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SECTION B — PAGE 2
THE DALLAS POST Established 1889
~ “More Than A Newspaper, A Community Institution
Now In Its 71st Year”
. WED
Member Audit Bureau of Circulations & Vo
Member Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association o 2 |
Member National Editorial Association br od
Member Greater Weeklies Associates, Inc.
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hospitals. If you are a patient ask your nurse for it.
We will not be responsible for the return of unsolicited manu-
scripts, photographs and editorial matter unless sel - addressed,
- stamped envelope is enclosed, and in no case will this material be
held for more than 30 days.
National display advertising rates 84c per column inch.
Transient rates 80c.
Political advertising $1.10 per inch.
Preferred position additional 10c per inch. Advertising deadline
Monday 5 P.M.
Advertising copy received after Monday 5 P.M, will be charged
at 85c per column inch.
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Unless paid for at advertising rates, we can give no assurance
_that announcements of plays, parties, rummage sales or any affair
for raising money will appear in a specific issue.
Preferenee will in all instances be given to editorial matter which
has not previously appeared in publication.
Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Dallas,
Pa. under the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates: $4.00 a
year; $2.50 six months. No subscriptions ‘accepted for less than
_ six months. Out-of-State subscriptions: $4.50 a year; $1.00 six
months or less. Back issues, more than one week old, 15¢c.
When requesting a change of address subscribers are asked
to give their old as well as new address.
Allow two weeks for changes of address or new subscription
to be placed en mailing list.
Editor and Publisher—HOWARD W. RISLEY
Associate Publisher—ROBERT F. BACHMAN
Associate Editors—MYRA ZEISER RISLEY, MRS. T. M. B. HICKS
Sports—JAMES LOHMAN
Advertising—LOQUISE C. MARKS
\
~ Editorially Speaking:..
NO ISOLATED PROBLEM
Jack Cox, a prominent Texas oil man and life-long
conservative Democrat, and who may turn up as a Repub-
lican gubernatorial candidate, has announced his defection
to the GOP, in terms that may well touch off a stampede
"among Lone Star Democrats of Jeffersonian views.
As reported by Human Events, Mr. Cox said:
“For over a decade, loyal, thinking Texans who value
their political independence, the rights of states, the sound
financial handling of taxpayers’ money and Constitu-
tional goverment have been faced with a dire political
dilemma: the customary blind loyalty to the Democratic
Party, regardless of platform or leadership, versus the his-
torical and fundamental principles of government on
“which Texas and these United States of America were
~ founded.”
.. Castigating the “Harry Truman-—Adlaj Stevenson—
- Walter Reuther—Eleanor Roosevelt—dominated Demo-
~ cratic party” as “dedicated to a course which can lead
. only to the destruction of the basic political: and civil
Ape fin
rights
: guaranteed by our Constitution”, Mr. Cox
concluded:
“It should not be a question of party loyalty. Rather
it 1s a question of an individual citizen being loyal to
the basic principles of government in which he believes
.and then determining the established political party in
which and through which these basic principles of
- government—and a way of life—can be put into oper-
ation in an orderly and successful manner.”
And while disturbed Democrats in Texas are think-
ing this over—so might the millions of others in 49 other
states. Whether he’s a New York Democrat or an Oregon
. Democrat or Kansas Democrat he knows perfectly well
what Mr. Jefferson would think of the present goings-on.
Poet's Corner
FIREBREAK
The mountain wears a shaven strip
Across its bearded cheek and lip
Where razor might Have scraped the trees
And left an aisle (where only breeze
And birds may go) of open grounds
“To keep a fire in certain bounds,
Whose purpose is for keeping out,
Not like most aisles for asking in.
I'm glad | was not here to see
The cutting done and tree by tree
Come down like jackstraws on the: slope
Although the act was done in hope
Of lesser fires—an unhealed scar
Must mark the place no pine trees are.
