Ligonier Banner., Volume 83, Number 27, Ligonier, Noble County, 7 July 1949 — Page 2

A Page of Opinionf .

ne LIGONIER BANNER ' : ESTABLISHED 1867

Vol. 83

This is our view: - A Government’s Responsibility Where does a City government’s responsibility begin, and where does it end has always been a moot question. That it conducts itself in the interest of the majority is perhaps the easiest definition, but- far and beyond its conduct is the responsibility it assumes when it chooses to be placed in election. First in its considerations is the health and well being of the people it governs, and any shifting of this responsibility is definite deriliction of duty. Second is its sense of pride in the community which prompts city fathers to demand cleanliness, well lighted and marked streets, and a hundred other things which make a community for which to be proud. : Our present city government has these qualifications, but last week they drew down the wrath of the American Legion when they asked them to police and keep clean the comfort stations during. the period of the carnival .

We believe this is strictly a job of the city, and further we believe that pride in a city would promote even better attention to these stations than has been the case in the past. And while on the sanitation problem of the city, it would seem to us that the garbage, trash, etc. thrown on ‘the river bank in the downtown section should cease, and the laws concerning such should be strictly enforced. It is hardly conceivable that this rat, disease breeding practice could have even gotten started. That it has is no reason why the City shouldn’t step in and stop it immediately.

Rich Mine For Hollywood

In his Independence Day column,

Jimmie Fidler, the movie critic, deplored what he considers one of Hollywood's strangest “errors of omission.” He says that no nation has had a history more interesting, more dramatic or more inspiring than the United States, yet “I think I could count on the fingers of my two hands all the motion pictures ever produced which have seriously attempted to set forth the story of our country.” Fidler continues: “Stop for a moment and think of the wealth of dramatic incident to be found in the period just before, during, and just after the Revolutionary War. Consider the factual biographies of some of our ‘Founding Fathers’ — men like Thomas Paine, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin. Remember the dramatic stories of our great ‘pioneers’ the Daniel Boones, John Seviers and John Jacob Astors whe pushed our frontiers west into the wilderness.” Fidler thinks movies about these men properly produced without the froth and tinsel of Hollywood, would be inspiring and would find large audiences. We do, too. , The movie industry needs new material and the history books are full of it. What are the producers and directors waiting for? Do they doubt their own ability to handle such material properly? —Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.

Power is so characteristically calm, that cdalmness in itself has the aspect of power, and forbearance implies strength.—Bulwer-Lytton.

A Newspapers Duty to the Public To. acquaint the people of the community with conditions as they exist. To acquaint them with what other communities are doing in the field of civic plannirg. To awaken them to the possibilities of their city. " To create within the people the civic pride which will eventually turn these possibilities into realities. . : To fight through a program once it has been - formulated. : i . —Pittsburg Post-Gazette

e LIGONIER BANNER +» Eetablished in 1089 . Published every Thursdey by the Benner Priniing - Company et 124 South Cavia S 0 : - Telephone: one-three Mna&o&ddmmﬁudhmd ugmujwm&omd&rch&lm. Vala® . Mmomson . § . Demooratio Kditorial Association A y Advertising Federation of Americs

Thursday, July 7, 1949

Now that the Fourth, 1949, is history, it has occurred to me that most of us who wrote about it mentioned accidents, careful driving, trip routes, vacation.spots and everything else, but what the Fourth actually means in relation to historic celebration. -

Frankly, this particular holiday is the only one I would answer in the affirmative if someone was to ask me “do you want to go back to the horse and buggy days?”’ .

In the “good old days” before the present mode of transportation, the Fourth had a greater meaning than ic does today. There was generally the community picnic, the band concert and, highlighting every occasion, was the patriotic address. I shudder to think of the attendance today if some community or other would plan an after=noon program including ‘“‘the patriotic speech.” But after all, that is why Independence Day was created, ie., to give people time to ponder over their heritage and revaluate the principles upon which this country was founded. It is peculiar is it not that the very freedoms for which our forefathers fought is today a sham in the minds of many Americans, who-are conceiving a land which will bend to their will, their plans, their notions of what a democracy should be?

