More Musings on Peace - Timeline

StoneOx17 · 21 Aug 2002, 03:32 · from urth-v0208.mbox · original

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From: StoneOx17 at aol.com
Subject: (urth) More Musings on Peace - Timeline
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 23:32:08 EDT
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Hello,

This is an elaboration on my previous post, where I speculated about the=20
meaning of the banshee story.  I have some new thoughts about this story,=20
which I'll give in a later post, and also a proposed revision of the timeli=
ne=20
that mantis proposed, which is the focus of this message.

In a message dated 8/19/2002, mantis writes (constructing a time table).:

> 1934 (Weer at 20) Weer buys car as college junior
>=20
> 1935 (Weer at 21) Weer graduates from college; picnic with Margaret ("age
> of the bicycle") =3D> engagement with qualifications (we've discussed this
> angle before, iirc)
>=20
> 1938 (Weer at 24) Coldhouse prank.
>=20
> 1939 (Weer at 25) the Chinese Garden dream.
>=20
> Okay, the only problems are "age of the bicycle," which could be fixed by
> moving the picnic two years back to 1933; and the date of Olivia's death,
> which I haven't placed here (because you did not mention where it goes),
> since it complicates matters between Smart and Weer, including Weer's
> employment.

As Roy remarks, the picnic occured when Weer was in high school.  Weer's=20
senior
year would have been 1931, after the stock market crash.  But I think there=20
are good reasons to believe that the Weer fortune hadn't been lost yet, as=20
I'll explain later, so I'm putting the picnic in spring of 1931, when Weer=20
was a senior.=20

When I wrote the earlier post, I wasn't sure where Olivia's death went.  No=
w=20
I want to put it in 1929.  Where did Julius get the money to build the=20
factory?   My gut feeling is that neither the carny business nor Bledsoe's=20
drugstore would be sufficient (even factoring in bank loans).  If Julius=20
sells the farms he inherited from Olivia, and uses the proceeds to build th=
e=20
factory, he can make a lot more money if he sells them before the stock=20
market crashes, and this makes for a much neater story.  However, he probab=
ly=20
wouldn't be able to sell the farms before Olivia's death, as the Weers woul=
d=20
feel obligations to their tenant farmers; the breaking of these obligations=20
may be one of the reasons Julius stops speaking to Den (and his parents)=20
after Olivia's death.  Putting Olivia's death in the spring of 1929 might=20
leave just enough time for the farms in her estate to clear probate and be=20
sold before the crash.  Further, this timing fits well with the statements=20
that Sally's meeting of Lou Gold (shortly after he emigrates to England in=20
1928) and Olivia's death are both 25 years before the Gold Hunt. (Although=20
1928 fits nearly as well, and allows more than enough time for the probate=20
and farm sale.)

Another item to put on the time line is when the Weers lost their fortune. =20
The stock market crashed in 1929, but I suspect that didn't affect farming=20
immediately ... I would assume that farmers didn't start losing their farms=20
until the 1930 harvest failed to raise enough cash to pay bank loans.  And=20
after looking on the web, it seems that banks were still foreclosing on far=
ms=20
in June 1934, when Congress passed the Frazier-Lemke act, which was intende=
d=20
to keep farmers from losing their farms.  So the Weer fortune could have be=
en=20
lost anywhere between late 1930 and mid-1934 (maybe even later).  I'm putti=
ng=20
it in 1934, letting Den buy his car and pay most of his college tuition=20
before his family loses their money.

Why did the Weers lose their fortune?  I have a story which makes sense to=20
me, but really isn't either supported or contradicted by the text.  John We=
er=20
had major expenses in 1923 through 1927, with the extended tour of Europe a=
nd=20
with Olivia's wedding.  It would make sense to take out a bank loan, using=20
his farms as collateral, in order to pay for it.  Before 1929, the income=20
from the farms was easily enough to pay it off, but farm income dropped=20
precipitously in the Great Depression.  The Weers were able to scrape by fo=
r=20
a few years by using their other resources, while always expecting that the=20
economic downturn would end.  Eventually, however, they were unable to meet=20
the loan payments and the bank foreclosed on their farms. =20
Note that these farms are very likely some of the ones that Stewart Blaine=20
"picked up for a song" during the Great Depression.

So here's my revision of mantis' time line:

1925 (Weer at 11) Olivia marries J. Smart, who moves into her house. Den is=20
still living there since his parents are still overseas.  Bank loans for=20
Den's father.

1927 (Weer at 13) Den's parents return from Europe; Den moves back into the=20
old house with them, after a separation of four years.  More bank loans=20
(expenses from the Europe trip) for Den's father.

1929 (Weer at 15) Spring: aunt Olivia dies.  October: stock market crashes.=
 =20
Julius starts building factory.

1931 (Weer at 17) Weer senior in high school; picnic with Margaret ("age of=20
the bicycle") =3D> engagement with qualifications (we've discussed this ang=
le=20
before, iirc)

1934 (Weer at 20) Weer buys car as college junior.  Bank forecloses on John=20
Weer's farms. =20

1935 (Weer at 21) Weer graduates from college; jobs are scarce, but he find=
s=20
one as engineer at Julius' factory. =20

1938 (Weer at 24) Coldhouse prank.

1939 (Weer at 25) the Chinese Garden dream.

Even if you don't accept my arguments that Julius conspired to kill Aunt=20
Olivia, Den is treated very shabbily by three of his aunt's suitors. =20
Professor Peacock kills his aunt.  Stewart Blaine forecloses on his father'=
s=20
farms.  And Julius Smart blackmails him with the coldhouse prank to make hi=
m=20
work for peanuts.  This reminds me somehow of  the first part of The Count =
of=20
Monte Cristo, where three of his 'friends' conspire to have Edmond Dantes=20
arrested and imprisoned for life.  Like Dantes, Weer ends up fabulously ric=
h,=20
but in Weer's case it does not make him happy, and there is no revenge for=20
him.

Next post: the natural history of banshees.

- Stone Ox

--=20

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