Saturday, August 10, 2002
RE-RE-ENACTMENTS
When word gets around that Wal-Mart is coming to town, something akin to panic
sets in.
Residents are quickly polarized into two groups and for the next six weeks or so they
will attack each other bitterly. It’s happening right now in Waynesboro, Virginia, and it
has taken place in scores of other cities across the nation - wherever the giant retailing
operation has mentioned it would consider opening another store.
Basically it sets downtown and suburban merchants against civic leaders and
others who wish to see the city progress and go forward. Citizens side with whomever they
are related to, either by family ties or by economic circumstances. Those who fight
Wal-Mart predict sudden death for local business. They gather their troops about them
and face up to civic leaders who view the coming of Wal-Mart as tax-paying member of
the community and with a with a sigh of relief. They attract followers who can’t believe it
can be as bad as the other side predicts it is almost certain to be.
There is nothing new about this whole business.
It is easy to see it all as a re-enactment of events of the late 1920 and the early
“30’s when the “Chain Stores”, as multiple outlet stores where then called, were coming
into our communities. Today’s demonstrations are tame by comparison, too.
I can remember when the chain stores first came to our little city. It was made to
seem something related very closely to the end of the world. The very same arguments
were used then, by both sides, which are being paraphrased today. As I recall, we were
concerned with just two such multiple outlet stores coming to “trash” our local economy...
one was “Piggley Wiggley” the other was “Kroger’s”. Other firms were in different areas,
“A&P”, “D. P. Penders”, in the food line and then there were drug stores, furniture stores,
clothing stores, lumber and hardware firms a wide variety of businesses expanding and
looking for new markets. Oddly, I never remember anyone objected to the presence of
“Woolsworth’s Five-and-Ten” which we already had and had accepted as being “local”.
The main difference between the conflict then and now was that the campaign
urging people to “hate the chain stores” spilled over local bounds then and went
nationwide. Radio was rather new in those days and suddenly we found we were listening
to a clear channel, fifty-thousand watt station - the largest permitted - out of the
mid-west beaming a message of hatred against all chain stores to most of the nation.
The ultimate result of it was that the chain stores came in and disaster was averted
by the simple fact that many of the people who objected to their coming were soon
steady customers.
True some local firms did fade away. Other, seeing how the new winds were
blowing made changes and improvements which they should have made years before,
and actually prepared when they faced up to the newcomers offering better, more
personal service, better parking facilities, less tiresome walking, great shopping ease and
enjoyment.
Other merchants quickly rearranged their thinking and either started or jointed newly
formed associations which enabled them to buy their stocks co-operatively and at bulk
quantity prices not unlike those the chain stores could demand of manufacturers and
processors.
Before too long some of the “local” merchants actually opened other stores, often in
nearby cities, cites and became “chains” themselves.
Perhaps you have noticed that in Civil War battle re-enactments, the same side
wins in the re-telling that won the victory long ago. They are for show. Re-enactments are
not widely known for having changed anything.
A.L.M. August 8, 2002 [c618wds]
Friday, August 09, 2002
I-81 PROBLEM
It’s time we learned to share our troubles with others.
It is obvious that Interstate 81 has become hazardous due to increased traffic and
substantial overloads at times. Something must be done to solve the problem, and up to this moment, we have been discussing expensive “make do”, “Band-Aid” changes which
will be obsolete before they are completed.
It is time to look at the entire situation in a broader view.
For some years I have been thinking of a plan which would take much of the heavy
truck traffic from I-81, just a s I-81 removed some north-south traffic from I-95 years ago. It
is a plan which would be far less costly than the proposed widening and adding
additional lanes to the existing I-81. It would also bring many new advantages to the
state in general.
Basically the plan calls for a totally new north-south interstate highway from the
general area of The Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina to the Danville area in
Virginia; then to Lynchburg, Charlottesville, avoiding the congested greater DC-Northern
Virginia area, and on to Frostburg, Maryland or some such location. Not only would such a
route attract north-south traffic but it would be a tremendous boost to the domestic
economy of the Danville, Lynchburg and Charlottesville areas.
