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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1939)
THE PLATTSMOUTH EVENING JOURNAL PAGE THREE V MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1939. ( ( Russian Grass Becomes a Boon to Northwest Desert Inroads Halted by Planting Over Vast Area Early Growth Important. By FRED BAILEY WASHINGTON (UP) Crested wheatgrass, brought from the steppes or Russia, is turning the Northern Great Plains from a threatened desert into a valuable grazing land. The new grass is the only one found which will anchor soil left unprotected by the breaking of the plains for wheat years ago and at the same time withstand drouths and extreme cold. The Agriculture Department is urging farmers in the western spring wheat belt to plant acreage taken from wheat under the crop reduction program in the new grass. Already more than 5,500.000 acres have been planted. Introduced in 1898 This grass was introduced Into United States frcm the cold, dry plains of Russia by the Agriculture Department in 1898 but did not attract much attention until 1915 when it was first sown in the North ern Great Plains. Planting of the hardy grass has increased at nearly 1.000,000 acres a year since 1935, when it came into general use after the disastrous 1934 drouth. At least 20.000,000 ncres are estimated to be suited for its planting. "It is a hardy, drouth-resistent, perennial bunch grass that fits ideally into the conservation plans of the Agricultural Adjustment Administra tion for the great plains which were covered in their native state with a luxuriant growth of bunch grasses that are difficult, if not impossible, to re-establish," C. B. Carter of the AAA western division said. Being native of a cold climate and therefore, able to grow at low temperatures, crested wheatgrass makes earlier and more rapid growth than other grasses which can be grown in the Northern Great Plains, Carter explained. Early Growth Important This ability to start early gives It a distinct advantage, as a pasture grass. Experiments indicate that it is superior to native grass foVcaltle. During a drouth it is virtually dor mant, but springs up quickly after a rain, even in late summer. Its adaptability extends south to and Including Colorado but at alti tudes of less than 5,000 feet does not appear to give satisfactory re sults. For that reason, it has not been found satisfactory for the Dust Bowl region of the southern plains. Most of the seeded acreage is in five states Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. About 200,000 acres are grown for seed, mostly In Oregon and Washington. DENIS AND WIFE ARRANG ING TRIP INTO DEEP ASIA PUTNAM. Conn. (UP) Mr. and Mrs. Armand Denis, whose expedi tions into Africa have made not able motion pictures, are getting ready for another safari into little known areas of the world, this time into deepest Asia. Denis and his wife, the former Lelia Roosevelt, plan to leave about the middle of April for Chungking, China, where they will meet 19-year-old Quentin Roosevelt, Harvard sophomore, who already i3 in China. The couple not only will make a visual record of this expedition; they plan to take along sound re cording equipment to bring back to the United States the voices and tribal music of the inhabitants of interior Asia. Denis said the ultimate destina tion of the expedition was Szech vvan province, but visits may also be made to sections of Tibet and India, depcuding on what they find. Mr. and Mrs. Denis are busily oc cupied in making last-minuto pre parations fcr the trip. A motor car firm at Detroit is constructing epecial-type trucks which will be used to tarry equipment. LeRoy Phelps. New Haven, cam eraman on the African expedition of three years ago, again will serve in the same capacity on the Asian jour ney, it was announced. Remainder of tne personnel has not yet been selected. Mr. and Mrs. Denis are well known for the motion pictures "Goona goona." "Wild Cargo" and the latest. "Park Rapture." Cass county Mas no tonffeJ in debtedness, as, like the state, wo nve paid cash for our hard sur faced roads and other improve, ments as we went. Castle On Rhine Or American Wife GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (UP) Katherine Landman Tonnis married a nazi, doesn't regret it, but prefers a simple home in the United States to a castle on the Rhine. Mrs. Tonnis, a resident of .Grand Rapids since childhood, will fall heir to a. family castle