The Mexia Weekly Herald (Mexia, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, March 14, 1941 Page: 11 of 16
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11 isR I ■' j0E£5. -ymnSl •
amMEvv
By A STAFF EDITOR
fCopyrisht, 1911. by the South watt Macuinc Co.)
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Corpus Christi's lii« Naval Training
School Opens March 15
r rtpbteiHE third great naval aviation
I \ a training school at Corpus Christi,
, Kfijsp* Texas, will be commissioned
about March 15, with completion
set for about July. When the Corpus
Christi training school is finished and
operating at a maximum output of
i fliers, the Navy yrill have three great
air training centers at Jacksonville,
Florida, Pensacola, Florida, and Corpus
Christi.
Corpus Christi will start training
pilots in March and will reach high
gear around the first of August, put-
ting out fliers at capacity next spring.
When the last of the three great cen-
ters is operating full force there will be
a combined output of 560 aviators a
month for the Navy.
Candidates for these schools must be
between 20 and 27, unmarried, physi-
cally, morally and psychologically quali-
fied at the time they are appointed
cadets. They must have at least two
years of credits from a recognized col-
lege, or, in special instances, have offi-
cer qualifications and outstanding apti-
tude for service. Such candidates must
have completed at least one year of the
credits required for graduation at a rec-
ognized university or college, and must
have at least three years experience in
an administrative or executive position
in civil life.
# ¥ *
World's Largest Diamond Will lie Cut
The world's present largest diamond,
the Presidente Vargas, found two years
ago in Brazil, 726.60 carats, is about to
be cut in New York City into 20 great
gems.
Third largest diamond ev er found, it
is a flattened oblong about half the size
of a man's palm.
An estimated $2,000,000 is at stake
in the cutting, for the blows, if not well
aimed, may shatter the big diamond in-
to small pieces. It must be cleaved;
it cannot be sawed. The stone has
been studied for more than a year by
experts who will cut it.
Harry Winston, New York importer,
owns the diamond and traveled 20,000
miles in the competition to buy it.
Two brothers, farmers, Joaquim and
Manoel Evancio, picked up the great
diamond in the bed of the San Antonio
river, Minas Gereas, Brazil, on August
13, 1938. Thinking it just a stone, they
tossed it back.
Then Manoel insisted on a second
look. Later they sold it for about
$125,000. Mr. Winston, who went to
South America at the first news, arriv-
ed after the diamond had been resold to
a Belgian syndicate for $450,000 and
shipped to Europe. Winston paid
$700,000 for it.
# * *
Cost of Battleships Lower in Britain
The new British battleship King
George V which brought Lord Halifax
trr this country cost Britain consider-
ably less than half the estimated cost of
comparable new American battleships.
This difference lies principally in the
difference in labor costs in the two
countries, according to Navy officials.
The battleship King George V, dis-
placing 35,000 tons, developing thirty
knots and carrying ten 14-inch guns, in
addition to numerous subsidiary weap-
ons, three airplanes and much special
defensive armor, is officially stated to
have cost $28,000,000, according to an
announcement from British official
sources.
American Navy estimates, based on
American labor and material costs, al-
low $2,000 per ton for warships, which
makes new ships of the 35,000-ton
class, such as the North Carolina, now
nearing completion, cost about $70,-
000,000.
* * *
National Emergency
Roger W. Babson, well known eco-
nomist, says:
"When the whole nation is in danger
as at present, we all ought to be asham-
ed to do anything which holds up pro-
duction. Certainly, during the present
emergency, Congress should demand
compulsory arbitration. We either must
go to work or go to war! I had much
rather go to work—forgetting wages,
hours or profits.
"In view of the recent Supreme Court
decision which was 100 per cent in favor
of labor, 1 wish to remind labor of what
is happening abroad. When I was
over there two years ago, I found that
Germany had 'canned' all the labor
unions and threatened to shoot anyone
who called a strike or a lockout. France
refused £o do this as the French poli-
ticians were afraid of losing votes.
Even last Apri}, when the Germans
were pounding at the gates of France,
labor leaders and employers were fight-
ing one another. As a result, the Ger-
mans marched into France! The Ger-
mans then disbanded the French labor
unions and their leaders were put in
jail."
* # *
The Netherlands East Indies
Events of grave significance to the
United States are moving rapidly in the
Far East. Japan covets the Netherlands
East Indies and already has invaded
French Indo-China, has concentrated a
large fleet of battleships near Singa-
pore. England has also sent battle-
ships and troop-ships of Australians to
Singapore.
