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Show Cold-Storage Locker Plants Now Taking Hold Near Centralia, Wash., in the fall of 1917, while the rest of the U. S. was busy with World War I, a hunter hunt-er bagged some pheasants which he wanted to keep for his Christmas dinner. As an accommodation, an ice-plant operator named J. A. Win-chell Win-chell plunked the birds into a water-filled water-filled milk can, froze them in a solid ice cake. On Christmas day the frozen fowl came out of the ice cake ifresh. To ' Engineer Roger Sprague of Omaha's Baker Ice Machine company, compa-ny, who serviced the Winchell account, ac-count, the frozen pheasant episode gave an idea. Mindful that most U. S. farmers lack easy means of preserving for their own use food which they raise, he saw the possibility possi-bility of a new market for ice machinery: ma-chinery: plants to freeze and store food for the public. The idea took years to catch on. But today thousands thou-sands of farmers go to cold-storage locker plants, rent lockers big enough to hold 250 pounds of meat (or cubic feet of any food) for $10 a year. The plants quick-freeze their meat. They also slaughter animals an-imals (at $2 a head for cattle, $1.50 for hogs, 75 cents for sheep) and prepare and freeze vegetables or fruits for 2 to 3 cents a pound. Iowa, which had nary a plant in 1933, now has 500 of them. Last year 3,000 U. S. locker plants did a gross business of $20,000,000. By 1940' s end the completion of 750 new plants was expected to up the industry's indus-try's investment to $45,000,000. Succor for Suckers If the original tires have been replaced re-placed with new ones, don't accept this as proof of good mechanical condition. It probably means that a lot of mileage has been put into that car, else the original tires wouldn't have worn out. If all the fenders are new and shiny, don't be too elated. It may mean the car has been in a serious wreck. If the car is "guaranteed," get the exact terms in writing and make sure that this guarantee has protective pro-tective teeth in it. Don't be too eager to buy a used car because of its looks. Or because be-cause of its age or rather, lack of age. One of the flagrant abuses by a few in the used car game is the repainting of late model ex-taxicabs, which are offered as nearly new automobiles. It is common knowledge knowl-edge that cabs are usually subjected subject-ed to five times the normal amount of wear. Do you know that, for a little while, white lead will take the grind out of a transmission, and that ground cork will smooth out a differential? dif-ferential? Do you know that putty temporarily temporari-ly seals leaks from an exhaust pipe or manifold? (of course it may fall off when it becomes hot and endanger en-danger the safety of the driver and his passengers by pouring carbon monoxide into the car.) If you know these things, you have a fair chance of buying a car from an unknown dealer and experiencing experienc-ing no trouble. But unfortunately, too many of us do not know them. |