Rising Tide
Page 57
spent an average of 21 cents: “Report of the Special Committee,” June 22, 1927, RCP, box 735.
“simply teach”: Memo from C. P. Doe to DeWitt Smith, January 6, 1928; Percy Bell to “Dear Folks,” April 30, 1927.
“still a wreck”: WAP to L. P. Soule, June 22 and 27, 1927, PFP.
“We were tired”: Percy, LL, p. 26.
“Every store”: Percy Bell to Bessie Bell, May 15, 1927, supplied by Charles Greenleaf Bell.
The boat: Crosby to Hoover, November 10, 1927, HHPL; also, MC-A, June 30, 1927.
“The meeting was”: A. L. Shafer, “Narrative Report of Flood Conditions,” July 2, 1927, RCP.
“Outside of the great”: Ibid.; JC-L, June 14, 1927.
the same black Greenville minister: See the anonymous letter to Hoover dated July 2, 1927, HHLP. Compare it to the anonymous letter to Coolidge, May 14, 1927, RCP, box 743. In both letters the writer describes himself similarly; the typewriter, misspellings, and grammatical constructions appear identical.
In Little Rock a black man: MC-A, May 5, 1927.
The mayor of Lake Providence: Louisiana Weekly, May 14, 1927.
two blacks were accused: GD-T, June 13, 1927.
“crazed negro”: JC-L, June 18, 1927.
In Jackson, the governor: See JC-L, June 18 to June 22, 1927.
In Yazoo City: JC-L, July 8, 1927.
“a striking example”: Louisiana Weekly, April 23 1927.
“the seat of”: Undated Barnett speech in fall 1927 in Chicago, CBP.
“could not secure”: Draft report of Colored Advisory Commission, June 4, 1927, HHLP; “Final Report,” April 6, 1928, RCP, box 744.
Washington County: “Statistical Summary of Losses,” RCP, box 735.
“as they demonstrate”: Baker to Fieser, June 16, 1927, RCP, box 735.
internal political bickering: Report of Malinde Havey, Directory of Nursing, Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster, July 13, 1927, RCP, box 735.
“or else take”: LP to L. A. Downs, September 10, 1927, PFP.
The national Red Cross: George Stricklin to Red Cross Headquarters, Memphis, May 25, 1927, RCP, box 738.
“I bitterly resent”: WAP to Crosby, July 15, 1927, NA, RG 2, box 738.
Will asked for and received: WAP to L. P. Soule of Yale University Press, May 19, June 22, and June 27, 1927, PFP.
“giving the entire”: MC-A, July 8, 1927.
Gooden told a different version: Interview with Frank Hall; interview with Rev. R. T. Strong, February 26, 1993; GD-T, July 9, 1927; draft report of Colored Advisory Commission presented to Hoover, December 12, 1927, RCP.
two white doctors: Greenville City Council minutes, September 6, 1927.
“We prepared”: Interview with Rhodes Wasson, December 16, 1992; Margaret Wells Wood, Social Hygiene Lecturer, to Valeria Parker, M.D., “Special Report,” July 10, 1927, NA, RG 2, box 740; see also “Social Hygiene and the Mississippi Flood Disaster,” Journal of Social Hygiene 13, no. 8, pp. 455-457.
“I told my informant”: Percy, LL, p. 267.
Chapple’s father: Interview with Sylvia Jackson, March 7, 1993.
“said starkly”: Ibid., pp. 267-268.
“When put upon”: Percy, LL, p. 126.
“A good Negro”: Ibid., pp. 267-268.
“My dear Percy”: Hoover to WAP, July 5, 1927, HHPL.
“a strong relief”: Summary report by A. Shafer and R. Thrush, September 8, 1928, RCP, box 737.
“No one can”: Ibid.
“passing the buck”: WAP to George Day, August 31, 1927, PFP.
“Our people here”: LP to Judge Horace Oakly, August 22, 1927, PFP.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“my sincere appreciation”: Minutes of Emergency Clearing House Publicity Committee meeting, May 11, 1927, CP.
the Association of Commerce: Minutes of Association of Commerce board meeting, March 16, 1927, ACP.
“we have decided”: See exchange of letters between Emergency Clearing House Publicity Committee and Otis Mahogany Co., May 13, 1927, CP.
Walter Parker: Minutes of Emergency Clearing House Publicity Committee meeting, May 13, 1927, CP (hereafter, ECHPC minutes).
“[A]ny announcements”: Minutes of Association of Commerce board meeting, May 3, 1927, ACP.
forced Moody’s Investors Service: ECHPC minutes, May 16, 1927, CP.
the committee contacted 265: See Association of Commerce papers, esp. News Bulletin, May 10, 1927.
