University of South Carolina Libraries
THE NEWBEKRY SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C. Washington Digest Disturbed About World? Sun Spots May Hold Clue By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WASHINGTON.—If you were disturbed over the mayhem and misunderstandings rampant in the month of July, relax, there may be a scientific explanation. Sun spots. For the first time in 11 years, there is a maximum number of ultra violet rays about, released by eruptions on the surface of the sun-rays which may cause tempers to flare, emotions to get off balance, glands to be affected so that abnormal behaviour results. This Isn’t fantasy. Medical science has revealed the effects of over exposure to the ultra-violet ray. Bankhage Sun spots may have been respon- aible for the disturbances you and I read about on just one single day last July—on that day in Haiti a publisher was assassinated by an otherwise gentle young poet because the bard had lost some kind of a scholarship; a 33-year-old painter who lived near the otherwise pleasant and peaceful New England home of House Speaker Joe Martin at Attleboro, Mass., did a dance when he heard his wife was dead— it seems he had shot her in the head; here in Washington, a 22- year-old husband knocked his wife down, tried to stab her with a butcher knife, attacked an innocent passerby and started a fist fight with a policeman; a vitamin plant blew up, a prisoner became ill of benzedrine poisoning, a tanker in Chicago caught fire, Jimmy Roose velt feuded with the other members of the California delegation and the Russians kicked up the usual fuss. You and I probably had our own troubles—all perhaps due to nothing but the rash on Old Sol’s physiognomy. Scientists will tell you that sun spots were known by the Chinese before the telescope made them a comparatively familiar subject of astronomical concern. They are not uniform in size or shape and some times appear singly, sometimes in groups. A single spot may be large enough to take in our whole planet with room to spare. Groups extend over areas that may include mil lions of square miles. Sun spots do not appear to have a definite duration. As a rule, they last but a short time, sometimes not more than a day. But one is recorded (in 1940-41) as having con tinued for 18 months. The number of sun spots varies greatly in a periodicity that is not strictly regular but that reaches an aver age of slightly over 11 years. And last month Dr. Roy Mar shall, director of Pels planetari um in Philadelphia, echoed an earlier suggestion made here in Washington. He said that sun spots could have a definite effect on the behaviour of people. And he reminded us that sun spots reached their last maximum frequency (before July, 1948) in 1937—when Hitler started his blitz. It was several years ago that no less an institution than the con servative and careful Smithsonian, the capital’s great scientific organ ization, speculated on the possibility that there might be a relationship between sun spots and wars, as well as sun spots and weather. Weather affects crops, crops affect economic conditions. Sun spots which release ultra violet rays which affect emo tions might, an official report to congress suggested, disturb nego tiations between individual leaders which might involve nations in war —that's the reasoning,'anyhow. Some may think it far-fetched. Shakespeare did when he said: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.’’ Poets are frequently right but not, perhaps. Immune to the violence of the violet ray. (Witness the Haitian poet who shot the publisher.) At any rate, the Smithsonian listed considerable technical data showing that sun spot activity frequently had preceded wars. Some scientists say sun spots may have good effects, too—resulting in heavier foliage, better crops, more rains—as well as their evil tenden cies to disturb interpersonal rela tions, not to mention radio com munications. However, there is little we can do about it, for as far as we know the sun is like a leopard— h can’t (or won’t) change its spots. * • • One ‘Free’ Book la Not Wasted If you are one of the lucky farm ers who wrote your congressman promptly, asking for a copy of the Department of Agriculture 1948 Year Book, you have a treat in store for you. The first copies al ready have come from the govern ment printer but it will be some time before the bulk of the printing is ready for delivery. This year’s topic is a live one: GRASS. It deals with the general subject of grassland agriculture and there <•>- is something in it for virtually every farmer and, if there were enough books to go around, could be utilized by everybody who raises a lawn, not to mention people who run air ports or playgrounds, or any other enclosure of greensward. There is a growing interest in this -subject. One member of the de partment of agriculture called it “a big swing to grass” on the part of farmers over most of the country. Not just as feed but for many pur poses and functions. One farmer near here, for instance, said to a friend of mine recently that he had quit growing corn for silage. He uses grass entirely. In case you have forgotten, you have a chance to get