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The People Act 50-12-30 (04) The Sun Shines Bright
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The People Act 50-12-30 (04) The Sun Shines Bright
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- [00:00]
Ben Grauer
All signed that he could be.
- [00:03]
Elmore McKee
But every night the first time he.
- [00:07]
Ben Grauer
Met dog could be here and.
- [00:10]
Elmore McKee
Or here, here and. Or here.
- [00:15]
Ben Grauer
Call O'Renner from the barn here and er.
- [00:19]
Elmore McKee
Here. This is a folk song we recorded for you as it fell from the lips of children in a one room school in Kentucky. And they have good cause to sing for in the Bluegrass State. Today on my old Kentucky home the sun shines Bright. Living 1950 in cooperation with the 20th Century Fund presents the fourth in a series of programs entitled the People act. Gleaned from a nationwide search into the true meaning of democracy. We call our program of the week the Sun Shines Bright. Your narrator, Ben Drower. Holiday greetings, America and a holiday thought for you from your field reporter, Elmore McKee. Hello everyone. This week's story in the spirit of the new year comes from friends I've just made down in Kentucky. It tells how they went all out for a new day and a new life among the 2¼ million people of their great state. Some of their stories in their own voices as we recorded them for it. I return you to Ben Grauer. For some years after Stephen Foster wrote My Old Kentucky Home, Kentucky was a leader in this family of states. It was the center of fashion and culture. Its pioneering doctors were showing the way in medicine. It had the highest industrial payroll in the South. Its school system was the envy of its sister states. But some 30 years after Stephen Foster had sung his songs and departed the famous Bluegrass State in certain aspects of its development gradually began to lag behind most of the rest of the nation. And proud as Kentucky rightfully remained of many of its accomplishments, by the early 1940s, Kentucky was seriously concerned by facts like these. Kentucky, 47th state in the length of the school term, 40th in teachers salaries, 5th state from the bottom in per capita income among southern states, next to the last in industrial payroll. 2/3 of its schools with unsafe drinking water. Only 2 states with a higher death rate from TB 1 out of 4 citizens leaving in search of opportunity elsewhere. Such facts as these aroused many Kentuckians. One was the New York born president of a Louisville department store, Harry W. Schachter. As a newly elected Democratic legislature prepared to begin its sessions under a Republican governor, Harry Schacter, reading his morning paper in his office, began what modern jargon calls a slow burn. Here we go again.
- [03:34]
Ben Grauer
What's that, Mr. Schacter?
- [03:36]
Elmore McKee
I said here we go again.
- [03:38]
Ben Grauer
Go where, Mr. Schacter?
- [03:39]
Elmore McKee
Where all states go when the legislature and the governor are poles apart. We had the same kind of setup in 27, and the legislature stripped the governor of so many of his powers that by the end of his term, the only sovereign power he had left was the right to appoint notaries public.
- [03:55]
Ben Grauer
Oh, don't let it upset you, Mr. Schacter. Do anything else, but don't let it upset you.
- [03:59]
Elmore McKee
Okay, I will do something else. I'm president of an organization. At least I can start there. Take a letter.
- [04:07]
Ben Grauer
Yes, sir. To whom?
- [04:09]
Elmore McKee
To every member of the Kentucky Merchants Association. You ready?
- [04:14]
Ben Grauer
Ready.
- [04:15]
Elmore McKee
Dear sir, unless we as merchants and citizens of Kentucky move to put our state officials on notice that we demand close working cooperation. Thus it began, the reawakening of Kentucky. And from the merchants, it rapidly spread to other groups. Labor, industry, farmers, miners, educators. All of whom finally joined forces in one determined organization, the Committee for Kentucky. Like all committees, this one adopts a slogan. Wake up. Kentucky promptly assigns respected scholars of the state to digging up the facts. And to make these facts known by train, car, bus and plane, the committee undertakes lecture tours throughout the state. But not always are their revelations received with good grace. Once Harry Schacter, scheduled to address a woman's club, is introduced as follows.
- [05:18]
Ben Grauer
Ladies, the next speaker will have much to do to restore himself. In my estimation, Mr. Schacter.
- [05:29]
Elmore McKee
Good afternoon, ladies. I'm here today, Mr. Schacter, when I.
- [05:35]
Ben Grauer
Have occasion to scold my children, I always take them inside my house.
