WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN RICHARD A. ERNEY, Director Officers

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Board of Curators Ex Officio MARTIN J. SCHREIHER, Acting Governor of the State EDWIN YOUNG, President of the Unixiersily DOUGLAS ]. LAFOL[.I i ii.. Secretary of Stale MRS. L. PRENTICE EAGER, JR., President of the CHARLES P. SMITH, Slate Treasurer Women's Auxiliary

Term Expires, 1978

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ON THE COVER: Belle Case La Follette, her daughter Mary, and Ii'vine L. Lenroot, photographed on the La Follette farm in Maple Bluff, Madison, 1906. A study of Lenroot's role in the Re­ publican national convention of 1920 begins on page 21. [WHi (XL51) 73] Volume 61, Number 1 / Autumn, 1977 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Published quarterly by the State Historical Society o£ A Utopian Kingdom in the American Grain Wisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Robert P. Weeks Distributed to members as part of their dues. (Annual member­ ship, .flO, or .|7.50 for those Irvine L. Lenroot and the Republican over 65 or members of affiliated Vice-Presidential Nomination of 1920 21 societies; family membership, 112.50, or .f 10 for those over 65 or Herbert F. Margulies members of affiliated societies; contributing, .f25; business and professional, .KO; sustaining, Art Young: •ilOO or more annually; patron, Cartoonist from the Middle Border 32 1500 or more annually.) Single numbers from Volume 57 Richard W. Cox on are .12. Microfilmed copies available through University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Book Reviews 59 Michigan 48106; reprints of Volumes 1 through 20 and most Book Review Index 81 issues of Volumes 21 through 56 are available from Kraus Wisconsin History Checklist 82 Reprint Company, Route 100, Millwood, New York 10546. Contributors 88 Communications should be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Second- class postage paid at Madison and Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Copyright © 1977 by the State Historical Society ot Wisconsin. Paid for in part by the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. Burrows Fund.

PAUL H. HASS EDITOR

WILLIAM C. MARTEN ASSOCIATE EDITOR

JOHN O. HOLZHUETER ASSISTANT EDITOR s&.-**^^ - », = I 'i i V • k 4

WHi (X3) 3225- Font Lake on Beaver Island, Michigan, ca. 1910. A Utopian Kingdom in the American Grain

By Robert P. Weeks

HE Mormon kingdom established on Beaver Island, Strang literally created a by King Strang on Beaver Island kingdom: he preached up and down the east­ in northern Lake Michigan in the 1850's is ern seaboard, sending streams of converts from usually depicted as a wildly eccentric scheme New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, as conceived by a gifted mountebank who operat­ well as from states adjoining Michigan, toward ed on the fringes of American society. There his island kingdom; he used political cunning is much to support this view. Tlie King had and his skills as a lawyer to rid the island of no dynasty; he built his kingdom from scratch, non-Mormons, acquire land without paying for when Joseph Smith was assassinated in for it, redraw political boundaries to his lik­ 1844, James Jesse Strang was not among The ing, and twice get elected to the state legis­ Twelve, the top leadership of the Mormon lature; he functioned as a prolific prophet of Church. He was only thirty-three years old God, transmitting myriad divine messages, in­ and had belonged to the church less than six cluding one ordering him to set up the king­ months. It is a tribute to Strang's gifts as dom of God on earth and to install himself leader, organizer, and preacher that within on the throne; and when the President of the months of Smith's death, Strang became United States, in an effort to topple the King­ Brigham Young's chief rival to succeed Smith. dom of Saint James, used a U.S. Attorney and During the protracted and bitter battle over the U.S. Navy to invade the island, arrest succession, Strang excommunicated Young, Strang and bring him and a number of his branding him a polygamist; and by skillfully Saints to trial in Detroit, Strang marshaled his exploiting a letter from Smith allegedly desig­ followers with such calmness, tact, and legal nating Strang his successor, Strang won over skill that he made the episode the climax of Smith's mother and brother as well as other his career.' leading Mormons, including three of The Twelve. Although Strang's claims eventually fizzled ^ For the most extensive account of Strang's career, out, during the ten years following Smith's see Milo M. Quaife, The Kingdom of St. James: A Narrative of the Mormons (New Haven, 1930). See assassination James Jesse Strang led a remark­ Conan Bryant Eaton, "A King Sleeps in Wisconsin," able career as prophet and king. Instead of in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 40: 107-112 heading toward the West as the Brigharaites (Winter, 1956-1957), for a brief review of Strang's did, the Strangites settled first in Voree, a career; and Charles O. Burgess, "Green Bay and the Utopian community near Burlington, Wiscon­ Mormons of Beaver Island," ibid., 42: 39-49 (Autumn, 1958), for a view of the Strang colony as seen from sin, and then moved to Beaver Island. Wisconsin. A brief biography that updates Quaife During the eight years the Strangites were is Robert P. Weeks, King Strang (Ann Arbor, 1971). Daguerreotype portrait of James Jesse Strang, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Despite his undeniable accomplishments, Brigham Young of polygamy, but ends his own the picture that has come down to us of Strang career with five wives; he issues a strict dress- and his kingdom focuses rather steadily on its code for his subjects, horsewhipping tliose who circus elements, on what is opportunistic, in­ wear finery while he himself sports a crimson consistent, and bizarre: Strang seeks to become robe and jewelled crown; he studies law, serves head of the Mormon Church by accusing as a township supervisor and state legislator WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM but solves his most troublesome political prob­ This theme of America as an experiment— lems not by winning elections or enacting laws and a successful one—or as a kind of social but by issuing divine revelations. laboratory for testing new communal arrange­ All the elements of this picture are true, ments, is a bright strand running through but by stressing the quixotic, by looking nar­ the fabric of our history. More than a half cen­ rowly at Strang as a colorful flim-flam artist, tury before his interview with Martineau, this portrayal fails to capture what is most Madison himself had defended the new Con­ significant about him: the degree to which he stitution against the attacks of his fellow expresses certain powerful forces that shaped Virginian Patrick Henry by declaring that "ex­ the intellectual climate of his time. When we periments must be made." In fact, of all the place Strang in the political, social, and re­ freedoms for which America stood, perhaps ligious context of mid-nineteenth-century none was more significant "than the freedom America, he is not on the fringes but very to experiment with new practices and new in­ much in the American grain. For his kingdom stitutions."'' illustrates-the power of four distinct elements With tlie Founding Fathers as example and of our national experience: the experimental inspiration, nineteenth-century Americans ex­ spirit of the Founding Fathers, the utopianism tended the spirit of experimentation from of various nineteenth-century sects and so­ political institutions to virtually every aspect cialist groups, the wild enthusiasm of Amer­ of their lives: diet, religion, marriage and ican revivalism, and certain central features sexual customs, economic arrangements, child of that most American of religions—Mormon­ rearing. And they created hundreds of ex­ ism. The purpose of this essay is to place perimental communities, some with outland- Strang and his kingdom in this context, thus isli names: Ephrata, Nasoba, Zoar, Voree, Ica- making them more believable and more mean­ ria, Nauvoo, Bohemia Manor, and The Wom­ ingful and as a consequence more deserving an in the Wilderness. Others had winsome of serious attention. names: Fruitlands, Equity, Harmony, Econo­ my, Utopia, and Modern Times. All were expressions of the experimentation that was in the American air. It stirred first in New Eng­ N the early spring of 1835, James land, especially Massachusetts and New York, I Madison, fourth President of the from which it flowed in a westerly direction United States and chief architect of the Con­ through Pennsylvania and Ohio, eventually stitution, agreed to be interviewed by the Eng­ reaching every region of the country with the lish writer Harriet Martineau. The interview exception of the deep South. The two decades took place in Madison's handsome house in prior to the Civil War saw the most feverish Montpelier, Virginia. Madison, eighty-six activity. Shakers, Rappites, Owenites, Fourier- years old and frail, was described by Martineau ists, Inspirationists, Perfectionists, Associa- as "sitting in his chair with a pillow behind tionists, and hosts of others launched their him; his little person wrapped in a black silk brave new worlds. In a famous letter to gown; a warm gray and white cap upon his Thomas Carlyle in 1840, Ralph Waldo Emer­ head, gray worsted gloves" on his rheumatic son commented on this phenomenon: "We are hands. all a little wild here with numberless projects Martineau writes that she sat "at the arm of social reform. Not a reading man but has of his chair," for she was nearly stone deaf a draft of a new Community in his waistcoat and used a hearing trumpet that consisted pocket."'' of an earpiece connected to a flexible tube that she handed to the person talking to her. She ^ Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel asked the elderly Madison about America's (London, 1838), I: 190; Martineau, Society in America role in history. He placed the ivory cup of the (London, 1837), I: 1. hearing device to his lips and said of the ' .\rthur Bestor, Backwoods Utopias (Philadelphia, country he had helped found that the United 1970), 1. States was "useful in proving things before ' The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872 (London, 1883), I: 308. held impossible."2 The literature dealing with these new communities is wrSCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Just as the Founding Fathers were indispens­ In Scipio, another town in the Burnt Dis­ able as models of the experimental approach, trict, James Jesse Strang, a farmboy of ten, the great revivalists of the eighteenth and was unaware that God, Jesus, and an angel nineteentli centuries, for example Jonathan named Moroni had just visited Joseph Smith Edwards and Charles Grandison Finney, creat­ in nearby Palmyra; however, Strang, an alert, ed an atmosphere of excitement, enthusiasm, sensitive boy, was quite aware of the religious and expectation that fostered the experimental ferment in upstate New York. He has left a mood. Nowhere did the flames of revivalism record of his feelings—his religious doubts, his burn hotter than in western New York, an ambitions, his philosophical musings—in a area known as the Burnt District or Burnt diary he kept as an adolescent and young Over Region. Camp meetings and revival adult. services drew hundreds and sometimes even Early in 1835, at approximately the same thousands to a rural setting where marathon time that Harriet Martineau was visiting sermons were preached, where sinners con­ Madison, Strang, then twenty-two, wrote in fessed their sins and were converted in a his diary: "I have rejoiced in the sunshine frenzy of religious enthusiasm. Tlien, several and smiled in the shade of another year. . . . months later, a new evangelist would appear, It is gone . . . passed as others have passed their and the flames would leap again, Methodists, days who have died in obscurity." Then he Baptists, and Presbyterians vying with each added fervently, "Curse me eternally if that other in soul-saving showmanship. be my fate. I know it is in my power to make it otherwise." Men and women were being miraculously regenerated all around him, whole new societies were springing to life, the ORMONISM came out of the air was tonic with experimentation—and M fires of the Burnt District. Its young Strang hankered to be part of it all. founder, Joseph Smith, grew up in the village Three years earlier he wrote: "I am 19 years of Palmyra, New York. His father, who old and am yet no more than a common farm­ switched from Universalism to Methodism and er. 'Tis too bad. I ought to have been a then to Presbyterianism, and who had what member of the assembly or a Brigadier Gen­ he called visions, kept a small shop and did eral before this time if I am ever to rival odd jobs on the side. Father and son spent Caesar or Napoleon which I have sworn to." much of their time hunting for buried treasure (The four underscored words were written in or lost articles with a forked stick, preferably a cipher of Strang's invention not fully de­ of witch hazel and preferably in the summer; coded until 1961.) Later that spring he con­ Joseph, Sr., believed that the heat of the sun fided to his diary in his private cipher: "I drew gold and silver coins to the earth's sur­ have spent the day in trying to contrive some face. They found little, although in digging plan of obtaining in marriage the heir to the a well, the son once found a small, glasslike English crown."^ (He refers to the future object that local superstition called a "peek Queen Victoria, then twelve years old.) stone," because it was supposed to enhance vision and give its possessor supernatural power. In 1823, when he was seventeen years extensive. Two basic works are Charles Nordhoff, The old, young Smith was startled by a visitor to Communistic Societies of the United States; from Per­ sonal Visit and Observation (New York, 1966; first his bedroom in the middle of the night. It published in 1875); and John Humphrey Noyes, His­ was an angel named Moroni come to inform tory of American Socialism (New York, 1961; first him that God had written a new Bible on published in 1870). Three more recent studies that golden plates and buried it in a nearby hill. link Mormonism and utopianism are V. F. Calverton, Where Angels Dared to Tread (Indianapolis, 1941); Using his peek stone, young Smith located Mark Holloway, Heavens on Earth: Utopian Cotnmu- and dug up the plates; and, with the help nities in America, 1680-1880 (London, 1951); and Alice of two more peek stones provided by Moroni, Felt Tyler, Freedom's Ferment: Phases of American he translated them as The Book of Mormon, Social History from the Colonial Period to the Out­ and became the founder of the Church of break of the Civil War (New York, 1962). •^ Mark A. Strang, ed., The Diary of James J. Strang Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (East Lansing, Michigan, 1961), 50-51, 17, 19. WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM

When we consider these four critical ele­ he gave him the keys of the Melchizek priest­ ments of Strang's intellectual milieu—political hood, and promised Strang that he would walk experimentation, advocated by the likes of with Moses, Enoch, and Elijah, and talk with James Madison; Utopian communities prolif­ God face to face. It was not quite like being erating across the East and the Old Northwest; married to the heir to the British throne, but fiery revivalism an everyday occurrence, es­ it had possibilities. Especially in 1844; for pecially in northwestern New York; and dra­ Nauvoo seethed with political intrigue and matic divine intervention raising Joe Smith violent anti-Mormon feeling. Clearly, the to the leadership of a major sect—the course of sect could not last much longer in Nauvoo. Strang's career becomes not only understand­ When Strang proposed to Joseph Smith and able but almost unexceptional. his brother Hyrum that he found a Mormon colony near Burlington, they promptly made him an elder of the church and urged him to report on the possibilities to the north. HE year after he had sworn to Strang's report from Burlington came too rival Caesar or Napoleon, Strang late for Joseph Smith to do much about it. On took up the study of law. But this was not June 27, a few days after receiving it, Joseph at the expense of his lofty ambitions, for his and Hyrum were killed by a mob in Carthage, diary contains this entry written after Strang Illinois. Smith had been such a colorful, liad devoted less than a month to Blackstone's powerful leader that to many his death meant Commentaries: "I should rather be the best the end of Mormonism. James Gordon Ben­ hunter in an Indian tribe than a commonplace nett, editor of the New York Herald, wrote in member of the New York bar." After two his obituary: "The death of the modern years of studying law, Strang ran for consta- Mahomet will seal the fate of Mormonism. ]ble, a post paying |300 per year, and was de­ They cannot get another Joe Smith.'"^ feated. Even before he was admitted to the True, Smith was remarkable; but so was bar in October, 1836, it was apparently clear James Jesse Strang. In this awful crisis of the to Strang that the courtrooms of rural New young church, only he responded with what York were too cramped and too tame for one amounted to joy as he announced that he had with his talents—and ambitions. (He wrote in in hand a letter from Smith naming him as his diary, "I have not seen enough of the Smith's divinely chosen successor. And it was world; played enough wild pranks, nor acted done with style: the beating wings of angels my part of its contention."^) Restless, frus­ and "celestial musick" set the divine tone; trated, hungry for adventure, he did what Smith's signature and the dated Nauvoo can­ thousands of other Americans of his time and cellation clinched the authenticity. circumstances were doing: he headed for the The letter, folded and sealed within a sheet frontier. of paper postmarked "Nauvoo, June 19th," During his first winter in the west, he at- describes how Smith was "borne on wings of teirded a Mormon meeting in Burlington, chertimbins" high above the Illinois country­ Wisconsin Territory, to hear one of Joseph side for a meeting with God, who cryptically Smith's apostles known as "The Wild Ram of predicted Smith's impending assassination, the Mountains." He saw the Wild Ram move then pointed the divine finger at "James J. his listeners to religious ecstasy. We do not Strang" as the one who "shall plant a stake know whether Strang was himself moved or of Zion in Wisconsin . . . and there shall my simply envious, but we do know that he was people have peace and rest and shall not be sufficiently interested in Mormonism to jour­ moved for it shall be established on the prairie ney southward 200 miles to Nauvoo, Illinois, on white river in the lands of Racine and where, after talking to Joseph Smith, he was Walworth." Smith closes his letter to Strang: baptized a Mormon. It was February, 1844, and Joseph had but five months to live. As he baptized Strang, the Prophet said that ' Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet (New York, "Ibid., 53. 1946), 397. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

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Courtesy of the author Second and final page of tlie controverted letter, in which Joseph Smith allegedly charges James Jesse Strang to lead the Mormon flock to "pleasant pastures."

"if evil befall me thou shalt lead the flock to pleasant pastures."^ OT surprisingly, James Jesse It is not too much to claim that in the N Strang exploited the letter to the history of organized religion in the New fullest as documentary proof of the legitimacy World few letters have possessed the vast po­ of his claim. He carried it from town to town tential consequences of this one. The legiti­ across mid-America, much as a medieval par­ macy of the leadership of a major American— doner might carry his relics: a piece of the and world—church hinges on the validity of Cross, a drop of the Lord's blood, or one of this letter. If it is valid, then Brigham Young the thorns from His crown. Prophet Strang and his successors have defied the unmistak­ exhibited the letter in the major cities of the ably clear mandate of the founder of their eastern seaboard. He claimed that a hundred religion; they are usurpers whose millions of thousand witnesses were ready to bear testi­ followers have been duped. mony as to its validity. Brigham Young was also keenly aware of the significance of that "Quaife, Kingdom of Saint James, 235-237. letter; and those pressing his claims to the sue- WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM cession did their utmost to prove it a fake. flights of angels and more than that letter: he In the mid-twentieth century, the controversy needed a testament. This was underscored by over the authenticity of the letter has focused the fact that his chief rival to succeed Smith, on four elements of the letter: the postmark, Brigham Young, humbly acknowledged that the handwriting, the paper, and the style. he was no prophet. The most that the "Lion When one looks at the letter today—it is of the Lord" would say at that time was that preserved along with an immense body of he was a good hand to keep the dogs and other Strang material in the Coe Collection of wolves out of the flock. As the battle of suc­ the Yale University Library—there is at first cession heated up, Strang set up a Mormon glance little to arouse one's suspicions. It con­ community named, in accordance with Smith's sists of two sheets of ordinary foolscap with letter, Voree. He toured the favorite Mormon writing on pages one, two, and three. The recruiting grounds, cities like Boston, Phila­ fourth page is the address-leaf, containing delphia, Washington, Baltimore, and New Strang's name and address, the postage rate, York, preaching and displaying Smith's letter. and the Nauvoo postmark handstamped in red His first converts came from the collapsing ink. One might be somewhat suspicious that Nauvoo, then the stream from the East be­ the body of the letter is hand-printed whereas gan. Within a year of Smith's death, Strang Smith's signature is script. But he might infer presided over a semicommunistic community that Smith, a busy man, had the body of the of several hundred faithful Saints on the letter written by a clerk, a common practice White River west of Burlington in the rich in the nineteenth century. farmlands of southeastern Wisconsin. But there was still no testament, no Strangite sup­ To present-day experts in handwriting and plement to The Book of Mormon. nineteenth-century letters, Strang's "letter of appointment" is an ingenious mixture of the There were, however, as early as January genuine and the bogus. The sheet containing of 1845, indications that if his followers were the address and the postmark is beyond dis­ faithful, Strang would receive "the plates of pute genuine. But the second sheet consists the ancient records." In the fall of that year, of a different kind of paper that does not he summoned four of the most reliable Saints match the genuine sheet. Moreover, those who —Aaron Smith, Jirah B. Wheelan, James M. have read authentic Joseph Smith letters—and Van Nostrand, and Edward Whitcomb—led they are numerous, for he was an active cor­ them to an oak tree, and told them to dig. respondent—find that the style, not of penman­ When the blades of their shovels clanged ship but of composition, differs significantly against some metal plates, when these were from Smith's. More crucially, they conclude found to be covered with the markings of an that Smith's signature is a forgery. It is not exotic language, when Strang received from Smith's, yet it bears certain marked resem­ an angel two stones with which he was able blances to the handwriting in the body of the to translate this "lost Levantine" language, letter. when he disclosed that it was holy writ from one of the lost tribes of Israel that had mi­ From all this, one is forced to conclude that grated to North America in 600 B.C.—at each Strang—or an accomplice—began with the stage of the process his followers were aston­ genuine address sheet which had been used to ished. The whole process virtually duplicated wrap a letter to Strang. (It was a common Smith's discovery of The Book of Mormon nineteenth-century practice to use a single twenty-two years earlier; indeed the angel even sheet to perform what we would use an en­ provided Strang with Urim and Thummim, velope for today.) Strang—or his accomplice- the same two peek stones Smith had used. But supplemented this genuine sheet with another instead of raising suspicion, it had an opposite that resembled it closely, then wrote the body of the letter on both sheets and signed it with Smith's signature. Hence, from one genuine address sheet, a bogus letter was constructed.^ " The most extended modern analysis of the letter is by Charles Eberstadt, "A Letter That Founded a To be a full-fledged prophet in the Joseph Kingdom," in the Autograph Collectors' Journal, 3: Smith tradition, Strang needed more than 3-8 (October, 1950). WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 effect: it seemed to validate the whole thing. edly invoked the myth of America as Eden At least for some. or the Promised Land—a virgin land to be Many of Strang's followers had experienced settled by God's chosen people. As widely the fires of revivalism in New England, and held and as deeply lodged as this notion is in most of them, we can assume, existed in what the American consciousness, it exists, neverthe­ Christopher Lasch has described as a "chronic less, as a metaphor, as an inspiriting and imagi­ state of religious excitement" produced by the native yoking of two otherwise dissimilar fierce competition among various sects. This places: the Holy Land and the American wild­ state gave rise to two diametrically opposed erness. But Joseph Smith, with a sublime states of mind. The unleashing of wild, re­ combination of fundamentalist literal-minded- ligious enthusiasm caused some to draw back ness and unbuttoned enthusiasm, reduced the in doubt or even flat disbelief. (As a young metaphor to fact: Yes, this really is the man in the Burnt District, Strang seems to Promised Land. His golden plates set the have had this reaction to religious excess, de­ record straight: one group of Israelites left scribing himself in his diary as "a cool phi­ the Holy Land between 2200 and 3000 B.C.; losopher" and even "an atheist.") Others were a second group left Jerusalem about 600 B.C., driven, according to Lasch, to the other ex­ preceding its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. treme, to a search for ultimate religious truth, God led both groups to the New World, ac­ "a dogma to end dogmas."'" To these people, cording to The Book of Mormon, which is an searching for finality and certitude, it would abridgment of the history of those two groups. be profoundly satisfying to find a leader who Once they had settled in North America, some with God's help had vaulted over two millen­ of the Israelites split off, lost their faith, and nia of religious dissension and disputation to became savages whose red skins were a sign of get to the taproot of the whole thing: the their apostasy. These Lamanites, as the Mor­ tribes of Israel. mons call the Indians, destroyed the high Many of the features of Mormonism derive civilization of their fellow Israelites, the Ne- in a clear and direct way from the supersti­ phites, in A.D. 400. But like all American tions of upper New York state. Treasure dig­ stories, this one has a happy ending. The ging and stories of the lost tribes of Israel Prophet will come; he will translate The Book were both part of the local folklore long be­ of Mormon; with hard work and high expec­ fore the Smiths moved to Palmyra.'^ But what tations the Promised Land will bloom again; gives Mormonism, in the Smith and Strangite and even the Indians will get back their lost forms, its deep appeal to Americans—whether faith and become again, to quote Mormon of the nineteenth or the twentieth centuries- scripture, "a white and delightsome people." is not its use of the folklore of upper New York but its skillful, even inspired, weaving of sev­ eral strains of our national myth into a new, coherent American religion. The chief strains T is easy to see how this story would are: America is the Promised Land; the In­ I exert a strong appeal to many dians are wicked apostates blocking fulfillment Americans. It was particularly appealing to of our Manifest Destiny; those who are opti­ that segment of the population that was dis­ mistic, hard-working believers in the perfect- possessed, uneducated, and in search of an ability of man are going to enjoy success. authoritative, reassuring faith that provided The earliest explorers of North America, relief from the fires of revivalism and the as well as the settlers, the poets and novelists promise of a better future. Instead of med­ who created our national literature, the clerics, dling with the broad outlines of this story, the politicians, the statesmen, all have repeat- James Jesse Strang filled in the details. Through a series of divine revelations extend­ ing over several years, he created a blueprint " Christopher Lasch, The World of Nations: Re­ for a new community. This was not a casual flections on American History, Politics, and Culture draft that would fit, as Emerson put it, "in a (New York, 1973), 62. waistcoat pocket." More thorough and wide- "See Whitney R. Cross, The Burnt-Over District (Ithaca, 1950). ranging than the U.S. Constitution, The Book

10 WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM

of the Law of the Lord ranges from CHAPTER deserts of Utah; King Strang was visited by I. THE DECALOGUE to CHAPTER XLVII. PAY­ another angel who instructed him to abandon MENT OF DEBTS. The most cosmic to the most Voree and take his Saints to "a land amid wide trivial aspects of community life are codified: waters." The angel described it further as the religious hierarchy—priests, counselors, "covered with large timber, with a deep bay "embassadors," viceroys, apostles, etc.—is ex­ on one side of it." Clearly, this was Beaver pansively set forth; civil government, getting Island; and evidently the angel knew that the down to such details as the length of women's Indian claims had already been invalidated dresses and the shapes of their shoes, is chart­ and that shortly the federal government would ed. If, as Lasch suggests, "The essence of open Beaver and the surrounding islands for Mormonism was the attempt to create a com­ settlement. Strang's kingdom was to be far munity of 'saints,' in which every 'secular' more accessible than Young's to the Mormon activity should be governed in accordance recruiting areas of the Midwest and East; yet with a religious conception of the good so- it was effectively isolated from the Gentile ciety,"i2 tlren Strang's Book of the Law of the world by the surrounding waters of Lake Lord is a central document for the under­ Michigan. standing of Mormonism, even though it reads At nineteen Strang had measured himself as if it had been co-authored by an Old Testa­ against Caesar and Napoleon and had con­ ment prophet and a New York lawyer. fided to his diary in cipher, "... I have Although Voree meant "Garden of Peace," learned all that I profess to know. That is it did not live up to its name. Some devout that I am ignorant and mankind are frail. . . . followers joined the communistic Order of I shall act upon it from time to time for my Enoch and a secret order called the Illuminati own benefit."!^ Certainly, to such a man a whose members swore to uphold and obey kingdom on an isolated island was as good Strang "as the Imperial primate and actual as the kingdom of heaven. And to many of sovereign Lord and King on Earth."'^ Others his followers, Beaver Island was to become, lost faith and either wandered off or made indeed, a Promised Land. It was no accident it their business to disabuse the faithful of the that what the angel described as "the deep notion that Strang was either a prophet or a bay" was renamed by the Saints 'Taradise king. Local non-Mormons, or "Gentiles," as Bay." the Latter Day Saints dubbed everyone else, adopted the subversive practice of stopping the wagons of Strang's converts as they ap­ proached Voree from the east. With accounts NSTEAD of simply transplanting of poverty, dissension, and chicanery within I. Voree to Beaver Island, Strang Voree, the Gentiles would try to convince the showed his considerable gifts as an adaptable, converts to turn back. imaginative leader in the changes he made. He Voree could not long survive attack from dropped the two experiments with the com­ apostates inside and Gentiles outside. Strang munistic Order of Enoch and the secret society was learning the lesson that the leaders of of tlie Illuminati, shifting instead to "land many nineteenth-century sectarian Utopian reform"—with a communitarian emphasis. In­ communities had to learn if their communities stead of relying on collectivization as he did in were to survive more than a few months: the more peculiar the tenets of a given sect the "Alice Felt Tyler, Freedom's Ferment: Phases of more its followers need to live apart in an American Social History to I860 (Minneapolis, 1944), isolated community in which to conduct "the 108. intensive instruction, criticism, and supervi­ "Strang, Diary, 17. Mark Strang, tlie prophet's grandson, points out that Quaife mistranscribes tliis sion that community living could make pos­ passage as, "That is, I am eager and mankind are sible."'* Brigham Young led his Saints to the frail. . . ." [My italics.] According to his grandson, this error has "given rise to much unjust criticism of James J. Strang." Quaife's error is beyond dispute, but because there is abundant evidence, in the diary "Lasch, World of Nations, 63. and elsewhere, of Strang's eagerness to exploit man­ "Quaife, Kingdom of St. James, 56. kind's foibles, the point is a quibble.

11 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

—or for nothing at all—land that belonged either to the government or to absentee Gen­ tile owners. In addition to the capital city of St. James, five townsites were created. The King gave to each family an "inheritance" of 160 acres of farmland plus a small lot in St. James or the nearest of the six towns: Troy, Fontville, Siloum, Lowell, Gallilee, and Wa- tamsa. His land policies were resourceful, quickly executed solutions to three problems faced by his kingdom: the royal treasury, considerably dependent on tithing, lacked money for major land purchases; the brief ex­ periment in communism, the communal farm in Voree, had failed; isolation, one of the key disadvantages of rural life, was underscored by the insularity of island life.^'^ Strang solved the insolvency problem by bending or ignoring the law; for communism, he substituted co-operation combined with land reform; and he combatted isolation with a communitarian emphasis similar to that found in a host of nineteenth-century Utopian communities. These policies seemed remarkably successful, and, indeed, they were—in the short run. But to the extent that they were illegal power plays e (detail map only) t against Gentile landowners—a fact established by recent research—they contributed to the Map by Paul Hass hostility that eventually destroyed the king­ dom. The Mormons not only slyly outma- part in Voree, Strang parceled out "inherit­ neuvered the Gentiles and expropriated land, ances" to the Saints who gathered there. He but from the outset they openly renamed the conceived of the whole island as the Saints' lakes, rivers, hills, and other natural features inheritance from God; he urged President on the island, giving them Mormon or Biblical Millard Fillmore and Congress in April, 1850, names as evidence that this land was their "to pass a law giving the consent of the nation God-given inheritance. As offensive as these that the saints may settle upon and forever practices were to the Gentiles of northern occupy all the uninhabited lands of the islands Michigan, two other kinds of Saintly activity of Lake Michigan and to cease to sell the same stirred up fully as much opposition to Strang's to other persons."*^ Not having heard from regime: the Saints' dealings with the Indians the politicians, Strang announced on July and their practice of polygamy. eighth, on the occasion of his coronation, that In the eighteenth century, the pivot of the God had revealed to him that He had given economy of northern Michigan was a tiny the "Islands of the Great Lakes" to King island at the tip of Michigan, Mackinac. It Strang and his people. was the center of the fur trade for almost Some of the parcels were paid for in the half the North American continent; then for conventional way, but as Strang's political a while it had served as a fueling station for power increased with his election to the Michi­ wood-burning steamers. With the fur trade a gan state legisture, he had his sheriff issue "certificates of sale," selling for nominal sums " See Helen Collar's definitive article, "Mormon Land Policy on Beaver Island," in Michigan History, " Quaife, Kingdom of St. James, 254-256. 56: 87-118 (Summer, 1972). 12 WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM trickle of what it had been, and the island's King Strang won re-election to the legislature timber all chopped down, Mackinac in the in 1854 and began establishing colonies of mid-nineteenth century existed largely on its Saints on the mainland near present-day past reputation as a trading center. Instead Charlevoix. of fur, the region's economy was based on fish, Land acquisition, fishing rights, and trade timber, and whiskey; and Beaver Island had with the Indians were basic causes of friction a greater supply of the first two and a depend­ between Gentiles and Saints. All three were in able demand for the third. As a teetotaler and various ways rooted in the theocratic ground- an acute student of every facet of Beaver plan of Strang's Utopian community. The Island, including its economy, Strang was same is true of the fourth and by far the most quick to see the significance of the fact that sensationalized cause of friction: polygamy. the Gentile trading post stood on Whiskey Point, a hook-like projection that formed the eastern rim of Paradise Bay. A major part of the •Gentile trading activity consisted of OR two thousand years, plans for bartering whiskey for fish caught by the In­ F Utopian communities have in­ dians. cluded variations on monogamy. Plato, for example, argued that wives and families were Strang traced the barrels of whiskey from potent causes of attachment to private prop­ the warehouses at Mackinac to the trading erty, so for one class in his Republic he pro­ post at Whiskey Point, where they were used posed a community of wives. Early Christians, to produce what was called "Indian Whiskey." including John the Baptist and the disciples He wrote a forty-eight page pamphlet, pub­ Peter and John, were familiar with a de-sexed lished with the Smithsonian Institution's an­ version: a community of brothers and sisters. nual report of 1854, which for half a century This became known as the institution of was the definitive work on the natural history, "spiritual wives," a term adopted by the Mor­ political life, and economics of the region. It mons to describe polygamy, chosen perhaps was entitled Ancient and Modern Michilimac- for its genteel euphemism. In their experi­ kinac. Including an Account of the Contro­ mental zeal, American Utopian communities versy betiueen Mackinac and the Mormons, were not limited to a single model; several, and contained the following recipe for Indian for example, adopted celibacy as a means of whiskey: dump two gallons of common whis­ eliminating sexual possession and thereby key or unrectified spirits into thirty gallons of solving the problem of exclusiveness. What­ water; add red pepper to give it fire; and add ever Strang's private motives, there can be no tobacco to make it more intoxicating. Accord­ doubt that the American urge to experiment ing to Strang's report, the fish shipped from helped pave the way toward his adoption of the rich grounds around Beaver Island had polygamy; and so did the more liberal attitude for thirty years been paid for largely with In­ toward women that was, as one scholar has dian whiskey. put it, "A logical consequence of the commu­ Strang exposed this scandalous exploitation nistic attitude towards property." (Exactly of the Indians in the Smithsonian pamphlet how logical is suggested by Marx's dictum: and in numerous articles in his newspaper. "Marriage is incontestably a form of exclusive The Northern Islander. When the last Gen­ private property."^^) tiles left the island in 1852, the whiskey trade Despite these precedents, Strang's path to had been cut off, and the Mormon fishermen, polygamy was full of theological twists and with better access to the fishing grounds than extensive detours designed to put as much the fishermen based on Mackinac and the distance as possible between him and the mainland, were taking over. And with its Brighamites. In an editorial entitled "Polyg­ superb harbor and extensive forests. Paradise amy Not Possible in a Free Government," he Bay had become a popular fueling station for wood-burning steamers. The Mormons were ^' For a good discussion of the sources of polygamy winning their economic war with the main­ in American Utopian communities, see Mark Hollo- land; their political gains were impressive, too. way, Heavens on Earth.

