The Silsbee Bee (Silsbee, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 17, 1936 Page: 1 of 8
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I
VOLUME 18, NUMBER 48
SILSBEE, TEXAS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17,
1936
$1.50 A YEAR
MICKIE SAYS—
c
H
our
for
-------o------—
SEVERAL NEW BUSINESS
HOUSES ERECTED
Brooks No. 3
Comes in Monday
As Big Producer
Road Engineer to Be
Employed in Near Future
Big Thicket
Project Looks
Favorable
T. J. Deskins, an independent oil
promoter and operator, has been in
Local Firms Io Pay
Bonuses for Christmas
Post Office
J| Business Exceeds
Boom Years
---------o---------
FALSE PETITION CIRCULATED
--:-—O—---
THREE “E’s” OF HIGHWAYS
---------o--
MASONS TO MEET TONIGHT
■-------------o--------------
SANTA CLAUS GOES MODERN;
to
VOICE OE SATSUMA VALLE V
i >
You are invited to eat your Chris-
mas dinner with Mrs. Norrid at the
City Hotel. There will be a special
Christmas menu including' turkey and
all the trimmings. Reasonable rates
and home-like surroundings.
Up on North Fifth Street towards
Mill town there are several new
buildings recently completed. One of
these is a service station which will
be put into operation soon, and one
of the buildings a new store owned
and operated by Mrs. J. R. Tanton.
These new places of business fill up
a bare spot in the Silsbee landscape,
and are on the direct road to the new
oil developments. A number of lots
in that section have changed hands
lecently, and other new structures
will probably be built there in the
near future.
According to J. C. Jeffrey a persop
giving the name of Ed Jones is cir-.
culating a petition w?th Mr. Jeffrey’s
name falsely signed thereto, The peti-
tion requests gjd from the citizens of
the town, the man saying that his
house recently burned down destroy-
ing all his possessions. Each time he
is questioned he gives a different
location for the supposed fire. Mr.
Jeffrey had nothing to do with the
said petition, and advises people ap-
proached by this man to refuse him
aid.
According to Postmaster W. J.
‘Lieutenant” Davis, the business in
the local postoffice has increased
wonderfully the past year. Shipments
of parcel post are larger than ever
REGISTRATION OF NEW*
AUTOMOBILES, INCREASE
Austin, 'Texas, Dec, 16,—Registra-
tions of new automobiles in fifteen
representative counties during' No-
vember totaled 6,284 cars, 52.3 per
cent over October and 11.1 per cent
over November, 1935, the University
of Texas Bureau of Business Re-
search has reported. Aggregate reg-
istrations during the eleven months
of this year were 62,673 cars, against
54,630 cars during the corresponding
period last year, an increase of 14.7
per cent.
In comparison with the preceding
month, sales in the two lower price
brackets made the sharpest gains,
but in comparison with November
and the year to date last year this
year’s sales gains were considerably
greater in the upper than in the low-
er price brackets, the Bureau’s re-
port said,
A number of local business houses I
have announced their intentions of I
paying substantial bonuses to their
employees this year. A complete list
of those firms paying such bonus | «•
could not be obtained, but foremost
among them were Britton-Cravens
Lumber Co. and the Silsbee State
Bank. There are others who will pay I before, and the first class mail is
i bonus, but were not ready to an- I rr-ore than twice as heavy as in form-
nounce the fact this week, but the I er years- Figures on the actual vol-
editor was assured that the employees ume of business were not available
would share in the good business that I today, but it is thought to be more
has come the past year. I than sufficient to assure Silsbee of
I a second class post office after this
I year.
I The local postoffice was relegated
from second to third class in 1933 and
has held that status ever since. In
I order to maintain a second class
I rating the stamp sales must be more
I than $8,000 per year, and that figure
I has already been passed for this year.
This Christmas rush this year will
I assume proportions never before at-
tained, if advance business is any
indication, according to Mr. Davis.
I Although no allotment has been made
for substitute help during the Christ-
I mas rush, it may be necessary for
Mr. Davis to put on extra help.
It has been said that the postoffice
is the barometer of business in any
town. If this is so, Silsbee is definite-
I ly ahead of any former years, and
| is still going forward rapidly.