Legislators from the districts involved should be beating the drums loudly for such a
major Interstate through their areas, and the sooner they start the better.
All the proposed “fixes” for I-81 are meeting with opposition and understandably so,
especially the obvious plight of the trucking firms being asked to pay tolls if they used the
“new” or “modified” highway. It is time to check into the comparative costs,
disadvantages and advantages of such a plan now while I-81 proposals are “on the
shelf”... there largely because of public outcry against the apparent foolishness of many of
the costly proposals for temporary modifications.
Yes, it is true, I will agree, that an Interstate east of the Blue Ridge will also become
overly traveled and congested, probably much sooner than we think. At that point we
all share our troubles anew with the residents and legislators of the Greenbriar Valley area
in West Virginia, who should also be thinking about a possible north-south artery from
Bristol to Bluefield, through the Valley itself, perhaps Harper’s Ferry or into Pennsylvania.
This not a problem which is simply going to fade away. It will grow worse. We must
act promptly to deal with it.
What do you think about a new Piedmont Interstate east of the Blue Ridge? Does
such a plan “makes sense” to you?
A.L.M. August 9, 2002 [c444wds]
Thursday, August 08, 2002
THE MIGHTY SAXON
In the years following World War I, an uncle of mine bought a new “Saxon” automobile.
I don’t know what year the car was made, nor where, for sure. We were always allowed
to believe it was a German made car. I don’t know when post-war imports of the German
car were first renewed, but I do know that a Saxon Motor Company was formed in Detroit,
MI. in 1914 and lasted until 1922. “Unk”, as we called him, bought it “new”, I have been told,
and he paid a price which in those days was considered to be rather steep: price for it either
$2400 or $2600. It varied with different accounts. That was considerably more than other cars
cost during the early 1920’s. It was, I suppose, a “luxury” car for those days. The rest of the
family tended to looked at it as a bit of spendthrift foolishness for many years, as I recall.
We two boys came to love that car! We didn’t care where it came from. It was big,
fast and available.
“Unk” was not the easiest man in the world to get along with. He was my mother’s
younger brother. They grew up in Aspenwall , Pa. along the northern edge of the city of
Pittsburgh and moved to South Norfolk, Virginia around 1911. The “Saxon” Touring Car must
have been bought in the Norfolk area when Unk was , perhaps, in his early twenties. I would
1915 judging by a Saxon advertisement I have seen from an old copy of “The Literary Digest”
which Unk used to read. My Granddaddy footed the bill for the car wherever it was
purchased, I’m sure. My uncle was never one for working very much and, being a rather
spoiled Mama’s boy all his life, he didn’t have to. He usually got what he wanted even
thought it took a bit of time and careful parental manipulations to do so.
He was proud of that “Saxon”. too. He kept it clean, met its needs precisely and saw to
it, as far as I know, that it never spent the night outside of a protective garage except,
perhaps, on trips he’d take now and then.
We boys learned early that the way to get Unk in a good mood was to admire and
praise his fine car. And it was a long, high-slung beauty worth admiration ,too. It was black. It
had large wooden-spoked, cream colored wheels, it had a powerful horn quite unlike the
“ah-ooo-gah!” types we were used to hearing on older cars. Best of all, it had a high, unusually
wide back seat which extended well beyond the narrow, protective, two-sectioned, upright
windshield in front of the driver. We boys made those high perches our seats. There was
nothing like the thrill of scudding along a dusty road and feeling the wind in full force against
us. Ink must have bent a good many speeding laws in his time, especially when he “took the
boys for a ride.” He’d whiz down the dirt road, his eyes on the instrument panel and call the
speed back to us. Thirty miles per hour was “fast” in those days and he did sixty at times. Wow!
