Profiles in Pork: Johnny Appleseed Meets Uncle Sam

Town Hall ^ | December 13, 2003 | Andrew Grossman

[JesseHousman]

The real life Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in 1774. Trained as a planter and working in Western Pennsylvania and New York, Chapman set out West when the government opened the lands across the Ohio River.

He was not a typical settler. While others claimed land for farming or established themselves in frontier towns, Chapman roamed. He would disappear into the wilderness for weeks at a time, clearing land of trees and brush and planting apple seeds in their place. His only company on these expeditions were his seeds, the woods, and wild animals, with whom Chapman claimed to converse.

Johnny Appleseed made a small living by selling the trees in those few groves he'd not simply abandoned. On at least several occasions, he traded his trees for clothing, food, or promises of future payment. This suited his needs, though, as his expenses were few. Chapman subsisted on meals of gruel and gathered nuts, berries, and fruit, and was well known for his ill-fitting dress (as he was a small man and most clothing in the frontier was large) and walking barefoot.

Chapman planted millions of apple seeds before his death in 1845. He died unmarried, in the home of strangers who knew him by reputation. Judging by newspaper coverage of his death, his reputation had spread all throughout the frontier and beyond. Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman was among the first of America's well-known obsessive eccentrics.

Odd as his story may be, Chapman's legacy may be no less eccentric. In 1992, William Jones, who describes himself as "a lifelong student of Johnny Appleseed lore," had a vision of a dramatic theatrical production to promote the life and work of Chapman. Jones circulated a proposal for a play based on Chapman's life to local officials and, in 1994, founded the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center, a nonprofit organization that began its fundraising and planning efforts immediately. Working with the University of North Carolina's "Institute of Outdoor Drama," Jones selected a site outside of Mansfield, Ohio, for his production and arranged a lease.

Billy Edd Wheeler, a playwright and composer, and Dennis Burnside, an arranger who has worked with Garth Brooks among others, were retained to create the musical drama that Jones had envisioned.

By the end of 2000, the Center had raised $1.7 million--well on its way to a $3.8 million goal--and broken ground on a 1,600 seat outdoor amphitheater. Moreover, the J.M. Smucker Company--well known for its jams and jellies--stepped forward to fund an auditorium and library. Increasingly ambitious, Jones drew up plans for an "interactive museum." Once fully constructed and outfitted, the Center expects to employ 72 workers, attract 65,000 visitors annually, and bring around $12 million to the region's economy.

The Center's primary goals, however, are educational and inspirational. It seeks to promote Chapman as "an uncommon man whom anyone can admire," especially in this "world craving role models for youths and inspiration to adults." According to Center materials, Chapman was a "philanthropist, naturalist, environmentalist, horticulturalist, visionary, missionary, humanitarian, and border scout," the Center maintains, and should be remembered for his "courage, sacrifice, vision, generosity, and impact on the lives of Ohio's early settlers."

Left unsaid, however, is a more obvious view: John Chapman was a harmless, entertaining, and sometimes even helpful eccentric. The historical John Chapman is a character, perhaps emblematic of his time, but not a role model.

Nevertheless, if a man with a Chapman obsession, a well-known manufacturer of preserves, and the Ohio Fruit Growers Society want to get together and build a shrine to John Chapman and put on a bit of musical theater, why not let them? After all, there's no harm in it, even if it seems a particularly poor idea.

That's how I felt, anyway, until I found out that I'm paying for it. Though most of us will never visit the "Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center and Outdoor Drama," as it is now called, it will receive $450,000 of the money that we pay in federal taxes over the next year. That's up from $405,000 in 2003.

Why? Ask Ohio Congressman Michael Oxley, in whose district the Center was built. Oxley announced the first round of federal funding for the Center this past February. His message to local voters, delivered at the "Johnny Appleseed Historical Marker" in Mansfield, was very to-the-point: "It's great to be a small part of helping this project. The bill was passed last week and this money was earmarked for this area."

Most representatives have a dozen or so pet projects like the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center--projects that are doubtlessly well-intentioned but something less than the best use of taxpayers' money. With 435 members of the House, it's easy to imagine that this sort of spending could get out of hand, as members trade, say, a little money for the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center for a new swimming pool in Salinas, California, or subsidies to lower the cost of golfing in a region for a sizable grant to map the trout genome (all these are actually in the 2004 omnibus appropriations bill passed by the House this week!).

How far out of hand can this get? The Heritage Foundation's Brian Riedl estimates that this sort of pork costs taxpayers about $20 billion every year, and that number is growing despite competition for funding from other government priorities with increased needs, like the War on Terror.

Congress should be embarrassed.

[JesseHousman]

Congress should be embarrassed.

Is he kidding?

These politcal class rats have been working overtime for eons to destroy what our founding fathers thought they were handing down to generations of Americans.

[Dudoight]

I agree with you in principle, but I definitely resent tax payer funds supporting stuff like this. If this cannot be funded with donations and private money then forget it. That with which I agree is that yes, values, role models and heroes should have their arena without the warp of the diversity crowd and the secular fanatics.

[Looking for Diogenes]

Congressman Oxley is serving his eleventh term in the House of Representatives and is Chairman of the new House Committee on Financial Services. He leads 37 Republicans, 32 Democrats, and 1 Independent on the Committee, which oversees Wall Street, banks, and the insurance industry. In addition to financial matters, Oxley has a long involvement with trade, telecommunications, and energy issues. A firm believer in market competition, Oxley draws on his business and financial expertise to advocate policies promoting personal savings, jobs, and economic growth.