MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1962
C-7
Microfilm, iiiveiiteci
New York-4IPD-Few persons
realize to what extent their
personal lives are recorded
on microfilm, a one-time bank
clerk's invention which added
photography to the evolution
of man's record-keeping.
Chances are that every
check you write to pay the
butcher, the baker or the baby
sitter is microfilmed by your
bank. So are important pa
pers such as your Social Se
curity record, property titles,
insurance policies, birth cer
tificates, income tax returns
and even your department
store bills and sales slips.
Whenever you cash in a
U.S. Savings Bond it is micro
filmed and the bond is de
stroyed. If you are hospital
ized, your case history prob
ably is microfilmed. So is
your registration at some ho
tels. And if you live in cer
tain areas of the nation your
childrens school records are
being kept on microfilm.
Modern microfilming owes
its existence to the invention
of a New York bank clerk
named George McCarthy. Mc
C a r t h y's imagination was
stirred one day in 1923 when
a large depositor claimed his
account was charged with a
$300 check he had never
drawn. At that time, the bank
kept no other proof of pay
ment when returning a de
positor's cancelled checks
with his monthly statement.
So it had to make good the
$300. Knowing that this
wasn't the first such occur
rence, McCarthy sought a
practical answer to the prob
lem. Photography Idea Occurs
While watching a slow-motion
film of a pitcher throw
ing a baseball, he thought of
the possibility of photograph
ing cancelled checks. Though
experts scoffed at his idea as
impractical, McCarthy persist
ed and finally hand-built a
South Africa May
Seek Scout Shrine
By NEIL SMITH
United Press International
Johannesburg, South Africa
- (UPD - The little out country
town of Mafeking is launching
a worldwide appeal to become
an international shrine for thj
Boy Scout movement.
It was in Mafeking, 150
miles northwest of here, dur
ing the Boer wtvs. .that Col.
(later Lord) Banden-Powrtl
first conceived the idea of the
Scout movement. At the time
Mafeking was besieged by the
Boers. The first "boy scouts"
assisted the men defending
the town.
The impetus for the inter
national shrine idea was eco
nomic. The future outlook for
Mafeking is bleak.
The town now is the capitol
of Bechuanaland protectorate
although it lies 16 miles inside
the South African frontier.
But the Bechuanaland gov
ernment has decided to move
the capital to Gaberones, 80
miles to the north. With the
move will go many of Mafe
king's 4,500 white inhabitants
and most of its former import
ance and prosperity.
One of the ideas suggested
as a means of keeping Mafe
king from becoming a frontier
ghost town was the establish
ment of a sort of "holy place"
for the Scout movement,
which was born there.
The Mafeking town council
has adopted the idea with en
thusiasm. Plans are emerging
for a worldwide appeal to Boy
and Girl Scouts of all nations
to contribute to a fund. The
money will be used to build
a museum-shrine in which rel
ics of the seige and the Boy
Scout movement will be
housed. Some will be set aside
to maintain in their original
state the many buildings con
nected with Baden-Powell.
The buildings include the
original dugout used by Baden-Powell
(now a wine cel
lar), the old officers club
(now the Mafeking Club) and
the watchtower from where
Baden-Powell used to observe
the Boer attackers (now a law
yer's office.)
One factor dims the outlook
for establishing an interna
tional shrine to scouting here.
The worldwide movement em
braces all races and colors.
But in South Africa today
rigid laws restrict non-whites
in "white" areas.
The town of Mafeking is a
"white man's" town. A non
white visitor would not De
permitted to stay at local ho
tels, eat at local restaurants,
or attend a white cinema
show. He would be subject to
all the rigors of the South
African pass laws.
Will the thousands of non
white Boy Scouts and their
governments take kindly to an
appeal for a shrine which they
may never be allowed to
visit?
to the
International Concatenated
Order of the Hoo-Hoo
For their efforts
in promo'"""
'Forest Product Week"
thus aiding
the
lumber Industries
of our
Rogue River Valley
HAUPERT TRACTOR CO.
