Americans and Their St. Paul's Past Growing up on the East Side

RAMSEY COUNTY

Whistles, Crowds, Free Silver Election Night - 1896 A Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society Page 13

Volume 27, Number 3

- g lexican- Americans and their

St. Paul’s Past Page 4

Growing Up on The East Side

Mexican women attending a class in English presented by the St. Paul WPA’s adult Page 22 education department—April 23, 1936. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director Priscilla Famham E ditor Virginia Brainard Kunz

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS William S. Fallon Chairman o f the Board CONTENTS Joanne Englund P resident 3 Letters John M . Lindley First Vice President 4 The Mexican-Americans and Their Roots in St. Paul’s Past Anne Cowie Wilson Jane McClure Second Vice President Robert O. Straughn 13 Whistles, Crowds and Free Silver—The Election of 1896 Secretary Thomas C. Buckley James Russell Treasurer 18 Postcards: A Full-blown Love Affair Thomas Boyd, Joan Grzywinski, Lorraine Robert J. Stumm Hammerly, John Harens, Liz Johnson, Don Larson, Judge Margaret M. Marrinan, 22 Growing Up in St. Paul: Polish Sausage and Dr. Thomas B. Mega, Laurie Murphy, Trips by Streetcar Richard T. Murphy, Sr., Eileen Roberts, DeAnne M. Cherry Darrell Rooney, Mark Stein, Richard A. Wilhoit and Laurie Zenner. 24 A Matter of Time: St. Peter Claver Church EDITORIAL BOARD And Its 100th Anniversary John M. Lindley, chairman; Thomas H. Boyd, Thomas C. Buckley, Charlton Dietz, 26 Books, Etc. Thomas J. Kelley, Arthur McWatt, Laurie M. Murphy, Dr. Thomas B. Mega. 27 What’s Historic About This Site? St. Casimir’s Church on the East Side RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Hal Norgard, chairman Commissioner Diane Ahrens Publication of Ramsey County History is supported Commissioner John Finley in part by a gift from Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen Commissioner Ruby Hunt in memory of Henry H. Cowie, Jr., by a contribution Commissioner Duane McCarty Commissioner Don Salverda from Reuel D. Harmon and by grants from The Saint Paul Commissioner Warren Schaber and F. R. Bigelow Foundations. Terry Schütten, executive director, Ramsey County. Ramsey County History is published quarterly by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 A Message from the Editorial Board Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Paul, Minn. 55102. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright, 1992, Ramsey County Historical Society. ISSN his issue of Ramsey County History matches in diversity the varie­ Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise Tgated fall colors we now see all around us. Jane McClure writes reproduced without written permission from the publisher. in fascinating detail about the history of our Mexican American neigh­ bors on the West Side of St. Paul. Tom Buckley reminds us that the Ramsey County History is sent free of charge to members of the Ramsey County Historical presidential election of 1896, matching Republican McKinley with Society. Individual copies may be purchased in Democrat Bryan, involved in its day as much hoopla, politics and sus­ the Society’s office. For information on how to become a member, please see the membership pense as the election of 1992 appears to have so far. insert. Two of our regular features—Growing Up in St. Paul and the Acknowledgements: The photographs on the Historic Site essay-highlight the colorful East Side neighborhood. front cover and on pages 4, 5, 7, 8, 16 and 24 are from the audio-visual and newspaper And finally we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of St. collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. Peter Claver Catholic Church and its century of service to St. Paul’s The photographs on page 11 are from Thomasa Castillo. The photograph on page 15 is courtesy African American community in A Matter of Time for 1892. The of the Canal Park Marine Museum, Duluth, Editorial Board hopes you will enjoy the richness of Ramsey County’s Minnesota. The postcards reproduced on pages 18-21 and the back cover are from the author’s history found in this issue. collection. The snapshots on pages 22-23 are from the author and the photograph on page 27 is from the Ramsey County Historical Society. —John M. Lindley, chairman, Editorial Board

2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Whistles, Crowds and Free Silver St. Paul’s Noisy Election Night in 1896

