PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS

58 CCC CAMPS OF REGION ONE ISSUE PUBLICATIONS

About 250 years ago when John Bunyan finished his monumental, if a trifle overlong, Pilgrim's Progress, he confided in his Apology:

"Some said, 'John, print it;' others said, 'Not so.' "

"Some said, 'It might do good;' others said, 'No.' "

When the Civilian Conservation Corps was established in 1933, Melvin Ryder and Ray Hoyt, unlike John, seized Time incontinently by the forelock and launched, that same year, the Happy Days newspaper which stands today as the dean among all publications devoted to the activities of the Corps. Unofficial and nongovernmental, Happy Days nevertheless has won a distinctive place as a skilfully edited and lively organ which has contrived to effect a neat compromise between standard newspaper technique and the special needs and interests of the hundreds of thousands of youths and war veterans who have passed through the CCC.

Happy Days always has been national in scope, however, and the individual camps soon felt a need for their own journals which, although more modest in format and circulation, could deal primarily with local affairs. Youthful editors in widely scattered camps soon marched into the breach and shouldered those onerous labors which devolve upon the publisher who is uncomfortably long on good ideas and painfully short on the physical resources required for putting them on paper. The result has been a burgeoning of camp organs that range from thin and bashful mimeographed pamphlets all the way to the expertly printed Ear Bender produced in a shop at Mt. Tom Reservation, in Massachusetts.

A study just made by Mrs. Lillian P. Sartain, of the regional office staff, reveals that at least 58 such papers are being issued regularly by CCC camps assigned to the Service in Region One. "They give an intimate glimpse of the activities of the camps," she says. "With but few exceptions the entire production is in the hands of the enrollees and they do a most creditable job, despite the inevitable handicaps which sometimes occur, such as lack of paper, mechanical trouble, shortage of editorial personnel and camp transfer. . . In case of camp removal the name of the paper is changed as well as most of its editorial and contributing writers but, nevertheless, following the age-old desire of man, they have a story to tell and want to tell it. . . Circulation depends on the man-strength of the company, although many enrollees send copies of their paper home, supplementing the news provided by personal letters."

The following list of camp publications, showing place and date of issue, is based on responses made to a questionnaire distributed from the Richmond office:

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NEW BOOKLET DESCRIBES CCC

A 47-page illustrated booklet, reproduced by multilith, has been issued by the Department to describe the origin, development and work accomplishments of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The title is CCC. All the writing was done by James F. Kieley, associate recreational planner.

The booklet offers a comprehensive study of the Corps, brought up to date, and deals with activities of enrollees not only in parks but also on lands administered by other branches of the government. There are descriptions of the types of work performed and a summary of the benefits which accrue to the members themselves. Among the illustrations is a reproduction of the historic bit of memo paper on which President Roosevelt sketched the rough outline of the organization of the CCC when he first brought the idea to the attention of department heads on inauguration day, March 4, 1933.