Last Friday, Scrap Harvest Day, was the greatest demonstration of the people of this county uniting in a common cause that has ever been witnessed. The Comanche County War Board had asked all store keepers and other business men and women to close their places of business on Friday the 28th and the farmers and others to stop work to devote the day to gathering scrap iron or help take old machinery apart so that it could be sold to the junk dealers. In Coldwater, Protection and Wilmore alike, every place of business, except the telephone offices, power plants and post offices were locked up tight, and it was impossible to buy anything during the day. At Wilmore a man asked a druggist to sell him a package of cigarettes but he was told to wait a day - that there was important work to be done.Everywhere one went people were digging into fence corners, going over pastures or farm yards, scouring yards, basements and attics for every scrap of unused iron, and other metals, so that our boys in the armed forces might have needed war material. There was not the usual laughing and joking of a holiday. Our people were grim-faced and determined to do their utmost in the war effort. Farmers who had machinery to be taken apart called into town and volunteer workers with cutting torches, wrenches and sledges worked all day dismounting old tractors, combines, and other machinery.
Prominent among hundreds of workers were the Boys of 1917 and 18. While their hair and chest lines may have slipped a bit in the intervening years, their patriotism has not slipped and the American Legion men were busy as bees.
A. L. Parsons, mayor of Coldwater, worked all day at the Mathias junk yard weighing hundreds of truckloads, auto loads and even wheelbarrow loads of junk which were brought in. County Chairman C. G. Lyon was kept busy directing volunteer workers where to go to work in tearing down or collecting iron. Competitive implement dealers worked side by side in junking old machinery, and in fact everyone worked, and with all possible speed.
The Coldwater American Legion had donated to them nearly $100 worth of junk which was brought to the junk yards, besides donations of a tractor, a combine and other iron totaling more than eight tons which was brought to a lot east of the Allderdice store, all to swell the War Chest Fund of the American Legion.
One example of the work done last Friday was that on the Jack Helton farm. There Mr. Helton and volunteer workers cut up and loaded onto trucks and sold as junk a tractor, a combine, a mowing machine, an old Ford truck and other machinery, totaling six tons. And last year Mr. Helton sold 11 tons of old iron from his farm.
Although junk was sold to junkmen all day Friday, Junk Rally Day on Saturday was the day on which most of the old iron was brought in. While complete returns of the drive are not yet available, W. W. Martin of Protection reports that he purchased more than 200 tons of iron. Charley Nickelson of Wilmore handled between 40 and 50 tons of scrap and the Coldwater dealers brought the total well above 400 tons of scrap brought in during this scrap drive.
As an added incentive to people to gather up their junk, the Coldwater business men gave $45 in prizes on Saturday. Donald Todd, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Todd, drew first prize of a $25 War Bond. Marion Dirks, Mrs. Otto Sherman, Billy Herd and Paris Alley, each drew a prize of a $5 book of Defense Stamps.
Thus during the past week Comanche county people have turned into scarp yards more than four-fifths of a million pounds of iron - enough to build a big battleship or 80 large tanks. We doubt whether any other county in the United States or only about 1250 families of a population of only 4700 can equal this record. Certainly no county in the nation has ever had every place of business close all day for a 100% all out drive in any war effort. In a drive last May, 442 tons of scrap iron were sold in this county.
Col. Wm. L. Irwin, commanding officer at Fort Riley, Kans., in a letter of commendation to American Legion Commander Walter W. Ferrin, says: "It is a great source of satisfaction for any organization to feel that they had 100% co-operation. It speaks well for the business men of your community."
While much old machinery was torn down during the drive last week, it is planned to have a similar drive some time in the future, perhaps on some Monday, and really finish the job.
Uncle Sam, if you want to see how to get a difficult job done, send some of your easterners to Comanche county to show them that the mid-west IS 100% behind the war-effort.
Also see:
The Western Star, September 11, 1942.
Comanche Co. Leads Nation in Scrap CollectionThe Western Star , January 18, 1952.
Scrap Iron Is Badly Needed.
Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!
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