Wherever we see the ugly hand of corruption and political influence at work,\u00a0this program will continue to make a loud protest. Our government is so big and\u00a0so confusing, at this mid-point in the 20th century, so bound up with red tape,\u00a0so crowded wi th bureaucrats just getting in each other’s way, that we can’t II\u00a0afford to add the obnoxious five-percenters and the givers of fur coats and deep\u00a0freezers to what Is al ready bad enough.<\/p>\n
The revelations of what has been going on in just one state — Mississippi -make\u00a0us wonder what Is happening in the other 41 states. Before the Congressional( committee) witnesses testified that party contributions were not only necessary to get a job, but that there were standard price-tags on various jobs. To become an\u00a0RFD mail\u00a0carrier cost S150; to get into the revenue office cost $ l,OOO. One\u00a0witness told the committee he has been a chump about an <PS Jeb. He said he contributed\u00a0$600 to get it then found out the particular job wasn’t going to exist.<\/p>\n
A small town businessman testified that he paid $300, then stopped payment\u00a0on the check. He related a talk with a member of the state party committee. The\u00a0committeeman told him that rationing was just around the corner, and that the\u00a0committee was looking for someone to set up as comty supervisor. A donation of\u00a0$300 wQuhf be appreciated.<\/p>\n
One memer of the Senate investigating group questioned a woman menDer of\u00a0the state party committee in Mississippi. This was one of his questions~ “Did you.\u00a0understand, when you recommended a person who gave you a requested contribution,\u00a0that the federal agenc.y would appoint that person to the job?” “Ofcourse”, she\u00a0replied, “that was the whole idea”.<\/p>\n
It Is a sorry situation indeed when there Is a price list placed on government\u00a0jobs. I wonder if I am alone in believing the time has come for a whole\u00a0ethical tone-up, a complete moral revival in our national life.<\/p>\n
In the more than one hundred broa,dcasts on this program, I don’t recall\u00a0that we have ever mentioned the Kennebec Valley fire fighters. So let’s get in a\u00a0few words tonight about the Waterville Fire Department.<\/p>\n
Between the building of Fort Halifax In 1754 and the organization of the\u00a0first fire company in 1809, the\u00a0community\u00a0springing up on both sides of the river\u00a0must have seen a lot of fires. Everything was then built of wood, and the lumber\u00a0mt lis along the river bank added to the plies of easi Iy combustible material.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, hidden away In Waterville and Winslow attics are accounts of early fires.<\/p>\n
Can anyone dig up an authentic record of fl re in Watervi lie or Wins low previous\u00a0to 18091\u00a0I t was I n that yea r that the first fire department was established on the\u00a0west side of the river. Elnathan Sherwin, James Wood, Moses Dalton, Asa Redington, and Eleazer Ripley were elected fire wardens. Those were the days of bucket\u00a0brigades, when the only way a fire could be fought in this locality was by passing\u00a0a long a line of buckets filled from some reservoir stream, or sometimes from\u00a0the river.<\/p>\n
Just when the first hand-pump engine was installed here is not clear. All\u00a0that we know is that Abijah Smith, Nehemiah Getchell, James StackpoIe and Timothy\u00a0Boutelle were members of the fire company at the time. If, as we suspect, it is\u00a0the younger, not the older, James Stackpole who is meant, the first of those four\u00a0to die was AbIjah Smith in 1841. All I can say about it tonight is that, some\u00a0time between 1809 and 1841 Waterville bought a fire engine, which was simply a\u00a0big tub into which water was poured from palls, and was pumped out by an ordinary\u00a0single handled old-fashioned pump, through a very short and very leaky hose. That\u00a0original piece of fire fighting apparatus In Waterville was called the “Bloomer”.\u00a0Actually the old Bloomer was probably in\u00a0<\/em>operation before 1836, for in that\u00a0year begin “the first records of the Waterville Fire Departnent which are still preserved. Whether it was called Engine Company No 1 of the Ticonic Village Corporation\u00a0quite so early as 1836 is not entirely clear, but that was the name It\u00a0certainly had before 1850.