They Called It the War Effort: Oral Histories from World War II Orange, Texas

10. Health, Education, and Welfare [Images Included]

394 they called it the war effort 10 Health, Education, and Welfare “I was civil service, and I was transferred on April 15, 1943, as project supervisor with the Public Housing Authority. . . . As we became more familiar with what we were facing I appealed to the regional office for professional assistance coping with these problems of health, education, and welfare. . . . You would really have to be here and experience the things that I’ve told you. I haven’t told you all the things.” Bess Schofield Afavored term in talking about wartime Orange was “influx,” literally “a flowing in.” Those who were in Orange during the First World War could clearly recall the human flood of those years and the neighborhoods of small “toy town” cottages erected to house the rush of shipbuilders. Some of these old-timers knew that if another war ever occurred there would be a similar population surge, but few could visualize the magnitude, the mass of humanity that would result. As suggested earlier, when the government launched the vast housing projects in the early forties, many of the natives were dubious. It was a pipe dream.There would never be people enough to occupy the thousands of units. The government was being extravagant. But then, what else could you expect from big government? The newcomers came, however, in a seemingly endless torrent.The population not only doubled and quadrupled, but also eventually multiplied sevenfold. Public health and social problems were inevitable. Historian William Tuttle has summarized congressional findings with respect to complaints and exposures in congested wartime communities like Orange: “[S]ubstandard housing and exorbitant rents; health hazards ranging from scabies, ringworm, impetigo, and other skin conditions to life-threatening epidemics such as meningitis, rheumatic fever, and polio; open sewers, leaky septic tanks, loose refuse and garbage, and other sanitary deficiencies; shortages of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and 395 Health, Education, and Welfare milk; inadequate child-care facilities; crowded schoolrooms, teacher shortages, and upsurges in juvenile delinquency.”1 Not only were efforts to provide housing in Orange severely challenged, but all government and community services were strained to the breaking point. People waited for everything from mail service to a new book of ration stamps to medical attention. Expectant mothers waited outside on the porch and were called in by number to see the doctor. Dr. P.V. Seastrunk, retired from the practice of dentistry due to an automobile accident, opened a small office on the back of his house to help meet the need for dental care. In the summer heat, patrons were passing out in the long lines at banks and the post office. Garbage collection, sanitation , prostitution, fighting, public drunkenness, food service, traffic, emergency fire responses, and domestic conflicts were just a few of the problems aggravated by the expanded numbers of people. Police officers were required to make calls without the assistance of a partner. The schools were besieged. Hospital emergency rooms were overextended. Churches ministered not only to spiritual needs but also to the sundry hardships of displaced individuals and families. Many people were simply unprepared for modern times and urban living. New to close living conditions, they were unaware how their behavior might impact their neighbors.Then, too, there were those characters who preyed on boomtowns, and many others arrived with little potential for good citizenship. As Mrs. Tilley acknowledged, Orange had few “facilities” and few qualified people for dealing with these classes of newcomers. “That was the one thing that kind of worried everybody.” People often seemed in bad humor, and public officials could feel harassed and discouraged. Addressing these issues was not easy, and more than one professional required the determination of Bess Schofield: “I’m a fighter. I’m a believer.” More than one volunteer shared the spirit of Anna Laura Burrows: “I had always felt like I owed something back to people, like I should do something for other people. And when I came here it really gave you the opportunity.” More than one police officer would have nodded in agreement with Alton Williams: “You just had to do the best you could.”  they didn’t believe it was right to have a bathroom inside John E. Wheeler Day by day, wasn’t too much different from day to day today. That was the way things were then, just like things today are the they called it the war effort 396 way they...