ORIGINS: FIELD REPORT ON A POPULATION OF INDETERMINATE ORIGIN

internal documentation from the Office of the Inspector, Department of the Interior, 1903

May Season Studio Archives

by Gintare O.

Filed in the matter of an inquiry initiated by Halloran Merchant Co., Chicago

Submitted to the Office of the Inspector, Department of the Interior

Filed October 14, 1903

By J. R. Whitmore, Senior Field Officer

Classification: Internal. Not for public reference.

PRELIMINARY NOTE

The undersigned was dispatched on the 22nd of September, 1903, to confirm the existence and condition of a population referenced in a written request submitted to Halloran Merchant Co. of Chicago. The request was unsigned. It arrived by post in an envelope of uncommon paper. It asked for the resumption of a supply arrangement understood to have lapsed.

The Merchant Co. forwarded the request to the Department because the volume requested exceeded their independent capacity and because the goods named in the request were not goods Halloran ordinarily carried.

The undersigned was instructed to confirm the population, assess its character, and determine whether federal interest required involvement. The undersigned was further instructed to make no commitments on behalf of the Department.

The undersigned traveled by rail to a station designated in the request, was met at the platform by a person who did not give a name, and was conducted on foot for approximately two hours to the site of the population.

The location is not recorded in this report. The undersigned was asked not to record it. The undersigned has chosen to comply.

OBSERVATION ONE. STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION

The site visited by the undersigned is not the population. The site is, by the population’s own description, an administrative seat. A coordinating ground. A fixed location at which contracts are executed and at which goods may be received and redistributed. The structures the undersigned was shown were offices, archives, and a quiet hall used for what the representative termed “internal sessions.” There were no homes.

The population proper is dispersed. The representative did not provide a number and asked that the undersigned not attempt one. When pressed, the representative offered the following.

“We live where you live. We work where you work. We are in your cities. We are in your factories. We are in your railroad offices and your hospitals and your churches. We sign leases. We pay rents. We attend the same funerals you attend. You have not noticed us because we have spent a long time learning not to be noticed.”

The undersigned recorded this statement and offers no opinion on its accuracy. The undersigned will note that during the visit to the site, the undersigned counted approximately forty individuals present, all of whom appeared to be functioning in some administrative or custodial capacity. The undersigned was informed that the larger membership did not gather at the site under any ordinary circumstance.

The site occupies a defined area in a wooded region of approximately one square mile. The boundaries are not marked on any commercial or federal map known to the undersigned. The structures are not visible from the perimeter and the undersigned was conducted to them along a route that did not appear to follow any consistent compass heading.

OBSERVATION TWO. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The forty individuals observed at the site are, by ordinary measure, human in appearance. They speak English. They wear clothing recognizable as belonging to the present century, though several items appeared older and were of unfamiliar tailoring.

The undersigned will note that, by the population’s own account, the broader membership does not visit the site and is not subject to the undersigned’s observation. The representative indicated that members of the population are not, in the ordinary course of their lives, distinguishable from the surrounding citizenry. The undersigned cannot verify this. The undersigned can only note that the representative made the claim in a tone that did not invite disagreement.

Of the individuals present at the site, the undersigned observed the following.

Their general bearing is uniform. They move with an economy of motion the undersigned has previously associated with experienced clerks and trained nurses. They do not raise their voices. They do not gesture. They do not appear to require eye contact when speaking.

The undersigned was unable to identify any children during the visit. When asked, the undersigned was informed that the site was not a residence and that children were therefore not present. The representative added that this was a fact and not a concealment. The undersigned did not press the matter.

OBSERVATION THREE. ORIGIN AND NAME

The undersigned asked, in plain terms, what the population called itself and how long it had been present in this country.

The reply was given by a person who identified themselves only as a representative.

“We are old. We do not provide a date. We do not provide a place of origin. We have been here longer than your records and we will be here when your records are no longer maintained. This is not a boast. It is a fact we have learned to keep to ourselves.”

The undersigned then asked what name the population wished to be entered under, for the purposes of the contract.

The representative answered without hesitation.

“The Redfield Compact. The first word is a town. The second word is the arrangement we are offering. Use both. The name should not stand out. We have selected it so that it does not.”

The undersigned recorded the name as given. The undersigned will note, for the file, that no town of Redfield is referenced in the supporting materials provided by Halloran Merchant Co., and that the undersigned was unable to identify, on the maps available to him in the field, a town of Redfield within plausible distance of the site. The representative did not clarify and the undersigned did not press.

The representative declined further questions on the matter of origin. The undersigned did not press.

