[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 85 (Friday, June 18, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7045-S7047]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WEST VIRGINIA DAY, 2004
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, as I mentioned a moment ago, Sunday will be
June 20, and it will be West Virginia Day. West Virginia Day.
On this day before West Virginia eve, there are so many things I
would like to say about my great and proud and glorious State.
I would like to talk about her rolling hills, how each year scores of
thousands of people come to West Virginia to camp in our State and in
our parks, to hike the Appalachian Trail, to fish in our mountain
streams, or simply to relax and enjoy our majestic mountain scenery.
The only thing more beautiful than the Sun setting over the hills of
West Virginia is the Sun rising over our beautiful green peaks.
I would like to brag a little. You know, Dizzy Dean said it is all
right to brag if you have done it. I would like to brag a little about
West Virginia's ``firsts.'' The first patent for a soda fountain was
granted to George Dulty, of Wheeling, in 1833. The first bare knuckle
world heavyweight championship was held near Colliers on June 1, 1880--
Colliers, WV. The first rural free mail delivery was started in Charles
Town, just a few miles from here, on October 6, 1896. The first female
jockey to win a horse race was Barbara Jo Rubin, at the Charles Town
Racetrack on February 22, 1969.
And, of course, I would like to boast, and I shall boast--why not?
Why not? Why should I say I would like to boast? I am going to boast.
I want to boast about all of the biggest and the best of West
Virginia. The world's largest axe factory was located--where? In
Charleston; Charleston, WV. The world's largest clothespin factory was
located in Richwood, in Nicholas County, WV.
The world's largest sycamore tree--where? Why, in Webster Springs,
WV.
And the town of Weirton, right up there in that northern panhandle,
is the only city in the United States that extends from one State to
another, one State border to another, the only city in the United
States that extends from one State border to the other.
And, of course, I will talk about the people of West Virginia, how
they have endured disasters, exploitation, national scoffs--we are
called hillbillies, you know. Hillbillies? How blessed the name,
hillbillies. Count me in. How they have endured neglect but still they
remain among the friendliest, the warmest, the most courageous, and
most patriotic people in the United States.
West Virginians are good people who care about each other and care
about you, even if you are a stranger. And it has been said that West
Virginians ``don't just loan someone a socket wrench, we help them fix
their cars.''
And then I want to talk about the West Virginia coal industry. I
could point out how West Virginia coal helped to fuel the Industrial
Revolution and for over a century heated American homes. Look about
you.
You know the Great Fire in London occurred in 1666 and the great
architect who drew the designs for the buildings that replaced those
that were swept away with the fires, the great architect of that period
was Christopher Wren. As my wife and I walked the halls of Saint Paul's
Cathedral in London, we looked upon the floor and there on the floor,
inscribed, were these words:
If you seek my monument, look about you.
That was Christopher Wren, who was the architect for perhaps more
than 50 of those cathedrals and great buildings that grew up in the
place that had been swept by the disastrous fire.
If you seek my monument, look about you.
I would point out how West Virginia coal helped to fuel the
Industrial Revolution, as I say, and for a century heated American
homes and fueled our warships and provided energy for our industries.
Yes, these lights we have in the Chamber, where do you think that power
is coming from? Not very far away. West Virginia coal made it possible.
But as the great and glorious day known as West Virginia Day
approaches, I decided not to do all these things but to discuss another
aspect: the West Virginia apple industry. I have to wonder how many
people listening to me even realize that West Virginia has a
significant apple industry, but it does. In fact, West Virginia ranks
ninth in the Nation in apple production. Furthermore, West Virginia is
the home of two important--now listen to this. When you go to the
store, to the Giant food store tomorrow, with your husband or your wife
or your brother or your sister, take a look at those apples as you go
by. And just remember this, that two important and very popular and
delicious, delectable, tasty apple varieties originated in West
Virginia. In 1775, Thomas W. Grimes produced the first Grimes golden
apple since Adam and Eve walked together as evening came and enjoyed
the apple.
Thomas Grimes produced the first Grimes Golden apple in Wellsburg,
WV. The Grimes Golden became a highly esteemed dessert apple.
In the early 1900s, Anderson Mullins discovered on his family
property in Clay County, WV, a mysterious tree bearing the Golden
Delicious apple.
