The Bluffton news. [volume], February 25, 1943, Image 2

About The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
PAGE TWO
The News presents another in
the series of important but lesser
known aspects of South Amer
ica,—Editor.
In the fanciful days of childhood
the adventures of Robinson Crusoe,
as he ruled over his island domain
in solitary splendor, challenged the
imagination of youth. Inwardly
there was an urge to wander off in
search of this isolated realm.
The search would have ended right
here in the Western Hemisphere, at
Juan Fernandez Island, located about
360 miles off the coast of Chile in
the Pacific, for it was there that
Alexander Selkirk, a member of a
pirate crew, remained in exile for
more than four years, from 1704 to
1709, laying the foundation of De
foe’s immortal story.
Three islands make up the Juan
Fernandez group Mas a Tierra,
meaning ‘’nearer land” and the one
closest to Chile’s coast Santa Clara
in the middle, and Mas a Fuera, lit
erally “further away”. It was on
Mas a Tierra, twelve miles long and
four miles across at the widest point,
that Selkirk was stranded.
Discovered by a Spanish navigator,
Juan Fernandez, ,in 1372, the is
lands became the haunt of pirates
who preyed on Spain’s commerce
with her Pacific coast colonies. The
buccaneers met on Mas a Tierra to
divide their loot and to provision
with fresh water and meat provided
by herds of goats which roamed the
island.
Robinson Crusoe In Real Life
Lived Four Years On Lonely Isle
Early in the 18th century the no
torious pirate, Dampier, put in with
several ships at Mas a Tierra. Dur
ing the stay, Alexander Selkirk, a
member of the crew, quarreled with
the captain of his vessel and was
marooned on the island, some say
voluntarily and others that he was
forced to watch forlornly as his
shipmates disappeared over the hor
izon. Selkirk remained there alone
for four years and four months,
until he was rescued in 1709 by
Captain Woodes Rogers of the Eng
lish privateer Duke. By a strange
turn of fate, Dampier was Captain
Rogers’ pilot at the time.
The story of Selkirk’s life on Mas
a Tierra, his struggle to live, the
clothes he fashioned from goat skins,
and his home in a cave overlooking
the sea where he daily read the
psalms, found its way to the British
Isles. It remained for Defoe’s fer
tile mind to weave the novel which
grips the attention of all boys.
A tablet now marks the spot of
Selkirk’s lookout, on the island which
very often is called Robinson Crusoe
Island.
When the days of marauding pi
rates came to an end, Spain at
tempted unsuccessfully to colonize
Juan Fernandez. During the revo­
1. The Government has set the day when this ra
tioning will start. On or after that day, take
your War Ration Book Two with you w hen you
go to buy any kind of these processed foods.
14 POINTS
YOU GIVE MANY POINTS
FOR SCARCE FOODS
2.
lutionary period, when Chile was
fighting for independence from
Spain, patriots who were captured
by the Spaniards were banished to
the islands, confined in coves until
Chile became free and liberated them.
The Juan Fernandez islands are
famous not only as the abode of Rib
inson Crusoe. Isolated from the
mainland, they are inhabited by
strangely different plants and ani
mals, by means of which scientists
have studied evolution. And today,
fishing companies are established
there, fish of many types abounding
in the surrounding W’aters. The
gian Juan Fernandez dobsters, fre
quently reaching a length of from
two to three feet, have become fa
mous the world over for their tasty
meat.
Since the days of “Robinson Cru
soe” the Juan Fernandez have
known a checkered and interesting
history. No longer are they the
desolate rocks jutting from the blue
Pacific that Selkirk chose for his
exile. In a world at war, the is
lands occupy a strategic position as
outposts for the defense of the con
tinent in the Pacific area.
College Notes
The Vesper choir will appear in
sacred concert at the Rawson United
Brethren church, Sunday evening.
This will be the first of a series of
scheduled concerts given by the choir
this spring. The concert will be di
rected by Professor Russell A. Lantz.
President Lloyd L. Ramseyer left
Friday for a ten-iay trip through
central Indiana and Illinois. He is
contacting friends of the college, and
prospective students. He will return
to Bluffton next Monday.
Thirteen students have volunteered
to help in the local ration registration
program this week. They will give
their time and services at the high
school during all four days of regis
tration, in an effort to lighten the
load of public school teachers.
M'iss M’Della Moon, professor of
biological sciences presented a paper
on the relationship of science and re
ligion, at the monthly faculty discus
sion meeting, Friday evening. Fol
lowing the presentation, a discussion
period was held.
