davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01

The Pascagoula-Moss Point area was we'll
served by Rep. William M. Colmer in the
matter of its local projects in the Congress
which recently adjourned in Washington, and
we take this occasion to call attention to a
job well done.
In addition to the usual run-of-the-mill
services, favors and attentions that a con-
gresham is expected to perform for his con-
stituents, Rep. Colmer contributed materially
to the passage or advancement of three major
projects which will serve to improve con-
ditions generally for this region.
The bill which will nave the most immedi-
ate effect is the extension of federal aid such
as was provided under the wartime Lanham
act for school systems throughout the country
which are still o~vercrowded as an aftermath
of the war. Rep. Colmer was one of the lead
ers in pressing this bill to passage in a Re-
publican-dominated house. 1t will provide
more than 500, 900 in federal assistance for
maintenance of the standards of the Pascal
goula and Moss Point schools in the 1947-48
session.
The other big bills which Rep, Colmer adj
vanced materially in this session was the Pat
Harrison waterway plan for the dredging of
a channel in the Pascagoula, Leaf and Chica-
sawhay rivers, and the Robinsons Lake Cut
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01

Living in the Housing Pro-
ject in Pascagoula must simu-
late living in a large city some
where in the East in that the
houses are damned together
much closer than suits this
country boy.
Our neighbors are as fine as
any family could have with
the D. E. Steinhauer's in front
of us, the Fred Tanners behind
us, the Randall Denny's on the
left side, and the Glenn Reyes
on the right, across the street.
But we still can't get used
to the shade-pulling ritual we
have to 60 through every time
we change our shirt. 1t is
roughly fifteen feet from our
window to that of the Denny's
and about twice that distance
from the Tanners.
That is mighty close quart
ers for someone who grew up
in the country where anyone
living within five miles is prac-
tically a next door neighbor.
Besides, the Reyes family,
who live on their own place
just out of the Project, make Is
feel uncomfortable because they
have such energy and ambition
Just looking at the work they
do around their place makes a
fellows conscience twinge.
Mr.. and Mrs. Reyes have ar
we'd a home out of that marsh
land that is truly amazing. They
have a well-kept yard and beau
tiful flowers and a vegetable
garden that would be the envy
of many people who live on the
farm. All of the work is done
by hand by Mr.. Reyes, who e
tired from public work a couple
of months ago at the age of
sixty-five.
We had better amend that
last statement RICH now to say
that the work around the place
is done by Mr.. Reyes with the
able assistance of his wife, who
is a mighty fine worker in her
own right.
They furnished their neigh
bors across the street with
strawberries early this spring
and have had plenty of other
vegetables for the table and for
canning all through the year.
Now Mr.. Reyes is building
a blacksmith shop which he
will operate during his retire
ment although blacksmithing
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01

we have in this column to re-
late these stories as they really
happened, and it is not doing
Justice to them merely to men
ton these events in passing.
But we shall do so. And we
do so in the hopes that no high
school boy of this generation
will feel called upon to adapt
a similar attitude. Out gen
Grafton got a lot of laughs, but
we missed too much in the edu-
eational line. And many a boy
who tried to build his future
profession and advanced educa-
ton on this uncertain basis,
met with failure.
There was a boy named Billy
Blank in our class who was one
of those people who have more
gall than brainsand who there
fore sometimes grow up to make
a fortune in a world which
pays off as much or more on
gall than it does on brains.
Billy Was a moon-faeed husky
boy with a little black fuzz of
hair on his face which of course
had never known a razor. He
was good-natured and full of
fun with his companions, but
a terror to the teachers, because
he would talk back to them,
and in most cases give them
better than he got.
One week in May. during a
hot stretch of weather when
sitting in the dusty chalky class
rooms was almost more thar
a boy could endure. Billy de-
eided that, as a matter of fact,
he could not endure it any
longer. Probably he would have
played hockey. except for the
fact that he had done this so
often that on the next time he
was sure to be expelled.
The thought occurred to him
that if for some reason the
whole school would get a holi-
day, he would get a holiday
along with the rest; that was OBJ
vious. So he sat down and be
gan to think of some possible
way of creating a school holi-
dav for a high school bullying
with 1000 future citizens, right
in the middle of the week in
which there were no holidays
on the calendar.
Finally he went To the type
writer room and typed out half
a-dozen similar notes on thin
sheets Of yellow paper of the
sort which the principle sent
around to the classroom teach
ers when some specific message
had to be delivered. The note
Billy typed stated please dis
miss your classes as quietly
and quickly as possible on &C
count of the sudden death of
Superintendent Jones"
Billy was a senior. He went
out in the corridors and called
a couple of greenhorn kids
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
{ S@'s t;!{Nll!E llAI!Ll!lIEI|IE
By NOLLE T.
IlJU

