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January 12, 1956
Hey! you Murray county folks get out your picks and shovels and get ready to dig for $250,000 in gold in Murray county hills and ravines. “Swank” the newest magazine for men, published in New York has a six page article in the December issue that tells of buried treasures on land and in the deep blue sea. They list almost everything that has been hidden away since the days of the pirates of the Spanish Main. They even list buried treasure in the different states. Some states have several alleged spots of stolen loot, etc. Here is one item that will interest you:
“Minnesota: $250,000 (Approximate) buried by Jesse James, near Pipestone.”
There is no story we have ever read that connects Jesse James with Pipestone for the simple reason there was no Pipestone when the James gang were plying their nefarious work. There were only six white men in Pipestone county in 1876. There was a story of Jesse James and his brother Frank, who when escaping from the ill fated bank robbery at Northfield in 1876 staying at Lost Timber near Chandler for two days then slipping across the line into Iowa, then Missouri. Lost Timber was an ideal spot for thieves. It had woods, caves, and springs. It is now owned by Mrs. J. P. Lang. That’s the story boys but on the other hand where did they get that much money? They did not get it at Northfield. They did not bring it with them. Early pioneers remember them asking the way to Lost Timber. If they had buried treasure there they would not have needed to ask directions. Lost Timber (Le Bois Cache) was a French Indian village back in the late 1700’s and was actually lost for over thirty years as it is located below the level of the ground and was not visible to anyone unless they just stumbled on to it. Final question: how and when did the James boys ever hear of Lost Timber? Had it been a hide out for crooks before?
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Marie Uhlig who runs the column “In Eight Point” in the Ceylon Herald and also helps her husband in the shop, is at her wit’s end. The lady who has been caring for the home quit. Marie in her column is giving a more than truthful account of the home and its furnishings. She tells of cracked dishes and furniture and TV set that works as well as most of them. Why don’t you offer some advantage to the oncoming maid. For instance, tell them that your husband helps with the dishes every night except Tuesday.
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Kiwanis members always seem to be doing good deeds: over in Windom the members voted a $500 fund for loans to worthy students.
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School lunches have gone up three cents at Redwood Falls. Use more pork.
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The Democrats are in a position to settle this farm program in a jiffy. They have a majority in both houses. Pass the bill and send it to the President. Lay it fairly and squarely before Ike. Let’s find out who’s quibbling.
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Some uppity folks mark their bath room towels “His’n” or “Her’n”; the dish towels in this house are marked “Our’n”.
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United States car manufacturers put 7,052,036 autos on the market in 1955 and there wasn’t a Kaiser or a Willys in the bunch. Not as many cars will be manufactured this year. The Ford company has already released 2,450 workers in the Mercury division.
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Foks must have quit eating rye bread and drinking rye whisky. Rye was down to a dollar a bushel last fall.
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There’s going to be be a lot of candidates for the legislature in Minnesota come fall. The recent “economy” legislature raised the salary for legislators starting Jan. 1957 at $4,800. In the goodness of their hearts they also added themselves, providing they are re-elected, $7 a day for expenses. A lot of folks can afford to leave their happy homes for three months and one half for that money -- for the length of time that’s more money than the supreme court judges receive.
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Some of the houses are so cold this winter that the box elder bugs have moved back into the trees.
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Grace Kelly’s wedding to oldish looking Prince of Monaco reminds us of a song of long ago. “Her Beauty was Sold for an Old Man’s Gold”. Monaco with its gambling house is only a mile square and really belongs to France and it will revert to France if Grace and the prince fail to produce an heir. So they had better get busy.
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Drove over to Lake Shetek one day last week with Louie Ostergaard. There were as many cars scooting over the ice as there is at a county fair. For years Chas Durgin, who knows the lake better than anyone else, has been saying that the lake was full of rough fish. He was disputed by many, who said that state crews had them about all wiped out. Either the state seine was not long enough or deep enough, as the Mike Plut commercial fishing crew pulled in a haul of fish on Tuesday that was estimated about 150,000. The undersized carp, buffalo and bullheads are being sold at five cents and everybody seemed to be fish hungry. Most the game fish are dead. Lack of oxygen. By the way the ice in Shetek is twenty inches thick something unusual for the first week in January.
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Seems there is a jealous man that lives near Holland who is just a bit older than his wife. She likes to dance -- he doesn’t. When she goes to a dance he makes her eat two big raw onions. Some folks thought that was a terrible handicap to place on the sweet little woman, but changed their minds when they saw three good looking young fellows with their coat pockets filled with onions. Where there’s a will there always seems to be a way.
