MONDAY, JULY 31. 1922.
PLATTSMOUTH SEMI - WEEKLY JOURNAL
PAGE THREE
Plattsmouth and the C,
ailroad Shops
2,U
Lower Interest on
Farm Loans!
PLATTSMOUTH
WATER POWER
ROJECT
oue power
(X xc
&
Q
R
CEOAf
6 r 5 4 3 2
7 6 9 JO 11 J
LC.SKo'19 M Ce
- l 3.23.
POINTS OUT POSSIBILITY GF
SECURsNG ENLARGEMENT OF
BURLINGTON SH
NON-HOSTILE ATTITUDE OF MEN CUT ON STRIKE
AT THIS POINT TOWARD THE COMPANY
SHOULD PAVE WAY FOR IT.
POWER PLANT PROJECT
And Taken Together They Should Mean Much Toward th
Town Coming Into Its Own Over 3,000 Horse -Power
Available from Platte River.
Plattsmouth, Xebr., July 23, 1922
I'ditor Daily Tourxal:
I note in the Omaha daily papers that Mr. V. F.
general manager of the Burlington has notified Lincoln
company will seek other location for its Ilavelock shops.
writer's opinion that this statement, whether sincere or not, presents
us an excellent opportunity of sending word to Mr. Thiehoff and
advising him of the great injustice which has been forced on this
city in the past when by the sharp practice of Burlington officials,
they were enabled to remove a large and important section of the
railway shops from this city, directly in the face of its agreements
to maintain forever its headquarters and railn-ay shops in Platts
moutii. -4
The opportunity Is too pood to pass unnoticed, and now Is the time
to challenge the sincerity of Mr. Thiehoff's remarks.
With this purpose in view I herewith enclose you a pertinent open
letter to the Burlington railroad, emphasizing a Fituatlon which is fast
becoming history as well as working an unwarranted hardship on our
people who have invested their all on the strength and integrity of the
contracts of a great railway company.
There i3 nothing like making a
big nois e and it pays to fire a blank
cartridge once in a while, although
that isn't necessary in this case.
L-t us tell the railway folks that
we are still at the old stand await
ing the last touch to their consci
ence which will assist them in mak
ing up their minds that it pays to
be on the square.
If there are any further sugges
tions you can add to the matter at
hand it will help, nor do I think the
facts are over stated, nor any offense
be entailed by a careful handling of
the subject, but in the most force
ful manner.
I should have added, too, in this
appended letter, that at the time
the Ilavelock scandal was being pro
moted, the instigators used the fore
men of the shops here as agents to
sell our citizens and shop employes
alkali lots in the new townsite, tak
ing the price out of their pay en
velopes. Workers were thus forced
to abandon their hard earned homes
in Plattsmouth and exist in exile in
the sand stretches of the outlying
suburb of Lincoln. The writer, who
wrs born and raised in the city, and
who was living at home, was com
pelled to leave for Ilavelock or quit
the service of the company, which I
did and went to Omaha in the serv-i
ice of the Union Pacific, but many
others were not so lucky and left
their small accumulations here to
rot.
Our merchants here also have car
ried their employes for thousands,
have erected expensive buildings to
remain idle and worthless, empty
1. 1 i. kiit. . . .1 ; 1 '
minus iiiive uunt?u iuc 111113 uum
they became worthless and the town
has suffered greatly due to the lack
of integrity and the greed for per
sonal gain of the promoters of the1
crime of Ilavelock. They now threat-!
en to remove the last ve3tage or ( Gen. Mgr. C. B. & Q. R. R., !
link which binds the old to the new Omaha, Nebr.
regime the brass foundry to! Sir: Now that the great Burling-IJ.-ivelook,
in the face of the stench ton system, whose giant trunk ahJi
which is now arising there and which web of arteries reach from the Mis-'
is sufficient to warrant their ideajsouri river onward to where the Pa-
'32
HERE
A GREAT INCENTIVE
Thiehoff.
that the
It is the
that the shops should be removed
from there too.
