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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1954)
h 'IaM"!-"-v.v.'.v.v.v .... EDITORIAL S Furses Fresh Flashes mm "-HE TAX HOURS If you are the average working man, you are putting in about two and a half hours a day for the U. S. Government. That's the average time required by the typical American to earn the money he must pay in taxes. In -other words, if you start work at nine o'clock, you're working until about a half hour before noon for Uncle Sam. That's what the Kentucky Tax Research Association found in a recent compilation. The Association also worked up figures showing what the average, man uses the money earned from the rest of his day for. Next in importance, in the time re quired to earn it, is food. The average working-man spends an hour and thirty seven minutes of his working day to earn food for himself and his family. After that, in time required to provide it, is the problem of housing, and the average man spends an hour and twenty-four minutes each day for the shelter, rent or paymept. he is making on his living quarters. Oddly enough, transportation is the next biggest item, requiring forty-two minutes of the average man's working day, followed by clothing, which requires thirty-six minutes. Medical and personal care require only twenty-three minutes of the working day, in earnings, and reading and recreation represent twenty minutes of the average working days, in cost. tt "r "it ALCOHOLISM Alcoholism is becoming a growing menace in all parts of the world, but it' has gained the headlines most recently in France. There, Premier Mendes-France is attempting to cut down on the manufac ture and sale of hard liquor in an effort to decrease the very considerable loss to the economy resulting from alcoholism. It has been estimated that alcoholism costs France as much a9 $1,500,000,000 a year, in days lost from work alone. The French, for centuries addicted to wine, are presumably taking to hard liquors in somewhat the same fashion. Alcoholism is a most deceptive disease, but definitely a disease, and modern-day psychiatrists tell U3 that it usually requires a number of years to mold an alcoholic. Once an individual succumbs to the di sease, he is usually unable to pull free from its clutches without outside help. In every town and city there are those many of them in high society who refuse to admit it. They pose a problem, for they are unable 'to adequately control their behavior according to accepted stan dards, and the many problems "they cause society are not confined :to" 'Outsiders but affect members of their families most of all. Considering the fact that there are many millions of people in the United States who do not partake of any alcohol ic beverage, many millions who use it only once in a while, and many .more millions, perhaps, the majority, who use it in sen sible moderation, it is little short of amaz ing how heavy drinking is emphasized in the theatre and movie industries. The same problem exists in France, in this regard, as in the United States, and the entertain ment industries perhaps bear the greatest responsibility of all in this problem. Though it is most difficult to do, we urge all youngsters to disregard the sly propaganda of the day, to make up their own minds about the smartness of alcohol, and other habit-forming traits. We also suggest that sponsors of TV shows and directors of movies that are guilty of sell ing excessive habits to the public be re membered when the American consumer id deciding on a purchase of a product or an admission ticket. THOUGHT FOR TODAY It is better that some should he unhappy than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality. Samuel Tohnson The Plalisrnoulh Journal Official County and City Paper ESTABLISHED IN mi Published Semi-Weekly, Mondays and Thursdays, at 410 Mail) Street, Plattsmouth, Cass County, Nebr. Three Times .Winner Ak-Sar-Ben Plaques foi "OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY SERVICE" 1949 1951 1952 "Honorable Mention" 1953 Presented Nebraska Press Association "GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD" First in 1952 Second in 1951 and 1953 (In Cities Over 2,000 Population) RONALD R. FURSE Editor and Publisher WM. L. MURDOCK I.News Editor SOPHIA M. WOLEVER Society Editor VERN WATERMAN Advertising' Ticklers By George Collective bargaining is a father dis cussing clothes with his teenage daughter. A bachelor is a fellow who would ra ther wash out a pair of socks than a pan full, of dishes. Flipper Fanny, ou; dainty little con . tour twister, says good legs are very ne cessary to baseball players and to girls who are trying to get to