The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-06-09

Purely Z temporary set-up, little
n done to keep it looking well, and
the brown from the buildings il
almost an eye-sore. with no green
TO relieve its tedium. Even the
public buildings of the small down.
town area have a sameness about
them that il depressing.
And il 10 an expensive place 10
live. uuder army regulations, only
one business place Of each kind Ia
permitted. such as only one groc-
cry store, one drug store. one
theater. and 40 on. Az result.
prices are high and wages are
average.
silly Red Tape.
Buildings on the hills above the
town formerly were barracks for
the single men--some of them still
are-but. when most of them
moved on 10 the next job. these
were turned into apartments and
the families came in. While not
expensive in proportion as some of
the things in the town are. they
are very small and not particular
~, well fitted up.
Naturally, when some Of the
women came in to live there they
saw room for improvements, but
there they ran into governmental
red tape. The tennents Of these
buildings can't make the least i'm
provement. even at their own ex-
penss. without their request going
through two sources in Washing
ton and one at the town.
II is a matter of weeks before
4 housewife can get permission
to put up window boxes or even
to put a new lock on the door.
lnssmuch as the buildings are
only temporary and nothing Ia
done to keep them in decent re-
pair. il seems like all that silly
red tape ia completely out of
place.
Common Sense Lacking
The men can't even make re-
pairs N their own apartments
when they are needed. They have
TO call up a service department to
do IL. A shining example Of this
In an instance we ran across while
talking TO some people in a near
by apartment. The lady couldn't
get in her house because Of de-
fective lock. She had to call this
service department. and their
charge TO come up and open the
door was IS cents. And. when the
husband tried to fix the lock. he
caught the very devil for tamper-
ing.
There is no reason why a certain
amount of red tape and common
sense can't go hand in hand. but
apparently the army regulations
don't see things that way.
The dam itself In an heroic effort
u combat the never before con-
quered Missouri river.
Many stories Afleat
Though we were denied the OPP
portunity of talking to any of the
government engineers. every one
We did talk to spoke about it with
their tongue in their cheek. All
kinds Of stories can be picked up,
. few based on fact, but most
based on rumor.
However. there 10 no denying the
complete collapse Of one side of
the upper half of the dam last
year, taking with ii. officially. the
lives Of eight men.
But men working on the dam
today will. with \ little coaxing.
whisper that many more than that
were lost, and that the news
stories were killed. We don't know.
Of course. and nobody will ever
know definitely. but one can hear
many such stories floating about.
Lose Faith In Dam
The Indians in this vicinity firm
" believe that Fort Peck dam
never win hold back the great
storage basin of water As planned.
They point out land somewhat
logically. tool that the great
weight Of that dam 10 resting only
on earth. not on bed rock. and that
the Missouri will drill right under
1t.
They also pointed out that one
Of the hills alongside the dam is
moving. AT first this was scoffed
at. but detailed investigation by
engineers has proved il to be a
fact. Right now. due to the slide.
the engineers are charging the
dam to almost twice it former
thickness.
But again the Indians will tell
you that once 4 landslide starts
TO move. IL keeps on moving. and
the new fill is going right over
the old slide.
II il interesting TO note that
noi.e Of the ranchers along this
section Of the river expect the
dam to hold. and It is a known
fact that insurance below the dam
il almost impossible TO obtain.
Men Are Skilled
However. the dam did impress
N with it, immensity and the ter
snGnrIesa osCHEsrRA