Besides the postmaster, the person-
nel of the local post ofi.ee includes
C. B. Ward, a veteran of nearly four-
teen years service as a. clerk, and Mrs.
L. L. Barclay. Their handling of the
unusual load of mail is efficient and
praisworthy, They ask that the pub-
lic help facilitate the handling of
the holiday mail by mailing early
and addressing plaintly all matter for
transportation through the mails.
--------o---------
CHRISTMAS BASKETS
TO BE ISSUED^
I The Methodist Sunday School will
I issue baskets to the needy this year
I and committees are already at work.
The committee in charge is Mrs. EL
C. Betts, Mrs. Ed McKee and Mrs. A.
W. Overland. Mrs. J. J. Richardson’s
class will furnish cakes, Mrs. J. W.
I Read’s class will furnish the hens,
Mrs. C. F. Osborne’s class and that
of Mrs. Lonnie Colvin are giving the
potatoes. Sugar will be given by Miss
I Miriam Smith’s class with Miss Fran-
ces Lee Pope in charge. Lonnie Col-
vin s class will give bread, and Perry
Britton is chairman of that commit-
tee. The classes of Mrs. C. E. Landolt
and Miss Pearl Marie Landua will
furnish the jelly and cranberriaes.
All members are asked to do their
part by cooperating with these chair-
men to make this a successful pro-
ject.
--—---o---——_
CHEATHAM BUYS BRUNER
INTEREST IN FILLING STATION
E, D. Cheatham, who until Novem-
ber 1st was associated with T. E. Bru-
ner in the Cheatham and Bruner Ser-
vice Station, has announced that he
has purchased all of Bruner’s inter-
est in the station and henceforth it
will be called Cheatham’s Service
Station. This is one of the neatest and
newest service stations in Silsbee, and
is located just south of the High
School campus. Mr. Cheatham has
been in the service station business in
Silsbee for a number of years, and
is well known to most motorists. He
invites you down to his new place
for a visit at any time,
--•——o—--—
THE DAY OF LITTLE BUSINESS
It is often argued that the develop-
ment of large business—especially in
i etail fields—has tended' to destroy
little businesses and to make, it next
to impossible for a man without vast
capital to set up his own establish-
ment.
This argument has a strong appeal
—but apparent facts contradict it.
During the depression, thousands
of little-businesses sprung up in thi s
country—largely because of the dif-
ficulties of individuals in finding
employment. These little businesses
offered specialized services or lower
prices, or were the outgrowth of a
new idea of some kind. Many of them
found a ready welcome, and have
prospered. With the return of better
times, they are going ahead—and in
due course a percentage of them will
become big businesses.
Some of these little businesses fail-
ed—because they provided poor ser-
vice, or did not fijl a definite need.
But many large business has failed
for th© same reasons.
One has only to look around any
growing community today and see a
legion of opportunities in retail lines
for young men and women who are
willing to work, and realize that
riches can’t be earned overnight.
Even as changing times made nec-
essary big business combinations to
serve the public, so the evolutionary
process has created a hundred oppor-
tunities for small retail businesses
where one existed a generation ago.
The day of little business isn’t done
—it is just beginning.
--o—■---------
CHRISTMAS DINNER
< SILSBEE SLUGS
< --
Sunday evening at seven o’clock,
a special Christmas program will be
presented at the Methodist Church,
with Mrs. Van Morgan and Miss Mir-
iam Smith in charge of the music,
"When Christmas Really Comes/’
with the following members taking
the part of the characters*' Mrs. Mar-
garet Colvin, Miss Essie Mae Peavy,
Wanda Morgan, June Taylor, Jimmie
Bluitt Miller, Helen Donaldson, Pete
Landolt,, Martha Ann Lincoln, Rob-
Mae Bridges, Yvonne Wilson,’Harold
]\/TnvcraTl KS’iirzrt xx 4-4- T •
aldson, Allen Geisendorff, Bernice
ice Taylor. The directors of the play Silsbee will
will be Mrs. Van E. Morgan, Miss
Miriam Smith and Miss Pearl Marie
Landua.
There will be a vested choir to sing
during the whole services. Everyone
is cordially invited to attend this
special service.
