Our First Government Hand-Outs

It’s rather amusing, after years of cussing the Democrats out for inventing a farm program, the Republicans have come up with a much more liberal one. History has proven that a farm program is necessary in times of stress. Surplus is still surplus, no matter who is running the country in Washington, [DC].

What did some of us farmers do with our first government hand-outs of long ago? Most of the allotment money went to protecting our farms with an appeasement payment. What dough was left, and with the magic of Sears catalog, a few mothers received washing machines. Those miracle wash-day marvels came equipped with built in gasoline motors and all necessary manual controls, including motorcycle-type starting pedals. It made the farmers' wives very happy. 

I remembered very well the first allotment checks that were handed out in front of an old vacant bank in Davenport. We were all happy, and looking like vultures, as we waited for the bank door to open so we could grab our agriculture checks. But we were not as happy as old Gottlieb Reinbold, a friendly, dedicated husband and the father of many children. 

That day, to Mr. Reinbold, the world seemed to look a little rosier than usual. The government subsidy check gave him hope of survival. The smoke from his ever present cigar seemed to have a more cheerful whirl. Upon cashing his allotment check, he went next door, and paid a long standing hardware debt. When I left him, he was wishing he could afford a second hand Holt combine. 

It was the last time I ever heard his rather loud voice and rolling laughter. That evening, Gottlieb never made it back to his farm and family. On his way home, a highway accident took his life.

"A Comment" Kik-Back Country, page 83 (home)     (thread)

Lee, Russell, photographer
Walla Walla, Washington State / 1941


"miracle wash-day marvels"
Chicagology.com

Walt Kik

Gottleib Reinbold Obituary / Odessa Record, June 25th 1935

Reinbold, Gottlieb: (TS*: Sept 28, 1883-Nov 19, 1935); w/o Louise Holzer; 
{From the Reinbold Genealogy, Gottlieb was the 2nd son of Christain Reinbold and his 2nd wife, Louisa Hass. He was born Sept 20, 1883. He married Louise Holzer and their children were: Alice (1906, w/o Lewis Boleneus), Lena (1908-1923), Bertha (1909-1923), Gertrude (1911, w/o Albert Stuckle), Herman (1913), Hilda (1916, w/o Bill Thiringer), Walter (1919-1919), Claire (1920, w/o Francis King), Lenore (1923, w/o Lumarion Jurgensen), and Irene (1928, w/o Robert Luiten). 
Due to encouragement of Simon Reinbold, son of Mathias, three of the children of Christain Reinbold later came to the US, Gottlieb, Chris and Christina, to join them in the Pacific Northwest. "After Gottlieb and his wife Louise arrived, Simon and Kate took Gottlieb's newborn child, Alice, into their home to raise, as they had no offspring of their own." From this report, it is assumed that Gottlieb and his wife arrived in Egypt in the summer of 1906, with Alice's birth on 6-12-1906.} 
"An order appointing Mrs Louise Reinbold administrator of the estate of her husband, Gottleib Reinbold, Egypt farmer, who died in a Spokane hospital Nov 20, of injuries suffered in an auto collision near Davenport, was signed this week. The $18,000 estate goes to Mrs Reinbold, six daughters and a son." 
(Odessa Record: 12-13-1935); 

"Injuries and shock sustained Tuesday evening in a truck-automobile accident near Davenport caused the death Wednesday night of Gottleib Reinbold, 55, farmer north of Davenport. Reinbold's car crashed head-on with a county truck loaded with gravel. He was taken to a hospital with both legs fractured, his face and head terribly cut and internal injuries received. Mr Reinbold, a member of the Reinbold family that came from Germany to this county in the old Fort Spokane days, had lived near Davenport since he was a youngster. He acquired several sections of land and was widely known as a grain and cattle man. He leaves his widow, a son, Herman, seven daughters, some of them married, and other relatives." 
(Odessa Record: 11-22-1935)

"Selection of a jury for trial of the case of Mrs Rosalie Neff and the Gottleib Reinbold estate against Lincoln County began in superior court Wednesday with Judge W M Nevins reserving the right to make a ruling regarding the defendant's appeal from his order consolidating the two cases, after the jury is selected. The county wishes the cases tried separately. Gottleib Reinbold was fatally injured and Mrs Neff was injured seriously when Reinbold's car and a county truck were in a collision north of Davenport last November, and the trial is for more than $60,000 damages resulting from the wreck." 
(Odessa Record: 6-25-1936);

phil krogh 


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