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University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


University  of  California  Bancroft  Library  /  Berkeley 

Regional  Oral  History  Office 


Walter  E.  Packard 

LAND  AND  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CALIFORNIA, 
GREECE,  AND  LATIN  AMERICA 

With  an  introduction  by 

Alan  Temko 

Volume  2 


An  Interview  Conducted  "by 
Willa  Klug  Baum 


Berkeley 
1970 


19TO  by  The  University  of  California  at  Berkeley 


268 


INTERIM  WORK,  1930  -  1933 

Soil  Survey  in  the  Upper  San  Joaquin  Valley 

Packard:        We  came  back  to  California  in  the  fall  of  1929  at  the 
very  height  of  the  stock  market  crash.   I  was  deeply  in 
debt  because  of  the  complete  failure  of  the  crop  in  Mexico. 
I  had  no  job  or  prospects  of  a  job  and  was  told  by  the 
doctor  that  I  would  be  blind  in  a  year  or  so  as  a  result 
of  developing  cataracts  in  both  eyes.   Clara  was  in  college 
and  Emmy  Lou  was  finishing  Jr.  high  school  and  would  be  ready 
for  college  soon.   The  whole  family  was  a  guest  of  my 
brother  John  and  his  very  understanding  wife,  Rose  Marie. 
Clara  dropped  out  of  college  for  a  year  and  worked  as  a 
stenographer  in  a  law  office  in  Los  Angeles.   For  that 
year  we  lived  in  a  little  duplex  house  in  a  court  in 
Pasadena  where  rents  were  cheap. 

I  made  two  trips  back  to  Mexico,  riding  day  coach,  to 
salvage  what  I  could  from  my  farming  venture.   On  one 
of  these  trips  I  was  paid  $800.00  for  making  a  report  on 
a  power  project,  which  helped  out.   I  was  very  fortunate, 
however,  in  getting  various  consulting  jobs  for  both  public 
and  private  agencies  which  carried  me  through  the  period 
from  1930  to  1935  when  I  joined  the  Resettlement  Adminis 
tration.   During  that  time  I  had  a  very  successful  operation 


269 


Packard:     on  one  eye  for  cataract  and  later,  made  enough  money  to 

pay  off  several  thousand  dollars  of  debts,  and,  of  course, 
kept  Clara  and  Emmy  Lou  in  college.   Most  of  my  jobs  came 
through  professors  at  the  University  who  knew  that  I  was 
available  and  needed  work  and  recommended  me  when  jobs 
came  up . 

The  first  assignment  that  I  had  was  with  the  Bureau 
of  Reclamation  on  the  recommendation  of  Frank  Adams,  who 
was  in  charge  of  a  study  for  the  Bureau  in  the  upper  San 
Joaquin  Valley.   I  was  asked  to  review  a  reconnaissance  soil 
survey  in  the  area  to  be  irrigated.   I  was  on  familiar 
ground  because  of  my  work  on  the  Irrigation  Census  in  the 
area  in  1909  and  also  because  Tulare  County  was  one  of  the 
counties  that  was  included  in  territory  I  supervised  as 
Assistant  State  Leader  of  Farm  Advisors .   Furthermore, 
the  soil  survey  work  was  similar  to  the  work  I  had  been 
doing  in  Mexico.   I  was  paid  $10.00  per  day  for  the  first 
month  and  then  raised  to  $20.00.   I  felt  at  home  again 
and  began  to  regain  a  sense  of  security  following  the  end 
of  my  Mexican  experience. 


Feasibility  of  the  Central  Valley  Project 

Packard:        My  next  assignment  was  to  make  an  economic  analysis 
of  the  flow  of  benefits  from  the  proposed  Central  Valley 
for  the  State  Engineer.  This  job,  like  the  preceding  one, 


270 


Packard:     came  from  Frank  Adams  whose  loyalty  to  me  after  the  Delhi 
experience  was  extremely  heartening.   Dave  Morgan  and  I 
were  asked  to  make  independent  studies.   Dave  followed  a 
procedure  comparable  to  that  used  by  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization.   I  attempted  to  go  beyond  that  by  showing  the 
ramifications  of  economic  interests  flowing  from  the  applic 
ation  of  water  to  the  land.   Farm  land  values,  of  course, 
increased  and  so  did  land  values  in  local  and  regional 
urban  centers  where  every  sort  of  business  was  stimulated 
by  the  increased  primary  production  due  to  irrigation. 
Railroad  business  was  materially  increased,  again  directly 
due  to  irrigation.   When  all  of  these  ramified  benefits 
from  irrigation  were  considered  it  was  apparent  that  the 
project  would  benefit  the  state  and  could  be  paid  for. 
As  a  result,  my  report  was  accepted  as  a  basis  for  the 
economic  justification  of  the  Central  Valley  project  so 
far  as  the  State  Engineer's  office  was  concerned. 


Study  of  Underground  Water  for  P.  G.  &  E. 

Packard:        My  next  assignment  was  with  the  Pacific  Gas  and  Electric 
Company.   In  this  case  it  was  Professor  Etcheverry  who 
recommended  me.   The  job  involved  a  study  of  the  underground 
movement  of  water  in  the  Mokelumne  River  Valley.   The  P.G.&E. 
was  being  sued  for  alleged  damage  to  ground  water  level 
resulting  from  P.G.&E.  storage  of  water  for  power  development, 


271 


Packard:    Professor  Cyrus  Tolman,  a  geologist  from  Stanford  University, 
had  made  a  study  of  conditions  for  the  P.G.&E.  but,  for 
some  reason  which  I  did  not  understand,  I  was  employed 
to  review  Dr.  Tolman 's  report.   My  familiarity  with  the 
soil  classifications  in  the  state  gave  me  a  headstart. 
I  found  that  the  basin  soils  were  a  fine  sandy  loam  with 
ready  permeability,  a  fact  which  went  directly  against  Dr. 
Tolman 's  conclusions,  on  which  the  whole  theory  of  defense 
had  been  based  by  the  P.G.&E.  legal  staff. 

I  made  an  oral,  preliminary  report  to  a  group  of  P.G.&E. 
attorneys  and  engineers,  including  Dr.  Cyrus  Tolman,  and 
recommended  that  the  theory  of  defense  be  reversed,  a  recom 
mendation  which  was  accepted.   This  led  to  several  months 
further  study  of  conditions  including  a  thorough  study  of 
ground  water  movements.   At  one  time,  after  the  flow  in 
the  river  had  been  very  low  for  some  time  due  to  storage, 
I  measured  the  time  required  for  the  ground  water  to  rise 
at  different  distances  from  the  channel  immediately  following 
the  release  of  water  from  storage.   In  making  the  soil 
studies  I  followed  the  practice  we  used  in  Mexico  by 
digging  holes  at  strategic  places  to  permit  a  thorough 
study  of  the  soil  profile  and  the  evidences  of  change  in 
the  ground  water  level.   The  work  was  inspected  by  represent 
atives  of  the  U.S.  Department  of  Soils  and  at  one  time 
Dr.  Tolman  brought  a  class  of  Stanford  students  to  see  what 
was  being  done.   I  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  work  and  became 


272 


Packard:     quite  well  acquainted  with  the  P.G.&E.  office  and  field 
personnel,  including  Mr.  Robert  Gerdes  who  later  became 
president  of  the  company,  who  accompanied  me  on  one  of  my 
field  trips.   Incidentally,  I  was  paid  $25.00  per  day  for 
this  work. 

Baum:       I  guess  I  don't  understand  what  the  suit  was  about.   The 
farmers  thought  their  land  was  damaged  by  P.G.&E.  action? 

Packard:     Yes.   The  farmers  were  suing  the  P.G.&E.  for  alleged  damage 
due  to  the  P.G.&E.'s  control  of  the  flow  in  the  river. 
The  case  never  came  to  trial  so  far  as  I  know.   At  least 
I  never  had  to  appear  in  court. 

Baum:       Do  you  remember  Mr.  Gerdes?  He  was  just  a  young  attorney 
then. 

Packard:    Oh,  yes.   He  was  a  young  attorney  and  a  very  good  one. 

My  experiences  gave  me  a  very  favorable  impression  of  the 
P.G.&E.  as  an  operating  agency.   I  was  a  strong  believer 
in  public  power  at  the  time,  as  I  have  been  ever  since, 
but  I  saw  no  reason  for  not  doing  a  technical  job  which  had 
nothing  to  do  with  ideology.   Some  years  later,  I  was 
offered  another  appointment  with  P.G.&E.  which  did  involve 
the  ideological  issue  but  I  did  not  take  it  for  that  reason. 

Baum:       What  kind  of  a  job  would  that  have  been? 

Packard:     Something  in  the  nature  of  public  relations  which  would 
have  required  me  to  promote  private  ownership  of  public 
utilities.   Since  I  had  always  believed  firmly  that  services 
which  everyone  must  use  should  be  run  in  the  interests  of 


273 


Packard:     the  consumer,  not  for  the  benefit  of  private  stockholders, 
I  was  not  about  to  make  my  living  by  promoting  a  principle 
in  which  I  did  not  honestly  believe—and  in  fact  had  opposed 
all  my  working  life. 


Feasibility  of  the  Columbia  River  Basin  Project 

Packard:        My  next  assignment  was  in  connection  with  the  first 
comprehensive  study  of  the  Columbia  River  development 
program.   This  came  through  Barry  Dibble,  an  electrical 
engineer  who  had  been  working  in  Mexico  when  I  was  down 
there.   He  had  been  assigned  to  be  in  charge  of  the  power 
study  of  the  Grand  Coulee  Dam.   I  was  employed  as  the 
economist  by  the  Army  Engineers  to  make  an  economic  analysis 
of  the  whole  Columbia  Basin  project  to  find  out  whether 
or  not  the  project  was  feasible  from  an  economic  and  ag 
ricultural  standpoint.   My  office  was  with  the  Army  Engineers 
in  Seattle  but  I  spent  considerable  time  on  the  project 
since  my  assignment  included  making  a  judgment  concerning 
the  suitability  of  the  soils. 

I  followed  the  same  procedure  that  I  followed  in  making 
the  economic  feasibility  study  of  the  Central  Valley 
project  but  carried  it  out  in  much  greater  detail.   I  had 
the  advantage  of  having  an  engineer  assistant  who  was  a 
mathematical  genius.   I  could  feed  data  to  him  as  though 
he  were  an  IBM  machine.   I  prepared  a  diagram  to  illustrate 
the  written  report  which  together  provided  a  rather  clear 


274 


Packard:    picture  and  appraisal  of  the  flow  of  economic  benefits 

growing  out  of  the  application  of  the  water  to  the  land. 
I  submitted  the  whole  report  to  Dr.  Thomas  Nixon  Carver  at 
Harvard  under  whom  I  had  had  a  course  in  agricultural 
economics  and  received  a  very  laudatory  approval  of  the 
report  and  the  method  of  analysis. 

Baum:       In  other  words,  the  way  you  put  this  together  and  what 

followed  out  as  the  flow  of  benefits  was  your  own  ideas? 

Packard:    Yes,  it  was. 

Baum:       They  didn't  give  you  certain  material  that  you  were  supposed 
to  find  out  and  put  into  a  report. 

Packard:    No.   In  addition,  there  was  another  Army  Engineer  office 

in  Portland  that  had  made  economic  analyses  of  a  number  of 

smaller  projects  lower  down  the  river,  generally  involving 

pumping  to  high  plateau  areas.   Although  I  had  nothing  to 

do  with  the  preparation  of  those  reports,  they  were  all 

sent  up  to  me  in  Seattle  for  my  review.   I  went  over 

them  and  in  most  cases  I  did  not  agree  with  the  conclusions 

that  were  drawn.  As  a  result  a  joint  conference  was  held 

in  Portland  under  the  direction  of  the  head  of  the  Army 

engineers  organization  in  the  Northwest  area.  Although 

a  categorical  statement  was  made  at  the  beginning  of  the 

hearing  that  all  of  the  projects  that  were  proposed  by 

the  Portland  office  would  be  considered  economically  justified; 

when  we  got  through  I  think  nearly  half  of  them  were  thrown 

out. 


275 

Packard:       This  whole  experience  was  a  very  pleasant  and  profitable  one 
for  me.   I  not  only  got  back  into  the  sagebrush  country  which  I 
had  learned  to  love  as  a  result  of  my  early  job  as  rodman  on  an 
engineering  crew  in  Idaho  in  1906,   and  later  with  my  brother 
John  grubbing  sagebrush  from  an  80-acre  Carey  claim.   I  was  quite 
conscious  of  the  basic  fight  between  the  Army  Engineers  who  had 
control  of  all  navigable  rivers  and  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation 
which  was  responsible  for  the  irrigation  of  dry  lands.   Both  of 
these  two  federal  agencies  wanted  the  responsibility  of  developing 
the  project.   I  personally  favored  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  al 
though  I  was  very  much  impressed  by  the  efficiency  of  the  Army  En 
gineers.   On  an  occasion  when  Dr.  Mead,  then  Chief  of  the  Bureau, 
came  to  Seattle  on  a  speaking  engagement  I  had  a  long  talk  with 
him  about  the  project  and  the  jurisdictional  dispute. 

Baum:     Wasn't  that  study  of  benefits  quite  different  from  your  soil 
survey  work? 

Packard:   Yes,   it  was. 

Baum:     It  sounds  like  it  needed  two  different  men.   Soil  survey  is  a 
physical  science,  really. 

Packard:   Yes,  it  is.   But  as  it  happened  I  was  trained  as  a  soil  scientist 
and  as  an  economist.   This,  together  with  my  work  in  irrigation 
engineering,  made  me  what  is  known  as  a  generalist.   This  was  an 
advantage  because  I  could  see  the  project  problem  as  a  whole. 
The  theory  of  the  flow  of  benefits  was  based  on  Henry  George's 
single  tax  theory  where  the  benefits  of  irrigation  development 
are  translated  into  increased  land  values. 


276 

Packard:       Emma  joined  me  for  part  of  the  time  I  spent  in  the  North 
west.   I  remember,  quite  vividly,  the  surprise  we  had  when  we 
called  home  to  find  out  how  Clara  and  Emmy  Lou  were  getting  along 
with  the  housekeeper  in  our  home  in  Menlo  Park.   Instead  of 
talking  to  two  lonesome  girls  we  found  that  they  had  taken  the  old 
car  and  driven  to  Lake  Tahoe.   Our  concern  over  their  supposed 
loneliness  was  changed  to  a  concern  over  how  in  the  world  they 
could  ever  get  the  old  car  to  Tahoe  and  back  again. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  story  I  think  Emma  should  add 
some  of  her  experiences  on  the  Grand  Coulee  Project.  (See  Appendix 
for  several  letters  that  relate  experiences  and  observations  on 
GrandCoulee,  Ephrata,  Seattle,  and  Portland.) 

Study  of  the  Effects  of  Cement  Dust  on  Crops 

Packard:       When  I  returned  to  California  from  the  Northwest,  I  was  asked 
by  Professor  Charles  Shaw,  head  of  the  Soils  Survey  Department  of 
the  University  of  California,  to  consider  a  job  with  the  Cowell 
Portland  Cement  Company  in  studying  the  effect  of  cement  dust  from 
the  company's  plant  near  Concord.   The  company  was  being  sued  by 
the  farmers  in  the  valley  who  claimed  their  crops,  their  land,  and 
their  living  conditions  were  being  damaged  by  the  cement  dust  fall 
out.   The  areas  affected  were  clearly  defined  by  aerial  pictures  I 
had  taken  on  a  flight  over  the  valley  with  a  professional  photog 
rapher.   The  prevailing  wind  had  directed  most  of  the  fall-out  in 
a  triangular   area  lying  to  the  northwest  of  the  plant.   I  checked 
the  fall-out  on  the  ground  by  testing  the  alkalinity  of  the  soil 
due  to  the  lime  content  of  the  dust. 


277 

Packard:       I  certainly  was  not  happy  in  this  job.   My  sympathies 
were  with  the  farmers  but  I  assumed  the  philosophy  of  the 
legal  profession  that  a  defendant  has  a  right  to  have  his  side 
of  the  case  presented. 

Baum:     Weren't  you  already  well  known  to  be  sympathetic  to  growers  and 
farmers? 

Packard:   I  certainly  was,  among  those  who  knew  me. 

Baum:     I  am  surprised  the  cement  company  would  hire  you. 

Packard:   They  did  not  know  me.   I  was  recommended  by  Professor  Shaw  who 
had  conferred  with  the  representative  of  the  company. 

Baum:     They  didn't  know  who  you  were.   , 

Packard:   That's  right.  Max  Thelen  was  the  attorney  for  the  company.   I 
worked  largely  under  his  direction,  presenting  the  facts  in  as 
favorable  a  light  as  I  could.   I  did  not  deny  damage,  but  minimized 
it. 

Baum:     You  just  presented  your  findings. 

Packard:   Yes.   For  example,  there  were  some  dead  live  oak  trees  in  the  dust 
area,  which  was  presented  as  evidence  that  the  dust  was  damaging. 
I  found  that  the  same  thing  was  true  throughout  the  area.   Pro 
portionately  there  were  no  more  dead  oaks  within  the  dust  area 
than  in  the  general  area.   The  oaks  were  apparently  injured  by 
oak  root  fungus. 

Baum:     Well,  I've  heard  that  Mr.  Thelen  is  a  very  competent  attorney. 

Packard:  Yes,  he  is  but  he  is  on  the  conservative  side. 

One  incident  will  illustrate  something  of  the  nature  of  the 
technical  testimony  involved  in  the  case.   A  chemist  employed  by 


278 

Packard:   the  farmers  testified  to  the  corrosive  character  of  the  cement 

dust.   In  defining  the  term  "corrosive"  he  said  it  was  character 
istic  of  a  substance  that  would  take  hair  off  a  dog's  back  and 
consume  animal  matter.   In  supporting  his  thesis  he  used  phenol- 
phthalein  as  an  indicator.   When  he  put  cement  dust  into  a  beaker 
of  distilled  water  and  then  introduced  some  phenolphthalein  the 
solution  turned  red.   On  a  chance,  at  noon,  I  tested  the  tap 
water  in  the  courthouse  and  found  that  it  turned  red  when  phenol 
phthalein  was  added.   I  then  put  a  variety  of  soap  that  was  widely 
advertised  for  use  in  baby  baths  in  the  water  and,  as  I  was  certain, 
the  solution  turned  very  dark  red.   When  the  afternoon  session  was 
begm  the  chemist  was  called  back  to  the  stand  by  Mr.  Thelen  and 
asked  to  make  the  tests  which  I  had  made  at  noon.   The  results 
were,  of  course,  the  same.   The  bewildered  chemist  did  not  know 
what  to  say  when  Mr.  Thelen  asked  him  if  the  courthouse  water  and 
the  baby  soap  would  take  hair  off  a  dog's  back  and  consume  animal 
matter.   A  few  minutes  after  he  was  dismissed  we  found  him  in  the 
men's  room  testing  the  tap  water,  on  the  theory  that  we  might  have 
put  some  alkali  substance  into  the  water. 

Baum:     Was  it  a  crucial  part  of  the  case? 

Packard:   Yes,  to  a  degree.   But  I  must  admit  that  the  defense  testimony  was 
a  little  bit  tricky.   I  had  often  used  phenophthalein  in  testing 
the  alkalinity  of  soils. 

Baum:     I  don't  exactly  understand  what  the  point  of  the  chemist's  testi 
mony  was. 

Packard:   He  was  trying  to  prove  that  the  cement  dust  had  corrosive  qualities 
which  would  damage  the  leaves  of  the  trees. 


279 

Baum:     And  your  argument  was  that  it  wasn't  corrosive. 

Packard:   No.   I  didn't  say  whether  it  was  or  was  not.   I  only  tried  to 

show  that  it  was  not  as  harmful  to  the  leaves  as  the  chemist  said 
it  would  be.   This  was  supported  by  the  fact  that  leaves  covered 
with  dust  showed  no  corrosive  effect.  Moreover,  I  pointed  out 
that  the  stomata  --  the  breathing  pores  of  the  plant  --  were  on 
the  underside  of  the  leaves  where  there  was  no  dust. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   The  dust  actually  was  a  very  great  nuisance  and  handicap  to  the 

farmers.   While  it  did  not  kill  the  vegetation,  it  covered  fruit, 
making  it  hard  to  market  dirty  fruit. 

Baum:     You  didn't  put  any  dust  on  a  dog.  (Laughter) 

Packard:   No,  we  didn't  try  to  take  hair  off  a  dog's  back. 

Baum:     So  who  won  the  suit? 

Packard:   I  never  saw  the  verdict  but  I  assume  that  the  company  lost  because 
the  plant  was  shut  down  and  has  never  been  in  operation  since.   I 
was  not  proud  over  my  part  in  this  case  but  it  is  part  of  the  record 
and  should  not  be  passed  by. 

Baum:     Was  there  a  degree  of  economic  determinism  involved? 

Packard:   Yes,  there  was.   I  was  paid  $25  per  day  for  field  work  and  $50  per 
day  for  court  work.   I  needed  the  money  and  incidentally,  I  might 
add,  that  during  the  depression,  I  kept  Clara  and  Emmy  Lou  in  col 
lege  and  paid  over  $9,000  of  debts  resulting  from  my  ill-advised 
partnership  with  Dr.  Gray  in  Mexico. 
Testimony  in  a  Land  Fraud  Case  for  the  U.S.  Post  Office 

Packard:       Another  job  during  this  period  was  for  the  U.S.  Post  Office 
in  Sacramento.   The  department  was  suing  a  land  company  from 
Minnesota  that  was  developing  property  in  the  Sacramento  Valley, 


280 

Packard:   using  the  mails  allegedly  to  defraud.   And,  again,  I  had  to  make 
soil  studies  of  the  area  and  appear  in  court  again  as  a  witness 
for  the  Post  Office  Department.   In  this  case  there  was  no  ques 
tion  about  the  fact  that  the  land  was  sold  at  a  very  much  higher 
price  than  it  was  worth.   A  thin  surface  soil  was  underlaid  with 
hardpan  which  interfered  with  the  development  of  tree  roots,  as  I 
demonstrated  by  an  examination  of  the  root  systems  of  several  trees 
representative  of  conditions  throughout  the  area. 

Two  incidents  in  the  trial  were  rather  dramatic  and  in  a  sense 
amusing.   The  first  incident  involved  a  farmer  who  testified  for 
the  company.   He  said,  under  oath,  that  he  had  made  a  large  profit 
through  chicken  raising.   On  cross-examination  he  admitted  that  he 
had  not  paid  any  income  tax  that  year  and  was  turned  over  to  the 
income  tax  people  for  further  examination  at  the  end  of  the  trial. 
The  second  incident  involved  a  soil  chemist  from  Fresno  who  had 
analyzed  the  soils  on  the  project  for  the  company  and  found  them 
to  be  rich  in  essential  elements.   On  cross-examination  he  admit 
ted  that  he  had  analyzed  some  soil  samples  sent  to  him  by  the  Post 
Office  Department  and  had  found  them  lacking  in  essential  elements 
and  in  need  of  heavy  fertilization.   When  the  Post  Office  inspector 
told  him  that  the  soil  sample  sent  to  him  by  the  Post  Office  were 
taken  from  the  exact  location  he  had  described  in  his  report  to 
the  company,  he  left  the  stand  in  considerable  confusion  and  re 
turned  to  Fresno. 

Baum:     How  did  you  come  out  in  this  case? 

Packard:   The  company  representatives  tried  to  discredit  me  on  the  basis  of 


281 

Packard:   my  experience  at  Delhi.   But,  after  reading  a  very  laudatory 

personal  letter  from  Mr.  Wooster,  who  became  Chairman  of  the  Land 
Settlement  Board  after  the  departure  of  Dr.  Mead,  no  further  at 
tempts  were  made  to  destroy  the  nature  of  my  testimony.   I  never 
found  out  how  the  case  ended. 

Water  Studies  in  Owens  Valley  for  the  City  of  Los  Angeles 

Packard:       Another  assignment  during  this  period  involved  the  development 
and  presentation  of  testimony  regarding  water  conditions  in  Owens 
Valley.   The  Los  Angeles  Department  of  Water  and  Power  was  being 
sued  for  damages  due  to  the  effect  of  the  Los  Angeles  aqueduct  upon 
surface  and  ground  water  conditions  in  Owens  Valley.   I  made  a  re 
connaissance  survey  of  conditions  as  I  found  them,  including  tests 
of  water  holding  capacity  of  divergent  soil  patterns  and  a  study  of 
the  effect  of  water  shortage  on  the  crop  pattern.   I  again  found 
myself  working  with  Dr.  Tolman  of  Stanford  University,  who  was 
serving  as  geologist  for  the  city.   I  was  paid  $50  per  day  for  my 
work  in  this  case. 

During  this  period  I  took  four  days  off  to  speak  at  an  annual 
meeting  of  the  California  branch  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers  in  San  Francisco,  where  I  presented  an  economic  diagram 
illustrating  my  view  of  the  economy.   At  that  time  I  was  formulating 
my  consumer- labor  theories  of  economic  organization.   Strangely 
enough  I  was  offered  a  lucrative  assignment  by  the  Chief  Engineer 
of  P.G.  &  E.  which  I  could  not  take  because  it  ran  contrary  to  my 
convictions. 


282 

Baum:     You  were  just  called  in  to  give  your  expert  testimony  and  then 
you  were  finished? 

Packard:   Yes.   But  the  experience  gave  me  an  opportunity  for  comparing  the 
Los  Angeles  Department  of  Water  and  Power  with  P.G.  &  E.   I  saw 
no  difference  in  efficiency  and  technical  competence.   The  men  I 
worked  with  in  both  organizations  were  equally  dedicated.   The 
difference  is  in  the  basic  philosophy.   One  seeks  to  maximize 
profits  to  stockholders.   The  other  seeks  to  promote  the  interest 
of  the  ultimate  consumer.   However,  further  experience  in  later 
years  showed  me  that  the  administrative  representatives  of  the 
public  interest  do  not  always  support  the  basic  philosophy,  a  fact 
which  I  will  comment  on  later  on. 

Baum:     How  about  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation?  Was  that  technically  good? 

Packard:   It  is  difficult  to  give  a  categorical  answer  to  that  question. 

From  a  purely  technical  standpoint,  the  answer  is  yes.   I  found, 
on  repeated  occasions,  that  prominent  private  engineering  corpora 
tions  used  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  standards  and  designs  as  guide 
lines  in  both  planning  and  design  of  reclamation  projects.   But  my 
experience  with  borrowed  Bureau  of  Reclamation  engineers  under  the 
Marshall  Plan  in  Greece  was  disappointing.   But  this  disappointment 
reflects  a  general  conclusion  that  I  have  reached  that  engineers 
as  a  class  tend  to  be  socially  illiterate,  a  fact  which  I  will  com 
ment  on  at  further  length  in  later  chapters. 

Emma  accompanied  me  on  the  trip  to  Owens  Valley  where  she  made 
contact  with  individual  residents  of  the  Valley  who  told  her  of 
their  experiences.   She  also  had  long  conversations  with  the  judge 


283 


Packard; 
Baum: 

Mrs. 
Packard 


Baum: 


Packard : 


Packard: 


in  the  case  who  was  a  strong  believer  in  astrology. 
Just  what  were  his  ideas? 

This  trip  to  Independence  was  a  wonderful  vacation  for  me  as  we 
stayed  for  a  month  or  so  at  the  hotel  in  Independence  where  I  had 
time  for  reading  and  sightseeing.   A  movie  company  worked  on  loca 
tion  in  the  magnificent  scenery  in  the  High  Sierras  west  of  the 
narrow  Owens  Valley  and  we  saw  a  bit  of  scene-taking. 

The  trial  was  being  held  at  the  county  courthouse  and  both 
sides  were  stopping  at  the  same  hotel,  but  eating  as  groups  at  dif 
ferent  tables.   Following  dinner  one  evening,  I  found  an  official 
magazine  of  some  astrology  organization  on  the  lobby  table  and  com 
mented  to  the  judge  about  it,  only  to  find  that  he  was  an  interested 
supporter  of  the  "science  of  astrology".   The  subject  has  interested 
me  for  a  long  time  because  of  the  very  long  tradition  and  history  of 
the  subject  from  ancient  Egypt  to  the  present  time,  but  I  believe 
that  a  "curious  unbelief"  is  my  main  reaction  to  it.   However,  I 
have  found  many  other  highly  intelligent  people  who  also  are  "true 
believers"  of  astrology,  so  I  am  still  curious.1 

During  your  consulting  days,  did  you  do  one  job  and  then  another  or 
did  various  jobs  overlap? 

Usually  I  did  one  job  at  a  time  but  sometimes  I  would  have  two  or 
more  jobs  going  at  the  same  time  where  I  would  work  part  of  a  day 
on  one  job  and  part  on  another. 

Investigation  of  Irrigation  Districts  for  the  Land  Bank 

I  was  asked  by  the  Land  Bank  to  make  economic  analyses  of 


284 

Packard:   various  irrigation  districts  in  the  state.   It  was  a  time  during 

the  depression  when  the  bank  was  having  difficulty  with  some  loans. 
Farmers  were  not  meeting  their  mortgage  payments  and  the  bank  was 
wondering  about  the  solvency  of  some  of  the  irrigation  districts 
and  whether  they  were  in  areas  in  which  the  bank  should  loan  money. 
The  first  study  I  made  was  in  1933  of  the  Contra  Costa  Irrigation 
District.   To  illustrate  the  nature  of  these  studies  I  might  record 
the  outline  of  the  points  that  were  taken  up.   "History  and  general 
description  of  the  East  Contra  Costa  Irrigation  District.   Climatic 
conditions,  rainfall,  frost,  soils,  irrigation,  irrigation  system, 
water  supply,  quantity  of  water  available,  and  drainage.   Crop 
productions  and  yields;  apricots,  pears,  walnuts,  peaches,  nectar 
ines,  prunes,  figs,  grapes,  truck  crops.   Cost  of  production;  plans 
for  reducing  irrigation  district  bonds  and  interest  costs,  opera 
tion  and  maintenance  costs.   Plans  for  reducing  power  costs,  county 
taxes.   Land  tenure,  Balfour  Guthrie  and  Company  holdings,  and  size 
of  farms,  mortgage  indebtedness,  irrigation  district  tax  delinquen 
cies,  county  tax,  farmers'  ability  to  pay,  summary  and  conclusion." 

I  made  another  similar  study  on  the  Rio  Vista  Irrigation 
District  in  San  Diego  County. 

Baum:     Was  the  Land  Bank  interested  in  refinancing  the  irrigation  district 
or  the  individual  farms  within  the  district? 

Packard:  They  were  interested  in  lending  money  to  the  farmers  in  the  dis 
trict.  They  wanted  to  know  what  they  should  do,  how  they  should 
act.  They  wanted  these  facts  as  a  background  for  what  they  should 


285 

Packard:   do,  how  they  should  act.   They  wanted  these  facts  as  a  background 
for  what  they  should  do  in  case  delinquencies  got  very  heavy. 

Baum:     I've  read  that  the  Land  Bank  was  very  conservative,  maybe  too  con 
servative  to  help  the  farmers.   You  had  to  have  too  much  security 
before  they  would  help  you.   It  wasn't  any  help. 

Packard:   No,  I  wouldn't  say  that  was  true.   The  Land  Bank  was  a  terrific 

help  to  the  farmers  of  the  state.   Jt  was  inaugurated  after  years 
of  very  careful  study  and  propaganda.   Elwood  Mead  was  very  active 
in  this  campaign.   Hearings  were  held  all  over  the  state  on  rates 
of  interest  paid  banks,  investigation  of  the  credit  system  which 
farmers  were  objecting  to.   Farmers  wanted  more  liberal  credit  and 
longer  term  payments.   So  the  Land  Bank  was  established  and  it  has 
played  a  very  important  part  in  farm  finance  in  the  state. 

Baum:     That  was  back  in  1924  or  '25  wasn't  it,  that  it  was  started? 

Packard:   Yes.   The  creation  of  the  Land  Bank  preceded  the  establishment  of 
the  State  Land  Settlement  program,  but  both  movements  were  the  re 
sult  of  the  same  need.   The  Land  Bank  provided  more  suitable  credit 
for  farmers  than  local  banks  were  able  to  do.   The  Land  Bank  granted 
longer  term  payments  and  lower  rates  of  interest.   The  Bank  also  was 
more  scientific  in  the  attention  paid  to  soil  and  water  conditions. 
Private  banks,  as  I  found  out,  weren't  too  careful  about  looking 
into  the  soil  conditions.   The  land  banks  had  experts  in  all  fields. 

Baum:     I  think  it  was  in  that  Larry  Hewes  book  that  he  said  that  the  land 
banks  were  so  conservative,  their  terms  were  less  liberal  than  the 
local  banks  because  they  had  a  policy  of  not  competing  for  loans 
with  the  local  banks.   And  this  policy  changed  in  1935  or  '36  with 


286 

Baum:     the  New  Deal.   You  didn't  find  that  true  in  the  area  you  worked  in? 

Packard:   No,  I  didn't  find  that  true  and  it  certainly  wasn't  true  in  rela 
tion  to  the  theory  on  which  the  Bank  was  established.   The  Bank 

f 
was  established  precisely  to  help  the  farmer.   Larry's  father's 

farm  was  in  eastern  Oregon,  where  pioneer  conditions  were  pretty 
rugged. 

Baum:     You  investigated  several  irrigation  districts  for  the  Land  Bank? 

Packard:   Yes,  I  made  reports  on  three  irrigation  districts.   And  in  each  re 
port  I  covered  about  the  same  items  that  were  listed  in  the  Contra 
Costa  district  report.   This  gave  the  Bank  the  background  on  which 
they  could  make  their  adjustments. 

Peninsula  School;  Palo  Alto  Community  Activities;  Family 

Baum:          Could  we  backtrack  a  bit  to  before  your  Mexican  experi 
ences  and  talk  about  what  the  rest  of  the  family  were  doing?   I  know 
you  were  involved  in  some  interesting  community  projects  in  Palo 
Alto,  Mrs.  Packard,  both  before  and  after  the  Mexican  stay.   Perhaps 

we  could  cover  those  at  this  point. 

Mrs. 

Packard:       When  we  first  left  Delhi  we  rented  a  house  at  1031  Shattuck 

Avenue  in  Berkeley,  near  Marin  Avenue.   We  lived  there  for  a  very 
short  time  —  maybe  three  or  four  months.   Emmy  Lou  went  to  the 
Oxford  School  that  spring.   Clara  was  taken  out  of  the  Turlock  High 
School  in  the  middle  of  the  spring  term.   She  was  only  thirteen,  so 
I  entered  her  in  a  private  school  on  The  Arlington,  owned  and  run 
by  Miss  Cora  Williams.   This  school  had  a  high  standing  and  she 
could  get  more  individual  attention  and  was  able  to  finish  her 


287 


Mrs. 
Packard : 


Baum: 

Mrs. 
Packard 


freshman  year  with  good  grades.   The  next  summer  the  bank  job 
opened  for  Walter  in  Palo  Alto  and  we  moved  down  there.   Clara 
entered  the  Palo  Alto  Union  High  School  as  a  sophomore. 

Emmy  Lou  had  not  been  too  well,  so  the  doctor  advised  sending 
her  to  school  only  half  a  day  so  she  could  rest  in  the  afternoon. 
She  was  always  battling  tuberculosis,  is  that  right? 

Not  exactly  --  she  had  an  infection  during  early  childhood  and 
Dr.  Pottenger  advised  giving  her  tuberculin  shots  to  build  up  im 
munity.   She  stayed  with  me  at  the  sanatorium  for  a  few  weeks. 
Later,  since  she  was  underweight  and  not  thriving,  he  took  her  back 
to  the  sanatorium  for  six  months  in  1919  and  she  almost  immediately 
began  to  gain  weight  and  came  back  to  Delhi  with  us  and  went  to 
school  there  during  our  stay  of  four  years. 

When  we  came  to  Palo  Alto  I  wanted  to  send  her  to  school  for 
half  a  day  so  she  could  rest  in  the  afternoons.   But  the  public 
schools  would  not  make  such  an  arrangement  and  advised  sending  her 
to  one  of  the  several  private  schools  in  Palo  Alto. 

I  inquired  around  and  was  advised  to  see  Mrs.  Frank  Duveneck 
who  was  interested  in  starting  a  new  school  in  which  a  number  of 
other  parents  had  joined  in  making  plans.  At  that  time,  the  John 
Dewey  idea  of  "progressive  education"  was  at  its  height  and  this 
group  had  been  studying  the  Montessori  method  and  also  were  very 
much  interested  in  Antioch  College  as  well  as  the  school  of  Mrs. 
Marietta  Johnson  in  Fairhope,  Alabama.  We  had  several  meetings 
and  I  remember  that  Dr.  Arthur  Morgan,  formerly  with  the  Tennessee 


288 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Valley  Authority  and  later  with  Antioch  College,  came  as  one  speaker. 

Mrs.  Marietta  Johnson  gave  a  series  of  lectures.  We  also  had  as  a 
speaker  Dr.  Lillien  Martin,  a  practicing  psychologist , who  had  retired 
from  the  Stanford  faculty  and  opened  up  a  consulting  office  for 
children  in  San  Francisco. 

With  this  broad  base  of  publicity,  the  Peninsula  School  was 
finally  opened  in  September,  1925,  in  the  old  Spring  Mansion  between 
Palo  Alto  and  Menlo  Park.   About  45  pupils  attended  that  first  year, 
with  many  of  the  mothers  helping  in  some  capacity.   Mrs.  Duveneck 
was  the  prime  mover  of  the  project  and  taught  classes.  We  hired  a 
few  teachers  of  recognized  standing  and  credentials.   Mrs.  Eliot 
Mears  taught  violin  and  viola  and  Mrs.  David  Webster  (Anna)  took 
over  the  art  classes.   There  was  always  special  emphasis  on  the 
arts—music,  painting,  and  writing,  as  well  as  the  three  r's--since 
the  children  had  to  finally  fit  into  the  public  school  system  when 
they  went  to  high  school.   I  kept  the  books,  collected  the  money 
and  paid  the  bills  for  two  years.   Mrs.  Mary  Deirup  taught  the 
ceramics  work  and  we  had  a  kiln  built  for  firing  the  pottery.   I 
still  have  a  dozen  grill  plates  made  by  Emmy  Lou  and  decorated 
with  Mexican  designs  after  our  three  years  in  Mexico. 

The  Peninsula  School  was  an  exciting  adventure  for  all  of  us 
who  were  connected  with  it.   It  was  a  very  controversial  subject 
around  town  and  became  the  bridge  table  controversy  over  a  period 
of  years,  as  was  all  so-called  "progressive  education"  which  was 
criticized  as  "letting  the  kids  do  as  they  pleased,"  "no  discipline," 
"too  much  freedom,"  "too  informal",  and  what  have  you. 


289 

Mrs. 

Packard:   But  being  free  of  hard  and  fast  schedules,  we  could  and  did  have 

special  visitors.   Some  of  the  San  Francisco  Symphony  members  came 
down  and  once  I  remember  we  took  our  students  up  to  a  practice  ses 
sion  of  the  symphony  when  Yehudi  Menuhin  was  the  guest  soloist.   I 
still  remember  him  as  a  nine  year  old,  standing  easily  and  without 
self -consciousness ,  slightly  on  the  chubby  side  and  playing  with 
the   skill  of  an  old  pro. 

Henry  Cowell  gave  another  of  our  programs  --  some  of  his  very 
far  out  and  modern  music  on  the  piano,  which  had  made  such  a  storm 
in  Europe.  Diego  Rivera  came  for  a  morning  with  Frieda  Kahlo,  his 
wife  --  this  was  following  our  stay  in  Mexico  when  Emmy  Lou  was  in 
the  high  school. 

Baum:     When  did  Emmy  Lou  begin  to  do  her  art  work? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  first  noticed  her  drawings  when  she  was  at  the  Pottenger  Sanatorium 

when  she  was  eight  years  old.   She  wrote  scrawly  letters  to  us  nearly 
every  day  and  usually  illustrated  them  with  some  sort  of  dog  (she 
was  always  fond  of  animals  --  especially  dogs  and  cats).   Often  it 
would  be  a  character  from  the  funny  papers,  but  her  own  version  of 
them,  not  an  exact  copy.   So  I  bought  colored  pencils  and  art  paper 
as  well  as  other  materials  to  encourage  this  trend  and  help  her  keep 
busy.   Also,  Walter  had  an  artist  cousin,  Miss  Bertha  Heise,  who  was 
an  art  teacher  in  the  Los  Angeles  schools.   She  gave  her  many  sug 
gestions  and  also  encouraged  her  to  keep  on  working.   Miss  Heise  was 
a  competent  artist  in  water  colors  and  pottery.   Some  of  her  pottery 
is  now  in  the  Smithsonian  Institute  as  samples  of  native  American 
pottery. 


290 

Baum:    The  Peninsula  School  must  have  been  a  good  place  for  her  to  develop 

this  talent. 

Mrs. 

Packard:  Yes,  it  was  one  of  the  reasons  why  I  joined  up  with  the  group.   Mrs. 

David  Webster  (Anna)  was  in  charge  of  this  art  work  and  she  encouraged 
every  child  to  at  least  try  to  express  himself  with  poster  paints  and 
other  materials.   Emmy  Lou  progressed  very  well  there,  so  was  ready 
for  the  Mexican  experience  when  we  went  down  there  at  the  time  when  the 
Mexican  School  of  Open  Air  painting  was  at  its  height,  and  the  "Big 
Three"  --  Diego  Rivera,  Jose  Clemente  Orozco  and  David  Siqueiros  were 
being  given  world-wide  publicity  for  their  works  of  art  during  the 
Calles  revolution  of  that  period.   Miss  Heise  was  also  well  aware  of 
this  and  gave  us  invaluable  information  about  who  was  who  and  what  to 
see,  before  Emmy  Lou  and  I  went  down  there  in  the  fall  of  1927  when 
our  family  finally  met  again  in  Mexico  City. 

About  the  end  of  our  two  years  in  Palo  Alto,  Emmy  Lou  was  ill 
and  Dr.  Russell  Lee  diagnosed  her  trouble  as  diabetes^   She  was 
twelve  years  old  and  probably  had  had  it  all  her  life  but  no  one 
had  detected  it.   Insulin  had  been  discovered  only  two  years  before, 
and  much  of  the  treatment  was  probably  in  the  experimental  stage. 
It  was  a  great  shock  to  us  --  I  had  thought  of  it  as  only  an  old  age 
trouble.   Her  grandfather  Packard  had  it  in  his  later  years  and  man 
aged  with  a  special  diet.   It  is  now  a  family  classic  that  Emmy  Lou 
wrote  her  father  who  was  in  Mexico  that  year,  "Dear  Daddy:   I  have 
diabetes.   I  got  it  from  Grandpa.   Love,  Emmy  Lou."  That  was  all  he 
knew  until  my  letter  came  the  next  day! 


291 


Baum:    What  did  you  do  about  the  diabetes? 


Mrs. 

Packard:  Dr.  Lee  advised  sending  her  to  Stanford  Hospital  in  San  Francisco  for 

further  diagnosis  and  adjusting  to  diet,  but  he  tried  doing  it  at  home 
for  a  while.   About  that  time,  Dr.  Lillien  Martin  had  been  lecturing 
on  children's  problems  and  I  had  consulted  her  --  she  at  once  told  me 
of  the  Children's  Diabetic  Clinic  at  the  Santa  Barbara  Cottage  Hospital 
which  was  run  by  Dr.  William  Sansum.   Walter  came  home  from  Mexico 
for  Clara's  high  school  graduation  and  after  long  discussions,  we  de 
cided  to  send  Emmy  Lou  down  to  the  clinic. 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  we  sold  the  house,  stored  our  goods 
and  Walter  left  for  Mexico,  taking  Clara  with  him.   He  had  a  contract 
to  work  for  the  Comision  Nacional  de  Irrigacion  in  Mexico  City  and  we 
were  to  join  him  as  soon  as  we  could  get  Emmy  Lou  adjusted  to  her 
routine. 

I  spent  a  month  there  at  Santa  Barbara  and  attended  classes  for 
parents  whose  children  were  in  the  clinic.   It  was  one  of  the  most 
profitable  experiences  and  gave  both  Emmy  Lou  and  me  the  knowledge 
and  confidence  to  go  on  facing  a  lifetime  of  insulin  injections  for 
her,  and  the  skill  of  managing  her  own  diet,  which  she  has  always  done. 

That  ended  her  first  session  at  the  Peninsula  School.   When  we 
returned  from  Mexico,  she  went  into  the  high  school  with  half  a  dozen 
other  girls  and  they  had  a  good  time  together.   But  the  Peninsula 
Board  decided  it  was  too  small  a  group  and  closed  it  down.   Most  of 
the  girls  went  to  Palo  Alto  High  School,  but  we  were  living  in  the 
district  of  Sequoia  Union  High  School  in  Redwood  City.   So,  Emmy  Lou 


292 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


Baum: 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


Baum: 

Mrs. 
Packard ; 


went  there  one  year  and  graduated,  and  the  next  year  entered  the 
University  of  California  where  Clara  was  already  in  her  second  year. 
How  could  you  risk  taking  Emmy  Lou  to  a  place  like  Mexico  where  there 
is  so  much  risk  of  intestinal  infections? 

Dr.  Sansum  gave  us  confidence  to  do  this  as  he  assured  us  that  once 
we  and  Emmy  Lou,  as  well,  had  learned  the  techniques  of  diet  in  rela 
tion  to  insulin  patients,  she  was  as  well  off  there  as  anywhere  else 
with  proper  precautions.   After  I  had  finished  up  the  business  details 
of  selling  the  house  and  leaving  Palo  Alto,  I  went  to  Santa  Barbara 
and  spent  a  month  there  in  a  room  adjacent  to  the  Cottage  Hospital. 
There  was  a  rather  large  group  of  diabetic  children  there,  and  Dr. 
Sansum  gave  lectures  every  day  to  the  parents  about  the  basic  prob 
lems  of  normal  diet,  as  well  as  the  management  of  insulin  patients, 
that  was  invaluable  to  all  of  us.   He  taught  the  children  also  --  he 
had  a  theory  that  most  diabetic  children  have  a  more  than  average  I.Q. 
But  at  any  rate,  they  learned  rapidly  to  understand  their  problems 
and  it  was  not  too  long  before  Emmy  Lou  could  give  herself  the  twice 
daily  shots  of  insulin. 
Was  her  diet  so  different  from  yours? 

No.   Dr.  Sansum1 s  theory  was  that  children  especially  need  a  normal 
diet  during  their  growing-up  period.   So  he  taught  them  and  their 
parents  the  types  of  food  they  needed  and  then  balanced  this  with  a 
big  enough  insulin  dose  to  digest  the  food.   In  the  earlier  treat 
ments,  too  liberal  amounts  of  fats  were  given  for  calories,  since 
fats  do  not  require  insulin  --  only  the  carbohydrates  and  some  protein. 
When  we  came  back  to  Palo  Alto  after  our  return  from  Mexico,  a 


293 

Mrs. 

Packard:   community  theatre  had  been  started.   Emmy  Lou  and  I  went  over  and 

worked  in  that  while  Walter  was  away  on  a  six  months  consulting  job 
in  Seattle.   There  was  also  a  community  forum  which  met  at  the  Palo 
Alto  Community  House,  near  the  old  Southern  Pacific  Station.   It 
was  led  by  Judge  Jackson  Ralston,  and  Lieutenant  Commander  Stewart 
Bryant  was  another  member  of  the  committee.   I  was  on  the  committee, 
and  I  did  the  publicity  for  the  Palo  Alto  Times.   We  had  many  speakers 
who  would  come  to  speak  on  the  background,  the  reasons  for  the  de 
pression  and  the  problems  of  the  times.   Judge  Ralston,  being  a 
member  of  the  Commonwealth  Club,  often  could  get  friends  of  his  who 
were  speaking  at  the  Commonwealth  Club  to  come  down.   Sometimes 
they'd  come  as  his  guests.   We  had  no  money  to  pay  anybody.   And 
this  was  at  a  time  during  the  depression  where  there  were  bread  lines 
in  Palo  Alto.   People  were  just  drifting  along  the  highways  trying  to 
find  a  job  or  a  place  to  sleep. 

There  was  a  very  active  committee  in  Palo  Alto  which  was  led  by 
an  army  captain  who  lived  in  San  Mateo,  which  organized  a  work  place 
where  people  could  work,  cutting  mill  ends  which  had  been  donated 
for  kindling.   There  was  quite  a  market  for  that. 

Baum:     This  was  to  provide  jobs? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   To  provide  jobs,  to  bring  a  little  money  in,  to  keep  the  bread  lines 

fed,  and  to  provide  jobs  for  those  who  were  willing  to  work  and  help 
in  the  temporary  kitchen  that  was  set  up  to  take  care  of  this  problem. 
This  lumber  was  often  from  wrecked  houses  and  things  that  didn't  cut 
up  evenly  and  the  army  captain  said,  "the  trouble  with  these  people 


294 

Mrs. 

Packard:   is  that  they  want  pretty  kindling  wood.   They  don't  buy  this  stuff." 

He  was  completely  indignant  at  this. 

Several  people  like  Waldo  Salt  and  Jimmy  Sandoe,  who  is  now  in 
charge  of  the  Shakespeare  Theatre  up  in  Ashland,  Oregon,  along  with 
several  Stanford  students,  used  to  work  in  our  community  theatre. 
There  was  also  a  paid  director,  Reidar  Torgussen.   Among  others  who 
enjoyed  this  amateur  theatre  work  was  Burton  Cairns,  then  a  senior 
at  the  University  of  California  School  of  Architecture.   This  was  the 
first  meeting  place  and  association  with  Burton,  who  later  became  our 
son-in-law  when  he  and  Emmy  Lou  were  married  in  September,  1934,  at 
the  beginning  of  her  junior  year  at  the  University  of  California. 


295 


AGRICULTURAL  ADJUSTMENT  ADMINISTRATION,  1933-1934 
Marketing  Agreement  Program  for  the  Pacific  Coast 

Packard:       After  my  return  from  a  trip  to  Mexico  in  the  fall  of  1933  to 

salvage  what  I  could  from  my  dust  bowl  farming  operation  in  Durango, 
I  had  an  interview  with  Dr.  Harry  Wellman  who,  with  Howard  Tolley, 
had  been  working  on  the  problem  of  balancing  demand  and  supply  in 
the  fruit  industry  in  California.   The  Agricultural  Adjustment  Ad 
ministration  had  been  organized  and  Dr.  Wellman  was  in  charge  of 
operations  on  the  Pacific  Coast.   Although  marketing  was  not  in  my 
field  I  had  had  basic  training  in  economics  and  was  offered  a  posi 
tion  which  nominally  put  me  in  charge  of  marketing  agreements  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.   I  was  sent  to  Washington  for  a  training  course  in 
marketing  under  Dr.  Wellman1 s  direction.   After  a  month  or  so  I  re 
turned  to  California  where  what  I  did  was  quite  properly,  closely 
supervised  by  Dr.  Wellman. 

Baum:     Now  you  were  going  to  be  in  charge  of  marketing  agreements? 

Packard:   Yes. 

Baum:     Through  Northern  California? 

Packard:   No,  the  entire  Pacific  Coast.   Although  hops  and  pears  were  the  only 

crops  outside  of  California  that  were  included  in  the  marketing  agree 
ment  program. 

The  whole  approach  to  the  marketing  problem  appealed  to  me  very 
much  at  the  time,  although  years  later  I  felt  that  the  A. A. A.  program 


296 

Packard:   tended  to  throw  too  much  control  into  the  hands  of  the  large  opera 
tors.   In  the  end  I  believed  the  action  taken  by  the  Supreme  Court 
was  correct.   I  was  very  favorably  impressed  by  the  fact  that  both 
labor  and  consumer  interests  were  represented  in  all  hearings  pre 
ceding  the  creation  of  any  marketing  agreement.   Many  prominent 
farmers  objected  strenuously  to  this  infringement  of  what  they  con 
sidered  to  be  their  private  rights  as  growers.   The  labor  and  con 
sumer  representative  usually  got  along  well  together  and  were  re 
sponsible  for  many  constructive  features  of  the  agreements  that 
were  consummated. 

The  first  agreement  covered  the  peach  industry.   This  interested 
me  very  much  because  as  superintendent  of  the  Delhi  Land  Settlement 
project  I  had  been  advised  by  the  University  advisors  to  urge  settlers 
to  plant  cling  peaches  for  the  canning  industry.   Ten  years  later  I 
was  advised  by  other  University  specialists  that  thousands  of  peach 
trees  would  have  to  be  destroyed  to  bring  production  within  range  of 
marketing  possibilities.   In  fact,  in  the  spring  of  1934,  340,000 
tons  of  peaches  were  allowed  to  rot  on  the  ground  in  order  to  get  a 
paying  price  for  the  peaches  that  could  be  sold.   The  program  was  a 
success.   The  farmers  received  over  six  million  dollars  for  their 
1934  crop  in  contrast  to  a  total  of  about  one  million  dollars  for 
the  crop  the  year  before. 

Baum:     I  know  the  University  advisors'  job  was  to  grow  more  and  better  crops. 
Marketing  was  not  so  much  their  problem. 

Packard:   The  depression  and  over-production  of  some  crops  certainly  drew  at 
tention  to  the  need  for  a  careful  census  of  plantings  in  relation  to 


297 

Packard:   potential  markets  and  prices. 

Baum:     I  think  the  depression  started  the  new  subject  of  agricultural  econ 
omics  . 

Packard:   Yes,  I  think  that  is  true.   Howard  Tolley  was  taken  from  the  marketing 
organization  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  to  head 
the  newly  established  Giannini  Foundation  of  the  College  of  Agricul 
ture  of  the  University  of  California.   The  creation  of  the  A. A. A. 
created  the  machinery  through  which  a  fantastic  educational  campaign 
in  marketing  could  be  launched.   Well  attended  farmers'  meetings  all 
over  the  state  were  addressed  by  economists  who  discussed  demand  and 
supply  relationships,  and  the  need  for  cooperation  toward  a  common 

goal. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  remember  one  incident  that  happened  in  Hollister.   Mr.  Frank  Swett 

was  in  charge  of  the  Pear  Grower's  Association  at  the  time.   He  and 
Mrs.  Swett  went  with  us  to  a  meeting  in  Hollister  where  Mr.  Packard 
and  Mr.  Swett  were  to  explain  the  government  plan  to  the  farmers  of 
limiting  their  crop  sales  to  get  better  prices.   The  audience  of 
fruit  growers  was  very  hostile  about  the  plan  and  booed  Mr.  Packard  -- 
much  to  Mr.  Swett 's  indignation.   I  do  not  remember  the  outcome,  if 
they  signed  agreements  or  not. 

Baum:     Were  the  farmers  satisfied? 

Packard:   Those  who  survived  were  very  much  pleased.   But  the  interests  of  the 
sub-marginal  growers  could  not  be  salvaged.   The  sub-marginal  growers 
were  forced  out  of  the  peach  industry  as  a  result  of  over-production 
in  relation  to  the  market. 


298 

Packard:       I  should  add,  however,  that  although  the  peach  growers  as  a 

class  were  pleased,  they  would  not  agree  to  sell  any  of  the  surplus 
to  the  W.P.A.  for  canning  for  those  on  relief.   The  W.P.A.  offered 
a  price  of  six  dollars  per  ton  to  cover  the  cost  of  picking,  but 
the  farmers  at  a  meeting  in  Marysville  voted  to  let  peaches  rot  on 
the  ground  rather  than  let  them  go  to  the  W.P.A.,  even  though  the 
W.P.A.  peaches  were  to  be  given  to  the  migrants  from  the  dustbowl. 
I  attended  this  meeting  and  argued  for  W.P.A.  and  was  really  very 
angry  over  the  outcome.   But  all  was  not  lost.   Many  individual 
growers  made  individual  contracts  with  W.P.A.  which  resulted  in  the 
canning  of  many  hundreds  of  tons  of  peaches  which  were  given  to  the 
hungry  migrants  from  the  dust  bowl. 

Baum:     Do  you  remember  who  was  in  charge  of  the  peach  growers  then? 

Packard:   No,  I  don't  remember. 

Baum:     The  peach  growers  had  some  kind  of  difficulty,  hadn't  they,  with 
their  association? 

Packard:   There  was  one  incident  involving  a  cooperative  cannery. 

This  cooperative  cannery  was  the  only  agency  among  all  the  agen 
cies  that  tried  to  sneak  fruit  through  at  night.   They  were  caught 
sending  several  carloads  of  fruit  out  of  the  warehouses  at  night  and 
trucking  it  down  to  San  Francisco.   But  that  was  the  only  agency  in 
the  whole  outfit  that  was  caught    doing  a  thing  of  that  kind. 

Baum:     They  weren't  living  up  to  the  agreement. 

Packard:   That's  right. 

Representatives  of  canners  and  other  processors  attended  all  of 
the  marketing  hearings  in  which  they  were  directly  interested. 


299 

Packard:   Marketing  agreements  were  proposed  for  peaches,  pears,  prunes, 
wine  grapes,  raisins  and  hops,  but  not  all  of  them  were  consum 
mated. 

The  hearings  were  conducted  by  representatives  of  the  Agricul 
tural  Adjustment  Administration  from  the  Washington  office.   Dr. 
Wellman  was  the  controlling  figure.   He  had  the  confidence  of  both 
growers  and  processors.   One  feature  of  the  hearings  which  interested 
me  was  the  fact  that  consumer  and  labor  representatives  from  the  A. A. A. 
staff  participated  in  all  hearings,  and  contributed  greatly  to  their 
basic  meaning.   The  objectives  were  not  only  to  secure  profits  for 
growers  and  processors,  but  also  to  protect  the  interests  of  both 
consumers  and  labor.   This  feature  of  the  program  was  not  adopted 
without  some  very  determined  opposition  from  large  growers  who,  in 
some  instances,  threatened  to  withdraw  if  labor  and  consumer  interests 
were  included. 

Baum:     Didn't  raisins  present  a  special  problem? 

Packard:   Yes.   Planting  of  raisin  grape  vineyards  extended  far  beyond  any 

possible  demand  for  raisins.   One  reason  for  this  was  that  an  elab 
orate  plan  for  marketing  raisins  cooperatively  had  been  worked  out. 
Ralph  Merritt,  one  of  the  stars  of  the  College  of  Agriculture,  be 
came  head  of  the  enterprise  at  a  salary  of  $50,000  per  year.   The 
future  looked  rosy  under  this  optimistic  leadership.   But  at  the 
time  of  the  hearing  on  the  proposed  marketing  agreement,  boxes  of 
unsold  raisins  were  piled  twenty  feet  high  covering  large  lots  and 
a  large  number  of  raisin  growers  faced  loss  of  their  farms.   Thou 
sands  of  farms  during  this  period  were  taken  over  by  the  banks. 


300 

Baum:     Didn't  they  tear  out  a  lot  of  vineyards  then?  And  wasn't  cotton 

substituted? 
Packard:   Yes,  that  is  true.   World  War  II  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the 

expansion  of  the  cotton  plantings. 

San  Francisco  General  Strike,  Summer  1934 

Baum:     Didn't  the  General  Strike  in  the  Bay  Area  occur  about  that  time? 

Packard:   Yes,  it  did,  and  I  had  a  chance  to  see  the  issue  from  two  points  of 
view.   I  was  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Canner's  Association  in  San 
Francisco  when  word  came  in  that  violence  had  started  on  the  water 
front.   Without  any  motion  to  adjourn  the  men  present  left  the  meeting 
with  expressions  of  rage  and  a  determination  to  fight  back.   As  I  re 
call  it,  this  was  on  what  came  to  be  called  "Bloody  Thursday". 

The  second  incident  concerned  the  labor  interest.   A  meeting  had 
been  called  in  Berkeley  where  Dr.  George  Medley  was  to  tell  of  his 
experience  in  his  contact  with  the  striking  workers  in  San  Francisco. 
The  meeting  was  held  in  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  Berkeley, 
but  was  not  well  attended  because  people  were  afraid.   At  the  close 
of  the  meeting,  a  badly  crippled  man  who  was  conducting  a  left  wing 
philosopher's  school  in  Oakland,  called  out,  asking  the  men  to  re 
main  because  he  was  threatened  with  violence.   I  knew  the  man,  whose 
name  I  can't  remember.   I  had  spoken  at  one  of  his  open  air  meetings, 
as  had  several  University  of  California  professors.   I  quite  naturally 
went  down  to  see  him.   He  pointed  to  two  men  in  the  back  of  the  room 
and  said  that  these  men  had  threatened  him.   A  group  of  us  surrounded 
these  two  men  and  asked  them  what  they  were  doing.   They  became  ap- 


301 

Packard:   prehensive  and  moved  to  the  door.   As  we  emerged  onto  the  grass 
outside  Emma  felt  something  hit  her  foot.   It  was  a  large  monkey 
wrench  with  a  wrist  band  attached  that  had  been  dropped  by  one  of 
the  men.   We  held  them  and  called  the  police.   But  instead  of  the 
police,  a  group  of  Berkeley  Nationals  showed  up.   These  were  civili 
ans  who  had  been  deputized  because  of  wild  rumors  that  trouble  was 
brewing.   They  had  official  arm  bands  and  demanded  custody  of  the 
men  who  were  released. 

That  was  the  night  when  the  Finnish  Hall  in  Berkeley  was  ran 
sacked  by  a  mob  of  direct  actionists.   It  cost  the  city  of  Berkeley 
$3,000  to  repair  the  damage.   We  have  Kodak  pictures  of  the  wrecked 
Finnish  Hall. 

Baum:     Let's  see,  these  Nationals  came  and  then  did  the  gentleman  get  home 
safely  or  what? 

Packard:   The  two  accused  men  were  released  because  there  was  nothing  to  ac 
cuse  them  of.   They  hadn't  done  anything. 

Baum:     I  didn't  realize  that  feeling  was  so  tense  here  in  BerMey. 

Packard:   It  certainly  was.   Bricks,  with  menacing  notes  attached,  were  thrown 

through  the  windows  of  some  who  had  expressed  sympathy  for  the  strikers. 

We,  like  the  whole  Bay  Area,  were  inconvenienced  by  the  General 
Strike.   Store  supplies  dwindled  rapidly  as  people  bought  non- 
perishables  for  storage  in  case  the  strike  lasted  for  a  long  time. 
We  managed  to  get  gas  and  supplies  by  driving  into  the  country  beyond 
the  area  affected  by  the  strike  where  we  were  able  to  get  what  we 
needed.   We  were  living  in  Dr.  Wellman's  house  at  that  time.   The 
Wellmans  were  in  Washington.   We  had  Dr.  Carl  Sauer  as  a  next  door 
neighbor,  which  resulted  in  a  lasting  friendship. 


302 

RURAL  RESETTLEMENT  ADMINISTRATION,  REGIONAL  AND  NATIONAL 
DIRECTOR,  1935  -  1938 

Director  of  Region  9 

Purposes  i)l"  Rural  Rc'Hetl:  Icmrnt  Administration 

Packard:       My  assignment  with  the  Agricultural  Adjustment  Administration 
ended  with  the  establishment  of  the  Resettlement  Administration 
which,  in  a  sense,  supplemented  the  work  of  the  A. A. A.,  which  was 
concerned  with  the  overall  problems  of  supply  and  demand,  markets 
and  prices.   The  Resettlement  Administration's  concern  was  centered 
in  the  plight  of  the  low  income  farmer,  the  sub-marginal  producer, 
and  the  migratory  farm  workers,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  were  vic 
tims  of  both  the  depression  and  the  dust  bowl.   Dr.  Rexford  Guy 
Tugwell,  administrator  of  the  new  organization  had  the  following  to 
say  in  his  first  annual  report:   "The  economic  depression  placed 
more  than  a  million  farm  families  on  the  relief  rolls.   Farm  fore 
closures,  bankruptcies,  and  unprecedented  low  prices  for  agricul 
tural  products  caused  many  farmers,  normally  self-sustaining,  to  ask 
for  aid.   But  a  large  segment  of  the  rural  relief  population  was 
constituted  of  families  who  even  in  good  times  had  been  living  close 
to  the  poverty  level.   These  families  were  primarily  the  victims  of 
n  fundamental  maladjustment  between  our  people  and  our  mate-rial  re 
sources.   They  were  the  victims  of  trends  which  had  manifested  them 
selves  over  a  long  period  of  years.   The  recovery  measures  instituted 
by  the  government  which  brought  a  majority  of  the  rural  population 


303 

Packard:   "back  to  a  self-sustaining  basis,  still  left  these  families  groping 

with  overwhelming  forces.   The  poverty  of  this  section  of  the  popula 
tion  is  costly  to  tlu-  people  of  the  nation.   In  keeping  them  on  re 
lief,  other  American  citizens  have  been  paying  out  hundreds  of  mil 
lions  of  dollars  each  year.   Yet  this  money,  while  it  served  a 
humanitarian  purpose  of  keeping  these  men,  women,  and  children  from 
starvation,  has  done  little  to  remedy  the  causes  of  their  condition. 
Despite  public  aid,  they  have  remained  outside  our  economic  system 
made  up  of  producing  and  consuming  members.   Schools,  roads,  and 
other  public  services,  not  to  mention  their  fundamental  needs  have 
been  paid  for  by  our  taxpayers." 

Baum:     So,  resettl  enient  was  designed  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  lowest 
income  segment  of  those  dependent  upon  agriculture. 

Packard:   Yes,  in  essence  that  is  true. 

Baum:     Wasn't  there  an  official  policy  statement  made  when  the  Resettlement 
Administration  was  created? 

Packard:   Yes.   In  the  Presidential  Executive  Order  of  April  30,  1935  three 
major  functions  were  designated.   The  new  organization  was"to  ad 
minister  approved  projects  involving  the  resettlement  of  destitute 
or  low  income  families,  in  both  rural  and  urban  areas.   It  was  em 
powered  to  carry  out  a  series  of  land  conservation  projects.   Finally 
it  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  helping  farm  families  on  relief  be 
come  independent  by  extending  to  them  both  financial  and  technical 
assistance. " 

Baum:     How  did  you  get  involved? 


304 

Packard:   I,  along  with  many  others  from  various  parts  of  the  country,  went 
to  Washington  to  be  interviewed  by  Dr.  Tugwell  and  his  administra 
tive  staff.   The  initial  plan  was  to  have  two  directors  in  each  of 
nine  regions  covering  the  United  States;  one  to  be  in  charge  of  rural 
rehabilitation,  including  the  purchase  of  sub-marginal  lands  and  the 
other  to  be  in  charge  of  the  resettlement  projects.   As  it  happened, 
both  Dr.  Carl  Taylor,  Director  of  Resettlement  and  Dr.  L.C.  Gray, 
Director  of  Rural  Rehabilitation,  wanted  me  to  be  their  representative 
in  Region  9,  which  included  the  southwestern  states  of  California, 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  and  Nevada.   Dr.  Tugwell,  therefore,  de 
cided  to  try  the  experiment  of  having  only  one  director  in  a  region, 
by  appointing  me  as  the  Director  of  Region  9.   The  plan  worked  out  so 
well  that  one  director  replaced  the  two-man  plan  in  all  regions  at 
the  beginning  of  the  new  year. 

The  goal  of  the  Rural  Rehabilitation  Division  was  not  merely  to 
help  destitute  farm  families  obtain  the  minimum  of  food  and  clothing 
during  this  year  and  next,  but  to  help  make  them  once  more  independent. 
Every  family  for  whom  a  successful  rehabilitation  plan  was  worked  out, 
was  a  family  taken  off  the  public  relief  rolls.   This  work  was  the 
largest  element  in  the  rural  program  of  the  Resettlement  Administra 
tion.   Some  500,000  farm  families  were  affected.   The  care  of  these 
families  occupied  the  full  time  of  the  largest  division  of  the  Re 
settlement  Administration,  which  maintained  a  small  Washington  force, 
and  an  organization  which  reached  into  every  state. 

Baum:     Rehabilitation  was  to  keep  them  on  the  same  farm? 


305 

Packard:   Yes,  that  is  correct.   One  of  the  most  effective  phases  of  the 

program  was  directed  by  trained  home  demonstration  agents  who  pro 
moted  the  production  of  home  gardens,  raising  chickens,  and  canning 
fruits  ami  vegetables  for  winter  use.   The  money  value  of  the  work 
clone  by  many  farm  women  exceeded  the  cash  return  from  the  farming 
operations.   The  tenant  purchase  and  the  school  lunch  programs  grew 
out  of  the  work  of  this  division. 

The  Resettlement  Division,  in  contrast,  was  organized  to  help 
landless  farmers  buy  farms  on  which  they  could  make  a  satisfactory 
living.   I  became  National  Director  of  this  division  after  six 
months  in  Region  9  and  will  have  more  to  say  about  it  when  I  get 
to  that  point. 

The  sub-marginal  land  purchase  program  was  designed  to  take 
low  producing  land  out  of  cultivation  and  to  develop  it  for  other 
purposes:   grazing,  reforestation,  recreation,  and  the  like.   This 
sort  of  work  was  taken  over  later  by  the  Soil  Conservation  Service. 

Baum:     It  cut  down  overproduction  a  little,  I  suppose. 

Packard:   Yes.   The  actual  effect  on  production  was  slight  because  none  of 
the  land  was  producing  much  for  the  market. 

Another  important  division  of  the  Resettlement  Administration 
was  responsible  for  the  Green  Belt  town  planning  program.   The 
principles  involved  in  this  program  have  had  a  profound  influence 
in  town  planning  ever  since. 

Baum:     Weren't  there  a  number  of  conflicts  of  interest  created  by  the  es 
tablishment  of  this  new  organization? 


306 

Packard:   Yes,  that's  true.   A  number  of  relief  agencies  were  brought  to 
gether  in  Washington.   In  general  it  was  evident  that  the  job  of 
reducing  the  rural  relief  load  was  essentially  different  from  that 
of  providing  jobs  for  disemployed  workers  in  industrial  work. 
Setting  Up  Region  9 

After  a  week  or  ten  days  of  intense  briefing  covering  details 
of  both  the  work  to  be  done  and  the  organization  to  be  set  up,  I  re 
turned  to  Berkeley  and  opened  the  regional  headquarters  in  the  Mer 
cantile  Building  in  Berkeley.   Each  of  the  five  states  in  Region  9 
had  its  own  organization. 

Baum:  How  was  your  office  organized?  I  wonder  if  you  got  most  of  your 
people  from  the  University. 

Packard:   My  office,  as  Regional  Director,  was  largely  supervisional.   We  also 
handled  the  financing.   The  state  organizations  did  most  of  the  work. 
Most  of  the  personnel  in  California  were  graduated  from  Cal,  but  I 
don't  recall  that  any  one  resigned  from  the  University  to  join  the 
Resettlement  staff.   Paul  Taylor  was  of  tremendous  help  in  the 
migrant  labor  program,  but  he  served  as  an  advisor  rather  than  a 
federal  employee. 

Baum:  Didn't  you  take  over  most  of  the  work  that  had  been  developed  by 
the  State  Relief  Administration  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Dewey 
Anderson? 

Packard:   Yes.   Harry  Drobish,  who  was  Director  of  the  Rural  Rehabilitation 

Division  of  the  State  Relief  Administration,  became  the  Director  of 
the  Rehabilitation  Division  of  the  State  Resettlement  Administration 


3'07 

Packard:   organization.   I  had  known  Drobish  when  he  was  Farm  Advisor  in 

Placer  County  and  had  a  great  deal  of  respect  for  his  ability.   I 
appointed  Jonathan  Garst  as  Director  of  the  Resettlement  Division. 
T  hail  worki'tl  with  Carst  when  wo  wore-  both  employed  by  the  State 
Market  Director.   T  also  appointed  Mr.  Frank  Swett  as  a  Regional 
Supervisor,  in  charge  of  approving  loans  to  cooperative  organiza 
tions.   Frank  had  been  Director  of  the  California  Pear  Grower's 
Association  and  was  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  credit  field. 

Another  responsibility  of  the  Regional  Office  which  deserves 
special  mention  was  concerned  with  the  building  program.   I  selected 
Joseph  Weston  as  head  of  the  architectural  staff.   He  had  been  in 
charge  of  the  building  program  on  a  low  cost  semi-rural  subdivision 
in  Southern  California,  which  had  proved  to  be  very  successful. 
Weston  employed  my  son-in-law,  Hurt  on  Cairns,  and  Vernon  DeMars ,  a.s 
his  assistants.   This  group,  together  with  Maude  Wilson,  home  econ 
omist  from  the  Oregon  State  College,  were  in  charge  of  the  building 
programs,  including  the  construction  work  on  the  labor  camps  and  on 
all  resettlement  projects  in  the  Region.   This  included  selection  of 
sites,  purchase  of  land,  design  of  buildings  and  community  services, 
letting  of  bids,  and  supervision  of  construction.   Maude  Wilson's 
contribution  concerned  the  very  human  side  of  house  planning.   Her 
specialty  was  the  arrangement  and  management  of  kitchens.   They 
used  a  groat  many  of  her  idoas  concerning  flow  of  work,  utilization 
of  space,  getting  your  sink  the  right  height,  and  any  number  of 
tricks.   Slio's  written  n  number  of  books. 


308 

Packard:       Shortly  after  the  regional  and  state  staffs  were  organized 

a  conference  was  held  in  Salt  Lake  City  where  Dr.  Carl  Taylor  and 
Dr.  L.C.  Cray  outlined  the  policies  to  be  followed  and  discussed 
the  programs  oT  work  that  were-  In-lng  formulated.   With  these  pre 
liminaries  out  of  tho  wuy ,  the  real  work  began. 

Baum:     Now,  what  was  the  program  for  California? 

Packard:   The  greatest  emphasis  in  California  was  On  handling  the  migrant 
labor  problem. 

Baum:     Oh,  is  that  right?   I  didn't  realize  that  came  under  Resettlement. 

Packard:   Yes.   That  was  the  principal  activity  in  California. 

Migratory  Farm  Laborers  and  Labor  Camps 

Baum:     Then  the  studies  that  came  out  of  your  office  when  you  were  Di 
rector  of  Region  9  were  to  point  out  what  the  difficult  conditions 
were  that  made  the  work  of  the  Resettlement  Administration  necessary, 
and  particularly  in  California? 

Packard:   Yes.   This  was  perfectly  natural  because  the  intensified  nature  of 
California  agriculture  required  a  large  number  of  seasonal  workers. 
We  had  the  advantage  of  numerous  studies  made  by  the  state  relief 
organization.   Dr.  Paul  Taylor's  work  was  particularly  helpful. 
Most  of  the  migrants  coming  into  California  during  the  early  '30s 
were  destitute  people.   They  had  nothing  except  what  they  could 
carry  in  their  cars.   They  left  their  farms  in  the  dust  bowl  and 
were  dependent  wholly  on  what  they  could  get  as  itinerant  workers. 
And  they  were  living  on  ditch  banks  and  along  river  bottoms,  wherever 
they  could  find  a  water  supply  and  some  shade.   And  it  represented 


309 

Packard:   a  very  deplorable  condition.   There  was  no  single  group  in  the 

state  at  that  time  that  was  suffering  more  than  these  agricultural 
migrant  workers  who  had  come  to  California  looking  for  some  way  of 
getting  re-established.   As  a  result  the  state  of  California,  first 
through  tlie  State  Relief  Administration,  became  very  conscious  of 
the  fact  that  .something  had  to  be  done  Cor  these  migrant  workers. 

Dr.  Paul  Taylor,  economist  of  the  University  of  California 
and  a  careful  student  of  labor  problems,  had  this  to  say: 

The  spread  of  an  industrial  labor  pattern  is  an  outstanding 
fact  in  the  history  of  farming  in  California.   Intensifica 
tion  of  agriculture  constituted  the  physical  basis  for  the 
shift  from  dependence  upon  laborers  of  family  farm  hand  type 
to  dependence  on  unstable  industrial  masses  of  hand  workers. 
The  value  of  intensive  crops  represented  less  than  four  per 
cent  of  a  total  value  of  California  crops  produced  in  1879. 
By  1929  only  a  half  century  later,  intensive  crops  repre 
sented  practically  four-fifths  of  the  total.   Demand  for 
farm  labor  in  California  is  not  only  heavy  because  of  in 
tensive  crop  production,  it  is  also  concentrated  to  a  marked 
degree  because  the  scale  of  farm  operations  --  the  large  farm 
is  very  pre-eminent  in  the  rural  economy.   And  the  large 
grower  exercises  great  influence  in  the  councils  of  agri 
cultural  employers.   More  than  one-third  of  all  large  scale 
farms  in  the  entire  country  are  located  in  California  in 
1930.    This  is  from  Rural  Sociology,  ,Vol.  1,  No.  4. 

Baum:     And  what's  the  name  of  the  article? 

Packard:   "Contemporary  Background  of  California  Farm  Labor"  by  Paul  S. 
Taylor  and  Tom  Vaseg. 

The  reason  for  concentrating  on  the  plight  of  the  migrant 
farm  workers  was  further  analyzed  by  Eric  Thompson,  regional 
sociologist,  in  a  paper  on  "Why  Plan  Security  for  the  Migrant 
Worker?"  read  before  the  California  Conference  of  Social  Workers 
In  San  .lo.-ie,  May  [2,  \<n? . 


310 


The  labor  demand  for  resident  migrant  workers  in 
California  agriculture  was  officially  estimated  at 
from  46,448  in  January  to  193,349  in  September.   Last 
year  (1936)  84,000  migrant  workers  entered  the  state 
of  California  in  search  of  work.   Eighty- five  per  cent 
of  them  were  from  the  drought  states.   Nevertheless, 
there  was  a  shortage  of  workers  In  some  areas  for  the 
demnml  for  labor  was  growing  tremendously  because  of 
the  expansion  of  certain  crops.   The  total  irrigated 
area  more  than  quadrupled  from  1890-1930.   Our  truck 
acreage,  for  example,  has  trebled  since  the  war.   Sugar 
beets  more  than  doubled  during  the  1920s,  cotton  in 
creased  150%,  4007o  to  yield.   Cotton  acreage  is  still 
increasing  rapidly,  and  is  one  of  the  major  reasons  for 
the  constant  influx  at  the  ratio  of  some  two  hundred  a 
day  of  workers  from  Texas,  Oklahoma,  Arkansas,  and  other 
cotton  states. 

Packard:   Gregory  Silvermaster,  at  that  time,  statistician  for  the  California 
State  Department  of  Labor  Statistics,  prepared  two  reports  at  the 
time  of  the  agricultural  strikes  in  California  in  1933  in  an  at 
tempt  to  analyze  the  basic  characteristics  of  the  California  ag 
ricultural  economy. 

Baum:     Wasn't  Silvermaster  accused  of  being  a  communist  and  thrown  out  of 
the  department? 

Packard:   That  occurred  some  years  later  in  Washington.   In  my  contacts  with 
him  I  found  him  to  be  a  very  keen  observer,  fully  dedicated  to  the 
public  interest.   Copies  of  his  and  many  other  papers  and  reports 
are  in  my  files. 

The  camps  established  by  the  R.R.A.  were  more  elaborate  than 
the  ones  that  had  been  established  by  the  state.   Some  of  them  in 
cluded  labor  homes  where  the  family  would  be  on  an  area  of  an  acre 
and  a  half  or  two  acres  and  would  be  a  part-time  farmer.   And  some 
had  one  room  shelters  that  were  more  or  less  permanent.   Then  there 


311 

Packard:   wort-  a  vory  largo  number  of  tent  platforms  and  trailer  spaces, 
where  people  with  trailers  would  come  in  to  camp.   There  were 
thirteen  camps  established  from  the  beginning  and  up  to  1940  in 
California  and  five  in  Arizona.   Five  mobile  camps  which  could  be 
moved  as  the  demand  arose,  were  established  in  California  and  one 
in  Arizona.   A  detailed  record  is  presented  in  the  following 
memorandum:   (see  page  following) 

Baum:     Was  this  true  in  most  regions  of  the  United  States,  that  estab 
lishing  labor  camps  was  a  major  part  of  their  Resettlement  Ad 
min  1st  rat  I  on? 

Packard:   No,  the  labor  camps  were  concentrated  in  California  and  in  Arizona. 
I  don't  know  of  any  place  else,  in  fact. 

Baum:     I'm  surprised,  because  I  hadn't  read  of  this  as  one  of  the  major 
functions  of  the  Resettlement  Administration.   I  suppose  it  was 
just  this  region  then. 

Packard:   Yes.   The  problem  was  acute  here  both  because  of  the  high  demand 
for  seasonal  workers  in  California's  specialized  agriculture  and 
the  fact  that  so  many  landless  farmers  drifted  west  from  the  dust 
bowl  and  other  drprc-ssi-d  areas  in  the  South. 

B;ium:      Wasn't  tlu-r*-  a  lot  of  opposition  to  the  camp  program  on  the  part 
of  the  Inrgf  growers? 

Packard:   Yes,  the  opposition  was  quite  intense.   There  was  great  fear  among 

the  large  producers  that  farm  labor  would  attempt  to  organize  unions 
and  demand  higher  wages,  better  living  conditions,  and  more  security. 

Baum:     Well,  it  was  prohibited  in  the  farmers'  camps,  wasn't  it?   They  cal 
led  it  trespassing  if  labor  organizers  tried  to  enter  the  camps. 


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312 

Packard:   No,  that  was  not  the  policy.   We  were  sympathetic  with  the  goals 

of  organized  labor.   Paul  Taylor,  our  labor  advisor,  was  a  staunch 
friend  of  labor,  as  we  all  were. 

Our  primary  aim,  however,  was  to  provide  some  semblance  of  ac 
ceptable  living  conditions  for  the  farm  workers  and  their  families. 
All  of  the  permanent  camps  had  hot  and  cold  water  for  showers  and 
washing.   Flush  toilets  were  provided  and  water  was  piped  around 
the  camp  Cor  the-  convenience  of  the  campers.   Stationary  wash  tubs 
were  a  part  of  the  central  service  area  building.   Most  of  the  camps 
had  playgrounds  for  the  children  where  the  children  could  be  cared 
for  under  supervision  while  the  parents  were  in  the  fields.   Some 
people  criticized  the  camps  for  being  too  elaborate.   But  when  Emma 
and  I  revisited  some  of  the  camps  years  later,  we  were  appalled  by 
the  meager  facilities.   This  was  due  in  part, perhaps,  to  the  fact 
that  the  camps  were  relatively  uncared  for  and  unsupervised  when 

they  were  transferred  to  local  control. 
Mrs. 
Packard:   I  remember  visiting  a  camp  in  Kern  County  where  the  camp  manager  had 

an  unusual  approach,   lie  was  always  dressed  in  immaculate  white  duck 
trousers  and  clean  white  shirt.   In  visiting  the  families  he  would 
enter  the  tent  and  look  around  for  a  clean  place  to  sit  down.   The 
reaction  was  always  the  same.   The  folks  would  dust  off  a  chair  or 
a  box  for  him  to  use.   As  a  result  the  conditions  in  the  camp  im 
proved  without  his  ever  saying  a  word.   That  was  his  method  of 
working  and  they  all  loved  him.   (Laughter) 

Baum:     And  they  didn't  object  to  this?  They  didn't  think  he  was  aeting 
snooty? 


313 

Mrs. 

Packard:   No,  they  rather  admired  him  I  think.   At  least  that's  the  impression 

I  got. 

The  people  in  Berkeley  and  the  Bay  Area  were  interested  in  what 
was  being  done  for  these  migrant  workers  and  their  families.   Tons 
of  clothing  were  collected  by  church  groups  and  sent  by  truck  to  the 
labor  camps.   I  remember  Paul  Heyneman  donated  a  thousand  pairs  of 
blue  jeans.   Clark  Kerr,  a  graduate  student  in  labor  relations,  rep 
resented  the  Quakers  on  the  Berkeley  committee.   It  was  during  that 
time  that  Steinbeck's  Grapes  of  Wrath  was  written  and  the  same  time 
that  Carey  McWilliams  wrote  the  book  Factories  in  the  Field.   He 
was  then  State  Housing  Director.   And  he  was  very  intimately  associ 
ated  with  this  whole  problem. 

Baum:     I  have  a  few  more  questions  about  the  Resettlement  Administration 
camps.   What  was  your  responsibility  in  the  camp  program? 

Packard:   Our  responsibility  was  to  plan  the  camps,  rent  or  buy  the  land  to  be 
used,  finance  and  supervise  the  construction,  and  be  responsible, 
financially  and  otherwise,  for  administration  of  the  camps. 

Baum:     Could  you  cite  any  instances  of  Associated  Farmer  pressure  on  the 

officials  to  get  rid  of  the  camps  or  whatever  they  wanted  done  with 
the  camps;  either  in  the  camps  or  in  the  offices?   Politically? 

Packard:   Politically,  there  was  always  opposition  to  the  camps  by  the  As 
sociated  Farmers.   But  I  don't  know  of  any  threats  to  any  officials. 
There  was  one  case  in  a  camp  down  in  Kern  County,  where  the  farmers 
had  thought  a  camp  manager  was  going  to  organize  a  union.   They 
threatened  vigilante  activity.   So  the  camp  manager  raised  an 


314 

Packard:   American  flag  on  a  pole  at  the  camp  entrance.   When  the  representa 
tives  of  the  Associated  Farmers  came  to  the  gate  the  camp  manager 
stopped  them  and  said,  "This  is  federal  property  and  if  you  enter 
to  cause  trouble  I  will  call  a  United  States  marshal  and  have  you 
evicted.   That  was  enough.   The  group  left  and  there  wasn't  any 
violence  ut  all. 

Baum:     They  didn't  ever  come  as  a  body  to  call  on  the  office  or  the  ad 
ministrators  or  anybody  like  that? 

Packard:   Whenever  there  was  a  public  hearing  the  farmer  interests  were  al 
ways  present.   But  no  attempts  were  made  to  contact  our  office.   Op 
position  to  the  camps  was  not  universal  by  any  means.   Local  com 
mittees  usually  sponsored  the  programs.   Opposition  came  largely 
from  the  large  operators  who  were  the  principal  employers  of  mi 
grant  labor. 

I  remember  one  instance  which  illustrates  the  nature  of  the 
thinking  of  the  employer  group.   It  occurred  in  Imperial  Valley 
where  I  had  gone  to  look  over  a  proposed  camp  site  near  Brawley. 
I  had  heard  that  opposition  to  the  camp  program  was  very  active. 
One  official,  I  was  told,  said  that  he  would  Burn  any  camp  down  that 
might  be  established.   I  called  the  head  of  the  Valley  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  whom  I  knew,  and  asked  for  information  regarding  the 
situation.   He  said  that  every  chamber  of  commerce  in  the  Valley 
had  passed  a  resolution  condemning  the  program.   I  asked  him  if  he 
had  secured  the  opinion  of  the  migratory  workers  who  would  use  the 
camp.   He  said,  "Of  course  not"  which  gave  me  a  chance  to  explain 


315 

Packard:   the  philosophy  which  we  were  following.   The  camp  was  established 

and  became  very  popular  with  the  public,  as  well  as  with  the  workers 
who  used  it. 

Baum:  Well,  I  suppose  the  objection  was  that  there  was  a  place  where  all 
the  laborers  were  congregated  and  labor  organizers  might  make  some 
headway. 

Packard:  Yes.  Organized  labor  might  strike  and  make  demands  which  the  pro 
ducers  would  not  want  to  meet.  The  producers  just  didn't  want  any 
organization  of  farm  laborers. 

Baum:     Did  labor  organizers  appear  at  the  camps? 

Packard:   Yes,  occasionally.   But  nothing  significant  happened  so  far  as 
unionization  was  concerned. 

Baum:     Then  it  was  camp  policy  not  to  permit  organizational  meetings  to 
take  place  on  the  camp  grounds? 

