The Bluffton news. [volume], July 16, 1942, Image 1

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ICTORY
BUY
UNITED
STATES
DEFENSE
1IONDS
AND
STAMPS
VOLUME NO. LXVII
WPB MAY TRY TO
SALVAGE RAILS IN
MAIN STREET HERE
Two Hundred Tons of High
Grade Steel is Eyed by
Federal Agency
Town Willing to Cooperate if
Assurance of Street Re
pair is Given
Two hundred tons of high grade
steel embedded in Bluffton’s Main
street pavement may be enlisted in
the nation’s war effort if means can
be devised for salvage.
The steel consists of rails of the
abandoned Western Ohio interurban
line and estimates as to the amount
were those made in connection with
two previous salvage attempts
which failed because of the extreme
hardness of the concrete strip of
pavement in which they are set.
Proposal to salvage the rails was
made in connection with the current
campaign for reclaiming scrap
metais when a representative of the
federal War Production Board stop
ped here and discussed the matter
with Mayor W. A. Howe.
Would Cooperate
Although the matter has not been
presented officially to the council
which would have jurisdiction in all
matters pertaining to disposal of
town property, the mayor indicated
that the municipality would doubt
less cooperate in any salvage project
sponsored by the government pro
vided there was assurance of proper
repairs to the street.
No further word has been receiv
ed from WPB and until a definite
proposal is received the matter
probably will not be brought of
ficially to attention of the council.
The two previous attempts to re
move the rails were undertaken by
private concerns which were granted
permission to undertake the work
on a percentage basis.
Concrete Too Hard
The first concern to attempt the
work was the Solomon Iron &
Metal Co., of Fostoria in the fall of
1940. Early this year Charles
Bourbina, Sylvania scrap metal
dealer made the second trial.
Both concerns which were experi
enced in this type of work, said
they never had encountered concrete
of such a degree of hardness and
were obliged to give up the attempt
when it developed that the street
would be badly damaged by the force
necessary to effect removal of the
rails.
There are approximately 11,000
feet of steel rails and the concrete
in which they are embedded consti
tuted the interurban line’s right of
way, seven feet and two inches
wide, being completed in June 1927.
The construction specifications
were those of the Columbus street
railway company and designed for
permanency. Paving of the trac
tion company’s right of way was
entirely of concrete to a depth of
fourteen inches.
The steel rails were set in the
concrete and bound with steel ties
instead of the usual wooden ties.
The construction, known as monoli
thic concrete is one of the most
permanent in engineering practice.
Evelyn Niswander Is
Expected Next Week
Miss Evelyn Niswander, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Noah Niswander of
South Lawn avenue, is visiting
friends and relatives in Denver, Colo.,
and is expected home the first of
next week. She has been teaching
in a private girls’ school on Maui,
one of the smaller islands of the
Hawaiian group.
Following the outbreak of hos
tilities American nationals were ad
vised to evacuate the island. As
soon as adequate transportation fa
cilities were provided the citizens of
United States return to the main
land.
Bluffton Boy Enlists
In U. S. Navy Air Unit
Mark Niswander, son of Mrs.
Henry Niswander, two and one-half
miles east of town, has enlisted as
an aviation cadet in the United
States Navy according to an an
nouncement by Naval Aviation Selec
tion Board at Columbus. This is
the first step in the strenuous pro
gram of securing the Navy wings.
At the completion of the course
he will be commissioned an Ensign.
Niswander is a former student at
Bluffton college and graduated from
Bluffton High school in the class of
1939.
Bluffton Man Will
Train Army Pilots
Clayton Bixel, manager of the
Bixel Motor Sales of Cherry street
left Monday for Cheyenne, Wyoming,
where he will be an instructor in the
army pilot training school at Ft.
Morgan.
Bixel recently completed tests to
qualify for the position after taking
training at Lima and Columbus.
His wife will remain here for the
present and wifi be in charge of the
business on Cherry street.
