The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 1

12:00 Noon 88 90 at read 7 on o'clock the Red government river fell gauge 2 1-tenth feet and and P. 91 6-tenths above, zero. 1:00 A. 85 Daily Codon For the 24 hours ending this morning 9:00 A. Registered At the Town Talk Office 79 Alexandria Talk TEMPERATURE STAGES OF RED RIVER 1:30 Shreveport: 0.0.

VOL. LVI-NO. 143 Associated Press Leased Wire ALEXANDRIA, TUESDAY, AUGUST 30. 1938 TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES PRICE FIVE CENTS PER COPY BRITAIN, FRANCE READY IF WAR COMES South Carolina Voters Deciding Senatorial Race (President, Trying to Unseat 'Cotton Ed' Smith, 74 COLUMBIA, S. Aug.

30. (By A. --A red hot primary spiced by presidential 74-year-old interven- Senaton to unseat for E. D. the (Cotton Senate Ed) agricul- Smith, chairman of committee, ended in South Carolina today and voters gave heir verdict at the polis.

The unprecedented eleventhour withdrawal of a third candidate, and President Roosevelt's making clear his preference for l-year-old Governor Olin D. Johnston, who rose from a textile worker to the governor's chair, lightened interest in the Senate face. Johnston, vibrant-voiced camsigner, proclaimed from the tump he was a "100 per cent New maler." Edgar A. Brown, of Arnwell, the candidate who withdrew, campaigned for three months also as a New Deal supporter. Brown, however, in a vitriolic broadside at Johnston yesterday, reused the governor of having in in the political bed of enemies President Roosevelt and of then Incoming an administration supporter after seeing "Roosevelt's arsonal popularity." Brown refrained, however, from directly asking his adherents to apport Smith.

The senatorial contest shared with a bristling, eighturnered race for governor, five ungressional battles, and a host lesser and local fights. were the colorful Cole L. Blease, Running again for governor retime U. S. senator and forgovernor, and Wyndham M.

Inning of Sumter. They ran cond and third, respectively, ur years ago when Johnston The other aspirants for goverare: Ben E. Adams, G. T. Blackmon, and John Hughes proper, all of Columbia; Neville lennett, of Bennettsville; F.

Easfin of Spartanburg, and Mayor Burnett R. Maybank of CharlesSmith, in his closing talk, said regretted the president "has ten fit to inject himself into a purely South Carolina political untest," and added: "The people of this state have lever and never will permit forces com without to tell them who bey shall and shall not elect to angress." Johnston, in his speech, assert4 that "the main issue in this race is greater than any man, bepause it contains the choice of lappiness and progress or misery and stagnation for our people." ARTILLERY UNIT VISITS CAMP Troops En Route from Texas to North Carolina The 69th Coast Artillery of Fort Crockett, Texas, spent several ours at Camp Beauregard this en route to Fort Bragg, for anti-aircraft demonstraa The and maneuvers. unit, composed of 30 offipers and 350 enlisted arted to Beauregard by men, it the Major R. personnel Harris, camp. District CCC command- K.

welcomed the with The troops fully group. tins, searchlights, anti aircraft equipped wound up an all trip from and lot Crockett on arrival here. Friday night of last week an and 25 men guard of three officers camp. spent the night at INSURGENT AIR RAID A. raided insurgent port seaplanes today government Spain's Alicante, on and coast, destroying killing warehouses.

I two SPECIAL SCHOOL SECTION TODAY Included in today's issue of the Town Talk is a special 16- page tabloid "back to school" supplement. The section carries news and announcements of school openings as well as advertisements that will be of interest to students and parents. SENATOR LONG'S BIRTHDAY IS OBSERVED Memorial Services at Grave on Capitol Grounds BATON ROUGE, Aug. 30. -(By A.

today observed anniversary of the birth of the Senator Huey P. Long with a statewide holiday. Public buildings and banks were closed under the provisions of the state constitution which make today the state's only constitutional holiday. Other holidays are fixed by legislative act. Memorial services for the late senator were scheduled for 3 o'clock this afternon at the site of his grave on the capitol grounds veterans' organizations, though Long was not veteran, taking the principal part.

