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January 7, 1954
Here’s Where Your Money Goes
For years, Americans have been pouring their money into the pockets of the smoothest grafters and schemers in history. Members of the group approached organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans, the Gold Star Mothers, the National Cancer Hospital and many others. They said, “You need money, give us the right to go ahead and we’ll get it for you.”
Here’s the sad reckoning. They collected $2,250,000 for the Gold Star Mothers. The Mothers got $300,000. In the last three years, using various schemes, the grafters collected a total of $21,490,000. Investigation showed that the money was spent as follows: expenses of the fund raisers $14,529,000; administrative costs $2,400,000; for D.A.V. lobbying $3,537,000. The Disabled Veterans got not one red cent out of all those millions.
There should be a law compelling every charity outfit to print a financial statement on one corner of their letterhead, showing just how much money was actually received by the institutions. The “Gentle Grafters” that handled the campaign for the National Cancer Hospital must still be laughing up their sleeves. Their take was $640,000. Joke was there ain’t no National Cancer Hospital. Those birds make Dillinger look like an amateur.
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Eighty-one years ago today, January 7, 1873, one of the worst blizzards up that time hit this section and over 70 settlers lost their lives. On January 12, 1888 the toll of the blizzard on the afternoon and evening was 110 dead. The suddenness with which this storm struck is beyond description. The Roamer was on his way to Lake Wilson when it struck. Before you could get the horse turned around, all hoofmarks were drifted over. The ground was a seething mass of snow and the air full of tiny pellets that stung. We drifted along with the storm. After two hours of wallowing in the snow we made the Engebretson store in Lake Wilson.
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The court house at Worthington is getting back on its feet again. Termites had been making their homes in two of the office sections. Wood had to be replaced with steel. Some contractors down there are advising that all sills in new homes be treated with creosote.
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There’s one old Scotch song that never grows old. It is sung in every civilized country in the world when human hopes are at their highest: the birth of a New Year. It has been sung for over 200 years. Its name:
For Auld Lang Syne, My Dear
For Auld Lang Syne
We’ll Take a Cup o’ Friendship Yet
For Auld Lang Syne.
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It seems a shame to our intelligence to allow a million dollars worth of buildings to go to wrack and ruin. That’s what we’re seeing with the Pipestone Indian school. This state needs buildings for mental patients and crippled children. No one is better qualified to speak on the needs for crippled children than Wally Remstad; he says, “Minnesota has no school for crippled children or those stricken with polio. A place where those who are able can learn a useful trade and become useful members of society.” Polio victims increase each year and we should see that the afflicted are given the same rights that healthy boys and girls enjoy.
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Now that the year is over and the auto death toll has been counted up by the Safety First associations, we fail to find any recommendation from the commissions suggesting changes for the auto bodies that would cut down the ever increasing list of victims. Autos surely cannot be perfect.
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Why all this political ado about the concrete paving near Hudson? The state is not out a cent. It has given the contractors until next summer to construct the pavement according to specifications, or forfeit $300,000 due them on the job. So quit worrying about it.
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For a century the bankers of Wall Street have been reviled and abused, especially about election time. They were pictured as big fat guys seated in a huge chariot, driving over the bodies of the downtrodden. The scene has changed now and in place of the bankers are the big guys who run the labor unions, driving over the bodies of the poor folks who read the daily papers.
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Iron ore taxes brought a revenue of over $40,000,000 to the treasury in Minnesota in
. What in thunder would the taxpayers do without this revenue? Some say the land is no good after the iron ore is gone. Same can be said of thousands of farms in the east that were once productive.
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Spoke to a group of Slayton folks recently and mentioned “Lake Elsie.” A lot of them looked dubious and shook their heads. There was a real lake north of the track on the east side of the lake. It was named “Lake Elsie,” after Mr. Simpson’s daughter. There were summer cottages on the east side of the lake, trees, etc. Some of the young Englishmen had sailboats on it. You won’t believe it, but it had ten feet of water in it, even in the winter time. Robert Fraser, Sr., father of Maggie, stepped into the lake one winter’s day while helping put up ice. The men at the ice house missed him and found Fraser hanging onto a floating cake of ice. His clothes were frozen stiff before they got him to a stove. By the way, Maggie belongs to one of the oldest families in Slayton. There were only six houses in the village when the family arrived in 1883.
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We can look for another WPA period sometime soon. Returning soldiers from Korea and Europe will just about glut the labor market. There is lots of room for public improvement. Some of the millions going to Europe could be used to build new school houses; another 10 feet could be added to every concrete highway, or better still a highway could be built for trucks, and many public buildings are needed in Minnesota.
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The dailies started up again last week. Instead of wading through page after page of nylon hose and underwear and stonefaced men with iron jaws advertising overcoats, we’d rather have a “news” paper three times with nothing but news. The St. Paul Dispatch had a weekly newspaper 60 years ago filled with nothing but news lifted from the previous dailies. Best of all, it only cost 35 cents a year.
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January 14, 1954
As you sow, so shall you reap. For years, the cigaret manufacturers have filled dailies and magazines, also the air waves, with sworn statements that their own particular brand had less poison in them than any other brand. Scientists began to take notice of this “poison,” and they found out that the cigarets were telling the truth, in fact they found out that every brand when inhaled was deadly to the lungs. The manufacturers are hysterically fighting back now, but there’s a decrease in sales that is going to affect our economy more than one realizes. The sales tax receipts in Minnesota dropped six per cent. If a drop of this kind is general, what’s it going to do to advertising, etc. Who is going to pay for radio programs? And where will the additional tax money come from in the nation? We predict that the drop will continue. There will be less inhaling, but smoking will not die. Sixty-five years ago when cigarets came out, many folks called them “coffin nails:” seems prophetic.
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Folks must be healthier than usual in southwest Minnesota, and Murray county is no exception. The roll of patients has been pretty short of late; too short in fact at the Murray County Memorial hospital. After all, it’s a good thing, it shows that there are no dangerous epidemics, less sickness, less folks with crushed bodies and broken bones and other tragedies. Seems sad that hospitals thrive when misfortune strikes the human family and yet what a blessing it is to have one like the Murray County Memorial Hospital. We found life there two years ago when hope was at a low ebb, and we can’t forget. Some say hospitals are too high. What isn’t? Take coffee, that you drink daily. Things like that have increased in price far more in proportion than hospital beds. Think of the hospital beds in the term of service, over that of ten years ago. We still drink coffee at upped prices and like it.