I feel certain that the founders of this great democracy didn’t conceive the idea, then fight to see it established that men could later say, “you can believe what you wish providing you believe as 1 say.” 1 do not believe that in their minds eye they envisioned a democratic society based only on the will to dominate. I believe they envisioned a society in which men could have their beliefs, peculiar as they might be or contrary as they might develop to the ideas of the majority. I believe the crux of our entire democracy lies in the simple fact that minorities shall have the freedom of their minority opinion, and that no person, group of persons, agencies or what have you, shall have the right to persecute or prosecute their right to that opinion. : And further, 1 believe that change democratically brought about is an integral part of the entire scheme of the American tradition, and those who fight change shall have access to all the demo_cratic processes, but within those processes shall their fight be so contained. I do not believe that God given right of mastery was given to any person or group of persons, neither do I believe that possession to the detriment of large segments of the population was contained in the pattern designed by the men who framed our constitution and who wrote the Declaration of Independence. The great paradox of our historical development is the unhappy fact that virtue, tolerance, unselfishness, kindli= ness, helpfulness, and direct honesty are not the concommitants of success. How we justify this truism is beyond my comprehension. At the beginning of this column, I said in effect that I would welcome back the custom of the patriotic speech on the Fourth of July, but I now make an important reservation. I would welcome it back if men would preach freedom in the light of early American principles. Alas, I'm afraid that spceches today would contain too much fascism in the name of democracy, a trend in America that is as appalling as it is dangerous. Huey Long, one of our more famous fascists once said, “when fascism comes to America, it will come under the title of ‘Americanism’.” Such a statement is my challenge to those who would ponder the meaning of Independence Day in this great and bountiful land of ours. | | - Power without justice is soon questioned. Justice and power must therefore be brought together so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.— Pascal. o 2 It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self—Francis Bacon,. @

MUSINGS OF AN EDITOR by Calhoun Cartwright

/3 7,

'DIVERS ARE THE WAYS ...’ *“The chapel of prayer in the new United Nations heddquarters will have no altar or windows. A shaft of sunlight will come through the roof. A huge marble slab, memorializing the war dead, will be the only object in the simple, cylindrical structure.”—News Item. No altar. ~ ~ . No stained-glass windows. . . . N 6 man of Sorrows with His example of love, sacrifice, sorrow and ultimate victory that has stirred millions through the cenm.'l ® o o Just a shaft of sunlight beating in from above to symbolize hope, truth and an omnipotent power .. . Yet here can be the Universal Temple, the Cathedral of the Earth, the Prayer Room of All Races, Creeds and Sects, all communing with a Supreme Being in the realization that without it they are as video puppets! —.~ A shaft of sunlight! Nothing more! Yet in it the Christian, Jew, Confuctanist, Buddhist, Mohammedist and Zoroastrianist may know the mysieries of faith, see the holy of holies and seek the inspiration and guidance desired by all men, -.. In it, the Christian will see the manger at Bethlehem, hear *“Holy Night,”” perceive the shepherds watching their flocks by night . . . know the cleansing beauty of the Sermon on the Mount , . . feel the horror of Golgotha .. . thrill to the Resurrection mornl ~.- Here may the Jew commune with Moses and his ancient prophets, the Turk turn to Mohammed and the Indian seek guldance from his separate gods. “In this simple chamber may all hear the timeless voice! ' - May this be a “room at the inn,” & manger, a temple and & mosque, breathing the true essencd of divinity,