The late Senator Long, who during his lifetime rose to power in Louisiana never possessed by any man in this state would have been 45 years old today. He died on September 10, 1935, from a bullet wound he received two days earlier while walking in a corridor at the state tol while the state legislature was holding the last of a series of six special sessions in two years sessions in which the senator's great personal popularity was transferred into legal powers to the extent that the of "dictatorship" was heard from his opponents on every side. The senator was laid to his final rest in a specially constructed vault on the grounds of the new capitol with the 33-story tower of the $5,000,000 structure he built serving as a gigantic headstone. From the top of the tower each night a huge 'spot light shines over the simple concrete slab covering the grave and the evergreens which have been planted around it. sion appropriated $50,000 the The legislature at its last.

sesconstruction of a monument at the grave. Though a bitter enemy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and of Postmaster-General James A. Farley, Long's organization has made friends with the national Democratic administration and three years after the senator's death finds the heir of his toga, Governor Richard W. Leche, one of President Roosevelt's most ardent supporters and hears him proclaiming that the enemies of President Roosevelt today are those who were the enemies of Huey P.

Long. Senator Long's widow has sold the late senator's mansion-like residence in fashionable part of New Orleans for $60,000 and is now living in a new home she constructed the suburbs of Baton Rouge. The state was the purchaser of the residence and will open it tomorrow to visitors as a memorial to the senator. Death Records in Prison Checked PHILADELPHIA, Aug. (By A.

records of the Philadelphia county, prison were checked today determine whether the "heat cure" in stuffy punishment cells has taken the lives of other convicts than the four hunger strikers found roasted nine days ago. Coroner Charles H. Hersch told newspapermen his questioning of convicts and prison guards indicated that "turning on the heat" in the prison -a boxlittle isolation building-was like, "usual" punishment for unruly I prisoners. World News at a Glance (By The Associated Press) An emergency session British cabinet ministers focussed atten. cord Spain European crisis today, while wars in a China continued and the Japanese minister called for Japanese forces on the Siberian frontier.

lashes between Japanese Seishiro Itagaki said in Tokyo that more and Soviet Russian forces were "likely to Rinse Generalissimo time he repeated determination to crush fitch as France, Germany and Cechoslovakia tension was at a high In Chiang Kai-Shek. Sudeten German problem remained acute. and infantry continued to batter ChinIn positions China, southwest were planes Kiukiang on the Yangtze front, but no signiscant Government forces reported. insurgents also apeared to be stalemated cadura front. government continued its offensive on the Estre- Army Engineers Study Drainage In 3 Parishes Project for Bayous Rapides, Boeuf and Cocodrie Army engineers from the office of Col.

William F. Tompkins of New Orleans made a preliminary stury of the proposed drainage project for Bayous Rapides, Boeuf and Cocodrie during a tour of the section yesterday. Congressman A. Leonard Allen, member of the local levee board and other citizens accompanied the engineers on the one-day inspection trip which carried them through parts of Rapides, Avoyelles and St. Landry parishes.

A bill providing for a government survey of the section, introduced by Congressmen Allen, passed as a part of the Omnibus Flood Bill of 1938. The matter has been referred to the United States Engineers of the Second New Orleans district for report. The inspection yesterday was made as a study of the proposed project. Engineers making the tour were: Capt. Leaf, chief of engineering section; Frank Carey, principal engineer; F.

W. Edwards, chief state engineer; and S. E. Huey, assistant state engineer. Congressman Allen and the following levee board officials went on the trip: W.

C. Hudson, president; Dr. R. G. Ducote, Avoyelles parish member; J.

W. Lafleur, St. Landry parish member; B. Pressburg, secretary; B. R.

Joffrion and J. L. Moreau, inspectors. Other interested citizens going on the tour were: I. W.

Sylvester, Alexandria city engineer; Grundy Cooper, Trent L. James, and W. H. Smith. The entire project was covered during the one-day trip.

Members of the party looked at the hill section west of the Lamourie which drains through Bayou Boeuf into Lamourie and Chatlin Lake. The section covered also includes the area between Bayous Boeuf and Cocodrie down to Bayou Courtableau and on to the guide line levees, on the Atchafalaya river. 9 KILLED IN MEXICO BY STORM Gale, 9 Inches of Rain Northeastern Part of Country MONTEREY, Mexico, Aug. 30. -(By A.

