Territorial Politics a legislature, Counties, Public Schools, and a New Capital City chapter 6 the time

FEW PEOPLE LOOKED TO THE GOVERNMENT for help in the early years of the depression. Poverty-stricken families just stopped buying. Old clothes were remade and mended. Entertainment was centered in the home. The pioneer practice of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" became a saying in many households. Each family took care of its own problems.

Groups of people organized to help the needy in their town. In Phoenix, homeless men chopped wood each morning at a local woodyard in return for housing and food. Phil Tovrea, who was connected to the meat packing industry, pledged 1,000 pounds of meat daily for the unemployed. Phoenix high school and college students took part in a three-day "Create-a-Job" campaign. The students contacted everybody in Phoenix and listed all the odd jobs available.

In 1930 the Tucson Chamber of Commerce registered 1,100 out-of-work men. "This is a good time to have the fence painted and a new roof put on the garage—if you have the money," said Isabella Greenway in a speech at the Rotary Club. She worked with civic leaders to raise money and find jobs for needy people.

Tucson writer Harold Bell Wright headed a committee that raised money to assist several thousand unemployed people. In one month, nearly forty tons of food were distributed. The unemployed earned the food by working on public projects.

At Flagstaff, college students were permitted to pay tuition fees with hay, oats, or turnips instead of cash. The college dairy made good use of these fees.

For the first time in history, President Herbert Hoover's administration provided some federal emergency relief money to the states. Each county set up a welfare board to distribute any state or federal relief funds available. But the counties shouldered the primary relief burden during the early years of the depression.

The New Deal

THE NEW DEAL was a national effort to overcome the depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt, often called FDR, became president in March, 1933. He took a trial-and-error approach to the nation's problems. "Try something," he said. "If it fails, try another."

The first task was to care for jobless people. The New Deal tried giving money to the states. The money was handed out but the people wanted jobs, not charity.

Arizona Portrait

Harold Bell Wright

1872-1944

(Drawing by F. Graham Cootes)

Harold Bell Wright, a New York native and self-educated author, said he learned to "scribble" during his years as a preacher in the Ozark Mountains.

One of his first books, Shepherd of the Hills, got him started on a long list of best-selling novels. The characters in his books are simple, honest, hard-working people. Some of the novels were based on Arizona stories and Indian legends.

While still a young man, Wright moved to the dry Arizona desert to recover from tuberculosis.

A skilled artisan, he carved the ornamental woodwork and forged the iron for his home in Tucson. During the depression, Wright was admired as Tucson's "first citizen" for his charity work in helping children with tuberculosis, the unemployed, and other needy people.

213

During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt spoke to the American people on the radio. He always started the programs by saying, "Good evening, friends." He told the people he was trying to help them, and explained what he was doing to help the nation get out of the depression.

Listening to the radio was the most popular form of family entertainment during the depression.

In 1932, Arizona Democratic leaders met with presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Public Works Administration (PWA) created jobs through contracts to private industry. A large part of Arizona's PWA funds was spent on the completion of Boulder (Hoover) Dam. Other projects improved the sites of ancient Indian dwellings and the Tumacacori Mission. The university and colleges got some new buildings.

214

The WPA

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was based on the belief that everyone has the right to useful work. It soon became the nation's chief relief agency. WPA workers improved the state highway system. They constructed school buildings, post offices, libraries, the National Guard armory in Phoenix, water systems, sidewalks, bridges, and government buildings. One of the bigger WPA jobs was the state fairgrounds project. Workmen built a racetrack, grandstand, and exhibit halls.

The WPA gave people with talents a chance to practice their skills. One of the more interesting WPA programs was the Federal Writers Project. Under the direction of Ross Santee, researchers and writers gathered data all over the state and prepared a State Guide. The Federal Music Project presented over a thousand concerts in Arizona. Jobs were given to actors, artists, and teachers.

A popular jingle went like this:

We work all day For the WPA

Let the market crash

We collect our cash.
---see picture

WPA workers build a sidewalk.

215

The CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of the most popular of the federal relief programs. It gave work and job training to young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. At the same time, the CCC promoted a nationwide program of conservation. Some 1,500 camps were built, mainly in forested areas. The men lived under army discipline. They were supervised by the federal agency to which they were assigned. The pay was $30 a month. Out of this amount, $22 to $25 a month was sent home to parents or dependents. The men also received food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, and education.

One of the first jobs of the CCC men assigned to the Forest Service was to eradicate twig-blight disease. This fungus threatened to destroy the state's huge ponderosa pine forests. The only known way to combat the disease was to remove infected twigs and trees. The CCC also planted 7.5 million trees and constructed nearly 6,000 miles of forest roads in Arizona.

