MANNERS & MORALS: Grand-Prize Baby

MANNERS & MORALS

When Detroit's Junior Board of Commerce began a citywide "better baby" contest two months ago, a 32-year-old Negro foundry worker named George Messengill decided that opportunity was knocking—the big prize was a four-year college scholarship. His wife Claire, a comely, red-haired white woman, agreed that it would be a wonderful chance for their 2½-year-old boy, Lester. Since the winning baby's popularity was to be decided by the sales of admission tickets, George began a one-man ticket-selling campaign.

Last week, sitting in a crowd of 3,500 who had gathered to hear the outcome of the contest, George and Claire Messengill had...

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