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT
The State of Ohio,
AUen County, sb.
Estate of Thomas Daniel McKee, Deceased.
Mary Sophia Martin of 30 Wyoming Street,
Newark, Ohio, has been appointed and qual
ified as Administratrix of the estate of Thom
as Daniel McKee, late of Allen County, Ohio,
deceased
Dated this 11th day of February, 1943.
RAYMOND P. SMITH,
45 Probate Judre
8 POINTS
Your OLD Ration Book for SUGAR and COFFEE
HOW TO USE YOUR NEW RATION BOOK
10 BUY CANNED OR BOTTLED FRUITS, VEGETABLES, SOUPS, AND JUICES
FROZEN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES DRIED FRUITS
YOU GIVE LESS POINTS
FOR FOODS THAT ARE
NOT SO SCARCE
Before you buy, find out how many points to
give for the kind of processed foods you want.
Prices do not set the points. The Government
will set different points for each kind and size
no matter what the price. Your grocer will put
up the official list of points where you can see
it. It will also be in the newspapers. The
points will not change just because the prices do.
3. When you buy, take the right.
amount of blue stamps out of
the book. Do this in front of
your grocer or delivery man
and hand them to him. The
grocer must collect a ration
stamp, or stamps, for all the
rationed processed foods he
sells. Every rationed processed
food will take points as well as money.
SHOW YOUR
BOOK PLEASE
4. Do not use more stamps than you need to make
up the right amount. For example, if the food
you buy calls for 13 points it is better to tear
out an 8-point and a 5-point stamp than two 5
point stamps and a 2- and a
1-point stamp. Save your
smaller point stamps for low
point foods. You can take the
stamps from more than one
book belonging to your house
hold if you need to.
!3 fPjintS”
k •. a aovuiuuNT muntin* orncc JO—2340-1
Here is the OPA’s consumer instruction sheet on point rationing. This leaflet will be given to consumers
when they receive Mar Ration Book Two this week. The leaflet explains how point rationing works and how
to buy canned and other processed foods with the new point ration stamps.
Maltdq,
PeAA&ncd
And now comes more rationing
bringing relief to that long over
worked household accessory—the can
opener another example how
topsy turvy this old world has be
come just the other day the
can opener did all the work—and
the bread knife was forgotten—and
now it’s the other way who
knows maybe some day^ they’ll be
showing can openers in museums as
an interesting relic of a by-gone era
the use of which no one remembers
for certain something like shav
ing mugs in barbershops in the gay
nineties remember those mugs
with bright gilt letters back in the
days of handlebar moustaches and
high starched collars when the
boys all dropped in at Soapy Swer
lein’s and Tine McGriff’s for their
weekly Saturday shave—if you got
shaved more than once a week you
were putting on airs and the
customers read the Enquirer and the
Police Gazette while waiting their
turn in the barber chair or at the
bath house at the rear of the shop
and no one ever heard of a
safety razor and when you went
to Lima it was by train and took a
whole day over in the morning
on the L. E. & W, and back in the
afternoon ... no automobiles
no paved highways ... no buses
no airplanes and speaking of air
planes here’s a little reminder to
boys in the army parachute corps
“It don’t mean a thing, if you don’t
pull that string.”
Between registering for the new’
ration book and turning our alarm
clock back and fonvard we’re becom
ing more and more convinced that
life is real and life is earnest
yeah and time is fleeting—at least
the right time anyway who
knows what time is the right time
there were a lot of folks Sun
day morning who thought they did—
but they found out they didn’t when
the church bells rang on fast time
as usual first came the an
nouncement last Wednesday that
clocks will be turned back one hour
w’hich wras duly chronicled in these
columns—then councilmen took a poll
of local industries and retailers and
decided Friday night to keep clocks
on fast time ’cause we need the
extra hour for victory gardens this
summer—you see the boys are lay
ing aw’ay their golf clubs for the
duration and learning all over again
how to swung a hoe and they
say they’ll be ready to help the
farmers this summer and Hiz
zoner the Mayor says he can still
handle a pitchfork in the hayfield
with any of them but the farm
ers don’t like it anyway army
draft and war industries taking their
help and now’ fast time which they
don’t want produce more food
5. Even* person in your house
hold, including children of any
age, has a total of 48 points to
use for all these processed
foods for one ration period.
