THE DALLAS POST. FRIDAY, JANUARY
20, 1939
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More Than A Community Instituti
“Comgrass shall wake wo'kus .1. . abridging the freedom ‘of bre Than A Newspepereid Copmunizy) bempuvion | THE POST'S CIVIC PROGRAM
h Press” — The Constituti he United ; i
Speech oriof Press ¢ Constitution of the Usiied Stes The Dalla ] Bo St 1. A modern concrete highway leading from Dallas and cons i
The Dallas Post is a youthful, liberal, aggressive weekly, dedica- : : necting with the Sullivan Trail at Tunkhannock. ide
ted to the highest ideals of the journalistic tradition and concerned Established 1889 : 2. A greater development of community consciousness among
primarily with the development of the rich rural-suburban area about ; : > ; residents of Dallas, Trucksville, Shavertown, and Fernbrook.
Dallas. It strives constantly to be more than a newspaper, a com- A er, be Te Rese apr. Poe: ed ci Friday 3. Centralization of local fire protection.
munity institution. i ost Plant, Lehman Avenue, 4. Sanitary sewage systems for local towns. |
; allas, Penna., By The Dallas Post, Inc. 5. A cemralized police force. od
Subscription, $2.00 per Year, payable in advance. Subscrib- Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Dallas, Pa. 6. A consolidated high school eventually, and better cooper:
ers who send us changes of address are requested to include both under Act of March 3, 1879. ation between those that now exist. :
new and old addresses with the notice of change. Advertising HOWARD W. I v Genera Miniver 7. Complete elimination of politics from local school affairs.
rates on request. : HOWELL E REES nee Sy ine E bk 8. Construction of more sidewalks. igi
i g tL LL ie ER ee A ging & : i i Hl
EDITORIALS HEY! GET OFF THE TRACK!
: A Dream Is Born RI \ ] ES
Luzerne County took particular pride in the inaugura-
tion of Governor Arthur H. James this week but Luzerne
County was not the only part of the State vitally interest- ry \ A ]
ed in the turn of events at Harrisburg. MAT 1 HE S :
We think there have been very few inaugurations in
the history of Pennsylvania which were anticipated so Li
eagerly and with so much hope as this one. The spirit of de
the people has been much as it was just before President :
Roosevelt took office for his first term in the gloomy days | i, Germany, returning travel | grandchildren of their own. In a de- :
of 1933. Everywhere, men and women have been looking
toward the new Administration for a sign that will renew
their hope and give them courage to meet the future.
Pennsylvania, once a mighty state, is beset with pro-
blems. Some of her industries have fled already from
heavy taxes, and more are ready to go. The @ptimism
created by the business improvement in 1937 has been des-
troyed by another fear-ridden slump. Mounting relief rolls
keep the budget unbalanced and make it necessary to tax
and tax so the State can spend and spend in its frightened
effort to forestall starvation. Worst of all, there is evi-
dence that moral integrity is cracking under the strain.
This, then, was the scene which was set for Governor
James’ entrance on Tuesday. From one side of the stage
a sad group of New Dealers, bowed by the burden of the
grave charges which blackened the dying days of their rule,
made their sorrowful exit. Onto the other side strode the
man who, in the opinion of more than 2,000,000 voters, can
restore Pennsylvania to greatness. The Capitol has never
seen anything more inspiring than the deep emotion which
swept across the inaugural throngs as they hailed their
new leader.
The cheers at Harrisburg were like a battle-cry, call-
ing the men and women of Pennsylvania to rally behind an
able, honest, courageous, hard-hitting leader in the crusade
against social decay and economic disintegration. It was a
soul-stirring cry which echoed across the State, so heart-
ening that it almost made one forget that the battle must
yet be fought, that the victory is still distant. But we have
a new leader and he has given us a course to follow and
with our help he cannot fail. 5
No man or woman in Pennsylvania can shirk his or her
share of the responsibility for the immediate future of the
State: Unless we recognize our duty, as individuals, to cor-
rect the abuses in our own spheres we cannot demand more
of Governor James. The time has come to forget prejudices,
to forget party affiliations, to study the parts we play in
our every-day world and to conduct ourselves, as individ-
uals, in the manner most helpful to society. Radicals and
conservatives, we must be prepared to make “nd accept
concessions that we may achieve a solidarity of purpose
and a rededication to basic economic and moral laws.