Thomas C. Buckley

s we move toward the close of the the Civil War. Above downtown, in his etc. Their principal difference was over the twentieth century in this presi­ Summit Avenue mansion, disgruntled tariff, with Democrats seeking reduction dential election year, much is be­ Democrat and railroader James J. Hill and Republicans supporting protection, as Aing said about the absence of clear planswaited to to hear the outcome of the election. they had done for years. As a result, cam­ rebuild the economy, lack of feeling for Though for him and thousands of others in paigns since Reconstruction had highlight­ the unfortunate, the need to maintain tradi­ Ramsey County, it wasn’t necessary to join ed such issues as the Civil War military tional values, dangerous plans to enlarge the crowd downtown. It was possible to service of the candidates, their lack of pub­ governmental power, and the failure to get know the trend of the election by listening lic or private rectitude, or the degree to decisive action out of our national leaders. for the blasts of a mighty steam whistle. which the Democratic or Republican Par­ There has been a call for the candidates of ties were pro- or anti-British. Since both both parties to focus on the two or three vi­ major parties were supportive of business tal issues, and present the American voters In downtown St. Paul, expansion, business leaders contributed with better programs to lead the nation into citizens by the thousands generously to the campaign funds of both, the new century. and that policy continued into the election As we closed out the nineteenth cen­ assembled in the public of 1892. Then as now, not all businessmen tury, many similar concerns were voiced. places and around the news­ were Republicans, but an ominous aspect In 1896, ninety-six years ago, the country paper offices to await the of the 1892 election eventually tipped the was in a depression and an election was business community from Minnesota to held which provided the public with a clear election returns in a contest Maryland decidedly toward the Republi­ choice between presidential candidates compared in significance to cans. with quite different positions on the vital that which preceded the In 1892, a former Civil War general, issues. Advocates of sound money based James Weaver, was the candidate of the on gold, a protective tariff to safeguard Civil War. new People’s Party of America. The Peo­ American products and limited govern­ ple’s Party was better known as the ment regulation of the economy supported Populists, and Weaver received a total of the reliable Republican candidate, Wil­ The whistle was from the forward stack of 1,027,329 votes for the presidency. In liam McKinley. Those who favored more the large Great Lakes passenger liner, those days it was very impressive for any substantial regulation of business, tariff North West. Although the big ship had third party candidate, let alone the candi­ reduction and the unlimited coinage of sil­ been laid up for the winter in Duluth, the date of a new third party, to receive more ver as the way to raise wages and prices whistle, with a fifteen-mile range, was than a million votes. The preamble to the rallied around the charismatic candidate of mounted in downtown St. Paul to an­ new party’s 1892 platform was written by the Democrats, the Populists and the Silver nounce the returns on perhaps St. Paul’s Minnesota’s perennial reform candidate, Republicans, William Jennings Bryan. noisiest election night. Ignatius Donnelly, and attacked the sham With a smaller electorate, politics was How Hill, a long-time Democrat and battles of the major political parties which taken more seriously in those days, but supporter of President Grover Cleveland, failed to address the real needs of a “plun­ particularly in 1896. With the Bryan can­ and how the whistle off the North West dered people.” didacy, the Northeastern Establishment came to contribute to the evening’s cele­ The platform which followed included had not felt as threatened since 1800 when bration of the McKinley victory provides opposition to subsidies, or national aid, to Jefferson was elected to the presidency. a glimpse on the local level of some of the private corporations, which was probably Election night, November 3, 1896, was things that occurred on a national scale not all that alarming to Mr. Hill. Unlike his one of great apprehension in St. Paul and during that colorful campaign. predecessors in the transcontinental rail­ around the country. In the period following the Civil War, road business, he was in the process of In downtown St. Paul, citizens by the the transition of the country to a major in­ completing the Great Northern railway thousands assembled in the public places dustrial society and a national market without federal land grants. However, he and around the newspaper offices to await economy found the two parties very simi­ could not support Populist proposals to re­ the election returns in a contest compared lar in their views toward business, eco­ strict immigration, since he was actively in significance to the one which preceded nomic growth, the role of government, engaged in bringing such people to the

