The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-03-12
In OTHER
WORDS
BY JOHN STAHLBERG

In September 1899 the State Writ
ers' Project was set up to succeed thu
federal project which congress, no
without good cause, had determined
to liquidate. The new organization
was pure and holy thing, certified
not to offend Roy Ayers by recogniz
ing historical facts. At this sublime
and breathless point in human events
Joseph E. Oingerie joel Parker
wrote Of Michael Kennedy thus: "He
has exhibited the +. abilities desired
in director Of the Writer'S Project
:. =. as well as qualifications OF
education and experience not pos
sessed by another man" Or words tc
that effect.
IN. b.: 1t takes culture these days
to equip a man for feeding at the
public teat!)
Lol 1t is March 1941. Mike has
had eighteen months in which to ex.
hibit further the abilities desired by
Joe. 1t is time for those who pay
the bills to have good long gander
at the results. Since Mike is too shy
to parade his achievements, I here
with pipe up in his behalf
First, Mike has spent in those
months something like 100000 of
other peoples money. That in itself
is not thing to sneeze at, but It
becomes really arresting only in re-
lation to his other accomplishments
Second, he has protected the feelings
of Roy Ayers, who is sensitive. No
one will deny that this was thought
full of him. Third, he has saved
America and contributed to saving CT
vilization by helping to keep my two
small children underweight and e. B.
Plummer's four or five large sons
contentedly growing larger. They
can't grow any taller, but every pound
they add will broaden the Plummer
family's influence for Christian char
ity. Let us be optimistic. Let us
pray that they may eventually be use
full, If only as members of the firing
squad which will one day shoot me
and my family full Of holes, to the
greater glory of God and the delicate
pleasure of Montanas social and po-
litical elite. Finally, with the aid of
40 to 80 subordinates almost as cul-
tured as himself. he has produced
one book
You can tell by the title what sort
Of book it is. 1t is called "Montanans'
Golden Anniversary Humorous His
tory Handbook and 1910 Almanac"
The word humorous" was stuck in
for the benefit of readers the authors
all along that the book
was funny. OF course Mike and his
two to four-score assistants didn't
write the whole 100 pages or SO all by
themselves. After all, Mike isn't
despite the abilities that
Joe desires. Most of the good stories
and jingles were in the files when
Mike took over. | had written the
episodes of the camel caravans, the
Curry holdup, the Gore hunting trip,
early street cars, Hominy
Thompson's private railroad war, and
many others myself Mike merely
adopted them, deleted as subversive
anything that looked like
4 fact, added plenty of verbal mo-
asses, and shipped 1t off to the State
Company at Helena, the
only publisher who would touch the |
ness.
If | were a humorist, like Mike, |
might think l was spoofing; |
,ut everyone knows from Mikes |
descriptions of me that
here isn't laugh In me anywhere. |
will be instantly believed, therefore, |
when | say that If anything could
AVE added to the painting admiration
already felt for Mike, his solid
achievements during those eighteen
months would have done it. You see
know what the poor fellow was up
against. 1t took me twenty hours a
lay for eight months-because of my
ack of culture-to write the State
Jude, which is only fourteen or fif-
cen times as big a job as the Alma
lac. 1t took another ten months to
write 125,000 words Of Wyoming copy
vice and re-organize the Utah Guide