Did you know that? I am looking at these bright faces that greet me
with smiles every day--the wonderful young people who work for Senators
and work for their Nation, who perform services for this Nation in this
Senate, these wonderful young people--we call them pages. How wonderful
they are.
I pause from time to time to talk to these pages and to tell them
wholesome stories and talk a little about Nathan Hale, talk with them
about this great institution, the Senate of the United States. I talk
with them about the Great Compromise that was hammered out in
Philadelphia on July 16, 1787.
Look how attentive these pages are. They are listening. They are
listening. That smile, that radiant smile that I see on each page's
face--Republican on the Republican side, and on the Democratic side--I
will carry that smile with me all day, all day long, and it will warm
my heart.
Great it is to believe the dream as we stand in youth by
the starry stream, but greater still to live life through and
find at the end that the dream is true.
As these young people go tomorrow perhaps to the Giant food or to the
Safeway store or the corner grocery, they will look at the apples. When
you do, remember that this Golden Delicious apple originated in Clay
County, WV.
Clay County is where I attended a Democratic rally one night 50 years
ago. Just before I got into my car, I put my fiddle--it is a violin,
but some people call it a fiddle--on the trunk of my car. And I began
talking with one of the others who was departing late or last from that
rally. I forgot about leaving my fiddle on the trunk of my car. When I
got into my car and turned the ignition on and backed it up, I heard
something. I heard the sound
[[Page S7046]]
like something was being crunched under the rear wheels of my car. Lo
and behold, it was my fiddle case and the fiddle that was in it. That
happened in Clay County.
But I like to remember Clay County for that oval-shaped apple with a
golden-yellow skin and the juicy, firm flesh and sweet flavor which won
wide acclaim. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the founder of Kellogg's
breakfast food company--have you tried Kellogg's Corn Flakes lately? I
had them just this morning. He wrote that he considered ``the Golden
Delicious, the finest apple I have ever tasted.'' That is a quotation
from Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
Listen to that again. Here is what he said:
The Golden Delicious, the finest apple I have ever tasted.
Where does it start? Where was its beginning? Where was its genesis?
West Virginia.
The world renowned horticulturist Luther Burbank agreed, as he
stated:
I have no hesitancy in stating that it is the greatest
apple in all the world.
How about that? The ``greatest apple'' in all the world. And it came
from where? West Virginia.
Offsprings of the Golden Delicious have now been developed in every
area of the United States and on every continent. It is recognized as
West Virginia's most famous contribution to horticulture. In 1995, the
West Virginia State Senate designated the Golden Delicious apple as the
official State fruit.
The apple industry in West Virginia began in a story book fashion.
Around the year 1800, a young man by the name of John Chapman traveled
the northern regions of what would become the State of West Virginia
where mountaineers are always free. John Chapman traveled the northern
regions of what would become the State of West Virginia planting apple
trees throughout the region.
Chapman was born in 1774, and he spent 50 years of his life planting
tiny apple trees throughout the frontiers of the Eastern and Midwestern
States. He was a simple man, John Chapman, whose clothes were said to
have been made from sacks, and he wore a tin pot for a hat, which he
used for cooking--cooking out of your hat. His dream was for a land
with blossoming apple trees everywhere and no one was ever hungry.
On the frontier, apples were not only a source of nutritious food,
they were also used for the making of cider, vinegar, and apple butter
as well.
Have you been to the Apple Butter Festival? We have the Apple Butter
Festival over in Berkeley Springs. Where is that? In West Virginia.
Mr. Chapman is known to us today as the legendary Johnny Appleseed.
Many people think of Johnny Appleseed as a fictional character, but
he was a real person. I like to think of him, perhaps, as the ``Father
of the West Virginia Apple Industry.''
As the apple nurseries that Johnny Appleseed planted in West Virginia
developed, apple trees were distributed throughout the region, and
apple production blossomed. It wasn't long until West Virginia apples
were being loaded on flat boats and shipped down the Ohio and the
Mississippi Rivers to as far south as New Orleans, or loaded on canal
boats and shipped to the Capital City of Washington.
By 1889, West Virginia was producing nearly 5 million bushels of
apples a year. Apple production in West Virginia peaked in 1931, when
the State produced over 12 million bushels of apples.
Today, apple production in West Virginia averages 143 million
pounds--3.4 million bushels. Apple production takes place on an average
of 9,000 acres, representing 126 commercial fruit growers.