Destruction will be limited
Where trees and brush are cleared and dead.
These fallen trees who paid the chit
For all their fellows’ benefit,
Who felt the steel of saw or axe
Might not have voted such a tax,
But in the measure they were dumb
And constitute a premium
Required to insure the rest,
Should fire put it to the test.
Some few, it seems, are always lost
Securing against holocaust.
EH.J.
TO AN EARTHWORM
Earthworm, I salute you.
Your make-up is simple-a long intestine With a sex
attachment.
Living on humus you are humble.
Your waderings through dirt create fertility.
7+ ~~ Your looks — coming or going you are the same.
- Probably you don’t know the past from the future for you
extend both ways. You have no poses. You were around
Hamlet's graveyard; you knew the glory of Greece, the
gradeur of Rome, and their predecessors a billion years
ago.
You have no dental trouble nor arthritis.
You eat your way through life continually not
~ bothered by menus, alcohol or hot-spots.
Your love-life is plain and clean; you are no pervert;
you write no books about scandals in provincial places.
“+ Your position in society is secure; you need no autobi-
_ New York.
Roc telling of evolution from 8th to 5th Avenue,
n
Insurance is no concern: if you are cut in two, you
you survive somehow,
You hear no jungle instruments or idiotic siging.
Insurance is no concern: if you are cut in two,
but in the long run you consume both of them.
So, friend, hail and farewell.
Ralph A. Weatherly
Only
Yesterday
Ten, Twenty and Thirty Years
THE DALLAS POST, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1961
SENTINEL
Ago In The Dallas Post
IT HAPPENED 30 YEARS AGO:
Jessie M. Hislop, Forty-Fort, be-
came the bride of Thomas S. Moore
of Dallas.
Twenty-two years earlier, in 1909,
a copy of the Dallas Post listed
premium winners at the Dallas Fair.
Wilson Garinger had a copy. Wil-
liam Bulford got a premium for the
‘best Holstein bull; prize for a
bull calf went. to Elmer Parrish;
second place to C. W. Kunkle;
third, G.M. Carpenter. Fred Ellsworth
took the premium for a year old
bull.
‘Coal shipments were showing a
decline.
Former constable and chief of Pol-
ice [Charles E. Fiske died of a heart
attack.
Edwin Swanson, Alderson, was
cast in a leading role in a theatrical
production at Upsala College.
Mrs. William Reinhart, Spring
City, died at the home of her daugh-
ter, Mrs. Albert May, in Noxen.
You could buy a loaf of bread
for’ 8 cents; five cans of baked beans
for 29 cents; 2 large cans of peaches
for a quarter; coffee for 17 cents
a pound; milk, 4 tall cans for 23
cents.
ir mappenep 2() YEARS AGO:
Charles Stookey, deputy warden,
with offices in the Borough Build-
ing, warned the area of a practice
blackout. Les Warhola was ready
to stand by with the fire apparatus,
R. L. Brickel and Richard Disque
with their ambulances.
Nazi planes weje busy bombing
the Eastern Front. In China, a pic-
ture showed refugees with small
bundles of belongings, rushing the
gates of the International Settle-
ment.
Mr. and Mrs. E. Humphrey Owen,
Dallas, observed their 52nd wedding
anniversary with a family dinner.
Robert Frank Garris, [Shavertown,
was called into the servicce, leaving
for New Cumberland in a group of
five men from Greater Wyoming
Valley, the first to be drafted since
spring. Calls upon local draft boards
were expected to increase.
H. Austin ‘Snyder, supervising
principal of Lehman Schools, using
charts of exits for advance training
of teachers and pupils, was able
to cuf several seconds from ‘the
time needed to evacuate all child-
ren during the fire-drill. In 48 sec-
onds the building was empty. In
Dallas, the frame building was emp-
tied in 40 seconds, the high school
building in 50.
Dallas Dairy and Harter's Dairy
were picketed. The short lived strike
caused much inconvenience. The
union’s demand for extra pay was
met by employers.