Certainly if we lie dormant, never
to mention our inherent RIGHTS, we
can expect nothing less than to re
main a dot on the map of the great
railway which had its birth and in
ception among our hardy pioneers
who gave their all at a time when
they needed brave men and women.
Yours truly,
L. C. SHARP.
P. S. I also hand you for first
time publication an authentic mrp
indicating accurate survey of Plat' j
mouth'H wonderful water power pro
ject utilizing the last waters of t' e
Platte river near its mouth, fie
power plant being located closo to
the northern city limits on the line
of the Burlington railway.
This project would supply all t':e
power required by said railway i ;r
its immense shops in PlattsmoutK
I think the cut should be used .as
a headliner and underneath the c::
tion "Plattsmouth's Great Pial te
River Power Project. Home of t ie
Burlington Railway Shops."
In regard to available land, there
is more than one thousand acres of
"made" land east of the depot and
adjacent to the proposed water power
plant. A very small expense, pro
portionately, would reclaim this val
uable land, just the same as the
Union Pacific railroad and the Sch
melters did in Omaha. It is a made-to-order
place and should form the
basis for the removal of, the Ilave
lock shops.
MR. SHARP'S OPEN LETTER
. TO THE BURLINGTON R. R.
Plattsmouth, Neb., July 24.
Mr. W. F. Thiehoff,
cific bids it halt, and on whose iny
rid of ramifications cover thousands
of miles in extent and likewise as
shown by the map are doited with
hundreds of towns that have appear
ed co-incident with the coming of
the steel rails, slowly building up an
empire of its own from out of the
barren wastes which not so many
years ago confronted it, there has
come to pass one of the engineering
feats of the century and a dream of
these early pioneers in the railroad
game who played no small part in
bringing it about.
On the map. Mr. Thiehoff, among
the almost countless dots which are
indicated on the lines of the Eurliug
toa as representing these colonies of
useful inhabitants, will be found one
which represents Plattsmouth.
Associated with this particular
dot there exists a legend in which
the generic life spark of the Bur
lington railway had its inception,
fanned by the onward rush of civ
ilization and greater things. This
particular dot has long since lost its
importance in the minds of men who
now direct the policy of this great
railway. (
As the writer recalls, it is now al
most a decade since Plattsmouth,
then an almost frontier town nest
ling among the seven hills and on
whose border the Old Muddy then
and now was on the job, was served
by steamboats that lined its shores
the only means of useful transpor
tation between St. Louis and Fort
Benton, yet a thousand miles beyond.
It was then the word went forth that
D-
-
HAVELOCK ATTORNEY
DEFIES BURLINGTON
Lincoln. July 22. (Special
Telegram) Clifford L. Rein,
city attorney of Ilavelock, the
Burlington shop town, todav
told W. F. Thiehoff, general
manager of lines west, Bur
lington, that Thiehoff's inti
mation of refusal to enlarge
the Ilavelock shors because of
lack of protection given by
officials to men desiring to
work is "old stuff."
"Too frequent usage of this
threat has depleted its origi
nrl force; it is' old stuff,"
Rein wrote in an open letter
to Thiehoff.
In referring to the search
light maintained at the Ilave
lock shops to protect Bur
lington property, Rein wrote
as follows:
"Unless we secure your co
operation in getting the
searchlight discontinued or a
court order forcing you to dis
continue its use, we shall de
cline to be responsible for
maintenance of law and order
in this community."
The mayor and three out of
a total of four councilmen at
Ilavelock are labor union
members.
Omaha Bee.
-
-
the Burlington railroad was to have
its inception.
Mr. Thiehoff. you should have
stood near the bank of the old Mis
souri on that memorable day when
a noble crowd of hardy pioneers with
bared heads and gracious uplift of
horny hands thanked the great Di
rector of all destinies when a feeble
woman whose adornment wa3 a plain
calico dress, placed a spade in the
ground and moved the first earth for
the great Burlington railway.