Packard:  Not  exactly.   The  main  purpose  of  the  camp  programs  was  to  provide 
improved  living  conditions. 

Baum:  And  was  there  any  policy  regarding  union  organizers  who  were,  say, 
living  there  and  were  known  to  be  union  organizers? 

Packard:   No,  I  don't  think  there  was  any  policy  relating  to  the  centers. 

The  Resettlement  Administration,  in  its  philosophy,  was  in  favor  of 
the  organization  of  farm  workers.   They  were  very  anxious  to  have 
them  organized.   But  under  the  circumstances  there  was  no  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  Administration  to  use  the  camps  as  centers  for  union 
organization.   Unofficially,  all  of  the  camp  managers  were  very  sym 
pathetic  to  labor.   I  met  with  the  representative  of  organized  labor 


316 

Packard:   many  times,  both  in  the  field  and  in  San  Francisco. 

Baum:     Oh.   Was  this  C.I.O.  or  A.F.L. ? 

Packard:   The  C.I.O.  principally. 

Baum:     Oh  yes.   I  think  that  was  the  period  when  C.I.O.  was  trying  to 
organize  agricultural  workers. 

Packard:   Yes.   I  was  friendly  and  cooperative,  but  I  did  not  participate  in 
organizational  work. 

Baum:     Would  they  come-  to  your  office  and  ask  for  some  kind  of  assistance? 

Packard:   Yes.   Sometimes  they  would. 

Baum:     What  kind  of  assistance  would  they  want  you  to  give  or  what  kind  of 
assistance  did  they  think  you  could  offer? 

Packard:   I  remember  one  organizer  who  wanted  information  about  the  crucial 
period  for  striking  so  that  their  strikes  would  be  effective. 

Baum:     Did  they  ask  for  permission  to  organize  in  the  camps? 

Packard:   No,  at  least  I  do  not  remember  any  such  request.   The  use  of  the 
camps  as  centers  for  union  organization  would  have  endangered  the 
primary  purpose  of  the  camps  which  was  to  provide  tolerable  living 
conditions  for  migrant  farm  workers.   But  this  does  not  mean  that  7 
and  tlu«  others  were  not  in  favor  of  organizing  farm  workers.   Op 
position  by  the  large  farmers  to  attempts  to  organize  were  very  in 
tense.   For  example,  my  brother  John  had  to  be  escorted  out  of 
Imperial  County  by  motorcycle  police  on  two  occasions  when  he  had 
gone  to  the  Valley  as  attorney  for  the  Civil  Liberties  Union  to 

represent  arrested  workers. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  remember  an  incident  of  some  people  who  were  attempting  to  organize 


317 

Mrs. 

Packard:   down  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  somewhere,  Madera,  and  they  did  ar 
rest  some  of  the  people  attempting  to  organize  and  put  them  in  jail. 
There  was  a  lot  of  picketing  done  and  the  sympathy  of  the  public  was 
in  general  with  the  people  who  they  thought  had  a  perfect  right  to 
go  ahead  and  try  to  organize.   I  remember  a  group  of  Berkeley  League 
of  Women  Voters  went  down  and  marched  around  the  jail,  and  I  went 
with  them. 

Baum:     Well,  did  you  feel  that  you  could  participate  in  things  like  picketing, 

Mrs.  Packard,  since  your  husband  was  in  an  administrative  position? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  don't  know  that  I  ever  thought  about  it  at  that  time.   With  a  group 

like  the  League  of  Women  Voters,  which  was  protesting  what  seemed  to 
be  a  violation  of  civil  rights,  I  think  the  League's  stand  was  a 
constitutional  one. 

Baum:     So  you  didn't  feel  a  pressure  at  that  time  to  keep  out  of  activities. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Not  in  this  incident.   I  wouldn't  have  done  anything  that  would  have 

interfered  with  what  Walter  was  supposed  to  do  and  had  to  do  in  his 

job. 

Baum:     What  about  the  Salinas  lettuce  strike? 
Packard:   Oh,  there  was  a  lot  of  violence  in  that  conflict.   That  had  nothing 

to  do  with  the  camps.   That  was  simply  an  out-and-out-fight  between 

the  C.I.O.  and  the  Associated  Farmers. 
Baum:     Did  you  have  camps  there  in  Salinas? 
Packard:   Not  when  I  was  there. 
Baum:     There  is  another  thing  I  want  to  know.   Did  the  communities  accept 

the  camp  program? 


318 

Packard:   Yes,  they  were  always  accepted  after  they  were  established.   In 
many  cases  local  committees  made  up  of  prominent  citizens  spon 
sored  the  programs.   There  is  no  question  about  the  fact  that  the 
program  had  popular  support.   No  one  other  than  a  few  rabid  anti- 
labor  elements  could  object  to  the  meager  but  badly  needed  facili 
ties  offered  by  the  camps. 

Baum:     And  was  there  any  division  between  large  farmers  and  small  farmers 
as  to  how  they  felt  about  the  camps? 

Packard:   Generally,  it  was  the  large  farmer  who  objected  to  the  camps.   The 
small  farmers,  however,  were  usually  not  pro-labor. 

Baum:     Was  there  any  evidence  of  spies  in  the  camps,  sent  in  by  Associated 
Farmers  or  any  of  the  other  organizations? 

Packard:   No,  not  that  I  know  of.   Spies  would  be  easy  to  spot.   They  did  not 
need  spies.   The  large  operators  were  highly  organized  and  fully 
capable  of  protecting  what  they  considered  to  be  their  rights. 

Baum:     You  mean  the  Associated  Farmers? 

Packard:   Yes.   Their  profits  depended  to  a  degree  upon  the  maintenance  of 

an  ample  supply  of  docile  workers  and  they,  therefore,  were  against 
anything  which  seemed  to  recognize  labor's  rights.   Time  has  not 
altered  this  attitude.   But  time  has  emphasized  the  fact  that  agri 
cultural  workers  will  have  to  organize  and  act  collectively  in  their 
own  interests  if  they  are  to  get  better  annual  incomes,  improved 
living  conditions,  and  accident  and  unemployment  insurance  to  meet 
the  unusual  hazards  faced  by  farm  labor. 

Baum:     The  Delano  strikers  are  doing  something  about  that. 


319 

Packard:   They  sure  are  and  they  deserve  public  backing.   There  is  no  other 
way  by  which  agricultural  workers  will  gain  their  rights. 

baum:  How  about  the  work  being  done  by  the  Quakers 2  I  understand  that 
they  have  hud  a  man  in  Tularc  County  for  some  years  working  with 
the  farm  workers. 

Packard:   Yes,  the  Quakers  have  done  a  wonderful  job.   They  have  helped  workers 
to  improve  their  own  living  conditions  by  promoting  housing  programs, 
and  in  getting  water  supplies  and  sanitary  facilities  in  especially 
depressed  areas.   Mr.  Bard  Me  Allister,  the  Quaker  representative 
near  Visalia,  has  represented  the  farm  workers  viewpoint  in  local 
conferences  so  effectively  that  some  large  operators  have  refused  to 
attend  meetings  where  Mr.  McAllister  is  to  be  present.* 

Baum:     Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  this  Quaker  move? 

Packard:   Yes  I  did.   I  served  on  the  Quaker  Committee  after  I  got  back  from 
Greece.   Emma  and  I  stopped  in  Visalia  on  two  or  three  occasions  to 
see  the  work  that  was  being  done.   On  these  occasions,  however,  we 
realized  that  the  workers  would  have  to  organize  in  their  own  in 
terests  if  any  real  gains  were  to  be  made.   The  workers  must  get  a 
sense  of  community  of  interest. 

Baum:     The  Quakers  are  a  threat?  (Laughter) 

Packard:  Any  organized  attempt  to  improve  the  conditions  of  farm  labor  is 
considered  to  be  a  threat. 

Baum:     Did  you  make  any  provision  for  migrant  families  that  wanted  to  settle 
down? 

*  Bard  McAllister  is  now  in  Zambia  on  a  Quaker  project  -  June,  1967.  (Mrs. Packard) 


320 

Packard:  Yes,  in  two  ways.  We  established  a  few  part-time  farms  adjacent 
to  one  or  two  of  the  labor  camps  in  California  and  two  groups  of 
part-time  farms  in  Arizona  accommodating  ninety-one  families  as  I 
recall  it.   Low  cost  but  well  designed  houses  witn  modem  facili 
ties  were  built  on  land  purchased  by  the  government.   The  objective 
was,  in  part,  to  enable  these  families  to  supplement  their  wage  in 
come  by  producing  garden  truck  and  poultry  products  for  their  own 
use.   Two  rather  elaborate  part-time  projects  were  established  in 
Arizona.   The  second  method  was  through  resettlement  on  farms. 

Baum:     These  part-time  farms  were  like  the  labor  allotments  at  Delhi, 
weren't  they? 

Packard:  Yes,  the  idea  was  the  same.   And  the  results  were  the  same,  too. 
They  were  not  very  successful.   Like  the  subsistence  homesteads 
they  did  not  work  out  as  planned. 

Son-in-Law  Burton  Cairns,  Architect;  Daughter  Emmy  Lou,  and 
Diego  Rivera 

Baum:     Was  Vernon  De  Mars  on  your  staff  at  that  time? 

Packard:  Yes,  he  was.   He  and  my  son-in-law,  Burton  Cairns,  Emmy  Lou's  husband, 
were  both  on  my  staff.   They  worked  together  beautifully.   Burton, 
who  graduated  cum  laude  from  the  architectural  division  of  the 
University,  was  the  older  of  the  two  and  a  natural  leader.   Eleven 
pages  of  a  book  entitled  Twenty  Outstanding  Contributions  to  Modern 
Architecture  written  by  a  Swiss  architect,  were  devoted  to  the  work 
these  two  young  men  had  done.   Only  three  other  American  architects 
were  included  in  the  book.   Some  years  later  (19'3b) ,  they  dc-wigm-d 


-,iOMr  'IN 


The  house  was  designed  by  Burton  Cairns  and  Vernon  DeMars  in 
1938  as  an  experiment  in  low-cost  housing.   The  landscaping 
was  done  by  Corwin  R.  Mocine.  Later  a  separate  cement -block 
study  was  built  in  the  backyard  for  Mr.  Packard. 


773    CRAOMONT   AVENUE 


BERKELEY  8,  CALIFORNIA 


Linoleum  blockprint  by 
Emmy  Lou  Packard 


321 

Packard:   our  house  in  Berkeley  and  supervised  its  construction.   Vernon 
and  his  wife  Betty  were  the  first  to  occupy  the  house  when  Emma 
and  1  were  out  of  the  state  on  some  assignment.   Burton,  who  was 
later  appointed  head  architect  for  the  Farm  Security  Administration 
for  the  Region  9  area,  was  killed  in  an  automobile  accident  while 
on  a  job  in  Oregon.   This  left  Emmy  Lou  with  her  son  Donald,  then 
four  years  old,  to  support.   This  loss  affected  the  course  of 
events  for  tin-  entire  family. 

Emmy  Lou  received  a  subsistence  pension  for  herself  and  Donald 
and  entered  the  California  School  of  Fine  Arts  for  further  training 
as  an  artist.   Following  this  she  went  to  New  York  hoping  to  start 
a  career  as  an  artist  there.   While  she  was  away  Diego  Rivera  came 
to  San  Francisco  to  paint  a  large  mural  in  the  Art-in-Action  section 
of  the  Treasure  Island  Fair.   Emma  saw  Diego  and  explained  Emmy  Lou's 
situation  and  he  promptly  offered  her  a  job  on  the  basis  of  their 
previous  contact  in  Mexico  .   The  upshot  of  this  was  that  Emmy  Lou 
became  Diego's  principal  artist  assistant.   Years  later,  when  damage- 
to  the  mural  had  to  be  repaired,  Diego  commissioned  Emmy  Lou  to  do 
the  work.   During  his  stay  Emmy  Lou  drove  Diego  to  and  from  his  work 
and  was  the  only  one  who  would  stand  up  to  him  when  he  became  angry, 
as  he  frequently  did,  when  the  work  did  not  go  to  suit  him.   One 
time  when  they  were  eating  lunch  on  the  scaffold  Diego  poured  the 
sticky  syrup  from  some  canned  figs  on  Emmy  Lou's  head  and  had  a 
great  laugh  until  Emmy  Lou  retaliated  by  throwing  the  remainder  of 
her  coffee  in  his  face. 


322 

Packard:     On  the  occasion  of  Trotsky's  death  Frida,  Diego's  wife,  called 
from  Mexico  City  to  tell  him  that  she  thought  his  life  was  in 
danger.   He  took  the  warning  quite  seriously  and  for  two  weeks  moved 
from  his  apartment  into  my  office  in  our  backyard  which  we  use  as  a 
spare  guest  house  on  occasion.   When  the  work  was  finished  Emmy  Lou 
and  1  drove-  Diego  back  to  Mexico  City.   During  those  days  1  learned 
a  good  dent  about  Trotsky  and  Diego's  association  with  him.   Kach 
night  T  wrote  home  telling  about  what  I  had  learned  during  the  day, 
but  those  letters  have  been  lost.   One  quality  which  Diego  emphasized 
was  Trotsky's  kind-hearted  love  for  animals.   My  impression  of 
Diego's  communism  was  that  his  ideology  was  very  sketchy,  but  his 
hatred  of  injustice  was  intense.   One  evening  at  a  dinner  party  in 
a  restaurant  in  Mexico  City,  Diego  drew  a  sketch  of  Orozco  on  the 
menu  card,  Orozco  retaliated  by  drawing  a  cartoon  of  Diego  on  the 
same  menu  card.   Each  signed  their  sketches  and  gave  the  card  to 
Emmy  Lou  Tor  a  souvenir.   T  had  to  maintain  my  standing  at  the 
dinner  by  eating  six  maguey  works  fried  in  deep  fat,  which  Diego 
had  prepared  for  my  benefit.  (Laughter)   But  this  occurred  in  1940. 
I'm  getting  ahead  of  my  story. 

Arizona  and  Utah 

Packard:       One  of  my  duties  as  Regional  Director  was  to  visit  each  of 
the  state  offices  and  discuss  their  proposed  programs.   The 
migratory  labor  camp  program  dominated  the  work  in  California. 
The  migratory  labor  problem  was  also  the  dominant  interest  in 


323 

Packard:   Arizona.   A  special  project,  designed  to  conserve  the  range  in 

Arizona  was  carried  out  in  part  under  the  direction  of  the  Wash 
ington  office.   About  5,000  wild  horses  were  rounded  up  and  sold 
to  a  dog  food  enterprise  in  Phoenix.   The  New  Mexico  group  was  in 
terested  primarily  in  the  rehabilitation  program  and  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  resettlement  project  on  land  to  be  irrigated  along 
the  Rio  Grande. 

Rehabilitation,  the  conservation  of  water,  and  the  develop 
ment  of  range  land  dominated  the  program  in  Utah.   My  stop  in  Utah 
gave  me  a  chance  to  see  a  number  of  Mormon  villages  where  the  farm 
homes  are  all  located  in  villages  in  the  center  of  the  farming  area. 
I  was  very  favorably  impressed  with  much  of  what  I  saw.   I  was  re 
minded  of  the  villages  I  had  seen  in  France  and  Mexico.  We  were 
accompanied  on  a  trip  through  southern  Utah  by  William  Palmer,  a 
Mormon  who  later  became  assistant  director  at  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Reclamation. 

Baum:     I  assume  you  know  about  the  book  Box  Car  in  the  Sand  by  Laurence 
Hewes? 

Packard:   Yes,  I  have  read  it.   It  is  based  on  the  experience  Hewes  had  as  a 
boy  when  his  father  was  pioneering  on  a  reclamation  project  in 
eastern  Oregon.   Quite  a  part  of  the  book  though  deals  with  Hewes1 
experience  in  getting  farm  workers  from  Mexico  when  he  was  director 
of  Region  9  of  the  Farm  Security  Administration.   He  succeeded  Garst 
who  succeeded  me  in  that  position. 

Baum:     I  haven't  finished  the  book  but  I  saw  a  statement  about  "Paul  Taylor, 


324 

Baum:     "who  had  launched  the  first  concrete  proposal  for  the  camps; 
Burton  Cairnes,  a  splendid  young  architect  who  designed  them; 
Walter  Packard  and  Garst,  who  had,  with  Tugwell's  backing,  got 
them  built."  The  book  also  has  a  statement  about  the  Director  of 
the  Agricultural  Extension  Service  of  the  University  of  California. 

Packard:   You  mean  Crocheron? 

Baum:     The  name  was  not  mentioned,  but  I  assume  he  referred  to  Crocheron. 
He  tells  about  an  interview  with  the  Director  to  discuss  the  re 
settlement  programs.   Hcwes  said  that  "when  the  Director  had  warmed 
up  to  the  subject,  he  broke  into  a  monologue  of  denunciation  of 
Roosevelt-,  Wallace,  Ickcs,  Hopkins  and  Tugwell.   He  loathed  them 
all  and  his  loathing  plainly  included  me.   He  approved  a  wide 
hostility  toward  Farm  Security  and  probably  helped  promote  it." 

Packard:  That  was  Crocheron1 s  style.  He  was  against  everything  connected 

with  the  New  Deal.   He  was  a  terrible  autocrat  who  finally  went  so 
far  in  shaping  the  Extension  Service  into  a  semi -military  organiza 
tion  that  he  had  to  be  ordered  to  desist.   He  was  one  of  the  reasons 
why  I  left  the  Extension  Service. 

Baum:     I  read  n  statement  about  him  which  said  "He  landed  in  Berkeley  with 
a  bowl  or  hat  and  spats.   And  it  was  very  hard  for  farmc-rB  to  B ec 
hini.  " 


325 

National  Director  of  the  Rural  Resettlement  Division 
Subsistence  vs.  Middle-Income  Farms 

Baum:     Then  you  became  National  Director  of  Rural  Resettlement.   How  did 
thnt  come  about? 

Packard:   Shortly  after  the  work  was  well  started  in  Region  9,  Dr.  Tugwtll 
and  a  number  of.  his  staff  made  an  inspection  trip  to  California. 
We  discussed  the  plans  we  had  made  for  the  various  states  and  made 
a  trip  through  California,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico.   We  visited  the 
Delhi  colony  where  I  explained  the  building  program,  and  discussed 
what  I  considered  to  be  the  good  and  bad  points  of  the  Mead  Plan. 

Baum:     This  was  in  the  thirties?   And  Delhi  was  going  on?   It  had  already 
been  liquidated  as  any  kind  of  a  state  project. 

Packard:   Yes.   But  many  of  the  original  settlers  were  still  there  and  the 
orchards,  vineyards  and  alfalfa  fields  looked  good. 

We  also  visited  a  labor  camp  in  Kern  County  and,  in  general, 
had  a  chance  to  discuss  a  wide  range  of  subjects  concerning  agri 
culture  and  the  objectives  of  the  Resettlement  Administration. 
This  led  to  a  discussion  of  a  controversial  issue  which  resulted  in 
my  transfer  to  the  Washington  office  as  Director  of  the  Resettlement 
Division  of  the  Resettlement  Administration. 

Dr.  Carl  Taylor,  a  sociologist  of  national  standing,  had  been 
a  key  figure  in  the  Subsistence  Homestead  Program  which  had  been 
taken  over  by  the  Management  Division  of  the  Resettlement  Administra 
tion.   No  one  had  the  best  interests  of  the  farm  families  more  at 
heart  than  did  Carl  Taylor.   I  had  a  very  deep  regard  for  his  sin 
cerity  and  humanitarianism,  but  I  did  not  approve  his  subsistence 


326 

Packard:   philosophy,  I  felt  that  farmers  should  have  enough  land  to  produce 
a  larger  cash  income  than  Dr.  Taylor  thought  necessary.   I  objected 
to  having  the  Resettlement  Administration  accept  poverty  as  a 
standard,  in  part,  because  I  believed  that  the  maintenance  of  rural 
buying  power  was  a  necessary  clement  of  a  viable  total  national 
economy.   Dr.  Taylor  frit  that  it  would  be  better  to  establish  a 
large  number  of  small  farms  of  from  ten  to  twenty  acres  where  the 
farmers  would  get  "much  of  his  satisfaction  in  seeing  things  grow" 
than  to  establish  a  smaller  number  of  larger  farms  of  from  forty  to 
sixty  acres.   (This  was  for  the  southern  states.) 

Baum:     You  wanted  middle  class  farmers  and  he  wanted  peasants.   Is  that 
right? 

Packard:   Yes,  in  a  sense  that's  true.   But  in  either  case  they  would  be  "til 
lers  of  the  soil".   The  difference  would  be  in  the  degree  of  well- 
being.   We  both  put  great  stress  on  the  production  of  garden,  poultry, 
and  dairy  products  for  home  use  and  upon  canning  for  winter  use. 

Baum:     Does  that  mean  Tugwell  didn't  agree  with  his  point  there? 

Packard:   Yes.   Tugwcll  supported  me,  rather  than  Taylor. 

Baum:     And  the  main  conflict  between  you  was  that  he  was  going  for  sub 
sistence  farms  and  you  felt  they  had  to  be  an  adequate  living  farm. 

Packard:   That's  right.   Since  Tugwell  favored  my  viewpoint  rather  than 

Taylor's,  he  asked  me  to  take  Taylor's  place  with  the  understanding 
that  Taylor  would  be  moved  into  an  advisory  position  on  Dr.  Tugwell 's 
staff.   So,  early  in  December,  1935,  Emma  and  I  packed  our  things  in 
our  car,  stored  our  belongings  in  Berkeley,  and  drove  to  Washington. 


327 

Packard:   Going  through  Texas  and  the  southern  states,  I  visited  the  regional 
offices  along  the  way  to  get  familiar  with  their  land  settlement 
programs. 

Greer,  South  Carolina  —  A  Mill  Village 

Packard:   We  stopped  in  Greer,  South  Carolina  —  the  mill  village  where  Emma 
had  worked  as  a  Y.W.C.A.  secretary  back  in  1908. 

Baum:     How  did  you  happen  to  have  been  in  South  Carolina? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  majored  in  home  economics  at  Iowa  State  College  and  graduated  in 

1907.   The  next  year  I  was  offered  a  half-time  job  in  the  college 
library,  where  I  had  worked  during  college  to  help  pay  my  expenses. 
So  I  accepted  this  and  took  two  courses  in  college  —  beginning  French 
and  an  English  course  in  writing.   It  happened  that  a  college  friend, 
Miss  Ethel  McKinley,  had  accepted  the  job  of  running  the  new  Y.W.C.A. 
that  had  been  established  at  the  Victor  Mills,  near  Greer,  South 
Carolina,  and  she  urged  me  to  come  down  the  fall  of  1908.   So  I  ac 
cepted  and  spent  a  year  teaching  girls  and  women  in  home  economics 
classes. 

Baum:     How  did  this  Y.W.C.A.  happen  to  be  established  there? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   There  were  several  cotton  mills  in  South  Carolina  which  were  owned  or 

controlled  by  the  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  interests.   An  attempt  had  been 
made  to  make  the  Victor  Mills  a  "showplace"  for  the  industry  at  a  time 
when  there  was  much  agitation  about  child  labor  in  such  industries. 
Miss  Anne  Morgan  supported  the  Y.W.C.A.  in  New  York  City  and  conceived 
the  idea  of  establishing  this  educational  and  social  center  at  this 
mill.   She  always  took  an  interest  in  it  and  visited  the  Y.W.C.A. 
after  we  were  well  established  and  the  program  was  under  way. 


328 

Mrs. 

Packard:       The  mill  itself  was  beautifully  landscaped  and  planned  for  better 

working  conditions  --  good  working  light,  for  one  thing.  I  well  re 
member  the  blazing  row  of  scarlet  salvia  that  ran  the  full  length  in 
front  of  the  block  long  white  mill. 

Baum:     Were  there  Negroes  in  the  mill? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Definitely  not.   The  employees  were  all  white,  mostly  what  are  called 

hillbillies  from  the  Piedmont  Mountains.   Negroes  were  employed  mostly 
as  servants  —  cooks,  janitors,  etc.   Many  of  them  could  not  read  and 
write,  though  most  of  their  children  were  now  in  school  --  at  least 
while-  living  in  this  village.   It  was  a  "company  town",  with  drab 
gray  houses, pretty  much  alike  in  design  and  rented  to  employee 
families.   In  general,  the  town  was  pretty  well  kept  up  and  did  not 
look  like  a  slum.   Most  families  probably  lived  better  than  they  had 
in  their  little  cabins  in  the  hills. 

Baum:     What  about  working  hours  at  that  period  of  labor  history? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   The  mill  hours  were  from  6  A.M.  until  6  P.M.  —  a  straight  twelve- 
hour  day.   My  economics  professor,  Dr.  Benjamin  Hibbard,  suggested 
that  I  keep  my  eyes  open  for  "child  labor"  which  was  a  subject  of 
agitation  by  the-  then  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  of  which  we 
heard  u  good  deal  in  college  and  the  newspapers  of  the  day.   Many 
worked  in  the  mill  at  the  legal  age  of  sixteen.   Then  I  found  that 
there  was  a  "piece  rate"  —  an  arrangement  by  which  papa  and  mama 
could  be  paid  by  the  number  of  pieces  they  could  do  in  a  day  --  but 
they  could  also  have  help  from  the  older  children  who  did  not  ap 
pear  on  the  payroll  —  and  thus  make  many  more  pieces  per  day. 


329 

Mrs. 

Packard:   This  was  later  forbidden  by  labor  laws.   Actually,  the  mill  was 

rather  tolerant  of  its  help  so  that  they  could  get  off  from  work 
for  a  day  or  two  now  and  then.  I  do  not  remember  any  complaints 
or  labor  trouble  while  I  was  there. 

Baum:     What  about  your  second  visit  in  1935? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   We  drove-  into  the  little  town  early  one  rainy  morning  in  December. 

It  was  not  salvia  season,  but  I  was  shocked  to  see  the  red  flowers 
replaced  by  a  huge  barbed  wire  entanglement  in  front  of  the  now 
unpainted  mill.   We  had  read  of  labor  troubles  in  these  mills  and 
this  apparently  was  the  result  of  that  struggle  for  better  conditions. 

Baum:     Did  you  find  anyone  you  had  known  twenty-seven  years  before? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Yes.   I  inquired  at  a  home  and  found  that  Miss  Rowena  Westmoreland, 

who  had  been  our  loyal  friend  and  supporter  in  the  Y.W.C.A. ,  was 
still  living  and  lived  nearby   in  her  home  where  she  was  taking  in 
boarders  for  income  since  she  was  too  old  to  work  in  the  mill. 
The  woman  of  whom  I  inquired  turned  out  to  be  one  I  had  known  as  a 
three-year-old  girl  whose  mother  had  brought  her  along  to  my 
cooking  classes'   So  she  accompanied  us  to  see  "Miss  Rowena",  who 
at  first  did  not  recognize  me,  until  I  said...  "Don't  you  remember 
'Miss  Emmer?'"  Then  her  face  lighted  up  and  she  fell  on  my  neck 
and  said,  "Lor,  'Miss  Emmer,1  to  think  I  could  forget  you!   I  never 
loved  nobody  like  I  did  you,  'Miss  EmmerJ '   I  shore  will  have  some 
thing  to  tell  the  boarders  when  they  come  home  for  dinner!" 

Then  they  told  us  about  the  strike  and  what  had  happened  at  the 
mill.   I  do  not  remember  the  details  of  this  now,  but  I  do  remember 


330 

Mrs. 

Packard:   that  they  said,  "The  strikers  ought  to  have  won.   They  was  right, 

but  they  acted  bad  —  they  threw  sticks  and  stones  and  swore.   But 
if  they  had  just  a  got  down  on  their  knees  and  prayed,  they'd  of 
won.   They  wuz  right  in  what  they  was  askin's  for I"  This  remark 
shows  the-  strong  religious  belief  that  was  almost  universal  in  the 
village.   We  visited  for  two  hours  and  I  am  sure  dinner  must  have 
been  late  that  day' 

Types  of  Resettlement  Projects 

Packard:       We  arrived  in  Washington  in  time  to  be  invited  to  a  reception 

for  new  federal  employees  at  the  White  House.   We  were  thrilled  over 
this  invitation  until  the  following  morning  when  the  papers  noted 
that  another  reception  had  been  held  at  the  White  House  and  all  the 
"small  fry  in  Washington"  were  there.  (Laughter) 

I  Celt  greatly  honored  by  this  appointment,  but  I  had  an  inner 
fear  of  uncertainty  about  the  whole  program.   Based,  in  part,  on  my 
experience  at  Delhi  I  had  a  feeling  that  no  one  knew  just  what  to  do. 
No  one,  at  the  time,  foresaw  the  degree  to  which  technological  de 
velopments  would  affect  agriculture  from  coast  to  coast.   There  was 
evidence  that  a  new  revolutionary  approach  to  agriculture  as  an  in 
dustry  and  as  a  way  of  life  was  in  the  making.   The  first  mechanical 
cotton  pickers  were  just  being  tried  out.   Their  potential  use  fore 
cast  a  basic  adjustment  in  the  cotton  industry.   The  revolutionary 
effect  of  other  largo  .scale  land  preparation,  cultivation,  and  har 
vesting  equipment  and  ol  the  use  of  fertilizer,  bcrbicideH,  and  In 
secticides  had  not  yet  been  felt.   While  we  were  pushing  a  program 


331 

Packard:   to  resettle  people  on  relatively  small  farms  a  basic  movement  was 

in  the  process  of  reducing  the  number  of  farms  in  the  United  States 
by  about  three  million,  thus  cutting  the  total  number  of  farms  in 
half. 

Baum:     You  were,  in  a  sense,  working  in  the  dark,  weren't  you? 

Packard:   Yes.   What  happened  illustrates  what  I  have  come  to  consider  a  con 
trolling  factor  in  economic  and  social  change.   Developing  circum 
stances  provide  a  force  which  usually  demands  economic  and  social 
adjustments.   Planning  and  design  perform  their  principal  functions 
in  constructively  guiding  the  changes  that  must  be  made  as  the  re 
sult  of  developing  technology. 

At  that  time  the  Russian  experiment  on  collective  farming  was 
receiving  a  great  deal  of  attention.   Here's  a  clipping  from  the 
Washington  Post  of  May  11,  1936,  entitled  "Tugwell:   Farmers'  Lot 
is  Sad,  Compared  to  Soviet  Film  Idyl": 

Farm  life  in  Soviet  Russia  and  farm  life  in  America  were 
depicted  on  a  motion  picture  screen  in  the  Mayflower  Hotel 
last  night.   And  from  the  standpoint  of  abundance,  both 
in  the  matter  of  food  and  of  fun,  the  Russian  picture  was 
tops  by  a  Siberian  mile." 

There  seemed  to  be  what  you  might  call  three  alternatives: 

1)  trying  to  establish  a  family  farm  of  the  traditional  type;  or 

2)  going  to  industrialized  farms;  or  3)  having  cooperative  farms. 
Tugwell  was  very  much  sold  on  the  idea  that  very  successful  coopera 
tive  farms  could  be  established  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

Baum:     What  was  your  reaction  to  this  plan? 

Packard:   T  accepted  the  idea  on  a  strictly  experimental  basis.   My  ideas  were 

not  congealed,  but  I  had  my  doubts  about  the  workability  of  the  pattern 


332 

Packard:   because  I  thought  producer  cooperatives  of  the  kind  proposed  were 
not  behaviorally  sound.   My  fears  were  based  upon  the  fact  that 
when  workers  contribute  their  energy,  skills,  and  intelligence  in 
the  production  of  a  common  product  there  is  no  way  of  dividing  the 
claims  on  supply  on  a  satisfactory  basis.   In  a  consumer  cooperative 
the  division  is  made  on  the  basis  of  what  the  individual  buys  and 
what  he  buys  is  a  matter  of  his  own  concern  alone.   This  consumer 
relationship  is   also  the  primary  source  of  strength  of  capitalism. 
Highly  competitive  stockholders  in  a  corporation  can  associate  ami 
cably  because  each  stockholder  has  a  basic  independence.   He  can 
buy  stock  or  sell  it  as  he  wishes,  and  what  he  gets  in  profits  is 
based  very  largely  upon  his  own  judgment  in  buying  stock.   This  ami 
cable  relationship  does  not  exist  in  a  producer's  cooperative  of  the 
kind  proposed.   I  felt  quite  certain,  therefore,  that  the  settlers 
would  quarrel  among  themselves  over  work  assignments,  wages,  and  the 
like  when  the  project  was  turned  over  to  settler  management.    So 
long  as  tlie  government  employed  a  project  manager  with  wide  powers 
of  decision,  I  felt  the  projects  might  succeed.   These  thoughts 
were  the   beginning  of  the  development  of  my  theory  of  the  consumer- 
labor  approach  to  social  organization.   But  this  is  not  the  time 
to  bring  the  subject  up.   I  will  discuss  it  later  on  in  proper 
sequence. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  I  was  concerned  over  the  possible  impact 
of  mechanization  upon  old  values  which  I  considered  valid.  The  fol 
lowing  statement,  made  at  that  time,  illustrates  what  I  had  in  mind: 
"Our  objective  is  to  develop  patterns  of  tenure  and  operation  which 


333 

Packard:   "will  pass  the  advantages  of  mechanization  on  to  all  consumers  in 
lower  rates  and  prices  and  to  all  farmers  and  farm  workers  in  a 
higher  level  of  living." 

Baum:     How  many  resettlement  projects  were  established? 

Packard:   In  answering  that  question  I  might  as  well  insert  the  following 
classification  of  projects  as  recorded  on  March  3,  1937:  (See 
fol lowing  page) 

Baum:     The  industrialized  projects  in  this  list  were  the  producer  coopera 
tives  you  mentioned,  weren't  they? 

Packard:   Yes,  they  were. 

Baum:     How  did  they  work  out? 

Packard:   In  the  end  they  all  had  to  be  liquidated.   C.B.  Baldwin,  who  was 
the  administrator  at  the  time,  had  this  to  say  at  a  congressional 
hearing:   "Collective  farming,  financed  with  federal  funds  is  now 
just  another  noble  experiment  to  be  liquidated  as  rapidly  as  pos 
sible  by  the  Farm  Security  Administration."   Baldwin  testified  to 
the  fact  that  these  projects  included  450  families  and  covered  a 
total  of  63,410  acres  as  compared  to  65  million  acres  included  in 
the  family- type  farm  ownership  and  rehabilitation  program. 

But  the  fact  that  these  projects  failed  does  not  tell  the  whole 
story.   The  projects  worked  fairly  well  so  long  as  a  project  manager 
employed  by  the  government  was  in  charge.   But  when  the  project 
manager  was  removed  and  the  projects  were  turned  over  to  the  set 
tler  organization,  dissension  arose  and  the  projects  had  to  be 
liquidated  as  producer  coops. 


333a 


Type  of  Project 
Labor  Camp* t 

Part-time  F*rm«s 


Industrial  it  ed  t 


Community  t 


Infiltration  i 
Tenant t 


Mane  of  Project 

1.  RF-CP-16.  California  Migratory  Labor  Camps 

2.  RF-CF-26.   Mary*  villa  "  •  • 
5.  RF-CF-26.  Anri»                      "                •  • 

1.  RF-AZ-7,  Arizona  Part-Time  Farm 

2.  RR-OE-21,  Solo  to  Farm 

3.  RR-MT-26,   Fairfleld  Bench  Panic 

4.  RR-CO-7,    Western   Slope  Farm 

1.  RR^AZ-6,  Oasa  Grande 

2.  RR-AK-H,  Lak»  Dick 

3.  RF-FB-6,   Two  Hirers 

4.  RF-KB-7,   Scott.Bluff 

5.  RF-NB-C,   Fairbnry  Farmstead* 

6.  RF-NB-9,  Loup  City  Farasteads 

7.  RF-NB-10,  Kearney  Farmsteads 

8.  RF-NB-11,   Grand  Island  Farnsteads 

9.  RF-NB-12.  Falls  City  Farnsteads 

10.  RF-NE-1S,  South  Sioux  City  Farnsteads* 

11.  RR-OH-21,  Soioto  Farms 

12.  RR-IH-10,  Wabash  Farms 
18.  RF-SD-23.  Sioux  Falls 

1.  RF-AL-16,  Cumberland  Mountain 

2.  RF-AK-13  .  Wright  Plantation 
5.  RR-AK-12,  Lakerlev 

4.  RH-GA-P.  Piedmont 

5.  RF-GA-16,  Irwinrille 

6.  RF-GA-16.  Brier  Patch 

7.  RF-GA-1T.  Wolf  Creek 

8.  RR-FI-20,  Esoembia 

9.  RH-IL-2,  Lake  County  Homesteads 
10.  RH-MS-12,  Riohton  Homesteads 
U.  RH-lff-1,  Malta 

12.  RF-NM-16,  Bosque 

15.  RF-NC-10,  Roanoke 
14.  RH-NC-2,  Penderlea 

16.  RF-SC-9,  AshnDod 


Iff.     RF-IT-ie,  WloMta  Valley  Farms 
17.     RR-TX-25,  Fannln  Fams 
16.     RF-VA-1,  Skeoandoah 


1.  RR-AL-27,  Alabam  Farm  Tenant 

2.  RR-AK-19,  Arkansas     "  " 


333b 


Type  of  Project 
Infiltration:   -  continued 
Tenant t 


Other: 


S. 

4. 

5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 


RR-GA-26, 
RR-LA.-14. 
RR-MS-21, 
RR-NC-25, 
RR-OE-25, 
RR-SC-20, 
RR-TB-27, 
RR-TX-2I, 


Kama  of  Projeet 


Georgia  Farm  Tenant 

Loui.Una     "         " 


North  Carolina  Farm  Teaadb 
Oklahoma  Farm  Tenant 
South  Carolina  Farm  Tenant 
Tennessee  Farm  Tenant 
Texai  Farm  Tenant 


1. 

RF^AL-17. 

2. 

RR-CO-1S. 

S. 

RR-EY-14, 

4. 

RR-ME-4, 

5. 

RR-MH-EO, 

6. 

RR-MI-22, 

7. 

RR-MS-14, 

8. 

RR-MO-17, 

9. 

RR-KM-19, 

10. 

RR-HY-1Z, 

11. 

RR-NY-14, 

12. 

RR-ND-?6, 

IS. 

RR-OK-2Z, 

14. 

RR-OR-10. 

15. 

RR-UT-14, 

Coffee  Fai 

Bow»n-WaTerly-IIor§*n 
Christian  &  Trigg  Farm* 
State  of  Maine  Farm* 
Central  Minn.  Farmt 
Thief  RiTer  Falls 
1.8.  Mississippi  Farms 
Osage  Farms 
Hew  Mexico  Farms 
Finger  Lakes  Farms 
New  Terk  Valley  Farms 
Red  RiTer  Valley  Farms 
Boomer  Farms 
Yamhill  Farms 
Serler  Valley  Farms 


RECAPITULATION  t 

Labor  Camps ..«• 

Part-Time  Farms   ...... 

Industrialised  ....... 

Community   •••••••••••• 

Infiltration  -  Tenant. 
Infiltration  -  Other  . 


MOTEt  RR-OH-?!,  Soioto  Farms,  listed  under  b oth  Part-time  and 
Industrialised  Types. 
Correct  number  of  Projects,  therefore  -  62* 


S 

4 
18 
18 
10 
10 


PFAiCRM  i  gmi  4/fc/S7 


334 
Casa  Grande,  Arizona 

Packard:       The  Casa  Grande  Project  in  Arizona  is  perhaps  the  best  example. 
It  was  located  on  4,000  acres  of  good  irrigable  land.   Sixty  well 
designed  houses  were  located  along  both  sides  of  the  main  road 
through  the  project.   Each  house  was  on  an  acre  of  land  which  gave 
ample  space  for  fruit  and  garden  production.   A  community  center 
building  provided  ample  facilities  for  community  meetings.   The 
cooperative  was  organized  under  state  law.   A  board  of  directors 
was  elected  with  the  responsibility  of  developing  a  farm  management 
plan  for  the  community  project,  to  be  submitted  to  the  project  mana 
ger  and  through  him  to  the  regional  office.   The  land  and  the  facili 
ties  built  by  the  government  were  leased  to  the  cooperative  for  a 
period  of  forty  years.   Some  leases  were  for  99  years.   The  objective 
was  to  retain  land  title  in  the  government.   The  project  was  designed 
to  accommodate  sixty  families  with  the  idea  that  small  industries 
might  eventually  be  added  to  accommodate  a  larger  number.   For  a 
while,  the  cow  testing  association  stood  the  highest  in  the  state 
month  after  month.   The  hogs  secured  top  prices  on  the  Los  Angeles 
market.   Crop  production  was  satisfactory  and  the  settler  relation 
ship  was  quite  amicable.   But  when  the  project  was  turned  over  to 
the  settler  cooperative  organization,  disruptive  quarrels  arose  and 
the  project,  as  a  cooperative,  was  abandoned.   In  settling  final 
equities  every  settler  possessed  more  assets  than  they  had  when 
they  arrived. 

The  project  manager  developed  some  interesting  facts  which,  in 
principle,  have  a  wide  application.   He  said  that  about  twenty  per 


335 

Packard:   cent  of  the  settlers  were  highly  cooperative  and  willing  to  do  any 
thing  to  make  the  project  succeed.   About  sixty  per  cent  were 
reasonably  cooperative  but  indifferent.   They  supported  the  project 
so  long  as  it  seemed  to  be  working,  but  showed  no  vital  interest  in 
making  the  plan  work.   The  remaining  twenty  per  cent  tended  to  be 
skeptical  and  often  hostile.   1  found  this  same  thing  to  be  true  at 
Delhi,  too. 

Another  comment  worth  recording  is   presented  in  the  following 
letter  dealing  with  a  study  of  the  Casa  Grande  settlers: 

Dear  Mr.  Packard: 

After  consulting  with  Mr.  Beatty  concerning  the  classifica 
tion  to  which  you  referred  in  your  letter,  we  have  agreed  that 
we  have  about  six  homesteaders  at  Casa  Grande  Valley  Farms  who 
are  finding  it  very  difficult  to  make  the  adjustment  necessary 
to  congenial  project  life. 

In  looking  over  the  history  of  these  six  homesteaders,  one 
fact  stands  out  that  although  they  had  a  farm  background  and 
were  on  farms  at  the  time  of  their  acceptance,  they  had  spent 
a  considerable  number  of  years  in  industrial  work  and  much  of 
their  life  had  been  spent  in  or  near  cities,  where  they  worked 
in  organized  trade  industries.   One  was  a  copper  roofer  for 
three  years,  one  a  plumber  and  carpenter  for  two  years,  one  a 
timber  grader  and  mechanic  for  thirteen  years,  one  a  tractor 
driver  for  three  and  a  half  years,  one  a  railroad  telegrapher 
for  eight  years,  and  one  a  mechanic  for  two  and  a  half  years. 
In  all  but  one  case,  they  had  come  from  a  better  background. 
Their  fathers  had  been  farm  owners  and  the  idea  of  individual 
ownership  had  been  ingrained  since  their  childhood.   They 
*     thought  the   idea  of  cooperation  sounded  nice  when  they  were 
down  and  out,  but  now  that  they  have  been  living  fairly  com 
fortably  for  almost  two  years,  the  old  individual  instincts 
are  coming  to  the  surface  again  and  making  them  dissatisfied 
with  a  cooperative  project. 

It  appears  to  me  that  it  will  be  several  years  before  you 
can  really  tell  much  about  the  people  on  the  project.   The 
first  year  or  two  they  are  buoyed  up  by  enthusiasm  and  hope. 
Then  after  that  the  daily  grind  of  work  and  life  begins  to 


336 


show  what  kind  of  people  you  really  have  and  whether  they 
are  able  to  stick  to  it  long  enough  to  become  fully  adjusted 
to  living  and  working  together. 

I  hope  this  will  in  some  way  answer  your  request  and  if 
there  is  any  other  way  I  can  be  of  assistance  to  you,  I  shall 
be  most  happy  to  do  so. 

Sincerely  yours, 


THEONE  HAUGE, 
Family  Selectionist 


Southern  Projects 


Packard:       Lake  Dick  was  another  cooperative  project  quite  different  from 
Casa  Grande  in  some  respects.   It  was  in  the  South,  was  not  settled 
by  migrants  from  the  Dust  Bowl,  and  was  not  irrigated.   The  houses 
were  clustered  around  a  small  lake  which  gave  it  a  rather  distinc 
tive  character.   An  interesting  incident  occurred  on  a  visit  I  made 
to  the  project  with  the  Regional  Supervisor  who  was  raised  in  Mis 
sissippi.   The  settlers  on  the  project  were  all  white,  but  as  we  ap 
proached  one  end  of  the  cotton  field  I  found  Negroes  doing  the  work 
under  the  close  direction  of  a  white  man  sitting  on  a  bench  at  the 
edge  of  the  field.   When  I  asked  for  an  explanation  I  was  told   by 
the  supervisor  that  the  settlers  were  smart.   They  hired  the  "nig 
gers"  to  do  the  hoe  work  at  ten  cents  an  hour.   The  settler  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  work  kept  a  close  account  of  the  time  each  Negro 
worked.   If  he  took  time  out  to  rest  he  was  docked.  (Laughter) 

Another  incident  involving  Negroes  may  be  worth  recording.   It 
occurred  on  a  rather  1  nr>;e  plantation  in  Louisiana  that  had  been 


337 

Packard:   purchased  by  the  Resettlement  Administration.   All  the  families 
were  Negroes.   In  talking  to  the  former  owner,  a  white  man  with 
a  great  social  conscience,  I  was  urged  not  to  let  the  new  super 
visor  of  the  plantation  displace  the  Negroes  by  white  families, 
as  ho  feared  might  happen.   I  visited  the  project  at  the  time  that 
patronage  profits  from  the  newly  organized  cooperative  store  were 
being  distributed.   Everyone  seemed  pleased,  but  somewhat  confused. 
I  heard  one  Negro  say  to  another,  "Them  Northern  white  folks  just 
ain't  smart,  I  never  got  no  profits  from  the  old  plantation  store". 
(Laughter) 

An  Urban  Project,  New  Jersey 

Baum:     Wasn't  there  an  important  cooperative  project  in  New  Jersey? 

Packard:   Yes,  there  was.   It  was  known  as  the  Hightstown  Project.   The 

Hightstown  Project  was,  in  part,  a  dream  of  Mr.  David  Dubinsky  and 
his  garment  workers'  union.   They  thought  that  a  cooperative  project 
in  the  country  could  provide  better  living  conditions,  lower  rents, 
and  more  profits,  especially  where  the  garment  industry  was  associa 
ted  with  cooperative  farming.   It  was  a  Utopian  idea  which  did  not 
work  for  the  reasons  I  have  already  outlined.   In  this  case,  in  ad 
dition  to  the  unscientific  behavioral  relationships  inherent  in  a 
producer  cooperative,  the  Hightstown  Project  had  the  added  handicap, 
created  by  the  fact  that  the  agricultural  workers  could  not  earn  as 
much  as  the  garment  workers  without  charging  more  than  the  going 
market  price  for  what  they  produced.   An  incident  occurred  at  one 
of  the  project  meetJnuN  which  may  be  worth  recording.   Mr.  Dubinsky 
Invited  Albert  Klnnleln  to  visit  the  project  und  advise  on  procedure. 


338 

Packard:   Dr.  Einstein  criticized  some  of  the  work  of  the  garment  workers  and 
Mr.  Dubinsky  replied  by  saying  "you  may  know  everything  about  rela 
tivity,  but  you  don't  know  nothing  about  the  garment  industry".* 
(Laughter) 

Individual  Farms 

Baum:     What  you  have  said  so  far  is  about  cooperative  farms.   Didn't  the 
Resettlement  program  involve  providing  individual  farms  for  farm 
families? 

Packard:   Yes,  of  course.   But  the  number  of  family  farms  established  was  not 
large.   As  I   remember  it,  our  goal  was  10,000,  but  the  number 
established  was  much  less  than  that.   The  Rehabilitation  and  Tenant 
Purchase  programs  did  much  more  for  family  farm  operators  than  the 
Resettlement  program  did.   A  fact  which  sheds  some  light  on  the 
whole  concept  of  planning  in  a  technologically  advancing  age  is  that 
the  total  number  of   family  farms  in  the  United  States  declined  by 
three  million  or  so  during  the  thirty  years  following  the  establish 
ment  of  the  Resettlement  Administration. 

Baum:     Does  that  mean  that  you  don't  believe  in  planning? 


*Excerpt  from  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Packard  from  Grace  Tugwell  (Mrs.  Rexford  Tugwell), 
written  April  15,  1967:   "You  will  be  amused  to  know  that  Rex  was  always 
rather  bitter  about  Mrs.  Roosevelt's  Arthurdale  project.   He  thought  the 
concept  completely  untenable  and  tried  to  convince  Mrs.  R  not  to  push  it  -- 
and  then  he  inherited  the  thing,  half  finished,  and  then  became  the  target 
for  all  the  well-founded  criticism." 


339 

Packard:   By  no  means.   It  simply  illustrates  the  force  of  developing  cir 
cumstances.   Planning  and  design,  to  be  effective,  must  anticipate 
the  nature  of  the  impact  of  developing  technology  upon  economic 
an  d  s  o  c  i  a  1  p  a  1 1  e  r  n  s . 

Baum:     Didn't  you  .specialize1  In   resettling  the  owners  of  sub-marginal 
farms  that  were-  purchased  in  the  program? 

Packard:   No,  we  did  not.   Dr.  Gray,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  sub-marginal  land 
purchase  program  favored  that  idea.   So  did  I,  but  Dr.  Tugwell,  for 
some  reason,  rejected  the  idea.   This  did  not  apply  to  those  who  had 
lost  their  farms  in  the  Dust  Bowl.   A  special  effort  was  made  to 
provide  irrigated  farms  for  these  families. 

Work  of  the  Washington  Office 

Baum:      (Looking  at  pamphlet,  Low  Cost  Housing) 

This  is  a  suggestion  for  farmhouses  planned  for  Resettlement  projects. 
Is  this  a  sample  of  the  kind  of  thing  your  Washington  office  would 
send  out? 

Packard:   Yes. 

Baum:     But  the  use  of  these  house  designs  was  not  compulsory? 

Packard:   No.   They  were  simply  suggestions.   We  and  the  regional  offices  had 
good  architectural  staffs.   Our  aim  was  to  get  the  most  and  best 
for  the  money.   We  wanted  houses  that  had  architectural  merit  but, 
more  than  that,  houses  that  served  the  needs  of  the  family.   Con 
sequently  the  home  demonstration  agent  had  quite  a  bit  to  way  about 
house  design.   General  directives  were  Hent  from  the  Washington  oi- 
fice  to  the  various  Regional  Directors.   Some  were  issued  by  the 


340 

Packard:   Procedure  Division,  some  by  Finance  and  some  by  the  Legal  Division. 
All  project  plans  were  sent  to  my  office  where  they  were  analyzed 
by  my  staff  and  submitted  to  me  for  final  judgment  before  going  to 
Dr.  Tugwcll  for  approval.   In  order  to  guide  the  regions  in  the 
preparation  of  these  plans,  suggestions  in  the  form  of  memoranda 
were  sent  out  by  the  members  of  my  staff  who  also  made  trips  to  the 
regions  for  consultation.   I  also  made  trips  to  the  regions  usually 
in  connection  with  some  regional  meeting.   I  had  no  authority  to  di 
rect.   When  directions  were  needed  they  came  from  the  main  office. 
I  attempted  to  influence  the  character  of  the  program  by  pre 
paring  papers  and  delivering  talks  at  various  meetings.   The  sub 
jects  included  the  following:   "Achievements  and  Future  Plans  of 
Rural  Resettlement,"  "Food  Resources,"  "Rural  Housing  Problems," 
"Our  Fallow  Economy,"  "The  Government  as  Real  Estate  Buyer," 
"Reasons  for  not  Conveying  Title  to  Farm  Security  Clients  Until  the 
End  of  Forty  Years,"  "Accomplishments  and  Larger  Purposes  of  Rural 
Resettlement"  (Agricultural  Engineers,  Washington),  "The  Resettlement 
Program  as  it  will  Affect  Western  Irrigation  Projects"  (Institute  of 
Irrigation  Agriculture,  Corvallis,  Oregon),  "Resume  of  the  Land 
Settlement  Program,"  "The  Purposes  and  Accomplishments  of  the  Rural 
Resettlement  Program"  (National  Conference  of  Social  Work,  Indian 
apolis,  Indiana),  "The  Tenant  as  a  Migrant"  (National  Conference  on 
Social  Work),  "The  Resettlement  Administration  and  Migratory  Labor," 
"How  to  Meet  the  Problem  of  Marginal  Land  in  Agricultural  Land  Use 
Planning,"  "Agriculture  and  the  Depression,"  "Why  the  Way  we  do 
Things  Now  is  Hecoming  Impossible,"  "Back  to  the  Land  Movement  with 


341 

Packard:   "Special  Reference  to  the  Jew"  (Jewish  Community  Center,  San 
Francisco),  "What  the  Development  of  Techniques  Requires  Us 
to  Do"   (Plan  Age). 
Life  in  Washington 

Baum:     What  was  your  life  like  in  Washington? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   It  was  a  very  new  experience  for  both  of  us.   We  had  had  a 

limited  experience  with  politics  in  California,  but  now  wo  were 
in  the  maelstrom  of  trying  to  carry  out  party  promises.   We  drove 
our  own  car  across  the  U.S.A.  in  December,   1935,   stopping  at  many 
local  Resettlement  headquarters  in  the  southern  states,  where  we 
met  hoards  of  employees  until  my  memory  of  names  and  places  was 
completely  exhausted  --   as  we  went  to  dinner  after  dinner  with 
the  various  staffs.   We  were  so  late  getting  into  Washington  that 
we  holed  up  in  an  apartment  in  a  hotel  just  off  Lafayette  Square 
with  housekeeping  arrangements,  and  spent  six  months   there.   It 
was  very  conveniently  located  to  office  and  government  buildings 
and  I  could  stay  alone  when  my  husband  was  out  of  town,  as  he 
often  was.   If   there  was  room  in  the  auto,  I  frequently  went 
along  on  trips  out  to  projects. 

Baum:     This  was  the  working  out  of  some  of  the  New  Deal? 

Packard:   Yes,  the  laboratory,  as  it  were.   This  was  also  the  time  when 

Senator  Robert  La  Follette,  Jr.   was  holding  his   Labor  Committee 
hearings  and  many  of  us  wives  attended  these  hearings  --  many  of 
which  were   taking  place  that  year.   They  were   the  most  exciting 
thing  in  Washington  that  season  --  better  than  the  theater  for 
drama. 


342 


For  instance? 


Baum: 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Well,  the  day  that  Senator  La  Follette  had  the  Pinkerton  Detective 

Agency  on  the  carpet  for  their  snooping  into  the  labor  unions' 
organizations  --  finding  out  how  and  where  they  operated  --  also 
the  heads  of  the  labor  unions  in  the  southern  mines  and  mills  -- 
sometimes  the  sheriffs  who  guarded  the  company  properties. 

I  re-member  one  day  when  witnesses  of  this  type  were  searched 
for  weapons  as  the  atmosphere  was  so  tense.   Another  day,  the 
Senator  had  the  whole  files  of  the  Pinkerton  Agency  subpoenaed  for 
the  hearing.   Important  employers   evaded  responsibility  for  actions. 
The  Senator  would  ask,  "Then  who  would  know  about  this?"   Each  man 
would  pass  the  buck  to  another  until  he,  one  day,  had  seven  top  men 
on  the  stand  trying  to  get  one  to  take   the  responsibility  for  some 
order  or  action.   That  was  dramatic  as  you  can  imagine.   The  hearing 
rooms  were  crowded. 

One  evening  my  husband  was  invited  to  dinner  with  Mr.  Morgenthau 
where  the  invited  group  heard  Robert  La  Follette  speak.   He  made  the 
profane  statement  that  "Any  one  of   the  vice-presidents  (of  compa 
nies)  that   I  had  on  the  stand  would  perjure  himself , except  that  he 
never  knew  when  I  had  the  evidence  aginst   hi«  in  my  hands."  Many 
times  I  heard  him  ask  a  question,  get  a  denial  of  a  fact,  and  then 
he  would  say  caustically,  "I  have  in  my  hand  a  copy  of  that  letter  -- 
does  this  refresh  your  memory?" 

Baum:     Were  there  other  hearings  as  well  as  the  Labor  Committee? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Yes.   Another  one  I  remember  was  the  one  where  Dr.  Francis  Towns  end 


343 

Mrs. 

Packard:   was  subpoenaed  and   came  with  his  attorney,  Sheridan  Downey.   We 

had  been  through  the  End  Poverty  in  California  (EPIC)  campaign  in 
California  when  Upton  Sinclair  ran  for  governor  and  Dr.  Townsend 
was  in  all  the  news  for  his  work  for  "Senior  Citizens"  --  probably 
he  invented  the  term  at  this  time.   Dr.  Townsend   had  seen  an  old 
woman  nimnmginj;   in  a  garbage  can  for  food  and   it  so  enraged  him 
that  he'  began  his  campaign  for  relief  of  such  people.   I  forgot 
which  men  held  the  hearing  on  this  but  they  were  very  discourteous 
to  Dr.  Townsend   in  the  morning  session,  which  ended  tensely,  to 
be  recalled  right  after  lunch.   When  we  returned,  Sheridan  Downey 
got  up  quickly,  passed  out  some  copies  of  a  statement  that  he  and 
Dr.  Townsend   had  signed  to  the  audience.   He  then  read  it  and 
quickly,  before  anyone  had  a  chance  to  reply,  he  and  Townsend 
walked  out  on  the  hearing  and  disappeared  into  a  waiting  auto  and 
drove   to  parts  unknown,  leaving  the  committee  gasping  in  dis 
belief.   Tills  was  clearly  contempt  of  a  committee  but  I  do  not 
remember  that  they  were  ever  disciplined  for  it.   I  have  somewhere 
a  copy  of  that  statement  and  hope  I  can  find  it  for  this  record. 

Another  incident  impressed  itself  on  my  memory.   At  that  time, 
John  L.  Lewis  was  often  in  the  news  and  at  odds  with  most  of  the 
powers-that-be,  except  for  his  own  union.   One  day  a  group  of 
students  from  out  of  town  arranged  an  interview  with  him  and  I 
happened  to  attend,  since  it  was  not  a  closed  meeting.   The  only 
question  that  I  remember  was  one  asking  if  he  admitted  Communists 
I  o  hln  union,  tin  lie  W/»H  m-cimed  of  doliiK-   Hln  reply  W/KI  lo  tlil/i 


344 

Mrs. 

Packard:   effect:  "The   union  is  open  to  anyone  the  employers  may  hire.   I 

can't  help  it  if  they  employ  Communists,  can  I?"  And  his  eyes 
twinkled  under  those  famous  bushy  eyebrows. 

Baum:     You  must  have  done  other  things  besides  hearings! 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Yes,  it  was  a  very  busy  life.   There  were  several  official  social 

affairs  --  two  White  House  receptions  and  an  afternoon  tea.   We 
were  there  for  the  second  inaugural  of  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt  as 
President  and  saw  all  we  could  of  that.   There  were  many  teas  by 
heads  of  departments  and,  of  course,  purely  personal  affairs  among 
close  friends.   There  were  plays  and  concerts.   I  still  remember 
George  Gershwin  conducting  his  "Rhapsody  in  Blue",  with  himself  at 
the  piano,  in  Constitution  Hall  --  a  thrill  to  remember. 

Baum:     What  about  the  many  historical  places  to  visit? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Those,  of  course,  everyone  did.   I  drove  people  --  visitors  --  out 

to  see  Mt.  Vernon  several  times  and  then  called  a  halt.   In  the 
spring  of  1936  my  son-in-law,  Burton  Cairns,  and  four  of  his  staff 
in  architecture  in  Region  9,  came  to  Washington  for  a  month.   It 
was  all  new  to  them  so  I  had  the  fun  of  going  to  many  places  as 
guide,  or  to  places  like  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  which  had  been 
restored.   We  six  drove  down  in  my  auto  and  spent  the  weekend 
looking  over  Jamestown,  Yorktown,  University  of  Virginia  and  Thomas 
Jefferson's  home.   The  young  architects  were  fascinated  over  the 
designs  and  architecture  and  I  was  fascinated  by  looking  at  these 
historical  places  through  their  eyes.   They  went  over  the  under 
pinnings  and  the  rafters  of  the  old  buildings  at  Williamsburg  with 


345 

Mrs. 

Packard:   with  eager  and  trained  eyes.   Maybe  the  history  impressed  them,  too, 

but  techniques  and  designs  and  plans  were  more  important  to   them. 
Burton  Cairns,  Corwin  Mocine  and  Vernon  DeMars  were   along  on  this 
trip  --  the  two  latter  men  are  now  on  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  California,  Berkeley,  in  the   Environmental   Design  Division. 
Thi>  throe  oT  thorn  later  designed  and  built  our  own   home  and  gardf-n 
at  77')  Cru>',inont  Avenue  In  lierkeley  in  1938. 

We  drove  to  New  York  City  for  weekends  with  Walter's  two  sis 
ters.   Another  time,  for  a  weekend  at  the  Connecticut  home  of 
Frances  Adams  and  her  husband,  Alex  Gumberg.   Dr.  John  Dewey  was 
among  the  guests.   I  had  followed  his  ideas  on  "progressive  educa 
tion"  with  great  interest  and  the  Peninsula  School  had  carried  out 
some  of  his  ideas  in  its  organization.   We  also  met  Lemuel  and 
Mary  Parton,  both  newspaper  writers.   Lem  had  written  a  personality 
column  for  the  old  San  Francisco  News ,  before  going   to  New  York 
where  he  had  a  syndicated  column.   Mary  was  writing  a  book  on  in 
formation  about  jobs  and  skills  for  the  United  States  Government, 
to  help  young  people  in  viewing  the  fields  of  job  opportunity. 
She   took  me  under  her  wing  and  we  interviewed  such  people  as  the 
policewoman  in  charge  of  the  delinquent  girls  in  the  Washington 
police  department.   Another  fascinating  visit  was  to   the  taxidermist 
who  mounted   specimens  for  the  Smithsonian  Institution.   Another  day, 
we  went  to  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau  for  a  survey  of  the  kinds 
of  jobs  done   there.   Another  time  I  helped  her  get  ready   for  an 
unexpect  cd  reception  /it  the1  White  lloune   for  the  ncwupupcr  people  -- 
we  managed  somehow  to  find  enough  of  the  proper  apparel  so   that 


346 

Mrs. 

Packard:   she  went  off  gaily  in  many  borrowed  items  of  costume. 

Personnel 

Bnum:      What  did  yon  think  of  Liu-  staff  you  had  to  work  with  in  thr-  Re- 
sett lement  Administration? 

Packard:   Generally  speaking,  the  people  employed  by  the  Resettlement  Ad 
ministration  were  idealists.   They  were  sincere,  capable,  and 
hard  working.   The  situation  was  very  much  like  the  situation 
that  existed  when  the  Reclamation  and  Forest  Services  were  organ 
ized  under  the  leadership  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Gifford  Pinchot, 
A. P.  Davis,   and  other  of  the  early  conservationists.   We  all  felt 
that  we  were  a  part  of  a  movement  which  would   do  much  for  the  low 
income  rural  population. 

Baum:     The  same  group  would  now  be  joining  the  Peace  Corps,  I   suppose. 

Packard:   Yes,  that's  true.   The  same  thing  was  true  of  the  personnel  em 
ployed  in   the  early  part  of  the  Marshall  Plan.   Several  old  Re 
settlement  people  were  in  Greece  when  I  was  there.   Others  had 
joined  the  United  States  technical  staff.   The  New  Deal  agencies 
formed  a  sort  of  training  school  for  later  foreign  aid  projects. 

Closing  Out   of  the  Resettlement  Administration 

Packard:       The  Resettlement  Administration,  as  such,  was  a  short-lived 
organization.   Dr.  Tugwell  left  in  1937  and  several  changes  were 
made.   The  name  of  the  organization  was  changed  to  the  Farm 
Security  Administration  and  the  Land  Planning  Division,  under  Dr. 
Gray,  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of  Agriculture.   All  of 


347 

Packard:   the  cooperative  farms  were  liquidated  soon  after  the  Farm  Security 
took  over,  at  the  direction  of  Congress.   They  felt  that  they  were 
too  much  like  the  Russian  experiment.    And  C.B.  (Beany)  Baldwin 
came  out  with  a  very  strong  statement  saying  that  these  producer 
controlled  cooperative  farms  were  a  failure.   And  they  were  given 
up.   Much  of  the  remaining  work  of  the  Resettlement  Division  was 
taken  over  by  tlu-  newly  created  Tenant  Purchase  program.   Tenant 
farming  created  one  of  the  dominant  social  problems  in  the  southern 
states.   I  was  transferred  back  to  Berkeley  where  I  became  director 
of  the  land  planning  work,  which  had  been  separated  from  Resettlement 
and  later  was  taken  over  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Agricultural 
Economics. 

Baum:     That  was   under  Dr.  Gray,  wasn't  it? 

Packard:   Yes,  that  was  under  Dr.  Gray.   Garst  had  moved  the  Resettlement  of 
fice  from  Berkeley  to  San  Francisco  when  he  became  director.   When 
I   took  charge  I  transferred  the  Land  Planning  Organization  back  to 
Berkeley  and  took  the  old  quarters  that  we  had  before. 

The  Farm  Security  Administration  lasted  for  a  good  many  years, 
but  finally  was  transferred  to  what  is  now  the  Farmers'  Home  Ad 
ministration,  which  is  essentially  a  loaning  organization.   They 
have  operating  loans  and  farm  ownership  loans  and  water  development 
and  soil  conservation  loans,  a  rural  housing  loan,  emergency  loans, 
and  watershed  loans,   and  rural  area  development  loans.   In  general, 
the  objectives  arc  not  much  different  from  the  original  Rehabilita 
tion  Division  of  the  Resettlement  Administration,  based  on  the 
principle  that  "SupervlHed  credit  helps  farmers  Improve  their  farrmi 


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348 

Packard:   "and  homes,  increase  their  incomes,  and  make  their  full  contribu 
tion  to  the  economic  growth  of  their  communities.   This  combina 
tion  of  credit  plus  management  assistance  is  a  major  tool  in  rural 
area  development." 

When  I  resigned  I  got  a  very  nice  letter  from  Will  W.  Alexander, 
September  22,  1937: 

My  dear  Walter: 

]  '  VCY  bc'c-n  awuy  a  great  deal  and  when  here  have  been  pressed 
with  the  details  of  our  reorganization  about  which  you  have- 
no  doubt  seen  reports  in  the  press.   I  have  missed  you  and 
I  wanted  to  write  and  tell  you  so  and  to  say  that  no  one 
with  whom  I  have  been  associated  with  in  this  work  has  given 
me  more  inspiration  than  you.   The  time  is  coming  when  we 
will  all  be  proud  of  our  connection  with  the  early  days  of 
this  work.   Most  of  what  we  started  is  sound  and  significant 
and  with  proper  management  will  vindicate  itself  and  those 
who  strove  for  its  creation.   To  those  beginnings  no  one 
made  a  more  sincere,  honest,  and  constructive  contribution 
than  yourself.   May  I   assure  you  of  my  genuine  and  abiding 
friendship.   With  highest  regards  to  you  and  Mrs.  Packard, 
I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 


Will  W.  Alexander 

Haum:      That's  a  very  nice  letter. 

Packard:   Yes. 

Baum:     Was  he  a  Tugwell  man? 

Packard:   Oh,  definitely.   When  Tugwell  left  Dr.  Alexander  took  his  place  as 
Administrator.   C.B.  Baldwin  succeeded  Dr.  Alexander  and  presided 
over  the  liquidation  of  the  Resettlement  Administration  and  the  es 
tablishment  of   the  Farm  Security  Administration.   Beany  Baldwin 
later  became  the  campaign  manager  for  Henry  Wallace  in  his  bid  for 
the  presidency.   I  received  a  wire  from  Beany  in  February,  1948 


349 

Packard:   asking  mo  to  accept  a  position  as  one  of  the  national  directors  of 
Wallace's  campaign.   But  I  acted  then  as  I   did  when  Upton  Sinclair 
was  running  for  governor  of  California;  I  did  not  vote  for  either 
man,  not  because  I  was  conservative  (or  was  I?),  but  because  I  was 
afraid  of  Wallace's  religious  mysticism.   I  was  still  seeking  the 
answer  to  problems  which  I  thought  were  not  clearly  understood. 
Tugwcll,  who  was  for  Wallace  in  the  beginning,  withdrew  before  the 
campaign  omled  for  reasons  similar  to  mine. 


•J50 

CONSULTING  WORK,  1939-1944 
Irrigation  Projects  Near  Yuma 

Packard:       The  work  of   the  Land  Planning  Organization  led  to   the  es 
tablishment  in  Berkeley  of  the  Bureau  of  Agricultural  Economics. 
It  was  to  become  a  large  organization  with  quite   a  staff;  they  had 
plans  for  quite  an  ambitious  study  program  and  a  corresponding 
budget.   It  appeared  then  that  we  would  be  able  to   conduct  some 
original  investigations   along  several  lines  such  as:   detailed 
studios  of  land  available  for  settlement,  cost  of  land  development 
in  newly  irrigable  areas,  the  relative'  merits  and  possibilities  of 
different  types  of  settlement,  studies  of  financial  and  tenure  ar 
rangements  for  settlers  and  the  like.   Although  elaborate  plans 
were  made,   they  were  not  carried  out  because  of  financial  problems. 
There  were  always  struggles  with  Congress  about  funds.   In  general, 
this  was   to  be  a  study  organization.   They  were  going  to  go   into 
all  of  the  activities  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  including 
the  Farm  Security  Administration,  and  see  where  mistakes  were  made 
in  the  hope-  of   developing   a  philosophy  that   could  be  applied  no 
that  errors   could  be  avoided  in  the  future1.   One  objective  was  to 
develop  a  really  basic  farm  policy. 

One  of  those  plans  was   a  proposed  study  of  the  Imperial  Valley. 
It   came  about  in  this  way:   When  I  first  took  the  office  of  di 
rector  in  Region  9,  I  had  several  wires  and  telephone  messages  from 
Washington  to  go  to  Yuma  to  visit  the  Mesa  area  which   the  Bureau 
of  Reclamation  was  planning  to  irrigate.   I  had  been  familiar  with 
the  area  before  from  my  time  in  Imperial  Valley.   I  was  rather 


351 

Packard:   skeptical  because  it  was  an  extremely  sandy  area,  where   the  sand 
was  very  porous.   I  felt  it  involved  settlement  problems  that 
couldn't  be  met  at  that  time.   The  Yuma  people  wanted  the  Farm 
Security  Administration  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of 
Reclamation  by  helping  settlers  finance  their  development  plans. 
I  went  down  to  Yuma  and  met  with  the  committee  who  drove  me  out 
over  the  mesa.   I  dug  around  in  various  places  to  determine  what 
the  soil  was   like.   1  came  back  with  the  same  conclusion  that  I 
had  when  I   went  there  years  earlier,  that  it  was  not  a  desirable 
thing  at   that   time  because  of  the  problems  involved.   A  rather 
funny  thing  happened  on  this  trip.   While  we  were  out  on  the  mesa, 
the  group  gathered  around  me  while  I  was  shoveling  a  hole,   and 
the  Christian  Science  Monitor  came  out  with  a  picture  of  the  group 
on  its  front  page,  saying  "Packard  turns  the  first  dirt  on  new 
project."  Instead  of  approving  it,  I  turned  it  down  and  created 
quite  a   lot  of  resentment  in  Arizona  for  a  while. 

Baum:     I  didn't   understand,  quite  ...  the  Yuma  people  wanted  the  Bureau 
of  Reclamation  to  develop  -- 

Packard:   No.   The  Yuma  people  wanted  the  Resettlement  Administration  to 

finance  the  settlement  of  the  mesa.   The  Bureau  of  Reclamation  was 
to  provide  the  land  and  the  water.   The  Resettlement  Administration 
would  provide  loans  and  advice  and  direct  the  planning,  sub-dividing, 
and  settling  of  the  land. 

Baum:     To  get   a  new  business  venture  going,  I  guess,  was  their  idea. 

Packard:   Yes.   Later  on,  when  the  Bureau  of  Agricultural  Economics  branch 

was  established  in  Berkeley  this  same   issue  came  up  again,  but  in 


352 

Packard:   a  larger  way   The  Bureau  then  was  building  the  All  American 
Canal,  and  there  were  thousands  of  acres  of  land  in  the  east 
side  mesa  that  required  irrigation*  So  a  major  project  developed 
in  the  working  out  of  a  plan  for  the  settlement  of  both  the  Yuma 
mesa  and  the  east  side  mesa  in  Imperial  Valley.   As  a  result  of  my 
previous  experience  in  Imperial  Valley,  I  took  a  leading  role  in 
this  new  venture.   In  making  the  plan  I  was  able  to  get  the  coop 
eration  of  the  University  of  California,  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation, 
and  the  U.S.D.A.   I  made  several  trips  to  the  area  and  prepared 
tentative  plans  for  the  subdivision  and  development  of  the  area. 
I  worked  closely  with  Dr.  Carl  Alsberg  who  was  then  head  of  the 
Giannini  Foundation  of  the  University  of  California,  who  took  a 
keen  interest  in  the  project.   The  study  was  supported  by  the 
Imperial  Valley  Irrigation  District  and  it  seemed  that  everything 
was  favorable  to  carrying  out  such  a  study.   John  Page,  the  Com 
missioner  of  Reclamation  backed  the  proposed  plans.   My  cor 
respondence  with  him  at  that  time  is  a  part  of  the  record  which 
I  am  filing  with  this  report. 

I  proposed  experimental  settlement  on  both  the  Yuma  and 
Imperial  Valley  cast  sick-  mesa  in  the  hope  that  the  special  prob 
lems  associated  with  the  very  sandy  land  could  be  worked  out  be 
fore  actual  settlement  began.   I  felt  that  sprinkle  irrigation 
might  be  an  advantage  both  because  it  would  cover  the  land  adequately 
without  over-irrigation  and  without  creating  a  serious  drainage 
problem  in  the  areas  already  irrigated  in  the  lower  areas* 


353 

Packard:       The  whole  plan  was  finally  given  up,  in  part  because  Dr. 

Gray  felt  that  the  Department  of  Agriculture  wasn't  in  position 
to  go  ahead  with  so  lar^i;  an  undertaking.  Meanwhile  my  employ 
ment  as  Director  of  the-  liurcau  was  terminated  and  1  again  became 
a  consultant,  but  witli  the  Farm  Security  and  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  my  main  clients. 

Study  of  Baja,  California  for  Jewish  Settlement 

One  of  the  jobs  I  had  at  that  time  was  for  a  Committee  on 
Jewish  Resettlement,  whose  members  wanted  to  find  some  place  for 
Jewish  settlement  that  might  be  an. alternative  to  Israel.   The 
committee  was  headed  by  Linton  Wells  and  included  a  number  of 
well  known  people:   Fay  Gillis,  Dr.  George  Richter,  Mrs.  Dwight 
W.  Morrow,  Dorothy  Thompson,  Maurice  Wortheim,  Stuart  Chase, 
Marian  Tyler,  Mary  Van  Cleve,  Dr.  Alphonse  Goldschmidt,  Aubrey 
Neil  Morgan,  Louise  Buckley,  Frances  Adams,  and  Alex  Gumberg. 
The  committee  meeting  which  I  attended  was  called  by  Alex  Gumberg 
who  was  the  primary  mover  in  the  thing.   Dorothy  Thompson  told 
what  she  thought  about  the  need  for  resettlement  and  how  good  it 
would  be  to  have  it  in  Mexico,  if  that  were  possible.   I  was  the 
second  speaker  and  gave  what  I  knew  about  Mexico  and  especially 
about  Lower  California.   1  expressed  some  skepticism  about  the  un 
dertaking,  but  as  a  result  of  that  meeting  I  was  sent  to  Lower 
California  to  make  a  report  on  the  possibility  of  having  a  very  large 
Jewish  resettlement  there. 


354 

Packard;       I  went  to  Lower  California  and  was  able  to  get  maps  and  data 
on  rainfall  and  climate  from  the  Mexican  government.   In  fact,  one 
of  the  projects  that  1  had  worked  on  when  I  was  working  for  the 
Mexican  government  was  a  project  in  Tijuana,  so  I  knew  something 
about  the  area  already  and  did  have  contacts.   The  plan  involved 
the  taking  over  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Imperial  Valley  below  the 
border.   It  was  then  owned  by  Chandler  of  the  Los  Angeles  Times. 
That  is,  of  course,  a  very  rich  and  productive  area.   It  would 
support  a  very  sizable  colony.   It  is  almost  equal  in  size  to 
Imperial  Valley  on  the  United  States  side  of  the  border.   The 
northern  portion  of  Lower  California  is  much  like  San  Diego  County, 
except  that  it  contains  a  snowcapped  mountain  12,000  feet  high  which 
provides  some  runoff  which  can  be  used  for  irrigation  if  properly 
conserved.   Both  coasts  provide  excellent  fishing  grounds. 

But  most  of  the  land  area  is  desert  and  almost  completely  un 
productive.   I  came  to  realize  too  that  the  native  population  would 
resent  the  introduction  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of   non-Mexican 
peoples.     I  was  told  that  the  Mexican  government  would  object 
to  the  project.   I  came  to  the  conclusion,  on  balance,  that  the 
arguments  against  the  plan  were  stronger  than  the  favorable  points 
and  reported  against  the  venture. 

Kautn:      Did  they  have  a  plan  for  a  settlement  the  size  of  Israel? 

Packard:   No,  not  as  large.   It  would  be  supplementary. 

Baum:     It  doesn't  seem  that  Lower  California  would  have  enough  land  for 
that. 


355 


Packard : 
Baum: 
Packard : 


Well,  Israel  is  quite  small,  you  know. 

Yes,  and  Israel  doesn't  have  very  good  land  either. 

That  is  right.   Its  resources  are  very  limited.   But,  I've  been 

over  quite  a  bit  of  Israel  with  Israeli  irrigation  engineers  and 

I  was  surprised  to  see  what  they've  been  able  to  do. 

Work  with  National  Youth  Administration 


Another  job  that  I  had  as  a  consultant  was  with  the  National 
Youth  Administration.   Aubrey  Williams  was  head  of  that  organiza 
tion.   He  was  very  friendly  with  John  Kingsbury,  whom  I  worked 
under  in  France.   Dr.  Kingsbury  recommended  me  to  Aubrey  Williams 
as  a  consultant  who  might  help  him  get  his  organization  working 
with  the  Farm  Security  Administration  or  other  departments  of 
government  in  developing  opportunities  for  youth.   The  Youth  Ad 
ministration  would  carry  through  the  educational  end  of  it  but 
there  would  be  opportunities  in  agriculture  and  in  industry  that 
could  be  developed,  if  the  Youth  Administration  could  make  ar 
rangements  for  help  from  other  agencies. 

So  1  went  to  Washington  and  worked  with  Aubrey  off  and  on 
for  a  couple  of  years.   I  went  ahead  with  the  idea  of  working  with 
the  Farm  Security  Administration  in  developing  farms  for  youths, 
particularly  in  the  South  where  the  local  Youth  Administration 
leaders  could  get  opportunities  for  settlement  for  young  people 
who  came  off  the  farm  and  had  been  trained  in  agriculture  but  had 
no  place  to  go.   We  thought  the  Farm  Security  could  finance  them 
on  farms  that  would  be  big  enough  so  they'd  make  a  reasonable 
living . 


356 

Packard:       Kingsbury  and  I  went  on  a  trip  through  the  southern  states 
to  report  on  what  the  National  Youth  Administration  was  doing. 
We  went  from  Georgia  to  Florida  and  west  through  to  Arkansas, 
visiting  the  National  Youth  Administration  organizations  and 
seeing  what  they  were  doing.   On  this  trip  with  Kingsbury  through 
the  South  we  stopped  at  the  Tennessee  Valley  Authority  area,  went 
over  the  area  with  officials  of  the  organization.   I  made  a  talk 
there  proposing  that  the  TVA  work  with  the  Youth  Administration 
in  developing  projects  in  which  the  Youth  Administration  could 
help. 

I  came  back  to  Washington  with  a  very  keen  admiration  for 
the  work  the  National  Youth  Administration  was  doing  in  education. 
They  were  giving  the  young  people  a  very  practical  education,  so 
when  they  got  through  they  would  be  able  to  get  jobs  away  from 
others  who  were  not  so  well  trained.   I  felt  that  they  would  be 
a  favored  economic  group.   But  I  didn't  see  any  basic  planning 
on  the  part  of  any  of  the  administrators,  either  local  or  state. 
So  I  came  back  with  the  feeling  that  although  these  young  people 
were  being  trained  in  techniques,  etc.  they  were  learning  nothing 
about  the  society  they  were  living  in.   They  were,  consequently, 
unable  to  act  intelligently  to  change  things,  which  I  felt  would 
be  necessary  in  order  to  provide  employment,  because  unemployment 
was  a  very  serious  matter,  especially  in  the  South. 

As  a  result  I  thought  of  preparing  an  economic  primer  that 
could  be  distributed  to  the  students  and  administrative  personnel, 
giving  the  basic  facts  of  life.   After  working  three  or  four  weeks 


357 

Packard:   on  this  primer  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  far  too  deep 
a  subject  to  be  covered  in  so  short  a  time.   The  book  that  I've 
been  working  on  ever   since  and  that  I'm  still  hoping  to  get  out 
is  that  primer.  (Laughter) 

Baum:     Were  you  commissioned  to  do  that? 

Packard:   Yes.   But  I  gave  it  up  after  a  short  time  when  I  found  it  was 
impossible  to  do  what  I  had  in  mind. 

I  did  various  minor  errands  for  Aubrey  Williams,  writing 
material  for  him  and  that  sort  of  thing,  including  some  work 
here  in  California  in  cooperation  with  the  local  state  director. 

Consultant  for  the  Farm  Security  Administration  in  Oregon 

One  of  the  most  important  assignments  I  had  as  a  consultant 
was  with  the  Farm  Security  Administration  in  Portland.   I  fol 
lowed  through  on  my  original  study  of  the  Columbia  Basin  Project. 
I  made  a  different  kind  of  a  report  for  the  Farm  Security  Admin 
istration  on  the  settlement  problem.   How  it  could  be  settled 
and  the  plans  for  doing  it  whereby  the  Farm  Security  Administration 
in  that  area  would  supplement  what  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  was 
doing  by  providing  loans  for  development  work  and  by  giving  ad 
vice  to  the  settlers. 

I  also  made  a  special  study  of  Linn  County  in  central  Oregon,* 
a  typical  area  on  the  east  side  of  the  Willamette  Valley  extending 
to  the  crest  of  the  Cascade  Mountains.   The  study  included  both 
forestry  and  agriculture.  My  report  was  in  considerable  detail, 
showing  how  the  economy  of  the  area  could  be  developed  with  a 

*  "Post  War  Future  of  a  Western  Community,"  Farm  Security  Admin 
istration,  November,  1943.   A  copy  of  this  report  is  available  in 
the  Bancroft  Library. 


358 

Packard:   sustained  program  of  reforestation  in  the  mountains,  which  was  not 
then  being  done,  and  where  agriculture  and  forestry  could  work  to 
gether  in  developing  as  complete  a  program  for  the  county  as  we 
could  get.   Copies  of  Hie  study  were  distributed  through  the  area 
and  as  a  result  the  head  of  the  University  of  Idaho's  economics 
department  wanted  to  have  studies  of  the  same  kind  made  in  every 
county  in  Idaho.   I  was  working  under  the  general  supervision  of 
Lee  Fryer  who  later  on  wrote  a  book  on  my  Linn  County  report.* 


Baum: 
Packard: 


My  work  in  the  Northwest  was  not  continuous.   I  went  back  and 
forth  from  Berkeley  to  Portland  several  times.   I  filled  in  this 
spare  time  with  various  short  term  jobs.   One  of  these  included  a 
reconnaisance  study  of  the  worst  part  of  the  Dust  Bowl  in  Oklahoma, 
New  Mexico,  and  Colorado.   'I  attended  a  conference  on  the  Dust 
Bowl  problem  in  Amarillo  as  a  representative  of  the  Farm  Security 
Administration  in  Region  9. 
Wasn't  that  for  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation? 

No,  irrigation  was  not  the  main  problem.   The  Bureau  of  Reclamation 
is  primarily  interested  in  irrigation.   The  issue  was  whether  or 
not  to  try  to  resettle  the  area  that  had  been  so  badly  damaged  by 


*Lee  Fryer  phoned  from  Washington, D.  C.  laftt  August  (1966)  saying 

lie  was  using  the  Linn  County  report  as  a  basis  for  work  he  waa 

in  the  southern  states.   lie  was  bringing  the  ideas  up  to  date  to  adapt 

to  local  conditions.   I  have  not  heard  from  him  since,  so  I  don't 

know  the  results.  (E.L.P.) 


359 


Packard:   drought  and  winds  and  how  it  could  be  done  with  safety.   H.E. 
Henson,  who  had  been  my  chief  assistant  during  my  resettlement 
days  in  Washington,  was  in  charge  of  the  Amarillo  office. 

In  1941  I  began  to  have  trouble  with  the  eye  that  had  been 
operated  on  for  cataract  in  1930.   A  Portland  doctor  prescribed 
some  new  glasses  which  did  not  help.   When  I  got  back  to  San 
Francisco  I  went  to  my  old  eye  doctor  (Otto  Barkan)  who  found 
that  I  had  an  advanced  case  of  glaucoma  and  needed  an  immediate 
operation.   The  first  operation  was  not  successful,  but  the 
second,  which  required  eleven  stitches,  corrected  the  trouble. 

Baum:     You  were  lucky  to  preserve  your  eyesight. 

Packard:   Yes,  I  was.   I  depended  almost  wholly  on  that  left  eye  until 
1947  when  I  had  a  cataract  operation  on  my  right  eye. 

Consultant  for  the  United  States  Indian  Service 

Another  position  was  with  the  Indian  Service.   I  was  em 
ployed  as  a  consultant  for  summer  school  work,  where  Indian 
Bureau  supervisors  came  from  all  over  the  Western  states  for 
conference  and  study.   My  particular  job  was  dealing  with  the 
resettlement  and  irrigation,  principally  irrigation.   John 
Collier  was  head  of  the  Indian  Bureau  at  that  time. 

The  first  meeting  was  at  Riverside,  California,  and  it  was 
a  delightful  experience  working  with  a  new  group  entirely.   And 
to  get  in  touch  with  what  they  were  doing  was  really  quite  in 
spiring.   The  second  meeting  was  at  Fort  Wingate ,  New  Mexico. 


360 

Packard:   During  that  time  we  visited  a  large  number  of  the  interesting 

Indian  settlements  in  both  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.   That  summer 
I  had  to  take  three  days  off  and  fly  up  to  Oregon  to  meet  M.L. 
Wilson  who  was  coming  to  visit  the  Columbia  Basin  Project.   I 
met  him  at  Wenatcliec  at  the  direction  of  Walter  Duffy. 

1  got  back  to  Fort  Wingate  and  was  there  not  more  than  ten 
days  when  1  had  to  take  another  leave  to  fly  up  to  Denver  for  a 
meeting  in  Estes  Park  on  the  Great  Plains  area.   This  meeting 
had  been  called  by  M.L.  Wilson  who  was  Undersecretary  of  Ag 
riculture  at  that  time.   He  was  a  classmate  of  mine  at  Ames  and 
I  knew  him  well.   He  was  a  very  interesting  person.   He  worked 
with  Professor  Holden  in  Iowa  during  those  early  days  when  they 
were  growing  "two  blades  of  grass  where  one  grew  before".   M.L. 
was  Holden's  principal  assistant.   He  later  went  to  Montana  as 
head  of  the  Extension  Service  there.   He  worked  with  large  wheat 
growers,  including  Mr.  Campbell  who  was  supposed  to  be  the 
greatest  wheat  grower  in  the  world.   Because  of  his  experience  in 
large  scale  wheat  farming,  Russia  asked  for  his  services.   That 
was  shortly  after  President  Roosevelt  had  recognized  Russia, 
when  many  American  technicians,  including  A. P.  Davis,  Chief  of 
the  Reclamation  Service,  went  to  Russia  to  assist  in  resources 
development  work. 

