RAMSEY COUNTY Long-Ago Snapshots When Sitting Bull Was Photographed in St. Paul HıstoryA Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society Leo J. Harris Summer 2015 Volume 50, Number 2 —Page 13 When Ramsey County Politics Had an Edge Maas vs. Williams Paul D. Nelson, page 3 A 1934 campaign poster calling for voters to reelect Congressman Melvin Maas. Maas, a Republican, won this election, defeating four other candidates who split the votes in Minnesota’s Fourth Congressional District, which included Ramsey County. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY RAMSEY COUNTY President Chad Roberts Founding Editor (1964–2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor Hıstory John M. Lindley Volume 50, Number 2 Summer 2015 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON DECEMBER 20, 2007: William B. Frels The Ramsey County Historical Society inspires current and future generations Chair to learn from and value their history by engaging in a diverse program Cheryl Dickson of presenting, publishing and preserving. First Vice Chair Elizabeth M. Kiernat Second Vice Chair James Miller C O N T E N T S Secretary Kenneth H. Johnson 3 When Ramsey County Politics Had an Edge Treasurer Mass vs. Williams Julie Brady, Anne Cowie, Jo Anne Driscoll, Mari Oyanagi Eggum, Thomas Fabel, Paul D. Nelson John Guthmann, Richard B. Heydinger, Jr., David Kristal, Carl Kuhrmeyer, 13 Long-Ago Snapshots Father Kevin M. McDonough, When Sitting Bull Was Photographed in St. Paul Nancy W. McKillips, Susan McNeely, Robert Muschewske, James A. Stolpestad, Leo J. Harris Ralph Thrane, Susan Vento, Jerry Woefel. 19 Carnies and Calamities EDITORIAL BOARD A Carnival Midway on the Island at Phalen Park, 1903–1908 Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, Thomas H. Boyd, John Diers, Thomas Fabel, Janice R. Quick William Frels, John Guthmann, Douglas Heidenreich, James Miller, 24 Book Reviews John Milton, Laurie M. Murphy, Robert Muschewske, Paul D. Nelson, 27 Letters to the Editor Richard H. Nicholson, Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, Chad Roberts, Steve Trimble, Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from Mary Lethert Wingerd. Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie Jr. HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon William Fallon, William Finney, George Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan. RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Jim McDonough, chair Commissioner Toni Carter A Message from the Editorial Board Commissioner Blake Huffman Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire Commissioner Rafael Ortega njoy fun summer reading with this issue. The political landscape in Ramsey Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt ECounty in the 1920s and ’30s was not dull. Paul Nelson has written a lively account Commissioner Janice Rettman of the rivalry between Melvin Maas, a colorful Republican congressman, and his left- Julie Kleinschmidt, manager, leaning and equally passionate challenger, Howard Williams. It’s a great read. Leo J. Ramsey County Harris explores the world of professional photography in St. Paul in the 1880s. In par- Ramsey County History is published quarterly ticular, portraits of Sitting Bull illustrate an up-and-coming technology, used to record by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Paul, MN the poignancy of a defeated warrior. And Janice Quick reveals the brief but sparkling 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in U.S.A. Copy- existence of a midway carnival on the island in Lake Phalen in the early 1900s. Until right © 2015, Ram sey County His torical So ciety. ISSN Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. concerns about water pollution shut it down, it hosted many festive family outings. No part of this publication may be reprinted We have a few interesting book reviews, too, and updates from readers. We are always or otherwise reproduced without written interested in what you think. permission from the publisher. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements made by contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; e-mail address: Anne Cowie [email protected]; web site address: www.rchs.com Chair, Editorial Board 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY When Ramsey County Politics Had an Edge Maas vs. Williams Paul D. Nelson o one under 90 years of age can remember a time when the voters in St. Paul, after experimenting with the of Ramsey County consistently sent a Republican to Congress. But it public speaking circuit and Texas oil, he happened. From 1927 into early 1945 the only politician to represent did well in the insurance and surety bond N business.3 Minnesota’s Fourth Congressional District was the very conservative Melvin J. In 1926, at age 27, he challenged in- Maas. He kept the seat through tumult: the stock market crash and the