Muncie Politics; McAbee listed as contributor to political fund

MUNCIE POLITICS: GEORGE R. DALE,

MUNICIPAL REFORMER, 1921-1936

by

CARROLYLE M. FRANK

Considerable attention was focused on Muncie, Indiana, in the 1920s and 1930s as the result of two pioneering, sociological studies of that community by Robert S. and Helen M. Lynd: Middletown (1929) and Middletown in Transition (1937). Even if the Lynds had not succeeded in bringing national recognition to Muncie, the activities and antics of one of its citizens, George R. Dale, probably would have. Dale, who was the only Muncie person mentioned by name in either of the Lynds’ volumes, was the editor and publisher of a local, weekly newspaper. He also served a tempestuous term as mayor of that city.1

Of English-Scottish-Irish ancestry, George Reynolds Dale, Sr., was born in Monticello, Indiana, on February 15, 1867. His father, who passed away when George was sixteen, was an attorney. Dale worked for a time in his father's office, and this may have accounted for his tendency to play the role of "barracks lawyer" in later years. After prematurely terminating his high school education, George tried several occupations. He finally turned to journalism and published newspapers in Montpelier and Hartford City, Indiana. After saving both of these communities from the evils of "demon rum" through his newspapers (he has been credited with closing the saloons of both towns), Dale moved to Muncie in 1915. He came to the Delaware County seat for the purpose of editing the Muncie Post, the political organ of the Democratic mayor, Dr. Rollin H. Bunch. Dale also served as a desk sergeant on "Doc" Bunch’s police force. When Bunch went to federal prison for mail fraud in 1919, Dale severed his relationship with the mayor. Shortly thereafter, in 1920, Dale launched his own weekly newspaper, the Post-Democrat.

Ironically, Dale’s career as a reform, muckraking journalist in Muncie was initiated against "Doc" Bunch, who was paroled from prison in 1921. Almost immediately upon returning home, Bunch ran for mayor on the Democratic ticket. Dale opposed Bunch because of the latter’s reputed connections with organized vice in Muncie. Possibly due to Dale’s scathing editorials, Bunch lost the election to another physician, Dr. John C. Quick, the Republican candidate.

After Bunch’s defeat Dale turned his crusading efforts to other matters, namely the local "Billy" Williams Republican political "machine." William H. Williams, Jr., was the Delaware County Republican party chairman. In 1924, he relinquished this position to accept an appointment as postmaster of Muncie. However, he still maintained a close interest in local politics. As is true in the case of most urban political "bosses," Williams is a somewhat elusive historical figure. Williams' power and his "machine" may have been largely the product of George Dale's imaginative rhetoric. At any rate, Dale contended that the Republican machine had supported “Doc” Bunch in the mayoralty election of 1921, rather than the GOP standard- bearer, Dr. Quick.

Dale also suggested that the Williams machine was cooperating with underworld elements in Muncie, and that its leaders had violated national and state alcoholic prohibition laws. Equally as serious was Dale’s allegation that the Williams machine was closely affiliated with the local Ku Klux Klan. (According to the Lynds, the Klan in Muncie may have had a membership of 3,500 by 1923.) After Dale's efforts to link the Williams machine to the Klan and to associate both organizations with lawlessness and vice, the zealous editor was attacked physically in broad daylight by hooded thugs in March, 1922.

Intimidation through violence failed to silence the plucky editor as he began publishing the Klan roster in the Post-Democrat. The Klan then turned to legal harassment in order to quiet Dale. Klan-inspired indictments against Dale and the legal encounters which ensued have been covered ably by Steven R. Caldemeyer in a Ball State University master’s thesis; therefore they will not all be detailed here. However, the most celebrated of these cases should be mentioned. Early in 1923, Delaware County Circuit Court Judge Clarence W. Dearth, a Klansman, declared Dale to be in contempt of court for an editorial which directed criticism against his bench. Dale was sentenced to ninety days in the state prison farm and fined $500. In response to the editor’s appeal, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the conviction on the grounds that, although what Dale printed about Dearth may have been accurate, the truth was no defense in a contempt citation.2 Ironically, Dale was saved from serving all but a short period of his sentence by virtue of a pardon from Indiana Governor Ed Jackson, himself a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

By 1924, the political influence and membership of the Klan in Muncie was rapidly on the decline. Therefore, Dale was especially chagrined when the Williams machine designated as its candidate for mayor for 1925 one who was allegedly a member of the discredited clandestine organization, John C. Hampton. A resident of Muncie since 1916, Hampton was employed in his uncle's furniture and mortuary business. He was also one of Judge Dearth’s jury commissioners. Dale was even more dis­mayed when Hampton won the Republican mayoral primary in the spring of 1925. Despite Dale's printed incriminations that Hampton and his cohorts had "stolen" the primary victory, the Republican was elected mayor in the November general election. By a margin of 415 votes from over 13,000 cast, Hampton narrowly defeated his Democratic challenger, R. Milt Retherford. Hampton's triumph at the polls was attributable to the heavy majorities he was able to gamer in the normally Democratic, South-Side, working-class wards and in the predominantly black northeast district of the city known as Whiteley.3 Since George Dale had an affinity for the people of both areas, it was especially galling to him that they gave their support to Hampton.