at Dusseldorf up on the death of an aunt, its present owner it was while visiting the aunt at Dusseldorf several years ago that Mrs Tonnis, then Katherine Land man, met her husband-to-be, a Ger man aeronautical engineer in a mili tary aircraft factory. They were mar ried after a whirlwind courtship and for two years Mrs Tonnis resided with her husband in the militarized industrial town of Gotha rear the Czecho-Slovakian border. She returned to America last Nov ember. Her husband promised to join her, to see if he preferred the United States to the totalitarian regimenta tion of his native reich. According to Mrs. Tonnis, the agreement is for a two-year trial at the end of which Big Telescope on Texas Peak into Use Soon McDonald Observatory With 82-Inch Lens Opens May 5 Vision Vastly Lengthened. FORT DAVIS, Tex. (UP) Scien tists and educators from all parts of the nation will participate May 5 in the dedication of the new McDonald observatory, which ranks second only to the Mt. Wilson observatory in I California as an astronimical experi ment station. The observatory was constructed by the University of Texas from an $800,000 trust fund left by the late William J. McDonald, a Paris, Tex., banker. The University of Texas and the University of Chicago will operate the observatory jointly, Texas con tributing most of the money to con struct it and Chicago contributing toward maintenance and operation. The observatory is situated on the summit of Mt. Locke, 6,800 feet above sea level, in the Davis moun tains of west Texas. Fort Davis, the nearest community, is 16 miles away. 'and the closest railroad is 42 miles away. Astronomers believe that in nuch an isolated spot their experi ments will be more successful. Scientists to Attend Officials said that it has been more than 25 years since such an import ant addition has been made to as tronomical research facilities. The dedication will be held during the convention at Alpine, Tex., of the southwestern section of the American Laughing Around the World With IRVIN S. COBB As Translated Into The English By IRVIN S. COBB COMETIMES a story takes on added value in the re-telling: of it even though the man who repeats it gets it twisted. This doesn't hap pen often, still it does happen. I recall an instance: One night at dinner in honor of a distinguished visiting English man'! was reminded of a yarn which I had from Sam Blythe and when I was called upon by the chairman to speak a few words I told it and it went very well. It had to do with a prospector in Oklahoma who, on a Saturday night, bought a quart of moonshine whiskey and took it to his lonely cabin, anticipating a pleasant Sunday. But as he crossed the threshold he stumbled and fell, dropping his precious burden and smashing the bottle, so that its aromatic contents were wasted upon the floor. Depressed by his misfortune, the unfortunate man went to bed. As he lay there bemoaning his loss, a mangy, furtive, half-grown rat with one ear and part of a tail, emerged timorously from a hole in the baseboard, sat up, sniffed the laden air and then, darting swiftly to where the liquor made a puddle in a depression of the planking, ran out its tiny pink tongue, took one quick sip of the stuff and fled in sudden panic to its retreat. But it didn't stay; shortly it again ao peared, and now a student of rats would have discerned that a transi tion had taken place in the spirits of this particular rat. Suddenly it had grown cocky, debonair, almost reckless. It traveled deliberately back to the liquor and imbibed again. Seemingly satisfied it started for home but, changing its mind, it returned and partook a third time of the refreshment. Immediately then its fur stood ori end, it eyes burned red, like pigeon-blood rubies, and straightening itself upon its hind legs it waved its forepaws in a gesture of defiance and shrilly cried out: "Now, bring on that dad-blamed cat!" No one seemed to enjoy my little story more than did the guest of the evening. After the party broke up he made me tell it to him all over again. I could tell from his expression that he was trying to memorize it. In fact, he confessed to me that he expected to use it when he got home as a typical example of American humor. Six months later I was in London. I attended a dinner. My Eng lish friend was the toastmaster. Perhaps my presence recalled to him the anecdote he had so liked. At any rate, he undertook to repeat it. His version of it ran for perhaps