The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-15
HOOVERVILLE LOOKS AHEAD
Mayor Working, Hopeful Chant of Ri71er Resident
BY ARCH STEINEL
Times STAFF Writer
"ANAYOR" JOE BAXTER of
lNE HOoverville has a ioh

4V1 Hooverville has a job.
And so the shanty-town that
squatted on the west bank of the
White river. of the era of 1882
B. R. before ROOSEVELT, looks
with favor on the Tapping of the
wings of the blue eagle on the
lard-tin roofs Of its homes.
From shack TO shack goes the
hopeful word. "Our mayor is
working again."
In 1882, Hooverville was haven
Of the evicted.
Then food, fuel, were the main
themes at the monkey-stove
councils. A JOB was recognized as
the coming of the millennium.
But now Hooverville believes
that the millennium really may
come for THE mayor has job"
Yeah and there's Lon Crone-
ulster be a mechanic, yer know,
he's got a job, too" vouched an
other Hoovervillian.
And that Teller that's got the
shantytowner." he's working over
at the Big Four. What do you
know about that? Things is look
ing up"
THE towns influential, the
l. ones with the most lard tins
on their dwellings, believe it's
time to change the name of the
town and time to elect a new
mayor.
You can't have a mayor who
works, they believe. And they
figure that maybe through a
process of elimination and by
electing new mayors. that each
officeholder may get employment
under the NRA.
AS for the change in the towns
cognomen 1t is admitted that the
B. r. days should be forgotten, if
one is ever to quit accepting bas-
kets from the township trustees.
Today's Hooverville is a stable
community that ''junks" for a
living and hangs on in hope that
they'll have the luck of the mayor.
ChildleSS couples and bachelors
form its residents. Welfare
agencies long ago moved families
with children to other homes.
A reminder OF Hooversville's old
days of want is a bleak chilly
shanty atop a hillock near the
river.
IN 1t a woman and her husband
Il huddle near a misnomer called
stove, while a 2-year-old bow
tries to angle plate with a few
beans on it in a position to roll
the beans mouthward. The beans
oalk. The boy gives up. The
mother unwraps a fresh burn on
his arm. She places a clean cloth
on the burn. No Salve soothes the
burn. The boy blows his chilled
breath on the wound to heal the
ache.
l was a movie operator. Show
closed. Lost my Job. Expect TO
get another next week" were the
laconic replies to questions of the
child S father as he Rugged nearer
the fire.
one year ago, incidents similar
to this were frequent.
But now only the stalwart and
able live in the Shantytown.
The white population is neelig-
ible.
IT GUESS you can count them
l. on your hands," says Theo-
dore VEGA, Rumanian COOPER.
VEGA awaits the day when the
eighteenth amendment ends. in
the hope that mayhaps his ex-
perience in making whisky and
beer barrels will take him out of
Hooverville.
VEGA and others in Hooverville.
however, would not take a chance
OF moving out of their homes.
Just for a job"
SJ POAAlG W CIleIT cdnnV
mayor who, despite carrying che
dinner-pail again, keeps his domi-
Gle in Hooverville.
They believe the blue eagle of
the NRA may fly high and far
but they're taking no chances ON
his flight being halted by pot
shots from hunters in well-con-
cealed blinds.