Baum:      Why  didn't  you  go? 

Packard:   1  would  I  Liu-  I  o  have;  gono  but  I  had  no  skills  that  the  Russians 

wanted.   This  was  in  spite  of  the  recommendation  that  Rhys  Williams, 


361 

Packard:  whoml  have  mentioned  before,  said  he  gave  me.  Rhys  described 
me  as  "a  cross  between  Jesus  Christ  and  Lenin".  But  that  was 
not  enough.  (Laughter) 

Work  with  the  Commonwealth  Club  of  California 

For  a  period  of  two  years  I  served  as  chairman  of  the  Ag 
ricultural  Section  of  the  Commonwealth  Club.   We  had  well-attended 
regular  meetings,  discussing  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  most  of 
which  were  controversial.   Harry  Me  Clelland,  then  with  the  Bank 
of  America  and  later  head  of  the  Marshall  Plan  work  in  Italy,  and 
a  very  good  friend  of  mine,  called  me  the  commissar.   It  was  at 
a  time  when  the  Associated  Farmers  were  very  active.   I  had  the 
head  of  that  organization  as  the  speaker  at  one  of  the  meetings. 
The  work  finally  resulted  in  the  preparation  of  a  Commonwealth 
Club  report  on  problems  of  tenure  and  the  role  of  the  state  and 
federal  government  in  agricultural  affairs.   It  supported  the 
liberal  viewpoint  and  was  opposed  by  some  as  being  too  radical. 
It  was,  however,  generally  acclaimed  as  a  constructive  document. 

California  State  Land  Classification  Commission 

Towards  the  end  of  the  Olson  administration  I  was  appointed 
by  the  governor  to  the  State  Land  Classification  Commission  which 
had  been  authorized  by  the  state  legislature  the  year  before.   I'm 
somewhat  reluctant  to  list  this  item  because  my  tenure  of  office 
was  exceedingly  short.   But  the  work  was  somewhat  exciting,  and 
the  results  were  very  positive.   Both  during  the  depression  and 
normal  years  a  large  number  of  parcels  of  real  property  became 


362 

Packard:   delinquent  and,  after  a  lapse  of  five  years,  were  deeded  to  the 
state  of  California  for  tax  delinquency.   The  total  area  of 
delinquent  land  amounted  to  an  area  larger  than  the  state  of  Con 
necticut.   Some  of  this  land  was  not  really  capable  of  supporting 
a  tax  burden  and,  in  fact,  some  was  wasteland.   Other  land  was 
capable  of  paying  its  portion  of  county  taxes  in  normal  years, 
but  by  reason  oJ"  cither  a  depression  or  the  inability  of  a  former 
owner  to  exploit  its  possibilities,  they  became  tax  delinquents 
and  were  removed  from  the  tax  rolls.   Under  the  California  system 
prior  to  1941,  all  this  land  was  subject  to  redemption  at  any 
time  prior  to  tax  sales.  As  an  inevitable  result  the  wasteland 
went  back  time  and  time  again  to  private  ownership,  mainly  through 
tax  sales  at  what  looked  on  the  surface  like  bargain  prices.  But 
after  a  short  period  it  again  became  delinquent,  causing  more 
expense  for  the  county  than  the  tax  received.   And  in  many  cases 
this  caused  financial  disaster  to  the  persons  who  attempted  to 
use  the  property.   The  land  which  was  capable  of  profitable  use 
went  back  to  private  ownership  to  some  extent. 

But  certain  problems  appeared.   In  the  first  place  a  portion 
of  the  land  was  redeemed  by  persons  who  could  not  or  would  not 
operate  the  property  so  as  to  keep  it  off  the  delinquent  rolls. 
Secondly,  there  was  a  very  great  deterrent  to  persons  desiring 
to  purchase  this  land  at  tax  sales  because  of  the  possibility 
that  there  would  be  a  redemption  prior  to  the  date  of  sale,  in 
which  case  all  their  plans  and  efforts  would  be  wasted.   It  was 


363 

Packard:   found  also  that  there  was  a  public  need  for  some  of  this  property 
which  was  far  more  beneficial  to  the  public  than  would  be  the 
case  if  the  properties  were  in  private  ownership. 

It  was  felt  by  those  interested  in  all  phases  of  the  problem 
that  the  two  most  important  steps  to  be  taken  towards  a  solution 
were  the  termination  of  the  rights  of  redemption  and  the  creation 
of  a  system  of  classification  of  tax  deeded  properties.   There 
fore,  at  the  first  extra  session  of  the  fifty-third  legislature, 
the  legislature  enacted  and  Governor  Olson  approved,  an  act  for 
this  dual  purpose.   This  act  provided  for  a  termination  of  the 
rights  of  redemption  of  all  tax-deeded  properties  and  provided 
for  a  Land  Classification  Commission  to  be  appointed  by  the 
governor.   The  Commission  was  empowered  to  classify  all  tax- 
deeded  lands  after  proper  study  into  three  classifications:   suit 
able  for  private  use,  suitable  for  public  use,  and  wasteland.   It 
was  also  empowered  to  seek  recommendations  for  the  rehabilitation 
of  wastelands.   The  right  of  the  legislature  to  terminate  the 
right  of  redemption  in  this  was  was  challenged  in  the  courts,  with 
the  result  that  the  State  Supreme  Court  ruled  by  a  4  to  5  decision 
that  the  legislature  had  no  such  right. 

The  Land  Classification  Commission  was  appointed  in  December, 
1942,  somewhat  after  the  Supreme  Court  had  handed  down  this  de 
cision.   It  consisted  of  three  members:  Louis  Bartlett  of 
Berkeley,  Carl  A.  Peterson  of  Los  Angeles,  and  myself.   At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Commission  in  December,  1942,  I  was  elected 


364 

Packard:   chairman.   The  Commission  was  apprised  of  the  decision  of  the 
Court  by  J.  Rupert  Mason*,  who  wanted  a  rehearing  of  the  case 
in  the  hope  that  the  will  of  the  legislature  might  be  carried 
out.   As  it  happened,  Earl  Warren  was  the  Attorney  General  who 
had  presented  the  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  which  led  to 
the  decision,  which,  in  effect,  largely  nullified  the  ability 
of  the  Commission  to  fulfill  its  purposes. 

As  a  result  of  all  this  the  Commission  asked  the  Democratic 
Attorney  General,  Robert  W.  Kenny,  to  petition  the  Court  for  a 
rehearing.   This  was  done  by  the  presentation  of  a  brief  amicus 
curiae ,  by  Kenny,  the  Attorney  General,  H.H.  Kinney,  the  As 
sistant  Attorney  General,  Adrian  A.  Kragen,  Deputy  Attorney 
General,  and  an  attorney  for  the  Land  Classification  Commission. 
The  rehearing  was  granted  and  the  decision  of  the  court  was  re 
versed.   The  next  event  so  far  as  I  was  concerned  was  the  receipt 
of  a  letter  from  Governor  Warren  announcing  my  removal  from  office, 

Baum:     Warren  was  in  favor  of  the  work  that  was  going  to  be  undertaken 


*  Bartlett,  Louis,  "Memoirs",  typed  transcript  of  tape-recorded 
interview,  University  of  California  Bancroft  Library  Regional  Oral 
History  Office  (Berkeley,  1957)  pp.  212. 

*Mason,  J.  Rupert,  "On  Single  Tax,  Irrigation  Districts,  and  Muni 
cipal  Bankruptcy",  typed  transcript  of  tape-recorded  interview, 
University  of  California  Bancroft  Library  Regional  Oral  History 
Office  (Berkeley,  1958)  pp.  355. 


365 

Baum:     by  the  Land  Classification  Commission,  wasn't  he? 

Packard:   Warren  was  the  attorney  who  had  carried  through  the  first  decision. 

Baum:     But  he  had  carried  it  through  in  favor  of  the  Land  Classification 
Commission? 

Packard:   No,  against  it. 

Baum:     Oh,  he  had  worked  against  it.   Oh,  I  see. 

Packard:  The  unfavorable  decision  was  carried  through  the  courts  by  Earl 
Warren.  And  then  the  Democratic  governor  came  in  and  the  thing 
was  reversed.  And  that  ruling  has  stood  ever  since. 

Baum:     After  you  were  removed  from  the  Commission,  did  the  Commission 
continue  with  new  appointees? 

Packard:   No,  the  Commission  was  abolished  by  the  new  governor. 

Baum:     So  the  work  didn't  go  forward,  anyway. 

Packard:   No.   But  the  decision  stood  and  the  land  is  being  classified  in 

that  way.   The  idea  was  carried  out,  although  not  by  the  Commission. 

Baum:     So  your  part  in  that  government  was  one  month.  (Laughter) 

Packard:   Yes.   In  later  years  I  got  to  admire  Warren  very  much.   I  think 
he's  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  age.   Everybody  recognizes  that 
Governor  Warren  made  a  very  marked  change  in  his  philosophy  when 
he  became  governor.  Whether  or  not  the  following  had  anything  to 
do  with  it  it's  an  interesting  fact:   Earl  Warren  called  on  my  broth 
er  in  Los  Angeles,  and  said,  "I'm  illiterate  on  social  problems. 
I  know  nothing  about  them". 

Baum:     Was  this  after  he  was  governor? 

Packard:   No,  before,  when  lie  was  running  for  governor. 


366 

Packard:       He  said,  "I  understand  you're  a  socialist."  (My  brother  was 
one  of  the  national  directors  of  the  Socialist  Party)    "I  want 
to  talk  with  you  and  I  want  you  to  give  me  some  books  that  I  can 
read  and  then  come  back  and  see  you  again."  So  John  gave  him 
some  books  and  talked  to  him  about  the  program  of  the  Socialist 
Party.   He  came  back  two  other  times  for  more  books  and  more  con 
versation  on  social  problems.   As  a  result,  John  was  appointed 
to  the  Labor  Relations  Commission.   He  was  a  labor  lawyer.   And 
he  helped  organize  the  first  American  Civil  Liberties  Union.   He 
defended  Upton  Sinclair  when  he  was  arrested  for  reading  the  Bill 
of  Rights  in  Long  Beach. 

Baum:     Well,  Earl  Warren  was  in  favor  of  the  Japanese  evacuation.   I 
don't  think  he  would  have  been  in  favor  of  that  later. 

Packard:   I  don't  believe  he  would  have  either.   He  made  a  very  abrupt 

change  in  his  whole  philosophy.   He  became  a  very  marvelous  liberal 
governor . 

Baum:     And  more  of  a  change  when  he  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court. 

Packard:   Yes.   He's  been  very  excellent. 

Work  on  the  Central  Valley  Project 

I  became  very  interested  in  the  Central  Valley  Project  which 
was  then  being  advocated.   The  state  wanted  to  transfer  water  from 
the  Sacramento  Valley  where  water  was  plentiful  to  the  upper  San 
Joaquin  where  the  water  supply  was  short  and  where  the  water  table 
was  dropping  due  to  excessive  pumping.   The  group  behind  this 


367 

Packard:   proposal  wanted  to  avoid  the  acreage  restriction  and  public  power 
policies  of  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation.   The  large  land  owners 
thought  they  could  get  the  water  they  needed  on  their  own  terms. 
I  became  quite  active  in  opposition  to  this  plan  and  in  favor  of 
a  similar  project  to  be  constructed  and  controlled  by  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Reclamation.   The  state  plan  collapsed  because 
of  the  difficulty  of  floating  the  necessarily  large  bond  issue. 
The  only  alternative  was  to  appeal  to  the  federal  government  and 
accept  the  provisions  of  the  Reclamation  Act. 

I  have  already  recorded  the  work  I  did  for  the  Bureau  of 
Reclamation  in  making  a  reconnaisance  soil  survey  of  Tulare  County, 
and  making  an  economic  analysis  of  benefits  for  the  State  Engineers' 
office.   My  next  assignment  in  connection  with  the  Central  Valley 
Project  was  to  prepare  a  report  on  "The  Economic  Implications  of 
the  Central  Valley  Project"  for  the  Haynes  Foundation  in  Los 
Angeles.   I  felt  that  very  little  attention  was  being  paid  to 
the  economic  and  social  issues  involved  in  the  project.   (Page 
47,  report):   "The  fact  that  modern  equipment  enables  one  man  to 
operate  a  much  larger  area  than  formerly  alters  many  of  the  basic 
relationships  which  are  attached,  traditionally,  to  the  family  farm 
pattern.   The  modern  mechanized  farm  operated  by  the  owner  is  not 
the  family  farm  of  former  days.   It  requires  many  adjustments  in 
social  and  economic  relationships  of  a  far  reaching  character. 
The  problems  that  this  type  of  farm  raises  are  more  like  those  of 
the  larger  industrialized  farm  than  like  those  of  the  old  homestead 
pattern.   Labor  relationships,  land  relationships,  markets,  con- 


368 

Packard:   sumer  interests  all  involve  new  viewpoints  and  a  new  social  pat 
tern.   The  old  ways  of  doing  things  are  not  suited  to  present 
conditions.   New  policies  governing  land,  labor  and  capital  are 
needed.   New  social  inventions  must  be  developed  to  meet  the  cir 
cumstances,  just  as  the  corporation  was  developed  to  give  investors 
in  England  an  opportunity  for  participating  in  overseas  enterprise 
or  as  democracy  developed  out  of  New  World  experience." 

Baum:     I  know  it  was  a  very  controversial  issue.   I  guess  by  1941  it  was 
very  controversial,  not  so  much  in  1936  or  so. 

Packard:   The  Central  Valley  Project  Act  was  passed  by  the  Congress  to  fi 
nance  this  big  development.   That  act  declared  that  "the  construc 
tion,  operation,  and  maintenance  of  the  Central  Valley  Project  is 
hereby  declared  to  be  in  all  respects  for  the  welfare  and  benefit 
of  the  people  of  the  state  for  the  improvement  of  their  prosperity 
and  their  living  conditions.   And  this  act  shall  be  liberally  con 
strued  to  effectuate  the  purposes  and  objectives  thereof.   Unless 
something  is  done  to  prevent  it,  the  construction  of  the  Central 
Valley  Project  may  enhance  an  already  badly  balanced  economy." 

Baum:     So  you  thought  its  economic  implications  were  good. 

Packard:   Yes.   But  I  felt  that  nobody  was  paying  any  attention  to  the  mo 
tives  and  underlying  principles  of  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation.   They 
were  just  going  ahead  and  building  a  reclamation  project.  And  the 
big  landowners  of  the  upper  San  Joaquin  Valley  were  trying  in  every 
way  to  take  advantage  of  the  situation  and  not  subdivide  their 
land.  And  the  idea  was  to  have  private  power. 


369 

Packard:       The  war  had  started  when  I  was  in  Portland.  And  when  I  came 
back  I  found  that  the  Power  Committee  of  the  War  Production  Board 
had  been  organized.  Mr.  James  Black,  President  of  P.G.  and  E., 
had  been  appointed  as  chairman  of  the  committee.  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  committee  was  to  stop  the  development  of  pub 
lic  power  at  Shasta  Dam  and  authorize  the  construction  of  a  much 
smaller  hydroelectric  project  by  the  P.G.  and  E. ,  on  the  tributary 
going  into  the  Shasta  Reservoir.  Well,  this  irritated  me  ter 
rifically  because  I  was  a  very  strong  believer  in  public  power. 
But  I  felt  there  was  nothing  to  be  done. 

But  then  when  I  got  back  to  Berkeley  and  was  talking  to  Paul 
Taylor,  I  found  that  the  Kern  County  Land  Company  was  planning  to 
do  a  similar  thing.   They  had  been  able  to  get  a  $25,000,000  ap 
propriation  from  the  Congress  to  build  the  Friant-Kern  Canal  for 
the  war  effort  so  that  the  Kern  County  Land  Company  could  get  water 
for  their  land  and  "feed  the  boys  over  there".   It  was  then  up  to 
the  War  Production  Board  to  determine  whether  or  not  this  money 
should  be  spent  as  a  war  effort.   So  I  worked  with  the  men  that  I 
had  worked  with  before  in  the  Bureau  of  Agricultural  Economics 
here  in  Berkeley  and  with  Paul  Taylor.  We  prepared  a  six-page 
letter  to  Marvin  Jones  who  was  the  head  of  that  committee  that 
would  determine  the  feasibility  of  this  project  as  a  war  measure. 
I  was  a  consultant  then  and  could  do  as  I  pleased.   I  wasn't  re 
strained  by  the  Hatch  Act.   So  I  was  the  one  that  had  to  sign 
the  letter.   It  was  a  very  definite  letter.  We  sent  it  out  to  a 


370 

Packard:   number  of  people  and  I  went  to  Washington  at  my  own  expense, 

thinking  that  I  could  supplement  the  letter  by  personal  contacts. 

I  went  to  Ernie  Weeking   first , because  he  was  head  of  the 
Land  Planning  Division  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri 
culture.   I  showed  him  my  letter.   He  read  the  first  paragraph 
and  kind  of  turned  pale,  and  he  said,  "Walter,  has  this  letter 
gone  out?"  And  I  said,  "It  has,  I've  sent  it  out  to  as  many 
people  as  I  could  think  of".   Then  he  looked  at  the  paper  through 
the  light.  And  I  said,  "No,  Ernie,  it's  not  on  government  station 
ary.   It's  on  paper  that  I  bought  myself".  (Laughter)  And  then  he 
said,  "Well,  Walter,  what  do  you  want  me  to  do?"  I  said,  "All  I 
want  is  to  have  some  of  your  boys  who  helped  me  prepare  this  let 
ter  in  Berkeley  come  to  Washington  to  help  me  at  the  hearing". 
He  said,  "Please  don't  ask  me  to  do  that.  We've  got  to  let  the 
Kern  County  Land  Company  get  the  water  for  now  and  then  later  on, 
after  the  war  is  over,  we'll  try  and  get  it  back.   But  we've  got 
to  let  them  have  it  now."   I  said,  "All  right,  it  doesn't  make  any 
difference.   If  that's  the  way  you  feel,  why  okay." 

Then  I  called  Abe  Fortas ,  the  Undersecretary  of  the  Department 
of  Interior.   He  said  Mr.  Ickes  had  just  received  my  letter  that 
morning  and  was  very  much  disturbed  because  Ickes  felt  the  pro 
posed  construction  might  be  an  opportunity  for  the  Bureau  of 
Reclamation  to  help  in  the  war  effort.   Everybody  was  trying  to 
justify  appropriations  on  the  basis  of  doing  something  for  the 
war  effort.   Mr.  Fortas  told  me  chat  he  thought  Ickes  would  prob- 


371 

Packard:   ably  decide  to  fight  me  at  the  hearing  but  he  said  he'd  call  me 
back.   They  were  having  a  meeting  that  afternoon  with  the  Bureau 
of  Reclamation's  officials.   So  he  called  me  back  and  said  that 
Ickes  had  decided  to  go  ahead  with  the  project  anyway  and  to 
fight  me  at  the  hearings.   He  was  very  much  irritated  by  the 
whole  thing. 

Then  I  called  Tom  Blaisdell  who  was  Undersecretary  of  Com 
merce  and  talked  the  thing  over  with  him.   He  immediately  called 
the  War  Production  Board  and  got  the  man  who  was  in  charge  of  this 
committee  that  was  to  hold  the  hearing.   He  was  an  admiral  in  the 
navy  and  he  said  that  he'd  just  resigned  that  day  and  another  man 
was  taking  over  the  next  day.   This  man  happened  to  be  a  friend 
of  Tom  Blaisdell 's.   They  had  worked  together  on  the  Planning 
Board  and  he  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  idea  of  economic  and 
social  planning.   So  Tom  made  an  appointment  for  me  with  him  the 
next  day.    I  had  ample  time  to  present  the  whole  thing;  give 
him  my  maps  and  my  data  and  go  over  the  issues  in  great  detail 
with  the  technicians  of  the  War  Production  Board  Committee. 

By  that  time  the  news  had  gotten  out  over  the  state  that  I  was 
opposing  the  project  and  editorials  in  the  paper  were  very  much 
against  me  and  wondered  why  I  was  going  there  stopping  a  California 
project.  Wires  and  telephone  messages  came  to  Washington.   Finally 
the  deputy  engineer  of  the  State  Engineer's  office,  Mr.  Matthews, 
whom  I  knew,  flew  into  Washington  and  came  to  see  me  right  away. 
He  said  that  if  I  went  to  the  hearing  that  afternoon  and  presented 


372 

Packard:  what  he  thought  I  was  going  to  present,  I  would  never  be  able 
to  make  my  living  in  the  state.   He  said,  "Unless  you  have  a 
private  income  you  won't  be  able  to  get  a  job  in  the  state  and 
we'll  see  to  it  that  you  don't.   We  just  can  not  have  this  kind 
of  thing  going  on."  Well,  it  frightened  me  considerably.   When 
I  went  to  the  hearing,  a  labor  man  and  I  were  the  only  ones  that 
opposed  the  project.   The  Department  of  Agriculture  was  there 
supporting  it,  the  Bureau  of  Recla nation  for  the  Interior  was 
supporting  it. 

So  the  next  day  on  my  way  bac<c  to  California  I  stopped  in 
Chicago  and  dictated  a  statement  for  a  notary  public  and  signed 
it,  outlining  this  attempt  at  blackmail.   I  sent  it  along  to  the 
chairman  of  the  committee,  who  by  then  I'd  known  quite  well.   So, 
when  I  got  back  to  Berkeley  I  went  to  see  the  Bureau  of  Agricul 
tural  Economics  boys  here  to  report  and  they  all  had  heard  that 
I  had  given  up  and  that  I  hadn't  made  any  fight.   That  was  prin 
cipally  because  I  had  done  it  quietly,  ahead  of  the  hearing.   So 
that  there  wasn't  much  publicity  about  it.   But  that  afternoon, 
while  we  were  there,  the  radio  carried  the  news  that  the  applica 
tion  was  denied.   Governor  Warren  was  very  much  concerned  about 
it  and  he  wired  the  President  saying  that  this  was  an  outrage  and 
that  California  should  have  this  project. 

So  I  called  Professor  Etcheverry,  who  was  head  of  the  Irriga 
tion  Engineering  Department  at  the  University,  and  sent  him  a  copy 
of  the  letter,  lie  Ha id,  "I  called  in  all  the  old  consultants,  the 


373 

Packard:   people  who  had  worked  with  you  before,  and  we  spent  several 

hours  in  going  over  your  letter,  I  can  tell  you  that  we  agreed 
unanimously  that  you  were  correct.   And  you  can  tell  the  governor 
I  said  so."  So  I  went  right  up  to  Sacramento  to  see  the  governor. 
He  was  out  of  town  but  the  head  of  the  Bureau  of  Public  Works  was 
there  and  I  talked  with  him  and  explained  the  issue.   He  was  quite 
concerned  and  thought  the  governor  was,  perhaps,  making  a  mistake 
in  making  this  protest.   He  said  he  would  tell  him  so. 

Then  I  went  over  to  the  State  Engineer's  Office.   I  first 
saw  Hyatt,  whom  I'd  known  for  a  long  time  and  had  worked  for. 
He  called  in  Edmondson  who,  when  he  saw  me  said,  "Goddam  you, 
Walter,  you  had  a  hell  of  a  nerve  to  do  what  you  did".   Not  to 
be  outdone,  I  replied  by  saying,  "Goddam  you  and  your  office.   You 
had  a  hell  of  a  nerve  to  present  the  sort  of  testimony  you  sup 
ported  in  Washington.   You  were  wrong  and  you  know  it."  After 
this  exchange  of  courtesies  I  told  them  what  Matthews  had  done  and 
explained  my  position.   We  talked  there  for  about  an  hour  and  a 
half  in  very  direct  conversation,  very  friendly  however.   And 
when  we  finished  Hyatt  said,  "Walter,  I  know  this  won't  help  the 
war  effort  just  as  well  as  you  do,  but  as  long  as  I  see  the  govern 
ment  spending  other  money  as  uselessly  as  this,  I'm  going  to  sup 
port  the  project."  And  that  was  that. 

The  governor  did  not  withdraw  his  request  for  a  new  hearing. 
So  the  War  Production  Board  decided  to  hold  another  hearing  here 
in  California  where  California  interests  could  be  represented. 
The  man  in  charge  of  San  Francisco  called  me  and  said,  "We're 


374 

Packard:  "not  going  to  invite  you  to  this  hearing.   But  I'm  going  to  give 
you  a  transcript  of  the  hearing  and  ask  for  your  analysis."  So 
when  the  time  came  he  sent  me  a  copy  of  all  the  testimony  that 
had  been  given  at  the  hearing  and  I  made  my  comments  on  it  by 
letter  to  him.   He  called  me  up  and  I  went  up  to  see  him  and  he 
said,  "We're  going  to  back  you  again.   I  think  you're  right. 
The  other  people  are  obviously  wrong".   So  the  project  didn't  go 
through  and,  because  of  that,  the  160-acre  limitation  provision 
of  the  Reclamation  Act  still  had  some  validity.   If  the  proposal 
had  gone  through  I  think  that  all  the  efforts  to  re-establish  any 
economic  controls  would  be  hopclcs.s. 

Baum:     Did  Paul  Taylor  work  with  you  in  that  particular  battle? 

Packard:   Yes,  of  course. 

Baum:     Well,  I'm  surprised  that  you  could  win  that  battle. 

War  Related  Activities 

When  it  was  decided  to  evacuate  the  Japanese  from  coastal 
areas  I  felt  that  the  Japanese  who  were  citizens  of  California 
had  the  right  to  remain  where  they  were.   So  I  called  a  group  to 
gether  and  we  wrote  a  very  strong  statement  to  General  De  Witt, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  evacuation,  protesting  the  removal  of 
the  Japanese -American  citizens.   This  was  signed  by  Ray  Lyman 
Wilbur  of  Stanford,  by  Monroe  Deut:sch,  the  Provost  Marshall  of 
the  University  of  California,  by  Frank  Duveneck  of  Palo  Alto, 
and  others  of  that  stamp.   I  got  a  phone  call  from  Milton 
Eisenhower,  whom  I  knew,  and  he  wanted  me  to  go  over  and  see  him. 


375 

Packard:   He  said,  "What  business  is  it  of  yours,  Walter,  to  write  a  letter 
like  this?   This  is  ridiculous,  this  is  a  war  measure."  And  he 
gave  me  a  long  talk  of  that  kind.   It  was  obvious  that  nothing 
could  be  done.   Anyway,  that  was  one  protest  signed  by  a  great 
many  good  people. 

Baum:     There  was  a  lot  about  that  I  guess  about  a  year  or  so  ago.   I 
think  there  were  many  protests.   I  can  recall  that  many  people 
were  very  concerned  about  it.   A  lot  of  them  wrote  letters  or  did 
something . 

Packard:   Yes.   But  this  was  an  official  act.   The  Quakers  protested.   I 
went  down  with  a  Quaker  committee  l:o  Tanforan  race  track,  which 
was  the  first  landing  place  for  many  of  the  Japanese  evacuees, 
some  of  whom  occupied  horse  stalls. 

Another  activity  was  a  letter  that  I  wrote  to  General  Hershey, 
in  which  I  suggested  that  the  army  organize  the  conscientious  ob 
jectors  for  work  in  California.   There  was  a  great  deal  of  ag 
ricultural  work  where  there  was  a  labor  shortage  and  these  con 
scientious  objectors  could  be  used  very  successfully  here  in 
California  doing  work  that  was  very  badly  needed. 

California  Housing  and  Planning  Association 

Part  of  the  work  I  did  on  the  Central  Valley  Project  was  done 
as  chairman  of  the  Central  Valley  Committee  of  the  California 
Housing  and  Planning  Association.   This  work  was  financed  by  a 
New  York  foundation.   I  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  an  effort  to 
get  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  to  inaugurate  a  comprehensive  study 


376 

Packard:   of  the  economic  and  social  implications  of  the  reclamation  program, 
in  the  hope  of  finding  some  way  of  preserving  the  social  values 
associated  with  the  concept  of  the  family  farm  and  still  gaining 
the  advantages  of  modern  technology.   A  very  elaborate  study  was 
carried  out  under  the  direction  of  a  geographer  at  the  University 
of  Chicago.   But  in  my  judgment  the  study  became  so  broad  that  the 
results  were  meaningless. 

An  incident  associated  with  my  work  for  the  Housing  and 
Planning  Association  and  the  Kern  County  land  case  may  be  worth 
recording.   When  I  was  in  Washington  on  that  Kern  County  land 
case,  Robert  Kenny,  who  was  then  Attorney  General,  was  in  Wash 
ington.   I  told  him  about  Matthews  and  what  Matthews  had  told 
me,  and  secured  his  complete  backing.   He  said,  "Of  course  you 
should  go  to  the  hearing  and  you  should  give  your  full  testimony." 
There  was  one  particular  argument  that  was  presented  in  favor  of 
getting  this  appropriation  which  Kenny  said  was  thoroughly 
ridiculous.   He  was  very  emphatic  about  it,  saying  that  no  one 
would  take  the  argument  seriously.  When  I  got  the  transcript 
of  the  hearing  in  San  Francisco,  here  was  Kenny,  the  only  man 
in  the  whole  hearing  who  gave  that  testimony.   He  was  the  only 
one  who  mentioned  it. 

Baum:     The  one  he  said  was  so  ridiculous? 

Packard:   Yes,  the  same. 

At  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  Housing  and  Planning  As 
sociation,  Bob  Kenny  was  elected  president  and  at  the  first 


377 

Packard:   meeting  of  the  new  board  of  directors,  of  which  I  had  been  one, 
the  Central  Valley  Project  Committee  was  abolished.   I  have  al 
ways  thought  that  this  action  was  part  of  the  threat  made  by 
Mut thews  that  If  I  testified  at  the  Washington  hearing  against 
the  Kern  County  Land  Company,  I  would  not  be  able  to  make  my 
living  in  the  state.   Just  how  Kenny  got  involved  has  always 
been  a  mystery.   But  the  incident  marked  the  end  of  the  old  road 
for  me.   I  was  able  to  get  some  odd  jobs  as  consultant  at  a  per 
diem  of  from  $50  to  $100  per  day,  but  no  public  employment  in 
which  I  was  interested  was  open  to  me.   So  I  wrote  to  Dr.  Tugwell, 
then  Governor  of  Puerto  Rico,  telling  him  of  my  plight.   The  re 
turn  letter  offered  me  a  job  as  land  consultant  in  the  governor's 
office  at  a  salary  of  $7,500  per  year  which  I  of  course  accepted. 


378 

PUERTO  RICO  -  ADVISOR  TO  REXFORD  TUGWELL,  1945-1947 
Getting  Settled  in  Puerto  Rico 

Packard:       I  accepted  Governor  Tugwell's  offer  by  wire  and  prepared 
to  leave  for  Puerto  Rico.   We  sold  our  car  at  the  OPA  price, 
which  was  much  leas  than  we  could  have  gotten  on  the  black  market, 
and  very  much  less  than  we  could  have  gotten  if  we'd  driven  it  to 
Puerto  Rico  and  sold  it  there.  We  rented  our  house,  also  at  OPA 
prices,  and  had  a  rather  interesting  experience  with  a  tenant 
who  had  had  experience  with  other  property  owners.   After  tel 
ling  him  what  the  rental  would  be,  he  agreed.  And  then  he  asked, 
"What  more  do  I  have  to  pay?"   I  said,  "What  do  you  mean  by  that?" 
And  he  said,  "There's  always  some  kind  of  a  penalty  you've  got  to 
pay  in  addition  to  the  OPA  rent."   I  said,  "Well,  not  in  this 
case.   Tho  OPA  price  stands."  He  was  rather  surprised  to  be  able 
to  get  the  house  for  that  price. 

Baum:     Those  were  in  the  days  when  you  paid  $1,000  "for  the  furniture"-- 
an  old  broken-down  bed. 

Packard:   Yes.   Well,  I  went  to  Puerto  Rico  ahead  of  Emma.   I  met  Tugwell 
in  Miami  and  got  a  general  idea  about  what  I  was  going  to  do. 
I  went  on  from  there  to  San  Juan  flying  over  Cuba,  Haiti  and 
Santo  Domingo,  which  gave  me  a  nice  bird's  eye  view  of  those 
islands.   When  I  got  to  Puerto  Rico  I  was  very  much  impressed  by 
the  extent  of  the  sugar  cane  fields  that  occupied  nearly  all  of 
the  levol  land  on  tho  coastal  plains.   I  was  Impressed,  too,  by 


379 

Packard:   the  slums  at  El  Fanguito  which  we  could  see  quite  clearly  from 

the  air.   The  little  houses  were  on  stilts  in  the  water  and  they 
were  connected  by  boardwalks.   You  could  see,  even  from  the  air, 
what  a  terrible  condition  it  was  in.   At  that  time  it  was  rated 
as  being  one  of  the  worst  slums  in  the  world.* 

Kama:     Was  Liu?  war  still  in  progress  whc:n  you  went  to  Puerto  Rico? 

Packard:   Yc-s.   The  war  with  Germany  was  over  but  the  war  with  Japan  was 
still  on. 

Nobody  met  me  at  the  airport  so  I  went  directly  to  the 
Normandie  Hotel  where  I  was  told  I  would  stay.   I  was  very  much 
impressed  with  the  large  swimming  pool  in  the  main  lobby  but  quite 
shocked  to  find  that  my  room  cost  $15  per  day.   After  getting 
things  settled  in  my  room  I  took  a  taxi  to  La  Fortaleza  to  meet 
Mrs.  Tugwell.   We  had  lunch  together  on  a  delightful  balcony 
overlooking  Sen  Juan  harbor.   I  found  that  the  government  had 
commandeered  the  second  and  third  floors  of  the  hotel  and  that  I 
would  be  transferred  to  a  room  costing  $2.50  per  day.   The  em 
ployees  living  there  had  organized  a  special  cooperative  dining 
room  where  we  got  meals  at  a  very  reasonable  rate.   I  walked  back 
to  the  hotel  in  high  spirits  to  meet  the  group  with  whom  I  would 
be  associated  for  the  next  two  and  a  half  years. 

Baum:     I  don't  quite  understand.   You  got  a  room  for  $15  a  day  ... 

Packard:   Yes.   If  I  had  been  met  by  the  man  that  was  to  meet  me  --  the 

Governor's  military  attach^  --  he  would  have  put  me  into  the  right 
quarters.   But  I  didn't  know  about  that.   I  was  rather  nervous 

*Current  reports  indicate  that,  although  it  has  been  pushed  back, 
it  is  still  a  terrible  slum.  [E.L.P.] 


Packard 


Mrs. 
Packard : 


380 

for  a  while  because  I  thought  that  if  I  had  to  pay  $15  for  my 
room  I  wouldn't  make  any  money. 

Mrs.  Packard  went  to  New  York  to  be  with  my  sister,  Stella, 
who  was  quite  ill.   Emma  stayed  in  New  York  for  two  or  three 
months,  doing  what  she  could  to  help  Stella.   She  finally  got 
her  into  a  hospital  and  got  a  diagnosis  which  proved  that  Stella 
had  a  terminal  cancer,  although  she  wasn't  told. 

I  got  her  into  St.  Luke's  Hospital  first,  where  they  couldn't 
keep  her  because  they  didn't  keep  patients  with  long  illnesses. 
So  I  got  her  into  a  very  lovely  Episcopalian  place  which  they 
called  the  Home  for  the  Incurables.   I  understand  they've  changed 
their  name  since.   I  couldn't  get  any  prediction  as  to  how  long 
she  would  be  there.   So  I  finally  decided  that  I  would  go  on  to 
Puerto  Rico.   The  weather  was  ghastly  hot  in  New  York.   And  there 
was  nothing  I  could  do  but  just  sit  around.   There  were  other  close 
friends  and  relatives  who  could  do  whatever  was  needed. 

Then  I  flew  clown  to  Miami  and  then  to  Puerto  Rico.   I  had 
an  interesting  experience  on  the  plane.   Most  of  the  people  on 
the  plane  were  colored,  people  going  back  to  Puerto  Rico.   I  hap 
pened  to  be  sitting  with  a  very  attractive  young  colored  girl. 
And  in  talking  I  found  that  she  was  from  the  Virgin  Islands  and 
had  gone  to  Pratt  Institute  and  graduated  in  dress  designing.   She 
had  been  working  with  Hattie  Carnegie  in  New  York,  designing 
dresses.  We  stopped  off  in  Miami  and  stayed  overnight.   The  bus 
landed  us  in  downtown  Miami  and  porters  from  the  hotels  came  with 


381 

Mrs. 

Packard:   hand  carts  to  take  our  baggage.   And  she  had  said,  "Do  you  mind 

if  I  go  to  the  hotel  with  you?"  And  I  caught  immediately  that 
she  was  alone  and  she  just  didn't  know  what  to  do  and  knew  that 
she'd  have  trouble,  but  maybe  not  if  she  was  with  me.   So,  im 
mediately,  the  colored  boy  who  had  the  hand  cart  said,  "No,  there 
ain't  no  more  rooms  there".   I  thought, if  I  were  alone  I'm  sure 
there  would  be.   So  I  said,  "Where  can  you  take  us?"  Nothing  at 
all  was  said,  and  he  said,  "There's  a  place  over  here  that  you 
can  go  to.   It's  a  perfectly  decent  place."  We  went  over  and  it 
was  completely  clean  and  respectable.   There  were  no  questions 
asked.   We  went  up  and  took  adjoining  rooms.   So,  it  was  a  pleasant 
association  because  she  was  a  very  superior  little  gal.   Some 
months  later  we  went  over  to  the  Virgin  Islands  and  I  tried  to 
find  her  but  she  wasn't  there.   I  found  out,  however,  that  she 
finally  married  a  Hawaiian  doctor  and  went  to  Hawaii.   But  I  found 
that  her  family  was  one  of  the  leading  families  in  St.  Thomas. 
Packard:   Emma  finally  joined  me  in  Puerto  Rico.   I  met  her  at  the  airport 
and,  after  depositing  her  tilings  at  the  hotel,  we  had  a  ride  on 
the  strootcur  which  ol.rcLt-d  through  San  Juan  and  then  through 
Sunturce  on  a  figure  eight  tour.   The  trade  wind  was  blowing  a 
refreshing  breeze  while  we  rode  slowly  past  old  Spanish  forts 
and  through  the  bustling  streets  of  that  historic  setting.   No 
thing  could  have  been  a  better  introduction  to  the  two  and  a  half 
years  we  spent  in  Puerto  Rico. 

Our  room  at  the  hotel  was  like  all  the  others.   The  entrance 
was  on  a  balcony  surrounding  the  lobby  with  its  large  swimming 


382 

Packard:   pool.  A  door  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  led  to  an  open  air 
lanai  which  permitted  the  trade  wind  to  blow  through  the  room  as 
an  endless  source  of  comfort. 

One  fact  which  made  our  stay  at  the  Normandie  so  pleasant 
was  the  character  of  many  of  the  occupants  of  the  two  government 
reserved  floors.   Clarence  Senior  and  his  charming  wife  Ruth  were 
our  neighbors.   Clarence  is  now  on  the  New  York  school  board  but 
his  main  interest  is  still  the  Puerto  Rican  problem.   Ed  and  Louise 
Rosskam,  Charles  and  Adcle  Rotkin,  the  Jack  Delanos,  Fred  and  Janet 
Farr  and  their  children*,  Max  and  Marjorie  Egloff,  William  and 
Wilma  Ludlow,  Vernon  and  Betty  De  Mars  and  others  of  like  character 
made  an  interesting  company  of  kindred  souls. 

Baum:     Vernon  De  Mars  was  down  there  then? 

Packard:   Yes,  he  came  a  year  after  we  arrived  to  serve  as  the  Governor's 
naval  attache1,  as  well  as  to  work  with  me  on  housing  design  and 
the  like.   He  had  been  doing  Coast  Guard  duty  in  Florida  and  was 
available. 

Baum:     Did  all  the  Americans  live  at  the  Normandie? 

Packard:   No.   Sonic  of  them  chose  to  rent  hcmes  in  Santurce  or  Rio  Piedros. 


*  July,  1967  --  Fred  Farr  was  appointed  to  &  federal  job  in  Washington  after 
the  1966  election  when  he  was  defeated  as  state  senator.  [E.L.P] 


383 

Packard:   But  wherever  they  lived  they  were  a  part  of  the  congenial  group. 
My  office  was  in  La  Fortaleza,  a  beautiful  old  Spanish  building, 
a  portion  of  which  was  built  in  Ponce  de  Leon's  time.   A  tropical 
garden  and  a  spacious  promenade  guarded  by  ancient  Spanish  can 
nons  bordered  La  Fortaleza  on  the  west  toward  the  bay,  and  formed 
a  perfect  setting  for  official  parties.   Under  a  full  moon,  with 
a  Puerto  Rican  orchestra  playing  and  Puerto  Rican  rum  flowing 
rather  freely,  those  parties  were  something  to  remember.   A  pool 
of  cars  wiLh  drivers  was  stationed  in  the  patio  so  that  whenever 
I  was  on  any  official  business  1  always  had  a  car  with  a  driver 
which  made  it  very  convenient  because  we  had  no  car  of  our  own. 

Reforms  Under  the  Popular  Party  and  Governor  Tugwell 

My  desk  was  located  on  the  first  floor  right  next  to  the 
desk  occupied  by  Elmer  Ellsworth,  the  Governor's  Executive  Secre 
tary.   Elmer,  a  Harvard  man  who  owned  a  small  but  fascinating 
"finca"  in  the  mountain  area  fifteen  miles  or  so  south  of  San 
Juan,  joined  a  triumverate  of  Puerto  Ricans  --  Luis  Mufioz  Marln, 
Jesus  T.  Pinoro  ,  and  Jaime  Bcnitcz  who  engineered  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  Popular  Party  which  took  control  of  the  political 
life  of  Puerto  Rico  in  a  bloodless  revolution.   I  was,  therefore, 
in  an  excellent  position  to  get  the  inside  story  of  that  rather 
astonishing  movement. 

Baum:     What  was  astonishing  about  it? 

Packard:   It  was  the  way  they  reached  the  people.  The  standard  of  living 
of  the  rural  masses  was  abysmally  low,  much  below  that  of  the 


384 

Packard:   peoples  of  the  poorest  state  in  the  United  States.   As  Governor 
Tugwell  described  it  later,  "Most  of  the  island's  people  were 
sunk  in  helpless  poverty."  The  group,  with  Munoz ,  always  the 
tireless  leader,  carried  out  a  tremendous  campaign,  reaching  into 
every  section  of  the  island.   They  first  formulated  a  program  to 
lift  the  people  out  of  their  poverty  and  then  convinced  the  voters 
that  they  were  sincere  and  that  the  individual  would  get  much 
more  return  by  backing  the  Popular  Party  than  by  selling  his  vote 
to  the  conservatives.   Where  they  were  kept  out  of  properties  by 
the  landowners  they  reached'  the  people  by  loudspeakers. 

Baum:     It  was  a  truly  democratic  movement? 

Packard:   Yes,  it  was.   I  had  never  heard  of  anything  quite  like  it  before. 
This  means  of  gaining  political  control  was  used  also  in  main 
taining  it. 

Ed  Rosskam  became  head  of  an  educational  program  while  we 
were  in  Puerto  Rico  which  impressed  me  as  being  a  very  intelligent 
means  of  getting  popular  support  of  administration  policies. 
Whenever  new  programs  were  to  be  launched  or  existing  policies 
defended  from  attack,  this  educational  group  of  writers  and 
artists  would  prepare  charts,  cartoons,  and  both  still  and  moving 
pictures  to  illustrate  the  nature  and  importance  of  the  issues  in 
volved.   Then,  with  the  aid  of  a  number  of  jeeps  meetings  would  be 
held  all  over  the  island  so  that  everyone  had  a  chance  of  becoming 
informed.   The  University  of  Puerto  Rico,  under  the  able  leadership 
of  Chancellor  Jaime  Bcnitez,  added  greatly  to  this  educational 


385 


Packard:   program  by  training  technicians.   It  helped  too  by  training 

workers  for  work  in  the  factories  and  mills.   The  school  system, 
generally,  was  greatly  expanded. 

Mrs.  Roosevelt  was  very  active  in  the  establishment  of 
schools  and  in  the  establishment  of  housing.   A  Housing  Auth 
ority  was  created  which  built  low-cost  housing  throughout  the 
island.   They  gradually  attacked  the  slum  areas.   El  Fanguito 
was  eventually  practically  eliminated  and  the  people  were  given 
jobs  and  acquired  humus. 

Bauin:     What  about  hygiene  and  health  problems? 

Packard:   These  issues  were  often  discussed  in  great  detail,  with  illustra 
tive  material,  showing  how  germs  act  in  carrying  disease. 

The  significance  of  the  Popular  Party  movement  was  closely 
associated  with  the  history  of  events  following  the  Spanish- 
American  War.   General  Miles,  who  was  the  commanding  officer  in 
Puerto  Rico  when  the  island  was  taken  over  by  American  forces  in 
1898,  made  a  commitment  for  the  United  States  which  the  people 
of  the  occupied  island  still  recall.   "The  military  forces  came 
bearing  the  banner  of  freedom,  bringing  the  fostering  arm  of  a 
nation  of  free  people  whose  greatest  power  is  in  justice  and 
humanity  to  all  those  living  within  its  folds."  He  went  on  to 
say  that  "Americans  come  not  to  make  war  but  to  bring  protection, 
to  promote  prosperity,  and  to  bestow  the  immunities  and  blessings 
of  the  liberal  institutions  of  our  government".   The  people  of 
Puerto  Rico  accepted  this  as  a  kind  of  contract  and  waited  for 
its  fulfillment.   But  it  had  never  come  in  such  a  degree  as  to 


386 

Packard:   satisfy  the  pride  and  ambition  of  those  who  welcomed  the  occupa 
tion.   A  generation  had  lived  almost  a  lifetime  facing  uncompleted 
promises.   Economically,  most  of  the  population  lived  below  what 
was  considered  by  American  standards  to  be  a  minimum  for  health. 
There  was  widespread  malnutrition,  a  higher  incidence  of  sick 
ness  and  death  than  prevail  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 
Their  housing  was  poor,  their  institutions  --  schools,  hospitals, 
water,  sewage  disposal  system,  and  welfare  services  --  were  in 
adequate.   It  was  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  the  mass  of  the 
Puerto  Rican  people  faced  a  future  more  secure  than  was  the  case 
at  the  time  of  the  American  occupation. 

Governor  Tugwell's  appointment  supplemented  the  election  of 
Mufloz  Marin  as  head  of  the  Popular  Party,  so  there  was  a  complete 
New  Deal  administration  in  the  island.   Tugwell  was  actually  ap 
pointed  by  the  President,  but  through  the  Department  of  the  In 
terior.  And  the  Department  of  the  Interior  was  responsible,  in 
the  United  States,  for  the  Reclamation  Service  with  its  160-acre 
limitation  provision,  public  power  policy,  and  its  Works  Progress 
Administration.   It  was  also  in  charge  of  Indian  Affairs.   In 
other  words,  the  Department  was  in  tune  with  the  needs  of  the 
people  of  the  island.   So  there  was  no  antagonism  in  theory  be 
tween  American  interests  and  the  Puerto  Ricans. 

Baum:  I  saw  one  of  Dr.  Tugwell's  books,  Battle  for  Democracy,  and  he'd 
written  about  three  people  and  one  of  them  was  Mufloz  Marln.  And 
he  called  him  "an  effective  democratic  leader". 


387 

Packard:   Yes,  Tugwell  thought  highly  of  Muftoz  Marln's  social  viewpoint, 

but  they  did  not  always  agree  on  procedures.   Tugwell,  after  all, 
did  not  have  to  rely  on  votes  to  keep  in  office.   He  gave  ter 
rific  leadorship  to  the  programs  of  reform  of  the  Popular  Party. 
Many  of  the  projects  started  were  socialistic,  that  is,  involved 
public  ownership  of  key  industries  and  services,  which,  of  course, 
disturbed  the  conservatives  in  the  United  States.   But  the  major 
ity  of  the  Puerto  Ricans  approved  everything  that  was  being  done. 

Tugwell 's  principal  contribution  was  in  ideas  and  administra 
tion.   Having  been  chairman  of  the  New  York  City  Planning  Board, 
the  Governor  was  a  strong  believer  in  planning.   One  of  his  first 
acts  was  to  get  the  National  Resources  Planning  Board  of  the  U.S. 
to  establish  a  branch  in  Puerto  Rico.   This  led  to  the  creation 
of  the  Puerto  Rico  Planning  Authority,  headed  by  an  extremely 
personable  and  competent  Puerto  Rican,  Raphael  Pico,  who  later 
became  president  of  the  American  Planning  Association. 

Baum:     Were  you  connected  with  the  Planning  Board?  That  is,  did  your 
work  fit  into  the  plans  of  the  Board? 

Packard:   I  had  no  official  connection  with  the  Planning  Board,  but  I  worked 
closely  with  the  technicians.   Reading  the  numerous  reports  put  me 
quickly  in  touch  with  what  had  been  done  and  what  was  planned.   My 
main  interest  concerned  land  and  water.   A  Land  Authority,  a  Power 
Authority,  und  a  Water  Authority  had  been  established  to  control 
the  use  of  these  three  basic  resources.   I  was  particularly  in 
terested  in  the  Land  Authority  because  of  its  peculiar  responsibil- 
ity. 


388 

The  Land  Authority:   Problems  of  Large  Land  Ownership 

Packard:       Although  less  than  one  million  people  were  living  in  Puerto 
Rico  in  1898  when  the  United  States  assumed  the  responsibility 
of  establishing  a  form  of  government  for  the  newly  acquired  island 
possession,  the  members  of  the  Congress  were  aware  that  there  was 
a  scarcity  of  land  in  relation  to  the  growing  population.   They 
realized  that  an  already  serious  economic  situation  might  be  made 
worse  if  the  ownership  of  the  restricted  area  of  good  land  should 
pass  into  the  hands  of  a  few  corporations.   During  the  debate 
over  the  provisions  of  the  Organic  Act,  a  fear  was  widely  expres 
sed  that  corporations  in  the  United  States  would  soon  own  all  of 
the  valuable  agricultural  land  in  Puerto  Rico  unless  the  Congress 
took  steps  to  prevent  it.   "If  such  concentration  of  holding  shall 
become  the  case"  said  Congressman  Jones,  "then  the  condition  of 
the  population  will,  I  believe,  be  reduced  to  one  of  absolute 
servitude. " 

As  a  result  of  the  congressional  debate  a  joint  resolution 
was  passed  which  provided,  among  other  things,  that  "No  corpora 
tion  shall  be  authorized  to  conduct  the  business  of  buying  and 
selling  real  estate  or  be  permitted  to  own  or  hold  real  estate 
except  such  as  may  be  reasonably  necessary  to  enable  it  to  carry 
out  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  created,  and  every  corporation 
hereafter  organized  to  engage  in  agriculture  shall  by  its  charter 
be  restricted  to  the  ownership  and  control  of  not  more  than  500 
acres  of  land,  and  this  provision  shall  be  held  to  prevent  any 


389 

Packard:   member  of  a  corporation  engaged  in  agriculture  from  being  in  any 
way  interested  in  any  other  corporation  engaged  in  agriculture." 

Baum:     That  500-acre  restriction  was  very  much  like  the  160-acre  re 
striction  of  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation,  wasn't  it? 

Packard:   Yes,  it  was,  and  both  came  out  of  the  public  fear  of  the  giant 
corporations  and  their  monopoly  practices  which  were  a  great 
political  issue  of  the  trust-busting  days  of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

As  opportunity  for  profits  in  sugar  production  increased, 
little  attention  was  paid  to  the  acreage  limitation  provision  of 
the  Organic  Act.   The  law  carried  no  penalties  and  efforts  to  en 
force  the  law  were  ineffective.   The  record  shows  that  in  1940, 
51  corporations  owned  198,871  acres  of  land  in  violation  of  the 
law  and, in  addition,  operated  about  60,000  acres  of  leased  land, 
also  contrary  to  the  law.  Moreover,  the  area  held  by  individuals 
in  excess  of  500  acres  was  a  little  more  than  twice  the  area  held 
by  corporations  against  the  law. 

Because  of  these  conditions,  the  problems  of  land  tenure  be 
came  a  primary  issue  of  the  Popular  Party.   The  first  serious  at 
tempt  to  solve  the  problem  was  through  the  purchase  of  the 
Lafayette  Central  in  1938  and  the  organization  of  cooperatives  to 
own  and  operate  both  the  land  and  the  mills  as  part  of  a  plan  to 
dissolve  all  private  corporate  holdings  in  excess  of  500  acres. 
This  initial  plan  failed  for  much  the  same  reasons  that  the  coop 
erative  farms  under  the  Resettlement  Administration  failed  in  the 
United  States.   A  producer  cooperative  of  that  sort  is  not  a  sound 
behavioral  pattern.   In  the  hope  of  nolvinj^  the;  problem  Secretary 


390 

Packard:   Ickes  appointed  Dr.  Tugwell  as  head  of  a  commission  to  study  the 
problem  and  come  up  with  some  workable  answer. 

Baum:     Wasn't  Dr.  Tugwell  a  controversial  figure  at  that  time? 

Packard:   Yes  he  was,  but  he  had  the  confiderce  of  the  administration  in 

Washington.   There  was  no  complete  unity  among  either  the  Puerto 
Ricans  or  the  Americans  about  what  should  be  done.   Some  wanted 
family  farms  to  spread  land  ownership  as  'widely  as  possible. 
Others  wanted  to  get  the  advantage;)  of  large  scale  operation  with 
out  losing  the  social  values  that  ,irc  attached  to  the  family  farm 
pattern  if  that  could  be  done.   Dr.  Tugwell  favored  the  collective 
farm  pattern  that  was  tried  in  the  Resettlement  program.  Muftoz 
Marln  advocated  a  new  pattern,  somswhat  like  the  pattern  followed 
by  the  U.S.  Forest  Service,  where  the  land  would  be  owned  and 
operated  by  a  public  corporation  and  where  any  profits  would  be 
distributed  to  workers  in  proportion  to  the  time  they  worked. 
After  many  meetings  and  conferences  the  proportional  profit  farm 
idea  of  Mufioz  Marln  was  adopted  and  the  Land  Authority  established. 
The  preamble  of  the  Land  Law  reads,  in  part,  as  follows: 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  land  concentration  has  caused 
in  this  island  a  serious  fiocial  situation  by  placing  the 
most  valuable  source  of  wealth  under  the  control  of  large 
interests,  among  which  absentee  interests  are  conspicuous. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  this  act  to  put  an  end  to  corporate 
latifundia  and  to  every  large  concentration  of  land  in 
the  hand  of  entities  legally  organized  in  such  ways  as  to 
tend  to  perpetuate  themselves  and  to  prevent  for  all  time 
the  division  of  the  great  landed  estates.   This  funda 
mental  public  policy  would  not  be  complete  if  it  were  not 
accompanied  by  a  corollary  germane  to  its  nature  and  scope; 
the  provision  that  in  the  case  of  land  where  for  natural  or 
economic  reasons,  the  division  of  the  land  is  not  advisable 
from  the  standpoint  of  efficiency,  the  greatest  diffusion 
possible  of  the  economic  benefits  of  the  land  may  still  be 


391 


Packard : 


effected,  thereby  contributing  to  raise  substantially 
the  standard  of  living  of  the  greatest  possible  number 
of  families. 


Baum:     These  seem  to  be  very  sound  objectives.   How  did  they  work  out  in 
practice? 

Packard:   Well,  I  have  a  record  here  of  what  happened  at  the  most  successful 
project  at  Cambalache,  the  first  property  to  be  purchased  under 
the  Act  of  1941:   The  area  under  cultivation  in  the  proportional 
profit  farms  was  increased  by  37%  since  title  passed  to  the  Land 
Authority.   And  the  yield  per  acre  increased  by  14.470  over  the 
preceding  five  year  average  production  under  private  management. 
In  its  effort  to  maximize  production  the  Land  Authority  is  coop 
erating  with  the  Insular  Experiment  Station  in  developing  higher 
yielding  varieties  of  cane,  better  practices  in  the  use  of  fertil 
izer.   Both  the  cultivated  area  and  the  yield  per  acre  would  be  in 
creased  by  presently  planned  drainage  systems  on  land  belonging  to 
the  Authority.   In  addition,  non-cane  land  is  being  put  into  a 
higher  use  than  formerly.   Hill  land  suitable  for  forest  produc 
tion  was  transferred  to  the  Forest  Service. 

Baum:     How  did  the  plan  finally  work  out? 

Packard:   For  a  while  it  gave  great  promise  of  success.   About  forty  per 

cent  of  the  illegal  corporate  holdings  were  taken  over  by  the  Land 
Authority,  including  some  sugar  mills,  and  were  operated  success 
fully.   The  corporate  interests  objected  violently,  taking  the  whole 
question  to  the  courts.   The  Puerto  Rican  courts  upheld  the  Land 
Law  and  so  did  the  final  Court  of  Appeals  in  the  United  States, 
which  took  the  position  that  if  the  people  of  Puerto  Rico  wanted 


392 

Packard:   to  own  their  own  land  they  had  a  right  to  do  so,  even  though  it 
might  be  socialistic  as  the  corporation  said  it  was.   Production 
was  under  the  direction  of  skilled  technicians  and  results  were 
encouraging  for  a  time. 

But  labor  was  greatly  disappointed.   The  distribution  of 
profits  did  not  increase  the  workers'  annual  income  as  much  as 
they  had  thought  it  would.   On  the  most  successful  farm  the  in 
crease1  was  only  eighteen  per  cent,  while  on  the  less  successful 
there  was  little  or  no  increase.   And  in  all  cases  the  problem  of 
seasonal  employment  remained.   Most  workers  found  it  necessary  to 
go  to  the  States  for  work  during  the  off  season.   And,  of  course, 
the  opposition  of  corporate  interests  continued.   The  Land  Authority 
was  finally  abolished  and  responsibility  for  administration  was 
transferred  to  the  College  of  Agriculture. 

About  the  time  that  I  arrived  in  Puerto  Rico  a  vigorous  at 
tack  on  the  Land  Authority  was  made  by  the  United  States  Chamber 
of  Commerce.   The  report  was  published  and  widely  distributed. 
After  making  a  study  of  the  Land  Law  from  my  viewpoint  I  prepared 

a  memorandum  to  Governor  Tugwell  in  defense  of  the  Land  Authority. 
(See  Appendix) 

Another  part  of  the  Land  Authority  Law  which  deserves  mention 

was  a  provision  for  setting  aside  tracts  of  land  adjacent  to  the 
sugar  cane  fields  that  had  been  purchased  where  the  cane  workers 
could  build  their  homes  on  about  one  quarter  acre  or  so  of  land 
which  would  be  theirs.   The  land  was  purchased  by  the  Land  Authority 
and  subdivided  into  lots  on  the  pattern  of  a  small  town  and  title 


393 

Packard:   was  given  to  the  cane  workers  without  payments.   Most  of  these 

workers  had  lived  in  shacks  they  built  on  land  they  did  not  own, 
and  therefore  had  no  sense  of  security.   They  were  squatters  who 
could  be  put  off  the  land  at  the  whim  of  the  corporation.   About 
5,000  acres  were  purchased  under  this  act  and  this  was  divided 
into  19,000  parcels. 

Baum:     Did  the1  plan  supply  parcels  of  land  for  all  the  cane  workers  or 
only  for  the  workers  on  the  proportionate  profit  farms? 

Packard:   Only  a  fraction  of  the  total  number  of  cane  workers  (95,000)  were 
accommodated. 

When  I  first  visited  one  of  the  villages  I  was  depressed  by 
the  character  of  the  buildings.   The  Land  Authority  provided  no 
credit  or  architectural  help  to  the  families.   As  a  result  the 
houses  were  mere  shacks  built  out  of  a  variety  of  materials.   This 
is  where  I  had  hoped  Vernon  De  Mars  would  work  some  miracle  in 
developing  new  materials  and  house  designs  that  would  greatly  im 
prove  the  living  standard.   The  plots  did  not  serve  as  effectively 
as  I  thought  they  would  in  providing  food  for  the  families.   The 
record  on  individual  plots  varied  widely.   One  reason  for  this  was 
that  the  sites  selected  for  these  settlements  were  usually  rather 
poor  from  a  soil  standpoint.   The  best  land  had  to  be  conserved 
for  commercial  production. 

Baum:     Were  all  attempts  to  reduce  the  size  of  land  holdings,  or  to  de 
velop  agriculture  under  the  Land  Authority? 

Packard:   No.   In  addition  to  the  Puerto  Rican  Development  Company,  organized 
by  Ted  Moscoso,  an  Agricultural  Development  Company  was  created  to 


394 

Packard:   carry  out  a  development  program  in  agriculture  not  covered  by  the 
Land  Authority.   This  company  was  under  the  direction  of  Thomas 
Fennell  who  had  a  successful  orchid  farm  in  Florida  and  had  worked 
in  Haiti  and  consequently  knew  something  about  the  agriculture  of 
the  region.   He  was  primarily  responsible  for  developing  the  live 
stock  industry  and  made  a  determined  but  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
introduce  pineapples  as  an  export  crop.   The  Agricultural  Develop 
ment  Company  was  finally  abandoned. 

It  was  apparent  that  the  government  was  going  to  buy  a  lot 
of  land  in  addition  to  the  land  they  were  purchasing  for  the  Land 
Authority.   They  had  housing  programs  and  school  programs.   Land 
values  were  increasing  and  it  seemed  necessary  to  improve  the  laws 
governing  condemnation  of  property.   As  a  result  of  the  seriousness 
of  this  problem  a  law  was  suggested  to  prevent  speculation  and 
excessive  profits  in  the  sale  of  the  land  or  improvements  thereon, 
and  to  insure  the  availability  of  controlled  prices.   It  was  im 
possible  to  get  agreement  on  a  thorough  revision  of  the  Condemnation 
Law,  although  no  one  opposed  the  basic  idea. 

We  cull  t'd  a  meeting  In  La  Fortaleza  with  everyone  that  would 
be  involved  and  discussed  the  whole  problem.   There  were  a  number 
of  important  considerations  that  were  involved  in  the  disagreement 
between  individuals  and  agencies.   In  view  of  this  fact  and  of  the 
real  need  for  a  revision  of  the  law,  I  recommended  to  the  Governor 
that  he  employ  an  expert  to  come  to  Puerto  Rico  to  work  with  the 
committee  in  drafting  a  measure  which  could  be  submitted    at  the 
next  session  of  the  legislature. 


395 

Packard:       Nothing  developed  from  this  effort.   The  same  is  true  of  an 
attempt  I  made  to  have  the  government  acquire  by  condemnation  the 
large  holding  to  be  provided  with  water  in  a  southwest  irrigation 
project.   I  felt  that  these  lands  should  be  purchased  and  sub 
divided  into  family  farms  and  leased  or  sold  on  long  term  payments 
to  Puerto  Rican  families  capable  of  operating  the  land  efficiently. 
Because  tliJs  was  not  done,  a  few  large  land  ownerw  secured  great 
increments  in  land  values  which  should  have  been  distributed  or 
reclaimed  by  the  public. 

Later  Developments  in  the  Land  Authority  Program 

Baum:     At  the  risk  of  getting  this  interview  out  of  chronological  order, 
how  would  you  evaluate  the  work  of  the  Land  Authority,  and  how  did 
the  program  eventually  work  out? 

Packard:       My  last  official  act  in  Puerto  Rico  was  the  preparation  of 
a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  Land  Authority  and  Democratic  Processes 
in  Puerto  Rico"  published  by  the  Social  Science  Research  Center  of 
the  University  of  Puerto  Rico  in  1948.   Another  judgment  on  the  Land 
Authority  was  prepared  by  Keith  S.  Rosenn  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"Puerto  Rico  Land  Reform:   The  History  of  an  Instructive  Experiment". 
In  conclusion,  he  says,  "Thus  the  Land  Authority  has  been  transformed 
from  a  vigorous  instrumentality  of  breaking  up  large  latifundias 
into  an  instrumentality  for  stimulating  growth  and  development 
through  new  agricultural  industries.   More  and  more  the  Authority 
has  asked  private  entrepreneurs  to  assume  projects  that  it  has  begun, 
or  to  assist  it  in  operating  projects  it  has  retained.   The 


396 

Packard:   antagonism  toward  the  large  sugar  corporations  has  largely  dis 
appeared.   And  the  Authority  itself  has  been  forced  to  assume 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  the  large  sugar  corporation  in 
the  operation  of  the  proportional  profit  farms.  In  Puerto  Rico, 
then,  politicians  originally  devoted  to  a  program  of  land  frag 
mentation  and  redistribution,  seeking  both  political  and  economic 
goals,  have  largely  withdrawn  from  their  program  in  recognizing 
both  its  political  expend ability  and  its  economic  insufficiency 
in  a  core  program  of  development  to  concentrate  government  efforts 
in  the  development  of  new  industry."  Well,  this  was  Rosenn's 
judgment,  not  mine. 

Baum:     Yes.   That  sounds  like  he  felt  it  couldn't  have  worked  anyway» 
but  you  attribute  this  to  the  failure  to  carry  through  on  it. 

Packard:   Yes,  I  do.   I  think  that  was  the  principal  trouble.   The  plan  had 
merits  and  should  have  been  supported. 

Seven  years  later,  in  1954,  after  visiting  collective  and 
state  farms  in  Yugoslavia  and  kibbutzim  in  Israel,  I  revisited 
Puerto  Rico  and  had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Arrieaga,  then  director 
of  the  Land  Authority.   He  was  as  convinced  as  ever  that  the  pat 
tern  was  sound  and  would  work  if  he  had  political  backing  from 
Munoz  Marin,  which  he  did  not  have.   He  said  that  Mufioz  was 
sabotaging  the  whole  scheme.   He  was  abandoning  the  Land  Authority 
itself  and  putting  it  in  as  a  department  under  the  Ministry  of 
Agriculture,  under  a  young  man  that  we  knew  --  a  very  sincere- 
young  fellow  but  wholly  incapable  of  running  a  large  institution 


397 

Packard:   of  this  kind.   Mr.  Arrieaga  pleaded  with  me  to  do  anything  I  could 
to  re-establish  their  authority.   He  said  they  were  getting  along 
all  right  and  it  would  succeed  but  that  they  could  not  operate  as 
a  department  under  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture.   Their  authority 
was  being  quest ionecl  and  their  operations  were  being  interfered 
with.   So  I  wrote  a  letter  to  Munoz  expressing  my  fear  about  this 
whole  thing.   I  was  supplied  with  a  great  deal  of  documentary 
evidence  on  all  of  this.   And  I  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  the 
director  was  correct.   I  asked  to  see  Munoz  but  he  didn't  reply  to 
my  letter  nor  my  phone  calls.   So  I  left  the  island  without  ac 
complishing  anything,  but  promising  that  I  would  continue  to  do 
anything  I  could  to  help.   But  nothing  came  of  this. 

Baum:     Why  was  this?   I  thought  you  said  that  the  proportionate  profit 
farm  idea  was  his. 

Packard:   Well,  by  then  Munoz  was  governor  and  had  come  under  the  influence 
of  Teodoro  Moscoso,  the  dynamic  head  of  the  Puerto  Rico  Develop 
ment  Company,  who  veered  away  from  socialism  and  started  the 
"Operation  Bootstrap"  movement  which  concentrated  on  getting 
United  States  industries  to  establish  branches  in  Puerto  Rico 
with  the  help  of  the  Puerto  Rican  government.    Lower  labor  costs, 
exemption  from  United  States  corporation  income  taxes,  and  a  mora 
torium  on  Puerto  Rican  taxes  for  a  period  of  ten  years  and  free 
access  to  United  States  markets  were  advantages  which  proved  quite 
effective.   The  publicly  owned  cement  plant,  glass  bottle  factory, 
and  paper  mill  were  sold  to  a  Puerto  Rican  industrialist  who  was 


398 

Packard:   a  political  enemy  of  MuKoz  Marin.   The  ceramic  factory,  also 

publicly  owned,  was  sold  to  private  interests.   The  government 
advanced  loans  to  the  Hilton  chain  to  build  the  Caribe  Hilton 
hotel,  which  did  much  to  increase  tourist  travel.   It  is  not 
strange  that  under  this  new  ideological  orientation  that  the 
Land  Authority  should  be  weakened. 

When  Tugwell  left  conditions  changed  in  the  island  a  good 
deal.   I  remember  seeing  him  off  at  the  airport  and  all  of  the 
young  Puerto  Ricans  who  had  worked  with  him  and  had  been  so  in 
spired  by  the  things  that  they  were  doing  were  there  to  see  him 
off.   And  when  the  plane  was  off  the  ground,  most  of  them  were 
crying.   It  showed    me  what  Tugwell  had  meant  to  these  young 
Puerto  Ricans  who  were  idealists  and  were  trying  to  go  ahead 
with  the  program. 

Efforts  at  Birth  Control  Programs 

The  second  year  that  I  was  there  they  had  a  Caribbean  Con 
ference  of  all  the  islands  in  the  Caribbean.   This  conference 
was  held  in  Charlotte  Amalie  on  St.  Thomas  Island.   This  was  an 
extremely  interesting  occasion  for  me.   I  remember  hearing  an 
Oxford  accent  behind  me  and  I  turned  around  expecting  to  see  some 
tall  Englishman  and  there  was  a  Negro  from  Jamaica.   I  got  ac 
quainted  with  Madame  Ebonet  of  Martinique.   She  was  a  member  of  the 
French  Parliament  and  a  very  astute  Negro  woman.   They  discussed 
all  sorts  of  problems  that  the  Caribbean  area  faced. 


399 

Baum:     Isn't  one  of  those  problems  the  need  for  birth  control? 

Packard:   Yes,  at  least  in  most  areas.   Cuba  is  an  exception  but  Cuba  was 

not  represented  at  the  conference.   The  population  in  Puerto  Rico 
was  about  two  million.   The  island  could  support  that  many  if,  as 
Tugwel I  said,  "We-  can  perhaps  double  production  on  the  land  that 
you  have,  and  we  can  establish  industries  and  raise  the  level  of 
living  a  groat  deal,  but  still  there  does  remain  the  necessity  of 
reducing  the  birth  rate."  The  death  rate  had  been  very  heavy  and 
consequently  the  population  hadn't  grown  so  fast.   But  when  they 
began  to  put  in  health  programs  and  eliminate  malaria,  then  the 
death  rate  began  to  decline  and  the  birth  rate  stayed  Up,  and  so 
the  population  began  to  increase  fast  enough  to  create  a  serious 
population  problem. 

There  was  a  camp  of  conscientious  objectors  at  a  mountain 
place  called  Castancr  where  they  built  a  crude  but  serviceable 
hospital  and  secured  what  facilities  they  could.   They  handled  a 
wide  variety  of  cases  including  wounds  from  fights  with  machetes. 
(Laughter)   One  of  these  young  men  was  John  Jahn,  son  of  the 
engineer  on  the  Delhi  project.   He  married  a  Puerto  Rican  nurse 
working  with  the  group  and  is  now  a  doctor  in  Berkeley.   William 
Ludlow  was  another  conscientious  objector  who  worked  with  the 
Planning  Board  in  San  Juan.   He  later  joined  the  planning  staff  in 
San  Francisco  and  for  some  years  has  been  the  top  planner  in 
Philadelphia.   Bill  and  his  wife  Wilma,  devoted  pacifists,  have  been 
close  friends  of  ours  ever  since  our  Puerto  Rican  experience.   So 


400 

Packard:   far  as  the  hospital  at  Castafter  is  concerned  I  might  add  that 

that  is  whore  Nathan  Leopold  went  when  he  was  released  from  the 
Joliet  prison  in  Illinois. 

Birth  control  was  a  great  issue  in  Puerto  Rico  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  of  the  Catholic  Church.   The  group  at  Castaner 
was  particularly  active  in  promoting  birth  control  information. 
A  number  of  church  groups  were  involved. 

Baum:     Didn't  the  Catholic  Church  oppose  these  activities? 

Packard:   One  rather  interesting  incident  illustrates  the  problem:   A  man 
came  down  from  one  of  the  foundations  in  New  York  hoping  to  es 
tablish  a  definite  area  where  they  could  put  in  a  hospital  and 
all  of  the  facilities  needed  for  birth  control  information  and  to 
take  care  of  the  women,  etc.   They  planned  to  take  an  entire  area 
and  try  and  see  whether  within  five  years  they  could  reduce  the 
birth  rate  very  materially.   Well,  they  had  to  have  the  govern 
ment's  permission.   So  I  went  to  Munoz  Marin,  who  was  then  the 
head  of  the  Senate,  and  told  him  about  it.   And  I  took  this  man 
with  me  and  introduced  him  to  Munoz.   And  he  said,  "I'll  do  every 
thing  I  can.   We'll  be  right  with  you."  Then  as  we  were  about  to 
leave  he  said,  "If  you  tell  anybody  I  told  you  this  I'll  deny  I 
said  it."  (Laughter)   In  other  words  Munoz  was  afraid  to  be  quoted 
as  being  completely  in  favor  of  the  program,  although  he  was. 

Baum:     He  had  to  put  it  in  carefully  because  of  the  Church,  I  guess. 

Packard:  Yes.   He  was  not  particularly  religious  himself,  so  he  didn't  care 
so  much  about  that. 


401 

Packard:       When  I  returned  to  Puerto  Rico  some  time  later,  one  of  the 
professors  at  the  University  was  taking  his  sabbatical  and  was 
spending  the  entire  time  in  studying  the  birth  control  problem 
there.   It,  of  course,  is  a  very  important  issue. 

Appointment  of  Governor  Jesus  Piflero 

Tugwell  resigned  as  governor  in  1946  and  went  back  to  the 
United  States  where1  he  Joined  the  faculty  of  the  University  of 
Chicago.   T  stayed  on.   And  at  that  time  they  wanted  to  get  a 
Puerto  Rican  in  as  governor.   Jesfis  Pinero,  who  was  the  repre 
sentative  of  Puerto  Rico  in  Washington  --  Resident  Commissioner 
was  what  he  was  called  --  was  the  one  they  thought  would  make  an 
excellent  governor.   And  since  he  was  known  by  the  Americans  they 
thought  he  probably  would  be  acceptable.   So  when  Tugwell  left 
he  said  he'd  try  to  see  what  he  could  do  in  Washington  to  get 
Pinero  appointed.   But  he  wrote  back  and  said  it  was  utterly  im 
possible.   The  President  considered  it  illegal,  against  the 
Organic  Act.   Well,  I  felt  that  Tugwell  hadn't  gone  into  it 
thoroughly  enough,  so  I  went  to  Mufloz  and  then  to  the  acting 
Governor  and  told  him  I  thought  that  if  they  would  send  me  to 
Washington  I  could  do  something  about  it.   So  they  sent  me  to 
Washington. 

I  saw  Tugwell  first  and  he  said  there  was  no  chance  at  all. 
Then  I  saw  Pinero  and  he  said  he  didn't  think  there  was  any 
chance.   But  I  still  thought  there  was.   So  I  prepared  a  brief  on 
the  subject  and  I  got  an  appointment  with  the  Secretary  of  the 


402 

Packard:    Interior,  Julius  Krug.   He  told  me  that  the  President  was 
against  it  and  said  he  wouldn't  do  anything.   And  I  said, 
"Isn't  there  some  way  we  can  get  the  President's  mind  changed 
on  this?"  And  he  said,  "No,  I'm  against  it,  too.   I  agree  with 
the  President.   I  won't  do  anything."   But  I  was  convinced  in 
talking  with  him  that  he  still  had  a  reasonable  mind,  that  he 
would  consider  the  thing  if  it  was  presented  to  him  properly. 

So  I  went  right  over  to  see  Abe  Fortas  and  gave  him  my 
little  brief.   I  knew  the  brief  I  had  prepared  wasn't  adequate. 
So  I  did  not  give  it  to  the  Secretary.   I  went  to  Fortas  and 
he  dropped  everything  he  had  and  went  right  to  work  and  pre 
pared  a  brief  giving  the  legal  points  on  three  issues:   One 
was  that  the  Organic  Act  did  not  prevent  such  an  appointment. 
Second,  it  was  very  desirable  at  the  time  to  appoint  a  Puerto 
Rican.   Third,  Pinero,  having  been  the  Resident  Commissioner 
for  some  years,  was  the  man  to  appoint.   So  I  took  this  brief, 
prepared  by  Abe  Fortas,  over  to  Krug. 

Baum:      What  was  Abe  Fortas1  position? 

Packard:    He  used  to  be  Undersecretary  of  the  Interior.   He  was  then  a 
private  attorney  in  Washington.   He  was  the  man  who  supported 
me  when  I  went  to  Washington  when  I  exposed  the  Kern  County 
Land  Company's  attempt  at  graft.   He  is  now  on  the  Supreme  Court. 

Then  I  got  the  CIO  in  Washington  quite  active  in  the  fight. 
They  saw  the  Insular  Affairs  Committee,  which  was  headed  by  Mr. 
Taft.   I  got  Philip  Murray,  the  head  of  the  CIO  quite  active  in 


403 

Packard:   it.   I  did  everything  I  could  to  stir  up  support  for  the  Pinero 
appointment.   Then  I  left  to  go  back  to  Puerto  Rico,  feeling 
within  myself,  that  it  would  be  done.   When  I  got  back  to  Puerto 
Rico  it  was  soon  announced  that  the  President  would  appoint 
Pinero.   So  the  people-  on  the  island  were  delighted. 

There  was  a  big  reception  at  La  Fortaleza  and  Mufioz  Marln 
wiis  the*  leader.   When  I  came  through  the  line  and  got  down  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Krug,  he  turned  to  Munoz  and 
said,  "This  is  the  man  that  made  this  possible."  And  Muftoz  said, 
"Yes,  I  know."  And  Fortas  was  there,  too.   He  was  the  one  that 
I  thought  was  really  responsible  because  he  really  drew  up  the 
brief.   And  so  they  got  their  first  Puerto  Rican  governor  ap 
pointed  by  the  President.   And  the  second  governor  was  Mufioz 
Marin,  who  was  the  first  elected  Puerto  Rican  governor.   And 
from  then  on  they  had  their  Puerto  Rican  governors  all  the  time. 

Baum:      Why  did  Tugwell  give  up  like  that? 

Packard:   Well,  it  just  seemed  to  him  that  it  was  impossible.   He  tried  but 
he  didn't  feel  it  was  possible. 

Baum:      I  know  he  bucked  so  much  opposition  in  Washington  he  was  prob 
ably  just  tired  out.  (Laughter) 

A  Preview  of  the  Communist  Take  Over  in  Cuba 

On  my  return  to  Puerto  Rico  from  Washington  I  went  to  Cuba 
for  the  then  acting  governor  to  see  if  I  could  find  out  why 
Cuban  communists  were  trying  to  stir  up  trouble  in  Puerto  Rico 
where  NO  iiiiu'li  HOI- I  ii  I  pmy.rcHH  was  bclny,  miidc.   So  Mrw.  Packard 


404 


Packard:   and  I  flew  to  Camaguey  on  the  first  lap  of  a  very  interesting 
trip.   After  a  day  or  two  there  we  flew  to  Havana  where  I  re 
ported  to  the  American  ambassador  and  explained  the  purpose  of 
my  visit.   He  was  somewhat  skeptical  about  it  but  was  coopera 
tive.   Ho  gave-  me-  an  official  report  on  the  Communist  movement 
In  Cuba  to  road.   And  In-  gave  It  ai  his  opinion  that  Cuba  would 
go  Communist  ufti-r  the  war  if  ther  .•  was  widespread  unemployment 
in  Cuba  and  full  employment  in  Russia,  but  would  remain  in  the 
western  camp  if  there  was  full  employment  in  Cuba  and  the 
United  States  and  unemployment  in  iussia.   I  considered  this 
rather  a  na'ive  judgment  in  view  of  what  I  learned  of  conditions 
in  the  island. 

Fortunately  for  me,  Dr.  Lowry  Nelson,  a  sociologist  from 
the  University  of  Minnesota,  was  in  Cuba  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  history  and  present  status  of  agricultural  de 
velopment  in  Cuba.   Professor  Nelson  and  I  had  worked  together 
in  the  Resettlement  Administration  in  Washington  and  we  held 
the  same  general  philosophy.   He  and  Mrs.  Nelson  took  us  on  a 
rather  extended  trip  through  parts  of  western  Cuba  and  gave  us 
what  information  they  could  on  the  Communist  activity. 

Conditions  in  Havana  were  chaotic.   We  saw  many  houses  of 
government  officials  that  were  protected  by  armed  guards  night 
and  day.   The  condition  of  the  workers  was  pitiable.   So  far  as 
economic  and  social  legislation  was  concerned,  Cuba  was  far  be 
hind  Puerto  Rico.   Public  ownership  of  any  meaningful  kind  did 


405 

Packard:    not  exist.   The  principal  industries  were  owned  very  largely 
by  American  corporations,  including  a  large  proportion  of  the 
sugar  cane  lands.   Democracy  as  it  was  being  carried  out  in 
Puerto  Rico  wus  just  not  apparent. 

One  striking  difference  between  the  two  islands,  Puerto 
Rico  and  Cuba,  was  the  difference  in  the  character  of  the  of 
ficial  American  influence.   Governor  Tugwell  was  a  liberal  who 
viewed  the  problems  of  the  island  from  the  standpoint  of  American 
corporations  interested  in  dominating  the  economy.   In  Cuba  the 
United  States  was  represented  by  officials  of  the  State  Depart 
ment  whose  primary  interest  was  in  protecting  the  interests  of 
the  American  investors  in  Cuban  resources  and  key  industries. 
The  American  officials  there,  of  course,  were  not  interested  in 
any  program  of  nationalization,  as  Tugwell  was  in  Puerto  Rico. 
I  did  not  contact  any  communist  leaders  because  it  seemed  un 
necessary  and,  perhaps,  unwise.   It  was  evident,  however,  that 
they  had  not  been  able  to  make  much  headway  so  far  as  getting 
any  liberal  legislation  was  concerned.   From  the  standpoint  of 
history  it  seems  reasonable  to  assume  that  this  failure  to  make 
any  progress  in  social  legislation  was  a  strong  factor  leading 
to  the  communist  take  over  under  Castro.   I  can  only  report 
that  it  seemed  unlikely  that  Cuban  communists  would  have  very 
much  influence  in  Puerto  Rico. 


406 


Advisor  to  Governor  Pificro 

Packard:    Soon  after  my  return  from  Cuba,  Pitk-ro  took  office.   I  sub 
mitted  my  resignation  in  a  letter  saying  that  I  felt  he  should 
be  free  to  keep  me  on  or  to  dismiss  me  in  the  development  of 
his  staff.   I  said  that  I  would  like  to  stay  if  he  wanted  me 
to.   And  he  answered  by  saying  that  he  wanted  me  to  remain. 
So  I  remained  in  my  old  office  in  La  Fortaleza.   And  as  I  look 
over  the  record  now  I'm  rather  surprised  at  the  number  of 
things  I  advised  the  governor  on. 

Baum:      Your  position  was,  particularly,  acvisor  to  the  government  on 
land  problems,  is  that  right? 

Packard:   Yes. 

Baum:      Piftero  came  in  about  July,  1946,  right? 

Packard:    Yes,  and  I  continued  my  old  duties  including  the  making  of  re 
ports  on  various  issues  such  as  tho  following:   "Recommendations 
Regarding  Title  5  Programs",  "Progress  Report  to  Governor  Piflero 
on  the  Southwestern  Puerto  Rican  Project".   I  recommended  also 
that  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  take  an  interest  in  Puerto  Rico 
and  do  something  about  it.   And  as  a  result  Michael  Straus, 
the  Commissioner  of  Reclamation  in  Washington,  came  to  Puerto 
Rico  to  confer  with  the  governor  and  Muftoz  Marln  about  the  pos 
sibility  of  the  Bureau  coming  down  and  taking  over  the  project. 
But  I  was  opposed  by  two  Americans:   one  was  head  of  the  Power 
Authority  nml  the  other  was  employed  as  an  agricultural  engineer. 
He  didn't  cure  whether  the  speculators  got  the  land  or  not.   He- 


407 

Packard:    had  no  sympathy  for  any  of  the  ideas  I  had.   He  said  they  were 
all  socialistic  and  he  didn't  believe  in  any  of  them.   And  he 
said,  "No  matter  what  you  say,  we're  going  ahead  the  other  way." 
So  I  don't  know  what  the  result  was.   I  left  shortly  after  that. 
I  got  a  letter  from  someone  several  years  later  saying  that  they 
did  not  follow  my  plan  and  as  a  result  the  land  speculators  took 
a  hold  of  the  project  and  all  that  I  had  predicted  came  true. 

Baum:      Was  Piftero  less  liberal  than  Tugwell?   He  was  governor  for  a 
short  time. 

Packard:    Yes.   He  was  governor  for  only  a  short  time.   Muftoz  Marin  became 
the  first  elected  governor  and  served  for  many  years.   He  re 
signed  as  governor  in  1964. 

An  extremely  sad  thing  happened  at  home  while  we  were  in 
Puerto  Rico.   Bobby  --  Robert  Boman  --  my  daughter  Clara's  three 
and  a  half  year  old  son,  died  suddenly  of  encephalitis  after  an 
attack  of  the  measles.   He  was  an  extremely  bright  child  in  whom 
we  all  had  great  hopes.   Immediately  following  the  receipt  of 
the  telegram  telling  of  Bobby's  passing,  we  arranged  for  Emma's 
flight  back  to  Napa  where  she  stayed  with  Clara  until  she  felt 
she  could  leave  to  rejoin  me. 


408 


VENEZUELA,  1947    (Tape  Number  13,  July  13,  1964  --  The  tran 
script  of  this  interview  was  not  corrected  by  Mr.  Packard.) 

Packard:    Knowing  that  my  stay  In  Puerto  Rico  would  not  last,  I  began  to 
look  for  other  employment.   So,  in  July,  1947  I  made  a  two-week 
trip  to  Venezuela  as  guest  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture.   It 
came  about  in  this  way:   Mr.  Henry  Klumb,  the  leading  architect 
in  Puerto  Rico,  was  doing  some  work  in  Caracas  and  became  in 
terested  in  the  land  problem  which  was  attracting  a  good  deal 
of  attention.   Land  reform  was  one  of  the  principal  objectives 
of  the  newly  established  regime  under  President  Romulo  Betancourt 
whose  Accion  Democratica  Party  was  the  first  democratically 
elected  government  in  the  history  of  the  country.   Mr.  Klumb 
suggested  that  I  be  invited  to  inspect  the  work  that  was  being 
done  and  to  offer  any  suggestions  that  might  arise  out  of  my 
Puerto  Rican  and  other  experiences.   The  land  problem  was  made 
more  pressing  by  the  fact  that  Venezuela  was  actively  engaged  in 
resettling  a  large  number  of  refugees  from  Europe. 

