HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 1944-05-25, Page 6'NAGE a
THE CLINTON NEWS -RECORD.
U
THURS., MAY 25Th, 1944
Waste Paper is A Vital War
Material — Please Save
When "D" day, comes .and the land'' -•I
Ing barges grate on the shores of
what Hitler fondly hoped 'would some.
day - be "Iiia Europe'', backing up the
Allied Nations' forces will be waste'-
paper. The cardboard cartons you
gave>in your basement; 'those old'
piles of magazines; the old ledgers
and business records that are collect-
ing' dust in your files, can all play an.
important part. The empty cigarette
box you throw in the fireplace can be
transformed for ''ammunition which
may open up a vital hole in the enemy
line.
In England, it's against the law to
throw' away .a street car transfer.
Easily 90 per cent of all waste paper
or paperboard is salvaged there, And
if Canadians would save just a frac-I
tion of what they now discard, the
20,000 tons, now vitally needed for
war work each month would be a '
"push over".
At' least, that's how Charles La -
rFerle, National Director of the Sal-
vage Campaign feels about it. '
"Look," said Mr. LaFerle in a re-
cent interview. "Shortage of waste
paper may jeopardize our whole war
effort. Mills are operating from hand
to mouth. They require 20,000 tons!
of waste paper every month. Sal-
vage
•and collection of this paper is
an essential part of the war effort
on the home front.
"You see," he went on, "not long
ago we all regarded a paper box as
just a container. But it is changed
now. The armed forces uses then to
be thrown over -board for landing
operations, floating to shore or sink-
ing to the bottom to be recovered atl
low tide. 'They provide protection for
medical kits, blood plasma, emergency
rations, gas masks and for a hundred
other uses. We even have paper para-
chutes to carry precious foods and
supplies for isolated men and units.
"When 'D' Day comes and our
paratroops land on enemy soil, we've
got to feed 'em, keep 'em supplied
with food, ammunition, maybe even
drinking water. Most of the stuff will
be dropped in paper containers, with
paper parachutes.
"The shortage is serious, for paper
has gone to war now," he said.
V
THE SAILOR
By Audrey Alexandra Brown
"Sailor, home from the sea,
Where did you voyage last with your
helm -a -lee
And your white wake foaming free?
Did you round the shining Coasts of
Barbary
Where grows the golden tree
And the silver fountain springs im-
mortally,—
Sailor, home from the sea?"
"Not there went we."
"Sailor, home from the sea,
Did you steer north where grimly,
terribly,
The great bergs thunder 'free
In violet, emerald and, blue immen-
sity;
Where the red sun hangs at mid-
night, where there be
The solitude that freeze eternally, --
Sailor, home from the sea?"
"Not there went we,"
We have been out on convoy; sixty -
and -three
Squat little stalwart, iron ships had
we,
Crammed with sugar .and tea.
And flour and meat for hungry
Chriatendie.
0' they'll sit down to supper merrily
In Willesden, Harlesden, Holborn,
Bermondsey,
Because we're home fromthe sea!"
— —V
SCOUTS FEED FAMINE VICTIMS
During the terrible famine in the
state of Bengal in Lydia, a group of
Boy Scouts from a neighbouring
state ran a food kitchen, feedin;•.
from 300 to 600 people daily. An 11
year old Wolf Cub took on the job of
feeding the babies.
V
Boy Scouts and' Girl Guides of
Halifax, got together in a week's
drive to salvage waste paper. At the
end of ahe week 70 tons had been col-
lected. Half, of this amount was col-
lected' in one day.
Because of the absence of His Ex-
cellency the Governor-General, Chief
Scout for Canada, in the West, the
annual meeting of the Boy Scouts
Association has been postponed until
Tuesday, June 13th in Ottawa.
"Another, way to measure the dura•
Con of Summer," avers the Port Ar-
thur News -Chronicle, "is from fur-
nace fire to furnace fire." On that
basis, a pitiful brief Summer!