Woodrow Little and family will
move this week from the Mrs. M. M.
Kibler apartments over the Ruff
store to the Bixel residence on Grove
street.
FEDERAL ORDER
HALTS TOWNSHIP
ROAD
Freezing of Bituminous Ma
terials Shelves Road Re
pairs for Duration
Trustees Must Show that Roads
Have War Significance to
Get Priorities
With no bituminous road material
hand in either the Richland township
or Allen county road departments, all
road repairs and maintenance in the
district are virtually frozen for the
duration of the war.
The Richland township trustees had
planned an extensive program of road
building and repair which will have to
be shelved, it was stated by N. W.
Basinger, township clerk.
Unless it can be established that
roads in the township have a war sig
ficance, there will not even be mater
ials for emergency repairs, it was
sated.
At a recent meeting of all trustees
in the county in Lima, County Engi
neer Hobart Mumaugh advised the
trustees to fill out their requests for
priorities so that if it could be estab
lished that those roads are necessary
for war transportation, repairs to
keep them passable could be made.
Mumaugh also explained the situa
tion under which bituminous material
for road construction had been frozen.
On July 2, the engineer explained, no
orders for material were allowed by
government regulation. After July
12 no deliveries could be made and af
ter July 22 none of the materials can
be used without going thru priority
channels.
American Heroes
Day This Friday
Bluffton will join the rest of the
nation this Friday in celebration of
“American Heroes Day”, dedicated
to the honor of men in the armed
services of the nation.
As a feature of the observance of
the day, residents of the community
are being asked to show their sup
port of members of the armed forces
by increased purchases of war sav
ings bonds and stamps.
With a goal of $10,000 set for Fri
day, the sale of stamps and bonds
will be pushed thruout the day by
local retail merchants, working under
the direction of the business com
mittee of the local war savings staff,
headed by Chairman E. S. Lape.
Everyone making a purchase in
local stores on Friday will be asked
to buy savings stamps or bonds in
the drive to put Bluffton’s “Ameri
can Heroes Day” quota over the top.
Posters calling attention to the
sacrifices made by our heroes on the
front line will be displayed through
out the business district, and every
retailer is being asked to participate
in promoting sale of bonds and
stamps.
Bluffton lodges, churches, service
clubs and other organizations are be
ing asked to cooperate in making
Bluffton’s observance of “American
Heroes Day” one that will more
firmly establish the need of backing
up our fighting men by the contin
ued purchase of savings bonds and
stamps, it was announced by N. A.
Triplett, chairman of the Bluffton
defense savings staff.
Many Bluffton men are in the
army, navy, marines, coast guard
and air corps, it was pointed out,
and “American Heroes Day” pro
vides an opportunity to fittingly hon
or them by a concentrated one-day
drive for increased sales of war
i bonds and stamps.
Bluffton Boy Is Military Police In
Army Show Plaj ing In Large Centers
Corp. John Stonehill Picked in
Select Group of Soldiers
For New Unit
Guards Military Equipment and
Assists in Controlling
Crowds at Show
Picked from a select group of
soldiers from camps all over the
United States, Corp. John Stonehill,
is travelling with the United States
Army Show being presented in the
larger centers. He is visiting at the
home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Clarence Stonehill of South Main
street, on a three days pass, between
play dates. He arrived from Akron
Sunday and will return this Wed
nesday night.
Corp. Stonehill, who has been
working as a member of the Mili
tary Police at Ft. Knox, Ky., con
tinues in the same capacity with the
show, being detailed along with one
hundred other military police to
guard the millions of dollars worth
of valuable military equipment used
in the show.
Men Carefully Picked
All of the men in the show as well
as the military police guarding the
equipment were picked by reason of
certain military, mental and physical
qualifications. Physically all of the
men are at least 5:10 in height and
170 pounds in weight.
Purpose of the presentation is to
show the citizens of the country the
equipment used by the army and
something of the method of attack,
using blank ammunition in the for
ays. The shows are usually staged
in football stadiums of the cities
visited.
