MILWAUKEE AND THE PRESS, 1916:
rrHE DEVELOPf"T..L"'NT OF CIVIC SCHIZOPHRENIA
by
John Joseph Starzyk
.'
An Essay Submitted tQ the ~~arlua te School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment, of the Requirements for the De gree of Master of Arts.
Milwaukee, ~.Jisconsin July, 1978 %Z7f - - ( ---- The year was 1916. The war in Europe was well into its '. ~ , second devastating year. America, once solely pre-occupied with
its OltlIl internal problems and new progressive r:eforms, slowly began to pay closer attention to the conflict. It could not be otherwise. How could anyone ignore those reports that came across the Atlantic which showed that the average German soldier wfied away his hours raping Belgian women and bayoneting babies; or that one hundred innocent Americans were brutally murdered with the sinking of the Luisitania by that devious new weapon, the submarine'1 Such inhumane outrages against civilil:.ation had to be dealt with, and the sooner the better. The once popular song, "I Didn't Raise My Son To Be a Soldier", was sw.:g less and less as the enemy took the definite form of the dreaded Hun. The once friendly land of beer, Wagner and Gemtitluhheit
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had given way to Prussian militarism int~nt on destroying every thing once valued by Western civilization. President Woodrow wilson, up for re-election, had been doing his utmost to ne gotiate peacefully and honorably with the Germans, but there was only so much one man could do. The die was caste. Yet there was at least one place in America where the issue was not as cut and dried as it seemed to be elsewhere. A place
where 6~fo of the foreign-born population had a Teutonic back ground.l It was a city known for its beer ·drinking inhabitants and plentiful saloons, many of which not only proudly displayed pictures of Kaiser Wilhelm II but also encouraged treasonous anti-English tirades by the patrons. The place was Milwaukee, Wisconsin, considered by many to be '. a hotbed of sedition, a province of Germany, a city where all '--" the inhabitants were Germans, not Americans. What else can be said of a city that allowed the president of· the National Ger- man-American Alliance, Dr. C.J. Hexamer, to come and speakto an overflow crowd at the West Side Turn Hall and treasonously profess: Time of small squabbles in our society must cease. Everything that lessens our unity must be set aside. A man who pulls off his German- ism as he does an old glove and throws it aside is not worthy to spit at. Such a one is a cowardly rascal ••• It is in the German family that love and respect are united. There the children do not heartlessly call their parents old man and old woman ••• America needs the high- est discipline, the moral spirit of German life. When Germany finally drives the enemy to 1ts knees,
lCensus Enumeration of the State of Wisconsin(Madison: Democratic Printing Co., 1906), p. 170. -3-
there will spring up in every German a spark which will arouse in him a~tion even though he remains in America.
Such a speech was bound to cause heated discussions not only at Kalts, Forst-Kellers and Stubers but also across a suspicious nation. As the year 1916 progressed, and more American lives were lost to German submarines, Milwaukee would be torn apart in
ternally~ A civic schizophrenia would develop as the city would be split between pro-Germanism amd American patriotism. In this paper we shall trace Milwaukee's history during this fateful year through the use of two of the more popular
newspapers of the day. These t~o papers, diametrically opposite on every conceivable position ans sprewing forth blatantly
'-----' prejudical stories, fed the flames of internal conflicttthat characterized Milwaukee throughout the entire year of 1916. , - ',.Ie will trace the methods they used in an attempt to fashion
public opinion, thereby adding to the war tensions ~:. lready
burdening the city. 7hes~ )d)"r. ;Vere: / The Milwaukee Journal: Circulation 10;,918 daily; 88,677 ~ Sunday; editor, Lucius W. Nieman;3 pro-Jalied, staunch supporter of President Woodrow '.Jilson and the national doctrine of pre- paredness. The Milwaukee Free Press:Circulation 40,434 daily;
21,447 Sund a;y ; editor, Ernst H. Kronshage;l;- pro-German, bitter
2 Mib~tp.lkee ,Tournal,., November 24, 1915, p. 1. 3 William C. Conrad, Kathleen Wilson and Dale Wilson,The '-- Milwaukee Journal: The First 80 Years(Madison: University ~ Wisconsin Press,1964), p.215.
_ ,4N.W.Ayer, ed., A;yer Djctjonary:"" )9J6(Philadelphia:N.lJ. Ayer an1 Sons, lY16), p. 79. -4-
critic of President Wilson; supporter of a national embargo J on all munition sales.
The Milwaukee Journal began as the Daily Jour~ on November 16, 1882 under the auspices of one Peter V. Deuster, Democratic Congressman from Milwaukee. Deuster, also an editor
of a leading German daily, The Seebote, sold his new four pa~e
paper at two c8~ts a copy to approximately one thousand cus tomers fun the Milwaukee area. Unfortunately, the paper con tinually lost money and advertisers until one Lucius Nieman became editor on December 11, 1882. fhe high-spirited Nieman immediately asserted himself with the following philosophy, "The Journal will be independent and aggressive but always with a due regard for the sanctities of priVate life. It will oppose every political machine and cabal, venal politician of every
~ l s t ripe, every form of oppression. It will be the people's paper
~1d will recognize that its field is Milwaukee _ ~~d the state at l arge .... Above all it will abhor dullness."5 t Nieman did not have to wait long to :put I his'·'·,philosoph,..'V into action. In January of 1883, a massive fire destroyed the Ne wh all House in downtown Milwaukee, killing eighty people. In its i nvestigat i on, the Journal discovered numerous fire code violations that had been covered up by the hotel's owners in con junction with various local politicians. As the Journal ex- posed t he wrong doings, its popularity skyrocketed and it be- came a permanent Milwaukee fixture.
'- - /Conrad, The Milwaukee Journal:The First 80 Years, p. 9.
