Editorially Speaking:
IT'S A PROBLEM IN ENERGY
We find it difficult to dismiss as unimportant the epi-
demic of disobedience which has been breaking out recently
in schools hereabouts.
We have hesitated to comment on
the matter until now, because we felt we were ill-equipped
to reach any solution, but a week of conversations with
young people, a few parents and several school officials has
encouraged us to submit a few conclusions.
First, the evidence:
ITEM:
In Wilkes-Barre the student body of a
high school, irate because the school board presumed to
replace a popular substitute teacher, marched defiantly
out of the school and along central city streets to the
supervising principal's office where it submitted its
demands en masse.
ITEM: In Dallas the
pupils of the high school
planned to conduct a “Senior Skip Day”, when all stu-
dents who wished would cut an entire afternoon’s class-
es. The scheme fizzled when the swift action of school
officials frightened the less enthusiastic skippers.
ITEM:
high school, stole master
In Plymouth three boys broke into the
copies of an approaching
examination and, before they were exposed and ex-
pelled, were selling the questions for a modest sum
per set.
ITEM: In one school, where a trustful entepreneur
installed a nickel record-playing machine, or “Jook-
Box”, the collector, turning
up after several weeks for
his loot, found about $2 in coins and a little more than
$4 in slugs.
We are willing to believe that there was no element of
viciousness about any of these
involved were likable youngsters, of good families.
they did was silly, but not criminal.
Most of the pupils
What
If the four incidents
incidents.
had not come so close together, any one might have been
dismissed airily as an amusing prank. :
On the other hand there
‘nerly or reasonable about any of these outbursts.
was nothing honorable, man-
We can
sympathize with rebellion when it has a cause, but with the
possible exception of the case
of the substitute teacher, the
motives behind these incidents were purely selfish. If these
things were caused by an appetite for thrills, playing hookey
seems a rather cheap adventure in a world crowded with op-
portunities for bravery and nobility.
It is easy to prove that these explosions of juvenile
effervescence were characterized by a common disrespect
for order, lack of appreciation for a free education, dis-
courtesy toward older and wiser persons and, in two in-
stances, downright dishonesty.
It is more difficult to fix the
responsibility and direct such energy into more constructive
channels.
Scolding the erring pupils provides poor satisfaction. It
is scarcely more reasonable to
throw the responsibility upon
the teachers. Both pupils and teachers must share the blame,
but the real hope for an answer to the puzzle rests with
parents, not as individuals, but as a group.
With the development of
the public school system, the
parent has found it easier to evade his share of the respon-
sibility for the education of his offspring. Parents forget
that education is a process which cannot be confined in a
school room. During every waking moment, impressionable
youth is being subjected to the process of education, in
school, at home, in church, at
the soda fountain, at the din-
ner table, on the street, at the basketball game, everywhere.
What he or she becomes is the mass result of the never-end-
ing impacts of experiences.
You cannot throttle the energy which drives youth to-
ward new experiences. All you can hope to do is to direct it
into more admirable outlets than student strikes, exam-
ination thefts, “Senior Skip Days”, and counterfeiting
nickels.
The facilities for fun in Dallas are
limited. If the energy of youth is
to be directed, if an environment
conducive to the growth of honor,
virtue and intellect is to be provid-
ed, the community must awaken to
its responsibility. There must be
places where young people can use
up their energy, under proper su-
pervision, and on a slim budget.
The churches, the borough offi-
cials and the school officials must
work together in providing recrea-
tion and opportunities for the men-
tal development of young people.
We need a library, a swimming pool,
regulated coasting areas, ping pong
tournaments, a Little Theatre, a
community hall and more, and the
answer is not that ‘such things
cost too much money.” Procrasti-
nation will demand a higher price
in sacrifice of character and ideals.
As for the youngsters themselves,
we suggest they devote some of
their excess energy to the task of
helping their elders to achieve some
of these objectives promptly. We'd
like to have some letters from these
young people, offering suggestions.
