4—Lancaster Farming, Friday, August 30, 1957 Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly Newspaper Established November 4, 1955 Published every Friday by OCTORARO NEWSPAPERS Quarryville, Pa. Phone STerling 6-2132 Lancaster Phone EXpress 4-3047 Alfred C. Alspach Robert E. Best Robert G. Campbell Robert J. Wiggins.. Subscription Rates: $2.00 Per Year Three Years $5.00; stf Per Copy Entered as Second-Class matter at the Post Office, Quarryville, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879 In Case Of Emergency A team of USDA, State, and local specialists throughout the Nation stands ready to go into action in case of emergency to save our livestock and crops from disease and destruction. This team now operates on a full-scale, peacetime basis to help prevent any foreign livestock and plant pests and diseases from coming into oiir country and to control those we already have. It is also set up to slip quickly into high gear in case of biological warfare deliberate use of disease-producing agents against animals and plants. One of its important new functions is to tell our farmers how to minimize the effects of radioactive fallout on live- stock, crops, and farm products. This country has been able to defend itself in past wars because of the production of our farms and factories. In the future, however, an enemy may attempt to weaken or destroy these resources by any meanc possible. De liberate introduction of disease as an act of sabotage, for instance, could cripple our livestock and crop industries. That could limit our food supply as well as many sources of clothing and medicine. An enemy could select the host, disease, time, and place of outbreak to make animal and plant disease con trol more difficult and to cause devastating losses. Similar disease could be introduced at the same time to confuse diagnosis and eradication. It’s unfortunately true that some animal diseases native and foreign, harmless and fatal have similar symptoms and are difficult to dis tinguish. Combining different diseases might produce con tradictory signs and different incubation periods. Our Federal Civil Defense Administration realized the potential threat of deliberately caused animal and plant disease. So, in September 1954, FCDA delegated to USDA the responsibility for protecting our crops and livestock against biological warfare. This job was given to ARS because of the longtime experience of its regulatory per- sonnel in handling cooperative State-Federal operations. ARS immediately organized a countrywide series of meet ings to establish a plan for coping with biological warfare. Participating were State and Federal regulatory officials, representatives of diagnostic laboratories, State experi ment stations, and agricultural and veterinary colleges. These planners knew that control of biological war fare on livestock meant, basically, control of foreign dis- eases. Principles of disease control and eradication are the same, whether diseases get in accidentally or delibe rately. Thus, planners decided the best way to deal with biological warfare on livestock was to have a well-trained standby force that could be quickly expanded in time of war. With this in mind, a State-Federal Emergency Ani mal Disease Eradication Organization was set up in most States to deal with dangerous animal diseases of foreign origin. In the past, we’ve looked upon many animal and plant pests and diseases as peculiar to Europe, Asia, and But today’s fast intercontinental air transporta tion and the buildup of trade and travel have given such nests and diseases new importance. These factors, plus qur own fast livestock marketing, have greatly increased me danger of accidental and deliberate transmission, furthermore, we have at least 8,000 domestic insects com peting for our food and fiber. Deliberate dissemination of foreign plant pests would complicate an already complex control problem. Up until now, times has been on our side. Shipments of livestock by sea took from 15 to' 30 days. This period gave most diseases time to develop signs that could be ob served. Today, for the first time in history, we are im porting more animals by air than by ocean vessel. Ani mals arrive in hours instead of days. We move animals rapidly within our borders, too. The nationwide outbreak of vesicular exanthema in swine is a forceful example of how fast animal disease can spread. VE was limited for many years to California until 1952, when it escaped via raw garbage sent out of the State. Within 6 weeks, 18 States reported the disease, and a short time later, 13 more. STAFF Publisher Editor .Advertising Director .Circulation Director BY JACK REICHARD 50 YEARS AGO (1907) A progressive town in the dairy section of the west had inaugu rated as a regular feature in its. annual public events a dairy men’s