Strewn like gems for 3,200 miles
along the equator off the southeast tip
of Asia are the world's richest colonies
—the Netherlands East Indies.
Orphaned by Germany's conquest of
Holland, these islands, nestling beneath
America's soon-to-be-freed Philippines
and guarded by Britain's Singapore,
may soon be the scene of a great naval
engagement.
The Netherlands cover 735,267 square
miles and have a population of 65,000,-
000, of which 200,000 are Dutch or
Dutch half-castes, and 23,000 are for-
eigners, including 7,200 Japanese.
In 1939 the islands produced 31,280
tons, or about 20 per cent of the world's
tin; 372,000 of the world's 1,055,000-
Grass Root Reveries
By JOE GANDY
Winnsboro, Texas.
(Copyright, 1941, by the Soulh«e#t Max*zin« Co.l
&W E have come on down to March
without a sales tax, transaction
tax, or war in the Far East. But
beware of March—it has a bad
reputation. It lashes your face with
high-velocity winds and fills your eyes
with dust and grit. It
woos the fruit trees
into bloom, then kills
them with an icy
blast. It runs up
millinery bills, laun-
dry bills and doctor
bills. Pretending to
be spring, according
to the calendar, it is
mostly winter. I am
jittery about March.
Last year I planted
corn in March and a
freeze nipped it
down. I planted po-
tatoes in March and
got vines but no
'taters. Wish we
could skip March. A
year of 11 months is
iong enough these turbulent times.
©
Farming is a great, life. \\ e farm-
ers, they say, feed the world, and that's
true. We pay more attention to feed-
ing the world than feeding ourselves.
For instance, wife sells to customers all
the biggest and prettiest eggs and I
have to eat the culls. I have eaten so
many culled eggs I can cackle like a hen
and crow like a rooster. But I am glad to
be a farmer, even if I have to gamble
every year as to whether I'll raise a
carbuncle or raise a crop. One sure
thing about farming, you can go broke
one year and then go back in business
the next year without putting the busi-
ness in your wife's name.. Yep, farm-
— 1 -1-
f 11
1 'I 1 |l 1 ! I • 1
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have ar.mr.'.n
ton rubber output and 61,809,567 bar-
rels—10 per cent—of the world's petro-
leum. Besides they produce 50 per
cent of the world's tobacco and 95 per
cent of its quinine and many things
more, largely through British and
American firms.
Most of America's and England's
rubber and tin come from the Dutch
East Indies.
* ■ * *
Amusements in U; S. Cost One Billion
Americans spend $1,000,000,000 a
year on amusements, the Census Bu-
reau reported recently.
The average American family spent
$30 in one or more of 44,917 places of
amusement during 1939.
Of that sum, $20 represented the
share that the 15,115 motion picture
theaters took from each family. With
an average admission fee of 25 cents,
the bureau said, every American of
movie-going age sees a film every fort-
night.
Bowling alleys, pool halls, baseball
parks and legitimate theaters are be-
coming more popular, the Bureau said,
while the number of horse and dog
tracks, amusement parks and swim-
ming pools is gradually decreasing.
* * *
Expects Air Speed Above 1,000 Miles
An Hour
Airplanes that can travel more than
1,000 miles an hour "are well within
the realm of possibility." according to
John E. Canaday, of California, Lock-
head Aircraft official.
"We used to think that there were
definite limitations on both the size and
speed of airplanes, but now our engi-
neers believe these factors have no
limits.
"A few years ago engineers could not
see speed much in excess of 800 miles
per hour—for at that speed the point
was reached where wind would begin
to pile up before the leading edge of
wings with much the same effect as,
snow piled up before a snow plow when
traveling at high speed.
"But new developments are in pro-
gress to devise means of eliminating
that resistance by dispersing the air in
much the same fashion as snow is
thrown aside by the rotary show plow."
In such planes, he said, "one could
leave New York and, flying with the
sun, arrive in Los Angeles earlier than
the time of his departure."
He declared also that the size of
ships seemed to have no limits.
"As engines with higher horsepow-
er are being produced," he added, "we
are able to increase the size of air-
planes until we have ships with wing
spreads of over 200 feet with gross
weight in excess of eighty tons and ca-
pable of carrying bombloads of twenty-
five tons.
* * *
Huge Ford Defense Plant
Inside the biggest box the world has
ever seen, a box composed of acres of
composition beard and tar paper, the
Ford Motor Company is completing by
processes new to America in Detroit
ing is a great life if you have faith,
hope, charity and a strong constitution.
