4-H, the State Fair and Pigs, and the Peace Boys of Benton

 Digitally flip through the book, “Club Men of Louisiana in Caricature,” drawings by W.K. Patrick and Associates, 1917, available online from the Library of Congress, and you’ll find illustrations that poke fun at, yet revere some very influential members of clubs across Louisiana, a powerful, yet limited group. Most of the men are from points further south. However, there’s one illustration that very clearly states it is in Shreveport - William R. Hirsch. A put-together and rather unperturbed-looking, oversize Billy Hirsch sits at a comparatively small desk, labeled “Secretary, State Fair of Louisiana.” The State Fair coliseum (not yet named after Hirsch) and Exposition Building are sketched behind him. 

Surrounding Hirsch in the illustration is a clearly loud, agitated mob of “ladies and gentlemen” assailing him with a barrage of questions or commentary: “I had the goldurned best pertaters in the hull shebang, war’s my prize?” “Tilly Moots got the prize I otta had -shameful!” and, “Samhill! Whar’s the prize on my shote? Thar wuz a blue ribbon on ‘im’?” That one I had to look up – turns out shote, aka shoat is a young pig. 

This cartoon had me wanting to learn more about William Rex Hirsch too. He was president of Hirsch & Leman Company of Shreveport, and secretary of the State Fair, though in more common parlance, he was often known as MISTER State Fair. He had deep roots in Shreveport and wanted to leave a lasting legacy on the city and state. His 1952 obituary said the affairs of youth, particularly the educational improvement of rural youth, was a deep-seated interest of his. The writer speculated it was one of the prime reasons that Mr. Hirsch was involved with the fair. (And if the cartoon was any indication, it was the adults who were “sore losers”.) The writer mentioned that Hirsch was especially a promoter of the livestock auction for 4-H entrants (the youth who were learning to have a future in agriculture) and that it is thought that the Louisiana State Fair under Hirsch was the very first to have 4-H’ers showing pigs, which then become commonplace across the country. 

By 1929, the swine show for adult farmers at the Louisiana State Fair was considered among the best in the country. Also, that year, the 4-Hers had really hit their stride with the Pig Club event, with Rapides Parish coming out on top. By 1944, 4-H club entries in the swine category at fairs and livestock shows bested even the pigs of adult competitors. 

By the late 1940’s, the best of the 4-H swine came from Bossier Parish. As announced in the Planters Press Bossier City newspaper of Jan. 30, 1947, three brothers from the Peace family in Benton, Ernest Richard, 13, Jerald, 11, and Marion Dale, 9, not only raised champion pigs and gained national recognition for their methods of care and the fine product that resulted, but then donated the pigs to the March of Dimes Polio fund for auction. The pigs brought in a record-breaking donation of $540, over $7,700 in today’s money!

In April of 1947, five Bossier 4-H club members exhibited 28 head of swine in the statewide competition at the Louisiana Junior Livestock Show in Baton Rouge, and got many of the honors. The grand championship “fat barrow” prize went to Jerald Peace’s 310-pound Duroc Jersey pig. Ernest Peace also won several places in the swine competition. Marion Dale was too young to participate in that show, but he attended along with their father, stock farmer Mr. E.R. Peace. In addition, Jerald’s pig was sent on an educational tour over the Illinois Central railroad as Bossier’s exhibit, with other 4-H exhibits taking up the entire train. The public was invited to attend this novel event and visit the giant porker during the train’s stop in Shreveport. 

The boys’ 4-H advisor, assistant agricultural extension agent Enoch Nix, and other adults who traveled to Baton Rouge for the exhibition, expressed pride in the Bossier boys’ fine showing at the event. Clearly their behavior, and the generosity of the Peace brothers, could teach the disgruntled adult exhibitors in the cartoon of William Hirsch a thing or two about gracious winning! 

Do you have any stories or photos to share of your Bossier Parish friends or family of various generations growing, raising, or preparing their own food? If so, we’d love to add either originals or copies to our collection. The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA (across the street from the new Bossier Central Library). We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• William Hirsch caricature/courtesy "Club Men of Louisiana in Caricature" & the Library of Congress
• Jerald Peace and his grand champion pig/courtesy The Bossier Banner April 3, 1947

Article by: Pam Carlisle 

Handmade in Bossier: Flags of the United Nations

 “United Nations Flags Made Here” said the caption in the Planters Press newspaper of Bossier City, La. above a photo of Mrs. W. P. Belcher holding the United Nations emblem and Mrs. W.E. Richie with a standard flag-sized cloth laying on the table before her. No, a new factory didn’t open up, though the two factories that did exist in the U.S. for making the flags were already cranking them out as fast they could in the Fall of 1950. Taking up the slack for the increased demand for U.N. flags caused by the onset of the Korean War and the United Nations Day of late October, were women and girls of Home Demonstration Clubs and 4-H clubs that were affectionately referred to at the time as modern-day “Betsy Rosses.”

