1950 Columns, July - December
---

Roaming in the Gloaming

With Bob Forrest

Things Material and Immaterial

========================

   July 6, 1950
  Like everything else, the 4th of July has changed. Once it was a day when the people, by acts of deeds, paid tribute to the men who built the foundation of the nation: now that is all forgotten, and everybody is trying to get somewhere before somebody else does.
---   Hear one farmer say, "Well, war will mean high prices." It perhaps will, but will the high prices on your farm equal the loss of that neighbor boy of yours who gives up his life for the country, that country that gives you protection.
---   President Ford of the Minnesota U does not favor asking professors to sign a loyalty. These are days, Mr. Ford, that you are, or you ain't. Good time to make your choice now. You're a big man, Mr. Ford, but not bigger than your country.
---   A Mass. woman had trouble with her neighbor, a lot of it. A neighbor through some quirk owed her money. She did not have the money and could not pay. The woman got a judgement against the neighbor and according to the law of Mass., cornerstone and bulwark of freedom, she can put the neighbor in jail, which she did, but look: she has to pay the county $10.00 a week for the care of the prisoner. But look at the revenge she is having; to a woman that's worth a lot.
---   Eighty per cent of the folks are back of the president, why shouldn't they be. America is against communism, with the exception of about three per cent. The other 17 per cent is made up of Republicans, who would not vote for anything a democrat favors, and the bunch of indifferents; most of them don't know there is a war.
---   Rather amusing to read "expert" fishermen's opinion on how and when to fish. We're waiting for the guy to explain just how one man at times catches all the fish, and his partner using the same bait with the hook at the same depth gets skunked.
---   The village of Ivanhoe celebrates its Golden Jubilee on July 11 and 12, and in honor of the even t the Ivanhoe Times had a special edition of thirty-two pages last week. It was a complete history of the town since it was born, and was profusely illustrated with cuts of old timers and old scenes. 'Twas a big affair, well done.
---   If you a baseball fan, listen in some night to Bob Wagner, the announcer at KMHL, Marshall. He's the tops in this section of Minnesota, and his running description of the games keeps a fan interested.
---   The postmasters in South Dakota in convention assembled, endorsed postmaster general Donaldson in his fight for postal economy. Mr. Donaldson strongly advocates the removal of politics for the selection of postmasters. He wants to give the people the best service possible. No man in the cabinet knows more about his department. He started at the bottom and worked his way up.
---   About the rudest folks in the world are those that write you for information and neglect to enclose a stamped envelope for reply. They write asking for information that they alone are interested in, and then expect you to hunt up paper and envelope and then buy a stamp--that isn't the worst of it. They never write and let you know whether they received the letter, let alone to thank you.
---   There may be better fields of corn than Wes Hromatko's, but we have not seen them. Year in and year out, he's one of the best farmers in this vicinity, and his well-kept farm shows it. Best strawberry raiser this year is Johnny Harmsen: at least the box he sent us would have won a prize anywhere; it did with us.
---   A lot of folks think that Korea would be a dandy place to try out one of the new bombs: everybody seems to want to know just how they will perform, and what precaution to take should they every filter into the U.S.
---   Bob Hope wise-cracked himself into a $100,000 law suit recently. He jibed at a certain hotel in New York, said the mice ran out of his shirt in the morning. The management did not like it, and now both the hotel and Bob are getting a lot of free and unfavorable publicity. Hope does skate pretty close to the edge at times.
---   Reaction of the Korean situation seems to be that Mr. Acheson has seen his best days, and he should take his umbrella and beat it. If he does not know any more about the other countries, may the Lord help us.
========================

   July 13, 1950
  Fulda, which suffered a loss of its baseball capitol defenses at the start of the season, is slowly but surely regaining its prestige and bids fair to be firmly seated in the throne come the end of the season.
---   Four Indian boys stole a sheep in Idaho. They were each sentenced to 14 years in prison. Over in South Dakota last week a man raped a girl. He got a fine of $100 and thirty days in jail, and the judge suspended the jail sentence: and we're still sending missionaries to the heathens.
---   The RFC is again in trouble. This time the five-man board loaned $975,000 of your money to help build a gambling house in Idaho. Despite the disapproval of five examining agencies, the board went ahead and by a three to two vote loaned your money; but of course it was a first-class gambling place, no low-brow affair, if that will make you feel any better. Looks as if some of the members on the board will be able to retire soon.
---   Politics are still in the simmering stage in Murray county, but before long they'll be boiling. Take if from the Roamer, this election will be the hottest since the county seat fight.
---   Dr. E. A. Graham was given the Distinguished Service Award at the annual meeting of the A.M.A. last week. The doctor believes that new medicines along the lines of penicillin and ACTH will some day make operations unnecessary, except for malformations at birth and accidents. That ain't fair, to take the sunshine out of so many folks. What about the dear little woman and her 'operation?' There will be a vacant spot at the ladies aid, bridge and canasta gatherings in the years to come.
---   A nine year old boy driving the family car with the family aboard was responsible for the loss of three lives last week. Because his folks were with him did not help any. No doubt they were proud of his ability, but the law says you can't get a driver's license until you are fifteen.
---   Down in Georgia, folks in the big cities writhe under the election laws of that state. They have a county unit system down there that decides state elections. Small counties have two unit votes, the next bracket has four votes and the big city counties have only six votes, and naturally year after year governors are elected by a minority. The "majority" have gone to the U.S. supreme court, but it's hard for a federal court to settle. Remember under the federal law Idaho and Nevada, with only a handful of divorce lawyers and gamblers, have just as many U.S. senators as New York.
---   There is one thing, and in fact about the only thing, that Murray county folks are agree on, and that is good roads. High priced autos, trucks and pick-ups need good roads and they are getting them. The mud hole days are gone and so is the horse. What a splendid set of good roads Murray county has at the present time. The only drawback is that they add heavily to the taxes. It costs more money to maintain one mile of gravel road than the entire township spent fifty years ago.
---   The Storden baseball team made 14 errors in a baseball game with Jeffers one day last week. From what we hear occasionally, we were under the impression that newspapers made all the errors.
---   The good old "Omaha" has pepped up of late, and has cut two hours in running time on the afternoon passenger to the twin cities. If we could only add all these time-saved hours of the last decade to our lives, we should live to be five hundred.
---   This section of the U.S. will be crowded with thousands of potential death traps in the next month. Death lurks in the high corn at the section line corners.
---   The inevitable happened to Secy. of Defense Johnson, at whose feet can be laid the debacle of Korea. Top men in the army, navy and air pleaded with him to maintain adequate defenses, but with his eye on the presidency, Johnson seems to be more anxious in making a record than he was in looking after the nation. In time of need, the unification of our armed forces has been found wanting. We might add, for economy's sake Johnson closed four air fields in Alaska a short time ago.
---   While this is not a national election year, the election in the United States is going to be bitter. The medical men will make an all-out fight for the election of congressional men that will oppose the National Health Insurance plan. The medical association is one of the most powerful organizations in the country and the issue will be, "Do you want to start socialism in the U.S., with government control of the health of the people."
========================

   July 20, 1950
  The coming twelve months will be the most momentous in the history of the United States.
---   Well, the local boys came through in fine shape in the crucial game here Sunday afternoon, and walloped the Pipestone team in a manner that thoroughly satisfied the loyal fans. Besides winning the game, most Americans get a kick out of a little town downing a big town, more so if it is the county seat.
---   Senator Hans Pederson of Ruthton has filed for re-election and will come up for the first heat in the coming primaries. His district is composed of Murray, Lincoln and Pipestone counties, and he has made an efficient record in the last season. Friends throughout the district feel that one good term deserves another.
---   More and more candidates are being added each week into the coming primary election, and there's a lot of them going to find out that Murray county is a lot larger than they thought. Of course, very few people are interested in the county in which they live: can you name the townships in the county, and can you place them right where they belong?
---   There may be crueler games in the world than politics but they are not known to man. Take Charley Halsted: he carried the Farm-Labor banner in the legislature for several sessions and last year was drafted to make the race for governor. He is a pretty decent sort of a guy, but the bosses in the union labor circles did not like him and they pushed him overboard. All Charley had done at the last election was to poll over 545,000 votes against Gov. Youngdahl. Quite mad is Charley, and he is not obeying the mandate of the "Boss Ridden" convention and is now in the race. You go up and down quicker in politics than the cork does when you're fishing bullheads.
---   Another queer summer so far. No flies, no mosquitoes and no potato bugs and crops are looking fine: seems too good to be true.
---   The county seat Rockets found the going in the First Night league pretty tough so far. They seemed to come through on exhibition games, but in the First Night league they just don't register. A group of pitchers have been tried and found wanting, but the Slayton folks have no thought of folding up. They have had a lot of bad breaks so far.
---   Senator Humphrey has joined Sen. McCarthy in the lodge of accident free and unadulterated liars. Hubert accused Fulton Lewis, a well known columnist, of aiding Hitler during the last war. It irked Lewis considerably and he told Mr. Humphrey off in true senatorial language.
---   Don't put the blame for the Korean fiasco on the shoulders of the army or navy. Every time an experienced navy or army man made a suggestion he was busted, or reduced in rank, by Secretary of Defense Johnson.
---   Few people realize the changes that have been made in business establishments in the last ten or fifteen years. Just a short time back, we know of a man that had lived in the vicinity of a town for over sixty-five years, and during that time he had traded consistently at his home town. He passed away and not one business man of that town attended his funeral. Guess it doesn't pay to live too long.
---   John L. King, clever and talented editor of the Jackson County Pilot, says "home runs are getting to be a bore in baseball." Not so, John, the average fan renders more applause to a ball over the fence than they give a pitcher that strikes out ten men in a row. The reason: the average American believes in attacking, not defending.
---   Westbrook is celebrating its Golden Jubilee on July 22. The Jay Gould circus will be there and we notice that Jay is going to give a free merry-go-round ticket to every kid in the parade: bet there will be more kids in the parade on July 22nd than ever appeared in a parade in the history of Westbrook.
---   Folks are getting nervous and have started to buy coffee and sugar. They think that the big push will be on soon, and from all reports looks as if they are thinking right. Unless we get men, guns and tanks there soon the navy will have the task of removing what American troops are left.
========================

   July 27, 1950
  Young farmers of today little realize the fine job their predecessors did for them. Back in 1914, Murray county was not in the class that it is now. Neighboring counties referred to Murray county sneeringly as the "Quack Grass" county. That generation cleared up that rather obnoxious title and assisted by the men who wear specs, the guys that doubled the corn yield, that changed flax from a one year crop to a six year crop, that started the weed sprayers on their way assisted by the weather man with showers at the right time, has made Murray county one of the finest in the state. If you don't believe it, take a trip through the county in which you live to realize its greatness.
---   If you have any stray orchids around the house send them to district Judge Axel B. Anderson of Owatonna. Last week he sent a reckless motorist to the pen for two years and six months for running into a bicycle, killing a ten year old boy, and in addition sentenced Clyde Miller to four years at Stillwater for an assault on a woman. There's a judge that's fitten to be on the supreme court.
---   The McCarthy episode has got in the politics stage, but there's a lot of folks that still believe that Communist sympathizers somewhere along the line were to blame for spending only $300 out of the ten million dollars that the U.S. appropriated for Korea. The excuse was, "We didn't want to make Stalin mad."
---   Lake Wilson is undergoing the biggest housebuilding spree in forty years. Five or six new homes on the way and lots more are a borning, all of which speaks well for the town of - - - -? we don't know how much, as the powers that be have not yet released our population figures, but we still live in hope.
---   Mike Holm and J. A. A. Burnquist have filed for their respective offices. Mike has been in office several years and during that time there has not been a hint that he has not given us the best service of any Minnesota secretary of state. Attorney General Burnquist has also a fine record. The Roamer was an employee in the legislature when Burnquist became a house member. He made a splendid record and his rise upward to that of governor and then to his loved profession, the law, has been a source of pride to the writer. Remember once when he spoke in Lake Wilson one "Farmers Day." At the primary he received every vote that was cast for that office, and he has never forgotten that 100 per cent vote of appreciation.
---   Fulda took Iona in a "croocial" game last Thursday night, but lost to Marshall on Sunday night. Baseball has its ups and downs, too.
---   The bread barons exerted their powers last week and bread went up two cents a loaf making an increase, not of two or three cents, but a ten per cent raise. They all went up at the same time: isn't there a law against collusion in the raising of prices. But who cares? Who wants to bake bread in this day and age, that was fine for the women of old who didn't know any better, but we are living in a different era.
---   If there is a group of men in the country that should be entitled to Social Security it is the men who work on our highways. Some of these men work for years on a limited salary, but by some quirk they are not included in the Social Security act. These guys are entitled to a square deal.
---   Another of the followers of Jesse James are some of [the makers of nothing] but candy, some of the mediocre brands boosted prices six dollars a hundred.
---   Various showers of rain ruined the big aquatennial parade at Minneapolis last Saturday. It was publicized to be the biggest spectacular parade in the northwest, but Jupiter Pulvius did it just as much damage as it does to a small town celebration or a county fair: too bad.
---   The lack of an up-to-date chart or map of the water works system here brought a complete shortage of water to the folks in the south half of town for a day last week. No changes have been made on the original map since the system was constructed here over thirty years ago. The need of a new map is vital.
---   The many cool nights we have been experiencing of late is giving old corn growers considerable worry of late. Corn however continues to grow and tassels are seen in a number of fields. After all, August is the month that makes corn.
---   What's the difference between a food profiteer, a hoarder and a Communist?
========================

