Whtie Sands Administrative History

The superintendent's displeasure at the lack of sophistication in Spanish colonial tinwork reiterated a troubling sentiment in the NPS: how to balance the park service's national standards, Pinkley's own perspective on regional distinction, and Tom Charles' appreciation of local tastes and demands. All of this had surfaced before at the dunes, beginning with the Toll and Boles feasibility studies. The inherent tension between " insider" and "outsider" had its denouement in 1938 with the appointment by Pinkley of Jim Felton as the first true "park ranger," the staff member charged with public contact and oversight of daily activities. Felton and his wife stayed only until May, but his running correspondence with Pinkley, and his debates with Tom Charles, revealed the gap between park service professionalism and local boosterism.

Felton echoed the complaints of other NPS observers that White Sands was a victim of parochial interests. "In the past," Felton wrote to Pinkley on February 28, "visitors have driven their cars to any point in the sand they thought possible." Anticipating the annual increase in visitation triggered by the arrival of spring (especially Easter services and Play Day), Felton asked Pinkley to institute "true Park Standards." These included closure of the monument at night; relocation of the access road and parking area away from the dunes; constant ranger patrols; and, "in the near future, a toll charge as in the National Parks." Felton linked the latter to plans to extend the monument road network, believing such revenues to be "justified." [75]

Frank Pinkley's response to Felton indicated the future of monument management, which would not include the 64-year old Tom Charles. "You are the first of our field men who has ever owned up to consideration of an entrance fee with anything but unmitigated horror," said the superintendent. He then warned Felton: "It won't be easy and if we were to clamp down hard right now, much local antagonism would be developed." Pinkley instead asked Felton to consider a "result . . . achieved by degrees and education," concluding: "One thing about the sands is that they cannot suffer greatly or permanently during the formative period of policy." [76]

Believing that he (Felton), not Charles, should guide White Sands, the new ranger by March was writing the monthly report to the SWNM superintendent. No better evidence of the clash of wills between Charles and Felton existed than their separate letters to Pinkley about the success of Play Day. Both ranger and custodian began with references to the large attendance (2,792). Felton then focused upon the provincialism of the locals. "All day long we had only four out-of-state visitors," complained the ranger. To make matters worse, said Felton: "The majority of them do not care to be bothered with a ranger trying to tell them where the White Sands came from." Felton hoped that the new museum "may make some impression," but he feared that delays in completion would render park service interpretation and education "slow business." [77]

Tom Charles reflected an opposing view, although he conceded problems in managing the Play Day crowds. He had employed "6 Mexican NYA boys to park the cars . . . with the understanding that the county director would be there and keep them on the job." When the afternoon baseball game began, the NYA workers abandoned their posts, leaving "at least 100 cars . . . parked without a soul to tell them where." This irritated Ranger Felton, who told other employees that "he has asked for a transfer and it should be coming soon." Charles suggested that Felton's replacement should be "a man who will like the public[;] one who craves contact." Charles bristled at Felton's charge that "I do not know the Park Service rules, that my visitors have been spoiled." The custodian contrasted the ranger's attitude with his own: "He hasn't the insurance salesman's complex of working himself into [the patron's] affections." Most typical of Felton's behavior, said Charles, was his reaction to vehicles with New Mexico license plates. "'A local car,"' Felton would say "with more or less disgust." The custodian pleaded with Pinkley: "I am still struggling to sell the White Sands. I'm not the boss out there," He then asked Pinkley about a potential replacement for Felton: "Now, Boss, I want a man who can show the same courtesy to the local crowd that he shows to the New Yorkers." [78]

Preying on Tom Charles' mind in the fall of 1938 was not only the criticism of Jim Felton, and his own impending retirement, but also the entrapment of White Sands in the "WPA scandals" that rocked New Mexico. Frank Pinkley asked Charles if he wanted to become a full-time custodian. The duties would require more time and energy than Charles felt ready to provide. Instead, he and his wife preferred the post of concessionaire, saying: "I really think that would make more money in the long run anyway." Charles entered into negotiations to that end with Pinkley, who was "reluctant to introduce an operator into the picture at White Sands until a demand has been demonstrated." Charles had suggested taking over a work room in the new visitors center, "in which photographic films, postal cards, soft drinks, light lunches, etc., could be sold." Pinkley had no quarrel with this, but had doubts about "the granting of exclusive transportation permits" to Charles. The superintendent counseled patience, as Charles had one more year of employment before having to retire. [79]

One reason prompting Charles' decision was the suspension of WPA project foreman, John L. ("Johnie") Stephens, in December 1938 for his indictment by a federal grand jury. Earlier in the year, a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner had uncovered the controversy surrounding Senator Dennis Chavez, his political "machine " and state and federal relief agencies. U.S. Attorney Everett Grantham of Santa Fe brought charges against 73 individuals, including a sister, nephew, and son-in-law of Chavez. The attorney alleged that WPA supervisors approached employees to contribute to the Democratic party a portion of their monthly wages. At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water project near Tucumcari (Conchas Dam), these "contributions" ranged from two dollars for unskilled labor to ten percent for foremen. Laborers who refused would have their salary reduced, and in extreme cases be transferred far from home. [80]

For Dennis Chavez, the consequences were mixed. No convictions resulted from the charge that he had placed 18 relatives and family members on the WPA payroll, even though the U.S. Senate threatened him with expulsion for his part in the scandal. For White Sands, the indictment of Johnie Stephens, a highly regarded employee, reminded NPS officials of the political intrigue inherent in New Deal projects. Washington officials, fearful of negative publicity as Congress grew more conservative (the 1938 congressional elections turned on charges of New Deal fraud and abuse), decided to suspend Stephens without pay. Then in conversations with attorney Grantham, regional officials learned that the Justice Department lacked evidence to prosecute Stephens. By spring 1939, Stephens had returned to work, and the WPA incident had passed. [81]

Sitting in Alamogordo, Tom Charles read the Stephens indictment far differently. The legal action had occurred because Michael Reardon, a WPA foreman at White Sands, had testified against his supervisor. Charles knew Reardon as "a Dempsey appointee" (a reference to Democratic U.S. Representative John J. Dempsey). Stephens told Charles that he would have to resign because of the political pressure; a scenario that led the custodian to warn Pinkley not to appoint the new ranger, Johnwill Faris, as supervisor of the WPA project. "I am writing you at once," said Charles to the superintendent, "because I am deathly afraid of it." He called the situation at White Sands "a WPA cesspool" that did not need NPS intervention. Charles then asked Pinkley to "get an entirely new [custodian]," rather than Faris. "A local democratic politician who stands high with Chavis [sic] and Hatch could take Rearden [sic] to a cleaning," the longtime Republican wrote, "but a Park Service Ranger wouldn't have a Chinaman 's chance." Charles asked "for Johnwill's sake, and incidentally for your sake and mine, don't connect him with that job," as it "would just be trouble, trouble, trouble." Looking out on the New Mexican political landscape, Charles warned that the forces at work in state government would not change, as "a man [Reardon] who will go before a Federal grand jury and indict as good a boy as Johnie [Stephens] without any provocation will do anything." [82]

Figure 22. Interior Department vehicle on inspection tour (1930s).
(Courtesy White Sands National Monument)