October 1929 News Stories

This assignment in a Journalism History class was to pick a significant historical event and read the month’s Daily Oklahoman and other newspapers to get a sense of what the world was like then.  We were asked to summarize the stories chronologically.

Well, I never follow directions perfectly, but it makes for a better story the way I do it.  Just ask me, not anyone else.

October 1929

Over a decade had passed since the United States had led the Allied forces to victory in the “War to end all wars.”  America’s optimism for international involvement had deteriorated into disillusionment after the Great Powers of Europe ignored liberal-minded Woodrow Wilson’s plan for international peace and proceeded to divide the spoils of war in typical European fashion.  Wilson’s subsequent loss in the elections plunged America into a period of isolationism and the nation turned its attention to domestic issues and internal reform.

Prohibition had been in effect for 10 years and calls for repeal of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution were being lauded as legitimate.  The population had increased dramatically due to early 20th century immigration policies, and most of the immigrants lived and worked in the industrial centers of the North and East.  Workers were organizing for better wages and living standards, while business owners were thriving.  Investors were pouring money into Wall Street, unknowingly contributing to the instability that would lead to the near collapse of the market.

Unaware that the Great Depression was around the corner, America entered October 1929.

British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald sailed to the United States for a rare diplomatic meeting between the two heads of state.  The visit marked the first time that a standing prime minister had been on American soil.  The trip was planned, according to the London Times, to promote good will and friendly relations.  Reports of the meetings in The Daily Oklahoman indicated the discussions were about the “high and deep problems of international peace”.^[i]  After a week of meetings, President Hoover and Prime Minister MacDonald agreed to pool naval resources to maintain the peace of the world.  Secretary of State Stimson announced the agreement, stressing that this was a moral understanding and not a formal military alliance.

France voiced concern about a possible Anglo-American alliance, fearing a probable alliance between Germany and Italy that would restrict British support in the Mediterranean Sea.  The French and the Germans were in conflict over French occupation of the Rhineland.  The French Foreign Minister, M. Maginot, announced that French troops would not withdraw until Germany evacuated the region.  France planned a line of modern subterranean fortifications along the French-German border to prevent invasion.^[1]

The Washington Post carried a story on Oct. 10 that indicated Soviet officials viewed the prime minister’s visit with suspicion.  The Soviets were hostile to the idea of a possible Anglo-American “Sea Trust” that would dominate Atlantic trade routes.  They were not planning to send delegates to the London conference on naval limitations planned for late October.

France sent delegates to the five-power conference, which was preliminary to disarmament talks, but was in a diplomatic dispute with the Italian government over parity at the conference.  The  Japanese delegation was also demanding increased standing to allow Japan a larger number of submarines and battleships.

The disputes between the Serbs and the Catholic Croats in Yugoslavia continued throughout October, with skirmishes reported in both the London Times and The Washington Post.

October had its share of political scandals, and most papers carried a front page story on the ongoing investigation of lobbyist William B. Shearer, who was charged with war profiteering and unethical practices during the unsuccessful Geneva Arms Convention.  Shearer, who was hired to attend the conference on behalf of ship-building interests, claimed that former Secretary of State Kellogg was involved in the affair.^[ii]  William R. Hearst acknowledged that he had employed Shearer to write articles during the convention until he learned of his involvement with shipbuilders.

The Senate decided to appoint a committee to investigate lobbyists’ effects on Congress as a result of the Shearer investigation.  October editorials seemed to favor the presence of the lobbyists and looked at the attempts to bar them from the legislative branch as an infringement on civil liberties.

On Oct. 26, Albert B. Fall, former Secretary of the Interior during the Harding Administration, was convicted of accepting a $100,000 bribe for granting leases on naval oil reserves in California.  This was the first felony conviction of a U.S. Cabinet member in history.^[iii]

The New York City mayor’s telephone lines had been tapped, a discovery that drew cries of outrage from Tammany Hall.  The Tammany Tiger’s control of Mayor Walker had drawn Republican criticism and accusations of corruption in the ongoing campaign.

The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, Henry Anderson, denounced the Democratic party for issuing a pamphlet linking him with Oscar de Priest, the Negro representative in Congress.  The pamphlet also stated that Anderson wanted to end the poll tax in Virginia.

Two young Negro women were admitted to the 1930 nursing class at Boston City Hospital on October 6.  This was the first time the hospital had allowed persons of color into the program.

The Child Welfare Act was submitted to Congress to prevent boys between the ages of 14 and 18 from spending more than a total of ten hours a day at school and employed.  The law did not prevent boys under 14 from seeking “open air pursuits” as newsboys.

