Radio Script #154
Little Talks On Common Things
September 21, 1952
Our state election is over and it won’t be long before the Presidential election wi II be upon us. Did you know that the proportion of voters botheri ng to go to the po I I s to vote for Pres i dent has stead i Iy dec I i ned since 19407 Twelve years ago 63 per cent of all registered voters cast their ballots; in 1944 only 58 per cent, and in 1948 only 52 per cent. Whereas two out of three voted In 1940, on I y one out of two bothered to do it in 1948.
There is plenty of evidence that the stay-at-home vote often determines the outcome of an election. In 1948 Dewey would have won if he had carried the farm areas of the Midwest. He fai led because the normal Republican vote did not turn out. In Iowa, for instance, there was a 70% turnout in 1944, when the state went against Roosevelt, but with only 60% turnout of vote in 1948 .• it went aga i nst Dewey and for Truman. Just the reverse happens in the i ndustri a I East. New York went Democratic in 1944, when a 75% vote turned out, but went Republican In 1948 when the vote was only 62 per cent. Since there are enough stay-at-home votes to swing the election either way, the next two months will see a strenuous effort by both part i es to get out the vote. Republ icans wi II obviously try hard to attract their full strength in the farm states.
What about you? the outcome at al I. Democrats wi I I put the i r emphas is on the big cities. Are you going to vote in November? You say it doesn’t make any difference. Maine wi II go Republican anyhow. Your vote won’t affect Maybe that is true. Perhaps it is why on some very uncompl imentary statistics, notably support of education, Maine stands near the bottom of the I ist with states In the deep South. In Alabama and South CaroI ina only 14 voters out of 100 take time to go to the polls in a presidential election. The Democrats are so sure of victory that the voters Just don’t care. That’s a bad fix for any state to be In, and with Just the opposite party domination, Maine Is getting into the same rut. I said It last year and now I say it again. Maine needs a strong opposition party. Every student of American government bel ieves we owe much of our wise political development to the two-party system with Its shifting of power from one party to the other.
The two-party system must not be relinquished, either in Alabama or in Maine.
Three years ago I told you about the famous malden voyage of the City of Watervi lie, the last big steamboat on the Upper Kennebec. Some of you wi II recall how a band of Watervi lie celebrators went to Bangor for the launching, rode on the boat down the Penobscot to Be I fast and Rock I.and, round to Bath, then up the Kennebec to the home port. You may recall also the ignominious landing, when the boat went aground in the river, Just above its Junction with the Sebastocook, and how the frock-coated, tall-hatted gentry had to be brought ashore in row boats.
Well, I never expected to see an actual souvenir of that old steamer, City of Watervi lie. But my friend Karl Kennison, Watervi lie native who long served as chief engineer of the Metropolitan Water System of Boston, has sent me a lavishly embossed document representing two shares of stock in the Watervi lie Merchants Steamboat Company, issued on June 2, 1890 to Wi II iam M. Lincoln.This was, of course, stock in the new steamer, City of Watervi lie. The stock carried a par value of $50, and it was not long before Mr. Lincoln had lost the whole hundred dol lars of his investment. The stock certificate is signed by L. H. Soper, pres i dent and P. L. Hea I d, treasurer. I t was a last dy i ng gasp for steamboating on the upper Kennebec — a·,brave try, but too late. The railroad now controlled inland transportation.
Mr. Kennison has also sent me a little pamphlet listing officers and committees of the city government of Watervi I Ie for 1896, 56 years ago. Among more than a hundred names in that pamphlet is that of just one man who is sti II living — Hon. Harvey D. Eaton. Every other man who served our city 56 years ago has passed from the earthly scene. In 1896 Mr. Eaton was a member of the Board of Health along with A. Joly and J. F. Elden.
William Lincoln, the man who owned theCity::ofWat/3t,v:H.lestock certificate to which I have referred, was an alderman in 1896; Fred Arnold, H. R. Dunham and Roscoe Bow ler were on the Common Counci I; Frank Redington was superi ntendent of buri a I Sj and Warren Ph i Ibrook was a member of the Board of Educat ion.
When did I ightning rods come into fashion in Watervi lie or Rockland?
What do you say, I isteners? Do you suppose we can find out who put up the first lightning rod in either vicinity? Let me start off with a bit of documentary evidence. In my present possession is a receipted bi II to W. M. lincoln from the’ Cleveland Lightning Rod Co. for 343 feet of cable lightning conductors at 42t cents a foot, erected on Lincoln’s house and stable. The job cost Lincoln $131.20, after he took a cash discount of $14.57. Now when did that happen? The date of the receipted bi II is July 10, 1874. Now who can give me an earl ier date for I ightning rods In Kennebec or Knox counties?