first .base. T Heaven protects the working girl But Heaven, we fear, is shirking; For who protects, we'd lik? to know, . The fellow she is working The reason most women do not look good in slacks is because the distance is too great between the hip pockets. In trying to balance our budget, Con gressmen don't know whether to use more tax or more axe. If our present weather continues, you kids who get a pair of skis for Christmas can lend them to your mother to insert in the sleeves of laundered shirts before ironing. We never sing in phurch anymore. We missed one Sunday and several people r wanted to know if the organ had been 1 fixed. Down Memory Lane OA YEARS ACO mJ Five cars overturned north of the Murray corner when the road was cov ered by a very thick fog. No one was in jured in the series of accidents, and all cars were uprighted and sent on their wrays ... County Commissioner J. A. Pitz and Judge A. H. Duxbury called on army engineers in Omaha to see about having some river improvement work done on the section of river near Plattsmouth . ." The Blue Devils opened the basketball season with a 16-0 win over Ashland, Cotner scoring seven, Hendrix six, Case two and j Forbes 1 . . . The, large cedar tree on the south terrace of the courthouse was decor ated with colored lights in the holiday spirit. J r YEARS ACO w Boys Town's basketball team de feated the Blue Devils, 34-18, Reckard being high man for Plattsmouth with 10 points . . . Additional help was employed by the post office during the Christmas season, Dale Reckard and Gerald McClin tock working as carriers . . . Cass county was credited for $15,200 on the War Bond drive when Consumers Public Power dis trict invested $880,000 in. bonds. The amount was credited to the various coun ties in Nebraska. " . & ' "it k The Washington Merry -Go -Round So you want to sell me a garbage disposai unit? Son, 1 raie fem!" BS9SS tamu. muui wm Entered at the Tost Office at Plattsmouth, Nebraska as second class mail matter in accordance with the Act of Congress of March 3, 1S79. . " SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $3.50 per year in Cass and adjoining counties, $4.00 per year elsewhere, in advance, by mail outside the city of Platts mouth. By carrier in Plattsmouth, 20 cents for two weeks. Copyright, 1954, By The Bell Syndicate, Inc.) DREW PEARSON SAYS: NEW BOMB SHELTER FOR IKE; PRES ENT WHITE HOUSE SHELTER IN ADEQUATE; OHIO SENATE RI VALS BURY THE HATCHET. WASHINGTON Civil defense has now decided the President's air raid shel ter, built for FDR during World War II, ! is not completely safe. It is no secret to anyone that this is buried on the White House grounds; so it's feared that a direct H-Bomb hit would scoop the vaultlike shelter right out of the earth. As a result, President Eisenhower has been assigned a secret, out-of-town cave, where he will be whisked, along with his top aides and cabinet officers, in case of an. air raid. This gigantic, bombproof cave is equipped with tons of supplies and ra tions, special electronics and radio gear, air filters and water purifiers every thing necessary to run the nation from an emergency headquarters. The President's exodus from Washing ton, of course, depends on adequate warn ing. The -Air Force hopes our radar screen in Northern Canada will give Washington four hours' notice of an enemy attack. If the warning is too., short, Ike will have to take his chances in the White House shelter. This is a small, compact, subterranean shelter, encased in four feet of solid con crete, reinforced with steel. It is equipped with its own heating system, power plant, communications network and water sup :piy all independent of the city over head. Chief problem is that the White House shelter will accommodate only 20 to 25 persons. No list has yet been drawn up as to who in the White House would go with the President and who would have to take their chances with the outside populace. Civil Defense has held several prac tice "Dry Runs" to determine how long it would take to evacuate the President and his cabinet to their secret hideaway, together with 3,000 other top officials to scattered relocation centers. During one rehearsal, it was discovered that a master file containing essential data was still back in Washington. As a result, photostatic copies were made of all important working files and stored in the emergen cy headquarters. Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby, Secre tary of Health, Education and welfare, also discovered that high-heel shoes weren't the best fashion for air raids. The rough cement floors of the president ial hideout scraped up her heels, gave her trouble with her feet. FRIENDLY RIVALS " Genial George Bender, newly elected senator from Ohio, tells friends: "I was the only sena tor who had to win three times. I had to win the unofficial count, then the recount." George says this a little, rue fully, because he went through months of campaigning, and then several weeks of watching the recounting. However, sitt ing in the Waldorf's Norse Grill in Newyork the other day with Dave Jones of the Cleveland Browns, he was approached by Charley Taffr. Charley, - brother of ' the' late Senator Taft, has not always been strong for Bender. He be longs to the reform Republi cans . of , Hamilton county, which is Cincinnati. But coming up to Bender's table he said: "Bob, the election in Hamil ton county was as clean as any in the country. Vigorous as the Bender-Burke campaign was, it ended on a liappy note, when defeated Sen. Tom. Burke, Democrat, called :Bender on ' the phone:'- to: con gratulate 'hirH and say he want ed to turn over his . files on West Point appointments. The two rivals talked briefly and pleasantly. "It's just too bad," said Ben der, 'That both of us couldn't have won." WASHINGTON PIPELINE Corrections The Public Ac counts Subcommittee ' of ' " the House Government operations subcommittee which planned a study of European- - merchant marine costs did not take its planned trip to Europe as pre viously reported in -this, column. Staff members state that the committee has received a re port from the general account ing office that European ship building costs are estimated at too low a figure, because of which the U. S. Government is paying ' U. S. shipping concerns too high a subsidy, and the House Subcommittee had plan ned to send seven members abroad to study the matter: Bender of Ohio, Osmers of N. J., McDonough, Calif., Hillel son, Mo.,' Republicans; with Karsten, Mo., Mollohan, W. Va., and Fountain, N. C. Though the committee still plans to make the subsidy study, the trip has been called off . . . Senator Wat kins of Utah got the second biggest hand at the Gridiron Club dinner . . . The man who probably has the longest recol lection of Gridiron dinners is Eugene Meyer, publisher of the Washington . Post and Times Herald. He recalls a Gridiron speech by Secretary of State Elihu Root in 1903 wrhich made a big hit. William Jennings Bry an was invited to. answer Root for the Democrats. He arrived one hour late with rumpled shirt, not in formal evening dress. Despite this; he outrooted Root. His speech brought down the house. WHO PROMOTED VAN FLEET? Gen. George Marshall; who was given a long overdue testi monial dinner the other day, tells friends privately how Queen Frederika of Greece came to see him secretly "in London seme years ago and asked him to do something to save Greece. Marshall told -rrer she was very naughty to approach him direct, since it is improper for the head of a government to make a formal request of a U. S. military man. However, he acted anyway, and later sent Gen. James Van Fleet to reor ganize the then demoralized Greek army. Van Fleet had been the victim of an army red-tape snafu. Just; as someone went wrong and promoted Peress, someone also went wrong and got Van Fleet confused with another Van Fleet, considered too unstable for high rank. General Marshall finally got the two Van Fleets straightened out and sent the right. Van Fleet to Greece, where he did a fine job, later went to Korea. More recently, Van Fleet, re tired from Korea by Eisenhow er, joined the ten million Amer- Legislative SIDELIGHTS.. by BERNIE CAMP Information Director Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation goods and services are marketed at prevailing prices. These basic requirements are known as the Rochdale Principles because they guided the formation of the first modern cooperative among the weavers of Rochdale, England, a little more than one hundred years ago. Cooperatives are a way tf do ing business and nothr'ng mare if they are to remain successful- over a long period cf time. Again and again proof of this fact has been provided by co operatives , which have wanecl cr. .failed because they tied themselves to a political per sonality or espoused social pro grams that, were not compatible with "democracy. Cooperatives have been ac cused by ill-informed and vicious individuals and groups of being 'cmmunistic or socialistic. As matter of fact, the coopera te business which adheres to .he five Rochdale principles cannot become communistic or socialistic because such a busi ness must remain above politi cal and social factionalism. In countries turning to 'commu nism, cooperatives have been absorbed. by the government, but in that case they are no longer cooperatives because they