   August 3, 1950
  Three Wind Bags Three senators went all out last week with language unfit for a dog to use in berating Senator McCarthy, who has been trying to drive the Communists out of the government. If these senators were as loyal as they advertise, why did they not berate the men in government places who are responsible for the slaughter of young, untrained American lads in Korea?
---   Why Not Practical Nursing IN place of a lot of ancient studies, the Roamer would like to see a course of "Practical Nursing" in the schools in Minnesota. At least all the young women should be compelled to take it. It will be more useful in after life than the story of Henry VIII and his six wives, or that of ancient Rome.
---   Plastered the City Hall The village council had the city hall plastered last week. It was the first time the hall had been plastered for over forty years, but some of the guys have better records than that.
---   Following the Buffalo Trail The threshing machine is following in the footsteps of the buffalo and will soon be a thing of the past. Coming up from Worthington the other afternoon we counted 20 fields in the process of harvesting: 17 of the fields were being combined, the other three were being bound. The sale of twine has dropped ninety per cent in this vicinity. The moving on of the old threshing machine brings pangs to the old settlers. Time was when threshing time was the big event of the year on the farm. Every farmer exchanged help and it took the whole neighborhood. The neighbor women came over and assisted in getting a bounteous dinner and supper for the hungry, dusty mob. It was the big social event of the year with the women. Time marches on.
---   We Second The Motion, Joe Judge Joe Moriarty of Shetsky fame sometimes hits the nail on the head. Last week he said, "Fire Acheson who is to blame for the Korean fiasco." Many men in public life and a lot of newspaper men think the same thing but they lack the guts to say it. Like to amend Joe's motion by including Puddin' Head Johnson.
---   The "Consumption" Era Has Gone Delving into the early township records, one is surprised how often the word "Consumption" appears in the birth and death record. Thanks to the wisdom of a group of men from the southwest counties in the state who saw fit to unite in the erection of the Sanitarium at Worthington, and the splendid efficient service of Supt. Slater, this word and its sister, T.B., are almost erased from the health records of Murray county.
---   Minnesota Unfair To Labor While our two senators are ranting and raving over the F.E.P.C. bill, they overlook their own state of Minnesota. The state in a bulletin last week asked for applicants for a supervising assessor job. Everything sounded all right 'til one got to the fine print at the end. "No one over 70 years of age can take this examination." If a man is too dumb to take the examination for this minor office, how come that half of the members of the U.S. senate are over that age?
---   Now Is The Time to Freeze Wake up, Harry, and start the freezer. Don't wait until everything gets sky high and then freeze the prices. While you're at it, be sure and conscript wealth while you're conscripting manpower. Make this a democracy.
---   Baseballitis Not Nation Wide The Lake Wilson baseball team traveled to Edgerton last Thursday where they played the Pipestone team. When the scores were all tabulated and the game was over, the team received a purse of $15 for their efforts in defeating Pipestone 4 to 3 in ten innings. Some of the lads hired men to take their place that afternoon, and they have come to the conclusion that the fad for baseball is not nation wide.
---   Another Male That Listened to the Siren A farm hand by the name of Nobles will have a lot of time to ponder over the wiles of a woman. He was an innocent middle aged bachelor living near Albert Lea until he listed to the song of the siren. It was the old, old story. The farmer's wife and the farm hand had no brakes. The husband was in the way and Eve thought up the poison idea, which ended in the death of an innocent by-stander, or rather by-drinker, and both the participants in the mess are sitting out, or will, in the pen, where there is no Primrose Path.
========================

   August 10, 1950
  See where Mrs. Frances Delaney of Pipestone, census chief from this district, is being complimented for being the first to complete her work in Minnesota. We can't heartily agree with the statement, but if Frances will just wire, phone, write or even tell us whether Lake Wilson went up or down in the last nose count, we'll make it unanimous.
---   Don Portman of the Currie Independent chides the Roamer for blaming Louie Johnson for conditions in Korea. Let's look at the record, Don. Johnson is head of the army, navy, air and every other organization connected with the defense and offense. Every one of them has an intelligence department. He should know every day just where troops are, etc. He should know what is going on in every country in the world. Yet less than two weeks before the trouble started over there he was in Korea and said, "All's well in the west." Where can one put the blame for the ruthless murder of our young untrained soldiers but at the feet of the man who runs the show.
---   See where Bob Hope is making the state fairs and Bebe Shopp is making the county fairs this fall: both of them real attractions.
---   It's really hard to understand how, in spite of civilization and settlement in northern Minnesota, that there should be a yearly increase in the number of foxes and wolves killed each year. The 1949-50 season is the highest on record. The bounty on timber wolves alone will be $127,925, and next year the take will be larger.
---   Slowly but surely the symbol of agriculture is fading into the discard. The shock of grain that has been the emblem of agriculture for generations is joining hands with the threshing machine on its way to the land of the buffalo. For years the neatly shocked grainfield has been a pleasure and a delight to the heart of those who live in a farming community such as ours. It represented harvest, the fertility of the soil, the end of another year, the horn of plenty and hope and faith in the soil for another season. The combines come in and out goes the shock of grain that has been the pride of farmers for ages. The symbol of the farm today is the gasoline engine, but it never looks good on a picture as a neatly shocked field of wheat, oats, barley and even corn.
---   At last an Ohio woman has found just grounds for a divorce. Last week she testified that her husband slept all night and most of the day. Here was the poor lassie pouring out her heartaches and her naggings to a blank wall, without even a gesture in return. Hell hath no fury like a woman when the poor guy don't stand and take his medicine. She got a divorce and is now looking for a man willing to stop, look, listen and squirm.
---   The average corn field has never looked better than it did last week. The stalks were thick and sturdy, the leaves broad and of a deep green hue, but ears were lacking. Last Friday half of the cornfields in the western part of the county were not tasseled. Experts say that it takes about six weeks from tasseling time to ripe corn, but do your own figuring and pray not for warm weather but for hot weather with hot nights from now on. It's going to be tough going and King Corn is going to lose out in a lot of fields.
---   The Balaton area contributed 177 pints of blood to the Red Cross Blood bank last week: an Englishman would say that's a bloody good record.
---   If you live in this area maybe you can help out a farmer who is bothered with rats. An early morning radio program tells of a liquid that, when spread around the pastures, emits such a strong odor that the rats leave. Give Hank Halsne a ring or write him a postal card: he'll pay for the card, probably.
---   Sometimes we think we'd like to be a lawn chair: they have been seldom sat on this summer.
---   Is Korea going to be the Spain of World War III?
---   Some top men ask where are we going to get our manpower? Stop work on those damn dams, cut out the building of the 15 new postoffices, and a lot of other useless appropriations, then purge the bureaus at Washington, D.C.: that will provide a lot of manpower.
---   Two fine new recruits have been added to the Republican state ticket team. They are Val Bjornson and Ancher Nelson, the first an Icelander, and Ancher is a Dane. They are both efficient, splendid citizens, and would be a credit to any political party. They can pitch, field and bat and are not driven back from the plate by brush-off balls. Watch them go.
---   We had a cold winter, a cold spring and a cold summer and according to the law of averages we should have a warm fall, and Lord knows we need it.
---   Julius Schmall has withdrawn from the race for state treasurer. A mighty good move, Julius, from one who has lived long enough to know that this is not an old man's world, from any angle. You've done a fine job, Julius, and all your old friends wish you happiness in the coming years.
---   One of our oil men stuck out his chin last Monday and said, "Well, I just won an argument with my wife, the first in two years." Poor sap. He looked normal, too.
========================

   August 17, 1950
  The country school is also on its way out. Murray county at one time had 114 districts. This is a changing world.
---   The Legion post at Tyler is sending the home paper to every boy in the service. There's nothing outside of a letter from home that the boys like as much as the old home paper. Nice gesture from you Tyler lads.
---   Don Johnson is moving up in the journalistic world. He sold his paper, the Ivanhoe Times, and will soon be on the staff of the Mpls. Journal. Bill Neale, former editor of the Lake Benton News, will take over the Times come September 1st. Ted Anderson is the new man on the News, is giving Lake Benton a fine paper in every sense of the word.
---   The county commissioners in Martin county are getting themselves into a jam. Several sections of the county are in favor of the new school re-organization plan and voted in favor of it at their consolidation meetings. The dissenters asked the commissioners to remove their land from the proposed new districts and the board authorized the same. The new idea folks have taken the matter to the court and are saying that the county board is trying to undermine them.
---   Last week was hardly a good week for corn. We had one good hot day but the nights were cold. Heard one guy say that King Corn was coming down the stretch: heck, it's just got past the quarter pole.
---   Heard a Coca Cola man murmur the other day about the tactics of the company. After getting the retail men to develop a trade for it in their communities the company has started putting in small dispensers in every place possible: there's more Coke machines than there were slot machines ten years ago.
---   While we are the smartest, brainiest folks on God's green footstool, we have never been able to drive the benefits of democracy in to other nations, except when it is well greased with the almighty dollar. In psychology, the Russians with their brand of Communism are far superior. They take an inferior nation and somehow or other are able to impart Communism into the majority of its people, while we with everything of a practical argument to back democracy are stalled.
---   Guess we must be in a criticising mood this morning over the weak spots of a democracy, but all the time, fuss and squabble over the control act last week makes us look silly. Why wasn't there a Control act in peace time so it would be all ready in time of war? Or did congress want to let the big boys raise the prices so that they could add more millionaires to the growing list.
---   See where Mrs. Gavle, the designing Albert Lea female who plugged the old man's liquor, has been admitted to an insane, pardon mental, hospital for observation. From her own admission she was "crazy" for over two years.
---   Hoarders are standing on slippery places in this war. The congress has passed a law making it a real crime for which the penalty is a $10,000 fine or a year in the pen. Does that mean we're going to have a group of witch hunters going through the homes and stores?
---   "TAKE THIS FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH: The following appeared in the 'Roaming in the Gloaming' column of the Lake Wilson Pilot: "The Lake Wilson baseball team traveled to Edgerton last Thursday where they played the Pipestone team. When the scores were all tabulated and the game was over, the team received a purse of $15 for their efforts in defeating Pipestone 4 to 3 in ten innings. Some of the lads hired men to take their place that afternoon, and they have come to the conclusion that the fad for baseball is not nation wide.
  The Enterprise editor is informed that the Lake Wilson club was paid more than the percentage they agreed upon before coming to Edgerton. Surely they couldn't expect to draw a bumper crowd at an afternoon game when the farmers of this area were all busy harvesting their crops. Didn't notice too many from Lake Wilson at the game either."--Edgerton Enterprise.
  DIDN'T YOU GO OFF HALF COCKED BROTHER FEY We did not say anything about percentage, nor what the team could expect and evidently there were not many Edgerton people there either. We want to reaffirm and reiterate, "The Fad For Baseball is Not Nation Wide."
========================

