The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-19
BY WAGNER WHITE
Times Special Writer

SAN DIEGO. Cal. Feb. ia
lone club note in newspaper of
April 7, last year, heralded in five
of six lines the coming of the
Townsend old age revolving pension
plan to San Diego County.
No newspaper editor in the city
appreciated, at that time, the sig
nificance Of the announcement: it
was just another club note" 1t
merely read, in substance:
Mr.. w. F. Hutton of Long
Beach spoke before the executive
board of the County Federation of
WomenS Clubs at the Y. NJ. c. A..
explaining an old-age pension plan"
Just another guy with some kind
OF political racket" your average
newspaper man would have COM
mented. The women like to listen
to things like that"
Eleven days later. Mr.. Hutton
spoke before the San Diego Women's
Civic Center. Mrs. A. H. Bretz. one
of the Civic Center leaders took
one of the visitors pamphlets on
the Townsend plan home with her
to read; it was all too much to
grasp at one hearing-too MANY
figures and economics and things.
But it was something about every
person over so getting a S2OO-a-
month pension from the govern
ment. Can you imagine!
RPa llV if didn't cOfr,,d VOW, ,>,...
tlcal-becauSe where would YOU get
enough money to pay all the aged
men and women 5000 a month?
Handful Attends Meeting
Mrs. Bretz read the pamphlet.
then passed it to Mrs. Sydney Scott.
Now Mrs. Scott has been a club
woman and leader for some years.
She has seen ideas come and go.
and she wasn't too much interested
IN this one. She took the booklet
home with her and read it in bed
just intending to give it a glance.
L read it couple of times be-
fore the principles soaked through"
she admits. Then finally, I got it."
Where other women had been
mildly interested, Mrs. Scott be-
came the leading local apostle of
the plan. On April %, III her home,
she called a selected group of citi-
zenS, from many different organiza-
lions and many different business
and professional groups, to hear
about the plan. Her guests learned
about the Townsend plan from her,
and learned it convincingly.
About 30 attended the evening
meeting in her home, crowding into
the living room. They all came out
fired with enthusiasm for the Town
send plan.
" Clubs in the County
From that original 80 the organ
ization has grown in less than a
year to 70 clubs in the county with
more than 10000 paid members
and with 100000 Signers of the pc
tition to Congress demanding (they
don't merely TASK" any more) that
the Townsend bill be passed forth
with.
In all the nation, 25,000,000 1t is
claimed, have signed these petitions
and the original 30 here in San
Diego, working through the thou
sands they have helped to convert"
are responsible for millions of these
signatures.
Every member here, working with
the original unit in Long Beach, has
been encouraged to mail petitions
to acquaintance in other towns
and thus the idea has spread.
At that first meeting where
Unit No. l" was organized, there
were present writer, a real estate
man, a minister, ornamental iron
works proprietor, attorney, retired
orchardist, grocer, dentist, etc.
Within seven weeks, from this
small start, the Townsend move
ment was able to muster one of tbs
greatest mass meetings ever held in
San Diego.