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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1947)
I i-i The Plattsmouth Journal ESTABLISHED 1881 T'liMisLed sf ml-weeklj-. Mondays and Thurs days, at 409-413 Main Street. Plattsmouth, Cass County, Nebraska. RONALD R. FURSE Publisher FRANK H. SMITH Editor Thelma Olson, Society Editor. Helen E. Heinrich, News Editor. Merle D. Furse, Plant Superintendent Harry Wilcoxen, Manager Job Department Entered at the Postoffiee at Plattsmouth. Nebraska a? serond class mall matter in ac cordance with the Act of CongreBB of March 3. Ib79. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $3 per year, cash m advance, by mail outside the city of Plattsmouth. By carrier in Plattsmouth, 15 cen-ts for two weeks. EDITORIALS THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE Those who can remember the first World War will recall that the Allied and German troops on the Western Front declared an unofficial and spontaneous truce at Christmas. Soldiers of both sides came out of their trenches and joined in singing the carols that they knew and loved. The words were in different languages, but the tunes and sentiments were the same. Christmas brings such a truce each year, though in less dramatic fashion, to most people the Christian world. On that day we lay aside bitterness and animosity. Families find a bond of warmer affection. Children are indulged and enjoyed. Good wishes to neighbors and friends are hearty and sincere. Whatever our politics, we are inclined to be interested in the Christmas at the White House, and to hope that it is a happy one. A lot of us go to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. There we are reminded again that what we call the Christmas spirit is really the Christian spirit. We are reminded that this guat holiday of Christendom not only celebrates the birth of Jesus, but the birth of a philosophy of love, peace, tolerance and moral courage, or : aspect and fair dealing. Christian teachers ask this generation, as they have asked other generations for centuries, U live by this philosophy to keep the Christmas spirit the year round. It is not an easy task, as t' results have shown. And somehow it seems particularly hard today. There are provocations und anxieties that beset us as people and as na tions of the Christian world. We grow angry and uncharitable, as people and as nation, through pride, selfishness, weariness and fear. Maybe it is not possible to keep the Christmas pint every day. Yet to keep even a little of this truce of mental hospitalities would help. That truce is not and should not be a surrender of convictions. But it would surely help to create more individual happiness, and that in turn could i caret ly fail to make a somewhat happier world. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND . . . ! Throuhout the pages of this issue of the Platts mouth Journal will be found expressions of rood will and greetings from Plattsmouth bus ) mess men and women and other business serving ; y u throughout the year. These announcements are bought and paid for by these business people ?.d are directed especially to you. They express sincere and heart-felt thanks of i.cal people for your cooperation, patronag-e and k'.od will during the past years that has en ' a':.k d them to stay in business and contribute to , tr.e welfare of the community. Only through your friendship and patronage can these men r.d women continue to provide the services de "r:,anded in the community with larger stocks, j better selections and above all at prices within the reach cf all. ' f It is impossible for business people to extend j greetings of the season and a "Thank You" in J person to everyone responsible for their success, S'i they have selected the columns of his news- paper to carry their message for them. Please ' accept it in the spirit intended and as you read J their messages keep this thought in mind: "We residents of this community are deeply grateful and appreciative of your contribution ti our welfare and solicit your continued friend ship in the years to come." ii DOWN MEMORY LANE I 1 V 1 TEN YEARS AGO A. W. Farmer, engaged with the Farm Se curity Administration at Washington visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Farmer . . . B. W. Livingston observed his 67th birthday . . . The O. R. Wilcox home on west Vine street was destroyed by fire . . . Joseph A. Krejci and Iv'iss Dorothv Evans of Orange City were mar- d at Sioux City . . . William H. Wehrbein vas named Commander of Knights Templar . , . v beauty salon opened in Hotel Plattsmouth I . . . Miss Doris Woolcott of Weeping Water who fl.ud accompanied the Carl Days on a trip to the U uthland returned to Weeping Water foltowing la:i enjoyable visit . . . E. H. Schulhof, president Rotary, received an interesting letter from ' J.e-e Shcn Chen . of Hankow (then the capital China with greetings to local club members. 1 THIRTY-ONE YEARS AGO ! James W. Newell, son of Judge W. H. Newell, T. a.