It is easy to place on the President and the executive departments aI’\u00a0the blame for reckless government spending, and they certainly must take responsibility\u00a0for that part of the unnecessary spending which can be administratively\u00a0controlled. But they are not to blame for the fal lure of Q)ngress\u00a0to pass the recommendations of the Hoover Commission which did so much to show\u00a0us the way to stop dup I i cat i on and waste.There is a minority In Congress, composed of both Democrats and Republl~\u00a0cans, who constantly fight for reductions tn federal spending. They are not\u00a0the voting tools of the bureaucratic and vested Interest lobbies swarming over\u00a0the cap I tol. Led by Senator Doug las, these Congressmen dese rve our support.<\/p>\n
Three:thlngs’,.~~ Congress must do I f the spending spree I s going to be\u00a0stopped:<\/p>\n
1. Eliminate non-essentla I actlvl ties I n every appropriation request.
\n2. Rev I se downwa rd the who Ie, extreme I y cost I Y program of subs i dies and grants-i n-a i d.
\n3. Stop blocking the much needed legislation to streamline department operations and cut down duplication and waste.<\/p>\n
You may be interested to know that the text of one of these broadcc;lsts\u00a0has been read by several hundred persons living in a community three thousand\u00a0miles from Waterville. Last September I told you about the historic Beltane\u00a0Festival, held annually In the little town of Peebles, Scotland, forty miles\u00a0south of Edinburgh on the River Tweed.<\/p>\n
My friend John Burgess, Junior, claims Peebles as his ancestral town. He\u00a0secured a transcript of that September broadcast and sent it off to the\u00a0Peeb leshi re News. A few weeks ago John left at my door a copy of the January\u00a011 issue of that paper. What was my surprise to see these two column headlines:\u00a0”8eltane Festival American Broadcast. Something to be said for traditions.\u00a0Dean E. C. Marriner’S broadcast compliment to Peebles.”<\/p>\n
As yet I have heard no protests from Scotland about the text of that\u00a0broadcast. But I am sure they will come. I rea I I Y know very I I tt Ie about the\u00a0Beltane Festival, except what read in the Peebleshire News itself last sum …\u00a0mer. So there must have been a lot of errors, not to say rea I boners, in that\u00a0broadcast, for my interpretation of some of the Scottish idioms may have been\u00a0ludicrous to a Scotsman.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless we appreciate the space and recognition in that Scottish\u00a0newspaper, as wei I as the recognition It gave to this station, for John Burgess’\u00a0letter to the editor emphasized that this was one of a series of broadcasts\u00a0over. Radio Station WTVl, an affi Ilate of the American Broadcasting Oompany.<\/p>\n
Since we have mentioned the town of Sidney several times recently, I\u00a0thought it might be interesting to see what the map of that town in the 1879\u00a0atlas revealed.\u00a0The most conspicuous fact that strikes one who examines that 73 year old\u00a0map is that Sidney then had more dwe II Ings than It has today. The River Road\u00a0from Watervi lie to the Augusta I ine shows houses close together all the way.\u00a0When many of those houses burned, apparent Iy a good Iy number were never rebul\u00a0It — although as country roads go, the River Road is still quite thickly\u00a0sett led.<\/p>\n
In 1879 Sidney had four post offices. Down the River Road only two or\u00a0three miles from Watervi lie was North Sidney. Farther down the same road,\u00a0nearer the Augusta line, was Sidney, where a corner store stl II operates. On\u00a0the Middle Road from Oakland to Augusta was Sidney Center, and on the Pond Road,\u00a0at Its junction with the Belgrade Road was West Sidney. Sidney Center Is also\u00a0designated on that old map as Bacon’s Comer.\u00a0Three-quarters of a century ago Sidney was notab Iy a church-going town.\u00a0Near the Town House on the Middle Road were two churches, the Union and the\u00a0Un iversa list, wh i Ie at the j unction of the Ri ver !bad and one of the cross roads\u00a0was the Baptist Church. On the Pond Road, we II toward the south end of the\u00a0town near Ward’s Pond, was the Free Baptist Church. There were two Methodist\u00a0Churches, one at Sidney Center and another at West Sidney.\u00a0There must have been saw mills and perhaps other Industries In Sidney\u00a0In 1879, but the only Industrial plant marked on the map is a tannery Just\u00a0north of the Sidney Post Office, on a road that ran from the River Road down\u00a0to the Kennebec.<\/p>\n
