One of the most original and thoughtful of the people engaged in Utopian thinking during the Great Depression was Maury Maverick of Texas. He established one of the more ingenious self-help communities in his home town of San Antonio, Texas. This community was short-lived, as were most communities in this period, but Maverick made a sincere effort to alleviate the suffering of the poor, but mostly of the world war veterans who were affected especially by the hard times of the 1930s.
He was a member of one of Texas's oldest and most famous families. His grandfather, like many Texans, emigrated from the South just before the Texas Revolution. He acquired large landholdings during the Texas Republic period, and he served in both the Texas Congress and in the Confederacy.
Samuel Maverick's lasting fame is because his name became synonymous with unbranded cattle. In 1847 he had let his cattle roam free, but in 1854 he and his eldest two sons rounded up these strays and drove them to a market site. Gradually the word "maverick" was used not only for unbranded cattle, but for any independent individual who does not go along with a group or party. The term has been used especially to describe many people in politics.
Maverick attended San Antonio schools, the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Texas Law School. During the First World War, he served in the Twenty-eighth Infantry and saw action as an officer in the Argonne offensive. He was wounded critically on two different occasions, injuries that caused him serious health problems for the rest of his life and probably contributed to his premature death in 1954 at age fifty-eight.
Maverick went into politics in the 1930s. He first served as tax collector of Bexar County (1930-1934), with San Antonio as its seat of government. He was congressman from the Twentieth District from 1935-1938, and he was mayor of San Antonio from 1939-1941. He was always too liberal for his constituency to be able to be reelected on a long-term basis. During the Second World War, he served as chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation from 1941-1946.
While he was tax collector of Bexar County, Maverick became concerned about the plight of the unemployed, both in his community and across the state of Texas. He first examined the unemployment and relief conditions in San Antonio. He found that Texas was a magnet for transient men, women, and children who were roaming about the country seeking a job and some moderate climate, much like Southern California and other states across the Deep South, especially Florida and the Southwest.
Then he bagman to branch out on day trips out of San Antonio. What he found appalled him. As he said, "Literally nothing was being done for the unemployed. Every side trip I took indicated this. So to get some more knowledge, I struck out on a real hobo trip." He was accompanied on his trip by two close friends from San Antonio. He describes this trip in detail in his autobiography.
All the while, Maverick was watching with interest the efforts of the world war veterans to obtain early payment of a bonus for their service that had been approved int he 1920s. The bonus was issued as an annuity that the men would receive in 1945 at a time when they mostly likely would be retired. In the hard times of the thirties, the veterans began to demand early payment. Political leaders in Washington showed little interest in the issue since they were not willing to incur the debt required to pay the bonus.
The veterans argued that early payment would keep them and their families from starving and that by putting so much money in circulation, the economy would be stimulated and the Depression would end. Despite their lack of understanding of the economic system, they made a compelling argument for millions of hungry and unemployed people. When Congress failed to act, a large contingent of the veterans marched on Washington in 1932 to demand action. Even though a newly elected congressman from Texas, Wright Patman, led the congressional fight, he was not able to prevail on his colleagues to pay the bonus.
The veterans in Washington did not know what to do. President Herbert Hoover and other national leaders appealed to them to return to their homes. A large number of veterans did leave Washington, but another large number settled down in Washington to wait for Congress to act, arguing that it was just as easy to starve in the shadow of the Capitol as it was to return home. Finally, in frustration and fearing an insurrection, Hoover ordered the military to remove the veterans from their shantytown.
Nothing could have been worse for Hoover's reelection chances or to make the veterans more sympathetic to a large segment of the American people than helpless veterans, who fifteen years earlier had fought for their country, being forcefully evicted from the nation's capital. The agitation continued, and the bonus was finally paid in 1936.
After his San Antonio experiment ended, Maverick ran for and was elected to Congress from his hometown. Once in that body, he became an ardent New Dealer, supporting almost all of Franklin Roosevelt's programs, even his controversial plan to "pack" the Supreme Court to obtain more favorable rulings from that body.
In 1936 Maverick became peripherally involved in a student movement originating at Princeton University. A group of Princeton students was upset about the early payment of the world war bonus in 1936. These young men created an organization they called the Veterans of Future Wars (VFW), an effort to caricature the real Veterans of Foreign Wars. They argued that since they would be the veterans of the next war, they should receive their bonus in advance since they would not be around to collect the bonus when the war was over.
Maverick was greatly amused by the student movement, and he tried to show his support for the group. He even spoke to a meeting of the student VFW at Princeton in April 1936 in which he praised them and advocated that they should seek all the money from the government that they could. He even promised to introduce legislation in Congress to pay the early bonus, but it is not clear if he actually did so.
Maverick proved to be too liberal for many of his constituents, but he did have enough support to be elected mayor of San Antonio where he served from 1939 to 1941. Maverick died an early death when the aftereffects of his wartime service took its toll. He died, still in his fifties, on June 7, 1954.
His early experience in running a self-help community helped to explain a lot about the man, and his community was a good example of the Utopian thinking and community building during the Great Depression.
