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Show THE PAGE TWO die Could It Have Been A Comet, a Group of Planets, or a Nova? ds Most of 700,000 Young People Made Good, Quickly Learning Agricultural Skills, And Working Hard and Long. By ELLIOTT PINE News Anulysl and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. World War II has taught the world that it is one thing to raise an army and another thing to feed it feed its mouths and feed its guns. It didn't take the United States long after Pearl Harbor to realize that it was easy enough to find enough sailors and soldiers if you didn't have to worry about finding the civilians to take care of them. At present 10 men out of every I saw a letter from a Crop corps city girl, very able at expressing herself. I want to quote one paragraph: "I have felt," she wrote, "unutterable satisfaction pervade this new 'me' as I squeezed, pulled and cajoled the last squirt of rich white milk from a reluctant mountain of I am learning a Guernsey cow to love this new life and am surer than ever that I have chosen well in deciding to make it my own." 100 One of the great troubles of the world are the misfits, the folks who are in the wrong job. There are a lot of newspaper men who ought to be barbers and a lot of barbers who might have been better sailors, a lot of farmers who ought to be in youth-servin- youth. A Huge Task It was no little job to launch the state farm laproject. Forty-thre- e bor supervisors and some 5,000 county farm labor assistants, under the guidance of the county extension agents, worked out the plans and procedure based on the local needs. They worked with state, county and often local labor committees. Of course, training was necessary. The boys and girls were carefully selected and many specially trained end supervised, and the farmers themselves learned that they could train better if they had a little train-bi- g in the art of teaching themselves. This was provided. Most of the young workers lived at home and were transported to the farms. This was done in school buses, trucks or cars. Teachers, ministers, youth leaders, acting as supervisors, often accompanied the workers right into the fields. In some places, boys lived in camps, but 50,000 boys and girls lived right with the families where they worked and many soon became part of the family, joining its activities, church, grange meetings, dances, picnics. Some liked the life so well, especially those from the big cities, that they stayed ripht through the winter, attending the lo- cal schools. Of course it was natural that the farmers were skeptical at first at the idea of letting these stranjre kids overrun their places. But the majority changed their minds when they found how well the experiment The young folks couldn't worked. rival trained farm worker, but Sume were able to do much of the work as well, and in some cases, even better. Many farmers to keep the same workers the nrxt year. I talked to one farmer who took on en utterly grrrn city boy. It wns late summer wi.cn I saw them both. Thry were going to part and I can tell you both were pretty blue. School time had come and the boy's parents thought he better come home. He told me that he was going to he a farmer when he grrw up and I believe nothing will stop him. Jerusalem. taping, ESfjere is he that is born fcing of tfje 3Tetos? Jfor toe babe seen tjis star in the east, anb are tome to toorship htm. ... Klhen fterob the ting hab hearb these things, he tons troubleb, anb all Jerusalem toitfj him. The Misfits Then $erob,tohen hehab prftrilp rnlleb the toise men, inqutreb of them biligentlp tohat time the star appeareb. Klhcn thep hab hearb the feing, thep beparteb; anb lo, the star, tiiljtch thep Sato in the east, tocnt before them, till it stoob ober tlje spot toljere the poung cljilb toas. lllhen thep sata tfje star, thep rejoitcb toith exteebing great jop. business. There are many people who have an inborn love of the country that never gets a chance to come out they don't even recognize they have it. This summer, many of these young folks discovered themselves realized that the I ithttheto 2:2-1- 0 country was where they belonged! I can well understand the remark of one of these volunteers, who probT,HE Star! Matthew calmly re--- cords the appearance of this ably in his normal lifetime would never have had a chance to acquire marvelous heavenly portent as a hisbehind a desk torical fact. For 1900 years many the or at a bench, that he felt when millions have