The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-13

historic Louisiana Purchase An area as large as the states of Maryland and Connecticut combined quietly has been added te the public domain.
 The vast addition covers s. 1O0,O00 acres of submarginal land, mostly in the Great Lakes region. Of the total area, the g1vernthent already has assumed possession of 100000 acres and legal fgrlnaIities shortly will be completed for taking over the remaining 5,1O0,OOO.
 Huge as the purchase is, it is only a fraction of the land that government experts say shoulud be bought and retired from cul- tivation. They estimate that there are 100,000,000 acres of farm land in use on which it is not possible to raise profitable crops.
 The farm tenancy bill pending in congress contains a $75,000,000 item for additional farm land re- tirement purchases. But the economy wave is likely to trim this figure considerably.
 The purchases already made exhaust $4O,OOO,O GOO fund ap- propriated several years age to buy submarginal land. The government paid an average of $40 an acre for it. Only a few decades ago the same land was given away with a lavish hand to the railroads and settlers.
 The new public domain will be converted into national parks, forests, wild life refuges, grazing reserves and recreational areas. Occupants of the land will be moved to other sections by the Resetlement Administration. Disastrous Economy
 Naval experts and diplomats, familiar with the negotiations by which the Hindenhurg was given U. s. landing privileges on it's Atlantic trips, attribute it's tragic ending to Nazi economy and a row between Dr. Hugo Eckener and Hitler.
 The giant airship originally was constructed to use helium, not hydrogen. All of pr. Eek ener's plans were based on this. When he was in Washington last year he had assurances that the United States government would let him buy American helium, which is produced conn., mercially only in the United States and Canada.
 Export of helium is strictly con- trolled by the government for na- tional defence. But its use in the Hindenburg on transoceanic mail and passenger route was not considered prejudicial to the ra- tional defence, and Eckener was assured he could buy the precious gas.
 The cost, however, is $75,000 per 1000 cubic feet. At this the Nazi government baked. This may bring an official denial now, but the fact is that Germany is cut ting down on imports of all foreign commodities, has a strict embargo on the export of gold or foreign currency, and purchase of the helium would have been big item in the Reich exchequer. So it was barred.
 Dr. Eckener went home, roWed with the Nazi officials. and has been on the sidelines since. It is significant that he was in Austria featuring when his prize ship blew up.
 NOTE-Helium is the lightest gas knawn except hydrogen, is manufactured chiefly at Fort Worth. Texas, where it is separ- ated from natural gas. It is estimated that 100000 cubic feet of helium goes to waste in natural gas every "A hours throughout the U. s. A. Helium is expensive due to the process of separation and the fact that one cubic foot of natural gas contains less than one per cent of helium.
 Helium was first used com- mercially during the World war when it was discovered that a heliilm- filled German Zeppelin when pierced with bullets did net take fire,
  Price Booster
 David Schenker, general counsel of the investment trust division of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was eating dinner in Washington restaurant when a waiter approached him.
 Are you MT Schenker of the SEC?" he asked.
 "Yes".
 'Then maybe you can help me. I've got some utility stock that's down to 29 cents a share. Can't you investigate those guys and scare them so they'll boots up the price? I'd like to get rid of that stuff.