twenty minutes. He entered into a full exposition of the potency of the illicit distillation known among the Yankees, he said, as "shining moon." He went at length into the 6ubject of the habits of rats, pointing out that inasmuch as rats did not customarily indulge in intoxicants a few drops of any liquor carrying high alcoholic content would be likely, for the time being at least, to alter the nature of almost any rat. At length he reached his point. It ran like this: "And then, this little rodent, being now completely transformed by Its repeated potations, reared bolt upright and, voicing the potvalor of utter intoxication both in tone and manner, it cried out in a voice like thunder: "I say, I wonder if there isn't a cat about somewhere I. Cottage Here? of Nazi Picks U. S. her husband will decide whether to seek American citizensip or return to Germany. "If he should decide to return, I shall go with him," Mrs. Tonnis said, "but I believe that he will like it better here. "America has a higher standard of living, my husband will earn a higher wage and he likes life free and easy." Although Tonnis now ,wcrks in a German plane factory, Mrs. Tonnis said he was a peace-loving man. "If he comes to the U. S. he said he would prefer working in trans port aviation," she eiplained.- Although Mrs. Tonnis "likes Amer ica better" and will give up her claim to the ancestral castle by remaining in this country, she does not dislike Germany She said she likes the Ger man people, admires many things in the land and has deep respect for Adolf Hitler. Reared as an American however, she prefers its traditional freedom and hopes her husband will as well. Association for the Advancement of Science. Many of the scientists plan to attend the dedicatory ceremonies. The chief instrument at the Mc Donald observatory is an 82-inch reflecting telescope which was com pleted last year. Work on it began in 1933. The three-ton 82-inch telescope is next in size to the 100-inch instru ment at Mt. Wilson. The 200-inch Palomar telescope still is under con struction. Scientists say there will be no Competition between workers at the McDonald and Wilson observa tories, since the work of one will be used to supplement the data gathered by the other. Vision Vastly Lengthened As an indication of the size and power of the McDonald telescope, astronomers explained that photo graphs will be taken of stars which are one million times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye. It has been estimated that, eliminating curvature of the earth and other obstacles, the new reflector type telescope could pick up an image of a man 3,000 miles away. After the dedication on May 5, fifteen famous astronomers will par ticipate in a two-day symposium or ganized by Dr. Otto Struve, director of the McDonald Observatory as well as of the University of Chicago's Yerkes observatory in Williams Bay, Wis. Dr. Robert Maynard Kutchins, president of the University of Chi cago, of Chicago, and the late Dr. H. Y. Benedict, president of Texas, began negotiations in 1932 that finally led to construction of the Mc Donald observatory. Trend Toward formal Noted in South China Refugees From Canton Return to Homes and Business Free Passage to Canton. By HAROLD GUARD HONG KONG (UP) There is a steady exodus of Chinese from Hong Kong, former refugees who are re turning to Canton and Kwantung province generally. The Japanese consulate in Hong Kong is besieged daily by crowds who left their homes and places of business in Canton in October, 1938, clamoring for the permits neces sary for their return. A Japanese official said it is esti mated that the Chinese are being repatriated at the rate of 1,000 a week, traveling facilities being pro vided by the Japanese either by the weekly Japanese steamers to Canton from Hong Kong or a twice weekly service via Macao. A survey among those applying to return revealed that the great ma jority are doing so solely with the object of re-establishing their busi ness in Canton, prepared to abide by the Japanese "new order." Others are trying to return simply to visit Ihe scene of their former homes. Free Passage to Canton Japanese authorities are afford ng every facility for their return :o their home towns. The increas ing number of applications is effi ciently handled by Japanese con sular officials; a free passage to Can ,on is given, but there is no guar antee that the Chinese can leave Can '.on again should they desire to do 