The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-02-23

major industries. He estimates that
the total expenditure in hunting and
fishing, including licenses, equip
ment and other incidentals, reaches
a billion dollars year and therefore
constitutes major American indus
try and one which should be pro-
tected.
Reid also stresses the esthetic and
recreational values destroyed in the
building Of great dams and reser-
voirs as well as by the pollution Of
streams.
Pollution
Health Peril
The security feature which has
been emphasized in the present war
when the bombing of dams has
caused such destruction, is another
argument seized upon by Mr.. Reid.
His specific example of this phase
Of the argument sent shudder down
my back when he offered as an IL
lustration the construction of IA ma
jor dams in the Potomac watershed
which was strongly advocated re-
Gently. If this project had gone
through, he told me, my home town
and the seat Of our government
would have been made Extremely
vulnerable to air attack through
preaching Of the big dams that would
be Immediately above Washington"
"The engineers DESIRE" says Mr..
Reid solemnly, 'to pour concrete In
prodigious quantities, impound great
areas Of water behind magnificent
monuments to engineering, dig
bitches and canals, bore tunnels and
otherwise remake the landscape Of
America, is quite irrepressible."
However, what he and his
colleagues are now most concerned
in eradicating is pollution and that,
I think, will meet the approval of
most people even If they won't 60
all the way with Mr.. Reid concern
ing hydromania.
Protection against pollution, the
proponents of the Mundt bill insist,
won't cost a thin dime" because
the money saved by eliminating the
need Of purifying polluted water will
more than make up for it.
Besides destruction Of aesthetic
and property values, it Is pointed
out that pollution is a growing men
ace to health. The Mundt bill would
give the states every chance to clean
up their own situations but, it is ar
gued, "since streams flow by grav-
ity without any regard for state
boundaries pollution is logically and
constitutionally matter for federal
control"
Provisions to take care Of these
various angles are included in the
Mundt bill. Such measures in the
past have been opposed by some
communities which thought it was
cheaper to dump their sewage in the
rivers, and by industrial plants that
felt the same way.
Although machines compete with
humans and with horses and mules
in this war, the dog, never before
used officially by American forces,
has become the competitor Of mech
anized devices.
A dog, by his sense of smell, can
detect a strange presence at 500 feet.
Up to October / Of last year the
army, coast guard and marines had
used over 5000 trained dogs.
The first thing K-9, as they are
called, learns, Is to be q one-man
dog. They won't accept food from
any but their masters nor will they
allow anyone else to pet them. Then
the training gets more complicated
and includes even parachute jump
ing. But there is one thing that
these otherwise clever animals can
not be taught, namely, to tell enemy
troops from their own. This has one
advantage, however - they don't
treat German wearing an Ameri-
can uniform any differently than II
he weren't an enemy In disguise.
Soldiers sometimes do.
Demand for farm products Is like
ly to continue at present wartime
levels throughout most of 1945. Re-
CARELESS of the course of the war
the demand for many farm prod
ucts, at ceiling prices, may con-
tinue to exceed supplies in 1945.
Consumers food costs in large
cities In recent months have been
slightly lower than they were In mid
summer. The index for November,
1914, was 1868 as compared with
1877 in August and the peak Of 1880
in May, 1913. Nonfood costs have
been following q somewhat differ