The Key West Citizen Newspaper, December 3, 1940, Page 2

SE TWO The Key West Citizen | aily Except Sunday . ARTMAN, Citizen Building ne and Ann Streets Only Daily Newspaper in Key West and Menroe County “Key West, Florida. Member of the Associated Press he sssociated Press is exclusively entitled to use ‘or republication of all news. dispatches «7/24 tor not otherwise credited in this paper aud ADVERTISING RATES Made known on application. SPECIAL NOTICE All reading notices, cards of thanks, resolutions of ‘ ituary notices, etc, wil: be charged for at of 10 cents a line. es for entertainment by churches from whieh ~enne ig to be derived are 5 cents a lime. Citizen is an open forum and invites discus- pul lie issues and subjects of local or general | but it will not publish anonymous communi- IMPROVEMENTS FOR KEY WEST ADVOCATED BY THE CITIZEN | considerable, aggregate THE TREND—DEFINITELY. . .UP! Headlines—Construction in city high- er than last month and more ‘than same month year ago—Postal receipts continue upward trend, seventy-one per cent higher n 2¢o—Bridge tolls higher than same r:.onih last year! Sounds iike prosperity, doesnt it? And indeed, it is prosperity of a gocd sort if certain standards are taken into con- | sideration. For the past several months, similar heaclines to those quoted above have ap- peared regularly in the columns of this paper—adding up to, over that period, a improvement in conditions in the city. All three reports constitute definite barometers of business conditions in Key West, as proven time and time again. “here are many, however, that insist, with doleful expressions, that “the city isn’t gettirg anyplace” in its drive to re- er from the late, unlamented FERA d. There’s nothing to show that | we've better times, or are headed for pros- Water and Sewerage. More Hotels and Apartments. Beach andf:athing Pavilion. Airy Land and Sea. Consolidation of County and City Gov- crnments. A Modern City Hospit: sa trustful wife who gives her hus- . 2d letters to mail. Forward-looking merchants of Key s| are now planning their sales cam- aign for the Christm ason. Business trends show Key West to be in a favorable spot for the next two years | at least. After the lapse of that time we’ll be on our feet again. If this war keeps up much _ longer there will be an emotional imbalance all over the world, especially in the conquered and oppressed countries. Man’s mind can stand just so much and no more. It is not the press that distorted the pieture, ir the recent election, as Secre- y Ickes thinks, but the millions of sub- sidized voters receiving checks regularly from the United States Treasury and the friends and relatives they persuaded on that account. It is so plainly evident. The election is over; this does not | mean that you must change your views, if | yon belong to the minority group. It means that you must recognize the right of the majority to frame national policies. ' They may not be for the best interests of the nation but it is a democratic concept that the mnjority should rule. Secretary Morgenthau startled the country when he suggested upping the! national debt from $45,000,000,000 to $60,- | 000,060,000. Now comes Serator George, | of Georgia, and says the national debt | sheuld be raised to $75,000,000,000. Why | be miggardly; let’s raise it to $100,000,- | 000,000. That ought to be the end of the | limit. Capsules generally contain medicine and.are readily swallowed in ! times of sickness but taken with reluctant | nation as preventives. If war were | definiiely more imminent, the boys woulc in being conscripted, but even if there is no war, the year’s! military training, like a physic, will make he body stronger and _ healthier. The | > period of a year in a eat a price to uring the democratic—the Am- , of passing through this exist- how more eagern young ma e is not too pay in 2 eriean—v ence, This column expressed the wish that | Willkie be given a Cabinet post in the Administration in view of his ability and the.fact that more than 21,000,000 ¢itizens voted for him in the recent election un- mindiul that the President’s known petu- lance would not permit such a deseryed and magnanimous gesture. We thought ; that Willkie like Barkis would be willing, but the Republican has stated that he will not take any Cabinet or other purely poli- tical part in the Administration should one | be effered him, because he feels that such acceptance would be turning to personal | vdivantage the support given him by. mil- lious.of his countrymen. | ; gained throw i | Italian prestige to bitter |. , | ade. perity, they state. Those people have a short-sighted view- point. They fail to recognize that the best presperity for any community is that h a :iow, but steady, pro- gression of indices that ascend. They, no doubt, would like to. see an over-night Lecm period come. to town. True—they could visually realize the prosperity then, but the “headaches afterward” is another story. Times are better in Key West. It doesn’t take much recollection of condi- tiuns two or three years ago to realize that slowly but surely, our fair city is coming back up the ladder. Plenty is yet to be complished—yes indeed, but, conditions aken