Lehigh Valley Railroad planned
to discontinue service on a nine
mile stretch of track between Nox-
en and Splashdam. Two years earl-
jer it abandoned a thirteen-mile
stretch between Splashdam and
Lopez.
William Powell of Shrine View
was appointed to help = returning
soldiers get jobs. Many men of 28
or over, were expected home before
Christmas from training camps.
Betty Case became the bride of
Sherman Kunkle, Rev, Harry Sava-
cool officiating.
Kingston Township high school
took Plymouth by a landslide of
20 to 0.
Announcements was made of the
wedding of June Chance of Fern-
brook to Keith Wolfe, Wilkes-Barre.
One of the landmarks of Dallas,
dating from goodness knows when,
was being razed by John Morrett.
Mr. Morrett, resting on his crowbar
said that removal would give resi-
dents of Dallas a far better view of
Toby’s Creek in its capacity as an
open sewer. The building had housed
Paul Suska’s shoe shop. Wash
Spencer recollected that over fifty
years earlier he had bought fa clock
from a jeweller in that same build-
ing. “Cost $5, and that was a lot of
money in those days. Just paid Bob
Roberts to overhaul it, and put it
in good running condition again.”
IT HAPPENED 10 YEARS AGO:
Lt. Guthrie Conyngham, evacu-
ated from a battlefield in Korea with
a shattering wound of the leg, wrote
to say that he would be forever
grateful for the seven pints of blood
and two of plasma from the Red
Cross. He was encased in a body-
length cast, facing a hospital of six
months. One of his visitors was Ad-
miral McManues, a friend of Admiral
Stark.
Darrell Major was featured as an
outstanding member of Blue Ridge
Chapter FFA, standing between his
rows of strawberries with two and
a half acres of oats as a background,
Westmoreland adopted the student
guidance program. Walter Mohr was
appointed director.
Dallas Water Company hopefully
announced, ‘This is it. The new
well, with a 195 gallon per minute
flow, will eliminate all future {water
shortages on the high grounds of
Dallas.”
Toll Gate Lions were promoting
a scrap metal drive.
Haven was cancelled because
rain.
The historic old church at Wal-
wallopen wag rededicated. It was
built in 1833 for the Evangelical
of
community, a joint project of Ger- |
~ Iman Reformed, and Lutheran con-
Flaming Foliage Festival at Lock | H
g
g
£
8
£
5
The tax collector and the fuel
dealer are standng around with
outstretched palms for larger and
larger sums of money, and nature
is coloring up and disrobing the
trees. Otherwise, for city and sub-
urban dwellers, which include most
of the people in the nation now,
fall is just about like any other time
of year.
‘Harvest [Time” celebrated for
hundreds, probably thousands of
years, even by primitive peoples,
has gone with many other things
of the past. The rolling corn fields,
dotted with shocks standing in
regular pattern, are rare indeed.
What corn is grown for grain local-
‘ly is mostly machine picked from
standing stalks and the stalks left,
torn and ragged to the elements.
Since everything grown has a
period of maturity and this time is
not the same for everythng, there:
really never was a single harvest
time. Harvest stretched out over
several months, from the time the
housewife started to pick a few
green vegetables until snow covered
the land, and many times the snow
arrived before the harvest was com-
pleted. In the season of early frosts
many special actions had to be
taken to protect immature crops and
those not yet harvested.
However, late in the fall, there
usually was a time when the
family could look around without
too much harvest yet to be com-
pleted and take stock of what was
on hand for the winter season, the
best gauge of whether the year had
been a success or failure." And since
much «of the family living was
grown on the place, it was also the
best gauge of the living standard
the family would enjoy or have to
endure for nearly a full year.
Early method of preserving was
drying and smoking, supplemented
by salting and pickling. Then can-
ning was invented and all were
used. Even in our own time, house-
wives canned hundreds of jars,
many of two quarts or even larger.
