May 22, 1936: LULU BELLE AND SKYLAND SCOTTY COMING TO THE PREMIER MONDAY

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on May 22, 1936.

LULU BELLE AND SKYLAND SCOTTY COMING TO THE PREMIER MONDAY

The WLS Sweethearts, Lulu Belle and Skyland Scotty, will appear in person at the Premier Theatre on Monday, as the stars of the WLS Barn Dance appearing there.

Behind the romance of these two very popular radio artists, is a very unusual story. They were both born in the state of North Carolina, within twenty-three miles of each other. However soon after her birthday, Lulu Belle’s family moved to Kentucky, where she spent her early life. After she had passed her thirteenth birthday, her father obtained a position in Florida, and the family moved to Miami. From Florida the Cooper family came all the way north to Evanston, Illinois, and it was there that John Lair found Lulu Belle, and brought her to WLS.

In contrast with the roving life that Lulu Belle leads, Scotty’s days were spent in the region of North Carolina, known as the Land of the Skyーfrom which he draws his name. It was here that he learned to sing and whistle the mountain tunes in the fashion peculiar to the section of the country. He attended school, and eventually graduated from N.C.U., prepared to become a district school teacher, but some one had heard him sing, and recommended him to WLS. He came west, caught on like wildfire, and besides catching hold of the radio public, caught Lulu Belle for a wife.

The rest of their story is generally known. Now there is a third member of this famous combination, little Linda Lou. but she makes personal appearances for Mama and Papa only. However, to quote Lulu Belle, “She’s by far the most important member of the family, now.”

May 18, 1946: Local youths meet At Camp In Northern Japan

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on May 18, 1946.

Local youths meet At Camp In Northern Japan

Jack Ferguson (left) and Barney Woycik (right)

“There’s no place like home,” most any serviceman will agree, but when you are in the army overseas and “sweatin’ out” that important boat ride that’s going to bring you back to your own shores, your greatest thrill is meeting someone from home.

At least that’s the way two Valparaiso youths, Corp. Jack Ferguson and P.F.C. Barney Woycik, size up the situation. The pair met recently in Japan.

Ferguson was so happy about the reunion that he wrote a letter to the editor of The Vidette-Messenger and enclosed a picture of the reunion, which is reproduced in this issue of the newspaper.

With Para-Gliders

“He is the first fella from Valpo that I have met since I’ve been in the army,” Jack states.

Woycik is stationed with the 1878th Para-Glider infantry at Sapporo. Hokkaido, Japan, and Ferguson is a member of the 188th Parachute infantry at Senelai, Japan.

Jack is in his tenth month overseas, and “will be leaving for home soonーYippy!” he adds, while Barney just recently came over and has enlisted for a year.

Meanwhile, The Vidette-Messenger today received a dispatch from the Eight army in japan revealing that Woycik was recently appointed to the 187th RCT 11th airborne division honor guard to receive Brig. Gen. Sewell upon his arrival at Camp Kreis, near Sapporo.

P.F.C. Woycik is the son of Mrs. Mary Woycik, 201 Monroe street, while Corp. Ferguson’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. F.A. Ferguson, 102 Madison Ave.

Feb. 6, 1941: ‘The Beacon’ New Name of VU Yearbook

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on February 6, 1941.

‘The Beacon’ New Name of VU Yearbook

“The Beacon” will henceforth be the name of the yearbook of Valparaiso university by action taken last night by the publications board.

After a thorough discussion on the subject of changing the name from “Uhlan” to something more appropriate, and after considering each of the 15 or 20 names submitted by students, the board decided unanimously in favor of “The Beacon.”

The reasons are several: First, the seal of the university carries the inscription, “In luce tua videmus lucem,” or “In Thy light we see light.” Second, the name of the university student newspaper, “The Torch,” carries out this symbolism. Third, a minor reason, that a beacon is placed on a hill and Valparaiso university is also on a hill.

President O.P. Kretzmann said that he felt the new name was expressive of the ideals and purpose of the university and in keeping with the spirit of the school.

Results from a poll of students on the subject of changing the name of the annual revealed that student sentiment was a 50-50 proposition. The vote was very light.

The publications board consists of the president of the university; Dr. W.G. Friedrich, dean of student; A.F. Scribner, business manager of the university; Harold Helbing, president of the student council; the Torch staff, and the editorial staff of the yearbook.

Jan. 31, 1941: Long War Is Opinion Held By Professor

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on January 30, 1941.

Long War Is Opinion Held By Professor

BY HERB STEINBACH

That World war II will be a long, drawn out affair, and not won overnight, either with or without the aid of the United States, is the prediction of Dr. Alfred H. Meyer, associate professor of geography and geology at Valparaiso university.

