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f^metrr-' .J1 . - - - 1 Railroad Lands Are Liquidated Eight Million Acrc^i Given Roads in Early Day# Recovered by U. S. WASHINGTON.?A 90 year phase of American railroad building steeped in frontier history was closed as the interior department announced the recovery of 8,000,000 acres of land originally granted to railroads when they pushed westward to Ihe Pacific. Secretary Ickes approved u release by the Northern Pacific railroad of all claims under land gifts of 1864 and 1870?last and largest of the historic grants closed out under the Transportation act of 1940. The Northern Pacific release embraced ubout 4,500,000 acres in Washington, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The land reverts to federal ownership for administration under the conservation program of the interior department. Value Not Appraised. , Releases previously approved by Mr. Ickes restored to the public domain about 2,000,000 acres in Southern California held by the Southern Pacific and 1,600,000 acres in Arizona and New Mexico held by the Atchison & Santa Fe. The value of the lands, larger than the states of Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined, has not been appraised. . Under the Transportation act of ^040 the interior department was "empowered to close out the land grants and, in exchange, open the way for the roads to be relieved of low preferential rates on government freight and passonger business. The old grants were made with a stipulation that the government receive rutes 50 to 80 per cent jDelow regular tariffs on certain passenger and freight traffic. ' Started In 1850. The land grant system was begun py congress in 1850, with allocation of 2,595,000 acres of the then plentiful public lands for construction of the Illinois Central road. The principle grew rapidly until more than 75 grants, aggregating 158,293,000 acres, had been made. Under encouragement of the land gifts 21,500 miles of trackage spanned the continent. Of the original 158,293,000 acres, the railroads actually took patents on 110,000,000 acres. Veterans Still Cling to Tough Old Army Mule FORT BLISS, TEXAS?This is a mechanized age, and the army is utilizing its share of machine-transportation and power, but motor vehicles never will knock out the tough army mule. That's the consensus of military strategists at Fort Bliss, America's largest cavalry post. Historians at the fort who have Jone research work on the subject, lay the mule started with the army. They base their prediction that the rnule never will be entirely supplanted by motor transportation and power on the proved fact that the animal is at its best in rough going. They point out that big trucks can't get through heavy mud, climb trackless mountains, or go through jungles. The mule can. Capt. Richard E. Arnold, who is serving his twenty-first year in thenrmy and who now commands the Fort Bliss mule pack train?the only me in Amorica-Mnsists that the mule represents much of the color ?uul romance of the army. Captain Arnold's mule pack train ?Troop E?includes 303 animals, 73 men and two officers, divided into four platoons. He and other veterans like to tell of the feats of sturdy mules in the World war and of the times they carried ammunition through to the front in France when trucks were mired in the mud or in shell holes. Prisoner Admits Hoax In Slaying 'Confession* LOUISA. KY. ? District Attorney M. J. Eagen of Scranton, Pa., said that Dwight O. Thorne admitted he had concocted a "confession" of be- j ing responsible for the dynamite slaying of William and Lois Rebhorn in Scranton last November. "I was practically convinced that it was a hoax before I came to Louisa," said Eagen, who questioned Thorne in the presence of local and Pennsylvania police. "However, he gave us some sidelights I would like to look into hefore he is turned loose," Eagen added. "It u as a made-up story." County Attorney M. J. See quoted Thorne as saying. Asked why he did it. See said Thorne replied: "Even if I have to spend the rest of my life in the penitentiary, I can't tell you why." Museum Designed in Style Of Old Mound Builders MOUNDVILLE, ALA. ? A museum designed after the architecture of the ancient and little known Mound Builders of Alabama lias been opened to house situ burials and artifacts found at the mound village here. A burial, left exactly as it was uncovered, is under each wing of the building and the center section contains cases holding hundreds of relics. Treasure Isle New Navy Base Site of Golden Gate Fan* Considered Ideal for Training Station. SAN FRANCISCO.?Treasure island, in the middle of San Francisco bay and the largest