believed that the mahe learned to drive a team of horses. jestic and unimaginably beautiful "I felt that I was the most capable herald of the Messiah actually person in the world," he said, "when shone over Bethlehem, casting a I could finally drive a tedder through beam of effulgent glory on that stathe hay." ble "where the young child was." It will be hard to keep him and a It has seemed entirely fitting that lot of his ilk down at the shop after the birthplace of Christ should be seen the farm. he's pointed out in so magnificent a manner. Few laymen ever thought of Winter Traffic Hazards questioning the reality of that star, The war department is concerned although nothing like It ever was over the annual December peak in known before or after the momenauto accidents, and Robert P. Pat- tous event. But astronomers, being terson, undersecretary of war, and exact scientists, have tried to reconLieut. Robert E. Raleigh, director cile the evangelist's words with the of the International Association of known facts on the nature and moChiefs of Police, have teamed up to tions of heavenly bodies. The other three Gospels, by the way, do not try to stop them. mention the star. Seven valuable tips, based on NaIn the 17th century, Johann Keptional Safety council research, on ler, one of the greatest of the early how to escape traffic tieups, lost time and road block- astronomers, while calculating the orbits of the planets Jupiter, Saturn ades have been offered: (1) Reduce speeds on snow and and Mars, .extended his figures back Ice. It takes 3 to 11 times normal to the time of Christ. He discovered distance to stop on snow or Ice. that these three planets were in conjunction in the year 7 B. C, accordRepair old tire chains. ing to the calendar. Making al(2) Protect visibility. Check delowance for the well known error headwindshield wipers, froster, dating the year of Christ's birth, lights and keep windshield clean. in was possible to call the year 7 You must see a hazard to avoid it. it (3) Use anti-skichains. Tire of our era as actually the year in chains reduce braking distances 40 which Christ was born. Now if, as to 50 per cent and provide traction Kepler calculated, the three planets were very close together in that on snow or ice. When year, they would form a brilliant (4) Don't crowd traffic. roads are slippery, allow three to glow in the sky, during the month six car lengths for every 10 m.p.h. of December. So. Kepler reasoned, because snow and ice increase brak- the conjunction of these planets was the Star of Bethlehem. ing distances 3 to 11 times over those In Sign of Pisces. required on dry pavement. Slipperi-nes- s This conjunction appears In the varies, glare ice at thawing temperatures being twice as slip- sign of Pisces, or the Fishes, every 800 years. Since the sign of Pisces pery as dry ice near zero.(5) Anticipate mistakes.- Drive so had a special meaning to the Jews, that you are prepared for any emer- it was entirely logical for the Magi gency under prevailing conditions. to interpret an apparently new star Anticipate mistakes of pedestrians within this sign as the long awaited a and other drivers. uinifii ill y" (6) Signal your intentions. In turnsnow ing or stopping on or ice, remember other drivers need more time and distance to adjust themselves to your moves. Give them a chance. Some may have neglected chains and have insufficient traction. (7) Mechanics are scarce and your vehicle may have to last for the duration. Essential transportation is - ' vital to victory. An ounce of pre-- V vention is now worth ten pounds of cure. skid-wreck- s, d B 1 EFS Doctors have bctn able to set up a health dispensary to serve workers in the promising Madre de Dies region of Peru as a result of flight service over the Andes. Caro planes of the United States Rubber Development corporation are flying medical supplies, sanitation engineers, and doctors Into the remote country east of the rubber-producin- Andes. g of evidence tending to cast doubt on the Kepler theory was brought In by the geographers. They showed that there were no roads or trails through the mountainous regions that the wise men had to traverse on which they could keep the planets in sight for any length of time. So this attractive explanation gradually faded out. It will not be until early in the 25th century, however, that scientists can test the full possibilities of Kepler's conjec- ture. It is not entirely ruled out until this time comes. Perhaps a Comet. ' ... In the last century