Radio Script #543

Little Talks on Common Things

September 16, 1962

Here we are again, back on the air for the fifteenth consecutive season of Little Talks on Common Things. I hope you have all had a good summer. Fortunately I did not have to spend mine at a cold, dismal camp on a lake or in the damp fog of the seashore. I spent most of it right here at home in Waterville. I had the pleasure of seeing my California grandson frequently, because he put in eight weeks at a boys’ camp in Jefferson, Maine.

My granddaughter spent the same time in Europe with a party of young people who lived for a week at a time in native homes in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy. Meanwhile my daughter’s family was enjoying the winter yes, I said winter in far-away East Africa, below the equator, where of course the seasons are the reverse of ours. So you see I have let the rest of my family do the traveling, while I have had a really good time right here at home. I know this leaves me open to the accusation of being a conservative, stay-put, fuddy duddy. But I don’t mind at all being like the elderly Boston matron Cleveland Amory used to tell about. “Why don’t you travel and see the world?” the old lady was asked. “Why should I travel?” she replied. “I am already here. Yes indeed, I think Waterville is a pretty good place for one’s home. Once in a while I do get stirred up about my beloved State of Maine, especially when I see it depreciated or scorned. So I want to tell you tonight about something I recently encountered in, of all places, the usually dry-as-dust pages of the Congressional Record. If you are interested, you can check it yourself in the public library, on page 16,295 of the Record for August 23rd.

Senator Proxmire of Wisconsin therein expressed his bitter resentment that his state had not received what he felt was its fair share of foreign aid spending. I suppose you all know that one of the reasons why the huge foreign aid bills are passed so easily is because much of the money is spent right in this country for goods needed in the aided countries. To curtail drastically the amount of foreign aid would be to cut off those purchases, adversely affect business, and certainly increase unemployment.

So Congressmen are inclined to be generous with foreign aid appropriations. Senator Proxmire learned that during the eight years from January 1, 1954 to December 31, 1961, $4,400,000,000 was spent for goods in this country from foreign aid funds, and that Wisconsin firms had received only $26,000,000. To his remarks the Senator appended a list of amounts spent in each state from the aid funds. When I examined that list I got a real shock. I wondered what Senator Proxmire had to complain about compared with a much more justifiable complaint from Maine. Yet I have not heard a whisper of any Maine complaint. Probably ignorance is bliss, but I don’t intend that at least the listeners to this program shall be ignorant on this matter any longer.

While Wisconsin was getting 26 million dollars in those eight years, what did Maine get? Now brace yourselves. Maine firms, for the whole eight years, received exactly $1,060 out of those four billion, four hundred million of foreign aid dollars or course one would expect New York to lead, as that state did with $2,567,000,000. One could not be surprised at California’s 269 million, at Texas’ 487 million, at Pennsylvania’s 152 million, nor at Illinois’ 121 million. But compared with Maine’s $1,060, think of Mississippi’s five million, New Mexico’s million and a half, and South Carolina’s million and a quarter.

Then compare Maine with the rest of New England. While Maine was getting that petty $1,060, Connecticut (and this should not surprise us) got 36 million. Massachusetts came in for 21 million and Rhode Island for three million. Admittedly those southern New England states are highly industrialized. But what about the northern tier, the states we called the Tri-State area?

Maine had to fiddle along with that puny $1,o60, while Vermont got $853,000 and New Hampshire $479,000. Is it possible that Maine doesn’t produce just as desirable products for foreign aid consumption as do the -even less- populous states of Vermont and New Hampshire? I don’t believe you accept that explanation for a moment. To me this is just another of all too numerous cases of Maine getting lost in the shuffle of the great national game.

It is true that of our fifty states, six received no foreign aid orders at all. Those unfortunate states were Alaska, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wyoming. But of all the other 44 states, Maine stood at the bottom with its $1,060. We might just as well have received nothing at all. I suggest we let our representatives in Congress know that we don’t like this kind of discrimination, and we want something done about it.

Now that we have had our say on that unpleasant subject, let us turn to the more customary content of this program — old time things.

I recently had an opportunity to discover how many different newspapers and magazines were deposited for mailing at the Waterville Post Office between 1892 and 1929. The list was kept in a memorandum book by the Waterville postmaster, a book that was recently discarded as no longer useful, but was salvaged for me by a post office employee who shares my interest in local history.