The Soviet Union planned to rewrite the calendar and create one that would have 72 weeks of five work days.  The “eternal calendar” would help the government rid its citizens of the idea of two day weekends.  Stalin’s reported right hand man, Ordjonikidze, declared a new phase in the struggle with well-to-do peasants and on Oct. 29, he divided the population into five districts for food rationing.  Amounts distributed varied according to the category, which was determined by standing with the government cooperatives and the Communist Party.

Italy celebrated its seventh anniversary of Mussolini’s famous “March on Rome.”  Il Duce insisted the celebration be held on Sunday, Oct. 27, to avoid a needless holiday.  He promised reform of the Fascist Party and announced plans for a more efficient public transportation system.

The enforcement of Prohibition was increasingly difficult as the battle raged in the legislature between the “wets” and the “drys”, but federal agents pursued violators with a zeal that would be admirable in the present war on drugs.  Chief Justice Taft urged the federal courts to reform the judicial process and dismiss trivial charges.  Of 149,033 cases pending, more than 68,000 were Prohibition violators.

Federal agents discovered a New Jersey rum smuggling ring that monopolized smuggling from Maine to the Virginia Cape.  Property seized included a New York mansion, suites of offices in New York City, coastal landing stations, liquor warehouses, and an “arsenal” of weapons.  More than thirty indictments were expected, including executives from at least four New Jersey banks.

U.S. Representative J. Lister Hill told the Washington Post on Oct. 25 that he was stopped on his way to Montgomery, Alabama by two patrolmen who searched his car for liquor without warrant or cause.  The police claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, and apologized to Hill.

In Washington, D.C., a woman’s backyard chicken coop was raided by federal agents, who discovered 28 quarts of contraband liquor hidden under the nesting hens.  The woman’s name was not released.

In Oklahoma on Oct. 18, three Seminole police officers were found guilty of conspiracy to violate the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.  The officers had been taking bribes in a local liquor smuggling effort.  The next day, federal agents raided seven locations in Oklahoma City and confiscated more than 30 gallons of liquor.^[iv]

Borger, Texas, was placed under martial law in early October by the governor of Texas.  The lawless town had more than 40 murders during the previous three years, and the murder in mid-September of District Attorney John A. Holmes was the last straw.  The governor sent in national guardsmen to patrol the small oil boom town until he appointed new city officials in late October.

Prisoners in the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado rioted and killed seven guards Thursday, Oct. 2.  The prisoners took eight guards hostage and threatened to kill them unless their demands were met.  Warden Crawford ignored their demands, telling them to “go to hell” as seven of the guards were killed, one by one, over the next few hours.  The prisoners released John Shea, a guard who was well liked.  Governor Adams praised Crawford for his stand against the prison mutiny, though he mourned the loss of the guards.  He claimed the warden’s actions prevented the loss of more lives, had the more than 100 prisoners been released.

In Shawnee, the Stone Hardware Company was robbed of 286 dollars Oct. 14 while the six clerks were listening to the last game of the World Serieson the radio in the office.  Police had no leads in the robbery.  The Philadelphia Athletics defeated the Chicago Cubs 3-2.

Technology was taking great strides in October and businesses were expecting even greater developments.  The National Safety Council met in Chicago to discuss automobile speeds early in the month.  A New York insurance statistician informed the group of his belief that speeds in excess of 35 mph were inexcusable.  Paul Hoffman, an auto manufacturing representative, predicted that within a decade engineering design and improved road conditions would enable automobiles to travel at speeds of 100 mph.  Few of those present believed this would ever be possible.^[v]  An advertisement in the pages of The Washington Post offered the 1930 Nash 400 automobile at the starting price of  $915.  Luxury and smooth riding capabilities were emphasized.

On Oct. 19, Bell Telephone Laboratories made history when they sponsored an communications feat.  An airplane pilot, 4000 feet above the ground and more than 1300 miles from New York, spoke over radio and land telephone lines to both Minneapolis and New York City listeners at the same time.  Prices for American Telephone and Telegraph stock soared to an all time high of 294 dollars per share.

On Oct. 2, the president of the American Bankers Association issued a credit alarm.  The statement warned that too much of the nation’s credit was invested in the stock market.  The next day prices fluctuated as much as $25 per share, and small investors threw their holdings overboard, causing more than two billion dollars in paper values to disappear.  Institutional investors bought the stock eagerly, and by the end of the week, prices had returned to par value.  Investors who had bailed out were glum and determined to get back in.  But on Oct. 21, stock prices dropped as much as $45 per share in the morning, bringing brokerage houses like J.P. Morgan and Co. in to buy large blocks of stock in the early afternoon to stop the slide.  Two days later, a panic occurred during the last hour of trading as the value of the New York Stock Exchange lost almost three billion dollars.

Officials in Washington issued a statement that U.S. businesses were sound and they declared the recent fluctuations in the market were due to speculative uncertainty.  The statement was a response to a panic on Wall Street on Oct. 25, as thirteen million shares of stock changed hands, the heaviest trading day in history.  More than 50,000 clerks were up all night recording the previous day’s trading.