Indians Developed, Sign
w Language for Talking
Thg greet .treeless a Anse
s
tri g e chin • : westward from the :Misr
souri,river to the Rockies and south-
ward from the Fraser river to, the
Rio Grande pro\Tided a spacious
stage for the development offree-
arm signaling • between Indians.
Tribes of many stocks roamed, the
broad flat lands, waged wars; spread
over new territory. A universal"
means of inter -communication was
needed.
, For inter -tribal messages the hand
served the need .better tha the
tongue. Sign language enabled In-
dians even at the geographic ex-
tremes of the region to talk with
one another. ' A Sioux and a Co-
manche could discuss their affairs
with the greatest of ease. Kiowas,
Cheyennes and Crows were most
adept,made their silent meetings
occasions of grace as well as greet-
ing.
Signs were made with one hand or
both. Originally they required close
reference to the shape, habit or bur-'
pose of the subject matter. In time
they advanced from the picture idea
to fixed symbolism. The "vocabu-
lary" was enriched with local varia-
tions of its basic gestures until it
was equal to the making of a treaty,
the recital of myths and legends,
and the telling of hunting exploits
and brave deeds.
War Spurs So. American
Drug Industry Expansion
The war has led the other Ameri-
cas to expand their drug and medi-
cine
edicine manufacturing industries.
With imports from Europe and the
United States reduced by the ship-
ping shortage, many of these coun-
tries are processing their own raw
materials, to supply the needs of
their own citizens.
Brazil has established its own
shark liver oil industry, to produce
health -giving vitamins formerly ob-
tained principally from cod liver oil
from Norway. Bolivia and Peru
have factories for making quinine
to fight malaria, out of the cinchona
bark native to their Andean slopes.
Chile has a new plant to dry digi-
talis. Nearly all the countries to
the south now have some medicine
factories.
The first Brazilian mill to process
shark livers was started by the state
of Sao Paulo early in 1943. Pre-
viously the oil had been extracted
by fishermen using crude methods.
With the new mill, quality has Im-
proved rapidly. Shark livers are
put in brine solution. The livers are
then cut into chunks and the chunks
ground into paste. This is put un-
der pressure and high temperature.
The oil is bottled and sent to Sao
Paulo, and there filtered through
wool to remove stearine, and blend-
ed to maintain at least 12,000 units
per gram of vitamin A. •
Coat•Care
If you value your coat, always
unbutton it before you sit down be-
cause there is a strain on the seams
and buttons. And, never sit if your
coat is wet. When sitting, fold your
coat neatly and place on your lap.
Form the habit of always hanging
your coat up rather than throwing
it across a chair or on the bed. A
good sturdy wood hanger is recom-
mended. Your closet should be not
too crowded with clothes and by
all means have proper ventilation.
Open closet doors at night, if no
other way has been provided for air
and light.
Your coat can be kept new and
alive looking by brushing it after
every wearing, but never brush coat
when wet. Zip the zipper and button
the buttons—for shape, you know.
Always brush with the pile. A soft
brush is best except for around the
collar and pockets where you will
need a whisk broom.
Shoemakers Prosper
Shoemakers in the other Ameri-
cas—like those in the United States
—have achieved new production rec-
ords under war -time stimulus to
home manufacturing and markets.
The other Americas are using more
of their raw materials in domestic
plants. Loss of imported shoes and
preoccupation of British and North
American manufacturers with war
orders have contributed to expan-
sion of shoe production in Latin
Anmerica. Some export trade has
been developed, particularly by Ar-
gentina and Mexico, but the bulk of
the expansion in output is for do-
mestic consumption. In 1942, shoe
production in Latin America rose
to a record total of about 73,300,000
pairs, according to figures of the
United States department of com-
merce. This compares with 62,500,-
000 pairs in 1941 and 58,500,000 in
1940.
