VOLUME 42 NUMBER I

PUBLISHED BY THE S AUTUMN. 1958

^ When John Edmunds built this gristmill in 1866 New England was still the home of poets, the Middle West still a frontier in transition. Yet it was pioneers like Edmunds who, determining the place-names, left ON THE COVER a legacy of verbal music that endures. Charter Oak mill, on a creek called Squaw, near Black River Falls, Wisconsin. In the very names one hears the millstone turn, the grist being ground, the cold dark water flowing.

The WISCONSIN MAOAZINI; OF HISTORY is published by the State Historical Society of Wis­ consin, 816 State Street, Madison 6, Wisconsin. Distrll)iited to inembers as part of their dues (Annual Membership, $5.00; Contributing, $10; Business and Professional, $25; Life, $100; Sustaining, $100 or more annually; Patron, $1,000 or more annually). Yearly subscription, $5.00; single numbers. $1.25. As of July 1, 1955, introductory offer for NEW members: annual dues $1.00; such new members may subscribe to the Magazine for an additional $4.00. Com­ munications should be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Second-class postage paid at Madison, Wisconsin. Copyright 1958 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Paid for in part l)y the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and Ijy the George B. Burrows Fund.

PERMISSION: Wisconsin newspapers may reprint any article appearing in the Wisconsin Magazine of History provided the story carries the following credit line: Reprinted from the State Historical Society's Wisconsin Magazine of History for [insert the season and year which appear on the Magazine].

COVER PICTURE: From the C. S. Van Schaick file of original negatives in the State Historical Society's Iconographic Collections. Van Schaick, for many years over the turn of the century the town photographer of Black River Falls, left more than 50,000 photographic plates, a selection of which is permanently preserved as a historical record. VOLUME 42 NUMBER I

PUBLISHED BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN • AUTUMN, 1958

Editor: WILLIAM CONVERSE HAYGOOD

CONTENTS

A Farmer Halts the Hangman: The Story of Marvin Bovee ELWOOD R. MCINTYRE 3

The Problem at Peshtigo WILLIAM F. STEUBER, JR. 13

The Wisconsin Idea and Social Security ARTHUR J. ALTMEYER 19 Twenty-two Against the Plague: The Founding of the Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association HAROLD HOLAND 29 Children Make History: The Wisconsin Junior Historian Program DORIS H. PLATT 35 Green Bay and the Mormons of Beaver Island CHARLES 0. BuRGESS 39 The Western Hero in Fact and Fancy: A Review . . . .HARRY E. LIGHTER 52

FEATURES Meet the Authors 2 Compleat Historian 35 Smoke Rings 16 Sincerely Yours 50 Circuit Rider 26 Readers' Choice 52 Accessions 74 MEET HAROLD HOLAND, born in Ephraim, Wiscon­ DORIS PLATT, editor since 1955 of sin, is director of publications and social Badger History and author of a vol­ research for the Wisconsin Anti-Tubercu­ ume of poetry. Green Among Gold, losis Association and managing editor of its was introduced to literature at an monthly journal, The Crusader. A staff early age. Born in Oak Park, Illi­ member of the WATA since 1930, his per­ nois, she enjoys the distinction of sonal interest in tuberculosis control goes having been baby-sat by Ernest Hem- back three years earlier, when, as a junior . ; ingway—at that time one of her at the University of Wisconsin, he had his father's pupils in the local high first bout with pulmonary tuberculosis. school. Her academic degrees—B.A. from Beloit Col­ Many years later he won his B. Ph. degree at Mar­ lege, M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wiscon­ quette University. He is the author of one published sin—have all been in the field of literature. .loining book, Rehabilitation at Lake Toma­ the Society's staff in 1948, Miss Platt launched the hawk State Camp (New York, 1945), first state-wide convention of Junior Historians. She editor of another, A Mirror for Cure- is a consultant for the WHA Wisconsin School of Takers (Milwaukee, 1946), and has the Air TV show "Pioneer Wisconsin," and in October a third scheduled for publication this began her own program, "Pioneer Wisconsin." fall—House of Open Doors, a history of the first fifty years of the WATA's campaign for tuberculosis control. CHARLES 0. BURGESS, born in Port­ Mr. Holand's wife, Mary William­ land, Oregon, is a candidate for the son Holand, a former tuberculosis worker in New Ph.D. in American history at the York, is executive director of the Milwaukee County University of Wisconsin. Before com­ Association for Mental Health. mencing his college education, Mr. Burgess completed a four-year en­ listment in the United States Air Force (1950-1954), serving as an liBrjfl.'iB.^'' -'^"'•H'-'K J- ALTMEYER is probably instructor of logistics and supply BFlf ^l'"'"' best known for his work in connec­ procedures. In 1954 he enrolled at the University of tion with the development of the Oregon, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts three _ Social Security Act and its adminis- years later. He received the degree of master of sci­ _^?t,j^^ tration from its enactment in 1935 ence in history at the University of Wisconsin in ^^••^djk until his resignation as Commissioner ^^^K^Hft of Social Security in 1953. A native June, 1958, under the direction of Dr. Merle Curti. HH^ Hi of De Pere, he holds the A.B., M.A., Ph.D., and I^L.D. degrees from the WILLIAM F. STEUBER, JR. was born University of Wisconsin, and prior to entering gov­ in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, in the ernment service in 1933 was a school principal and decade that saw the last of Wiscon­ later Secretary of the Wisconsin Industrial Commis­ sin's big cuts of timber and the first sion. In 1934 President Roosevelt appointed him As­ licensing of automobiles. These seem­ sistant Secretary of Labor, and he was also named ingly unrelated items patterned his chairman of the technical board of the Cabinet Com­ career. Growing numbers of autos mittee on Economic Security whose report to the demanded highways. Highways de­ President blueprinted the Social Security Act passed manded engineers. The State High­ by Congress. way Commission employed him after his graduation Now a resident of Madison, Mr. Altmeyer is a lec­ from the University of Wisconsin in 1930, and cur­ turer at the University and serves as an advisor on rently he is the Commission's Chief of Public Infor­ social security problems to various labor and em­ mation. When he isn't writing about highways, he ployer organizations. Recently he has spent consider­ uses his free time to write historical novels. His The able time in Iran, Turkey, and Peru as an advisor Landlooker (reviewed in the Wisconsin Magazine of in the development of the social welfare programs of History, Spring, 1958) goes back to the days when those countries. pine in Wisconsin was as oil today is to Texas. It was while doing research for this novel that Mr. Steuber came onto the disheartening condition of the ELWOOD R. MCINTYRE, born in New Peshtigo Fire Cemetery, of which he writes with London, Wisconsin, grew up in Por­ grace and feeling in this issue. tage and began his journalistic career on the Portage Daily Register and the Wisconsin State Journal of Madi­ HARRY E. LIGHTER, originally of Mil- son. In 1913 he joined the agricul­ ""^ waukee and a graduate of the Uni- tural journalism department of the University of Wisconsin, and from 1918 through 1945 was on the edi­ torial staff of The Wisconsin Farmer which in 1929 merged with the Wisconsin Agriculturist of Racine. During the decade I945-I955 he was in charge of farm magazine relations in the U. S. Department of J ^ versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is, Agriculture in Washington and also edited USDA, •'"'^ > in number of years served, the senior the Department's employee news bulletin. A returned k iS% member of the staff of the Society's Madisonian, he now does special writing assignments I flim Museum. Now its Curator of CoUec- while continuing the series of informal essays, which J ^^!^ tions, he came to the Museum in for the past thirty years under the pen name of "Jeff • ET-' 1942. Following service in the U.S. McDermid," he has written for the technical soils Army, he returned to the Society in magazine Better Crops. 1946. Besides his museum work he has taught in the department of art education of the University of Wis­ consin and has been a designer and maker of jewelry, textiles, and furniture. Among his many and varied interests are the history of the West, particularly the history of frontier weapons, and the restoration of paintings, antique weapons, and obfets d'art. A Farmer Halts the Hangman: He served in the 25th Congress, and when the second session opened in 1836, Speaker Polk The Story of Marvin Bovee put him on the Committee of the Whole on Expenditures of the War Department.^ To his mother Marvin gave credit for a happy child­ by Elwood R. McIntyre hood in which she "taught me to hate nothing but injustice and cruelty."^ Marvin's youthful plans to enter Union Col­ lege at Schenectady, New York, were aban­ doned when the family of eleven persons moved to Wisconsin Territory in 1843. They settled on a farm in Eagle township, Waukesha County, where Matthias acquired over a thou­ sand acres of land, some of which he turned over to his children.* The Eagle township cen­ sus of seven years later shows Marvin and his five brothers and three sisters living with their parents on a prosperous forty-acre farm valued at $6,000, having machinery worth $250, two teams of horses, a yoke of oxen, a dozen milch "From the newspaper accounts of every exe­ cows, forty hogs, and a flock of sheep. In that cution, I learned how Mr. So and So and Mr. year, 1850, Eagle township had 125 farms, Somebody Else and Mr. So On shook hands with only twenty of them valued at more than with the culprit. But I never find them shak­ $3,000. The Bovees' close neighbors were the ing hands with the hangman. All kinds of Pittmans, Spragues, Hinkleys, and Thomases. attention and consideration are lavished on the Waukesha County was a hotbed of anti- one, but the other is universally avoided like slavery sentiment and advanced political ideas, a pestilence. Is it because the hangman exe­ and in their new home the Bovees took a keen cutes a law which all men instinctively abhor?" interest in school and lodge affairs as well as —Charles Dickens.' politics. The organization of School District No. 9 at Eagle Center, December 6, 1846, A SINGLE TERM in the legislature of 1853, found Matthias, his son William, and his -^*- as leader of a hard-fought but successful brother Phillip taking part. His son Marvin drive to abolish capital punishment in Wis­ taught school for four winter terms in the vi­ consin, turned Senator Marvin H. Bovee, cinity. Father and son were charter members Waukesha County farmer, into a zealous and of Robert Morris Lodge, F. & A.M., of Eagle resourceful penal reformer. Brought suddenly Center, and together joined the Democratic into prominence, his aid was sought in many "Granite Club." antigallows campaigns across the nation dur­ Apparently the elder Bovee never held pub­ ing the ensuing thirty-five years. At times he lic office in Wisconsin. He tried, however, to was praised and victorious; often he was de­ contest the seat of Charles Burchard as a con­ rided in defeat. stitutional convention delegate in 1P46. His Bovee's heritage foreshadowed his life of claims of miscounted votes and expense bills public usefulness. His parents, both natives were rejected by the credentials committee. of New Amsterdam, New York, where Marvin Bovee was born on January 5, 1827, had sym­ pathetic association with Quakers and Uni­ ' London Daily News, March 14, 1846. ' Biographical Dictionary of the American Congress tarians. The father, Matthias J. Bovee, a Jack- (Washington, 1950), 179; Register of Debates in sonian Democrat with a flair for progressive Congress (Gales & Seaton, Washington, 1836), 12:1,941. liberalism, was elected to the New York state ' Marvin H. Bovee, Christ and the Gallows; or. assembly in 1826, and ten years later, at the Reasons for the Abolition of Capital Punishment age of thirty-four, was elected to Congress as (New York, 1870), iii. •" James F. Bovee, Eagle, Wisconsin, to the author, a Democratic Representative from New York. October 16, 1956. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

Later, at the state convention just as the Civil fruit. Bovee's majority was 162 votes over War began, he declared that the Republicans Van Amringe and 353 over Dr. West. were heading for the rocks, but that he would Although penal reform was to dominate never consent to the independence of the Con­ Bovee's whole public career, it is not evident federate States.^ that it played any real part in his campaign. Marvin first became a political candidate in However, his views on the subject had already 1852, the year in which he and one John crystallized into a lifelong philosophy, and Walker wrote resolutions attacking the Na­ he had often aired them in the local news­ tional Bank Act and the high tariff as "dar­ papers. In one of these he called capital punish­ lings of the Whigs."'' In the fall of that year ment "a dark spot resting on us as Christians. he was chosen chairman of Eagle township A life once taken can never be restored, but and was then elected chairman of the Wau­ liberty can be given and restoration made to kesha County Board when it was organized. an unfortunate being who has been unjustly Meantime, the Democratic leaders were hunt­ imprisoned.'"'* His was no lone voice crying ing hard for a strong candidate to oppose the in the wilderness, for in the year in which he incumbent Whig senator in the Tenth District wrote antigallows societies were active in New —Dr. E. B. West. Another candidate whom York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, In­ they had to beat was H. H. Van Amringe of diana, Iowa, Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mukwonago, Fourierite western organizer and Louisiana. And back East, Bovee had heard land-reform advocate, to whose efforts the of the powerful foes of capital punishment homestead exemption clause in the state con­ —Robert Rantoul, Jr., DeWitt and George stitution was partly credited.'^ Clinton, Edward Livingston; and of the asy­ Finally, on September 10, 1852, in a meet­ lum correctors and prison reformers—Louis ing at Waukesha the Democrats nominated Dwight, Amos Pilsbury, Enoch Wines, Zebu- Bovee as senatorial candidate in the Tenth Ion Brockway, and the indomitable Dorothea District. Henry Danforth Barron, editor of the Dix."' Waukesha Democrat, emerged as Bovee's In the 1853 session of the legislature, the champion, and his influence counted. Barron Democrats were in the majority. Waukesha was from Saratoga, New York, and came west County's two senators, G. R. McLane of the too young to practice the law for which he was Ninth and Bovee of the Tenth Districts, were trained. Instead he got together enough credit both Democrats and both in full agreement on to buy the newspaper that brought him into the capital punishment issue. Christopher prominence. President Pierce made him post­ Latham Sholes of Kenosha (later the inventor master of Waukesha in 1857. Eventually Bar­ of the typewriter) was again in the assembly, ron left for St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and eager to renew the fight against hanging which thereafter served eight terms in the Wisconsin he had led unsuccessfully in 1852. Help also assembly, was speaker twice during the Civil was forthcoming from Edward Lees, assem­ War, became judge of the Eleventh Judicial blyman from the Third Assembly District of District in 1876, and lived to see Barron Waukesha County, which included Ottawa, County named in his honor.* His hearty sup­ Mukwonago, Eagle, and Genesee. In the 1850 port of the young senatorial candidate bore census, Lees is listed as a laborer, with a wife and four children. He had studied law and served as justice of the peace. Bovee and Lees 'Milo M. Quaife, ed., The Convention of 1846; vol. 27, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wiscon.un: Constitutional Series, vol. 2 (Madison, 1919), 460-562; reprint of undated address by Mat­ " Waukesha Democrat, August 19, 1851. thias J. Bovee, in possession of his great granddaugh­ '" For information on these early reformers see ter, Mrs. Allen (Katherine Bovee) Howard, Wau­ Stewart H. Holbrook, Dreamers of the American kesha, Wisconsin. Dream (Doubleday, New York, 1957), 235-251; ° Waukesha Democrat, September 7, 1852. David Brion Davis, "The Movement to Abolish Cap­ ' Lena London, "Homestead Exemption in the Wis­ ital Punishment in America, 1787-1861," in the consin Constitution," in the Wisconsin Magazine of American Historical Review (October, 1957), 23-46; History, 32:176-181 (December, 1948). Annals of the American Academy of Political and '* Charles R. Tuttle, History of Wisconsin (Boston, Social Science (Philadelphia, 1952) ; and Raymond 1875) ; U. S. Biographical Dictionary: Wisconsin T. Bye, Capital Punishment in the United States Volume (Chicago, 1877), 628. (Philadelphia, 1919). , MCINTYRE THE STORY OF BOVEE were acquainted, and immediately teamed up third reading, Attorney Edward G. Ryan, later to support antigallows legislation.-'^-' chief justice of the state supreme court, said Friends of repeal faced the strong reluctance in part: "This question should be submitted of a raw, pioneer society to abandon swift and to popular vote. Friends of the old Mosaic Law deadly justice for major crimes. Above all, should be told that a better covenant has been Bovee and co-workers knew that all previous given to fallen man, one in which mercy and attempts to modify the state's criminal penalty justice are blended." The 1849 statutes, com­ code had failed, both before and after state­ piled after statehood, prescribed death for first hood. degree murder, but provided a life term for Antigallows members could count on Assem­ mortally wounding another in a duel. Thus, blyman Sholes and his Kenosha Telegraph; duelists fared better than ordinary murderers.'^ W. D. Barron and the Waukesha Democrat; ' As shining examples of states enjoying en­ Beriah Brown and the Wisconsin Argus of lightened legislation, Bovee and his colleagues Madison; and probably the Milwaukee Daily pointed to Michigan and Rhode Island. Michi­ Free Democrat. Opposition would come from, gan abolished the hangman in 1846, effective among others, the Milwaukee Sentinel and the in 1847; Rhode Island followed suit in 1852. Elkhorn Star. Sholes had been against capital Michigan had failed to outlaw hanging in its punishment since he reported the last public constitutional convention and also in the ses­ execution in Wisconsin—that of John McCaf- sions of 1835 and 1843. But the 1847 statute faray, before 2,000 persons, for drowning his changed the penalty from hanging to life in wife at Kenosha in 1850. But Beriah Brown solitary confinement at hard labor—somewhat of the Wisconsin Argus took a dim view of harsher than the statute Wisconsin was to state murder exhibitions, even in private. enact.^•'' Writing in the November 16, 1852 issue of Proponents of repeal cited recent cases to the Argus, he said: "The law is to be avenged prove that penalty for the guilty could be next Monday at Milwaukee on the persons of avoided entirely when the jury knew that a life McDonald and Connaughty, convicted of mur­ was at stake. W. D. Radcliffe, at his trial in der. The execution is to be strictly a private Milwaukee in 1852, admitted he killed a drink­ affair in the presence of a few people who like ing companion, but his confession was ruled that kind of amusement. General King of The out. Thereupon the jury refused to convict for Milwaukee Sentinel and the orthodox clergy first-degree murder because the evidence was included. Two of God's images are to be only circumstantial. Judge Levi Hubbell, in choked to death with the greatest of propriety." dismissing the jury, said, "May God have (There was no hanging party, however, be­ mercy on your consciences!"^*' cause of a last-minute stay of execution.) In Waukesha County in the early 1850's, Bovee knew that during the first constitu­ William Flannaghan shot Francis Horel, who tional convention Elijah Steele of Kenosha, a lived long enough to accuse his assailant in fellow New Yorker, had failed in pressing for court; yet Judge Hubbell sent the prisoner to passage of Article 20, which read: "Resolved, Waupun for only five years on a second-degree that taking human life by hanging or other­ murder charge. Hugh Drum killed his own wise shall never be the mode of criminal pun­ ishment." Colleagues who signed the report were James Duane Doty, Winnebago County; '^ Milo M. Quaife, ed.. The Struggle Over Ratifica­ David Bowen, Green County; and Warren tion; vol. 28, Collections of the State Historical Chase, Kenosha, one of the Wisconsin Phalanx Society of Wisconsin: Constitutional Series, vol. 3 founders. When the proposal was killed on (Madison, 1920), 131-132; Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library, Capital Punishment in Wisconsin (Brief no. 32, November, 1955. Mimeographed.) "Michigan Revised Statutes of 1846, chap. 153, p. " Waukesha Democrat, October II, 1852; Franklyn 658; Michigan Legislative Reference Library, History Curtiss-Wedge, History of Buffalo and Pepin Coun­ of Capital Punishment in Michigan (Lansing, n.d.). ties (Winona, Minnesota, 1919), 594-595. Lees later In 1931 a Michigan referendum on the restoration of moved to Buffalo County where he served as district the death penalty for murder was defeated by a vote attorney from 1859-1867 and from 1871 to 1874. In of 324,594 to 269,538. No similar referendum has ever 1875-1876 he was again a member of the state as­ been held in Wisconsin. sembly. " Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library, op. cit. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 mother, but the jury refused to give him the blamed on the new law, which, it was claimed, rope, and set him free because of "extreme made mob action more likely to happen.^" youth."^= Actually, aside from military cases, only Bovee's repealer bill was introduced in the four legal hangings for murder are recorded assembly by Lees as No. 67-A. The special in Wisconsin courts from 1836 through 1852. committee headed by Lees sent in a favorable Two Indians were hanged, one at Portage for report on January 27. The assembly laid it the killing of Pierre Pacquette, famous fur on the table, but on February 28, George W. trader, and another for the murder of Ells­ Gate of Portage and Marathon Counties moved worth Burnett, Milwaukee land developer. At to take it up and the motion was sustained. Lancaster, Judge Dunn sentenced Edward On March 4 it was ordered engrossed and read Oliver to death in October 1838, for slaying a third time, and on March 9 it passed, 36 to John Russell at Cassville. The McCaffaray af­ 28. At least eight members did not vote on the fair was the last death sentence in the state final ballot, which number constituted the ex­ prior to the McDonald and Connaughty con­ act majority the bill received. Among its foes viction wherein the penalty was indefinitely were Speaker Henry T. Palmer and his Mil­ postponed on legal technicalities.^^ waukee colleagues Chase, West, and Tweedy, Wisconsin's new law to nullify the noose along with Roche, Burns, and Burdick of attracted wide attention and comment, pro Dane; Davidson, Donaldson, Loehr, and Tall- and con. On July 23, 1853, Horace Greeley's madge of Fond du Lac; Reed of Waukesha; New York Tribune gave much credit and and Coleman and Taylor of Sheboygan. praise to Bovee for enactment of the law. Then Bovee's own Select Committee to Papers not favorable had to report it anyhow. Whom is Referred a Bill to Abolish Capital In the winter of 1857 an attempt was made Punishment recommended the assembly bill to repeal the law of 1853. Would the Republi­ for senate concurrence. Senator J. T. Lewis, can majority this time toss out the "Bovee still another native of New York state, signed law" which the Democratic majority enacted? the report with Bovee. Lewis had belonged to Interest ran high and at the Waukesha lyceum the first constitutional convention, had served debaters took sides on the question. Although in the assembly, was later senator from the no longer a legislator, Bovee did his utmost. Twenty-fifth District, and in 1864-1865 be­ J. A. Leonard in the Waukesha Republican came one of the state's war governors. Another asked for a longer test of the new law to give senator destined for the governor's chair who it a fair trial. His advice prevailed. Never­ endorsed the Bovee bill was Coles Bashford theless, Senator E. Fox Cook, First District, of the Twenty-first District. The committee re­ put in a bill to repeal the abolition law which port argued that the right of any small group went to Joel Barber's judiciary committee. to make a compact to punish by death was Barber, former partner of Governor Nelson questionable conduct; therefore, any such com­ Dewey, was a foe of the rope. He held the pact made by as many as 50,000 or more Cook bill without action until it was in­ persons was equally a violation of right and definitely postponed.^^ justice.

On July 8, the senate passed the bill by 14 ^''History of Waukesha County (Chicago, 1880), to 9, and two days later Governor Leonard 553-555. Farwell signed the measure as Chapter 103, " See Wisconsin Legislature, Senate Journal and Assembly Journal, January-July, 1852. Laws of 1853, making life imprisonment the " David Mayberry, lynched at Janesville, July 12, extreme penalty for first degree murder, and 1855, after having been sentenced for life by Judge abolishing the death sentence.^° Doolittle for the murder of Andrew Algar; George DeBar, lynched at West Bend, August 7, 1855, for assaulting a farmer and killing a hired boy. TJOWEVER, many Wisconsin settlers were " Circuit Court, Lancaster, Wisconsin Territory, -*-•*- not ready for such a broad step. The Record Book (September, 1838), 123; Carrie Crop- ley, "The Case of John McCaffaray," in the Wiscon­ choice of many citizens would have been a sin Magazine of History, 35:281-288 (Summer, 1952); law providing a jury option between death or Moses M. Strong, History of the Territory of Wiscon­ prison penalty. Subsequently two notorious sin (Madison, 1885), 249-250. " Wisconsin Legislature, Senate Journal. 1857, p. lynchings at Janesville and West Bend were 114. MCINTYRE : THE STORY OF BOVEE

For five years after this legislative success, deress, Mrs. Hartung of Albany, sentenced for Bovee, who never ran for the senate again, poisoning her husband. The respite of sentence confined his activities to farming and cor­ granted by the governor carried her past the responding with prominent sympathizers of date when the new state law became effec­ penal reform. But the winter of 1858-1859 tive, whereupon her shrewd attorneys got her saw him on the stump in Illinois, crusading off entirely by order of the court of appeals against the hangman at special meetings ar­ and the supreme court of New York. The ranged by sponsors. The only net result was court ruled that in her case the new law was enactment of a law in 1859 which did away void, since it provided a different and extra with public executions. Making hangings pri­ vate afliairs was often used as an entering wedge for taking more sweeping action.^" In 1858, Greeley in his difficult script, wrote Bovee to ask what the effect of the Wisconsin repeal law had been, and in another letter, written in 1860, he said that in New York no serious attempt would be likely to abolish death for murder, although he had been against it all the years he had run a news­ paper. Horatio Seymour wrote that he favored softening the criminal code when guilt was proven, so as to get more certainty of con­ viction. He said that two of the worst ques­ tions facing legislators were the handling of paupers and criminals.^-'

TN 1859-1860, during a canvass that lasted -•- almost five months, Bovee made more than a hundred talks in his native state of New York. His last talk was before the select com­ mittee of the state assembly at Albany, which Marvin Henry Bovee, from an undated ambrotype in unanimously reported an outright abolition possession of his grandson, Kenneth B. Halverson, bill. It passed the assembly by eighteen votes, Pasadena, California. but a compromise was necessary before the senate would accept it. This compromise law prison term of one year more than was in sent a murderer to state prison for one year, force when her crime occurred. It also pointed after which he might be executed if and when out that the section defining hanging had been the governor saw fit to issue his warrant. In repealed, with no new mode of execution substance, this was the old Maine law of 1836, named for first-degree murder.'^^ regarded by its sponsors as a virtual abolition, since they felt that few governors would order " Chapter 499 of the New York laws of 1888 pro­ duced another similar error. The legislature intended the extreme penalty after such a "cooling off" to abolish hanging as of June 4 that year and sub­ period. stitute electrocution on January I, 1889. Convicted persons were to be kept in prison until the electric But a rude upset followed. Bovee and zealous chair was ready. The act provided that no one was friends had asked Governor Morgan of New to be hanged after June 4 and that electrocution was York to grant respite to a convicted mur- to begin on the first day of the following year. But the law went on to say that electrocution "shall apply to all convictions for crimes punishable by death on or after that date," Hence, the state had =° "Sketch of the Life of Hon. M. H. Bovee," deprived itself of the legal power to execute anyone Whitewater News, October 15, 1887. who killed with malice aforethought during the term '^ Greeley to Bovee, November 12, 1858 and April of almost seven months. The matter was taken to the 9, 1860, in the Bovee Papers, Huntington Library, higher courts at once and they gave the necessary San Marino, California. Copies of this and subse­ opinions that saved the situation. See court records quently quoted letters are available on microfilm in or refer to Richard H. Rover, Howe & Hummell the Society's Manuscripts Section. (New York, 1947), 74-75. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

This error reflected adversely on the care "DY 1860, when Bovee came back home to and astuteness of the antigallows leadership, -'-' be with his parents and his sister Harriet which had been divided all along. In a face­ on the farm, there were seven households in tious mood, the Albany Journal asked how per­ Eagle, with thirty members. His brothers Wil­ sons were now to be executed, "by chloroform, liam and Halsey kept a general store at the poisoning, burning at the stake or hanging?" Center. Here Marvin resumed his life as a But if some papers jeered the reformers, Bovee farmer, and at the suggestion of many friends and his friends were staunchly upheld by of penal reform, began to prepare an anti­ Greeley, famous for espousing radical causes, gallows book for publication, hoping to have and by William Cullen Bryant of the Evening it printed by the autumn of 1861.^'' Post, Rev. Dr. H. W. Bellows, Gerrit Smith, However, with the war guns roaring, inter­ philanthropist, and Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. est in penalties for civilian crime was mini­ The opposition included Bennett of the Herald, mized. It was no time for such campaigns as Raymond of the Times, and Brooks of the Bovee had been waging, and the completed Express, as well as the noted upholder of the manuscript was quietly set aside, not to see the death penalty on scriptural grounds. Dr. light of publication until nine years later. In George Barrell Cheever of the Church of the the first year of the War a committee of one Pilgrims.^^ from each town in the vicinity was set up at Bovee's work in New York was not in vain. Waukesha to receive donations for the needy Nobody was hanged under the new 1860 law, families of volunteers. Bovee acted for Eagle, which was repealed in 1862. It was superseded and it was said that "generosity ran ramp­ by a first- and second-degree murder law car­ ant."'" In the course of the conflict two soldiers rying a jury option clause, in the passage of were contributed by the Bovees to the cause— which Bovee had some indirect influence. Phillip's son John and Marvin's nephew Mat­ In December 1860, Governor John A. An­ thias, son of Benedict Bovee. Both were in the drew of Massachusetts asked Bovee to come Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry. to that state to engage in a campaign on behalf In 1862, at the age of thirty-five, Marvin of repeal. The invitation was accepted on con­ married Laura Doud of Amsterdam, New dition that the governor support such a move York. Two children were born to them, Maude in his message, which he did, saying in part: Bovee Halverson and Rollin J. During his "So that our laws may be more just and prolonged absences from home, Marvin sent humane, detection and punishment must be devoted letters to Laura. "May our future speedy and sure. The death penalty wifl some years be as happy as the past six have been," day be discontinued among civilized men."^* he wrote from Columbus, Ohio, in October, Soon after his arrival, several leaders who 1868, using Democratic Party stationery, and wanted repeal legislation called upon Bovee at expressing the wish to be home on their anni­ his hotel. These included Governor Andrew, versary.^^ Wendell Phillips, Wifliam Lloyd Garrison, and After the war ended, Bovee was ready to Henry W. Longfellow. begin anew on his crusading and to resume With Phillips presiding, Bovee began his work on the manuscript of his proposed book, campaign at a Boston meeting. He had hardly for which he had obtained letters of endorse­ made a good start—the state senate had just ment and encouragement from many nation­ passed a bill based on the Wisconsin law— ally prominent foes of capital punishment. But when he was taken ill with pneumonia and suddenly legislative trouble broke out at home. was hospitalized for six weeks. Partly because When Jefferson Davis was taken prisoner in of this misfortune, the campaign was aban­ 1866, the vindictive cry of "Hang the Traitor!" doned and no new penal law was enacted.^'' excited some Wisconsin politicians. One of

