Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1934-05-03
GETTING DOWN TO
DEVILS TOOL

storms do hat. They are especially
disheartening to a farmer anxious
to get into the fields TO plant his
crop after several years of nc re
turns or scant returns. Yet discour-
agement is the devils tool. There
is a story about that which Will e
repeating here. IL runs like this:
One day the deyn had an auction.
He offered all his tools for sale. ex-
cept one. Ii was d small, insignifi-
cant appearing tool. The tools sold
well. but the bidders noticed the
devil did not offer this small, rusty,
weatherIbeaten tool for sale. They
asked him why: Thus answered the
devil: That is the tool of all my
tools | prize most highly. With ii
can achieve any purpose ] desire
with men and women. With it |
can make men kill; l can make them
thieves. | a make them liars; |
can make them do anything | like.
With that tool | a make good
women wantons- 1t is my best tool
for with it / can again produce all
the tools | have sold you at today's
auction. The name of that tool Is
! encouragement. 1t is never for sale.
Without il | would 0 be n II
would lose my dark dominion over
humankind Perhaps that Is not
literal but 1t is the essence OF what
the devil is declared to have said. in
the story.
4 Tor fhrzn ~ 4Nryx@h er4tsnr
markets and spotted crop produc-
ton hundreds of people in this
country have lived on sheer spirit |
1t has been a long strain. No Won
der here or there a man or a woman
breaks under il. Yet we are still
rich in the spirit and perhaps we
should remember that to him who |
feels. life is a tragedy and to him
who thinks it is a comedy. Anyhow |
1t will profit none of us anything to
become discouraged. to drift. to adj
mir defeat That old western spirit
has taken us far these last few
years. 1t must still sustain us, but
perhaps we should direct 1t to some
anee.
Years ago when the pioneer came
to a river he crossed ii. Sometimes
he swan it, Sometimes he forded it
Often he bridged it He matched his
mind against material forces. There
are still bridges in Montana built by
pioneers. who had nothing much to
build with but their bare hands They
thought their way n those riy-
ers and all the obstacles that CON
fronfed them The pioneer spirit is
as rich a heritage as this west has.
No one thought OF sitting down be
side a river i'm covered wagon DAYS
and wishing he was on the ether
side No n thought OF just sitting
down and getting all covered with
boils like Job and crying about mis-
fortune. Life was a struggle. as ii
still Is Obstacles were created to be
conquered as they were. Few are
doing that today, while i'm the
steady march of progress there are
always straggIers-
In this country We must face facts.
We must plan. Right nov there is q
splendid example of that in the
planning campaign which is current
throughout the country, and nowhere
more emphasized than right here in
Montana Cities are planning twenty,
thirty, fifty years ahead For rural
area a rehabilitation program il
being planned under direction OF the
new Federal Emergency Relief Ad-
m EHTEf FaTInn 3fxrHnr tha &--.~x~rAM-mxf
Adjustment program. the most inten
sified planning for better utilization
OF land "a water conservation lis
going ON that has ever been attempt
ed Eventually ii will remove families
from marginal land where crops are
SO uncertain to more productive
areas where there may be more
reasonable assurance OF profitable
returns and a happier e~xistance.
The challenge to men OF faith. men
OF endurance is no less now than 1t
has been through the trying past three
years when they nave so splendidIy
met the test Our government Is try
ing to do everything possible to
bring ns ont OF our difficulties. But
a program such as the recOnstruc-
ton of our economic life cannot be
effected in a day. We must have
patience The New Deal must BIZ
given a fair chance. We have those
who cOunsel MS to rebel, to blame
everything on the government-per
haps ever our dust storms. But rebel
lion will only lead to greater chaos
and untold misery And from there
would come still slower recovery.
Rain will come, feed will grow,
but water conservation must ever
remain a fundamental problem in
this big country. We must think
that thing out We must carefully
plan 1t. We must have a program
which assures achievement Science |
is steadily pointing the way, but to
actually achieve It must depend up !
on that splendid pioneer spirit which 1
knows no encouragement III eyer
there was a time to help n an !
other, to be charitable to one an (
to understand one another. it {
Is now Two heads are better than Z
No individual conquered the ]
west and made III hlosurnn - thn {