- [05:40]
Elmore McKee
I too have children, madam, and when I want to scold them, I take them inside my house. Out of hearing a passersby, too. But in this case, our house is the state of Kentucky. Its windows are broken and its roof is leaking. Everything we say inside can be heard outside. If we fix the house, we won't have to worry about where we do the scolding. Such positive action as this in time leads to an unprecedented event in the history of Kentucky. A joint meeting of both houses of the state legislature called solely to hear the committee's findings. Mr. President, the chair recognizes the gentleman from Marion county. Now, these reports are all very well, but I'd like to ask the committee for Kentucky where's all the money coming from to do the things they want done? The people back home want us to reduce taxes, not to raise them. May I answer that, Mr. Sherman? The chair recognizes Mr. Schacter. I predict that when the people of our state know some of the conditions existing within our borders, they not only will demand that these conditions be corrected, but will be willing to pay for it. I predict that the time is coming when Any one of you who runs for the legislature on a platform of cutting taxes just to be cutting taxes will be out of a job. The legislators, moved by the committee's findings, almost double Kentucky's budget to raise the pay of its teachers, lengthen the school year, build roads, improve health conditions. Thus did the people act. Thus were the people heard. Mark Etheridge said it. Mark Etheridge, noted publisher of the Louisville courier journal. Here is his actual voice as he talked with your field reporter. When the committee for Kentucky was organized, I advised those who talked with me about it. I felt that the fundamental necessary base for any progressive movement was the creation of a moral climate in which things could happen. Yes, as Mark Etheridge had urged, the creation of a moral climate in which things could happen indeed are happening and will doubtless go on happening. To sample that climate, let's go back a few years to Transylvania college in Lexington, Kentucky. A class in political science which has been studying the committee's reports, comes to a close. So we see that only one other state has a smaller proportion of boys and girls enrolled in high school. And that in view. Well, supposing we pick up right here next time and I'll expect your reports Wednesday. Professor, sir. Yes? Don't you get awful fed up with.
- [08:45]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
All these bad things about Kentucky?
- [08:47]
Elmore McKee
Actual facts, Hubbard, but I think I know how you feel. Well, out there in the Philippines, when I was in the army, anytime I told anybody I was from Kentucky, they kidding me about being a hillbilly and drinking moonshine. Now, what do we have to do to show people that it isn't all like that and change the few things that are? Well, I'd say you get yourself into a position where you can help make some changes. The people of any state get the kind of government they want. You've been taking this course long enough to know that, Hubbard. Yes, but what can I, one guy do about it? Why don't you run for the legislature? Run for the legislature? You're kidding. Am I? You're already better educated than a lot of legislators. It's a part time job. Meetings are in the afternoon and evening, so you'll have your mornings free for classes. And I'll be glad to give you laboratory credit and political science for the time you spend campaigning. But listen, professor. Sorry, Hubbard. I have a class waiting for me. Think it over. Young Hubbard does think it over, indeed. Acts, gets his home district to nominate him and takes to the road on his election campaign. Mr. Turner, my name is Bob Hubbard. I'm running for the legislature and I Wonder if you'll give me a minute of your time.
- [10:15]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Sorry, son.
- [10:16]
Elmore McKee
Mighty busy now, getting my tobacco in, shorthanded to boot.
- [10:20]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Some other time.
- [10:29]
Elmore McKee
Mr. Turner. Remember me? Bob Hubbard, running for the legislature? Well, I dropped by to see you yesterday. Oh, yes. Well, it's just like I told you. Well, now, just a minute, Mr. Turner. You say you're shorthanded? That's right. But what's that got. I got a proposition. I'll help you get your tobacco in during the day if you and your family promise to listen to me at night. What? Well, if that isn't the darndest piece of electioneering I've ever heard. All right, son. Fair enough. Bob Hubbard entered the Kentucky legislature as its youngest representative only a few weeks ago. Our field reporter, Elmore McKee recorded Bob Hubbard in a hotel room in Louisville, still a member of the legislature. The things that bothered me as a student are still many of them awaiting action and solution. But sitting in the legislature, I've seen real progress made with my own eyes. I am confident that it is only a matter of time and continued hard work before we shall see Kentucky take her rightful place among her sister states. Mark Ethrip said it, remember, Creation of a moral climate in which things can happen. Now let's see that climate operating in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, in Richmond, where Mrs. Shelby Carr, a doctor's wife, just voted president of the Women's Auxiliary of the State Medical association, decides to start upon the task of bettering health conditions by taking a good hard look at her own home county. Traveling roads never meant for a car. She soon finds herself in the hills talking to the teacher at a one room schoolhouse about the holes in the windows. We retraced Mrs. Carr's footsteps and got the story for you in that teacher's own words.
