1948 Columns, January - June
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Roaming in the Gloaming

With Bob Forrest

Things Material and Immaterial

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January 1, 1948
   Our sincere sympathy goes out in this Yuletide to thirteen Worthington mothers whose sons brought scars to their hearts, which in most instances time will neither erase nor heal. To the mother who has gone through the Valley of the Shadow for the boy, who cared for him while sick, giving him her all and dreamed dreams of the future, while her little son lay in her lap and cooed in childish glee, all that is left is the dull gray ashes of a dead dream.
   To every boy and girl comes the urge at times to stray from the path of decency, no matter how they had been raised: a part of human nature that is hard to understand. We have to fight decent on our way through life. We neither inherit morality or decency from our parents or forebears, but we do inherit a will which if used sanely will help us ward off danger and dull the lights along the Primrose Path. This will, these young lads evidently did not use.    Young men and young women, if there ever comes a time in your life that the urge comes to you to start "Raising Hell" don't do it while your mother is living. Have the common decency, if you have a shred left, to wait until she has passed on. If you can't wait go to another state or country and change your name. Only cowards bring pain and suffering to those who cannot escape or avoid the bitter punishment you ruthlessly thrust upon them.
   "Honor thy father and they mother, that the days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
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   The Republic of Panama through which passes the Panama Canal built with American money, said to the United States last week, "Take your troops and your money and get out of here. We don't care if you did save us from death by yellow fever or if you brought civilization and education into the country, we don't want you around any more. We've made enough out of you and we know you will have to protect us and feed us but we don't want you hanging around; so get out. How long will it be before Italy, Greece, et al will be telling us the same thing?
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   The newspaper men and columnists in New York who kept agitating and agitating against the British and urged other Jews and gangsters to kill more, should be as brave with the sword and rifle as they were with pen and mouth. Fighting seems to be good all over Palestine these days.
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   Judge Montgomery of Minneapolis received a ribbing last week from the editor of the Ivanhoe Times. The judge, in an interview, had been scolding witnesses for not answering "yes" or "no" to questions put by the attorneys, and Brother Johnson pointed out that it was impossible to answer Yes or No. You're right, Johnson, why didn't you ask Judge Montgomery if he had stopped beating his wife?
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   The average man is too darned sensitive. If a German looks askance at an American soldier or an Italian just looks the other way at the boys, newspapers blare out, "Germans and Italians Sneer at American Soldiers." What do you expect them to do? If they had won and come over here and taken charge of things, do you think for one minute that the GI's would be kneeling on their bare knees when Hans or a Wop looked at them? You can't change human nature, just because they're down.
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   Taft challenged the Democrats the other day to make an issue of compulsory health insurance. Why not for humans? We have it for hogs and cattle. If it is good for them it should be good for the human race. Perhaps if the government took over compulsory health insurance it would also see that hospitals are provided in every county and that's what most folks want.
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GAS PRICE GOES DOWN    In the face of rising prices on everything the announcement that one type of fuel has been cut. This is natural gas and in these days over endless debates over fuel the following article from the Sherburne Advance Standard will be of interest to a lot of our readers.
   The Peoples Natural Gas Company has announced a rate reduction in the face of increasing prices. Five hundred feet of gas that formerly cost $1 minimum will be increased to 600 feet. 3,000 cubic feet of gas will be sold at the rate of 70 cents per foot. Ten cents lower than before, per foot.
   "It gives us great pleasure, during these times of increasing living costs, to announce a lowering of natural gas rates. The pipe line company supplying our requirements through the increased use of natural gas and the resultant improvement in load factor has reduced our costs so we are happy to make effective with January meter readings, lowered rates that will mean substantial savings to you," announces the company with divisional headquarters in Estherville, Iowa.
   J. P. McDermott, district manager at Estherville, reports, "We hope by next summer to have some gas available for new construction. We would like to be able to supply gas for heat for new housing. This lack of gas and the excuses we make hurts us worse than it hurts the ones we must refuse."
   The pumping plant being erected at Welcome is primarily for the purpose of pushing the gas on towards Minneapolis and St. Paul. There is also being built another 18 inch line, with pipes 18 inches in diameter, besides the other line and this will double the capacity of the load.
   The big problem is getting steel pipe. This pipe line company has a man stationed at the steel mill in the east to see that their allotment of pipe is given them.
   A pumping station puts the gas under pressure and thus forces it to move forward up the pipes. The pipes are made to stand 1,000 pounds pressure per square inch. Now they have the pressure up to 750 pounds per square inch and the officials are hoping that no pipe blows open under the strain.
   The first pumping station south of here is Paulina, Iowa and the gas comes from the oil fields near and in the Panhandle of Texas.
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January 8, 1948

A NEW YEAR'S GREETING    The year just past has been the best in a material sense in the history of Lake Wilson. With the continued loyal support of the farmers in this community and the addition of new homes and the start of new enterprises, the village has enjoyed a greater growth and a larger volume of business than in any one year since its inception In 1883. ---
   The years ahead will see many changes if it is going to maintain its present position. There are many improvements that are sorely needed. Two of the improvements that have been widely discussed for several years are a suitable school gymnasium and a community building of some kind. A place not only where the town folks can gather, but would also be available to the farmers. The village is absolutely without a satisfactory place for any kind of gatherings. Then there is a more crying need, that of a gymnasium for the local school. The present gym is a joke, and it is as much out of date as a Waterbury watch. ---
   At the present time many basketball teams will not come to Lake Wilson to play with the local high school team on account of the constricted area of our gym. The lads just out of school anxious for needed exercise and zest during the winter time suffer from the same handicap. While perhaps athletic events are not a cure all for juvenile delinquency, they give the young lads an outlet to see and perform thrills, something that seems to be a national "must" in these days. ---
   The erection of both of these buildings is an impossibility at the present time on account of financial difficulties, but if some solution could be offered towards combining the two buildings, It is possible that there might be an opportunity to bring the matter before the voters, some time this summer. With the added rural attendance in our school and interest shown by many of the farmers it might be that two or three districts could be added to the present independent district, and with everyone working in harmony the erection of a building would not be an impossibility. ---
   The new building will naturally cost a lot of money, but most of the money voted can be extended over a large period of years. Two new enterprises which have already started, the Farmers Elevator $40,000 feed and seed buildings, and the Johnson & Haberman live poultry and feed block will mean much to the future development of the village. Another addition that is badly needed if we are going to maintain our place in an agricultural community is a corn drier. If the farmer is going to, and he surely will, continue to plant hybrid corn, the spectre of wet corn will haunt this section two years out of five. ---
   Continued co-operation not only of the town and country but between local business men is one of the best gifts that can be handed to Lake Wilson in 1948. ---
   That the coming year may be a healthy one and a prosperous one is our sincere wish to the readers of this column, and to those who don't read it. ---
   Aren't we going at this Marshall plan the wrong way. If we've got to buy all Europe, why not start at the top. Offer Stalin ten billion spot cash to be a good boy, and ask him to feed his European friends who love him. Then the folks in the United States might get something to eat at reasonable prices. ---
   If Henry Wallace will bring back the little pigs he plowed under, we'll cheerfully vote for him. Pork is scarce at the Roamer's home these days; bacon was a dollar a pound Friday. ---
   The board of education In Minneapolis had decided to close schools two weeks earlier this year, which, with a curtailment of two weeks at Christmas, would save the taxpayers over $l,000,000. Up pops the teachers and they say you can't do It, we've got to be paid and there you are. Ain't this a heck of country running all over the world and preaching about the benefits of democracy? Mayor Humphrey, you'd better get in and pitch, you have had quite a rest of late from your mayoralty duties and should be In good shape. Bet you a tickets to the last year's aquatennial show that he won't take our advice. ---
   A "scientific" group that has just returned from Germany is advising that Uncle Sam send 100 farmers over to Germany to teach them how to raise potatoes. The history of the Middle West is that the best farmers we have had are the Germans and that is not belittling any of the rest of us "furriners." Every northern European country has always raised more potatoes than we have, and to send farmers from here or from a farm journal is another example of how crazy they are in Washington to spend money. Might just as well send a bunch of grand opera singers to Norway to take the stink off lutefisk. ---
   Henry Wallace did not even jar the frost from the telephone lines out here when he threw his hat into the ring, no one out this way seemed to be interested. At present he would cut a sorry figure in a Minnesota primary election. ---
   Politicians in the big league class, that is if they are Republicans, look very satisfactorily on Henry. They think he has left an open door for Taft, who most Republicans admire but shudder at his personality. The big boys of Washington, while they like to have Stassen around poking up their opponents, they are not even warm to him. Looks as if Harold will have to resume his activities In 1952. ---
   Cy Koob played Santa Claus the past Christmas. He had no white whiskers or red coat, but he did make a lot of orphan kids happier than they ever anticipated when he boxed up all the Christmas toys he had in his store and sent them to an orphans' home. Cy looked after kids in needy Lake Wilson homes too, with toys that fairly made their eyes pop. By the way, since coming to Lake Wilson Cy has brought a lot of business here, more than any man since Louie Kaplan left.
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January 15, 1948