   August 24, 1950
  You'd really be surprised to learn how many folks are asking, "What are we fighting about in Korea?"
---   Stassen says, "Tell Russia Next Attack Means War." What do you call the Korean situation, Harold: a Sunday picnic?
---   The corn situation has not improved and many farmers are hesitant to release corn now held in bins on the farm which belongs to the government through loans. After Saturday night's light frost, it will need miraculous weather to give us a corn crop this season.
---   South Dakota is going to sustain a severe loss in revenue this fall. The pheasant crop is about the lowest in a decade and the season will not be long enough to induce movie stars, tycoons, etc. to make their annual trek to the Sunshine State: and those guys do spend money.
---   Can't blame Truman for all the Washington ills. The . . . ed a lot of cussing and some of .... lining their pockets as they jockey .... Price Control bill. The longer they ... advance. Democracies sometimes remind you of a bunch of kids playing in a sand pile.
---   Despite the war in Korea, labor unions are planning a nation-wide strike. Between the unions and big business, the common people are as flat as the proverbial pancake. But as long as they keep our bellies full, which seems to be the fundamental aim of democracy, why should be holler?
---   The county fair is not the fair of yore. In this day ten times as many people attend the evening shows as do in the day time. Time was when we had plenty of time to go to fairs and other gatherings in the day time, but all is changed and people are too busy hurrying to go someplace, and don't know what to do when they get there.
---   There's a movement on foot to start schools for men and women over seventy that have been removed from their positions that they filled so competently, but lost them on account of the 70 year dead line. With the increase in longevity, the dead line should be seventy-five. These people are willing and competent to work in their various lines and should be allowed to continue until they are unfit: they don't want schools, just a job.
---   Been a lot of discussion among merchants, etc. of late about gifts that can be given away to attract business and still not be branded gambling. A new interpretation of the law says you can give away anything you want to, as along as there are no strings attached. For instance, a fair board can give away an auto as long as every person can deposit a ticket without having to buy a ticket or pay admission to the fair grounds to participate in the drawing for the auto.
---   A well-known magazine pays $25 for each good anecdote or joke each month. The name of the magazine is "True." Here's a couple that cost them fifty dollars this month. One was from Texas about homesteading: "Government bet you 160 acres of land you can live on it for five years." We heard that one first in 1883. The other was the moth-eaten story about the old guy that left $3,000 for a stone and the boy or girl is wearing a big diamond in memory of the beloved. Columbus heard that joke when he landed in San Salvador. We must be getting old.
---   The Minnesota supreme court made a boner in the eyes of the average layman last week when it decided that advertising could be put on the Minnesota ballot. The decision on the Peterson case seemed more fraternal than it was judicial and left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of folks. First thing you know, the ballot will be three feet long. Every time two Smiths run for office they will have the right to tell what kind of a Smith they are and the result: For Auditor John Smith--Bakery goods, tires, funeral supplies Pete Smith--Hereford cattle, Berkshire swine, some good bulls for sale For Treasurer Ole Olson (Better known as Big Ole)--shoe repairing, former good plasterer John Olson--former good shoe repairer and horse doctor and on down the line.
========================

August 31, 1950
   What this section craves is about an inch or two of rain. All the warm weather in the world is not going to do much good unless we have rain.
---   The late frost did a lot of damage to some local corn fields. Just north of town Harold Hook, Jr. was almost wiped out. Too bad, as the young lad had just started out farming.
---   Met a kindly old lady in Slayton the other day. She said, "I did not recognize you at first, you used to be so much fatter." There are still some women of discernment, culture and tact: kind words never die.
---   The most popular path this time of the year is the one that surrounds your tomato patch. No vegetable brings more a feeling of expectancy and anticipation than the tomato, which always seems to be hesitant about ripening.
---   See where members of congress voted themselves an additional $300 in stamp money. Pretty small potatoes from a group of men that are getting $15,000 a year and $1,500 for stationery. A river gets no higher than its source.
---   An Illinois man was shot at last week by a girl who was determined he should marry her. He sure was behind the eight ball. If he stood and let her shoot, she might kill him, and if he would marry her he'd wished she had.
---   If a real, honest-to-goodness dictator ever comes to the U.S., union labor can take the credit. Any group that takes a country by the throat in time of war is stretching the bounds that are supposed to bind us together, just a little too far. The peculiar feature in the situation is that union labor will suffer the most when Communism comes.
---   The new law that places farm hands, hired girls, etc. on social security gets a lot of criticism. Heard one man say, "The government is going to regiment us to death, this country is going to the dogs." He's been married for 45 years to the same woman, and we'll bet he does not know where he is going next Sunday.
---   The Ruthton Tribune, the oldest business place in the village of Ruthton, ceases publication on Sept. 7th. This statement was made to the Business Men's organization over a week ago. Efforts taken to dispose of the plant have been unsuccessful, and Mr. Greiner will store the printing press, etc. until he can sell it. Ruthton is going to miss the Tribune more than the Tribune will miss Ruthton.
---   The action of the trainmen of America, striking when the country is at war and when young lads are giving up their lives so that unions can continue, is more traitorous and treasonable than the vaporings of some half-baked Communist. Actions of the power drunk labor organizers are driving more people to thinking that the big fat boys that have been held up before our eyes for a century were mere amateurs.
---   The closing of the deer season meets with general approval throughout the state. The long winter and the cold spring depleted the crop of fawns. The closing of the season will be felt in northern Minnesota as the hunters leave millions of dollars in that section, but it is better to curtail the hunting for one year now than it would be to close it for three or four years later on.
---   Political banter after the events of last winter was anticipated to be one of the highlights in the republican primary this fall. As usual, the D.F.L. stole the show, and some of the remarks made by Halstead, who made such a brilliant run for governor two years back, would be handy to have around the house on a January day. They really burn and sear. Here's what he said about his hyphenated opponent: "In 1936 the Communist party officially endorsed the late Ernest Lundgren for U.S. senator, Elmer Benson for governor and Harry H. Peterson for attorney general." "And," Halstead adds, "Peterson has purred under this Communist petting. He has never to my knowledge refused or repudiated the Communists' endorsement." Charlie is pretty bitter at the labor end of the DFL. He thought he should have been endorsed at the Duluth convention.
---   These items were sent in last Friday. The Roamer spent the week end at St. Paul.
========================

September 7, 1950
   Following Youngdahl's footsteps the U.S. congress dealt the one armed bandits a terrific blow. It is now unlawful to transport slots from one state to another. This is one good law that congress has passed. We now of two or three vacation trips that were spoiled in days gone by, by the darned machines of the ever hungry slot.
---   Chamberlain Acheson (without umbrella) and Puddin' Head Johnson didn't fare so well at the national V.F.W. convention. The overseas veterans thought this would be a mighty good time for them to quit, so they could get another job before snow flies.
---   Someone in Wadena county sneaked in to the county fair grounds up there several years ago. Their conscience, which had been dormant, came to life and the he or she mailed a dollar bill to the fair secretary. If the Murray county fair boards could collect from all fence busters and crawlers, it could gild the grandstand with gold. Last fall, four grown-ups met at the east side fence, but were halted by a guard. One woman said to the other woman, "Where were you going?" The other replied, "Same place as you were." One of the crawlers was a married woman: name can be supplied if necessary.
---   Early morning motorist last week reported that he had seen numerous flocks of pheasants along the road sides and that the outlook was better than last season.
---   Uneasy lies the head of him who sits in the White House. Last week his top military man was to give an address by mail at the V.F.W. convention. Some of the press got copies of the speech, then the fat was in the fire and Granny Acheson hot footed it for the White House screaming, "That ain't what we stand for." Recent developments would indicate that no one seems to know what our foreign policy is. McArthur was slapped on both wrists for speaking without asking the teacher. Why not tell the top military men just what our policy is. If you can't trust them, fire them. But for Heaven's sakes, do something: folks are laughing and not always up their sleeves at the many Acheson blunders in spite of the poor corn crop.
---   The duck season ain't just suiting the hunter. There are not many teal here on account of the dry season and what there are will have to go south to get shot. The duck season opens October 6th and closes Nov. 9th.
---   See where an attempt was made one night last week to hold up the Tracy Star Route mail truck. Could have been some business men trying to speed up the service. Wish some outfit could use some speed tactics on the Great Northern railroad. That trademark of the "White Mountain Goat" should be erased and the slogan, "Never on Time" substituted. For the past year the service, that is by the trains carrying mail, can be summed up in one word, "Lousy."
---   North Dakota also reports a dearth of pheasants this fall, and only allows two birds in possession. Time was when a farmer that lived in the Dakotas couldn't go out to milk the cow without stepping on one. Time changes everything including game birds and their habits. This state allows more birds in possession than either of the Dakotas. How the mighty has fallen.
---   A cultured editorial writer in the Minneapolis Tribune is annoyed by the spelling on some roadside signs. Words that scared him were "Rassberries," "See Food," "Hungery," etc. He closed his article with "Road signs should be abolished entirely, or proprietors or roadside businesses should either learn how to spell or quite this form of advertising." The problem in advertising is to get someone to read the ad. These signs met their destiny with one autoist.
---   The armed forces are paying $2.95 a bushel for potatoes, for which the farmer received $1.65 a bushel in support prices. The surplus potatoes are sold sometimes for a cent a hundred. A common-sense move the government would be to release all surplus commodities to the armed forces without cost. It might aid in stabilizing the market without support prices.
---   Truman outlined his policies over the radio Friday night. Lot of good sense in it, but it lacked that something on [. . .] all that FDR had.
---   War experts come and go with the changing times. Fifteen years ago the air men claimed that future wars would be ... All war would be made by air and all other forms of warfare would become obsolete. ... present war in Korea ... No war is over ... [rest illegible]
========================

September 14, 1950
   We spent last week in north central Minnesota and our observations on the corn crop in Minnesota indicated that the corn crop this year is going to be the most disappointing for many years. Good fields are as scarce as hen's teeth and even the best fields are two weeks late. Best field we saw was just north of Olivia, and the second best piece was west of Park Rapids, about three hundred miles north of us. Where rains had been up to average or near average crops of flax, oats, barley looked good. It was the same old story as in Murray county, a late spring, continued cold nights and few warm days. Jack Frost hit many a field but he followed the same pattern as he did in Murray county.
---   The dairy farmer has profited by the price of butter fat and the increase in big new barns and silos were noted all the way of our 750 mile trip. We were with Ed. I. Engebretson, who has no college or university degree, except one of Common Sense from the College of Hard Knocks of Murray county, and he was surprised at the big new barns. In the stretch between Sauk Center and Wadena he said, "Why, they have better barns here than we have in Murray county."
---   This season has been one of the worst ever for the fishing resorts. The operators are all beefing. One Leech Lake resort owner, former home of the walleyed pike, lost thousands of dollars this year. He had every cottage and boat reserved for the opening season on May 15th. But the lake was coated with ice and he had to notify his guests by wire of the conditions. The lake did not open up until May 24th, and these nine days lost are generally the cream of the season. Decent weather did not arrive until June and even then the weather has not been too good, and the season is practically over now. The fishing this year especially for walleyes has been poor, of course here and there were good days but there was a dearth of walleyes and no one knows this as well as the folks around the lake. Another unfortunate feature is the closing of the deer season. This is a heavy loss to everybody in the north country as deer hunters generally spend more money in the community than fishermen. We saw few big ducks but plenty of teal, but they will be gone before the season opens. To add to the woes of the folks in the Walker area, that section was infested with hordes of army worms that stripped the deciduous trees of their leaves until they were as naked as they were in January. This plague of worms did not leave a kindly feeling in the minds of many a tourist. Folks were criticising the forestry depts., both federal and state, and were lambasting the state conservation for the scarcity of walleye.
---   Time was when the walleye was king and Leech Lake was the best in the country. All is changed now and the "Great" Northern Pike (we used to call them pickerel) is King. Had an old Irish lumberjack guide at Longville one season in the dim past. Whenever a "pickerel" hit the plug, he would cuss and swear, calling them "snakes" and "sarpints." He would take out his long hunting knife, thrust it through the belly of the fish and cast it back into the water. Now the N.P. are it. One day last week twenty fishermen and women were out in one of those big houseboat launches. They came back with two small pike, two G.N.'s; a lady said one of them weighed over four pounds and it was a "beauty," and they also brought back a bunch of "nice" perch.
---   To every man when he starts getting old comes dreams. Dreams of how he would like to spend his declining years. We called on Orla Ebersole, an old friend of ours, and found just such a place as you guys are dreaming of. He has a spot of brown clay land just outside the little town of Laporte, overlooking Garfield Lake. He and the Missus were picking sweet corn when Ed. and the writer arrived. It was big, juicy and sweet, without a worm, bug or corn borer. His tomato patch was full of smooth ripe tomatoes basking in the sun. Cabbages were straining fit to burst; carrots, onions and the usual variety of vegetables were at their very best; rows of raspberry bushes, dark green in color, stood erect like a row of soldiers; apple trees eight feet high of various varieties were loaded, some of them propped up; his Russet potatoes were clean as a whistle; his woodshed was full and there was a large pile of sawed wood close by; he had a big box of cranberries that he had gathered in a nearby bog and his yard was filled with beautiful flowers of every description. Then there were cherry trees, plum trees, etc. And best of all for some of you, was his fishing boat, which by means of a winch he pulls up on the rafters of his garage, letting it down the same manner to the cart, when he wants to go fishing, and that is often. The cellar is full of fruits, wild and tame. They have the REA and a telephone. Tomatoes were twenty cents in the stores in nearby towns: he was selling his big clean tomatoes, without dry rot or sun scald, for $3 a bushel. The sweet corn he sold for twenty cents a dozen and it was sweet corn. It was oasis or Utopia: a place you never would expect to find, just dream about.
========================

