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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Jan 04, 1940
Page
4
The Associated Press holds exclusive rights to news dispatches credited to it or to others as published in this paper. Re-publication of special dispatches is reserved, with protection for the latest news content and the paper’s rights retained.
A rambling local column blends Bible verse and weather talk with notes on Cotton prices and auto safety. It discusses Morgan County’s dry status, city debt and dual tax rates, court rulings keeping the higher rate for 17 years, and a call for one 80 cent tax rate.
Marion Rushton of Montgomery expresses doubt on the proposed unit rule for Alabama's delegation. He urges careful consideration as reports say efforts may seek to bind the delegation, while The Daily hopes Speaker Bankhead and Senator Bankhead will advise against tying presidential candidacy to any unit rule.
The Daily argues the Alabama legislature failed to reapportion as required by the constitution, a stance echoed with bitterness by The Montgomery Journal. North Alabama papers and Black Belt counties weigh constitutional rights, oath fidelity, and the need for reform amid partisan expediency.
Crump won the mayoral race by a wide margin but served only five seconds before resigning. The swift exit followed an unexpected swearing in, leaving Memphis politics in flux while Fiu reallocates resources to handle growing student vacations and school placements.
A collage of jokes and vignettes from Decatur including hospital, family, and social quips. Dialogues reference a doctor patient exchange, a father and son, romance lines, a radio joke about modest homes, and a remark on self inspection and fault finding.
Sunday dinner guests included Mr and Mrs J W Story and family and Mrs Parks McDonald and kin. Elizabeth Speakman visited in Hartselle while Almon Stephenson and Martia Lee Stephenson returned from North Carolina for Christmas with J Vest family. Mr and Mrs Clyde Marshall and Latcille West hosted Sunday meals. Vera Thompson and son were noted as well.
Dr Leopold Braddy findings show frostbite begins around 8 F regardless of humidity and worsens with wind between 8 and 14 F. Fatigue hunger and malnutrition raise risk while grease on clothing reduces protection and proper warming should start with gradual body warmth rather than snow rubs.
Bananas contain about 20 percent starch and 1.5 percent protein with 0.5 percent fat, plus phosphorus iron calcium and vitamins A C and D making them a balanced food. Any food can fatten if eaten in excess, but bananas satisfy appetites quickly aiding Dr Harrop’s milk and banana reducing diet.
Readers may obtain seven Dr. Clendening pamphlets by sending ten cents per title plus a self addressed stamped envelope to Dr. Logan Clendening care of this paper. Titles include Three Weeks Reducing Diet Indigestion and Constipation Reducing and Gaining Infant Feeding Instructions for the Treatment of Diabetes Feminine Gene and The Care of the Hair and Skin.
A snow lit street wedding in front of a Methodist church was performed by Judge A G Patterson uniting Robert A Todd and Miss Gertrude Coleman. Local social notes mention visits, return trips, and engagements including Enmina Lucille Holland and Robert Reynolds, plus Burns to Muscle Shoals noted by Russian Soviet visitors.
Polly Wallace improves after appendectomy. Several flu cases reported. Ruth Betterton visited sister Mrs Omer Morris in Decatur. Clarence Morris and family from Oak Ridge spent time with Clark Morris family. Huntsville area relatives visited. Elis of Georgia spent part of week here. Ralph Roan and R L McNutt in Bethel Friday. Various families visited Rocky Ford and Decatur.
A collage of holiday anecdotes from Walter Winchells Broadway column. It notes department store sales up twenty percent and includes comic bits from Sidney Skolsky and references to Gone With The Wind premiere invitations in Atlanta. The piece lampoons faux poetic dream prose and explains it is from a 1936 book excerpt.
A gossip column recounts a glamorous actress with a grown daughter kept private due to her stage career, remarks on Bolshevik propaganda in Finland, Alexander Nevsky as Eisenstein's digested history, and Arturo Toscanini's touching note to a listener who lost her baby.
A fragment from a 1940s era piece quotes lines about love and longing and mentions Baseball Magazine’s Harold Winnerip and his companion listening to Information Please. The woman compares a rival to Oscar Levant noting his piano and quiz prowess.
When Attorney General Frank Murphy visited Palm Beach he glared at people who looked like gamblers. The scene drew questions about whether he targets all gamblers as he is seen frosted a passerby by a high DOJ figure. A Michigan incident tied to his campaign fund was cited as forgiven by none.
A collage of critic quotes ranges from Ernest L Meyer on postwar reporting to Variety calling Alternate Current terrible. Phil Leff raves about a New York Journal American review noting Paris underworld fiction. Tom Meany jokes about rail wrecks and Hitler traveling by plane.
The quiz lists the original states represented by the flag stripes New Hampshire Massachusetts Connecticut Rhode Island New York Delaware Pennsylvania Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia and New Jersey. It notes the present flag design law was passed April 4 1818 and cites two early flags the Naval Ensign 1776 1777 and the Striped Union 1776 1777 as inspirations.
Christmas was a very happy event in Morgan County with good health reported throughout. Mrs Cora Morgan moved here Monday. Miss Nazrene Evans and Christine Evans spent Sunday evening with Mrs Grace Evans. Howard Evans was a business caller in Cullman Tuesday. The Dunn brothers from the Virginia Mountaineer band visited at the Guthrie home Monday. Dancing and refreshments followed.
In Michiantown Indiana on January 4 aviator Russell Stair flew a plane low over fields guiding 60 fox hunters. The airborne system signalled when a fox was spotted and the method worked, yielding seven foxes.
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