,_..li
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On -May 11, 1885, the nama of the paper was officially changed to the Milwaukee Journal. The Milwaukke Free Press was founded in 1901 as a political
organ t~aid Robert M. La Follette. At the turn of the century many of the county weekly amd foreign language papers joined the popular agitation and became unofficial organs of the agarian movement as it developed through successive stages: Greenback, Gr anger, Populist and Progressive. The progressive programs of La Follette "plucked responsive i chords in the idealistic traditon of Wisconsin and the press !l~, echoed the melody. The progressive Republicans established their 1- il own daily, the Milwaukee -Free Press, with the anomalous aid of millionaire Issac Stephenson."6 After La Follette was elected senator, Stephenson retired " from politics and in 1915, sold the paper to a group of promin- "--- ent Hilwaukeeans who were mostly of German desc.ent. The Journal started out the year of 1916 "'lith a t"TO month i eampaign directed against the Free Press. It beg;m innocently enough with a full page, eye catching advertisement, which
Sh 01ried hm~ the Journal, over the past year,gained 1,134 columns
of 3.dvertisement \.,hile the Free Press lost 1,257 columns. Any befuddled Milwaukeean V/llo might have \'iondered what these sta- tistics reflected, was soon provided with a possible answer, thanks to a Journal editorial a few days later. It seemed that
since the ~var began, a certain ne'",spaper, (no names I-Iere men- t ioned) had fiercely and bitterly attacked the American gov-
6 Donald E. Oehlerts, ed., Guide to Wisconsin Newspa ers, J83J-1957(Madison:Btate Historical Society of Wisconsin,lg 58}, p. ix-x. -6-
ernment's every word and act in every confrontation between America and Germany. The 8ree Press, not being a paper to take criticism lightly, fired back via its own editorial page, attacking the Journal as a desperate critic that goes the limit to discredit German-Americans, specifically mentioning the attempt by the JO\lrnal to prove that the editor of another pro-German paper, ! the Germania-Herold. Emil Von Schlentiz, was not a citizen of the United States.
Just as the daily salvos : '~ were becoming more and more con fusing to the average reader, who did not know from edition to
edition what new and das~dly deeds one would accuse the other of committing, the President of the United States decided :to pay a visit to Milwaukee on January 31, 1916. A temporary truce was " '- established as both papers devoted their attention to Wilson's speech given at the Milwaukee Auditorium. The President had in- sisted that Milwaukee be included in his nationwide tour so that he could deliver a speech specifically directed at the large German population of the city. In the speech he declared: I for my part have no jealousy of family sentiment. I have no jealousy of the deep affection which runs back through long lineage. It would be a pity if we forget the fine things that our ancestors have done. But I also know the mag~c of America. I also lcnow the great principles which thrill with emotion in the great body politic to which we belong in the United States. I know that whenever the test comes, everyman's heart will be first for America. And wherever they came from it was priciple and affection and ambition and hope that drew men to these shores and they are not going to forget the errand upon which they came. '/ 7Milwaukee Free Press, Feb. 1, 1916, p.4. -7-
Both papers commented on the speech in the predictable manner. The Journal noted that "we have read few addresses whether by men now living or statesmen f r om other days which express so clearly and so sensitively the spirit and ideals of America as President Wilson's speech at the Auditorium yes terday.tl8 ,Conversely, the Free Press noted that "disappointment prevailed among Milwaukeeans after they had throughly digested the speech of President Wilson. 'l9 As the President headed eoward Chicago,' the heated atmos phere returned as the temporary truce was shattered with a bomb shell from the Mih{aukee Journal. "Does Milwaukee Favor Dis-
loyalty?", read the headlines of February lO~. In a city 81- r eady acutely sensitive about statements concerning patriotism
"and loyalty, the headline was definitely a grabber. The story
'-----' whiC!h followed was no less shocH:ing, as the Journal declared on page one that "in the last analysis the Free Pre's's owners I i are responsible for what a newspaper says and does. For more than a year, in fact since the war began, the Milwaukee Free Press has been preaching un-American doctrines and doing un-American
things. Its attacks on the governmnet 01 tne United States have been bitter and incessant."lO Accompanying the story was a com- plete list of all the stockholders of the Free Press plus certa in excerpts of Free Press editorials. Did the editors of the Journal have visions of spontaneous
8 Milwaukee Journal, Feb. 1, 1916, p. 12. 9 Milwaukee Free Press, Feb. 3, 1916, p. 7. 10 Milwaukee Journal, February 10, 1916, p. 1. -8-
formations of patriotic lynch mobs being organized through the city, making midnight calls on those stockholders? One can
only guess, although no formal attacks on any of the se~enty five men were ever recorded. The Journal did see fit to record, though, for the next few weeks, letters to the editor which whole heartedly supported 1_. the paper's frontal attack on the Free Press. Space was provided daily on page two, containing letters from citizens of German descent unde.re the banneB "citizens of German blood denounce the
Free Pres~, repudiating its disloyal utterances while giving warm support to the exposure of its stand at all points against America."ll The Journal took pride in the fact that citizens of German descent reaffirmed its confidence in their loyalty and "patriotism. '------Suprisingly, the Free Press took this quite calmly, not responding at all, as letter upon letter sprewed forth the same messas e daily. It was not until the Journal went on to other pursuits that the Free Press fired back and with mne editorial took apart what its competiton took two weeks tobuild. "In all, the :Milwaukee Journal has published twenty-five alleged communi cations either praising the Journal or criticising the Free Press. Of these twenty-five, fourteen were anonymous. Of those signed, one could not be found in the city directory, and three were from out of the city. 6f the remaining list, only five are
11 Milwaukee Journal, Feb. 15, 1916, p. 2. -9-
bearers of German names. We found that the B~ total of the
...... German-American 'vindication', with which the Journal glowingly
claims for its anti-Germ~ stand against the Free Press, consists of these five names."12 The Journal did not respond. The war between the two papers a second time ceased abruptly as another major event took place in the city that diverted their
~ttention, an event the Free Press called "too wonderful for words, too grand for comprehension ••• like trying to think of space, you can't get a start ••• not within the power of the human mind ••• Solo mon in all his wisdom was wrong when he said there is nothing new under the sun. "13 No, the Messiah did not pick the Milwaukee Auditorium as the location of His second coming, although from the description above one would think that was the case. \""'hat the Free Press was referring. to and what Solomon was not able to foresee was the great Milwaukee ''---' Relief Bazaar~ held from March 2nd to March 7tb. Although the Free Press slightly exaggerated its scope, this bene"fi t to riHieve :; the
1jiar sufferings of the people in Germany, Austria and Hungry was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, event to take place in the city in 1916.
