YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN OHIO*
By ROY F. NICHOLS
I
Those who are charged with the
responsibility for the his-
tory of any community have the power to
perform great services
for society. The tendency to waste and
to be careless of the future
is one of the most dangerous which man
displays. Conservation is
one of the most necessary correctives
which he has created to
save himself. A state historical society
is a great institution dedi-
cated to conservation and therefore of
the utmost importance to
the commonwealth. The Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society is one of Ohio's greatest
assets.
This great institution is not so much
devoted to the conserva-
tion of physical resources, although it
does its part; it is rather
concerned with that greater and more
vital task of conserving
social values. This weighty objective
requires that the Society
work with both yesterday and tomorrow
ever .in mind.
The social values which this institution
conserves are those
concepts, of what to do in time of need,
which Americans have
worked out through the years of their
historic past. Knowledge
of these values should protect the
nation from certain destructive
tendencies, particularly from moral
flabbiness. As a people we
have believed in a healthy civic
righteousness, a morality without
which democracy--so dependent upon
individual and group re-
sponsibility, upon fair dealing, upon
honesty in public life and
justice in the courts--could not exist.
These social values therefore are the
fruits of the public
conscience:--morality, civic virtue, the
national ethics. While
these values are always fundamentally
the same, the growing com-
plexity of life has made them, at times,
more difficult to main-
tain. More effort has to be made and
more ingenious devices
created, to render them effective. The
answer to the question of
how to preserve them is found in history
alone and it is one of
* Delivered at the evening session of
the 61st Annual Meeting of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
Friday, April 12, 1946,
201
202
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the responsibilities of the historian
and of historical societies to
be expert in the story and to point the
way through the maze of
the changing methods of conserving
social values. The Ohio of
yesterday in which these various social
values have developed has,
like each day, passed through three
phases which we may liken
unto the forenoon, the noontide, and the
afternoon.
II
The first of these epochs in Ohio
history, the forenoon of
yesterday, came to an end sometime in
the middle of the last cen-
tury. It was the period of the
beginnings of this great community;
it was the time of the pioneer, of the
cabins in the clearing, of- the
small scattered communities without
conveniences and utilities, of
the founding of Marietta, Cincinnati and
Cleveland when Rufus
Putnam and Manasseh Cutler planned, when
Ebenezer Zane
marked out his trace. It was the day
when men lived far from
the source of supplies or aid, when they
must be resourceful or
perish. In those days men and women from
New England, from
the Middle States and from the South cut
their three parallel
lines of migration across Ohio and made
the three sections which
together comprise the State. The people
of Ohio glory in this
epoch and well they may for it was a
great creative period when
enterprise, individualism, ingenuity,
cooperation and courage were
at a premium. The people of those
generations subdued the wilder-
ness, a task which only the hardy could
perform.
To honor these pioneers and to recapture
the life of the
aboriginal inhabitants the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society was originally founded. No one
can explore its spacious
building, examine its great collections
of sources, view its exhibits
or scan the pages of its publications
without realizing how much
has been accomplished in preserving the
spirit of this period and
recording the life of its people. The
era is truly inspiring and
absorbing. So absorbing is it that in
historical societies in general
there is a tendency to stop there.
But a second period followed this first
great epoch in Ohio's
history. This was the noontide of
yesterday when the pioneer was
followed by the industrialist and when
Ohio between 1865 and
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN OHIO 203
1900 became a community in which
mechanization reached great
heights. The State became also the
mother of Presidents and a
center of education. At first blush
these great achievements would
seem to make this second period as
intriguing as its predecessor.
But for this epoch as in most societies
of like nature, there is less
evidence of enthusiasm, less of
interest; there is even a tempta-
tion to avoid it. Why?