0
There is one crop that never fails-—
i.he baby crop. Census Bureau figures
show that 2,350,000 babies were born
in the United States last y ear, highest
number since 1930. Nations rise and
fy '. catastrophes sweep over the earth,
races of tnen come
and go, but babies
go on forever. And
iod bless them. This
would be a cheerless
orld without coo-
:g, smiling, dimp-
•:!g, darling babies.
®
-ome one has fig-
i'cd out how the
iverage Amer ican
it ends his income.
The figures s h o w
I.at fOod is the big-
.est item of expense,
books the smallest.
T could have guess-
that. For every
person I see reading
I
•rn in' -"iTncn '-mild
reucrcusalont."
see 100 eating,
et Lie good book says man cannot
,ive by bread alone. Incidentally if
man did more reading and thinking
and less eating and drinking he would
not te a sucker for demagogues and
dictators.
An eminent physician says vve in-
herit long life. But what vve inherit
isn't what we always get. I inherited
strong physical resistance, but caught
the flu. A cousin of mine, pretty girl,
inherited a good disposition but flies
into tantrums over trifles. An uncle of
mine inherited long life (his father
died at 92) but uncle was killed in an
automobile accident at middle age.
Nothing is sure about inheritance ex-
cept the inheritance tax.
©
I have a neighbor who sits up far in-
to the night listening to war news over
the radio. All he talks about is war,
war, war. He will tell you how many
bombs the Germans have dropped on
London, how many Italians the Greeks
have killed, how many ships sunk by
submarines and how long the war will
last. In fact, war has so preyed on his
mind that he is now a physical wreck.
Already he has drawn up plans for a
bomb-proof shelter in his back yard.
A doctor has advised him to give away
'Ms radio and take the rest cure.
9
The psalmist truly said, "Man is born
of woman, of but few days and full of
trouble." Man never realizes how
short life is until he has fooled away
most of it. Then he takes life serious-
ly and tries to do something about it—
all too late. Man might be a success
if he could live two lives. But it would
take most of his second life to correct
the mistakes of his first life. Given a
third life, he would get some where if
he lived a Christian and lived long
enough.
•
\ bill might pass at this session of
ihe Texas Legislature giving women the
right to serve on juries, I wonder how
a law of that kind would work ? A mix-
ed jury of men and women could hav'e
amazing repercussions. Suppose some
of the men jurors flirted with some of
the women jurors which so disconcerted
the women jurors that they didn't re-
member any of the evidence or argu-
ment of counsel. On the other hand, I
wonder how a jury of all women would
work? Could a jury of all women sit
for hours listening to others talk with-
out getting in a word? We are sure
women jurors would add dignity and
charm to any court and would render
a just verdict, that is, if the men
jurors minded their own business and
did no flirting. >
^-PAGE 3—
a $21,000,000 factory in which it will
produce aircraft engines for national
defense.
By building the new factory inside
the mammoth box, Ford engineers are
able to insure continuous construction,
twenty-four hours a day, regardless of
weather or darkness. The box stands
about ten feet outside the finished wall
line of the factory. It is heated, per-
mitting the pouring of cement in the
coldest Weather.
The great factory, measuring 360 by
1,000 feet, is a testimonial to the driv-
ing force behind the defense program.
Construction began only last October,
but the steel framework is completed
and the entire building is to be finished
in March. It is being built progres-
sively from one end to the other. One
end will be occupied and working be-
fore the other end is finished.
* * *
30 Ground Men to Each RAF Man
For every man who flies with
Britain's Royal Air Force, between 30
and 40 men are enrolled to serve on the
ground.
Aside from men who reload machine
guns anil fill bomb racks and gasoline
tanks, the squadron needs men for
ground radio communication, engine
and air frame maintenance, armorers,
parachute packers, administrative offi-
cers, clerks, cooks and a score of other
jobs.
A British fighter squadron has a rate
of fire almost equivalent to an infantry
brigade of three battalions, for each of
its 16 Spitfires or Hurricanes has 8 ma-
chine guns firing at 1,200 rounds a
minute, as compared with the infantry
guns' 500 to 600 rounds a minute.
A Whitley or a Wellington bomber
consumes between 80 and 90 gallons of
fuel per hour, and something like 700
gallons of gasoline must be loaded be-
fore a single bomber can start out on a
raid. An average load of 1' •_> tons of
bombs must be raised carefully into
each plane's racks.
Flares must be installed, and signal
rockets. Radio batteries must be fully
charged and starting batteries prepar-
ed.
* * ♦
New Use for Cotton
A. & M. College, College Station, Tex-
as, has sent out the following infor-
mation:
A new use for some of the surplus
cotton now filling our warehouses may
be found in cotton "coats" for sheep.