The Primary Department of the
Methodist Church will have their
Christmas tree at 3:0Q o’clock Wed-
, nesday, December 23, in the primary
class room, Mrs, Q. W. Taylor, sup-
erintendent of the primary depart-
ment, is in charge and will be as-
sisted by the teachers of that depart-
ment.
market plage, "'a
Were ya qouad euy '
ON TN' STREETS'
NOW /TiE /M OUR
PAPER., /N IN' WAKtT
AO QOLUMN J
At last someone has come to
rescue and suggested a slogan
the Bee that beats the old one under
our name plate. Hon. Alf Roark,
member of the House of Representa-
tives and one of Silsbee’s eminent
barristers gets credit for the sug-
gestion. He says we ought to say
“Read the Bee or Grow Up in Ig-
norance.” Well, it might be a good
slogan at that.
And speaking of Alf, we were
honored by a visit from him the other
night, and he was accompanied by
a very beautiful and charming lady.
We were glad to have them call, and
hope that they come back again often.
Boy, did you ever see the Chirst-
mas spirit running so rampant as it
is in Silsbee now? Never before in
the history of the town have so many
business houses gone out of their way
to decorate with Yule decorations and
to make their places attractive. Drug
stores, groocery stores, restaurants,
filling stations, news stands, garages,
banks, and nearly every other place
in town has beautiful decorations up.
It all reflects the optimism and hap-
piness that this Christmas season is
full of,
The editor went south this week
and visited old Joe Busby and his
sons at their garage and woodwork-
ing establishment. This is one of the
most fascinating places of business
we have found yet. They do automo-
bile work, wood work, build furni-
ture, trailers, doll beds, and make
cement culverts. You ought to go
down there and watch that bunch
turn out some of their work some-
time.
This column is being written as
fast as our fingers can hit a key this
week in an effort to stay up with
that Blue Streak Linotype with Bill
Jackson at the control lever. In spite
of everything we can do he is stay-
ing ahead of us, and before we reach
the bottom of the column he will be
two columns over writing about the
new Brooks No. 3 oil well.
And speaking of the Brooks No. 3—
from all accounts that is some well.
It is reported flowing 150 barrels a
day through a tiny quarter inch hole.
What would it flow if it were opened
up to four or five inches? And other
locations are being made on the field.
Hundreds of men are finding em-
ployment because of the oil develop-
ments here, and it begins to look as if
this is only the beginning. An in-
dependent operator is working on a
proposition that bids fair to start
nearly a dozen rigs going here with-
ing‘ a- few months. What we need is
pjre good independent well, and then
ihgrp wpuid really be some action.
Next week is Christmas week, and
the Bee is preparing one of the larg-
est issues ever to come off the local
press. It will contain greetings from
practically every business house in
town, and will be full of Christmas
news and features. As near as we
can guess now it will contain about
sixteen or twenty pages, and will be
covered with a pretty red and green
Christmas border front and back
page. Watch for this special issue, and
see if your favorite merchant has
greeted you in it.
According to best information we
can get there will be several local
concerns paying bonuses to their em-
ployees this year. We have thought
hbout putting the proposition up to
pur board of directors, but it is hard
to get five thousand readers together
at one time. All the bonus the Bee
family expects is the continued good
will and patronage from the people
of this vicinity.
So here we are at the bottom of
the column, and we’ll just stop off
abruptly with a “Christmas Gift.”
---------o----------
Mrs. W. H. McCurley and daughter,
Mrs. Geneva Morgan of Beaumont
spent last Sunday here' with Mrs.
A,' 8- Norrid, '
Once upon a time it was the cus-
tom to give fancy furbelows and
fripperies for Chirstmas gifts. But
in this realistic age gift-giving has
become a practical affair, which de-
tracts not one whit from the spirit of
Christmas. If anything it adds more
meaning to it, for the practical gift,
is something we can use the year
’round and its very usefulness ex-
presses the thoughfulness of the giv-
er; a thoughtfulness that manifests
itself in something that lifts the daily
routine out of the commonplace.
Homemakers, particularly, appreciate.