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In a Tribune department last Thursday was this question, “Should pot bellied men wear girdles?” While not being intensely interested in the subject, we read the answers. One lady who must been around 40 wrote, “No, a fat man is a happy person and if he wore a tight girdle he would be unhappy.” A younger woman said, “Yes, it would improve their sex appeal and give them a lap for a girl to sit on.” Who’s looking for girls to sit on their laps? Having a girl, from what we hear, does not bring any more happiness or contentment, and that’s what the men crave. The first lady’s answer could reveal the cause of so many cranky women in the world.
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Two years ago a shy bashful Holland Miss, with flaxen hair and blue eyes came to Lake Wilson to work in a store. She learned fast, developed a wonderful personality, lost her shyness, made friends rapidly, was not afraid to advise buyers, would grab a bushel of potatoes or a big box of groceries and carry them to your car and with quiet simplicity and sincerity exemplified the word “Service,” so that it meant something to a lot of folks. Her name since last Tuesday is Mrs. Peter Reitsma. Before that it was Jeanette De Kruif. Congratulations.
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Drat those kids anyway. Some of them at Perth Amboy, N.J. read of the way the professionals had taken millions from charitable institutions, so they started out to raise funds for the “Town Youth Organization.” They collected over $100. Only fault in their scheme was that there was not such an institution. The police moved in and put them in jail. Which brings up the question, “What has been down with the ... [missing]
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Time Marches On. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby used to be the tops in the entertainment world. Now they are so far down, they can’t come back. The Duchess used to lead as the “Best dressed woman,” now she is number ten. What makes the “Best Dressed Woman?” Take a gal with a little suet, she can be just as well and neatly dressed, but can never get a play. The dame of the “rag and a bone and a hank of hair” type always gets the nod. Of course, time cuts some figure in dress and the show business.
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One of the things you should do, especially you men, is to read good books, and art that has received a setback of late owing to comic strips, the funnies and the emotional stories in the magazines. Learn to read good books and you’ll be happier in your later days. Every man, woman and child in Murray county has thousands of good books on every subject under the sun within their reach, and it costs exactly nothing to read them. All you pay is the return postage. Here’s the address: Literary Div., State Dept. of Education, Room 369, State Office Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. By the way, Miss Emily Mayne, a former Slayton girl, is supervisor of the library. Her father was a former pastor in the German Evangelical church. P.S.: Slayton and Fulda residents are barred by law from participating. They have their own library facilities.
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While in Slayton last Tuesday we met an old friend, visited and chatted with him for a while. He was a mail carrier and we asked him if he ever saw Charley Durgin, a mutual friend. He said he saw him every Thursday, as he always delivered the Herald to him, so we asked him to extend our greetings. He said, “I certainly will.” Come Thursday he put up his mail as usual, then returned to his home within a short time Harry Terry passed away from a heart attack. We’ve known Harry all his life. He never attained great fame politically or financially, but he did have the esteem and respect of the people of Murray county for better and cleaner athletics. Pretty decent sort of a guy was Harry, one that is going to be missed. Goodbye, Harry, it was grand to have had you for a friend down through the years.
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We liked President Eisenhower’s message, with one exception: his farm program. As long as the government is giving out subsidies, why pick on the farmer? Why not include the air mail subsidy, the luxurious steamship subsidy, the cost plus racket, and the other subsidies given. Put them all on the same footing. Anyway, we are strong for a stiff parity price on farm products and not an elusive flexible one.
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Death has been working overtime of late. A short time ago, “Bill” Holm of Tyler, well known county fair man and legislator was called. Sorry to have him go, but on the other hand fate was kind to Bill. He went while at the very height of his ambition: when he received an award at Copenhagen, Denmark, for being the No. 1 citizen of Danish birth in America.
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January 21, 1954
“Buck” Rauenhorst of the Murrayland Theatre says we only quoted one poll on Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, cinema performers. The international poll shows Bob in second place, and he writes, “If you think he’s slipping, come down and seem him with Arlene Dahl and Tony Martin in technicolor on January 24-25.” (But he did not send any tickets). Maybe he thought we would not be interested: the name of the show is “Here Come the Girls.”
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Some of you young fellows of 178 who will soon be able to vote, we would like you to do some real thinking when the election of a president by popular vote comes up. We won’t be here to “guide” you, but we just want you to remember when you cast your vote that if this law had been in effect in 1860, Lincoln would never have been elected president. He only got forty per cent of the popular vote. If Lincoln had been defeated, would there have been a Civil War or would we have been split into two countries. Remember that the popular vote for president means that the big states of New York, California, etc. would just shut out the smaller states. Think.
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We would not be human if we did not appreciate the article the Lake Wilson Pilot last week that said kind things about us. But there are plenty of men and women in the county that are more entitled to honor than we. Murray county has been kind to us, very kind, and if we have done things along the way of life in civic endeavor we did only what every good citizen should do. Doc Suedkamp, in his item, also referred to the bravery and hardihood of John David Weber in suggesting a vote on the most popular citizen. Youth will rush in sometimes where angels, etc. Reminds us of the old fair days. We had a “prettiest baby in the county” contest. We had twenty-one mammas there when the show opened in the old floral building. Both babies and mammas fairly shined. On some spots the odor of Lennox was visible to the naked nose. We watched the judge when he marched up and down. The eyes of the mothers followed him. He finally made a decision. You should have heard the remarks from the twenty mothers whose babe did not score. The judge that day, and we’ll bet he still sees those looks in his sleep, was Ole Swanjord. He is still unwed.
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Minnesota has a law that compels farmers to mow the weeds along their roadsides so that the roads will be passable when winter comes. A very good law, but there is a crying need for another law, one that would compel village councils to maintain sand sprinklers for use on icy streets, and if they had enough sand left over put a little on the sidewalks. We’ve been in a number of towns of late, some of them in South Dakota, and the story is the same: icy and dangerous and a menace to human life and limb.
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The shattering of one of the oldest traditions goes merrily on: the abolishing of the time honored “Saturday shopping night.” Half of the county seats in this section have already changed to Friday nights. One, however, is trying out Monday night. Smaller towns like Tyler and Lamberton are closed on Saturday evenings. While city stores are advertising “Open until 9 p.m.,” country stores are closing. It’s a topsy turvy world. All this brings up the query: are they closing because they are doing well enough, or are they closing because fuel costs so much, or is the true source labor?
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Congressman H. Carl Anderson is a strong advocate of stabilized parities of around 100 per cent. In this we feel that he is representing the views of a majority of the farmers in this county. There’s a tendency among some village residents to be jealous of the farmer at times. If you are, keep it to yourself. If it were not for the farmers, there would be no small towns. Remember when the farmers get good prices, town dwellers are happy. When prices go down, we town folks eat away down on the hawg, just above the toenails.
