Prairieland Talk . . .
All Want Peace on Own Terms
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS, Retired, Former Editor The Frontier
JLINCOLN—The world’s great met in peaceful
Switzerland, a land and a people unknown to
inarching armies since William Tell knocked the
block off of the tyrant, Giessler.
The Swiss are at peace with the rest of man
kind because they are not interested in the affairs
of other nations. Did the repre
sentatives of the leading four
powers at the Geneva peace con
ference open their souls to the
music of brotherly love floating
in from the Alps and will the
guns and bombs and bugle call to
battle now be silenced? Who
knows? Out of this latest world
council wooing the way of peace
does there lurk within the shad
ows another sinister figure that
will mount the pedestal and
drive the plowshare of ruin across Romaine
fair lands? The centuries have Saunders
been soaked in human blood.
I stood when a youth in the long ago in front
of thp Bentley store and bakery in O’Neill on East
Douglas street and listened to Mr. Bentley as he
talked of the ways of peace and safety. It was then
25 years since the blue-clad and grey-clad soldiers
had laid aside the musket. Mr. BeAtley was sure
there would be no more war. Some 10 years later
we were charging up San Juan hill in Cuba, driv
ing Spain from tne islands of the Orient, swinging
the battleax in the Boxer uprising; and then South
Africa plunged into a blood bath, Mexico and South
American lands pulling the trigger.
This generation has heard the bugle call to
two global wars and a third of equal significance.
Have a million desolated homes in America sat
isfied the demands of war? We pretend to want
peace. Every fellow wants it on his own terms.
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind
is staid on Thee."
* • •
Forty-six years ago today, the day this is writ
ten, a babe was bom in a home in O’Neill. Today
that babe is a mother in her own right with two
boys, age 6 and 4; her husband is a minister of the
gospel at Oshawa, Ont., Can. Boarding a train at
Oshawa, that mother, who 46 years ago was a babe
in a home on South First street in O’Neill, less than
24 hours later got off the California Zephyr in Ein
0 coin, spent three days with some of her tribal group
in the capitol city of her native state, boarded the
Zephyr again past midnight and took off for Califor
nia points where others of the tribal group are,
moved east again for a stop in the mountain fastness
of New Mexico, then on the Santa Fe Chief headed
homeward.
A native Nebraska woman has the grit to travel
across the continent and back with two kids and
baggage to look after. She is my daughter.
One is left in the neighborhood in O’Neill where
that babe was born 46 years ago who was there at
that time, Miss Ruth Harnish.
m
The dawn of a new day inspires the living with
the buoyancy of youth and adorns the landscapt
with varied tints, scatters dewdrops like diamond:
over roses and hollyhocks and bathes lawn and bus!
with it cooling moisture. Birds sing and take to th«
air on soaring wings; the rooster crows, hops froir
his perch and struts before his harem. Before th<
sun’s glaring beacon has spread its canopy of ligh'
across the firmament the curtain of blue in the west
ern sky holds a matchless charm if you have the
ambition to roll out of bed when breaks the wel
come light of mom.” And when the vivid blue ol
morning, the west has turned to gold that will soor
give way to evening shadows and we sit in the twi
light to dream again the old dreams and lay upor
memory’s altar one more tribute to life’s tenderesi
emotions. The passing of the day seems symbolic ol
our earthly existence—childhood and youth, mature
years with life’s struggles, old age amid the gather
ing shadows of the journey’s end. The day is done—
sunrise, high noon, sunset, sunshine and shadow,
smiles and tear, joy and pain, the night passes and
here we are again ready to face it all another day,
* * *
Others than those of the family connections
sense a void in their lives as the result of the
passing of Herb Hammond. But there is one in
that desolated home whose feelings go deeper and
who will be haunted by nameless longings. I
have had business dealings with Herb and found
him a man of his word. He had a way of life
and accorded to others that privilege.
• • *
Within less than a year there have come out of
Sioux City stories so revolting as to be almost un
believable. But the violated and battered bodies of
an 8-year-old bey and 2-year-old girl have told
the horrifying details. The kidnap-slayer of the lit
tle girl has not been found; the guilty one who beat
the little boy to death nearly a year ago is now in
an Iowa prison for life on conviction of second de
gree murder. If his vicious blows that killed a child
are second degree murder, what in heaven’s name
is first degree murder! Juries and courts encourage
just such evil deeds when prison terms are decreed
instead of the electric chair. Courts and juries
should have some of the zeal of police in dealing
with the abandoned criminal.
