The Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, August 15, 1941 Page: 1 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Mercedes Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Welcome Girls of the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation
DO! BUT
Serving Mercedes, Edcouch, Elsa and La Villa
(In Combination with the News-Tribone)
Vol. XXVIII, No. 37
Mercedes, Texas, Friday, August 13, 1941
$ 1.50 per Year; 5c per Copy
MERCEDES HOST TO TAAF TOURNEY
BROOMCORN
VIEWED AS
BIG CASH CROP
A. L. Gillam Of San Juan, who
had been identified with the grow-
ing and processing of broomcorn in
the Valley for the past fifteen
years, visited interested parties in
this community Saturday urging at-
tention to the fact that the broom-
corn industry in the Valley faced the
best prospects in a number of years.
Gillam stated Saturday that the
broomcorn crop may result in the
biggest cash crop of the Valley this
year and cited the fact that the
market was now $175 per ton in the
Illinois! broomcorn - growing section
with the trend and prospects on the
upgrade.
Controlled By Fanners
“The broomcorn crop in the Val-
ley is still in the farmers control,
and I want to keep it that way,”
Gillam commented in describing the
Valley situation. There are now six
or seven hundred acres of broom-
corn at maturity stage in the Val-
ley and about five carloads are al-
ready in the curing sheds, lie stat-
ed. Sheds controlled exclusively by
farmers are located at La Feria,
Progresso and Mission.
At La Feria Harold Snapp, A. M.
Alice and William Sherwood opera-
ate a shed. The shed at Progresso
bas already been opened by N. J.
Moore and Son while the shed at
Mission is operated by Ray Allen.
Farmers can get complete in form-
ulation relative to any phase of the
crop at any of these sheds.
Many farmers who have had a
failure with cotton can turn their
fields over to broomcorn growing
without loss of parity payments,
Gillam stated, with prospects good
for planting the crop up until the
2 6th of this month.
With short crops in the two other
principal broomcorn growing sec-
tions of the United States, Lindsey,
Oklahoma, Illinois and the smallest
carryover in twenty-three years,
Gillam predicts Valley growers will
get real returns for their crop this
year. He stated that the prospec-
tive tonnage in other sections was
between 50 and 60 per cent of nor-
mal due to excessive rains and over-
flows in the central section. At the
same time the Valley is credited
with one of the biggest and finest
crops ever raised in this section.
Black Spanish is the variety which
is largely and most successfully
grown here, Gillam stated in con-
clusion.
Missing Engelman
Man Returned
The remains of Tomas Garza, age
32, Elsa, who left the Valley about
45 days) ago for the West arrived in
Edcouch on the early morning,
train Thursday from Indio, Calif.
The deceased was a former em-
ployee of the Engleman Mercantile
Co. of Engelman Gardens. He is
survived by his wife* Carmen Gar-
za and an infant son of Elsa.
Internment was to be at Donna
at 2:00 P. M., Friday with the Ad-
ams Funeral home of Edcouch in
charge.
Since his disappearance, Garza,
was the object of an extensive
search by the local draft board.
Licenses Expire
August 21
The Texas Game, Fish and Oyster
commission are broadcasting a
warning to hunters that all typs of
hunting licenses will expire August
31. Licenses for 1941-942 obtain-
able during the last week of Aug-
ust.
CALENDAR FOR
LOCAL SCHOOLS
ANNOUNCED
The. following calendar for the
Mercedes schools for the 1941-42
term wag' announced this week by
Superintedent Leon R. Graham;
August 29 (9 A. M.)—New Stud-
ents Register.
September 1 (10 A. M.)—General
Faculty Meeting.
September 2 (8:30 A. M.)—Reg-
ular Classes Begin.
October 10—End of First Six-
Weeks.
October 15—Reports Issued.
November 8—General Faculty
Meeting.
Novembber 11 (Holiday)—Arm-
istice Day. ?
November 19— End of Second
Six-Weeks.
November 20 and 21 (Holiday) —
Thanksgiving.
November 2 6—Reports Issued.
December 19 (4 P. M.) Beginning
of Christmas Holidays.
January 5 (8:30 A. M.)—End of
Christmas Holidays'.
January 16—End of First Semes-
ter.
January 19—Beginning of Second
Semester.
February 7—General Faculty
Meeting.
February 27—End of Fourth
Six-Weeks.
March 2 (Holiday)—Texas Inde-
pendence Day.
March 4—Reports Issued.
March 13—Meeting of District 3
of T.S.T.A. (Brownsville).
April 3 (Holiday)—Good Friday.
April 10—End of Fifth Six-
Weeks.
April 15—Reports Issued.
May 9—General Facutly Meeting!
May 27—Close of Sehool.
HORSEBACK GAME
DRAWS BIG CROWD
Members of the Edcouch-Elsa
Lions Club mounted atop beauti-
fully bedecked wooden horses in
colors of yellow and blue furnished
much amusement for a capacity
crowd Tuesday night at the E-E
Lions Field when they played a two
inning game in the manner indicat-
ed.
Some of the players even wore
spurs and were otherwise properly
bedecked for horseplay.
Much credit for the success of the
evening was due to the La Feria
Band and its director, C. C. Hand,
who generously furnished the music
for the occasion.
In the game between the Weslaco
and Edcouch-Elsa girls, the Ed-
couch-Elsa team won by* a score of
11 to 4 with Enora Gafner and
June Vittetoe making some of the
oustanding plays of the evening.
The Edcouch-Elsa Lions men’s
team added to the winning spirit by
trouncing down the Raymondville
team to the tune of 12 to 6.
In more ways than one was the
evening a success. The Edcouch-El-
sa Band Boosters, sponsors of the
triple-bill program, realized a net
sum of $76.35 from the benefit en-
tertainment, which will be added to
the local band uniform fund.
MERCEDES JP
COURT NOTES
Cases tried in the court of Just-
ice of Peace T. J. Fikes this week
included Elizando Bravo, assault
and battery, five dollars and costs;
Dionicio Villarreal, affray, one dol-
lar and costs; Ascension Olivarez,
affray, one dollar and costs; Juan
Castillo, drunk in public place, one
dollar and costs; and Manuel Mar-
tinez, affray, one dollar and costs.
IRON LUNG
DRIVE STARTS
Mrs. John Herndon, who has
been appointed chairman of the
drive in Mercedes for funds for an
“iron lung” for Hidalgo County
stated Wednesday that the drive
here is now under way and it is
hoped to raise the quota of $225
this week.
Assisting Mrs. Herndon in the
solicitation of the Mercedes area are
Mesdames Floyd Langford, George
Potts, E. A. Brown, Charles Hupp,
A. G. Acker, J. C. Bower, H. D.
Lauderdlale,. Otha Joyce, Shelley
Collier, Jack Martin and Frank
Hadden.
Hidalgo County is attempting to
raise $1600 to purchase the much-
needed iron lung.
— 9 —
EDITORS INVITED
TO MERCEDES
An invitation extended by Paul C.
Netz, editor of the Enterprise and
secretary of the Valley Press Asso-
ciation, to meet in Mercedes at the
next regular quarterly gathering,
was accepted at a meeting of the
board of directors of the group last
Friday.
The meeting will be held here on
the evening of September 19th.
Walter Collier Has
Charge of Rotary
Program Tuesday
At the regular meeting of the)
Mercedes Rotary Club, Tuesday, Aug
ust 12, Walter Collier was in
charge of the program which con-
sisted of a discussion of the Busin-
ess of Auto Parts and Accessories
and the effect of National Defense
on this business.
Immediately after the meeting
the board of directors met and ac-
cepted the resignation of Henry
Lauderdlale. The plan was also ap-
proved that the club donate ten dol-
lars toward the Mercedes quota of
two hundred and ten dollars' for the
iron lung drive.
Visiting Rotarians were Everett
Knapp, Harry Solether, Lester
Skaggs, J. S. McManus and Clayton
Malone of Weslaco, Bryan M.
Vaughn of Houston and L. A. Hend-
rickson of McAllen. Gordon Parrish
was a special guest of Leon Gra-
ham.
HOSPITAL NOTES
Mrs. C. A. Carlson, medical pa-
tient admitted August 5, condition
unchanged.
Mrs. E. Q. Farris, surgical pa-
tient, admitted August 5.
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Doss, Wesla-
co, six pound baby boy named Glen
Porter, ,’born August 6.
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Zillafro of
Weslaco, a baby girl, Ann Marie,
born August 7.
Mrs. Herbert Pike, medical pa-
tient, admitted August 8.
Mrs. H. B. Jeffrey of Brownsville,
surgical patient, admitted August 8.
Mrs. Walter McDaniel, Edcouch,
admitted August 11 as surgical pa-’
tient.
Mlelvin Hope of Mission, surgical
patient, admitted August 12.
— • —
Miss Eunice Jones, a member of
the Edcouch-Elsia faculty ^ writes
friends from Wisconsin that she and
her party are leaving for the Val-
ley following a lovely vacation spent
in the northern states.
— • —
The W.M.U. La Villa Circle met
Monday afternoon at the Forbes
Ranch with Mrs. Sam Bingham.
Mrs. R. O. Wade, circle chairman,
wag in charge of the Devotional.
MID-VALLEY’S
PORT TALKED
A group of 25 business men of
the mid-Valley section agreed at a
meeting at Mercedes Menday to
take definite steps to establish a
municipal airport of not less than
640 acres somewhere between U. S.
83 and State Highway 107.
Represented at the meeting
where Eldon B. Smith, manager of
the Hidalgo & Cameron Counties
Water Control and Improvement
District No. 9, acted asi chairman,
were the cities of Mercedes, Wesla-
co, Donna, Edcouch-Elsa and La
Feria. Smith had previously been
named general chairman o the com-
mittee representing the various com-
munities.
The group agreed to continue ef-
forts to build a big municipal air-
port in the Upper Valley area, re-
gardless of whether it might later
be for military purposes!.
Smith was named chairman of a
committee to visit officials of the
Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Cen-
ter at Randolph Field.
Major Oscar L. Beal, newly-nam-
ed project officer for the new $4,-
000,000 airbase 15 mies north of
Mission was a guest of the meet-
ing.
C. L. Skaggs!, Weslaco banker and
chairman of the finance committee,
reported that a $2,000 expense fund
for use by the mid - Valley airport
committee had been raised.
Rev. Lemay To
Fill Pulpit Here
Rev. W. LeMay of Dallas, and
well-known pastor in the Valley,
has arrived from his home in Dallas
to take up the position as pastor
at the First Christian Church at
Mercedes.
Rev. LeMay hag recently been in-
volved in an auto accident and his
many friends will be glad to know
that he has recovered.
Mercedes To Back
Home Defense Unit
Mercedes business men in a meet-
ing Monday afternon set u,p an or-
ganization to back the Mereedes
unit of the Texas Defense Guard,
Charles Saladino, Mercedes shipper
and civic leader, was named chair-
man and Carl A. Blasig, manager
of the chamber of commerce, was
elected secrtary.
The first undertaking of this new-
ly formed group will be to stage a
a Labor Day fiesta in honor of the
local unit. All proceeds from this
celebration are to be donated to the
guard fund.
— • —
Guests registered in the Mercedes
Hotel this week were W. D. Com-
pere of Bowie, Texas, J. E. Middle-
ton, Corpus Christi; Joe Miller,
Houston; Leo Neal, Greenville; and
W. O. Read and M. P. Jones of
Columbia, Missouri.
TOEPER SAYS
By CLAUDE ROGERS
To the average person any
question is like the moon . , .
he sees only one side of it.
STUDY MADE
OF HOG MALADY
IN THIS AREA
Dr. T. O. Booth, state veterinar-
ian of the Texas Livestock Sanitary
Commission of Fort Worth, spent
Wednesday in the Mercedes area
making an investigation of the hog
disease which has during recent
weeks been causing a heavy loss
through death of hundreds of ani-
mals on Valley farms. This disease
has never been accurately diagnosed
and Dr. Booth through a study of
the sick animals and by conducting
post mortems hopes to be able to
secure sufficient information for a
correct diagnosis so that an effect-
ive cure may be devised.
The Mercedes Chamber of Com-
merce is cooperating with county
agent J. A. Oswalt in assisting Dr.
Booth on his present itinerary. A
large number of farmers from all
over the Valley visited the Chamber
of Commerce offices or called over
the telephone Tuesday and1 Wednes-
day when it became known that Dr.
Booth would come here for this
study. A number of hog raisers
headed by Frank Dodson, prominent
Mercedes farmer, 0. J. Vandawork,
Manager of the Valley Livestock
Yards,, and a group of other live-
stockmen met Dr. Booth and J. A.
Oswalt at the Chamber of Commerce
office Wednesday morning and ac-
companied him on his inspection
tour in this area.
Dr. Booth states that laboratory
tests and, perhaps, even laboratory
experiments may be necessary to
find out the exact nature of this
disease. However, he is hopeful that
enough information may be adduced
by himi on this trip to at least get
a better idea of this malady. Merce-
des Chamber of Commerce officials
have pledged every support to Dr.
Booth in this investigation and
have advised him that should a spe-
cial fund be necessary to conduct
further experiments, that this fund
will be promptly made available.