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A new innovation in the middle west is the traveling post office, in operation between Worthington and Sioux Falls, S.D. It takes the place of the old mail car on the branch railroads and is operated along the same lines. These traveling post offices have been in service in the east for several years.
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Got a letter the other day from A. H. Day who now lives in Maryland. Alvin will be remembered by a generation of long ago. He was foreman of the Slayton Gazette under Jimmy Ruane. He left Slayton to take a position in the government office at Washington, D.C. and was there until he retired. Alvin married Nina Gullord, a daughter of that grand old Norwegian who gave Slayton the land for Gullord park, and the Lutherans the land on which to build their church. Nina Day passed away several years ago, and Alvin remarried to a lady whom he had worked with for several years.
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You think it was cold last week? It was, but don’t forget the winter of 1938. You don’t have to be an old timer to remember that far back. That was a king sized winter. Starting January 18th, Old Man Winter moved in and for 36 straight days the thermometer was never above zero. The longest cold spell in Minnesota history. Worst of it was the 36 days had plenty of real blizzards in between. Coal was almost as precious as diamonds. On the other hand, icemen ... [missing]
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Charity organizations are finding the going tougher each year. There seems to be a hold-back tendency on a lot that are solicited. Take the Martin County Community Chest fund was over $10,000 less than last year, and one worker writes that this may be the last year. There’s got to be a national, state and county clean-up so that one can distinguish the needy from the grifters. If the Red Cross and the March of Dimes would only publish statements so that the donors could see just where and how the money is spent, it would help create a feeling of security in the hearts of the donors. Every outfit soliciting funds for charities should secure a license from the state and from the county in which they work.
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Some of the Republicans who would like to take a shot at the U.S. Senator job remind us of the ground hog: seem to be afraid of their own shadow.
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January 28, 1954
We are getting all het up over the coffee situation, and the funny thing about it is not one in a hundred ever tasted first class coffee. No one wants to know what coffee really tastes like. One wants a teaspoon to the cup, another wants a tablespoon to the cup, others lived for years on coffee from the big pot on the back of the stove where coffee was added every day until there was but little room for water. Then there are vacuum pot, automatic coffee makers, percolators, coffee makers and coffee boilers. The coffee used is known as regular grind, drip and the fine powdered stuff. You make your own taste and swear by it. Here is what an expert says about coffee. The finest coffee is grown in Arabia and Abyssinia, where the berry originated. It is called Mocha and stands first on the list. India coffee comes next, then Java and Central America. Brazilian coffee, the coffee we drink, though produced more abundantly than any other, stands at the bottom of the list in regards to quality. Very little of Arabian or Abyssinian coffee ever gets to the U.S. But you still have the right to drink what you think is a cup of coffee.
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You hear a lot about segregation nowadays. The colored folks in the south want equal rights with the white folks. Looks reasonable under the constitution. Back in 1822 freed slaves assisted by several charitable organizations formed a colony on the west side of Africa, named it Liberia. They adopted a constitution modeled after ours, but with this difference: “Voters must be of negro blood and must own land.”
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Most of you remember the Jimmy Roosevelt and the Rochester nurse romance: well, it’s all over. Big, husky Jim said his wife “caused him mental and physical anguish and distress.” (We’ve all suffered from one of them). He also wanted the woman to give Paw’s watch back. They were married in ‘41: a little longer than the average Roosevelt marriage.
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Now we have to get all over that censorship of movies again. The U.S. Supreme court decided last week that the cinema can present Communistic movies. You can’t stop free speech, etc. and all that sort of rot, says one of the nine old men. Can’t we ever stay put on any one thing.
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Glad to see those tavern keepers over in McLeod county get rapped over the knuckles for selling beer to school kids. Some of those counties in that section have different ideas on the liquor question than those that appear in the law books. An orchid to Supt. Anderson of the Steward schools, who had the nerve to cause the arrests.
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Been a little cold on and off of late, but most folks would rather have it thirty below than have six inches of slushy snow.
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Milk cows are the most versatile animals we have. Art Moen invoiced his cows last October. He had a sale two weeks ago, on the coldest day of the year, still the cows brought him a hundred dollars more than when he took stock in October. Why cows would make such an unprecedented gain, with the present conditions staring buyers in the face, is just another of those $64 questions.
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Glad to see the names of three former Lake Wilson lads in the lineup of officers in the Slayton Kiwanis club. They are Melvin Risting, Duane Bondhus and Orville Grieme. Fine sampling of what is produced in western Murray county.
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The state assisting in the organization of the D.H.L.A. has changed dairying from the old fashioned grab the pail, dip your finger in the first few drops of milk and then start, to one of the most sanitary concerns on earth. Take the Art H.[R.?] Warren dairy, perched high on Buffalo Ridge west of Lake Wilson, for instance. It is under jurisdiction of the state. An inspector comes every month, takes tests both night and morning for measure weights and quality. The figures are transferred, and Art can look back and tell what any of his 26 cows made in a certain month. The barn is as clean as a biscuit factory. He has a milk cooler that cost $2,300. Milking machines are used and the milk, which is never touched by human hands, goes to the cooler where it stays at 40 degrees, kept there by thermostats. His record book shows what the feed costs every day. In that way “boarders” leave quick. He has a record of one cow that produced nearly five tons of milk (19,350 Lbs.) in a year. Another cow produced 750 pounds of butterfat in a year. All the milk goes to Sioux Falls, S.D. If you want to see a top notch dairy farm in operation make a visit to the Warren dairy. He’ll be glad to see you.
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Last Wednesday night, when the thermometer was thirty below, we heard a noise alongside of the house. We went to the door and asked, “Anything you want?” A 12-year-old youngster came up and said, “Nothing, we’re only sliding down the snow banks.” We looked at him, there was a twinkle in his eyes as bright as the stars, his cap and clothes sparkled with frost and snow and there was a blush of pink on his cheeks. He fairly radiated youth. We took another look, one that brought back memories of a long ago and this thought--youth is the only thing in the world that money can’t buy.
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While the U.S. is moving towards lowering the voting age to 18, it might be interested to know that in Denmark, one of the forthcoming countries in education and agriculture, both sexes must be 25 years of age before they can vote. A hustling, cocky little country is Denmark. It is only a fifth the size of Minnesota, yet it exports more butter and bacon than any country except the U.S. It suffered less from the war of 1942 than any other country. Being purely agricultural, the Germans wanted food, so it did not make much change. The capital city, Copenhagen, in that little country has a population twice the size of Minneapolis.