   To have the lowest type of thief was the privilege of this good old state of Minnesota last week. Several butter making and creamery concerns, some of them co-operatives, pleaded guilty to selling pound packages of butter, that only contained fifteen ounces. Men that stoop so low have no business living in Minnesota: they belong to the class that steal coppers from the eyes of the dead people. ---
   Twenty eight doctors in one town in California refused to come to the scene of an auto accident and care for an injured man: no wonder there is a movement for national medicalization. ---
   Nine folks out of ten in this section believe that the well advertised fuel oil shortage was deliberately planned by the higher ups and given the bally hoo for the purpose of getting more money out of the consumer. The plot started last fall when the big companies warned against a shortage and then went to work and deliberately created it. A northern Minnesota town was the spark to set the plot in motion; then came the governor into the picture. He got busy and appointed a committee. Stories came filtering through the dailies and the radios, "There was a shortage of fuel oil," the next day the story was that there was "plenty of fuel oil but no tanks to haul it in." The committee got busy and found 167 empty tanks in the freight yards in St. Paul. Often wondered why they stopped in their investigation. Why didn't they go to the yards in Minneapolis and Duluth and see how many empty tanks there were in those cities? In the meantime the inevitable black market in fuel oil is with us and a dealer can get all the oil he wants, if he wants to pay the price.    And the public? Well as usual, the public be d- - -. ---
   Can't help but think that Harold Stassen would have been stronger today if he had kept his nose out or perhaps not said as much as he did on this grain investigation. Making statements and then proving all of them to the last letter as you have to do in politics, is well nigh impossible. ---
   Minnesota's representatives In congress are not worried over the alleged shortage of fuel oil. They seem to be indifferent to the whole affair. Last week congressman Andresen of Red Wing was doing a Sherlock Holmes act in the state looking over the books to see who had bought grain. Why didn't he devote some time to investigating the oil shortage which has done the thing it was planned for: raise the price of oil? ---
   Through the kindness of one of our readers who does not live in Lake Wilson, the articles on postmasters which appeared in this column was sent to President Truman. A note from the White House said, "the president had noted it with much interest." So we hit both the upper ten and the lower five occasionally. ---
   One county in North Dakota appropriated $1,500 last week to keep the Indians on the Turtle Mt. and Fort Totten reservations from starving to death. Two weeks before, bally hoo and in a North Dakota home town booster spirit was filling carloads of grain for Europe: a sort of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning background. ---
   This Henry Wallace is going to get a lot more votes than most of us wise guys anticipated. A. woman said to us the other day, "We're going to vote for Wallace, I've got boys and he is the only man that has come out against war." ---
   As the days go by the Truman cabinet and the hangers on in the various bureaus in Washington reminds us of the President Harding fiasco. ---
   So satisfactory was the county nurse installed in Jackson county that the board is hiring a second nurse; encouraging isn't it. Maybe Murray county will have one some day. ---
   Don't fish either with a spear or hook and line until you get a 1948 license: might save you some money. ---
   The Pipestone County Citizen changed from a tabloid to a six column quarto last week, which will please a lot of its readers. By the way, this same Citizen is one of the finest examples of printers craftsmanship In the state of Minnesota. Take a look at the ads sometime, they combine legibility, neatness and attractiveness. ---
   Eighteen months ago Lake Wi1son folks were tearing their shirts off to get a doctor. A doctor wants to continue services here but can find no office space in a building or home and everyone seems indifferent; people are funny ain't they.
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January 22, 1948

   Monday of last week, January 12th was the sixtieth anniversary of the most vicious blizzard in the western part of Minnesota and its coming brought vivid memories to the writer, who at that time lived on the farm three miles north of Lake Wilson.
   As a lad of fifteen it was our duties to take the cattle to the spring for water and to go to Lake Wilson for the mail. The weather in the forenoon of January 12th was mild. Snow had fallen during the night and the temperature was so mild that farmers turned their stock out.
   After dinner we started for Lake Wilson, In the forenoon we had ridden a light pony but through some queer quirk we changed the saddle to a big work mare and this change saved our life.
   We had not gone more than five or six hundred yards when the blizzard struck and struck hard. We could hear the roar but almost before we could turn the mare around to head for home it was too late.
   We realized the danger and tried vainly to get Nelly to head for home but the storm was increasing in violence and she would not face it. The ground and air was a seething mass of blowing, drifting snow. There was no choice and we drifted with the wind. We did not try to guide her and she plodded her way through drifts that sometimes reached the stirrups. The going was slow and we fully knew the danger we were in: one tumble in the snow was all that was needed. It was slow work, one traveled seemingly in a big room so thick was the storm. We never knew when we crossed the Beaver creek. The weather was getting colder, the snow was mixed with little pellets that stung and hit like a needle, but there was only one thing left: drift. We felt that if we were lucky we would hit the railroad track. Dusk was coming on and we were getting scared, sweating and freezing alternately. Peering through the storm which lifted at times, we finally saw the railroad track near the Ole Olson place.
   We got over the track somehow. Out on the frozen lake the snow was not so deep and we worked our way to the west taking advantage of the railroad grade and as the shades of night were getting darker we stumbled into Ira Engebretsons Store (now the Bee Hive) where Ira and his good wife took care of us and we sorely needed it. Ira put old Nelly in the shed and when he came back in, started getting the ice from us. Our face was coated with ice and chunks an inch thick hung on the eyebrows. The thermometer stood at 25 below and in the morning it was 42 below.
   It is hard to realize the ferocity of the blizzards of the '80's but remember there were no groves then and no corn fields. The prairies were burned in the fall. There was no place for the snow to lodge and when a wind came up there was always danger.
   The storm of January 12th, 1888, took hundreds of lives In the prairie states. South Dakota had a hundred deaths and Minnesota had over that number. The storm had a telling effect on cattle, hundreds perished and with them sometimes was the farmer who was trying his best to get the herd, that he worked so hard for, back to the barn.
   Some of the farmers had gone to town. Most of them stayed in town but it was a terrible night for the folks in the lonely farm house, not knowing where they were.
   Some farmers tried to make it home, got lost and died within twenty feet of their homes. Down near Avoca a couple who had been to town for groceries tried to get home but had to give up. They unhitched the horses and let them go, turned over the bob sled and with the help of the endgate covered the sled with snow. There were always plenty of blankets and straw on the floor of the sled and they managed to weather the storm.    In the northern part of Murray county two farmers by the name of Johnson, tried to get their cattle back: they were found later in the winter frozen with the herd.
   Snow was everywhere in 1888, huge drifts some of them 18 feet that covered barns and sheds were common. The snow, covered the box cars near the depot at Lake Wilson. All you could see was the little black brake wheel sticking through the snow.
   Farmers whose barns and houses were far apart. strung the clothes lines between them. Storms came so often that there was danger of getting lost. Cattle were given snow instead of water for four and five days at a time.
   The winters of the '80's were long, cold and stormy. Our father died in February 1887. This winter was almost as bad as 1888. When he became sick we got word to Dr. Tom Lowe of Slayton but he did not get there in time. He was storm stayed for two days at a farm house between here and Slayton. Wm. Scott, a nearby neighbor came over, pulled some boards from the granary and made the coffin. Three days after his death we made the trip to the Woodstock cemetery. What a terrible trip that was. There were no roads. The front sled was filled with men who shoveled through the heavy drifts. It took over four hours to make the trip and the mercury was 20 below. It took us over three hours to get home, but what a home. The last person out of the house forgot to shut the door and everything in the house freezable was frozen as hard as a rock. Not a cheerful outlook for a mother with three boys and two girls to care for and manage.    Life was a stern reality in those days.
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   This is the "Age of Depression" for a man on a salary that has a family.
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January 29, 1948

   Was in attendance at the annual meeting of the Federation of County Fairs and State Fair society at Minneapolis last week. There are ninety-nine fairs in the eighty-seven counties in Minnesota and every county was represented. We have been attending these meetings for a number of years and naturally have made acquaintances and friends in most of the counties. It is a gathering where you feel the pulse of the thought and opinion of the state as all classes of society and business are represented.
   Last year when the convention met, Governor Youngdahl had just issued his statement on the slot machine and by a lot of people which included all the carnival folks as well as the fair men from the northern part of the state his words were taken with a grain of salt. The carnival just laughed at his efforts to wipe out the slots and other forms of gambling. They're not laughing this year. The days of money games at the fairs and the hootch shows are gone. All carnival shows have to be clean and when you find a county that is "broad minded" and the board allows petty thievery, etc., it will be pretty costly to the fair board as the state of Minnesota will find a way to cut off their appropriation. This amount runs around $1,500: an amount not to be sneered at.
   Since we have lived in Minnesota we have never seen a governor more popular than Youngdahl is the present time. He spoke at the meeting. He impresses folks with his sincerity, ability and the courage of his convictions. His enemies have at least realized that he is not to be bought, influenced or bullied. ---
   Mayor Humphrey of Minneapolis has lost some of his following in the past six months. The liberal and independent factions in the state hold a lot of Wallace followers and they are trying hard to push Humphrey and Barker to the sidelines. It's going to be hard work but Elmer Benson, former governor, who is behind the move has quite a following in the state but hardly enough to put the democrat party out of business. ---
   Had a chat with J. S. Jones, the spark plug of the Farm Bureau. He's the guy that raised it from an almost dead level to a very active organization , without a peer in the state. Jones told us that the last state Farm Bureau meeting was almost a Murray county event. The speaker of the evening was Father Vincent Flynn, head of St. Thomas college and in his talk he dwelt largely on his boyhood days on the farm near Avoca and how well he remembered his father and uncle going out among the farmers to secure signers for the Farm Bureau, with Mr. Jones, who started early in the movement that has lifted the farmers to the strata where he belongs. Jones said that Fr. Flynn as a public speaker has no superior in the United States. He speaks in a friendly, kindly tone and uses small words more effectively than do the professional orators who handle four and five syllable words. While we were visiting it came out that Ed L. Engebretson of Slayton was one of the agitators for the county agent system. That was back in the days when the county seat towns had agricultural teachers. Ralph Grim was the Ag teacher at Slayton and Ed, who believed that agriculture was entitled to more encouragement, gave his views to Mr. Grim who put them in writing and Ed signed the letter which was sent in to the state headquarters. Which helped start the movement that has wrought such a change not only among the farmers but the farmers sons and daughters. Fifty years ago the kids on the farm were a bashful, ill dressed lot. They expected but little and were seldom surprised. Today they are the most dependable youngsters in the nation. They can all earn their own living and more too, at the age of fifteen. By the way, Mr. Jones is also a member of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota. ---
   Time does bring a lot of changes. Fifty years ago conventions were for men only and every one of them wore a cap; they were of seal skin, dog skin, lamb skin and cloth, but never a hat. In 1948 you'll never see a cap worn by any one; is man growing sturdier? ---
   Years ago before farmers wives were able to buy "arctics" or overshoes most of them wore felt boots when they went to town, but they felt pretty modest about it. In Minneapolis you ought to see what they wear. They call 'em stadium boots, but what looking things. They come in all shapes consisting of layer upon layer of insulation to keep the feet warm, but the leg above as far as we could see in many cases was bare: don't get it. ---
   In those early days one never saw a woman in a restaurant where liquor was served. It was a haven for men. Nowadays it is different. They tell us that the tables are so full of women that a male has to stand in line, and in the bars they say there are more women than men hanging on the bar and crying in their beer. Time does bring changes, don't it.
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February 5, 1948

