April 1, 1966: Filed Under ‘I’ For ‘I Want This’

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 1, 1966.

Filed Under ‘I’ For ‘I Want This’

By ADA CADDELL

An attempted purse snatching occurred at the Porter county jail this morning, but was solved quickly and the purse returned to its owner within minutes.

The purse had been left on the table in the office when its owner was offered a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

The whole thing appeared to be a scheme planned by two women, reportedly known as matrons. One of them has been showing a deep interest in this particular purse.

When the owner of the purse returned to the office, the purse was gone.

Playing it cool, the owner calmly sat down in a complete panic. The purse-snatcher hadn’t even left lunch money. When the owner began to cryーthe purse was one of her prized possessions and so was the lunch moneyーone of these matrons who had been so generous with the coffee began acting suspiciously.

Again, calmly the victim screamed, “Give me my purse.”

Faced with such a swift, calm unperturbed accusation, the purse-stealer returned the item in question after retrieving it from its hiding place in the filing cabinetーfiled under “I” for”I want this.”

No charges were filed because the matron who wanted the purse fell to the floor in a tantrum, kicking and screaming and it was impossible to get her name. It's something like David or Davies, the first name Laverne or Yvone or something. Her husband, who claims he’s a deputy, has a first name something like Jerry or Jesseman. It is believed they reside in Wheeler.

The victim of the purse-snatching scheme later said she felt this day in particular was no day to file charges. They might not be taken seriously. And who would believe that a nice old lady (not too old) would be victimized at the sheriff’s office?

March 6, 1976: Father Encouraged Sons’ Experiments Early Experiences As Inventors Hone Urschel Brothers’ Talents

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

Father Encouraged Sons’ Experiments

Early Experiences As Inventors Hone Urschel Brothers’ Talents

By JOE URSCHEL

IN ADDITION TO MYSELF, this story relates to my two brothers, Kenneth and Gerald, and to my father, William Urschel. Each in his own way contributed to the building of Urschel Laboratories.

Our father’s factory was only a few feet from the back porch of our house and for us children, much of our life began in the factory. One of my earliest memories relates to the time when I was such a small child that it was necessary for me to stand on a box to reach the table of a large band saw which contained no safety guards. I complained to my father that the foreman had put me out of our shop because he discovered me operating this band saw. My father replied that I would have to operate the band saw when the foreman was not around. My father expressed no fear that any of us children would get injured with the machinery. We did not get injured.

My father permitted us to do what we wanted to do and encouraged us in every way to investigate all kinds of technical pursuits. Consequently, we did many things that children ordinarily do not do. Sometimes we worked together on projects, but usually we worked as individuals.

THESE ARE SOME of the things we did when we were children: built our own cameras and made our own paper for making photographic prints; assembled a large mineral collection and studied the crystalline structure, chemical composition and uses of each of the minerals; built and operated radio transmitters; stung wire through the neighborhood for telegraphic message sending; made explosives by the bucketful and used these for making fireworks and in firing homemade cannons.

We also made a boat with side paddle wheels which were operated from cranks inside the boat; made our own diving gear and walked around on the bottom of Flint Lake; manufactured and sold a product for transferring photographs on newsprint to cloth; built crude musical instruments; made etched printing press; used a large chemistry laboratory in our basement and performed college-level experiments; developed a prospecting kit and went prospecting for gold in South Dakota; built many kites and model airplanes; learned to fly full-sized airplanes; built our own still and made booze; built a large number of pieces of furniture; and even went so far as to develop a special metal alloy and cast some beautiful counterfeit coins which were deposited in slot machines and thereby traded for real ones.

In the factory, we were first paid an hourly rate for our labors at about the age of eight. By the early teens, we had learned to operate all the machinery in the shop. We had learned to make drawings, to make patterns in the pattern shop, and to make castings in the foundry.

Then our father began to train us to become inventors. We would be sent off into separate rooms with our drawing boards and after attempting to solve some mechanical problems, we would then compare drawings to see who had the best solution. In the beginning, father always had the best answer. As time went on, we gradually improved our skills, and the time finally came when we would sometimes all reach the same solution. Today, almost all of the machinery we built is the result of inventions by my brother Gerald and me.

Brother Kenneth was not interested in machine design. Instead, he went on to develop other skills that have become invaluable to the success of our company. He is in charge of office and plant layout and is in full charge of pricing of all parts and machines.

