1]
PAGE EIGHT
Children Mourn
Granny's Death
"Mrs. Nora Riley
Buried At Wardan
‘When Mrs. Nora Riley was buried
in Wiardan Cemetery Tuesday after-
noon, all the children on (Claude
Street who fhiad called her Granny
for years, gathered round her grave
to say goodbye.
It was Granny who baked the
cookies, Granny who bound up sore
toes, Granny who mever refused the
children an apple from her back
yard.
Granny will be sorely missed. She
was always there, rocking on her
front porch. When she was taken
to the Nesbitt Hospital five weeks
before her death last Sunday morn-
ing, the nurses picked up the term
of affection from her next door
neighbor, Mrs. John, H. Roberts. It
was Mrs. Roberts who spent the long
days with her while she was ill, and
who has mow taken over guardian-
ship of Mrs. Riley’s little dog, Taffy.
Friends will be glad to know that
Mrs. Riley slept away her last days,
and was spared pain.
Her health began to fail when she
heard that her favorite grandson,
Corp. Fred Brown, had been killed
on the Korean front early in Novem-
ber. The boy had lived with her for
several years while attending Dallas- |
Franklin Township High School.
She would have been seventy-two
years old on July 4th.
Born at the old Bulford home-
stead, daughter of |Samuel and Jean-
etta Hoover Bulford, she lived her
life in Dallas, and was a long-time
resident of Claude Street.
She is survived by a daughter,
Mrs. Arthur Brown, 'Church Street;
five grandchildren and one great-
grandchild; two sisters, Mrs. Myrtle
Rinemian, [Fernbrook, and Mrs. [Stella
Reynolds, Norwich, New York; and
a brother, George Bulford, Trucks-
ville,
Rev. Joseph Sproule conducted
funeral services from tthe Nulton
Funeral Home.
I Pallbearers ‘were mephews: Billy
and Sterling Rineman, Donald and
Roland Bulford, John Fielding, and
Ralph Meyers.
\ THE POST, FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1952
a}
x
LEAGUE
=
EEC ee
BASEBAL
WATCH THAT WASTE!
WATER IS PRECIOUS,
USE IT ADVISEDLY.
“We have a good water sup-
ply in Dallas,” states Les War-
hola, manager of the Dallas-
Shavertown Water Company,”
but nobody knows that a sum-
mer will bring. This one has
started off with intense heat.
“There have been reports
that water is being wasted.
“Nobody who lives in the
country can afford to be spend-
thrift with water. Water means
life itself.
“So, please, please, don’t let
your children waste water by
playing with the hose. Water
your gardens between eight and
ten at night, when water will
do the most good.
- 5
BIG
JULY 4th
CELEBRATION
Orange Community Hall
DINNERS ® GAMES ® AMUSEMENT
OLD FASHIONED CHICKEN DINNER
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Sponsored By
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OVEN - DRESSED
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PHONE 58
Trucksville Mill Poultry Shop
STANLEY MOORE, owner
Sarah Moss Dies
Quietly At 92
Burial Services
This Afternoon
Mrs. Sarah A. Moss, lifelong resi-
dent of Bloomingdale, passed away
Tuesday night at 7:40. She had been
in, failing health for some time, due
not to a specific ailment but to
advancing age. Up until last fall she
took great delight in raking leaves
and caring for her flowers.
She will be buried this afternoon
from her home, with Rev. William
Howie and Rev. J. W. Booth offici-
ating. Interment will be in Bloom-
ingdale Cemetery in the family plot.
Born of pioneer stock, Mrs. Moss
was the granddaughter of David and
[Sarah [Seward Rood, daughter of
Stewart and Esther Benscoter.
Her husband, Samuel B. Moss, te
whom she was married on New
Years Day, 1882, predeceased her in
December, 1923.
Originally a member of the Meth-
odist [Protestant Church, she fol-
lowed the congregation when it be-
came the Protestant Bible (Church,
and served for seventeen years as
treasurer of the Willing Hand Mis-
sionary Society.
A daughter, Mrs. Harold Booth,
survives.