USE THE BLUE
STAMPS WITH
A-B-C
ON
THEM
This means that you may use
ALL the blue stamps marked
A, B, and from all the books
during the first period. You may use as many
of the blue A, B, and etamps as you wish at one
time. hen they are used up you will not be
able to buy any more of these processed foods till
the next stamps are good. The Government will
announce the date when the next stamps are good.
6. Use your household's points carefully so that you
will not run out of stamps. And buy with care
to make your points come out even, because the
grocer M’ill not be able to give you change in
stamps. Use high-point stamps first, if you can.
IMPORTANT
You may use ALL the books of the household
to buy processed foods for the household.
Anyone you wish can take the ration books
to the store to do the buying for you or your
household.
A FAIR SHARE FOR AU
e cannot afford to waste food or give some
people more than their fair share. That is
why canned fruits and vegetables are rationed
and that is why meat is going to be rationed.
Rationing of some foods is the best and fairest
9Ure t^iat everV American gets enough
THE BLUFFTON NEWS. BLUFFTON. OHIO
to win the war—that’s a touchy I
subject right now as far as the
I
farmer is concerned. I
I
A certain farmer north of town I
wants to know who it is that smokes I
Old Golds and accidentally dropped I
a package of the smokes in the
I
farmer’s garage while draining the I
gas tank of his car the other night.
I
The farmer found the cigarettes
I
lying on the garage floor beside the
I
empty gas tank the next morning. I
The fanner is ready to return the
I
package of Old Golds if the smoker
I
will return the gasoline. I
I
Six degrees below zero which was I
experienced in Bluffton last week
I
was mild compared to 38 degrees be-1
low zero which was registered ini
Rome, N. Y., writes Mrs. F. S. Mad-1
den (Besse Patrick). Rome is a de-1
lightful place—only drawback is the
I
extremely cold weather, she says. I
Incidentally her husband, in army I
engineering senice was promoted re-1
cently to the rank of first lieutenant.
I
I
Troubles come not singly—but ini
batallions—and you can take that
I
as coming from high school athletic!
coach George Swank. With the
I
basketball tournament season at hand!
George has a full time job of re-1
organizing his team riddled by in-1
eligibility and in juries—but that’s I
only part of it. George who recent-1
ly applied for enlistment in the navy
I
has had no reply to his application!
—and now he has notice from the
I
draft board to report for physical I
examination on next Wednesday—I
the day of the opening of the sec-1
tional tournament. I
I
Altho he is a grandfather, Alvin
I
Whisler of Oceanside, Calif., native I
of Bluffton, is still an ardent football I
fan, we learn from the house organ
I
published by the San Diego Gas & I
Electric company with which Whis-1
ler is connected. I
It all dates way back to the days I
when he was a student at Purdue
I
university and played on the foot-1
ball team when “Doc” Holloway was
captain.
I
I
Whisler’s enthusiasm has carried I
over into other fields as well—he has I
twice served as president of the I
Oceanside Chamber of Commerce,
headed the tennis club of that city,
and is also an active Rotarian and
ardent church worker. Whisler and
his wife, both from this vicinity,
have a married daughter and two
grandchildren.
Another demonstration of the fact
that there are plenty of generous
Bluffton peopk ready to respond to
a call for help when needed. Last
week this column called attention to
the plight of a Bluffton baby because
of lack of syrup in its feeding
formula. The response has provided
a sufficient supply of the syrup for
all present needs.
Two unusual events Saturday
morning—an eclipse of the moon
shortly after midnight and a rain­I
bow some hours later soon after day­I
break. The eclipse was a treat to
local amateur sky-gazers with the
full moon shining from a cloudless
sky, about three-fourths obscured by
the earth’s shadow. And the rain­I
bow was unusually vivid for Feb­I
ruary.
eral weeks ago found the way of the
road a hard one and was enroute
home when he was picked up here
Sunday night. The youth seeking
rest and shelter in a local restau
rant was taken to the Mayor’s office
by police here and authorities in his
home town contacted. His father
came here for him Sunday night.
The boy gave no reason as to why
he had run away from home. The
father, however, attributed it to the
influence of older companions.
I
Donald Leiber, eight-year-old son
of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Leiber,
asked his teacher, Miss Levada Balm
er, to be excused from class for a
short time one day last week. Ques
tioned as to why he wanted the time
off he informed Miss Balmer that he
was about to realize an ambition of
long standing—his Dad was going to
let him shoot a beef that they were
about to butcher. His dad drove
him out to the farm, three miles
south of town, and with unerring ac
curacy Donald felled the animal with
one shot
Last Friday we were awakened in
the middle of the night by what we
thought was a prowler trying to get
in our house. About two o’clock in
the morning we heard someone walk
up to the front door, open it and as
we went to the window, quickly run
away. As we looked out the door
we discovered that it was only a
handbill.