In 1892 three newspapers had for some time been originally mailed at the Waterville Office. The Waterville Weekly Mail since 1847; the Weekly Sentinel since 1879; and the Kennebec Democrat since 1887. For several years also the post office had taken care of the Colby Echo, then a semi-monthly publication. In the spring of 1892 had come the monthly Fireside Gem, and in 1894 E. P. Mayo started his Turf, Farm and Home. In the same year Waterville saw its first French language newspaper, a weekly called Le Courier. In 1895 two papers were started here: the monthly American Nation and the bi-monthly Mirror of Truth.

In 1896 the Waterville Mail became a daily paper, and the same year witnessed the beginning of the Coburn Clarion.

In May of 1897 some eager soul started the Dirigo Patriot, but it lasted only three months. A. monthly sheet called Questions lasted a bit longer, nearly three years.

The reformers also were busy. The Anti-Cigarette League Herald, a monthly periodical, issued its first number in February, 1898, and ceased publication with the December issue of the same year.

That 1898 year of the Spanish War was prolific with periodical births in Waterville. It welcomed the bi-monthly Nautilus, which lasted for eight years, and similar length of life was accorded to the new Home Treasury; and an up-country paper, the Clinton Herald, began its mailing at the Waterville Post Office in the same year.

In 1899 two other out-of-town weeklies were deposited at our post office: the China Tribune and the Vassalboro Time. With the dawn of the new century came the monthly Home Queen, which enjoyed a run of eight years. In that same 1900 year began a publication which still exists: the Christian Civic League Record.

Some optimistic person launched then a semi-monthly called The Iconoclast, but it saw only three issues.

I should like to know more about a monthly started in March, 1901, that lasted just a year. My interest is whetted because it carried the same name that Charles Hathaway, the shirt maker, had given to his short-lived newspaper in the 1840’s — the Yankee Blade.

It was not until 1901 that the Colby College Bulletin applied for second class mailing at the Waterville post office. Hitherto the annual catalogue and other official publications had been mailed at higher rates.

In 1904 the Waterville Sentinel became a daily paper, the exact date of its first privileged mailing at our post office being March 3, 1904.

Then for four years a monthly called the Pine Tree Endeavor was mailed here. For some reason a number of Maine weeklies published at some distance from Waterville were deposited for second class mailing at the local post office in 1905. They were the Waldo County Commercial, the Hancock County Press, the Jonesport Enterprise, and the Milo Journal.

In 1906 there was started here the magazine Sawyer’s, a monthly that for two years had a controversial and tumultuous existence leading to several lawsuits. The same year saw the birth of the Woman’s Journal, that had a precarious existence for three years.

In 1907 Coburn followed the Colby example of making its annual catalogue one number of a four number annual series called the Bulletin of Coburn Classical Institute. In June, 1907 the Waterville Sentinel began publication of an evening edition in competition with the much older paper, the Waterville Evening Mail. But the attempt was not successful, and the Evening Sentinel folded up after two months.

A monthly called the Northeast was started in Waterville in 1907. In 1913 it moved to Portland. In 1909 the Maine Democrat started out boldly, lambasting the Republicans with stout whacks. But its blows became more and more feeble until the paper gave up the ghost the next year.

In 1912 an organization of Maine teachers decided to make Waterville their publishing home, with the Maine Teachers Quarterly. It enjoyed a life of four years. It was in that same year, 1912, that Charles P. Chipman, then the college librarian, began publication of the Colby Alumnus, a magazine that has since enjoyed continued support and today reaches regularly every living former student of the college.

The year 1912 saw also the birth of another French language newspaper in Waterville, Le Maine Francais , but it suspended after producing only one issue.

The following year, 1913, brought the first Roman Catholic periodical to be published in Waterville. It was a monthly, the Maine Catholic Historical Magazine, which enjoyed a life of six years.

In 1914 the women of Colby College put their own publication, the Colbian, into the mails; and in 1915 the venerable Baptist weekly, Zionfs Advocate, moved its headquarters from Portland to Waterville, so that our Post Office became its mailing point. As the state offices of the Baptist denomination became established in Waterville, our post office also was the depository for their new monthly, the Maine Baptist Messenger, started in 1920.

The old record book ends with the entry of another French language weekly, the Franco Americain, started in September, 1929, but lasting only a few months.

Of the papers and periodicals being mailed out of the Waterville post office in 1929, how many still exist? Only three. They are the Waterville Morning Sentinel, the Colby College Bulletin and the Colby Echo. But Waterville and its neighboring towns have seen the coming and going of a lot of periodicals.

Year: 1962