Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

THE NEWBERRY SUN. NEWBERRY. S. C. Washington Digest. Science Talent Quest Shows Aid To Progress By BAUKHAGE ISetct Analyst and Commentator WASHINGTON—I don’t often go into such intimate matters as private murders in these columns, but I have been impressed lately to see the results of the untrammelled spirit of modern youth, whose repressions and inhiSitions have been removed by thoughtful parents who use reason instead of the cruel discipline such as 1 have suffered—having to go to bed without supper, for instance, when I was impudent to my elders, or being kept in the house for throwing my arithmetic at the cat instead of doing my homework, or having my mouth washed out with acme soap when I used language unbecoming a future commentator. Recently a pretty little brunette who was irkec. by having to leave the city to dwell with her parents in some dull rural area of Missouri re belled. After shooting Mama and Papa, she stuffed them behind the sofa and tried to dispose of their property. Then there was the poor little seventh-grader who smarted under thoughtless taunting by a far mer who thought the youth displayed poor form in sawing wood. The boy shot the old man and dumped him In a creek. There was the 18-year-old girl from Portsmouth. Va.. who playfully sprayed five G.I.’s with revolver shots in a shooting gallery, and the six girls, aged 14 to 16, who beat up their female gym instructor in a Bronx high school. Of course I am not old-fashioned enough to encourage corporal punish ment, but it does seem that a little less sparing of the rod might have prevented spoiling the crime record of the peaceful communities from which these youngsters came. Perhaps it wouldn’t have helped, though, when the nations of the world set such bad examples. I couldn’t help thinking of a para graph in the concluding chapter of that highly important and revealing book by former Secretary of State Cordell Hull. Said Hull (and 1 can see him leaning back as he dictated, looking over the wide sweep of the Maryland landscape, letting his thoughts go back over the rich days of his years): “We have a desperate need for more religion and morality as the background for government. The religious and moral foundations for thought and conduct require strengthening here as well as throughout the world. There is no higher civilizing influence than re ligious and moral concepts. Corrup tion and tyranny can be driven out of government only when these con cepts give men the faculty to rec ognize such evils and the strength to eliminate them.” In these days when we hear so many unpleasant references to the atom bomb, it was a relief to the national capital to get its annual reminder that the people who know most about atomic energy think far more about how it can promote human welfare than about how it can extinguish human life. Sixteen thousand high-schoolers presented themselves this year as possible winners in the seventh an nual Westinghouse science talent search. After rigorous elimination tests, 40 finalists were selected to come to Washington for talks with scientists, visits to Capitol Hill and the White House and conversations with their colleagues. TJiese 40 students have a reason able assurance of .scholarships of $1,000 each from various sources, aside from the search awards, while the two lucky top winners each are given $2,400 with which to continue their studies. There was another interesting thing about this year’s awards—the revelation that America still is draw ing heavily on the Old World for its scientific talent. The boy who won the top prize was born in Budapest. Andrew Kende displays his ex periments with new solvents to re duce explosion hazards. Hg is Andrew Kende, a 15-year-old chemist, a handsome youngster, five feet eight inches tall. Of the 40 final ists, five were born in Europe, and 26 parents of the 40 finalists were foreign-bom. The girl winner was 17-year-old Barbara Claire Wolff of Flushing. L. I., (where the United Nations has its headquarters although there is no connection). All the contestants must have worked on a special sci entific project, and Miss Wolff de voted her time to production of phenocopies. Now. if you raise fruit, you will be interested in this, al though you probably wouldn't recog nize a phenocopy if you met it on one of your strolls through your orchard. A phenocopy is a change—a change in the body-shape of a fruit fly. The fly itself will not be per mitted to get at your