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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1948)
o The Plattsmouth Journal ESTABLISHED 1881 riihlisl'd .(ml-wffltlv, Monilavs and Thun flays. at 404-4 1 3 Main .Strt. l'iattsmouth flii.-s "nintv. Nebraska. RONALD R. FURSE Publisher FRANK H. SMITH Editor VERN WATERMAN ..Advertising Manager Helen E. Heinrich, News Editor. Merle D. Furse, Plant Superintendent Harry Wilcoxen, Manager Job Department Pntfr-1 at t'ne Poetnf f lo at Plattsmouth, KbrBk 6 sfoond class mail maKer in ac forfuncp with thf Act of Congress of March t. 1879. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $3.50 per year in Cass and adjoining counties. $4 00 per year frlsewhere. in advance, by mail outside the city r.f Plattsmouth. By carrier in Platts month, 15 cents for two weeks. Furse's Fresh Flashes EDITORIALS IS IT ACCCIDEXTAL OR SUICIDE? Death on the highways of Nebraska have reach ed appalling figures. As this- is being written the &9th victim has been claimed by the Grim Reaper hundreds have been injured and maimed hun 4teds of thousands of dollars in property has been lost. No cn? seems to know the answer. Warnings are made daily through the press and by radio law enforcement agencies continually arrest, fine and jail offending drivers, but the toll continues at a faster clip than ever before deaths and injuries this year will total near the casualty rate of World War II. It's the damphool at the steering wheel that's accounting for this tragic toll. He passes on the crest of a hill. He weaves in and out of lanes of traffic at excessive speed. He fills his guts full of liquor and commands the road. It's sudden death at the wheel for the innocent. Our thoughts are not with the above kind of driver. The sooner he is accounted for by an ad ditional cross on the tally board the safer the p est of us will be, but in the meantime we must have closer supervision and examinations in the issuing of drivers' licenses. Penalties for reckless and careless driving must include mandatory jail sentences on the first offense. Second offenders and drinking drivers s'nould have jail sentences, their license to drive suspended and their vehicle IMPOUNDED for six months to a year. Drastic measures to combat alarming conditions. Highway deaths then might be termed more accidental than outright suicide. PLATTSMOUTH CAN DO IT We did not think our piece regarding the build ing of a hospital in Plattsmouth would stir up as much interest and thinking as it did. In fact, we just had to have something to write about and, at the time, this interested us more than anything else at hand. Our friends, the Sweets, of the Nebraska City News-Pi ess commenting on the article, added "The Journal's reporter might drop down here some day to discuss hospital organization with those who are left from the s'tirring days back in 1925 and 1926 when St. Mary's was organized, planned and built in spite of some unusual ob stacles and opposition. . . . The story might in duce Plattsmouth people to organize properly and Let a hospital. One thing sure. Plattsmouth would not have to combat the objections of the Ku Klux Klanr We'll take advantage of this offer in the very near future, just as soon as we learn whether or not the recommendation passed by the Ad Club Tuoday and handed to the Chamber of Com merce will be buried in committees as so many other worth while enterprises have been in the past. DOWN MEMORY LANE TEN YEARS AGO Supt. L. S. DeVoe was speaker at the annual Memorial Day Services at Louisville. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Dallas Gibson of San Bernadino, Calif., visit ed at the Leslie Niel home; also with the William Burbee family at Union .... Phyllis Hennings, ' daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hennings was awarded first scholarship and Herbert Knutson second at commencement at Louisville; Ruth McConnell was' given the regent's scholarship . . . New filtra tion plant at local Water Works station was in stalled. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Earl Dunn and daughter Charlotte of Oklahoma City were guests at the James Rishcl and Julius Hall homes . . . Mrs. York Ksnman and children of North Platte visit ed her parents, the E. A. Wurls. . . . TWENTY ONE YEARS AGO Mane E. Kaufman departed for a three month's tour in Europe. She sailed on the S. S. President Roosevelt from Hoboken, N. Y. and planned to return on the Leviathan in time to take up her V.'ork as penmanship supervisor in the public schools here. ThU" was her third trip to the old world .... Special feature for each Wednesday evening was arranged by local merchants of a two hour sepcial bargain at various places of business. . . . Plattsmouth Legion Drum Corps' awards prize of $25 in cash at Shubert meeting. . . . Miss Ruth Shannon, daughter of Mrs. Edna Shannon of Weeping Water was honored at Uni versity of Nebraska by being selected as a mem ber of the Valkerie, honorary senior girls' society .... Mrs. Simon Rehmeyer of Alvo departed for Europe sailing from New York for Copehagen, Denmark and other points in Denmark where she had relatives. If a company is known to have a lazy or sloppy office force, the best way to win attention for your letter may be to have it arrive on Monday morning. Then at least they make a pretense of attending to the mail. Toward the end of the week the attention is likely to fade away. Light heads are too often behind headlights. Let's all be real quiet and maybe 1948 will slip by without a major catastrophe. It's houseeleaning time, fellows'. Better put on the suit you want to keep. Burning candles at both ends is no way to make the outlook brighter. It is reported the nation's hens lay about 1000 eggs per second. We'll bet they wind up second bes't to radio comedians. One lype of work that desn't pay is laboring under the idea that the world owes you a living. A New Hampshire man has lost his sense of smell. With all the campaign speeches coming we would like to know how he went about it. A man who married three women claims' in sanity. Surely, there should be no argument about it. " . Many a grievance is washed away with a mild application of soft soap. m It depends upon whether you are walking or driving which you hate pedestrians or motorists. It's twice as' easy to start doing nothing as it is to stop. By DREW PEARSON Copywright, 1948, By The Bell Syndicate, Inc.) DREW PEARSON SAYS: REPUBLICAN CONGRESS EATS OUT OF HAND OF BIG LOBBIES; REAL-ESTATE LOBBY HAS PRESS AGENTS INSIDE HOUS ING COMMITTEE: MRS. PEARL MESTA COL LECTS PORTRAITS. WASHINGTON Two days ago this column contrasted the high-pressure methods of the oleo margarine lobby with the unorganized but plain tive hopec of several million people for homes through passage of the housing act. Here is another chapter in the story. It il lustrates how the present republican congress eats out of the hand of the big lobbies. What the public doesn't know it that their money has gone to pay a group of high-powered New York press agents to sit right inside the joint congressional committee on housing and pro pagandize on behalf of the real-estate lobby. The press agents are Bell, Jones and Taylor of 250 Fifth Ave., New York, and two members' of the firm were each paid $10,000 a year to spread real-estate-lobby propaganda from their carefully placed pots inside the committee. Another mem ber of the firm was paid $25 a day. During- the Hoover administration when sena tor Hiram Bingham of Connecticut allowed a lobbyist from the Connecticut manufacturers as sociation to sit in on a secret tariff hearing, Bing ham was reprimanded by his republican senate colleagues and later defeated for re-election. The temper of some republican senators has now changed. HOW THE LOBBY OPERATED The republicans' who hired the real-estate-lobby press agents were affable senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin and Rep. Ralph Gamble of New York. The neat sleight-of-hand used by these two hous ing committee members was to put press agent Luther Bell on the payroll at $10,000 as' assist ant to crongressman Gamble, while press agent Mark Jones was made assistant to senator Mc Carthy at the same salary. O. A. Taylor was paid $25 a day as a "committee consultant" though actually he spent much of his time in New York. Supposedly the press agents were hired to make an impartial study of the housing shortage. But here is how they studied it. First, it appeared that they knew little about housing; in fact. Jones' virtually admitted as much to staff associates. He had to call in a specialist from the library of congress and two people from the agriculture department to help. Part of the press agents' time was spent hob nobbing with such "importial authorties as the kingpin of the re-estate lobby Frank Cort wright. Executive vice-president of the national association of home builders. Lobbyist Cortwright was so familiar a figure in the offices of Bell and Jones that clerks and stenographers knew him by name, and he made various appointments with the two press agents for meetings. BLAMED THE CHURCHES The joint housing committee, it should be re membered, was appointed by both branches of congress to make a fair and comprehensive re port on one of the greatest economic and social problems facing the