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As we try to cross a pond of political uncertainty on lily pads of hope, it might be useful to give a history of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration in Maine. Maine’s economic future seems staked primarily on sawmills and the “summer complaint.”
We’ve lost most of our ship building, dairy farming, chicken farming, and fishing, and we’re increasingly dependent on “vacationland” for our income. If the economy goes down, “people from away” are going to stay away, and our former dairy farms, chicken farms, hay farms and mills. In short, nearly every stone in our economic foundation has been abandoned in dependence on money brought in from away.
Isn’t it time to start expanding the base of our economic structure? A repeat of 1929 would be catastrophic for nearly everyone at home in Maine.
Dr. William Burgess Leavenworth
Searsmont