This six day festival, which was an immense success, did not diminish Milwaukee's growing reputation as being blatantly pro German in the European war. As the Free Press appropriately stated, "all of the love of Milwaukeeans of Austrian, German and Hungarian descent for their agonizing brethern, all of their pity, all of
12Milwaukee Free Press,Feb. 23, 1916, p. 10.
13,Milwaukee Free Press, ~' March 2, 1916, p. 1. ~=-- ~~, --- _.. _- ---
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their determination to relieve by a magnificent effort the desolation of millions has been put into a stupendous and beau tiful charity bazaar for the war sufferers of Germany, Austria and Hungry. 1114 Twelve thousand Milwaukeeans attended opening night. One of the first sights they saw as they"entered the Auditorium was the Ol d Heidelburg section, the most popular booth of the whole fes- tival. Here, Mrs. Gustav Pabst waited on customers, dispensing frankfurters and beer while Mrs. Meta Berger, ,member of the school
board ~~d wife of Congressman Victor Berger, sold medals. A little further on, Mrs. Louis Auer, one of Milwaukee's finest citizens, shouted out of a megaphone selling chances f.or the ..Theel of for- tune.
~, ., As one progressed throu~~ the Auditorium, the next stop was t th(,; BiedeI'meier Garden, 1, DCI.ekr-:,L'ound for German peasant waitresses, dressed in short Vienesse I~ .. l skirts of black and white, who carted immense steins of beer to the huge, raucous crowd. Long rows of booths in \llhich one could fin.d l';Ypsy fortune tellers and wheel of fortune games 'contributed to the f1ardi. Gras, street carnival atmosphere of the bazaar. Continuo? vaudeville was provided under the direction of Fre~z Kirchner, director of the Pabst Theater Stock Company, \ 14 r1ilwaukee Free Press, March 2, 1916, p .. 2. ~ -11- booth and at the Corner Grocery booth, home rolled oats and cans of corn and fresh fruit were available. If the excitement was too much, one could always retire to the quiet of Engelmann Hall where cigarettes could be purchased from Turkish girls and a relaxing game of billiards could be played \lllder portraits of Washington, Lincoln, McKinely and Kaiser Wilhelm II. rI I. These were just a few of the many attractions at the bazaar. I All the articles for sale were donated. For e~ample, the histori cal watchfob depicting the history of the German Empire was donated by Mr. William Uihlein. And Fritz Kreister, great Austrian violinist and soldier, came to Milwaukee personally to present his autograph for auction. The Boston Store made the first bid on it for ten dollars. Q '-....-- Att~mdance at the second night of the fair more than doubled the first night, as five thousand people were unable to enter, due to lack of rOOli, :13y the third night, the area around the Auditorium was jammed, as an estimated twenty-five thousand people were turned away. Even the Milwaukee Journal had to admit at this point that "it is ~"ithout a doubt the biggest event ever attempted in Mihraukee ••• if German, Austrian and Hungarian war sufferers could see a movie of the bazaar, they certainly would have a doubly ',"'arm feeling for t he many thousands that are making it all PO:3sib1e."15 The evening contained one of the most memorable events at the 15 f1i1waukee Journal, March 5, 1916, p. 1. -12- fair as song}ess Peggy Unertl, perfo:rmi.ng in the Old Heidelberg section, sang a tune entitled ItBack to Germany" which created such a tremendous sensation among the thousands who heard it that Miss Unertl was summoned back for six encores as all in attendance joined in. Ey the fourth evening, receipts to,taled ninety-five thousand dollars while attendance was recorded at ninety-two thousand eight · hundred. At this point, it became more than just a Milwaukee affair as organized crowds from Watertown, Waukesha, Sheboygan, Racine, Oshkosh, Madison, Mayville, Neenah, Manitowac, and Baraboo began arriving at the Auditorium. Wisconsin Governor Emanuel Phillip attended with Eugene Nelsky, Austrian vice consul in Chicago, who was seen consul ting ~'li th bazaar officials to get ideas for con- 16 Milwaukee Journal, March 8, 1916, p. 14. -13- over the ne~-rew - weeks. The funds were eventually sent to Berlin via the First National Bank of Milwaukee. The bazaar turned out to be such a tremendous success that plrulS were made to hold a secon~ such event at the Auditorium, this time the proceeds going towards the relief of the suffering of German prisoners of war. Unfortunately, the date set for this event was April, 1917. It was interesting how the Journal covered this obviousl' pro-German event. The first day of the baza~, the Journal's t-, headlines read, "Thousands Working Hard to Make a Great Success of Milwaukee's Big Bazaar",l7 Day two's front page sported the pictures 0.1' twenty-eight babies and the following caption, "These are the kinds of chaps that make strong the cry for help in war times".18 A meticulously detailed story followed giving a complete '---- run dOl,ffi of the whole Auditorium scene. However, as. the overwhelming success of the f'air ' became more amd more evident, reports of the event became harder and harder t'o find in the Journal. By the fourth day, the charity bazaar was relegated to the third page. By the fifth day, coverage was on page five and the final day found it buried on page fourteen, the last page of the paper. At this time, the Journal began to publish a series of articles spanning the next three months which stressed one major theme : that the aver~ge German-American, especially the average l7Milwaukee Journal, March 2, 1916, p. 1 0 • 18Milwaukee Journal, March 3, 1916, p.l. -14- !'lilwaukee German-American, was unquestionably loyld to the United States of America. No doubt the immense success of the charity bazaar prompted this tactic by the Journal and one can only guess whether the overall objective was to convince the people of Milwaukee of this fact, or the people of the United States, or perhaps even the editors of the paper themselves, especially in light of what transpired at the Auditorium. The first such article, printed on the second day of the bazaar, ~,<,as written by Samuel Blyth of the Saturday Evening Post. His piece, entitled "Average Germans are Good Americans, Milwau keean Says," quoted an unnamed Milwaukee man who stated "we American citizens of German birth or descent are not responsible for what Germany has done or may ao. The average Germans are '--- Americans first.,,19 Of course the main target in these articles was the hyphen ated America11. They were urged to forget the pa$t 'three hundred years of 'melting po'!;' history because if you were a citizen you were an American, nothing more nothing less. To drive the point home, the Journal ran headlines of which the following was typical: "Think of Our Country