;such giving. At this time when “mod-
■ernize the kitchen” seems to be the
hue and cry heard on every side it
; would be a wise idea for gift-givers
who want to please mothers and’
; wives to focus their attention in that
direction. And wise wives and moth-
iers will plant ideas into the hqads of
: husbands and grown-up children. The
i kitchen to a real homemaker is hard;
■ to overestimate. New streamlined
, furnishings, bright curtains and
cheery walls, with plenty of cup-
board space for utensils and groceries-
: delight the heart of the- homemaker.,
:For all these things make a woman’s
(workshop a “Thing of beauty and-
i joy forever!”
i There’s a lot a modern icq refri;-.
igerator will, add to that joy! This lat-
jest development in refrigeration is
:a gift which brings with it a lifetime
of satisfaction . . . one whose stream-
lined beauty adds distinction to any
kitchen, and whose silent presence
stands as a safeguard to your fam-
ily’s health.
As every homemaker should knpw^
cold alone is not enough in the re-
feration of foods! foods to be kept
fresh, nutritious and tasty mhst be
protected from absorbing odors; they
must be prevented from rapid drying
out. The air-conditioning chamber of
the modern ice refrigerator maintains
a constant circulation of air which
is not only cold but also properly
moist and washed clean of food odors.
Vegetables stay garden fresh, and left
overs such as pastry dough, cooked
foods and desserts need not even be
covered to retain their orginal mois-
ture and flavor. A real boon to the
modern homemaker and a grand
Christmas gift!
■---------o-------—
SHOE SHOP TO MOVE SOON
According to Louis Schall, proprie-
tor of the local Shoe Shop, he will
move his shoe repair plant from
its present location to the building
( occupied by the post office. The new
- --- ---- — place is being put in shape at this
brothers are cordially invited. The j time^ and will be completed very
The Brooks No. 3, which has had
the eyes of the oil world focused on
the new Republic-Houston Oil Co.
field north of Silsbee for the past
month of six weeks, came in Monday
oroducing oil in large quantities. The
actual production, according to the
best information available, was from
100 to 150 barrels a day through a
quarter inch choke. Estimated full
production has been estimated up to
ten thousand barrels per day.
The oil is flowing from the well
and being stored in storage tanks
which were already erected near the
well. The gas flare was lighted Sat-
urday, and is burning brightly over
the field. A pipe line will probably
be constructed at once to connect
the new field with the Atlantic Pipe
Line which runs within two miles
of the field.
This well was drilled and brought
m by the Vaugh Drilling Company,
i contract company from Oklahoma.
They had been on the job just a lit-
tle more than a month when the well
came in. A new location has already
been made for this drilling company,
md they will probably be ready to
dart operations on the new site the
latter part of this week, The derrick
was up Tuesday, and work of mov-
ing the drilling machinery was in
progress that day.
Another location has already been
laid out at the field, and the steel
for the derrick is on the ground, al-
though construction has not yet be-
gun. It is thought that this work will
begin as soon as the Republic crew
finishes with Brooks No. 2. The No.
2 well was reported to be coring
Wednesday, and an attempt will
probably be made to bring it in this
week. It is the well that was origin-
ally the means of putting out the fire
in the Brooks No. 1.
There is a great deal of activity at
the oilfield, with a hundred or more
men working in the vicinity. The
roads to the field are in excellent
shape, and are standing up well under
the unusual amount of traffic up that
way. Hundreds of people travel to
the field every day to look at the
development, and gaze into the gap-
ing hole that is the crater of the
Brooks No. 1.
uceil 111
Silsbee for the past few weeks look-
ing over the oil situation, and secur-
ing leases on independent property.
According to Mr. Deskins, he has
completed all arrangements for the
drilling of an oil well on a 5% acre
tract north of Silsbee in the vicinity
of the new oilfield, and will begin
operation by February 1. The tract
of land belongs to S. L. Collier, and
is surranded by leases of the larger
oil companies.
Mr. Deskins was in Houston yes-
terday arranging for a derrick for
this project, and his machinery for
drilling will be shipped to Silsbee
frqm Oklahoma. He hopes that this
will be the beginning of many such
wells and he is working on a num-
ber of other leases at this time in
the south part of Silsbee. He believes
that the oilfield extends south, and I
in all probability, he will drill one
or more wells in that section at a
later date.