-Nine persons were known dead and more than 400 families were homeless in this northeastern Mexico industrial center today as an aftermath of a hurricane that swept inland from the Gulf of Mexico. The gale brought rains to this area -nine inches in 36 hours--and sent creeks and rivers on sudden rises. Eight of the listed dead were motorists caught in the flood streams. The toll in life and property loss is expected to be multiplied eral times when reports are received from Ciudad Victoria, 100 miles southeast, which still is isolated. Jose C.

Plowell, city editor of El Porvenir, Monterey newspaper, said it was believed that the storm here "was mild compared with the havoc wrought at Ciudad Victoria," more directly in the path of the hurricane. Military and municipal authorities concentrated on providing shelter for the homeless, many of whom injured or ill. Public buildings offered temporary haven. Plowell said no deaths had been reported among tourists "but there apparently were many tourists caught in the storm on the road to Mexico City and Cuidad Victoria." He said automobiles of several American tourists were swept away by floodwaters of the Santo Catarina river as they were en route from Saltillo to Monterey. the bodies recovered was Among, Jose Maria Gonzales, prominent merchant of Monterey.

Three automobiles were carried away and seven persons were drowned as they attempted to reach Monterey from Chipinque, a resort near here. A 60-year-old woman's body was recovered from a house wrecked by wind and floodwaters. HEARING ADJOURNS HAMMOND, Aug. A. hearing before the national labor relations board here involving union complaints against the Hammond and Roseland box plants, scheduled to open today, was adjourned until tomorrow due to today's being a legal holiday, birthday of the late Senator Huey P.

Long. Judge White Appeals for Aid to Preserve Bynum Woods Beauty Either national or state aid to preserve the beauty of Bynum Woods, in Grant parish, was suggested today by Judge H. H. White, prominent citizen and widely known local attorney. Judge White made this suggestion in view of the fact reports are circulation to the effect that the Bynum property, on the highway between Alexandria and Colfax has been sold to a sawmill operator, and he asserted that as a result, this beautiful tract may be destroyed.

"I learn through rumor," Judge White's statement given to the Town Talk said, "that the Bynum Woods on the Colfax road has been sold to sawmill operator, and there is danger that that beautiful tract may be destroyed. I am wondering if some governmental authority, either national or state, could not intervene and save that woods, which is one of the rare beauty spots of Louisiana, and if consistent with your views, I would suggest that through the columns of your paper, you call the attention of the Hon. John H. Overton, the Hon. A.

Leonard Allen to the matter, the view of seeing if there is any feasible way to have that, property adjudicated to the United States government for park or reservation purposes, and would also suggest that the attention of the Hon. James Ethridge, representa- DIES DEMANDS DEPORTATION PROCEEDINGS Says Action in Case Against CIO Leader Suspended WASHINGTON, Aug. 30. -(By A. Dies Tex.) of the House committee investigating un-Americanism demanded today that Secretary Perkins resume deportation proceedings at once against Harry Bridges, C.

I. O. maritime leader on the west coast. "Your file discloses a number of depositions of witnesses who testified that Harry Bridges was a member of the Communist party," Dies wrote Miss Perkins, after studying labor department records. "Your file also discloses ample evidence that the Communist party of the United States of America advocates and teaches the overthrow of the United States government by force and violence." Declaring he could find no justification for postponing the case, Dies said delay might place witnesses out of reach, if this had not already happened.

Proceedings against Bridges were suspended April 30 by the labor department pending a Supreme Court ruling in a case involving Joseph G. Strecker of Hot Springs, Ark. Immigration Commissioner James L. Houghteling had decision might prevent 'Bridges' deportation. The New Orleans circuit court had stopped deportation of Strecker on the ground that the law does not forbid aliens to belong to "the Communist or any other party except one which teaches overthrow by force and violence of the government of the United "I can not see how the Strecker case would have any bearing upon Harry Bridges' case, since the facts are dissimilar," Dies declared.

The committee chairman, who said a majority of the members had authorized him to write Miss Perkins, quote dextensively from labor department records about Bridges. Names of witnesses were not disclosed at thedepartment's request. Dies said R. P. Bonham, immigration director at Seattle, had protested against suspension of the case, but was reprimanded by Houghteling on the ground that he had imperfect knowledge of the situation.