13 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 leveled against polygamy the two ultimate ished and were given special force and direc­ charges: it was heretical and it was undemo­ tion by revivalism and Mormonism. cratic. But with the Brighamites settled in And if Strang can be said to have been Utah and Strang's kingdom solidly established neither arbitrary nor capricious but responsive on Beaver Island, the King evidently felt that to the intellectual currents of his time, how the propitious moment had arrived for him to can one characterize his followers? Were they give in to the forces pulling him toward po­ "ignorant, poor, credulous" folk, the men lygamy. It is futile to speculate on the degree "rough and generally illiterate . . . the women, to which his own concupiscence was part of with but few exceptions, sensual and ignorant" these forces; what is far more important to our —all of them brainlessly following their charis­ purposes is to point out that polygamy was matic leader? Or were they more deviant than quite consistent with the communitarian and credulous, "a little band of zealots" from the communistic values of his kingdom. Like the "lunatic fringe" which had "broken with the celibacy of the Shakers and Rappites, the free established order, both of government and love of the Perfectionists, and the other sexual religion"?!^ arrangements being experimented with in a There are few materials available from variety of Utopian communities in the 1840's which to fashion answers to these important and 1850's, Mormon polygamy on Beaver questions. Strang was a prolific propagandist Island was a local response to the Utopian Zeitgeist. In the sexual conventions of his " Characterizations of Strang's followers vary wide­ community—as in its religious, economic, and ly. Quaife usually describes them as crazies, using Teddy Roosevelt's term "lunatic fringe." See Quaife, political arrangements—Strang acted not ar­ Kingdom of St. James, 47, passim. An unsigned bitrarily and capriciously but in response to article in Harper's Magazine, "An American King," the intellectual climate that prevailed through­ 64: 552 (March, 1882), stresses their ignorance and sen­ out most of the country. It was a climate in suality. None of the accounts has the benefit of either firsthand observation or detached historical perspec­ which experimentation and utopianism flour­ tive.

Vestiges of the Mormon settlement at St. James, Beaver Island. The larger log structure, once a store, was transformed into a saloon after Strang's followers were driven from the island.

WHi (X3) 3225f WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM who left behind numerous clues to his views of farmers with little time for recording their the world and of himself in his youthful diary, impressions in writing. When the Kingdom his editorials, articles, revelations, treatises, fell in 1856 they were violently uprooted from and letters. Next to Strang, we know most their homes, allowed to take with them only about two of his close associates, John C. Ben­ the few essentials they could carry, and widely nett and George Washington Joshua Adams, dispersed to various ports on the Great Lakes. two extraordinarily colorful mountebanks. It is almost as if the circumstances were de­ Bennett, sometime college president and pro­ signed to obliterate any record of their lives fessor of midwifery in the Literary and Bo- as subjects of King Strang, particularly of their tanico-Medical College of Ohio, mayor of beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of their Nauvoo, served Joseph Smith as abortionist, kingdom and its king. But there is one not­ general-in-chief, and prime minister until he able exception to this shortage. was excommunicated. Later, he was Strang's Strang and his followers were caught up in prime minister in Voree, then left under a a sensational legal process that combined such cloud. Adams, also excommunicated by Smith, ingredients as the presidential election of 1852, was a bombastic, alcoholic itinerant actor and counterfeit money hidden in a cave, Stephen A. possibly Mark Twain's source for the King in Douglas, Daniel Webster, President Fillmore, Huckleberry Finn. He served Strang as ad­ and a U.S. Navy warship that trained its guns visor, emissary—he tendered Strang's proposal on a courthouse to intimidate a magistrate. of marriage to his first plural wife—and prop Millard Fillmore, who had become President man. Wearing his costume from Richard III, upon the death of Zachary Taylor, faced a Adams officiated at the coronation of King battle not only for re-election but even for the Strang, July 8, 1850, in the unfinished taber­ Whig nomination. As 1852 drew near, he did nacle on Beaver Island. Strang's crown was not want to antagonize anybody. George from Adams' wardrobe trunk. Adams and Adams, the bombastic actor, made this diffi­ Bennett left a broad trail of anecdotes, in­ cult by accusing Strang of a series of sensa­ dictments, letters to the editor, and other tional violations of federal laws. Fillmore, fascinating flotsam and jetsam, all of it testify­ visiting his brother in Detroit, read stories in ing to their considerable ingenuity and knav- the Detroit papers of Strang's followers rob­ ej-y 20 And both, Adams in particular, helped bing the mails, trespassing on federal lands, to create a distorted picture of Strang's char­ and counterfeiting gold pieces and hiding acter that persists to some degree to the pres­ them in a cave on Beaver Island. ent. But if neither of these men about whom we know quite a bit provides a reliable image In the spring of 1852, with the national of Strang, they are even less useful as models conventions only months away, pressure of his followers. mounted in Michigan—and in Washington— Strang's followers were not very numerous— to act on charges that Strang's kingdom was 2,600 on the island and probably fewer than a flagrantly violating federal laws. Normally, thousand elsewhere. They were hardworking the Whigs would have seized a chance to hu­ miliate a Democratic state legislator, parti­ cularly if he could be accused of such spectacu­ ^The account of Adams and Bennett in Quaife lar crimes as robbing the mails and treason. gives a broad-brush picture of the essentials. For a But it looked as if the election could be a more detailed account of Bennett's lite, see Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History. For Adams' ca­ very close one. Prosecuting Strang would reer, both before and after his association with Strang, guarantee the Democrats a few hundred Mor­ including a bizarre expedition of 156 New Englanders mon votes that might swing Michigan, and he led to the Holy Land to await the Second Coming, thereby lose the White House for the Whigs. see Peter Amann, "Prophet in Zion; The Saga of George J. Adams," in the New England Quarterly, 37: Daniel Webster cautioned Fillmore not to 477-500 (1964). For discussion of Adams as a possi­ move against Strang, but Stephen Douglas, on ble model for the King in The Adventures of Huckle­ the basis of his experience with the Mormons berry Finn, see Robert P. Weeks, "The Captain, the in Illinois, convinced the administration that Prophet, and the King: A Possible Source for Twain's Dauphin," in the Mark Twain Journal, 18: 9-12 (Win­ it should proceed with vigor against any ter, 1975-1976). group that defied the constituted authorities

15 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 of the nation.2' Accordingly, federal authori­ Other laws of all other powers on earth ties ordered the U.S.S. Michigan, the navy's wliatsoever. first iron vessel, to Beaver Island with U.S. One would think that a district attorney District Attorney George C. Bates and forty with this oath in hand, and the skill to em­ well-armed soldiers aboard. They were to panel a jury of ten Whigs and only two Demo­ seize the offending Mormons and bring them crats, would have been able to convince such to Detroit for trial. The vessel paused at Mac­ a jury that at least some of the defendants kinac, trained its guns on the courthouse, then were guilty of at least some of the grave of­ seized the Mormon judge and carried him to fenses they were charged with. But things did Beaver Island to assist in the arrest of the not work out that way. King and approximately one hundred of his subjects. The star prosecution witness, the actor George J. Adams, stressed the grip that Strang had on his followers: "They would go and take the mail if James J. Strang told them to, 'HERE were no court stenograph­ and anything else he told them to do, even if T:er s in the mid-nineteenth century, it was to kill a man and that they felt bound so there is no verbatim transcript of United to obey no laws but his." Adams was followed States V. James J. Strang et al., but the trial by two illiterate Gentile fishermen who gave record we do have provides a valuable insight unconvincing accounts of a Mormon attempt into the kinds of people who made up Strang's to rob a dogsled carrying mail across the ice kingdom. It was the aim of the prosecution to from Beaver Island to Mackinac. The prosecu­ depict these people as traitors to the United tion also presented two Indians who testified States and blind followers of King Strang. Sev­ through interpreters—and who signed the eral dozen Mormons were indicted on three court record of their testimony with, instead of counts of counterfeiting, robbing the mails, the usual "X," two neatly drawn crossed toma­ and trespassing on federal lands. The district hawks. After the Indians testified to hearing- attorney launched his case with the reading of things said in the course of the attempted rob­ the oath that all of Strang's followers swore bery, the defense reasonably pointed out that to on July 8, 1850, when Strang became their someone who could not speak English would king: ^2 not have been able to testify as to what was said. I do solemnly covenant, promise, and swear, The Mormons came across on the stand as by the true, self-existent, and ever living God, that I renounce all kings, potentates, loyal to their king but not treasonous; as de­ governors and rulers on the earth. vout but calmly aware of the need to draw a line—difficult as it is to do—between their I do furthermore covenant, promise, and obligations to the religious world and the se­ swear that I renounce all laws and obliga­ tions of all powers on earth whatever. cular one. With the exception of two boys, thirteen and fourteen, neither of whom could I do furthermore covenant, promise, and sign his name and one of whom did not know swear that I will obey James J. Strang as what the word "covenant" meant, the Mor­ the Imperial Primate and Actual Sovereign King on earth, and the laws and decrees that mons gave the impression of knowing what he shall make as above and superseding all they were about. Samuel Bacon, one of Strang's twelve apos­ "See Quaife, Kingdom of St. James, 128-131. tles, said under direct examination: "There '^The oath appears as "Exhibit A," in United States is nothing in the Covenant sanctioning or re­ v. James J. Strang, et al.. United States District Court, quiring any violation of the laws of the United Eastern District of Michigan, 1851; microfilmed for the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Li­ States or of Michigan. As one of the twelve brary. The oath, a key element in the prosecution's apostles, I stand in close relation in the church case, was challenged by the defense, but the question to Mr. Strang. Mr. Strang has repeatedly stat­ of its legitimacy was never resolved. The fact that a ed, as a matter of conscience and of duty, highly similar oath was used in Voree to initiate mem­ bers into- the Illuminati lends credence to its legiti­ obedience to the laws of the country in which macy. (See Quaife, Kingdom of St. James, 56.) I dwell. It is a matter of my faith and [is] so

16 WEEKS:- A UTOPIAN KINGDOM taught by Strang, that God built up this na­ Thoreau, but neither of them had to respond tion by wise men raised by him for the purpose to the wily cross examination of a desperate of bringing about the reign of the Saints on Detroit district attorney. earth, and that obedience to God does not The Mormon witnesses displayed not only require disobedience to the laws."^^ a confidence in the ultimate wisdom of God Under cross examination, Edward Chiches­ but a heightened sensitivity to the pricks of ter, an elder in Strang's church, testified, "Be­ conscience that would impress any jury. Hiram lieves Strang is a prophet and possesses, when Beckwith described the scene at Strang's coro­ under influence of spiritual revelations, the nation at which he and the others in attend­ gift of speaking in unknown tongues. Believes ance took the oath to "obey James J. Strang as God Almighty makes special revelations to the Imperial Primate and Actual Sovereign Strang." But under direct examination Chi­ King on earth." As they stood in and around chester added the cautious qualification, the tabernacle that July day in 1850, four ".Never heard Strang speak unknown tongues." hundred of Strang's flock swore allegiance The capacity for making nice distinctions while laying their hands on wooden crosses, was shown even more impressively by Tobias three or four Saints to a cross. Beckwith testi­ McNutt, who had been converted by Strang fied, "When I came to the part about acknowl­ in Kirtland, Ohio, and had then migrated to edging King Strang and renouncing all other Beaver Island where his daughter, Betsy, be­ laws, or words of that import, I took my hand came Strang's second plural wife. He said off the cross."2^ under cross examination, "If God Almighty should make a revelation to the Prophet . . . that certain things should be done, and he, Strang, should state them to me, I would be­ ' HE faith of these people and the lieve it and think it ought to be done be­ unattractive—and unavailing—ef­ cause God commanded it." And then he add­ forts of the district attorney to disparage and ed, according to the record, "under certain discredit it are vividly revealed in an account circumstances." of the trial written by District Attorney George Under direct examination, McNutt clarified C. Bates himself and published a quarter of his position somewhat: "If should find in a century later in a Detroit newspaper. In Bible or in revelations of Prophet Strang a Bates's account occurs the following exchange: command to violate laws of the country, would Q. Mrs. McCulloch, you are an educated, not regard it. Feel bound as a religious ob­ accomplished lady, born in Baltimore, ligation to obey laws of country in which I and reared in the very best society. Can dwell. God's law is final determination in all it be that you are a Mormon? questions of right." A. Yes, sir, I have that honor, sir. When the prosecutor fired another round of Q. Can it be possible, madam, that so ac­ questions at McNutt, the issue was finally complished a lady as you are can believe laid bare. The prosecutor asked, "Should God that that fellow Strang (pointing con­ reveal to Strang a law and that law be in op­ temptuously at him) is a prophet, seer, position to the law of Michigan," what would and revelator? McNutt do? He replied, "Don't know as I A. Yes, Mr. District Attorney, I know it. would obey God's law." Then he doggedly Q. Can it be possible, Mrs. McCulloch, that added, "Although am satisfied God reveals his you are so blind as to really believe that law, yet would obey laws of Mackinaw Co. if that fellow wlio sits there beneath you— inconsistent with law of God, for the laws of that Strang, is the Prophet of the Lord, God are not inconsistent with those of men."^* the successor of Him who bore His cross Clearly, Tobias McNutt lacked the lucidity among the jeers and sneers of Mt. Cal­ vary? and consistency of Antigone or Henry David A. Yes, you impudent district attorney, and were you not a darned old fool, you would know it, tool ^ U.S. V. James J. Strang et al, 32-33. ^Ibid., 34-35. ^Ibid., 54-55.

17 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

persons whose commitment to Strang and his ministry was deep. In a personal letter responding to an un­ signed article in Harper's of March, 1882, en­ If* I >^ if - titled "An American King," in which Strang's followers were dismissed as "ignorant, illiter­ ate, sensual and rough," one of Strang's daugh­ ters sensibly commented, "So far as I have been able to learn, they would average with the world in general. Some doubtless would answer the description [in the Harper's ar­ ticle], others much better, and a few su­ perior. Decisive evidence on the character of Strang's followers is in short supply, but the •••A *" '^-f •P*;*'> • '•*': «-'"'• record of the 1852 trial—such as it is—lends much more support to the rather even-handed, sober appraisal by Strang's daughter than to the sweeping generalizations that for a century have constituted the accepted view. Despite the loyalty of most of the several thousand persons who made up the Kingdom of St. James in 1856, there were dissenters, es­ «fe < -^ pecially among those who had suffered the punishments meted out by Strang to those who violated his Puritanical code of conduct. For example, the husbands of women who vio­ lated his dress code had ample reason to be aggrieved: they—not their wives—were flogged. One such husband was joined by a man who had been punished for violating Strang's strict ' ..,,11 ,,v,,j ' y rules against the use of alcohol. On June 16, 1856, while the U.S.S. Michigan was docked Elvira Field, Strang's plural wife, disguised as "Charley at St. James, these two disgruntled Saints mor­ Douglas," the Mormon king's traveling secretary. tally wounded Strang with a revolver and a Photograph courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University. horse pistol, then ran up the gangplank of the Michigan. They asked for, and got, asylum from the Mormon sheriff who sought to ar­ Bates ends his account of the case with this rest them. comment: "The charge of the judge was very strong against prosecutions for any religion, If Strang had not been murdered, it is en­ no matter how absurd, and the jury seemed tirely possible that the kingdom could have to have imbibed the idea that these men were survived for many more years. But once the on trial for religion's sake."^^ It is very clear leader had fallen, the hostility that his po­ where the jury picked up that idea. And what litical, economic, and religious practices had is more to the point, it is also clear from the generated among the Gentiles threatened to testimony of Samuel Bacon, Edward Chiches­ capsize his creation. If Strang had relied on ter, Tobias McNutt, Hiram Beckwith, and a dozen able disciples, as Joseph Smith had, Mrs. McCulloch that Strang's supporters in­ or if he had even designated a successor in the cluded a number of decent, thoughtful, devout several days between the assassination attempt

*• George C. Bates, "The Beaver Island Prophet's Trial in this City in 1851," in the Detroit Tribune, " Letter from Mrs. Eugenie J. Phillips, Black River July 10, 1877. Reprinted in Michigan Pioneer and Falls, Wisconsin, March 21, 1882, in the Coe Collection, Historical Collections, 32: 225-235. Yale University Library. 18 WEEKS: A UTOPIAN KINGDOM and his death, the kingdom might have sur­ religious context of mid-nineteenth-century vived its king. Since he did neither, the col­ America has succeeded, then instead of seem­ lapse occurred in short order. Lack of lead­ ing to be a freak—a sultan in a backwoods ership on the island was increasingly clear to harem, an Old Testament prophet washed up Gentile raiding parties from Mackinac, and on an island in Lake Michigan—he will be they became bolder. The climax came on seen, to a large extent, as a product of his July 5, when a mob, largely from Mackinac, extraordinary times. arrived to drive the Mormons from Beaver It does not follow, however, that his contem­ Island. Bands of half-drunk armed men poraries perceived him in this light. One of roamed the island, herding Mormon farmers the durable paradoxes of history—as well as and their families at gunpoint to the dock in one of its rewards—is that events, their causes Paradise Bay and aboard waiting steamers. and effects, are often perceived most clearly One ship took 490 to Chicago; others were not by those who experience them at first dropped off at other Great Lakes ports— hand but by those who study them years later. Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo. The dispirited Although it is somewhat difficult for us, 120 Saints were so overwhelmed that none resisted years after his death, to assess James Jesse to any extent. Within the span of a day or so, Strang fully and accurately, for many of his 2,600 men, women, and children were ruth­ contemporaries it was seemingly impossible. lessly uprooted and cast out. One reputable This can be illustrated by referring again to Michigan historian has called the fifth of July, what has been written about that triumph of 1856, "The most disgraceful day in Michigan Strang's career, his prosecution by federal history."28 authorities in 1852. The prosecution was pur­ sued, after all, because the President of the United States was unable to perceive Strang for what he was, and because a United States F this effort to place James Jesse District Attorney thought Strang was an evil I Strang in the political, social, and sultan out of the Arabian Nights.

^ Byron M. Cutcheon, Michigan as a Province, Ter­ Fillmore had put enough credence in lurid ritory, and State (New York, 1906), 309. accounts of Mormon sexual debauchery, thiev-

Ruins of corduroy road, St. James, Beaver Island, pictured in about 1910.

WHi (X3) 32256

#-• WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 ery, and counterfeiting on Beaver Island that to what Bates says he saw. At the time of the he read in the Detroit Free Press and the Ad­ raid, Strang's wife, Mary, was in Wisconsin vertiser and Tribune to think that they war­ and Strang was living in the house with ranted mounting an armed invasion of twenty-year-old Elvira, the only other wife he Strang's island kingdom. But the President's had at the time. grip on reality was relatively firm compared This is a suitable episode with which to to that of District Attorney Bates. His recol- conclude this brief discussion of Strang and lective account tells how he led a body of his kingdom because it provides us—admittedly sailors from the Michigan, each armed with a in extreme form—with the circumstances un­ navy revolver and cutlass, stealthily toward der which a highly biased view of one aspect Strang's house, their way lit by a shrouded of Strang's community was made. And it ship's lantern. After stationing a boatswain provides us as well the results of that view: a at each end of the house, Bates, according to wildly imaginative picture of a Turkish harem his own account, crept up the stairs until he transplanted to the north woods, illuminated found himself "in a long, low room, where by a covered ship's lantern and seen through wide berths, heavily draped with stunning the eyes of a politically inspired D.A. calico, shielded beds like the berths and state­ This essay has attempted to see Strang and rooms of steamers, which proved to be occu­ his kingdom not as a lurid sideshow—even pied by Mormon women four in a bed."^^ though there are undeniable circus elements in This account of the raid on the seraglio by his career—but as an integral part of our na­ the intrepid district attorney is mostly roman­ tional experience, an event in the American tic nonsense. At no time did the king's palace grain. Viewed this way, the Kingdom of Saint have a harem or anything resembling what James becomes a response to the experimental Bates described. We have a firsthand report by spirit of the Founding Fathers, an example a Gentile observer of the living arrangements of American utopianism, an episode in our in Strang's house, and it bears no resemblance bout with the fevers of revivalism, and a chap­ ter in the development of a major American religion. It becomes, in other words, more ^ Bates, "The Beaver Island Prophet's Trial," De­ troit Tribune, July 10, 1877. believable and more meaningful.

20 Irvine L. Lenroot and the Republican Vice-Presidential Nomination of 1920

By Herbert F. Margulies

HE game of "might have been" governorship of Robert M. La Follette, in the or "what if" gives to history some period 1901 through 1905. Despite his rela­ of its joy and usefulness. Most might-have- tive youth and inexperience, Lenroot quick­ beens, of course, are not bona fide; but some ly displayed energy, ability, and integrity dur­ meet the two essential tests: plausibility and ing the legislative session of 1901, gained La significance. A legitimate might-have-been is Follette's confidence, and became Speaker an event that could very easily have happened; of the Assembly in 1903 and 1905. Elected it does not depend upon a chain of premises to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1908, one or more of which is itself unlikely to have Lenroot soon emerged as a leader among the occurred. And to be worthy of consideration, Republican insurgents while continuing to the plausible might-have-been must be of the serve as political lieutenant to La Follette. sort that, had it in fact occurred, could con­ But in 1912 a serious breach occurred between ceivably have altered the course of history in the two: Lenroot tried to promote co-opera­ some important way. (What if George Wash­ tion between La Follette and Theodore Roose­ ington had been slain at Braddock's Defeat? velt in the quest for the Republican presiden­ What if Lee had won the battle of Gettys­ tial nomination, while La Follette came to burg?) regard Roosevelt as a betrayer of himself and One of the more interesting might-have the progressive movement. beens in American political history occurred Lenroot and La Follette patched up their at the Republican convention in 1920, when, quarrel, but their relations were never again as historians have told us, the delegates ig­ close. The two broke decisively in 1917 over nored the advice of the supposed party lead­ the war and such war measures as the draft. ers, took matters into their own hands, and In a special election in the spring of 1918, nominated for Vice-President Catvin Coo­ with both stalwart and progressive support, lidge, the governor of Massachusetts, instead Lenroot won nomination for the Senate on of Senator Irvine L. Lenroot of Wisconsin. the theme of "loyalty" against a La Follette- Coolidge, of course, went on to the Presiden­ backed candidate and went on to win the elec­ cy when Warren G. Harding died in 1923, and tion. The new alignment in Wisconsin poli­ won election in his own right in 1924. Yet tics persisted into the future.^ things might have turned out quite differently. Through his ten years in the House and Irvine Lenroot was born in 1869 in Superior, in his first years in the Senate, Lenroot man- Wisconsin, the son of pioneer Swedish-Ameri­ ' Herbert F. Margulies, The Decline of the Progres­ can parents. He became a leading figure in sive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890-1920 (Madison, the state's progressive movement during the 1968), 193-282.

21 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

power sites, a subject on which southern and western Democrats, who were concerned for development, were more reluctant than many Republicans to legislate governmental con­ trols. Minority leader James R. Mann wel­ comed Republican attacks on the Democrats and frequently associated himself with Len­ root's positions. The prickly but able and am­ bitious congressman from the Hyde Park dis­ trict of Chicago had been a lieutenant of Ja- seph Cannon. Unlike Cannon, however, he was willing to compromise with erstwhile in­ surgents. Lenroot, in turn, hoping to make the Republican party the vehicle for progres­ sivism, tried to work within the party. He sup­ ported Mann for party leader and co-operated with him when in conscience he could. When Lenroot went to the Senate, he found the patrician majority leader, Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, and the Republican national chairman. Will Hays of Indiana, as accommodating as Mann, as they looked towards the 1920 presidential election. Both Lodge and Hays had been conspicuous among those who in 1916 tried to bring Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive party followers back WHi (X3) 31990 into the Republican party, which they had Clara and Irvine Lenroot in a canna garden, San Diego, left in 1912 after Roosevelt had been denied 1915. the Republican nomination for President. In the Senate, Lenroot continued to concern him­ aged to combine his old-time progressivism and self with conservation legislation, helped put insurgency with party regularity. The fact through a new child labor law after the Su­ that the Democrats controlled the House after preme Court ruled the first one unconstitu­ the 1910 elections, and the Presidency after tional, and supported what he believed to be 1912, helped him maintain that posture. The the progressive position on railroad legisla­ Democrats had joined with Lenroot and the tion. In these matters, especially the child other Republican insurgents in the successful labor question, he had the support of Henry 1910 attack on the rules by which Speaker Cabot Lodge. Joseph Cannon controlled the business of When the League of Nations issue arose, the House. Once in power themselves, though, Lenroot gave it sustained attention over many the Democrats resorted to decision by caucus months. He served as a leader among the and illiberal rules governing particular bills. mild reservationist Republicans and as a liai­ After Woodrow Wilson's election as President, son man to Senator Lodge, whose assistance they often looked to the White House for he considered vital to treaty ratification. direction. Arguing from the standpoint of Lodge held Lenroot in high regard and rec­ insurgency, which emphasized the role of the ommended him to Will Hays for various re­ individual representative, Lenroot persistent­ sponsible posts on a platform advisory com­ ly attacked them for caucus domination, "gag mittee that Hays set up in 1920 in his contin­ rule," and presidential dictation. On matters uing effort to unify the party. It was as one of substance, too, Lenroot was able to find of three representatives of that committee that fault with the Democrats from a progressive Lenroot, accompanied by his wife Clara and standpoint. Especially was this so with respect some close friends. General and Mrs. Wil­ to legislation relating to disposition of water- liam Crozier, went to Chicago for the Repub-

22 MARGULIES: IRVINE L. LENROOT lican national convention, which began on ished, and the delegates roared their disap­ Tuesday, June 7, 1920, at the Chicago Coli- proval of his motion to substitute the Wis­ seum.2 consin platform for the committee's. Then they approved the platform with a great shout, with the Wisconsin men registering their dis­ sent.* ENROOT was among those con- On Friday, June 11, the delegates, who had ' sidered by politicians and jour­ marked time earlier in this week during the nalists as a dark-horse presidential prospect. protracted platform negotiations, finally be­ Frank Curtis, a Jamestown, New York, oilman gan the main business of the convention, the with holdings in Wyoming, had been im­ nomination of a presidential candidate. pressed with Lenroot at congressional com­ Speeches and demonstrations consumed the mittee hearings on legislation governing fed­ better part of the day, but the delegates man­ eral mineral lands, and was active in ad­ aged four inconclusive ballots before adjourn­ vancing his name. In the April struggle to ing that night. The following day, on the choose the Wisconsin delegates to the Repub­ seventh ballot, the amiable Senator Warren lican convention, however, Lenroot had sup­ G. Harding, an Ohio editor-publisher whose ported an uninstructed slate against one stately presidential appearance concealed a pledged to the symbolic presidential candidacy scandalous private life, passed the fiery pro­ of Robert La Follette. La Follette's delegates gressive and League of Nations foe, Senator won twenty-four of the twenty-six contests. Hiram Johnson of California, and moved The Wisconsin results lessened Lenroot's into third place. Frank O. Lowden, the able, chances for the top nomination, and, indirect­ moderate, and wealthy governor of Illinois, ly, they contributed to his rejection for the and General Leonard Wood, long-time friend vice-presidential nomination.^ and associate of the late Theodore Roosevelt The Wisconsin delegation began to cause and himself a strong nationalist, remained him embarrassment when its representative on deadlocked ahead of Harding. When Harding the platform committee, attorney Edwin J. scored further gains on the eighth ballot, to Gross of Milwaukee, presented to the con­ many his nomination seemed assured. At vention a minority report, as the La Follette that point, 1:40 in the afternoon. Chairman men had done consistently since the 1908 Lodge engineered a recess. At first Harding's convention. Only with difficulty was Chair­ managers protested, but Lodge soothed them man Lodge able to maintain order. When with the explanation that the recess would Gross read planks calling for government permit Harding to ensure fullest harmony by ownership of railroads and stockyards, dele­ offering the vice-presidential nomination to gates hooted and jeered; when, midway in his Hiram Johnson.^ reading, Gross said, "Don't be afraid to ap­ Johnson rejected second place, as he had plaud—it won't hurt you," the delegates and turned down the same mottled plum when observers hissed until Lodge threatened to sounded out by Harding and other candi­ clear the galleries. In due course Gross fin- dates earlier. As a presidential candidate, Johnson had publicly committed himself not ^ Little has been published on Lenroot. The bio­ to barter his popularity in the primaries for graphical material in the preceding paragraphs is drawn the Vice-Presidency. To go back on that from the author's research in the Lenroot Papers at the Library of Congress, many other manuscript col­ lections, and other pertinent sources. ^Milwaukee Sentinel, June 11, 1920; Boston Herald, 'Milwaukee Sentinel, June 1, 2, 6, 8, 1920; Wiscon­ June 11, 1920; Washington Herald, June 11, 1920; sin State Journal, June 6, 9, 10, 1920; Superior Tele­ Belle and Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette (2 gram, June 11, 1920; The Sun and New York Herald, vols.. New York, 1953), II: 997. June 8, 1920; Washington Herald, June 5, 11, 1920; ° Randolph C. Downes, The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Washington Evening Star, June 5, 1920; Walter Lipp­ Harding (Columbus, Ohio, 1970), 421-422; Wesley mann, "Our Next President?" in World Outlook, VI: M. Bagby, The Road to Normalcy: The Presidential 9, 49 (June, 1920); Lenroot, Memoirs, 154-155, Box Campaign and Election of 1920 (Baltimore, 1968), 92- 13, in the Lenroot Papers. The Wisconsin newspapers 93; Harry M. Daugherty in collaboration with Thomas cited references to Lenroot as a presidential prospect Dixon, The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy by a number of out-of-state papers. (New York, 1932), 48.

23 >;i« n-t

^h ^11 Chicago Historical Society Republican national convention, Chicago Coliseum, 1920. commitment now, and in combination with a Wisconsin, which had antagonized delegates man who had once called him a "blackguard" by consistently casting twenty-four votes for and was widely seen as reactionary, was out La Follette, in effect disdaining participation of the question.'* in the nominating process, now led the minor­ During the three-hour recess several stop- ity that shouted loud but ineffectual noes to Harding efforts aborted. Soon after the con­ a chorus of boos and hisses.'' vention began its ninth ballot, the votes of All that remained was the choice of a run­ Connecticut, Kansas, and Kentucky made ning mate for Harding. To the host of hot Harding's nomination sure. On the tenth and tired delegates, many at the end of their ballot, Pennsylvania put Harding over the patience and some nearing the end of their top, and in due course the customary motion resources and chiefly concerned to check out was put to make the nomination unanimous. ' Downes, Harding, 422-425; William T. Hutchinson, Lowden of Illinois: The Life of Frank O. Lowden (2 ' Washington Evening Star, June 13, 1920; Daugherty, vols., Chicago, 1957), II: 465-468; Bagby, Road to Nor­ Inside Story, 50; Henry L. Stoddard, It Costs lo Be malcy, 93-96; Washington Herald, June 13, 1920; The President (New York, 1938), 71; Mrs. Fremont Older, Sun and New York Herald, June 13, 14, 1920; New William Randolph Hearst, American (New York, 1936), York Times, June 13, 14, 1920; Milwaukee Sentinel, 429; Henry J. Allen to Herman Hagedorn, February June 12, 13, 1920; Portland Oregonian, June 15, 1920; 18, 1929, Box 23, in the Herman Hagedorn Papers, Li­ Daugherty, Inside Story, 55; Mark Sullivan, Our Times: brary of Congress; Milwaukee Sentinel, May 13, 24, The United States, 1900-1925 (6 vols., New York, 1920; Clifford Liljekvist, "Senator Hiram Johnson" 1926-1935), VI: 80; Official Report of the Proceed­ (doctoral dissertation. University of Southern Califor­ ings of the Seventeenth Republican National Con­ nia, 1953), 252-255. vention (New York, 1920), 224.

24 MARGULIES: IRVINE L. LENROOT of their hotels and keep their train reserva­ congressional insurgent, allied with Lenroot tions, the matter was of no great consequence.* in the Cannon fight; more recently, he had Lenroot had been talked of as a vice-presi­ given himself to the cause of the League of dential prospect before the convention met, Nations.) Lenroot was popular and respected but nothing could be decided until the first among his senatorial colleagues, who were place was filled. Even those in publisher more than adequately represented at the con­ George Harvey's celebrated smoke-filled room ference. The Wisconsin onus would not mat­ at the Blackstone Hotel the night before de­ ter if Lenroot were advertised as Harding's ferred consideration of the matter.^ choice. He would do. Senator Medill McCor­ Not until Saturday afternoon had any sub­ mick of Illinois, a friend and co-worker with stantial group of leaders taken up the ques­ Lenroot since the 1912 pre-election campaign, tion. About three o'clock Alvin T. Hert of asked the privilege of nominating him. First, Kentucky, one of Frank Lowden's managers, however, Lenroot would have to agree to ac­ had announced to eighteen or twenty con­ cept. McCormick went to get him." ferees on the Presidency that Lowden would withdraw. They then knew that Harding would be nominated. At that time, or very ENROOT declined the offer. shortly after, as they discussed prospective I He said he preferred to remain candidates for Vice-President, they learned in the Senate and if he could not do that, that Johnson was unavailable.^" would rather resume private life than "be The slate makers considered and eliminated shut up in the vice-president's chair."'^ Len­ the possibilities one by one. The governors root's decision was not surprising, for Senators of Kentucky and Massachusetts, Edwin P. Mor­ wielded far greater power than Vice-Presi­ row and Calvin Coolidge, were talked of but dents, and Lenroot thought that he could win put aside. What was needed to balance the re-election.^^ His wife agreed—whether be­ ticket was a western progressive. Herbert Par­ fore or after the conference is not clear- sons, as former Republican national chairman that he should not take the nomination." Charles Hilles later recalled it, suggested Len­ The office, though far surer of attainment root. (Parsons, the outgoing national com­ mitteeman from New York, had once been a 11 Hilles to Mark Sullivan, March 2, 1935; Hilles to Wadsworth, March 9, 1935, Box 17, in the Wadsworth " Donald R. McCoy, Calvin Coolidge, The Quiet Papers; McGeorge Bundy and Henry L. Stimson, On President (New York, 1967), 119-120; Daugherty, Inside Active Service in Peace and War (New York, 1948), Story, 45; Washington Herald, June 14, 1920. 105; The Sun and New York Herald, June 13, 1920; " Thomas Bailey, Woodrow Wilson and the Great Chicago Daily News, June 14, 1920; Boston Herald, Betrayal (New York, 1947), 374; Charles Willis Thomp­ June 13, 1920; Lenroot, Memoirs, 156. son, Presidents I've Known and Two Near Presidents 1-Lenroot to E. Mont Reily, August 21, 1945; Len­ (Indianapolis, 1920), 327; James W. Wadsworth to Mark root to Cyril Clemens, August 22, 1939, Box 1; Lenroot Sullivan, March 5, 1935, Box 17, Wadsworth Family to Mark Sullivan, April 18, 1935, Box 4; Lenroot, Mem­ Collection, in the James W. Wadsworth Papers, Library oirs, 157, in the Lenroot Papers; Superior Telegram, of Congress. Thompson claimed the matter had been June 15, 1920. The evidence that Lenroot turned settled in advance, but it was patently impossible to down the offer rests on Lenroot's testimony. Most of do so with any finality. it came years later, moreover. However, Lenroot did i» Charles D. Hilles to Mark Sullivan, March 2, 1935; tell a Superior Telegram reporter on June 15, 1920, Hilles to James W. Wadsworth, March 9, 1935, Box 17, and his daughter four or five weeks later. Katharine in the Wadsworth Papers; Irvine Lenroot, Memoirs, Lenroot to the author, February 27, 1969. It is hardly 157. The Washington Herald, June 13, 1920, refers likely that Lenroot deliberately lied, for he knew to the conference, though, as Hilles noted in his letter Mark Sullivan would publish his statements and other to Wadsworth, an effort was made to keep it secret. men could have contradicted the published account. Among those certainly present were Hilles, Herbert Furthermore, since a decision had been made in Len­ Parsons and Senator Medill McCormick. Others men­ root's favor, had he not rejected the offer there would tioned either by Hilles or the Washington Herald or have been no occasion tor subsequent conferences on Lenroot were former Senator Murray Crane, Senator the Vice-Presidency, as described below. Reed Smoot, Senator William Borah, Senator Harry "John Esch to Homer C. Denison, June 14, 1920, New, Senator Wadsworth, Senator Francis Warren, Box 58, in the John Esch Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Hert, and Hays. Lenroot referred to Hays in Lenroot Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. to Mark Sullivan, April 18, 1935, Box 4, in the Lenroot " Lenroot to Mark SulUvan, April 18, 1935, Box 4, Papers. in the Lenroot Papers.