Throughout his four-year term as mayor, Hampton was subjected to a constant barrage of accusations and criticism by the Post-Democrat. Among the charges which Dale levied against the Hampton administration were corruption, cronyism, nepot­ism, irregular contract letting, improper purchase of equipment, and gross laxity and partiality where law enforcement was concerned.

One of the most serious imputations which Dale made was that a "paving trust" existed in Muncie. He insisted that local contractors engaged in collusive bidding for city street paving jobs with the knowledge and sanction of the municipal board of public works. A thorough investigation by this author of the minutes of the Muncie board of public works produced much information which lends credence to Dale's allegations. It must be emphasized that the evidence is entirely circumstantial and nothing was uncovered directly to link Mayor Hampton to any wrongdoing. Never­theless, by late 1927, even Wilbur E. Sutton, editor of the Muncie Evening Press, a Republican daily newspaper, was beginning to raise questions concerning the pro­prieties involved in the awarding of public improvement contracts by the Hampton administration. In addition, the Municipal League of Delaware County, made up primarily of middle-class business and professional people and anti-Williams-Hampton Republicans, conducted a number of inquiries into the operations of the city govern­ment. Whether or not graft was involved, one thing is certain: beginning in 1927 the Hampton board of works set yearly records for the amount of expenditures for street improvements and the number of miles of streets paved.

Perhaps even more consequential than Dale’s insinuations regarding the board of public works were his assertions concerning the Muncie police department and the offices of the Delaware County sheriff and prosecutor. According to the peppery editor, the law enforcement agencies of the community were guilty not only of tolerating but of protecting the illegal operations of gamblers, liquor dealers, and prostitutes. Dale believed that he was getting close to the truth when, twice during the latter part of 1926, bullets were fired into his home. Dale, who lived only one-half block from police headquarters, contended that the attempts on his life were made with the knowledge and approbation of certain Muncie law enforcement officers.

These crude attempts to silence Dale were to no avail. In February 1927 he printed a letter from a local citizen which castigated Mayor Hampton and Judge Dearth for failure to uphold the law. Dearth responded by ordering confiscation of all issues of that edition of the Post-Democrat. This precipitous action resulted in the impeachment of the judge by the Indiana House of Representatives by a ninety-three to one vote.4 Referred to by one state legislator as the "Mussolini of Muncie," Dearth narrowly escaped removal by the Indiana Senate, but in 1928 was involun­tarily retired from public office by the voters of Delaware County.

Dale must have believed that his attack on the municipal government was vindi­cated when in November 1927 thirty federal prohibition agents raided many of the notorious "speakeasies" in Muncie. Fifty people were arrested. This raid was assisted by the new Delaware County prosecuting attorney, Joseph H. Davis, an anti-Williams-Hampton Republican. Neither the mayor's office nor the police depart­ment in Muncie were forewarned of the raid, the implication being that neither could be trusted. While in Muncie, federal agents dropped repeated hints, reported in the daily newspapers, that the Hampton administration was rather negligent where enforcement of prohibition was concerned. It was also suggested that city hall may have been culpable of cooperation with bootleggers.

However, it must be emphasized that no formal charges were ever brought against Mayor Hampton for corruption or protection of vice. In fact only one member of his administration was ever indicted for wrongdoing, he being the city clerk on charges of embezzlement of public funds. Whether or not Mayor Hampton or any of his associates were guilty of any infractions of the law, the citizenry of Muncie apparently became convinced that George Dale's incriminations were true. At least in part as a result of Dale's unrelenting verbal assault on the Republican city administration, Mayor Hampton decided not to seek reelection in 1929. In addition, only one member of the all-Republican, thirteen-man city council was retained in office by the voters that year.

Having virtually forced Mayor Hampton to retire temporarily from politics, who was more suited to bring reform to Muncie than George Dale himself? Therefore in March 1929 Dale announced that he would seek nomination for the office of mayor. Dale won the Democratic primary handily in May over the opposition of the "regular" party organization. To oppose Dale in the November general election, GOP voters chose a prominent Muncie businessman, Robert Denver Barnes. Dale’s chances of winning in the fall did not appear to be very propitious. In addition to being badly factionalized, the Democrats were also the minority party in Muncie. In the May primary, five Republican mayoralty candidates had received almost 8,000 votes combined. Only a little over 2,000 ballots were cast altogether for five Democratic aspirants for the city’s highest office.

