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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1954-11-11, Page 7"Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody . " What's the start of a real "oldie." And until a few years ago everybody complained about rats but nobody did anything really effective about the dirty pests. But with modern weapons much can be done about the rat menace, and this • story of how one Kansas county went about it, taken from the Farm Journal (Philadelphia) . is well worth reading - and thinking about. . Do your neighbor's rats keep reinfesting your farm? You carte stay good friends, and get rid of the Jets, too, if your community follows a rat cllean-up plan like the one used in Harper County, Kan. This appears to be the first county in the U.S. to be in- spected for 'rats, and declared .92.4% rat -free. Even more re- markable is the fact that the eix town dumps in the county were 100% rat -free. Here's how it all got started: County 4-H Club Leader Ken- neth R. Jameson submitted his anti -rat campaign plan to the . County 4-H Council in October, 1953. The Council readily ap- proved' 'the project. ,: * 4, eameson's next move was to sail on town councils, and to stress the need of getting rid of sats in the town dumps. He also /Asked Chamber of Commerce leaders in each town to help rid Mores and hornes of rats. The Harper Chamber of Commerce bought warfarin bait for each business place and plant. Each 4-H club elected a cam- paign chairman, and Jameson visited each of the fourteen elubs during November and De- cember. He divided the county into areas, and assigned areas 'to clubs. Club members then divided 'ithe area among themselves and visited each farm and house- hold to ask: "(a) Are you using warfarin or other rat bat? (b) Dave you noticed any rats? (c) Mmrnm-Monique Van Vooren, young French actress, brings a touch of warmth from Nice, France, to waren you on these chilly, late fall days. She's at Nice for filming of her latest film, "Things Are Getting Hot." Will you use warfarin bait to clean up rats, and do you want us to help put it out? . * * The County Agent's office mixed the warfarin bait (1,800 pounds of it), and sold it to clubs at cost. The clubs sold it for 10 cents a pound profit. They, even checked vacant buildings and vacant faun - steads, then staged a final drive, with re -checks at any home where people had been absent. Finally came the pay-off -- official inspection by a team of experts from the USDA and the State Health Department. Har- per County passed with flying colors! * County Agent Roger Hender- shot wrote the name of every farmer in each township on a piece of paper, and placed the names in a hat, one township at a time. The inspection team - George C. Halazon. Rodent Control Extension specialist from Kansas State College, and Dick Lyness Kansas State Board bf Health - drew out 10% of the names in each township, or 147 out of 1,470. k * * The • team visited .each of these farms and put out a check -bait of freshly rolled oats and can- ned salmon, surrounded with flour, to show rat tracks. Sixty- one stations were placed in towns. Each bait station was in- spected about 36 hours later. * * * Harper County folks cele- brated their liberation from rats with a picnic. The Anthony, Kan., Chamber of Commerce furnished a large plaque for the oustanding 4-H Club, and Jame- son gave plaques to second and third places. * �: * Most of t h e "Rat Awards" were given by Clarke A. Rich- ards of tile Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Any 4-H Club or FFA Chapter in the nation can qualify for and win one of these awards from the Foundation, * * "We give a special award for Outstanding effort by a group," Richards, said," and we were amazed when six (one-half of . the special awards the Founda- tion gave ouf this past year) went to Harper County." "Although we know that the average rat costs a farmer $22 a year, there's no way of know- ing exactly how much we-ve saved," said W. H. Kiser, man- ager of the Anthony Co-op Ele- vator. H * 4' He pointed out that Harper County produces about 2,000 carloads of wheat, and that very little of it will be docked this year for rat damage. r< * * Right now 84 out of 105 coun- ties in Kansas have started rat campaigns modeled on the Har- per County plan. Mr. Rat is really on the run in Kansas. NON-STARTERS Prisoners in one of Australia's biggest prisons near Melbourne, were permitted bicycle races on a track within the jail's pre- cincts. The inmates, with their newly -gained vigour, became more ambitious and applied to the prison governor for per- mission to stage a cross-coutnry race. The request was refused. 