* * *
Another is gone whose footsteps echoed on the
stairs at the First National bank building for half a
century. Herb Hammond, one of a long procession
that daily ascended those steps to the duties that
awaited them at their desks; Bartley Blaine, Judge
Roberts, county officials before there was a court
house; Henry Murphy, Tom Golden, Arthur Ham
mond, father and predecessor of Herb in the abstract
busisess; Mike and J. J. Harrington and their sis
ter, Tess Harrington. That stairway and the offices
to which it directed those footsteps made history.
Irrigation schemes, building plans, political plots,
legal matters, land deals and at least one romantic
kiss at the head of the stairs. If the walls could
speak, what tales could be told!
Editorial . . .
And We Still Are—Pessimistic
The socalled summit conference in Geneva is
history. The value (if any) of the week-long meet
ing of the top government leaders of the big four
nations is being assessed.
On one hand we are to conclude that President
Eisenhower’s disarmament proposal (full swap of
military secrets by the U.S. and Russia) was a
bombshell and it’s now up to the Russians to cap
this Eisenhower move in the world propaganda
battle. The optimists say the men who bear the
responsibility for directing the policies of great
countries (United States, Russia, England and
France) have had an opportunity to meet each other,
form impressions, state positions and take im
portant proposals back to their capitals.
Other optimists hold the Russians are now
completely on the defensive and they (the opti
mists) wishfully think something positive toward
world peace will result.
Pessimists argue the Eisenhower offer was
nothing, inasmuch as the Soviet espionage system
already knows most of our secrets. Others point to
the Versailles conferenre in 1919 (which produced
an unrestful peace); the Locarno, Italy, conference
in 1925, which accomplished little except to spread
the “spirit of Locarno”; the Yalta parley in 1945,
which produced the “peace which is no peace.”
Britain’s Winston Churchill, a dandy in the
striped pants circle, publicly stated he hoped the
Geneva meeting would be a small, informal circle
of great leaders determined to ease some of the
world tension. Instead, the leaders brought along
aides who filled the conference rooms and over
flowed into the street. Batteries of expert propa
gandists were on hand and the ministers of the big
four countries will commence additional talks next
week.
If Russian leaders are secretly hated and de
spised by their own lowly countrymen (as we
often are led to believe), then the pictorial evidence
of the wining, dining and cordial atmosphere of
Geneva, when turned through the propagada mill
behind the iron curtain, will convey the idea the
Kremlin bullies are in solid with Western leaders.
It’s all so very complicated, but in these col
umns last week we stated we were pessimistic
about the net results of Geneva. And we still are.
Very Good News
Nebraska is constructing new homes and bus
iness buildings at a rate 2% times that of 1948,
according to the July report of the college of bus
iness administration of the University of Nebraska.
The state is also in advance of a year ago in
retail sales, reports the Lincoln Star.
Such news is always reassuring and Nebraska
can take special interest in the construction figures
for its 2% times jump over 1948 which contrasts
with a national average of 1%. Lincoln, itself, is
contributing heavily to the state averages.
Why the heavy surge at this time? Perhaps
Nebraska had a belated start. Perhaps it had more
construction to do. And again, perhaps the great
home owning tradition of the middle west simply
shows itself in the outranking figures. But this
much can be said: A state that builds up leading
percentages in home construction is one whose
people have faith in the future and a taste for per
manence. There can be no better augury for the
future than this.
The play being given Ford’s park by picnick
ers and kids suggests that the city council and city
park commission might consider acquiring some
land immediately to the west at some future date.
The true motives of our actions, like the real
pipes of an organ, are usually concealed; but the
gilded and hollow pretext pompously placed in
the front for show.—Caleb C. Colton.
Next comes the thud of the football.
<•>___
Entertaining Commies
You’ve never met a communist? Don’t look now
but you’re entertaining some right now in your
living room—if your radio or TV set is turned on.
Those men with warped minds who follow
the Kremlin line with fanatical devotion have
penetrated the radio and TV industry, particular
ly the writing end of the business. And seemingly
the networks, the sponsors and the agencies don’t
have the courage or the gumption to stand up to
the enemy for a knock down fight.