I
And speaking of a rainbow* Satur­I
day—of course there was the usual
Saturday rain. Local observers say
that this winter has established an
unusual record of rain or snow
nearly every Saturday since Thanks
giving.
Word that Dwight Worthington
was not seriously injured in an army
airplane accident at Columbia, South
Carolina, was welcomed by his
friends here—but occasioned no sur
prise. “Tang” has something of a
charmed life when it comes to acci
dents—he has been in several ser
ious automobile accidents but escaped
with minor injuries and his luck is
still with him apparently when it
comes to airplane crackups.
War is hell—especially since it’ll
resulted in a whiskey shortage. I
That’s evidently what an expensively!
dressed couple thought when they I
stopped in town Friday in a big
Referring to Clair Fett’s hobby of
cleaning the snow off the neighbors’
walks in the Grove street-Campus
drive area one of the neighbors
writes the following note to this
column, “Clair made his own snow
plow and after every snowfall makes
it his business to see that between
three-quarters and a mile of walks
are cleaned for all families living in
his and the adjoining blocks ... It
has often occurred to me that if
each of us would find something sim
ilar we could do to help out friends,
that the world would be a much bet
ter place in which to live and our
neighbors would surely learn to know
and like each other better.”
Little David Detwiler, two-year-old
son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Detwiler,
is learning the dairy business from
the ground up. He has been going
I with his Dad on the Hi-Grade milk
I route and Paul tells us that the
I youngster looks forward every day
I to the jaunt about town.
This week is proving to be a ban
I ner one
for the school pupils. With
I all day Monday
I
off and school dis-
missed every afternoon on account of
I
rationing, the youngsters are walking
I
around town afflicted with what
I
seems to be a mild form of spring
I
fever.
I
Congratulations to George Barnes,
I
Bluffton grocer, who will celebrate
I his
I
limousine and inquired where one!
could buy a bottle of Scotch. They!
explained frankly that the supply ini
their city had been exhausted and
I
they thought there might be some ini
“these little towns”. With none!
available they left in further searchi
of liquid cheer.
vessel enroute to New Caledonia
I
I
Robert Beemer, Beaverdam youth,!
who attended school in Bluffton is I
now in New Caledonia, an island ini
the South Seas, instead of back ini
this country—all because he went to
I
one side of a torpedoed vessel in-1
stead of the other. That’s the story
I
told by his buddies who were on the I
same boat, fl happened when the I
boys were being taken off the sink-1
ing ship by vessels which had cornel
to its aid. Beemer, who became sep-l
arated from his buddies was taken I
off one side of the boat by another
while the rest of his group were I
taken off the other side by a boat
I
bound for United States. Beemer is I
reported to have been landed safely
on the South Seas island. I
I
James Richard Kitchen, 13-year-l
old Sylvania youth who ran off sev-|
I
I
I
88th birthday anniversary on
I Thursday. Still
active and vigorous
he can be seen waiting on trade at
his store every day of the week. In
I cidentally
he’s been in business here
for some thirty-five years.
I
I
Roger Howe had his wings clipped
because of a mistaken allusion in
dealings with a young lady at the
I
Triplett plant the other day. She
I turned in a
written form at the plant
for Roger to inspect and as the
I young
I light of
I the
man was examining it by the
the sun he complained that
light was hurting his eyes and
Many of the delays or losing of
mail addressed to members of the
armed forces are due to factors over
which the postal service has no con
trol, it was explained by Bluffton
postal officials this week.
Mail for members of the armed
forces is delivered by the postal serv
ice to Army and Navy authorities at
post offices convenient to camps or
stations in this country or to the
ports of embarkation when ad
dressed to persons overseas.
Likewise the Army and Navy
handle mail from members of the
armed forces until it is deilvered to
civilian post offices in this country.
The postal service has no jurisdiction
over the mail until so received.
Combination Of Factors Explains Loss
And Delay In Mail To Overseas Forces
Military Personnel
The Army and Navy post offices
are manned entirely by military and
naval personnel. Directory service,
through which improperly addressed
mail is re-addressed and forwarded
is provided by the Army and Navy.