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Norway, across the Skagerrak from Denmark, did not fare so well in the war, losing thousands of ships during the struggle. But the Norsk have been steadily getting their fleet enlarged and today that sturdy nation has over 5,500 ships. Half of them are tankers. If her ships were all home at one time, Norway would have to put some of them on the miles of drying racks they use to prepare that succulent but not odorless dish known as Ludefisk. Norway, which is a third larger than Minnesota, is a queerly shaped country, having a coastline of over a thousand miles, but at one point it is only four miles wide.
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Sweden, the third member of the group, is said to be the cultured member of the trio. She should be. When Sweden ran out of kings during Napoleon’s time, he sent them Bernadotte and his wife, Desiree. She had everything, so they tell us, and probably took her culture with her. Sweden is famous for her steel and good workmanship: none better. During the last war she was panned unmercifully for standing still. But can you blame them? They live on top of a volcano that could explode almost any time. You can’t fight miles of machine guns with spit balls, and heroes who used “to die for Good Old Rutgers” are extinct. Sweden is twice as large as Minnesota, and half of Sweden is still timber lands. The Swedes were the boys that punctured one of our proudest traditions. Most folks believe that the log cabin was a truly American product, born of the pioneers. However, the record shows that Swedes built them in the colonial days. They had lived in log cabins in Sweden.
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What are you writing about them for? We have lived with them for 70 years, they civilized easy, have a tendency to look for the word “son” when they vote, but no group has fewer traitors to the U.S. than these men from Skandinavia.
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February 4, 1954
We wish to humbly and gratefully acknowledge the honor conferred on us last week. But remember friends that no one has ever done anything alone. It’s the loyal and true support of friends and workers that makes dreams come true. Remember this friends, flowers look more beautiful and comforting and they have a more fragrant aroma when one is living than they do on his casket.
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It looks like flying in the face of Providence to refuse to sell butter to Russia. We’re not at war with Russia. We don’t hate the Russian people and the Russian folks don’t hate us. If they want 5,000,000 pounds of butter at 59 cents a pound, let them have it.
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Icy pavements and streets are causing an enormous number of accidents in this section of the state. Over at Tracy last week seven accidents were reported: three hip fractures, two elbow fractures, one hand fracture, and a broken nose. Time’s a coming when we elderly folks will have to go a little more cautious or carry a sander.
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Waste paper collections have started up again. Generally there is more time and effort in these collections than cash. Times must have changed. Over in Luverne last week the Boy Scouts after deducting all expenses made $129 on their short drive. That’s worth going after, kids.
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Says President Eisenhower, “I never at any time advocated 100% parities in any of my speeches.” So that settles that question. Nice thing to clear up this matter Ike, but do what you can keep up the prices of farm products.
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Visiting us last week was Chas. Lowe, a son of the late Jim Lowe, for over 30 years sheriff of Murray county. Charley left Hadley, where was running a livery barn, 37 years ago and did not stop until he reached Canada. He’s a full blooded Britisher now, looks well, happy and dignified. Is now Lord Mayor of Saskatchewan. His wife, who was born in Lake Wilson, was formerly E...[illegible] Engebretson.
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You’d be surprised at the number of women in this vicinity who have turned to baking bread again, and some are learning for the first time. They got plumb disgusted with the three-cent raise. In one store bread sales have dropped 50 per cent. There are times when financial needs are more pressing than luxurious habits.
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Sorry, but Stassen is not available for the U.S. Senate run this fall. In spite of his many idiosyncrasies (had to look in the dictionary for this one) Stasen was about the best bet in the Republican stable. Humphrey is going to be a hard man to beat, unless they find a weak spot as was found in Achilles’ heel. It was the only vulnerable spot in his body. Maybe they’ll find a weak spot the Humphrey armor as the campaign wears on.
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Cheer up! Just four more weeks until March comes in with wind, rain, sleet, robins, wild geese and ducks to remind us that spring is just around the corner.
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Saw a picture in the Minneapolis paper the other night of a woman fixing an auto engine. She was a working member of the Minneapolis Red Cross outfit. Her face looked familiar. In the fair days decades ago, she used to come down to the fairgrounds either riding a horse or driving her grandpa’s car, a grand kid was Drexel Weck, full of pep, cheer and vitality. She still seems to have those qualities. Her name now is Mrs. Harold VanEvery. Her man used to shake an elusive hip on the Minnesota football team.
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If we can’t sell butter to the Russians let’s sell it to the home folks. Divide it up among the states. Sell it at 50 cents a pound and give every buyer another pound as a gift. This would clean up the butter situation and surplus as well. But do something. Don’t throw it into the sea.
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We are a comparatively new country and we are not to blame for not being up on economy. We can learn from the Scotch. Our postoffice department has scraped the barrel so long that all they get is splinters, and we are striving every way to get out of the red. Back in Scotland when we were a lad the post offices had certain closing hours. But there was a ten minute deadline. If you were late and wanted your letter to go real bad, they would take it, but you had to pay a half penny extra; if it was a registered letter it would cost you tuppence extra. Whenever you saw a Scotchman with a letter in his hand, he was generally headed on a dead run for the post office.
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The Minnesota nurse went into action last week, and Jimmy Roosevelt found himself facing a barrage of sworn statements filed by his wife charging him with being over familiar with ten women. She had everything down in black and white. Jimmy had just filed for congress and it looks as if he was after the women’s vote: don’t get smart with a nurse, they just won’t take it.
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Warmath, the new U football coach for Minnesota, is certainly up against it. Nearly everyone that is anybody in football circles is against him, some even alluding to him as a cotton picker because he comes from the deep south. Surely it is not sporting to abuse him. Why not put the blame on Ike Armstrong and President Morrill of the “U.” And here we are thinking that they would give the job to Charley Johnson.
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An orchid this week to Joe Sudde and Wally Remstad, co-chairmen of the Murray County March of Dimes, and their fine co-workers, for publishing a complete financial statement of work done in 1953. It was not very flattering to the people of Murray County. The monies expended on Murray county polio victims was $3,164.03. The money contributed by Murray county folks amounted to only $1,913.00; the rest came from outside sources. Some of us objected strongly to sending food and money to Europe, but we have yet to find any objections to outside interests assisting in our polio cases.
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February 11, 1954
Ione Hunt, top woman standard bearer for the DFL in Minnesota, was “shocked, chagrined and mortified” when she read that the republican national committee had raised over $3,000,000 for campaign purposes. In her dulcet tones she uttered these famous words: “I Think it Stinks.” Most campaign funds do, Ione. You must have been wearing clothes pins on your nose a decade or so back when the “boys” from the sticks were making trips to the twin cities and laying borders of long green around the table and coming back with an office in their pockets.. Tin kettles, Ione, should not call the pot black.
