Mercí Train

A Kansas Portrait

Expressions of gratitude from one nation to another can often go beyond the ordinary lines of country-to-country diplomacy. Such was the case of the Mercí Train.

In 1947, at the instigation of Washington newspaper columnist Drew Pearson, the American public contributed more than $40,000,000 in relief supplies for France and Italy. Distributed in Europe by the use of "Friendship Trains," these supplies provided not only food but also hope to the war torn countries. As life began to improve the French sought a manner to repay and somehow thank the American people. A French rail worker named Andre Picard conceived the idea of sending to the United States a "Forty and Eight" boxcar filled with wines, lace perfumes, and other gifts representative of the country. The old boxcars no longer used and rusting away, evoked special memories to American soldiers who served in France during the two World Wars. Many World War I soldiers had returned to the U.S. after the war to form veterans' organizations with just that name. The name is derived from the fact that the cars were built to hold forty men and eight horses.

As the French media spread the story, however, the project gained in popularity and it was soon evident that more than one car would be needed. It was decided to fill 49 cars, one for each state and one to be shared by the District of Columbia and the territory of Hawaii. More than 6,000,000 French families gave up something to help fill the cars, even though many had little but sentimental mementos to offer. Items consisted of such things as children's drawings, hand crocheted doilies, battered toys, the original bust of Benjamin Franklin by the French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, and the bugle, which signaled the Armistice signing at Compiegne in 1918. The President of France donated 49 Sevres vases and a church in La Courtene even gave its bell, while an anonymous donor sent a set of black lingerie "for a beautiful blonde." The French government provided a freighter to transport the train to New York. They were divided up and sent overland on flat cars.

Kansas took possession of its car at Wichita in February 1949. At that time, Governor Frank Carlson pledged that the gifts would receive the widest distribution. Approximately 40,000 Kansans viewed the gifts while they were on display in Wichita.

To carry out the governor's wishes, a group called Mercí Gifts for Kansas Inc., was formed. The key organization was the Hays 40 and 8 Club. They would later receive the boxcar itself. Mercí Gifts Inc., would be in charge of gift distribution, as well as, the arrangement of a statewide tour.

One-fifth of the gifts were selected for the tour and placed in display cases mounted in the boxcar. Santa Fe employees mounted the car on a highway trailer, loaned by the Topeka's Forbes Air Force Base. The cost of the car's conversion was borne by the Hays 40 and 8 Club. International Harvester donated the use of a truck tractor, gasoline, and driver.

The gifts were spread throughout the state. Governor Frank Carlson and David C. White of Hays were two of the few individuals to receive gifts. The various others went to schools, colleges, universities, organizations, and cities.