There was a time when operation of the Watervi lie poor farm used to be quite a business. The Inventory of property there on Apri I 1, 1858 — 96 years ago — amounted to $809.32. The list includes 15 bed steads, 9 feather beds. 30 comforters, and 4 qui Its. Other articles were a tin candle mould, a steer yoke, 52 Ibs. of dried apples and 40 Ibs. of smoked ham. Some of the articles were not in good condi.tion, as shown by the supervisor’s wording of his inven-tory: 3 old hoes quite used up; 2 old ox sleds worn out, 4 old butter firkins used up; 2 axes with poor handles; 42 sheets, some quIte worn out; and 33 . mi I k cans, some bad.
Among the expenses listed for the poor farm I n that year 1857-58 were ha If a dozen chairs $3.00, a pair of calf shoes for Tilly $1.13, a dozen spoons 60 cents, 12! Ibs. soap grease 50 cents, a barrel of mackerel $8.00, a thousand shingles $10.50,27 panes of glass, paint and putty $1.45, stove and funnel $5.00, and expense to end al I expenses, coffin and robe for Mrs. Priest $1.95. The biggest single Item was $120.00 for a yoke of oxen.
As the inventory progresses through the years from 1858 to 1868 we see 4 sheet i ron stoves and one cook stove changed to one box stove, three sheet i ron stoves and two cook stoves. In 1864 a kerosene I amp was added, and by:”, 1868 there were three I amps. In 1865 they had 31 barre I s of soft soap. 2 bar,.. rels of what the superintendent called splendid pork, and a barrel of prime beef. The dried apples had now swollen to 150 pounds.
Not unti I 1865 does the inventory include a churn. By that time the farm had five cows instead of the two of 1858, and the place went in not only for butter, but a I so for cheese. By 1866 they had a cheese press as we II as a churn. The next year saw added a cheese tub and two cheese hoops, and by 1868 they had a cheese basket.
But perhaps the changing fortunes at the poor farm are best shown by the fate of the white earthen chamber pots. There were ten of them In 1858, nine In 1859 and eight in 1860. In 1865 the number was sti II eight, but by 1868 new purchases had rep I aced the ori g ina I ten. ~/atervi lie’s Ci vi I War poor farm was thus a ten chamber p I ace. Some comforts were added during the years. The one rock ing cha i r of 1858 had four compan ions ten years later; there were ha I f a dozen blankets added to the comforters and qui Its by 1868, and five stoves gave a lot more heat than one.
It was right at the close of the Civil War — in fact just 15 days before the assassination of President lincoln — that the poor farm superintendent recorded his biggest stock of beef and pork, 300 Ibs. of the former and a quar …ter of a ton of the latter. With the high prices and scarcities in Clv; I War days, that I s a biT ha rd to exp I a in.
We are skeptical about the quality of the poor farm’s coffee. The farm bought It 7 pounds for a dollar. It was probably that bitter rank Rio coffee we used to sell in the old Bridgton store, three pounds for 50 cents. Although there is no evidence of their having a driving horse or sleigh, the farm acquired a buffalo robe in 1866, and thus had some degree of equality with the eli te who raced the i r speeders on S i I ver street.
There is no mention of a mi rror unti I 1866 when one looking g lass is recorded. In 1868 there were three looking glasses, and henceforth the unfortunate inhabitants could see themselves as others saw them. We have treated these things in a light, somewhat frivolous vein, as things of the long ago. We very well realize it was no frivolous matter to the poeple who,lived at the poor farm in 1858. It was no joke to go to the poor house, and too many good peop I e went the re th rough no fa u I t of the i r own.
Yet it was always considered a disgrace by one’s neighbors. the last resort of The idle. the reckless, and the unworthy. The poor farm was Folks forgot that it was also the refuge of the broken In health, the cheated, and the deserted. Whether you like all the aspects of social security or not, its fundamental philosophy is right. The poor house is not society’s best answer to the unfortunate poor.
Next week I want to tel I you about a remarkable journey taken by a Maine man in 1793. In fact I shall use two weeks for the story, telling you part of it next Sunday. and the rest two weeks from ton I ght. So be ready next week to hear how Hezeklah Prince of Thomaston started out on a horseback journey of 1,200 mi les 160 years ago.
Year: 1952