First--Declares Hyphenated Society a f1enace to Good Citizenship". This particular article concerned former Secretary of Commerce Charles Nagel who had come to Mil waukee to address the German Literary Society. While he did note that he sympathized with Germany in the European war, since his 19 Milwaukee Journal,March 3, 1916, p. 1. -1.5- ancestors came from there, he believed that "every thought, word and action of a citizen of the United S'tates in connection to the war in Europe should be with a full consideration of its effect on the United States ••• I .believe that there should be no such thing as a hyphenated citizen, no German-American, ho French-American, ~. {; no Irish-American. He should be purely an American citizen, nothing II else."20 I: A similar viewpoint WaS expressed in another article by a Dr. J~mes A.B. Scherer, a leading Lutheran theologian. He was noted for, among other things, a letter entitled "Confessions of a Hyphenated Ameri.can". This particular story did not get as much play as the Nagel story, possibly because it was reprinted from the New York Times and was not a Journal exclusive. However, its message did come a.cross loud and clear to its Milwaukee readers. '--- In it, Dr. Scherer related his latest visit to the father lande Although brought up to admire everythingGerma.il.~ he became ~ disillusioned and blamed Germany for the war. Convinced that ninety percent of Americans with German names would remain loyal to the u.S. in event of war with Germany, Scherer hit hard at those Germen- Americans who desired to keep old ties with their homeland. "Be ing partly of German ancestry and familiar with Germany and its people, I can from personal knowledge suscribe to your views con cerning vast changes that have taken place in the moral and spiri tual life of the people. The old days of plain living and the 20 Milwaukee Journal, April 12, 1916, p. 1. ,r --- ·-~ .~----~ -16- teachings of Goethe and Schiller have passed. The whole people have become obsessed with but one aim and aspiration--to rule, conquer and enjoy the fruits of war.,,2l During this period, a Reverand Johannes Glaessner, of 701 31st Street, reported to the Journal that he had received a cir cular in the mail which outlined plans for the formation of a society to erect a German-American memorial of the European war in Hoboken, New Jersey.' Funds for the four story structure, topped with a German iron cross, were to be raised by' the society from contributions from German-Americans across the country. Each con tributors name would be written on one of the walls of the four floors. According to the circular, the inscr-iption would read: "To serve a.s a lastin~ symbol to German-Americans of the·future of the love and devotion which, inspite of much hostility, their fore ------fathers in 1914-1916 showed their fatherland, of the faith they not interested in suscribing. Neither the Journal nor the Free Press reported how many other citizens in Milwaukee received these circulars. Therefore i t was not known whether others may have felt obligated to con tribute to the memory of their hemeland. Regardless, the Journal continued to hammer away with the 21 Milwaukee Journal, May 19, 1916, p. 4. 22 Mil'Naukee Journal, April 24, 1916, p. 7. - - .-.- __. __~ O'_" _ _ " __~~~~' ~====='" -'7.... - same message of German-American loyalty, filling its pages with stories from a.round the na.tion which stressed tha.t theme. Even a story from, of all places, Comfort, Texas, found its way onto the pages of t he Journal, a story that ordinarily would be considered no more than a filler in most cities that did not contain a large German population. Appropriately entitled "Lauds Loyalty of U.S. Germans," Texas Governor William Fergusen in a speech to the Sons of nermaJl1l said, "I do not blame German-Americans whose hearts and sympathies go back across the waters to their dear old fatherland. (Applause) You would :he untrue to the traditions of you.t' child- hood and untrue to the sentiments of good citizens if you did not have that sJ~pathy. (Applause) At the same tiBe , notwithstanding, all of the natu.ral symPathy to the fatherland, you still have the @anhood, courage and conviction to rem.ain loyal to the flag. (Points' to tl'l'3 f lag amist deafening applause)ii' 23 Hopefully by this time, the average German in_ Milvlaukee got the message : loyalty, patriotism, duty to your country and especi·· ally support of your president, regardless of European ties or interests. Good German-Americans were urged to ignore the mesa meeting that was held the other night at Kittelman's Hall at 21st and Center, in which ° twenty-nine radicals, some speaking in Ger lI1an, cri tici zed 'Wilson' s orie-sided attitude to'llard submarine Narfare. 'rhey were also warned that organizations like the North Side Citizens Club, which passed a resolution condemning the Pr esident, would only harm the cityis repu.tation. 23 Milwaukee Journal, May 20, 1916, p. 4. -18- Forget the fact that fifteen-hundred members of the Bethany Eva.ngelical Church at 24U1 and Coldspring and twenty-six hundred members of the Immanuel Evangelical Church at l2U1 and Garfield scnt telegrams and letters protesting Wilson's policies, "that might embroil our country in a war with Germany ••• convinced that a war with Germany, if waged on no better grounds than that ad vanced so far would be nothing less than a crime.,,24 So what if ten other churches joined in the protest movement. The average citizen of Milwauxee was loyal, according to the Journal, and at no time was it more important to show this loyalty to the Pres ident then now, the summer of 1916, the summer of political con ventions and campaigns. Actually, both newspapers began very early in the year, long b~fore the June nominati~ng conventions, to attempt to persuade '--- their readers which tva:y to vote. Obviously, the Free Press, not knowing the Hepublican candidate that would eventuSJ:lly .run against ',Jils on , ~'lBS c()nfined t o stories such as the following: "Priest Fighting For Germany Says He Regrets Having Voted For Wilson," 25 In the ar ticle , a Father Peter Weiter of Mellon, Wisconsin, who left the city to join the German army as a field chaplain, prayed to God t hat Wilson wouls not be re-elected. He felt that if Wilson would only visit the trenches, an embargo on munitions would immediately be ordered. Very subtle stories of this nature, com bined with vehement anti-Wilson editorials, characterized the Free Pres s political coverage for the first half of the year. ?4 Milwaukee Free Press, April 24, 1916, p.l. 25 Milwaukee Free Press, Janu~ 2, 1916, p. 1 - - - _._- -19- The Journal, on the other hand, was in a much better posi tio!l, 10 knowing ful:J.. well that Wilson was going to seek re-election. There fore, it was able to run at full speed in its support of the