The Bluffton news. [volume], February 24, 1949, Image 1

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Days
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Trade
VOLUME LXXIH
NEW AUTO TAGS
TO GO ON SALE
HERE TUESDAY
License Plates for All Passenger
Cars $10 Plus Registration
Fee
Tags to Carry Yellow Numerals
on Black Ground: Deadline
March 31
Auto tags for 1949, going on sale
nex Tuesday morning at the Troy
Motor Sales, in the South Main street
business section, will cost all pas
senger vehicle owners the same
amount again this year—a flat fee
of $10 plus a 25-cent registration
fee.
H. M. (Dick) Troy, owner of the
Troy Motor Sales, is the new deputy
license registrar here, succeeding
Clayton Bixel, who during the two
preceding years of Republican admin
istration in the state sold auto tags
at the Bixel Motor Sales.
A flat fee of $10 for all auto tags
continues a new policy established
last year. Prior to 1948, the cost of
auto tags had been on a graduated
scale based on horsepower, altho a
considerable majority of the licenses
fell in the $10 class.
Yellow and Black
New tags going on sale here next
Tuesday will have yellow numerals
on a black background, a reversal of
the 1948 color scheme.
The new tags may be used any
time after purchase, and must be on
all cars operated after March 31.
This is the third year since 1941
that two tags have been provided,
for during the war and in a few
years following the close of hostili
ties, only one plate was provided
for each motorist, because of the
shortage of steel.
In applying for tags, the procedure
will be the sale as last year, with
owners required to present their bill
of sale or certificate of title before
the licenses can be issued.
Henry V Film At
Carma Next Week
Film version of Shakespeare’s
Henry V will be presented at the
Carma theater here on Thursday
afternoon and evening, March 3, it
is announced by George Carmack.
The picture stars Laurence Oliver
as King Henry V of England.
Real Estate Deal
Samuel Badertscher has sold his
80 acre farm to his son Walter, in
a deal closed thic week. The farm,
south of town on the Bentley road
is the old Badertscher homestead
which has been in the family since
the early 1850’s.
With The Sick
Mrs. Daisy Woodruff who collapsed
on a bus was removed from the de
pot here to Bluffton hospital Monday
morning. She was enroute from
North Baltimore to her home in
Lima. She was taken to her home
Tuesday.
Otto Bigler, former meat market
operator is a patient in Bluffton
hospital with a heart ailment. His
condition is reported improved.
Improvement is reported in the
condition of Sidney Hauenstein, pa
tient in Bluffton hospital with asth
ma complications
Mrs. Wilhelm Amstutz II, sur
gical patient in Bluffton hospital
has been removed to the home of
W. A. Amstutz north of town.
C. D. Steiner of Pandora who was
a patient in Bluffton hospital has
been removed to his home.
Mrs. David Fisher who underwent
treatment at Bluffton hospital for
a fractured left kneecap as the re
sult of a fall has been removed to
her home near Pandora.
Mrs. Henry Balmer has an eye in
fection at her home on South Lawn
avenue.
Miss Kate Hilty, 82, of Chicago,
is reported critically ill in a hos
pital in that city. She has been in
a coma for several weeks. Miss
Holty, a former Bluffton resident, is
a sister of Mrs. A. L. Baumgartner
of South Main street.
Carl Smucker of Bluffton college
faculty is ill at his home on Cam
pus View.
Miss M’Della Moon of Bluffton
college faculty is ill with flu.
R. A. Lantz of Bluffton college
department of music is recovering
from a sinus infection.
Personal Tax Aid
Here On March 4
Representatives from the Allen
county auditor’s office will be at the
Citizens National bank in Bluffton,
Friday, March 4 to assist residents
in preparation of their personal
property and classified tax returns,
it was announced by Auditor Rus
sell L. Hire.
Representatives from the auditor’s
office here Monday were unable to
accommodate the large number seek
ing aid and for that reason arrange
ments were made for another day
here,. Hire announced.
BODY OF MARINE
KILLED IN PACIFIC
TO ARRIVE FRIDAY
Body of Pvt. Leo Basinger to bQ
Taken to Diiier Funeral
Home
Services Will be Held at Funeral
Home Here on Sunday
Afternoon
Remains of Pvt. Adrian Leo
Basinger 22 year old Marine who
was killed bn Okinawa in the Pacific
theatre of war, will arrive here from
Columbus, Friday night at 9:42
o’clock on the Cleveland-St. Louis
Nickel Plate train, according to word
received from Army sources the first
of the week.