The economic crisis of the thirties was so serious that new or unusual attempts to ease the suffering of the unfortunate was common. The creation of communes, cooperatives, and self-help communities, supported by private groups or local public agencies, occurred in many places. One of the most interesting and successful ventures was in San Antonio, Texas. The immediate stimulus for Maverick's San Antonio experiment was President Hoover's decision to evict the Bonus Expeditionary Force from Washington in the summer of 1932. With most hope for the early payment of the bonus shattered, the dispersed veterans faced a bleak future. Concluding that starvation at home among friends and in familiar surroundings was the better alternative, many began the long journey home. One group of the marchers managed to return to San Antonio to find the city already over-burdened with destitute people. At first little improvement seemed possible for them.
San Antonio was a poor choice to take refuge from the economic crisis. A study made in the 1950's revealed that San Antonio had the worst record among Texas cities in providing public relief. Therefore, at first glance, the returning veterans had little hope for improvement. Despite the disadvantages, they did find a champion in the Tax Collector of Bexar County, Maury Maverick.
Maverick, himself a veteran of the First World War, had long been active in veteran affairs. Although he did not go to Washington with the Bonus Army, he supported the bonus demands, and he followed events in Washington very closely. Concerned about the method of eviction, he telegraphed a protest to President Hoover, comparing the episode to the Boston Massacre. He warned the President that conditions were very similar to the period just before the American Revolution. He further exhibited his concern when he sent fifty dollars, contributed by his mother, to the mayor of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where a group of marchers were staying temporarily. He told the mayor, "I commend your manly attitude for right and justice. The country applauds you."
Maverick's personal attitudes and his professional activities made him very much aware of the need for relief. As Tax Collector of Bexar County since 1930, he had ample opportunity to witness at first-hand the effects of the depression. After his election as Commander of the Sam Houston Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in October 1932, he was particularly concerned about the plight of all veterans and their families.
By the summer and fall of 1932 the condition of the San Antonio veteran was reaching the desperate stage. Matters of housing and unemployment, coupled with the increasing number of veterans returning from Washington made the situation very serious. In one week of September, the San Antonio Express reported sixteen eviction cases involving veterans. With few alternatives, some thirty veterans and their families simply moved into one of the city parks. City officials were concerned but little was done immediately.
It was at this time, apparently, that Maverick became involved. During a visit to the park, he was appalled to see people living without shelter, with improper clothing, and with almost no food. He was particularly distressed by the sight of the children, many of whom were ill. Mrs. Maverick said he felt something of a personal obligation. He was living comfortably despite the depression, but after seeing the children, he had trouble sleeping.
As local citizens became more concerned, action was finally taken in October. On October 5th, an executive committee of all veterans organizations in the city was created to care for the indigent veterans. For a short time, the committee spent much of its time and energy in dealing with the political implications of the veterans camp. Maverick, who had become an early leader in the work, received major support for his position when Governor Ross Sterling commissioned him on October 9th to represent the state in dealing with the veterans in San Antonio. The issue was finally settled locally on October 18th when Mayor C. M. Chambers appointed Maverick as Director of the War Veterans Relief Camp. The decision was not unanimously supported, however. Two members of the committee, fearful that Maverick would use his position for personal political gain, resigned to protest his appointment. One of the two, Dr. Ivey Stansell, declared that Maverick was no friend of the veteran and further stated, "I cannot under any circumstances be a party to allowing anyone to use the veterans for cheap newspaper publicity or for political purposes. . . ." Despite the objections, Maverick remained in control.
Ignoring as much as possible the political tempest, Maverick had already acted to alleviate the suffering of the veterans. One of the first actions was to move the camp from the totally inadequate location in Covington Park to the city fairgrounds at Exposition Park, where conditions were only slightly better, according to Maverick. The shelter available consisted only of barns and stables previously occupied by horses or cows.
Maverick spent most of his time at first in seeking public support. R. R. Rogers, the Camp Commander throughout the life of the experiment, proved to be a very able man on whom Maverick relied heavily for the day-to-day operation of the camp while he concentrated on obtaining the needed equipment and supplies. Maverick proved to be a very good solicitor. He acquired cast-off equipment from Fort Sam Houston and other local military bases; drugs came from local wholesalers; Dr. T. N. Goodson, Bexar County Health officer, took care of the camp's medical needs. Food was donated by businesses, charitable organizations, and private citizens.
At this time the camp was little more than a transient way-station where meals and temporary lodging were provided. Within a short time, however, a more permanent population developed, and the needs of the camp increased. To meet the growing demand for supplies and equipment, Maverick, as he put it, became very good at "chiseling" needed items.
A favorite and successful method of obtaining food was the "Grocery Ball," a public dance sponsored by the VFW where the admission price was the donation of some food item. Several of these "balls" were conducted at no cost since the hall and the musical entertainment were also donated. This meant, as Maverick liked to emphasize, that one hundred percent of the proceeds went to the aid of the veterans. On one occasion, the San Antonio News reported that a grocery ball netted two tons of food.
From the beginning Maverick realized that the Exposition Park location was inadequate. If the camp were to have any permanence, more adequate facilities would be needed soon. After searching the city, Maverick found an unused site with rail facilities, several buildings, land for garden and truck farming, and plentiful water. Some five miles from the city on Frio City Road, it seemed ideal. He was able to lease the thirty-five acres from the Humble Oil Company for one dollar per year. By the end of November, the move to the new location was completed and the name of the camp was changed to Diga Colony.