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 13 northwest to settle and use the railroad. enhancement of the regulatory powers of the New York financiers. Hill was a well- Furthermore, he had contempt for their the government was a way to reform the known figure on Wall Street and took Han­ proposal that prosperity could be built by economy. They included features in the na around from office to office over the inflating the monetary system with the free platform similar to those of the Populist next five days. They collected all the mon­ and unlimited coinage of silver dollars, Party, and they nominated William Jen­ ey necessary for the immediate campaign and he was definitely opposed to their plat­ nings Bryan as their candidate. needs, and thereafter Hanna didn’t need form declaration that the government own Among the planks of the platform that any help gaining an entree to America’s and operate the railroads.1 However, Hill aroused Hill were those for the enlarge­ leading financiers.3 The McKinley cam­ could take some comfort from the fact that ment of the powers of the Interstate Com­ paign was to be one of the best financed in Weaver only got 22 electoral votes, but merce Commission, and the free and un­ American history. third party candidates seldom got any. limited coinage of silver. Hill had support­ Beyond introducing Hanna around Hill’s candidate, Democratic President ed the repeal of the Sherman Silver Wall Street, Hill assisted the McKinley Grover Cleveland, advocate of tarilf re­ Purchase Act as ruinous to the nation’s in­ campaign in the Upper Midwest. The duction and economy in government, was ternational credit, and now the Democrats votes of the region from Minnesota to Ohio returned to office. and their nominee were pledged to flood were seen as crucial to Republican victory, As a man whose principal business was the country with the stuff? For a business­ and the outcome was not all that certain. building his railroad and moving goods, man like Hill, regularly engaged in bor­ Minnesota was, after all, one of the centers James J. Hill stood against measures rowing money in the United States, Cana­ of the agrarian protest movement, and which restricted trade, and particularly da and Great Britain, a stable monetary many farmers were suffering due to low tariff duties that eliminated from America system was essential. The choice was crop prices. Oliver H. Kelley, founder of low-priced European-made rails. There­ clear; he could no longer support the the National Grange, had been from Min­ fore, he was opposed to the Republican Democrats. They had absorbed the free nesota, as was that ardent Populist and policies to maintain or raise the protective silver and business-hostile planks of the egalitarian reform candidate, Ignatius tariff. To Hill it was too high, and he sup­ Populist Party platform to become the Donnelly. Hill, therefore, helped to coor­ ported Cleveland and the Democratic Par­ “Popocrats.” Hill moved over to support dinate the acquisition of the campaign con­ ty promises of 1892 to lower the tariff, in­ McKinley and the high tariff Republicans. tributions from this area, as well as or­ stead of Republicans like Benjamin Harri­ Marcus Alonzo Hanna of Cleveland, ganize speakers and articles to counter the son and Congressmen William McKinley businessman in the coal, iron ore, Great oratory of the eloquent Bryan and other who had raised the tariff to an all-time Lakes shipping and ship building indus­ proponents of the “free silver heresy.”4 high. Beyond that, Hill supported Cleve­ tries, was the manager of the McKinley As the campaign moved toward its ex­ land because he stood for sound money and campaign. Hanna, a long time friend and citing climax, the pro-McKinley St. Paul minimal government meddling in the pri­ business associate of Hill, had kept the Dispatch newspaper sought a way to aug­ vate sector. Hill was a man of high per­ Great Northern locomotives well supplied ment its election night coverage of the bal­ sonal rectitude in his private life, but was with fuel. Hanna also had an interest in the loting. The newspaper had on previous not deterred from supporting Cleveland by Globe Iron Works, run by his brother, election nights given the latest returns by the fact that Cleveland had led a rather Howard Hanna. Globe had built six using a powerful stereopticon, or magic promiscuous private life in earlier years. freighters and two passenger liners for the lantern, to project the vote totals across That issue had been trotted out by the Great Northern Railway’s Northern Fourth Street to a screen on the wall of the Republicans in 1884, in Cleveland’s cam­ Steamship line. original Germania Bank building, now paign against James G. Blaine. It had not William Jennings Bryan, nominee of demolished. For those who couldn’t get proved any more scandalous to voters than the Democrats and Populists, was also en­ downtown on November 3, 1896, a Blaine’s lack of public rectitude in accept­ dorsed by the National Silver Republicans powerful whistle and simple set of signals ing stock in an Arkansas railroad, for of the western states who had left the Re­ would provide a convenient signaling sys­ which he had supported a federal land publican Party. Hanna had a tough cam­ tem. Hill was in a position to help. grant. paign ahead to promote sound money, the In June of 1894, Hill opened a new Cleveland’s second term, like those of protective tariff, and the colorless William chapter in Great Lakes travel by introduc­ all two-term presidents, was more con­ McKinley as the nation’s “advance agent of ing the steamship North West, part of whch troversial than his first. The panic of 1893 prosperity.” He needed all the help he played a role on election night two years turned into the depression of the mid- could get, and Hill was ready to assist, par­ later. It was the largest vessel on the lakes, 1890s, Cleveland was denounced as in­ ticularly to combat free silver. According being some 384 feet long, 44 feet wide, effective, uncaring, and a tool of Wall to journalist Herbert Croly, Hill stated that and 4,200 tons displacement. With the first Street. In 1896, he was repudiated by his he met a discouraged Marc Hanna by acci­ powerful Belleville boilers and quadruple own party as the reformers captured con­ dent in New York, as Hanna was trying to expansion steam engines on the lakes, the trol. The reform Democrats supported the raise money early in the McKinley cam­ ship developed 7,000 horsepower and was idea that an increase in the monetary sup­ paign. He had planned an elaborate cam­ capable of top speeds reported from ply was the way to restore prosperity, and paign, but wasn’t having much luck with twenty-two to twenty-seven miles per

