Ediiorially Speaking:
Telephone Poles
Or Newspapers?
There is apparently no reasonable explanation why Back
Mountain school boards keep the audits of their finances out
of sight of the public—the tax
public asks for an accounting
payers who foot the bills. The
of school board stewardships
too infrequently to be denied the right to see that account-
ing in print.
‘We don’t think the boards have anything to hide even
though they insist on posting smudged carbon copies of their
audits on telephone poles in o
ut-of-the-way spots where no
citizen can study them in comfort, at leisure. But there are
those suspicious souls who relish the idea that all school
directors are not above board.
inefficient frugality to make in
It does seem like childish and
terested citizens hunt up some
wind-swept telephone pole to study community finance and
management. It is an undignified and unbusinesslike pro-
cedure at best.
The directors may find argument in economy. It costs
less to post audits in this slip-shod manner.
But we believe
it is false economy if it leaves any doubt of where the money
goes in the mind of a single ta
to study this information at fi
xpayer who has not been able
rst hand. It may prove more
costly in the long run than the paltry sum expended for ad-
vertising the audit in the newspapers.- There have been such
examples close at hand.
Text books cost money, too. So does coal, light and jani-
tor’s supplies but nobody has ever suggested that school
boards should make their own,
just because somebody makes
a profit on the sale or because supplies cost money.
It would not only be more dignified and businesslike to
have these audits published in
the newspapers but would be
more convenient. Citizens may want to save these reports
from year to year. There is also the advantage of having
them in permanent newpaper f
iles. Frequently these files are
the only sourch easily accessible to the public from which
comparison of income and expense with other years can be
made. Now and again people throughout the community call
this newspaper for information within our sphere as publish-
ers. They want to know the name of the representative from
the 7th Legislative District. , .the altitude of Harvey's Lake
. . .how many votes Hoover got in Kingston Township . . .
how much Lehman School District spent for its new high
school . .
. what was the cost of transportation in Dallas
Township school district in 1932. Most of this information
is quickly available in our files, but it was a similar question
on school finances of which we
editorial.
There was a time when D
had no record that led to this
allas Borough school finances
were so confused that no audits were made for a number of
years.
There was doubt and suspicion on all sides, and the
small cost of publishing the audit would have clarified the
matter and brought it to a head before it had been allowed
to run five years.
If school board finances a
re as they should be—and we
believe they are in this area—any school board can be par-
doned the justifiable pride of wanting the entire community
to know it. It is obviously fair
ness. Other community institut
and it is obviously good busi-
ions regard it as such. Though
we offered to run an informal news story at no cost, Dr.
Henry M. Laing Fire Company insisted on publication of a
complete official report of its finances this year. It, too,
might have nailed its report
members wanted the public to
nances were handled with busi
A few dollars spent on a
on a telephone pole, but the
know that the company’s fi-
nesslike precision.
dvertising once a year won't
break any school board or raise the millage. It maw have the
opposite effect.
boards publish their audits in
It is time taxpayers demand that school
this or some other newspaper
of general circulation; in a place where everybody can read
them without feeling like an agent of the F. B. I. or an organ
grinder’s monkey climbing a telephone pole.
FROM.
PILLAR TO POST
When we realize that the Lend-Lease Bill has passed, and when we
stop to think of all its implications,
had our first argument with Mike Fieger.
at Mike's gasoline station at Hillside
our mind goes back to the day we
We used to like to stop often
while the little Dutchman in slack-
seated trousers waddled out to wait on us with a cherry wave of the hand,
his tousled hair cutting capers above his perspiring brow. :
Mike was a frugal, thrifty German. He'd make good in America we
thought. And then we'd wonder how Americans could have hated the,
people he represented during the
World War. But all that was for-
gotten now . . . in a land where op-
portunity was open to former en-
emy and friend alike . . . in a land
where newspapermen sat up late
in bull sessions listening to stories
of the losing side told by men who
hesitated to admit that they had
once served in the Imperial Navy
or aimed a machine gun at Yankee
doughboys. This was a land where
movie audiences wept and cheered
German troops in “All Quiet on the
Western Front.” This was a coun-
try that sympathized with a beaten
Germany . . . that held out an open
hand in the post-war reconstruction
days.