<\/p>\n Some time about 1854, Engine Company No.3 was organized. It secured a\u00a0first-class Button hand engine, which on July 4,1854 began a long career as\u00a0champion stream thrower among all the engines entered In those fiercely fought\u00a0contests among the old engine companies. On that fourth of July In 1854, just a\u00a0hundred years after the building of Fort HaIifax, No. 3’s crew brought home from\u00a0Augusta a handsone silver trumpet as the winner’s prize. Five years later the\u00a0engi ne set a state record of 212 feet, 9 inches. That fine 0ld hand-engine\u00a0stayed in Waterville until 1891, when she was sold to an organization in Newton,\u00a0Mass, and was rechristened the ”Nonantum”. Under the new name the old pumper\u00a0surpassed even her Maine records. In a muster held in Providence in 1892 she\u00a0p layeda stream of 250 feet, 7 inches.<\/p>\n No.1 and No.3 were therefore the fl rst fl re companies in Watervi lie. No.2\u00a0Joined them,.:i.n 1878. It was located at the south end of the city. Unfortunately\u00a0early records of any engine, if at first they had any, are not preserved, but we do\u00a0find a record that No.2 company sold a hand-tub engine to parties in Bath for the\u00a0sum of $75 in 1889.<\/p>\n What a pity that Yankee frugality dictated the sale of most of these 0ld engines. What a pity that Tlconlc No.1 could not still be seen in Waterville,\u00a0among other precious relics of the city. One must go to Ellsworth to see that 0ld\u00a0engine, for it was sold to that Hancock County town in 1888.<\/p>\n Waterville’s first steam fire engine was purchased in 1884. A prime mover in\u00a0the project to get it, as he was a promoter of so many worthy public projects,\u00a0was Dr. F. C. Thayer. In fact the company was named for him, and the F. C. Thayer\u00a0Fire Engine Canpany laid Its hand-tub aside. It was not long before the last of\u00a0the hand apparatus left the \u20acity for good.<\/p>\n I have previously mentioned the old reservoirs scattered about the city,\u00a0some of which are said to be still capable) of use. Before his death Gene Crawford\u00a0had made a very carefu I mapping of those reservoirs, the best known of which is\u00a0near the present War Memorial in Castonguay Square. We are told that 22 of those\u00a0old reservoirs were In use as late as 1887, when a municipal water supply was fi rst\u00a0brought In from the Messalonskee Stream. It was that year of 1887 that saw the\u00a0installation of 50 hydrants on Waterville streets.<\/p>\n As late as 1880 some of the clumsy, 0ld leather hose was still Iin use. The\u00a0record shows that in that year the town owned 1,300 feet of leather hose, 1,000\u00a0feet of rubber-lined linen hose, and 1,100 feet of rubber-lined cotton hose.<\/p>\n There seems to have been little party politics in the FI re Department unti I\u00a01888, when WaterY’ lIe became a city. The new charter called for the annual electlooof a chief engineer and two assistants. If the party in control changed at\u00a0the spring election, the employed drivers had to get out, and the personnel of each\u00a0company from top .TO bottom was reorgan t zed. What happened was the contemporary\u00a0existence of two sets of firemen, who served according to their political aftUlations. Not unti I 1907 was the charter amended. Since that date a Watervi lIe\u00a0fireman, when once chosen, may serve unti I he wishes to withdraw, or has preferred\u00a0charges proved against him. As a result the efficiency of our fire canpanies was\u00a0greatly improved. More and more as men came to be chosen to fl II company vacancies,\u00a0just two questions were asked: “Wi II this man respond promptly to every\u00a0fl re call?”, and ”Wi II he stay on the job unti I it is finished?”\u00a0MoST of this information has been provided me by Ralph Gi Iman, present chiefeng! neer of the Watervi lie Fi re Department.<\/p>\n Now I am sure sane of our listeners\u00a0can tum up a lot more information. Among the things we hope still to mention\u00a0some evening are a few of Watervi tJe’s spectacular fires. In Dr. Whittemore’s\u00a0Centennial History appear these two short sentences: “The great fl re of 1849\u00a0swept the business section of the town, about the wharves and mi lis. The Moors\u00a0were the heaviest losers. fI We hope to learn and pass on to you a lot more about\u00a0that fire of 1849. Another great mi II fire occurred in 1859, when mi lis and\u00a0machinery were destroyed in three plants — those of Daniel Moor, W. and W. Getche\u00a0I I, and Furbush and Drummond.00 any of you remember Waterville’s part in the famous Bangor fire of 1911?