Because
President Wilson didn't want to anger the Germans America
was ill-prepared for war, and it would cause a lot of
problems. Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt said it all
in an open letter to the Kaiser.
Dear Bill,
We have
been at war for nearly a year and have not been able to
hurt you yet. And the prospects are that you are
perfectly safe as far as we are concerned.
The
President is merely a coiner fatuous rhetorical
platitude.
The
Secretary of war is an imbecile.
We are in
the throes of a coal famine, owing to incompetence.
Our
soldiers are armed with telegraph poles for cannons and
broomsticks for guns.
Everybody
is a slacker but me.
Yours,
Theodore
Soon after the
first of the year, several local army officers were granted
a five day leave from Camp Doniphan, now Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
Captains Sermon and Allen, Lieutenant Bundschu, and a former
Corporal, soon to be Captain, Judge, Senator,
Vice-President, and President of the United States of
America, Lieutenant Harry S. Truman. The rest of the
local boys in camp would be rotated home over the next few
months.
The local coal
shortage was offset thanks to the Standard Oil Company of
Sugar Creek, which made sure that all the schools and the
hospitals had plenty of coal, due to the fact that Standard
could buy all the coal it wanted, coal selling for $6.40 a
ton. Households were allowed one ton a week but were
encouraged to burn wood.
Also locally
was the problem of transportation. Standard Oil, with
1,200 employees and still hiring, drew from Independence and
Kansas City for manpower. It was the same with the
cement plant, getting to work presented a real problem.
The only way to get to Cement City was through Sugar Creek,
which had a county road. But that ended at the
confluence of the Sugar Creek creek and the Missouri River.
From there it was almost two miles of mud, dust, or ice,
depending on the time of year. The county fixed the
road. Next Mayor Ott of Independence proposed an
electric line between the Independence Square and Sugar
Creek. The Kansas City Railway Company wouldn't invest
the $50,000 for the enterprise. The mayor suggested
that they, being the citizens, and businesses of
Independence do it. Standard Oil gave $5,000.
Other businesses and individuals gave from a few thousand to
$100 being the minimum. It was an investment, interest
was paid at 6% over ten years. $40,000 was finally
raised, coming up short, and the line was never built.
The Sugar
Creek River View School graduating class of '08 consisted of
three girls, Mary Burkhart, Edith Campbell, and Elva Thatch.
The eight grade promoted five: Wilbur Bickley, Irene
Mallinson, Elma Erickson, Frances O'Connell, and Mary
Latimer. Commencement ceremonies were held in the hall
over the Sugar Creek bank.
While the rest
of the students, all 150 of them, sang patriotic songs, a
few days later. Thanks to the influenza (the first of
three or four waves just now starting to cause massive
casualties on the East coast) there wouldn't be much school
next semester.
Every ounce of
energy seemed to be going into the war effort.
Crime dropped and you better not get caught driving your
automobile on a Sunday afternoon.
Fairmount Park
opened on Sunday, May 19. The place was redone and
painted, work that started in March. Several new
concessions had been added, including a new ride, "The
Captive Airplane", four full-size airplanes of the day,
going around 360 degrees with a gasoline motor propelling
the thing. Very popular, but it took up a lot of space
and was noisy.
Even
entertainment was influenced by the war. "The Four
Minute Men" gave patriotic speeches not just in the
amusement parks but in the movie theaters and every kind of
entertainment, like they did all over the country.
Fairmount Park did its bit for the war effort. Friday,
May 24, was Red Cross day at the park. Blue Township,
which included Independence, Maywood, Mt. Washington, and
Sugar Creek, had a quota of $40,000 to raise. To help,
park management gave all money collected on that day to help
meet that goal. Young ladies from the area volunteered
to dress like Red Cross nurses while collecting dimes and
nickels. The swimming hole wasn't yet open.
Church groups and Sunday School teachers were encouraged to
bring their students. Businesses were encouraged to
work half a day and allow employees to attend.
Boy Scouts,
like the newly organized Boy Scout troop from Sugar Creek
school, organized by A. S. Hurt, Superintendent of Riverview
School. The Reverend B. D. McGowan of the Sugar Creek
Methodist Church was their Scout Master, Shelton Huffman was
his assistant. Scouts were Howard Huffman, Carrol and
Carl Stinnett, George and Joe O'Renick, Fred Creviston,
Wilbur and John Bickley, Daniel O'Connell, Theo Carver,
Harry Lee, Sam Kamenski, Lewis Porter, Bradford Evans,
Forrest Barkdale, Lee Evenger, John Mayernick, Evan Turner,
and the man would bring thousands of babies into this world,
including myself, future Dr. Fred Hink.
Standard Oil
and Sugar Creek purchased $63,000 worth of War Bonds.
Men too old to fight (32 and over) were sent door to door in
every city in America. If you gave you were put on the
"good" list. If you didn't, maybe because you didn't
support the war or lack of money, or didn't open your door,
you went on the "bad" list and were considered a slacker to
be called upon in the future by someone more patriotic and
less pleasant. In other words, intimidation. It
worked. No one wanted to be called a "Slacker".
About this
time Miss Pavey, the lady who approached Sam Benjamin,
manager of Fairmount Park for a donation, and got a whole
day of receipts, started a Red Cross branch in Sugar Creek.
