[no source, no date]
94 Whose Tracts Were
Taken Weeks Ago Sign Plea at Solemn Weldon Springs Meeting—Copy to Go to
Senator Clark.
Descendants
of pioneers who had tilled the soil of St. Charles County since the days of the
American revolution, and others who settled there in later years, filled the
Evangelical Church Hall at Weldon Springs last night to petition President
Roosevelt, asking that they be paid now for their land which the Government
took many weeks ago for the TNT plant site.
It was an
earnest gathering, undemonstrative but grimly serious. The 94 men who signed
the petition sat in a front section reserved for landowners. They were plainly
dressed, some in overalls, and most had the wind-whipped faces of outdoor men.
In the seats behind them, and standing about the walls, were their wives and
children, in all about 350 persons.
Plea to President.
They told
the President, in their petition, of the shock with which they learned last
October that the Government needed their land for a munitions plant. But they
had given up their homes, farms, schools and churches in a spirit of loyalty
and patriotism, the petition added. They had signed options offered by an agent
for the War Department; the options had been accepted for the War Department by
Col. R. D. Valliant. But now the War Department had repudiated the options and
was seeking to get the land at a lesser price by condemnation.
The solemn
tone of the meeting, set when they raised their voices at the start to sing
“America,” was not broken by applause or laughter until near the end, when the
petition had been signed and there was discussion of sending copies to others
besides the President. Senator Bennett Champ Clark’s name was mentioned in this
connection.
“Wasn’t it
Bennett Clark who started all this delay in the first place?” asked one of
those present. The tension broke, then, and there was both laughter and
applause.
“I think he
did,” replied Dr. O. L. Snyder, a retired physician who had been named chairman
of a committee of five to represent the landowners in any further proceedings,
“but it might be a good idea to send him one anyway, so that he will know what
we are thinking about.”
Clark’s Complaint.
Senator
Clark had touched off the controversy, two months ago, with complaints to the
War Department that the 5 per cent commission it allowed to its agents in
obtaining the options, R. Newton McDowell, a Kansas City contractor, was
excessive. He had complained, too, that excessive prices were offered in some
instances. Under the options, the 16,000-acre site which the Government had
expected to acquire for about $1,000,000 would cost about $3,000,000.
But Fred C.
Hollenbeck, who used to be superintendent of schools at Howell, before that
community was absorbed into the TNT plant site, argued that the Government had
bought more than so many acres of land. Hollenbeck, now superintendent of the
newly formed Consolidated School District No. 2 west of the munitions plant
site, presided when the meeting opened.
“I know
many strong men who had tears in their eyes when they left their homes here for
the last time,” he said. “You people gave up the scenes of your childhood, your
farms, your crops, the land your forefathers had tilled, your churches,
schools, and well-kept towns. If, perhaps, the value set was more than the
price of your land, those tears had to be paid for. Those other things had to
be taken into consideration.”
Telegram to Cannon.
Hollenbeck
encouraged those present to believe that their darkest days had passed, because
the community had friends. Here he introduced Donald Muschany, son of Morris
Muschany, undertaker at New Melle, to read a telegram from Congressman Clarence
Cannon. The telegram was addressed to the elder Muschany, one of the committee
who had organized the meeting, but he was unable to read it because he had
become hoarse in talking to so many persons while making arrangements for the
meeting.
The
Congressman’s telegram said he regarded the War Department’s action in delaying
payments under the options as an outrage and a violation of contract. It said
he had just returned from the War Department, “and while its decision is still
unfavorable,” he was working on the matter from another angle and hoped to get
results.
In their
petition the landowners said many of their number had contracted new
obligations after surrendering their homes and were in danger of losing their
earnest money deposits because they had not been paid by the Government; that
others were embarrassed financially, and some in dire need. The petition
pointed out that spring planting time was rapidly approaching, and that the
farmers, if not paid soon, would suffer further loss.
Chester C. Davis Quoted.
Former
Circuit Judge B. H. Dyer told the gathering of the conference he and others had
with Chester C. Davis, new president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank and
chairman of the agricultural division of the National Defense Advisory
Commission, who promised to recommend immediate payment under the options.
Davis, he mentioned, had shown his interest by visiting St. Charles County
yesterday and talking with many of those who attended the meeting.
Dyer
offered his opinion that the options, having been accepted by the War
Department, had [?] binding contracts, which [?] enforced in the courts.
“But it
ought not to be necessary for you to resort [?] courts,” he added. “The
Government ought so to deal with citizens as to be an example [?] citizens
themselves.
“I would
never have believed [?] this Government of ours [?] make refugees of its people
[?] that is what many of you [?] come.”
Named with
Dr. Snyder [?] committee to look after [?] owners’ interests in further
proceedings were Morris Muschany; Eltin Pitman, a well driller; [?] Hackman, a
farmer. and Earl Sutton, Circuit Clerk of St. Charles County.
The
petition to President Roosevelt was sent to him by mail [?] went to Congressman
[?] Davis and Senators Truman and Clark.