Old Street Car Station
Is Being Remodelled
The old street car station on Main
Street, Dallas, was leased this week
by Howard and Rpssell DeRemer,
who will establish [The Only Radio
Shop in the building. Part”of the
structure will be re as a wait-
ing room for bus patrons. It will
be repainted inside and out, Both of
the young men who are starting the
business are well known here. How-
ard is a recent graduate of the
Coyne Electrical School.
CENTERMORELAND BABY
IS NAMED FOR YOUNG
MOTION PICTURE STAR
Mr. and Mrs. George Schoon-
over of Centermoreland have
named their one-month-old
baby daughter Gloria Jean, not
only because they like Gloria
dean Schoonover, Scranton’s
child star, but because it’s a
pretty name anyway.
The Centermoreland Schoon-
overs are no relatives of the
Scranton Schoonovers, but they
enjoyed Gloria Jean’s perform-
ance in “The Under Pup” and
so the baby, born January 11,
will bear the young star’s name.
The Scranton Gloria Jean
was a guest last week at Presi-
dent Roosevelt’s 58th birthday
party.
POST
SCRIPTS
Pencil
Marks on Brittle Copy
Paper: The expose that never won
a Pulitzer prize . . . stumbling
over dead cows in a freight
car with a politician who believed
the cattle were tubercular
getting tar on a good pair of
trousers climbing to the roof of a
shack at 4 a. m. to watch cows be-
ing slaughtered . . . writing our stor-
ies for a week on a typewriter plant-
ed back of the men’s toilet because
city officials were trying to sub-
poena us . . . the disillusionment
when nobody became excited over
our disclosures . . . riding in a pho-
tographer’s ancient Ford to White
Haven to celebrate somebody's
100th birthday anniversary ...shov-
ing stones under the wheels when
the car stalled going up a steep hill
. running back down the hill af-
ter a tire that had spun off the
wheel , . . gulping at Dan Hart's
speech . . . “May the Autumn of
your life be long and may every
falling leaf sing sweet melodies of
what has gone” . . . Using the same
line in a speech we wrote for the
President of a graduating class to
deliver at commencement . . . it was
the second year we had written the
President’s oration . . . interviewing
Esther J. Cantor, then “Miss Wilkes-
Barre”, now June Clayworth of the
movies.
——
OUR FAVORITE STORY . . . about
the mongrel and the poodle we
used to see every morning at 2
when we walked home . . . one
morning the mongrel was in the
gutter, dead, and the poodle was
sitting beside him cocking his head
and pawing the carcass . . . when we
came near the poodle growled and
bared his teeth . . . protecting his
dead pal . . . ‘at dawn the police
came and shot the poodle and threw
both carcasses on the dump . .
pleasant memories of Galli-Curci . . .
how we tried to escape the assign-
ment because we'd been out in the
rain all afternoon . . . our shoes
were muddy and our pants were
baggy . . . how she postponed her
dinner to talk to us . .. how aghast
we were when she walked into the
room, gave us the only big chair,
(Continued on Page 8)
MORE THAN A NEWSPAPER, A COMMUNITY INSTITUTION
Tue Darras Post
Vol. 50
League Declares
Quarrel Ended;
Dissolves Unit
Lahr's Group Takes New
Name; Smalley Invites
Members Into Branch 22
The State Executive Committee of
the American Progressive League
washed its hands this week of any
responsibility for the actions of the
group formerly known as Carver-
ton Branch, No. 28, of the League,
which has withdrawn from the par-
ent body and changed its name to
the United Citizens’ League.
“I hope this is the last we hear’
of this matter,” commented Robert
J. Smalley, State secretary, in an-
nouncing that the branch, which
has been engaged in a fight with
Kingston Township Branch, No. 22,(: - *
for several months over territorial
rights, had severed its connections
with the League.
In a formal statement to The
Post, Mr. Smalley said:
“Withdrawal of the Carverton-
Franklin Township Branch, No. 28,
from the League, and their decision
to become known as the United Cit-
izens’ League, divorce that branch
from any participation in the activ-
ities of the American Progressive
League, Inc.
“The State Executive Committee
will no longer be responsible for the
actions of the group formerly known
as Branch 28, which is now non-ex-
istent, the only recognized branch
of the League being the Kingston
Township Branch, No. 22. All debts
of the former Branch 28 must be
referred to the new organization
known as the United Citizens’
League.