Presi dent and his policy of preparedness. In January, the Jouxnal began to run a serialized story en titled "Prepare for the Invasion of America," which was a narra tive portraying a fictionalized invasion by a very strong, un named power. Covering everything from the arrival of the enemy, to the bombardment of Boston and New York, it showed in minute detail '''hat would happen if America was not adequately prepared to defend itself. This was just the type of story a city like Milwaukee, al r eady internally troubled, needed. While so~e citizens might have been tempted to clean out their guns, others began to organize politically. At a meeting of the Milwaukee branch of the German-American National Alliance, every German WaS urged to take ,_out'ci tizenship papers at once and become voters, eligible to take part in the f uture political battles that were beginning to shape up. This most influential organization contained thirty-seven thousand members in the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. It had for its president a very out spoken assistant school superintendent, Leo Stern. The Alliance was a constant target of the Journal, which belittled it as a hollow organization, not really representing the average German-American and far from being able to d~liver the German-American vote. -20- To emphasize its point, the Journal, in a headline story entitled "German-Americans Think and Likewise Vote Independently,"26 interviewed Wolf von Scherbrand, a Vienese newspaper correspondent, who related the story of an elaborate scheme of molding German Americans into a solid body for use in political advances. Fortun ately for America, or so the story went, this plan for Pan-German ism, devised in the old country, was a complete failure as the German population assimilated itse11 into the vast body politic of the country 0 In June of 1916, the Journal exposed a second insidious attempt to corrupt the values of the republic. "Germans who expect to take part in a political movement along racial lines against President itli1son met Friday at West Side Turn Hall and formed an 0rEanization which will direct the campaign ••• men of an older gen eration, gray haired men, were numerous in attendance."27 One of the first things the -three to four hundred people ' ~id 'who attended this meeting was to pass a ~ resa1ution condemning the Milwaukee Journal for its anti-German stand and record a vote of confid~nce of Alli.ance president Stern. Then the meeting proceeded to elect members into the new political committee. Max Hotte1et was elected president , D.C. Luening, a public school principle and represen tative of the German signing societies, was elected vice-president, ,md Emil Court, representing the German Press, was e1ect-ed secre tary. The remaining list of c_ommittee members and their aff1i ations consisted of: Otito Schi1farth, representing seventy German social organizations; Charles To1tzmann, representing German ve- 26 Milwaukee Journal, March 9, 1916, p. 1. 27 Milwaukee Journa1,June 3, 1916, p. 5. -21- :~., . ~ ...... ~ ·'I.. ~ teran org~izations; Otto Seifritz, secretary of the Catholic Federation of Wisconsin, representing numerous Catholic groups; Rev. H. Niefer, representing the Evangical Church; and G.A.G. Kiechle, representing the Lutheran Church. The !ournal,in an editorial response, contended that only harm would come out of "this deliberate organized attempt to separate German-Americans as a class, with interests different from those of other Americans,,,28 predicting that the majority of German Americans would suffer. One week later, the Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughes to run against Wilson in the November election. His selection caused immediate response among German-Americans everywhere, es pecially those who attended the west side political meeting. Emil Court, the elected secretary, summed ~p those feelings by stating !II consider Mr. Hughes a very worthy man to be president of the Unit l~d States." l.Jhen asked if he thought Hughes wo~ld satisfy the poli tical movement that 1rJaS organi.zed last Friday, he responded "that ltlasn' t a German movement, it was an American mmrement and I presume Mr. Hughes will satisfy them."29 On a much wider scale, the National German-American Alliance headquartered in Philadelphia, hailed the nomination. Louis E. Brandt, the national secretary, prepared to send three million letters to German-Americans across the country calling on them to vote for the Republican candidate. Wi th the nomination of l,.Jilson on June 16tb, the campaigh 28 Milwaukee Journal, June 3, 1916, p. 6. 29 Milwaukee Journal, June 11, 1916, p. 1. --~- -.. ------.-.------ -22- shifted into high gear, The Journal,throughout the summer, con tinued to attack the Alliance, printing sto!.'ies that it thought proved convincingly that the average German citizen of Milwaukee acted independently of the organization and would vote in massive numbers for '.Jilson. A typical story along these lines concerned a General ]'. C. \hnkler, a prominent citizen and a member 0'£ the Deutscher Club, who sent a telegram to Wilson supporting his policies. Not only did this story capture the headlines of the day but i t also became the subj~t of: the day's editorial. En titled tlGeneral Winkler a Patriot," the editorial pointed out that "evidence piles up from day to day that the Journal has been right in its contention that the German-Americans are Americans, pure aD.Q simple, who do their thinking in ter:ns of Americans even when t heir sympathies are strained and their hearts are wrung by the '. , fearful st r-uggle in whi ch their blood brethcrn are engaged. 1'30 The .Frel~ Press responded with edi torial upon eai ~ o rial whj.ch ' ., hi !?;}llighted Hughes 1 s positive qualities ~ painting him as a :nan who ,would maintain America's rights on la..l'ld 3nd sea equally through- Ollt the world. Two events occurred in the summer ~hich interrupted this editorial war and distracted the good citizens of Milwaukee for a short period of time. 