Only so can we preserve the ideals of American de-
mocracy. Only so can we bring to fulfillment the hope
‘which was born in the hearts of Pennsylvanians this week.
- Many people, who probably have forgotten that not
so many years ago they attached only a two-cent stamp
to letters, probably have forgotten, too, that the three-
‘cent. postage is supposed to expire next June 30.
The three-cent postage was established as an “emerg-
ency”’ tax measure. Don’t stock up on two-centers, how-
ever, for the budget submitted to Congress calls for a con-
tinuance of the three-cent rate.
The Battle Against Bang’s Disease
Co-operation among farmers made Luzerne County an
accredited area in the battle against tuberculosis in dairy
herds. The benefits to dairymen and to the public as a re-
sult of that victory are obvious. Now farmers face the next
battle, to rid their herds of the expensive scourge which is
called Bang’s Disease.
The opportunity to strike a decisive blow is presented
in the government’s offer to pay indemnities on cattle which
react to Bang’s Disease tests. The only thing necessary to
take advantage of the opportunity is co-operation among
the majority of the farmers in any township. We hope
farmers in our section of the county will be quick to re-
spond, and that the program will be carried through with
dispatch so Bang’s Disease can become as rare here as
tuberculosis is now.
Candidly Speaking: Secretary Ickes, PWA ad-
ministrator, has ordered a change in the familiar signs
“Slow-Men Working.” He says the change must be made
to remove the implied aspersion.
Reflection Of Confidence
The astounding growth of this section’s Rural Build-
ing and Loan Association during a period when
most businesses were either stagnating or sliding down-
ward is a clear reflection of the confidence far-sighted per-
sons have in: the future of the Dallas area.
In 1934 the new Association had assets of about $3,500.
In four years those assets have grown to $21,836. Accum-
ulated earnings for 1938 exceeded the total for the earnings
of the four previous years, and this record was achieved
in a year marked by a decided business slump.
The high character of the men directing the Associa-
tion has, naturally, been responsible to a great extent for
the growth of the number of shareholders but we like to
think, too, that the surprising response is another, and very
sound. expression of faith in the progress and growth of
the suburban area about Dallas.
lers tell me, there are no billboards.
There is no such thing, any more,
as an outdoor advertising industry.
To give the devil his due, when
Adolph Hitler came to power, he is-
sued a swift, sharp order and that
was the end of billboards. Now you
can drive for mile upon mile along
Germany's new highways without
risking life and limb and without
having the scenery spoiled by blatant
billboards. Germany, among other
things, has scenery to sell, and is
building a tourist industry, so Ger-
many sees to it that her customers
get scenery unadulterated by gigantic
close-ups of Arrow-collar men grap-
pling with bathing beauties in the
name of romance and beer or cigars.
. *
In our democratic country we
can’t make improvements simply by
calling upon a public official to abo-
lish a nuisance by the scratch of a
pen. It takes a long time, and a lot
of patience, to bring about reforms
by means of what are called the de-
mocratic processes and thus evils are
allowed to flourish in our country
which would not be tolerated for a
week in a totalitarian state.
For example, in starting off his
new term a few weeks ago, Governor
Herbert Lehman of New York went
before the repre-cntatives of the peo-
ple and among other reforms thump-
ed for billboard control. I imagine
Hitler snickered
words: “For many years I have ad-
vocated appropriate measures to con-
trol the erection of billboards along
highways. The uncontrolled con-
struction of outdoor advertising signs
seriously impairs the utility of high-
ways upon which the State has ex-
pended large sums of money. Bill
boards and similar structures often
constitute serious hazards to safety.
