Evansville Press from Evansville, Indiana • 8

I editor's notebook opinion The Brauers and Reinhardts: Our roots The Evansville Press A Scripps-Howard Newspaper William Burleigh editor 201 NW Second Street 47703 Telephone 424-7711 Givi) ijhf and the people will find their own way Saturday March 26 1977 Thus began the story of the Reinhardt clan progressive entrepreneurs who hauled their prod-nets to the First Avenue Market although they resented the pressures on them to conform by English in Gradually however the melting pot did its work The Aweanvunte survive the First World War and by IMS the Reinhardt children were pursuing their own futaree at Raitx High School and Evansville Coltago- It is widely held that of all Immigrant groups Germane were assimilated into American life most rapidly But this book disagrees it says did not or -Instead their responses to American life reflected a process of cultural retention and gradual it 4V Califano's cook By WIlllamR Burleigh When the Napoleonic wan forcedatidal wave of German Immigrants to seek new lives in America phiintijihar Johann Gottlieb Fichte observed nothing eise our beet traditions might outlive ns on fresh Herr Fichte was of coarse a prophet and no more tailing proofthau in tbo Evansville of the New World For in piaceo each as these the Germanic seeds took root and more than a century later continue to leave enmisUkabie imprint Since seeking and finding note is so much in vogne these daysa look at this area's German heritage seems In order And a group of historians has given ns Just that in the form of a new book Generations In Twentieth Century which should mako the best-seller lists on Evansville's West Side if no placa also The book crisscrosses the country for a mix of real people with real family histories whose storieo flesh out the saga of 20th Century America For its raw material it goes to an upper Oust Boston suburb a Pennsylvania steel town a sharecropper community in Texas and to Evansville's West Side Out in the Ohio River bottomlands It finds the sturdy German stock of the Reinhardt and Brener 1 families (only the names have been changed) and traces what happens to them through threequar- ters of a century of family community and national life Some Howell railroaders are thrown in for good place of this town and her people been put in better perspective in the larger American mosaic And with good reason toa One of the authors Theodore A Wilson grew up on the West Side before he headed west to teoch history at the University of Kansas First came Henry Braner fourth son in a large Lutheran familv near Stuttgart Germany who decided at age IS to seek Us economic independence i on a farm in southern Indiana Ini M2 he hired out to a Perry Township tanner and eventually married the daughter Enterprising people those Germans' Frugal too The newlyweds saved their money and found some fertile bottomland of their own Their daughter Mathilda walked two miles to White School and greeted her teacher in the familiar Mffdtarfacfc Although attendance at 8t Paul's Chnrch ou the West Side brought the Brauers into Evansville and into the mainstream of American society twice a week they rarely ventured to Main Street German enclave stretching along Franklin Street whore familiar customs and dialects abounded seemed more relaxing and the book reminds us iieiiiHiie made one brief brook with her own agricultural roots by moving to town and landing a Job at Fendrich Cigar Company ini 90S shortly after her 18th birthday tar $2 per 80-hour week But the 2 was quickly consumed by room and board so she returned to the farm marrying the son of another West Side German Immigrant farmer five years later 1 A case can be made to defend the principle that persons who hold high positions involving long hours and grave responsibilities deserve some perquisites to ease the aggravations of office the military services this comet under the jime-bonored philosophy of RHIP rank has Its privileges Similar perquisites have become accepted in the civilian branch of government However a bit thick in the contest of President widely heralded no-frills administration that Joseph A Califano Jr Nevertheless today a third-generation Reinhardt farms the family's MO acres in Union and Perry Townships awaiting the day when Ms fourth-generation son earns his degree in agricultural economics from Purdue and returns to partnership with Ms father Hera with bold strokes is painted an engrossing picture of how dominant culture was formed and how it touches most of our lives even today The Brauers and the Reinhardts in a very real way take their place alongside the of Kunta Klnte Williom Burleigh is editor of The Evansville Press i secretary of health education and welfare (HEW) has seen fit to hire a personal cook at expense Not to mention a bodyguard The cook who recently retired from the Marine Corps wiU be paid $12763 a year Although called personal assistant to the secretary his work is purely and