Prairieland Talk Wet Snow - - Worth $ $ $ By ROM AIN E SAUNDERS. Retired. Former Edtter The Frontier LINCOLN—An inch of rain upon the thaw ed out earth, a foot of wet snow—to those whose hopes hang upon the $ it means 50 million Others vision prairieland robed in silken green this summer, full flowing streams, the flor al bloom dotting the landscape with bright colors, trees in full leaf; hear the song of birds, thepra irie frogs’ orchestra, the hum ? . ' of flying wings and the gay- * colored butterfly Y.s, tea ri|M-ning wheat fields assure another loaf, thi garden spots our spuds, the herds feeding to the full throughout the grass lands fattening for the slaughter— all will supply the necessary sustaining elements to enable John, Joe, May and Kate to keep on the go, while you and me loiter there by the bloom- Romaine ing rose. Saunders • * * Theodore M Rarick of Eugene, Ore., and J. C. Foley of Yorkshire, England, have recently be come members of the Nebraska State Historical society. . . A reminder of the Trans-Mississippi exposition held in Omaha in 1898 comes from Lt - Col. Duncan Campbell of Harrisburg, Pa., who has sent two medals to the Historical Society mu seum. . . The state railway commission will hold hearings this month in Lincoln, Norfolk and Val entine to consider the North Western railroad’s plan to discontinue all pickup and delivery ser vice at towns through which the railway passes. Thought 'twas business this grand old railroad wanted! . . A wildcat has been seen down near Fairbury, one of the first settled communities of Nebraska as a territory. . . He lies in his grave and can’t protest. The Lancaster county tax as sessed to the estate of the late Sam McKelvie is $3,865 In a letter to Prairieland Talker, under date of March 28, Dr. A. L. Miller, member of congress representing prairieland patriots in the Fourth Nebraska congressional district, expressed his un abridged agreement with friends out this way cn the subject of foreign aid, condemns it all as use less waste of money, other than approving the sending of food, medicine and clothing to the homeless in wartom regions. “We have poured billions down the drain in foreign aid,” says he, “while some of our own people at home were suf fering from want.” Doctor Miller has in mind, too, some changes that he feels should be made in social security, among these possibly raising the monthly payments of $100 for all on social secur ity who have attained the age of 80 years. * • * The editor of a state dally paper that will not accept liquor ads was fined $250, caught up drunk and disturbing the peace. A change of editors has not been announced at this writing, nor has announcement been made that the ed itor may take a seat on the water wagon. Physicians and churchmen in European lan Is are stirred over the work of a woman, Mrs. Alex andra Magoula of Athens of the Greek Orthodox j faith, who is said to be working miracles of heal- , ing comparable to that of Peter and Paul of the long “ago. Crowds of the afflicted and curious throng about the woman’s house so police author ities ask the woman not to step out of her house, but at such a time as that police are helpless and maybe some of them, are there for other inter ests than mere police duty. There have been “faith healers" here and there throughout our land for a price but none has yet arisen to put doc out of practice, as has occurred over in ancient Greek territory. • • • Insolent and arrogant, David Beck sat before the senate committee and defied federal author ity. But he had reckoned without the cost The great American Federation of Labor has ousted the ego bloated Mr. Beck and goes into Teamster Union affairs to make a cleaning. The labor union membership for the most part approved of actions taken by their chosen leaders but ap parently they can not go along with any of their number who presumes to defy the authority of the country that makes his job possible. * * * School boys profited by the late March snow fall as well as the wheat growers. One 14-year old told me he garnered $4.75 shoveling snow from sidewalks one forenoon. Another young fel • low reported receiving $17 for a day’s work with his snowr shovel. Seventeen dollars—that’s just what we printers at the Sioux City Journal pulled down after a 69-hour work week the winter of 1895. Born more than a half-century too soon— ; or were we? * * • The sales and income tax bill was killed by a slim margain of votes in the legislature. Sen. Frank Nelson would doubtless have been one vot ing to kill the measure, but he was reported ab sent. Maybe he had been called home and got stuck in a snowdrift up there in north Holt county gulches and did not get back to the statehouse to j vote when the bill came up for final passage. No sales, no income tax—just yet. * * * The three-dollar watch fell to the concrete floor