BELIEVE IT OR NOT
Christmas is just around the corner. There are but 18 more shopping days. Probably a great many of us have done very little of our Christmas buying. We have heard a lot about “depression” but it’s our private opinion that Santa Claus fails to take much if any stock in such talk. It is possible that presents will be more practicable than in some previous years but take it from me this is one time in the whole year when we are all caught in the swirl of Christmas Spirit and we find a way to make our loved ones happy. Mother and father may tell us they don’t want a single thing. I don’t believe it. They will be just as disappointed on Christmas morning as the little tots if they are not remembered and father may pull a long face and tell the kiddies that this has been a hard year and he don’t (sic) see how he can buy the doll or drum, but cheer up, he is going to see that the dear ones have bright faces on Christmas morning. This region has not felt the “tightness” as elsewhere but nevertheless we want just as much money spent in the Central Adirondacks as possible. Money spent outside is gone, but when it is spent in the local community it keeps going from one person to another, hence we are urging that whenever possible money be spent locally. We have done a little scouting and we find our stores most liberally supplied with suitable presents for Christmas, and it doesn’t take a whale of an imagination to visualize what it would mean to this community if the Christmas presents and the good things to eat on this memorable day were all purchased from the stores in the Central Adirondacks. Let us do a little figuring. “A” buys something for $5.00 from “B.” “B”spends that $5.00 at “C’s” store, he in turn buys what he wants at Mr. “D’s” place of business while “D” finds exactly what he wants at “A’s” store. Four presents have been bought and “A” has his original $5.00. Multiply this by the $6,000 paid out by the bank in Christmas Club checks and then figure out what a whale of a lot of Christmas cheer, not drink, has been purchased and the bank will still have the $6,000 in interest accounts. Bear in mind that money spent “outside” is mighty slow in coming back, but money spent at home is continually circulating.
RED CROSS DRIVE
The result of the annual membership drive of the Red Cross Society for this community, as announced by Mrs. Edward Risley, chairman of the Legion Auxiliary committee having charge of the work, shows a total of $192.25, which is an increase of $9 over the amount subscribed last year. This is considered a creditable showing considering all circumstances. Of the amount subscribed $12.25 was in the form of donations and the balance of $180 was memberships. This means that almost one hundred dollars remains in this community for such welfare work as the Legion Auxiliary may find necessary. The collections by members of the solicitation committee was as follows: Mary S. Hemmer, $39.00; Grace M. Risley, $35.00; Florence Wright, Thendara, $22.50; Anna Fraula, $15.00; Sadie Goodspeed, $13.00; Betty Tickner, $12.00; Betty Farmer, $11.00; Catherine Neeley, $10.00; Mattie MacLaren, Eagle Bay, $7.50; Anna Joslin, $6.50; Tina G. Titus, $5.25; Mary Armstrong, $5.00; Kate Christy, $4.00; Evangeline Hemmer, $4.00; Mrs. Joseph Denis, $2.00.
Ray Carr of Old Forge kept a bundle of issues of Old Forge’s first
newspaper, The Adirondack Arrow (a weekly), that he found in the attic
of a house he bought on Main Street Old Forge 48 years ago. The papers
date from the 1930s when the economic climate was not unlike today. He
had this idea to share them with readers of the Adirondack Express
through this History & Heritage column, defined his concept,
organized the old issues and pinpointed articles he thought would be of
special interest to readers. So in the weeks ahead, thanks to Ray Carr,
readers will go back in time and see what was news some 80 years ago on
the Fulton Chain of Lakes during The Great Depression.