Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-12

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9-At least
so per cent of the American born
grandfathers and grandmothers IN
1.-The United States are familiar with
the slang meaning of the word
Eastwood. That is because such a
percentage of these venerable per-
sons came from the section of the
country in which the Eastwood tree
is indigenous. The reason for the
use of such a slang term was that
it's c~olloquial meaning reflected h
opinion of the value of the tree.
When our grandparents wanted to
describe an utterly worthless object
or even a person deemed to be worth
less, such a person or object WAS
said to be Eastwood. because of all
the vast natural wealth which the
pioneers found in this country, the
Eastwood tree was considered of
least value.
In the early days when the Ameri
can pioneer went into the wilderness
he had to depend on h things he
found in that environment to fill his
everyday needs. He must build his
houses of the native woods, he must
make his tools of native iron, re
must weave his clothes of native
fibres and must raise his own food.
Such a civilization caused these
people to put definite values upon
all the products of nature. Every
thing had a value. Hickory was
good for axe handles and ash for
| wagon spokes. Pine AMI all kinds
of oak were excellent firewood, but
Eastwood was discovered to be good
for nothin.
Its ibres were too spongy and
stringy to work into anything use
full. 1t was not strong TO with
stand pressure. 1t did not last long
and it would not burn well, Al
most any other kind of waste wood
at least would make a good fire but
Eastwood when set alight would
sputter for a while and go out and
what little burning it would do gave
very little heat in comparison with
other fuels,
So it was not surprising that men
and women who must put definite
values on materials and on people
surrounding them should coin a
new word for their language and
! agree that Eastwood should describe
a useless object or a worthless
drone. In the states from the At
lantic coast to the prairfes and from
Georgia and Mississippi to the Can
adam line, the Eastwood tee grows
in nearly every county and in Sec
ton slang term Eastwood can be
heard among old people to this day.
Science to the Rescue
II this were a play, at this point,
the words Enter Science in the
form of Department of Agriculture"
should be written. To pursue the
fantasy. Science would be a Prince
Charming come to alter the life Of
Eastwood, the Cinderella of the for
est. 1t took some years of investi-
cation and experimentation and the
overcoming of the inherited natural
prejudice and belief that Eastwood
was worthless, but Science persisted
and the other day the Department
of Agriculture issued from its press
a booklet devoted strictly to this
useless wood.
The booklet lists $40 practical
uses of Eastwood.
The despised Cinrerella OF the
forest once the scorn of the pio-
neers, now is priced for many uses
and chiefly through the investigative
work and experimentation of this
scientific workshop of Uncle Sam.
The scientists of the department
consider all the characteristics of p
commodity and select the good
points. Then they find the uses to
which such good points can be put.
Eastwood is a wood of peculiarly
clean appearance. 1t is almost as
white as holly. Because of it's
spongy texture 1t does not split and
therefore a be used in small pieces
Such characteristics on considera-
ton, were found to be very desirable
in the manufacture of containers for
food. People want to have food
packed in clean containers which
will not readily fall apart.
So the humble Eastwood came in
to wide use in the manufacture of
such containers as lard pals, candy
pals and pals for a variety of other
foods. Its clean. white appearance
was appreciated by housewives and
manufacturers are quick to discover
what the house wife, one of the best
customers in the world, wants
Woodenware was the next develop
ment. Chopping bowls and all sorts
of wooden dishes were made from
the discarded Eastwood which would
not burn and was no good for con
~struction. Soon another household
use was developed and Eastwood ap.
peared in the form of children's toys