V
. >
t -
J*
5
THE YALE DEMOCRAT
Knitred at .he Postoffl.e at Vale. Oklahoma. »» *ee»nd Cla>» Mal^r
Su bacription—$2,00 Per Year in Advance
Published Thursday of Each Week
YALE, OKLAHOMA, FEBRUARY 27, 1919
Volume II, Number 28
Official Publication for City of Yale
Had Lively Council Meeting
Committee Asks Engineer
For Explanation
COUNCIL NOT CROOKED
But Mr. Pressey is Made The
Goat
tern for the City of Yale, and
brought forth evidence to that
effect in the way of letters pur-
ported to have been written by
Mr. Merkle to Mr. Pressey and
from Mr. Pressey to Mr. Merkle.
One of these letters was obtain-
ed from Mr. Merkle at the re-
quest * f Mr, Sherman and the
others were stolen by Mr. Henry
Maire, associate enginee’1 to Mr.
Pressey, after Mr. Maire had
been fired off the job by Mr.
Pressey at the instigation of the
city council of Yale.
Mr. Pressey when asked by the
Some twenty-five or thirty cit-
izens were present at the regu-
lar meeting of the city council
last Monday night. Most of
them were present at the invita-
tion of the council to help in the
election of an engineer to look i rar. rres»c> yyi*c..b-» '
after the paving of Main street, committee to explain the matter,
aiteruiepd ts    stated that after the City of Yale
Mayor Monnett.explained to    bidg at the
Mayor Monnett explained to    bids at the
those present that there had been had ref use ^    Qf
some criticism to the council at    ignorant at the time, he
tending to thl. matter when> K "““ “ikesuch
there was but one    of.^ suggestions as he thought would
^ . k    the City of Yale in the
ume. ExpreS'ions wcre: a.k, d ^ o{ the new plaut. This
for from those present and Mi    K , Merkle did and these
seek:
requested by the Mayor to maxe    He dld not deny that
M.Prs"irosrPres"enUhen Mr. Merkle made suggestions
expressed themselves as desirous and    °f ‘    i^was
“-““t t0
felt that it might be a good idea get information in this way.
to wait awhile yet for the pav- Mr. Merkle. who was also
ing, the latter, of course, were present, stated, in connection
those who did not sign the peii- with the charge from Mr. Sher
tion for the paving. Mr. Woods man that he had offered him
and Mr. Pressey, both of whom (Mr. Sherman) $1500 to lay
had made a proposition to the Lff«> ot-the job, that as is usual
council several weeks ago to do in iottings of contracts of this
the engineering work for the kjnd, the contractors got togeth-
paving, were asked to again gr a|ld wanted to pool the piopo-
state their propositions. Mr. 3ition. In this connection he
thrown out. At the next letting,
however, the Sherman company
was given to understand that
their bid would not be considered
even if they did present one.
A great deal of discussion was
indulged in between the commit-
tee and Mr. Merkle and Mr.
Pressey, and it finally simmered
down to the fact that ihe com-
mittee was after Mr. Pressey.
That is was their opinion that he
was not competent to handle the
job. One member of the com
mittee speaking for them stated
to the meeting that during the
investigating there had been
things perhaps repeated in an
exagerated form which had prob-
ably gotten to the ears of the
city council which were untrue,
that the committee at no time
had accused the city council of
being crooked in the deal.
Mayor Monnett asked any per-
sons who were present who had
not looked over the bids as pre-
sented on the tenth of February
to take the time to do so and see
the reason why the bid of the N.
S. Sherman Machine and Iron
Works wai not considered. He
stated that he hail shown the
contract to a great number ot
Yale citizens and he had yet to
ind a single one who said the
council did wrong in throwing
the bid out.
No action was taken by the
council in the premises and as it,
looks very much like a matter of
professional jealously we doubt
whether or not the matter will
ever be settled out of the courts.
Yale’s Industrial Institutions
state meir piu(woiuuu». -----
Woods agretd to do the engineer-
ing work for 3 1-2 per cent and
Mr. Pressey stated that his price
would be the same that he pro-
posed formally—4 1-2 per cent.