Dr. Meyer addressed Kiwanis Wednesday noon at their Hotel Lembke luncheon. He was introduced by Dr. F.R. Elliott, program chairman.

The last World war was not lost by Germany on the battle field, the speaker recalled, but because of economic strangulation. Since the rise of Hitler, Germany has taken  steps to prevent such a repetition.

Today England is being strangled economically by Germany, and the question is how long the British can hold out.

The unjustified optimistic talk of an early English victory in the press and on the street corner, is starling to the speaker.

Nazi Position Different

Dr. Meyer said it is a mere illusion that the war will be won shortly by invasion of either England or Germany, for the war will not be won that way. It will be a long struggleーunless something unforeseen, such as internal revolution, occurs.

Germany in 1941 is in a different position than the Germany of 1914. Before the last year for four or five years Germany had hoarded supplies. They stated as early as 1909 or 1910. But today their military control is larger, for Hitler holds sway over entire Europe, with the exception of Greece. Thus Germany doesn’t have to worry about an invasion. This does not include invasion by air, which would not win the war anyway, according to the speaker.

Added to this absence of fear of invasion is the economic security with which Hitler has surrounded himself. Germany made alliances and pacts with the larger European countries, and has taken over the other smaller counties one by one.

Russia “Forced”

Germany forced Russia into an economic pact, Dr. Meyer observed. Had Stalin refused Hitler’s demands Russia would have had to withstand the invasion of a major army, with which she could not cope.

By means of these alliances and domination by force Germany now has access to the two largest supplies of iron ore (in Alsace-Lorraine and in Sweden) and also controls ample petroleum in Rumania and Russia. Russia owns 65 to 70 percent of the world’s manganese, another German asset.

In the last year England had complete control of the ore and Rumanian oil was in British control until Rumania yielded to Hitler’s pressure.

Another important item outlined by the speaker is that England is but 30 percent self-sufficient for its food supply, while in normal times Germany is 87 percent self-sufficient.

Introduce Members

With Russia possessing 45 to 50 percent of the world’s rye, and 25 to 30 percent of the wheat, Germany’s access to these staples is ample. Added to this Germany, by holding control over Europe, does not have to import its necessary foodstuffs or materials by water.

Prior to the address Robert Lanham, Kenneth Caryer and William Forney were inducted into membership. They were sponsored respectively by Clarence Schneider, Walter Crisman and Bruce Zimmerman. The charge was given by Prof. C.F. Ziebarth, president.

The club enjoyed a 100 percent attendance, as the month’s attendance drive came to an end. Eleven new members were secured during the campaign, raising the total membership to 42. The winning team during the contest was headed by E.S. McCray. The losers were in charge of W.A. McCallum. The winning “blues” received a total of 483 points, and losing “reds” 398.

Jan. 23, 1946: Will You Help?

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on January 23, 1946.

Will You Help?

In an effort to ease the pressing problem of housing faced by returning World War II veterans, The Vidette-Messenger is urging landlords who have accommodations of any kind to list their properties with the Veterans’ Affairs office in the Porter county court house.

This newspaper believes that a community obligation exists on behalf of the men who served in the armed forces and are now returning to discover that living space for themselves, their wives and families is almost impossible to find.

By listing property, whether it be rooms, apartments or homes for rent, with the Veterans’ Affairs office, a channel will be provided whereby former G.I.’s can get a “break” in following up such leads.

To make this plan effective The Vidette-Messenger will ask customers who wish to advertise their properties in the classified columns of this newspaper to first list them at the Veterans’ Affairs office as a patriotic gesture to ex-servicemen.

The telephone number of the Veterans’ Affairs office is 809R. Frank Burris, Veterans’ Affairs officer, and his staff will be glad to receive any information which can be of service in the problem of finding quarters for servicemen and their wives, many of whom are desperately in need of such help.

Jul. 15, 1941: TRUE THEN AND TRUE NOW

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on January 15, 1941.

Entered at Post Office, Valparaiso, Indiana, as second class matter Published every afternoon except Sunday by THE VIDETTE-MESSENGER COMPANY 163 Lincolnway

“It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions, on accident and force.”ーAlexander Hamilton

VALPARAISO, INDIANA, JANUARY 15, 1941

This Department is Set Aside to Reflect Editorial Interpretation of Men and Events Playing Paris in the Moving Drama of Daily Affairs and for Comment, Critical and Otherwise, Relative Thereto.

TRUE THEN AND TRUE NOW

In times like these, when emotionalism tends to dominate the thought processes of man, it is difficult to judge conditions or events in their true perspectives. Wars inevitably foster hate, fear, sympathy, distrust, sorrow and hysteria. As the black clouds of battle expand, issues are less easily discerned in clear outline; men’s minds change from day to day, facts give way to fancy and molehills assume the proportions of mountains. Under such circumstances any attempt to seek firmer ground inevitably leads to the pastーwhen passions were less violent and men’s logic was more lucid than loose.