would be retiring the hard way,
as far as we r concerned.
But we started to write about
the similarity of life in the
Housing Project to life in New
York or some other big city. We
visited in New York for d week
with a friend just after our dis
charge from the service and
spent some time in Washington,
D. c., Los Angeles, San Diego,
and a little time in some other
large cities during the war
years.
Our friend, who had just
p been discharged from the ser
vice himself, had taken an
apartment in Manhattan - at
least it was listed as an apart
ment although it contained only
one room, a combination bed
and studio couch, and meager
cooking facilities. He felt lucky
to have it. 1t rented for elgh-
teen dollars a week.
We don't know how many
apartments there were in the
building but this particular one
occupied a very small portion of
the eleventh floor. We judge
the building contained eighteen
or twenty stories and several
hundred apartments.
Every minute of the day and
night he was surrounded by
people, so close to him that he
not have been for the protect
might have touched them had it
ing walls that separated the
beehive of humanity.
The place gave us "claustra-
phobia'-a feeling of suffoca-
ton that was not intense but a
nagging ache in the back of our
mind. These people never
touched the earth, rarely saw
the sun, and the stars and moon
at night were replaced for them
by glazing lights and single
neon signs taller than any
building in Jackson county.
1t was a fine experience but
a week of it at a time was
enough. We were glad to get
back to the comparative quiet
ness of Washington and to e
turn home where people have
time to stop and talk and where
trees are not something to trav-
ell to the park to see.
We want to build a home
among the trees-tall pines, if
possible-in a friendly place
where people drink coffee and
visit and people wave to YOU
when you walk down the street.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
Inside Washington
Eisenhower May Figure
In Presidential Picture
Special to Central Press

Special to Central Press
Washington = The persistent
and undoubtedly sincere de-
malls of General Eisenhower
that he has any 1948 political
ambitions do not remove from
the minds of political prophets
the fact that he may be a po-
tential factor in the presiden-
tial race.
Washington observers do not
doubt that the Army chief of
staff-who becomes head of
vast Columbia university next
year-means Just what he says.
likes" last mo politics re-
iteration was made to a spec
ial Pentagon news conference
when he told reporters that he
has no personal ambitions
politically.
However, no less a person
than ALI M. Landon, the 1888
COP standard bearer has pre-
dicted that if world conditions
become morej troublesome a
year hence, Ike would be a
likely dark horse in the presi-
dental steeplechase, whether
he wills it or not.
They point out that first.
last and always Eisenhower is
a soldier. Therefore, they en-
phasize. he could not resist a
draft, particularly if he feels
the country needs him. If the
Republicans called they say
this son of the COP state of
Kansas would shed his vest
ments as Columbia president
and do his duty as he sees it.
Another factor is proven
about the Columbia precedent.
DR., Nicholas Murray Butler
Columbia's aged and blind
president emeritus, was a vast
power in the Republican par
ty in his active days.
Guns To Plowshares - The
weapons made to destroy Ger
many are going to be used to
rebuild the economy of that de-
vastated country.
High-ranking Army Air Force
officers say that BY retaining
surplus bombs and airplanes
supplies and materials vitality
SUPPLIES and materials vitality
needed in the reconstruction of
Germany.
There are about $4,000 tons
of surplus bombs of all types
and thousands Of aircraft now
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
You're
Telling Me!
By WILLIAM RIFT
Central Press Writer

