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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH : Put in New Claim for Merits Of Rammed Earth Buildings (Editors Note: By BAUKHAGE This is an News Analyst and Commentator. other in the Stories of the States series.) WNU News Service, 1616 Eye Street N. W., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. Is there a solution of the housing problem By EDWARD EMERINE WNU Features low-co- st Theres no place like Missouri as any Missourian will tell as simple as the dirt under our feet? Have we been overlooking a bet, which you. Part northern, part ern, part eastern and part western, and wholly American, the Show Me state is a collection of individuals, climates, soils, industries and resources. Build fence around Missouri, cut it off from the rest of the world, and it will get along all right, is a boast often heard. south- Missourians might be nearly right at that about their state being Cut off from the rest of the world, they still could enjoy mountains, plains, rivers and lakes. They could eat beefsteak, lamb chops, ham and bacon, fresh fish, fried chicken, fruits, vegetables and bread, and still have plenty of whipped cream, pie, cake, sugar, potatoes Irish or sweet oatmeal, Their shoes butter and eggs. would be made in St. Louis, and they would have a choice of wool or cotton clothing, straw or felt hats, light clothing or fur coats. Besides, they would have whisky, beer, wine, tobacco, corncob pipes and the Missouri mule. They might be Short on gold and a few other luxuries, but they would have coal, wood, lead, zinc, iron, glass, clay, copper, nickel, cobalt, steel, antimony, tungsten, arsenic and some oil and gas. Topography Is Diversified. Topographically, Missouri is more a part of several other regions than a region in itself. Northern Missouri is a continuation of the rich, rolling farm lands of Iowa. Western Missouri is a part of the great mid Pliny said the Romans were overlooking, in the first century A. D. and to which most peo- ple have shut their eyes ever since? Anthony F. Merrill says so and so does a convincing job of proving the contention in his book The Rammed Earth House, which I have just read. It seems incredi- self-sustaini- ble! It didnt seem incredible to Pliny who heatedly proclaimed that the Romans had, in Africa and Spain, woods are thick, fruits and berries abound, and beneath the soils surface are rich stores of minerals. High in Industries. Although a rich agricultural state, Missouri has a two billion dollar manufacturing industry even in nor- mal years. Meat packing at Kansas City and St. Joseph, boots and shoes at St. Louis, mens and womens clothing in all the large cities, tobacco processing, airplane manufacture, book and other printing, and industries established to process the states resources and raw products place Missouri among the ranking industrial states. Mining, lumbering, cement making, corn cob pipes walls of earth. They are moulded rather than built, Pliny explains, by enclosas a friendly, hospitable state, a ing earth within a frame of boards, little more southern than northconstructed on either side. These ern in accent, a little more westwalls will last for centuries, are ern than eastern in its ways. proof against rain, wind and fire, and LaSalles explorations in 1682 lo- are superior in solidity to any cement cated what is now Missouri as a Even at this day (more than a part of the vast Louisiana purchase. century after Hannibal) Spain still It was relinquished to Spain in 1762, holds watch-towethat were erectreturned to France in 1800 and pur- - ed by Hannibal. chased by the United States in 1803. The idea of houses of earth is not During the Civil war, Missouri, al- incredible to Clinton P. Anderson, 3 though a slave state, furnished troops to the Union and more than 50,000 to the Confederate army. Many Historic Sites. The state has many sites of historic and prehistoric interest. At many places are traces of Indian villages and camp sites. Indian mounds and earthworks are numerous. The old home of U. S. Grant, built by the general himself, still stands outside the city limits of St. rs good or better a dwelling than most of the defense homes, so widely used during the war, for $3,000. And there are already modest cottages in a number of places which cost little more than a thousand dollars for two members of a family to build. so-call-ed Solons Have Good Laugh on Selves When Bob Hope or Henry Morgan or even Senator Claghorn pokes fun at congressmen, thats supposed to be humorous. Its always open season on politicians in this country where people riddle their public officials with gags instead of guns. But it is not generally realized that legislators like to laugh, too even when the laughs on them. And at least one of them enjoys congressional jokes so much hes written a book about them. Compiling the congressional Jo Miller may seem a far cry from steering policies of the senate judiciary committee, but Senator Wiley has been working on the humorous project since 1939 when he first was elected to the United States senate. Last year he got around to sending a letter to all his colleagues in the house and senate, asking them their favorite jokes. He was deluged with stories good, bad and corny; and most of them jokes on or about congress and congressmen. All of which inspired the title oi his book, The Laughs With Congress. Under the title The Women God Bless em, he relates how in the 350-pa- ge 108,-77- Louis. The boyhood home of Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) is preserved at Hannibal, and statues of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have been erected. Missouri is known as The Mother of the West. Inspired by reports of the Lewis and Clark expedition, a St. Louis Spaniard named Manuel Lisa in 1809 organized the first of the companies. Jim Bridger, first white man to see the Salt Lake valley, was a Missouri fur trader. The Oregon Trail led from Missouri to the Pacific coast, and Independence, St. Joseph and other western Missouri towns outfitted the men who conquered the West. Eastern terminus of the Pony Express was at St. Joseph, and the Santa Fe Trail was blazed from New Franklin to the Southwest, with the Santa Fe railroad to follow later. It was the Missouri Compromise act of congress that brought Mis souri into the union as a state