Do we Maine people boast enough about our vacationland state? The bragging\u00a0of Californians and Texans is proverbial. A few weeks ago, when the\u00a0oleomargarine taxes were being hotly debated in the U. S. Senate, Senator Humphrey\u00a0of Minnesota said he supposed there ought to be separate oleo factories\u00a0in every state, because it would be unthinkable for Californians to eat Florida\u00a0oleo.<\/p>\n
As for Texas, during the war a Texas family found itself in one of the\u00a0war boomed factory towns of the Pacific coast and placed their ten year old\u00a0son in a school populated by children born in many different states. One day\u00a0the teacher said, “Now, Children, in what you have just read there is a reference\u00a0to Waco County, Texas. You boys and girls come from many different\u00a0parts of the country. Some of you must know Texas. Who can tell me what part\u00a0of Texas Waco County is in?” The ten year old spoke up at once. “Waco County”,\u00a0he said loudly and p~<k..al.y, II is in the northeast corner of my grandfather’s ranch”.\u00a0With our reputation for Yankee taciturnity and close-mouthedness, we just\u00a0can’t do the job at bragging which the Californians and Texans do. But we\u00a0ought, without exaggeration or boasting, to tell a lot of folks some of the\u00a0real facts about Maine.<\/p>\n
No wonder we are a well known vacation state, for within our relatively\u00a0small area of 33, 000 square miles are 2,465 lakes and ponds, more than 5, 000\u00a0rivers and streams, a hundred mountains more than 3,000 feet high, and 2,500\u00a0miles of ocean front.\u00a0Maine has in Aroostook the largest county in the United States, with an\u00a0area larger than Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.\u00a0It is not true that Maine doesn’t grow in population. It is true that\u00a0Maine’s best export is its pe0ple, who have found places of prominence all\u00a0over the world. But it is also true that between 1940 and 1950 Maine increased\u00a0its population by nearly eight per cent. In the same ten years the number of manufacturing plants in Maine increased 46 per cent, and the number of production\u00a0workers increased 22 percent.<\/p>\n
Many visitors who come to Maine in the summer and ride past our rock~strewn pastures and glacier-bouldered fields — especially if those visitors\u00a0come from the black soil region of the mid-western prairies — ask the question,\u00a0“How in the world do Maine people get a living? \u00a0This kind of land\u00a0wouldn’t support a gopher in Iowa or Kansas.\u00a0Well, let’s tell these visitors how Maine people do live. As a state,\u00a0Maine has five major sources of income: manufacturing, agriculture, commercial\u00a0fisheries, recreation and public service industries. In Maine are made\u00a0more than a thousand different articles, from toothpicks to ships.\u00a0Recreation is by no means Maine’s largest business. It is indeed sizable\u00a0and significant, bringing $125,000,000 into the state every year. But\u00a0farm income exceeds it with $200,000,000, and the value of Maine’s manufactured\u00a0products reaches a total of $850,000,000 a year.\u00a0Maine is strategically located on the Great Circle Air Route between the United States and Northern Europe, and by nautical mileage Portland is actually\u00a0closer to the eastern ports of South America than is New York or even New Orleans.\u00a0As for Maine folks making a living, the next time one of those mid-western\u00a0visitors asks you in amazement how we keep alive up here in rock-bound,\u00a0rock-strewn Maine, you tell him that no less an authority than the U. S. Bureau\u00a0of Labor states that there are more than 10,000 ways of making a living\u00a0in Maine.<\/p>\n
Frank Littlefield was not only an organ pumper; he was also an experienced\u00a0bell ringer. Most interestingly he tells me something which I venture\u00a0to say very few of our listeners ever knew. It is how the church bells of\u00a0waterville used to be rung.<\/p>\n
Half a century ago the four Protestant churches whose bells were in\u00a0sound of each other were the Methodist, First Baptist, unitarian and Congregationalist.\u00a0The Universalist, the Getchell Street Baptist and the Advent\u00a0churches were too far from the center of town to be in the interesting,\u00a0concerted plan for ringing the bells — for Mr. Littlefield assures us there\u00a0was a plan for the ringing of those four mid-town bells from 9:15 to 10:15\u00a0every Sunday morning. The order of ringing the various parts was first the\u00a0Methodist, then the Baptist, then the Unitarian and finally the Congregationalist.<\/p>\n