Sby Cleric
crude piano - sized machine
called the "Checkograph" that
would photograph checks
quickly and inexpensively.
Banks remained for the
most part unmoved, however,
until McCarthy interested
Eastman-Kodak in his project.
Eastman technicians re-engineered
the "Checkograph"
principle for a more compact
and efficient machine called
Recordak and also perfected
a special formula microfilm.
In 1928, the first Recordak
was installed in McCarthy's
old bank - the first to use
the new machine.
Now Much-Used
Today, microfilming is at
work in many thousands of
banks, insurance companies,
public utilities, retail estab
lishments, manufacturing or
ganizations and public offices.
The nation's vital records are
being microfilmed in dupli
cate, with the duplicate films
stored in underground vaults
outside of possible target
areas against the possibility
of nuclear war.
World War II brought mi
crofilming's biggest and per
haps most memorable job,
V-mail. From the time it was
started in 1941, to save cargo
space on mail to British troops
in Egypt, until V-J day, it is
estimated the Allies delivered
one and a half billion V-mail
letters.
A space age application of
microfilm is in the Project
.AidsRecordKee
ARIES space laboratory re
cently opened at the Ameri
can Museum of Natural His
tory in New York City. There,
eight tons of reading material,
representing more than 4 mil
lion pages of scientific books,
literary classics, best sellers,
even comics, are reduced to
a 90-pound microfilm library,
We Salute...
Maximal Breathing
Capacity Test Noted
La Jolla, Calif. - (UPD - Do
you have enough wind to
blow out a paper match held
three inches form your
mouth? Hold the mouth wide
and blow. Don't purse lips.
That's cheating.
If you can't blow out the
flame, your maximal breath
ing capacity is not up to the
standard. Better have your
lungs tested. Dr. C. Robert
Olson, of the Scripps Clinic
and Reasearch Foundation
here, made that point in a re
port published in the Ameri
can Review of Respiratory
Disease.
FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
We're proud to offer our congratulations to the
area's number 1 Industry and to share in their
efforts to keep Southern Oregon a leader of Ore
gon progress.
MEDFORD
BRANCH
v
MemberFederal Dcpoilt
Insurance Corporation
ill,Mfu.V'lMl.'l''J'lii.iw.i.if.i t.i
We're proud to be a part of
the Southern Oregon Forest
Products Industry and take this
opportunity to thank all our
compatriots in this field.
End of Year - Inventory Reduction Sale
$f)45
(at our Store)
4" Galv. m jr j lin.
Gutter. lOVZ Ft.
Certainfeed Roofing $8
3 Tab 210 LB.
28 Gauge
Galvanized Roofing
mV t Reg. Price
JL T lin. ft. 33c lin.
Cabinet
Hardware..
Concrete
Mixes
20 di
$39
Sack
White Ceiling tit Sc1-
Tile IO Ft.
3-0 Mahog.
Doors A
Panelyte
Counter Tcp
95
$8
49
Heavy
Plastic Covering
$3995
6 MILL, 32'100'
Reg. Price $69.00
Tub Enclosures
Direct Factory Shipment
$3995
Reg. Price $69.00
4x8x4 Pre-Finished
Mahogany
AxBx'A Pre-Finished
Cherry
4x8x't Sheathing
PerM
$395
$332
$99
SANDED PLYWOOD-TERRIFIC PRICES!
4x8xV4" Mahogany Rejects $1.95
Ax8x3a" Sanded Blows; nice stock 2.35
4x8xV2" Sanded Blows; take a look 2.95
4x8x58" Sanded Blows or Ext. Rejects 3.65
4x8x34" Sanded Blows or Ext. Rejects 3.95
1765 NORTH RIVERSIDE
Bring Your Truck or Trailer
NO LIMIT SO STOCK UP!
3610 N. Pacific Hwy.