But that was before Hitler . . .
and with Hitler's rise Mike Fieger
changed. There was more criticism
of America. No longer did he damn
Republicans or Democrats. It was
America, Republicans and Demo-
crats—its physicians, its customs, its
businessmen. And then we had the
argument. Over a silly thing, Fath-
er Coughlin’s “Social Justice” that
always ®¥lay on Mike's cluttered
counter in front of the long plate
glass windows. Mike wanted us to
subscribe. We wouldn’t. It was
during his enthusiastic sales talk
that we rebelled and with our unex-
pected opposition a hardened cold-
ness replaced the laughing glint in
his blue eyes. We swore a little. So
did he. And then he told us in a
burst of fury that Germany, under
Hitler, would take Austria, Czecho-
Sloviakia, overrun Poland, defeat
France behind its Maginot line, whip
Britain. “And what about us?’ we
finally asked. He laughed, “Ach
the United States, too. Nobody can
lick Hitler or Germany.” That was
the day we stopped buying gas of
Mike and although we greeted each
other with waving hands as we
drove by his stand, that was the
last we ever talked about his home-
land. For that was the day we
learned that Hitler, Germans and
Germany were one . . . that Ger-
mans gloried in men like Hitler and
(Continued on Page 8)
IN
ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES
ANOTHER—CARRIE THINKS
FATE WORKS ANOTHER WAY
The Postmaster General
doesn’t know it but his stamp
sales went up in this area last
week, and this is how. When
Mrs. Caroline Caproon took the
Civil ' service examination for
stenotype operator with the
State Liquor Board, and posted
her letter she nervously won-
dered whether she had placed
a stamp on the envelope. So
she returned to the post office
and asked the clerk to look for
a large envelope addressed to
the Liquor Control Board in the
drop. letter box. The clerk did,
only to find four large enve-
lopes, all addressed to the
Board—all without stamps.
Carrie bought stamps for all
of them. This week the Liquor
Control Board notified her some
one of the other three had
made a higher mark in the ex-
amination than she. Now she
wishes three of the letters she
obligingly stamptd had been
allowed to go to the dead let-
ter office.
1]
Dr. Swartz Named
Toastmaster For
Athletic Dinner
Dr. George K. Swartz will be the
toastmaster Thursday night when]
Dallas Borough Parent-Teacher As-
sociation is host to high school ath-
letic teams in the school gymna-
sium.
Kenneth Muchler, coach of bas-
ketbal] at Meyer's High School,
Wilkes-Barre, will be guest speaker.
David Joseph will lead singing. The
school band will furnish music.
All friends of the team who wish
to attend are asked to make reser-
vations early with Mrs. William
Niemeyer.
Vol. 51
Council Asked
To Pay Damages.
On New Highway
Borough Body Will
Discuss Problem At
Special Meeting
Land damages incident to con-
struction of the proposed new
highway from .Dallas to Harvey's
Lake wi]l be discussed tonight at
a special meeting of Dallas Bor-
ough Council. The State Depart-
ment of Highways has recently ad-
vised Council that it will not as-
sume claims along the right-of-
way where the new highway will
run through Dallas Borough.
Members of Council are of the
opinion that damages can be set-
tled without great cost so that there
will be no delay in construction
when bids are let. Whether the
Borough will assume these damages
or refuse to pay them, will be learn-
ed tonight.
In the meantime agents of the
claims division of the State Highway
Department are going over blue
prints of the proposed highway and
contracting those outside the bor-
ough who live along the right-of-
way. It is expected that an appro-
priation for the new Lake highway
will be made by the Legislature
shortly.
Another matter that will demand
the attention of Council tonight
is a meeting scheduled with State
Highway , engineers for Monday
afternoon to go over proposals for
elimination of the traffic problem
at the Mi]l street intersection with
the new spur highway.
Rural Carriers
Woolbert Transferred
To Alderson Office
In the interest of governmental
economy, rural routes emanating
from Dallas Postoffice will be re-
duced to three on April 1. Rural
Route No. 4 served by Addison
Woolbert will be broken up to be-
come a part of Routes 1 and 2 now
served by Fred Youngblood and
William Corcoran respectively. Mr.
| Woolbert will be transferred to the
| postoffice at Alderson where he
will take over the route now being
handled by Harry Allen, Jr.
While the number of routes out
of the Dallas office will be cut,
there will be no curtailment in the
number of rural boxholders served.
The two carriers will assume the
increased burden; their trips being
j extended approximately 12 miles
each.