AS levee after levee along
the flooded Father of Waters
gives way, Zadok Dumkopf
says he has come to the CON
clusion that the Mississippi
river is getting too big for its
breeches.
A 97-year-old Kentuckian is
learning to play the saxophone.
Just trying to keep in tune
with the times?
The usual thing about wealth
err, we've noticed, is that it's
nearly always unusual.
This years exhibit of paint
lngs in the Edinburg, Scot
land, College of Art contains
virtually no nudes - because
last winter was too cold for
~undraped artists models. Just
another thing to blame on the
weatherman.
Red has become Juniors
favorite color this season
thanks to the innards of va
termelon, strawberry short
cake and cherry ice cream.
The man at the next desk
wanted to know how to spell
the plural of flies. Don't spell
EN-, swat EN-.
If that proposed New York
-to-the-P Pacific coast subway
proposal ever becomes a fact
the squabble over the five
cent fare will, no doubt, be-
come a national controversy.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01

Anyone who went to the War
rem Easton Boys High school
in New Orleans in the l920's
will probably remember it, as
does the writer of this column,
as an incredible institution of
good and bad features, where
a boy might get a real education
if he happened to be one of the
clever few who knew how to go
about it, but where an even
cleverer boy might fake his way
to a q aduate's diploma with
out having really learned a
thing.
Undoubtedly we attended
Warren Easton during its wild
est and most undiscipllned pc
Rod, and things have claimed
down considerably from what
they were twenty years ago.
For one thing, the construction
of several new high schools IN
the city have relieved the badly
overcroWded condition which
had built up during our years
as a student. The old building
was bullying at the seams when
we attended it., and that fact
combined with a disorganized
and inefficient school faculty
produced some results which,
when recalled today, are almost
unbelievable.
Whenever two old Warren
Easton boys get together,
though it may be half way
across the country from New
Orleans, they are sure to start
telling stories about the wild
escapades that were a daily oc-
currence in their school days.
And they a always hold an
audience with their stories.
They have that advantage over
boys who went to fancy prep
schools. For the latter can
tell stories which are of inter
est to one another, but rarely
to anyone else; while the War
rem Easton bows a tell sto-
ries which have a general hor-
rible and hilarious fascination,
and in this respect they are
probably not very different
from the stories that the old
grads of Alcatraz could tell and
probably do tell in their mellow
years.
OF course the passing of time
and the distortions of a senti-
mental memory always tend to
exaggerate the things that ac-
tually were. But even after
taking this into consideration,
the bare facts which remain
still give evidence of pretty
wild and woody times, consid-
ering that these things took
place in a public high school.
AS a matter of fact the bare
bones of some of these events
are preserved in the court rec
ords of New Orleans. for on sew
eral occasions the law had TO be
called in.
It would take more space than
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
PAScAGoULA

Market street and Lincoln
avenue, speaking starts at $50
p. m, Monday. August 4th.
County, District and Beat Three
offices only. Sponsored by Mar
ket Street Business Mems AS
ISOLATION. No food sale.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS
Here is an ABC on how to vote on August 5:

Here is an ABC on how to vote on August 5:
Go to the polling place between the legal hours of 800
a. m. and 800 p. m. Except for the city of Pascagoula
where the polls will open one hour earlier) and take with
you your poll tax receipts for 1915 and 1916 or your ex-
emption certificate.
Present yourself to the election official in charge of
the poll book. Present your poll tax receipts or certificates
and sign for your ballot. Take your ballot and retire into
an unoccupied polling booth and mark your ballot in ink
with an "X" in the space provided for one candidate for
each office.
Fold your ballot while still in the booth SO that the
words "OFFICIAL BALLOT, which is printed on the
back, is visible. Take your ballot back to the official that
issued it to you, see that he initials it and places it in the
ballot box, and retire.
If you are blind, physically handicapped or ilhterate,
you may receive assistance from an election official or
someone of your choice in the first two cases, and an cleo
ton official only in the latter case.
If you believe yourself qualified to vote and your
name does not appear on the poll book, you may vote
under protest using a sealed envelope provided for that
purpose. You have a right to vote under protest.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01