Ralph Rood, on the staff at the
Dallas Post, is a relative. He visited
her sickroom on Tuesday, and real-
ized from her condition that death
was very mear. [She had been critic-
ally ill for ten days.
He describes her as “a kindly
woman, devoted to her home, active
in, the church, with a seemingly in-
exhaustible store of energy and en-
joyment of life.” He recollects at-
tending her wedding when a very
young child.
Weekly Dances Start
At Country Club
Weekly dances every Wednesday
night are announced by the enter-
tainment committee, Dr. Robert M.
Bodycomb, chairman, as having al-
ready begun at Irem Country (Club.
Hours are from 9 to 12, and the
public is invited.
Governor Fine Is
Called President Maker
(Continued from Page 1)
a political boss and a judge at the
same time. :
Loyalties
A serious politician like Fine may
hesitate long over decisions and
make them finally in great anguish.
It is unlikely, however, that Fine is
suffering as much over his Taft-TIke
decision as he did over one that
faced him in 1930. Fine is still
stirred by the memory. The story
throws some light on the ethics and
values of politics as played by
John Fine.
In the 1920's, Fine became
friendly with a Philadelphia lawyer
by the name of Francis Shunk
Brown. Brown wanted some day to
run for governor, and discussed his
plans with Fine. The boy from the
mine patch was thrilled to be the
confidant of so big a man. “I felt
highly honored to be in the pres-
ence of Francis Shunk Brown,” says
Fine. “I looked up to him with the
LAST WEEK’S SCORES TO BE PLAYED Standings W L Pet.
Wed. Shavertown 19 Fri. Trucksville | Jackson 81 880
June 18 | Trucksville 1 June 27 Fernbrook Fornbrosk 6. 3 L087
| ; '
Thurs. | Jackson 8 0 Shavertown 5 4 .556
June 19 | Fernbrook 3 2 Z Trucksville 4 4 .500
>
Fri. Shavertown 10 8 a g = Carverton 2 6 .250
June 20 | Dallas 9 S 2 Oo Q Dallas 1581
Oo
2 rj = Th . .
> = e race 1s getting
Ma Py pbeoek 2 Z = Ee S ‘| tighter with Fernbrook a
© 3 strong challenger.
Q a . = Some of the other teams
Mon. Carverton 0 <i z E Bes FH will get in good practice
June 23 | Dallas Sa 5 = sessions during the vaca-
Ho tion period.
Tues. | Fernbrook 15 Fr = Pleasant holiday to all
June 24 | Shavertown 3 S the fans.
- a most profound respect and admira-
tion.” But Fine told him that if
ever Gifford Pinchot, to whom he
owed his judgeship, should decide
to run for governor again, he would
have to support Pinchot. Brown
thought that quite proper. Three
years later, when Pinchot actually
tried for the nomination against
Francis Shunk Brown, the situation
grew a little tight for Fine.
At first, not being sure of Pin-
chot’s plans, he favored Brown.
When he dropped in to see Pinchot
in Washington, on his way to Flor-
ida, Mrs. Pinchot snapped: “You're
against Gifford!” Fine promptly re-
turned to Pennsylvania, told Brown
he had to go to work for Pinchot.
Brown was hurt. “I didn’t mean
that Pinchot owned you for life,” he
said. As Fine recalls it: “We both
had a tear and I left.” Pinchot won
with a slim majority of 21,000.
Fine’s own Luzerne County gave
him a majority of 26,500. In a way,
this meant that Fine had elected
Pinchot virtually single-handed.
Says Fine: “If Pinchot had won by
50,000, Brown and I could have
healed the breach. As it was, we
never could. I did not sleep for
two nights after the returns were
in.’
Rebellion
The next major trial of John
Fine’s loyalties came in 1950, with
the big rebellion against Joe Grun-
dy. The Pennsylvania county lead-
ers were disgruntled at the Grundy
regime. The P.M.A. expected them
to get out the vote, but often
ignored their requests at the coun-
cil table. The county leaders, in
touch with the people, thought that
they should be consulted on un-
popular measures that might hurt
their organization. Grundy’s P.M.A.
never worried much about popu-
larity.