   The income tax bill went through the house with a bang, only one lone republican voting against giving the poor guy a little more money to buy high priced beef and butter. He was the representative from the district in which you live, Carl Anderson of Tyler: we're all out of step but Carl. ---
   Something should be done about improving state highway No. 91. This road has been sadly neglected for years. In many places it is lower than the grade with the result that it turns into a canal in the springtime or when we have heavy rains. The department should be urged by local organizations to take steps to grade and black top 91 the coming summer. There should be no local fight over the location of the road. We need that road connection and town and country should get back of any movement that will hasten the work. ---
   Congress has some real work to do before the next declaration of war. And that is, giving the boys in the service the same rights as these that remain at home. This country waxed rich over the last war, hundreds of millionaires were made and wealth unthought of was added to those owning property or a business, even the men and women who worked in war plants received the highest wages in their lives. The little crosses on foreign lands made the added millionaires, the lads in the veterans hospitals paid for the. increase in the war workers wages and the surprising accumulations of bank totals. With all these additions of wealth, there has been neglect of the living veterans. These boys when they 1eft were promised everything, yet when they come home, they were forced to live in sheds, garages etc. and some of them have not yet even been housed by a "grateful" people. Congress should see that wealth of all kinds, farm mine and business is conscripted as well as boys. They should be taxed, so that what boys come home in good health are placed on an even basis with those that did not have to go. ---
   We're not in favor of sending food to Europe when we have starving people in the U. S. We don't think it is good common sense to ship fuel oil abroad, when we are freezing at home. We don't believe that we should send steel pipe to Stalin when we need it to carry oil from the Texas oil fields and we can't see the sense of sending manufactured goods abroad when they are so badly needed here. ---
   Some folks thought our account of the blizzard of January 12, 1888 was a little strong. Here is a clipping taken from the Pipestone County Star of January 20, 1888, the first issue after the storm.
   "Just how cold it was last Saturday night can only be estimated, but it was certainly the coldest night ever known here. On Sunday morning at ten o'clock the thermometer at Hemenover's store indicated 36 degrees below zero, showing that it had been at least 45 or 50 below during the night." ---
   The weakest point in the consolidated school movement is the storms of the winter months. The weather man is still plenty fickle and sends storms that soon block roads. Having small children waiting far from a house until the school bus arrives is dangerous and causes mothers worry. ---
   Over in Wisconsin an editor is struggling for "Freedom of the Press." Wisconsin has a law that forbids the publication of the names of females who are unfortunate to be raped. This wart of a newspaper man says it is an infringement of his rights etc. There's a lot of newspaper men that are continually haranguing over the "Freedom of the Press" something they never use. In Madison, Wis. no doubt there is plenty of illegal drinking, gambling and honky tonk joints, things that need cleaning up, but the editor of the Madison paper would rather dig into the putrid things of life. He's another 16 inch gun newspaper man of which variety there are too many: always fighting for or against the problems that are thousands of miles away and unable to see the dirt at our feet. This Madison editor is neither sincere nor honest. Would he, if it happened to his wife, ever print in large type across the front page, "Editor's Wife Raped by Three Drunken Convicts"? ---
   If the United States wants to raise an extra billion of dollars it can be done very simply. All Uncle Sam would have to do would be to publish the names of those who pay income taxes in each county and the amount. We don't believe congress dares to pass such a law.
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February 12, 1948

   A good sized ship loaded with lumber was wrecked in the severe storm on the Oregon coast last week, with lumber for China: do we always have to eat at the second table? ---
   Seldom has a measure of national importance received as large an endorsement from the Minnesota voters as Congressman Knutson's bill to reduce the income tax. Eighty one percent of the voters on the Minnesota Poll approved of the Knutson plan. Looks like everybody is out of step but our congressman: bet he votes for the bill when it comes up on its final passage. ---
   Say girlie, if you happen to be lucky this year and get a man, have him get the car out and drive you back to the courthouse. You've got to get that name of yours changed on your drivers license if you want to drive the auto. ---
   "Taxes going up" is the wail of a lot of folks these days. What did you expect when everything has been climbing in price for the last three or four years. The worst thing about taxes is they are like the bureaus at Washington: mighty hard to get rid of. ---
   Two youngsters shot and killed a merchant in Illinois last week. How long is this "Thrill" epidemic going to last? It seems to be the general opinion that this winking at the law and having a good fellow attitude is fraught with danger. ---
   The housewives who faithfully save a table spoon of used fat each day to keep the country from going to heck might be interested to know that the Edgerton Rendering Company has a car load of rendered fat for sale and are unable to get a bid on it. ---
   The Pipestone Citizen suspended publication last week. Broken promises and unfilled obligations were given as the reason for its demise. Years ago every county seat had two and often three newspapers that merely existed. The scene has changed and every county seat only has one paper now and a prosperous one at that. ---
   The decline in prices on food stuffs the past week has a lot of people thinking that a depression is on its way. This country will never have another "1933" depression and the credit should be given the late Franklin D. Roosevelt for ramming through congress the law which provided for a guaranty of bank deposits. Prices may go up or down but as long as the little fellows with the modest deposits of his earning in the local bank is guaranteed by the government, there will be none of the hardships of 15 years ago. ---
   The fuel oil situation is ending just as most people thought. No one will freeze to death in Minnesota. The whole setup was so obvious that it was laughable. It was another Jesse James raid by big business on the common folks. You never hear anything any more about hidden empty tank cars, nor the amount of oil being shipped abroad, or why the big oil companies anticipating the increase in fuel consumption did not at least attempt to construct larger reserve tanks. But the worst feature about the whole dirty setup is that Texas has a law that prohibits any well from producing more than 500 gallons a day: reminds us of the oleo law in Minnesota. ---
   Some communities were stirred by the radio stories of the oil situation wired their congressman and senators for aid and in every case they secured relief, thanks to the alertness of the men in Washington. Gov. Youngdahl got real peeved when he heard about it as he imagined it would interfere with his setup, so he wired the boys at Washington telling them when they sent fuel oil to Minnesota they were "playing with Human Misery for Votes." Not so fast there brother Youngdahl, that's just what a lot of folks are saying about you and the fuel situation. "Judge Not That Ye Be Not Judged." The representatives who did such fine work for their constituents were congressmen O'Hara, Knutson and Blatnik. The senator was Joe Ball. ---
   Cedric Adams is starting "Parties for the Love Lorn" in his spare time. These marriage by mail courtships bring a lot of criticism yet they seem to have a larger per cent of happy marriages as those of the romantic type that had a courtship of four or five years, and a big fancy wedding that some papas could ill afford. That the contracting parties are generally mature men and women may have something to do with the mail order variety's success. Most males are harness broke at sixty. ---
   Some "hound o' hell" stole our shovel the first of the week. Maybe he'd been reading about the old men who dropped dead while shoveling snow and wanted to save a life.
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February 19, 1948

   If you are middle aged or over and love the hymns of yesteryear, tune your radio to KWOA (Worthington) 73 on Sunday at 12:30 and listen to the "Hymns of All Nations." The quartet sings in perfect harmony and the hymns bring that spiritual uplift that most of us need. ---
   Looks as if it would be good business for congress to try and get the postoffice department out of the red. The department goes in the red, hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The expense of running the department should be paid by the folks who patronize it and not taken from tax revenue. The resort: raise the postal rates. ---
   The oil shortage seems to be dying down. Clark, spokesman for the oil men, says there will be enough oil. In Minneapolis, a city of 500,000, only 180 persons applied for rationed fuel oil: not an alarming number for a city that size. ---
   "Time," leading national magazine cynically referred to Ghandi and Lincoln as cheap politicians who took advantage of political patronage and tricks. These remarks are unfortunate. Every living American has or should have a high regard for this president who gave so much for his country. Most men when their fathers are called to the Great Beyond like to cherish in their memory the kindly things they did, how he had helped and aided them, not his shortcomings. Nations are composed of human beings and no president has ever meant so much to America as Lincoln. ---
   This has been a particularly cold winter, as well as a long one. More fuel has been used this winter than any other for years, partly due to the lack of a January thaw. Another thing that added to our discomfort was the shivering and quivering with cold while waiting for the radio cold waves that never showed up. ---
   Some political writers have been trying to shove state auditor King into the political ring. They first had him running against Youngdahl: now it's Joe Ball. Just don't sound sense for King to run against Ball this year. In the first place the republicans are going to have their hands full, getting Minnesota back into the republican column and then there are grave doubts about King being able to beat Ball. A lot of folks have not admired everything Ball has done, but they do admit that he is honest and sincere and not a grandstander; mighty good things to find in a politician these days. ---
   One of the really odd things about the young Jesse James outfits which have broken out in a rash with their "Thrill" exploits is that not in one case has the blame been put on liquor. Time was when Demon Rum was to blame for all crime. ---
   The radio has a tremendous amount of influence, especially when it gets on a state or national problem. It has created more shortages than all the written matter and orators combined, therefore has been responsible for lots of higher prices and black market. The fuel situation can largely be laid at their door. When the shortage was given publicity at International Falls, what happened? The man that could get them, bought additional tanks, the fellow with a barrel outdoors bought two barrels. Still the radio kept on with its Jack Armstrong vim that the fuel shortage was growing, etc. Then the folks brought in cream cans to get filled up with oil and naturally there was a shortage. If the radio commentators started out tomorrow and assured their listeners there was to be a shortage of icicles next summer there would not be an icicle left in Minnesota in three days. ---
   The flurry in commodity prices last week sort of upset the apple cart. The drop is being studied pretty carefully by the leaders of both political parties. If it works out so there will be a real adjustment of prices, then both parties will assume the parentage. If things don't go right each party will blame it on the other. ---
   A Lake Wilson farmer suggests that Lake Wilson install parking meters. He feels that if he has to pay for parking when he visits other towns, residents of these places should pay when they come to Lake Wilson. Might have something there. ---
   Congressman Carl Anderson writes "I hope that it will be possible for me to support the compromise bill when it reaches us later in the session after action by the Senate. I cannot justify in my own mind a vote for this $6,500,000,000 cut. Conditions, however, proven by facts may three months from now be such that we can be sure our national debt can be reduced by at least three billion and still leave room for a substantial tax reduction this year. I sincerely hope so."
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March 4, 1948

