McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, July 29, 1937, Image 6
McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1937
'Way Back When 1
• I
By JEANNE
WALT DISNEY WAS A MAIL
CARRIER
\\7 HAT are the secret ambitions
** of those who serve us, par
ticularly those whose occupations
are mechanical or lonesome enough
to allow their minds to drift often
into the realms of fantasy?
Walt Disney is an example. Born
in Chicago in 1901, his first job was
as a mail carrier there, at the aga
of sixteen. As a little boy he liked
to draw, and he liked to draw ani
mals; but the famous creator of
Mickey Mouse had to make a living
delivering mail. He had no chance
to express his creative genius un
til after the World war, when he
obtained a job as a commercial
artist in Kansas City. In his garage,
he experimented with animated
newsreels called “Local Happen
ings." which he sold to Kansas City
moving picture theaters. He fol
lowed these with a series of fairy
tales for local clubs and church
gatherings.
This modest success prompted
him to try Hollywood, where he
started in an unpretentious little
building far from the big emdioL.
There be created “Oswald, «he
Rabbit," but after making 26 sub
jects, he and his backer separated.
The backer owned the rights to
“Oswald, the Rabbit" which is still
being shown in the theaters, and
Disney was left without his most
promising character. Out of this
adversity was born “Mickey
Mouse" and the “Silly Sympho
nies."
Today, Walt Disney employs a
staff of artists to draw his charao
v ters but he is, himself, the voice of
Mickey Moused
• • •
PICTURE MAGNATE WAS A
PEDDLER
F ”S fun for the young man who
was born to be president of his
rich father’s company: a month in
the shop, a month clerking, and
then general manager. But consid
er the discouragement and heart
aches of the boy too poor for an
adequate education, too poor for
nourishing food or decent clothing,
too poor to meet people with influ
ence. That such boys, possessing
only courage, ambition and brains,
can still rise in America is this
country’s strongest defense against
fascism and communism.
William Fox was born 1879 in
Tuichva, Hungary, son of a small
shopkeeper who extracted teeth as a
side-line. The family moved to
America when William was nine
months old, and settled in an East
Side tenement district of New York
city. His first job was at the age of
nine, when his father, who was out
of work, made * stove blacking in
their small tenement and William
peddled it from door to door in the
neighborhood. Later he sold candy
lozenges at the Third Street dock
and at Central park on Sundays.
At the age of fourteen, he was
forced by poverty to quit school.
He obtained a job in a clothing firm
and rose to be foreman in charge
of lining cutting, at the magnificent
salary of $8 per week. To augment
his earnings, he bought umbrellas
and peddled them in front of thea
ters on rainy nights. With $1,600
savings accumulated through many
privations, he started a cloth ex
amining and shrinking business,
when he was twenty-one, and at
the end of the second year invested
his profits in a nickelodeon or five-
cent motion picture house. Twenty-
five years later he headed the great
$200,000,000 corporation which bore
his name, including a picture pro
ducing company, distributing agen
cies, and thousands of theaters
throughout the United States.
Who knows for what high posi
tion that peddler who calls at your
door may be preparing. William
Fox rose from the same start.
WNU Service.
Travelers Rarely Realize Whirlwind
of Activity in Pennsylvania Station
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington, D. C.—WNU Service.
ALTHOUGH it celebrated its
.xV twenty-fifth anniversary in
1935, the Pennsylvania station
in New York still is the largest
in the world.
Walk around it and you have
tramped half a mile, with no
more sight of train or track than
you would encounter about the
Vatican or the Louvre.
The station really is an eight-acre
platform, with a mammoth super
structure, bridging the Manhattan
mouths of two tunnels. Some trains
run through these tunnels for seven
miles, from New Jersey to Long
Island, under the Hudson and East
rivers, pausing beneath the station,
but never emerging into the day
light or night glow of New York
city.
Northbound trains pass the most
complex traffic corner in the world,
for above the train tunnel, at Her
ald square, in the order named, are
the Sixth avenue subway, the Hud-
son-Manhattan tubes, the street-lev
el bus lines and the Sixth avenue
elevated. Imagine an airplane over
head, and it would be perfectly
feasible for six vehicles to pass that
intersection at one time.
Half Million Tickets a Month.