Girls’ Champions
Meet Warrior Run
Ruth Mahler Leads
League in Scoring
Dallas Township Girls’ Basketball
team, champions of the Back
Mountain League, will meet War-
rior Run in an elimination contest
Friday night, March 21 on the
Warrior Run floor.
The Township team, undefeated
for two years, closed its league
season Friday night by defeating
Kingston Township Girls 31 to 20.
The Kingston Township team was
undefeated until they met the
Township in the first of the two
games late in the season.
Bulwark of the Dallas team dur-
ing its 16-game season was Grace
Mahler, captain. Although good
guarding was featured against her,
none of her opponents could pre-
vent her from running up a sea-
son total of 229 points—almost
equal to 250, the sum ‘total of her |
opponents. Reminder of the points |
scored were Estella Elston 92; Mari-
lyn Wilson 86, Marilla Martin 27;
Norma Knecht, 14 and Mildred
Schray 12. Varsity guards were:
Molly Poad, Henrietta Spencer,
Anna Hudack, Laura Rothery and
Mabel Rogers. Excellent team work
plus the uncanny scoring ability of
Miss Mahler were responsible for
the Township’s success throughout
the season. Miss Antonia Kozem-
chak coached the team during both
of its undefeated seasons.
Demonstration
A demonstration of the Cotton |
Mattress Program of Luzerne Coun- |
ty was explained by a demonstrater |
from Harrisburg last Monday after- |
noon at Dallas Township High
To Be Shifted. 1
FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1941
TWELVE FIREMEN KILLED IN MASSACHUSETTS BLAZE
1.
2.
5.
No. 11 6.
Twelve firemen were burned or crushed to death and at least eight others seriously injured when the snow-
laden roof of this Brockton, Mass., theatre collapsed as the firemen were battling flames there. Most of the
firemen who were killed and injurd were standing on the balcony playing water on the roof and were
buried under tons of debris. The three-story structure was destroyed.
Canning Acreage Throughout State
rease Has Been In Excess of 100%
Every Four Years For Past Sixteen
Three out of a dozen or more of the largest canners of the
country, contacted during the past two weeks by James D.
Hutchinson in an effort to have a cannery located in the Dal-
las area, have written Luzerne County Agricultural Extension
Association that they will not embark on a program of expan-
touch with them.
In addition, . Mr.. Hutchison says
there are exchilent™pportunities to
can apples for the bakery trade, or
for apple butter, apple sauce and
other similar items. During the fall
and winter months there is a tre-
mendous amount of apples such as
Baldwins, Greenings, Stark, Smoke-
house, and Northern Spy varieties
available within a ten-mile radius
of Dallas. Last year 120 carloads
were shipped from this area through
the Federal Surplus Commodities
Corporation. !
Present indications are that the
canning industry will contract for a
considerable icrease in acreage in
considerable increase in acreage in
with 1940, according to Mr. Hutchi-
son. There is no sound reason why
farmers in the vicinity of Dallas
should not be included among those
who share in this sale of increased
production.
This is also seen as the tendency
in practically all the States where
canning products are grown, he said.
It is believed that the contracted
acreage will be spread over a wider
area, including a greater number
of small growers as the result of
possible shortages of labor during
the harvest seasons. It is consid-
ered probable that in some cases
the larger growers may reduce
their acreage in some products,
fearing to chance dependence upon
a large labor supply at harvest
time. This it is believed may be
the case particularly with those
areas where there is easy access to
defense work.
The production of farm products
for canning or processing has be-
come the fastest growing agricul-
tural enterprise in this State. As
recently as 1924 vegetables for
canning were grown on only 7,740
acres of Pennsylvania farm lands.
Compared with the 41,040 acres
devoted to canning crops in 1940
this is an increase of 425 percent
in 16 years or at a rate in excess
of 100 percent every four years. In
addition to this substantial increase
in vegetable canning, the processing
of apples, apple products, cherries,
mushrooms and many other special-
ty products such as soups, condi-
ments, jellies and preserves, has also
increased rapidly in recent years.
That this growth in the production
of canning crops may be expected
to continue is evidenced by recent
cannery expansions, by numerous
new locations for cannery and quick
freeze operations recently acquired
or proposed and by the increasing
purchase of canning crops of Penn-
sylvania growers from out-of-state
processors.