Sulphur Center
Volcanic Mt. Etna is associated
with sulphur, the fiery mineral over
which Sicily had a virtual world mo-
nopoly until the 20th century intro-
duced American sulphur from Tex-
as and Louisiana to the chemical
market. Inn pre-war- years Sicily's
output helped Italy hold second
place in sulphur production. About
64 per cent of the Italian total,came
from Sicilian- mines. A hundred
mines, more or less, were Worked
in the triangle of south-central Sic-
ily enclosed between Porto Empedo-
cle, Licata, and Enna. Brimstone
blasted from subterranean galleries
was refined in giant, furnaces, the
sulphur being melted out and cast
into solid golden blocks.
Canals Used With Rai'ls
a' For Transport' Supremacy;
More than a century ago -on July -
4, ,1828—two men turned spadest
which started a rivalry between
railroads and canals. President
John QuincyAdams, broke ground
fore the Chesapeake and'Ohio canal,
and Charles',Terrell of Carrollton
began construction' of the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad. • The rivalry con,
tinned until the outbreak of. World
War I,
Canal traffic reached its peak in
the 1850s, declined when the rail-
roads crisscrossed the country. Ca-'
nal, transportation was cheap, but it
was also slow, and railroads made
their bid for business with the new
element of speed.
In 1917 pressure on rail facilities,
by troops and war supplies revived
canal transportation as "a natural
supplement to railroads. But the.
revival was short-lived. Post-war
development of motor transport and
the rapid extension of motor high
ways diverted public interest in ca-
nals.
Tie current World war has given
canals new life. Rail lines are
jammed. Troop trains are tailed
by flatcars loaded with jeeps and
landing barges. Freight trains bulge
with food and clothing, iron and
steel and coal, materials for build-
ing munitions plants and plane fac-
tories, timber from forests and
scrap from the four corners of the
United States. Motor transportation
is hampered by spotty gas short-
ages.
King's Fashionable Estate
Made a Victory Garden
King George's "Victory Garden"
was harvested after a very suc-
cessful season.
The "garden" was on his estate at
Sandringham, Norfolk, where, as all
over Britain, every available acre
has been converted to farmland.
The golf course,• for instance, was
plowed up for a large crop of oats;
six acres of lawn in front of the
house itself were under a crop of
rye; and where brightly colored
flowers once filled ornamental beds,
beets and parsnips now grow.
Thanks to comprehensive plan-
ning, carried out with the help of the
Norfolk agricultural committee, the
king's estate showed heavy yields:
potatoes gave up to 12 tons an acre
and wheat 60 to 70 bushels an acre.
Altogether, 1,433 acres were
farmed, of which 977 werelunder the
plow; of these 977, some 539 were
added after the war started. Most
impressive section of the newly
plowed land was the 476 acres which
have been reclaimed from the Sand-
ringham marshes. Reclamation has
involved extensive ditching and
draining operations, but the land is
now producing potatoes, peas, beans,
mustard, wheat and oats.
Wages Rise
An impartial examination of fig-
ures compiled by the bureau of la-
bor statistics shows that since Au-
gust, 1939, average weekly wages
of workers in manufacturing estab-
lishments throughout the country
have gone up 82.4 per cent. Living
costs in this period (August, 1939,
to June, 1943) have increased less
than 27 per cent. In other words,
the rate of increase in wages has
been three times as great as the
rate of increase in the cost of living.
In the past two years, average
weekly earnings of manufacturing
employees have increased nearly 54
per cent—from $28.08 in April, 1941,
to $43.35 in June, 1943. Only about
half of this gain was due to over-
time payments. While average
weekly earnings increased 54 per
cent, hours worked per week in-
creased only 11.5 per cent, the num-
ber of hours for these two periods
being 40.0 and 45.2 respectively.