The CCC restored range lands. Check dams were built in eroded gullies. Overgrazed land was reseeded in grass and fenced off. Stock ponds were constructed. CCC men near Tempe and Yuma cleaned out irrigation systems and lined canals with concrete. The CCC built a trail in the Grand Canyon and a scenic road in the Petrified Forest. Tucson Mountain Park was reseeded with native grasses and fenced. New trails and guard rails were built in Colossal Cave near Tucson.

A WPA music concert in Phoenix. Howard Pyle, a popular KTAR radio announcer and future governor, is at the microphone.

216

The "Triple A" (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) paid farmers to plow under part of their crops. The first year, cotton farmers in Maricopa County, for example, got $125,000 to take 9,000 acres out of cultivation. Why? The idea was to raise crop prices by creating scarcity. The AAA also bought and killed livestock, including thousands of Navajo sheep and goats. Critics often asked, "Why destroy food when many Americans are hungry?" Yet, the plan seemed to work—at least for farmers.

—Lewis Erdos, interview

—Nel S. Cooper, ranch woman, interview

The CCC provided jobs for young men during the Great Depression.

(Stamp design ©1983 U.S. Postal Service. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.)

Workers slept in CCC barracks Like these in Safford.

217

What do you think?

Until the 1930s, most Americans believed that the federal government should keep its hands off the economy and business of a state. How did the government programs of the Great Depression change this attitude?

John and Isabella Greenway

"Isabella, . . . Eleanor and I think you should run for an upcoming seat in Congress," pleaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Isabella Selmes Greenway, a bridesmaid at the Roosevelt wedding and a longtime friend, ran and won. She was the first woman to represent Arizona in Congress.

After the death of her first husband from tuberculosis, Isabella married Colonel John C. Greenway, a dashing and wealthy bachelor. Their honeymoon to the Grand Canyon was her introduction to Arizona. John took his bride to Ajo, where he was part owner of the copper mine.

"Fighting Jack" Greenway had earned the rank of colonel on the battlefields of France during WWI. A wound and poison gas had weakened his robust health. Four years after his death, a statue of John Greenway was placed in our nation's capitol building.

Isabella moved to Tucson, where she built a furniture factory to employ disabled veterans. She and Bill Gilpin, John's private pilot, started the G and G Airlines Company. In 1931 Isabella built the Arizona Inn. This quiet, elegant inn attracted well-to-do visitors and celebrities. During the depression, Isabella sometimes called meetings of civic leaders at the inn to plan fundraisers for charity.

Isabella Greenway was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.

Isabella Greenway

John C. Greenway. This statue is in front of the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson. A replica of the statue is in our nation's capitol building in Washington, D.C.

A War Ends the Great Depression

The scope of the New Deal was immense. Its programs brought relief to millions. Some critics, however, said the New Deal didn't go far enough. But others argued Roosevelt's "one-man super-government" was running up a huge debt and destroying the free enterprise system. "The American people, once self-reliant citizens, are getting a bad case of the 'gimmes," said one critic. The problems of farm surpluses and unemployment were not solved until the United States entered World War II.

218

American Indians Get a New Deal

IN 1924 CONGRESS gave all native-born Indians American citizenship. But having citizenship changed their lives very little. Many Indians lived in poverty. On the reservations they were controlled by federal bureaucrats. The U. S. Senate investigated the so-called "Indian Problem" and recommended an "Indian New Deal."

The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 was the most important New Deal act for Arizona Indian tribes. It encouraged them to continue their tribal organization. The tribes began to adopt their own tribal constitutions, hire lawyers, and form business corporations. They were given the right to practice their own native religions and tribal customs on the reservations.

The IRA also made the federal government responsible for preventing erosion and overgrazing on the reservations. Nearly 2,000 American Indians were soon employed in the Indian division of the CCC. They built check dams to stop erosion and to conserve water supplies, constructed reservoirs and truck trails, and reseeded thousands of acres on the reservations.

The Johnson-O'Malley Act

The Johnson-O'Malley Act of 1934 provided funds for school districts willing to enroll Indians. Before this law, Indian children could not attend public schools because Indians did not have to pay state and local property taxes on reservation land.

Today the State of Arizona applies for Johnson-O'Malley federal money each year. As a result, Native American boys and girls are in public schools all over the state.
---see picture

Mabel Anton was a Tohono O'odham judge.