“The State Executive Committee
urges all members of the expelled
branch who wish to remain in the
Progressive League to. attend the
meetings of Kingston Township
Branch, No. 22, every Wednesday
night. They will be accepted for
membership if they make request
to Paul Hughey, president of Branch
22, or to Jesse Jones, secretary, at
any of their meetings.”
The quarrel began when Branch
28, headed by Herbert Lahr, began
meeting in Kingston Township,
which the League insisted was the
exclusive membership territory of
Branch 22. Mr. Lahr claimed his
group could find no meeting place
in its own membership area.
Dallas Escapes
Meningitis Scare
No Cases Here, Despite
Great Number Nearby
Although Luzerne County’s year-
old epidemic of cerebro-spinal men-
ingitis, which has taken 13 deaths
-| among 33 cases this year, has been
taking its toll throughout the coun-
ty, not one case has been reported
in the Dallas area since the first
outbreak last winter.
John Yaple, State health officer,
commented on the unusual situation
this week. The last case of spinal
meningitis in this section was more
than two years ago. A case of in-
fantile paralysis was reported sever-
al months ago, but it was mild.
There are only three cases of con-
tagion now in the area covered by
Mr. Yaple, one case of scarlet fever
and two cases of whooping cough.
The nearest spinal meningitis case
to Dallas was reported last Fall at
Sweet Valley.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1940
QUICK ON THE DRAW
Add Woolbert, Jr.
who plays the part of “Lucky”
Woolbert, a gun-slinging young out-
cast, in “West of the Rio”, the play
{to be produced by Dr. Henry M.
Laing Fire Company on March 7 and
8 in Dallas Borough High School.
Well known for his athletic prowess,
Mr. Woolbert will doff his uniform
for sombrero, chaps and a holstered
six-gun.
Transplant Town
To Justify Title
Drama Is Now West Of
The Rio, Not The Pecos
A frantic search for a new title
for the play to be produced by Dr.
Henry M. Laing Fire Company on
March 7 and 8 came to an end this
week, but the committee almost
had to apply for a WPA project to
change the course of the Rio Grande
for the sake of theatrical honesty.
The original title, “West of the
Pecos”, was dropped in a flurry of
embarrassment after Roswell Mur-
ray tipped the amateur play-writers
off to the fact that Zand®rey had
used that title for one of his novels.
The only other river that didn’t
sound like an Indian herb medi-
cine was the Rio Grande, but that
river, alas, is Southwest of Texas.
Then someone, poring over
maps, discovered that in one place
the Rio Grande actually makes a
dip, and that there is one tiny bit
of Texas which is really “West of
the Rio.” It was good enough for
the committee. That was the title
printed on the tickets and posters
which went out this week and Sun-
down, the cowtown in the play, was
moved to South Texas.
Mrs. Harold Rood, director, be-
gan rehearsing her cast on Mon-
day night. Arthur Dungey, chair-
man of the ticket committee, began
distributing tickets on Tuesday. Cal-
vin McHose, chairman of the gen-
eral committee, will make a report
on the progress of plans at the reg-
ular meeting of the fire company
tonight in the hose house.
No 'Hookey Playing’
In Dallas This Week
Chief of Police Walter Covert, who
had an eye peeled all week for any
recurrence of the “hookey playing”
episode which Dallas Borough school
officials nipped in the bud last week,
reported there were no cases of tru-
ancy uncovered this week. There
were a number of absences, but
they were excused by illness. Chief
Covert has been making the round
of likely places along Main Street
every day on the look-out for tru-
ants. ‘
flooded this section after Walter
Winchell, close friend of J. Edgar
Hoover, FBI chief, broadcast last
Sunday night his prediction that an
arrest in the year-old case is im-
minent.
G-Man’s Presence Confirmed
State police and the district at-
torney promptly ridiculed Winchell’s
: forecast, but newspapermen uncov-
ered enough information to satisfy
them that an FBI investigator came
to this section about three weeks
ago from the Philadelphia branch
to make a study of the case. FBI
Chief Hoover declined to comment
on the reports. He did not deny
them, however.