Lacks Fresh Water
Enriched by the salt waters that
brought commerce to her ports in
earlier history, modern Sicily has
been impoverished because of lack
of life-giving fresh water. Winter
floods and summer drouths are
farming hazards. Even the largest
river, the Simeto curling southeast
around Mt. Etna across the Catania
plain, cannot be counted on for year-
round navigation. The Anapo, con-
sidered remarkable because it usu-
ally survives the summer with
enough water for rowboats, is also
an oddity for its marshes of papyrus,
the grass that in Egypt gave men
paper and' paper's name. Papyrus
grows wild nowheile else in Europe.
Sicily's yearly thirst has been
blamed for the island's poverty and
attendant evils, such'as brigandage
and the outlaw gangs of the secret
Mafia organization, as well as the
heavy emigration.
't
Ice Cream Ingredients
Cream, milk, milk solids, sugar,
and sometimes eggs, form the basis
of all ice cream. Vanilla, chbco-
late, berries, fruits, and nuts are
added as flavors. The typical pro-
portion of ingredients in the basic
"mix" is about this ratio: 80 per
cent cream and milk products, 15
per cent sugar, 4.5 per cent flavor,
0.5 . per cent stabilizer. A small
amount of edible stabilizer is some-
times included by ice cream manu-
facturers to prevent the formation
of gritty ice crystals. Pure food
gelatin is often used for this pur-
pose. The solids content of the mix
ranges as follows: milk fat, 10 to 14
per cent'; milk -solids -not -fat, 10 to. 11
per cent; sugar, 12tto 15 per cent;
edible stabilizer, 0.2 to 0.5 per cent.
Government Units Plan '
e Postwar Reconstruction
State and local governmental units
are in position to move swiftly in
preparing' to° meet postwar recon-
struction and development problems
as a result of planning legislation
adopted by most ; of the 44 state
legislatures meeting this year.,
Review of this leislation'ind
indicates
the great impetus the war.has
given
efforts of public 'officials to deter-
mine what future problems are in
store for them and to lay plans for
solving the problems.
The legislation set up new state
planning commissions or revitalized
existing agencies,' and charged there
with -the task of preparing for the
future; appropriations were granted
in many instances to help the com-
missions carry out their work. Local
governments were given authority to
set up postwar reserve funds, draw
up master plans for long-term proj-
ects, operate agencies for special
projects, and co-operate with other
communities in joint planning enter-
prises.
Alabama, California, Georgia, Illi-
nois, .Indiana, Missouri and Utah
created new postwar planning
boards to take over duties and ex-
pand study of future problems for-
merly done by state planning com-
missions.
First War Food Agency
Earned $60,000,000 Profit
A study of the United States food
administration in World War I
shows that this war agency, estab-
lished to aid orderly marketing of
grain and flour earned a profit of
$60,000,000 and employed about 11,-
000
1;000 persons to carry out its task.
Principal key positions were filled
by volunteer workers and at the
height of its activities on July 15,
1918, only four persons were car-
ried on the payroll of the food ad-
ministration at a salary in excess
of $5,000 annually.
The food administration itself, ex-
clusive of the various boards, had
only 1,338 paid employees in Wash-
ington and 1,583 in the field. The
average Washington salary was
$1,274, while field salaries averaged
only $988,56.
Total expenditures of the food ad-
ministration amounted to $7,862,669,-
000 which included the cost of the
temporary buildings erected to
house its activities. Of that amount,
only $3,793,000 was paid out for sal-
aries to both permanent and tem-
porary employees. The total volume
of purchases of all supplies made by
the food administration during its
existence aggregated more than
$7,250,000,000.
Size of Vermont
Crowded Sicily is about the size
of Vermont but has more than ten
times as many inhabitants. Two of
Italy's largest cities are Sicilian.
Palermo, the capital, normally with
more than 400,000 people, ranks
sixth on the city roster,'and Catania,
with about a quarter -million, ranks
11th. The port of Messina, however,
with fewer than 195,000 people, is
one of Italy's most important ports
because of its situation at the Sicil-
ia side of the ferry link with Italy.