was curious to see where the Howards I ived in 1879. Dr. Ambrose Howard\u00a0had then been dead more than 40 years, but his descendants and other relatives\u00a0remained. On the River Road, almost exactly at the Augusta line, two\u00a0dwell ings are marked “C. Howard” and one “J. Howard”. Is that the part of\u00a0Sidney in which Dr. Ambrose Howard himself lived? Who can tell me? \u00a0According to this 1879 map the ferry was not located where I have always\u00a0supposed. I thought the west slip of the ferry was directly opposite Vassalboro\u00a0Village. But this map shows the ferry considerably south of that point\u00a0on the Sidney s I de, just north of the Sidney Post Off Ice, In fact, on the\u00a0road that led by the tannery from the Ri ver Road to the Kennebec. Three other\u00a0roads led down to the river, and at some time one or more of them may have led\u00a0to a ferry. One IEHt the River Road at the North Sidney Post OfNcej another\u00a0was an extension of the Webb Road; and a thi rd was much nearer the Augusta line,\u00a0south of the Sidney Post Off ice, at the schoo I house corner.<\/p>\n
Some we II remembered names appea r as househo I de rs on that 0 I d map. On the\u00a0River Road were Drummond, Smiley, Barton, Sawtelle, lovejoy, Clark, Bean and\u00a0Howard. On the Midd Ie Road were Young, Bowman, Waite, Phi Ibrick, Weeks, Bessey\u00a0and Faught. On the Pond Road were Longley, Farnham, Goodhue, Hamlin, Dyer\u00a0and Robinson.\u00a0Of a I I the towns in the Kennebec Va Iley, Sidney, though today without\u00a0major industry and with dwindling population, has no reason to take a back seat.\u00a0She has a great and honorable history; her sons and daughters have done her\u00a0credit in the far corners of the earth.<\/p>\n
Recently I was fortunate enough to gather some more information about my\u00a0favorite character of Kennebec Valley antiquity, Wi lliam Bryant.\u00a0On Apri I 25, 1903, when Wi I I iam’s oldest son, Cyrus Bryant, ce lebrated\u00a0his 85th birthday, the Fairfield Journal secured from him and from his Totman\u00a0relatives some interesting information about his pioneer father.\u00a0Will i am Bryant was born, as I have previous Iy to I d you, in the town of\u00a0Sandwich, Mass. just ten years after the Declaration of Independence, In 1786.\u00a0He assisted at the launching of the new nation’s most famous battleship, the\u00a0frigate Constitution” “Old Ironsides”, and as a seaman in the U. S. Navy went\u00a0to sea in her on her first trip.<\/p>\n
Cyrus Bryant remembered we I J one of hi s father’s many stories about Old\u00a0Irons ides. About two weeks out of Boston on that first voyage a heavy ga Ie\u00a0put fri ght into many of the crew who were go Ing to sea for the first time. Many\u00a0cried and prayed whi Ie others cursed lusti Iy. One vociferous Irishman ended his\u00a0appeal to the Deity with these words: “And we thank thee, a Lord, that we have\u00a0only twelve months and a fortnight longer to stay on this ship”.<\/p>\n
The British practice which was soon to cause the War of 1812 was a con…,.\u00b7\u00a0stant threat. Crews from British men of war regularly boarded American vessels\u00a0and Impressed sai tors Into the Brlt’ish Navy, and even more often the nefarIous\u00a0Press Gangs drugged and shanghaied many a helpless seaman or even landlubber\u00a0in the seaportt’owns. When Old Ironsides was anchored at Bristol, England,\u00a0some of her crew went ashore, including Wi I Ilam Bryant. CHased by a\u00a0press gang, some of his comrades were captured, but Bryant and two others managed\u00a0to escape and get back on board their own ship.<\/p>\n
On that April day, 49 years ago, when Cyrus Bryant celebrated his 85th\u00a0birthday, he did not celebrate it alone. His twin sister, Susan Bryant Tot~\u00a0man, was sti II living and she shared the day’s honors with him. She and her\u00a0husband, Nahum Totman, were the grandparents of Fairfield’s wetl known teacher\u00a0of music, Mrs. Christine Hume.<\/p>\n
The memory of one who, at sixty, tries to remember the town of his freshman\u00a0year in college is likely to be a bit tricky; so I decided to dig out a\u00a0Maine Register of the year 1909 and see what Waterville actually was like when\u00a0I was a freshman at Colby. Memories may be at fault, but the Maine Register\u00a0Is probably reasonably accurate.<\/p>\n