in the basement, picked up unbroken and ticks off the minutes as good as ever. Had it been a hundred-dollar watch, it would have been a total w'reck. Another in favor of the Waterbary. * * * The supreme court of the state has sustained the contention of the citizens of the Amelia com munity and boys and girls will not need to make daily trips to Chambers to hang their hats on a high school peg. That Amelia high is to con tinue as an educational center in southwestern Holt county is gratifying to all concerned, tne state education commissioner to the contrary not withstanding. Editorial Budget Control Can Be Regained Sen. Harry F. Byrd’s proposal for a single package “appropriation-expenditure control” bill —designed to re-establish effective congressional control over annual Federal exenditures—deserves the “vigorous, vocal support" of all thoughtful citizens, a spokesman for the Nebraska Citizens Council has declared. Robert M. Armstrong, executive director of the statewide taxpayer-research organization, said: “Detailed knowledge of the federal budget is hardly required to reach the conclusion that congress has lost control over annual federal expenditures. Feder al taxes are almost unbearably high, yet, in these times of our greatest pros perity, little or nothing has been done about reducing our huge national debt, and federal spending is steadily rising above the $70 billion level. Something is out of control! Congress has been wrestling for many years with the problem of streng thening its control over the purse strings of this nation, without result. For ex ample, analysis of the fiscal 1958 feder al budget made available to us show that, in addition to $73.3 billion in new spending authority requested, federal agencies will start the new fiscal year with about $70 billion of unexplained bal ances of prior appropriations and auth orizations on hand. Thus, if the resi dent's requests are granted, funds avail able to the agencies for expenditure would total more than $143 billion—an astounding sum! A ndthis does not in clude substantial amounts in trust funds, which are ‘outside’ the budget.” We feel strongly, the Nebraska Citizens Coun cil director concluded, “that Senator Byrd’s pro posal, under which annual limitations would be placed upon expenditures from both current and carry-over appropriations, can provide the answer to this spending control problem. And, pmiri the current clamor against unresaonably high federal spending, this is the time for citizens to act.” The Nebraska Citizens Council, in coopera ation with taxpayer-research groups in many other states, consistently has supported action to strengthen congressional fiscal controls. Mrs. James A. Davidson Mrs. James Davidson, 84, died March 22 after • brief illness. Known affectionately by har neighbors and others as “Grandma” Davidson, she had lived a long and useful life. Born as Anna Hansen, in New York, a daughter of a Danish immigrant couple, she came West as a girl, lived on a homestead north of O’Neill and later southwest of O’Neill. She married James E. Davidson, sr., Novem ber 7, 1892. Together they reared a fine family of 11 children and they helped to build our com munity. Five of their sons served in the military during two world conflagrations. Mr. Davidson died in 1942. In 1949, Mrs. Davidson won the singular honor of being “Nebraska mother of the year” by the state department of the American Legion aux iliary. Plans had been made for The Frontier editor to interview Mrs. Davidson in an attempt to learn first-hand the trials and processes used by her parents and her pioneer husband and of her own efforts to lay the foundation of our city. But she suffered a stroke a short time be fore the appointed hour and her story, as we would like to have learned it and told it, thus cannot be told. “Grandma” Davidson’s deeds and her role in our frontier town will not soon be forgotten. ‘Ray’ Siders Holt county has lost a well-known resident in the untimely death of Raymond C. (“Ray”) Siders 60, a retired farmer who for several years resided at Inman. Mr. Siders was a longtime resident of the Steel Creek locality in northeastern Holt. He was active for years in farming and ranching circles. He was a pioneer in the sense that he estab lished one of the original registered Aberdeen Angus cattle herds in this area. Black cattle to day are a tremendous factor in the economy of the area, and cattle raising is Nebraska’s biggest industry. Besides his contribution to the livestock field, Mr. Siders was eternally striving in many ways to make this empire of Holt a better place in which to live, providing leadership and talent in farm and livestock organizations, church boards, school boards, civic groups. In addition to these affairs, he was a fine family man and a wonderful neighbor. The Inman Methodist church could not beg