national. Y'et the New York pres's agents, after hobnobbing with the real estate lobbyists, produced a windy 400-page re port which blamed "representatives of Roman Catholic, protestant churches and Jewish Syna gogues" together with community-chest people and visiting nurs'es for egging on the demand for public housing. In the end, the committee rejected the re port. Thus a considerable chunk of the public's money was paid out by Senator McCarthy and congressman Gamble for nothing. But is was not for nothing as far as the real estate lobby was concerned. For, although the 480-page report was rejected in favor of a 40-page report written by fair minded GOP Senator Flanders of Vermont, press agent Bell managed to get his report adopted as a committee "print," This meant that it was print ed at public expense, though not actually re presenting the views of the committee. However, since the uns'uspecting- publci seldom knows the difference, several thousand copies of this pro-real-estate-lobby report were broad cast over the nation. Some Brass 7 Ml The Back Stage Boys The pay off as to who arrang ed the whole deal by which the press agents" were planted inside the committee may be the names of the organizations who grabbed up the pro-lobby report and sent . it out to the public They are: the National Association of real estate boards. The Mortgage Bankers Association, The Nation al Association of Home Builders', and Morton Bodfish's U. S. Sav ings and Loan League. (He is now under a federal indictment.) A lot of these copies were sent out at the taxpayer's expense under the free postal frank of congressman Gamble. Amazing fact is' that press agent Bell is still operating as an alleged ''assistant" to Gamble, though his pay was cut off when the joint housing committee fold ed May 15. He now lurks behind-the-scenes at house banking and currency committee hearings on the housing bill, supplying housing foes with ammunition to fire at witnesses. That is how some congressmen play into the hands of the big lobbies in a congress which ap parently has lost its sense of smell. Merry -Go-Round Mrs. Perle Mesta, the Oklaho ma oil Heiress, once a republican but now an ardent democrat, paid $32,000 for oil paintings of the Trumans and cabinet friends. Mrs. Mesta has had special paintings made of the president, Mrs.- Truman, Margaret Truman, secretary of the Treasury and Mrs. Snyder, their daughter, Drucie. and Mrs. John Steelman . ... Ed Flynn, former chairman of the democratic national com mittee and intimate friend of FDR, will resign even as New York democratic committeeman. He thinks Truman's re-election chances are nil. (And Ed was one of the bosses' who insisted that FDR take Truman in 1944) . . . . Eugene Black of the Chase Na tional Bank is being- considered as next chairman of the RFC. Also on the White House list is John H. PeriT, doughty, debo nair Florida publisher . . . with out benefit of fanfare, two pro minent democrats Jim Farley anrl PYanlr Walker iu;t hannpn to be covering the same route ! as' president Truman, four days in front of his train. Just a coin cidence, no doubt. LIVE WIRE FARM UNIT The Live Wire Farm Bureau Unit met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. August Keil Wednesday eve ning, May 19. President Fred erick Wehrbein presided over the meeting. Wayne Meisinger, coun ty director, was present and talk ed on fertilizer and seed corn. For the program, Nancy Siemon eit, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Siemoneit, gave some tap dancing numbers. Cards was the diversion of the evening wit Verrier Meisinger winning high honors for the men and Mrs. Ralph Gansemer for the women. Low went to Mrs. Karl Gross nans and Fred Wehrbein. The next meeting will be June 11 w-ith Mr. and Mrs. Ray Story, and will be in the nature of a lawn picnic supper. Fred Etheredge of Greenwood was here Thursday to look after some business at the court house and also visiting with Attorney A. L. Tidd and with Mr. and Mrs. Martin Shupe. Use Journal Want Ada Wheatley Mickelwait First Mayor Wheatly Mickelwait, a native of Ohio, came to Glenwood, la., where he lived for about a year, I before locating in Plattsmouth, Neb. His wife, Illisiania Mickel wait was a sisters of Mrs. J. L. Sharp, mother of Lee C. Sharp. The family consisted of the par ents and four children, one son Fred who was a conductor on the Burlington railroad, and three daughters, Kate, Nellie, and An na. We was interested with James O'Neill, J. L. Sharp and others in the operatin of the ferry a cross' the Missouri river at Platts mouth. MickMwa establish-d his home at the corner of Granite and Third streets in Plattsmouth, where he resided until his death. At the first territorial election called by Acting Governor Tho mas B. Cuming held December 12, 1854. at the "Old Barracks" in Martin precinct he was one of the 78 voters who took part in the election. At the second annual election held November 6. 