   A good place to recruit 100,000 members for our Foreign Legion would be Czechoslovakia. ---
   The winter of 1947-48 will go down in local history as the "Long Winter." There's only been one small break since November. ---
   "The Editor's Wife" of the Sherburn Advocate Standard must love music. Half the price of each new subscription goes to buy new uniforms for the band. ---
   If present conditions continue, how long will it be before the Royal family of Great Britain will be getting their mail in Canada, the address of the Vatican will be somewhere in the United States. ---
   Minnesota is not the only state to have higher taxes. Over in S. D. the taxes jumped 31.55 per cent. One of the top increases came from high school tuition bill which imposes an extra tax on districts that do not have high schools. ---
   The housing situation in Minnesota seems to have been grossly exaggerated. Warden Utecht of the state pen says he has 1,600 steam heated modern rooms and only 860 are occupied. Suspension of sentence is the reason for so many vacancies. ---
   We've never before heard of money been given as grudgingly to the Red Cross as it has been on the present drive. Criticism was downright bitter from a large majority of the ex-service men and their parents. All the service men however were strong for the Salvation Army. The boys feel the Red Cross were just a little too tin hat during the unpleasantness. ---
   Half a year ago we were all in a dither over saving food: had to slave a slice of bread a day, couldn't talk to a chicken on Thursday or look an egg in the face because the European folks were starving. Haven't heard of anybody starving over there yet. Evidently in our frenzy over the Italian-Greece folks we forgot all about Finland; did our diplomats muff the ball again: looks like it. ---
   A lady asked the writer the other day "How can we improve the school conditions?" We know no better methods than to organize a Parent Teachers Association. This body should meet with the board as well as the teachers and discuss things frankly and freely. A Parent-Teacher organization gives everyone the opportunity to express their sentiment and costs nothing to organize. If you want to improve educational facilities for your children you should attend these meetings; if not stay away. ---
   Congressman Carl Anderson is not giving his full support to the Co-op bill although he is a member of a cooperative organization. He says the bill needs a lot of revamping. Under the present law corporations are taxed on their income and then the stockholders are taxed on their share of the profits and he says one of them should be exempt if the present Co-op measure goes through which sounds like common sense to us. ---
   The leading article in Coronet, circulation 2,500,000 this month is "Who Wears the Pants in Your Family?" Everybody knows the answer: Ma does. There was a time when Paw headed the family but that was a long time ago. Paw today is the Benes of the U.S. Times was they said, when Paw wanted to get away from the acrid home atmosphere would find a haven down at the corner saloon. Nowadays he can't get up to the bar for a drink: too many members of the fair sex hold down the stools; Poor Paw. ---
   Road conditions are going to be the subject of a lot of debate at the town meeting next Tuesday. When winter came in the early days, buggies and wagons were put in the moth balls. Horses hitched to bob sleds were the only means of transportation. There were no roads, we just skirted the big drifts. Conditions have changed. There are few horses left and the only means of transportation is the auto. Today there must be at least $400,000 worth of autos, pickups, etc. in each township that are stranded during the severe winter storms, yet only three townships in Murray county have levied money for snow removal; they are Des Moines River, Slayton and Chanarambie.
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March 11, 1948

   Eisenhower, in the light of present world events has the best chance of occupying the presidential chair: he should have been there during the last six months. ---
   In all kindliness, we must say this man Truman is sure a bear for punishment: Franklin D. would never have stood it. There would have been fireside chats all day long. ---
   The election in Italy next month will be the most important held in the world for centuries. If the "Rightists" win, the big event will be hated for a while. If the Leftists win the Iron Curtain will be clamped down all over Italy. ---
   Don't be running around next week saying you have just seen the first meadow lark: George Buldhaupt has had a meadow lark and six starlings around his place all winter. ---
   The installation of dial phones at Avoca is the forerunner of the establishment of the dials in every village in the county; when the patient phone girl is gone, who will be left to take our pent up ill will and general cussing? ---
   Spring will be here next week and no one has frozen to death over the lack of fuel. Besides causing a lot of agitation among the politicians it also brought a lot of extra money to the southern oil men. ---
   Over at Sherburn the school furnishes a hot lunch to the kids from the country. The federal government helps keep down the costs by furnishing a lot of the food free. It comes from surplus army stores. Mighty fine idea. Little things like these tend to improve school conditions. ---
   The Walnut Grove Tribune published the minutes of the local school board last week. Nothing out of the ordinary in that but they went back as far as November 1st. Failure to keep tax payers informed tends to weaken their faith in not only school boards but every kind of board that handles public money. ---
   Just an orchid to the Lake Wilson kids. While gangs of school boys in neighboring towns have ravaged their communities not one of the local boys has jumped over the traces. They are not sissies, just a bunch of good clean healthy American youngsters and we're for them. (Say kids could you give us a hand to left up the cement bird bath that "fell" over last Halloween.) ---
   Have you any real idea what a billion is? You think you have but down in your heart you know you are wrong. Bring the word billion up in a crowd. Some say it is a hundred million and some say a thousand million. The last is right but all it gives us is a mass of figures. For a real concrete idea of what a billion is you'll get in the Marshall plan. Holland (one of the richest countries in the world) is down for some $2,436,000,000 another lot of figures but when you realize that the entire state of Iowa with all its buildings is valued at $2,590,744,215, you get a sound idea of what a billion dollars really is, and a lot of other things come into your mind. ---
   Bad news for you Mr. Taxpayer. Minnesota teachers have ganged up or rather, more politely, have just finished an organization, which in reality takes the place of the state board and local boards. They are going to set the prices or rather have set the prices, you are going to pay for teachers for the next 15 years. You'll either pay, or there will be no school. Teachers with no experience start out next year at $2,000 with a yearly raise of $125 ending with a salary of $3,600 after 14 years. The weak spot in the plan is that as teachers get old they will be pushed out: no school board is going to pay more for an old mare, as they would for a sprightly young colt with chestnut eyes. ---
   If the black market was confined to autos it would not be so bad, half of the autos are not "Musts." Half of them are bought to keep up with or slide by the "Joneses." The tractor proposition is different. These tractors are 'musts' if we are going to raise a crop, yet hundreds of jobbers and the manufacturers are in the black market clear up to their ears. Hundreds of tractors are shipped to out of the way spots to dealers who in past average twenty. Hundreds of trucks from as far as 800 miles slip into the "tractor" town, not always at dusk either, pay over ceiling price and hike for home. They must have tractors and must pay the price. Jesse James took chances but the tractor jobbers sit in their armchair and just smile: maybe it's because we're old fashioned, but we firmly believe that if Henry Ford had lived there would have been no black market in tractors and autos. Henry wasn't made in that kind of a mould.
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March 18, 1948

   Let's quit arguing about compulsory military training: we'll know the answer in a few months. ---
   Sweden might as well join up with the western powers: she'll not be neutral in the next war. ---
   Dr. Dorothy T. Sporie of Springfield, Mass. says "There is nothing as clean and enjoyable as good clean necking." Now they tell us that. ---
   Will we declare war first? asked a reader. Not a chance. Uncle Sam has to be kicked in the face first, before the folks give a thought of country. ---
   When we do away with hunger in the world, we'll need but few peace treaties or armies or navies. A hungry man is easily led astray, under the promises of food for himself and family. ---
   Bobbie Burns, good old Scot, wrote "O' Wad the Power the Gift to Gie Us, to See Oursel's as Others See Us." This sign should be read by a lot of folks every time they open their mouths. ---
   Old Joe Stalin reminds us of "Old Mississipp." He don't say nothin', he don't do nothin', he just keeps rolling along; and the levees seem to hold just as well against Stalin as they do along the banks when "Old Mississipp" gets in full swing. ---
   Here's a real gift to mankind: two doctors say that if you take a barbiturate pill when you leave your home, you can walk into the dentist's office as brave as a lion; hope it is true, but we have our doubts. ---
   The Minneapolis school situation has put a blemish on the state. There's no use blaming the teachers, school board, city council, nor Hop o' My Thumb Humphrey. Put the blame squarely where it belongs: the fathers and mothers. They are still in the majority. ---
   If you stand still long enough the styles will catch up with you. Men and women of the U. S. finally got tired of untwisting themselves from pajamas, most of them resembling the costumes worn by the end men in the old time minstrel show and are back in nighties again. We feel modestly endorsed. ---
   Why take General MacArthur from his job in Japan? He is the greatest foreign administrator that not only this country has had, but, during our time, in the entire world. You hear more squeak out of a 2x4 island near Greece or Italy than you hear from all Japan; the country, "the most crafty and the most treacherous enemy of all and whose men and women would have to be dug out at the bayonet point." Remember. ---
   If we want to win that election in Italy so bad, why don't we use good old fashioned American methods. Send 400 young Italians from New York, Boston, etc. to Italy. Give them several rolls of $2.00 bills, place them in front of the election booth and when the home lads get ready to vote, slip them a ticket with a bill folded beneath it; then see that they vote. Many an "honest" election has been won by these methods, even worked in Murray county at several elections. It's a lot cheaper to buy votes than to have to send an army across. ---
   For over fifty years one of the pleasant features of our existence has been to write about the fine things Murray county has done. How she went over the top in the bond drives and how we led in the U.S.O., Red Cross, March of Dimes and in fact in every effort of progress. We are always proud to report on our doings. But we are face to face with one record now that should bring a blush of shame to the folks of Murray county. Recent figures show that out of every 100 pupils who attended the fifth grade in Murray county only 26 were graduated. Somewhere along the years these kids kept dropping out and only 26 received diplomas. You can't blame this condition on the teachers, the school board or the bus drivers. Let's lay the blame were it belongs: at the feet of the parents. Out of all the counties in the state of Minnesota Murray county was the lowest: not much to be proud of.
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March 25, 1948