man-made island in the world, has been taken over by the navy for the duration of the present national defense emergency. The island was the site of the 19391940 Golden Gate International exposition, but for the next four or five years, ut least, it will be used as a seaplane and small craft training buse. Navy officials found the island an almost ideal locution for the purposes for which it is to be used. In the first place, it is entirely surrounded with navigable water except for the small ramp that connects it with the San Francisco bay bridge and which brings it within 10 minutes from the center of the city. Buildings Are Usable. The navy also was able to utilize 17 of the principal buildings of the exposition und thus save greatly in construction expense, and what was even more Important, time. The navy was able to move in immediately und expects to have its first contingent of 1,000 men in training within a few months. Eventually, it expects to train 5,000 men at one time there. Of the 17 buildings which the navy will take over, three are permanent. They are the administration buildings and the two vast hangars of the Pan American airways. The latter will continue to operate its Far Eastern and Australian Clipper services from their permanent base at the south end of the island, but they have consented to have the hangars used as barracks during the navy occupation. Site Deeded to City. Under the terms by which the state deeded to the city the 400 acres at the bottom of San Francisco bay, the island eventually must become a city airport. Arrangements were made between the | navy and the city -whereby the former will contribute much to the development of the island as an airport. The navy will use its influence in obtaining $1,680,000 WPA funds for construction of the airport, which will go forward while the island is being used by the navy. Some of the more suitable buildings on the island will be used for machine shops and repair works. Co?t of Killing in War Has Soared Since 1914-18 TARENTUM, PA.?The cost of killing a soldier has increased from ; $50 in the time of Julius Caesar to between $50,000 and $75,000 in the present war, according to H. V. Churchill, an industrial chemist. Churchill told a meeting here the expense of wartime killing has risen steadily through the centuries, with a tremendously great advance occurring between the World war and today. By the time of Napoleon, the cost had become $1,500 for each man killed, the chemist said, and during the World war the figure was about $2,500. He added that Napoleon's advisers and allies thought the cost fur too high in their time. Churchill cited as the reason for the huge increase in the cost the fact that war is now fought with machinery?which adds greatly to the cost?although manpower still is the backbone of war. "The development of mechanical devices and improvement of machinery has lifted a great deal of hard physical labor from men's shoulders, but military men are turning this machinery to war purposes instead of using it for peaceful pursuits," he declared. City Keeps Lamplighter Even With Electricity SAI.T LAKE CITY. ? In olden Junes, every i ity hud its oJlicial lamplighter--th" man who went about at dusk to ignite the flickcry ' gaslights and mode the rounds again I at dawn to turn them rJT. In most communities, the lampi ghter vanished w.lh the advent of electricity?but not in Suit Lake City j A lineman for the c.tv police, fire 1 i and s.goal svster i imr.ud E. D. Wil- ! hams 'still mak-'S the ac storm d rounds, but his dotes arc s unrwhnt different than in the gasnght era. Williams, carrying lire traditional hooked stick, visits the city's safety islands to turn no flood.ig! ;> that mark the zor.es. In tne e..:\\ dawn Ire repeats his u-.t. tarnin. off the giar.t globes just as his predecessors did. He Is Free Two Hours Before His 88ch Arrest j BAKERSFI ELD. CALIF ?R. J. ("Shortv' J Pooler. -??> >ears old, had r only two hours of freedom from ] tire tune he was rt leased after his j eightv-.