came' a new attempt to explain the Star, Prof. R. A. Proctor propounded the theory 1 , ? a v. a iis WAS IT A COMET? Theory that the Star of Bethlehem might have been a comet was advanced in the 19th century. This photo, taken in 1940, shows Cunningham's Comet. that the mystic sign was really a comet. These celestial travelers of space, flaring up suddenly, moving across the sky often for days or weeks, and then disappearing, always impressed the ancients as mighty portents. There are a few flaws in this theory, too, as several historians quickly declared. First, a comet was a fearful thing to all peoples of antiquity, a harbinger of evil to come, a warning of retribution for sin. The Magi, being learned in astrology, would know this, of course, and would not likely consider a comet an announcement of the Saviour's arrival. It is possible that these wise men did not follow the prevailing superstition. They might have called some comet his star. It is objected, however, that any comet bright enough to attract the wise men's attention would be noted down in some secular history Josephus, in particular. There is no such confirmatory account. The Nova Theory. Lately, a plausible and poetic theory has been presented. The Star of Bethlehem may have been a "nova" or suddenly blazing star. For a brief time a nova may outshine every star in the sky. The most brilliant on record flared up in 1572. Another was observed by the aforementioned Kepler, and by Galileo, in 1604. Novae that can be seen by the human eye are rare. It is only since photography has been applied to astronomy that much is known about them. What causes the flaming phenomenon is not known, but possibly it is occasioned by the collision of two "dead" stars. The impact liberates the fiery interiors of the two bodies, and the seething gases swirl and shoot in a glorious display of light. The nova may burn for some time, but eventually it cools and fades, and generally dis appears from sight. Seldom do they last more than a few days. So if a nova of extraordinary brilliance did burst forth a few days or weeks before the birth of Christ, this could be the Star toward which the wise men hurried, so long ago. It must be remembered, however, that the nova, if such it was, actually had burned out long before the first Christmas eve, because most of the stars are so distant that light takes many years to travel from them to the earth. Only lately the Nova Her-culhas been seen, but its light has been traveling through space for 1300 years, at 186,000 miles a second. Learned Guesses. But these conjectures and scientific guesses are simply that guesses. No one knows just what the Christmas Star was, or how it directed the wise men from the east to the little town of Bethlehem. It may be that, since there were prophecies to guide the Magi to that village in Judea, the Star did not exactly point the way, as some fanciful legends have put it, but merely indicated to the wise men the glorious day was near at hand. The director of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago comments that no star could "stand still" in the heavens while the three Magi plodded wearily onward. It would swing with the other stars in the daily round, as the earth turns on its axis. And again, a star could not remain fixed over the stable on that night of nights, casting down a great broad beam of purest light. That is, no v ciU' Jb ,;. v Look over clothes and household textiles regularly, reinforce weak places and mend small holes before they grow large, and fabrics will last longer. When the sweetness of cream is doubtful, stir in a pinch of soda. This will prevent curdling even in hot coffee. To lengthen the life of your feather pillows, put them in a current of cool dry air frequently to keep them dry, fresh and sweet. Most rayon fabrics should be A group of senators are giving pressed when slightly damp, but our genuine Good Neighbors a coating of mud. We refer to the nations spun rayons look best if ironed that declared war against Ameri- when almost dry. ca's enemies and have done everyTo remove hard water scale or thing in. their power to aid us. Friendly relations between Uncle stains from porcelain enameled Sam and most of his neighbors have ware, boil a mild solution of soda in it periodically. A mixture of been a shining light in salt and lemon juice, rubbed on world However, these senators have been mum when It comes the utensil and wiped off with a to a neighbor that has been running wet rag will also do