<\/p>\n It came near the end of my sophomore year in college I\u00a0<\/em>and I was one of the Colby\u00a0students who managed to hitch a ride to Bangor on the train that took the Waterville apparatus to the big fire. Not until after 1900 did Waterville own any fire horses. As early as 1885\u00a0two hired horses had been placed in the old fire station on Main Street, and in\u00a01886 the first swing harness was installed. Those fine old grays that some of us\u00a0so much admired, they and their successors passed out of the picture in 1927, when\u00a0the department became completely motorized.<\/p>\n I’m sure a lot of my listeners don ‘t want th is subject abandoned here. So\u00a0beg of you, give me all the information you can about 0ld fire companies, 0ld\u00a0hand tubs, old steam fire engines, old fire horses, spectacular fires — anything\u00a0that pertains to fire fighting In Waterville and vicinity.<\/p>\n Through the kindness of Dr. O’Hara, Dean of the Tufts College Medical School,\u00a0have just seen an old folder entitled “Trolleying through the Heart of Maine”.<\/p>\n Its cover carries a picture of one of those old, open, summer-time trolley cars\u00a0with seats clear across the car. Over the trolley is the design of a heart showing\u00a0that part of Maine from Old Orchard to Watervi lie, and as far west as Mechanic\u00a0Falls and Turner. The inside spread is a picture map of the entire area, showing\u00a0the railroads, steamship routes and the interurban trolley I ines. The folder is\u00a0not dated, but It was printed before the construction of the interurban trolley\u00a0line between Portland and lewiston. It does show the once familiar trolley\u00a0lines all around the ifllllBdiate vicinity of Portland, and the Interurban lines\u00a0from Portland to Old Orchard and Biddeford; to Westbrook, Gorham and South Windham;\u00a0to Yarmouth, Freeport, Brunswick and Bath; between Brunswick and Lewiston; fran\u00a0lewiston to Sabbatus, Tacoma Lake, Gardiner, Augusta and WatervIlle; fran LewIston to Mechanic Falls and Turner; and from Augusta to’ Is land Park and Winthrop.<\/p>\n The rest of the folder Is giwn up to descriptloos of trips, routes and\u00a0fares. On the Lewiston, Augusta an:d Waterville line the complete round trip\u00a0fare was $2.00 and the total round trip running time was seven hours. The round\u00a0trip fare fran Usbon Falls to Bath was 70 cents; from Lewistoo to Medlanlc Falls\u00a0It was 40 cents, and to Turner 50 cents.<\/p>\n But the folder’s feature announcement conoerns the Triangle Trolley Trip. \u00a0The announcement reads: “This Is one of the most delightful trips In Maine.\u00a0Starting from any point on the L.A. and W. Street Railway between Bath and Lewiston, you take the trolley vi a Tacoma Lakes and Spears Comer to Gardiner. From\u00a0Waterville the trip Is via Winslow and Augusta to Gardiner. At Gardiner you leave\u00a0the trof ley and, take the Eastern Steamship Company’s steamer, leaving Gardiner at\u00a03:45 P.M. for the sail down the Kennebec River to Bath, stopping at Q:idar Grove\u00a0and Richmond en route. You arrive at Bath at 6:00 P.M. in time to connect with\u00a0:” ( ..<\/p>\n the trolley leaving for Brunswick and Lewiston at 6:30. <\/em>The most enJoyable way\u00a0to make this trip from points west of Tacoma is to leave your hane In the forenoon\u00a0and trolley to Tacoma,spendl ng the time until noon In boating and other p feasures\u00a0and having a fine dinner at Tacoma Inn, then taking the trolley after dinner for\u00a0Gardiner. To make the day even more complete, after arrival at Bath, one may\u00a0trolley to New Meadows, haw supper at the Inn, and trolley hane In the evening.”<\/p>\n Complete fare for that triangle trip, Including both trolley and boat tickets,\u00a0was one dollar.<\/p>\n People got a lot of pleasure for a little money in the old trolley car days.<\/p>\n Year: 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #107, broadcast on May 6, 1951<\/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":[786,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226"}],"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=7226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n