Laurel outlook., 1949-10-26
WEIGHT OF H|STORY'S
LITTLE PEOPLE CITED

|, Corwin Bowen, teaching history
! at Laurel high school, allowed
Laurel Kiwanians at their meet
ing Wednesday evening a small
peek at persons rating not more
than a sentence or two, if men,
toned at all, in the histories of
gneral use. Yet the two he chose
t. speak of, suggested to his his
tory-specializing mind a week ago.
when as a guest he noted the in
terest the Kiwanians were exhib-
iting at the moment in things ag-
ricultural, were human pivot
points on which events turned and
subsequently veered to a new
course now considered of benefit.
to agriculturalists.
Because the program time was
sharply curtailed to permit XII
" anians to attend a Parent Teach
ers' association meeting the same
evening, Bowen pared his address.
to barest essentials. Given the OPP
%portunity he might have read far
Their, and interestingly, from the
blank pages of the history books.
AS a teacher away from class.
rooms, he had the interpretative
privilege not accorded the record
ers and compilers of the past. Be-
fore he began, he and his COM
patriot, II. Lee Hamlet, joined i'm
giving Aaron Burr and the latter's
visiting shade a hard time.
Daniel Shays, an officer in the
American Revoluti onary army,
came home to his native Massa-
chusetts after the war and found
his agriculturist neighbors were,
being dispossessed of their lands.
He started another, and minor, rev.
olution since known as Shays's Re-
bellion - a vociferous protest
that became a marching and hard
o-handle movement in 1861.
More than 1000 men attacked the
Springfield arsenal as part of their
protest. The flare-up, fortunately
subdued before it got out of
resulted in estate and tenure
laws defining the degree, nature,
and so on, of ones interest in a
piece of land, and how long one
may hold the property under speci-
fic conditions of agreement be-
tween a borrower and a lender OF
money when the property is post
ed as security for the money.
The subject still has many ramifi-
cations but Shays and his young
farmers kicked up enough of a
rUmpus to have their situation con-
siderably eased. Another angle
that Bowen mentioned was the
making of paper money (guaran-
tced worth its face by the govern
ment) acceptable in payment Of
debt.
About $50 years later, in the,
193Os, owners of real and chattel
property in the upper Mississippi
valley states were losing out when
they could not pay their debts.
Times were hard, money a
scarce and lenders wished the re-
of their lendings. Both sides
were in a bad situation and were
to save what they could
from the wreck. At auction fore
closures in Iowa and states in the
vicinity there appeared a move
ment somewhat resembling
Shays affair. Ora Slower.
or one with similarly sound
ing name, led a movement that
prevented bidding by prospective
from the immediate local
lty or by those imported from
Chicago. The upshot was that gov
eminent loans were arranged to
tide over the emergency and have
continued as a reserve
measure.
Pres. j. Willard Baldwin IN
nounced a board meeting for Mon
day evening at s. Al Shafer said
club had provided $50 from it's
acknowledged children's fund
to buy clothing for unfortunate To-
children. DR.. w. A. Mccormick
announced that Nov. 10 the club.
will sponsor a magician's show.
The date comedies with KiwaniS
nternational's Kids day. Hugh
Sweeney announced that the Com
nercial clubs meeting Thursday
evening will have a program on
and inheritance taxes.
Guests at the meeting were
Charles Lilly and Stuart johnson.