In  due  time  I  received  a  round-trip  ticket  and  an  invitation 
from  Eduardo  Mendoza  Corticon,  Minister  of  Agriculture.   I  flew 
to  Venezuela  in  a  Pan  Am  plane  which  landed  in  Trujillo  in  the 
Dominican  Republic  and  at  Willemstad  on  the  Dutch  island  of 
Curacao,  and  finally  at  the  airport  in  Maiquetia,  on  the 
Venezuelan  coast.   The  few  minutes  we  stopped  at  Trujillo  was 
enough  to  give  me  some  impression  of  the  tight  security  measures 


409 

Packard:    in  force.   Soldiers  were  everywhere  around  the  airport.   I 

was  told  by  an  American  leaving  on  the  plane  that  the  country 
was  as  much  a  police  state  as  Hitler's  Germany.   In  sharp  con 
trast,  WilLomstad  exuded  the  atmosphere  and  sense  of  orderli 
ness  of  Holland. 

I  was  met  at  the  airport  in  Venezuela  by  representatives  of 
the  Ministry  and  driven  the  thirty-five  miles  up  the  mountain 
highway  to  Caracas,  which  is  at  an  elevation  of  over  3,000  feet. 
And  consequently  I  enjoyed  cool  weather  during  the  time  I  was 
there. 

The  morning  following  my  arrival  I  called  on  the  Minister 
of  Agriculture  and  had  a  fruitful  talk  with  him  and  his  assistant, 
Dr.  Pinto.   They  both  expressed  agreement  with  the  ideas  I  pre 
sented.   And  I,  in  turn,  was  very  much  impressed  with  both  of 
them.   They  were  obviously  intelligent,  sincere,  and  well  in 
formed.   The  Minister  himself  was  one  of  the  principal  drafters 
of  the  new  constitution  and  a  leader  in  the  revolutionary  Accion 
Democratica  Party  which  corresponded,  it  seems  to  me,  very 
closely  with  the  Popular  Party  of  Munoz  Marin  in  Puerto  Rico. 
The  party  polled  90%  of  the  vote  in  what  was  considered  to  be  a 
fair  election.   The  Communist  Party  had  about  20,000  members  and 
received  about  100,000  votes  of  the  total  of  1,300,000. 

The  program  for  my  visit  was  outlined  at  this  meeting.  I 
went  directly  to  the  American  Embassy  from  the  Ministry,  where 
I  had  a  good  talk  with  the  Undersecretary.  The  Ambassador  was 


410 

Packard:   out  of  town.   I  found  the  Undersecretary  to  be  a  genial  Irish 
Catholic  who  was  quite  frank  in  telling  what  he  thought.   He 
said,  among  other  things,  "We  don't  much  care  what  the  country 
does,  just  so  wo  got  the  oil  that  we  want".   He  arranged  an  ap 
pointment  with  Mr.  Hempton,  the  agricultural  attache,  who  was 
very  cordial.   We  pretty  well  covered  the  field  in  an  hour  and 
a  half  talk.   We  found  that  our  ideas  were  very  much  alike.   He 
was  very  cooperative  in  giving  me  all  the  help  I  needed. 

I  had  lunch  that  day  at  the  American  Club  with  Mr.  Arensen, 
Mr.  Klumb's  friend.   During  our  two-hour  visit  I  met  several 
other  people  and  was  able  to  broaden  my  knowledge  of  the  country 
and  of  the  attitude  of  the  American  group,  all  of  whom  seemed  to 
be  living  on  a  rather  high  scale.   One  man  was  doubling  his 
$18,000  salary  by  raising  fowl  in  his  backyard  for  sale  to  the 
oil  company  commissaries.   He  flew  in  baby  chicks  from  the 
United  States  and  followed  the  latest  methods  in  feeding  care. 
Mr.  Arensen  took  me  to  the  headquarters  of  the  Rockefeller 
organization  where  I  met  Mr.  Peterson  and  Mr.  John  Camp,  who 
is  a  brother  of  our  Associated  Farmer  and  Bank  of  America  friend 
in  California,  Bill  Camp.*   Camp  was  first  in  charge  of  the 
Institute  of  Inter-American  Affairs,  originally  sponsored  by 
Nolson  Rockefeller,  and  later  taken  over  by  the  United  States 
State  Department.   Camp  is  now  in  charge  of  the  work  being  carried 

*  Wofford  B.  Camp,  Bakersfield  farmer,  who  was  being  interviewed  by  the 
Regional  Oral  History  Office  in  the  summer  of  1964. 


411 

Packard:   out  by  the  Rockefeller  organization,  called  the  Venezuela  Basic 
Economy  Corporation,  one  of  whose  primary  objectives  is  to  get 
government  land  into  private  ownership.   The  nature  and  extent 
of  the  work  being  done  is  illustrated  by  the  following  quote  from 
a  letter  I rom  Nelson  Rockefeller  to  President  Betancourt:    ... 
"As  T  told  you  during  those  conversations,  it  is  my  firm  belief 
that  peace,  individual  liberty  and  respect  for  human  dignity  can 
not  be  attained  in  the  world  until  standards  of  living  are  raised 
and  peoples  enjoy  good  health,  education  and  well-being.   Certainly 
it  is  a  privilege  for  me  to  come  to  your  country  to  cooperate  with 
you  and  with  your  government  toward  the  fulfillment  of  these  aims. 
I  sincerely  believe  that  efficient  cooperation  between  the  govern 
ment  and  private  enterprise  is  a  most  important  factor  in  the  ful 
fillment  of  these  objectives. 

Therefore,  Mr.  President,  permit  me  to  express  my  desire  and 
that  of  my  associates  to  contribute,  in  every  possible  way,  to 
the  economic  and  social  development  of  Venezuela,  and  at  the  same 
time,  to  set  forth  in  the  enclosed  document  the  main  points  agreed 
upon  in  our  conversation  of  the  sixteenth  regarding  the  policies 
and  orientation  of  our  work  in  Venezuela. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  dynamic  force  of  private  enterprise, 
acting  within  the  framework  of  a  democracy,  has  the  necessary  crea 
tive  energy  to  stimulate  the  production  of  such  items  as  food  and 
other  products  of  prime  necessity  required  by  the  Venezuelan  econ 
omy.  The  knowledge  that  we  can  count  on  your  good  will  and  coopera 
tion  in  our  effort  to  contribute  to  the  increase  of  such  production 
gives  us  great  encouragement  and  pleasure."  This  is  dated 


412 


Packard:   June  19,  1947. 

I  mot  a  second  Mr.  Camp  in  Caracas,  who  is  not  related  to 
our  California  friend.   I  knew  him  in  Washington  where  he  was  a 
land  planner  for  the  Forest  Service.   He  was  then  working  for  the 
Venezuelan  government  in  their  forestry  development  program.   I 
liked  him  very  much. 

I  also  met  General  Meyers,  representing  the  UN.   He  is  in 
charge  of  European  immigration.   He  received  me  most  cordially 
and  expressed  the  hope  that  I  might  remain  in  the  country.   He 
took  me  through  the  Institute  of  Immigration  and  gave  me  a  good 
idea  of  some  of  the  problems  he  faced.   I  visited  a  large  apart 
ment  house  in  the  poorest  part  of  the  town  where  a  large  number 
of  recently  arrived  refugees  from  Eastern  Europe  were  housed 
pending  their  transfer  to  settlement  areas  in  the  country.   The 
families  were  all  from  the  American  Zone,  mostly  from  Russia, 
from  the  Ukraine;  a  few  from  Poland.   Some  had  learned  to  speak 
English  and  when  they  found  that  I  was  an  American  they  all  wanted 
to  know  what  they  could  do  to  get  them  to  the  United  States.   They 
were  a  sturdy  lot.   The  plan  was  to  settle  them  on  small  farms  in 
some  of  the  newly  developed  reclamation  projects,  a  plan  which 
seemed  to  me  doomed  to  failure  because  the  men  and  women  I  talked 
with  were  semi-skilled  people  who  wanted  good  jobs. 

Some  days  later  I  visited  the  camps  in  the  country,  where 
they  were  being  stationed  pending  their  transfer  to  their  final 
destination.   They  were  living  in  quonset  huts  under  conditions 


413 

Packard:   that  were  not  too  promising.   The  prospects  in  the  country  seemed 
pretty  poor.   Farm  wages  were  low  and  employment  was  seasonal. 
But  then'  was  need  for  increased  agricultural  production.   The 
country  w;is  not  able  to  support  itself.   I  later  found  farming 
practices  to  be  very  backward;  little  fertilizer  was  used,  im 
ported  food  was  very  high,  Washington  apples  cost  sixty  cents  a 
piece,  a  can  of  Del  Monte  fruit  salad  cost  $1.10.   Bananas,  starch 
and  root  crops,  beans  and  brown  rice  and  so  forth,  seemed  to  be 
plentiful  on  the  market. 

I  made  two  trips  over  the  country,  one  by  car  and  the  other 
by  plane  and  car.   The  first  trip  took  me  from  Caracas  to  Maracay 
and  to  Valencia  and  Barquisimeto,  on  the  western  slopes  of  the 
Andes,  then  southeast  to  a  point  on  the  upper  border  of  the  great 
flat  plains  of  the  Arauca  River,  where  rice  was  being  grown  on  an 
experimental  basis.   We  traveled  a  total  distance  of  seven  hundred 
miles. 

The  second  trip  took  me  by  plane  across  the  northern  extension 
of  the  Andes  to  the  town  of  Valera,  from  which  I  went  by  car  to  the 
town  of  Mene  Grande,  near  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Maracaibo. 
From  there  I  flew  in  a  one-motor  Cessna  plane  across  the  lake  and 
over  some  of  the  area  south  of  the  lake,  where  the  Rockefellers 
were  carrying  out  one  of  the  principal  agricultural  development 
programs.   We  also  flew  over  a  rather  extended  area  on  the  east 
shore  of  the  lake  where  the  Ministry  was  planning  to  establish  a 
new  project.   I  rode  and  walked  over  a  portion  of  this  proposed 


414 

Packard:   irrigation  system  on  the  Chereque  River,  where  a  dam  was  to  be 
built  to  store  water  in  the  foothills  of  the  Andes  for  the  ir 
rigation  of  an  area  which  was  covered,  in  part,  by  a  tropical 
forest  from  which  the  valuable  timber  had  been  removed.   The 
clearing  was  clone  by  henvy  bulldozers  which  could  be  used  to  push 
over  very  large  trees.   T  later  used  this  same  plan  in  similar 
work  in  Greece.   The  soil  appeared  to  be  thoroughly  leeched  and 
in  need  of  heavy  fertilization,  as  is  true  in  most  tropical  areas. 

In  the  Valencia  Lake  area  I  was;  driven  over  representative 
portions  of  the  reclamation  project  being  carried  out  by  the  Min 
istry  of  Public  Works  and  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  together. 
It  took  a  jeep  to  get  through  much  of  the  area  because  of  the 
bad  roads.   A  large  area  of  the  land  was  formerly  owned  by  dic 
tator  Gomez.   It  was  used  largely  for  cattle  raising.   When  the 
government  acquired  it  some  of  the  land  was  subdivided  into  very 
small  subsistence-sized  farms,  each  with  a  small  house.   Too  much 
faith  was  placed  in  the  value  of  land  ownership  and  too  little 
faith  was  placed  in  the  economic  practicability  of  the  project. 
The  solution  of  the  problem  demands  some  form  of  planned  agricul 
ture  in  which  trained  management  and  efficient  methods  of  produc 
tion  are  put  into  effect.   This  original  resettlement  did  not 
work  out.   But  the  Ministry  was  now  approaching  the  problem  from 
a  very  much  more  modern  viewpoint. 

The  nreu  nround  Lnkc  Valencia  is  by  nature  divided  into  three 
distinct  zones;  an  areu  of  muckland,  immediately  adjacent  to  the 


415 

Packard:   lake,  which  will  not  permit  the  use  of  heavy  equipment  but  is 

suited  to  the  production  of  plantains,  bananas,  yucca,  tobacco, 
and  benns.   Tt  was  to  be  settled  by  small  farmers  who  could  gfct 
along  without  heavy  equipment  even  though  the  use  of  horses  was 
difficult  in  the  area.   The  next  zone  is  a  flat  area  of  good 
soil  suited  to  the  large  scale  production  of  other  crops  such 
as  corn,  sugar  cane,  sesame,  and  fodder  crops.   The  third  zone 
is  in  the  foothill  country  and  is  suited  to  the  production  of 
oranges,  lemons,  avocados,  corn,  bananas,  and  so  forth,  and  was 
suited  to  the  development  of  small,  family-type  farms. 

In  some  of  this  area  the  development  was  very  modern  indeed. 
Two  or  three  different  types  of  settlement  were  being  carried  out 
on  an  experimental  basis.  In  some  cases  the  people  were  supposed 
to  live  in  villages  and  go  to  the  country,  which  they  do  in  Europe. 

I  arranged  with  the  Ministry  to  submit  a  report  on  my  return 
to  Caracas.   I  was  invited  to  return  for  an  indefinite  period  at  a 
salary  of  $15,000  a  year  when  I  had  finished  my  work  in  Puerto 
Rico.   The  nature  of  my  report  is  illustrated  by  the  following 
letter  to  Mr.  Mendoza,  August  8,  1947: 

The  comments  and  suggestions  which  follow  are  based  upon 
field  observations  and  a  study  of  various  reports  during 
my  two-week  stay  in  Venezuela.   ...   But  the  fact  must  be 
kept  in  mind  that  those  who  are  dis-employed  in  the  process 
of  mechanization  can  be  re-employed  in  industry  --  es 
pecially  service  industries  --   which  expand  more  or  less 
automatically  as  the  income  per  man  increases  provided,  of 
course,  that  the  general  economy  is.  organized  on  a  basis 
which  does  not  stymie  enterprise  through  a  concentration 
of  income  in  the  hands  of  a  few  who  do  not  keep  the  flow 
ol  Income  moving. 


416 

Packard:       I  returned  to  Puerto  Rico  expecting  to  go  back  to  Venezuela 
later  on  but  nothing  developed.   The  Acclon  Democratica  Party  had 
been  working  against  terrific  odds  ever  since  it  took  office  fol 
lowing  the  revolution  of  October,  1945.   The  members  of  the  old 
regime  were  sniping  from  exile,  while  powerful  elements  within 
the  country  were  working  more  or  less  openly  to  restore  the  old 
regime.   The  new  constitution  set  up  a  framework  of  enlightened 
democracy,  which  seemed  to  be  suited  to  conditions.   In  going  from 
office  to  office  in  Caracas  I  constantly  encountered  military  of 
ficers  and  just  missed  an  armed  revolt  by  air  force  officers  in 
Maracuy.   I  was  astonished  to  meet  an  American  officer  in  uniform 
at  the  Grace  Hotel,  built  by  Gomez.   He  was  there  to  train 
Venezuelan  officers  in  the  use  of  surplus  planes  which  the  United 
States  was  selling  to  Venezuela.   He  said  that  he  had  done  similar 
work  in  other  Latin  American  countries.   Almost  his  first  question 
was  about  Russia  and  the  danger  of  war.   He  appeared  to  be  ex 
tremely  na'ive.   He  said  that  he  had  not  seen  any  outside  papers 
for  some  time  and  was  fearful  that  there  might  be  trouble  with 
Russia. 

History  records  the  fact  that  Jimenez  overthrew  the  Acclon 
Democratica  Party,  put  Betancourt  in  jail,  established  a  dictator 
ship;  the  country  was  put  under  strict  military  laws,  and  Falang 
ists  were  imported  from  Spain  to  organize  a  secret  police  force  of 
15,000  men.   Some  18,000  political  prisoners  were  put  in  jail, 
where  an  estimated  20%  died.   This  undoubtedly  included  many  of 


417 

Packard:   the  men  that  I  had  been  working  with.   Jimenez  later  was  decor 
ated  by  President  Eisenhower  and  was  supported  completely  by  his 
administration.   Then  later  on  when  Nixon  visited  Caracas  he  was 
spit  on,  which  scorned  to  me  to  be  a  rather  logical  consequence  of 
that  kind  of  tiling. 

Hnum:      Was  it:  hard  to  get  out-sldf  information  there?   You  said  this 
American  officer  didn't  have  much  information. 

Packard:   He  was  in  the  country,  you  sec,  not  in  Caracas.   In  Caracas  you 
got  everything.   He  apparently  was  a  na'fve  man,  very  cordial  and 
that  sort  of  thing.   But  he  was  just  afraid  of  Russia.   He  was 
thinking  there  was  going  to  be  a  fight  with  Russia.   It  was  very 
real  in  his  mind. 

When  I  returned  to  Puerto  Rico  I  had  a  conference  with  Governor 
Pinero,  who  was  anxious  that  I  remain  on  the  island.   But  his  at 
titude  toward  the  Land  Authority  and  other  social  programs  in  which 
I  was  especially  interested  was  very  disappointing.   It  was  obvious 
that  if  I  remained  I  would  be  engaged  in  resettlement  work  associa 
ted  with  an  expanded  housing  program  or  in  teaching  at  the 
Mayaguez  Agricultural  Institute,  where  Jaime  Benitez  offered  me  a 
position.   I  did  not  like  this  prospect  and  therefore  resigned  and 
planned  to  return  to  the  United  States.   Emma  and  I  had  Thanksgiving 
dinner  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mufioz  Marln  the  day  before  we  left,  and  I 
was  pleased  to  have  Muftoz  say  that  I  could  come  back  at  any  time 
that  I  changed  my  mind. 


418 


Packard:       We  returned  by  boat  to  New  Orleans.   We  left  from  the  port 
of  Mayaguez  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  beautiful  scene  with 
the  palm  covered  shore  circled  by  a  complete  rainbow.   We  passed 
through  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi  River,  where  the  flames 
from  burning  natural  gas  were  seen  on  both  sides.   Emma  went  to 
Iowa  Tor  a  visit  with  her  family,  while  I  went  to  New  York  and 
Washington  to  seek  other  possible  employment. 


DIPLOMATIC  PASSPORTS  1948 


Mr.  Packard 


'V-fci. 


Mrs .  Packard 


Puerto  Rico  -  1946. 


Unveiling  of  the  Bust  of  Walter  Packard,  Anthili, 
Greece  -  June  1954. 


419 


GREECE,  1948-1954 

First  Assignment,  Irrigation  Specialist  for  American  Mission 
for  Aid  to  Greece-  (AMAG) 

Packard:   The  circumstances  surrounding  my  assignment  for  work  in  Greece- 
were  completely  fortuitous,  and  illustrate  the  part  played  by 
mere  chance  in  one's  career.   On  returning  to  Berkeley  from 
Puerto  Rico  my  first  act  was  to  have  a  cataract  operation  on  my 
right  eye,  since  my  left  eye  which  had  been  operated  on  three 
times  was  deteriorating.   While  wandering  around  town  with  one 
eye  bandaged  I  dropped  in  to  the  old  Irrigation  Investigation 
Office  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  which 
I'd  worked  for  in  1909  to  pass  the  time  of  day  with  the  old 
associates.   As  it  happened  the  office  had  received  a  telegram 
from  the  State  Department  that  day  asking  if  they  had  a  man  who 
could  fill  a  four-months  special  assignment  to  Greece  as  an  ir 
rigation  specialist  for  the  American  Mission  for  Aid  to  Greece, 
at  a  salary  of  $10,000  a  year.   At  that  time  that  was  afrove  the 
usual  pay  in  the  United  States.   I  said,  of  course,  that  I  would 
be  glad  to  go. 

I  immediately  went  to  my  doctor  in  San  Francisco  to  ask 
him  to  hurry  up  my  new  glasses,  which  he  was  willing  to  do. 
The  Irrigation  Office  wired  the  State  Department  saying  that  I 
was  available.   The  reply  came  back  the  next  day  saying  that  I 


420 


Packard:  would  be  all  right  if  it  was  acceptable  to  the  Department  of  Ag 
riculture.   So,  another  wire  went  off  to  the  Department  of  Ag 
riculture1.   And  in  about  a  week  the  reply  came  back  that  my  ap 
pointment  would  be1  satisfactory.   And  by  that  time  my  eyes  were 
improved  enough  so  that  I  could  get  some  new  glasses  and  be  on 
my  way. 

On  arriving  in  Washington  I  was  told  that  I  would  have  to 
have  a  security  clearance.   I  said  that  that  would  take  quite  a 
long  time  and  that  I  didn't  see  why  on  a  four-months  assignment 
I  would  have  to  have  a  clearance.   But  they  said  it  might  be 
necessary.   I  said  that  I  was  not  a  Communist  and  never  had 
been  and  didn't  intend  to  be  and  that  I  saw  no  reason  for  de 
laying  my  appointment  on  that  account.   So,  finally,  they  had  me 
sign  a  statement  that  I  would  pay  my  way  home  if  they  found  out 
that  I  was  a  security  risk  after  the  investigation  had  been  car 
ried  out.   So  after  going  through  all  of  the  medical  tests  and 
receiving  all  of  the  injections  that  were  necessary  I  went  to 
New  York  and  flew  from  there  to  Greece,  landing  in  Ireland,  Paris, 
Geneva,  and  Rome  on  the  way.   I  was  met  in  Athens  by  a  representa 
tive  of  the  American  Mission  with  a  Greek  official  who  got  me 
through  customs  without  delay. 

Although  my  original  appointment  was  for  the  four  months  re 
maining  for  the  American  Mission  for  Aid  to  Greece  under  the 
Truman  Doctrine,  I  was  re-employed  on  July  1st,  1948,  for  two 


421 

Packard:   years  with  the  Economic  Cooperative  Administration  under  the 
Marshall  Plan.   I  remained  in  Greece  for  six  and  a  half  years 
and  then  retired  at  the  age  of  seventy.   No  other  period  of  my 
life  compares  with  my  Greek  experience  in  interest,  excitement, 
and  sense  of  accomplishment.   To  live  in  a  country  with  such  a 
rich,  historical  background  was  an  incomparable  treat.   Every 
area  in  which  I  worked  was  associated  in  some  way  with  important 
events  of  ancient  history.   In  a  somewhat  similar  way  the  hot  war 
that  was  going  on  in  Greece  when  I  arrived  seemed  to  be  a  carry 
over  from  the  wars  between  the  ancient  city-states. 

War  Conditions  in  Greece 

Travel  in  Greece  at  that  time  was  not  very  safe,  because  the 
Andarte  groups  (guerrillas)  were  pretty  well  in  control  of  all  of 
the  area  of  Greece  outside  of  the  cities.   So  you  had  to  travel 
during  the  day  if  you  went  into  the  country  at  all.   And  often 
you  had  to  wait  until  the  roads  were  cleared  by  the  army. 

In  some  of  the  areas  where  I  went  I'd  ride  in  a  jeep  sit 
ting  on  a  wet  sand  sack  with  my  feet  on  another  wet  sand  sack  in 
order  to  absorb  the  shock  of  a  blast  if  we  happened  to  hit  a  mine. 
Another  time  I  remember  was  in  Agrinion  where  we  were  out  on  a 
field  survey  near  a  lake  and  we  could  see  the  resistance  forces 
in  the  mountains  on  a  pass  not  too  far  away.   We  were  somewhat 
fearful  of  being  fired  at.  When  I  first  went  to  Salonika  I  got 
there  on  the  morning  when  500  people  had  been  arrested.   They 
were  marched  down  the  street  and  put  on  boats  and  taken  to  an 


422 

Packard:   island.   Finally  the  number  of  prisoners  on  this  island  was  in 

the  neighborhood  of  15,000.   Many  of  them  were  not  Communists  ac 
cording  to  the  testimony  of  Charley  House,  head  of  the  American 
Farm  School,  who  had  lived  in  Greece  most  of  his  life  and  knew 
these  people-  well.   He  said  many  of  them  were  just  liberal  people 
who  wanted  re-forms.   Others  --  the  majority  --  were  poor,  land 
less  people  seeking  a  way  to  improve  their  lot. 

Baum:     What  was  this  school? 

/ 

Packard:   The  American  Farm  School. 

Baum:     This  was  a  private  agricultural  mission. 

Packard:   Yes.   It  was  founded  by  John  House,  who  was  the  father  of  Charles 
House,  and  a  Congregational  Church  minister  in  Bulgaria.   When 
the  Balkan  Wars  got  so  hot  that  he  couldn't  stay  in  Bulgaria,  he 
came  to  Greece.   And  with  every  cent  he  had,  plus  all  he  could 
get  from  friends  and  church  associates,  he  bought  500  acres  of 
land  about  five  miles  east  of  Salonika  and  founded  this  school. 
It's  become  a  very  famous  school  for  Greek  farm  boys.   The  school 
accepts  two  boys  from  each  farm  village  who  are  supposed  to  return 
home  after  graduation  and  teach  the  methods  they  have  learned  at 
the  school  and  try  to  build  up  the  village's  agriculture.   Many 
had  no  money  and  had  to  pay  the  costs  by  contributing  farm  prod 
ucts  instead  of  cash.   At  present  there  are  many  scholarships  and 
many  graduates  who  send  back  money,  so  it's  become  relatively  pros 
perous  compared  with  the  shoestring  it  was  started  on.* 

*  Following  Mr.  Packard's  death,  a  Walter  Packard  Memorial  Fund  was 
established  to  aid  the  American  Farm  School;  one  of  the  benefits  of 
this  fund  was  a  5000  cm  irrigation  tank  designated  the  "Walter 
Packard  Memorial  Tank."   ELP 


423 

Baum:      So  Charley  House  had  contacts  all  through  the  country. 

Packard:   Oh  yes,  he  was  revered  by  everyone.   He  protected  many  people1  who 
had  been  unjustly  arrested.   At  one  time  some  twenty  boys  in  the 
school  were  kidnapped  by  the  Communists  and  taken  to  the  mountains 
but  before  long  all  returned  with  varying  stories  of  their  means 
of  escape. 

Communism  was  not  a  recent  development  in  Greece  as  evid 
enced  by  the  experience  of  Miss  Susan  Stone,  a  missionary  working 
with  Dr.  John  House  way  back  in  1902.   Miss  Stone  was  captured  by 
the  andartes  of  that  time  who  were  fighting  the  Turks.   She  was 
held  for  a  $60,000  ransom  which  Dr.  House  managed  to  pay  in  gold 
from  contributions  from  all  over  the  United  States,  a  fund  to 
which  I  contributed  as  a  member  of  a  Sunday  school  class.   When 
Miss  Stone  reached  the  mountain  hideout  she  urged  her  captors  to 
read  the  Bible.   They  said  they  would  if  she  would  read  their 
Bible.   She,  of  course,  agreed  and  was  given  a  copy  of  Karl  Marx's 
Das  Kapital.   This  was  in  1902,  fifteen  years  before  the  Rus 
sian  Revolution. 

Since  I  am  discussing  communism  I  might  continue  by  inserting 
the  story  of  an  incident  which  occurred  in  the  town  of  Serres,  in 
western  Thrace.   I  was  on  an  inspection  trip  to  visit  some  reclama 
tion  projects  in  that  part  of  Greece  and  was  accompanied  by  Emma, 
a  representative  from  the  United  Nations  and  his  wife,  and  by 
Orestis  Christides  of  the  Greek  Ministry  of  Agriculture.   We  went 
from  Salonika  to  Serres  on  a  road  recently  surfaced  by  the  Mission. 


424 

Packard:   Wc>  stayed  in  a  small  cabin  owned  by  the  government,  and  were 
awakened  about  four  a.m.  by  machine  gun  fire  and  occasional 
cannonading.   Soon  after  sunrise  we  climbed  a  small  hill  in  back 
of  the  cabin  where  we  could  watch  Spitfires  dive-bombing  the 
andartes  north  of  town.   Two  of  the  Spitfires  were  shot  down  while 
we  stood  on  the  hill.   A  third  was  shot  down  later  on  and  landed 
in  a  Bermuda  grass  pasture  about  100  yards  from  where  I  stood 
south  of  town.   We  learned  that  the  town  had  been  attacked  by 
about  1,000  andartes  who  had  blown  up  a  new  bridge  leading  into 
the  town. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  fighting  I  asked  the  commanding  of 
ficer  to  let  me  talk  with  some  of  the  prisoners.   I  wanted  to 
find  out  what  was  in  their  minds.   He  granted  permission  and  had 
all  of  the  prisoners  who  were  not  wounded  taken  out  of  the  ware 
house  where  they  were  staying.   They  were  very  morose  at  first  and 
were  wondering  why  an  American  wanted  to  see  them.   I  walked  up 
to  the  group  and  said,  "I  am  an  American  who  came  to  Greece  to 
help  you  irrigate  your  land,  drain  your  swamps,  and  reforest  your 
mountains,  and  I  can  not  understand  why  you  blew  up  the  beautiful 
bridge  which  the  American  Mission  had  built.   I  came  to  Greece  as 
your  friend,  wanting  to  help  you  develop  your  resources."  On  the 
basis  of  this  statement  they  all  gathered  around  me  and  told  me 
of  their  poverty.   Their  stories  were  the  same  ones  that  I  had 
heard  in  villages  from  one  end  of  Greece  to  the  other.   None  of 
them  were  doctrinaire  communists,  although  I  was  told  by  the  of 
ficer  that  a  doctrinaire  communist  was  captured  but  was  mortally 


425 

Packard:   wounded.   I  chose  not  to  see  him.   The  incident  confirmed  my  be 
lief  that  poverty  was  the  root  of  the  trouble. 

Baum:     But  they  didn't  explain  why  they  blew  up  the  bridge. 

Packard:   No.   They  apparently  blew  up  the  bridge  because  they  were  against 
the  government  in  the  Civil  War.   They  were  trying  to  win  a  war 
and  that  was  part  of  it.   I  found  out  later  that  most  of  these 
people  were  sent  back  to  their  villages  and  there  was  nothing 
done  about  them. 

One  of  the  experiences  that  shocked  me  very  much  was  when  I 
first  went  to  the  town  of  Lamia,  about  a  hundred  miles  northwest 
of  Athens  where  I  saw  a  group  of  andarte  prisoners  in  a  school 
yard,  perhaps  three  or  four  hundred  of  them.   They  ranged  all  the 
way  from  white-haired  old  men  down  to  young  boys  of  17  or  18  years. 
They  were  all  wearing  homespun  clothes  and  were  obviously  mountain 
people.   I  talked  with  one  of  the  Greek  agricultural  agents  about 
them,  who  said  they  were  just  poor  people  who  had  joined  the  revo 
lution  because  of  their  poverty.   They  were  starving  to  death  in 
their  mountain  villages  and  had  to  have  land  to  make  a  living. 
Some  six  weeks  later  I  had  breakfast  with  an  American  officer  whom 
I  had  known  previously  who  was  in  charge  of  the  Lamia  area  for  the 
American  army.   He  was  their  adviser.   I  said,  "What  did  you  do 
with  those  prisoners  you  had  in  the  schoolyard  there  in  Lamia?" 
He  said,  "We-  shot  a  lot  of  them."  And  I  said,  "You  shot  a  lot  of 
them.   How  many  did  you  kill?"  He  said,  "I  don't  remember.   We 
killed  a  lot  of  them."   I  said,  "That's  very  indefinite,  haven't 
v  you  got  some  definite  figure?"  He  said,  "No,  we  shot  seven  this 


426 

Packard:   "morning  before  I  left  for  Athens."  And  I  said,  "What  did  you  do, 
give  them  trials?"   "No,"  he  said,  "We  just  looked  them  up  and  if 
they  were  Communists  we  shot  them."  Well,  I  was  completely  shocked 
by  this.   And  later  on  I  took  the  matter  up  with  the  ambassador, 
Henry  Grady,  who  had  formerly  been  head  of  the  School  of  Business 
Administration  nt  the  University  of  California  and,  consequently, 
a  man  whom  I  knew  very  we'll.   He  told  me  that  "We're  going  to  con 
tinue  to  kill  them  and  the  American  people  have  got  to  get  used  to 
killing."  The  situation  got  so  bad  that  Mr.  John  Nuveen  the  head 
of  the  American  Mission,  who  was  under  the  ambassador,  came  to  me 
and  wanted  me  to  again  interview  the  ambassador  to  see  whether  some 
thing  couldn't  be  done  to  stop  this  shooting  of  prisoners.   He  said 
he  had  tried  but  he'd  had  no  success;  and  felt  that  since  I  knew 
Mr.  Grady  that  I  might  be  able  to  get  something  done  to  stop  the 
killing.   But  I  was  not  able  to  make  any  impression  at  all.   Mr. 
Nuveen  was  transferred  shortly  after  that  t.o  Belgium,  where  he  was 
not  involved  in  the  Greek  picture. 

Baum:     Did  the  military  segment  disagree  with  the  shooting,  or  was  that 
their  idea? 

Packard:  It's  hard  to  know  but  General  James  Van  Fleet  was  called  "the 
killer"  by  some  of  the  Greeks.  Our  American  officers  who  were 
there  didn't  do  the  actual  shooting.  But  they  didn't  stop  the 
shooting,  certainly.  The  report  was  that  something  over  3,000 
Greek  prisoners  were  shot  during  that  period.  Emma  had  an  ex 
perience  which  might  be  recorded  here. 


427 


Baum:     What  happened? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  was  invited  by  the  American-born  Greek  wife  of  one  of  our  Ameri 
can  employees  in  the  Mission  to  go  with  her  to  visit  the  sister  of 
her  Greek  m;ii(l,  who  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Women's  Prison  in  the 
center  of  Athens.   The  army  or  the  Greek  government  had  made  an 
offer  to  the  so-called  Communists  who  were  in  prison  that  if  they 
would  sign  certain  papers  agreeing  to  the  conditions  set  forth, 
that  they  would  be  released  from  the  prison.   My  friend  was  at 
tempting  to  convince  this  girl  that  it  was  to  her  interest  to 
sign  these  papers.  ...  The  matron  in  charge  brought  in  the  woman  -- 
a  peasant  type  of  about  thirty  years,  with  a  strong  and  intel 
ligent  face1.   I  could  not  understand  the  conversation,  but  it  was 
evident  that  she  was  antagonistic  to  the  idea  and  she  did  not  con 
sent  to  sign. 

Baum:     Would  she  be  shot  if  she  did  not? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  don't  know.   I  never  heard  about  her  again.   However  while  I 

observed  the  room,  I  saw  another  village  peasant  woman  talking 
with  her  undersized  fourteen  year  old  son.   Later  the  matron  told 
us  that  she  was  a  "Communist"  who  was  saying  goodbye  to  her  son 
and  she  was  to  be  shot  the  next  day.   The  matron  seemed  a  kindly 
sort  of  person  and  asked  if  we  would  see  a  young  physician  among 
the  prisoners  who  was  much  concerned  about  the  health  of  the  chil 
dren  in  the  prison. 
Baum:     Do  you  mean  they  put  children  in  jail? 


428 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Some  of  them  were  born  in  jail  and  it  was  the  policy  to  allow 

children  under  three  years  of  age  to  be  with  their  mothers  who 
were  in  jail  --  these  were  "political"  prisoners,  you  under 
stand,  who  had  not  been  tried  in  court.   When  these  children 
reached  the  age  of  three  years,  they  were  taken  to  an  orphanage 
for  care  and  schooling.   The  American  women  sponsored  one  such 
orphanage-,  lu-lplng  with  clothing,  other  supplies  and  recreation 
for  these  unfortunate-  children. 

Baum:     Was  this  physician  employed  to  care  for  the  prisoners? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   No.   She  herself  was  arrested  on  charges  of  being  a  Communist. 

She  was  a  small,  dainty  Greek  woman  of  about  35  or  40  years,  and 
she  concerned  herself  with  the  children  especially.   She  brought 
a  couple  of  them  in  to  show  us  how  their  teeth  had  not  come  in 
properly  or  had  immediately  decayed  off  to  the  gums  because  of 
lack  of  milk  and  other  proper  foods.   We  were  taken  out  into  their 
exercise  yard  to  sec  whore  they  could  walk  and  get  fresh  air.  . . . 
As  distressed  us  we  were,  it  seemed  a  touchy  diplomatic  question 
as  to  how  we  American  women  could  help  "Communists"  in  jail  in  a 
Greek  prison  during  a  Greek  civil  war,  and  I  think  we  ended  by 
doing  nothing  except  what  was  done  for  those  children  who  finally 
were  put  in  the  orphanage.   I  remember  they  were  brought  to  an 
American  Christmas  party  with  a  big  Christmas  tree  with  gifts 
for  each  child.  ...  This  young  doctor  was  only  one  of  many 
teachers  and  professional  people  who  saw  the  poverty  and  wanted 


429 

Mrs. 

Packard:   to  do  something  about  it,  but  ended  up  in  prison  as  "Communists". 

One  will  never  know  the  final  statistics  on  this  situation  but 
it  was  very  sad  especially  for  some  of  us  who  had  been  out  into 
the  countryside  and  saw  first  hand  the  poverty  and  deprivations 
of  so  many  villagers  without  much  economic  hope  --  underfed  and 
cold. 

T  have  just  rt-acl  (August,  1966)  William  Hard's  book  Raymond 
Robins'  Story,  in  which  Robins  makes  a  strong  point  of  what  he 
calls  the  "Indoor  Mind"  of  the  diplomats  in  Russia  of  that  time, 
who  never  got  out  into  the  country  and  widened  their  views  to  an 
"Outdoor  Mind"  which  saw  the  conditions  which  had  forced  the 
revolution  of  93%  of  the  Russian  people  against  the  1°L  who  had 
control  of  the  land  and  resources,  leaving  the  937»  destitute  and 
"under  the  knout"  of  the  Army,  Cossacks,  and  Czar.   Tolstoy  had 
told  the  story  --   Can  people  learn  from  history? 
Packard:       The  Civil  War  in  Greece  began  as  a  result  of  the  decision 

of  Winston  Churchill  to  support  the  return  to  Greece  of  the  gov- 
ernment-in-exile,  as  against  the  resistance  group  that  had  stayed 
in  Greece  to  fight  the  Germans.   In  the  case  of  Yugoslavia,  Mr. 
Churchill  selected  Tito,  a  Communist  leader,  against  Mihailovic, 
a  non-Communist  anti -German  man.   But  in  Greece  he  selected  the 
government-in-exile.   He  arranged  for  a  plebiscite  that  was  super 
vised  by  Dr.  Henry  Grady.   That  arrangement  was  not  acceptable  to 
many  of  the  resistance  forces  who  refused  to  participate  in  the 
election  and  went  out  in  u  civil  war.   It  Htartec)  In  Athens ,  where- 


430 

Packard:   there  was  a  great  deal  of  shooting,  but  soon  spread  to  the  hills 
and  mountains.   Some  of  the  American  technicians  were  captured  by 
the  andartes  and  held  for  some  days.   But  no  American  was  ever 
seriously  injured. 

One  of  my  first  encounters  with  the  violence  of  the  revolu 
tion  was  when  I  visited  the  Copais  project  for  the  first  time,  in 
the  Spring  of  1948.   I  went  over  the  project  with  the  Englishman 
who  w;is  in  charge  and  went  out  to  the  power  plant  that  had  been 
smashed  by  tho  andartes  just  a  few  days  before.   And  I  was  told 
that  the  man  who  did  the  damage  was  caught  in  one  of  the  villages 
near  there  and  his  head  was  put  on  a  pike  and  carried  around  from 
one  village  to  another  as  a  warning  to  others. 

Anyway,  the  Copais  project  covered  about  50,000  acres.   It 
used  to  be  a  swamp.   And  in  the  1880' s  the  French  started  to  drain 
it.   They  dug  deep  drains  and  a  tunnel  through  the  mountains  to 
carry  the  water  into  the  sea.   The  plan  worked  very  well  until  the 
peat  caught  fire  and  burned  for  several  years.   Finally  the  level 
of  the  lake  got  so  low  that  it  wouldn't  drain.   The  French  were 
going  broke  and  the  British  came  in  and  bought  them  out.   They 
flooded  the  area  to  put  the  fire  out,  dug  deeper  drains  and  lowered 
the  tunnel  so  that  the  drainage  system  would  work.   Then  they  ir 
rigated  by  occasionally  stopping  the  drains  and  letting  the  water 
table  rise  until  all  the  surface  was  wet.   And  then  they'd  open 
the  drains  and  the  water  level  would  go  down  again.   Cotton  was 
the  only  irrigated  crop  and  the  yields  were  very  low  because  the 


431 

Packard:   lower  root  system  would  rot  when   the  water  level  was  raised.   I 
demonstrated  this  by  digging  up  some  of  the  cotton  plants  showing 
the  rotted  roots. 

The  British  manager  lived  rather  sumptuously  at  the  ranch  head 
quarters  surrounded  by  trees  and  gardens.   The  Greek  government 
took  over  the  property  in  1953,  in  whtit  they  considered  to  be  the 
public  interest.   I  was  asked  by  the  Greek  Minister  of  Agriculture 
to  suggest  a  man  to  take  over  the  management  of  the  ranch.   I  se 
lected  Kimon  Constantinides  who  was  a  part  of  the  YPEM  organiza 
tion,  which  was  a  Greek  government  division  of  the  Irrigation 
Division.   He  experimented  with  sprinkle  irrigation  to  avoid  the 
over-irrigation  and  rotting  of  roots  by  the  old  subirrigation 
system.   Under  his  management  the  area  was  enlarged  and  production 
increased. 

Baum:     When  you  say  the  British  owned  it,  do  you  mean  it  was  government 
owned  or  owned  by  a  British  firm? 

Packard:   No,  not  government,  it  was  owned  by  a  British  company. 

Baum:     When  the  Greek  government  took  over  the  project  did  they  subdivide 
the  land  and  distribute  it,  as  they  did  in  other  cases? 

Packard:   Since  the  project  was  a  rather  complicated  drainage  and  irrigation 
project  it  had  to  be  managed  in  an  orderly  way.   The  villagers  in 
the  areas  surrounding  the  project  did  participate,but  the  final  ar 
rangement  was  made  after  I  left. 

Baum:     And  I  wonder   how  that  works.   A  lot  of  people  feel  people  will 
not  manage  their  property  sufficiently. 


432 

Packard:  Well,  that's  the  only  way  they've  ever  done  it  in  Greece.  It's 
very  much  like  the  Mormons  do  in  Utah.  They  live  in  their  vil 
lages  and  go  out  to  their  farms.  It  works  fairly  well. 

Baum:      I  think  it  sounds  inucl)  In-ttt'r  socially  than  isolating  each  person 
out  on  Ills  own  little  plot. 

Packard:   Yes.   And  from  tin-  standpoint  of  protection,  it's  much  better  to 
live  in  a  village  than  out. 

Baum:     I  read  somewhere  that  one  of  the  problems  was  coordination  and 

for  a  while  the  Mission  was  divided  between  military  and  economic 
contingents  and  that  this  didn't  work. 

Packard:   Yes,  that's  right.   Whenever  we'd  have  a  staff  meeting  and  the 
military  would  come  in,  nobody  spoke  his  mind  at  all.   What  the 
military  said  went.   I  never  heard  of  any  members  of  the  economic 
mission  mooting  with  tin-  military  staff.  (Laughter)   There  was  a 
civil  war  going  on  and  Americans  were  helping  the  government  side. 
And  the  war  took  precedence  over  everything  else.   There  was  no 
discussion  of  military  affairs  in  the  economic  aid  staff  meetings. 

Baum:     But  that  wasn't  true  all  the  time  you  were  there  because  after  a 
while  the  military  situation  became  less  serious. 

Packard:   Well,  the  military  was  there  all  the  time  I  was  there. 

Baum:     But  I  mean  the  crucial  part  of  the  war  was  less. 

Packard:   The  shooting  war  only  lasted  a  couple  of  years.   By  1950  it  was 

pretty  well  over.   But  during  all  the  time  I  was  in  Greece,  there 
was  the  atmosphere  of  a  police  state.   Even  during  my  last  few 
months  In  Crei-ci-  wlitMi  7  '  d  make  trips  Into  the  field,  I'd  often  In- 
stepped  as  many  as  ten  times  a  day  by  gendarmes  who  would  make 


433 

Packard:   the  people  in  the  car  show  written  statements  from  the  president 
of  their  village  or  some1  other  authority  for  their  right  to  be 
riding  with  mo.   Tt  was  very  difficult.   I  remember  one  time 
when  we  were  in  Missolonghi  we  were  going  up  to  the  Agrinion 
Plains  to  visit  some  projects  on  the  way.   Well,  the  representa 
tive  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  in  Missolonghi  had  a  car  which 
he  drove  to  the  first  project.   Then  somebody  else  took  his  car 
and  went  on.   So  he  was  left  and  had  to  ride  in  my  car.   When  we 
got  close  to  Agrinion,  within  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the 
edge  of  the  town,  he  got  out  and  walked  in  because  he  didn't  want 
to  be  found  riding  in  my  car  without  a  permit  although  his  car 
was  already  in  town.   He  just  was  afraid  of  being  arrested. 

Another  time  when  we  were  down  in  the  lower  Nestos  River  . . . 

Baum:     Now  was  this  before  1950? 

Packard:   No.   This  was  1954. 

Baum:     Was  there  any  legitimate  reason  for  this  kind  of  ... 

Packard:   I  didn't  think  so.   I  resented  it  all  the  way.   I  was  especially 
provoked  when,  on  returning  after  the  curfew  hour  from  the  Nestos 
River  Delta  where  we  were  stuck  in  the  mud,  the  engineers  in  one 
of  the  cars  were  arrested  for  being  out  after  ten  o'clock.   I,  of 
course,  went  to  the  jail  and  demanded  that  I  be  arrested  along 
with  the  rest.   I  also  demanded  the  right  to  call  the  Prime 
Minister  and  the  Mission  Chief.   I  was,  I  presume,  a  little  ob 
noxious.   In  any  case,  after  an  hour  or  so  everyone  was  released 
and  we  went  on  our  way  and  got  to  our  quarters  about  two  in  the 
morning  without  being  arrested  again.   It  wasn't  funny  for  a 


434 


Packard:   Greek  though. 

Baum:     No,  and  it  sounds  like  it  certainly  slowed  down  your  work. 

Packard:   Oh  it  did,  definitely. 

Baum:  Do  you  think  these  petty  annoyances  were  small  gendarmes  that  were 
taking  their  responsibilities  beyond  the  point  that  they  were  sup 
posed  to  be  carried? 

Packard:   No.   It  was  part  of  a  police  state,  which  seemed  to  be  accepted. 
I  had  an  interesting  experience  down  in  the  lower  delta  of 
the  Acheloos  River  in  southwestern  Greece.   We  were  going  to  the 
village  to  suggest  that  we  reclaim  some  land  south  of  the  village 
and  we  thought  we  could  reclaim  quite  an  area.   So  we  first  went 
to  the  village  and  discussed  the  plans  with  the  group  in  a  taverna. 
Then  we  went  out  with  a  committee  from  the  village  to  look  at  the 
land.   And  I  noticed  a  group  of  young  people  over  to  one  side  who 
apparently  wanted  to  talk  to  me.   So,  with  one  of  my  engineer 
friends  who  could  speak  Greek,  I  went  over  to  talk  with  them. 
They  said  they  were  sons  of  poor  landless  farmers.   They  had  no 
land  and  no  jobs,  and  didn't  know  what  they  were  going  to  do. 
And  while  we  were  standing  there  planes  were  flying  over  from  an 
adjoining  airfield  where  they  were  taking  off  to  bomb  the  andartes 
in  the  hills  on  both  sides  of  this  valley.   It  was  rather  dramatic. 
I  said,  "We  hope  to  reclaim  this  land.   This  will  create  many  pro 
ductive  farms.   We  are  planning  to  build  a  big  hydro-electric 
project  on  that  river  that  would  create  power  and  bring  in  in 
dustry."  And  they  said,  "That's  all  right  when  you  say  so,  but 


435 

Packard:   "when  you  leave  what  are  we  going  to  do?   The  Greek  government 
won't  do  this  for  us."   And  I  said,  "Yes,  they  will." 

R.-uim:      They  had  more  con  fi  dence  In  the-  American  Mission  than  in  the 
Greek  government  ? 

Packard:   Oh  yes.   At  that  time  they  did. 

Problems  of  Financial  and  Political  Support  for  Reclamation 
Work 

There  was  another  time  when  the  Communist  issue  came  up  in  a 
rather  interesting  way.   I  had  gone  along  with  reclamation  work 
and  I  was  spending  a  considerable  amount  of  money.   And  the 
Washington  office  wanted  to  curtail  because  there  was  a  degree 
of  inflation.   Money  was  going  down  in  value  and  inflation  was 
taking  place.   And  so  they  picked  on  my  program  as  one  of  the 
programs  they  could  shut  down  so  that  they  would  stop  spending 
money.   So  I  was  ordered  to  close  down  my  projects.   I  had  to 
dismiss  several  thousand  men  who  were  working  on  these  projects. 
So  I  became  sort  of  desperate.   I  hated  to  do  what  I  was  ordered 
to  do.   But  if  we  couldn't  get  the  money  I  couldn't  do  anything 
else. 

So  finally  I  arranged  to  have  the  group  at  the  head  office 
take  a  trip  up  to  Salonika,  and  from  there  go  by  car  through  a 
portion  of  Macedonia  and  over  into  Thrace  to  see  what  we  were 
doing.   I  took  them  over  some  reclamation  projects  and  a  rice 
field  where  we  were  leveling  land  just  ready  to  put  in  the  crop. 


436 

Packard:   Then  I  took  them  into  the  mountains  to  show  one  of  our  forestry 
programs  where  we  were  reforesting  an  area.   That  night,  when  we 
were  coming  down  a  mountain  road  that  had  been  made  by  the  Mis 
sion,  not  many  miles  from  the  Bulgarian  border,  about  forty  or 
fifty  Greek  men  stopped  us  on  the  road.   They  said  they  wanted 
to  have  the  Americans  know  that  they  hadn't  been  paid  for  forty 
days.   They'd  bt>cn  working  on  this  project  and  they  couldn't  even 
be  paid  for  whnt  they'd  done  and  their  store  credit  was  gone  and 
their  families  were  .suffering.    They  said  they  wanted  the  Ameri 
cans  to  know.   Well,  I  was  delighted  with  this  because  I  thought 
now  the  officials  will  be  convinced.   But  when  I  got  back  to 
Athens  the  answer  was  still  no.   They  wouldn't  do  anything. 

So,  about  a  week  later  the  head  of  the  biggest  labor  union 
in  Salonika  came  down  to  Athens  to  see  me.   And  he  told  quite  a 
story  again  about  how  labor  was  suffering.   He  said  they  had  a 
meeting  of  their  union,  which  was  the  biggest  union  in  Macedonia, 
and  they  cnme  within  a  few  votes  of  going  Communist.   And  he  said, 
"If  you  don't  get  those  men  back  to  work  it  will  go  Communist." 
So  I  took  this  man  right  in  to  see  Mr.  Roger  Lapham,  who  was  then 
the  Mission  Chief.*  And  Lapham  had  been  ordered  not  to  spend 


*Lapham,  Roger,  "An  Interview  on  Shipping,  Labor,  City  Government, 
and  American  Foreign  Aid,"  typed  transcript  of  a  tape-recorded 
interview  conducted  by  Corinne  L.  Gilb,  University  of  California 
General  Library,  Regional  Cultural  History  Project,  (Berkeley, 
1957),  pp.  496. 


437 

Packard:   money,  just  as  I  had.   But  he  said,  "The  hell  with  Washington," 

and  he  assigned  enough  money  to  me  right  then  to  go  ahead  and  re- 
hire  these  people1.   And  he  said,  "They  can  fire  me  in  Washington 
but  I'm  not  going  to  lei  them  do  this."   So  we  got  the  program 
going  again  and  rehired  the  people. 

Baum:     I've  heard  it  said  that  if  you  want  American  aid,  raise  some  com 
munist  issue  and  you  will  get  it.  (Laughter) 

Packard:   That  seemed  to  be  the  case  in  this  instance.   But  finally  when  we 
really  got  the  work  finished  the  Washington  group  recognized  that 
what  we  had  done  in  increasing  production  of  agricultural  crops 
had  done  more  in  a  positive  way  to  stop  inflation  than  any  other 
thing  because  they  were  raising  their  own  food.   So  they  were  very 
favorable  to  what  I  had  done  after  this  was  all  over. 

Baum:     At  what  point  had  the  decision  been  made  to  cut  your  program?  Was 
it  in  Washington  or  was  it  in  Greece? 

Packard:   It  was  in  Washington.   And  I  think  at  least  a  third  of  my  time 

was  taken  up  in  revamping  programs.   When  appropriations  were  made 
on  the  first  of  July  they'd  say,  now  you  have  so  much  money.   So 
we'd  lay  out  a  program  for  that  amount  of  money.   Then  months 
later  they'd  say  we  hadn't  got  that  much  money  so  you've  got  to 
cut-back.   And  we'd  revamp  and  revamp.   It  was  terribly  irritating 
and  terribly  frustrating.   It  cut  down  the  work  a  great  deal  be 
cause  I  could  have  been  spending  my  time  on  other  things.   In 
retrospect  I  think  I  must  have  been  somewhat  stubborn.  (Laughter) 
I  was  in  my  later  sixties  and  probably  a  little  set  in  my  ways  as 


438 


Packard:   indicated  by  the  following  poem  presented  at  my   70th  birthday 
by  Charles  White,  the  Comptroller  for  the  Mission: 

"Shall  we  Retrench  or  Rc-trcnch",  February  22,  1954 

Our  Walter  went  down  to  his  office  one  day 

To  find  that  his  money  had  all  gone  away 

Inflation  is  rampant  they  said  at  FP  (Finance  and  Planning) 

So  our  drachmas  are  scarce,  they're  as  scarce  as  can  be 

The  cables  say  cut  back  the  projects  you  run 

Although  they  all  knew  it  ain't  any  fun 

They  claim  reclamation  has  now  got  to  stop, 

When  Walter  heard  this  he  just  blew  his  top 

We've  worked  and  we've  slaved  and  we've  struggled  for  years 

We're  making  great  progress  in  spite  of  our  fears 

And  now  when  we're  getting  so  near  to  the  end 

They  tell  us  to  stop.   So  a  cable  We' 11  send 

To  ConnHlly,  Acheson,  Truman  and  Taft 

To  tell  them  this  time  they  surely  are  daft 

For  how  can  we  ever  get  Greece  off  our  back 

Until  they  produce  all  the  food  that  they  lack 

That  your  jobs  are  expensive,  we're  sure  you'll  agree 

Oh,  not  by  a  damn  site  replied  Walter  P. 

We  mustn't  relax.   We  must  stand  up  and  fight  'em 

I'll  keep  up  the  argument  ad  infinitum 

So  among  all  the  rows  and  among  all  the  bitching 

We  know  that  our  Walter  is  still  in  there  pitching 

Now  here's  to  you  Walter.   Keep  up  the  good  fight, 

And  perhaps  in  the  end  they'll  decide  you  are  right. 


Baum:     You  must  have  been  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  administration. 

Packard:   I  presume  I  was.   There  was  quite  a  bit  of  opposition  to  me  in 

Washington.   Brice  Mnce,  who  was  head  of  the  Agricultural  Division 
in  Greece  was  In  a  Paris  con  Terence  with  the  Washington  group. 
And  he  said  he'd  never  attended  a  meeting  where  there  was  such 
an  insistent  demand  that  a  man  be  fired  as  there  was  that  I  be 
fired  at  that  time.   Because  I  was  trying  to  do  things  and  the 
Washington  office  was  constantly  trying  to  hold  us  up.   They 
didn't  know  what  we  were  doing.   They  were  just  an  annoyance  and 
I  didn't  like  it.   And  consequently  I  didn't  take  it  very  well. 


439 

Packard:       One  time  Francis  Lincoln,  who  represented  the  State  Depart 
ment,  was  in  from  Washington  and  he  said,  "Walter,  if  you  go 
ahead  anil  give  n  report..."  I  was  going  to  give  a  report  on  how 
my  work  was  being  curtailed  and  how  important  I  thought  it  was. 
He  said,  "You  put  in  that  report  and  you'll  be  fired.   I  can  tell 
you  that  you'll  be  fired."   So  I  thought  if  I'm  going  to  be  fired 
I'd  better  do  it  well.   So  I  asked  for  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Mission  staff,  which  Mr.  Lapham  granted  .   I  had  maps  and  dia 
grams  and  made  a  very  good  impression.   They  liked  it. 

Baum:     So,  some  of  the  foot  dragging  was  coming  from  right  within  the 
Mission. 

Packard:   No,  the  foot  dragging  was  in  the  Washington  office  that  was  sup 
plying  the  funds.   And  they  were  just  constantly  changing  the  pro 
grams  around.   I  was  always  careful  not  to  disobey  the  security 
rules  no  matter  how  silly  I  thought  most  of  them  to  be.   If  you 
got  three  black  marks  you  had  to  leave.   One  morning  I  found  a  cen 
sure  note  from  security  on  my  desk  and  went  immediately  to  find 
out  what  I  had  done.   I  found  that  I  was  criticized  for  having  a 
map  of  Greece  on  my  office  wall  with  pins  showing  the  location  of 
the  reclamation  projects.   The  security  officer  said  that  any 
Russian  coming  into  the  office  could  learn  where  all  the  projects 
were  located.   I  asked  him  what  I  could  do,  I  needed  the  maps.   He 
said  that  if  I  cut  the  edges  off  the  map  showing  the  latitude  and 
longitude,  the  black  mark  against  me  would  be  removed.  (Laughter) 


440 


Greek  Technical  Assistants 

Baum:     You  told  me  that  many  of  the  men  you  worked  with  were  Greeks,  and 
that  they  sometimes  encountered  security  problems  because  of  al 
leged  Communist  sympathies.   Could  you  give  some  examples  of  your 
assistants  and  how  the  situation  was  lor  them? 

Packard:   Yes.   For  example,  one  of  my  Greek  assistants,  a  very  intense  fel 
low,  and  an  excellent  engineer,  had  worked  up  a  new  device  for 
flying  that  would  simulate  the  type  of  flying  that  humming  birds 
do.   Very  fast  moving,  they  could  dart  back  and  forth  and  up  and 
down.   And  he  had  written  articles  in  two  or  three  standard 
American  technical  magazines  on  aeronautics,  and  was  intensely  in 
terested  in  the  development  of  this  device.   And  the  air  force  was 
interested,  too.   But  security  had  said  that  he  had  favored  the 
Communists  at  some  time  and  that  they  had  something  against  him. 
I  saw  his  machine  and  I  was  very  much  impressed.   I  wrote  a  lot 
of  letters  trying  to  get  some  decent  judgment  on  his  situation 
but  to  no  avail.   He  was  very  anxious  to  get  to  the  United  States 
to  accept  an  invitation  he  had  to  work  with  American  technicians. 
But  I  was  never  able  to  get  any  accommodation  at  all.   It  was  im 
possible  for  me  to  do  anything. 

Well  there  was  still  another  case  where  a  Greek  engineer  who 
was  a  captain  in  the  resistance  movement  had  been  hired  by  an 
American  previously  to  work  with  UNNRA.   And  this  American  wa« 
then  in  the  Mission  and  knew  him  very  well  and  recommended  him 
very  highly.   He  was  on  the  island  with  other  supposed  Communists. 


441 

Packard:   But  through  a  relative  of  his,  a  general  in  the  army,  he  was  re 
leased.   And  on  the  recommendation  of  this  American,  who  had  em 
ployed  him  before,  I  hired  him  myself  as  an  engineer.   He  could 
speak  English,  French,  and  Greek  and  he  was  a  very  capable  en 
gineer,   lie  hadn't  been  there  more  than  two  or  three  weeks  be 
fore  our  security  required  that  I  fire  him.   So  I  had  to.   But  I 
still  needed  his  skills.   So  I  suggested  to  the  Ministry  of  Ag 
riculture  in  the  Greek  government  that  they  take  him  on  so  that 
we  could  continue  to  work  together.   They  said,  "We  can't  do  that 
if  the  Americans  have  fired  him."  So  I  knew  a  Greek  friend  who 
was  a  very  good  friend  of  the  then  prime  minister,  Plastiris,  and 
she  arranged  for  us  all  to  have  dinner.   I  told  him  about  this 
young  man  --  and  he  said  he'd  get  him  employed  immediately  and 
the  next  morning  he  was  put  on  the  staff  of  the  Ministry  of 
Agriculture.   He  remained  there  all  the  time  that  I  was  there 
and  some  years  later.   And  then  went  into  consulting  work  as  a 
private  engineer  and  is  doing  very  well. 

But  then  to  show  the  mixture  of  people  that  I  had  to  work 
with,  there  was  another  young  fellow  that  I  employed;  he  was  a 
very  capable  engineer,  young  and  rather  small,  very  agile  and 
rather  nervous.   He  was  educated  in  England.   He  told  me,  "I 
want  you  to  know  just  what  I  am.   I'm  a  Fascist.   I'm  against 
the  Communists.   If  I  saw  one  of  those  god  damn  Communists,  I'd 
shoot  him."   But  when  he  dealt  with  me  his  attitude  couldn't 
have  been  better.   He  wanted  to  do  everything  we  wanted  to  do. 


442 

Packard:   He  was  for  what  we  were  doing.   And  he  was  a  very  capable  fellow. 
Finally  he  had  to  leave  because  he  got  a  very  good  job  with  the 
government  In  developing  some  hydro- electric  project.   And  when 
he  left  he  wrote  me  one  of  the  most  beautiful  letters  I've  ever 
received.   It  was  an  emotional  letter  supporting  me  in  every  way 
possible.   And  it  really  affected  me  very  deeply. 

Then  I  had  another  man  on  my  staff,  Trimis ,  who  was  an  older 
man  and  an  agriculturist.   Security  said  that  he  had  tuberculosis 
and  he  couldn't  work  in  the  office.   Nobody  could  see  that  he  had 
tuberculosis.   He  was  going  along  all  right  so  far  as  I  could  see. 
His  wife  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  andartes  and  forced  to 
walk  125  miles  from  Athens  up  to  Lamia.   As  a  result,  she's  been 
an  invalid  for  the  rest  of  her  life.   So  he  was  completely  anti- 
communist.   But  I  worked  with  him  very  nicely.   And  like  Exidis, 
he  was  very  anxious  to  do  everything.   So  I  got  him  a  job  in  the 
Ministry  of  Agriculture  so  that  he  continued    working  with  me. 
He  worked  with  me  all  the  rest  of  the  time  I  was  in  Greece.   I 
got  his  daughter  a  job  as  secretary  in  the  Mission  to  help  the 
family  out.   They  lost  everything  during  the  Second  World  War. 
One  of  his  sons  was  educated  in  this  country.   He  came  to  see  us 
here  in  Berkeley.   He  married  an  American  girl  that  he'd  met  in 
college,  and  they  went  back  and  were  at  the  American  Farm  School. 
He's  devoting  his  life  now  to  the  American  Farm  School. 

Baum:     I've  been  reading  that  in  some  of  the  African  nations  you  can't 
do  any  business  because  you  can't  find  the  minister  in  charge. 
He  hasn't  got  a  phone,  he's  moved  his  office  to  some  secret 


443 


Baum:     place. 

Packard:   Well,  that  wasn't  true  in  Greece.   In  the  beginning  of  our  stay 
in  Greece,  the  Ministry  of  Coordination  had  a  large  oval  table 
in  a  big  room.   And  there  were  earphones  So  that  everything 
that  was  said  was  translated  from  English  to  Greek  and  Greek  to 
English,  so  you  could  get  the  conversation  going  on  at  all  times. 
And  T  UK i%d  to  attend  those  meetings.   It  was  an  excellent  way  of 
getting  in  touch  with  the  Greek  officials  and  their  ideas. 

Baum:     So  most  of  your  contact  was  man  to  man,  rather  than  going  through 
the  correct  channels. 

Packard:   Yes,  it  was.   I  had  to  go  through  channels  but  they  were  al 
ways  receptive.   And  we  never  had  any  difficulties  from  that 
standpoint.   Perhaps  I  shouldn't  have  started  this  Greek  story 
with  an  account  of  the  difficulties  I  encountered  but,  after 
all,  the  Civil  War  dominated  everything  for  a  while. 

Life  in  Greece 


Mrs .  Packard  Comes  to  Greece 

Baum:      Was  Mrs.  Packard  with  you  at  that  time  or  not  yet? 

Packard:  No.  She  did  not  come  out  with  me  because  the  job  was  only  for  a 
four  months  appointment  when  I  went  in  March,  1948.  We  had  just 
returned  to  our  home  in  Berkeley  after  two  years  away  in  Puerto 

Rico,  and  it  seemed  best  for  her  to  await  developments  there. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Walter  left  for  Greece  in  March.   In  June  I  had  word  from  him 

that  the  job  had  been  extended  for  a  period  of  two  years  and  that 


444 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  was  to  come-  to  Greece  as  soon  as  they  could  get  him  cleared 

through  the  FBI.   At  tluil  time  he  was  transferred  from  AMAG  to 
the  new  Foreign  Aid  program,  Economic  Cooperation  Administration 
(EGA) . 

Packard:  Here  I  might  say  that  I  was  sent  without  FBI  clearance  because 
they  were  in  a  hurry  to  get  the  work  done.  But  they  warned  me 
that  if  I  did  not  finally  get  the  clearance  that  I  would  have  to 

pay  my  own  way  back  home! 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Neighbors  told  me  that  they  were  being  questioned  by  the  FBI  about 

us  but  time  dragged  on  until  September.   Then  I  had  a  telephone 
call  from  the  State  Department  saying  that  I  could  now  come  to 
Greece,  by  plane  or  ship,  and  giving  some  instructions  about  bag 
gage  and  passports.   So  I  assumed  that  the  FBI  clearance  had  been 
given. 

I  finally  flew  to  New  York  and  took  passage  on  the  re 
conditioned  Greek  ship  the  Nea  Hellas,  a  combined  freight  and 
passenger  ship.   The  trip  took  sixteen  days  from  New  York  to  the 
Athens  port  at  Piraeus  where  we  finally  disembarked  on  November  8, 
1948. 

Hmim:      Were  there  oilier  Americans  on  the  ship? 

rncfturcl:   Yes.   I  think  most  of  tin-  first  class  passengers  were  Americans 
on  their  way  to  Greece.   A  lew  were  men  but  mostly  they  were 
American  women  joining  their  husbands  in  Athens  --  embassy,  army, 
or  civilian  employees...   Among  them  was  Mrs.  Paul  Jenkins  whose 
husband  later  became  head  of  "Food  and  Agriculture"  Division  in 


445 

Mrs. 

Packard:   the  American  Mission.   My  roommate  happened  to  be  an  employee  of 

the  Unitc-d  States  Embassy.   Afterward  I  found  out  that  she  was 
one  of  the  "secret  code  breakers"  of  the  Embassy  and  that  she 
was  the  one  who  translated  the  message  from  the  FBI  which  sent  us 
home  the  next  March! 

It  was  a  very  happy  trip  across,  with  long  hours  of  stops  at 
Lisbon,  Gibraltar,  Naples,  and,  finally,  Piraeus.   We  were  able 
to  go  sightseeing  via  taxis  at  these  ports  and  managed  to  visit 
the  ruins  at  Pompeii.   All  of  these  ports  mentioned  were  filled 
with  the  wrecks  of  sunken  ships  --  the  wreckage  of  World  War  II  -- 
war  damage  was  very  much  in  evidence  everywhere  we  landed. 

The  U.S.A.  election  of  1948  took  place  during  that  trip. 
We  Americans  listened  to  the  ship's  radio  and  heard  the  returns 
coming  in,  which  gradually  showed  that  Truman  was  winning  over 
Dewey  and  a  groan  of  disappointment  was  heard,  since  most  of  the 
Americans  aboard  were  Republicans,  it  seemed.   So  far  as  we  could 
determine,  my  roommate  and  I  were  the  only  Democrats  on  board. 
The  others  went  to  the  bar  to  try  to  forget  and  we  went  to  our 
stateroom  and  chuckled! 

Walter  and  Paul  Jenkins  managed  to  board  the  ship  with  the 
pilot  and  accompanied  us  through  the  customs  proceedings  in 
Piraeus.   The  harbor  at  Piraeus  was  full  of  sunken  ships  and  the 
docks  were  in  ruins.   I  remember  some  of  the  passengers  let  their 
hand  luggage  over  the  side  of  the  ship  by  ropes  and  we  had  to 
descend  a  shaky  ladder  to  the  makeshift  dock.   Everywhere  there 


447 

« 

Baum:     Was  the  hotel  food  safe  to  eat?   I  mean,  it  did  not  make  you  sick 

as  it  sometimes  does  in  Mexico? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   The  food  was  safe  in  the  good  hotels,  although  there  was  always 

risk  in  oat  ing  uncooked  foods  or  unpeelcd  fruits.   When  traveling 
out  into  I  lie  countryside'  we  tried  t<>  stick  to  cooked  foods  at 
the-  local  restaurants.   Even  so,  th'iro  was  some  trouble  with 
digestive  upsets.   There  was  one  cp '.domic  of  infectious  hepatitis 
among  Americans  but  we  escaped  that. 

Baum:     What  about  medical  care? 

Packard:   The  armed  forces  had  a  big  clinic  ii  Athens,  with  four  army  or 

navy  doctors  on  call,  which  took  care  of  the  army  personnel,  the 
American  embassy,  and  EGA  employees  and  their  families.   This  was 
our  first  experience  with  "socialized  medicine"  and  it  was  free 
for  the  most  part,  except  for  about  four  dollars  a  day  for  board 
and  room  if  we  were  sent  to  the  hospital. 

Baum:     Was  that  an  American  hospital? 

Packard:   The  Americans  had  a  wing  of  the  big  Greek  hospital  but  mostly 

used  the  Greek  facilities  of  X-ray  and  such  equipment.   The  Greeks 
had  free  medical  services  in  the  cities  at  that  time,  as  well  as 
tuberculosis  hospitals  in  the  country  near  Athens. 

Baum:     Did  all  the  American  employees  live  at  the  various  hotels? 

Packard:   No.   If  it  is  safe  to  generalize,  cne  might  say  that   finally 
the  families  with  children  tried  tc  rent  homes,   many  of  which 
were  available  in  Athens  and  especially  in  the  various  suburbs 
such  as  Kifisia  and  Psychico.   Manj;  of  the  wealthier  Greeks  had 


448 


Packard:   summer  homes  in  Kifisia  where  the  altitude  of  about  a  thousand 

feet  made  for  a  much  cooler  climate  during  the  very  hot  summers. 
These  were  often  rented  by  Americans  on  a  year  round  lease. 
Single  people  were  apt  Lo  stay  at  the  hotels  or  rent  apartments 
and  many  of  the  older  couples  without  children  remained  in  the 
hotels. 

Uaum:      Wluit  did  the-  American  women  do  with  their  time  in  a  foreign 

country?   Did  they  keep  house  or  hire  servants? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Those  who  lived  in  houses  almost  had  to  depend  upon  servants.   In 

the  first  place,  it  was  difficult  to  cope  with  the  sometimes  primi 
tive  (comparatively)  equipment,  and  language  difficulties  of 

\ 

marketing.   Also,  there  were  so  many  applicants  for  such  jobs 
that  one  Celt  obliged  to  give  work  --  in  self  defense,  almost, 
since  they  kept  applying  if  no  one  was  hired.   Some  of  these  women 
were  the  only  support  of  their  families.   Some  of  them  spoke 
English  but  the  American  children  soon  learned  to  speak  enough 
Greek  to  translate  for  their  parents.   Greeks  love  children. 

Baum:     What  about  social  life? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   During  the  first  two  years  when  the  Civil  War  was  in  progress, 

there  was  almost  no  social  life.   Dancing  was  forbidden  to  the 
Greeks.   Fuel  was  scarce  and  expensive  so  homes  were  cold  and 
there  was  a  curfew. 


449 


American  Women's  Activities  in  Greece  -  AWOG 

Baum:     What  about  clubs  or  group  activities? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  suppose  this  is  a  good  place  to  introduce  the  "American  Women 

of  Greece",  known  as  AWOG.   Dr.  Henry  Francis  Grady  was  ap 
pointed  as  ambassador  to  Greece  and  arrived  with  his  wife, 
Lucri't  La  Dr1  Vallr  Grady,  in  the  late  .summer  of  1948.   We  fir.st 
knew  Mrs.  Grady  in  Mexico  and  later  in  Berkeley  where  Dr.  Grady 
was  on  the  ("acuity  at  the  University  of  California.   Mrs.  Grady, 
with  her  characteristic  energy  and  imagination,  began  to  organize 
the  American  women  in  various  activities.   The  first  one  I  re 
member  was  a  fashion  show  at  the  Gran  Bretagne  Hotel  in  Athens 
which  was  staged  a  few  days  after  my  arrival  in  November. 

Baum:     Why  a  fashion  show  during  such  a  hard  period? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  think  mostly  for  the  stimulus  to  the  Greek  industry  of  silk- 
making  and  tailoring.   People  must  wear  clothes  and  the  Greek 
women  have  an  innate  pride  of  dress  and  appearance.   Few, if  any, 
ready-made  clothing  was  available  and  many  women  made  the  family 
living  by  sewing.   The  markets  were  full  of  hand-woven  as  well  as 
factory  made  materials  --  silk,  cotton,  and  woolens.   There  were 
couturier  shops,  often  patterned  on  the  French  styles  in  Athens 
which  catered  to  the  wealthier  Greeks.   Mrs.  Grady  hoped  to  pro 
mote  more  business  abroard  for  these  materials  and  the  fashion 
show  was  later  taken  to  the  United  States  and  a  show  given  in 
San  Francisco,  among  other  cities. 

Baum:     You  spoke  of  silks  --  do  they  raise  the  silkworms  there? 


450 


Mrs. 
Packard : 


Baum: 

Mrs  . 
Packard : 


Baum: 

Mrs. 
Packard: 


Yes,  it  is  an  important  industry,  especially  in  Macedonia  where 
the  mulberry  trees  thrive  and  produce  the  food  for  the  worms. 
The  Greek  government  has  promoted  this  work  and  the  manufacture 
of  the  high  grade  silks. 
When  was  AWOG  started? 

I  llnd  in  an  old  .summary  of  AWOG  activities  that  J  made  in  1954, 
that  the  first  year's  membership  for  1948-1949  wa.s  398.   I  think 
Mrs.  Grady  was  instrumental  in  this  first  organization.   By  May, 
1950,  the  club  had  joined  with  the  American  Federation  of  Women's 
Clubs.   I  have  copies  of  some  of  the  yearbooks  and  the  constitu 
tions  which  we  printed  and  can  deposit  them  with  this  record. 
What  kind  of  work  did  the  club  do? 

It  was  usually  organized  around  some  need  that  we  saw  among  the 
Greeks  and  adapted  to  local  conditions.   The  club  was  organized 
into  sections,  with  a  chairman  for  each,  who,  with  the  elected 
officers  made  up  the  board  which  planned  the  work  and  programs. 
Finance,  education,  and  foreign  affairs  were  three  of  the  active 
groups.   I  was  chairman  of  the  latter  and  we  planned  programs  for 
monthly  meetings  around  some  "hot  spot",  of  which  there  were  many 
at  that  time.   One  I  remember  was  the  Tunisian  revolt  and 
Bourguiba  was  the  leader  who  was  giving  France  a  headache.   I 
tried  to  find  a  speaker  and  finally  went  to  the  French  Embassy-- 
I  remember  the  man  in  charge  was  quite  irked  by  the  American  of 
ficial  attitude  toward  the  TuniHian  situation  but  he  did 


451 

Mrs. 

Packard:   a  speaker  --  a  French  girl,  married  to  one  of  our  American  Embassy 

employees,  whose  parents  owned  a  date  garden  in  Tunisia...   Her 
attitude  toward  the  Arabs  who  were  the  labor  force  hired  to  do 
the  work  was  pretty  much  the  same  as  the  Southern  attitude  toward 
our  Negroes  --  that  they  are  lazy,  ignorant  and  undependable  -- 
the  classic  colonial  estimate  of  natives  who  do  the  work...   We 
were  amused  to  learn  that  her  parents  owned  a  large  estate  in 
France,  near  the  Swiss  border,  and  that  Gertrude  Stein  lived  in 
one  of  their  cottages  for  many  years.   Our  speaker's  name  was 
Rose  and  she  proved  to  be  the  very  child  about  whom  Gertrude  Stein 
wrote  the  famous  poem  "A  rose  is  a  rose  is  a  rose"... 

One  of  our  largest  meetings  was  held  in  the  American  Embassy, 
with  husbands  invited.   The  subject  was  "Irrigating  the  Garden  of 
Eden",  with  Charles  Travis  as  speaker.   He  was  the  engineer  in 
charge  of  the  master  plan  for  irrigating  Greece  and  his  company 
(known  briefly  as  "Knappen  Tippetts")  had  a  similar  project  for 
the  Iraqi  government,  centered  in  Baghdad.   Ambassador  John 
Peurifoy  and  his  wife  attended  this  lecture,  and  had  as  their  guest 
one  of  the  Cabots  (of  Massachusetts),  "who  speak  only  to  God",  who 
had  been  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Egypt.   Mr.  Travis  gave  a  very 
enlightening  lecture,  illustrated  with  maps,  of  the  plan  for  re 
storing  the  ancient  irrigation  systems  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates 
Rivers  in  the  modern  development  of  Iraq.   Not  long  after  this 
meeting  Mr.  Travis  was  killed  in  an  airplane  crash  while  on  a  trip 
in  the  Middle  East  --  a  shocking  tragedy  to  the  American  colony. 


452 


Baum:      What  about  the  welfare  work  the  club  did? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Thousands  of  children  were  evacuated  from  villages  during  the 

Civil  War  and  placed  in  hospitals  where  they  had  care  and  some 
schooling.   Some  were  orphans  --  their  fathers  were  mostly  in 
the  Greek  army.   This  was  a  project  of  Queen  Fredericka.   I  don't 
know  who  financed  it  --  probably  the  U.S.A.  and  the  Greek  govern 
ment. 

I  havo  in  my  old  rrport  a  list  of  the  various  organizations 
that  the  club  helped, as  follows:   Soteria  --  a  TB  hospital;  Queen 
Sophia  Childrens "Hospitals ;  maternity  hospitals;  the  Leprosarium 
Orphanage  (children  were  taken  from  leper  parents  to  prevent  in 
fections),  foundling  homes;  day  nurseries;  blind  school.   We  could 
not  do  much,  but  often  held  Christmas  parties  with  small  gifts 
for  the  children  or  patients. 

There  were  many  sewing  groups  where  the  women  met  to  make 
clothing  for  orphanages  from  materials  purchased  with  our  funds. 
Another  activity  was  collecting  used  clothing  for  distribution  in 
refugee  camps  or  poorer  village's.   I  remember  a  committee  took  two 
truck  loads  up  to  a  mountain  village  and  distributed  the  garments. 
Later,  as  the  war  conditions  eased  a  little,  we  concentrated  our 
funds  more  on  education  --  scholarships  to  promising  individuals  and 
to  colleges.   Among  these  were  the  American  Farm  School  in  Salonika, 
Pierce  College  for  Girls  (founded  by  the  Congregational  Church) 
and  Athens  College  for  Boys.   The  head  of  this  school  for  many 
years  was  Homer  Davis,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  California 


453 

Mrs. 

Packard:   at  Berkeley. 

Another  project  was  a  series  of  eight  lectures  and  tours  to 
classical  sites  on  Saturdays.   The  American  School  for  Classical 
Studies  cooperated  and  furnished  the  speakers.   The  hat  was  passed 
after  each  lecture  and  the  money  --  a  total  of  $7,000  over  the 
years,  was  donated  to  the  school  as  matching  funds  for  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  to  be  used  in  the  restoration  of  the 
Stoa  of  Attalus.   This  work  has  now  been  completed  in  the  ancient 
site  of  Athens,  below  the  Acropolis. 

The  finance  committee  raised  funds  in  some  of  the  following 
ways  --  e.g.,  in  1950-51  my  record  shows:   Christmas  card  sale, 
$2,020;  Moonlight  Ball,  $1,070;  Christmas  TB  seals,  $1,680; 
Total,  $4,770.   Together  with  the  $5.00  annual  dues,  it  totaled 
$5,500.   Total  money  raised  for  six  years:   $30,649.95 
Average  income  per  year,  $5,108.32 
Total  scholarships  (6-year  period)  ,  $6,688.46 
Total  welfare,  (6-year  period),   $20,436.54 

The  membership  varied  from  a  low  of  202  in  1950-51  to  a  high  of 
398  --  an  average  per  year  of  293  members. 

Baum:     Were  there  other  clubs  besides  this  one? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   The  wives  of  American  armed  forces  personnel  had  their  own  club. 

The  Hellenic-American  Club  was  organized  with  an  equal  number  of 
Greek  and  American  women  members.   This  was  largely  a  get- acquainted 
cultural  club  that  met  once  a  month.   The  Greeks  put  on  a  program 


454 

Mrs. 

Packard:   one  month  and  the  Americans  the  next.   The  programs  tended  to 

be  musical  or  literary.   One  program  was  a  reading  of  his  poetry 
by  Robert  Peter  Tristram  Coffin,  our  American  Pulitzer  Prize 
winning  poet  from  Dowdoin  College,  Maine,  who  spent  a  year  lec 
turing  in  the  University  of  Athens.   I  have  copies  of  some  of 
the  lectures  tliut  he  gave  at  the  University,  which  many  of  us 
attended . 

Because  of  our  work  in  donating  to  the  Stoa  of  Attalus,  the 
American  School  for  Classical  Studies  invited  our  group  to  watch 
the  opening  of  an  ancient  grave  that  had  just  been  discovered  by 
the  archeologists  at  the  foot  of  the  Acropolis.   The  workmen 
carefully  excavated  a  large  vase  or  amphora,  about  three  feet 
tall  --  lying  on  its  side.   It  was  taken  to  the  workroom  for  care 
ful  examination.   They  found  the  fragile  skull  of  a  child  and 
small  pieces  of  pottery.   Later,  when  the  work  of  restoration  was 
finished,  we  were  invited  to  the  exhibition. 

Baum:     Is  AWOG  still  in  existence? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Yes.   I  had  a  letter  recently  from  a  Greek  secretary  who  is  now 

working  for  our  embassy.   She  told  of  entering  some  of  her  water 
colors  in  an  art  exhibition  sponsored  by  AWOG.   Since  there  must 
still  be  hundreds  of  American  women  living  in  Greece,  working  in 
the  embassy,  educational  institutions,  or  in  private  business,  it 
is  likely  to  keep  alive  indefinitely. 


455 


Public  vs.  Private  Development  of  Hydroelectric  Power 
FAO  Memorandum 

Packard:   On  arriving  in  Greece-  I  was  given  a  copy  of  the  United  Nations 
Food  and  Agriculture'  Organization  (FAO)  report  prepared  by  a 
group  which  preceded  the  American  Mission  to  Greece,  of  which  I 
i was  a  part.   They  made1  a  rather  exhaustive  study  of  the  whole- 
reclamation  field,  including  the  development  of  hydropower  as 
part  of  what  they  recommended  as  multi-purpose  projects.   They 
were  very  insistent  that  all  this  should  go  together  --  drainage, 
irrigation,  flood  control,  and  power. 

The  Greek  government,  following  the  FAO  memorandum,  got  out 
a  report  of  what  they  thought  the  Greek  hydroelectric  potential 
might  be,  at  least  in  the  immediate  future,  called:   "Memorandum 
on  the  Four  Year  Plan  for  Electric  Power  of  the  Greek  Government." 
This  report  showed  that  the  potential  hydroelectric  power  output 
from  six  rivers  representing  the  major  source  of  hydroelectric 
power  in  Greece  was  estimated  at  5,724,000,000  KWH  per  year, 
according  to  the  program  of  rehabilitation  of  the  country  published 
by  the  Greek  government  in  1947.   This  roughly  approximates  the 
initial  output  of  4,380,000  KWH  at  Boulder  Dam,  later  increased  to 
more  than  double  that  figure.   Although  this  potential  power  resource 
does  not  represent  an  abundant  supply  for  a  population  of  seven  and  a 
half  million  people,  it  was  the  only  significant  native  source  of 
energy  in  Greece  other  than  human  labor,  the  power  of  draft  animals, 


456 

Packard:   and  deposits  of  low  grade  lignite. 

I  soon  found  that  the  State  Department  had  employed  W.E. 
Cornt/.im,  .-in  hydraulic  engineer  with  fifteen  years  experience 
witli  tin*  U.S.  llunviii  ol  Reclamation,  as  part  of  the  Corps  of 
Engineers,  United  States  Army,  and  he  became  Commissioner  of  the 
Water  Economy  of  the  Division  of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works,  re 
porting  to  AMAG  through  the  Reconstruction  Division  of  the  Mission. 
In  this  position  Corfitzen  was  in  charge  of  all  hydroelectric  de 
velopment  in  Greece.   No  project,  in  theory,  could  be  constructed 
with  American  aid  without  his  approval.   He  proceeded  to  study  the 
situation  in  Greece  and  develop  plans  for  project  development  along 
the  lines  recommended  in  the  FAO  report.   He,  of  course,  knew 
William  L.  Nrwmeyer  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  engineer  who  pre 
pared  that  portion  of  the  FAO  report  dealing  with  reclamation 
work  and  hydroelectric  development. 

The  Scharff  Report 

"The  Scharff  Report;   Without  consulting  Corfitzen,  Mr.  Gilmore, 
head  of  the  Industry  Division  of  the  American  Mission,  employed 
Maurice  R.  Scharff  who  proposed  a  contract  between  the  Greek  state 
and  the  Hellenic  Hydroelectric  and  Metallurgical  Corporation,  an 
American  corporation  which  had  a  concession  for  power  development 
on  the  Acheloos  River."  (Paragraph  6  Scharff  report) 

This  concession  wns  secured  during  the  Metaxas  dictatorship 
some  years  before  the  American  Mission  was  established.   The  Greek 
government  was  not  inclined  to  recognize  this  concession  because 


457 

Packard:   it  was  against  the  public  interest.   It  was  a  pre-war  arrangement 
that  had  not  been  carried  out.  (For  details  see  page  5  of  memo 
of  July  5,  1949,  written  by  Walter  Packard.) 

UiUim:      Could  you  cxphiin  why  there  had  been  no  contact  between  Mr. 
Corfitzen  and  Mr.  Scharff? 

Packard:   I  can't  tell  you  why,  no.   Mr.  Scharff  was  an  engineer  for  the 

Electric  Bond  and  Share  Company  (EBASCO)  and  he  just  made  his  own 
study  independently.   Perhaps  he  didn't  know  Corfitzen  was  there. 
There  definitely  was  a  lack  of  coordination  in  the  Mission.   The 
Industry  Division  particularly  was  inclined  to  go  off  on  its  own 
as  will  be  seen  later. 

Baum:     It  must  have  made  for  bad  feelings. 

Packard:   Well,  it  did.   It  caused  quite  a  lot  of  bad  feeling  later  on. 

The  Gilmore  Memorandum 

"The  Gilmore  Memorandum:   On  the  basis  of  the  Scharff  report, 
Mr.  Gilmore  proceeded  to  draft  a  memorandum  to  the  Paris  office 
of  the  Economic  Cooperation  Administration  (EGA)  to  be  signed  by 
Mr.  Griswold  who  was  in  charge  of  foreign  policy.   It  set  forth  a 
program  to  be  used  at  the  Paris  conference  as  a  basis  for  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  power  policy  for  ECA  which  was  to  replace  AMAG. 
A  few  days  later  Mr.  Corfitzen  left  for  Washington  and  before 
going  told  me  that  he  would  not  return  if  the  Gilmore  policy  were 
put  into  effect."  (Pages  6  and  7,  memorandum  of  July  5,  1949, 
Walter  Packard.) 


458 

Packard:       Corfitzen  returned  for  a  while  but  was  quite  ill  and  I  car 
ried  on  in  his  place  and  was  appointed  as  chairman  of  the  Power 
Committee,  including  Greeks  and  Americans,  by  Mr.  John  Nuveen, 
the  first  administrator  of  the  EGA  program. 

Baum:     Who  was  Mr.  Corfitzen?  Where  did  he  come  from? 

Packard:   He  was  a  Bureau  of  Reclamation  engineer  that  the  Mission  had  hired 
In  the  very  beginning. 