"''Bovee, Christ and the Gallows, iii. '^ Whitewater News, loc. cit.; Albany (New York) '' Theron W. Haight, ed.. Memoirs of Waukesha Journal, October 13, 1860. County (Chicago, 1880), 118. '* Boston Daily Courier, January 7, 1861. -' Bovee to his wife, October 13, 1868, in the Bovee '" Whitewater News, loc. cit. Papers, Huntington Library. MCINTVRE : THE STOKY of BOVEE

them said that he wanted hanging restored so ard jury option law, and it was under this as to work up more sentiment for executing statute that the notorious highwaymen, the the Confederate leader. Bo\ee reminded this ^ ounger brothers, escaped execution and were zealot that there was no connection whatever sent to the state prison at Stillwater. between the fate of Mr. Davis and the state Bovee was noted for generosity in spending penal code, and in the heat of the furor, went his own time and funds in his campaigns. \ et to Madison and addressed the legislature. Dis­ the St. Paul Dispatch, a Republican organ, covering that the heaviest pressure for repeal rapped him. Quoting the New York Tribune's was in the senate, where such a bill had been praise for Bovee's success in Minnesota and introduced by LitUejohn of the Twelfth, Bovee Greeley's expressed hope to welcome Bovee for had a bill to restore the death penally put into more crusades in New York, the Dispatch said: the assembly where it was defeated overwhelm­ "If the Tribune really wants to abolish hang­ ingly—a maneuver that made the senate hesi­ ing, it should ask Mr. Bovee to stay at home. tant to proceed further. As a result, the Little- He is an interminable old bore. The man in john bill was tabled. the moon had as much influence on our legis­ In the winter of 1867, opponents of capital lature as he did. If he had arrived two weeks punishment in Illinois called for Bovee's help sooner, the bill would have been defeated."^'^ in changing the state's penal law. He gave Next Bovee went to Pennsylvania at the be­ Chicago talks at Crosby's opera house, Bryant hest of Quakers and the antigallows societies so & Stratton Commercial College, and at St. active there. Here the restless reformer made Paul's Church, winding up his Illinois cam­ eighty public talks, mostly at his own expense, paign with a talk before the legislature at in the winter of 1869-1870. He wound up Springfield. Subsequently, an abolition bill with a talk before the legislature at Harris- passed both houses just as Bovee had drafted burg. The judiciary committee unanimously it, and became law. It gave the jury the right favored a jury option bill, but there was a to fix either the death penalty, not under four­ continuous delaying action made by opposing teen years' imprisonment, or life imprison­ forces. By many parliamentary tricks and sub­ ment, for first-degree murder. This was the terfuge, they managed to halt its passage to law under which the Chicago anarchists of the the date of adjournment. Haymarket riot of 1886 were tried. Four were More successful in Iowa, Bovee in 1872 ad­ executed and three received a life sentence, dressed the legislature, with Governor Carpen­ and were later pardoned by Governor Alt- ter in the chair. There was little difficulty. geld.-" Bovee's suggested bill to revoke the death sen­ Bovee's Illinois success moved Governor tence entirely passed both houses and was in Marshall and other Minnesota officials to seek force for four years, until in 1876 Iowa en­ his aid in promoting a similar law in that acted a jury option law such as Minnesota's, state. Gerrit Smith, Bovee's famous New \ork since which time death has not been manda­ collaborator, sent him fifty dollars "toward tory. that Minnesota campaign." But a less pleasing Indiana, possessing a number of outstand­ note came from Matt Carpenter, later U. S. ing antigallows societies, was anxious to enact Senator. Writing from Milwaukee, Carpenter a strong law against the death penalty. At Gov­ said: "I wish you every success, except in ac­ ernor Hendricks' request, Bovee was asked to complishing the object of it. There are [some] address the state legislature, which he did, al­ who were doubtless born to be hanged, and it though the governor, incapacitated by an ac­ is setting up against fate to prevent their cidental fall, was not present to hear him. natural destiny."'"' Among the legislators the issue was touch and In February, 1868, Governor Marshall intro­ go, and when an antigallows bill which had duced Bovee to a joint session of the Minnesota been recommended for passage was voted on legislature. By March 6, it had passed a stand­ in the House there was a tie, broken by Speaker Edwards of Terre Haute who voted

-° Whitewater News, October 15, 1887. ™ Carpenter to Bovee, January II, 1867, in the Bovee Papers, Huntington Library. " St. Paul Dispatch, March 24, 1868. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 against it. Seeing small chance of the bill's expressed alarm lest Bovee rely too exclusively revival in anolher form. Bovee rcliirned lo on men of extreme opinions and rash expres­ Wisconsin.•'- sions, saying thai he never expected candor and wisdom from partisan extremists. As he •VVTHEN BOVEE had first begun on his put it, "Our reformers generally lose their feet, ^'^ penal reform book. New York relatives through the lightness of their heads." Yet he had offered him help. C. W. Bovee, a cousin, felt confident that Bovee was well qualified for suggested that great care be used in style and public usefulness if he did not become too subject matter and offered to get antigallows carried away.^* opinions for inclusion in it from his friends at the Athenian Club, including such men as William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Thomas Eubank. An uncle, J. Bovee Dod, sent cordial offers to read proof. "Doctor" Dod was an electromagnetic healer and the dis­ penser of "Imperial Wine Bitters," a medical remedy for numerous ills.^' Bovee's book, called Christ and the Gallows; or, Reasons for the Abolition of Capital Pun- isliment, appeared in 1870, with a second edi­ tion entitled simply Reasons for Abolishing Capital Punishment appearing in 1879. Both were dedicated to his mother and both were published by himself on a subscription basis. In the course of soliciting statements and subscriptions for his book, Bovee corresponded with many of the nation's most distinguished men. At the outbreak of the Civil War and later in the 1870's, when he proposed more efforts to abolish hanging and also espoused prison reform, Bovee received occasional luke­ warm replies from his Eastern friends, and his correspondence reflects some of these mixed sentiments. Reverend H. W. Bellows wrote that the War Scaffold being erected for the hanging of the Molly had blunted feelings as to the value of human McGuires in the Pottsville, Pennsylvania, failyard, from Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper, July 7, 1877. life, and said that New York had worse things than the gibbet to overcome. "Our city is in the hands of ruffians armed at all points. It Promising aid to Bovee's crusade through seems impossible for us to escape their whole­ the Evening Post, William Cullen Bryant wrote sale plunder. Can we think of the gibbet when in 1867 to say that when the reconstruction such a crucifixion of law and liberty is happen­ question was settled in the South there would ing in our midst?" Obviously referring to the be more time for other controversial matters. Tweed Ring, Bellows concluded, "If you have Horace Greeley, writing in June, 1869, called the courage to get a hearing for your cause in Bovee "Old Fellow" and said that if he had this Godforsaken community, you will do bet­ fifty dollars to spare Bo\ee would get it. ter than I fear." In another letter. Bellows ad­ Greeley also refused to insure in a co-operative vised Bovee that it would be wise to trim the life insurance concern in which Bovee must ship with a little "conservative ballast." He have had some interest. "I decline," he wrote.

'" Whitewater News. loc. cit. =* Bellows to Bovee, July 27, 1860, February 15, "A. Bovee Dod to Bovee, October 31, 1860. in the and November 18, 1868, in the Bovee Papers, Hunt­ Bovee Papers, Huntington Library. ington Library.

10 MCINTYRE THE STORY OF BOVEE

"I have more invested now in life insurance ciation's secretary, had some of the letters than I want. I shall be richer dead than alive." which he received from Bovee published in Subsequent letters from Greeley relate to politi­ the London papers. It seems that literature cal matters and in one letter he addressed from Tallack may have given Bovee an idea Bovee as "You Enormous Blockhead" for dif­ that there might be an opportunity abroad fering on some points involved. Oliver Wendell for him to campaign on the capital punish­ Holmes refused to contribute but sent his best ment issue—providing his expenses were paid. wishes; a "modest contribution" came from Among others, Senator Sumner was queried the poet Longfellow; J. G. Holland, a Massa­ on this point. Sumner replied that although chusetts author, offered to trade a copy of his there was much interest in England in penal novel Gold Foil for a copy of Christ and the reform, he did not know whether anyone who Gallows. Francis E. Spinner of the federal expected compensation would find either a treasury office enclosed a trifle "but not to help welcome or a field of operations there."'" rogues escape the gallows." Some comfort In the first copies of Christ and the Gallows, came from Elizabeth Cady Stanton who in a Bovee used a critical opinion sent him by Dr. long letter offered to testify with Bovee before George B. Cheever, a New \ork cleric known the New York legislature. to be violently opposed to both slavery and the In May of 1869 Senator Charles Sumner sent abolition of the death penalty.''' In this opposi­ six dollars for Bovee's publication and reform tion to the latter, the Bible was the mainstay fund. But possibly Bovee overestimated the in Cheever's writings, especially such verses as situation, for a year later in another letter Genesis ix, 6, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, Sumner stated: "You ask for a donation of by man shall his blood be shed," and Deuter­ $100 from the Massachusetts delegation. 1 onomy xix, 21, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, know nobody in the membership who agrees hand for hand, foot for foot." In 1846 Cheever with me against capital punishment. Hence had written a book. Punishment by Death; Its the sum you want must come entirely from me. Authority and Expediency, dedicated to the I cannot afford it." John Greenleaf Whittier New York legislature. In it he and a Dr. Cox sent ten dollars because "1 know thy work of Brooklyn proposed that hanging be abol­ and labor of love," and hoped to see Bovee ished in favor of decapitation since "that is when he again came East. Concerning Bovee's the more honorable and less painful method." zeal as a Democratic party worker—he made Their idea was that "righteous punishment scores of talks during Cleveland's first cam­ should be inflicted with compassion." paign—Fred O'Connell, a Dubuque attorney In his letters Cheever asked Bovee what and Iowa Democrat wrote, "You are the most authority he could name to set aside the teach­ irrepressible campaigner I ever knew." ings of Moses and Paul, "inspired communi­ Bovee sought letters of introduction cvery- cators of God's will." For answer Bovee could wfiere. One, furnished him by Whitelaw Reid, point to the last two chapters of his book in New York editor and Greeley's onetime part­ which he took the position that Christ's suffer­ ner, addressed to Murat Halstead, of the ing in behalf of humanity had completely re­ Cincinnati Commercial, read: "This will be versed the old Mosaic law of meeting evil with handed to you by Marvin H. Bovee, noted op­ evil. In proof he offered many quotes from ponent of capital punishment. He is as con­ the New Testament, just as Judge Edward G. sistent and straightforward a reformer as I Ryan of the state supreme court had done have ever met. He may invade Ohio, so you years ago at the time of the first constitutional should know him."''" convention, as for example, "Forgive and ye In 1869 Bovee was given an honorary mem- shall be forgiven," "Love your enemies, bless liciship in the Howard Association of London, ihem that curse you, do good unto them that a well-endowed research and propaganda so­ hate you, and pray for ihem that despitefuUy ciety engaged in social reform and opposed lo use von. . . ." capital punishment. William Tallack. llic asso- '" A scries of undated IcIU'rs lo Bovei^ from tal­ lack; Sumner to Bovee, Fclnuary 6, 1865, all in llic "•'From IcUer, in the lio\ Papers, tlic llunt- Bovee Papers, Huntington Library. iugton Library. •'' Bovee, Christ and the Gallows, 299.

11 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

The book contained antigallows statements Bovee's new interest in prison reform broad­ from prominent authors, divines, prison war­ ened his operations and attracted more sup­ dens, and other authorities, and cited a num­ port for his book and for his travels and ber of examples of gross abuses of the death speeches. In 1883, an Ohio lawyer, George penalty, such as the hanging of a ten-year-old Hoadly, wrote him from Cincinnati to say girl. Bovee's reasons for the abolishment of the that both major parties in Ohio were pledged death penalty were frequently quoted at the to end contract labor for convicts. "Working time,^* and at least two books which appeared a man for the benefit of a contractor at a a few years after Bovee's dealt with the same trifling wage and turning him loose at the subject and quoted his conclusions. end of his term with a suit of clothes and five dollars is the worst way to treat humanity," TN THE late 1870's Bovee sold his farming Hoadly stated. He also requested Bovee to -*- interests in Eagle and took his family to send him any pertinent materials he might nearby Whitewater. Not wholly satisfied with have on the subject.^" the progress being made in repealing the death During the last decade of his life, Bovee took penalty, he took up the related cause of prison care of his heavy mail, studied prison reform, reform. He urged better industrial schools for and engaged in Democratic party work, nota­ juvenile offenders: he wanted to see estab­ bly with Speaker J. G. Carlisle and Horace lished more places like the Wisconsin Home Greeley. A niece remembers Bovee as a man of Refuge, opened in Waukesha in 1857, where of fine health and vitality, lively, good-hu­ delinquents could be trained in trades and mored, and charming. Physically he was over crafts and at the same time have spiritual six feet in height, weighed 190 pounds, with guidance. piercing dark eyes as his most striking feature. In 1883, with the sanction of Governor Crit­ Laura Bovee is recalled as "quiet and soft- tenden, he gave lectures on prison reform be­ spoken, interesting to know, and a famous fore the Missouri legislature. As a result, a bill cook."-ii to create a Missouri industrial school was fa­ But like many ardent fighters for principle, vorably reported, but because of fire damage Bovee eventually found the pace exhausting to the state prison—requiring a special ap­ and the rewards uncertain. On May 7, 1888, propriation—action was delayed for two years. at the age of sixty-one, Bovee died in White­ Eventually, however, the Booneville school for water, and in its obituary the local newspaper boys was established along many of the lines said that the strain on his mind and body that Bovee had advocated.^'' had become too great, resulting in mental and physical prostration. "Melancholia came on, with but occasional improvement, his strength °* "When we consider the important facts that steadily failing until the end."^- human testimony is unreliable,—that the human un­ derstanding may be swerved by interest, passion, or Unlike some Victorian reformers, Bovee was prejudice,—that weak nature may be corrupted,— easy to live with and hard to part with. He that wicked men may forswear themselves,—that the really guilty will ofttimes accuse the innocent, and belongs to Wisconsin's list of unselfish humani­ labor for their conviction, to thus secure immunity tarian workers who labored for a better and for themselves,—that even well-disposed persons may unconsciously incline to the wrong, under pressure a brighter world. of public opinion,—that the upright may be mis­ taken,—and that proof, seemingly as 'strong as Holy Writ,' may ensnare the victim,—how presumptuous "Hoadly to Bovee, July 16, 1883, in the Bovee in men to sustain a penalty so irremediable as death, Papers, Huntington Library. and this when its infliction is visited upon the in­ " Mrs. Dorothy Bovee Jones, Bethlehem, Pennsyl­ nocent as well as the guilty." Bovee, Christ and the vania, daughter of Bovee's niece, Emily, in a letter to Gallows, 83-84. the author, March 11, 1957. '•'" Whitewater News, October 15, 1887. " Whitewater Register. May 10, 1883.

12 A distinguished historical novelist dis­ cusses the present status and possible future of an important Wisconsin land­ mark.

The Problem at Peshtigo

by William F. Steuber, Jr. '^-^^m *.'. % r ?^ , Photo by the author The old cemetery at Peshtigo.

ALL TRACE of the fire tornado of eighty- the continent. Before the Peshtigo fire such -'-*- seven years ago is gone today from the concepts crossed the minds of only a very few city of Peshtigo except at the old cemetery on men. The old cemetery on Oconto Avenue is Oconto Avenue. Here engraved in granite and one of the few places in existence where a carved on marble is October 8, 1871, the same man can have a panoramic view to examine death date on a hundred stones in German, in the cost, in human lives, of wholesale care­ Norwegian, in English. "All lost in the Ca­ lessness in the forest. The Peshtigo fire could lamity" is the simple inscription under the not have been if there were no pine slashings names of the twelve McGregors. Frau und from the lumbering of the previous winter, or Kinder marks the loss to Charles Lemke of burning to clear the right of way along rail­ five small daughters and their mother. A mass road construction, or fires set by farmers to grave holds 350 unknown dead under the date clear forties during a tinder-dry autumn. that begins to carve itself on the mind as Time is rough on all things, cemeteries in­ well—October 8, 1871. cluded. By the 1920's the old cemetery was That date is to Peshtigo as the Alamo is to crowded. A new one was laid out across the Texas, as the atom bomb to Hiroshima, as the river. Records of burials in the old cemetery iceberg to the steamship Titanic. Peshtigo, a were not kept up. Rumor has it, the last burial booming wood-products town of 1,700 dis­ thirty-six years ago took three openings and appeared completely in a few hours of fire. still the diggers couldn't find an empty grave. Peshtigo lay squarely in the path of a tornado They were still frantically shoveling during and a forest fire that combined forces. It was the ceremony, and finally lowered the casket consumed so completely there was very little onto a previous occupant. The City Council left to clean up. Out of its 1,700 population passed an ordinance prohibiting further buri­ plus several hundred itinerant workers, those als on the old grounds. who lived through the night numbered less An abandoned cemetery soon becomes un­ than 1,200. sightly, perhaps most rapidly when it is near The Peshtigo fire was a turning point. It the center of a city. Some bodies were removed made government and industry take a look at to Peshtigo's new cemetery, leaving sunken their practices. Out of it, in a slow evolution holes where they had been. Weeds and brush that took decades, came improved forestry, marched across other plots of the dead whose fire-preventive measures, conservation of natu­ relatives were too distant to care. Old coffins ral resources, regulation. and rough boxes slowly gave way to earth pres­ But these are ideas and activities that do sure above them, and the tall marker stones not locate themselves at a special manufactur­ leaned inward and sometimes toppled. Lively ing plant or in a particular classroom. Today youngsters wore a diagonal path through the they are as long as the nation, and as wide as cemetery as a short cut to school and oeca-

13 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 sionally helped a leaning stone along with a Within six months, what to do with the grunt and a push. The energy of youth on cemetery was again being argued in the City Halloween took care of most of the rest. Council. Why waste money on maintenance The site of the cemetery is desirable prop­ when there could be a going industry there, erty, either for business development, or to paying its taxes ? Why not gather all the recov­ expand a church, or to provide much needed erable headstones and cement them into one room for Peshtigo's combined grade and high large monument that would take only a frac­ school. These interests obtained representation tion of the space? Why not bulldoze the whole on the City Council and blocked all moves to thing away and let Peshtigo be known for its appropriate money for restoration or mainte­ forest products of today? Once and for all— nance. In 1949 the City Council voted to ob­ why not forget that fire? literate the old cemetery. Another long period of neglect set in. The Voices arose against the decision. Strongest locust brush grew to tough little trunks. Van­ was that of Fay Stuart Janzen, now Mrs. 0. R. dals resumed their smashing. Reset stones were Dooley, well-known curator of historic Old upended. The historical plaque marked a rub­ Wade House at Greenbush. Her Grandmother ble heap behind it. Stuart, a survivor of the fire, is buried in the Earl Seymour, whose grandfather, that ter­ old cemetery. It was Mrs. Janzen who appeared rible day in 1871, came upon thirty-seven in protest before the City Council, who got 413 burned bodies at a turn in the road, is a motel citizens to second her protest, who organized operator in Peshtigo. He tells of an out-of- and incorporated a Peshtigo Historical Ceme­ state elderly lady and her daughter who asked tery Association under the laws of Wisconsin, to be directed to the fire cemetery. She came who enlisted the aid of the State Historical So­ back amazed. "Peshtigo should be ashamed," ciety and the Historical Markers Commission. she told him and gave him a stern lecture The Historical Markers Commission author­ about civic responsibility and pride. ized as its very first project that a marker The Chamber of Commerce provides its be prepared for the Peshtigo Fire Cemetery. members with an emblem calling Peshtigo The story of that, in the Milwaukee Journal, "The city reborn from the ashes of America's brought friends for the project from all cor­ most disastrous fire." Many businesses carry ners of the state. The City Council, however, it on their stationery. The Peshtigo Times runs didn't want it. The then mayor warned Mrs. it as part of its banner. President Howard Janzen that erection of the marker would be Harper reports that the Chamber of Commerce cause for a trespass action against her. She has always wanted to see the city restore the had to locate an owner and get title to the cemetery. lot where the marker was to stand. Just before the city election this spring the Hundreds came to the dedication on October Council directed its attorney to proceed to 7, 1951. Of the fifty-four known survivors at acquire the old cemetery for school pur])oses. that lime, nineteen came to the dedication. The new mayor and a majority of his Coun­ Today there are less than ten survivors.* The cil have halted the acquisition. Instead they grounds were cleaned up a little, and some voted an appropriation of $500 to restore and of the broken and scattered headstones were maintain the historic cemetery. Joseph Feron, reset. The mass grave was mounded and long-time caretaker at the new cemetery, came marked. The Peshtigo Historical Cemetery As­ out of retirement to bring his skill to the res­ sociation felt it had saved the cemetery. toration. "He's doing a devoted job," Mayor Dean Bair reports. "I've never seen the cemetery look better," comments Howard Harper. "Its unbelievable what these past six weeks * Fay S. Dooley, curator of Old Wade House, has have accomplished." Va\ Stuart Dooley smiles generously supplied the following list of known sur­ vivors of the Peshtigo holocaust: Charles Dahnkc. happily. Porlerheld; William Duket, Marinette; Mrs. Sadie The cemetery mailer, however, nc\(-r seems Frederi<'hs, Gennania; Mrs. Carrie Ho]ip(% Green settled permanently in Peshtigo. At the Coun­ Bay; Mrs. Amelia DesrocJiers and Mrs. Ida Sterzing, both of Peshtigo. cil meeting of Tuesday, June 10, it came up

14 STFUBER : THE PROBLEM AT PESHTIGO

again. Board member Jack Sutherland re- The Last Days of Peshtigo jiorted that the possibilities of obtaining the cemelerv for school expansion were good. That the Peshtigo disaster, like thai which Robert Murphy, city attorney, confirmed the struck Jamestown, was amply preceded by opinion. omens is testified to in this dispatch printed Precedent can be found for both sides. in the Green Bay Advocate, October 5, 1871. Orton Park in Madison once was a cemetery. Lincoln Terrace in front of Bascom Hall at the University of Wisconsin covers the bones Peslitigo, Sept. 27th, 1871 of an old burial ground. An old cemetery at "Sabbath, the 24lh inst., was an exciting . . . Duck Creek, north of Green Bay, has had all time in Peshtigo. For several days the fires its old stones gathered and cemented into one had been raging in the timber near here be­ central monument. Yet old Trinity church­ tween this and Oconto, and to the north and yard in New York City, whose youngest grave east of us. On Friday I came through from is probably a century old, brings no financial Oconto, and we were compelled to run our return for use of some of the highest priced horses some distance, with fire above us, and land on the face of the earth. Even on Wall on either side of us, and barely escaped being Street there is space and reverence for times singed. Saturday the fire burned through to gone by. the river and about a mile above town, and This then, is the problem at Peshtigo. Should Saturday night much danger was apprehended the preservation of a landmark of historical from the sparks and cinders that blew across significance be given top priority, or are there the river, into the upper parts of the town, other uses of the land to bring greater good near the factory. A force was stationed along to the community? It's not going to be easy the river, and although fire caught in the saw to come to a lasting policy as long as there are dust, and dry slabs, several times, [it] was two factions. In the meantime nature slyly promptly extinguished. . . . goes on with her own covering, weathering, "Sunday morning the fires had died down hiding, obliterating. so that we began to hope that the danger had passed. . . . But now a new danger arose. The fires to the west of the town and south of the Oconto was [sic^ approaching the town rap­ idly, and it seemed nothing short of a miracle could save the village from utter destruc­ tion. . . . "With the going down of the sun the wind abated and with it the fire. Timber was felled and wet with water thrown over it—buildings were covered with wet blankets and all under the scorching heat, and in a blinding, suffocat­ ing smoke that was enough to strangle one, and thus passed the night of Sunday. "Monday the wind veered to the south, and cleared away the smoke. Strange to say not a building was burned—the town was saved. Monday the factory was shut down to give the men rest, and Tuesday it was only partially run. "The few green leaves left here are fast Photo b\ the author putting on their beautiful autumn colors." Eleven days later, at 10 P.M. on the night of Beneath these toppled and neglected stones victims of the historic disaster lie buried Sunday, October 8, 1871, a great sea of flame, driven by tornado winds, swept up Oconto Avenue and devastated Peshtigo.

15 MVtMA

Six years ago, the Society gave one of its Villa Louis project next season. Meanwhile cherished awards of merit to Mrs. Louise Root it is greatly indebted, as are the people of and Jack Cornelius of Prairie du Chien for Wisconsin, to the public-spirited and histori­ insuring the preservation of the historic Bris- cally-minded Louise Root and her family. bois House. They had bought the fine old stone building when it was threatened by con­ To the Wade House project has been version into an apartment house, the following added the Four Winds Coffee House, donated year opened it to the public. Since then Mr. in memory of the late Ruth De Young Kohler Cornelius has died, and his sister, Mrs. Root, to the Wisconsin History Foundation by for many years the secretary of the Crawford another good friend of the Society's, Mrs. County Historical Society, has now presented Martin Fladoes of Milwaukee. Mrs. Fladoes the house and its furnishings to our Society and Mrs. Kohler were close friends. Mrs. as a memorial to the Cornelius family which Fladoes helped her colleague in setting up the over the years has been one of the conserva­ Women's Auxiliary, succeeded to the chair­ tive, thrifty, and highly respected families of manship just prior to Mrs. Kohler's untimely the community. death. She also helped in the Wade House This act of singular generosity breathes project, and as an additional contribution es­ new life into hopes for an ultimate restoration tablished the tea (now coffee) house in Green- of the Island San Feriole, early center of Wis­ bush as a facility for the visiting tourist. Now consin and Upper Mississippi life, the initial Mrs. Fladoes has turned the venture over to center of the present city of Prairie du Chien. the Foundation, the profits to go to the Wade The Michael Brisbois house is but one unit House development. Here is another signifi­ removed from the Villa Louis property, is cant act of generosity by one of the Society's vital to the overall project. The exact date of staunch friends to the benefit of one of the erection has long been a source of local con­ Society's most important and appreciated pub­ troversy, but its cut-stone facing, two-foot lic educational ventures. walls, hand-wrought hardware, unusual sub- cellar for fur storage, adzed beams testify to The Sturgeon Bay convention was one of its age. It was one of the few Wisconsin build­ our most successful. The program, put to­ ings selected for inclusion in the Survey of gether by Don McNeil, was unusually good. Historical American Buildings, an important The usual quota of disappointments did not WPA project of the late great depression. The materialize; all the speakers were in top form. Society plans gradually to complete its res­ The accommodations at Leathem Smith Lodge toration, hopes to operate it as part of the were good, and the food—not always true at

16 SMOKE RINGS conventions—was excellent. The weather could the departure of Dr. Alexander and the ar­ not have been better, and the large number rival of his successor, his successful drive to attending seemed well satisfied with the whole introduce new blood into the Board, called affair. indeed for something special. With our multi­ The Board of Curators established a new purpose assembly-seminar room already post. Honorary Vice-President, and elected named for him, the honorary vice-presidency two distinguished gentlemen to the position, was the logical solution. Like Mr. Dabney, defined in the By-laws as the highest honor he was unanimously elected to this high office in the power of the Society to confer. Those by his grateful colleagues. through whose election the Society brought The caliber of these two elections serves new honors to itself are: notice that the Board regards seriously its Lucius Bryan Dabney, of Vicksburg, duty to use this, its highest honor, sparingly. Mississippi. A native of Georgia, Mr. Dabney We welcome our new honorary vice-presi­ has resided in Mississippi for sixty years. He dents with warm congratulations to Vice- is the fifth generation of Dabneys to enjoy a President Dabney on his remarkable record distinguished career at the law, a remarkable as a collector and preserver, and with heart­ professional family record initiated by Ben­ felt thanks to Vice-President Sellery for his jamin King Dabney of King and Queen many years of superior service to the Grand County, Virginia, in 1793. He practices before Old Lady of State Street. the Mississippi Bar and the Supreme Court of the United States, is senior partner in the firm of Dabney and Dabney. And now we come to a note which I had It is not, however, his professional eminence not expected to write for another twenty which the Society has recognized, but his years. It is a personal note—a note to all you hobby. In its pursuit, Mr. Dabney has as­ good people who in one way or another have sembled what is unquestionably the most re­ helped the Society through these last strenu­ markable collection of rare American histor­ ous twelve years. By the time this is in print, ical imprints and manuscripts still in private the Lords will be on the east coast, and the hands anywhere in the country. This work Grand Old Lady presumably will have a new has absorbed much of his interest for nearly director. My resignation—and it was a re­ forty years. For the modern counterpart of luctant resignation—grew out of a casual our distinguished founding father, Lyman luncheon with an old friend in New York in Copeland Draper, about whom he spoke mid-July which produced a day later an in­ spiritedly at our Draper Centennial conven­ vitation to return at once to New York, and tion,'* it seemed fitting to revive an office un­ a week later a formal offer of the deanship of used since Draper's time in recognition of Mr. the School of General Studies at Columbia Dabney's service to American history as a University. My resignation was submitted to conservator of the basic materials of our the Executive Committee the following week, heritage. effective as soon as the shift to new quarters could be conveniently arranged. George Clarke Sellery, of Madison, Wisconsin. When Dean Sellery announced his The opportunity to share in the develop­ determination to retire from active service on ment of the faculty and curriculum of this the Board of Curators after twenty-six years, huge eleven-year-old school for part-time un­ his colleagues searched for some appropriate dergraduates in the liberal arts at one of the recognition of the degree to which the Society nation's most prestigious universities was was in his debt. His many years as sage of highly attractive. It is a field in which I have the Executive Committee, as vice-president, as had a long-time personal interest and early ex­ acting director for the five months between perience. The chance to rejoin in this under­ taking old friends and one-time colleagues on the Columbia faculty added to its appeal. So did a major salary boost and the other per­ *Lucius Bryan Dabney, "A Southerner's Defense of quisites of the olTice. But chielly the decision Lyman Draper," in the Wisconsin Magazine of His­ tory, 38: 131-134, 173-175 (Spring, 1955). stemmed from a growing conviction that it was

17 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 195£

time to step aside, to make room for new lead­ ward-looking, ambitious program ratified by ership, to give the Lady a new consort for the the Planning Committee; the imminence of promising era that lies ahead. the fund-raising drives of the circus and rail­ The past twelve years have been exciting road museums; the initial success of the Medi­ and rewarding: the creation of the Women's cal Society's drive for funds for the medical Auxiliary; the institution and growth of our museum; the prospects of early and substan­ school program; the acquisition of the Mc- tial private donations to the program of the Cormick Collection and the development of Society; the beginnings of large-scale founda­ the labor collections and the new Mass Com­ tion support; the slowly developing profes- munications History Center; the renovation sionalization of the staff; the promising initial of the physical plant with its added work steps toward the sorely needed addition to the space and better facilities for the burgeoning building—all are straws in the wind. The number of students and scholars interested in future is full of promise, and of genuine like­ the American heritage; the formalization of lihood of fulfillment. the state archival program with its ramifica­ Leaving such attractive prospects and the tions in county, local, and court records; the job I married twelve years ago is not easy. Only revival of the book-publishing program; the a real challenge could have pried me loose at significant growth of the local societies; the this particular time. The decision was facili­ acquisition of three historic sites; the opening tated by the knowledge that my loyal and able of the farm and craft museum; the beginnings alter ego of the past few years, Don McNeil, of the circus, railroad, and medical museums; will stay on as associate director, induct my the slow but steady restoration of Aztalan and successor, and insure continuity of program Belmont; the establishment of the now indis­ and momentum. I take leave with nothing but pensable field service; the History Building at the warmest sentiments for the Lady, for my the Centennial Exposition; the first movie; colleagues of the Board of Curators who have ' the development of the museum and the icono­ given so freely of their time and efforts to support the good cause, for the hard-working graphic collections; the attraction of a large staff, so many of whom have participated number of capable, alert, personable people to loyally in the changes and developments of the the staff; the growing appreciation and sup­ post-war years, and for the many warm friends port of the Society throughout the state; the and staunch supporters, both personal and offi­ revival of the impact of the Wisconsin Society cial, without whose help in many ways progress on the whole movement throughout the coun­ would have been impossible. All of you have try, typified in the creation of the American been perfectly wonderful to the Lords, who History Research Center, the establishment of salute you with deep and abiding affection. the executive secretariat of the American As­ I suspect that I may find ways to be of some sociation for State and Local History in our minor service occasionally to our Society from building, and the graduation of staff col­ my New York base. And Mrs. Lord and I hope leagues to the directorships of several promi­ that whenever any of you, our good friends, nent state and local historical societies, key are in the East, you will give us the pleasure posts in the National Park Service, and other of seeing you and renewing the fine friend­ important positions throughout the country; ships which are what we most hate to leave and finally the chance to put the whole story behind us in Wonderful Wisconsin. together in the first full-scale formal history of the institution—these are the things which have brought great satisfaction to the many participants, including myself, in each seg­ ment of the evolving program. Today the Society stands on the threshold of another era of new o]i[iorlimilv. The for­

18 The Wisconsin Idea and Social Security*

by Arthur J. Altmeyer

The former Commissioner of Social Security writes of the men, the philoso­ phies, and the events which shaped one of the most far-reaching programs of our time.