Those present seemingly did not
want to take any action and a
number of them expressed them-
selves as perfectly willing to
leave the matter up to the coun-
cil. This, however, was not sat-
isfactory to the members of the
council, who have been receiving
a great deal of adverse criticism,
and on motion the city counci
requested the citizens present to
select a committee of five to se-
lect the engineer and report at
the nextlegularmeeting. Upon
a ballot b Tng taken the follow-
ing property owners were select-
ed: I. A. Tull, D. L. Martin, C.
L Robison, Dal May and W. P.
Canfield. They were requested
to be sure to have a report at t:.e
next meeting.
There was also a commitee
present which had been invest!
gating alleged crookedness on
t he part of Engineer Pressey and
others. They had the evidence
which they had collected with
them in the form of a letter from
the N S. Sherman Machine and
Iron Works of Oklahoma City,
an unsuccessful bidder on the
contract last month.
This letter contained the state-
ment that Mr. Merkle of the
Merkle Machinery Company of
Kansas City, had drawn the
plans for the water and light ays
Joel Eastman, the Lyceum lec-
turer, addressed our high school
last Friday morning at the chap
el hour. He discussed the im-
portance of proper mental and
spiritual development. One of
his illustrations was particularly
forceful and luminous. He made
a dot on the blackboard and
showed that it was many times
larger than the nucleus of the
cell of the whale at one stage of
his development. The same is
true, he told us. of the mosquito
and the oak tree. Children can
develop into largeness of view
and purpose, o r can develop
small, spiteful natures or sturdy
and symmetrical characters, ac-
cording to the things they do
and the way they go about their
work. Mr. Eastman raised a
little ripp’e of laughter by ask
ing the pupils whether they
would all attend a movie it -he
would promise to sho-v them a
photograph of the inside of their
nunds. He spoke of the lines on
the face which ev.l doing pro-
duces and urged the duty anc
p ivilege of pure, clean living.
The school joined in a rousing
“Fifteen-Air for Eastman, ex-
pressing their appreciation of his
fine address.
Rubber Company Must In-
crease Facilities
CREOSOT PLANT HERE
Eirst Car Load of Building
Mateaial On Ground
said he told those present tha
ie would be willing to go into
this kind of a proposition only
on the condition that he get the
contract. H e further stated
that when asked what he was
willing to give the other contrat-
ors, he stated that he would give
them $1500, and if this was not
accepted the letting would go to
a fight. Mr. Merkle stated that
he had bought many jobs in Ok-
lahoma, but that as yet he had
never sold one. He also stated
that the ink was hardly dry on
the last check he had written in
favor of the N. S. Sherman Ma-
chine and Iron Co.
E. A. Pierson, a former town
clerk of Yale, and also one of
the fairest-minded men in the
city, asked permission to speak
on the subject, which was grant-
ed him. In part, he said that he
was not pulling anybody s ches-
nuts out of the fire, but he wish-
ed to state that he had had ex-
perience in the letting of con
tracts from both sides and that
he knew it was not an unusual
thing for contractors to pool
their bids and all but one con
tractor so bid that the favored
one would receive the contract.
In this connection he called at-
tention to tne fact that at a for-
mer letting in Yale the Sherman
Machine Co. had secured the fa-
vor from the other contractors,
but when the bid was opened it
was found that it was above the
estimate, and was therefore
School Notes
The Declamation Contest which
took place at the Baptist chutch
Tuesday evening was a credit to
the Yale schools and even ex-
ceeeded in excellence the expec-
tation of those connected with
it. A large audience filled the
auditorium to capacity and was
well entertained by the interest-
ing program presented by the
contestants, the girls’ chorus of
the high school and Miss Doro-
thy Caul, a freshman, who played
a piano solo. Space forbids giv-
ing the program in detail but
suffice to say each and every
number was well received.
It required close grading on
the part of the judges to deter-
mine the winners, but the decis-
ion seemed fair and met the ap-
proval of the audience. In the
Junior Contest the winners were:
First place, Hetty McCrory,
from the ninth grade; second
place, Neil Perry from the sev-
enth grade. In the Senior Con-
gests the winners of both places
were sophomores: Geneva Fran-
cis first, and Lee Johnson second.
