Americana

>The annual convention of New York's Catholic War Veterans got a resolution recommending that members stop calling one another "Comrade."

> The New York Telephone Co. declared war on "Hello." Said the company in a burst of confusion-making advice: "Think of the time that would be saved if all telephones were answered: 'Mr. Smith.'"

> The will of Mrs. Mary Elkin Moritz of Lexington, Ky. left the bulk of her $20,000 estate to her cousin Roy T. Elkin, "provided that from this day on he does not add the 's' onto his name . . . His father started this foolishness years ago, much to the disgust of the Elkin family . . . Roy can take his choice."

> In Butler, N.J., three Democratic candidates for the borough council withdrew, declaring their Republican rivals were better qualified. "Qualifications," said the Democrats, "are more important than party politics."

> In Washington, D.C., Purcell L. Smith, lobbyist for electric utilities, was refused a divorce though he pleaded that he and his wife had not slept in the same bed for five years, although they used the same bedroom. Snapped Judge F. D. Letts: "If I were going to divorce people because husbands and wives did not sleep in the same bed, I would have to divorce half the people in town."

> A Denver drugstore advertised a loss-leader special on "brand new" U.S. 3-c- postage stamps, three for 8-c-.

> The girls in Martha Cook dormitory at the University of Michigan signed a pledge to refrain from "displays of affection," in the dormitory lounge.

> In Manhattan, a copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, one of five in his own handwriting, was auctioned for $54,000.

> For Mother's Day, a Manhattan store offered the "all-in-one shears, a many-armed gadget which can be used as a fish sealer, bottle opener, nutcracker, screw-cap opener, hook extractor, pliers, screw driver, or hammer."

>Anachoresiphobia, said Dr. W. A. Eggert, chief psychologist of the Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Co., is responsible for many trucking accidents. It means a reluctance to back up when facing adverse conditions, the doctor explained.

> The boarded-up 40-room mansion of the late Financier Payne Whitney, on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, was sold to a real-estate agent who intends to break up its interior into apartments. Millions of moviegoers had seen its white-marble staircase as part of a Southern plantation house in Gone With the Wind, and as part of an English manor in Rebecca.

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