<?cvcnth arrest until he was | rrrcsicd the t g.rty-e ghth time, records showed Pooler v.,.s released from the ' Kern c >unty ja.l n.nd then arrested ) two hers late' no >\--alion clmrge J >t; g . . need Eleven to Two Hours Safest, Reveals Doctor The extensive studies made by Dr. Emil Bogen, M. l> , of Olive View sanatorium, Los Angeles, and presented before the recent California Medical association convention at Coronado, seem to indicate that, by the number of deaths occurring then, 7 p. m. is the most fatal hour of the 24 which mark our day? f ; Assisted by Neil Qaress, assigned by the Works Progress udfninistration, Dr. Bogen analyzed 16,411 death certificates recorded for 1938 in Los Angeles. While, with the caution of the scientist, lie says his finding may not be "conclusively significant," they do show unmistakable trends?and they definitely upset the common belief that the "wee small hours of the morning," when all is still and lonely, are the hours when Death is most likely to come on his sometimes terrifying, sometimes soothing and benign mission. For, says Dr. Bogen: "There are more deaths during the hours of the day than at night. "The daytime excess is most marked with apoplexy, heart disease, tuberculosis and pneumonia. "Death from diabetes and from, poisoning occur more often at night, however." When is it that the fateful Shado.w hovers least? "The lowest death rates," Dr. Bogen's paper shows, "were seen during the two periods from 11 a. m. to 2 p. m., and from 11 p. m. to 1 2 a. m. "The two periods, 5 to 8 a. m. and 5 to 8 p. m., WHEN THE DAILY ROUTINE IS BEING CHANGED, either to wake or to go to work, or to return from work and go to sleep, are accompanied by higher death rates than the times when already established rest or activity is being continued." " i Vermont Not Member of Union Until After War Vermont is so solid and substantial in its qualities that most people are under the impression that it was one of the 13 original states. But it did not become a member of the Union until March 4, 1791, 150 years ago. The first permanent settlement by the English in what is now Vermont, ( was made in 1753 at Brattleboro. Up until the Revolution this region was known as the New Hampshire Grants, and was claimed by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York. The capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1775 by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys made it possible for General Washington to obtain enough artillery to force the British to evacuate Boston i nearly a year later. j I In January, 1777, the settlers in ! the New Hampshire Grants held a convention at Westminster and proclaimed it a "free and independent I state capable of regulating their I own internal police in all and every I respect whatsoever, and that it I should thereafter be known by the I name of New Connecticut." Four months later a second con- I vention changed the name of the quasi-Independent state to Vermont, I derived from two French words I meaning "green" and "mountain." I The name Vermont had been sug- I gested to the delegates by Dr. I Thomas Young, an early associate I of Ethan Allen. I But the Continental Congress, not wishing to offend New York, Mas-. I sachusetts and New Hampshire, re- I fused to admit the new state of Ver- j mont as an equal partner. Cultivate Most Roses Here I People in the United States cul- I tivate more roses than any other ' country in the world, but our once I famous American Beauty rose is | practically extinct today, according I to Fruncis W. Ruzicka, president of | the National Rose Growers of Amor- j j ica. Its place has been taken by I the Better Times rose, introduced six years ago. Today when y>u I buy a so-called American Beauty. I the chances are it is really a Better j Times. Yellow roses are hardest to j produce. Bees and bugs. groat< st j pollinating agents, always prefer I pink roses; so when roses go psr.k. you know they have gone wild. I New Jersey grows enough r< -e. I to strew the Transcontinental h.g:i I way, end to -end, from Trent' n to \ Pasadena. White roses cost mere I in June and September and are I almost unsalable through the u-st of the year. The Red Rose inn. I near West Grove, Pa . has paid its I rent with roses instead of money j for more than 200 years. Theoretical Music I Music theory is a branch of music I study that has suffered most from isolation, according to Dr. Fd.oa I McEachern, California teacher. She J f said that students spend months I writing exercises in music theory j classes often with little carry over I in music performance. "The piano I student should know the forms he J plays and be able to identify tneir I structural elements such as phrase. I cadence, modulation, harmonic pro- I gression and thematic develop- ; jnent," she says. "He should acquaint himself with homophomc and I polophomc style and learn to hoar V and play music vertically and hori- j zontaily. Piano students should I also be taught to note the dramatic I effect dissonant chords and the I expressive .import of antic;pai.una. : appoglatures, organ point and sua L pensions." j ; . ^ ~ ^:^?vv^ M , *\Z%:*&&?":,*:&:': : . ?= , ^ ' '*- i^,.. ''rSTT^Mf*^"' V *\v"--i?-r " ' VV ' '^^'V',?/^ """1' V ;; ' Do You... "*> I . ^ .... -.-. * r '?.! 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