Baum:     It  sounded  like  he  was  holding  positions  in  the  Greek  government. 

Packard:   He  was,  yes.   He  was  director  of  this  joint  effort  between  the 
Mission  and  the  Greek  government. 

(Pages  7  and  8  of  memo  of  July  5,  1949) 

"Following  his  policy  of  overlooking  Mr.  Corfitzen  and  the 
Water  Economy  of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works... the  Gilmore 
report  recommends  that  all  three  hydroelectric  power  projects 
mentioned  In  the  memorandum  be  turned  over  to  American  corpora 
tions,  or  to  Greek  corporations  controlled  or  to  be  controlled 
by  American  corporations."  (Source  of  quote,  4th  paragraph 
Griswold  memorandum.) 

"The  memorandum  suggested  that  the  Ladhon  project  be 
turned  over  to  the  Athens  Piraeus  Electricity  Company  which 
was  one  of  the  largest  and  best  established  companies  in 
Greece  and  was  controlled  by  Bodossaki  Athanasiados . "  (Source 
of  quote,  paragraph  14  Gilmore  memorandum.) 

Incidtentally ,  it  was  the  Bodossaki  Corporation  that  got 
practically  every  one  of  the  private  loans  made  by  the  Mission 


459 

Packard:   during  the  six  and  a  half  years  that  I  was  there.   All  the  rest 

of  the  aid  money,  comprising  85%  of  all  aid  was  spent  in  develop 
ing  either  public  enterprise  or  consumer  cooperatives.  (Continued 
page  9,  Packard  memo.) 

Well,  I  was  shocked  by  this  report.   Mr.  Corfitzen  went  to 
Mr.  Griswold  and  presented  the  case  to  him.   He  promised  that 
nothing  would  be  done  until  there  was  a  hearing  so  that  both  sides 
could  be  presented.   But  I  found  that  two  days  later  the  Industry 
Division  had  sent  their  committee  of  three  men  to  Paris  with  this 
report.   And  they  came  back  two  weeks  later  with  the  complete  ap 
proval  of  the  Paris  office  of  their  plan  for  having  EBASCO  take 
over  the  power. 

John  Nuveen,  New  Chief  of  the  Mission 

Then  there  was  a  change  in  the  Mission.   EGA  was  created  and 
Mr.  John  Nuveen  came  to  Greece  as  the  new  Chief  of  the  Mission. 
He  was  a  Republican,  a  banker  from  Chicago.   And  I  felt  quite  dis 
heartened  because  I  was  quite  sure  that  I  would  not  get  too  favor 
able  a  hearing.   But  I  found  that  his  bank  specialized  in  muni 
cipal  utilities  and  he  was,  therefore,  completely  familiar  with 
the  whole  problem  of  public  ownership.   So  I  saw  him  and  explained 
the  situation.   I  said  I  thought  we  should  have  a  hearing.   And 
he  said  of  course  we  should.   He  said  he  would  arrange  the  hearing 
for  the  next  day.  Well,  I  presented  the  public  power  program 
giving  an  outline  of  what  the  Greek  government  had  already  done 


460 

Packard:   in  outlining  plans  for  a  series  of  hydroelectric  projects  to  be 
tied  together  with  a  common  carrier  transmission  line.   The 
Industry  Division  presented  the  private  power  angle.   Well  Mr. 
Nuveen  made  the  decision  right  there  and  said  that  he  thought 
that  power  in  Greece  should  be  publicly  owned  because  of  the  con 
ditions  in  the  country.   And  he  appointed  me  as  chairman  of  the 
power  committee.   No  men  from  the  Industry  Division  were  put  on 
the  committee. 

Well,  from  then  on  I  worked  with  Mr.  Pezopoulos,  the  head  of 
the  Electrical  Engineering  Department  of  the  University  of  Athens, 
in  preparing  a  new  report  —  the  first  official  report  from  ECA 
to  the  Paris  office.   It  is  entitled  Water  and  Power  Development; 
July  1,  1948-June  30,  1949.   The  statements  concerning  the  policy 
of  public  versus  private  ownership  was  stated  as  follows:   (page  8) 

The  need  for  public  ownership;   The  need  for  power  income 
makes  public  ownership  of  hydroelectric  plants  a  necessary 
clement  of  any  financially  sound  river  development  program... 
Under  private  ownership  this  income  would  remain  in  private 
hands  and  the  unmet  costs  of  irrigation  and  flood  control 
would  be  added  to  the  general  tax  burden. 

Within  a  few  days  after  this  report  reached  the  Paris  office 
the  engineer  in  charge  of  power  policies  came  to  Athens  and  wanted 
to  know  who  it  was  that  wanted  public  power.   I  said  that  the 
people  of  Greece  wanted  it.   His  reply  was,  "What  have  they  got  to 
say  about  iti  Who's  putting  up  the  money?"  That  statement  re 
flects  the  attitude  of  the  officers  in  the  Paris  office.  (From 
Packard  memo  of  July  5,  1949.) 

At  tlinl  time  It  seemed  that  Dewey  would  be  elected  PreHJdi-nt 
and  I  was  quite  afraid  that  we  would  be  defeated.  So  when  Walter 
Sissler,  former  vice-president  of  Edison  Electric  of  Detroit,  who 


461 

Packard:   had  been  appointed  as  head  of  the  Power  Division  of  the  ECA  in 
Washington,  came  to  Greece  with  the  man  from  the  Paris  office, 
whose  name  I  do  not  recall,  I  was  willing  to  compromise  by  saying 
it  would  be  all  right  for  EBASCO  to  make  the  necessary  study  if 
it  was  understood  that  when  the  studies  were  completed  no  policy 
decision  would  be  made  until  there  was  a  complete  evaluation  of 
the  public  vs.  private  power  issue.   That  was  agreed  to. 

And  about  three  weeks  later  two  men  from  EBASCO  showed  up. 
One  was  one  of  their  old-time  engineers,  very  familiar  with  power. 
The  other  was  a  Greek-American  who  was  president  of  the  American 
Hellenic  Hydroelectric  and  Metallurgical  Corporation  of  New  York, 
who  held  the  concession  for  power  on  the  Acheloos  River,  the  most 
promising  hydroelectric  potential  in  the  country.   He  had  re 
ceived  this  concession  during  the  dictatorship  of  Metaxas  and  was 
quite  certain  that  he  could  maintain  his  ownership  rights.   I 
went  right  to  Mr.  Nuveen  that  afternoon  and  explained  that  this 
man  was  here  representing  EBASCO.   He  was  fired  that  night.   A 
very  hot  letter  was  sent  off  both  to  Washington  and  to  EBASCO, 
saying  that  an  arrangement  like  that  where  the  American  Mission 
was  employing  the  president  of  a  company  that  held  the  concession 
on  the  river  to  advise  the  Mission  as  to  what  it  should  do  with 
the  concession  was  impossible. 

Baum:     When  was  this? 

Packard:   That  was  in  the  fall  of  1948. 

Baum:     And  I  don't  understand  why  there  were  so  many  Republicans  in 
the  Mission. 


462 

Packard:   They  were  technical  men. 

Baum:     Yes.   But  were  they  hired  just  as  technical  men? 

Packard:   Well,  I  don't  know.   In  the  case  of  Mr.  Nuveen,  he  happened  to 
be  very  liberal. 

Finally,  the  Greek  government  did  cancel  the  concession. 
And  they  organized  the  Public  Power  Corporation,  a  Greek  organ 
ization  similar  to  the  TVA. 

A  Defeat  for  Public  Power 

During  this  time  APECO  (Athens-Piraeus  Electric  Company) 
wanted  to  get  more  generating  power.   And  they  wanted  a  loan  from 
the  Mission  to  finance  the  construction  of  a  new  block  of  steam 
power  to  add  to  the  power  they  already  had  in  Athens  and  Piraeus. 
I  felt  that  this  power  should  be  developed  by  the  Greek  government 
as  part  of  the  program  --  that  the  Mission  should  finance  this 
through  the  newly  organized  public  corporation.   They  were  anxious 
to  do  this.   I  talked  it  over  with  Mr.  Nuveen,  who  believed  as  I 
did,  but  he  was  going  to  Washington  and  left  the  matter  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Grady. 

Baum:     Well  now,  did  Mr.  Grady  favor  public  power  or  private  power? 

Packard:   In  Mr.  Nuveen 's  absence  Mr.  Grady  had  to  make  the  decision  re 
garding  APECO.   He  called  a  hearing  and  the  Industry  Division  was 
represented  by  a  number  of  men.   And  I  presented  the  case  for 
public  ownership  of  this  power,  as  Chairman  of  the  Power  Committee, 
assuming  that  public  ownership  would  come  ultimately  and  that  it 


463 


Packard:   should  start  now.   The  Greeks  said  that  they  could  supply  the 

power  to  APECO  all  right.   But  at  this  hearing  Mr.  Grady  favored 
APECO  so  a  loan  was  made  to  APECO  to  install  this  new  block  of 
steam  power,  using  oil  imported  from  the  Middle'  East.   And  fol 
lowing  this  meeting  I  sent  the  following  memorandum  to  Mr.  Grady: 
February  2,  1949,  "Contrary  to  Ken  Iverson's  statement  yesterday, 
I  am  not  the  only  one  opposing  the  support  of  private  power  by 
EGA  funds.   ...There  is  no  action,  in  my  judgment,  that  could  be 
taken  which  will  adversely  effect  the  battle  for  democracy  more 
directly  than  the  support  of  private  power  interests  before  EGA 
has  had  an  opportunity  to  study  all  of  the  facts  involved." 

Another  difficulty  arose  because  of  the  opposition  of  some 
of  the  people  employed  in  the  Mission.   In  a  memorandum  that  I 
sent  to  Mr.  K.  Iverson,  Deputy  for  Operations,  on  February  10, 
1949  I  said  this:   "I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  four  incidents 
which  affect  the  position  which  you  have  asked  me  to  take  regarding 
discussions  of  public  vs.  private  ownership  power  in  Greece.   ... 
They  are  economic  and  social  issues,  not  engineering  issues,  and 
they  should  be  faced  before  the  combination  of  private  interests 
now  operating  in  Greece  have  an  opportunity  to  create  circumstances 
which  favor  private  power."  (pp.  1-2) 

Following  this  I  talked  with  Alan  Strachan  about  the  issue  and 
he  prepared  a  statement  on  behalf  of  the  Labor  and  Manpower  Division 
which  reads  as  follows:   Labor  and  Manpower  Division,  EGA,  Greece 
Proposal  for  Hydroelectric  Power  Policy:   "With  the  completion  of 
the  preliminary  survey  of  the  power  potentials  of  Greece  as  re- 


464 

Packard:   "ported  by  EBASCO...   The  Labor  and  Manpower  Division  urges  the 
Mission  to  Greece  to  resist  any  proposal  for  what  would  be  our 
greatest  undoing,  and  go  on  record  for  retaining  Greece  for  the 
Greeks,  and  against  exploitation  from  within  and  from  without." 
(Pages  L-'O 

Return  to  Washington  for  a  Security  Hearing,  1949 
Failure  to  Get  a  Security  Clearance 

One  morning,  some  weeks  later,  I  was  called  by  Mr.  Nuveen 
on  the  phone  and  asked  to  see  him.   And  when  I  went  into  his  of 
fice  I  could  see  that  he  was  embarrassed.   He  read  me  a  telegram 
from  Washington  from  the  head  of  EGA  there  demanding  my  immediate 
dismissal  on  the'  grounds  of  an  F.B.I,  investigation.   He  said,  "I 
can't  show  you  this  F.B.I,  report,  but  I'll  read  some  of  it  to 
you  and  then  you  give  me  your  answers."  And  the  first  question 
was,  "Are  you  a  member  of  the  Labor  School  in  San  Francisco?" 
And  I  said,  "No,  I  wasn't,  but  I  had  sponsored  it."  And  he  said, 
"Sponsoring  is  just  as  bad.   That  makes  it  impossible  to  be  em 
ployed  by  the  EGA  because  the  EGA  law  says,  "no  member  of  any  sub 
versive  organization  listed  by  the  Attorney  General  could  be  em 
ployed  by  EGA. '" 

Another  charge  was  that  I  as  president  of  the  Berkeley  Demo 
cratic  Glub,     had  spoken  on  a  platform  with  two  known  Communists. 
I  didn't  know  who  they  were  but  I  presumed  they  were  C.I.O.  men 
who  were  then  rather  leftist.   Then  I  was  also  charged  with  at 
tending  a  water  meeting  in  Fresno  where  there  were  three  known 
Communists  in  the  audience.   I  again  assumed  that  they  were  C.I.O. 


465 

Packard:   men.   And  I  said,  "I  didn't  know  whether  they  were  Communists  or 
not." 

So  I  told  Mr.  Nuvecn  that  I  was  not  ashamed  of  anything  I  had 
done.   I  simply  wanted  everyone  to  know  why  I  was  going  because  it 
would  be  quite  embarrassing  to  go  home  without  anybody  knowing  why. 
He  suggested  that  they  have  a  testimonial  dinner  for  me  at  the 
Gran  Bretagne  Hotel,  which  they  did.   Mr.  Nuveen  presided.   They 
gave  me  a  briefcase  and  agreed  to  name  a  school  after  me  in 
Macedonia.   And  it  was  quite  an  emotional  meeting.   It  was  really 
a  wonderful  affair  from  my  standpoint.   Nobody  in  the  Mission 
avoided  us.   In  fact  they  all  went  out  of  their  way  to  ask  us  to 
dinner  and  to  put  on  parties. 

Side  Trip  to  Israel 

I  had  been  scheduled  to  go  to  Egypt  to  attend  an  irrigation 
conference.   I  couldn't  go,  but  I  was  able  to  get  a  free  ride  on 
a  U.N.  plane  to  Israel.   So  I  spent  a  week  in  Israel  during  the 
time  I  was  waiting  to  go  home. 

I  went  immediately  to  the  American  Embassy  in  Tel  Aviv  and 
introduced  myself.   They  were  rather  embarrassed  because  the 
situation  was  still  very  serious.   There  was  still  shooting.   And 
they  wondered  why  I  had  come.   But  there  was  one  man  in  the  Embassy 
who  had  met  me  in  Athens.   And  he  invited  me  to  have  lunch  with  him 
that  day.   We  were  walking  along  the  Mediterranean  coast  at  a  very 
beautiful  spot  when  he  asked  me,  "Would  you  be  willing  to  come  to 
Israel  as  agricultural  attache  of  the  embassy?"   I  had  to  explain 


466 

Packard:   very  embarrassingly  that  I  was  on  my  way  home.  (Laughter)   I 
was  a  "subversive".   And  so  that  ended  that.   But  the  Israeli 
government  did  assign  a  car  and  driver  to  me.   And  the  driver 
happened  to  be  a  former  professor  of  agriculture  at  Davis. 
While  waiting  for  him  T  took  a  bus  ride  to  Jerusalem  which  took 
me  on  tho  narrow  strip  that  was  being  shot  at  at  the  time.   There- 
were  probably  forty  trucks  and  cars  that  had  been  blown  up  along 
the  highway  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem. 

Baum:     It  sounds  like  you're  always  driving  along  dangerous  roads. (Laughter) 

Packard:   I  saw  as  much  of  Jerusalem  as  I  could  in  a  very  short  time.   Then 
when  I  got  back  to  Tel  Aviv  this  man  with  the  car  was  waiting 
for  me.   We  drove  south  to  the  Negev  Desert.   And  there  we  came 
to  a  little  cooperative  town  where  each  individual  owned  his  own 
house  and  lot,  but  they  owned  a  cooperative  dairy  and  so  on. 
The  spirit  of  the  settlement  was  wonderful.   I  had  lunch  that  day 
with  an  old  couple  whose  two  teen-age  sons  had  been  killed  in  the 
trench  that  connected  their  yard  with  all  the  yards  in  the  village. 

Baum:     Killed  by  Arabs? 

Packard:   Yes.   That  was  the  town  where  they  had  stopped  the  northern 

march  of  the  Egyptian  army  when  they  attacked  Israel.   I  started 
to  express  sympathy  to  the  mother  and  she  stopped  me  right  away 
and  said,  "Don't  say  anything.   Those  boys  died  for  Israel." 
The  expression  of  Cooling  was  just  wonderful.   You  just  couldn't 
have  a  more  wonderful  statement. 

Well,  we  got  just  to  the  edge  of  the  Negev  Desert  and  came 
back  and  then  drove  north  from  Tel  Aviv  up  the  coast  and  then 


467 

Packard:   across  the  mountains  to  the  Plains  of  Judea.   We  stayed  that 

night  in  a  kibbutz  where  we  had  dinner  and  breakfast.   We  went 
over  the  land  and  buildings  and  met  many  people.   I  think  there 
were  six  people  there  from  the  University  of  California.   And  we 
got  a  very  good  idea  of  the  organization  of  a  kibbutz  and  how  it 
was  handled.   They  all  ate  in  a  common  dining  room.   Each  family 
was  assigned  a  room.   And  the  children,  even  the  very  young  babies, 
wore  taken  to  a  nursery  school.   The  parents  came  and  took  the 
children  homo  after  work.   They  had  excellent  care,  trained 
nurses,  and  so  on.   At  breakfast  time  on  the  door  was  a  list  of 
assignments.   So  each  person  went  to  the  list  and  saw  what  work 
he  was  assigned  to  that  day.   One  of  the  men  from  the  University 
of  California,  an  engineer,  was  assigned  that  day  to  garbage 
collection. 

Baum:     Were  these  University  of  California  people  living  there? 

Packard:   Yes. 

Baum:     Oh,  they  had  left.   They  had  emigrated. 

Packard:   Yes.   They  were  living  there.   They  were  part  of  the  kibbutz.   I 
had  a  discussion  that  evening  with  some  of  them  and  presented  jay 
idea  that  that  sort  of  thing  was  behaviorally  disruptive  — 
where  they  are  all  working  together  to  produce  a  common  product 
with  no  way  of  dividing  the  claims  on  the  supply  automatically. 
They  could  see  my  point,  but  they  were  still  thinking  that  they 
might  work  it  out  anyway.   The  spirit  of  the  kibbutz  was  fine. 
They  had  a  dairy,  a  fruit  orchard,  and  gardens.   So  they  were 


468 

Packard:   producing  everything  they  wanted  on  the  kibbutz.   The  idea 
seemed  to  fit  in  very  well  with  the  situation  in  Israel  at 
that  time  because  people  were  coming  in  without  anything  at 
all.   And  they  could  go  to  these  kibbutzim  and  have  a  place  to 
sleep  and  some  food  to  eat  right  away,  and  start  to  earn  their 
living  without  any  hesitation  at  all.   So  it  was  a  very  success 
ful  thing  from  that  standpoint. 

Baum:     You  didn't  think  this  would  be  successful  over  a  long  time  though. 

Packard:  Well  I  thought  at  the  time  it  was  a  very  successful  operation, 
but  I  did  not  think  it  would  last  too  long  because  I  thought 
that  behavioral  relationships  might  prove  unworkable.   I  haven't 
returned  to  Israel  since  but  I  have  read  reports  that  indicate 
that  the  kibbutzim  are  on  the  way  out.   The  emergency  which 
brought  them  into  being  is  passing. 

Baum:  I  guess  another  thing  that  people  are  always  interested  in  is  how 
you  think  the  family  relationship  is  because  of  the  child-rearing 
practices? 

Packard:  Well,  the  impression  I  had  was  not  too  favorable.   The  parents 
would  be  living  in  a  room  and  the  children  would  be  off  at  the 
nursery.   In  some  ways  it  was  very  excellent.   You  couldn't  ob 
ject  to  what  they  were  doing  in  the  nursery.  The  children  were 
learning  to  get  along  with  other  children.   They  were  taken  care 
of  beautifully.   From  that  standpoint  it  was  quite  ideal. 

The  next  morning  we  drove  west  across  the  Plains  of  Judea 
and  came  to  a  sign  by  the  road  marked  sea  level.   Well  we  looked 


469 

Packard:   from  there  on  down  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee  which  was  about  six 

hundred  feet  down  a  steep  slope  and  from  there  the  Jordan  River 
ran  on  down  south.   I  understand  that  the  Jordan  Valley  was  part 
of  the  same  formation  as  the  Rift  in  Kenya,  Africa.   I  found  that 
a  Berkeley  man  whom  I  knew  quite  well  had  worked  out  a  plan  where 
they  could  bring  water  through  the  hills  bordering  the  Mediter 
ranean  and  form  a  power  plant,  dropping  the  water  down  six  hundred 
feet  to  the  Jordan  River,  and  create  a  large  amount  of  hydro 
electric  power.   The  plan  was  to  take  the  water  out  of  the  Jordan 
for  irrigation  of  land  that  needed  irrigation  very  badly,  and 
then  turn  this  salty  water  into  the  Jordan  channel  and  carry  it 
down  to  the  Dead  Sea  where  it  would  keep  that  sea  at  a  proper 
level. 

Baum:     Was  that  Mr.  Lowdermilk? 

Packard:  Yes. 

Baum:     I  once  heard  him  give  a  speech  on  that  plan  and  it  just  sounded 
marvelous.* 

Packard:  Yes.   And  when  you  look  down  into  the  Jordan  Valley,  it  just  seems 
the  most  obvious  thing  in  the  world.   Anyway,  we  went  down  to  see 
the  Sea  of  Galilee  and  to  the  Jordan  River.  We  visited  another 
kibbutz  in  the  upper  area  of  the  Jordan  Valley.   This  was  quite  a 
prosperous  area  where  they  had  citrus  fruits  and  bananas.   It  was 
one  of  the  older  kibbutzim.   Then  we  came  back  and  went  over  to 


*  Dr.  Walter  Lowdermilk  is  being  interviewed  by  ROHO,  Spring  1968. 


470 

Packard:   Haifa,  which  was  the  end  of  an  oil  pipeline  coming  in  from  the 
oil  fields  in  the  East.   Anyway,  the  big  refinery  was  there  and 
the  enemies  of  Israel  had  blown  up  the  pipeline  and  the  refinery 
was  not  operating. 

I  found  there,  as  I  found  over  other  parts  of  Israel,  that 
some  of  the  houses  that  had  belonged  to  the  Arabs  had  been  blown 
up  with  dynamite  from  the  inside.   I  talked  to  the  taxi  man  who 
said  that  the  Israeli  government  had  blown  them  up  because  they 
wanted  to  have  the  Arabs  discouraged  when  they  came  back  so  they 
wouldn't  want  to  return  to  their  old  property.  Then  I  went  to 
Tel  Aviv  and  took  a  plane  back  to  Athens.  My  general  reaction 
was  that  I  was  very  much  impressed  by  what  the  Israeli  government 
was  doing  --  terrifically  impressed.   I  was  very  impressed  by  the 
spirit  of  the  people  that  I  met.   But  I  had  a  certain  feeling  of 
sympathy  for  the  Arabs. 

I  returned  to  Athens,  but  before  leaving  for  Washington  in 
March,  1949,  I  submitted  a  memorandum  to  Paul  Jenkins  who  was 
then  Chief  of  the  Food  and  Agricultural  Division  of  the  Mission. 
I,  at  the  time,  did  not  expect  to  return  to  Greece.   And  I  said  in 
the  beginning,  "The  following  remarks  are  in  a  sense  my  final  re 
port  as  a  member  of  the  Power  Committee  of  EGA."  (This  memo  is  on 
file.) 

On  our  way  home  we  took  a  plane  to  Rome  and  then  to  Zurich, 
where  we  stopped  for  a  couple  of  days  to  take  a  bus  ride  through 
Switzerland.  We  went  to  Geneva  and  then  flew  from  there  to  Paris. 


471 

Packard:  We  spent  several  days  in  Paris,  thinking  this  might  be  the  last 
chance  we  might  have  to  see  Paris.  We  then  went  to  London  and 
did  the  same  thing  there.   And,  interestingly  enough,  we  were  in 
London  shortly  after  the  street  lights  were  turned  on  for  the 
first  time,  after  the  years  of  war  "blackouts".  There  was  one 
family  that  had  come  in  from  the  country.   The  children  had  never 
seen  London  lighted  before.   It  had  always  been  dark  all  through 
World  War  II.   They  had  an  official  ceremony  turning  on  the  lights. 

Packard  Cleared  and  Sent  Back  to  Greece 

Then  we  flew  to  New  York,  where  Frankie  Adams  and  Emmy  Lou 
were  there  to  meet  us.  They  were  all  excited  about  the  report 
that  I  had  been  fired.   And  they  both  were  rather  inclined  to 
want  me  to  exploit  it.   But  I  decided  not  to  do  that.   I  went  to 
Washington  and  I  reported  first  to  Abe  Fortas.   I  explained  my 
situation  and  I  wanted  to  know  if  he  would  defend  me.   And  he  said 
he  would.   He'd  be  very  glad  to  defend  me.   And  I  asked  him  how 
much  it  would  cost.   And  he  said,  "It  will  cost  you  nothing  at 
all."  So  I  said,  "On  that  basis,  you're  hired."  (Laughter)   He 
told  me  to  stay  away  from  ECA,  not  to  report  there  until  he  told 
me  to.   So,  meanwhile  he  went  over  to  talk  to  the  attorneys  for 
ECA  and  he  brought  up  the  point  that  the  law  said  nothing  about 
sponsoring  an  organization  on  the  Attorney  General's  list.  There 
fore  from  a  technical  standpoint  I  was  not  guilty  under  the  law. 
I  was  not  a  member  of  the  Labor  School.   I  had  only  sponsored  it. 
And  there  was  nothing  in  the  law  that  would  convict  me.   So  the 
ECA  attorney  took  that  as  a  technical  answer  to  a  technical  charge. 


472 

Packard:   And  then  they  arranged  for  a  hearing.   The  hearing  was  to  be  held 
as  soon  as  they  could  get  a  group  together. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  boat  coming  home  I  had  realized  that  I  was 
getting  glaucoma  in  the  eye  that  had  been  operated  on  recently  for 
cataract.   So  I  had  a  glaucoma  operation  in  Washington  while  I  was 
waiting  for  the  hearings.   I  went  around  a  good  deal  of  the  time 
with  one  eye  bandaged.   So  I  spent  my  time  in  getting  as  much  in 
formation  as  I  could  from  the  Federal  Power  Commission,  the  Bureau 
of  Reclamation,  and  the  TVA  on  the  arguments  supporting  public 
power.   As  a  result,  when  I  returned  to  Greece  I  was  pretty  well 
prepared  to  fight  for  the  creation  of  a  public  power  corporation 
of  the  TVA  type.   I  also  wrote,  wired  and  phoned  many  of  my 
friends  asking  for  character  references.   These  are  the  letters 
that  Abe  Fortas  received  when  he  was  conducting  my  defense  in 
Washington.   Letters  came  from  the  following  individuals:  H.R. 
Wellman,  Carl  C.  Taylor,  Richard  R.  Perkins,  Amos  Buckley,  Monroe 
E.  Deutsch,  Henry  E.  Erdman,  Murray  R.  Benedict,  Stuart  Chase, 
Raymond  C.  Smith,  Oscar  L.  Chapman,  and  Helen  Gahagan  Douglas. 
A  formal  hearing  was  held  by  a  specially  appointed  commission  to 
hear  my  case.   The  Undersecretaries  of  Agriculture,  Commerce,  and 
Interior;  M.L.  Wilson,  Thomas  Blaisdell,  and  Oscar  Chapman,  testi 
fied  in  my  defense  and  I  was  cleared  by  unanimous  vote.  Mr.  Nuveen 
was  in  Washington  at  that  time  and  asked  for  my  reappointment.  My 
way  could  be  paid  on  the  theory  that  I  was  in  Washington  on  a  con 
ference.   But  they  couldn't  send  Emma  back  because  there's  no 


473 

Packard:  authority  in  law  to  send  her  back  under  the  circumstances.  So 
by  rehiring  me  on  a  completely  new  contract  they  could  send  us 
both  back.  So  we  both  went  back  by  plane. 

Baum:     I  hope  they  paid  your  way  back  when  you  came  back  from  Greece  to 
Washington.  (Laughter) 

Packard:  They  paid  all  that.  They  had  forgotten  all  about  the  agreement 
I'd  signed.   So  everything  was  paid,  except  our  living  expenses 
at  the  hotel.   Part  of  the  time  we  stayed  with  friends  in 
Washington. 

We  were  supposed  to  land  at  the  Athens  airport  at  2:00  in 
the  morning.   But  we  were  two  hours  late.   But  when  we  got  there, 
there  were  eleven  Greeks  and  Americans  there  to  meet  us  with  big 
bouquets  of  flowers.  Well,  it  was  the  most  emotional  event  I 
ever  encountered.   They  took  us  up  to  the  King  George  Hotel  where 
they  had  a  long  table  where  all  our  friends  could  join  us  for 
breakfast  and  welcome  us  home. 

When  we  left  Athens,  Greeks  and  Americans  came  down  to  the 
airport  to  see  us  off.  Mrs.  Grady,  the  wife  of  the  ambassador  was 
there,  and  she  said  that  she  had  also  sponsored  the  Labor  School 
and  she  knew  that  Bob  Sproul  had  sponsored  the  same  thing. 

Baum:     Ambassadors  don't  have  to  pass  security  checks  like  EGA  employees? 
(Laughter) 

Packard:   They  do.   I  suppose  they're  well  combed  over  before  they  pick  them 
at  all. 

Oh  yes,  the  Greek  engineers  came  to  the  airport  and  gave  us 


474 

Packard:   various  silver  things.   I  have  an  engraved  silver  tray  and  Emma 
has  a  bracelet   from  the  Greeks,  who  were  very  much  concerned  that 
the  American  government  would  send  me  home.   So  when  I  came  back 
it  was  a  great  thing  for  the  Greeks  to  know  that  I  could  go  to 
Washington,  have  a  hearing,  and  comr>  back.   It  made  quite  an  im 
pression  on  them. 

Baum:     Well  I'm  glad  it  ended  with  a  favorable  impression.   It  sounds 
rather  poor  to  begin  with. 

Packard:  Yes.   It's  the  only  favorable  hearing  I've  ever  heard  of.   I  guess 
you  don't  hear  of  them  if  they're  favorable.   It's  only  the  scandal 
that  you  hear  of. 

I  had  brought  over  all  of  our  electrical  equipment  such  as  a 
toaster  and  a  hot  plate  from  home,  because  you  couldn't  get  any 
thing  like  that  in  Greece,  at  the  time.   And  I  had  to  sell  all 
those  things  when  we  left  Greece.   So  it  meant  restocking  again 
in  Washington  and  shipping  these  all  back  at  government  expense 
again.  (Laughter) 

Development  of  Public  Power  Corporation 

Less  than  a  year  later,  Mr.  Nuveen  had  been  sent  to  Belgium 
and  a  new  man  had  been  sent  in,  Paul  Porter.   Well,  Mr.  Porter,  in 
contrast  to  Mr.  Nuveen,  had  been  a  member  of  the  executive  com 
mittee  of  the  Socialist  Party  in  the  United  States.  My  brother 
was  a  member  of  the  same  executive  committee.   So,  instead  of 
having  a  Republican  banker  in  charge  we  had  a  former  socialist. 


475 

Packard:   I  had  never  met  him  before  but  we  became  great  friends.   And 

when  he  was  leaving,  after  he  had  been  there  for  about  a  year, 
he  called  a  meeting  of  all  the-  employees  of  the  Mission,  Greek 
and  American,  which  nearly  filled  one  of  the  theaters  in  Athens. 
And  he  said,  "I'm  going  to  do  something  that  I've  never  done  be 
fore.   I  don't  think  it's  a  good  thing  policywise  generally, but 
in  this  case  I  think  it's  justified.   I'm  going  to  name  four 
people  that  I  think  have  done  outstanding  work."  Well,  he  named 
me  as  the  first  of  the  four.   And  we  were  known  from  then  on  as 
the  "Big  Four".   But  that  wasn't  a  good  policy. 

Baum:     Yes. 

Packard:   But  it  was  rather  a  complete  vindication  of  me.   I  was  terrifically 
pleased  to  get  that  after  having  been  sent  home  —  the  only  one 
that  was  sent  home  and  got  back.   There  were  others  who  were 
sent  home,  but  I  was  the  only  one  that  got  back,  which  makes 
quite  a  difference.  * 

I  consider  what  I  did  in  developing  the  Public  Power  Corpora 
tion  to  be  my  greatest  contribution  to  the  Greek  economy.   On  re 
turning  to  Greece  I  prepared  a  brief  on  the  power  issue  based  upon 
the  information  I  had  been  able  to  get  in  Washington.   I  had  this 
brief  mimeographed  in  English  and  translated  into  Greek  and  then 
mimeographed  in  Greek.   I  then  distributed  the  copies  as  quickly 
as  possible  without  the  Industry  Division  knowing  that  I'd  done  it. 
And  when  the  Industry  Division  saw  the  report,  they  became  quite 
concerned  and  wanted  to  have  the  report  withdrawn.   But  it  couldn't 

*  Mr.  Packard's  philosophy  is  clearly  expressed  in  "How  to  Win  With 
Foreign  Aid",  The  Nation.  April  8,  1961,  pp.  302-304. 


476 

Packard:   be  withdrawn  because  it  was  already  pretty  widely  distributed. 
It  was  a  convincing  document  and  had  quite  a  bit  to  do  with  the 
final  decision  to  create-  the  Public  Power  Commission  on  the  TVA 
pattern,  especially  because  I  was  able  to  get  the  brief  into  the 
hands  of  Averell  Harriman,  then  acting  as  roving  ambassador.   I 
accomplished  this  through  Pat  Frayne,  a  San  Francisco  labor  leader 
who  was  traveling  with  Mr.  Harriman,  and  whom  I  had  met  at  the 
Paris  office  of  EGA  on  my  way  to  Washington  after  my  dismissal. 
I  have  no  way  of  proving  it,  but  I  think  that  it  was  Mr.  Harriman 's 
influence  in  Washington  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  public 
power  policy. 

As  a  precautionary  measure,  a  measure  which  I  favored,  the 
Mission  employed  Walton  Seymour,  an  experienced  electrical  engineer 
and  strong  supporter  of  public  power,  to  work  with  EBASCO,  as  a 
direct  employee  of  the  Mission.   In  the  end,  a  very  efficient 
public  power  network,  where  hydroelectric  power  was  firmed  up  by 
a  steam  plant  fueled  by  processed  lignite, was  established.   The 
public  power  authority  finally  purchased  the  Athens -Piraeus  Company 
and  bought  every  other  system.   It's  the  most  successful  corpora 
tion  they  have  in  Greece.   Its  bonds  sell  at  a  higher  figure  than 
any  other  bonds  on  the  market.   So  that  the  efforts  we  made  in 
that  paid  off. 

Baum:     It  sounds  like  you  were  just  about  beaten  though. 

Packard:  Well,  I  was.   I  was  up  against  an  awful  lot  of  opposition. 

Baum:     Were  there  any  other  forces  supporting  your  view? 


477 

Packard:   Oh  yes,  the  Greeks  were. 

Baum:     Were  they  effectively  working  for  it? 

Packard:   Oh  yes.   They  were  as  effective  as  they  could  be.   Professor  G.N. 
Pczopoulos  was  the  head  of  the  Electrical  Engineering  Division  of 
the  University  of  Athens.   I  worked  with  him  during  the  entire 
time.   And  he  was  the  man  who  had  developed  the  original  report 
under  the  Greek  government  and  was  the  principal  technician  in 
the  Greek  government.   And  he  became  president  of  the  new  corpora 
tion  and  remained  there  until  1958. 

Baum:     How  could  the  Greeks  put  pressure  on? 

Packard:  They  would  go  to  their  politicians  and  through  their  ministries 
support  the  Greek  interests.   It  wasn't  unanimous  in  the  Greek 
government,  but  it  was  the  dominant  force  at  that  time.   Every 
thing  else  —  railroads,  telephone  lines,  hospitals,  schools,  etc. 
were  public,  so  they  were  used  to  the  idea. 

Although  I  consider  what  I  did  in  developing  the  Public  Power 
Corporation  to  be  my  greatest  contribution  to  the  Greek  economy, 
most  of  what  I  did,  especially  after  the  first  year,  concerned 
flood  control,  drainage  and  irrigation.  We  had  the  advantage  of 
having  a  very  competent  report  from  the  Food  and  Agricultural 
Organization  of  the  United  Nations  as  a  guide.   It  said,  in  part, 
the  people  of  Greece  are: 

poor  because  they  have  little  land  per  family  compared 
with  most  other  countries,  and  because  they  generally 
produce  relatively  little  per  acre  on  the  land  they  have. 
...  Increase  of  agricultural  productivity  in  Greece  must 
therefore  look  forward  to  both  increasing  the  land  avail 
able,  and  raising  the  output  per  acre.  (FAO  Report,  p.  2.) 

Packard:    So  that  was  the  situation  we  faced  when  we  got  there  and  that  was 


478 

j 

'  Packard:   tht  program  that  we  had  to  meet.   I'll  read  from  my  last  report  before 

I  left  Greece:   Can  Greece  Feed,  Clothe  and  House  its  Growing  Population? 

"In  order  to  increase  the  land  available  and  raise  the  output 
i  . 

per  aero  and  por  man,  tho  FOA  Commission  recommended  a  program 

I 

j     which  would  provide  for:- 

t 

'The  expansion  of  agricultural  aroas  through  flood  control, 
drainage  and  irrigation,  with  related  hydroelectric  developments, 
reforestation  and  controllod  grazing;  the  intensification  of 
production  through  n  gradual  arid  partial  shift  in  suitable 
areas  from  oxtonsive  to  intensive  crops,  including  fruits, 
vegetables  and  expansion  in  livestock  and  livestock  products, 
and  improvement  in  the  quality  of  agricultural  products  for 
domestic  consumption  and  for  export;  reduction  of  labor  re 
quirements  and  of  the  numbor  of  workers  in  apiculture  in  non- 
intensive  areas  through  gradual  extension  of  modcn  machinery 
and  modern  cultural  methods;  a  great  increase  in  output  per 
acre  and  per  man  through  inprovomont  in  the  variety  of  seeds 
and  the  quality  of  livestock;  improved  cultural  practices, 
improved  and  more  extensive  use  of  fertilizers  and  general 
modernization  of  agricultural  practices;  and  groat  improve 
ments  in  the  fisheries  output,  from  the  use  of  better  gear, 
control  of  fishing  in  the  interest  of  maximum  production  and 
bettor  marketing.  Appropriate  research,  extension,  and 
educational  facilities  to  help  bring  about  these  changes,  and 
financial  aid  through  the  Agricultural  Dank  and  the  public 
works  agencies  of  Greece,  are  recommended  elsewhere.  The 
great  increase  in  commercial  agriculture  and  in  exports  would 
in  turn  pay  for  increased  imports  of  equipment,  tools,  grains, 
metals  and  other  goods  arid  services  needed  by  Greece  to  help 
raise  standards  of  both  production  and  consumption.1 

b)    The  Aooopplishnonts 

With  the  knowledge  of  conditions  gained  from  the  FAO  Report, 
the  Greek  1'inistry  of  Agriculture,  in  cooperation  with  the  Food 
and  Agriculture  Division  of  tho  American  Mission  for  Aid  to 
Greece,  created  July  1,  19U7*  began  an  intensive  drive  toward  ' 
the  goals  sot.  Tho  results  have  been  greater  than  anticipated. 
Total  annual  pre-war  production  of  selected  crops,  representing 
8U  percent  of  the  total  calorie  intake,  was  doubled  by  December  30,1953. 


479 


•"The  percentage  increases  by  crops  range  from  1U3.8  percent  for 
pulses  to  1,600  percent  for  rice.     The  increase  of  102.5  percent 
of  whiat,  382. 0  percent  for  vegetables  and  305.2  percent  for 
potatoes  are  particularly  significant  because  they  alone  account 
for  60,0  percent  of  the  total  calorio  intake.     Livestock  and 
livestock  products  lagged  largo ly  because  of  the  civil  war  which 
resulted  in  a  serious  doclino  in  the  livestock  population  of  tho 
mountain  aroas.     The'  detailed  figures  showing  the  results  of  increased 
production  of  selected  crops  aru  presented  in  Table  1. 

T  A  B  L  E  1 

Comparison  butwoon  Prewar  production  and  production  in 
1953-5U  for  selected  items  which  together  account  for 
81*. 5  percent  of  the  total  calorie   intake  of  the  Greek 
people  in  1953 -5U. 


Caloric 

Production 

Production 

Percentage 

Intake 

1935-30 

1953-5U 

increase  in 

Crop 

1953-51 

production 

in  1,000, 

M.T. 

in  1953-5U 

Wheat 

1.263 

767.3 

1,UOO.O 

102.5 

Other  co  reals 

12? 

•  668.2 

836.6 

125.0 

Rice 

37 

li.l 

65.5 

1,600.0 

Potatoes 

7h 

11*6.2 

UU5.5 

305,2 

Vegetables 

55 

'  233.0 

891.1 

302.0 

Pulses 

102 

71.9 

103.0 

1U3.8 

Nuts-Sesame 

ii$. 

U0.3 

62.8 

155.5 

Citrus 

15 

55.5 

177.7 

320.0 

Olives 

19    , 

35.6 

,       55.6 

156.0 

Other  fruit 

75 

573.1 

857.6 

110.0 

Veg,  oils 

327 

11H.5 

180.6 

158.0 

Total 


2,139 


2,709.7 


5,076,0 


187.3 


480 

"This  marked  record  of  increase  in  production  was  directly 
reflected  in  a  lowered  need  for  food  imports  financed  by  aid 
funds.     This  decrease  has  boon  progressive  as  shown  by  the 
following  figuros:- 

Value   in  Uillion  Dollars  Equivalent 

Yoar  Imports  of  Agricultural  products 

primarily"  for  hunan  consumption  *•     , 

/  '  '  '      ' 

19U8-U9  167.0  Mill  fc 

.    19U9-50  122.0    "       " 

1950-51  112.2     "       " 

1951-52  107.2     "       " 

1952-53  59.0    "       " 

1953 -5U  U0.2  -  « 

Moreover,  $22,070,000  or  5U  percent  of  the  ^0,200,000 
value  of  imports  for  1953-5U  consists  of  sugar,   coffee,  dried 
fish,   cocoa  beans,  tea  and  spices,   none  of  which  are  produced 
in  Greece,  plus  a  stock  piling  of  vegetable  oils  which  is  not 
a  recurring  item.     Tho >not  saving  of  import  expenditures  in 
I553-5U,  as  compared  to.  19)|8-h9,  amounted  to  ft  126,765,00ot 

The  increase  in  production  recorded  in  Table  1  resulted 

* 

from  (1)  an  increase  in  the  area  under  cultivation  and  (2)  an 
increase  in  the  yield  pur  atremma,     It  should  be  emphaeized  here 
that  resources  development  is  only  one  phase  of  the  total  agri 
cultural  production  program.     The  other  phase  includes  the., 
improvement  in  cultural  practices,  batter  lanfl  FT5.;.aratica1 

*  From  Table  Page  XI  of  "r-raeoe  Import  Data  Book",  Fiscal  Year 
1953-5U,  vol  I,  FP  Div.  Am,. Mission. 


481 

, i  improvod  irrigation  methods,  th(j  development  and  use   of  bettor 

f 

Mc'dj  more  and  better  use   of  fertilizers,   improved  livestock, 

bettor  methods  of  control  of  weeds,   insects  and  disease  and  such 
other  items  as  food  preservation  and  preparation  and  problems 
relating  to  land  tenure,   size   of  holding  and  production  pur 
person  working  on  the  land. /The so  latter  items  are  the 
responsibilities  of  Experiment  Stations  and  the  Extension  Service. 
The  two  broad  branches  of  tho  agricultural  program  -  resources 
development,  on  tho  one  hand  and  the  proper  ug«  of  resources 
on. the  othor  -,  go  hand  in  hnnd.     Tho  Technical  Service   in  charge 
of  resources  development  and  tho  Experiment  Stations  and  Extension 
Service  in  charge  of  the  development  of  new  techniques  of 
production  and  thnir  adoption  by  farmers,  are  complimentary 
responsibilities  with  a  gradually  increasing  emphasis  on  the 
latter,  as  the  opportunities  for  increasing  land  resources  declines 
because  of  the  limited  total  area  of  arable  land.     This  particular 
report  covers  only  _ the  first  of  these  two  phases  or  branches 
of  the  total  program. 

Tho  increase   in  the  area  under  cultivation  had  an  appreciable 
effect  upon  total  production.     In  1953-5U  there  were  3,557,000 
more  strammas  cultivated  with  selected  principal  crops  than  in    ' 
1935-38  -  an  increase  of  18,2  percent.     The  detailed  figurea 
are  presented  in  Table  2,  "     (Pages  3-6) 


482 

Rebuilding  War-Damaged  Structures 

Packard:   The  work  that  had  to  be  done  at  first  was  related  almost  wholly 
to  the  rehabilitation  of  projects  that  had  been  constructed  in 
former  years,  prior  to  the  war.   Many  structures  had  been  damaged 
or  blown  up  by  the  Germans.   Roads  all  over  Greece  were  in  terrible 
condition.   Six  hundred  bridges  had  been  blown  up.   And  it  was  very 
difficult  to  get  around  at  all.   So  a  great  deal  of  the  work  in  the 
beginning  was  rehabilitation,  as  it  was  in  the  other  phases  of  the 
Greek  aid  program.   The  harbor  in  Piraeus  was  full  of  sunken  ships 
that  had  to  be  removed  before  you  could  do  anything  else.   The  main 
job  of  reclamation  rehabilitation  was  in  Salonika  where  a  very  large 
canal,  perhaps  seventy-five  feet  across  the  bottom,  had  been  con 
structed  after  the  First  World  War  with  help  from  the  Near  East  Re 
lief.   It  was  for  the  purpose  of  reclaiming  the  central  portion  of  the 
Salonika  Plains  by  intercepting  the  runoff  from  the  north  slope  of 
Mount  Olympus  which  had  run  into  the  Salonika  Plains,  creating  a  big 
lake.   This  artificial  channel  carried  the  water  down  to  the  Aliakmon 
River  and  thence  on  into  the  sea.   The  banks  of  this  channel  were  weak 
ened  and  some  of  the  structures  were  gone,  while  the  canal  was  clogged 
with  mud. 

This  rehabilitation  work  was  done  by  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Works  of  Greece.   A  large  floating  dredge  was  used  to  clear  mud  from 
the  channel  which  proved  to  be  a  continuing  job.   An  extensive 
drainage  system,  started  by  the  Near  East  Foundation  following  the 
First  World  War  to  reclaim  the  swamp  area  occupying  the  central 


483 

Packard:   portion  of  the  Salonika  Plains  was  enlarged  and  necessary  structure 
installed.   This  was  a  difficult  task  because  the  floor  of  the 
plains  was  very  little  above  sea  level. 

Another  large  reclamation  job  was  the  rehabilitation  and  en 
largement  of  a  drainage  system  in  Thrace  started  with  the  aid  of 
the  Near  East  Foundation  to  reclaim  a  large  swamp  bordering  the 
and fiit  city  of  Plilltppl.   Associated  with  this  was  the  reconstruc 
tion  of  a  dam  on  the  Strymon  River  and  the  rehabilitation  and  en 
largement  of  an  irrigation  system  in  the  Serres  plain. 

A  third  large  reclamation  job  involved  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  levees  of  an  extensive  flood  control  project  in  Thessaly.   In 
Arta,  in  the  Epirus  area  of  Greece,  the  Boot  Company  of  England 
had  been  hired  by  the  Near  East  Relief  to  develop  drainage,  irri 
gation  and  flood  control  works  for  that  potentially  productive 
delta  area.   The  American  Mission  financed  the  Boot  Company  in  car 
rying  this  work  on  for  the  rest  of  the  time  that  I  was  there.   This 
job,  like  all  other  large  projects,  was  supervised  by  the  Ministry 
of  Public  Works. 

Baum:     What  company  was  that? 

Packard:   B-O-O-T. 

Baum:     Is  that  an  engineering  company? 

Packard:   Yes.   It  was  a  British  concern. 


484 

Relationship  between  the  Mission  and  the  Greek  Government 
Ministries 

Baum:     What  was  the  relationship  between  the  Mission  and  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Works? 

Pncknrd:   At  first  there-  was  considerable  confusion  because  the  administration 
of  aid  money  was  divided  both  within  the  Mission  and  the  Creek  gov 
ernment.   The  Ministry  of  Public  Works  was  responsible  for  the  larger 
proiects  involving  the  construction  of  levees,  the  building  of  dams, 
and  the  excavation  of  large  canals.   The  Ministry  of  Agriculture  was 
responsible  for  the  construction  of  some  projects  and  often  for  the 
excavation  of  the  distributing  system  of  large  irrigation  projects 
and  feeder  ditches  in  drainage  projects.   This  led  to  great  con 
fusion  and  rivalry  between  the  two  ministries.   Within  the  Mission, 
the  Construction  Division  was  responsible  for  the  work  of  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Works,  while  the  Division  of  Agriculture  was  re 
sponsible  for  the  work  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture.   This  was 
remedied,  so  far  as  the  Mission  was  concerned,  a  year  or  so  after 
my  arrival  by  combining  all  administrative  responsibility  for  land 
reclamation  work  in  the  Agricultural  Division.   I  became  responsible 
for  the  administration  of  American  aid  to  both  ministries.   Charles 
Harris,  formerly  with  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  served  as  irrigation 
engineer  on  my  staff.   Dr.  Frixos  Letsas,  an  extremely  efficient  and 
hard  working  Greek  engineer  who  had  been  trained  in  Germany,  was  my 
chief  assistant.   An  incident  in  Salonika  illustrated  the  need  for 
coordination  in  the  reclamation  field.   Two  Greek  organizations, 


485 

Packard:   with  headquarters  on  the  same  floor  in  an  office  building  in 

Salonika  were  responsible  for  the  work  of  the  two  ministries  in 
northeastern  Greece.   For  some  months  I  had  been  working  with  Mr. 
Orestis  Christides,  head  of  YPEM,  the  organization  of  the  Ministry 
of  Agriculture.   On  my  first  visit  to  Salonika  following  my  ap 
pointment  as  head  of  a  unified  reclamation  program  within  the  Mis 
sion  T  encountered  a  jurisdictional  dispute  as  to  which  ministry 
was  responsible-  for  certain  work  on  the  Salonika  Plains.   I  said  to 
Christides,  "Let's  go  down  the  hall  and  talk  the  issue  out  with  the 
YPEM  representative  of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works."   Christides 
said  he  couldn't  do  that  because  all  contact  between  the  two  min 
istries  had  to  take  place  in  Athens.   He  said  he  would  write  a  letter 
to  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  in  Athens  explaining  the  situation 
but  could  do  nothing  without  authority.   However  I  insisted  on  taking 
him  down  the  hall  to  the  office  of  the  representative  of  the  Ministry 
of  Public  Works  where  the  issue  was  settled  amicably. 

One  of  my  problems  was  to  prevent  unnecessary  duplication  of 
equipment  and  facilities  as  between  the  two  ministries.   If  one  se 
cured  additional  facilities  the  other  immediately  wanted  to  duplicate 
them.   This  rivalry  created  quite  a  problem.  (Laughter) 

Baum:     That  sounds  like  a  problem  you'd  met  before. 

Packard:   Yes,  it  was  a  constant  problem. 

The  Mechanical  Cultivation  Service 

Baum:     How  was  the  work  done  outside  of  the  areas  under  the  supervision  of 
the  two  Greek  organizations  you  called  EPAM  and  YPEM? 


486 

Packard:   The  Ministry  of  Public  Works  in  Athens  administered  the  work  under 
its  iurisdiction  while  most  of  the  land  reclamation  work  of  the 
Ministry  of  Agriculture  was  administered  by  the  Mechanical  Culti 
vation  Service  (MSC),  an  organization  within  the  Ministry  but  ad 
ministered  by  John  Paleologue,  a  very  dedicated  and  efficient  pub 
lic  servant.   The  MSC  was  organized  after  the  First  World  War 
through  the  assistance  of  the  Near  East  Foundation.   The  Service 
was  badly  disorganized  by  the  effects  of  World  War  II.   Much  of 
the  equipment  had  been  stolen  or  destroyed.   But;  the  organization 
itself  seemed  to  be  sound.   The  Land  Reclamation  Division  of  the 
Mission  consequently  did  much  to  put  the  organization  back  on  its 
feet.   We  financed  the  building  of  five  very  well  equipped  tractor 
stations  with  sub-stations  where  needed  to  service  the  equipment. 
Carpenter  shops,  lathes,  and  forges  were  a  part  of  each  shop.   A 
large  number  of  war  damaged  tractors,  trucks  and  other  equipment 
was  turned  over  to  the  Mechanical  Cultivation  Service  for  repair 
and  rehabilitation.   As  I  recall  it  the  MSC  had  about  600  cater 
pillar  type  tractors  in  all.   This  equipment  plus  150  new  Fiat 
tractors  from  Italy  and  a  large  number  (125)  of  new,  large  and 
small,  dragline,  ditching  machines  and  a  number  of  flat  top  trucks 
needed  to  transport  the  heavy  equipment  from  one  job  to  another 
were  supplied  through  Marshall  Plan  aid. 

Batim:     Why  did  Italy  supply  tractors?   Did  it  represent  reparations 
payments? 

Packard:   Yes,  the  tractors  were  part  of  the  reparations. 


487 

Baum:     Was  this  equipment  available  for  use  by  farmers? 

Packard:   No.   Most  of  the  equipment  was  for  construction  beyond  the  range 

of  individual  farmers.   When  farmers  needed  tractors  for  plowing  or 
land  levelling  the  work  was  done  by  experienced  MSC  men  paid  for  by 
the  landowner.   In  order  to  enable  the  peasants  to  do  some  of  their 
own  land  preparation  for  irrigation,  I  had  a  USDA  bulletin  with 
drawings  of  homemade  ditches  and  land  levelling  devices,  translated 
into  Greek  and  distributed  through  the  MSC  which  made  a  number  of 
representative  samples  in  its  shops  to  demonstrate  their  use. 

Baum:     It  sounds  like  there  were  a  lot  of  trained  men  in  Greece. 

Packard:   Not  at  the  beginning.   But  a  well  trained  staff  was  soon  developed 
through  the  vigorous  and  efficient  leadership  of  John  Paleologue 
and  his  lieutenants.   The  capacity  of  young  Greeks  to  learn  was 
rather  dramatically  demonstrated  one  day  on  a  project  in  the  lower 
Acheloos  delta.   I  was  taking  the  Comptroller  of  the  Mission  and 
his  wife  on  an  inspection  tour  to  get  him  in  touch  with  the  actual 
work  in  the  field.   The  dirt  roads  over  the  projects  were  too  rough 
and  muddy  to  permit  the  use  of  a  car  so  the  MSC  engineers  hooked  a 
heavy  hay  rack  equipped  with  railing  so  that  you  couldn't  fall  off 
onto  a  caterpillar  tractor  driven  expertly  by  a  17-year-old  village 
boy.   It  was  the  roughest  inspection  trip  I  was  ever  on,  but  it 
served  its  purpose.  (Laughter)   The  Comptroller  was  impressed  by 
what  was  being  done  and  I  got  the  money  I  needed. 

Another  experience  which  rather  astonished  some  top  level  ad 
ministrators  and  their  wives  occurred  in  the  delta  of  the  Nestos 


488 

Packard:   River  in  Thrace.   The  delta  was  a  rough  sandy  area  covered  with 

brush  and  trees  (cottonwood  providing  a  home  for  a  number  of  timber 
wolves).   The  MSC  was  clearing  land  for  cultivation  by  uprooting 
both  the  brush  and  the  trees  no  matter  how  large.   The  wood  was  then 
sawed  up  into  usable  lengths  and  sold  to  villagers  for  nominal  sums. 
The  work  was  rnthc-r  spectacular  and  gained  the  immediate  support  of 
my  guests,  whom  1  wanted  to  influence. 

Because  so  much  of  the  area  of  Greece  is  a  porous  limestone 
foundation,  springs  are  very  common.   I  was  surprised,  therefore, 
to  find  so  many  springs  where  no  use  was  being  made  of  the  water. 
Utilizing  these  springs  became  a  primary  responsibility  of  the 
Ministry  of  Agriculture.   This  first  project  I  visited  in  Greece  was 
one  of  this  kind.   The  Mechanical  Cultivation  Service  was  excavating 
a  ditch  to  reclaim  an  area  of  potentially  rich  land  that  had  always 
been  a  swamp,  fed  by  a  nearby  spring.   Later  on,  the  water  was  car 
ried  down  to  a  delta  of  the  river  for  the  irrigation  of  rice,  thus 
combining  drainage  with  irrigation.   Another  interesting  dual-purpose 
project  was  near  Drama  in  Thrace.   Here  a  sizable  spring  was  flowing 
out  of  a  limestone  cave.   In  this  case  YPEM  constructed  a  small  dam 
across  the  stream  and  diverted  the  water  to  irrigation  systems  on 
both  sides  of  the  stream. 

Baum:     That  sounds  like  an  obvious  thing  to  do.   Why  was  it  not  done  before? 

Packard:   I  am  sure  I  don't  know. 

Some  months  later  YPEM  carried  out  another  project  which  ap 
peared  to  be  associated  with  this  same  spring.   Limestone  caves  at 


489 

Packard:   the  lower  end  of  a  valley  into  which  two  stream  flows  were  being 
clogged  so  badly  that  water  tended  to  back  up  and  form  a  lake 
during  the  rainy  season.   It  was  presumed  that  the  drainage  from 
this  valley  provided  the  main  source  of  water  for  the  spring, 
1,000  or  more  feet  below  and  some  miles  away.   At  any  rate  a  small 
track  used  in  mining  operations  was  laid  into  the  main  cave  and 
hundreds  of  tons  of  debris  were  carried  out,  including  tree  trunks 
and  sand.   Within  a  few  yards  of  the  entrance,  the  cave  opened  up 
into  a  large  chamber  which  narrowed  abruptly  to  an  opening  hardly 
wide  enough  for  a  man  to  crawl  through.   This  led  to  another  large 
chamber  similar  to  the  first.   Thus  again  a  drainage  project  was 
presumably  associated  with  an  irrigation  project. 

River  Development  for  Flood  Control  and  Irrigation  —  Master 
Plans  by  Foreign  Companies 

Although  the  ministries  of  Public  Works  and  Agriculture  were 
able  to  carry  on  the  relatively  small  projects  that  were  carried  on 
during  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  the  Mission,  including  the  re 
habilitation  of  projects  established  prior  to  the  war,  there  were 
other  large  projects  that  could  not  be  carried  on  by  the  Greek  gov 
ernment  because  they  didn't  have  enough  well  trained  technical  men 
with  experience.   So,  it  was  decided  to  have  master  plans  made  in 
various  fields  by  employing  foreign  companies  . 

Knappen-Tippetts  Corporation  of  New  York 

The  Knappen,  Tippetts,  Abbott,  McCarthy  Engineering  Corporation 
of  New  York  was  employed  by  the  Creek  government  with  Marshall  Plan 


490 

Packard:   money.   This  company  reported  to  both  the  Greek  government  and  the 

Land  Reclamation  Division  in  the  Mission  and  did  a  maior  job  in  pre 
paring  master  plans  for  the-  development  of  the  major  river  basins  in 
Greece,  including  the  Megdova  River  Project,  and  projects  in  the  Lower 
Acheloos  area,  the  Xanthi-Komotini  Plains,  Sperchios  River  Basin, 
Peneos  River  Basin,  Voha-Stymphalia  Plains,  Kalamas  River  Basin,  Upper 
Messinia  Plain. 

The  Knappen-Tippetts  organization  sent  in  their  best  engineers 
in  the  reclamation  field,  employed  a  soil  specialist  from  the 
University  of  Oregon,  and  then  filled  in  their  staff  with  quite  a 
number  of  Greek  engineers  and  technicians.   So  that  one  of  the  pur 
poses  of  having  the  Knappen-Tippetts  Company  there  was  to  train  young 
Greek  engineers  in  this  field.   So  that  when  the  Knappen-Tippetts  con 
tract  was  finished,  Greece  would  have  people  that  could  go  ahead  and 
carry  on  without  any  further  technical  help  from  the  U.S. 

Baum:     Was  this  part  of  the  American  plan  to  use  as  many  Greek  technicians 
as  possible? 

Packard:   Yes.   We  had  originally  planned  to  use  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  to 
take  over  the  responsibility  for  developing  these  master  plans.   But 
the  Bureau  was  reluctant  to  do  it  because  so  many  other  countries 
under  the  Marshall  Plan  were  demanding  help  from  them  that  they  had 
to  neglect  their  work  at  home.   It  put  too  much  of  a  burden  on  them. 

Baum:     So  most  of  this  was  done  by  this  Knappen-Tippetts  Company  on  a 
private  contract. 

Packard:   Yes.   "And  in  addition  they  prepared  final  designs  for  the  construe- 


491 

Packard:   "tion  of  diversion  dams  on  the  Axios  and  Aliaktnon  rivers  and  made 
recommendations  regarding  the  improvement  of  conditions  on  the 
Strymon  River  based  upon  a  study  of  the  river  and  the  problem  pre 
sented  by  it."  (pp.  28-29  of  June  7,  1954  report) 

They  were  then  employed,  as  I  left,  to  build  or  supervise  the 
construction  of  three  dams:   one  on  the  Acheloos,  another  on  the 
Axios  and  another  on  the  Aliakmon.   None  of  these  dams,  however, 
were  structures  that  I  thought  should  be  put  in  at  that  time  because 
some  basic  soil  and  drainage  problems  were  unsolved.   They  were 
ordered  by  Mr.  Karamanlis  without  any  consultation  with  the  Mission 
at  all.   He  had  apparently  rather  resented  my  desire  to  have  all  of 
the  reclamation  work  unified  under  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture.   So 
that  when  he  became  Prime  Minister  he  took  things  into  his  own  hands 
and  ordered  the  construction  of  these  dams.   Years  later,  when  I  was 
talking  with  one  of  the  Knappen-Tippetts  men  who  visited  us  here  in 
Berkeley,  I  learned  that  the  dam  on  the  Acheloos  had  never  been  used. 

There  was  one  project,  however,  that  they  did  design  that  I 
thought  was  unusually  good.   In  the  Agrinion  Valley  there  were  two 
rather  large  lakes  that  covered  several  hundred  acres.   They  were 
fed  by  springs  and  there  was  a  constant  outflow  of  several  hundred 
second  feet  going  into  the  Acheloos  River  all  year  round.   At  the 
lower  end  of  this  drainage  area  several  hundred  acres  were  flooded 
and  producing  nothing  but  tules.   And  the  farmers  in  the  area  were 
not  able  to  use  that  land.   When  they  irrigated  the  land  above  to 
grow  rice,  it  raised  the  level  of  the  water  in  the  swamp  and  flooded 
out  other  land.   The  farmers  in  a  little  village  down  the  river  were 


492 

Packard:   damaged  very  materially  by  the  rice  program  above.   So  the  Knappen- 
Tippetts  Company  surveyed  a  line  that  would  take  water  out  of  this 
channel,  run  through  a  tunnel  in  the  hills  to  carry  water  down  to  the 
delta  of  the  Acheloos  River  where  there  was  another  rice  program.  The 
project  would  develop  enough  hydroelectric  energy  to  light  the  vil 
lages  below  and  supply  power  for  the  drainage  pumps,  beside  providing 
w;itc-r  for  tin-  Irrigation  of  most  of  the  area  between  the  hill  and  the 
sea.   I  luivi-  been  told  th.it  this  project  is  now  under  construction. 

Raum:     It  sounds  like  a  very  ambitious  plan. 

Packard:   It  was  a  logical  way  of  meeting  the  conditions  that  existed. 

The  Harza  Engineering  Company  of  Chicago 

The  Harza  Engineering  Company  of  Chicago  was  given  the  responsi 
bility  of  preparing  a  master  plan  for  the  development  of  the  Evros 
River  which  forms  the  boundary  between  Greece  and  Turkey.   The  problem 
was  largely  flood  control  which  was  made  all  but  impossible  by  the 
fact  that  the  main  watershed  was  in  Bulgaria.   This  project  was  ad 
ministered  by  a  joint  commission  between  Greece,  Turkey,  and  the 
United  States  where  I  represented  the  United  States.   The  group  met 
alternately  in  Athens  and  Istanbul,  which  gave  me  a  chance  to  con 
tact  Turkish  officials. 

An  incident  which  illustrates  a  common  weakness  of  Americans 
abroard  occurred  in  Istanbul  during  a  celebration  over  the  return  of 
the  first  veterans  from  the  Korean  War.   Another  American  and  I  to 
gether  with  two  Greek  engineers  had  an  opportunity  to  meet  the 
President  of  Turkey  who  could  not  speak  English.   The  result  was  that 


493 

Packard:   my  American  friend  and  I  stood  dumbly  by  while  our  Greek  associate 
carried  on  a  brisk  conversation  with  the  President  in  French. 

I  found  the  Turkish  representatives  on  the  Commission  to  be 
very  nice  fellows  personally  but  when  they  came  to  judging  the 
rights  of  Turkey  as  against  the  rights  of  Greece,  they  were  intran 
sigent.   They  just  wouldn't  give  in  on  anything.   It  was  almost  im 
possible  to  get  them  to  realize  the  most  obvious  facts.   So  it  was 
rather  difficult  to  work  with  them. 

Nnurn:     Are  Greeks  able  to  work  with  each  other  or  with  other  people  or  arc 
they  tho  same  intransigent  sort  of  people? 

Packard:   It  nil  depends  upon  the  circumstances. 

Baum:     Well,  could  they  work  with  each  other,  first  of  all?   I  suppose  there 
were  a  lot  of  compromises  required  between  Greeks  and  Greeks. 

Packard:   Oh  yes.   I  have  already  recorded  a  number  of  instances  where  Greeks 
were  unable  to  work  together.   Difficulties  often  arose  between  the 
Mission  and  the  Greek  officials  especially  when  the  Greeks  felt, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  that  their  prerogatives  were  being  ignored.   An 
amusing  incident  occurred  at  one  time  which  involved  me.   The  Chief 
of  the  Mission  announced  at  a  staff  meeting  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  contact  the  Minister  of  Coordination  for  two  weeks  and  he 
didn't  know  how  to  proceed.   It  happened  that  I  had  an  appointment 
with  the  minister  that  afternoon,  made  at  his  request.   I  was,  there 
fore,  able  to  present  the  issue  which  concerned  the  Mission  without 
difficulty. 

Baum:     Was  that  true  of  government  ministries,  that  you  couldn't  reach  them 


494 

Baum:      through  regular  channels? 

Packard:   No,  ordinarily  you  could  reach  them  rather  easily.   And  I  always 

had  access  to  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Public  Works,  as  well. 

But  this  conflict  of  personalities  was  not  confined  to  re 
lationships  with  the  Greeks.   A  young  soil  scientist  had  been  trans 
ferred  to  my  department.   On  entering  his  office  one  day  for  a  con 
ference,  T  found  him  sitting  in  his  chair  with  his  feet  on  his  desk. 
Without  moving  he  began  to  tell  me  off  and  a  day  or  two  later  filed 
charges  against  me  which  required  a  hearing.   The  most  serious  charge 
was  that  I  had  wasted  600,000  drachma  by  permitting  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Works  to  proceed  with  an  unsound  flood  control  venture  rather 
than  following  the  advice  of  Harris,  the  irrigation   engineer  on  my 
staff.   When  I  pointed  out  that  I  had  had  the  work  stopped  the  day  I 
took  over  responsibility  for  public  works  projects  he  said,  "There 
is  no  record  of  such  an  order  in  the  files".   I  said  there  was  no 
written  order.   I  had  just  arranged  for  a  conference  with  the  head 
engineer  in  the  Public  Works  Ministry  and  convinced  him  that  what  he 
was  doing  was  not  sound.   He  sent  a  wire  to  the  field  stopping  the 
work  that  afternoon.   I  was  completely  exonerated  and  the  young  man 
was  transferred  to  other  work.   That  is  the  way  I  proceeded  in  con 
tacting  the  ministries.   I  assumed  that  I  had  no  right  to  give  orders. 
Instead  I  relied  on  friendly  conferences.   It  is  true,  of  course, 
that  I  had  an  advantage,  being  in  a  position  to  withhold  aid  funds 
where  I  was  certain  mistakes  were  being  made.   On  strictly  engineering 
questions  T  relied  on  Charles  Harris  who  was  a  former  Bureau  of 


495 

Packard:   Reclamation  engineer  who  was  on  my  staff.   1  relied  too  on  the  ad 
vice  of  Dr.  Frixos  Letsas,  a  German  trained  Greek  engineer  of  un 
usual  capacity. 

Baum:     To  get  back  to  the  work  of  the  Harza  Company,  did  it  work  out? 

Packard:   In  spite  of  the  difficulties  a  reasonably  satisfactory  flood  control 
project  was  carried  out. 

Grontmi j  Company  of  Holland 

The  Grontmi j  Company  of  Holland  was  employed  to  study  the  river 
deltas  and  lagoons  along  the  Greek  coast  and  to  prepare  master  plans 
for  X.uider  7et—  type  projects  where  conditions  favored  such  develop 
ment.   Tlu-  Dutch  were  a  very  practical  lot  who  got  along  well  with 
the  Greeks  and  wasted  no  time  in  getting  down  to  work.   It  was  thought 
that  by  building  levees  out  into  the  sea  and  then  pumping  the  water 
out  as  they  do  in  the  Zuider  Zee,  they  could  reclaim  quite  a  lot  of 
land. 

I  went  to  Holland  to  see  what  they  were  doing  there.   I  visited 
one  of  the  polders  reclaiming  a  125,000  acre  area  --  the  newest  polder 
in  Holland.   The  water  stood  twenty-five  feet  against  the  levees, 
showing  thf  extent  to  which  they  went  to  reclaim  the  land.   And  they 
put  drainage  ditches  in  and  had  to  pump  the  water  out  because  it  was 
below  sea  level.   The  land  there  was  rather  porous  so  that  they 
got  rid  of  the  salt  rather  quickly.   Tile  drains  at  frequent  intervals 
carried  water  to  the  open  drains.   The  drainage  system  in  Holland 
was  very  much  more  detailed  in  design  than  the  projects  in  Greece. 


496 

Packard:   At  the  present  time  they're  beginning  to  use  tile  in  Greece.   But  in 
Holland  everything  was  drained  by  tile. 

Baum:     And  what  was  it  drained  by  in  Greece? 

Packard:   Open  ditches.   But  since  the  open  ditches  take  so  much  land,  tile 

drains  are  being  used  wherever  possible,  I  understand.   The  Grontmi j 
Company  worked  first  in  the  Messenia  area  where  there  were  hundreds 
of  acres  flooded  with  sea  water  from  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  where  the 
Greeks  had  developed  quite  a  fishing  industry.   Consequently  there 
was  quite  an  argument  as  to  whether  or  not  agriculture  would  produce 
more  wealth  or  more  food  than  the  fishing  industry.   In  any  case  the 
Grontmi i  Company  made  an  elaborate  master  plan  for  the  development  of 
the  area. 

Baum:     Who  selected  these  companies?   Was  that  part  of  the  Marshall  Plan  work? 

Packard:   Yes,  the  American  Mission  cooperated  with  the  ministries  of  Agricul 
ture  and  Public  Works  in  selecting  the  companies  and  in  outlining 
the  work  to  be  done. 

Boot  Company  of  London 

Tn  addition  to  the  Harza  and  Grontmi j  companies,  the  Boot  Company 
from  London  was  employed  to  carry  out  geophysical  studies  of  ground 
water  resources  in  Greece.   The  company  had  had  wide  experience  in 
developing  well  water  in  North  Africa  and  in  India.   In  the  begin 
ning,  Howard  Haworth  was  director  of  the  well  program  for  the  Mission. 
He  had  three  practical  well  drillers  as  field  workers,  all  of  whom 
remained  throughout  my  stay  in  Greece.   But  when  the  reclamation  pro 
gram  was  coordinated  in  my  division,  Hayworth  and  his  men  were  trans- 


497 

Packard:   ferred  but  remained  in  charge  of  the  well  program.   These  men  worked 
with  the  well  drilling  division  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture, 
which,  with  American  aid  purchased  twenty-five  American  well  dril 
ling  rigs  including  both  percussion  and  hydraulic  rigs  of  modern 
make.   These  rigs  were  in  great  demand  especially  by  towns  needing 
fresh  well  water.   A  very  striking  change  took  place  in  the  Thebes 
Valley  while  I  was  there.   Irrigation  wells  with  deep  well  pumps  had 
transformed  the  area  from  winter  wheat  growing  into  a  rich  green  ir 
rigated  valley  producing  potatoes,  and  other  truck  crops  as  well  as 
cotton  . 

Baum:     Was  it  lack  of  water  that  prevented  earlier  development? 

Packard:   No,  it  was  lack  of  well  drilling  equipment  and  proper  pumps.   Most  of 
the  old  wells  were  dug  by  hand  and  were  not  very  deep. 

Baum:     I  thought  irrigation  had  been  invented  in  those  countries  thousands 
of  years  ago.  (Laughter) 

Packard:   Yes,  so  did  I.  (Laughter)   I  saw  many  remains  of  fantastic  domestic 
water  supply  systems  built  during  Roman  times  but  I  can  understand 
why  there  was  so  little  irrigation. 

Forest  and  KnnKc-  Land  Rehabilitation 


Tn  the  beginning,  the  forestry  work  was  under  an  American  for 
ester  who  had  come  over  from  Italy  to  take  charge  of  what  was  to  be 
done  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  forest  resources  in  Greece.   But  he 
didn't  last  very  long.   He  didn't  get  along  very  well  with  the  Greeks. 
He  was  dictatorial  and  wanted  to  have  them  immediately  change  over 
their  systems  very  drastically.   And  it's  very  hard  to  get  the  Greeks 


498 


Packard:   to  do  that  unless  you  have  a  very  good  reason.   So  that  the  forest 
and  range  land  work  was  also  turned  over  to  me  as  another  resource 
development.   Martin  Klemme,  a  forest  and  range  land  specialist,  was 
appointed  to  my  staff. 

Baum:     Now,  what  was  the  name  of  your  department? 

Packard:   I  had  the  title  of  Chief  of  the  Land  and  Water  Resources  Development 

Program.   This  included  the  development  of  both  forest  and  range  land. 
These  two  categories  plus  barren  land  accounted  for  717,  of  the  total 
land  area  divided  as  follows: 


Type  of  land  resource 
Forest  land 
Range  land 
Barren  land 
Total 


Per  Cent  of  total  area 
14.80 
40.20 
10.00 


71.00 


A  statement  of  the  problem  and  a  summary  of  the  results  attained 
are  given  in  Part  II  of  the  document  entitled  Can  Greece  Feed,  Clothe, 
and  House  its  Growing  Population?,  which  I  prepared  before  leaving 
Greece,  June,  1954.   (Copy  on  file)   The  record  includes  the  con 
struction  or  improvement  of  280  kilometers  of  forest  roads,  the 
production  of  153,000,000  trees  in  forest  nurseries,  the  construction 
of  many  permanent  and  temporary  erosion  control  dams  and  structures, 
and  the  construction  of  troughs  and  reservoirs  in  the  range  country 
for  use  by  sheep  in  expanding  the  useable  range. 


499 


Baum:     I  always  think  of  Greek  trees  as  being  low.   I  have  no  concept 
of  big  trees. 

Packard:   Oh  yes,  they  have  big  trees.   Then  they  also  have  hardwood  variety 
timber  that  could  produce  all  the  hardwood  they  need.   It's  snowy 
and  cold  in  the-  mountains  in  the  winter  and  pine  trees  grow  well 
there,  too. 

Baum:      T  guess  1  think  of  low,  jagged,  dry  hills  with  brush. 

Packard:   That's  true  in  the  low  areas.   But  in  the  mountains  it's  just  like 
in  the  Sierras.   The  mountains  go  up  to  12,000  feet.   I'll  read 
some  of  this  now:   (Pages  ^7  -39  and  Pages  45-46  of  the  report  en 
titled  Can  Greece  Feed,  Clothe,  and  House  its  Growing  Population?) 


500 

Although  a  propran  of  further  development  in  1952-53  and 
1953-5U  was  outlined  and  Mission  approval  of  a  further  grant 
in  aid  was   Indicated,   no  money  from  tho  State  Investment  Fund 
was  spont  because  tho  proposed  plans  for  expansion  of  tho  procran 
ware  not  approved  by  tha  Greek  Governmont. 

Largely,  as  a  result  of  the  program  carried  out  between 
19U7  and  1?52,  production  of  sawn  soft-wood  tinber  in  1953-5U 
about  doubles  tho  pre-war  figure-  while  importation  waa  reduced 
by  an  estimated  129,700     cubic  motors  or  a  reduction  of  56  percent, 
based  on  pre-war  imports.     The  detailed  fibres  are  shown  in 
Table  10. 

s 

TABLE     10  ' 

Construction  Timber 
(Cubic  motors) 

:  Production  Civilian           Imports  Total 
of  sawn    Imports             for  re-  avail- 
Year   soft  wood  Construct-  Total    construct-  abilities 

ion  Timber*  •        ion  ** 


T 

c. 

3 

U=2r3 

s 

6-  li*  < 

1938 

62  .1*1*0 

289,700 

352,  lUo 

_ 

352,11*0  ' 

1939 

61,926 

26)4/>'00 

326,U26 

-  • 

326,  1*26 

19h9 

51,885 

Ili6,328 

198,213 

117,150 

315,363 

1950 

I2)j,559 

23l;,B52 

359,  Ull 

177,000 

536,1*11 

1951 

100,093 

270,517 

370,610 

56,700 

1*27,310 

1°52 

111,725' 

260,895 

372,620 

11,705 

38U,325 

1953 

12  1*,  000 

169,760 

293,760 

_ 

293,760 

195U 

160,000** 

*  160,000 

320,000 

— 

320,000 

From  Table  I  paf-o  189  of  "Greece  Import  Data  Book"  Fiscal  year 
1953-5U,  M.S. A.  Operations  Mission  to  Greece,  FP  Division, 

V 

*  Source :  Ministry  of  Public  Works 
Preliminary  Estimates 


501 


The   quality  of  tha  luribor  produced  by  the  Forust  Service 
fro;-  National  forests  is  not  equal     to  inportod  lur.bcr,   in 
l.-.r. -o  part,   N:c"iu.se   t,hK;  Forest  oorvice   is  forced,  by  nood  forest 
:;rnctico,  to  harvest  th_:  over-natured  trees  first  in  order  to 
ir.provo   conditions  in  the  forests.     This  condition  will  be 
•radually  altered  as  the  over-nature     trees  disappear. 

The  records  covering  production,   importation  and  exportation 
.->.?  hardwoods  were   affected  by  a  narked  substitution  of  netals 
for  hardwood  in  the    construction  of  nany  iter.s  in  consuner  use. 
For  exanple,   before  tho  war,   all  bus  bodies  nanufactured  in  Greece 
w.,rc  r.iadu   of  h.ird'vood .     llov;  they  arj  nado   of  steol,   aluninun  or 
other  ratals,     "pain,  beforo  the  war,   freight  transportation  v;as 

••i.ado  on  a  lar;-;o   scale  by  wooden  horse -<lrawn  wa.^-»ne  manufactured  in 
Greece  fron  hard<7ood.     NCP.V  automobiles  and  trucks  have   largely 

replaced  the  old  radons.     In  large,  because  of  these  and  other 
si-alar  changes,   inports  of  hardwood  have  dropped  fron  11,0^3  I-IT 
in  1938  to  863  MT  in  1952,  while  exports  have  dropped  fron  8?9  MT 
tc  153  ?•;?  durinr  tha   sane  period.     Total  production  declined  only 
sli.jhtly  or  fro:;  27,336  MT  in  1938  to  23,UU8  MT  in  19^2.* 

Ranfo  :-tana,:'P'"ent  inprovonont  work  has  been  covered,  in  detail, 
in  other  reports,  and  noed  not  be  repeated  in  here.     Suffice   it 
to  ;iay  that  the  program  consisted  chiefly  of  tho  construction  of 
water  holes  in  high  mountain  areas  and  in  carrying  out  numerous 
demonstrations  of  a  v/ide  variety  of  pasture   passes  and  legumes. 


•«•  Fron  Table  entitled  "Hardwood     Production,   Inports,  Exports 

Consumption"   page  193*  "Greece  Inport  Data  Book"   vol  II  FP  Div.FQA, 


s  502 

•N 

Tho  Rangeland  inprovcr.ent  is  a  vital  ".art  of  tho  food  production 
progra"1  and  is  closely  associated  v/ith  tho   irrigation  of  the  plains 
and  do  It  a  rtr~ns.     Tho   construction  of  water  holes  and  other  ran/re 
r-provoriont  work  in  tlu  high  nountnins  will  greatly  increase  th'.; 
carrying  capacity  of  tho  .sunder  range.     In  like  nanncr,  tho 
production  of  alfalfa  and  various  sumor  gro-ving  (grains  ard  forago 
crops  in  irri^'atod  aroas  will  groatly  increase'     the  carrying  capacity 
of  tho  winter  rango.     "ith  thoso  inprovoMente  in  the  v/intor  and 
su"  icr  ranro s  tho   snrinc  and  fall  ran^e  lands  need  not  be  ovcr- 
rrazed  as  at  present  and  will,   therefore,  provide  better  Spring 
and  Fall  pasture  than  now.     The  detailed  record  of  accomplishments 
and  costs  is  presented  in  Table  9» 
3»     Future  Dovelopr.ient  and  B'inancing 

Novr,  as  to  tho  future:  Tho  possibilities  are  intreaguing. 
Detailed  plans  have  boon  prepared  for  the  initial  developnent 
of  the  forost  r:nd  rant:eland  resources,   on  a  sustained  yield 
basis,   in  olovon  selected  areas.     If  these  plans  are  carried 
out,  production  of  timber  by  19£9>  v.'ill  be  increased  by  136,000 
cubic  notors  per  year;     the  use  of  foreign  exchange  for  purchase 
of  tirbor  v;ill  bo  reduced  by  $  6,^00,000  annually;     10,000 
mountain  people  will  be  permanently  employed  and  the   incone  to 
th-~  Forost  Service  will  be   increased  by  136  Million  new  Drachnae, 
out  of  v;hich  the  Foi-ost  Service  can  finance  nountain  road  construct 
ion,  reforestation,  fire  protection,  range  inprovenent1  and 
associated  non-incor.e  producing,  but  essential,  conservation  and 
dovolopnont  activities.     Tho  Rangoland  inprovenont  program  will 
bo  concentrated  in  tho  eleven  selected  areas  but  will  not 


503 


•  SUMMARY 

Greece   is  primarily  an  agricultural  country.     Its  wellbeing 
depends  more  upon  production  from  the  land  than  upon  any  other 
factor.     The  land  and  water  resources  are  limited  -  more  United 
in  relation  to  the  population  than  in  any  other  European  country. 
Tl;o  population,  moreover,  is  increasing  at  ?j  rate  double  than 
that  of  mom  ^uropoan  countries.     Efy  carrying  out  the  program 
of  development  outlined  in  this  report,   Greece  can  feed  its 
growing  population  on  a  minimum  diet  for  rood  health  for  another 
generation  without  resorting  a pain,  to  the  importation  of  major 
food  items.     And,  when  the  proposed  program  is  nearing  completion 
a  new  one   can  be  inaugurated  including,  among  others,  the  completion 
of  the  Xanthi-Komotini  Project  for  which  a  Master  Plan  has  already  - 
been  prepared  involving  the  irrigation  of  703,000  stremmas  of 
first  class  land  not  included  in  the  presently  planned  program. 

In  like  manner  the  Forest  and  Range land  resources  of  Greece 
can  contribute  much  more  than  now  to  the  welfare  of  Greece,     The 
forests  can  now  provide  on  a  sustained  yield  basis  more  of  the 
lumber  -  both  pine  and  hard  wood  -  presently  required  and  within 
a  reasonable  period  can  meet  all  needs  including     pulp,  if  the 
proposed  program  is  put  into  effect.     The  rangelands,  likewise, 
can  contribute  more  than  now  to  the   supply  of  meat,  milk,  wool 
and  hides  if  the  basic  resources  are   conserved  and -developed 
as  planned. 


504 


The  physical  Job  involves  no  serious  problems.  The  proposed 
program  can  bo  financed  from  the  investment  budget  without 
inflationary  impact  if  the  total  investment  program  is  properly 
planned  and  programmed.  The  one  important  problem  remaining 
unsolved  concerns  the  need  for  the  creation  of  a  competent 
unified  technical  organization  in  one  Ministry.  The  need 
for  joining  the  land  reclamation,  forestry  and  rangeland 
management  under  one  unified  administrative  organization  is 
acute .  Nothing  should  bo  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  this 
essential  move.  Much  can  be  gained  by  early  action. 


Director 
Advisory  Group 
Land  &  Water  Resources  Development 


505 


Rice  Growing  and  Alkali  Reclamation  Program 

Packard:       In  the  summer  of  1948  I  visited  a  small  project  in  Thrace  where 
YPEM  under  the  direction  of  Christides  was  conducting  a  small  recla 
mation  project  where  an  attempt  was  being  made  to  reclaim  alkali  land 
by  growing  rice.   The  results  were  not  too  encouraging  but,  on  the 
basis  of  my  experience  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  I  felt  that  the  ex 
periment  was  not  based  on  good  techniques. 

Baum:     What  experience  had  you  had  in  rice  production  in  the  Sacramento 
Valley? 

Packard:   For  a  couple  of  years  I  was  handling  property  that  had  been  taken 
over  by  foreclosure  by  the  Western  States  Life  Insurance  Company. 
This  included  several  hundred  acres  of  rice  grown  on  the  alkali 
"goose  land"  of  the  Sacramento  Valley.   This  was  in  the  interim 
period  following  my  experience  at  Delhi. 

I  knew  that  thousands  of  acres  of  deep  and  potentially  produc 
tive  soils  were  located  in  the  deltas  of  many  of  the  important  rivers 
in  Greece  which  I  thought  could  be  reclaimed  by  a  combination  of  ir 
rigation  and  deep  drainage.   So,  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1949 
I  worked  with  Christides  in  the  Salonika  area  and  with  Paleologue 
in  three  other  parts  of  Greece  in  establishing  100  acre  rice  plots 
on  alkali  land.   In  two  cases  ditches  were  excavated  from  the  river 
bank  to  the  flood  control  levees,  large  pipes  were  put  through  the 
levee  to  deliver  the  water  to  the  rice  plot.   In  the  other  areas 
where  no  levees  existed  the  ditches  were  excavated  from  the  river  to 
the  plots.   In  all  cases  structures  were  installed  to  control  the 


506 

Packard:   flow  from  the  river.   The  second  step  was  to  excavate  deep  drain 
age  systems  (as  deep  as  eight  feet).   Then  the  irrigation  systems 
were  built  to  distribute  the  water  over  the  land.   This  left  the 
land  in  rectangular  plots  each  of  which  was  levelled  and  the  nec 
essary  border  built.   After  flooding  for  two  weeks  or  so  the  land 
was  ready  for  planting.   The  theory  is  that  flood  water  carries  the 
salts  from  the  surface  soils,  thus  permitting  the  shallow  rooted 
rice  to  grow  in  salt-free  topsoil.   Since  most  of  the  land  was  near 
sea  level, pumps  had  to  be  installed  at  the  outlets  of  the  drains  to 
permit  the  drains  to  function. 

Baum:     Who  owned  the  land  and  what  arrangements  did  you  have  to  make  to 
use  it? 

Packard:   The  land  in  each  case  belonged  to  an  adjacent  village.   Most  of  it 

was  so  impregnated  with  alkali  (salt)  that  nothing  would  grow.   Some 
patches  would  produce  a  few  alkali  resistant  weeds  during  rainy 
season,  but  in  general  it  was  barren. 