walking down the Railways and
spoke to them in the gruff voice
of authority. Take these to
all the class rooms" he said.
Soon the various class room
doors were opening and hun
dreds of boys were pouring out
into the corridors. Billy Blank
knew that he could play hockey
now without a fear. So he went
outside and caught a passing
streetcar and went to the lake
for a swim.
He had created a holiday for
the whole school in order to
take that swim.
But events took an unexpect-
ed turning. Some of the teach
ers on receiving the note about
the sad death of Superintendent
Jones, went to the principals
office to learn the sad details.
And there they found out that
no such message had been sent
by the principal. A cali to the
superintendent office brought
that worthy gentleman to the
phone, in hale and hearty man
ner and in good voice.
The superintendent was not
pleased by the prank, but he
was Mortified by the boys e
action to it. For while the teach
ers were talking to him, the
holiday in memoriam for the
supposedly deceased school Of
fetal was gradually assuming
the proportions of a riot. AS
one class room after another
began to discharge its quota of
excited and impatient boys into
the growing jam on the corri-
doris and stairs a great thunder
Gus din of whiStling and shout
ing, of laughing and singing,
of back-slapping and stamping,
began TO roar through the build
ing. And there was not the
slightest note of sadness to be
heard in it. 1t was merely one
tremendous shout of JOY and
thanksgiving for a mid-week
holiday in the month of May,
rising from two thousand teen
aged boys.
The teachers ran out of the
principals office waving their
hands and telling the boys to
stop! stopl" "It's all a mis-
takel" Return to your class
rooms! Superintendent Jones
is not dead Go back to your
class rooms
What! No holiday Superin-
tendent Jones isn't dead2
The boys began to look at
one another with a sense of
disbelief and outrage. The nerve
Of the superintendent! There
began a wild scramble to duck
the eyes of the excited teachers,
who stood waving their arms,
grabbing at shirts, ties, shaking
individuals and trying to direct
them back against the growing
flood of irate boys who came
pouring down the corridors, cas-
eading down the stairways with
a growing thunder of panicked
footsteps, The thought ran
through them like an electric
charge that they were to be
seized ana condemned at the
very moment when freedom
was in sight-condemned to re-
turn back into the neither re-
gions for three more hours of
classroom work on a sultry May
afternoon.
A note of splintering wood
en- banisterS began to punctuate
the wild racket, and then came
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
COInner
Comment
BY CONGRESSMAN
L NJ. COLMER
Congressional Adjournment

This is being written on Sat
urdav afternoon. The first ses-
sion of the Both Congress is
scheduled to adjourn sometime
tonight.
The last few weeks have
been hectic ones on Capitol
Hill. However, this is not un-
usual: but on the contrary,
such condition always prevails
in the days Immediately pre-
ceding the adjournment of the
Congress. There IS an average
of over ten thousand bills in
troduced in the House and
more than half that number
in the Senate at each session
of the Congress. Only a com
paratively few of them ever
emerge from the committees.
But even so, the various com
mittees which have reported
bills f|avorably r always at
tempting to get as many of
their bills through in the last
days of the session as possible.
When the Both Congress con-
vened in January there was
much speculation in the press
and elsewhere as to what would
happen with a Democratic adj
ministration under the leader
ship of President Truman in
the Executive Branch, and the
legislative branch of the Gov.
eminent under the domination
of the Republicans 1t was
freely predicted that an i'm
passe would be reached, and
some editors and commenta-
tors even went so far as to
point out that the fact that
such a thing could happen
showed a defect in our Demo
catic system of government.
However, it is fair to say
that while there have been
difficulties between the Exc
cutive and Legislative branch
es of our government that on
the whole the government has
functioned about as well with
such a division during the Both
Congress as it has in preced-
ing years where both the Exc
cutive and Legislative bran
ches of our government were
under control of the same par
ty. For instance, there were
sharp differences of opinion
between the President and the
Congress during this session on
the question of taxes and la
Dor legislation. The Congress
passed both a new tax bill
granting certain reductions in
taxes and a labor-management
bill in an attempt to correct
some of the evils existing in
that field. The President We
toed both bills, but the Con-
gress sustained his veto on the
tax bill, and over rode it on
the labor bill. The fact that
it was a Democratic Presi-
dent and a Republican con-
trolled Congress was not neces-
sarilv responsible for this. 1t
could just as we'll have hap
pened with both those branch
es of the government being IN
der the same party control.
Incidentally, both of these
actions of the President and
the Congress promise to be live
political issues in the 1916
campaign for the reelection of
the Congress and the Presi-
dent.
While there is always criti-
clsm of Congress, and while
Continued On Page Severn
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
KREoLE