They frequently despoil the scenic
beauty. The great volume of traffic
which may reasonably be expected
to flow through the State because
of the World’s Fair and the pros-
pective increase of billboard struc-
tures emphasize the need of immedi-
ate action. I renew my recommenda-
tion for an adequate system of State-
wide control and regulation of out-
door advertising.”
* *
These are mild and temperate
words, to say the least. Nowhere
among them will you find any hint
that Governor Lehman would like to
see all billboards abolished. He speaks
of control and regulation. He says
that billboards ‘frequently despoil
scenic beauty,” even though only a
billboard owner is the only one who
would not agree that they always
spoil scenery. Governor Lehman, ap-
parently, believes in creeping up on
things slowly. Maybe that is the best
way, though it is not the frankest)
way.
Perhaps after “control” and “re
gulation” are achieved then we can
hope to see all billboards abolished by
the time our grandchildren have
if he read these:
mocratic state, we are told by the in-
terpreters of democracy, progress and
reform can’t be expected to arrive
any sooner than that and the advo-
cates of gradualism claim that this
is the best and safest way to get
things done.
* *
President Roosevelt and other
students of affairs abroad, even
though they do not like many of the
features of totalitarian states, ap-
parently admit that while much of
what they do is bad and will lead to
world disorder, one of the chief as
sets of a totalitarian state is that
when it wants to act, it can act swift-
ly. With the same speed a Hitler can
rid his country of billboards or
thousands of members of a racial
minority. He can provide work for
thousands, or destroy a neighboring
state overnight. He can give courage
to millions who are cravens, and make
cravens of the rest of the world.
- *
History, itself, shows that states
made their greatest: strides forward
under benevolent tyrannies. Even the
word, tyrant, once had a respectable
meaning before the world finally
learned that one man rule, rabbit-
like, is as prolific of evils as it is of
benefits.
- -
But just because a dictator can do
away with such obvious festers as
billboards practically overnight is no
reason why we should subscribe to
a belief in the totalitarian principle.
Nor is it any reason for any of us to
defend billboards as proud escutch-
eons of democracy, even though the
billbeard owners may one day ask us
to regard them as such.
* *
Everyone knows that evils flourish
at public expense because those evils
produce large rewards for the minori-
ties responsible for them. It is often
claimed that the abolition of bill-
boards will throw great numbers of
people out of work. The fact of the
matter is the more profitable any
racket is the fewer are its employees,
and so it is with billboards. The same
money that is spent on billboards, if
spent in advertising media which per-
mits the public to make its own de-
cision as to whether it will be given
attention or not, will employ more
men than are now engaged in erect-
ing and servicing billboards. {
* *
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By Edna Blez SL
The older I become the more I real
ize we literally make our own faces.
I know we are born with our coun-
tenances and we all realize there isn’t
much we can do about them. As long
as we remain children and live in our
own small world of innocence our
faces change very little. But after
the glow and radiance and beauty of
youth is a thing of the past, then our
faces begin to reflect what we really
are, and try as we may to conceal ous
thoughts, and hide our ways from
the rest of the world it can’t be done
because it is all written on our faces
for everyone to see!
* ®
Just last week I happened on an
old man who had one of the pleasant-
est faces I have ever seen. He was
poor and shabby and evidently had
very little to be happy about. His
teeth were gone and there wasn’t a
hair on his head but his kind old face
was truly beautiful. It was as radi-
ant as the dew on an early Spring
morning. I know he wondered why
I kept him talking so long but I
hated to let him go because there
was so much joy and kindness and
zest for living in that wrinkled old
face I wanted to look, and look at
him.