Stonehill joined the show about a
month ago at Philadelphia where it
played to capacity audiences for
seven days and nights. Following
the presentation there was a six day
stand at Pittsburgh and four days
at Akron.
Schedule
The show is scheduled up to De
cember 12 at the following cities:
Detroit, Mach., Minneapolis, Minn.,
Omaha, Nebraska, St. Louis, Mo.,
Chicago, Ill. These cities are booked
at the present time, altho the show
will likely continue after these dates
are played, Stonehill said.
The 1,800 soldiers in the show
stay in tents or hotels, according to
circumstances in the city in which
they play. The Military Police are
given sufficient time off to see the
sights of the cities.
Thousands of rounds of blank am
munition and shells are shot in the
presentation of the show to provide
a very realistic drama of military
action. The show opens with a per
fectly drilled infantry unit march
into the stadium. Then comes the
various vehicles such as tanks, mo
bile big guns, flame throwers, motor
cycles, jeeps and other motorized
equipment.
Set Up Guns
Following this comes the cavalry
in which colored soldiers perform.
After the display and parade the
field artillery moves in showing how
the soldiers set up their guns for
quick firing action.
Only the light tanks are used in
the show since heavy tanks would
ruin a football field. A sham battle
is staged between tank units in
which old cars are run over and
easily crumpled by the tanks. The
tanks fire their machine guns and
cannon and maneuver in realistic
fashion.
A Japanese flag is hoisted to mark
off the enemy. Motor cycle units
act as scouts and give the signal to
start action. Then the tanks, infan
try, artillery and large mobile guns
move in according to well established
military procedure and the battle is
under way.
Realistic Drama
Large aerial bombs are thrown
overhead into the stadium and with
the roar of cannon the staccato of
machine guns and the constant bark
ing of rifles a deafening din marks
the entire show with a remarkable
realism.
The show is finished with a dis
play of fireworks in which pictures
of President Roosevelt and the
American flag are painted on the
skies. Military music by a crack
60 piece regimental band provides a
musical background at opportune
moments.
Corp. Stonehill is engaged not only
in guarding the military equipment
after the show but is on guard duty
often during the presentation of the
show and is engaged in keeping the
crowd back.
See Axis Planes
Of interest to the spectators is a
German airplane shot down in Eng
land and two Japanese planes shot
(Continued on page 8)
THE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY. JULY 16, 1942
ROAD OIL ,0N HAND
MUST BE USED BY
NEXT WEDNESDAY
Street Repair Program Here
Rushed to Completion Be
fore Deadline
Federal Permit Will be Re
quired for Use of Bitum
inous Materials
Major portion of Bluffton’s sum
mer program of street repair is be
ing rushed to completion before next
Wednesday, deadline set by the fed
eral government for use of bitum
inous road construction materials
now on hand.
After that time a federal permit
will be required for use of any
bituminous materials remaining un
used, and new purchases will be
banned unless deemed rlecessary for
promotion of the war effort.
On hand at the presemt time, ac
cording to Lee Coon, Bluffton street
commissioner are eight drums of
asphalt base road oil. 'Phis amount,
Coon said, would not be sufficient
for any major street improvement
project but will take care of patch
ing and minor repairs.
Banned for Duration
All bituminous road materials,
such as asphalt, tar and oil, have
been banned for the duration of the
war except in cases essential to
promotion of the war effort. The
order was issued by the Public
Roads administration just at the
time the town council was making
plans for its summer improvement
program.
It is possible that the town may
be able to obtain some materials on
the basis of their necessity to im
portant defense industries in the
community, it was stated by Coon.
Roads over which workers in these
plants travel might come within the
provisions of the authorization, he
added.
Application forms for this purpose
are on hand and will likely be sent
in to federal autho4ues in the near
future, Coon said.
