Evening star., 1933-05-25
VILLAGE SUPPLIED
IDEA TO PRESIDENT
WcodmiII in Moscow, VT, Key
10 RooSeveIt's Forest
Program.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
from Vermont on business in Boston
one time, George Adams stayed longer
than he intended. So he went to tele-
graph his wife.
you mean you want to cable" pro-
tested the telegraph girl.
mo, want to telegraph to Moscow,
VT Adams insisted.
Never heard Of It," said the tele-
graph girl.
But others have, among them Frank
lin D. Roosevelt.
The. key to the Presidents forest
program lies in this Vermont village.
To Moscow, tucked up under the
shadow of Mount Mansfield in a corner
of Stowe township, Mr.. Roosevelt sent
scouts from Albany before he pro-
nounced his land utilization policy for
New York State.
"An excellent example of rural In
dustrialisrn," he then called George
Adams little wood-turning mill. "The
raw materials come from the woodlots
Of surrounding farms. Short lengths
are used, unsuitable for other purposes.
:. Every state could be dotted with
small country industries"
Make Work in Vermont.
Now in his book, Looking Forward"
the President again cites this wood
working plant to Illustrate how a bal
ance might be restored between over
crowded cities and depopulated coun-
trysides "by planning for better use
of our agricultural, industrial and hu
man resources. There Is a place for .
rural-industrial group"
Woods make work Ia Vermont.
AN~a0H hAva Tho dicffyycfSny, ~ HKnn-
cows little wood turning plants lies
In the unsuspected Industrial opportu-
nifty found IN the manufacture Of the
most trifling accessories Of kitchen and
shop. Dishmop handles, spools, pin
boxes, ink-bottle caps, checkers, nag
staff tips-George Adams might almost
be said to have built his village factory
on the forgotten things.
Across the same gurgfng water
power Of Little River, Fred Z. Smith
makes practically all the wooden parcel
handles used In America. One chain
store takes 10000, 900 year.
He made all the machinery that
makes the handles. Made it from parts
of old vacuum cleaners and cream
separators. Such ingenuity Is typical
Of Vermont village industries. You
won't see machinery like this anywhere
else In the United States" chuckles O.
rustic Edison, showing his homemade
machines for sandpapering rolling pins,
for labelling parcel handles.
Farther up the valley, in the same
town, Gale Shaw makes chopping trays
and bread boards. Craig and Wayne
Burt make the tipups that tell ice fish,
ermen when they have bite, and bridge
tables to console hshermen's wives.
Mainstay Of Village Life.
Fred Pike, one day out fishing, had
an idea, and went home to get the
Burt brothers to make him a wooden
box to look like q book. He titled the
book THE Sweetest Story Ever Told"
and he has sold quarter million OF
these books Of Vermont maple sugar
These wood-using plants are the
the surrounding agriculture when milk
sells below cost and hay finds no mar
ket Proprietor Adams paid $500
apiece In recent winter to nine farm
ers nearby for wood from their lands,"
Mr.. Roosevelt discovered from his
Moscow exploration. s.s.s-...s - .ss..s
The Burts gave the figures on their
plant for the last fourteen years. |
Prom 1918 to 1892 their mill used
"a ,000, 900 board feet of logs. They
bought $45,157 worth of logs from
farmers within ten miles. They spent
$25s, ,644 in logging and teaming to get
in wages. That made 1922 ,955, or,
roughly, $1,000 q week that one mill
has returned to Stowe.
It Is one OF four woodworking plants
In q town of ! 900 whose principal in
dustry is farming.
How Moscow Was Named.
.
Lockard of the Vermont Forest Service.
It was when the south end of Stowe
first rated a postofice that Moscow
became its official name. Fred Smiths
father ran the mill then. Once when
he had to replace a cracked saw he
used the old one for a dinner gong.
When the cracked saw was struck with
a hammer, people said it sounded like
the bell Of Moscow; and with the
curious persistence Of rural notions the
name Moscow stuck to the vicinity Of
the cracked gong.
Smith himself wanted the postof11ce
named Smithville, but the same ro-
mantle urge that led Berkshire noun
tain village to pick such names as
Savoy, Peru and Florida preferred Mos
COW to Smithville.
The postofdce is In N. w. Churchs
general store. Moscow's 81 citizens are
supported by two wood turning plants
and by part-time farming.
The schoolhouse bears the sign "Su-
perior School," which means a better
than the state standard wage to the
teacher and better than standard
equipment George Adams Is chairman
Of the school committee.
Stowe has high school. The state
university is in Burlington, 40 miles
away. It happens often that when his
children get to college that working
man finds q job in Burlington and
leaves Stowe. SO many have done this
that Burlington has Stowe Associa-
ton as conscious Of its nativity as
Iowans in California.
Copyright, 1898, by North American News
paper Alliance, 1nc.)