A drawing by Charles Silver in The Survey, TT WAS a hot, humid, Washington day late February 15, 1932. •*• in May of 1937. Together with my associ­ ates I climbed the broad steps of the Greek litical economy, was the prime inspiration of temple housing the Supreme Court of the his illustrious students, Van Hise and the elder United States to hear the sentence of life or La FoUette, classmates who later became the death pronounced on the Social Security Act. chief architects of the Wisconsin Idea. To me the Court's opinion that the act was con­ As an earlier McCarthy, Charles R., said in stitutional, its decision that "Congress may 1912, the sort of political economy that Bas­ spend money in aid of the 'general welfare'," com taught was not the "dismal science" of had a double significance.^ It meant that this Adam Smith and other laissez-faire economists, legislation was now truly a part of the law of but a "science by means of which order, moral­ the land; but it also meant that the Court had ity and statesmanship could live."^ Merle validated a philosophy of government which Curti and Vernon Carstensen, in their book on I, as a student at the University of Wisconsin, the history of the University, call Bascom the had absorbed many years ago—a philosophy pioneer in the development of the social gos­ widely known throughout the nation as the pel.^ Wisconsin Idea. The essence of Bascom's teaching and of the As far as I have been able to discover, no Wisconsin Idea was simply but emphatically one really knows the exact origin of either the expressed in the belief that government had an term Wisconsin Idea or of the term Social affirmative obligation to promote the well- Security; apparently each was so obviously an being of its citizens, and that the University apt label for a comprehensive and dynamic had an equally affirmative obligation to serve concept that they both came into common us­ the state in helping to achieve that objective. age quickly and unconsciously. But anyone La Follette, in his autobiography, says of Bas­ who knows anything about the Wisconsin Idea com that "It was his teaching, iterated and does know, and does not need to be told again, reiterated, of the obligation of both the uni­ how much it and the University of Wisconsin versity and the students to the mother state were a part of each other. that may be said to have originated the Wis­ It is common knowledge that that universal consin Idea in education."* man. President John Bascom, whose interests encompassed rhetoric, esthetics, literature, psy­ " Charles R. McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea (New- chology, philosophy, and history as well as po- York, 1912), 21. ' Merle Curti and Vernon Carstensen, The Univer­ sity of Wisconsin; a History, 1848-1925 (Madison, * Adapted from an address made before the Madi­ 1949). son Literary Club, March 10, 1958. * Robert M. La Follette, La Follette's Autobiogra­ 'Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937). phy (Madison, 1913), 27.

19 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

In 1887 the regents forced Bascom to resign. later, E. A. Ross. At that time the field of Apparently part of the reason was mutual irri­ economics included sociology, as it did in most tation concerning internal administrative universities. Ross, because he mentioned in matters. But the main reason seems to have one of his classes that the notorious anarchist, been Bascom's political views, particularly in Emma Goldman, was to speak in Madison, and regard to prohibition. He was a great moral­ because someone he had invited to lecture to ist who did not wear his hair shirt inconspic­ his class was accused of being in favor of free uously. love, likewise got into some difficulty with the The year before Bascom's resignation, a regents. Although he was never brought to young man named Richard T. Ely wrote about trial, the incident prompted the class of 1910 the labor movement in a book which was con­ to present to the University the now-famous sidered radical in its day, but which Bascom plaque which, inscribed with the words of the endorsed highly.° Ely was one of the young committee that had earlier investigated Ely, Turks who organized the American Economic is affixed to the entrance of Bascom Hall. Its Association in 1885, the platform of which presentation did not arouse much enthusiasm included these planks: on the part of the university authorities of the "We regard the state as an agency whose day. In fact, the plaque was stored in a base­ positive assistance is one of the indispens­ ment until the 1915 reunion of the class when able conditions of human progress. it was placed in its present and honored posi­ ". . . We believe in a progressive develop­ tion. ment of economic conditions, which must be None of these men mentioned disregarded met by a corresponding development of leg­ theory or the historical approach, but they islative policy."" did believe very strongly that theory and his­ This declaration of policy was anathema to tory should be put to work in the solution of the laissez-faire political economists who occu­ present-day problems. They believed in pied the chairs in the largest universities of observing and analyzing the behavior of indi­ that time, and was, therefore, quickly changed viduals and institutions under actual condi­ to a position of neutrality on economic policy tions ; and on the basis of this observation and and methods. analysis they did not hesitate to make value Bascom's successor, Thomas C. Chamberlin, judgments and suggest changes in—or pro­ induced Ely to leave Johns Hopkins in 1892 pose the creation of—social institutions which and come to the University to head a new would better promote the general welfare. school of economics, political science, and his­ Throughout the country they came to be tory. This, it was said, was to be a school of known as the Wisconsin school of institutional citizenship which would not only advance economists, or sometimes, the Wisconsin school knowledge in the social sciences but would also of welfare economists. offer training for public careers. Ely soon got Although it was my good fortune to have into trouble over his allegedly radical views studied under these men, as well as others in and was put on trial before an investigating different departments who had the same out­ committee of the Board of Regents. The com­ look, it was John R. Commons with whom mittee exonerated him and later issued a re­ I was most closely associated, first as a gradu­ port eloquently reaffirming the principle of ate student, then as a research assistant, and academic freedom, in which the phrase "con­ finally as a public official. tinual and fearless sifting and winnowing" was Despite the fact that Commons had been let used for the first time.'^ go by another institution because of his sup­ Ely brought to the University such men as port of Sunday baseball, he never got into John R. Commons in 1904, and two years trouble at the University of Wisconsin, even though he was occasionally called hard names ° Richard T. Ely, The Labor Movement in America by persons not connected with it. That he es­ (New York, 1886). ° Constitution, By-Laws and Resolutions of the caped the controversies that overtook Ely and American Economic Association (New York, 1885), Ross was certainly not owing to any failure of 4-5. his to concern himself with public questions— ' Report of the Investigating Committee, in Papers of the Board of Regents, September 18, 1894. some of which were controversial indeed. In

20 ALTMEYER WISCONSIN IDEA AND SOCIAL SECURITY fact. Commons played an important part in the well as by a certain United States Senator from develo])ment of much of the progressive legis­ Wisconsin: lation passed during the period 1905 to 1913, "I stand for the square deal. But when I such as that relating to civil service, public say I am for the square deal, 1 mean not utility regulation, and labor legislation, partic­ merely that I stand for fair play under the ularly the latter. Later, he and his students present rules of the game, but that 1 stand were responsible for drafting the unemploy­ for having those rules changed so as to work ment compensation bills which were introduced for a more substantial equality of oppor­ into every legislative session from 1921 until tunity and of reward for equally good serv­ 1931, when the bill introduced became law**— ice. ... I believe in shaping the ends of the first such in the country, just as the Work­ government to protect property as well as men's Compensation Act of 1911 had been the human welfare. Normafly, and in the long first constitutional state workmen's compensa­ run, the ends are the same; but whenever tion law in the nation. the alternative must be faced, I am for men In my opinion, the reason Professor Com­ and not for property. . . ." mons was able to do so much to promote this As it happened, the statesman in question kind of precedent-making legislation was not was Theodore Roosevelt, speaking at Osawa- only because he was a mild-mannered man, tomie, Kansas, iir the summer of 1910." but really because he believed in consulting in Franklin Roosevelt, for his part, was thor­ advance with the groups which would be af­ oughly familiar not only with the progressive fected by such legislation. He believed strong­ legislation for which Wisconsin was famous, ly that in a democracy it was necessary to take but also with the philosophy underlying its into account not only all the relevant facts, development and enactment. He was particu­ but also the views and reactions of all groups larly impressed with Commons' idea of con­ sulting with advisory committees representing whose interests were involved in a proposed groups which would be affected by contem­ law. plated legislation or by adminstrative regu­ Some have felt that the Wisconsin Idea was lations. This was largely because of Frances the forerunner of the Rooseveltian New Deal, Perkins with whom he had worked as state sen­ and in a sense, I believe this is true. It seems ator and as governor of New York. Miss Per­ to me that in searching for historical prece­ kins, who had served as Roosevelt's industrial dents, one has only to look back on those amaz­ commissioner during his governorship, be­ ing years of 1910 to 1913, when a tidal wave came his Secretary of Labor when he assumed of economic and social reform swept the entire the Presidency. nation. Not only was most of Wisconsin's pro­ Incidentally, when I was asked to become gressive legislation passed during that period, Assistant Secretary of Labor, I was told that but Theodore Roosevelt was also expounding it was not simply because I was at the time what he called the New Nationalism, Woodrow secretary of the Wisconsin Industrial Com­ Wilson what he called the New Freedom. Both mission which was then administering the men were familiar with the Wisconsin Idea, state's unemployment relief program as well and it was Roosevelt who wrote the introduc­ as its labor laws, but because I was a product tion to Charles R. McCarthy's book. of the Wisconsin school of institutional econo­ The later Roosevelt was a close friend and mists. admirer of both of these earlier Presidents and One cannot help, if he compares the develop­ of their views. How much the Wisconsin Idea ment of social legislation in Wisconsin and influenced the philosophy of government ex­ New York, but be struck by the fact that both pounded by all three, or how much the Wis­ states adopted the same sort of legislation at consin Idea and each man's individual views approximately the same time. Both passed a developed from common influences is, of workmen's compensation law, a minimum course, a matter for conjecture. But in any wage law, an industrial safety law, and laws event, the following might have been uttered regulating woman and child labor during the by any of the three Presidents mentioned, as

"Theodore Roosevelt, Works; v.19. Social Justice " Wisconsin Statutes, 1931, chapter 102. and Popular Rule (New York, 1925), 16, 27.

21 Labor, had adsocatcd in 1{'>9!! wlial he calh-d "The Day Labor Plan," a sclicnir siinilai- lo what Hopkins had in mind. This information proved sufficient to tip the scales in favor of Hopkins' presenting his proposal to the Presi­ dent, who gave it his approval. Within a week a group of advisers, of whom I was one, drafted a plan of operation for what was first called (he Civil Works Administration and later the Works Progress Administration, more familiarly known as WPA. Within thirty days four million persons had been put to work, and all told, nearly twenty million men. women, and children subsisted on the earn­ ings of these workers during the unusiiallv •curin AtIinini.str;ttion bitter winter of 1933-1934. This Detroit widow and her seven children have been receiving survivor's insurance benefits monthly since 1954. This is not the time nor place to discuss the merit or want of merit of this emergency program. However, reference to it may re­ 1910-1913 period, and within months of each mind us of the situation in the early 1930's, other. And when the Great Depression struck, when what we now call social security was un­ the governors of these two states were the first der consideration. Social security has been in the nation to set up agencies to deal with called a child of the depression, which, in one the problems of unemployment and to un­ sense, is true. Certainly the Great Depression dertake state-wide programs of unemployment shocked the nation into a realization that it relief. Although Wisconsin passed its unem­ was possible in this bountiful land of ours for ployment compensation law in 1932, Gover­ millions of people to be in absolute want. nor Roosevelt of New York, in a speech at A man from Mars visiting this planet at that the Conference of State Governors in 1931, time would have observed a dreadful and in­ had already taken a stand favoring such comprehensible spectacle: the richest nation legislation. on earth was prostrate, as if afflicted with a Immediately upon becoming President, strange scourge which paralyzed its economic Roosevelt requested Senators Robert M. La life. At least thirteen million workers were un­ Follette of Wisconsin, Robert F. Wagner of employed, factories lay idle, banks were closed, New York, and Edward P. Costigan of Colo­ stores had no customers, hundreds of thou­ rado to draft a bill appropriating five hundred sands of farmers were losing their farms, hun­ million dollars for grants to the states to help dreds of thousands more were losing their them finance the cost of unemployment relief. homes, and millions of old people had lost their As the year 1933 wore on, Harry L. Hop­ lifetime savings. Many of us still remember kins, director of the Federal Emergency Re­ the electrifying effect of a confident voice com­ lief Administration, began to give considera­ ing over the air, telling us that "the only thing tion to the development of a work program to we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, un­ replace the relief program. He hesitated to reasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes recommend such a measure to the President needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." since he thought organized labor, fearful of its Yet long before the Great Depression our effect on the wage rates of skilled workers, general high level of well-being had masked a might join the conservatives in opposing it. shocking amount of downright poverty. When But in October of that year, Aubrey Wifliams. the President said in his second inaugural ad­ assistant emergency relief administrator, who dress, "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, had formerly been general secretary of the ill-clad, ill-nourished," this was not simply stir­ Wisconsin Conference of Social Work, learned ring rhetoric. It was indeed particularly poig­ from John R. Commons that Samuel Gompers, nant to those who sat huddled on the cold, the president of the American Federation of rainswept steps of the Capitol that day. But it

22 ALTMEYER WISCONSIN IDEA AND SOCIAL SECURITY

Stated a grim, fully demonstrable fact, well sense of immediacy and practicability which known to social scientists long before the de­ avoided long drawn-out and fruitless re­ pression. search; he had the ability to present his ma­ Thus, the government of the day recognized terial in such a fashion as to enable policy that it not only must undertake a gigantic makers to reach intelligent decisions; and, emergency rescue operation to relieve the ex­ finally, he was able to work with persons of isting widespread destitution, but also that it very divergent points of view while retaining must develop a long-range plan for preventing their complete confidence in his integrity and destitution. Accordingly, the President notified desire to be of service. the Congress on June 8, 1934, that when it re­ In accordance with the philosophy and prac­ convened in January, 1935, he would submit a tice that had grown up in Wisconsin and program of what he called reconstruction. In New York, a general advisory council and his message he stated: eight specialized advisory committees were "Our task of reconstruction does not re­ created to make certain that the points of view quire the creation of new and strange values. of interested groups were taken into account It is rather the finding of the way once more and that the knowledge of experts outside of to known, but to some degree forgotten, the government was fully utilized. In the short ideals and values. If the means and details space of six months the staff was able to as­ are in some instances new, the objectives semble relevant information and develop what are as permanent as human nature. appeared to be the most feasible methods of "Among our objectives I place the secur­ achieving what we now call social security. ity of the men, women and children first."^" The final result was incorporated in a report He immediately thereafter created by exec­ of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Secu­ utive order a Committee on Economic Security rity to the President which he transmitted to consisting of four cabinet members and the the Congress with his endorsement on Jan­ Federal Emergency Relief Administration to uary 17, 1935. All of the main recommenda­ prepare recommendations which, in its judg­ tions of the Cabinet committee were followed ment, would promote greater economic secu­ in the passage of the Social Security Act on rity. The Secretary of Labor was made August 14, 1935. chairman. This executive order directed the Moreover, the report of the committee, sup­ committee to appoint a technical board con­ plemented by a later report on "Economic In­ sisting of qualified persons already in the security in Old Age," prepared by the Social government, and an executive director who Security Board, was relied upon by the At­ would have immediate charge of the studies torney General to establish the conclusion ihat and investigations under the general direction of the technical board. I, having been made chairman of the technical board, promptly proceeded to induce Edwin E. Witte, profes­ sor of economics at the University of Wiscon­ sin to accept the position of executive director. Professor Witte not only was, and is, one of the nation's most eminent economists, but his experience peculiarly fitted him for the im­ portant task at hand. He was a successor to Charles R. McCarthy as director of the Wis­ consin Legislative Reference Library before he joined the university faculty, and in that position had developed an amazing capacity for assembling and focusing already existing data and thought fierlineiit to the develop­ ment of goNcrnrncnlal proposals, lie had a

'" Cojigressiontil Record. 73 Congress, 2 session (1934), 10770.

Social Security Administration Self-employed farm people have been under social security since 1955. Shown is one of 600,000 retired farmers, who with their aged wives, receive monthly old-age benefit ]>ayments. WISCONSIN VIAGAZINK Of HISTORY AUTUMN. 1958 the Social Security Act was essential to the cient organization and to develop proper pro­ general welfare. The Court itself, in its opin­ cedures which will assure prompt and equitable ion, recognized the importance of the compre­ service. Citizens who dub all public officials hensive factual basis upon which the Act was bureaucrats, all necessary organization bu­ based, saying: reaucracy, and all proper procedures red tape, "Congress did not improvise a judgment are not helping the cause of good government. when it found that the award of old age Even those who may not be in sympathy benefits would be conducive to the general with the humane objectives of social security welfare. The President's Committee on Eco­ would do well to make an informed appraisal nomic Security made an investigation and of its actual functioning, because it does con­ report, aided by a research staff of Govern­ stitute big business. The Old Age, Survivors, ment officers and employees, and by an Ad­ and Disability Insurance System has been visory Council and several other advisory called "the biggest insurance company in the groups."' ^ world." The dependents' benefits alone have a The Court then ])roceeded to quote exten­ face value in excess of all the private life in­ sively from the research findings, thus valid­ surance written in this country. The bureau ating the teaching of John R. Commons and which operates this system has far more em- the other institutional economists at the [Uni­ ])loyees than does the state of Wisconsin. It is versity of Wisconsin lo the effect that faclual paying benefits to Wisconsin residents which research and analysis were essential in en­ exceed the total cost of the state's governmental abling a court to determine whether a law was and educational expenditures. Yet its admin­ a reasonable exercise of the power of govern­ istrative cost is less than 2 per cent—far less ment to promote the general welfare. than that of any private insurance company. Undoubtedly in the course of time our social The total annual disbursements by the fed­ insurances will be improved to provide more eral, state, and local governments for health adequate protection against all the major eco­ and welfare activities now amount to twenty nomic hazards that threaten the security of in­ billion dollars. To those who may fear that dividuals and families. However, any social the welfare state has already engulfed us, it insurance system is in the nature of a gigantic may be some comfort to know that this rep­ group insurance policy providing only basic resents less than 5 per cent of our gross protection. There will always be some persons national product, and is a smaller percentage and families who have exceptional needs not than before World War II. Moreover, the covered by social insurance. Therefore, a re­ proportion of the total expended for public sidual program of public assistance will still be aid has greatly decreased, while the propor­ necessary. tion disbursed as social insurance benefits has As a former state and federal government greatly increased. The net result is that neces­ official, I may be pardoned for pointing out sary government intervention in the daily lives that any legislation, particularly social legisla­ of citizens has steadily lessened. tion, in order to achieve its purpose, must be Another encouraging development has been administered efficiently and intelligently by the increasing recognition of the need for competent officials selected on the basis of constructive services of all kinds, not only merit alone. Legislation does not go into effect to reduce the hazards which cause economic automatically, "untouched by human hands," insecurity, but also to enable people to lead to quote an old advertising slogan. As John R. personally satisfying and socially useful lives. Commons used to tell his students many years Thus, workmen's compensation laws are ac­ ago, "Administration is legislation in action." companied by accident prevention; unemploy­ Without effective administration a law may ment insurance is accompanied by an increased well become a dead letter. number of public employment offices under­ In order to achieve the social purpose of so­ taking to find jobs, and by rehabilitation serv­ cial legislation it is necessary not only to select ices of all kinds. competent officials, but also to create an effi- I would like to venture the opinion that what we now call social security is an ancient " Helvering v. Davis. and never-ending quest. It is by no means

24 ALTMEYER WISCONSIN IDEA AND SOCIAL SECURITY simply a social worker's dream or a dema­ his part. It should not mean a redistribution gogue's delight. Those who say that people of wealth, but a redistribiilion of welfare. What can not have both liberty and security but il should mean is genuinely equal opporlunily must sacrifice one for the other, perhaps do in a free society. Therefore, liberty and se­ not understand the meaning of these basic curity are synonymous, and we can nol Inuc concepts. Even that great exponent of laissez one without having the other. faire, John Stuart Mill, in his essay "On Lib­ Perhaps what people are concerned about erty" said: "Energy and self-dependence are when they deplore the "welfare state," is a as likely to be impaired by the absence of help paternalistic welfare state rather than a co­ as by its excess." operative state of welfare. In a free society To me, it would seem that in a modern our quest for social security must always be democratic society the positive idea of liberty, for a method whereby people can work to­ in the sense of equal opportunity, must pre­ gether effectively through their government vail. Liberty in the negative sense of being to achieve security in such a way as to pro­ let alone can simply mean, as some wag has mote, at one and the same time, individual put it, a state of ragged individualism with incentive and mutual responsibility. And to everyone having the right to work out his the extent that we are successful in this quest own destitution. we shall not only be promoting the good life Social security in the sense we use it should here in America, we shall be making progress not mean that everyone shall be guaranteed all in our struggle for the minds of free men the good things of life without any effort on throughout the world.

Holiday Gift Suggestions

Wisconsin Picture Calendar, 1959 Edition

The beautiful desk calendar published annually by the Society contains six full color and 54 black-and-white photographs of unusual interest. Gift packaged. $1.00.

Books for Christmas

Book lovers will enjoy gifts from the Society's wide variety of titles—biographies, juveniles, social and economic history, essays, and travel literature. Catalog available upon request.

A Gift Membership

Give a gift of membership that will be remembered through­ out the year and enjoyed by the history-minded, amateur or professional. Annual ($5.00) or special ($1.00) memberships.

25 "Why, you snake in the grass!" exclaimed Some people have a proclivity for hero­ the energetic young fieldman, reaching quickly ism and Tom seems to be one of those. Not into the underbrush for an instrument of de­ long after the sneaky snake episode, we were fense. With a short snap of his wrist he tore taking our usual lunch-hour swim (those days off a stick from a flowering half-grown dog­ we are in town) off the Memorial Union pier wood, coolly fashioned a forked stick and cour­ near the Society. A girl dropped her billfold ageously approached the enemy. into ten feet of water. Tom, without frogsuit The crowd, frightened and cautious at the or diver's gear, dived to the bottom and recov­ intrusion of the monster, drew back. ered it. Next day they were waiting for him. "Get his attention! Stick that broom in his A girl had dropped her watch into the water; face," commanded the fieldman. A park at­ a man had dropped his glasses in the same tendant in uniform cautiously thrust the broom place several days before. A couple of dives forward. The fieldman stealthily stalked the and Tom had retrieved those, too. A good man stubborn stranger—and struck, stunning it. to have around: you'll be seeing more of him The sturdy prongs bore down on either side out around the state. of its neck, pinning it to the hard earth. The fieldman grabbed it by the back of the neck, At its annual meeting at the splendid held it high for inspection by the huzzahing Leathem Smith Lodge in Sturgeon Bay this crowd, then casually placed it in a box. The year, the Society voted awards of merit to big bull snake would be a bother no more. three county and local historical societies: the Historical horizons could continue to expand. Menasha Society for its "unique and imagina­ Stonefield, the State Farm and Craft Museum, tive programs," and its "remarkable success was secure. The following day the snake was in arousing an awareness and appreciation of presented to the University's Zoology Depart­ local history"; the Jackson County Society for ment. Fieldman Tom Lueders, on the job less many things, including its activity in the "de­ than a month, had upheld the derring-do repu­ velopment and dedication of Gullickson Glen," tation of Society fieldman, the concept of serv­ and its "recognition of the contributions of the ice to the people of the state. Indian to American culture"; and the Water- Every man should have a symbol and the town Society for its restoration of the Octagon field service seems to lean toward choosing House and the first kindergarten in America. animals. Mine is a nibbling fish. Bill Schereck The three societies are developing well- has a gnawing dog, Dan Porter has a perambu­ rounded programs, are reaching out to inter­ lating bear (See Circuit Rider, Winter 1956- ested people in every occupational group, and 1957.) Tom offers his slithering reptile as a are expanding as fast as facilities, money, and colorful addition to the field service coat of energy permit. But the well-deserved recog­ nition of these three dynamic organizations

26 CIRCUIT RIDER

tell only part of the story of what's happening Bill Schereck's "Sounds of Heritage" record­ in local history in this state. ings for study and discussion. The upsurge in restoration activity contin­ The Chippewa Valley Society is cataloging ues. Work on the restoration of the Galloway and indexing Society book and manuscript House has progressed to the point where the collections on deposit at the Eau Claire Public Fond du Lac Society was able to open it to Library. The Pierce County Society is pro­ the public on Sundays. The Fort Atkinson So­ gressing with its cataloging of its large photo ciety, attempting to locate and mark the old collections. fort, has hired a graduate student of the Uni­ The Portage County, Ripon, and Washing­ versity to assist the project, and has scheduled ton County Societies took a major hand in tours of historic sites throughout the state. The celebrating centennials. The booklet prepared newly formed Columbia County Society is get­ by the Portage County Society for the Stevens ting behind the Fort Winnebago restoration Point Centennial is especially handsome. The project. The restoration of the Hutchinson Door County Society began a quarterly, The House by the Waupaca Society nears comple­ I-'eninsula, and provided a session for our own tion. The Grant County Society is trying to Society's annual meeting in Sturgeon Bay in obtain the old county jail as a museum. The June. The Kenosha County Society published Racine County Society wants the old public From J-'ioneer Village to Modern City, a his­ library building for its museum. The Milwau­ tory of Kenosha written by Miss Carrie Crop- kee County Society has extensive plans and ley, secretary. For her work, which will be good prospects for acquiring space in the old used extensively in the schools. Miss Cropley Washington Park Zoo. The Lake Mills-Aztalan also received an award of merit from the State Society purchased for $2,075 the old Aztalan Society in June. Existing societies have con­ School, situated across the road from the pres­ tinued to do well. The Rock County Society ent museum. reported almost 8,000 visitors through the The Hillsboro Area Society, with support Lincoln-Tallman House in 1957 and continues from our Women's Auxiliary, is reconstructing to publish its colorful Rock County Chronicle. and will operate the historic Kolash Cabin, The Milton Society's Milton House, dedicated now set in a park area in town. The Madeline in July, 1955, is operating in the black for Island historical museum is completed and the first time since its opening. open to the public. Work has begun on the It's quite an impressive list. Through the museum annex to the Beyer House, owned by many stages of development of a local group, the Oconto County Society. In Marinette, the the State Society is called upon for advice and county board appropriated $5,000 for the local counsel and support. The feeling of good will museum and the Marinette County Society and between local societies and the state organi­ the city chamber of commerce raised a match­ zation is based on solid co-operation. Local ing $5,000. The campaign for additional funds groups lend materials to us for the History- continues. mobile and for exhibits in Madison. They par­ Many of these county and local societies ticipate in the institutes, share their thoughts have other projects afoot. Some societies have and ideas and methods with each other and placed their emphasis on other phases of local with us. We counsel on museum plans, help history. The Northland Society in Oneida make tape recordings, appear as speakers, County has a research program going, regu­ swap ideas we have picked up elsewhere in larly asks neighboring historical societies to the state. At the first regional institute, for ex­ participate in programs. The South Wood ample, the host organization, the Marathon County Society lailnched a local oral history County Historical Society, used six of our staff project with a three-day tape-recording session. on the program, and was in touch with our The Walworth (bounty Society has formed a field service in evcrv stage of planning the committee of township historians to study the event. More and more societies are using our history of the sixteen townships in the county. facilities, our publications, and our movies for The Rock and Washburn Societies also have programs within their local groups. In recent successful township historian programs. The years the number of societies affiliated with us Dunn County Society has used programs from has grown from fifty to seventy. It's a happy

27 WISCONSIN ^L4GAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 arrangement which can improve both local and particularly at local societies. Entitled Ex­ state groups. There is nothing antithetical change, the newsletter will have several func­ about both state and local groups working to­ tions. It will contain important news of socie­ gether. ties around the state and announcements on To cement the relationship between, us, the special State Society events, such as the An­ State Society has taken two significant steps. nual Institute on Local History. There will be The first will come at the Annual Institute in an exchange column, an unusual project-and- Madison this faU. The Board of Curators has program column, lists of facilities, movies, established a rotating prize, the Reuben Gold pamphlets, and books available from our So­ Thwaites Trophy, to be given to the most out­ ciety, and a general roundup of information standing local historical society in the state for societies and museums in the state. We each year. It is gold, mounted on a dark wood hope our local societies will help us and them­ base, and has space on its plaque for the yearly selves by participating in the new publication addition of the name of the Society which wins venture. The newsletter is our effort to demon­ it. All societies are asked to submit their nomi­ strate that local societies do not operate in a nations and supporting evidence to the field void and that affiliation has substance. The service by October 1 each year. The Board of Curators will select the winner at its fall meet­ first mailing will be to the officers of the local ing each year—in time for presentation at the societies. Officers can order additional copies. Institute. It has been created not only for the local so­ ciety as an organization, but also for each and The increasing interest of local societies every member of every local society and inde­ prompts us to resurrect a project we began sev­ pendent historical museum in the state. We eral years ago—a quarterly publication aimed hope you'll help us make it a success.

, ,* o)„m- <#-Si'-=

Peckliani Sliidio, I'raiiic

The historic Brisbois House fit I'rtiirie du Chien. recently deeded lo the Society by Mrs. Louise Ixotil. sister of John, Cornelius, who puri-hascd the property in 1949. The house, lo be operated in coiifuiiclion nilh Villa Louis, was built by Michael Brisbois who set up his fur trading operations in the frontier setllcmeul of Prairie du Chien in 1781.

