§ b Se I have just seen the movie version of Abe Lincoln in Illinois and if you haven't seen it you are in for a rare treat. do the same play in the stage but I was not as impressed as I was with It was the same play, the same words were there, the same sequence of events, and the same man acting the leading part but something happened to Raymond Massey on the screen. individuality as Raymond Massey, a distinguished and honored actor of the stage, completely disappeared and before the eyes of the small audi- ence in the theatre where I saw the pieture, Abraham Lincoln came to life and not for a single moment did one member of that audience doubt that Honest Abe lived and breathed. As we sat in the darkened theatre, even though most of us have been raised on stories of Lincoln, and I wouldn’t doubt if more has been written about him than any other man in our history, we seemed to meet Lincoln for the first time when he came to the moving picture version. New Salem on a flat boat filled with pigs. We looked into that homely face and realized that there was a man we had been hearing a lot about and reading about for some time, but a man we had never really known. Before our eyes was a long- legged, bashful young man who pos- sessed above all a warm heart and a courage very few men are capable of. We watched him in the village of New Salem. We saw him become postmaster and could readily under- stand why the people became so at- tached to him, and we could under- stand why Ann Rutledge must have learned to love a man she said “could fill any woman’s heart.” We witnessed his growth as a pol- © itician and it wasn’t difficult to see why the people of New Salem want- ed a backwoodsman to represent them in the Legislature. He wasn’t the usual politician, and he certainly wasn’t very comfortable in his “store clothes”, and he didn’t carry himself with the assured air of a man of the government. But the people believed in him. They liked him for the truth he spoke and they liked him because he was a man’s man. They liked him for his gentle ways and his dry and salty humor. Slowly we saw the gangling young man become an adult and Abraham Lincoln of the stove pipe hat and the ill fitting frock coat becomes a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. We see him with Billy Herndon, the boy who became Lincoln’s law partner and his best friend. Billy Herndon know that Lincoln was a great man and he tried to help steer his course. He had been in Lincoln’s office as a very young man and he realized what a rare person this long-legged, sad-eyed man really was. Herndon didn’t want Lincoln to marry Mary Todd. He knew what she would do to such a simple man. He knew she was of a different class and that she was overly am- bitious and that there was no real love between them. Lincoln knew that Herndon was right, and he did try to get out of marrying Mary Todd, but he couldn’t forget what a fool he had made of her by re- fusing to appear at the first wed- ding, so he came back from a trip through the West and married the woman who was to make his life so miserable. The picture goes on and we learn about the man Lincoln. . We see him as a father, and as the husband of the woman who gave him three sons but very little comfort or | Lewis G. Hines announces the in- peace. He understood her and was | stallation of a recently developed tolerant with her, and he submit- | photographic system of record main- ted humbly to her nagging ways. tenance which will save untold Only once did he really cross her and that was on the night he was running for the Presidency and the votes were being counted and ev- erything was in a state of feverish excitement. She was sick of his THE SENTIMENTAL SIDE By EDITH BIEZ—————————— I saw Raymond Massey His | indifference, and his general atti- | tude. She didn’t understand that her husband was to have added worries and responsibilities if the people decided he was to be Pres- ident. She thought only of herself and her small warped soul cried out in .despair. Lincoln turned to her, after his friends had left the room, ! and told her it was excusable for her to worry and fuss in the priv- acy of their own home but he would not have her make a fool of him in public. She looked at him in ut- ter amazement and told him it was the first time he had ever taken such a tone with her. She went home, on the eve of her husband’s triumph, home to sit and weep be- cause she felt sorry for herself and still