14 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY The steam passenger liner North West. The whistle system that was moved to St. Paul for election night, November 3, 1896, can be seen on the forward smokestack.

hour.5 Unlike other Great Lakes ships, it The newspaper had on vestors/millionaires ever gathered togeth­ was exclusively devoted to carrying pas­ er in one place. The occasion was a special sengers between Buffalo and Duluth, and previous election nights excursion to Duluth of the investors in the did not carry any freight. The food, decor given the latest returns by Minnesota Iron Company, and more than and service were hailed as equal to the best using a powerful stereop- 160 were on the North West when it left of the trans-Atlantic liners. But its most Chicago. However, Hill was too busy to useful feature that election night was its ticon to project the numbers take the time for the cruise, and he met his magnificent set of whistles, operated by on the wall of the Germania guests at Duluth. steam from its powerful boilers. The main Bank building. In September, 1896, the campaign was whistle could be heard for a distance of fif­ at its height and the editors were of such teen miles, just the thing to signal the trend special importance that Hill was aboard, of the election. and hear Hill’s views on the coming elec­ but he was able to go only as far as the canal In 1895, the North West was joined by tion, the Minnesota Editorial Association. locks on the St. Mary’s River at Sault Ste. her sister ship, the North Land. The two On September 12, 1896, it was ar­ Marie, Michigan. There several business ships provided twice weekly passenger ranged for 140 Minnesota newspaper edi­ telegrams awaited him, and he left the ship service to Duluth. With fogs and delays at tors and printers, their wives/husbands to take the train back to St. Paul. However, the Soo locks, they weren’t quite able to at­ and/or sisters and/or sweethearts (signifi­ on the way to the Soo the editors were able tain a regularity comparable to passenger cant others were not recorded) to board the to hear the sound money views of Hill and trains, but their quality of service exceed­ North Land at Duluth for a cruise down the Henry P. Upham, president of the First ed that of any train in the country, and they lakes to Mackinac Island and back. On the National Bank of St. Paul, who came along brought thousands of people to Minnesota voyage to Duluth to pick up the group, the as Hill’s special guest. In addition, they on the new route. To promote this new ser­ North Land struck a log which bent the were able to hear the whistles of the North vice, the Northern Steamship Company propeller and put the trip in jeopardy. Land, particularly when they reached the employed a variety of advertising, sched­ However, Hill saw to it that a propeller St. Mary’s River and found it enveloped in uling, and public relations strategies. Ads was taken off the North West, which had fog. Once the Soo was behind them, the were liberally placed in the newspapers of been laid up for the season, and put on the editors could contemplate Hill’s advice as large East Coast and Midwest cities, and North Land. After an eight-hour delay, the they listened to the melodies of Hoare’s or­ the sailing schedules were coordinated group headed off in the face of a nor’easter chestra from Duluth and the Masonic with passenger trains along the route. Op­ blowing at gale force. Quartet of Minneapolis. The editors came portunities were extended to writers to James J. Hill, a workaholic, wasaboard from all over the state, but seventeen mem­ i tour and sail the ships, resulting in numer­ the North Land with the members of the bers of the group were newspapermen and ous favorable articles. In addition, free Editorial Association, which marked it as women and printers from St. Paul.6 No passes were distributed to influential peo­ a gathering of particular importance, for it doubt one of them conceived the idea of ple and special group rates were given for was rare for Hill to make non-business mounting some of those powerful ship excursions at the beginning and end of the trips of any kind. At the beginning of the whistles in downtown St. Paul. tourist season. In September, 1896, such tourist season in June of 1895, the North The 1896 election was generally seen to an excursion was arranged for one of the West’s first trip carried perhaps the greatest be the most important since that of Abra­ most important groups to sail on the ships, assemblage of American businessmen/in­ ham Lincoln, and the imaginative employ-

