Tiny Victory

Wilmington, Del. is famed as the seat of the du Pont plants and patriarchy. New Castle, six miles south, an ancient and lovely architectural museum whose inhabitants still benefit from the 1,068 acres William Penn deeded them in 1701, occasionally makes a little news paragraph when the warden of the county jail legally uses his cat-o'-nine-tails on a darky chicken thief. Thirty-eight miles still farther south in Delaware is an important little town almost never heard of: Dover, founded in 1717 by William Penn on the St. Jones River.

Dover (pop. 4,800) is the nation's third smallest State capital.* Its main street is a continuation of famed du Pont highway. Facing the highway, a handsome Colonial building on a spacious green houses minuscule Delaware's equally minuscule General Assembly. In the House there are 21 Democrats, 14 Republicans. The Republicans control the Senate of 17 by one vote. Because Dover is no more than 60 mi. from any adjoining State border, Delaware's 52 Legislators for the most part commute to work by automobile. One hundred and fifty other State officials and employes live in Dover all the time, pride themselves on the town's small but famed biggest factory, Richardson & Robbins Co. (canners of chickens and plum puddings).

Last week Dover elected as mayor for his tenth term John Wallace Woodford. secretary of Richardson & Robbins, a big Mason and an eloquent orator who learned his art from a correspondence school. Mayor Woodford receives no salary, tiny Dover being run by a city manager. His victory was also tiny. He received all of the 26 votes cast.

*Smaller: Pierre, S. Dak. (pop. 3.659). Carson City, Nev. (pop. 1,685).

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