Some women died with hundreds of
jars of fruits and vegetables, mostly
fruits, in the cellar. Vegetables were
not canned to the same extent at
first, many being buried in pits or
sunken barrels.
Not mentioning apple juice, made
into cider and allowed to ferment
for drinking purposes or the manu-
facture of vinegar, much manufac-
turing was done at home, even
within the recollection of many
now living. Cabbage was made in-
to sauerkrout. Large quantities of
apple butter were made, and a wide
variety of special condiments, pick-
les, ketchups, etc.
Hogs were slaughtered, and as in
the packing houses, nearly every-
thing was utilized excepting the
squeal. After the hogs were Killed,
they were hung by the hind legs to
bleed, then still hanging, doused
with boiling water and sometimes
dunked in boiling water to facilitate
the removal of the hair with scrap-
ers. Then they were rehung, evis-
cerated, and allowed to hang a
couple of days to cool. The whole
operation had to be done in frosty
weather, Handling a slippery hog
weighing well over two hundred
pounds closely resembled work.
iAnd then the real work began.
The carcass was cut up in the com-
mon market cuts, not sliced. Lard
which lay along the inside of the
gregations.
Kunkle Methodists realized over
$800 on their food stand at Blooms-
burg Fair.
Betty Jane Naugle became the
bride of Albert E. Agnew, Rev. Frank
K. Abbott officiating.
Joanne Shortz was wed to Sgt.
Paul Kostenbauder.
Ralph Sands’ Holsteins took 19
ribbons at Bloomsburg.
Herbert E. Atkins and Eleanor
H. Simmons became man and wife.
Mt. Zion Methodist [Church marked
its centennial.
Mrs. Corey Klinetob, 70, was bur-
ied in Wardan Cemetery.
Redskins lost to Lehman.
William J. Shiber, Fernbrook, died
HOE
SUE CE EIR EE ERE EL EER TTT RET LET ENE IE
Rambling Around
By The Oldtimer—D. A. Waters
AEH CTE EO ESTEE EES ACS
at 57. ; y
ACI
ribs like a leaf was peeled out,
whence the term ‘leaf lard”, con-
sidered to 'be superior to lard from
scraps. The lard was ‘tried out” by
heating, and packed. The head was
cut off, cut up in a prescribed pat-
tern, the jowls laid aside and the
balance soaked a®d cleaned. From
it was made head cheese and souse.
The jowls, bacon, hams, and should-
ers were salted and later smoked.
Most of the balance was salted and
pickled in a salt brine in barrels.
The trimmings were made up into
sausage, some cooked and packed.
The liver, heart etc., were made into
pudding and scrapple. Early method
of preserving a lamb or calf
slaughtered was by suspending in
the well which was always cool and
of uniform temperature.
Pumpkins and squashes were
brought in and usually laid under a
tree or at night covered with a
blanket to ripen and harden. Per-
sonally, from my own garden, I
brought in one year sixty-two, in-
cluding many of the small acorn
variety. Beans were put in a bag
and threshed with a flail, until
someone tipped us off that a com-
mon clothes ringer did a good job.
It did, although there was a flying
of beans, sometimes, in all direc-
tions.
All this was real work. But today
we have nothing to take the place
of walking down cellar and viewing
hundreds of jars and large crocks
of good clean foodstuffs, a bin of
potatoes, piles of carrots, beets, and
turnips, a barrel of sauerkraut and
another of pickled pork, a supply of
smoked meat to last a long time,
shelves of pumpkins and squashes
and fresh cabbage, apples, scrapple,
head cheese, and sausage packed in
lard. The modern freezer helps out
some, replacing the canning.
Tn the barn the men could take
satisfaction in a well filled granary
and corncrib, mows of hay, and
stacks of straw. (Silos were "well
filled, even as now, and in the barn
was another generation of replace-
ment stock also grown during the
year, as well as the tried and
tested older stock.