Democratic "factionalism" emerged in the open soon after the primary when Dale asked J. Wilbur Sims, the party city central committee chairman, to resign. After Sims declined to do so, Dale adherents met in August and elected their own chairman. Local tradition also holds that Dale requested J. Frank Mann, Democratic candidate for city judge, to remove himself from the ticket. Mann refused to drop out of the race, however. Democrats were not the only ones facing party disunity in the fall election. The anti-Williams-Hampton faction of the GOP had backed Calvin Faris in the Republican mayoral primary. When he lost, many of Faris' supporters refused to endorse Barnes and a few even worked openly for Dale. During both the primary and general election campaigns, Dale hammered away at four themes: (1) "machine" or "gang" rule of Muncie, (2) corruption in the Hampton administration, (3) lax and discriminatory law enforcement, and (4) public utility control of the municipal government. In order to correct these purported faults, Dale pledged to restore control of local government to the people, promised honest contract letting for public improvements, vowed to enforce vice laws strictly and impartially, and advocated municipal ownership of public utilities. Although Dale regarded his opponent as a man of integrity, he also claimed that Barnes was backed by the same unsavory element which had placed Hampton in office four years earlier.

Undoubtedly the results of the mayoral election were a surprise and even a shock to many Muncie citizens. Despite the opposition of the editors of both the Republican daily newspapers, most of the prominent businessmen of the community,5 and the "regular" organizations of both political parties, George Dale won an impressive victory on November 5, 1929. Receiving 8,727 votes to Barnes' 7,378, Dale obtained 54.2 per cent of the ballots city wide. Carrying thirteen of the city’s twenty-four precincts, Dale compiled his biggest margins on the South Side and in Whiteley, the same voting districts which had elected Hampton previously.6 Dale had used his weekly newspaper and the local radio station effectively to convince the electorate of Muncie that it was time for a change.

After Dale’s primary victory in the spring, Editor Sutton of the Evening Press had predicted that if the disputatious Democrat were elected mayor, the executive office would not be deficient in "aggressive action" and "the newspapers would not lack news." Dale did not disappoint those who expected his tenure to be filled with color, drama, and excitement; and he did not wait long to send newspaper reporters rushing to their typewriters.7 On January 6, 1930, Dale's freshly sworn-in board of public safety requested and received the resignations of the entire forty-two-man Hampton police force. A new thirty-nine-man squad was named in its place.

Mayor Dale, whose numerous altercations with the Hampton force have been briefly alluded to, defended his actions on the grounds that the whole police depart­ment had been used in the mayoral campaign of 1929 on behalf of GOP candidate Barnes. Although most of Dale's "men-in-blue" were "green," fourteen members of the new force did have previous law enforcement experience. Frank C. Massey, a former detective in the department, was named Chief of Police.

Dale's promised crusade against vice commenced on January 9, 1930. Chief Massey announced that the illegal gambling dens, which had closed voluntarily following Dale's inauguration, would not be permitted to re-open. Likewise, card playing for money in local cigar stores would not be tolerated. In addition, on January 11, the police began rounding up suspected bootleggers. Within a week after taking office, George Dale had effectively closed most of Muncie's vice estab­lishments.

The new administration’s campaign against immorality was running smoothly until it encountered a major stumbling block in the person of Municipal Judge J. Frank Mann. It will be remembered that Dale had supposedly asked Mann to resign from the Democratic ticket in 1929. Beginning on January 24, 1930, Judge Mann ordered the release of apprehended bootleggers and gamblers on grounds of insufficient evidence and/or violation of the constitutional rights of the accused. Perturbed by Mann's interference, Dale instructed policemen to avoid the municipal court and to take suspects before the Center Township Justice of the Peace for arraignment. A judicial crisis of the first magnitude was created when County Prosecutor Joseph H. Davis proclaimed that the justice of the peace had no juris­diction in criminal matters of this nature. However, Dale persisted in his refusal to allow his police to bring lawbreakers before Judge Mann. With the city jail "bulging at the walls," Circuit Court Judge Leonidas A. Guthrie ruled, on February 28, that justices of the peace were not the proper officials to hear criminal cases. After returning from a Florida vacation in March, Dale reluctantly yielded to Judge Guthrie's decision. Although Dale agreed to give Mann "another chance," the mayor was caustic in his condemnation of the city judge as an obstacle to the chief executive's "clean-up" campaign.