'r~e :first concerned the honorable teaching profession, as the fo·_ rtv·u -third annual convention of the Association of National German-American Tp.achers was held in Milwaukee from Jun~ 28~ to 30 Milwaukee Journal, July 6, 1916, p. 15. -23- the 1st ',,! July. As the convention opened, Leo Stern, the assistant superintendent of schools, delivered the keynote ad dress to two hundred delegates assembled in the German-English Academy. Noting that last year's meeting was postponed due to the la~ge number of teachers who left to join the German and Austrian armies and defend their respective homelands, Stern maintained that ttour duties do not end with the close of the school day, but they also lend our active support to all such endeavors as would serve in creating a better understanding and appreciation of the cultural ideas and ideals of German literature."31 The second event concerned the great 'preparedness parade' held on Saturday, July 15~. This was an event long promoted by the ,Tou r naI as a great chance for Milwaukee to prove its loyalty and support for the policies of the Wilson administration. - The Journal predicted that at least two hundred thousand people i.,r ould witne ss this great happening with at ,least seventy thousand peopl e act ually participating in the march, come r ain or shine. This great mass of patriotic humanity was to proceed, at the s ound of a 2:00 p.m. trumpet call, along the line of march f rom J efferson Street to the river, then from Wisconsin Street and the bridge along Grand Avenue to 36~ Street. The rain did come on that day and was blamed by the Journ~l f or r educing the number of marchers from the predicted seventy thousand to the recorded twenty-eight thousand and the numbers of :3pectators to one hundred and fifty thousand. Some of t he 31 Milwaukee Free Press, June 29, 1916, p. 2. -24- groups represented were: police (28); firemen (11); soldiers(ll); newsboys (235); Knights of Columbus (200); Northwestern Mutual Life (236); Harley-Davidson (620); Marquette University Women's Club (52); Gimbels (550); Boston Store (487); A.O. Smith(646); Marshall and Ilsely (36); and the Boy ~ Scouts (145). All in all, the Journal,which had warned that the eyes of the nation Vlere on Milwaukee, seemed pleased with the turn out while the Fre~ Press decided to forego any mention of the mass defection of the'sunshine patriots'. It did note that even in the face of the inclement weather, this 'march for defense'· was the greatest such parade ever held in the state. As the memory of marching bands and flags faded away, atten- tion was again returned to the political campaigns. When it was announced in August that Hughes had decided to by pasS Milwaukee '. during his first mid-western tour, the Journal smuggly played up the stO!'y, Gonjecturir:g that HugheS vlaS deliberately e~ading l:Jerman -,r oter3o Certainly Hughes had the support of many vocal pro German sroups , so why should he avoid Milwaukee? According to the Journal, Hughes was a man quite unsure of himself and his policies, a m..m who never gave a concrete answer on any issue. "That Charles Evans Hl.lghes should have ignored Milwaukee, one of the most im- portant points of his speaking itinery, and one of the first reached, is arousing considerable conjecture in political circles. The t hc?3? r:7 frequently advanced to account for Hughes's train speeding, thro\;.t.;n MihTaukee is that the city is regarded as the national headquarters of the professional p,;t'0-German prop-agandists • . A. -25- Mr. Hughes's managers were not ready to have their candidate appear in a locality where he could be expected to express his views in the question in which German voters are particularry interested, according to this hypothesis."32 Charles Evans Hughes did make it to Milwaukee one month later though. After diniilg ~ : at the Pfister, Hughes was driven to the Auditorium for his speech. He was met by A.P. Kletzsch, state Republican chairman, Leo Stern of the German-American Alliance, and Governor Emanuel Phillip, who introduced Hughes to the assembled crowd. Hughes again promised to protect American rights, lives and commerce throughout the world and later evoked tremendous applause as he blamed the war on the Democrats and the one-sided s ale of munitions. After Hug.."'les's departure and the exci tement stirred by the " '- visit of the possible next president died away, another period of cain settled over the city, the calm before another Milwaukee Journal initiated storm. It s eeme d that throughout the year of 1916, whenever things became dull, the Journal took it upon it- self to make life more interesting by dropping a few of its poten tial bombshells on the unsuspecting public. The first occurred on October 14~ with bold headlines reading "Disloyalty Flaunted Daily in the Face of Milwaukee". One could only imagine whose turn it WaS to face the fury of the Journal this time around. Would it be the German-American Alliance, the Frf'! e Press, Lae Stern, or maybe the German-American Teachers' j , . 32 Milwaukee Journal, August 12, 1916, p. 1. -26- Association? The current target was another newspaper, the Milwaukee based permania-Herold, with an approximate circulation of thirty six thousand. The Journal pulled no pun~~es as it attacked the Herold, accusing it of preaching racial hatred for the United States government daily and of attempting to control the foreign policies of the country in the interests of Germany. "Germany has been the watchword of this paper from the first day of the war, printing anything to help the fatherland and hurt her foes, regardless of United States' interests."33 With this expose' safely tucked under its belt, the Journal waited ten days before shocking the city a second time. No story the whole year received more front page print than this one; not President Wilson's visit, not candidate Hughes's visit, not the ",. Charity Bazaar, not the preparadness parade. \>lb.at event could be of su.ch magnitude that it would not only take up~he he~dlines but also seven complete s t ories on the front page, "leaving space for no other articles? Was America attacked by Germany and forced into the war? Was the President assassinated by some pro-German scoundrel'? No, it was something much worse. There actually ltiaS an attempt to organize the German churches in Mihvaukee for the sole purpose of electing Charles Evans Hughes President of the United States! An organization called the American Independence Conference invited German Lutheran and other German Evangelical pastors from around the state to attend a 33 Milwaukee Journal, October 14, 1916, p. 1. -27- meeting at the Republican House and hear speeches concerning Hughes. German Catholic clergymen were entertained in a similar fashion the following day. Both groups had all their expenses paid by the Conference. As the Journal witnessed this massive undermining of the Republic, it could only warn that "unless they are stopped at once, things that are now going on in Milwaukee will give a more virulent trend to the presidential campaign.,,34 Interestingly enough, the Free Press coverage of the story was buried on page three of its paper where i~ noted, quite appro priately, that the ministers who attended did so as individuals, not as representatives of their churches in any official capacity. The .Journal continued its coverage of the event into the next , day, as it printed a fascinating account of an incident that took ~lace at the end of the meeting. As mentioned before, the organi zation that sponsored this event offered to pay the expenses for those "'/ho had attended. The Journal utilized this to portray the r:li niGters who took advantage of this as so many Judas Iscariots betraying Christ, or in this case, Woodrow Wilson. They were ac- cU3ed of taking part in "one of the sorriest, most distressing scenes that it is possible to imagine ••• as these ministers of the gospel, the spiritual leaders of the community rushed to the spot vlnere silver jingled and bank notes were displayed. ,,35 Periodically, the Journal would print stories which supposed ly showed the terrible effects this meeting caused. The case of Father Edward Stheling, pastor of the Catholic Church of the 34 Milwaukee Journal,October 24, 1916, p. 1. 