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E. S. RATLIFF
Vol. 3, p. 1009

Aside from a successful record as a lawyer and his position as a
wise and able mayor of Ada, two achievements of Mr. RATLIFF
distinguish him among representative, high class citizens of
Oklahoma. One of these was his membership in the first and second
state legislatures, at which sessions were adopted so many important
fundamental laws which served to vitalize the many forward-looking
provisions of the constitution. Probably of even greater importance
was his service in conceiving and giving effect to the idea and plan
of the Municipal League of Oklahoma, an organization that has
contributed much to properly conducted municipal government, and one
issue of which has been the extension division of the State
University to promote the study of municipal problems. As a member of
the First Legislature, to which he was elected from Pontotoc and
Seminole counties without opposition, Mr. Ratliff was author of the
law that provided for the transfer of cases from the Federal courts
of Oklahoma and Indian Territory to the proper state courts that had
been created by the constitution. As a member of the Second
Legislature he, jointly with Senator Jesse HATCHETT of Durant, was
author of the anti-nepotism bill that became a law. In that
legislature also he secured for Ada the location of the East Central
State Normal School and an appropriation of $100,000 for the erection
of the first building. He was chairman of the Committee on Private
Corporations and vice chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings.
Some of his advanced ideas on municipal government are embodied in
the Ada commission form of government charter, and he was the first
mayor elected under that charter.

Mr. Ratliff is president of the Municipal League of Oklahoma, with
Guy E. BLACKWELDER of Oklahoma City as secretary. While this league
has done a great and important work in Oklahoma since its
organization, it will not be out of place to mention here the objects
of the organization. These objects as stated in the league's
constitution are in general "the general improvement and facilitation
of every branch of municipal administration by the following means:
First, the perpetuation of the organization as an agency for the
cooperation of Oklahoma cities and towns in the practical study of
all questions pertaining to municipal administration; Second, the
holding of annual conventions for the discussion of municipal
affairs; Third, the establishment and maintenance of a central bureau
of information for the collection and compilation and dissemination
of statistics, reports and all kinds of information relative to
municipal government." Practically all the progressive towns and
cities of Oklahoma are now active members of this league, in addition
to hundreds of individuals who have official relations with or are
otherwise interested in municipal improvement and affairs. The bureau
of information, of which the league's secretary has active charge,
has been engaged in collecting reports and other data concerning
municipal operations in Oklahoma and from other states, and this
information is at the service of all the towns and cities of the
state, and the officials of every such corporation thus have access
to data and experience which enable them to avoid many of the usual
difficulties of municipal administration and keeps the examples of
the most progressive localities constantly before them as a stimulus
and guide.

Mr. E. S. Ratliff was born in Hickam County, Tennessee, March 26,
1878, a son of Marcus L. and Narcissus Jane (BEASLEY) Ratliff. His
father, a native of Tennessee, a number of years ago moved to Texas,
and is now a successful farmer and stockman at Stamford in that
state. Mr. Ratliff's grandfather was John Ratliff, who was devoted to
the southern cause and served throughout the war in the Confederate
army.

The public school education of Mr. Ratliff was acquired partly in
Tennessee and partly in Texas. For fifteen years his home was at
Valley View in the Latter state. At the conclusion of the course in
the public schools he entered the University of Texas, and graduated
from the law department in 1903. He has two terms of school teaching
to his credit, one before he entered the university and one after
completing his studies.

In 1904 Mr. Ratliff located at Ada and began the practice of law,
and he has for ten years been regarded as one of the best qualified
attorneys in that section of the state. However, his active part in
public affairs has brought him his chief recognition over the state
at large. He was a leader in the democratic party in the election of
delegates to the constitutional convention, and was elected a member
of the First State Legislature in 1907 and re-elected in 1908,
serving throughout the Second Legislature. He subsequently resumed
the practice of law and gave practically all his time to the
profession until 1912. In that year he was elected mayor of Ada under
the new commission charter, and in 1914 was re-elected for a second
term of two years. During his administration he has reduced the tax
levy from seven mills to five mills, and has completed a municipal
water system that from the standpoint of supply and method of
conducting water to the city is probably the most ideal in the state.
The position of mayor combines that of commissioner of justice and
safety. There are two other commissioners: W. E. CONGER, commissioner
of accounting and finance; and H. C. EVANS, commissioner of public
works and public property. The commission has by ordinance adopted
initiative, referendum and recall provisions, the latter providing
that a recall petition must be initiated by at least ten freeholders
and petitions must be signed in the city hall, thus dispensing with
the system of circulating petitions. Senator RODDIE of Ada made an
effort to get this novel feature of the ordinance adopted into the
state laws. Students of municipal problems will probably regard this
requirement for the signing of petitions as an advanced step of many
obvious advantages, since it is well known that circulated petitions
often do not adequately represent a real public opinion.

Mr. Ratliff was married in May, 1906, to Miss Catherine UNDERWOOD of
Valley View, Texas. They have two children: Louis, aged eight, and
Catherine, aged six. Mr. Ratliff has six brothers and three sisters:
John B. Ratliff, a traveling salesman living at Amarillo, Texas; L.
D. Ratliff, a lawyer at Decatur, Texas; W. H. Ratliff, a Dallas
lawyer; Charles Ratliff, a farmer-stockman at Stamford, Texas; Mrs.
Roy LONG, wife of a farmer at Valley View; Mrs. Eva JEFFRIES, whose
husband is a stockman at Bastrop, Texas; B. E. Ratliff, a farmer at
Stamford; Miss Albin Ratliff and Ellis Ratliff, both living at home
with their parents at Stamford.

Mr. Ratliff is a member of the Christian Church, and is affiliated
with the lodges of the Elks, the Woodmen of the World and the Moose
at Ada, being president of the Elks lodge. He is also president of
the local bar association, is a member of the Ada Commercial Club,
and the Pontotoc County Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association
and the Lincoln Highway Association. A few years ago while living at
Stonewall, Oklahoma, he was for two years city attorney. He is a
valuable and progressive citizen of the town and county, as this
brief sketch adequately proves, and ranks high among the municipal
officials of the state.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy Marie Tenaza, Dec. 13, 1998.