fruit. Its eggs have been dyed and irradiated, ob servation of which processes in the long run probably will help the fruit industry. When Miss Wolff isn’t dy ing eggs—and irradiating them—she Barbara Claire Wolff, who plans to become a geneticist, is shown with the equipment she uses to produre phenocopies. is editing her school paper, playing badminton, studying, and, we sup pose, practicing the modem dance and enjoying her clubs, which in clude math, cancer and microscopy organizations. Young Kende’s project has to do with removing or reducing explosion hazards in the chemical processes by which such modern synthetics as the silicones, sex hormones and some synthetic rubbers are produced com mercially. Some day, thanks to him, men and women may be able to face the most alluring hormone or the most explosive overshoe or automo bile tire in comparative safety, and may even be able to walk right up to a silicone and slap it on the back. The 40 finalists were reminded by Watson Davis, Science Service di rector; Harlow Shapley, director of Harvard college observatory, and W. W. Waymack, atomic energy com missioner, that it is not, enough these days, however, for scientists to stick to their scientific last, letting the rest of the world go by. As Dr. Shapely put It: “Don’t be so laborious in your labora tories that you ignore your respon sibilities as citizens.” And as Way- mack warned: “Nowadays the sci entists must not only aid in the creation of knowledge, but in the dissemination and use of that knowledge for* the general wel fare.” Unfortunately, there are all too few trained scientists in this atomic age. As the report of the President's scientific research board pointed out, the technological and scientific prog ress of this country depends upon one-half of 1 per cent of our popula tion—some 750,000 persons. This small group comprises the trained manpower—the scientists, techni cians and engineers upon which the operation and the expansion of our economy depends. And those actual ly engaged in scientific research, technical development or teaching comprise a much smaller group within this pool—only 137,000 persons. The science talent search and sim ilar projects undertaking to discover and encourage youthful scientific talents are helping to ensure the fu ture security and prosperity of the United States which depend as never before on the rapid extension of scientific knowledge—not only be cause the laboratory is the first line of defense in wartime and the sci entist is the indispensable warrior, but also because acientific discovery is the basis for our progress against poverty and disease. * • * Ex-G.I.’s can upset the budget again this year. In its attempt to trim Mr. Truman’s spending, con gress makes no allowance for near ly 500 million dollars still unclaimed in terminal leave jay due enlisted men. The President’s bulging bud get set aside only five million dollars for this item, just 1 per cent of the total possible cost. * * * In contrast to the usual Hollywooc practice, the government’s film pro duction includes none of the usual “thrillers.” Latest 25-minute short subject made by Uncle Sam bears the prosaic title, “Toward a Uni form Plumbing Code.” Other recent “sockeroos” cover movies on blistei rust control, Japanese agriculture, foot and mouth disease. • • • Some of the people who say thej would rather be right than presidem don’t get the chance they deserve READING PUBLIC . . . That presidential ring is getting so crowded with hats that it would not be surprising if some poten tial nominees started throwing their chapeaux out of it. This is one man’s conception of how puzzled the public is. ATOM OF ADVICE . . . David E. Lilienthal, chairman of the atomic energy commission, told congress he favors outlawing strikes in atomic plants if that step should be necessary to in sure continuous production. NINTH ANNIVERSARY . . . This is a recent pictorial study of Pope Pius XII, made as he cele brated the ninth anniversary of his pontification in March amid a world threatened once more by the clouds of war. ANOTHER WAY TO SKIN A CAT . . . There must be easier ways of getting a leopard to where you want him to go than by carry ing him on your shoulders, but it looks like this Hindu animal trainer with a big circus is doing it this way just for laughs. Anyway whenever a circus animal trainer starts wearing leopards for neck-pieces it’s a good indication that spring is on the way. MRS. JONES WAS THIS ROUNDER’S NAME ... This is Mrs. Casey Jones, wife