25 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Harding shift began, Indiana Senator James Watson promised to nominate Governor Hen­ ry Allen of Kansas for Vice-President. Mc­ Cormick and Senator William Borah of Idaho urged against it. Although the Kansas dele­ gation switched from Wood to Harding at a critical moment during the ninth ballot in the expectation of Allen's nomination, Mc­ Cormick and Borah persuaded Watson that the Kansas industrial court law was anathema to organized labor and that a Harding-Allen ticket would lose much of the labor vote.'^ Hastily, McCormick led in assembling a group of party elders in a little cubicle be­ neath the stage, where he pressed the neces­ sity for a quick decision and advanced Len­ root. The need for a progressive to balance the ticket remained obvious; Lenroot was well- liked and he came from the right region, if not the ideal state. The others—Alvin Hert, Bo­ rah, Senator John Weeks of Massachusetts, Harry Daugherty, Harding's friend and po­ litical manager. Senator James Wadsworth of WHi (X3) 32374 New York, Senator Watson, Senator Lawrence Will Hays, national chairman of the Republican party Phipps of Colorado, perhaps Senators Reed in 1920. Smoot of Utah and William Calder of New York—agreed on him.''' Swiftly, Watson ex­ than re-election, was a political dead end. plained the situation to Allen, who accepted it Nor could he forget his political obligations with good grace, although his friends in the in Wisconsin. Lenroot did not want to leave Kansas delegation later put forth his name the polyglot antiradical element without on their own. McCormick, meanwhile, got strong, progressive leadership. Finally, the the enthusiastic co-operation of party chair­ prospect of political defeat was not intoler­ man Hays.'8 able. He was fifty-one; Clara was sixty-three. It was time to earn some money towards re­ 1" James E. Watson, As I Knew Them (Indianapolis, tirement. The conferees, for want of further 1936), 223; William Allen White in Chicago Daily time, dispersed without having reached a de­ News, June 14, 1920; Bagby, Road to Normalcy, 95, 100. " Portland Oregonian, June 14, 1920; Bagby, Road cision.'^ to Normalcy, 100; McCoy, Coolidge, 119; Sullivan, Our McCormick, who for years had attempted Times, VI: 78; James W. Wadsworth to Charles D. to reunite the Republican party on a basis Hilles, March 6, 1935, Box 17, in the Wadsworth that was fair to progressives, continued to Papers; James W. Wadsworth, "The Smoke Filled Room," in American Heritage 23: 3 (June, 1972), 109- view Lenroot as the ideal man. When the 110 (from a 1952 Columbia University Oral History Research Office interview); Wadsworth to Ray Baker " In his letter to Wadsworth of March 9, 1935, Harris, June 27, 1938, Reel 257; Harry Daugherty to Charles Hilles recalled that Lenroot had been present Ray Baker Harris, October 9, 1939, Reel 259, Ray throughout the conference and had acquiesced in its Baker Harris Deposit, in the Warren G. Harding decision. Events showed, however, that he had not ac­ Papers, Ohio Historical Society; Raymond Clapper, quiesced, and that no decision had been reached. It "The Dark Horse Wins," n.d. Qune, 1920), Box 66, in is possible, but not likely, that he had been present the Raymond Clapper Papers, Library of Congress. throughout. If he were, his refusal would have been '"Watson, As I Knew Them, 223; Chicago Daily more quickly registered, leaving time for a decision in News, June 14, 1920; Hays to Mark Sullivan, July 3, favor of someone else. Moreover, the facts of this 1935, Box 22A, in the Mark Sullivan Papers, Hoover incident, which Lenroot had many occasions to re­ Institution, Stanford University. In this letter Hays hearse over the years, were more likely to have stuck admits that he thought well of Lenroot but does not in his memory than in Hilles's. discuss the active part he went on to play. See below.

26 MARGULIES: IRVINE L. LENROOT

Watson saw Harding about the Vice-Presi­ dency and found the prospective presidential nominee willing to give his senatorial friend carte blanche. Hays, in conferring with Len­ root in a corridor below stage to which he had invited the Senator, said that Harding wanted Lenroot. Although Hays was trying to per­ suade, there is reason to think that Harding was, indeed, pleased with the choice.'^ Hays had been present when Lenroot earlier rejected the offer, and he now sought to make it as attractive as possible. He quoted Hard­ ing as saying that the office would be more than honorary, that Lenroot would sit with the Cabinet and help to make policy. He ap­ pealed to Lenroot's party loyalty by claiming that the nomination would be made in a few minutes, that it would be a fait accompli, and that it was one on whose wisdom the leaders agreed. Would Lenroot go before the con­ vention and reject the nomination? Lenroot restated his objections. Hays urged further consideration, and finally, after the two had consumed a good deal of time, Lenroot said that he would consult his wife and the Cro- ziers, who were seated adjacent to the plat­ form, and would return with his answer.^" By this time Harding had been nominated WHi (X3) 32373 and McCormick, in a state of high excite­ Senator Joseph Medill McCormick of Illinois. ment, immediately nominated Lenroot for Vice-President in a brief speech, calling him der of the powerful New York delegation. But a man of exceptional ability, experience, and during McCormick's speech someone shouted magnetic force. Others hastened onto the "Coolidge! Coolidge!" and after Calder ut­ floor to pass the word. In swift succession, tered the words "of Wisconsin" following seconding speeches were made by Alvin Hert, Lenroot's name, another voice shouted, "Not by H. L. Remmel of Arkansas, who was well- on your life." Despite these disturbing signs, known for conveying the wishes of the party McCormick left the hall and Lodge turned leaders, by Myron T. Herrick of Ohio, a over the gavel to former Governor Frank spokesman for Harding, and by Senator Cal- Willis of Ohio, who had nominated Harding.^' A small man with a strong voice stood on a chair in the rear of the hall and clamored for " Watson, As I Knew Them, 224; Lenroot, Memoirs, recognition. Willis, evidently expecting an­ 157; E. Mont Reily to Lenroot, August 10, 1945, Box 4, in the Lenroot Papers; Milwaukee Sentinel, October other second for Lenroot, recognized him. 20, 1920. Reily, Harding's western manager in 1920, asserted that prior to the convention Harding said '"Lenroot to Sullivan, April 18, 1935, Box 4, in the that if he were nominated he wished to have Lenroot Lenroot Papers; Stoddard, It Costs to Be President, as his running mate. The story is not inconsistent 71; Charles D. Hilles to James W. Wadsworth, March with his expediential offers to Johnson prior to the 9, 1935, Box 17, in the Wadsworth Papers; The Sun nomination. Harding later endorsed Lenroot for the and New York Herald, June 13, 1920; Raymond Clap­ Senate in more than perfunctory terms. He wrote per, "The Dark Horse Wins," n.d. [June, 1920], Box that there was "no abler man in the United States 66, in the Clapper Papers; Proceedings of the Seven­ senate. . . ." Milwaukee Sentinel, October 20-Novem- teenth Republican National Convention, 225; Sullivan, ber 2, 1920. Our Times, VI; 78; McCoy, Coolidge, 120; Claude M. '"Lenroot to Mark Sullivan, April IB, 1935, Box 4; Fuess, Calvin Coolidge, The Man From Vermont Lenroot, Memoirs, 157, in the Lenroot Papers. (Hamden, Connecticut, 1965), 261.

27 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Amidst the general turmoil, few delegates else would, and within the hour had refused heard all the words the man uttered, but they to make unanimous the nomination of Hard­ heard the name "Coolidge," and greeted it ing. Coolidge, on the other hand, represented with a chorus of applause and cheers. Seconds law and order against the excesses of labor. came from all over the hall, and even Remmel When, in September, 1919, Boston's police­ of Arkansas, sensing the temper of the con­ men went on strike and some lawbreaking en­ vention, withdrew his second for Lenroot and sued. Governor Coolidge sent in National switched to Coolidge. Back at his seat by Guardsmen. Later, he opposed the reinstate­ then, Lenroot could see that there was no ment of the strikers, and, in response to a occasion to respond to Hays. In a letter to plea from Samuel Gompers, president of the author-journalist Mark Sullivan years later, American Federation of Labor, Coolidge Lenroot wrote that he returned from his con­ struck a popular note with his wire: "There versation with Hays in time to hear McCor­ is no right to strike against the public safety mick finish his nominating speech. He told by anybody, anywhere, any time." He had a reporter days after the event that he did been pushed for the Presidency earlier, and not know his name would be presented until in the course of that campaign his managers five minutes before McCormick nominated distributed a felicitous collection of his him. In his memoirs, he wrote that the Coo­ speeches and pronouncements to each con­ lidge stampede was practically over when he vention delegate and alternate.^' returned. Even presuming that the account Wallace McCamant, the small man in the he gave to Sullivan was accurate, there would Oregon delegation who had nominated Coo­ have been little time for consultation with lidge, was one of those who had read with ap­ Clara and, as Lenroot maintained, no occa­ proval Coolidge's words. McCamant was not sion to reply to Hays. Two other names were so obscure a figure as some have thought. A put in nomination, but the enthusiasm for former justice on the Supreme Court of Governor Coolidge did not wane; he was Oregon and head of the Sons of the American promptly nominated by the somewhat deple­ Revolution, McCamant was elected as a dele- ted convention, getting 6741/2 votes to Len­ gate-at-large. At the convention, he served root's 1461/2. Lenroot got just two votes not only on the platform committee but on from Wisconsin, the other twenty-four going the thirteen-member subcommittee that did to Senator Asle Gronna of North Dakota, a the actual platform drafting. A conserva­ long-time ally of Robert La Follette.^^ tive Rooseveltian in his nationalism, McCa­ mant voted for General Wood on every bal­ lot, although Hiram Johnson had won Ore­ FTERWARDS, reporters and gon's preferential primary. He was a strong politicians had a chance to sort law-and-order man whose thinking accorded out what had happened. Many delegates as­ with that of others in the Oregon delegation sociated Lenroot with Wisconsin, whose dele­ and with most others in the convention. In­ gates had each day held themselves righteous­ formed in advance that Lenroot had been de­ ly apart, voted for La Follette when no one cided on, McCamant and his Oregon col­ leagues, for a variety of reasons, disapproved and decided to nominate Coolidge. First, in accordance with the results of the Oregon -•'^ McCoy, Coolidge, 120-121; William Allen White, A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge primary, McCamant sought out Lodge to get (New York, 1938), 108-109; Sullivan, Our Times, VI: permission to put him in nomination. When 79; Proceedings, Seventeenth Republican National Con­ Lodge declined, McCamant secured his as­ vention, 226; Lenroot to Mark Sullivan, April 18, 1935, sent to the nomination of Coolidge. Lodge Box 4, in the Lenroot Papers; Superior Telegram, June 15, 1920; Lenroot, Memoirs, 157-158. John White­ had no reason to think that Coolidge would head, one of the uninstructed delegates, urged the actually win.^* head of the Wisconsin delegation, John Blaine, to support Lenroot but Blaine scorned the idea. White­ head to E. B. Goodell, August 4, 1923, in the John M. ''''Sullivan, Our Times, VI: 80; McCoy, Coolidge, 94, Whitehead Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, 102-121. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. '"Fuess, Coolidge, 261; Washington Evening Star, 28 MARGULIES: IRVINE L. LENROOT

Much of the impetus behind the rebellion whom Harding wanted. Coolidge noted that for Coolidge was resentment against dictation night that had McCamant not put him in by Senators. The senatorial contingent had nomination, someone else would have. But made its own men temporary and perma­ if Harding's preference had been made force­ nent chairmen and head of the resolutions fully clear, nothing else would have mattered committee. They had, delegates believed, dic­ —neither Wisconsin's unpopularity, nor the tated the nomination of Harding, another of conservatism of the delegates and popularity their own; Senator Boies Penrose, Republican of Coolidge, nor the smoldering resentment boss in Pennsylvania, gave the final word by against the Senators.^^ telephone from his sick bed in Philadelphia, Ultimately, then, it was Lenroot who de­ or so rumor had it. Now, to top it off, the termined the outcome. What answer he would senatorial cabal was demanding even the sec­ have given Hays had he been nominated we ond place; it was "just one too many Senators do not know. Perhaps he himself never knew. on the presidential ticket," a reporter ob­ Chatting with friends in the Palmer House served. The delegates, mainly supporters of after the convention he seemed in good spir­ Lowden, Wood, or Johnson, had been denied its, and, in later life, knowing that he had their first choice on the Presidency; tired and denied himself the Presidency, Lenroot always resentful, they would not again accept sen­ said he had no regrets. But in 1935, after re­ atorial dictation.^^ viewing a draft of Mark Sullivan's account The reporter for the New York Times of the convention, he asked Sullivan to make doubted that the leaders really wanted Len­ clear that he had declined the prospective root. "The half-hearted nature of the effort nomination in the afternoon.^'' that was made by the leaders who controlled Had Lenroot secured the nomination, he the convention to bring about Lenroot's nom­ might have strengthened the ticket. He could ination [he wrote] was so obvious that it hardly have weakened it to the extent that could scarcely deceive. . . ." It seemed in­ the Democratic nominee. Governor James Cox conceivable that the leaders could not effect of Ohio, could have defeated Harding, who their complete program if they really wanted won 60 per cent of the popular vote. Nor is to. The reporter was incorrect in doubting it likely that Lenroot as Vice-President would the sincerity of the effort for Lenroot but in some fashion have prevented Harding's right in thinking it strange that the leaders death. That Lenroot would have won his had been unable to control. Later, Hays told party's nomination in 1924, as Coolidge did, Lenroot that if he had accepted the offer of is less sure. Certainly, though, he would have the earlier conference during the recess, there enjoyed the advantage of incumbency and would have been enough time to get the would have benefited, as Coolidge did, from word to the delegates. The name of Lenroot the fact that the Democrats overplayed their would have gone out, not as the choice of a hand and themselves became tarnished in con­ Senate clique, but as the selection of the presi­ nection with the Teapot Dome scandal.^s If dential nominee—quite another matter. As nominated, as is at least reasonable to suppose, it was, some delegates were in doubt to the Lenroot would have had little trouble win­ last as to whom the leaders had chosen or ning election against the deeply divided Dem­ ocrats and the third-party candidacy of Rob­ ert La Follette. February 1, 1926, June 8, 1920; The Sun and New York Herald, June II, 1920; Joseph W. Martin, Jr., My First Fifty Years in Politics (New York, 1960), 143; McCoy, AD Lenroot instead of Coolidge Coolidge, 119-120; Portland Oregonian, June 13, 1920. been President from August, ^ Washington Evening Star, June 6, 1920; The Sun H and New York Herald, June 8, 1920; Washington '"New York Times, June 14, 1920; Lenroot, Memoirs, Herald, June 10, 1920; Chicago Daily News, June 14, 158; Milwaukee Journal, January 27, 1949; Boston 1920; Robert K. Murray, The Harding Era: Warren G. Herald, June 13, 1920. Harding and His Administration (Minneapolis, 1969) "' Milwaukee Journal, January 27, 1949; Lenroot to 39-40; White, Puritan in Babylon, 208-209; Martin, Sullivan, April 18, 1935, Box 4, in the Lenroot Papers. My Fifty Years in Politics, 143; Portland Oregonian, "" Burl Noggle, Teapot Dome: Oil and Politics in June 14, 1920. the 1920's (Baton Rouge, 1962), 96-176.

29 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

1923, into 1929, would the course of history victions of the administration, notably belief been altered substantially? The question can­ in economy, opposition to blocs and class not be answered with any degree of certainty. alignment, and limits on the functions of gov­ In consideration of it, however, a few facts ernment. about Lenroot's subsequent senatorial career Lenroot's regularity was evidenced in his are useful. opposition to the various McNary-Haugen Following his re-election in 1920, he served farm bills, and his votes against the expulsion one full term before losing to Governor John of Senator Truman Newberry of Michigan Blaine, a member of the La Follette coalition, and for the confirmation of Charles Beecher in the 1926 primaries. In the Senate, Lenroot Warren of Michigan as Attorney General. He acted as a regular Republican under the loose supported administration foreign policy to a leadership of Harding and Coolidge. greater extent than he did its domestic pro­ He did so for several reasons. Part of his gram, and in 1926 led the fight for adherence Wisconsin coalition was conservative. Equally to the World Court. or more important, he was repelled by and Yet Lenroot continued to view himself as a repugnant to the bloc of independent Repub­ progressive and to harbor the old insurgent licans that sprang from disillusionment with belief that his party might be made progres­ the war and the agricultural crisis of the sive. When he had to, he stood in opposition twenties. He rejected both the ideas and to the party leadership. With some effective­ methods of this group, which was led by La ness, he promoted more liberal tax policies Follette and George Norris of Nebraska and than Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mel­ included Lynn Frazier of North Dakota, Smith lon favored, fought for lowering of tariff rates Brookhart of Iowa, and others. In contrast to in the Fordney-McCumber law, and acted for them, Lenroot believed in co-operation and Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, with conciliation. He shared a number of the con­ whom he was very close, in pressuring Federal

President Calvin Coolidge on vacation in northern Wisconsin, 1925.

WHi (X3) 28442 MARGULIES: IRVINE L. LENROOT

Reserve officials to tighten credit when, in Hoover was prepared' for the more radical the mid-twenties, speculation seemed to be antidepression measures to which the New getting out of hand. Over the opposition of Deal had to resort. Thus, Lenroot would Mellon, he was chiefly instrumental in win­ probably have lessened, but by no means ning adoption of the Agricultural Credits Act eliminated, the forces driving the country of 1923, a major piece of farm legislation. towards depression. On international matters, On the whole, Lenroot was displeased with Lenroot was in reasonably close accord with the situation and with his party during the Coolidge, a cautious internationalist, and his years of his second Senate term, 1921-1927. policies would probably not have been very He could not support La Follette's indepen­ different from those his country followed. dent candidacy in 1924, yet he was not happy For several years after the end of his Senate with liis own party's conservative stance. "It term, Lenroot practiced law in Washington, looks to me as if some of us were in a fair way D.C, but in 1928 he accepted President Coo­ to be ground between the upper millstone of lidge's offer of nomination to the Court of standpattism and the nether one of radical­ Customs Appeals. The nomination was held ism," he wrote his close friend William Kent up in tlie Senate, but when the new President, of California in July, 1924. More than once Herbert Hoover, resubmitted it in 1929, Len­ he thought of giving up politics altogether, root was confirmed. He served on the court, even before the expiration of his term.^^ renamed the Court ol Patent and Customs Had Lenroot been President from 1923 Appeals, until 1944. into 1929, certainly he would have favored a Lenroot had been active politically while more liberal policy and a more active presi­ practicing law in Washington, and had helped dential role than did Calvin Coolidge. But Herbert Hoover in his campaign for nomina­ whether or not he could have effected these tion and election in 1928. Hoover offered things would have depended very largely on him a Cabinet post, but Lenroot did not feel his ability to capture the public imagination. that he could afford to take it. When he went Without public support, he would surely have on the bench instead, propriety required that compromised with conservative Republicans he give up political activity, and his associa­ more than he would have liked. Unfortu­ tion with Hoover grew more distant. But nately, his background provides no sure clue Lenroot observed affairs closely, and often as to his possible popularity with the public. yearned to be back in politics. In the face He had good speaking ability and a good of economic crisis in October, 1933, Lenroot sense for public opinion. Yet he had rarely did deliver a speech on a national radio net­ emerged from the legislative shadows. The work urging citizens to support the programs Presidency imposes new stresses and offers of the National Recovery Administration. new opportunities, and this writer, at least, Lenroot soon became disillusioned with is not prepared to guess how Lenroot would President Franklin Roosevelt and the New have reacted and how the public would have Deal. He took alarm, especially, at evidences taken to him. This much is reasonably sure: of labor militancy, such as the Michigan sit- he would have continued to admire Herbert down strikes of 1937. When he left the court Hoover and to accept his advice. At the very in 1944, it was by resignation rather than re­ least, he would have tried to dampen stock- tirement, so that he would be entirely free to market speculation. But neither he nor speak on public matters. Lenroot warned against the Russians but advocated creation of the United Nations. To cure domestic ills, Lenroot urged creation of disinterested citi­ ^ Lenroot to Kent, July 30, 1924, Box 72, in the Kent zens groups in every community to promote Papers, Yale University Library; A. J. Myrland to Nils Haugen, February 22, 1923, Box 62, in the Nils Haugen harmony among classes and the kind of good Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, State Historical government that progressives had dreamed of Society of Wisconsin; Clara Lenroot Diary, February in the days of his youth. He spent much of the 20, 1923, in the Lenroot Papers .'Vddition; Lenroot to last five years of his life writing his memoirs, William Kent, September 25, 1924, in the Kent Papers; Lenroot to Nellie Nichols, June 18, 1925, in the Len­ and died on January 26, 1949, at his home in root Papers Addition. Washington, D.C.

31 Art Young: Cartoonist from the Middle Border

By Richard W. Cox

'VERYBODY liked Art Young, In many ways this was a strange stance to E' th e cartoonist out of Monroe, take for a man who spent most of his career Wisconsin. His talent with pen and ink, com­ in big cities like Chicago and New York. But bined with his witty and ingratiating per­ accustomed as he was to the cosmopolitan sonality, won him friends in high places and scene, with all its political and artistic fer­ low. Presidents Cleveland, McKinley, Wilson, ment, Arthur Henry Young retained a measure Harding, and both Roosevelts knew him by of nostalgia for the small Midwestern town name; periodicals as diverse as Judge, Life, he had left behind. At a time when artists The Metropolitan, the Saturday Evening Post, were enlisting in some of the great causes of and The Masses featured his drawings over a the twentieth century—socialism, pacifism, long span of years, from the Gilded Age to revolutionary communism—Young remained World War II. He is probably best remem­ a genial skeptic, committed to socialism in a bered for the political cartoons he did for general sense, but unwilling or unable to fas­ The Masses, that zesty radical journal which ten a sectarian label to his art. He had a long denounced special privilege, "the interests," and distinguished career, and his drawings and American entry into World War I. But for The Masses and other liberal and left- Young had been on the political trail long wing journals will undoubtedly be linked before 1917, satirizing urban and rural Ameri­ with, and compared to, those of Robert Minor, ca, commenting not only on the issues of war William Gropper, and other New York politi­ and peace, capital and labor, but also on the cal cartoonists of the period. But in many populist revolt and the fervid progressivism of ways Art Young was different from his com­ Robert M. La Follette. During the 1920's he peers, and for this reason an examination of produced many socially satirical drawings, his place in American art, and his connec­ lampooning bigotry, Christian revivalism. tions with his native Wisconsin, is long over­ Prohibition, conventional sexual mores, and due. modern art—to say nothing of the epic strug­ For Art Young, the route to an activist gle between the urbanized machine age and career in art was a gradual one. He was born an earlier, and in Young's view more appeal­ in 1866 on a farm in Stephenson County, Illi­ ing, age of simple agrarian virtues. Toward nois, just below the Wisconsin border. He the end of his career he produced a full-length movetl to Monroe, the seat of Green County, Dantean satire. Art Young's Inferno, which as a small boy, when his father, Daniel Young, took the position that modern man, in his purchased a general store on the village reckless pursuit of wealth and creature com­ square. The boy grew up in an environment fort, had literally created hell on earth, and of Lincoln Republicanism; his father had was now living in it. been a mounted usher at the Lincoln-Douglas

32 cox: ART YOUNG debates in 1856, and had steered his three sons toward the new majority party in the 1870's.' At Daniel Young's store, which served informally as the Monroe debating and political forum. Art Young acquainted him­ self with the local pundits, and spent many hours sketching the more flamboyant spokes­ men for the reform movements of the 1870's and 1880's: Grangers, Greenbackers, Prohibi­ tionists, and the like. Green County people Image called the store "the Monroe Hot Stove Club," and there farmers, merchants, and politicians suppressed gathered in the best rural manner to swap stories and horses. The storekeeper's son nev­ pending er permitted his behind-the-counter duties to keep him from eavesdropping on the feisty de­ copyright bates and tall tales that were spun by the local characters.^ His keen mind stored many im­ clearance pressions of small-town and rural Wisconsin types that he turned into satirical drawings, though often not until many years later. This mental acuity eluded him at school. Young was, charitably speaking, a special prob­ lem for the Monroe public school teachers. He had no taste for the three R's. Geography and history interested him only when the texts were "relieved by engravings or wood­ Art Youi. .10 cuts."^ His chalk drawings of circus parades Art Young, from an ink sketch by Jose Orozco. and landscapes, the caricatures he exhibited in the general store, and his Wells Opera Young learned most of what he would need House lecture on drawing brought praise to know at home—in his father's rich library from his teachers and friends. Drawing and and in his own collection of graphic art. On painting were not offered in the schools, and his bedroom wall hung reproductions of Gus­ Young's self-taught artistic skills caused won­ tave Dore, Thomas Rowlandson, and George der among the local citizenry.'* But he could Cruikshank, as well as some of the American not pass mathematics, Latin, and civics. As artists of Judge, Punch, and Harper's Weekly. Young later wrote of his dilemma: "I didn't Young quickly learned the power of carica­ graduate. Professor Twining, the high school ture, and it was here that his childhood pas­ principal, who was my last teacher, apparently sions—art, humor, and politics—mingled." wasn't concerned about that. He knew that Ridicule of others brought unexpected com­ I spent most of my time drawing and was tol­ pensations: he could overlook his own physi­ erant when I flunked my classes. I had an­ cal imperfections (a portly frame and "a other year to go when I quit school—I felt I nose with the habits of a chameleon") by was getting dumber and dumber each year."" searching out and exaggerating the defects of others. He was delighted to learn that his wit­ ty caricatures brought him attention from ' Art Young, On My Way: Being the Book of Art young girls in Monroe wlio had theretofore Young in Text and Picture (New York, 1928), 80, 97. Art Young, Art Young, His Life and Times (New York, 1939), 32-40. Daniel Young was the son of Stephen and Louisa Miner Young, who had migrated "Young, Life and Times, 52-53. The principal was west from upstate New York. Nathan C. Twining, the grandfather of General Na­ ''See Monroe Evening Times, December 30, 1943. than F, Twining, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs ' Young, Life and Times, 38. of Staff and also a Monroe native. ^Ibid., 52-54; Young, On My Way, 55. "Young, On My Way, 212-227.

33 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

west, and he set out for the metropolis in 1885, where he quickly established himself as a pictorial reporter and part-time editorial car­ toonist for the Chicago Evening Mail. In those years before news photography, artists like Young were assigned to make pen-and-ink illustrations of fires, ball games, conventions, plays, disasters, and steamboat excursions.^ His political assignments were less common, as political cartooning was still the province of weekly pictorial magazines rather than the daily newspapers. Over the next fifteen years Young worked for various periodicals in Chicago, Denver, and New York, where he became "one of the most subtle caption- writers, one of the least-edited comic artists in America."'" In one burst of high art ambition. Young Life and Times took off six months from these newspaper rigors to study painting under a leading aca­ paid him little mind.'' The caricatures also demic painter, William Bougereau, at the set some of his satirical victims on edge. In Academic Julian in Paris. A sudden, virulent 1881, when Young was sixteen, he infuriated pleurisy attack cut short his painting educa­ the then district attorney, P. J. Clawson, who tion, which was floundering anyway. Young's was up for re-election. "Clawson's opponents live-model drawings were either "too brutal" prevailed upon me to draw a cartoon showing or too comical for the taste of his academic P. J. before and after election [Young later teachers." Besides, Young kept wandering wrote]. In the first scene he was shaking into the graphic arts stores along the banks hands with his constituents and beaming upon of the Seine, admiring the prints of Daumier, them. In the second he was walking along as Garvarni, Dore, and other French masters if he were the only person on earth. That was rather than tending to his formal art studies not a diplomatic move on my part—for I was at the atelier.'^ Daniel Young came over enamored of the district attorney's daughter 4,000 miles in May, 1890, to retrieve his pleu­ Sophie, and had been spending some of my risy-stricken son, and brought him back to evenings at their home. My lampoon was ex­ the "fresh country air, and sunshine and good hibited in an upright showcase in father's food" of Monroe.'^ Art Young lingered there store, and P. J. almost burst with indignation for two years before resuming his newspaper when he heard about it. He forbade his career in 1892. daughter ever to see me again. . . ."* Young basked in the town's admiration and did not really mind the occasional notoriety, " Max Eastman, "Good Humorist," in The New but he had bigger ambitions than to carica­ Yorker (March 2, 1935), 22; On My Way, 62. Young ture local attorneys and classmates. He realized that the local "patrons" could only keep him going so long. "To show the presumption and well- longed for the excitement of Chicago, the defined ego of my youth—when I thought I held the nerve center of art and politics in the Mid- secrets of art in the hollow of my hand. I was about seventeen years of age (the flowering time of audacity). I advertised in the Monroe Sentinel that I would give a lecture on art in the town photograph gallery. The local intelligentsia came, but that left many vacant '' Young, Life and Times, 50. chairs." On My Way, 150; also Life and Times, 52-54. "Ibid., 54. For a brilliant discussion of the psy­ '° Eastman, "Good Hunrorist," 22. chological power of the cartoonist (which Young " On My Way, 209-210; Life and Times, 10. realized could be his at an early age), see E. H. Goni- '"Art Young, The Best of Art Young (New York, brich, "The Cartoonist's Armory," in the South At­ 1939), 10. lantic Quarterly (Spring, 1963), 189-228. '" Life and Times, 8-26. 34 cox: ART YOUNG

|N his sorties into the streets of 0 Chicago and New York on assign­ ments, Young became privy to the inside of Anarchists and government fraud, police corruption, big business manipulations, and other forms of Bomb Throwers misconduct so pervasive in the Gilded Age. But this glimpse of the sordid side of govern­ ment and business did not drive him toward a hard ideology in the 1880's and 1890's. He did not become a social reformer like Thomas Nast, America's premier cartoonist, whom Young had long admired and imitated." He maintained a cautious, slightly detached polit­ ical posture, often doing the bidding of his conservative employers (such as the Chicago Tribune, New York World, and Judge) with­ out great personal commitment. He drew cartoons attacking the anarchists he assumed were responsible for the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago. Other cartoons poked fun at "Coxey's Army," and at Grover Cleveland, who successfully vied for a second term in 1892. The Spanish-American War brought a strong outburst from Young, especially after the sinking of the Maine. He was enthusias­ tic about Teddy Roosevelt's exploits in that war, and he joined thousands of other Ameri­ cans to hurl confetti toward the hero of San Th« Unuitest Murder Trial on Reoord. with Speer^tiM In Foil •f tk« Att«t« Juan Hill who paraded triumphantly through meys fVr the Prosecution and Oefense. Pronaaely Olustrated. Priee »5 Cent*. Asenta Wonted. Manhattan after the Spanish surrender.'^ G. S. BAIDWIH, PUBLISHER, 199 ClARK STREET, CHICAGO. As a regular contributor to the pro-Republi­ can monthly. Judge, Young became active in the cause of William McKinley's election in Life and Times 1900. More correctly, he joined the abusive Art Young later regretted drawing this cover for a chorus against William Jennings Bryan. pamphlet attacking the Haymarket defendants. Judge conducted a savage anti-Bryan cam­ paign, depicting the Great Commoner as a the White House.) Pennick, said Young, was fool and a knave. Young's contribution to based closely on "the folks that I was raised this calumny was a comic character, Hiram among out in the Middle West . . . ridicule of Pennick, the Populist. (Actually, Hiram Pen- men who tilled the soil around Monroe."^^ nick more resembled a hayseed politician of Hiram Pennick was a bewildered dolt, a rus­ Monroe, Wisconsin, than the dapper Bryan, tic Don Quixote with pretensions to Abe Lin­ supremely eloquent in his first futile try at coln, mouthing garbled Populist slogans in a crude dialect supposedly native to Midwestern farmers of the l890's. At the first stop along the campaign trail, Pennick waxed with what " On My Way, 81-83; Life and Times, 155-156. The best study ot Nast is by Morton Keller, The Art and would become typical bombast:''' Politics of Thomas Nast (New York, 1968). This week I begin a horse back ture of 1= On My Way, 61, 90-93. "Theodore Roosevelt I saw many times, and on one occasion after a formal Ohio, Indyana, Iowa and maybe Wis fer the introduction, he said, 'Young, I would like to talk cans of populism. to you about real radicalism,' showing his teeth at the world 'real.' I said, 'Colonel, I don't know about that; i«L!7e and Times, 222-223; On My Way, 252-254. I am afraid that you will hypnotise me.' " ^^ Judge, September 1, 1900.