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 15 ment of the steam and electric technology enabled the newspapers to deliver election returns more rapidly to an anxious elec­ torate. In late October it was reported in the Duluth Evening Herald that the en­ gineers had been ordered to remove the fog whistles, which were nearly as large as a man, from the North West and North Land. The paper went on to state that the St. Paul «¡•HEAR THE WHISTLE Pioneer Press was going to borrow the W ith which the.Dis^fcBsWiU announce Election Returns <=— *TQN1QHT=— > whistles to announce the election returns. Gigantic Steam/ana Electric-Whistle, The Duluth Herald, which supported Loaned by the Steamer “Northwest.” Will be heard for Fifteen Miles. This whistle is erected on the roof of Newspaper Row, and'atvintervals Tonight" Bryan and the Populist/Democrats, will shridethe returns. ‘ . reported that they were intended as a sur­ MARK THE COQE OF SIGNALS! Succession of Sharp, Short Toots If Returns Favor McKinley. prise for the people of St. Paul, and would A Long, Dismal Wall If'Returns Faior Bryan. blow for all they were worth if McKinley MçKINLEY'S ELECTION CERTAIN—" ' ‘ " Will be indicated by prolonging. the Sharp, Quick Toots. were elected. However, the paper predict­ BRYAN’S ELECTION CERTAIN— ' Will be indicated by prolonging the Wail.------ed that there would only be noises of The W histle will be heard at every point within a radius ot IS miles of the Dispatch Office. No effort at listening. The tremendous Mast w3t dea»e the air like a salvo of y fila ry and carry the celebration for Bryan, the whistles would message of the election. ______i______.______• preserve a discreet silence, and be smug­ s t e r e o WtJc o n display^ - I patch will Bulletin ■. - . . - a Mafuifl ..jrimi IkM » ■emu oa the tie r gled back to Duluth.7 The Herald’s facts, public la rlM to i > lb* city. I like its predictions of the election results, weren’t quite accurate. The announcement from the St. Paul Dispatch’s 5:00 o’clock edition of Tuesday, November, 3, 1896. The whistles were taken only from the North West and were not destined for the Pioneer Press. They were to be mounted the colors were to be red and white.9 Per­ sharp night air waited for the hotel clerks on the building of the St. Paul Dispatch, haps the Pioneer Press supporters on the to announce the election returns from but because they found the steam power in September cruise aboard the North West around the country. Ladies in the lobby the building insufficient to give the whistle got the idea from watching its powerful were reported blowing horns discreetly the desired range, that plan was changed. search light sweep the shores as the vessel when returns favored McKinley. At the They were placed instead on top of the cruised the Soo narrows between Lakes Grand Opera House, people clogged the steam powered electric generating plant of Superior and Huron. aisles and filled all the boxes. The theater the Twin City Rapid Transit Company on The day of the election, activity around company presented the play, “A Boy Hill Street, overlooking the Mississippi the polling stations was very crowded but Wanted,” but the high attendance related to River. At that site the steam boilers were surprisingly calm, according to the reports the news that the niece of Republican vice calculated to deliver sufficient power to in the newspapers of both St. Paul and presidential candidate, Garret Hobart, enable the whistle system to be heard as far Minneapolis. Lines existed when the polls would announce the election returns. as Stillwater to the northeast and Min­ opened at six o’clock in the morning. But When she was unable to perform the task, neapolis on the west. In accord with the the political parties had expended so much the theater manager appeared between the views of the paper, the whistle system was energy orating and circulating literature to acts to announce the vote totals. The seat­ actuated on election night by an electrical the voters before the election, that the ing capacity was 1,800, but the Pioneer switch from the offices of the Dispatch to hand-bill distributors were not to be found Press, with perhaps some exaggeration, give “Toots for McKinley, wails for at their customary positions one-half block reported that 2,500 people were in the au­ Bryan.”8 away from the election sites. By noon, 50 dience. When the performance, was over Not to be outdone, the managers at the to 60 percent of the registered voters in people lingered in the theater to hear more St. Paul Pioneer Press added a new dimen­ both cities had cast their ballots. By three election results.11 sion to their election night coverage o’clock in the afternoon, more than 80 per­ The largest crowds were found on through a colored light system set up on the cent had voted in St. Paul, and by four Fourth Street between Robert and Cedar. flag pole atop their building, 220 feet o’clock it stood at over 90 percent, accord­ The Dispatch reported that by ten o’clock above the street. That newspaper also fa­ ing to the newspaper reports.10 However, eight thousand people were reading their vored McKinley, and arranged a display of the restraint of the daylight hours gave way bulletin board. The Globe and the Pioneer red, white and blue lights if he was ahead as night fell and crowds assembled in the Press, like the Dispatch, were using the in the nation, and blue and white if he led public places downtown. stereopticon to project election returns on in the Minnesota returns. If Bryan was Around seven in the evening, the lob­ the walls of nearby banks, so large crowds ahead nationally, the lights would approri- bies at the Ryan and Merchants Hotels be­ milled along Fourth Street, “newspaper ately flash red, and if ahead in Minnesota gan to fill, as those seeking shelter from the row,” and didn’t break up until midnight.