10. American lake 55, More expensive 38. Solitary 89. Part of the mouth 20. Formerly 41, Helen of _ ,.,,,,,,,_,-___.........- 21. Genus of herbs Troy's motllec ACROSS 4. Cease 23. Unclose 42, Spoken 5. Musician's 25. Strong' man 43. weight 1, Serpents stick 27, Hated allowance 8. Poor 2 Flower' 23. Girl's name 45. Caliber 8. of disgust clusters 29. TYPO of organ 47, Greek letter a9 disgust 7 Father 31, Crusted dishes 13, In addition 12. Lure 8 Sham 31, l:ae( 1041;1, 19 Chisel -shaped 14, ,l'nfriceeriuent 9, Deet' 14. Claweight spade 16. Apportioned 17. Silkworm 18, Protective garment 19. Aquatic nnimal 20. 'flitter vetch 22. Chant 24, Girl's name 26. $,nendthrift 30, ,Ickes nu 1 ttfuhi on 33.Two-wheeled chariot 34, Waited 30 '•1a.ve 37.'Greek fast focal 40, Tablet 41. Flower 44.accuse 40. Of an era 47. Suggestion 50. Det.!, 51. Fowl 52. City 1n Nevada 53, 13everages 34. Anger 35, whirlpool y y > % : 11, withstand use }' 'l° li '� '\ 16. Three (prefix) 19, Individuals PUZZLE' DOWN 1 Arabian. sleeveless garment tP. Salt $, Pillar 1 2 4 :.4,,,::.;,, 5 6 8 9 i0 11 2 44.4}13 ti14 15•11116k'17 " Wim•"j"• s ` I� r .- 0 21 1.2Z022 2:3 SL`^4t `" • ; : 2>• �4 ,, ' 76 27 28 29 30 34 32 '" 39 N 36 n37 3t3 40 1 42 43 �4?: 44 45 ilk' 50 q.,::, :. 47 5I a 5 49 sz .. 53 54 �. 55 Answer Elsewhere on This Wage Ilints # THE PERFECT WHITE blouse in the perfect blouse fabric -- easy to care for acetate crepe which is rich looking but not sheer. This style has a tiny round collar with bow and inset nylon yoke trimmed with braid. Buttons are rhinestone. Prisoner Predicts Judge's Death • Is it sheer coincidence or is it something beyond our under- standing when someone invokes supernatural justice on another and it comes true? There`d are more things in heaven and earth than dreamed of, Shakes - pear wrote, and its truth is proved every day. An ashen -faced prisoner heard the clerk of the court at the Cape Town Criminal Sessions ask him whether he had any- thing to say before sentence of death was passed. "My Lord, I know that I am innocent, you know that I am in- nocent, and God knows that I am innocent," the prisoner de - dared fervently. "You have been vindictive to me through- " out.- I know' that I will die • but you will die before Ido!" The man's execution was set---! for three weeks ahead, on'a , Monday morning. On the Fri- day morning the prisoner was told that there would be no re- prieve. At two minutes past five the same afternoon. the judge left his 'chambers and boarded a suburban express train to his home, seven miles away. Three minutes later the train piled up two miles out of Cape Town in one of the country's worst train disaster for years - and among those killed was the judge. Was it coincidence - or some- thing more -- that some months later a man was arrested on a charge of murder, convicted, and after being sentenced to death, confessed to the murder for which the other man had already been hanged? "You have been found not guilty of murdering my daugh- ter," James Robert McWilliams told Richard Nash, a middle- aged man, in Michigan. "I know you murdered her, you know it, and God knows it. God does not sleep. Justice will surely overtake you before many days pass," Then the haggard old man walked away. Staring after him, with an oath on his lips, Nash stepped from the pave- ment outside the county court- house - and was struck by a passing taxi and killed, Mrs. Geraldine Wnite, of Can- berra, Australia, a widow aged fifty-six years, had saved every penny she could for ten years to visit her daughter in England. A week before she was due to buy her steamship ticket, she withdrew the money from the bank, foolishly, and the same night every puny was stolen from her room. Embittered by her loss, the woman was told by police that they did not have a clue to work on and that sheer luck would have to be depended on to solve the mystery of the theft. "I wish no one ill luck,' the elderly woman said through her tears, "but he who steals from the or- phan and the widow is condem- nable. He will be punished as surely as the sun will rise on the morrow," The following afternoon police were t