35 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Monroe types, recalled by Young from the 1880's.

While im no statesman er profit sum Filler, and Hurrican Willums, the latter of fellers is going to have their eyes opened whom talked out of the horn end of a phono­ and see the ruin thets starin at us if the graph) who matched his wit if not his charis­ nashtm dont rise triumfunt as the poet says ma. Pennick's stumping ended at Sandstone, and turn the ship of state sos sheel sale strate Wisconsin, where the people's candidate pon­ in the middle of the road stead of bumpin tificated with the best nineteenth-century ora­ along over rocks and stumps and wearin its bottum out. torical flourish :2'' As the campaign picked up steam, Pennick's Feller citizens, I seen a piece in the paper once by old Abe Linckon which sed you sense of the conspiracy against the Populists kin fule most people all the tim but you mounted:'* cant fule sum onem nun of the time. Theys Now feller citizens this nashun is running sum thet won's be fuled, sum that keeps blind into a slew of greed the best think their eyes open an won't have the wool we kin do is bust the chanes that fasens us pulled over em. and thems the Populist to the wheels of this here charyot thets all party (grate cheering). made out of gold when one wheel ort to be Hiram Pennick was political burlesque, but made out of silver. the satire was not particularly vicious, certain­ Young's ear for dialect became legendary; late ly not as harsh as the general anti-Bryan tone in his life he amazed Charlie Chaplin with taken by the Judge editors. Malice, one of his "keen perception of the artifices of ora­ the chief ingredients of traditional satire, was torical technique" when the two swapped rarely a part of Young's repertoire. A sunny stories and comic routines at a New York disposition and a generous spirit toward hu­ party.18 Hiram Pennick was probably a con­ man frailty prevented him from slipping into coction of dialects, accents, and other speech the savage frame of mind that empowered idioms Young remembered from his child­ Francisco Goya, Hieronymus Bosch, George hood when he clerked at Daniel Young's Grosz, and other great social artists down general store. tlirough the ages. Hiram Pennick's look was no less ludicrous More than anything else, the good-natured than his speech. Tall, rod-stiff in the saddle, spoof of Pennick revealed Young's cheek-by- he sported a ragged Lincoln topcoat, a stove­ jowl contact with the Wisconsin small-town pipe hat, and a Bryan button, carried a staff scene he had left years before but had by no that said "E Plurisy Unum," and rode a means forgotten. With his droll demeanor broken-down mare from town to town spread­ and gift for malaprop, this populist buffoon ing the Populist gospel to sparse and amused was kin to the homespun characters of Josh audiences. He gathered about him a motley Billings, the auctioneer-humorist who was one retinue of stragglers (Hod Trivett, John Bird of Art Young's boyhood idols. In Monroe, Young had a library stuffed with comic litera­ ture—he spent nearly as much time reading

'•>Ibid., September 8, 1900. " Charles Chaplin, "Art Young,' in The New Masses (February 1, 1944). 'Judge, November 3, 1900.

36 cox: ART YOUNG comic essays, stories, and quips as he did in copying 'the drawings of graphic artists—and many of his rural caricatures produced for cosmopolitan magazines were inspired from figures created by Bill Arp, Joel Chandler Harris, Mark Twain, and other nineteenth- century humorists of the midlands.^' One thing is certain: Young knew full well that Hiram Pennick did not accurately mirror the complexity of Wisconsin populism of the 1890's, which was predominantly an urban phenomenon attracting few converts in Mon­ roe or in any of the dairy regions of the state. Wisconsin's farmers remained loyal to the Democratic and Republican parties.^^ Years before the McKinley-Bryan campaign. Young had noticed rustic characters in his father's general store, among them "the Populist, Fred Lund," who loved to "detail the wrongs suf­ fered by the farmers under the Harrison ad­ ministration," and Bob Crow, who owned a .--^ farm near Banty's Mill just outside Monroe and journeyed to Monroe, "adorned with a stove pipe head piece such as Abe Lincoln Life and Times used to wear. "2^ No one can say for sure Elizabeth North Young. whether Hiram Pennick was an outright in­ vention or just the exaggeration of an imagi­ from Wisconsin eccentric yeomen and popu­ native satirist. In any event, historical accu­ lar literary characters, and perhaps from racy and fair play were not Young's aims; glimpses of Plains States political realities just they seldom are concerns of the effective satir­ before the 1900 election. ist. Young was the amused, tolerant satirist, Young remained a lukewarm Republican not the careful political reporter. He served for nearly the first twenty years of his career. the readers of Judge a devilish farce, derived While he had always had a slight sympathy for the underdog, and been drawn at an early ^ On My Way, 212-227. age toward reform-minded ministers and ad­ '' Robert Nesbit, Wisconsin: A History (Madison, vocates of women's rights, he did not stray 1973), 382; David P. Thelen, The New Citizenship: far from the political mainstream. He made Origins of Progressivism in Wisconsin, 1885-1900 (Co­ note of poverty in Chicago, New York, and lumbia, Missouri, 1972), 5-6, 233-239, 257-261. The Paris, but did not move to comment on its Populists, centered in Milwaukee, and to a lesser ex­ tent in smaller cities like La Crosse, Superior, and meaning in his art. "It is so easy to drift with Wausau, fought alongside other urban reform groups current opinion," he once wrote, "especially for municipal ownership of electric lights, and a system if the organs expressing that opinion will pay of competitive street railways, rather than for the tra­ money for your propaganda."^* Only after ditional rural causes. Thelen writes: "Wisconsin's diversified agricultural sector differed markedly in 1900 did he "discover the class struggle" and political climate from that of regions that depended on begin to move leftward politically. the vicissitudes ot a single crop. The farm protest movements that accompanied years of failure in the wheat and cotton areas were notably absent from the Badger State," and "... a number of aggressive HE stiffening of his social con­ dairy propagandists had persuaded Wisconsin farmers that dairying and scientific agriculture, not Granger science coincided with the de­ movements, offered the true 'agriculture of survival.' terioration of his marriage. He and Elizabeth As a result, the Alliance and Popidist movements had North, the daughter of a Monroe livery stable almost no impact on Wisconsin farmers." ^ii'/e and Times, 30, 44. ' On My Way, 253.

37 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 owner, had been sweethearts in the early f 880's. missed the country, and in 1904 they gathered Elizabeth waited patiently for the marriage enough money to lease a Connecticut farm, proposal that did not come until Young had hoping that roomier, less hectic surroundings tested the waters of the newspaper business in could save the floundering marriage.^^ But Chicago and New York, entered art school in Young kept coming back to the fundamental Paris, and had almost died of la grippe in the question: "What comes first, I kept asking Hotel de Nice, Rue des Beaux Arts. CDnly after myself—dutiful domesticity or draftsmanship he had fully convalesced in Monroe did the and dreams?"^" couple at last take vows in a Milwaukee cere­ In 1905 Elizabeth North Young packed her mony in 1891.25 They lived apart for the first things and took a small inheritance to Los six months of their marriage, as Young tried to Angeles, where she and her sister raised North resume his career first with the Chicago Inter- and Donald Young. Neither Art Young nor Ocean and then with the Denver Times. Young Elizabeth Young ever remarried, and they re­ intended to summon Elizabeth to Denver, but mained on good terms. The marriage ended the city proved disappointing. At first, the in­ as it apparently began—without passion or formal lifestyle, surrounding mountains, and acrimony. Max Eastman, one of Young's co- wide-open spaces of Denver intrigued the art­ editors on The Masses, later described the ist, but once the novelty wore off and the "chill failed marriage poignantly: "Art Young seems autumn weather came" Young began to feel to have risen above matrimony with the same isolated and longed for the "crowd surge" and serene and natural levitation with which he political upbeat of Chicago. Local Rocky rose above school life and painting, shedding Mountain news bored him, and the philistine its trammels without anger and without regret atmosphere of Denver revived memories of as a zeppelin its anchor or a pollywog his tail. one aspect of Monroe he wanted no part of.^^ I gather—with some difficulty, because of his Since no prospects loomed in Chicago, Young reticence—that he and Mrs. Young lived to­ moved with Elizabeth to New York in 1892, gether for eight years and got two sons with­ where he did free-lance drawings for Life, out a quarrel, and then they separated with­ Judge, Leslie's Weekly, and Puck before join­ out a quarrel, and lived apart without a quar­ ing William Randolph Hearst's Evening rel forever after. "^^ Journal for SlOO a week—a fancy salary for a journalistic artist in those days.2''' Marriage pressed on Young's nerves almost '"'Art and Elizabeth Young separated briefly in 1900, until Will Young, the artist's older brother, and immediately. His free-spirited lifestyle and other close friends talked them into reconciliation. art ambitions were inhibited; he had planned Young tried but could not succeed in being happy to go back to the Art Students League to when Elizabeth became pregnant in 1902. After a give his painting studies one last chance, but second son, Donald, was born in 1904, the parents now decided that his new responsibilities searched for a country retreat, buying a small farm in Connecticut with Elizabeth's inheritance from her made these ambitions something of a luxury.^* uncle, and Art's "few dollars remaining from the pro­ He felt fenced in, through no fault of Eliza­ ceeds of sales to magazines." Life and Times, 205-206, beth's, who was always understanding and 225-228, 229. patient while he agonized over his future. "'Ibid., 228. Young agonized over his situation and Children came in the space of a few years feelings of entrapment, and why some artists, but not he, could make the necessary adjustments to married (North and Donald Young were born in 1902 life: "Uppermo.st was the thought that I ought to and 1904 respectively), and Young took more resign myself to wedlock at all costs. Was it not the mundane drawing assignments than usual just natural and accepted relation of man and woman? to provide for the family. He felt guilty And above all things I ought to keep the tradition of the Young and North families inviolate, for most of about raising the children in a small River­ them knew how to niarry, stay married and be con­ side Drive apartment; both he and Elizabeth tented." ••'* Eastman, Heroes I Have Known: Twelve Who Lived Great Lives (New York, 1942). Young later '^Life and Times, 175-177. lamented; "I was thirty-nine years old when married "Ibid., 178-187. life and all that goes with domesticity became too much ''Ibid., 188-190, 201-204. for me. I knew that I was not a good husband or a '"Ibid., 205-206, 213-214. family man. My patient, sensitive wife deserved a bet- cox: ART YOUNG

During the final throes of his marriage, and as a distraction from his guilt feelings, Young )^^^^-^.-. sought refuge in the New York Public Li­ , ^ brary, where he read political literature and /''/) ^^'^Ay reflected for the first time on the inequities he \ had seen in Wisconsin, Chicago, New York, Denver, and Paris. Lectures by Myron Reed, a liberal Christian reformer, and especially by Eugene Debs deeply touched him, and fi­ nally moved him to confess: "I was living in a world morally and spiritually diseased and I was learning some of the reasons."^^ Young now threw himself into political life, making friends of New York reformers and studying political theory somewhat more systematically at Cooper Union College. He repented his earlier sins and omissions while under the hire of conservative newspapers, and tried to make amends with political figures like John Altgeld, whom he had abused in pic­ tures dealing with the Haymarket case many years before.^^

N this first flush of enthusiasm for I liberal causes, Art Young allied him­ OI^VYJ'J"''** self with Robert M. La Follette, whose mis­ sionary brand of progressivism had made be­ tCa^^<,UAZXjU lievers of many skeptics.^'' In 1884 Art and On My Way Daniel Young met La Follette in Monroe as the then congressman was politicking through Milwaukee Free Press, which had recently been Green County.^^ They became friends in sub­ established by the millionaire lumberman, sequent years, and as a sign of a growing com­ Isaac Stephenson, to combat the stalwart Re­ mitment to the reform cause, the artist volun­ publican organ, the Milwaukee Sentinel.^^ teered his services to La Follette's stormy gu­ Young's joining the La Follette team did not bernatorial campaign of 1904. In September of sit well with Charles Pfister, editor of the that year Young moved back to Wisconsin and Sentinel, who sneered at the governor for "hir­ contributed pro-La Follette cartoons to the ing a high priced cartoonist" to prop up his troubled campaign. (Young worked only for traveling expenses, beginning on October 8, 1904, and carrying on through the November ter fate. I exaggerated annoyances and was getting election.)^'' The Milwaukee Free Press made neurotic. I thought it was a choice between the insane asylum or freedom and, being the bread-winner, I de­ no attempt to disguise its good fortune: "What cided not to go to an asylum." On My Way, 247. will lend to these cartoons a peculiar personal ^'^ Life and Times, 216. value is that Young never draws a line contrary ^Ibid., 219-222; see also Daniel Aaron's introduc­ to his convictions. "3* By placing cartoons on tion to Good Morning, "Volumes 1-3, 1919-1921 (New York, Greenwood Reprint Corporation, 1968). ^ Robert Maxwell, Robert La Follette and the Rise of the Progressives in Wisconsin (Madison, 1956), 71; *>/fe»d., 31-36; Life and Times, 223-224; Herbert F. Robert M. La Follette, La Follette's Autobiography: Margulies, The Decline of the Progressive Movement A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences (Madi­ in Wisconsin, 1890-1920 (Madison, 1968), 84. son, 1913), 183-184. '"Life and Times, 223. "^On My Way, 31. '^Milwaukee Free Press, October 8, 1904.

39 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 the front page, not in the editorial section as campaign was "That Experimental Marriage," was customary, the Free Press professed its be­ which introduced what would soon become lief in the political potency of Young's pictures. Young's most persistent cartoon symbol—the Emboldened by this expression of confi­ bloated, gargantuan figure of capitalism buy­ dence, Young came out swinging at La Fol­ ing its way through elections.*' In this in­ lette's foes. Occasionally he ridiculed the stance, the railroad company was wedding overshadowed Democratic candidate, George the Democratic and stalwart Republican cou­ Peck, but most of the polemic drawings pic­ ple to its selfish cause. Young admired La tured "Fightin' Bob" standing up before the Follette's resistance to powerful, corporate stalwarts, the conservative Republican faction forces:''^ that had broken ranks with the party at the I believed that he represented the honest tumultuous Madison "Gymnasium Conven­ Americanism which flowed from the pio­ tion" in 1904 to run its own candidate rather neers. He was for the farmers, whether than acquiesce in the governor's reform plat­ Swedes, German, Swiss, Irish or what; and form of open primaries, tax revision, and rail­ for the industrial workers, native and for­ road regulation.29 Young assailed M. J. Jef­ eign-born alike. . . . He showed up the rot­ fries and other stalwart leaders as hypocriti­ tenness in his own party, exposed appalling cal, undemocratic oligarchs and party wreck­ inequities in the Wisconsin taxing system ers. (The stalwarts were of course depicted and the vital importance of public super­ by the Milwaukee Sentinel as men of high vision of railroad rates. And now he won conscience and valiant defenders of true Re­ re-election as he had won all previous con­ publican principles against the "Madison dic- tests for public office. All the mud-slinging had failed to stop him. tator.")*" Young also fixed his sights on Wisconsin's Such doe-eyed admiration found pictorial powerful railroad interests, whose inequitable expression in cartoons like "The Toiler of the system of rebates was under attack by La Sea," a visual metaphor of the Victor Hugo Follette. Perhaps the best drawing of the novel. La Follette is pictured as a modern day Gilliatt, single-handedly braving the storms of oppression, greed, and personal abuse. This ••* From the opening gavel, the 1904 Republican con­ was the romantic, literary Art Young showing vention was tumultuous. Wisconsin football players a flair for the melodramatic, and thus echo­ were hired to "keep order" as delegates wrangled on ing similar personality traits of his candidate. the floor of the university gymnasium (now the red­ brick Armory) over the issue of competing delegate The La Follette campaign of 1904 was the seatings. Apparently by prior design, the stalwarts turning point in Young's political re-educa­ bolted the convention early (as soon as they lost the tion. Never again would he sell his services to delegate battle) and made their own rump nomina­ the highest bidder or be so casual about what tions at the old Madison Opera House. Maxwell, cause his art would assist. Between 1905 and La Follette, 68-70; Margulies, Decline of the Progres­ sive Movement, 72-77. 1911 he was drawn steadily into left-wing poli­ •""According to recent historians of Wisconsin pro­ tics. He listened to dissident speakers, read gressivism, the stalwarts were not the only guilty muckraking literature, and participated in party in the party split. La Follette had courted old- debates at Cooper Union College.''^ He even line Republican officials like Emanuel L. Philipp and John C. Spooner when he first ran for governor, then turned against them to recruit the support of Demo­ " Honore Daumier's caricatures of the French "Citi­ crats and Social Democrats for his causes; and he zen King," Louis Phillipe, and Thomas Nast's satires was not above using the muscle of his office and of Boss Tweed had established a precedent for the "chicanery" in the state caucuses to ensure control of hulking, oppressive symbol before Young took up car­ the 1904 convention. Margulies, Decline of the Pro­ tooning. See Howard \'incent, Daumier and His World gressive Movement, 51-74. Young probably knew little (Evanston, Illinois, 1968), 28-29; and Keller, Art and about these machinations and inner party complexi­ Politics of Thomas Nast, 5, 126-128. ties. He was in the state for only a short time, spend­ '" Young read Lincoln Steffens' The Shame of the ing most of his time drawing cartoons in the Young Cities; Thomas W. Lawson, who criticized the work­ home in Monroe, before heading back for New York. ings of the Wall Street stock market; and Upton Sin­ An old friendship with La Follette and a respect for clair's The Jungle, a novel attacking Chicago meat­ the governor's reputed progressive ideas energized his packing practices. See Life and Times, 256. political cartoons for the Milwaukee Free Press. *'Ibid., 254-260. Young attended Cooper Union

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The Milwaui.-'- -Vs.-o. lai-oo of Voters' Right 0 Facts Men ea..- a banqii.-l la«l nifiht riankmlon lo honor •)( offi.crs a •1 Brt..r or.lma V . ir. 11 n:.tun..r- !• i.1 lill- r^.-^or,. Ol Ibe DBinoal as^^o. laMon. ran rf I'Olir .ill L.p.- tu disi -.h, ir c-nn «^y. an'i i ho uof nnt-n'l (Pl! I know ihPW. plftioly and ,-i'raBR. Jasei L-tedom anfl 'Walter W. >oi poluicai Qiorah itiojb'' di.tai)^,)tiil"l wib Iho rr,-,uli. (Jo :<'&r n^aiy- Ihar y hiio«i- WalllH. )l t-.v had political moralR 1,1 l-Vjll-rie iUd noi appfar m \hp ecu men who ma> haic .•S.1 dctiilrd iii- ran for a New York state senate seat on the er cartoonists of the Left—Robert Minor, Ken­ Socialist party ticket in 1917, finishing far neth Chamberlain, William Gropper—found out of the running. He resolved to make no it harder to turn their backs on the paychecks further concessions to big business in his car­ ot the syndicated newspapers.** Young had toons. His versatility and growing reputation as ar^ artist enabled him to free-lance, sending " For the first decade of the twentieth century, his material to many different journals and Young "held on to such established publications as thus avoid binding himself to the big daily ivere receptive to my work, and endeavored to put newspapers with their petty restrictions. Oth- across pointed cartoons which would in some way help the cause of Socialism. For Life, Puck, and Judge would take pictures aimed at firetrap tenements, John College off and on between 1898 and 1906, receiving D. Rockefeller, child labor, grafting public officials, his degree in the spring of 1906 "on a platform where sweat shops, deified money, exploiters of the poor, Lincoln made his historic speech just before he be­ and related evils." But when he labeled a fat, silk-hat­ came President." ted figure with the word "Capitalism," for the New 41 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN^ 1977 made enough contacts over the years, and undoctrinaire atmosphere of the magazine that he continued to live frugally so that he could attracted liberals (Stuart Davis), socialists make the break. His 1907-1910 drawings for (John Sloan), anarchists (George Bellows), Judge, for which only a few years earlier he and Bolsheviks (Boardman Robinson), all of had labored against evil anarchists. Populists, consummate artistic skill. The carefully print­ and Wobblies, now revealed a social reform ed, full-page, sometimes double-page layouts edge; and in deference to Young's standing of The Masses enticed many draftsmen whose in the profession Judge printed his provoca­ satire had previously been hampered or di­ tive cartoons. He also sent cartoons to The luted by the halftone engravings and the half- Coming Nation and to The New York Call baked reproductive methods of the mass news­ (a socialist paper); then after 1912 he contin­ papers. Works of a broad political and social ued his attack on privilege for the liberal range were welcomed by the tolerant editors.*^ Washington periodical. The Metropolitan. For a journal of small subscription (around Teddy Roosevelt was another contributor to 20,000, mostly to workers and Greenwich Vil­ The Metropolitan, and the artist and the for­ lage bohemians). The Masses stirred a great mer President resumed an old, somewhat un­ deal of controversy. Throughout its brief easy relationship. The Metropolitan paid its existence (1911-1918), the clouds of repres­ correspondents well, enabling Young to work sion hung continuously low over the magazine for free for the socialist magazines and to send —a factor that made the testy Young only a regular check to Elizabeth Young and his more eager to challenge the powers-that-be. two sons in California.*^ Ever since his boyhood brush with P. J. Claw- son in the Monroe district attorney's race. Young had gloried in the power of his draw­ ings to stir the political waters. This power ' HE full flowering of Art Young's has traditionally compensated caricaturists for political art came in The Masses, T their poor pay and the sneers they endure from the Greenwich Village journal of art and poli­ painters, sculptors, and other "more serious" tics that turned out to be an ideal forum for artists. Young faced controversy for a 1913 car­ this socialist convert, now forty-two years old. toon, "Poisoned at the Source," which accused Young thrived in the cheery, free-wheeling. the Associated Press of deliberate distortion in the reporting of the West Virginia coal York Sunday American, his editor for that Hearst strike of November, 1913. The news service journal told him to "call him 'Greed.' That means sued the artist for criminal libel, a grand jury the same thing, and it won't get us into trouble." Life brought the indictment, and a trial seemed and Times, 261-262. Gropper, Minor, and Chamber­ lain had neither the experience, reputation, nor per­ imminent. Support for Young from all quar­ sonal charm of Art Young to win similar concessions ters poured in, from Lincoln Steffens to Nor­ from their established employers. They had to try man Hapgood to now-Senator Robert La Fol­ to eke out a living with the radical periodicals, which lette, and, after much delay, the Associated paid nothing, or next to nothing, for their drawings. Interview with K. R. Chamberlain, December 26, 1969, Press dropped the case.*'' Riverside, California; interview with William Grop­ per, June 2, 1970, Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Even Young's winning way with employers did not '^ Ibid., 289. See also Richard Fitzgerald, Art and keep him from struggling between 1905 and 1912, when Politics: Cartoonists of The Masses and The Liberator he became a well-paid staff member of The Metropoli­ (Westport, Connecticut, 1973), 49-61. Fitzgerald's chap­ tan magazine. As Young explained, "I rented a ter on Young deals largely with the political drawings small room in an office building occupied mostly by he published in those two left-wing journals between artists. This period of my life came the closest to 1912 and 1924. F'or a sprightly account of The Masses, real poverty that I had yet experienced. To keep the and its writers and artists, see William O'Neill, Echoes family and myself on the income as a peddler of my of Revolt: The Masses, 1911-1917 (Chicago, 1966), drawings, while sewing on buttons, bluffing appear­ especially 17-24. Also informative is Mahonri Sharp ances, keeping fit on bargain food, these were some Young, The Eight—The Realist Revolt in American of the vexations of this new freedom." On My Way, Painting (New York, 1973), 58. 247. "Life and Times, 295-301. Max Eastman, whose "The editorial policy of The Metropolitan before damning article accompanied Young's drawings, mak­ World War II was "Progressive to Socialist," and the ing him a co-defendant in the suit, later (1942) con­ magazine was well funded. Life and Times, 282-292. ceded: "We conspired freely in that matter of the

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43 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN^ 1977

More serious for Young were his legal en­ after the collapse of The Masses, concerned tanglements with the United States govern­ radicals established The Liberator, and later ment in 1917, wlien lie was charged with sedi­ The New Masses, to which Young contributed tion. Young and three writers (including some of his best drawings. New York radicals Max Eastman) were hailed into court for were grateful having an artist of Young's cali­ drawing cartoons and writing articles which ber and prestige associated with their journals, the indictment claimed were "interfering with which were struggling to stay alive during the enlistment" and were part of a general con­ Red Scare and the lean days of the prosperous spiracy against the war effort. Two trials 1920's. ended in hung juries, and, as usual, Art Young But, looking back, it is apparent that his stole the show, actually falling asleep during cartoons were not in the mainstream of left­ the first trial to the dehght of the jury and ist graphic art. After World War I, the stan­ gallery.^* dard for political cartooning became the bru­ Unfortunately, The Masses could not yawn tal style of Boardman Robinson and Robert away the troubles produced by the trials, and Minor, featuring long, sinister shadows and the journal collapsed under the censorship vast empty spaces strewn with the victims of restrictions imposed by the government. hideous capitalist and imperialist villains. Young paid doubly, for he had become an un­ In art, as in politics, the postwar radical jour­ desirable with The Metropolitan editorial nals tended toward the Stalinist orthodoxy of board, which, under Teddy Roosevelt's urg­ The New Masses, as the latter came under ing, had come out strongly for American Communist domination in 1928.^° The car­ participation in the Allied effort; and by 1918 toons of Minor, Robinson, Maurice Becker, he was left without his meal ticket."*^ Soon K. R. Chamberlain, and Jacob Burke derived from the works of two French artists of the Second Empire, Theodore Steinlen and Ho­ Associated Press. With a bow to the statute of limi­ tations, I don't mind admitting that we were both nore Daumier, whose disenchantment with guilty as hell, and our lawyers explained this to us the authoritarian regime of Napoleon III re­ with care and patience. Larger questions such as sulted in some of the most savage political freedom of radical expression were involved, how­ cartoons of the nineteenth century. The post­ ever, and after hanging fire for a year or more, the Masses case was dropped." Eastman, Heroes I Have war American cartoonists worked with rapid, Known, 102. thrusting strokes, creating jagged patches of *" Life and Times, 337. His nap was an "audible" black and gray, sharp contrasts of tone and one, according to witnesses, and the alarmed defense texture.^* Extreme distortions of face and attorney, Morris Hillquit, whispered to him, "For physique—drooling, grinning mouths and God's sake Art, wake up," fearing he would be in contempt of court. Eastman, Heroes I Have Known, monstrously swollen bellies—helped seal the 103. The best account of The Masses sedition trial message of the cruelty of landlord, factory is still Floyd Dell's "The Story of the Trial," in The owner, judge, general, and captain of indus­ Liberator (June, 1918), 7-18. try. To expose the conspiracy of wealth, class, « Life and Times, 326-327. After leaving The Metro­ politan, Young found an unfriendly reception else­ and privilege against the suffering mass of where. "My world had grown small and shaky. I men: this was the essence of the cartoonist's learned what ostracism means. Men and women craft. whom I had counted as friends found it convenient Art Young admired Daumier and looked to pass me on the street without speaking, or were brief and impersonal in their conversation. . . . Edi­ closely at Steinlen's lithographs, but he could tors ot most of the magazines where I had long had never really pttt his heart into the blood-and- entree also shied at my offerings. . . . Thus, I had difficulty in making a living. But there was one edi­ tor who stood by me—Jacob Marinoff, ot The Big " Donald Drew Egbert, "Socialism and American Stick, a Jewish humorous weekly, which also was Art," in Donald Drew Egbert and Stow Persons, eds., under surveillance by the federal authorities. Each Socialism and American Life (Princeton, 1952), 708- week he used my drawings with lettering such as is 725. frequently necessary in a cartoon in Hebrew. I liked '•''• Boardman Robinson brought back many copies of this because it gave the pictures a decorative effect As from his European travels, and the Masses artists that my plain English lettering lacked. And unfailing­ pored over drawings of Steinlen and Forain on the ly each week Marinoff sent me a check, and thus I was pages of that French political journal. Interview with able to eat and pay rent." Life and Times, 340. K. R. Chamberlain. 44 October 26/1912 THE Price 5 Cents COMING NATION | i A JOURNAL OF THINGS DOING AND TO BE DONE i

Time to Butcher For dw UIK QI IIM b«ul mtU « MU at OM (m^t guts brand of political cartooning. His draw­ the restrictions of the wood-engraving tech­ ings had a more defined edge. He favored nique.^^ In most of the drawings by Marxist gentle curves over harsh angles, and he achieved tone not by expressionist swipes of '''Life and Times, 54, 122, 395. Gustave Dore, the the lithographic crayon but by minute paral­ Alsatian-born, French-trained graphic artist, was lel and cross-hatched lines. His more detailed Young's real model through most of his career. "Dore's influence on my work has been deep and lasting," style was closely linked to the wood-engrav­ Young wrote in 1927, "not to draw like him, but to ing illustrations he had admired and copied try to be as graphic and to interpret the grand as well ever since his Wisconsin childhood. The me­ as scenes that are lowly. In short, to observe with ticulous linear forms of Gustave Dore, Wins­ imagination and to see with the poetic idea." On My Way, 49. For an interesting appreciation of Young's low Homer, John Leech, and Thomas Nast "old fashioned" style, see Rockwell Kent, "Artist of continued to serve as his guide, even though the Common Man," in The New Masses (February the new printing technology freed him from 1, 1944), 6.

45 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 artists, appearances were radically altered. Ex­ fered abuse for opposing American participa­ pressions were exaggerated, faces became mere tion in World War I. (Young was one of very personifications of cruelty, and features were few persons in the Senate gallery to hear crude and unnatural—to the point of gro- La Follette's memorable middle-of-the-night tesqueness in most works by Robert Minor. speech condemning American entry into the But Young believed that human nature was war.)'' His drawings for The Nation, Life, naturally foolhardy and needed little elabora­ and Collier's in the fall of 1924 cemented an tion by the artist. He avoided "satirical ex­ old personal and political bond. The most travagance," lest the cartoon become ponder­ famous drawing showed the aging La Follette ous and unimaginative.'^ Besides, Young's (who had less than a year to live), his muscles jovial disposition and long-time familiarity still bulging, hair flying, jaw set defiantly with the puns, gags, and witticisms of nine­ against the forces of Coolidge Republicanism. teenth-century comic writers and artists It was one of those memorable cartoons, while estranged him from the long-faced young not major in size or esthetic distinction, that Marxists of The Liberator and The New imprinted the image of "Fightin' Bob" on the Masses. So his pen-and-ink works, like "A Pri­ minds of future generations. vate View of the Best People," featured a fool­ After resigning his position with The Metro­ ish, blimp-like employer rather than the men­ politan in 1917 and surviving the two Masses acing capitalist beast of Minor's "Evolution trials. Young moved back to New York, shar­ of the American Peasant." Like Thomas Nast, ing a small Greenwich Village apartment with Young included in his drawings a wealth of a long-time friend and commercial painter, particulars—signs, words, and pictorial sym­ Howard Smith. By 1920, the stigma of his bols—which contrasted sharply with Minor's wartime "sins" had faded and his cartoons practice of direct visttal shock statement. were again welcomed by the editors of Life, Young's cartoons lacked the thud to the solar Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and plexus. In contrast to Minor, who put a mi­ even Hearst's Evening Journal.^^ He wrote croscope to a specific injustice and then at­ and illustrated two books. Trees at Night tempted to pound it into his viewer's con­ (1924) and On My Way (1928), a loosely or­ sciousness. Young could be almost fastidious ganized autobiography, and produced his fin­ in cataloging the foibles of many different est social satire as he surveyed the fads and capitalist conspirators. Young wanted to follies of the 1920's. His fascination with so­ march with the revolutionary brigade, but he cial, "libertarian" issues—family relationships, wanted to have fun doing so. education, commercialized Christianity, wom­ en's independence, and social fundamentalism —was not shared by the hard-bitten radicals such as Robert Minor and Hugo Gellert, who I NE sign of Young's independence frowned on these "soft" issues as a waste of 0!fro m the tightening strictures of the artist's energy and evidence of a lack of left-wing dogma was his support of Robert revolutionary resolve." Young brushed aside La Follette's third-party Progressive ticket in their lectures; he was tired and in no mood the 1924 presidential race. The senator alien­ ated many radicals by excluding Communists from his forces—it was just another sign of the splintering reform ranks in that "Age of ==Art Young, "All About It: Art Young in Wash­ Prosperity."'* Many socialists, including Eu­ ington," in The Liberator (September, 1919), 20; On My Way, 32-36; Belle Case and Fola La Follette, gene Debs, spoke for La Follette as the only Robert M. La Follette, 1855-1925 (2 vols.. New York, realistic hope against the two major parties. 1953), 2: 735. Young agreed; and besides, there was never ''^Life and Times, 378-382. any chance that he would abandon his old '''' Interview with Louis Lozowick, South Orange, New Jersey, June 5, 1970; interview with Otto Soglow, Wisconsin friend, who, like himself, had suf- New York City, June 7, 1970; interview with William Gropper; interview with K. R. Chamberlain. Lozo­ f^ On My Way, 49-50. wick, Soglow, Gropper, and Chamberlain were all car­ " Daniel Aaron, Writers on the Left (New York, toonists for The Liberator and The New Masses. Also 1955), 109-137. see Daniel Aaron, Writers on the Left.