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Tomorrow is the anniversary of the birth of the greatest American: Abraham Lincoln. There was no silver spoon in his mouth when he was born. He came up the hard way that is often dark and dismal: often rebuffed and sneered at, yet he rose the highest office in our land and we should all be proud that Minnesota was the first state to declare his birthday a legal holiday in Minnesota, in 1895, and in the following year schools, municipal and county offices closed throughout the state and held memorial programs in his memory. The naming of a county in Minnesota called “Lincoln” took a long time. In 1861 the legislature tried to establish a “Lincoln” county out of parts of Renville and Meeker counties but the voters turned it down. Another attempt was made later to change the name of Rock county to Lincoln but it failed. A third attempt was made in 1870 to take enough territory from Renville county and again the voters refused. The fourth try was successful and land was taken from Lyon county with the approval of the voters and thus Lincoln county was born.
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That story of Jimmy Roosevelt is one of the most fantastic we have ever read. A guy like that could write some wonderful novels. Who in the world would ever admit that he had been familiar with nine different women and then send the list to his wife, and in a few weeks start another weird tale by saying he was blackmailed into writing the list of names. Said he felt sorry for the stain. It would be for his Dad, forgetting that he had put stains on the character of nine women. Jimmy wins the leather covered icicle for being our top moron and neurotic. Oh E. Den-Oar, come and get Jimmy.
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See where North Dakota produced 444,345 barrels of oil last month. How long will it be before a Columbus or a Lief Erickson will appear in search of oil fields in Minnesota.
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Remember that this month of February is the month of colds and flu. You can either be a sissy and go to bed or you can be the big tough he-man that sticks it out and is survived by a widow and five small children.
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The school boards of Minnesota met last week and of course the rural school reorganization came up for a hot discussion. The most sensible talk was made by the leader of the opposition to any change in the present conditions, but he did say:
”If the two sides would sit down by themselves and talk things over in a cool rational manner, most of the differences could be ironed out.”
Pretty good philosophy, one that could be used on many occasions.
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Another Hollywood star, with more curves than Satchel Page, testifies for a cigaret manufacturer in a page ad in the Saturday Evening Post. She say, “There are no adverse effects to the nose, throat, or sinuses from smoking my brand.” Never a word about lungs, heart, kidneys. The manufacturer did admit that there was less nicotine in his brand than in any other brand.
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To those folks who live in rural districts, it’s time for them to do some thinking: it is later than you think. Over at Westbrook seven adjoining districts were notified that the Westbrook school would not be able to accept any pupils from grades 1 through 6. Lack of school facilities is the cause given. Four Murray county school districts are affected.
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Here’s a strange coincidence. Slayton and Lake Wilson have one thing in common. The first church in each is not in existence in these towns. The first church in Lake Wilson was the German Evangelical. It was built in 1898 and was sold to Catholics in 1920. The first church in Slayton was the Episcopalian and this church was also the first public school in Slayton.
Members moved away and the church was sold. The late Mrs. Geo. H. Woodgate kept this church going for a number of years with sacrifices of money and energy.
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A lot of folks will have to change their opinion on Joe McCarthy. Right now he is one of the best political aspects in Minnesota. In a recent poll Joe got in Minnesota a three to two vote. Not bad when you consider what that amounts to in the final total. He’ll be a power here come the next election.
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Now we’re going around and round about coffee prices. There seems to be always something bobbing up to keep us neurotics on the move. Now don’t be misled by all this bally hoo from the boys behind the counter. They say, “We’ve got to get 15 cents now for a cup of coffee.” As Al Smith used to say, “Let’s look at the record.” A pound of Nash coffee will make 60 cups of coffee which at 15 cents brings us a total of $9. A fairly good investment on a dollar pound of coffee. By the way, what are you howling about coffee for? You never said a word when bread went up three cents a loaf and dollar for dollar you spend more money for bread than you do for coffee.
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The research man is never still. Last week he disclosed that chewing tobacco and snoose is fraught with danger. In forty cases of mouth trouble in men investigated in an eastern hospital, it was found that twenty-six of them had cancer of the mouth or lips. They were habitual chewers of either tobacco or snoose. First thing you know we’ll have to go to our boyhood days when we used to smoke corn silk and chew licorice stick out back of the barn.
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Now don’t go blowing your top off when the letter postage is raised from three cents to four cents. The three cent stamp has been in effect since 1932. Do you know of anything in this wide United States that has not been raised since 1932?
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Did you see where a man down at Northfield drove a load of girls in his truck, got smart and tipped his load killing one of the girls, and was fined only $100. Justice must be blind, darned blind, or human life is getting cheaper.
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We boast of our wonderful educational system yet ten per cent of our boys don’t even make the fourth grade. The army finds that it has to send 10 per cent of the draftees to school so they can make the fourth grade. Are we spending too much money on filigrees on the third and fourth stories and not enough on the foundation?
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February 18, 1954
Few people realize the depth of silt that there is in our prairie lakes. Years ago when we came here I the early ‘80’s, all the lakes had sandy and gravelly bottoms. Lake Wilson was named “Sand Lake.” Today Lake Wilson and most all the lakes in the count are covered with a coating of silt 12 feet in depth. Silt is composed of weeds, corn stalks and leaves, weeds of all kinds, blowing wind and sand, leaves from the trees and the usual amount of soil, etc. brought in by the creeks. What will seventy years hence bring?
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Had a nice visit last Tuesday with Sumner Clark, a pioneer of Des Moines township being born there over seventy years ago. A high type class of citizen and a deep student of public affairs. Few men have a keener interest in life than Sumner Clark. He’s been called an ultra liberal and sometimes a socialist for years, but he’s a mighty good American citizen in spite of his ideas.
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Washington’s birthday was made a holiday in Minnesota in 1860. A county was named after him, in the first bunch of counties established in 1849. No town in Minnesota bears the name of Washington.
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See where a republican congressman from California has been found guilty in Washington of padding his pay roll. Put the boots to him, and the republicans should be the first to do it. A man that will rob his government is not much good to himself or anyone else.
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Scotch Proverb: “Ne’er marry a widow unless her first husband was hanged.”
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Was lucky to get a copy of the Alexandria, Va. anniversary edition from Don Dahlquist. Nothing wonderful in getting an anniversary edition, only this paper is 170 years old. It had more early history in it than a Florida orange has juice. The 6,000 acres around Alexandria were traded to John Alexander in 1669 for six hundredweight of tobacco. The church of England was the only church in Virginia until 1760 when the Toleration Act was passed. The first church built under this act was the Presbyterian in Alexandria. Dr. Muir, Scottish born pastor, assisted in the funeral services for George Washington. Washington was born close by, and it tells how he was elected surveyor in 1732. We noticed that Rev. T. Dade, the first Church of England pastor in Alexandria received 17,280 pounds of tobacco for his first year’s salary: that was before the day they found tar in the cigarettes, so much for the Historic age. One the front page of the Gazette we read how the members of the Virginia legislature are fighting over the Poll Tax. Some of the folks back there really believe it should be abolished.