It was a period of great growth. It can,
in a sense, be com-
pared with adolescence in the life of
the individual. Adolescence
is a time of abounding energy, of great
emotional possibilities. It
is a period in which the energy and the
emotional enthusiasm
often produce astounding triumphs of
creative activity. But as
most people know, perhaps too well, it
is also a period of instabil-
ity and waste, of extravagant
expenditure, of heedless confusion
and of chaotic behavior which so often
marks the career of the
adolescent. The adolescent is not by any
means socially undesir-
able, the fact is that he frequently is
the most useful member of
a given society, but he is often
incorrigible, is amoral if not im-
moral and can frequently disturb his
elders in a fashion which is
almost unbearable.
During this period of Ohio's adolescence
great things were
achieved. The phenomenal industrial
growth of this State, the
miracles of organization and giant
planning, all testified to the
enormous burst of creative energy and
talent which characterized
those years. It produced tremendous
concentration of wealth and
at the same time it permitted a great
contribution by the creators
of this wealth to the cultural
institutions of the community. As
noted above, however, the forces of
adolescence are not always well
controlled. Certain emotions get out of
hand and it was so in this
period. This great concentration of
power was accompanied by
behavior as ruthless as that of the
jungle. Sharp practice, fraud,
poverty, distress, disease, vice and the
breaking of the human
spirit, all were part of this picture.
The whole story of this epoch is very
complex. Therefore,
because of the complexity and because of
the consequent difficulty
of telling the truth about it, because
of the fact that many of the
practices then involved were such as to
make the community
204 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ashamed of them and wish to forget them,
because some people
feel that there are some things best
forgotten, there has been the
temptation to neglect this noontide.
This second epoch in the Ohio of
yesterday was followed by
a third, the afternoon of yesterday, the
first decades of the twen-
tieth century. This was the period in
which America and Ohio
reached maturity. Then the nation awoke,
as Ohio awoke, to the
necessity of doing something for
conservation. The heedlessness
and the waste of adolescence had to be
stopped. This was the
period in which the idealism of the
early 20th century asserted
itself. The work of the Grangers and the
Populists was carried
to successful fruition and became the
platform of the progressives
in both the Republican and Democratic
parties. This era may be
called the one in which conscience
reasserted itself, in which a
distaste for corruption, injustice and
waste grew to be dominant
in public thinking.
It was in this period that such Ohioans
as Tom L. Johnson,
William H. Taft, Brand Whitlock,
"Golden Rule" Jones, Newton
D. Baker and many others fought the
battle for civic righteousness.
It was a day in which great benefactions
took the place of lavish
expenditure, in which institutions like
the Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society began to
receive more adequate
support. In these years Ohio twice
plunged itself wholeheartedly
into great world conflicts which had as
objectives the conservation
of certain values for the human race.
Unfortunately, this period
like the one preceding it has not
received sufficiently the attention
of historical societies, here or
elsewhere. Not because there has
persisted the reluctance of the preceding
period to treat what
might be termed unpleasant subjects, but
because chronological
nearness and the great mass of the
evidence which should be
pondered have seemed to act as
paralyzing influences.
III
It is quite obvious that if the nation
is to understand what
transpired in the noontide and the
afternoon of yesterday, those
interested in history must take on
greater activity, for which in
turn they must needs receive greater
public support. The Society's
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN OHIO 205
building will not house a giant
locomotive nor a steel furnace, nor
a huge turbine, nor a skyscraper.
Neither will it house the records
of a score of vast businesses, each one
of which may now have
more than a building full of archives
somewhere in its plants.
Yet we cannot dismiss the responsibility
for the story of these
years and blindly leave it for the next
generation to do those
things which this one has irresponsibly
omitted. It is easy to see
why we cannot shirk this responsibility.
The reason we cannot is
because we have so great a concern for
the Ohio of tomorrow.