In the meantime the red-tinged propaganda
is deftly inserted into the program—almost in
visible but as insidious as the deadliest poison.
Take a note sometime how the witness being
questioned by the un-American affairs probers
is cast in the light of a “brave liberal” fighting
for real Americanism.
Martin Berkley, writing in the August issue
of American Mercury, tells the story of how deep
ly and dangerously the commies have penetrated.
The movie industry apparently has won its
long, painful and costly battle to drive the reds,
the pinkos and the fellow travelers out of the in
dustry. But the radio and TV business hasn’t got
the same desire or courage.
The Radio Writers’ Guild is red dominated.
Back in 1950, says Berkley, a resolution offered
in support of the U.S. intervention in Korea was
smashingly defeated by the guild. That one action is
typical of hundreds of incidents that reveal that the
guild owes first allegiance to Moscow.
Fair Supplement in This Issue
This issue of The Frontier features a 24-page
Holt county fair supplement. In the colorful sup
plement you’ll find the 1955 fair premiums in all
classes (of intense interest to exhibitors). You’ll
also find considerable fair news and many inter
esting advertisements. As has been the custom in
recent years, a rodeo will be the big entertainment
attraction. Dates for the fair are August 17, 18, 19
and 20, and, of course, the fair will be held' at
Chambers.
However brilliant an action, it should not be
esteemed great unless the result of a great and
good motive.—Rochefoucauld.
He that does good for good’s sake, seeks neith
er praise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the
end.—William Penn.
There is no man, no woman, so small but that
they cannot make their life great by high endeavor.
—Thomas Carlyle.
Christmas is only five months away.
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—2,463 (Mar. 31, 1955)
a
<r~ ^
News, Views
and Gossip
By THE EDITOR
V ^
Lettau Captured
Dr. Heinz Lettau, the head of
the German government weather
service during World War II, was
an O’Neill visitor a fortnight ago,
accompanied by his wife, also a
meteorologist, and their three
sans. They were on a westbound
cross-country trip, driving a Lin
coln.
Doctor Lettau’s adoption of the
United States came about in a
breathless manner 11 years ago.
He and several members of the
German high command were be
hind the German lines in France
on D-day plus 60. It was a pre
cautionary policy for the staffers
to alternate in riding on the hood
of staff cars in order to keep a
wary eye on allied fighter planes,
which had a habit of strafing any
thing and everything with special
interest in German staff cars.
Lettau was perched atop the
hood and the chauffeur was pro
ceeding cautiously along a nar
row French byway.
General Patton’s U.S. troops,
who held disdain for timetables
and such, had penetrated behind
the German lines.
A GI sharpshooter, prone in a
ditch beside the road, drew a bead
on the handsome and imposing
Lettau. The blast took off the
weather scientist’s chapeau, Let
tau and his comrades were cap
tured, and the next day the num
ber one German weatherman was
flown to the States.
In other words, the Third army
intelligence boys knew whom they
had and the word was passed to
whisk this prisoner to the United
States.
* * *
Whisked to U.S.
Lettau, a quiet, reserved, hand
some and. charming fellow, in a
short time was ushered into the
Washington office of the chief of
the U.S. weather service.
Lettau, a war prisoner, sweated
out the war in detention, but at
the same time welcomed an offer
from the U.S. air force to go to
work when the hostilities ceased.
The moment the war was over,
the air force flew him back to’
Germany, he was reunited with
his family, he announced they, the
Lettaus, would be moving to Am
erica. He lost no time getting into
basic scientific research problems
for our air arm; the family came
along later. Now they’re a happy
American (by adoption) family
well on the way to full citizen
ship.
Doctor Lettau was chief field
scientist on the O’Neill wind test
conducted in 1953. The co-direct
or, Dr. Guenter Loeser, another
German scientist, was killed in
the helicopter tragedy here.
* * *
She s a Den Mother
Mrs. Lettau has waived meteor
ology in favor of raising their
three sons, ages 17, 13 and 11. She
is a den mother for a Cub Scout
troop; their 13-year-old has a
newspaper delivery route, and
their oldest son this year is mak
ing the jump from a junior in high
school to a freshman at Yale uni
versity. He’s bent on being a sci
entist, too, and the language bar
rier hasn’t slowed him.