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They say ninety percent of people that have heart attacks, recover from the first attack. They point to Col. Bradley, Kentucky sportsman. Had an attack at forty. Got over it and ran the Kentucky for forty years. Could be true but newspapers are filled every day with death notices of men who have died with heart trouble around fifty. You only have the one engine: don’t overwork it.
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Today, Jan. 12th, is the anniversary of the worst blizzard in western Minnesota. It came in the year 1888 without a minute’s warning. One hundred and nine lives were lost in the storm. It was a real blizzard, bitter cold wind, drifting snow that made the ground a cloud. You could not face it, so the Roamer who was caught by the storm drifted with the wind. Had a good sized horse and hit the ralroad track about dusk; forty below in the morning. Sixty head of cattle were frozen to death on the Westall farm a mile west of Slayton.
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November or December ___, 1956
Haven’t heard anyone say anything about Ike’s health for two weeks.
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A lot of Murray county folks are going to realize that there is trouble in Egypt. Furnace fuel oil that was so plentiful a month ago went up 25 cents the barrel last week.
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Men have paraded up and down with chin out for years because they were in the “Who’s Who” book. They thought they were above the lower five. A publisher is getting out a “Who’s Who” for women but it will leave out the most interesting part: seventy per cent will not give their age. Old age is what makes both male and female tell the truth: most of ‘em are proud of it.
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Texas had two elections this November. There were two amendments to the constitution to be voted on. A clerk somewhere along the way had made a mistake and instead of having the amendment being voted on the first Tuesday in November one of the amendments rea “on the second Tuesday in Nov.” It cost the Texans a lot of cussing and an extra $20,000.
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While we muttered a lot and talked a lot about our three amendments to the state constitution down in Georgia the voters had to paw over 58 amendments. Louisiana was not much better there were 48 amendments on the ballots.
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Had a visit from a lady who taught school in the rural districts half a century ago. She is Mrs. Ralph Kench. Her maiden name was Bessie Thompson and her folks lived in Low Twp. She was telling us every time she got hold of a Herald she sent it to another old teacher, Mrs. Dettamore, who lives in California. She was formerly Miss Jessie Smith, a daughter of the late P. P. Smith who lived in Cameron Township. Mr. Smith was county attorney for three terms having the position when the county seat was at Currie and later when it was moved to Slayton in 1889. Her brother A. D. Smith held the office of supt. of schools. Bessie who is now well over seventy drives her car up here from Storm Lake, Iowa. Hardy bunch were those early schoolma’ams. They dressed warm and if the cutter tipped over in the snow, they were handy with the shovel. The cutters tipped over on a feather and it was work or freeze.
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Here’s one of those somethings you get in a small town. After the storm the morning papers were late. Glen Hueuer’s boy has the paper route. On Friday morning the Mpls Tribunes were delivered by the banker of the town, who is also the mayor. If Glen gives this same service to the village it will mean a lot for the village and surrounding community.
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Winter came sudden and soon last Thursday and for a day gave us a sample of what naturally will be along later. Caught us without a pair of gloves: funny how we keep putting things off.
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Readers ask “Tell us some more about the Keeley Cure.” Dr. Keeley of St. Lawrence, N.Y. in 1880 opened a sanitarium at Dwight, Ill for persons addicted to the immoderate use of liquor. He had lots of customers and opened several resorts. He gained great prominence because he used a preparation of bi-chloride of gold. He claimed 95 per cent of his patients were permanently cured. He died in 1890 and the query naturally comes up, “Why don’t they use his cure in 1956?” Inmates when they got home were called Keeley Graduates.
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Old fashioned Halloweens are still in vogue over in Edgerton and not only the kids but some of the young married men join in the fray which runs true to form: lowering down street lights so that windshields are broken. Filling the streets so tight with farm machinery that a box elder bug couldn’t get through, plastered official cars with eggs that had seen better days, tossed fire crackers into Civic Club meeting, picked up wood bridges across sidewalk corners and etc. Some folks get over the habit, in the town we live in we remember back seven years ago when young men and their better halves went a Hallowe’ening and the ladies watched with pride while their brave husbands tipped over an old man’s “little house.” Wouldn’t those dames today just hate to see their names in print as members of the Hallowe’ening class of 1949-50?