“New Orleans is”: Ibid.
editorials from Springfield: See ECHPC minutes, May 19, 1927, CP.
“New Orleans ‘Babbitry’”: MC-A, May 2, 1927.
It got corrections printed: ECHPC minutes, May 11, 1927, CP.
“a citizens committee”: Copy in ECHPC minutes, May 11, 1927, CP.
a budget of $130,000: Figures come from Finance Committee report, December 31, 1927, ACP.
“Superintendent of Police Healy”: Civic Bureau of Association of Commerce report, August 1, 1927, ACP.
“the noble and unselfish”: Undated editorial, probably mid-June 1927, from New Iberia Enterprise, ACP.
“in the mind of a great”: Minutes of the executive committee of the Association of Commerce board meeting, October 5, 1927, ACP.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“You’re talking”: interview with Harry Kelleher, December 10, 1992.
“Into the fiercely contested”: Graduation speech, 1899, clipping in Williams, Monroe, and Blanc Family Papers, HNOC.
publicly rebuked his partner: Interview with Stephen Lemann, November 7, 1992.
“a wholly-owned subsidiary”: Interview with Stephen Lemann, April 6, 1995.
He worked ferociously: Interview with Harry Kelleher, December 10, 1992.
“I’ve never seen”: Interview with Stephen Lemann, April 6, 1995.
“tres ordinaire”: Interview with Marianne Patton Atkinson, February 20, 1993.
“doing business exactly”: Andy Zipser, “Hidden Value in the Bayou,” Barron’s, October 4, 1993.
Meraux was given $5,000: St. Bernard Policy Jury minutes, April 27, 1927; “Summary of Claims,” M&LP. Thanks to Robert Harvey, president of Orleans Levee Board and Stephen Lemann for access to these papers.
“The words of”: Reported in the minutes of the meeting of the executive committee of the Citizens Flood Relief Committee, n.d., CP. (Hereafter, these minutes will be referred to as “executive committee minutes.”)
decided to use: See, for example, executive committee minutes, May 13, 1927, CP.
“The business interests”: Orleans Levee Board minutes, May 10, 1927, Orleans Levee Board.
“as objects of charity”: Executive committee minutes, May 11, 1927, CP.
“relief be granted”: Ibid.
“to deduct from personal”: Ibid.
the governor’s appointees: Reported in executive committee minutes, May 17, 1927, CP.
the rules stated: Executive committee minutes, May 14, 1927, CP.
“[v]olunteer legal services”: Clipping of unidentified newspaper, probably NOI, May 8, 1927, in CP.
“unethical”: See executive committee minutes, May 11, 1927, CP.
“state the legal objections”: Executive committee minutes, June 14, 1927, CP.
“a man may file”: Reported in executive committee minutes, n.d., CP.
Only a complete settlement: Ibid., July 25, 1927.
Butler estimated that claims: Ibid., May 17 and 18, 1927.
Claims would exceed $30 million: SBV, August 15, 1929.
“There may possibly be”: Lemann to Monroe, June 11, 1927.
“[I]f the case is”: Undated memo in Orleans Organization Caernarvon Reparations files, M&LP.
One of the first trappers audited: Executive committee minutes, June 27 and 29, 1927, CP.
“illustrated [by] an aged negress”: John Wegman to Executive Committee, June 21, 1927, CP.
they decided to feed: Wegman to Executive Committee, July 20, 1927; executive co
mmittee minutes, August 1, 1927, CP.
“As long as we continue”: Wegman to Butler, August 13, 1927, CP.
Monroe had approved a payment: Orleans Levee Board minutes, May 23, 1927, Orleans Levee Board.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“I have requested”: Simpson’s statement and the subsequent account of and quotations from this meeting are all from detailed minutes of the meeting in executive committee minutes, July 25, 1927, CP.
“It is manifestly impossible”: In addition to minutes of the meeting (July 25, 1927) in CP, see memo dictated by Monroe re his conversations with Wilkinson, June 3, 1927, M&LP.
The banks would continue: Executive committee minutes, June 29, 1927, CP.
“did not want to give”: Orleans Levee Board minutes, July 20, 1927, and May 26, 1928, Orleans Levee Board.
it would give Butler $340,000: Orleans Levee Board minutes, May 26, 1928, Orleans Levee Board.
the railroad did not file: Executive committee minutes, August 3, 1927, CP.
“The City of New Orleans”: SBV, September 3, 1927.
“Orleans to Make”: NOI and NOT, September 4, 1927.
“New Orleans Makes Good”: NOS, September 4, 1927.
“City Keeps Faith”: NOT-P, September 4, 1927.