How seriously Mann hampered Dale's war on vice in Muncie would be difficult to ascertain. In a commentary in the Post-Democrat, on January 16, 1931, Dale, in reviewing his first year in office, claimed that he had fulfilled his promise to the voters to improve the morals of Muncie despite Judge Mann's meddling. Even without the cooperation of the city judge, Dale contended that

liquor selling has been reduced to a minimum, the "red-light" [district] has become a pale pink, organized gambling conducted by professionals has become a hit and run proposition and the hard boiled yeggs who made Muncie their lurking place for years have departed....

Just a little over a year after making the above observation, Dale himself was indicted by a federal grand jury in Indianapolis for conspiracy to violate the Eighteenth Amendment and national prohibition laws. In all probability Dale was "framed." Federal prohibition investigators had been working with "underworld characters" in Muncie for several months before Dale was formally charged in March 1932. Also indicted were Police Chief Massey, six other officers and municipal employees, the Republican member of the board of safety, and four bootleggers. Before his trial, Dale journeyed to Washington, D.C., to appeal to U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell to intervene in the case. Dale insisted that he was the target of a conspiracy by "gamblers, bootleggers and grafters" whom he had put out of business.

Although the Attorney General supposedly promised to investigate, nothing came of it. Space does not permit a detailed recapitulation of the trial of George Dale, which opened on May 16, 1932, in Indianapolis. U.S. District Attorney George Jeffrey contended that Dale was guilty of shielding certain local bootleggers, allowing liquor to be served at a policemen's ball in Muncie, and transporting alcoholic beverages to the Democratic state convention in Indianapolis in June, 1930. After four days of testimony, the federal district court jury found Dale, Massey, and eight other defendants guilty. Dale adamantly persisted that he had been convicted on the basis of perjured testimony by bootleggers, gamblers, public employees whom he had fired, and political enemies in both parties.

On June 3, 1932, Federal Judge Robert C. Baltzell sentenced both Dale and Chief Massey to eighteen months in prison and fined each of them $1,000. Anyone familiar with George Dale’s combative spirit would have expected the Muncie mayor to appeal; and he did. However, in August 1933 the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld Dale's conviction.8 But George Dale had an uncanny knack of staying out of jail. He was preparing to appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court when in December 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt granted him a pardon. It might be pointed out that Dale's pardon was issued just nine days after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. Chief Massey failed to receive a presidential pardon, but in March 1934 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he did not have to serve his sentence.

Shortly following Dale's guilty verdict in Indianapolis in May 1932, the Muncie common council began preparing impeachment proceedings against the mayor. Dale had been engaged in a bitter feud with the majority of the council for over two years, but more of that later. On the basis of Dale's conviction for violation of the prohibition laws, the council, on September 22, 1932, declared the office of mayor vacant. A few weeks later, the council elected a member of that body, Earl Everett, to fill the remainder of Dale's term as chief executive. These events touched off a series of extended litigations, involving numerous suits and counter-suits, which resulted in the courts eventually confirming Dale as the legal title-holder of the position of mayor. While this judicial charade was in progress, Dale; his son-in-law, City Controller Lester E. Holloway; and City Attorney Carey A. Taughinbaugh were indicted by the Delaware County grand jury on charges that they had coerced city employees to contribute to the mayor's legal defense fund. Frank E. Harrold, editor of the Muncie Morning Star, the other Republican daily newspaper, speculated that this was the most serious accusation registered against the Dale administration up to that time. Once again, however, Dale, after having been knocked figuratively for a loop, managed to land squarely on both feet. In July 1933 a specially appointed judge from Madison County dismissed the charges against the defendants. Despite the mayor’s exoneration on all counts between March 1932 and December 1933, it is not easy to disagree with Muncie Evening Press Editor Wilbur E. Sutton's assess­ment of the situation:

It is difficult for the average person to understand.. .how one man, either in an official position, or out of it, could become embroiled so constantly and so consistently in trouble of one sort or another as Dale has been.

When George Dale was not preoccupied with staying out of jail or fighting to retain the mayorship, he was busily engaged in attempts to carry out some of his campaign promises to bring reform to Muncie city government. Dale had pledged to destroy the "paving trust." To fulfill this objective, Dale’s board of works, in February 1930, rescinded sixteen public improvement contracts awarded to four firms during the closing days of the Hampton regime. Contractors affected by this decision were those whom Dale had accused in the past of collusion with the Hampton board of works to make a farce of the competitive bidding requirements. When the cancelled contracts were reawarded to different firms in March, 1930, William M. Birch brought suit against the city. Birch was one of the street pavers whose agreements with the Hampton administration had been nullified by Dale's board. Birch’s action stimulated several similar suits which entangled the board of works in litigation until the end of Dale's term. In responding to these suits in court, the Dale administration maintained that some of former Mayor Hampton’s officials had received a total of $125,000 in bribes from contractors over a four-year period.

