tone combinations.
What’s more, these gay new hues are avail
able on the whole line of Buicks — Sedans,
Convertibles, Estate Wagons, Rivieras—
and the newest of the new cars, the long
awaited 4-Door Riviera.
Best of all is the sheer thrill that’s yours
when you take to the road in any one of
these ’55 Buicks-for here is walloping
new V8 power—and here is the spectacular
performance of Variable Pitch Dynaflow,*
which is very definitely the “must try”
thrill of the year.
So—come be our guest —at our Spring
Fashion Festival —and at the wheel of the
“hottest” Buick in history.
•Dynaflow Drive is standard on Roadmaster, optional at extra
cost on other Series.
Cobtl
/
4§£ QmttQMm
-
^Idyipuiiuhet! W—
_. _ Thrill of the year ig^puick.
See the Bufck-Berle Show Alternate Tuesday Evening*
. ■ .. - -W?:?M BETTER AUTOMOBILES ARE BUILT BUICK WILL BUILD THEM iTTiiT
A. MARCELLUS
Phone 370 O’Neill
©