The change in location signalled a change in the nature of the camp. It now took on an air of permanence. While in the city it had concerned itself with immediate relief for impoverished veterans; now it resembled a community that might last indefinitely. More importantly, the structure, organization, and atmosphere of the camp changed. No longer was it to be a charity colony; it now developed into an original self-help community.
The first order of business was to build the community physically. From the Missouri Pacific Railroad Maverick obtained a number of boxcars which were moved to the site and converted into living accommodations. Land was put under cultivation; a medical clinic was established; a kindergarten was created for the younger children. The older children were bussed into San Antonio to attend the public schools.
The physical development of the colony was made possible by the talents of the residents. As Maverick liked to emphasize, the people attracted to Diga were not tramps or hoboes in the traditional sense. They were skilled people whose talents were no longer needed. Therefore, the camp not only provided relief, he believed, but it also helped restore self-respect by allowing the residents to use their own skills to build their own community. By March 1933 the colony reported sixty-five trades and professions among the 150 residents. By this time the colony had branched out into many other activities; it boasted, among other things, an auto repair shop, a blacksmith shop, a shoe repair shop, a commissary, and a carpenter shop.
One of the most publicized activities was the growing of mushrooms. The German-born wife of one of the residents, experienced in the mushroom culture, grew them on a large scale in the basement of one of the buildings. This unusual activity received much attention and attracted visitors from many places unfamiliar with the process. Not only did the mushrooms enrich the diet of the colony; for a time Diga sold them to several local hotels.
This kind of activity was exactly what Maverick hoped to achieve. The sale of produce and the barter of goods and services could make the colony independent. He believed it could succeed permanently only if it were free from outside control. Donations were solicited, but he continued to await the time when the colony would not need outside support.
Physically, the growth and success of the colony was astounding. In January 1933 Maverick reported the total value of the colony to be $39,000. This included forty-two homes valued at $21,000, a dining room valued at $2,000, shops worth $5,000, a water and sanitary system valued at $5,000, and animals worth $5,000. He further stated that all this had been accomplished within three months with no significant cash outlay. The publicity agent of Diga probably overstated the success two months later in an article for the Semi-Weekly Farm News when he wrote, "Thus the time has definitely passed when Diga was forced to assume the role of an orphan child, stretching forth a lean, weak hand for the city's alms.
For the residents of Diga, daily life and routine changed, partly because of the strict controls placed on them. Maverick, the non-resident Director, kept himself closely informed of developments from the daily census and the daily report prepared by Colony Commander R. R. Rogers. Organized along military lines the residents had to answer daily roll call, were assigned daily duties, and had to have a pass to leave the camp. Since the only excuse for a child's absence from school was illness, the parents were responsible to colony authorities for any infractions. Violation of the rules was subject to punishment, including expulsion from the camp. The records indicate occasional disruptions that resulted in expulsion for such violations as the failure to contribute wages or compensation to the colony treasury, and drunkenness, among others.
Despite the restrictions the residents benefitted in many ways. For those fortunate enough to live there a proper, though not elegant, diet was provided for their children, and reasonably comfortable housing was available. To many of the residents the acceptance of a few rules governing conduct seemed a small price to pay for such security in a world of insecurity.
Perhaps the most beneficial effect was that Diga helped to restore pride and to build morale. Residents could point with pride to what they had accomplished with their own hands. They had helped themselves, and no longer did they need to be ashamed of their misfortune.
Culturally, the colony also prospered. Musical groups were organized and often provided the entertainment for dances and other activities. At the peak of its existence Diga had its own mimeographed newspaper, the Diga Colony Gazette, "punlished [sic] ever so often." It was poorly done and was often childish and sometimes in bad taste. Seldom did it contain news or comment of significance. Yet, its very existence indicates a degree of permanence and development not often found in such communities.
Obviously, the Diga Colony that emerged in the new location was very much different from the War Veterans Relief Camp at Exposition Park. Not only did Diga concern itself with improving the living conditions of the individual veteran; it also took on ideological overtones. In its own small way, Diga was a challenge to the existing economic system.
The idea for Diga was Maverick's alone. Influenced by the League for Industrial Democracy, he coined the name Diga which he explained was "an anagram of the letters which stand for 'Agricultural and Industrial Democracy.'" He said it also meant that average citizens were given the "chance to dig ourselves out" of present conditions.
Diga's existence reflected the Texan's adherence to what Richard Hofstadter called the "agrarian myth." The belief in the innate value of rural life regained followers during the depression; the "back to the farm" movement was discussed widely and practiced occasionally. Certainly a part of Diga's existence was based on this idea. Maverick exhibited this sentiment where he said that "the only thing in which we can place any trust is Mother Earth." The motto of Diga also emphasized the agrarian tradition: "Civilization begins and ends with the plow." Diga was, however, more than a part of the "back to the farm" idea.
Under Maverick's leadership the new colony was communal in nature. Property was owned in common and everyone who received government compensation or who earned money in outside jobs was required to deposit a portion in the common treasury. Maverick declared, "The basic foundation of the colony is that he who does not work shall not eat. . . ." The records of Diga show the strictness of the policy; those who did not conform were expelled.