into consideration, the progression upwards has been notable, and the facts of the case definitely prove the asser- tion. It would appear that the time is ripe for every last one of us, native Key West- ers, and adopted Key Westers—to throw away our “doubting Thomas” attitudes. Discard them in favor of an optimistic slant on our city’s ability to continve the drive forward. If you’ve suggestions as to how Key West can benefit still further—bring them forward for public scrutiny. Chances are they’re good and worthy of consideration. At any rate—don’t. sit back and cast | gloomy eyes on the picture as it is today. Look to the future! Be a booster—not a ! lagger! ITALY’S FIASCO IN GREECE Hitler has formally inducted some more little countries into his Axis. But hat doesn’t mean a great deal. Rumania, Bulgaria and the other minor Balkan coun- tries are in peril of their lives. They must do what Hitler demands, cr submit to mili- tary corquest. It is one thing to force for- eign ministers to sign pacts—it is another thing to get the people of those countries to avow the Hitlerian philosophy. And, according to all the experts, the Balkan people hate Hitler even as they fear him. Worst blow to the Italy’s fiasco in Greece. the vanishing point. , say some, it has brought with it the sibility of internal dissension in Italy. The Italians didn’t want war. They are suffering seriously from the British block- And a considerable proportion of the Italians heartily dislike Germany. It is noteworthy that the German press has lately begun to denounce Greece—Hitler may be coming to the conclusion that he will have to pull his friend Mussolini’s irons out of the Athenian fire. And, in the past, press attacks in the German press against other European countries have been the prelude.to military action. In the long-run, the Greek situation may prove a great boon to England. Re- ports say that the English. are doing far more to help the Greeks than they admit. They have been swiftly developing im- Axis has been This has reduced | THE KEY WEST CITIZEN YESTERDAY: Dinner has hardly been served on the first night of Sally and Bill’s house- party before Aunt Maggie is found murdered in the back hall. The house has been searched and no trace of a criminal found. The telephone is out, a storm is raging, and all the cars of all the guests have at least two flat tires each. So the party decides to go to bed and to leave Bob, guest of honor with his newly acquired fiancée:Claire, as guard for the first two hours. Chapter Ten Scream In The Dark A gave little squeals of fright every time we came to a_turn in the stairs or hallway. “Don’t lock your door to our bath,” she admonished Claire, as we escorted her into her room. As Bill and I said good night to our guests, we inspected the windows in all rooms and in the hall, The great wisteria vine which gave the house its name prawed from the front around ne whole side of the house, but did not seem to offer close enough connection with any uf the vin- dows to be of service in second- story work. Nonetheless, as an extra precaution; we closed and locked the blinds, It was agreed that-we would all lock our doors leading into the hall. Kirk’s and Bob’s rooms were connected by a bath, as were those occupied by Claire and Alice. Eve’s room, which had been my grandmother’s and which I had suggested that Aunt Maggie use, had its, private, bath, as did our own. All the bedrooms had been built with dressing rooms, which in later years had made it simple enough to install modern plumbing. Eve only laughed a_ little scornfully when I asked if she would be afraid to sleep in a room alone. “I probably won't sleep, anyway,” she answered. “T'll read a murder story. That will keep my mind off the—er— other murder.” In our own room at last, with the door closed, Bill said of Eve, “Even when she doesn’t mean to, she rubs me the wrong way.” I told Bill about the conversa- tion I had overheard between Aunt Maggie and Eve shortly be- fore dinner. Neither one of_us considered for a moment that Eve could be the guilty one. “But she does get worse all the time,” Bill said, “She didn’t use to be so bad.” “She was always a little resent- ful of the rest of us,” I remem- bered. “She seemed to think we lived in some sort of charmed circle, After she married into. the circle, she resented it because we were not more like the movies.” “I don’t see any exc her,” declared Bill, di subject and starting t the light. “Wait a minute,” I urged, catch- ing his arm. “I've just thought of something. Aunt Maggie’s win- dows. We didn’t look to see whether they were open or shut, and the vine goes all the way up to the roof on that side.” “Oh, darling,” Bill groaned as he reluctantly heaved himself out of bed and into his bathrobe, “why do you always have to think of things?” “But I wouldn’t sleep a wink unless I knew they were attended or the cut to,” I told him quite truthfully. | “And you wouldn’t get to sleep either, with me twisting. and turning in the same bed.” Of course, he was no sooner out the door with his flickering can- dlelight than I had visions of his being cracked on the head by some fiend lurking in the shadows above the back stairway. Or worse still, suppose Bob should mistake Bill for the murderer? I wondered if by any chance Bob had a gun. In fact, I succeeded in making myself pretty miser- able until Bill was back again. On The Prowl downstairs just now?” he asked as he climbed into bed. And climbed'ts-the- word with the beds | at Wisteria Hall. Bill’s tone was too matter-of-fact for me to think he had seen anything startling. “Eve,” he said. “All decked out in fancy pajamas. Going down to have a little session with Bob after Claire is safely tucked in. I suppose. She didn’t see me, of course. | was in the back of the hall and she was facing toward the front of the house, going downstairs with her candle.” 