Germany's Navy Holds Maneuvers BERLIN, Aug. A. -Germany's rebuilt navy is holding maneuvers in the North Sea, it was disclosed today while preliminary army maneuvers continued in various parts of the country and Chancellor Adolf Hitler inspected fortifications along the French and Swiss FDR, Hull Confer on Europe's Crisis WASHINGTON, Aug. (By A. -President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull conferred this morning on the crisis in Central Europe.

Hull, before going to the White House, talked over with advisers in the European division of the state department latest dispatches received from European capitals tive of Grant parish, and of the senator and representative of Rapides parish, and other state authorities be called to the matter, as it may be possible under the state parking program for the to acquire it if the United States government cannot do so. This, of course, ought to be done with justice to the owner the property and the purchaser of the timber. "Knowing your general interest in the welfare of the country, I take this method of suggesting to you that the attention of the national and state authorities be given the matter and I am sure that if the Bynum Woods can be saved it would be a matter of gratification and benefit to all the citizens of Central Louisiana." SEN. HARRISON DECLARES HIS INDEPENDENCE Says Excessive Federal Spending Must Cease JACKSON, Aug. A.

Pat Harrison (D- chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, served new notice today on his independence of the administration on major fiscal policies. Informally addressing the State democratic committee here to satisfy the re-nomination of Mississippi's congressional delegation, Senator Harrison, praised the president "great humanitarian leader" but declared that "excessive federal spending must cease." Senator Harrison said he would devote his time and talents in the next congress toward seeking a reduction in governmental expenses. "If this policy is in opposition to some, I am sorry but no government can long continue to live beyond its means of support and maintain its credit and intergity," he said. "I thank God that our great president has been right most of the time and in 95 per cent of the cases I have agreed with him. No one is hurt worse when I find myself in disagreement with my democratic colleagues and the president but from the time of Adam human nature has been about the same and the only perfect man was the lowly Nazarene.

"I have not agreed with the president on everything. I don't agree with my wife on everything; and of course, I catch the devil when I don't. I do not believe in automatons in politics and will never be one. As long as I have a place of authority, I owe it to my people to give them the benefit of my judgment and Senator Harrison said policies of the government needed changing. He mentioned the Works Progress Administration as an example.

"Certainly we must take care of the hungry and the starving but you know and I know there are thousands on the WPA rolls that have no business there. There are too many people in America who think the government exists just to take care of them. "I would like to see the federal government broaden its social security program to take more deserving people off relief and provide the states with added assistance." J. B. WEBB, 43, IS SHOT, DIES Jena Man Succumbs at Baptist Hospital J.

B. Webb, 43, of Jena, died late yesterday at Baptist Hospital here from a gunshot wound in his left leg sustained Saturday afternoon at a hunting camp near his home. LaSalle parish officers declined to comment on the shooting today and said that no charges had been filed. It was reported at Jena that the dead man, Elzie Webb, Louis and Willie Frazier were at the camp of Louis Frazier on Catahoula Lake, eight miles south of Jena, when the shooting occurred. An attending physician said he was shot in his left leg just below the hip with a 16-gauge shot gun with squirrel shot at close range.

He lost a lot of blood as a truck which was carrying him to Jena broke down and another had to be secured before he could be carried to a physician at Jena. He later was brought here to the Baptist Hospital for treatment and died at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Webb is survived by his widow and two children. Funeral services were held this morning with interment in Beulah cemetery, near Jena. The Rev.

A. B. Odom officiated. Legislation for New Bridge Here Held Necessary Cannot Be Built Without It, Committee Told The conference between a committee representing the Alexan. dria Rotary Club and L.

P. Abernathy, chairman of the State Highway Commission, which was held in Baton Rouge yesterday afternoon, in reference to the construction of a new traffic bridge, over Red river, between Alexandria and Pineville, was not productive of any beneficial results. according to members of the committee, who returned here last night. They reported that the highway commission chairman declared that a new bridge could not be erected here, unless special legislation providing therefor, is enacted. They also quoted Chairman Abernathy as saying that the Alexandria-Pineville bridge is not in as bad condition as many peo.

ple believe it is. He said it is substantial and that the racket it makes when vehicles drive over it, is caused by loose bolts, on the steel running plates on the driveway. The highway chairman was alSO quoted as declaring that he will have the old bridge checked over and if it is found that repairs are necessary they will be made. He said, further, committee members declared, a great deal of the heavy traffic will hereafter be routed over the new bridge above the city and this will relieve the old structure to a considerable extent. He informed the committee that the road leading from the new traffic bridge, on the north side of the river, will be paved with concrete to Kingsville, where it will intersect Highway 165, and will be conpaved road also intersect tinuation of that, road.