Maverick also attempted to create a society in which money was unnecessary. He was very proud that the colony was built with almost no monetary outlay; he was hopeful that the skill and products of Diga could be bartered in such a way that money would never be needed. In this matter, he failed. He said he tried to convince the residents that money was "just a snare and a delusion," that money "is merely a medium of exchange." He was never able to convince them that money has no value in itself. As he put it, "My barter vaccination didn't take."
Capitalism, as it had traditionally been practiced in this country, was to Maverick one of the basic causes for the economic crisis of the thirties. He hoped, therefore, to find an alternative to, or at least an acceptable modification of, capitalism.
To accomplish his goals, Maverick attempted to instruct the residents in some basic economics and politics. He claimed at one point that no attempt was made to control political ideas. As he put it, "Any person can be a capitalist, communist, democrat, socialist, or even a republican." Despite this disclaimer, he said in his autobiography that he subscribed to "various socialist and liberal papers, including The American Guardian. . . ." He also lectured the residents of the values of cooperation. They listened politely, ignored the periodicals, and grumbled that the Director was too radical.
Maverick was never able to penetrate the traditional American reverence for capitalism. He could repeat over and over that "human rights shall always be superior to property rights," or he could tell his friends that he "would take over any ism on earth if it would relieve conditions and protect the people." Yet, the impact of his views on the residents of Diga was minimal.
Maverick concluded that the people really had no ideological concepts other than an ingrained respect for the "American way." He best described them in the following manner:
Despite Maverick's inability to bring about a permanent change, Diga, during its short life, did achieve a great deal. It provided relief for a number of people, ranging from about thirty at the beginning to 171 at its peak on January 14, 1933. More than that, however, Diga also provided some assistance, mostly in food, to veterans living in the city. Diga was also successful enough to obtain federal funds. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, after January 1, 1933, contributed to the Diga Colony $150 per month or the equivalent of $3.00 per family. Robert Kelso, field director of the RFC, called Diga "one of the most effective demonstrations of self-help for the unemployed" he had seen in the country. Just how long the RFC aided the colony is not known.
Despite its accomplishments, Diga was doomed to ultimate failure although the exact date of its death is not clear. An undated clipping in the Maverick papers indicates that the colony was still in existence as late as October 1933. At that time a group from Diga asked Governor Miriam Ferguson to remove R. R. Rogers as Colony Commander because of mismanagement and discrimination against some residents. Maverick was no longer associated with Diga at this time.
Several important factors contributed to its failure. Maverick later said, "Two economies cannot exist side by side within a given area, especially a money and non-money one." Such ventures represent only a "patchwork economy" and cannot succeed in proximity to capitalism. "It has to be one or the other." Colonies and utopias can be successful, he believed, only if they are based on a religious faith or if they are isolated enough that they are not directly in contact with the rest of society.
Human nature being what it is, voluntary cooperation is a tenuous undertaking at best. As Maverick said, "Not a man in the crowd understood cooperation for the common good." Without such an understanding or some common bond, such as religion, petty jealousies and bickering are most difficult to overcome.
Diga failed also, he believed, because it was make-shift economics. As a small unit in a large nation, Diga could do little to correct the evils of capitalism. What happens in one part of the country has its impact everywhere else. "When a system is dead, it can't be revived, any more than you can revive the whole body by trying to revive the ears, toes, or hands of a corpse." Therefore, his efforts, he concluded, were doomed from the start.
Other than these reasons, however the failure of Diga can be attributed to other more immediate factors. Maverick was the dominant personality from the beginning; his constant involvement kept things on an even keel. This important presence was removed in April 1933 when he journeyed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for treatment of an old war wound. Without him the colony undoubtedly suffered. Another factor in undermining Diga was the increasing involvement of the federal government in relief. The RFC provided limited relief, but particularly significant was the massive direct federal aid available after Roosevelt took office. The presence of federal jobs helped undermine many self-help colonies.
Maverick was disappointed with its failure, but he was not sorry that he had undertaken it. He believed that Diga was valuable as a phase in the "story of the development of the American mind," and that it had influenced his own thought. Maverick further concluded that the colony was a great experience "because it involved doing a necessary work—and also was a laboratory that proved to my mind the utter futility of makeshift economics."
Diga was somewhat unique when compared with other communities or when viewed in the context of Texas in the thirties. Despite their Populist heritage, Texans have often been conservative, nationalistic, and suspicious of new ideas. It seems very strange that Diga could exist and receive so much attention without significant public concern about its ideological implications. It seems more unusual that any elected public official, but especially Maverick, could lead an attack upon the economic system without arousing a public outcry. Diga's peaceful life may indicate that the depression was so severe that most people were involved in personal matters almost exclusively.
In the final analysis, Diga was an attempt by a small group of men, one in particular, to face a crisis greater than ever before with little experience to guide them. The result was a truly humanitarian venture at a time when humanity seemed to matter little.
Donald W. Whisenhunt
He was a member of one of Texas's oldest and most famous families. His grandfather, like many Texans, emigrated from the South just before the Texas Revolution. He acquired large landholdings during the Texas Republic period, and he served in both the Texas Congress and in the Confederacy.
Samuel Maverick's lasting fame is because his name became synonymous with unbranded cattle. In 1847 he had let his cattle roam free, but in 1854 he and his eldest two sons rounded up these strays and drove them to a market site. Gradually the word "maverick" was used not only for unbranded cattle, but for any independent individual who does not go along with a group or party. The term has been used especially to describe many people in politics.