picnic, which was held for the twofold purpose of recreation and education. The picnic was ar ranged by officials of the Coop erative Dairy Assn, working with the business men of the town, and invitations were extended to all residents and people residing in the surrounding countryside. , Folks were asked to bring well filled baskets of eatables, while the committee provided free amusement in the way of merry go-rounds, band concerts and sports of various kinds. Follow ing the picnic dinner a program featuring talks and demonstra tions on dairy subjects were pre sented by dairy experts from the state agricultural college. POTATO DIGGING DEMONSTRATION Quite an interesting potato dig ging demonstration took place on the farm of E. Henry Haines, southern Lancaster County, 50 years ago this week. Haines, who had 16 acres in potatoes, was con templating the purchase of a mechanical digger and was anxi ous to secure the most satisfactory machine on the market. He invited several dealers to make a demonstration in his pota to field. Representatives of “The Ilallock” and “The Hoover” ma chines responded. Prior to the demonstrations three disinterest ed persons were chosen to act as judges They were B. Z Hess, of Willow Street, Joseph Ross, Ox ford, and G. Bromfield, Rising Sun, Maryland. Both machines were demon strated under favorable and un favorable conditions and did ex cellent work. The first report of the judges was a disagreement, but they finally decided in favor of the Hoover digger because “they believed it separated the vines from the potatoes better”. Four horses were used to pull each digging machine. A large crowd of potato growers from Lancaster, York and Chester Counties, and points in Maryland had assembled to witness the demonstrations. Elsewhere in lower Lancaster County that week, Jacob Graybill of near The Buck, suffered a crushed right hand and had the little finger torn off, while help ing to set a threshing machine into position on th© farm of Phares Evans. In Montana, a half century ago, vhere the raising of sheep was one of the leading industries, it was common for the owners of large ranches to clean up $150,- 000 a year with a minimum of ef fort. Montana headed the list in the sheep and wool industry in 1906, with same 4,940,000 sheep which yielded 35,815,000 pounds of wool valued at $8,523,970. * fc fi Farmers in Michigan during the year 1906 raised more than 5,- 000,000 bushels of beans, from which they realized between $B,- 000,000 and $10,000,000. * a * With the development of the electrical sciences in the 1900’s, it is interesting to note that the , world’s copper output in 1881 was placed at 63,000 tons selling • at 18 cents per pound and amount • mg to $65,000,000. In 1906 the annual production was 800,000 tons selling at a little over 20 cents per pound, amounting to $365,000,000. 25 Years Ago Fire of unknown origin de stroyed a large barn, chicken, house, two wagon sheds and a , straw shed on the farm of War- Week" ter Farming ren Bailey, near Cochranville in Chester County, causing damage estimated at $25,000. The fire was discovered by Miss Mabel Bailey, a daughter of , the owner, who was awakened by the flames and roused members of the family, then summoned the Atglen, Oxford and Parkesburg Fire Companies. The blaze had gained such headway when the firemen ar rived that they were unable to save-the buildings. The season’s crops, including a large supply of hay and wheat, and all farm machinery were de stroyed. A calf, seven chickens and 20 turkeys were burned. During the height of the fire, sparks swept across two fields and threatened a bam on the property of David McMillian. The Christiana Fire Company was summoned to protect the build ing. $lOO,OOO BLAZE AT ELKTON, MARYLAND A downpour of rain, close proximity of big Elk Creek, and the efficient work of a dozen fire compames within a radius of 25 miles, saved the town of Elkton, Md., from being destroyed, 25 years ago this week. The fire broke out in a lumber storage building of the Elkton Supply Co. and quickly gained Background Scrlplqroi 11 King* 22:1 , —23-30, II Chronicles 34—35 Devotional Reading: Psalm 119:57- 64* In Capitols Lesson for September 1,1957 j pEOPLE in capitols have tre- I * mendous power. A President, a' .senator, a parliament, a cabinet (member . . . whether it Is the county court house, or the world renowned capitol' building of aj 'mighty nation, the people whoj iwork under the dome, just because they work there, hr •» lev»- I for moving pub lic opinion, for (getting things done on an im- mense scale, a power far great er than any one of them has by himself. The man there in his of- fice, or in his seat in the legis- Dr- Foreman lative chamber, may be, and usu ally is, a man of parts, a man above the average l 'in personality and ability. But however able