Well, Harvest Time is here any-
way. Try to feel good about it.
Looking at
T-V
With GEORGE A. and
EDITH ANN BURKE
ANIMATED CHARACTERS,
must have voices. Many veteran
comedians are working fulltime.
Five, such comics are currently em-
ployed supplying the principal voices
for ABC TV’s “Top Cat,” which
deals with the adventure of some
zany felines in a trash-can-forested
Manhattan alley and can be seen
Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m.
Heard in the title role will be
bespectacled, pint-sized Arnold
Stang. Stang landed the role over
such other interested parties as Ken
Murray, Ben Blue, Jerry Lester,
Jack Oakie, Andy Devine and
Mickey Rooney.
The producer said when they were
casting for voices, they avoided
looking at the people while they
read because they could mislead us
by being visually funny. Jerry Les-
the readings, but his contedy was
visual rather than vocal.
Among those furnishing the voices
of other" ‘Top Cat” colleagues will
be Maurice Gosfield, the erstwhile
Pvt. Doberman of the Phil Silvers
show; Leo De Lyon; a night club
veteran, and Marvin Kaplan, re-
membered as the well-meaning Al-
fred of the “Meet Millie” series.
The lone human cartoon character,
that of Officer Dibble, will speak in
the familiar rough tones of Allen
Jenkins, last seen regularly. as the
cabbi of “Hey, Johnnie.” :
CALVIN AND THE COLONEL, an-
other cartoon which premiered Tues-
day, Oct. 3, at 8:30 p.m. co-stars
Freeman Gosden and Charles (Cor-
rell of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” fame.
Correll provides the wvoice for
Calvin, a bear, and Gosden is heard
as the Colonel, a fox. Other voices
in ‘the, half-Hour program, ‘which
puts some animals from Dixie woods
in a big Northern city, ‘belong to
Beatrice Kay and Gloria Blondell
of “The Life of Riley” series.
lf established are the un-
seen co-stars of “The Flintstones.”
who also must be classified as com-
edy veterans. Alan Reed, the voice
of Fred Flintstone, portrayed such
radio roles as Falstaff Openshaw on
the Fred Allen Show. Rubinoff on
the Eddie Cantor Show and was
Baby Snooks’ original Daddy. Jean
Vander Pyl, who speaks for Wilma,
played the mother of radio’s Father
Knows Best. Mel Blanc, heard as
Barney Rubble, has been Bugs Bun-
ny’s spokesman since 1938. Bea
Benadaret, otherwide Betty Rubble
was Blanche on the George Burns
and Gracie Allen TV series,
Wilma on “Peter Loves Mary.”
For their vocal contributions un-
seen stars make up to $500 a week,
but this often is only the beginning.
They usually devote no more than
four hours to every half-hour car-
toon, the : dialogue and sound ef-
fects are recorded first via illus-
trated seripts, and the final drawing
are made to conform ,
voices and sound.
ROBERT CONRAD of ‘Hawaiian
Eye’ started his professional career
as ‘a nightclub singer in Chicago.
For extra money he worked ‘during
the daytime for Consolidated Ship-
ping as a dockhand, and as a milk-
man. When he saved up enough
money he headed for Hollywood. He
got some parts, very small ones.
Finally Warner Brothers put him
under contract.
Joan Kenley of Chicago. They have
ished apartment in Sherman Oaks,
Cal. : 3
Safety Valve . . .
WORLD CRISIS
Dear Sirs:
First I would like to thank-you
for making it possible for me to
receive the Dallas Post. After being
a steady reader of the Post while
I was back in the States, it makes
home seem a lot closer.
Due to the fact that the Post
comes by boat mail, I have just
received the September 7, issue.
1 am writing concerning the ques-
tion asked of Back Mountain resi-
dents; “What is the greatest prob-
lem the United States faces?”