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Out this way there is a feeling of joy over the election of Val Bjornson for state treasurer. We’ve known the family for over thirty years and the boys have all made good. They should: Mrs. Gunnar Bjornson was one the grandest women we ever knew.
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The auto dealers did not do so awful bad this year after all. Only 160,000 cars were left in the dealers’ hands. There are sixty thousand auto dealers in the U.S.
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Seems strange that the NATO has organized its army long ago. They have just started a police force into Egypt. There are soldiers from 15 nations to police the Canal. How are they going to understand each other? Who is going to give the orders? The whole thing sounds like the Tower of Babel. The NATO reminded us of the ladies aid societies of fifty years ago: does more talking than anything else.
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Murray County has one of the largest poultry farms in southwestern Minnesota. It is located in Skandia Township and operated by Mr. and Mrs. N. Swanjord and their two sons. Years ago the Swanjords raised over a thousand goslings. They changed a while back and now have included Rouen ducks and Leghorn chickens. They broke up their flock of geese and now buy back the eggs and hatch them. They get a dollar a piece for day old goslings. Some of them they ship as far as Washington, D.C. This season they shipped 3,000 goslings. They handle top Rouen ducks. This year there were over 2,000 one day old ducklings shipped to nine different states. They specialize in Leghorn chickens in their modern chicken factories. One of the buildings is 140 x 60 feet and houses 6,500 chickens. They are in tiers of little cages and they never get out until their usefulness is over. The tops on egg production is around 225. Every chicken has a number. When a hen lays an egg it rolls down a little incline, and is noted on the little card with the chicken number. The din in the big building is louder than a national convention. Water and feed is before the birds at all times. They have an automatic eight hour sleep. The Swanjords only raise corn for the poultry, the reset of the feed is commercial. The baby chicks are hustled into shipping crates before they are dry. “Geese and ducks are easy to raise,” said Mrs. Swanjord, “They seldom get sick Poultry are different.” The Swanjords do not dress any poultry. They have a fine ranch type home. We noticed a piano, organ, TV and radio: one of the comfortable homey places in Murray County.
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Did you see where an English doctor had taken a pitchfork to our early health maxims. Franklin’s “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” has always been bunk. Eating meals at regular times has also passed on: most people eat only one meal a day: each others lunches. Sleeping with your head out of the window is a delusion and a snare: you sleep just as soundly in a stuffy room. Vacations you now are a joy. No one ever went on a vacation but what he was tireder than when he started, and so on.
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Nov 29, 1956
It may be that village councils are more interested in juvenile delinquency than some of them think. All villages carry liability insurance on their liquor stores but few require bonds from beer taverns. We notice in a civil case where youngsters were charged with burning up two school houses in Redwood county. The jury brought in a verdict against Harold Jones of Sleepy Eye and Henry Schroder of Morgan for $4,750. In the case we noticed that a New Ulm tavern keeper and his bonding company were mentioned. Does that mean that villages may be liable for all damages caused by illegal sales to youngsters?
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The liquor question pops up in two communities at the elections Dec. 4th. Elmore will have a dry and wet vote. Last year the municipal liquor store brought in $12,000. Over at Lamberton they are trying to get rid of the municipal liquor store and give licenses to three private individuals. Pipestone county will also have an election on Dec. 4th. The state has condemned the jail and they need $100,000 bonds to build a new one. And over at Westbrook the Sentinel says they will vote on whether to add sodium fluoride to the water or continue taking it straight. Continuing in the election vein, Jackson county in spite of the “get out the vote movement” cast 400 less votes than four years ago. Watonwan county came out of the election with a shocking record. Out of 6,444 votes cast and counted 582 votes were null and void. One precinct had a total of 41 spoiled ballots.
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Over at Ruthton, Mrs. Jens North was taken to a hospital with a fractured hip. Residents of that village collected enough money and sent her a portable TV set to help pass the long hours away. Stripped of all tinsel, all colored electric lights, etc. this is the true spirit of Christmas. The Ruthton people are to be congratulated.
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A young Murray county educator is superintendent of a school with close to forty teachers. They met for their first get-together. He said “We are here because we wanted to come here. We must do our part in civic and social duties. Our interest should be in this town where we are employed. When Saturday night comes we should not always be seen bringing home bundles of merchandise from larger towns. There are some articles we know and the business men know you can’t get here, but as long as we are making our living here, we should do our best to support our merchants who pay the taxes.