In May 1930 Dale revealed that he had held a conversation in his office with the former "paymaster" or "fixer" of the "paving trust." Without the knowledge of this individual, the conversation was electronically monitored and a stenographic transcript had been made. The so-called "paymaster" reportedly had admitted his complicity to the mayor. Dale claimed to have received enough evidence to send fifteen men to prison for involvement in the "paving trust." However, no indictments were ever obtained on this score. Perhaps Dale was too busy defending himself against lawsuits and indictments to be able to bring these alleged lawbreakers to justice. Maybe Dale was also too busy keeping an eye on his own board of public works.

In June 1930 Dale dismissed two members of his board of works for irregularities similar to those for which he had blamed the Hampton administration. Dale appointed a new board of works consisting of James P. Dragoo, a Protestant; Charles Indorf, a Jew; and Charles P. Morrow, a Catholic and the only holdover on that municipal commission. The religious composition of the board is intriguing considering the strength of the militantly anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish Ku Klux Klan in Muncie just a few years earlier. It also reveals Dale’s tolerant attitude toward people regardless of their religion.

By mid-1930, the Dale administration was forced to confront the deleterious economic effects of the Great Depression. In June 1930 Dale's new board of works announced it would hold hearings on twenty-five public improvements which would provide employment for approximately two hundred persons. However, Muncie property owners, who would be required to pay for these projects, remon­strated against them. By year's end, only nine of the projects had been approved. Apparently the Depression and the dubious reputation of previous boards of works made the taxpayers apprehensive about expensive street, curb, and gutter assess­ments. Mayor Dale's public improvements program to provide work for the un­employed was further delayed as the result of a prolonged dispute with the common council regarding control of the municipality's share of the state gasoline tax fund, which was to be used for street repairs. For example, as a consequence of a suit against Dale's board of works initiated in July 1931 by four members of the council, some $41,000 in state gasoline tax revenues were encumbered for over a year.

Another proposal that ran afoul of the common council was one which Dale recommended in April 1930. The mayor requested the council to approve a $100,000 bond issue to surface the streets in newly annexed territory on the periphery of the city. Along with both Republican daily newspapers, the council responded to Dale’s request with contempt. It was not until 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal began to provide financial aid to communities, that Dale could do very much to create employment through public improvements.

In November 1933 the New Deal launched the Civil Works Administration (CWA). This agency granted federal funds to localities for small-scale, public works projects to establish jobs for people on relief rolls. CWA paid the wages to the workers, but local governmental units were required to purchase equipment and material. Almost immediately, the Dale administration submitted over a dozen projects for approval by CWA. These proposals included street surfacing and repair, flood control along White River, and construction of a swimming pool in Tuhey Park.9 Muncie had no trouble getting these projects sanctioned by CWA. However, the city did encounter some problems in raising its portion of the funds. Mayor Dale, who had been engaged in a continuous battle with his common council for four years, received no opposition from that body. Unanimously the municipal Solons voted on December 11, 1933, to approve a $100,000 bond issue for the purchase of equipment and material. The difficulty occurred when the municipality attempted to sell the bonds to local credit institutions.

During the Depression, Muncie’s lone surviving bank and an affiliated trust and savings company had fallen under the control of the rich and powerful Ball family. Not only did the Balls own Muncie’s most important business, but that company was also the largest producer of glass canning jars in the entire world. In addition, members of the Ball family were on the boards of directors of many of the city's business firms and private and public institutions. Because of the Balls' rather pervasive economic and social influence, Robert and Helen Lynd developed the theory of "elitism" to describe community control in Muncie in their book, Middletown in Transition (1937). According to the Lynds, the Balls constituted a socio-economic oligarchy or "reigning royal family" who dominated virtually every facet of life in Muncie. 10 If the Balls did not actually rule Muncie, as some scholars have suggested recently, this was due in part to the ability of George Dale as mayor to limit their power to some extent.

Local credit institutions offered several excuses for refusing to buy Muncie’s CWA bonds, but Mayor Dale found none of them acceptable. Dale preferred to believe it was because the Balls, who had never been very friendly to his admini­stration, were trying to tarnish him. At any rate, failure of the Ball-controlled banks to subscribe the bond issue did not serve as an impediment to Dale’s objectives for long. In February 1934 City Controller Holloway sold $36,000 worth of bonds to the Muncie firemen and policemen pension fund trustees. Holloway disposed of the remaining $64,000 in April to the C. W. McNear Bonding Company of Chicago. The ability of the Dale administration to sell the bonds to sources other than the local Ball-family-dominated credit institutions enabled 1,600 Muncie men to remain employed on the community’s CWA projects.