could not realize what a great and simple soul she had married. As Abraham Lincoln stood on the platform of the train which was to take him to Washington, and away from his friends and neighbors in Springfield, he was asked to speak a few words of farewell. I don’t know just how moved the “other people in the audience were but I know I felt that I was part of that great crowd at the station and as I looked up into that careworn face 1, too, believed in Abraham Lin- coln! I believed that there above me was a friend, a man of the peo- ple, a man who understood the people, and on his face was written his sympathy and understanding. I was not conscious of the words he spoke but I felt the strength of that tall, homely man, and as the train pulled out of the station, I felt that I had seen and heard a great man and that my life had be- come richer by contact with him, and I am telling you I was quite surprised to find myself on Chest- nut Street in Philadelphia in 1940. FREEDOM The columnists and con- tributors on this page are allowed great latitude in expressing their own opin- ions, even when their opinions are at variance with those of The Post. Fos THE LOW DOWN FROM HICKORY GROVE If I was starting out to fool somebody and trying to put over a quick deal, like maybe selling a horse with the heaves or some- thing, I would steer clear of old Yankeeland. And the reason I am thinking of the Yanks is on account of this Mr. Tobey. Those old boys with the whang in the wvoice, there be- tween the Penobscot and the Connecticut, they don’t buy wooden nut- megs, they sell em. And this new idea of asking exerybody 83 ques- tions, and looking down our gullet, and under the house when they are tak- ing the census and just supposed to count us, has riled up Mr. Tobey. His forefathers dodged tomahawks down around Plymouth Rock, so a few palefaces circling him now, there on the Poto- mac, don’t curdle his blood. Cal Coolidge would be proud of him. Peekin’ around im bath- rooms to see who washes his feet or meck, and how about behind our ears and we prove it, 1s a bit nosey. Myr. Tobey say so. With 95 per cent of all the bathtubs in the world in the U. S., that old boy could be our mext Presi- dent Yours, with the low down, JO SERRA. HARRISBURG | WHIRLICIC Secretary of Labor and Industry thousands of feet of storage space. Approximately 3,000,000 workers are covered by the State Unemploy- ment Compensation Law, for which records must be maintained. Original records are photographed on reels of film and when reference is necessary are projected on a screen. One million ledger pages, requiring 1,500 square feet of floor space are now filed in film form in an ordinary letter-size filing cabi- net three feet in height. Application has been made to the Federal Works Projects Administra- tion by Governor Arthur H, James for an emergency appropriation of $2,000,000 for use in the borough of Shenandoah and the surrounding region, to avert the danger to life, property or health and to facilitate the resumption of normal commun- ity activities which have been dis- rupted by the recent surface subsi- dence caused by mining operations under the borough. In the first two and one-half months of 1940, the State Highway Department awarded contracts call- ing for the improvement of 59.22 miles of highway at a cost of $4,- 259,926. THE SAFETY VALVE This column is open to everyone. Letters should be plainly written and signed. Editor: I wonder just what Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley looked like on All Fools’ Day. Wyoming Valley needs a flood of dollars, not water. I suppose I should need one of the planes we are now building to. get to Dallas if I decided to go home and keep my feet dry. The census enumerator asked me “Where do you live?” 1 said “I am like a chain store—all over.” Chesapeake Bay is well confined, but the Wyoming Valley flood seems endless. : ww NON NN SS NS RY \ \ NN uh \ R ay 7 \ \ 4 os N > : 7 Z \ a \\ 2 ES NS 17. al Wy - — <Q a . = —— — ee - We LE UNE ~ No a x Copyright 1987. Lincoln Newspaper Features, Ine. ere Meee AN TET eo 0 WASHINGTON SNAPSHOTS —By James Preston— Down along the Tidal Basin, around the Washington Monument and the new shrine dedicated to the memory of Thomas Jefferson, the cherry blossoms will soon be in bloom. Thousands of Americans from every section of this broad land will make the pilgrimage to Wash- ington at this time of the year, anxious to see the city that symbo- lizes