According to Deskins, the drilling
will mean the increased activity on I
According to R. E. Jackson, pro-
moter of the Big Thicket National
Game Preserve project, things are
shaping up nicely for such a pro-
gram. Mr. Jackson is in daily com-
munication with men of authority
who are also interested in seeing
this virgin piece of country saved for
the future generations. It is natural
sanctuary of wild life, and contains
specimens of plant and animal life
found nowhere else in the whole
United States.
Scientists who have spent days in
the big thicket with Mr. Jackson are
now preparing a list of the flora and
fauna found in that vast forest, and
according to letters received by him
recently, the list of plant life is the
largest ever listed anywhere in Tex-
as. These scientific documents are
being prepared by eminent scientific
men, and will soon be completed and
distributed in book form,
Mr, Jackson himself has eighteen
thousand acres of land in the Thicket
under lease, and is head of the Hardin
County Cooperative Pasture & Game
Preserve, Every year he leads a hunt-
ing and camping party to their camp
there, and they spend several days
exploring the depths of the wilder-
neS\
There are parts of the Big Thicket
that are still unexplored, and among
the animals that make this their
home are bear, deer, wilcat, cougar
or panther, and many others. Mr.
Jackson hopes to influence the gov-
ernment to take over about forty
thousand acres of this territory and
protect the wild life therein so that
these specimens of animal life will
not become extinct.
---------o--------
METHODIST CHRIST-
MAS PROGRAM
“Engineering, Education, Enforce-
ment.”
The three “E’s” were advanced by
Gibb Gilchrist, Texas Highway En-
gineer, as the best yet devised for
improving the accident record on the
nation’s highways in his address as
the retiring president of the Amer-
ican Association of State Highway
Officials at Sap Francisco.
“We arg too prone to say that ac-
cidents are ‘unavoidable’ ”, Mr. Gil-
christ said. “We are too ready to
bury the victim and sympathize with
the cause. The highway accident rec-
ord can, and must be reduced. The
road designer should remember that
the finished product should be of
such quality that the sane, sober and
alert driver could travel any high-
way with reasonable safety, barring
defects in his own equipment. The
designer should remember that men-
tal hazards are, in face, real.
“Speed is with us to stay. It is ab- , -. . - ----------
solutely assential that steps be taken ia?Peal of a beautiful well-equipped
to remove the hazards for the sane, + 1 ’
sensible driver and to educate, con-
trol_ or punish the others.”
Mr. Gilchrist criticized encroach-
ment of haphazard outdoor advertis-
ing adjacent to the. highway right- of-
way. He recommended that uniform
plans be adopted by the states to con-
trol outdoor advertising to keep it
from marring the natural beauty of
the scenery adjacent to the high-
ways.
“Outdoor advertising may be put
in two classes, one being where a
sincere attempt has been made to
improve the sightliness of the signs;
the ocher where small boards or metal
signs are tacked indiscriminately to
fences, barns and trees with no at-
tempt at symmetry. Outdoor adver-
tising can be done in a manner that
would improve the roadsides but,
as far as I know, it has never been
attempted.”
According to information received
Wednesday, an engineer will be en-
gaged at once to work out a system
of roads for Road District No. 3, with
a view to voting sufficient bonds
next year to build the needed roads.
Commissioners Payne and Overstreet
are working together on the projects,
and have an audience with the en-
gineer today in Kountze to listen to
his proposition.
The sentiment for a system of
paved roads in Hardin County is
growing from week to week, and
these commissioners believe that the
best way to get them is to vote bonds
and build them. The engineer will
survey all proposed roads and esti-
mate their cost and report to the
commissioners. As soon as this pre-
liminary work is completed, a map,
showing the proposed roads and their
cost, will be published in this paper
so that everyone may be familiar
with what is going to be done,
This preliminary work will take
about two months to do, and as the
work progresses, information will be
supplied through this paper. The
commissioners are working hard to
complete the survey and present the
completed project to the people of
this road district. The time to build
roads is at hand. Give the thing all
the support possible.