   Whether you are a church member of not plan on attending church on Easter Sunday. It is one duty you will enjoy. ---
   The Trieste change clearly shows that both the U.S. and Britain are throwing everything overboard to save Italy. ---
   No man has more power than Secy. of Agriculture Anderson. He can make you a millionaire overnight. All he has got to say is "The government will buy so much or will not buy anything for weeks." Many a man has become wealthy by these market changes. If a dishonest man ever got into that job he could make a lot of his friends real wealthy. ---
   Last week Lake Wilson had the roughest and bumpiest street in Minnesota: no other town can make this statement. We noticed one poor female holding on to her girdle with one hand and the car with the other. One nice old gentleman who drives a Ford was lucky to find his uppers on the floor of the car as the window was open. ---
   The pictures of the gray haired school teachers in Minneapolis picketing the school brought more sneers than tears. Walking in the slush and rain and carrying a banner was foolish. Everybody knew that the schools were closed and the teachers on a strike. No one wanted to get in and there was no one to come out. Surely there must be an easier way to contract pneumonia. ---
   Stassen received the solid endorsement of the republican delegates at the convention Saturday. There was no opposition. This was as it should be. While some in the state do not see eye to eye with Stassen they would not lift a hand to halt his ambition. The convention cleared up one mooted question: if Youngdahl is re-elected governor, Joe Ball will be re-elected senator. ---
   Truman talk was hardly strong enough if we mean business, yet if it had of been made six months ago Czechoslovakia might have been saved. Another thing, if we lend or give money to any European nation we must have the right to construct air bases in those countries. These bases should be at the foot of hills or mountains: some day we may need cave hangars. ---
   The action of the government on the Palestine question is certainly a shameful one. The pressure must have been terrific from certain quarters to make the greatest nation make such a distressful change in policy. Good statesmen would have staved it off until after the Italian election. ---
   "While we are in a suggestive spirit, why not promote an Eastern Murrayland versus Western Murrayland all star game for the next fair? Pit All Stars from Currie, Dovray and Fulda against a similar aggregation from Slayton, Hadley and Lake Wilson. If you want to make it a local event bar outside pitchers. Come on, Bob Forrest, you are on the fair board. What do you think of it."--Murray County Herald. ---
   Speaking as only one member of the fair board our suggestion would be to leave the matter to the players. If they want to play an outside team, O.K., and if they wanted to confine entirely to county players we would think it would be all right with the board. But we are dead against your lineup above, John David. We've only a few short years to live and we don't want to curtail them by leaving out Iona from an All Murray County baseball game. Them birds, when they come out, they come out fighting with both fists swinging, and we're too old to either fight or run. ---
   If the national elections were to be held within the next two weeks Henry Wallace would carry Murray county and the state of Minnesota. If you did not hear Henry Wallace's talk you missed a gem of a sales talk, one of the best we ever heard. Wallace has a fine voice, plain and smooth, the kind that sinks in and when he gets to the mothers and the draft, he's at his best. Wounds of the last war are still bleeding and Henry's high spot of the tearing the youngsters from the mothers is something to listen to. Most of the mothers in the state will vote for any candidate who is against war and so will a lot of fathers; you can still hear the echo of their feet as they tramped up the stairs to the draft board in the last war. Was at a county meeting the other day when Wallace was panned, it was by men who lived in villages. Heard farmers say "Wallace was the best Secy of Agriculture we ever had." We do not believe in Wallace's doctrine, will not support him, but this war talk is bringing him a lot of votes. Remember when a man or woman gets into an election booth with a ballot in one hand and a stub pencil in the other, strange things happen.
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April 1, 1948

   Notice where Barney Ross is recruiting an army called the Washington Legion that will devote itself to freeing Palestine: better be doing a little of that recruiting work for the U. S. Army. ---
   By the looks of things both a draft and a compulsory training law will be passed soon; whether we have a war or not these laws are the foundation of our nation in time of a war emergency. ---
   The village street has recovered from its attack of spring boils and is in good shape again. Some folks say other villages had just as bad streets. Some did have deeper holes wherein cars were stuck, but none had the dainty little cavities like ours: they kept you in the air 80 percent of the time. ---
   This country can't be in the immediate danger of war or Marshall would not be spending six weeks in South America. He's not wearing very will with the American people. They got down on him when he three the big European budget on the table before the senators and said "Sign it!" There's room in the cabinet for a secretary of state with just a little less military bearing. ---
   The cigarette sales in the U. S. are as hard for us to understand as the amount of figures in the national debt. Last year Lucy Strikes sold 120,000,000,000 cigarettes, Camels put out 85,500,000,000 and Chesterfield 69,500,000,000. Really a wonderful growth of a pernicious habit. We can remember the days when cigarettes were forbidden by law in some spots and were called "coffin nails" and "pimp sticks." They've come a long way since then. ---
   The lake is commencing to break up around the edges and plenty of dead minnows are seen on the north side of the grade. The toll on the south side seems to be lighter. Few people realize that if the REA had been in existence thirty years ago, it is doubtful if there would have been a road across the lake. The lake improvement project at that time had be abandoned on account of the cost of hauling coal and the labor. If the REA had been in existence then the lake would have started out each spring with water at the highwater mark. An effort was made to get Northern State to put in a line but they wanted over $5,000 for the line and that was the end of the project. ---
   No matter how big you are, something comes along and sets you back on your heels. Gov. Youngdahl was going great guns with the voters until the packing house strike. He kibitzed into the deal and then marched out saying he had no authority and if there is no law in Minnesota to give the governor some authority he should be given such powers. The strikers stopped office help from entering or leaving the plant: even stopped them from attending religious services. Iron curtains in the U. S. seem to be of less interest to the people than Stalin's, but the same principle is back of both. ---
   Minnesota's educational policy is getting a thorough discussion these days, something it should have had years ago. The increasing cost of education is causing the tripe. There is something wrong with the setup but we are not qualified to even suggest just where the fault is. In this section of the state, we are not getting "value received" in comparison to the northern part of the state. Up there sixty percent of the pupils graduated, down here in the wealthy hog, corn and butter section we graduate only half that amount. Why? Does the intensive work of the 4-H club wean boys and girls from the high schools? ---
   Hear the servicemen are going to meet soon with the ladies of the Auxiliary in regard to the new Memorial Community building: boys, you're hitting on all six now. Give the gals the same amount of space that you have in the basement and let them fix it up with stoves, clipboards, etc., then you'll be getting somewhere. The Auxiliary has carried the patriotic banner on every occasion in Lake Wilson since World War I and in every drive for the wounded and disabled veterans they have always led. They are entitled to a decent place to have their gatherings, something they have long been denied. Both these organizations, the Legion and the Auxiliary, are an important part of the community and should deserve your consideration. Two or three years ago you said, "If the boys ever come back, nothing will be too good for them." Remember, don't welsh on it now. This new building will be a memorial not only for those who gave the supreme sacrifice but the lads that came back and are now taking an active part in the community in which they live.
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April 15, 1948

   Thanks, boys, for propping up the bird bath. We knew you had it in you. ---
   What a lot of saps we are. Here we have been worrying about the coal operators and the miners. The strike was settled Monday. The pension did not cost the coal operators or the miners anything. The poor saps with their mouths open, as usual paid the bill. ---
   If you are a prayerful man or woman no matter what creed you belong to be sure you utter a prayer on April 18th for the success of the anti-communist party in the election in Italy. The Roman Catholics have borne the brunt so far but they need the spiritual assistance of every Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and every other creed that believes in Jesus Christ. Communism means the death of Christianity. ---
   The county Memorial hospital is still the subject of talk in the west end of the county. Most of the folks would lie to see the present plans chucked out of the window so that a start could be made on a more modest and practical building. They feel that it would be easier to raise additional funds for a building that was either in the course of construction or constructed than it would be to secure funds on a building still in the blue prints. ---
   This column is heartily in favor of Gov. Youngdahl, but we are also old enough to see his faults. Instead of gallivanting through Nebraska on a political tour he should have been in Minnesota, one of the states in which property and personal rights are in the discard. It's all right to pay your political debts to Harold Stassen, but remember governor you also have a political debt to the people in Minnesota. ---
   Stassen had an easy victory in Wisconsin. He earned it. Two years of hard work backed up by an almost united citizenry of the Twin Cities should have given him a clean sweep. In Nebraska he really should have every delegate. He is giving the western trend on things political while the conservative thought will be divided between Dewey and Taft. He "drug" in Ed. Thye and Gov. Youngdahl to help him at the last moment. (written on Monday) ---
   The educational system in Minnesota surely can't fall much lower. At Gilbert the board did not offer a contract to the superintendent. What happened? Twenty teachers refused to conduct classes. Over at Lamberton the board wouldn't hire a new principal so the school kids struck. Whither are we drifting? We used to hear that teachers were for the purpose of showing the young idea how to shoot. In the year of our Lord 1948, they are teaching them how to strike. ---
   Few men can approach the record of Ernst Buldhaupt of Lowville twp. He has lived for near a half of a century on the same farm that he bought when he arrived here from Iowa. Ernst came here in 1899 and in the following year was united in marriage to Miss Emma Plegenkuler of Richfield, Iowa. About thirty years ago the writer remembers a conversation with Mr. Buldhaupt on national affairs. Ernst stopped and said in answer to a question, "I wouldn't know. I'm just a farmer." "Just a farmer" was right but Ernst was the type of a farmer that builds, builds villages, counties, states and nations. Farming was his business and he made a success of it. He has been thrifty, hardworking and conservative. No man that we know in this community has been more active--not active, that's not the word, as when he gives to patriotic and other drives he does it quietly and modestly. Always the first, in Red Cross donations he would be first to slip into the bank with his offering. In the USO Scrap Iron and other drives he never faltered and to the Lutheran church of which he is a loyal member there is no more generous giver. Ernst and his fine wife have gone through the many trials in developing a new country. They've had their ups and downs, raised good crops and bad crops but the best crop they raised was their fine family of boys and girls. The two boys are following in their father's footsteps and are staying on farms making comfortable homes for themselves and families. This community has been bettered by the steadying, conservative influence of Mr. Buldhaupt. The Roamer is pleased to have the opportunity to offer these modest blossoms to Mr. and Mrs. Buldhaupt: flowers are more beautiful and have a sweeter fragrance when one is still alive.
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April 22, 1948

