Tourists take in a panoramic view looking east from Crown Point in the Columbia River Gorge. The success of the Columbia River Highway inspired Oregon leaders to improve other roads in the 1920s. (Postcards, Accession 88A-057, OSA)
Building the State
Economic Challenges
While the 1920s "roared" through much of the American economy, in many ways they only whimpered in Oregon. World War I heated up Oregon's economy with demand for the production of ships, lumber, grain
and other materials. But in its wake, the state's economy faltered as farming slumped and orders to shipyards and lumber mills declined precipitously. Housing starts dropped, stock market speculation increased, banks grew more unsteady. Looking for brighter horizons, 50,000 Oregonians left the state after World War I.
Oregon's Good Roads Movement
One impediment
to economic prosperity was the state's transportation system. Certainly, Oregon had a network of railroad, stage, and steamboat routes, but its road system could only be described as primitive. A spectacular exception was the just completed Columbia River Highway, which provided both inspiration and impetus to push modern road building
forward
statewide. After passing the nation's first gas tax to pay for roads in 1919, Oregon moved at full speed to construct a network of modern paved and concrete roads. The campaign to "Get Oregon Out of the Mud" began to pay dividends as highway projects such as the Pacific Highway and later the Oregon Coast Highway captured the imaginations of wandering
Americans. Meanwhile, great efforts went into enhancing a network of farm to market roads linking agricultural communities with railroads and other shipping resources.
Social Trends
Americans indulged in the ironic combination of excess and Prohibition during the 1920s, all in search of what President Harding called "normalcy." Symbolic of the decade, alcoholic beverages were illegal but plentiful at the same time, leading to the rise of organized crime and other distortions of the social fabric.
New Freedoms and an Advertising Age
Actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.
As it struggled economically in the 1920s, Oregon also experienced the excitement and fears of the tumultuous social and cultural times. Changes hastened by World War I expressed themselves in American culture as old traditions waned. Many women, newly empowered by the right to vote, broke social constraints on dress and behavior. They "bobbed" their hair, discarded their corsets, wore flapper dresses, listened to jazz music, danced the Charleston
and openly smoked cigarettes. Many demanded easier and more equitable divorces along with access to birth control.
Movie idols such as Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks
and Charlie Chaplin captivated film audiences. Film plots followed classic themes reflecting
ideals of society: farm boy conquers city while remaining pure; poor boy struggles and saves to achieve wealth and happiness; nice boy meets and marries
rich girl. Sports combined with the booming advertising profession to create heroes such as Babe Ruth in baseball and Jack Dempsey in boxing. Radio broadcasts and ownership grew rapidly. Automobiles, made more useful by
improving roads, provided Oregonians with a level of physical independence they had never known.
Darker Currents
Yet troubling aspects of the society dampened the exuberance for many. The great social experiment of Prohibition led to underground economies, increased organized crime, and an erosion of respect for government. Labor strife boiled over at regular intervals, sometimes leading to violence. Fear and distrust of American radicals as well as foreigners grew while Bolsheviks were seen in the shadows of society.
Eastern Oregon State Hospital, opened in 1913, was one of several state institutions in which residents were sterilized. (Photographs, Box 1, Board of Control Records, OSA)
The Twenties also saw growth in the application of Social Darwinism principles to state institutions. The eugenics movement blossomed in Oregon, leading to the violation of the rights of many
disabled and incarcerated citizens. Specifically, a 1923 state law provided for "the sterilization of all feeble-minded, insane, epileptics, habitual criminals, moral degenerates and sexual perverts who are a menace to society..."
The Oregon Eugenics Board regularly made decisions to sterilize residents of the Oregon State Hospital, Oregon State Penitentiary, Eastern Oregon State Hospital and the State Institution for the Feeble-Minded (later Fairview Hospital and Training Center). Officials initially used the law to punish people for having homosexual sex. And, for years they also favored castration over vasectomies as a means of sterilization. The board reasoned that the gene pool would be stronger if "defective" individuals were not allowed to breed. Sterilization was also thought to have a "calming" effect on individuals. Until reforms in 1967, sterilization often was used as a condition of release from state institutions or to punish people who acted out. The board was finally abolished in 1983.Footnote 1
Rise of the Klan
Perhaps the most menacing trend during the decade was the rise of anti-Catholic bigotry and racist vigilante movements, which established a firm foothold in the state. The Ku Klux Klan formed chapters in Portland, Eugene, Medford, Roseburg
and other
communities. Its members donned robes and paraded through streets igniting crosses and intimidating Catholics and minorities. In 1921 Medford Klan organizers perpetrated "necktie-parties" (near lynchings) against two African Americans suspected of bootlegging as well as against a piano dealer who had filed a lawsuit against a Klan member. Deploring the incidents, Governor Ben Olcott declared:
"Oregon needs no masked night riders, no invisible empire, to control her affairs.... The true spirit of Americanism resents bigotry, abhors secret machinations and terrorism, and demands that those who speak for and in her cause speak openly, with their faces to the sun."
But the Klan's rise in the early 1920s carried considerable political clout. In 1923, the Klan-dominated Oregon Legislature passed an Alien Land Law barring
Japanese land ownership. The new law came on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Japanese people could not be naturalized citizens. The law passed despite the fact that Japanese aliens held
less than 1%
of Oregon land in 1920. Similar laws passed in Washington, California
and other states.Footnote 2
The Ku Klux Klan enjoyed a warm reception from many Oregon communities in the 1920s as Catholics and minorities suffered both blatant and subtle bigotry.
The organization also endorsed a ballot measure to require children of ages 8 to 16 to go to public schools. While other reasons were given, a primary impetus of the measure was to wipe out Catholic schools.
Approximately 7%
of Oregon students attended private schools, many of which were Catholic. Most of the state's newspaper editors supported the measure or remained neutral.
Turning the Progressive tool of direct legislation into a reactionary weapon, supporters convinced Oregon voters to pass the compulsory school measure by a vote of 115,506 to 103,685 in the November 1922 election. They also managed to get Walter Pierce, who supported the measure, elected governor, replacing Ben Olcott, a staunch opponent.
The Oregon Legislature decided not to enforce the measure until the courts ruled on it. Finally, the U.S.
Supreme Court in "Pierce vs. Society of Sisters" unanimously ruled in 1925 that the bill was an unconstitutional violation of parents' rights to send their children to schools of their choice. By the time of the ruling, the Klan
had faded from prominence, a victim of internal conflicts, corruption rumors, and the second thoughts of Oregonians.Footnote 3
The tired end of the frenetic decade saw the event that precipitated the next major era of American history, the Great Depression. The stock market crash of 1929 was more of a symptom of the underlying excesses and weaknesses of the economy than
a cause. But it served as a wake up call for the despairing times ahead.
Notes
Next: Oregon Weathers the Great Depression >