The county leaders wanted to run
their own man for governor rather
than the P.M.A.’s candidate. But
suppose they lost? How seriously
would they suffer under a hostile
governor who could withhold state
patronage? They reached an im-
portant decision. As one of the
leaders put it: “This state patron-
age is way overrated. I have more
jobs in my own county than the
governor can give me. State pat-
ronage is the meringue on the pie. |
But we have the pie itself.”
Who Is Punitive 2
The big moment of the 1950 re-
bellion came at the Penn Sheraton
Hotel in Philadelphia. Duff, who
was planning to run for U.S. Sen-
ator, made a rousing speech urging
the group to pick an anti-Grundy
candidate for governor. The major-
ity picked Fine.
John Fine was in a delicate posi-
tion. He had dealt with Grundy for
30 years. But then, of course, he
also owed a great deal to Duff,
who had appointed him to the supe-
rior court. In characteristic fashion,
Fine managed to stretch between
the two forces—without tearing. ¢
Fine felt he needed Grindy sup-
port at the polls to beat the Demo-
crats, and went to see G. Mason
Owlett, Grundy’s deputy. “His big
worry,” recalls Fine, ‘was whether
I would be punitive against the
Grundys. He didn’t ask for any-
thing and I didn’t offer anything.
But I said I had no intention of
being punitive.”
As a result, Grundymen urged
the election of the straight Repub-
lican ticket, and Owlett raised
money for Fine’s campaign.
Mother & Father
Three months after Fine moved
into the 27-room, heavily Victorian
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governor's mansion on Harrisburg’s
Front Street, personal tragedy
shook his life. His wife, whom he
had married in 1939 (she was 19
years his junior), died of brain can-
cer. Fine moved out of the man-
sion, and went to live at the gov-
ernor’s summer residence at Indian-
town Gap. Mrs. Fine’s brother and
his wife came to keep house for
the governor and help him look
after his two sons, Jack, now 11,
and Donald, 9. Fine is deeply de-
voted to the boys, and they to him.
One of the reasons for Fine's affec-
tion for General MacArthur is sup-
posed to be the attention the gen-
eral paid to the boys during a visit.
Eisenhower was well briefed on this
matter. At the Gettysburg picnic
Ike met the boys, and asked Don-
ald:
“What do you call your father?”
“Dad.”
“And what do you call your fa-
ther, Jack 7”
“Pal.”
Says Fine: ‘He always calls me
pal. I don’t know where he picked
it up but I get a great kick out
of it.”
Fine is a regular churchgoer
(Episcopalian), vice president of the
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
and a senior warden at his own par-
ish, St. George’s, Nanticoke. He
says with true Pennsylvania can-
dor: “As a boy, I never missed an
opportunity to cut church. But
when I became a judge, I felt that
a judge should set a good example
in his county.”
Ultimatum
As governor, Fine continues to
run Luzerne County almost as
closely as before. He will call his
lieutenants several times a day,
sometimes at 7:30 in the morning,
sometimes at 1:30 at night, and
drop in for unexpected inspections.
He continues to supervise Luzerne
County patronage, and often angers
the regulars by handing jobs to de-
feated political enemies as consola-
tion prizes. He always likes to play
his cards close to the chest: he
rarely announces a slate of candi-
dates until the last possible minute
of the last day.
Fine had not been governor long
before the P.M.A.’s masterful lob-
byists sold him Joe Grundy’s favor-
ite idea—a state personal-income
tax (ungraded) to.reduce taxes on
corporations. The anti- Grundy
county leaders howled in outrage.
They said the tax would lose thou-
sands of woters to the Democrats.
Eventually, the tax bill was de-
feated.
On the heels of that row came a
related one, the Taft-Eisenhower is-
sue. Last month the anti-Grundy
group met again. Jim Duff came up
from Washington. Conspicuously
missing: John Fine. The group’s
decision: John Fine ought to come
out immediately for Ike. Other-
wise, Fine would either |) be “on
the freight,” ie. go for Eisen-
hower too late to do himself any
good, or 2) be stuck with the man
(Taft) who, the leaders thought,
was sure to lose in November.