   Currie is reorganizing the village band. Years ago in the good old days, every village in the country and even some of the townships had bands but at the present time there are no bands in the county outside of school bands. Slayton had a band in the early days that was a topnotcher: played everywhere even in St. Paul. Lake Wilson had a band for over a quarter of a century and what a lot of real enjoyment the folks got out of it. Kids would strive for the chance to hold the music for V. B. Smead with his silver cornet. Success to Currie for trying to restore something that was a "must" in the days of old. ---
   Nearly everybody likes the smell, or odor if you prefer it, of grass smoke. They also like to eat smoke. What would we do without bacon, smoked ham, smoked fish, smoked cheese, and an evil spirit adds, and Scotch whiskey. Why do we like smoke? ---
   The striking Minneapolis, St. Paul and Gilbert school ma'ams started a germ in the minds of the school kids that some day will come back to vex them. How will some of them like it when the kids strike with banners and placards "We Don't Want Miss or Mr. So and So for a Teacher" and they'll do it in some towns. Besides hurting the teacher's feelings they will also hurt their chances for getting a job. Chickens do come home to roost. ---
   Heard a farmer say the other day in a discussion of affairs, "I suppose we'll soon have a horde of WPA workers to feed." This farmer had got tolerably financially fat by the fine work of the boys in uniform and subsidies during the past year. Subsidies are the same whether they are paid to a farmer, railroad or a man trying to earn enough money to support himself and family. Someone, was it Confucius, said "A little wealth goes to make some folks' heads big." ---
   "They" tell us that there was a feuding and a fightin' in Block 6 in the village one night last week. It was the evening of their wedding anniversary. She had primped up, even put some powder on her face. He had been helping assist in paying for the Quonset hut which is to be used as the liquor dispensary. He evidently overbid his hand and when he got in the door she took one look at him and said, in that cool, clear decisive tone you married men know so well, "This the way you remember our wedding anniversary." The poor guy stuttered and hicked "Who's trying to remember it." ---
   What we need right now is a substitute for milk. Every day the population is increasing and every day the production of milk is decreasing. No one wants to milk cows any more. Can't blame them. One of the Roamer's painful memories was the milking of twelve cows one morning. It had rained during the night, the flies were biting and the cows started batting the flies with our face for the home plate. What an awful morning that was: maybe that's where got the idea for a substitute for milk. ---
   Coal miners struck because of the judge's sentence in the John L. Lewis case. That's nothing, it's only a few short years since a bunch of farmers, irked at a judge's ruling, dragged him from the bench and put a rope around his neck until he reversed his ruling. It happened just across the state line at Sibley. Memories sometimes drag in thoughts that should be forgotten, don't they? ---
   Religion and American wealth staved off the inroads of Communism in Italy last Sunday. If the leaders of the Christian-Democrat party want to prevent another bitter political battle, they will at once start issuing government bonds to buy up large estates, cut them into small farms and sell them to the people of Italy who are not only food hungry but land hungry. A well fed man with a family that is getting a plentiful supply of food is poor timber for the Communist party. ---
   Not since Harding and his Teapot Dome scandal have we had a president that has been as unfortunate in his choice of advisers as Harry Truman. All the way down the line has been the victim of men that he trusted, from Krug who assured the people after the terrific coal mine disaster two years ago that the mines were perfectly safe then ordered the mines closed the very next day until they could be inspected, and so on down the line 'til the new man in charge of the air power. Yet he'll be renominated without a struggle in spite of the south. Stubborn cuss, ain't he? If he can get elected after the mess the army, navy and state department have got him into, he's a miracle.
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April 29, 1948

   The Canby school board failed to re-hire the principal and the athletic coach, so the boys and girls in the high school went out on a strike. Then all h--- broke loose. The Chamber of Commerce and the American Legion broke into the fray. School board members saw their stores boycotted by erstwhile friends. Petitions were circulated asking the board to get out. Friendships of many years are broken and wounds are made that will never heal again, for a school fight is a bitter one: out of the 538 people who signed the petition only 25 voted at the school election. Let the people rule. ---
   Over in Arabia a group of Scotch officers in the British army have been drilling several divisions of Arabs. One of them, who evidently came from the Highlands, organized a complete bagpipe band with Arab players. No doubt the canny Scot was a reader of the Old Testament and is trying to emulate Joshua and the walls of Jericho. ---
   Minneapolis papers were chuck full of television ads last Monday on account of KSTP televising the baseball games. All of which means but little to us out here as 45 miles is the limit of television up to this time. ---
   The South is not the only section that has a color line these days: in the south the bone of contention is human beings--up here it is oleo. ---
   Stassen and Taft are getting to the place in political sniping where they are not doing themselves or their party any good. All they seem to be doing is to be manufacturing ammunition for the Democrats next fall. ---
   Might seem inhuman to you, but the folks in this neck of the woods and we can also include your neck of the woods are getting tired of these "drives." There isn't a week but what there's a drive on for something, overpaid advertising men and radio sob sisters pour their woes. A county committee is hastily appointed and the drive is on. The woman power that has been put in on these drives would clean all the homes in Minnesota every week in the year, but who wants to clean house when there is a "mission." Let the next drive be a Murray county drive for Murray county. ---
   Ten days ago we met a group of men in front of the postoffice shaking their heads and looking down their noses. "It looks like another dry year," said one and they all added "The dust will soon be flying so thick that you won't be able to see across the street. Monday they were saying "If the rain don't stop the low land will be flooded." Hard to suit anybody these days. ---
   L. P. Johnson, formerly of Ivanhoe and now of Marshall, who at one time was state senator from this district, is creating more than the usual interest in legal circles in this section of the state. Within two months, "L.P." has won two appeal cases in two supreme courts in Minnesota: age does not always dim a man's ability. ---
   Twin city dailies gave more publicity to the Lana Turner-Topping wedding Tuesday than to all the decent marriages in Minnesota that day. There's plenty of excuse for a man or a woman erring the first time, but if they keep it up they invite and acquire criticism. This four time stuff reminds us of the picture of the horse on the livery in posters in the days gone by, with apologies to the horse. The papers say the bride has over $10,000 invested in flimsy underwear: don't she ever take a bath? After all there's not much difference in one of those millionaire weddings than there was in the old slave auctions. ---
   Overstuffed Walter Winchell and Ben Hecht of New York are now reaping the whirlwind. For months they agitated the Jews in New York and in the east. They instigated the shipping of gangsters and T.N.T. into the Holy Land for the purpose of murdering innocent soldiers who were striving to maintain order. The shoe is on the other foot now. The British are leaving and now the howl goes up. Don't leave. The bath of blood in the Holy Land has started and where it will stop no one knows. It's rather unfortunate that the United Nations cannot hold their meetings in Jerusalem. It is the most useless piece of machinery of that kind every contrived. ---
   Begging Gov. Youngdahl's pardon for criticism of the stock yards strike. He never advocated or boosted that law. That crime was committed by his predecessors. ========================