16 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY In spite of the seriousness of the election, a good frameof mind. The weekend before difficult to meet the competiion of the all newspapers, including those covering the election he had predicted that McKin­ Canadian and American railroads as well the night in Minneapolis, reported that ley would carry Minnesota, both Dakotas, as operate steamships without losing mon­ people were good-humored and enjoyed Oregon, and possibly Washington state.16 ey. By early 1903, Hill had sold the the occasion. Newsboys and “street arabs” That morning his predictions appeared al­ freighters of the Northern Steamship in both cities were partial to William Jen­ most right on the mark. McKinley defeat­ Company, but he couldn’t find an accepta­ nings Bryan. They cheered and blew whis­ ed Bryan in Minnesota by 194,000 to ble buyer for the North West or the North tles when returns indicated he was carry­ 140,000 votes. He also carried North Land. They were popular and good adver­ ing a particular state, but were soon an­ Dakota, and Oregon, and was thought to tising, if unprofitable, so they continued to swered by older members of the crowd have won South Dakota, which he later cruise the Great Lakes until fire damaged when returns favored McKinley. Several lost by a few hundred votes. It was consid­ the North West in 1911, and the World War younger members with horns, no doubt ered critical that McKinley carry the Mid­ I shipping crisis brought some acceptable McKinley supporters, went on to form a west and he carried every state, along with offers for both ships. band and marched about the city. Mean­ the entire Northeast and four of the five while, the downtown cafes did a brisk border states. Hill’s efforts in the Upper 1. Henry Steele Commager, Documents of American History, Vol II, New York 1949, p. business, and provided an opportunity to Midwest had paid off. 144-145. escape the din outside.12 James J. Hill told a reporter from the 2. Harold U. Faulkner, Politics, Reform and Ex­ The great steam whistle system of the Dispatch that we had faced one of the pansion, Harper, New York 1959,194. North West blew a succession of joyful greatest perils ever to confront the coun­ Albro, Martin, James J. Hill and the Opening of toots. The Pioneer Press reported that for­ try. Hill felt that the stability of the repub­ the Northwest, Oxford, New York 1976, 426. 3. Herbert Croly, Marcus Alonzo Hanna, Mac­ tunately the election results did not permit lic had been at stake, but the American millan, New York 1912, 219. the blowing of a succession of “wails” to people had proved equal to the crisis. To 4. George Brown Tindall, America, A Narrative announce the election of Bryan. They went Hill the triumph of die people would re­ History, Norton, New York 1984, 859. Martin, on to report that the good news of McKin­ store confidence, and prosperity would re­ James J. Hill, 427. ley’s election meant that their colored light turn very quickly. In his view, the excite­ 5. James P. Barry, Ships of the Great Lakes, Howell-North, Berkeley, Cal. 1973. system for rapid election news was able to ment over the silver issue had arrayed class 6. “They Make Paper,"Duluth New Tribune, 13 display, “colors ofpatriotic safety, the red, against class and caused people to hoard Sept. 1896, 3. the white and the blue.”13 $380 million which they were afraid to in­ “Editors, "Duluth Evening Herald, 16Sept. 1896, Whether the people of Minneapolis vest. But now, he predicted, there would 5. could hear Jim Hill’s steamship whistle be a loosening of the