simply to see that Mr Califano gets fed in his private dining room HEW has a cafetria as do most federal buildings in Washington In order to fulfill the President's dictum to keep in touch with ordinary people Mr Califano could do Just that by using the cafeteria (h he could send a messenger federal offices teem with them to bring him lunch on a tray Patricia Harris secretary of housing and urban development has tuned her private dining room in a conference room and eats in the HUD cafeteria As for Mr Califano's bodyguard well a more expensive luxury than the cook Hell be paid $43823 a year a retired Secret Service man whose federal pension is about $18000 Thus one of the best-paid people in government HEW says the bodyguard is really a chief administrative' officer But when you cut through the government verbiage he is conceded to have duties And with his two incomes a which the President is on record as opposing Altogether the cook and the bodyguard drat fit the picture of an administration that cuts back on limousines and whose President carries his own luggage Mr Califano ought to 'wise up real fast Seldom have Evansville's roots been examined with more fascinating attention and seldom has the reader's point of view 1-164 spur is a vital project Joseph Califano parties dances bingos and running around with each other's wives and husbands! What kind of examples are these tar their children? No wonder tee court must stop in and tell these adults to grow up and accept their responsibilities as parents But the court is going to have to follow through with their decisions and make them stick because if they relax it will Just be right back where it was to start 1 with Money is a sore spot for most people but I think it is the best idee heard in a long time to make the parents of these children pay the bills instead of the taxpayers Another side to this situation is that good kids with good parents are thrown into a society of i I'm afraid America is passing sentence and Judgment on herself if a lot of us start standing up and being counted for what is right and wrong JANET ELAINE GARRIS Evansville value tar the land they surrender and then get on quickly with unified and vigorous support of this vital project DR RAY ARENSMAN Professor of Economics University of Evansville A parent's responsibility TiSwiSMralThaPrMis Commenting on the article in The Press March 10 "Juvenile court Judge getting On some points I say But why so late? like shutting the barn door after the horse is out I have children so Pm not commenting as an outsider My Daddy raised us kids to know that when he said something or told us something he meant Just that the parent's responsibility to raise their children not the courts but again today's parent i have a different view of this They are still children themselves' amusing themselves at taverns Powell's phony math On sSMr Ths Ma Became I have long been an enthmtastie supporter of many Farm Burau policies at the national level Tm sad that I must disagree with the local Farm Bunon over ito opposition to the comtrnctioa ofl-lMapuri Both agriculture and industry depend heavily on truck shipments for economical movement of resources raw materials capital goods and finished commodities Local agriculture like local industry must be plugged securely Into the Inter-' state Highway System to survive and prosper Even without bad winters our present narrow dangerous and Inadequate county roads will not suffice "The systematic economic development of Greater Evansville and its larger Mnterland will be greatly enhanced by the completion of two 1-164 spurn to completely encircle Vanderburgh County with a modern four-lane belt system Careful zoning and Intelligent planning can develop this corona into a diadem of profitable non-pollutive diversified industry hopefully including new and expanded facilities of the Farm Bureau Let's be sura that the displaced farmers get full the responsibility of public relations man to put the best possible face on a story But It should be credible Otherwise it does mote harm than good These rules apply to presidential press secretaries too Perhaps especially to them Thus Jody performance at the White House the other day was an especially Shabby one I A press release Informed the public that the White House had saved taxpayers $166500 a year in staff salaries However when the figures were added up it tuned out that staff salaries had beenboosted by $400000 In other words for Instance nine presidential assistants Inchffllifg Mr Powell were boosted from $44600 to $56600 instead of to the authorized maximum level of $57500 And so on down the line Tills kind of phony arithmetic fools no one Not even a White House correspondent And certainly not the taxpayers Washington calling Don't spend that $50 rebate yet A weekly size up by the Washington staff of the Scripps-Howard Newspapers tag lawmakers with $400 walkaround to summon them to Hone floor for votes alert them to call their offices