Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-04-08

and low degree, including hundreds
of boys, as Uncle Floyd. He isn't
large man physically but there IS
something big about him. His eyes
are bright and clear, and his IRON
gray hair grows thick. He's prob
ably in his late forties but his heart
is that of a boy. His name is Floyd
Starr. When he was a baby OF
three, he heard his family discuss
ing man who had adopted a lot OF
children, John Harvey Kellogg. Hav-
ing learned, through a question,
what adopted" meant, the baby
announced that when he grew up he
would adopt lot of children. The
remark caused a laugh. When Starr
was graduated from Albion college
and the question of his career arose,
he repeated that he intended to
adopt a lot of children. There was
another laugh. But he meant it.
With his savings and a family In
heritance he purchased a 640-acre
farm near Albion. The farm became
the Starr Commonwealth for Boys.
Boys "who nobody wants" go to
the Starr Commonwealth. When
they arrive, they are from eight to
fourteen years old. They come from
courts, from slums, from great
many other places. The only re-
quirement is that they be normal
mentally. The average stay at the
Commonwealth is three years. They
then 60 out to other homes or into
the world. The Commonwealth
came into existence "a years ago.
Since it's inception it has had 700
graduates. Some of the raw ma
terial was looked on as pretty hope
less by all except Uncle Floyd. One
boy had stolen five automobiles in
an afternoon. Two "baby bandits"
had 81 Grimes charged against
them, from theft to burning a
church. Uncle Floyd's idea is that
there is no such a thing as "bad
boy" There are no bolts, bars,
or uniforms at the Commonwealth.
Every boy is on his honor. When
one of his boys slips, Uncle Floyd
pleads that not the boys but he, be
given another chance.
Something about the 700 alumni:
One is mining engineer and part
owner of a gold mine. One is an
aviator. Several are student fiers.
One is a surveyor. Several are
teachers. Many are farmers and
many industrial and business work
ers. One is an authority on fish
life and another the director of the
largest medical museum in the
world, while still another is a bank
executive and another an author
now in China working on his third
book. The Floyd Commonwealth is
the only corrective institution in the
world with ain alumni association.
Once a year the graduates gather
for a dinner. They do more than
that-they help the new graduates
get start. Uncle Floyd was in
New York recently speaking before
various organizations about his
boys. He hasn't a dime-he turned
over all his possessions to the Com
monwealth. But he has been called
the t'richest man in Albion" And
talking with him brought the feel
ing the territory had been too linn
tied.
Charles Martin, young advertis-
ing executive, got into an automo-
bile wreck the other evening while
returning from Philadelphia. When
he finally reached his apartment,
he found that he'd had a visit from
robbers during his absence. He was
checking up on his loss when some
intoxicated friends happened in and
in spirit of play-destroyed con-
siderable of what the thieves hadn' t
taken. When all the excitement fl
nally came to an end, Martin went
to bed too excited to write his stint,
"Thrill of the Week"
A woman annoyed one of those
tea room fortune tellers no end the
other afternoon by asking questions
and being extremely fussy during
| tllc lSdOulS. uldIly tllC ChdSpCI dI-
ed fortune teller brought the read
ing to an end by sharply informing
the fussy woman that she was due
for some extremely bad luck. With
that the fussy one informed the
fortune teller that she had made
an error about who was to have the
bad luck. In other words, she fired
her, the tea leaves not having in
formed the fortune teller that the
fussy one owned the place.
The other evening your cor
respondent observed tall, well SET
up, well dressed young man saun-
ter down one of those swanky es-
Establishments where prices bring
back memories of prohibition. When
informed that highban sold for q
minimum of so cents, the young man
asked as to the price of plain soda
The naughty bartender informed
him that the tariff was a quarter
Then the young man wanted to know
how much glass Of water would
cost and when told nothing at all
replied that that was what he would