“We are going to stand behind our
farmers in this movement until this
situation is cleared up,” E. A.
Brown, Chairman of the Agricultur-i
;al Committee of the Chambber of
Commerce stated.
— ® —
College Graduates
Asked To Join
Naval Reserve
College graduates residing in the
Rio Grande Valley will have the op-
portunity this week to take the
first step toward becoming comis-
sioned officers in the U. S. Naval
Reserve.
Enstign G. R. Mitchell from the
Navy Recruiting Station, Houston,
Texas, will arrive in the Valley to-
day and will remain through Fri-
day. During that time he will inter-
view college men who are interest-
ed in the Officer Training Program.
He will make his headquarters at
the U. S. Navy Recruiting Sub-Sta-
tion Post Office Building, Harlin-
gen, Texas. Mr. Mitchell is especial-
ly qualified to give detailed infor-
mation regarding all phases of the
Navy’s Officer Training Program,
having taken the training himself
last yejar and received his commis-
sion as an Ensign, U. S. Naval; Re-
serve.
This opportunity to become an of-
ficer in the Naval Service is open to
.men who have obtained a degree
from any accredited college or uni-
versity, regardless of location. The
training is comleted in four months
and successful candidates are then
commissioned Ensign, U. S:. Naval
Reserve. Applicants must be native
born, unmarried citizens of the
United States, not less than 20 and
With a colorful athletic fiesta as
the opening number, the state girls
TAAF softball tournament will op-
en Thursday night with an interest-
ing preview at Lions Field at 8:00
o’clock on Lions Field at Mercedes.
AH of the 300 or more softball pri-
ma donnas will be introduced in
this fiesta and will give an exhibi-
tion of softball throwing, base
stealing, fungo hitting and other
exhibition of skill. All all-star
game between the visiting girls, div-
ided into North and South with San
Antonio as the dividing line, will
be played after the special exhibi-
tions.
Nineteen teams are now entered
from Waco, Austin, San Antonio,
Houston, La Feria, Brownsville,
Corpus Christi, Tyler, Dallas, Fort
Worth, El Paso and Goose Creek.
A number of these towns have two
and three teams entered from their
areas—the metropolitan and the
district champions. The Yarborough
Coffee Compiany team of Corpus
Christi will take the place of Ethel’s
Cafe of that town in the state
games. This company is, incidental-
ly sending along with their team
enough coffee to be served to the
300 visiting softball co-eds during
the two-day meet here.
Seven softball diamonds in Valley
towns will be used to run off this
tournament—one of the largest in
TAAF history. T<he first bracket on
on Friday morning will be played
at Mercedes, Weslaco, La Feria and
Donna. However, as many of the
tournament games as possible will
be concentrated for play P'11 Friday
night in order to give Valley fans
an opportunity to see the state’s
premier aggregations in action. Fri-
day night games, all of them double
headers, will be played under the
lights at Mercedes, La Feria, Mc-
Allen, San Benito and Brownsville.
The semi-finals and finals for
championship honors will be staged
Saturday night at Mercedes and so
will the finals in the consolation
bracket, giving fans three games in
the grand finale on the final even-
ing of this week.
The Pepsi-Cola trophy, fashioned
out* of the finest silver and 22 in-
ches in height, will be presented to>
the grand champion team by a re-
presentative of that company. This
company will also present each
player on this team with medals.
Members of the state runner up
squad will each receive a gold med-
al and the players on the consola-
tion championship team silver med-
als, all of them presented by the
Mercedes Lions Club, official local
sponsors of the tournament.
Registration of the three hund-
red visiting girls and their team of-
ficials will be held at the Chamber
of Commerce office Thursday after-
noon. Many Mercedes people have
opened their homes and giving
lodging free to the girls. All meals
will be served at the high school
cafeteria. Any home which has not
so far registered and which has a
room which they would like to of-
fer for the accomodation of the vis-
itors, should telephone the Cham-
ber of Commerce office Thursday.
The schedule of the tournament
bit of time will be available for the
has so been arranged that quite a
visitors to1 see the Valley. Mercedes
people who can take any of these
girls on a short sightseeing trip at
any time during the 2-day tourna-
ment, should telephone the Cham-
ber of Commerce office.
28 years of age.
The training course also is open
to men inducted into the Army uiv
der the Selective Service Act, who.
with the knowledge and consent of
their commanding officer, make ap-
plication and meet the enlistment
requirements, .
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Netz, Paul C. The Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, August 15, 1941, newspaper, August 15, 1941; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1105518/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.