Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1942-07-09
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON


1t is story. which the new direc-
tor of the Office of War Informa-
OWL Chief Can . ZION p pive o,'t
Show Us How to He is an ex-
Take Rad Mems tremely mod
est m n, it
might seem like Dragging.
We had the story from the former
editor of national magazine of
large circulation. In the reminiscent
mood of the editor, the tale unfolded
as follows:
with a moving picture firm, we
offered a prize of $4,000 for the
best serial, the winning story later
to be screened. We put up half the
prize money and the picture COM
pany the other half. We whooped it
up into big national excitement,
and entries came in from every cor
ner of the country. There was some
thing over 900 of them in all.
"The winner seemed to be the
entry of widely known New
York novelist and magazine fea-
ture writer, but there was an
other serial that crowded it
closely and finally, in hair
line decision, the judges picked
the former. We had informed
the novelist of her victory, when
one of the judges recalled that
she had published magazine
story several years before with
plot somewhat like her con-
test entry. We looked it up. The
similarity was slight, but we de-
cided it would bar the new offer
ing. We teleph0ned the woman
writer that we were reconsider
ing our decision.
''That left the field open to the
runner-up, piece submitted by one
Elmer Davis, a former ace reporter
who had left the city room and set
up as free lance writer of fiction
and articles. We were eager to car
ry the good news to Mr.. Davis. Ev-
erybody who knew him said he was
mighty nice chap and rated good
news if anybody did.
cat Mr.. Davis little writing office,
we were told that Mr.. Davis had
gone to the ball game. We left
word for him to come to our office.
"Back in our editorial rooms,
there was a big stir among the
judges. Miss Blank, the other finish
er, had telephoned that she could
remove from her script any remote
similarity. She, too, was a writer
of the highest integrity, and we final
ly agreed that she get the prize.
"Next morning, Mr.. Davis
came in. told him what had
happened. You knew he was
joled, but you had to look close
ly to catch the flick of disap-
pOintme nt in his placid Hoosier
eyes. Then he said: THAT was
pretty expensive ball game,
wasn't it?'
He went back to his office and
started kicking out serials like an
Indiana hired man in harvest time.
I bought them. He came through"
YOUNG Lieut.. Delos c. Emmons,
trying to transfer from infantry
to aviation, was rejected three times
because he couldn't hear watch
Well for Us That h teef found men en-
Examiner Wasn't examiner
Stickler for Rules who said,
"You could
not hear watch tick in an airplane,
anyway. Forget it," He became just
about the most valuable man that the
air service ever came near losing and
the Battle of Midway Island might
not have gone so we'll for us had the
examiner insisted rules be observed.
Colonel Emmons holds the tempo
rary rank of lieutenant general, as
commander of the Hawaiian de-
partment, and now President Roose-
welt breaks all precedent by recon-
mending that he be jumped from
colonel to major general.
AT So, he will be the army's
youngest major general. He has
done as much knock-about fly
ing as any army man in the
air, and is unconditional not
only in hazardous flying exploits
but in strategy and techniques,
having taught flying at Harvard
university in 1920 and 1921.
About a year ago he secretly land
ed 81 of the biggest Flying For
tresses in Hawaii. He had previous
experience in the Islands, having
been with the Eighteenth wing COM
mand in Hawaii in 1884; in 1896 he
took command of March Field, Calf.
p RITAIN'S old school tie gets half
- column on the cables, in spite
of airplane and battleship competi-
ton. They plan to scrap it, says
Richard Austen Butler, president of
the board of education, as a symbol
of class education. Out of Cam
bridge, Mr.. Butler rapidly advanced
in the interwar years as a member
of parliament, undersecretary for
foreign affairs. He was born in In
dia in 1902. At Cambridge he took
honors in the classics and has swung
many an impressive Latin quotation
into British public life.