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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1950)
TTME PlLATTMI(0)QJTIO JjtfDHTOAGL UNITED PRESS AND NWNS SERVICE SECTION TWO CASS COUNTY'S NEWSpaper The Plattsmouth Journal Official County and City Paper ESTABLISHED IN 1SS1 Published KHtii-weeklv, Mondnvs and Thurs days, at Alain Street, I'lattsmouth, Cass County, Nebraska. RONALD R. FURSE Publisher FRANK H. SMITH Editor BERNARD A. WOOD . . . .Advertising Mgr. Helen E. Heinrich, News Editor MssocmTion I 6UBSCRIPTTON RATE: $3.50 per year In Cass and adjoining counties, $4.00 per year elsewhere, in advance, by mail outside the city of Plattsmouth. By carrier in Platts mouth, 15 cents for two weeks. Fnteied at the Postr,f flee at I'lattsmouth, Nebraska as second i lass mail matter in ac cordance with the Act of Congress of March S. 179. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY .SYVv is organized knozvlciltjc. Herbert Spencer ALL THAT THE EDITOR ASKS The editor of this newspaper, as you may have already discovered, is neither -aint nor sajre, philosopher or professor. There is no secret about the matter. We get a moderate amount of pay for ex , posing our views to the gaze and perusal of the enlightened readers of this gazette. We have no campaign to persuade any body to, agree to anything, or with any body, and, least of all, with us. Our opinions, written in haste and poor English, may amuse, baffle or befuddla, but so long as nobody else will do the joo worse for less money, we will probably continue to collect our salary. We find it rather difficult to work up a rich lather of perspiration over any of the issues that face the nation, or the world. There have been issues for many years and there will be issues long after we have passed into the world Avhere no body writes editorials. Why should we worry over what somebody else thinks about our opinions, much less other mat ters? The human race is an ancient institu tion. It has been bedeviled by wiser writ ers than we are. It has gone its way. So be it. All that we ask is the privilege of going our own way, with those who may choose to come along and without those who prefer to go some other way. We are so modest that we really ap preciate the compliment that anybody pay us by reading our writings and we never worry whether they agree with us or not. - TO REDUCE TRAFFIC DEATHS The best way to save the lives of some of the American citizens who are killed in 'highway accidents is by enforcing the laws regulating the movement of vehicles. The highway regulations, including the rules for parking, are little matters that spell life or death at times. No one knows when a minorviolation may cause a major tragedy. Consequently, the minor viola tors should be punished promptly. The enforcement of traffic rules should proceed without recognition of "big shots." Nobody in any community ought to have prestige or power enough to escape pun ishment for violations of the regulations. Enforcement officers should not "know" anybody; neither should juries and judges. 4c FOR REAL AMAZEMENT From London, England, comes the news that Dr. Edith Summerskill, British Minis ter of Insurance, is astonished at learning "of the pornographic rubbish it is possible" for British young people to buy and that she is amazed, when she goes to the cine ma, to endure thirty minutes of "shooting, stabbing and choking scenes presented as if they were the normal British wav of life."r We are not surprised to hear of the lady's astonishment and amazement but if she wants to get to the top level in this regard, she should come to the United States and take a look at the "pornograph ic rubbish" offered for sale to our young people and go to the moving pictures anil see a full hour of what passes for a presen tation of normal life in the United States. fc FACTS ARE CONCEALED Senator Millard E. Tydings, of Mary land, who heads the Senate Communist Investigating Sub-Committee, suggests that new evidence might make immediate con clusions as to the inquiry premature. He admits that he has been investigating and that he has "accumulated a vast amount of valuable material." Suggesting that it might be well for everyone "to be a little careful on reach- Furse's Fresh Flashes A local family was not perturbed over the loss in a recently burglary at their home. The burglar got in through a win dow they hadn't been able to open in eight years. racK