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It was with this thought in mind that the following editorial was retrieved from the files. It was saved because it seemed to make sense when it was printed originally. It seems to make sense now, too. It was published in a metropolitan newspaper shortly after the peace of Munich had been signed by Messrs. Chamberlain of England, Mussolini of Italy, Hitler of Germany and Daladier of France. It is more than an editorial; it is the history of man’s baser nature in a column of type. Of the entire editorial we would call your attention, above all, to a most significant phrase: “the immemorial rivalries among the European nations…” Here is the editorial:

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HOW WE GOT WHERE WE ARE

Today it is fashionable to trace the peace of Munich no farther back than the treaty of Versailles; to exclaim that a more just settlement of the World war would have guaranteed perpetual peace, and then to stop there ー as if the immemorial rivalries among the European nations arose in 1914 by spontaneous combustion! Actually, the treaty of Versailles was hatched in 1871 by the treaty of Frankfurtーwhereafter a beaten France rearmed for the return of Alsace and Lorraine, and a victorious Germany surged into inevitable conflict with an overreaching Britain for world markets.

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All that had to happen by reason of the union of Italy in 1866, the thwarted democratic revolutions of 1848, and the repressive holy alliance of 1820ーall foreordained by the peace of Paris in 1815ーat which time Britain grasped a universal sellers’ market; the German states first imagined a fatherland: Russia swarmed upon Europe, and Napoleon lost his cast for world empire. But napoleon himself was created by the revolution of 1789, which declared war upon ancient privilege; and this brawling youth was the child of the American revolution, wherein France aided the colonies not for democracy, culminated that series of European combats called the Seven Years’ war and the War of the Austrian Succession, with Britain, France, Austria, Russia and Prussia as disputants for gain, and Spain and Poland as the victims.

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Previously, under Louis XIV, France had stolen Strasbourg, wasted the Palatinate, and pillaged Hollandーso that Britain befriended the Holland she had used as a cat’s paw against the sixteenth-century Spain, and smashed in two trade wars under the Commonwealth and the Restoration. At last Sweden, the ally of France, had gone down in 1709 against Russia; and, until then, Sweden had been the terror of Europe; first as the defender of German religious liberty in the Thirty Years’ War, ending in 1648; and later as the war drunk ruler of the Baltic states. Not one of these embroilments was born from a void. Right up to the Armada of 1588 Spain had overawed France and England; and Spain was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, risen under Charles V, to European domination. But that empire of the Germans evolved from its having taken over the Roman Empire, which had invaded the north for the sole purposeーnever forgiven by the Germansーof selling them as slaves.

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No less created by war, Rome had burned Carthage and seized as thralls those ancient Near Eastern monarchies split asunder by Alexander of Macedonーthe first European ambitious to possess the Orient. But, even before Babylon or Egypt, no golden age of peace blessed mankind. Every primitive village, African or Asiatic, raided its neighbor for land cattles and slavesーonce man had conquered the animals and was ready for his brother man.

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Certainly the editorial sounds cynical, but only because the history of man is one great procession of cynicism, greed and lust for power. And throughout history the jealousies of Europe have epitomized the inability of man to live with his brother in peace. It is unto such a turmoil that some alleged patriots would have the United States of America embroiled. It is into this cauldron of hot and bitter intrigue we would dip our cups……..But we almost neglected to mention the name of the newspaper in which this striking editorial appeared. It is not courteous to print another’s work without giving due credit. In this case we are more than happy to acknowledge this contribution to solemn analysis of world conditions to the Chicago Daily News.

Nov. 13, 1940: SUCCESSIVE STEPS THROUGH WHICH A SELECTEE PASSES WHILE BEING TRANSFORMED FROM A CIVILIAN INTO A TRAINED SOLDIER IN THE ARMY OF THE U.S.

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on November 13, 1940.

SUCCESSIVE STEPS THROUGH WHICH A SELECTEE PASSES WHILE BEING TRANSFORMED FROM A CIVILIAN INTO A TRAINED SOLDIER IN THE ARMY OF THE U.S.

Homes of Selective Service Men from which they leave to go to Register

Steps taken by a civilian subject to selective service from the time he leaves home to register, October 16, until he becomes a soldier are pictured in this accompanying chart prepared at Fifth Corps Area headquarters, Fort Hayes, Columbus, O.

All selective service trainees coming from Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana will follow these steps. They include:

1. Men report to their nearest registration board, October 16, complete registration and again return home.

2. Some time later一after first prospective trainees are selected by civilian boards一those called report to their local boards. They are placed in charge of a group leader and are taken to an induction center.

