Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1922-11-16
asD~
c. G. wADE's TRIP

wild Covers, we drove into SPRING
field and through the whole business
section and beyond, to where we fourd
the home Of our son, Warren, and his
wife, and Merwin, our "a yea< Old
grandson. Noon dinner was rsady and
so were we. Warren teaches chemis-
try in the international Y M. G. A..
College known locally as the Spring
field College,. incidentally he coaches
in athletics. Though we tarried there
ten days, we never did quite realize
the dignity of being guests in the
home Of a college professor-to US he
was just our boy grown up.
| See Springfield first from the Cam
panile, the great tower in the Munich
pal Group. From there we looked
down on the Connecticut River, like
a silver ribbon coming down from the
north where it has turned many mill
wheel; thence under the great $4,000
900 concrete bridge of seven spans,
Just completed, and hurrying away to
the south whittier we followed it a
few days later. The bridge is so #.
wide. The main span over the channel
is It's #. THE arches of Grand ave-
nue. viaduct, Wauwatosa, span $50 ft)
Speaking of bridges-they still have
toll bridges way down east, where >
fat old spider jumps out at you and
holds you up for a few cents per
passenger and more cents per aUIo. If
the collector gets more than he needs
bo 4,,..r,c 4lo e,,.,.,,l,.. cxxn,. -. Az. -.
poration that owns the franchise. One
frequently goes through old style COW
cred dges-bcarded up tight on top
and sides-dark assmidnight and mar
row. AS you enter out of the bright
sunlight you have to turn on the head
! lights, go slow. and honk your horn.
The best answer | was able to get
from down-easter as to why these
bridges were boarded up, was: "Oh! /
don't know; they've always been that
way"
| We wanted to see the Armory and
! War Museum. had heard Of Spring
! field rifles fifty years and was curious
to go through the plant and see how
they were made, so we presented our
selves at the main office in the morn
ing of a certain day, requesting a Wis
TORS permit. After a long time we
got through to the room and the desk
| of certain officer who had authority
to pass US through; but the said Off
GER was not there and we waited
around and finally went home to din
ner and came back after noon and
went through the same performance
with like result. Now / surnised that
somewhere over in beyond all this red
tape there should be man capable
of doing any reasonable thing he
1 wished and intimated as much to an
official, who said certainly, for in
! stance, the Commandant in his private
| office in through here and he waved
| his hand toward door. Now on sec
ond thought | believe he neither in
tended to send me in there, nor ex-
| pected that | would so intrude; but |
/ had not waited for second thought,
either ON his part or on mine. He who
hesitates is lost, so | was staining in
i the private office of the highest local
official waiting, at a respectful dis
cute the business in hand before exc
cutting me. And indeed the first ques-
ton he asked was rather formal and
the next equally official; but his hair
had the sanguine color that mine had
when | was young man of his age
and he looked intelligent and human
and he satisfied himself in four min
,.fac fhof I xuoc a ,aa,-fao4Ixy hc,....lxr-.
old mechanic from Wisconsin whom
he should be delighted to honor. So he
touched a button--not on his uniform
and instructed the young man who
entered, to take us through the plant.
We had crossed the street and entered
a building and hardly more, when who
should show up but the aforesaid Off
cial with the remark that he thought
he would like to show us around him
self. Of course we appreciated the
attention and were glad to make his
acquaintance.
Ii you can get within Misunderstanding
distance Of the president of the United
States, or the president of anything in
the United States, you are pretty GER
tain to find a democratic, congenial
human being who is as different from
the necessary red tape Gordon that sur
rounds him, as is the contents of a
package from the string that is tied
about it.
The plant was running very light
and | remarked about the absence of
girls and boys and the ordinary fac
tory type of employee, whereupon our
friend said: The only reason we are
running at all is to keep the old ex-
perts employed. If we should lay off
these men and they did not return, we
could never make another Springfield
rifle. It simply would never be the
renowned Springfield again. Ma
chimes are necessary but it is the men
that handle them that make all the
difference between a perfect rifle and
an inferior product. Interesting as
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