219

Tribal Government

Each Arizona tribe set up an elective government. Nearly all of the tribes adopted a constitution, using the U. S. Constitution as a model. A tribal chairman was elected to head the executive branch. A council was the legislative body. In later years, nearly every reservation organized a police force and tribal courts with Indian judges. Today these courts handle only misdemeanors and offenses against tribal law. More serious crimes are tried in state or federal courts.

At first, self-government was not easy for the American Indians. For generations they were forced to be dependent on the federal government for food, clothing, and money. Strong tribal leaders did not emerge until the 1950s and 1960s.

Since the 1930s, the federal government has allowed American Indians to be Indians. Community day schools have replaced many boarding schools. An Indian Arts and Crafts Board works for the preservation of American Indian culture.

On the reservation, many Native Americans, such as this Pima girl, were able to hold on to much of their native culture.

This is a Navajo tribal council in session. Can you see the influence of hogan architecture
in this council chamber at Window Rock?

220

NOT ALL LIFE IN THE THIRTIES was gloom and doom. "Picture shows" provided entertainment, though it was more of a luxury to see one. Drug stores continued to sell fountain drinks,

chocolate bars, and magazines. Free baseball games gained more spectators and competition improved. People still drove automobiles, but they kept them longer. Newspapers stayed in business, though they often lost subscribers or had to cut down on the size of the paper.

Without much money, people turned to things that were either free or inexpensive. Reading, jigsaw puzzles, card games, stamp collecting, and radio programs were popular. Families enjoyed radio shows like the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Kate Smith, The Lone Ranger, and many others. Sports fans followed their heroes—Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Jesse Owens, Bill Tilden, and Joe Louis to name a few. Both children and adults looked forward to the weekly color comics: "Little Orphan Annie," "Dick Tracy," "Mutt and Jeff," and "Gasoline Alley."

Fox Theaters in Phoenix and Tucson were air conditioned in the 1930s.

The 1934 state champion Funk Jewelers softball team of Phoenix reached the national
semifinals in Chicago. Paul Fannin (top row, third from right) was a pitcher.
Later, he was elected governor and then U.S. Senator.

"Hundreds of children, each bringing some article of food for the price of admission, attended the Fox Grand Theater special performance for the benefit of needy families in Douglas."

—Tucson Daily Citizen, December 23, 1930

221

Evaporative (Swamp) Coolers and Air Conditioning

Room coolers were first used in Arizona in the 1930s. The first ones were homemade wooden boxes installed in windows. A garden hose, hung at the top of the box, dripped water into a layer of charcoal packed between pieces of chicken wire on one side. An electric fan drew air through the charcoal. Phoenix soon had 5,000 of these window coolers, now commonly called swamp coolers. Other desert towns followed suit.

Oscar C. Palmer began the assembly line production of coolers in Phoenix in the 1930s. The Goettl brothers also started manufacturing coolers about the same time. Soon Phoenix was the "Cooler Capital of the World."

The first refrigerated air conditioning in the state was installed in Phoenix in 1929. Hotel Westward Ho, the Mountain States Telephone Company office, and the Orpheum Theater led the way. Before long, other hotels, theaters, and businesses had to install some kind of cooling to attract customers.

Dr. Willis Carrier designed air conditioning equipment for the Magma Copper Mine near Superior. The rock temperature at the 4,000 foot level was lowered from 140 to 93 degrees. Carrier was the first person in North America to use air conditioning to cool a mine shaft.
---see pictures

Young Oscar Palmer (far right) stands beside his father in this 1913 photo of the Phoenix

The first coolers were homemade. Excelsior (wood fibers) soon replaced charcoal in coolers.

Old-timers remember hot summers in Arizona's desert towns when they were kids. Rosemary Henderson of Tucson recalls how some children kept coot. "The theaters had refrigeration. It was cooler there during the summer, so the theaters were our babysitters. My little brother and I would go to the theater. We would sit there and watch the movies during the hot part of the day."

Fred Kalil's family got out of town. "My father would send my mother and brother and me to California," he said. "We'd rent an apartment right on the sand [beach]. We stayed there from the time school let out until school started again.

My dad had the store and he stayed in Tucson in order to sell a nickel's worth of something. But nobody was here. Everybody went out of town. You could shoot a cannonball down Congress Street and you wouldn't hit a fly."

222

Frank Lloyd Wright

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, one of the world's greatest architects, was attracted to the desert. He brought his students here and together they built Taliesen West. From this workshop, and Wright's other home in Wisconsin, came designs for some of the world's most famous buildings.