The Lettaus reside in a suburb
of Boston, Mass., and are near the
doctor’s lab desk at the Cam
bridge-Air Force research center.
Konrad Andenauer, the German
chancellor, has been a guest at
their home during U.S. visits and
last month Doctor Lettau accom
panied the chancellor to Harvard
university where the West Ger
man leader received an honorary
doctor’s degree.
During their overnight stay
here, the Lettaus took full ad
vantage of the O’Neill swimming
pool, they revisited the wind test
site, and they looked up old ac
quaintances. ,
In 1953 they took a special lik
ing to prairieland and the cool
evening breezes especially struck
their fancy.
Doctor Leuau says ne nopes
one day he may retire in O’Neill.
* * *
Miscellany
A 3%-year-old in our block,
when singing the Tennessee hill
billy ballad that has captured the
country, modifies the wording
slightly: “Davey, Davey Crockett
. . . king of the O’Neill Frontier!”
. . . What gracious O’Neill hostess
recently succeeded in pasting in
an upfront false tooth with Le
Page’s glue immediately before
her guests arrived and, sure
enough, lost the artificial chopper
at the dinner table? . . . Mrs. Pal
mer Skulborstad boasts an excep
tionally fine display of African vio
lets—the, product of a hobby.
—CAL STEWART
'P
When You and I Were Young . . .
Ft. Niobrara Is
*
Being Abandoned
2 Trains of Soldiers
Loaded Here
50 Years Ago
Two trains went east over the
North Western carrying soldiers
and equipment from Ft. Niobrara,
which has been abandoned as a
military post. . . The worst hail
storm within the memory of the
oldest inhabitants, swept over the
northeast part of this county and
into Knox county. Ten days after
the hailstorm, people went to the
ice heaps in the gulches and got
their ice for making ice cream.
Pigs and chickens were killed and
the small grain was completely
wiped out. . . It was reported
there was a safe blowing in the
store of D. W. Stuart at Stuart
and $140 was stolen. . . John P.
Conrad and Georgiana Cole were
married at the home of the bride’s
parents five miles west of O’Neill.
... A traveling evangelist was
preaching here on the streets af
ternoon and evening. The man is
blind and has a little boy com
panion to lead him. They travel
in a covered wagon. . . A band
of Indians camped just north of
the cemetery for a few days last
week, making several excursions
into town.
20 Years Ago
John Enright, 93, the town’s
oldest citizen, died at the home of
his son, Michael. . . Fred Lowery
sold his bus line of Z. Jefferies,
formerly of Chambers. . . Recon
struction of the dike and repair of
the power dam on the Niobrara
river north of this city is under
way. . . The Inman Poultry club
met at the home of Orville Keyes.
. . . Dick Tibbetts, 7-year-old son
of Artt Tibbetts, had his tonsils
and adenoids removed at the hos
pital. . . Frank Carter returned
from Washington, Kans., where
he had been attending the old set
tlers’ reunion. . . Roy M. Sauers
suffered the dislocation of his left
shoulder bones at the donkeyball
game at the fair grounds. He hap
pened to have a rather unruly
burro.
10 Years Ago
The Page Sunshine Sisters met
with Beverly Kelly with seven
members and their leader pres
ent. . . The O’Neill band will pa
rade through the streets and mem
bers will be treated by Mr. and
Mrs. C. F. McKenna. . . Misses
Mildred Haynes and Lola Ickes
entertained about 40 girls at a
prenuptial shower for Miss Hilda
Harley at the Harry Snider home
at Page. . . The Shelhamer Pro
duce in O’Neill has taken over the
Kelly Feed store in Chambers. . .
1/Lt. Leonard Fox, eldest son of
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fox, has
been awarded the silver star for
bravery. . . The Methodist Youth
Fellowship held a sub-district
rally in O’Neill. At the close, all
members joined in a friendship
circle in honor of Merwyn French,
jr., who left for the navy that eve
ning.
One Year Ago
The formal commission appoint
ing Ira H. Moss as O’Neill’s new
postmaster has arrived, but the
installation date has not yet been
fixed. . . The city council entered
into a lease-rental purchase agree
ment with the Austin - Western
Co. for the purchase of a mechan
ical street-sweeping machine. . .
