A October 1931 Susanville Rotary Club meeting turned out to be an unusual affair. As one observer noted that these meetings usually are neither serious or gloomy.
The meeting began with local banker Charlie Bridges about the serious problems facing the banking industry. Local attorney, J.E. Pardee went on about oppressing taxes—but then this person did not believe in higher education, either.
The main speaker, was A.J. Mathews of the local telephone. A little bit of background on Mathews (1886-1950). Mathews came to Susanville in 1910 from his native San Francisco, with a handful of others to form the telephone company, which they were successful. Mathews became very involved in cvic affairs, even was a California Assemblyman, and served as House Speaker.
Anyhow, to our story. Mathews read, what some considered a weird tale regarding the world wide depression and an attempted solution as a comparison.
According to Mathews, a number of pelicans had been bred and brought up to depend upon stale fish dumped into the San Francisco bay by fish dealers. When the slump came, there was no longer any fish to throw away and the pelicans were slowly but surely starving to death.
The humane society in an attempt to solve the problem, imported a number of live, bustling birds that had never heard of a fish line or fish kitchen, or whatever it is that pelicans call free food, and turned them loose with the native flock. When it came time to dine, the strangers dived into the sea and hustled a dinner. The natives looked on in wonder, but eventually they took the courage and began rustling for a living, and a colony of starving pelicans became over night a thriving prosperous community of well fed birds.
That is how Mathews ended the story without any type of moral of the story, and left a few befuddled how this would solve the unemployment problem from the financial depression.