the trick. errands for our enemies and aiding the Axis to kill American soldiers First Choice in the Service and sailors. They look the other way when it comes to doing someIf you've ever noticed the top of thing about Argentina. a Marine Officer's visor cap, Much space has been devoted to you've seen on it something you sob stories about the suffering of won't find on any other cap worn In Uncle Sam's service a neat Berliners. They come from neutral sources. Indeed, the bombing of "X" of looped braid. There's a story back of that any city isn't a picnic. But the "X", and it goes back Nazis asked for it by starting the braided war and gloating about the cities more than 150 years, to a time shortly after the U. S. Marines a, they massacred. The Nazis gave were first organized. others a' taste of total war. Now In those days of sailing ships, All it. war brutal is they're getting naval battles often ended in close . . . Buried in every report of raids d fighting, as the crew on Berlin are figures about the to board the othone of tried ship planes lost by the Allies. Let's give er and Marines, of course, were our sympathy to the families of the in thick of the fight. Some were brave fliers who are giving their in the the boarding party, and some lives to end a war they never were posted in the rigging to fire wanted. down on the enemy. It was because of those men firing from There has been an avalanche of high on the masts that Marine ofpostwar plans. All have one ideal ficers whose uniforms from above In common: Fasckjm must be wiped resembled the fixed enemy's out and never allowed to crawl "X'S" on their hats. know in that Fascists again. They In other words, that braid meant Germany and elsewhere represent to the Marines in the rigging, "X to America's security marks the spot not to shoot at!" great dangers . . . At the same time many of Since those days, the "X" on the those Idealists can look you straight cap has become a standard part in the eye and insist that we must of the Marines' uniform. Another not deprive Fascists in America of piece of "standard equipment" their civil liberties. Although they you'll notice among Marines these know Fascists here only use free- days whether they're wearing dom to help them spout their poison. dress uniform or combat dungarees is the American cigarettes The army, navy and marines are they carry with them wherever composed of different races, creeds, they go. In all those news pictures religions and political beliefs. The you've seen of Uncle Sam's fightUnited Nations also have many of ing men, snapped as they are rethe same differences. But they are laxing while "off duty," you'll find strongly united, fighting and dying that in most cases they will be And what together. Their unified strength is smoking a cigarette. winning the war . . . But political brand do they prefer? Well, actual hindifferences in Washington are sales records show that the favodering the war. And in too many rite with men in the Marines as American cities people of different in the Navy is Camel. Likewise, races and religions will not get along according to the sales records, with each other. Although they are Camels are first choice with men far from the battlefields and are in the Army. forced to make fewer sacrifices than-anFighting men who have come fighting man of the United Na- back from jungles, deserts, and tions they can't match the patri- mountains wherever Uncle Sam's otism or unity of men in uniform. forces are stationed give one pretty good reason for this choice. Congress Is now orally juggling a They say that Camels stay fresh laudable bill: To provide economic that out in the jungles of Guadalsecurity for demobilized soldiers. canal, for instance, the Camels That deserves every American's they get are actually just as fresh-tastias the and support . . . At the same time. Congress is dynamiting the dam of ones they used to get back home. Of course, the millions of men rationing and price controL It holds back the flood of inflation. If un- in training camps here at home leashed. It will blast every Ameri- want their cigarettes just as much can's economic security, including as soldiers. Your dealer now has the Americans who return from the Camels in special Christmas carbattlefronts. tons, gay and colorful and he will be glad to wrap them for you Berlin Is being drenched with' for mailing. Adv. bombs. Headlines about it make thrilling reading. We hope it will force the German-vermito throw In the brownshirt. But wars