'UESS whom | saw going) “U. S. WEATHER ELD all right, darling,” Bill pulled hnnieelt ont of-enveloping drowsiness, groped for matches, lit the candle and took me in his arms. He didn’t tell me to be sensible or to be reasonable, as some hus- Pegde mist have done. And com- for by this unfailing, unques- tioning tenderness, I suddenly felt very sorry for all those hus- bands and wives who miss the substance of true"marriage while clinging so tenaciously. to the shadow of romance, I thought of Kirk in love with Claire. Of Claire in love with Bob. Of Bob, so long in love with Claire, but who tonight had acted so strangely. On account of Eve, no doubt, who was never really in love with anyone, but always out for trouble. Of Alice, whom nobody seemed to love but who, I suspected, cherished a secret yen for Kirk. Well, there I was back at the beginning. What a mess. Then it occurred to me that in- stead of wasting sympathy where it could do no good I might better be sorry for Bill, who swears he cannot sleep in a lighted room. “I didn’t mean to be such a nui- sance,” I told him. “I'm all right now. You can turn out the light.” “Turn out the light, my eye,” Bill grunted. “It'll turn itself out in a moment. That’s a candle, my simple sweet.” In spite of his aversion to light, Bill's even breathing soon assured me that he was fast asleep. I my- self must have dropped off short- ly afterward, while the candle still flickered in its silver holder. For we were both aroused from a sound sleep by such blood-curd- ling screams as I hope never to hear again, One after another they ripped through the night- mare of returning consciousness, full of some nameless terror and turning the’ blood to water in my veins. The candle had burned itself out and for a moment I don’t think either of us remembered where we were, for Bill kept pulling the lamp cord at the head of the bed, swearing a little un- der his breath. Meanwhile the screams continued and it was clear now that they came from the upstairs hall. Bill finally found the matches and I gave him the candle at the head of my side, of the bed. “Stay here,” he ordered, throw- ing a bathrobe over his shoulders, grabbing up the candle and mak- ing for the door. No Murder Bur of course, I did not stay there in that dark bedroom alone, with something, I knew not what, going on outside. The screams had stopped now, and when Bill halted suddenly just beyond the door in an effort to get bearings I was so close on his heels that I bumped into | him, almost knocking the candle from his hand. “For God's sake,” he com- plained in that tone of complete exasperation by which a husband jean shift to his wife’s shoulders the entire responsibility for See has originally upset um. Other doors wee opening. ; Someone could be heard running | up the steps, and in a moment we saw that it was Bob, for he had the flashlight in his hand. | Bob reached the prone figure | at the head of the stairs at almost the same time we did. It was Alice. | She was breathing and there | were slippers on her feet and a heavy, quilted robe over her nightgown. Obviously this was no sleepwalking jaunt. It is evi- dence of my own state of mind when I confess that for a moment as I looked down upon her, shrank back a little. Was this our killer? Had Alice suddenly gone mad? At any rate, why was the supposedly timid Alice, afraid of her own shadow, prowling around after everyone else had gone to eg. been committed? irk had brought water and | Bill and Bob placed Alice on the hall sofa. I put a pillow: under her feet. “Looks as though she isOut for a record.” Eve observed causticale ly. “Two fainting fits in one eve- ning.” Nobody paid any attention to her, for Alice had opened her eyes and begun to shudder. gasped. “See what?” we all asked to- gether. sleep in a house in which a mur- | BUREAU REPO, Observation taken at 7:30 a. m. 75th Mer. Time (city office) Temperatures Highest last 24 hours Lowest last night Mean Normal 79 69 74 72 Precipitation Rainfall, 24 hours ending 7:30 a. m., inches 2 Sat Total. rainfall.since Dee. 1, inches os Deficiency since Dec. 1, inches . sooniines Total rainfall since Jan. 1, inches Deficiency inches ——- a, ae Wind Direction and Velocity 0.00 0.03 0.16 35.28 since Jan. 1, Barometer. at 7:30 a. m., today Sea level, 30.06 (1018.0 millibars) Tomorrow’ Sunrise : Sunset Moonrise 2 Moonset ll; Tomorrow's Tides (Naval Base) AM. 12:40 7:20 FORECAST (Till 7:30 p. m., Wednesday) ~ Key West and Vicinity: Mostly cloudy and colder tonight; Wed- nesday partly cloudy and