IT WAS NOT ALL complete freedom in living and working with our father. There were certain rules of the game. We were encouraged to strive for perfection and only shoddy workmanship was not tolerated. The greatest sin we could commit was to make a copy of what someone else had made. When we designed a machine, we were not permitted to discover how other people had built similar equipment. We were not permitted to simply improve on what others had accomplished. Consequently, our radical approach to machine design caused our equipment to become highly successful. Competitive machine designs disappeared from the market.

The years of World War II taught us something about our ability to manufacture. At the beginning of the war, we were instructed from Washington that we must stop building food processing machinery and that we must convert completely to making machines for war. Suddenly, we were faced with a type of competition that we had not previously known. We were furnished drawings of machines and parts and were asked to bid against other machine shops for each job. The lowest bidder got the job.

We sadly discovered that we could not bid successfully on things that were easy to make. It seemed that too many people wanted these easy jobs. We learned that we could bid successfully on things that were extremely difficult to make. Many of the jobs we obtained were jobs in which one or more other shops had completely failed to produce acceptable parts.

A reputation was established for producing the highest quality workmanship and we soon had all the work that our shop could accomplish. We went on to build much shell loading and assembly equipment, testing devices, and experimental aircraft engine parts. Suddenly, we were ordered from Washington to stop building war machines and to begin building equipment for the food dehydration industry. We were placed on a high priority basis for building this kind of equipment throughout the remainder of the war.

OUR FATHER did not enjoy manufacturing and, therefore, manufactured only a few of his minor inventions. His major patents were licensed to three large manufacturing companies. These inventions consisted of green bean processing equipment, continuous vegetable peeling machinery, and various kinds of harvesting machines.

My brother Gerald and I began to invent machines for the cutting of food products into various shapes and sizes. These machines operated at extremely high speeds. Outstanding accuracy was required in making the parts.

Other manufacturing companies were not capable of making parts for these machines. It was necessary that we build them. To make this possible, we built more factories and purchased more machine tools. Finally, buildings covered all of our land on South Napoleon Street and it was necessary to move to a new location.

To build a completely new plant, it was necessary to go looking for money. We had never borrowed any money and discovered that no one would lend us any. It was necessary to wait a few years until our profits accumulated to the point that the building of a new plant was feasible.

The first section of the new plant was built on North Calumet Road in 1957. When the plant was finished, we had used all the accumulated funds. More plant and machine tools were needed. All our profits were used to expand the operation. The plant grew from about 19,000 square feet in 1956 to 90,000 square feet today.

THERE NEVER WAS a wish to grow to become a large company. What happened was that food processors brought their problems to us and we invented more machines to fill these needs. Today, people are bringing their problems to us from all over the world.

Enclosed in the plant is a food laboratory which is busy every day working with food processors to develop new foods for a hungry world. During the last few years, this laboratory has worked with pharmaceutical houses in the clean cutting of many kinds of animal glands for the solvent extraction of various drugs to cure human ills. Most of the world’s  processed food is cut with Urschel machinery for canning, freezing and freeze-drying.

Also, Urschel machines process almost all of such foods as potato chips, frozen French fries, catsup and peanut butter, as well as a part of the nation’s snacks, candy, cereals and many kinds of baked goods. Forty-five per cent of this machinery is shipped to foreign countries. Some of the newer customers are found in China, Russia and the Arab countries.

In 1963 the company installed a computer to control its manufacturing operation, for writing its payroll, for its accounts payable and receivable, and for many other uses. After learning the possibilities of the use of computers, the company decided to go into the computer service business.

In January, 1967, Indiana Information Controls, Inc., opened its doors for business. Its first bank customer was First National Bank of Valparaiso. It has been  necessary to expand the size of the building twice since it was built. It now covers an area of 15,000 square feet. It processes the work of 55 banks in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, as well as processing the payrolls and other records for 170 organizations.

Two hundred fifty acres of land on North Calumet was purchased by our father many years ago. It was our desire to develop this land with high quality construction in a setting of green lawns and trees. In 1969 Urschel Development Corporation was established for this purpose. Development is proceeding as planned.

Retouched photo of William Urschel’s factory which he built in 1910 at 158 S. Napoleon. He told us that he drove every nail in the two-story frame structure, said William’s son, Joe Urschel, who loaned this picture to The Vidette-Messenger. William is at left and his brother Clay is at right. Factory was built for manufacturing gooseberry snippers which removed both stem and blossom ends from berries.