In  each  case  we  would  call  a  town  meeting  in  a  village  taverna 
where  the  plans  would  be  presented  and  discussed.   In  no  case  did  any 
of  the  peasants  believe  that  rice  could  be  grown  but  they  were  willing 
for  us  to  go  ahead  if  we  paid  the  bills.   Another  factor  was,  of 
course,  that  the  work  created  a  lot  of  jobs  for  village  people.   In 
each  case  we  offered  to  pay  the  village  ten  per  cent  of  the  crop  as 
rent  to  help  overcome  their  skepticism.   As  the  field  began  to  turn 
green  with  the  growing  rice,  the  villagers  would  walk  or  ride  their 
burros  around  the  fields,  speculating  as  to  when  the  rice  would  begin 

* 

to  wither  and  die. 


507 

Packard:       To  make  a  long  story  short,  three  of  these  first  plots  were 
very  successful.   The  rent  was  paid  in  rice  and  divided  evenly 
among  the  villagers.   I  was  made  an  honorary  citizen  in  one  town 
and  had  the  main  road  leading  to  the  rice  field  named  after  me  in 
another.   The  fourth  plot  failed  because-  of  the  high  content  of 
black  jilkult  (sodium  carbonate)  which  killed  the  plants  and  made 
the  soil  relatively  impervious  to  water  penetration. 

Baum:     Was  your  plan  that  the  rice  was  only  going  to  be  an  interim  crop  to 
reclaim  the  land?   Or  was  it  going  to  be  a  permanent  crop? 

Packard:   I  thought  it  would  be  a  permanent  crop.   But  I  thought  it  would  al 
ways  be  associated  with  the  reclamation  of  alkali  land  very  largely. 
One  of  the  Greek  chemists  estimated  that  we  washed  out  sixty  tons 
of  salt  per  acre  the  first  year  by  that  process. 

Baum:     Good  heavens!   And  you  got  a  crop.  (Laughter) 

Packard:   Yes,  we  had  a  good  crop  on  three  of  the  plots.   The  people  in  the 
village  of  Anthili,  where  one  of  the  plots  was  located,  were  so 
pleased  that  they  put  on  quite  a  rice  harvest  festival.   The  Chief 
of  the  Mission  and  several  of  his  staff  and  a  number  of  Greek  of 
ficials  attended.   When  they  saw  the  tall  rice  plants  with  heads  of 
rice  being  harvested  they  were  all  thrilled  and  I  was  a  very  happy 
man  because  I  had  taken  a  good  deal  of  responsibility  in  financing 
the  venture.   The  people  of  the  village  put  on  a  wonderful  dinner 
including  rice  prepared  in  different  ways.   There  was  dancing  in 
the  plaza.   One  of  the  older  women  danced  delightedly  with  a  full 
wine  glass  on  her  head.   And  there  were  many  speeches.   The  second 


508 

Packard:   year  it  was  YPEM's  turn  to  put  on  a  fiesta  which  they  did  in  a 

grand  style  with  a  brass  band  from  Salonika  playing  the  dance  music. 
But  all  was  not  smooth  going.   In  one  case  four  relatively  rich 
sheep  owners  tried  to  stop  the  second  year  program  on  the  lower 
Acheloos  because  they  had  been  using  the  community  property  as  free 
pasture.   When  I  went  to  the  village  with  my  Greek  associates  we 
settled  the  matter  by  calling  a  town  meeting  in  the  main  taverna  and 
presenting  the  problem.   The  four  men  were  so  insistent  on  their 
right  to  use  the  land  that  they  were  about  to  be  thrown  out  physi 
cally  when  I  proposed  to  put  the  matter  to  a  vote.   I  told  the  mayor 
we  would  abide  by  a  vote  if  he  asked  for  it.   Which  he  did.   The 
vote  was  unanimous  for  extending  the  rice  program,  except  for  the 
four  men.   So  I  said  we  would  work  with  the  village  in  continuing 
and  expanding  the  program.   In  the  turmoil  that  followed  I  was  car 
ried  on  the  shoulders  of  two  men  from  the  taverna  to  the  plaza  amid 
the  cheers  of  the  villagers. 

On  another  occasion  I  was  taking  a  new  Chief  of  the  Mission 
on  his  first  field  trip.   I  was,  of  course,  anxious  to  have  things 
move  smoothly.   But  on  reaching  one  of  the  rice  fields  I  noticed 
that  the  drainage  ditch  was  full  of  water.   I  asked  if  the  pumps 
were  working  and  was  assured  that  they  were.   I  finally  found  that 
a  grower  with  700  stremma  of  rice  had  shut  off  a  portion  of  the 
main  drain  with  a  dam  on  which  he  had  dug  a  ditch  to  irrigate  his 
field.   He  had  everyone  afraid  because  he  told  the  Greeks  who  were 
responsible  for  the  operation  of  the  system  that  if  they  interfered 


509 

Packard:   with  his  dam,  blood  would  be  flowing  in  the  ditch.   So  we  drove 
over  to  the  place  where  the  drain  was  shut  off  and  I  talked  to 
the  man  who  had  shut  off  the  drain.   I  pointed  out  that  his  ability 
to  grow  rice  at  all  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  American  Mission 
had  developed  the  water  supply  which  made  the  rice  project  possible 
and  that  1  was  not  going  to  stand  for  his  action  against  the  in 
terests  of  the  rest  of  the  community.   I  said  that  I  would  see  that 
he  had  the  material  to  build  a  wooden  flume  to  replace  his  earthen 
ditch  if  he-  did  not  have  the  mate-rial.   I  then  ordered  the  drag 
line  operator  to  remove  thc>  earth  fill  across  the  drain  which  he- 
did  with  a  few  sweeps  of  his  dragline.   Within  minutes  the  man  was 
busy  building  a  flume  with  material  he  had  on  the  place. 
Baum:     The  Greeks,  apparently,  are  not  always  cooperative.  (Laughter) 
Packard:   That's  true.   Individuals  can  be  very  belligerent  when  they  decide 
to  act  in  their  own  interest.   But  on  the  other  hand  when  the  vil 
lagers  see  an  advantage  in  working  together  they  can  be  very  coop 
erative.   In  recent  times  they  have  had  little  opportunity  for  coop 
eration.   That's  why  I  was  so  much  in  favor  of  organizing  irrigation 
districts  which  put  responsibility  in  the  hands  of  the  villagers  in 
volved.   I  shall  never  forget  the  experience  in  Arta  when  the  first 
irrigation  district  was  organized.   There  was  an  all  day  meeting  of 
elected  representatives  from  several  villages  involved  in  the  system, 
during  which  the  Ministry  engineers  presented  the  estimate  of  the 
coming  year's  operation  and  maintenance  costs  and  other  relevant 
matters.   When  it  came  time  to  make  the  decision  each  of  the  elected 


510 

Packard:   representatives  marked  a  paper  for  or  against  the  proposed  budget 
which  came  to  several  thousand  dollars.   The  vote  was  unanimous 
and  it  was  the  first  time  these  people  had  ever  been  able  to  act 
together  in  their  own  inter-community  interest.   I  am  told  that 
there  are  over  200  irrigation  districts  in  Greece  at  the  present 
time. 

Baum:     Just  how  was  the  rice  program  organized  and  just  what  part  did  you 
play  in  it? 

Packard:   It  was  a  government  operation.   It  was  organized  by  a  committee  of 
Ministry  of  Agriculture  personnel  headed  by  John  Palelogue,  head  of 
the  Mechanical  Cultivation  Service,  while  I  represented  the  Mission. 
I  had  to  approve  the  funds  and  had,  of  course,  to  get  authorization 
from  a  finance  committee  headed  by  the  comptroller. 

The  costs  were  not  wholly  associated  with  growing  the  rice. 
The  rice  had  to  be  dried  after  harvest  because  of  its  high  content 
of  moisture.   As  I  recall  it,  fifteen  mechanical  driers  were  pur 
chased  and  warehouses  constructed  to  store  the  grain.   But  the  opera 
tion  as  a  whole  was  quite  successful.   The  year  I  left,  Greece  ex 
ported  75,000  tons  of  rice,  in  addition  to  supplying  the  home  market. 

But,  after  two  or  three  years,  after  the  land  proved  it  could 
produce  something,  and  some  of  the  land  got  reclaimed  so  that  you 
could  actually  grow  wheat  on  it,  the  farmers  wanted  to  get  the  com 
munity  land  distributed.   I  rather  favored  keeping  it  as  a  public  op 
eration,  but  we  had  to  give  in  to  the  villagers.   So  the  Greek  gov 
ernment  sub-divided  these  rice  lands  and  distributed  them  to  the  land 
less  farmers. 


511 


Anthili 

Packard:       In  Anthili,  for  example,  I  was  there  one  day  when  I  noticed  a 
group  of  peasants  that  obviously  wanted  to  see  me.   So  I  asked  the 
group  I  was  talking  with,  "Who  arc-  they?"   And  they  said,  "They're 
the  landless  farmers  in  the  village."  Well,  I  said,  "They're  the 
very  people  1  want  to  see."   So  I  went  right  over  to  them  and  talked 
with  them.   I  told  them,  "We  want  you  to  get  this  land,  all  this  re 
claimed  land."  We  tried  to  develop  land  that  would  be  distributed 
to  landless  farmers.   In  Anthili,  for  example,  every  landless  farmer 
got  a  farm  before  we  left.   And  that  was  true  in  most  of  the  projects. 
In  very  large  numbers  the  landless  farmers  got  farms.   They  would  be 
small,  four  or  five  acres  to  a  family,  but  four  or  five  acres  of 
Irrigated  land  meant  a  great  deal.   It  was  so  much  more  productive 
than  a  normal  area.   And  the  farms  in  Greece  were  very  small  anyway. 
And  not  only  were  they  small  but  they  were  scattered.   A  man  in  a 
village  might  have  a  small  strip  of  land  on  a  hill  that  would  pro 
duce  very  small  grain  and  have  another  strip  on  the  other  side  of 
town  of  rather  good  flat  land.   Sometimes  a  man  would  have  as  much 
as  say  five  parcels  of  land  around  the  town.   And  of  course  each  was 
too  small  to  farm  effectively  at  all. 

Baum:     Did  they  live  on  their  land  or  did  they  all  live  in  villages? 

Packard:   They  lived  in  villages. 

Baum:     Well,  how  did  that  work  out?   After  you  divided  the  land... 

Packard:   Yes  it  worked  out  quite  well. 

Baum:     They  kept  it  up  and  were  able  to  farm  the  land  effectively? 


512 

Packard:   On  one  occasion  I  was  taking  a  professor  from  the  University  of 

California  at  Davis  over  the  rice  fields  at  Anthili.   Some  of  the 
former  landless  farmers  from  the  village  were  pulling  out  weeds  in 
the  rice  fields  .   They  waved  to  me  and  I  stopped.   And  they  came 
over  and  one  of  the  women  who  was  a  widow  with  two  children  whose 
husband  had  been  killed  in  the  war,  curtsied  and  kissed  my  hand. 
Tt  wns  embarrassing  to  mo  but  it  was  the  sort  of  thing  that  peasants 
often  did.   And  she  expressed  the  gratitude  of  the  people  there. 
They  all  clapped  and  supported  her.   Each  had  been  given  an  area 
of  about  four  acres  of  partially  reclaimed  alkali  land.   The  income 
that  she  would  get  from  that  increased  her  level  of  living  so  much 
that  she  was  completely  grateful.   Any  of  us  who  had  been  assigned 
to  live  on  her  level  couldn't  stand  it.   That  expressed  the  thank 
fulness  and  inner  feeling  of  these  people.   When  we  left,  this 
professor  had  tears  running  down  his  cheeks.   He  said  he'd  never 
seen  a  more  touching  scene. 

Working  with  the  Villagers 

Baum:     Did  the  American  workers  feel  it  was  part  of  their  work  to  make  the 
people  understand  what  they  were  trying  to  do?   Were  public  rela 
tions  a  part  of  your  responsibilities? 

Packard:   Yes.   And  one  interesting  thing  about  it  was  that  when  we  first 

got  there  the  Greeks  were  not  inclined  to  take  the  villagers  in  on 
any  discussions  at  all.   They  said,  "What  do  they  know  about  it?" 
And  I  said,  "They're  the  people  we're  working  for.   And  we've  got 
to  talk  with  them."   So  I  insisted  on  having  meetings.   And  the 


513 

Packard:   first  one  was  in  Anthili.   I  went  to  see  the  mayor  who  immediately 
said,  "I'll  call  the  rest  of  the  city  council  together."  I  said, 
"I  don't  want  that.   I  want  to  talk  to  everybody."   And  so  he  got 
the  largest  taverna  he  could  find  in  the  village  and  all  the  men 
came.   A  few  women  came  and  stood  listening  from  the  outside.   I 
told  them  what  we.'  thought  we  might  do  and  wanted  them  to  appoint  a 
committee'  with  whom  wc>  could  work.   Wf1  1  ,  the  Greeks  were  rather 
surprised  <it  this.   One-  of  the  Greeks  particularly,  Kalinski,  who 
was  a  brother-in-law  of  the  prime  minister  and  rather  dignified, 
was  one  of  the  ones  who  had  derided  this  approach.   But  later  on 
when  I  was  off  doing  something  else  and  came  back  to  the  central 
square  in  the  village,  there  he  was  making  a  speech  to  all  the  vil 
lagers.   He  was  very  much  sold  on  the  idea.   That  was  the  approach 
we  had  wherever  I  went. 

Baum:     Now  these  Greeks  that  you  worked  with,  they  would  have  been  mem 
bers  of  the  government?  They  were  the  class  that  would  have  been 
in  the  government. 

Packard:   The  people  I  worked  with  were  technicians  of  the  government,  with 
the  ministries  of  Public  Works  and  Agriculture. 

Baum:     So  they  were  the  same  people  that  the  ordinary  people  would  have 
felt  were  against  them? 

Packard:   No.   The  villagers  made  a  distinction  between  the  technicians  that 
were  with  me  and  the  politicians  in  Athens.  They  were  afraid  the 
politicians  might  want  to  take  their  land  away  from  them. 

Baum:     I  see. 


514 

Packard:   So  there  was  a  great  deal  of  skepticism.   And  that  was  so  all 

over  Greece.   Wherever  we  went  we  found  that  same  sort  of  skep 
ticism. 

Baum:     But  they  had  confidence  in  the  Greek  young  men  you  had  with  you? 

Packard:   Yes,  because  they  had  the  same  attitude.   They  hadn't  been  let  down 
by  them  yet,  as  they  had  been  by  the  politicians. 

Well,  there  was  another  experience  on  the  same  line.  This  in 
volved  the  head  of  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works.   We  were  in 
Agrinion  and  we  were  going  to  look  at  a  flood  control  project  on 
the  Acheloos  River,  involving  the  interest  of  a  village  in  danger  of 
being  washed  away.   I  said,  "I'm  going  out  to  the  village  and  talk 
with  them  this  morning.   Don't  you  want  to  come  along?"  He  said, 
"Oh  no,  I  don't  want  to  talk  to  those  people,  I  don't  want  to  do 
that  sort  of  thing."   So  I  told  him  to  meet  me  later,  and  I  went 
out.   Everybody  came  to  the  meeting.   In  due  time,  I  looked  out  the 
window  and  I  saw  Papanicalau  sitting  in  his  car.   Then  he  began 
to  hear  the  discussion.   A  little  later  he  got  out  of  his  car  and 
came  in  to  the  meeting.   And  in  a  little  while  he  was  up  in  front 
discussing  as  vehemently  as  anybody  else.   He  was  swinging  his  arms 
as  fye  spoke.   A  committee  of  villagers  was  appointed  and  Papanicalau 
went  out  with  the  committee  to  inspect  the  river  and  was  very  much 
impressed  by  what  they  knew  about  the  situation  there. 

There  was  still  another  case  that  shows  the  conflict  that  they 
had  in  some  of  the  villages.   There  was  one  area  in  the  delta  of 
the  Acheloos  River  where  we  had  put  in  rice  for  one  year  and  we 


515 

Packard:   were  deciding  whether  to  do  it  a  second  year.   It  had  been  very 
successful  the  first  year.   The  village  received  10%  of  the  rice 
crop  as  rent  for  their  village  land.   And  every  family  in  the  vil 
lage  got  their  share  of  the  107o  of  the  rice  crop.   This  was  the 
first  time  that  anything  like  that  had  ever  happened.   So  the 
majority  was  completely  sold  on  the  idea.   Of  course,  some  objected 
like  the  four  livestock  raisers  I  told  you  about  who  wanted  to  use 
the  community  land  for  pasture,  poor  as  it  was. 

Baum:     Do  Greeks  eat  much  rice  normally? 

Packard:  They  use  it  on  special  occasions,  but  it  is  not  an  important  part 
of  the  average  diet,  partly  because  it  was  too  high  priced. 

Home  Visit,  Trips,  and  Family 
Home  Leave,  1951 

Baum:     You  were  in  Greece  a  long  time,  1948  to  1954.   Did  you  get  back  to 
the  United  States  during  that  time,  or  see  any  of  your  family? 

Packard:   Our  only  home  leave  came  in  1951  because  of  my  special  trip  to 
Washington  in  1949.   We  took  the  Orient  Express  from  Athens  to 
Paris  and  from  there  we  went  to  London  and  came  home  on  the 
Queen  Mary.   We  were  met  in  New  York  by  Frances  Adams  who  took  us 
to  lunch  and  saw  us  off  on  the  train  to  Washington.   After  checking 
in  at  the  EGA  offices  we  left  for  Iowa  to  visit  Emma's  family.   The 
old  two-hundred-acre  farm,  which  used  to  support  eight  horses,  was 
completely  mechanized  with  not  a  single  horse  on  the  place.   Dairy 
COWH  had  replaced  tho  fattening  Hti-cTH  of  oar  Her  dayn.   Modern 


516 

Packard:   milking  machines  carried  the  milk  from  the  cows  to  the  cooling 
vat.   The  milk  was  sold  through  a  cooperative  and  most  of  the 
things  used  on  the  farm  were  purchased  through  a  cooperative 
store.   The  farm  was  part  of  a  Rural  Electrification  Association, 
replacing  the  lamps  and  lanterns  of  earlier  days.   After  a  few 
days  stay  in  Iowa  we  went  on  to  Berkeley  and  spent  the  balance 
of  our  leave  with  Emmy  Lou  who  was  then  living  in  San  Francisco 
and  Clara  who  had  her  home  in  Napa. 

I  found  that  I  had  to  have  a  prostate  operation  so  I  returned 
to  Washington  where  I  entered  the  Navy  hospital  at  Bethesda.   This 
interlude  delayed  our  return  to  Greece  by  about  two  weeks.   All 
hospital  costs  were  paid  by  the  government,  as  were  our  medical 
services  while  in  Athens. 

We  went  back  on  the  Queen  Mary  instead  of  flying  as  we  didn't 
want  to  get  back  too  quickly.   We  went  to  England  and  then  by  boat 
and  train  to  Paris  where  we  took  the  Orient  Express  the  rest  of 
the  way  through. 

When  we  were  going  through  Yugoslavia,  I  had  a  very  severe  pain 
in  my  back.   It  was  supposed  to  be  kidney  stones  although  I  never 
did  find  exactly  what  it  was.   I  was  in  terrific  pain  and  I  got  the 
conductor  to  know  I  wanted  some  morphine.   At  the  next  stop  a  doctor 
got  on  and  gave  me  some  morphine.   I  said,  "How  much  will  this  be?" 
and  he  said,  "Oh,  there's  no  charge.   This  is  a  socialist  country. 
Aufwiedersehen. "  And  he  got  off  the  train  and  that  was  all  there 
was  to  it.   That  shot  carried  me  until  I  got  to  Athens. 


517 

Trip  to  Germany 

Packard:       Several  months  later  I  got  ill  and  the  doctors  thought  it  was 
associated  with  the  same  difficulty  I  had  had  in  Washington.   I 
had  a  temperature  of  103   and  was  feeling  very  badly.   The  doctors 
said  I  should  go  to  Germany  to  the  U.S.  Army  Hospital.   I  went  on  a 
rickety  old  Army  plane.   The  doctor  was  with  me.   We  flew  to  Rome. 
I  was  lying  on  the  floor  all  covered  with  blankets.   But  even  then 
the  wind  coming  through  was  terrific.   I  was  shivering  most  of  the 
time. 

The  plane  had  difficulty  before  it  got  to  Rome,  so  we  had  to 
stay  there  for  about  five  hours  while  they  fixed  the  plane.   Then, 
in  place  of  going  over  the  Alps  on  a  direct  flight  to  Frankfurt, 
wo  had  to  go  around  because  it  was  foggy.   So  we  went  around  and  I 
landed  in  Frankfurt  about  nine  o'clock  at  night.   I  never  was  so 
glad  to  get  into  bed  in  my  life  as  I  was  then. 

I  had  another  operation  there  that  was  again  paid  for  by  the 
Army.   Emma  came  up  from  Greece  at  her  own  expense,  but  we  both 
went  back  on  an  Army  plane.   That  again  was  paid  for  by  the  gov 
ernment. 

Mrs. 

Packard:  That  was  an  interesting  experience.   I  stayed  at  an  Army  hotel  that 

the  Americans  had  taken  over.   Of  course  we  were  an  occupying  army 
up  there  and  the  Germans  weren't  too  friendly.   It  was  a  most  un 
smiling  country.   People  looked  poor.   They  were  glum  and  unsmiling. 
I  think  they're  more  so  anyway  than  the  Greeks. 
Baum:     The  cold  climate. 


518 

Mrs. 

Packard:   It  wasn't  so  cold  at  the  time  we  got  up  there.   I  stayed  at  the 

hotel  and  went  on  the  streetcar  up  to  the  Army  hospital  which 
was  a  ride  of  a  half  an  hour.   There  were  a  great  many  things 
going  on.   The  opera  had  started  up.   They  had  built  a  new  opera 
house.   The  old  opera  house  was  bombed  out,  I  don't  know  how  many 
years  before,  in  the  war.   It  was  one  of  the  old  classic  kinds  of 
architecture.   We  went  by  on  the  streetcar  and  there  was  a  tree 
growing  up  out  of  the  ruins.   It  was  about  a  ten-foot  tree  that 
had  caught  root  up  on  the  second  story  and  was  growing. 

I  went  out  to  this  big  Army  hospital  and  visited  as  much  as 
I  could.   Sometimes  I  had  lunch  out  there.   I  got  a  little  bit  of 
a  look  at  what  the  city  was  like.   It  was  terribly  bombed  out 
(Frankfurt).   It  looked  as  if  every  other  block  had  just  had  a 
blockbuster  dropped  in  it  and  it  would  just  be  a  shambles.   Then 
they  built  some  very  unattractive  temporary  housing  like  we  some 
times  threw  up  for  shipyard  work  at  home.   Some  places  had  been 
cleared  off. 

We  took  a  river  trip  after  Walter  was  able  to  get  out  of  the 
hospital  down  the  Rhine  to  Cologne  on  an  excursion  boat.   We  got 
off  at  Cologne,  having  been  told  we  wouldn't  have  any  trouble  this 
time  of  year  getting  a  hotel  room.   The  main  hotel  we  went  to  was 
absolutely  jammed  with  an  international  camera  convention.   We 
couldn't  get  a  room.   They  phoned  around  -  they  were  very  nice 
about  it  -  and  sent  us  in  a  taxi  way  over  to  another  part  of  the 
city.   We  entered  a  little  side  door,  down  a  long,  narrow  hall,  and 


519 

Mrs. 

Packard:   to  a  little  window,  like  a  ticket  window.   They  took  our  names  and 

sent  a  young  boy  to  carry  our  bags  and  show  us  the  way.   We  went 
through  a  restaurant,  then  we  went  in  a  door  which  was  marked 
"Men"  (Laughter),  but  it  went  upstairs.   Kach  time  he  would  un 
lock  another  door.   He  must  have  unlocked  three  or  four  doors.   We 
finally  got  into  the  hall  and  to  the  private  apartment  of  the  owner 
of  this  hotel.   Very  nice,  luxurious  place,  nice  bathtub.   That  was 
the  only  room  we  could  get  in  Cologne.   But  it  was  very,  very  com 
fortable. 

Then  we  got  settled  and  took  our  taxi  (which  we  had  asked  to 
wait)  back.   We  got  our  dinner,  and  then  went  through  the  Cologne 
Cathedral  which  was  just  across  the  street  from  this  big  hotel. 
It  had  been  bombed.   Part  of  it,  one  wing,  was  just  a  shambles. 
They  were  having  some  kind  of  a  big  service, with  a  cardinal,  in 
the  main  part.   We  stood  and  watched  it  for  a  while. 

Packard:  We  stopped  off  at  Bonn  on  our  way  going  back  to  Frankfurt.  In 
stead  of  going  by  boat  we  went  by  train.  We  visited  my  sister, 
Esther  Chadbourn,  who  was  there  with  her  son,  Alfred  Chadbourn,  with 
whom  she  was  visiting.  He  was  working  for  the  American  Mission 
and  was  in  charge  of  the  building  program.  He  showed  us  a  good 
deal  of  the  new  buildings  that  were  going  up. 

Bnum:     The  German  buildings  or  for  the  Army? 

Packard:   They  were  buildings  we  had  put  up  for  American  use  --  apartment 

houses  mostly. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   There  are  a  lot  of  things  for  the  Army  base  that  we  still  probably 

have  there. 


., 

t'j      I 

...... 

-  - 

- 

'  ,  '  '  i  '          ''  ' 

. 

• 

' 


520 

Packard:   Yes,  that's  true.   From  Bonn  we  returned  to  Frankfurt  and  then 
went  to  Heidelberg  where  we  visited  the  University  and  the  old 
castle.   We  also  saw  the  famous  cafe  where  the  dueling  took  place 
in  the  famous  opera  The  Student  Prince.   We  spent  a  few  hours  in 
Munich  on  our  way  to  Garmisch  where  we  stayed  for  a  few  days.   As 
government  employees  we  were  given  a  bedroom  with  bath  and  sep 
arate  sitting  room  in  a  new  Army  hotel  for  $1.50  per  day  with  good 

American  meals  at  comparable  prices. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   While  in  Garmisch,  we  took  several  bus  rides  to  prominent  tourist 

places  such  as  Oberammergau,  where  we  saw  the  famous  theater  which 
stages  the  Passion  Play  every  ten  years.   We  were  shown  the  costumes 
and  theater  equipment  and  taken  to  some  of  the  shops  that  are  run 
by  the  actors  --  all  being  townspeople.   From  there  we  went  to 
"mad"  Ludwig's  Castle  --  a  private  castle  built  on  the  pattern  of 
the  Versailles  Palace  --  since  he  was  a  great  admirer  of  things 
French.   There  was  a  small  copy  of  the  "Hall  of  Mirrors"  and  other 
features  of  the  palace  had  been  copied  as  well.   Later,  we  went  to 
Innsbruck  and  spent  the  night  there,  after  an  evening  in  what  was 
advertised  as  a  typical  German  beer  parlor  or  night  club  which  put 
on  a  variety  show. 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


Family 

While  we  were  in  Greece  we  arranged  to  have  our  two  daughters 
and  our  two  grandchildren  visit  us.   Donald  Cairns,  Emmy  Lou's  son, 
came  in  June.   He  had  just  finished  high  school  at  the  Verde  Valley 
School  in  Sedona,  Arizona,  and  we  thought  a  trip  to  Greece  might 


521 

Mrs. 

Packard:   give  him  direction.   He  stayed  with  us  for  two  months  at  the 

Acropole  Palace  Hotel  and  I  took  him  on  several  field  trips  which 
tended  to  put  him  in  touch  with  reality.   I  remember  his  saying 
that  he  was  going  to  find  a  job  and  accumulate  some  money  while 
he  was  with  us.   On  asking  him  what  he  had  to  sell  in  the  way  of 
skills  worth  paying  for  he  realized  that  he  had  none  other  than  the 
ability  to  do  manual  work  which  wouldn't  bring  in  enough  to  pay  his 
board.   The  visit  was  worthwhile  although  it  took  a  stretch  in  the 
army  on  his  return  home  to  give  him  direction.   The  army  gave  him 
work  in  connection  with  the  Language  School  at  Monterey,  California, 
where  he  learned  a  great  deal  about  tape  recording  and  radios.   The 
GI  Bill  of  Rights  helped  finance  his  remaining  years  at  the  Univ 
ersity  of  California  where  he  became  interested  in  drama  and  the 
theater.   The  year  following  graduation  he  taught  English  in  a 
French  school  in  Lyons,  France,  which  enabled  him  to  perfect  his 
French.   On  returning  to  the  U.S.  he  attended  the  Yale  Drama  School 
for  three  years  and  is  now  in  his  fourth  year  on  the  faculty  of 
Allegheny  College  at  Meadville,  Pennsylvania  teaching  drama, 
English,  and  directing  plays. 

Shortly  after  our  return  from  home  leave  in  1949  Clara  and  her 
daughter  Judy  joined  us.   The  death  of  little  Bobbie  in  1946  and 
other  matters  made  Bob,  Clara's  husband,  go  to  pieces  and  a  separa 
tion  seemed  necessary.   Clara  and  Judy,  then  nine  years  old,  were 
with  us  for  about  nine  months  during  which  time  Clara  taught  in  the 
English  School  in  Athens.   This  experience,  together  with  her  degree 


Dr.  Walter  E.  Packard  receives  from  Vice  President  Emeritus  of  Columbia 
University,  George  B.  Pegram,  and  Chairman  of  the  Anglo-American-Hellenic 
Bureau  of  Education  the  Bureau's  Certificate  of  Appreciation  with  the 
citation: 

"Your  unprecedented  achievements  in  Greek  agricultural  economy 
have  been  a  great  inspiration  to  our  scholarship  students  from  Greece 
and  an  incentive  to  work  with  like  devotion  for  all  the  Greeks  as  you 
have  worked  for  the  villagers  of  Anthili." 


Bidim/IoO  3to  auUiisma  ztngbjagil  soiV  moil   asvJcsoai   folios4!   .3  i93lBW  .id 

BoiisjnA-olgnA  .erfi  lo  nBr/iisriO   bns   ,mBi§9^[   .a   ag^osD 
arto   ri3iw  noiJBlos'jqqA  lo   93BoJtii3^90   a'uBSTuS   arfs   rroii£oufa3  io 


ni   ainsmavaJfcrfoB 

909910  moil   aitnabu^a   qirlaielorioa  luo  o3  noiJBiiqani   Jfisig  B  nasd 
uoy   as   a^93iO  sri3   HB  ioi  noiiovsb  gjfil   rlsiw  >liow  oi   avlinaoni  nB   LnB 

".ilxrlinA  lo  aisgfiliiv  sd3   iol   barlow 


522 

Mrs. 

Packard:   in  social  work  from  the  University  of  California  and  her  ability 

as  a  typist,  enabled  her  to  get  a  job  in  the  Napa  schools  on  her 
return.   Some  years  after  her  divorce  she  married  Joel  Coffield, 
a  member  of  one  of  the  old  families  in  Napa.   She  is  now  the  Dean 
of  Girls  in  the  Napa  Junior  High  School.   Judy,  during  a  trip 
abroad,   met  William  Domhoff  whom  she  later  married.   He  is  now 
in  the  psychology  department  of  the  University  of  California  at 
Santa  Cruz.   They  have  three  children,  one  of  whom  is  William 
Packard  Domhoff. 

Emmy  Lou  was  the  last  to  visit  us.   She  was  the  guest  of 
Frances  Adams  who  took  her  on  a  tour  of  Europe.   Frances  visited 
us  later,  in  1954,  and  attended  the  ceremony  when  the  bust  was  un 
veiled  in  Anthili.   Emmy  Lou  had  made  a  place  for  herself  in  the 
art  world  of  San  Francisco  and  established  an  art  studio  and  home 
in  the  City.   In  1959,  she  married  Byron  Randall,  an  artist  friend 
of  long  standing  whose  wife  had  been  killed  in  an  automobile  ac 
cident.   They  purchased  a  place  in  Mendocino  where  Emmy  Lou  has 
been  an  active  fighter  for  peace  and  against  the  war  in  Vietnam. 
Her  peace  work  took  her  to  the  International  Peace  Conference  in 
Helsinki  in  1965  and  to  the  Afro-Asian  Conference  in  Djakarta,  in 
each  case  representing  the  American  Women  for  Peace. 

Celebrations  and  Honors  from  the  People  of  Greece 


Packard:       T^e  rice  program  attracted  quite  a  lot  of  attention  because 
producing  a  good  rice  crop  from  formerly  barren  land  had  a  lot  of 
popular  appeal.   A  syndicated  article  on  the  rice  program  appeared 


523 

Packard:   in  a  large  number  of  American  papers.   Maynard  Williams,  roving 

photographer  for  the  National  Geographic  Society,  wrote  an  article 
with  pictures  of  the  rice  for  the  National  Geographic  Magazine. 
The  program  at  the  village  of  Anthili  received  by  far  the  greatest 
attention  for  two  reasons:   The  Anthili  Irrigation  District  voted 
the  money  to  hire  Professor  Nikos  Perantinos,  head  of  the  sculpture 
department  of  the  University  of  Athens,  to  make  a  marble  bust  of  me 
to  be  located  in  the  village  plaza. *  1  knew  nothing  of  this  until  I 
attended  a  meeting  of  the  district  when  the  announcement  was  made. 
Emma  and  I  had  Robert  P.  Tristram  Coffin,  Pulitzer  Prize  winning 
poet  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Alfred  Gross  of  Bowdoin  College  as  our  guests 
on  what  we  thought  would  be  a  routine  field  trip.   Following  the 
Irrigation  District  meeting  we  were  all  guests  at  a  dinner  in  a 
large  room  of  the  home  of  one  of  the  prominent  farmers  and  an  of 
ficer  of  the  district.   It  was  quite  an  affair.   The  directors  of 
the  district  were  there  and  sat  at  the  table  while  the  women  served 
the  meal  of  barbecued  lamb,  rice,  bread,  sheep-milk  cheese,  olives, 
fruit  and  wine.   There  was  much  singing  of  both  Greek  and  American 
songs.   After  what  he  said  was  his  twentieth  refill  of  his  wine 
glass,  Dr.  Coffin  rose  to  lead  the  singing  with  arms  waving. 
(Laughter)   On  our  way  back  Dr.  Coffin  said  that  the  meeting  re 
minded  him  of  some  New  England  town  meetings  he  had  attended  when 
a  boy. 

When  he  returned  to  Athens  he  wrote  the  following  poem,  en 
titled  American  Monument  in  Greece: 


*The  villagers  requested  that  the  bust  have  a  bow  tie,  since  he  did 
not  look  familiar  to  them  without  it.  This  inspired  Time  Magazine  to 


524 


Packard:      Men  are  remembered  for  cities  they  conquered 
Pyramids  of  skulls  of  warriors  slain 
But  this  American's  monument  in  Hellas 
Is  starry-eyed  boys  and  fields  of  grain 

Towns  wear  gods'  names,  saints'  names,  virtues  -- 
Athens,  St.  Louis,  Concord  and  such 
But  far  safer  names  are  flowers  and  babies 
Rice  kernels,  wheat  sheaves  time  can  not  touch 

Where  red  Thermopylae  pours  its  bitter 
Waters  in  fenland  wasted  by  the  sea 
This  warrior  for  peace  defied  old  ruin 
Commanded  cotton  and  rice  fields  to  be 

He  took  from  the  sea  the  salty  desert, 

Sweetened  the  marsh  lands  with  rice's  sweet  pearls 

Sweetened  the  soil  with  homes  and  weddings 

Made  the  desert  bloom  with  boys  and  girls 

Better  a  man  knee-deep  in  children 
Than  tall  Charlemagne  or  Genghis  Khan; 
After  wars  are  forgotten  this  village  Anthili 
Will  still  remember  this  rice  planting  man. 

Dr.  Coffin  was  a  Greek  scholar  as  well  as  a  poet,  so  he  wrote 
the  poem  in  iambic  pentameter. 

The  first  process  in  making  the  bust  was  the  taking  of  a 
couple  of  dozen  pictures  of  my  head  and  shoulders  to  serve  as  a 
basis  for  measurements.   Professor  Nikos  Perantinos  then  modeled 
a  bust  out  of  red  clay  and  was  able  to  get  a  remarkable  likeness. 
Then  I  posed  several  times  while  he  put  on  the  finishing  touches. 
The  clay  model  was  then  turned  over  to  the  stone  workers  after  a 
block  of  white  marble  and  a  nine  foot  shaft  of  white  marble  had 
been  secured  from  the  marble  quarries  at  Mt.  Pentelikon,  from 
which  the  marble  for  the  Parthenon  had  come.   It  was  completed 
two  weeks  before  I  left  Greece  in  June,  1954  and  dedicated  at  a 


*  contd.   state  in  their  news  report  that  "It  is  the  only  bust  in 
Greece  wearing  a  bow  tie."  [Added  by  Mrs.  Packard] 


525 

Packard:   ceremony  attended  by  the  American  ambassador,  Mr.  Cavendish 
Cannon,  the  Chief  of  the  Mission,  Leland  Barrows,  the  Greek 
Minister  of  Agriculture  and  many  other  Greek  and  American  of 
ficials.   Again,  the  people  of  Anthili  staged  quite  a  celebra 
tion,  with  a  big  dinner  for  150  and  dancing  in  the  plaza.   A 
band  from  Lamia  provided  the  music.   The  bust  was  covered  with 
American  and  Greek  flags  which  were  withdrawn  as  the  band  played 
the  national  anthems.   Among  the  speeches  was  one  by  the  Minister 
of  Agriculture  during  which  he  presented  me  with  the  papers  pre 
sented  by  the  Greek  government  to  the  American  Mission,  proposing 
that  I  be  decorated  by  the  King.   He  explained  that  the  idea  had 
been  turned  down  by  the  American  Embassy  on  policy  grounds.   I 
was,  however,  nonetheless   pleased  over  the  gesture. 

Following  the  ceremony  at  Anthili  I  was  presented  with  a 
large  silver  tray  and  silver  bowl  to  match  by  the  employees  of 
the  Mechanical  Cultivation  Service  at  a  ceremony  at  Lamia.   We 
returned  to  Athens  via  Delphi  and  its  neighborning  city,  Arakova, 
where  I  was  presented  with  a  scroll  making  me  a  member  of  the 
Arakova  Irrigation  District.   I  had  supported  a  local  project 
which  brought  water  through  a  tunnel  from  a  lake  on  the  south 
slope  of  Mt.  Parnassus  to  irrigate  the  olive  trees  in  the  valley 
far  below  the  ancient  town  of  Delphi. 

My  last  official  act  before  leaving  Greece  was  the  submission 
of  a  blistering  attack  on  a  plan  to  force  Greece  to  accept  foreign 
ownership  and  control  of  the  oil  refining  business.  A  Greek 


TIME.   June   21,    1954 


525a 


GREECE 
The  Winged  Victory  of  Papou     • 

For  centuries  before  and  after  King 
Xerxes  camped  there  with  his  Persians 
waiting  to  do  battle  at  Thermopylae  in 
480  B.C.,  the  plain  of  Anthele  lay  bleached 
and  barren.  No  trees  grew  to  shade  its 
parched  acres  from  the  relentless  Grecian 
sun;  no  water  flowed  over  the  banks  of 
the  winding  Sperchios  River  to  wash 
them  clear  of  salt  and  alkali.  For  genera 
tions,  no  local  farmer  even  bothered  to 
put  his  plow  to  the  9,000  useless  acres  of 
the  plain,  and  even  those  who  worked  the 
stingy  lands  on  its  edge  were  forced  to 
content  themselves  with  only  the  scantiest 
yields. 

On  a  February  day  in  1949,  however, 
an  elderly  American  agricultural  expert 
named  Walter  Eugene  Packard  drovevout 


$1.50  a  day;  a  small  army  of  American 
tractors  and  bulldozers  moved  in  to  divert 
the  course  of  the  Sperchios  River.  In  the 
midst  of  it  all,  usually  coatless  and  with 
shirtsleeves  rolled  high,  Walter  Packard 
worked  side  by  side  with  his  Greek  friend*. 
In  a  few  weeks,  the  dubious  villagers  who 
came  down  each  evening  at  dusk  to  watch 
work  on  the  newly  flooded  paddyfields 
were  rewarded  with  the  sight  of  tender 
green  shoots  reaching  skyward.  "It  was 
like  a  miracle  from  the  gods,"  said  one 
of  them. 

By  that  time,  all  the  people  of  Anthele 
plain  had  come  to  know  Walter  Packard 
as  "Papou"  (Grandfather).  Children 
picked  wildflowers  for  him.  Church  bells 
in  all  I  hi-  villages  rang  when  his  familiar 
jeep  was  spotted  bumping  along  the  road 
from  Athens.  Even  the  road  itself  was 
renamed  Packard  in  his  honor.  But  Papou 


WALTER  PACKARD  &  STATUE 
The  Greeks  knew  what  they  liked. 


Megaleconomou  Photo; 


to  Anthele  from  Athens.  As  plainly  and 
unmistakably  American  as  the  prostyle  of 
a  Midwestern  bank,  he  joined  the  vil 
lagers  for  coffee  and  sweets  at  the  local 
inn  and  promptly  got  down  to  business. 
"Some  of  us,"  he  told  his  listeners,  "think 
you  can  grow  things  on  this  land  of  yours. 
Rice,  for  instance."  Torn  between  skepti 
cism  and  wonder,  the  farmers  of  Anthele 
listened  respectfully  as  Packard  went  on 
to  outline  a  plan  whereby  U.S.  money 
and  Greek  labor  might  be  combined  to 
test  the  fertility  of  the  plnin  of  Anthele. 

From  th«  Godi.  The  Greek*  have  lit 
tle  (runt  in  bureaucrat  Ir  M'hrmrx,  liut, 
mild  n  Greek  recalling  Ihr  Incident  later, 
"here  in  thin  village,  we  like  what  we 
like,  mid  when  we  don't  like  MomethinK, 
we  xpeak  up.  Somehow,  we  liked  the  way 
this  American  spoke  to  us." 

Some  40  local  landowners  turned  over 
too  acres  to  Packard's  project;  other  vil 
lagers  abandoned  the  idleness  of  the  cof 
fee  shops  to  man  picks  &  shovels  for 


Packard  was  not  one  to  rest  on  laurels. 
He  was  busy  making  plans  to  turn  the 
100  acres  of  rice  into  1,000  and  the  1,000 
into  2,000.  By  last  year,  his  vision  and 
enthusiasm  had  helped  the  Greeks  put 
4,000  acres  of  the  Anthele  plain  under 
cultivation.  For  the  first  time  in  history 
Greece  was  able  to  export  rice.  The  gain  to 
the  Greek  economy  on  an  original  U.S. 
overseas-aid  investment  of  $43,000  was 
over  $10  million.  More  important,  per 
haps,  was  the  fact  that  the  farmers  of 
Anthele  for  the  first  time  in  human  mem 
ory  were  pru.sperouH  and  Klf-nupporting. 

For  a  H»ro.  La»t  week,  an  7 o-y ear-old 
Walter  Packard  of  Berkeley,  Calif,  pre 
pared  to  complete  hi*  nix-year  nimfgnment 
in  Greece,  the  people  of  Anthele  honored 
him  an  the  Greeks  have  honored  their 
heroes  for  centuries — with  a  marble  statue 
in  the  village  square.  It  was  quarried 
from  the  same  stone  which  went  into 
the  Parthenon  and  the  Winged  Victory 
of  Samothrace. 


526 

Packard:   government  request  for  a  loan  to  finance  the  construction  of  a 
publicly  owned  oil  refinery  was  turned  down  by  the  incoming 
Republican  administration.   I  objected  to  this  action  on  the 
grounds  that  we  would  be  doing  exactly  what  the  communists  had 
said  we  would  do  and  that  we  should  support  the  Greek  government 
plan.   When  the  loan  was  refused  the  Greek  government  financed 
the  construction  of  a  publicly  owned  and  very  modern  refinery 
with  its  own  funds.   But  when  it  should  have  started  operations 
neither  the  American  nor  the  British  oil  companies  would  supply 
the  crude  oil,  thus  forcing  the  Greek  government  into  a  compromise. 
Some  years  later  a  new  refinery  was  built  by  a  subsidiary  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  which  was  vigorously  opposed  by  Prime 
Minister  Papandreou,  whose  son  (then  the  head  of  the  Economics 
Department  of  the  University  of  California)  said  it  would  transfer 
about  ten  million  dollars  per  year  out  of  the  hands  of  Greek  con 
sumers  and  into  the  hands  of  the  stockholders  of  the  private  Ameri 
can  dominated  corporation. 

Baum:     I  was  wondering  about  the  involvement  of  the  Americans  in  the  pol 
itical  system  in  Greece.   Did  the  Americans  try  to  stay  out  of 
politics? 

Packard:   The  Americans  tried  to  influence  policies  and  certain  types  of 
legislation  but  this  was  always  done  at  the  ministerial  level. 
This  was  particularly  true  with  regard  to  problems  of  taxation  and 
inflation.   There  were  several  prime  ministers  while  I  was  in 
Greece  and  they  were  not  always  in  harmony  with  what  the  Mission 
experts  thought  should  be  carried  out.   But,  in  general,  the  Greeks 


527 


Packard: 
Baum: 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


Baum: 
Packard: 

Baum: 
Packard : 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


Baum: 

Mrs. 
Packard: 


Baum: 

Packard: 
Hnum: 
Packard : 
Baum: 
Packard: 


did  follow  pretty  closely  what  the  American  advisors  suggested. 
I  have  heard  that  the  upper  classes  in  Greece  are  very  agile  in 
getting  out  of  paying  any  share  of  taxes. 

Yes,  that  is  true.   The  shipping  interests  were  the  greatest 

culprits. 

Did  you  come  into  contact  with  those  wealthy  capitalists? 

No,  I  didn't.   My  kind  of  work  wouldn't  put  me  into  contact  with 

those  people. 

Did  those  people  go  around  socially  with  any  of  the  Mission  people? 

Not  very  much.   There  was  not  much  social  contact  between  them.   On 

the  ambassadorial  level,  perhaps,  yes.   I  wasn't  in  contact  with  them. 

Our  social  life  was  mostly  our  own  personal  affair  --  with  American 

and  Greek  friends. 

You  were  invited  to  American  Embassy  affairs? 

We  might  be  and  often  were  but  we  were  not  included  on  the  official 
protocol  list. 

How  about  Greeks?   What  group  of  Greeks  would  you  come  in  contact 
with  socially? 

The  Greeks  T  would  come  in  contact  with  were  the  technicians. 
The  men  you  worked  with? 
Yes. 

Would  you  mix  with  them  socially? 

Yes,  we  would  be  invited  to  their  homes.   Sometimes  we  felt  rather 
reluctant  to  go  because  we  knew  that  they  would  have  to  spend,  per 
haps,  a  whole  week's  income  to  get  the  kind  of  dinner  they  thought 
we  would  enjoy,  involving  meat. 


528 

Mrs. 

Packard:  Their  pride  is  great  and  they  wouldn't  give  us  less  than  they 

thought  we  expected. 

Farewell  to  Greece  and  Final  Trip  Home,  July  1954 

Packard:       The  feeling  that  the  Greeks  had,  and  we  had  towards  the  Greeks 
as  well,  is  pretty  well  illustrated  by  what  happened  when  we  left. 
We  left  on  a  Yugoslav  boat  to  go  up  the  Dalmatian  Coast.   The 
Americans  generally  came  down  to  see  people  off  when  they  were 
leaving.   There  was  no  exception  here.   The  boat  had  a  lot  of 
Yugoslav  beer  on  ice  and  they  brought  that  out.   We  had  some  bot 
tles  of  liquor  and  some  hors  d'oeuvres.   The  Americans  gradually 
left  the  ship  and  went  to  Athens.   The  Greeks  went  off  later. 
Finally,  George  Papadopoulos  came  along.   He  was  an  engineer  that 
I  had  worked  with  and  had  corresponded  with  in  everything.   He  came 
up  to  me  and  put  his  arms  around  me  and  said,  "May  I  kiss  your 
cheeks?"  I  said,  "Of  course,  George."  Tears  ran  down  his  face 
and  he  kissed  me  on  both  cheeks  and  hugged  me  and  went  off  crying. 
Then  John  Paleologue  came  up  next  and  just  burst  out  crying  before 
he  could  see  me.   He  just  boo-hooed.   And  I  boo-hooed.  (Laughter) 
I  couldn't  stand  it,  either.   We  both  stood  there  crying.   It  was 
silly,  but  we  did. 

Then  Frixos  Letsas,  who  was  my  assistant,  came  up  there  and 
put  his  arms  around  me.   He  said,  "Now,  we  aren't  going  to  be 
parted  forever.   We'll  see  each  other  again."  Then  they  left.   That 
illustrates  the  kind  of  spirit  that  animated  us. 


529 

Packard:       So  we  finally  left  Greece  on  a  Yugoslavian  freighter.   We 
went  through  the  Corinth  Canal,  then  we  landed  first  at  Patras 
and  took  on  some  Norwegian  archaeologists  who  had  been  working  in 
the  Peloponnesus.   We  then  went  up  to  Corfu.   We  saw  a  beautiful 
island.   It  was  a  place  where  the  Kaiser  used  to  come  for  his 
winter  vacation.   His  palace  is  now  a  tourist  attraction. 

In  leaving  Corfu  we  had  to  turn  around  and  go  south  again 
around  the  island  and  out  into  the  Adriatic  Sea  to  avoid  going 
within  throe  miles  of  the  shore  of  Albania.   Albania  was  a  Com 
munist  country  at  odds  with  Yugoslavia  and  they  would  have  fired 
on  us.   We  went  into  each  port  up  the  coast  until  we  got  to  Trieste. 
The  most  interesting  of  these  stops  was  the  city  of  Dubrovnik,  known 
as  the  jewel  of  the  Adriatic.   At  one  time  it  possessed  the  largest 
merchant  marine  in  the  world  next  to  Venice  and  Portugal.   We  took 
a  streetcar  ride  up  to  the  ancient  walled  city  and  caught  some 
thing  of  the  historical  atmosphere  of  the  place.   The  port  of 
Fiume,  now  called  Rijeka,  provided  the  greatest  excitement.   The 
docks  were  covered  with  construction  material  of  all  sorts  and 
great  derricks  were  busy  unloading  machines  and  equipment  of  all 
sorts  from  ships  from  all  over  the  world.   In  contrast,  Trieste 
was  an  abandoned  port.   The  docks  were  empty  and  no  ships  were  in 
the  harbor.   The  new  port  of  Rijeka  had  taken  all  of  the  Yugo 
slavian  trade  leaving  the  Italian  port  of  Trieste  almost  aban 
doned.   We  took  a  train  from  Trieste  to  Naples,  stopping  off  in 
Rome  for  a  visit  with  friends  in  the  FAO  of  the  U.N.   While  in 


530 

Packard:  Naples  we  had  time  to  visit  Pompeii  and  the  Isle  of  Capri  in 
cluding  a  visit  to  the  Blue  Grotto  which  you  reach  by  launch 
and  enter  by  a  rowboat  which  takes  you  to  the  quiet  waters  inside 
the  grotto  where  you  see  the  blue  bottom  in  the  light  of  the 
opening.   We  finally  boarded  the  Constitution  for  the  trip  back 
to  New  York  and  home.  We  stayed  in  New  York  for  a  while  and  I 
received  a  decoration  from  a  Greek  who  was  in  charge  of  the  Greek 

students  at  Columbia  University. 

Mrs. 

Packard:  The  Greek  students  at  Columbia  University  held  a  meeting  following 

the  publicized  rice  festival  and  voted  to  give  my  husband  a  decor 
ation  in  recognition  of  his  work  in  Greece. 

Packard:  The  New  York  Times  commented  editorially  on  the  work  I  had  been 
doing  in  Greece,  which  pleased  me  greatly. 

Then  we  went  to  Washington  where  I  checked  out  with  the  State 
Department  and  made  a  brief  oral  report  on  what  I  had  done.   Then 
we  were  going  to  go  to  San  Francisco  by  train,  but  stopped  off  in 
Chicago  to  see  Paul  Jenkins  and  I  became  ill  with  the  same  pros 
tate  trouble  I  had  had  in  Bethesda.   I  flew  to  Berkeley  on  the  tele 
phoned  advice  of  my  doctor  from  Bethesda,  going  directly  to  Alta 
Bates  Hospital.   After  staying  there  eight  days  I  was  surprised  to 
receive  a  bill  for  $400.   I  had  received  medical  care  before  from 
the  Army  and  Navy,  including  two  operations,  at  no  cost  to  myself. 
This  bill  rather  shocked  me. 

While  I  was  in  the  hospital  I  had  correspondence  and  telephone 
calls  from  New  York  from  a  young  fellow  who  was  writing  an  article 


531 

Packard:   for  the  Christian  Science  Monitor.   The  article  appeared  with  pic 
tures  of  my  work  in  Greece.   This  article  was  shortened  for  pub 
lication  in  the  Reader's  Digest,  in  February  of  1955.   The  next 
event  was  going  back  to  Greece  for  Ed  Murrow. 

Baum:     This  return  for  Ed  Murrow  was  before  your  trip  to  Jamaica? 

Packard:   No,  it  was  afterwards. 


532 

JAMAICA,  1955 

Consultant  for  the  Kaiser  Company 

Packard:     In  part  as  a  result  of  the  Reader's  Digest  article,  I  was  asked 
by  the  Kaiser  Company  to  go  to  Jamaica  to  report  on  what  the  com 
pany  might  do  to  make  the  settlers  in  the  area  satisfied.   The 
company  was  buying  bauxite  land  and  putting  people  off  the  land, 
and  they  were  afraid  there  might  be  trouble.   They  wanted  me  to 
find  out  how  to  rehabilitate  the  land  and  satisfy  the  people.   I 
went  there  under  that  arrangement  with  no  strings  attached.   When 
I  got  there  I  found  that  the  operation  of  the  Kaiser  Company  in 
Jamaica  is  under  a  British  Company.   The  man  in  charge  had  a  dif 
ferent  view  of  the  whole  situation,  not  knowing  exactly  what  I 

/ 

wanted  to  do.   It  was  a  little  difficult  for  me,  particularly  be 
cause  their  plan  was  to  put  the  people  off  the  land  they  had  pur 
chased  to  put  cattle  on  the  land  to  raise  beef  cattle.   They  had 
developed  a  new  breed  of  cattle  with  breeding  stock  from  India 
which  would  be  tick  and  fever-free  (immune).   They  were  doing  a 
very  good  job  developing  this  new  breed,  but  I  found  that  the 
land  would  support  ten  to  twenty  times  as  many  people  if  it  were 
put  back  into  some  crop  --  nuts  or  food  crops  of  various  kinds. 
The  raising  of  beef  in  Jamaica  was  probably  the  lowest  use  of  the 
land,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  general  welfare.   My  judgment  was 
confirmed  in  this  matter  in  Washington. 


533 


Baum: 


Packard: 


Mrs. 
Packard; 


Haum : 
Packard: 


Baum: 
Packard: 


Why  had  the  Kaiser  Company  bought  that  land?  Were  they  going  to 
use  it  for  aluminum  production? 

Yes.   There  were  whole  valleys  there  filled  with  bauxite,  a  kind  of 
red  iron  clay  with  aluminum  content. 

The  bauxite1  is  underneath  a  top  layer  which  is  good  agricultural 
soil,  and  tlu-y  scrape  off  the  top  layer  to  take  out  the  bauxite. 
Were  they  just  holding  this  land? 

No,  they  were  developing  it.   They  would  dig  this  land  out  with 
modern  earth-moving  equipment,  leaving  holes  sometimes  300  feet 
deep  in  what  had  formerly  been  agricultural  land.   In  valley  after 
valley  were  these  pits.   They  would  ship  the  bauxite  to  Louisiana 
for  refining. 

Were  they  trying  to  rehabilitate  the  soil  after  that? 
Yes.   They  thought  they  might  plant  mahogany  trees  in  those  dug 
out  areas.   The  trees  would  again  be  a  very  low  use  of  the  land 
compared  with  its  use  for  food  products.   I  found  out  in  Washington 
that  macadamia  nuts  would  do  very  well  under  the  prevailing  condi 
tions  there,  and  that  it  might  be  a  very  profitable  crop.   I  recom 
mended  that  they  consider  putting  this  land  to  the  use  of  growing 
food-producing  trees  which  would  support  a  much  larger  population. 
The  report  submitted  was  satisfactory  to  the  Oakland  office  of  the 
Kaiser  Company  and  they  were  going  to  have  me  go  back  occasionally 
to  oversee  the  work  that  might  be  done.   But  the  people  in  Jamaica 
were  so  sold  on  the  Idea  of  raising  cattle-  that  that  was  the  cm!  of 


534 

Packard:   my  contact  there.   The  contact  was,  for  me,  very  pleasant,  and 
the  attitude  of  the  Kaiser  Company  was  very  constructive. 

Baum:     This  was  the  American  part  of  the  company. 

Packard:   Yes.   The  British  part  was  very  British.   There  were  three  com 
panies  in  Jamaica,  Reynolds  was  one,  all  of  them  digging  out 
these  holes  and  leaving  Jamaica  looking  like  a  smallpox  case. 
Jamaica  is  a  small  island,  and  there  were  three  giant  American 
corporations  removing  bauxite  from  it.   When  the  ore  was  gone 
the  source  of  income  for  the  people  would  also  disappear,  so  it 
was  important  to  find  ways  to  convert  the  land  to  uses  which  would 
support  the  maximum  number  of  people.   The  report  went  into  other 
matters  such  as  irrigation,  developing  water  supplies  for  the 
southern  part  of  the  island,  which  is  dry. 

I  was  also  interested  in  the  birth  control  program.   The 
sister  of  the  manager  of  the  British  company  was  the  head  of  the 
Planned  Parenthood  Organization  in  the  island  and  was  anxious 
that  something  be  done  along  those  lines.   The  population  was 
growing;  health  conditions  were  improving;  the  death  rate  was  de 
creasing  with  the  result  that  the  island  would  soon  be  over- 
populated. 

Schools  were  another  of  my  concerns.   The  school  system  was 
quite  inadequate. 

Baum:     Was  the  birth  control  program  progressing? 

Packard:   No,  it  had  not  taken  hold  at  all.   It  was  just  in  the  talking  stage. 


535 


Packard:   It  didn't  reach  the  ordinary  person. 

Baum:     Are  the  people  Catholic? 

Packard:   No,  they're  Episcopalian,  members  of  the  Church  of  England.   The 
Reynolds  Company  hired  a  local  doctor  to  carry  out  a  birth 
control  program.   Word  of  it  got  to  the  directors  of  the  com 
pany  in  a  report,  and  Catholics  on  the  board  stopped  the  program 
immediately. 


536 


RETURN  TO  GREECE  FOR  ED  MURROW'S  SEE  IT  NOW 

Packard:       When  I  got  back  from  Jamaica,  Emma  and  I  took  a  trip  to 

northern  California.   We  were  coming  back  into  the  house  when  the 
telephone  rang.   It  was  the  State  Department  asking  me  to  return 
to  Greece  to  be  on  one  of  Ed  Murrow's  "See  it  Now"  programs  to  il 
lustrate  what  the  Marshall  Plan  was  doing  in  Greece.   I  accepted. 
The  next  day  Mr.  Edward  R.  Murrow  sent  a  man  up  from  Hollywood  to 
interview  me,  to  find  out  if  I  was  photogenic,  I  suppose.   He  cal 
led  Murrow  and  everything  was  arranged. 

Later  that  same  week  I  left  for  Washington  to  pick  up  my  pass 
port  to  go  to  New  York.   The  Passport  Division  of  the  State  Depart 
ment  would  not  give  me  a  passport  because  they  said  they  had  an 
F.B.I,  record  against  me.   I  told  them  it  had  been  cleared  at  a 
hearing,  but  they  replied  that  they  had  no  record  of  the  hearing. 
I  explained  the  three  man  hearing  that  had  resulted  in  my  diplo 
matic  passport  for  the  balance  of  the  time  I  was  there—six  and 
one-half  years.   Finally,  after  writing  out  longhand  a  statement 
that  I  was  not  a  Communist  and  had  never  been  a  Communist,  and  did 
not  intend  to  be  ono,  they  gave  me  a  limited  passport  for  a  period 
of  three  months.   I  went  on  to  New  York  and  met  Ed  Murrow  and  Fred 
Friendly.   They  were  inclined  to  want  to  exploit  the  incident  with 
the  State  Department,  but  I  thought  it  would  be  unwise,  so  they 
didn't  do  it.   I  had  been  through  that  once  and  did  not  want  to  re 
peat  it. 
Baum:     They  didn't  even  have  their  records  straight. 


537 

Mrs. 

Packard:   What  is  the  Bible  quotation?   "The  left  hand  knoweth  not  what  the 

right  hand  doeth",  and  that's  the  State  Department  for  you. 

Packard:   When  I  was  in  New  York  they  arranged  for  the  finances  of  the 
trip  and  bought  a  ticket  by  plane  from  New  York  to  Athens.   I 
was  escorted  to  the  plane  by  Ed  Murrow  and  Fred  Friendly,  who 
saw  me  off.   In  Paris  I  was  escorted  around  the  airport  for  a  few 
hours  by  two  people  from  CBS.   I  was  met  again  in  Rome  by  a  CBS 
man  who  got  me  on  the  plane  for  Athens.   I  had  never  had  so  much 
attention  paid  to  me  when  I  was  flying  for  the  State  Department. 
I  didn't  receive  such  attention  on  the  way  home.   After  I  had 
finished  the  job  they  left  me  to  get  home  as  best  I  could. 

Baum:     Did  the  State  Department  have  some  interest  in  this  trip? 

Packard:   No.   The  project  was  turned  over  to  CBS.   Ed  Murrow  was  in  charge, 
and  he  was  not  the  sort  to  be  dictated  to  by  the  State  Department. 
They  were  going  to  show  the  spirit  of  the  Marshall  Plan   and  what 
it  had  done.   The  State  Department  had  selected  the  incident  in 
Anthili  as  the  most  photogenic. 

When  1  arrived  in  Athens  I  was  met  by  Bill  Downs,   who  had 
come  over  from  Rome  and  who  directed  the  shooting  of  the  pictures. 
Another  man,  McClure,  and  two  assistants  operated  the  machines.   We 
went  to  Lamia  and  stayed  there.   Each  day  we  would  go  out  to  Anthili 
to  take  pictures  --  23,000  feet  during  the  time  I  was  there.   They 
had  a  banquet  in  the  plaza  with  everybody  dancing  in  the  streets, 
all  of  which  was  shot  on  film  by  CBS. 


538 


Packard : 


Baum: 
Packard ; 
Baum: 

Packard: 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


The  other  part  of  the  program,  which  I  consider  the  most  im 
portant  work  T  did  in  Greece,  was  the  public  power  program.   The 
Public  Power  Corporation  hncl  arranged  to  have  the  power  put  into 
the  pumping  plant  down  at  the  rice  fields,  which  was  quite  an  in 
stallation.   They  carried  wires  up  from  the  pumping  plant  to  the 
town,  a  matter  of  five  miles  or  so,  and  that  night  they  turned  on 
the  lights  for  the  first  time  in  the  little  town  of  Anthili.   They 
had  a  big  light  in  the  plaza  that  shone  beautifully.   That  was  part 
of  the  show,  the  consummation  of  the  public  power  program. 
How  long  were  you  there? 

It  took  about  two  weeks  to  get  all  of  the  various  pictures. 
What  was  your  feeling  about  the  success  of  the  Anthili  program? 
It  was  a  year  or  more  later  then. 

It  was  a  year  later.   I  was  very  pleased  with  it.   They  had  in 
creased  the  area  under  cultivation  and  irrigation  appreciably. 
The  drainage  system  was  increased.   The  rice  program  was  suc 
cessful.   The  village  was  very  much  sold  on  what  we  were  doing. 
It  had  turned  out  as  successfully  as  I  could  have  hoped  it  would. 

The  Edward  R.  Murrow  show  "See  It  Now"  was  nationally  broad 
cast  in  June,  1955.   The  show  was  called  "Victory  at  Thermopylae" 
since  the  village  of  Anthili  is  only  about  five  miles  from  the 
site  of  the  ancient  battle  grounds  of  Thermopylae,  where  there  is 
nearby,  a  modern  village  of  that  name.   This  village  also  profited 
by  the-  rice-  program  in  that  area  nnd  made-  Mr.  Packard  nn  honorary 
citizen  of  thc-ir  village. 


539 

Mrs. 

Packard:       We  had  purchased  our  first  television  set  that  spring,  so 

we  invited  all  the  family,  including  a  sister-in-law  from  Pasadena, 
as  well  as  the  neighbors  on  both  sides  of  us  who  had  no  TV.   It 
was  a  great  thrill  for  us  who  had  often  been  in  the  village.   As 
soon  as  it  ended,  we  put  in  a  call  for  the  New  York  studio  of  CBS 
and  were  lucky  enough  to  catch  Mr.  Packard  before  he  left  with  Ed 
Murrow  and  congratulate  them  on  the  fine  production. 

The  film  had  the  advertising  in  it  of  the  Kaiser  Aluminum 
Company,  which  paid  for  the  broadcast,  mixed  through  it.   We  were 
given  a  copy  of  this  film  with  the  understanding  that  it  would  be 
shown  without  cutting  out  the  advertising.   The  advertising  part 
is  interesting  and  well  done,  and  no  one  who  has  seen  the  film 
has  objected  to  this  part  of  it.   I  don't  know  whether  or  not  it 
would  be  necessary  to  ask  the  company  --  or  maybe  CBS  --  about 
duplicating  the  film  for  the  library  --  probably  not  as  it  has 
been  shown  many  times...   I  don't  know  what  the  life  of  a  film  is, 
but  so  far  it  seems  to  be  in  good  condition  and  probably  could  be 
copied  for  the  library.   I  have  it  now  at  home  boxed  in  the 
leather  mailing  case. 

Incidentally,  the  name  Thermopylae  means  "hot  springs".   They 
are  clearly  visible  from  the  main  road  to  the  modern  village  of 
the  same  name  and  there  are  hot  baths  and  facilities  provided. 
It  is  said  the  springs  are  radioactive  and  that  when  the  Germans 
were  occupying  Greece,  the  wily  Greeks  lured  the  Germans  to  use  the 
baths  long  and  freely,  knowing  that  the  radioactive  waters  would, 
at  least,  not  be  good  for  them!   (I  can't  vouch  for  this!) 


540 


Invitation  to  Return  in  1966 

Baum:     Could  we  fill  in  here  your  recent  invitation  to  go  back? 

Packard:   This  summer,  in  late  May,  1966,  I  got  a  call  from  Los  Angeles 

from  a  man  asking  if  I  had  been  to  Greece.   He  asked  if  I  had  any 
pictures  of  wliat  T  did  there.   I  told  him  about  the  CHS  program. 
He  said  ho  was  going  to  Europe  to  look  over  the  programs  and  also 
that  he  would  call  me  when  he  returned.   He  didn't  tell  me  who  he 
was.   When  he  came  back  he  called  again,  saying  he  had  been  to 
Europe  for  the  State  Department  to  select  an  example  which  they 
could  picture  which  would  show  the  spirit  of  the  Marshall  Plan 

better  than  any  other.   He  wrote  a  letter  confirming  this. 
Mrs. 
Packard:   This  is  the  paragraph  from  the  letter:   "In  my  quick  tour  of  the 

Marshall  Plan  countries,  the  story  of  Anthili  stands  out  as  per 
haps  the  best  example  of  the  true  spirit  of  the  Marshall  Plan. 
The  people  of  the  village  love  and  respect  you,  Mr.  Packard,  and 
all  asked  me  to  convey  to  you  their  best  wishes." 

Baum:     Who  wrote  this  letter? 

Packard:   Irwin  Rosten,  who  signs  himself  producer  of  Wolper  Productions. 
They  had  been  hired  by  the  State  Department  to  do  this. 

Baum:     So  you  had  an  invitation  to  go  to  Greece  again? 

Packard:   Yes.   They  would  have  provided  transportation  for  Emma,  a  wheel 
chair,  and  anything  else  I  could  possibly  want.   But  my  doctor 
recommended  strongly  against  it,  as  did  doctors  at  a  sanitarium 
in  St.  Helena,  so  I  was  unable  to  accept. 

Baum:     It  was  a  great  honor,  anyway,  to  be  invited. 


Walter  Packard  with  great- 
grandson  William  Packard 
Domhoff,  Clara's  daughter 
Judith's  son.   April  1966. 


Golden  Wedding  Anniversary  -  1959. 
Photo  by  Dorothea  Lange. 


541 

Packard:   Another  factor  entered  into  it.   I  assumed  the  purpose  of  the 
picture  would  be  to  support  the  present  foreign  policy  of  the 

State  Department,  which  I  do  not  support. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Here's  a  paragraph  which  says,  "A  film  to  be  released  throughout 

the  world  on  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  Marshall  Plan."  We 
figured  that  this  was  to  improve  the  image-  of  the  United  States 
over  tlu'  world  in  the  face  of  the  Vietnam  situation. 

Packard:   I  didn't  want  to  be  supporting  our  present  foreign  policy,  so  1 
wouldn't  have  gone  anyway  just  on  that  account. 

Family 

Packard:   Various  matters  of  family  interest  occurred  at  that  time.   Both  of 
my  daughters  remarried.   Emmy  Lou  married  Byron  Randall,  an  artist 
whom  she  had  known  for  25  years  or  so  and  whose  wife  had  been  kil 
led  in  an  automobile  accident,  just  as  her  husband  had  been.   So 
it  was  a  very  natural  thing  to  do. 

Baum:     What  year  was  that? 

Packard:  That  was  1959.  Clara  married  Joel  Cof field,  who  had  graduated  from 
Cal  some  time  ahead  of  her.  He  was  a  member  of  an  old  Napa  family, 
which  has  lived  in  the  valley  for  three  or  four  generations. 

Baum:     Was  this  Clara's  second  marriage? 

Packard:   Yes,  her  first  marriage  broke  up  when  we  were  in  Greece.   She  came 
over  and  spent  a  year  with  us.   Emma  and  I  were  able  to  help  both 
of  the  girls  at  that  time  in  getting  re-established.   We  financed  a 
studio  for  Emmy  Lou  in  San  Francisco.   This  was  some  years  before 
her  second  marriage. 


542 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  think  that  matter  deserves  a  little  more  treatment.   There  was 

a  building  across  the  street  from  the  little  alley  of  Water  Street 
where  she  was  living.   The  building,  one  of  those  box-like  struc 
tures  put  up  solidly  but  hastily  after  the  earthquake,  came  up 
for  sale.   She  could  see  the  possibilities  of  some  reconstruction. 
She  got  an  architect  to  design  a  three-story  structure  with  two 
apartments  above  the  lower  floor,  and  a  two-car  parking  space, 
off  the  street,  which  is  quite  an  asset  for  San  Francisco.   It  had 
the  advantage  of  being  close  to  transportation,  near  Fisherman's 
Wharf,  and  she  could  and  did  rent  out  the  lower  floor  to  an  en 
gineering  draftsman.   Then  she  had  a  storeroom  down  there  for  her 
art  supplies.   She  lived  on  the  second  floor  and  rented  out  the 
third  floor  for  income. 

Baum:     Does  Emmy  Lou  still  own  that  studio? 

Packard:   Yes.   She  and  Byron  also  bought  the  combined  house  and  gallery  in 

Mendocino  shortly  after  they  were  married  and  moved  up  there. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   It's  been  an  excellent  investment  because  it's  down  in  a  desirable 

area  and  just  now  the  man  who  rents  it  is  a  designer  who  has  just 
given  her  ;i  five-year  lease  on  the  whole  building. 

Baum:     So  she  doesn't  have  her  studio  there  any  more? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   No.   She's  completely  moved  up  to  Mendocino  for  her  art  work  now. 


543 


EFFORTS  IN  BEHALF  OF  PUBLIC  POWER 

Opposition  to  the  State  Water  Plan,  November  1960 

Packard:       At  this  time,  there  was  a  move  to  establish  a  state  water 
plan,  which  would  put  the  state  into  a  bonded  indebtedness  of 
one  billion  seven  hundred  fifty  million  dollars  to  build  a  project 
which  I  thought  should  be  part  of  the  Central  Valley  Project  under 
the  Bureau  of  Reclamation.   But  the  politicians  got  together  both 
in  Sacramento  and  in  Washington  and  supported  this  state  plan, 
which  carried,  I  think,  by  a  margin  of  one  per  cent.   I  fought 
the  plan  as  much  as  I  could  and  prepared  a  mimeographed  statement 
for  the  AFL  -  CIO,  which  they  were  going  to  send  out  to  all  the 
newspapers  just  before  the  election  for  editorial  comment.   For 
some  reason  they  never  sent  it  out. 

Baum:     You  opposed  that  plan? 

Packard:   Yes,  I  did,  and  I  think  it  was  the  most  serious  mistake  any  governor 
has  ever  made  in  California. 

Baum:     I  remember  that  was  a  very  difficult  election  to  know  which  way  to 
vote  on. 

Packard:   Yes.   If  they  had  carried  through  the  Central  Valley  Project,  as 

planned  by  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation,  the  power  problem  would  have 
been  cleared  up  and  they  would  have  had  a  much  better  plan.   But 
the  power  companies,  together  with  the  large  land  companies,  were 
able  to  defeat  the  plan  to  have  the  Bureau  do  it  and  were  able  to 
put  it  under  the  state.   It  is  very  expensive  to  the  state  and  will 
never  be-  an  satlH  factory  to  tin-  r/itc  payrrw  UH  It  could  have  bf«-n 


544 

Packard:   otherwise.   Ultimately  I  think  it  will  all  have  to  be  corrected 
by  creating  a  state  power  authority,  a  TVA  type  body.   That  is 
the  only  solution  to  it,  and  I  thought  so  at  the  time. 

The  bond  issue  carried  by  only  one  per  cent  of  the  voters. 
We  tried  also  to  defeat  it  in  the  courts.  The  California  State 
Grange  carried  through  a  suit  to  the  State  Supreme  Court,  and  I 
raised  $500  toward  the  expense  of  that  .suit  in  an  effort  to  have 
the  State  Water  Plan  declared  unconstitutional.  But  that  again 
was  defeated.  The  Court  ruled  against  us. 

Then  it  was  a  question  of  dividing  the  fight  for  power  and 
water  into  separate  categories.   I  appeared  at  the  convention  of 
the  California  Democratic  Council  in  Bakersfield  with  a  mimeo 
graphed  statement  on  the  fundamentals  of  the  power  issue  and  got 
the  CDC  to  support  the  theory  of  public  power  in  the  state.   So 
the  Democratic  Party  was  tied  into  public  power  as  far  as  policy 
statements  were  concerned.   I  then  appeared  at  the  hearings  in 
Sacramento  on  the  same  issue,  where  there  was  legislation  involving 
the  Central  Valley  Project  and  the  State  Water  Plan.   Again  I  sub 
mitted  reports  to  the  hearing,  but  again  my  objective  was  defeated. 

National  Planning  Association  Meeting  in  Aspen,  Colorado 

Then  in  1958  I  went  to  Aspen,  Colorado  as  the  guest  of  the 
National  Planning  Association.   I  gave  a  talk  on  my  ideas  of  a 
democratic  society.   I  took  a  train  to  Denver  and  there,  fortunately, 
I  met  C.  Wright  Mills,  whom  I  had  wanted  to  meet.   We  rode  together 


545 

Packard:   in  a  car  from  there  to  Aspen  and  got  quite  well  acquainted.   The 
last  day  we  were  there  they  had  a  standing  ovation  for  me  on  the 
resolution  that  I  had  shown  how  they  might  solve  their  problem 
by  democratic  means.   When  C.  Wright  Mills  was  asked  what  he  would 
do  if  ho  were  President,  he  said  he  would"let  Packard  spend  half 
the  money  now  being  spent  on  defense.   The  following  year  he  would 
let  Packard  spend  half  the  remaining  part."   In  other  words,  he 
was  quite  sold  on  the  idea  and  in  fact  supported  it  in  his  next 
book.   He  mentioned  the  incident  and  supported  my  views. 

Baum:     What  was  your  plan  about,  Mr.  Packard? 

Packard:   It  was  my  philosophy,  my  total  philosophy.   This  is  what  I'm  working 
on  now,  completing  my  book.   I  had  articles  in  various  magazines 

and  papers,  including  the  Washington  Post. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   That  was  a  pro-and-con  article,  with  Senator  Kuchel  writing  the 

companion  piece. 

Power  from  the  Northwest  for  the  Central  Valley  Project 

Packard:       Then  I  had  an  automobile  accident.   I  drove  through  a  "Stop" 
sign  and  was  hit  by  a  car  and  had  eleven  bones  broken.   I  was 

pretty  well  smashed  up. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   This  was  January  29,  1964 

Packard:   That  put  me  in  the  hospital  for  a  couple  of  months.   I  could  not 

do  any  work  at  that  time,  of  course. 
Baum:     And  it  was  soon  after  that  that  we  began  these  recordings. 


546 

Packard:       Then  ;\  power  issue  developed.   All  the  public  power  from  the 
Northwest  wns  going  to  be  carried  down  to  California  for  use  by 
the  California  private  power  pool.   None  of  this  would  be  added 
to  the  Central  Valley  Project.   So  I  called  a  meeting,  organized 
an  ad  hoc  committee  to  oppose  this  plan.   We  got  committees  to 
gether  and  went  to  see  the  Governor.   We  had  representatives  from 
all  over  the  state  -  south,  north,  and  the  central  area  of  the 
state.   We  did  get  him  to  Washington  to  appear  at  the  hearing  to 
see  that  the  Central  Valley  Proiect  got  some  of  the  power   Finally 
we  got  petitions  signed  by  1,500  people  sent  to  the  President  on 
the  same  issue.   We  received  an  allocation  of  400,000  kilowatts  of 
power  from  the  Northwest  to  the  Central  Valley  Project,  which  was 
quite  a  victory. 

Baum:     How  did  you  organize  an  ad  hoc  committee?  Whom  did  you  get  in 
touch  with? 

Packard:   I  got  in  touch  with  other  people  who  I  knew  were  interested. 

Baum:     Were  there  other  groups  that  were  interested?   I  suppose  the  CDC 
was  one. 

Packard:   Well,  they  were  interested,  but  as  Individuals  rather  than  a  group. 
Grace  Mac-Donald's  California  Kami  Reporter  organization  was  in 
terested.   She  and  a  number  of  her  people  attended  the  meeting.   We 
had  people  from  Palo  Alto,  Santa  Clara,  Sacramento  --  all  cities 

which  use  public  power. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   G.B.  Quinn,  Master  of  the  California  State  Grange  was  there. 

Packard:   We  had  quite  an  ad  hoc  committee  organized  in  that  way.   I  just 


547 


Packard:   called  them  together  and  organized  it.   They  carried  this  through 
and  were  successful  in  getting  this  allocation. 

Efforts  to  Convert  Berkeley  to  Public  Power,  and  to  Join  in 
An  Atomic-Powered  Steam  Plant 

The  next  move  on  power  was  appearing  before  the  Berkeley  City 
Council  In  September,  1965,  where  T  presented  the  advantages  of 
Berkeley's  going  into  the  power  business  and  joining  with  the  state 
in  a  much  larger  power  program.   I  got  unanimous  support  from  the 
city  council  to  make  a  feasibility  study.   But  the  P.G.  &  E.  had  an 
evening  of  equal  time  to  present  arguments  against  it,  in  mimeo 
graphed  form,  presented  by  Allan  Sproul,  Robert  Gordon  Sproul's  son* 
I  prepared  a  mimeographed  reply  to  that  in  which  I  think  I  answered 
all  the  questions  that  could  be  answered  without  a  feasibility  study. 
But  the  council  finally  voted  unanimously  against  having  a  study. 
I  never  could  understand  exactly  why  they  reversed  themselves. 
The  City  Manager,  John  Phillips,  seemed  to  support  the  plan. 
He  did.   He  supported  it  all  the  way  through  and  thought  it  was  a 
good  thing  to  do  to  save  money.   Now  he's  resigned  and  gone  to 
Pasadena,  a  city  that  has  public  power. 

I  wondered  if  that  had  anything  to  do  with  his  resignation. 
I  don" t  know. 

We  don't  know.   Walter's  been  feeling  too  ill  to  talk  with  him.   I 
was  hoping  he'd  get  a  conversation  with  him  before  he  leaves. 
The  second  part  of  that  plan  I  presented  to  the  city  was  to  have  a 
large  atomic  energy  plant  established  in  the  Delta  nren  to  supply 


Baum: 
Packard: 


Baum: 

Packard; 

Mrs. 
Packard: 


Packard: 


548 

Packard:   steam  power  to  firm  up  the  hydropower.   It  was  to  firm  up  the 
hydropower  from  Hetch  Hi-tchy  so  that  the-  City  of  San  Francisco 
would  be  free  from  P.C.M1'..  control.   They  would  have  their  own 
source  of  power  to  firm  up  their  hydropower.   We  got  the  City  of 
San  Francisco  to  agree;  they  were  quite  enthusiastic  about  it. 
They  said  it  was  exactly  what  they  wanted  to  do  and  that  they  would 
be  willing  to  work  with  these  other  people.   The  State  did  the  same 
thing.   The  State  Department  of  Water  Resources  was  anxious  to  go 
ahead  with  it.   The  City  of  Santa  Clara  had  agreed  to  go  along, 
and  so  had  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  California.   We  were 
very  surprised  over  the  Regents,  because  they  came  out  very 
strongly  for  it  nnd  are  still  willing  to  go  into  that  kind  of  ar 
rangement  . 

Baum:     This  was  in  the  cooperation  of  building  a  steam  power  plant. 

Packard:   Yes,  and  the  steam  power  would  be  generated  by  atomic  energy,  at 

least  that  was  the  plan.   It  was  to  be  a  breeder-reactor  that  would 
utilize  plutonium  rather  than  the  uranium.   It  was  much  more  ef 
ficient  than  the  plants  that  the  P.G.&  E.  had  planned  on.   This 
would  produce  public  power,  steam  power. 

Nnum:      It  would  permit  them  to  use  public  power? 

Packard:   They  could  use  flint  to  firm  up  their  hyclropower,  so  they  could  have 
a  complete  system  just  like  the  P.G.&K.  has  where  they  firm  up  their 
hydropower  with  steam  power.   First  San  Francisco  withdrew.   The 
Rapid  Transit,  BART,  was  quite  enthusiastic  about  it  too.   It  was 
all  going  through  and  everyone  was  enthusiastic.   Then  BART  with- 


549 

Packard:   drew  after  the  president  of  the  P.G.&E.  along  with  two  other  men 
had  seen  the  president  of  BART  who  didn't  know  too  much  about 
power  in  the  first  place.   P.G.&E.  iust  argued  them  out  of  it. 
Then  there  wns  political  pressure  on  the  Governor.   The  director 
of  power  of  Snn  Frnnclsc-o,  James  Carr,  said  that  if  the  Governor 
opposed  P.G.&K.  that  tin-  company  would  crucify  him.   The  Governor 
withdrew,  so  the  State  withdrew  from  that. 

Baum:     Carr  is  head  of  Public  Utilities  in  San  Francisco,  isn't  he? 

Packard:   Yes. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   The  P.G.&E.  put  on  a  campaign  in  San  Francisco  and  Berkeley. 

Baum:     Do  you  have  any  opinions  on  how  the  P.G.&E.  defeated  your  proposal 

in  Berkeley? 

Mrs. 

Packard:       They  said  in  public  here  in  the  Berkeley  City  Council  hearing 

that  the  answer  they  gave  to  Mr.  Packard's  presentation  cost  them 
$72,000  to  prepare.   It  was  a  very  long,  detailed  statement  ex 
plaining  and  asking  them  to  write  in  to  the  Council,   and  a  great 
many  of  them  did.   It  was  a  concerted  campaign  which  must  have  cost 
them  a  great  deal  more  money  in  addition  to  the  $72,000.   The 
Berkeley  public  was  not  prepared  and  had  no  background  for  the 
idea  and  it  didn't  look  good  on  the  face  of  it  unless  they  had  had 
a  background  in  the  reasons  for  public  power.   That  was  one  reason, 
Mrs   May  (Bernicr  May,  Berkeley  City  Councilwoman)  explained  to  us, 
that  the  City  Council  changed  their  minds  about  It. 

Also  they  were  overwhelmed  with  the  BART  subway,  which  was 
costing  a  great  deal  of  money  at  the  time,  and  bond  issues  coming 


550 


Mrs. 

Packard:   up  for  the  City  of  Berkeley.   So  that  to  pass  even  a  $15,000 

resolution  for  the  cost  of  the  study  seemed  expensive.   They  re 
ceived  almost  no  letters  from  the  public  endorsing  public  owner 
ship.   They  not  hundreds  of  letters  against  It.   These  W€-re  from 
stockholders  of  the  P.G.c'vE.   Even  a  number  of  people  whom  I  know 
personally  who  are  ordinarily  on  the  liberal  side  felt  that  they 
had  good  service  and  nothing  to  complain  about.   That  was  their 
attitude.   They  didn't  go  into  the  philosophy  of  why  you  do  it  at 
all, 

I  was  defeated  in  the  power  program. 

I  noticed  you  got  John  R.  Ward  to  write  articles  about  it  in  the 
Berkeley  Gazette. 

I  didn't  get  him  to  write  them;  he  wrote  them  himself. 
The  articles  started  out  so  favorably,  the  first  two,  then  they 
went  over  to  the  P.G.&E.  position. 

They've  always  supported  that  sort  of  thing,  the  Berkeley  Gazette, 

that  is. 

It  seems  like  a  miracle  how  you  got  people  interested  in  this  power 

issue.   Even  though  you  didn't  win  you  came  so  close  to  winning  an 

almost  impossible  battle. 

That's  true. 

California  Power  Users  Association 

Baum:     How  did  you  gather  people  together  and  get  so  much  action  going? 
Pneknrd:   The  nd  hoc-  commit  tec-  became  n  permanent  committee.   We  organized 


Packard; 
Baum: 

Packard : 
Bnum: 


Mrs. 
Packard: 


Baum: 


Packard: 


551 

Packard:   the  California  Power  Users  Association  and  I  was  elected  presi 
dent.   From  then  on  I  was  acting  in  that  capacity  and  I  still 
am,  hut  1  must  resign  now  since  I  can't  carry  it  on.  (June, 1966) 
We  had  a  number  of  young  fellows  who  were  very  much  sold  on  the 

power  issue  ;uul  willing  to  spend  their  time  on  it  and  to  help  me. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  think  it  could  be  explained  in  this  way:   There  has  not  been-- 

since  Louis  Bartlett  was  leader  of  public  power,  and  organized 
the  East  Bay  Municipal  Utility  District  under  his  administration 
as  mayor  of  Berkeley—any  special  interest  in  public  power  because 
the  P.G.&E.  has  served  the  whole  area  efficiently.   The  philosophy 
of  public  power  hasn't  been  uppermost  for  any  reason,  but  there 
have  always  been  a  few  people  more  studious  of  the  economics  of 
the  situation,  among  them  a  few  people  in  the  CDC.   Keith  Murray 
has  been  a  political  reporter,  writing  articles  for  some  of  the 
Democratic  publications.   He  has  been  on  the  CDC  and  was  one  of 
the  faithful  few  who  worked  hard  on  this  committee.   They  are  all 
people  employed  in  other  fields.   Dr.  J.B.  Neilands  is  in  the 
Biology  Department  at  the  University  of  California.   Charles  Smith 
is  in  public  relations  and  printing.  Also,  Paul  Taylor,  Alan  Temko, 
Bill  Reich,  and  Keith  Murray. 
Baum:     Dr.  Neilands  was  the  one  who  worked  so  hard  against  the  Bodega  Bay 

proposal . 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Yes.   The  Bodega  Bay  people,  Dave  Pesonen  for  example,  was  hired 

by  the  anti  Bodega  Bay  committee  to  defeat  the  Bodega  Bay  plant 
proposed  by  the  P.G.&E.   Their  successful  battle  against  the  P.G.&E. 