government in the greatest representative democracy ever de- signed by free men. These average citizens will stay for a few days, see the sights, and return to their homes with many cherished mem- ories. It is always an inspiring sight for this observer to see the thousands of men and women who come to Washington at this season not mere- ly because it is a city that has been beautifully designed, but also be- cause the spirits of Washington and Lincoln and Jefferson and unnum- bered other great men seem still ative here. In Totalitaria, no one thinks of the capital city as any- thing but a big collection of wood and stone buildings, the place where the Dictator lives and rules, Today in Washington, though, on turning from contemplation of these pleasant spring visitors, it is hard to keep from remembering also the thousands of other visitors who have come here in recent years. Most of them came, supposedly, to stay for just a little while. But very few of them have ever gone away. This second class of “visitors” comprises the huge army of gov- ernment employes who have made their appearance to carry out the duties and activities undertaken by government in recent years. The majority of them first appeared, probably, under the impression that their work was to be of a tempo- rary nature. The activities in ques- tion were commonly described at the time of their inception as “emergency measures.” They were, to repeat another phrase often in use here a few years back, “a pro- duct of the depression.” It was in- timated that, once business and farming and other fields of endea- vor began to stage a recovery and the national income showed a real gain, the need for these activities would greatly diminish. But after an extended period that has seen the number of capital em- ployes continue to skyrocket, the truth of an old adage is again be- coming apparent. The adage we have in mind runs to this effect: Bureaucratic powers of government, no matter under what plea they are obtained, are seldom—and very re- luctantly—relinquished. It's Funny About Hearts By Ruth Stewart Shenley Hearts don’t break; Glass breaks—frail stuff. Hearts take hard knocks, bend, Hearts stretch; hearts are tough. hearts Hearts don’t die; Flowers die—like song. Hearts live—eons long. Hearts are queer. They're deep, high, wide; Everyday stuff, hearts. Why, look— Mine holds heaven inside. VV VV VV VV VV VV YY VY VY Vee YY Upholstering @® Free Estimates PAUL B. SMITH Rr. 16 N. Main Street Yours. Tom Kinney. Baltimore, Md. Wilkes-Barre ——— PHONE 38-0231 —— ntti ietineeeenioeeveeii nie clonilinieen. Hearts thrive on love, pain, dreams; “More than a mewspaper, a community institution’ ESTABLISHED 1889 THE DALLAS POST A non-partisan, liberal progressive mewspaper published every Friday morning at its plant on Lehman Avenue, Dallas, Penna., by the Dallas Post, Inc. Entered as second class matter at the post office at Dallas, Pa., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription, $2 a year, payable in advance. Single copy, five cents. Howard W. Risley... ‘Manager Howell E. Rees........ ........ Editor Harold J. Price......Mech. Supt. ONLY YESTERDAY Items from the columns of The Post ten years ago this week. From The Post of April 11, 1930: After undergoing training for sev- eral weeks at Paris Island, S. C., Russell D. Honeywell of Dallas re- ceived his first regular assignment in the Marine Corps when he be- came a member of the Tenth Artil- lery Regiment at Quantico, V., this week. “Big Time”, a moving picture in which Lee Tracy, a former Shaver- town boy and the son of Mrs. W. L. Tracy, is the star, will be shown Tuesday and Wednesday at the Himmler. In commenting on the pic- ture, Mrs. Tracy says her son’s voice sounds just as natural as though he were speaking to her. Negotiations have been started by William LaBar, manager of the Dal- las Sunday baseball team, for the entrance of Dallas in the Wyoming Baseball League. Ross, Dallas Township forward, was high scorer in the Bi-County League this year, accumulating 75 points. While this is the month of April and Spring is supposed to be here the snow squalls Monday and Tues- day made it look more like Winter. In this section we can’t count on good weather until at least May 1. It is interesting to note that dur- ing the entire year of 1929 no per- son was drowned in Harvey's Lake. “Red” Schwartz celebrated his ninth wedding anniversary last Fri- day. Due to the fact that “Red” is