During 1940, for the first year
since 1933, the volume of canning
crops inspected did not increase over
the preceding year. However, grad-
ing actually showed an increase in
1940 over 1939 since inspectors were
employed 2071 days at 55 inspection
points compared with 1978 days
worked at 51 points in 1939. Also
School.
(Continued on Page 8)
sion this year. Others, however, have indicated their interest
and Mr. Hutchinson is continuing his program of keeping in
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR
D. L. Edwards
His Policy Is
The Golden Rule
Dewey Edwards Applies
It to Insurance Business
Nobody knows where the driving
force of the D. L. Edwards Insurance
Agency got the monikar, “Dewey”
but it’s a safe bet that ninety-nine
and 99/100 percent of his friends
know him by no other name and d
after years of association are still
unaware that the D stands for Dana
and the L for LaRue. There's a story
that his classmates in Berwick High |
School coined the sobriquet, but the
incident for its origin and applica-
tion are veiled in mystery that its
owner refuses to divulge.
Oddly enough it is appropriate, for
if there is any recreation he enjoys
above another, it is deep sea fishing.
Perhaps it is his zest for salt air and
rolling fishermen’s boats that has
pinned the great Admiral’s name on
him for keeps. But if Dewey likes
fishing and boats there is one ele-
ment he shuns—water. It is almost
impossible, so his wife says, to get
him in a bathing suit.
That was overcome a few years
back on one of Jim Oliver’s picnics
to North Lake. After futile pleadings
to have him take a dip with the rest
of the crowd, somebody suggested
that he might learn to like water if
someone threw him in. Whether the
experiment removed his hydrapho-
bia is doubtful for he still avoids
swimming suits and to all practical |
purposes the effort appears to have
been a failure.
(Continued on Page 8)
Fifty Men Apply
Daily To Enlist
Thomas Swainbank Is
At Recruiting Office
Private Thomas D. Swainbank, Jr.,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Swain-
bank, 30 Lehigh Street, Shavertown,
and brother of Mrs. Charles Swain-
bank, Huntsville Road, Dallas, Pa.,
who enlisted in the United States
Army in December is on duty at the
Army Recruiting and Induction Sta-
tion, 16-18 Nowth Main Street, at
Wilkes-Barre, as a clerk.
Activity at the Recruiting Station
has been brisk with an average of
20 to 50 applicants a day all seeking
to enlist in the Regular Army for
the three year period. This gives
the applicant a wider latitude than
afforded the one year men.
The three-year volunteer in the
regular army may select his own
branch of the service afid his station
assignment. Trade opportunities of-
fered to men now enlisting are the
best in many long years, Mr. Swain-
bank says, in addition to the educa-
tion they receive as the result of
traveling with the army.
Burton Crandall
Buried Thursday
Heart Attack Fatal
To Shavertown Man
Scores of friends and relatives
attended the funeral of Burton G.
Crandall, Shavertown, held yester-
day morning from the home of his
Patrick La-
mother-in-law, Mrs.
velle of Pittston. A high mass of
requiem was celebrated in St.
Mary’s Church, Upper Pittston by
Rev. Joseph McDonough.
Mr. Crandall who had been a
resident of Shavertown for the
past eight years, was stricken with
a heart attack on Monday night as
he drove to Parsons Primitive
Methodist Church accompanied by
Mrs. Crandall, to show a motion
picture of Memorial Shrine. He was
taken at once to Rev. Milo Singer
to the office of Dr. J. A. Corson
who ordered his removal to Nes-
bitt Hospital where he died Tues-
ay morning at 10:40. The body
was taken to the home of his
mother-in-law because the Crandall
home in Shavertown was under
quarantine for mumps.
Mr. Crandall was former asso-
ciate secretary of Wyoming Valley
Chamber of Commerce having
come to Wyoming Valley from De-
troit where he was sales manager
of the Exact Weight Scale Com-
pany, and later field representative
of the United States Chamber of
Commerce. In 1938 he became spe-
cial representative of the Connecti-
cut General Life Insurance Com-
pany. At the time of his death he
was assistant manager of Mem-
orial Shrine.
He was -a man of retiring nature
devoted to his home and family but
one who also shouldered commun-
ity responsibility willingly. He was
formerly secretary-treasurer of Mt.
Greenwood Kiwanis Club and was
also secretary of the Citizens’ Com-
mittee. He was elected secretary of
Kingston Township Parent-Teacher
Association.
