Seventy-Five Years Ago This Month
The Whole World Was in Mourning for
America's First Martyred President
“STOP THAT MAN!”—John Wilkes Booth flees across the stage of Ford’s theater in Washington
after firing the shot which ended the life of Abraham Lincoln. (From a drawing which appeared in
Harper’s Weekly, April 29, 1865).
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
IT IS the evening of April
14, 1865—Good Friday.
On the stage of Ford’s
theater in Washington the fa
mous actress, Laur r “>ene,
is playing in a dellg-MCaJ t om
edy, “Our American Cdiisin.”
Joining in the laughter that
sweeps through the aud'ence
from time to time is a gaunt,
sad-faced man sitting at ease
in a high-backed, satin-up
holstered rocking chair in an
upper stage box. Abraham
Lincoln is forgetting for a
few minutes the crushing re
sponsibilities which he, as
Chief Executive of a nation
r torn asunder in civi1 war, has
* bearing for four long
Tht\third act of the play
beginsAJhe President leans
over to Whisper something to
Mrs. Lincoln who sits beside
him. Neither the Lincolns
nor Mai Harry R. Rathbone
and a Miss Harris, who accom
panied them to the theater, notice
that a dark-moustached young
man has slipped through the door
at the rear of th'i box and is now
standing behind the President.
The next moment there is the
muffled sound of a shot. It is
unnoticed by the players on the
stage or the audience, still chuck
ling over the iast funny line they
have heard. But the President’s
head drops forward on his breast.
Startled, Major Rathbone looks
around. Through the smoke he
sees the dark young man with a
pistol in Ms hand and hears him
mutter something which sounds
like “Freedom!” The major leaps
to his feet and grapples with the
intruder, who slashes at him with
a knifi Clears loose from the offi
cer’s grasp and springs to the
front of the box.
As he vaults over the railing,
his spur catches in an American
flag which drapes the front of the
box. He drops heavily to the
stage with one leg doubled under
him, then scrambles to his feet.
With blood streaming from his
wounded arms, Rathbone rushes
to the front of the box.
“Stop that man! Stop him!” he
shouts. “The President has been
shot!”
But everyone is too stunned to
move for a moment. The young
man, waving aloft the bloody
knife, drags himself across the
stage and disappears in the
wings. But before he does so,
the startled actors recognize in
the white face and the black eyes
blazing with fanatical hatred the
familiar features of one of their
own profession — John Wilkes
Booth.
All this has taken place in less
time than it takes to tell it. The
next moment Ford’s theater is a
pandemonium of screaming
women and shouting men, shov
ing, pushing, breaking chairs,
crashing through railings and
trampling upon each other as they
surge toward the stage or try to
climb up to the box where the
moaning Mrs. Lincoln is support
ing her stricken husband and Ma
jor Rathbone is trying vainly to
open the door which the assassin
had barred from the inside.
Now the soldiers of the Presi
dent’s guard come bursting into
the theater and with fixed bayonets
and drawn pistols they charge
IN SPRINGFIELD—Outside the old Globe tavern, where Abra
ham Lincoln and Mary Todd spent their honeymoon, members of
the martyred President’s cabinet and other dignitaries awaited the
arrival of the funeral train in Lincoln’s home town.
the milling crowd. Their hoarse
shouts of “Clear out! Clear out,
you sons of hell!’’ rise above
the tumult as they drive the half
crazed audience out of the the
ater.
Meanwhile Rathbone has suc
ceeded in unbarring the door to
the box and several people,
among them a surgeon, rush in.
They see the tall form of the
Presirl ht slumped forward in his
chair, 4his sad eyes closed, never
to open again. Someone brings a
shutter, torn from a building near
by, and they lay his gaunt form
upon it. They carry him out of
the theater to the house of
Charles Peterson across the
street.
Ford’s theater is empty, de
serted now. Its curtain has been
rung down upon the comedy,
“Our American Cousin” — and
upon one of the greatest trage
dies in American history.
Death at 7:zz a. m.