The body will lie taken to the Paul
Diller funeral home where services
will be held Sunday afternoon at
2:30 o’clock. Officiating will be Rev.
V. C. Oppermann of St. John’s
Reformed church of which he was a
member.
Interment will be in the Thompson
cemetery with graveside rites con
ducted by the Foss-Agin-Meyer
American Legion post of Ada.
Killed on Airfield
Basinger a machine gunner in the
Marine corps met instant death on
Machinate airfield in Okinawa when
he was killed by artillery shell fire
May 4, 1945. The body was brought
to this country’ last month on the
army transport Sergeant Jack J.
Pendleton. He served in he second
batallion, Co. of the first Marine
division.
He was the son of Adrian and
Glenna Basingeer of near Ada, born
June 1, 1923 and was graduated
from Mt. Cory high school in 1943.
He was married to Margaret Burk
holder.
Besides the parents he is survived
by two sisters Mrs. Alice Fauwer of
Ada and Mary’ Jo Basinger at home.
Flower Seed Store
Opening Saturday
Herr’s Flowers & Seeds, new gard
en supply house, will hold open
house Saturday at the residence of
Kermit Herr, who operates the busi
ness at 123 South Lawn avenue.
Herr is a successful gladioli grow
er in this area and has won numer
ous awards at flower shows. His
new stofe, recently completed will
carry bulbs, seeds and garden equip
ment together with insecticides and
fertilizers. He will also represent a
landscape consultant and fruit ad
viser and is prepared to test sam
ples of soil.
At Saturday’s opening, flowers
will be given to the first 65 visitors
together with favors for all callers.
Christian Santschi, Bluffton’s old
est resident, who celebrated his 91st
birthday on Tuesday, February 15,
died of a heart ailment at 11:45
p. Saturday in Bluffton Commun
ity hospital. He had been critically
ill for 10 days.
Born in Sigwiswil, Switzerland,
on February 15, 1858, Santschi came
to America in 1881. On Nov. 15,
1888, he married Caroline Boss, who
died Oct. 21, 1942. The marriage
was the culmination of a romance
which had its inception in Switzer
land before either came to this
country.
A farmer by occupation, Santschi
for many years owned the former
Sem Steiner farm south of Bluffton.
•In 1918 he moved to Bluffton with
Allen County Dairy Cattle Will Be
Tested For Tuberculosis This Year
Plans For County-Wide Test
Directed By Dr. E. S. Augs
burger, Former Blufftonite
One Hundred Per Cent Tests
Will Be Made of Every Dairy
Herd In County
All Allen county dairy cattle will
be tested for tuberculosis starting
next summer in a county-wide test
ing program announced last week by
E. S. Augsburger, of Lima, depart
ment of agriculture veterinarian.
Dr. Augsburger, now located in
Lima, is a former Bluffton resident.
Plans already have been completed
for testing in seven of the county’s
townships, and details are being
ironed out at present for completion
of the project in the remainder of
the county, Dr. Augsburger said.
Funds for the tuberculosis test
have been appropriated by Allen
county commissioners, and a 100 per
cent test will be made of all dairy
cattle, rather than running a spot
check. The testing program will be
continued every three years.
If Allen county is to remain on
the accredited dairy list, cattle must
be tested every three years, Dr.
Augsburger pointed out.
Youth For Christ
Rally On Saturday
Rev. Russell R. Kauffman, Indian
apolis evangelist and pastor will ad
dress the monthly Youth for Christ
rally of the Bluffton-Pandora area
at the high school auditorium here
Saturday night at 7:30 o’clock. Rev.
Kauffman is pastor of the Christian
and Missionary Alliance church in
Indianapolis.
Opening the rally will be a sing
spiration and special numbers of
vocal and instrumental talent are on
the evening’s program. A pre-serv
ice prayer meeting will be held at
7:10 o’clock.
Ropp Triplett Named
To Safety Council
Ropp Triplett last week was elect
ed a trustee of the Allen County
Safety Council, a group which gath
ers statistical information on traffic
accidents in Allen county and car
ries on a continuous accident pre
vention campaign.
Walter S. Jackson, appellate court
judge, is president of the Council.
Lions Club Charter
Night Next Tuesday
Bluffton Lions will observe their
sixteenth anniversary and ladies
night with a dinner at the Walnut
grill, next Tuesday evening at 6:30
o’clock.
R. H. MacCullough of Defiance,
district governor will be the speaker
of the evening. Other numbers on
the program will be readings by
Wm. Burbick, instructor of speech
at Bluffton college and the College
Men's quartet.
Past District Governor Dwight
Murray will induct new members
and Dr. L. L. Ramseyer, president
of the club, will be toastmaster.