552 

Mrs. 

Packard:   publicized  the  power  issue,  at  least  as  far  as  atomic  power  goes, 

Dave  Pesonen,  if  he  hadn't  been  spending  so  much  time  on  his  law 
degree,  probably  would  have  spent  more  time  on  this  committee. 

There  were  a  number  of  other  people,  like  the  group  down  in 
Fresno.   Merge  Bulbulinn  and  George  Ball  is  have  been  a  focus  for 
this  kind  of  thinking  in  the  Fresno  area.   They  had  a  little  group 
together  clown  there  nnd  were  easy  to  unite  with.   In  Palo  Alto 
they  have  had  public  power  for  a  long  time.   Frank  Duveneck,  an 
electrical  engineer  who  lives  in  Los  Altos,  was  also  sold  on  the 
public  power  idea  and  was  willing  to  come  up  to  join  the  committee. 
The  kind  of  people  who  were  pulled  together  were  all  very  dedicated 
to  the  idea  and  willing  to  spend  time  to  work  for  it. 

Baum:     Could  you  tell  me  about  the  Faculty  Club  lunch  meetings?  Was  that 
a  method  you  used? 

Packard:   Our  committee  always  met  at  the  Faculty  Club.   I  reserved  a  special 
room  where  we  would  hold  the  meetings.   It  attracted  a  great  many 
people  nnd  made  n  very  nice  arrangement.   The  mere  fact  that  we 
could  meet  at  the  Faculty  Club  added  a  great  deal  to  it, 

Baum:     How  often  did  you  do  that? 

Packard:   About  every  three  weeks,  I  would  estimate. 

Finally  the  idea  spread  to  the  extent  that  little  towns  like 
Biggs  which  already  had  public  power  joined  as  organizations. There  was 
$25  membership  fee  for  organizations  to  join. 

When  they  had  the  first  all  day  conference  at  the  Shattuck  Hotel 
all  of  these  people  attended.   At  that  time  they  organized  a  member 
ship  list  with  n  yearly  individual  fee  of  $5.00.   They  put  out  a 


553 

\ 

Packard:   written  pamphlet  reporting  the  proceedings  and  talks  given  at  that 
meeting.   That  was  compiled  out  of  the  thinking  and  support  of* 

these  people. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   A  few  people  gave  $100  or  whatever  they  could  afford. 

We  got  the  support  of  the  Santa  Barbara  Oceanview  News,  the 
paper  Collin  Miller  works  on.   He  strongly  supported  us  in  his 
paper,  which  is  Thomas  Braden's  paper.   That  was  one  way  we  got 
widespread  interest.   There  were  about  sixty  people  who  paid  mem 
bership  fees  and  two  or  three  organizations,  like  the  Biggs  city 
council  of  four  people  who  all  came  to  the  annual  meeting. 

Packard:   I  think  the  controlling  factor  probably  was  that  Reginald  Price  of 
the  State  Department  of  Water  Resources  had  to  find  some  outlet  for 
his  power  other  than  the  P.G.&E.   He  had  to  get  a  market  for  his 
power,  so  the  state  was  very  interested  in  the  plan.   If  we  could 
get  this  big  plant  going  then  the  state  could  sell  their  hydro- 
power  from  the  Feather  River  Project  to  that  organization  and 
sell  it  to  Berkeley.   By  the  way,  the  Regents  had  asked  for  an  al 
location  of  public  power  for  the  Berkeley  campus,  and  the  P.G.&E. 
had  refused  to  give  it  to  them',  that  is  they  refused  to  wheel  the 
power  over  on  the  P.G.&E.  line  from  Tracy  to  the  campus.   Our  as 
sociation  contacted  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  the  Governor, 
and  others  and  finally  did  get  an  allocation  of  66  megawatts  of 
power  for  the  Berkeley  campus,  which  is  a  very  liberal  allocation, 
saving  them  approximately  one  million  dollars  per  year.   That  was 
the  reason  the  Regents  were  for  our  plan. 


554 

Mrs. 

Packard:   The  P.G.M1'.  has  n  rule  that  they  don't  cut  out  one  area  of  a  city 

and  serve  it  public  power.   The  campus  is  in  the  city  of  Berkeley, 
which  is  served  by  the  P.C.&E.   So  they  refused  to  wheel  the  power 
across  from  Tracy,  costing  the  taxpayers  one  million  dollars  extra 
a  year  at  the  time  that  they're  discussing  raising  the  tuition  to 
the  students,  which  would  approximately  balance  the  money  they 
would  pay  to  the  P.G.&E.  for  private  power. 

Packard:   The  saving  would  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  public  power  wouldn't 
have  to  pay  federal  income  tax.   The  difference  between  the  costs 
of  public  and  private  power  would  have  enabled  Berkeley  to  pay  off 

the  bonds  nnd  still  make  a  profit. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Mrs.  Bern ice  May  said  that  while  she  was  in  sympathy  with  the  philos 
ophy  of  it  herself,  they  were  under  such  pressure  from  BART  that 
they  felt  it  was  not  wise  to  spend  that  much  money. 

Packard:   Well,  anyway,  it  was  a  good  fight.   I  had  to  drop  the  fight  for 

public  power  then.   Emmy  Lou  went  to  Helsinki  for  the  Peace  Confer 
ence.   When  she  came  back  she  attended  the  Afro-Asian  Conference  in 
Jakarta,  representing  "Women  for  Peace",  and  came  back  with  the  flu. 
T  got  the  llu  nnd  It  hit  me  very  badly.   I've  been  ill  ever  since 
and  have  hml  to  withdraw  from  nil  these  things.   I  had  to  drop  my 
power  program  because  I'm  not  strong  enough  to  go  ahead. 


555 


Packard's  Book  on  Economic  Philosophy 

Packard:       But  I  do  have  encouragement  from  the  Pacific  Books  in  Palo 
Alto.   They  have  said  that  they  will  publish  my  book.   They  are 
coming  up  this  week  to  go  over  the  manuscript,  so  I  hope  we'll 
have  my  book  out  within  a  year.   That  will  be  the  climax  of  my 
career  because  that's  what  I've  been  working  on,  on  and  off,  for 
many  years. 

Baum:     What's  the  title  of  your  book? 

Packard:   I  don't  know.   I  have  several  titles. 

Baum:     This  is  a  complete  economics. 

Packard:   Yes.   It's  a  philosophy,  not  economics  so  much  as  a  philosophy 

of  life. 

Mrs. 

Packard:   I  would  say  an  economic  philosophy. 

Packard:   It  does  concern  economics  very  strongly. 

[Added  in  writing,  September  1,  1967,  after  Mr.  Packard's  death] 

Baum:     Mrs.  Packard,  could  you  add  a  note  on  the  economics  book  at  this 

time? 

Mrs. 

Packard:   As  of  the  above  date,  nothing  further  has  been  done  about  the  pub 
lication  of  the  book.   The  Pacific  Books  representative  went  over 
the  copy  and  agreed  to  submit  it  to  readers  if  my  husband  would 
agree  to  remove  a  couple  of  chapters  which  he  thought  better  to 
leave  out.   He  agreed  to  this  and  two  readers  finally  made  their 
reports,  which  were  not  very  favorable.   One  man  said  he  thought 
it  should  be  published,  but  it  needed  more  work  done  on  it.   Since 


556 

Mrs. 

Packard:   Mr.  Packard  was  not  able  to  do  this,  it  stands  now  as  it  was  at 

that  time. 

A  grandson-in-law  on  the  University  of  California  at  Santa 
Cruz  faculty  had  three  copies  made  of  the  book.   He  has  hoped  to 
possibly  publish  some  selected  chapters  as  articles  in  an  ap 
propriate  magazine,  but  so  far,  no  one  has  had  time  to  do  this 
work. 

As  to  the  economic  philosophy  in  back  of  the  book,  I  believe 
a  brief  history  of  how  it  was  started  in  the  first  place  may  be 
of  interest  at  this  point.   When  Mr.  Packard  started  his  first 
job  after  college  with  the  University  of  California  in  1909,  the 
job  assignment  was  to  make  a  two-year  study  of  the  Imperial  Valley 
and  of  desert  agriculture  in  order  to  determine  if  conditions  in 
that  newly  developed  irrigated  area  were  unique  enough  to  warrant 
an  especial  Experiment  Station  in  Imperial  Valley,  devoted  to 
desert  agriculture.   After  due  consideration  of  the  report,  it  was 
decided  by  the  University  that  a  new  Experiment  Station  was  desir 
able.   So  we  continued  on  with  the  University,  living  in  El  Centre, 
while  Mr.  Packard  chose  the  forty  acres  for  the  land  at  Meloland 
and  then  proceeded  to  build  the  new  house,  barn,  office  building 
and  a  cottage  for  another  employee  laborer  on  this  Experiment  Sta 
tion.   The  story  of  this  development  and  work  has  been  told  pre 
viously  in  this  history. 

We  lived  for  seven  years  there  and  as  the  work  and  ideas  de 
veloped,  Mr.  Packard  came  to  feel  that  while  the  gathering  of  facts 


557 

Mrs. 

Packard:   was  important,  it  was  still  more  important  that  the  results  be 

made  known  to  the  grass  roots  farmer  —  that  he  was  willing  to 
use  the  knowledge  for  his  benefit  if  it  could  be  distributed  to 
him.   (1)   Fact  finding  was  basic  and  important,  but  (2)  it  was 
still  more  important  to  distribute-  that  knowledge  and  information 
in  an  educational  way.   So  when  the  Farm  liureaus  were  being  set  up 
in  California,  he  organized  the  new  Imperial  Valley  Farm  Bureau  to 
help  educate  in  new  techniques  which  would  help  farmers  to  prosper 
and  produce  more  food  --  control  pests,  and  the  like. 

So  the  next  logical  move  was  to  accept  the  position  with  the 
University  of  California  as  Assistant  State  Leader  of  Farm  Ad 
visors,  with  his  territory  from  Berkeley  south  to  the  Mexican 
border.   The  experience  here,  again  at  the  grass  roots,  made  him 
realize  that: (3)  something  in  the  financial  and  economic  set-up  of 
farming  was  still  more  basic  to  a  balanced  division  of  profits  and 
a  decent  living  for  farmers.   Banks  loaned  money  for  short  periods 
and  called  the  loans  promptly  if  payments  were  not  made  on  time. 
The  interest  rates  were  high  --  considering  the  low  profits.   Some 
thing  was  askew. 

At  that  point,  the  then  new  theories  of  Dr.  Elwood  Mead  ap 
peared  with  the  thesis  of  long  term  loans  for  farmers  at  a  lower 
rate  of  interest  than  the  usual  commercial  loans  to  the  well- 
established  business  firms.   Since  banks  could  not  or  would  not, 
as  the  case  might  be,  the  State  of  California  was  to  buy  the  land 
for  a  project,  help  and  advise  in  the  development  of  it  and  give 


558 

Mrs. 

Packard:   loans  of  state  money  to  the  new  settlers  for  twenty  years  with 

a  low  rate  of  interest. 

Rather  unfortunately  for  about  everyone,  this  plan  was  started 
in  1919  at  the  beginning  of  the  great  depression  which  culminated 
in  the  disaster  of  1929.   No  one  of  the  planners  recognized  that 
agriculture  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  U.S.  was  already  in  distress 
and  small  farmers  were  being  sold  out...   They  drove  west  with  the 
remnants  of  their  small  assets  to  try  for  a  new  start  in  California- 
followed  later  by  the  Oakies  and  Arkies  who  were  later  immortalized 
in  the  Steinbeck  book  The  Grapes  of  Wrath. 

As  one  rather  successful  settler  said,  many  years  later,  "The 
Delhi  Project  was  started  at  the  wrong  time  and  had  no  chance  to 
succeed.   If  it  had  been  started  twenty  years  later  when  World  War  II 
needed  food  production,  anyone  could  have  succeeded."  It  was  as 
simple  as  that.   Planners  had  not  yet  learned  the  facts  of  life. 

The  Resettlement  Administration  was  then  organized  under  the 
Roosevelt  Administration  to  try  to  mop  up  the  mess.   Also,  the 
National  Youth  Association  (N.Y.A. )  was  organized  under  Aubrey 
Williams   to  try  to  give  some  basic  education  to  the  youth  in  some 
of  the  backward  southern  states.   Later,  while  doing  a  consulting 
job  for  Mr.  Williams,  Mr.  Packard  observed  that  these  young  people 
had  no  real  background  understanding  of  the  economic  structure  back 
of  the  world  they  had  to  face  in  making  a  living.   What  they  needed, 
was  a  sort  of  "kindergarten"  course  in  a  simple  "Economics  Primer" 


559 

Mrs. 

Packard:   which  could  bo  easily  understood  by  these  students.   So  the  sug 
gestion  was  made  that  he  prepare  one  for  this  purpose  --  maybe  it 
would  take  a  couple  of  months  time.   But  it  proved  not  to  be 
simple  at  all.   But  as  a  project,  for  that  period,  it  had  to  be 
given  up.   But  the  germ  of  the  idea  remained.   Baffled  and  frus 
trated  by  trying  to  solve  the  problem  to  his  own  satisfaction,  he 
began  putting  down  his  ideas  on  paper.   As  ideas  and  conditions 
changed  drastically  with  the  coming  in  of  farm  tool  mechanization, 
so  the  book  must  be  brought  up-to-date  to  fit  conditions.   During 
the  many  years  while  he  was  too  busy  on  various  jobs  to  write  about 
them,  ideas  were  evolving  and  when  he  retired  in  1954  he  set  out 
seriously  to  finally  write  the  economics  primer.   Whatever  is  left 
is  the  result  of  those  years  of  pondering  and  study  first  hand  in 
the  field,  and  in  the  reading  of  many  books. 

He  never  stopped  working  in  his  mind.   When  he  died,  a  good 
friend  wrote  the  following  tribute:   "He  was  a  man  of  peace  and 
vision."   Another  amended  this  by  saying:   "He  was  a  valiant  man 
of  peace  and  vision."  He  had  an  all  too  rare  quality  and  ability 
of  entering  into  the  lives  of  the  grass  roots  people  with  whom  he 
was  working  so  they  thought  of  him  as  a  friend  who  worked  along 
with  them.   This  was  especially  true  in  Greece  with  the  peasants  ,  who 
were  naturally  unfamiliar  with  a  foreigner  who  had  come  "to  do 
them  good"  --  they  had  to  be  convinced,  and  they  were!   Their  out 
pourings  of  flowers,  gifts  of  all  kinds  expressing  their  love  for 
him  in  many  ways,  was  the  final  climax  of  appreciation  of  a  life 


560 


Mrs. 


Packard:    mostly  devoted  to  trying  to  make  the  world  a  better  place  for 
human  beings  to  dwell. 


561 
APPENDIX 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  SAMUEL  WARE  PACKARD  562 

IMPERIAL  VALLEY  FAREWELL  -  1917  564 

DELHI  LAND  SETTLEMENT  --  newspaper  clippings  565 

MEMORANDUM  TO  GOVERNOR  REXFORD  TUGWELL  IN  DEFENSE  OF  THE  LAND  AUTHORITY  568 

W.  E.  PACKARD,  A  GREAT  AMERICAN  FRIEND  OF  GREECE  from  BULLETIN  of  the 

Greek  Committee  on  Irrigation  and  Drainage  (G.C.I.D.)>  Nov. -Dec. , 1966  574 

HOW  TO  WIN  WITH  FOREIGN  AID,  Article  by  Walter  Packard,  The  Nation. 

April  8,  1961  579 

THE  COOPERATIVE  CONSUMER,  February  15,  1961  582 

EXAMPLES  OF  PUBLIC  POWER  FIGHT  FOR  BERKELEY  583 

OBITUARIES  586 

LETTER  FROM  MRS.  PACKARD  TO  MRS.  WILLA  BAUM  591 


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Illinois  of  Today. 
The  Columbia  Biographical  l>iction 
"iallery  of  Representative  Men  of 
Illinois  Volume,  pages  3&7-3&S. 
Sketches  and  Portraits  of  Represe 
Women  in  December  I-^sue  of  S 

America,  page  775. 
Mr.  Packard  retired  from  the  pi 

I'.'IO  and  moved  lo  Pasadena.  Cal. 
reside*  at  14:l!t  Xorth  Los  Iloble*  Av< 

bard.  111.,  and  has  three  daughter 

AOTE. 

For  further  information  concerning 
Bench  and  Bar  of  Illinois.  Vol.  •>.  pa 
Industrial  Chicago.  Vol.  ti.  pages  24!<- 
Men  of  Illinois,  page  1S5. 

1889.  that  the  territory  attained  the 
hoodT'  Mr.  Packard  is  felicitous  a 
men*f-thoroughly  in  earnest,  never 
saries.  and  yet  a  foe  worthy  the  stee 
opponent.  Like  his  ancestors  for  r 
\\f  -e  a  «tnrt  adherent  of  orthodox 
was  married.  June  23.  1874.  to  Clara 

mission  of  the  territory  on  the  gi 
legislature  had  aided  and  abetted  a 
tion  it  ought  not  to  be  admitted  to 
states  until  purged  of  this  disgra 
and  pamphlets,  scattered  profusely 
of  the  Union,  he  created  so  stron 
favor  of  his  claim  that  it  was  fou 
obtain  a  vote  for  the  admission 
The  Dakota  delegate  informed  his 
the  bill  could  not  be  passed  until  t 
matter  was  settled,  and  advised  t 
legislature  favorable  to  payment, 
refunding  act  was  passed  in  the  sp 
the  matter  was  adjusted:  but  it  was 

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U  «DAY,  JUNE  30,  1917 


BY  VflLlEY 
WITH  HUE 


More  Than  40  Residents  of  Imper 
ial  Countv  Meet  and  Discuss 
Work  of  Retiring  Superintendent 
of  Experiment  Farm — 'Flowers 
For  the  Living"  S'cgan 


3f  a 


Seldom  does  it  fall  to  the  1"' 
man  to  hear  so  many  fine  i limits  said 
about  himself  as  fell  upon  (lie  far:1, 
ef  Waller  K.  Packard  last  ni.^lit, 
when  a  bunch  of  liis  l'i  '  ad- 

•nircrs  sal  tiered  ai  a  iiamn'.et  al 
Barbara  V.'or:  h  hot.-]  ui  lionor  him 
prior  to  his  departure  from  ihe  val 
ley.  Packard  will  leave  in  -i  few  days 
I'c"  Berkeley,  to  superintend  I  lie  fa  fin 
advisi  r  work  for  Central  and  South 
ern  California. 

More  than  HI  valley  residents  most 
ol  whom  have  known  Packard  person 
ally  and  observed  his  tireless  work  as 
superintendent  of  the  unuersii.- 
1  eriment  farm  at  Meloland,  sat  ai  the 
least  with  him  and  listened  to  1iie 
euolo.'-iies  delivered  by  ihe  speakers. 

••[•'li.wers   Tor   the   livins,"     w;is     (lie 
;  lo^an    (il    the    evening,    from    the    lime 
Toaslmaslcr    Phil    W.      Urooks,      close 
niend    and    neighbor  of    Paclcar:!,    wa.-; 
introduced   to   the   crowd   by    President 
l.offlus    of    the    County    Fan;    i!n; 
until   the   close   of   the   program.   Thn-e 
editors,  O.  K  Tout   of  the  Progress.  1C. 
[•'.  Howe  of  the  Zanjero  and  Ai.  D. 
t,er   of   the   Hrawley   News,   bl 
Id    the    excellent    work    done    by    Pack 
-ard   in   the    valley   and   expressed    deep' 

.    at    his   leaving.   The   i 
expressed   Kironsly,  howovor.     ti 
his    promotion   to   one   of   the   "h; 
up"   posilions,   1'ackard   will    l>e   enabl 
ed  to  pi'ove  an  e\yn  sr-ater  u-iend  for 
Imperial    valley   than   he    has     in     the 
past. 

Those  at  the  table  last  nipiit  were: 

Arthur  K.  Palmer.  Argtle  .Mel. a 
i  l-laii.  1.  1!.  Suryieh,  T.  Ki'iotl.  C.  I 
Praffenberger,  A.  M.  Nelson,  A.  15. 
Miulistm,  Mik-  U  i  I .tebert, 

C.   H.    Connett,   Pert    .1.    C»ilv     Mrs     ' 
P>    Tout,   O.   H.   Tout.   \i.    I). 
•1  .  Willis,  c.  O.  lutllis.   Dr.  L.   M.  Hurt, 
Pasadena;   Mrs.  Gr  US,  Grovor 

I.offtus,    VV.iller   K.    I'atkard.    PhiMp    W. 
R I'OOks,    K.    !•'.    Howe.   Mrs.  C.   Richani   . 
Clifford    Kichards,    Mrs.    F.    L.    Sill1 
I'    Sar:;i-nl,  W.   U.   1-ienau,   Mi's.   W.   U. 
l.ieiiau.    Mrs.    O.      L.      Jani",s.      O.      L. 
.T.inies.    Mrs.    P.    I.    DouKhe'iy.    Paul    J. 
I  'ouulieriy,    Mrs.   Orcar     Sv.e.-ne.v,   Os 
<  ar  Sweeney,  K.   li.  \  aile,  John   Ii, 
.;.    F.    \Vaiei  man,    I',    li.    P,o\,  man,    Ja 
F     S.    I  lowland,    Mrs.    P.    I!.    Chrti 
!•    I!.  Christian.   I ).   C.     BitU-r,     A.     L. 
Richmond. 


•  « -T3&-r_^7~~ 
A  Social  Delusion1/       *  ' 

The  Delhi  land  colony  in  California  is  a 
failure,  Its  projector's  portrait  has  been 
hanged  as  an  effigy,  the  Governor  has 
signed  a  bill  appropriating  $260,000  to  help 
I  the  settlers  and  clean  up  the  mess,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  California  will  take  the  ad 
vice  of  the  special  legislative  committee  that 
investigated  the  fiasco  and  recommended 
that  the  state  never,  never  get  itself  entan 
gled  in  another  land  colonization  scheme. 
The  whole  thing  is  regrettable;  and  what 
the  public  needs  to  understand  about  it  is 
that  under  the  conditions  the  outcome  was 
inevitable. 

It  is  not  likely  that  the  main  mover  in  the 
project  had  any  other  than  a  patriotic  and 
an  altruistic  motive.  But  that  makes  the 
case  against  this  sort  of  enterprise  all  the 
stronger.  Its  failure  can  not  be  charged  to 
dishonesty  of  intention,  but  arose  from  a 
fallacious  theory  of  society  and  from  accom 
panying  delusions  about  human  nature. 

There  were  misrepresentations.  They  I 
grow  frequently  out  of  idealism,  for  facts 
are  never  rosy  enough  for  the  idealist. 
Dreamers  are  hardly  to  be  blamed  for  fail 
ing  to  define  their  dreams,  for  they  love 
them,  and  hug  ttfem,  and  if  they  try  to  limit 
them  with  precision  the  dreams  vanish.. 
Nor  are  visionaries  to  be  held  accountable 
for  falling  to  employ  business  methods, 
which  seem  hard  and  cold  and  inhumanly 
calculating.  But  business  methods  are  just 
those  by  which  business  men  attempt  to 
exclude  error  and  then  provide  against  the 
error  they,  know  still  lurks  in  all  their 
prophesies.  Business  men  either  would.uQt- 
have  attempted  this  experiment  on  the 
lands  at  Delhi,  or  they  would  have  de 
manded  better  capitalization  on  the  part  of 
the  settlers;  and  knowing  something  of 
hun^an  nature  they  never  would  have  rep 
resented  to  them  that  if  they  did  not  make 
good  the  State  of  California  would  see  them 
through,  for  there  is  no  better  way  to  assure 
failure  than  to  supply  paternalistic  assur 
ance  of  success. 

The  underlying  philosophy  was  wrong. 
This  was  an  excursion  into  paternalism,  or 
state  socialism.  It.  will  not  work,  here  or 
anywhere,  now  or  ut  any  future  timn.  Men 
need  the  spur  of  necessity  to  drive  them  to 
their  best  exertions,  and  the  reward^  of 
private  property  to  keep  them  "everlastingly 
at  it."  Telling  them  the  government  will 
see  them  through  is  the  best  way  to  paralyze 
initiative  and  curtail  endeavor. 


Most  of  the  federal  government's  reclama 
tion  schemes  are  in  about  the  same  fix  as 
the  Delhi  colony.  Orland,  in  this  state,  Is 
said  to  be  the  only  really  successful  one. 
They  are  all  off  the  same  bolt  of  cloth :  state 
socialism,  thinly  disguised.  K  is  better  to 
let  the  individual  work  out  his  own  salva 
tion,  According  to  the  established  and  time- 
honored  American  principle  of  root  hog,  or 
die..  As  for  reclaiming  the  land,  it  can  wait. 
•"When  business  men  get  around  to  putting 
water  on  it  because  they  see  a  demand  for  it 
they  will  do  it,  and  it  won't  cost  the  settlers 
any  more  than  socialism  has  cost  the  settlers 
at  Delhi. 


566 


UTH    ABOUT    DELHI 


liy    BDWARD   1  .    Ill  \MS. 

(San     Francisco    Chronicle.) 


of  the  press  arc 
i  illoii/\  I:  ii  dciium'laticin  of  lliu 
>elhl  plate  land  settlement*  In 
Merced  rounty  Anil  of  every 
body  who  has  had  anything  to 
•  •  \l  .;  t  h  It.  It  may  be  a  \vuk- 
ness.  but  my  nould  does  yearn  to  K<> 
to  the  help  of  the  under  dog.  Thnt 
Impulse  Is  strengthened  by  refer 
ence  to  the  fllen  of.  thn  same  press 
a  few  yearn  ago,  wherein  the  nn.inn 
persons  worn  net  high  on  a  pedestal 
HM  exemplars  oC  wise  men  of  noblo 
aehlevoment.  Hosldes,  It  Is  a  matter 
that  I  happen  to  know  something 
about. 

And  lot  mo  say  at  the  beginning 
that  the  first  time  1  saw  the  settlo- 
men  I  was  convinced  that  there 
would  He  heavy  losses  for  some 
body.  1  was  also  convinced  that  In 
the  end  Delhi  would  bo  a  prosper 
ous  and  happy  community,  A  great 
part  of  It  was  an  iaroa  of  drifting 
uand. 

My  belief  -was  based  on  the 
fact  that  Komo  years  before  I  hnd 
been  employed  by  the  executors  of 
a  largo  New  Kngland  estate  to  dis 
cover.  If  1  could,  and  report  on  the 
HOUTCO  of  the  Irlnh  dividends  which 
the  heirs  were  receiving.  That 
property  hud  heen  nn  uroa  of  drlft- 
IIIK  Hiinil  luid  VWIM  MO  no  longer.  The 
noil  dlnpljK-iiineiit  li.v  the  wind  had 
been  stopped. 

'  It  WUH  evident  to  m«  that  the 
Delhi  drift  could  bo  stopped  by 
the  same  methods.  It  costal  money, 
but  Hand  drift  was  not  the*  trouble 
In  the  case  which  I  studied,  except 
in  BO  far  as  tho  cost  increased  the 
Investment  upon  which  dividends 
were  expected.  Thero  was  no  ques 
tion  in  that  case  of  Incompetence 
or  dishonesty.  Neither  Is  there  at 
Delhi. 

I  might  say,  in  regard  to  In 
competence  <at  Delhi;  that  those 
necessarily  charged  with  the  duty 
of  selecting  and  establishing  set 
tlers,  while  thoroughly  competent 
from  agricultural  and  ,  engineering 
standpoints,  were  rather  too  Ideal 
istic  for  that  particular  situation, 
and  were  Impelled  to  minimize  tho 
difficulties  to  be  overcome,  and 
magnify.  In  some  cases,  tho  Com 
petence  nnd  good  will  of  nomo  net- 
tiers.  In  this  they  were  aided  by 
tho  locnl  and  oilier  press,  which 
loudly  prorlnlmi'd  the  great  oppor 
tunity  which  the  ntule  wax  offer- 
In  tf. 

1  have  a  dim  reeollortlon  of  u 
cnnvnmAllon  with  immnnna  In  au 
thority  telllnir  mit  that  nnn  reimon 
for  selecting  thin  tract  WH.H  to  nliow 
that  the  ntiile  could  succeed  where 


private  effort  would  not  venture.  If 
that  wan  the  case,  which  I  cannot 
aver,  IIH  my  recollection  of  the  con 
versation  Is  loo  dim,  I  think  U 
should  have  been  made  more  pro* 
luliicnL  But  1  know  a  great  many 
competent  and  succennful  men,  and 
I  do  not  think  anyone  would  deny 
that  he  had  made  many  mistakes. 
There  has  been  a  loss  and  tho  state 
must  stand  It. 

What  I  protest  against  Is  the 
spirit  of  hate  Injected  Into  the 
discussion.  A  certain  class  of 
real  estate  men  have  always  op 
posed  state  Interference.  It  would 
he  easy  to  find  settlements  organ 
ized  by  them  with  loss  to  settlers. 
1  can  Imagine  that  political  men 
might  enjoy  magnifying  errors  of 
their  precedessors  In  political  In 
terest. 

There  have  been  other  failures 
and  recoveries.  The  highly  pros 
perous  Modesto  district,  not  far 
from  Delhi,  whose  low  Interest 
bonds  can  be  turned  Into  cash  over 
night  any  day,  went  through  a  re 
organization  Involving  great  losses. 
Why  p4ck  on  Delhi?  Why  not  be 
fair? 

It  nhoiild  be  remembered  that  It 
In  the  mime  board  which  w»  hold 
renponHlhln  for  the,  "failure"  of 
linlht  which  IM  aim)  renponNlbln  for 
tho  triumphantly  aucccsnful  Dur 
ham  colony,  about  which  we  hear 
nothing.  The  following  are  their 
names: 

Klwood  Mead,  chairman:  Morti 
mer  Flelshhacker,  Prescott  P.  Cogs 
well,  Frank  P.  Flint,  William  H. 
Langdon. 

It  is  said  that  they  "paid  too 
much"  for  Delhi  land.  That  Is  out 
of  my  line,  but  if  1  were  setting  out 
to  cheat  somebody  on  a  land  deal 
I  should  hlint  for  a  different  bunch. 

The  Durham  settlement,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Chlco,  has  been  a 
success  from  the  beginning.  Set 
tlers  are  prospering  as  individuals 
and  have  built  up  a  fine  community. 

As  between  Durham  and  Delhi 
there  were  these  differences:  The 
sand  drift  *t  Delhi,  of  which  suf 
ficient  has  be«n  said:  even  more 
Important  Is  that  fact  that  when 
settlement  began  ut  Durham  war 
prices  for  material  and  labor  ha<l 
hnrdly  begun  to  'bo  felt,  while  the 
nelllern  got  full  boom  prices  /or 
products.  The  Improvements  At 
I'elhl  were  mart"  ut  thn  very  top 
of  the.  boom  and  thn  flrnt  productH 
Mold  nl  the  depth  of  thn  Hlump.  l,<-i 
UN  treat  our  public,  nnrvanti  de 
cently.  Homo  of  them  may  deserve 
II.  J,et  IIH  lake  a  chance. 


')    M;iy    I1 


IN  REPLX  1 
/TO  RICHARDSON 


567 


Reclamation    Director    Says 
Politics  //arms  Delhi 


Suggests    Governing    Board 
Free  to  Fix  Policies 


Says  Colony  Was  Started  in 
Unfavorable  Conditions 


[BT    A.    P.    NJOHT   WIRE) 

BERKELEY,  May  25.— The 
State's  land  settlement  colony  >t 
Delhi  wag  said  by  •  Dr.  Elwood 
Mead,  Federal  director  of  reclama-. 
tion,  to  be  suffering  "principally 
from  aT  political  malady  and  not 
from  a  natural  Illness,"  in  a  state 
ment  which  he  ordered  released 
for  r/ubllcation  here  today. 

Dr.  Mead  was  formerly  Land 
Settlement  Commissioner  of  Cali 
fornia,  and  In  that  capacity  di 
rected  the  organization  of  the  Del 
hi  colony. 

Gov.  TUchardson  Issued  a  state 
ment  In  Sacramlnto  yesterday  In 
which  he  said  that  "this  colony  Is 
a  monument  to  the  visionary 
schemes  and  Impractical  ideas  of 
Elwoorl  Mead." 

--'"What  i*»ttit-  ha»'inrtf«red  from 
most  IH  the  political  changes  which 
have  made  It  Impossible  to  follow 
any  definite  policy  for  the  develop 
ment  of  the  colony,"  the  .  Mead 
stntement  said.  "California  should 
not  open  up  any  more  land  until 
It  can  provv  that  it  can  take  caro 
of  what  it  has.  The  colonization 
project  should  be  removed  entire 
ly  from  politics  and  should  have  a. 
•  governing  oarbd  which  would  have 
complete  freedom  to  fix  Its  policies. 

"There  is  no  question  that  the 
n«ttlers  at  Delhi  havo  had  diffi 
culties,  but  the  men  on  their  own 
farms  have  had  difficulties  also. 
The  development  of  Delhi  was  un 
fortunately  begun  at  an  unhappy 
time,,  when  agricultural  interests 
everywhere  were  In  a  particularly 
bad  condition. 

"It  has  been  said  that  we  picked" 
out  a  sandy  waste     for  the   Delhi 
project.      It    Is    true    Delhi    was    a  i 
sandy  waste.     But  what   was  Tur-  ' 
lock  and  the  surrounding  territory 
before      their      development?        It 
««amj  to   mo  that  ten'  tons   of  nl- 
fsjfii  to  the  acre   Is  a  pretty  good 
showing   for   a   Handy   waste. 

"Among  those  who  claimed  that 
things  were  misrepresented  to 
them  at  Delhi  were  a  number 
who  worked  on  the  tract  for  ft  year 
before  they  took  up  farms  of  thtlr^ 
own,  and  who  knew  exactly  what 
thc^rontl'Mons  were.  , 

"7  h.'ive  refrained  from  entering 
Into  this  before  because  It  'lid  not 
xeern  wise  to  become  entangled  In 
«.ny  jiolltleiil  controversy.  But  I 
feel  now  that  I  must  make  a  state 
ment,  for  two  reasons.  Klrst,  thH 
attack  Is  doing  datnnjfo  to  thn 
Htate,  and  secondly,  It  Is  doing 
darnano  to  me.  I  am  now  engaged 
In  national  reclamation  work  and  j 
the  government  cannot  afford  to 
have  a  man  In  authority  who  i* 
attacked  by  his  own  Htate,  no  mat- 
ter  what  the  politics  of  the  case' 
might  be."  * 

Dr.  Mead  said,  further,  that  th» 
legislature  of  four  years  ago 
"killed  the  reclamation  hoard,  the 
body  which  had  established  the 
colony,  by  putting  it  under  the 


1) 


568 


Memorandum  to  Governor  Rexford  Tugwell   in  defense 
of  the  Land  Authority 


January  26,    1946 

MEMORANDUM  TO:      The  Governor 

FROM  :      V.ulter  E-    Packard 

The  attached   statement  covers  the  work  of  the  Land 
Authority  in  very  brief  fashion.     I  en  not  at  all  sure 
that  it   is  just  what  you  want.      If  you  need  more  data, 
you  can  get  it  from  the  letter  which  I  prepared  for  l£r. 
Aoosta  Velarde  in  answer  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce's 
article  in  the  Economic  Review.     A  oopy  of  this  letter 
is  enclosed. 


Welter  £.  Packard 
Consulting  Agricultural  Engineer 


VEP:mtr 

2  Inolosures 


d  Ltateaent  on  Land  Authority  AOtivitlea 
for  the  Annual  Measese  to  tha  Legislature 


.'  atie  factory  program  la  belnfc  Mid*  In  the  pur  one  ae  of 
lone!   under   the    yrovieluns  of  the   1941  Land   Law.     To  data,   tba 
Lead  Authority  hue  acquired  39,4fl&  aoraa  of  land   formerly  la 
corporate  holdin&a  of  taore  than  ftoo  aoraa  and  la  now  negotia 
ting  for  tha  purchase  of  an  additional  53,000  aoraa.     Together 
thaaa  properties  aooount  for  35%  of  all    unlawful   holdings  under 
the   Aot.      lu  addition,    15,193  ouardaa  of   land  have  been  purohss- 
ad  by  the  Land  Authority  under  Title  V  of  tha  Land  Law.     Thla 
lend  h.-iB  baan   dlatrll>utad  to  14,607  aftr*£adoa  in  plota  averaging 
1.03  ouardna  per  family. 

It  would   be  umviee,   In  ny  judgaoant,  to  raova  aore  rapidly 
than  thla,    alnoa  time  Is   required  to  develop  the  organisation 
needed  to  operate  proper  tie  a  after  they  have  been  acquired. 

Tha  administration  of  tha  Land  Lav  by  tha  Land  Authority 
haa  fully  justified  the  action  of  tha  Lagialatura  in  enacting 
thia  measure.  Tha  proportional  profit  farm  plan,  oreatad  by 
thla  Aot  aa  a  means  cf  enforcing  tha  900  acre  liaitiation  pro- 
Tiaiona  of  tha  Organic  Aot  a  of  l»oo  and  1017,  ia  working  wall. 
It  proniaaa  to  ba  «  valuable  addition  to  axiating  pattarna  of 
land  tanure. 

At  Caobalaohe,  the  first  property  to  ba  purohaaad  under 
tha  /ot  of  1941,    the  araa  under  cultivation  in  proportional 


570 


profit  ferae  hes  been  increased  by  37^  sloe*  title  pasted  to 
the  Land  Authority,  and  the  yield  per  acre  hae  been  inoreaaed 
by  14.4.*  over  the  preceding  five  year  overuse  production  under 
private  aana£ecient .      In  it  a  effort  to  mnxiulae  production,  the 
Land  Authority   ia  cooperating  v.ith  the  Insular  ixperiaent   sta 
tion  in  developing  higher  yielding  varietlea  of  oane  and  better 
preotieee  In  the  uee  of  fertilizer.     Both  th«  cultivated  area 
and  the  yield  per  acre  will  be  increaaed  by  preaantly  planned 
drainage  ay a teas  on  la  mis  belonging  to  the  Authority'      In  ad 
dition,   non-cane  land   la  being  put  to  a  higher  use  than  for 
merly.     Hill  lance  suitable  for  forest  production  have  been 
ceded  to  the  Foreat  lervloe  for  reforestation  while  limited 
area  a  auited  to  the  production  of  minor  or  op  a  have  been  used 
for  agregado  settlements.     Thia  ia  a  gratifying  record  beoeuse, 
quite  obviously,  wealth  must  be  created  before  It  can  be  dis 
tributed. 

It  ia  in  the  field  of  Income  diatribution,   however,  where 
the  proportional  profit  fern  idee  has  demonstrated  ita  greatest 
effectiveness.     The  people  of  Puerto  Rico  own  the  land  devoted 
to  proportional  profit   faros  and  have  first  da  lib  on  the  net 
income  after  all   operating  coats  have  .been  paid.     At  present 
they  receive  3£  Interest  on  capital  equipment  and  4.0375$  Interest 
on  their  invertaant   in  land  and  improvements.     This  money  is  s 
new  source  of  Insular  Government   income  and,   under  the  provisions 
of  the  law,   is  evellable  for  use  by  the  Land  Authority  in  expand 
ing  ita  program.     After  setting  aside  e  reserve  for  contingencies, 


571 


the  rental  .ilng  profits  are  paid  to  field  workers  and  to  lea  ««s 
•a  proportional  profits.     At  Cambal^ohe,    these  proportional 
profits  added  an  average  of  19£  to  th«  laborers  wage  income  In 

1944  and  an  overage  of  17%  ID  1945.     These  provisions  of  the 

distribution  of  net 
proportional   profit  farm  pattern  provide   for  s  wide/Income  In 

sharp  contrast  to  thot  which  obtains  where  land   ownership  is 
concentrated  in  lar^e  private  holdings  and  rent,   interest,   and 
profits  are  channeled  into   the  hands  of  a  small  minority  of  the 
total   population.     The  proportional  profit  plan  increases  the 
purchasing  power  of  e  numerous  low-income  group  ana  tends  to 
lessen  the  accumulation  of  Idle  funds  for  which  profitable  in 
vestment   outlets  cannot  be  found. 

I  would  like  to  see  the  proportional  profit  farm  plan 
applied  in  the  mountain  aection  of  Puerto  Rico  v.here   production 
of  wealth  can  be  greatly  increased  through  the  establlshjasnt 
of  e  multiple-purpose  production  program  under  trained  manage 
ment.      Declining  production  and    the  rapid  filling  up  of 
irrlplaoeable  reservoirs  by  unnecessary  erosion  make  the 
stabilization  of  the  economy  of  the  mountain  area  essential. 
The  proportional  profit  plan  would  be  well  suited  for  each  a 
development. 

In  my  judgement.  Title  V  of  the  Land   Law  should  be  amended 
and  considerably  strengthened.     Providing  land  alone  is  not 
enough.     A  recent  survey  of  opinion  of  residents  of  11  Fangulto 
showed  that  no  agr*  gedo  now  living  in  tale  slum  area  would 
willingly  move   back  to  hie  former  home  in  the  hills.      The 


572 


retsona  given  are  illuminating.     They  prefer  el  Fungal  to  to 
the  isolation  of  their  former  olroumatonoes  beoeuae,    et  El 
Fanguito  they  have  domestic  water  service  end  electric  lights, 
which  raean  radios  for  eome  «od    because,   they  enjoy  the  associa 
tions  of  village  life  and  are  aeer  to   Job  opportunities      If 
Title  V  ie  to  be  fully  effective  a»  a  social  measure,   the 
Title  V  projects  must  meet  these  baeio  needs. 

If  the  individual   allot/as  ate  in  Title  T  projeota  are 
limited  to  e  quarter  of  a  cuerda  each,   the  Aqueduct  Authority 
should   be  able  to  au  ply  pure  water  for  doBeatio  use  et  reason 
able  ooet  and  the  Vater  Authority  should  be  able  to  supply  power 
at  reasonable  rates.     A  compact  settlement  would,   in  addition, 
enooux*ptfte  community  life  ami,    in  ooat  oases,   would  leeaeu  the 
dietanoe  froa  tiieir  hones  to  ti-.elr  Jobs. 

By  .roper  planning,  a  quarter  of  a  ouerda  will  produce 
enough  to  substantially  reduce  the  cost  of  living.     If  ztore 
land  is  needed,  however,   an  additional  aoreege  might  be  pro 
vided  adjacent  to  the  village  where  stsple  crops  oould  be 
raised  for  use  in  the  oon&unity. 

In  order  to   facilitate  the  development  of  adequate  doaestle 
water  supply  for  Title  ?  projects,   I  recommend  that  the  Land 
Authority  be  empowered  to  enter  into  contracts  with  the  Aqueduct 
Authority  whereby  the  Land  Authority  can  meet  annual  water 
assessments  out   of  proportional  profits  where  the  Title  V  pro* 
Jeots  are  associated  with  proportional  profit  farms. 


V 

573 


Title  V  la  essentially  •  housing  program,  but  little  or 
no  attantlon  has  teen  paid   to  housing.     The  Land  Authority 
hot  acted  visely,    I   believe,    In  refusing  to  meke   tile   $150 
grants  for  building  materials  provided  for  in  the  law.     The 
ajnount   ia  not   enough  to  provide  adequate  housing  and  the 
grant  feature  of  the  law  ie,   in  ay  Judgement,    undesirable. 
I,    therefore,   reooaunend  that  the  $.\60  great  provlelon  be 
withdrawn,  and,    in  ita  stead,   a  new  section  be  added  giving 
the  Land  Authority  discretionary  power  la  granting  loans  for 
housing  up  to  a  maximum  of  £750. 

I  believe  that  the  Lane  Authority  should  be  empowered 
to  uae  a  portion  of  the  rent  or  intereat  Inoome  from  pro 
portional  profit  fara  operations  for  housing  on  Title  ?  pro- 
jeote  associated  with  proportional  profit  feme.     It  seem* 
logieal   to  assume  that  the   returns  froa  the  lead  ehould  pro 
vide  housing  for  those  who  do  the  work.     If  euoh  a  plan  is* 
adopted,    contracts  oould  be  entered  into  with  settlers  whereby 
e  portion  of   the  proportional  profits  might  be  uaed  by  the 
Land  Authority  in  meeting  amortisation  payments  on  h-Aises. 
built  by  the  Land  Authority  or  by  other  agenoies.     If  the 
law  doea  not  already  per  alt 'full   cooperation  by  the  Lcfi4 
Authority  with  Federal  Agenole*  auoh  as  the  one  contemplated 
by  the  *agoer  Kllender  Taft  Housing  Bill,    It  should  be  as»od«d 
to  provide  for  such  cooperation. 


574 


BULLETIN  of  the  Greek  Committee  on  Irrigation  and  Drainage  (G.C.I.D.) 
i»  International  Commission  on  T 


.    25,   Nov.    -  Dec.,    1966 


W.  E.  PACKARD 

ENA2  METAS  AMEPHvAiNOS  <MAKAAHN 

• 

W.  E.  PACKARD 

A  GREAT  AMERICAN  FRIEND     OF  GRJCEOE 


roiui   W.    PACKARD   Ft;   ii)v  xF.vinixr]v  jtla- 
v      '  'Avf)r)Xr);     (<l>0t(ori6o?). 


TEtav 


Bust  of  W.  PACKARD  in  the    central    square  of 
the  village  ANTHILI 


?fe* 

P        M       \^'# 

v^.  v   -i 


Ei;  to  Jit)(n}y<H'uFvov  TF\»X«;  dvTjYYe^1!  6  Odvo- 
10;  TOO  oFiunVittiv  W.  E.  PACKARD,  |jtiti]iou 
[iF\ou;  ir\-  MIvA.A. 

'H  fift^oi;  TOU  OUVUTOU  TOU  fxpOonfv  iw~a  t^)  AeX- 
TI'OV  niQi'o.xfro  iao  ixn'cwooiv.  Katnutiv  tourou  i\  E. 
E.A.A.  cboTiouoa  (poyov  T^JITJ;  fig  TOV  ^xXuiovro,  ?»)- 
iiooiFi'iFi  arfuFQOv  t«  xaT(OTF.()<i)  u()0()a  KOV  x.x.  'Iw- 
dvvou  IlaXaioXoyou,  FJUTI'IHOU  Ttv.  A)ivrov  'Tir.  TE- 

xal  PFWQY. 

,  dvTutQOFJ5()ou  rT);  A.E.A.A.  xal  FFV. 
;  E.E.A.A.,  lnir(|uou  A)vrov  "KVt.  Fewpyi- 
a;,  ol  6^0101  (b;  otevoi  ouvFiQyoiTai  dq>r)yoi5vTai  ta 
jiepi  rfj;  dtioXoyou  auaGoXT^  TOU  el;  ri\v  dvareruJjiv 
TIOV  'p]y^'Fio6£A.n(aiixa)v  "Epywv  xrttct  tfjv  >6id()XFiav 

A.u;F.(H- 


TOU 


w; 


'II  A)\«i5  TOU  AE^TIOU  OF.(DOFI  TTJV 
TIOV  dig  avio  uoOowv  w;  iXdxiOTOV  oFtyjia  dydm^  xal 
Fuyv(i>j*ooi'rvTi5  Jipo;  TOV  uvOguwiov,  6  &nolo;  xaucoi 
^ew;,  I'lycovwOrj,  EipyaoiBT)  xal  F&QarrFV  <o;  va  fetpo- 
XFUO  jtepl  TTJ;  SFVTEDO;  TOU  naTQibog,  otocov  OUTW 

),    4jtujTif|[iOvo;   xal 


The  sad  news  of  pi>.8?ing  away  of  Mr.  W.  E. 
Packard,  Hon.  Member  G('ll),  arrived  when  the 
N24  igsue  of  this  Bulletin  was  already  under 
press. 

In  tho  present,  issue  the  «BulleLin  GCID» 
presents  two  articles  written  in  memory  of  the 
defunct  by  Messrs.  J.  Paleologue,  Hon.  Director 
General,  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Past-Chair 
man  GCID  and  G.  Papadopoulos,  Hon.  Director 
of  this  very  Ministry,  Vice-President  ICID  and 
Secretary-General  GCID. 

The  authors  of  tlnse  articles  were  among 
tho  closest  collaborators  of  the  deceased  during 
the  6  years  he  spent  in  our  country  in  the  capaci 
ty  of  reclamation  Adviser  of  the  American  Mis 
sion  of  Aid  to  Greece. 

They  describe  their  remembrances  and  perso 
nal  impressions  on  the  outstanding  activity 
and  contribution  of  the  late  W.  Packard  for  the 
promotion  of  Land  Reclamation  in  Greece. 

The  Direction  of  the  ((Bulletin  GCID»  by 
this  publication  pays  an  only  very  small  tribute 
to  the  deceased  who  loved  Greece  as  his  second 
fatherland  and  wh  se  attitude  and  activity 
present  a  bright  example  of  a  humanist,  scientist 
and  idealist. 


575 


I  i.  i  >  i  I        t          )»  I 

OFTM/U)    ^(ovm;    njv   ^yorojii)    rou    (Ma   iiaMOTK   yia 

<Vl''niv»l    f(H)()a    TO    li)")4)     TI)V    OJTOl'uv    TOO    fOT»(tI«V    oi 

yFcooyoi  if);;  'AvOi'i/.i^  (Lio  ftixi]  TOU;  nniOTO&ouXia 
•xai  UP  hixFC  TOD;  oandvFC,  orav  rtOCinofjW)?  OTI')V  'M- 
Xtioa,  OF  EVOFI!;!]  F.oyv«>noouv)|;;. 

~Ktoi  6  YFOO  -  PACKAKD,  TOV  ojmtov  oi  'Av- 
(hi/uwe;  wvojiu'Cav  «7cujr,*tou>>,  Oa  uvTiX(>i''t,ri  yia  Jiav- 
ta  ti']v  rrLmiu  rot"  XCDOUW  UK  TO  dyuOo  TOO  fmota- 
,uu,  iiF  TO  6.1010  uvoiHf  xai  Oiyruunov;  Jiov  f\tnv  xooji- 
UF'VOI  OTV)V  xunoia  T<7>v  yrwoyoiv  xai  OTIJV  yfj  not)  xa?k- 
fiv.  <r)u  (cioTfXri  TO  muifioXo,  OF  aro^a  xai  FOvT) 
;  OTJUFOIVI"^  xai  TWV  jieMouowv  yevfcov,  TOO  oovro- 


0(_i(Wo\) 

oifjv  x<«r(ixrrjoi)  Ti"i;  xuoout;  fW»;  Xa»0. 
Ba  {CTFvO\i)ii'^r|  OTOV;  OUVF.XUITF.;  im>  ?yyou 
(in  T«  fiooXFi'iUdiTu  no\%)  »P\')TFI|>F  OTTJV  IXXrivuxTi  yfj 
flu  X(«T(tVTT|oouv  5i)ooi  .-Kiaardoi,  .toil  6  X(io;  0« 
waai  n*  yoaTuXyui,  aU«  £awava  OF.VOOU,  TU 
Oa  jduiou.wuv,   JIF,  noIXa  aXXa  jtov  Ou 

(7TO  ^AXOV,   TV  aTFAF,ia>T*l  ^EOKpOQO   TT^  vtQOOOOU' 

jiooooov,   iioxi   Oa   Flvai  eoyov  dytbtrj;  xai 
;  xai  nov  0«  66Tjyr 
Qia,  OTV]v  d^KWtpFJtFia  TOU  cMoamou 


TOU, 
OFV 
Ou- 


xai 


W.  DACKAIO  'S  CONTRIBUTION  IN  LAND  DECLAMATION  IN  GREECE 

By  JOHN    PALEOLOGUE,   Past  Vice-Cliairmn  G.C.I. D.,  Hon.  Director  General.  Ministry  of  Ajriculture 


During  tlio  occupation,  of  Grooce,  in  tlio  yoars 
1041  -  44,  a  group  of  Greek  engineers  of  difforont 
disoiplinos  (agricultural,  pedological,  hydrauli<! 
and  mechanic)  decided  to  study  the  reclamation 
of  the  saline  and  alkali  soils  of  the  country  in  an 
integrated  way,  each  one  contributing  within 
his  sphere  of  competence.  These  soils,  extremely 
rich  if  ameliorated,  and  extending  over  an  aron 
of  250.000  acres,  were  giving  very  low  if  no 
yields  at  all. 

Such  a  study,  additionally  to  its  practical 
interest,  would  constitute  a  model  of  the  advanta 
ges  of  the  cooperation  of  the  various  specializa 
tions  indispensable  nowadays  for  solving  agri 
cultural  problems.  Nevertheless,  the  realization 
.  of  the  study  in  question  on  a  big  scale  seemed 
to  bo  at  that  time  rather  an  Utopia. 

The  end  of  the  Occupation,  during  which 
Greeks  were  thinking  and  discussing  secretoly 
and  passionately  about  the  future  of  their  father 
land,  meant  also  the  end  of  the  cooperation  of 
the  engineering  world,  which  apparently  started 
to  be  realized  paralloly  also  in  other  sectors. 
Tlio  result  was  that,  not  only  the  alkali  soils  study 
was  dropped,  but  also  the  very  valuable  minu 
tes  and  conclusions,  of  the  discussions  on  nume 
rous  technical  and  economic  matters  for  tin 
development  of  the  national  resources;  .  were 
never  drawn  from  obscurity"  unless  to  serve 
personal  ambitims  and  interests.  In  Greece  tho 
knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  tho  country 
and  the  means  to  satisfy  them  was  not  missing, 
but  it  remained  latent,  as  long  as  no  attempt  was 
made  for  a  collective  enterprise.  Already,  since 
•1929,  large  reclamation  works  were  realized,  with 
the  hil p  of  big  American  ane  English  contractors, 
based  on  studies  corresponding  to  the  rather 
inadequate  experience  on  drainage  and  irrigation 
at  that  period.  Greek  technicians  of  diverse 
disciplines  were  getting  experience  and  were 
increasing  in  number.  Evan  o  special  Service  was 
created  to  carry  on  tho  work  started  with  the 
foreign  firms  and  to  put  agronomist*,  civil  and 


mechanical  engineers    under    tho    same    roof    for    . 
closer   cooperation. 

The  liberation  of  the  country  brought  .comple 
te  independance  to  everybody;  it  was  an  opportu 
nity  for  the  united  Service  to  disintegrate  into 
several  small  units,  each  one  of  them  following 
different  directions,  frequently  opposite  and  money 
•  •was  spent  often  regardlets  of  results.  Instead  o"f 
a  central  authority  assuming  the  planning  and 
the  coordination  of  the  collective  efforts  of  the 
technicians,  belonging  to  the  different  disciple 
nes,  towards  the  realization  of  projects  of  high 
technical  pattern  and  economic  efficiency,  there 
appeared  a  continuously  increasing  number  of 
small  offices  of  consulting  engineers  and  contra 
ctors  of  a  very  marked  single-person  nature, 
even  when  these  offices  were  adopting  titles  with 
technical  terms,  historical  names  or  initials. 
And  what  was  worse,  any  attempt  to  create 
larger  units,  even  when  no  personal  or  professio 
nal  interests  were  involved,  was  stifled  before 
birth. 

It  is  well  known  that  disagreement  results 
from  activities  of  a  large  number  of  narrow 
winded  persons  being  proportionate  to  their 
inertness  and  number,  and  that  contrarily 
consolidation  and  organization  can  only  be  achie 
ved  by  a  group  of  strong  personalities  and  more 
especially  in  Greece  by  a  single  person  .of  high 
standard, 'who  selects  and  educates  his  staff  in 
the  best  possible  .way.  .  „'> 

A  man  of  that  standard,  or  rather  the  right 
man  at  the  right  moment  was  made  available 
by  Providence  to  serve  our  country  and  mostly 
-its  rural -population.  He  came  from  abroad, 
when  the  destruction  and  needs  after  the  war, 
the  occupation  and  the  guerrilla  fighting,  were 
immense,  and  the  State  disarticulated,  whilst, 
on  the  other  hand,  money  and  technical  means  . 
were  made  available  in  plenty  for  the  reconstru 
ction  of  the  country.  Nevertheless,  this  plenty 
of  funds  was  creating  many  intentions,  that 
might  as  well,  devjate  the  use  of  them  from  stri- 


576 


ctly  productive,  and  highly  efficient  investments. 
And  the  man  was  tho  most  suitable  for  the  oppor- 
I unity,  because  ho  was  richly  endowed  not  only 
with  a  many  -  sided  education  and  experience, 
both  being  essential  for  I  lie  responsibilities  lie 
had  to  assume,  and  sustained  by  a  very  solid 
character  and  integrity,  but,  also  with  a  vitality 
exceptional  for  bis  age,  and  a  genuine  and  unli 
mited  love  for  Greece  and  the  Greek  farmers. 
All  those  attributes  constituted  «  strong  challenge 
for  capital,  prompt  to  contribute  to  the  reali 
sation  of  large  scale  schemes.  This  man  was 
WALTKU  PACKARD. 

Ifo  graduated  as  agricultural  and  land  recla 
mation  engineer  at  Iowa  Stale  University  in 
IH07  and  took  the  Master's  degree  from  the 
University  of  California  in  Berkeley,  whore  was 
his  last  home.  Ho  worked  as  superintendent  of 
the.  Agricultural  Experimentation  Station  in  the 
Imperial  Valley  in  1910-  1917.  He  served  succes 
sively  in  the  Army  Education  Corps  in  Franco 
(1919),  at  the  Harvard  University  and  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  as  an  in 
structor  of  economics,  at  Mexico,  as  chief  of  the 
Mexican  Government's  National  Irrigation  Com 
mission  (1925-29),  in  the  U.S.A.,  as  National. 
Director  of  the  Rural  Resettlement  Admini 
stration,  when  he  also  played  a  prominent  role 
in  farm  programs  of  the  Now  Deal  (1935-38), 
at  Puerto  Rico,  as  special  consultant  to  its 
Government  and  in  1949  lie  came  to  Greece, 
where  he  worked  for  six  years  with  the  American 
Mission,  as  Director  of  Land  Reclamation. 

Walter  Packard  laid  emphasis  at  once  on  his 
presence  in  Greece  with  the  rice  campain,  which 
was  connected  with  the  reclamation  of  the  saline 
areas.  As  battlefield  was  selected  the  famous 
narrow  pass  of  Thermopylae,  with  headquarters 
in  the  village  Anthily  (which  means  «flouri- 
shing»  although  it  was  not).  The  victory  was 
impressive  and  had  a  world-wide  effect.  Increased 
production  brcadned  tho  economic  dimensions 
of  tho  barren  area  and  made  of  Anthily  a  really 
flourishing  village.  The  operation  was  followed 
with  more  or  less  equal  success  in  other  regions, 
i.e.  in  the  deltas  of  the  larger  rivers  Axios,  Lou- 
dias,  Nestos  (Macedonia),  Acheloos  (Western 
Greece)  and  Louros  and  Araehthos  (Epirus). 
Farmers  and  oven  private  enterprises  soon  joi 
ned  the  campain  in  other  parts  of  Greece  and 
contributed  with  their  capital  and  labour.  The 
cultivated  area  with  rice  increased  from  4.000 
acres  (prewar)  to  55.000  acres  (1954)  and  the 
production  respectively  from  4.000  to  88.000 
tons  of  paddy.  Even  important  exports  wore  achie 
ved  as  long  as  the  international  prices  were 
satisfactory. 

The  success  was  due  not  only  to  the  close 
cooperation  of  the  Services  of  tho  Ministry  of 
Agriculture  under  the  inspired  and  enthusiastic 
leadership  of  W.  Packard,  always  accompanied 
and  encouraged  by  his  wife*  Emma,  but  also  to 


the-  mobilisation  of  the  producers,  who  put  aside 
I  heir  reserves  and  dissensions  and  worked  with 
much  faith,  pertinence  and  persistanco.  Tho  new 
element  that  was  introduced  by  W.  Packard 
was  thai  he  left,  to  the  farmers  the  decision  for 
starting  a  project,  after  having  discussed  patiently 
with  them  on  the  pros  and  cons  arid  heard  very 
attentively  their  opinions.  It  was  inconceivable 
to  him  that,  a  scheme,  however  beneficial  it  might 
be  to  the  farmers,  could  be  commenced  without 
their  agreement.  Therefore,  and  because  results 
never  (levied  him,  ho  won  with  their  confidence 
also  th°ir  love. 

Tho  next  concern  of  provident  old  Packard 
was  the  reclamation  of  I  ho  lagoons,  which,  con 
trary  to  the  reclamation  of  the  saline  area,  could 
not  bo  carried  out  without  serious  studies  and 
costly  works.  It  is  worth  noticing  that  W.  Pa 
ckard  wanted  this  study  to  start  the  soonest, 
oven  when  there  were  still  problems  pending 
of  paramount  emergency.  These  problems,  which 
by  no  means  were  to  be  delayed,  were  revelant 
to  the  alimentation  of  the  population,  that. suf 
fered  during  the  war  and  occupation,  the  resto 
ration  of  the  ruins  and  the  bringing  back  of  the 
production  to  the  prevar  levels  and  possibly 
further  increasing  it.  Anyhow,  as  far  as  the  under 
sea-level  areas  are  concerned,  although  the  res 
pective  master  plans  were  made  ready  by  1952. 
(t  hiy  were  worked  out  by  tho  Dutch  firm  G  RONT 
M1.I  Co),  till  now  800  acres  were  only  reclaimed 
in  the  region  of  Messolonghi  out  of  a  total  area 
of  10.000  acres  as  a  consequence  of  many  efforts, 
against  as  many  difficulties  and  reactions. 

Likewise,  the  contribution  of  Walter  Packard' 
to  the  mechanization  of  the  post-war  Greek 
agriculture  and  especially  to  the  equipment  of  tho 
Mechanical  Cultivation  Service  of  the  Ministry 
of  Agriculture  was  very  noticeable  and  fruitful. 
Thanks  to  this  heavy  up  to  date  field  and  work 
shop  equipment, this  Service  was  able  to  perform 
a  great  number  of  various  land  reclamation  and 
road  .  building  operations,  with  high  efficiency 
sind  low  cost.  Thi  value  of  this  equipment, 
including  the  32  field  repair  units,  amounted  to 
20  million  dollars. 

Another  achievement,  of  this  great  citizen 
of  tho  United  States,  originated  from  his  passio 
nate  love  for  Greece  and  her  people  and  known 
only  to  a  limited  number  of  persons,  was  the 
creation  of  the  Power  Public  Corporation.  Tho 
'humanist  W.  Packard  did  not  want  the  money 
of  the  American  people  to  serve  for  the  enrich 
ment  of  a  private  ontoprise;  on  the  contrary, 
ho  wanted  it  to  bo  a  public  corporation,  so  that 
the  benefits  from  the  extended  use  of  the  ele 
ctricity  could  be  appropriated  by  the  whole  of  the 
Greek  people.  And  he  succoded  it  through  obsti 
nate  struggles  against  tremendous  reactions  and 
risks,  in  which,  it  must  be  stressed,  he  had  the 
full  backing  of  the  official  Greek  State  through 
its  Government. 


577 


But  a  man  of  vast  vision  and  foresight,  like 
\V.  Packard,  could  not,  limit  his  interest  in  solv 
ing  tho  immediate  problems  concerning  the  survi 
val  the  Greek  people.  He  could  not  leave  this 
country,  which  lie  loved  as  a  real  Creek,  without 
hoquestying  to  it  a  permanent  guarantee,  to 
secure  that  (he  agregate  of  the  schemes  ho  vi 
sualised  during  his  stay  in  Greece  would  be 
continued  with  tho  same  necessary  scientific, 
method  and  efficiency,  and  that  I  ho  formers 
would  govern  them,  with  the  proper  admini 
stration,  maintenance  and  operation.  For  this 
purpose,  and  after  having  initiated  for  tho  first 
time  in  this  country  the  rule  of  preliminary  stu 
dies  and  master  plans,  lie  formulated  the  need 
and  put  forth  the  basic,  features  of  large  Service, 
which  should  concentrate,  under  tho  authority 
of  tho  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  tho  overall  respon 
sibility  of  the  land  reclamation  works,  these 
works  being  essentially  of  agricultural  nature  and 
of  vital  importance  for  Greek  agriculture  and  eco 
nomy.  Had  ho  not  insisted  on  incorporating  in 
this  new  sot-up  the  whole  of  the  forestry,  topo 
graphical  and  settlement  Services  of  Uv)  Mini 
stry,  a  risky  undertaking  at  that  period,  ho  would 
have  enyoyed  the  reward  of  attending  tho  inau 
guration  of  th°.  Land  Reclamation  Service  (esta 
blished  later  in  1958),  which  should -be  conside 
red  as  a  product  of  his  thoughts  and  cares.  Ho 
left  definitely  Greece  in  1954,  when  he  payed  a 


short  visit  to  his  boloved  land  and  the  glorious 
village  of  Anthily,  flying  from  Berkeley  of  remote 
California,  so  much  recalling  him  our  country. 

The  U.S.A.  State  Department  to  celebrate 
the  20th  anniversary  of  tho  Marshall  Plan  asked 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Packard  to  go  to  their  expense  for 
a  «home-coming»  in  Anthily;  but  Walter  could 
not  stand  this  trip.  Sadly,  he  had  to  refuse- 
it  waji  too  late  I  But  he  did  already  have  the  unique 
privilege  of  paying,  for  the  second  time,  tribute 
to  his  own  bust,  which  the  grateful  farmers 
of  Ahthily  erected  by  thiir  own  initiative  and  - 
oxpence  during  his  first  stay  in  Greece. 

Thus,  W.  Packard,  named  by  the  Anthiliann 
«papou»  (grand  fat  her),  will  be  overlooking  for 
ever  the  square  of  Anthily  with  his  loving  smile, 
with  which  he  opened  the  treasures  hidden  in 
tho  hearts  of  peasants  and  the  soil  they  culti 
vate.  He  will  be  a  symbol  for  individuals  and  . 
nations  of  present  and  future  generations  of  the 
snorters,  surest 'and  less  expensive  way  of  winning 
the  heart  of  a  nation.  He  will  be  a  permanent 
reminder  to  the  continuators  of  his  undertakings, 
that  the  milestones  he  has  implanted  into  the 
Greek  soil,  should  not  stay  there  as  past  deeds, 
much  regretted  of,  but  constitute  a  solid  link 
for  more  milestones  to  mark  new  achievements 
upon  the  interminable  road  towards  progress, 
via  science,  cooperation,  man's  dignity,  love, 
liberty  and  peace. 


o  WALTER  PACKARD  01  HstwiPizm 

•Yn6  x.  r.  HAnAAOnOYAOY,  -AvurrpoiSpou    A.E.A.A.,  -EniTl|xou  A)VTOU  "Ynoupy. 


'0  ExTunwv  WALTER  PACKARD,  E.-UTUIOV  nd- 
).o;  TV);  EKAA,  ^to  evOfQ|io;  ojtn^o;  TTJ;  auveiaiot- 
ouxfj;  tola;/  '0  yndqxov  tlyt.  xara  ta  xi'<>vi«  **\? 
ovvFoyam'a;  JAFT*  auroxi  jrXifurrag  FuxaiQia;  va  8itt.ii- 
ot<onv|  rrooov  6aOF,w;  Tjoav  oi^wjAFvai  £i;  TTJV  ^ux*]v 
TOD  ol  FVVOIF;  tow  ouvFQyaTiniuoi)  FI;  8Xou;  TOU;  TO- 
}ifl;  Twv  £xfir)X(!>oF<I)v  TOV.  Tfoaniiav  OTJJMMJUIV  cbtF.- 
F,  6  W.  PACKARD  F.I;  TTJV  ooyavumiv  TWV  wcpf- 
£x  TWV  £yyao6.  soywv  aypOTwv  El;  sioi- 
xov;  dpyavi/auov;  taiTOVflyovVTa;  |5aa«i  tow  aQX'^v 
TOV  owFoyatwrjiov.  ITa^eoTTyiAFv  xata  ta  E.TT]  1948 
—  1954  el;  nXffoTa;  ouyxfvtocooEig  dyoo'twv  F.t?  TOV; 
;  6  W.  PACKARD  i\r\yovat  (i£  ^aoav  XF,- 
TT^V  ovpunoiav  rrj;  ouvEtaioiotixfi;  opya- 
<iuT(T>v  hta  TT]V  dvaVr)i|nv  v;i'  auiwv  TOUTWV  t(ov 

liF.V<i)V   TT);  OlOlX^O^o;    T(OV   F.gY(l)V. 

*H-  tiv^fmM\  TOD  FI;  TTJV  aw'urTu^iv  TOU  Of.onou 
T(T>v  TOTF  A£KB  fjTo  <7TflinvTiacr|.  T6  1952  6  yyuqxov 
TOV  uxa^niiOiyie  ft;  jtFOU>JlVF£nv  rl;  BOOFIOV  'i 
|u:  axonov  tr)v  IOOXKIIV  TWV  3io<!)Twv  ALKB. 

OUOXF- 


ii  TOU;  urtFuOuvov; 
TOV;  ojtoiou;  ^E  rtEujTixiTTpa  rtoooEJcdStjoc  6  W.  PAC 


KARD  va  JtoooFTaiQior}  F.I;  TOV  OIEOI^OV  TWV  autoot- 
oixounievwv  'OoyavMT.jwov  TWV  axpE>XounF,va>v  ix,  TO>V  ly- 
yeio6.  eoycav  T%  XfiTovoyovvtaw  iiri  ouvETaiQUJTixfi; 
6aoEa)s;.  Tov  f|xoXouOr)aau,E  xal  «l;  TTJV  wtatOpov  EI; 
Ta;  ovyxEVTQaxiEt;  T«V  dyQOTrwv  5ia  TT)V  tSovoiv  TWV 
jtgaraDv  TQIWV  A2EB  ntQioyr^c;  ix6oXwv  TOU  'A|io{i. 
'H  iniQQOTi  xal  TO  YOT)TQOV  Toij  W.  PACKARD 
•?JTo  TOOOV  .jteyaXo  '(A£.Ta|\)  TWV  dyQOTWv  WOTE  ^vro; 
Try;  auT%  ftjAEoa;  'insTEuxOri  f)  OTEQxjrfitpuji;  TQIWV 
KaTaoTaTuxwv  A2EB  ujto  TWV  OIXEIWV  FEVLXWV  2)uv- 

EXEVIOEWV.     'EjtQOX^lTO    JtEQl    rtOayiLUITlXOU    XaTOQ9wjia- 

TO;  OEOOJIEVOU  8u  6  OEOJOO;  TWV  ASEB  if\ro  ayvw- 
OTO;  el;  TTJV  jiE(Uoxilv  airTTjv  xal  Ekrr|yETO  5ia  JIQW- 
TTJV  cpopdv. 

;'Orav  6  W.  PACKARD  e'cpuvf,  djro  TTJV  'EUa- 
?>a  6iv  ^ex«o£  TO;  JtnoPArmaTa  TWV  JYY610^^1*1^^^ 
E*oywv  'EXiUioo;  xal  ft;  TTJV  dXXTjXoYQacpuiv  (if.Ta  tov 
yydcpovro;  jtavroTF.  ouvphfai^e  Ta  noo^XrmaTa  xaTa- 
oxF.uT);  xal  A|iortbifjo€(i>;  TWV  iyy.  {f(iy(i>v  y£,  ti\\  ovv- 
FTaiowniXTyv  ooydvdxriv  T<">V  (IxpF^ox^vdW  ftia  TTJV  01- 
OIXTJOIV  TWV  ev  ^eiTouoyia  Eoywv. 

KaT(jL)if(.KO  .laodlit'.To^iKv  iiF.nuxa  uovov  wioond- 
EX  rfj;  uXXTjXoypoxpia; 


578 


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IlpxY|ixTixi?i;      r.p<ixj;TX'.   Tttpl   WXYJ;    TAv   ! 


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T.O..K.H..  xal  6ti  6  Bja|i6;  O&TO;  it 


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7ix<ov  xdtdiv  'Opyxxojiriv/  jtvxi  xt  xpy.xl  iX'/xXY,pd>nivY(; 
xpxTfx;  Y,  6-ofx  ti;  TYJV  'KXXiSx,  XIxvov  r?,;  AY,- 
;,  npc6Xsnd>  6-;  8i  IXY(  XxjjinpAv  jiiXX&v. 
ovTx;    xr'iTO'j;   -ou;  -xxipEtto^iou;,    ivx[ivY1(3X'-}ixi    . 
?*'''-*  TTIJ  iixpxjiovY",;  ^iou  EV  'KXXiii,  *ll-xv  ti 


xxl 


xiOt  ^CTux 


TO 

QHXTt)pinttxv  iir|vi»}m   TOX"   ^xKinovro;  TO  rwrolov  oo- 
TO;  ovWral*  f>iu  TO  B'    PlaveXXaftutov  S»»vfA»iov  T<OV 
TOEB.  To  iluvFhoiov  rauro  fl%f  ayoYi.)a:au(iTioOfi  uo- 
o;;  ftiu  TO  q>Oiv(CTti>oov  to\5   19(5"),  u 
)]v  «voi|iv  Toi5  19(5(5  y.ai  hf, 


Xxtpitio^ivJ;  3ljYX"?''i"1'i?"' 
Xov  ix  ;iipvj;  4v6;  ' 

Oilirtvtz    84  ftx«t<3«> 
8r,v    !TX-<  •  8i4    jtp 
iv6;  ipSrjtixoO  A.2.E.U. 


xxX'J-ipi;  tux*;  Bi*  "4 
natXiLoO  3x;  qpfXou. 
3UYx(vr]oiv   tVi-/   teotxv 
7txpi3Tt)v     ei; 
>2.   'H  vex 


Mi   EyxxpSfoM;  zO/x; 
WALTER  PACKARD 

zXjO,    KxX:?opv(x;,    Tf)    22-l-li)G<i 

v  noi'uv  TFoaoTi'av  or]U(toi(iv  ehivc  o  AV. 
PACKARD  PI;  atnov  TDI"  floor;  TU;  focbTpabofi;  roiv 
ovv."Tai()iotixd>v  ooyavo'iaFfav  xni  ne  ^c'wov  ^\<b:«cpE- 
(s;ov  Ou  i.tXrtyocpoofiTO  fjri  TIOV  dntxpanrcav  TOU  2u\f- 
hlii'ou  xi*l  Ou  Ra(>(UCoXovOoune  TTJV  ^cp«ouoYi|v  «ut(7)v. 
'()  OoivaTo;  5uu>;  ^F.v  TOI*  I.TFTOF^F  va  ^ao(ioT»i  EOTW 
voFO(7>;  FI;  T«;  eovuoi'a;  TOV  £uveA(>(ou.  EweOu  TOV- 
no;  pFfidioi  OTI  STIIV  TO  —  vvfJttQinv  TOVTO  On  /.d6ii  x°'>- 
(inv  (xfti  OaA.<i(ir)6;ttt>oor|;iOTF  ^WQav 
T)']V  xaT(iXA.riXov  cooav),  ol  OUVFOOOI  Oa  <jJtoTi<ioxn'  cpo- 
yov  Tiiifj;  FI;  ixFivov  6  orrolo;,  xatTOi  ^-Wit  ^^v  f* 
K  vo  ^vhta^EOFTni  6ia  TTJV  ^ooa>0r|oiv  xai 

TOU    Of(I(tOV    T(7)V    aVTOfilOlXOUJiEVCOV   XOTO    T(OV 

uyoonTjv  'O(JY«vifl|wov  Fyy.   SFXTiwaFon*  Iv  ' 


W.   E.  PACKA80  AS  A  fEBVENT   COOPEB1T01 

By  G.  E.  PAPADOPOULOS,  Vice  -    President  I.C.I. D.,  Honor.  Director,  Ministry  of  Agriculture 


'Abstract) 

Tlie  article  deals  with  lh«  activity  of  the  latt;  W.  E. 
Packard,  Hon.  Member  GCI1),  us  regards  the  extension 
of  the  cooperative  ideas  in  the  field  of  Hits  reclamation 
Organizations. 

As  a  fervent  adept  of  llio  cooperative  movement. 
W.  Packard  attached  {freat  importance  to  the  organization 
of  the  project  beneficiaries  in  special  Hoards  (Districts), 
operating  on  democratic  basis.  He  considered  the  coope 
rative  spirit  as  the  prevalent  conception  for  an  adequate 
organization  of  the  beneficiaries  in  order  to  administrate 


their  projects.  Such  organizations  are  the  most  suitable 
to  secure  a  proper  Operation  and  Maintenance  of  schemes 
placed  under  the  control  of  the  beneficiaries. 

The  author  further  remembers  different  incidents  of 
the  activity  of  W.  Packard  in  this  field  during  his  slay 
in  Greece  as  Land  Reclamation  Adviser  to  the  Gretk 
Government.  Finally  he  presents  the  texts  of  the  address 
prepared  by  the  late  VV.  E.  Packard  for  the  Second 
All-Greek  Congress  of  Reclamation  Districts  (TOEV). 
(This  Congress,  although  planned  for  spring  1966,  is 
still  pending). 


579 


Article  by  Walter  Packard,  The  Nation,  April  8,  1961 


HOW  lo  WIN  with  FOREIGN  AID 


/,•.;•„,.;,-,„,/ 


Till:  SPIRIT  of  President  Ken- 
nedy's  new  approach  to  our  relation 
ship  with  the  people  of  Latin  America 
is  refreshing,  hut  its  content:  is  basi 
cally  inadequate.  It  leaves  the  most 
meaningful  issues  untouched:  \\lio 
is  to  own  the.  industrial  resources  of 
Latin  America:  Who  is  to  control 
then  use?  I  he  questions  arc  vital  he- 
raiisc  the  resources  involved  arc 
Latin  America's  basic  capital. 

At  present  these  resources  arc 
owned  laigely  by  the.  Stockholders 
of  American  corporations  in  paitncr- 
ship  with  vested  interests  in  Latin 
America—  the  classic  capitalist  pal- 
tern.  Communists  favor  ownership 
and  control  by  the  "workers  rind 
peasants"  on  the  syndicalist  pattern. 
There  is  another  method  of  owner 
ship  and  control:  the  pattern  exem 
plified  by  the  TV'A.  the  Federal  Bu 
reau  of  .Reclamation,  the  State  and 
Federal  Forest  Services  and  munici 
pal  and  other  district  organization!), 
for  instance,  or  by  consumer  coopera 
tives  of  various  sorts,  such  as  the 
Inicinational  Cooperative  Petroleum 
Association  (v.hicli  has  headquarters 
in  Kans.iS  Cii\.  and  branches  in 
twenty  Hi  her  conn  trie,,  of  the  \\oild  ). 
1  in  HI  .'.li!  thai  the  |:ist.  named  of 
these,  threr  di\i  iL'cni  patterns  of  col 
lective  ownership  has  been  by  far  the 
fasiest  glowing  segment  of  our  own 

JIM  A'/'/:  A!  /•;.  PACKARD,  an  <iSri- 
cultunil  rnciniir.  lias  had  a  diftin- 
guLilifJ.  c-iri'i'r  nd-nrinistcring  'curious 
rf.'t'iil'.'nii'iit  and  reclamation  fro/- 
rt'ts  boiii  licrc  and  abroad  (includ 
ing  rtu'i'to  A'lV'j  a iii'  (j  recce}. 


dual  economy  since  the.  beginning  of 
the  twentieth  century,  if  military  ex 
penditures  are  not  credited  to  the 
private-profit  .segment. 

The  evidence  is  clear  that  the  peo 
ple  of  Latin  America,  Africa,  the 
Middle  Last.  Indonesia  and  coun 
tries  ol  Asia  identify  colonialism  not 
only  with  political  domination,  now 
rapidly  passing  from  the  scene,  but, 
more  meaningfully,  with  the  eco 
nomic  exploitations  of  their  indus 
trial  potentials  by  foreign  corpora 
tions  seeking  profits.  If  the  Presi 
dent's  program  does  not  meet  this 
issue  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people 
of  Latin  .America,  there  is  very  real 
danger  that.  Latin  America  will  fol 
low  Cuba  into  the  Communist  orbit. 

OUR  official  position  with  regard 
to  the  issue  posed  by  the  three  di 
vergent  patterns  of  collective  action 
is  strikingly  inconsistent.  Where  <>ur 
policies  are  governed  by  the  State 
Department's  interest  HI  protecting 
American  investments  abroad,  we. 
Usually  support  the  capitalist,  pat 
tern.  Where  our  policies  are  con 
trolled  by  agencies  of  the  govern-- 
mrnt  whose  aims  are  to  promote  the 
\\ellare  ol  I  he  people  of  oilier  coun 
tries  on  a  basis  which  serves  our'in- 
teaMs  as  well  as  theirs,  we  usually 
support  public  and  consumer  coop 
erative  ownership  and  control. 

In  Greece,  for  example,  where  our 
aid  program  was  eminently  success 
ful,  85  per  cent  of  our  non-military 
aid-  was  used  to  finance  public  and 
'consumer  cooperanve  enterprise.  The 
establishment  ol  :-tjch  policies,  how 


ever,  was  not' always  without  con 
flict.  Some  individuals  in  the  l.co- 
nomic  Cooperation  Administration  in 

Greece  favored  a  plan  by  which  a 
large  American  corporation  would 
own  and  operate  the  power  systems 
that  were  to  be  built.  This  policy 
was  supported  by,  the  head  of  the 
power  division  of  LC'A  in  Washing 
ton,  a  former  \  ice  president  of  a  pri 
vately  owned  poxver  system,  and  by 
his  assistant  in  the  Paris  office  'who 
was  also  a  former  employee  of  pri 
vate-power  Interests.  The  man  in  the 
American  Kmbassy  in  Athens,  who 
represented  the  State.  D-.-parMiMU 
policies  on  power,  also  supported  the 
private-power  program.  15m  the  peo 
ple  of  Greece,  who  had  been  the  serfs 
in  a  feudal  oi\kr  j;ovi.rned  by  the 
Turks  who  owned  the  land,  did  not 
want  their  second  most  important 
resource  owned  by  the  stockholders 
of  a  foreign  corporation  to  •whum 
they  would  have  to  pay  a  never- 
ending  tribute.  1  he  Greek-American 
Power  Committee  recommended 
public  power.  Within  <la\s  after  the 
committee's  report  reached  the  Paris 
office,  'the  \j .  S.  power  rcpre-.cn t- 
aii\e  came  to  Athens  to  find  out 
'what  \\.is  going  on.  Mis  fiisl  <|ties- 
1  ion  w  as  "\\  ho  w  am  s  public  pow  t  r.'  " 
I  he  answer  was  "  I  I'n:  |»  opl,-  of 
Greece  want  it."  His  reply  was  high 
ly  (listurbinu:  ''What  have  tluy  to 
say  about  it?  \\  ho's  puttirig  up  th-j 
money?*' 

lo  makt  a  long  story  >boj-i.  the 
piiblic-pVnver  policv  j^twailed.  A 
Public  Power  Corporal  ion  ,'-ai  rvtai'- 
Jished  un  ibc  'I  \  A  PJM..-III  .iiuj  ,> 

'i'h-.  i- -.<!•::' 


publicly  owned  and  operated  power 
network  n«.»w  serves  all  parts  of 
Greece;  the  bonds  of  the.  operating 
corpor.it  ion  demand  the  highest 
premium  on  the  Greek  investment 
market.  No  single  program  did  as 
much  to  promote  the.  democratic  in 
terests  in  Greece  as  did  this  public- 
program. 


A   MORI',   dramatic   conflict   of   ide 

ology    within    our    own    government 

agencies   is   presented    by    the   diver 

gent  policies  we  have  followed  in  our 

relationships    with     the     people    of 

Puerto  Rico  and  Cuba.  When  in  189$ 

Congress  was  debating  -the  provisions 

of    the    Organic    Act    unc'cr    which 

Puerto   Rico  was  to  be  governed,   a 

videly   felt   fear  was   expressed    that 

j.  S.  corporations  would  own  all  the 

•nluable  land  in   Puerto  Rico  in  the 

shortest  possible,  time"  unless  Con- 

cress    took    steps   to    prevent    it.    "If 

such  concentration  of  bowings  shall 

>ccome  the  case."  said  one  Congress-* 

nan,  "then  the  condition  of  the  pop- 

ilation  will,  1  believe,  be  reduced  to 

one  of  absolute  servitude.  The  people 

of  Puerto  Rico  will  be  driven  to  cul 

tivate    the   lands   for   these   corpora 

tions   at   whatever   daily   wage    they 

choose  to  pay  them." 

Following   the   passage  of  the  Or- 
canic  Act,  the  lack  of  effective   po 
litical  leadership  in  Puerto  Rico,  to 
gether   with    apathy   on    the   part    of 
Congress,   caused    conditions    in    the. 
sland  to  grow  worse.  By  1910.  fifty- 
one    corporations    owned    or    leased 
240.000  acres  of  land  in  violation  of 
e   law.    In    addition    to    this,    land 
tel<!  by  individuals  in  excess  of  500 
acres  totaled  a  little  more  than  twice 
tl\e   area    illegally   held    by   corpora 
tions.  As  a   result  of  this  and  other 
Victors,   the   living  conditions  of  the 
majority    of    the    people,    of    Puerto 
Rico    reflected    the    worst    fears    ex 
pressed  by  Congress  in  1898. 
A   completely   new   spirit    was  ere- 
Icd  in   the  economic  and  social   at- 
iinsphcre  'in    Puerto    Rico    by    two 
ipplcmcntarv   events.   The   Popular 
'arty,  under  the  dynamic  leadership 
f  Luis  Muno/.  Matin,  came  to  pow- 
r  in    Pin-no   Rico  and    the  jnrisdic- 
KHI  of   Puerto   Riean   affairs,  so  lat 
s  the  United  States  was  concerned, 
v.is   tian.slVnul    to   the    Department 
'f  tile  liit.i'1  {<:•'. 

ipril  S,  tf-fj 


Tlie  policies  of  the  Department 
were  conditioned  by  the  character  of 
its  responsibilities  at  home.  Tlicne 
included  the  enforcement  of  the  160- 
aere  limitation  of  the  Reclamation 
Act;  the  administration  ol  the  pub 
lic-power  program  ol  the  Bureau  of 
Reclamation  ( the  biggest  single  pow 
er  enterprise  in  the  United  States); 
the  administration  of  the  Bureau  of 
Indian  Affairs,  with  its  responsibility 
for  a  lara;e  group  of  underprivileged 
people;  the  administration  of  the 
\VP.\,  with  its  interest  in  employ 
ment,  and  the  development  ol  pub- 
lie  works;  and,  finally,  its  over-all 
responsibility  for  protecting  the  pub 
lic  interest  in  the  public  lands,  water 
and  mineral  resources  of  the  nation. 

Under  these  conditions,  it  was 
natural  for  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  to  support  the  Popular 
Party's  program.  Dr.  Rcxford  Guy 
Tugwcll,  former  Administrator  of  the 
Resettlement  Administration  and 
former  President  of  the  New  York 
City  Planning  Commission,  was  ap 
pointed  as  Governor  of  Puerto  Rico. 