The local ladies were invited for a patriotic program above
the bank. A play and a speech entitled, "Food
Conservation and Women's Part in the War" was given by the
state chairman, Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, who was probably
impressed by the $63,000. Pearl Mallinson gave a piano
solo to close the meeting. As it's part to keep the
men at the front happy, millions of cigarettes were given by
the U. S. government, free, to the Red Cross and the
Salvation Army. The Red Cross sold theirs, angering
many of the grunts. The Salvation Army gave theirs
away, sometimes even going into the trenches, bringing much
admiration from the troops.
Winwood Beach,
just North of the River, off of Chouteau Trafficway, was now
open and would stay open until the late 1960s. It had
very little impact on Fairmount or Electric Park's
popularity.
On several
occasions Electric Park ran out of tickets during the
weekdays. Along with an indoor and outdoor pool,
Lenge's Military Band played two concerts daily at 2:00 and
8:00. Vaudeville was the main attraction this year and
many class acts made their appearance. Because of the
war and a strike, many women were now running the trolleys,
called "Conductorettes". On the Fourth of July they
were put to the test as 50,000 attended both Electric and
Fairmount Parks, band concerts and fireworks were the usual
fare. The war was brought home via pyrotechnics.
The place to
be was Swope Park, where a huge celebration unfolded after
five weeks of planning. A day of patriotism began at
10:30 in the morning, when the Seventh Regiment of the
Missouri National Guard led a parade from the zoo to the
flagpole, followed by Boy Scouts and flags from the Allied
nations. Bands played as 10,000 foreign-born citizens
and patriotic societies marched in revue. The
Daughters of the American Revolution carried flags from the
past, the War of 1812, 1861, 1898, and flags of all the
American Forces. 11:30 was the Pledge of Allegiance.
At noon another parade was held by the former citizens of
the Allied countries. Represented by England, France,
Belgium, Italy, Slavs, Greece, Syria, Armenia, China,
Ireland, followed by patriotic societies and newly-mended
American citizens. At the end of the parade a picnic
was held near the new music pavilion, while bands from the
various cultures played native music. At 4:00 in the
afternoon, lectures and the reading of the Declaration of
Independence, speeches, band music, and singing lasted till
dark. There were no fireworks.
Picnics and
Patriotism was the theme for the remainder of the season at
Fairmount Park. The Knights of Pythias and the
Irish American picnics were just two of many in August.
The final
attraction was Professor B. Peri's "Patriotic Allied Ballet
and Carnival", which included a masquerade and confetti war.
Park patrons were invited to participate. 250 people
were in the ballet. A huge stage was built for the
players in the center of the park, with special lighting.
Before every performance there was a parade through the
park, accompanied by Montfort's All-American Band. To
encourage park patrons to dress for the masquerade, prizes
were given for the most original single costume, the best
costumed couple, and the most strikingly costumed group.
Fireworks went
off every Sunday and Wednesday night. Scenes like,
"Blowing the Kaiser Off the Earth," the Fox Trot Acrobatic
Clowns, Jeweled Fan, Aurora Borealis, the American Flag, and
the Battle on Land and Sea, all accompanied by Monfort's
All-American Band.
The final
picnic before Labor Day was held by the Knights of Pythia's,
on August 25. A picnic for family and friends was
followed by games. Foot races for boys and girls,
men's' peanut race, women's potato race, boys' shoe race,
men's pillow fight on a wooden beam, tug of war, nail
driving, and a fat people's race. Soldiers were in
attendance, all sang songs into the evening and continued to
sing on the trolleys heading back to Kansas City.
In 1918, 619
men were hired at the Standard Oil Refinery. One of
them was my dad, John J. Olinskey. Another was his
partner in crime, also sixteen years old, John "Pee-Wee"
Pavola, One day when I was about ten and dad had a few
beers, he told me how him and Pee-Wee Pavola and some other
local delinquents disassembled a wagon and re-assembled it
on the roof of a feed store on Halloween. A few days
later, on November 1, he was hired as a water carrier at the
refinery for 29 cents per hour. Standard Oil was a
great place to work. In August the company offered a
retirement plan, giving money to people after they reached
the age of 50 for women with 30 years continuous service,
and men 55, with 30 years' service. Also offered was
disability insurance for anyone with more than ten years who
was hurt on the job. If you didn't have ten years in,
it was "See you in court."
The influenza
closed the schools until November 13. The influenza
killed few children or old people, it's been traced to pigs
in Haskell, County, Kansas, at Camp Fungston. It was
called the "Spanish Flu" because Spain, at the time, was the
only country in the world not at war and had a relatively
free press. The Spanish Flu effected the strong and
came in waves, the first being mild. As it mutated it
became more deadly, killing an estimated 675,000 Americans.
On a brighter
note, after 1,564 days of killing, the war ended at 11:00 in
the morning on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, now
Veteran's Day. 53,000 Americans died of wounds, and
250,000 were wounded in only 200 days of combat and 13 major
engagements.
Near Verdun,
France, on November 11, was Captain Harry Truman, in command
of Company D, 129th artillery, 35th Infantry Division, made
up of men from Missouri and Kansas. He was a good
officer and would be the Commander in Chief when Corporal
Hitler blew his own brains out.
The
celebrations started at 3:00 in the morning here, when every
whistle and bell in the world started ringing and blew and
rang all day. The Independence Square looked like
Santa-Cali-Gon gone mad. All businesses closed.
Prisoners were let out of jail. Rifles and pistols
cracked. Parades were everywhere. Tin cans were
dragged behind autos and bicycles. No one knew it, but
the Roaring Twenties had just begun.
