Awakening the „Forgotten Folk‟: Middle Class Consumer Activism in Post-World War I America by Mark W. Robbins B.A., Universi
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AWAKENING THE „FORGOTTEN FOLK‟: MIDDLE CLASS CONSUMER ACTIVISM IN POST-WORLD WAR I AMERICA BY MARK W. ROBBINS B.A., UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR, 2003 A.M., BROWN UNIVERSITY, 2004 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AT BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2009 ©Copyright 2009 Mark W. Robbins iii This dissertation by Mark W. Robbins is accepted in its present form by the Department of History as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date ___________ __________________________ Mari Jo Buhle, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date ___________ __________________________ Robert Self, Reader Date ___________ __________________________ Elliott Gorn, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date ___________ __________________________ Shelia Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School iv VITA Mark W. Robbins was born in Lansing, MI on August 31, 1981. He attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where he received a B.A. in History with high honors and high distinction in 2003 with academic minors in Anthropology and Applied Statistics. In 2004, he received an A.M. in History from Brown University, where he specialized in U.S. cultural, labor and political history. His dissertation research has been funded by Brown University, the Newberry Library, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, the Historical Society of Southern California and the John R. Haynes Foundation. He has taught classes in American and African history at the University of Rhode Island, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth and Brown University. In the fall of 2009 he will join the Social Sciences Department at Del Mar College as an Assistant Professor of History. v ACKNOWLEDGEMETS A great many people made this dissertation possible. My advisor Mari Jo Buhle became an invaluable mentor since the moment I entered the PhD program in the Department of History at Brown. Her detailed comments, moral support and guidance were instrumental in getting me to this point. Robert Self helped me to think about my project in new ways and directed me toward a variety of fruitful lines of analysis. The depths of his knowledge and his talents as a reader never cease to amaze me. Elliott Gorn has also been an excellent mentor. He helped me to remain focused on the people driving my narrative and encouraged me to think of class as something that occurs between the lines. I am also grateful for the guidance and encouragement of Nancy Jacobs. She has always been supportive and has helped me think through ideas ranging from dissertation writing strategies to effective teaching techniques. I would also like to thank Tracy Steffes, Mark Swislocki and Gordon Wood for their support over the course of my graduate education, and Maris Vinovskis and Matthew Lassiter for their mentorship during my undergraduate career at the University of Michigan. A number of colleagues read sections of my work or otherwise supported this project. Without their feedback, this dissertation would not have been possible. They are: Gill Frank, Gabriel Rosenberg, Caroline Boswell, Christopher Brick, Robert Fleegler, Natalina Earls, Lara Couturier, Paige Meltzer, Stacie Taranto, Jessica Foley, Nichole Eaton, Derek Seidman, Daniel Puskin, and Nicholas Wilson. In particular, I would like to thank Erik Anderson, who patiently and thoughtfully provided comments in its earlier (rough) stages. Numerous librarians archivists helped locate important source material and directed me to new sources, especially Lisa Gezelter at the National Archives- vi Laguna Niguel, Deborah Osterberg at the National Archives-San Bruno and the staff of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. This project was also aided by financial support from Brown University, the Newberry Library, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, the Historical Society of Southern California and the John R. Haynes Foundation. Specifically, Pat Hand at the Hoover and Diane Dillon at the Newberry made my research at these libraries both enjoyable and productive. I will forever be grateful for the love and support of family - and as a bonus, their invaluable comments on my dissertation. My parents, Patty and Larry Robbins, have been loving and supportive since the day I was born. They also read every chapter and provided both editorial and conceptual feedback. Christine, I thank you for your unwavering love, companionship and support, for which I will always be grateful. Christine has also been a great editor and, as a historical archeologist, she has helped me to work through numerous rough ideas. We have enjoyed navigating the waters of graduate school together. Dave and Debbie Sprecher have been there for me every step of the way, always offering their