It was near Keelersburg, 12 miles
from Dallas, that the pretty Sunday
school teacher's body was found, a
few days after her disappearance
from her home in Kingston in De-
cember, 1938. The investigator who
visited there made no attempt to
hide his identity, residents said.
There was no inkling of what had
happened to arouse the investiga-
tion from its lethargy. The clue
may have come over the tapped tel-
ephone wire to the home of William
Martin, an uncle of the murdered
girl. Police denied that, too, but a
close friend of the Martins told a
different story. He said the phone
was tapped shortly after the girl dis-
appeared. Since then, authorities
have listened in on many of the
No. 6
Tip Sent Police To Dallas
Through such calls police received
a number of tips, all of them use-
less until now. One call sent police | ©.
to an address in Scranton, but the night.
man named as the criminal was
dead. Another one was from a wo-
man who described a man she saw
on the morning Miss Martin disap- | declared.
peared, standing at Kingston Corn-
ers talking to a girl who resembled
the newspaper photos of the victim.
Another call sent police to Honey-
suckle Inn, near Dallas, only to find
that for the last five years the old
inn has been the home of a Wilkes-
Barre newspaperman whose reputa-
tion is beyond reproach.
Many of the stories circulated
this week, such as the one which
had the Martins receiving 32 calls
from the murderer, were obviously
false. Another fantasy had Attorney
Miner Aylesworth of Sweet Valley
receiving a letter from the FBI, ask-
co-operation.
Aylesworth, who assured The Post
he has no connection with the Mar-
tin case, couldn’t even suggest how
the story might have originated.
Year-old Murder Mystery Is Revived
As Police Deny Winchell's Forecast;
FBI Agent Playing Lone Hand In Case Week In State
Rumors that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has decided to in-
tervene in the unsolved Margaret Martin murder mystery were confirmed
yesterday by reliable reports from the Centermoreland and Keelersburg
sections concerning a man who displayed the credentials of an FBI agent
| | in questioning residents there during the last two weeks.
| Tight-lipped police, who adopted a policy of denying everything, were
i| of little help in squashing the rumors, many of them sheer fantasy, which
calls made by fanatics or sympa-
thetic friends.
Attorney
CIVIC PROGRAM FOR 1940
More community spirit in the
Dallas area.
A concrete highway from Dallas
to Tunkhannock.
Centralization of police and fire
protection.
Better fire protection and lower
insurance rates.
More sidewalks.
$1,400,000 Spent
For Relief Each
Carson Sees Job Drive
As Solution To Vicious
Unemployment Problem
auditorium on
employment, relief and taxes.”
Luzerne County.
Council Studies
Fire Protection
Supervisors Invited To
Conference On Problem
commissioners will be held on Fri-
day, March 16, to discuss the re-
Co. for funds to maintain the vol-
unteer company.
Harry Ohlman, chairman of a
addressed council at its meeting on
Wednesday night, asking for co-
operation of the two governing bod-
ies in sharing the cost of fire pro-
tection.
At the same meeting council ex-
tended an invitation to Robert Hall
Craig, general manager of Dallas-
Shavertown Water Co., to confer
with council next Thursday at 2 to
discuss steps necessary to supply
fire plugs and a volume of water
adequate for fire protection.
At the request of Wilkes-Barre
City, council agreed to certify an
amount up to $150 in case any
needy person from the borough is
sent to the Wilkes-Barre Contagious
Hospital.
A committee from Daddow-Isaacs
Post, American Legion, having as
members John Thomas, Paul Shav-
er and Joseph Adametz, asked
council for $100 a year to pay rent
for rooms for the club’s meetings.
Council appropriated 50 for the pur-
pose.
Secretary William Niemeyer was
instructed to ask Dr. W, F. Davi-
son if the State Board of Health
can take over the duties of the
Borough Board of Health.
Netherlands Ready For Nazis, Dutch Visitor Declares
Blkemade Is Making
Tulip-Selling Tour
If Germany's military strategy is
to strike the Allies through the
Netherlands, she may find that her
delay has been fatal. Unprepared
last September, the Netherlands are
now ready to hurl back any Nazi
attack, according to George Alke-
made of the Hague, Holland, whose
annual tulip-selling trip brought
him to this section this week.