Maverick attended San Antonio schools, the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Texas Law School. During the First World War, he served in the Twenty-eighth Infantry and saw action as an officer in the Argonne offensive. He was wounded critically on two different occasions, injuries that caused him serious health problems for the rest of his life and probably contributed to his premature death in 1954 at age fifty-eight.
Maverick went into politics in the 1930s. He first served as tax collector of Bexar County (1930-1934), with San Antonio as its seat of government. He was congressman from the Twentieth District from 1935-1938, and he was mayor of San Antonio from 1939-1941. He was always too liberal for his constituency to be able to be reelected on a long-term basis. During the Second World War, he served as chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation from 1941-1946.
While he was tax collector of Bexar County, Maverick became concerned about the plight of the unemployed, both in his community and across the state of Texas. He first examined the unemployment and relief conditions in San Antonio. He found that Texas was a magnet for transient men, women, and children who were roaming about the country seeking a job and some moderate climate, much like Southern California and other states across the Deep South, especially Florida and the Southwest.
Then he bagman to branch out on day trips out of San Antonio. What he found appalled him. As he said, "Literally nothing was being done for the unemployed. Every side trip I took indicated this. So to get some more knowledge, I struck out on a real hobo trip." He was accompanied on his trip by two close friends from San Antonio. He describes this trip in detail in his autobiography.
All the while, Maverick was watching with interest the efforts of the world war veterans to obtain early payment of a bonus for their service that had been approved int he 1920s. The bonus was issued as an annuity that the men would receive in 1945 at a time when they mostly likely would be retired. In the hard times of the thirties, the veterans began to demand early payment. Political leaders in Washington showed little interest in the issue since they were not willing to incur the debt required to pay the bonus.
The veterans argued that early payment would keep them and their families from starving and that by putting so much money in circulation, the economy would be stimulated and the Depression would end. Despite their lack of understanding of the economic system, they made a compelling argument for millions of hungry and unemployed people. When Congress failed to act, a large contingent of the veterans marched on Washington in 1932 to demand action. Even though a newly elected congressman from Texas, Wright Patman, led the congressional fight, he was not able to prevail on his colleagues to pay the bonus.
The veterans in Washington did not know what to do. President Herbert Hoover and other national leaders appealed to them to return to their homes. A large number of veterans did leave Washington, but another large number settled down in Washington to wait for Congress to act, arguing that it was just as easy to starve in the shadow of the Capitol as it was to return home. Finally, in frustration and fearing an insurrection, Hoover ordered the military to remove the veterans from their shantytown.
Nothing could have been worse for Hoover's reelection chances or to make the veterans more sympathetic to a large segment of the American people than helpless veterans, who fifteen years earlier had fought for their country, being forcefully evicted from the nation's capital. The agitation continued, and the bonus was finally paid in 1936.
After his San Antonio experiment ended, Maverick ran for and was elected to Congress from his hometown. Once in that body, he became an ardent New Dealer, supporting almost all of Franklin Roosevelt's programs, even his controversial plan to "pack" the Supreme Court to obtain more favorable rulings from that body.
In 1936 Maverick became peripherally involved in a student movement originating at Princeton University. A group of Princeton students was upset about the early payment of the world war bonus in 1936. These young men created an organization they called the Veterans of Future Wars (VFW), an effort to caricature the real Veterans of Foreign Wars. They argued that since they would be the veterans of the next war, they should receive their bonus in advance since they would not be around to collect the bonus when the war was over.
Maverick was greatly amused by the student movement, and he tried to show his support for the group. He even spoke to a meeting of the student VFW at Princeton in April 1936 in which he praised them and advocated that they should seek all the money from the government that they could. He even promised to introduce legislation in Congress to pay the early bonus, but it is not clear if he actually did so.
Maverick proved to be too liberal for many of his constituents, but he did have enough support to be elected mayor of San Antonio where he served from 1939 to 1941. Maverick died an early death when the aftereffects of his wartime service took its toll. He died, still in his fifties, on June 7, 1954.
His early experience in running a self-help community helped to explain a lot about the man, and his community was a good example of the Utopian thinking and community building during the Great Depression.
The economic crisis of the thirties was so serious that new or unusual attempts to ease the suffering of the unfortunate was common. The creation of communes, cooperatives, and self-help communities, supported by private groups or local public agencies, occurred in many places. One of the most interesting and successful ventures was in San Antonio, Texas. The immediate stimulus for Maverick's San Antonio experiment was President Hoover's decision to evict the Bonus Expeditionary Force from Washington in the summer of 1932. With most hope for the early payment of the bonus shattered, the dispersed veterans faced a bleak future. Concluding that starvation at home among friends and in familiar surroundings was the better alternative, many began the long journey home. One group of the marchers managed to return to San Antonio to find the city already over-burdened with destitute people. At first little improvement seemed possible for them.
San Antonio was a poor choice to take refuge from the economic crisis. A study made in the 1950's revealed that San Antonio had the worst record among Texas cities in providing public relief. Therefore, at first glance, the returning veterans had little hope for improvement. Despite the disadvantages, they did find a champion in the Tax Collector of Bexar County, Maury Maverick.