News of the impending ultima-
tum leaked out, and Fine heard
about it. When two of the county
leaders appeared to deliver it, Fine
was ready. No one knows just
what he told them. The gist: he
flatly refused to commit himself for
the time being. Once again, John
Fine stretched without breaking.
Maybe Later?
There are other pro-lke forces
working on Fine. One of them is
a millionaire with a passion for
politics and photography named An-
drew John Sordoni, for years a
close friend of Fine’s. Sordoni, a
son of one of Garibaldi’s famous
1,000 who came to the U.S. in
1867, worked in the mines as a
CR OE OR RR ER TY Cad al i
5 SEI ees Cig
3S ITN
' 5
child, and decided to make a mil-
lion. He made his million many
times over. He owns 14 companies,
is a director of 40 more, lives in
one of his six hotels. He is also
secretary of commerce in the cabi-
net of his good friend Governor
Fine, and an Ikeman.
Some months before the primary,
Sordoni offered $15,000 to the
Eisenhower campaign fund. A few
days later, Fine told him: “Andy, I
wish you wouldn’t do it. I don’t
think we should make a commit-
ment now.” Sordoni told the Eisen-
hower people: “I am sorry, gentle-
men, but I've got to respect his
wishes. Maybe later.”
But Sordoni still likes Ike. He
has nothing against Taft except the
belief that he can’t win the elec-
tion. “Ike has a feeling for people,”
says Sordoni. “They have a feeling
for him. It isn’t that way with Taft.
I'm sure Taft is one of the ablest
men in the country. But I thought
Hoover was too. Taft is like Hoo-
ver. He says no, then won't take
the trouble to sell a man his rea-
sons for saying no.”
Most people who know Fine say
that the man who has the greatest
personal influence on him is An-
drew Sordoni.
Man of the Hour?
Fine, who, like Boss Quay, has
great ‘skill in calculating political
quantities,” can certainly wunder-
stand the arguments of the county
leaders and his friend Sordoni to
the effect that Ike is a good bet for
November. The Grundys, out of
touch with the voters as usual, are
pressing just as hard for Taft.
They can point to 20 pro-Taft coun-
ties. The Ikemen reply that these
are rural counties, Republican since
the Civil War. The pro-lke county
leaders come from the populous
centers where the party faces the
fight of its life against the Demo- |.
crats.
Fine seems to have only three
alternatives: ;
1) He can continue to do noth-
ing until Chicago where, on the first
ballot, some think he might go for
MacArthur—a safe way to tempo-
rize—and then jump either on an
Ike or a Taft bandwagon. But there
is some question whether Fine can
hold on to his bloc of delegates that
eee aaa J
long. Also, a last-minute decision
will earn him less gratitude from
the nominee than an earlier com-
mitment.
2) He can come out for Taft.
While Taft may well be nominated,
it is another question how much
good that would do John Fine.
Chances are that a pro-Taft stand
by Fine would simply be regarded
as a machine politico’s routine fall-
in with the Grundys. Taft leaders
have been saying for weeks that
Fine will be in their camp; if he is,
he won’t get much credit for it.
While John Fine might pick a Re-
publican nominee in Bob Taft, it is
more than doubtful that he would
be picking a President.
3) He can commit himself to
Eisenhower. He is obviously still
afraid that if he does, and Ike loses
in Chicago, John Fine’s political po-
sition will be badly shaken. But
there is a very good chance that a
pro-Ike pronouncement from Fine
would assure Eisenhower’s nomina-
tion. In that case, John Fine would
be the man of the hour, the Presi-
dent maker from Luzerne County.
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this
PURVIN’S MILK!
: Love wonderful
Must be a hole in this
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~ For Regular Delivery in the Back Mountain Area—Call Wilkes-Barre
. by PURVIN
It’s all-l-1 gone. More,
Mommy, more!
2-8151—Collect
I'M TAKING THEM ALL
to
HOWARD RISLEY’S BARN
for the
LIBRARY
RUCTION
JULY (0, 11, 12
Potted Plants
Used Furniture
Farm Produce
Books
Picture Frames
Record Albums
We Need
Antiques
Baked Goods
Candy
Odds and Ends
New Goods—
and you to help!
Give just one thing you'd like to keep