davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1953-10-08
WE SEE BY THE CUTLAss thatI

WE SEE BY THE CUTLAsS that
high school days, bless 'em, are moi
much different now than they were
% years ago wheH the back-side OF
our forehead did NIT shine through
our hair, and plus-folrs with argyles
reaching to the kne9 were considered
fashionable wear fof young men. Ac,
cording to the thss, dating poll"
girls are the principal school, interest
of boys and vice versa.
OF particular interest in the
findings of the Bluffton high
school poll was the fact that
''boys want to kiss a girl on the
first date" The big unanswered
question, which we assume we
will have to ask Mr.. Kinsey, is
do they?
Back to our own plus-four days of
high school inexperif fnce, it seems
the boys wanted to Fiss a girl even
before the first datef If they didn't,
why would they ask for date in the
first place' But wa still insist, did
they?
AS School Supt. IA. B. Murray
would say, "I'm glad you asked that
question:" because here's the answer
No, not very often. And we
doubt whether things have changed
very much in this atomic age.
Even at high school age, it
seems men like 10 be regarded
as gay rakes, bufhow many will
confess that they were deeply in
love" with Elassmate three
years before she even knew it, or
they had nerve to ask for the
first date? DoTt every one raise
l. his hand at one4
. n
JUNIORS COMIC cBoeKs, Ias you
| nhy khave, note have gons Sd
Bluff Dn snhaf1-fry,t with their moses
tdeApfn the antics ef Mighty Mouse,
snow have the experience oShaNng
Mighty poke RisSpsse right back lat
them out of the hsges Of the third
dimension funriesl IN 4
At first glanse the SD comics ap.
pear to be bfurfy mess of red and
green lines that hight have been the
result of the printing press out OF
register. But borrow Juniors 3D.
goggles" (witA one red lens and
one green one,s and Mighty comes
right out of the pages at you.
| *t*
A BIRDSEYE VIEW of the
municipal sewage disposal plant
impressed large group of Bluff
ton business men who went aloft
last Thursday to4view the local
airport and the pfoposed route of
the superhighwaT bypass around
town. The aeHal view showed
more clearly II an a ground in
spection the pfogress made on
the sewage plant. Founders Hall,
the largest rqpftop in Bluffton,
also made an impressive sight
from the air, The passengers re-
ported.
| The men, who were on hand te
greet 1t. Governor Paul Brown, were
given an opportunity to fly over
| Bluffton in the Cessna ITO state
owned plane which few the 1t. Gov
ernor to Bluffton9 Among those max
ing the trip in Several flights were
Dean Niswander, A. B. Murray
Armin Hauensteh, William Keeney
Walter Gratz, Harold Klingler, vii
liam Gaiffe, Forest Steinman, Ee
Waltermire, Robert Grow, Harolc
Carey, Clayton Bixel, c. F. Niswand
er, Clair Fett, Paul Diller and Le
land Diller.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1953-10-08
LETTER
TO THEEDITOR
To The Bluffton News

oii eoh NEWS
The CONTROVERSY over the power
plant deal has been\waging fast and
furious in the past lew weeks. Since
the final decision will affect the vel
fare and the purses of all the tax
payers, property owners and resi-
dents of Bluffton, Ifthink that they
should all have cote in the final
decision by being Permitted to vote
on it. Since we opef ate under DEMO-
CRATIC PROCESS that would be
the right thing I'd do. The voters
may vote wrong dnd the future may
prove that they dfi, but they will not
be able to say th4 the deal was rail-
roaded through aid that they had no
choice. Since this deal involves the
future of Bluffto1 and large sum of
money, on top fIthe sewage disposal
bond issue and I understand renew
al of levies to operate the schools,
definitely think the decision should
not be made by aIfew, but by a vote
of the majority fIthe people.
q H. Cole,
ia Garau Street,
Bluffton, Ohio.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1953-10-08
TEACHERS ELECTED

Wade knight and Carson Marshall,
Cory-Rawson teachers, were named
on the executivef committee of the
Hancock County Teachers associa-
ton for the coking year at the
organizations recehs election.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1953-10-08
CANCER ELECTED