It is common knowledge that we are no
longer living in times
very closely related to even those
seemingly near-by days of the
early 20th century. The disintegrating
influence of two world
wars, the terrifying destruction of our
natural resources, the truly
awful implications of the atomic bomb
accompanied as they are
by political chaos in Europe, the
breakdown of constitutional gov-
ernment, the rise of sinister ideologies
which despise the individual
and exalt an irresponsible state -- all
these are evidences which
some fear to be pointing to the
destruction of our own cherished
institutions. This is by no means
necessarily so nor must these
evidences be accepted as warranting an
extreme sense of pes-
simism. The strongest force in human
life is still human will.
Human will is conditioned by human
desires. Humanity still can
be assured that it will be able to
achieve if it has sufficient strength
of will and sufficient fixity of purpose
to make the effort necessary
to secure its desired ends. In other
words, America will be able
to enjoy democracy as long as a large
enough proportion of her
people have a desire for it sufficiently
strong to create the energy
to preserve it. The people in our
government, in our political
organizations with possibly few
exceptions, in fact nearly all who
are vocal in this country believe, if
one can take declarations at
their face value, in the perpetuation of
democracy.
We know that things long familiar can be
taken for granted
and accepted as commonplace and
therefore as matters about
which little thought is necessary. But
it is obvious also that things
that we take for granted can be
neglected to the point where they
deteriorate or are lost. We know that in
the case of the family
relation we sometimes never wake up to
the real affection we
206
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
have for someone near to us until the
shadow of death has come
between us. Then it is too late. This is
not to endorse the lugubri-
ous claim that democracy is on its death
bed or that the time for it
is past. But as long as there are those
who think this may be
possible, and as long as there are those
who may be wishing to
hurry up the process of disintegration
it behooves those who are
loyal to democracy, to have a charge to
take the steps which are
essential to preserve it.
The gravest responsibility is to see
that each succeeding gen-
eration understands the genealogy of its
ideas. When some new
prophet arises he should be immediately
subject to investigation.
Efforts should be made to ascertain how it
comes that this man
makes such pretentions. One of the
matters for investigation is
the messiah's intellectual kin. Ideas
are like people. They have
family history. Some of them are
eugenic, of proper breeding,
others are corrupt, diseased and
illegitimate. Society is very care-
ful these days of its vital statistics
so far as they relate to indi-
viduals. They are not so careful as to
the vital statistics of the
ideas or human traits which have so long
had a part in creating
society.
We know for instance that American
democracy was created
by the pioneers. We glory in their
achievement. We make much
of it. In Ohio the historians and other
interested people have the
story well in hand. Perhaps many feel
that all that is necessary in
order to preserve democracy in the
future is to maintain exhibits
which will illustrate the prowess of our
pioneer ancestors. In
many respects, however, the vital matter
is not the exaltation of
the virtue of the pioneer but it is the
conquest of the wasteful
tendencies, the exploiting tendencies of
the period of our com-
munity adolescence. The pioneer
struggled with the wilderness
and with the Indians in a fashion which
was truly heroic; but in
many respects even more heroic and
worthy of even greater study
and illustration is the fight against
that overweening power, ex-
ploitation, corruption and greed which
became so prevalent in the
noontide following the Civil War.
The virtue and the strength and the
courage displayed in that
fight during the early twentieth century
were the greater because
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN OHIO 207
the temptation and the so-called forces
of evil were the more
powerful. It is this courage, virtue,
and sense of responsibility
which should be understood with as much
certainty as the virtues
of the pioneer. This means that we
should undertake to discover
the real story of the growth of big
business and not try to cover
it up. We should study thoroughly the
activities of those who had
to carry on democracy during this
period. Their responsibilities
were tremendous. Men like Hayes,
Garfield, McKinley, Taft, yes,
and even Harding were confronted by
truly overwhelming com-
plexities. The marvel is not that they
did not do better but that
they did no worse. We need to know the
efforts of the farmer to
protect himself against forces which he
did not understand. We
need to know the striving of wage
workers to prevent an exploita-
tion which they had learned through
bitter experience to fear.