March 31, 1951: Prepare YMCA Lot For Erection of Building

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 31, 1951.

Prepare YMCA Lot For Erection of Building

CLEARING TREE from the YMCA lot at Chicago and Washington streets is the current project in preparation for the building of a $60,000 office and youth center building. Here two Phalanx club members, Sam Jensen (left) and Jack Ruhe, Chesterton, who began the tree cutting operations last Saturday and who plan to work today, weather permitting, are at the job of clearing the lot. Permission to build was received a week ago by “Y” officials from the National Production authority.

March 6, 1976: Park Establishment Preserves Natural Laboratory Dunes National lakeshore Stems From Work of Decade

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

Park Establishment Preserves Natural Laboratory

Dunes National lakeshore Stems From Work of Decade

By J.R. WHITEHOUSE

National Lakeshore Supt.

IN 1916, Steven Tyng Mather, the first director of the newly created National Park Service, recommended the establishment of a national park on the south shore of Lake Michigan in the area known as Indiana Dunes. The region is an unusual complex of exceptional sand dunes, marshes, bogs and sand beaches.

In geologic times, melting glacial ice created a huge lake, whose waters lapped against the shore, creating a prominent ridge, known as the Calumet Beach ridge. This natural feature is evident just north of U.S. 12 from Michigan City to Gary, in the form of the oldest dunes in the region. As the water of prehistoric Lake Michigan receded, waves and winds created new dunes. Between these dunes and the ridge, an alluvial plain developed into marshes and bogs. Finally, as Lake Michigan came into being in its present form, wind action created foredunes that rise to heights of 200 feet.

Dr. H.C. Cowles and other biologists of 50 to 70 years ago developed theories of succession and plant distribution based on observations in this area. Their theories, propounded before the term “ecology” became a household word, are today’s natural laws for the science of ecology. These circumstances, alone, have made the Indiana Dunes internationally famous. The themes and evidences of plant succession will provide an outstanding interpretive opportunity for National Lakeshore naturalists and visitors of the future.

JOSEPH BAILLY, a French Canadian, was the first settler in northwestern Indiana. He built a trading post along the Little Calumet River in 1822. Although somewhat altered, some of the structures still remain. The homestead is located within the Lakeshore region and offers outstanding potential for historic interpretation to visitors.

It was not until 1923 that Indiana Dunes State Park, encompassing 2,200 acres of dunes and marshland and three miles of beach, was established.

The National Park Service, during its Great Lakes Shoreline Recreation Area Survey in 1957-58, identified the Indiana dunes as possessing exceptional value. The Advisory Board on National Park Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments supported this proposal in 1958 and in subsequent meetings in 1959, 1960, 1963 and 1965.

Located adjacent to Gary and Michigan City and only 35 miles from Chicago, the lakeshore presents a rare opportunity to improve the environment of millions of crowded city dwellers and to insure the enjoyment of this unusual area for future generations.

ABOUT SEVEN MILLION people today live within a 50-mile radius of the Indiana Dunes. It is predicted that the population living within a 100-mile radius will reach 12 million within 15 years.

With the 1905 beginning of the Gary industrial developments, the area was plunged deep in a struggle between recreational, residential and industrial interests. Location, terrain and resources were favorable for all, but space was insufficient to supply the maximum needs of many. Before any federal action could be taken, World War I intervened and two communities, Ogden Dunes and Dune Acres, became solidly established in the heart of the region.

Sen. Paul H. Douglas of Illinois, on May 3, 1961, introduced to the 87th Congress a bill “to provide for the preservation of the Indiana Dunes and related areas.” On Oct. 21, 1963, Sen. Henry M. Jackson introduced a similar bill on behalf of himself and Sens. Douglas, Clinton P. Anderson, Vance Harke, Birch E. Bayh and others.

At the beginning of the 89th Congress, bills were introduced by Congressman Roush of Indiana and on Jan. 9 Sen. Jackson introduced Senate Bill 360 which was passed by the Senate on June 21, 1965. The resulting Public law 89-761 of Nov. 5, 1966, provided for the establishment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. This act authorized the appropriation of $27,900,000 for the acquisition of land and property. It provided that homeowners could, under certain conditions, retain use of their property for up to 25 years. The National lakeshore consists of approximately 6,000 acres, which, combined with the State park, provides a recreational facility of 8,200 acres.