can't be won by wishful thinking as some S minrtM sr doabto moM back lihnd la ttomarll of our editorialists seem to be doarid imm palnfnl, nffmwt-triWhnna rtwiuHi war aaar . . . iu. th fjuttst-rti- n1 hmrtinim. doctorknown For contrast we offer a prMrrib tor ing headline frarn Hitler's newspaper at Thlw. No In rto wwnfort liM. time when London was being Hrfr orSfcaSoabi ronr nw.y back ntan f bottl blitzed by the Luftwaffe: "London h a. at ail araczuta. Bombed Again, British Soon to Surrender." Ilis Way Teacher Say in a more elegant The Magazines: "Wendell Willkle way: "The sap Is rising." Is getting sick of that empty phrase, Freshman The boob gets out of , too that "free enterprise" echo. In bed. . ... - t r LI. His uxjk piete, iwr. w. onerea mis squelcher: "Some of the talk we 6143 hear about "free enterprise' or 'nrl. WNU W vate enterprise' is just propaganda on the part of powerful groups who have not practiced real enterprise in a generation and have no intention of doing so" . . . H. F. Armstrong nutshells our war alms In Foreign And Your Strength anal Affairs: "Our aim tn this war if Energy Is Below Par the defeat of our enemies and permaba saoaad by mr4mt af tl My nent victory over their minds." luacttos that parwita pnAmammim hand-to-han- d y ng n -- Acid Indigestion ff n Better Rural Roads The National Highway Users conference calls my attention to a bill to create within the Federal Works agency a Rural Local Roads administration, independent of the Public Roads administration, to with the states and their local subdivisions in the construction of rural local roads. It ts proposed in S. H'J3 by Senator Stewart of V I Tennessee. The bill would authorize ations of $1,125,000,000 by the federal government to be made available at the rate of $.175,000,000 a year for e;uh of the three years immediately K IIIKKK Rlxis OF ORIENT ARK An 18th century prenrplo" by many authorities considered the following the end of the war for conn struction of rural local finest example of (hi fiort of art, prwnU the Nativity scene. The perfection of the painted rfmarnanir. in ine oc Kg rniina. through the end or the gable, ran be mrrn the miraculous Star. igurra roads. ! well-know- CHRISTMAS CAROL by DauhUnne There' a unrig In the air! There's a star in the sky! There's a mother's drep prayer The Cuna Indian tribe of Panama And a baby's low cryl has been persuaded to declare war on the Axis and has gone to work And the star rains Its lire while tht Beautiful !lng. gathering wild castilloa rubber to For the manger of llrthlrhem crahelp the United Nations defeat the dles a king. enemy. f ifty million gallons of gasoline, fuel oil?, lubricants and other petroleum products are now going direct, ly lo the fighting forces evry day. In the light of (hat star Mrs the ages impearlrd; And that song from afar Has swept sver the world Every hearth Beautiful la the homes Jesus is jk. f When they came to the stable in Bethlehem, they knelt in reverent wonder, like the simple shepherds gathered about the Babe, and offered their rich gifts of "gold, frankincense and myrrh." Today, although scientific knowledge has advanced a thousand-folsince the time of Christ, the mystery attached to all that sacred story remains. The Star of Bethlehem is still mystery to science. It will always remain so, for there is no way to recreate the physical conditions of that night, so long ago, and to investigate the phenomena with precise instruments. But millions of Christians will continue to believe that the glorious symbol of hope, the Star, shone over the little stable on that first Christmas, while celestial music floated over the countryside, and all the world was hushed in wonder. ' v IINTS pro-Na- A Miracle. But the world has believed in that Star for 19 centuries. Scientists do not deny that it could have been a miracle that "Star of Wonder, Star of Hope" that shone over the crib of the Saviour. It is no more difficult to believe that a star could send its beams down on that sacred spot than that angels sang to the shepherds, "Glory to God in the It is one more marvel highest." among many marvels. From the Scriptures and from tradition it is known that the three wise men or Magi ("Magi" was the term for astrologer in the East) saw a great light in the sky, and took it for the Star that heralded the birth of the King of the Jews, who would deliver mankind from bondage. The three learned men, called kings by tradition, mounted their camels, and came together, one from Chaldea, one from