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Members of one of the outstanding pioneer families visited us a week ago. They were Perne Silvernale, his son John Silvernale, president of the Murray county historical society and his son, all of Currie. W. T. Silvernale, the pioneer came to Murray county four years after the Massacre and took a claim in Shetek, four years before there was a village in the county. The Silvernales were associated with the first flour mill in Currie. Three of them W. T., who came here in 1868, Floyd and his son, Perne were all millers in the old mill that supplied this section of the state in the real early days. The mill ran night and day for three months of the year. In the dry years later, steam threshing engines replaced the water power. Straw and weeds were used as fuel. Ten yoke of oxen were seen at times waiting for the “grist.” Perne and the Roamer got to reminiscing. The old county seat fight is over. Slayton had a railroad, Currie had none; that tells the whole story. There were bitter episodes during the fight that some folks have forgotten. The Slaytonites thought they had won the first election contest and armed with axe handles made the trip to Currie and got the county records, etc. Time proved they were wrong and the Currie folks came over and toted the records back. Then legal seesawing took up a couple of years. One afternoon the Currie folks heard that Slayton was making a raid that night. They put buckshot in their shotguns, tightened up their belts and placed William O’Neil in the belfry as a sentinel. The citizens sat up tensely, towards dawn one of them climbed up the ladder and there lay Billy fast asleep. At the next election in 1889 Slayton won the county seat by a narrow margin: 12 votes to be exact. Among the families moving to Slayton with the county seat were the Robert Hyslop, B. H. Whitney, H. C. Grass, James Ruane, Nick Weber and Nils Taarud and Jack O’Hearn a bachelor.
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Warnings came to lay off gathering old newspapers. Dealers are now paying $12 a ton in car load lots: last year at this time the price was $24. Organizations who are planning on starting a drive, inquire.
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In Hollywood they preserve the footprints of the movie stars in cement; the Minnesota University should do the same with the toe of Dick Borstad, who won three games this year and gave the team its best season in twenty years: a replica would make a nice paper weight.
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Swimming pools were defeated in the Windom and Worthington elections. They should have expected that: November is no month to vote on bathing pools. Try July or August and you’ll get a lot of help from the sun.
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A five cent Christmas card with jut a little personal line in ink will mean more to the friend than a 25 cent card. Some Christmas cards seem to be stiff and cold and sent because the Jones do it. Write a line.
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See where shorthand typists have hard to spell words on the tablet cover. Splendid. Why not put about four or five hundred hard to spell words on every writing tablet: we all need them at times.
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The UN is to blame for all the Suez Canal trouble. When Nasser grabbed the canal which was practically owned by the French and British the UN should have stepped in and said “Let’s settle this before going any farther.” It takes too long to get its gears working. If you can’t stop the little fire how are you going to stop the big ones?
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Dairymen in some parts of Indiana have started to solve the milk problem in the real practical way. They are forming a union, not a Farmers Union but a labor union. They plan to control the number of cows and the amount of milk produced. They have come to the conclusion that parities are not the answer. It’s going to take a bitter fight and if successful, will mean it will be followed by all kinds of agriculture. They will have the backing of all labor unions in raising prices and the farmer or rather the dairyman that does not join up, will get out of business.
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Farmers can get just as tought as labor unions. Don’t you remember the Farmers Holiday when farmers ganged up around some towns and would not let any produce in. We drove through one on the south side of the Omaha track west of Worthington. A group of farmers sood stonily in the road and searched the Ford before we could proceed. On the road side was blood, cream and busted eggs. They held sway for several days before the “strike” was called off. That was in 1933. Farmers across the line in Iowa were tougher. A judge on the bench was foreclosing a mortgage, when a group of men rushed into the courtroom put a rope around his neck and pulled him from the bench: interesting days lay ahead.
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December 13, 1956
Your’re sending out Christmas cards this weekend. Do these three things. Put your name and address on the envelope and put a 3 cent stamp on the envelope. And in the inside of the card write a line or so in your own handwriting. Any little word or two will do. After all, it’s the “human touch that counts, the touch of your hand and mine, that means far more to that friend of yours than shelter, food or wine.”
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Notice by the Herald that Ransom W. Fisher is the new Supt. of Schools in Slayton. The Fishers lived across the street from us when he taught in Lake Wilson. He has gone up the ladder since he left here. The top is never narrow. There’s always room if you have “it.” Congratulations Ran, and you too, Norma.
