St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1937-09-17
Something About
BOley, Oklahoma
(By J. Nathaniel Smith,


a white man. The president of
the Port Smith & Western suggest
ed the plan of establishing such a
settlement along the route ira
versed by his road. Mr.. Boley, a
subordinate executive of the rail
road, heard the plan of his chief
and became so enthused over the
idea and devoted so much of his
time to creating an interest in it,
that the pioneers named their town
in his nonor. Of course, every new
settlement along the way meant
more business for the railroad.
Leaving aside such superficial
ties as the pride in having an all
Negro town, self government in the
south and breathing the free air
of Boley," the hard headed econo-
mist wants to know something
about buying and selling, profit or
service, payrolls and real wages,
etc.
Knowing that the state of Okla
homa is making rapid strides in the
field of consumer and producer CO.
operatives, a liberal Minnesotan
visiting Boley naturally asks about
the movement there. With excep-
ton of a scant half dozen of the
citizenry you may as well ask a
rural fundamentalist if the Mean
derthal man knew how to make a
fire.
It would seem reasonable that
after the experiences of 1880 to
1887 that Negroes not only in Be-
ley but all over the U. S. would be-
gin to operate producer and con-
sumner co-operatives. Boley and VI
cinity can grow a variety of gar
den vegetables, fruits and pecans.
A producer coop could build can
merry, employ an expert to manage
it, and thereby furnish a ready
market for the products of diversi-
fed farming, as we'll as furnish en-
ployment for a score or more Of
people during the summer. The
products from the cannery and the
nut trees could be marketed every
where just as Tuskegee sells its IA
nous CONNECTIONS. This same coop
could have creamery or cheese fac
tory or both. Less cotton and more
livestock would give more cash dur
ing the entire year. Land now be-
ing destroyed by erosion could be
planted to permanent pasture, al
falfa and other stock feed. The
packing industry in Oklahoma City,
only GO miles away on a paved
road, offers an excellent place to
dispose of farm animals. Due to
a lack of capital none of these
things can be done in Boley by
rugged individualists, all and more
could be done by cooperative Or
ganization.
On the consumer end, a well
managed cooperative could make
Boley far surpass the widest
dreams of it's founders. There are
five small privately owned filling
stations and a few garages in b.
ley. The boys who work in them
are polite, industrious fellows.
There are a small number of ex-
pert mechanics, some of whom
have spent several years in auto
mobile factories in Michigan, yet
there is not a single first class ga
rage or filling station in the town,
due, of course, to the eternal lack
of capital. When it is said that the
answer to many of these problems
is co-ops, it is no untried fantastic
dream. Practical illustrations are
all over the northwest and else
where in the world. There are
towns in Minnesota with one third
of the population of Boley with
strong, thriving co-ops which the
so-called depression only served to
strengthen and expand their activi-
ties.
The fact that Boley farmers and
gardeners are overlooking a lucra-
tive income from orchards, pecan |
groves, livestock, etc., is no par
ticular reflection on them. They
still cling to cotton, in another Sec
ton of the country farmers hang
on doggedly to sugar cane, while |
others starve to death raising rice,
and believe it or not, there are
farmers still alive who consider the |
production of wheat a form of di- |
vine worship.
Neither geographical location
nor pigmentation can be blamed for
this condition, it is simply a case
of whatever is, IS" This will be |
changed only by the young people |
from the farms and small towns |
o&