It’s a question everyone has to deal with at some point, or many points, in their life: How do you celebrate a holiday, or something very special, when all other circumstances surrounding you are anything but celebratory? The editor of Bossier City’s Planter’s Press newspaper (J.C. Seigler, Jr.) was struggling with this question on the eve of Independence Day, 1932, when the nation was approaching the worst of the Great Depression.
At the height of the Great Depression in 1933, 24.9% of the nation's total work force was unemployed. Wage income for workers who kept their jobs fell 42.5% between 1929 and 1933. It was the worst economic catastrophe in American history. Seigler wrote, “It is of no avail to float into an involved and superficial burst of oratory about the glorious past of our nation, about the courage and integrity of our forefathers and the ability and steadfastness of the leaders of this nation during the American Revolution. Another July Fourth has come around, and like the July Fourth of last year, and that of the year previous to last year, we find our nation struggling in the web of an incomprehensible disjunction of industry and finance.”
He did manage to find a ‘silver lining’ in contemporary July Fourth celebrations. He made it very plain that he’s not a fan of fireworks, due to their potential dangers and because he is, it seems, a big fan of peace and quiet. An article in the same June 30th issue has the headline, “Independence Day to be Quiet Here.” He elaborated,
“National Independence Day will be quietly observed in Bossier City this coming Monday. No public entertainment has been announced for this holiday, and it is expected that Bossier citizens will observe the day in a quiet way. There will probably be less display of fireworks this year than in any year since the World War, and as the popularity of this dangerous amusement is constantly waning, it is expected very little, if any, combustible supplies will be sold.”
Editor Seigler revealed this same attitude in the earlier days of the Great Depression. In his July 3rd, 1930 editorial, “The New Fourth,” he wrote,
“Year by year the old-fashioned Fourth of July with spitting cannon and sizzling rocket against a blue-black sky is becoming more and more of a memory. The Fourth of July which small boys and girls awaited as eagerly as Christmas itself, a day of toy torpedoes, of celluloid-collared orators, and ice cream socials has been transformed into an Independence Day of quiet and dignity.”
When Seigler said a mother had lamented their children wouldn’t learn the importance of the fourth without the fireworks to emphasize the holiday, that didn’t concern the editor, who assumed that this mother was fortunate enough “never to have been forced to the tragic task of binding up mangled little fingers shredded by ‘innocent firecrackers’.” He admitted, “It is difficult for us who passed childhood in the old-fashioned noisy Fourth of July decade to remember that our Roman candles and ‘flower pots’ meant anything lofty and inspiring to us-anything but a rollicking holiday.” Instead, he advocated for a “safe and sane” Fourth that made the holiday a more reflective time, a time to remember the framers of the early United States government and evaluate if we’re still keeping “aloft the torch” lit on July 4, 1776.
If you have any information, stories, or photos about Fourth of July traditions in Bossier Parish or about living through the Depression here, we would love to add them, copies or originals, to our History Center’s research collection. Contact us at 318-746-7717 or email history-center@bossierlibrary.org or visit us at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City. We are open: M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. For other intriguing facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok.
Images:
Spirit of ’76 Bicentennial Stamp, History Center collection. J.C. Seigler, editor of the Planters Press newspaper, urged readers in the 1930s to spend time on the Fourth of July holiday reflecting on the spirit of the original day of American independence, July 4, 1776.
Editorial heading for the Planters Press, Bossier City, Louisiana, July 3, 1930
Article by: Pam Carlise
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