have been incorporated into a politi cal system and are no longer open or voluntary in member ship. Some uninformed critics aygue that they are still called "cooperatives," overlooking the fact that for purposes of opera tion the communists also set up "corporations" to perform busi ness functions. Does that' con demn all corporations as com munistic? i THE PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, SEMI-WEEKLY IC-riAli PAGE FOUR . Monday, December 20, 1954 9 : Corner ;;(, Verse will appear in this space without charge. Name of H writer must ' appear on copy submitted. Keep them short 1"3 , n .... . . -. H n t r-w ty-1 i f lAnirthv nnonic tj ja-V MII lllfl a.its,.aij K'- Save Your Life For Christmas; Drive Safely The private enterprise eco nomic system of the United States has become character ized -by four major classifica tions of ways of acing business. These four methods di aouig business are all private ' enter-' prise. They are m constant tin;T "t, ..iT: "IT CHICAGO Watch how you drive . if you want to be alive .in '55! That's the advice of the Na competition within and the classifications. First, the individual .of "fam ily business, ovned and oper ated by one man or his family. Second , is the partnership in which two or more families own arid share in the profits from the business. Third is the old line corporation in which hun dreds or thousands of individ uals combine their savings to finance a business operation and share in its profits. The fourth business is the cooperative cor poration in which individuals or families served by the busi-. ness combine their savings to gain the advantages possible with mass buying or selling. The cooperative is least under stood of the free enterprise bus inesses because there has been so much misinformation broad cast by its enemies. As a mat ter of fact, many of the busi nesses in the other three classi fications' ise' cooperative prin ciples to secure ior themselves price advantages in wholesale buying of hardware," drugs, gro ceries and other supplies. Mu tual insurance companies, credit unions, some building and loan associations, the Associated Press and hundreds of other businesses operate with cooper ative principles, even though they are not emphasized. Cooperatives are simply the ultimate development of de mocracy in business. They op erate on a simple and basic set of principles. First, they are democratically controlled. Each member has one vote. Second, they, have an open membership. Anyone can belong to a coopera tive. Third, savings are re turned to the patrons. Fourth, membership is voluntary. Fifth, points out that it's only seven more days until December 24th the most dangerous day of the year in traffic. "Christmas is a very special day of joy," said Ned H. Dear born, president of the Council, "but because of accidents and especially traffic accidents it becomes a day of tragedy in en tirely too many American homes. The greatest tragedy of all is that so many of these accidents could be prevented! "It's time for Americans to realize that these traffic acci dent victims die in vain. They die because the victim, or some one, was careless, .v. "If everyone would assume personal responsibility for him self and others, whether walking or driving, many of these acci dents could be prevented and Christmas could be a happy holiday for many more people." As the holidays grow nearer, the Council is stepping up-its annual Christmas, safety cam paign, Mr. Dearborn said. Co operating with the Council in this effort to hold yuletide. ac cidents to a minimum are 163 other national organizations, city and state officials, civic leaders ay.d local safety coun cils. Heavier travel and the .festive spirit of the holiday season pre sent special Christmas hazards, the Council said. These, plus the normal winter .hazards of bad weather, slippery roads and more hours of darkness often add up to tragedy. - To compensate for the extra hazards, the Council suggests: 1. Start automobile trips early and take it easy. Be extremely cautious in bad weather and darkness. 