Word: direful
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Across the prairie wheatfields, tractor headlights flickered through the night, and the clank of combines filled the still air. As farmers raced to beat late summer hailstorms, a harvest that defied drought, dust storms and the dire predictions of experts was moving in a golden stream last week to Canada's bins and elevators. The new wheat crop, estimated at 340 million bu., will probably be the smallest in four years -down sharply from 1956-57's huge 573.1 million bu. But it is so much better than anyone thought possible in early summer that many a wheat...
Railroaders found the program far short of what they need to prevent what Pennsylvania President James M. Symes calls "the collapse of some railroads." Last week, as further evidence of their dire straits, the New York Central showed a first-quarter loss of $17.6 million, the Pennsylvania lost $14.9 million. Even railmen still in the black were disappointed, believing that the need is for ways to increase earning power. "The real problem," said Ben Heineman. chairman of the Chicago & North Western, "is one of allowing us to attain a position where we can pay back the loans...
Last week Indonesia, racked by civil war, was in dire danger of splintering apart. Guns cracked in the jungles of West Java; government bombers winged over Pakanbaru in Sumatra and Menado in the Celebes, blasting radio transmitters and telephone exchanges; government patrol boats, cleared for action, blockaded rebel-held ports...
...Such dire reports are regarded skeptically by rail users. Though no longer robber-barons, the railroaders often take a public-be-damned attitude in trying to cut passenger traffic. The New York Public Service Commission reported last week that the New York Central had deliberately left trains out of a timetable, presumably to discourage patronage. And though passenger traffic losses are accurately recorded under the bookkeeping system approved by the ICC, many experts quarrel with the system. They argue that losses are actually far less, simply because the passenger business, only 7% of overall rail business, carries...
Several locals were plainly aroused by the beatings, and threatened dire consequences if they caught those responsible...