BLUFFTON MARKETS
Wednesday Morning
Grain (bushel prices) Wheat
$2.05 corn $1.12 oats 68c soys
$2.12.
Poultry—Heavy hens 33c leghorn
hens 27c.
Eggs—Large white 39c large
brown 38c medium white 35c
medium brown 34c.
Butterfat—64c.
Christian Santschi, Oldest Resident,
Dies Three Days After 91st Birthday
his family, but continued farming
operations until 1940.
A member of St. John's Reformed
church, Santschi at one time served
as Sunday school superintendent and
was a former director of the choir
of the church.
Survivors include one daughter,
Mrs. Alice Parker, of Washington,
D. C. and a son, Arthur Santschi,
of Chicago. A son, Lewis was killed
in an automobile accident in 1942.
There also are five grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held in St.
John’s church Tuesday afternoon,
with Rev. V. C. Oppermann officiat
ing. Burial was in Maple Grove
cemetery.
Tiuc Dig Dollar Days in Bluffton, Friday and Saturday
THE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON. AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, FEB. 24, 1949
29 BLUFFTON HIGH
SENIORS SMALLEST
CLASS SINCE 1914
Small Graduating Classes Re
flects Depression’s Effects
on Families
Smallest Class In 35 Years To
Receive Diplomas At Com
mencement May 26
Bluffton High school’s smallest
graduating class since 1914 will
receive diplomas at commencement
exercises for 29 seniors on Thurs
day, May 26, according to graduation
plans announced this week by Supt.
of Schools Ralph Lanham.
The class of 29 is smaller by 15
than last spring’s group of 44
graduates, and is in marked contrast
to graduating classes from 70 to 75
common here during the “thirties”.
Smaller families resulting 'from
depression years are now showing
up in Bluffton High graduating
classes, but at the same time an
other reversal has been set in pro
cess for grade school enrollment
over the last three years has shown
a pronounced upswing.
An evidence in the new enrollment
trend is a comparison of this year’s
graduating class of 29 with double
that number enrolled in the first
grade of the elementary schools.
Dr. Clyde Hissong, Ohio director
of education, will be the commence
ment speaker at this year’s Bluffton
High graduation exercises.
Ebenezer Church Has
Combined Conference
Annual Bible and youth confer
ences of the Ebenezei Mennonite
church will be combined this year
into one week’s sessions, opening
Sunday, March 13, it is announced
by the pastor, Rev. Howard Landes.
Speaker will be I‘r.,. Paul R. Bau
man, professor of Bible and execu
tive vice president of Grace Theo
logical seminary, Winano Lake, Ind.
Dr. Bauman a prominent archaeolo
gist, was formerly dean of the Los
Angeles, California, Bible Institute
and served as interim pastor of the
First Mennoite church of Los An
geles.
Washington Address
At Masonic Dinner
Prof. C. H. Freeman of Ohio
Northern university, Ada, was the
principal speaker at the Masonic
lodge Father-Son dinner, Monday
night. An authority’ on Washington,
Prof. Freeman gave a graphic nar
rative of Washington’s military cam
paigns and his part in the formation
of the republic.
There were 140 members of the
lodge and guests in attendance at
the affair. Walter White, assistant
Allen county prosecutor, scheduled
to address the meeting was unable
to fill his engagement because of
illness. Dinner was served by wo
men of the Eastern Star order.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Green, Bluff
ton, a boy, David Ronald, last Wed
nesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Paul, Bluffton,
a girl, Deborah Eileen, Thursday.
Mr. and Mrs .Raymond Holden,
Findlay, a girl, Joetta Kay, Friday.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Betz, Arling
ton, a girl, Jennifer Jean, Friday.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Green,
Findlay, a girl, Lucinda Jane, Fri
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Marion Driver,
Lima, a girl, Kathleen Jo, Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Etter, Pan
dora, a boy, Ronald Lee, Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Miller, Dun
kirk, a girl, Linda Lou, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Stahl, Leip
sic, a boy, James Robert, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. James Van Atta,
Arlington, a girl, Deborah Lynn,
Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Joliff, La
Wayette, a girl, Dorcas Elaine,
Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Montgomery,
a boy Gary Lee at Findlay hospital,
Tuesday. Mrs. Montgomery is the
former Kathleen Waltz of near Mt.
Cory.
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Nichols, of
Waynesfield, a boy, William Dennis,
bom Monday at Lima Memorial
hospital. Mrs. Nichols is the form
er Verena Steiner of Bluffton.
