The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-04-06

ruption in office began, while the press
wires weEe burdened with stories OF
the proposed investigation Of this, that
and the other department. with assur-
ances that this, that and the other de-
partmental head would be found guilty
of the grossest dishonesty and the most
pronounced corruption.
And from the day of the first as
sembling of the army of incompetents,
the brigades Of political accidents, un-
til the gavel of the speaker, at an early
hour on the morning of Sunday, April
8, declared the house thing Of the
past, Investigations and other investi-
cations and still more Investigations
followed in regular order, followed to
the elimination of worthwhile legisla-
ton; followed to the elimination
of common sense and the defeat of all
things in which the taxpayers Of Okla
homa have interest.
II mattered not that thousands upon
thousands of Oklahoma boys who had
left their homes, their fathers, their
mothers, their wives and children and
sailed across the seas to battle the con-
quering invading Hun, needed proper
care and attention. 1t was a matter
of small moment TO these accidental
legislators that thousands Of these
brave boys were dying of the dread
white plague, it mattered not that
hundreds of Oklahoma legionnaires i'm.
portuned and plead and begged, on
bended knee, almost, that something
be done, that hospital be provided for,
a hospital wherein their comrades who
had been stricken by disease, them
comrades at whom the skeleton finger
of the Grim Reaper already pointed
might be given at least fighting
chance for their lives.
1t mattered not that the wives and
babies of these brave boys might be
robbed of the care and loving kindness
of husband and father, by the calling
of the death angel which might have
been delayed could proper medical as
sistance have been rendered in a hos
pital built by the people Of this state,
following an act of the Oklahoma legis-
lature; it mattered not that the people
of this state had patted these soldier
boys on the back when they marched
away to war, patted them on the back
with the assurance that nothing Will
be too good for you when you get back
from over there" it mattered not to
them that the government Of the state
should be provided for; it mattered not
to them that the roads of the state
needed work in order that the resources
of the state might be the quicker and
sooner developed.
Nothing mattered with the majority
membership of the oklahoma house OF
representatives, just as long as some
thing might be accomplished which
would serve to hamper the course OF
the administration and block the
wheels Of the states progress.
One member of the majority wing OF
the late house Of representatives, him
self q Republican, is said to have dis
gustedly characterized the action OF
that house, in adjourning as 1t did and
leaving the state unprovided for by
way of appropriations, as "pusillani-
nous"
He used the right word. He knew
whereof he spoke. He applied the
proper eplthet, for the treatment which
the house accorded the soldiers in re-
fusing relief for the sick and disabled
was nothing short Of pusillanimous, and
the manner in which unfounded at
tacks were made upon the characters
and regulations Of the different state
officers was nothing If not pusillani-
nous. while the way in which the citi-
zenship OF Oklahoma was told, by the
action OF the house membership, 1.-The
public be damned" was pusillanimous
in the extreme.
Passing time may dim the story Of
the disgrace which came to Oklahoma
through acts Of the house Of repre-
sentatives OF the eighth Legislature, but
even as 1t has failed during all the
passing centuries 10 erase and blot
away the laws OF the Great Jehovah,
chlsselled upon tablets OF indestructible
stone, Time itself will never totally blot
out the "pusillanlmous" story.