Nate Ganger, wellt known in Bluff
ton through his md dnbership in the
Bluffton Tennis cluH has been elect
ed president of thS Ottawa Kiwanis
club for the 1854 Season.
The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1953-10-08

being returned b the dining hall
with the assistance of the Presi-
dent himself.
Until you must Hear from US again,
we remain,
Triunlphantly yours,
The FUnauthorized Club"
Editors Note:
/. What? Worms for breakfast?
2. Who wa$ crooked?
8. Ten unekger Beavers!
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
New ExpendobiIity

But these statements can be
made, with any comprehensive
ness. only in the past tense. Books
are now mass media. Books are
now manufactured. like newspa-
pers or popular magazines, from
gigantic presses which take in the
web of pulp at one end and pro-
duce the perfected books at the
other, packaged for dispatch to
the farthest newsstand of the
country in accordance with sched-
ules of deliveries. display and re-
placement as exacting as those
which govern the periodical press.
Three hundred million copies of
them in 1858! Let the customer
choose! but let him choose
quickly, for those which are here
today will be gone tomorrow when
the mass market for which these
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

munlcatlonS." The consolidated
term might then include primarily
those vehicles of communication
which can be counted on to reach
large. assured and well-def1ned
audiences.
Thus newspapers, the popular
magazines, the motion pictures,
radio and television would all
initially qualify as mass media"
But in the abrasive process of use,
the term has acquired connota-
tions, sometimes opprobrious.
The first of these relates to the
imperSonality of the coMmunica-
ton conveyed by the mass
medium-it is not the direct
speech of lecturer or preacher,
but it's imperSonal simulacrum.
In addition, the term connoteS
an audience so dependable as to
be in a measure a captive audi
ence-an audience that is not
only receptive of. but to a large
extent satisfied with, what the
mass medium provides. And this
entails the further connotation
that the mass medium, in aiming
at a mass audience: must always
to some extent aim downward in
order to hit the average of INTEL
ligence or appreciation or simply
of freedom to choose-must aim
downward, that is. from the level
of those who do the aiming. And
finally. the term connotes the
ephemeral - the read today,
rubbish tomorrow.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
No Longer AIoof

Books have in the past held
themselves somewhat proudly,
somewhat snobbishly perhaps,
aloof from the mass media. This
was easy: In the very first place,
they were valueleSS as vehicles of
advertising. But then, too, in the
vast majority of cases. their au-
dience was far from being large
or well-assured. Neither would
they have admitted to aiming
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for recognized
varieties, their aim was at least
horizontal, the aim of an author
speaking to an audience of his
own level of appreciation, capacity
for enjoyment and leisure.
Proof of this was afforded, if
proof was needed, in the fact that
when a book was Serialized for
mass medium it was generally
truncated, and when it was adapt
ed for the screen it often suffered
even greater loss of character.
DULL 1 III CLlcI, UOOhS IlA1AAlVeNAAiCA q
status apart from the mass media
in their address to an audience
possessing complete freedom of
choice. The book must be sought
out, selected. purchased or bor-
rowed. At the very least it must
be taken from the shelf. 1t did
not come with the morning milk
or open up automatically after the
football scores. 1t responded to
the inquiring mind but not to
the rowing eye. And, withal. the
book was expensive, and this very
expense as we'll as its hard-cover
formal often led to its retention,
and even sometimes, if borrowed,
to it's return.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
Freedom of Choice


The truth is that books did not
become mass media with the
paperbacks. This was, up to now,
only the last stage in that de-
velopment, but the tendency, and
the desire, were there before. The
first of these was the wish to be-
come best-seller. This is a wholly
laudable ambition, but as every
one knows who has observed best
sellers, the status of beSt-seller-
dom is far from having a rigorous
connection with merit or memoir
ability. Best-Sellers, of course,
have always existed. ever since
the manuscripts of Sappho's
StropheS were worn out by the
avid HelleneS. But in our time we
have made of the beSt-Seller a cult
(the term dates only from 1902
and we tot the candidates up and
follow them in their rise, decline
and fall, as though each were the
comet of HALEY, through to their
final disappearance. seldom-un-
like Halley's comet-ever to re-
appear. We have even created a
second order of st-Sellerdom-
the candidates for the best-seller
list"
A logical successor to the best
seller was the book club book
and this came nearer to the mass
medium than did the best-seller,
because here was a beSt-selIer
created by the selection of an
editorial board and enforced
through a captive audience, re-
ceptive and satisfied, frequently
lacking real freedom of choice. In
this case the book did come, if not
with the morning milk, at least
with the morning mail. There are
now 80 book clubs operating in
this country on a national scale.
and the totals of their circulation
in the past 81 years since the
launching of the oldest of them,
must approximate 200 to $50 mil
lion copies.
Much has been said for and
against the book clubs. Much has
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