Nor was this all. It was in those
times when the Burlington railway
was feeble itself, the people poor and
the destinies of the beyond unknown,
that our small band of faithful
frontiersmen and women bonded
themselves for an almost unheard of
amount in those days, and also gave
ureful property and necessary help
to the proposed railway went down
in their lowly homes and gave theri
all to assist the Burlington railway
at a time when its existence waver
edin the balance.
Mr. Thiehoff, this was the time
when the directors of the railway,
out of their genuine appreciation,
orc L pouts v
m
and as a reward for a great effort in
their behalf, bound themselves in
contracts binding to them and the
world forever, to mnke Plattsmouth
the generic base for their operation
henceforth. It was then they glad
ly, in consideration of the favors
rendered, bound themselves to for
ever maintain their railway head
quarters and their engineering and
machine shops, in this city.
Now, Mr. ThiehoiT, how well did
this work out?
In those days the company had a
frame building north of the present
what may be termed the depot. The
writer recalls the old timers, includ
ing Mr. G. W. Koldrege, whom you
have succeeded, Mr. Calvert and
many others, whom it will not be
necessary to name. These men call
ed Plattsmouth home. Everyone was
happy and Plattsmouth responded to
the growing strength of the railway,
with its own industry becoming a
hustling and important center. As
the lines of steel were laid westward
through the sand hills toward Den
ver, the shops here were animated
both by day and night. Hundreds
of faithful workers labored hard far
into the night at very small re
muneration as compared to present
recompense. Our faithful women
also shared the burdens of this great
enterprise, toiling early and late.
Gradually the machine shops and
car departments and the great store
house of materials continued to grow.
Prosperity was among the people
a now fixed potential railroad town
whose every wish was gratified.
Our people in confidence inverted
their all in little homes which dot
ted our green hills; our city offices
were as yet manned by the ranks of
railway employes. The only thought
of the entire inhabitants was and
is the welfare of the Burlington rail
way. Mr. Thiehoff, in this period of suc
cess there came a time when all was
serene, when lives were happy.
While gardens bloomed, children
played, housewives sang and little
savings were secure. Our moneyed
people invested in substantial struc
tures in faith and security that a
groat railway system and its respon
sible men would likewise be faithful
and honor their holy contracts. Mr.
Thiehoff, while fortune thus smiled
on a happy and contented people,
there came from out of the Blue an
order to remove the headquarters
from Plattsmouth and between suns
it was so. Imagine, if you will, the
feelings of those who played their
last penny on the integrity of more
than a promise of a great railway
company, but this they stood as best
thev could.
Nor wa3 thl3 all! Out from the
same mysterious tribunal part of and
apart from the railway offices, the
greater and stunning blow fell upon
us when the order came to curtail
the activities of the shops here and
to erect the Ilavelock shops at Lin
coln. And it was so!
The story is that the shops were
not promoted for Havelock because
of any inherent advantages its loca
tion might have for the company or
any contributions from the citizens
of Lincoln. Perhaps there are many
in Lincoln who do not yet know of
these great shops, but the story is,
and it has not been contradicted,
that a group of "higher-ups" in the
railway service secured the farm
land for a bagatelle and profited in
dividually by the removal of the
Plattsmouth machine shops onto this
barren waste which is so Impregnat
ed with salt and alkali and has such
poor drainage that it was only by al
most superhuman effort the place
was made inhabitable, and in any
event was segregated so far from
Lincoln the employes had to create
a town by themselves.
Mr. Thiehoff. I ask you. was it
necessary to send this blow onto
Plattsmouth? It is true, the com
pany maintains some activity in
works at this city, but is it the gen
eral headquarters and engineering
works of the railway company; is it
in compliance with what our pio
neers paid for in good faith? Was
it justice, when even it is observed
that no material benefits in efficiency
to the railroad itself were secured,
but primarily of benefit only to a
group of land speculators who had
I MM
WAT a
i nothing tolose and much to gain,
I even if our city lost its all or its
' basic morale, which is worse.
Nor was this all! Not on your
life! Recently and during our pres
ent labor differences, the order came
to remove the brass foundry from
our midst probably to Havelock
and it was so. Our people appreciate
this department because it was the
last vestage which linked the old
engineering shop and its promises to
the city. It may be true it is a small
department when the works are
viewed as a whole, but It was the
last monument that linked the old
to the new.