2, Don't comDete in traffic icans for McCarthy. But when I L.et tne other driver have the SANTA'S VISIT Santa is a jolly .man, , , He comes around each year, The children, they do love him, He brings a lot of cheer; He carries a pack upon, his back Filled with many toys, He really has a lot of them, For all good girls and boys. So listen as J tell you. Be good the year through- And I am sure that Santa Will remember you. You may not get all that's on the list You make out for him on Christmas Eve, For he has to see he has toys enough, For everyone, to please. If he should skip someone I'm sure, it would make him sad, But then I bet it would be, Because, you were a wee bit bad. So try your best to be real good, As good as good can be. Then I'm sure he will remember you, You, just wait and see! Hang your stockings by the chimney So when Santa, he comes through, He will see that they are empty And will fill them up for you. All the toys he will put, 'neath the tree, And with a smile on his face Right up the chimney he will go. Then his Reindeers will take him, Through the white and drifted snow. Mrs. Roy Cavender NEB mot IISKA EEH.R Cj I&SJES C OLSON, Superintend EISTOaiCAL SOCIETY - ? . McCarthy blasted Ike, Van Fleet pumiciy withdrew. However, what old military comrades noted was that Van Fleet said . nothing about Mc Carthy's charge against Gen eral Marshall, the man who promoted him, gave him his big opportunity in Greece and whom McCarthy charged with "A conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man." right-of-way and you take the right way. 3. Don't pass without a sure margin of safety. And don't change lanes unless you are sure no one is coming up behind you. 4. Stay alert. Don't let distrac tions take your mind off the road even for an instant. . 5. Don't drive if you have been drinking and refuse to ride with drinking drivers. If you don't drink, watch out for the fellow who does. Remember that Harlan County was settled in the early Seventies as one . re sult of a rather considerable colonization activity in the Re publican Valley. Alma and Re publican City were established in 1871 the former by railroad laborers from Cheyenne and the latter by a. group led by Dr. John McPherson, of Brownville. Prior to that, a group under General Victor Vifquain, the . first Ne braskan to win a Congressional Medal of Honor, had established themselves, in 1870, at Melrose Stockade,, near the site of the present town of Orleans.' The county was organized in 1871, and Alma was selected as county seat. Alma has" retained the honor to this day, but all through the Seventies the citi zens had to fight off attempts by other communities to wrest the seat of government from its original location. The most ar dent contender was Republican City., - Many of the early settlers had come into the county and in deed into the whole 'Republican I Valley in the' hope that the rauroaa wouia soon de built m the area. This hope did not materialize until the Burlington built its line through the valley in 1878-1882. Prior to that, the settlers had to make the long overland trip to the Union Pa cific, or after 1873, to the Bur lington at Lowell. Harlan County, in common tipsy pedestrians and drinking drivers are most common during the Christmas-New Year holidays. with other areas in the Repub lican Valley and elsewhere in the state, was particularly hard hit by the grasshopper plague of 1874. The settlement, just getting under Way, was greatly retarded by a combination of grasshoppers and drought. In addition to grasshoppers and drought, the Republican Valley has been hit by floods. Perhaps the most disastrous in history was the big flood of June, 1935 which turned the valley into a place of desolation. Ninety-six people lost their lives, and losses in property amounted to IO.OCO.000. As a result 'of this flood, agi tation for some means of con trolling the Republican River was started. This agitation did not finally bear fruit until after World War II, when the Harlan County Dam was constructed as part of the Pick-Sloan Plan for the development of the Missouri River Basin. The construction of the dam and the reservoir necessitated the moving of Re publican City from its old site to a new site near the dam. The construction of the Har lan County Reservoir has prob ably been the greatest event in the history of the county and it bodes fair to make a tremen dous impression onthe county's agricultural economy. The first census in which Har lan County returned a popula tion was in 1880 when 6,086' per sons were recorded as living in the county. The population jumped to 8,153 in 1890 and in creased slowly to 9,578 in 1910. Since then there has been a steady decline, and the popula tion in 1950 was 7,189. Subscribe to The Journal NOW! Help Fight TB Buy Christmas Seals ALL ElGWT, 4ANDty 6ET IN THERE AMP CWT THAT TOVCMDOWJlfve 6Rf) 7 ' " ' I BOyTHII y MY tMANCc.' COWM OKIE AMNJOTE TO MAt Afc A HckQ WITH THE Tf-lErLL CHEER ME, 1 I : -v- Y NEXT TWE, BOVfe YOXD BET TEC i vJ I f V I I r, lAr--. I- . . . . I I II r vwrvN I hz wvn-uriE. I . W T MARKER' ji rr-THEvur s f i v : ' L3 i !. w - .. II MY HOLY A ''ri DADBUSN1T, JABBER, HAVE YU NOTVKNG BETTER TO VO THAN TA?TS WITH A WATER PISTOL? i 1 1 f HERE; YOU CAM VO THE MILKING. ..THAT LU KEEP YOU OUT OF MISCHIEF.'