of the engineer who rode to fame on a six-eight wheeler. She was seated at the throttle of the General Motors “Train of Tomorrow” on its run from New Albany, Miss., to Mem phis, where she took part in ceremonies honoring the arrival o# the train there. Her husband’s ride to his death on “Old 638” 42 years ago has been immortalized in song and story. NOSEGAY . . . Tom Harmon, former Michigan football great, unveiled his new nose after completion of plastic surgery that transformed his scrimmage- weary schnoz into a thing of beauty. SOUL-SAVER AT SEVEN ... Renee Martz is seven years old and an established evangelist who divides her time between the Bible and her dolls. Renee has been preaching since she was four, has traveled 30,000 miles and led 6,000 souls to the altar “to con fess their sins,” she says. Once you’re saved all you have to do is ‘“just keep on the Lord’s side,” is her lesson. SUPERKID . . . George A. FLYING TIGER AND WIFE . . . Claire L. Chennault, wartime Bochow, Jr., of Mount Vernon, commander of the famous “Flying Tigers” who made life miser- N. Y., 17 months old, can toss able for the Japs in China, is bade in the United States tempor- around a 10-pound dumbbell. He arily, accompanied by his pretty Chinese wife. Chennault was can ride a scooter, too, as well called home to testifiy in connection with proposed U. S. aid to as hang from a horizontal bar. China. THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 Elmer Twitchell, charter member of the Society for Perpetuating the Blizzard of 1888, an old northern custom, was at the annual meeting and in old time form. “I will never forgot that storm.” he declared. “I got caught at one time bet veen two flakes that weighed more than I did.” * “How that snow piled up! My mother called me to the window and laid ‘Look, it’s beginning to snow, Elmer.’ Well, sir, before I could took out there were people caught In drifts as far as the eye could lee! I remember we sent the hired man to the woodshed, only 50 yards away, for a shovel! And never saw him again until July. * “My father, who was out in the backyard, started to climb a drift on the front steps and when he got to the top he was on the roof of the house yelling ‘Excelsior!’ * “Remember Tony Paster’s thea ter? Well, sir, every act on the bill that night was blown right out of the theater . . . they found a dog and pony act frozen in the ice 10 lays later and a ventriloquist turned up in August behind a barn in New Rochelle . . . My father told me of a man who drove by sleigh di rectly into a room on the eighth floor of the old Grand Union Hotel. • _. “And the wind? Wen, sir, it was worse than in a modern presiden tial campaign. Nobody had the same roof or chimney after that storm. We got a roof from the Eb Andrews barn 60 miles north and a chimney from a factory up around Troy, N. Y. There wasn’t a pane of glass left in a house in New York. But it didn’t matter as the ice froze In the window frames and listed all that summer and autumn. • • • “These men living in the past i remind me of a toy. I am sure you have all seen it. It is a | wooden bird called the Floogie . Bird. Around its neck is a label | reading T fly backwards. I j don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been.”—President Truman. 1 _ * _ I Our recollection — and we I have to go away back—Is that I it was called the Fataluva I bird and that it is was a gag | first used by Bob Benchley. • • • ' SPECIAL DELIVERY LETTER Dear Uncle Sam: For the first time in my life l am worried about you. Never be fore have I wondered if you could oe a dope or a Humpty Dumpty. Never before have you ever seemed to have points resembling a com posite picture of Little Lord Faunt- leroy, the Fairy Godmother, Little Jeff and Donald Duck. * But now, with Joe Stalin laugh ing up his sleeve as he and his care fully trained stooges take over country after country with the ease of the man on the flying trapeze, I am doing my wondering in tech-' nicolor. • With Communists sworn to youi destruction working around the clock right under the beezer, taking orders from the Kremlin and leaving nothing undone to soften you up in the exact pat tern employed In Czechoslovakia, you content yourself with shadow boxing, rhumba dancing, thumb- twiddling, goose-greasing and dry runs through a revolving door. • You are interpreting the initials U. S. A. as meaning United States of Amnesia. You are singing it "My Country, ’Tis of Thee, Sleep ing Land of Stupidity.” Is there any reason why you can’t