in fur-tradi- TYPICAL FARM SCENE . . . Modern farms dot the rich and highly Here is shown the J. C. Penney productive rolling acres of Missouri. farm near Hamilton. continental prairie. Southwestern Missouri is part of the Ozark plateau of Arkansas, and flat southeastern Missouri is delta or bottom 'land characteristic of the lower Mississippi valley The states diversity is even pronounced in its people. The quiet St. Louis business man is from Kanunlike the sas City. ' The farmer in northern Missouri speaks a different language than the delta agriculturist. And the Ozark people differ from all the rest. On one thing they all agree : Missouri is a great state ! Missourians have a state pride as deep and fixed as any Texans. There are no deserts, no barren peaks in Missouri. Corn grows tall, er and other products are important industries. Both Kansas City and St. Louis rank high as wholesale distribution centers for the entire Mississippi-Missouvalley. Flour mills and cereal plants at St. Joseph had a tremendous war output. Missouri is one of the few middle states that yet markets ties, lumber, laths and shingles in large quantities, supporting more than 300 commercial sawmills. The state has the largest deposits of lead, zinc and coal in the Middle West. It also has valuable clays, building stone and sands. Missouri produces about 42 per cent of the annual production of baryte for the United States. With its varied topography, Misri souri has many scenic attractions. It has more than 240 recorded caves, many with several floors and some with underground streams. Besides its many natural lakes, it has Lake of the Ozarks which was created by the Bagnell dam across the Osage river, built in 1929. This lake is 129 miles long with 1,300 miles of shoreline. Big Spring, with a measured daily flow of 640,000,000 gallons, is All the largest in the world. streams and lakes are stocked with fish, and the hunting of quail, ducks and other birds is widespread. The forests and hills of the Ozark mountains are nationally famous. Spanned by Railroads. Missouri is one of the leading railroad states of the nation, being served by 13 trunk line roads. Agricultural products of Missouri billion include two and pounds of beef annually; one billion pounds of pork; four billion pounds of milk; one million pounds of chickens; besides eggs, sheep, cotton, wool, com, wheat, tobacco, soy beans and other crops. From its rich historical background, Missouri has emerged one-ha- lf LAND OF THE OZARKS . . . Sylvan scenes abound in the picturesque Ozark mountains. This stream In Is a typical spring-fe- d the mountain fairyland. ' 1821. Born in turmoil, it has endured all the hardships of pioneering, insurrection, reconstruction and modem competition. Perhaps through the trials of generations its people have learned that a show me attitude is far safer than naive acceptance of things at face value! The old and new in rammed earth houses. Top panel shows modern structure at Claremont, Calif. Bottom shows church at Sumter, S. C., which has stood through more than a century and weathered several hurricanes and an earthquake. secretary of agriculture, who has written the preface to the book. If Tony Merrill and his rammed-eart- h builders want either my blessor says the my cooperation, ing secretary, they may be assured of them both. Rammed-eartaccording to Merterm a is describing both the rill, material and the process of wall building by which earth is tamped into the shape of a wall or building In essence, a compressed block. block or section of earth will, when tamped, assume the shape of the form into which it is pressed and, when the moisture dries out, harden into a permanent shape suitable for use as a building material. The reasons set forth by Merrill as to why, if this method of building is so good it has not been widely adopted, are logical: One theres no .money in it, except the money saved by the builder. Two contrary to the impression among sellers of building materials, Merrill insists it would help rather than hurt their business. The man who builds house cant afford a rammed-eart- h any other kind. And he has to buy everything floor, roofing, plumbing everything in fact except the walls, which are free except for the cost of the forms and the tamping. Merrills thesis is that anyone willing to acquire the rudimentary knowledge of building, can build a rammed-eart- h house himself with three bedrooms, spacious living, dining and cooking facilities and all plumbing and heating equipment for less than $5,000. He can build as h, LOYAL SON . . . Phil M. Donnelly, governor of Missouri, is a loyal son to leave never bothered who his native state. Born at Lebanon, Mo., March 6, 1891, Donnelly attended Missouri schools, practiced law in his native state, served as county and city attorney, and spent 20 years in the state legislature before being elected governor for a four-yeterm in 1944. He is married and has one son. ar closing and very literally hot sessions of the 79th congress, the then Sergeant-at-Arm- s Wall Doxey ruled twice within three weeks that, although women in slacks could be permitted in senate galleries, women in shorts would be inimical to the dignity of the senate and were to be barred from the gallery. All of which moved Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia to remark: In hot weather, I am sometimes envious that I cannot wear shorts myself. Mr. Doxey is supposed to be an authority on what creates confusion in the senate, but personally, I have no objection to shorts. (If this had been printed in the record there would have been laughter after that one.) Another story claimed as the favorite of former Sen. Guy Gillette of Iowa and Arkansas young Sen. William Fulbright is a true one. As Senator, Gillette tells it, his colored maid had noticed that the senator, then a representative, had his picture in the paper. Underneath was a caption to the effect that he might be nominated for the upper chamIs a senatuh higher than a ber. the maid wanted representative? to know. Yes, Gillette told her, they are so considered because a senator represents an entire state and a representative represents a The maids district of a state. next question was: Well, is there anything lower than a congressman? Gillette is said to have been forced to imply that there was indeed nothing lower than a congressman! , |