Steeple Shakers are ripe in the Land of Mears

We like to see farmers get together to eat and talk and discuss the problems of their fields while their wives exchange salad recipes and pumpkin pie formulas . Such meetings are good fellowship and produc- tive of agricultural contentment and are alright if some bureaucratic spellbinder does not come along from headquarters down the state to crowd the people's minds into a soil conservation district groove . We stand for freedom on the farm , freedom to till the soil , to make your own decisions on what fields you shall plow , when you shall plow them and when you will reap your harvest . You want no $ 5,000 - a - year gov- ernment inspectors sitting on your fence and telling your horses gee and haw and how deep or shallow you shall plow , and ordering your cultivator to make a crooked furrow like a hair pin crimp around the pasture hill . Let cities have their ordinances if they must , but let them keep their cramps and crimps and penalties far from the revolutions of your cutaway disc on the back forty . A few years ago Oceana coun- ty had to muster its minute men and go to the polls to trounce a soil district that provided jail sentences for anyone who dared to plow his fields or cut his timber or harvest his crops contrary to any soil regu- lations which might become enacted . You farmers of Oceana county licked them ten to one . So the soil specialists went back to Lansing and got some changes made in their law and lay low and bided their time . Like a turtle drawing its head and feet into its shell , they wait- ed a few years before they ventured boldly forth again . In the last year or two they have been sending their spellbinders here and there into little farm groups assembled to eat and fellowship together on winter afternoons or November evenings . If I had been there at your meet- ings , and you had invited me to do so . I could have gotten up with the law books in my arms and read to you paragraphs and whole pages which would show you many chains and shackles in the amended law .

You ought to read Section S about the powers and duties of such dis- For trict directors . You ought to see the 57 lines on page 464 , the 33 lines you on page 465 and the seven lines on another page , where about 1000 words are used to describe and spread out the powers of the soil dis- trict . Believe me , brother , they would have you right under thumb , right where they want you . If it is once established it will take you five years before you are even allowed to vote on getting rid of it . On page 466 it says a soil district may acquire by purchase , ex- change , lease , gift , grant , bequest , or otherwise , any property , real or personal , or rights or interests therein and may dispose of the same . In other words , your whole farm or any part of it , your team , your tractor , your orchards , may be siezed by the ight of eminent domain , paid for as little as a jury will award , and later even sold to your com- petitor . Then there is a section that says a soil district may develop comprehensive plans which shall specify in detail the acts , procedures , performances and avoidances necessary or desirable , including methods of cultivation , the growing of vegetation , cropping programs , and till- age practices . Then there is another section you should consider well , the paragraph that gives the district the right to make and from time to time amend and repea ! rules and regulations not inconsistent with this act and TO CARRY INTO EFFECT ITS PURPOSES AND POW- ers . I tell this to you , my friends of the fields and the farms , that you may preserve your freedom and keep your liberty , for the spellbinders are lurking just around the cornèr to fasten the harness around your necks in 1950. Friends , be on your guard . Don't sign away freedom.- From half a mile north of Shelby George Senecal , the auctioneer with a sign on the pole , sends you greetings for howling New Year . If you are going to have an auction in 1950 let George howl for you . He will get the money for you out of the crowd . adv . - Joseph John De- Rooy , 32 , was killed in a car accident last week Thursday night when the automobile in which he was riding , driven by Mrs. Helen Raider of Hart , was struck by an oil tanker driven by John Smith of Pellston . Mrs. Raider's car started to get off the pavement , then she swung it back on and it was in the path of the oncoming oil tanker . Mrs. Raider had minor head injuries . Two children in the car , Tony Raider , 3 , and Marcia Allison , 14 , were not injured . Mr. DeRooy is survived by his sister , Mrs. Ray Allison . For a number of years he worked in the Stokely plant . Miss Cassie Phillipo , the little short lady who lived across from the Hart school , was buried Wednesday . She was 82 and lived a long time in Weare township . - Gleason B. Rollins will retire from the Stokely plant January 1st . For 30 years he has been with the plant , through the Roach and Stokely administrations . In 1906 he received his diploma from Hart high school . Then he helped Charlie Boody sort postal cards and after that went two years to the Univer- sity of Ann Arbor . Then for ten years he helped " Square Deal " Miller run his jewelry store in Detroit . Gleason Rollins will still be part of the Hart community . Terry Griffin made a cardboard sign and put it on a broomstick over his shoulder and stood on the sidewalk to get bicycle votes from traders at Bright's . He's riding it now . - Will C. Moody , 76 , a graduate of Shelby high school and the University Michigan , and for 50 years a practicing attorney in Chicago , was bur- ied at Whitehall Monday . Mrs. Rudolph Fuehring with Mrs. Karl Fuehring , Sr. , and Mr. and Mrs. Jake Heer , attended the Farm - to- Prosper Round - Up in Muskegon . Mr. and Mrs. Ray Kludy of Crystal Lake have been 4 - H leaders so long that they were invited to a 4 - TI leaders ' dinner at Michigan State college at East Lansing and talked