“shall be prima facie”: Executive committee minutes, September 7 and 8, 1927, CP; see also memo dictated by Monroe re his earlier conversations with Wilkinson, June 3, 1927, M&LP.
“justly, fairly and fully”: Executive committee minutes, September 7 and 8, 1927, CP; see also minutes of the Delacroix Corporation, formerly Acme Fur Company (thanks to Dorothy Benge, granddaughter of Manuel Molero, for opening them to me), November 11, 1927, to December 12, 1928; interview with Hugh Wilkinson, Jr., December 30, 1992; NOT, NOT-P, September 7 through September 11, 1927.
“That statement”: NOT, NOT-P, September 8, 1927.
Molero’s Acme Fur Company: Executive committee minutes, September 8-10, 1927, CP.
“The owner or lesse”: SBV, September 24, 1927, and July 7, 1928.
Those he did allow to be filed: Figures are from “Summary of Claims Filed, Dec. 31, 1928,” M&LP; also Monroe to Levee Board, June 1929; both in ML. NOT-P, December 30, 1928.
an average of $284 each: “Summary of Claims Filed,” M&LP.
they were lucky to collect six: NOT, January 14, 1929, and SBV, January 14, 1929.
“a very good feature”: Lou Wylie to Association of Commerce, January 22 and 30, 1929, ACP.
“The disastrous floods”: Monroe to Wylie, January 25, 1929, M&LP.
“We have viewed”: Case 175,097, Mumphrey Bros. v. Orleans Levee Board, transcript of argument and finding in M&LP.
“no cause of action”: Test cases included Herman Burkhardt v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners, no. 178,420, Civil District Court, Division F; Charles Aduler v. Board of Levee Commissioners, no. 175,991, ODC; and John Williams v. Levee Board, no. 175,463, ODC. Also, Alfred Oliver v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners, no. 30,134, 169 La 438; Foret v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners, no. 30,063, La 427; and Fabre v. Levee Board, no. 30,088, 170 La 210.
“‘I am impressed’”: See Monroe to Lou Wylie, January 25, 1929, M&LP; Burkhardt v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners; Oliver v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners; Foret v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners.
“irrelevant to this case”: Burkhardt v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners.
“the act of creating”: See opinion, Foret v. Board of Orleans Levee Commissioners, M&LP.
“The judgment is affirmed”: Ibid.
“due to the painstaking”: Resolution of Orleans Levee Board, January 7, 1930, M&LP.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
50 percent of all animals: “Economic Effects of the Mississippi Flood,” Editorial Research Reports, quoted in Arthur Frank, The Development of the Federal Program of Flood Control on the Mississippi River, p. 194.
“We shall weather”: Stone to Crosby, September 1, 1927, RCP.
“Sometimes you find”: LP to Judge D. H. Minor, May 31, 1927, PFP.
“Whether we are going”: Percy Bell to Bessie Bell, May 12, 1927, courtesy of Charles Greenleaf Bell.
“[n]o real concerted effort”: Memo from McCarty to Hoover and Fieser, September 1, 1927, RCP.
“Yesterday I went to Arkansas City”: C. C. Neal to Mrs. Monroe, October 7, 1927, RRMP.
“The Boston Club was”: LP to L. L. Myles, October 11, 1927, PFP.
“The civic authorities”: Memo from McCarty to Robert Bondy, February 28, 1928, RCP.
“The public is insisting”: See memo from Henry Baker to Fieser, May 2, 1927, RCP, box 741.
“organized”: Ellis Hawley, Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce, p. 65.
“We have before us”: “Summary of Secretary Hoover’s Statement at the First Meeting of the Louisiana Reconstruction Commission,” May 23, 1927, HHPL.
“a blessing in disguise”: NOS, September 7, 1927.
He personally ordered the Red Cross: Robert Bondy to John Cremer, May 24, 1927, RCP.
home economists and agricultural extension agents: Robert Bondy to John Cremer, May 24, 1927, RCP; see also several reports by T. M. Campbell, an African-American agricultural extension worker, Department of Agriculture files, NA, RG 16, entry 17.
“definite program of agriculture”: “Inter-office Memorandum,” typed with Hoover’s handwritten notes, June 10, 1927, HHPL.
“positively contrary”: R. S. Wilson to C. W. Warburton, June 25, 1927, NA, RG 16, Secretary of Agriculture records, entry 17.
“undertake to loan money”: Hoover to Christie Benet, June 13, 1927, HHPL; Benet to Hoover, June 14, 1927, HHPL; Hoover to DeWitt Smith, June 14, 1927, HHPL.
“Am more impressed than ever”: Hoover to Meyer, May 8, 1927, HHPL.