35 f1ilwaukee Journal, October 25, 1916, p. 1. -28- Visitation of the Blessed Virgin in Maytown was one example. This ,priest had the audacity to not only start his Mass later but also give a longer sermon , in German, so that his congregation would not be able to attend a Wilson campaign meeting being held at the same time down the road. As election day drew nearer, the Jouxnal, always on guard, continued to expose plot after devious plot. Circulars, distri.buted by a local Republican campaign committee urging Germans to vote for Hughes, were interpreted as an attempt to use the ballot box to destroy the President of the United St~tes. On November 7~, the fateful day arrived. Voters turned out in record numbers to elect the next President of the United States. Although the Milwaukee and Wisconsin returns were recorded the very nr:~x, t d ~{ , the national returns, because of the extreme closeness of the election, were not known until three days later. In fact the ! ree Pre~ pulled a Chicago Tribune as its Novembep 8~ ' headline read "Hughes Next President." 1'he paper went on to note that Hughes \'Von by a decisive majority, pulling in at least three hundred and thirty electoral votes. "At 7 o'clock tonight, Mrs. Charles Evans Hughes ran to the side of her husband, threw her arms around him and kissed him. She repeated three times' I'in s o glad , so glad you are the President of the United States. '"36 Go much for wishful thinking. The next day the paper had to print 3 retraction and admitted that the race was, indeed, still in doubt. The outcome was hanging on the returns from Cal~fornia 36 Milwaukee Free Press, ~ovember 8, 1916, p. 1. -29- and New Mexico. On November 10~ the results came in. Wilson captured California and won the Presidential election. HU~les carried the state of Wisconsin by almost thirty thousand votes"accumulating 221,355 votes to Wilson's 193, 042. The Journal,as expected, was not overjoyed with these statistics. It bitterly contended that in strong German communities of Wisconsin, outside of Milwaukee, thousands of German-Americans voted not as Americans but as Germans. It did attempt to find some solace in the results when it noted that, while the state election figures showed that German propagandists took Democratic votes by the thousands from Wilson, enough Republican voters took their places to make up for the loss and give Wilson twenty thousand more votes then he had in the 1912 Presidential election. f1i.lwaukee County was another story entirely. Here the Journal .found it most pleasant to publish the election results, for they showed that Wi lson carried the county by almost seven thousand votes , compili ng 34,812 to Hughes's 27, 831 and Alan Benson, the Socialist candidate's 16, 948. 37 Of particular interest to the Journal were the results from s even specific wards, all predominately German. The results were as fol lows: WARD WILSOlll (DE!;l. ) HUGHES(REP. ) BENSON(SOC.) 13 1117 1109 569 15 1696 1263 246 19 1396 1283 695 - 37 Wisconsin Blue Book,~. Industrial Commission, Madison, Wisconsin, 1917, p. 218. -30- WARD WILSON(DEM.) HUGHES(REP. ) BENSON(SOC 9 ) 21 1110 1084 992 22 1783 1707 861 23 1710 1096 834 25 833 1263 1213 9045 8-865 ' 5410 38 To the Journal, these numbers proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the city of Milwaukee was completely loyal. In its November Bill editorial, entitled "Milw~ukee is .Vindicated," the Journal cr owed that "the city of Milwaukee, home of the Germania Herold, the Free Press, and Excelsior, all organs of disloyalty, t he headquarters of Mr. Leo Stern and the German-American Alliance, has given t he Pre sident a significant plurality of six thousand '~ o tes . FL ve Ge r man wards \oJ'ent to Wilson while only two went to Hu ghes . The results prove t hat not only the German-Americans a re l !)Y f.l l hut that in I1ilwaukee, they are not fooled , by- those who "-Io:-ke<3 s o hard and s pent s o much money in the effort to lead them R.nc, t ray. ,, 39' The Free Press, understandably dejedted over both the national and lor.al election r eturns , fired back with its own editorial. It b lamed t he Sociali s t s for the local defeat. It noted that the average vote for county candidates of the Socialist Party was around twenty-four thousand votes, yet the Socialist presidential eandidate Bens on, r eceived only around fourteen thousand votes (early, unoffici al count). ·\.Jhat had happened to the other _ten thousand votes, the Free Pr ess asked? Well, they went to Wilson 38 Wisconsin Blue Book, 1917, p. 219. 39 Milwaukee Journal, November 8~, 1916, p. 14. ~~--.-:...-- . ~-.- -. --. -31- ba..g and baggage. The average vote for Democratic county candidates ~_ . sixteen thousand, yet Wilson received over thirty thousand. Had tho8e ten thousand votes gone where they should have, Hughes would have defeated Wilson in Milwaukee. In what eventually turned out to be its "last hurrah" as in volvement in the war seemed more and more certain, the Free Press sarcastically continued its attack on its archrival. "The Milwaukee Journal, blithely overlooking the overwhelming repudiation of lJi lson by the state, tries to extract comfort from the fact that the President carried the city of Milwaukee. This, it says, has made clear that Milwaukee is an 'American Community', that it is not a stronghold of foreigners. If that statement is meant to becloud its own lost prestige, the Journal offers an insult to the citizens of the entire state, especially those of German birth and ;raction. For 1,f the Mihlaukee vote for Wi l son establishes the ci t :7 as an Ameri can community, than the state vote for Hughes must e ~: ; ~; 3. blish \Jisconsin as a foreign community . Of course t he Journal i s me r ely indulging in another exhibit ion of pro-British rant. If it dared to tell the truth about the returns from Milwaukee, it woul d have to confess that Wilson carried the city siblely through the aid of the Socialist vote.,,40 With this the year long battle between the Journal and the Free Press drew to a close. For the next four months, the Free P r ~~ kept a relatively low profile, especially during the February 1917 crisis over the unrestricted submarine warfare '+0 Milwa.l.lkee Free Press ,November 10, 1916, p. 10. -32- issue~ It passively accepted its own fate and the fate of the ,Quntry, for during the next twenty-two months, America would be involved in the European war &1ld the Free .Press would die. It printed its last edition on December 1, 1918. The Journal, on the other hand, became more and more patriotic as it prepared the city for the inevitable. 