Watervi I Ie had 10,000 people In 1909 compared with more than 18,000 today.\u00a0The valuation of the city’s property was $5,897,000 compared with the present\u00a0$18,724,410. In other words, whi Ie Watervl I Ie’s population has increased 90%\u00a0in the past 43 years, the valuation has increased 350%.\u00a0Automobiles were not common in 1909, and horse-drawn stages ran twice a\u00a0day to China, and dai Iy to Fairfield Center, North Fairfield and Larone.\u00a0City Clerk in 1909 was John E. Nelson, later member of Congress, and the\u00a0father of the present Congressman from this district. J. Frederick Hili was\u00a0chairman of the School Board, Carroll Perkins was City Solicitor, Miss Mary\u00a0Caswe I I (now Mrs. Benjami n Carter) was the pub Ii c I ibrari an, and Harvey D.\u00a0Eaton was pres i dent of the Board of Trade.\u00a0Watervll Ie then had four banks — the Peoples, the T’~onlc, the Savings\u00a0and the Watervi lie Trust Company. Although at least three barbers now active\u00a0in Waterville were certainly practicing the trade In 1909, only one of them\u00a0then had a shop of his own. He, of course, was Waterville’s dean of ‘barbers,\u00a0Victor Robichaud.<\/p>\n
have been amazed to find how many old timers have forgotten about the\u00a0book and stationery store of the man Colby boys used to call ”By-damn” Moore,\u00a0situated on Main Street near where the Western Union Office now stands. For the\u00a0life of me I couldn’t have told you the real name of that eccentric character\u00a0who had the concession for all Colby text books and who rented out those old\u00a0two cents a mile mi leage books so common on the Maine Central half a century\u00a0ago. It takes the Maine Register to set me straight. Old “By-damn’s” real\u00a0name was F. E. Moore, and his place of business was 154 Main Street.\u00a0Unless I am greatly mistaken, the only Watervi lie lawyers now practicing,\u00a0whose names appear in the .1909 Register, are Harvey Eaton and Carroll Perkins.\u00a0Is there any present physician who was then practicing here, except Dr. John\u00a0Towne?<\/p>\n
We should be proud that Watervi lie is a town where people stay in business.\u00a0Besides the very old firms of W. B. Arnold Co. and the Redington Co.,\u00a0the follow i ng fl rms sti II in bus i ness were operat\u00b7ing in 1909: W. W. Berry &.\u00a0Co., John Raymond, Gallert Shoe Store, William Levine, Hagers, H. R. Dunham Co.,\u00a0G. S. F I cod Co., S. A. and A. B. Green, Proctor and Bow ie, Atherton Furn i ture\u00a0Co., Merrill and Mayo, Charles E. Morse Co., Preble Studio, City Job Print,\u00a0Waterville Motors, J. B. Friel &. Co., and Boothby and Bartlett,’ which in 1909\u00a0was L. T. Boothby & Son.<\/p>\n
Some of those firms ran ads in the 1909 Register, among them the Waterville\u00a0Motor Company. In spite of the newness and scarcity of auotmobiles in\u00a01909, the name Motor Company was already in use. Among the more unusual ads\u00a0that Is, they seem unusua I today — were Andrew Ware and Company, p I an I ng niT I I,\u00a0and Groder’s Dyspepsia Syrup, dispensed by G. H. Grondin & Co., Oak Street.<\/p>\n
As our final item tonight, I want to urge your help in ferreting out what\u00a0think is an important historical point. On the Kennebec River, al <\/em>I the way\u00a0from 8ath to Fairfield, the more populous and more prosperous communities are\u00a0on the west bank of the river. This is casting no aspersions at such fine\u00a0towns as Dresden, Pittston, Randolph, Vassalboro and Winslow. But it is simply\u00a0a fact that they are the smaller and less i ndustri a I towns.<\/p>\n Now it was not always so, When the Plymouth Company decided to build two\u00a0forts to protect Its sett lers In 1754, it built both of them on the east bank\u00a0of the river — Fort Hal ifax at Winslow and Fort Western at Cushnoc, the name\u00a0for the east side of the river at Augus ta ,<\/p>\n As time went on, however, It was the west side communities that grew in\u00a0size and trade — Bowdoinham, Richmond, Gardiner, Hallowell, Augusta, Watervilie and Fairfield. Why did this happen? Who of our listeners can give me\u00a0any clues to the answer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #139, broadcast on March 9, 1952<\/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":[787,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7298"}],"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=7298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}