Former Resident Dies
In Rusk last Friday
Henry Parks, aged 55 years, for
nineteen years a resident of Silsbee,
died last Friday, December 11, at
Rusk. He was the victim of pneu-
monia, and was claimed by death in
the Rusk hospital. Mr. Parks for :
many years operated garages and au- ;
to repair shops here, and was known
to everyone as “Shorty”.
Funeral services were held at the ]
Benton Funeral Home in Rusk with
Rev. John A. Williams of the Rusk
Baptist Church officiating. Interment
followed in the State Cemetery, with
H. Lunday, Kellie Musick, Roy Rob-
erts and Joe Sales acting as pall-
bearers.
Mr. Parks is survived by his widow, Tha program will “include a May '
Mrs. Nannie Parks of Silsbee; five ..’
sons: Bernard of Silsbee, Hubert of
Belin, New Mexico, Willie of Austin
Donald and Robert of Silsbee; two
daughter, Mrs. Nellie Fuqua and Miss
Reba Parks of Silsbee; and one sis-
ter, Mrs. Nellie Hungate of Reed
Kentucky.
In addition to these bonuses, there
are a number of local businesses that
will give their employees a little
extra cash which the business men
just call a Christmas Gift. Of course
it, too, is a bonus, and there are
many such gifts to be made to local
employees.
The fact that more businesses than
ever are giving a bonus this year
shows that business is definitely on
its feet, and that business leaders
are optimistic about the future. It
means that local business men in
every line will do more Christmas
business than ever before.
--------o---------
Independent Operator Io
Drill Well Here Soon
---O►———-_
THE CAPITAL ONLOOKER
By Charles E, Simons.
I Austin, Texas, December 16.—An
. appeal to civic minded citizens to aid
in protecting trees, shrubs and plants
along the highways from destruction
by persons seeking holiday decora-
tions has been made by Jac L. Gub-
bels, landscape engineer for the Tex-
as Highway Department. Depreda-
tions along the highways have in-
creased at an alarming rate with the
approach of the Yule season and
threatens to reach serious propor-
tions unless checked, Gubbels said.
Much of the trouble is being ex-
perienced with commercial dealers in
holiday decorations who are violat-
ing highway rights-of-way and ad-
jacent land and denuding it of the
best plants. They have an especial
fondness for the srubs bearing the
bright red berries that have been
planted in profusion along many of
the state’s most beautiful roads.
“Texas has the best stand of red
berries in the South this year hnd
they add much to the beauty of our
highways,” Gubbels said. “It is a
shame that certain persons will strip
berries from the trees when a sight-
ly appearance will mean so much to
ti’.e thousands of travelers that will
’.so the roads during the holiday sea-
on. Persons from out of the state
/lowing.our beautiful highway shrubs
comment extensively on our attempts
to make the highways attractive.
They will have a bad opinion of the
citizens of the state if they observe
these depredations.
“It takes years of effort to bring
trees and shrubs to a state of beauty
and all this is lost in a few minutes
through an axe wielded by someone
seeking an easy source of holiday
decorations. It is a shame to ruin a
countryside to provide for city homes
holiday decorations that will be
thrown into the alley the week after
Christmas when the greenery can be
obtained legally and without injury
to any one,
Silsbee Lodge No. 927 A. F. & A. [
M. will meet Thursday night for the j
purpose of work. All members are re-
quested to attend and all visiting
time of the meeting is 7:30.
Peavy,
Bluitt Miller, Helen Donaldson, Pete
ert Dunbar, Marjorie Bryant, ’ Jessie
Mae Bridges, Yvonne Wilson, Harold LUe urrnm?
Morgan, Fritze Gossett Junior Don- of this one independent’wildcat well
aldson, Allen Geisendorff, Bernice will mean the increased activity on
Landua, Patsy Armstrong and Juan- ,the part of the larger companies and
ice Tavlnr Tho --___...n, ,
------ -.--1 see a number of other
wells drilling at once. He expects to
go after oil when he. starts, and be-
lieves that it is there in paying
quantities.
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Read, David. The Silsbee Bee (Silsbee, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 17, 1936, newspaper, December 17, 1936; Silsbee, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1370958/m1/1/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Silsbee Public Library.