ONK  OK  the  first  acts  of  the  newly 
established  Popular  Party  was  to  ini 
tiate  an  extensive  land-reform  pro 
gram.  Over  40  per  cent  of  the  cor 
porate-owned  land  in  Puerto  Kieo 
was  taken  by  condemnation  pro 
ceedings  and  was  turned  over  to  a 
newly  created  Land  Authority  which 
proceeded  to  grow  sugar  cane,  pine 
apples  and  the  like  in  somewhat  the 
same  way  that  our  own  Forest  Serv 
ice  grows  trees.  This  action,  more 
over,  was  upheld  bv  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals  in  the  United 
Stares,  which  ruled  that  the  people 
of  Puerto  Rico  had  the  right  to  own 
their  land  if  they  so  wished'.  A  Pub 
lic  Power  Authority  was  created  to 
take  over  all  power  facilities.  The 
charter  of  the  Puerto  Rico  Develop 
ment  Company  provided  that  all 
new  enterprises  were  to  be  publicly 
owned.  In  accordance  with  ibis  pol 
icy  a  number  of  very  useful  public 
enterprises  were  established,  includ 
ing  a  cement  planl  to  provide  the 
material  needed  fot  road  const  ruc 
tion  and  housing,  a  glass  plan!  10 
make  bo:  ili-.s  lur  tin.  export  <••!  r;m,, 
and  a  p.ipo1'  factory  v,  Inch  niilix.nl 
wa^.ic  materials  to  make  cartons  lor 
.shipping  the  rum  bottles.  Lxtensivc 


580 

programs  of  housing,  slum  clearance 
and  school  construction  were  initi 
ated  with  American  aid.  Kverythini; 
that  could  be  reasonably  done  to 
raise  the  level  of  living  of  the  r>- .  onk: 
of  Puerto  .Rico  was  done. 

The  fact  that  some  of  the  policies 
established  during  Tugwcll's  gov 
ernorship  were  later  replaced  by  the 
policies  of  the  highly  subsidized  "Op 
eration  Bootstrap"  m  no  way  lessens 
the  significance  of  the  fact  that  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  support 
ed  programs  of  public  ownership  and 
consumer  cooperation.  (It  is  in 
teresting  to  note  that  the  Puerto 
Rican  industrialist  who  bought  the 
publicly-owned  cement  plant  estab 
lished  during  Tugwell's  governorship, 
is  now  an  opponent  of  both  Murio'/. 
Mann  and  the  Popular  Party.) 

In  sharp  contrast  to  these  policies 
in  Puerto  Rico,  the  State  Depart 
ment  refused  recognition  of  Grau 
San  Martin  of  Cuba  when  he  over 
threw  the  viciously  corrupt  admin 
istration  of  President  Machado.  By 
so  doing,  the  State  Department 
paved  the  waj  for  Batista's  rise  to 
power.  Because  Batista  was  avowed 
ly  anti-Communist,  the  United 
States  supplied  him  with  arms  and 
ammunition,  which  he  used  to  main 
tain  his  corrupt  administration.  And, 
when  Fidel  Castro's  revolution  forced 
Batista  to  flee,  the  Stare  Depart 
ment,  instead  of  working  with  Castro 
m  an  effort  to  guide  his  program 
along  democratic  lines  as  the  Depatt- 
mcnt,  instead  of  working  with  Castro. 
Muno/  Man'n  in  Puerto  Rico,  put 
every  obstacle  in  his  way.  By  estab 
lishing  an  embargo  on  exports  and 
imports  vita!  to  the  Cuban  economy, 
the  State  Department  made  repay 
ments  of  equities  in  enterprises  taken 
over  by  the  government  inlpossfMu 
and  forced  Cuba  to  look  to  Russia 
and  China  lor  trade. 

As  a  result  of  these  two  com  rac 
ing  policies  oi  our  government, 
Puerto  Rico  is  well  on  the  road  to 
ward  economic  viability  on  a  demo 
cratic  pattern,  while  Cuba  has  been 
forced  into  the  Communist  orbit. 

\VHI.N  the  pct'pli;  of  Latin  Amctii'A 
appi.nse  '.Kir  post; ion  in  Cuba  (  wl'cu1 
ahnoM  ;is  many  propli-  were  k:!ki! 
Under  Hansta's  iule  a*,  w^-te  !.;!'.:! 
in  the  Hungariuii  ie.\o!O  J!".l  v--;: 


1 


581 


American  oil,  see-;!  and  other  corpo 
rate  interests  in  virtual  control  of  the 
oil  and  mineral  resources,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  landless  and 
otherwise  disadvantage^  people  of 
Latin  America  should  see  much  to 
their  liking  in  Castro's  revolution. 

Two  fundamental  facts  must  he 
roeogm/ed  if  the  President's  program 
el  aid  to  Latin  Ameriea  is  tu  lie  ci- 
fccrive. 

/.  \Vc  in  the  United  Stales  \\ill  he 
increasingly  dependent  upon  the  oil 
and  mineral  resources  cf  Latin  Amer 
ica.  Although  \ve  represent  less  than 
7  per  cent  of  the  world's  population, 
we  are  consuming  nearly  half  of  the 
world's  production  of  industrial  raw 
materials.  If  \ve  do  nothing  to  lower 
our  birth  rate,  \ve  will  have  a  popu 
lation  of  over  500  million  within  the 
lifetime  ot  many  now  living  and  our 
presently  easily  acquired,  indige 
nous  raw  materials  eventually  vill 
be  gone  and  we  will  be  in  competi 
tion  with  other  industriali/cd  and 
industrializing  nations  for  access  to 
the.  remaining  oil  and  mineral  re 
serves  outside  of  our  boundaries. 

2.  Latin  America,  in  sharp  con 
trast,  is  at  the  threshold  of  a  great 
period  of  industrial  development.  Its 
natural  resources  arc  its  basic  capital. 
These  reserves  must  provide  not  only 
the  raw  materials  to  be  used  in  the 
incUistnal  development  programs  of 
Latin  America,  but  must  be  the 
source  of  the  investment  capital 
needed  to  finance  these  programs. 

Our  need  for  raw  materials  and 
Latin  America's  need  for  invest 
ment  capital  are  complementary.  If 
our  policies  and  the  policies  of  the 
people  of  Latin  America  are.  based 
upon  the  acceptance  of  imlustriali/,a- 
licui  as  a  means  of  increasing  the 
carrying  capacity  of  the  resomves  of 
the  world  in  trims  of  happy,  healthy 
and  industrious  people,  rather  than 
as  a  .means  of  aggrandizement  lor 
the  few,  a  mutually  beneficial  re 
lationship  can  be  established.  Un 
der  these  conditions,  we  would  get 
the  raw  materials  we  need  and  the 
people  of  Latin  America  would  get 
the  capital  investment  they  must 
h."i\v  to  drvelop  their  own  industries. 

3t,  on  the  other  ii.ir.'l.  the  United 
States  continue-:,  to  support  a  grow 
ing  ownership  and  control  of  the  re 
sources  of  Latin  America  by  Ameri 


can  corporate  interests,  the  Ameri 
can  corporations  will  get  the  raw 
materials  they  need,  the  stockholders 
will  get  the  profits  they  want  — 
profits  which  are  badly  needed  as 
investment  capital  by  the  people  of 
Latin  America  -  -  and  the  taxpayers 
of  the  United  States,  who,  as  con 
sumers,  supply  the  corporate  profits, 
will  be  called  upon  to  provide  aid 
for  the  schools,  highways  and  other 
non-profit  enterprises  as  a  peace  ol- 
fcring  in  support  of  the  right  of 
American  corporations  to  exploit  the 
resources  of  Latin  America. 

Aid  should  be  given  in  liberal 
amounts.  J5nt  this  aid  should  be 
used,  in  large  part,  in  developing  the 
ability  of  the  people  of  Latin  Amer 
ica  to  finance  and  control  their  own 
industrial  potential. 


Democracy,  when  properly  inter 
preted,  is  the  soundest  and  most 
dynamic  concept  so  far  devised.  Cap 
italism  and  democracy  arc  not  syn 
onymous  terms.  Democracy,  in  prin 
ciple,  envisages  a  soeial  order  in 
which  both  sovereignty  and  the  own 
ership  and  control  of  the  common 
sources  of  supply  and  means  of  live- 
lihood  are  the  prerogatives  of  "\Ve, 
the  people."  We  and  the  people  of 
other  Western  democracies  are  the 
principal  exponents  of  both  econo 
mic  and  political  democracy.  If  \vc 
and  they  employ  the  public  and  con 
sumer  cooperative  segment  of  our 
own  dual  economies  in  our  relation 
ship  with  the  people  of  Latin  Amer 
ica  and  other  similar  areas,  democ 
racy  will  "bury"  communism  in  all 
uncommitted  areas  of  the  world. 


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SHOULD  BERKELEY  OWN  ITS  OWN  POWER  DISTRIBUTION  SYSTEM 
AND  BUY  ITS  POWER  FROM  SPEC  SUITABLE  PUBLIC  AGENCY 

by 
Walter  B.  Packard 

Mayor  Jof-rson  and  Members  of  the  Berkeley  City  Council: 

I  have  been  asked  to  discuss  the  issues  involved  in  the  following 
questions:   "(l)  Should  Berkeley  own  ite  own  pover  distribution  system? 
(2)  Should  Berkeley  buy  its  power  from  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation,  or  from 
some  other  public  agency  able  to  supply  pover  at  comparable  rates?  Berkeley 
does  neither  of  these  now.  The  Pacific  Gas  and  Electric  Company  owns  the 
distribution  system  and  supplies  the  power. 

At  the  beginning  I  wish  to  dispose  of  two  largely  semantic  factors 
which  often  confuse  the  issue.  One  concerns  "the  interpretation  of  the  term 
"public  vs.  private."  Power  distribution  is  a  natural  monopoly  that  can  be 
owned  by  either  of  two  corporate  entities .  The  system  in  Berkeley  is  now 
owned  by  the  stockholders  of  the  Pacific  Gas  and  Electric  Company.  If  the 
system  were  publicly  owned,  it  would  be  the  property  of  the  people  of  Berkeley 
who,  as  individuals,  are  just  as  "private"  as  are  the  stockholders  of  the 
P.  G.  &  E.  We  are  called  public  because  we,  as  the  sum  total  of  all  private 
individuals  in  Berkeley,  are  the  public,  while  the  stockholders  are  not. 
They  are  a  minority,  a  small  proportion  of  those  who  live  in  Berkeley.  From 
an  ideological  standpoint  both  systems  represent  collective  action.  Each 
group  gets  Its  franchise  from  the  State.  Each  group  acts  In  Its  own  Interest. 

There  is  nothing  new  or  sinister  about  owning  our  own  power 
system.  We  already  own  the  building  in  which  we  are  meeting;  the  streets 
and  sidewalks  ve  used  in  getting  here;  the  system  which  supplies  us  with 
the  water  we  use.  We  also  own  the  schools  and  libraries  which  serve  our 
needs.  We,  and  others  in  the  State,  own  the  University  of  California  which 
adds  luster  and  distinction  to  our  town  and  State.  Why  not  add  a  consumer- 
owned  pover  system  to  this  list  of  public  enterprises? 

A  common  statement  that  is  often  used  to  confuse  the  issue  is 
that  a  public  power  system  does  not  pay  taxes.  The  answer  to  this  criticism 
is  that  the  power  users  pay  the  tax  whether  it  is  public  or  private.  For 
example,  the  P.G.&E.,  as  a  corporation,  paid  $1^7,595.76  in  property  taxes 
and  $103,837-73  in  franchise  taxes  to  the  City  of  Berkeley  in  1964.  But 
this  was  not  paid  by  the  stockholders  of  the  P.G.&E.  who  own  the  system.  The 
money  was  paid  by  you  and  me  in  the  rates  we  were  charged  for  the  energy  we 
used.  If  we  owned  the  system,  we  could  choose  to  do  the  same  thing.  We 
could  contribute  a  like  sum  to  the  city  in  lieu  of  taxes.  Some  cities  which 
won  their  own  power  systems  do  this.  Others  do  not.  Msst  of  them  follow 
both  policies, --that  is, --have  some  of  the  income  they  get  as  owners  of  the 
system  passed  on  to  consumers  in  lower  rates  and  use  some  for  civic  improve 
ment. 

The  primary  issue  in  the  controversy  over  who  should  own  the 
power  system  of  Berkeley  concerns  the  distribution  of  the  profits  which  are, 
in  principle,  the  incomes  to  enterprise,  ownership  and  control.  The  money 
representing  those  incomes  under  P.G.&E.  ownership,  is  paid  out  by  all  power 
users  in  Berkeley  in  the  rates  they  are  charged  for  power  and  is  channeled 


-  2  - 


into  the  hands  of  the  stockholders  of  the  P.G.&E.,  very  few  of  vhom, 
as  previously  stated,  live  in  Berkeley.  If  we,  the  consumers  of 
power  in  Berkeley,  owned  the  system,  the  same  amount  of  money,  in 
principle,  could  be  passed  back  to  us  in  lower  rates.  This  would 
automatically  increase  the  purchasing  power  of  the  take  home  pay  of 
all  labor.  Based  upon  a  conservative  estimate  of  the  present  value 
of  the  physical  property  in  Berkeley,  which  cowes  to  about  $15,000,000. 
and  upon  other  factors,  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  Berkeley  could 
save  $1,000,000.  per  year  or  perhaps  as  much  as  Palo  Alto's  saving  of 
$1, 914,000.  from  owning  its  own  system.  Half  of  the  saving  would  be 
immediate  because  Municipal  bonds  could  be  sold  in  the  neighborhood 
at  yf>,  while  P.G.&E.  is  allowed  a  profit  of  6$.  When  the  bonds  are 
retired  the  city  would  own  the  system  and  enjoy  the  total  saving. 
In  addition  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  City  can  make  another 
$1,500,000.  to  $3,000,000.  by  buying  power  from  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation 
or  from  a  publically-ovned  atomic  energy  plant,  discussed  later  on. 

That  such  savings  are  possible  is  evidenced  by  the 
following  examples: 

Over  the  five  year  period  from  1956  "to  1960,  the  con 
sumers  of  power  in  the  Sacramento  Municipal  Utility  District,  which 
owns  its  own  distribution  system  and  buys  power  from  the  Bureau  of 
Reclamation  at  a  cost  of  4.15  mill  per  kilowatt  hour  (see  footnote  #1), 
save  $24,731,000.  or  an  average  saving  of  $4,860,000.  per  year  as 
compared  with  what  they  would  have  had  to  pay  if  they  had  purchased 
power  from  the  P.G.&E.  at  rates  charged  to  other  cities  of  comparable 
size. 

Palo  Alto  has  also  owned  its  electric  distribution  system 
for  many  years.  In  the  fiscal  year,  1963-64,  the  net  electric  revenue, 
after  paying  $266,358.  into  the  general  fund  in  lieu  of  taxes,  was 
$1,914,663.  just  from  the  ownership  of  its  own  distribution  system. 
An  additional  annual  saving  of  $1,050,000.  was  made  during  the  same 
fiscal  year  through  the  recently  implemented  contract  with  the  Bureau 
of  Reclamation.  The  City  Managers  office  write  that  "a  major  portion 
of  these  savings  has  been  returned  directly  to  the  consumers  in  the 
form  of  lower  rates.  The  balance  of  the  funds  are  designated  for 
system  improvement  and  undergrounding  existing  overhead  installations. 

Santa  Clara,  in  like  manner,  owns  its  own  distribution 
system  and  will  make  an  estimated  saving  of  over  $1,000,000.  per  year 
by  buying  power  from  the  Bureau  of  Reclamation  at  a  rate  of  4.33  mills 
per  kwh  as  compared  to  the  rate  of  7.25  mills  per  kwh  now  charged  by 
the  P.G.&E. 

The  City  of  Alameda  saves  about  $900,000.  by  owning  its 
own  distribution  system  although  buying  power  from  the  P.G.&E. 

Ukiah,  a  relatively  small  city,  saves  in  the  neighborhood 
of  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  per  year  through  their  ownership  of 
their  distribution  system. 


Footnote  #1:  From  a  letter  dated  August  1,  1965,  from  William  J.  Nolan, 
Actins  General  Manager  of  SMUD. 


-  3  - 


The  Regents  of  the  University  of  California  have  already 
made  an  annual  saving  of  $137,300.  by  buying  power  from  the  Bureau  of 
Reclamation  for  the  Davis  Campus.  This  sum  is  much  less  than  the  savings 
which  the  Regents  hope  to  make  "by  buying  power  for  the  Berkeley  Campus 
from  the  Bureau  system. 

R.  W.  Beck  and  Associates,  who  made  a  study  of  the  power  needs 
of  the  Berkeley  Campus,  reported  in  part  as  follows: 

"The  purchase  of  a  block  of  approximately  38; 000  kilowatts 
of  power  from  the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Reclamation  under  USER 
rate  schedules  available  to  preference  customers  in  the 
area,  will  result  in  a  minimum  saving  of  approximately 
$4,000,000.  during  the  nine  year  period  studied.  During 
such  period,  the  University  will  have  acquired  a  trans 
mission  facility  valued  at  approximately  $4,000,000. 
interconnecting  the  Berkeley  Campus  with  the  Federal 
Transmission  system." 

"If  additional  Federal  power  becomes  available  through 
the  construction  of  new  projects  in  California  or  through 
interconnections  with  other  areas,  such  as  the  proposed 
Pacific  Northwest -Southwest  Intertie  additional  savings 
on  the  order  of  $800,000.  per  year  may  be  realized  beyond 
1972."   (see  Footnote  #2) 

Since  the  Beck  report  was  submitted  to  the  Regents  the 
Berkeley  Campus  has  beer,  allocated  66,000  kilowatts  of  power  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior.  This  is  nearly  twice  the  power  estimate 
used  in  the  Beck  report  and  substantially  increases  the  possibility 
of  savings . 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  all  of  the  savings  above 
mentioned  will  increase  each  year  with  the  growth  of  the  energy  load. 
None  of  these  cities  wishes  to  return  to  P.G.&E.  ownership. 

These  same  general  facts  apply  from  coast  to  coast.  The 
low  cost  power  areas  in  the  United  States  are  where  public  power  dominates. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  I  ernestly  urge  that  the  City  Council 
of  Berkeley  give  serious  consideration  (l)  to  acquiring  ownership  of  the 
P.G.&E.  system  within  the  city  limits  and  (2)  to  join  with  others  in 
searching  for  new  sources  of  low  cost  power  including  a  study  of  the 
desirability  of  establishing  a  large  publicly-owned  nuclear  plant  in 
the  Delta  area* 

The  first  of  these  recommendations  can  be  implemented  through 
the  procedures  already  established  in  the  Berkeley  City  Ordinance  #3Vf4 
entitled,  "Purchase  by  City,"  which  says: 

"This  franchise  shall  at  all  times  be  held  and  exercised 
by  Grantee  (the  P.G.&E.)  subject  to  the  right  of  the  city 


Footnote  #2:  From  conclusions  of  Preliminary  Feasibility  Report  on 
Electric  Power  Generation  for  the  University  of  California  by 
R.  W,  Beck  &  Associates,  dated  Deceuber,  1962. 


to  purchase  by  voluntary  agreement  with  Grantee  or  by 
condemnation,  so  much  of  the  electric  property  of  the 
Grantee  located  within  the  limits  of  the  city  as  the 
city  may  elect." 

The  second  recourreudation  is  far  more  complex  in  its  rami 
fications  and  far  more  fundamental  in  its  implications . 

The  1962  Task  Force  Report  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior 
predicts  that  the  power  load  in  Northern  California  will  double  by  1970 
and  will  double  again  by  1965.  This  means  that  the  power  load  in  Northern 
California,  twenty  years  hence ,  will  be  four  times  what  it  was  in  1962. 

The  first  problem  this  estimate  creates  is  an  amplification 
of  the  problem  of  ownership  we  face  in  Berkeley.   If  this  anticipated 
increase  in  the  power  load  in  Northern  California  materializes  and  the 
rate  of  profit  to  the  F.G.&E.  remains  the  same  as  now,  the  stockholders 
of  the  F.G.&E.  will  be  getting  the  neighborhood  of  $ 500,000,000.  per  year 
if  they  own  the  increased  power  facilities .   In  principle,  under  public 
ownership  that  half  billion  dollars  per  year  would  be  passed  on  to  ail 
power  users  in  lower  rates  which,  as  previously  pointed  out,  would  auto 
matically  increase  the  real  wages  of  all  labor.   It  would  also  provide  a 
double  barreled  gun  to  use  in  the  war  on  poverty. 

Two  factors  illustrate  the  nature  of  this  ownership  issue: 

(1)  The  fundamental  importance  of  having  the  income  from  the 
ownership  cf  power  passed  on  to  the  consumer-labor  majority  rather  than 
being  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  stockholders  of  the  F.G.&E.  is 
highlighted  by  the  fact  that:,  with  every  advance  in  automation  and  cyber 
nation  non-human  sources  of  energy  replace  labor  energy  in  ever  expanding 
fields.   In  this  process  the  ownership  of  the  used  energy  passes  out  of 
the  hands  of  labor  and  goes  to  the  owners  of  the  new  energy.  Only  through 
public  ownership  can  all  labor  regain  the  incomes  from  ownership  they 
have  lost. 

(2)  When  peace  comes,-  as  it  eventually  must,  defense 

spending  will  have  to  te  replaced  by  a  vast  increase  in  peacetime  public 
spending  which  will  have  to  rest  on  mass  buying  power,  including  a  re 
capture  of  rents  and  royalties  from  socially  created  land  values  which 
have  passed  hundreds  of  billions  of  dollars  in  taxable  land  values  into 
the  hands  of  a  land  owning  minority. 

This  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  analyze  these  two 
factors  in  detail.  But  it  is  important  to  point  to  the  related  significance 
of  a  second  fact  revealed  by  the  Task  Force  .Report.  It  predicts  that  70  per 
cent  of  new  power  load  in  Northern  California  will  corr.e  from  thermal  plants . 
The  Atomic  Energy  Commission,,  in  its  turn,  believes  that  all  large  new 
thermal  plants  will  be  fueled  by  atomic  energy  rather  than  by  fossil 
fuels.  This  introduces  to  new  factors-:- 

One  concerns  the  extent  of  the  demand  for  power.  And  no 
report  could  dramatize  the  nature  of  this  need  more  convincingly  than 
that  presented  by  the  authors  of  "The  Next  Hundred  Years, "--all  of  whom 
are  scientists  of  the  California  Institute  of  Technology.  They  say  that 


-  5  - 


the  easily  acquired  industrial  raw  materials  which  now  feeds  the  production 
lines  of  industry,  will  be  gone  or  greatly  depleted  within  the  lifetime  of 
many  now  living.  But  they  say,  too,  that  ve  and  all  the  peoples  of  the  world 
can  get  the  raw  materials  we  need  from  the  sea,  the  air,  and  the  soil  and 
rocks  of  the  earth's  crust  PROVIDED  WE  HAVE  THE  ENORMOUS  VOLUME  OF  ENERGY 
THAT  WILL  BE  RE^UEffiD  IN  THE  PROCESS;' 


What  then,  are  the  facts  about  the  energy  supply?  The  Atomic 
Energy  Commission,  headed  by  Dr.  Glen  Seaborg,  one  time  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  California  says  in  the  1962  report  to  the  President: 

"Comparison  of  the  estimate  of  fossil  fuel  resources  with 
projections  of  the  rapidly  increasing  rate  of  energy  con 
sumption  predicts  that,  if  no  additional  forms  of  energy 
were  utilized,  we  would  exhaust  our  readily  available  low 
cost,  fossil  fuels  in  a  century  or  less  and  our  presently 
visualised  supply  in  about  another  century." 

So,  within  a  short  period  —  about  equal  to  the  period  that  has  elapsed  since 
the  beginning  of  the  Industrial  Revolution-  -we  and  all  the  world  will  be 
dependent  very  largely  upon  the  kinetic  energy  of  falling  water  including 
the  force  of  the  tides,  ths  energy  of  the  sun's  rays  acting  through  the 
process  of  photosynthesis  and  the  pent-up  energy  of  the  atom  as  our  pri 
mary  sources  of  energy.  No  figment  of  a  sane  imagination  could  assume  that 
these  sources  of  energy  should  be  owned  by  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many. 

These  developing  circumstances  provide  a  basis  for  ampli 
fying  my  second  recommendation  by  urging  that  Berkeley  join  with  the 
Board  of  Regents  of  the  University  of  California,  the  State  Department 
of  Water  Resources,  the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Reclamation  and  the  cities  of 
Santa  Clara,  Palo  Alto,  and  Alameda,  each  of  which  own  their  own  distri 
bution  systems,  in  a  study  of  the  desirability  of  establishing  a  $00,000 
killowatt  atomic  energy  plant  in  the  Delta  area  to  serve  as  a  yardstick 
in  the  atomic  energy  field. 

That  the  use  of  nuclear  power  would  result  in  large  savings 
is  indicated  by  the  following  quotation  from  the  1962  report  of  the  Atomic 
Energy  Commission  to  the  President: 

"Under  conservation  cost  assumptions,  it  is  estimated  that 
by  the  end  of  the  century  the  projected  use  of  nuclear 
power  would  result  in  cumulative  savings  in  generation 
costs  of  about  $30  billions.  The  annual  savings  would  be 
between  $*(•  and  $5  billion." 

The  measure  of  the  differential  in  rates  is  provided  by  a 
report  to  the  State  Department  of  Water  Resources  which  says  that  nuclear 
energy  can  be  developed  for  use  in  the  State  Water  Plan  for  as  low  as 
2.9  mills  per  kwh  which  is  lower  than  any  but  the  power  from  the  most 
favorably  located  hydro  plant. 

The  cost  of  a  preliminary  study  of  the  kind  that  I  have  in 
mind  would  cost  from  $25,000  to  $35,000  to  be  divided  among  the  co 
operating  agencies  . 


-  6  - 


That  this  is  not  a  novel  suggestion  is  shewn  by  the 
folloving  quote  from  the  report  of  the  R.  W.  Beck  &  Associates  to 
the  Board  of  Regents: 

"A  definite  analysis  of  the  possible  development  of 
nuclear  power  generation,  must  be  undertaken  in  close 
coordination  with  the  Atomic  Energy  Commission  ard 
other  regulatory  agencies  and  must  reflect  conditions 
and  criteria  which  are  beyond  tlie  scope  of  this  pre 
liminary  study.   In  addition,  the  nuclear  pl?=nt  does 
not  lend  itself  readily  to  small  units  which  could  be 
accomodated  into  a  plan  of  firm  power  supply  for  the 
loads  contemplated  herein,  but  rather  should  be  inte 
grated  into  a  larger  system  which  can  supply  the 
necessary  reserve  capacity  and  can  allow  the  nuclear 
plant  to  be  operated  at  a  high  plant  factor , " 

The  suggestion  I  have  made  regarding  the  nuclear  plant 
would  provide  the  means  of  integrating  the  Berkeley  Campus  needs  "into 
a  larger  system"  as  suggested  by  the  Beck  report  to  the  Board  of  Regents , 

I  make  no  apology  for  presenting  the  power  issue  ia 
Berkeley  in  the  context  of  this  broader  horizon.   It  is  my  belief 
that  one  of  the  causes  of  the  social  and  economic  problems  which 
are  giving  us  trouble  at  home  and  abroad  is  that  we  do  not  see  the 
full  picture  in  perspective. 

Thank  you  for  your  courtesy  in  hearing  me. 


SAN 


Engineer 
Walter  E. 
Packard  Dies 


\\  at'  <j  r  E.  ljuck*ml,  nn 
oni.'iiH-tv  who  dedicated  his 
;.*«nl  skills  to  lie  better- 
incut  of  niHii,  died  >csU*r- 
tiny  at  hU  Berkeley  home. 
I  !«'•  \\  as  (tot. 

He  was  a  man  who  put  the 
tools  of  this  century  to  work 
to  build  the  enduring  monu 
ment  of  a  better  life  in  Cali 
fornia's  Imperial  Volley,  in 
Mexico.  Venezuela  and.  per 
il  a  p  s  most  significantly,  in 
ullages  of  Greece  where  he 
created  harvests  of  abun-j 
dance  where  only  hunger  had : 
\\  alked  before. 

Mr.  Pard  achieved  interna- 1 
tionai  acclaim  as  an  agricul 
tural  and  reclamation  engi 
neer.  His  work  predated  the 
Peace  Corps  by  decades  but 
undoubtedly  influenced  H. 

TRAINING 

A  native  of  Oak  Park,  111.. 
Mi-.  Paackard  took  his  de 
gree  In  •grlculutnrtl  ««*«iw 
at  Iowa  State  University  in 
.  1907  and  his  master's  from 
I  the  University  of  California 
I  at  Berkeley  two  years  later. 
After  serving  as  a  field  agent 
'for  a  Federal  Irrigation  in 
vestigation,  be  became  su 
perintendent  of  the  UC  Agri-; 
i-  u  t  tural  Experimentation  j 
Station  in  the  Imperial  Val-; 
lev  in  1910.  serving  there  un 
til   1917.  His  work  pioneered 
tlie  introduction  of  successful 
(arming  in  that  desert  re 
gion. 

\fter  ser v  ice  with  the 
Army  Education  Corps  in 
France  in  191».  h*  wen*  to 
Harvard  University  M  an  in 
structor  in  economics,  also 
teaching  the  same  subject  at 
Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology. 

MEXICO 

Krom    1926    to    IW9.    he 

>erved  as  chief  of  the  Mexi- 

can  Government's  National', 

Irrigation     Commission.     Inj 

the  1930s,  he  played  a  promi-i 

nent   role   in   the  farm  pro- 

orams  of  the  Xe\v  Deal,  and 

a«  one  colleague  put   it.   tie 

•remained  an  ardent  Ne\v 

Dealer  all  hi*  life  "  He  was 

national  diiector  oi  the  Rural 

Resettlement  Administration 

i-'i-cewed  witli  the  problem* 

oi   tlic   tenant    tanner,    trmn 


586 

2,    1966 

THE  NEW  YORK  THTES.  WEDNESDAY.  NOVEMBER 

WAlTERPACKHtD, 
FARM  EXPERT,  82 


WALTER  E.   PACKARD 
World  monuments 


Krom    1945   to    1947.    he 
served  as  special  consultant 
to  Governor  Rextord  Tugwell  , 
of  Puerto  Rico  on  land  and, 
irrigation  problems  there. 

After  World  War  II,   he 
went  to  Greece  to  serve  as; 
consultant  and  director  of  nu 
merous  Marshal  Plan  pro-  . 
grams.  Enlisting  the  cooper-  j 
ative  help  of  v  i  1  1  a  a  ers.  he! 
achieved  what  was  an  agrl-J 
cultural  miracle  In  that 
war  -torn  land.  His  crops  | 
were  of  such  abundance  that 
Greece  spent  $225  million  per 
annum  less  on  food  Imports, 
in  I«"x1  than  It  did  in  1948 

He  reclaimed  swamplands 
and  undertook  Irrigation  pro- 
j  e  c  t  s.   Rice  production  In 
creased  1200  per  cent  and  be-  j 
,  came  an  export  crop  instead  j 
j  oi  an  i  m  p  o  r  t  e  d  one.  "Just 
giving  money  to  governments 
won't  do  it,"  he  told  a  Chror 
icle  i  n  t  e  r  v  i  e  w  e  r  in  1954.  j 
••Jusl  advice  won't  'do  either.  | 
You  need  tractors  and  other  | 
things    that    cost    money.  ; 
You've  got  to  take  the  tech-  1 
n  i  H  u  e  s  and  the  machinery 
out  Into  the  field  —  and  then  ' 
you'll  gel  something  accom 
plished.'' 

Grateful  villagers  of  An- 
thlle  erected  a  bust  ai  a  me- 
m  o  r  I  a  1  of  Packard's  work. 
Some  suy  that  it  Is  the  only 
statue  in  all  of  Greece  depict- 
ing  a  hero  with  a  bow  tie. 

Slsce  return  from  Greece 
in  l«54.  Mr.  Packard  had 
campaigned  for  public  power 
and  had  worked  on  books 
about  his  philosophies  and 
works.  He  died  at  noon  yes 
terday  surrounded  to  mem 
bers  of  his  family. 

SfRVIVORS 

Ht  w  a-  a  m  «•  ni  b  e  r  01 
Aim-rican  Sucien  ot.  Agricul 
tural  Engineer^  American 
Farm  F.c"numic»  ,A  »  s  0  ci  a- 


Sent  by  Marshall   Plan  to 
Reclaim  Greek  Lands 


IPMUI  Id  Tht  MO  YOf  •  TM»I 

BERKELEY,  Calif.,  Nov.  i   - 

Waiter    Eugene    Packard,    in 

agricultural  mf  ln»»r,  who  trans- 

formed     thmiwndi     of     barren 

acres  In  Greece  Into  productive 

land,  and  helped  that  country 

tart  a  13-year  »oil  reclamation 

rogram.    died    yeit*rd»y.    H* 

as  82  years  old. 


Sent  by  Marshall  PUn 
In  1948.  Mr.  Packard  went  on 
Marshall    Plan    mission    to 
Greece,  where  he  was  chief  of 
he  land  reclamation  unit  of  the 
Economic  Cooperation  Admlnls- 
ratlon  for  six  yean. 

He  began  his  dramatic  rec- 
amatlon  project  in  1949  In 
Anthele,  a  poor  community 
north  of  Athens  on  the  edge  of 
a  salt  plain. 

The  plain  was  bleached  and 
barren  in  410  B.  C.  when  Kini 
Xerxes  of  the  Persian*  camped 
there  before  storming  Thermop 
ylae.    For   centuries   no    loca 
'armer  bothered   to  plow   the 
sterll*    plain,    and    those    wh 
worked    tht    fringe    land!   got 
only  scanty  yields. 

Mr.  Packard  called  a  meetlnj 
of  Antheie  farmer*  In  the 
lag*     coffeehouse.     A     warm 
friendly  man,  he  won  their  Ilk 
ing  with  hl»  smiles  and  panto 
mime.  Through  an   Interpret* 
he  told  them: 

"Some  of  us  think  you  can 
grow  things  on  this  lead  of 
yours.  Rice,  for  instance." 

He    outlined    a    plan   under 
which    the    American    misslo 
would  provide  money  and  ma 
chines  for  Greek  labor. 

The  villagers  liked  the  way  h 
spoke-  to  them;  40  landowners 
lent  him  100  acres  to  test  his 
project;  other  villagers  manned 
picks  and  shovels;  a  host  of 
American  tractors  and  bull 
dozers  diverted  the  course  of 
the  winding  Sperchlos  River  to 
wash  the  flats  clear  of  salt  and 

alkali-  _ 

With  Sleeves  rolled  up,  Mr. 
Packard  worked  side  by  side 
with  his  Greek  friends,  bulldlnff 
rectangular  rict  paddles.  Seed 
ric*  imported  from  Italy  was 
spread  by  hand.  By  early  sum 


Tht  !ttw  Y»rt  TMn.  MM 

Walter  Eugesw  Packard 


tlon,  Beta  Theta  PI.  Alpha 
Zeta  and  the  Commonwealth 
Club  of  .California. 

S  u  r  v  i  v  I  n  g  are  nil  wife, 
Emma,  of  the  family  home, 
773  Cragmont  avenue.  Berke- 
ley:  two  daughters.  Clara 
CoffieW  of  Napa  and  Emmy 
Lou  Randall  of  Mendocino: 
two  grandchildren  and  three 
great-grandchildren. 

A  private  memorial  serv 
ice  is  pending. 

At  death.  Mr.  Packard  uas 
active  in  tin.1  f'idiiurnia  Pow 
er  I'st-rs  \>-uciation.  which 
•be 


erthe  amased  _ 
emerald  patch  in  the  middle  of! 
chalky-white    wastes.    In 
September  the  field  was  heavy 
with  rice. 

Mr.  Packard  became  the  hem 
Anthele.    They    called    him 
Papou"  ("Grandfather";;  chll- 
i    picked    wildflowers    (or 
m;    church   bells   rang   when 
Is  familiar  jeep  bttmped  along 
he  road  up  from  Athens.  They, 
lamed  the  road  after  him. 

Mr.  Packard  dtd  not  rest  on1 
bis  laurels.  IMs  »lim  ntt»mm  t 
Ions  produced  more  rice  and 
other  crops.   In   ltS3  for  the 
irst  time  Greece  was  able  to 
export    rice — W -million    wort*.; 
When  he  cam*  to  Greece,  aftei 
mported    SS-milllon    worth    ofi 
rice. 

Honored  With  .Status 

When  Mr.  Packard  left 
Ireece  In  1954,  the  people  of 
Anthele  erected  a  marble 
Statue  to  him  in  the  village 
square. 

In  1948  Greece  imported 
1167-mluion  worth  of  food.  I» 
1953  she  imported  1*0-1  mlBi* 
worth,  includtar  faf*r  and  corf- 
fee 

Asked  in  1*54  if  he  planned 
to  go  back  to  Greece,  Mr.  Pack- 
am  said  no.  his  work  was  done. 
"And  I  don't  expect  to  see 
that  statue  again."  he  said  with 
a  Smile.  "It's  a  wonderful 
thing  -but  It  gives  you  a  funny 
feeling" 

Mr.  Packard  had  also  xerved 
,<rti  re'lamntlon  and  Irrigation 
proln-U  in  Wrxtrn,  Pi>trl»  tttf'i 
'  and  Vrn»zu«U. 

He  was  bow  M  Oak  *"*»*• 
III  ,  and  studied  at  1"**  ****« 
(College,  the  University  of  CaH^ 
fonla  and  Harvard  He  wa* 
national  director  of  the  Rural 
I  Resettlement  Administration  In 
'the  nineteen-thirti**.  i 

'  Mr  Packard  had  completed' 
,for  publication  a  book  on  eco-t 
Inomir',  "The  Consumer-Labor  I 
|  Approach  to  Social  OrganUa-' 
,tion." 

;  Surviving  are  his  widow.  U 
former  Emma  Leonard:  two 
daughters,  MM.  Joel  Offield 
and  Mrs.  Byron  Randall;  two' 
grandchildren  and  three  great 
grandchildren. 


587 


.,  Nov  I,  1966 


Packard, 
Soil  Expert, 
Dies  at  82  ( 

Walter  Eugene  Packard? 
82.  internationally  known  soil  j 
and  reclamation  expert,  died 
\esterday  at  hi i  Berkeley' 
home. 

Private  memorial  services 
are  pending. 

He  is  survived  by  his  wife 
of  nearly  57  years,  the  for 
mer  Emma  Leonard;  773; 
Cragmont    Ave.,   Berkeley; 
daughters  Mrs.  Clara  Cof- 
field,  Napa,  and  Mrs.  Emmy  , 
I/ou  Randall,  Mendocino;  two 
grandchildren     and     three 
great-grandchildren. 

Mr.  Packard  left  his  own 
monuments  i  n  flourishing 
crop  lands  where  hunger 
once  stalked,  In  Greece. 
Mexico.  Venezuela  and  else- 
j  where. 

VALLEY  FARMER 
Born  in  Illinois,  schooled  at 
Iowa  State,  University  of; 
California  and  Harvard,  he 
pioneered  successful  farming  i 
in   the  desert-like   Imperial 
Valley  while   superintendent 
of  the  UC  experiment  station 
there  from  1910  to  1917. 

He  was  a  lecturer  with  the 
Army  education  corps  in 
France  after  World  War  I, 
instructor  i  n  economics  at 
Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  for  a  year,  then 
superintendent  of  California 
State  Land  Settlement  from 
1920-24. 

He  was  chief  of  the  Mexl- 
ean   government's  National 
i  Irrigation  Commission  from 
jUMteiMO. 

PROJECTS  IN  GREECE 
From  1945  through  1947  he 
was  consultant  on  Puerto 
Rico  land  use,  then  was  con- 
s  u  1 1  a  n  t  on  many  Marshall 
Plan  projects  in  Greece, 
where  he  b  o  o  s  t  e  d  the  rice 
crop  1200  per  cent. 

Grateful  Greek  farmers 
erected  a  monument  to  him 
—  reputedly  the  "only  bust  in 
Greece  with  a  bow  tie." 


Wed.,  Nov.  2, 1966 

Walter  E.  Packard 

BERKELEY  -  Walter  E. 
Packard,  an  agricultural  and 
reclamation  engineer  who  had 
worked  in  California,  Mexice, 
Puerto  Rico  and  Greece,  died  in 
his  home  Monday  at  the  agfe 
of  82. 

His  work  as  superintendent  of 
the  University  of  California  ag 
ricultural  experimentation  sta 
tion  in  California's  Imperial 
Valley  from  1910  to  1917  pio 
neered  Introduction  of  success 
ful  farming  of  that  onetime  de 
sert-like  region. 

He  served  at  chief  of  the  Mex 
ican  government's  National  Irri 
gation  Commission  from  1925  to 
1929. 

Mr.  Packard  was  national  di 
rector  of  the  Rural  Resettle 
ment  Administration,  concerned 
with  problems  of  the  tenant 
farmer,  from  19S5  to  1938,  and 
also  played  a  prominent  part  in 
the  farm  program  of  the  New 
Deal. 

In  1945-47,  he  was  consultant 
to  Gov.  Rexford  Tugwell  of 
Puerto  Rico  on  land  and  irriga 
tion  problems. 

He  became  consultant  and  di 
rector  of  many  Marshall  Plan 
projects  in  Greece  after  World 
War  II.  Much  swamp  land  was 
reclaimed  and  Greece's  rice 
production  increased  1,200  per 
cent  and  became  an  exported 
crop  instead  of  an  imported  one 
under  his  supervision. 

Mr.  Packard  campaigned  for 
public  power  after  his  return 
from  Greece  in  1954.  Until  his 
death,  he  was  active  in  CaHtor- 


TUM.  ,  Nov.  1 ,  1 966         Berkeley  DAILY  GAZETTE 

Agricultural  Engineer 
i  Walter  E.  Packard  Dies 

AdBUnls  tratioo,  concerned  with 
Walter      E.      Packard     ofp^m,  <*  &  t^^  farmtr 

(Berkeley,   an   agricultural  and  from.  1935  to  1938. 


'reclamation  engineer  who  had 


'been  a  government  official  for 
.numerous  projects  HI  this  coun 
try  and  abroad,  died  Monday 
at  his  home  at  781  Cragmont 
'Ave. 

| '  He  was  82. 
Mr.    Packard    was   superin 


tendent  of  the  University  of 
California  Agricultural  Ex 
perimentation  Station  In 
California's  Imperial  Valley 
from  1910  to  1917.  HI*  work 
pioneered  introduction  of  suc 
cessful  farming  in  that  one* 
desert-like  region. 

From  1925  to  1929  he  was 
chief  of  the  Mexican 
government's  National  Ir 
rigation  Commission. 

In  the  1930-8  Packard  played 
a  prominent  part  in  the  (arm 
program  of  the  New  Deal.  He 


The  next  three  years  he  spent 
as  consultant  to  GOT.  Rexford 
Tugwell  of  Puerto  Rfco  on  land 
irritation  problems. 

After  World  War  n  he  was 
consultant  aad  director  tor 
numerous  Marshall  Plan  pro 
jects  in  Greece.  Under  his 
supervision  much  swampland 
was  reclaimed  aad  Greece's  riee 
production  increased  1JSO  per 
cent  and  became  aa  exported 
crop  instead  of  an  imparted  one. 

After  his  retarn  from  Green 
in  1N4,  Packard 
for  municipal  a 
PGftE  here.  At  his  death  as 
was  active  in  California  Power 
Users'  Assn.,  which  he  fsnndsd 

He  is  survived  by  his  widow, 
Emma,  of  the  bone;  two 
daughters,  Mrs.  Oara  Coffield 
of  Napa  and  Mrs.  Emmy  Lou 


ISM 

Randal  of  Mendocino;  sad  (we 
grandchildren  and  three  great- 
randchildn 


nia  Power  Users'  Association,  • 
which  he  founded.  i 

He  is  survived  by  his  widow, , 
Emma,  of  the  family  home  at1 
773  Cragmont  Ave.,  two  daugh 
ters,    Mrs.    Clara    Coffield    of 
Napa  and  Mrs.  Emmy  Lou  Ran 
dal  of  Mendocino. 

A  private  memorial  service  is 
pending. 


The  family  of  Mr.  Walter  E.  Packard  wishes  to  announce 
that  no  public  memorial  services  will  be  held  as 
previously  planned.  Instead,  a  printed  tribute  will 
be  issued  after  the  first  of  the  year  and  will  be 
available  to  friends. 


In  the  meantime,  arrangements  have  been  m 
all  wishing  to  do  so  may  send  contributions 
of  flowers,  to: 

THE  AMERICAN  FARM  SCHOOL 
(at  Thessaloniki,  Greece) 


have  been  made  so  that 
in  I i  eu 


Harvey  K. 
Office  of 
New  York, 


C/o 

Breckenri  dge, 
the  Trustees; 
N.Y.  10021 


President 
36  East  61st 


St., 


FARMER 
CONSUMER 


VOLUME  XXVII 


DECEMBER,  1906 


NUMBER  12 


388 
INSIDE 

Page 

Co-op  Conference 2 

State  Board  On  Food 

Marketing 8 

Calif.  Transport.  Co«U 4 

Water  and  Power  New* 8 

Chile'*  Revolution 6 

On  the  Election*....  8 


Two  Pioneers  Leave  Us  A  Rich  Inheritance 


Murray  D.  Lincoln 

Murray  D.  Lincoln,  long-time  president  and  guiding 
spirit  of  the  Cooperative  League  of  the  USA,  and  one  of 
the  giants  of  the  people's  self-help  movement  in  the 
United  States,  died  in  Columbus  Ohio,  on  November  7. 
He  was  74  years  old. 

Lincoln  was  born  on  a  small  farm  near  Raynham, 
Mass.,  on  April  18, 1892.  In  1914,  having  graduated  Mas 
sachusetts  Agricultural  College  (now  the  University  of 
Massachusetts),  he  became  a  county  agricultural  agent 
in  New  London  County,  Conn.,  the  first  county  agent  in 
that  state  and  one  of  the  few  in  New  England.  His  efforts 
to  help  farmers  help  themselves  led  to  his  interest  in  co 
operatives. 

In  1920  Lincoln  became  the  first  executive  secretary 
of  the  Ohio  Farm  Bureau  Federation  at  Columbus.  In 
1926  he  and  his  associates  formed  the  Farm  Bureau  Mu 
tual  Insurance  Company  to  provide  auto  insurance  for 
fanners. 

"Farm  Bureau"  insurance,  which  became  Nationwide 
in  1950,  grew  to  be  four  major  companies  and  a  number 
of  subsidiary  and  related  organizations.  Lincoln  was 
president  of  the  Nationwide  complex  until  his  retirement 
in  April,  1964,  and  was  president  emeritus  until  his 
death. 

In  1964,  these  four  companies  had  nearly  4  million 
policies  in  force,  3  million  policy  holders  and  were  selling 
$350  million  worth  of  insurance  annually  with  total  com 
bined  assets  of  $600  million. 

Lincoln  was  an  active  participant  in  the  Cooperative 
League  of  the  USA  and  became  a  director  in  1935.  He 
was  elected  its  president  in  1941.  He  retired  as  president 
of  the  League  early  in  1965,  and  at  the  organization's 
50th  anniversary  Congress  at  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Oct.  12-14 
of  this  year  the  board  made  him  honorary  president. 
During  his  period  of  leadership  the  League  became  an  or 
ganization  of  national 
stature,  serving  U.S.  co 
operatives  of  all  kinds 
and  active  overseas. 

Lincoln  was  elected 
the  first  president  of 
Care — the  "Cooperative 
for  American  Relief 
Everywhere"  —  when  it 
was  formed  in  November 


Walter  E.  Packard 

California  and  the  world  lost  one  of  its  most  dedica 
ted  citizens  on  Oct.  31,  when  Walter  Packard,  82,  passed 
away  at  his  home  in  Berkeley.  During  his  entire  lifetime 
he  used  his  knowledge  and  organizing  ability  to  improve 
land,  water  and  power  resources  so  that  the  common  peo 
ple  might  have  a  better  life. 

After  graduating  from  Iowa  State  College  in  1907,  he 
moved  to  California,  getting  his  M.A.  from  the  Univ.  of 
Calif,  in  1909.  Then,  as  first  director  of  the  U.S.  Experi 
mental  Station  in  the  Imperial  Valley,  he  helped  solve 
problems  of  conquering  salt  and  silt  laid  down  over  mil- 
leniums  by  the  Colorado  River. 

Later  he  became  superintendent  of  the  Delhi  Cali 
fornia  State  Land  Settlement  Colony,  which  had  been 
established  several  years  previously.  First  crops  were 
ready  for  harvesting  just  before  the  1921  depression. 
Farming  was  already  on  the  rocks.  Because  of  collective 
difficulties  —  depression,  sandy  soil,  inability  to  make 
payments  on  loans — the  Delhi  project  failed.  Land  was 
picked  up  at  much  below  the  market  price.  That  ended 
attempts  at  state  colonization. 

After  a  period  at  Harvard,  Packard  became  chief  of 
the  Mexican  Government's  National  Irrigation  Commis 
sion  (1926-29),  which  was  responsible  for  developing 
water  resources  for  farmers  in  desert  areas. 

With  the  election  of  President  Franklin  D,  Roose 
velt,  Packard  was  active  in  various  AAA  agencies,  finally 
becoming  national  director  of  the  Rural  Resettlement 
Administration  (1931-38).  Later  he  was  special  consul 
tant  on  land  and  irrigation  to  Gov.  Rexford  Tugwell  of 
Puerto  Rico  (1945-47). 

In  1940  he  appeared  before  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Education  and  Labor  to  advocate  better  housing  for 
farm  workers,  provision  and  equipment  for  part-time 
farming  to  reduce  food  costs  and  provide  supplemental 
income,  together  with  re-  „,,  4  ..,,  .  -*.••••  ,  . 

settlement  of  farm  work 
ers  on  reclaimed  federal 
lands. 

In  1945,  Packard  as 
sisted  the  Central  Val 
leys  Conference  Commit 
tee,  of  which  former  As 
semblyman  Sam  Heisin- 
ger  was  chairman,  to 

(Continued  on  page  2) 


(Continued  on  page  3)      Packard  Ciecond  front  left), 
with  Greek  engineer*,  plan- 
of  An- 


Murray  Lincoln 


nine  the  rice  project 

thill  In  1950. 


589 


Murray  Lincoln 
(Continued  from  page  1) 

1946,  to  help  provide  food  for  the  world's 
hungry  and  dislocated  people  following 
World  War  II.  He  continued  as  president 
12  years  and  during  the  past  nine  has 
been  chairman  of  the  board. 

In  1960,  Lincoln  published  his  autobi 
ography,  calling  it  Vice- President  in 
Charge  of  Revolution.  He  told  David 
Karp,  who  collaborated  with  him  on  the 
book,  that  every  large  organization  needs 
a  "vice-president  in  charge  of  revolution" 
— somebody  to  keep  everybody  stirred  up, 
conscious  of  the  organization's  objectives, 
and  on  his  toes. 

Lincoln  was  a  leader  in  the  drive  to 
form  rural  electric  cooperatives  in  Ohio, 
as  he  was  also  to  form  farmers'  marketing 
and  purchasing  cooperatives  sponsored  by 
Farm  Bureau. 

The  nation's  first  rural  electrical  coop 
erative  was  founded  by  the  REA  in  Ohio 
in  1936.  There  are  now  30  such  coopera 
tives  in  the  state.  From  a  state  where  less 
than  20%  of  farms  were  electrified,  today 
98%  are  so  serviced.  These  rural  electric 
co-ops  have  145,000  members,  36,000  miles 
of  distribution  lines  and  do  $23  million 
worth  of  business  annually. 

He  served  on  the  executive  committee 
(and  in  1946  was  elected  vice-president) , 
of  the  International  Cooperative  Alliance, 
London;  on  the  board  of  the  American 
Farm  Bureau  Federation;  on  the  Federal 
Farm  Credit  Board,  and  on  the  board  of 
the  Fund  for  International  Coopeartive 
Development,  a  Cooperative  League-spon 
sored  organization  devoted  principally  to 
overseas  cooperative  development. 

He  was  dedicated  to  the  idea  that  peo 
ple  working  together  through  coopera 
tive*,  could  fashion  for  themselves  a  se 
cure  life  based  on  the  enormous  potential 
our  nation  possesses. 

In  one  of  those  contradictions  which  our 
system  generates,  Lincoln's  cooperative 
assets  were  invested  in  non-cooperative 
corporations  which  gave  him  directorships 
in,  for  example,  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  and  the  Allegheny  Corporation. 

He  envisioned  adding  such  enterprises 
to  his  cooperative  trophies,  including  the 
Ohio  Farm  Bureau's  proposal  to  purchase 
one  of  the  nation's  super  food  chains. 

He  flung  the  challenge.  He  proved  it 
could  be  done,  HIS  way.  It  is  for  the  peo 
ple  to  use  this  powerful  tool  which  is  with 
in  their  hands  ...  as  he  said  in  his  auto 
biography:  "To  fashion  their  own  des 
tiny!"  — Grace  McDonald  - 


Walter  Packard 
(Continued  from  page  1) 

plan  its  Sept.  8,  1946,  San  Francisco  Con 
ference,  where  160  representatives  of 
farmer,  consumer,  labor  and  resource  or 
ganizations  mobilized  a  successful  cam 
paign  to  establish  this  multipurpose  proj 
ect  under  Bureau  of  Reclamation  Author 
ity  and  policies.  Water  and  power  users 
throughout  California  are  now  enjoying 
the  benefits  of  this  campaign. 

From  1948  through  1964  he  served  as 
consultant  and  director  of  several  Marsh 
all  Plan  programs  in  Greece..  Under  a  re 
forestation  program,  he  directed  the 
planting  of  millions  of  tree  seedlings  to  re 
place  those  which  had  been  cut  down  from 
the  hills  and  mountains  during  the  war. 

In  1949  he  began  a  dramatic  reclama 
tion  project  in  Anthili  on  the  edge  of  the 
salt-encrusted  plain  of  Thermopylae.  Ap 
plying  his  experience  of  the  Imperial  Val 
ley,  he  diverted  water  from  the  Sperchios 
River  to  wash  the  flats  clear  of  salt  and 
alkali.  Rice  seed  was  planted.  By  early 
summer  the  amazed  people  saw  an  em 
erald  patch  in  the  chalky -white  wastes.  By 
fall,  the  field  was  heavy  with  rice.  Soon 
the  entire  area  was  producing  rice,  stimu 
lating  a  1200%  increase  in  the  nation's 
rice  production.  Rice  soon  became  an  ex 
port  crop. 

In  gratitude,  the  villagers  of  Anthili 
erected  a  marble  statue  of  Mr.  Packard  in 
the  village  square.  He  was  made  an  honor 
ary  citizen  of  Anthili  and  Thermopylae. 

In  setting  up  electric  systems  in  Greece, 
Packard  insisted  they  be  owned  and  op 
erated  by  the  people.  This  was  contrary 
to  plans  of  the  giant  Electric  Bond  and 
Share  Co.  (EBASCO),  to  set  up  utilities 
in  Marshall  Plan  countries  which  would 
pay  tribute  to  American  shareholders.. 

In  commemoration  of  the  20th  Annivers 
ary  of  the  Marshall  Plan,  Packard's  work 
in  Greece  was  cited  as  an  outstanding 
"people-to-people"  achievement.  The  U.S. 
State  Dept.  offered  to  fly  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Packard  to  Greece  for  a  celebration  last 
September.  Mr.  Packard's  doctor,  how 
ever,  advised  against  the  long  trip. 

In  recent  years  Mr.  Packard  has  de 
voted  his  time  to  writing  and  promoting 
public  power.  He  was  founder  of  the  Calif. 
Power  Users  Ass'n.  and  a  long-time  mem 
ber  of  the  Calif.  Farmer-Consumer  Infor 
mation  Committee.  A  pamphlet  describing 
Mr.  Packard's  greatest  achievements  will 
be  made  available  in  1967. 

—William  Reich 


590 


Remembrance  by  Carey  McWilliams, 
Editor,  The  Nation,  November  21,  1966 
Pages  532  -  533. 


Walter  Packard 

A  great  and  good  man,  Walter  Packard  wan  one  of 
California's  most  admirable  public  servants,  a  world  citi 
zen  whoH  claims  to  distinction  he  was  notably  jucceit- 
ful  in  minimizing.  Of  hit  goodneu  there  could  never  be 
any  question:  throughout  a  long  lifetime  (he  was  82  when 
he  died  October  31  in  Berkeley)  he  radiated  an  essential 
kindliness,  a  warmth  and  generosity  of  spirit  and  a  con 
stant  concern  for  the  happlnee*  and  well-being  of  others. 
But  it  is  not  easy  to  suggest  wherein  his  greatness  coniiited. 
The  familiar  labels — "agricultural  economist,"  "social  plan- 
ner,"  "reclamation  and  development  expert" — are  painfully 
inadequate,  although  he  had  achieved  great  distinction  in 
these  fields.  Perhapi  the  bait  way  to  suggest  the  special 
quality  of  his  eminence  would  be  to  say  that  he  was  a 
committed  democrat,  a  man  who  understood  and  practiced 
in  all  relationships,  and  taught  others  to  understand  and 
practice,  the  principles  of  democratic  living.  With  him, 
democracy  was  both  means  and  end,  a  mode  of  living  M 
well  as  a  social  philosophy. 

Wherever  his  work  took  him — to  Mexico,  to  Venezuela, 
to  Puerto  Rico,  to  Greece — people  responded  to  hit  in 
spired  personal  leadership.  In  Greece,  where  he  taught  the 
villagers  of  Anthele  how  to  grow  rice  on  what  they  had 
long  regarded  as  a  sterile  plain,  they  called  him  "PapoiT 
("grandfather")  and,  much  to  hi*  embarrassment,  erected  a 
marble  statue  in  his  honor.  The  areas  In  which  he  worked 
were  Invariably  the  richer  for  his  having  been  then.  When 
he  went  to  Greece,  the  country  wai  importing  S3  mil* 
lion  worth  of  rice  a  year;  when  he  left  It  wea  exporting 
that  much  or  more.  At  his  death  h«  was  carrying  on,  with 
typical  energy,  cheerfulness  and  infectious  good  wiH,  a 
campaign  to  induce  the  resident*  of  Berkeley  to  set  up  a 
city-owned  power  system. lie  had  recently  completed  a 
book,  The  Consumfr-Labor  Approach  to  Social  Organiza 
tion,  which  embodied  his  deeply  felt  commitment  to  the 
principles  of  social  and  economic  democracy.  But  wise  and 
illuminating  as  the  book  will  be,  it  will  not  do  justice  to 
the  quality  of  his  insight  into  the  theory  and  practice  of 
democracy.  Why  is  it  that  pubbc  servants  of  his  breed 
seldom  win  reputations  commensurate  with  their  achieve 
ments?  Pan  of  the  explanation,  no  doubt,  Is  that  mm  of 
his  kind  usually  have,  aa  he  had,  a  panic*  (or  anonymity; 
but  it 'could  also  be  became  then*  true  greatness  consist* 
not  in  the  artifact*  they  leave  behind  them  but  in  what 
they  have  Inspired  others  to  do  for  themierves. 


591 


WALTER  E.  PACKARD 
773  CRAOMONT  AVENUE 
BERKELEY  B.  CALIFORNIA 

UAND»CAFI    8-103B 


-    (t  (*> 


Villa  Bftum 
Tho  Oonoral  Library 
UnlYorelty  of  California 
Borkoloy,  California  9*720 

Doar  Willa  Bau«: 


booauao  of  old  ago. 


Emma  L.  Packard 


592 


INDEX 


Adams,  Edward  F. ,  194 

Adams,  Frances,  91-93,110,251,345,353,471,522 

Adams,  Frank,  44,84,109,122,123,143,202,269,270 

Adams,  R.L. ,  143,145 

Addams,  Jane,  9,11 

Agricultural  Extension  Service:  bulletins,  75ff . ;  description  of  AES,  98; 
function  of  AES,  99;  expansion  of  need  for,  94;  outlet  for  Packard's  in 
terest  in  farmers,  97;  recognition  of  economic  problems,  132 

Aguierre,          ,158,159 

Albuto,  Arturo,  220 

Alexander,  Will  W.  ,  348 

All-American  Canal,  88-90,101,352 

Allen,  Dr.  Frances,  65 

Alsberg,  Carl,  352 

Anderson,  Dewey,  306 

American  Farm  School,  Greece,  422,442,452 

American  Mission,  Greece,  419-531 

American  Mission  relations  with  Greek  government  Ministries,  484ff. 

American  Woaen  of  Greece  (AW06) ,  449f f . 

Arensen,  ,  410 

Armenia:   land  rehabilitation  in,  115-121 

Army  Education  Corps  lectures  (land  settlement  proposals  for  soldiers) , 107ff. , 128 

Arnold,  Henry,  24 

Arrieaga,         ,  396,397 

Associated  Farmers,  313-318,361 

AWOG  (See  American  Women  of  Greece) 

Azhderian,  Vaughn,  60,78,79,167 

Babcock,  Ernest,  109,122 

Bache,  Dallas,  164 

Baldwin,  C.B.  (Be9ny) ,  333,347,348 

Ballis,  George,  552 

Barkan,  Dr.  Otto,  359 

Barrows,  Leland,  525 

Bartlett,  Louis,  363,551 

Barton,  Bruce,  24,25 

Benedict,  Murray  E. ,  472 

Benitez,  Jaime,  383,384,417 

Betancourt,  Romulo,  408,411,416 

Bioletti,  Frederic,  79,202 

Black,  James,  369 

Blaisdell,  Tom,  371,472 

Boman,  Bobby  (Grandson  of  Emma  and  Walter  Packard,  son  of  Clara),  407 


593 


Boman,  Judy  (Granddaughter  of  Emma  and  Walter  Packard,  daughter  of  Clara),  446,521,522 

Boman,  Robert  (first  husband  of  Clara  Packard),  521 

Boot  Company  of  London,  England,  483,496 

Bowker,  Walter,  55,61 

Bracero  program  (Mexican  farm  workers),  72 

Breed,  Arthur  M.  (State  Senator  from  Oakland),  142 

Bridwell,  John,  79 

Brock,          ,  69a 

Brooks,  Phil,  60,77,78,91 

Buckley,  Amos,  472 

Bulbulian,  Berge,  552 

Butterfield,  Kenyon,  113,114 

Cairns,  Burton  (architect),  250,294,307,320,321,324,344,345 

Cairns,  Donald  (Grandson  of  Emma  and  Walter  Packard,  son  of  Emmy  Lou),  520 

California  Mexican  Ranch  (See  Bowker,  Walter),  55,61 

California  (State)  Water  Plan,  543,544 

Calles,  President  Plutarco  E. ,  223,231,243,244,245,247 

Camp,  John,  410 

Campbell,  Foster,  49 

Cannon,  Cavendish,  525 

Canyon  Canal  Project  -  Payette  River,  34,138 

"Carey  claim",  36,40 

Carr,  James,  549 

Carver,  Thomas  Nixon,  131,133,274 

Central  Valley,  269,368,543-546:  See  Haynes  Foundation,  Los  Angeles  for  Central 

Valley  project  report,  367;  Chairman,  Central  Valley  Committee  of  California 

Housing  and  Planning  Association,  375-377 
Cessna,  Reverend  Orange  Howard,  46 
Chadbourn,  Alfred,  519 
Chadbourn,  Esther  (Esther  Packard,  sister  of  Walter,  subsequently  Mrs.  Philip 

Chadbourn),  519 

Chadbourn,  Philip,  12,103,104,126 
Chandler,  A.E.,  42 

Chandler,  Harry  (See  also  Los  Angeles  Times),  95,96,205 
Chapman,  Oscar  L. ,  472 
Chase,  Stuart,  353,472 
"Christeros",  226-237 
Christides,  Orestis,  423,485,505 
Clark,  Warren,  82 
Coffield,  Joel,  522,541 
Coffin,  Robert  P.  Tristram,  454,523,524 
Coit,  J.  Eliot,  48,75,76,79,99 
Collier,  John,  359 
Colorado  River,  55 

Columbia  River  Basin  project,  273,357,360 

Comision  Nacional  de  IrrigaCion  (See  Mexico,  National  Irrigation  Commission) 
Constantinides,  Kimon,  431 


594 


Cook,  Max,  152-154,165,166,180 
Corfitzen,  W.E.,  455-459 
Corticon,  Eduardo  Mendoza,  408,415 
Cowell,  Henry,  289 
Crampton,  C.C.,  185 
Crocheron,  B.H. ,  99,100,324 
Crowley,  Father,  30,31 

Darrow,  Clarence,  95 

Davis,  A. P.,  90,360 

Davis,  Homer,  452 

Davis,          ,  58 

Day,  Dr.          ,  131 

Debs,  Eugene,  57 

Deirup,  Mary,  288 

Delano,  Jack,  382 

Delhi  Land  Settlement  Colony,  140-208,  325 

Delhi  Settlers  Welfare  League,  184-187,196 

Del  Pino,  Moya,  251 

DeMars,  Betty,  382 

DeMars,  Vernon,  250,260,307,320,321,345,382 

Deutsch,  Monroe,  374 

Dewey,  John,  93,345 

DeWitt,  General         ,  374 

Dibble,  Barry,  273 

Domhoff,  William,  522 

Dougherty,  Paul,  94,102,113,122,177,195-196 

Douglas,  Helen  Gahagan,  472 

Downey,  Sheridan,  343 

Downs,  Bill,  537 

Drobish,  Harry,  306,307 

Dubinsky,  David,  337 

Duffy,  Walter,  360 

Durham  land  settlement,  143-144,152 

Duveneck,  Frank,  374,552 

Duveneck,  Frank,  Mrs.,  287-288 

Eastside  Mesa  development  (Imperial  Valley),  101,350-352 
Ebonet,  Madame,  398 
Eckbo,  Garrett,  250-251,260 
Eddy,  Harriet,  102,103,126 
Edmondson,  Bob  (State  Engineer),  373 
Egloff ,  Marjorie  and  Max,  382 
Einstein,  Albert,  338 
Eisenhower,  Milton,  374 

El  Centre,  California:   climate  and  living  conditions  in  Imperial  Valley;  community 
life,  local  population,  47-52,59-64,71,76,86,87 


595 


Ellsworth,  Elmer,  383 

EPAM  (Greece),  485 

Etcheverry,  Bernard  A.,  42,133,202,270,372 

Exidis,  John,  441,  442 

Family  farming  develops  into  mechanized  farming  in  Imperial  Valley:   develop 
ment  and  transition,  69-70,73;  water  supplies  as  condition  for  large  mech 
anized  farms,  72;  exemptions  from  acreage  limit  provisions  of  Reclamation 
Act,  72;  mechanization  in  Central  Valley,  367 

Farm  Bureau,  94,99-100 

Farm  credit,  94 

Farm  problems,  Imperial  Valley:   climate  and  living  conditions, 47-52;  ground 
water  conditions,  82;  alfalfa  infestation, etc. ,  80;  grasshoppers,  hog  cholera, 
and  nematodes,  81 

Farr,  Janet  and  Fred,  382 

Fawcett,  William,  69,69a 

Fennel 1,  Thomas,  394 

Fish,  Clara  (Mrs.  Samuel  W.  Packard),  7,8,10 

Fleishhacker,  Mortimer,  142 

Flood  control,  Greece,  489-497 

Forestry  and  range  land  rehabilitation,  Greece,  497 

Fortas,  Abe,  370,402,403,471,472 

Fortier,  Ernest,  148 

France:  Wartime  experiences,  World  War  I,  107-129 

Frankfurther,  Felix,  137 

Frayne,  Pat,  476 

Friendly,  Fred,  536,537 

Fryer,  Lee,  358 

Galindo,  General,  233-235 

Garst,  Jonathan,  307,323,324,347 

George,  Henry,  88,133,141,275 

Gerdes,  Robert,  272 

Germany:   travel  and  impressions,  517-520 

Gerty,  Francis  J.  (Dr.),  5 

Gillis,  Fay,  352 

Gilmore,          (Head  of  Industry  Division,  American  Mission  to  Greece),  456,457 

Goldschmidt,  Alphonse,  353 

Gomez,          ,  414,416 

Gossett,  Mrs.          ,  233 

Grady,  Henry,  426,429,449,462,463 

Grady,  Lucretia  del  Valle  (Mrs.  Henry),  449,450,473 

Grant,  Major  (of  Veterans  Administration),  182 

Gray,  Dr.  Harry,  261-264,266 

Gray,  L.C.,  304,308,339,346,347 

Greece,  forestry  and  range  land  rehabilitation,  497  ff. 

Greece,  land  reclamation,  485-489,505  ff. 


596 


Greece,  Ministries  of  Agriculture  and  Public  Works,  482-513 

Greece,  Public  Power  Corporation,  development  of,  474-478,538 

Greece,  rebuilding  of  war-damaged  structures  (flood  control,  drainage, 

irrigation),  482-483 

Greece,  Reclamation  projects:   financial  and  political  problems,  435  ff. 
Greece,  river  development  and  flood  control:  Master  plans  by  foreign 

corporations,  489-497;  See  also:   Knappen-Tippetts  Corp.,  Harza  Company, 

Grontmij  Company,  Boot  Company  of  London 
Greece,  War  conditions  in,  421-435 
Gregg,  John  W. ,  150 
Griswold,  Dwight  P.  ,  457,459 
Grontmij  Company  of  Holland,  495 
Gross,  Alfred  and  Mrs.,  523 

Gumberg,  Alex,  93,345,353  (See  also  Frances  Adams) 
Gunn,  Mr.  (also  referred  to  as  "Brother  Gunn"),  186 

Hamilton,  Professor          ,  125 

Hardy,  Fred,  210,233-234 

Harriman,  Averell,  476 

Harriman,  Job,  95,96,205 

Harris,  Charles,  484,494 

Hartmann,          ,  263-264 

Harza  Engineering  Company,  492,495 

Hauge,  Theone,  336 

Haynes  Foundation,  Los  Angeles,  367 

Haworth,   Howard,  496 

Hedley,  George,  300 

Heise,  Bertha,  51,247,289,290 

Hempton,          ,  410 

Henderson,          ,  77 

Henson,  H.E.,359 

Hewes,  Laurence,  285,323 

Heyneman,  Paul,  313 

Hibbard,  Benjamin,  328 

Hilgard,  Eugene,  42,133 

Hocker,  Rex,  158 

Holabird,  Colonel  W.H. ,  88 

Holt,  W.F.,  53,54 

Holtville,  California,  53,54,60,71,76,92 

Hoover,  Bruce,  263-265 

Hoover,  H.T.,  263-265 

Hoover,  Herbert,  116 

House,  Charley,  422 

House,  John,  422,423 

Housing,  low-cost  (on  land  settlements):  152-155:   See  Cook,  Max  -  Delhi,  152-155; 
Albuto,  Arturo  -  Mexico,  220;  Cairns,  Burton  -  Rural  Resettlement  Administra 
tion,  307 

Hunt,  Thomas  For sy the,  99,142,143 

Hutcheson,  Rosetnarie,  13 

Hyatt,  Edward  (State  Engineer),  373 


597 


Ickes,  Harold,  324,370,390 

Imperial  Valley,  48-97,350-352 

Iowa  State  College,  Ames,  Iowa,  27ff. 

Irrigation  Census  (Irrigation  Investigation  Office,  USDA),  43,44 

Irrigation  Commission  of  Mexico,  208-222 

Irrigation  Investigation  Office,  USDA  (irrigation  census),  43-44,419 

Irsoki,        ,  241 

Israel:   travel  and  impressions,  465-471 

Iverson,  Ken,  463 

Jahn,  John,  149 

Jahn,  John,  Jr.,  399 

Jenkins,  Paul  and  Mrs.,  445,470,530 

Jimenez,  Perez    ,  416,417 

Johnson,          ,  125 

Jones,  Marvin,  369 

Kahlo,  Frida  (Mrs.  Diego  Rivera),  248,249,254,255,257,258,288 
Kaiser  Company,  532-535 
Kalinski,  Alex,  513 

Karamanlis, Nicholas  »  491 

Kelley,  Captain  (editor  of  Imperial  Valley  Press),  52,53 

Kenny,  Robert  W. ,  364,376,377 

Kerr,  Clark,  313 

Kingsbury,  John,  113-115,122,123,355,356 

Kinney,  H.H.,  364 

Klemme,  Martin,  498 

Kloke,  Fritz,  62,63 

Klumb,  Henry, 408 

Knappen,  Tippetts,  Abbott,  McCarthy  Engineering  Corporation,  451,489,490,491 

Kocher,  A.,  215 

Kragen,  Adrian  A. ,  364 

Kreutzer,  George,  101,143,149,173,174,193 

Krug,  Julius,  402,403 

Labor  camps,  308-320 

La  Follette,  Robert,  Jr.,  341,342 

Land  Bank,  283-286 

Land  reclamation,  Greece,  485-489,505-512 

Land  reform  problems  -  Mexico  (ejido  movement),  217-222 

Land  rehabilitation  in  Armenia,  115-121 

Land  settlement,  108,142,152-195:   See  also:  Army  Education  Corps  lectures, 

Delhi  Land  Settlement  Colony,  Durham  Land  Settlement  Colony,  Mead  Plan, 

Mead,  Elwood 

Land  speculation  and  unscrupulous  characters,  261-267 
Lane,  Franklin,  105,108,109 
Lansdale,  Philip,  204,207 
Lapham,  Roger,  436,439 
Larang,  Jake,  166 


598 


Lasoya,  Juan,  210,261 

Lee,  Dr.  Russell,  226,290,291 

Leonard,  Emma  (See  also  Packard,  Emma,  Mrs.  Walter  Packard),  32,45,46 

Leonard,  Henry  Lee  ("Hell  Let  Loose"  Leonajrd) ,  45 

Letsas,  Frixos,  484,495,528 

Liera,  Guilliermo,  223 

Lincoln,  General,  28 

Lindbergh,  Charles  A.  (Lindy) ,  242-244 

Livermore,  Beth,  95 

Los  Angeles  Department  of  Water  and  Power,  204-225,281-282 

Lowdermilk,  Walter,  469 

Lowry,  Nelson,  404 

Lubin,  David,  141 

Ludlow,  William  and  Wilma,  382,399 

Mace,  Brice,  438 

Main,  Dr.  John  H.   ,  121 

Marin,  Luis  Muftoz:   See  Munoz  Mar in,  Luis 

Martin,  Dr.  Lillien,  288,291 

Mason, J.  Rupert,  364 

Matthews,          ,  371,373,376-377 

May,  Bernice,  549,554 

McAllister,  Bard,  319 

McCarthy,  Joseph,  260 

McClelland,  Harry,  361 

McClure,          ,  537 

McDonald,  Grace,  546 

McKinley,  Ethel,  327 

McWilliams,  Carey,  313 

Mead,  Elwood,  89,94,99,101,109,128,130,141-142,151,153,165,193-195,201,275,285,557 

"Mead  Plan":   See  also  Mead,  Elwood,  105,108,140-142,325 

Mears,  Elliott,  246,247 

Mears,  Mrs.  Elliott,  288 

Mechanical  Cultivation  Service  (MSC),  Greece,  486-488 

Medhurst,        (editor  of  Free  Lance,  newspaper  in  El  Centre,  California),  52-58 

Mejorada,  J.  Sanchez,  209,238,259 

Mendoza,  Corticon  Eduardo,  408,415 

Mennonites,  222,261 

Merritt,  Ralph,  299 

Mexico:   Ejido  movement  (Land  reform  problems),  217-222 

Mexico:  National  Irrigation  Commission  of,  208-222 

Meyers,  General,  412 

Migratory  farm  laborers,  308-320 

Miles,  General,  385 

Miller,  Collin,  553 

Mills,  C.  Wright,  544,545 

Mocine,  Corwin,  250,345 

Morgan,  Anne,  327 

Morgan,  Aubrey  Neil,  353 

Morgan,  Dave,  270 

Morpjcnthau,  Henry,  1.1  5,1 16, 11  6a,  121,122,342 


599 


Morrow,  Anne,  243 

Morrow,  Dwight  and  Mrs.,  242,245,253 

Moscoso,  Teodoro,  393,397 

Mott,  John  R. ,  33 

MSC:   See  Mechanical  Cultivation  Service 

Munoz  Marin,  Luis,  383-417 

Murray,  Keith,  551 

Murrow,  Edward  R. ,  531,536-537 

Near  East  Foundation,  482,483,486 

Ncff,  J.B. ,  83 

Neilands,  J.B.,  551 

Newens,  Professor  A.M.,  125 

Newmeyer,  William  L. ,  456 

Newspapers  -  Imperial  Valley:   Free  Lance  ,  Medhurst, editor;  Imperial  Valley 

Press,  Captain  Kelley,  editor,  52-58 
Newspapers:   Los  Angeles  Times,  94,95,354 
Niendorf,  Arthur,  252 
Nuveen,  John,  426,458-462,464,472,474 

Oak,  Lura  Sawyer,  91,92 

Obregon,  General,  244 

Odium,  Floyd,  93 

Orozco,  Jose  Clemente,  290,322 

Owens  Valley,  204,281,282 

Pacific  Gas  &  Electric  Company  (See  P.G.&E.) 

"Packard  conscience",  1 

Packard,  Clara  (born  in  1910,  daughter  of  Emma  and  Walter  Packard),  51,61,68,77,225, 

226,229,230,238,239,268,269,276,279,286,291,292,407,446,521,541 
Packard,  Clara  Fish,  7 
Packard,  Elizabeth  Ware,  3  ff. 

Packard,  Emma  (Mrs.  Walter  Packard,  nee  Emma  Leonard,  also  referred  to  as  "Emma") 
Packard,  Emmy  Lou  (born  in  1914,  daughter  of  Emma  and  Walter  Packard),  51,52,68, 

131,226,227,229,230,247-261,268,269,276,279,286-289,291,321,322,516,522,534, 

541,542     See:   For  association  with  Diego  Rivera,  247-261 
Packard,  Esther  (see  also  Chadbourn,  Philip),  12,103,127 
Packard,  family  and  forebears,  1-14:   See  also  name  of  member  of  family,  i.e., 

John  Packard,  Emma  Packard,  etc. 

Packard,  John,  13,38,39,40,41,57,205,268,275,316,365,366 
Packard,  Laura,  12,18,25,110 
Packard,  Samuel,  2 
Packard,  Samuel  Ware,  3,7 
Packard,  Stella,  11,26,110,380 
Packard,  Theophilus  (born  1765),  2,7 

Packard,  Theophilus  (born  1842,  brother  of  Walter  Packard's  father),  3,19 
Packard,  Theophilus  Jr.  (born  1802),  2,3,6  f f . ,  9 
Packard,  Walter 


600 


Palacio,  Gomez,  232 

Paleologue,  John,  486,  487,505,510,528 

Palmer,  William,  323 

Palo  Alto,  Bank  of,  204,207 

Papadopoulas,  George,  528 

Papandreou,  George,  526 

Papanicalau  (head  of  Ministry  of  Public  Works),  514 

Parton,  Lemuel  and  Mary,  345 

Payette  River,  34,38 

Peninsula  School,  Palo  Alto,  287-291 

Perantinos,  Nikos,  523-524 

Perkins,  Richard  R. ,  31,472 

Pesonen,  Dave,  551 

Peterson,  Carl  A.,  363 

Peterson,          ,  410 

Peurifoy,  John,  451 

Pezopoulos,  G.N. 

Pfleuger,  Timothy,  251,253 

P.G.  &  E. ,  270-273,282 

Phillips,  John,  547 

Piccard  (Original  French  name  of  Packards),  2 

Pico,  Raphael,  387 

Pinkerton  Detective  Agency,  342 

Pinero,  Jesus  T.,  383,401,403,406,407,417 

Pinto,  Ramon,  409 

Plastiris,          ,  441 

Porter,  Paul,  474 

Pottenger,  Dr.  Francis,  64,65,66,67,68,287 

Prall,  Jack,  33 

Price,  Reginald,  553 

Private  versus  public  control  controversies:   See  public  versus  private  control 

Producer  cooperatives:  opinions  about  unsoundness  of:  in  United  States, 332;  in 

Puerto  Rico,  389;  in  Mexico,  221 

Public  Power  Corporation,  development  of  in  Greece,  474-478 
Public  versus  private  control  controversies:  beliefs  about,  272-273;  land  issues, 

Puerto  Rico,  388-395;  power  issues,  Greece:  hydro-electric  power,  455-464; 

oil  refinery,  525-526,538;  United  States,  Friant-Kern  Canal,  369 

Quinn,  G.B.,  546 

Ralston,  Judge  Jackson,  293 

Randall,  Byron,  522,541 

Reclamation,  Bureau  of:   See  U.S.  Bureau  of  Reclamation 

Reclamation  projects,  Greece:   financial  and  political  problems,  419-542 

Redman,  Edward,  12 

Reich,  Bill,  551 

Resettlement  Administration:   See  U.S.  Rural  Resettlement  Administration 

Reynolds  Company,  534,535 


601 


Rice  Growing  and  Alkali  Reclamation  Program,  Greece,  505ff. 

Richardson,          ,  91 

Richter,  George,  353 

River  development  and  flood  control,  Greece,  483,489-497 

Rivera,  Diego,  247-261,289,321,322 

Robins,  Raymond,  138,139,429 

Rockefeller,  Nelson,  411 

Rodriguez,  Antonio,  223 

Rogers,  Will,  244 

Rosenn,   Keith  S.,  395 

Rosskam,  Ed  and  Louise,  382,384 

Rosten,  Irwin,  540 

Rotkin,  Charles  and  Adele,  382 

Rubel,  Chester,  100 

Rural  Resettlement  Division,  See  U.S.  Rural  Resettlement  Division 

Ryerson,  Knowles,  102,122,202 

Salarzano,          ,  223-225,262 

Salt,  Waldo,  294 

Salton  Sea,  55 

Sandoe,  Jimmy,  294 

San  Francisco  General  Strike,  300-301 

Sansum,  William,  226,291,292 

Sauer,  Carl,  301 

Sawyer,  Lura  (Mrs.  Oak),  91 

Scharff,  Maurice,  456,457 

Schmidt,  Katherine,  95 

"Schmidty",  95 

Seagraves,          ,  144,147 

Security  clearance:   rules  and  difficulties  with,  420,439,464-465,471-473 

Senior,  Clarence,  221,382 

Seymour,  Walton,  476 

Shattuck,  Oscar,  164,165,178,197 

Shaw,  Charles,  79,86,99,143,144,202,208,216,224,276,277 

Silvermaster,  Gregory,  310 

Sinclair,  Upton,  12,13,95,343,349,366 

Sissler,  Walter,  460 

Smith,  Charles,  551 

Smith,  Raymond  C.,  472 

Socialism:  National  Committee  of  Socialist  Party  (brother  John  Packard),  13; 
Contacts  with  Los  Angeles  Socialist  mayoralty  candidate,  95;  Socialism  as 
reaction  to  injustice  and  corruption,  132;  "became  a  Socialist  at  Stanford", 132 

Southern  Pacific  Company,  52,54,55 

Spear,  Robert,  33 

Stackpole,  Ralph,  251 

Steffens,  Lincoln,  95,126 

Steinbeck,  John,  313 

Stibem,  Mason  S. ,  113 

Stone,  Susan,  423 

Strachan,  Alan,  463 


602 


Straus,  Michael,  406 
Strong,  Anna  Louise,  24,25 
Surieh,  84 
Swett,  Frank,  297,307 

Taussig,  Dr.  Frank,  131,133,135 

Taylor,  Carl  C. ,  304,308,325,326,472 

Taylor,  Paul,  306,308,309,312,369,551 

Taylor,  Walter  J.,  80 

Telesis,  259,260 

Temko,  Alan,  551 

Thelen,  Max,  277 

Thompson,  Dorothy,  353 

Thompson,  Eric,  309 

Tolley,  Howard,  162,295,297 

Tolman,  Cyrus,  271,281 

Tope,  John,  14,23 

Torgussen,  Reidar,  294 

Townsend,  Francis,  342,343 

Travis,  Charles,  451 

Trimis,          ,  442 

Trotsky,  Leon,  253,254,322 

Trowbridge  and  Niver  Company,  Chicago,  37,38,40 

Tugwell,  Grace  (Mrs.  Rex  G.),  338,379 

Tugwell,  Rexford  Guy,  302-349,377-405 

Turner,  Asa,  29 

Tyler,  Marian,  353 

Unions  and  farm  worker  organization,  311-319 

United  States  Bureau  of  Reclamation,  156,157,201,269,275,282,350-375,406,490 
United  States  Irrigation  Census,  43,44,269  _ 

United  States  Rural  Resettlement  Administration,  268,351:  functions,  302- 

Region  9  of fice, 306-308;  migratory  farm  labor  and  labor  camps, 308-318:  work 
of  Washington  office,  339-341;  personnel,  346;  Rural  Resettlement  Division, 325 
Updike,  Irving,  17,24 

Van  Cleve,  Mary,  353 

Van  Fleet,  General  James,  426 

Vaseg,  Tom,  309 

Veihmeyer,  Frank,  83,86,162 

Veterans  Administration  trainees,  176-188 

Violich,  Francis,  250 

Wallace,  Henry  A.,  324,348,349 

Ward,  John  R. ,  550 

Ware,  Edward,  20 

Ware,  Elizabeth  Parsons  (Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Packard),  3 

Ware,  Reverend  Samuel,  3 

Warren,  Earl,  364-372 


603 


Waterman,  John,  91 

Water  Plan  (State  Water  Plan,  California),  543,544 

Webster,  Anna  (Mrs.  David),  288,290 

Weeking,  Ernie,  370 

Weinstock,  Harris,  141 

Weiss,  Andy,  215 

Welfare  Leaguers:  See  Delhi  Settlers  Welfare  League 

Wellman,  Harry  R. ,  102,202,295,299,301,472 

Wells,  Linton,  353 

Western  States  Life  Insurance  Company,  202,203,505 

Westmoreland,  Rowena,  329 

Weston,  Joseph,  307 

Weymouth,  Frank,  213 

Whipple,  Howard,  202,204 

White,  Charles,  438 

White,  J.G.  and  Company,  210-214 

Wickson,  Edward  J. ,  48,78 

Wilbur,  Ray  Lyman,  72-74 

Williams,  Albert  Rhys,  9*2,103,104,110,360 

Williams,  Aubrey,  355,357 

Williams,  Cora,  286 

Williams,  Dave,  60 

Williams,  Maynard,  523 

Williams,  Milo,  148 

Williams,  W.  Llew,  117 

Wilson,  Edgar,  144,150 

Wilson,  M.L. ,  360 

Wilson,  Maude,  307 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  116,121,125 

Woodworth,  Charles,  78,79 

Wooster,  C.M.  ,  194,201,281 

Wortheim,  Maurice,  353 

Wright,  Harold  Bell,  61,187 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  33,35,36,38,46,109,110,123,125 

YPEM  (organization  of  the  Greek  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  concerned  with  irrigation), 

431,485,488,505,508 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association, 46 

Zenos,  Johnny,  78,79 


Willa  Klug  Baum' 

Grew  up  in  Middle  West  and  Southern  California. 

B.A.  ,  Whittier  College,  in  American  history  and 

philosophy;  teaching  assistant  in  American  history 

and  constitution. 

Newspaper  reporter. 

M.A.  ,  Mills  College,  in  American  history  and 

political  science;  teaching  fellow  in  humanities. 

Graduate  work,  University  of  California  at  Berkeley, 

1949-1954,  in  American  and  California  history; 

teaching  assistant  in  American  history  and  recent 

United  States  history. 

Adult  school  teacher,  Oakland,  in  English  and 

Americanization,  1948-1967;  author  of  teaching 

materials  for  English. 

Summer  session  instructor  in  English  for  foreign 

students,  Speech  Department,  University  of  California 

at  Berkeley. 

Interviewer  and  then  head  of  Regional  Oral  History 

Office,  1954  to  present,  specializing  in  water  and 

agricultural  history. 

Council  member  of  national  Oral  History  Association, 

1967-1969. 


1695  5  3-B