- promoted to auditor of the entire Lehigh Valley railroad system with offices at Phila i de lphia . . . C. S Wortman of Claremore, Okla ! hem.;,, visited plattsmouth on business matters in connection with his fathers estate . . . The S. Larson family of Weeping Water departed for Port Arthur, Texas to make their home . . . Dr. T. J. Todd and familj of Kearney enjoyed the holidays with Mr. and Mrs. Henry Mauzy, parents of Avs. Todd . . . Miss. Clara Hunter was mar ried to Karl Bieuer of Arnold, Nebraska at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hunter. Furse's Fresh Flashes Now comes the time of year when everybody loves a fat man especially of he's dressed like Santa Claus. A bore is a person who talks when you want to. An ad offers a woman a job in a band playing second fiddle. They should know they don't come that way. Some folks prefer to stay single. Others would rather knot. It would be a fine idea if some careless driv ers who skid into snow drifts would leave their cars there for the balance of the winter. If conditions today were as bad as too many people paint them, they'd be a lot worse than they are. One Plattsmouth man overheard the neighbors talking about how shiftless he was. It made him so mad he went right out and got himself a job. After hearing some preachers give a description of everlasting punishment, we can hardly beleive it, for we don't think any man's constitution could stand it. There is a lot of misplaced sympathy in the world, and nearly every time you look up the facts about the underdog you will be greatly disappointed, for, nine times out of ten, he is exactly where he ought to be. MERRY-GO-ROUND By DREW PEARSON DREW PEARSON SAYS: FRIENDSHIP TRAIN JUST AN IDEA BUT ONE FOUNDED ON INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP, BY AND FROM THE AMER ICAN PEOPLE TO THEIR NEEDY FRIENDS IN EUROPE. (Editor's note: Drew Pearson is now in Paris and his column today takes the form of a report he is making to President Vincent Auriol of France on the food collected by the Friendship Train.) To the President of the French Republic, Paris Dear Mr. President: I have come to France because I felt I owed it to the millions of Americans who contributed to the Friendship Train to report on how this food was collected and the motives behind it. I am merely acting as spokesman for many others who would like to be here but can't. This is a difficult report to make, difficult be cause it is almost impossible to translate into words the feelings in men's hearts. To begin at the beginning, the idea of the Friendship Train took root about two months ago when many Americans were perturbed that our Congress was slow and niggardly about helping our friends in Europe. So it was proposed that a train be started in California with perhaps one boxcar and, letting the plain people of the coun try contribute food, pick up other boxcars of food as the train moved across the continent to the Atlantic. A committee was formed, headed by Harry Warner and including representatives of farm ers, labor unions, businessmen and service clubs. The railroads said they would be glad to haul the train free and that was how the Friendship Train started. It was just an idea but an idea on international friendship. AMERICANS WILL TO GIVE But, Mr. President, although I pride myself on being an accurate newspaperman, I confess that I underestimated the American will to give. In stead of one train, we ended up with seven dif ferent sections. Instead of five railroads coop erating, a total of twelve demanded the right to help and the railroad unions were equally anx ious to aid their friends in Europe. Not only did most of the railroad trainmen haul the trains without salary but many railroad workers not on the line of the train mailed me checks saying they wanted to contribute, too. Both labor and business filled up these Friend ship Trains. The Teamsters' union helped to load the cars; the Steel-Workers union contributed mcney to buy carloads of canned milk; the Farmers union contributed flour. Most of this food came from very humble peo ple. In Hawaii, the people contributed a total of eight cents apiece but their contribution totaled two carloads of sugar which is six European boxcars. In Wichita, Kansas, the school children ran errands and saved their lunch money until they were able to purchase one carload of wheat. In Wyoming, a dentist toured most of yiat very mountainous and sparsely settled state until, with the help of many others, Wyoming had col lected almost as much as some of the richer states. The state of Nebraska is supposed to be against cooperation with Europe. At least, that's how most of its representatives vote in Congress. But we never had more enthusiastic, more generous crowds out to meet the train than those in Ne braska. In Iowa another farm state a group of farmers who had been to Europe traveled with the train, refuting Congressman John Taber, who said that food was not needed in Europe. NOT GOVERNMENT INSPIRED Some people