June 10, 191T 



Moorhead, Miss., June 2, 1917. 

 Well, Spike:— 



I've made a cliange and I'm glad of it. I'm with the Kraetzer- 

 Cured Lumber Company, at Moorhead, Miss., and I like it fine here. 

 I like the place and I like all the fellows on the payroll, from the 

 president down to Bob, the somnolent colored ofBce boy. They are a 

 patriotic bunch, too, and a few of them may have to go to the 

 trenches, especially Heinie. 



Along this line there arose a rivalry which developed into a flag- 

 raising, a big barbecue, a dance, and a general big time, for prac- 

 tically the whole county of Sunflower. It all passed off in the most 

 agreeable manner possible, though the weather man had to be bribed 

 most shamefully; for he had been threatening showers for the first 

 of June, the day of the big doings. And he stayed bribed (which is 

 not always the case with the bribee) and the weather was ideal. Wait 

 till I tell you about it. 



The chief inspector, Mr. Hamil, conceived the idea of raising enough 

 money aiiiong the office force to buy a flag for our club house ; said flag 

 to be large enough to show the dam Dutch that Moorhead is doing 

 its bit. Enough money was raised to buy a 7x14 flag. Then a raiding 

 party was sent into the surrounding forest, which returned with a 

 slender, 50 foot Persimmon pole, and the 7x14 jiroudly floated from 

 its peak. 



" Ha ! " said Mr. Nordeck, the manager of the mill, ' ' some patriot- 

 ism! but-watch me! I'm going to buy a flag that can be seen iij 

 Potsdam, by dam! I'll make Bill HohenzoUern wish he hadn't 

 started what he '11 have a heluva time finishing. ' ' I don 't know w here 

 Nordeck got all of the money. He claims he had that much himself. 

 Anyway, he marched into the office one day with a bundle and the 

 command! "Here you fellows — about a dozen of you — take hold 

 of this." And he unfolded a flag 12 feet x 20 feet, all wool, and 

 four yards wide. Say, Spike, in that size the old Star Spangled is 

 some beauty. 



At this stagey the president of the company, B. F. Dulweber, came 

 into the game and things began to happen. Quoth he — "Let's do 

 this thing up in style. Let's have a flag-raising, speaking, etc. And 

 what's the matter with a barbecue?" Said Nordeck! "Suits me, 

 but I've done dug." B. F. is a big man physically and he proved 

 at once that he is big in other ways. " I '11 dig the rest, ' ' said he. 

 And this is the way it was pulled off: 



A number of prominent citizens wore asked to form a committee 

 on arrangements. The prospective affair was given all possible 

 publicity and the neighboring towns, in fact, the entire county was 

 invited to attend; to listen; to cheer; to parade; to watch the rais- 

 ing of a real flag; to eat; and to have a good time, all at the expense 

 of the Kraetzer-Cured Lumber Company. 



And they came! Believe me. Spike, they came! — by train, by 

 Shanks' mare, by automobile and by mule. 



A stand had been erected on the grounds of the Sunflower Agri- 

 cultural College and this stand was decked with the flag. At 12, 

 noon, B. F'. Dulweber opened the occasion with a short address of 

 welcome. Then Judge Moody of Indianola, delivered a stirring ad- 

 dress, in which he appealed for the Red Cross. Honestly, Spike, he 

 almost hooked me for a subscription; and you know me, Spike. 

 Then the Hon. Shed Hill, of Greenwood, spoke on Patriotism. His 

 address was simply fine and the audience thought so, too, judging 

 by the applause. Believe me. Spike, the South is patriotic all right. 

 Then the parade formed for the march to the mill grounds; at the 

 head, the flag, a gorgeous plane of red, white and blue, borne by 

 twelve young ladies (8 to 15; in white; next, the municipal band of 

 Greenwood, and then a procession of automobiles — 127 of them — I 

 counted them twice. The on-footers covered the sidewalk for a 

 half-mile. 