cool; moderate north and northwest winds, fresh, at times. Florida:’Partly cloudy and cold- ef, preceded by showers on the southeast coast, freezing and scat- tered frost in extreme north por- tion tonight; Wednesday partly cloudy, cooler in southeast por- tion. High Lew CONDITIONS An extensive high pressure sys- tem covers most sections of the country this morning, with tem- peratures below normal through- out most of the eastern half, and below zero in the Lake region. Snow has occurred since yes- terday morning in the southern Lake region, upper Ohio Valley, and northern New England, and there has-been light rain in por- tions of Florida and on the north Pacific coast. | Today’s Birthdays. John Bassett Moore, famed jur- ist and legal authority, born at Smyrna, Del, 80 years ago. A. Atwater Kent of Philadel- phia, radio manufacturer and in- ventor, born at Burlington, Vt., 67 years ago. James E. Warren, president of Southern Bell Telephone, Atian- ta, Ga, born at Beech Grove, Tenn., 62 years ago. Rev. Dr. Ralph H. Long, execu- tive director of the National Lutheran Council, New York, born at Loudonville, Ohio, 58 years ago. Dr. Charles F. Pabst of Brook- lyn, N: Y., dermatologist, born there, 53 years ago. Dr. Lucia R. Briggs, president of. Milwaukee-Downer College, born at . Cambridge, Mass, 53 years ago. Col. Julius Ochs Adler of New York and Chattanooga, Tenn, newspaper publisher, born in Chattanooga, 48 years ago. George .B. Utley, librarian of the Newberry Library, Chicago, born at Hartford, Conn., 64 years Slee 5 you see it?” she | Alice shut her eyes again and | “So that’s the book she was go- | started mogning. “Take me home, | ing to read,” I remarked, as Bill blew out the light and darkness descended upon us like a velvet pall. I was glad then that my an- cestors had slept in big double beds, so I could reach out and | toueh. my husband, feel his_pro- portant air and naval bases on Greek land. where their planes and. battleships can | strike against Italy. Britain’s big trouble at hgme now is said to be Jack of sufficient anti-aircraft equipment. trated about London, which explains why Germany has been able to carry on tre- | mendously severe raids over the Midlands and. elsewhere with few plane losses. It is believed the lack will be made up by spring. Most of it has been concen- . | { tective strength beside me. Blow- ing out a candle makes the dark- ness so much more definite and complete than the siniple turn- ing of a switch which can as easily be turned en again. For a time its raced Dead ii fright Today’s Horoscope Today’s ‘dispesition appears to be diplomatic and at the same time assertive; but there is often Bob,” she begged. “W: here in this*awful place.” “But. Alice dear,” said patting her. hand, “we can’t go back tonight: We have to wait un- til. morning. The best thing for ou to do is to bed.” Not waiting for Alice to say yes or no, he gath- ered her up in his arms and, with the rest of us trailing behind, car- tied her to her room and. de- posited her in the big, i bed. We were an odd-l procession, no doubt, in liable to lead to trouble. Many of the ambitions will be attained, but many enemies are liable to be made, what seems certain of success. |. Subscribe to The Citizen, 20c an element of cunning that is weekly. who may overthrow e can’t stay | to let us put you | We are equipped to ‘, do gl kinds of print- ing — quickly, eco- homically, and with the’ best of workman- ship. Call 51 for an estimate. : RAPID, SERVICE. TUESDAY, TIMES. MADE FROM LEFT OVER FATS AnD ASHES FROM THE FIREDLACE..T was & DECEMBER PICKED FOR DEATH HOLIDAY (Centinued from Page One) bustling cities riding the nation’s highway DECEMBER 3. 154 are um last fi city de They are scattered in a thous- ™ and places, but enough to popu- late a thriving little county seat They have this in common: Before Christmas they will be the vic- tims of December's fatal accidents. “That's not a pretty Christmas picture but December's not en- tirely a happy holiday month because death takes no hobday” says W. G. Johnson, chief statis- tician for the National Safety Council, who cember’s traffic deaths. “The Christmas month is the outstanding candidate for dovbt- ful honors as the worst traffic death month of the year. Per- haps it is @ discordant note to mention a gruesome topic just as the start of the holiday season But if we can save 100 lives, or 10 lives or even only one life by doing so and pointing to the dan- ger of December's traffic it will have been worth the price has analgzed De- DONT MISS P.A R Le Revista Mensus. ex Espana e “The. normal December toll is 5 3,500 lives. This usually is equal- led in number by October, but mileage traveled in October is 10 per cent greater than December's That makes the Christmas month the most dangerous. “The averages for the past three years show that, mile for mile, December traffic is more than one and one-half times as deadlv as that of June, one of the big summer travel months. “The records of the few states that we studied analytically dis- closed that the actval Christmas season is the most dangerous of all the year”. Johnson said many factors are involved in causing December ac- cidents. “Accidents on rural highways