I personally think there will be
no war over Berlin, The reason I
say ‘this is because of our military
strength. I know we are stronger
than Russia and more able to go
into action faster.
I also think Berlin is worth fight-
ing for because if we back out
now after all we have said and
done, the Russians are just going to
keep going until they have the
whole world under their power.
I am very discouraged at the way
the teenagers are reacting to the
‘World crisis. It is very important
what they think, say, and do about
it because very shortly they will be
running the United States whether
or not they know it.
‘American people better wake up
and start doing something instead
of just sitting back and having a
good time. They also better realize
that there is only one person who
is capable of running this world and
that is God.
Until the American people and the
rest of the world realize this, there
will be wars and blood shed as long
| as the World is here.
Sincerely Yours,
PFC William Meade
Tripoli, Africa
WANTS OLD PICTURES -
[Dear Sirs:
{A year or two ago your news-
paper carried a photograph of an old
locomotive which was reported to
have been used by the Trexell and
Turrell Lumber Co. in their opera-
tions in the Noxen area.
- This locomotive was a Class A
‘Climax’ geared engine, more com-
monly called a “stem winder”.
I am most interested in securing
a glossy photo of this locomotive
for my collection and I am wonder-
ing if you still have the photo-copy
or the negative which I may borrow
so that I can have a print made. I
so, I would be most happy to come
to Dallas and pick it. up. Could you
tell me who may have the original
copy from which you made your
plate ?
If you now of any other photos
in existance of this particular lumb-
ering operation showing motor pow-
er, etc, I would appreciate this in-
formation also.
Your cooperation in this matter
would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
J. Edward Smith
96 Putnam Street
Tunkhannock, Pa.
Pennsylvania Electric Co.
@® Any help our readers can give
Mr. Smith in obtaining the infor-
mation will be appreciated—Editor
Gardecki Finishes Course
Charles B. Gardecki, has com-
pleted a course in Radio and Tele-
vision Servicing and has been a-
warded a Diploma by the National
Radio Institute of Washington, D.C.
stars |
of several nighttime cartoon series |
and’
with the
He is married to non-professional |
SUBSCRIBE TO THE POST
ter, for one, was very funny during |
two daughters and freside in a furn- |
DALLAS. PENNSYLVANIA |
From
Pillar To Post...
by Hix
A lady barged into the library one day, hot and bothered from
dealing with a household of demanding children, her hair in bobby-
pins ill-concealed by a flowered scarf, her hands wearing that dish-
pan look as she delivered a stack of books to the counter.
One eye on the clock, she snatched two books from the shelves.
“It must be marvelous,” she breathed, “to be a Librarian. All
you have to do is sit here and stamp books.”
Miss Lathrop, calm, cool, and collected, smiled a secret smile,
but innate breeding won out,
“It's very interesting,” she agreed, as she stamped the books and
speeded her harried guest on her way.
That morning she had mended six boxfulls of Books; cleaned
off the shelves in the back room; changed the display in the cabinet,
substituting valentines for calendars; catalogued the new books; coped
with a balky furnace; typed out some letters of inquiry; selected a
memory book for a much loved aunt whose niece had been a little
vague about her requirements; eaten a sandwich on the run: while
waiting for an influx of school children.
Few people except those who are in library work, have any con-
ception of what it means to run a small library.
A small child appears. “It was a red book, about this thick,”
measuring with her hands, “and I want it again.”
“Did it have a horse on the cover?”
The child beams Yes, 43 had a horse on the cover, and here it'is,
right on this shelf.
That "was before the children’s Gepartmeny outgrew. the main
Library and was moved to the Annex.
“I can’t really get used to it,” Miss Lathrop said a few weeks
ago. “I used to know all those children, and they all knew me, and
now I don’t see enough of them. One day I went to the kitchen
door of the Annex. It was locked, and‘I asked 4 little ‘girl to tell Mrs,
‘Bachman to please come and unlock it. And you know what the little
girl said? ‘There's a lady out here and she wants to got] in, I don’t
know who it is.” ”
Class after class of school children visited the Library. Students
came back year after year, through their high school days, and vaca-
tion times in college, to collect material for their term papers.