The new Highway No. 71, near the Veterans' Hospital. The committee which conferred with Chairman Abernathy, was composed of Drew N. Bridges, president of the Rotary Club; Will Hochbaum, J. N.

Chambers and Harry Jordan. The original committee appointed by President Bridges, to promote the proposal for the new bridge, was composed of James N. Chambers, A. Wettermark, Will Hochbaum, Dr. C.

Cottingham and Dr. R. B. Wallace. However, Dr.

Wallace and Messrs Wettermark and Cottingham, were unable to go to Baton Rouge yesterday. "We had a a very pleasant visit with Chairman Abernathy," Mr. Chambers said. "He was extremely the courteous to us, and discussed subject 'it detail. He said, however, that would be impossible to consider the question of a new bridge here at this time, as it would require the enactment of special legislation therefor, before it could be done." He quoted the highway chairman as saying that Lake Charles wants a bridge and Shreveport wants another one, and indicated it would be out of the question to build them.

No Excitement in Balkan States BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Aug. -Foreign offices in the Balkan states displayed no excitement today in connection with the Czechoslovak crisis and the official press assured the there was no immediate danger of war. Responsible officials in Belgrade and Bucharest denied that their foreign offices had issued warnings to Germany not in invade Czechoslovakia. Weather Forecast Louisiana and Mississippi: generally fair tonight; Wednesday partly cloudy. Arkansas: Partly cloudy tonight and Wednesday.

East Texas: Generally fair tonight and Wednesday. Japanese Engage In 2 Flanking Moves in China Try to Blast Chinese from Positions in Hills SHANGHAI, Aug. A. -Behind severe air bombardments, Japanese troops engaged today in two flanking movements designed to blast Chinese defenders from strategic points blocking the Japanese advance up the Yangtze river toward Nanchang. Japanese planes and.

infantry suffered heavy casualties but nevChinese ertheless positions assaulted in repeatedly, a hills between Juichang, 25 miles southwest of Kiukiang, and the Yangtze. Another column fought its way toward the Yangsin river, which flows into the Yangtze 41 miles above Kiukiang, which the Japanese use as base for the offensive against Hankow, the provisianal capital. TOKYO, Aug. A. War Minister Lt.

Gen. Seishiro Itagaki called for a strengthening of Japanese forces, on the Siberian frontier today listed the conditions of peace in the Chinese war. "Our border strength in Manchoukuo must be increased," he declared in an interview in the Independent, widely-circulated newspaper Nichi Nichi. "More incidents like Changkufeng (a hill on the Korean-Siberian-Manchoukuo frontier where Soviet Russian and Japanese trooops clashed between July 11 and August 11, when a truce was reached) are likely to occur. "Our border forces have been sacrificed to the fighting in China.

They must be replenished, particularly the air force." General Itagaki, who on July 25 predicted a ten conflict to conquer the Chinese, expressed doubt that Japan would accept even an unconditional surrender from the Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-hek, and repeated his determination to crush the present Chinese regime. 11 MINERS RESCUED GUANAJUATO." Mexico, Aug. A. -Eleven miners, ill of thirst and hunger, were rescued yesterday from the mine La Peregrina Thursday by where a they sand were and cave-in. Two winers died in the mine.

Cotton Prices Go Up 14 to 21 Points NEW ORLEANS, Aug. A. -Cotton recovered moderately in quiet trading here tounder trade and other buying encountered by improved stocks and unfavorable crop accounts. After mid-session October contracts sold at 8.37, December 8.42, March 8.41 and May 8.37, or 9 to 10 points above the previous close. Buying became more aggressive in late trading due to a clearing in the atmosphere abroad and prices made new highs for the day.

The close was steady at net gains of 14 to 21 points. Exports were 10,582 bales. Fourth Class Postmasters Draw Little Salaries, Keep Jobs Long Time Oldest Is A. Gillet, 96, Louisiana A former classmate of George at Chataignier, Clemenceau, wartime premier of WASHINGTON, Aug. A.

