Evening star., 1925-07-05
INDIAN HEAD
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

ing many miles from the city and it's
crowds.
There are now perhaps 500 or 1000
inhabitants of Indian Head. The
school, which is partly administered
by the Federal Government and part.
ly by the State of Maryland, has 500
pupils. The courses extend through
the high school grades The village
has its own hospital, own water
works and electric plant. Many of the
workmen have their own farms out
side the town limits and raise their
own vegetables. Some even raise their
own tobacco. They are indeed. suf.
ticient unto themselves.
Life at Indian Head.
The big event of the year is the
Charles County fair. This is held in
the grounds of the community center
and to 1t come the people of all the
surrounding country There ia a
great judging Of jellies. knitting and
| live stock. The central figure in this
Is an old retired naval lieutenant. who
was stationed there when the grounds
were opened, and has lived there ever
since his retirement
On the whole. life at Indian Head
is rather quiet and largely out of
doors. In the Summer the popular
pastimes are swimming, fishing. boat
ing and playing tennis. In the Fall
the duck shooting is said to be excel
lent. The families of the few officers
stationed there may meet for a game
of bridge. but there is comparatively
little OF the usual social activity of a
naval station. The golf fever seems
to have skipped this community
perhaps because there appears to be
no suitable location for a course.
Probably the thing which strikes
the visiting motorist most forcibly is
the speed limit and the zeal with
which it is enforced Upon arriving
on the outskirts of the town, one is
greeted with brilliant yellow sign
informing him that the speed limit is
15 miles an hour. OF course, this is
not an unusual rate for small town
There are many where the rate is 12
The remarkable point is the almost
| clairvoyant powers of the marine
guard when it comes to detecting the
speed of the motorist Not long
ago a party from Washington was
astounded to have a guard step from
the sentry box, hail them and inform
them they were doing between Is and
20. Distinguishing between Is and
16 miles an hour seems quite a feat
to the average person.
Curbing Speeders.
It must be said that the curbing of
the speeders is not confined to casual
visitors. A naval officer on a tour of
inspection was stopped and chided.
and it is told that the son of one of
the original inhabitants was told to
leave the town because of his con-
tinued disregard for the speed rule.
Even in the days before the motor
| cycle displaced the horse this rule was
vigilantly enforced. A marine mounted
on q horse would galiop after any
offending motorist. An officer for
merly attached to this station said he
often wondered how this guard could
tell how fast the motorist was going.
Certainly he had no speedometer on
| his horse. Several theories for the
strict enforcement of the speed limit
have been advanced. One is that 1t
would be dangerous to have high
| powered motors laundering through
on account of the powder stored there
and another is that the large number
of children living there necessitates a
| low rate.
When driving through this isolated,
slow moving village it is difficult to
realize just how important it is to the
people of this country Upon the
work of this community largely de-.
pends the efficiency of the Navy. The
latest type guns would be of little use
without the powder manufactured
there. Which proves that a town
should not be judged by its exterior
or speed limit r.