THE PURPOSE of the act was “to preserve for the educational, inspirational, and recreational use of the public certain portions of the Indiana Dunes and other areas of scenic scientific and historic interest and recreational value.”

A Citizens Advisory Commission was established to offer advice or recommendations for the Secretary of Interior on matters relating to the Lakeshore. The Secretary of Interior was authorized to formally establish the National Lakeshore whenever, in his opinion, sufficient acreage was acquired to be efficiently administrable.

On Sept. 17, 1972, Secretary of Interior Rogers C. B. Morton officially established Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in a ceremony at the lakefront attended by Mrs. Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the Indiana Congressional delegation, and members of many citizen groups, including Save the Dunes Council, which had worked diligently over many years for that objective.

The National Park Service, in carrying out its mandate for the management of this area, has purchased and removed more than 300 structures from the Lakeshore area. Many more residences have been purchased and are being occupied by the former owners under the “reservation in use” provision of the act.

A SMALL BUT DEDICATED staff is engaged in providing environmental education and interpretive programs for visitors from an improvised Visitor Center in a former church building located at Kemil Road and U.S. 12. Temporary parking facilities have been constructed in three locations to provide visitor access to the beach. Horseback and hiking trails have been constructed. Park Rangers provide protection for the visitors and the fragile natural resources.

Intensive long-range planning is underway to assure that future developments are consistent with the intent of the legislation and appropriate for the needs of visitors now and in future generations.

Extensive research is being conducted both by NPS and scientists from local universities to assure that sufficient information is available for adequate management and protection for the area’s fragile natural resources.

Visitation has increased from 8,000 in 1969 to more than 86,000 in 1975. Total annual visitation is expected to exceed 1,000,000 before 1980.

LEGISLATION was passed in 1974 to add $7.6 million to complete the land acquisition program. Additional legislation, to add approximately 4,000 acres to the Lakeshore, is still before Congress.

Construction is underway on a beach house, access roads, trails and picnic areas at West Beach. The exterior of historic Bailly homestead is being restored and new facilities are being planned for the Mt. Baldy dune area.

The Visitor Center at Kemil Road and U.S. 12 has been remodeled, providing more audio-visual facilities; and the former Nike missile base on Mineral Springs Road has been rehabilitated to provide housing this summer for 40 members of the Youth Conservation Corps. Plans also call for an administration building and an environmental education building in that area.

March 30, 1956: It’s ‘Snow Time’ To Play Golf At Forest Park

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 30, 1956.

It’s ‘Snow Time’ To Play Golf At Forest Park

WHILE A CAMERAMAN was setting up a picture of new Forest Park golf pro. Charlie Harter, standing in the doorway of the new pro shop, two Valparaiso High school freshmen showed up at the peak of this morning’s snow stormーall set for some golf practice. They are Malcolm Duncan (left), 15, of 417 Weston, and Tom Zimmerman, 14, of Woodlawn drive. Starting Sunday, the new proshop, not yet completed, will be open daily.

March 26, 1991: They’ve come for fun and prizes since 1851

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 26, 1991.

They’ve come for fun and prizes since 1851

by William Thompson

The Vidette-Messenger

Fair Fun?

Through the years, 140 of them to be exact, the Porter County Fair has afforded county residents, and others from all over the area, the opportunity to view some of the most unusual and popular acts around. For example, Johnny Rivers’ World’s Only High Diving Mules once amazed fairgoers, as shown above in this photo, provided by former Fair Board vice-president John Poncher of Valparaiso. But he wasn’t sure just when they appeared.

The Porter County Fair will celebrate its 150th anniversary in the year 2001.

Carl Hefner, the summer festival’s longest-serving president, has had a long love affair with fairs, and he traces the evolution of the local event not in cold facts, but in memories.

Former Vidette-Messenger reporter Nancy Shurr recalls the early history of the fair:

The idea for the fair was conceived on June 14, 1851, at a meeting to organize an Agriculture Society and attended by prominent local citizens. The Porter County Fair became a one-day event on the courthouse lawn in Valparaiso.

It was attended by about 400 people and presented $80 in prizes for horses, cattle, sheep, swine, fruits and vegetables,  dairy products and farm equipment.

Following this success, a second fair was held October 14-15, 1852, with prize money increased to $100 and more categories added. By 1853 there was $300 in prize money and competition in butter, cheese, bed quilting and rug carpeting was added.