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Coon hunting down south is a national sport. In the north it never caught on and we have lots of them. Down at Minnesota Lake, Harold and Garold Schroder took 137 raccoons near Minnesota Lake between October 6th and December 6th and sold the pelts for $685. They use hounds and have some great sport. Know of any other sport that will produce more? Raccoons still abound in Murray County. We ate our first coon here in 1886. It was baked, looked like a cat but when you got the fat out it had a superb flavor.
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We folks who live in Murray County get our weather from the wrong town. We only live about 65 miles from Sioux Falls yet we open our twin city paper 175 miles away and get our weather. The variance is sometimes as much as 15 degrees. Speaking about weather, the sun rose at 7:39 in Minneapolis last Saturday but did not get to Sioux Falls until 7:48. Sun set in Minneapolis at 4:31 and it did not set in Sioux Falls until 4:50. Old Sol don’t make the time that a plane does.
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The North won a gallant victory over the South last Saturday when Pittsburgh defeated Miami University 14 to 7. We did not see the Stars and Stripes during the game but there was a big Confederate flag that waved lustily throughout the game until the cause was lost and the gloom was so thick you could not tell the difference between the segregationists and the antis. Hatreds run just as deep and just as long in the U.S. as they do in Europe or Asia.
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Some folks are real thankful to the Herald for printing a weekly program of TV events. If you don’t take a daily you’re lost. As the boys say at the ball park, “You can’t tell the players without a score card.”
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If you’re driving through Lake Crystal nowadays, stop at the edge of the town, tie a rope around the headlight on your side and lead the car through the town. See where 15 out of town folks were arrested for speeding. The city, by the way, is $150 richer.
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Down in Martin County the 4H and the county fair board are in a hassle. In order to get a big carnival the fair board set earlier days for the fair. These dates conflict with the plans of the 4H Club members and they are now planning on holding a fair of their own. County fair boards should confer with 4H leaders about fair dates: after all, the 4H clubs make the fair.
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In keeping up with the times, the U.S. postal department is making a healthy raise in insurance rates. Today you can insure a parcel for 5 cents. Come January 1st, it will cost you ten cents. Another thing, after January 1, 1957 you will not be able to buy a post card in any post office in the U.S. You never could. Look at the name on the card.
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Lake Wilson has been having a sort of a revival in church matters. The Methodists were compelled to add an addition with rooms for increase in Sunday school pupils. The Lutherans are finishing up a new building with rooms to take up the over flow in their Sunday School pupils and the Catholics are getting ready for additional work on their church come spring. In civic matters the town is also pushing ahead. Spring will see the start of a $400,000 school addition and another needed improvement will be the construction of a sewage disposal plant, one of the first in this section of the state. The main thing now is to keep the ball rolling.
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You’d never think from the size of some of the postage stamps that there was a shortage of paper. It would not take many of them to paper a small room.
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Fastest selling appliance in the U.S. today is the dishwashing machine. Women folks really never knew how bad off they were until they listened to the wiles of the salesman who told them of the hours it took and how detergents were eating holes in their lily white hands. The salesman told them it took 73 1/2 minutes a day to wash the dishes. A woman spends 55 eight hour days each year over the sink. If she lives with the same man for fifty years she will have washed 1,500,000 dirty dishes. Nothing wonderful about that as she has had 835 eight-hour days to do it in. The females both young and old are appalled what the future has in store for them and are chasing the dishwashing machine salesmen from morning until night. One woman was telling me she wondered what she’d do with all her spare time.
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See where the Mpls. Journal had a two column article on the front page about two youths holding up an auto driver in Minneapolis. Down at Ferndale, Mich. a woman’s car went dead. Auto after auto whizzed by without a glance. Two youths drove up; the woman was miles from a gas station. They looked the car over and fixed it up.. The handed the lady a card. It read, “You have been assisted by the Kourtesy Kruisers.” The card was the 100th given out by this group of teenagers. Did it hit thd front page in the same paper? Nope, it got an inside corner. A hundred to one shot, but the teenagers didn’t win. Juvenile decency never seems to get the break that it is entitled to.
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Last spring Ed Carney, a farmer living near Blue Earth, was late with his potato planting. All he could get was a bushel of a brand he had never heard of. It was named “Sequoia.” From this bushel he raised 3,000 pounds of potatoes come October. He paid $3.00 for the seed. Many hills had 15 as big as your fist and some weighted 2 1/2 pounds. Pretty good, wasn’t it? Remember when Murray County raised potatoes. We used to get them sometimes for 25 cents a bushel and filled the cellar. Progress came or rather basements: now we get our taters in ten lb. sacks.