OBSERVATION FOUR. HEALTH

This section is the substance of the report.

The population is not immune to the diseases of the modern world. They are, by their own account, more vulnerable than the surrounding population, not less.

The representative was direct on this point.

“We have outlived plagues you have not yet named. We have not outlived the ones that will come. The diseases of your century travel faster than the ones we learned to manage. The cities you are building bring with them organisms our internal arrangements have not adapted to. We live among you. We catch what you catch. We do not always recover from what you recover from.”

The undersigned was shown a ledger. The ledger recorded losses by year. The undersigned was not permitted to copy the ledger but was permitted to review it. The figures recorded for the preceding decade were, in the undersigned’s recollection, as follows.

Tuberculosis. Recurrent and widespread, across the membership in the urban centers, with concentrations in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Saint Louis.

Typhoid. Two outbreaks of note, the second of which resulted in a recorded loss the representative described as “more than acceptable.”

Smallpox. Sporadic. Localized to individuals who had failed to obtain vaccination prior to exposure.

Diphtheria. Persistent. Particularly damaging in the western membership.

Pneumonia. Seasonal. Considered by the representative to be a baseline cost.

The representative declined to provide an aggregate figure. The representative did indicate that the rate of loss had increased in each of the preceding five years and that the population had no expectation of this trend reversing without intervention.

The undersigned will note that the diseases named are diseases of the modern American city. The population is being killed, at scale, by the same illnesses that kill the surrounding citizenry. The difference, by the representative’s account, is one of degree. They lose more, faster, with less warning.

This is the basis of their request.

OBSERVATION FIVE. PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

The representative referenced, without elaboration, a prior arrangement with what the representative termed “the federal apparatus.” The undersigned was unable to determine the date or nature of this prior arrangement. The representative declined to specify.

The undersigned will note only the following statement, recorded verbatim:

“We approached your government once. We will not do so again. We were not assisted. We were studied. The studies were not returned to us. The individuals who participated in the studies were not returned to us. We will not be approaching your government for the resumption of supply. We are approaching a merchant. That is a different relationship. A merchant honors a contract because a contract is the only basis on which a merchant continues to be a merchant. A government honors a contract until the contract becomes inconvenient.”

The undersigned recorded this statement without comment. The undersigned now records it again, without comment.

OBSERVATION SIX. THE REQUEST

The population has requested, through Halloran Merchant Co., the regular delivery of the following categories of goods. The undersigned reproduces the list in full, as it was provided.

1. Smallpox vaccine, of current preparation, in quantity sufficient for the full population on an annual cycle.

2. Diphtheria antitoxin, of recent preparation, in quantity adequate for emergency response within the population. The representative noted, without prompting, an awareness of the antitoxin contamination incident of 1901 and indicated that the population would require proof of source and lot number for each shipment. The undersigned records this requirement as reasonable.

3. Carbolic acid, in industrial quantity, for the maintenance of internal sanitation.

4. Iodine. Boric acid. Silver nitrate. Standard antiseptic preparations of the kind sold for surgical use.

5. Soap of a specified formulation. The formulation was provided in writing and is unusual. It contains no animal tallow. It contains a clay component the undersigned does not recognize. The population indicated that the soap formulation was their own and that they were prepared to share it with the Merchant Co. in exchange for production at scale.

6. Linens, in quantity, of unbleached cotton, for the care of the ill and the preparation of the dead. The representative indicated these would be distributed through the population’s internal channels.

7. Tinctures of a botanical character, list attached as Appendix A. Several of the plants named are not commercially cultivated and would require sourcing. The population offered to provide cuttings.

8. A quantity of fine beeswax, annually. The undersigned did not inquire as to its use.

9. Glass vessels of a specified shape and size, list attached as Appendix B. The shapes are unusual but not impossible to produce.

10. Salt, of a specific mineral profile, sourced from the brine operations of the Saginaw Bay region in Michigan. The population identified the wells by name and indicated that no substitute would be accepted.

The undersigned notes that the list, taken together, describes the inventory of a population attempting to protect itself from infection by means available to the modern household. There is nothing on this list that could not be sold, in modified form, to any educated American family.

The undersigned makes that observation factually and declines to interpret.

OBSERVATION SEVEN. TERMS OF PAYMENT

The population offered payment in gold, of refined grade, weight to be determined upon each delivery. The undersigned was shown a sample. The undersigned is not a metallurgist but has been trained to recognize fraudulent specimens. The sample was not fraudulent.

The population further offered, as part of the terms, the rights of formulation to the soap, the tinctures, and three additional preparations the representative did not name on the day of the visit but indicated would be transferred upon the signing of a contract.