Farmers Prepare For Spring
Operations As Demand Con
tinues At High Level
Small Tracts In Bluffton Area
Produce Limited Quantity
Each Spring
A sharp upward trend in the price
of maple syrup, one farm product
unscathed in the current slump, finds
Bluffton area fanners with maple
groves getting their camps in readi
ness for the annual spring run.
With the demand for good quality
maple syrup continuing to expand,
early reports are setting this year’s
price at $6.50 a gallon, a boost of
$1.50 over the $o mark prevailing
a year ago.
Local production of maple syrup,
revived by the wartime shortage of
sugar, has shown no indication of
reverting to its pre-war status when
it was largely an abandoned prac
tice.
Up
from
Free Movies For Kiddies Feature Of
Dollar Days Here Friday, Saturday
More than 30 Bluffton merchants, including almost all
establishments in the downtown district, are cooperating to
provide for district shoppers a most unusual money-saving op
portunity in Bluffton Dollar Days, Friday and Saturday.
Two days of outstanding bargains will climax weeks of
preparation for this sales event which finds stores in widely
diversified lines featuring the best sales values possible.
To make possible astonishingly low prices, profit margins
have been cut sharply in order to focus the attention of shoppers
on Bluffton’s superior facilities as a trading center.
Dollar Days will be particularly appealing for children of
school age, who are invited to a free showing of “My Dog Rusty”
in the Carma theatre, Saturday afternoon. The show also will
include a comedy and a cartoon, and will provide interesting and
wholesome entertainment for the kiddies while their parents are
shopping for bargains. All school children of Bluffton and sur
rounding towns are invited.
No parking meters line Bluffton streets, another advantage
that will bring many here for the bargain sale.
Many of the outstanding bargains offered in Dollar Days
appear in advertisements in this wreck’s issue of The Bluffton
News. All are well worth reading for money-saving opportunities.
No Slump In Maple Syrup Price It
Goes Up $1.50 To $6.50 Gallon Mark
$1.50 Pre-War Price
Before the war, many maple
groves were disregarded by owners
because their operation had been un
profitable when sugar was plentiful
and when maple syrup could be
purchased in stores for prices as low
as $1.50 a gallon.
Sugar shortages, however, brought
revival of maple sugar camps here,
for operation permitted the farmer
to serve his own individual needs,
as well as giving him assurance of
high prices for the surplus he had
for sale.
Inasmuch as area farmers do not
have capacity to make syrup com
mercially there has been no estab
lished price for the product, with
each year’s price level determined
generally according to the demand.
Clothing Collection
For Relief March 5
Clothing for overseas relief pur
poses will be collected in Bluffton on
Saturday, March 5 in a project
sponsored jointly by the Missionary
Society of the First Mennonite
church and the Bluffton college Re
lief committee, it was announced
the first of the week.
Amstutz Estate Is
Valued At $30,489
Estate of the late Edwin Amstutz,
Richland township, is estimated at
$30,489.14 in an inventory filed last
week in Allen county probate court.
The inventory consisted of real
estate and personal property.
Confirmation that Bluffton’s mos
quito control program helped keep
last summer’s polio epidemic in this
area from gaining a foothold here
was seen in testimony of Dr. John
Porterfield, Ohio health commissioner,
at the recent Maumee valley con
servancy hearing in Defiance.
Dr. Porterfield said that polio
virus is carried by flies and mosqui
toes. Bluffton’s control program,
started early last spring and con
tinued until late fall, practically rid
the town of flies and mosquitoes
during the summer.
HATCHERY RECORD
MAY BE MADE IN
RUSH FOR POULTRY
Cheaper Grain Spurs Orders For
Baby Chicks More Turkeys
Coming Too
Mosquito Control Program Cited As
Check On Summer’s Polio Epidemic
The state health commissioner
also testified that excreta from pa­
Hatcheries Report Unprecedent
ed Early Orders Production
largely Sold Now
Hatchery business in the Bluffton
area is the best in recent years,
and hatchery operators are pointing
out an almost unprecedented Febru
ary condition which finds a sizable
portion of their spring schedules of
baby chicks already sold.
The rush of orders for chicks is
seen by operators as a farm measure
to get higher prices for grain by
marketing it in the form of poultry
or eggs during the coming year.
Although grain prices have drop
ped decidedly during the last 12
months, poultry prices have changed
little from a year ago. As a result
the situation this year is exactly re
versed from what it was in 1948
when grain prices were inflated and
the price of poultry held stationary.
With feed costs high, little poultry
was raised in 1948, but with cost of
feeding projects at lower levels this
year larger poultry flocks will be in
evidence throughout the entire dis
trict.