a De partment of Agriculture Year Book because of a law passed in Abraham Lincoln’s time. Congress every year appropri ates a sum of money; the de partment prepares the book, (under the incumbent editorship of Alfred Stefferud) the govern ment printing office prints, binds and delivers 241,000 copies to members of congress. They pass them around as far as they go. That’s the law. ^ This volume Is probably one of the few “free” books which is not wasted for it goes almost ex clusively to people who want it and use it—in this order—(1) farmers, (2) state agricultural colleges, (3) other colleges for G.I. courses, (4) some high schools. Later on I shall give you an idea of the contents of the current volume which deals comprehensively with the subject of grass (including legumes and associated plants) be ginning with the history from colonial days, the place of grass in building soil and feeding livestock, specific information applying to 10 sections of the United States and pictures and descriptions of a 100 different grasses and legumes. • * * Guard Your Liberty— Know Dates at Least It’s almost impossible to believe that any American would not know the meaning of the approaching V-J day. But will Americans, 172 years from now, remember that September 1 marked the official end of the bloodiest war in history I Perhaps this sounds absurd to you. It wouldn’t if you had read the results of one of a series of polls taken by the Washington Post. Just before July 4, the Post Interviewers asked a number of individuals: “Fourth of July is almost here. Can you tell me why we celebrate it?” Eighty-five per cent of all persons asked had the right answer. Twelve per cent had no idea why the Fourth is a holiday, and 3 per cent thought it was the anniversary of Armistice day, the end of the Civil war, emancipation of the Negroes or some other event. One of those who had no idea at all on the subject was Credited with a col lege education. Asked what the day meant to them, 39 per cent said, in various ways, that it meant national free dom; to 18 per cent it spelled per sonal freedom and liberty in gen eral; 11 per cent said it didn’t mean nothin’ nohow but a holiday. How many of us who admit that liberty—freedom—is our inherent right, know what freedom is? Few, unless they have lived in a country where one practices that quick, ap prehensive look to right and left, before he dares comment. It’s a de pression gesture. I’ve seen it and shuddered. I have quoted W. E. Woodward before. In his “New American History,” he says: “Liberty implies responsibility and the vast majority of man kind has always hated responsi bility worse than death. So in all ages, men have run around, holding it out before them as one holds a golden vessel, offer ing it to anyone who possesses enough vulgar enterprise to take it away from them.” This “vulgar enterprise" is afoot today, snatching liberty, right and left and tossing it into a totalitarian limbo of the things mankind really loves—loves but does not always cherish except in memory. One might paraphrase an ancient proverb: “A fool and his liberty are soon parted.” Folly is not in curable. It can be exchanged for wisdom. Perhaps some of tho v realists" who scorn such abstract subjects as political science and history would do well to encourage study of our liberty, how we cam* by it and why it is worth keeping. STILL SWELTERING? ... If the sight of a cooling picture will provide any comfort from soaring temperatures, take a gander at this. In New York, Peggy Ann O’Donnell, clothed only in innocence, discovers that a fire hydrant is the answer to the heat problem. SEEKS SANCTUARY . . . Gen. Antonin Bohumil Hasal, deputy chief of staff of the Czechoslovak army and commander of the Czech forces in the west, now is in the U. S. zone in Germany, having fled from his native country. IN TROUBLE* ZONE . . . Henry F. Grady of San Francisco takes oath as new U. S. ambassador to troubled Greece. Grady will represent U. S. interests in a strife-torn country. MATTRESS OF WHEAT . . . Typical of scenes throughout the wheat belt as the Midwest harvests another bumper crop, this weary truck driver is shown asleep atop a 1,500-bushel load of wheat as he waits his turn at an elevator. This truck already hail waited in a line composed of more than 100 trucks for more, than six hours when this photo was made. —.1 LAST OF THE FIVE IS DEAD . . . With the death of Gen. of the Armies John J. ’Pershing, a fabulous chapter in military history was closed and “The End” was written to the careers of the five World War I military leaders who were 'on hand for the first American Legion convention held in the U. S. Shown at the Kansas City convention November 2, 1921, are (left to right): Generals Jacques of Belgium, Diaz of Italy, Foch of France, Pershing of the U. S., then commander- in-chief of Allied forces, and Admiral Beatty of Great Britain. HEROIC NUN . . . Decorated seven times by Allied nations for heroism in German prison camps. Sister Mary Chantal, heroine of World War II, is now at the Ursuline convent. Blue Point, L. I., to recover her health. War Bases in England TJECAUSE of the tense Berlin D situation, what amounts to re vival of wartime