September 21, 1950
   The Minneapolis Journal in order to bolster the fish situation in Minnesota, says that according to records our fish are getting larger as the years go by: could be, but we've noticed that the fish you don't catch now are about the same size as the ones you didn't catch years ago, but there are more of them.
---   Nobles county had a real political horse race. Register of Deeds Pfeil chose not to file again, so the track was crowded, eight entries in all. The winner got 75 per cent of the total primary vote, so it wasn't much of a race after all.
---   The state highway dept. seems to be stymied on the new highway, No. 91, that is coming in from the south. The story runs that it is coming up the section line between Leeds and Chanarambie twps. The surveyors have gotten as far as the south end of Lake Wilson and that's where the story seems to end. In order to solve the problem, why not run a grade through the south lake and connect in the lake with No. 47, then swing east and go along the high banks on the east side of the lake. There is no crying demand for No. 91 to go through the village. That's old stuff, running a highway through a town, which means annoyance and discomfort to both the town folks and the tourists. Folks in Lake Wilson are almost unanimously against the new highways coming through town. Residents along Central ave. say conditions are getting so bad there now that they hardly dare to go outdoors. Autoists ram through the avenue, that is No. 47, day and night at unbelievable top speeds. Another feature is that the new road would go past the school, where the school busses load. Better take it up the east side, Mr. Commissioner.
---   The way Lake Wilson smells, not the town or all the people but the lake itself, is annoying to a lot of our residents. The water has receded steadily all summer and fall, and all fish life will be wiped out his coming winter.
---   With the Press Bunch: Called on young Radtke the other day. He has put a lot of snap and pep into the former decorous Westbrook Sentinel. It's a mighty good paper now, in a mighty good country town. Members of the press are extending sympathy to Gordon Sheaffer of the Balaton Press Tribune on the death of his mother. The late Jack, Gordon's father, was a member of the old Second district editorial association. A group of outspoken guys that argued, fought and bled about everything, except that south-western Minnesota was the Garden of Eden. Over at Ivanhoe, Bill Neale is taking over Dan Johnson's shoes in the Times. Dan is now with the Minneapolis Journal. Big job for Bill, but he'll make it. Over at Slayton on the Herald, a young chick pecked her way out of the shell last week. Phyliss Nelson, a graduate of the Minnesota School of Journalism, made her debut. Pleasing, palatable with a good sense of humor, she will make good. Although she does not fill a chair as amply as some of her predecessors, she'll make the grade.
---   This has been a funny year. We cannot remember a year when there has been as few bugs, insects and such like there has been in 1950. When we have no flies, mosquitoes or insects something must be out of timing.
---   There's a closed season on deer this year so that the deer herd can be brought back to normal. Why not a closed season on fishing of all varieties next year, with the exception of rough fish.
---   God bless the members of the lower house in Washington. They voted 331 to 2 for an excess profit tax to go into effect this year. It's going to be tough on the senators who vote against the plan, either by direct vote or by the sidetrack method. Wealth should be conscripted, as well as that boy of yours.
---   Now is a mighty good time to mow the weeds along the road sides. You never can tell what kind of winter we're going to get and remember the school bus, with that kid of yours, the gas trucks, the cream trucks, mail wagons and last but not least the doctors have got to go.
---   That Mrs. Gavle of Albert Lea is still at large, while the poor innocent man she enticed into a life of crime is behind the bars at Stillwater. We'll have to change the old saying, "It's always the poor woman that pays."
---   Some of the top politicians in the Dem and Rep camps give us a pain. Bowing to the wishes of the people, Truman fired Puddin' Head Johnson and gave the country Marshall. The republican snipers started in on poor Marshall who hadn't said a word and they flayed him both inside and out. To the folks out in the sticks Marshall stands a hundred times higher than Johnson. What a lot of fun the Stalinites must have at the antics of a democracy.
========================

September 28, 1950
   In World War II every village postoffice and park had elaborate sign boards, with names of the boys and the girls in the service, but so far the leaven has not been working. This is just as big a war as World War II to the folks that have family members in the service.
---   See where the grouse season and the partridge season is just as bad as the walleyed pike season. Well they have company down in this section. The apple crop here was nil and the plum crop null and void. But we have the finest potato crop in years. Nice clean spuds. The Roamer raised enough to keep the family through the winter: the crop must have been good.
---   A new star has arisen in Minnesota politics and one which has been given but little prominence by the daily papers. The vote that Ted Christianson received at the primary election was really outstanding. Young Ted who was running for associate justice of the supreme court received more votes than did Mike Holm, and when you do that you're hitting the high mark. Of course Ted inherited a lot of votes from his late dad who was one of the best governors in the history of Minnesota.
---   The postoffice department is going $550,000,000 in the red this year and either service will have to be curtailed or rates boosted. Folks always want better service, but never wanted to pay for it. The users should be willing to pay their just share and the patrons get along with a little less service. Out here we only get one mail a day and ninety per cent of the people can get along with the same amount: we do hate to suffer alone.
---   "Wanted: Farmer aged 38, wishes to meet woman around 30 who owns a tractor. Please enclose photo of tractor. Write Box 19, care of this paper."--Caroline Progress, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Better find out what make he likes, girls, before you write. Men are getting finicky these days.
---   The Murray County Civic and Conservation Assn. recently purchased a five acre tract at the inlet to Lake Shetek. It proposes to construct a structure which will prevent game fish from leaving the lake and act as a carp trapping station. If you don't belong to this organization, why not send them a contribution to aid in the work they are doing to improve fishing conditions. You want to see good fishing in this area. They are doing their best to help you. Why not help the organization. For the folks that live in the west end of the county, send your contributions to Judge Kolander at Slayton, president of the organization, or better still call on him and tell him how much appreciate the work the officers are doing. You and the kids want to go fishing, you enjoy it. It's the cheapest, healthiest and most agreeable sport on earth. Send in that donation of yours. Don't be a piker.
---   The tom-toms played in the halls of congress last week, and both houses were enthused and interested in the Communist bill, and forgot all about the excess profit tax which they said they would take up after election. Darned poor excuse.
---   We get a pang of remorse every time we quip or razz the female sex. Did you ever stop to think, that if it was not for the female readers there would not be a country newspaper operating in Minnesota. Some editors claim that their 16-inch gun editorial is what enthralls their readers, other point with pride to their make up, others to their sports set up, but in the final analysis it is the home items, the little bits of country and farm items, items that the upper ten sneer at, is what keeps the paper going. Some of you old guys and a bunch of you younger guys, which includes the newly married men, will soon begin to realize how important woman is in our modern day life: of course we don't even venture to say that they are perfect--but they seem to get there just the same.
---   An orchid to the Lake Wilson football team. Hopelessly outweighed, they fought the Beaver Creek team and were beaten. But they battled fiercely. At times it took three of the fly weights to bring down the Beefy Beaver Creekians. The local lads fought as cleanly and doggedly in the last five minutes as they did through the whole game and after all, in the final analysis, that is the essence of sportsmanship.
---   See where a fat, wealthy, brainless society matron wed herself to a negro cook. The unfortunate woman was of a high class family, had a daughter that was going to wed in top society and a son in college. You can bluster all you want to about race equality, but incidents of this kind set the cause back a hundred years. The dumb woman was just plum crazy. No matter what, no woman wants to degrade her children.
========================

October 5, 1950
   Instead of using barb wire for entanglement during warfare, the government should use some of the scatter rugs that are in front of your shaving mirror.
---   The quick and seemingly easy end of the Korean war brought joy, except to those who had sons that will never come back.
---   See where a gal named Jean Copello stole 174 handkerchiefs and 170 dish towels from her employer. She told the police that she suffered from hay fever. What Jean really needed was a judicial ditch.
---   Every other republican you meet says it's a walk away for Youngdahl. Don't be so sure, boys. Remember what happened to Dewey. Get on your toes if you want to see the governor re-elected and stay there until Nov. 7th.
---   A big drug firm messed things up the other day and filled castor oil bottles with a deadly poison. The front pages of the newspapers had headlines: "'Castor Oil' is Poison." Every kid has been saying that ever since we can remember.
---   This county of Murray was a fisherman's paradise in the late '70's. The Currie paper of 1878 carried the following item from its Lake Sarah correspondent: "Over 1,500 pickerel were speared in Lake Sarah the past two weeks. Some of them weighed over 21 lbs." You fishermen of today were born seventy years too late.
---   A few months ago everybody was humming or quoting a new song, "Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think." The song, or rather the title, was later than you think. Confucius who lived five hundred years before Christ was born wrote the above words of wisdom and thought. Not much new under the heavens, is there?
---   A New York woman was working nights and her hubby had to take care of the children. Being strictly modern, he asked the wife for some pay as a baby sitter. She refused. He slapped her, and she had him arrested. Everybody is tumbling over themselves to sign a petition to send to Berlin telling the Germans about our so-called freedom, when we should be signing petitions to aid the abused men.
---   The mental qualifications for a soldier are placed at such a high figure to the army that fifty per cent of the draftees in North Dakota were turned down. A man may not belong to a fraternity or have a college degree, but give some of them a rifle or sit them in an armored truck or gun and they'll do a pretty good job of helping save the country for the rest of us.
---   Out here in the rural districts we pay no more attention to the atomic bomb than we do to a heavy wind. In the cities it is different. The folks are having many a sleepless night. They fully realize their danger. A bomb in the city of New York will mean the death of hundreds of thousands of humans. Machinery is already in motion to alleviate the suffering and damage. Maybe we did not do such a smart thing after all in producing the atomic bomb.
---   The first thing the United Nations should do at the next meeting should be the organizing of a United Nations Foreign Legion of 200,000 men. Put professional fighting men in every branch of warfare. Have all equipment ready at hand for instant use and when a fuss starts up like it did in Korea, shoot them over. Organize after the pattern of a modern fire department: by getting there first the fire laddies save lives and property. Thirty thousand casualties of American lads, some of them ill trained, is too big a price to pay for a short war in another country.
---   Senator Oscar Swenson of Nicollet county is leading a one man crusade against Governor Youngdahl and the republican party in general in Minnesota. Oscar has been a top man in the organization for many years and has been more than kindly treated by the party. He's mad because the governor did not promote Oscar's son to the job that was vacated by the late Trovatten, a job for which is but ill fitted. Oscar has always taken his emoluments from the party and he's had a lot of them, and this turn about face shocks some of old friends. Better withdraw when there is yet time. You're getting old, Oscar, and you should know that you are leading a forlorn hope.
========================