28 Twenty-Two Against the Plague: The Founding of the Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association

by Harold Holand

sumption had returned and claimed a victim. In nine families of this city it has swept seven members away year after year; in one family it has taken eleven in fifteen years.' "^ TN THE CAMPAIGN against tuberculosis in Public interest in control efforts was most •*- Wisconsin, 1908 was a year of decision. By intense in the field of bovine tuberculosis, for a fortunate combination of circumstances, here the matter touched almost every rural many people of driving zeal, representing var­ family. The campaign for the elimination of ious groups, were brought together in Milwau­ tuberculosis among cattle had been going on kee on October 28, 1908, to pool their efforts since 1894, when Dr. H. L. Russefl, the first in the organization of the Wisconsin Anti- bacteriologist of the state agricultural experi­ Tuberculosis Association. ment station, had tested the thirty prize cattle Behind them lay a tremendous sense of com­ of the College of Agriculture and had found, pulsion. Tuberculosis, with a rate of about by tuberculin test and post mortem, that 110 deaths each year per 100,000 population, twenty-five were tuberculous.' stood first among the state's causes of death. The College of Agriculture, the Wisconsin There were no diagnostic facilities for early Live Stock Sanitary Association, and progres­ discovery of cases. There was but one public sive dairymen had backed the drive strongly tuberculosis hospital, just opened, with a and had done much testing. But the campaign capacity at the beginning of the year of but had not achieved satisfactory results. There forty beds. There were no rehabilitation fa­ was as yet no plan for area testing, with the cilities whatsoever; none, indeed, were needed, result that clean herds could easily become for almost nobody recovered. Tuberculosis reinfected. Funds for testing, as well as for stalked unchecked through every community. veterinarian personnel, were inadequate. And fn an interview story on a five-year study there was tremendous hostility among dairy­ of 2,236 tuberculosis deaths in the city of men and stockbreeders who feared—often Milwaukee made by Thomas W. B. Crafer, with good reason—the loss of much if not most holder of the Vogel Fellowship of the Uni­ of their cattle. versity of Wisconsin, a Milwaukee Sentinel Public sympathy for the hostile dairymen reporter wrote: "The map which Mr. Crafer was evident in the headlines which newspapers has prepared . . . resembled a forest or a ran above news stories quoting Wisconsin or grave yard. On its surface were thousands of New York cattlemen on the dubiousness of the pins, common pins, black headed pins and test: "Tuberculin Test a Fake";'' "Kill Eight white headed pins. They were everywhere over for One";* "Test a Humbug."" And it was the city, in all wards and districts, and each })in represented a death from the white ' (Jiarles Teiuiey .lackson, "Milwaukee's Death Map plague. . . .'" (Quoting Crafer directly, the —Tracking Tuberculosis to Its Haunts," Milwaukee story continued: "'The common pins repre­ Sentinel, May 10, 1908. ' H. L. Russell, "Tuberculosis and the Tuberculin sent a single death in a house, the black headed Test," Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. pins Iwo deaths and llic |)carl ones three. Hut 10 ( Madison, 1894). ill inanv places llicre were more. Our workers " Antigo 7oHr;)«/. A|>]il It, 1908. ; Elkhorn Independent, March 19, 1908, \isilcd houses where time after time con­ ° Kenosha Evening News, April 17, 1908.

29 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

made plain in such editorial attacks as the the tuberculin test," J. Q. Emery, dairy and following: food commissioner, asserted. "This method "Wisconsin stock owners are being out­ has proven practicable, and if the people of raged, we think, by the projectors and pro­ New York want to drink milk from tubercular moters of the tuberculin fad. . . . That is cattle and eat the meat of tubercular cows they one of the sweet 'scientific' modern ideas can. Wisconsin will not."'* that is coming to us from that great 'educa­ Even less understood, probably, was the tional' ( ?) octopus down on Lake Mendota's control of tuberculosis among the human pop­ shores, which is devoting so much energy ulation. Late in 1907, the small State Sana­ to frightening people about foods which all torium had been opened at Wales, in Waukesha must use."" County, following a long educational struggle "Cows are very high now, and the money spent for the animals killed would, we led by Dr. Gustav Schmitt of Milwaukee and believe, be sufficient to equip our creameries Professor Russell. Its regimen of treatment, and cheese factories with a pasteurizing like that of early sanatoriums generally, was outfit. And all that money would not be limited to rest, good food and—during the thrown away, so to speak, but accomplish first winter, at least—very cold fresh air. The something."' news of this treatment, filtering back home, To this campaign of vilification, Russell, provoked the Kilbourn Mirror-Gazette of Jan­ now dean of the College, and his associates and uary 9, 1908 to grumble that "at the sani­ allies fought back vigorously through farmers' tarium at Wales the open air patients are institute lectures, bulletins, and post-mortem expected to sleep in pretty well ventilated demonstrations before dairymen's gatherings. shacks and are charged $10 a week for board The state agricultural authorities stood firm and lodging. Consumptives would save money against suggestions that Wisconsin, like New by turning hobo and sleeping in any con­ York, abandon the tuberculin test in favor of venient barn or under a tree." a physical examination and the segregation of To combat such a press, the sanatorium suspected animals. "Wisconsin is doing all authorities apparently sent out or inspired that it can to rid the state of tuberculosis by some favorable news stories. Thus, one such the best known method in the scientific world. story concludes with this bland assurance: "A more happy colony of sufferers would be hard to find. Nobody seems to mind the snow and cold weather."'^ •?^,"^ In spite of public misgivings about the treat­ ment offered and despite the addition of forty more beds during 1908, the State Sanatorium had applications far in excess of capacity. The institution's second superintendent. Dr. J. W. Coon, wrote in his 1910 biennial report that "it has not been possible, at any time, to supply the demand for beds, there being at all times from twenty to fifty names upon the waiting list." The public hunger for a cure for '"consump­ tion" can be sensed in the publicity given by both dailies and weeklies to a claim of a Milwaukee cobbler. Fred Krempel, of a sure- cure he had discovered. It consisted of drink­ ing a tea brewed from insects frequenting the "Achilles plant." so named because Achil- Wisconsin Anti-'I'uhcrcuiosi River Pines Sanatorium. .Stevens Point, circa 1908. Early sana- " Berlin Weekly Journal. April 29, 1908. toriums generally placed high value on cold fresh air. Windows ' Fennimore Times. April 29, 1908. were kept wide open all winter, regardless of the imiouni of " Fond du Lac Daily Commonwealth. June 16, 1908. snow that blew in. •' Slieboygan Daily Press, February 25, 1908.

30 HOLAND ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS

les, by ancient fable, "was given the plant son has also passed away suffering from by an old woman to preserve him from the same disease."^^ illness." These insects, Krempel asserted, had Such was the household toll of tuberculosis germ-killing qualities. He thus described his in that year of decision, just fifty years ago; discovery: such the worthless straws at which people "I had watched the plants for some years clutched to save themselves from it! but could not find any way to get the germ- killers out. I tried to get a rattlesnake, in­ SfDE from the State Sanatorium, there oculated with tubercular germs, to eat the A^wer e three major forces in the state in plant, and it refused. I tried to get several 1908 working toward the prevention and con­ cows to eat it, but they would not. And I trol of tuberculosis among human beings. One often wondered why, when the Achilles plant was the State Board of Health; one the Uni­ grew in such abundance in grasses and on versity of Wisconsin group; and the third, the high hills, cattle would refuse it. So I hid Tuberculosis Commission of the Medical So­ behind a tree in a far side of a pasture ciety of Milwaukee County and the allies it where the plant grew in abundance and had enlisted. In the early winter of 1908, found that the cattle carefully avoided the plant. They always devoured the grass about their enthusiasms and skills were fused in the it greedily. One day I tied a string to the organization and activities of the Wisconsin plant and, getting back in my hiding place, Committee for the International Congress on jerked it. A swarm of insects arose from Tuberculosis, to be held in Washington, D. C., the plant and settled on the grass and hay in the fall of that year. and stubble. This was greedily eaten by The Board of Health, created in 1876, took the cattle. litde active interest in tuberculosis control "Then I took a tubercular cow into the during its first quarter-century. But on April pasture and in a few weeks expert tests 1, 1904, with the appointment by Governor disclosed the fact that it was entirely cured La Follette of Dr. C. A. Harper—already a of consumption. Then I tried brewing the tea and drinking it myself. I noticed that, member of the Board of Health—as its sec­ while I was not a consumptive, it kept my retary, a new era began. Within three years, system clear, my head never ached, and to Harper had won legislative adoption of two make a long story short, I felt fine. major measures in the field of tuberculosis "I knew of two or three people afflicted control alone. One was a bill requiring physi­ with consumption. The tea cured them. One cians in cities of the first, second, third, and in particular was August A. Wondreesh, fourth classes to report new cases of tuber­ 1423 Chestnut Street."" culosis. The second, enacted in the face of The story was apparently a scoop for the powerful bureaucratic opposition, provided for Milwaukee Free Press, from which the other transfer of the registration of vital statistics papers picked it up. Another Milwaukee daily, from the Secretary of State's office to a newly however, was able to trumpet forth a rebuttal created Bureau of Vital Statistics in the Board that same evening: of Health. With Schmitt and Russell, Harper "It is somewhat unfortunate for the claims had also fought for adoption of the bill au­ of Krempel that August A. Wondrash [sic], thorizing establishment of the State Sanatorium 285 Thirtyfifth street, formerly of 1423 in 1905, had served on its medical advisory Chestnut street, whom he specially refers to board, and had worked in the State Medical as one of the victims of the consumption Society lor an active medically-sponsored cam­ whom he has successfully cured, died about paign for tuberculosis control. eighteen hours before the wonderful cure affected by the use of the Achilles germ In addition to Russell, there were two other was given to the public. To emphasize the bacteriologists in the University group whose importance of the case, it is cited that both original interest in bovine tuberculosis con­ Mr. Wondrash's parents died of tuberculosis, trol developed into an active concern for the and it may now be added, by way of ap­ larger problem of tuberculosis among the pendix to Mr. Krempel's story, that the human population: Dr. W. D. Frost, assistant

' Milwaukee Free Press, June 5, 1908. " Milwaukee Daily News, June 5, 1908.

31 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

(and in 1907) associate professor of agricul­ uary, 1908, several Wisconsin weekly papers tural bacteriology; and Dr. Mazyck P. Ravenel, carried news items such as this one: \\ ho had been named professor of bacteriology "The Wisconsin committee for the Inter­ in 1907 and director of the State Hygienic national Tuberculosis congress to be held in Laboratory in 1908. Washington beginning September 28, 1908,' The activity of the Tuberculosis Commission has formulated plans for a vigorous fight of the Medical Society of Milwaukee County, against the white plague in Wisconsin. An like Harper's leadership, began in 1904. Fol­ organized force consisting of every mayor lowing an evening's symposium on April 8, in the state, all of the health commissioners, 1904, devoted to the public health phases of and every alderman will be effected, if the tuberculosis, a committee was named by the plans of the committee materialize. Educa­ Society to collect statistics and facts, to carry tional methods will be employed in the homes on a public educational campaign through and in the communities, by which every one exhibits and lectures, and to work for the can become acquainted with the ways of "establishment of a County Sanitorium for preventing the disease."'^ the tuberculous poor."-*" Under the chair­ A few days later Madison's Wisconsiti State manship of Dr. U. 0. B. Wingate, Harper's Journal had a long story on plans for the Washington Congress and particularly the predecessor as secretary of the Board of Health, plans for Wisconsin to have an exhibit in it. the committee included several men who would The members of the Wisconsin committee for become dynamic figures in the campaign: the promotion of the Congress were listed as Dr. J. W. Coon, former registrar of vital follows: chairman, Dr. M. P. Ravenel, Uni­ statistics of the Milwaukee Health Department; versity of Wisconsin; vice-chairman and sec­ Dr. J. M. Beffel, a frequent lecturer on tuber­ retary. Dr. Hoyt E. Dearholt, Milwaukee; culosis control; and most notably. Dr. Hoyt assistant secretary, W. D. Frost, University of E. Dearholt, a young orthopedist at whose Wisconsin; treasurer, John H. Kopmeier, Mil­ instigation the committee had come into ex­ waukee; Dr. J. M. Beffel, Milwaukee; Rev. istence. J. S. Clemens, La Crosse; Dr. George A. By 1908 two of the committee's charges had Harlow, Milwaukee; Dr. C. A. Harper, Madi­ been magnificently fulfilled. One was the bring­ son; Prof. H. L. Russell, Madison; Dr. G. E. ing to Milwaukee of the "American Tubercu­ Seaman, Milwaukee; Dr. C. H. Stoddard, losis Exhibit" provided by the newly organized Milwaukee; M. J. Tappins, Madison; and Mrs. National Association for the Study and Pre­ H. M. Youmans, Waukesha.^'' vention of Tuberculosis. In its twelve-day, The key man in the whole group was Frost. showing in May, 1906, a total of 53,000 per­ Wisconsin's exhibit at the Washington Con­ sons entered the doors of the exhibition to gress in 1908 was more of his making than inspect the displays and hear the lecturers— of anyone else. So the story of Frost is a central a total higher than in previous showings in and intimate part of the beginnings of Wis­ New York and Chicago.-'^ The other was the consin's voluntary state, tuberculosis control establishment through an organization inspired program. by the exhibit—the Milwaukee Sanatorium Frost's personal crusade might be said to for Tuberculosis Association, of Blue Mound, begin in the depression year of 1894 when, pioneer Milwaukee tuberculosis hospital, which after getting his master's degree in botany at operated on a philanthropic basis for several the University of Minnesota and being unable years. to find a job in his planned-for field, he took To promote interest in and exhibits at the a twenty-five-dollar-a-month laboratory post scheduled Sixth International Tuberculosis Congress, the National Association encouraged " Glenwood City Tribune, January 9, 1908. formation of state committees. Early in Jan- '" Madison State Journal, January 13, 1908. In some newspaper accounts the names of Clemens and Harlow are not included. A letterhead of the Committee " Wiscon.un Medical Journal (May, 1904), 736. printed in the Wisconsin Medical Journal (January, " Milwaukee Sentinel, June 13, 1906, quoting Dr. 1908), 490, lists the officers as above and includes Livingston Farrand, executive secretary of the Na­ Beffel, Seaman, Stoddard, Tappins, and Mrs. Youmans tional Association for the Study and Prevention of as members, with the officers of the Executive Com­ Tuberculosis. mittee.

32 HOLAND ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS with the Minnesota State Health Department. 1908 possessed more than a high resolve. Not Here he saw, through the microscope, the in- only did it have a considerable body of usable finitesimally small, infinitely powerful thing materials, but within the group, and particu­ whose vicious deeds he was to fight on so many larly in its assistant secretary, there was also fronts. a considerable understanding of the techniques The following year, 1895, Frost came to of effective exhibit construction. Moreover, Madison as an assistant in bacteriology. He there was fund-raising ingenuity. Ravenel and had a two-room laboratory and office in South Harper conceived the idea of a "voluntary Hall. At the suggestion of a student who lacked tax" by which cities and villages were asked sufficient credits for graduation, he offered a to appropriate through their local governing course in contagious diseases, comprising bodies or to raise through personal canvass, a eighteen weekly lectures, two of them on TB. modest sum proportionate to their population, Meanwhile, the University Extension Division to be used for a $5,000 exhibit fund. "This sent him about the state on lecture tours. Like exhibit will be the property of the state," Russell, he talked much about bovine tubercu­ Ravenel and Harper promised the local health losis; and like Russell he envisioned the con­ officers to whom they wrote, "and at the close trol of tuberculosis among human beings. of the congress will be used in the interest of When Caroline L. Hunt came to the Univer­ the crusade against tuberculosis in the state sity to head its new department of home eco­ of Wisconsin."^'' nomics. Frost offered her a corner of his A month after the appeal went out, some laboratory. She observed the exhibit materials thirty municipalities had made local appropri­ he had gathered to illustrate his classroom ations. Racine sent $75; Antigo, $36; Two lectures. She had heard of the "Baltimore Rivers and Sturgeon Bay, each $24; and so on Exhibit" on tuberculosis out of which the Na­ down to Neshkoro, which sent $4.^^ In all, at tional Association's traveling display had least ninety municipalities contributed. In grown. Could he, she asked him, help her addition, the Board of Regents of the Uni­ build a smaller exhibit of the same type? She versity of Wisconsin appropriated $250, and wanted to display it at her Housekeepers' there were some private gifts. The total con­ Conference in February, 1907. Frost agreed, tributions were a little over $2,000." and on completion their joint exhibit was placed on display in the laboratory. One man " Kenosha Evening News, April 13, 1908. who viewed it was Frank Avery Hutchins, ^'Racine Daily Times, May 11, 1908. '" The Crusader (April, 1910), 13. father of the Wisconsin traveling library sys­ tem; another was Hoyt Dearholt. Both saw in it state-wide educational possibilities. The big Milwaukee showing of the National ^ exhibit had come and gone. Left behind were V Wisconsin-prepared models, charts, and pic­ i.'.A-i ,»., tures; and so the two exhibits were fused and placed on display in a Madison department store. Like the National's display, the new exhibit drew a rapt public. It was sent to Milwaukee for a one-week appearance; from there it went to Oconomowoc, Fond du Lac, Eau Claire, Portage, and many other com­ munities. Professors Ravenel, Hunt, and Frost accompanied the exhibit to give talks, and much interest was aroused.^'' It is apparent, then, that the Wisconsin ("ommillce for ihc Inlcnialional (.ongress of

'°W. 1). Frost, "Work of the Extension Depart­ ment," in the Wisconsin Medical Journal (February, 1908), 547. ^VJ^t()nsln \nii I iilx u ulosis Assoc. Railway coach housing the 1904 Baltimore Exhibit of the Mary­ land Association for the Prevention and Relief of Tuberculosis. Shown in Milwaukee in 1906, the exhibit drew larger crowds than in either New York or Chicago. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

From Dr. Dearholt's office a stream of re­ Hotel Pfister in Milwaukee on the afternoon leases went out to Wisconsin papers. One of of October 28, 1908. Important business was the most popular, apparently, was a story at hand. They had to hear a fiscal report on listing twelve rules for the guidance of patients the International Congress, wind up the affairs and their families. The first of these rules of the Wisconsin committee, and redeem a was, "Stop spitting, except into paper napkins pledge they had made the people of Wiscon­ which can be destroyed by fire!" The last was, sin to organize a state league to fight TB. "Fight the disease bravely, cheerfully."^" It was, in short, farewell and hail, with the The Sixth International Congress convened same twenty-two persons engaging in both in Washington according to schedule, and ceremonies. There were among them the four continued until October 5. Known to be pres­ officers of the committee, Ravenel, Dearholt, ent from Wisconsin besides Frost, were Rav­ Frost, and Kopmeier, and from the other mem­ enel, John R. Commons, and young Crafer, bers, Beffel and Stoddard. Several members all of whom had papers to present;^^ Drs. F. of the Wisconsin Committee were not present, Gregory Connell of Oshkosh and C. A. Harper and some others who were present do not of Madison, both of whom were discussants of appear again in the annals of the Wisconsin other men's papers. Dearholt was on the gen­ Anti-Tuberculosis Association which was eral committee on arrangements. founded that afternoon. Present also from Wisconsin was the Wis­ But among those attending the meeting were consin exhibit. In addition to the University two men very active behind the scenes both nucleus, there were maps and charts showing before and after the association's founding; the prevalence of human tuberculosis in the the dedicated librarian and public servant, state; maps, charts, and photographs relating Frank Avery Hutchins of Madison, and the to bovine tuberculosis; a display on tuber­ dedicated social worker and civic leader, H. H. culosis control in Milwaukee; some models Jacobs of Milwaukee, who for ten years (1920- from the State Sanatorium; and a "miniature 1930) was to be the association's president. tuberculosis exhibit" of "pictures," charts, Also in attendance were Dr. Gustav Windes- photographs, and models together with a col­ heim, Kenosha, who would long be a member lection of children's essays, arranged by a and for several years president of the State Superior teacher. Miss Goldie Whipple.^- Board of Health, and Dr. S. S. Hall, Ripon, When the prizes were given out, Wisconsin long-time secretary of the State Medical So­ was awarded a gold prize and a silver medal. ciety. And present, too, were Dr. C. A. Baer, The gold prize was for the best compilation a young Johns Hopkins medical graduate who of "laws and ordinances in force June 1, 1908 had just begun practice in Milwaukee, and for the prevention of tuberculosis by any State Dr. G. L. Bellis, militant young health officer of the United States." The silver medal was for of Antigo, who today, fifty years later, is a sole the effective manner in which funds for the surviving member of the band of twenty-two committee's work was raised. founders. With these tangible evidences of the world's Ravenel, chairman of the dissolving Wis­ esteem for their efforts, the members of the consin Committee, was elected president of the committee, with a scattering of friends and new association. Baer was chosen secretary. well-wishers, gathered in a small room at the Dearholt, as the chairman of its publicity committee, became unofficially what a year or "° Appleton Evening Crescent, March 16, 1908. two later he would become in name, its exec­ "' Ravenel's paper, delivered on the opening day of utive secretary. And within a few weeks the the Congress (September 28, 1908) was on "Mixed infant association would carry on Wisconsin's Infections in Tuberculosis"; it was co-authored by Arnold C. Klebs, Chicago. Commons' paper, presented first sale of Christmas Seals, and to its aston­ on the following morning, was on "Standardization of ishment raise $8,000—a first windfall that Investigations," and Crater's, also given on September would finance the first program of state-wide 29, was entitled "Economic Aspects of Tuberculosis in Milwaukee." For the full papers, see Transactions exhibit showings and lectures (built around of the Congress (Philadelphia, 1908), 1:593-596; the Washington display) and would be the 3:120-131; 3:195-208 ;)as.«m. precursor of fifty years of continuous educa­ " For a catalog of materials in the Wisconsin exhib­ it, see Transactions of the Congress 5:250-253. tional effort.

34 Children Make History: The Wisconsin Junior Historian Program

by Doris H. Platt

HISTORICAL SOCIETY president once the State Historical Society. In return for a A asked, "What can children do but recopy group fee of fifty cents, a child receives a sub­ old record books, rewrite well-known mate­ scription to the monthly Badger History, a rial?" membership card, and his chapter is sent a Yet in the eleven years of the State Histori­ charter bearing a historical name of its own cal Society of Wisconsin's school program, choosing, such as Wood Violet Badgers, Nelson children have repeatedly proven themselves to Dewey Chapter, Lakeside Hawks. Members be fine historical detectives and have demon­ are also entitled to free entrance to the So­ strated their belief that "history is fun." And ciety's historic sites—Old Wade House, Villa children in historical societies have made his­ Louis, and Stonefield. Teacher-leaders of jun­ tory come to life. Time and again they have ior chapters receive the magazine and Wis­ presented the triumphant trophies of their consin Teacher Newsletter, a monthly bulletin, searching to state and local societies and mu­ free. This publication runs announcements of seums, and are eagerly looking for more. museum and Society events, new books, social This new emphasis on history and the school studies notes, and junior historian statistics, child came about in the fall of 1917 when, in county by county, for the state. It keeps preparation for the State Centennial to be held teacher-leaders of junior groups together and the following year, a school program was helps them feel they are not working alone. launched by the Society. Other states offered Badger History is the children's own maga­ precedents: Texas had started a junior society zine. Although each month there are profes­ in 1939, New York in 1942. Today these two, sional articles written by the Society staff or together with Wisconsin, have the most active other adults, most of the stories are by chil­ junior historical groups in the country, al­ dren, describing the results of their research, though neither Texas nor New York, whose activities, and projects. One section is for the programs are mainly for high schools only, upper elementary grades, another for the in­ have the elementary school membership which termediate, with material in both contributed in Wisconsin numbers 25,000. by pupils and with the vocabulary suited to The Wisconsin program, designed to pro­ the appropriate grade level. vide background material for the Centennial, In its first eleven years of publication there soon went beyond this original purpose and have been nearly 1,100 articles in Badger His­ developed into a genuine outlet for the chil­ tory written by boys and girls. Although these dren's own work. Groups of boys and girls in articles are, indeed, not 1,100 contributions any of the state's schools—public, private, or to hitherto-unrevealed knowledge of the past, parochial—may organize a junior chapter of they represent do-it-yourself history which is

35 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

winning school receiving books or film stri]is as prizes. The liush Award, sponsored bv th(> Wisconsin Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (supervising teach­ ers) in honor of a former state supervisor, is given for a group project. The award is a box of Wisconsin materials—books, pictures, mod­ els of spinning wheels and churns, or of the Capitol, as well as other artifacts—which the school may keep for six weeks. The box is often displayed at an open house for other children, parents, and teachers. The Renne- bohm Award, for the work of a single child, is given by ex-Governor Oscar Rennebohm for essays, models of historic buildings. ])ost- ers, murals, and scrapbooks. These contests elicit many entries each spring. Still another contest is held at junior historian conventions where pupils submit writ­ Swendson Stiulio, East Troy ten, oral, and audio-visual entries. Winners of all contests receive awards on State Award Pupils of the Stewart School, East Troy, learn about Wisconsin's historic sites. Day held annually at the Capitol in Madison in May. Conventions are an important part of the not far away and long ago but happening here children's program. In 1956 a state-wide meet­ and now. The past is tied to the present in the ing was held in Green Bay where over 4,000 child's mind as he finds, through interviewing children saw on-the-spot history re-enacted at and reading and writing, that history is real Cotton House, Tank Cottage, and the Fort and alive. Howard Surgeons' Quarters. In subsequent Each issue of the magazine follows a general years the state has been divided into six smaller theme—industry, Indians, pioneers, famous regions so that children will not have so far Wisconsinites, rivers. Regular features include to travel, with the result that in 1958 the com­ county histories, state history and geography, bined total attendance was about 4,800. The century farms, articles on early doctors, rail­ convention pattern is a one-day program with roads and circuses—the latter in anticipation children's skits, panels, and pageants in the of Society-operated museums to be opened in morning. In the afternoon juniors tour historic the near future. Junior historian activity col­ sites in the vicinity by bus or on foot. umns, quizzes and games, maps, cartoons, and Conventions highlight the year's activities. photographs are especially for the young con­ In the six held in 1958, activities varied wide­ tributors. A teacher "history help" page con­ ly: At Antigo the juniors' written material tains references, additional reading, new books was placed in a copper vault to be opened in on Wisconsin history, and questions relating 1978 during the Antigo Centennial. Pupils at to the contents of the current issue. Thus foot­ Hayward were served a lumberjack lunch at notes and suggestions for adult reading are the logging camp and saw Chippewa Indians not interspersed with material intended for making birchbark canoes, pounding rice, and children. dancing tribal dances. Villa Louis at Prairie Other activities of junior historians consist du Chien was opened before the regular sea­ in holding school open houses to stress history, son so children could see the millionaire fur honoring older citizens, and participating in trader's mansion. At Sheboygan the Wesley conventions and in contests. A historic sites Jung collection of wagons and carriages was game involves the identification of twenty pic­ on exhibit; and Stevens Point displayed a tures appearing in Badger History, with the miniature logging camp with movable figures.

36 COMPLEAT HISTORIAN

Portage juniors heard a Milwaukee cartoon­ mother has been invited to school to tell the ist, William Capple, talk on "Long Shadows children about her youth. Ninety-year olds From France," illustrated with his own draw­ have been interviewed at lionie. I\a\e recci\t'd ings. presents on their birthdavs. Chaplers have At these meetings the combination of child lieen named for these pioneers in the com­ participation, plus field trips to local historic munity. sites, makes history palpable and alive—not Chaplers may take a two-day jaunt on a merely dates and places in a book. Conven­ school bus, accompanied by teachers and par- tions also give opportunities for the juniors ent-chaperones, visiting historic sites through­ to make new friends, find out what other chap­ out the state. Many of these trips are financed ters are doing, enter genial competition, gain by sales of the Wisconsin picture-calendar pub­ poise in programs where they appear on the lished by the Society. same platform with mayors. Chamber of Com­ One chapter found glamour in history when merce presidents—even the governor. it was asked by Hollywood to search for movie In addition to these state-wide activities, the background material. The juniors discovered juniors originate their own projects, which are wooden ice skates, sleds, daguerreotypes show­ as limitless as their imaginations. They write ing dress styles which were copied for the community histories—publish them in their movie, pictures of the former town which were own script, or hectographed, mimeographed, used in set designs. The movie. All Mine to or even printed, to be sold to adults in their Give, had its world premier in Oshkosh in No- district. But short or long, simple or preten­ tious, the way in which children obtain their information is the thing that matters. Many of them interview grandparents or older people in the community, finding remi­ . •%. niscences never recorded on paper. Stories that might have been lost forever are retrieved from the past. As a result of questioning peo­ ple about old times, the juniors have also found antiques and historic objects in barns and attics. Borrowing these objects for a little school museum often leads to an open house for par­ ents and teachers, and suddenly the whole community becomes interested in history and in the school. One Winnebago County open house, held in a building that had been with­ out new equipment for twenty years, attracted so many eager visitors that without any dis­ cussion the school board voted money for a new furnace, drapes, and over-all painting. Excellent school-community relations may be established through this interest in history. History may restore personality. At an open house, one oldster dragging another to a bulle­ tin board, was heard to say, "Do you see this Civil War list?" And he pointed to a faded name. "That was my uncle." What satisfaction for grandparents to know that the old tea­ kettles or butter churns are not completely forgotten or discarded; to have a child listen Photo by the author eagerly to their words; to number a young Pupils of the Wittenberg Public School, portray their community's history at the Antigo convention of junior person among their friends. Many a grand­ historians, April, 1958.

37 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

vember, 1957. Its stars flew to the city, visiting, stance, the Civil War in the nation and the on their first stop. Eureka State Graded School ("ivil War in Wisconsin are studied together whose pupils had made a modern application in order to highlight the state's role on the of history. national stage. Another chapter did the research and financ­ Sixteen pamphlets. Chronicles of Wisconsin, ing for two markers which they dedicated in prepared in the department, depict the French their school building and town. This same and Indian period, statehood, the Civil War, group, the Sawdust City Chapter, Campus politics, industries. Men of Wisconsin is a School, Oshkosh, honored a historian who had series of pamphlet biographies of famous helped them. They even secured the gover­ Badgers such as Robert M. La Follette, Father nor for their presentation of a scroll to Earl Claude Allouez, John Muir, Increase Lapham, Clemans, outstanding historian and president Henry Dodge, and Edward P. AUis. A History of the Winnebago County Historical Society. of Education in Wisconsin has just been pub­ Their appreciation of what an older person lished. had done for them, and their voluntary desire In addition to its publications, the depart­ to honor him, is a reach into the human heart ment maintains an ever-growing program of where history is akin to a feeling of religion. personal service, including talks before teacher Other juniors have found valuable news­ and adult groups, the answering of questions, papers between the walls of razed houses, or consultations, and the promotion of museum have turned up Indian remains proven by the tours for children. Each spring thousands of Carbon 14 test to be seven to eight thousand children visit the Society's museum in Madi­ years old. Some pupils have saved city records son. Other thousands visit the Historymobile, from the dump; others have discovered school the Society's traveling museum, whose tours board minutes of an early date and presented are publicized in advance by a study guide them to the Society for preservation. prepared in the school department. Over a Thousands of other children have made no thousand information packets are sent out an­ exciting or dramatic discoveries which have nually in answer to direct letters from children, added to a knowledge of the past; yet their or in response to mail forwarded by other efforts to do so have been educationally im­ state agencies. Three wooden boxes of Wis­ portant to children finding historical facts for consin materials are routed by the department themselves for the first time. Discovering the from school to school around the state, usually history of a school, township, or community remaining about two weeks in each locality. right at home, before embarking on the study County and city superintendents in seventy- of general United States history, has more one counties are visited annually. The staff meaning for the pupil who later will approach members of the department speak to hundreds this vast area with more understanding. A of classes, show Society movies, teach in ele­ local hero whom he can know and visualize mentary curriculum workshops, talk to teach­ in familiar terms is more alive to him than a ers' institutes, women's clubs, PTA's, local national figure like George Washington or groups of all sorts, and appear on radio and Abraham Lincoln. TV, taking the Society's story to the public. In all of this activity, the Society's school The services of the school department are department plays an important role in supply­ ever-expanding. They reach beyond the class­ ing publications which give the junior his­ room, where participation in the junior pro­ torians information and encouragement in gram is voluntary, into the homes and lives of learning to look for history and in writing the boys and girls. If history can teach by about what they have found. Besides Badger good example, or point to better citizenship, it History, the department sponsors a high school must step beyond the pages of a book. It must program, begun in 1955. During the school enter the mind of a child in such a real way year, 2,000 high school readers receive 30th that the pupil feels a need for it, desires to Star, a newspaper-like monthly bulletin con­ learn more about it, sees a place for it in his taining articles linking Wisconsin's history to life. This is the living history that the school that of the rest of the country. In it, for in­ department is sponsoring.