be a Good Samaritan with out shooting the donkey? Can’t you He a lifeguard without giving rope? • It is later than you think. It is high time you got smart, alert and on the ball. Are you Uncle Sam or Lady Bountiful? Are you a tough, rugged quick-witted, high- level national wonder man or just a yawning director of a “My Ad vice to You” program? Are you Uncle Sam or Uncle Sap? I’m just asking. Yours in complete befuddlement. Elmer. • • • “It is quite well known that we communists are not believers in over-throwing the United Etates. government by force"—From a statement by a prominent Ameri can communist. * Just a teeny-weeny torpedoing, that’s all. • • » Great Britain has spent the four billion American loan in a little over nine months. Nobody can keep a penny these days. Moguls Probe Candidates I T HAS NOW BEEN nearly foul years since Democratic party moguls met at a secret White House dinner and persuaded Franklin Roosevelt to accept Senator Tru man of Missouri as vice president. They knew then, of course, that the chances of FDR’s living through the next four years were slim. Present at that dinner were Ed Flynn of the Bronx, Mayor Ed Kelly of Chicago, Mayor Hague of Jersey City and Bob Hannegan. _ Recently almost the same Democratic moguls convened at the White House. And despite the announcemnt that Tru man is a candidate, they still hope they can deftly dislodge from office the man they put in. They know in advance that this would not be easy—for two reasons: 1. The embarrassmant of breaking the news to Mr. Truman. 2. Find ing another candidate who can win. Two years ago this would have been easy. At that time, Truman himself was saying be did not want to be president. But no man likes to retreat under fire, and Mr. Truman’s ideas on this are weU illustrated by the staunch support given such friends as Ed Pauley and Brig. Gen. Wallace Graham when they were under fire for speculating. The party moguls promised each other privately that they would be hard-boiled and tell the President the truth—namely that the chance of victory with him at the head of the ticket is nil. Finding a candidate to take Mr. Truman's place will not be easy. Chief Justice Fred Vinson of Ken tucky would be acceptable to the South but wouldn’t arouse too much enthusiasm in the North. Supreme Court Jifttice William O. Douglas is a great administrator and would have the advantage of probably per suading Henry Wallace to withdraw. It takes time to build up any can didate. And while it’s not too late, the sooner the Democrats get busy, the better their chances. * • • Religion Whips Commies HARASSED SECRETARY OF STATE MARSHALL has confided to friends that he is more worried than ever about the approaching elec tions in Italy. He fears a combina tion of the Yugoslavs and Italian Communists may try to take over. Meanwhile, Francesca Lodge, wife of the G.O.P. congressman from Connecticut, herself bom in Italy, has received an interesting letter from an old friend indicating that the religious temper of the Italian people will win out over communism. “Life here seems to have come to a standstill,” Mrs. Lodge was in formed. "Everything is paralyzed waiting for the result of the elec tions. “A new wave of religious fervor seems to have come over most people. There are all sort of mani festations in the way of the Ma donna appearing in several places. At Assisi the great statue on the top of Santa Maria Degli Angeli— the romantic little church where the pilgrims used to meet coming back from the Holy Land, and where Saint Francis lived and where the rose plants have blood stains on the leaves—well, this big statue for days now has been the center of thousands of visits from people from all over Italy,” • • * Marshall’s Aid Plan IT IS NOW NEARING ONE YEAR since General Marshall proposed what is now known as the Marshall Plan For Aid To Europe. When the plan was first proposed congress said it was too busy with routing appropriation bills and short ly thereafter adjourned for the sum mer. Last fall, as the European situa tion got bad again and speedy ac tion on the Marshall plan was urged, congress squawked about going back to work. Too many of Its members were away on trips. Finally when congress was con vened there elapsed weeks and weeks of hearings, debate, argu ment and secret G.O.P. meetings at the home of Kansas isolationist Senator Reed—all at a leisurely pace as if the world were per fectly normal and there wasn’t the slightest need to hurry. Meanwhile Russia has gobbled