October 12, 1950
   Sympathy and sentiment cut but little figure in a World Series.
---   See where dressed turkeys were selling for 39 cents a pound last week and common ordinary beef liver was getting 59 cents: remember the days when you could get all the liver you wanted for nothing at the butcher shops. When you bought three pounds of beef steak for a quarter, the man behind the block would throw in a piece of liver larger than the beef steak.
---   Both Stassen and Truman write too many letters that come back and hit them right smack in the face. The old adage in politics was, when you want to say anything real mean about a guy, say it to him, don't write.
---   Another freak of nature for 1950 was the absence of the box-elder bug: maybe they have got into action in the backfields of some of the football teams.
---   See where many a baby's eyesight has become faulty owing to the ashes from the cigarettes their fond mamas are smoking dropping into the defenseless eyes. Well, there's still Spearhead and Horseshoe for those high strung dames who rely on the weed to soothe their aching nerves.
---   Something screwy about that Korean war and the part Russia played. Writers are scoffing at Russia for its feeble aid it gave the Reds. Russia did not deem this the proper time or place. There was a time in the scrap when two or three squadrons of Russian airplanes would have made a lot of difference, especially when our troops were landing.
---   Harry Peterson who is lacking campaign material took a crack at Staff King last week for keeping too much state money on deposit in the banks. Staff came back and made a monkey of the political-minded Peterson. Mr. King knows the state finances better than any other we have had and one thing about him is that he's always willing to tell you about it in a sane and sensible manner.
---   No president in our time has made as many political blunders as Truman. He seems to be able to say and write the wrong thing at the wrong time, but there's still a lot of what we call human understanding in him that takes off a lot of heat. He has a grass roots slant that appeals to a lot of folks.
---   The Minnesota university has a robot with a mechanical brain: the regents should lend it to the football team some Saturday afternoon.
---   All the stories you have heard about the Scots being tight, financially, are untrue. There is no foundation for this myth. Last week a Scotsman came to New York. The customs man gave him the once over, one of those caustic insinuating affairs. Finally the officer said to the wary Scotsman, "Can you prove that this woman with you is your wife?" This perked the Scot up, and he said, "I'll gi' ye ten pounds if ye can prove she ain't." And you tell with glee that the Scots are tight.
---   There's no use disguising the fact that your country is getting ready for war. In a way we are paying the penalty for our almost complete disarmament. The clutch is in high gear right now and we are getting ready for the first real war in our history. Most of our wars have been on foreign soil. This time the airplane atomic bombs are just across the street from us and the nerve-racking task of getting the people to understand and appreciate conditions is under way in the large eastern cities. Over a million persons will be employed in the war plants before the year is over.
---   The drunken driver arrests have increased 900 percent in Minneapolis in five years; they'll have to start making slower whisky or make a six-month jail sentence mandatory. Minnesota drinkers who drive get off with a $100 fine. Over in Iowa the toll is $300.
---   The superintendent of schools in Los Angeles, Cal., dampened the gesture of the American Legion last week. The boys were holding their convention at that city and had eighteen speakers dated up for that number of schools, to tell the young men and women the necessity of military training, but the supt. of schools cancelled all the dates. The old guy seems to be more interested in junior and senior proms than he is in our country
========================

October 19, 1950
   Standard equipment for the Minnesota football team should be some long handled butterfly nets.
---   The American Legion, following the lead of the Marines, took a healthy swat at Acheson last week. That guy must have a hide like an elephant.
---   Truman may have his faults, most people do, but he still seems to have that human touch. He stopped his flight to Wake Island, an important one it was, long enough to see his sister installed as Grand Matron of the Eastern Star in Missouri. Can't call it a political move either, as he often sheds his office mantle to get down to the grass roots people.
---   The butter surplus is twice as large as it has ever been. Why don't the big shots in the industry spend a little money in advertising. The oleo folks seemed to have pretty fair success with the newspaper and radio. If it's a good product, better than oleo or all other imitations, tell the people about it. There's lots of folks in these United States that have never seen a cow.
---   See where the brass hats had to shove young lads into the front rank of the Marines who only had five weeks training: it takes two years of study and work before you can get a barber's license in Minnesota.
---   There were more cheers on the gridirons last Saturday afternoon than there has been or will be for the young men who offered their bodies in Korea, so that we can have the football fields to play on.
---   An 11 year old boy was killed last week while driving a tractor. Which brings up the question, isn't a lad of that age pretty young to be driving a potential death weapon.
---   Gorgeous fall weather was our portion last week, beautified by the changing colors of the trees. Too bad we can't have a month or so of the same. It would shorten the winter and the fuel bill.
---   The Lake Wilson Pony football team went up against a bigger and stronger Magnolia last Friday afternoon. There was no stopping the Ponies. They ran into the Mags and ran around them with perfect ease. The score started mounting, so the coach put in the yearlings, then the foals and even the half pints scored. Coach Fisher started looking and many a mother who had her boy baby in the auto rushed and locked the door. The score Lake Wilson 52, Magnolia 16. If Cedric had been there he would have shed tears, but not tears of joy.
---   Here's a little advice to youth. It came from an unusual place and may not be heeded by you, but it's sound, even it may be quaint. It comes from a tombstone in the Bethany Lutheran Church in Lake Sarah twp., one of the oldest cemeteries in the county. The Roamer went there last week on another mission. Douglas, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Drew, was drowned while spearing muskrats back in 1879, and while the neighbors were trying to recover the body, his mother sat on the bank of the lake and watched the efforts. While there she wrote a poem, or rather epitaph, for her son's tombstone. This epitaph was engraved on the stone, but the stone was of soft marble and the elements had erased ninety per cent of the words engraved thereon. But along side of Doug's grave was that of his grandfather, James Drew, who died at the age of 95. Engraved on his modest stone was:
  "Remember Youth As You Pass By
  As You are Now So Once Was I.
  As I Am Now, You Soon Will Be.
  Prepare The Way and Follow Me." The tombstone was erected in 1886. The Roamer remembers the old gentleman. Once a circuit rider, with his Bible strapped to the pommel of his saddle. Mrs. Drew lived several years in Lake Wilson in the twilight of her life, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. M. E. Lang.
---   Saw the Cedric Adams show at Worthington last week. The big high school auditorium was crowded to the gills. About three hundred folks sat in seats at the rear of the stage. He had a pretty fair show, but the people did not come to see the show. They came to see Cedric, and he was the show. A superb M.C., he handles his show cleverly, and besides being a good showman with his little chuckle and the little quirk or something, he is one of the most popular men in the northwest. No man in the state except perhaps those in religious, political or national organizations has as large a personal following. His many acts of kindness to the shut ins and the unfortunates have brought happiness and joy into many a home that he never saw, and besides he ain't bad as a radio announcer. Some folks don't like him, but there's a lot of folks in the world that don't like you, either.
========================

October 26, 1950
   Minnesota needs a new coach or a new football team.
---   According to the Minnesota Opinion Poll, Youngdahl was so far ahead that there is not chance of beating him. Heard a story like that two years ago: Gallup was the story teller.
---   Florida folks have been fleeing for their lives of late, trying to get inland and out of the path of incoming hurricanes. Some of the hurricanes arrived, some didn't, but the one that arrived killed two people and did millions of dollars worth of damage: far more loss than caused by any of "terrible" blizzards. We all seem to have something.
---   We're in favor of a law against pinchers. Those folks who go into the average store and pinch everything in sight: vegetables, we are referring to. They pinch the head lettuce, the tomatoes, the oranges and most important of all the bread. They pinch it so hard that it gets to crooked you can't get it into the toaster. One loaf had fingerprints of ten women.
---   Sportsmen in the Balaton, Lynd, Tyler, Russell and Lake Benton area are busy raising $3,000. If they raise that amount the state will put in a dam between Lynd and Russell, creating a lake that will be 18 feet in depth. Some day after we have departed hence there will be a movement to put in a motor, attach it to the high line, and start pumping water from the ditch into Lake Wilson.
---   The new hunting signs gotten out by the Murray County Conservation League are the best yet. They tell the hunter to ask the farmer permission to hunt on his land. When a hunter gets face to face with the farmer there's a tendency on his part to see that the gates are closed, no tramping down of grain and no taking pot shots at domestic fowl or animals. Result: a better feeling all around.
---   See were 400 medical men, etc. are called into service. Seems like a smart thing to do would be to release "Dr." Norman McLeod from jail and send him to the front. Don't seem sense to send a man to jail when he is working for the benefit of humanity. The medical association should take him by the hand and help make a doctor out of him: one with M.D. and all the trimmings. For Heaven's sake, give us sense, not prejudice or pride.
---   This section was flooded one day last week by an issue of the Worthington Globe of about fifty pages, telling of the progress of that city in the last decade. The Globe did a swell job on its special addition, but one could not help but do that for as fine a progressive a town as Worthington: the largest business center between Mankato and Sioux Falls. Can't forget the fine cartoon by Perry Carter the old Mpls. Trib. man. Gosh he must be 80, but his work is just as good as it was fifty years ago.
---   The "War Atrocities" stories make the headlines and cause bitter comment. They show up how thin the veneer of civilization is, and along the lines of battle atrocities man never seems to change. There has been war atrocities ever since man started fighting and they will continue till the end of time. Man is a brute when he's filled with battle lust and hatred. Close to home we have had examples. Over at Wounded Knee in S. Dak., remember when our boys in blue turned their new Hotchkiss repeaters on 200 squaws and children that were out in the open. The chivalry of the south died at the gates of Andersonville prison, where the northern soldiers were brutally starved to death and where water was placed just outside their reach. They would be shot dead if they tried to get a drink. Sorry and regretfully we must admit the cruelest animal in the world today is man.
---   The annual argument over the date to observe Thanksgiving Day has been widely discussed and the governor of Texas, who must be a candidate this year, has proclaimed both Nov. 23rd and Nov. 30th Thanksgiving Days, which ought to help the turkey business in that state. But after all what difference does it make. Thanksgiving Day, originally a day when people could to church and render thanks to God for his many blessings in the year past. A day set aside in worship and reverence. Thanksgiving in the year of our Lord 1950 has a different pattern. It is a day given over to an orgy of gluttony. We deem it our duty when invited out to gorge ourselves with food and then lay around either on the bed or couch, unable to carry on an intelligent conversation. Everybody vies with each other to tell the red faced hostess how grand the grub is, while they are stuffing themselves.
========================

November 2, 1950
   Never had a nicer spell of weather than we had last week: every day was a storm window day.
---   Minnesota had a new football team last Saturday and we can't remember a game bringing as much cheer and hope to the fans as the tie with Michigan.
---   Human nature is really funny, but is does run true to form. Remember when you were wed, you took but little interest in school doings. The folks pity you for your indifference. You never attended this or that connected with the school. Years passed by and soon your boys and girls were in high school. You pricked up your ears, got all het up about games you really knew but little about, and cheered until you were hoarse. You could not understand why people in the district were not more interested in the school doings either indoors or outdoors. They were not either civic minded or loyal to the school. You would drive through the cold nights to games and keep warm on the way home by rapping the folks who did not attend games. When the team won the sun shone brighter. When it lost there were so many excuses that the sun was darkened. Years passed, you kid left school and your interest waned, and the folks are saying the same thing about you that you used to say about the group before. Human nature is funny, but it runs surprisingly true to form.
---   Our state supreme court is reckless with its hyphens. A while back it gave two to a political-minded brother. Last week it took away one from a newly-wed couple in Renville county. An old farmer re-wed after the death of his mate of 47 years. He was fairly well along in life and married a woman somewhat his junior. She was up-to-date and naturally wanted a washing machine and a refrigerator. His kin folk, that was paw's folks, objected to the deal and asked for a guardian for the old gentleman. The case was up before the supreme court last week and in its wisdom decided that the old man was "dominated" by the woman, and appointed a guardian. If the Minnesota supreme court is going to put a guardian over every female-dominated home, they'll be late for supper every night, and there and then they will discover that there is female domination in the cities as well as out in the sticks.
---   The Lake Wilson high school lost to Adrian Friday after it had the game within its grasp. It was a tough slap bang game. Never saw so many players helped from a game. None of them seemed badly hurt, except one young Adrian guy (the passer): he hobbled around the field on one leg with that "Die for Good Ole Rutgers" spirit. Enough energy and ambition was spilled out on the field last Friday afternoon to carry in all the coal and saw all the wood needed in Lake Wilson for ten years.
---   The Community Chest for the county is getting ready for the fall campaign. This is a fine organization and is the best method yet for giving some sort of equal distribution of subscriptions. We notice some new organizations in the Chest makeup for this year, and we humbly think that every one of the organizations soliciting through the county chest should furnish a complete account of their aim and ambitions, just how much money they receive and just where, when, and why it was spent.
---   Cortisone, the new drug for arthritis, will soon be within the reach of all. This drug will ease the pain and suffering, as well as lighten the pocket book. No honor too great can be bestowed on the discoverer of this new drug. But they'll never get anything and will be forgotten in a few years. Doctors are funny guys anyway. They spend most of their time doing preventive work to keep you from having disease, the thing on which they live. Don't mean to infer that they have to eat oatmeal and milk for breakfast every day in the week.
---   B. A. Swenson, the guy who lost his job in the state agricultural dept., is still pouring dirt on Youngdahl. B. A. says there was dirt in one hospital he visited, a piece of bread and a hunk of cheese and of all things, a mouse. He wants Youngdahl to get a broom and sweep all the hospitals himself. Everyone realizes that no one wants dirt around the hospital nor any place else, but you will find some at times in the best of homes. There's always that time of the day when the good wife is not full of delight when someone calls. If the governor had fired some of the incompetent help, Bernie would be running around shouting, "He's Unfair to Labor." He's that type. We even have mice out here in the sticks at this time of year, but our mice don't make the front page of the dailies. Seems as if an intelligent man could find something else to criticize instead of the error of a janitor or charwoman: they're hitting the bottom of the barrel now.
========================