38 Green Bay and the Mormons of Beaver Island

by Charles O. Burgess

.?TAf?'.CIP9.+

A fresh look at a bizarre episode in the nation's history—as seen through the eyes of a tolerant pioneer newspaper editor. 3 § '^ * * 1

Plates inscribed with hieroglyphics, found on a hillside near Voree. Wisconsin. Allegedly cast in metal and buried by James "He hath chosen his .servant James to be Jesse Strang, they were later "discovered" and translated by him. King; . . . he hath established him a prophet, above the kings of the earth; and appointed him king in Zion; by his own voice did he call it to the "Sea of Galilee." Under their ruler, him, and he sent his angels unto him to ordain recognized as the prophet of God and the true Iiim."—Book of the Law of the Lord^ successor to the slain Smith, these schismatic Mormons began to prosper. N JULY 8, 1850, the "faithful" gathered King Strang ruled his island subjects with O solemnly on Beaver Island—largest of a a thoroughness that pervaded every aspect of group of islands in northern Lake Michigan— their lives. The totalitarian's harsh doctrines, to witness the manifestation of one of the most replete with the Mormon chastisement of "forty unusual aberrations in our nation's history. lashes save one," and other dubiously divine From their midst a small, wiry young man edicts were to boomerang to his own discom­ with a bright red beard strode slowly to the fort and misfortune in 1856. But in the mean­ front of the packed assembly hall. Mounting time he ordained, among other things, that the platform, as a hushed silence fell upon the the women of the island should not bind throng, he knelt before his frontier "prime themselves with the laces of popular feminine minister" to have a crown placed grandiosely undergarments. They should—and did—wear on his head. Thus was James Jesse Strang comfortably loose bloomers. (1813-1856) crowned king—the one and only All of Strang's edicts were advertised as di­ king ever to reign within the territorial limits vine, coming either from opportune revelations of the United States. or from the Book of the Law of the Lord, a The new monarch's subjects were apostate monosyllabic textbook of Mormondom which Mormons from Nauvoo who had rejected Brig- Strang, acting as the Almighty's amanuensis, ham Young as the successor to Joseph Smith, transcribed and dutifully published on a print­ plus new converts to the faith who had only ing press brought from Chicago. The book recently settled on the island to dwell under was accepted by the islanders as the word of the divine autocracy of potentate Strang. For God to His Latter-day Saints, and of it one his­ six years the Kingdom of St. James was to torian has said that it is "the most interesting grow. The city of "St. James" was established I religious I book ever published in America, on "Paradise Harbor," while the nomenclature if not indeed, in the world. Other religions of the rest of the island was given a Biblical have their sacred writings .... but these are refurbishment: a niibby hill became "Mount mere chronicles. Rut the Book of the Law of Pisgali," with the "River Jordan" connecting the Lord is God's own framtnvork of govern- inent for his people on earth in the present and for all future time." This book was the ' Book of the Law of the I^ord (Kansas City, 1930), 35. "capstone of Strang's prophetic career"; it

39 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 made him supreme ruler over all the earth !^ jacks, and from their reports impressions of Lsing the same press from which had come the new colonists, liberally seasoned with fic­ his theological chef-d'oeuvre, Strang in 1849 tion, emotion, and conjecture, developed. founded the Northern Islander—"the first newspaper published in northern Michigan" pEW "OUTSIDERS" were more sympa- —and began to chronicle the history of his -*- thetic and interested in the progress of this reign.^ upstart kingdom than were the residents of And a fascinating reign it was! How this (ireen Bay, Wisconsin. Swept up in the excite­ bizarre red-beard rose nearly to snatch the ment of anticipating their own prosperous des­ leadership of the Nauvoo church from Brig- tiny, they welcomed a like industry among ham Young and charismatically to draw over these island people. 2,000 adherents of Joseph Smith under his own While King Strang was zealously strengthen­ theocratic thumb is a compelling narrative of ing his neighboring theocracy. Green Bay, in the backwater of the main stream of American 1853, hailed by its residents as "one of the history. The story of Strang includes all of the most important ports on the | Great] lakes," major ingredients of early Mormon history: was a rapidly growing shipping center. Its He was given the L rim and Thummim, dis­ population of about 2,000 was to spiral up­ covered gold plates (near Burlington, Wiscon­ ward to 3,051 by 1855. This "gay and hand­ some town," boasting blandly of its "pretty sin), enjoyed timely revelations, and blazed a girls, bass fishing and well kept hotels, fast trail of amazing human credulity across Illi­ nags and fine roads," had a short time previ­ nois, Wisconsin, and Lake Michigan—a trail ously given itself a physically and economically which came to a final and sudden halt in the pleasant face lifting. In the late 1840's the old Beaver Islands. wharves had been replaced or repaired to be If the Beaver Island Mormons ever enjoyed "daily, almost hourly washed by the swell of a "honeymoon" with the local Gentiles, it was the steamer." New stores and homes by the short-lived, for potentate Strang and his 2,500 scores were pushing and swelling the limits of followers soon loomed as archfoes of the main- the village, giving the Green Bay residents landers who angrily resolved to rid the region ample reasons to buoy up their boundless ex­ of Michilimackinac of the strange, unfriendly pectations of the future. By 1889 the local intruders.* As a result, the entire duration of dwellers proudly proclaimed that their "city of the Strang Kingdom (1850-1856) was scarred Green Bay has a harbor superior to any other with bloody and increasingly frequent and on the chain of the great lakes." Indeed, the serious skirmishes between the "Saints" and serpentining docks, sprawling for more than the Gentiles. twelve miles, provided ample "facilities for the Animosity was by no means the only reac­ largest vessels that ply the lakes."° tion of the Gentiles to the Strangites. Curiosity Green Bay was the natural outlet to the was also keen among the mainlanders and trav­ eastern seaboard for the commerce of the elers of the lake region who learned of this Northwest, and the entrepot for the supplies new migration. Rumors of the ideas held and of that great and growing territory. New roads practiced by these strangers heightened the were opening inland settlements to the port Gentile interest and made the Mormons an im­ city, bringing advantages which were en­ mediate success as a cracker-barrel topic of couraging to the "districts rapidly populating," conversation. Who were these folk? Where as well as to the enterprising bay residents. did they come from? What was this tale about The city itself seemed to resound "with the their leader calling himself a king? Visitors hum of business and the clatter of the builder's to the island returned to hold court before tools; . . . every face ... in the street [had] awed clusters of Gentile fishermen and lumber-

^ Werdeii Reynolds, ed., Exposition of the Natural Hlilo M. Quaife, The Kingdom of St. James; A Resources, Commercial Facilities, Business Industries, Narrative of the Mormons (New Haven, 1930), 187. Social Institutions, and Miscellaneous Attractions of 'Ibid., 186. the Cities of Green Bay and Fort Howard, Wisconsin * Milo M. Quaife, "Polygamy on Beaver Island," in (Green Bay, 1889), 41-42; Green Bay Advocate, Michigan History, 5:345 (July-October, 1921). August 2, 1885: ibid., August 22, November 7, 1850.

40 BURGESS : MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND a satisfied look."" Daily mail, another portent Union Army in the Civil War—Robinson ran of progress, was enjoyed by Green Bay's in­ as the Democratic candidate for governor of habitants, while the telegraph further enhanced Wisconsin in 1869, but was defeated by Lucius the aura of civic self-importance. B. Fairchild. He was twice elected mayor of The herald and chronicler of the growth of Green Bay, first in 1866, and again in 1872. Green Bay in the period from 1849 to 1856 His first love, however, was the Advocate, was a weekly seven-column newspaper, the in spite of "whatever else he may have done Green Bay Advocate, the "Northwest's steady or positions he may have held." The influence and strong advocate of local interests."' Press­ of his Green Bay weekly was felt throughout ing for recognition—for itself as well as for the region, and, according to his obituary, its Green Bay—the paper lustily hailed the merits subscribers "were scattered through all the of its town, often in good-humored hyperbole settlements from Lake Michigan to the Missis­ such as the following: "There is not a more sippi and Chicago to Green Bay. . . ." More­ pleasant, healthy and popular resort than over, that he was recognized as a highly com­ [Green Bay] . . . ; and there are to show them petent editor is evidenced by the fact that in up to strangers, doctors without patients, law­ 1853 he became the first president of the Edi­ yers without clients, and editors without any­ torial Association of Wisconsin." thing. ... To those who come to spend the season, we should urge the necessity of bring­ T^HE EVER-INCREASING prosperity of the ing at least two good blankets; [but] in proof -*- Green Bay region, as Robinson proudly and of their adaptation to the climate, we would incessantly described it in his newspaper col­ state that the natives of the country wear umns, was owing primarily to its trade with 'nothing else.' "^ the other ports on the lakes. When the daily- Charles D. Robinson was the editor of the scheduled steamers and "propellers" reached Advocate throughout this period. Born in New the local docks, townspeople flocked to the York, October 22, 1821, he had come to Green wharves to meet them, to watch, to assist in Bay in 1846 in response to the "urgent solici­ the loading and exchanging of goods, and to tation of a citizen of Green Bay to start a paper inquire about the latest news from Buffalo, Chi­ in that city," bringing with him a background cago, Detroit, Mackinac, and—Beaver Island. in printing gained as commercial editor of the Robinson, his ear tuned for the newsworthy, Buffalo Daily Express. With "much more en­ might often have been seen in the crowd, on ergy than capital," he published the first issue hand to deposit the latest issues of the Advo­ of the Green Bay Advocate August 13, 1846. cate with the ship's captain for distribution at Aided by his brother Albert, Charles Robin­ subsequent port stops. In return he was given son continued as editor of the oldest paper in recent numbers of other papers, including Green Bay until his death, September 25, 1886. Strang's Northern Islander, from along the It was not until the issue of January 3, 1889, chain of the lakes. that the first number of the Advocate appeared Beaver Island was a favorite news source of without the honored name of Robinson at its thf Advocate. Only eighteen hours sail from head. During this span, the paper grew from Green Bay, events on the "fairy islands" of a four-page-seven-column weekly to a six-page- ten-column folio, issued every Thursday. Lake Michigan were followed closely by the bay residents. During the seven-year period A strong Democrat, Robinson was also an from 1849 to 1856, fifty numbers of the Advo­ adept politician. He was elected representative cate ran feature articles on the Beaver Island to the Wisconsin state legislature in 1849. Mormon kingdom, and nearly as many more Three years later he became secretary of state issues carried news reports of the latest devel­ of Wisconsin. With his political reputation as­ opments of this center of controversy and sured, and further enhanced by the title of curiosity. These figures are more meaningful ('oloncl-—gained ihrough his services lo the when il is considered that for more than four inonlhs of t-ach year Green Bay was iced-ofi "Advocate, November 7, 1850. ' Reynolds, Exposition, 91. " Advocate, August 22, 1850 "ii/J., March 15, 1888.

41 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

from water traffic. Only in the April-November judges of the U. S. District Courts, to five periods was news from the Beavers brought of the ringleaders of the Mormon miscreants into the bay city. [in Utah] ; and if they are false, then the Although Strang's Mormon kingdom aroused Spectator is the mere, open cool, unpro­ Green Bay's curiosity, his Beaver Island ac­ voked advocate of banishment, robbery, tivities were of no great consequence to Wis­ murder and all the horrors of civil war, as consinites until a series of what were regarded a mete punishment for religious faith."^^ as potentially explosive incidents, occurring in Obviously sympathetic to this rebuttal, Rob­ the summer of 1852, alerted the city to James inson gleefully added, "Now we call that some pumpkins of an argument, if it is Mormon." Strang. After that, local interest in the Mor­ But the situation was too serious for the Advo­ mons was never again to be merely casual. cate to permit itself the pleasures of indulging In August of that eventful year a lengthy at greater length in the broadside fired at the Advocate editorial bore the following exclama­ tory and stammering head: "A Speck of war— Sharp Talk—Strang places a chip on his shoul­ der—Green Bay dared to knock it off—A fuss expected!" Trouble, seen as a grave threat in the foreseeable future, had developed be­ tween the followers of Strang and Green Bay through a curious set of oblique and exagger­ «ii>l^# ated occurrences. As the editor explained it: "The causa [sic] belli seems to be this: The Northern Islander, Mormon paper, indulged in some severe lan­ guage against the [steamer] Morton and her officers; the Spectator^" took it up, and after very properly defending the officers of the Morton, recriminated with some allusions to the reputation for 'crimes and enormities' our Beaver Island neighbors have obtained, and feared that . . ., 'the atrocious acts of this band of miscreants will, ere long, provoke a recur­ Nc\illc Public Museum, Green Bay rence of the scenes of Nauvoo, where they were Charles D. Robinson, editor of the Green Bay forced by the uprising of an injured State, to Advocate. seek refuge in dark and noisome places, or doomed to carnage and death.' " rival Spectator. For Strang was apparently in Robinson, setting up his galley with a copy dead earnest. He had challenged the city of of Northern Islander at his elbow, and with no Green Bay to meet the Mormons in battle! He little relish for the emerging political aspects told Green Bay to begin the war immediately, of this verbal skirmish, published the Strang ". . . if you dare; and if you be the ninth part side of the controversy. The Northern Islander of a man, . . . come and strike the blow now; was quoted as retorting: and cursed be he who first shall say, enough. "So far as bears upon the controversy be­ . . . Bring all Green Bay, and join with you all tween us and the Spectator, he may have the thieves in the lakes—take the [steamer] these accusations, true or false, just as suits Morton for your flagship, and its Capt[ain] him. If they are true, he can never get over for your admiral—and the widows and or­ the fact that a Whig Administration gave phans shall ask us, when, where, and how, the offices of governor, U. S. Marshall, and God's justice was meted to you. ' Either honestly or as a ruse to discredit thor­ "The weekly Green Bay Spectator, a short-lived oughly the rival Spectator, Robinson was con­ Whig rival of the Democratic Advocate, which sur­ vinced that "this matter has reached a pass vived scarcely long enough to stir up this rash of headlines. It lasted from August, 1851 to December. 1852. " Advocate, August 5, 1852.

42 BURGESS : MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND where there must be interposition." He dra­ definitive narrative,^* were also observed by matically cried out for someone to "hold the the Advocate. Wisely cognizant of the possi­ Spectator—|and| someone must hold the bilities of error in the reports of defections and Northern Islander. Somebody must amuse troubles with the mainlanders, however, Robin­ Beaver Island till Green Bay gets ready!" son generally refrained from making factual Where was the state militia? Why had it not statements from hearsay evidence. When re­ arrived? With politics enjoying a prominent ports reached Green Bay to the effect that the role in this wide-eyed editorial, the Advocate Mormons were, by burning Gentile houses and concluded: "We don't suppose the Governor by other outrages, attempting to "clear the cares a d-darn whether Green Bay gets chawed island of all who are not of the true faith,"'^'' up, or not; but we call upon him to abandon the Advocate cautioned its readers that these his prejudices, and 'personally as an individ­ events or stories were not conclusively verified. ual,' rush to the rescue. Something must be Nevertheless, the Advocate did not refrain done, or there'll be a fuss, and we can't answer from publishing reports of the Mormon-Gentile for the consequences. We've done our duty hostilities, in a manner often derogatory to —we've given warning—and now anxiously the Mormons. await the result."•^- In the summer of 1851 Strang was arrested The "result" was not a "chawed up" Green on charges of treason, defrauding the mails, Bay. After some weeks of anxious waiting and and similar counts. His trial, held in Detroit, reporting, the ice closed in on the harbor, the was given full coverage by the Advocate. The Green Bay Spectator folded financially, and testimony of the ex-Strangite rogue, George J. in the vacuum of winter isolation the cold war Adams,"' onetime master of ceremonies of the ended peaceably for the alerted townsfollk. But Islanders' feasts and religious activities, was in the succeeding years the Advocate watched used in the prosecution's unsuccessful attempt Strang closely, addressing itself to the subject to convict Strang. The Advocate quoted Adams of the nearby Mormon setdement often, and at considerable length, even though his highly with an eye to conciliation. inflammatory testimony cast the Mormons in The Advocate, an early admirer of the in­ a most unwholesome light. Adams charged dustry of the Strangites, had never accepted that, "he did repeatedly hear James J. Strang at face value the tales and rumors spread by teach that it was morally right to steal from' Gentiles. ShorUy after news of the establish­ the Gentiles, burn their houses, and even take ment of the Beaver Island colony reached their lives, if it could be done without being Green Bay, the newspaper, taken with the en­ found out." Adams also reiterated some of the ergy of the Mormons, reported: "There are features of the Covenant or "Illuminati" to two woodyards and three stores | at St. James] which Strang charged his "princes" to ascribe. in operation—a steam saw mill is going up, In this curious expression of fealty, a prince and improvements are commenced on all lands pledged that "I do in the presence of God and within four miles [of St. James], besides vari­ these Princes of the 'Illuminati,' solemnly ous commencements in other locations on the promise, covenant and swear, by the true, ever- island." The fisheries, farms, the building of living and self-existing God, that I hereby mills, and reports of the establishment of vari­ ous types of business, marked the Island as a "settlement of a free and enterprising popula­ " Quaife, Kingdom, loccit. " Advocate, April 24, 1851. tion." The establishment of a Mormon school, '''Adams had always been high in church councils. "at which they furnish gratuitous instruction In 1843 Joseph Smith had sent him as a missionary to the children of the Indians residing in the to Russia. .Joining Strang after Young had excom­ municated him, Adams toured the east proselyting for vicinity," came in for additional praise.^'' Strang. His falling-out with Strang was owing to an The defections of a few disillusioned Mor­ adultery charge leveled by Strang. In 1866 he became a prophet in his own right, founding a colony of mons, as developed by Milo M. Quaife in his American Adamites in Palestine. When the crops failed Adams deserted his followers and went to Cali­ fornia where he set up a "five-cent bank." He was " Ibid. Apparently word of the imminent onslaught apprehended while absconding with its funds. Charles had already been sent to "Adjutant General Utley." Kelly, ed.. Journals of John D. Lee (Salt Lake City, " Ibid., August 2, 1849. 1938), 28n.

43 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN. 1958 renounce all allegiance to every king, prince, the commerce^ of ihe Islands, which is now im- potciilalc. ])rcsident. governor and ruler on piutanl and rapidly growing, the trade be­ earth. . . I further promise . . . thai I will tween the different ports upon (jreen Bay and obey James J. Strang as the Imperial Primate the Lakes would be greatly benefitted [sic] and Actual King on Earth; and the laws he by a lighthouse there." Following this reprint shall make, as above and superseding all other the Advocate added, "We call the attention of laws, of all other powers on earth, whatso­ our Congressman to the subject." The island ever."^'' potentate further promoted Mormon public .However, despite the Advocate's chauvinis­ relations with Green Bay through personal let­ tic slogan ("My Country, may she always be ters to Robinson to keep him informed of the right—but right or wrong, my country"), "true" state of his kingdom's affairs.-' Robinson did not move to launch condemna­ Thus it was that, even while under the tions of Strang. Acting as his own defense threat of a Mormon-Gentile war, the Advocate counsel, Strang won his case and Robinson openly defended the Mormons against the cur­ was apparently satisfied that the charges were rent charges of piracy attributed to the "des­ not unqualifiedly true—if true at all. The trial, peradoes" of Beaver Island. "While that sect including the prosecution testimony that Strang is undoubtedly as liable to frailties of hu­ had ordained that the Beaver Islands were manity as any other class," Robinson main­ completely independent of the United States tained editorially, "it is in all probability no and were governable "by no laws but his more so, and the fashion of charging upon it laws,"^^ failed to color subsequent editorial all the crimes committed in the lake country policy regarding the Beaver Island Mormons. is a great injustice." But he did not concede Of undeniable significance in shaping Rob­ that the Strangites were without blame for inson's attitude toward Strang were the im­ their own unpopularity. Although believing pressive defenses and countercharges made by that the Mormons were "more sinned against the Mormon king through his own newspaper. than sinning," this was seen as a consequence Gentile tales of Mormon atrocities and out­ "that they are answerable for. Through their rages were usually negated by Robinson after own simplicity, or the designs of their leader, he had read the convincing Mormon view of they have on the start declared themselves the same incidents in the Northern Islander.^" into the belief that they are 'persecuted of He was not unimpressed, either, to discover men,' and have been taught that revenge is that Strang was a Democrat. In his elections their first duty. ... If the Mormons would to the Michigan legislature in 1852 and 1854, respect themselves, they would be respected Strang received the hearty endorsement of and well treated by others. . . . They are en­ Robinson, who happily predicted that Strang titled to credit for settling and making to would "make a rattling among the dry bones 'blossom as the rose,' a group of frontier is­ of the Michigan legislature . . . , and we would lands which otherwise might have remained like to be there to see."'" useless for a century, and with ordinary good In addition, the Advocate also subscribed to conduct and the cultivation of a fraternal ac­ Strang's progressive views, and in June, 1854, quaintance with their neighbors of Wisconsin featured an article from the Islander in which and Michigan, their community would be re­ Strang had reported having sent a petition to spected, and their attempts at a permanent Washington for a lighthouse off Paradise Har­ settlement fostered and encouraged."-" bor on Beaver Island. Stressing the dangerous The general air of conciliation and friendly navigation of that region of the lakes, Strang candor demonstrated in this editorial is typi­ pointed out the merits of the safe harbor as cal of the manner in which Robinson tried a "place of refuge." He continued: "Besides to promote good-neighbor relations with the Strangites throughout their years on the "fairy " Advocate, June 5, 1851. islands." In 1854 the Green Bay newspaper '"/^W., June 12, 1851. ^^ Ibid., August 21, 1851, e. g., regarding the "mur­ der" of the Gentile, Thomas Bennett, which brought -' For examples see Advocate, June 15 and Novem­ Mormon-Gentile animosities nearer the apex. ber 16, 1854. '°/iiW., November 16, 1854. " Advocate, August 12, 1852.

44. BURGESS : MORaiONS OF BEAVER ISLAND editorially urged its local readers to attend the voked little if any wrath or disitleasnre. Re­ :UHUial Mormon Conference on Beaver Island ligion with lh(-sc northerners was often either to be held July 6 9 ol that year. "This would ignored or conducted in frontier manner, as be a good time to visit these interesting is­ suggested in the following rhyme: lands," mingle with the Mormons and at­ Jack he got Bob under tend their religious "sacrifices and offerings And he slugged him onct or twict; [which] will be offered by the heads of families And Bob confessed almighty quick of the congregation." It was further pointed The divinity of Christ. out that the steamer Michigan, sailing from So the fierce discussion ended Green Bay on June 28, afforded an excellent And they rose up from the ground; opportunity to take this trip.^^ Someone brought the bottle out Meanwhile, the antagonisms and clashes be­ And kindly passed it round. tween the Mormons and the Irish fishermen And they drank to Jack's religion and other inhabitants of the Michilimackinac In a qitiet sort of way. region, which were bitter and explosive, were And the spread of infidelity only insignificantly reflected in the Advocate's Was checked in camp that day.'^' attitude towards the Strangites. Even as close However, the religious views of the Mor­ as Green Bay was to the Beavers and as often mons, particularly regarding "consecration," as Gentile stories of Mormon misdeeds reached did account for some of the economic and so­ the city, the Advocate continued its policy of cial problems which they created for the Gen­ editorial sympathy for the problems and prog­ tiles.^" As Gentile rationale for hatred of the ress of "these strange people." In the eyes of intruders mounted, the Green Bay Advocate's Editor Robinson, both sides were at fault; and continuing pleas for peaceful coexistence were during all the years of unrest he tried, through ignored—if indeed they were read at all. his paper, to reconcile the uncompromising Mormon and Gentile. TN THE ULTIMATE downfall of Strang- But neither the fishermen, who saw their -*- dom, both the Mormons on Beaver Island land and fishing waters pre-empted, nor the and the Gentiles of the nearby mainland shared Mormons themselves, paid the least attention responsibility. Strang himself rocketed Gentile to what Robinson thought or wrote. Together animosity to high pitch when he won election with the mainland Gentiles, the fishermen re­ to the Michigan legislature in 1852 and 1854, sented the apparent prosperity of the queer at the same time wresting the legal authority religious group whose arrival in the 1840's had of the entire northern region from the Gentiles. been the signal for change. No longer could Politically as well as economically the chill the Grand Traverse and Mackinac Island fish­ shadow of Mormon influence made the five- ermen have their nets set for them by the foot-three-and-one-half-inch monarch the sym­ Indians of Beaver Island, or periodically drift bol of an evil that taunted the mainlanders over to the Big Beaver to be laden with fish in into retribution. And from within the Mormon exchange for whiskey. They, like the main­ ranks the same jealousy, fear, and spite led landers, convinced themselves that the Mor­ to collusion between some of the Mormons and mons were responsible for the piracy and the Gentile world. unsolved crimes of the region, and rebelled against the political power the Strangites un­ "* Ormond S. Danford, "Social and Economic Ef­ der "Little Jimmie" had "usurped." In addi­ fects of Lumbering," Michigan History, 26:36 (Sum­ tion, Gentiles found that the Strangites were mer, 1942). competing successfully in their efforts to make -° Based loosely upon such Bible verses as Psalm 24:1, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness there­ of their island the trade center of upper Lake of," Strang taught that the Gentiles, as enemies ol Michigan. God, did not merit any of the Lord's possessions. His Although economically and politically King followers therefore felt justified to "relieve" the Gen­ tiles of their property—when ' the opportunity pre­ Strang's subjects were ruinous to the Gentiles, sented itself—and take such property to Beaver Island the religious side of the Mormon threat pro- and "consecrate" it to God's service in the hands of His true followers. See Clement J. Strang, "Why I am not a Strangite," Michigan History, 26:471 (Au­ '" Ibid., June 22, 1854. tumn, 1942).

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(Jn a sunny day in June, 1856, the Mormon- they had to come aboard dead or alive, and (]entile conspiracy bore fruit. The Gentile from the actions of some of the posse, I steamer Micltigan drew into Paradise Harbor, judged they cared mighty little which. . . . as it had done countless times in the past years, "The plan now is to return this week if and docked. Everything seemed normal. Then possible and just clear every Mormon from the island—peaceably [or] ... at the range several pistol shots shattered the drowsy still­ of the rifle. God help [the Mormons] ... if ness of the day, two renegade Mormons fled half of their wrongs and grievances be true. to the docks, weapons in hand, and dashed The Mormon Kingdom then richly deserves aboard the Michigan, leaving James J. Strang such a fate. . . . lying mortally wounded at the edge of the vil­ "Quite Kansas like? Eh! Rich—Rich! lage of St. James. According to plan, the ship's you may believe, has been this day's sights. captain immediately granted the defectors asy­ I shall not be 'after' forgetting it very soon. lum from the stunned, angry followers of the Yours Patriotically, GREEN BAY."" stricken monarch. Its mission accomplished, The hopelessly broken band of Strangites the Michigan left Paradise Harbor. was forced aboard Gentile lake boats and de­ Even as the ship plowed for Mackinac Island posited on the docks of Green Bay, Milwaukee. the murderers were hailed as heroes. And Racine, and Chicago. Their king was dying when they arrived at Mackinac they held open and no Brigham Young had emerged to lead house in the Gentile jail and were "speedily them to another Zion. Early in July the steamer discharged from nominal custody."-'' Ritckeye State brought the last load of refugees, Taking advantage of the confusion of the about ninety men, women, and children, into leaderless band at Beaver Island, the Gentiles Green Bay. The Strangites' last exodus was deputized a mob and "swept the Beavers clean over. of the Mormons." By mid-July, 1856, the Describing their condition, the Advocate Strang kingdom was no more. noted that "They are all in the most destitute During those fateful months of June and circumstances, having neither money nor pro­ July, 1856, the Advocate had a correspondent visions, and not even clothes, save the shabby on hand on Beaver Island to cover the mopping habiliments on their backs. All their move­ up operations of the Gentiles, who were busily ables, except a scanty supply of bedding, they evicting every inhabitant of the disintegrating were compelled to leave behind them. . . . Ac­ kingdom. Writing aboard the steamer Miclti­ cording to the statement given to us by the gan, en route to Mackinac with Mormon "pris­ persons of the party . . ., the doings of the mob oners and spoils," the correspondent wrote: were without even a shadow of authority. . . . "You would pronounce us a very brave The mob was headed by a man named H. P. and warlike people, returning from the seat ["Archie"] Newton, whose only excuse for of war with . . . our stacks of arms and violence against these unfortunate and mis­ our loud boasting of feats performed, and guided people was that they had stolen an ox threats to be executed. from him[!] . . . The people are here in desti­ "I assure you, in all soberness, matters are tute circumstances and it is one of the most . . . desperate hereaway, and it would be pitiable cases we have recorded in a long no seven days' wonder if all our Mormon time." friends at the Beavers were . . . completely routed and 'cleaned out' from the Island. This last trickle of Mormon exiles brought The Sheriff from Mackinac with his posse an end to the Mormon stronghold on Beaver of about 30 men, mostly collected at the Island. The era of the Kingdom of St. James [Green] Bay and Washington Island [on had become history. Leaderless, some Strang­ the lake-side of (^reen Bay], have taken five ites tried futilely to reorganize the shattered of the Mormon gang and two more for wit­ "Saints," but most of them drifted into wel­ nesses. Some shots were fired and some kicks comed anonymity, struggling to begin afresh; and cuffs exchanged. . . . (^ood and strong some joined the followers of young Joseph resistance was offered—but to no purpose— Smith or Brigham Young; others renounced Mormondom completely. •" "A Michigan Monarchy," Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XVIII (Lansing, 1911), 632, •' Advocate, July 3, 1856.