It takes a staff of 76 men to sell
tickets at Pennsylvania station. In
a normal month they sold 553,204
tickets for $1,595,280.60. The months
of Easter, Christmas and Labor day
raise that volume by a third or
more.
Printed tickets ready for sale,
150,000,000 of them, are stored in a
room where they are guarded like
notes in the United States treasury.
Some of these tinted, water
marked slips are worth a hundred
dollars and more when stamped.
Beside each seller’s grilled win
dow is a rack from which he flicks
out tickets with familiar noncha
lance. These racks are mounted
on wheels and have folding fronts
and locks.
Each seller has his own rack and
key. When he goes off duty, he
rolls his rack back of the line,
locks it, and deposits the key in
the cashier’s safe. The tickets are
charged out to him and he must
return the unsold quota and the
money for those he sold.
Selling Tickets Is Final Step.
The station cashier’s office is like
a bank. You may have noticed that
when you pay for meals on a dining
car you always receive crisp, new
bills in change. The cashier must
have on hand these “fresh" bills
for stewards. Some $3,000 in
“ones" are enough five days of the
week, but on Saturdays, Sundays,
and holidays he must have a stock
of $7,000 or $8,000 in ones alone.
Selling tickets, however, is only
the final step in a series of events.
“When does the next train leave
for Topeka, Kan.?" “What connec
tions do I make for Chicago?"
“What is the fare?"
Only a small fraction of such
questions are asked in person at
the conspicuous information booths.
Normally 20 clerks are on duty at
a time answering some 700 tele
phone calls an hour.
The peak of this year’s inquiries
exceeded 1,100 in one hour before
Labor day. Forty-four clerks work
in shifts to dispense information.
If you watch the smooth operation
of the soundproof telephone room
not once will you see a clerk con
sult a timetable. They are too cum
bersome and tell too little.
Foolish Questions Come Often.
Instead, the information chief
works with card-index experts to
compile all information about sched
ules of all railroad, airplane, and
bus lines and all fares on visible
card files.
One file gives name of all im
portant golf clubs on Long Island
and the nearest railroad station to
each club.
It takes poise, tact, resourceful
ness, to answer some questions. As
examples:
“Do I have a berth all to myself
or do I have to share it?"
“What hotels in Washington have
swimming pools?"
“My husband left last night on the
B. and O. Where fs he going?"
“Have you any hay fever fares to
New Hampshire?"
These ’Phones ARE Busy.
“What time do I get a train to go
to Mr. Abram Walker’s funeral at
Toms Ferry?"
“Should I dress and undress in
my berth or in the men’s room?"
When you reserve a ticket by
telephone you call one of the busi
est telephone numbers in New York
city. In addition to outside lines,
130 branch ticket offices in Manhat
tan, Brooklyn and Newark are con
nected with the central reservation
bureau by private wires.
In a spacious gallery from 15 to
20 clerks sit before a series of aper
tures like old-time village post-office
boxes, except that these cases are
mounted to move along a track
from clerk to clerk.
In the boxes are piled the reser
vation cards, the kind the Pullman
conductor always is fingering just
before the train leaves; in each
pigeonhole are marked-up cards for
60 days ahead.
Lights Govern Conversation.
Before each clerk is a series of
ten red lights and ten green lights.
The green lights denote a ticket
office call; the red lights an outside
call direct from a passenger.
A green light flashes.
“Lower ten, K7, 3 p. m. Chicago.
Today. Ticket 7,492. Right."
In very different tone and tempo
is the next response to a red light,
an individual who must have expla
nation of price, type of accommoda
tion, daylight time in summer, and
a “thank you."
No switchboard operator inter
venes in the 10,000 or sometimes
many more calls that come in daily.
An automatic selector, worked out
with the New York Telephone com
pany engineers, routes these calls
from ten lines out of the selector
room to ten “positions" at the “card
tables" in the reservation bureau.
If one operator is busy, the “se
lector" shunts the call to another,
lighting the red or green signal to
denote its origin. In an average 24
hours 63 clerks are employed in
shifts to make some 8,000 reser
vations for berths, chairs, compart-
mepts or drawing rooms.
What They Leave on Trains.
