Published November 1964 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Office of United States Senator Robert C. Byrd Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. Volume IV -- Number 47 11/27/64 Byrd's Eye View A Public Service Column by Senator Robert C. Byrd NEWS IN THE SMALLPRINT Some news items which make the most interesting reading just are not headline material. These "small print" reports, nonetheless, afford piquant glimpses of life in these United States. As an example, under the auspices of the Department of Interior, 1,000 prized eagle feathers were collected at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland and shipped across country to various Indian reservations to be used in ceremonial costumes by several Southwest Indian tribes--just in time to alleviate a critical shortage of the adornments. Nothing but eagle feathers would do-- because of the importance of the symbolism of the eagle in American Indian culture, with many songs and dances and much Indian history and religion centered around the bird. So strong is the symbolism of the American eagle to the Indian that feathers are often handed down from generation to generation by tribal custom. And in Savannah, Georgia, the U. S. Department of Agriculture specialists are making life impossible for moths--by humming. The government insect super-snoopers found out a low-continuous sound would keep the moths from reproducing as prolifically as when there is peace and quiet. They, therefore, started a continuous hi-fi humming--which interferes considerably with the moths reproductive activities. Also, the American Veterinarian Medical Association provided an interesting tid-bit in a report read as its recent meeting in Chicago--that American women are changing their pet preferences from cats and parakeets. The American vets were alerted that in the past five years the monkey pet population in the U. S. has increased from 100,000 to 750,000, with statistics showing that nearly all the owners are women. TV-watchers have a number of interesting reports provided for their consumption. For example (although not actually new news), the major complaint against television is the frequent commercials! However, the most vociferous complainers now are the late, late movie watchers. A 2-hour night movie is reported to average presentation of 15 commercials and station breaks--4 commercials before the movie gets going, 7 interruptions during the course of the film, and 4 at the finish. The complaints of the late movie watchers are that they want to hurry up and find out “Who Dun- it" and get to bed! America's wash-day Queens II are getting some assistance in their constant battle to scrub the blue jeans worn by the small fry to pristine freshness. A Federal Government contract was awarded to a private research laboratory for basic research on how to make cotton fabrics more soil resistant. Also, exploratory research on the behavior of cotton, when subjected to high-intensity sound waves of varying frequencies, is being undertaken at a New Jersey laboratory. Scientists believe information. from this study will be useful in research aimed at developing completely new systems for processing cotton into higher quality textiles at lower cost. For example, high-intensity sound waves may prove capable of removing trash from lint cotton before it is processed into yarn and fabric. Verily, an awful lot goes on that never makes the headlines. -30-