[no source, handwritten date: Nov. 5, 1940]
U. S. and Howell
Owners to Meet
Parley Tonight to
Settle ‘Fair Price’ on TNT Plant Land
Growing
buyer-and-seller strife in connection with government acquisition of land for
the proposed $15,000,000 TNT plant near Howell, St. Charles County, appeared
headed for a showdown yesterday when a meeting of landowners, War Department
representatives and state aids was called in Francis Howell High School for
tonight.
At issue is
the question of “fair price,” which the government has said it is willing to
pay for the land it needs for the explosives plant, but which, to farmers whose
tracts are included in the proposed 1800-acre site, must include the cost of
moving and re-establishing themselves on land that is said already to have
doubled in price.
FEW OPTIONS SIGNED
Representatives
of R. Newton McDowell, Kansas Cityan to whom the War Department has delegated
the task of getting options, yesterday said they had “a few” options signed,
but declined to reveal prices. Virtually the entire staff returned to Kansas
City yesterday to vote after saying the “prospects are bright” for signing up other
land owners.
The meeting
tonight is designed to iron out problems confronting farmers in the move they
must make if they surrender their tracts, which range in size from small 50 by
140 foot building lots to 200-acre parcels.
War
Department aids are to join in price discussion and reveal the extent to which
the government will aid in relocating families in homes comparable to those
vacated. Federal and state social and economic specialists are to help in the
work, it was said.
ACE IN THE HOLE
Although
Congressman Clarence Cannon of Elsberry, Lincoln County, told a meeting of
farmers Monday night at Francis Howell High School, that the War Department,
regardless of protests, will start work on the plant in December, sentiment in
St. Charles County yesterday was growing that the farmers still hold an “ace in
the hole”—the delay they could cause by forcing the government to go through
court condemnation proceedings.
From the
meeting tonight was expected to come some new federal price instructions to McDowell
or a solid landowner front against yielding land.
Evacuation
of the approximately 200 tracts involved will bring many community
repercussions, it was pointed out. Removal of any con- [one or more lines
missing]
==========
[no source, no date]
Quickly Agrees TNT No
Place for Home
Living near
an explosives plant is nothing new to William Kaut, general superintendent of
the Brown Shoe Company here, but he thinks so little of the idea that he was
among the first to agree with the War Department option-buyers on the price at
which he would yield his new St. Charles County home to the proposed TNT plant.
Built three
years ago as a “home for the rest of my life,” Kaut’s 75-acre tract contains a
stone 10-room residence, a barn and a cottage. The grounds have been carefully
landscaped.
Twenty
years ago Kaut had his first experience with powder plant explosions when he
lived in Carthage, Mo. Twelve miles away was the Hercules Powder plant, which
he said blew up several times without extensive near-by damage.
“While they
didn’t hurt my place, I don’t have any desire to live near another explosives
plant,” he said. “I have already signed an option to sell my property to the
government for the St. Charles County plant. There’s no other way out of it and
I believe all landowners affected would do better to work with the government
on the job than against.”