in France, I understand, have thought this however, I can tell you that about the only city that did almost nothing to help waj Washington, D. C, and it was only at the last minute that the Lions Club of Brightwood, Maryland, a little town on the edge of Washing ton, D .C. gave a carload of flour thus saving the nation's capital from the ignominy of not par ticipating. I can also report that the people of Philadelphia were a little hurt that President Truman, who THE PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, JOURNAL Monday, December 22, 1947. PAGE FIVE EDSON'S WASHINGTON COLUMN BY PETER EDSON NEA Washington Correspondent TT'ASHINGTON, (NEA). Of all the crazy, mixed-up political' tions ever strung up for the American voters to gawk at, t; was in their city for a football ; game, did not remain the next ; day to see the friendship, which ' arrived at Le Havre this week, ' sail from Philadelphia with its first cargo of food. However, j perhaps this was for the best ' because this food is by and from I the American people. It is from i the people of America to their needy friends in Europe. j It is also important to note that President Truman's home ; town, Kansas City, did contri- i bute in a big way with fourteen cars of food and one of the first telegrams I received was from : Mr. Truman's home county. Say- ; ing that they refused to be left j out. In the end, we had to send j a special train tnrougn ivansas City where President Truman's neighbors had especially stamped their bags of flour with this message: Blessings of Democracy "From Jackson County, Mis souri, in the heart of America, this bag of flour comes to you with greetings and best wishes, whatever your race or national ity. Mav this flour be received in the same spirit in which it is sent the brotherhood of all mankind. As that great teacher of world brotherhood, Jesus of Nazareth, commanded, "Whatso ever ye would that men should do to you do ye unto them.'" Jackson County, Missouri, is a typical American county. It is the home of our President. Harry S. Truman. There, as in nearly all American counties, are de scendants of all races cf Europe living together in peace and freedom. This brotherhood is among the blessings of our de mocracy. This free-will offering to help relieve your need is due to our comparative plenty and our feeling of friendship for you- There were, of course, a few communities where we encount ered opposition but in the end this usually helped the Friend ship Train. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, for instance, when the newspapers criticized the train, Mayor George Welsh, who had recently been to France, urged New Star J ' Jfr x '-:::::.-.:. Plattsmouth Library News be- fen , KK kWJ Te'in S if t Dickey, Louisiana State's crack sprinter, gets set for 440-yard race. Dickey, hav ing beaten Southeastern Confer ence competition as a quartcr miler with 49 seconds flat, is coach Bernie Moore's choice to challenge the world record. A library book doesn't come old and shabby looking for nothing. A truly popular one gvts around. Take the case of -Hold Fast Gaines"' by Shcpard, while it is still a new book it shows its popularity, it is a historical nov el, based upon fact, from the burning of New London by Bene dict Arnold to Andrew Jackson's heroic victory at New Orleans, all library boeks are not as peip ular as this one, there are many volumes in the library that seem to gather dust, but there always comes a day wnen some one I wants the most moldy old tome, situr.- today's picture takes the all-time surrealistic grand prize. 1. The conservative wing of the Republican Party seems hell-bent on electing a Democrat for President in 1348. 2. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is doing its darndest to see that a Republican gets elected. 3. Propaganda of the Communist Party in the U. S. makes people want to become reactionaries. 4. The reactionaries for their part, by every word .and deed, make independent voters think there may be something to this socialistic sturT after all. 5. Labor organizations, by their ncwlj'-inter.si-fied political activities, are solidifying the position of anti-labor forces that want to curb the unicn:; still further. 6. Finally, employer groups are advocating eco nomic policies which can only lead to their own ruin and a depression. I if experiences of the past mean anything, and if history does rcpea. President Truman's popularity has risen steadily since the Novem ber, 1946. election low. The polls show it's staying high. This is r.c'. due to anything in particular that the Democrats have done. ANY rise in Democratic prestige is nothing more than a measure c r Republican decline since 1946. If that is the case, there may 1 o something wrong with the Republican program. It couldn't be th u killing off price controls, easing up on rent controls, ending the vet erans' housing program and enacting tough labor legislation are un popular, could it? Opposed to that. Henry Wallace's new insistence that there will be a third party in 1948, if the Truman administration doesn't cha'ir.e its foreign" policy, is a definite threat to split t!ie Democratic Fay. Left-wing and Communist propaganda could not be more inept. It is so bad that every blast from Vishinsky, Molotov, or even the New York Daily Worker can be reprinted in full or quoted from liberally with perfect safety. Instead of making converts to com munism, it turns Americans against the Moscow line. Vice-versa, the attitude taken by a few leaders of American bush e .