Of all the seaside cities that sur-
round the island's thinly peopled
mountain core, none has had a more
varied history than Syracuse. Now
a port of some 50,000 inhabitants,
in the days of Sicily's Grecian glory
this was Europe's largest city, with
more than a million inhabitants.
•
Volcano a Barometer
An oddity is the fact that Mt.
Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius, Eu-
rope's
urope's most active volcanoes, lie in
a direct line. No doubt this geo-
logic axis was formed by some pre-
historic upheaval and is responsible
for the many ruinous earthquakes,
tidal waves and eruptions with which
southern Italy and Sicily have been
visited throughout history.
Mariners have used Stromboli for
thousands of years as a lighthouse
and barometer. By judging the
"plume" above the crater, sailors
predicted changes of temperature
and wind. Probably for this reason
the isle was regarded as the abode
of Aeolus, god of the winds. It
was here that Ulysses stopped and
asked Aeolus to bind in a great bag
all the "bad winds."
Onion Harvest
When three-quarters of the tops of
onions have broken over, many com-
mercial growers break over the rest
themselves. Then as soon as the
tops begin to dry, the onions are
pulled and placed in windrows to
cure. Later they are bagged or
crated and placed near a building
or at the edge of the field to finish
drying; and given some protection
against rain. When the onions are
+sufficiently cured for storing, the
tops may be removed and the onions
placed in crates or in large -mesh
bags which allow free circulation of
air.
Perishable Meats
It is well to keep in mind when
purchasing any of the variety meats
—liver, heart, kidneys, tongue and
sweetbreads—that they are very
perishable. Buy just enough for the
immediate day's use and keep the
meat cold until you are ready to
cook it. If you are so fortunate as
to have a large freezing compart-
ment in your refrigerator, these
meats can be purchased in quantity
and kept frozen for .almost a week.
However, they must be used as soon
as they are removed from the freez-
ing compartment.
SunOperates to Give
Life to Dead Plants
Blacked -out overseas radio and
stuttering telegraph and teletype
machines recently gave another
demonstration of the long arm of the
-sun reaching across 9p million miles
of space into man's everyday , af-
fairs. "Sun spots" were credited
With the disturbances.
Such thematic m demonstrations of
the sun's power come only now and
then, sometimes unseen, sometimes
along with the flashing colored lights
of the aurora. But day in and day
out, as everyone knows but often for-
gets, the stn has completely dom-
inated the earth and its life'' for
some hundreds of millions of years.
It is the earth's lighting plant, its
heating system, and its power
source. It dishes up .all weather.
With its gravitational pull -as real
as if it depended on gigantic steel
cables -the sun holds the earth cap-
tive and swings it •along its oval
path, clocking off the years.
Most vital, and at the same tirne
one of the most mysterious effects
of the distant sun on the earth id
the process by which sunlight is
transformed into food. This is
known as photosynthesis: "light -put -
together." When sunlight shines on
the green coloring matter in plant
leaves and in the tiny floating algae
of the sea it operates in some magic
way to turn "dead" water and other
chemical compounds into "living"
food. - Since all animalslive on
plants or on other plant -sustained
animals, sunlight is literally manna
from heaven which feeds all living
things.
•
•
Army's Smoke Generator
Throws Protecting Screen
The army's new smoke generator
proved a lifesaver in the invasion of
Sicily, according to a statement by
Maj. Gen. William N. Porter, chief
of the army chemical warfare serv-
ice.
"Smoke is our greatest protective
weapon," General Porter said. "It
is the greatest lifesaver of our troops
and was responsible for the small
number of casualties in Sicily where
it was used."
This is the second time that com-
mendation has been given by the
army to the smoke generator. When
the American forces landed in North
Africa; they were protected by a
pall of dense white smoke that
poured out of these wheeled ma-
chines, completely concealing their
movements, yet of no discomfort to
the troops.