for two-channel pager system would cost $20000 to tastalL Hone members would use their allowances to either buy or lease the receivers they'll be able to get out of bed or wherever they are and come sneers Rep Robert Bauman R-Md who thinks whole a waste of taxpayers money WASHINGTON President proposal to shower nation with $59-a-person tax rebates la in trouble in Senate 1 Only all-out 'administration lobfcving can save rebate idea centerpiece of President's economic etiihulation package Administration argues that rebates are quickest way to pump money into 8ome Senate Democrats go along with the idea only because it is But Republicans oppose it abhpst to a man link up with dissident Democrats led Iky Sen Dale Bumpers of Arkansas in determined effort to kill plan on grounds It is wasteful foolish way to pep up private spending Full rebates would go only to households with incomes of $25000 or las would be phased down above 125000 and disappear altogether for familia making M000 or more NOTE: Rebate's best chance is that no agreement on a better idea Republicans favor permanent tax cut instead of one-shot rebate 8ome Democrats want more direct Jobs spending Federal Energy Administration will soon issue report forecasting that half the homa built in 1990 will be hated at least partially by solar energy Oh word for forthcoming antl-lnfla- tion program: Eyewash President will pledge to hold down government spending announce fuzzy "guiding on wage-price boosts expand Council on Wage and Price Stability to keep closer tabs on inflation revive labor-management committee to yak about waga and prices: White House will promise to consider Impact" on all decisions A lot of talk but do specific call on management and labor to notify White House ahead of time on wage-price decisions certainly nothing about wage-price controls Beep beep House leaders mull idea of provid- Feed aad Drug iimtaistrutau finally acts after six years of complaints about bubble-bath solution causing eye skin kidney bladder genital urinary tract problems FDA's answer Proposal that bubble-bath makers advtae customers to keep product out of reach of children com snapped on exasperated FDA underling: show safe or ban tri-state calling Newburgh eyes growth bob flvnn The Evansville Press staffs weekly report on what to expect in the near future Strange bedfellows Ranking Democrats on House Education and Labor Committee summon HEW Secretary Joseph A Califano Jr to private meeting on Capitol Hill tell Mm to stop tinkering with their pet programs student loans and granta federal aid to communities where federal workers live Carter budget trimmed these programs and some others but panel chairman Carl Perkins of Kentuckyy Reps Frank Thompeoo of New Jersey John Brademas of Indiana William Ford of Michigan told Califano that Congress would restore cuts NOTE: Califano ta hot water for putting an ex-LBJ bodyguard on HEW payroll discovers HEW poet is more than tha Johnson WMto House Job he had a decade ago A oil and gas use soars so does UA dependency on foreign oil Federal Energy Administration reports UA demand for petroleum products averaged 19 million barrels a day during four-week period ending March 11 65 per cent above preoil embargo level of 1972 Imports for four-week period aver-' aged 97 million barrels a day up 48 per cent from last level Experts uys spurt was due to A companies rushing to replenish supplies depleted because of harsh winter weather Politics and peUtidaaK panicked I was a Ben Edmund A Muskie D-Maine blurted ou the Senate floor when asked why he oppose earlier Senate-voted limits on fore lawmakers may earn on lecture circuit But tbo hot-tempered Muskie later exercised Ms rights doctored Ms remarks ta Congressional Record so they appear "I Told (by his granddaughter) that the House had Just defeated organized labor's prize common site picketing bill AFL-CIO President George lleany brooded ta silence for several moments then mused: Ford had ben elected we'd have won that Ex-President Ford ta 1975 hocked a similar bill then vetoed It because of political pressures from rightwtag potential backers of Ronald Reagan Fingers crossed UA Agriculture Department experts predict that without another Brazilian freeze coffee prices may start declining by end Per capita coffee drinking continue steady decline down 49 per cent since World War period before each election is weeding out the names so that the same ones don't appear more than once ta the official rolli And If the people on side' A have children old enough to be in college they could also learn how easy it is to obtain By the time they reach most of time cMIdren have at least one card that identifies them as 21 or over But the people od side A shouldn't stop there They should try to find out what the citizen groups were active ta during the early 1920's i nose people were also interested in improving the election process They thought it was not only important that people but It was even more