The next morning Washington
newspapers carried this story:
“The body of President Lin
coln, who died from an assassin’s
bullet at 7:22 o’clock this morn
ing, was removed from the Peter
son residence opposite Ford’s the
ater to the executive mansion in
a hearse and wrapped in the
American flag. It was escorted
by a small squad of cavalry and
by Gen. Augur and other military
officials on foot. .A dense crowd
accompanied the remains to the
White House, where a military
guard excluded the people, allow
ing none but persons of the house
hold and personal friends of the
deceased to enter. Gen. Grant
arrived here at 2 o’clock in a spe
cial train from Philadelphia. His
presence tends somewhat to allay
the excitement.”
Leaf through the pages of James
G. Blaine’s “Twenty Years in
Congress,” published in 1886, and
read there this description of the
events which followed:
“The remains of the late Presi
dent lay in state at the execu
tive mansion, for four days. The
entire city seemed as a house of
mourning. The martial music
which had been resounding in
glad celebration of the national
triumph had ceased; public edi
fice and private mansion were
alike draped with the insignia of
grief.
“Funeral services, conducted by
the leading clergymen of the city,
were held in the east room on
Wednesday, the 19th of April.
Amid the solemn tolling of church
bells, and the still more solemn
thundering of minute guns from
the vast line of fortifications
which had protected Washington,
the body, escorted by an impos
ing military and civic procession,
was transferred to the rotunda oi
the Capitol.
‘‘The day was observed
throughout the Union as one of
fasting and prayer. Services in
the churches throughout the land
were held in unison with the serv
ices at the executive mansion, ,
and were everywhere attended
with exhibition of profound per
sonal grief.
The South in Sorrow.
"In all the cities of Canada
business was suspended, public
meetings of condolence with a
kindred people were held, and
prayers were read in the
churches.
“Throughout the Confederate
states, where war had ceased but
peace had not yet come, the peo
ple joined in significant expres
sions of sorrow over the death
of him whose very name they
had been taught to execrate.
“Early in the morning of the
21st the body was removed from
the capitol and placed on the
funeral car which was to trans
port it to its final resting place
in Illinois . . . The train which
moved from the national capital
was attended on its course by
extraordinary manifestations of
grief on the part of the people.”
As for the story of that sorrow
ful journey westward, no one has
ever told it better than Carl Sand
burg, poet and Lincoln biogra
pher. The closing words of his
masterpiece “Abraham Lincoln:
The War Years,” (published this
year by Harcourt, Brace and
company) — words whose stark
simplicity remind one of such
writings as the Gettysburg Ad
dress—-are these:
“There was a funeral.
“It took long to pass its many
given points.
“Many millions of people saw
it . . .
“The line of march ran seven
teen hundred miles.
“Yes, there was a funeral.
“From his White House in
Washington—where it began—
they carried his coffin, and fol
lowed it. nights and days for
twelve days . . .
“Bells tolling, bells sobbing the
requiem, the salute guns, cannon
rumbling their inarticulate tliun
aer.
“To Springfield, Illinois, the old
home town, the Sangamon near
by, the New Salem hilltop near
by, for the final rest of the cher
ished dust.
“And the night came with great
quiet.
“And there was rest.
“The prairie years, the war
years, were over.”
Bruckart*n Washington Digest
Government Ownership of Land
Creates Serious Taxing Problem
I
Revenue Formerly Collected From Private Property
Now Unavailable to Local Units Because of
Extensive Federal Holdings.
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
WNU Service, National Press
Bldg., Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON. — Through some
six weeks, the house committee on
military affairs has been holding
hearings on a question that is vital
to the entire nation, but yet it has
attracted little attention outside of
the areas directly concerned. The
I problem is one of taxes which six
| southern states are not collecting.
| That is. taxes which they used to
collect from private property but
are not available to those states
now because the federal government
has taken over the property.
To be more specific, these taxes
once were a fine source of revenue
for running the state and county and
city governments and the schools
and the policing and the building
of highways and such like in the
states of Alabama, Tennessee, Ken
tucky. North Carolina, Mississippi
and Georgia. But along came the
idealism of Sen. George Norris of
Nebraska, who wanted the govern
ment to drive out all private owner
ship of electric power, and along
came TVA, the Tennessee Valley
authority that has grown like stom
ach ulcers within the economic body
of the southland. When it came, it
took over millions upon millions of
dollars of property that had been
taxed by the state and local gov
ernments. So, after some seven or
eight years, the governments of
those states and cities and counties
want money with which to pay the
cost of legitimate government.