In the early days of the war the
chemical warfare service called on
the national defense research com-
mittee for a smoke generator. It
was not long before a smoke box
was developed. Then a mobile unit
was built. It was the successful
tests of this unit in the Schoharie
valley that led the army to adopting
it as an essential protective ma-
chine for its troops.
Crickets Peek Indoors
Aa the cool nights of early Sep-
tember warn him of the approach of
winter, the cricket leaves the Vic-
tory garden and begins to look for
more protected quarters. For a
while he may be satisfied with such
shelter as your garden compost heap
provides, but when crickets are
very numerous, as they are this
year, many often find their way into
the house.
Both the common black field crick-
ets and the gray European house
cricket are harmful household pests.
The gray cricket is not as common
as the black cricket, being limited
out-of-doors to garbage dumps. They
differ somewhat in their general eat-
ing habits, but both will eat holes
in woolens and linens as well as in
starched articles. In addition, their
incessant chirping at night soon be-
comes a distracting nuisance. Check
your cellar doors and windows for
possible points of entry. '
Develop Petroleum
British interests have taken ac-
tive part in developments since
1859 that have brought world petro-
leum production to two billion bar-
rels annually. Refineries and ports
have been built on the banks of the
Thames and the Bristol Channel to
receive crude oil from the United
States, Venezuela, Trinidad, Iran,
Iraq, Bahrein, Burma and the Neth-
erlands Indies. Despite all these im-
portations, oil production from
shales has been continued and en-
couraged in Scotland. When shales
yielding 80 gallons of oil to the ton
could be found, distillation was prof-
itable. Since 1923, however, produc-
tion has been continued by aid of
government subsidies from shales
yielding as little as 20 gallons to a
ton.
Fowl Paralysis
Long a scourge of laying flocks
and the costliest of poultry diseases,
fowl paralysis is indicated by a gray
eye with an irregular pupil, That
is, when a bird' is affected with this
form of disease, the iris or colored
part of a norma] eye is gray and the
pupil is irregular in outline instead
of being evenly oval or well round-
ed. In addition, the eye may be
"fishy" or bulging.
Birds showing this eye condition
should be removed from the flock.
Lame birds that show no foot in-
juries to account for the lameness
should be removed, too, as suspect-
ed carriers of fowl paralysis. Dis-
eased birds may lay for a while,
but they eventually lose weight and
go out of production. If left in the
flock, they endanger other birds.
Bordeaux Busy Part,
French Wine Center
Bordeaux, France's' fourth city,
and third most important port, is
best known to the outside . world as
a wine center, says the National CIe-
ographic society, but it is also im-
portant normally, because 9f its
heavy overseas commerce in various
commodities' and because' of the
prominent part it has played in
French history. ..
Thousands of American doughboys
of the first World war remember
Bordeaux as their landing place. At
Le Verdon, a port at the Atlantic
end of the Gironde estuary ,"which
reaches 60 miles inland to Bordeaux,j
a monument commemorates the,
landing of the first American sol-
dier in 1917. The monument also
recalls the departure from this point'
of Lafayette to help the American
Colonies win their independence in,
1777.
Vineyards surround Bordeaux and
each large vineyard surrounds the
chateau of the owner. Wine cel -i
lars and "wine libraries" in some]
of these chateaux were open to they
public in peacetime.
The flat triangle of land between,
the Atlantic and the Gironde estu-i
ary, the Medoc Peninsula, is the;
primary wine -producing area of the
Bordeaux region. Its.white and red;
wines strive more' for quality than
volume.