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See where the University of Minnesota is asking for four million dollards from the legislature. We’re against it. Four months ago we wrote the university asking it a simple question. It questioned the integrity and honesty of no one. Told them how we had paid taxes on the university for 60 years and this was the first time we had ever even asked for a crumb. What hurt the most was that they never returned the stamped envelope.
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TV is simply wonderful. If there ever were two cocksure strutters they were Leo Durocher with the raucous voice, and Walter Winchell whose are never clean from filthy scandal. They could do no wrong: yet TV took their measurement and they were found wanting and their jobs too. Another one who was found wanting by TV was Herb Shriner from Indiana. He was also dropped last week. The public is pretty fickle.
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December 20, 1956
The woman who used to complain about wokring her fingers to the bone over a hot stove is now complaining of chilblains on her fingers from unwrapping frozen food for her husband’s hurry-up dinner.
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There are some folks in every village that wonder why they are never chosen as judge or clerk of an election. They see the officials during the day chatting and laughing and the pay looks good. If these folks had been a clerk up at Minneota, the town where Val Bjornson was born, they would have had a eye lifter. There were no filings in this December election and the voters were handed a blank ballot. What happened? Well, for instance, the names of 28 different persons were written in for clerk, 33 names were written in for constable, 27 for trustee, 25 for justice of the peace and 10 for assessor. When you remember that the handwriting in this day and age is not on the high plane it was years ago, you can realize what a job it was. When you finished you were entitled to a diploma stating that you were duly and truly qualified for the office of an election clerk.
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We don’t take our auto tires as seriously in Minnesota as they do in some cities, who evidently believe in “Safety First.” If your auto gets stuck in the snow or ice in the cities of Washington, D.C. or Baltimore and it is not equipped with either snow tires or chains, you are hauled into court and fined.
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Next Tuesday is Christmas Day and we wish all our readers a healthy Christmas as well as one free from accidents. The thermometer on Christmas Day last year registered four above zero. Coldest Christmas in Minnesota history was back in 1943 when it was 16 below.
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Tracy is building a new armory building and the mayor or any member of the village council are forbidden to bid on its construction, so saith Atty. General Lord. Many villages overlook this section of the law, but it makes an awful stink in the town when one taxpayer takes the law against the village officials.
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While we all feel the deepest sympathy for the unfortunate Hungarians, just how far can we go? Every time a Russian satellite starts a revolution are we expected to take care of those who flee the country. Keeping this up will eventually lead to war. Are the mothers and father of the U.S. willing to send their sons to Europe to die for those people, some of whom started the revolution because it gave the a chance to get to America? We had a casualty list of 136,000 in Korea. What will it be if we entere the battle arena of Europe? Stop, Look, Listen, and Think.
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Pipestone business men are investigating the possibility of turning the old Indian school buildings into a school for Hungarian scholars. Have not heard how they came out.
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Don’t worry about the fighting sprit in Minnesota. It is just as active as it was in the Civil War. It took all the police force that Shakopee had, aided by the state highway patrol to avert a battle recently between teen agers from Edina and Hopkins vs. Shakopee and Chaska. It was not going to be a kid glove affair. The youngsters, a few girls, were armed with chains, hoses, wooden clubs, iron pipes, switchblade knives, etc. The droups were evidently to meet in the baseball park where the battled was to have been fought. We seem to live in a precocious age, don’t we?
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Up at Glenwood they have trouble with the fish holes freezing over, making the fishermen chop them out each morning. One guy said he had a sure remedty. He kept a piece of stove pipe dangling in the water when he left. In the morning he threw in a cup of alcohol in the pipe and threw in a lighted match. That’s as far as we read. Ever hear of a Skandinavian throwing a cup of alcohol in the lake?
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Here’s something odd. A. Rambeck, sheriff of Pennington county for 22 years, resigned his job and went back to running a locomotive on the Soo line. Don’t blame him. Locomotive engineers get more pay than two bankers.
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Here’s news. A farmer near Blue Earth did not like the award given him by the State Highway appraisers and sued the state. The appraisers gave him $2,492 for three acres of land and damages. He asked for more. Some of his witnesses claimed he had $8,000 coming. A jury of level headed farmers gave him $2,000, four hundred and ninety-two less than the appraisers. Don’t often happen.
