home for fifteen days, looked around for work, and I couldn’t make $30 a month, so I enlisted back in the CCC’s and went to Michigan. I spent another six months there planting trees and building forests. And came out. But still no money to be made. So back in the CCC’s again. From there I went to Boise, Idaho, and was attached to the forest rangers. Spent four and a half months fighting forest fires.
These big trees you see along the highways—all these big forests was all built by the CCC. We went along plain barren ground. There were no trees. We just dug trenches and kept planting trees. You could plant about a hundred an hour.
I really enjoyed it. I had three wonderful square meals a day. No matter what they put on the table, we ate and were glad to get it. Nobody ever turned down food. They sure made a man out of ya, because you learned that everybody here was equal. There was nobody better than another in the CCC’s. We never had any race riots. Couple of colored guys there, they minded their business; we minded ours.
I came out of there, enlisted in the navy. I spent five and a half years in the United States Navy. It was the most wonderful experience I’ve ever had. Three wonderful meals a day and my taxes paid for. I had security.
I came up the hard way, was never in jail, never picked up and whatever I’ve done, I have myself to thank for. No matter how many people were on relief in those days, you never heard of any marches. The biggest stealing would be by a guy go by a fruit store and steal a potato. But you never heard of a guy breaking a window. In the Thirties, the crimes were a hundred percent less than they are now. If a guy wants to work, there’s no reason for being poor. There’s no reason for being dirty. Soap and water’ll clean anybody. Anybody that’s free and white in a wonderful country like these United States never had any wants, never.
In the days of the CCC’s, if the fella wouldn’t take a bath, we’d give ‘im what we call a brushing. We’d take this fella, and we’d take a big scrub brush and we’d give ’em a bath, and we’d open up every pore, and these pores would get infected. That’s all he needed was one bath. I imagine we gave a hundred of ’em. A guy’d come in, he’d stink, ten guys would get him in the shower, and we’d take a GI brush. If a guy come in, he wanted to look like a hillbilly—no reflection on the boys from the South—but if
he wanted to look like the backwoods, we’d cut his hair off. Yeah, we’d keep him clean.
You know, in the CCC’s or in the navy, you’re sittin’ amongst thirty guys in one room, and you’re not gonna take that smell.
Did you have a committee that decided … ?
No, we’d just look at each other and we’d say, “Hey, look at this rat, he’s dirty.” Then we say, “O.K., he’s ready for one… .” We’d tell him, “You got until today to take a bath.” He’d say, “You’re not gonna run my life.” We’d say, “You got twenty-four hours.” And if he didn’t, I guarantee you we grabbed him. We never heard of a goatee… .
The guys pretty much conformed?
Absolutely, CCC or navy. I liked that very much. We didn’t have to worry where our next three meals were coming from, what the hell….
And in the orphan home … ?
Sure. And high school. We had a woodshop teacher, and he would tell you what to do. You give him any back talk, he’d pick up a ruler and crack across the rear end. You settled down. In those days, when I went to school, you said “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” You never gave ’em back talk. They had a parental school, Montefiore, that made a man out of you. You learn to keep yourself clean, I’ll tell you that. Obedience. Today, they’re giving kids cars when they’re sixteen. Another thirty years from now, these kids graduating high school, one may be President, another may be up there buying a planet.
The Big Money
William Benton
During
These big trees you see along the highways—all these big forests was all built by the CCC. We went along plain barren ground. There were no trees. We just dug trenches and kept planting trees. You could plant about a hundred an hour.
I really enjoyed it. I had three wonderful square meals a day. No matter what they put on the table, we ate and were glad to get it. Nobody ever turned down food. They sure made a man out of ya, because you learned that everybody here was equal. There was nobody better than another in the CCC’s. We never had any race riots. Couple of colored guys there, they minded their business; we minded ours.
I came out of there, enlisted in the navy. I spent five and a half years in the United States Navy. It was the most wonderful experience I’ve ever had. Three wonderful meals a day and my taxes paid for. I had security.
I came up the hard way, was never in jail, never picked up and whatever I’ve done, I have myself to thank for. No matter how many people were on relief in those days, you never heard of any marches. The biggest stealing would be by a guy go by a fruit store and steal a potato. But you never heard of a guy breaking a window. In the Thirties, the crimes were a hundred percent less than they are now. If a guy wants to work, there’s no reason for being poor. There’s no reason for being dirty. Soap and water’ll clean anybody. Anybody that’s free and white in a wonderful country like these United States never had any wants, never.
In the days of the CCC’s, if the fella wouldn’t take a bath, we’d give ‘im what we call a brushing. We’d take this fella, and we’d take a big scrub brush and we’d give ’em a bath, and we’d open up every pore, and these pores would get infected. That’s all he needed was one bath. I imagine we gave a hundred of ’em. A guy’d come in, he’d stink, ten guys would get him in the shower, and we’d take a GI brush. If a guy come in, he wanted to look like a hillbilly—no reflection on the boys from the South—but if
he wanted to look like the backwoods, we’d cut his hair off. Yeah, we’d keep him clean.
You know, in the CCC’s or in the navy, you’re sittin’ amongst thirty guys in one room, and you’re not gonna take that smell.
Did you have a committee that decided … ?
No, we’d just look at each other and we’d say, “Hey, look at this rat, he’s dirty.” Then we say, “O.K., he’s ready for one… .” We’d tell him, “You got until today to take a bath.” He’d say, “You’re not gonna run my life.” We’d say, “You got twenty-four hours.” And if he didn’t, I guarantee you we grabbed him. We never heard of a goatee… .
The guys pretty much conformed?
Absolutely, CCC or navy. I liked that very much. We didn’t have to worry where our next three meals were coming from, what the hell….
And in the orphan home … ?
Sure. And high school. We had a woodshop teacher, and he would tell you what to do. You give him any back talk, he’d pick up a ruler and crack across the rear end. You settled down. In those days, when I went to school, you said “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” You never gave ’em back talk. They had a parental school, Montefiore, that made a man out of you. You learn to keep yourself clean, I’ll tell you that. Obedience. Today, they’re giving kids cars when they’re sixteen. Another thirty years from now, these kids graduating high school, one may be President, another may be up there buying a planet.
The Big Money
William Benton
During
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