When North Korea attacked South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United Nations, formed on October 24, 1945, took action that invigorated much of the American public’s interest in and support of the U.N., even among folks who originally did not have high hopes for it. It was American farmers, under the urging of Mr. Albert Johnson, the head of The National Grange, a longtime fraternal organization for farmers, who conceived of the United Nations countrywide flag-making effort. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture through its Cooperative Extension Service endorsed the project and provided the leadership to promote the effort. The Extension Service tapped the National Committee on Boys and Girls Work (later known as the National 4-H service Committee and National 4-H Council) to make kits of materials and patterns for the flags, and got the woman and girl-power to put them together through its Home Demonstration (women) and 4-H Club (youth) membership.

The kits contained iron-on patterns of the U.N. logo design, blue cloth, and directions to make the 3x5 foot flag. Clinics for making the flags were planned for Oct 16th through Oct. 23rd of 1950 though Bossier actually started on Sept. 22nd when the home demonstration council had its regular meeting. The Louisiana State Agricultural Extension Agent, H.C. Sanders, assured potential makers that the plans were simple. (The fact that the Bossier Parish “champion United Nations Flag Maker,” Mrs. Clotelle McCoy of the Bossier City Home Demonstration Club, was so-designated because she made two flags, with each one taking twenty hours, seems to belie that statement!)

Ultimately, 25 flags were completed by the Bossier Parish home demonstration and 4-H clubs. The flags were presented to local mayors, including Bossier City mayor Hop Fuller, high school principals, home demonstration club buildings and other schools. The hope for the project, according to head agent Sanders, was that it would provide the participants, especially the youth, not only a practical stitchery lesson but a broader understanding of the U.N. and U.S. efforts for world peace.

Anything to which people pledge their allegiance attracts scrutiny, and the U.N. flag making project was no exception. The program had critics who said it was un-American. One of these critical groups was the Veterans of Foreign Wars under its National Commander, Charles C. Ralls, who disparaged it as an effort to supersede the American flag. The major U.S. farm organizations released an editorial to rebut this claim, saying:

“Kremlin propagandists who have been attempting to discredit the United Nations have been given invaluable assistance by uninformed and bigoted American groups seeking to block display of the UN flag on October 24, United Nations Day; The farm organizations

unanimously reaffirm their confidence in the United Nations as the greatest single instrument for peace in the world; The project…was accepted immediately by members of the national labor, business, veteran, civic, fraternal and educational groups; Display of the United Nations flag along with the American flag on October 24 will be an expression of the same unity on the home front that exists on the battlefield of Korea where the men of free nations are fighting and dying under the United Nations banner...” - Joint statement by American Farm Bureau Federations, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union and National Grange, 10/12/1950.

Perhaps as a rural locale with a strong farming tradition and an exceptionally strong Home Demonstration program, U.N. flags were completed and raised, often accompanied by elaborate ceremonies, throughout Bossier Parish. The publisher of the Planters Press boasted in his newspaper that they were the first in the parish to fly one of the flags at their printing plant on Traffic Street in Bossier City and that he personally hung it. The following week his paper gave a detailed example of U.N. Day (October 24th) 1950 at a local school with Benton High School’s event, which was sponsored by the Benton 4-H Club:

The entire student body, faculty, T. L. Rodes, Supervisor of Schools, Home Demonstration Club members Mayor Carter and Mrs. Voncell Lank associate Home Agent, attended the celebrations. A letter to all youth of the nations was read by Mary Alice Stinson. The United Nations flag, made by 4-H members of that club, was advanced on a staff by George Stroud along with a United States flag of the same size advanced by John Paul Jones. The audience then pledged allegiance to the United Nations Flag. Barbara Grisham gave the history of the flag. A panel discussion on United Nations was led by the 4-H Club, president, Bobbie Jones…

If you have any information, stories, or photos about the UN Flag project or other Home Demonstration or 4-H local club photos or stories, we would love to see them or to copy them, with permission, to add to the History Center’s research collection. Please come to the History Center to do research or see our exhibits at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA. We are open M-Th 10-8, Fri 10-6, and Sat 10-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Photo: H.C. Sanders, Director of the Louisiana Agricultural Extension Service, and Miss Ellen Le Noir, State Home Demonstration Agent, hold up the first United Nations flag made in Louisiana to launch a statewide campaign to make the flags in preparation for United Nations Day on October 24, 1950. Bossier Parish Home Demonstration Clubs and 4-H Clubs answered the call and U.N. flags were raised throughout the parish on that day. Photo from The Planters Press Thu, Oct 19, 1950 · Page 4

Article by: Pam Carlisle