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The high mark in vandalism this year occurred at Fairmont, where a vandal and his axe did $13,185 damages to the high school. It seems that only one person was involved and it has not yet been decided whether it was adult delinquency or juvenile delinquency, but the taxpayers pay the bill.
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Rural fire protection is always a problem, both to the village and to the farmer. Ruthon has a new plan. Over there the farmers organized a Ruthton rural Fire Dept. It works with the Ruthton Fire Dept. Membership dues for one farm, $50. A charge of $150 will be made if the fire dept. is called to a fire of a non-member.
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The Cottonwood county fair netted $156 this year: not much, considering the time and effort spent by so many.
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The Reader’s Digest is now up to 232 pages, too much. The Digest is losing its girlish figure. Stout people often lose their popularity. Never get so big you’re awkward.
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Our first Christmas card read “Frohe Weihnachten und ein gluckliches Neues Jahr” and we were glad to get it. It came from Ralph Rickgarn, former 4-H leader in Murray county who is with the army in Germany. Ralph has been making the best of his stay and has visited Austria, Switzerland, France, England, etc. and flew with the air force to Madrid. He plans on being home next June. Good luck, Ralph.
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Twenty-five years ago John Rupp made an artificial pond on his farm south of Westbrook. The water started receding this year, says the Sentinel, and the son Russell Rupp has been repairing the dam. There was a strata of sand in the first dam. It is thought this was to blame for the leakage, so Russell had the sand dug out and the cavity filled with good tough clay, which he thinks will hold the water. He is opening the lake to the public, which is dangerous in this day and age as he will be liable for every accident that occurs. You know how people are.
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Did you see where the three leading conservationists of Des Moines, Iowa were arrested and fined for violating the game and fish laws. Those men who have spoken on Conservation in most of the large cities were caught. Nothing new about that. There are few fishermen or hunters that have not broken or tried to break the laws. Man treats the game and fish laws the same as the auto law. If he backs up, scratches the other fellow’s fenders, he looks around. If no one saw him, he’s off in a jiffy. We are not referring to you, mister, you would not violate these laws for the world. The men were charged with bringing in too many ducks from Canada. Biggest shipment of illegal ducks we can remember was at Lakefield when Sam Fullerton was enforcement agent. Heron Lake, the lake was the Mecca for all hunters. This fellow was hitting for the Iowa line with two wagon loads of ducks. His name, well you wouldn’t know him anyway.
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The first Christmas tree in the village in which we live was a medium size ash tree brough from Bear Lake by Henry Uebersetzig and Matt Lang. That was back in 1883. There were no electric lights, no evergreens, no colored candles, no tinsel. So the young folks up and had stringing parties, there must be some of you still living who remember them. They would string popcorn and cranberries on wrapping cord. Most the gifts were felt boots, underwear, socks, mittens, etc. and the only orange of the year. We expected little, and verily we were not disappointed. But we got a lot of entertainment out of the party just the same.
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December 27, 1956
Up at Fergus Falls last Friday a farmer was sentenced to 90 days in jail for stealing a kid’s hand sled. At Minneapolis a 72 year old man was given a ninety day sentence for killing a woman in an auto accident. Because of his advanced age he was not able to stand conditions at the work house so Judge Bergin fined him $100 and took away his drivers license. Justice is not only blind in Minnesota but dumb as well.
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We change our opinions like the wind these days. A month ago this country went wild over the Hungarians. Ask them today and you’ll find 90 percent not so wild. They are all willing to send the Hungarians all the food and clothes they need, but they have begun to realize that for every Hungarian that comes here a good American will lose his job.
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You’ll have to admit that any organization that is able to borrow $3,450,000.00 is what you would call a going concern, that is just what the Nobles-Murray R.E.A. is. No other concern in the two counties has as many patrons. It enters into nearly every home and barn. In Genesis you read “An God said let there be light and there was Light” and that’s just what the R.E.A. has done to the two counties. It is the most essential auxiliary on the farm today. The company started in Nobles county back in 1936. A group of Murray county farmers asked to join in 1937 and they were admitted. Like every other innovation for the betterment of the human race it was bitterly fought in some sections of the county. Many, however, who did the most objecting changed face and started clamoring for light. At the present time there are 1,130 farms in Murray county and with the exception of about a hundred all are patrons of the R.E.A. The organization became of age a week or so ago. Frank Keller of Slayton has been president for the last three years and has been doing a good job. The other Murray county director is Henry Anderson of Chanarambie twp., a resident here for fifty-five years. He is a conservative with a sprinkling of liberal ideas and ideals, a good farmer and a good citizen. We served with Frank Keller and his father too on the Murray county fair board and we know that Frank has put a lot of pep and energy into the R.E.A. This is one concern that we need as much as we do sunshine or rain. We must remember that all the success of the organization is not due to the officials. We must admit the real backbone is still the farmer who pays his bills promptly.