46 BURGESS : MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND

Robinson turned to the suddenly extinct live. If we die, here will we die, and here shall Beaver Island kingdom for the subject of a our bones be buried, expecting in the resurrec­ last editorial—a nostalgic obituary for an en­ tion of the just to possess the land forever, and tire society. After prefacing it with a lengthy dwell with the righteous during the lifetime of history of the years of hostilities between the the Eternal. God judge between us and all Strangites and the Gentiles, he said: "Colli­ men." sions and trouble . . . became so common in This agreed with Robinson's conclusions, that vicinity that they lost their novelty, and namely, that the prosperity of the Mormons, came to be regarded as the ordinary state of plus the mutually aggressive attitudes of the things there. . . . [And now] the stronger side, Islanders and the Gentiles, were the basic whether right or wrong, have driven out the causal factors of the events of June, 1856. It

-I Mormon printing office at St. James, Beaver Island, where Strang's book and netvs])aper were published.

weaker."^^ He then went on to list the Gentile was a lamented end of the "Saints," for they grievances against the Strangites, but he also had made the Beavers blossom. "They came reprinted an excerpt from the Northern Is­ there and built up a town; made piers and lander, giving the Mormon version of the docks; and sought an honest living. . . . Those bloody disputes and crediting it as the more forests and fisheries . . ., but for them, would authentic account. The article, which he de­ have remained comparatively valueless. . . . scribed as earnest and eloquent, recounted the There were bad people among the 'Saints'; Beaver Islanders' efforts to build up prosper­ people who, like camp-followers, attached them­ ous and permanent communities in the face selves to the body for the sake of plunder; and of the jealousy and hostility of the groups who the depredations of those few were charged had long monopolized the Indian and fishing indiscriminately to the Mormons, until every trade. In defiance of the Gentile world, the petty theft . . . was set down to their account. Islander declared; "We will neither purchase . . . It is not very strange that under these temporary peace . . ., nor will we yield our aggravations the Mormons should come to the homes to enemies. If we live, here we will conclusion that they were a persecuted and abused people, and were justified in resorting '-" Ibid., July 17, 1856. to forcible and violent retaliations." Further-

47 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

more, he publicly stated his belief that their as primary sources for support of the above history was one which would excite sympathy statements. One of these eyewitnesses, writing anywhere.-" more than a generation after the fact, recafled conversing with King Strang as he sat "at his TT WAS LARGELY because of Robinson's dinner table with his six wives. . . ."^^ One -*• frank admiration for the Mormons that obvious error in this account was the fact that Strang's public relations policy had met with Strang had but five wives, only four of which success in Green Bay, if not among the Gen­ were on Beaver Island at the time of this inci­ tiles of Michilimackinac. However, a study of dent.''^ George C. Bates, the quixotic attorney the editorial attitude of the Green Bay Advo­ who arrested Strang for treason in 1851, bol­ cate toward the Mormon kingdom iUustrates stered with a steamship full of troops and can­ a surprising feature of the basis of this rap­ non, recalled that when he crept into the port. In short, Robinson accepted the Mormons king's home in the middle of the night he no­ of Beaver Island primarily because he was ticed "wide berths . . . which proved to be certain that they did not practice polygamy, occupied by Mormon women four in a bed."''* even though since 1850 it had been ordained Quaife provides evidence of the inaccuracy of as a law of God for the Strangites! Yet, this testimony. In an interview with Quaife, throughout the entire period of the Mormon one of Strang's widows mentioned that each residence in the upper Lake Michigan region, of his wives had her private bedchamber, and not one word of the polygamy on Beaver Is­ the only times they assembled together were land reached Green Bay through steamer cap­ for prayers, meals, and meetings. It is difficult tains, correspondents, the Northern Islander, to believe that Bates' testimony was anything or by any of the means by which Green Bay less than pure embellishment based upon sub­ kept abreast of the Mormon activities. Were sequent knowledge of the existence of polyg­ it not for the accurate picture of the Strang­ amy on the Beavers. None of the accounts ites reflected by the Advocate—which supports which mention polygamy are free from similar findings of such students of the Mormons as shortcomings. Quaife and Henry Legler—it might be sup­ If it was true that polygamy was publicly posed that this could have been an error due and openly practiced, it is indeed strange to to faulty communications. discover that, as late as 1854, the Northern But since the Advocate picture does not in­ Islander, in defending the rationale of the Salt clude plural marriage, a question is raised Lake City doctrine of polygamy, felt compelled regarding the historical studies that have im­ to add, "We do not asscribe [sic] to its . . . plied or stated that polygamy was one of soundness." In the editorial Strang continued the Gentile grievances against the Strangites. by saying that he merely wanted to demon­ Quaife said that in 1850 Strang taught polyg­ strate how the scriptures could be so inter­ amy "openly."'"' W. W. Blair, a follower of preted as to present polygamy as a law of God. Young Joseph Smith, argued that the practice "Having shown the truth, . . . our duly is of polygamy on Beaver Island brought "perse­ done. But many are fond of hearing both cution on the [Strangite] church." Strang's sides. . . . For the benefit of such, we shall son, Clement, viewed polygamy as one of the soon publish a debate in Congress on the sub­ "horrible blunders" which brought Gentile ject, in which the assembled wisdom of the wrath to the Beavers. Another chronicler stated Nation have their say on the other side." that polygamy was practiced "publicly and The Advocate was relieved at this "reassur­ openly."^^ ance" of the stature of monogamy in Strang- Gentile eyewitness accounts of conditions on land. But it sensed that "did the laws of Michi- the Beaver Islands alluding to the Strangite jiractice of polygamy leave much to be desired "" John H. Forster, "Reminiscences of the Survey of the Northwestern Lakes," Michigan Pioneer and -'•' Advocate, .lulv 17. 18.S(i. Historical Collections, IX, 2d ed. (Lansing, 1908), 106. =" Quaife, "Polygaiuy," 342. "Quaife, "Polygamy," ,333-355 jnissim. ^'Willard J. Smith, Watson-Blair Debate ((Jlillord, "' George C. Bates, "The Beaver Island Prophet," Ontario, 1892), 37; Strang, "Why I am not a Strang­ Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XXXll ite," 471; "A Michigan Monarchy," 632. (Lansing, 1903), 231.

48 BURGESS MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND gan not cover them, they would lose no time probably never more than "twenty cases of in ]ierfecting themselves'' in the practice of plural marriages,"'''' the need for thrift and plural marriage."' the shortage of excess women permitting only As late as 1856, the Advocate reported that "about one family in twenty-five" to practice the Mormon "social system . . . [is] without polygamy.'^^ Hence, it would have been rela­ reproach. They do not imitate their Salt Lake tively simple to give an Island visitor no rea­ City brothers in the practice of polygamy."''"' son to doubt that monogamy was not practiced It would seem quite tenable to hold that the exclusively. An additional factor was that the Strangites endeavored—successfully—to keep Mormons handled all local legal problems, in­ the knowledge of their practice of polygamy cluding marriage, in their own courts. And from the Gentile world. Several reasons sup­ Mormon law regarding polygamy ordained port this view. In the first place, the isolation that the marriage of the first wife should be of the Mormons from the mainland and their public, while "that of &• succeeding wife was domination of Beaver Island greatly minimized not. . . ."'"' Seen in this light, it is more under­ Gentile opportunities to observe Mormon social standable that Robinson of the Advocate, while life. Significantly, it was not until Strang interestedly watching the Beavers throughout moved his followers from Wisconsin to the this period, received no news of the practice relatively isolated Beavers that the Lord told of plural marriage. It is quite likely that polyg­ him that polygamy was His law. Once there, amy was not one of the issues in the Mormon- to have publicized their belief and practice Gentile strife. of polygamy would have added unnecessarily From such truths, half-truths, and myths to their troubles with the Gentile world, and the histories of Strang and his Beaver Island Strang was obviously not publishing a true followers have been written. A study of the statement of his doctrine when, as late as 1854, Green Bay Advocate and of the views of its he obliquely stated in the Islander that his editor, Charles D. Robinson, affords an exam­ Mormons did not ascribe to the practice. ple of what local contemporaries generally Moreover, no reliable contemporary Gentile knew of this short-lived kingdom and its reports of conditions on Beaver Island men­ prophet-king. tion polygamy as a social institution. Of the 2,500 Mormons in the Islands, there were " "A Michigan Monarchy," 632. =" Quaife, "Polygamy," 345. '" M. L. Leach, "History of the Grand Traverse ' Advocate, June 22, 1854. Region," Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, 'Ibid., My n,W56. XXXII (Lansing, 1903), 101.

Magazine Indexes Available The annual index for volume 41 (Autumn, 1957, through Summer, 1958), has been received from the printer and is ready for distribution. The names of curators and exchanges appear on a permanent mailing list to whom indexes are sent automatically. All other subscribers receive copies only at their request. Please mail a postcard to the Society if you want a copy. It will be mailed to you without charge. Copies of the indexes for volumes 38, 39, and 40 (Autumn, 1954, through Summer, 1957), are still available and will also be sent on request.

address: Magazine Index State Historical Society of Wisconsin Madison 6, Wisconsin

49 do so in terms of any set of standards but their own." This is supposed to eliminate the effect of the historian's own preconceptions and to be a substitute for objectivity. The approacfi, used with caution, may, indeed, have its uses. Such a view, however, is anathema to those who have a subjective faith in an alleged "ob­ jectivity" and is very disturbing to those who would not care to evaluate the Devil in his own The Tertiurn Quid in Historieal Interpre­ terms. The intellectual interests affected will tation: Another View of McDonald's doubriess be heard from. Theory. My objection is upon different ground. ^Y^HEN historians seek to pass moral judg- Much of American history has been written ' ' ments or value judgments, trouble arises from accounts left by participants, who have over the establishment of unassailable criteria. thought in terms favorable to the interests they Naive writers, of past and present, apply stand­ have represented. We find conservative histo­ ards based upon faith or emotional experience. rians reading one set of newspapers and writ­ More sophisticated historians many years ago ing conservative history, then liberal historians developed an ideal of "objectivity," by which reading another set of newspapers and writing both sides of an issue were to be considered, revisionist history. Are we to get the "truth" regardless of the bias of the observer. This was by following either? Well, hardly! supposed to eliminate partisan history and re­ Perhaps, then, we ought in fairness to con­ veal to the world the "truth." But human pur­ sider both sides., i.e., add them together and poses are not objective, and without purpose divide by two. The answer to this one is that historians do not write. What history is still the argument between two elements may be en­ depends upon who writes it. tirely irrelevant to actual causative factors, fn Objectivity has proved to be a mere intel­ a clash of interests, each develops an argument, lectual tool, lifeless and meaningless unless ap­ a philosophy, a propaganda to justify itself. plied with a subjective purpose. The content of Trying to find what really happened by strik­ history and the judgments of history are in­ ing an average is an exercise in futility. The exorably limited by the controlling assump­ interpretation of the participants must be used tions of the historian. These assumptions, of with reserve, however convenient it may be as which the historian is often entirely uncon­ a vehicle of organization and presentation. scious, are not a product of reason or logic; The natural sciences used to be full of moral they are based on faith. An effort to analyze or judgments, value judgments, and religious criticize them is likely to be considered a vio­ authoritarianism, and those persons who raised lation of a sanctuary and to stir an angry re­ questions were liable to be burned at the stake. sponse. Physics was mixed with astrology and alleg­ The limitations of "objectivity" have long edly divine explanations, but these have wilted troubled thoughtful historians. Some have con­ before the onslaught of hypotheses that stand cluded that since determining of truth depends up under tests; hypotheses failing under tests upon assumptions—on which men may differ have been abandoned. Geography was full of —that absolute truth cannot be established, sea monsters and supernatural manifestations, that all truth is relative. This disturbing doc­ but these have disappeared under close exami­ trine brings into question the validity of re­ nation and analysis. The biological sciences ligious and moral principles, but it is hard to were mixed with divine miracles and religious refute, except by name-calling. dogma, but Darwin's unmoral theory of evo­ A recent variant of the relativist doctrine lution ultimately overcame the most violent appears in the preface of Forrest McDonald's opposition, after it had stood up under re­ book. Let There Be Light: The Electric Utility peated analytical scrutiny. Medicine was full Industry in Wisconsin, 1881-1955 (p. vii), as of superstitions and quack remedies of follows: 'Tf one is interested in understanding "proved" efficacy, but they are disappearing the actions of others, it is futile to attempt to fast. Psychology was until rather recently a

50 SINCERELY YOURS

fantastic mixture of philosophy and physiol­ ever, are more useful in interpreting the his­ ogy, but very considerable progress has been tory of the United States than what Lincoln made toward putting it on a sound theoretical said at Gettysburg or what the power company basis. did to influence the legislature. It is in establishing criteria for the deter­ Value judgments are inherently subjective, mination of truth that the historians have met, but we can largely eliminate them when we perhaps, their most serious obstacle to prog­ can get hypotheses which work when tested. ress. Who is to judge? Who is to establish the This is as much as can be said for the natural criterion? Perhaps developments in the natu­ sciences. Explanation of how things happened ral sciences may show the way. American his­ often diminishes or eliminates the need for toriography has progressed to a point where a finding out why. When material explanation is historian does not have to choose sides between available, moral judgment becomes moot. contestants. There can be an independent posi­ JAMES F. DOSTER tion, a terlium quid, in historical interpreta­ University of Alabama tion. The test of its validity is whether it works when applied to a wide variety of analyses. We Anglo-Saxon Attitudes must drop reliance upon arguments used by I cannot help but protest your abusive adjec­ participants and seek motives, unconscious or tives against the principal character in the conscious. The various hypotheses which sug­ cover iflustration of your summer number. gest themselves must be tested and retested, You speak of Hitler as "a modern Genghis and all of us must be willing to part with sanc­ Khan" with a "Chaplinesque mustache and tified social and political theories. lunatic eyes" speaking from a "bloodstained I propose for consideration that the struc­ pedestal." Why not as a historian put around ture of government, business, and social rela­ this German conqueror the same qualities of tionships is largely ordained by physical and understanding that you doubtless would give economic forces and by human psychology. such conquerors as Napoleon and Franklin D. Within that structure there is a struggle for Roosevelt? Why not in Anglo-Saxon style place and power. The conservatives are en­ show compassion to a fallen foe? Does it take sconced, and the liberals are trying to get in. a German-American to talk this way about a Both make promises to the multitude, but their German? Wisconsin, of all American states, ability to deliver on these promises depends lost its soul in assimilating its immigrants. In upon the current economic potential. its eagerness to become culturally Anglo- Competition in the American economic and Saxon, it lost whatever else it might have been. political system is very keen, and the struggle What an artificial society this conscious as­ for place, profit, and power gives rise to the similation produces! The citizens of Wisconsin propagation of ideas to control the minds and are synthetic Americans, getting their patriot­ hearts of men. Advocates and advertisers, busi­ ism from lexicons and from planned visits to ness and political, pound away at us from such shrines as Valley Forge, Plymouth Rock, morning till night, and our only hope of rescue and Williamsburg. According to strict moral comes when some rival interest seeks our favor standards they may be gentlemen; they live with another argument. (Perhaps intellectual in charity with their fellows. Yet they lack a history is a catalog of outworn appeals made certain indefinable courtliness that cannot be to the minds of past generations by designing acquired by education and assimilation. interests with some axe to grind.) FRANCIS BUTLER SIMKINS The character and growth of the electric Longwood College utility industry was controlled in large meas­ • Readers who, like the Editor, find them­ ure by the physical characteristics of the selves bemused artd reluctantly enchanted by equipment and by economic principles, rather Dr. Simkins' Menckenesque objectivity and than by the arguments used by advocates of mastery of Elizabethan invective, may wish public and private power. Mechanical gadgets, lo peruse his more detailed observations on romantically interjireted. may be thrilling to Wisconsin-Americnns in the recently published conteni|)laIc. On the other hand, economic Virginia in History and Tradition (Farmville, principles may not stir excitement. Both, how­ Virginia, 1958).

51 teaders' choice

The Western Hero in Fact and Fancy: a Review by Harry E. Lichter

OLK HEROES are common to all cultures, the Davy Crocketts and The Wild Bills of this Fand the process of their creation follows world, the Earps and Mastersons, and the a definite pattern. They were born of reality; singing cowboys whose attributes are skills once they founded races and saved nations; in the arts of violence and showmanship, but in time the tales of their exploits and of whose familiars are Trigger and Black Nell, their personalities transformed them into en- whose magic weapons are the Buntline Special fleshed symbols of the ideals and aspirations and the Winchester 73. of their creators. The oft-told stories of Our culture is undoubtedly unique in its Achilles and Ulysses, of Sigurd and Beowulf, construction of a mythos based on a child's of Roland and the Cid entertained, but they game in which an endless succession of clean- also reminded an unlettered and inarticulate cut good guys and dastardly bad guys fight it audience of its early tradition and reaffirmed out in a battle in which justice always its pride in a glorious past. triumphs and virtue is its own reward. These In rough halls, by ffickering rushlights, the are the culture heroes who perform for a vast minstrels and storytellers celebrated the epic and uncritical audience which sits in a gloom heroes, losing nothing in the repeated tell­ lit only by the fitful raster of the twenty-one- ings. Rather by the accretion of older myths incher, stirring from its contemplation of mass- and lore there evolved the concept of the Hero produced minstrelsy only to refresh itself dur­ of miraculous attributes—the knight without ing the periodic and urgent appeals to hypo­ fear and without reproach, the possessor of the chondria, insecurity, or ostentation. steed Pegasus, of the sword Excalibur, the vic­ The whine of the ricocheting bullet and the tor against overwhelming odds, the man of stirring cry to "head 'em off at the pass" strange birth and tragic death. sounds even over the chomping of a thousand Similarly in our time any assessment of the popcorn-filled jaws, while from the printing life of a popular hero must reckon not only presses the spate of western paperbacks gushes with proven facts, but must also reckon with forth in an ever-widening flood. a mass of anecdotal material which has de­ How does one explain this preoccupation of veloped around him, and which, by dint of an entire nation with these mytho-historical long repetition, has been invested with all the concoctions and the indisputable fact of their authority of history. Thus, it is possible for an long-standing popularity? Primarily the glori­ individual to become a legend in his lifetime, fication of the West is big business, and has and his exploits—real and fancied—to be been ever since the days when James Gordon blended into a plausible whole, whose au­ Bennett, George Nichols, and other Eastern thenticity can scarcely be gainsaid. journalists sat at the feet of the "bad men" We, too, have our folk heroes- -the miracu­ and publicized their exploits for the avid con­ lous workers who glorify an occupation: C'ous- sumption of an effete East. At the height of in Jack; gargantuan Paul Bunyan; Joe Mag- their careers the cowtown marshals and the erac, the heroic sleelworker; the monumental plainsmen and scouts were glorified in a John Henry; (^ascv Jones; and Johnny Apple- dreary succession of fioor plays and poorer seed. But it is not these with whom wc arc books and pani[)lilcts. The dime noxels ol concerned, since they glorify work or service Beadle, of Colonel Prentiss Ingrahain, and the and so are not glamorous. We deal here with "aulhenic" accounts of Ned Buntline thrilled

52 READERS CHOICE and enthralled our grandparents with hair- time avocation, perhaps as a refuge from ret­ raising and shockingly inaccurate portrayals ribution, partly because by inclination and of life on the frontier. training he was orientated to a calling of The stock pattern had already been set when violence, and it made little difference on which Owen Wister wrote the Virginian, whose hero's side he fought. Generally he was appointed as immortal line, "When you call me that, a deputy by a fellow desperado, or in sheer smile!", is possibly the most important single frustration a town like Dodge would hire him quotation of Western lore. It was set when on the theory that it takes a killer to subdue The Great Train Robbery was filmed, and a killer. There is certainly no argument that when Broncho Billy rode the plains in the he cleaned up the town, and a few dead des­ innumerable variations involving rustlers, peradoes made little difference where there trainrobbers, innocent maidens to be rescued, were so many. and the chase on horseback, all of which are A typical episode in Wyatt's career would be still with us. the fight at the O.K. Corral. Fresh from un­ The medium of the moving pictures—and loading his wagon of gambling equipment, latterly television—is eminently suited to the Wyatt, his brother Morgan, and his friend Doc fast-paced action of the Western story whose Holliday, were hastily deputized by brother unsubtle chiaroscuro perfectly limns the easily Virgil on the approach of the CI anions and identifiable protagonists of good as opposed to McLowerys. The massacre which followed has the even more readily identifiable bad. Thus been considered by many to have been simply it has become fantastically profitable to present legalized murder. the subject in a thrice-digested, easily watched, The legend of Wyatt was created mainly by and quickly forgotten format in which the con­ one man, Elmo Z. C. Judson, friend and flict is obvious, the solution simple. mentor of Buffalo Bill, better known by his pseudonym, Ned Buntline. Judson came to N examination of a case history or two Dodge when Earp was deputy marshal, in A may furnish a measure of enlightenment. search of new, sensational material. Wyatt was Let us consider Wyatt Earp. He enters to the only too glad to oblige him with lurid tales of sound of a massed choir intoning "The West it his exploits, and as a token of esteem Judson was lawless, but one man was flawless." This received a special Colt .45 with a 12-inch sets the tone for a half-hour in which our hero, barrel, famous now as the Buntline Special impeccably attired, slinks suavely from crisis and the trademark of Earp. Earp's more recent to crisis. At the end, virtue has triumphed, the popularity stems from a biography written by bad guys are routed, and law and order are Stuart Lake, mainly a bowdlerized version of restored to the wild frontier. He is the foe of events as recounted by Earp himself. crooked gamblers, the friend of "Lo, the poor Let us pass on to James Butler (Wdd Bill) Indian," the inexorable defender of the meek Hickok, who ambles through countless film and and downtrodden. He dispenses justice firmly TV episodes, foiling rustlers, saving the and facilely with either hand. widow's ranch, or defending the wagon train The simple truth is that Wyatt, as well as from the depredations of murderous Apaches. his brothers and father, was a professional Wild Bill is a typical "good guy." He is never gambler and saloon man, and his normal habi­ shown smoking or drinking. If he enters a tat was the saloon, the dance hall, and the gambling hall or saloon, it is only to smoke out gambling dive. His real vocation was killing, the villains, and he never, never kisses the which he did with neatness and dispatch. The heroine. He is, however, allowed to kiss his fact that, unlike many of his equally disrepu­ horse as he pats her and says "Old Nell, you table contemporaries, he lived to a rich and done well." ripe old age can only be attributed to his In real life Wild Bill followed the familiar scientific skill with the six-gun, his sometimes pattern of the bad man turned peace officer. fantastic luck, and his uncanny ability to sense He was variously a Civil War sharpshooter, a the desirability of beating it out of town in a gambler, buffalo hunter, and a scout for tlie hurry, ahead of bereaved relatives of victims border regiments in the Indian Wars. He was or an enraged posse. His peregrinations a dandy who wore his hair long and his vests carried him from Tombstone to Dodge, from fancy. He drank to excess and bad the morals San Franci.sco lo \oinc. al\\a\s one step of a goat. He acquired his reputation as a bad ahead of disaster. man early and spent the rest of his life living Like most of the bad men who also served u[) to it. He is a controversial figure because as peace officers, he served the law as a part- he was involved in a number of shooting af-

53 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY .4UTUMN, 1958 frays which were not always conducted stricdy E. Connelly in Wild Bill and His Era, revived by the duello code of the frontier. When he the popularity of Hickok. was sober he was a cool and vicious killer, with Colonel William F. Cody, known to all the a complete disregard for the value of human world as "King of the Scouts," is the stereo­ life, and undoubtedly the best shot of the type of the romantic plainsmen. His long, flow­ frontier lawmen. ing locks and luxuriant mustachios were He was a braggart and a born showman, copied bv many a Western character—Pawnee even appearing for a brief time with Buffalo Bill, Idaiio Bill Wdd Bill Hickok, Wifliam F. Bill in a Buntline opus called the Scouts of (Doc) Carver, to name a few. His ornate but the Prairie. He loved to talk to reporters who scarcely utilitarian costume became the uni­ were not loath to print his tall tales. By the form by which the plainsman was identified. end of his comparatively short life he had Cody had the orthodox beginnings: boy become a legend, mostly through the writings pony-express rider, stage-coach driver. Civil of reporter George Nichols. He had a keen war soldier, buffalo hunter, saloon keeper, and appreciation of his own place in the history Indian scout. He was one of the rare members of the frontier and a sense for the value of of the pantheon of Western heroes who was not publicity which inspired a contemporary to a killer. He could honestly claim a life of ad­ say of him that he was "a great hand at wait­ venture and excitement enough for a single ing till he could see the whites of a reporter's man. His undoing was his inordinate fondness eyes before he started to brag." His biogra­ for liquor and the limelight, in about that phers have credited him with killing anywhere order. He was exploited shamefully by a long from thirty to eighty-five men during his life succession of entrepreneurs, hack writers, and time, "all killed fair and square and not mooching friends who drank his liquor and counting Indians," in Bill's own words. Frank mocked bim to his face. His tragedy was his Wilstach, in the Prince of Pistoleers, and W. weakness of character and his deliberate ac-

K.insas St U(_ HisloiK tl Socitt\ 77ic Dodge City Peace Commission in 1882. Back row, left to right: W. H. Harris. Luke Short. U . B. "Bat" Masterson; front row: Charles Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McClain, Neil Brown.

54 READERS CHOICE

ceplance and condoning of the ridiculous falsi­ inheritance of the Carver grant. At the last fication of his career which often found him moment he was recognized because of his rich, but rarely hap])y. Jliat he realized what strong resemblance to the Captain, by the was being done to him is shown by his answer hundred-year-old Grand Sachem, Red Wing. to a query about why he didn't cut his long The old chief pardoned the boy, adopted him hair. "If I did I'd durned well be out of into his family, and impressed by his powers business," he replied. of healing, which had earned him the sou­ The story of the social forces behind the briquet of "Doc", made him the medicine chief westward expansion, that difficult and highly of the tribe, replacing the old medicine man complex era of national evolution, is under­ who was ordered drowned to make room for stood by a mere handful of professional his­ Carver. This was the only known instance, ac­ torians; and, too often they also succumb to cording to Carver, of a white man becoming the lure of the all-pervading legend. an Indian medicine man. By the time he was ready to leave the tribe OW, since even television script writers at tbe age of twenty, he had become so good Nmust have a thread of historic truth with a shot that he could hit a snapping twig re­ which to embroider their colorful tales, let us peatedly at twenty or thirty yards in pitch l)eruse a recently published work about a darkness by sound alone. This and other feats Western hero who could just possibly become of marksmanship earned for him his Indian the latest hero of a thirty-nine-week series. name of "Spirit C^un," a LiUe which he used Taken in the foregoing context it may prove ever after. useful and certainly illuminating. For in these Disturbed at the imminence of Indian up­ days of heightened awareness of the Old West, risings in Minnesota, Carver headed for Mis­ as evinced by the overwhelming popularity of souri where he hunted and trapped in the the Western, adult or otherwise, on TV and in vicinity of St. Joseph and Springfield, meeting the movies, the published biography of Doc and making friends with many prominent Carver is of more than passing interest.''' figures of that area, including Wild Bill Hickok, with whom he set out on a shooting Carver, as seen through the eye of author trip, taking on all comers in matches for stakes Raymond W. Thorp, is the archetype of the which made both of them wealthy even by handsome, dashing, hard-riding, fast-shooting present-day standards. plainsman. He is the friend and partner of Carver became a buffalo hunter of note. He such glamorous figures as Wild Bill Hickok, claims to have shot at least 30,000 buffalo Buffalo Bill Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro, and during this period; 5,700 in his last year, divers other members of the gun-slinging 1875, as a buffalo hunter; and a straight run fraternity who made the frontier towns of of 160 from horseback. Modestly he never Missouri, Kansas, and points west resound claimed the championship, conceding this not with the bang-bang of the Winchester and to Buffalo Bill whom he detested, but to Bill the six-shooter. In addition to all this, the fact Marston of Leavenworth. that Carver was six-feet-four-inches tall and Carver also became a guide and hunter for had long blonde locks and mustachios, would such eminent sportsmen as the Earl of Dun- make this reviewer more than happy to have roven and Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. It a piece of the television rights to the book. was during this period that he invented the William Frank Carver, according to the art of shooting objects in the air with a rifle author, was a "direct lineal descendant" of and the method of roping buffalo which he Governor John Carver of Plymouth Plantation, taught to Wild Bill Hickok. and indeed owned the very cane on which the In 1875, Carver left the plains and moved governor leaned as he stood on the famous to California. Shortly thereafter he embarked rock. Furthermore, he was the grandson of on a career as an exhibition marksman and Captain Jonathan Carver. competition shooter which was to take him By the time he was seventeen, Doc had killed all over the world and to make his reputation three men, had been condemned to the stake as the greatest all-round marksman of his day. by Santee Sioux who had captured him in He also found time to become a theatrical Minnesota where he had s;one to claim his entrepreneur, becoming Buffalo Bill's partner in the original Wild West Show. This partner­ * Spirit Gun of the West: The Story of Doc. IT. F. ship dissolved in a blaze of mutual recrimina­ Carver. By Raymond W. Thorp. (Arthur H. Clark tion and law suits in a short time, and Carver Company, Glendale, California, 1957. Pp. 266. 38.50.) took liis own show on the road as well as two

55 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

undoubtedly, from a misreading of Dr. Samuel Peter's petition, since he also confuses the relalionship of Doc's Hed Wing lo the Red \\ ing of the I'realy. Thorp cannot even make up his mind whether Carver was the grandson or great-grandson of Jonathan. In 1860, in St. Joseph, Carver buys a .44 caliber Spencer repeating-rifle, a weapon which was not available anywhere until six years later. This may seem a picayunish criti­ cism, but since Carver's feats of marksmanship with this rifle started him on his career and led to his partnership with Wild Bill Hickok, one begins to have one's doubts. This, in- cidentaUy, is the gun with which Carver made a straight run of 132 unhusked walnuts at tfiirty yards in nine and one-half minutes. It is also the weapon with which Carver killed a would-be assassin who shot at him with a cartridge "needle-gun," (breech-loading Springfield)—another anachronism, both of time and place. This incident demonstrates as well as any the manifest absurdity of some of Carver s claims. Carver shot slightly above the man's leg, which was the only part in view, and Cover of program of the "Wild America" show given kiUed him from two-hundred yards away. The at Warsaw, Russian Poland, in 1890. Spencer cartridge at this distance was simply not good enough to score a hit on even a man- plays in which he was the star. In his later sized target, no matter how good the shooter. years, when he was too old to shoot in competi­ The trajectory is just too awful to contemplate; tion. Carver toured the state and county fairs the point of aim would have to be thirty feet with troupes of trained horses, featuring div­ above the target at this distance. ing elks and horses, and remained a showman Again during the hunt with the Earl of to the day he died, August 31, 1927, at the Dunroven, Carver claims to have killed a age of eighty-seven years. buffalo with his Spencer at three hundred It is difficult, if not impossible, to accept yards, firing from the hip. This would border this volume as the factual biography which its on the realm of the miraculous, even for a author claims it to be. A blend of the outright freak shot. The Spencer is also the gun with impossible with the undocumented probable is which Carver hunted black-tail deer in the about the only way it can be described in its Platte River vafley where they roamed in the earlier chapters. It is shot through with down­ "uncounted thousands." This in spite of the right errors of fact, unsupported statements, fact that for the past several hundred years and so many inconsistencies that a list of thf se this species has been restricted to the Pacific would be interminable. Coast and Southern Alaska. To begin with. Doc could not have been a This is the tone of the whole book and casts lineal descendant of Governor Carver who left strong doubts whether Carver was a game no male issue. Furthermore, a search of the shot at aO, if he even was on the Plains as Carver genealogy reveals no mention of either more than a casual visitor. Mari Sandoz, in William Frank or of his father, and no connec­ the Buffalo Hunters, characterizes Carver as tion at all with Captain Carver. a parvenu plainsman with an entirely built-up The account of Doc's sojourn among the reputation. Naudowissie or Santee Sioux must be consid­ Carver claims that Wild Bill Hickok was the ered completely apocryphal. Nowhere in nu­ best friend he ever had, and relates many tales merous state and local Minnesota histories is of their travels and adventures together. He there any mention of Carver. The author even tells of a trip both men took through the locates Carver's Cave at Prairie du Chien in­ Indian Nation and down into Texas under as­ stead of St. Paul where it actuafly was: this. sumed names, shooting against all comers. A

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fine story—except for the fact that during all as a masterpiece of press agentry. this time Hickok was in Kansas acting as a Just as Buffalo Bill based his reputation as guide and scout for General Sherman. an Indian fighter on the dubious claim of hav­ Carver gives a long and circumstantial ac­ ing killed Yellow Hand in personal combat, so count of how he invented the art of buffalo Carver's publicity built him up as the slayer roping and taught it to Wild Bill. Carver's of Chief Whistler—a feat generally credited to version has it that Hickok came to him in the Wild Bin Hickok with considerably more jus­ summer of 1867 with a contract for one hun­ tification. Significantly, Thorp states that Car­ dred wild buffalo to be shipped to Niagara ver kept the killing of Whistler a secret from Falls for a giant exposition the next year. everybody except General Sheridan. In the Naturally, Carver was the leading figure in program of the Cody and Carver Wild West this episode. Show appeared a woodcut purporting to be the Actually, during that whole summer Hickok Cody-Yellow Hand duel. When Carver left to was a courier and guide during General Han­ start his own aggregation he simply lifted the cock's operations against the Sioux and the cut and by retitling it palmed it off as his own Cheyenne. It is true that in 1870 Wild Bill encounter with Chief Whistler. did capture six buffalo and take them along Only after 1878, when Thorp begins to doc­ with a group of Cheyenne to the Canadian side ument Carver's career with clippings from the of the Falls where he staged a mock buffalo periodical press, does Carver emerge as a hunt which ended in a fiasco. This can be real person. Newspaper accounts of his shoot­ precisely dated as July 20, 1870. ing matches and his theatrical triumphs are Wifliam E. Connelley, long-time secretary certainly more believable than the entirely of the Kansas State Historical Society, telling unsupported statements made to Thorp by the story in Wild Bill and His Era, mentions Carver at the age of eighty-seven. Even faded in passing that "Dr. Carver said he was one ink is more reliable than old memories, no of the party of Wild BiU's buffalo catchers." matter how vividly they are colored. Indeed, it is significant that this is the only It is true that Carver was undoubtedly a mention at all of Carver in this definitive superb trick-shot artist and an outstanding biography of Hickok, which author Thorp competition marksman, but he lived in an claims to have helped write. era of great shooters. James Stetson and Ad The weakest part of this book is the petulant, Toepperwein and other Winchester Company chfldish, and often scurrilous treatment given shooters, such great marksmen as Bill Tilgh- to Buffalo Bill Cody by the author. This is man and Ted Bartles and the despised Bill largely explainable on the basis of professional Cody equalled, and possibly at times surpassed jealousy. Carver claims to have invented the Carver in the art of shooting. Wild West Show (actually dreamed up by It is a pity that this book, which covers Nate Salsbury and Cody) and that Cody exciting times and events in an entertaining cheated him out of a large sum of money. and fast-moving fashion, could not have been Carver's account of their relationship seems to written in a less slavishly adoring form. While be completely at variance with the accepted the author accepts everything on faith, this is versions. While Cody was no paragon of all something the reader should not, and will not virtues, neither was he the drunken, illiterate, do. The author ingenuously lists as his only dissolute bum as portrayed by Carver through source materials newspaper and other peri­ author Thorp's writing. odical sources, as well as the manuscripts, Richard J. Walsh has written a sober, ob­ scrapbooks, show bills, theater programs and jective study of Buffalo Bill, The Making of other ephemera belonging to Dr. Carver, and Buffalo Bill. This is a well-documented piece letters from Carver to the author. of reportage, which shows how, through the Nowhere is there any indication that the medium of publicity, Cody was deliberately author consulted any historical works on the built into a popular hero. With no axe to period, talked to any old-timers, or did any grind, Walsh gives a factual account of Car­ significant amount of original research. He ver's background and his relation to Buffalo ends up at best with a melange of doubtful Bill, discusses Cody's foibles and real weak­ autobiography on the part of Carver, and nesses, but he also does the same for Carver, fictionalized biography on the part of him­ who does not emerge as quite the superlative self—another step in the perversion of history hero depicted by Thorp. In fact. Thorp's build­ to histrionics. His uncritical acceptance of up of Carver is probably matched only by the hearsay and legend only furthers the already job John Burke and Salsbury did for Cody, decadent cult of worship of the Western Hero.