-.-in this era of inflation is genuinely alarming. They advocate: Return to a longer work week. A freeze on m'ol murn wage level;. Tax cuts which discriminate against low-incrrie groups. Opposition to any lowering of prices. Opposition to all plans for allocation of scarce m?terials. Killing "off the reciprocal trade program for increasing world trade and imports. Opposition to s: fc guards against overexpansion of credit. Cripnling anti-trust laws. Opposition to low-cost housing programs. Ending full employment. 4 NY program incorporating such ideas conjures up to many people a return to the 1890's or at least to the 1920's. A return to b inn and bust. Such policies are bound to be fought because many thin":ir.e; people believe that it will take only one more good depression like that of the 1930's to make the U. S. do a political about-face and embrace a system far to the left of anything in the New Deal. A swing to reactir-i now could easily be followed by a courier swing to something line Britain's Socialism. Sincere anti-Commu :i:.s and belie ers in capitalism say there is as much to fear from too i vuch conservatism as there is from liberalism. New political stirrings of the AFL, CIO and railway brotherhoods nre aimed primarily at defeat of congressmen who voted for ihs Taft Hartley law. Instead of scaring these congressmen, however, this new political agitation by the labor unions has only served to inane the law-makers talk about tightening up on the Taft-Hartley act. to make it tcugher. This sentiment for still more curbs on labor will get stronger iT the unions bring on another wave of strikes to get their third-round cost-of-living wage increases next spring. And more restrictive lbor legislation can only lead to greater political activity by the ui.ions. Everything, you see, seems to work out just backwards. The Duke of Windsor, forme rly Edward VIII. created the vogue for men to wear maroon carna tions with evening clothes. For the 12 months Ju'.y. 1947. there w-: trafiie faialities. the Safety Council said. Na his people to contribute with the result that they sent three large boxcars to the train. That was the spirit cf American gen erosity. Mr. President. Hundreds of towns not on the line of the train telegraphed in, wanting to load up boxcars: Ventura. Burbar.k, Long Beach, California; Monroe. Michigan: Louisville and Hazard. Ken tucky: Atlantic City. New Jers ey; Pottsville, Allentown and Bellcfonte in Pennsylvania, a dozen cities in distant Texas and so on it is impossible to call the roll. Good Will Token It is impossible, too. to des cribe to you the faces of the peo ple who met the train at. the stations along the way and, while this food is only a token and will not last France long, it is a token which" has behind it the good will of millions who 052E2SES25E5252S2SSn52S252S2352S25ESE52S THE SEASON'S CHEER TO EVERYBODY To our many friends and customers the Season's best wishes for joy and happiness. By your thoughtfulness you have helped to make our Christmas a merry one and we wish the same for you. have this book in the hbrarv. New books recentlv added to i j? the shelves are; -Frankly ! Ejj? Speaking" by James Byrnes, ''Great Snow" by Henry M. Ro binson, -Tamarack Tree" by Howard Brcslin. -Mystery of the Other House" by Augusta Sea man. "The Vixens" by Frank Yerby has just been given to the library by Fred Bruce. 17 I aJ: JS'S5! 5? iii" i, " ' " " feel very deeply and who want to make their own small contri bution toward friendship, espec ially at this season. They feel lhat Christmas is not just a day on which to exchange gifts be tween families and neighbors but between nations and all mankind. So in this spirit of friendship, the -American people have col-Ic-cted from their fields this tok en of food and brought it to your firesides in the hope that it may tide you over until your own fields arc again rich and abun dant with crops. (Copyright, 1947, By The Bell Syndicate, Inc.) fee? See Mutual Loan & Finance Co. first for a loan. M V ! J V . U 0 V UPMtq- you all the jajA, o t!ic . i . r Ladies Togg cry 5 Sc-Tj?-.,!5. v,v. . Y... Tf . T.. . T.- . Tsv "-V- "TV r-T t "t-' FROM OUR HOUSE to YOUR HOUSE - THE MODERN LAUNDRY Pick-up and Delivery Service 318 Main Street Dial 4293 Wishing: all inside your door A MERRIER CHRISTMAS than EVER BEFORE! Jess - Ella - Grover - Bill Warga Hardware and Appliance Store i 517 Main Street Phone 3171 Plattsmouth sr i j f i iT K - : i ?3 s - i-y ?. '7 'h ' (' is a i .-"or i