Sicily Huge Fortress
States Adopt Legislation
For Aviation Development'
Aviation ,legislation adopted by
more than a dozen states this year
ranged from statutes to• aid" the de-,
velopmeht of airports by municipal-'
ities to provisions for construction oft
flight strips along the nation's high-,
ways, the American Society of Plan-:
ning officers reported,
Amongthe states makingprovi-
sions
p
sions for development of„ airports,
by cities and counties were Minne-
sota, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma
and Wisconsin. Seven states—Ne-
braska, braska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ore-
gon, Rhode Island, Texas and Wy-
oming — authorized state co-opera-
tion with the federal government in.,
construction and maintenance ofr
flight strips along highways, with.
the various state highway depart-:
ments in charge.
Minnesota took the lead in devel-
oping a state system of municipal
airports, the legislature incorporat-
ing into -the state aeronautics code
the comprehensive airport zoning,
provisions of the model zoning act,
prepared by the Civil Aeronautics.
commission; setting up a public cor-
poration known as the "Metropolitan
Airport commission” to develop.
airports for Minneapolis and St.
Paul; extending provisions of the.
Metropolitan Airport act, which set
up the Twin Cities airport coin,.
mission, to cover the development
and control of municipal airports in •
all parts of the state; contributing
one million dollars toward munici,
pal airport development.
Blocking Mediterranean
Sicily, poised at the toe of the
Italian boot, is "the football of the,
Mediterranean"—throughout history
it has been kicked around by more,
conquerors than most other areas of,
like size. A partial list of rulers of
the island includes Greek tyrants,'
Roman Caesars, Byzantine emper-
ors, Saracen rulers, Norman kings,
and in modern times a dizzying
succession of Spanish, French, Aus-
trian, and British sovereigns before'
Garibaldi gathered it into Italy's
arms in 1860.
Sicily's area of 9,926 square miles
makes it the largest island in the
Mediterranean; its situation has
made it often the most important
as well. This three -cornered moun-
tainous chunk of earth, seething with
volcanic unrest, almost plugs up the
central bottleneck of the Mediterra-
nean. Africa lies only 90 miles to
the southwest across the sea's Si-
cilian Narrows. Europe lies only
two miles to the east across the
Strait of Messina. Traffic or trag-
edy originating in either half of the
sea has paid toll to or taken toll of
Sicily as it passed, and scarcely an
event of Mediterranean history has
left this hub island untouched.
Ship's Bells
The custom of ship's bells started,
apparently, with the use of a half-
hour glass. The man on watch would
turn over the hour glass at the end
of his first half-hour and ring the
bell once. This was repeated at
half-hour intervals, with an addition-
al bell stroke each time, until he
rang eight bells at the end of four
hours, signaling the completion of
his watch.
It is "eight bells" usually at the
end of each of the six watches—
ending at 12 midnight, 4 a. m., 8
a. m., 12 noon, 4 p. m. and 8 p. m.;
"one bell" indicates a half-hour lat-
er, "two bells" one hour, etc. The
hourglass has long since been out
of date but bells still are used.
To complicate things, the hours of
men on watch occasionally vary.
There are two "dog " watches" of
two hours each between 4 and 8
p. m. and Scandinavian ships have
a different breakdown of the time
of the watch.
Land of Farms
While Sicily is a land of farms,
the majority of the four million
Sicilians are village, town and city
dwellers. Farmers sublease small
strips of land from the agents of
owners, live in the nearest commu-
nity, and drive to the fields in don-
key carts the wheels of which fit
the ruts of Roman chariots. This
system of absentee ownership, by
which an estimated 200 families
were able to own one-sixth of the is-
land's area, has created such prob-
lems of poverty thats the large es-
tates have been threatened with con-
fiscation and redistribution to the
men who work them.
Early Copper King
Marcus Daly (1841-1900) miner
and capitalist, born in Ireland, mi-
grated to this country with his par-
ents at the age of 15. Starting as a
pick and shovel man in western
mines he soon rose to expert, dis-
covered rich ore deposits in Butte,
Mont., made a fortune in the Ana-
conda copper mines a few miles
d became the most e -
away, an power-
ful
o w x
ful political leader in the state, al-
though he never sought public office
for himself._
In 1872 he married Margaret
Evans, established his home on one
of the finest ranches in the West,
and, as a hobby, raised race horses.