The representative was explicit on this point.

“We are offering more than gold. We are offering the means by which a merchant could become a great deal more than a merchant. We understand that the country you are building is a country of buyers. We are offering you the formulations of a population that has spent a long time learning how to remain clean and how to remain alive. A buyer will not know where the formulations came from. A buyer does not need to know. A buyer needs only to be told that the product works. The product will work.”

The undersigned recorded this statement without comment.

The undersigned now records, without comment, that the representative appeared to understand the commercial environment of the United States in 1903 with a sophistication the undersigned would not have anticipated.

OBSERVATION EIGHT. CHARACTER OF THE INDIVIDUALS PRESENT

The undersigned was treated with formality. Meals were offered and accepted. The food was unremarkable and prepared in a manner consistent with the rural Midwest. No effort was made to conceal anything from the undersigned except the location of the site, the membership records of the broader population, and the contents of one structure near the western edge of the grounds.

The individuals present conduct themselves in the manner of a body of clerks. They are precise. They are quiet. They are unwilling to make small concessions. They are willing, the undersigned believes, to honor any contract entered into in good faith.

The representative indicated, without prompting, that the formality of the site was deliberate. “We have learned that an administrative seat reassures a merchant. A merchant wants a place to send the invoice.”

The undersigned was not threatened during the visit. The undersigned was not asked to swear to anything. The undersigned was, however, asked twice, in different phrasings, whether the report he intended to file would result in further federal contact with the population.

The undersigned answered, both times, that he could not predict the Department’s response.

The representative accepted this answer without visible reaction.

OBSERVATION NINE. RECOMMENDATION

The undersigned was instructed to make no commitments on behalf of the Department, and the undersigned has made none.

The undersigned will, however, offer the following observations for the consideration of the Inspector.

The population is, by its own account, dispersed across the cities and industrial centers of the country. It conducts itself in a manner that has not, to the undersigned’s knowledge, attracted the attention of any federal or state authority. It does not appear to pose a threat to the surrounding region. It does appear to be at substantial risk of loss from disease carried by the cities in which it resides.

The supply request, in the undersigned’s judgment, is reasonable on its face. The goods named are commercially available. The volumes are large but not extraordinary. The payment offered is more than adequate.

The undersigned further notes that the formulations offered as part of the terms appear to be of legitimate commercial value. A merchant in possession of those formulations could expand the scope of his operation considerably. The undersigned makes no recommendation regarding the proper recipient of such formulations. The undersigned notes only that they exist.

The Department’s prior contact with this population, referenced in Observation Five, is not on record in any file accessible to the undersigned. The undersigned has searched. The undersigned has not found.

The undersigned recommends that the Department decline further involvement and permit Halloran Merchant Co. to negotiate independently.

The undersigned recommends that this report be filed under restricted classification and not be referenced in subsequent communications with the Merchant Co.

The undersigned recommends that the population be permitted to remain undocumented in any federal record subject to public inquiry.

These recommendations are offered for the convenience of the Department. The undersigned will defer to whatever decision the Inspector finds appropriate.

CLOSING NOTE

The undersigned returned to Chicago on the 4th of October and to Washington on the 9th. The undersigned has spoken of this matter to no one outside the chain of command. The undersigned does not intend to do so.

The undersigned will note, for the record, that he was given a small gift upon his departure from the site. It was a bar of the soap referenced in the request. The undersigned has used it. It is the finest soap the undersigned has ever encountered.

The undersigned recognizes that this observation has no place in a field report. The undersigned includes it because the report would otherwise be incomplete.

Respectfully submitted,

J. R. Whitmore

Senior Field Officer

Department of the Interior

Appendices A and B follow under separate cover.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

this one started with a question i could not shake. if something had been living alongside us the whole time, quietly, carefully, the way it would announce itself would not be with teeth. it would be with paperwork. a supply request. an unsigned letter in good paper. the most unsettling thing i could imagine was not a monster but a population that pays rent and attends the same funerals we do and is dying of the same diseases we are, only faster.

the soap stayed with me longest. a field officer files a restricted report about a people he cannot explain, and the detail he cannot leave out is that they gave him good soap. that felt true to how people actually hold the impossible. we file it, we classify it, and then we mention the one small human thing that does not fit anywhere.

written and designed by gintare okrzesik, creator of may season studio. a fictional corporation exploring beauty, bureaucracy, and quiet corruption through narrative design.

Filed Under: Office of the Inspector / from the may season studio employee files

Understanding the theory is one thing.

Watching it operate is another.

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