Evening star., 1937-08-29
WANT L|NDBERGH
TO COME ''HOME"
Little Falls, Minn., Folk
Wouldn't Be Surprised
if He Did.

if He Did.
LITTLE FALLS, Mimi, August 20.
up in this quiet. but liberal, Scan
dinavian community, which knew
Charles A. Lindbergh. the boy, as
'tinkerer," the folks are wondering
why Charlie" doesn't come back
home.
And by "home" they don't mean
the United States. They mean Little
Falls-Lindbergh's home town.
As bartender put 1t:
Seems like if Charlie don't want
to be bothered and pestered to death,
he ought to come back to Little Falls
and build home here. And 1t
wouldn't surprise me if he did.
why, back here, Charles just one
OF the boys. He was back home about
year or so ago, and when he walked
down the street nobody paid a heap
OF attention to him. 1t was just Hi
Charlie and 'Hya, Charlie?' And
that's about all
THE Mrs.-Charlies wife, mean
she liked it here lot, too I think
she'd like to have home here. She
comes from monied people, but at
heart she's just common folks like U.S."
Yep" the bartender concluded, ex-
planning his wife's sister is second
cousin Of Lindbergh's, seems like II
Charlie really wants to be let alone,
he'd come back to Little Falls. We
got a darn good airport here, too."
The bartender expanded the back
to-Littie Falls idea more than most,
but the underlying feeling was the
same throughout this Minnesota
city Of 5000. It was:
"Nobody'd bother Charlie much
here. He's just one of the boys"
On that Interpretation of the word
home" there is general accord. But
when by home" they refer to the
United States compared to England,
that's another matter. There is
majority willingness to say that
Charles all right. He knows what
he's doing" The minority says:
This country was good enough for
his dad and it was good enough for
his granddad. Seems like man ought
to stick to his own country. That's
the patriotic thing to do, isn't it? I
know Charles been up against it,
what with all the trouble he's had,
but after all, this is his country.
England isn't
Llndbergh is definitely not bally-
hooed In Little Falls. The hotels have
unlmpressive names. There's no
Llndbergh theater and none of the
restaurants is known as "Lindys."
Known as "Charlie."
incidentally, if you start talking
about "Lindy' in Little Falls you're
dubbed right then and there as a
tourist-or at least, just stranger.
AS a boy, Lindbergh was known as
Charlie" and all the "Lindy" head
lines in the world haven't robbed him
of that nickname
As you approach Little Falls on the
highway, a billboard informs you that
the city is Lindbergh's home town
and in the center Of the city an arrow
shaped sign suggests that you visit the
Charles A. Lindbergh" State Park.
The park isn't in tribute to Lind
bergh the flyer alone. That's why
there isn't "jr." tackled on the title.
1t IS also a memorial to Lindbergh the
statesman and politician, who pre-
dicted, long before his more publicized
son ever thought Of flying the At
lantic, that the United States was
heading for economic rocks and deep
depression.
Lots OF Little Falls people like to
tell you about Lindbergh, ST., one
time Congressman from Minnesota,
but none so much as a kindly, white
mustached Swede, Carl A. Bolander.
Read 1t for Yourself.
For 80 years he handled the real
estate end of Mr.. Lindberghs law
once and today, In his own modest
little real estate Office, he still breaches
the doctrine of his great friend.
If he feels that you are really in
terested in Mr.. Lindberghs ideas, he'll
walk back of his shop. pick up two
books, one in each hand and, putting
on the dust, he'll say:
Here, take these along with YOU
and read them if you want to know
what Mr.. Lindbergh's ideas were. He
wrote them"
Then, with obvious pride, he'll open
one of the books to a part where sew
eral pages are torn out, and explain
that the Government suppresses this
part. 1t was too radical, they said,
but it turned out to be true"
Charlie? Charles fine boy. I've
never disapproved OF thing he's
done," said Mr.. Bolander when the
conversation turned to the flying
member Of the Lindbergh family.
And I think he did rigl when he
went across the pond. There's a lot
OF blackmailers and crooks in this
ooxntry after him, and he couldn't
have any peace.
Charlie Likes Sweden.
haven't talked to Charlie for
qatSe = spell, but it wouldn't surprise
me Il he went to Sweden to live some
Gay. He likes it there. I know that.
and they'd be good to him in Sweden"
The man in Little Falls who knows
Charlie Lindbergh better than any one
else IN town Is Martin Engstrom, oper-
ator Of combined confectionery and
hardware store. When Mr.. and Mrs.
Lindbergh visited Little Falls for two
weeks they stayed with the Eng
stroms.
Mr.. Engstrom obviously has been
10 close to Lindbergh that, friendly
As he Is, he shuns publicity and his
statements are carefully guarded. His
ideas about Lindbergh's escape to
England about like this:
Charles coming back to this
country when the right time comes.
But he's working on some ideas, and
they take time. He wants to be BY