Wright believed that a building should be built of native materials and blend with the environment. He preferred the use of native trees and plants for landscaping around desert homes. Today, people in water-short areas of Arizona are learning to appreciate both the beauty and necessity of what Wright was saying in the 1930s.
---see pictures

The beautiful Grady Gammage Auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University at Tempe was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

These architects are working at Taliesen West in Paradise Valley just north of Scottsdale.

"What a scientific marvel of construction the long-lived saguaro! Or the latticed stalk of the cholla! A building in the desert should also be nobly simple, sturdy, and harmonize with the surrounding environment."

—Frank Lloyd Wright

223

Old Tucson

OLD TUCSON WAS BUILT IN 1939 by Columbia Pictures. The adobe and wood village, a popular tourist attraction, is a replica of an Arizona town as it might have appeared in the

1860s. It was constructed for the filming of Arizona. The movie was based on a thrilling novel by Clarence Buddington Kelland, who moved to Arizona in a trailer in the 1930s. The heroine is Phoebe Titus, who is stranded in Old Tucson when her father dies. Phoebe bakes pies for a living. She also runs a freighting business and survives Indian attacks. The story is made doubly attractive by a tender romance between Phoebe and Peter Muncie.

Since 1940, hundreds of western movies and TV films have been produced at Old Tucson. John Wayne probably made more movies here than any other star. The first was Tall in the Saddle.

The Arizona Highway Patrol was created by the legislature in 1931. Its primary function in the beginning was to increase the registration of vehicles. Hundreds of out-of-state car owners were forced to buy Arizona plates. Within a month after the Highway Patrol was started, more than 17,000 drivers in Maricopa County alone applied for a driver's license. At least that number had been driving illegally without a license.

Gradually the patrol was able to give more attention to enforcement of traffic laws. Safety programs and auto inspections became important duties of the Highway Patrol.

The Modern Miracle Drug

Penicillin is a powerful drug used to treat infections. It was the first antibiotic used successfully in the treatment of serious disease in human beings. The drug was introduced in the West in the 1930s, shortly after it was discovered by a British scientist.

The U.S. Constitution's Eighteenth Amendment (1919) banned the sale or manufacture of intoxicating beverages. But the amendment was not enforceable and only encouraged drinkers, moonshiners, and bootleggers to disobey the law. As president, Franklin Roosevelt got prohibition repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment (1933). Roosevelt said the legal sale of alcohol would give the government badly needed tax revenues, create new jobs, and provide farmers another market for grains.

The Last Round-Up was filmed at Old Tucson and the San Xavier Mission in 1947.

The first Arizonan to star in westerns was a cowgirl from Prescott, Dorothy Fay Southwick, who dropped her last name. A doctor's daughter, Dorothy Fay learned to ride and rope on her uncle's ranch. She became Tex Ritter's leading lady in movies and his wife in the real world.

Rex Allen, known as the "Arizona Cowboy," sang his way to stardom atop his wonderful horse Koko. The annual Rex Allen Days festival now attracts many visitors to his hometown of Willcox.

Another singing cowboy, Marty Robbins of Glendale, started his career on a Phoenix television station in the 1950s. Andy Devine of Kingman made his mark as a sidekick who talked in a gravelly, high-pitched voice.

Jack Elam, a native of Miami who attended Phoenix Union High School, was a crazy-eyed villain in many westerns.

224

The Great Depression was a series of events that happened like a maze of falling dominoes. As one system fell, it caused others to fall. It took the efforts of many people working hard and donating to charity, strong government programs, and eventually a war, to gradually end the depression.

On a separate piece of paper, arrange the causes and effects below in a possible order of the chain reaction of the Great Depression (some causes had several effects).

Workers produce too many goods and farm products. People borrow too much money.

Many businesses are bankrupt.

Millions of people are jobless.

People borrow money to buy stocks.

Great Depression deepens.

Banking system nears collapse.

FDR becomes president.

The stock market crashes.

Factories close.

World War II begins.

1. 
   List three causes for the Great Depression.
   
2. 
   In what ways was Arizona's copper industry affected by the depression?
   
3. 
   Why did some banks fail during the depression?
   
4. 
   Who was Dr. B.B. Moeur?
   
5. 
   Why were Phil Tovrea and Harold Bell Wright "very important people"?
   
6. 
   List five examples of WPA projects in Arizona.
   
7. 
   What does CCC stand for? Explain the purpose of the CCC.
   
8. 
   What world event brought the end of the Great Depression?
   
9. 
   How did the Johnson-O'Malley Act and the Indian Reorganization Act help American Indians?
   
10. 
    Why is Phoenix called the "Cooler Capital of the World"?
    
11. 
    What was Frank Lloyd Wright's profession?
    
12. 
    Why was Old Tucson built?