May 13, 1948

   At the coming school election Westbrook voters will express themselves on allowing the school youngsters to use the auditorium for dances. Why not? The youngsters will dance, and if properly supervised will save some of them from sneaking off to a smoke-filled beer-odored tavern. ---
   "The Campbells Are Coming" which was produced by the local high school students is a mighty popular play. Besides Lake Wilson, Fulda and Westbrook produced the same play: something rather unusual. ---
   The weather last week was rotten; Saturday was a day that any country would be ashamed of. The cold, damp, raw wind started the furnaces a-going and brought back the long type undies. ---
   Farmers are looking for good weather this week; many are getting anxious about corn planting. ---
   Fathers and mothers broke the school strike at Canby; they could have done that ten years ago. ---
   The planned railroad strike is another of those costly jokes that are foisted on the public. The whole thing will be settled by giving the railroads higher tariffs on freight and humans; and you Mr. Citizen who is never represented at these conferences will pay the bill as usual. ---
   One of the real problems in the small town today is the bicycle. In Lake Wilson there are many more bicycles than ever before. In fact more than we had all together since the village started. Down thru the years the bicycle was a man's vehicle; that's all changed and few men and no women ride "wheels." The machines are used by the youngsters altogether and this is what makes the problem. The youngsters are a real menace to auto drivers. Being young, they do not realize their danger. Perhaps a solution could be worked out and allow the kids the use of the side streets but keep off the main street. Signs could be placed on the side streets notifying drivers of reduced limits. Something should be done before it is too late. A curfew law for kid bicycle riders and the compelling of reflective tape on parts of the bicycle would help warn of impending danger. ---
   Every time there's a presidential primary, the candidates claim, they came out ahead even if they only get one vote: it was always something to tie to. Over in Wisconsin however the case was different and even Dewey admits that he lost out. Have a feeling that things look better for Vanderburg as the days go by. ---
   Did you ever stop to think that the movement being pushed for oleo in congress is not against butter, but against high prices. ---
   We like the idea of guaranteeing every man who goes into the service a bonus guaranteed by the federal government. Give so much for one year's service, and so much for a two years' stretch but give them enough so that they do not have to haggle over G. I. loans and live in pig sties. Our treatment of the men who served in the armed forces is a disgrace. ---
   Senator Thye has given up the fight in oleo and asks for an amendment that would compel oleo to be four changes yellower than butter; this suggestion should satisfy everyone: hungry men, women and children will never quibble about this color line. ---
   The Roamer will not be with you next week. He left Monday for San Antonio for a visit with his daughter. We know you'll miss us but we have a feeling you'll survive. ---
   The Democrat party has fallen on evil ways: like the old gray mare she ain't what she used to be. What's become of the O'Briens, Regans, Moonans, O'Connors and the Gallaghers who nurtured the party during the lean years? The Farm-Labor party made a fine job in swallowing the old party and today there's hardly a trace of the old party left. One old line democrat in Murray county tells us that while he voted for the democrats nationally he voted the straight republican state ticket. Charley Ward the calendar man seems to be one who has more to say than any other man. He's a good giver and has been able to pick the last two United States Marshals out of his plant. The first one he picked failed to get by the senate investigation committee, so he picked another, leaving the head of the state committee out on a limb.
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May 27, 1948

   To the folks who have visited southern Texas these items may not be interesting, but there are folks who have not been so fortunate. ---
   San Antonio is one of the most interesting cities in the United States. To its guests it does not boast of high buildings, massive bridges, large bank deposits or works of art. San Antonio is steeped in its history and romance and its first gesture to you is the "Alamo." It occupies the proudest niche in the hear of every true Texan. The first thing he asks is "Have you seen the Alamo?" There's not much to see, the low court walls and the high vaulted ceiling of the old mission, that was built about 1700, are blackened with the ravages of time and are not very inspiring, yet no Texan ever steps inside without removing his hat with reverential awe and deep humility, for it was here that 180 Americans fought 4,000 Mexicans for five days and were slaughtered to the last man after refusing to surrender. Among the Americans were three outstanding pioneers and Indian fighters: Bowie, Crockett and Travis. After the fight the bodies were burned and the ashes buried by the Alamo. This court of the Alamo stands in the center of the city: a block away stands the largest department store in Texas. Huge hotels and other business blocks cast their shadows on the grim cold walls that receive the almost idol worshipping of a nation, and that's what Texas is, in memory of its dead heroes.    How different those warm hearted and revering Texans are to the folks in the north, who take the work of their brave pioneers and Indian fighters with a shrug of their shoulders: men, women, and children of the pioneer breed died by the edge of a slough one August day in 1862 about twenty miles from here. Not even a wooden sign marks the spot and corn fields wave in the shimmering sunlight where their blood was shed.    From the real reverence and sincerity paid the "Alamo" one would think that the battle occurred back in the misty history of the past, yet there was a general store in operation at Bear Lake three years before the battle of the Alamo that finally brought independence to the Texans. ---
   Texans are born to the purple: men and women alike have an inside feeling that to be a Texan is the greatest gift that can come to a human being. You never saw such a cocky bunch in your life. Ask about Minnesota, they look a little puzzled then give out "Is that where the Mayo clinic is?" They never heard of our iron, hogs, wheat, corn or Stassen and they don't seem to want to. If your don't like them, they are genuinely sorry for you, as you don't know what you're missing. ---
   San Antonio is not an American city. Over sixty percent of the people are Mexicans, the rest white and colored. Mexicans have a lot of the jobs: police, firemen, street cleaners, etc. Main offices are absorbed by the whites. Colored folks don't just register. One colored woman boasted that the colored folks voted in San Antonio. We found out that was true: after the Democrats had selected their candidate at a primary election and no colored person up to date has ever voted in a Democratic primary. ---
   San Antonio is the city beautiful: up on "Knob Hill" that's not the right name, but it is where the newly rich live, there are homes of indescribable beauty. Moorish, Spanish and Italian designs are favored and with the rich and colorful setting of the stately Italian cypress flanked by southern evergreens consisting of tastily trimmed cedars of various shades flanked with the broad leaved trees and firs makes a picture hard to forget. But they're not homes: we never saw a kid playing on a lawn or a spear of grass trodden by baby feet. Just the picture, that oozed of oil, cattle and cotton. The lower "Five" is in the Mexican quarter of the city and it's real Mexican. There are no signs or posters in English nor is English spoken and the squalidness of some of the shacks harks back to the days of the peon. ---
   They seem to be a happy care free lot, with more thoughts toward good eating than heavy drinking. No town of its size has as many fine restaurants as San Antonio. You can get everything you want to eat, except a steak from another state: that's taboo. We were guests at a dinner party at Wolfe's Gardens one evening. It's about eight miles out. Hundreds of guests were eating at table out of doors. Soft electric lights filtered through the Spanish moss on the trees, at our feet were pools with ferns and moss with goldfish playing hide and seek, and above a Southern moon beamed down on us. Not a mosquito was buzzing and not a fly to be seen and the food was delicious: who wouldn't like to live in San Antonio? ---
   It's funny though. When a creek baptized "River" flows gangling through the heart of the town, where the streets are anywhere from fifty feet to thirty miles long, where one way streets are very common in the center of the city, where the sole aim it so make things attractive, where kids enjoy life in the fullest with games of all kinds under the lights, where the country near it is dry as a bone, but San Antonio has more than thirty artesian wells that come up through the sandstone and produce 150,000,000 gallons of water a day, where two cars will pass you on each side at the same time, and where the people are really pleasant and courteous.
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June 3, 1948

   Mrs. Cedric Adams says "A trip is like an operation, it's no fun unless you talk about it." ---
   One of the things that we were interested in most in our recent Texas trip was the oil situation. We were all interested in that problem last winter when the supply was low. We asked at every oil station and we stopped a lot of them for the Ford was an earlier vintage type and her thirst for oil was exceptionally good. We did a lot of talking and asked a lot of questions about the oil shortage and not one station operator had every heard of the oil shortage of last winter. We talked to a pretty intelligent operator at Tulsa. He said there were 1,000 oil wells operating within a twenty mile radius to the south from Tulsa and that there might have been a shortage of tank cars, but not a shortage of oil. All of which brings to our mind the thought that now is the time for the governor and congressmen to get busy and see that the supply tanks in the north are filled in the coming summer, and not wait until November and give the oil barons the opportunity to raise the prices. ---
   There are no fat men in Texas: they grow to length instead of width--the only guy we saw wearing a vest was the writer--roads, that includes pavement, are not the best (the "rough" road between here and Pipestone is better than fifty percent of those we rode on--most southern cities are paved with brick and when that gets frayed it is worse than our main street--travel we found out broadens one but it is not all mental--down in the cotton section farmers were just finished seeding--asked an oil man, "How many bales do you raise to the acre?" He said, "We don't raise bales here, only half bales"--cotton is worth $200 a bale, but when you get through with expenses and ginning there's not so much left--went through the peanut section, north of Dennison: one farmer had a hundred acres in peanuts--saw two fat colored men lying on the ground picking strawberries in the strawberry section, then we thought of the dainty ladies who snip them from the basket when they get north: berries were 25 cents a quart--wildcat oil was offered at 10 cents and gas as low as 19 cents--colored folks and white folks ride in the same bus in San Antonio, the white folks at front, the negroes in the rear--whites stand in the front when bus is crowded, even if there are vacant seats in the back end--there are no rivers in Texas--just wide beds of sand, some bridges across the "rivers" which have no water in them, are nearly a quarter of a mile long--there are more pheasants in the San Antonio zoo than we saw in the entire 3,000 miles--gas and oil going down cost a little over $22.00, never had a flat or spent a cent on Lizzie in a garage--there's no bread in Texas, that is white bread--it comes in the form of toast for breakfast, after that it's gone for the day: hot biscuits appear at dinner and supper--white faced cattle are favored, we only saw one herd of black cattle on the trip--horses are as scarce as they are in Minnesota: did not see a cowboy or anything that looked like one, much to little Peggy Jean's disappointment--how would you like to run for a state office in Texas, there are "only" 264 counties in the state and some are thinly settled. Kenety county only cast 76 votes at the last election and the republicans won out, the vote was Democrats 16, republicans 60--there are more brand new autos in "used" car lots than old ones--if you need a trailer go south, there are acres of them--heard about southern beauty, but the girls down there can't compare with the Minnesota girls--heard there were voluptuous girls in the Mexican quarter but we more interested in getting under a shade tree than we were in pulchritude--monster trucks loaded with oil well equipment play havoc with the roads and traffic--parts of southern Texas and Minnesota resemble Minnesota, keep away from "Southern" cooking, they just gravy everything to death: even put gravy on the gravy--stopped a medium sized Texas town for lunch, asked the gas station attendant who wore a square and a compass if he knew a good place to eat. He said, sez he, "My gal, that's Nancy, has worked in all four of them and the 'Jones' place is the best of all. I have et there three or four times and the place is real tasty and there's big helpings." We took the brother's advice--it was an awful place--sandwiches, whether they were ham or cheese had the inevitable gobs of tasteless salad dressing and wilted lettuce leaves: one of the members had "home" made vegetable soup: it was murderous looking; a close inspection showed that it contained chunks of fried ham and good sized bites of salt pork: we realize now where the surplus fat goes. There's a lot more we could tell you but no doubt you've had too much by this time.
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June 10, 1948