ailed to an accident a mile out of the city where a youth had collided with a car while riding on a motor -cycle. "7 know that I am dying," the youth whispered to a police ser- geant, "but I ean't die like this 1 stole Mrs. White's money and bought this bike, God for- give lne." Panic Reigned When Widow's Cat Died Klara Neiderhoefer, an attrac- tive widow of Stuttgart-Cann- stadt was giving a dinner -party for several friends. All was going well until she went to the kitchen toget her master -piece - two dishes gar- nished with salmon salad. Great was her dismay when she discovered that her cat, Pummel, had had an expensive and entirely satisfactory meal off one of the dishes. There she sat, purring happily and wash- ing herself while Frau Nieder- hoefer stared at the remaining dish,. The other was empty and licked c1en. Placing the cul- ..prit:;Outsidde, Frau Niederhoefer hurriedly prepared another fish salad without mentioning any- thing to her guests The evening turned out a huge success. When the last of her guests had gone, she opened the back door to let in Pummel, but Pummel did not come. She lay dead on the step. "Fish. poisoning! W1iat had happened to the guests? Frau Niederhoefer rushed to the tele- phone to inform here guests and recommend t h a t they should meet her immediately at the casualty ward of the near- est hospital for them all to be examined. This they did. When she returned home there was a knock at the back door. It was the p o r t e r, Herr Schultze, who said apologetic- ally: "I only wanted to explain about the cat. Knowing you had a party, I didn't want to disturb you. So I put her on ' the back porch. She was run over by a car." Cali Whistling "The Devil's usic" HOW CROOKS HIDE THEIR LOOT Doctors in granddad's youth used to recommend whistling to the weak -chested saying it was a fine developer of lung -power and a safeguard against con- sumption, Whistling has always been a pretty good test of the state of one's nerves, A run-down, nervy person can rarely produce a sustained whistle, a doctor told 1ne. He added that years ago it was customary when alone in the dark and deserted places. Only very nervous women do this nowadays. In some coalmines whistling is strictly avoided by the min- ers, They believe it foretells disaster. Whistling superstitions are common in many countries. The Arabs, for instance, say that after whistling it takes a man forty days to cleanse his mouth. They call whistling "the devil's music." The world's champion whist- lers are still the natives of Go- mera, an island off the north coast of Africa, Their whistling is used for signalling and can be heard four miles off. No fingers are used and only two or throe notes are employed. One day a sceptical Briton expressed doubts about the ' Hilig whistling power of the natives' and volunteered to let one whistle in his ear. He was deaf for fifteen days afterwards. The ingenuity of the gentry who live outside the law is a never-ending source of interest; and nowhere is this ingenuity seen more clearly than in their choice of hiding places. Brilliant Chang lived in Lime- house and was said to have made a fortune from the sale of drugs in the 1920s before he was sen- tenced and deported to China. He got his supplies from the docks, and the drugs were car: reed ashore in bundles of ship's washing by washer -women who never knew what was hidden in their bundles. Other drug purveyors have used the axle - boxes of railway trucks in which' to hide their wares, or have shaped a packet of drugs, trod it flat, and walked it past the police concealed inside a shoe. The administration of a knock- out drop to a victim's drink is made easy by a capsule hidden under a finger ring, or dangling in full view among the lucky charms attached o a lady's bracelet. Native races are especially adept at hiding places. The earth floor of a Kaffir's hut is trodden so hard that it is im- possible to tell whether anything has been buried there unless water is poured on the floor, when it will soak in more readi- ly in a patch recently dug. Australian bushmen have evolved a very cunning way of hiding from their enemies. They dive into a pool and come slow- ly to the surface with their nos- es under a water lily so that they can breathe while com- pletely hidden. Thieves have been known to hide loot in a stove and set fire to the evidence on the approach of the police; they have packed swag