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THE DALLAS POST, DALLAS, PA. FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 1936.
‘Editorials + Letters To The Editor
The Dallas Post
ESTABLISHED 1889 TELEPHONE DALLAS 300
: A LIBERAL, INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
PusLisHED EvErY FRIDAY MORNING
AT THE DALLAS PosT PLANT
LEHMAN AVENUE, DALLAS, Pa.
By THE DALLAS Post, INC.
- Howarp RISLEY ...... General Manager
* Hower REEs - Managing Editor
TRUMAN STEWART .....ccvcvveeriaresnnarnnsens seeree Mechanical Superintendent
~The Dallas Post is en 3ale at the lecal mews stamds. Subscription
~ priea ‘by mail $2.00 payable in advance. Single copies five cents cach.
Entered as secend-class matter at the Pallas Post Office.
f
THE DALLAS POST is a yeuthful weekly rural-suburban news-
paper, owned, ellited amd operated by young mon imterested im the de-
velopment of the great rural-suburban region ef Luzerne County and im
the attainment of the highest idedls of journalism. THE ' ia truly
“mere than a newspaper, it is a community institution.” :
Congress shall make ne law ¢ ¢ abridging the freedom eofcspeech, or
of Press.—From: the first amemdment to the Constitution of the Waited
: Subscription, $2.80 Per Year (Payable in Advaace).
Subscribers who send us changes of address are requested to include
both new and old addresses when they submit their notice of change.
SE
A THOUGHT FOR THIS WEEK
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they
grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
exactness grinds He all.
FREDERICH VON LaucAu—Retribution
with
The Bonus And Business
The zeal with which canny merchants are planning to
appropriate the money which veterans will receive this
onth if they cash their bonus bonds is probably no less
nergetic than that displayed by the veterans in securing
he compensation. It appears that the ex-buddie will have a
difficult time hanging on to his new-found wealth.
~ Unquestionably the veteran, if only in a spirit of grati-
ude, must be prepared to use part of his payment in greas-
ing the wheels of industry. That was one of the major argu-
‘ments for bonus payment. But after he has paid any debts
which have accrued during the lean years he should pause
cautiously before he exhausts the balance of his money.
The bonds which will be distributed to veterans next
eek will be good investments. It is hoped that a great
many of the recipients will have the power to store at least
art of them away against a rainy day instead of exhaust-
ng the entire amount in one grand orgy of wasteful spend-
* * &®
Conserving Land For The Future
Farmers in this section are awakening to the opportun-
ity being offered by the new Agricultural Conservation
Program and it is likely that Luzerne County will finally
ecure a share of the tremendous sums the government is
pending to help agriculture.
It is important for local farmers to remember that the
money has already been appropriated. Someone, somewhere
will receive it. It may as well be us.
Eventually, every farmer has to spend money to put
“back in his land what the years have taken from it. The Soil
Program, it seems, offers an opportunity to do just that
with government assistance.
Regardless of any attitude toward the Administration
which is sponsoring the program, there can be no question
hat it fulfills the principles of good farming.
4 * -»
Tampering With Teachers’ Salaries
oa
‘ It is an amazing thing that taxpayers, who might have
their choice of a hundred or more abuses of public trust, so
often become worried over the item of teachers’ salaries.
Unfortunately, such spasms of alertness are prompted by
something less praiseworthy than economy and end some-
times in irreparable damage to their school systems.
© Someone in Dallas said a month or so ago that the
woods are full of teachers who would be willing to serve for
$500 a year. This newspaper commented editorially that the
place for such teachers was in the woods and it is of the
‘same opinion now.
Dallas Borough School Board has proposed to engage a
~ superintendant at a salary of $2,400. That is not too much
to pay for a good superintendent, even though it is about
$900 higher than the board paid this year. It is economical
insurance on the future of the youngsters of Dallas, and
any attempt to cheapen that insurance is bound to be re-
flected in the lives of those children years from now.
No school district can either hope to attract or to retain
good teachers unless it makes its salaries high enough to
appeal to experienced and capable persons. Recently King-
ston Township School Board decreased the salary of its
supervising principal from $2,400 to $2,200. It seems
strange that such a reduction should be put into effect at a
time like this, after clear evidence of the efficiency and
ability of the man in question. Such reduction cannot be
excused on the grounds of economy for at the same meeting
the board elected three new teachers to a faculty already
adequate for the needs of the township.
Such careless tampering with teachers’ salaries and
arguing over efforts to compensate teachers in accordance
with their mental equipment and experience does tremen-
dous damage to the morale of the teachers themselves and
blocks every effort to establish a sound, satisfied, loyal and
efficient educational force. /
WASHINGTON
LETTER
After remaining virtually stationary
for 20 years after 1910, the number
of farms in the United States in-
creased to an all-time high of 6,812,
350 in the five years between 1930
and 1935. This was revealed in a bul-
letin of the Committee on Agricultural
Co-operation of the National Associa-
tion of Manufacturers.
