January 30, 1943

C. P. S. #59
Elkton, Oregon
Jan. 30, 1943

Dear folks,

What do you suppose, it has been snowing all afternoon here and we have about an inch and a half of wet slushy snow. It just stoped a little while ago. This wet snow sticks to everything and the REA light lines aren’t made for it out here. We are expecting to have the lights go out any time now. The last time we had this kind of snow they did and stayed out for three days. While we were eating tonight the lights faded out real slow and we thot we were in for it and the assistant dirrector ran out to start the small generator that they had rigged up the last time they were out but while he was trying to start the engine the lights came back on and he had his back to the buildings and didn’t know it till somebody yelled loud enough to tell him. The current made by the generator is DC and all the motors and radios are AC so when the current is off and we make our own no motors or radios can run. And that means the wood-shop isn’t open either. I have been keeping it open for the fellows to work in the evenings. I get somebody to take a couple of nights and then there is a camp meeting each Wed. so it isn’t open that night. I usually spend about three nights a week in here. That’s where I am now.

It has started to rain now. Say, I’m getting so I write weather reports too.

I don’t have much to say this time. I told most of the new in Harry’s letter. There is to be a special camp-meeting at 8:00 tonight and it is that time now. There was something important or we wouldn’t have had it called I don’t know what it was tho, guess I’d better go find out.

Back from the meeting. It seems that there has been some agitation for Gov’t operated camps. This was started mostly by the pacifists that base their stand on the economic or political side rather than the religious. There was a committee set up to investigate this and see what could be done to get camps to suit those who were dissatisfied. This meeting was called because our director had received a report on this committee and had been asked to read it or see that it was brought to the attention of every man in camp. The report didn’t amount to much in my opinion. The committee wasn’t able to decied anything definite. They made a couple of poles of the men in camp and found that there were only 47 that would definitely go to a Gov’t camp. There were, I think, over 200 that would go if the camps were run a certain way, which seems rather unlikely to me. The committee didn’t think it wise to do anything that might cause the CO situation to be brought up in congress. If the Gov’t. was to maintain a camp for a few men it would have to come out of the money appropriated for the seclective service and they would not have enough to last them, then they would have come to congress for more money and that would give those against us a chance to start thinking what good we could do if we were to all work in the munitions plants or something.

That’s all the meeting amounted to. This camp is new and hasn’t had much to say about this sort of thing. I don’t think that there would be many here that would want to go to a Gov’t camp so there wasn’t much said about it then. It is clear that if the Gov’t. was sponsoring a camp it would dictate most of the policies and the men would have very little to say, so that keeps some of the agitation down.

Dash me off another letter when you get to it, I’ll answer them as fast as I get them. I just got this one today. It was written Sun. and Mon. It has an airmail stamp on it. Did you send it airmail? If you did it sure went slow, I got it Fri. morn.

I was glad to see that Christmas program. You don’t need to send me that FOR stuff, I can see plenty of that here. We get a copy of that CPS news letter too, but I hadn’t read it yet so I did so this noon. They always put the news letter up on the bulitten board but I hadn’t got around to read it yet.

Well, good nitht.

Yours
Bernard

P.S. I got that pamplet from that guy at Eugene Or. but haven’t had time to read it yet. I’ll send it home if it is good enough.

BA