10. r'rom Macao, reports indicate steadily increasing Japanese trans shipments to Canton to cope with the the outbreak of hostilities. The Japanese population of Can ton on March 1 was reported to be 3.4C0 as compared with 300 prior to theoutbreak of hostilities. In Macao there are also indications that Japanese business concerns arc endeavoring to establish branches in the Portuguese colony. A resident of Macao said there are constant Jap anese inquiries for housing and busi ness accommodation and the local hotels are filled with itinerant Jap anese merchants. ' " Rental Rates4 Soar The demand for accommodation is resulting in soaring rentals in Macao and it is said that the Jap anese are willing and apparently able to pay any price. The recent report in the Asahi Shimbun, of an agreement having been reached between the Macao au thorities and the Japanese regarding Japan's utilization of Macao has been officially denied by Portuguese colonial government officials. Like the Japanese foreign office, they point out that such agreement could be made only between the govern ments at Tokyo and Lisbon. However, they admit that a Por tuguese envoy from Macao, Captain Gorgulho, recently visited Tokyo, and it is generally believed he carried representation to the Japanese for eign office regarding the further ance of trade relations betweeu rMacao and Canton. ARCHE0L0GIST SAYS INDIAN NEVER HAD SOUND TEETH ST. LOUIS (UP) Dr. Paul F. Tittcrington, archeologist, brands as "only a myth" the idea that the In dians had sound teeth before the white man invaded the continent. He says there is evidence that the Indian suffered acid mouth and de cayed teeth as well as those with highly abscessed roots. VETERAN SOLDIER DIES. , EXPONENT OF NO. 12 LONDON (UP) The number "12" played a large role in the life cf Edward Bland, who died at Wood Green, at the age of 7. Bland joined the army as a drum mer at the age of 12. in the 12th regiment, on the 12th day of the 12th month, and served a 12-year term in the reserves. BOMB AMERICAN MISSION SHANGHAI, China, April 6 (UP) The Central News Agency reported today from Changsha that Japanese planes yesterday dropped six bombs on the American Mission, destroy ing one building. It was the fifteenth bombing of American property with in a mouth. See the poods you buy. CataToa but how about the Goods when descriptions are alluring enough, you cot them? Phone news items to He. 8. APPEALS DAMAGE AWARD LINCOLN, April 6 (UP) E. Merle Guilliatt and Walter Hoffman of Nebraska City filed an appeal to day with the supreme court from an Otoe county district court decision awarding Ralph Long $1,950 for in juries suffered in an automobile ac cident near Nebraska City in Decem ber) 1937. Long charged Hoffman, who was driving a beer truck for Guilliatt, with negligence. Seek Revenue in Auto Financ ing Fire Tax State Insurance Commissioner Finds Many Financing Companies In surance, No Tax Paid. LINCOLN, April 8 (UP) A pos sible source of additional tax revenue which might yield as much as $2,000, 000 annually was outlined yesterday to the legislature's special insurance investigation committee by E. B. Smith, Fremont Fire and Casualty insurance agent, and Charles Smrha, state insurance director. Smith tcld.the committee that sev eral large automobile financing com panies selling fire insurance in the state do not report their premiums to county assessors for taxation, as required by law The city of Alliance alone lost $440 last year because of one company's failuretoreport its premiums, Smith said. Smrha agreed with Smith that auto mobile salesmen who also sell insur ance on cars should pay insurance fees, particularly when they seek in surance renewals after an automobile has been paid for under such finance plans. He suggested as a method of assur ing that fire insurance companies re port their premiums for taxation (the major portion of the tax goes to the cities and counties) that companies be required to report to the state in surance department the premiums written in each locality. The depart ment could relay the information to county assessors as a check upon the company's tax report to the county. The committee questioned Smrha concerning the $100,000 collateral de posit requirement of Nebraska insur ance firms. Smrha described the de posit as" a "drop in the bucket" and said securities " deposited, although accepted at par value when filed, might shrink in value. The committee suggested a collat