always chirping of this and that, he bought Mrs. Schwartz a canary, so she could sit and listen to the bird instead of “Red”. Rev. Harry Henry has been of- fered a prohibition agent’s position with the government, but he has de- cided to remain here and has been appointed for another year. TO NEW YORK FRIENDLY SERVICE IDEAL LOCATION 300 ROOMS — 300 BATHS Write for Free Guide Book “SEEING NEW YORK" H. H. Cummings, Mgr. 44™ ST. EAST OF BROADWAY | FORMERLY 44™ ST. HOTEL FOOTNOTES By EMMONS BLAKE Our town came very close to los- ing its most valuable antique last Thursday in the chimney fire at the Teackle Mansion. I found it inter- esting to watch the crowd’s reaction at this particular fire. The younger spectators went to see something burn, and shouted loudly as the smoke curled out from under the dry, weather-beaten eaves. The older people were more reserved and quiet than at any fire where I had ever seen them. They all looked as if it were their own building that was on fire. And in reality I guess it is their building. Without the Mansion our town wouldn't be quite the same. The firemen were most careful in putting out the fire. It was the first time that I ever. saw firemen wipe their feet before entering a build- ing. Their description of the wall and of the hand-fashioned laths held in place with hand made nails, which they had to partially destroy, reminded me of something I'd read about old houses. Back about a hundred years ago, when the first people began to mi- grate to the West, nails were the most expensive part of a house. For a long time pioneers who couldn’t sell their houses would burn them and retrieve the nails to build their future homes with after being re- tempered. The burning of houses got to be so frequent that the gov- ernment stepped in and put a stop to it. They gave every departing settler a keg of nails. The size of the keg was, of course, determined by the size and amount of wood in the house. A house like the Teackle Mansion would not bring a very big keg because it was almost all brick and brick was very cheap, as it was merely ballast in sail boats cast off when the boat got its cargo. But I know that our town would much rather have the Teackle Man- sion as it mow stands than fifty kegs of bent, charred nails, and I imagine that old Mr. Meshack Mil- bourne doffed his entailed hat to the local firemen for their work in keeping it so. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Those who need cash can now obtain loans quickly, conveniently and confiden- tially in an approved busi- ness-like way. A steady in- come and established credit make you eligible for First Nationals BUDGET-PLAN LOANS Rates are only $6.00 per hundred per year . . . re- payable in twelve month- ly installments. IRST NATIONAL BANK of WILKES-BARRE, PA. 59 Public Square os er == Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation < by which John Jay Butch McDevitt his secretary, George W. Williams, and this scribe repaired to the Wal- dorf. And so to bed. The peace of tired bodies and stomachs au sur- feit settled over the hostelry, but not for long. A blast rang out. Another. And then another. Williams and your narrator rushed from an adjoining room to the boudoir of the bump- tious chief guest of the day. There ;was no murder. All that had hap- pened was explained by the presence of three press photographers, fond- ling their huge cameras and pre- paring fresh flashlight powders. There were no smokeless flash bulbs in those days. The room of McDevitt was smothered in acrid fumes. John Jay himself lay back on | three pillows—in his underwear. Be- side him on a gold tray, in a sterling silver basket, was a bottle of ging- er ale; in McDevitt’s hand a tumbler clutched by silver brackets in gold hoops. Offside, the bathroom gave forth reports of repeated gurglings, finally explained when three waiters emerged with buckets of empty champagne bottles. Off came the underwear of the millionaire-for-a- day and into his champagne bath he went with the photographers popping away for the benefit of the press and a now avid public waiting on every new development. Came then the most astounding call of all—from Hammerstein's, world’s greatest purveyor of classic vaudeville. Pat Casey was speak- ing. Would McDevitt and his ad- visory board please come over to the Putnam building? John Jay agreed on the visit, after breakfast. It was a matter of using the one clean collar left in the traveling bag of