Bound Volumes, Hometown History
February 19, 2026
70 YEARS AGO
The U.S. Senate Elections Sub-Committee voted unanimously today for a full investigation of any attempts to control Congress through campaign contributions. Its members solicited the cooperation of Senate leaders and every senator in a “non-partisan inquiry” into “contributions to election campaigns, federal elections and such evidence of corrupt practices as may be revealed.” Sen. Gore (D-Tenn), the sub-committee’s new chairman, plans an investigation which will run through 1956. The inquiry is the result of the disclosure by Sen. Case (R-SD) that he was offered $2,500 for his re-election campaign by an out-of-state lawyer during Senate consideration of the natural gas bill last month. Senator Case refused the money. Now, a special Senate committee is seeking to determine whether the money, which came from oil-gas interests, was an attempt to influence the Senator’s vote on the gas issue. Gore and other senators have called for a broader investigation into the campaign funds situation.
February 1956
50 YEARS AGO
A study by the National Science Foundation reveals concerns about possible negative outcomes from the introduction of what is coming to be known as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Parents may find it more difficult to control the spending of teenagers. Home burglaries could increase but armed robberies would decline. Individual and business privacy could be threatened. EFT involves a computer operated method of electronic banking and payment. EFT will record deposits of a worker’s paycheck automatically into from the employer’s account to the employee’s account. Payments for purchases at supermarkets or other retail stores could be accomplished with a credit card-type document inserted in a computer terminal, automatically transferring money from the purchaser’s account to that of the seller. The advantage for the banking system will be lower costs. The federal government already gives recipients of Social Security checks the choice of having them deposited directly in their bank accounts by mail. In a few years this will be done by EFT.
February 1976
30 YEARS AGO
Commentator Pat Buchanan, riding high from polls showing him in a virtual dead heat with Bob Dole to win the New Hampshire primary, characterized himself Sunday as leader of a political revolution of “peasants with pitchforks.” “This is too much fun. We’ve got them all on the run. They’re nervous and frightened,” Buchanan told a boisterous rally where more than a thousand supporters were jammed into a hotel ballroom, many of them shouting “Go Pat, Go.” Several hundred more gathered in the hotel’s lobby after police closed the ballroom declaring it a potential fire hazard. His voice hoarse, Buchanan proclaimed himself the “man of the hour” and predicted a victory in Tuesday’s Republican primary election. “History is about to be made in the State of New Hampshire,” he asserted.
February 1996
20 YEARS AGO
Hartwick College suspended its men’s lacrosse team after an alleged hazing incident. Oneonta police said an 18-year-old member of the team contacted them Sunday night and said rookie players were told to strip naked in a room at an off-campus residence Sunday afternoon and drink a keg of beer. No one was injured and the students were not restrained, nor was their clothing removed despite direction to do so. Sgt. Gerald French also reported that the freshman students, between five and eleven in number, were never threatened with violence in the home at 55 Spruce Street. Hartwick officials indicated that the team will be suspended until Monday. A scrimmage on Saturday has been canceled.
February 2006