How are we to know how to preserve
democracy tomorrow, if we
ignore the study of the grave dangers
which confronted it yester-
day, or if we slight the efforts which
we have been making to
counteract the dangers which threaten
it?
If we are to conserve social values we
cannot be content to
speak only of the virtues of the
pioneer, we must explain the
reasons why their legacy to us has been
so nearly destroyed and
understand the great forces which in the
recent past have been
summoned to halt the destruction. No one
can play a musical
instrument or a game, or speak a language
or practice medicine
or make scientific inventions who does
not know how to perform
certain fundamental operations. These
cannot be performed with-
out the knowledge of the latest
techniques. No one seeks to put
out fires in a skyscraper with leather
buckets or with the primitive
hand engines of one hundred and fifty
years ago. The fire fighter
of today must have the latest devices.
He must thoroughly under-
stand those processes which have been
perfected most recently.
One cannot fight the corroding
influences that work in modern
democracy with the simple virtues of the
pioneer. We must be
thoroughly acquainted with the
techniques which were developed
in the more recent past for fighting the
destructive tendencies
which became evident at the turn of the
century. Each state in the
Union, in fact each community needs an
institution like the Ohio
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
State Archaeological and Historical
Society to serve as a fire
station prepared to fight possible
conflagration.
IV
The historical society of today needs
certain definite char-
acteristics. In the first place, it must
have its concept of the past
as clearly defined as possible in order
to emphasize the values
which it considers worth conserving.
This takes a lot of discus-
sion, planning, formulation. Because
each historical society needs
particularly a definition of civic
virtue, it must be certain of
democracy and its meaning. It is all
very well to know how the
pioneers built their cabins, it is all
very well to have the letters
and papers of the early statesmen, it is
all very well to collect the
rag paper account books of flour mills
and forges. It is all very
well to know the simple techniques of
the politics of the Jack-
sonian period. It is all very well to
have the early imprints and
the photographs of the classic revival.
But where are the records
of the nearer yesterdays? Where is that
sure knowledge of the
problems of big business, of the
temptations to which its exploiters
were subjected, of the struggle of those
with cleaner conscience
and of the methods by which a better
adjustment between social
justice and individual gains was made?
In each historical society
there should be a group which, in
cooperation with the scholars in
the universities and colleges, should be
working at assembling the
records in useable form and writing the
story. There must be
analysts who are capturing and recording
events, discerning trends
and completing the records as they are
made.
Great businesses should be encouraged to
put their own rec-
ords in archival order, to keep them
accessible in charge of some-
one who makes it his business to know
where things are and what
is in the records themselves. Historians
generally know what they
want and can save much time if, on
asking, certain types of record
can be made available. They will not
then have to suffer in labor-
ing through dust-covered files piled
helter skelter in warehouse
attics in freezing cold or blinding
heat.
Local newspapers should be encouraged to
index their files.
Here in Ohio this society receives 66
dailies and eighty-odd
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN OHIO 209
weeklies. It is an impossible task to
scan their many columns
filled so often as they are with matter
which is only of personal
rather than historical interest.
Cooperation between the Society
and several newspapers in this State
could produce indexes which
would be tools of inestimable value.
The internal activity of the Society,
however, is but one
branch of its work. There must be a firm
and sure relation with
the public. There needs he clever
advertising of the results. The
historical society has the duty to tell
abroad what it has discovered
and it must be told effectively if it is
to have the influence which
its importance demands. A message which
is not understood is of
little value.
One of the most effective means of
communication is through
dramatization, by radio, through little
theaters, pageants and pic-
tures. The Ohio Society's annual report
shows effective use of
the radio but the time at its command is
limited. Much more
radio time at more popular hours over
larger stations is needed,
also more novel methods. If some one
personality could be pre-
sented, as has been done in commercials,
which would attract the
listening public of all ages, the way
some of the well-known voices
over the radio do, the story would have
a tremendous audience.
The greatest instrument at the disposal
of anyone with a message
in this day and generation is the radio.