Summer Road Program
The summer road improvement
program in Bluffton called for an
item of 7,500 gallons of asphalt base
road oil. If no oil is available here
crushed stone will be used. Stone,
however, needs a tar binder £o make
an effective job, it was pointed out.
While cement makes an excellent
road in new construction, it is not
practical for repair work. A tar
binder is needed for a close fitting
job where there is expansion and
contraction due to changes in tem
perature.
Consequently the federal road
order will eliminate a considerable
portion of the street improvement
planned for the summer unless fav
orable consideration will be given to
the town’s application for road oils
based on defense needs.
Where Our Soldier
Boys Are
Ralph Augsburger has arrived at
an undisclosed distination, according
to word received byhi s parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Ben Augsburger.
Mrs. Harl Dillman received word
Monday of the safe arrival of her
son, Willard Dillman at an unnamed
destination.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Benroth of
North Main street received a letter
from their son, Pvt. James Benroth
written June 8. stating that he is
aboard ship and enroute to an un
disclosed destination. Benroth is an
instrument man in the air corps. His
address is A. P. O. 1064, c/o Post
master, New York city.
Pvt. Chas. H. Dillman
31st Tech School Squad Sp.
Flight C—No. 1 Tent Area
Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
Enlists In Navy
Glen Slusser, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Ira Slusser has enlisted in the navy
and is now at Great Lakes Naval
Training station. Slusser, a Bluffton
college graduate, was instructor in
the high school at South Amherst
the past year. His present address
is Glen A. Slusser, M. A. 2/C, Co.
526, U. S. N. T. S., Great Lakes, Ill.
Births
The following births at the Bluff
ton hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Basinger,
Beaverdam, a boy, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Stanley, Co
lumbus Grove, a boy, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Beutler,
Findlay, a boy, Sunday.
With final checking operations be
ing made this week by the Westing
house erecting engineer, Bluffton’s
recently purchased 1,250 KW turbo
generator is expected to be on the
line at the municipal light plant by
the end of the week, it was an
nounced Wednesday morning by
John Swisher, plant superintendent.
The erecting engineer, Lester
Smith, of Boston, arrived at the
plant Tuesday afternoon. First
steam was turned into the turbine
generator Wednesday.
Electrical Engineer Schleigh, of
the Westinghouse company, is ex
pected at the plant Thursday to
Former Student in California
College Now in Interment
Camp
Federal Plan Permits Transfer
Of Students to Midwest
Colleges
Shigero Matsunaga, 21, an Ameri
can born student of Japanese par
entage, will attend Bluffton college
next fall, in accordance with the
policy of the War Relocation Author
ity and the War Department, it was
announced this week by Dr. L. L.
Ramseyer, president of the institu
tion here.
Matsunaga was a student at San
Mateo Junior college at San Mateo,
California, when the government
evacuation regulation was announced
ordering all Japanese nationals and
citizens of Japanese ancestry to mid
western zones.
The Japanese youth, born and
reared in Honolulu, Hawaii, will take
a general course at the college here.
He is paying his own way and is re
ceiving no financial assistance from
the college, it was stated by Dr.
Ramseyer.
In Internment Camp
At the present the youth is at
Camp Walergan, an internment camp
in North Sacramento, Calif., where
Japanese nationals are located for
the duration of the war.
The college has accepted his appli
cation for admission as a freshman
in the institution, it was stated by
Dr. Ramseyer.
Dr. David Rempel, a graduate of
Bluffton college in the class of 1927,
is a member of the faculty of the
California school where Matsunaga
was a student at the outbreak of
the war. Concerning Matsunaga,
the dean of the college writes, “He
was at my home for dinner on th
night of December 7th and I know
what a blow it was to him. ... I
know that he is a loyal citizen of the
United States despite his Japanese
ancestry and I hope that he can
carry on with his education.”
Many loyal Japanese-American stu
dents on the west coast have had
their college careers interrupted by
the federal relocation program and
are continuing their education in
middle-west colleges under the War
Relocation Authority.