sear drivers, to us, are no worse than men who try to cook from the dining room table. A Plattsmouth man complains because his wife talks to herself. So does ours, but she doesn t realize it. She thinks we're listening. - Sometimes even we have to pull out our drivers license and examine it closely to reassure ourselves we are competent to drive an automobile. It's tough to find, For love or money, A joke thatls clean And also funny. It's not too hard to live on a small in come as long as you don't spend too much trying to keep it a secret. A farmer friend of ours told us recently that bureaucrats who spend and spend and tax and tax reminded him of the sheep man who decided to skin instead of shear, -k When you have trouble getting to sleep try sipping a large glassful of rum. It won't put you to sleep, but it will make you satished to stay awake. -c T" i - r f a i ,i . luigs ger aiiection Decause tney give it. 1 hat ought to be lesson enough to most of us. If most of us weren't well pleased with ourselves we would do something about it. EARLY SPADE WORK jTHE PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL j Thursday. May 18. 1950 PAGE ONE I "-mf ashingion thousands. After the war ended, cross- examination of the Jap military revealed that 60.000 of these bal ing any ultimate conclusion about what is Zont h,d been launched from involved in this whole matter," the Marv lander says that there are some things that he happens to know "that have never fullv come out to the people and to the senate and even to the committee." the Kurile islands and Formosa. They crossed the Pacific at an altiude of about 17,000 feet at a speed of over 100 miles an hour and were equipped with gadgets which made them descend after a certain distance. The prevail ing winds across the Pacific made the flight relatively simple despite the fact that the Pa cific is the widest of all oceans. .The balloons were equipped as incendiary carriers to set fire to northwest forests, and later they were to be equipped as carriers of bacteriological warfare. BALLOONS TO RUSSIA Use of these same type bal- class of P. H. S. went to Horkey s park, sit- Russia was Droosed in this coi- uated on the Blue river, north of Crete forlumn two vears ar The win.i DOWN MEMORY LANE TEN YEARS AGO Mrs. Josephine Janda entertained at her home honoring the birthday of Mrs. Rose Bookmeyer and also for Mrs. Marv Koehnke, visitor from Scottsbluff, Nebras ka. The ladies are sisters . . . 1940 senior their sneak day . . . Plattsmouth Garden club scheduled their flower show for Mav 22 and 23 . . . Bill Fox of Wahoo, Nebraska", came to Plattsmouth as manager of Joe's New Way store . . . Miss Mildred Hall was elected noble grand of the local Rebekah lodge . . . Job's Daughters honored their mothers at a banquet at Masonic hall with over 85 in attendance. 20 YEARS AGO ' Five thousand witnessed dedication on May 19, 1930 of the new $700,000 traffic bridge across the Missouri; formal open ing saw distinguished guests present, among them being Governor Arthur J. Weaver, who was making his first official visit for this occasion. Total length of bridge structure from east to west abut ment was 1,421 ft., 4 in.; the concrete bridge floor measured 20 ft. inside curbs; was under construction an entire year; work was delayed by high water . . . The 1930 final census returns gave Plattsmouth as 3,730 . . . The Plattsmouth Loan and Building Association, with forty years of service to the community, was living up to its slogan "Building for the Future." (Copyright, 1949, By the Bell Syndicate, Inc.) DREW PEARSON SAYS: STATE DEPARTMENT CONSID ERS FLOATING PROPAGANDA BALLOONS OVER RUSSIA ; NORTH CAROLINA CANDIDATE TRIES TO FORGET HIS OPPOSITION TO MIN IMUM WAGE; SOVIET READIES AIR BASES AIMED, AT OKINAWA. WASHINGTON. One of the most carefully guarded secrets of the war was the fact that Japan was floating balloons across the Pacific ocean to Oregon, Wash ington and even as far east as Illinois and Texas. U. S. censors gave strict orders to sup press all news .of these balloons; and even when an Oregon family climbed into a tree to examine a balloon and was blown to bits, censors suppressed the information.. Reason for the strict censorship was that American commanders didn't want the Japs to know how successful their bal loon campaign was. If the Japs realized their balloons were getting: across, it was believed they would launch many