Reflects Red Light
Most green vegetation reflects in-
visible infra -red light; orthodox
paint does not. A military target
blended into the landscape by the'.
artful use of green paint would not
escape detection by the infra -red
aerial camera, because the painted
surfaces would stand out in marked
contrast to foliage, black against
white in photographs •
Metal -Protective Finishes
Tested in New Technique.
Through the use of a new testing
technique which makes use of ex-
tremely thin iron foil, an indication.
of the value of metal -protective fm-.
ishes under severe conditions fre...
quently encountered in practice can•
now be had in a matter of days in
comparison with months for ordi•,.
nary exposure tests.
This new technique involves the -
use of thin, uniform films of paint,
applied to small sheets of iron foil•
about one two -thousandths of an inch
thick—approximately one-eighth the
thickness of the paper on which thia.
is printed. The film' of finish to be
tested is about one -thousandth of an
inch in thickness.
To facilitate handling and obser-
vation, the thin iron foil is attached -
by a colorless resin to a glass micro-.
scope slide—one inch by three inched
—after which a thin film of the paint
to be tested is brushed on the upper
surface of the metal foil.
These tiny test panels are then.
exposed to a carefully controlled,
humid atmosphere in the laboratory,
which results in rapid rusting of
the metal foil underneath the thin
paint film in much the same way
that painted structural steel would
ultimately rust under actual condi-
tions of service. The time that
elapses before visible rust spots de-
velop on the iron foil gives an indi-
cation of the degree of protection,
afforded by the paint being tested.
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, Massachusetts' skinny
arm crooked out into the Atlantic
ocean, was named for the fish which
swarm its, surrounding waters by
the English voyager, Bartholomew
-
Gosnold, when he arrived there in ,
the spring of 1602. In 1620 the -
Mayflower Pilgrims sighted a fine •
harbor and temporarily landed at.
what now is Provincetown. This.:
village, to which both Nature and
man bent their best efforts to make •
quaint and colorful, rests on a curi-
ous sand -spit below which no bed-
rock ever has been found. The 65-..
mile length of the peninsula -cape is.:
sandy and barren and its inhabitants.,
look to the sea for their living.
A sea -level canal to shorten the—
trip from Boston to Long Island
sound was cut through from Cape- •
Cod bay to Buzzards bay in 1909.
Completed in 1914, it was deepened:,
and widened some 20 years later,
•
•
•
•
Wool Shrinkage
Since the beginning of the woolen:•,
industry, traditional procedure has
been to estimate wool shrinkage—in,
other words, the difference between.
the weight of the wool in the grease •
at shearing time and the weight aft.
eel -scouring to remove the grease •
and foreign' matter.
For many years the average esti-
mated shrink of much wool has been
64 per cent. However, grower wools..;
tested by one experiment station
have had shrinkages ranging from .,
50 to 60' per cent. For example, the •
experiment station clip has been.
scoured by grade during the past
two years to determine the differ-
ence in shrinkage between grades.
within a band. This wool has had
a shrinkage rang from the low 40s
to 54 per cent for all grades.
Coated With Cellulose
Brightly colored squares of cloth
used to identify army ground equip-
ment and prevent American planes
from attacking their own troops..
are coated with ethyl cellulose.
These patches of cloth, some of them..
only a few feet square, can be seen,
two miles up by fighter planes go-
ing at top speed. The army uses.
•a special ethyl cellulose coating be-
cause tests show it will remain fully
flexible in winter cold' and not get
tacky in summer heat. No other
type of coating tested measured up
to army requirements. The color
Will not run, and it is possible to.
keep the reverse side of the identi-
fica.tidn cloth panel a pure white,
color.