Dale failed to get even the cooperation of the common council on his next effort to secure federal funds for work-relief programs, this being a million-dollar grant and loan from the Public Works Administration (PWA) for a new sewage system. Pollution of White River, which meanders through the northern portion of Muncie, had necessitated such a project. Among those who had been urging river purification for years were the Balls, whose mansions were located on the north bank of the watercourse. Ironically, several industrial enterprises owned by the Ball family contributed heavily to the deplorable condition of the river.11 There had been considerable discussion concerning the construction of a sewage treatment plant during the Hampton mayoralty, but nothing resulted from it.

When George Dale became mayor, he announced his opposition to a proposed million-dollar sewer plan. Because of the Depression, he expressed doubt that the taxpayers of Muncie could afford it. He also was apprehensive because he regarded the project as an opportunity for graft for the politicians and contractors who had made up the old "paving trust." Dale’s solution to the problem of pollution was for Muncie industries to stop dumping raw sewage into White River. Even orders issued to Muncie by the state board of health to build a sewage disposal plant could not alter the mayor’s adamant opposition.

Dale remained intransigent until federal funds were made available by the Public Works Administration (PWA), created as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. After the PWA came into existence in June 1933, the Dale administration applied for financial assistance to construct a sewage treatment plant and an inter­cepting sewer system. In January 1934 PWA awarded a $1,060,000 grant and loan to Muncie for this purpose. Before Muncie actually received this subsidy, however, it was necessary for the common council of the city to pass a series of ordinances accepting the federal largess, authorizing construction and awarding contracts, assuming responsibility for the loan portion of the PWA agreement by issuing municipal bonds, and so forth. For once in his official life, Mayor Dale had the unqualified support of both Republican daily newspapers. Despite that fact and irrespective of repeated warnings from PWA, the common council failed to pass the ordinances in time to meet the federal agency’s extended deadlines. Consequently, in December 1934 PWA informed Muncie that the $1,060,000 grant and loan had been rescinded because the council had not taken the necessary action.

A number of hypotheses have been presented to explain why the council pro­crastinated on this vital matter. Both daily newspapers believed it was due to the council majority’s strong dislike for George Dale. According to rumor it was because Rollin H. "Doc" Bunch, who had defeated Dale in the May, 1934, Demo­cratic primary for the mayoral nomination, wanted the project delayed until he took office and could receive credit for it. Robert and Helen Lynd have suggested that councilmen from the South Side working-class districts opposed the sewer because the Balls and other upper-class residents of the North Side would derive the primary benefits from it. The Lynds offer the sewer episode as an example of "elitism" and the class conflict which existed in Muncie. Political scientist Nelson W. Polsby has argued that the affair was symbolic of Muncie’s "pluralistic" political system. It is Polsby’s contention that the city was not ruled by an upper-class family, but that a number of competing groups participated in the governance of the community.

It is true that South Siders were rather vocal in their opposition to the sewer project. Councilman Clarence R. Hole, spokesman for South Siders on this issue, was concerned that because of the Depression working-class residents could not shoulder the heavy tax burden that would be imposed. He also regarded the plans for financing the sewer as being inequitable to South Siders. It is a fact that most South Side councilmen were apprehensive about the project, but on a key vote on the issue in November, 1934, a majority of North Side representatives also opted for delay. Most of the members of Dale’s party in the council voted to retard progress on the sewer.12

Doubtless no one has given more detailed scholarly consideration to this matter than has the present author. His studies reveal that the affair is far too complex for simple explanations. Probably all of the above suggestions are relevant to some extent. Regardless of the motives for the costly delay by the common council, the episode does illustrate that body’s unwillingness to adhere to George Dale’s leader­ship throughout the publisher-politician’s tenure as mayor. It is to that specific situation that we now turn. In order to assess the council’s rejection of Dale’s leadership more precisely, the present author utilized a quantitative measuring technique known as the Guttman scalogram analysis. This convenient device revealed that on key legislative issues, ten of the thirteen members of the common council opposed the mayor consistently during his first three years in office (1930-2). Of Dale’s ten opponents, six were members of his own party. During his final two years as mayor (1933-4), Dale actually received the backing of seven members of the council on most major issues. This should not be misinterpreted as indicating that a majority of the members of the council were now enthusiastically behind Mayor Dale — far from it. After all it was during this period that the council was engaged in litigation to remove Dale from office. It was also at this time that the council effectively delayed Dale’s PWA sewer project. Thus the fact that Dale could get a majority of the council to support him on anything toward the end was nothing short of miraculous.