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Paper says, “Fulda will not have a baseball team next year.” Don’t you believe it. Ray Knox and the Doc Rewalt lad with that awful looking glove founded baseball in Fulda in the dim ages and it’s going to remain: see if we’re not right.
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Here we are past 84 and still learning. Last week we wanted to add a few lines to our Christmas cards but found out we were entering a new world. The Christmas card business is the “Woman’s realm,” and man can go through the intricacies of a couple of address books with their changes of names and addresses. We gave up, as usual, but we do want to thank those folks who sent not only their kindly greeting but remembrances for Christmas in 1956.
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See where Blue Earth is giving night school typing for adults. Good idea but they should start on spelling classes first. A mistake in a typewritten letter sticks out like a sore thumb. When you write with pen and ink and are not sure, you can just huddle the letters together.
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If you are going to have a New Year’s party, add an extra quart of Ginger Ale or Seven Up to that bowl of punch. Some one may kick over the traces, get a wee drop too much and get into an accident on the way home and you, Mr. Host, remember are liable for injuries or damages: you know how people are in this day and age. An old gent who lived 140 miles north of here was asked to a birthday party on the next farm. On the way home, was in the staggering stage, was wearing a dark suit and was hit by a car. The children are suing for damages.
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Everyone is congratulating Ivanhoe voters; last week they voted for a $450,000 school. Ivanhoe is the county seat in Lincoln county and has been without a doctor for a couple of years. Looks as if the citizens of the village have at last found the community spirit. With a new school and a new hospital Ivanhoe is going places.
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To the folks who read this column a happy and prosperous coming year, and to them that don’t read it, we wish them the same.
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We read last week and no doubt you did too of a hundred people being poisoned by eating contaminated frozen turkey meat. The next day we noticed ads in the city dailies, “Fresh Turkeys, Fresh Chickens,” etc. Last week we also saw an item where 1,500 of frozen chicken meat from Alabama had been seized in Minneapolis for being unfit for human consumption. Looks like the day is coming when every turkey will have to bear the purple stamp of the U.S. government. Once you get the public against frozen poultry it will almost be a death blow to the industry.
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Funny, isn’t it, that a nation that cannot stand for bull fights can shout with glee at pro football, the most brutal sport on earth. The president of the association says, “Folks are wrong when they say it is cruel and brutal.” What else can he say? Mr. Bell is not in the angel class yet. He’s in favor of mayhem under the guise of game that people cheer. They did that in the old Roman days when men fought with iron gloves with spikes three inches long.
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From Cedric Adams’ column in Minneapolis Star, Dec. 18th:
“The annual Christmas gift campaign for our mentally retarded always produces some outstanding examples of true giving. The pupils of district 81 near Lake Wilson, which is one of the few remaining county schools in our area, packed a huge Christmas box the other day and sent it to the residents at Cambridge state school and hospital. We want to thank Esther Shafer, the teacher, and all the students. Now for the kicker: Total enrollment of the school is--seven. And may we add a little reminder. You have until Dec. 20 to add your own gift for our mentally retarded. By adding a boy or a girl, a man or a woman from one of our institutions to your Christmas list, you can get the same kind of kick these kids of Esther’s got when they gave. The kind of gift is your own choosing, simply label it with the name of the item, whether it’s for a boy, a girl or an adult man or woman.”
Here are the names of the pupils, James Bandstra, Robert Manderscheid, Eddie Joe O’Hearn, Verla Bandstra, Donald Bandstra, Lynette Taylor and Mary Bandstra. Ages range from 13 to 6. This little school also received national recognition back in 1940 from the National Foundation for aiding the Navajo Indians at Santa Fe, New Mexico. At their Christmas party on December 18, the total receipts were $5 which was sent to Cambridge. Sometimes a small light casts beams a long way. We also noticed the Lake Wilson Brownie troop, No. 22, was cited in the George Grim column for gifts to the Santa Claus Anonymous.
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