A vivacious, tall, blonde man,
whose English, thanks to 20 years’
of visiting the United States, has
scarcely any accent, Mynherr Alke-
made has been in Germany, England,
.| France and Italy within the last four
months. He reached this country in
mid-January, arriving aboard the
Italian liner, Rex, after a trip
through Belgium, France and Italy.
Since September, Mr. Alkemade
says, the Neitherlands has flooded
great areas along the border, laid
down fortifications and constructed
tank traps. It has been a costly
plan, because the engineers have
had to destroy houses and forests
which lay in the path of the forti-
fications.
In Hague, where Mr. Alkemade
lives, 15 batteries of anti-aircraft
guns maintain constant vigilance.
Dutch planes are grounded after
dark, but alien planes fly over oc-
casionally and the guns chatter fre-
quently, sometimes with tragic re-
sults for trespassing fliers. Mr.
Alkemade has personal knowledge
of one German plane which was
shot down. The pilot was given a
military funeral and his coffin taken
to the border, where it was met by
a guard of goose-stepping Germans.
Mr. Alkemade is proud of the lack
of censorship in the Neitherlands.
He ccmpares its unfettered press
with that of United States. In ad-
dition, the Hollanders get news
broadcasts from most neighboring
countries, so Mr. Alkemade, who
speaks English, French and Ger-
man, besides his native tongue, has
enjoyed varied viewpoints on the
war's progress. He believes the
English radic is most truthful.
He left home on December 27 and
Saw Funeral For Nazi Ace
Shot Down Over Holland
at the Belgian frontier he was sub-
jected to the first of a series of
thorough examinations. Because of
troop movements, he found train ac-
comodations bad, with trains run-
ning as much as 10 hours behind
schedule. He reached Paris during a
blackout. In Italy, he found every-
thing humming, a condition which
strengthened his opinion that ‘“Mus-
solini is Europe's smartest diplo-
mat”.
The trip from Genoa to New
York was uneventful, except for
the contraband inspection at Gibral-
tar by British navy officers. Mr.
Alkemade, who will be here until
May, is planning on returning to
Europe by air.
He has been making his trips to
this country to sell bulbs for 20
years, usually making a trip a year.
Half an hour after he landed, he
bought the automobile which he
uses to cover the country, Some of
the bulbs he sells have brought
prices as high as $4,000 a bulb.
A conference of Dallas Borough |
councilmen and Dallas Township | thrashed his 130
committee named by the firemen, |
James Parkinson,
would be two people in the hos-
39,
wife’s brother.
two children,
The
reached home.
On Wednes-
George Coles” Skull
Fractured In Fall
George Coles, 85, Dallas R. D. 3,
was admitted to General Hospital at
11 Wednesday morning, suffering
from a possible fracture of the skull.
He received the injury when he fell
down a flight of stairs at his home.
Dallas Township Bonds
Sold To Emma Clark
Twenty $1,000-dollar bonds, au-
thorized by Dailas Township voters
last November to finance construc-
tion of a high school annex, have
been sold to Emma Clark of Kings-
ton, whose bid was $1,001 per bond.
Wife-Beater Gets
One YearInJail
Lake Man's Brutal ny :
Engers Policemen, Judge
A burly Harvey's “ake man who
quest of Dr. Henry M. Laing Fire | her body and bruised her so she had
to be treated at General Hospital
was fined $25 and sentenced to a
year in the County Prison on Wed-!}e halted,”
“You're lucky your wife isn't my id
Judge B. R. Jones told |opportunities.
“or there
Parkinson was arrested on Tues-
day night by Chief of Police Ira C.
Stevenson and Assistant Chief Fred
Swanson of Harvey's Lake police.
When Swanson, who arrived at the
Parkinson home first, reached the
scene he found Mrs.
nude, lying in a pool of blood on
Spots of blood about the
room gave evidence of the brutal-
ity of the beating she had under-
Parkinson,
“The room was like a slaughter-
On Sunday night, Chief Stevenson
said, Parkinson had beaten his wife
and in turn been thrashed by his
The brother, who
lives in Alden, came to the Lake
again Tuesday night and took the
aged 3 and 8, to|f 3 ;
Wyoming, to the home of Mrs. Park- | in this section.
inson’s mother.
moved to Harvey’s Lake from Wyo-
ming last October and lived in the
Sunset section.
