Milford chronicle., 1959-01-30
FEBRUARY

TO Valentines, on the l4th OF this month,
then to Easter, which this year comes on
March 29th, then to Memorial Day, in May,
and, finally summer, which begins this year
on Fathers Day, the 21st of June.
But, we are getting ahead of the times.
February, a month which derives its name
from the Latin verb Februare, meaning TO
purify" is the month in which we celebrate
the birthday anniversaries of the Father OF
our country, General George Washington,
and also the man who kept it united, Abra
ham Lincoln. 1t is, indeed our birthday
MONTH"
We have Grounding Day, on the End,
custom brought to this country from Great
Britain and Germany. If the ground hog
comes out of his winter quarters on this day
and sees his shadow there will be six more
weeks Of winter. If it is cloudy, it will soon
give way to balmy Spring.
February 9Th is Boy Scout Day, in re-
membrance of the chartering of the Boy
Scouts of America, on February 9Th, 1910.
February 9Th is the birthday of William
Henry Harrison, ninth President of the Uni
ted States, who was born on plantation in
Charles County, Virginia, February 9th,
1773
Thomas Edison was born on February
18th, 1847 at Milan, Ohio. Lincoln was born
on February 18th, 1909, in Hardin County,
Kentucky. February 18th is also observed as
Georgia Day, being the anniversary of the
landing of James Edward Oglethorpe at
Savannah.
st. Vale1tine's Day comes on February
18th; Arizona was admitted to thes Union
on February 18th, 1912. The us. battle
ship Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor
on February 15th 1898.
Chester William Nimitz, great naval
commander-in-chief of World War II was
born on February oath, 1885, William F
Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, was born in
Scott County, Iowa, on February 10Th, 1876
And Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the great
poet, was born in Portland, Maine, on Feb
ruary 9th, 1907.
A REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC
1t has become quite the fashion in this
latter day to refer to democracy and those
who glibly use the word almost always link
it with the ideals of the founding fathers
of this nation.
Of course, anybody familiar with the his
tory of the formation of the United States of
America knows very well that democracy
was foreign to the ideals and ideas of the
men who created this country. They did not
plan a democracy but, on the contrary, reso-
lutely set Up checks and balances to preventl
popular opinion from achieving quick ard
direct control of government. @1
The United States was founded as rep
difference between this form of government
and what is now termed democracy. The
quicker the people.of the United States learn
the difference, the better it will be for them
and the future of their country.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF. NEWSPAPERS
Last December deliverers' strike forced
New York City's newspapers to suspend
publication. Nothing has done more to point
up the Importance of the press to the COM
munity. Life in New York did not grind to |
halt. But almost everyone in the city was
affected by the communications failure
Thousands of non-stlikers were thrown
opt of work. Some 10000 of the city's $4,000
newsstands closed The city government
went into low gear because of the difficulty
of getting information to the public Even
education was hit-as majority of the stu
dents in the citys schools use newspapers
in their cnrricula.
Businesses of many kinds stores,
amusement houses, automobile and real es-
tate dealers and so on-slumped so badly
that the city's Board of Trade said the strike
produced "irretrievable" damage The i'm
portance Of newspapers in the life of a COM
munity is rarely known or appreciated until
suddenly they fail to publish.
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