46 cox: ART YOUNG to chain his talent to the political discipline of class-struggle art. Partly to recapture the anything-goes spirit of The Masses, he launched his own publication. Good Morning, in 1919, "a weekly burst of humor, satire and fun with now and then a fleeting beam of wis­ dom."'^ Young's broad sense of humor, nour­ ished by his youthful reading of Mark Twain, George Peck, Bill Nye, James Whitcomb Ri­ ley, and Josh Billings, never gave way to the dark, cynical humor of H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. Relying on a practiced assort­ ment of visual gags and puns that were meant to induce a belly laugh rather than a sneer, Ydung ridiculed the Ku Klux Klan, Prohibi­ tion, traveling Christian crusades, and other manifestations of social fundamentalism that flared in the decade following World War I. He often satirized the revivalist crusades led by Billy Sunday and other fundamentalist preachers. It was a subject he knew well. In the early 1880's Alvin Moody and Robert Shankey, two prominent Midwestern revival­ ists, had help camp meetings in southern Wis­ consin. They both fascinated and appalled Young, especially one revival where he ob­ served the preachers strike his two cousins On My Way "with the power."'^ "The meetings were iconoclasm, as did sermons by Myron Reed open to all—young and old—to shout and he heard in Denver in 1892.^^ Young refused groan and praise the Lord, and sing about the to pray in 1889 when attended by a Parisian blood of the lamb. I often felt what a lark priest, even as he lay near death with the pleu­ it would be if I could lose myself in such risy that afflicted him on his trip abroad.^^ ecstasy. I went to the meetings and tried, but After 1900, and with his conversion to so­ no, I could not vibrate."^" Young developed cialism. Young's musings about old-time re­ a loathing for local ministers ("hypocrites," ligion turned to revulsion as he watched re­ he called them), and his early aversion to or­ vivalist preachers take funds from corpora­ ganized religion was no doubt nurtured by tions, adopt slick public-relations techniques, his father, "a bit of an agnostic who did not and recite the cant of the reigning business believe much in prayer."^' His careful read­ ethos. His cartoon "Christ and His Disciples" ing of the dissident theologian, Robert G. In­ spoofed Bruce Barton's best-selling book. The gersoll, who "dared question the divinity of Man Nobody Knows (1924), which touted the Bible and the moral value of institutional Jesus as "a top-notch businessman, an A-1 religion," also played a part in Art Young's salesman who . . . picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the ^Li/e and Times, 354-363. Young's approach to so­ cial critical art was signaled by the words he placed on the masthead of Good Morning: "To laugh that we may not weep." See the advertisement for Good •^Ibid., 85-86, 105. Young heard Myron Reed preach Morning in The Liberator (May, 1920), 49. when he was working in Denver in 1892. Later that '^ Life and Times, 47-48. Also see James Findley, year Young included several examples of ridicule of Dwight Moody, American Evangelist, 1837-1899 (Chi­ sanctimonious preachers (not those like Ingersoll and cago, 1969), especially 197-204. Reed) in his first book of satirical drawings. Hell Up '"On My Way, 104. to Date (Chicago, 1892) . '"•Ibid., 97. ^"Life and Times, 15-20.

47 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 world."^* Young lamented the decline of the Charming and witty, if not blessed with an social gospel movement and disparaged the ac- Olympian physique, the teen-aged Art Young qtiisitive, btisinesslike character of American had had his "chances" in those days, chances chtirches in the 1920's. His own belief in the which caused him no little internal conflict:^^ Christian ethic and hopes for possible re­ Despite all the apparent hypocrisy of cer­ conciliation of socialism and Christianity were tain leaders of moral conduct in our town, I jolted by a culture that seemed bent on making was infected during those formative years Jesus a Madison Avenue huckster rather than with the thought that sexual union was the humble friend of the oppressed. really a sin. The grown folks said so—so On a companion issue, sexual mores. Young it must be so. And this dictatorship of bour­ was also one of the first modern iconoclasts. geois morality in the life of a small com­ "O Give a Feller A Chance" and "Mother, munity made of one man something of an What Was It Like To Be A Virgin" typified ascetic—who loved vicariously all the girls Yotmg's wry but relentless assault on tradi­ he looked at and who looked at him, that tional moral standards. Remains of the same being as far as he dared go. . . . Victorian climate that vexed Young as a boy The Puritan bourgeois ideas of a country town pressed heavily upon me, and affected in Monroe lingered into the 1920's, and he my approach to life. Gloomy admonitions could never pass up a chance to lampoon the were my heritage: Thou shalt not! and prudish guardians of the old way: virgin spin­ Beware of disease! sters, jittery newspaper editors, sanctimonious parsons, and blue-nosed public officials. Late Similar confessions were isstted by other in his life. Young reminisced about his "re­ radicals who escaped from small Midwestern pressed" personality that stemmed, so he towns, notably Floyd Dell, the flamboyant claimed, from the righteous, terrifying preach­ writer and assistant editor of The Masses.^'' ings of a Methodist pastor who painted a It is noteworthy that Young was one of the sinister picture of hell awaiting any Monroe few left-wing cartoonists wholly in sympathy youngster contemplating sexual adventure.*' with Dell's campaign for free love and a more open form of marriage; only Young had " The quote by Barton is from William Leuchten- quietly espoused a more permissive credo long burg. The Perils of Prosperity (Chicago, 1958), 188-189. before it became fashionable among Dell and '^ Life and Times, 50-51. other Greenwich Villagers around World War I. A liaison with a worldly Chicago neighbor, "The Average Man's Epitaph," originally published in not long after he first left Monroe in 1884 for The Coming Nation. the big city, had unfettered him from ado­ On My Way lescent constraints. "Edith," as Young de­ scribed her and their brief affair, "warmed me ... with her laughter and self-assurance. I knew she was no more a sinner than I—and that has been my attitude toward intimate relations between the sexes ever since."** Ac­ tually, free love was only one side of his in-

*• Quotes ibid., 51, 114. On "missed opportunities," see Life and Times, 67-68, and On My Way, 79. "'Dell's first novel. Moon Calf (New York, 1920), ivas an autobiographical account of a Midwestern young man's coming of age, politically and sexually. See also John Hart, Floyd Dell (New York, 1971), 1-29, 52-53. '^ Life and Times, 114. Not that Young went the path of promiscuity. When he was seventy he con­ fessed: "In all my life ... I have had mating-intimacy with only eight women. Not a record to boast about when I reflect that one of the American Youngs had eighteen wives—and no doubt other opportunities." ' »Tyt.y.^ Ibid., 447.

48 On My Way Two of Young's "Back Home Types," originally published in the Saturday Evening Post. terest in women's reform. He had always ad­ when it came to a post-mortem respect"—were mired free-thinking women—from his two two of the more memorable satires. Another childhood girl friends who talked of running was Uncle Dave and Aunt Matilda, the Green­ away to join the carnival to the radical politi­ backs, who supposedly said, "Money is the cal activists Emma Goldman and Dolly Sloan.^^ root of all evil . . . but the more there is in He allied himself with various women's rights circulation the less the evil.'""' These "Back campaigns years before he turned to social re­ Home Types" recalled the Hiram Pennick form causes generally. burlesque of the American peasantry. In later life he loved to discuss and draw provincial characters: "the hypocrites, the misers, the stuffed shirts, the gossips, the pool hall bums, N the 1920's Young frequently the town drunk, the biggest bore, the worst I preyed on Midwestern rural types wit, right down to the town whore. ..." He in his drawings. He satirized his own family never forgot the scenes of his youth.''' and Monroe characters in "Back Home Young avoided the rural stereotypes served Types," a series of caricatures produced for up by other artists of his lifetime. His were the Saturday Evening Post. Pawnee Bill, the not the prettified peasants, suffering symbols Indian medicine man who "would cure farm­ of the noble profession of "work" favored by ers of their rheumatism right before their the European Barbizon painters and print- eyes," and Aunt Nancy Fillebrown, who went makers. In this vein, Jean Millet idealized to all the town funerals—"No matter what the farming experience, creating images of she said of the deceased in life she was there statuesque yeomen tilling their fields, praying

'' Helen Keller was a particular favorite of Young's; ''"Life and Times, 385. they frequently got together to discuss politics and " Adolf Dehn, "On Art Young," in The New Masses humor. On My Way, 193-196; also see Life and Times, (February 8, 1944), 25-26. Dehn was an important 268, for a discussion of other independent-minded American satirist of the 1920's and 1930's who con­ women Young admired. Interviews with William tributed occasional drawings and cartoons to The Lib­ Gropper and Louis Lozowick. erator and The New Masses.

49 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 over their plows, and bringing food solemnly ionable gallery filled with Picasso, Cezanne, into their households. Millet's "The Glean­ and Matisse canvases—what Young called "ab­ ers" was probably the most widely distributed stract, obfustic, neo-mystic and 4-dimensional painting (through reproductions) throughout paintings," that were in reality more "tricks America in the late nineteenth and early of publicity" than lasting monuments of art. twentieth centuries, and many inferior artists Since the pictures were beyond the "ordinary imitated Millet's pastoral haven in drawings intelligence," critics made themselves handy for American magazines. Young resisted this to offer long-winded explanations; and ever- stereotype, just as he refused to burlesque the present, of course, were the big dealers who uncouth, backward, evil-minded farmer—an supported and profited from this "insanity."'" image favored by urbane Manhattan writers Art must combine imagination and crafts­ and artists of the 1920's. A friend of his later manship. Young believed, and here, he felt, wrote that Young's "homespttn satires on the the modernists fell short. Their lack of human old home town were sharp and mildly Rabe­ sttbject matter was unforgivable. Young's laisian at times, but came out of a great sen­ stance on art was fiercely humanistic. Even timent and compassion tempered by his un­ before he left Monroe to move on to great derstanding that we are victims of our eco­ cultural centers. Young had committed him­ nomic environment.'"'^ Sherwood Anderson self to producing art with great ideas and once marveled that Young could maintain such human messages; hence his preference for good humor when recalling the follies of his Daumier, Goya, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, small town; certainly, Anderson could not and other "art propagandists."''* In his days summon a similar forgiving spirit in his own as a pictorial reporter and a student in dif­ recollections, Winesburg, Ohio.''^ In a way, ferent academies. Young never wavered in Young's "Back Home Types" anticipated his conviction that art should deal with great Grant Wood's ambivalent portraits of rural ideas—"duty, sacrifice, beauty, bravery, death Iowa in the Depression. The farmer's wife in and eternity"—which he came to believe were "American Gothic" bears a striking resem­ best realized through graphic art.''' Cartoons blance to Young's "Aunt Nancy Fillebrown." could reach a wide audience, and through The same mixture of sympathy and contempt, popular magazines aimed at a larger public celebration and criticism, marks the kinship he could transmit his ideas and opinions on of the Wisconsin cartoonist and the Iowa a broad range of topics. Cartoons could also painter.''* express the artist's visceral reaction to politi­ Art Young had no special axe to grind with cal or social incidents immediately, and thus rural America. He recognized that Wall Street more genuinely, than the laborious technique bankers. Fifth Avenue clergymen, Madison of painting that always threatened to dampen Avenue executives, and Beacon Hill dowagers the social fervor of the artist. all had their own provincial shortcomings. Had Young been patient enough to master He frequently turned his poison on the fail­ the brush, he probably would have joined ings of people and institutions emerging from his Masses friends, John Sloan, George Bel­ metropolitan culture. Abstract art, nurtured lows, Stuart Davis, and other American paint­ in the cosmopolitan hothouses of Paris, Ber­ ers of the Ash Can School in their revolt lin, and New York, received many jabs from Young. In many drawings such as "An Art Gal­ lery" he scorned the Fauvists, Futurists, Cub­ ""• Art Young's Iriferno (New York, 1934), 120. ists, and Constructivists. The scene is a fash- ™ "In art and literature I am always on the side of the experimentalist and those who break with tradi­ tion, knowing full well that there are some rules of '"Dehn, "On Art Young," 25-26. art just as there is a law ot equilibrium." On My Way, "Sherwood Anderson to Gilbert Wilson, published 21, 75. in The New Masses (February 1, 1944), 28. ""My bedroom walls were papered with cartoons "See James Dennis, Grant Wood: A Study in Ameri­ clipped from Pucfe—which ^vas some years before the can Art and Culture (New York, 1974), especially daily papers adopted the political cartoon as a feature." 201-235; also Matthew Baigell, The American Scene: Ibid., 97. Young's first autobiography is peppered with American Painting of the 1930's (New York, 1974), opinions on modern art; for example, see 109-110, 109-127. 260-261. 50 cox: ART YOUNG against the niceties of genteel art that domi­ Young's first paying "art" position was as a nated American painting until 1905. He avid­ photographic apprentice in Monroe, where ly read The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, who he quickly decided that photography was was both mentor and patron of the young New neither a viable art form nor a superior social York realist painters; and, like Sloan and Bel­ weapon. Photographs had no magic or crea­ lows, he frequently walked the New York tive invention, he wrote; they tapped none of streets, sketching the picturesque ethnic neigh­ the wellsprings of the imagination that the borhoods and mapping out pictures. Young talented caricaturist could summon.^^ The merely turned these preliminary sketches into cold, impersonal camera no more touched full-scale drawings, but the latter showed as reality or evoked poetry than the mechanistic much of the exuberant wit and humanitarian brushes of the cool, formalist painters of the concern as the oil paintings of Sloan and modern schools.^^ Bellows.'* One memorable drawing published Young's art criticism was pithy, but it was in The Masses showed a moonlit alley in the only a hobby and never reached the pages of Lower East Side of New York, two ragged the art journals where it might have had slum children, and the caption, "Chee, Annie, some influence. He had other matters to at­ look at the stars, thick as bedbugs!" As Max tend to, and, rather than dwell on a compari­ Eastman recalls, the drawing was "a joke, a son of different art media. Young preferred sympathetic caress, a vicious protest—that is to laugh about the problem. An inveterate the blend of Art Young's humor."'^ storyteller. Young can only be labeled a front- As for photography, which gained many porch Wisconsin art critic. He liked to tell Marxist champions who admired its direct, a joke he once heard in a country store that realistic depiction of the class struggle. Young reflected his own viewpoint. It had to do with demurred. Against his advice. The Liberator a futurist artist whose studio was crammed and The New Masses ran photos (striking with pictures composed of curves, loops, and coal miners, soldiers marching in Red Square, various angularities. The artist's wife and Chinese communist rebels having their heads the landlord are standing amid the clutter, lopped off by Shanghai police, long bread­ and the wife says, "Poor Edgar! He's a hun­ lines, etc.) increasingly instead of the full- dred years ahead of his time." To which page propaganda drawings of the artists.*" the landlord grimly replies; "I can't help that, he's three months behind in his rent."*^

™ Other artists close to Young confirmed his intel­ lectual kinship with the Ash Can painters. Interviews with William Gropper and Louis Lozowick. Even long-time suspicion of machines though Young enjoyed cartooning and appreciated its A.als' o figured in Young's antag­ power of persuasion, he sometimes mused about what he might have accomplished as a painter and etcher: onism toward modern painting and the cam­ "I wished I had not neglected etching. And why had era. Photographs and Ctibist constructions I not done, or tried to do, cartoons in oil paint? Cer­ were too contrived and mechanical, too tied tainly all of the great paintings of the Renaissance to systems and pseudoscientific theories to suit were basically cartoons to propagandize the cause of Christianity. I, too, had a cause—and why not try to his fancy. Before, but especially during the put it across in paintings? Several of my fellow artists of The Masses [referring to Sloan, Bellows, and other "^ Life and Times, 57-60. Ash Can painters] had found time to indulge their ™ One American painter and friend ot Art Young talent in media which made their work take on the —George Bellows—had attempted to bring his paint­ look ot permanent value to connoisseurs and critics." ing into step with some of the modern pseudoscien­ Life and Times, 364. tific theories of the immediate post-World War I years. '"' Eastman, "Good Humorist," 24. Bellows began applying the theory of "Dynamic Sym­ *•' Many ot the artists felt threatened by the conver­ metry," a systematic approach to geometric composition­ sion to photographs in the radical journals—one of the al arrangement, to his previously loose, realist style. compensations of the left-wing organs, which had Young, who admired Bellows' spontaneous. Ash Can never paid much tor drawings, was the large space work, found his new work to be "laborious and un­ given to original drawings. Interviews with Louis imaginative." On My Way, 281-282. Young also Lozowick, Otto Soglow, and William Gropper. Young caricatured Dynamic Symmetry in a cartoon appear­ did not run a single photograph in his journal. Good ing in Good Morning. Morning, in two years. '^On My Way, 146-147. 51 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

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-> » > __ : Art Young's Inferno "// Dante Could See It Now!

52 cox: ART YOUNG

1920's, Young brooded about the implications about human loss within the changing city- of the new technological era, and how all scape.** Likewise some political radicals, not­ humans, not just artists, cotild survive that ably the Russian immigrant painter Louis ultimate symbol of the machine age, modern Lozowick, attached political significance to New York City. When he left Monroe in the new age, believing that the rapid expan­ 1883 Young welcomed the looser social en­ sion of technology and urban growth could be vironment of Chicago, and later in the decade the cornerstone of an American socialist state he felt comfortable in pre-skyscraper New once the workers wrested control of the ma­ York. The political stimulus of Manhattan chines from the corrupt capitalist managers.*^ sustained him in the first years after 1900, With his usual suspicion of the idols of the but as early as World War I the attractions marketplace. Art Young weighed these argu­ of the metropolis had worn thin.^* By the ments and took a middle ground. In 1927 1920's a large segment of the American public he wrote that it was impossible to turn back bowed in homage to the prospects of science, the clock to an idyllic handicraft era that his technology, and urban growth, and the new own Wisconsin experience told him was more glass-and-steel face of New York awed many folklore than fact anyway. Unlike some bo­ artists." A few, notably John Sloan and Ed­ hemians who romanticized the unchecked ward Hopper, scorned mechanized New York pleasures of the rustic experience. Young was with its cavernous streets and speeding auto­ more wary of this myth. When he was six mobiles, which they believed had pulverized years old, his father had purchased a farm the special community feeling of the old sec­ one mile north of Monroe to supplement the tions;^* and, in the words of one unfriendly income from the general store. "The farm critic, these rattled artists "escaped into dreams comprised only twenty acres," Art remem­ of a non-industrial world assumed to be full bered, "but it seemed boundless, especially of peace, beauty and love."^' Most of the when I grew old enough to attempt plowing pioneer American modernist painters, includ­ and was assigned to pick potato-bugs off the ing Charles Sheeler, Niles Spencer, and vines." He did not find farm labor uplifting Georgia O'Keeffe, considered the clean lines to the soul.^* "When I went plowing I would of skyscrapers, bridges, water towers, oil tanks, put a copy of Puck in one pocket and Harper's factories, and railroad lines esthetically in­ Weekly in another, and would sit down at the vigorating, and thus outweighing their qualms far end of the furrows and enjoy myself."^^ At the same time. Young did not gloss over ^Ibid., 79, 124-126, 228-229, 247. A slight sense of the menaces of the new technology and its urban oppressiveness can be seen in Young's second laboratory, metropolitan America. New York "Hell" book. Through Hell With Hiprah Hunt (New City plainly irritated him. He grumbled about York, 1901). the skyward towers that thwarted and shut off '^The best brief account of the surge of hope gen­ the sunlight. Before the Great War he drew erated by the prospects of science and technology at this time is Henry May's "Shifting Perspectives on tilting skyscrapers penning in a poor lost the 1920's," in the Mississippi Valley Historical Review soul who cries out in despair, "Confound it, (December, 1956), 405-427. For an interesting discus­ there goes another when it is all I can do to sion of writers dealing with the rapidly expanding ur­ hold this one up."^^ fjg sketched trees wilt- banization, see Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (New York, 1964). "' See John I. H. Baur, Revolution and Tradition in '^ Interview with Helen Farr Sloan, Wilmington, Dela­ American Art (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1958), 23- ware, June 15, 1970. 33; Martin Friedman, The Precisionist View in Ameri­ ^'Joseph Freeman, An American Testament: A can Art (Minneapolis, 1960). Charles Sheeler, Charles Narrative of Rebels and Romantics (New York, 1936), Demuth, and Niles Spencer were some ot the more 229-291. Freeman was an ardent Marxian critic who prominent Precisionists. criticized those transplanted Midwestern artists and ™ Interview with Louis Lozowick, June 5, 1970. Also writers ("parlor radicals") who played at Bohemia in see Barbara Zabel, "Louis Lozowick and Urban Op­ the Village, flirted with Freudian psychology, femi­ timism of the 1920's," in Archives of American Art nism, back-to-nature schemes, and other "soft issues," Journal (Spring, 1975), 17-21. but ignored the crucial political and economic prob­ ""Life and Times, 40. lems of the American working class in the industrial "^Ibid., 45. age. "'On My Way, 191.

53 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 ing between skyscrapers and churches, elms had long obsessed Young. As a boy, he had dwarfed by giant concrete office buildings. worn thin a copy of Gustave Dore's illustrated The noise and confusion of the city unsettled edition of Dante's Inferno. Two smaller his nerves. In the 1920's he wrote in his "journey through hell" books, published in diary: "This day, I took a walk down Broad­ 1892 and 1901, preceded the 1934 version, al­ way. . . . How can one make a composite though the earlier volumes lacked the serious drawing of this city? It needs the hell-shrieks undertone and political pungency of the last.^' over all to complete an impression. A whirl­ The central message of Art Young's Inferno ing neck cannot take it all in."^^ He missed was that greed had disfigured the American Wisconsin, and while he wanted to stay near character. Capitalist interests—banks, the the pulsebeat of the publishing and art world, stock market, corporations, organized churches he wished desperately to break out of the con­ —were the ringleaders in this mad pursuit of crete jungle. In 1926 he purchased a small money. Young pictured the captains of in­ farmhouse on the edge of Bethel, Connecti­ dustry amassing enormous profits for them­ cut, near the spot where he and Elizabeth selves and conspiring to divert the workers' Young had briefly lived in 1904-1905. This attention from the class struggle by engineer­ time. Young stayed in Connecticut for eleven ing such diversions as "Looney Island," popu­ years:^* lar magazines and funnies ("the dope-inter­ ludes for tortured souls"), jazz records, pro­ Generally speaking, a man who has been fessional sports, and the art galleries.^* The raised in the country can't be enclosed in rewards of these diversions were short-lived, the city many years before he longs for the free life that he knew as a boy—to call from of course, and then it was back "to the Hell the hills, to sit at a window through which of reality: the offices, the factories, the click­ the untainted sun slants, to hear the quiet ing monotony of typewriting. Back to the murmtirs of nature and to really concentrate Bosses, figures, paper shuffling. Back to dis­ on whatever task is before him, and above cordant homes—debts and the Hell Blues."^^ all, to get acquainted with himself, which Even so, the deteriorating quality of Ameri­ cannot be done in the hurly-burly of city can urban life as pictured by Young was not environment. entirely a conspiracy of big business. The workers willingly took part in the chase after material goods and pleasures; Young did not 'HIS growing estrangement from follow the lead of other Marxist intellectuals modern, urban life came together who romanticized the inherent goodness and in a remarkable and long-ignored book. Art revolutionary resolve of the masses. To Young's Inferno: A Journey Through Hell Young, all people were weak and vulnerable Six Hundred Years After Dante, begun in the to material enticement. Besides, they were late 1920's and published in 1934. The book often buffeted by powerful, impersonal forces was partly a collection of visual wisecracks not directly controlled by anyone. In draw­ and puns, a parade of satire, ridiculing the ings like "If Dante Could See It Now," Young fads and follies of the 1920's—the flapper suggested that capitalist leaders had created woman, the radio, Negro jazz, flagpole sit­ an industrial monster even they could not ting, convertible automobiles. Coney Island. maneuver. But the book was also a bittersweet allegory It is worthwhile to compare Young's images predicated on the notion of a modern indus­ trialized hell, an urgent cry of concern for the fate of mankind that had long been swelling ""Life and Times, 52, 120, 133-134; On My Way, in Young's mind. The idea of charting the 15-19; Arthur Young, Hell Up to Date (Chicago, 1892); purgatorial travails of men and women await­ Young, Through Hell with Hiprah Hunt. The concep­ ing a decision on their souls, not by an al­ tion for the third "hell" book, complete with "modern mighty Creator but by the verdict of reason, improvements," came to Young in 1927 when he was organizing On My Way; actual work on Art Young's Inferno did not commence until 1931 or 1932. '"Jbid., 228. "Art Young's Inferno, 52-53, 56, 78-81, 120. »Ibid., 71. "Ubid., 53. 54 cox: ART YOUNG

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Art Young's Inferno "Clock Conscious."

55 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN^ 1977 in The Inferno to Charlie Chaplin's vignettes skepticism quite as much as it did his sense of urban life in Modern Times, a film pro­ of humor. The truth was. Art Young was duced shortly before Young's book went to growing old, and the increasing abrasiveness press. Chaplin opens his film with a shot of of big-city life was taking its toll. workers being herded like sheep into a fac­ His refuge from the hell of New York lay in tory, and several scenes follow demonstrating rural Connecticut. Shortly after moving into the greed of the capitalist employers in com­ the farmhouse in Bethel, he built a small, mand of American industry. Chaplin's stan­ concrete art gallery. (He seemed determined dard tramp character is made the guinea pig to make Bethel the cultural oasis that his boy­ in an experiment of a new labor-efficiency hood town of Monroe had not been.)'"" From eating device and the special victim of an his studio he gathered and sold graphic art, overbearing foreman who makes sure the ex­ mostly his own works, to local townspeople hausted workers maintain a swift work pace. and tourists and friends from New York. But as the movie progresses, the huge new There he finished his first autobiography in machine of the plant begins to take on a 1928, plotted out Art Youngs Inferno at about life of its own, and, in one memorable scene, a the same time, and renewed ties with his worker trying to eat lunch is swept through family. Donald Young attended Dartmouth the conveyor belt of a machine. Everyone, College in the mid-1920's, and he frequently including the tramp and the capitalist bosses, visited his father at Bethel.'"^ Art Young's is powerless to help him.^* Industry as an walks through the orchards and pumpkin anarchic force, ultimately recognizing no mas­ fields near the farm, into town where he ter, is also a phenomenon explored by Young swapped stories with the local citizens at the in The Inferno. He touches on overcrowding, drugstore, buoyed his spirits. In a sense this air and noise pollution, and other deeply all represented a symbolic return to his years rooted problems of urban life that are not in Monroe.i"2 Unfortunately, even the seren­ directly related to any specific political sys­ ity of Bethel could not shield the artist from tem. Whatever the causes, many of the finer the trials of advancing age. As the Depression social values Yottng prized over the years- set in and he found his market "narrower friendship, loyalty, sensitivity to the arts- than ever," Young became partly dependent seemed to him threatened by the greed and on money from friends.'*^ Publishers were impersonality of the industrial-technological paying little for his (or anyone else's) car­ age. He could offer no quick cure for the toons and books. High blood pressure and a modern problems. Political ideology, while failing heart restricted his prcxiuctivity dur­ important, could only cushion the blow. Dis­ ing the Depression decade. trusting modern technology. Young had little Ironically, the art climate of the 1930's, dur­ faith in the prospects for a proletarian-led, ing which social concern among American mechanized United States. He vaguely be­ artists rose to an unprecedented pitch as they lieved that the small-scale village socialist reacted to the rise of fascism, communism, and ideas of the nineteenth century might work, economic and political unrest in America, but it was not in his nature to think it all seemed tailor-made for Young. The Works through and spell out the details.^^ Art Project Administration funded struggling Young's Inferno was as close as the artist and painters and printmakers, helped put a dam- social critic ever came to a critique of modern society, and although the book was witty and satirical, it reflected the author's sadness and i" On My Way, 10-12. ™i!/e and Times, 382-383. Donald Young, now living in Santa Monica, California, studied languages "''See Richard Griffith and Arthur Mayer, The and art at Dartmouth, and later became a writer for Movies (New York, 1970), 318-319. the Associated Press in Los Angeles. "^ This was the opinion of his left-wing friends, Wil­ '"^ On My Way, 4-15. Also see Virginia Gardner, liam Gropper and Louis Lozowick. Interviews with "As Main Street Saw Him," in The New Masses (Feb­ Gropper, June 2, 1970, and Lozowick, June 5, 1970. ruary 1, 1944), 27. Gilbert Wilson was Young's closest See also Fitzgerald, Art and Politics, 74, which charac­ friend in the last few years and tried to persuade him terizes the artists as "pre-World War I latitudinarian to take measures to shore up his failing health. socialists." '^""Life and Times, 411-416. 56 cox: ART YOUNG

ly drew major cartoons and had to be content with past honors. Over the years Young had enjoyed good food and drink in quantity when he could afford it. He seldom went a day without cigars and brandy, and for years he rarely went to sleep Image before 1 A.M. The compiling of old notes and suppressed writing of his 458-page autobiography. My pending copyright Life and Times, drained what little physical strength Young had left. To be closer to clearance helpful friends he moved back to New York —the Irving Hotel—in 1939.'"'' On Wednes­ day evening, December 28, 1943, after walking several blocks to mail a bundle of New Year's cards of his own creation. Young collapsed in his hotel room, knocking over his telephone as he tried to signal for help. The desk clerk at the switchboard and a resident doctor found Art Young's Inferno him face down, in a coma, across his bed. Half an hour later he was dead.'"* per on the abstract art vogue, and generally provided conditions perfect for Young's hu­ manistic art. Watching from a distance, he RT YOUNG was mourned from expressed admiration for Diego Rivera, Jose A.Wisconsi' n to New York. Over Orozco, Thomas Hart Benton, Ben Shahn, 500 people—family, labor leaders, publishers, Grant Wood, and William Gropper, all artists politicians, writers, and artists—jammed the whom the Depression afforded an opportuni­ Community Church at 40 East Thirty-fifth ty to paint "propaganda" pictures on a large, Street for the funeral. Eulogies came from public scale. Once again, "Young mused about The New Masses and the Madison Capital what might have been had he earnestly taken Times, both allies in Young's reform causes, up the brush as John Sloan, George Bellows, and also from Time, the New York Times, and Boardman Robinson, and William Gropper, the New York Herald Tribune, which had his old friends from The Masses, had done so little stomach for his politics.'"^ His bounti­ successfully.'"'* ful good cheer had made him offensive to His standing in the liberal community was none. Many had felt the cut of his sarcasm, never higher, however. Helen Keller, Charlie but they were forgiving, for Young preferred Chaplin, Lynd Ward, George Bernard Shaw, to insert the needle and had made little use Jose Orozco and many others paid homage to of the lash in his drawings. him in an emotional 1939 testimonial when In the last decades of his life, he had relied he reached his seventy-third birthday.'"' His on his inexhaustible good will and sense of cartoons, even with their socialist tint, were humor to cushion the blows of materialistic, always welcome in The New Masses, an honor machine-age America. The modern era was rarely given to the undoctrinated by that com­ not his. It was too slick, hectic, impersonal, munist journal.'"^ But after 1934 Young rare- humorless. The tide of abstract art could not be turned, and was re-emerging powerfully in New York as Abstract Expressionism at "' Ibid., 364. Interview with William Gropper. For a brief discussion of realistic, socially conscious paint­ ing of the 1930's, see Baigell, The American Scene, ^"^ Interview with William Gropper. 55-74. '" Gilbert Wilson, "Art Young," in The New Masses ^"^ Interview with Lynd Ward, Cresskill, New Jersey, (February 1, 1944), 27. June 2, 1975. Ward, a book illustrator and author ^"^ Monroe Evening Times, January 8, 1944. prominent in 1930's reform circles, still produces il­ ^""Ibid., January 8, 1944; "Art Young, A Great Cru­ lustrations. sader," in the Madison Capital Times, January 3, 1944. 57 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 the time of his death. Younger American to return to a place and an era where he cartoonists glossed over his pixyish "wood could, without apology, sing Stephen Foster engraving" style and turned for guidance to songs, admire the sharp grooves of woodcut the Marxist sledgehammer or the savage ex­ illustrations, and trade stories in various ver­ pressionist style of George Grosz and other naculars with local political eccentrics. It is European draftsmen. Even the left-wing po­ true that he spurned some of the traditional litical movements in which he had once placed small-town values—chastity, temperance, or­ so much hope had frozen into intolerant ganized religion, and patriotism-at-all-costs— ideologies. bttt at heart he was and always had been a For all its faults, and despite his own trials somewhat wistful Midwestern reformer, prag­ with humorless district attorneys, sanctimon­ matic and undoctrinaire. At the time of his ious preachers, and philistine art patrons, death, he was working on yet another book the rustic culture of his youth still suited him of drawings, largely based upon new sketches better than the modern metropolis. Art of characters he had known long ago in Mon­ Young would have liked to have been able roe, Wisconsin.