November 9, 1950
   When you notice the number of cars on the highways and the reckless and indifferent driving of today, one cannot help but wonder how the death rate is so low.
---   That Minnesota football team looked terrible last Saturday afternoon. They did not seem to know what it is all about. Looks as if we're stuck with it for two or three years.
---   The new 400 train that was recently put into service on the Tracy line is not living up to expectations and it might be cancelled. A lot of Balaton, Garvin and Tracy folks hope the old service would be resumed.
---   This country of ours is in a real war field now. Things are tightening up almost as bad as they were in World War II. Many hospitals in the state are feeling the pinch of war and many will be unable to operate on account of lack of beds, surgical equipment, X-ray machine, etc. It is a sad blow to many communities who have given their efforts and energy for the new hospitals. Yep, war is hell in more ways than one.
---   The army seems to have been caught with its pants down in Korea, and the result was a severe setback with the loss of additional lives. What was all the hurry? If there is one service in the government that needs a complete overhauling, it is our intelligence department.
---   When you think about the Chinese Communist troops now putting up a real scrap in North Korea, you must remember that the U.S. had the opportunity at the time to provide a National army with ammunition and supplies that would have kept the Commies in their own home back yard. But we muffed the opportunity.
---   The vicious attack by two Puerto Ricans in front of the Blair house at Washington, D.C. where the president lives was evidently started on the spur of the moment. Crafty conspirators would have made more complete plans. Anyway, the world rejoices that they were tripped up in their berserk attack.
---   Some folks are always ribbing the local paper, saying "There's never any news in the darned thing." But a lot of times they look with eagerness to see if their names are mentioned about some escapade. You'd be surprised how often you ask someone about a news item, they'll say, "Please don't put that in the paper."
---   Halloween night and following morning was quietly observed here: the young are behaving like little ladies and gentlemen. Some of the older ones acted up a little different. They demolished lots of outbuildings. Unfortunately these buildings belonged to folks that could not afford the loss thrust upon them and some of the buildings were utterly demolished, even buildings owned by women did not escape the ravages of the barbarous force and one irate citizen threatened to take his trouble to the courts. Boys will be boys sometimes and girls ditto, but why wreak your excess spirits on the lower five.
---   Over at Worthington, Halloween morons went the limit. Besides painting the chief of police' house black, some of them applied fast-drying enamel on the hoods and sides of new cars. City officials, as soon as they heard of it, hauled the cars to the city shops, where those that got there in time were cleaned up. The others not noticed will need a new paint job. The prankists stole about fifty dollars from some of the car owners whose autos were badly smeared. Remember, every time you damage your neighbor's property you might just as well stick your hand in his pocket and take out the money.
---   Battle deaths in the Korean theatre of war continue to mount. As of Oct. 29th, the total amount of casualties was 26,701. The total dead was 4,423: the missing 4,336, and this number will be augmented by the setbacks of last week. The total number of battle deaths in the Revolutionary war was 4,044. In the Spanish American War 498 men were killed in action, but the Yellow Fever and other diseases accounted for 5,773 [?] deaths. The Civil war was a bloody affair. The total battle deaths amount to 440,000 [?] in the armies of the North. In World War II, the battle deaths amounted to 201,367. Seems a shame to think so many men were sacrificed in the last war and their efforts seem to have been in vain.
---   One of the articles of everyday use that has dropped out of sight within the last twenty years is the watch. Time was when every man carried a watch, with a big gold chain strung across his midriff, crowning glory of which was the charm. It was generally a fraternal charm, but the big one was the double elk tooth of the Elks. Then there was the little gold case that hung from the bar, the watch bar. Some contained a device for clipping the ends from your cigars, another wee case contained a gold toothpick, for it was no dishonor to pick teeth in public in the old days, another little case had an ear spoon. This was in a different category than the toothpick. You generally used the spoon when you were alone. When the wrist watch came in, everybody sneered at a guy that wore one, he was dubbed a "sissy" behind his back. Women had the same watch trend as men. They hung their watches on the most prominent front part of their anatomy and proudly wore them as if it had been the "Distinguished Service Medal." Watch chains are seen no more. They have followed in the trail of the bison.
========================

November 16, 1950
   The most of us were taught, and others accumulated, respect and deference for a judge of the supreme court of Minnesota. After listening and watching the campaign put up by Harry Peterson, one comes to the conclusion that some of the judges are made from the same yellow clay as the rest of us.
---   The biggest political fight for a half a century was the one won by Robt. Taft in Ohio. Pitted against him were the CIO, American Federation of Labor and the Railway Brotherhood, yet he won out by over 500,000 votes. They call him "Mr. Republican:" his title should be "Mr. American."
---   There's been a lot of discussion over the observance of Armistice Day. A lot of towns kept open, some closed for two or three hours and some for the day. One of the finest ways to observe Armistice Day would be to install a blood bank in every county seat of Minnesota on that day and by contributing our blood would be paying homage to the dead and succor the lads that are fighting our battles.
---   The close race for the office of county attorney brought on talk of recount, which brought out some of the oddities of a Minnesota law that just don't sound sense. If you desire a recount, you apply to the district court judge. If granted, the contestant puts up a bond to pay the expense. If he loses, he pays all the costs, but if he wins, his opponent, who has been declared elected by the canvassing board, has to pay all the expenses. Looks as if the county that has supplied the election officers that erred should pay the costs, and not the poor guy that has been the winner for a week or so.
---   The most controversial subject in western Murray county is the U.S. installation of "something" just south of Chandler. the hush-hush sign is on. A big heavy wire fence surrounds the new plant, and overall hangs an air of mystery. A well over 1,100 feet deep has kept a crew busy for months. A water tank is in the course of construction and many other buildings are going up. Streets are being laid out. Workmen come and go daily. Stories keep filtering out. One is that it is part of radar belt, some say it is to be a radar school. Soldiers are to be stationed there, judging by the barracks that are going up, but whatever it is we'll bet that Joe Stalin knows more about it than the folks do that live here.
---   The change of vote in the farm areas has been laid to various issues, but there is one that has been overlooked by the experts. Farmers do not want their sons to go to war. It's hard enough to keep the boys on the farm in this day and age, and when you take the last one it means a crisis. And the next day out comes a sale bill stating, "My son has been called into service and I have quit farming." That strikes deeply into the heart of his neighbors, and then to top it all Truman comes out for universal training. One thing a lot of farmers did in this election was to forget the promised high prices for the love of his sons. By this, we are not inferring that all country-raised boys should not respond to the call of duty, as well as those that live in the cities.
---   "'The veteran Bob Forrest, sage of the Lake Wilson Pilot, pertinently asks: "Why don't the 'big shots' in the butter industry spend a little money in advertising? The oleo folks seemed have pretty fair success with the newspaper and radio. If it's a good product, better and oleo or all the other imitations, tell the people about it. There's lots of folks in these United States that have never seen a cow." . . . Bob might have added that there are plenty of folks in this country who depend on cows for their principal source of livelihood but whose family consumption of dairy products is not what it should be,' comments Editor Art Suelsin in his New Prague Times."--Jackson County Pilot. That statement unfortunately is true. Better Homes & Gardens, a national magazine with millions of readers, had in its November issue the following advertising: oleo and substitutes 384 inches, butter 0. All of which would indicate that some farmers believe in advertising.
---   The members of the board of county commissioners of Murray county are up against a real problem. The new Murray County Memorial hospital is now ready for occupancy, but there are no beds. The federal government, or rather the war department, brushed aside the board's order for beds given several months ago, as it did with some other equipment. The firm with which the board placed the order for beds has notified the commissioners that at the soonest it will not be able to deliver the beds until next May. One group of citizens urges waiting until the new hospital can be fully equipped with new modern hospital beds, etc. before the hospital is dedicated. The other group favors the board going ahead with what beds, etc. it can secure. Dr. Pierson of Slayton has kindly offered the board the beds now in use in the Home hospital and any other equipment that could be utilized. The latter group points out that emergency beds could be purchased so that there would be enough for every room. It also suggests that maintaining the hospital will be an additional bill of expense as there will be a superintendent and other employees, fuel, etc. They also state that the new hospital is fireproof, which should offset the inconvenience and pride lost in new equipment and there is this to remember, that the rate the government is calling for men there is not telling when the new beds will arrive.
========================

November 23, 1950
   Tyler's new school bonds went like hot cakes. The net interest cost is 1.986%. The district had recently voted bonds for a $325,000.00 school building.
---   The election contest in the county will be of interest to a lot of folks. There has always been a doubt over the accuracy of election officials, after a long tiresome day and night, doing something that they are not accustomed in every day life. This contest will either prove or disprove their insinuations.
---   The action of some of the big radio companies in trying to prohibit the showing of colored pictures in the TV programs reminds us of the days when farm hands busted up the McCormick reapers because they were taking the bread out of their mouths. Progress is hard to stop in the United States.
---   There were thrills galore in the Minnesota Purdue game last Saturday afternoon. The home team started out rather dull as usual, but in the second half the team got on fire and put up a game that would be a credit to any football team in the conference. Some say they won it for Bierman. Following up that line of reasoning, if Bernie had quit the first game of the season, they would be headed for the Rose Bowl now.
---   Minneapolis and the Railroad & Warehouse commission are having a heck of a time over streetcar fares. Why not try letting the company set its own prices. If they charge too much, folks won't ride them. Just because they need a license, that should not take away their right to make their own prices. You need a license to sell booze, to shave, sell milk, wash eggs and a lot of other foolish licenses in the village of Lake Wilson, but no one dictates what price shall be charged.
---   If you ever want to run for office in Murray county, try for the offices of sheriff or clerk of court. Murray county has had only six sheriffs and six clerks of court since the county was organized seventy-eight years ago. The office that has had the most candidates and winners is that of coroner. Murray county has had sixteen coroners since 1872. There has been fourteen men and women in charge of the schools in the county.
---   A real rumpus has started in a town in Washington. The school supt. warned a pupil to refrain from smoking on the school grounds. Like a lot of kids of today he just laughed at him. So the supt. grabbed the kid, took him over his knee face downward and, on that place of painful memories to most of you, administered a paddle. Paw got all riled up and had the supt. arrested. The rest of the teachers say if he is found guilty they'll quit. The board is standing by the teacher. But you know how the folks are today. The kids can do no wrong. Different than it was sixty years ago when children were seen but not heard.
---   Last season was an expensive one as far as baseball was concerned for the town of Aberdeen, S.D. The "Pheasants" went over $12,000 in the hole. The new president has a real job. Besides raising funds for next year he has also get the twelve grand, and paying for a dead horse is not what you would call an American pastime. The First Night league felt the pinch of paying fancy salaries and the coming season will see more home players in every team. They will have to do that if they want to survive. Four towns clustered together as Fulda, Slayton, Iona and Wilmont are just can't get by with expensive payrolls. There are not enough baseball fans in the area.
---   All of which brings back a similar occurrence in Lake Wilson. A boy came running home from school one day crying because the teacher spanked him. The mother got all het up and shouted to her husband, "That s-o-b of a teacher licked our boy." The husband started for the school house, a big one-room affair crowded with kids, and put on a demonstration. The teacher had the man arrested. He was fined a total of $7.50. But the worst part was, he did not have the money and had to mortgage his cow to Matt Lang to get the money to pay his fine. But he had this consolation: it wasn't his fault--the "woman" had egged him on.
---   The war in Korea is the most unpopular war in the history of the U.S. No one seems to be interested in it except for those that have boys there or on the way. For the first time, war correspondents have been able to tell the truth without pulling any punches. From the day we first pulled out our troops it has been one of bungling. Landing untrained troops with guns whose shells rattled off the enemy's tanks like peas, advancing too far, then being cut off, lack of air power for the infantry, costly retreats, the Battle of the Bulge fiasco, not providing men with warm clothing in 19 below zero weather that has resulted in hundreds of cases of frozen hands and feet all of which brings pain and anguish to many, that is, the folks who have lads in uniform. As a class, frankly speaking we're not interested. We seem to be more interested in football, playing cards, high prices and profits, basketball, trips, etc. than we area in the war. More cheers were given on a hundred gridirons last Saturday afternoon than will be given for the lads whose blood stains Korean soil. But as long as it isn't our boy, what the hell do we care: some day we will.
========================