eral deposit equal to a company's re serve, as in some other states, and agreed informally a check should be set up to require maintenance of the collateral at a satisfactory level. KILL PILL TO ABOLISH STATE SHERIFF'S OFFICE LINCOLN, April 6 (UP) The legislature today unexpectedly killed a bill proposing to abolish the state sheriff's office and transfer its crim inal investigation duties to the state highway patrol. The motion to indefinitely post pone was offered by Senator George B. Gross as a substitute for a motion by Senator Emil Von Seggern, intro ducer of the bill, to advance it to final reading. Senator Amos Thomas, presiding, declared the bill, LB 285 killed by a voice vote, but Von Seggern objected and requested a vote on the decision of the chair. The chair was sus tained, 19 to S. The bill would have taken the bafety patrol from jurisdiction of the higlway department nd would have placed it under the governor for use in emergency criminal work. TO PLANT MORTON TREE WASHINGTON, April 6 (UP) The Nebraska delegation- today ar rived to plant an elm tree, taken from Arbor Lodge, Nebraska City, on the department of x agriculture grounds on April 22, Arbor day. Representative George H. Heinke, republican, Nebraska City, was se lected as 4he master of ceremonies and speaker for the occasion. April 22 is the birth anniversary of J. Sterling Morton, founder, of Arbor Day. Arbor Lodge was his home. TORNADO IN ARKANSAS STEPHENS, Ark., April 6 (UP) A dozen store buildings were dam aged and four residences demolish ed last night when a tornado struck an area about two blocks wide and a half mile in length here. A few minor injuries were reported but there were no fatalities. Whether your printing Jot fa large or small, it will recelva our prompt attention. Call No. 6. PLAN FOR NUDIST CAMP VALLEY, Neb., April 6 (UP) An effort to legalize nudist camps in Nebraska may be made soon, Rev. H. P. Ferree, Valley health camp operator and a pioneer in the nudist movement indicated today. Nebraska is one of the few "unen lightened" states where nudism has not been established, Ferree said. There are two methods of estab lishing the cult, he said. One is by legislation, the other by inviting ar rest and securing favorable court decisions. The attorney general's of fice at Lincoln has refused a definite opinion as to whether or. not nudist camps are liable to prosecution un wer the indecent exposure statute. Ferree, a minister in the Church in Common, Inc., Denver, Colo., was to have performed a nudist wedding atop one of Colorado's tallest peaks on Easter Sunday morning. The wed ding, he said, had been postponed until June at the request of the groom-to-be who wishes to finish his high school education before em barking on his marital adventure. College Boys in the Ranks of Erratic Eaters One Disposes of 139 Angle Worms, One Bites Off Head of Snake and Another Eats Magazine. CORVALLIS, Ore.. April 6 (UP) Marion Salisbury, Oregon State col lege sophomore, inaugurated a new "twist" today to the current "gold fish gulping" epidemic swallowing 139 angle worms. Young Salisbury downed two handsful of fat, well-washed garden variety angle words in two gulps, tossed off a "chaser" of water and collected a $5 wager. Sponsors of a college rally dance barred him from attending when word of his "accomplishment" got around. Faculty members described the stunt as "undesirable publicity" but indicated they planned no dis ciplinary action. Salisbury, exhibiting no outward signs of turmoil, gave this statement in his defense: "The angle worm, extracted from clean earth, is pure, uncontamin ated animal protein just as edible as any other protein known. Someone blazed the trail for tomatoes, which were once looked on as poison and scorned as food. STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Cal., April 6 (UP) Tom Killefer, 22-ycar-old Stanford student from Hermosa Beach, Cal., collected a $1 wager from a fellow student today. Be fore a crowd of cheering students he bit off the head of a 12-inch water snake. Nobody demanded that he swallow It. EASTON. Pa., April fi (UP? Jo seph Stokitsky of New York, a La fayette college junior, joined the ranks of the erratic eaters today, but took no chances of having fishbones stick in his stomach. Stolitsky picked up a magazine and in 25 minutes flat he had eaten the covers. He said he felt no ill effects. QUINS TO GREET RULERS NORTH BAY, Ont., April 6 (UP) The Dionne quintuplets will