1,Jith the submarine issue still fresh in its readers minds, it published a story on its front page entitled "A Germ~ Plan to Invade the United States". Ln The article dealt with a sixteen year olsmilitary report written by one Baron Von Edelshein and 'filed in the Berlin archives for use by German officers in the event of war between the two countries. For the next two months, up ~~til the official declaration of ','rar, the .Journa.l filled its pages 'Ilith stories concerning such ,opica as: the flying of flags throughout the city in support 01' Wilson; the Gi118icg of patriotic songs in the public schools(by this time the si-ngLng of Die lJacht Am R..'1ein, the' Germa..'1 national. \var song , had been banned i~ the schools) ; the serialization of Ed'nard Evert Hall's 11an Withou.t a Country; and finally the Harch l8tll mass meeting to voice loyalty to the President and the COl)Ilt.ry • Only two relatively negative stories were run duri ng this time. The first concerned the faculty members of the German De partment at the University cf Wisconsin. It seemed that only two of the total tw ~.mty-sGven professors, instruct ors and assistants LH 11,ilwaukce Journ.al, February 18, 1917, p. 1. ~ -33- of that department sighed the University faculty message that ~ledge support and lOYalty to the United States government. Eighty five percent of the entire faculty at the University eventually signed. The names of the twenty-five in the German Department who refused were conspicuously printed on the paper's pages. The second concerned a story reported by A.F. Kletzsch, chairman of the now defunct German-American Bazaar Association and one time state Republican chairman. His story bore a striking resemblance to one that appeared in the Journal more than a year before, when the Journal first began its fight to prove to the country that l"lilwaukee was not a city of foreign traitors. His report, IIHow the Nation Looks Upon US,II seemed to complete the cycle . \o(hich began in January of 1916. On a busihess trip to the East, Kletzsch noted that II the businessmen of eastern cities think that '£ /l:i.h/aul{ee is a hotbed of sedition, that Milwaukee is a German city, that all the :L n ~ . a. bi tI3 ...'ltS are Germans, not Americans. Tl,1e senti- ment allover is overwhelming against Milwaukee. Businessmen out East seem to [.,rant to boycott f1ilwaukee as a place to do business because of this sentiment that is spreading over the country.1I42 So once again the Journal began its campaign to disprove those charges and urged the citizens of Milwaukee to voice their patriotism and r emove the supposed black eye given to the city by what the Journal called a few fanatics. This second attempt to rally the people 'round the flag' ended abruptly on April 6, 1917 as both the Milwaukee Journal and 42 M L ~. '>'mukee Journal, February 22, 1917, p. 1. '-- _I -34- the 11ilwaukee F'ree Press broke the news of the declaration of \'far ~ to t he good citizens of the city. Statistics can not adequately reflect the emotional stress the average German-American citizen, living in the city of Mil waukee in 1916, experienced. No charts or graphs can ever present a true picture of tne anxiety and uneasiness that became part of their lives during this time. Only a handftil10f German-A~ricans stood ~ behind clearl y defined lines. The Leo Sterns were admittedly pro German while the General Winklers of the city .were one hundred percent loyal t o the American cause. Unfortunately, these highly outspoken groups which tended to dominate the news hid from view the feelings of the silent majority of German-Americans, who were caught between a "rock and a hard place." Just before the Presi- dental elections , a noted German writer, Henry Urban, summed UP ~ - t his dilemma i n a speech given to the German Literary Society at the Hot el \.Ji sconsin. He noted that 11 the future·· of · Germany concerns all Germans around the 'flOrId. Her children are Germans ev "~ rywh e r e , i neluding ,the United States. It is not mere chance that t he war has driven the German-Americans into a terrific tor- rr:ent. ,,-Ie see that German-Americans from Ne\'1 York to San Francis co are united in the almost sacred conviction that inspite of all t h e i ~ duties to their new country, they have a right to consider themS0J.ves sons and daughters of the old country and to defend 7.:he i r old country fearlessly, where so many of their co-citizens ar e ho stile to Germany.,,43 1.+3 r1ilwaukee Journal, November 6, 1916, p. 16. ' -35- Loyalty to the land of your heritage or loyalty to your ~ new adopted country? A very difficult choice indeed, yet a choice made even more difficult , if not impossible, by a press which long since abandoned any attempt at objective reporting. The power wielded by the Milwaukee Journal Was considerable. Rather than persuade the German-Americans through logic, it chose to browbeat them with emotion. In short, the Milwaukee Journal, during 1916, adopted a policy of debasing the German-American citizentry in the name of patriotism. Perhaps we had more to fear from this than from any real or imagined German sedition. '. '- ~~~ , ai!fL!iC£~.Zili¥D~mB-Il@~~4-awus i ,~ BIBLIOGRAPHY Austin, H. Russell. The Wisconsin Story. Milwaukee: The Journal Company, 1948. '-- Austin, H.. Russell. The Milwaukee StOry. Milwaukee: The Journal Company, 1946. Ayer, N.W., ed. AJer Dictionary, 1916. Philadelphia: N.W. Ayer and Sons, 1916. Census Enumeration of the State of Wisconsin 1 05. Madison: Demo crat~c r~nt~ng ompany, 1 • Conrad, William C., Wilson Dale, and Wilson, Kathleen. The Milwaukee Journal: The First Eighty Years. Madison: University of Wiscon sin Press, 1964. Current, Hichard N. Wisconsin, A History. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1977. Milwaukee Free Press, January, 1916-April, 1917. Milwaukee Journal, January, 1916-April, 1917. --_ ..... - A -:-7'---:-ii. ---··-t::,,:-e--:l_x-« - «( • Still, Bayd. Milwaukee, A History of a City. Madison: State Histori-. cal Society, 1948. '- :,.Je lls, Robert ~ This 1.s Milwaukee. New York; Doubleday, 1970. 1.-iohl tatigkeits B;-:l.sas Zin Bester der Kriegsnotleidender- in Deutschland, Oesterriech und Ungarm Abgehalter von 2 bis' 7 Iiay 19l6.(program f rom the charity bazaar). Milwaukee Public Library Archives. '- ""'I' ~A:f.! ._i£i±X.... &\2L~ &.tiD.:rt:!Yi'44!!I£l4!i?.MJ%:&1",-'t!!fE;;5t t t PM An 5E1££J!!&!2: ~, iP!' .' Pi 42:. ,n.' Ed ifIW,n.:ew:u:r "