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Shaw Insurance

Houses , Lots Pentwater

Phil Wurthner heals Autos

Roy Geisinger gold watches .

Joe Jetleb , Hart Stop ! Shop !

Gleason's Body Shop Installs Glass and Paints Cars

Wietzke For Radios , Appliances Furniture

Hart Petroleum Batteries , Tires

Neil Wheeler Insurance Real Estate

Fresh Meats Nixon Market Vegetables

Hart Cleaners

and Dyers Op . Courthouse

an

at a transcription and were given a table model radio so they could listen to themselves talking when they got home . - Hollis Bender , outstanding 4 - H calf club member , won a $ 300 scholarship at the col- lege . Birch Lathers got such a large jack - knife for Christmas that it was too heavy for an eight - year - old boy to carry around . Besides , it didn't have any ring in it to fasten to his overalls and it was getting lost so he traded it to his father for a little white one with a coupling on it . And now he has it chained to his belt . - Adam Levandowski will soon be loading 26 crates of corn on his trailer to get manufactured in- to meal in Walkerville . - If C. E. Ganagus of Pentwater wants some- thing to rhyme with his name he could use Kan - U - Guess . George Suprian and his wife , Vera , who used to be Vera Stevens , drove up from Muskegon to Mears Monday and were accompanied by her fath- er , Rolly Stevens , and all called at the Charles Irey home . Then there were three little Suprians , Mary , who is 12 , Shirley , who is five , and two - year - old Beverly . Vera used to run a typewriter for Attorney Frank Wetmore and while working for him at Lansing she met her George . Mrs. Charles Caldwell of Phoenix , formerly Mrs. Florence Van Nortwick of Pentwater Lumber Co. , sent us a copy of Arizona Highways , one of the most beautiful magazines in the world , which makes even the cactus and sagebrush look like it would taste beaufi- ful . - Ann Flagg used to go to Phoenix in the winter when Harold and Madonna were living there . Maybe somebody named Flagg threw away a cane there and a town was named Flagstaff . - You go into Carpen- ter's store in Hart and shop down the aisleways over the counters of merchandise array , but do you ever wonder about the human side of the store , the clerks and where they come from ? I guess I don't know them all myself , but there is Mrs. Olive Fuller from Mears , who sells garments . And Gladys Beggs from Round Lake sells hot water bottles and rubber bands . There is a Mrs. Carol Kokx who is located south- westerly in the store , and a Marjorie somebody who sells tree trim- mings . Bill Bryden is a floor walker because it is hard to walk on the ceiling without grippers on his shoes . La Verle Herschberger types up in the office and checks invoices and sometimes comes down to wait on the trade . Ethel Hasty ties string in a hurry . Sometimes at Christ- mas there are extra clerks that make you remember the title of a song that goes , " I met a million dollar baby in a 5 and 10e store . " Isn't there one clerk named Rachel ? She would come in handy selling cos- metics as Rachel is a shade of face powder . Of course , Mr. Carpenter walks around a good deal seeing that more stock is brought in from the back room to replenish the merchandise bins . Anyway , the Carpenters and all the clerks send you New Year's greetings and hope you will furry back . adv . - Dale Lathers got a wrist watch and a key ring flash- light for Christmas and the two things keep track of each other all through the night . The watch wakes up and asks what time is it ? And the flashlight answers . And sometimes it is the other way . Rodaman's Surplus Store on Miller street in Hart announces special reductions on winter merchandise at their January clearance sale . Also a happy New Year to you all . adv . - If you need a driveway made now is the time to get ' Bill Lathers and his bug truck to haul you some gravel to fill in the wet places and make a firm foundation for your auto tires .

Anderson , the grocer , in Mears , sells groceries you need everyday .