The medals, furnished by the
kindness of the banks of Yale,
are dainty bits of jewelry, to be
highly prized by the winners,
and serve as an incentive! to fu-
ture contestants. It is the plan
to make this an annual event in
the Yale schools, and from the
interest taken this year by the
pupils and patrons it promises to
prove a successful innovation
and one full of benefit to the
students as well as being a means
of letting the public know a lit-
tle of what the school is doing.
The spirit of thoughtful human
kindness and the school spirit
were beautifully blended a few
days ago when the high schoo
pupils heard of the sickness of a
former pupil, Otto McDaniel,
they sent him a gift of flowers
to cheer him by the assurance
that he was not forgotten in his
absence.
Married
On Saturday, February 22, Mr.
Fred W. Doutey, aged 25. and
Miss Dee Douglas, aged 23, were
married at the M. E. parsonage
by Rev. C. S. Clarke. The young
couple left on the northbound
train for a short wedding jour
ney and will return to make
their home here.
Monday, February 24, Judge
Richard Dixon performed the
ceremony which bound Lawrence
C. Hhughes and Miss Ella Marks,
both of Yale, in the bonds of
matrimony.
Business Changes
Changes have been made dur-
ing the past two weeks in the
business interests heretofore
known as Greene & Combs. J.
H. Combs has taken over the
entire interests of the firm in the
implement business and will con-
duct the same under the name of
J. H. Combs.
The Ford Service Station which
has also been conducted under
the management of Greene &
Combs will hereafter be under
the management o f Greene
Brothers. Mr. Gord Greene of
Junction City, Kansas, has pur-
chased a half interest and will
be associated with his brother,
C. A., in the handling of the au-
tomobile business.
Building operations on Factory •
No. 1 of the Yale Tire and Rub-
ber company is progressing rap-
idly. The brick work is going
steadily on and the flooring is
being laid for the office and build-
rooms.
Already the company is
swamped with orders for the
Yankee Tire Protector. Orders
amounting to over $50,000 have
been received, end as the capac-
ity of the present factory is only
$10000 worth per day it is neces-
sary to make arrangements for
the building of another factory
so that the capecity may bSrais-
ed to $3500 per day. The ques-
tion of building another factory
is left up to ihe people of Yale.
Theie are three other towns and
cities close to Yale which have
sent representatives here with
;he idea of getting a part of the
plant and the citizens of Yale
will have to look their interests
if they wish to keep the entire
plant in this city. There is a
meeting of the stockholders of
the company called for March 5,
when this matter will qe taken
up and deOnitely decid^ded upon.
Manager Blynt returned the
first of the week from a trip to
the east where he went in the
interests of the company. He
brought back with him complete
samples of the Yankee Tire Pro-
tector and states that within a
few days a number of different
sizes, perfected and ready for
use will be in Yale. Ae also re-
j ports that the molds and cores
I for this product are completed
and on the way here.
The Enterprise Machine Co.,
of Columbia, Ind., will make
shipment of the most complete
and modern Rubber Machine on
the market. The weight of this
machine complete with shafting
weighs 18 tons. There are only
six of these machines made.
Two are in use by the Myers
Rubber Co., two by the Columbia
Rubber Co., one will be used by
the Yale Tire and Rubber facto-
ry and the other is not placed
yet. The Morris Chain Drive
Co., of Utica, N. Y., will fur-
nish the drive for this machine,
and their engineers are now
working on the equipment.
D. R. Wilson and family moved
this week to Garber. _________
CREOSOTE PLANT HERE
Yale is to have a new indus-
trial institution. It is a factory
for the manufacture of creosote
and its by-products.
Dr. E. Morrell, secretary,
treasurer and general manager
of the Creosoting Lumber Co.,
has been in Yale several days
interesting local business men in
the enterprise. Already the
company has purchased five
acres of ground just south of the
old Star Refinery in Canfield’s
North Addition to the City of
[Continued on last p age.] ^
' •v