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Art Young's Inferno

58 REVIEWS

Plagues and Peoples. By WILLIAM H. MC­ Amerindians and fractured their cultures. NEILL. (Anchor Press/Doubleday, Garden Before malaria could take root and spread City, New York, 1976. Pp. viii, 369. Notes, in New World environments the plasmodium map, appendices, index. $10.00.) had to be present, as well as a suitable mos­ quito to carry it. McNeill's imaginative use This is a .sweeping book by an able and per­ of scientific studies of recent outbreaks of sistent University of Chicago historian who malaria accompanying the clearing of new has not allowed historical periods, national agricultural lands in Africa brings fresh au­ boundaries, languages, cultures, or scientific thenticity to the pioneers' testimony that ma­ complexities to deter him from formulating a laria followed the plow into the farm lands hypothesis about worldwide patterns of infec­ of southern Wisconsin. Many such insights tious diseases. After gathering information on await students of regional history who read the diseases that arose or spread into various this book. parts of the world at particular times and It is not entirely appropriate to comment with an assortment of consequences for human upon a book of this scope from a restricted life and culture, McNeill hypothesizes that perspective. Time and again McNeill points from before the dawn of history every con­ out the fallacies of limited perspective. Lest centration of people has developed its own one is overawed with the effectiveness of the cluster of infectious diseases and its own modern public health movement, McNeill il­ unique techniques for spreading and control­ lustrates the age-old correlation between war ling them. and pestilence with an account of the 1918 Readers of this magazine may wish to know swine flu epidemic, which occurred under the some of the implications of this book for very noses of modern public health officials. the history of Wisconsin and the upper Mid­ More recently, burrowing rodents have carried west. The pattern that emerged here has the plague bacillus (Pasteurella pestis) far deeper roots in Europe, Africa, and Asia than from its ancient points of dispersal to many in the western hemisphere. McNeill detects parts of the United States. no significant disease impact from the pre- Discriminating readers will question some Columbian contacts between Europe and of McNeill's emphases, interpretations, and North America. An era of "free exchange of even his basic hypothesis. In a few places, Mc­ infections" came with the age of exploration, Neill strains too hard to be clever, as, for discovery, and conquest. "By the sixteenth example, when he implies that the availability century, [he writes] clearly, Europe had much of guano from Chile set back a mid-nineteenth- to give and little to receive in the way of new centtiry attempt to clean up the sewers of human infections." Spreading out from the England by diminishing the market for human initial points of Spanish contact, smallpox, sewage for use as agricultural fertilizer. malaria, influenza, and the common child­ Unquestionably, this is a major work about hood diseases of Europe and Africa decimated macro and micro disease environments of hu-

59 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 mans. It deserves a wide readership as well as to the volume and Herman Viola's discus­ the serious attention of professional historians. sion of the removal policy. If we applied their attitude to contemporary events we PETER T. HARSTAD should find no trace of Watergate or Congres­ State Historical Society of Iowa sional misdeeds. After all, Nixon officially denied wrongdoing, didn't he? Why not show a little objectivity and believe him? Indian-White Relations: A Persistent Para­ Angie Debo, a vastly underrated historian, dox. Edited by JANE F. SMITH and ROBERT has an excellent paper on the Indian records M. KvASNicKA. (Howard University Press, of Oklahoma. She maintains, quite properly, Washington, D.C, 1976. Pp. xx, 278. Illus­ that Oklahoma is a quantum jump ahead of trations, notes, biographies, index. $15.00.) other states in both collections of records and sensitivity to historical events. Had she chas­ tised Oklahoma historians for their failure to In 1972, six months before a caravan of demand more involvement in Indian research Indian activists came to Washington and we could feel more secure in the claims made sacked the headquarters of the Bureau of In­ by scholars of that state. Activism and scholar­ dian Affairs to protest its inability to meet ship do not seem to be a happy combination Indian needs, the National Archives held a in Oklahoma. conference on "Research in the History of Indian-White Relations." That Indians were The weakest selections in the volume are a tiny minority of the people attending the those dealing with oral history collections of meeting shoulcl have signaled some concern the present. The Duke Foundation has spent among the assembled scholars that the very immense sums of money on the collection of relationship they were discussing was in an oral histories of the tribes but for the most advanced state of decay. It failed to do so, part these tapes are unverified gossip without and the discussions, like the Indians which much redeeming value as sources of Indian served as the topic, ranged from sophisticated history or guidelines for additional scholarly abstractions to practical and political prom­ research. To Be An Indian, for example, con­ ises by the then Indian Commissioner Louis tains glaring errors that are unforgivable yet R. Bruce that the Bureau of Indian Affairs it is cited as an outstanding product of this intended to reorganize itself to provide bet­ project. Even competent scholars cannot pre­ ter services for its clients. tend that the project is significant, and mak­ ing overtures to a project simply because it The proceedings of the conference, con­ exists does not seem a good investment of tained in this volume, illustrate both the de­ scholarly energies. gree of complexity which confronts the scholar who would specialize in this field and the The final portion of the book deals with present lack of perspective which characterizes the Indian Reorganization period of more this subject area. Oliver W. Holmes and recent American history. Kenneth R. Philp, Carmelita S. Ryan have excellent and im­ Lawrence C. Kelley, and Louis M. Bruce portant essays relating to the historical de­ liave selections in this section. Philp's essay velopment of records dealing with Indians is comprehensive but uneven, Kelley obvious­ and the great complexity of sources that exist ly knows mttch more than he presents and even within the federal records. The subject, perhaps is summarizing from a work in prog­ if we read them correctly, is so complicated ress, and Bruce unfortunately plays the role as to baffle the casual researcher and demand of the bumbling Indian Commissioner echo­ respect from the professional. These two se­ ing traditional promises and hoping tliat no lections form the major substance of the book one will leave the conference angry. from a scholarly point of view. All things considered, this volume is val­ Essays by Herman Viola, Henry Fritz, Jolm uable and a welcome addition to the field of C. Ewers, Robert M. Utley, and William T. Indian Affairs. It combines important infor­ Hagan attempt to provide an interpretive mation on research sources, some interpretive context in which the documents can be under­ essays on policy, and a mild controversy on stood. For the most part these scholars advo­ events of the last generation. More important, cate objectivity while stipporting an almost for those who are astute, the volume presents exclusively white interpretation of the data. scholarly attitudes which are stunning upon Particularly reprcseirtative of this viewpoint later reflection because they seem to view the are Francis Paul Prucha's introductory essay world as papers and footnotes rather than

60 BOOK REVIEWS an arena.of human dramas with alternating The final section includes a number of selec­ successes and tragedies. tions dealing with homosexual love and affec­ tion, including fictional accounts, autobio­ VINE DELORIA, JR. graphical materials, letters, and other sources of information that have chanced to survive. Colorado College Probably none of the Katz material is un­ known to the few specialists, who have investi­ gated the subject, and while some of us might quibble as to why one set of documents was Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay included and not another, the chief value of Men in the U.S.A. By JONATHAN KATZ. the work is that it exists. It should serve as (Thomas Y. Crowell, New York City, 1976. a guide to others who begin to research the Pp. xiv, 690. Notes, bibliography, index. subject, but it can prove equally interesting $19.95.) to those who simply want to know more about the difficulties of being a member of a minor­ ity in America. Though homosexuals (in Though the sttbject of homosexuality gen­ spite of popular opinion) were not readily erally has been taboo among historians (as identifiable, they did exist, and their difficul­ well as other scholars), this does not mean that ties in "passing" and their fears of being ex­ references to it in the past are lacking. In posed were real. Katz has performed an im­ fact the sources are plentiful and multifaceted. portant service in making available a whole Jonathan Katz has made this abundantly clear new side of American history that many never in his collection of documents dealing with knew existed. The book is well footnoted, and homosexuality in the United States. Though includes a number of helpful bibliographies. the book goes to nearly 700 pages, it should be made clear that Katz, as he himself would agree, has only skimmed the surface. The VERN L. BULLOUGH value of Katz's work is not only his compiling California State University, Northridge of the documents, but also the guide he has ftirnished to others who would pursue the sub­ ject. One of the richest sources is the legal record, and Katz has over a hundred pages America Confronts a Revolutionary World: under the general topic "Trouble," with ad­ 1776-1976. By WILLIAM APPLEMAN WILLIAMS. ditional legal references elsewhere in the book. (William Morrow and Company, New York, 1976. Pp. 224. Bibliography, index. $8.95.) Equally important are the medical and psy­ chiatric records, and here Katz again gives a good sampling of the material available. The In America Confronts a Revolutionary book includes documents dealing with lesbians World: 1776-1976, William Appleman Wil­ as well as male homosexuals, although much liams criticizes United States foreign policy for of the data about lesbians is concentrated in being frozen in the present without any sense of the section dealing with women who passed as the nation's past or of other nations' futures. men. (For some reason Katz ignored men who Translated, America is dedicated to the status passed as women, an equally rich source.) quo and, in consequence, fails to appreciate Another source of information is the accounts the motif of national self-determination when given us by travelers. Katz includes many of accompanied by fervid nationalist and/or these but only as they dealt with berdache socialist tendencies. If these themes sound fa­ among the Indians. Gays in the past were not miliar to one who has read Williams' many unorganized, and probably informal gay meet­ other works, they are. However, Williams has ing-places have existed in most of the larger written this book as much as a passionate ap­ cities of the United States for at least a hun­ peal for a society (or societies) based upon a dred years. Fonnalized gay organizations (with a sense of community and an ineluctable dedi­ perhaps one exception) did not appear in the cation to the principles of self-determination United States until after World War II. Katz as a piece of historical scholarship. "I make includes a number of selections under the no claim of being unaffected by the Great Viet­ general rubric "Resistance," dealing with gay nam Intervention and the Great Watergate consciousness ranging from Walt Whitman's Intervention," Williams cautions his reaciers. correspondence with John Addington Sy- "Those are inherent elements of the ongoing monds to Henry Hay's appearance before the dialectic encounter between myself and my Hotise Committee on Un-American Activities. environment that produced this essay."

61 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Herein lies the difficulty of this book inso­ self-determination? It is not good enough to far as scholarship is concerned. Notwithstand­ slough off this issue with the statement, "It is ing Williams' effort to write an interpretation the right and responsibility of Blacks—and of the nation's past (the vast part of the book any other people, including ourselves—to self- is concerned with historical interpretation), determine themselves" (p. 113). At the very it is simply not good history. Instead, it is least, the "how" of these remarks is lacking. a personal tract that is obviously combative In short, Williams has written a book that and over-influenced by political circumstances. is worthy of attention as a statement by a Moreover, it is replete with unnecessary jar­ major figure in American historiography. But gon. Thus, according to Williams, the Found­ as a piece of historical scholarship or interpre­ ing Fathers "killed Time (and History) in the tation, it is, sadly, lacking. name of uniqueness. They concluded that the Past was Bad and that the Future would BURTON I. KAUFMAN very likely be Bad, and hence all that re­ Kansas State University mained was the Here and Now" (p. 40). So, too, in the Federalist Papers James Madison was wrong for equating democracy with ex­ pansion. "For in grounding democratic re­ publican government in expansion, there is American Farm Policy, 1948-1973. WILLARD no recourse but to move from the Atlantic to W. COCHRANE and MARY E. RYAN. (Univer­ the Mississippi to the Pacific to the world sity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1976. to the universe" (p. 76). President Abraham Pp. xiv, 431. Notes, graphs, tables, index. Lincoln, "a Houdini with words" (p. Ill), $18.50.) Williams condemns for being "committed only to the Preservation of his Present" and, While the authors modestly claim to have with respect to the Civil War, for not "hon­ written "basically a reference book," they have or [ing] the revolutionary right of self-deter­ in reality produced a first-rate work in eco­ mination—the touchstone of the American nomic history. Although the book is replete Revolution" (pp. 112-113). Like Lincoln, with statistical analysis, facts, and figures, it Williams also finds that Woodrow Wilson has a clarity and readability that is exemplary. "was afraid of the future. And so in the end Their interpretive approach is threefold: he did not respect the tradition. Instead he Part I relates the historical background and used it to preserve the Present and dishonored evolution of post-World War II federal farm it to block the Future" (p. 151). In contrast policies and programs. Part II analyzes the to Lincoln and Wilson, however, Herbert technical aspects of these programs, and Part Hoover was "a man with a vision of a com­ III evaluates these programs and discusses munitarian future, and the courage to honor their implications for the future. The authors it unto death" (p. 161). suggest that Part II is the "core" of the book. My quarrel with this type of analysis is Personally, I found Part I the best overview not so much one of interpretation, although in print of recent agricultural policy. They have drawn extensively from the massive data this remains a problem. Thanks in large accumulated in the U.S. Department of Ag­ measure to Williams' own contributions as riculture's archives and supplemented it with teacher and scholar, his emphasis on expan­ authoritative secondary works. In toto, the sionism and the limited nature of America's research is impressive. commitment to self-determination is no longer new nor novel. However, to judge the past on The credentials of the senior author, Wil­ lard W. Cochrane, are outstanding. As a pro­ its commitment to communitarianism (which fessor of Agricultural and Applied Economics is what Williams does) is to introduce an ele­ at the University of Minnesota, he has a thor­ ment of present-mindedness for which Wil­ ough grasp of the theoretical aspect of agri­ liams has been criticized by other reviewers of cultural policy. But even more significantly, other books. Moreover, Williams gets into he was the major adviser to Orville Freeman, real trouble when he finds himself justifying Secretary of Agriculture in both the Ken­ the Confederate cause as a struggle for self- nedy and Johnson administrations. This pro­ determination. Even Williams feels uncom­ vided him with the practical knowledge of the fortable finding himself on the side of the intricate political maneuverings that accom­ slavocracy. In this respect, the obvious ques­ pany the formulation of policy. The resulting tion is, what about the right of the slaves to realism adds immeasurably to the value of

62 BOOK REVIEWS the work, since it avoids the usual abstractness FREDERICK H. SCHAPSMEIER that characterizes statistical studies. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh As science and technology made agriculture more productive, the whole history of farm policy would be the conflict over the reten­ tion or reduction of high price supports ini­ Heart Mountain: The History of an American tiated in 1941 by the Steagall Amendment to Concentration Camp. By DOUGLAS W. NEL­ the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. The SON. (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, modern farm program was begun by Henry for the Department of History, University of A. Wallace, who brought government inter­ Wisconsin, Madison, 1976. Logmark Edition. vention into the agricultural sector of the Pp. x, 183. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, economy by instigating the policies of domestic index. $12.50.) allotment, storage and flexible price supports ranging from 52 to 70 per cent of parity. The Few episodes in American history are so Steagall Amendment raised the price supports unanimously regretted as the World War II to a rigid 90 per cent of parity, and this stimu­ internment of Japanese-Americans. Even the lated overproduction. Clinton Anderson, Tru­ recent writing about Negro slavery and Indian- man's Secretary of Agriculture, attempted to white confrontation, although riddled with reduce the huge surpluses by returning to sentimentalism, is largely a literature of in­ flexible price supports via the Agricultural quiry. With a few procedural guidelines from Act of 1948. The revolt of the farm belt Diogenes, one might even locate a student of forced postponement of this policy change "women in society" who treats the subject as and left the issue up to Ezra T. Benson in the more than an act of piety. Eisenhower administration. The Agricultural Act of 1954 reached a compromise by reduc­ But the several studies of the Japanese- ing price supports to 82 per cent and imple­ American internment, as Douglas W. Nelson menting the Food for Peace program to re­ points out, incline merely to execrate the treat­ duce surpluses and the resulting storage costs. ment of the victims, and then to take some Secretary Freeman utilized the supply man­ consolation in the doughty, selfless acquies­ agement concept of Cochrane through the cence of the internees, "the heroic combat Food and Agricultural Act of 1962 to com­ sacrifices made by Nisei soldiers, . . . [the] bine moderate price supports with strict pro­ young Japanese-American Cub Scouts pledg­ duction control. ing allegiance or playing baseball behind barbed wire, . . . [and the] harmless old Issei The cycle was completed in the Nixon ad­ who quietly left behind a life's work to com­ ministration with the Agricultural and Con­ ply with a misconceived military precaution." sumer Protection Act of 1973, which author­ There is nothing false in this picture. It ized the Secretary of Agriculture with discre­ would require a triumph of the will indeed tionary powers to implement, reduce, or with­ to justify Executive Order No. 9066 and the draw price supports as conditions dictated. miseries that flowed from it. The trouble with This flexibility reflected the original intent the historiography of lamentation, of blacks, of the AAA program of the New Deal. Indians, Chicanos, or women as well as of In their final appraisal, the authors be­ Japanese-Americans, is that in viewing its sub­ lieve that "the protection of the vital inter­ jects as objects, passive and victimized, it is ests of the producers of food and agricultural incomplete and, ironically (for the motive products" was worth the cost to society at behind this sort of writing is, presumably, to large. For the future they see an increasing exalt), it is patronizing. Because it breaks out tension developing between the food producer of this trap. Heart Mountain is, despite its and the food consumer, with the focus of narrow focus, an important little book. The policy making being directed towards a re­ author emphasizes the internees' resentment, conciliation of that problem. resistance, and active confrontation with their The one indelible impression received from jailers at one of the War Relocation Authori­ this excellent study is that when the gov­ ty's "happy camps," without distorting it into ernment attempts to manage any portion of a phony heroic tradition. the economy by scientific formula it will in­ The book also breaks new ground in exam­ evitably become politicized. The art of poli­ ining the politics of the internment question tics remains the essence of statescraft not scien­ in the place where the Heart Mountain camp tific management. was built. The reader feels more than a little

63 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 stupid to realize suddenly that previous ac­ Years of Struggle: The Farm Diary of Elmer counts have fastened almost exclusively on G. Powers, 1931-1936. Edited by H. ROGER Washington, D.C, and California. But what GRANT and L. EDWARD PURCELL. (Iowa State of Wyoming where with its peak population University Press, Ames, 1976. Pp. xix, 158. of almost 11,000, Heart Mountain was the Illustrations, notes, map, index. $6.95.) third largest city! The author is not so explicit on this point, but his evidence implies that it "Today is my birthday. By way of celebrat­ was Rocky Mountain area reaction to the ing it I did not work very hard," reads the en­ prospect of evacuees entering the state as in­ try in Elmer G. Powers' farm diary for Sep­ dividuals that resulted, in March of 1942, tember 19, 1932. The patience of some read­ in Washington abandoning its voluntary evac­ ers may be taxed long before reaching the uation policy and instituting the concentra­ quoted entry on page 22, in spite of the edi­ tion camp program. California simply wanted tors' introductory assurance that they omit­ the Japs out; Wyoming would take them only ted "numerous repetitions and boring pas­ with barbed wire thrown in. sages that accurately reflected the monotony Also intriguing is the discussion of Wyom­ of farm life." Nonetheless, the inquisitive ing growers' and politicians' interest in the and above all sensitive reader will plod on, ab­ internees as $4-a-week laborers. The initial sorb Powers' observations, and feel richly racist opposition to having any Japanese re­ rewarded for such perseverence. Among the located in Wyoming was quickly moderated by hundreds of books, pamphlets, bulletins, and the prospect of such indentured servants. The articles on agriculture and rural life written town of Green River actually lobbied for a by academicians, agribusiness publicists. De­ concentration camp in order to "speed work" partment of Agriculture bureaucrats, and nos­ on the Seedskadee irrigation project. Camp talgia peddlers, there are astonishingly and un­ administrators discovered that they could par­ fortunately few accounts like Years of Strug­ ry the sleazy race-baiting of demagogue politi­ gle, a precious testimony that records the ex­ cians by tinkering with the Pass Policy by periences of many whose lives were closest which internees left the camp to take work. to preparing and seeding the soil and culti­ vating and harvesting the crops. Again only suggestively, the author notes Elmer G. Powers first operated, then after how the political attacks on Heart Mountain his father's death in 1933 owned and operated ("These Japs are being coddled and pam­ Quietdale Farm, in Amaqua township, Boone pered") were an early species of the oblique County, Iowa, about forty miles northwest of attacks on the New Deal that reached perfec­ Des Moines. In April, 1931, at the request of tion in the "red under the bed" campaign of an editor of the widely read Wallaces' Farmer a few years later. The real target was not so and Iowa Homestead, Powers began to keep much the internees as, in the 1950's, it was an account of "Day by Day on the Farm." not "the reds in Washington." Rather, the Until 1942 he dutifully recorded his thoughts target was the New Deal crowd whose stamp and observations at such opportune moments was on the project in its "social planning" as when the plowhorses decided it was time and in the liberal sympathies of the camp ad­ to rest, faithfully typed the entries after fin­ ministrators. ishing the day's work, and regularly mailed But such insights could be cited halfway the journals to the capital city. through another page. This is not a definitive The editors selected from among the 2,500 book. There remain many questions to be typewritten pages excerpts for a six-year per­ answered about the social history of the camps iod during the Great Depression, and or­ and the camps' place in the societies where ganized the material into four chapters: Day they were located. But it is this admirable by Day on the Farm; Coming of the New Deal; little volume which points in these directions. Owner-Operator; and Drifts, Debts, and Drought. Included are freqtient explanatory Heart Mountain was awarded the 1974 Log- notes ranging in scope and tletail from tidbits mark Prize by the University of Wisconsin His­ which identify family members or neighbors tory Department, and the book well merits tliat Powers mentioned by initial or nick­ the honor. name, to discussions on specific events or his­ torical phenomena that include timely sug­ JOSEPH R. CONLIN gestions for additional background reading. Centre for the Study of Social History, While the editors eliminated many diary Warwick University entries on everyday farm chores and field work. 64 BOOK REVIEWS the reader grown accustomed to urban life notonous tasks that made two blades of grass especially will still be rather taken aback by grow where one grew before. the slow pace of rural life a half century ago. Often the agriculturalist paid a dear price. Powers commented extensively about such In 1942, for instance, diarist Elmer G. Powers timeless entities as family, church, and the lost his final struggle at the age of fifty-six. land, but he hardly neglected events that brought boundless joy and deep sorrow: school DALE E. TRELEVEN commencement, suicide, free community movies, tractor deaths, gigantic snow drifts, State Historical Society of Wisconsin and rock-bottom prices. What emerges from Powers' observations is a portrait quite unlike that to be found in a book of happy memories about rural America's good old days. Who but the most affected reader could lament over The Filming of the West. By JON TUSKA. the passing of the good old days on the farm (Doubleday and Co., Garden City, New York, after reading Elmer Powers' chilling account 1976. Pp. XX, 588. Illustrations, appendix, of his climb up an icy windmill tower in an index. $14.95.) unsuccessful attempt to free the frozen parts to supply the livestock with water? "I think I suppose every area of humanistic scholar­ the top of a tall windmill is about the coldest ship is divided, to some extent, between the place I have ever been. Especially when the analysts and the fans. The analysts approach thermometer is ten below zero," he wrote on their material with a more or less clearly de­ January 20, 1935, after ascending four times fined methodology and they select and order with pockets stuffed with bottles of hot water in relation to some cultural, historical, or es­ to pour on the locked gears. thetic scheme. The fans, on the other hand, tend to pick out a certain area, whether it be At the same time it is unfortunate that the renaissance poetry or comic-book covers, and editors could not complete the picture of rural then collect all the information they can ir­ realism by including excerpts from Elmer respective of its pertinence to any given set of Powers' private diary, also on deposit at the analytical principles. Analysts often find fans State Historical Society of Iowa. Excerpts from exasperating because the enormous amount the personal diary might have added much of information they possess is rarely organized hard-to-get information on subjects largely in a form that can be easily adapted to estab­ missing from Years of Struggle, e.g., child- lished methodologies, while fans typically rearing, church and school politics, family rifts, view analysts as overly intellectual in their medicine and home remedies, family decision­ approach and insufficiently knowledgeable in making, care for elderly members of the fam­ detail about the beloved objects. Both an­ ily. Also, the reader will search in vain to alysts and fans are necessary to the progress of discover references to the daily tasks and con­ scholarship in any field, but they will prob­ cerns of Minnie Hartlieb Powers (Elmer's ably never be satisfied with each other's ap­ wife) or other farm women in Boone County, proaches. or find evidence that they struggled as hard as the menfolk during that awful period between Jon Tuska's The Filming of the West is 1931 and 1936. decidedly the work of a super-fan. With inde­ fatigable industry Tuska has gathered, stored Nevertheless, the contents of Years of Strug­ and reduced to a kind of historical narrative gle represent a unique and commendable con­ an enormous amount of information and anec­ tribution that serves to deepen our under­ dote about the producers, actors, directors, standing of the Middle Western rural milieu costs, settings, and exhibition of western films. that Elmer Powers shared with thousands of The narrative begins with the first film west­ fellow farmers who despaired as the weeks of ern and ends with a consideration of some economic downturn turned into the endless recent films by Sam Peckinpah and John months of the Great Depression. While there Wayne. On the whole, Tuska is most thor­ is no shortage of publications to remind us that ough and most interesting in his treatment of American agriculture is an unparalleled suc­ the series westerns of the 1920's and 1930's, cess story, only a book so rare as Years of Strug­ the work of stars like Tom Mix, Tim McCoy, gle allows an opportunity to absorb the day- Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Gene to-day thoughts and perceptions of an indi­ Autry, and William Boyd. He also covers the vidual farmer who kept doing the dull, mo­ earlier period from 1903-1920 in some depth.

65 Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research Richard Dix and Irene Dunne in the RKO production of Edna Ferber's Cimarron, 1951.

After 1940, the discussion becomes much more is perhaps entitled to his own overriding en­ selective and spotty. Since the period of the thusiasms. 1940's and 1950's is, in my view, the most artis­ Readers in quest of a critical analysis of tically significant time of western film crea­ westerns from an esthetic point of view will tion, I was disappointed that Tuska chose to find books like Kitses' Horizons West or the spend so mttch more time on the series west­ analyses of Andre Bazin, Philip French, and erns. Still, because this is a fan's book, and Robert Warshow more satisfying. Those who does not really pretend to be an esthetic or would like to have a coherent structural analy­ cultural history of the western film, the author sis of the thematic and dramatic contents of

66 BOOK REVIEWS westerns would do better by consulting Will story of that one corporation is further nar­ Wright's Six Guns and Society or the excel­ rowed and restricted to the business of the lent book by the young French scholar Jean- company. Louis Leutrat. The cultural implications of The development of United Artists is of the western are discussed with far greater interest not so mttch because of its position historical and sociological sophistication by in the film industry (it was the smallest of a number of scholars in, for example, the col­ the eight major companies), but because it lection Focus on the Western edited by Jack had been organized and owned by four of Nachbar. Fenin and Everson give a much the best-known names in the industry—Charles clearer and more systematic account of the Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, development of the western film in their his­ and D. W. Griffith. In this respect the com­ tory. pany was unique. Yet, despite its obvious shortcomings from The author acknowledges in his preface an analytical point of view, Tuska's work has that the personal records available were just enough raw data of all sorts to provide an im­ too few to permit any sort of sustained study portant supplement to these much more selec­ of the "behavior of the owners throughout tive analytical accounts. The weakness of the history of the company." Although the many previous discussions of the western has records do reveal some of the more important been their tendency to erect large cultural gen­ decisions of the company's founders, they do eralizations on the basis of a relatively few not give much insight into their characters western films. Tuska's flaw is the opposite and personalities. Nor do the business rec­ one of offering few meaningful generalizations ords alone afford any glimpse of the motiva­ about an amazing wealth of material. How­ tions behind those decisions or of the rela­ ever, because of Tuska's work, future scholars tionships among the founders, all of whom should be far better informed about the gen­ were strong-willed artists. eral run of western production. What remains is an account of the history of United Artists from 1919-1951, the period JOHN G. CAWELTI in which the founders were in control. Or­ University of Chicago ganized in January of 1919, United Artists remained a closely held corporation until it went public in 1957. In 1919 the original or­ ganizers were regarded as insane revolution­ United Artists: The Company Built by the aries. "So the lunatics have taken charge of Stars. By TiNo BALIO. (University of Wis­ the asylum," said Richard Rowland when consin Press, Madison, 1976. Pp. xviii, 323. he heard the news. Nevertheless, many of Illustrations, appendix, notes, index. $15.00.) the giants of the industry were associated with the company over the years. United Artists Tino Balio has written a straightforward flourished and grew through the glorious corporate history. It is based almost entirely years of the twenties to the full height of its upon the monumental collection of company financial success in the thirties. During the records for the period 1919-1951 donated by forties the company suffered a decline which United Artists to the Center for Film and brought it to near bankruptcy. Theater Research at the University of Wis­ Because the purpose of United Artists was consin. The nature of the records is reflected threefold and involved the production, re­ in the narrow focus of the book. There is a lease, and distribution of motion pictures, the great deal of useful information about the owners faced a number of problems from the organization of what was essentially a distri­ beginning. Unable at first to produce films buting company. The business transactions of in sufficient quantities, the acquisition of the enterprise are set forth in exhaustive de­ a "product" remained an ongoing difficulty. tail—in fact too much detail for any but a Distribution commitments required a con­ specialist. The result is a book that is almost tinuing stream of marketable motion pictures, exclusively a descriptive rather than an analyti­ though it was not easy to consistently produce cal history, and one of rather limited appeal. films that combined high quality with mass The development of one corporation is iso­ appeal. Nor was it always easy to persuade lated from the forces that shaped and in­ potential backers that high-quality films were fluenced the American motion-picture indus­ a sound financial investment. United Artists try as a whole during this period, and the often released fewer than fifteen pictures a

67 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 year, but they were among the finest produced. 1929 further endeared him to the nation's The bulk of the book is devoted to these elite, although that endearment all but dis­ and similar business problems. But if it is appeared with Lindbergh's isolationist efforts almost impossible to write a lively and read­ prior to Pearl Harbor. The birth, kidnapping, able narrative from business records alone, it and death of their first child, and the pub­ is possible to produce a reasonably solid ref­ licity attendant thereto, further turned Lind­ erence book. Despite stylistic flaws such as bergh against the press. In December of 1935, unnecessary sub-headings and unexplained the Lindberghs and their second son, Jon, left technical terms, this study does contain a vast the U. S. to live in England. amount of information. While few would Visits to Germany convinced Lindbergh ot find it worthwhile to read United Artists in the superiority of the German Luftwaffe, and its entirety, it is a useful book if read for refer­ as war neared, he counseled European leaders ence. to avoid a fight with the Germans. Mosley suggests that Lindbergh was tricked by the HERBERT LASKY Germans into believing that their air power Eastern Illinois University was superior, and that, consequently, he coun­ seled Neville Chamberlain, Joseph P. Kenne­ dy, and others to avoid war at all costs. Early in 1939, Lindbergh decided he must return to Lindbergh: A Biography. By LEONARD MOS- the U. S. in order to "keep his country from LEY. (Doubleday and Company, Garden City, getting involved in the war in Europe that New York, 1976. Pp. xxx, 446. Illustrations, he was now convinced was coming." source notes, index. $12.95.) Lindbergh joined the America First move­ ment and became its most popular and con­ Leonard Mosley's account of the life of troversial speaker. When President Roosevelt Charles A. Lindbergh provides a lively and failed to gain his support through a bungled readable chronicle, but offers little in the way attempt to offer him a post in his adminis­ of new information or interpretation. Mosley, tration, the President turned his attackers a Briton and author of numerous other works loose. Angered by Secretary Ickes's reference of fiction and nonfiction, writes with a light to him as "the Knight of the German Eagle," and descriptive style. Yet the work suffers a reference to the medal awarded Lindbergh from a heavy reliance on previously published by the German government during one of his materials and numerous sources "which have visits, and by other attacks by the adminis­ asked not to be identified." tration, Lindbergh made several serious mis­ Mosley proceeds through Lindbergh's life takes. He resigned from the Air Corps, an chronologically. From shortly after his birth action which came back to haunt hirii when in 1902, Lindbergh's parents lived separate he later sought to serve in the war, and he lives. As a result, he spent a lonely childhood lashed out at the administration. In Des and became quite protective of his mother. At Moines, Lindbergh questioned Jewish in­ the age of ten, the internal combustion en­ fluences in this and other countries. The pub­ gine entered his life and changed it. School lic's reaction was negative. held little interest for the young Lindbergh, When war finally came, Lindbergh offered who finished high school by working on a his services, but met with steady refusals until farm during World War I, and who dropped Henry Ford offered him a position at Willow out of the University of Wisconsin after little Run. Although he performed well, he wanted more than a year. to fly, and did ultimately spend some time as Flying became his life in the 1920's. After a civilian pilot in the Pacific. barnstorming and carrying air mail between Immediately after the war, Lindbergh was St. Louis and Chicago, Lindbergh, like other an outspoken Cold Warrior who urged the aviation pioneers and adventurers, set out to U.S. to maintain air superiority over both capture the Orteig prize of $25,000 for making Russia and China. Restored to grace by the a nonstop flight from New York to Paris or Kennedys, Lindbergh began to turn away the reverse. Successful in this in May of 1927, from aviation and scientific progress about he became an instant hero. Very soon, Lind­ 1964. Spending his last years as a spokesman bergh came to resent the intrusions into his for ecological issues, Lindbergh opposed the privacy by the press and others. development of the supersonic transport, Lindbergh's marriage to Anne Morrow in worked for the preservation of endangered

68 BOOK REVIEWS species, and urged safeguarding the Tasaday btisiness innovations with brief biographical from the advance of civilization. He also sketches of the innovators. Thus the archi­ moved away from his previous position in re­ tectural achievements come to us in associa­ gard to the Cold War and began to urge some­ tion with the lives and personalities of such thing approximating detente. Death came to attention-demanding figures as Louis Sulli­ Lindbergh in 1974 of lymphatic cancer. At van and Frank Lloyd Wright, or the less his request, he was taken to Maui to die. flamboyant but equally impressive Daniel Mosley's book is most useful to the general Burnham. The failures of the city, its poverty, reader. The scholar of the period will find squalor, chaos, and dirt, are presented through little new information on any aspect of Lind­ the extraordinary, almost paradoxical char­ bergh's life. The most serious problems for acter of Jane Addams, who combined a seem­ the scholar revolve around the absence of ingly unlimited capacity for effective action meaningful footnotes and the injudicious use with an inexhaustible compassion for her of unquotable personal sources. fellowmen. In the hard-boiled world of mer­ chandising one begins to visualize the complex web of railroad lines, factories, postal services, JUSTUS F. PAUL and business offices that connected the isolated University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point farmer on the prairies with Montgomery Ward in his proud tower on Michigan Avenue. The journalists, novelists, and poets who created Chicago's short-lived literary renaissance knew Chicago: Creating New Traditions. By PERRY the city's compelling power and its human Duis. (Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, sorrows at first hand, and it was partly through 1976. Pp. 144. Illustrations, bibliography, in­ this artistic recreation of urban and rural life dex. $7.95 paper; $12.50 hardcover.) in the Midwest that American literature fi­ nally came of age. In 1976 the Chicago Historical Society made The problem of unifying these various as­ its contribution to the nation's Bicentennial pects of the city's culture very likely is insol­ celebration by mounting an uncommonly vi­ uble, and Professor Duis has not tried to sug­ vid and informative exhibit on the history of gest that all these manifestations of an ex­ Chicago's world-renowned achievements. iThe tremely busy urban world can be seen as director of the society, Harold Skramstad, and aspects of some kind of underlying principle. his staff gave this unmanageable subject defi­ Nevertheless, his essay embodies a theme that nition and focus by restricting it to those cul­ emerges by implication from a series of sub- tural, economic, and institutional activities in themes recurring throughout his text. In the which the city most fully revealed its unique first place, there were the determinants that creative spirit. The slender, richly illustrated, arose from Chicago's physical situation: it and handsomely printed volume before us may be regarded as the catalogue of the exhibit, but was the center of the agricultural heartland of it is in fact also a lively interpretive essay on North America, the chief nodal point on the Chicago's almost explosive growth by a pro­ longest system of connected inland waterways fessor of history in the University of Illinois in the world, and the hub of a railroad net­ at Chicago Circle. The aspects of this history work extending from the Atlantic to the Pa­ that the makers of the exhibit selected consti­ cific. All aspects of the city's creative culture tute the major chapter divisions of the book- reflected this position, most obviously in the architecture and urban planning; moral, so­ world of industry and finance, in more subtle cial, and political reform, with the emphasis and complex ways in the case of the musical on the settlement-house movement; the arts, and literary arts. But there was something particularly painting, sculpture, music, radio, more than the facts of geography and the tides and the movies; merchandising techniques, of commerce, as decisive as these were. The un­ especially mail-order retailing; and literature, paralleled rate of growth of Chicago's wealth from day-to-day journalism to avant-garde and population; the ethnic diversity of its poetry. people; its location on the prairie frontier; the absence of an inherited quasi-aristocracy like In a text of no more than a hundred pages, the "old money" of New York, Philadelphia, supplemented by nearly 250 illustrations. Pro­ fessor Duis has managed to give his sweeping and Boston; the strong community spirit narrative a measure of the dramatic by bal­ among people in a new city—all these charac­ ancing his account of artistic, intellectual, and teristics proved to be potent democratizing 69 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 forces, with the consequence that Chicago's Carthage History Professor Thomas Noer great accomplishments came in one way or analyzes "Popular Culture and Leisure Time." another out of the lives and needs and abili­ Noer writes of Kenosha's circuses, sports, war- ties of its people, and these accomplishments bond drives, concerts, loyalty parades, and were in turn aimed at enhancing the lives the evolution of theater from vaudeville to the and offering scope to the abilities of its citi­ movies. "Feds" discovered over two hundred zens. Professor Duis sums it up in a single, stills in the county during the first six months well-focu.sed sentence: "An extraordinary of prohibition, and a majority of the 1920 capability for bringing new ideas to large Kenosha city councilmen were or had been audiences was the essence of creative Chicago" tavern owners or bartenders. Prohibition (p. 81). And the author does not shrink from failed in Kenosha. Picnics and card games telling us the melancholy truth in his epilogue, replaced more costly restaurant and movie- that Chicago has steadily lost this creative going as depression-era entertainment, and power over the years of depression, war, sub­ WPA theater thrived. Following World War urban growth, and brutal machine politics. II Kenosha's identifiable nationalities became One gifted novelist like Saul Bellow does not increasingly homogenized as the American quite make up for the loss of entire schools of Legion, VFW, and television viewing sup­ literature, architecture, philosophy, sociology, planted ethnic social clubs. Kenosha News and urban administration. copy editor Don Jensen discusses the revolu­ tion in rural Kenosha in "Agriculture and CARL W. CONDIT Farming." For example, only 33 per cent of Northwestern University the county's farms had electricity and 18 per cent had bathtubs with running water in 1927. By 1954, 95 per cent had electricity and 75 per cent had television sets. UW-Parkside Economics Professor Richard Kenosha County in the 20th Century. Edit­ Keehn's topic is "Industry and Business," ed by JOHN A. NEUENSCHWANDER. (Kenosha which, like Kenosha, is dominated by the County Bicentennial Commission, Kenosha, Nash/AMC automobile industry that super­ 1976. Pp. xviii, 516. Illustrations, notes, index. seded the Bain Wagon Company. Carthage $4.00.) History Professor John Bailey traces "Labor's Fight for Security and Dignity" as industriali­ Editor John Neuenschwander, Carthage Col­ zation and immigration fostered union growth. lege history professor, has assembled nine Labor-management conflict flared in the original essays by high-caliber authors on 1930's, especially between the United Auto various facets of Kenosha history. Kenosha Workers and Nash. The politically conscious County in the 20th Century is local history Kenosha Trades and Labor Council led early at its best. It is local without being parochial. fights against child labor and severe local The authors write grassroots history on na­ illiteracy, brought rare 1930's harmony be­ tionally significant topics. The Kenosha Coun­ ty Board and the County Bicentennial Com­ tween the AFL and the CIO, and opposed mission spent money wisely financing this American participation in the 1936 Berlin study. Olympics because Nazi Germany was the host. UW-Parkside Education Professors Glenn University of Wisconsin-Parkside History Doston and Marvin Happel center their his­ Professor John Buenker writes of "Immigra­ tory of "Public Education and Society" around tion and Ethnic Groups." Peasant Italians, the achievements of Superintendent Mary Poles, and others from southern and eastern Bradford. Controversial suffragette leader Europe helped change Kenosha from a Bradford introduced programs into Kenosha Yankee-Scandinavian farm service community schools for cultural minorities and physically of 11,000 in 1900 to a small industrial city of handicapped, upgraded teacher qualifications 40,000 twenty years later. The newcomers and salaries, began school health programs, lived in ethnic neighborhoods, worked at un­ skilled labor, and raised children who often and initiated evening vocational classes. Car­ became white-collar professionals. Carthage thage Religion Professor Allan Hauck dis­ History Professor John Zophy discusses Keno­ cusses Kenosha's ethnically-influenced church­ sha's "Invisible People: Blacks and Mexican- es in "The Story of Religion." Carthage His­ Americans," particularly the post-1945 black tory Professor Nelson Peter Ross concludes population. the study with a fascinating account of Keno-

