CLASS OF 1920
At the precise moment when a secretarial decision had been reached that there could be no Twenty column in the April MAGAZINE, a fat, neatly typed, air-mail, special-delivery letter arrived, bearing the imprint of our West Coast telephone tycoon and long-time associate editor, ABE WINSLOW, secretary and treasurer of the Dartmouth Association of Northern California. It is a letter full of real news collected and collated only by dint of hard work—a letter well deserving the entire column, an honor we gladly give it. Let's go, Abe!
"About two months ago you mentioned in our class column that ABE WINSLOW had promised a letter from San Francisco some time ago, but it had not yet arrived. That was a good reminder, and I fully intended to respond for the next issue, but I got lazy and another month got by. Last month I anxiously turned to our column and read with a great deal of interest Dick Pearson's lingo on eastern men.
"Nothing stirs one to action quite so fast as the feeling of being left out of things, you know that feeling when you are still one block from the 5:15 and 'All aboard' is sounded. There is not a Dartmouth man on the West Coast who can't make that last block in less time than it takes the trainman to close the gate. We are coming aboard, and we'll make it a round trip. A Pacific Coast Good-will Trip— 'one way' will take in Spokane, San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, and Pasadena (the return trip will be just as interesting in a later issue).
"You would naturally expect the California boys to come through in line with 'Californians, Inc.' and Southern California's 'All Year Club,' but it is of especial interest to read the attached newsy letter that I received from BILL FAHNHAM, the old reliable representative in Spokane, Wash.
"Maybe I have been a little neglectful in passing along information, but, dog gone it, way up here in the woods very little has seemed to have happened within the last year or two. In spite of the depression we are still able to eat three meals a day.
"Last November Morey Ahlquist '24 and myself formed the company of H. M. Ahlquist and Co., investment counselors, and since then we have been working harder than ever. As you know there is a lot to do in starting a new company.
"You mentioned JACK ALLENBERG in your letter. Jack has not lived in Spokane for some time. He is employed by the Texas Oil Company and at the present moment is living in Minneapolis. He was here for the Christmas holidays, at which time I saw him once or twice.
"REUEL PHILLIPS is no longer here, as you have probably noticed in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, but is located in Tulsa, Okla. He was in Spokane a few days the first part of December, as his father passed away very suddenly. ..."
"Now I would say that Bill is weathering the storm very well indeed, to be able to find three meals a day, when two of our good members, Jack and Reuel, had to leave town. That is all for Eastern Washington. Thanks, Bill.
"Now for California. I know that BILL DUBKEE is still on the job with the Van Eleet-Durkee Stations, Inc., handling Shell products, but he, with all the rest of our Southern California delegates, has gone into hiding temporarily, except 'FORBY' FORBUSH, who writes as follows:
"Many thanks for your letter and your efforts to awake '20 on the West Coast. To prove to you that my heart is in the right place, I am going to give you a 'flash' and when prosperity (just around the corner) arrives, I'll shoot the works.
"For the past two years I have been supervising inventories at the above club and its affiliated clubs, which include the Pacific Coast Club, Hollywood Athletic, Santa Monica Athletic, Surf and Sand Club, Riviera Country Club, and California Yacht Club. I have been so busy holding down the job that I have only been able to attend a couple of Dartmouth luncheons, and I am located only a couple of blocks from the University Club in Los Angeles.
"I still do a little tramping around with Pasadena American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps, and should I be able to get up to department convention at Oakland this summer will look you up. My family still consists of a wife and two native daughters of California, ages eight and ten."
"That sounds as though he still has both feet on the ground in Southern California. Good work, 'Forby'! We'll hear from the rest of Southern California next month.
"Coming up the coast route to San Jose, we find DICK KIMBALL. He always has a word; listen to him:
"Many thanks for your good letter of February the twentieth asking me for a bit of news to possibly run in the TWENTY column of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. I sure am sorry that you had to call me on the phone, long distance, today to remind me again. It does beat all that we do lie down on that job. How easy it is to write a note once in a while, but with me there is nothing of interest to tell. Maybe that is the attitude of the whole crowd. Yet I do get a big thrill out of just seeing a familiar name in print.
"The thought just came to me that you have a pretty sweet job. You can telephone anywhere in California at no cost. (Don't believe him, B. L. W.) You and FRANK MOREY are the only ones that I know of who can get away with that. How is that old bozo, I wonder? Do you suppose he is still with the New York phone company?
"Here is an item that the gang in my delegation will appreciate, and some of the class as well. About a week ago VERT MILLER called at my house for the evening. He is the same old flat-footed Mormon. He is selling maps on this Coast, and doing quite a job at that. He gave me one of California which is a work of art. Everyone now will probably be after him for a free map.
"In your letter, Abe, you asked me to comment on prosperity just around the corner. That is a cinch. If I could find a nickel around the corner, I would retire. However, our cherry season will soon be here, and I am going to clean up on that commodity; that is, if there is any support in the East. So, Abe, let's hope they all eat a lot of cherries this May and June."
"Um, um, now isn't that sumpin', cherry pie! Ah! Good old Dick, he is so wrapped up in the fruit business that I wouldn't be surprised to find him with a bad case of cherry stones from sampling too much fruit from those marvelous cherry orchards of California (or possibly prostrate in the vineyards, which he also frequently visits).
"You will hear more from Vert, mentioned in Dick's letter, at a later date. He lives in my own city, Berkeley, and I shall get some news from him if I have to make it up. He has a son who should be going to Dartmouth with the class of about '48. If Vert won't talk, I will get a line from Junior.
"There is one city in California that you Eastern people haven't heard very much about. When TOM SMITH called at my office ten days ago and said that he had nothing to talk about and that he disliked writing autobiographies, I suggested that he give us some dope on his city, Fresno. The following letter seems to do that place justice:
"Just arrived home to find your letter of recent date; hence the delay in answering. "As you undoubtedly know, I was running a hardware business here from 1921 to 1929, when I cleaned up and have been since engaged in sales work in the 'valley' with the Dupont Company's line of Duco. Due to a change in policy of distribution, have been idle since December.
"Do not get to see many Dartmouth men here, as both San Francisco and Los Angeles propaganda regarding the climate probably means that they take the coast route when going back and forth. Enclosed find a couple of weather reports and you can see it's all the bunk.
"Oh, yes, it does get warm in summer, but if we didn't have the sun we wouldn't be the second county in the U. S. in point of value of agricultural products raised.
"If one gets too warm the High Sierras are only two hours away. Sequoia, General Grant, and Yosemite National Park are only a few hours away. Did you ever know that in 3500 square miles of the High Sierras there are 145 peaks of more than 11,000 feet elevation, while in 13,500 square miles of the Swiss Alps there are no more than 115 peaks of the same height."
"And let me say that his comment was only the beginning of 'dope on Fresno.' Under separate cover, came folders, maps, and the promised weather reports, and I am thoroughly convinced that if any of you Eastern people are hesitating about settling in California because San Francisco or Los Angeles are over-populated with lowans, I can put you wise to a town with lots of backyard to develop—Fresno (one of Dick Kimball's ports-of-call). And another thing, Tom, as you know, left college to enter the World War, after which he wisely came direct to California, and, with a start on the rest of us, now has a daughter twelve years old. Judging from pictures, she thoroughly enjoys horseback riding and, as I said before, Fresno has a good backyard playground for all sports. See you in Fresno! Look Tom up at 1239 Del Mar St.
"Now, Al, I hope you don't think that 'Twenty' on the Pacific Coast is not on deck. We have met you in Denver where DICK PEARSON left off with ZACH JORDAN—by the way, he failed to mention that Zach was also president of 'The Great Divide' Alumni Association during the past year as well as being quite some football referee. The other half of the round trip Pacific Coast ticket covering the latest on 'Kirk,' 'Pab,' 'Bill,' 'Ed,' 'Eric,' and John will be redeemable next month, at which time Dick promises a report on his 'Convention of Cherry Pickers' to be held next Sunday near San Jose."
"B. L. W."
Secretary, 774 Great Plain Ave., Needham, Mass
