THE ORIGIN OF "O.K."

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2904, 31 January 1911, Page 7

THE ORIGIN OF "0.K."

IT BEGAN AS A TRADE MARK FOR HARD TACK. The death at Toledo recently of Cornelius Kendall, formerly of Chicago, recalls what is probably the trae story of the origin of the symbols "0.K." as a sign of approval or correctness. These symbols are now used throughout the English-speaking world by all sorts of inspectors, revisers, auditors, etc., and as a spoken phrase have passed into common speech. The outbreak of the Civil War, in which Cornelius Kendall served in the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, there was a large bakery in Chicago,' of which his father, Orrin Keadall, was the founder and head. The firm name was O. Kendall and Sons, and the factory was at the south-west corner of Washington and Dearborn Streets.

The putting of armies into the field made a large, special, and immediate demand upon the baking plants for what used to be called "ship bread," or "hard bread." This is bread made simply of flour and water, and baked hard. " Shortening" is left out because it becomes rancid. Yeast is left out because it adds to bulk and "sours." Some times even salt is left out because of attracting moisture. The object was to get a bread ration that would "keep" and be portable. The result is what has become known as "hard tack," now seldom seen by civilians, and little used even on ships or in armies, but formerly the "staff of life" for sailors on long voyages and soldiers on active marching service.

The firm of 0. Kendall and Sons naturally went into hard-tack making. Its crackers had been stamped "0.K." and the mark was still used. Either it was more skilful than other makers, or it suereeded in making more regular deliveries of fresh goods to the armies in the field. At any rate, the opinion spread among the soldiers that "0.K." hard tack was better than the average. The spoken phrase "0.K." became current army slang, and the soldiers brought it back in civil occupation as a verbal and graphic convenience.