Meyer immediately arranged: Wire from George Scott to Hoover, May 8, 1927, HHPL.
quadruple its capital: Hoover, “Memorandum for Credit Arrangement for Mississippi Flood Region,” May 5, 1927, HHPL.
“You are not called upon to donate”: JC-L, May 10 and 11, 1927.
“You are upon the firing line!”: See handwritten notes by Hoover for June 13, 1927, meeting in Jackson, Mississippi, HHPL.
only 115: JC-L, May 19, 1927.
Less than half the quota: The final total raised in Mississippi was $315,000, including the $100,000 from Memphis. See Memorandum from John Cremer to H. Stuart Crawford, secretary to Coolidge, September 17, 1927, RCP.
In Arkansas, the numbers: Cremer to Hoover, September 17, 1927, RCP. Cremer states the total raised in Arkansas was $672,000, but this figure includes $100,000 from Memphis bankers and $500,000 from national sources. See below.
“If not”: Oral history of Turner Catledge, HHPL. Note: Catledge incorrectly stated the amount. Hoover wired that the total was $200,000; see Hoover to Coolidge, May 24, 1927, HHPL.
“Have talked with Memphis”: R. E. Kennington to Hoover, May 12, 1927, and undated reply handwritten by Hoover, HHPL.
By five o’clock: MC-A, May 27 and 30, 1927.
“This telegram for yourself”: Pierson to Robert Ellis, May 26, 1927, HHPL.
“the business interests”: Coolidge to Pierson, May 30, 1927, HHPL.
Pierson brought together: Ibid.
Hoover assured them: Hoover to W. H. Sullivan, May 30, 1927; Hoover to Crosby, May 30, 1927; both in HHPL.
“We cannot afford nationally”: See Hoover to Pierson, May 28, 1927, HHPL.
“[L]arge planters who”: Fieser to H. C. Couch, May 26, 1927, HHPL.
“warrant in”: Quoted in Bruce Lohof, “Herbert Hoover and the 1927 Mississippi Flood Disaster,” Ph.D. diss., p. 160.
“any economic or”: Hoover, American Individualism, p. 19.
“The most potent force”: Ibid.
“in the midst”: quoted in Joan Hoff Wilson, Herbert Hoover, p. 68.
government could “best serve”: Quoted in William Appleman Williams, “What This Country Needs,” New York Review of B
ooks, November 5, 1970, pp. 7-8.
“I made ninety-one”: quoted in Lohof, “Herbert Hoover, Spokesman for Human Efficiency,” p. 693.
“[Radio’s] possibilities have”: NYT, May 15, 1927.
They were also given: DeWitt Smith memo, September 3, 1927, RCP.
a detailed nine-page inventory: Johnston to Robert Bondy, May 9, 1927, D&PLCP.
the total value of goods: DeWitt Smith memo, September 3, 1927, RCP.
a record surplus: Associated Press report, June 1, 1927, appearing in MC-A.
the War Department dunned the Red Cross: See, for example, C. P. Summerall, acting secretary of war, to John Barton Payne, July 12, 1927, Adjutant General files, NA, RG 94.
“The supplies and services”: Hoover to John Barton Payne, forwarded to Gen. E. E. Booth, June 7, 1927, NA, RG 94.
“He felt that”: “Lower Mississippi River Flood, May-July 1927,” U.S. Department of Agriculture records, NA, RG 16, entry 16; memo from E. Douglas to Henry Baker, May 20, 1927, RCP.
“I feel warranted”: Reed to Coolidge, May 14, 1927, Coolidge Papers, LC.
Coolidge illegally ordered: NOT-P, June 23, 1927; memo from Lawrence Richey to Akerson, same date, HHPL.
“Fortunately, there are still”: NYT, May 31, 1927.
“Frequent demands”: San Antonio Express, June 5, 1927.
“The new spirit”: Fall River (Massachusetts) Globe, June 1, 1927.
“If the federal government”: Enclosed in memo from John Barton Payne of Red Cross to Everett Sanders, May 4, 1927, Coolidge Papers, LC.
“The total amount”: Ames (Iowa) Tribune & Times, May 31, 1927.
“[Hoover’s plan] is good”: Camden Courier, June 6, 1927.
“is a worthy one”: Virginian Pilot (Norfolk), May 31, 1927.
“The indifference of”: Providence Tribune, June 5, 1927.
“Why make a charity”: JC-L, May 31, 1927.
“without delay”: Sacramento Bee, May 19, 1927.
“Why should we ask”: Houston Chronicle, May 31, 1927.
“It is hardly possible”: Paducah (Kentucky) News-Democrat, June 8, 1927.
“With due deference”: Quoted in May 17 press summary, HHPL.
“At least four-fifths”: Press summary, undated, also June 7 and June 17, 1927, HHPL.