Concerning such students John J.
McCloy, assistant secretary of war,
says, “Anything that can legitimate
ly be done to compensate loyal citi
zens of Japanese ancestry for the
dislocation to which they have been
subjected by reason of military ne
cessity, has our approval.” It is
the policy of the War Relocation
Board that “university students in
the prohibited zone be permitted to
transfer to midwestern colleges and
universities where they may continue
their education.”
Rev. Bigelow Will Be
Installed As Pastor
Installation services, under the di
rection of the Lima Presbytery, will
be held in a joint meeting of the
Bluffton and Rockport congregations,
for the Rev. Ernest N. Bigelow, at
the Presbyterian church of Bluffton,
Sunday night at 8:30 o’clock.
Presiding at the service will be
the Rev. H. Williard Lampe, of St.
Marys, Moderator of the Presbytery,
who will propound the constitutional
questions to the pastor and the
churches. The installation sermon
will be preached by the Rev. Charles
W. Muir of Findlay.
The charge to the pastor will be
given by the Rev. Gibson Wilson of
Ottawa. The charge to the Bluffton
congregation will be made by the
Rev. Otis Harter of Lima. The
charge to the Rockport congregation
will be made by the Rev. Chester
Armentrout of Columbus Grove.
Turbo-generator Will Be On Line At
Municipal Light Plant By End Of Week
American Born Japanese Youth Will
Attend Bluffton College This Fall
synchronize the operation of the two
turbines, one 750 KW and the other
1,250 KW at the plant here.
When the 1,250 KW generator is
operating on the line, a -plant im
provement program which has been
under way will be climaxed to give
the town adequate facilities in both
boiler equipment and generating
capacity to meet the greatly in
creased power demands of the com
munity.
Bluffton residents may inspect the
recently installed equipment during
day time operation of the plant, it
was stated by Swisher.
WHEAT HARVEST
SLOWED IN AREA
BY HEAVY RAINS
Threshing and Combining Oper
ations are Brought to
Standstill
Marketing of Wheat is Delayed
Because of High Moisture
Content
Rains prevalent over this district
during the past week have brought
wheat marketing to a standstill, dis
rupted threshing operations and pro
vided a major headache for those
farmers expecting to combine their
crop.
The number one problem facing
every wheat grower of the district is
the high moisture content which thus
far has made virtually the entire crop
unfit for marketing.
That portion of the crop harvested
by binders is being cut at such time
and in such amounts as weather per
mits, and this part of the harvest has
been proceeding fairly satisfactorily
with the grain left in the fields to
cure and await threshing.
Little Combining Finished
Combining on the other hand, re
quires that the stand be thoroughly
dry, a condition that has rarely ob
tained since the crop was sufficiently
matured for harvest. Unless dry
weather arrives shortly it is fear’d
that a considerable portion of the
stand may be lost by being over
ripe and “shattering” in the process
of harvesting.
Combining is expected to be more
widespread than usual this year be
cause of the prevalent shortage of
farm help. Harvesting by this meth
od cuts and threshes the grain in one
operation.
Grain marketing for the past week
has been negligible in volume and for
the most part such excessively high
moisture content that growers have
shut down operations awaiting more
favorable weather.
Part Held on Farms
Although marketing of the crop is
not yet under way, indications are
that approximately half of the crop
will be held in farmers’ bins, in ex
pectation of higher market price.
New wheat was quoted at $1.08 on
Bluffton markets, Wednesday morn
ing. The price, which is near war
time low reflected large carryover of
previous years’ crops and congested
conditions in the large terminal cen
ters.
Summer Service
Series Planned
As the beginning of a series of
summer Sunday evening services to
be sponsored by the St. John’s Re
formed church, Rev. G. J. Johnson,
pastor of the Negro Baptist church
in Lima, will be the speaker in a
meeting to be held at the Harmon
Field stadium Sunday night at 8:30
o’clock.