The original TVA laws provided
that this gigantic government-owned
octopus should contribute to those
state governments—certain sums in
lieu of taxes, but this was directed
only in the case of Tennessee and
Alabama. The others were not men
tioned. Those states were to re
ceive 5 per cent of the gross pro
ceeds of the sale of power by TVA.
As stated, the money was to be paid
to the state governments, alone.
Nothing was said about the counties
or the cities or smaller towns that
must have tax revenue upon which
to live.
Operation of TVA Program
Would Set Basic Power Rates
But the omission of the counties in
Alabama and Tennessee was only
one phase of the trouble that was to
come. You see, the TVA boys and
the dreams of the government-own
ership crowd wanted to expand the
functions and the capacity and the
scope of TVA. It was to be, in the
words of President Roosevelt, a
great yardstick by which the coun
try was to be able to measure the
cost of electric power. From the
TVA were to come basic rates by
which you and I were to know
whether private electric companies
were charging you and me and the
rest of us too much for lighting our
homes, etc.
So. it was only natural that the
TVA and its backers soon were pro
moting something bigger and better
in the way of its operations. Like
some dread disease, the pressure
of TVA on privately owned power
companies became too heavy to
bear, and they were swallowed up.
In one gulp, for instance, the gov
ernment-owned TVA took over the
vast properties of the Tennessee
Electric Power company for $100,
000,000. I understand that TVA got
quite a bargain, but the sale of the
property to TVA was no bargain for
the taxpayers in the areas it served
and, moreover, it was a terrible
blow to the state and county and
city governments in those regions.
They had been receiving vast sums
each year as taxes on these prop
erties. In one scratch of a pen, the
TVA almost put the local govern
ments on relief, for all of the mil
lions of taxable property became
non-taxable when the federal agen
cy—the TVA—took title to the prop
erty.
The government ownership crowd
which is driving hard now for gov
ernment ownership of a lot of other
things were as happy as a kid
with a new toy train. But like that
same youngster, they did not stop
to figure out just where their train
was going. Certainly, the honeyed
words of the TV A promoters in the
southland did not disclose to the
taxpayers of those areas what the
deal was going to cost them, ulti
mately.
Taxable Property Reduced
In Areas Served by TV A
It took several years of operation,
actual practical experience, for
those taxpayers and the officials of
LOST TAX DOLLARS
I Government ownership of land
in six southern states is causing
a serious tax situation for state,
county and local taxing bodies,
according to this article by Wil
liam Bruckart, Washington cor
respondent. Taxes formerly col
lected from private property
(now owned by the federal gov
ernment) are now unavailable.
Congress is at the present consid
sidering remedial legislation.
their state and county and city gov
ernments to get hold of the horrible
facts that are now being faced—
the same facts that have brought
scores of officials and others be
fore the house committee on mili
tary affairs, seeking relief.
The cold facts are that scores of
those counties in the six states
mentioned have had their taxable
property so reduced in quantity by
the continued expansion of TVA that
they are almost underoing tax star- i
vation. The committee record is
replete with testimony showing tax
rate increases in almost every area
served by TVA, and evidence of j
expectation of further tax Increases.
It is a simple statement, in most
instances. The witnesses — gover
nors, county Judges, mayors, spokes- j
men for groups of citizens—told al
most identical stories. TVA had
taken over so much taxable prop- j
erty that there was nothing left to j
tax for use of those local govern- |
ments. The governments had to
have running expenses. Thus, the
tax rates were increased.
Members of the committee on mil
itary afTairs are quite well aware of
the job that confronts them in try- j
ing to write legislation that will :
solve the tax problem for the vari
ous areas. The states want the j
money paid to them; the counties
want a share paid direct to them,
and the cities are squealing, too.
But there is much more to the
problem than just the TVA area.
You see, the government ownership
gang has fought for and brought
about construction of scores of other
publicly owned dams and power
projects. On the West coast, in the
inter-mountain area, in Nebraska,
where Senator Norris lives, in the
eastern and southern sections—ex
actly the same tax problem con
fronts those taxpayers or will come
up to haunt them, soon. Whatever
the committee does, it is present
ing to the house of representatives
a precedent-making legislative pro
posal. No one can envision its far
reaching possibilities.