more currents from Germany, France. Austria, Turkey or even England make it easy to float balloons into Russia. In fact, they could be inflated so as to come down in certain planned areas, car rying not only propaganda, but bars of soap, candy, shortwave radio sets, etc. The weather bureau, with whom I conferred at the time, confirmed the fact that floating the balloons into Russia would be fairly easy. Secretary of Air Stuart Symington and Chief of Staff Omar Bradley gave their enthusiastic approval. But at that time the state department said no. However, with increasing So viet jamming of the Voice of America, and with the increas ing urgency of getting American ideas across to the Russian peo ple, the state department under live-wire Assistant Secretary Ed Barrett is re-examining the matter. A sincere effort is being made to put across the Acheson idea of '"total diplomacy." A CANDIDATE FORGETS Willis Smith, one of North Carolina's candidates for the senate, has been stumping the state telling folks that he is the great friend of the working man. One of his full-page advertise ments reads: "I believe in high wage scales for the American working man." What Lawyer Smith has for gotten, however or at least what he wants the people of North Carolina to forget is that he actually opposed a 40 cent minimum wage for the working man as late as 1947. De spite the fact that the federal minimum wage is now fixed at 75 cents, Smith informed the North Carolina general assembly that the 40-cent minimum was "harsh, unreasonable and un necessary." Note In contrast, candidate Smith last year received a fee of $23,137.77 for liquidating the Madix Asphalt Roofing Co., of Raleigh. Since the job took him only 98 days, he was paid at the rate of $219.28 a day in contrast to the $16 a week minimum which he told the general as sembly was too high for North Carolina workmen. - While liqui dating the firm, incidentally. Smith lived at the beach resort of Morehead City and charged his client 10 cents a mile ex pense for riding back and forth to the beach. SOVIET EYES OKINAWA A Soviet plot to force the United States off its Pacific is ; land bases is revealed in recent , reports to the joint chiefs of j staff. ; , The clue to Soviet plans is the massing of thousands of Chi ! nese forced laborers to build giant airports within bombing range of Okinawa. The airports are in China's Fukien province fronting on the East China sea, and will have wide, long air strips for planes much 5 larger than anything operated by the Chinese Communists. U. S. intelligence reports say that Soviet officers are directing i the construction of these air j fields. The Communists are al j so planning jet bases, one of j them at Ningpo. ! This information fits into the joint chiefs' estimate of Soviet , plans diversionary moves in Europe to distract our attention, but with the main punch aimed at southeast Asia and the Pa cific. The Kremlin appears ready to take a chance that the American public would let Oki nawa and even the Philippines fall rather than go to war. LOUEY AND HARRY Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson's penchant for talking off the cuff is getting him in trouble with President Truman who also talks off the cuff. The president complained to an old friend the other day, "Louey talks to Bernie Baruch and tells him things he doesn't tell me. I have to learn about them third hand." The White House also learned that Secretary Johnson gave a Pentagon visitor some secrets regarding the navy plane shot down over the Baltic. The vis itor was J. Arthur Rank, the British film magnate. Note Mr. Truman has no love for the elderly Baruch since Ba ruch refused to serve on a Dem ocratic committee in the 1948 campaign. MERRY-GO-ROUND Oklahoma's state CIO council has secretly voted to take no sides in the bitter battle between Sen. Elmer Thomas and Con gressman Mike Monroney. This means that Senator Thomas, who usually gets the labor vote in Oklahoma, will be strictly on his own against Monroney, the man who received the Collier's award several years back for out- ' , standing congressional service ... Trygve Lie, U. N. secretary general, got a rough introduc tion to the iron curtain in ' Prague. At a so-called press ' conference, the Communist news ; stooges harangued him about i the '"western warmonger capital ists." When Lie protested lie 1 was not an agent of the western powers, he was given the