into a hearse and solemn- ly carted it away while the po- lice took off their hats to it; and one enterprising individual, who feared that the police were coming to search his house which was stacked with loot, hurriedly telephoned a furniture deposit- ory and had the whole lot plac- ed in storage. Civilian Taggers In spite of raised eyebrows at Police Headquarters when the plan was first proposed, some sixty-four women and four men wearing police caps, white belie and yellow arm bands are now protecting children in the Bronx from traffic as they cross the streets to school --- and more will be recruited. These civilian, guards render another timely service which calls for special' praise these days. They relieve regular members of the uni- formed force to go about the more arduous police work for which they were specially train- ed and are much more highly paid. Is it not time now for the Police Department to consider the recruitment of some such squads of authorized civilians to tag ears for overtime park- ing? For burly, armed and skill- ed men in uniform to be doing an essentially clerical job is incongruous, to say the least Although the exact figures are not available, a fair percentage of the 2,000 members of the traf- fic division now spend their time playing this little game of tag, all of whom could be better em- ployed protecting us from crime. Civilian taggers would, of course have to be clothed with legal authority to serve summonses and' their salaries would have to be met by increased appro- priations -- or, be t t e r yet, through the proceeds of a city tax on overnight parking. In any case, this would seem to be a relatively easy and inexpen- sive way to put a lot more much-needed policemen on the beat. --> New York Times. MIIOOL LESSON tl,ev, tt, E. Warren, leselt.,n:D, A. Study In 'Values Proverbs 11:27-28; 13:7; 15:1.3- 17; 20:11-12; 22:1-4 Memory Selection: A. good name is rather to be choses than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1. "He that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him." This is illustrated in the lives of many teenagers today. The average age of criminals has been drop- ping of late years until the teen-agers are proving to be the major problem. One cannot get by. Mischief comes upon him and that early. Proverbs have much to say about riches. "Better is iitt!e with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble there- with." Riches ought not to be an end in themselves but a means to an end. A friend who is a successful business says. "I'm going to make all the money I can without jeopardiz- ing my Christian experience so that I can give more and more to send the gospel to those who have never heard." God wants us to be cheerful. "He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." The way to happiness is to turn from sin to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We thus find release from all guilt. As we go on in the way of the Lord- he will give us his Holy Spirit purifying our hearts and strengthening us to be witnesses for him. As we learn more of the riches of his grace our hap- piness will deepen. The way of faith is the way of satisfaction. This makes for happy homes. "Better is a dinner of herb:: where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour and life," Let us seek first the kingdom. of God and his righteousness. Then we will have all that is needed. That scup of Teas" Really ceps During the war many a Cana- dian stationed in Britain wrote home and said that everything stops for a cup of tea. Now psychologists in the United States have found that there b,; something to be said for it. Two groups of housewives were put through a strenuous programme of mental and medi- cal tests. One group was allowed to have a cup of tea during a midway pause, the other group was not. The test results of the tea drinkers in the second half of the programme were better than those of the others. It was concluded that a cup of tea worked in one of two ways -- pepping up the tired or relaxing those who were too keyed up. Maybe Britain, t h e world's biggest tea -drinking nation, has got something that is more than a pleasant habit after all. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking TAKINGekeesses Tlf►RE OUT --•' Popular screen stars Fred MacMurray, and his wife, June Haver, are pictured enjoying a quiet lunch at ai restaurant in Hollywood.