American air bases will be set up in England almost immediately. Two groups of B-29s of about 30 planes each are re-establishing active Ametican bases in England. They will be under the command of Gen. Curtis Le May, who also commanded the wartime operation of B-29s from the mid-Pa ciflc against Japan. Air force officials, while with holding comment, admitted that the two groups of B-29s operat ing from England will take no part in ferrying food to Berlin. Their function will be to “growl.” It has been an open secret for some time that in case of a show down with Russia, American air bases would be set up in England. In fact, this was discussed with the British government through diplo matic channels some months ago, and it was agreed that England would make bases available to the United Stales in case of a European crisis. Sending the two groups of B-29s is interpreted as the first step to establish bases which could be used in case the United States had to withdraw other air bases from Ger man soil. The Russian blockade has not been able to keep the stork out of the American sector in Ber lin. In fact, the stork has an especially easy time there, for hospital charges. Including pre natal care, are only $15. . . . One of the hardships suffered by blockaded Americans in Berlin is tearfully told, in the official U.S. bulletin: “Owing to gasoline rationing, house delivery of Coca Cola will be temporarily sus pended.” HEAD DIXIECRATS’ TICKET . . . Southern states’ rights Democrats named Gov. J. Strom Thurmond of Soum Carolina (left) for president and Gov. Fielding L. Wright of Mississippi (right) for vice president at their rump convention in Birmingham, Ala. They will campaign on an anti-civil rights platform. IN GRATEFUL MEMORY . . . This memorial plaque was erected in memory of the 184th battalion, which manned the first American guns to be fired in defense of London during World War II. REST IN PEACE ... A simple shaft of pure white marble marks the grave of General of the Armies John J. Pershing in Arlington national cemetery. An armed sentry walks his post beside the grassy, oak- shaded knoll overlooking the Potomac river and the graves of thousands of the famed World War I leader’s fallen comrades. The A. E. F. commander was laid to rest after he had been given a her*’# burial by the nation he served so bravely and s* long. Showdown in Berlin Ire against Russia is so tense in Berlin that certain high-placed U.S. officials (civilians) have been urg ing Gen. Lucius Clay to break the Soviet blockade by force. They want him to arm a food train in the American zone of Ger many and send it speeding through the Russian zone to Berlin with U.S. troops in armored cars riding just behind the engine ready to shoot if the Russians resist. These U.S. officials go so far as to plan counter measures in case ! the Russians sabotage the rail line. They propose that a corps of U.S. army engineers be sent along to ! repair any torn-up rails, also to .repair the River Elbe bridge if it is blown up by the Russians. Some officials, quite close to 2Iay, claim that Russia is not ready for war and would try to “localize” any trouble with the United States. There might be some clashes between U.S. and Red army troops around Ber lin, they advise, but Russia would not let them spread to the rest of Europe. She would back down first. General Clay, however,’ doesn’t agree. So far he has rejected this explosive advice. He says that if an incident took place, you never can control men’s passions. Trouble might spread whether Moscow wanted it or not. Privately, Clay has described such measures as “unwise and dangerous,” likely to “commit us to war.” Instead General Clay favors eco nomic sanctions, before making a move which would convert a cold war into a shooting war. For in stance, Clay thinks that we have been too lenient with the Russians regarding shipping and air facili ties, that we should crack down on the Russians economically. This would hurt, but not risk war. In brief, here is one historic case where a soldier is reluctant to use force though civilians urge it. WWW McCarthy’s Crusade A one-man crusade to liberate the millions of war prisoners still held as slave laborers in Russia, France and Britain, has been launched by Wisconsin’s Republican Sen. Joe IV^Carthy. The ex-marine officer, who flew as a tail gunner against the same men he now hopes to set free, is bringing a lot of political pressure to back up his humanitarian appeal. McCarthy cannot speak out against Russia for holding German and Jap prisoners in forced labor as long as France and Britain are guilty of the same tactics. The plight of these prisoners, still in bondage three year* after the shooting has stopped, is described in Red Crdss re ports to McCarthy. It is esti mated that nearly five million war prisoners are still held by the victors, much as slaves were brought back by the con querors of the dark ages. Most of these are working off reparations inside the Soviet union. How many have died from exhaus tion, overwork, undernourishment and bitter cold is impossible to say. u UPhil/ipr K No servm SPECIAL DELIVERY LETTER Mr. Phil Keenan, President, Comic Magazine Publishers. Dear Sir: Are you leveling? You recently announced that a proportion of the comic magazine publishers have agreed to a code that will give the kids a little protection in the clinches. In it are these pledges: 1— No comic shall show the details and methods of a crime committed by a youth. 2— Law enforcement officers never shall be portrayed as stupid or inef fectual, or represented in a way that weakens respect for constituted author ity. 3— Sexy, wanton comics shall not be published. No drawing shall show a female more naked than in a bathing suit commonly worn in the United States. • You will please excuse me for laughing harder than I have ever laughed at funnies. Are those jokers deliberate or did they slip in while everybody was yawning? W I hope you don’t belittle the intelligence of the American parents to such a point that you do not think they know that it is the details of crime portrayed by grownups in the comics that fascinate the kids. That “com mitted by a youth” c. use makes Article 1 a phonu., - balonus. The gangsters, gunmen, cut throats and all-around baddies of the comic magazines all shave and wear long pants, Phil. % * And who is kidding whom in that rule that officers of law and order shall not be portrayed as stupid or ineffectual? I had the idea that making a saperoo out of the cop, sheriff, gumshoe and posse (up to the final scene maybe) was the very basis of comic magazine fun. You mean your cartoonists are go ing to make John Law bright and effectual from the start? Won’t this throw Superguy, who always has to take over, out of work? * It is only a step from that to having the sheriff shoot straight, take the right trail the first time and not walk blindly into the simplest of traps. You would not stand for that, would you, Mr. Keenan? ♦ Now for the joker of the year, which rates an Oscar of some kind. That is the item ending sexy comics by the rule that no cartoonist shall draw a gal “more naked than in a bathing suit commonly worn all over America.” I will accept that as the best comic line of 1948. • Well, I guess it is till in fun. Everybody is adopting codes these days. The weather is fine for it. And the great question of how far a code should be thrown after adop tion is still unsettled, but everybody seems to be trying for distance rather than direction. Yours. Elmer. * • • Governor Warren has a person ality of warmth which is lacking in Tom Dewey. You could almost call the ticket: Fair and Warmer. • Those three charming daugh ters of the California governor would be a great asset around the White House. That is, unless they all turned out to be vo calists. * * * Railroad and Pullman fares have been upped another 20 per cent. The public looks crushed between the cowcatcher and the pocketbook. To ride in a railroad coach now has become so expensive that when Elmer Twitchell nego tiates for a trip in one he asks, “Does this include heater, radio and spare tire?” * * * ZEKE CLAY SAYS: Mr. and Mrs. Chet Jenkins and family, who started on a summer vacation trip around the summer resorts by auto, have given up. They ran out of bicarbonate of soda. * The Zim Hoskinses are doing so well financially that they are almost in a position to order a shrimp cock tail at present restaurant prices. • The Orion Hostetlers have moved into their new house and are busy going over it for squeaks and rat tles and missing parts. They feel encouraged, as the house has been completed over two weeks and the cement and paint are still holding. • • * “The alleged communistic head of the department stores union was ejected from the hearing.”—News item. The proper query to the sergeant at arms might have been. Do you wish t? take these out with you or have them wrapped and sent?” • • • • “Have silver cornet, boy’s bike and technical books. Swap for light machines, motors, tools. Jy 214 Maine.”—Yankee Maga zine. —•— The back-to-work movement. DOUBLE FILTERED R)R Eim QUALITY ’PURITY MOROLINE PE TROLE UM-J ELLY TEA for the Governor’s Palace. Williamsburg The fine flavor of Maxwell House Tea makes it the tea lover's choice. Selected irom choice Ceylon and India teas —specially blended to suit the Southern tastef A Product of General Foods GIVES whencoM miseries strile FAST RELIEF BLOOD TESTED CHICKS N. H. Reds, Barred Rocks, White Rocks, Wyandottes, Rock Red and Red Rock Chicks (No Leghorns). Satisfaction Guaranteed —Chicks sent C. O. D.— ED’S CHICKS, Manchester, N. H. Telephone 81483 STOP ITCHING • DISCOMFORT TONIQHT • _ Enjoy the soothing and comfort- _ ing medication of Gray’s Olnt- w ment while pleasant antiseptics • aid in getting rid of irritation. • GRAY'S OINTMENT WHSW*?- Ml MIMi Mitt Ml Milt If RHEUMATISM NEURITIS-LUMBAGO MCNEILS MAGIC REMEDY BRINGS BLESSED RELIEF Large Bottle!! SmaE Size 60c » CMTIII: lit IILT It ItltCTEI * H ill COCO list STOIISII It Mill a, rec«i|t si price ■eitn tut ti.. i«a. iKiniiim «. nmu CONST\9 U.S. SAVINGS BONDS Are Always A Good Buy COOLdRINKING water WHEN YOU WORK OUTDOORS Eagla Drinking Water Bags com by evaporation. Moisture satu rates the canvas and is evaporated by the air* keep ing water inside the bag 15° to 20° cooler than jugs, keg' or jars. DRINKING WATER BAGS AT HARDWARE and FARM STORES »1 50