horse laugh . . . Egypt is quietly re cruiting an army and navy of international rovers to do battle again with Israel. Armed frig ates for the Egyptian navy are being bought privately from U. S. companies '.""'Lffe is now 'so hot behind the iron curtain that a German circus, Brumbach and Barley mot Barnum and Bailey , slipped across the border into western Europe the other night. The Brumbach circus included 90 wagons, various elephants, tigers, monkeys, and clowns, but they got across the border just the same. TXTITH MOST Mrvurtr.KS or con " gross bark home in the "grass roots'' building up political fences, only a few remained in Washing ton to hold previously announced committee hearings. Then there were a score or more senators and congressmen on world junkets, os tensibly to gather personal infor mation concerning the United States foreign 'policy. Chief subject of comment here in Washington was based on reaction to the President's statement that increased taxes would be needed next year lo meet government deficits and to his fighting speech at St. Paul, where he lambasted "re actionaries" on both the right and left fronts in opposition to his Fair Deal program. In contradiction to the Presi dent's plea for a tax increase, the staff of the house ways and means committee is now working on a t tax revision measure to be pre sented to congress in January un der the direction of Chairman Rob ert Doughton of North Carolina. Congressman Doughton has pre dicted that some changes would be made in the tax program in 1950, but with indications to a downward revision. Since 19."0 is an election yenr. the political experts here rue pre dicting there will be r.o ir.ii cise in taxes. There however is !.;.: to be a sizeable reduction in .-pnri-ir.g for foreign nations which mir,:;! take up the slack in the federal veMments. There are other millions which go back in farm price supports. Except for the actual expense a running the government in Wash ington, which amounts to onlj about S5 billion, and money spenj in the foreign aid program, a largt part of which finds its way bad into the hands cf American busi ncss men, all money collected t: the federal government eventually finds its way back into the states Rep. Walter A. Lynch of Net York has announced that his sub committee of the house ways am means committee has reache agreement with insurance compa nies whereby they pay back ta: to the government for years 194' through 1949 amounting to ap proximately $90 million. Tlie in surance companies refused to pa: this tax on investment income dm to a loophole in the law. The com mittee is working on a change u the law. Sen. Styles Bridges of New Hampshire this week issued a denial that as a trustee of the miners welfare and retirement fund he bad dissipated the money as charged by Ezra Van Horn, another trustee, re cently resigned. Senator Bridges has been criticized for drawing $35,000 a year as a trustee of the miners' fund while drawing pay as a United States senator. Congressman J. Parnell Thomas :f New Jersey, former chairman Duaget. i-resiaent iruman has r re-j . f the house un-American activi dicted that the federal deficit like- j tics committee, is on trial here 1e ly will be about $5.5 billion dul- j federal district court on charges at lurs. Congressman Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts, the Republican leader in the house, has issued a blast at proposed tax increases and has had printed in the congres sional record a table showing that the federal government collected $41.8 billions in fiscal 1948 from the states and returned only about $5.8 billion in federal aids and grants. What Congressman Martin did not mention were other types of federal activity. For instance, about $10 bil lion is spent in salaries, most of which goes back to the states; another $10 billion goes back in purchase of goods and commodities. Another S6 bil lion goes back in interest on loans and for services and in- conspiring to pad his official office payroll, taking "kickbacks'' from employees and of falsifying pay vouchers. He had escaped trial this far on leas of ill health. He was discharged, however, from the army's Walter Reed genera hospital Last June as "completely cured." Judge Alexander HoltzofJ of the federal court ordered a physical examination in a ruling denying Thomas aiuthcr postpone ment. In a recent speech. Sen. Roerl A. Taft of Ohio pointed to the stand the Repulicans likely wiH take in fighting the administra tion's foreign policy. At Toledo, Taft charged that the United Na tions charter is "founded primari ly on power and expediency rather than on justice." 