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Have been wanting to know when Murray county was surveyed and by whom. The office of surveyor general in Minnesota has been abolished and we found out that all the records had been placed in charge of the secretary of state. We wrote Mrs. Mike Holm explaining our wants, and in three days had three pages of data about meridians, guidelines, parallels, etc. Mrs. Holm added, “The office is short of help now, and I took it upon myself to get some information for you that I hope will be helpful.” Mighty nice of you Mrs. Holm. By the way, the county lines were run in 1857 by Jacob Myers, deputy surveyor.
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Business may be bad, but good business brought an oddity to Lake Wilson on the west side of the county. Harvey Butterfield, agent of the old Omaha (C. & N.W.) had so many loaded cars one day that he did not have room for them in the yard and the train going west had to take five cars to Woodstock and bring them back the next morning. The cars were loaded with baled flax straw for Winona.
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The Western Minnesota baseball league got away to a bad start last week. The is “the” top league in this section and takes in big towns like New Ulm, Wilmar, etc. Newspaper men attended the league’s meeting at New Ulm to give the news to baseball fans, but the president told them to get out and stay out, adding “I don’t know if we will let you attend a meeting this summer.” Some day they will be crawling on their knees to the newspapers for some favorable publicity.
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Windom business men went back to “open” Saturday nights last week. The vote on the issue was close. Thirty-six business men attended the meeting. Nineteen voted for Saturday nights and seventeen voted to close. Tracy however definitely will keep open on Friday nights, but will close early Saturdays. Looks like the customer is always right: when he has the cash.
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If you don’t like the new coffee price brought on they say the ten and four o’clock coffee clutchers, why don’t you make your own? When snow was deep in the 1870’s and they could not get coffee, they got some barley, put it in the oven and browned it, then ran it through the coffee mill. When the barley ran out, the late Mrs. John G. Johnson of Leeds township told us they used potatoes. They peeled them, then cut them up fine. Put them in the frying pan and browned them. She remembered one blizzard they were “making” coffee, fed the little stove with wisps of hay and the stove pipe caught fire. There was a short ladder handy but the well was too far away so she grabbed the pail of potato peelings, got the ladder, mounted the roof and put out the fire. Children of this pioneer, grandchildren and even great grandchildren will read this. Another way they had of making coffee was to save the “miller’s bran,” mix in with it some honey and butter. We should not worry too much over our coffee troubles.
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Are our winters growing hotter or are our women growing warmer? Take for instance the grandmas of seventy years ago: when winter set in they wore long fleeced union suits, ankle and wrist length, as a foundation garment. Then came the chemise or “shimmy.” Then came the corset with whalebone or steel ribs, followed by three or four petticoats. Then a woolen or lindsey dress. They wore long woolen stockings and mitts that they had knitted, overshoes with six or eight buckles, or felt boots. Snug little hoods enclosed the heads, underneath the hood a kindly face, with never a plucked eyelash, never a wisp or powder and never a dash of rouge, just a kindly smile. Then there was a woolen coat or shawl. As a sort of a spare tire there was what they called a bustle and, oh yes, there was the soap stone that had been storing heat on the back of a tiny hard coal stove. They either sat on it or put their feet on it.
In comparison with this cold blooded grandma of the ‘80’s the women of today don’t wear clothes enough to flag a hand car. You’ll see even married women tripping along the streets legs bare with the thermometer twenty below zero.
Some women say heated houses and autos have changed everything and they don’t need as many clothes. But what about the gal that goes paddling through ice water and snow drifts on shoes filled with feet with the toes sticking out in front. The women folks of today should be of real assistance to the arctic explorers.
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February 25, 1954
Can’t believe this stuff about Senator Humphrey. don’t believe he is a crook or ever got a dollar out of this P.O. scandal. Not that he doesn’t know about political scandal, but he’s not that type of a man: glamour comes first with Hubert. Anyway, whoever started the mess should take up the first primer in Politics. Sometimes an old timer like Roy Dunn will handle the craft better than six young fellows still in knee pants.
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The federal grand jury was pretty busy in Minneapolis last week trying to indict some saloon keepers for watering their whisky and putting rot gut in Old Grandpa and Sunny Brook bottles. Much ado about nothing. After a man’s had two drinks of bourbon he does not know what he is drinking and cares less. Ditto goes for the females, only make it one drink. For the number of drunken drivers that appear in court every morning, the city fathers would show wisdom if they would tell the “boys” to put more water in the whisky. Abut that time, around the corner comes the guy, a staunch dry but who votes west, and asks, “Won’t the government lose tax money if the dealers put cheap whisky in other bottles?”
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Like Sampson of old, Sec’y Benson pulled out the props from butter parities last week, and a sickening thud fell on the heads of the dairymen, and somehow in the dim distance we are beginning to realize why butter was not sold to Russia: a surplus is a potential club.
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While the cigaret of rather the tobacco debate continues, out of the carnage of battle emerges the pipe smoker. He seems to be a pretty decent sort of a guy, seldom appears in court unless in a divorce action in which his wife is to blame, quiet and not quarrelsome, hardly ever gets arrested. That’s his record. You never see the pipe smoking man doing the villain type in the movies. He doesn’t fit in. Did you ever notice that the low parts in the movies are women and men with drooping cigaret in their mouths. The man with the pipe is different. Whether it is a high priced briar or a common corn cob, there’s
“Thought in the early morning,
solace in times of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight
Balm ere my eyelids close.”
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The sale of cigarets in Minnesota has taken a sharp drop according to state treasurer Val Bjornson. While we talk and argue about the sale of cigarets, due to suspicious deaths from lung trouble, there is another trouble on the horizon. If the sales continue to drop it would mean that we would have to pay more taxes. If cigarets were eliminated it would disrupt our present economic system.
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This butter to Russia deal reminds us of Jimmy Boyle who circulated in this section fifty years ago. Jimmy was a big good natured smiling Irishman with more than a close acquaintance with John Barleycorn. One morning after the night before, he came up to the Roamer and broadly hinted that the world never looked as dark as it did then. We tried to tell him our modest way of the evil of strong drink: if he had only quit four years before, he would have had a fine farm, a wife with children at her apron, barns filled with horse and cows, etc. We saw a gleam in his eye, thought we were getting somewhere. He held up his hand and said, “Bob, that was a wonderful talk, one of the best I ever heard. It was full of hope and encouragement, but do you know that 15 cents for a shot of whisky would do me a lot more good right now.”