A variety of factors is responsible
for delays in getting mail to the
members of the armed forces. Ur
gent need for arms and food often
causes a postponement of mail car
goes. Altho mails are dispatched at
even’ opportunity there are many
times when the overburdened ship
ping facilities can not take care of
mail in addition to the other cargo.
Transfer of men in the armed
Pre-toumament hopes, running high
in Bluffton a few days back, ebbed to
a low mark this week as it became
apparent that any Bluffton success
must depend largely on how substi
tutes come thru in filling gaps left
by the loss of two veterans thru in
elegibility and injuries........The two
who will be missing from the lineup in
the tough schedule of tournament
competition are Fred Herrmann, reg
ular center, and Weldon Deppler, first
string forward.................
Deppler is on the bench with a very
bad ankle, and the doctor’s diagnosis
shows torn ligaments that will keep
him out of action the rest of ithe sea
son.... His loss was particularly dis
couraging at this time, for Coach
Geo. Swank had planned to shift Dep
pler from forward to center as a re
placement for Fred Herrmann, de
clared ineligible last week by State
Athletic Commissioner Townsend....
Fred and his brother, James, a
member of the undefeated reserve
team, both were affected by Town
send’s ruling on a complaint filed by
Van Wert High school,, charging the
two with having played with an in
dependent team in Van Wert the last
week in November.. .Townsend ruled
the two brothers will be inelibigle for
SPORTS IN SHORTS
said, “This is terrible.” The young
lady thinking that Roger was refer
ring to her writing on the form
flounced out of his office in a huff
angrily exclaiming, “If you think
you can do better, go ahead.” Roger
attempted to explain that he was re
ferring to the light of the sun, but
seemingly the damage was irrepar
able.
WATERFALL SUITE ....
4
BEAUTIFUL PIECES
I
Mattress and springs supplied with each suite if desired.
BASINGER’S FURNITURE STORE
THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 1943
forces from one point to another also
is responsible for delays. Censor
ship also may cause delays, altho
this is held to a minimum.
Ship Sinkings
Ship sinkings account for much of
the lost mail. Many thousands of
letters and packages have been lost
by enemy action.
Many postal patrons have won
dered why there is better service
from the foreign destination to this
country than from this country to
the foreign destination. This is be
cause less mail comes from the
armed forces than goes to them and
that on return trips more space is
available on the ships. In addition
the location of addresses in this
country is more stable than that of
the overseas personnel.
V-Mail Priority
V-mail letters are given priority
over other types of mail and general
ly are sent by plane.
Tlje post office has no facilities to
provide the addresses and locations
of soldiers, sailors and marines
abroad. When it is necessary to ob
tain such addresses they must be se
cured from the Office of The Adju
tant General, War Department,
Washington, D. C. or in case of
sailors from the Bureau of Naval
Personnel, Navy Department, Wash
ington and of marines from the
Marines Corps Headquarters, Navy
Department Building, Washington.
further high school athletic partici
pation during the remainder of the
present school term, altho they may
resume play again next fall.......
In addition, Townsend forfeited all
Bluffton games played since the open
ing tilt with Lima St. Johns up to
and including the game here with Van
Wert on Feb. 12..........It was follow
ing that game, won by Bluffton, that
Van Wert filed its complaint... .The
Lima St. Johns contest was played
prior to the independent game at Van
Wert, therefore was not affected by
the ruling...........
With sectional tournament play
getting underway March 3 to 7, Coach
George Swank has little time to drill
the new aggregation that must bear
the burden of Bluffton’s championship
hopes... .This lineup will find Neil
Schmidt, a regular, and David Smuck
er or Robert Gratz, both of the re
serves, at forwards... .Bob Burkhold
er, regular guard, or John Schmidt,
reserve center, will be the pivot man
of the tournament team... .At guards
Coach Sw*ank must use James Gratz,
a first-stringer, and if Burkholder is
shifted to cent Varden Loganbill, a
sub will replace him....
Price supporting loans for 20
kinds of legume and grass seeds
were announced by the U. S. De
partment of Agriculture, Feb. 15.
Loan values on some of those of
interest in Ohio are: Alfalfa 28 and
30 cents per pound red clover 25
cents alsike clover 22 cents sweet
clover 6 and 7 cents and timothy
4.5 cents. Loans of 6 to 7 cents a
pound higher are available on certi
fied seeds.
&
value in bedroom
handsome walnut
An outstanding
furnishings—this
suite—it’s a purchase you'll never
regret.