Legislation Will Provide
Compensation for Tax Losses
There will be a bill of some kind,
undoubtedly, that will provide that
TVA pay more money to the re
gions where it operates. They ought
to have it. But the thing that makes
my blood boil is that the people of
those areas have been lied to and
propagandized so thoroughly that
they were not able to understand
how a scheming group was selling
them down the river. That is, they
did not see it until too late.
Right now, they are in the posi
tion where they cannot run their
own affairs. They must come to
congress and beg on bended knee
for help which they ought to be
' able to give themselves from their j
own resources which are their own
no longer. They have surrendered j
again to the federal government j
which, in the nature of things, is
very difficult for them to reach for 1
expression of their needs and an ex
planation of their own wishes.
There was included in the com
mittee a set of figures which 1 am
going to list here. The figures show
that 441 of the principal, privately
owned power and light companies
paid $317,742,200 in taxes in 1939. |
This tax, the record showed, j
amounted to 15.5 per cent of the to
tal revenue of those companies.
Here are the amounts, by states,
that these companies paid: Maine, j
$2,189,000; New Hampshire, $2,484.
300; Vermont, $1,228,500; Massachu
setts, $17,017,400; Rhode Island, $1,
824,200; Connecticut, $5,324,000; New
York, $61,996,900; New Jersey, $17,
494,900; Pennsylvania, $25,002,100;
Ohio, $16,960,200; Indiana, $7,988,
100; Illinois, $26,422,000; Michigan,
$10,624,000; Wisconsin, $8,817,000;
Minnesota, $4,904,700; lowa, $x.wz,
900; Missouri, $5,859,900; North Da
kota, $721,400; South Dakota. $509,
500; Nebraska, $1,731,000; Kansas,
$1,862,700; Delaware, Maryland and
District of Columbia, $7,120,500; Vir- j
ginia, $3,152,200; West Virginia, $4,
294,200; North and South Carolina, ,
$8,971,000; Georgia. $2,392,800; Flor- j
ida, $2,461,000; Kentucky, $3,093,200;
Tennessee, $4,374,400; Alabama, $3,-!
734,800; Mississippi, $1,212,600; Ar
kansas, $1,353,500; Louisiana, $3,- j
557,300; Oklahoma, $3,311,000; Tex-1
as, $8,237,300; Montana, $2,009,900;
Idaho and Utah, $3,383,500; Wyom- j
ing, $263,100; Colorado, $2,419,300;
New Mexico, $154,800; Arizona, j
$678,300; Nevada, $285,200; Washing- |
ton, $3,850,900; Oregon, $3,443,800;
California. $21,134,000.
Study of these tax payments (and j
they do not represent all of the pri-1
vately owned companies that are
paying taxes) ought to show even
the most stupid person that gradual
expansion of government ownership
means the slow but sure destruc
tion of another source of funds for
paying the cost of government. And
this slow destruction is taking place
at a time when every government
unit from the small village to the
state and federal governments are
in debt up to their necks and the
taxpayers are being bled white by
current taxation methods.
Exnort Excess Over Import Distorted by Effects of War
WASHINGTON. — War distorted
American foreign trade in Febru
ary to produce the largest margin
of exports over imports for any
month in nearly 12 years. The de
partment of commerce said that
merchandise sales abroad totaled
$346,779,000 and imports $199,775,000,
an export balance of $147,004,000.
Officials had to dig into the records
back to November, 1928, to And a
difference as large.
Fot the first two months of 1940,
exports surpassed imports by $273,
689,000, compared with $95,276,000 in
the same months last year.
Exports were 6 per cent less than
in January, partially because of the
short month, but the export excess
was larger than January’s because
imports dropped 17 per cent.
Curtailed purchases of foreign
rubber and silk were primarily re
sponsible for the decline.
Methods Used
For Ingrown
Toenail Cure
By DR. JAMES W. BARTON
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
IT IS unfortunate that many
physicians give little or no
attention to the foot ailments
of which their patients com
plain — painful
arches, corns,
bunions, ham
mertoes, ring
w o r m and
others.