Dr. Robert R. Burns of the Wyoming
Experiment Station in co-operation
with the New Orleans regional research
laboratory, is experimenting with the
idea of clothing sheep in jackets of cot-
ton canvas after shearing. Purpose
would be to protect the animals from
exposure.
Last year, Dr. Burns tried out seven-
ty-two of the "coats" and this year or-
dered 500 more. This new use for cot-
ton might mean a potential consump-
tion of 50,000 bales of the staple yearly.
Wyoming wool growers discovered
that sheep wearing cotton canvas jack-
ets produced a fleece of greater length
and less shrinkage. The wool also was
cleaner with a solid, unweathered tip.
Animals wearing the "coats" were
healthier than those unprotected al-
though they consumed less food.
* * *
Food and Fuel Conditions in Conquered
Nations
There are at present some 314,000,-
000 people living in Europe under di-
rect or indirect control of the Germans,
and cut off from the rest of the world,
says the New York Tribune. The fur-
ther course of the war will naturally de-
pend on the fate ^
and physical and
moral state of these
people.
The present stand-
ard of living of the
Germans is in gen-
eral considera b 1 y
higher than that of
the nations c o n-
quered by Germany,
with the exception
of the Dutch, who
have approximately
the same rations as
the Germans, and
of the Danes, who
did not fight Ger-
many and are
therefore tre a t e d
some better than
the defeated na-
tions. But if the
situation continues
to deteriorate, as
the year goes on
and war continues
to weigh over the
continent, Germany
will be faced with
the dilemma of pro-
curing food for her
conquered nations
or letting them go
hungry.
Food conditions
are particularly bad
in large cities,
where the supply
depends on trans-
portation. Formerly perishable foods
were everywhere brought into town by
truck, but since the German occupa-
tion, gasoline is no longer available for
the civilian population.
Much of the coal produced in the
European continent is now taken up by
the German war machine. Reports
say that coal from Poland, upper
Silesia, Belgium and France is shipped
to Germany where it is transformed in-
to synthetic gasoline and rubber and
used for war factories. Rations of coal
in France were set this winter at 110
pounds per month for each family.
Hood Helps to Rearm
Timber goes into the building of air-
craft, airdromes, dugouts, shelter, pon-
toon bridges and ammunition boxes,
while wood goes also into war equip-
ment in the form of stocks for rifles
and light machine guns.
Paper made from wood pulp com-
poses cartridge wrappers, and pack-
aging accounts for immense quantities
of fiber board and corrugated board.
Purified wood pulp is used in producing
cellulose nitrate for smokeless powders
and for photographic films, celluloid
plastic and collodion. Wood flour forms
a constitutent part of dynamite, and a
specially prepared wood charcoal is the
chief working substance in gas masks.
Wood also comes into the auxiliary
war material category in the form of
the rayon and staple fibers from wood
pulp which can be employed in place of
cotton.
South America Aided by U. S, in
Growing Rubber
A dispatch from Washington says
the U. S. Agriculture Department has
concluded agreements with eleven
South American countries for scientific
experiments in growing rubber.
Standard agreements have been made
with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua,
Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
A Department of Agriculture official
said the department already has ac-
quired land and established at least
one experimental station in each of the
eleven countries.
"Under the agreement," he said, "we
furnish each country with materials for
tne experiments and help them to
establish nurseries for seedling trees so
we can have at each place hundreds of
thousands and perhaps millions of rub-
ber trees to be distributed by the local
governments to the prospective native
commercial producers."
Object of the experiment, he said, is
to make the Western Hemisphere as in-
dependent as possible of Asiatic rub-
ber.
The work was started under a $500,-
000 appropriation voted by Congress
last year as a move to develop produc-
tion in this hemisphere.
Three types of stations are being
established: Experimental or research,
propagation or multiplication and nur-
series and demonstration stations.
TOO MUCH SPEAKING
There is too much speaking in the
world, and almost all of it is too long.
The Lord's Prayer, the Twenty-third
Psalm, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address,
are three great literary treasures that
will last forever; no one of them is as
long as 300 words. With such strik-
ing illustrations of the power of brev-
ity it is amazing that speakers never
learn to be brief.—Bruce Barton in
Collier's.
The Great American Home
•T
"This old guy insists on seeing the commander. . . . Says
he wants to show him some real sliootin', such as hittin*
a squirrel in the eye at 400 paces."
w
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Stewart, A. M. The Mexia Weekly Herald (Mexia, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, March 14, 1941, newspaper, March 14, 1941; Mexia, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299700/m1/11/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gibbs Memorial Library.