No. 27

Here may troubled men, charged with a great duty in an hour of frightful peril, subscribe to the words of Sri Ramakrishna: ‘“As one can ascend to the top of a house by means of a ladder, a bamboo, a staircase or a rope, so divers are the ways to approach God, and ‘every religion in the world shows these ways. Different are the ways that lead to the Temple of Kalighat; similarly varied are those that lead to thie House of the Lord.” “’_ ~ “There will be mo windows 2 1 ] Yet on these walls and In these shadows may men of all faiths find ftruth, charity, brotherly love and respect for the eternal verities. Here, denied all symbols, may they hear the fluiter ofwings, stir to distant trumpets, . and mark, *Thou shalt not kilI” in a dozen fongues., ; —.— “A marble slab will be the only object in the room , , .” In it may the envoys see the devotion of the gallant dead, the sufferings of the widow and orphan. May its rugged simplicity picture the kid in the sandlots suddenly defending a bloody barricade and echo the schoolgirl’s laughter suddenly changed to words of comfort in a field hospital, g This is the indispensable structure, the all-important chamber. -This is the simple, unadorned place without which all the elaborated council chambers- will be as a field without sun or rain. This is the cornerstonel '* o o CUFF STUFF ‘“The President insists that congress has /flagrantly ignored the November mandate of the voters.” —News item . . . That ol’ Forgotten Mandate, ag’in. Who remembers ‘'way back when most Americans got apprehensive when they saw their town, their state or their nation getting head over heels in debt? i Vs : P.L.T. says he has a kid who is so smart he knows all the video sets by name. - -.- It seems only yesterday that a channel swimmer was somebody in the water, not somebody shifting the television stations, -o.;— ; 7 " Yo Gotham Bugle One of the most perfect video skits we’'ve seen was a recent one with a three-quarters close-up of ‘chlmlnl,, iing, “Remember, you must strike lﬁ'dftaﬁ hard! You must a“m stroke.” . . x‘&“ -Surm%u was revealed Bt ‘Scouts on woodmanship.

[smcnv BUSINESS

“How’d you like to trade in that car for one that only has 1500 miles on it?”

w Veterans Information

Checks to a number of veterans

enrolled in education and train-

ing under the GI Bill were not

mailed today because of shortage

of funds, the Veterans Adminis-

tration announced today.

Action is being taken by the

Congress to provide for emergen-

cy funds for the fiscal year 1950.

This will enable the mailing of

checks within the next few days.

Veterans are urged not to write

AL R ORI

A ISR PR, PRI IR S PSP A 8 LR ; ﬁrmu’i’nmﬁwﬂaﬁ Psalms

Marching Songs Lesson f;:—l-;l-y- 10, 1949

WE did not win all the battles we fought with Japan. The day of a certain neval defeat near the Philippines, an American “baby”

carrier, left to its fate, was doing Its best to get away from the pursuing ' Japanese, All afternoon it dodged and twisted. Enemy destroyers and planes were hot on its trail, and it was a ‘“sgitting duck’” in case they really got the

range. No one on board expected to live. The only question in anybody’s mind was: How soon will they get us? But late in the afternoon, for some reason never explained, the enemy gave up the chase, and the American ship slipped off into the protecting night. The next day, as the men gathered for a special service of thanksgiving, the chaplain read the 124th Psalm. It came as a new Psalm altogether to those men, even to those who had known it by heart: : “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the , . . proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.” : '*o 0 : “Let Me Write ', A Nation'’s Songs” : ; THE POWER to thrill has not been lost by the Psalms, as the men on that carrier found out.. The group numbered 120 through 134 in our Bibles are known as the “Pilgrim Marching Songs,” and were originally used by the Hebrews as they went year by year up to their capital city of Jerusalem and to the Temple which was the center of their religion. Then as now, the

WEXT WEEK : ANOTHER BIBLE LESSON

or call the VA offices regarding

failure to receive checks as these

checks will be placed in-the mgril

as soon as possible after authori-

zation to pay is received by the VA.

rans affected in the Indiana re-

gional territory will be those in

which there has been a recent

initial award of subsistence al-

lowance, or an amendiment in the

amount being regulary received.

Hebrews were a singing people. A nation that cannot sing, a nation without songs, is a dismal country indeed. Difference among. various countries is symbolized by their songs, or the lack of them. The Chinese, for instance, have no song that draws them all + together in the same way that Englishmen are united in “God Save the King’”’ or as Frenchmen once were by the ‘“‘Marseillaise.” When it comes to pass, as once it did in the United States, that one part of the nation will sing one song (say, “John Brown’s Body’) while another part will not sing that song but another one (say, °‘Dixle,”), then civil war is at the gates. Only people who will sing together can be trusted to live together so . © Singing Church IN the long caravans, marching up the rocky hillside trails to Jerusalem, the ancient Hebrews put their faith into stirring words set to music. So it is always. All over the Christian world, wherever and whenever the singing is good, religion is warm and vigorous. Where the heart is full, there will be song. Revivals of religion are revivals of singing. To this day a siranger in a sirange oity, looking for =» church home, is most likely to settle down in the church where the singing is the best. It is not an accident that the Moravian church is at the same - time the church that makes more of Easter than some other churches, it is the church where at funerals the music is never sad but joyous, not mourning-songs but triumphant hymns of Christian faith, ® ¢ o Patriotism and Religion ' BEAD these marching Psalms b through—the reading time fis yourseif how the ancient Hebrew men of God united their praise of To this day, in our Christian hymnals, patriotism and religion are often combined. The English national anthem, *“God Save the King,"” is a prayer; so is “America the Beautiful” National hymns have a rightful place in a book of public worship. For while patriotism, by itself, is a poor substitute _thing of being a good Christian, and ‘on the other hand a man without faith in God makes a very poor citizen,