money strings and an 7. “To Toot For McKinley, "Duluth Evening Her­ ald, 29 Oct. 1896, 5. isn’t quite clear. The Minneapolis Journal increase in wheat prices. Furthermore, 8. “Listen To Whistle,"St. Paul Dispatch, 3 Nov. reported that a crowd of fully 5,000 peo­ Hill saw silver as a mere blind put forward 1896,1. ple assembled in the Exposition building, to cloak socialism. Never one to mince 9. “The Electric Election Signal Code, "The Sun­ scene of the 1892 Republican national con­ words, he stated, “There is just one way to day Pioneer Press, 1 Nov. 1896,1. vention, for an evening of entertainment deal with the poxious plant of socialism in 10. Tell Gently Here," St. Paul Globe, 4 Nov. 1896, 8. that continued into the morning hours.14 this country and that is to pluck it out by the “Their Own, "Minneapolis Tribune, 4 Nov. 1896, However, the Minneapolis Tribune re­ roots.”17 7. ported that the crowds downtown could St. Paul didn’t have another election “Quiet Election Day In St. Paul, "St. Paul Pioneer hear the big throated whistle operated by night comparable in noise to November 3, Press, 4 Nov. 1896, 5. the Twin City Rapid Transit Company. 1896. The whistle system was put back on 11. “St. Paul Hears the Good News, ” St. Paul Pi­ oneer Press, 4 Nov. 1896, 6. Since the streetcar company ran steam­ the forward smokestack of the North West, 12. “Scene On the Street,"St. Paul Dispatch, 4 boats on Lake Minnetonka, they could and the ship enjoyed great popularity on Nov. 1896, 8. have easily mounted one of their own the lakes for another fifteen years. McKin­ 13. “St. Paul Hears the Good News," Pioneer whistles in downtown Minneapolis. How­ ley, the advance agent of prosperity, ad­ Press, 6. ever, the whistle system of the North West vanced to the White House, sound money 14. “Big Time At the Expo, "Minneapolis Journal, 4 Nov. 1896, 6. was operated by steam from the Twin City was assured, prosperity returned, and the 15. “Their Own,"Minneapolis Tribune, 4 Nov. Rapid Transit Company’s power plant in threat of radical economic reform was 1896, 7. downtown St. Paul, and it would not be un­ averted. 16. “J.J. Hill’s Predictions,"Minneapolis Jour­ usual for a Minneapolis newspaper to re­ When McKinley was assassinated in nal, 31 Oct. 1896,1 frain from crediting a rival paper in St. 1901, the reform-minded Theodore 17. “Chat With J. J. Hill,” St. Paul Dispatch, 4 Nov. 1896, 3. Paul for conceiving such a communica­ Roosevelt took over. To Mark Hanna, tions novelty.15 Teddy was, “that damn cowboy”; to Hill, This is Thomas C. Buckley’s third article In the morning calm following the elec­ he was a meddling opportunist. The pow­ for Ramsey County History. He is an as­ tion, James J. Hill had an extensive chat ers of the Interstate Commerce Commis­ sociate professor in social and behavioral with a reporter from the Dispatch. With sion were expanded and the anti-trust law sciences and adjunct associate professor McKinley clearly the winner, Hill was in more vigorously enforced. It became more of history at the University o f Minnesota.

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 17 The public baths, beaches and bathers at Harriet Island. Views of St. Paul’s parks, as well as the city’s vibrant downtown, were popular with postcard publishers, Robert J. Stumm observes in his article beginning on page 18.

NON-PROFIT R.CHS. ORGANIZATION RAMSEY • COUNTY- HISTORICAL- SOCIETY- U.S. Postage PAID Published by the Ramsey County Historical Society St. Paul MN 323 Landmark Center Permit #3989 75 West Fifth Street Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102