important that each person voted only once They were against side ta that era It took time and several acta of election corruption were exposed ta that process In the end however their effort Jed to the establishment of voter registration and left a 20-day period before election for the checking of Doa't write off the possibility of annexation to Newburgh yet Reporter Jim Szymanski says that despite action by the Newburgh Town Board earlier this month against following through on an ordinance for? annexation discussions are still going on between the hoard and the Ohio Township Home- owners Association -The association represents most of the 2100 peiyoH in the Green Springs Valley Broadview and Forest Park subdivisions which are being eyed in par) for the annexation Another traffic light for UA 41 may be recommended says reporter Tim Graham The city is called Stop Light City by CBers especially by truckers who travel through the city on I) A 41 because of the many traffic signals on the rouje press Regional Airport officials want a traffic signal at the airport exit to make it easier for person leaving the airport Traffic planners uy they may recommend a signal that operates only when flights are arriving at the airport More motel constrnctloa may be underway In the near future for downtown Evansville Reporter John Jtenn says that as construction nears an end on the new Executive Inn being built in Owensboro the inn's owner and contractor Robert Green is talking about adding more rooms to the Evansville inn The talk is about adding rooms to the Sixth Street side of the motel fhei also is talk about some expansion of the Exutlve Inn facilities at Vincennes adding rooms and providing facilities for seminars and email conventions Jtadest fees atlndiana State University Evansville will go np about $2 per credit next tall says reporter Eitaa Fob Shat will mean an increase of about $62 a year for students carrying a tall load of classes The state legislature hasn't finished work on the budget for the next two years but indication are that money in the budget will have to he supplemented by hikes in fees The subscription method of collecting political funds is spreading through Southern Indiana says politics reporter Robert Flynn Republicans in Vanderburgh County started the system a few years ago to replace the per cent The new Democratic county chairman Larry West began about two weeks ago to set up a similar system for his party Now word comes that Warrick County Democrats have been Inquiring about the mechanics of the plan More staff changes in local television news departments may develop soon The most recent move was Jim Celanla who left the sports news at Channel 7 for a Job with a Louisville station But there are reports that publications within the industry bare been canying advertisements from station in this area for anchormen for newscasta On the radio scene there are reports that one of the local stations may be up for sale if the advertising revenue doesn't improve soon The reports are strong enough that some dim Jockeys are looking for other Jobs A is underway to place all fire department employes even tha civilian dispatchers and aecretaries under the fire department pension program Members of the fire pension board are the ones pushing for the change Watch closely in the next several months and you may see one of those odd political combinations which the cliche artists Insist ou calling bedfellows" Its formation depends on how serious a push is made for President Jimmy proposal to eliminate voter registration Voters would then have to present simple identification on election day and be registered then In the forefront of that effort will be one side of the the people who seem to believe that minority groups voting because tha registration process is too difficult for them Let's call it side A Most of those people be aware of the other halfof the sideBlt will be made up of ward-level politicians whose Job it will be to deliver as many votea as possible for whichever party organization hoi hired them If side A does Its work well side can do ss well it used back before the voter registration system was Installed ta the The people on side could inform their unwitting partners on side A that the minority groups have had the voter registration explained to them several times already That's why there are more registered voters per Mock ta the inner-city than ta any other part of Vanderburgh County The teams of door-to-door registrars have signed them np time and time again One of the functions lathe voter registration off ice during that The system has changed from time to time and now allows a time ta which people can be registered ta their own homes it really too difficult? i Well let's see My wife and I have been regia- I tered at our present address for nearly 27 years and haven't been required to do anything but vote We find that too difficult Robert Flynn is politics reporter for The Evansville Press A.