love, support and friendship. I am lucky to have them in my life. I am also thankful for the love and support of my brothers, Danny, Brian and Michael, sister-in-law Kristi, nieces Katie and Myah, and nephews Josh, Cayden, and Eric. A special thanks goes out to Brian, who opened his home for three months as I researched home gardening and municipal markets in Los Angeles. Brian‟s balcony garden rivals those of many post-World War I Los Angeles urban gardeners. vii Table of Contents Page Introduction: 1 Chapter 1: Politicizing Consumption in the Community: Middle 36 Class Consumer Organizing during the Progressive Era and World War I Chapter 2: Becoming Producers and Avoiding the Middleman: 95 Home Garden and Municipal Market Campaigns Chapter 3: The “Flying Squadron” Declares War on the 157 Profiteers: The U.S. Department of Justice High Cost of Living Division and Federally-Sponsored Middle Class Consumer Organizing Chapter 4: A Nation in Overalls: Middle Class Clothing 215 Boycotts Chapter 5: Rent War!: Middle Class Tenant Organizing 278 Epilogue: Toward a “Middle Class Union” 338 Appendices: 351 Bibliography: 357 viii List of Tables and Charts Page Percentage Class Breakdown of County Leaders of the Kentucky State Council of Defense Women‟s Committee 75 Percentage Class Breakdown of Chairpersons for Town Units in Los Angeles Country 75 Professions of the Washington Minutemen (American Protective League) 86 Food Prices Versus Middle Class Salaries (Relative Change from 1912) 101 Income by Class Versus Clothing Prices 164 Total Permits for New Buildings in Chicago (Including Single- Family Dwellings) 285 Relative Housing Costs and Cost of Living (All Commodities) in Chicago (Dec. 1916 and Dec. 1914=1, Respectively) 292 ix List of Illustrations/Pictures Page L.C. Zeigler 10 The February, 1917 New York Food Riots 46 Hulett Clinton Merritt 54 USFA Float Suggestion 71 A Dose of His Own Medicine (Middleman Cartoon) 104 Home Gardeners 110 Venice, CA Mayor in Overalls 115 Drawing of Gardeners Taking Advantage of Daylight Savings 122 A Los Angeles Municipal Market 136 Images of Profiteers and Victims 141 Uncle Sam in Overalls 225 A Minister in Overalls 236 Noel Mitchell Tarpon Fishing St. Petersburg Boosterism 241 Boy Ridiculed for Not Wearing Overalls 251 New York Overall Parade 253 Denim Wearers Promoting the Silver Horde 255 Politicians in Overalls 263 A Couple in Overalls with Formal Clothes Underneath 268 Cartoons of Middle Class Families‟ Housing Woes 294 Map of Residence by Class in a Rogers Park Block, 1910 and 1920 296 Cupid Studies the Dollar Market 298 Map of Residence by Class in a Rogers Park Block, 1910 305 A Child Holding “Landlord Unfair” Sign 307 John R. Patterson 316 Middle Class Unionists 341 1 Introduction The doctor sat patiently with a revolver in his hand. His seat was familiar, one that he had taken frequently over the past few days. It faced the front door of his apartment, which he had barricaded with numerous chains and a piano. Dr. L.C. Zeigler did not live in a dangerous neighborhood, but on May 1, 1921 the Rogers Park section of Chicago‟s North End had become filled with tension. Like many of his white collar neighbors, Zeigler and his landlord had developed an acrimonious relationship during the previous months. The trouble began when Zeigler‟s landlord informed him that he would increase his rent by 60 percent at the end of the lease. Infuriated, Zeigler publicly criticized his landlord in the press and through window placards. He was not alone. Collectively, white collar tenants who were part of the self-proclaimed “middle class” Rogers Park Tenants Protective Association displayed placards that referred to their landlords as “rent hogs” and “profiteers.” The Association declared a “rent strike” for May 1, hoping that their collective refusal to move out would flood the municipal courts with forcible detainer cases, and prompt the local and state governments to enact rent reform. On May 1, Zeigler fired a shot at a new tenant attempting to move into his residence. Unharmed, the new tenant fled and Zeigler continue to wait.1 Throughout the 1910s, Americans encountered substantial price increases for the “necessaries of life.” Between 1913 and 1919, retail food prices escalated by 86 percent and average rents rose by 11 percent from 1914-19 (but with substantial fluctuations occurring in 1919-20). Retail clothing and other dry goods prices exhibited even more 1 Chicago Tribune 3/7/1921, 3/21/1921; Chicago Daily Journal 5/9/1921. 2 drastic trends, increasing by an average of 223 percent from 1915 to 1919. Meanwhile, middle class salaries remained stagnant. Whereas the average working class wage rose by approximately 55 percent between 1913 and 1919, white collar salaries incurred no positive change.2 By the immediate postwar period, middle class Americans were livid. One white collar worker exclaimed to his local newspaper, “The position of the salaried worker is growing intolerable…our resentment increases and grows more bitter from that very fact.” John R.