books were designed has passed
by. Then let him throw his pur-
chase away, if he will, and return
for another.
Is this bad? Not all, by any
means. Indeed, it represents in
large measure a situation for
which the lovers of books have
long wished-the widened avail
ability, the lesser cost, even the
greater expendability Of books.
Who has not at some time
tramped the dark and silent
streets and wished that some
where in this town at this hour he
could buy q book? Now he can
do so-at the railroad station, the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

In July, Robert L. Johnson.
hard-pressed director of the In
ternatiOnal Information Admins
tration. resigned. His swan song
was a directive which reaffirmed
the original policies which had
been in effect when Senator Nc
Carthy began his fireworks. He
said that the content of the book
was the important thing and that
acceptable books "conceivably
might be the product Of a Com
munist II perchance that affirlna-
lively served the ends of democ-
racy."
When the dust finally settled,
the Libraries were in effect right
back where they started. The
book-buying program was re-
sumed, however gingerly. The
banned books, except for those
which were considered outdated,
were restored. Senator McCar-
thy's drive to cut library appro-
priationS failed. His committee.
torn asunder by other disagree
ments. did not even issue a report.
The damage was done in the in
calculable areas of Information
Service morale and our prestige
abroad.
Domestic censorship took both
a political and moral guiSe. In
Texas. the State Legislature
passed bill which requires as q
prerequisite to adoption or pur-
chase Of any textbook an oath by
the author that he is not and
never has been a member OF the
Communist Party or a member Of
any organization on the Attorney
Generals list Of subversive groups.
In the event that the author Is
dead or cannot be located, the
Continued on Page 100
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

imperiled both at home and
abroad. After one congressional
committee had proceeded on the
assumption that you can judge a
book by it's cover, another came
to the fore with the even more
dubious premise that you can't
Judge book by its contents.
The situation as of this writing
has simmered down, but the
memory of the melancholy events
of early 1853 has left book-lovers
with the hope that congressional
interest in the censorship aspect
of literature will not be soon re-
vived.
The Government Operations
Committee, led by Senator Nc
Carthy, an author whose books
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

were never taken up by the State
Department Information Centers,
instituted a heavy-handed rum
maging through the shelves of our
overseas libraries last February.
The chaos for a time was epic.
Nervous librarians hastily plucked
off suspect volumes and in one
awful instance put them to the
torch.
When Senator Mccarthy opened
fire on our 1873 State Department
libraries abroad they contained
some million volumes, among
which it was known were some by
authors with Communist Sympa-
thieS. 1t was felt that statements
favorable to the United States
made by them would have special
credibility" among certain groups
abroad. Senator cCarthy
pounced on this fact with a cry
that was literally heard around
the world.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
Censorship Bills

At home, inspired by the report
of the Gathings Committee on
Topographic Materials. various
police officials, vigilante groups
and amateur censorS fell to telling
their neighbors what they couldn't
read, and a wave Of censorship
bills hit State Legislatures.
Now on the question of the
United States Information Service
Libraries abroad, no right-minded
citizen could take issue with
President Eisenhower. when, at
the height of the Juror he said
it would be the acme Of Stiffness
to stock our libraries with books
advocating our destruction.
At the same time he grounded
the controversy to its proper level,
which was that a book should be
judged by what it says rather
than by the politics Of its author.
He would not have banned, he
said, the mysteries Of DaShiell
Hammett, which were suppressed
after Mr.. Hammett, like many
authors last winter, appeared be-
fore the Mccarthy tribunal and
refused to confide his political
sympathies. At the time no one
so much as mentioned the pos
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