o R i *5? R FoRE: %@ 3 RS A g POO e ke SRI R S R £ - R ; 5

Dr. Foreman

by McFeation |

It is likely that the only vete-

The Birth of Baseball I'r SEEMS RATHER peculiar, with baseball rated as the national pastime, with the game sweeping the country today, that no set record of baseball’s beginning is at hand. Abner Doubleday has been credited with taking a commission from the dying Lincoln, which of course never happened. Baseball ¢came in before Lincoln or Doubleday were ever known. I

have had recordsshowing that baseball was a game around 1840. A well-known game. Will Irwin, one of our greatest writers and reporters, once wrote several articles proving that Gen. Abner Doubleday had nothing to do with

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Grantland Rice

the discovery or invention .of baseball. As Will Irwin is the most responsible person I've ever known to go fully into the subject, I'll go along with him. Now a worthy reader in Pelham, N.Y., sends me a copy of a letter that has been in his family since 1833. The letter was sent to ‘“‘Mr. William H. Butler, Nathaniel Hall, Nathaniel County, Pa., March, 1833.”” The sender was Charles C. Cain. Here is a portion of the 1833 letter:

“l suppose nowadays you play ball considerably. If I can judge by our conditions up here, it is the time of the year to play ball. I think it was a great pity that we couldn’t teach these lazy rascals to play that beautiful game—Base Ball.”

1 have seen correspondence before that proved to me baseball was played around 1840 and there were fairly good teams before 1850. It is only natural that different types of games were played in those early days. It may be that General " Doubleday was the one who measured out the modern diamond, but there were many changes year after year—such as underhand pitching and out on the first bounce. No game springs full blown into existence over night.

This letter to William H. Butler, written March 22, 1833, referring to baseball by its right name is the first recorded instance I know with full proof attached. This makes baseball 116 years old which brings it more dignity and tradition. so o i Two Ways to Hit There are two ways on tap when it comes to the matter of hitting a baseball well. One is the system Nap Lajoie used some 40 years ago. The other has a standard bearer in Ted Williams, one of the best of the moderns. “l believe in making a pitcher put one over the plate,” the Red Sox star tells you. “If a ball is two inches wide, I'll let it go. That's why I wait so late to swing on many occasions. You can tell in advance whether a pitch is going to be good, wild or near the corners.” .

Nap Lajoie never liked this system. “I make up my mind in advance,” he said one day before a game. “I make up -my mind to sock the next one if it is anywhere close. I'd just as soon swing at a ball eight inches oft the plate. The main point is that my mind is all set to hit this next one. Naturally if it’s a bad pitch or too wide, I'll let it go. But you certainly get more timing im your swing when you are mentally set to hit the next one.”

*“I never worked much on either theory,” Ty Cobb said. “I always wanted to hit the ball as solidly as possible. It might be over and too low. It might not be over and just the right height. There is one thing you have to watch in batting. That’s your balance, keeping your weight back of the swing. “One of the chief faults in hitting is overeagerness or over anxiety, This makes you throw your weight forward too soon. . As you step into the ball, your hands and body must be working together. R *“Young ballplayers, especially, fall into this habit of lurching forward ahead of schedule. Their ‘weight is out of place. I used to keep an old-timer on the bench to _watch me when I get into a slump.” He'd tell me what fault I was committing — swinging too fast swinging too fast—waiting too long waiting too long—bad foot action.

“It would be a smart thing for ‘managers to have a veteran observer on the bench today to check on mistakes or faults. In both™ golf and baseball the player can rarely tell what he is doing when something goes wrong. Your pro can help you in golf. You should also have a good pro to help in baseball.” Which sounds like a first-class ;