Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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Westbrook High School 7 missed eleven hundred men In Philadelphia but eight building permits had been issued during 1834, as against six hundred for the same period in 1833. Strikes followed and people were forced to appear in public with their grievances. These were but typical instances of a general condition which bore bearing on the banks, the manufac- turers, the merchants, and the workingmen. Recently, history has repeated itself in like con- ditions. The chief causes of our depression were: our over-production of products, the World War, which got the countries in debt, and the hoarding of money. Between 1830-1840, they restored their busi- ness much the same as we are trying to do today. With shorter hours, and better pay for the work- ingman, industry went on with renewed energy. Today, we have many social and political or- ganizations that are working on our problems, but before the people a century ago could overcome their problems, those most affected had formed organizations. Trade unions were formed in the various cities. State and National meetings were held where the labor leader spoke and organized the workmen. Instead of depending upon the twelve million unemployed to save themselves, President Roose- velt and the National Government are trying to direct activities which will lead us out of this depression and prevent future ones. A. L., '35. A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN AMERICA'S LAST FRONTIER A hunger not of the belly kind, that's banished with bacon and beans, But the gnawing hunger of lonely men, for home, and all that it means. --Service. Our American frontier was born in New Eng- land and the Thirteen Original Colonies. How- ever, it was not long before our hardy pioneering ancestors pushed, a bit fearfully at first, over the high mountain barriers into the fertile Mid-West. Finally, after much bitterness and bloodshed, the frontier line was pushed to the edge into the Pacific. For a while America lost sight of the frontier. Nobody can tell whether the frontier line was carried to the North on the waves of the Pacific or on the waves of Fate, but, at any rate, in 1864, she found her frontier in Alaska, the land of glamour and romance. During this last century, the Century of Prog- ress, the ancient mystical totem poles, which now grace the beautiful Sitka National Park, have looked stoically upon many changes. The great- est emblem of progress, the man-made birds, soar majestically through the stillness of the sub-arctic heavens, The first sight of a plane in the sky caused two Eskimo women to faint and to suffer Hhemorrhages of the eyes, nose and mouth l It is a sad fact that Uncle Sam has not done his full duty to his adopted territory. Perhaps he was awed by the vastness and the deep silence of the frozen tundras stretching away to the mysterious North. But more likely, with the customary igno- rance of the uninformed, he scorned and misin- terpreted her silence, spurned her offers of great wealth. Alaskans have had to fight, and fight hard, for every favor Uncle Sam has bestowed upon them. Indeed, in 1882, Americans who had settled in Alaska were nearly forced to appeal to the Russian Tsar for protection and civil rights. How this would have shamed our proud Uncle Sam! When Alaska was adopted by Uncle Sam she was puzzled at his aloofness, and she doesn't fully understand it yet. Why didn't he send to her a governor? Why didn't men come to reap her harvests, and build thriving cities in her beau- tiful harbors? Alaska feared lest she had dis- pleased her new uncle. Therefore, she decided to give him a gift, to please him. She gave him gold. Alaska can be gentle and soft and caressing, but she can also mete out swift punishment when men Alaska was surprised, don't follow her creeds. for she saw countless men, weak and unprepared, greedily snatching at the stretched hand. To these gift she held in out- men she refused her gift and dealt withthem ruthlessly. For only the brave, foresighted ones did she open up her

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XE ff 4' -' '.1- J mvfe f shtermls' W5 - .... i: -3:'5if'-i1'- 1r:1f.ff3f-12.211vi'-fi:-:f-' '- ms. 7'3f5f5'f . v T A CENTURY OF PROGRESS Last summer, from May 21 to November 1, a strip of reclaimed land containing 424 acres, stretching along the shore of Lake Michigan, occupied the attention of most of the civilized world. A short while before, this site had been placid lake. Now, upon this strip, a shimmering dream city had risen. To all scientific minded individuals, to all lovers of fine arts and music, to all those interested in different phrases of industry, and to all those in- terested in amusements, this greatest of all Expo- sitions was indeed a veritable paradise. It seems to be the opinion of all that one of the most interesting build-ings was The Hall of Science. This huge structure, ultra modern in design, as were the others, contained a marvelous exhibit of all the basic sciences. Especially strik- ing was the hall when illuminated at night by the neon tubes, a comparatively recent invention, which were used as illumination for the entire Exposition. Another of the most striking structures on the immense Fairground was the Travel and Trans- port Building. Here were assembled the first trains, stagecoaches, covered wagons and other means of transportation of a century ago. In striking contrast were exhibited all the modern conveniences of travel and transportation. Electricity has played an exceedingly important part in the progress of the world during the past century, therefore the great Electrical Building stood out. Here were revealed Cto the watchful throngsj the secrets of countless electrical devices. Besides this, the entire neon tube lighting system of the Fair was in full display to all visitors. The other countries of the world by no means lacked representation. France, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, China and japan, be- sides many others, had very interesting pavilions, temples, gardens, miniature villages and buildings of all descriptions. The Belgian village was par- ticularly quaint. These exhibits were of especial importance to the thousands of visitors in that they were maintained by a delegation of the na- tives of the countries represented. A section of the Exposition was also devoted to History. Here could be found an exact replica of the Marquette cabin and of Chicago's famous Fort Dearborn. Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, too, was reconstructed. All these striking buildings and displays com- bined typify a century of progress. The gigantic enterprise has succeeded in its purpose-to show the world the astounding advancement during the past century. H. G. L., JR. LABOR-UNREST The aspects of the decade, 1830-1840, were marked by the widening of the suffrage, the sub- stitution of elective offices, humanitarian reforms in workhouses, asylums and prisons, the multipli- cation of inventions, the frequency of mass meet- ings, conventions, and the organizations of tem- perance societies. Today, we have obtained these reforms, and many others that were far beyond the imagina- tions. One of our greatest problems is the equit- able distribution of the resulting wealth among all the people of the United States. With a removal of deposits in 1833 and refusal of the state banks to make loans came reduction of wages, and discontent among workingmen everywhere. Four eastern factories had dis-

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I bbAA The Blue E-r White 8 seams and give gold. Alaska made no more friendly advances to her uncle, but withdrew within herself, dreaming alone of a day When men shall not rape my riches, and curse me and go away, for 4: as 11 It wk 4- Of cities leaping to stature, of fame like a flag unfurled, As I pour the tide of my riches in the eager lap of the world. Has not Alaska's dream, as Robert Service has written it, started to come true? Today Alaska can truly be called a white man's country. Today, after many years of darkness, open-minded Americans are seeing light regarding the value of our northern frontier. The Alaskan pioneers are sometimes spoken of as a new type of forty- niners, because they have hopes of becoming the forty-ninth state. ONE HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW Sitting in front of the fireplace one cold, stormy night, I imagined how the world would look to me a hundred years hence. I saw many curious and interesting changes. The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that as I walked through the city of Boston, I could find no theater. Wondering if people had lost interest in the pictures I called at one of the houses to find out. ' A charming Woman admitted me. When I en- tered the living room, I saw the family sitting around in a circle watching moving pictures on a curtain hanging on the wall. They told me that television had made possible many kinds of enter- tainment in one's own home. My hostess invited me to remain for the night. W'hen it came time to go to bed, she showed me to my room, which so far as I could see contained no bed. When she pressed a button the bed came out from the wall all made. I slipped under the covers and went to sleep. In the morning, I heard someone coming up- stairs. At a knock on my door I said, Come inf' I looked up to say Good Morning and there stood two mechanical men, one with water for me and the other with my breakfast which was hot and delicious. After I had eaten, I asked if I might bor- row an automobile. She looked at me and laughed as if I were asking if she had a horse and an- swered, No, I am up-to-date. We have two sets of wings which you fasten on your back so you can fly like a bird. I accepted them. I had fun flying over several states before dinner. I had to Hy high because there were many buildings as high as the Empire State building is now. It did not take long to do the dishes as there was an electric washing machine that washed and wiped them in five minutesg this enabled me to get an early start to do my afternoon shopping. Tak- ing an airplane I flew over to New York City and was back home again before supper was ready. Just as I was about to ask what kind of fruit they had on the table, the clock struck twelve and I woke up with a start and there I was in my armchair. and was I glad that I was living now instead of 2034. A. L., '34. PROGRESS? ? 'P It pleases me to hear Grannie say that she doesn't know what this generation is coming to. Grandmother is now eighty-five and looks back on her younger days and appears to be quite glad that she spent her youth in the nineteenth century instead of the twentieth. just what does Grannie say when she sees her modern granddaughter go to her room to dab a little powder here and there on her face, a little rouge to add that needed color f war paint as she calls itj ? But, ah, let's take a peek into Grannie's room when she was in her teens. Grannie was considered strikingly beautiful in her day. She wore her brown hair in side curls because her friends liked it that way. Her hazel eyes that beamed forth radiantly were shadowed by slender penciled brows and long thick lashes. We catch a glimpse of her sitting in front of her dresser. Clearly, it shows that she, too, believed