Czechoslovakia, tightened Its hold on Finland and is preparing for an early strike at Italy. After that, France. Some Republicans—notably Ma lone of Nevada, Ecton of Montana and Wherry of Nebraska—are too dumb to know what the world situa tion is all about. But other G.O.P. obstructionists—among them Know- land of California and Ball of Min nesota—are smart enough to realize that a few millions of dollars spent now can save thousands of lives later. So far, however, they haven’t. The debate in congress boils down to the fact that either the Marshall plan is worth voting or it isn’t. If it’s to be dragged out until after Russia swallows Europe then it might as well be kissed off right now. Congress should make up it* mind—and fast! Postwar Synthetic Rubber Retains Air L6nger Period Natural rubber has been regarded by most motorists as being far superior to synthetic rubber. How ever, the synthetic product which now is being produced offers cer tain marked advantages over its predecessor. Butyl rubber holds air far better than anything else. Three or four inflations a year are sufficient to maintain the even pressure so necessary to get out of tires the nraximum of life and service. During the war, butyl was with held from civilians. Now, inner tubes are made of butyl synthetic rubber. Butyl rubber is made at temperatures far below zero and boils at sub-zero cold. Postwar improvement in syn thetic rubber also extends to color. Up to this time, inner tubes came in a dull gray, black, or a hot water-bottle red. No other colors were available. There was a reason for this. Color in rubber goes back many years to a discovery that ^antimony sulfide was superior for making good rub ber. ' It happened that antimony sulfide gave rubber a rich, red hue. Until recently, synthetic rubber failed to take any color well. The reason was that the chemicals needed to keep oxygen from de teriorating the synthetic were so powerful they discolored anything except black. Then preservatives, called age re sistors, were developed that did not discolor rubber, but they smelled. Usually the odor was carbolic or medicinal. Lately a resistor was found that does not smell. Now synthetic rubber can be given any color desired, and the color will last Patrick Henry's Old Home To Become National Shrine For a long time the home where Patrick Henry lived and is buried was forgotten. Now it has become an American shrine. The Henry home—Red Hill, in Charlotte county, Virginia—which was burned in 1919, is to be re stored as it was in Patrick Henry's time, and furnished with the fur niture and decorations that Patrick Henry had. This great patriot won his first fj.me by demanding for colonial Vir ginians the rights of Englishmen. He won his greatest fame by de manding for all Americans complete freedom forever from England. - Although a slave-holder, Patrick Henry considered slave-holding an economic curse as well as a social evil. He was a lawyer by profes sion, and also a very successful politician. By 1775 war was imminent On March 23 Patrick Henry offered a resolution to organize toe Virginia militia and put toe colony in a state of defense. In supporting It he made his most famous speech, which closes with the declamation: “Give me liberty or give me death!” Pullorum clean N. H. Red, Barred Cross and Sex-Link Cockerels $6.00 per 100. Pullets $15.00 per 100. Straight run $10.00 per 100. ED’S CHICKS Manchester, N. H. STOP LIGHTNING DAMAGE “National Quality” Systems Prevent Lightning Stroke from Occurring. Writ* for FREE Booklet “!• lightolng Protection Worth ProvMhtcP* NAT’AL LIGHTNING PROTECTION C0.%|^ GENUINE FORD REBUILT EXCHANGE MOTORS 8S-90 HP-V8 $103.00 95-100 HP-V8 $110.00 and your old motor. (Oil Pump and heads $5.00 extra) See your Ford Dealer or WRITE—WIRE—PHONE RANDALL A BLAKELY INC. Ford Enrlne Rebnllders. Griffin, Ga. • • Phoaa ZZ4S The juice of a lemon in a glass of water, when taken first thing on aris ing, is all that most people need to insure prompt, normal elimination. No more harsh laxatives that irritate the digestive tract and impair nutri tion ! Lemon in water is good for you! Generations of Amaricans have taken lemons for health—and generations of doctors have recommended them. They are rich in vitamin C; supply valuable amounts of Bi and P. They alkalinize; aid digestion. Not too sharp or soui^ lemon in water has a refreshing tang —clears toe mouth, wakes you up. It’s not a purgative — simply helps your sys tem regulate itself. Try it 10 days, use CALIFORNIA SUNKISJ LEMONS