fall of cumbent congressman Oscar Keller in Hoover; Roosevelt’s rise and the Republican Party’s deep decline; the long and the Republican primary. Melvin Maas dispiriting Great Depression; and the radical challenge of Minnesota’s Farmer- proved to be a skillful politician. Smart Labor movement. and gregarious, he also enjoyed the perfect ethnic and religious heritage Until his ultimate defeat in 1944, only one for St. Paul—Catholic, German father, politician seriously challenged Maas’s Irish mother. He saw Prohibition as a hold on this congressional seat—the left- scourge, turning law-abiding citizens leaning clergyman, political organizer, into enablers, even criminals. He called and serial candidate Howard Y. Williams. for amending Prohibition to allow sell- This is the story of their parallel and in- ing beer and wine, and presented this as tersecting careers, and their unfriendly an anti-crime measure. It probably did confrontations. not hurt that before Prohibition, St. Paul They could not have been more differ- had been a regional brewing center, and ent. Melvin Maas was short and round, the law had cost many jobs.4 Maas made a lifelong Marine and successful insur- Prohibition the issue of the campaign. ance man, an opponent of Prohibition Keller, meanwhile, had been ideo- who smoked twenty cigars a day. He logically and personally erratic: he had considered American pacifists and inter- been pro-labor, then announced he would nationalists deluded and disloyal. The become a “regular” Republican, cost- Washington Daily News once called him ing him labor support; he had started “a chunky bit of belligerency.”1 impeachment proceedings against U.S. Howard Williams, slim, elegant, and Melvin Joseph Maas, age 17 or 18, in his St. Paul Central High School senior photo. Photo Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty, deeply affected by his Union Theological from the 1916 Central High School Yearbook, then walked out of the hearings when Seminary education, approached politics Minnesota Historical Society. they did not go his way; he had supported with a moral idealism—or maybe he was, Prohibition, but now wavered and lost as the St. Paul Daily News once put it, the support of the Anti-Saloon League. “prone to half-baked ideas.”2 He leaned their similarities fed the rancor between Keller returned to St. Paul only ten days toward pacifism and believed good poli- them as much as their differences. before the primary, expecting victory. tics could make the world better. On Maas beat him by 10,000 votes. Maas Melvin J. Maas (1898–1964) Prohibition he supported more vigorous won easily in November and when he enforcement. Unlike Maas, Williams had Maas came to St. Paul from Duluth as took his seat became the youngest mem- no idea how to make money. an infant, graduated from Central High ber of Congress.5 The two also had plenty in common. School, and began at the College of St. Both had volunteered for service in World Thomas. Then World War I intervened. Howard Y. Williams War I and been changed by the experi- At age nineteen he joined the Marines and (1889–1973) ence. Both had attended the University learned to fly. Stationed in the Azores, he Born in San Francisco in 1889, son of of Minnesota, started in electoral poli- searched the Atlantic for German ves- a Welsh father and Welsh-American tics in 1926 and finished in the early to sels. Flying became Maas’s passion, and mother, Williams came to Minneapolis mid-1940s. Both were family men and he never really left the military; he kept as a young boy, graduated from South upright, immune from corruption. Maybe his Marine Reserve commission. Back High School and from the University RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 3 and called for the socialization of all gation centered on a U.S. Post Office mines, railroads, and utilities: “We must lease in downtown St. Paul. As far back confiscate property rather than allow prop- as 1922 the local postmaster, with ap- erty to confiscate life.” People’s Church proval in Washington, had negotiated a grew and prospered.9 twenty-year lease on a privately owned Williams got noticed. In 1926 St. Paul package shipping facility. Maas learned, labor leaders searched for a candidate to and revealed, that the building was sub- Howard Y. Williams in his senior year in run for mayor against city comptroller standard and overvalued, the lease rates the 1910 University of Minnesota Gopher, Minnesota Historical Society. and former mayor, the Democrat Larry, absurdly high—at over $120,000 per “Larry Ho,” Hodgson. After two experi- year, equal to more than one-third the enced politicians said no, Williams said value of the building—and non-cancel- of Minnesota in 1910. At the U. he ran yes. He lost by plenty, but his political lable. An inspector had called the place track, wrote for its newspaper, the Daily, career had begun.10 unfit for human occupation.