Mr. Thiehoff, as you may know,
many locomotives were built. in the
i the Plattsmouth shops. The com-
pany's records will show that even
at that time these machines were
built here for less money than any
where else on the system. The en
tire production of the shops was on
the most efficient basis and could
not be duplicated elsewhere. Our
men lived only for the railway; it
was their soul and their life, and .of
their loved ones, but the tragic order
came and homes were broken and
sombre gray settled over the hills,
all because tricksters placed money
before all, even life itself.
Is Plattsmouth a good place for
your railway shops? IT IS!
Perfect drainage to the Missouri
river gives us the lowest mortality
rate in the state. Natural spring
water right out of the lime rocks un
der the shops themselves. It was
originally a pivot point for manu
facture, stores and distribution for
all equitable directions on the sys
tem a natural home town and a
natural shop town. Also, there has
been ignored the fact that almost
within the city, limits is available
the finest water power project in the
state, where at least ten thousand
horse power can be made available
at nominal expense out of the Platte
river which empties its last waters
right at our door. This available
energy diverted to the shops here
would eliminate the coal problem
entirely and also reduce materially
the large operating expense Incident
to coal power methods.
Also, it has been unreasonably
claimed that we are short of room.
Perhaps, for your information, the
writer may state that there Is avail
able as much as one thousand acres
of land adjacent to railway property,
which by reasonable effort can be re
claimed in the same manner as was
done by the Smelters in Omaha, and
elsewhere, as well.
Mr. Thiehoff, can a corporation
afford to keep faith? We think so!
Can the Burlington railroad afford
to perpetuate an injustice on its
friends who stood by it in the days
of its early struggles? Mr. Thiehoff,
the crime of Havelock not only cost
the Burlington railway countless
thousands due to improper location,
but also left the grey, bitter reflec
tion in the hearts of old friends it
humiliatted and deserted in the old
home town.
Mr. Thiehoff, there is no place like
HOME, and now that Havelock and
Lincoln have manifested the true
spirit that can only actuate from an
alkali base and which can only con
tinue to exhaust the functions of a
railway co-ordination, the situation
has therefore Justly given you the
opinion that another location more
favorable for such works be secured.
Mr. Thiehoff, it is not too late to
return these works to Plattsmouth
and rectify so far as possible the
great wrong perpetrated on an hon
est community unfairly disfranchised
of its rightful possessions, a situa
tion also depriving the railway of
natural advantages which can be
reckoned in money of large propor
tions. Mr. Thiehoff, bring the old boys
back to the homes among the green
hills, the same old trees, the flow
ers, the birds, where the same old
Missouri river rolls on, contented
and faithful as ever the efficiency
of quiet comfort and home life for
the faithful employes. i
While it may be true that our
present employes are on vacation, it
can also be said that never in the
past history of the railroad's activi
ties in Plattsmouth, has any trouble
ever originated here, and it should
m
Perhaps you have a mortgage against -your place.
Maybe it is not due yet, but probably have an option
or right to pay the loan in full when you pay the
next interest.
If you are paying more than 5!2c now, don't wait for
the loan to become due, but see me about a new
loan before the next interest paying date.
GEO. O. DOVEY
be clear that the present unrest is
due solely to foreign influence prob
ably originating at Lincoln and
Havelock, where there is nothing
else for them to think about, ma
rooned as it were in an oasis of
wind swept alkali desert, and where
home life as it should exist can find
no proper foundation.
Mr. Thiehoff, see that the Bur
lington shops are moved to Platts
mouth, the dot of greatest potential
energy on the Burlington system. We
welcome you HOME! You need our
atmosphere, we need you and Platts
mouth is faithful to the end. Can
such mutual interests be disregard
ed? We think not.
Mr. Thiehoff, we trust this memo
randum may enlighten you on a
little history of the past and empha
size the neglected duties the Burling
ton railway should exercise, not only
in the interests of its own behalf, but
also out of consideration of a com
munity which has long suffered from
the unwarranted acts performed by
the past officers of a great company.