When it is realized that the
entire weight of the body—100
to 250 pounds—rests on the
feet and that in the simple
act of walking the front part
of the foot and toes have to
lift and carry forward all this
weight, some idea may be
gathered of the great pressure on
the toes. Instead of leaving the work
of corns, ingrown toenails, and other
defects to the chiropodists, although
many chiropodists are skillful and
use safe or antiseptic measures at
all times, the physician should think
of the feet as of any other organ of
the body.
As an ingrown toenail often gives
the patient and physician considers
ble annoyance and
concern. Dr. Carl J.
Heifetz, St. Louis,
gives some helpful
suggestions in the
American Journal
of Surgery.
"The main under
lying causes of in
grown toenail are
ill-fitting footwear
£•. ana improper cul
"" ting of the nails.
Dr. Barton The nails should be
allowed to grow to
considerable length and then cut
straight across."
Three Stages of Symptoms.
The symptoms and signs of In
grown toenail are conveniently di
vided into three stages (a) inflam
mation and redness, (b) inflamma
tion and a little moisture (thin at
first), and (c) formation of new or
granulation tissue.
In the early stages of ingrown toe
nail. Dr. Heifetz suggests careful
packing of absorbent cotton mois
tened with alcohol, between the edge
of the nail and the soft parts. Use
a small flat instrument. Collodion
is then applied to the cotton and al
lowed to dry. If a sufficiently wide
shoe or a cut-out shoe is worn, the
packing changed weekly, and the
nail allowed to grow long enough so
that it can be correctly trimmed, a
lasting cure can usually be obtained.
As the second and third stages
require more intensive treatment
and operation, they should be under
the care of a physician.
• * «
Mucous Colitis
Due to Nervousness
TPHE large bowel or intestine Is
-*• known ms the colon. so that an
inflammation of the colon Is called
colitis. J
What is known as mucous colitis (
Is very common these days, as it is j
usually due to nervousness or emq- i
tional upsetments, which are met !
with so often now. There is usually I
soreness over abdomen, pain resem
bling colic, conrtipation (due to
spasms) with large quantities of
mucous, either alone or covering
hardened wastes (feces) in shape
of strings, shreds and hands some
times tinged with blood. There are
present also headaches and physi
cal tiredness.' The treatment of mu
cous colitis consists in trying to ac
quire calmness (avoiding excite
ment) and the use of soft foods—
fruit juices, green vegetables such
as grow above ground, cooked fruits,
buttermilk, clear soups, puddings,
custards. Foods to be avoided are
fried foods, preserved, spiced and
canned meat and fish, corn, turnips,
berries, alcoholics, gravies, sauces,
condiments such as pepper and mus
tard.
Chronic Ulcerative Colitis.
However, there is a more severe
form of colitis known as chronic
ulcerative colitis in which the lining
of the bowel is greatly inflamed and
ulcerated. In this type of colitis,
slime, pus and blood come away
with the stools which have a disa
greeable odor. There is also thn
distress, pain and tiredness over
the abdomen, loss of appetite, loss
of weight and anemia—thin blood.
Diet here is likewise very impor
tant. At first all rough or solid food
is avoided, only cereal waters being
allowed. * Then cereal gruels alone
for some time followed gradually by
milk, orange and lemon juice. Then
scraped meat. Cleansing enemas
containing baking soda, table salt
and boric acid are used daily.
• • •
QUESTION BOX
q._Is colitis due to eating rough
food?
A.—-Colitis Is usually due to ner
vousness and emotional disturb
ances. but rough foods can aggra
vate it.
Q.—I am 23 years old and 1 am
becoming bald. I would appreciate
your advice.
A.—If you have had a recent ill
ness your hair will likely return.
If not, you should ask your physi
cian about a blood test.
Summon Solomon
Judge Frank C. Collier, Pasadena,
Calif., has been called on to answer
one that Solomon had the good luck
to escape. He has been asked to
rule whether, if a wife’s dog bites
someone, her husband can be held
liable for damages. The damage
suit is for $5,000.
Bow-and-Arrow Hunters
An area in Arizona has been set
aside for bow-and-arrow hunters,
with deer, bear and wild turkeys as
game.
U. S. HAS ‘SLUMS'
IN RURAL AREAS
Serious Conditions Shown
By Housing Survey.