Oct. 29, as 98 leaders in the business community issued statements of confidence in their respective companies, a stampede of selling was underway on Wall Street.  All trade records were broken on the day that came to be known as “Black Tuesday”, and even the emergency meeting of leading bankers and brokers at J.P. Morgan and Co. could not stop the near collapse.  Share price for AT&T dropped to 204 dollars.

On the last day of October, the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates to 5 percent.  Stock prices made sharp advances and there was talk on “the Street” of a bullish recovery.  The London Times assured its readers that U.S. government officials described the crash as an adjustment that would work to the eventual good of the country,  bringing lower interest rates to individual borrowers.

The Mexican Department of Industry and Commerce charged the oil interests of the United States with deliberately reducing production of Mexican oil to conserve a supply of oil near the U.S. border.^[2]

Oklahoma was showing signs of prosperity.  A record number of building permits were issued for improvements in the downtown business district.  The construction projects were valued at $3,867,000.  Plans were also in the works for a deluxe civic center in the heart of the downtown district. Oklahoma City was seen as a leader in civic progress.  Travel from Oklahoma City to Dallas was encouraged, and The Daily Oklahoman announced on Oct. 20 that US 77 was paved or graveled all the way, except for nine miles of well-maintained dirt between Denton and Dallas.

The human interest stories were especially appealing, carrying names familiar from history.  The Washington Post carried the ongoing story of Byrd’s expedition to “Little America”, Antarctica, as well as Colonel Charles A. Lindberg’s search for Mayan ruins in Central America.  Agatha Christie’s latest serial was “The Seven-Dials Mystery”, and the announcements for upcoming radio programs carried a notice that Amelia Earhart would speak on “Women’s Influence on Air Transport Luxuries”.  On Oct. 13, a celebration was held in New York City marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of William Fox’s entrance into the motion picture industry.

The 50th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent lamp was Oct. 19 and an international radio transmission brought congratulations from Professor Albert Einstein of Berlin.

In Frankfort, Germany, early in the month, Fritz von Opel made the world’s first flight in a rocket propelled plane, traveling 12 miles at 82 feet.  Later in the month he toured the United States, lecturing on the potential use of the rocket.

In Norman, an ongoing “paddle war” led to the abolition of the pep orders of the Jazzhounds and the Ruffneks, though the groups said they planned to attend the football games anyway.  Five OU students were chosen on Oct. 17 to compete for Rhodes scholarships.  Among the five was the 1927 oratory and debating champion of OU, Carl Albert.^[3]

Proving that the more things change, the more they stay the same, an editorial in The Daily Oklahoman on Oct. 27 by an Oklahoma City astronomer outlined fears that Germany had its eye on the country.  L. Howell Lewis, who wrote the piece, insisted that the Germans were optimistic that if Americans continued to increase rates of cigarette smoking, we would be unable to mobilize an army in the event of a war.  He declared that hospitals for the insane were full of cigarette smokers and appealed to Oklahomans to give up the filthy habit.

October 1929 was a time of huge technological change, as well as social upheavals.  The financial collapse that officials seemed unconcerned about created reverberations in the economy that  the  launched Great Depression.  The tone of the news was upbeat and optimistic, though, and contained quite a bit of opinion.  It was an age of discovery, and to paraphrase Will Rogers, whose column appeared in The Daily Oklahoman during the era — Everything I know about it, I have read in the newspapers.

Notes to the Reader

Endnotes were used when specific information was drawn from a story.  Summaries that contain no attribution are a compilation of several references throughout the month, from various papers, all of which  are named at some point during the essay.

Footnotes were used to add information that I felt was relevant and interesting, though outside of the time frame that the paper addressed.

The organization of the paper is a result of the author’s attempt to arrange the stories by subject, and not chronologically.  Categories include politics, diplomacy, business, crime, and human interest.  Some stories were hard to categorize, and the author apologizes for making any decisions that may seem confusing to the reader.

^[1] During World War II, the German Panzers drove around the structures during the blitzkrieg.  The Maginot Line had been planned to repulse an invasion on horseback.

^[2]The leases on oil reserves in Mexico were negotiated during the Wilson administration prior to World War I.

^[3]I looked for the results of the competition, which were not announced in October, but verified that Carl Albert was indeed granted a Rhodes scholarship.

[i].The Daily Oklahoman, 6 Oct 29, p.1

[ii].Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct 29, p.1

[iii].The Daily Oklahoman, 26 Oct 29, p.1, and the London Times, 26 Oct 29, p. 15.

[iv].The Daily Oklahoman, 29 Oct 29, p.1

[v].TheWashington Post, 2 Oct 29, p.1

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