People seemingly will
listen much more than they will read. A
high art has been de-
veloped, an art which has been proved
tremendously effective.
The use of the radio is a challenge and
an expensive one.
Every effort should be put forth to make
the Society more of
a community center. It must communicate
its message to people
through social means and make them feel
that they are helping to
voice it. The Historical Society of
Pennsylvania for a number of
years opened its doors to the public and
invited them to certain
meetings to hear speakers. Upon occasion
out of an urban and
suburban population of several millions
they could attract an
audience of 70 or 80 people. More
recently, however, they have
been inviting people to come to tea and
to view specific and con-
structive exhibits at which some
commentator makes some remarks
about the significance of the exhibits.
This combination of some-
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
thing to see, something to eat, and
something to hear has filled the
hall. People are not coming just to hear
a speech, they are coming
to participate in a community function.
Another method of doing this would be to
put on a series of
community playlets and some pageants in
which a variety of
people would participate and which would
invite general interest.
This has been done very effectively in
one of the institutions in
Pennsylvania, namely, the Lycoming
County Historical Society.
Knowing as we do how many people are
interested in pageantry,
it is possible to organize a series of
pageants from time to time
and from place to place under state
direction which would quicken
community interest. Also, in this
connection it would be possible
to make a series of historical movie
shorts illustrating the history
of the State which could be shown in the
numerous theaters. It is
also possible to do what some publishing
companies have started
to do by bringing out little picture
books which tell the story of
the State in the colors and drawings of
the Sunday papers. Chil-
dren and elders do not need to be
engrossed entirely in the
activities of Dick Tracy, Little Orphan
Annie, and Terry and the
Pirates. Animated drawings in colors of
historical subjects will be
just as fascinating to them.
But the most important means of
proclaiming the message of
civic virtue is through youth. It is
sometimes said in facetious
mood that a very few people ever become
interested in historical
society activities until they are over
forty-five, that history is an
interest which only develops with age.
In Pennsylvania as well
as in other states, we have been going
on the opposite principle.
The Pennsylvania Historical Commission
undertook to organize
through the schools a great league of
Junior Historians. Junior
Historians have been organized in clubs
in all parts of the Com-
monwealth and they are encouraged to
think and act and write and
talk history, to hold meetings, to read
papers, to collect records, to
visit historical sites and to teach
history to others. It has been a
tremendously significant experiment.
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN OHIO 211
V
Thus we have seen how great the
responsibility and hence
how great the task. Ohio has of late
been generous with support,
but how much more is needed! There is
still so much to be done
and why? No one comes to Columbus
and walks along the Scioto
but is impressed by the great concern
over floods. No visitor but
is impressed by its hospitals and by the
various evidences of
adequate provision to protect society
from holocaust and any
conceivable physical danger. There is
every mark of interest in
preserving life and property.
Individuals and corporations pay
taxes without cavil for these
protections. But there are other
dangers besides those of flood or fire
or epidemic, there is the
danger of flabby morality and of what
might be termed ideological
sluggishness. Why protect yourself
against flood waters if you
are not willing to protect yourself
against floods of deteriorating
ideas? If the government and the society
which makes possible
that freedom of enterprise and
opportunity which we prize so
highly are not to be protected against
the floods of corrupt ideas
and practices, have we fulfilled our
responsibility? Have we safe-
guarded our democracy?
We must provide adequate support for the
institutions which
protect society by providing
immunization against social deteriora-
tion. The Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society is one
of these institutions. It has labored
faithfully for sixty-one years.
It is now at the crossroads. New
leadership is about to assume
direction and if this leadership has
proper vision and whole-
hearted support, there is no limit to
its accomplishment. If institu-
tions such as this are given really
adequate support we may face
with augmented courage the Ohio of
tomorrow, stronger in the
strength which comes from the knowledge
of the social values
bequeathed to us by the Ohio of
yesterday.