Arrived at the mill yard, the crowd assembled around the derrick, 

 on the top of which a 40-foot extension-mast had been erected. Then 

 the flag was slowly raised, while the band played the Star Spangled 



—18— 



Banner and the crowd stood with bared heads. There was a dandy 

 breeze and Old Glory floated proudly right from the start. And 

 when she reached the top, 125 feet in the air, the crowd cheered and 

 cheered again; a ton of dynamite (more or less) was detonated; the 

 mill whistle shrieked, and every mill whistle in town took up the 

 chorus. Say, Spike, it was the most inspiring scene I have ever 

 seen or heard. And it sure means something to be an American. 



Then, preceded by the band, the crowd marched to the loading shed, 

 where the feed was spread on a long table, built of the finest gum 

 boxboards. Some feed, Spike. A 400-pound steer, three sheep, and 

 three shoats had been simmering for eighteen hours, basted with 

 lemon juice and other fragrancies. Hundreds of loaves of bread, 

 lakes of coffee, bushels of cake, pickles and lots of etc. And you 

 ought to have seen that crowd eat. I had never been to a barbecue 

 before, but I am willing to go to one every week, if it is as successful 

 as this one was. Spike, there were at least a thousand whites. When 

 they had all been fed, seven million negros (more or less, what's an 

 odd million or two between friends like you and me) were turned in, 

 and ' ' they licked the platter clean. ' ' Actually, those fine gum box- 

 boards, in the table, were as clean (and clear) as they were before. 



During all this proceeding, B. F. Dulweber was the directing spirit, 

 here, there and everywhere, and I don't think there is a more popu- 

 lar man than he in all Sunflower county today. And everybody helped. 

 Mr. Doster, who owns the Atkins saw works, voluntarily presided at 

 the water barrel, though it was plainly apparent that, there, he was 

 out of his element. 



But as the crowd was about to disperse, another directing spirit 

 butted in — in the person of John Dulweber, the general manager of 

 the institution (John weighs as much as B. F., principally circumfer- 

 entially), who corralled the beauty and chivalry of Sunflower county 

 and herded them into the spacious dining room of the club house for 

 an impromptu dance. "A most enjoyable time was had by all." 



Say, Spike, they grow some fine peaches in Georgia and in Arkan- 

 sas, but I'll be jiggered if Georgia and Arkansas have anything on 

 Sunflower county. 



And, to cap it all, we had the extreme pleasure of forcing a salute 

 to the flag from a typical square-head hoche, who got himself "in 

 Dutch" with a fool remark about "the flag is all right — but Ger- 

 many — " That's as far as the crowd listened. After that it looked 

 for a while as if there might be something doing in the hemp line. 

 Finally a compromise verdict was rendered, to the effect that the 

 square-head salute the flag. Say, Spike, you ought to have seen that 

 Dutchman clamber up on a pile of logs and doff his dinky dicer straw 

 three times, each time with a deep obeisance. (If only Bill and Hin 

 could have witnessed this.) Then they poked him into an automobile 

 and took him to Indianola and locked him in the cooler. And maybe 

 they fined him, or put him at hard labor. Of course, the story was 

 started that he was a German spy, but don 't you believe that, Spike ; 

 he wasn't a spy — he was a plain damn fool. 



Well, anyway, Old Glory floats on high — 125 feet on high — and 

 I 'd like to see every derrick mast in every mill yard, in all this 

 broad land, decorated in the same way. I don't believe we have a 

 corner on patriotism in Moorhead, but they '11 have to go far and 

 very rapid to beat us. Hurrah for "us"! 



Give my regards to the madam. 



Your friend, Bill. 



In May there came to hand Bulletin No. 506, a contribution from 

 the Forest Service covering the production of lumber, lath and 

 shingles in 1915. It seems too much like ancient history coming 

 in this late, and surely this bulletin would hold more interest and be 

 of more value if coming at this day it read for the year of 1916. 

 Maybe some day they will speed up things in this government work, 

 but so far the value of these reports has always been seriously im- 

 jiaired by the time required to get them before the public. 