- [12:26]
Ben Grauer
One day the mountaineers came around the school. They were feuding. One group was shooting at others. The bullets were flying in every direction, through windows, over the top of the school and everywhere. I made the children lay down on the floor until the shooting stopped.
- [12:45]
Elmore McKee
Mrs. Carr was even more appalled when she saw the source of the school's drinking water. A foul barnyard spring a quarter of a mile from the school. Hastily she assembles an action committee. Teachers, school and health officials and civic minded women, volunteer health workers, each of the latter responsible for one school. The first problem the women tackle, women like Mrs. Hurst, Mrs. Records, Mrs. Turpin, is the water supplies.
- [13:11]
Ben Grauer
I've come to you because you're the commissioner of sanitation for this county, to tell me How I can get the water supply at my school tested?
- [13:20]
Elmore McKee
Nothing to it, ma'. Am. All you have to do is take a sterile bottle, get a sample of water, seal the bottle, put it in a container and send it to the university at Lexington. They'll test it and send a report back to the county health officer.
- [13:33]
Ben Grauer
Is that all?
- [13:35]
Elmore McKee
Absolutely all.
- [13:37]
Ben Grauer
Why, that's so simple. We can do more than just test the school supply. We can teach the children to do it and test their own water supply at home.
- [13:46]
Elmore McKee
Presto. By further female magic. Sinks, individual washcloths, soap and drinking cups appear in the schools. Next problem. Assaulted by the ladies eyes. The children's eyesight classes are organized. Volunteer workers called to train under the community's eye doctors to test the children's eyesight themselves. Now, this, ladies, is a Snelling eye chart. This chart must be kept 20ft from the child. Being tested and properly used will help you to discover the nearsighted.
- [14:16]
Ben Grauer
Well, how about the farsighted children?
- [14:19]
Elmore McKee
I'm coming to that. Now, these glasses I'm holding in my hand are plus one sphere glasses. You'll note that they will help you find them later. With the cooperation of the ear doctors. The children's ears are similarly tested. Still, the ladies of Richmond do not write finish to their efforts. They concern themselves with the diet of the children. When they hear a teacher say, as we did, and recorded it for you.
- [14:46]
Ben Grauer
Most of my children come from very poor homes. They live from the farm. One day last year, I was teaching and the little boy came into school and he said, miss Smithy, I want you to go home with me tonight because we killed a hog today. Well, I couldn't go home with him that night. So the next day I came back. I said, did you have lots of fresh meat? Said, yes, we eat a whole shoulder for supper. Didn't you have anything else to eat? He said, well, we just cooked the meat and eat the bread and bread and meat. That's all we ate. Then he said, we're going to cook sweet potatoes in the gravy today.
- [15:23]
Elmore McKee
And so to augment the diet of children whose homes are without refrigeration, whose food, until the summer garden comes in or a hog is killed, is beans for breakfast, beans for lunch, beans for dinner. A hot lunch program is initiated. But the crowning effort comes when the women decide to enlist help in improving the road conditions that isolate these areas from the rest of the community. Roads that sometimes force teachers like Mrs. Slusher to come to school by mule back. And when the floods wash over the highway. Well, let her tell you about it as she told Mrs. Carr.
- [15:56]
Ben Grauer
Did you see that swinging footbridge there? It was so slippery I had to cross on my hands and knees to get to school this morning.
- [16:03]
Elmore McKee
These conditions they find in what is commonly called the moonshine country, where a teacher isn't surprised when things like this.
- [16:10]
Ben Grauer
Happen in class one day I was stressing good citizenship. I talked to the boys and girls on what it took to be make good men and good women. One little boy says, Ms. Slusher, hain't you got a boy? And I said yes. Says, hain't he never been drunk and in jail? None? I said, no. Well, Pa says, you hain't a man till you've been drunk and in jail a few times. Your boy's a sissy.
- [16:38]
Elmore McKee
To rescue such environments from their isolation, to give the kids a chance, the ladies determined to bring the issue of an all year round road before the county through the residents themselves. Let Mrs. Slusher tell you what happened then.