November 30, 1950
   One thing we notice as the years go by is that the youngsters are getting a real course in salesmanship.
---   Westbrook and Lakefield are both pretty happy: they dedicated their hospitals last week. Worthington's new $1,000,000 dollar hospital will stand empty until next summer. Reason: no heating system.
---   The price of poultry is going down next month. Anyway the government is withdrawing the price support. The department claims that poultry raisers, instead of raising normal crops, raised more and more poultry, so the department is going back to the old law of supply and demand.
---   We'd have liked to see Bierman go out with a smile on his face, but it was anything but that on Sunday afternoon in his talk over the radio. Instead of saying "Goodbye, boys" to his football team, he still kept pecking away at them for their faults of last Saturday.
---   The Service Men's column will be found on the last page this week. You'll find a little item of interest there from one of the boys. Say mother, if you get a letter from your lad why not send a part of it at least to the Service Men's Mail Box.
---   There are some towns in Minnesota that are going to find taxes a little higher than anticipated. The State Tax commission has stepped in and raised, or rather equalized, taxes in some southwestern towns. Tracy, for instance, was raised forty per cent by the commission.
---   The army clamped down a tight censorship on all war news from Korea. Poor McArthur, what a boner he pulled. "You're going home, boys" has been changed by the Reds who pushed the Yanks back all along the line. It was a blow that's going to take some time to straighten out, and worst of all a lot of American young lads will not survive the coming fighting which promises to be bitter.
---   An appalling railroad wreck took the lives of 76 passengers in New York last week. They are blaming everything except the right thing, and that is "speed." Every one of those commuters had been shouting cut down the time, we want to get home. Speed is also the cause of most of our auto deaths. We've just got to go on high these days: there's neither low nor intermediate in our present mode of living.
---   Went down to Slayton Saturday to visit an old friend, Jacob Keller of St. Paul, who was visiting at the home of his son Frank. Jake and the Roamer were elected directors of the Murray County Fair Ass'n. back in 1912, and we are the only ones that are still alive. In the same house was another old timer, Herman Yeager; he was visiting his daughter Mrs. Keller. We asked his age, he said 89. Then we asked Jake his age and he said 89. They were born two weeks apart. No moral to this at all here. We thought we were old with our 78 years. There's always somebody taking the joy out of life.
---   No matter how big you get or how big you are, you sometimes take a tumble. Take McArthur for instance. He said last week that he would have "the boys home for Christmas." It sounded more like a politician than it did a soldier. Every normal person knows that it is impossible to remove that many troops in a month. Unless we do has been done before, leave all gear to rust and ruin. McArthur's lip service also did another thing that made him about as unpopular as a dose of itch to a bridegroom, was the fact that the big boys took advantage of his statement to send the market down to the worst of the year. Soy beans for instance took a licking of fourteen cents a bushel.
---   Miracles do happen these days. Over at Pipestone a new street lighting system has just been installed after much wrangling and argument with some of the business men. The lights went on two weeks ago. What happened? A page ad in the Pipestone Star paid for by the business men congratulating the village council for the splendid job they did with the new lighting system. Not very often you see or even hear of action like this. In Lake Wilson, for instance, for the first time since the waterworks were installed there was an ample water supply all through the hot August days, but you never even heard a kindly word or even a gesture by the citizenry. If they had, no doubt the council would have keeled over.
---   There's been a lot of difference between the high prices and the low prices in farm products through the years. Here is one that as far as prices are concerned just about beats the record. Back in 1888, the county board asked for bids on the county printing for that year. A county seat fight between Slayton and Currie was a boiling and the editors just a hatin' one another. They were using blue vitriol for ink. When the commissioners opened the bids in January it had one from L. C. Herr of Slayton who agreed to do all the county printing for 1888 for one cent. J. a. Maxwell of Currie agreed to do all the county printing for one-half cent. The board was on the fence, but one wise member suggested as there was no such thing as a half cent, they would have to take Herr's bid of one cent, which was done. The same work today costs the county over $2,000.
========================

December 7, 1950
Why Don't They Take The Town Boys? A farmer asked this question the other day. The town boys, that is the boys of Lake Wilson, have been doing more than their share. Let's take a look at the record at the present time. Eight young men from this little village of 400 are now in the service: seven of them enlisted men. Three of these youngsters have brothers who gave their lives in World War II. In World War II, six Lake Wilson lads paid the supreme sacrifice: all of them killed in action. Howard W. Bedford was killed in a landing craft at Corregidor. Can't hardly forget him. A letter we had written him came back to us in February 1945 with the sad notation, "Killed in Action." Gordon B. Olson died a heroic death in Germany. His parents were awarded posthumous medals and citation for his fine war record. The Roamer used to work for his grandfather when we were young. Herman J. Nett, a quiet neighbor lad, who had the chance to be released from service while he was in Germany, but refused. Another of the Roamer's letters addressed to him came back with the sad notation. Harold A. Johnson met his death in Italy. The Roamer knew his grandfather and his great grandfather. Then there was Marvin Kahnk and Edward W. Beers. Marvin met his death in far off Okinawa and Ed. in the fateful Battle of the Bulge. They were our home town boys, whose graves are scattered far and wide, but who died with their faces to the enemy. They were all kids that we had known since they were infants, and deeply resent anyone shouting, "Why Don't They Take The Town Boys," if he refers to Lake Wilson.
---   We called the Murray county draft board office Monday morning. Twenty men have been sent into service from Murray county at that time. Please look at the list of names of boys that have already gone from Lake Wilson and vicinity.
---   Acheson, here's your hat; take your umbrella and galoshes too, 'cause you ain't coming back.
---   MacArthur has lost face with a lot of Americans and he never can get it back. The Korean situation was made worse by his inefficiency and making that "Christmas" statement.
  Where were his intelligence men?
  Did he not have any spies across the border?
  What became of the air force, the eyes of the army?
  How can an enemy move 500,000 troops and the opponents not be aware of it?
  Those are the questions that a lot of folks have been asking of late. Worst of all, how did he come to be sucked into the retreat maneuver of the enemy. That play is as old as the hills. The Sioux used the same play back in 1876 when Custer and his men were wiped out in the battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana.
---   The worst disease we Americans have is not cancer or consumption. It is politics. We're right now in a stage when a man must forget that he is a Democrat or Republican. You can't keep on with your "Business As Usual" signs when the fate of your nation hangs in the balance.
---   Congress is laboring with an excess profit tax. The corporations should be made to pay, after a reasonable profit has been deducted. The big boys must remember that too much capitalism is sometimes as deadly to a nation as too much socialism. Too many nations have gone down because they refused to recognize changing conditions.
---   The use of the atomic bombs in warfare seems to be a question of geography. Out here in the wide spaces country you'll hear many a citizen urge their use. If you live in New York, Chicago, Detroit or any densely populated section the cry is "Don't use them, it is inhuman." Britain and France are against the use of the atomic bombs: they know they would be the first to suffer.
---   "Believe it or Not," Don Warren has one of them. Last Thursday he took four head of livestock to Sioux Falls and came home and loaded up four more and trucked them to Sioux City. The truck load that went to Sioux Falls weighed exactly 3,090 pounds, and the truck load that went to Sioux City to the same firm weighed exactly 3,090 pounds.
---   Westbrook dedicated its 16 room hospital last week. This is a home and farm community hospital in the very broadest sense of the word. Everyone in town and farmers surrounding gave generously of funds and time. To the women as usual goes a tribute for their hard and unceasing work. Ten units of farm and town women gave their all for the project. These ten units raised nearly eight thousand dollars, and that was outside of the regular donations. Their hospital is a living monument to the community spirit of America.
---   See where the Minnesota society is asking in its quiz program, "What company of a Minnesota regiment put up breast works near Oakwood Lakes in S.D. during the Indian Wars?" It could be the 1st Reg. Mtd. Rangers. In its history on file in the state capitol or historical society, you'll find this terse paragraph: "Several Indian scalps were taken."
---   Right now is the time to buy some Christmas cards for the lads in the service. You'll find their names on the back page of this issue. Don't just sign your name to the card: add a friendly greeting of your own.
========================

December 14, 1950
   There's not one young man left in Lake Wilson that is eligible for service: the barrel is empty.
---   The United States seems to have paid more attention to the development of captains of industry than to leaders in statesmanship. We've just been money crazy for the last twenty years.
---   The Murray County Memorial hospital was dedicated formally at the Slayton high school auditorium on Tuesday. Another step in progress made by the citizens of Murray county.
---   Even if they are our enemies, one can't help but admire the Chinese Reds. Marching always through zero weather and living on rice. Perhaps we should train on rice instead of beef steak. Another thing about the Chinamen, you don't hear of any war atrocities.
---   As to Korea, 99 per cent of the people out here want to yank the Yanks out of Korea and stay out. There's an undercurrent here that we are going to need all our energy to defend our own shores. Most farmers are paying more attention to war news than they do to the market report.
---   When you send that Christmas card to the boys in the service, why not cut out the names from the Pilot, and paste the address on the front of the envelope. It will be a lot easier for you and might avoid some mistakes. Add just a little note, it will make you and them feel a little more like Christmas time. You'll find the complete list in this issue.
---   We did not always agree with Franklin D. Roosevelt and a lot of folks seemed to feel the same way, but we miss his calm, dignified comforting voice on the air back in the days of World War II. More people listened to his informal chats during the war than to any of his major political speeches. They really were a power for good in those days of Pearl Harbor.
---   My, time does bring a lot of changes, some of them mortifying. Forty years ago the Chinese were the most humble and peaceful folks we had. They were meek as Uriah Heep; we acted as if they were worms beneath our feet. Today Uncle Sam with hat in hand is begging those same Chinese not to shoot any more at our American troops.
---   Folks are beginning to ask for more information and less salve from Washington as to what is going on in the world, especially where we are concerned. At the present time we are just baffled. One top hat says this, another top hat says that and the poor guy knows as much about it as he does where the ball is when a trio of colored boys are putting on the Pepper Pot exhibition before a ball game. We don't know who has the ball.
---   Most folks read the Bible at times, but if you want to get the best of the good book, read the best parts, the uplifting parts, the verses that leave the most with you. Try reading the 14th chapter of John, the 23 Psalm, the 103rd Psalm, the 5th chapter of Matthew and the 121st Psalm. But you'll find the best reading in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians. If you read this every day for six months it will leave you happier, contented and with more faith.
---   You've all read or listened to the savage attack on Paul Hume, a musical critic on the Washington Post, by President Truman. It might interest you to know that J. Russell Wiggins, the managing editor of the Post, was a former editor at Luverne. He was one of the most brilliant editors in the second district when he lived here and his many old friends here are proud of the advancement he has made in his profession. He delivered the Commencement Day address at the Lake Wilson high school in 1929.
---   Some young lads north of town are breeding a scab on their nose. For pure devilment they have been venting their exuberance of spirits on the rural mail boxes, and reports are that a bunch of boxes were attached recently. Uncle Sam is very particular about his rural mailboxes, so you'd better quit while there is yet time. It's going to be too late when you get before the bar of justice. It will be a disgrace to you, besides bringing shame to your parents, who by the way might be giving you a little more supervision at the time you really need it.
---   The average American has an interesting if not elevating habit of gossiping, or rather criticising, the neighbors. Of course you don't, but the average run of the mill American does. A group seldom meets without ribbing someone. A Canadian newspaper man caught the disease when he was over here, and when he got back home wrote the Saturday Evening Post, and let go of what a lot of our critics think, but it is not popular to write about. Writing about us, he said: "We were on the way to being the most unpopular nation on earth. We assume that our life is the basic form of human behavior. Everyone that does not march and think with us is out of step. We have never interested ourselves in foreigners. We worship at the feet of Mammon. We are the most unhappy people on earth in spite of our riches. We are not happy because we are never contented." No matter how indifferent we may be, we'll have to admit that the Canuck was telling us a mouthful.
========================