make their iirst trip outside Callander on May 22 when they journey to To ronto where they will be presented to the king and queen of Great Britain. The board of guardians for merly accepted the Invitation of the Ontario government yesterday. Under present plans the quin tuplets, accompanied by their parents and probably their seven brothers and sisters, together with Dr. Allan R. Dafoe and at least two nurses, will be brought to Toronto by special train. The quin3 have never seen a train outside the tiny village of Callander where they were born. Any conversation between the rjuins and the majesties will be con ducted in French. CLAIM FRUIT INJURED FALLS CITY, Neb., April 6 (UP) Fruit and vegetables in Richard son county were damaged today when the mercury dropped to 28 de grees. Henry Kloepfel, government weath er bureau observer here, said early gardens probably will suffer heavy damage as a result of the hard freeze. Apricots, which are open and which were in lowlands, are also be lieved seriously damaged. Other fruits are believed to have escaped injury. Want ads are read and almost invariably gel results. 'See Americas' to be Slogan for 21 Nations Travel Congress Opens in San Tini Cisco April 14 U. S. Spon sors the Session. SAN FRANCISCO (UP) Nine teen Latin American nations, to gether with the United States and Canada, will be represented at the First American Travel Congress to be held here beginning April 14. From the congress is expected to form plans and projects to develop to the fullest degree tourist travel on the two American continents. The slogan of "See America First" is to be given a new meaning in that the "America" to be seen first here after means the America of Canada, the United States and all the Latin American republics. The latter which have accepted invitations to participate in the con gress are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hon duras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru. Uruguay and Venezuela. The congress will be held under the Joint sponsorship of the Depart ment of the Interior and the U. S. Travel Bureau. It is expected that annual conferences will be held here after to link tourist and travel facil ities of the tow continents. The American delegation .will he composed of Conrad L. Wirth, super visor of recreation and land planning of the National Park Services; Nel don A.Loomis, of Washington, chief of the National Travel Bureau, and J. L. Bossemeyer, supervisor of the San Francisco office. Broad Program Drafted The agenda as prepared includes the discussion, for recommendation and action, of 56 questions. Some of these will need governmental ac tions to be put into effe-t whilo others will fall to the lot of the various agencies engaged in ad vancing tourist travel. Among the major questions to be discussed will be the simplification of passport and immigration regu lations to facllitatet ourist travel among American nations. Other topics will include such questions as establishment of na tional travel boards; organization of an inter-American Travel Fed oration; encouragement of travel by iutomobile as well as by steamship and rail; establishment of inter-Am-crican Olympic games; encourage ment of group travel; special trans portation and accommodation rates for educational parties or non-pleasure travel; development of native arts and crafts; preservation of na tive customs, and other kindred sub jects. WOULD CLAMP ON PROMOTERS LINCOLN, April (UP) Four bills designed to damp down on the activities of itinerant securities pro moters and salesmen in Nebraska and one insurance measure were intro duced in the legislature today by a special legislative insurance investi gation committee. Rules were suspended and the bills read twice. They were referred to the banking, commerce, and insur ance committee which has similar measures from the investigating group under consideration. A hear ing will be held on the bills April 11th. HITS STREET CAR, DIES OMAHA, April 6 ( UP) William Hrubsky, 23, died today of injuries received when his automobile col lided head on with a street car early this morning. A girl companion, Anne Lubedenek, 22, was seriously hurt. It was Omaha's eleventh auto fatality since January 1. . Rubber Stamps at vowett prrcos at the Journal Office. ALL insurance policies look very much alike but the real test is the service you receive after you have a claim! Searl 3. Davis OFFICKSi XKI) rU)OR Platts. State Bank CI Jg.