- [16:52]
Ben Grauer
These men hired a truck and I guess there must have been at least 20 of them went in. We contacted the judge and the magistrates. They said the only time they'd ever been to court before was when they were arrested for moonshining or fighting or feuding.
- [17:09]
Elmore McKee
But this time they faced the judge with a far different result. Said one of the ladies, now we.
- [17:15]
Ben Grauer
Have a road that we can get over winter and summer.
- [17:24]
Elmore McKee
What started with 15 determined ladies in Madison County, Kentucky, now engages the volunteer efforts of 500, 500 women who know what can be accomplished when the people act. And still the work goes on, with work augmented by the husbands and friends of these determined wives whom we hear rehearsing as we recorded them for a minstrel show to raise funds for the cause. But it is to Mrs. Shelby Carr, who helped start it all, that we turn for the last word on the Richmond story. This is her voice.
- [18:14]
Ben Grauer
I'm a great believer in the philosophy of those who pioneered this country before us. They believed in using what they had available instead of waiting around hoping for someone else to help them. We here in Madison county have tried to do just that, to use wisely the things that we had available because we had no place to turn for any financial aid. At first, the town people did not really know or understand the problems of the country people. We now think of ourselves as real neighbors.
- [19:09]
Elmore McKee
Here again is your field reporter, Elmore McKee. Friends, there is a certain mysterious something that is born when people decide to work together for the common good. That something is Today felt in many places like the ones we visited across Kentucky. Listen, and from the people themselves hear the recorded evidence of it. Mr. Gordon Young, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for the State of Kentucky. Here in Kentucky, I believe, there is.
- [19:38]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
An increasing awareness on the part of.
- [19:40]
Elmore McKee
The people concerning the education of the children.
- [19:45]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
One example of that awareness, I believe, is the organization of the Council on.
- [19:52]
Elmore McKee
Education for the State.
- [19:54]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
We have discovered that when we get.
- [19:56]
Elmore McKee
Out among the people and give them.
- [19:58]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
The facts, we get results.
- [20:00]
Elmore McKee
RB Atwood, President of Kentucky State College. As the Negro who is president of this educational institution, the changes that I have seen take place over the last 20 years have been quite remarkable. The admission of Negro people to schools that formerly did not admit to persons of my race. We believe that in this state we are rapidly approaching the day when there will be complete equality of educational opportunities for all the people. G.W. hughley, Jr. Executive director of the Kentucky Agricultural and Industrial Board. Five years ago, we didn't have anything in Kentucky, but today, I think we're really going places. We've got a program underway mapping the area of the state where it had been never mapped before. We are finding out information about the mineral resources that were unknown before and their commercial values. We are learning something about the water resources of the state and doing it in a systematic way on a statewide basis. We are going out to the communities and working with them in an effort to help them help themselves. Kenneth Vinsell, Executive Vice President of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce. Looking at the economic picture, I am encouraged by the increase in employment and industrial production during the last few years and the new types of industry coming into the area. As I look across the state, I realize Kentuckians have become aware of the fact that what concerns one concerns all. The Committee for Kentucky has disbanded. Now, why? Let Harry Schacter tell us. They had learned the facts of what was wrong with their state and they determined to correct them. When that time came, the Committee for Kentucky felt that its work was finished, but that the work of the people of Kentucky had just begun. And the people of Kentucky took up that challenge. And they have been carrying on that great job throughout the state because the people of Kentucky have begun to share a vision together. Wherever you go today, you find that the people of Kentucky are on the march. Such is the story of Kentucky on the march. And now let's turn to the organization that is cooperating with NBC in producing These programs, the 20th Century Fund, for some facts from its research studies that may help other communities and other states to understand and deal with Problems similar to those that Kentucky faced. I'd like to call upon the economist of the Twentieth Century Fund, Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst, who was largely responsible for a major publication of the fund titled America's needs and resources. Dr. Dewhurst, I suppose we have to face the hard economic fact that those good works and improvements like Kentucky's cost money.
- [23:36]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
They certainly do. Mr. Grauer and many other states besides Kentucky have to face the question of how to pay for improvements that may be very urgently needed, as in the case of public school systems, for example.
- [23:47]
Elmore McKee
Well, doesn't public opinion usually support plans for improvement?