December 21, 1950
   Better be planning that garden for next year. From the looks of things, War gardens will be a must.
---   Well, Stassen did not seem to have much success in stopping the war. From the way this boy travels around, there can't be a heck of a lot of work in running a university.
---   Truman's last letter was sent to several states, saying that politics and political campaigns were never at as low an ebb as they were in the last election, worse than they had been since 1906: was that before or after that Kansas City election, Harry?
---   Years ago Jay Gould in his haste said, "The people be darned." He would run the railroads as he wanted to. The Ford and Chevrolet companies have hit the same low level, only they have changed the word people to "government."
---   Years ago we used to enjoy visits with the late B. I. Weld. Both being prairie raised, we talked of the old days, and both agreed that buckwheat cakes were missing. His son Doug must have listened in, he did several times, as we feasted last week on this old time delicacy of the '80's. Instead of the old gummy sorghum there was a can of maple syrup, etc. All of which brought back memories to the Roamer.
---   One of the important measures to come before the coming legislature is re-districting the state. As a compromise measure why not follow the plan of the federal government? Leave the senate as it is now and re-district the house members according to population: then neither the cities or the country would have the advantage. All legislation then would be on the basis of a compromise.
---   A big orchid goes this week to the ladies aid society of the Lake Wilson Lutheran church. They sent boxes filled with home-made cakes, cookies and candies and a little gift to every lad in the service from Lake Wilson and community, irrespective of creed. Doggone those women anyway, they're always making we men folks look like a bunch of heels. Left to the men, what would the lads get?
---   Had a train ride last week as far as the county seat, a trip that always got an item in the paper in the early days. The roads were a bit icy and slippery pavements and old age don't even blend. It was like old days. The crew gave me as much attention as George used to on No. 4. The men are younger than they were in '87 on the branch and more agreeable. LeRoy Seeley, the conductor, is a son of Clark Seeley of Westbrook, one of the early postmasters over there.
---   Did you ever listen to a good sermon on the radio? Try it some Sunday. Listened to a Lutheran preacher last Sunday and was he good. Sitting alone, it comes direct to "you." There's no smirking or looking around at the folks in front, wondering if they are getting it. He seemed to be talking right at you. Don't know the name of the pastor but he could certainly make a dent in that armor that folks build up through the years. The armor of indifference, to not only religion, but everything else.
---   The calling of the National Guard of Minnesota struck deep at many a good-sized town in Minnesota, and chaplains, doctors, lawyers, farmers and working men in these towns are making preparations to move on January 16th. The calling of the guard is only a drop in the bucket compared to what we'll see if we ever get on a full all-out war. Not a man fit for military service will be left. Old men and women will be called to take the places of those in the service. The "Business As Usual" signs have already started to come down. We are the hands of Fate and no one seems to know just what the future has in store.
---   Here's a good one. Over at the Indian school in Pipestone, a religious census was taken two weeks ago. A large majority of the pupils were affiliated with Christian churches, some did not belong to any church and seven were listed as adhering to native or pagan religions. In this small school, right under our nose you might say, are seven heathen youngsters raised in the United States. For years millions of dollars have poured into China to convert heathens so they could get intelligent enough to fight us. We should have been aiding the heathens in the U.S. Big fat men seldom see their own feet.
---   An untimely and an unkindly remark was made by the spokesman at the dedicatory hospital ceremonies at Slayton last week. In his talk he said, "The doctors would not run the hospital nor would the newspapers run the hospital." Why pick on the newspapers? Why not the lawyers, the farmers, the bankers or the candlestick makers. The Pilot has given the hospital project loyal and faithful support for the last six years and has printed columns for the project. The writer is not a spokesman for the newspapers in the county but we do read them carefully. and we can truthfully say that during the last five years we have seen or read no attempt to influence, sway or suggest the size or shape of the hospital, the architects, the color of the brick, the contractors or the staff. The building of the new hospital brought a lot of added work to the county board and it is to be congratulated for its labors. We have only the best of wishes for the new hospital and its staff and trust that it will be an aid to the sick and afflicted folks of Murray county.
========================

December 28, 1950
   Melvina De Kamm and Arnold De Kamm were united in marriage at Edgerton last week: there should be no heated disputes in that family.
---   A lot of the folks are wondering again. They wonder why the U.N. forces in Korea did not blast that big dam in Korea that furnishes power for that section of Manchuria. Could it be that American capital is involved?
---   Standing on an Emily Post book of etiquette this government does not know whether to ask Germany in as a partner or as a hired gladiator: there are times when we can't be too choosy.
---   Doc Suedkamp, president of the local board of education, does not always believe in "larning." He said last week that the worst thing that happened to Truman was the day he learned to write.
---   Derald Nepp who is an MP at Camp Custer visited us last week. He said the Pilot was the most popular newspaper in his company: a long way to go for a bouquet, but the flowers smell just as sweet.
---   Forty years ago Heron Lake was a bustling railroad town. The Pipestone branch was averaging forty passengers a day into the depot there. Now all is changed: the main line day trains don't even hesitate when they go thumping by the depot.
---   Right now is the time to start a school of practical nursing in every county in the state. Nearly every village or township has from three to a dozen women that with a little training would be valuable in time of sickness. If this threatened war does come, there will be a greater scarcity of nurses than there was in World War II.
---   The story of the cow jumping over the moon is null and void when it comes to getting into the higher brackets. Last week Fred Heins of Cameron township sold an aged bull, and it was aged at the stock yards, that netted him over $500.00: "them" hamburgers will have to be about the size of a corn plaster.
---   There are four Christmas orchids to be given. One to Arvid Hagen, your faithful county agent who won recognition in the national field for his fine work. Miss Myrna Ballinger, recently elected an official in state 4-H work. Miss Audrey James who was recently selected as secretary for the county superintendents in the state; and Harvey Horn of Cameron township for his fine promotion of 4-H club work.
---   As usual we were Santa Claus for the so-called Displaced Persons. Some of them won't even work on a farm. Remember two years ago, buckets of oral blood were shed because a DP doctor was not allowed to practice in violation of a state law. Don't hear so much about them, and Uncle Sam's men and women are looking for some new fad. Meanwhile we forget about our own Misplaced persons.
---   The most sensible member of the Truman family is Margaret. She realizes that when she appears in public she must take the boos and cheers. All artists and public officials must remember that the first thing on the bill-of-fare of the average American is the right to criticize. Margaret is the type of an American girl that we can all afford to be proud of.
---   Newcomers asked last week, who is Louie and Sylvia Kaplan that had a Christmas greeting in the Pilot? Louie and Sylvia started business in the old Beehive in this village. Moved to Iowa and started a chain of stores. Started a wholesale grocery in Sioux City, then a service company to five hundred stores. Now rated up in the million dollar class, but they never forgot the place where they started in business. Louie never got too big for his britches and still has a warm spot in his heart for the old town.
---   We live in a section that depends almost entirely on a strand of wire for our existence. On this strand of wire comes our heat, light and power. A tremendous responsibility. Winter storms sometimes take their vengeance out on this strand of wire and for a period of time we are isolated, so it was with eagerness that we looked forward to the building of the new power line from Granite Falls to Sioux Falls by the Northern States Power. The new line would be an assisting unit in the fight against the elements and accidents. The surveying for the new line was abruptly halted a couple of weeks ago by farmers who did not like the idea of a power line across their farms. Meetings have been held in some places, but everything will soon be cleared up so we can secure the new supporting line to the system we now enjoy.
---   See where Golling the public examiner added two more scalps to his belt a short time ago, when two top notchers in the road machinery business each paid $1,000 fines. Golling has started to curtail a custom that is as old as the state is itself. Our first United States Senator, Henry M. Rice, went to Washington to take his seat. He was confronted by the charge that while a government agent in Minnesota he had charged the new settlers $1.50 an acre for land, while the government price was $1.25. He unblushingly admitted the charges and said that he had put it in a fund for the benefit of the new settlers. It was referred to the military committee and after a hearing he was exonerated. The chairman of that committee was Jeff Davis, who later became president of the ill-fated Confederacy. This taking of gifts seems to be a quaint old Minnesota custom.
---   Uncle Sam sold 1,500,000 pounds of butter last week to Italy for 15 cents a pound. At the same time thousands of American youths just inducted into service were being fed oleo. Would it not have been better and more sensible to let our own boys have the butter and send the oleo to the Dagos? At the same time, radios were full of appeals to aid the under-privileged. Looks as if the Italians were our special friends, but with all the aid they have received can't recollect of any Italian troops in Korea.
---   Over in Wales, a long way from Lake Wilson, an old horse became mired in a ditch. All efforts by the villagers were unable to pull him out. One of them went for his shotgun to shoot Old Dobbin. A Welsh woman came by. She had misered a bottle of eight year old Scotch for ten years to use in an emergency. This was it, so she brought out the bottle and poured about an inch down Dobbin's throat. He wiggled his ears. A third of it started him lunging, and with half the bottle in him, he made a final lunge and got out. Who couldn't?
---   Had a Christmas letter the other day from Pop Terry which recalled the old days on the ball diamond, when there was more love in playing the game than the salary. Harry and his brother "Muz" played with the Lake Wilson team forty years ago. What a gallant player Muz was. Weighing 125 pounds, he would get behind the plate and hold the best of them. Remember one day when he caught Doc Juel on the old baseball ground west of our home. Doc was a big husky fellow, a former Chicago White Sox player, and had speed to burn. Every pitch would rise Muz off his feet, but he grimly held on. No one has done more for athletics in the county than Harry. He nursed Golden Gloves when it was in its infancy.
---   Heard some morons singing variations and imitations of "Silent Night" over the radio Monday. Isn't there anything sacred or decent left? A man that would be guilty of such an act is the type of man that would dig up the bones of his dead mother and sell them to get money to buy booze for some drunken wench.
---   London, England is all het up because a block of granite was stolen from Westminster Abbey. This so-called sacred stone was where the Kings of Scotland were crowned prior to 1300. Edward I of England stole the stone and lugged it all the way to London, where it remained until Saturday. The romantic story that goes with it ends,
  "Where'er is found this Sacred Stone
  The Scottish Race shall Reign."
  Inasmuch as a Scots born woman is Queen of Britain at the present time, is there any doubt as to the Scotch ruling the palace. By the way, George VI should be more interested in who will be wearing the crown of 1951 than 1297. The present queen of Britain was born about twenty miles from Perth, where the early Scots kings were crowned while sitting on this block of Destiny. Must have been cauld on a wintry day, wi' the wind blawing the kilts around.
========================

January-June 1950        Home        January-June 1951