It is planned to have out of town
speakers for all of the summer serv
ices. A song service will precede
each talk. The public is invited to
attend the services, it was stated by
Rev. Emil Burrichter, pastor of the
church.
In the event of rain the services
will be held at the St. John’s Re
formed church. w
STUDENT RECITAL
The piano students of Mrs. H. P.
Mann, of the Bluffton college Con
servatory of Music, will be presented
in a piano recital at the Ramseyer
chapel Friday night at 8 o’clock.
The public is invited.
BUY
UNITED
STATES
NUMBER 12
NICKEL PLATE IS
IMPORTANT LINK IN
WAR RAIL TRAFFIC
Volume of Freight Moving
Thru Town Double That of
Normal Times
Long Trains of Freights Rum
ble Over Line On Average
Of One an Hour
With railroad freight traffic mov
ing thru town on the Nickel Plate
line more than doubled in volume over
normal times, Bluffton is rapidly be
coming a highly important link in the
transportation of war good between
war production factories and the
fields, mines and oil wells providing
the raw materials.
In normal times 10 to 12 trains
make their run thru here in a 24 hour
day. But now a long freight train
rumbles thru on the average of once
every hour for a 24 hour day. With
65 to 100 cars in every train the num
ber of cars in each unit has increased
25 per cent over that of previous
years.
Engines Borrowed
The sudden increased demand for
rolling stock and engines found the
Nickel Plate without a sufficient quan
tity of its own motive equipment to
meet the demand. The company has
leased engines from Chespeake and
Ohio, Lackawana and the Pere Mar
quette roads.
The east and west roads are the
busiest carriers in the country’s rap
idly expanded railroad transportation
business. The north and south roads
have experienced an increase in bus
iness but not to the extent of the east
west roads, it was stated.
Connecting Lines
About 30 per cent of the traffic vol
ume originates on the Nickel Plate
line operating between St. Louis, Mo.
and Buffalo, N. Y. The other 70 per
cent comes from connecting lines
along the route.
Most of the war materials shipped
thru Bluffton are destined for Buff
alo, terminal of the road, and are
transferred to lines carrying the
goods to eastern war production fac
tories.
A considerable portion of the traf
fic going thru the town is oil being
carried in oil tankers destined for the
eastern cities where there is an acute
oil and gasoline shortage. The aver
age oil train carries about 100 tank
cars, lighter in wheight than the av
erage loaded freight car.
Sales Tax Examiner
Here Next Tuesday
A sales tax examiner will be in
Bluffton at the Mayor’s office next
Tuesday afternoon from 1 to 4
o’clock to assist vendors in the pre
paration and filing of their semi-an
nual sales tax report.
Announcement to this effect was
made by Frank M. Hill, manager of
the Lima district office of the de
partment of taxation.
All vendors must file a report on
or before July 31 or be subject to
penalty for delinquency.
Reports may be filed at the Dis
trict office, 1004 Cook Tower, Lima,
or mailed to the Department of Tax
ation, 68 East Gay street, Columbus.
Both offices will receive reports any
time during July.
Name Delegates To
Mennonite Meeting
Delegates to the Middle District
Conference of Mennonites to be held
at Sommerfield, Ill., on August 16,
17, 18, were chosen at a congrega
tional meeting of the First Mennon
ite church Sunday morning.
Named to represent the local con
gregation were Rev. H. T. Uruh,
pastor Dr. J. S. Schultz, Dr. L. L.
Ramseyer, Rev. G. T. Soldner.
Plan County Tennis
Meet For Bluffton
Preliminary plans for the annual
Allen County Tennis tournament to
be held on the Bluffton courts were
announced the first of the week by
officials of the local club. The tour
ney is scheduled for the second week
in August.
ARMY’ CORPORAL
Raymond Greding, stationed at the
army air base in W’endover Field,
Utah, has been promoted to the rank
of corporal, it was announced the
first of the week. He is the son of
Mr. and Mrs. L. T. Greding of We*.
College avenue.