57 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

the alliance's usefulness had ended in 1783 GENERAL HISTORY and thereafter served only to entangle the United States in European affairs. Unable to Entangling Alliance; Politics & Diplomacy influence the Washington administration, re­ under George Washington. By ALEXANDER sentful of the Jay Treaty, and disappointed in DECONDE. (Duke University Press, Durham, the Republican failure to capture the Presi­ 1958. Pp. 536. $7.50.) dency in 1796, France finally repudiated the alliance of 1778. When Washington left office With the end of the American Revolution the United States was on the verge of war the Franco-American alliance of 1778 had with its former ally. accomplished its most important purpose for Most of this is already familiar to those each partner. France had helped humiliate who are well acquainted with our early na­ Great Britain, and the United States had its tional history, and in his final chapter the independence. In most history books the story author correctly concludes that his book does of the French alliance ends at this point. But not change the traditional picture of the pe­ actually it lived on for more than a decade, riod in its broad outlines. He believes, how­ and became a source of controversy and irrita­ ever, that certain major details need modifica­ tion between the wartime allies. Edward S. tion. The Washington administration, accord­ Corwin's French Policy and the American ing to DeConde, was not one in which a policy Alliance of 1778 covered the subject from the of isolation and non-entanglement was based signing of the alliance to the treaty of peace on lofty principle, but rather a period in with England in 1783. Now Alexander De­ which one political party took control of the Conde, associate professor of history at the government and reversed the nation's basic University of Michigan, has completed the foreign policy alignment, making a former story in this study of the less happy years of enemy an ally, while a former ally became the United States' first, and for over a cen­ openly hostile. Moreover, the statesmen of the tury, only formal alliance. •Washington era were too often "selfish" and The author quickly treats American di­ "irrational" in their behavior, too often placed plomacy during the years of the Articles of political advantage above national welfare. Confederation and proceeds to analyze Alex­ Jefferson and Hamilton, in their political ac­ ander Hamilton's "economic-political system." tivities and their "connivance" with foreign Essentially, his thesis is that implementation agents committed acts which today would of Hamilton's financial policies required an "appear treasonable." Washington, the author uninterrupted flow of revenue into the treas­ concludes, "is not seen at his best" as Presi­ ury, and since that revenue came primarily dent. "Not able to comprehend the political from taxes levied on trade with Great Britain, implications of his office, looking upon opposi­ the maintenance of peace—and trade—with tion to his measures as disloyalty, he seems at Britain became the primary consideration of times a bewildered figure, overshadowed by Federalist foreign policy. Thus when Britain politicians and manipulated by Hamiltonians and France went to war in 1793, the United to their own political advantage." It was Ham­ States, despite its alliance with France, re­ ilton, according to DeConde, who originated mained neutral; and when Anglo-American almost all the important ideas and significant relations degenerated, the Washington ad­ measures of Washington's administration. Rut ministration negotiated and accepted the un­ Washington's "unquestioning support" and his popular Jay Treaty as the alternative to war "awesome prestige and opposition-smothering with Britain. popularity" were necessary to carry the Ham- American neutrality suited France who ex­ iltonian program into effect. pected to use the United States as a neutral carrier of supplies and as a base from which This book is not likely to appeal to the oc­ French privateers could raid British shipping casional reader of history, but the more serious and from which French-sponsored expeditions student of the period will find that it brings might strike British and Spanish possessions together in convenient form material for in the western hemisphere. French diplomats which he would ordinarily have to consult sought to make American neutralitv a pro- many separate arliiJes and source collections. French nenlralily. J'o ihis end ihcy .sought to J'hcre is no bibliography, but the footnotes u.sc llic rising Hcpublican parly, which was are very com])lete, and placed at the bottom Lnorablc to the preservation of the French al­ of the page where they belong. All in all, it liance, while Federalists tended to believe that is a competent job of research, clearly written,

58 READERS CHOICE

and ending with conclusions that arc too American Protestantism and Socitd Is.wes lihnillv slated for ihe e\ idence. bul nc'Ncitlu^- 1919 l<):i9. Hy ROBKUT MOVTS MILLER. (I'ni- Icss essentially valid in most instances. \eisitv of North Carolina Press, (Chapel Hill, RICHARD A. ERNEY 1958.' Pp. 385. $6.00.) State Historical Society of Wisconsin Few, if any, observers of the relationship between American Protestantism and the social order in the twentieth century have attributed American Knives: The First History and Col­ to it anything like that transforming power lector's Guide. By HAROLD L. PETERSON. which Paul Tiflich, in his conception of the (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1958. Protestant Principle, contends a religion must Pp. 178. Illustrations. $4.95). realize if it is to survive. On the contrary, the According to the preface, American Knives most consistent critical image of American represents some twenty-five years of interest Protestantism has been either as a rather in­ and collecting on the part of Mr. Peterson, an fluential opium dispensary or, more commonly, employee in the research branch of the Nation­ as a multitude of voluntary associations whose al Park Service. This present work is his fourth membership is so inextricably bound up with literary contribution to the arms-collecting fra­ things as tbey are as to be incapable of stand­ ternity; and in gathering material for it he ing outside that social order and judging it in visited all the advanced collectors in this terms of some principle less bound to the im­ country, and even included in his research a mediate social-historical situation. trip to England where he uncovered additional Professor Mifler, in the volume under con­ material on Sheffield knives and methods of sideration, takes as his task the critical evalu­ their manufacture. This background of ex­ ation of these common generalizations in the perience on the author's part, plus the fact that light of those historical particulars to be found such advanced collectors as William Shemer- in the record of American Protestantism be­ luk, Robert Abels, Leon Jackson, Herb Glass, tween the First and Second World Wars. The and Ben Palmer have contributed their knowl­ study as a whole may be characterized as a edge of knives and specimens from their col­ dissenting report to the opinion that Protes­ lections to provide the iUustrations, insures the tantism—particularly during the twenties— reader an excellent coverage. was primarily a reactionary force in American The book, which is divided into eight chap­ life. The author's selective criteria appear to ters, also contains a list of American makers have been dictated by this objective as well as and dealers. A listing of Sheffield makers more practical considerations. The public should also have been included. The first records of fourteen major Protestant denom­ chapter is devoted to the nomenclature of the inations, ranging in size from the Baptist, various types of knives illustrated and de­ Methodist, and Presbyterian bodies. North and scribed in the text. Subsequent chapters deal South, to the Unitarians, are examined for their with such varied topics as the knives used in attitudes toward "civil liberties, labor, race the exploration and colonization of America relations, war, and the contending merits of from the Scramasax of the Vikings to the Ken­ capitalism, socialism, and communism." A pos­ tucky knives and daggers of the 1820's; the sible liberal bias lent to this selection by the Bowie knife and its associates, including the absence of the myriad fundamentalist sects in Union and Confederate Bowies; Army and America is partially balanced by the inclusion Navy knives; Indian knives: and a discussion of the southern branches of the Baptists, Meth­ of the pocket knives used from the 1600's to odists, and Presbyterians. Perhaps the most 1890. The final chapter contains an excellent important limitation of the study lies in the essay on methods, past and present, of manu­ simple fact, recognized by the author, that the facturing and sharpening knives. record examined, whether in national or While the author's original intention was to regional meetings, the church press, social lay a foundation upon which later and more action committees, or interdenominational detailed studies could be based—at the same agencies was almost totafly the product of time providing a basic text or reference tool clergymen. Moreover, it is seldom clear just for the less advanced student or collector—I what proportion of the clergy in any given am sure that even the most advanced collector denomination was really committeed to a par­ will find in this book a good deal of previously ticular pronouncement. That they were a dis­ unknown and unprinted material. tinct minority, and that a few prominent CHARLES L. DURFEE churchmen Hke Reinhold Niebuhr seemed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts be almost everywhere, soon becomes evident.

59 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

The many very real merits of this study, zens' career with Ford Motor Company, but however, should not be obscured by undue the treatment persists throughout the book. concentration on its several limitations, many In spite of its shortcomings this is a book of which would remain even if the research which the reader will find interesting, if not had been done by a whole team of historians. more. It has the virtue of being a biography Viewing it as the work of one man, its scope of a most unusual man who changed his name is truly impressive. Among the several con­ from James Joseph (]ouzens, Jr. to plain James tributions made by this study. Miller's expo­ Couzens, because he would not be junior to sition of the record on civil liberties, his any man. Harry Barnard is an accomplished demonstration of the essential continuity of writer, and the book is worth reading. the Social Gospel theme into the thirties, and JOHN C. COLSON his qualification of the "Babbittonian Captiv­ State Historical Society of W^isconsin ity" image of American Protestantism in the twenties, seemed particularly valuable. JOHN T. FLINT Way of Valor: A Biography of Col da Myerson. University of Kentucky By MARIE SYRKIN. (Sharon Books Inc.. New York. Pp. 309. $3.75.) Independent Man: The Life of Senator James Jlie story of the "girl from Milwaukee.'' who Couzens. By HARRY BARNARD. (Charles Scrib­ has become the Foreign Minister of the State ner's Sons, New York, 1958. Pp.376. $5.95.) of Israel, is here told by Marie Syrkin. Golda Myerson, or Meir, the name under which she "... I have never in my life worked for is best known to the world at large, who in any man. Even when I was a car checker, a 1906, as a child of eight had come with her few years ago, I had no boss; but I was, and parents from Kiev to Wisconsin, is one of the am today, willing to work with any man. I few women who, because of her gift of public will be willing to work with Henry Ford, but leadership and her unflinching dedication to I refuse to work for him." In these defiant an ideal, has risen to a position of prominence words James Couzens announced to the world in international affairs. on October 12, 1915, that he was leaving the Ford Motor Company. In fifty-three words he Miss Syrkin portrays the phenomenal rise gave the real reason for his sudden departure of the daughter of an immigrant cabinetmaker from the company which owed its magnificent by setting the story of her life against the back­ success as much to Couzens' business genius ground of the struggle for freedom and equal­ as it did to Ford's production genius. ity on the part of the poverty-stricken and In the same fifty-three words Couzens told disenfranchised Jewish masses of Eastern Eu­ more about his own nature than Harry Bar­ rope. A sense of outraged Jewish dignity made nard has in 376 pages. Independent Man is Golda Meir a Zionist, while a sense of outraged an engaging account of Couzens' life; yet human dignity made her a Socialist. 1 nlike nowhere does it quite catch the spirit of this others, the young woman, who was an out­ indomitable and cantankerous man who could standing student in her high school, responded not be led and would not be driven where he to the world's chaos neither passively as do did not want to go. Barnard searches without alienated intellectuals nor actively as do ener­ success for Couzens' hidden soul, not realiz­ getic cynics. Her faith in life and its inherent ing that it had never been hidden. In telling goodness became to her a source of moral af­ the story of the break between Ford and firmation. At the age of twenty-three she left Couzens, for example, he does not use the the United States for the British Mandate of quotation given above; but it is vital to a full Palestine where she settled in the small kibbittz understanding of Couzens' feelings about his of Merhavia, an agricultural settlement in place in the company, and his reaction to which she, like other pioneers, worked twelve Ford's growing demands for total power. It hours a day in the boiling sun. The inteflectual is the duty of any biographer to avoid be­ environment of her youth took for granted coming so sympathetic towards his subject feminine participation in social movements. In that he can no longer be dispassionate or im­ addition to her national aspirations, the young partial. In this respect, Barnard fails in his pioneer woman was buoyed up by the hope duty. Couzens becomes a hero, and his antag­ that the good society, free of exploitation and onists become villains—almost. This is most discrimination, would liberate women of their pronounced in the chapters dealing with Coun- age-old disabilities.

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The Histadrut, the organization of Pales­ buildings and parks as such. For layout pur­ tine workers which discovered the innate lead­ poses, the major views are reproduced large ership ability of the young woman, entrusted and combined in each double-page spread with her with ever-increasing responsibilities in tfie smaller reproductions of related contemporary labor movement. However, the former Mil­ pictures of two kinds: supporting portraits, waukee school teacher, who met with equal book illustrations, music covers, wood engrav­ ease political and labor leaders and British ing or similar material to provide graphic fla­ lords, always remained a woman who, taking vor; and objective physical details such as care of her husband and her children, on Fri­ water pumps in the street, hitching posts, ar­ days could be seen baking and cooking like chitecturally applied wood carving and simi­ any other good Tel Aviv housewife. lar props whose function is more or less During the time of the transfer from the symbolic. Three types of text are generafly British Mandate to the statehood of Israel, the used: a running commentary carried over from British learned to respect Golda Meir's un­ page to page or divided in units as Mr. Beirne forced dignity and the simple, direct approach has done, to suit each double-page spread; in­ which she brought to all her tasks. The tall, dividual captions to identify each reproduc­ stately woman, plainly dressed, with her hair tion; and credits. parted in the middle and tied in a knot, was The city of Baltimore is fortunately rich in in 1949 appointed Minister of Labor by Prime representational material, and most of these Minister Ben-Gurion, later was named Ambas­ illustrations have been drawn from the several sador to the Soviet Union, and subsequently major local repositories of historic prints and became Foreign Minister of Israel. Today photographs—from the Maryland Historical Golda Meir is a well-known figure in the Society's own collections, notably its Hayden United Nations where on many occasions she collection; from the Peale Museum, which has has presented the interests of her country with custody of the noted Hambleton collection; eloquence and dignity. and from the George Cator collection at the Marie Syrkin, who for many years has Enoch Pratt Free Library. Numerous other shared Golda Meir's idealism, has presented a resources have supplied the supporting and in­ warm, affectionate picture of a rare woman cidental illustrations. who, in the twentieth century, appears like a The skill in editing such a volume consists woman out of the pages of the Bible. in the combining of this varied material so as MANFRED SWARSENSKY to achieve meaning and continuity. The appeal Madison, Wisconsin is partly to the eye passing from picture to picture, and partly to the attention following facts and interpretation through the text. But Baltimore ... a Picture History, 1858-1958. neither follows a strict left to right, top to bot­ Commentary by FRANCIS F. BEIRNE. Compiled tom sequence, nor is the presentation simul­ under the auspices of the Maryland Historical taneous and controlled as in the case of a Society; a centennial project of Hutzler Broth­ motion picture with its sound track. The read­ ers Co. (Hastings House, New York, 1957. Pp. er's attention necessarily wanders over the vi, 153. $5.00.)' pages, and it is not uncommon to see people The anthology of historical views of a city inspect a picture book from back to front. or locality, with accompanying supporting de­ A good picture book is not a scrapbook, nor tails and commentary, has proved to be a pop­ is it merely a book of reference; it capitalizes on the reader's natural tendency to skim and ular book form, now setding into a fairly go back over, to assimilate and synthesize from standard pattern to which this volume ably a picture-puzzle scattering of stimuli. It will conforms. In recent years, among the many succeed or fail according to the editor's sense such works published, the more elaborate Col­ of form in creating a framework for asso­ umbia Historical Portrait of New York by ciation. John A. Kouwenhoven (1953) did much to The imagination applied Lo this Baltimore establish this pattern. The arrangement is usu­ book is commendable. It is economically pro­ ally chronological and covers, for a large city, duced, and the reproductions by offset litbog- an evolutionary sequence from the earliest raphy are not of the finest. The text style is sketches of a primitive settlement to recent more journalistic than historical. While the photographs of metropolitan avenues and sky­ sources of certain wood engravings from, say. line. But the pattern is fundamentally cultural, Harper s Weekly are cited, the specialist misses emphasizing the life of the people more than more consistent indication of origins, such as

61 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 artists or publishers of prints or names of ])ho- Miss Erickson casts her analysis in a ma- tographers. which are generally lacking, but Icrialislic framewiuk. and seems lo set as her which would help others to develop the sub­ task the correction to the Commons-Perlman ject. But the volume is certainly interesting, school of labor history. She is convinced that even apart from any concern with Bal­ differences in the rate of industrial growth in timore itself, and in its change of pace and the United States and in countries of emigra­ general make-up is a worthy contribution to tion determined differences between the old' the published record of America in historical and "new" immigration. She does not enter­ pictures. tain the role of cultural distinctions in discus­ PAUL VANDERBILT sing the treatment of immigrants by labor State Historical Society of Wisconsin unions, or in discussing the nature of immi­ grant union activity. Miss Erickson explains shifts in the sources of emigration on the basis American Industry and the Eitropean Immi­ of economic conditions in the countries of grant 1860-1885. By CHARLOTTE ERICKSON. origin and by the activities of steamship com­ (.Studies in Economic History published in co­ pany agents. These latter play a vital role in operation with the Committee on Research in Miss Erickson's account of industrial immi­ Economic History, Harvard University Press. gration. She maintains that agents and sub- Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1957. Pp. 269. agents made no distinctions regarding "race," $4.75.) "culture," or "nationality." Instead they re­ In this monograph Charlotte Erickson poses cruited passengers for their companies from two fundamental questions: To what extent, if areas where pressure for emigration was most at all, she asks, did American industry recruit severe. European immigrants? And how was immi­ American Industry and European Immi­ grant labor distributed in the American econ­ grants is an important book. It rests on manu­ omy? The answer to her first question is that scripts, government publications, journals of American industry imported very few workers industry and organized labor, and on news­ signed to contracts before leaving Europe. The papers located in this country and abroad. Its answer to her second results in an excellent conclusions cannot be ignored even by those description and analysis of the various path­ who would challenge the framework in which ways used and methods employed to bring the author works. Those readers seeking a immigrant labor to the factories and mines of well-organized and comprehensive history of industry and immigrants from 1860 to i885 the United States. will be sharply disappointed in this study. The discussion of these problems involved Those, however, who want some valuable in­ the author in revising some conclusions drawn formation about the American labor market by earlier historians. It had been traditionally after the Civil War will be richly rewarded. assumed that trade-unionists and other critics of American industry were correct in charg­ GERD KORMAN ing that industrialists hired many Europeans Elmira College by negotiating contracts abroad. Miss Erick- son's evidence seems more than adequate to In Support of Clio: Essays in Memory of Her­ prove that the old conclusion is wrong. She bert A. Kellar, Edited by WILLIAM B. HESSEL- carefully explains why such contracts were TiNE and DONALD R. MCNEIL. (State Historical rarely used after the failure of the American Society of Wisconsin. Madison. 1958. Pp. x. Emigrant Society, an organization established 214. $5.00.) by the iron and steel industry in the 1860's. Miss Erickson categorically denies that fear In planning a monument to the memory of of unskilled laborers prompted the Knights of Herbert Kellar, the editors happily decided Labor to work for the Foran Act, the anti- upon a series of essays devoted to historical contract labor law of 1885. She implies that projects to which he made commendable con­ older historians were taken in by the rhetoric tributions. The nine contributors have suc­ of Congressmen. Skilled workers inside and ceeded admirably in their tasks. Each has outside of the Knights, she insists, worked as­ produced a masterly essay on the history and siduously for this law. She proves her conten­ significance of an important historical activity tion by a careful study of the activities of in support of Clio, and each has unobtrusively Local Assembly 300, the Window Glass woven into his narrative Kellar's relationship Workers of the Knights of Labor. to it. Only one of the book's themes presents a

62 READERS CHOICE closed chapter: The W. P, A. Historical Rec­ Special Aids to Genealogical Research on ords Survey—the subject of David L. Smiley's Southern Families. Edited by ROBERTA P. contribution—terminated its labors during the WAKEFIELD. (Special Publications of the Na­ second World War. Four of the essays are tional Genealogical Society. No. 15, Washing­ directly associated with the collection, preser­ ton, 1957. Pp. 106 [19|.'$3.00; lo members, vation, or restoration of historical records and $2.00.) remains: manuscript collecting, contributed by Genealogy, Handmaid of History. By LESTER Lucile M. Kane; public archives, by G. Philip J. CAPPON. (Special Publications of the Na­ Bauer; historical organizations, by David D. tional Genealogical Society, No. 17, Washing­ Van Tassel and James A. Tinsley; and histori­ ton, 1957. Pp. 9. $1.00; to members, 50 cal restorations, by Edward P. Alexander. cents.) Richard D. Younger surveys foundations in relation to the study of history; Wayne D. Continuing the practice of reprinting under Rasmussen presents the growth of agricultural a covering title certain articles considered to history; Lester J. Cappon views the historian have especial and continuous use to research­ as editor of historical documents and periodi­ ers in the genealogical field. Special Aids to cals; and George L. Anderson describes ma­ Genealogical Research on Southern Families chine services available to historians. brings together those articles printed in the Quarterly of the National Genealogical Society As a medley of miscellany, herein are dis­ over a period of years, and which bear directly cussed the work of the McCormick Historical on research in that area. The term "southern" Association, the movement for a national ar­ as applied here refers to Maryland, Virginia, chives, the development of microphotography Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and its uses, J. Franklin Jameson and the re­ Alabama, Mississippi, and the District of Co­ search program of the Carnegie Institution of lumbia. Washington, the trend toward popularization Some original records such as "The Oaths of history by state societies, the contribution of Allegiance from St. Marv's County, Mary­ of Everett E. Edwards to agricultural history, land," reprinted from the J. Thomas Scharf scholarship involved in historical editing, and Collection in the Maryland Historical Society; interpretation as a supplement to physical res­ "Orphans of Oglethorpe County, Georgia, toration. The great human personality of Her­ 1796-1806," abstracts of the records of the bert Kellar appears in and between the lines Probate Court; "Pension Records of Revolu­ of all of the essays. One of them in particular tionary Soldiers in Mississippi," copied from preserves that quality of the man in the "Corn- the original handwritten documents now the shucks Story" of a manuscript hunt in the property of the Mississippi Department of Ar­ Valley of Virginia. No graduate student ever chives and History in Jackson, are included in applied himself more assiduously to learning this publication and so are made more easily new techniques required by a historical proj­ available to those persons doing genealogical ect than Kellar in the rebuilding of the McCor­ research in that state. Other articles in the mick gristmill in Rockbridge County. pamphlet consider the srenealogical resources While each of the authors indicates briefly of Kentuckv, North and South Carolina, Geor­ how Kellar contributed to the subject on which gia, and Alabama. These are especially heln- he writes, perhaps all sense that his influence ful to the novice in family history research, went far beyond the brief account of his activi­ while the advanced researcher will also benefit ties. His counsel, encouragement, and inspira­ from a review of possible sources of informa­ tion touched the lives of hundreds of persons. tion and records which he may have over­ No scholar was ever the same after he fell un­ looked. der the spell of Kellar's genius for ideas and In Genealogy, Handmaid of History the di­ suggestions for implementing them. He was an rector of the Institute of Early American His­ institution whose talent for understanding was tory and Culture at Williamsburg develops the equaled by his gift of helpfulness. The "brac­ thesis that in the evolution of genealogy as the ers" he provided, whether in "Room 637 at handmaid of history both have benefited, for ten," in formal conferences, or in private con­ the "common ground of the historian and the servation, will be remembered as long as his genealojjist is a reality, affording opportunities contemporaries inhabit the earth: and his con­ lor collaboration." In his well-documented structive achievemenis in support of (Jio will sludy. the author traces the development of sur\ ivc indefinitely. genealogy and genealogical societies in this WENDELL 11. STEPHIOXSON country and finds that "the estrangement of University of Oregon genealogy and history" was rather great at

63 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

times, but foflowing World War I, genealogical of processes at work to generate histories" (p. research attracted the attention of the amateur 47). Randall's theory of history makes all as well as the professional. "Both the genealo­ histories functional social science histories, the gist and the historian do their most creative focus that gives them meaning always being work," he rightly concludes, "when they are the historian's present (p. 210). The problems engaged ... in the pursuit of knowledge of and attempted solutions of one generation are the past whereby it becomes more understand­ irrelevant to the next (p. 7). His sequence of able to the present and thus enlightens our own philosophical heroes are Aristotle, Hegel, times. . . . The genealogist needs the historian Marx, Dewey, and Woodbridge. Although he to broaden his perspective and deepen his com­ views himself as a twentieth-century Aristotle, prehension . . . [and] by the same token the he admits that if he called his theory of history genealogist is useful to the historian, lest he Aristotelian, questions might be raised about underrate the personal element in his narra- what is Aristotelian (p. 31). How right he is tive. on this point! Randafl generalizes that all Members of hereditary-patriotic societies are European "critical" philosophers of history in most proud of their organizations, and it the last generation, in their analysis of his­ should be pointed out that the Sons and torical knowledge, have been philosophical Daughters of the American Revolution are two idealists. But "the relatively few American separate and distinct organizations, as are the thinkers who have been concerned with the two societies of the Sons and Daughters of the critical analysis of history and historical knowl­ Revolution. edge . . . and, among historians themselves, MARGARET GLEASON Becker, Beard, Nevins, and Gottschalk, have State Historical Society been realists, pluralists, and objective relativ­ of Wisconsin ists (p. 30). Among the facts he neglected: Beard and Becker, while subscribing in part at least, to his American formula, were also dis­ Nature and Historical Experience: Essays in ciples of Croce, the European idealist, thus Naturcdism and in the Theory of History. By spoiling his neat contrast. Worth noting fur­ JOHN HERMAN RANDALL, JR. (Columbia Uni­ ther: Only two of the members of the commit­ versity Press, New York, 1958. Pp. 326. tees which produced SSRC Bufletins 54 and $5.50.) 64, are listed among his elect—Beard and This book consists of twelve essays. Ten Gottschalk. make the body of the book, divided four and Randall is gready concerned about managed six: four "toward the theory of history"; six social change, about a science of social change, "toward the theory of nature" ; together with a and about education to facilitate social change prologue and an epilogue. Except for the first —essentially a political function. This is not and the last, none of the material has appeared Orwell's 1984, but Randall's 1958. After deny­ before in its present form. ing that forces act, he posits active force and For Randall "There is no such thing as his­ deflective force (p. 103), and states that there tory, nor are there any 'historians'. ... A are four parties to social change: drifters, history is . . . not itself a subject-matter, but radicals, reactionaries, and adjusters (states­ is rather an aspect, an 'essential property,' of men, philosophical synthesizers). If the fourth some subject-matter." A history is not a cause, group is missing, or inadequate to the task of a process, but an outcome. The things that philosophical and social adjustment, then poli­ have histories act, and do so in a particular ticians (appeasers or mere opportunists), be­ way because of their histories (pp. 28, 46, 47). longing really to the drifters, occupy the Thus histories are plural, unique, unrepeatable, vacuum. Where social decay has gone so far and are not wholes. There are no forces, such as to give the radicals a relatively free scope, as economic or social forces that act in par­ then revolution occurs, and like war, leaves all problems of adjustment unsolved. Randall's ticular histories; instead, men act. The major heroes obviously are in the fourth group, in­ determinisms in men's actions, he holds, are cluding his own role as he envisions it (pp. psychological, and are reduced essentially to 99-110). social organization (pp. 87, 88-89). "Hence No part of the book is easy reading, bul in the historical record of events and changes the portion devoted to "metaphysical analy­ does not explain anything; it is itself some­ sis"—not metaphysics, which appears to be an thing to be explained and understood"; and important distinction—Randall's private jar­ that must be done "by science—by structure gon, built up by definition, reaches its mo.st