* *
So let us not hear of. anyone de- | :
fending billboards on the grounds | We grow accustomed to people’s
that to abolish them would put us in faces, We see the same faces each
a class with Hitler's Germany, but day and most of the time are not very
rather let us advocate their abolish | conscious of the familiar ones. Some
ment on the grounds that the longer | day look into the faces of your
they remain standing the longer they |
are symbols of the stagnation which |
produces that dry-rot of democracy
which leads to its final dissolution. If
democratic states are incapable of re-
forms, then we are doomed to the
days of a dictator who may quickly
restore our scenery to us and take
away our freedom because we were
not strong enough, as free men, to
handle our own affairs.
The Mail Bag
To the Editor:
Italy continues to be made to ap-
pear an aggressor nation on account
of Ethiopia and Spain; Britain,
France and other countries that have
vast colonial possessions, acquired by
conquest, are given a clean bill simply
because the booty was acquired be-
fore the signing of the Briand-Kellogg
pact.
Italy is condemned for making an
alliance with Hitler, which many true
friends of Italy deplore, but news-
papers do not remind their readers
that the original sin of the Versailles
treaty is mainly responsible for the
chaos in Europe today. If Italy had)
received the treatment that was war-
ranted by her sacrifices in the Great
War, there would never have been
any reason for the revolution that led
to the fascist dictatorship under Mus-
solini, nor would Hitler have been
able to copy the fascist ideology and
begin to eclipse his teacher on the
European political scene.
Italy’s attitude on Tunisia may be
selfish but it is the result of French
ingratitude for Italy’s neutrality in
the first year of the Great War,
which has never had sufficient ap-
preciation either from France or her
allies, or from the Aberican press.
Luigi Criscuolo.
daily companions. You will be amaz-
ed at what you see. Look closely
into the faces of the people you think
you know the best. Have they chang-
ed over a period of years? Has time
taken it toll? Have some of the faces
suddenly become old or do you seem
to be seeing them for the first time?
he *
Many times it has literally taken
my breath when I have really looked
into the face of some one I thought
I know. Faces I have always taken
for granted suddenly are different.
Slowly it dawns on me I haven’t real
ly seen that face sometime. I have
been blind, I have forgotten the fam-
iliar faces and it is a shock to know
that some of the faces I thought I
knew have changed so much. There
are young people who seem old, and
old people who seem to stay forever
young. It seems to matter very little
what a person talks about and what
sort of act he puts on. What he
thinks and what he has done seem to
be deeply etched in his smile and in
the lines of his face. His face tells the
story, his tongue would never dare
utter!
* *
I realize there are people who have
poker faces people whose faces seem
always to remain unchanged, but
most of us are not successful enough
to keep ourselves so safely hidden be-
hind a mask. Haven't you seen old
people who were lovely to looks at
and faces of old people who were not
so pleasant? I have seen faces which
have frightened me, not that they
were grotesque but they frightened
me because their bitterness and de-
feat were so sad to behold, wronged
individuals who have forgotten how
to smile, martyrs whose disappoint.
ment is written all over their forlorn
faces, wretched individuals who re-
fuse to look at life and be unafraid,
people who are forever fighting
against “the slings and arrows of out-
rageous fortune”. Little do we realize
how much we have to do with the
making of our own faces!
PRIVATE LIFE
The prayer I say out loud at night,
Beside my little bed,
Is one that Mama used to say,
And one her Mama said.
The prayer I say inside myself
As off to sleep I go,
Is all about the things I've done,
That Mama doesn’t know!
By Ada May Holmes
77 S. Goodwin Ave.,
Kingston, Pa.
THE LOW DOWN
from
HICKORY GROVE
This feller, Arthur, James, is
quite a person. He is the feller
who rode to Harrisburg on an
elephant. That's why they was
so much excitement down there
last Tuesday. Down there,
they'd forgot what an elephant
looked like. :
They was plenty of people
down there cheerin’ this feller
James and it must have made
him feel mighty good but that
night everybody went home and
next morning there he was facin’
a big job all alone.
They tell me this feller was
awful fast with his fists’ when
he was a kid. Maybe he’ll have
to .go in trainin’ again before he
gets them Democratic Senators
votin’ with him.
Yours, with the low down,
JO SERRA.
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