3. Upon arrival at the induction station一similar to a recruiting station一prospective trainees meet army personnel for the first time. Heretofore civilian personnel have been in charge exclusively but now the shift to army supervision begins.

4. The selectees are checked in at the induction station, given a standard army physical and mental examination. Some prospects are rejected because of physical or mental disqualification and are returned to civilian life. Qualified selectees are sworn into the military service for the first time, again are placed in charge of group leaders and sent to a permanent reception center.

5. At the permanent reception center, and hereafter until they complete training, the recruits are under control of army personnel. The selectees are checked in, housed, classified according to abilities, vaccinated and immunized against smallpox and typhoid, offered opportunity to take out government insurance and make allotments to dependents, clothed and equipped, and finally assigned to a unit of the army of the United States. Then they are sent out to join their units.

6. Men who arrive at an induction center too late to accompany their group to the permanent reception center may be sent to a temporary reception center instead. Here they undergo the same processing as that followed at the permanent reception centers.

7. Upon reaching their regular tactical divisions or training units the recruits begin their year’s training as a soldier.

8. After original tactical divisions or training units are filled with their initial quotas, remaining recruits will be sent to replacement training centers. These men will join newly formed tactical units or will join the original divisions. Others will be sent back to reception and induction centers to fill posts vacated there by the original army personnel.

9. Completing their year’s service and needed no longer for an emergency, the selective service soldiers will be given full physical examination and returned to their homes. For 10 years thereafter they will remain members of the army of the U.S. Reserve. If they desire to remain in the active army longer they may enlist as one-year or three-year volunteers.

Oct. 18, 1940: Doubt Draft Needed Before 1941一 EXPECT FIRST QUOTA FILLED VOLUNTARILY

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on October 18, 1940.

Doubt Draft Needed Before 1941一 EXPECT FIRST QUOTA FILLED VOLUNTARILY - Only 30,000 Wanted by Army On Nov. 18; Over 17,000,000 Register Throughout Nation. - STIMSON CHARGES WILLKIE “MISLED”

BY JOHN A. REICHMANN

(United Press Staff Correspondent)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18.一The first contingent of 30,000 conscripts一an average of less than five per local board一wanted by the army on November 18 probably will be obtained from volunteers, draft officials believed today.

They were also sure of meeting the army’s demand for 800,000 men by conscription well in advance of the war department’s schedule. Present plans call for that many one-year conscripts to be inducted into the army by June 15, 1941.

Registration returns from states swelled the probable number of registrants for the draft well over 17,000,000一nearly 1,000,000 more than pre-registration estimates.

Dr. Clarence A. Dykstra, director of the draft, inaugurated his regime a few hours after being sworn into office by announcing a policy of leniency for persons who failed to register Wednesday. He directed all state headquarters to register such persons, if they present themselves before the national lottery, and not to consider them delinquents. The law provides a penalty of five years in jail and a $10,000 fine for willful failure to register. The lottery date has not been set but probably will be between October 26 and November 2.

A new schedule for induction of conscripts into the army was announced by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, a life-long republican, after he had criticized Republican Presidential Candidate Wendell L. Willkie who, he said, had been “misled into making statements about delays in the progress of housing the men.”

He said that far from being a “ghost program,” as Willkie charged, the housing program was ahead of schedule. When questioned about the plan to call only 150,000 men by the first of the year instead of 400,000 as previously planned, Stimson replied,” insisting that it was not due to lack of housing.

In a prepared statement designed to answer criticism of the housing program, Stimson said that the slowness “came from the simple fact that the people of the United States were not ready through their congress (last summer) to take the steps necessary to give this authority or to provide this money.” This long debate in congress over conscription, he said, was evidence of the truth of this statement.

Some observers, however, regarded the new induction schedule as indication of the army’s inability to provide adequate winter quarters, since more than half of those to be called will be inducted after the severe weather months.

Induction dates have been revised twice since the conscription law was introduced in congress. Last summer it was planned to call 800,000 men by the end of this year. By early to call 400,000 men by the end of February and another 400,000 in April. Now the date for the last of the 800,000 has been set back to June 15.

The schedule announced by Stimson is as follows: Nov. 18一30,000 men; Dec. 2一60,000 men; Jan. 3一60,000 men; Jan. 15一90,000 men; Feb. 10一160,000 men; March 5一200,000 men; June 15一200,000 men.

In addition 130,000 national guardsmen will be mobilized between January 3 and February 3, 1941.

Asked if any further plans had been made, Stimson replied:

“Only God and Hitler know what will happen to the United States by then.”

Conservative estimates of draft officials indicate that no compulsory inductions will be needed until January. They expect about 200,000 volunteers, and some expect as many as 500,000. The law allows acceptance of volunteers as young as 18 years of age.