the millionaire-for-a-day, the only clean collar and alone in the bag excepting for a toothbrush. On the way to the Putnam building, John stopped at a haberdashery, bought a collar replacement for the bag, gave the girl behind the counter five dollars and left her gaping and gasping for breath by refusing to ac- cept any change. Pat Casey wanted to see Butch alone. A half hour after he and John Jay had entered the sanctum sanctorum of ;. Hammerstein's the same Mr. Casey returned to the ad- visory board. No longer was he the SECOND THOUGHTS By javie aiche When, as reported last week, at a temporary terminal of the safari titlement to the role of millionaire; when, with bland composure and ad- mirable sang froid, he refused to accept a gift motorcar and thousands of dollars of other inducements for advertising purposes, New York was re- lieved. Particularly relieved were the newspapers; because, if McDevitt's name had appeared in one item of commercial solicitation of the public the editors would have become the supreme suckers of their generation. You could hear the sighs of approbation like the sough of a moor wind. At some time before dawn the millionaire-for-a-day, his physician, gained sufferance in a one- day en- suave theatrical agent, sure of his ground, getting what he wanted be- | cause he had the money to buy. “My Gawd, gentlemen,” he said, “this man has just refused a thou- sand dollars a week for two per- formances a day. All I want him to do is go out on Hammerstein's stage for twenty minutes, telling the stor- ies he’s been telling for nothing. Do it twice a day for the next three weeks here in New York and Ill give him forty-two weeks on the road. It's a future, gentlemen, and he’s turning it down.” Here was the test by ordeal. McDevitt met it. “Mr. Casey,” he said, “You simply don’t understand. Let me remind you that spending is a high art and John McDevitt is the last man in the world who would vulgarize it with commercialism.” 2:3 What next? The millionaire-for- a-day bethought himself of the ap- propriateness of college education. “I'd like to have it to say that I went through Yale.” By taxicab then to the New York, New Haven & Hartford station. At the ticket window he asked for a private car for his party. Ah, railroads were prosperous and patronized back in early 1912. Such a thing as a pri- vate car couldn’t be had, not under two days’ advance notice; so, the party had to travel by coach. And McDevitt went through Yale —in the door to the long main cor- ridor at campus-center, and out the door at the other end. And right there stood Sylvester Z. Poli, thanks to word from John J. Calvin back in Wilkes-Barre. Poli, builder of the Penn Theatre, was one of the big five of vaudeville. He had just erected two new theatres in New Haven and Springfield and nothing would satisfy him other than that McDevitt should go over and give them at least the baptism of his presence before their final dedica- tion and formal opening. i It was almost 9 o'clock at night, with only three hours of the mil- lionaire’s day left, when the party got back to New York. Of which, more next week in the final install- ment of these somewhat nostalgic nubbins of memory. But % 5 and light frosts. It improves increases the starch content. cation of 800-1,000 lbs. of a per acre. Without manure, growth and light set, a 1:3:3 potash your soil will supply. it costs. AMERICAN POTA oF INCORPOR INVESTMENT BUILDING ATED WA POTASH-FED POTATOES Bring Profits : OTATOES are heavy feeders on potash. A 400- ID bushel crop uses about 200 lbs. of this plant food. | In addition to increasing yields, potash makes potato plants healthier and more resistant to diseases. drought, With manure and good legume sod turned under. the Pennsylvania Experiment Station recommends an appli- other analyses in the 1:2:2 ratio, such as 5-10-10 and 8-16-16, in amounts to supply 160-200 lbs. of plant food 259, higher. Where there is a tendency to excessive vine Ask your county agent or experiment station how much dealer sells you a fertilizer containing enough to make up the difference. You will be surprised how little extra Write us for further information and free literature on the profitable fertilization of your crops. SH INSTITUTE 1/6 LTH the shape of potatoes and 4-8-8 fertilizer per acre or the application should be ratio is suggested. Then make sure that your > TL IGE GIL SHINGTON, D. C.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers