Monthly Archives: April 2013

December 3, 1939 (Walter)

Sunday AM

My dear Ina,

Last night Claudelle and I went to the Bishopps for a little get together, expecting the Bishopp office force. It turned out to be a bridge party for Mr. Stage and myself. At least he and I had cherries on our ice cream and the others did not. About 4 tables or 16 people were there. Mr. & Mrs. Hoyt, Mr. & Mrs. Annand, Mr. & Mrs Hyslop, Mr. & Mrs. (Harmed’s assistant), Dr. & Mrs. Robinson. Mrs. Hoyt was very interested in Wayne Hill and she told about how Mrs. Wright enjoyed their dinner with us and what a fine wife and sons I had etc. Mrs. Hoyt smokes cigarettes but otherwise she is a prim and dignified little lady like her mother. Like Hoyt she is also a democratic and diplomatic type. She said that she would like for me to meet the daughter, so I imagine I might get an invitation to eat dinner with them. I think this is a good opportunity to get in a good visit with Hoyt. There are a number of things I want to discuss with him.

December 3, 1939

Strong is in Chicago for a meeting tomorrow.

We have not had the hectic meetings I expected which is due to delayed meetings of state leaders to Jan. 11 & 12th. As a matter of fact the meeting will be for extension directors and Commissioners of Agriculture, primarily, with a suggestion that state leaders should also be present. So far my recommendations to B.M. are going right through regardless of others’ recommendations. Consolidation of cricket & Ghops, with RA as asst project leader. Messenger & Landrum will probably have assignments very similar to the ones they had last year & on the same basis for next year. Dickison to be at Mpls.

Claudelle is thin but not more so than usual. We ate together about three o’clock yesterday afternoon & visited until we went to the Bishopps.

I cannot give you anything definite yet. Will try to travel to the Texas stations between now & Xmas if possible to push along enough to select a house at Menard. I’ve got to make recommendations on the place & maybe we can get more cooperation from some other place. Unless there should be a strong reason for some other place we could not justify changing from Menard. Bishopp is more than courteous etc. Also others in the Bishopp family. Mrs. Bishopp looks bad & he is not as bright eyed as at Dallas.

More later & as soon as I can tell you something more definite.

With love to all three of you

Walter.

Enclosed in the same envelope:

Sunday A.M.
Dec. 4, 1939 [sic]

Dear Walter White,

Yesterday, I met a Mrs. White and two boys. The boys are the sons of Bill White and they are 8 and 12 years of age. They are real boys just like you and Lewis Dunbar. Daddy has known Bill White for about 20 years and likes him very much. Bill is in charge of the division of insects affecting truck crops. Mrs. White is in charge of Bill and the boys and I think she has the hardest job.

Next time I’ll write to Lewis.

Daddy.

December 1, 1939

Another gap. Walter went back home after his previous meeting in Washington, and now he’s returned for negotiations around his new position. For those who haven’t been following since the beginning, “B” and “Bish” refer to Dr. Bishopp, Walter’s former collaborator in screw-worm research, with whom he parted on somewhat chilly terms.

Friday Night

My dear Sweetheart & Boys,

Dr. Wakeland and I arrived as per schedule and I am finding things rather encouraging. Strong is away but he made no doubt about his wishes, though I am not supposed to know yet. This afternoon I called at Dr. B office just to say hello and for a conference later on, which he suggests for about next Thursday. He did say that Mrs. B wanted Mr. Stage and some of the others to have dinner at his home, and perhaps tomorrow night. Stage works on mosquitoes at Portland Oregon & had arrived yesterday. Bish was most cordial but moved about in his chair in an uneasy manner. Bish suggested 46 the minimum of the senior grade but Strong stated that his wishes were that I be kept at the maximum of the grade (which is $5600*). By this I would lose the Prin. grade of $200 which is not so bad. I am sure that B will try to reduce it, but I’m holding out for that much. Although official word has not been given to me I am to review Bish’s entire setup on the work and make recommendations on consolidations & future work. Rather an investigation, with a view to consolidation of all Texas stations and to recommend procedures. It was Strong’s suggestion that I work here temporarily in Cushing’s absence and to review the set up. He stated that the proposal made by Bish was not acceptable (Panama City).

December 2, 1939

Mr. Gaddis has been most helpful and is in a position to help a great deal. Annand and Roehner support the views expressed by Strong and I am quite sure of Hoyt. Claudelle has been helpful and appears to be greatly concerned on the outcome and wonders why I want 2 months leave & what I am going to do with it.

Last night Yeomans was here and I spent the evening with he and Gaddis. Tonight Claudelle and I ate together and visited until almost 10 o’clock. Everyone seems to know that I am to be here temporarily in Cushing’s place & that I am to visit field stations, but Yeomans advises me to stay with B.M. Wakeland is going to visit some larger control offices in the east for ideas. He has been obliged to agree to a consolidation of Mormon Cricket & G hop at Denver and with R.A. as an assistant project leader. The alternative was to let R.A. run crickets as a separate project, which Wakeland cannot agree to do. The matter of Messenger as another Asst has not been decided, but the odds are against it and also against all other general supervisors for such a place. It needs to be someone with fiscal experience. Otherwise, it will mean running the projects from the Wash. office. Schmidt may be Asst in charge of Mormon cricket. He is considered almost a second Quarterman, for which I am proud. Tell Polly that Mr. Townsend will be in charge as this will ease her mind until I can arrange to steal her. Claudelle thinks it impossible for me to get Polly. Kenneth should be able to get away about the 15th of Dec. & it looks like we can close the office there about that time except for a few details. Rainwater & Lugginbill will be there to summarize chinch bug survey but they will not need much help. The meeting will be at Denver on Jan. 11 or 12th & will include Extension directors and Commissioners of Agriculture with less emphasis on state leaders. Regardless of my work here or visits to field stations I am planning to be home Xmas. Claudelle is uncertain but she wants to go to Uvalde & is going to look up rates with a view of going by Chicago & make a side trip to Mpls. She may not know for a few days yet.

With love
Your
Walter.

* That’s $93,534 in today’s dollars, so Walter’s pretty high up on the government pay scale now.

September 17, 1939

Telegram from Dallas, via Postal Telegraph.

1939 SEP 17 AM 400

MRS W E DOVE=
1928 FREEMONT AVE SOUTH MPLS=

CONSOLIDATION DALLAS MENARD SONORA AND UVALDE AT MENARD SUGGEST STRONG AND MEETING BISHOPP HERE JEFFERSON HOTEL SUNDAY. I WOULD PREFER MOVE MENARD WITHOUT GOING WASHINGTON=
WALTER.

September 17, 1939

Translated: Walter is probably going to be put in charge of a consolidated USDA research facility in Menard, TX.

September 14, 1939

It’s been five months since the previous letter, because Walter and Ina were together again at home in Minneapolis. Now he’s traveled to Washington to sort out his future work at the USDA. He’s considering a transfer back to the Division of Insects Affecting Man & Animals (medical and veterinary entomology), but his exact assignment is still unclear.

Sept. 14
10:30 PM

My dear Ina,

Have just returned from the Cushings. Claudelle and I had them for dinner in Silver Springs & were joined by Mrs. Bishopp & Jimmie who were also there for dinner. Cushings took us in their car, and we left Claudelle at her place on the way here. A very pleasant visit & Mrs. B. suggested that she imagined that I wanted to work in the South again. I judged that B. had talked with her about my move to the Man & Animals division. Bish is now on a trip to Texas & will be in Dallas on the 16th & here on the 21 or 22nd. I don’t see how I can wait here until he returns & I don’t believe I can get through here in time to meet him down there. I doubt if that would be necessary.

September 14, 1939

Strong saw me this PM in company with Gaddis & we went over ‘hopper work. He seemed very pleased & took copies to show the Secretary of Agric. He said that he wanted to see me tomorrow morning & would call for me at Gaddis’s office. He seems to be in a good mood but is very thin and with some forced pep in talking. I am to prepare a news article on the program to be ready here next Tuesday for Mr. Milloy of the Minneapolis Tribune.

From talking with Gaddis & Cushing I am led to believe that there is no difficulty in transfer, but BM did ask if I wished to reconsider & stay on hoppers. I told him that that depended upon Dr. Bishopp’s attitude & what the chief’s office had to say. BM is doing all he can for me & I appreciate it. He is willing to pay my salary on ‘hopper rolls until Bish can get money. I have an idea Bish would like for him to do that until July so that he need not drop anyone. Apparently he & Cush have not considered who would be transferred to Gaddis’s division.

Cushing thinks it would be better for me to come to Wash. & seems anxious, as Stage from Oregon was supposed to come & he did not care especially for that. He also mentioned the same possibilities suggested in Claudelle’s letter & said it looked like a question of where I wanted to live if I did not care to come to Wash. Bish did call on Gaddis & say that he would like to have me.

I have an idea that the Chief is going to ask me to pep up the work in that division & see that they produce, regardless of my assignment.

More tomorrow, possibly by wire if unsure or different from what we already know.

Love to the 3 of you
Walter

August 12, 1939 (From Mr. Gaddis)

This is a three-page single-spaced letter that I’m not going to transcribe, but I’ve scanned the first page. The gist of it is that Gaddis and the other top brass at the USDA have been very impressed with Walter’s work on grasshopper control, and that they don’t have a lot of research posts available to move him into at the moment. Gaddis concludes by saying they’ll do what they can, but that Walter is doing such a good job in his management position that he may be stuck with it for another season.

August 12, 1939 (From Mr. Gaddis)

August 9, 1939

Wednesday Afternoon.
Aug. 9, 1939.

Dearest Sweetheart:

You have no idea how happy your letter made me this morning. I shall be eternally grateful to you for taking my last letter as good-naturedly as you did. After I mailed it it began to prey on my mind; I was afraid you might not take it as I intended it. When I received no reply by yesterday afternoon I became desperate. At eight last night I put in a station-to-station call for you at Kenwood 8479, and kept it in until 11:15, but no one answered. You must have already left on your trip. During the few hours that I slept I dreamed and dreamed about you – disturbing dreams. If your letter had not come this morning you would have received a telegram.

August 9, 1939

The letter you enclosed makes me very happy. I think it is well worded, and I hope it brings the desired results. I feel that you will never regret it.

We can hardly wait until next week to see you. We have had a good visit, but are ready to leave because we want to be with you. We are looking forward to the Mississippi trip.

The children were proud of their letters from you. Walter White stayed awake as late as he could last night, hoping to get to talk to you. Finally he gave up, and with specific instructions to me as to what I should tell you for him, he dropped to sleep.

You may not receive this until you reach Uvalde, but I just had to write.

I love you ever so much, Honey.

Always, your
Ina.

August 6, 1939

Sunday night – office

My dear Sweetheart,

A copy of my letter to Mr. Gaddis is enclosed and I want to ask you to keep it confidential. The personal reasons are not listed in the letter but were discussed with him. Strong should be back in Washington soon as he was improving rapidly and they thought he might not be away two months. I do not expect to get a reply before leaving here.

August 6, 1939

Sometime this week I plan to drive to Ames and see Dr. Drake & Decker. Will leave a car there for a surveyor & drive one of the Bishopps’ cars to Dallas, making stops at Lincoln Nebraska and perhaps Manhattan Kansas for conferences with state leaders. I should get to Uvalde sometime about the middle of next week. We could drive from there to Miss. & return. Have you had time for your visits? Are you ready to return?

I think most of your letter can be answered better when I am with you, if you do not go to sleep. Maybe you won’t be so tired then & we can drive & talk.

With lots of love, your
Walter

Enclosures:

Dear Mr. Snickel Fritz,

Expect to see you at Uvalde about the middle of next week, or about the 16th of August. That is if Mother, Lewis and you are ready to go to Mississippi and return to Minneapolis.

The American Legion is meeting here. About half of them did not get to Europe during the war.

With love
Daddy

Dear Lewis,

It is hot in Minneapolis too. Daddy is at the office now but will walk home and go to sleep. All of the airplanes have quit baiting for grasshoppers but some spreaders are working the roadsides yet.

With love,
Daddy.

August 6, 1939 (to Mr. Gaddis)

Minneapolis, Minn.
707 Thorpe Building,
August 6, 1939.

Mr. B.M. Gaddis, In Charge,
Division of Domestic Quarantines,
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine,
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Gaddis,

The work of control of grasshoppers is nearing an end for this season and at the present time the beginning of the survey is determining whether or not there is need for a continuation of the work during 1940. The verbal reports received from the infested area together with the lack of any genuine complaints from any portions of the area suggest that the program of this year is again a very successful one if not the best yet carried on for control of grasshoppers. Naturally, the writer is proud of his part in the accomplishments of the past two seasons and he feels sure that the program is contributing materially to a stronger Bureau and Department.

August 6, 1939 (to Mr. Gaddis)

There has been opportunity for different field supervisors to demonstrate their abilities under fire and many of them have shown their fitnesses for greater responsibilities. The healthy stage of development of the work would seem to permit the Bureau to continue or expand its work by using some of the men from the ranks for key positions.

In view of the present status of the grasshopper control work, and on account of various personal reasons, the writer is anxious to return to research work and asks the Bureau to consider his desire for such employment. He would be pleased to continue at Minneapolis long enough to familiarize his successor with details of the work. If his successor could report in the near future he would have the advantage of reviewing the current summaries on control work as well as the compilations of survey data.

Very truly yours,

W.E. Dove, In Charge,
Grasshopper Control Project.

August 4, 1939

Friday PM.

My dear Ina,

Enjoyed your letter and the one from Lewis. I understand that Walter White was not there at the time you wrote. It seems ages since I left you at Uvalde.

August 4, 1939

Kenneth is in the migratory area and is doing some good work. I’ve just phoned Mrs. Q to let her know that I talked with Kenneth and that he expects to be back Monday Morning. She sends Hello.

Thursday morning Mrs. Pettit had phoned the office so I came to the Curtis where they were eating breakfast. They looked well and were enjoying their vacation. In Iowa they went to Mrs. Pettit’s old home. They still own it. Chinch bugs injured crops some. They went from here to some other point & then to Estes Park Colorado.

Mr. Palcek phoned from Miles City & is going west from there to Yellowstone.

Miss Beckwall has been sick & is at home. Mrs. Hastings tells me that it is serious and that she (Miss B) should have an operation. I do not know the trouble but according to Mrs. H it is the same thing that Miss B had last year at Wash.

I heard Claudelle’s voice this morning but did not talk with her.

After Kenneth returns and during this month I think I can come down for you OK. If we go to Miss. we would not stop long. Dr. Dickinson is back now and can help Kenneth some.

With lots of love,
Walter

Separate letters for Lewis and Walter White:

Dear Lewis,

I was glad when I got your letter. There is a circus in town now and I wish you were here. Maybe another one will come after you return and if so you and I will take Mother and Walter White.

With love
Daddy

Dear Mr. Swimmer,

Today is Aug 4 and it was just 13 years ago today that Frank Adams and Daddy were caught in the flood waters on the Dry Frio. Deep water and flood waters are dangerous and I am glad that you are careful and that you are learning to swim. Will come for you before long and I want you to take good care of Mother and Lewis.

With love
Daddy.

August 3, 1939 (Ina)

Thursday Night.
Aug. 3, 1939.

Dear Walter:

I judge from your letter this afternoon that you are considering taking over for another year not only the grasshopper program, but the cricket also – all under Mr. Gaddis. I’m greatly disappointed. It looks like Dr. Strong’s condition would make you realize more than ever before that overwork doesn’t pay. Before many years he and Mr. Gaddis are going out like a flash, and they will be replaced by newer machinery that soon will be doing their work as well as they did. Furthermore, Dr. Strong and Mr. Gaddis will be remembered by many by their failures rather than by their success before they tried to handle too much.

August 3, 1939 (Ina)

Your family is getting desperately tired of your devoting all your time to your work. It gets worse every year, but you were that way years before you started on grasshoppers. When all else is gone, you will need your family. Now, I appreciate the fact that you have given us a name that we are proud of; you have provided us with comforts and luxuries that the average family does not have, and you have never complained of any money that I have spent; you have arranged to have some member of my family with us most of the time so that I would not get lonesome – all this I appreciate deeply – but we want you. You have provided everything anyone could reasonably expect except a father for your two fine sons, and a man to make love to your wife. Had it occurred to you that a woman likes the companionship and attention of a man? That feeling is not killed in her, even though she is married; she naturally expects her husband to take the place of her former admirers. I often think of what Mazie told me years ago: “Miss Dove, it sho is lucky for yo husband that you is a good woman with him away from you so much.” I sometimes wonder if you would bother to notice now if I were to let down the bars a little.

You probably will account for this letter by saying that I wasn’t feeling well tonight, but you will just be fooling yourself. These are things I have been wanting to say for a long time, but every time I have started you have gotten impatient because you don’t like to be told, then I started crying and left it unsaid. But make no mistake about it, I feel it just the same.

I do know that you can do creditable work and still take time for other things – it has been done.

Ina.