Oct. 7, 1917, was a busy news day.
Readers of the Arkansas Gazette were treated to stirring accounts of how their U.S. Sen. Joe T. Robinson verbally took the hide off Sen. Robert La Follette, a fiery free-speech and anti-war advocate from Wisconsin, even inviting him outdoors for fisticuffs. A timeless argument: Are American citizens allowed to criticize their government in wartime? Robinson held with those who said no.
Actually, that whole week was busy. The city of Argenta renamed itself North Little Rock; and a sudden cold snap discomfited Army recruits who'd showed up at Camp Pike wearing the thin clothes poor people wore in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The National Army, which was segregated, announced its plan to send the white draftees at Camp Pike to other states but train black draftees in Arkansas. A convention of the International Association of Lions Clubs meeting at Dallas voted down a proposal to change the name Lions to Vortex, but opened membership to white women. And Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. pushed back against striking employees by advertising that they were not employees.
Other items from that week's papers.
The Gazette reported that its fund drive to buy tobacco for the boys overseas had received another $34 -- $19.75 from Arkadelphia residents and $10 from people in Glenwood. The total Oct. 9 stood at $530, and the paper cut its first check to the American Tobacco Co. to pay for more than 600 "smoke kits."
What on earth ...? This is another of those signs of old times that remind us how much attitudes can shift in 100 years.
On Sept. 19, the Gazette had announced it was joining other U.S. newspapers in taking advantage of an offer from American Tobacco to collect money to send tobacco packages worth 43 cents to soldiers for 25 cents. An ad headlined "Somewhere in France Without a Smoke" broke it down:
Here is what the soldiers will get:
2 packages of Lucky Strike Cigarettes. Retail at ... 20¢
2 packages of Bull Durham Cigarettes. Retail at ... 13¢
2 Boxes Bull Durham Cigarette Papers.
1 tin of Tuxedo Tobacco. Retails at ... 10¢
4 books of Tuxedo Cigarette Papers.
A return post card is enclosed in each package, so that every contributor will receive a personal acknowledgement of his gift. You will treasure this message from the trenches. Everybody wants to give a little. Will you make it a success by doing your bit?
The drive continued through April 30, 1918, when the paper reported that readers had donated $2,035.25.
Another drive, to build libraries for soldiers and sailors, fared well, too. This was part of a national effort to raise $1 million to put libraries on military installations. Arkansas was asked to raise $10,000. Oct. 9, the state War Library Council reported it had collected $5,729.29, not counting donations from Fort Smith, which hadn't come in yet.
By Oct. 27, the take stood at $7,237.38, and the Little Rock Public Library's Miss Dorothy Lyon was pleased to report that, nationally, the effort was "oversubscribed" -- had surpassed its goal. Camp Pike's library was built in November.
Here's a rather different war-related item, from Oct. 7, 1917:
May Kill Dogs to Save Foodstuffs
Hot Springs, Oct. 6 -- If the dogs of Arkansas were possessed of that degree of human intelligence that would enable them to realize when they were getting "in bad," there would no doubt be a canine convention called to devise ways and means for self protection and protest against contemplated action on the part of Hamp Williams, federal food administrator for Arkansas, and others in charge of the coming campaign for the conservation of food.
Mr. Williams is beginning to realize there is quite a serious side to the complaint made by a local woman who desired him to kill the dogs in a certain neighborhood in this city. She said the dogs have to be fed and that food given to them could well be saved in the coming conservation campaign.
"It's a 'dog-gone' hard question to settle," said Mr. Williams. "The request of the Hot Springs woman, because of the publicity given it, has aroused interest all over the state, and if the suggestions relative to handling the canine question in connection with the conservation of food keeps up, the Arkansas dog is destined to go down in history with his now famous Missouri hound brother, which the entire country was admonished in song to quit kickin' around.'"
First, cute speech, Mr. Williams. Second, I think he was referring to the "Hound Dawg Song," sample lyric: "Every time I go to town/ The boys keep a-kickin' my dog around/ Makes no difference if he is a hound/ You got to quit kicking my dog around."
An antiques blogger specializing in black history, Sherry Howard, has written (here: bit.ly/2ys8ucW) that while the song is sometimes attributed to James Bland, a prolific black songwriter in the late 19th century, deeper research suggests it predates Bland's publication and was likely popular in the 1880s. It's also in the Bob Dylan Basement Tapes.
In the rest of the Gazette item, Williams said he was pleased that so much interest was stirring over the coming national effort to conserve food, and he expected Arkansas would make "a most excellent showing with signed pledge cards." He added:
"I welcome suggestions from every one over the state. The more letters I receive the more pleased I am, for it proves the people of Arkansas are keenly alive to what we are trying to do and are giving us their support. This dog feature must not be taken lightly, for while it may appear to have a humorous side, there is a serious feature to the proposition that demands our best thought and careful attention."
Holy cats! Did food police wind up executing our poor dogs for the war effort? I'm going to say the answer is no -- on the theory that we would have learned to be ashamed about that by now if they had. But Arkansans got up to all manner of surprising things 100 years ago, so I'll keep reading.
Next week: When You Go to Camp Pike You Don't See Much
ActiveStyle on 10/09/2017