There were three parts to the plan. First, each bell in turn was rung\u00a0briefly and then set. It was quite a trick to set a bell, and I wonder how\u00a0many of our listeners know what that means. It means to turn the bell squarely\u00a0upside down and hold it there.\u00a0Secondly, in turn, each bell ringer released his set and gave two strokes\u00a0three times. Thirdly, all the bells rang out joyously together.<\/p>\n
Mr. Littlefield says that the wife of Dr. Knox, who used to sing in the\u00a0Methodist choir, had a very keen ear for musical tones. She insisted that the\u00a0four bells did not differ from each other by so much as half a tone.<\/p>\n
What about Madrid Station on the Sandy River railroad? That was the\u00a0question we asked a few weeks ago. Within 24 hours after our broadcast about\u00a0the lady who asked the conductor to tell her when they got to Madrid, I had\u00a0four different persons assure me that they had once lived in Franklin County\u00a0and therefore knew what they were’, talking about. Well, believe it or not,\u00a0two of them said there was a Madrid Station, and two said there was not.<\/p>\n
Now, within a few days, through Mildred W. Russell, I received a statement\u00a0by Victor Odlin of South Gardiner. Mr. Odlin says that for more than\u00a0three years, from June, 1896 to December, 1899, he was employed as mill and\u00a0yard foreman of the Redington Lumber Company. Naturally he travelled the\u00a0little railroad line’ many times with loads of lumber and logs. He therefore\u00a0has very vivid recollection of the stations.\\<\/p>\n
Mr. Odlin says that, from Phillips to Rangeley, the first stop was at\u00a0Reed’s Mill in the town of Madrid. This was six miles out of Phillips. Four\u00a0miles farther on was a stop at East Madrid, where a saw mill was located.\u00a0Eight miles beyond that was the stop at Redington. After eight more miles\u00a0came the stop at Dead River. Five miles from there was the end of the line\u00a0at Rangeley.\u00a0If passengers on the Sandy River wanted to get to Madrid Village, they\u00a0had to get off at Reed’s Mill or at East Madrid and go into the village ‘by team\u00a0or by a long hike.\u00a0As for Redington, Mr. Odlin says, “At that time, fifty years ago, it had\u00a0about fifteen families and a large boarding house, a regular school, and religious\u00a0services twice a month.”<\/p>\n
So it is that Mr. Odlin, who worked in the vicinity, contends there never\u00a0was a Madrid station. But he is wrong. The best evidence we know to settle the\u00a0question is an official time-table of the road. George Beach of the Rollins\u00a0and Dunham Company has shown me a copy of a weekly newspaper called “Rangeley\u00a0Lakes”, published at Rangeley in January, 1896. At the top of the right hand\u00a0column of the first page appear these words: “Phillips and Rangeley Railroad\u00a0time-table. The only direct and all rail route to the Rangeley Lakes and\u00a0Dead River region. Friday, November 1, 1895.” Then follows the table,\u00a0showing Train No. 1 from Phillips to Rangeley, and Train No. 2 from Rangeley\u00a0to Phillips. And, clear for all to read, the stop between Phillips and Reed’s\u00a0Mill is Madrid– not East Madrid or any other name, but simply Madrid. The\u00a0listed stops from Phillips to Rangeley are given as Madrid, Reed’s Mill, Sander’s\u00a0Mill, Redington Mills and Dead River. The up train left Phillips at\u00a02:15 P.M., reached Madrid at 2:40, made a ten-minute stop at Redington Mills\u00a0from 3:45 to 3:55, reached Dead River at 4:30, and finally arrived at Rangeley\u00a0at 4:55 — two hours and forty minutes after leaving Phillips.<\/p>\n
Of the many topics mentioned on this program, none has more clearly shown\u00a0the trickiness of memory and confusion about names and places than this question\u00a0whether there was or was not a Madrid Station. The confusion seems to\u00a0have been caused by the fact that Madrid Station was considerable distance\u00a0from Madrid Village and probably at some time or other went by a different\u00a0name.<\/p>\n
About a mile out of Redington was the top of Sluice Hill, the highest\u00a0point between Phillips and Rangeley, about 2,000 feet above sea level. Here\u00a0the grade is steep for such a small line, running for some distance at 600\u00a0feet to the mile. In the summer of 1896 the Sandy River ran an excursion\u00a0train to Farmington for Foxpaugh’s Circus. On the way back the train had\u00a0trouble on the steep grade at Sluice Hill. Getting near the top, the wheels\u00a0began to spin and the train stopped. The engineer backed down and tried it\u00a0again. This went on for three times. Then, on the fourth try, the huskiest\u00a0of the many excursioners got off as the train slowed near the hilltop,\u00a0grabbed on to the train wherever they could, and literally pushed it over\u00a0the summit. Then it was an easy run into Redington. “It was a good thing we\u00a0had a lot of husky men aboard on that trip”, says Mr. Odlin, ~for by the time\u00a0the train made its fourth try at the hill we were almost out of both coal\u00a0and water. n<\/p>\n