- [23:51]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
In many cases it does until the tax bills begin to come in. Then sometimes there's a protest. But when citizens really understand their community's needs, they are usually willing to pay the cost of improvements. In our Kentucky story Today, I think Mr. Schacter and his associates on the Committee for Kentucky deserve credit for frankly facing this problem from the outset. They recognize that their improvement program would lead to higher state taxes.
- [24:19]
Elmore McKee
Why state taxes? Wouldn't the local communities take care of the problem?
- [24:23]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
You might expect them to, but the local communities simply wouldn't be able to meet all the expenses themselves.
- [24:29]
Elmore McKee
Don't the local communities pay for their own schools, for example?
- [24:33]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Not at all. Our 20th Century Fund study of America's needs and resources showed that just before the last war for our country as a whole, close to half of public school expenses came from state and federal governments. Only a little more than half of school money was raised by the local communities themselves.
- [24:51]
Elmore McKee
Does this indicate that the money spent by our state governments is increasing?
- [24:55]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
It certainly does. As a matter of fact, during this past generation or two, we have seen a historic shift in America in the way our public monies are raised and spent. Back in 1913, when you put together all the money spent by all forms of government, local, state, and national, you would find that nearly two thirds of it was spent by the local communities. But by 1941, this share had dropped down to considerably less than one third.
- [25:22]
Elmore McKee
And meanwhile, of course, the share spent by our state and national governments was going up.
- [25:26]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Indeed it was. Take state governments as an example. During that same period, from 1913 to 1941, the share of all government expenditures spent by state governments had just about doubled, going from around 8% to 16%. Of course, the actual absolute amounts of money spent by all forms of government had gone up. But we are dealing here with the proportion or the share. Yes, and we can see that in all public spending as a whole, the share spent by local communities has dropped sharply, while the share spent by states has gone up sharply.
- [26:03]
Elmore McKee
Why is this so, Dr. Dewhurst?
- [26:06]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Well, largely, it is a matter of taxing power. Our local communities have to rely mainly on real estate taxes. These property taxes have proved relatively inflexible, as our fund studies show. There are pretty definite limits, often actual legal limits, on how far a community can go in increasing its property taxes. That's why under modern conditions, the taxing power of state and national governments has become more important.
- [26:34]
Elmore McKee
And then does the state give back some of the tax money it raises to the local communities?
- [26:39]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Yes, this is pretty much the general practice throughout our country. It shows up in the figures. The data in America's Needs and Resources indicated that in 1941, all our state governments put together raised and paid out around four and a half billion dollars. But only a little more than three and a half billion was spent on activities of the state governments themselves. The difference of a billion dollars is largely represented by grants to local communities.
- [27:09]
Elmore McKee
Would you say that that trend is likely to continue, Dr. Dewhurst?
- [27:12]
Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst
Probably it will. This is a very controversial question, of course, but in most states, there is strong pressure from local communities for state aid in certain kinds of projects, such as schools and public health measures. As I say, the greater taxing power of the state is one reason for this pressure. The figures for our country show a clear trend toward increasing expenditures by our state and national governments. The record certainly would suggest that local communities proudly will continue to look to state governments for help in meeting some of their legitimate community needs.
- [27:47]
Elmore McKee
Thank you, Dr. J. Frederick Dewhurst, economist of the 20th Century Fund, for those illuminating findings from fund studies. Different states have different problems, of course, but we certainly may hope that whatever the problem and whatever the solution, it may be reached by truly democratic processes. That is what is so inspiring about our Kentucky story, and that is why all of us say that today the sun shines bright in Kentucky. Living 1950, in conjunction with the 20th Century Fund, has presented another in our special series, the People Act. If you wish to receive a copy of today's script or to ask questions pertaining to the possible application of the Kentucky story to your own community, you're invited to write to the 20th Century Fund, 330 W 42nd St, NY 18. We repeat that address, the 20th Century Fund, 330 West 42nd St, NY, 18. The fund will be glad to send you a script or put you in touch with an agency that may help you and your situation. Join us next week when living 1951 brings you from Arkansas, the Sylvania story. Living 1950 is produced under the supervision of Wade Arnold. Today's script was by Lou Hazam. Your narrator is Ben Grauer. Recording engineer William Schwartow. This series is directed by Edwin Dunham. Later, enjoy the Man Called X and Dangerous Assignment on NBC.