HOMETOWN HISTORY, August 23, 2013

125 Years Ago
A Suggestion: Would it not be worth the consideration of all Christian temperance workers and all that claim and do believe in prohibition to take some steps in the way of placing drinking fountains along the streets, especially those most traveled, so that our husbands, brothers, and children will not be obliged to resort to the hotels for a drink of cold water. It seems the height of folly to pay out so much for lectures, and the cause of temperance, when not one step is taken to place pure, cold water, where all may stop and get a drink when weary and thirsty. With one exception, in this city there is no place for teamsters and the traveling public to water their teams, and consequently they are obliged to visit the hotels for all such favors. Is it any wonder that our boys frequent such places when they can get favors that the city does not afford. Even if we get a drink of water at a hotel it is so fumed with tobacco smoke it is next to impossible to drink it by those that do not use tobacco.
August 1888

80 Years Ago
The New York Stock Exchange has taken steps to discourage all orders involving a cash payment of less than $5,000, while the effect of the National Securities Act, grain market regulations and new taxes on transactions on these boards should decrease speculation among those who cannot afford to lose. Many steps have been taken while protecting the legitimate and necessary purposes of such markets, yet to protect the individual of small means from gambling on something of which he personally knows little or nothing. Still there is nothing to be done that will protect the man who still thinks the market or outside securities of a highly speculative character is the easy way to riches. If he persists now he will have nobody to blame but himself.
August 1933

60 Years Ago
The U.S. Senate internal security subcommittee reports that “the Soviet international organization has carried on a successful and important penetration of the United States government and this penetration has not been fully exposed.” The report was signed by all eight members of the sub-committee and based on a year’s study of the question. The report outlines Communist infiltration into the government since the early 1930s. The report states: “Policies and programs laid down by members of this Soviet conspiracy are still in effect within our government and constitute a continuing hazard to our national security.” The report concludes: “There is a mass of evidence and information on the hidden Communist conspiracy in government which is still inaccessible to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to this subcommittee because persons who know the facts of this conspiracy are not cooperating with the security authorities of the country.”
August 1953

40 Years Ago
For the first time in many years, colleges and universities across the nation are experiencing a sizeable decrease in the number of applications for admission. However, area college admissions departments report no major problems. Hartwick College will welcome 475 freshmen this fall, a figure which corresponds almost exactly with admission figures for fall 1972, said Joseph C. Lehman, Director of Public Relations. At SUCO, admissions counselor Richard Burr estimated that 1,200 freshmen and 850 transfer students would enter the school this fall. The combined figure represents an increase of 200 over last fall’s total for new students. Charles Albert, Public Relations Director at Delhi Tech, said 1,554 freshmen were accepted at the college this year as compared to 1,421in 1972. Cobleskill will admit approximately 1,500 freshmen, almost exactly the same as admitted in 1972.
August 1973

30 Years Ago
Tap water in Oneonta is distasteful and smells foul because engineers are pumping from the Susquehanna River to conserve precious water supplies in city reservoirs. The musty flavor is from leaf mold in the Mill Race, along the Susquehanna River, from which the city is drawing the river water, according to city engineer Richard C. Olton. “There’s no harm in it. It’s just objectionable,” Olton said. The resulting mold on the gathering leaves imparts the off-flavor,” Olton explained. Olton said chlorinating the river water and running it through a charcoal filter at the city’s water treatment plant partially eliminates the taint. Rainfall for August in this area has amounted to 3.87 inches, half an inch more than normal for the entire month, but virtually all of that rainfall came in just two storms. The August rains have probably soaked into parched soils left by a dry spell in July. Little or no runoff has been added to the reservoirs so far in August.
August 1983

20 Years Ago
Cat Statistics: In 1983, 24.2 million households owned a cat. By 1987, the total had jumped to 27.5 million; and by 1991 to 29.2 million, making felines the number one pet in the country. The total cat population for 1991 was 57 million. Survey results showed the majority of households (58 percent) had only one cat, while 32 percent owned two or three cats. Ten percent of households cared for four or more felines. The mean pet food expenditure per cat-owning household was $143.92 annually or approximately $70.88 per cat. Seventy percent of cat-owning households surveyed took their pets to a veterinarian in 1991, a decrease of 8 percent from 1987. Nearly 65 percent of cats taken to a vet received a vaccination.
August 1993

10 Years Ago
A U.S.-Canadian probe of last week’s blackout will be quick but thorough so investigators can determine what might be done to prevent a recurrence. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, Herb Dhaliwal, shook hands as they started their first face-to-face meeting of the joint investigation into the biggest blackout in North American history. The two are co-chairing the task force. Experts studying the outage have pointed to a series of small failures on the northeast Ohio power grid owned by First Energy Corp. that may have combined to unleash a huge wave of destructive electricity.
August 2003