I am sure you have heard of Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia. Harry
Byrd owned some great apple orchards. Some of them were in the Eastern
Panhandle of West Virginia.
In the autumn, drive through southern Berkeley County, and you will
find the strong, sweet smell of apples being processed into sauces,
juices, ciders, and jams. On any Saturday, ride through the Eastern
Panhandle and see civic groups, church groups, or groups of high school
youngsters stirring apple butter in old, cast iron, copper-plated
kettles set over the open fire.
Apples have become an important part of the culture as well as the
economies of West Virginia communities. In Inwood, for example, in the
heart of old apple orchards, is Musselman High School, named after the
world renowned maker of apple products, Christian H. Musselman, who
started one of his first plants in West Virginia. And the school's
mascot is the apple, while the spirited students are known as
``Applemen.'' The school newspaper is the ``Cider Press.''
Each year, the towns of Martinsburg and Burlington celebrate apple
harvest festivals, while the towns of Salem and Berkeley Springs
celebrate apple butter festivals. Clay County, the home of the Golden
Delicious apple, celebrates with the Golden Delicious festival.
On Sunday, as we mark another glorious West Virginia Day, I suggest
that you celebrate by biting into a piece of homemade apple pie, or
tangy apple crisp, or savoring a delicious apple dumpling, or a sweet-
candied apple and thinking of West Virginia.
West Virginia, how I love you!
Every steamlet, shrub and stone,
Even the clouds that flit above you
Always seem to be my own.
Your steep hillsides clad in grandeur,
Alays rugged, bold and free,
Sing with ever swelling chorus:
Montani, Semper, Liberi!
Always free! The little streamlets,
As they glide and race along,
Join their music to the anthem
And the zephyrs swell the song.
Always free! The mountain torrent
In its haste to reach the sea,
Shouts its challenges to the hillsides
And the echo answers ``FREE!''
Always free! Repeats the river
In a deeper, fuller tone
And the West wind in the treetops
Adds a chorus all its own.
Aways Free! The crashing thunder,
Madly flung from hill to hill,
In a wild reverberation
Makes our hearts with rapture fill.
Always free! The Bob White whistles
And the whippoorwill replies,
Always free! The robin twitters
As the sunset gilds the skies.
Perched upon the tallest timber,
Far above the sheltered lea,
There the eagle screams defiance
To a hostile world: ``I'm free!''
And two million happy people,
Hearts attuned in holy glee,
Add the hallelujah chorus:
``Mountaineers are always free!''
It is that time of year again.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, my remarks I am going to give now on
health care and the health care system in America will not be as filled
with rhapsody and melodic utterances as what we have heard from the
distinguished Senator from West Virginia.
I noticed all the pages, I say to my friend from West Virginia,
listening raptly to the Senator's comments. I can understand why. There
is no one who can express himself or herself in such vivid terms, in
such a vivid way that brings to life his beloved State of West
Virginia, his youth, and his experiences. No one can do it and paint
the picture with such clarity and color and meaning as the Senator from
West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. HARKIN. I would be delighted to, my mentor and my good friend
from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator. His
father, I believe, was a coal miner.
Mr. HARKIN. That is right.
Mr. BYRD. You know, the coal miner is a very special breed of man. He
goes into the smokey, hot bowels of the Earth to seek comrades who may
be still alive. He risks his life for them. I have a special bond with
the distinguished Senator through that coal miner background.
I thank him for his words, which were so well spoken, about these
young pages. I thank him for what he does for his State. I thank him
for what he does for his country. I hope he will have a happy Father's
Day on this coming Sunday. I thank the Senator.
Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Senator from West Virginia for those very
kind words. I, too, wish him the happiest of
[[Page S7047]]
Father's Days this week. I will be privileged to have at least one of
my children home, and my wife. The other one will not be there, but I
am sure we will be connected by telephone and talking on Father's Day.
The Senator from West Virginia has taken great pride in his family.
We have shared in the past some of the tragedies that have happened to
the Senator from West Virginia in his own family. I know how deeply the
Senator from West Virginia feels about family and what family means to
Americans in this country.
Through the example of the Senator from West Virginia, through his
example of public service, I say to the young pages, through his
example of public service through his entire lifetime, through his
service to his State but most importantly to his wife Erma and his
family, that is the example we all need to follow. It is a great
example.
I thank the Senator.
____________________