Perhaps the high light of “human
interest" in the station is the lost
and found storeroom. There are
stored and ticketed some several
hundred different items, enough
stock for an East Side second-hand
store. /
The articles recently included a
basket of spectacles, skis, two
cats, a bootblack’s outfit, books in
six languages, a pair of crutches,
three sets of false teeth, a restive
terrier, dozens of umbrellas, tennis
racquets, more than twoscore wom
en’s coats, piles of gloves, a fresh
sirloin steak (sad harbinger of do
mestic recrimination) and $20,000
worth of bonds about to be returned
by special messenger.
In subterranean corridors, far
below the station tracks, may be
piled hundreds of pigeon crates. As
many as 3,200 crates of homers
have been shipped in a month, as
far as a thousand miles, to be re
leased by baggagemasters for races
back to home lofts.
Other strange shipments come
through the station for baggage or
express cars—baby alligators, pedi
greed chicks, honeybees, game,
thousands of crates of “mail order
eggs" and bullion cargoes accom
panied by 25 or 30 armed men.
Saturday nights from 75 to 80
trucks race with their loads of Sun
day papers to catch the baggage
cars attached to the “paper trains."
One newspaper’s £arly Sunday edi
tion goes to press at 9:10 p. m. and
is loaded on a train leaving at 9:50.
If the driver gets held up by a
single traffic light the stationmaster
must hold the train.
Handling the Mail.
Some 150 carloads of mail are
handled in and out of this station ev
ery day. If the sacks were piled
and hauled along platforms passen
gers would not have space to board
trains. They are dropped through
trap doors beside mail cars where
conveyer belts carry them to huge
separating tables.
There men assort the bags as
they pour in and pitch them into
chutes for other belts that run be
neath the street to the city post
office adjoining, or to belts that
connect with outgoing trains.
Around special tracks, to which
passengers are not admitted, where
mail cars await loading, are spy
galleries from which postal inspec
tors, unseen by the workers, may
watch the operation.
Nearly 150,000 sacks of mail a
day, about 1,500 trunks and other
checked baggage, 2,200 pieces of
hand baggage checked in parcel
rooms and a thousand more pieces
in parcel lockers, from 20,000 to
30,000 pieces of parcel post—these
are some of the operations that
must not obtrude upon passengei
comfort.
1MPROVED „ j
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
S UNDAY I
chool Lesson
By REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST.
Dean of the Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago.
© Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for August 1
LESSON TEXT—Exodus 13:17-22; 14:lfr
15.
GOLDEN TEXT—And the Lord shall
guide thee continually.—Isaiah 58:11.
PRIMARY TOPIC—A Shining Cloud.
JUNIOR TOPIC—Forward March!
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC—
How Qod Leads Today.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC—
A Nation Following God’s Leadership.
The destinies of the nations are in
the hands of God. Mighty are the
warriors, learned are the advisors,
clever are the diplomats, and when
they have exercised all their human
ingenuity and have only brought
themselves and their nations to
“Wits’ End Corner," God must lay
hold and bring order out of chaos.
Happy is that people where rulers
recognize God and seek his guid
ance.
Israel through the human instru
mentality of Moses was ruled by
God. He had prepared for them a
leader and had prepared the people
to follow that leader. Now he brings
them forth out of their bondage.
l. “God Led Them" (Exod. 13:17-
22).
It is significant that he did not
lead them by the easy way to Ca
naan, by the short route through
Philistia but rather led them south
into the wilderness.
How often it seems to us that we
could improve on God’s ways. Suf
fering, sorrow, affliction, we would
shun and would go the quick easy
road, where all is bright and happy.
But God’s way is the best way,
even though it leads through the
wilderness.
His purpose for Israel was that
they might not be disheartened by
the warlike Philistines (v. 17). Thus
it was really his loving-kindness that
sent them the long way. See Prov.
14:12, and Prov. 10:29.
Another and equally important
purpose of God was that the un
disciplined multitude might in the
trials and responsibilities of their
journey through the wilderness be
prepared to enter the promised land.
The miraculous pillar of cloud and
fire was God’s constant assurance
of his presence with them.
Hardly had Israel withdrawn, and
the wail over the death of the first
born in Egypt ceased when Pharaoh
regretted that he had permitted his
slaves to escape, and set out in
pursuit. He represents the world,
the flesh, and the Devil in their re
lentless efforts to hold back those
who would follow the Lord. Making a
decision for Christ, and experienc
ing his redemptive power does not
mean that the enemy has given
up. Temptations, doubts, trials, will
come. When you come up out of
Egypt do not be surprised if Pha
raoh pursues you.
