Evening star., 1941-08-23

Heho"oie' gdGu DOl, Ills
head could have spotted any Persian
lamb, and his IL or 13 year old face
wore that soft and lazy grin.
How much gas can I hsye7" I
asked. remembering that Mr.. Ickes
had put the rstioning of gasoline
up to the discretion of the at
tendants.
Boss, you can have as much as
you can pay for said one OF Mr..
Ickes' hopes as he stopped scuf-
fling his bare feet in the dirt DO
you want just the good gasoline. or
would you be of mind to buy that
special extra stuff in the head
tank?"
AS the gasoline gUrgled into the
tank I talked to the boy.
DO you sell every customer as
much gasoline as he wants."
queried.
He looked at me with a puzzled
look. "Sho, I do" he answered.
Mr.. Ben, who runs this place, he
say to me when he 60 to lunch, Boy,
I hopes you sell lot of gasoline
while I'm gone"
Have you ever heard of Mr.. Har-
old Ickes?" l asked.
Says which," the boy asked right
back.
l repeated my question.
No, sub, can't recollect as I do.
He don't live nowhere near here,
does he? l never even heard Mr..
Ben speak of that gentleman"
explained as best I could about
Mr.. Ickes and his gasoline ration
ing plan. and he looked at me as
If I were crazy.
Il don't know nothing about that
at ALL" he said when I had finished.
"All know is we tries to sell all We
got in the tanks every day"
Ickes, l thought as drove away.
you've got job on your hands.
It's all very we'll to sit up there
in Washington and draw sstisfac-
ton from the "Co-ordinator Of
Petroleum" printed on your door,
but its long. long way from your
marble hall with push buttons to
the little filling stations in the
hills, where the proprietor and his
wife live in the back room. and a
guy who buys 10 gallons is a helluva
customer.
was 200 miles south OF Char
lotte when I stopped for my next
load of gas. The attendant was a
middle -aged woman who had to lift
a baby from her lap to the floor TO
come out and handle the pump.
said: Fill her up and she
filled her up Didn't say word.
1t was late in the afternoon and
so if there was going to be any
rationing I would have been a VIC
tim of it.
1 asked her the same questions I
had asked the boy up the road. Did
she know of Mr.. Ickes? Had she
been informed about the gasoline
rstioning? Was she dealing out
gasoline with an eve to making her
supply go long way?
Yes. She had heard about man
called Ickes, but the situation wasn't
clear in her mind. She and her
husband had come to the conclu-
sion that this Ickes fellow was
big gasoline dealer in town about
miles away, and was trying to ruin
the little gasoline station owner.
This is all We got. This little
place" she explained.
We live here and we gotta sell
gasoline and oil to get along"
I told her about the lack of
tankers and pipe lines, and how
Russia and England needed gaso-
line.
She was very patient. She slapped
the flies off the baby. and listened.
'Lissen, newspaperman," she fin-
ally said, that's all very good and
well. But We gotta live, too. I Just
don't know how we'd get along if we
sold any less gas. The egg money
from my chickens helps little, but
the rents gone up on the place. We
amt doing much more than getting
by"
This is an awfully big country,
Mr.. Ickes, and I don't want the
job that's been given you.
distributed by McNsusht Syndicate. IncD