A department of agriculture sur
vey of almost 600,000 farm houses
scattered through 46 states discloses
that many families live in houses
ns bad as, or worse than, those
found in city slums. Only 14 per
cent had water piped into the house.
In many cases the water supply was
inadequate and insanitary. Only 9
per cent of the houses surveyed 4iad
indoor toilets. Many of them had
no toilet facilities whatever, even of
the most primitive sort As a re
sult, in some rural areas as high as
50 per cent of the school children
are infected by hookworm. More
than 25 per cent of the houses had
no screens to keep out disease
carrying Insects. Forty per cent
were unpainted.
Serious conditions in rural housing
have not attracted as much atten
tion as city slums, and compara
tively little has been done to alle
viate them, says the Farm Security
administration. But the FSA, in
connection with its program for re
habilitating low-income farm fami
lies, has had to face the rural hous
ing problem. It has built or direct
ed the building of more than 12,000
bouses in the last few years.
In an effort to And good but cheap
housing materials as well as plans
and construction methods, the FSA
has done considerable experiment
ing. It has tried conventional lum
ber houses of many different kinds,
steel houses, adobe houses, native
stones, brick, and even cotton in
one or two cases.
No Anal appraisal of these experi
mental houses will be made by FSA
engineers until they have been thor
oughly tested under actual living
conditions. Meanwhile, the engi
neers point to their simply con
structed and planned lumber houses
as the best low-cost rural housing
ever developed.
Grasshopper Threat
Is Less Than 1939
Grasshoppers are a much less
serious crop threat this year than
in 193ft or 1938. according to Dr.
Lee A. Strong, chief of the United
States department of agriculture bu
reau of entomology and plant quar
antine. Nevertheless, enough hop
pers will hatch itiWany parts of the
great plains to do a great deal of
damage, unless adverse weather or
control measures stop them. Dr.
Strong says that concerted efforts
by all farmers in the grasshopper
infested states, aided by federal and
state agencies, are needed to con
trol a plague that has cost U. S.
farmers millions since the first set
tlers entered the West.
The co-operating state agencies
1 estimate that crops valued at fJ28,
I 000,000 were a uvcd by the co-opera
/ live control work of laat aeaaort
which coat 03.900.000. exehtalve of
labor and other c**ntrihutvi aaaiat
once. More than 153,000 tons of
poison bait were spread over about
25,000,000 acres in 24 states, through .
the co-operative efforts of the Unit
ed States department of agriculture,
the states, local agencies, and 235,
000 farmers. ,j
Crop damage by grasshoppers in
1939—estimated at $48,000,000—is
materially less than in any year
since 1934, when these insects be
came a national problem and the
federal-state control program was
started.
Fence Post Tips
For fence posts pick the tree
which grows where the “going is
tough” is a good rule suggested by
T. E. Shaw, Purdue university ex
tension forester. Trees grow faster
in the open than under crowded con
ditions but their wood is less dur
able than that of trees grown in
competition with others. Aside
from osage orange, which is not so
plentiful, the black locust, red
cedar, mulberry, northern white
cedar, catalpa and chestnut are the
best sources of fence post material
in the order named.
Eradicating Fleas
To rid a farm of fleas, give close
attention to the two favorite hosts,
the dog and the hog. Destroy all
old bedding from the quarters of
these animals. Turn the hogs out
on pasture and spray their pens and
shelters with a strong dip of equal
parts of kerosene and used crank
case or crude oil. Repeat the
spray after a few days. The dogs
meanwhile can be treated with a
good flea powder.
Life of Dams
Check dams of brush have a rela
tively short life while rock dams
last the longest, according to expe
rience with soil erosion control
work. Although check damS may
hold only two and one-half to three
years, they are in long enough for
vegetation to grow on the silt ac
cumulated in the gullies behind
them. Better than brush dams are
] pole dams, which may last a year
or so longer. Eventually, however,
the poles decay.
Seed Treatment
Blaming poor germination for
failure of garden plants to produce
a satisfactory stand sometimes is
unjustified. Mr it may be due to
duniping-ort organisms winch ihrive
during poor growing weather and
kill tiie seedlings b 'fore they
emerge from the son C U'lmcal
seed treatments can seise as an in
surance policy against unfavorable
weather conditions, wdtli one being
cuprous f'"*dc. wh.ch <s effective for
some crops.