Now that the opportunity has arriv
ed when you can recommend that
mutual Justice be accorded by re
turning to us the Burlington shops
in their entirety, we trust you will
give consideration to our plea.
With very highest regard and a
faithful interest in all that means
welfare and prosperity for the Bur
lington and its employes, we await.
Sir, your favorable action.
FATHER PLATTSMOUTH,
Home of the Burlington.
Biliousness and Constipation
"For years I was troubled with
biliousness and constipation, which
made life miserable for me. My ap
petite failed me. I lost my usual
force and vitality. Pepsin prepara
tions and cathartics only made mat
ters worse." GC do not know where I
should have been today had I not
tried Chamberlain's Tablets. The
tablets relieve the ill feeling at once,
strengthen . the digestive functions,
helping the system to do its work
naturally," writes Mrs. Rosa Potts,
Birmingham, Ala. Weyrich & Had
raba. Blank books at the Journal Office.
ANNOUNCEMENT!
WE HOW GIVE "S. &H." GREEH STAHPS
The giving of a little "Extra" for prompt settlement is an
old established custom by many merchants throughout the
land. War times has taught us many valuable lessons in
"THRIFT." Our Government calls it "Conservation," which
implies that we must Save to Have.
The adoption of "S. & H.' Green Trading Stamps by
this store, and the issuing of same on all cash purchases of
our old and new customers, will enable them to "Save, Have
and be Thrifty."
START A BOOK TODAY
HERE IS THE PLAN: One stamp will be given with
every 10c purchase. A stamp book in which you will save the
stamps .will be furnished at this store. When your book is
filled you can select the article of your choice from a large and
varied selection of merchandise.
Our desire to give full value and a substantial reward for your
cash patronage brings this announcement. We will ap
preciate your trade and oar prices and added discount in
Green Stamps will make it worth your while to try us.
Trade with us and share the benefits of Prompt Ser
vice and Quality Merchandise. We want your
patronage and we are rsady to reward you with
a substantial discount in "5. & H," Stamps.
You will save money by dealing with us, because we
handle the best quality groceries at Rock Bottom Prices. When
you deal, look for a square deal. We do not keep groceries -we
hustle to sell them, thus assuring our customers fresh gro
ceries on every purchase.
Gone In! We Invite Your Inspection!
. Kauble E3ishel,
Staple and Fancy Groceries.
Our Motto: Quality, Courtesy, Service and Fair Prices!
South Sixth Street, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
FORD BUILDS OWN
WINDSHIELD GLASS
Departs From Customary Methods
And Applies Ford Principles
To Making Windshields.
The Ford Motor company, Detroit,
has begun to manufacture its own
platp glass, and already has in oper
ation the first modern glass house
ever equipped especially to inak
glass for automobiles.
As is customary when taking over
the manufacture of a new product.
Ford has applied his own principles
of production and, as a consequence,
the methods and machinery used In
making Ford glass are a radical de
parture from established practice.
The Ford continuous conveyor sys
tem features the operations so that
from the time the gliss leaves the
furnace until it becomes a polished
windshield, it is always moving.
Class making, when viewed in the
Ford plant, looks to bo very simple.
The raw materials are Introduced in
to the furnace where they lecom a
molten mass. Drawn from the fur
nace in a semi-liquid state, the glass
passes under a roller, which gives
it width and thickness, and on to a
moving conveyor. This carries it for
464 feet thru a gradually cooling
furnace. At the end it is cut and
placed on another conveyor which
carries it thru the grinding and pol
ishing, after which it Is ready for
use.
This adds a new link to the fist
growing chain of Ford Industries,
which are being established and ex
panded from time to time in 1 i in
with the Ford policy to achieve com
plete independence of outside mate
rial source-? in manufacturing Ford
products, and at the same time arc
the means by which Ford is enabled
to use in the production of motor
cars, trucks and tractors material of
unusually high quality and sell them
at the famous Ford prices.
Popular copyrights and the latest
fiction at the Journal office.