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Some of you will not believe it, but the Roamer knew a gentleman real well that lived when George Washington was alive. My grandfather, Dr. W. H. Forrest was born in Stirling, Scotland on June 16, 1799. George Washington died on Dec. 14th, 1799. Dr. Forrest died at the age of eighty, March 6th, 1879, when we were seven years old. We attended the funeral and took part in the burial service. In those days, the males of the family lowered their dead into the grave. And we held one of the straps that day. No women were present at funerals at that time. Invitations, big black bordered ones, were sent to friends and relatives. A lasting memory of the old gentleman still lingers in my memory. One day he found me in his garden plucking the biggest apples from his favorite tree. He had an ebony cane with a gold head in one hand and me by the back of the neck: grandparents were stricter than they are today. It is hard to realize that every president from Washington to Eisenhower lived in the scope of the lives of Dr. W. H. Forrest and his grandson, the Roamer.
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After defeating the British armies in the Revolutionary War for the purpose of bringing tranquility and justice to all, the first that Virginia, the Old Dominion state did was to pass a law confiscating every Episcopal church and all church property within the borders of the state. George Washington had to travel to Richmond and get down on his hands and knees and begged that his church, Christ church at Alexandria, be spared. His plea was granted and the old church was spared. There was no mention of “God” or religion in the constitution. You don’t suppose that the Soviets have been reading American history?
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See where a farmer near Little Falls was shot and killed by his son last week over a trivial disagreement, and the mother backed up the son. No wonder there are more widows in Minnesota than widowers. There seems to be an open season on grandpas all the year through. Getting so it will be tough for a man to get insurance after he’s twenty-five.
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Over on Poverty Hill in Mason township three hundred years ago the Sioux Indians had a burial ground, “The Hill of the Dead.” They would bring their aged, feeble and wounded members there in the spring, unload them, place them on an old buffalo robe, go the nearest slough and fill the old clay bowl with water and with a chunk of pemmican and then--Goodbye, Grandma and Grandpa. Through misty eyes the old folks saw the tribe go, knowing they would never see them again. On scaffolds close by were the remains of the Indians that had died during the winter months. Brutal barbarians, murderers, etc., you say. They were not, just following one of Nature’s patterns. Today we have a little more veneer, but the pattern is there. Grandma after raising a family of seven has the same experience. She sits at the window of a comfortable rest home. Dreaming dreams of the long ago, seeing visions of sons, daughters and grandchildren. The more she dreams the more bitter are her tears. She murmurs prayers of thankfulness to God for his many blessings, then like the squaws of old waits for the water and pemmican to disappear and her troubles will then be over.
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March 4, 1954
The woes of the republican party, in reference to the senatorship, can be laid squarely at the feet of former governor Luther Youngdahl, who deserted the ship under the wiles and persuasion of Senator Humphrey: it was a clever trick, Hubert, and just as you anticipated you left the republican party to a heck of a mess. Lots of people thinkt, but dislike to say, that Luther sold his party down the river.
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Mrs. Eugenie Anderson of Red Wing, bright bulb in the DFL party, is going to be the speaker at a big rally soon. Here’s one woman that any party could be proud of. Anyone that can get along peacefully with the Danes for three years has got to be good.
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The first and only brick kiln in Murray county was located east of the Sales Pavilion in Slayton. The clay in that vicinity is what lured people from England to the infant town of Slayton, in 1882. Great hopes were entertained from the bricks that were burned in the kiln. Dreams of brick homes and business blocks were in sight. The first building from the Slayton brick was a two story schoolhouse, but alas this proved to be a failure. The weather caused so much erosion to the brick that the schoolhouse had to be abandoned the next year. There’s a real story about the clay; we’ll tell you about it in the near future.
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The onslaught on cigarets continues. In Great Britain the battle is on and it is so hot that the manufacturers have raised a fund of $700,000 to investigate conditions with the men who have been doing the research work. Nothing unusual, but still humorous are the objections used by the inhalers. As far as we can find out the battle is not against cigarettes but against the inhaling. But you can’t make a dent on them, so why worry: if they are satisfied so should you.
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Had a short visit with Mrs. Henry Matton, and Avoca resident interested in politics. Few women in Minnesota have ever traveled as far into the inside workings of the party machinery. At least no other woman in Minnesota has ever had the honor of pouring tea at a White House party.
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Have not found anyone in favor of sending U.S. troops to Indo China. We lost our shirt in Korea, let’s not lose our pants in the swamps and jungles of Indo China.
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After all the fuss and ado about butter and Bricker, President Eisenhower still holds his popularity in Minnesota. A poll last week showed that 73 per cent of the voters still believed in him.
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The town of Marshall is not in favor of antiques. The council recently providing “that no houses over fifty years of age could be moved into Marshall.” First thing there’ll be pickets out with signs, “Marshall Unfair to Old Age.”
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There’s more subsoil going down the river this spring than there has been for several years. Due largely to the larger number of fields plowed last fall. You look at the filthy snow banks and remember these snow banks contain the breath of life for agriculture. One winter does not mean much in itself, but multiply it by eighty winteres and it really means something. More efforts are needed to hold this precious soil, which can never be replaced. Remember there is no known way to get back the soil that goes down the Mississippi.
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Mighty glad to hear that Ralph Rickgarn won in the 4H speech contet at Worthington. Ralph is a real comer and will some day be carrying the banner for 4H work in the state in wider circles.
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Was batching it last week, and the radio was never on for six days. Funny thing, you never miss after a few days. One gets all the news and the weather when he goes down for the mail. And there is another reason radios were not made for old folks with only one good ear. You listen to some programs and when the joke comes, the applause comes before you even hear what the guy said. Deaf people are the biggest hypocrites on earth. We don’thear half the time and some of us are so proud we hat to let on we’re deaf, so we just nod our heads and smile. It’s hard enough to talk with one person with a hearing aid, and when you get in a room with five or six mixed voices it’s time to go home.
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Sorry to hear of the passing of Frank Brown. With a lot of ambition and a fine personality noone did more in the organizing of the Farm Bureau in Murray county than he; peace to his memory.
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You may not like McCarthy, but don’t wipe him off your slate. There’s more people for him than against him. He asks only simple questions to all. A lot of them answer, “I refuse to answer. It might incriminate me.” He fights the Constitution for years and then runs scurrying like a dog to creep under its wings.
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The Murray county fair program committee has made a start towards economy. According to president Ed. L. Engebretson, the committee purchased $2,000 worth of acts for the three afternoon and evening performances. There will be lots of county running races sandwiched in between the acts, so boys get your horses ready.