Miss Lavonne Miller was the win
ner of the American Legion-spon
sored “Miss O’Neill’ beauty con- |
test held at the American Legion
auditorium. . . Nebraska will be
represented in the seventh annual
salute to the states ceremony at
Asbury Park, N.J., by Army Pfc.
Paul W. Moseman, jr. . . Mr. and
Mrs. H. E. Coyne left for Chicago,
111., and New York City. They will
sail from New York to Eur
ope. . . Voting was “very light”
in Holt county in connection with
the voting for wheat marketing
controls. .. A donkey rodeo will be
staged under the lights at the O’
Neill Saddle club arena.
JOINS WAC
Miss Eliner Minshail of Bas
sett was among 13 women’s army
corps enlistees on July 13 in Om
aha.
R——■——
Family Reunion
Honors Visitors
AMELIA — A family reunion
picnic was held in Amelia Sun
day, July 17, in honor of Mrs. Ted
Keeney, Teddy and Gary of Bell
aire, Tex.; Mrs. Emmett Carr,
Karen and Charles of Santa Mon
ica, Calif.; Mr. and Mrs. Leo Mar
cellus, Linda and Sanja of Whit
tier, Calif., and Mr. and Mrs. Joe
Curran, Jim, Steve and Jody of
Minneapolis, Minn.
Others present were Mrs. Delia
Ernst, Art Waldman, Pat Ken
nedy, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Peter
son and Donna Rae, Mr. and Mrs.
Art Doolittle and Dale, Mr. and
Mrs. Bernard Kennedy and boys,
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Adair and baby, 0
Mr. and Mrs. Darel Slaymaker
and boys, Mr. and Mrs. James
Curran and Ardell, Mr. and Mrs.
Dale Curran and children and Mr.
and Mrs. Francis Curran and
girls; also Mr. and Mrs. Lorance
Weber of Genoa.
Money to Loan
— on —
AUTOMOBILES
TRUCKS
TRACTORS
EQUIPMENT
FURNITURE
Central Finance
Corp.
C. E. Jones. Manager
O'Neill t Nebraska
.. DANCE..
AT O’NEILL
American Legion Auditorium
& BALLROOM
Saturday, July 30th
NOSMO KING ORCHESTRA '
o
A dm.: Adults, 1; Students, 50c
m
No wonder
this Hardtop is the
HiT OF THE YEAR f
.'L<
/AS 4-DOOR HANDY
—and priced for act/on /
I .
J-his one you’ll just have to see.
It’s a beauty. It’s a brand-new kind of car. It’s
a Buick Riviera with four doors. And to top it
all —it’s a Special —the lowest-priced of all
Buick Series.
Know what that means?
It means you can have the newest hit in hardtops
—the most advanced new body design yet—and
you can have it in the price range of America’s
smaller cars.
It means you can have a steel-roofed car with the
long, low, sweeping sportiness of a convertible
—with no center posts in the side window areas
—and with two separate doors to the rear.
And you can have all this hardtop beauty with
sedan comfort and convenience at the easy-to
take modest extra cost of a 4-door model over a
2-door model.
But if you think that’s all —listen:
This gleaming grace of automobile is a Buick
through and through — a '55 Buick, from the
hottest-selling line of Buicks in all history.
So here you have the soft, firm steadiness of
Buick s all-coil-spring ride and torque-tube
stability. Here you have Buick brawn, Buick
sohdity, Buick handling ease, Buick styling and
visibility and interior luxury.
And here you have the lift and life of vigorous
new V8 power of record might—and coupled to
the spectacular performance of Buick’s Variable
Bitch Dynaflow.
\Vhy wait a day longer—when you can come in •
right now and try the first true hardtop with the
extra comfort, room and convenience of a full-,
sized 4-door sedan?
Drop in tomorrow, first thing —for a look at the
price, and an idea of the whopping-big trade-in
deal our huge sales volume permits us to make.
* Variable Pitch Dynaflow is tht only Dynaflow Buick builds
tody. It tt standard on ROADMASTER, optional at modest
extra cost on other Senes.
:,y ■ - -« I II |«||» mil il
mm
AfOW
•mcfe-fn 0ea/s
A. MARCELLOS