SibIe subversive properties of his
slick thrillerS.
From February to June direc-
tives flew as thick and fast as
darts at an English pub. One,
dated. February 10, ordered libra
rians to remove books by
Communists. fellow travellers.
etc." At a loss to define "etc."
and left to their own devices to
discover the Communists and fell
travellers, some panicky State
Department officers went so far
as to ban Whitaker Chambers
100 per cent Communist
Witness"
Some one" said Senator Nc
Carthy. lis trying to make the
State Department look silly"
There were those who felt that
this had already been accom-
plished. and not in the field.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
Literary Detectives

At the worst of the crisis, the
State Departments book buying
program ground to a halt. Officials
told their friends it didn't seem
safe to order any by authors born
after 1919, the year of the Soviet
revolution. In Singapore, fright
ened civil servant evidently made
a bonfire Of offending volumes. 1t
was a situation that afforded con-
sternation to our friends abroad
and delight to our enemies; nor
was it alleviated by the much
publicized whirlwind literary de-
tective tour by the Senator's aides,
Cohn and Schine.
Finally. in June, President
Eisenhower, during a Dartmouth
commencement speech, made a
fervent plea to his fellow-citizens
Don't join the book burners" he
said. Don't be afraid to go into
your library and read every book
as long as it doesn't offend our
own idea of decency. That should
be the only censorship"
A heartfelt amen" reverber-
ated through the ranks of the ad-
vocates of the freedom to read.
The President subsequently told a
press conference he was not re-
ferring specifically to Senator
Mccarthy. since he never INDUCED
in personalities; but his words
turned the tide.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

Continued ON Page 1O.l
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
The Freedom to Reod-
Book Burning, Banning and Branding
Has ImperiIed Our Right of Choice
By Mary McGroy

bluenoses books had bad time
that Capitol Hill made the dangerous
political capital BurnngS
the freedom
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
Books as News

Books have occupied more
headline space in the newspapers
of the United States during the
past year than ever before. But,
with the exception of the report
of a certain research project at
the University of Indiana, it has
been books in the mass which
have occupied the headlines. rath-
er than particular books. 1t is
doubtful if the casual reader has
seen more than one or two specific
titles of the books which have
caused all the Juror. 1t is the
(Continued on Page 14)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06

been said for and against the
paperbackS. Much, in turn, of
all that has been said against
both of them has nothing to do
with the merit of the selections
or the enforcement of consumer
choice, but rather with the eco
nomics of book distribution-mat-
terS which certainly affect avail
ability and thus freedom of choice,
but which bear upon this ques-
ton from the money-making
rather than from the moral angle.
Out of the debates come elimina-
ton of some of the defects: There
is now greater freedom of choice
in the book clubs than there once
was, and the lurid covers are soft
ening on the paperbacks.
But meanwhile, the fact that
books have become mass media
is exposing them both to the re-
wards and to the punishments of
that estate. Books, in the mass,
are shipped abroad and profit
ably. too, even in a dollar short
world. under the Government
mass media guarantee program.
Books. in the mass. are used for
propaganda and they boomerang
in mass on their distributors.
Books. in the mass, are subjected
to suspicion and investigation.
We wonder what books, in the
mass, are doing to our children's
minds, to the minds of our fellow
citizens, to the minds of our allies.
The book is forgotten in the mass
of books. Even libraries-sadly be
it Spoken-speak less of books
and more of book materials"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-06
Books as Mass Medic
What Will the Years 300 Million Books
Do to the Mind of Our Fellow Man?
BY Werner w. CIupp
Acting Librarian of Congress

THE TERM a
sodation
The socoogts the other long
Evening star., 1953-05-17
Fabulous Estate
Of james Deerino
.ODen to Public