Parkinsons
Parkinson had been paid on Tues-
day, but had no money when he
He was under the
influence of liquor, Chief Stevenson
2,500 New Jobs Found
have been filed.
ployed in the county.”
Luzerne County alone. Relief ex-
-pound wife, broke | penditures in the state in that tizg
{ her nose, stripped her clothes irois!are six times the total asse a
in Luzerne County.
private payrolls.”
and repay it in easy installments.
Women’s Help Sought
paying positions.
A challenge to the men and
women of the Dallas section to
A buzz which fol- {help Governor
lowed the usual ring signalled to the
Martins that the connection had
been made and occasionally they
heard an unknown voice on the wire
after the conversation had been
Arthur H.
James find a solution to a
problem which is costing Penn-
sylvania taxpayers $1,400,000
a week was delivered by Wil-
liam P. Carson of Philadelphia
in his address at the Rotary
Club’s Job Mobilization Rally
in Dallas Borough High School
Wednesday
“Pennsylvania has within it-
self the power to lift itself out
of the depression,” Mr. Carson
“The answer to this
crying need is the Job Mobili-
zation Campaign—a statewide ef-
fort to create job opportunities for
the unemployed and thus cut un-
In emphasizing the necessity for
swift action, Mr. Carson, who is
manager of financial relations for
the Federal Housing Administration
and a member of the State job
committee, gave a graphic analysis
of the unemployment situation in
“On November 15, 1939, when the
Job Mobilization Campaign started,”
he said, “there were 55,195 persons,
including 15,945 employables, on re-
lief in Luzerne County. There still
are 51, 622 persons, including 14,-
687 employables, on relief in the
county, and it costs the taxpayers
$119,731 a week to support them.
“Through ‘efforts of the county
committee, 2.500 job opportunities
have been created in the county in
the seven weeks for which reports
This is 3.4 per
cent of the total number of unem-
In the last seven years, Mr. Car-
son said, a total of $36,007,730 has
been spent for general assistance in
uation ui 11 +e taxable real estate
“If this vicious cycle of unem-
ployment, relief and taxation is to
declared Mr. Carson,
“men and women of the State must
do their part to create new job
That is the purpose
of Governor James’ Job Mobilization
Campaign, which, with the help of
10,000 volunteers in allep of
the State, is utilizing every means
| of putting people back to work on
He urged his audience to encour-
age modernization and renovising of
homes as one means of providing
employment and explained how
such improvements can be financed
under the FHA plan, which enables
the home-owner to borrow money
Miss Ann Grall, who is associated
with the women’s division of the
house,” Chief Stevenson comment-|county Job Committee, explained
ed. Parkinson showed argument at
first, but the obvious anger of the
policemen silenced him and he sub-
mitted to arrest peacefully and was
locked up over night.
day he was given a hearing before
Squire Henry Davis and then taken
to court for trial.
how housewives can help by em-
ploying domestics. There is a dearth
of trained domestic help, she said,
and women who take untrained
girls in their homes and teach them
will be performing a great service,
and preparing the girls for better~
C. A. Albert, chairman of the
meeting, introduced M. E. Kuchta,
chairman of Rotary’s Job Mobiliza-
tion Committee, and a number of
the women who are working with
Mrs. G. A. A. Kuehn and Mrs. Hen-
ny Disque in the women’s division
Reunion
With Rives
When Rives Matthews
became editor and pub-
lisher of The Somerset
News of Princess Anne,
Md., about a year ago he
regretfully suspended his
weekly column in The
Post, so he could devote
all his time to his new
venture.
Under Mr. Matthews’
editorship, The News has
blossomed bravely, and
this week the inimitable
writings of the crusading
Mr. Matthews appear
again in The Post. His
column, “Ricochets”, joins
the select company of
Edith Blez, javie aiche,
Jo Serra and F. R. Turner
today on Page Three.