   We had not planned on writing any more items on Texas but folks have been kind enough to ask for more, so here goes, but it is the last installment. ---
   A big place is Texas: every twelfth acre in the United States is in Texas. It is first in the production of cotton, oil, beef cattle, helium, sulphur, sheep, wool, goats, onions, turkeys, natural gas and loyalty to its traditions. Texas produces more mineral wealth than any other state, topping even the famed iron mines in Minnesota, and leads in many other firsts. It raises fifty commercial crops running all the way from wheat to peanuts. The size gives it the opportunity to top other states. It is farther from Texline to Brownsville than it is from Chicago to New York. Its largest county, Brewster, is 6 times the size of Rhode Island. It is the only state authorized by congress to subdivide into five states any time it so desires. To give you another idea of its size, Texas is a third larger than Germany when Hitler took over. ---
   Religiously the Baptists and Methodists lead. They comprise two-thirds of the church memberships in the state. ---
   Human nature is hard to change, in the south many and many a man and woman hope to get the Bonnie Blue flag back again, and many a Mexican in San Antonio still lives in the hope that some day the Mexicans will retake San Antonio. The real black, colored folks seem perfectly satisfied--a job and enough to eat seems to satisfy the natural craving of most of them--the lighter colored man is not so well satisfied. I asked one, "How to they treat you down here?" He said, "Rotten." Of course this lad had lived in St. Paul for several years. ---
   It's cheaper to live in Texas than it is in the north, and if you go there hit for the good eating places: there seems to be no in-between joints. ---
   Night clubs seem to be unknown, reason: liquor cannot be sold by the glass in Texas. It's all "off sale." But the swanky eating places make up for the night clubs. The shrimp are about as large as a Lake Shetek bullhead, but they are marvellous. ---
   Going down we saw signs, "Best Steak in Ft. Worth," "Best Steak in Waco," etc., but a restaurant in San Antonio topped them all: his sign read "Best Steak in Texas." ---
   We had been farther south over on the coast side but this section is so different. San Antonio, with its balmy skies, flowers and vegetation supreme, where people eat outdoors unhampered by insects, where there seems to be so much gaiety written on the faces of the people and where life drifts on much the same the year round, makes it an ideal place to live or spend the winter. More retired army officers live in San Antonio than any other town of its size. ---
   Nurseries, that is tree nurseries, come down to the edge of the sidewalk and they were gorgeous to a tree and flower lover. Bush after bush loaded with gardenias and other flowers were so close you could stoop down and pick them. ---
   Texas is the dammest state in the Union and Oklahoma comes a close second. On every farm there are from ten to fifty dams: conservation dams. Water is scarce down there. Rains are generally heavy and are what are called flash floods. Every low spot in the farmers' fields is dammed and on every hillside where water runs there were those little dams running from three feet to ten feet high, built by the government. Things looked bad in some sections as some of the water holes on the farms were already drying up. ---
   Texas is democratic but the men we talked to are not for Truman, but they will vote for him if he is nominated, as one guy said in an argument that "He'd vote for a nigger if was nominated on the democratic ticket." Some of them thought it would be a good thing to let the republicans win as the country is in such a terrible mess. The name of Wallace was very seldom mentioned. Truman's advocacy for the civil rights bill was the worst blow the south has had since Grant took Richmond. ---
   While the country was looking its best last week it has its bad days. Farmers are fighting erosion and dust storms with more interest than we do in Minnesota. On some farms strips of green grass or turf six feet wide were left across the fields, others had mad ridges or walls of earth three feet high to hold the drifting soil and water. The contour system of planting was the general rule. The curved rows looked strange to us. ========================

June 17, 1948

   Crops are really amazing this year. Small grain is looking good and corn, bless you, is way ahead of normal. There are few fields of corn in this vicinity that won't be above the traditional knee corn by the Fourth of July. ---
   Slayton folks paid homage to Harry Terry one night last week. A fine and gracious compliment to one who devoted his life to good clean sport. Athletics need more men of the "Pop" Terry stripe. ---
   Over at Edgerton a while back an Old Settlers Day was held and the old ones came from far and near. It was a complete success and why not, every member of the committee was a woman and they never do things like halves. Among the old timers were Rolla Meacham and Lee Lockwood, two old timers who scintillated in the baseball world when Edgerton was tops in baseball. ---
   Lake Wilson baseball fans were joyous last Sunday over their baseball team beating Iona. This is the second win in a row from Iona and it's no mean feat to even beat Iona, for they always have a fighting scrappy outfit. ---
   President Truman is belaboring the present senate and house for not passing his pet measures. Mr. Truman was president from April in 1945 to January 1st, 1947 had a congress that was of his political creed. Whey didn't he pass those measures of his then? ---
   You might be interested to know that a two weeks Communism school was held in a village not fifty miles from Lake Wilson. ---
   This village has never been as short of water as it was last week. A fire would have been a real catastrophe. There was no water for two mornings in succession. This village derives its water from flowing wells. These wells, four of them, run directly into a cistern. From there it is pumped into the tank. These wells unfortunately cannot be pumped. Pumping means a clogging of the well in a very short time. The wells which flow from a vein around eighty feet in depth are continually clogging up and have to be pumped out which always lowers the water content of the cistern and like all flowing wells are affected by weather conditions.    The system has not been enlarged or improved since the water works were installed thirty years ago. The village consumption has increased by 500 percent and we are still trying to get along with a 1918 model. Our fire insurance last week was practically nil. The present council is not to blame for these conditions, every council for the past ten years has known that we never had enough water so we could depend on it. Every July and August the marshall has gone around and warned people against using water for lawns, cars and gardens. The present water system must be improved or our insurance rates will be increased. For years we have sailed along with the thought that we can get by; a fire will change all that thought and after the horse is stolen the barn will be locked. ---
   New potatoes on June 8th are what Fred Gass had this year, dethroning Tom McGuire as the potato king. That's the earliest record in this section's history. Speaking of potatoes, California and Texas have the greatest crops in history which means that hundreds of thousands of bushels in Minnesota will be burned and destroyed by the federal government. Minnesota potatoes sell around $3.00 a bushel. Instead of burning and destroying potatoes as the federal government has been doing the last two years why not take them to the big cities and sell them to the men with large families who are working on a hand to mouth wage at half price, sell them to the men who are getting $39 a week and trying to raise a family of good Americans. The worst enemy that Communism has is a full stomach. Why waste God's food to maintain price? ---
   What to call the new baseball park at the fair grounds has started many an argument. Why not call it "Murray Park and Slayton?"
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June 24, 1948

   Lake Wilson is not the only village in the throes of a water shortage. Ivanhoe put down a new well a while back but it only produced 37 gallons a minute. So the council is putting down another well: they are not taking the risk of having their town wiped out by fire. ---
   The Pilot will go to press before the question of who will head the republican party next fall has been decided, but whoever it is you'll find the others climbing on his bandwagon and singing his praises until next November. ---
   Looks as if Joe Ball will have no opposition in the primaries. This is as it should be. Ball is recognized as one of the ablest men in the senate. ---
   Ran across a Pilot of 1909 the other day. Boys' suits were selling for three bucks. But hold your hat, during the sale McGuire Greer were offering 20 pounds of sugar free with every $5.00 purchase, with the exception of flour and sugar. They were good old days after all. ---
   The feast was all prepared at Slayton Wednesday night. A fine bill of fare was presented. A set of lights that would have been a credit to a town ten times the size of Slayton lit up the diamond, twelve hundred fans were present, the Slayton band gave some fine selections, a young lassie performed creditably on the squeeze box, Judge Kolander spoke, two corpulent Danes put on a baseball juggling act, Mason Dixon, an announcer from Spencer, Iowa tried to keep the crowd quiet and the rain back but he failed and after a half inning had bee played with the Worthington Cubs the game was called. Too bad, to go to so much effort and then have it wiped out. We know just how the committee felt. Our mind went back to the days of 25 years ago when we sat in the old grandstand with some of the fair directors and saw the rain erase the efforts of months of work and effort. ---
   The Pipestone council last week canceled the order for meters and the business men will continue to park their cars in front of their places of business. The farmers ganged up on Pipestone and said: "No meters or else." ---
   The salary of the Minneapolis schools superintendent, a nifty $18,500 a year is causing a lot of discussion, not only in the mill city but even in the rural districts. That's a lot of money, more than a justice of the U.S. supreme court receives and more than a handful of state officials of Minnesota get from the state treasury. Last year Minneapolis could not raise the pay of their teachers $10 a month: this year the school board has money to burn. ---
   We've always held that fishing was a sport but after watching a group of men and women, standing in the rain, fishing for bullheads at 11 o'clock at night we've come to the conclusion that it's a disease. ---
   See where a New York doctor is charged with selling babies. He sold one for $1,700. There's a man who should be commended instead of arrested. Any childless couple that will pay that much money for a baby are in earnest. It's sure of a good home and then the couple will feel that they really own it. ---
   The heavy rains have not been good for all crops. Barley and oats went down and it is doubtful if some of them will head out. The corn crop is the most variable we have ever seen: some no is of the 4th of July height but a lot of it is only three or four inches high and so covered with pigeon grass and quack grass that you can hardly see the rows. It's going to take a lot of dry weather and hard work to get these fields in shape. ---
   If you have any game in your locker get it out by the 30th of June. ---
   The Indians on their war dances had nothing in the performances exhibited by the delegates to the republican convention. Humans, whether they be black, white, or red must have an outlet for their pent up feelings. ---
   We helped Ruthton celebrate its "Diamond" Jubilee: that is, supposed to be its 75th anniversary. When we were a lad of 14 we rode over the land where Ruthton now stands and there wasn't a soul in sight. There was no railroad, not even a Dane was seen. If the Ruthton chronologers are right, then we must be 89 years of age. Somebody is wrong and it ain't us.
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