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If you are thinking of running for office this year, remember the primary election will be held on Thursday, September 14th. The general election will be held on Tuesday, November 2nd. One of the earliest days in years.
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Up in Stearns county last week a man and his wife entertained an old friend. There was beer and an argument followed. The neighbor oozed out the door following his host who slugged him a couple of times, knocking him down. Then his good wife came out and finished the job. She just trampled him to death, busting his windpipe with her high heeled shoes; women are getting about as dangerous as automobiles.
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Anent the butter debate came this letter from Cpl. Bob Blomendahl who is with the 7th. Sig. Const Sec. in Korea. Bob said, “If they are looking for a good outlet for this article, why not sell the army the spare butter? Most of the guys out here would not object to eating it.” We have our choice now of eating dry bread or bread with oleo on it, and we don’t crave oleo.” Mr. Thye and Mr. Humphrey kindly take note.
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May 6, 1954
Noticed where a man asked Mr. Fixit of the Mpls. Trib, “How do I know my wife isn’t crazy?” He need not have gone that far. He could have got a jury of 12 men, his own neighbors, to bring in a verdict that in certain months of the year, they are all nutty. Then again the woman married this guy, prima facie evidence. Would a sane woman have done it?
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If you go to a baseball game in Minnesota from now on you do it at your own risk. A while back two fans, one from Hopkins and the other from Bloomington, attended a baseball game in which their teams were contesting at Shakopee. The two fans got into a fight and one threw the other over the fence. He sued the Shakopee management for damages. The state supreme court of Minnesota decided by a unanimous decision that the Shakopee outfit was not to blame. After this if you are a small guy, keep your mouth shut and just think.
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Why not stop all this blah blah about sales tax. Get a small ballot and attach it to the pink ballot this fall and ask the voters whether they want a sales tax or not. Then we’ll have an idea just how the voters stand. Ballots, of course, would have to be marked: Not Official. For information purposes only.
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No wonder this state has more women than men. Forty three men committed suicide in Minneapolis last year and only 17 women.
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Have a reader in Slayton, first name Fred, sort of chides me, saying “Why don’t you ever say something nice about the Danes here once in a while. Here’s an item that any nationality can be justly proud of. Hans F. Peterson arrived in South Dakota from Denmark when he was 18 and greener than the prairie grass. He worked and saved. He lives near Philip, S. D., a town that has been striving for a hospital for years. Hans got tired of it an donated a 3,440 acre ranch, which was sold for over $40,000, and made the foundation of a hospital fund: of such men are the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Say kids, ask your Dad to remind you that every time you use your air gun in town, you violate the law and besides you will lose the air gun.
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Chivalry still seems to exist in the deep South. In a Florida newspaper appears the following paid local. (Evidently there must have been one ahead.) “I esteem it a privilege to pay for my lovely wife’s debts.” Some men move on the same motive power as the lowly and humble angleworm.
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The man who wrote “Pack up Your Troubles in Your Own Kit Bag” is entitled to have his face on a postage stamp or something. We had a heart disturbance a while back. Saw a group of men standing by. We barged in and started to tell my tale, before we got the bat to our shoulder someone slid by us into first. Started in again and there was a man on second and, of course, Greenberg was on third, so we “Packed Up Our Troubles In Our Own Kit Bag” and ambled home, thoroughly convinced the only one to tell your troubles to is a guy that is stone deaf.
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Yesterday was the birthday of one of the most interesting women in Murray county, as she is one of the very few links that bind us with the past. She is still active and energetic, and should be since she has celebrated her 90th birthday. Hannah Lindbergh came to the country from Sweden back in the seventies and has lived here most of all her life. She worked as a “hired girl” in the Cap Aldrich family for $8.00 a month. Cap was the first permanent settler in Murray county, as he was the first to take up land after the massacre in ‘62. Hannah also worked for the late B. H. Low family in Lowville Twp., so naturally she is interested in the past of western Murray county. Hannah said rather proudly “While she worked at the Bart Low’s place, a young man had walked ten miles to see her, and naturally she became Mrs. Gust Anderson.” They were married in 1886. Mr. Anderson passed away several years ago. They had six children, 24 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren, a record made by few families. She enjoys life, her folks and friends, and manages to keep interested. Although she sustained a fractured hip a while back and was jammed up in an auto accident, she is still raring to ride in “The Days of ‘87” parade at Slayton on May 26th. She live in Lake Sarah Twp. Congratulations, Hannah. You look more like a lady of sixty than that of ninety.
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An over enthusiastic republican down in Faribault county got over heated after the election and told an applicant for the job of rural mail carrier at Frost that $500 would land him the job. He immediately gave the money to the central committee. The applicant got the job and all went smooth as a June wedding when the postal department up and abolishes the job. Naturally this brought on arguments and the federal dept. stepped in and arrested Reuben Riker of Frost who did the quarterbacking and as he plead guilty now faces up to a year in the pen. Reuben naturally felt befuddled as he helped to get a relative a job as postmaster under the Democrats. When he gave fifty bucks, not enough so threw in another $100 into the kitty, still not enough. They wanted $150 more, so he called them and took down the P. M. job. We’ve been telling you for years that there is no such thing as civil service for postal appointments. The examination is strictly on the square: the picking of candidates is always left to the party in power.
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Talking and chewing the rag over taxes is on the same level as talking about the weather: no one seems to do anything about it. Fred Gass was telling us the other day that at the election in Leeds township the lucky applicant for the job of assessor received only three votes.
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Bro. Golz who has a column each week in the Balaton Tribune has an item of more than passing interest last week. Especially to sportsmen who have boys that love the outdoors. “On the Lyle Anderson farm I found Lyle and Mindy building a 14 ft. boat. Down the hill southwest of the house were several flocks of wild geese and wild ducks disporting themselves in a small but apparently deep pool the depth having been attained by removing an enormous amount of earth several years ago. The mallard ducks fly about at will. The geese are real Canada honkers and are very graceful in their wild beauty. There is also a pair of snow geese. Lyle built a little island in the center of the pond this spring and the geese showed their appreciation by building nests on it.” A mighty fine project, built by folks whose minds run to preserving game birds instead of slaughtering them.
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Wasn’t it a burning shame to read that McCarthy-Army squabble at Washington last week. Of course McCarthy asked for favor, but asking for them was not for the purpose of overthrowing the government so why all this idiotic hullabaloo. Either start doing something soon or quit. We’re still for McCarthy but he does get into the messiest places.
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We got a real bang out of one thing in the Mrs. Anderson item. She told how a young fellow walked ten miles to see her and then married her. The same identical thing happened to the Roamer, he walked from Lake Wilson to the same house to see another girl and afterwards married her. How many youths of today would walk as far to see a lady friend?
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