Maverick, himself a veteran of the First World War, had long been active in veteran affairs. Although he did not go to Washington with the Bonus Army, he supported the bonus demands, and he followed events in Washington very closely. Concerned about the method of eviction, he telegraphed a protest to President Hoover, comparing the episode to the Boston Massacre. He warned the President that conditions were very similar to the period just before the American Revolution. He further exhibited his concern when he sent fifty dollars, contributed by his mother, to the mayor of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where a group of marchers were staying temporarily. He told the mayor, "I commend your manly attitude for right and justice. The country applauds you."
Maverick's personal attitudes and his professional activities made him very much aware of the need for relief. As Tax Collector of Bexar County since 1930, he had ample opportunity to witness at first-hand the effects of the depression. After his election as Commander of the Sam Houston Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in October 1932, he was particularly concerned about the plight of all veterans and their families.
By the summer and fall of 1932 the condition of the San Antonio veteran was reaching the desperate stage. Matters of housing and unemployment, coupled with the increasing number of veterans returning from Washington made the situation very serious. In one week of September, the San Antonio Express reported sixteen eviction cases involving veterans. With few alternatives, some thirty veterans and their families simply moved into one of the city parks. City officials were concerned but little was done immediately.
It was at this time, apparently, that Maverick became involved. During a visit to the park, he was appalled to see people living without shelter, with improper clothing, and with almost no food. He was particularly distressed by the sight of the children, many of whom were ill. Mrs. Maverick said he felt something of a personal obligation. He was living comfortably despite the depression, but after seeing the children, he had trouble sleeping.
As local citizens became more concerned, action was finally taken in October. On October 5th, an executive committee of all veterans organizations in the city was created to care for the indigent veterans. For a short time, the committee spent much of its time and energy in dealing with the political implications of the veterans camp. Maverick, who had become an early leader in the work, received major support for his position when Governor Ross Sterling commissioned him on October 9th to represent the state in dealing with the veterans in San Antonio. The issue was finally settled locally on October 18th when Mayor C. M. Chambers appointed Maverick as Director of the War Veterans Relief Camp. The decision was not unanimously supported, however. Two members of the committee, fearful that Maverick would use his position for personal political gain, resigned to protest his appointment. One of the two, Dr. Ivey Stansell, declared that Maverick was no friend of the veteran and further stated, "I cannot under any circumstances be a party to allowing anyone to use the veterans for cheap newspaper publicity or for political purposes. . . ." Despite the objections, Maverick remained in control.
Ignoring as much as possible the political tempest, Maverick had already acted to alleviate the suffering of the veterans. One of the first actions was to move the camp from the totally inadequate location in Covington Park to the city fairgrounds at Exposition Park, where conditions were only slightly better, according to Maverick. The shelter available consisted only of barns and stables previously occupied by horses or cows.
Maverick spent most of his time at first in seeking public support. R. R. Rogers, the Camp Commander throughout the life of the experiment, proved to be a very able man on whom Maverick relied heavily for the day-to-day operation of the camp while he concentrated on obtaining the needed equipment and supplies. Maverick proved to be a very good solicitor. He acquired cast-off equipment from Fort Sam Houston and other local military bases; drugs came from local wholesalers; Dr. T. N. Goodson, Bexar County Health officer, took care of the camp's medical needs. Food was donated by businesses, charitable organizations, and private citizens.
At this time the camp was little more than a transient way-station where meals and temporary lodging were provided. Within a short time, however, a more permanent population developed, and the needs of the camp increased. To meet the growing demand for supplies and equipment, Maverick, as he put it, became very good at "chiseling" needed items.
A favorite and successful method of obtaining food was the "Grocery Ball," a public dance sponsored by the VFW where the admission price was the donation of some food item. Several of these "balls" were conducted at no cost since the hall and the musical entertainment were also donated. This meant, as Maverick liked to emphasize, that one hundred percent of the proceeds went to the aid of the veterans. On one occasion, the San Antonio News reported that a grocery ball netted two tons of food.
From the beginning Maverick realized that the Exposition Park location was inadequate. If the camp were to have any permanence, more adequate facilities would be needed soon. After searching the city, Maverick found an unused site with rail facilities, several buildings, land for garden and truck farming, and plentiful water. Some five miles from the city on Frio City Road, it seemed ideal. He was able to lease the thirty-five acres from the Humble Oil Company for one dollar per year. By the end of November, the move to the new location was completed and the name of the camp was changed to Diga Colony.
The change in location signalled a change in the nature of the camp. It now took on an air of permanence. While in the city it had concerned itself with immediate relief for impoverished veterans; now it resembled a community that might last indefinitely. More importantly, the structure, organization, and atmosphere of the camp changed. No longer was it to be a charity colony; it now developed into an original self-help community.
The first order of business was to build the community physically. From the Missouri Pacific Railroad Maverick obtained a number of boxcars which were moved to the site and converted into living accommodations. Land was put under cultivation; a medical clinic was established; a kindergarten was created for the younger children. The older children were bussed into San Antonio to attend the public schools.