Objectively measuring the opposition to Dale’s executive leadership is much easier than explaining it. Intra-party factionalism among the Democrats, which had been in existence for some years, undoubtedly was a factor. Personality conflicts plus the egotisms and jealousies of the combatants on both sides probably also were involved. Apparently a majority of the councilmen regarded Dale as being politically naive and sought to make him a puppet or figurehead mayor. Anyone who knew Dale at all should have realized he would never settle for such a secondary role. Dale believed that he had brought the Democratic councilmen into office in 1929 on his coattails. Considering the fact that Dale received more popular votes than all Democratic councilmen save one, the mayor’s claim was not too exaggerated. At any rate, Dale wanted to be boss and, obviously, the council majority had other ideas.

The first concrete indication that the council was not about to do Dale’s bidding came in January 1930. Over Dale’s objections, the new council elected Hubert L. "Bob" Parkinson as president of that body. Animosity between Dale and Parkinson went back several years. The next major issue to divide the mayor and his aldermen concerned the municipal airport. This project had the enthusiastic endorsement of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce, several members of the Ball clan, and Abbott L. Johnson II, who belonged to a wealthy, local industrial family. Johnson had donated a 160-acre farm to the city for the purpose of developing it into a municipal airport. In March 1930 the council, by a ten-to-three vote, passed a $125,000 bond issue in order to further the progress of the flying field. Much to everyone’s surprise, Dale vetoed the ordinance. Dale argued that because of the Depression, the airport was a luxury which the people of Muncie could not afford. Dale won this battle with his council; the local lawmakers were unable to override his veto.

One of the issues which persistently separated Dale and the council majority was the adoption of the annual city budget. With the exception of the first one he and Controller Holloway presented in 1930, the budgets proposed by Dale were con­siderably lower than the final one adopted during the Hampton mayoralty. Of course the Depression necessitated the reduction of municipal expenditures. None the less the council usually attempted to adopt a budget that was even more penurious than the one Dale suggested. Despite his advocacy of public works projects to provide jobs for the unemployed and his liberal image, Dale appears to have been somewhat of a fiscal conservative. However, the council repeatedly tried to make Dale more conservative than he wished to be. Dale and his council did not actually agree on a budget until 1933. In spite of the Depression, the uncooperativeness of the council, and the trials and tribulations they faced otherwise, Mayor Dale and Controller Holloway managed the city’s financial affairs in a much more honest, efficient, and responsible manner than had their immediate predecessors.

Those who tried so hard to remove George Dale from office before his term was up must have been bitterly disappointed when the so-called "skip election" law passed the Indiana state legislature in March 1933. This law postponed municipal elections for one year, thus giving incumbent mayors such as Dale an additional twelve months in office. Dale’s jubilation over the "skip election" law and the Presidential pardon which enabled him to serve his extended term was short-lived, however. In the May 1934 Democratic primary, Dale was overwhelmingly defeated for renomination. Ironically the person who administered this resounding rejection of Dale at the polls was none other than former mayor Rollin H. "Doc" Bunch, the man whom tradition credits with bringing the feisty newspaperman to Muncie in the first place.

Bunch received 4,429 votes (78.8 per cent) in the primary to Dale’s meager 1,189. "Doc" carried all thirty-two precincts. It must have been especially dis­heartening to Dale to have lost so decisively in those areas — the South Side and Whiteley — which had put him into office in 1929. Dale believed that his destruction of the "paving trust" and his support of work-relief projects had been particularly beneficial to the residents of those parts of town. Regardless of his disappointment, Dale accepted his defeat philosophically.

It is not too difficult to comprehend why Dale suffered such a humiliating set­-back. Even though Dale was probably innocent of the charges of violating national prohibition, his conviction undoubtedly caused many to doubt his integrity. Although Dale may have been right much, if not most, of the time in his encounters with the council and other municipal officers, an administration which was constantly embroiled in controversy could not retain the confidence of the people. Dale came into office with good intentions, but he was too uncompromising and self-righteous to be a popular or effective chief executive. Part of Dale’s failure as mayor was due to his personality — his intransigence, his inflexibility, his egotism. Many of his problems stemmed from the enemies — businessmen, politicians, grafters, gamblers, bootleggers, and just plain ordinary citizens — he managed to make and antagonize over the years. In his five years as mayor, Dale failed to build an effective political organization which would sustain him in power. Editor Sutton believed that Dale had a talent for converting friends into foes. Many of Dale’s earlier followers actually supported Bunch in the 1934 primary. One other very important factor must be considered concerning Dale’s defeat. "Doc" Bunch was a popular person and a consummate politician whose ability to woo voters may have been unparalleled in Muncie history.