70 BOOK REVIEWS sha's "Architecture, Planning, and Transpor­ recalls her first thirteen years. She wrote the tation." memoir in 1953, but so charming and univer­ sal is its appeal that her family and friends RICHARD C. HANEY arranged for its posthumous publication. Her University of Wisconsin-Whitewater remarkable father, John Furrow, had three wives, seemingly countless residences thanks to a frontier restlessness, and bottomless devo­ tion to the Seventh Day Baptist denomination —the sponsor of Milton College. Born, raised, The Character of the Country: The Iowa and married in Ohio, he lived for a time, most­ Diary of James L. Broderick, 1876-1877. Edit­ ly in Seventh Day Baptist colonies, in Iowa, ed by LoREN N. HORTON. (Iowa State His­ Nebraska, Idaho, Arkansas, Colorado, and torical Department, Division of the State His­ California. He migrated overland in a wagon torical Society, Iowa City, 1976. Pp. 136. Pho­ to the latter state at the age of sixty-eight, a tographs, maps, notes, index. $2.75, paper.) widower with three children at home. Neces­ sity precluded their taking a simple railroad Furrows of the Land. By NELLIE FURROW DA- journey. Idaho, Colorado, and California his­ LAND. (Robert T. Daland, Chapel Hill, North torians and Baptist specialists would do well Carolina, and Milton Historical Society, Mil­ to consider extracts of Mrs. Daland's memoir ton, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. ix, 145. Photo­ for their journals. She writes with humor graphs, drawings. $4.50, paper.) and intelligence, and she tells abundant and pertinent stories. Would that she had written Editing diaries, reminiscences, and the like about her Wisconsin yearsl is a tricky business. The best products achieve Both works could have been trimmed with just the right balance of material to lure the some profit, much more so Broderick's. Maps general reader, assist the specialist, and leave in Broderick are ill-chosen, absent in Daland, the genealogist and local historian panting and needed in both. Mrs. Daland's own naive for more. Less successful ones often lack bal­ drawings enhance her memoir, but they could ance, include nearly everything, and are aimed have been fewer and larger, and they could at a single audience. Both of these works profitably have been supplemented by photo­ veer towards the latter path, the Broderick graphs of principal figures and places. While diary being tailored for a Dubuque area au­ both works may lack general appeal and broad dience, the Daland reminiscence for Milton historical usefulness, each merits publication College alumni, Milton area residents, and and each will delight appropriate audiences. Seventh Day Baptists. James L. Broderick was a Yorkshire gentle­ JOHN O. HOLZHUETER man of the second class, as he is characterized, State Historical Society of Wisconsin who at the age of thirty-five undertook a trip to Iowa to visit emigrants from his home in the Swaledale district. He and his companion —an omnipresent figure named James Wood­ ward, whom the editor does not bring much Laura: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. By to life—also conducted some land business and DONALD ZOCHERT. (Henry Regnery and Com­ took a few side trips, including one to Mineral pany, Chicago, 19'76. Pp. xii, 260. Photo­ Point, Wisconsin. Specialists in genealogy and graphs, appendices, index. $8.95.) in agricultural, social, and local history will find in the diary much of interest, most of The popularity of television's Little House which they will have to ferret out for them­ on the Prairie has placed the name of Laura selves with the aid of an index of proper Ingalls Wilder on the lips of people who never nouns. The work calls attention to a seldom- knew her books nor the fact that they have documented immigrant group and suggests been translated into seventy languages. It is that historians should seek out late-nineteenth- said that more Americans have learned about century Midwest visitors' accounts as avidly the frontier from Laura than from Frederick as they have sought antebellum records. Jackson Turner, and indeed the story of an Nellie Furrow Daland, who died in 1974 honest, hard-working family, happy in the as the widow of Milton College president and midst of hardship, is dear to the American dean John Norton Daland, pieces together her dream. Now the Laura Ingalls Wilder His­ parents' story before her birth in 1884, then torical Society at Pepin, Wisconsin, is erecting

71 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 a cabin on the site of the Wilder homestead. citation of Anderson's articles in Elementary Neighbors, teachers, librarians, even Senator English, March and May, 1964. But Zochert George McGovern, have written about Laura. has written a story as exciting and lively as one She has inspired research by historians inter­ of Laura's books. He goes into loving detail ested in her real age, origins, and homes. De­ about new facts in her life, and we almost feel votees have trekked to "Little House" sites, that we are reading another story about the and written about them with pens dipped in people in the little houses. This is a book to saccharin. Wisconsin authors, not in imita­ be cherished by all who are interested in chil­ tion but in recognition of a successful genre, dren's literature, and who love Laura. have also narrated stories about pioneer girls. E. B. White, who received the Laura In­ And what of the real Laura? She was nei­ galls Wilder Award in 1970 (given every five ther beautiful nor brilliant, but a simple per­ years to a children's writer), said that Mrs. son, unsure of her capabilities until she was Wilder's prose had natural simplicity and growing old. The catalyst for her recreation of goodness without condescension, patronage, a happy past was a trip to San Francisco, con­ guile, or cuteness. Zochert's style, too, is sim­ versation with her novelist daughter. Rose, ple and clear. He has done Laura a great and nostalgia for vanished family and friends. She wrote her husband from California on September 21, 1915: "Rose and I are block­ DORIS H. PLATT ing out a story of the Ozarks for me to finish State Historical Society of Wisconsin when I get home." But it was seventeen years before her first book appeared (followed by eight more). And it may have been better that she waited so long to publish. She might Perish the Thought: Intellectual Women in have written laments for water, electricity, and Romantic America, 1830-1860. By SUSAN P. cellophane, but, viewed through the filmy gos­ CONRAD. (Oxford University Press, New York, samer of sixty-five years, those miserable, cal­ 1976. Pp. vi, 292. Illustrations, notes, bibliog­ loused days were brightened. raphy, index. $12.95.) There were apparently three drafts of her first book: the factual, the reworking, and Most Americans are uncomfortable in deal­ the final story. The early drafts are gone. Zo­ ing with those who pursue a life of the mind. chert had the opportunity of reading Wilder's Throughout our media, ambiguous, images unpublished memoirs and used them to re­ abound: scientists are "mad"; professors are appraise fact and fiction in the stories. He "absent-minded"; and exceptional students traces family journeys and lists the "Little are "eggheads" who never go to the senior Houses." Zochert believes in the metamorpho­ prom. Women with intellectual aspirations sis of Laura's stories from caterpillar to but­ have labored under the additional burden of terfly, as she autobiographized but kept the extricating themselves from the mythology story real. Laura's first publisher made her which has confined them to limited social two years older than she was, believing that a roles. Certainly women were advised to "per­ child could not remember the details she told. ish the thought" of intellectual equality in the But Laura never believed she was writing years before the Civil War, when the "cult of history. Her daughter, questioned about the trtie womanhood" masked women's inferior reality of the cabin in Pepin County, said she status with high-flown rhetoric extolling their knew "no more than is told in my mother's maternal wisdom and moral virtue. That a book. I had not realized until now that I number persisted to become formidable writ­ have never quite lost my very-little-girl feel­ ers and philosophers, often with considerable ing that the Big Woods were somewhere in anxiety, is the subject of this volume. fairyland or at least what was the same region, my mother's 'When I was a Little Girl' time." Romanticism, Susan Conrad maintains, stimulated and justified the vanguard of There are no footnotes to Laura, and Zo­ America's female intellects between 1830 and chert says he did not intend to clutter the book 1860. This ideological context provides a use­ with them. Some readers will be disconcerted ful explanation for their emergence, since ro­ to find Don Anderson (a staff member of the manticism—with its belief in the integrity of State Historical Society of Wisconsin) as the the individual, encouragement of free thought, detective who unearthed new facts about and respect for intuitive powers—grew from a Laura's mother and grandparents, but with no liberating impulse. The author effectively 72 BOOK REVIEWS demonstrates how idealized feminine traits of American literature courses. Whether the passivity and.domesticity were at least super­ works of these women have fallen into ob- ficially compatible with the role of woman as sctirity because of sexist attitudes, or because romantic thinker. Women could master for­ they lack enduring qualities, is not fully re­ eign languages and study history without of­ solved, and the book seems to end abruptly fending society, and some, not content to with the onset of the Civil War. Some re­ merely absorb, came forth with their own marks on Emily Dickinson, whose creative analyses, additions, and revisions. That they brilliance peaked in the early 1860's, could so often did so by becoming writers rather have been an extremely interesting aspect of than attempting entrance into other profes­ this book. sions is suggested by the simple fact that writ­ Perish the Thought is an ambitious volume, ing allowed them to work independently at subjecting a movement as nebulous and para­ home. Even Maria Mitchell, an important doxical as American romanticism to careful astronomer who is regrettably absent from study and giving women a place therein. An this book, quietly went about her observations outgrowth of a doctoral dissertation at the from the rooftop of her father's house. University of Texas, Austin, the book makes Many of the women treated, including Mar­ enjoyable, lively reading, replete with thought­ garet Fuller, Lydia Maria Child, Elizabeth ful, engaging quotes. Peabody, and a dozen others, are the subject of biographies and are familiar to those in GAIL FARR CASTERLINE the field of women's history. What is new Chicago Historical Society and welcome is their treatment as a group and as a generation, for it reinforces our awareness of the diverse contributions of women to American life. Tables giving religious affilia­ tion, father's profession, and regional back­ Acres for Cents: Delinquent Tax Auctions ground provide easy reference for comparison in Frontier Iowa. By ROBERT P. SWIERENGA. and contrast. From this collective approach (Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, we learn that the women discussed were self- 1976. Pp. xix, 262. Tables, appendices, notes, conscious about fashioning an intellectual bibliography, index. $14.95.) lifestyle and forming a "phalanx of associated inquiry," as Elizabeth Oakes Smith called it, Between 1840-1900, county treasurers in with America's embryonic community of femi­ Iowa auctioned 1.5 million tracts of delin­ nists. Conrad discreetly and judiciously points quent tax land totaling some 45 million acres, out that intellectuals and feminists are not which, at an average tax rate of $ .21 per acre, one and the same. Nonetheless, romanticism's amounted to some $8-10 million in liens. The emphasis on individual experience often em­ absence of any previous investigations into tax broiled the intellectuals in agonizing worries sales, in Iowa or elsewhere, has allowed per­ over "woman's proper sphere," for their own petuation of the Populist view of economic careers veered far from the norm. According distress, on the one hand, or the popular view, to Conrad, their confusion sometimes marred on the other, that tax sales were the way their work. local governments retaliated against absentee landlords who monopolized the best lands, The author transports one to a rather held them off the market for future gains, and quaint, intriguing world of family libraries, in the meantime balked at paying taxes. This young ladies' seminaries, literary societies, frontier weapon, leveled at eastern "land- transcendalist book shops, and above all Bos­ hogs," had the beneficial result of democratiz­ ton, where American women first savored in­ ing land speculation by providing local citi­ tellectual discovery. Conrad's discussion of zens with "acres for cents." her subjects as scholars is honest and critical. Robert Swierenga points out that such gen­ Her descriptions of the methods used by Child eralizations about tax sales cannot be eval­ and Sarah Hale in writing histories of women, uated until we know whose land was sold for amounting to prodigious encyclopedias of un- taxes and why, who the tax buyers were, and integrated facts, explain why their work is what effect the auctions had on land titles. seldom remembered today. On the other hand, Utilizing case studies, descriptive statistics, one suspects that Margaret Fuller, one of the and multivariate tests to analyze the tax sale foremost literary critics of her time, fails to registers in sixteen Iowa counties from 1840- receive the attention she deserves in standard 1860, Swierenga develops answers to these

73 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 questions which lead him to an economically ous farmers until he demonstrates that his rational interpretation of tax sales—they were, evidence is a statement of historical reality at least to 1880, "mainly a money lending rather than an artifact of his methodology. mechanism to circumvent usury laws" (p. 7). Delinquent owners were generally prosperous SEDDIE COGSWELL, JR. farmers who deliberately defaulted on taxes San Francisco State University in order to conserve their short-term working capital for productive purposes. Tax buyers, on the other hand, were generally local county- From Sweden to America: A History of the seat capitalists, respected members of the com­ Migration. Edited by HARALD RUNBLOM and munity who dominated local business and poli­ HANS NORMAN. (University of Minnesota tics. "Their interest was not in the land—only Press, Minneapolis, 1976. Pp. viii, 391. Illus­ 13 per cent of all liens on rural tracts were trations, notes, bibliography, appendices, deeded to tax buyers—but rather in securing maps, tables, graphs, index. $20.00.) the high yields on tax liens which were sanc­ tioned by state law. "The auctions funneled funds into the hands of credit starved local From Sweden to America presents the find­ residents. . . at a time when capital was scarce ings of seven members of the research project and the market rate of money exceeded the "Sweden and America after 1860" in the his­ legal interest ceiling" (p. 42). tory department of the University of Uppsala, initiated in 1962 and, during its first five Swierenga's determination of the level of years, funded by the American Council of tax delinquency, his identification of tax buy­ Learned Societies. The project, which now is ers, and his computation of the rate of return terminating, represents the most ambitious on investments in tax liens are distinct con­ research on emigration conducted in Sweden. tributions to our understanding of frontier It has involved students at different levels, land history. Nevertheless, this reader remains doctoral candidates, and established scholars, unconvinced that he has proved his main and has been supervised by Professor Sten thesis, namely, that the auction mechanism Carlsson. Their work reflects both a general functioned primarily as a credit device gen­ growth of interest in Europe in the migration erating working capital for ambitious farmers. story and a shift in emphasis from the receiv­ Central to this thesis is evidence that the de­ ing to the delivering countries. linquent owners actually were the more pros­ Swedish source materials, with reliable sta­ perous members of the farm community— tistics from the middle of the nineteenth cen­ those who, for the most part, could have paid tury, extensive archival collections and of­ their taxes but who chose instead to capitalize ficial records, and the pioneer contributions them. The data Swierenga developed to of the statistician Gustav Sundbarg—making demonstrate this, however, are suspect at best, it possible to test a number of concepts and since in comparing measures of affluence theories about mass movements of people- (farm size and value, investment in livestock have attracted the attention of foreign as and machinery, value of production) between well as Swedish scholars. Swedish migration delinquent owners and "other farmers," he research, as the present volume attests, has a apparently failed to purge farm tenants from distinct, although not exclusive, quantitative the non-delinquent group. The indications orientation and employs techniques that re­ are that the proportion of tenant farmers in veal an indebtedness to the methodology of Iowa was substantial in the decades under American social scientists. study (see this reviewer's Tenure, Nativity Sune Akerman, in an excellent introduc­ and Age as Factors in Iowa Agriculture, 1850- tory essay, reviews migration research as an in­ 1880 [Ames, 1975]). Since the tenants oper­ terdisciplinary field, discusses the principal ated smaller farms and had smaller invest­ theoretical models, their testing, and the col­ ments in livestock and machinery, their pres­ lecting and evaluating of empirical data. The ence in the lists would obviously lower the remaining articles follow naturally—a connect­ values of these measurements for the group. ing thought and central thesis of the book In brief, Swierenga should have compared de­ being the self-generative effect of migration. linquent owners with non-delinquent owners This thesis is isolated from other factors with —not with all other farmers. Thus, we can­ the use of a multivariable analysis which ex­ not accept his interpretation of tax auctions plains local differences and changes over time as credit-generating mpchanisms for prosper­ in intensity, in demographic composition, and

74 BOOK REVIEWS in the direction of the migration to some ur­ more traditional and humanistically inclined ban area in Sweden or to America. From 1851 historian of emigration. to 1930 more than a million Swedes moved to the New World. In a penetrating examination ODD S. LOVOLL of a neglected aspect of migration, Lars-Goran St. Olaf College Tedebrand shows that between 1875 and 1930 remigration from the United States to Sweden totalled 18.2 per cent of emigration, that it The Irish Diaspora in America. By LAWRENCE was mainly a male phenomenon, and that a J. MCCAFFREY. (Indiana University Press, large percentage of the returning emigrants Bloomington, 1976. Pp. x, 214. Notes, bibli­ settled in their old home districts—diverging ography, index. $8.50.) substantially on several points from the char­ acter of the much larger remigration of emi­ grants from southern and southeastern Europe. To survey Irish history from the English Conquest and Protestant Ascendancy (1169) Another overlooked area, the effect on mi­ to the present, from Irish emigration of the gration of official emigration policy, is stu­ 1820's into the United States, through urban died by Ann-Sofie Kalvemark. Surprisingly, ghetto existence into the suburban melting she concludes that military conscription laws pot, all within the span of 178 pages, is a for­ had no measurable influence on the inclina­ midable task. But when one has a thesis to tion to emigrate. Furthermore, Berit Brattne, present: "that the Irish of the American in co-operation with Akerman, examines the Diaspora remain part of the totality of Irish activities of the Larsson Brothers Agency from history"; and a concern to express: "the 1873 to 1914, and finds that emigrant agents neglect of Irish-American ethnic studies is a had only marginal importance in regard to conscious act by a portion of the academic migration flow, as information about America community," one has no choice but to present already was a reality. Hans Norman's treat­ the background which is essential to under­ ment of Swedes in America is most interest­ standing who these ethnics have become in ing in its analysis of a high birth rate among their adopted country. immigrant women. A shortage of women in Swedish-American settlements had, according This Lawrence does in a readable, flowing to Norman, no effect on the marriage frequen­ style. However, this necessitates taking the cy of men, although the sex imbalance pro­ risk of making generalizations and interpre­ duced a very high frequency of marriage tations which other authorities may question. among women, and a lower age for women at McCaffrey not only takes this risk but also first marriage—factors that explain a high re­ bolsters his thesis with some well-substantiated productive capacity. evidence through ample footnotes and an annotated bibliography. These are a valuable Using quantitative methods, the researchers contribution to the study of the Irish and have confirmed many traditional beliefs, chal­ Irish-Americans, as well as sources for a bal­ lenged some cherished views, and directly dis­ anced interpretation of the facts. proved a number of generally accepted no­ McCaffrey enables the reader to follow tions concerning emigration. The book will and to understand the problems and develop­ most certainly force students of emigration to ment of the Catholic Irish-Americans from reconsider assumptions that in light of a more their urban ghettos into the suburbs and to sophisticated analysis now appear simplistic or relate their experiences to the developments erroneous. Still, the limitations of this kind of their Catholic Irish relatives in the home­ of research are obvious, confined as it is to land. subjects that can be counted and measured, The cultural background of the Catholic which, when sufficient statistical data are lack­ Irish-American with its British-Irish animos­ ing, frustrates all effort. The authors recog­ ity found a close counterpart in the Protestant nize these problems, and point to a reconcilia­ Anglo-American oppression of the Catholic tion of their techniques with a socio-psycho- Irish-American in the United States. Many logical approach for a more productive syn­ of the Irish-Americans became even more pro- thesis. As it is, the human dimension, the in­ Irish and anti-English than those who re­ dividual man and woman, all but disappears mained at home. Irish movements of the in the elaborate discussion of source materials nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to and methodology, and in numerous tables, dia­ obtain freedom from British oppression were grams and graphs—a fact that will sadden the sometimes given a particular character by

75 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Irish-American participation. But as the Cath­ River, First Street, Highway 1-94, and Scott olic Irish-American has moved from the ur­ Street on the South Side of Milwaukee. Named ban ghetto into the suburbs, McCaffrey asks after George Walker, a fur trader and land the question whether this has been a trip from speculator who arrived in Milwaukee in 1834, someplace to no place. Have the Irish-Ameri­ Walker's Point was the last of three settle­ cans lost their ethnic identity? ments which would later form the city of The author comments on the apathy of the Milwaukee. majority of Irish-Americans toward the Catho­ The earliest residents of Walker's Point lics in North Ireland today. He maintains were New England Yankees, Germans, and that the Irish-Americans fail to see that the Scandinavians in the 1840's. Much of the religious issue is a symbol of cultural and na­ architecture in the area dates back to this tional identities, that Protestant equals Bri­ period. By the late nineteenth century, these tish while Catholic means Irish, and that this first residents had migrated to newer housing conflict between cultures is the essence of around the city and were replaced largely by the Irish historical process. He sees this ig­ a new wave of European immigrants which norance as unfortunate because a greater included Irishmen, Bohemians, Slovenians, awareness could be the impetus for Irish- Poles, and other Germans. American pressure on the British and United During the early 1920's, the first members States governments to defend Catholic civil of the Latino community arrived in significant rights in Northern Ireland. numbers from Mexico to work in local tan­ This may be true, but perhaps McCaffrey neries. Following the end of World War II, needs to take into account that United States and with the advent of air transportation, the citizens with the recent experience of Viet­ first Puerto Ricans arrived in Milwaukee. Al­ nam are weary of violence and the politics though the bulk of the Puerto Rican immigra­ of intervention. Not only affluence, but the tion concentrated in other areas of the city, distance of time and the lessening of close enough Puerto Ricans moved to the South Side blood relationships make the desire to in­ to form, with the Mexicans, the nucleus of tervene more remote. a recognizable Hispanic community. Today, This reviewer would like to propose that the area within the boundaries of Walker's in today's era of technological development, Point boasts approximately 620 households, of the reality of rapid societal change is an im­ which more than 320 are Hispanic. portant cause of rootlessness and loss of a Historic Walker's Point vividly captures the sense of ethnicity. This makes it all the more dynamics of an ever-changing, multi-ethnic important for Irish-Americans and other eth­ neighborhood. Using drawings done by chil­ nic groups to research their origins again. The dren, this small volume contains a selection differences may well defy the melting-pot of the well-known historical architectural fea­ theory. tures of Walker's Point. Now that the Irish-Americans have "ar­ It is more than appropriate that the book is rived" they are in possession of the means to also written in Spanish. Today the bulk of the return to their roots. They have the educa­ South Side community is Hispanic. But, at tion and the leisure to do the necessary re­ times, the use of Spanish in the book is forced, search. Maybe this volume will provide them due to rough and occasionally literal transla­ the motivation. tion from the English text, and there are many misspelled and unaccented words. SISTER GRACE MCDONALD The introduction could have told more Viterbo College about the various ethnic groups who have lived in Walker's Point. Also important enough to be included in the introduction is the fact that, currently, the major portion of Historic Walker's Point: Guia para los nihos the families living in the area is from the hecha por los nifios; A Guide for Children by lower-income sector of society. In spite of Children; in English y espahol. (Historic urban renewal, many buildings in the area Walker's Point, Milwaukee, 1975. Pp. 34. In­ have remained intact. dex. $1.95.) The book is a mixture of the old and the new. While it brings back a touch of Historic Walker's Point is a seven-square- nostalgia, by including the Railroad Union block area located between the Menomonee Depot, which was torn down long ago, and 76 BOOK REVIEWS

WHi (X3) 21155 Downtown Milwaukee, photographed by J. Robert Taylor about 1905. by picturing several old structures still in use— Although Historic Walker's Point guide has Vieau School, Bruce Guadalupe-Holy Trin­ several flaws, it should not be discarded. Too ity Church—it also includes modern features little has been written about the South Side such as the familiar four-faced Allen-Bradley Latino community. While it was not the edi­ clock tower. But many of the buildings pic­ tors' intention to portray this section of Mil­ tured are unidentifiable unless one turns to waukee's ethnic society, the book does capture the index, which gives the street address of the heart of the neighborhood, which has each structure. acquired a Hispanic flavor. Thus, indeed, the 77 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 book serves as a useful community handbook nally imprisonment. The result, according from which Latinos and other ethnic groups to the traditional interpretation, was emigra­ will benefit. tion in order to realize religious freedom. Lieselotte Clemens' book is an ambitious CRISTOBAL S. BERRY-CABAN attempt to examine the motivation of these Milwaukee two bands of migrants, and it succeeds to a certain extent. Capturing the thought proc­ esses of almost 2,900 persons, however, after a lapse of 135 years, proves a most elusive catch. The author attempted to reconstruct Old Lutheran Emigration from Pomerania to their collective consciousness via official gov­ the U.S.A.: History and Motivation, 1839- ernment reports, church documents, a smat­ 1843. By LIESELOTTE CLEMENS. Translated tering of immigrant letters, and the com­ into English by James Laming. (Pomeranian ments and memoirs of Lutheran pastors who Society, Hamburg, and Pomeranian Founda­ supported and led the movement. This of tion, Kiel, Federal Republic of Germany, 1976. course assumes that these few individuals were Pp. 113. Illustrations, notes, bibliography. fair representatives of several thousand fol­ $10.95.) lowers who undertook the migration: an as­ sumption that does not entirely hold up As suggested by its title, Lieselotte Cle­ against evidence cited in the book. It remains mens' modest-length volume attempts to de­ unclear whether these immigrants understood fine the primary causes behind two Prussian the religious subtleties involving doctrinal dif­ migrations of the early nineteenth century. ferences between Lutheran and Calvinist be­ In 1839 and 1843 two bands of Prussian emi­ liefs. When persons who applied for permis­ grants set out in flotillas of six and nine ships, sion to emigrate appeared before a theological respectively, to seek a better life in new sur­ examining board they were unable to answer roundings. These two early pilgrimages to the questions posed, and replied, in effect, Wisconsin were the forerunners of massive that their ministers had spoken out against Germanic immigration to that state, until by the Union church and that that was good 1860 German-speaking persons formed the enough for them. Identification of the emi­ largest segment of its foreign-born population. gration as "Old Lutheran" in itself suggests Though Germanic migration crested in three religious motives, but when one considers that waves during the nineteenth century, it tend­ 98 per cent of all Protestant parishes in Prus­ ed to be a personal movement of a family or sia were Lutheran, the significance of this two, as opposed to organized colonies plan­ designation becomes unclear. After all, what ning, financing, traveling, and ultimately set­ prompted fewer than 3,000 persons to migrate, tling together. These two Prussian migra­ out of a Lutheran population in excess of tions, comprised primarily of Pomeranians, 500,000 souls? Brandenburgers, and Saxons collectively iden­ It is difficult to evaluate other motives for tified as the Old Lutheran migrations, formed emigration mentioned in this book, such as the largest and therefore perhaps most signifi­ cant colonial ventures to Wisconsin. economic or social betterment, as the author did not include demographic and other back­ Briefly, the Old Lutheran movement and ground material on the emigrants. They are subsequent emigration have traditionally been dealt with only in a general discussion of characterized as religious in nature. King Pomeranian peasantry, though it is not firm­ Friedrich Wilhelm III, as part of a general re­ ly established whether they actually fit the form program following the Napoleonic Wars, general patterns suggested. An assertion that desired that a single state church liturgy be no landowners were included in the Old Luth­ adopted to bring the two largest Protestant sects in Prussia together: the Lutherans and eran migration is directly contradicted by sev­ the Calvinists. The Union church initially eral American writers. William F. Whyte, met with widespread approval, but basic doc­ writing in 1915, described the Pomeranians as trinal differences soon alienated the more small farmers and freeholders who financed conservative Lutheran element. As Lutheran their passage and purchase of Wisconsin farm­ resistance mounted, so also did governmental lands with money received in selling their pressure to conform, including stripping dis­ European farms. James S. Btick's History of senting clergymen of their official duties and Milwaukee described their arrival in 1839 as functions, confiscation of property, and fi­ "electric," their purses of gold and silver coin 78 BOOK REVIEWS bringing new life into that village's stagnant human nature even before considering such economy following the panic and severe de­ a detailed chronicle of events. The most val­ pression of 1837. Clemens tends to romanti­ uable source for understanding the social situa­ cize these immigrants into penniless laborers tion of these emigrants—detailed demographic bent under the weight of religious oppression, studies—remains untapped, and any compre­ when admittedly sketchy evidence suggests hensive understanding of their motivation that they were better off or at least different therefore remains a mystery. than most of their countrymen. They per­ haps felt the pangs of unrealized or even de­ MARK H. KNIPPING clining socio-economic expectations, or per­ State Historical Society of Wisconsin haps only said they were leaving for religious reasons as a face-saving device against govern­ mental and religious anti-emigration pressure as a sinful, worldly move. More attention fo­ Florimond J. Bonduel: Missionary to Wis­ cused on the immigrant population rather consin Territory. By MALCOLM ROSHOLT and than the ideology of their few leaders and JOHN BRITTEN GEHL. (Rosholt House, Rosh­ spokespersons might have revealed a much dif­ olt, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 238. Illustrations, ferent economic and social profile than that notes, bibliography, maps, index. $10.00.) suggested on the basis of general peasant ten­ dencies. Before his death in 1861, Florimond Bon­ One basic limitation of this book for Ameri­ duel, a Belgian-born Catholic priest, spent a can readers is that it was intended and writ­ quarter-century of his life working among the ten as a thesis for an advanced university Indians and white settlers of Wisconsin. As a degree in Germany. It is not popular history, missionary to the Menominee, he not only nor does it include the American side of the became involved in that tribe's religious and story. The tone of the writing is ponderous educational affairs, but also actively partici­ and scholarly, hardly suitable for entertain­ pated in their dealings with the federal gov­ ment or light reading unless one is caught up ernment. Although he was only a minor fig­ in the fine points of religious dogma. But ure in Wisconsin history, the story of his full American readers may be even more disap­ and varied career could have been used to pointed to find that the history and motivation illustrate the problems of acculturation that ends abruptly with the granting of permis­ faced Indian missionaries and the immigrant sion to emigrate, and reveals nothing of the clergy. Rather than viewing Bonduel's life perils of the Atlantic crossing, settlement in from this broader perspective, Malcolm Wisconsin, or life on that state's frontier. The Rosholt and John Britten Gehl merely chron­ reader must struggle through seemingly end­ icle his activities. Even this less ambitious less religious hairsplitting, ministerial power project falls far short of what it might have plays, and governmental obstructionism, only been. to find himself stranded in the harbor at Ham­ burg with a vague, undefined group of fellow The authors have done a thorough job in travelers. researching their subject. They examined traditional sources, such as Bonduel's corre­ The greatest value of the book is its inclu­ spondence, and also uncovered anecdotes about sion of otherwise unavailable sources for the missionary priest based on oral tradition. American readers, which help in understand­ Scholars will appreciate the thirty-one-page ing the intensity of feeling surrounding the appendix which contains English translations Old Lutheran controversy. Excerpts from sev­ of two booklets written by Bonduel that deal eral "America letters," which discuss the wis­ with the Menominee. dom of emigration to America both pro and Unfortunately, Rosholt and Gehl had diffi­ con, afford some insight into the decision-mak­ culties in turning their research into a read­ ing process for those Prussians who read the able narrative. On occasion, they are guilty letters. The basic conclusions are sound of overwriting. For instance, when discussing enough: that the migration was composed of Bonduel's childhood memories of the Battle persons with three basic motivations, includ­ of Waterloo, they do not simply say that he ing purely religious, a combination of reli­ frequently recalled the event. Instead, they gious and socio-economic, and purely socio­ write: "in later years this moment in time economic. However, one might arrive at this often impinged on his consciousness." same conclusion from a basic understanding of Rosholt and Gehl further disrupt their account