The bulletin, which announced re-
sults of the committee's study of the
size, trend and character of the Agri-
cultural industry, noted an increase of
523,702 farm units in the five depres-
sion years since 1930. “Where did the
new farms come from,” asks the re
port. ;
“Perhaps a few new farms were
carved from the public domain, a few
large units were divided and a few
new sets of buildings were erected but
perhaps also many abandoned home-
steads were re-occupied and places
which had served only as homes for
2 Srpeation did return to agricultural
ife.
While the number of farm units
changed but little from 1910 when
there were 6,361,502 U. S. farms to
1930 when there were 6,288,648, the
shift from East to West was revolu-
tionary, the report points out. In this
period acreage increased 43,696,000
acres or 14 per cent but of this in-
crease 35,000,000 consisted of wheat,
rye, barley and cotton which were all
export crops.
Although the number of farm units
remained substantially the same over
the 20 year period, total population in-
creased 33% per cent to 123,191,000.
Among the questions that must be an-
swered before industrialists can begin
to understand the farm situation, the
were they fed and clothed and other
report says, are the following: “How
wise provided with farm products?”
“Did per capita consumption or stan-
dards of living decline?” “Did Agri-
culture become more proficient to pro-
vide for increasing population?” “Did
exports decline?” “Were imports
necesary to make up deficiencies?”
These questions will claim the com-
mittee’s attention in the future, said the
bulletin.
—_—O—
A common phrase these days is
“Technological unemployment.” It
usually is used by those who oppose
modernization because of the mistak-
en belief that machines take work
away from men. They seem to think
that the installation of a machine
which lets one man do the work of
five means that the other four men
join the bread-lines.
The trouble with such a belief is
that it is based upon thoughts that go
only half way. Actually, the machine,
instead of throwing men out of work,
has increased employment. That is
proved by facts.
During the three decades ended in
1929, the United States went through
the most rapid development in its his-
tory in the application and invention
of machines. And what was the result?
The number of persons employed rose
88 per cent while the population in-
creased only 62 per cent mechaniza-
tion increased 331 per cent and pro-
duction rose 216 per cent.
The linotype machine was one that
let a single man do the work of about
five. It was introduced in the early
1890’s. Yet in 1889 there were only
50,000 employed in the printing and
publishing business as against 150,000
in 1929. That 150,000 does not in-
clude the thousands who got new jobs
to supply paper, ink, and machines
needed by the stimulated printing
business.
The real result of this marvelous in-
vention has not only increased em-
ployment but better education. Costs
dropped so that now everybody can
afford to buy printed matter. And ill-
iteracy dropped from 10.7 per cent of
the population in 1900 to 4.3 per cent
in 1930.
oT
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“Coluinbia Feature Service. \
MOST MODERN GIRLS LIKE THEIR / 4
SHALLOW AND THEIR BOOKS DEEP
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Comment * Discussion
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E MAIL
to express themselves.
In this department The Post presents letters from its read-
ers on current problems—suggestions, criticisms, bouquets. The
Post need not indorse any sentiment or criticism expressed here,
nor can it vouch for the aceuracy of any sentiment. It recognizes
only that in this country people have, within reason, the right
Dear Editor: :
American industry has been the con
tinual target of the present administra-
tion. The severe taxes already levied
upon it and proposed are actually in.
the nature of a penalty for any success
or growth that it has or is likely to at-
tain. Should Mr. Roosevelt be re-elect-
ed American business can expect only
higher taxes and additional interferen-
ence in the nature of unfriendly regu-
lations. Industry today needs a busi-
ness man instead of a politician to
guide and protect it. None of the men
mentioned as possible candidates for
the Presidency by the Republican par-
ty is sufficiently outstanding to over-
come the powerful Farley machine in
the coming election. A coalition ticket
would capture the votes of conserva-
tive Democrats and independents.
Dear Editor:
Practically all the wars in recorded
history have had an economic base—
the desire of one group of people to
grab lands owned by other people.
Abolition of all tariffs, and recogni-
tion of equal rights for all mankind
to the use of the earth’s natural re-
sources, would be the first long step
toward universal peace.
—C. L
: a
Rives Matth
If your name appears on the society
pages of a big metropolitan daily,
don’t ever think it was because some
Society Editor knew your grandmother
was above eating peas with a knife, or
that your great-grandfather haggled
over cod fish, and thus became a
Yankee aristocrat.
There is only one reason why the
people whose names you will find on
the society pages rate such a distinc-
tion over the thousands who fork over
their pennies to buy these Manhattan
dailies.
Dubbed socialites, these people are
not exalted, primarily, because their
weddings, luncheons, dinners, dances,
debuts, arrivals and departures can
have any considerable interest to
thousands of subway riding gum chew-
ers, to whom a dinner jacket 1s some-
thing they rent to be married and pho-
tographed in, and a wing collar is a
“Board of Health collar,” required of
hash-house workers.
For every paragraph of society news
printed, there is only one reason, and
that is, business.