On Monday afternoon and
evening, August I, at the Ed
Mayo School in Kreole. bene-
fit of the Parent Teachers As
sociation. Food sale and politi-
cal rally with candidate speak
ing beginning at 500 O'Clock.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01

the deep laundering rumble Of
rows of metal book -lockers be-
ing overturned in the basement.
BOYS who had already escaped
the dungeon and were far down
the street heard this new wild
note of rebellion in the general
din. and turned back to get in
on the riot. There was a con-
tagious charge of mischief in
the air. 1t swept through the
crowd, touching one and all.
Boys who were noted for their
primness, boys who had 100
percent perfect records for at
tendance and department, raced
through the easements with a
possessed look, intoxicated with
their first experience of being
thugs.
Matches we're touched to the
huge metal garbage cans, filled
with wax sandwich paper and
refuse of the recently ended
lunch period, and soon these
pots of flame were burning and
smoking like pits in the floor
of hell, and a thousand devils
who a few minutes before had
been school boys ran about in
the smoke beating a thunder
u tattoo on the overturned
lockers and the flimsy wooden
walls of the so-called tempo
rary" classrooms which had
been built in the basement ten
years earlier.
On the third and fourth floors
there were some ten of fifteen
classrooms of trapped prison
ers-boys who had not escaped
in time. The hoax had been dis
covered before their teachers
could be reached by the unsus-
pecting freshmen who had
been Communicated by Billy
Blank into carrying the fatal
and festive message, Now these
teachers got reinforcements
from others who stood guard at
both doors. They would have
felt safer with tommy-guns.
They expected the rush at any
moment. But such is the nature
of long experience in concen-
tration camps that it saps ones
courage and dulls his wits.
These boys had not gotten loose
for that one moment of freedom
which could put the CLINT into
their eyes. They looked at
one another, murmured, long
ed to encourage each other to
the desperate break. But in
the end they accepted their
fate. Some stood by the win
dow pretending to sharpen pen
ellis. Others Grained their necks.
Below them, more than a
thousand escapes were stream
ing down the street to freedom
downtown to the movies, out
to the park. out to the lake
for a Swim-wherever they
wanted to 60 early on a May
afternoon on a schoolday in the
middle of the week.
Billy Blank of course was
caught in due time and exc
cuted. That is. he was expelled.
But his name and his deed were
not forgotten by his classmates.
And long after they had gradu-
ated and had gone on to their
Jobs or to colleges and the pro-
fessions. and long after the
book-worms had enjoyed their
moment of glory with their
valedictories and salutatorieS,
and even in later years when
faces and names began to fade
away in memory, none of them
forgot Billy.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
GAUTIER

Barbecue and political rally
at the Gautier School on Sat
urday, August 2, sponsored by
the Gautier Athletic AsSocla-
ton.
The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-01
Political Rallies

Gumbo, plate lunches, and cold
drinks for sale and all eandi-
dates invited to attend and
speak.