Volume 16 , Issue 34

1921 Politics and the Public

On page four of The Daily Ardmoreite, dated Friday, 14 October 1921, there was this feature concerning Politics and the Public. It seems that things had etched a deplorable state when measures aimed and intended for the benefit of public good were handicapped by petty party politics. Does this sound familiar in today's 21st century?

Anyway, back to 1921, when Jules Scheivitz, general secretary of the Oklahoma Public Health Association, charged that a bill providing for child hygiene and public health nursing failed because of political reasons. Politics hindered the opening of the state tuberculosis sanitariums at Clinton, Talihina and Boley by insufficient appropriations. That was only one of the many cases that could be pointed out.

Law enforcement was handicapped by faction and party politics, and no state in the southwest needed better enforcement than Oklahoma.

Politics was being blamed for rotten postal service in many cities in the state. Chambers of commerce were being put on the unclassified list because of faction beliefs.

Also, it was a pretty hard job for teacher's to get in some schools unless they were of the same party as the school board members. The American Legion had to fight continually to keep its hands clean. Several of the charitable institutions of the state were handicapped by insufficient funds because of politics.

Many newspapers in Oklahoma were fed from a political slush fund bowl during the elections of 1920, and many of those papers cast their policy to the wind in favor of the highest bidder.

Politics alone cost the state of Oklahoma the expense of the special session of the legislature the spring of 1921. Every day the public was paying the price of petty politics and public institutions were suffering. Things were in a deplorable state of affairs, when conditions such as that existed.

Fifty cities in Oklahoma were in a "Better Cities Contest" which was inaugurated by the Shawnee Rotary Club. That was one game of chance which was going to mean a whole lot to the old state of Oklahoma, not forgetting what the oil game of chance did for it.

Southeaster Oklahoma was having an epidemic of revival meetings again in the Fall of 1921 after having had a double dose of it during the Summer.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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