Not by a long shot do newspapers
as big as these live by news alone.
They live because their advertisers
want them to live. They live and some-
times flourish by the business they can’
drum up for advertisers, either directly
through advertising, or, indirectly by
giving their advertisers tips on where
business can be found. This last is the
chief function of the social page.
When, for instance, you read in the
Tribune’s curiously named column,
“Personal Intelligence,” that “Mr. and
Mrs. George Cushing are at the Madi-
son from Milton, Mass.,” you can be
sure that the Madison’s manager is
glad to have it known that the Cush-
ings are stopping with him. You can
rely upon it that he hopes more people
from Milton, with bankrolls to match
the Cushings’, will stop at his expen-
sive hostelry. You can be pretty sure
it was from the Madison’s management
that the Tribune's Society Editor got
the news. .
No doubt, too, Mrs. Cushing is hap-
py to have members of her bridge
club back home know that George can
afford the Madison, and doubtless
George, himself, who may be in New
York to put over some deal down in
Wall Street, doesn’t mind at all to
have it known he’s putting up in such
a swell dump. It makes him seem such
a high priced guy.
This little item should also prove
useful to the telephone company. It is
likely to keep Mrs. Cushing’s telephone
ringing with calls from swank dress
shops and theatre ticket brokers, to
mention only a few business anxious
to have her trade. Useful information
it is likewise apt to prove to Milton
porch-climbers, who might like to lay
their hands on the Cushings’ flat sil-
ver while they are away.
Perhaps of all the items carried on
a social page, the wedding announce-
ment is potentially the most commercial
and that is why so much space is giv-
en to the weddings of people who may
never, thereafter, see their names so
close to a dollar spangled Vanderbilt
again.
For one thing, the presumption is
that people who are about to get mar-
ried are going to spend a lot of mon-
ey. People who can afford five bucks
to have their names carried in that
convenient little address book contain-
ing the names of people who can af-
ford five bucks to have their names
included, are generally the sort of
people outfits like Tiffany and Cartier
can expect to make some formal ges-
ture in the way of engraving, since
their friends can always be counted
upon, after generations of finger-train-
ing, to detect almost instantly, whether
“requests the honor of your presence”
stands out from the paper sufficiently
to indicate the expense of a copper
plate.
Once your intentions to wed have
been thus publicized, you should not
be at all surprised if a coolness springs
up between you and your postman.
For days his back will be bowed down
under mountains of direct mail adver-
tising, all addressed to you, all design-
ed to part you from your money. I
know, because I got married, once,
myself.
Tiffany, Cartier, Black, Starr &
Frost made me feel like a regular ty-
coon with their offers to lend me their
expert lapidaries to help me select a
suitable diamond for my bride. A
publisher offered to sellme a book
which would tell me how to prede-
termine the sex of the infant I would
shortly beget. Florists clamored for the
honor of making the bride’s bouquet.
Life insurance salesmen wrote me long
letters about the serious responsibili-
CWS
ty I was undertaking, and begged for
the opportunity of making it possible
for my widow to take West Indies
cruises after I had passed on, worn out
by the struggle of keeping up the pre-
miums. <
- What I received in the way of direct
mail advertising was nothing to what
my mother-in-law got. Every dress-
maker in New York wanted to whip
up something out of white satin, lace
and tulle, and so completely outfit my
wife that I would never have to give a
thought to buying her clothes, or she
to current fashions. Caterers made wild
claims for their several brands of pat-
ties. Awning companies, more florists,
jewelers, department stores, all wanted
to share our happiness with us to such
an extent that if all of them had had
their way, we should all have been im-
poverished, but, presumably, still hap-
PY.
Then, of course, such announce-
ments are expected to bring on an
avalanche of presents. Here again, the
jewelers hope to profit most. That is
why they have insisted for years it is
good form to give a bride silver, in a
pinch, Spode or some other imported
china. Tiffany, I think, made the most
out of our wedding. They did the an-
nouncements and our well-wishers into
sending us china. Not that Cartier, and
the rest, didn’t bid on the job, wouldn’t
have enjoyed getting a piece of it, at
least.
Last week, however, appeared an
announcement that should create ha-
voc along Fifth Avenue and Park. The
notice read: “Miss Allison Moore,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis de
Bebian Moore, of 800 Park Avenue,
will be married next Monday to Mr.
Alexis Carrel Coudert, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Frederic E. Coudert.”
Where, jewelers will wonder, will
Miss Moore have her invitations en-
graved? Where will she buy her flat
silver? Where can her friends buy her
Spode? Where can Mr. Coudert find
a suitable diamond? Where a wedding
ring? Surely not at Cartiers, nor at
Ovingtons can a wedding guest dare to
select a present for Miss Moore. And
yet, how embarrassing to send her a
check, or press a five dollar bill on
her!
Which is what they might just as
well do, considering the fact that Mr.
Louis de Bebian Moore is a vice-presi-
dent of Tiffany & Co.
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