the man under the dome may be per sonally, his office gives him even greater power. The voice of the man who was elected carries mora weight than the voice of the man he defeated. Novembir Is Coming The ancient Hebrews were a] democratic people in some ways,' but in others they were most unlike us. At the time of King Josiah the kingship was by no means an elective office. "And his son reigned in his stead" is the regu lar formula. So the Hebrews had at that time nothing to say about who should be their kings. They took whatever son the royal harem produced first. For good ones! (there were some) they thanked! God, and for the bad ones they! were thankful they were no worse.l King Josiah, whose story may be read in the Background Script ture, was one of the outstanding good kings. But it was custom and tradition that made him king, not the people. With us it is dif ferent. The people have to de cide who shall occupy our places of great power. November ls.com- such headway that two other large buildings and a double residence were destroyed. The loss was esti mated at $lOO,OOO. i * « That same week lightning de stroyed a barn on the Lancaster farm ot Benjamin B Shelly, R 3 Manheim. The-loss was estimated at $lO 000. The flames spread through the b.arn to a corn barn, tobacco shed and hog pen. Manheim firemen saved the tobacco shed and also prevented the dwelling from catching fire, but the barn and two smaller buildings went up in smoke. Three cows, two mules, a bull, eight hogs, two dogs and a num ber of chickens and rabbits perished in the fire. The season’s crops and all farm machinery, in cluding a tractor and fodder cut ter, were destroyed. MAN FROZEN TO DEATH Back in August, 1932, Harry Lanfersieck, 49, of St. Louis, was frozen to death. Lanfersieck’s body was found in a vat partly filled with brine in a refrigerator car where ho had gone to get ice. He apparent ly had stepped into the vat, thinking the frozen brine was solid. He broke through and was unable to climb up the slippery slides of the vat. VlFv^l - I The Long Island Potato Grow ers Assn m New York State vot ed not to sell potatoes for less than 65 cents a hundredweight, 25 years ago this week. About 1,000 potato growers at tended the gathering and pledg ed support to New Jersey growers in a move to boost potato prices. 'ing; many will be elected, many more defeated, in our American elections. It is not too soon to ask ourselves seriously, what kind of men do we want under our capitol dome? Sometimes the choice of fered us makes us discouraged so that we stay at home and don’t vote. But even if all we have is a choice between two third-raters, a good third-rater is better than a poor one. If we have good men In our capitols, it is our responsi bility to see that they get there. Little Capitols It’s a peculiar thing, but often true, that although candidates for local offices can be better known than those for state or national office, rascals and ne’er-do-wells are more' often elected to the small offices than to the large ones. For some reasons, local government gets less attention from the voters than it should. The mayor of a single large city, today controls more power over more people than King Josiah ever did. It is in the “little capi tol’’ if you like, the county court houses for example, that public (affairs sometimes take the wrongl turn. Where there is a public pro-1 gram well conceived and organ-j ized, it can look good as a pub lic law, it can look good as it] 'comes to the states . . . but when it goes through the local court houses it can turn Into some pret ty rotten trickery. In a certain state not long ago federal funds for a very good purpose had to be cut off from a dozen or more coun tries because the officials there had been lining their pockets with easy money. It’s a poor voter, one with a small sense of responsibility, who takes pains to elect good senators and presidents, but who iwhen it comes to voting the local ticket, just says, Ob well . . . and votes straight because it’s easiest. Capitols Can’t Do It All ' Tha sad truth Is, King Josish’s reforms didn't stick. They didn’t, because they were reforms from the top. Even an absolute mon arch can make his country no bet ter than his people want it to bo. It is true, we ought to have the best officials, from town to county to state to nation, that we can elect; but even If they were ail praying. Intelligent, devoted Chris tians, they cannot make this a better country merely by passing laws. Like Josiab, our men in government can make this a bet ter country. Only if we th# people want to have it so. (Rased en outlines copyrighted by fht Division of Christian Education, Na tional Council of tho Churches of Christ! In tho D. S. A'. Released by Commealty{ Press Service.)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers