Swing (Feb-Dec 1951)

Kansas City has "lots of bounce to the ounce,"* The floods came . . . biggest in history. Damage to farms, stores, homes and factories in Kansas and the Kansas City area is estimated at Yi billion, 'Ya billion, a billion. Nobody, of course, knows just how much — yet. In Kansas City, Missouri, a tremendous fire burned four days through a 12-block area containing oil tanks, industrial buildings, a lumber yard — spreading toward the state line and Kansas City, Kansas. Thousands were evacuated from their homes: some of them people whose houses were inundated — others were evacuated in fear of floods that didn't materialize. An acute water shortage developed on the Missouri side, resulting from flooded pumping stations. Seventeen people — but oni>i seventeen — lost their lives. (This in itself is something of a new "low" record for such a major disaster.) Through it all, Kansas City remained amazingly calm . . . fought the flood, fought the fire, saved the Municipal Airport, saved the important industrial districts of the North End, North Kansas City, Blue Valley, the Northeast Industrial District — saved the power and water supply of Kansas City, Kansas. Missouri's power and light supply was never in danger. Had the Missouri River been on a rampage simultaneously with the Kansas (Kaw) River, the results could have been chaos. But the light and power supply didn't fail. Telephone service was interrupted at times; but not severely. Folks learned to boil their drinking water; but only as a precaution — the city water never became contaminated. Railroad service was interrupted and spasmodic for a few days; but soon the trains were on schedule again. And the town has bounce! Saturday night, while the flood waters raged and fire sirens screamed, I 5,800 people witnessed a performance of "Song of Norway" at the Starlight Theatre. The Blues Fan Club planned a "Boost the Blues" campaign for our winning ball club. Citizens voluntarily rode street cars and busses to work to keep their cars off the downtown streets and leave the fire lanes open. They didn't smoke in stores or public buildings. Result: no more fires. Disaster Corps, Inc., was formed by the city administration on a nonprofit basis for the "clean up" process — contractors renting their equipment at half-price, union A.F.L. and C.I.O. labor agreeing to work for half the union scale. And the town digs out! Business was "off" for awhile in the downtown area, because fewer people were downtown. But by Tuesday after that "Friday the Thirteenth," life in Kansas City had resumed almost a normal pace. All the big stores and office buildings of the downtown business district were unharmed. And at the Stock Yards, the Central Industrial District, and in Fairfax, the livestock men, grain men, oil men, packers and industrialists who had suffered severe damage faced the future with courage. They'll come through, somehow! Kansas City has "lots of bounce to the ounce!"* •Slogan copyright by Pepsi-Co!a Company. WHB • KANSAS CITY Ml rights of pictorial or text content reserved by he Publisher in the United States, Great Britain, Viexico, Chile, and all countries participating in the nternational Copyright Convention. Reproduction or use without express permission of any matter lerein is forbidden. Swing is not responsible for he loss of unsolicited manuscripts, drawings or )hotographs. Printed in U. S. A. Copyright 1951 )y WHB Broadcasting Co. August, 1951 • Vol. 7 * No.