MIAMI, Fla.-One Of the most
fabulous showplaces in the world
has been thrown open to the
public here.
1t is Vizcaya, the estate of the
late James Deering, farm ma
chinery magnate and art con-
noisseur. 1t houses a treasury of
art objects gathered from all
parts Of the world.
ViZcaya is surrounded by for
NAL gardens which are studded
with statuary that would cost a
kings ransom today-if they
were obtainable.
The main house is designed
after the Italian Palazzo, a pal
ace-fortress of Italy's feudal
days. The structures on the
estate and the gardens required
seven years to complete and cost
in excess of IS million.
Furnishings and art objects
in the mansion are valued con-
servatively at $1,627,1 los, for pur-
poses Of appraisal and the art
objects and statuary in the gar
dens at $357,700.
Officials in charge of the
estate estimate that, if it could
be duplicated-which, of course,
it cannot-it would cost in ex-
cess of $50 million. 1t has been
acquired by Dade County, at
what might be considered a gift
from the Deering estate, at a
cost of 81 million. Miami is the
government seat of Dade County.
The county is charging 81 ad-
mission to the fabulous Viscaya.
Evening star., 1953-05-17

ing a passage to the Golden
East" of India and Cathay.
The Gaspe tour involves a
553-mile trip which circles the
peninsula, through. cities and
towns settled entirely by the
French. In many cases you will
encounter but few in a COM
munity, who have a good. work.
ing knowledge of English. but
that adds to the fun and zest of
your journey. The peninsula Is
about ITO miles in length. with
a maximum width of IS miles,
and it covers an area of approx
imately II 400 square miles, be-
ing about 10 times the size of
Rhode Island and about flve
times the size of Prince Edward
Island, Canada's only province
which has no part of its area on
the mainland.
No other part of Canada offers
such infinite variety of scenery
as we find on the Gaspe. nor as
many inspiring landscapes.
Mountains, deep cut bays, farm
lands, inlets hewn out of solid
rock, gigantic cliffs. roaring surf.
and dark green forests are all
parts of the picture. This "cir-
cumferential highway" can be
negotiated. in good weather and
with hard driving, in slightly
over two days. but if you're in
that kind of hurry, the Ameri-
can Automobile Association ad-
vises you not to try to Gaspe tour
at all. Five days would give you
some idea of the character Of
Evening star., 1953-05-17

its beauty and its inhabitants,
but fifteen days would be even
better. From the shores of the
st. Lawrence River to the Bale
des ChaleurS (between New Mills
and Maria on the map), our OBJ
jective is the entire peninsula.
Wild Life Abounds.
In the Bale des Chaleurs bay
Of HeaD occurred the last bat
tie between the French and Eng
lish for the possession of Cam
ada, in 1850. From Rimouski,
where there is a ferry to the
north shore of the wide st. Law
renee, drive to Ste. Flavie, a
fishing town in the territory
served by the Canadian Ma
tional Railways. Metis Beach,
Is miles to the east, is a fash
ionable watering place while
Matane is an industrial French
town, which was a "Seigneory''
as early as 1862. It has several
comfortable hotels.
You may see moose, deer and
caribou in the woods of the
Gaspe; certain it is you will get
a chance to see porpoise in the
waters Of the st. Lawrence, the
enemy Of the cod, for they eat
the small fish on which the cod
feed.
Riviere Madeleine, Cloridorme
and Riviere au-Renard are
passed before we reach the town
of Gaspe and then start back
through Perce, Maria and Mata-
pedia.
Evening star., 1953-05-17
Canadian Pacific
Announces Dates
For Resort Hotels

MONTREAL. - Opening dates
for resort hotels of the Canadian
Pacific Railway have been an
nounced for the 1853 season.
Bann Springs Hotel. famous
Rocky Mountain resort, will open
June 10 and will close Septem-
ber IA. Nearby Chateau Lake
Louise will be open from June
10 to September 10. In the
Maritimes, the Digby Pines at
Digby, Nova Scotia, will be open
from June % to September 9,
while the Algonquin, at st. An
drews-by-the-Sea, New Bruns-
wick, will open June 8 and close
September 8. The Lakeside Inn.
at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, will
open from June 27 to Septem-
ber 13.
Devils Gap Lodge. Kenora,
Ontario. is to open from June 8.
Three of the company's noun
tain lodges in the Rockies-Lake
O'Hara, Yoho Valley and Lake
Wapta-will open June 20 and
close September 8. while. Mo-
raine Lake is to be open from
June IA to September 10.
Emerald Lake Chalet's season
will extend from June 20 to Sep
tember 8, while Mount ASsini-
boine Lodge is to be open from
July l to October 10, and the
Columbia Icef1eld Chalet from
from June Is to September Is.