50c Upturn on Fat Cattle at Omaha Market A rip-roaring fat cattle mar ket highlighted Omaha livestock trade Monday. Slaughter steers, yearlings and heifers sold 50c higher readily, bulk $26.50-$29.-00. best steers $30.25, highest since February, quotable top $33.50. Heifers scored $28.50. highest for them since last No vember. Plain short feds sold down to $23.00 but few under $25.50. Cows sold strong to 50c higher, beef cows up most, those to $23.50, young, light cows to $24.00, and canners and cutters at $16.50-$19.00. Vealers brought $24.00-$30.00. Stockers and feed ers sold strong to 50c higher, bulk $26.00-$28.50, feeder steers to a new season's high of $28.75. Hogs sold steady to a quarter lower, butchers weighing 180 360, $17.50-$20.00. Sows weishin-' up to 550 brought $15.00-$18.00, stags $9.00-$13.00. Among recent sales at Omaha from this area: Ray Eveland. 14 steers, wt. 1341 $29.00. E. G. Steckley. 103 hogs, wt. 233, $19.25. Joseph J. Safarik. 19 steers, wt. 1102, $29.00. Victor Meisinger, 23 hogs. wt. 200, $19.75. John Jochim. 21 steers, wt 1065. $28.65. , Siemoneit & Schmidt, 39 heif ers, wt. 70o, $27.00. Lod Tejral. 20 steers and heifers, wt. 775, $26.50. Arthur Johnson, 18 hoes, wt 266. $18.50. A new preparation mat is said to make any material water proof has been marketed. The American Magazine says it is a colorless, harmless, non-inflammable liquid which when spray ed onto wool, cotton, leather or nylon clothing dries in less than four minutes, leaves no odor and is not greasy or waxy. Bullet Just Stings NEW BEDFORD. Mass. UP Forty-eight hours after 9-year-old Richard Peckham felt a sting in his arm while walking i through the woods, hospital sur j geons removed a bullet from the j arm. Until then, the boy hadn't I realized he had been shot. Batavia is the capitol of Java. . Papyrus Prized ; BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. UP j A prized possession of John ! Christopulos is a piece of papy ' rus, smaller than a postage j stamp and inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Believed at i least 650 years old, the Papyrus was handed down to Christopu ' los by his ancestors. 1. President Truman has asked all Americans to visit Wash ington this year to (a) picket congress, (b) observe the capital's 150th anniversary, (c) "meet yonr president personally," (d) view the improvements at the White Honse. 2. The two golfing sisters who recently turned professional are (a) Baoers, (b) Cunninghams, (e) Drews, (d) Bergs. 3. The word "scion" means (a) child or descendant, (h) father of a family, (c) wise man, (d) symboL 4. The term indicating the third horse in a race is (a) ptaee, (b) win, (c) show, (d) scratch. 5. Of the following ailments, the one not contagions is (a) mumps, (b) ringworm, (c) cancer, (d) syphilis. ANSWERS !.() Okwrn th capital's IMta t (at Maries al Alica Baatr. S (a) Child r Maut. .! BBtV. aaiirrir. . Caaaer. Crossword Puzzle OR1ZONTAL 1 Vitality 4 Prize 5 Small vlol'n 12 Ostridhlike r- IS Mischievous prite 14 Man's nam II Opera by " Buet 17 Summit IB Ta ar.ner 20 Te forgive 21 Cans 23 Black, aticky ubitance 24 Toothed wheel 27 Grass cured lor foddrr 25 Plaything 29 Inasmuch ai 30 Four 31 Lixivium 32 Melancholj 33 At bat -(baseball) 34 At rip time 36 Inaect er 37 Greek letter 38 Over again 39 To mingle 40 Low card 41 Opponent 43 Sweet potato 44 False show 46 A state 48 High nota 50 Anaesthetic 52 By birth 33 Cloth measure- 54 Ta elevate 55 Type mea sure ipi.) VERTICAL 1 Dry. as wine 2 Chalice 3 To supply .4 Tip 5 To triumph 6 Chopping tool 7 Body of water 8 To consider 9 Young cat 10 Wrath 11 Impost 16 Cat's cry 18 VnyieldiHf 10 Paxtvelo t i J 478 9 10 11 TIT IT" Ti n w r i li M Hill li- ill M H H 49 SO 51 SZ U S4 7$ 21 Country of I Asia 4S Affirmative I 51 Hello! 22 Crowlike bird J . 23 Pedal digit A 25 Keen 26 To refund . . . , 28 Son of Odin Answer to LAST WEEK'S Puirlsi 29 Posed 31 and " Clark Tjfi0liI tPjOlER) 32 Hockey team fp R I 3 0 I A M E L 37 Weasel 0 D E " PAH IS J f I JT 39 Island in the BF'"pEDAL'"HOSE 4 "rrranean ttk-Eiiiisiiifc cymbals lii D y.1 i 18 42 to shift rSTn oys""cj3?s" TjT 43 Time long BI0S"LARB Sl T D 44 GoTer P." " Z I I ! II 3l II mound ST 2.1.h... 5 .. ?S?R 0B THEBES team