Nation-wide Trend
A nation-wide trend toward in
creased poultry production also is
in evidence, with heavy chick buy
ing serving as a barometer of what’s
ahead in chicken abundance.
In many areas the rush to turn
cheaper grain into chicken is adding
up to something like a stampede,
(Continued on page 5)
Two Retail Stores
Exchange Locations
Geiger & Diller clothing store and
Fett &Sons hardware, retail stores
in the North Main street business
section are exchanging locations this
week. Both stores are located in
the Fett business block and occupy
adjoining rooms.
Stocks of merchandise were moved
the first of the week and remodeling
of interiors is in prograss. Both
stores are being fitted up with fix
tures and lighting for modern mer
chandising.
tients is the most common carrier
of polio virus. This in turn gets
into streams through sewage, and
under these conditions the virus
will live from eight to 10 hours.
Dr. Porterfield also said it is
known that some virus is airborne,
but contended that fecates are the
greatest carrier.
A community hit by a polio epi
demic one year is not likely to have
another the next year, the health
commissioner said. He pointed to
U. 8. public health service records
which show no cases of a community
suffering polio outbreaks two years
in a row.
$ Days $
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Live
NUMBER 46
FEW CHANGES IN
PROSPECT ON AREA
FARMS THIS SPRING
Farm Owners and Tenants All
“Sitting Tight” As March
Deadline Nears
Mechanized Farming Make Pos
sible Cultivation of Larger
Tracts of I^and
March 1—traditional moving date
for farm families—will find few
changes being made in farm residency
this spring, with both farm owner
occupants and tenants “sitting tight”
in present locations.
An indication tha^ anyone with a
place to stay is remaining there is
seen in the fact that farm sales this
winter have been comparatively few
a situation which means that few
changes in location will be made at
the time when the farm year tradi
tionally begins.
Public sales always provide an ac
curate barometer of farm changes,
for most of them come either when
a renter is moving from a location
and dissolving partnership with his
landlord, or when the owner of a
farm sells out, preparatory to retir
ing and usually moving into town.
Stay On Farm
Farmers at retiring age are stay
ing right on their farms these days,
however, because high-priced city
properties represent an uncertain
investment to anyone who has a
home where he can stay.
At the same time, the retiring
farmer has no worry ’about keeping
his land in cultivation, for in these
days of mechanized farming there
always is a neighbor looking for
more land.
With farm prices at lower levels,
the tendency now is for farmers to
remain in their present locations,
handling with their own labor as
much land as they can, and to hire
little or no help. All agree that the
high cost of farm labor is out of line
with the declining price of farm
products, thereby ruling out the pos
sibility of farmers hiring much nelp
during the coming year.
Fewer Tenants
In the meantime, tenants are con
tinuing to find it difficult to make
farming connections, continuing a
trend in evidence here for nearly a
decade.
Increasing mechanization of farm
ing practices, now making it possible
for one man to farm as much as 200
acres or more, tenant farmers each
spring find fewer farms to rent, and
are worried by the trend which seems
to indicate that the farm cultivated
on a tenant basis eventually may be
come a rarity.
Before the days of mechanized
farming, 80 acres were considered
about all one man could manage.
Now, however, the farmer with good
mechanical equipment is glad to have
a neighbor from whom he can rent
additional acreage, generally on a
50-50 grain rent basis.
Scholastic Honor
to Bluffton Girl
Jean Steinman of Bluffton has
been named to the dean’s list at
Baldwin-Wallace college, Berea,
where she is a senior, it was an
nounced the first of the week.
She is among the upper ten per
cent of the student body in scholas
tic achievement and received recog
nition after attaining a grade aver
age of B-plus or better during the
fall term. She is the younger
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Forrest
Steinman of South Lawn avenue.
Indiana Male Chorus
Is Coming On Sunday
The Menno singers, male chorus
of Goshen, Indiana, will be heard in
sacred concerts at the First Men
nonite church here Sunday after
noon at 2:30 and Grace Mennonite
church, Pandora, in the evening at
7:30 o’clock.
The chorus consisting of 30 voices
directed by Walter Stutsman is
sponsored by the Eighth Street Men
nonite church of Goshen, and is in
its third concert season.
Dr. Lloyd Ramseyer
Is Speaker At Ada
Dr. Lloyd Ramseyer, president of
Bluffton college, was the speaker at
a meeting of the Ada Parent-Teach
i ers association Tuesday night in the
Ada High school auditorium.
Dr. Ramseyer’s subject was “Build
I ing Personality.”