Beside his widow, the former
Esther Lavelle of Upper Pittston,
he leaves five children, Peggy
Jean, Robert, Burton Jr., Nancy
and Paul; two sisters, Mrs. Pauline
McKissen of Cleveland and Mrs.
(Continued on Page 8)
markings and numerals on all homes
in Dallas, Shavertown, and Trucksville.
which will train men and women in
national defense measures.
THE DaLLas Post |:
MORE THAN A NEWSPAPER, A COMMUNITY INSTITUTION
er highway between Dallas and Har-
vey’s Lake before 1942.
tion in the Dallas area.
THE POST WANTS:
Permanent and legible street
Emphasis locally on activities
The installation of fire plugs in
The construction of a new, short-
Centralization of police protec-
More sidewalks.
Luzerne Tops
Borough Five
Tuesday Night
Dallas Team First
In History To Play
In P. I. A. A. Finals
By Al Davis
Back Mountain Champions play-
ed a hard but futile game against
Luzerne Tuesday night and lost
after coming home the victors in
| their first P. I. A. A. play-off game
| with Moosic, Friday night.
Against Moosic = the Borough
| team played a fine game coming
from behind in the second half to
| stop Moosic. Bobby Niemeyer was
| the star, sinking shots from all over
the court, passing the ball accurate-
ly and guarding closely. He tallied
' 17 points and Price tallied 13, more
than the whole Moosic team. The
Champs have the first undefeated
team the Back Mountain has ever
had to win in a P. I. A. A. play-off.
After defeating Moosic the Bor-
ough boys met Luzerne. Coach Tin-
sley’s unbeaten five were mentally
20 points behind before Luzerne ,
came on the floor. The Champs,
playing under pressure, were fright-
ened by the crowd and the name of
“Crossin”. As the whistle blew, the
Back Mountain Boys ran around the
floor in a daze. They threw the ball
at “The little man who wasn’t
there” or else didn’t throw it at
all. They did many things they would
not have done if they hadn’t have
been nervous. After Luzerne’s first
team left the floor, the Dallas Bor-
ough Champions showed what they
could really do when they were not
nervous.
The ba]l was passed accurately,
shooting came up 100 percent, and
guarding was good. They scored 15
points to Luzerne’s 5. In the sec-
ond half with Luzerne's first team
back on the floor, Dallas was again
unnerved.
Price tallied 15 points, taking
scoring honors while Gould played
the finest brand of basketball ever
played by anyone in the Back
Mountain.
The Borough had the upper hand
in rooting. The band played, and
cheers were led by the Borough
cheerleaders who have improved
considerably since last year.
Attention should be called to the
little white-haired lad who was
with the Borough Champs this year
and last. He is the finest manager
any champ could have — “Little
Eddie Tutak.”
Al] in all it was a great year for
Dallas Basketball and the town is
proud of its first undefeated team,
with or without Luzerne under its
belt.
Township Club
Offers To Work
Will Assist Merchants
With Office Routine
Commercial Club of Dallas Town-
ship High School is undertaking a
new and large business project. At
a recent meeting members decided
to visit business places in the ad-
jacent school community, and in-
quired if proprietors would cooper-
ate with members by having them
do commercial work.
The purpose is to acquaint busi
ness pupils with actual business sit-
uations and problems; also to be
of some aid to the community by
making use of their business know-
ledge. The students are anxious to
show what they can do.
The Club is under the direction
of Miss Antonia Kozemchak, and
will type or mimeograph, as pre-
ferred, advertisements, business let-
ters, sales sheets, ete.
Parents, Teachers
ToPresent Plays
Plan Entertainments for
Township PTA Meeting
Parents and teachers will pre-
sent the entertainment at the meet-
ing of the Parent Teacher Associa-
tion on Monday evening, March 17,
at 8 o’clock in the high school audi-
torium.
The teachers will present a one
act comedy, “The School at Canta-
loupe Center.” Miss Evelyn Ever-
{ ard will be director of the following
cast: Miss Gladys Schoonover, Jane
Darrow, Antonia Kozemchak. Mar-
tha Zehner, Mary Jackson, Evelyn
Knappman, Joanna Basehore, Mrs.
Lenora Honeywell, Arthur Kem-
merer, Robert Patrick, John Rosser,
Robert Dolbear, Gerald Snyder and
Roy Austin.
Mrs. Edgar Adolph is directing
(Continued on Page 8)