Dragging and
Pushing
In the summer of 1950 I had just
graduated from high school. The local federal agency in
charge of crop land management was offering jobs to young
teenagers to go to farms in the area and check to see if
they were staying within their planting allotments. In
order to keep prices stable on certain products, allotments
on planting had been given farmers.
For me to take one of these jobs an automobile was
necessary. The possibility of my getting a car was very
slim. My granddaddy had just purchased a new truck from
K.W. McElwaney who sold International trucks at that time.
He traded in a small Crosley automobile in the purchase of
the truck.
I had saved around $500 and I discussed with Daddy the idea
of my trying to buy this little car from Mr. McElwaney.
Daddy said that if I could buy it for no more than $200, I
had his permission.
I went to Mr. McElwaney and asked the price of the car. He
wanted $400 which was probably a good price, but Daddy had
put a cap on what I could pay. I told him that Daddy said I
could not give more than $200. He thought for a minute and
said I could have the car at that price. I was thrilled and
drove it home.
I
applied for one of the jobs and was told to start on
Monday. From the very beginning I had trouble with the
car’s starter ring coming off. Daddy had it welded back for
me but it continued to come loose. When I went to a farm I
always parked on a hill so I could push it off, if it
failed to start.
In order to do the job properly I had to hire a partner to
assist in the measuring (using a 100 ft. chain). They
referred to this job as “dragging the chain”.
I hired my cousin Henry Crews to help me. He was a strong
young man who had not finished school, but this was summer
and he was free.
Sometimes there was no hill to park on so I would get Henry
to push me off, which was no easy task. I remember him
saying while gasping for breath, “I thought you got me to
drag the chain not push this car”.
After a hot summer’s work, I went to North Georgia College
that fall. I managed to save some money to help pay college
expenses and best, I sold the car for what I paid for
it.