1885, he was elected to the council by a vote of 83 to 42 over Samuel M. Kirkpatrick. In 1885. Plattsmouth was made a post office and Mickelwait was appointed first Postmaster. The original charter for the city of l'iattsmouth, approvied March 14, 1855, provided that "the legislative authority of the city is vested in a city council cons'isiting of a mayor and board of alderman composed of three." After the passage of the Act by the territorial assembly incor porating the citv of Plattsmouth. on December 29, 1856. Weathly Mickelwait was elected the first mayor, and Enos Williams. W. M Slaughter, and Jacob Vallery were elected the first aldermen, thus the first city government was' chosen. On April 13, 1857, a certificate of entry was issued to the city council of Plattsmouth for the NWU, the N2 of the SW4 and Lots 1 and 8 in the East half of Section 18, Township 12 North. Range 14 East of the 6th. P. M. And on April 1, 1859, the United States issued a patent to the a bove described Seal testate to Wheatly Mickelwait, mayor of Plattsmouth. On Aueest 28. 1869. he had Mickelwait's Addition to Platts mouth laid out. into lots and blocks, in the SE U of the SWU of Section 7, Township 12 North. Rang3 14 East of the 6th. P. M. At the time of the incorpora tion of Plattsmouth, Mickelwait, T. G. Palmer, and William Gar rison had built six frame houses in the city. The same year he was' elected mayor of Plattsmouth he built seven other frame houses, one of which was known as the city hotel, which was des troyed by fire on January 2, 1882. Realty Transfers Thomas Solomon, sheriff to William B. Porter; 5-11-48, L. 359, Greenwood. $211.00. George W. Hart and Eva G. to H. F. Doermann and Helen; 5-15-48. W. 60' L. 467 and 468. $4,675.00. Rasche W. Meyers and Mar garet to J. B. Elliott and Mabel; 5-6-48. L. 4, 5, 6, B. 3 Mung-r's 1st Add to Alvo. $5,250.00. Clifton Garrison et al to Her bert Ruyle and Ina; 4-30-48. E's SE M 14 and N1- NE 'i and L. 25 NE1- NWV4 23-10-13. $1.00. David Sjogren and Clara to Eldora Pankonin; 5-12-48, L. 273 and 274 Frc. L. 292, 293. 294 LouisVille. $1.00. Eldora Pankonin to David Sjo gren and Clara. Same as above. $1.00. J. Fredrick Grow to Bonnie M. Grow; 5-15-48. W. 50 L. 8 B. 5 Fleming and Race's Add to Weep ing Water. $1.00. Leo P. Leming and Bette to W. C. Timblin and Josephine; 5-20-48. L. 10 B. 3 Alvo. S2.825.00. Alpha C. Peterson to Marie Kaufman: 5-20-48. L. 7 and W2 L. 8 B. 4 Plattsmouth. $1.00. THE PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, JOURNAL Monday, May 31, 1948 PAGE THREE IS .eSrVtfS j l tllirillklTAkl AI llllkl I fc. X.'" U. S. Anti-Subversive Laws Fail to Snare Communists BY TETER EDSON NEA Washington Correspondent TTTASniNGTON (NEA) If the Senate decides to pigeonhole the controversial Mundt-Nixon anti-Communist bill which ruare I through the House by a five-to-one vote, the issue may become a dead duck for this session of Congress at least. But there will remain the question of what laws there are now c the books for use against Communists, and how elective they are. GOPresidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey raised this poir.t in h:s recent Oregon debate with rival Harold E. Stassen. Dewey gave a quick run-through of some 27 existing laws which he said were able to take care ot the Commie situation without the Mundt-Nixon bill. Stassen claimed these laws were not elective. The record seems to indicate he was right. A LL these acts apply to individuals and organizations in general, not just to the Communist party and its members. Aimed more pa cifically at catching Commies and Fascists are the su-called Smith act and Voorhis act of 1940. The Smith act "to prohibit subversive activities" by individual.! provides penalties up to $10,000 fine and 10-year imprisonment : advocating overthrow of "any government in the United States Ly force or violence." Because of the difficulty of obtaining evidc;iee of intent to use force or violence, the Smith act has been tested in only one Important ca.e. This was in the trial and conviction of 18 out of 29 members of the Socialist Workers' Party of Minneapolis. The Voorhis act requires registration with the attorney general Ly any organization subject to foreign control and engaging in civilian, military or political activity, the purpose cf which is to overthrow ; government. Penalties of $10,000 and five