79 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977 by frequently using lengthy quotations. In The Journals of Jonathan Carver and Related addition to numerous paragraph-length ex­ Documents, 1776-1770. Edited by JOHN PARK­ cerpts from Bonduel's correspondence, the ER. (Bicentennial Edition, Minnesota His­ book contains one quote that runs for six pages torical Society Press, St. Paul, 1976. Pp. x, as well as another which takes up nearly an 244. Illustrations, notes, appendices, bibliog­ entire chapter. Further plaguing the text is raphy, maps, index. $10.50.) an abundance of trivia which could have been consigned to appendices or the footnotes. One suspects that the authors, being so enthralled This Bicentennial volume of the Minnesota with their subject, were unable to bring them­ Historical Society promises to be more endur­ selves to omit even the most irrelevant scrap ing than many other celebrations of the na­ of information. In one place, two entire para­ tion's birthday. The main part of the book graphs are devoted to the listing of sixty-six consists of an annotated edition of Jonathan obscure petition signers, only two of whom Carver's travels in the Upper Mississippi re­ were ever mentioned again in the text. Else­ gion in the late 1760's, but the book also in­ where, the reader is told that because Bon­ cludes a useful introduction on Carver and his duel "was the first person with a name be­ work, a brief journal by fur trader James ginning with 'A' or 'B' to apply for naturaliza­ Stanley Goddard, various letters relating to tion in Brown county, his name appears on Carver's journey. Carver's "Dakota Diction­ the top of page one in Volume A of the record ary," and a bibliography listing the main edi­ —another first for him!" Other equally ob­ tions of Carver's Travels through the Interior scure bits of trivia are scattered throughout Parts of North America. the book and overshadow the more important Although Carver's Travels achieved popu­ aspects of Bonduel's life. The book's occa­ larity from the time of its first publication sional idiosyncratic paragraphing as well as in London in 1778, its veracity was ques­ errors of spelling, capitalization, and dating tioned in America as early as 1789. Since that further tax the reader's patience. time the work has frequently aroused con­ More serious than the book's stylistic flaws troversy, and at times has been dismissed as are the questions that it fails to raise. Bonduel largely fabrication. In his introduction, John was a man of strong opinions, yet his ideas Parker sketches Carver's life from his birth in Massachusetts to his last years and death about America and the Indians are inade­ in London. The most notable events in his quately developed. Rosholt and Gehl con­ life were his service in the French and Indian clude that Bonduel "had come to love" Ameri­ War and his travels west of Lake Michigan ca, yet as late as 1855, he spoke of his strug­ under the general direction of Robert Rogers. gles on behalf of the Menominee against "the Carver lived modestly and died in poverty. tyranny of the United States government." Parker shows clearly how Carver's original Rather than explaining this seeming contra­ journals became the published Travels diction, the authors ignore it, and Bonduel's through the elaborate editing of a minor thoughts about the New World are left unex­ English author, Alexander Bicknell. It was amined. Rosholt and Gehl discuss Bonduel's Bicknell who caused Carver's whole journey views of the Indians in greater detail, but to be doubted by the manner in which he here, too, they touch only superficially upon added material from earlier writers. Parker the subject and settle for glib generalizations. points out that Bicknell "copied copiously They also neglect to consider whether Bonduel from the pages of Hennepin, Lahontan, and was typical of other missionaries. By com­ Charlevoix, weaving them into material from paring him to other clergymen, the authors Carver's own experience." could have better determined what influences Parker bases his edition of Carver's journals shaped his thoughts and actions. on the four mantiscript versions in the British Museum. He uses the earliest version as his Rosholt and Gehl have obviously gathered basic text, collates it with the other versions, much information about Bonduel. It is un­ and indicates the passages that Carver himself fortunate that the product of their research added to liis original narrative. Carver's long offers so little to either a scholarly or a popular journey from Boston to Detroit, and through audience. modern Wisconsin and Minnesota, is helpfully illuminated in the footnotes (which happily MICHAEL E. STEVENS are placed at the bottom of the page). "The University of Wisconsin-Madison iotirnals have much information on the fur

80 BOOK REVIEWS

trade and on the Indians; Carver lived among brary. It is too brief to add much of value, the Dakota Indians in the winter of 1766- but it supports Carver's main account. 1767. In the second appendix, anthropologist -phis is an extremely useful and attractive Raymond JL DeMallie assesses the value of publication; a credit to the Minnesota His- Carver s Dakota Dictionar-y. Fur trader , • i c • ^ j % UT ^- „ T r.,.r^,,i -^1 T- torical Society and tts publication program. James Stanley Goddard was on the expedition ' ^ r o west of Lake Michigan, and Carolyn Oilman edits his journal from the only known surviv- REGINALD HORSMAN ing manuscript in the McGill University Li- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

BOOK REVIEWS

Balio, United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars, reviewed by Herbert Lasky 67 Clemens, Old Lutheran Emigration from Pomerania to the U.S.A.: History and Motivation, 1839-1843, reviewed by Mark H. Knipping 78 Cochrane and Ryan, American Farm Policy, 1948-1973, reviewed by Frederick H. Schapsmeier 62 Conrad, Perish the Thought: Intellectual Women in Romantic America, 1830-1860, reviewed by Gail Farr Casterline 72 Daland, Furrows of the Land, reviewed by John O. Holzhueter 71 Duis, Chicago: Creating New Traditions, reviewed by Carl W. Condit 69 Grant and Purcell, eds., Years of Struggle: The Farm Diary of Elmer G. Powers, 1931-1936, reviewed by Dale E. Treleven 64 Historic Walker's Point: Guia para los nifios hecha por los nifios; A Guide for Children by Children; in English y espahol, reviewed by Cristobal S. Berry-Caban 76 Horton, ed.. The Character of the Country: The Iowa Diary of James L. Broderick, 1876-1877, reviewed by John O. Holzhueter 71 Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S..4., reviewed by Vern L. Bullough 61 McCaffrey, The Irish Diaspora in America, reviewed by Sister Grace McDonald 75 McNeill, Plagues and Peoples, reviewed by Peter T. Harstad 59 Mosley, Lindbergh: A Biography, reviewed by Justus F. Paul 68 Nelson, Heart Mountain: The History of an American Concentration Camp, reviewed by Joseph R. Conlin 63 Neuenschwander, ed., Kenosha County in the 20th Century, reviewed by Richard C. Haney 70 Parker, ed.. The Journals of Jonathan Carver and Related Documents, 1766- 1770, reviewed by Reginald Horsman 80 Rosholt and Gehl, Florimond J. Bonduel: Missionary to Wisconsin Territory, reviewed by Michael E. Stevens 79 Runblom and Norman, eds.. From Sweden to America: A History of the Migration, reviewed by Odd S. Lovoll 74 Smith and Kvasnicka, eds., Indian-White Relations: A Persistent Paradox, reviewed by Vine Deloria, Jr 60 Swierenga, Acres for Cents: Delinquent Tax Auctions in Frontier Iowa, reviewed by Seddie Cogswell, Jr 73 Tuska, The Filming of the West, reviewed by John G. Cawelti 65 Williams, America Confronts a Revolutionary World: 1776-1976, reviewed by Burton I. Kaufman 61 Zochert, Laura: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, reviewed by Doris H. Platt 71

81 Belisle, Cora. Index to Marriage Record, 1866- Wisconsin History 1940, St. Anne, Somerset, Wis. (Minneapo- Hs, Minnesota, 1976. Pp. 75. No price hst- Checklist ed. Available from the author, 5604 Upton Recently published and currently avail­ Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minnesota.) able Wisconsiana added to the Society's Libra­ ry are listed below. The compilers, Gerald R. Belmont Area History 1826-1976. (Belmont?, Eggleston, Acquisitions Librarian, and Su­ Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. vii, 87. Illus. $5.00. san Dorst, Order Librarian, are interested in Available from Raymond R. Boom, Bel­ obtaining information about (or copies of) mont, Wisconsin 53510.) items that are not widely advertised, such as publications of local historical societies, family histories and genealogies, privately printed Benisch, Norma. Who's Whose?: The Weisen- works, and histories of churches, institutions, sel Descendants Indexed. (Madison, Wis­ or organizations. Authors and publishers wish­ consin, 1976. Pp. [45]. No price listed. ing to reach a wider audience and also to Available from the author, 622 Mayfair Ave­ perform a valuable bibliographic service are nue, Madison, Wisconsin 53714.) urged to inform the compilers of their pub­ lications, including the following information: author, title, location and name of publisher, Berlin Bicentennial Committee. Berlin's price, pagination, and address of supplier. Memories in 1976. (Wausau, Wisconsin, Write Susan Dorst, Acquisitions Section. Roto-Graphic Co., 1976. Pp. 80. Illus. $4.00. Available from Du Wayne Zamzow, Berlin Town Clerk, Route 1, Box 177, Mer­ Addison, 1846-1976: A Historical Presenta­ rill, Wisconsin 54452.) tion in the Bicentennial Year. (Hartford, Wisconsin, Hartford Booster, 1976. Pp. 104. Bicentennial History of the Hamilton High Illus. $3.25. Available from Mrs. W. E. School District, 1837-1976. (Milwaukee?, Melberg, Chairman of the Bicentennial Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 21. Illus. No price Committee, Box 134, Allenton, Wisconsin listed. Available from Robert Roesler, Ham­ 53002.) ilton High School, 6125 West Warimont Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202.) Anderson, Daniel B. Cadott, Wisconsin News­ papers, 1881-1914. (Mahnomen, Minneso­ ta, 1976. Pp. 25. No price listed. Available Black River Falls, Wis. Public Library. Black from the author. General Delivery, Mahno­ River Falls Public Library 1872-1976. men, Minnesota 56557.) A history of Cadott (Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. newspapers written as a senior paper at the 13. No charge. Available from Black River University of Minnesota—Duluth. Falls Public Library, 321 Main Street, Black River Falls, Wisconsin 54615.) Annual Directory of Sparta, Wisconsin, 1897. (Sparta, Wisconsin, 1976?. Pp. 15. Illus. Bradford History 1976. (Clinton?, Wisconsin, $1.90. Available from Monroe County His­ 19'76. Pp. 136. Illus. No price hsted. Avail­ torical Society, Inc., P. O. Box 422, Sparta, able from Mrs. Ted Rye, Route 2, Clinton, Wisconsin 54656.) Reprint of the 1897 edi­ Wisconsin 53525.) tion.

Badciong, Bernice. Schley. (Waukesha, Wis­ Burkholder, Mary Beth, and Dahlby, Susan consin, Picturelogue, Inc., 1976. Pp. 155. Mary. "The Willow River" St. Croix Coun­ Illus. No price listed. Available from the ty, Wisconsin. (Hudson, Wisconsin, 1976. author, 630 North Hine Avenue, Waukesha, Pp. 37. Illus. $1.25 plus $ .21 postage. Avail­ Wisconsin 53186.) Genealogical study of able from Hudson Star-Observer, 112 Wal­ the Schley family. nut Street, Hudson, Wisconsin 54016.) Re­ print of the 1963 pamphlet of life along a Bakken, Henry H. The Hills of Home—A tributary of the St. Croix River. Family History. (Madison, Wisconsin, Mi- mir Publishers, Inc., 1976. Pp. xii, 399. Burnett County Homemakers Club. Pioneer Illus. $11.75. Available from the author. Tales of Burnett County. (Danbury, Wis­ Box 5011, Madison, Wisconsin 53705.) Gen­ consin, Dan-Web Printing Co., 1976. $3.35. ealogy of the Bakken family, composed pri­ Available from author. Box 27, Webster, marily of family tree charts. Wisconsin 54893.) 82 WISCONSIN HISTORY CHECKLIST

Brey, Lawrence S. St. Thomas Days — Memo­ Remitco Inc., 227 4th Ave., Baraboo, Wis­ ries of My Home Parish. (St. Cloud, Min­ consin 53913.) A recreational, geological, nesota, 1976. Pp. 5. No price listed. Avail­ and heritage map of the Wisconsin Dells able from the author. Route 7, St. Cloud, area. Minnesota 56031.) Reminiscences about St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Milwaukee dur­ Diener, Ronald E. Expectations with Hearts ing the 1930's and early 1940's. if Tangents. (Boston, Massachusetts, 1976. Pp. 48. $2.00. Available from Mr. and Mrs. Carey, Coletta M. Saint Barnabas, the Catholic Ernst Diener, 320 West Sumner Street, Hart­ Church in Mazomanie, Wisconsin. (Mazo- ford, Wisconsin 53027.) Memoir of a Hart­ manie?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 28. Illus. No ford area family. price listed. Available from the author, 415 Brodhead Street, Mazomanie, Wisconsin Eau Claire, Wis. Luther Hospital. Vista: 53560.) Luther, the First 80 Years. (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 27. Illus. No price Carlsen, Clarence Johannes. Filing Eielsen, listed. Available from Luther Hospital, Eau Pioneer Lay Preacher and First Nonuegian Claire, Wisconsin 54701.) Lutheran Pastor in America. (Minneapo­ lis?, Minnesota, 1932. Pp. 198, 9. No price Edmister, Lois Rupert. The Adam Rupert listed. Available from Erling N. Carlsen, Family, 1783-1976. (Oregon?, Wisconsin, Pastor, Blair Lutheran Churches, 414 Ur- 1976. Pp. 94. No price listed. Available berg Avenue, Blair, Wisconsin 54616.) from Roy E. Goodman, 4760 Schneider Xerographic copy of a 1932 Master of Arts Drive, Route 1, Oregon, Wisconsin 53575.) thesis concerning a Lutheran minister ac­ tive in nineteenth-century Wisconsin. Elroy, Wis. St. Patrick's Parish. This is My Body: St. Patrick's Parish, 1877. . . . (Elroy, Cedarburg History: Legend and Lore. (Cedar- Wisconsin, 1977. Pp. 52. Illus. $1.00, in­ burg, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 131. Illus. $6.50. cludes postage. Available from St. Patrick's Available from the Cedarburg City Hall, Catholic Church, 110 Spring St., Elroy, Wis­ Washington Street, Cedarburg, Wisconsin consin 53929.) 53012.) Emich, Howard L. Menominee River Mem­ ories: Historical Articles on Twin Cities His­ Corrigan, George A. Calked Boots and Cant tory. (Marinette?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 46. Hooks. (Park Falls, Wisconsin, MacGregor Illus. $5.00. Available from the author. Litho, 1976. Pp. xxiv, 248. Illus. $7.95. Radio Station WMAM, Marinette, Wiscon­ Available from the author, Saxon, Wiscon­ sin 54143.) A history of Marinette and sin 54559.) Autobiography of a lumber­ Menominee. jack in Wisconsin and Michigan. Engberg, Mable Glasman. Bristol Heritage. Darien Bicentennial Committee. History of (Bristol?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 129. Illus. the Darien, Aliens Grove and Fairfield Areas. No price listed. Available from Mrs. Don­ (Darien?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 33, [12]. ald Wienke, Bristol, Wisconsin 53104.) Illus. No price listed. Available from El- friede K. Kaehler, Box 97, Darien, Wiscon­ Falge, Louis. History of Manitowoc County, sin 53114.) Wisconsin, Volume I. (Manitowoc, Wis­ consin, Manitowoc County Genealogical Daughters of the American Revolution, Wis­ Society, 1976. Pp. viii, 468. Illus. $9.95 consin. Appleton Chapter. Genealogical plus $1.45 mailing charge. Available from Records of Members of Appleton, Wiscon­ Manitowoc County Historical Society, 1115 sin DAR, Chapter 5-003-WI. (Appleton, North 18th Street, Manitowoc, Wisconsin Wisconsin, 1976? Pp. 26. No price listed. 54220.) Reprint of the 1912 edition. Available from Mrs. Elden O. Wood, 1813 North Appleton Street, Appleton, Wiscon­ Fitchburg Bicentennial Committee, Fitchburg, sin 54911.) Wis. Fitchburg, a History. (Madison, Wis­ consin, Countryside Publications, 1976. Pp. Dell Highlands "Treasure Land": A Business ii, 220. Illus. $6.00. Available from Town Accommodation Map. (Baraboo, Wiscon­ of Fitchburg, 2377 Fish Hatchery Road, sin, 1976. 1 folder. $ .50. Available from Route 4, Madison, Wisconsin 53711.) 83 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Forrest R. Polk Library. Reference Depart­ The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. ment. A Bibliography of Books on Indians (Marceline, Missouri, Walsworth Publishing of North America: Holdings in the Forrest Company, 1976. Pp. [697]. Illus. $10.00 R. Polk Library. (Oshkosh, Wisconsin, plus $2.00 postage and handling. Available 1975. Pp. 270. No price listed. Available from Waukesha County Historical Society, from Forrest R. Polk Library, University of P.O. Box 833, Waukesha, Wisconsin 53186.) Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Boulevard, A reprint of the 1880 edition done by West­ Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901.) ern Historical Company that omits the sec­ tions dealing with the general history of Gamroth, Clarence J. Historical Album, 100 Wisconsin. Years, Independence, Wisconsin. (Indepen­ dence, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 192. $6.00. Holand, Hjalmar Rued. Coon Valley, an His­ Available from Mike Huberty, State Bank torical Account of the Norwegian Congre­ of Independence, Independence, Wisconsin gations in Coon Valley. (La Crosse, Wiscon­ 54747.) sin, Litho-Graphics, 1976. Pp. 397. lUus. $10.00 plus $ .35 postage. Available from Graber, Laurence Frederick. Mister Alfalfa. T. J. Moilien Store, Coon Valley, Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, Elaine-Madison Cor­ 54623.) Translation and updating of the poration, 1976. Pp. 521, xi. Illus. $8.40. 1928 Norwegian edition. Available from GRA-MAR, P.O. Box 4286, Madison, Wisconsin 53711.) Autobiography Irving Owls Homemakers. Irving, Wisconsin. of a University of Wisconsin agronomist. Gather at the River, a Story of Pioneering Americans. (Black River Falls?, Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Cnesses Israel Congre­ 1976. Pp. 28. Illus. $1.00. Available from gation. Silver Anniversary, Congregation Mrs. Glenn L. Zeilsdorf, R F.D. No. 2, Black Cnesses Israel, Green Bay, Wisconsin. River Falls, Wi-sconsin 54615.) A history (Green Bay?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 116. Illus. of Irving Township. No price listed. Available from Helen Glickman, Cnesses Israel Congregation, 222 It's a Small, Small, Small, Small World! (Mil­ S. Baird, Green Bay, Wisconsin ,M301.) waukee, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 40. $1.00 and $ .50 postage. Available from Milwaukee Green Lake, Wisconsin. Peace Lutheran County Genealogical Society, Inc., 916 East Church. Diamond Jubilee: 75 Years of Lyon Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202.) God's Grace, 1901-1976. (Green Lake?, Alembership list combined with surnames Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 16. Illus. $2.00. Avail­ being researched by members. able from Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Green Lake, Wisconsin 54941.) Janesville Gazette. A Souvenir Collection of 21 Historic Front Pages, 1845-1976. (Janes­ Haney, Richard Carlton. A Concise History ville, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. [28]. Illus. of the Modern Republican Party of Wiscon­ $1.00. Available from the Janesville Ga­ sin 1925-1975. (Madison, Wisconsin, Kra­ zette, One South Parker Drive, Janesville, mer Printing Company, 1976. Pp. vi, 46. Wiscon,sin 53545.) Illus. No price listed. Available from Re­ publican Party of Wisconsin, 303 East Wil­ Johnson, Maxine Moline. Whence These Pil- son Street, P.O. Box 31, Madison, Wiscon­ grim.s? (Pepin, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 71. sin 53701.) Illus. No price listed. Available from the author, Pepin, Wisconsin 54759.) A gen­ A History of Ca.ssville, Wisconsin. (Cass­ ealogy of the August and Olivia Orne ville?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 128. Illus. Moline fainily. $7.50. Available from Mrs. Norma Brown, Cassville Municipal Building, Cassville, Kenosha Senior Citizens Creative Writing Wisconsin 53806.) Class. Those Were the Days. (Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 72. No price listed. History of Hillsboro, Wisconsin. (Hillsboro, Available from Helen P. Bach, Program and Wisconsin, 1976?. Pp. [214]. No price Activity Leader, Kenosha Senior Citizens listed. Available from Evelyn Liska, Bicen­ Center, Kenosha Senior Citizens Council, tennial Chairman, Hillsboro, Wisconsin Inc., 2717 Sixty-Seventh Street, Kenosha, 54634.) Wisconsin 53140.) 84 WISCONSIN HISTORY CHECKLIST

Kenosha Senior Citizens Creative Writing Milwaukee County Historical Society. Guide Class. Today and Yesterday. (Kenosha, to Museums in Milwaukee County. (Mil­ Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 80. No price listed. waukee?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. [28]. Illus. Available from Helen P. Bach, Program and I .60. Available from author, 910 North Activity Leader, Kenosha Senior Citizens Third Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203.) Center, Kenosha Senior Citizens Council, Inc., 2717 Sixty-Seventh Street, Kenosha, Milwaukee. Faith United Church of Christ. Wisconsin 53140.) Two collections of per­ History of Faith United Church of Christ, sonal memoirs written by area residents. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1862 lo 1976. (Mil­ waukee?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 87. Illus. Krueger, Mrs. Harland. Location Map of Win­ No price listed. Available from Faith Uni­ nebago County. (Neenah, Wisconsin, 1975?. ted Church of Christ, 4240 North 78th Pp. [3 -|- map]. Illus. $1.00. Available Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222.) from Mrs. Harland Krueger, 1037 Oak Street, Neenah, Wisconsin 54956). The map Mini-History, Columbia County. (Rio?, Wis­ locates cemeteries in Winnebago County. consin, 1976? Pp. 70. No price listed. Avail­ able from Mrs. Mary Wendt, Route 1, Rio, Loganville, Wisconsin. St. Peter's Lutheran Wisconsin 53960.) Church. Centennial 1876-1976. (Logan­ ville, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 48. Illus. $4.00. Moede, Ila Hill. Pride in Our Past, Faith in Available from David Burmester, Box 53, Our Future: The Story of the Levi Hill Loganville, Wisconsin 54943.) Family. (Shawano?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 99. Illus. No price listed. Available from Luebke, Arthur L. Pioneer Beloit. (Beloit, the author, 1035 South Andrews Street, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 191. Illus. $10.00. Shawano, Wisconsin 54166.) Available from the Beloit Historical Society, Bartlett Memorial Museum, 2149 St. Law­ Money, Don. The Man Who Made Milwau­ rence Ave., Beloit, Wisconsin 53511.) kee Famous, a Salute to Henry Aaron. (Mil­ waukee, Wisconsin, Agape Publishers, Inc., 1976. Pp. 220. nius. $7.95. Available Madison, Wisconsin. Landmarks Commission. from Potter Library Services, Inc., 3108 West A City in the Four Lakes Country, a Preser­ Meinecke Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin vation Handbook for Madison, Wisconsin. 53210.) (Madison, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 32. Illus. No price listed. Available from Landmarks Of Places, of People, of Eras: Cambria, 1844- Commission, City Planning Department, 1976. (Cambria?, Wisconsin, J.W. Jung 210 Monona Avenue, City-County Build­ Seed Co., 1976. Pp. [100]. Illus. No price ing, Room 414, Madison, Wisconsin 53709.) listed. Available from Sarah Jones, P.O. Box 368, Cambria, Wisconsin 53923.) Marini, Miriam. Bibliography of Sauk County Local History. (Baraboo, Wisconsin, 1976. Osseo Area Bicentennial Book. (Osseo, Wis­ Pp. [5], 25. No price listed. Available from consin, 1976? Pp. [46]. Illus. $3.50. Avail­ Sauk County Library, 103 Water Street, able from Barber Electric and Plumbing, Baraboo, Wisconsin 53913.) Osseo, Wi-sconsin 54758.)

Mendl, Blanche, and Mendl, Jerry C Pioneer Palen, Imogene. Fieldstones '76: The Story History of the Township of Ackley. (Deer- of the Founders of the Sisters of Saint Agnes. brook, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 200. $9.50 (Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 163. Illus. plus $ .50 postage and handling. Available No price listed. Available from Sister Imo­ from Jerry C. Mendl, Route 1, Deerbrook, gene Palen, 475 Gillett Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 54425.) Wisconsin 54935.) A history of the order founded in Wisconsin in 1858. Milton Bicentennial Committee. The Bicen­ tennial History of Milton. (Milton, Wis­ Paylin, Jolie, Cutover Country: Jolie's Story. consin, 1977. Pp. 119. $6.00 plus $ .65 pos­ (Ames, Iowa, 1976. Pp. v, 168. Illus. No tage and handling. Available from the Mil­ price listed. Available from The Iowa State ton Historical Society, The Milton House, University Press, Ames, Iowa 50010.) Tale Milton, Wisconsin 53564.) of life in Marinette County in the 1920's.

85 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1977

Prairie, Pines, and People: Winnebago County the author. Box 554, Merton, Wisconsin, in a New Perspective. Edited by James I. 53056.) Metz. (Menasha, Wisconsin, George Banta Company, 1976. Pp. 404. Illus. No price Schreiber, Glenn C. Hudson: 1900-1909, a listed. Available from Oshkosh Daily North­ Rail-River Town. (Hudson, Wisconsin, western, 224 State Street, Oshkosh, Wiscon­ 1976. Pp. 99. Illus. $2.75 plus $ .50 postage. sin 54901.) Available from Star-Observer Publishing Company, 112 Walnut Street, Hudson, Wis­ consin 54016.) Primavera, Shirley Smith, and Smith, June McGonagle. The Descendants of George Serns, Floyd. Serns Family Saga, 39 B.C.—1975: Blandin Smith and John Jacob Bader. Finsland Sogn, Norway to America. (Rock- (Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 42. No ford?, Illinois, 1975?. Pp. 129. Illus. No price listed. Available from Mrs. Shirley price listed. Available from the author, Primavera, 480 Cottage Grove, Green Bay, 2122 Kilburn Avenue, Rockford, Illinois Wisconsin 54304.) 61103.)

Randall State Bank. Madison, Wisconsin. Smith, Samuel E. A History of Markesan. Madison's Heritage: Bicentennial Year (Ripon, Wisconsin, Ripon Commonwealth- Souvenir Album. (Madison, Wisconsin, Press, 1976. Pp. [48]. Illus. $3.00. Avail­ 1976. Pp. [12]. Illus. No price listed. able from the author, Markesan, Wisconsin Available from Randall State Bank, 1825 53946.) Monroe Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53711.) Sparta Up to Date. (Sparta, Wisconsin, 1976?. Pp. 48. Illus. $2.00 plus $ .50 postage and Rock Falls, Wisconsin. St. Joseph's Catholic handling. Available from Monroe County Church. Bicentennial Committee. U.S. Bi­ Historical Society, Inc., Box 422, Sparta, centennial Catholic Celebration, Rock Falls, Wisconsin 54656.) Reprint of the 1899 Wisconsin. (Rock Falls, Wisconsin, 1976. souvenir supplement to the Monroe County Pp. 60. Illus. No price listed. Available Democrat. from St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Rock Falls, Wisconsin 54764.) A history of the Thompson, Marjorie Barnes. The Failure of Catholic Church at Rock Falls. the Bank of Manitowoc, as told by Manito­ woc Newspapers. (Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Schilke, David C Merrill and the Wisconsin 1977. Manitowoc County Historical Socie­ Northwoods: The Lonely Howl of the ty, Occupational Monograph 31, 1977 series. Timberwolf. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Tech- Pp. 12. No price listed. Available from Data Publications, 1976. Pp. 55. Illus. No the Newsletter, 1115 North 18th Street, price listed. Available from Robert J. Bur­ Manitowoc, Wisconsin 54220.) ger, Senior Editor, Tech-Data Publications, 2441 West Capitol Drive, Milwaukee, Wis­ Town of Clyde Bicentennial Committee. consin 53206.) Clyde, in the Valley of Otter Creek. (Avoca, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. [64]. Illus. No price listed. Available from Avis Rott, Town of Schmidt, Ruth. As the Twig is Bent (A Clyde Bicentennial Committee, Box 7B, Bentley Family History) in Two Parts: Avoca, Wisconsin 53506.) 1891; 1975. (Okauchee, Wisconsin, Wis­ consin Graphics Corporation, 1975. Pp. 162. Vande Zande, Harriet. The Vande Zande Illus. No price listed. Available from the Family, 1800-1975: A Genealogical Record author. Box 554, Merton, Wisconsin 53056.) and Brief History. (Waupun, Wisconsin, Reprint of 1891 genealogy by Russel T. 1975. Pp. 80. No price listed. Available Bentley with additional information by the from the author, 431 i/j East Franklin Street, author. Waupun, Wisconsin 53963.)

Schmidt, Ruth. From Roots to Rustling Wagner, Doris Brenengen. McGilvray's Ferry, Leaves on the Babington Family Tree, a History of Caledonia Village and Town­ 1800-1975. (Merton?, Wisconsin, 1976?. Pp. ship, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. (Wi­ 42. Illus. No price listed. Available from nona, Minnesota, St. Mary's College Press, 86 WISCONSIN HISTORY CHECKLIST

1976. Pp. iv, 150. Illus. $5.00. Available chives and Manuscripts in the University from Doris Wagner, Route 2, Galesville, of Wisconsin-Green Bay Area Research Cen­ Wisconsin 54630.) ter. (Madison, Wisconsin, 1976? Pp. 42. No charge. Available from Archives Divi­ Waupaca Heritage Committee. Our Heritage. sion, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, (Waupaca?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 256. Illus. 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.) No price listed. Available from Waupaca County Post, Waupaca, Wisconsin 54981.) Wisconsin. University, Green Bay. Library. A bicentennial history of Waupaca. Belgian American Research Materials. (Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 31. No Wausau Writers Club, Wausau, Wisconsin. price listed. Available from Mrs. Dorothy Rib Mountain Echoes, Volume III. (Ste­ Heinrich, Special Collections, University of vens Point, Wisconsin, Worzalla Publishing Wisconsin-Green Bay, Green Bay, Wiscon­ Company, 1976. Pp. vi, 198. $4.50 plus $ .21 sin 54302.) A bibliography which primarily postage. Available from Helen D. Hering, deals with material relating to the Belgian- 521 Grant Street, Wausau, Wisconsin American settlements in northeastern Wis- 54401.) This anthology is composed of his­ torical articles, as well as poetry and short stories. Wisconsin. University. Wisconsin Heritage Wauzeka, Wis. Public School. Wauzeka. Area Program. The Heritage Areas of St. (Wauzeka?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 20. Illus. Croix County. (Madison, Wisconsin, 1976. No price listed. Available from Wauzeka Pp. 97. Illus. No price listed. Available Public Schools, Wauzeka, Wisconsin 53826.) from the Wisconsin Heritage Areas Pro­ History of the villages of Wauzeka, Steuben, gram Department of Landscape Architec­ Bridgeport, and the areas of Boydtown and ture-Extension, University of 'Wisconsin, 25 Gran Grae written by the eighth-grade class Agricultural Hall, Madison, Wisconsin of the Wauzeka Public School. 53706.) A study of the county's historical and natural resources. Wendt, Mary Bredeson. Leeds Township and Area History. (Rio, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. Wolfmeyer, Ann, and Gage, Mary Burns. Lake [51]. $ .75. Available from Mrs. Richard Geneva, Newport of the West 1870-1920, Wendt, Route 1, Rio, Wisconsin 53960.) Volume 1. (Lake Geneva?, Wisconsin, 1976. Pp. 214. Illus. No price listed. Available Winnebago Indian Mission Church, Wiscon­ from Lake Geneva Historical Society, P.O. sin. Winnebago United Church of Christ, Box 68, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147.) 1974. (Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 1974. Pp. 24. Illus. Available from the Winneba­ Wyman, Walker D. The Frosting on the Cake: go United Church of Christ. Winnebago History of the University of Wisconsin-Riv­ Indian Mission, Rte. 4, Black River Falls, er Falls Foundation, 1948-1976. (River Wisconsin 54615.) Falls, Wisconsin, 1977. Pp. 87. Illus. $4.20. Available from the University of Wiscon­ Wisconsin. State Historical Society. Area sin-River Falls Press, River Falls, Wiscon­ Research Center, Green Bay. Guide to Ar­ sin 54022.)

87 Ann Arbor. He is a specialist in American Contributors literature, and has written books on Ernest Hemingway and the Sacco-Vanzetti case as well as on the Mormon prophet James Jesse Strang. He has served two terms on the Ann Arbor city council and twice has been a Ful­ bright lecturer on American literature in Europe. His interest in Strang stems from his having a summer place on Beaver Island, and he reports that the high point of his research for the article in this issue was reading through the records of Strang's 1851 trial for mail rob­ bery, trespass, and treason.

RICHARD W. Cox, associate professor of art history in Louisiana State University at Baton HERBERT F. MARGULIES is professor of history Rouge, holds a joint doctorate from the Uni­ in the University of Hawaii, where he has versity of Wisconsin in history and art history. taught since 1959. In recent years he has fo­ His dissertation (1973), supervised by Profes­ cused his interest in the progressive move­ sors Stanley Katz and James Watrous, dealt ment on Irvine L. Lenroot, and later this year with the American artist as social critic in the the University of Missouri Press will publish period 1918-1933; his article on Art Young his full-scale biography of the Superior politi­ is a revised and expanded version of his grad­ cian. For a photograph and further bio­ uate research. A native of California, Cox graphical details, see the Spring, 1976, issue earned his bachelor's degree and a master's of the Wisconsin Magazine of History. degree in history at the University of Califor­ nia at Los Angeles before coming to Madison. He has published articles in Minnesota His­ tory and the New-York Historical Society The annual PROCEEDINGS of the State Histori­ Quarterly. cal Society of Wisconsin, which for many years were published in the Autumn issue of the Magazine, will, as they did last year, appear in the Winter issue in somewhat condensed form.

ROBERT P. WEEKS is professor of English in the Humanities Department of the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan at m 'T:-:^

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* I \ The charm of Wisconsin 'a'r.iii TW'M.e*' ft.ilt scenes and people \ portrayed U'»1 in the state's only -*- weekly appointment book. This year featuring thirteen historical pictures from the Society's t ollet tions','^ MI twenty-eight full-color and • twenty-seven black and white •\. -y 1 contemporary photographs. •3'i.,

For gifts plus tax \i THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY SHALL promote a wider appreciation of the American heritage with particular emphasis on the collection, advancement and dissemination of knowledge of the history of Wisconsin and of the West.

—Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 44

State Historical Society of Wisconsin Second-class postage paid at 816 State Street Madison, Wisconsin, and at Madison, Wisconsin 53706 additional mailing offices. Return Requested