The situation could not have been
more difficult. Hemmed in by the
flower of Egypt’s army, with the
Red sea before them—a group of
men not trained in warfare—with
women and children to care for,
and 4 God forgotten in their disbelief
and discouragement.
Moses, who was their great leader
in the hour of triumph, tastes the
bitterness of their hatred and un
belief in the hour of trial. A leader
of men for God must know that God
has called him and have faith in
his almighty power, for in the time
of crises he will find those whom
he leads ready to condemn him.
What is the solution?
m. “Stand Still" (w. 13,14).
Sublime in his confidence in God,
Moses bids the people to cease their
petty complaining, to abandon their
plans for saving themselves. “Stand
still, and see the salvation of the
Lord" (v. 13).
Perhaps these lines will be read
by some Christian who is fretting
and fussing, bearing all the burdens
of the universe on his shoulders. Be
still, my friend. God is able to care
for you, and for all the burdens
which you are needlessly trying to
bear. Trusting God will result in
real spiritual progress.
IV. “Go Forward" (v. 15).
Humanly it was impossible, but
“with God all things are possible"
(Mark 10:27). When every circum
stance says “Stop," when the coun
sel of men is against attempting
anything, when human leadership
seems to be lacking—just at that
hour God may say, “go forward."
If every true Christian who reads
these words will respond to the
Lord’s command, “Go forward,"
hundreds of locked church doors
will be opened, new Sunday schools
will gather children to hear God’s
Word, men and women will be won
for Christ. Let us “go forward."
The God who brought Israel dry-
shod through the Red sea is just the
same today 1
Enjoyments and Troubles
I make the most of my enjoy
ments. As for my troubles, I pack
them in as little compass as I can
for myself and never let them annoy
others.—Southey.
Faith
Given a man of faith, and the
heavenly powers behind him, and
you have untold possibilities.
Right Kind of Growth
All growth that is not toward God,
is growing to decay.
Sew-Your-O wn Style News
LJE RE is something
■LI practical, something
sweet, and something or
namental for your mid
summer wardrobe.
Simple As Toast and Coffee.
At breakfast time you need the
crisp shipshape style of the little
model at the left. He’ll proffer
that eight o’clock kiss with alacrity
and fervor when you greet your
hubby in this pleasant surprise.
Make it of a gay tub-well cotton
for greatest usability.
Lines That Live.
For luncheon in town, for cut
ting up touches on the Club ve
randa you can’t find a more fetch
ing frock than the one in the
center. It combines sweet swing
with nonchalance. Never has a de
signer given more flattering shoul
der and waist lines than these.
“And what about the skirt?" you
ask. Obviously it has the most
finished flare in town. Chiffon, ac
etate, or Sports silk will do justice
to both the flare and you, Milady.
And If Autumn Comes.
It’s a help to have a dress like
the one at the right around for
it gives that feeling of prepared
ness. Prepared in case a cool
Fallish day or evening is slipped
in .without warning. Then, too, it
won’t be long before cool days
will be the rule rather than the
exception. So it would seem a logi
cal as well as a fashionable step
to set about making this elegant
model right away. Be first in
your crowd to show what’s new
under the fashion sun for Fall.
The Patterns.
Pattern 1354 is designed v for
sizes 34 to 46. Size 36 requires 4%
yards of 35 inch material.
Pattern 1307 is designed for
sizes 12 to 20 (30 to 40 bust).
Size 14 requires 3% yards of 39
inch material plus 7% yards of
ribbon for trimming as pictured.
Pattern 1324 is designed for
sizes 14 to 20 (32 to 42 bust). Size
16 requires 3% yards of 39 inch
material plus % yard contrasting,
and 1% yards of ribbon for the
belt and bow at the neck. /
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020,
211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IIL
Price of patterns, 15 cents (in
coins) each.
e Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
Be a Friend
The only way to have a friend is
to be one.—Emerson.
Hold It!
The greatest remedy for anger
is delay.—Seneca.
- CHEW LONG BILL NAVY TOBACCO
LIFE’S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher
“No gas man is going to track np my clean linoleum 11" _