The fair was held on the courthouse square until 1859, when it moved to the old woolen mill grounds, west of the former Anderson Co. building. This site was used until 1862, when the fair was suspended due to the Civil War.

The fair did not reappear in Porter County until 1871, when the Agricultural Society was reorganized under the leadership of president A.V. Bartholomew. The fair was held in October of that year.

In July 1872, a 20-acre plot north of the Grand Trunk Railroad and just east of state Route 49 was bought by the society from Nathan A. Kennedy for $2,500. A fence was built around the grounds; buildings and stalls were erected; and the first fair was held on this site in 1872.

The parcel was later increased by acquiring nine acres from William Riggs in 1890 and the Old Fairgrounds was created, Shurr said. And it served its purpose will late into the 20th Century.

Because of the Depression, the 1931 fair went broke, and was the last held as a major event for a number of years, Hefner said.

The handsome gentleman at above is Golden Moose Cholak, a big name in professional wrestling in the 1950s and ‘60s. He also performed at the fair, sometime in the early 1960s, when he was the World Champion, according to the belt buckle.

In 1932, it became a two-day event with no entertainment; after that, it was run strictly as a 4-H show until 1943, when the Fair Board was resurrected and reorganized, thanks mostly to a man named John Avala Jones (who was a former treasurer of the Ringling Brothers Circus).

Jones brought the fair back to a five-day schedule.

By 1954, the fair had grown to a six-day affair ー with carnivals and entertainment booked once again. It was during this renaissance that Hefner took an interest in the fair.

He first became involved in 1948, assisting with the hog and swine departments. He happily worked this department until 1956, when he was elected to serve as Fair Board president, replacing Walter Hanrahan, who had served for 14 years. Hefner held the board’s top spot until 1989.

“The Porter County Fair is not a one-man show ー it’s an effort put together by an awful lot of people and I want to stress that,” Hefner said.

“I don’t know why I originally joined. I just love fairs; I never thought then that the fair would get to be the size it is now. I guess you’d say you like to work with people when you work with fairs.”

By the mid-60s, the Fair Board saw the need for more acreage, but city zoning regulations stifled expansion

“Obstructions were put in front of it (one old fairgrounds), so that the county commissioners couldn’t develop it much more,” Hefner recalls.

After years of haggling and in-fighting between the governmental bodies in the ‘70s, the Fair Board was finally able to move into the new Porter County Fairgrounds and Exposition Center in Washington Township in 1985.

The move allowed the fair an expansion from 29 to 80 acres, and it is held there to this day.

Managing the fair has never been easy for Hefner, a Pleasant Township farmer.

His most time-consuming responsibility is supervising all the department heads and coordinating their activities.

Filling empty positions, signing food contracts and booking the entertainment is a year round job.

And the fair is not without its share of bad luck. Though Hefner fails to recall exactly when they happened, he tells of four tragedies.

• In the early ‘60s, a commercial exhibition tent caught fire due to an electrical shortage. No one was killed or injured.

• In a freak accident once, a carnival employee had a gun go off when it fell from his pocket. The bullet ricocheted off of a carnival ride bar he was cleaning, and came back to kill him. Police took over the fair office that day, Hefner recalls.

• Another time a carnival employee died of a heart attack under a truck as he was taking refuge from a rainstorm.

• Another incident occurred in which a man fatally fell from a double ferris wheel, Hefner said.

But tragedies like these have not kept people away from rides, attractions and rural unity.

The biblical command ー “Thou shalt not judge…” ー certainly never applied to the county fair. It is a festival bent on judging everything, be it human, animal, vegetable or mineral.

Porter County Fair queens have learned grace over the years; a few have gone on to win state fair competition. Diane Lynn Martin, 1981 Miss Porter County Fair went on to participate in the Miss America Pageant as Miss Arizona, and later went on to marry a popular rock star, Hefner said.

March 25, 1981: Four students win best of show in county art contest

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 25, 1981.

Four students win best of show in county art contest

Porter County area students’ art work was judged Friday for the Seventh Annual Arts-A-Budding show sponsored by the Porter County Arts Commission. Judges were (from left) Doris Myers, art instructor at Kankakee Valley High School; Jo Fran Bennett, art instructor at Michigan City Area Schools; and Fred Frey, Valparaiso University Department of Art. Winners were announced during a reception held Sunday at the Chapel of the Resurrection where the art work is being displayed through noon April 4.