A fourth-class postmaster does not draw a big salary, but postal records showed today he has a good chance of keeping his job a long, long time. Thumbing through yellowing files dating back to 1790, J. Martin Scranage of the postoffice department found, these facts: Miss Stewart of Oxford, has served a longer continuous period than any other postmaster now in office. She was appointed March 4. 1877, four days after Rutherford B.

Hayes succeeded President Ulysses S. Grant. The longest record of continuous service was set by Roswell Beardsley of North Lansing. N. appointed during John Quincy Adams' administration.

He served for more than 74 years until his death January 6, 1903. THREAT TO PEACE IS GRAVE IN EUROPE British May Demand Hitler Stop Campaign of Hate By The Associated Press Great Britain and today took emergency tion to prevent war in rope and at the same prepared to meet the flict if it comes. The cabinets of the countries, meeting simultaneously in the midst of heaviest war clouds 1914, gave unanimous proval to steps already en by their foreign ministers the Czechoslovak crisis and on policies to be followed in future. An emergency meeting of ish ministers lasting nearly hours was believed to have ed a united decision on a but firm final demand Reichsfuehrer Hitler halt the man campaign of hate Czechoslovakia and cooperate efforts to reach a settlement the dangerous Sudeten issue. The French cabinet, even longer, voted itself power to mobilize French try for war purposes.

Informed persons said there every reason to believe that een of the 22 members of the ish cabinet meeting at 10 ing street likewise considered preparedness measures of a tary and naval nature. The fact that the French isters also approved "instructions" to French envoys abroad indicated the probability of strong, ordinated diplomatic action the two powers to impress on ler that any war resulting German action holds suicidal sibilities. The two great democraciesFrance and Britain-hold that German chancellor's sponsorship of the Sudeten Germans' demands for autonomy within Czechoslovakia is the chief threat to rope's peace. Charles Corbin, France's bassador to Britain, was expected in London with Foreign Secretary Viscount toy Halifax and presumably to an account of the Paris government's decisions. An official announcement after the British cabinet ing said Lord Halifax made a statement of the international uation, "and at the conclusion the meeting the ministers pressed their entire agreement with the action already taken the policy to be pursued in future." further cabinet meeting scheduled for the immediate ture, but the ministers agreed remain in or near London.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain prepared to go to BalmorScotland, tonight to report King George VI. PARIS, Aug. A. While motorized units of French army began maneuvers close to the German border, cabinet today formally ratified decree increasing the hours labor in national defense industries. Acting in the midst of the heav.

war clouds in 20 years, ministers labelled the decree and made it applicable mediately. The measure was signed President Albert Lebrun and member of Premier Edouard Daladier's cabinet as a symbolic show France's determinato carry out her treaty obligations to Czechoslovakia it necessary. PRAHA, Aug. A. -While the British cabinet considered grave questions of peace war, the Czechoslovak cabinet settled down today to the old Sudeten German dispute, which treated as a domestic affair.

This capital took the attitude the broad international asof the problem were beyond scope but that its contribution finding a way out of the diffiwhich disturbs Europe was speedy adjustment of the min. issue. The Czechoslovak ministers met Kolowrat palace to discuss the long-awaited "new plan" to meet demand of 3,500,000 Sudeten Germans for territorial autonomy. AMUSEMENTS TODAY PARAMOUNT--The Texans SAENGER-White Banners. HAUBER-Merrily We Live MOON-Things to Come.

France acEu- time con- two the since aptak- in agreed the Britthree reachcalm that Ger. against in of German meeting virtual indus- was eightBrit- Down- mili- min- COby Hitfrom pos- the Eu- am- confer bring short. meetfull sitof ex- and the was futo al, iest gent ery act tion or it that pects its of culty a orities at the to the 9 the a of the ur. im- by ev- France, is the oldest postmaster still on duty. He is Alphonse Gillet, 96, Chataignier, a master rince August 22, 1904.

Many postmasters are succeeded by their sons and even grandsons. For example, Thomas A. Boswell and his son, George. have served successively as postmasters at Shirland, since October 29, 1869. Advanced age seldom interferes with a fourth-class postmaster's duties.

The work is light and if he keeps his little office neat and the books in order. he can keep his job long after other civil service employes are forced to retire. Postal officials here still chuckle over the ousting of a woman postmaster in Arizona several years ago. She refused to turn over her office, and threatened to shoot both her successor and a postal inspector before the argument was settled..