years are prescribed far failure to register, but the responsibility for registering is not i'.xca on any individual. So no one can be prosecuted. Most amusing aspect of the Voorhis act, however, is that in the eight years it has been on the books, only five organizations have registered. All were aimed at overthrow of the Nazi government. Two other organizations, aimed at overthrow of the Communist govern ments in Russia and the Ukraine, were registered for a tune. rr,HE Communist party never registered under the Vocrhis act. Sev eral days before the Voorhis act became law, the Commur.is-t Party changed its constitution and legally dissolved its ties w.h the Com munist International in Moscow. The announced purpose of this shift in the party line was to avoid registration under the Voorhis act. The important point here is the case with which the Commies can officially change their line t' comply with a new law, while continuing in business at the same eld stand. A further catch in all these laws is that to obtain a conviction, it's necessary to have evidence for a case that will stand up in court. Since 1935, the Communist party in the United States has not openly advocated overthrow of the U. S. government by force and violence. And since 1938, when the statute of limitations ran out on Commu nist activities prior to 1935. it has been impossible to convict a Communist for advocating or belonging to an organization that advo cated overthrow. because of the great uncertainty over just what the Mundt-Nixon bill would do. its constitutionality and workability, the great fear is that it will become another Smith or Voorhis act. What might be in order, and what Attorney General T.m Clar"; advocated before the House Un-American Activities Committee, is icvision or amendment of the Smith, Voorhis. foreign agent' regis tration, alien registration, espionage and immigration laws, to plus loopholes and make it possible to obtain convictions for subversive activities as practiced today. a hearing and will be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will out-shout them and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. "Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers ston ed from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men, who in their hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers but do not dare sey so. "And now the whole nation, pulpit and all. will take up the war cry, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open . . . " NORTH LIBERTY 4-H CLUB The North liberty 4-H Club met at the home of Phyllis Rieke " on Thursday, May 27. The club this vear is studying to be a i homemaker's group this year. Th,e leaders are Mrs. George Rieke and the assistant leader is' Doris Ehlers. The secretary of the club is Phyllis Rieke, the news reporter is Betty Todd, song lead er, Nancy Land, pianist. Suzanne Kendall, game leader is Esther Klein. The discussion of the meet was on lunch cloths. Luncheon was served at an appropriate hour. WASHINGTON REPORT h Howard Buffer! CongrtMman, 2nd Nebruk District Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Long and daughter, with Mrs. Nellie Shea and Miss Ha Kirker, were at Ashland over Memorial Day, members of their family being buried at the cemetery there. READ THE JOURNAL FOR THE LATEST IN NEWS. Memorial Day honors Amer ican patriots who died in the service of their country. 400.371 Americans made that sacrifice in World War II. The World War 1 figure was 130,200 dead. During the last war the unanswered question was, "What are -we fighting for?" In today's uneasy peace, another unanswered ques tion confronts us. "Is the world better off because of our inter vention in World Wars I and II?" Leaving that question to his tory, perhaps no words are more timely for us to ponder on Me morial Day in 1948 than this passage from Mark Twain: " . . There has never been a just war or an honorable one. I can see a million years ahead and this n!e will never change. "The loud little handful will shout for war. The pulpit will object at first. "The great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes, and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say: 'It is unjust and dishonor able, and there is no necessity for it.' "Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against war and at first will have SIMM'S Have It! i. 1 II I 1 le 1 i i s Available in 18-ft.-10V2.ft.-8-ft.-4.ft. Cubic Foot Sizes Modern in Design Economical to Operate Complete line of General Electric KITCHEN CLOCKS All Colors ELECTRIC FANS FOR ' HOT WEATHER All Sizes and Styles 3 IMPLEMENT GENUINE JOHN DEERE PARTS Phone 4178 Plattsmouth,