(V-M: Jan Aikens)

“Arts-A-Building” winners were announced during a reception Sunday at the Chapel of the Resurrection, Valparaiso university.

Best of show winners who received a $25 cash prize were Eric Brant, Jeff Wolf both of Valparaiso High School; Jim Burge of Chesterton High School; and Kent Amber of Portage Central Elementary School.

Certificate winners who received a $25 award were Karen Hollenbeck, Andy Diaz both of Ben Franklin; Brad Whitmore, Karen Raye both of Kouts; Sherri Hubbs of Boone Grove, Eric Brant, Tim Vandergriff both of Valparaiso; Patty Andrews of Hebron; Kim Janowski of Westchester; and Kent Amber of Central Elementary.

Certificate winners who received $10 awards were Chris Bennett, Ben Utley, Linda Wiencken all of Ben Franklin, and Cheryl Nelson and Keith Ludwig both of Valparaiso.

First place winners who received ribbons were Tom Hallenberg, Jay Lavanaway, Brad Whitmore, Jon Herma, Kathy Ambers and Karen Raye all of Kouts; Chris Archer, Steve Schwartz, George Mangos all of Union Center; Tim Harding, Matthew Potchict, and Kathy Schroeder all of Porter-Lakes; Jeremy Strickland and Aaron Stevens both of Liberty Elementary; Joe Kasl of Jackson Elementary; Chad Dzierba of Bailly Elementary; and James McKean and Sherri Hubbs both of Boone Grove.

Other first place winners were Wendy Child of St. Patrick’s; Doug Gray, Jody Wilson, Patty Anderson of Hebron; Ben Utley, Andy Diaz, Chris Bennett, Laura Sperry and Danielle Urschel all of Ben Franklin; Mike Niloff of Westchester; Eric Brant, Cheryl Nelson, Trent Albert, Suzie Philips and Jeff Wolff all of Valparaiso; Kent Ambers of Central Elementary; Craig Will, Jim Burge and Peyton Grizzard all of Chesterton; and Scott Scarbrough and Tim Vandergriff both of Portage.

Second place ribbons were awarded to Kris Marich, Roslyn Racowisz, Kathy Loomis all of Porter-Lakes; Brian Thomas and Chrissy Wingrath of Union Center; Kevin Gaff of St. Patrick’s Leslie Morrow and Scott White both of Hebron Elementary; Eric Barbus and Sandy Norberg both and Bailly Elementary; Michael Miller of Jackson Elementary; and Charles Popovich and Deb Esteb both of Morgan.

Other second place winners were Kent Ambler of Central Elementary; Chad Casbon of Boone Grove; Kim Janowski, Jon Marshall, Kristy Ochoa and Cindy Mattson all of Westchester; Shawn Nuest, Wendy Werner and Amy Landsdown all of Kouts; Jon Woodyard and Bobby Hickle both of Chesterton; Cary Bolinger of Hebron High; Trent Albert and Ben Fuller both of Valparaiso; Linda Wienken of Ben Franklin; and Scott Scarsbrough of Portage Adult Education.

The “Arts-A-Budding” show is sponsored annually by the Porter County Arts Commission and is open to all students in the county. The show will be on display at the Chapel of the Resurrection through April 4.

March 25, 1946: Why Can’t We Get Facts?

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 25, 1946.

Why Can’t We Get Facts?

There are times when it’s a little difficult to understand just why so much misinformation should get around to confuse and worry the public. We made an observation last week about the “cosmopolitan atmosphere” in Valparaiso and about how the world is certainly getting smaller and smaller.

The next day a local mother picked up the receiver of her telephone and talked to her son in Tokyo, another proof, if any more were needed, that the farthest point on the globe can be brought to your living room in a matter of hours.

Mr. Henry W. Sauter, district manager of the Indiana Associated Telephone corporation, tells us that, to his knowledge, the call from Japan’s capital to Valparaiso was the longest circuit ever carried here, and the fact of the matter is, that unless we start contacting the moon, we can’t cover much greater distances on this old earth.

But the point is this: If GI’s can get in touch with the home folks for a conversation even though they are separated by thousands of miles, it strikes us as strange that there should be any justification for nations to flounder around in a welter of misunderstandings which seem to arise out of conflicting reports of what’s going on and what isn’t.

One explanation is that censorship is perhaps still keeping the world’s efforts for establishing a sound basis of peace hog-tied. Censorship and deliberate misrepresentation on the part of enemies of good-will.