The physical development of the colony was made possible by the talents of the residents. As Maverick liked to emphasize, the people attracted to Diga were not tramps or hoboes in the traditional sense. They were skilled people whose talents were no longer needed. Therefore, the camp not only provided relief, he believed, but it also helped restore self-respect by allowing the residents to use their own skills to build their own community. By March 1933 the colony reported sixty-five trades and professions among the 150 residents. By this time the colony had branched out into many other activities; it boasted, among other things, an auto repair shop, a blacksmith shop, a shoe repair shop, a commissary, and a carpenter shop.
One of the most publicized activities was the growing of mushrooms. The German-born wife of one of the residents, experienced in the mushroom culture, grew them on a large scale in the basement of one of the buildings. This unusual activity received much attention and attracted visitors from many places unfamiliar with the process. Not only did the mushrooms enrich the diet of the colony; for a time Diga sold them to several local hotels.
This kind of activity was exactly what Maverick hoped to achieve. The sale of produce and the barter of goods and services could make the colony independent. He believed it could succeed permanently only if it were free from outside control. Donations were solicited, but he continued to await the time when the colony would not need outside support.
Physically, the growth and success of the colony was astounding. In January 1933 Maverick reported the total value of the colony to be $39,000. This included forty-two homes valued at $21,000, a dining room valued at $2,000, shops worth $5,000, a water and sanitary system valued at $5,000, and animals worth $5,000. He further stated that all this had been accomplished within three months with no significant cash outlay. The publicity agent of Diga probably overstated the success two months later in an article for the Semi-Weekly Farm News when he wrote, "Thus the time has definitely passed when Diga was forced to assume the role of an orphan child, stretching forth a lean, weak hand for the city's alms.
For the residents of Diga, daily life and routine changed, partly because of the strict controls placed on them. Maverick, the non-resident Director, kept himself closely informed of developments from the daily census and the daily report prepared by Colony Commander R. R. Rogers. Organized along military lines the residents had to answer daily roll call, were assigned daily duties, and had to have a pass to leave the camp. Since the only excuse for a child's absence from school was illness, the parents were responsible to colony authorities for any infractions. Violation of the rules was subject to punishment, including expulsion from the camp. The records indicate occasional disruptions that resulted in expulsion for such violations as the failure to contribute wages or compensation to the colony treasury, and drunkenness, among others.
Despite the restrictions the residents benefitted in many ways. For those fortunate enough to live there a proper, though not elegant, diet was provided for their children, and reasonably comfortable housing was available. To many of the residents the acceptance of a few rules governing conduct seemed a small price to pay for such security in a world of insecurity.
Perhaps the most beneficial effect was that Diga helped to restore pride and to build morale. Residents could point with pride to what they had accomplished with their own hands. They had helped themselves, and no longer did they need to be ashamed of their misfortune.
Culturally, the colony also prospered. Musical groups were organized and often provided the entertainment for dances and other activities. At the peak of its existence Diga had its own mimeographed newspaper, the Diga Colony Gazette, "punlished [sic] ever so often." It was poorly done and was often childish and sometimes in bad taste. Seldom did it contain news or comment of significance. Yet, its very existence indicates a degree of permanence and development not often found in such communities.
Obviously, the Diga Colony that emerged in the new location was very much different from the War Veterans Relief Camp at Exposition Park. Not only did Diga concern itself with improving the living conditions of the individual veteran; it also took on ideological overtones. In its own small way, Diga was a challenge to the existing economic system.
The idea for Diga was Maverick's alone. Influenced by the League for Industrial Democracy, he coined the name Diga which he explained was "an anagram of the letters which stand for 'Agricultural and Industrial Democracy.'" He said it also meant that average citizens were given the "chance to dig ourselves out" of present conditions.
Diga's existence reflected the Texan's adherence to what Richard Hofstadter called the "agrarian myth." The belief in the innate value of rural life regained followers during the depression; the "back to the farm" movement was discussed widely and practiced occasionally. Certainly a part of Diga's existence was based on this idea. Maverick exhibited this sentiment where he said that "the only thing in which we can place any trust is Mother Earth." The motto of Diga also emphasized the agrarian tradition: "Civilization begins and ends with the plow." Diga was, however, more than a part of the "back to the farm" idea.
Under Maverick's leadership the new colony was communal in nature. Property was owned in common and everyone who received government compensation or who earned money in outside jobs was required to deposit a portion in the common treasury. Maverick declared, "The basic foundation of the colony is that he who does not work shall not eat. . . ." The records of Diga show the strictness of the policy; those who did not conform were expelled.
Maverick also attempted to create a society in which money was unnecessary. He was very proud that the colony was built with almost no monetary outlay; he was hopeful that the skill and products of Diga could be bartered in such a way that money would never be needed. In this matter, he failed. He said he tried to convince the residents that money was "just a snare and a delusion," that money "is merely a medium of exchange." He was never able to convince them that money has no value in itself. As he put it, "My barter vaccination didn't take."
Capitalism, as it had traditionally been practiced in this country, was to Maverick one of the basic causes for the economic crisis of the thirties. He hoped, therefore, to find an alternative to, or at least an acceptable modification of, capitalism.
To accomplish his goals, Maverick attempted to instruct the residents in some basic economics and politics. He claimed at one point that no attempt was made to control political ideas. As he put it, "Any person can be a capitalist, communist, democrat, socialist, or even a republican." Despite this disclaimer, he said in his autobiography that he subscribed to "various socialist and liberal papers, including The American Guardian. . . ." He also lectured the residents of the values of cooperation. They listened politely, ignored the periodicals, and grumbled that the Director was too radical.