Persia, and one from Arabia. Their names, according to Bede, r. were Kaspar, Melchior, and ; I .... "natural" star could. It would move onward with the procession of the heavens, until it set below the horizon. ' UOUSEHOLD If you use electric extension cords, check them frequently for frayed places. Never handle a cord with wet hands and handle a wet cord only with a thick pad or dry cloth. The silver-linin- g tribe is whooping that everything is peaches and cream. They oppose an increase In manpower for the armed forces. Although every fact debunks them they convey the impression that Americans should start ripping phone books so they'll have enough confetti to flip at victory parades in a "few weeks" . . . Meanwhile, the Japs are being pushed around in the Pacific. But it's far from a pushover. From Tarawa came a dose of gTim news that froze the facial muscles: About 3,000 marines spearheaded the initial assault on that island, but only a few hundred escaped death or injury. is - 1 Contrasts in the News: hard-packe- A 11 messenger from heaven, and to start on the long journey. Kepler's theory satisfied pretty well until 1826, when Professor Ideler of Berlin pointed out that at no time are the three planets in absolute conjunction so that they would appear as a single star, even to the naked eye. Nob) totjen 3ltiit toa bom in JJetfjlejjem of 3hibea in ttje bap of feerob tfje king, beijolb there tame tottse men from tlje Cast to lili 'tv pktljlefjem a jtlpsterp to Science Another piece By BAUKIIAGE Thursday, December 23, 1943 f NEPIII, UTAH S, s tar Sljat i!jotte ill Jf oreber 'Victory Volunteers' Are Satisfactory Farm-Han- are deferred from military service because industry needs them; 18 out of every 100 because the farmers have to have them. Thirty-si- x out of every 100 men now in the armed forces were working in shops or factories in 1940. Twenty-thre- e out of every 100 were on farms three years ago. Industry has charged that congress has been kindlier to the farmers when it came to deferring their help than it has been to them. However that may be, you won't hear any farmers complaining about having too much help. One thing, however, according to the reports that have come into the department of agriculture, the farmers are not complaining on one score that a lot of them thought they were going to have to complain about that is, the help they get from the Victory Farm Volunteers of the U. S. Crop corps. Many farmers who came to scoff remained to pray for more of the tame. Not all of the young folks who worked on farms this summer were perfect. It is estimated that there may have been some 700,000 of these young people, half were provided through the Federal Extension service of the War Food administration, as many more probably found jobs for themselves. Under the leadership of the State Extension service and with the active support of the g schools, the agencies, civic organizations and farm leaders, these Victory Farm Volunteers were assembled. Most of them made good. Their story makes an interesting chapter in the history of American TIMES-NEW- mm kM-s- Is aflame, and the sing of the nations th King. Never In the history of the world has there been more reason to hope for permanent peace than today. Victory Isn't in the bag, but nations are in a rut. Diplomats We rejolre In the light, the peace-lovin- g ccuntrles among And we r hs the song have made a vital That oomrs down through the on a happy world . . . Only the night Isolationists are trying to wreck From the heavenly throng. those plans. Only the Ay! we shout to the lovely evangel sneer at every attempt to form a they bring. famrry of nations. They insist It And we grrrt In his cradle ur won't work. Yet they are the same Saviour and Ring! who said they loved peace - JOSIAII GILBERT HOLLAND. people ad knew how to Insure it. war-tor-in- g down-payme- Jack-asstrich- waata ta aaaaiaaiata. Far truly wmnf S'npla faal tiraH, weak ana BitanraMa whaai tha kMnaya tan la ramoTa mxem t4a sad ataar saata annttar Iraaa tha blond. Yoaj stay aaffar aarrlnf bakatia. rfeaumatia palna, kMKrtya, SiaawM-a- a, ftottinf ap aithta, twe palna, vwntilnc poasatimna fran.unt ana aeaaty ann-tta- n wttk lanarttnff. and baretnf la air tkat tnmMa m wraag vitk ton kidnva or bladder. Thara kould bn no dnaM tbat prompt tmatmant la wiaar tkaa arcint. iar Imm'i JMU. It la battof ta ralr aa a ajMtdieina that baa wan eoontrywida approval tha a rva ao root king mm faroraMr d nny yaara. Ara at ail drag atorsa Got Nn today. |