Years later Unk and his Mama moved away and the Saxon went with them.
I think it had six-cylinders and when it left our area it looked as new as ever. It was a pretty
car, very long and not overly brassed as so many early cars seem to have been in those early
days. It was with genuine heartbreak some years later when we heard the sad news that Unk
had traded the “Saxon” for new car. I won’t mention the name of the car he bought. It was
on the market for just a year or two and his version of it held together for a bit longer than
that, but not very much.
The harsh irony of it all is that is that the old “Saxon” Touring car is, probably, still being
driven at some antique car show this very day...high back seats and all...shined up...and
moving around as sassy as ever!
A.L.M. August 7, 2002 [c705wds]
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
SEEDS
Take and generous handful of seeds of almost any variety of apples you prefer; plant
them in neat, well-spaced rows sufficiently separated and then go back years later and you
will find a plentiful orchard of trees.
Can’t you imagine the pleasure old Johnny Appleseed must have experienced again
and again?
He had proper name, too -John Chapman which is seldom used today. He is best
known for the thousands of apple trees he planted in the wilderness edges of our nation as it
moved westward. His fame has spread afar as the years have gone by. There are, no doubt,
some apple trees which have come down into present times from trees planted long ago by
his hand, but some areas claim that he visited them in his travels. John was not much of a
record keeper except in remembering the locations where he had planted seeds, so some
area which claim Johnny planted in their area are barking up a wrong tree.
John’s life was unusual in many ways. He visited the nearest cider mills to where he
happened to be come Fall and Winter and acquired sufficient amounts of mash to meet his
needs. He washed the seeds form the used mash, dried them, selected the best quality seed
from the lot and placed them in small bags which he took with him on his travels.
When a break in the weather permitted, Johnny would load up a make shift raft and
go down river to a spot which pleased him. There he would put ashore and set up temporary
base from which he could make apple seed plantings in the area. He did so to cut down on
the size of the load he would bear on his back into the wilderness ahead. He tried to work just
ahead of the westwardly expanding settlements. He chose tract of land which seemed to
suit his needs. He did some clearing and built a “fence” or natural barrier around the area
with brush and the limbs of downed trees to prevent wildlife from entering. Therein he
planted his seeds. He knew he would be going further into the wilderness long before the
seeds sprouted and became small trees. He followed that pattern for years and returned to
sites he had previously planted to reap his rewards.
He made a “living”, of sorts, selling both seeds and small trees to people who had
moved into not new settlements in the area. He sold them quite often for pennies because
the new setrlers had little money. He also accepted food items and used clothing as
payment. His wearing of such poorly fitted garments probably made Johnny Appleseed
appear to be more of a “character” than he was. Wherever he sold trees, he knew he had
sufficient stocks miles ahead to meet his need when his market moved westward toward his
stocked areas.
We often overlook another reason John Chapman did all of this. The apple seed
income provided an income for his meager needs. He never married. He traveled alone and
usually on foot. He carried no weapons of any kind, only tools he needed. As John Chapman
he was driven by another force. He was a deeply religious person and a devoted disciple of
an Old Order Amish faction. He was driven take The Word to the new settlers many of whom
professed no church affiliation whatsoever.
So often it is at this point that readers discover his name was John Chapman, and
another name comes to the forefront which sends most of us off to visit our local dictionary.
John was a “Swartzengrubian”. He planted apple seeds as well as religious ideals.
A.L.M. Aug 5, 2002 [c623wds]
Monday, August 05, 2002
NATION OF DREAMERS?
Are we a nation of dreamers?
That may be, and is it bad or good that we are so?
It could be considered to be a harmful stance if it means that we tend to plan
things and then let them ride; never do anything practical about them.
If you are given to dreaming at night when you seem troubled in your sleep, you
know that dreams come in many styles, intensities, and that they can be both pleasant
and otherwise. With many of us, they can become so real as to be genuinely tiring and
one has to get up and rest a while before going back to sleep.