Maverick was never able to penetrate the traditional American reverence for capitalism. He could repeat over and over that "human rights shall always be superior to property rights," or he could tell his friends that he "would take over any ism on earth if it would relieve conditions and protect the people." Yet, the impact of his views on the residents of Diga was minimal.
Maverick concluded that the people really had no ideological concepts other than an ingrained respect for the "American way." He best described them in the following manner:
They had been suffering, hungry, without work, and were still suffering and without work. That seems to have been all they understood. As for any philosophy of government, they never heard of philosophy, and they thought government was something that sent you to war, made you pay taxes, or if it was a good one, paid bonuses and pensions.To radicalize people of this type was virtually impossible, as Maverick sadly learned. The residents had few ideological objections to the community because they had few convictions of their own. He explained their lack of sophistication about politics and economics in the following statement:
None had ever heard of socialism—except as some vague thing that was "bad." As for Communism, all they knew was that it was Russian, unpatriotic, and sinful. As for the word "collectivism," it was just a word that had gotten misplaced. In many contacts, I found that their idea of "capitalism" was a state of society in which you can be hungry for a while, but you will finally get a good job, and possibly have others that can either go hungry or work for you.As most Texans at that time, and perhaps as most Americans, they were basically pragmatic. He believed they would espouse virtually any cause if it offered relief; when conditions returned to normal, or even improved slightly, they reverted to their earlier views. Although Maverick made the following remarks about the transient population in general, he felt the same about most of the veterans at Diga: "What sickens me is that some of the men who rode the rods and have gotten jobs are now as reactionary as Du Ponts."
Despite Maverick's inability to bring about a permanent change, Diga, during its short life, did achieve a great deal. It provided relief for a number of people, ranging from about thirty at the beginning to 171 at its peak on January 14, 1933. More than that, however, Diga also provided some assistance, mostly in food, to veterans living in the city. Diga was also successful enough to obtain federal funds. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, after January 1, 1933, contributed to the Diga Colony $150 per month or the equivalent of $3.00 per family. Robert Kelso, field director of the RFC, called Diga "one of the most effective demonstrations of self-help for the unemployed" he had seen in the country. Just how long the RFC aided the colony is not known.
Despite its accomplishments, Diga was doomed to ultimate failure although the exact date of its death is not clear. An undated clipping in the Maverick papers indicates that the colony was still in existence as late as October 1933. At that time a group from Diga asked Governor Miriam Ferguson to remove R. R. Rogers as Colony Commander because of mismanagement and discrimination against some residents. Maverick was no longer associated with Diga at this time.
Several important factors contributed to its failure. Maverick later said, "Two economies cannot exist side by side within a given area, especially a money and non-money one." Such ventures represent only a "patchwork economy" and cannot succeed in proximity to capitalism. "It has to be one or the other." Colonies and utopias can be successful, he believed, only if they are based on a religious faith or if they are isolated enough that they are not directly in contact with the rest of society.
Human nature being what it is, voluntary cooperation is a tenuous undertaking at best. As Maverick said, "Not a man in the crowd understood cooperation for the common good." Without such an understanding or some common bond, such as religion, petty jealousies and bickering are most difficult to overcome.
Diga failed also, he believed, because it was make-shift economics. As a small unit in a large nation, Diga could do little to correct the evils of capitalism. What happens in one part of the country has its impact everywhere else. "When a system is dead, it can't be revived, any more than you can revive the whole body by trying to revive the ears, toes, or hands of a corpse." Therefore, his efforts, he concluded, were doomed from the start.
Other than these reasons, however the failure of Diga can be attributed to other more immediate factors. Maverick was the dominant personality from the beginning; his constant involvement kept things on an even keel. This important presence was removed in April 1933 when he journeyed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for treatment of an old war wound. Without him the colony undoubtedly suffered. Another factor in undermining Diga was the increasing involvement of the federal government in relief. The RFC provided limited relief, but particularly significant was the massive direct federal aid available after Roosevelt took office. The presence of federal jobs helped undermine many self-help colonies.
Maverick was disappointed with its failure, but he was not sorry that he had undertaken it. He believed that Diga was valuable as a phase in the "story of the development of the American mind," and that it had influenced his own thought. Maverick further concluded that the colony was a great experience "because it involved doing a necessary work—and also was a laboratory that proved to my mind the utter futility of makeshift economics."
Diga was somewhat unique when compared with other communities or when viewed in the context of Texas in the thirties. Despite their Populist heritage, Texans have often been conservative, nationalistic, and suspicious of new ideas. It seems very strange that Diga could exist and receive so much attention without significant public concern about its ideological implications. It seems more unusual that any elected public official, but especially Maverick, could lead an attack upon the economic system without arousing a public outcry. Diga's peaceful life may indicate that the depression was so severe that most people were involved in personal matters almost exclusively.
In the final analysis, Diga was an attempt by a small group of men, one in particular, to face a crisis greater than ever before with little experience to guide them. The result was a truly humanitarian venture at a time when humanity seemed to matter little.
Donald W. Whisenhunt
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