On balance it is difficult to evaluate the Dale administration. Even the editors of the two daily Republican newspapers, who opposed him on most issues, conceded that Dale had accomplished many good things. Neither specified what it was that especially satisfied them, however. On the credit side of the ledger, Dale smashed the paving trust and restored honest contract letting; waged war on dens of iniquity and illegal resorts; managed the city’s financial affairs with responsibility and integrity; and secured federal government expenditures for public works. If the book could be closed on the Dale record at this point, his administration would probably go down as one of the most successful in Muncie history. Weighed against these accomplishments, however, must be Dale’s constant wrangling with the council, Judge Mann, and other municipal officials; costly litigation in which the city was perpetually enmeshed; conviction for violation of the Eighteenth Amend­ment; indictment for allegedly coercing public employees; and impeachment by the legislative branch of his government. All of these reduced Dale’s efficiency and diminished his image. It must be admitted that not all of these negative factors were entirely Dale’s fault. On the other hand, the contentious mayor rarely tried to avoid trouble either.

After turning the keys of the mayor’s office over to "Doc" Bunch, Dale devoted most of his attention to editing and publishing the Post-Democrat. Although he maintained a sharp vigilance over the Bunch administration, the biting edge of his commentary of former years was lacking. On March 27, 1936, Dale died unexpectedly of a cerebral haemorrhage after working late the previous evening preparing his weekly tabloid for the printer. He was sixty-nine years old. "Middletown’s" prophet, reforming spirit, social conscience, and political critic was gone and with his passing an era of Muncie history had come to an end.

1 For most of the documentation for this essay, consult Carrolyle M. Frank, "Politics in Middletown: A Reconsideration of Municipal Government and Community Power in Muncie, Indiana, 1925-1935" (Ph.D. dissertation, Ball State University, 1974).

2 Dale v. State, 198 Ind. no (1926).

3 Citywide, Hampton received 51.6 per cent of the vote compared to Retherford’s 48.4 per cent. Hampton’s slim margin is intriguing in view of the fact that the Republicans enjoyed a substantial registration advantage. Equally provocative is Hampton’s 55.4 per cent of the ballots on the South Side, a section of the city which usually leaned toward the Democrats. In Whiteley, Hampton secured 61.1 per cent of the vote.

4 Journal of the House of Representatives of....Indiana. . .1927, 577-78, 700-702; Journal of the Indiana State Senate. . . 1927, 850-52.

5 Six members of the prominent Ball family, owners of Muncie’s largest industry, each donated $150 to Barnes' campaign. Contributing from $50 to $250 apiece to the GOP candidate were J. Lloyd Kimbrough and Charles M. Kimbrough, owners of the Indiana Bridge Company; Ray Prescott Johnson and Abbott L. Johnson II, proprietors of the Warner Gear Company; Carl M. Kitselman, treasurer of the Indiana Steel and Wire Company; and Philip W. McAbee, president of the Hemingray Glass Company. Bankers Frank B. Bernard, Fred D. Rose, and Karl O. Oesterle each gave $100 to Barnes.

6 Although losing the North Side with only 46.4 per cent of the votes, Dale carried the South Side with an overwhelming 62.9 per cent (his strongest South Side precinct awarded him 73.6 per cent). In Whiteley Dale tallied 56.1 per cent of the ballots cast. Most of the precincts which Dale lost were clustered in the northwest corner of the city and included the upper-middle-class residential areas.

7 For a scintillating account of George Dale’s first few months in office, see W. A. S. Douglas, "The Mayor of Middletown," American Mercury, 20 (August 1930), 478-86.

8 Dale v. U.S., 66 F. 2d 666 (1933).

9 Washington, D.C., National Archives, Civil Works Administration Files, Indiana, Delaware County projects; Carrolyle M. Frank, "'Federalism' in 'Middletown': The Civil Works Ad­ministration in Muncie, Indiana, 1933-34," paper presented at the ninth annual Northern Great Plains History Conference, Mankato, Minn., Oct. 18, 1974.

10 The Lynds' theory of elite rule served as a popular model of community power for several decades. However, in the 1960s, Robert A. Dahl, a political scientist at Yale University, postulated the theory of "pluralism" as a counterbalance to the "elitism" hypothesis. For a specific refutation of the view that the Balls ruled Muncie, see Nelson W. Polsby, "Power in Middletown: Fact and Value in Community Research," ~~Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science,~~ 26 (November, 1960), 592-603.

11 Pearse, Greeley, and Hansen, Engineers, "Muncie, Indiana: Report on Intercepting Sewers and Sewage Disposal, April, 1927," Chicago, 1927, 23-24; Indiana State Board of Health, Division of Chemistry, Department of Sanitary Engineering, "Report of the Cooperative Sanitary Survey of White River: Muncie to Anderson, 1925-1930," Indianapolis, 1930, 3, 9-10, 23, 28.

12 Carrolyle M. Frank, "The Application of Community Power Theories to Muncie" paper presented at the eighteenth annual Missouri Valley History Conference, Omaha, Nebr., March 8, 1975.