‘They bring their own small children in to meet Miss Lathrop.
: Sixteen years? It isn't so long, out of a whole lifetime, but
children grow to. manhood in that period. The sixth graders who
made their first trip to the Library shortly after it was founded are
nearing thirty now.
They look back on their trips to the Library as one of the high
spots of their school years.
And the children who attended the one-room td look back
to the visits of “The Library Lady,” as something which sparked
the day, making it different from other days.
Eager-eyed, big boys would come rushing out to help Miss
Lathrop with the heavy boxes of books.
No more one-room schools. Their passing was the ond; of an era.
They live only in memory . . . and an indestructible part of the
memory is “The Library Lady.” , x
_ Our Library Lady never asked for much recognition or public ac-
claim. But she is accepting gracefully the recognition which she is
receiving now, on the eve of her departure for Arizona, and her new
home. y
When she leaves her apartment above the Library for the last
time, Dallas will have lost a part of itself:
I wonder if she knows how much she has meant to he com-
munity ?
100 Years Ago This Week...in
THE CIVIL WAR |»
(Events exactly 100 years ago this week in the Civil War—
told in the language and style of today. 7
Lay Keel of ‘Monitor,
Union’s First Ironclad
Designer’s version of how the U.S.S. MONITOR will look when
~and if—she gets to sea. The two revolving turrets will support
two 11-inch guns.
3-Way Crash Program Ordered;
Rebel “Merrimac” Alarms Experts
BROOKLYN, N.Y.—Oct. 12—Both skeptical and enthusiastic
naval experts gathered here today for the beginning of work on
the U.S.S. Monitor, the Union Navy's first ironclad man-of-war.
The keel for the controversial vessel was laid in the Greenpoint
area shipyard of Thomas F. Rowland by workmen under direction
of Capt. John Ericsson, Swedish immigrant who designed the ship.
Launching of the work ended many bitter weeks for the outspoken,
dedicated Ericsson. He ran into a stone seawall of opposition trying
to convince the N avy department that his odd-looking craft would be
the most effective in the Union fleet.
Many Navy officers said they didn’t think it would float.
Target date for launching of the 172-foot vessel in Jan. 30. Three .
snanufacturers are combining facilities to speed up the work.
* * *
The ironclad will have ‘as major armament two 11-inch guns housed
in thickly sheathed revolving turrets. It will have a waterline length
of 122 feet, a beam of 41 feet, and a draft of 10 feet. Two boilers and
one steam cylinder will power its heavily-protected four-blade screw.
" Ericsson landed with both feet on the Navy department’s neck
when the North learned that the Confederates were reconstructing -
the frigate Merrimac as a turreted ironclad.
One of the first officers to inspect his model told him:
“Take it home and worship it. It will not be idolatry. It is the image
of nothing in the heavens above, or the earth beneath, or the waters
under the earth.”
* * “
But Ericsson pushed on and soon won approval of Navy Secy. Gideon
Welles for the Monitor project.
Construction is proceeding on a crash basis because of the
alarmingly rapid progress already made by the Confederates in
the conversion of the Merrimac.
That man-of-war was a 3500- ton, 40-gun frigate ‘when retreating
Union forces scuttled it last spring at Norfolk.
Rebel technicians raised it, cut its superstructure to the berth deck,
and began covering it with iron logs nine inches thick, faced with
two-inch iron plate. Its armament, judging from size of its turrets,
will be vastly superior to that of the Monitor.
‘Efficiency of ironclads is a hotly disputed subject among Navy men.
Britain’s vast fleet of 149 men-of-war boasts only two, the Warrior
and Ironside. Napoleon's fleet has only one, the La Gloire.
»
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