Wenatchee Wag

Born in Surprise, Neb., Rufus Woods saw his first circus there. When he grew to 5 ft. 8 in., 210 lb., 59 years, he was well-known in the State of Washington as editor and publisher of the Wenatchee World. Last week the nation became aware of Mr. Woods, through widely published pictures, as the editor who turned clown.

This did not surprise Wenatchee. Editor Woods, on vacation, was gratifying a boyhood ambition and gathering material for his column. "In Our Own World," all in one putty-nose junket. He did two performances a day with a professional clown named "Happy" Kellams in the Cole

Bros.-Clyde Beatty Circus, playing Seattle, Tacoma and Aberdeen. He never failed to get a laugh when Kellams pulled him around in an old buggy and introduced him as "the mayor of Seattle."

Editor Woods philosophically decided that: 1) circus and press are comparable enterprises, except that the circus is "a lot saner"; 2) circus folks are not lowbrow, because he heard no vulgar remarks, little profanity in the tents, because they were eager to discuss such things as the labor situation, which they agreed was worse in Washington than in any other State in the union.

After almost a week's clowning, Editor Woods set out on another junket close to his heart, a trip to Fort Peck Dam in Montana and the Tennessee Valley. Water power projects have been almost a religion to Editor Woods ever since July 19, 1918, when he wrote for his paper a remarkable piece of descriptive prophecy: "The most ambitious idea in the way of reclamation and the development of water power ever formulated is now in process of development. The idea contemplates turning the Columbia River back into its old bed in Grand Coulee, by the construction of a giant dam, the reclamation of between one and two million acres of land in Grant, Adams and Franklin counties. . . ." The prophecy has been borne out by the New Deal's Grand Coulee Dam.

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