That’s the kind of dreaming we must do as a nation. Our dreams should urge
action.
Sigmund Freud in his “Dream Work” developed the concept that “all dreams are
wish fulfillment’s” so, when we dream up some unusual thing we should do as a nation ,
we also tend to work to make them become realities.
A key to our national growth from the earliest days was the idea of migrating
westward into vast, unknown regions. That was something of an extension of the urge
which brought our forefathers here from Europe.
For a time it extended to the Pacific rim, but we ran out of geographically bound
“west”, lest we infringe on the dreams of others, we turned our attention outward to the
far reaches of space.
The results of that venture are just beginning to be seen and the whole idea was a
subject of dreams in my youth.
So much of what we do today; the things which form the essential part of our daily
experiences; relationships with other people and nations were, not too long ago, just
dreams. Look about you at the gadgetry which is so commonplace. If you are as old as I,
you can remember a time when we did not have radio, much less TV and computers;
when movies were silent, flickering images; fresh foods we enjoy so much we seasonal
treats rather than regulars on our dinner tables. All of these, and many others have come
about from dreams of ways in which something might be created or improved and made
more useful to us.
Individuals have dreams and become more worthy because of such spurs to
ambition...Thomas Edison had his dream, Martin Luther King had his “dream” of what
might be, Burbank, Carver, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Buckminster Fuller, Henry Ford. The
list is endless. All had dreams and did something about them.
Our nation should do so, as well.
A.L.M. May 26, 2002 [c440wd]
Sunday, August 04, 2002
AS A MATTER OF FACT
The moon above the Earth is, I understand, not made of green cheese although an
official announcement attesting as to the truth of that claim, now established as fact by
reason of personal visitation, has not yet been propounded and published by authorities
who speak to such matters.
Such a statement may well be needed because we still have thousands of people
on this Earth who insist that the Earth is the center of the universe and that everything
else rotates around it. There is a society which was formed to promulgate such views and
they have their own far-out page on the world-wide Internet web to lure converts to
accepting their beliefs.
We still have flat-earth believers as well. They still ask why, if we are on a ball as
others like to claim we are, “how come we don’t fall off?” They ,too, can be found in
abundance on their Web pages and I wonder, if, perhaps, those who are writing them do
so “with tongue in cheek” because it seems unlikely for able-minded individuals to
continue to believe in something which is so drastically confounded by critics.
Both have close ties to astrology and related areas of mis- information and the flat
earth believers hold that when the Bible speaks of “the four corners of the Earth” it means
just that...the four corners of a flat, geographic expanse of firmament interspersed with
the oft-times turbulant waters of the seas which, however, do not flow over the edge for
some unspecified reason. This, too, although it flies in the face of the demands which are
required of the believer in the flat earth theory itself, would serve to make one doubt the
authenticity of the entire plan. In seems converts are expected to believe only in that
which they can see except when it proves worthwhile to believe in the exact opposite
and to believe statements for which attesting visual evidence cannot be viewed when
one is to accept that segment of the concept on faith alone.
I often wonder that, if we have gone for centuries upon centuries without being
able to iron out all the wrinkles from the fabric of our religious sensibilities and of the nature
of our residential area Earth, which we call home. What about the possibility of we have
what we might call “less than perfect” areas in other aspects of our living ...our social whirl,
our esthetic aspirations, our expressions as to the various qualities of our nature?
How far have we come along the road to such developments? Are there still
pockets of disbelief therein? Are the Cave Man qualities which are deemed acceptable
as normal social relationships? Are there people who deny the math concepts of our
culture?
There are, certainly many who insist the medical knowledge we profess is
inadequate in many ways, and it seems to be quite apparent in our political life where
stem cell impulses still seem to guide many individuals.
Facts are often fictional. Much depends on who is bending the mirrors.
a.l.m. June 3, 2002 [c521wds]
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