We hear a great deal of talk about how much better off people were in\u00a0the old days when a dollar bought so much more than it does today. The truth\u00a0is that in terms of relative income people are better off today than they\u00a0have ever been before in our nation’s history. By relative income is meant\u00a0total dollar income in relation to the cost of living.<\/p>\n
Let’s take a look at the evidence furnished by the U. S. Bureau of Labor\u00a0Statistics. The average retail price of food, clothing, fuel and light, rent and house furnishings have increased 69% in the past ten years, and 140%\u00a0since 1913, which was 37 years ago. But accompanying that increase in living\u00a0costs, the weekly take-home pay of all persons engaged in manufacturing -the\u00a0great army of American factory workers — has increased even more. In\u00a01913 the factory worker’s average pay was $11.00 for a 50 hour week. In 1929\u00a0it was $25.03 for a 44 hour week. In 1939, just as we were emerging out of the\u00a0depression years, it was down to $23.86 for a 38 hour week. Ten years later,\u00a0in 1949, it had jumped to $55.26 for a 39 hour week.\u00a0In short, compared with the price increase of 69% since 1939, the factory\u00a0wage increase in the same period has been 131%. And over the long haul,\u00a0since 1913, while the price increase has been 140%, the factory wage increase\u00a0has been 500%.<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses a term familiar to all economists,\u00a0but needing explanation for the general public. That is the term “real earnings”.\u00a0By real earnings the Bureau means actual dollar earnings adjusted to\u00a0the cost of living, what many of us usually speak of as the purchasing power\u00a0of the dollar. To give a simple example, suppose a worker receives fifty dollars\u00a0a week and pays ten dollars a week rent. Then, while his wages remain\u00a0the same, suppose his rent goes up to twelve dollars a week. His dollar,\u00a0which previously bought one-tenth of a week’s rent, now buys only one-twelfth.\u00a0His rent dollar, in terms of real earnings, is now worth only 83 cents, because\u00a083 cents was what would buy one-twelfth of a week’s rent before his rent went\u00a0up.\u00a0But, on the other hand, suppose, while his rent went up from ten dollars\u00a0to twelve dollars a week, his pay went up from fifty to sixty dollars a week.\u00a0In terms of rent alone each of his dollars buys only 83 cents worth of the\u00a0previous rental, but he now has $1.20 in pay for every dollar that he had\u00a0before. A little simple arithmetic shows that he is now better off, in spite\u00a0of the increased rent.<\/p>\n
Thus, by this method of figuring adjustment of take-home pay to the cost\u00a0of living — not alone in rent, but in all other living costs — the Bureau of\u00a0Labor statistics shows us that in 1913 these adjusted real earnings were $16.10\u00a0a week; in 1939 they were $24.00 a week; and in 1949 they had reached $32.80 a\u00a0week. In short, real earnings have increased 25% since 1939 and have doubled\u00a0since 1913.<\/p>\n
Kennebec County, Maine has long been praised as a fine place to live. Almost\u00a0sixty years ago, when the huge two-volume history of Kennebec County was\u00a0published under the general editorship of Henry D. Kingsbury, this central\u00a0art of Maine was subjected to high praise by Hiram K. Morrell, who wrote the\u00a0introduction to the whole work. Even modern advertising would forego the kind\u00a0of ecstatic rhetoric that flowed from Mr. Morrell’s pen. Just listen to his\u00a0final paragraph in praise of the grand old County of Kennebec:<\/p>\n
“Thus nature has in every way made generous provision in the valley of\u00a0the Kennebec for the welfare and happiness of man. Of course man here does not\u00a0live forever, but it is a proportionately cheerful and pleasant place to die\u00a0in. Skillful physicians and careful nurses smooth his pillow and ease his\u00a0pains, till the grXffi messenger is almost tired of waiting, and when the inevitable\u00a0has passed, genial and liberal clergymen will do the best that can-be\u00a0done for him, and elegant undertakers will make his last ride the most expensive\u00a0he has ever had; and when all is done, a monument of Kennebec granite\u00a0will rear its lordly head above his peaceful grave, where after life’s fitfull\u00a0fever he sleeps well.”<\/p>\n
Year: 1950<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #54, broadcast on February 5, 1950<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1153,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}