64 READERS CHOICE

incomprehensible extremes. The final task quence . . . flowing forth." Nancy Towle undertaken is to describe the means by which (1831) insists that Smith was "a good-natured the pluralisms of particular histories can be lowbred chap that seemed to have force unified—by a complex system of connectives enough lo do no one any harm." Josiah —but space available forbids details. Accord­ (^uincy (1844) says, "One could not resist ing to Randall's definitions a unity is not the impression that capacity and resource subject to individuation, but pluralisms can were natural to his stalwart person." A writer be given a unification "in the light of some for the St. Louis Missouri Daily Republican meaning understood that we are permitted to (1839) says, "In conversation he appears in- call 'true' " (p. 308). Nature's or God's prob­ teUigent and candid." Charlotte Haven (1842) lem is genetic, i.e., creation; man's major says Smith had "blue eyes set far back in the problem is "to understand the ways in which head, expressing great shrewdness, or I should what is, however it may have been created, say, cunning ... a large head and phrenolo­ continues to operate and function" (p. 208). gists would unhesitatingly pronounce it a bad In conclusion, lest anyone might misunder­ one. stand, individualists do exist among American The more polished style of the professional historians, 'who are flagrantly unadjusted to writer begins to appear when the Mormons functional social science history, and to the begin their western journey and start to set '"science" of social change. up their unique social order in the Salt Lake JAMES C. MALIN Valley. University of Kansas Sir Richard Burton, of Arabian Nights fame, spends a winter in Salt Lake City and describes the region and its people with Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Oriental style and his own mixture of East Contemporary Observers. Edited by WILLIAM and West in word usage (example: "kanyon" for canyon). Mark Twain puts tongue in cheek MULDER and A. RUSSELL MORTENSEN. (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1958. Pp. 482. $6.75.) for a piece of humorous semi-fiction about his brief stay at Salt Lake. Horace Greeley History presented by means of selections reports an interview which brings out Brig­ from original documents has much to offer ham Young's vie-ws on polygamy and a variety the reader. Skilfully done, it yields variations of other questions. in writing style and perspective that produce a pleasant sense of expectancy at each new Charles Dickens, in what is certainly the page. Among the Mormons meets this stand­ best piece of informative writing in this vol­ ard—and seldom has a subject been better ume, visits a Mormon emigrant ship at the suited to the documentary approach. London docks and tefls how logistics and There are clearly four quite different peri­ transport are handled when as many as a ods to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- thousand English "Saints" leave together on Day Saints. First came a time of uncertain the first leg of their trip to Zion. and hazardous beginnings (1820 to 1835) in To someone whose roots are in the Mormon New York State and Ohio. This was followed past, any number of statements from the late by a decade of rapid growth but constant fric­ nineteenth-century selections sound a familiar tion in Missouri and at Nauvoo, Iflinois. The and nostalgic note. In 1883 Phil Robinson western trek began in 1846, and for half a wrote about something still characteristic of century the Mormons preserved their isolated Latter-Day Saint church services—"the bleat­ but uneasy independence in the West. With ing of babies from every corner of the build­ the twentieth century Mormonism found rec­ ing ... as if religious service was being held onciliation and general acceptance, if not full in a sheep-fold." assimilation, into national life. Twentieth-century selections are not so felicitous. Wallace Stegner writes with sensi­ Documents about the beginnings of a re­ tivity and Bernard DeVoto with cheerful wasp- ligious movement are peculiarly full of vigor­ ishness about one phase of modern Utah life— ous discipleship or violent antipathy, and the relations between Mormon and "Gentile" in early pages of this volume are rich in con­ a dominantly Mormon culture. Otherwise the tradictory appraisals of persons and events. uniqueness of the social structure which Mor­ Harding (1829) reports that "young Joe monism built seems to fade from these modern (Smith) was . . . very taciturn, and sat most selections as it perhaps has from modern life. of the time silent as a Sphinx." Pratt (1830) In discussing the present day, the most not­ describes him as "abounding in original elo­ able shortcoming of this book is its failure

65 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 to discuss expansion of Mormonism outside first series (volumes I to X) is straight chron­ Utah. An elaborate missionary system brings ology, to Johnson's death in 1771 ; the second rural I'tah villages into contact with far cor­ series, however, is more than chronology: the ners of the world. The building of temples and major emphasis is on Indian affairs. The schools as far away as Switzerland and New twelfth volum.e, published in 1957, concludes Zealand are significant facts about the Mor­ Johnson's relations with the Indians, and ends mon culture of Utah. with a section on his speculation in land. Overlooking the business activities of the The section on Johnson's land speculation church is another serious omission. The Mor­ clearly reveals the extent of his influence in mon church has grown with the West. It has the colony and the extent to which land in­ never been hesitant about establishing busi­ fluenced the activities of Johnson and his nesses or industries, nor about maintaining friends. Land was respectable wealth, even and expanding these commercial ventures. though the means of acquisition were not al­ Thus its present-day role in the Western econ­ ways such, and the documents contained in omy merits more attention than this volume the twelfth volume suggest that Johnson was no gives it. better than others who accumulated large hold­ Taken as a whole, however, the selections ings. The Livingstons defrauded the Indians; used show excellent knowledge of sources and Johnson used fictitious names and employed soundness of judgment. Notable detachment patentees to increase his holdings when the is shown in presenting what is often a contro­ Crown restricted the size of grants to one versial story. And the running commentary the individual. authors have supplied is outstanding for its However, it should not be thought that this clarity and conciseness. most recent addition to the Johnson Papers BRYANT KEARL deals exclusively with Indian affairs and land Lniversity of Wisconsin speculation. While this is the major emphasis, the volume also contains much on local and provincial politics, especiafly the practical busi­ The Papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume ness of political patronage and electioneering. XII, 1766-1774. Edited by MILTON W. HAVI- Although another volume is promised, which ILTON. (The University of the State of New will contain corrections and an index, the one York. Pp. 1,124.) under review marks the end of the Johnson Sir William Johnson was many things in Papers, a significant collection indeed. colonial New Y^ork. He was an Indian agent ROGER CHAMPAGNE par excellence, a land speculator of great in­ University of Wisconsin fluence in northern New York, a member of the royal provincial council, a politician (he Separate and Unequal. By Louis R. HARLAN. leaned toward the De Lancey family), and he (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel was also a farmer. Although he rarely travelled Hill, 1958. Pp. xii, 290. $6.00.) farther south than Albany, he was perhaps the most famous figure in the colony, and cer­ The historic ruling of the United States tainly one of the most famous on the continent. Supreme Court on May 17, 1951, that a state Yet he was rarely in the public eye; occasion­ which enforces racial segregation in the public ally his name was mentioned in the newspapers schools violates the Equal Protection Clause and then only in relation to Indian affairs. of the Fourteenth Amendment, has touched off But for all of his absence from public affairs, a tremendous controversy and has inspired an his influence was great. immense amount of writing ranging from ill- All of this is revealed in the Sir William tempered polemics to scholarly investigations. Johnson Papers which near completion with Professor Harlan, who teaches history at East the recent publication of the twelfth volume. Texas State College, has made a very scholarly Begun in 1921 under the supervision of the contribution to this rapidly growing body of New York State Education Department, the literature. His purpose is to study in great Johnson Papers have been an invaluable source detail the progress of public education in the of information for students of pre-Revolution- four Southern seaboard states. North and South ary America. Materials have been obtained Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, for the period from many sources outside of the basic col­ 1900 to 1915. The author has obviously done lection of Johnson papers; and the whole has an impressive amount of research in all sorts been arranged in two chronological series. The of original manuscript materials, governmental

66 READERS CHOICE reports, and specialized writings, and his docu­ —in terms of teachers' salaries, length of mentation is altogether convincing.' school term, physical plant, enforcement of The 1954 decision of the Court set aside compulsory attendance laws, and so forth. Ob­ the famous ruling of 1896 in Plessy v. Fergu­ viously the "separate but equal" formulation son to the effect that "separate but equal" fa­ was a snare and a delusion. cilities satisfied the command of the Fourteenth Professor Harlan recounts in considerable Amendment. It is this reversal that has been detaff the story of the great public campaigns the focus of so much anger among people who in these four states in behalf of expanding favor segregated education. While the Court educational opportunities. He also explores the by unanimous vote concluded that separate reasons which racists advanced against en­ educational facilities are inherently and ines­ larging the educational facilities of the Negro capably unequal, the fact is that the Southern population. While many arguments were ad­ schools were never equal, and this Professor vanced, ranging from the desire to have a Harlan makes crystal clear in his book. Cer­ large, cheap, and docile labor force to mere tainly for the period he studied, the Southern racial prejudice, one persistent theme was the schools for white and colored children were unwillingness of most Southerners to pay taxes grossly unequal, and furthermore, there was for the support of Negro schools. They were never any intention or purpose that they should quite willing to devote the taxes paid by be otherwise. Negroes to these schools, but in those days While the record for the period 1900 to 1915 Negroes didn't own much taxable property. was not exactly the same in all four states One important reason for this lamentable fact studied—with North Carolina doing better was that they didn't have adequate educational than South Carolina, for example—it is abund­ opportunities. But in a larger sense they were antly clear that these states did not seriously the victims of a vast pattern of discriminatory contemplate the implementation of the Plessy treatment. formula. Southern education was in a very This book is a fine contribution to the his­ bad way in 1900, and one of the greatest move­ tory of American education. Aside from the ments in the next fifteen years was the cam­ fact that the author neglects to identify fully paign of the public school people, with the enough names and groups who must be famil­ active support of Northern philanthropic iar to him and perhaps to his region, this is groups, to persuade the legislatures and the a well-written and interesting study of a timely local taxpayers to spend more money on educa­ subject. tion. There was in fact a quite remarkable DAVID FELLMAN expansion in Southern public education by University of Wisconsin 1915, although the region stiff lagged behind the rest of the country. In the period 1900 to 1912, educational expenditures in the Southern Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin: The War They seaboard increased by 180 per cent, and this Waged and the Peace They Sought. By HER­ was at a faster pace than the increase in the BERT FEIS. (Princeton University Press, true valuation of all property, wnicwh h grew by Princeton, 1957. Pp. xi, 692. $6.95.') 1 fO per cent during these years. This thick volume is a day-by-day account Nevertheless, the separate facilities for Negro of the ways in which Roosevelt, Churchill, and children remained grossly unequal. For ex­ Stalin co-operated and failed to co-operate ample, in 1915 South Carolina spent $13.98 during World War II. It is also, in a way, a for the education of each white child, (which study of the background of today's conflict was about half of the $28.12 expended in the between Russia and the West. North Central states), and only $1.13 for each Negro pupil. Above the elementary schools the Being an able and experienced scholar, the ethnic gap was much worse, since these South­ author has woven into his narrative material ern states scarcely even tried to give Negro from the many memoirs and monographs now children any high school education. In 1916, available on World War II. He has also drawn for example, there were only 2,130 students in on hitherto unexploited sources, such as Averell Negro high schools of the four states under Harriman's personal files (there are more consideration, whereas there were about 3,000 references to Harriman than lo any other in­ per cent more while children in public high dividual, excepting the Big Three). In addi­ schools, though they outiunnbered Negro chil­ tion. Dr. Feis had access to Stale Dcparlmcnt dren by less than 20 per cent. Such gross Manuscripts for the early, but not the later discrepancies were apparent afl along the line part of the jieriod from Pearl Harbor to Yalta.

67 WISCONSIN ISIAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

The result is a book with few surprises but The study makes clear that some significant with a great quantity of useful and often in­ persons connected with the late nineteenth and teresting detail. early twentieth-century reform movement held In treating Allied co-operation against Ger­ basic common beliefs. By examining in detail many, Feis generally prefers description to the ideas of nine such academic and literary analysis, and allows himself only a few leaders as Thorstein Veblen, Herbert Croly, "leashed conjectures." It is evident, however, Richard T. Ely, and Walter Rauschenbusch, that he feels that Roosevelt usually made the the author shows the pattern of their thinking. best possible decisions, from emphasizing They were all impressed by the new technology. Europe over Asia in 1941, to building the They visualized a future in which individuals Yalta pacts in 1945. would find self-expression and freedom by The book has other heroes, Churchill in losing themselves in group activity. They held, particular. It also has a villain—not Hitler, but with true religious fervor, a faith in the evolu­ Stalin. When the Russian leader disagreed tionary process as applied to society, a process with his allies he was unreasonable; in Feis' which was inevitably and universally leading judgment, "unfair," "rude," "asking the im­ towards Progress. Their faith in inevitable possible," "biased," "silently stubborn." One progress assured them that men could literally could use some of these same adjectives to uproot themselves from tradition, from the describe Churchill's opposition to American impact of the past, from history. Theirs was plans, or American reactions to British views. a perfectionist philosophy which differed only But Feis does not. Why? Because he feels that in terminology from that of the eighteenth Roosevelt and Churchill had "right" war aims; century Enligbtenment. Like the French phi­ hence, when they disagreed both held reason­ losophers, the progressives believed that a able positions. Stalin, however, was unrea­ Heavenly City on earth was the next destined sonable, for he had "wrong" war aims—he stage of man's development. was "sullying a right" and would soon "create The progressives were philosophical relativ­ the turbulence in which we are all now living." ists. Their view of the world was subjective, This viewpoint has appeal in these days of and they had little use for a scholarship Russian-American conflict. The reader should founded on certainty. Their concept of the past recognize, however, that such an interpretation implied that the popular ideas in any society involves reading the present back into the past, determined the intellectual climate of the so­ always a dangerous practice (try it, for ex­ ciety. In other words they believed that might ample, with German or Japanese-American makes right. relations). And if the Russians deserved such The paradox of progressive thought grew condemnation in 1942-1945, should not Feis out of a conflict between the reformers' ideas be more critical of Roosevelt and Churchill for of freedom and conformity. They deplored the working with Stalin ? Well, read the book and type of rugged individualism which was asso­ puzzle over some of these questions—they will ciated with industrial capitalism; yet they be with us for some time. favored individual freedom. Through industri­ The book is attractive in appearance, and alization they thought that man could recapture the jacket illustration deserves special notice. the innocent perfectionism that he had lost in the process of becoming civilized. The machine FRED HARVEY HARRINGTON provided the basis for their good life, but in University of Wisconsin the New Heavenly City men would find free­ dom through conformity to the laws of Prog­ The Paradox of Progressive Thought. By ress; and with the establishment of their DAVID W. NOBLE. (University of Minnesota Utopia, Progress, having achieved its goal, Press, Minneapolis, 1958. Pp. viii, 272. $6.00.) would cease and presumably eternal stability would prevail. All intellectual and social movements rest World War I destroyed overnight the myth upon certain stated or implied philosophical of unlimited progress. The older progressive assumptions; yet American scholars have only assumptions could then no longer provide a infrequently attempted to define and sludy such basis for a meaningful faith. Despite their at­ basic material. David W. Noble's critical and tempt to create a world without history the provocative study of certain phases of pro­ reformers had to work within a real historical gressive thought is an attempt to examine the setting. Carl Becker came to realize this to­ climate of opinion in which progressive re­ wards the end of his life when he admitted formers thought and worked. ihe existence and importance of certain recog-

68 READERS CHOICE nized universal values—the values that "men sweeps of virgin white pine were supplanting have commonly employed to measure the ad­ the depleted lumber resources of New Eng­ vance or the decline of civilization." A new land, New York, and Pennsylvania. Until the and more fruitful search of the past in all of prosperous Civil War years, the two men its complexity was now made possible. barely escaped bankruptcy while contending Using the technique that Carl Becker worked with depression and lack of capital, the ca­ out in his The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth- prices of weather, fire, and the market, and the Century Philosophers, David Noble has written ever-changing technical problems in logging, a highly significant work. He wisely restricted driving, manufacturing, transporting, and sell­ himself to a limited number of progressive ing. Considering timber a crop to be harvested social philosophers and to certain aspects of rather than husbanded, these astute and dy­ their social thought. He did not oversimplify namic enterprisers launched into subsidiary the thinking of the men he studied nor did he efforts including boardinghouses, farms, grist­ attempt to force all of their ideas into a pre­ mills, general stores, retail yards, and means determined mold. The book was not intended of transportation such as rafting boats and as a definitive history of progressive thought, railroads. They drove their men as hard as and it raises as many questions as it answers. themselves and resisted higher wages but A choice of different progressive thinkers achieved reputations for fair dealing; they might reveal a somewhat different climate of were ahead of their time in visualizing the opinion. Then, too, the social thinkers cannot desperate need for co-operation among lumber speak for themselves; they might not agree manufacturers. With their passion for work with the analysis of their philosophical assump­ and their acumen in management, Shaw and tions as presented in this book. Yet the work Crapo not only succeeded where most failed, sets forth in clear, readable prose a significant but also were able to maintain their companies intepretation of the philosophical assumptions as family institutions, out of the clutches of of the progressive reformers. Certainly no per­ creditors. Above all, they were able to antici­ son seriously interested in the history of recent pate and adapt themselves to rapid change in American thought should fail to take it into a fluctuating industry. account. In spite of the astonishing similarity in LARRY GARA their careers there were differences in the men, Grove City College as there is variance in the volumes written about them. After the death of Daniel Shaw in 1881, his son Eugene carried on his work REGIONAL AND STATE HISTORY until the exhaustion of company stumpage in 1912. Henry Crapo's son preferred the com­ The Daniel Shaw Lumber Company: A Case forts of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the Study of the Wisconsin Lumbering Frontier. wilds of Michigan, and the business was liqui­ By A. R. REYNOLDS. (New York University dated with the death of its founder in 1869. Press, New York, 1957. Pp. x, 177. Illustra­ The elder Crapo, though never relinquishing tions. $5.00.) his light grip on the lumber company, was al­ Lumberman from Flint: The Michigan Career most inadvertently drawn into another fabu­ of Henry H. Crapo, 1855-1869. By MARTIN lous life as mayor of Flint, slate senator, and DEMING LEWIS. (Wayne State University for two terms Republican governor of Michi­ Press, Detroit, 1958. Pp. xi, 289. Illustrations. gan. $5.00.) For the novice in lumber history, the Shaw In these handsome volumes are found two volume may be more rewarding since it is a incredibly similar success stories of frontier veritable handbook in the explanation of tech­ lumbering, one in the Chippewa Valley in nical language. But its nonchronological divi­ Wisconsin, and the other in the Saginaw sion detracts from the narrative and is, of Valley in Michigan. The Alger-like careers necessity, somewhat repetitious. The Crapo of Daniel Shaw from Maine and Henry Crapo story is, perhaps, the more exhilarating be­ from Massachusetts may well be considered as cause it is based on voluminous, intimate exhibits A and B on the achievement of wealth correspondence between father and son and in a newly opened, cutthroat, free-enterprise contains an exciting excursion into politics in economy. a critical period in our history. Governor Shaw at forty-two and Cra])o at fifty-one (^rapo displayed great political courage and began their great adventures in the middle adminislrative genius in Michigan, along with 1850's as the Lake states with their broad a seeminE immaturitv on the national scene—

69 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 a trait also characteristic of his indulgent Press' The Civilization of the American Indian biographer. Series. Both volumes are pioneering ventures into During the eighteenth century the Fox the writing of family-sized entreprenurial his­ Indians acquired a richly deserved reputation tory, and both excel in their portraiture of for recalcitrance and opposition to the white the rising business class. They add enormously man. Finafly defeated by the French about to our understanding of the industrial changes 1750, they joined the Sac to drive the Illinois which have revolutionized the American pic­ from around the Rock River and occupy that ture since the middle of the nineteenth century. land, and the Fox passed to the Sac responsi­ Additional studies of this kind will continue bility for opposing white expansion in the the trend of giving the businessman a more Northwest. The Sac split on the issue, one complete and fairer hearing before the court faction under Keokuk, realizing the futility of of public opinion. resisting, peacefully moved west under treaty JAMES W. SILVER arrangements with the United States. The University of Mississippi other portion of the tribe, led by Black Hawk, finally followed the meandering warpath that led to destruction at the Battle of the Bad Axe in 1832. Those people seeking informa­ The Sac and Fox Indians. By WILLIAAI T. tion on the Sac and Fox prior to their resi­ HAGAN. (University of Oklahoma Press, Nor­ dence along the Mississippi will not find it man, Oklahoma, 1958. Pp. 287. $5.00.) here; Hagan concentrates on the Indians' re­ Casting about for a topic for a dissertation lationship with the expanding United States, a few years ago, William T. Hagan probably and particularly on Black Hawk and his war. was surprised to find that the Sac leader Black As a study of the clash of red and white Hawk and the war he fought against encroach­ cultures, Mr. Hagan's account is a thorough ing whites had never been given the complete one and he has exhausted the documentary treatment. Not that Black Hawk had lacked a sources on both the local and national levels. press throughout the many years since his ill- Anyone possessing but a sketchy acquaint­ fated attempt in 1832 to stem the tide of ance with the Sac and Fox story up to 1832 westward advancement. He probably is the should find the book informative as well as most written-about Indian, if not in the Middle entertaining. Others who know the history West, at least in the history of Wisconsin, better will find no new material, but Black Iowa, and Illinois. His autobiography has Hawk has always been a fascinating Indian, been published several times and even college and Hagan's style will make the process of freshmen have found him a useful subject becoming reacquainted with the ill-fated leader for research papers (see Elizabeth B. Rooney, a cheerful one. Hagan places the war in its "The Story of the Black Ha-wk War," Wiscon­ proper historical setting—a thing many sin Magazine of History, 40:74-83, Summer, writers about Black Hawk have failed to do 1957). And according to Hagan in a book —sketching the history of Sac-United Stales rc\ iew written for the Wisconsin Magazine of relations just after 1800 and the part Black History in 1956, the years and words have Hawk gladly played in helping the British only added to Black Hawk's stature "as a during the War of 1812. The carefully docu­ symbol of a people fighting to retain their mented account of the Sac and Fox after the native culture." In Oklahoma today, Hagan Black Hawk War is fresh and welcomed ma­ continues, "among the remnants of the great terial, although it adds another dark chapter Sauk and Fox confederation . . . Black to the history of United States treatment of Hawk's memory is cherished by those Indians reservation Indians. who are classified as 'Conservatives,' reluctant One might expect that this highly com­ to abandon their unique culture even after mendable history of Black Hawk and his centuries of contact with the white man's way people would constitute the final few thousand of life." of the millions of words that have been written Mr. Hagan's llIe!^is. entitled "J'he Black (Ml ibe subjiMl. J'his is unlikely, however, if Hawk War." was accepted by the U^niversitv for no other reason ihan that Hagan finds of Wisconsin in 1950. The Sac and Fox In- Black Hawk a less comppteni leader ihaii tliaiis is a rin i.scd \crsion. \\ilh added chapters roinaiilics lia\c. Hagan concludes that the Sac on llic Indians experience on rcserxations A\as "'hardly comparable to Poiiliac, Tecuiii- down lo the present, and becomes number seb, or even the later Sitting Bull. The Sac forty-eight in the University of Oklahoma brave had litde organizing ability or political

70 READERS CHOICE

acumen. It was the cause and not the man Soldier life in Fort Snelling, home life in which swelled the ranks of the British Band a sod house. Christmas on the snowy prairie, and made him a hero among the conservative and nationality cnstonis in the towns all parade faction in Oklahoma a century later. Indeed, pioneer Minnesotans, while the Mayo broth­ Black Hawk was unusually susceptible to in­ ers. Governor Henry Sibley, and lumber baron fluence and flattery. Neapope and the Prophet Frederick Weyerhaeuser lend focus to the per­ manipulated him with ease." And, unkindest sonal. Culture brought through school, news­ cut of all: "Despite his often proclaimed devo­ paper, opera, and United States mail routes tion to the cornfields and groves of his ances­ fills in a picture often vague in the meager tors in the valley of the Rock, Black Hawk was pages of early social history. Transportation— probably motivated as much by jealous resent­ on the Minnesota, Red, St. Croix, and Missis­ ment of Keokuk's rise in the tribal councils." sippi rivers, roads, railroads, air, and seaway This reviewer will not dissent from this —is another colorful story, while agriculture conclusion. But despite the possible adverse and the grange. Civil War, historic houses, reaction of those who place a higher value on iron mining, lumbering, and paper making Black Hawk's leadership abilities, Hagan's complete the canvas. book remains highly readable and a clear ac­ State symbols and a description of the gov­ count of the history of two important Middle ernment answer the questions most often asked Western Indian tribes. by children about their own state. Fiction JAMES I. CLARK writers for young people, Carol Ryrie Brink State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Magical Melons) and Emma Brock (Then Came Adventure), have contributed original material, as have Grace Lee Nute, Theodore Gopher Reader, Minnesota's Story in Words Blegen, and other students of Minnesota his­ and Pictures: Selections from the Gopher His­ tory. torian. Edited by A. HERMINA POATGIETER Folklore characters, less well known than and JAMES TAYLOR DUNN. (Minnesota Histo­ Paul Bunyan, delight the young. Ola Varmlan- rical Society and Minnesota Statehood Centen­ ning is a Swedish immigrant folk figure who nial Commission, St. Paul, 1958. Pp. 308. loved to play tricks on people. "The big Swede Cloth $4.00; paper, $3.00.) meets, in St. Paul, a group of immigrants fresh The Gopher Historian, Minnesota's publica­ from the train and, passing himself off as al­ tion for young readers, unlike Wisconsin's derman, promptly puts them all to work tear­ Badger History, does not print material writ­ ing up Seventh Street, commandeering for the ten by the girls and boys themselves. Its arti­ job the picks and shovels on display outside a cles are contributed by the editors, specialists hardware store. Ola hurries away and the new­ in Minnesota history, or other adult research­ comers, willing, but innocent of English have ers. Ever since the beginning of Minnesota's all Seventh Street torn up before the police junior history program in 1946, the stock of and the owner of the tools can stop then." excellent stories about the state from the gla­ Photographs in the book are numerous, as cial age to present times has been accruing. well as history cartoons, maps, and charts. From these stories the Statehood Centennial Short fillers include quizzes, book reviews, Commission for the 1958 Minnesota Centen­ poems, lists of town and country name origins. nial has selected and published a book of read­ There are also a number of plays. Both a sub­ ings. The Gopher Reader is one answer to ject and picture index are included, and a teacher and pupil seeking for articles now out teacher can make selections from a •wide of print. bounty. The preface states frankly that "although The vocabulary level is uneven, since some the compilation does not offer a complete and material can be read and understood by fifth connected story, every important aspect of the graders while other articles are suitable for state's history is represented." Over one hun­ adults. Variation in type sizes also gives the dred articles on the red men, exploration, cul­ book an uneven look, and the offset printing ture, waterways, and industry are included. tends to blacken photographs. Thick paper There is a fairly full story of Indian life— stock makes the book heavy to handle. tribes, modes of travel, food, housebuilding, An anthology must always suffer from lack children's toys, arrow and rifle wars. Fur of continuity and from omissions. There is trade, voyageurs and their gay songs, the little to be found on the part women played in famed portages, add to the romance of explo­ founding the state, or on wild life, religion, ration. communication, population, the effect of the

71 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 depression or of much modern history, the role The House on the Mound. By AUGUST DER- of the courts, health and welfare services, or of LETH. (Duell, Sloan and Pearce. New \ork, Minnesota's place in national affairs. How­ 1958. Pp. 335. $4.50.) ever, this Reader has few'er gaps than most. In an unusual display of auclorial frank­ In general the format is attractive, and with ness, August Derleth reviewed his own book somewhat greater inclusiveness this type of in the Capital Times of Madison and pro­ book should and could be imitated in other nounced it "dull and rather tiresome." It states. might easily serve, he continued, as "an ob­ DORIS H. PLATT ject lesson for would-be writers in how not to write a novel; it is actually history and biog­ State Historical Society of Wisconsin raphy cast loosely in the form of a novel, and it demonstrates depressingly . . . how faith­ ful adherence to history and biography, when Forty Years in Politics: the Story of Ben Pel- the author elects to use real people under their ham. By REA MCCAIN, ARIAS A. MALLAS, JR., own names in his work, can stultify his im­ and MARGARET K. HEDDEN. (Wayne Univer­ agination and such fictive skill as he may sity Press, Detroit, 1957. Pp. 92. $3.00.) possess." When he retired in 19-12 Ben Pelham had This reviewer must demur to both of Mr. spent forty-seven years in the Wayne County Derleth's chief assertions. The House on the (Michigan) government, during the latter half Mound is by no means as bad a novel as Mr. of which he simultaneously held the jobs of Derleth makes out; it is, in fact, smooth and county accountant, clerk to the Board of Audi­ pleasant reading for the most part, with en­ tors, and clerk to the Board of Supervisors. gaging characters and interesting and occa­ Although holding nonelective positions. Pel- sionally exciting action. At the same time, ham's long tenure, his detailed knowledge of the book is much less convincing as history county business, and his person-to-person con­ and biography than Mr. Derleth seems to tacts with the policy-makers enabled him to think it is. exercise considerable influence—a sort of "hid­ The house of the tide is the mansion that den persuader." Hercules Louis Dousman, patriot and pioneer A lively narrative, designedly simple, the capitalist, built at Prairie du Chien in 1843 most striking feature of Forty Years in Politics for his second wife, Jane Fisher Rolette. As is its authors' "respect and admiration" for the historical museum known as Villa Louis, their biographee. They give examples of the is is familiar to thousands of tourists and oratory at the testimonial banquets for Pel- students, and Mr. Derleth has thoughtfully ham; and their own appraisal takes on this dedicated his book to "Florence, Martba, and same fulsome tone. Admittedly, however, there Anne—and all the other girls at the Villa was much about Pelham that was praise­ Louis." worthy. As a civil servant he was unusually Dousman's adventurous early years were hard-working, often remaining in the county the subject of a previous Derleth novel. Bright building long after the other white-collar work­ Journey, published in 1940. In the new book. ers had left. Shunning the limelight, he never Colonel Dousman is a sagely expansive mid­ protested when others received the credit for dle-aged man of affairs. He has long since his ideas. A staunch Republican, he was able branched out from the fur trade; he deals in nevertheless to retain bis job under Demo­ railroads, lumber, farmlands, and just about cratic administrations—a tribute both to his every other form of conspicuous wealth in a adroitness and efficiency. A man of steady hab­ frontier economy. Indeed, he is by reputation its, his private life was wholesome. He was the richest man in the entire Northwest. Mr. quick to give to charities; upon his death in Derleth puts him through his paces with 1948 he left an estate of less than a thousand vivacity and in picturesque detail—sending dollars. him down the Mississippi to booming young Although never pointed up as such, there St. Louis, over wilderness trails to the Mack­ were two final factors which doubtless entered inac of his youth, to the rising new capital of into the high appraisal which Pelham receives Madison, to an incredibly remote New York in these pages: his formal education had been or Washington. The narrative is studded with meagre, and he was a Negro. famous Wisconsin names and faces—Henry BENJAMIN QUARLES Dodge, Chief Oshkosh, Nelson Dewey, Byron Kilbourn, James Doty, among others. Morgan State College

72 READERS CHOICE

There is, however, a secret canker in the the Waupaca Historical Society. The text of rose of Dousman's success, financial and mari­ the book, liberally interspersed with photo­ tal. He has an illegitimate son, the ward of a graphs, is the work of various authors. The spiteful foster mother, whom he longs to bring Oakdale Centennial, 1858-1958 (74 p.) is to his side. His attempts to verify the relation­ largely the work of one author, Inez Battalia, ship and win the boy over make up the thread who compiled and wrote the text which is on which the other incidents of the novel are divided into twenty-two brief chapters cover­ strung. In retrospect, they give the story a ing all phases of the community's history. Al­ bittersweet charm. most in a category of its own is the Stevens But in a note at the end of the book, Mr. Point Centennial, 1858-1958 (80 p.) which Derleth confesses, a little blithely, that the from beginning to end reflects the professional boy's illegitimacy was invented. Colonel Dous­ touch and disciplined imagination that so ob­ man had a son, George, who was kept by viously went into its production. The book, foster parents, but that boy was a son of the published by the Portage County Historical first Mrs. Dousman. To dovetail the events Society, gives credit for the smooth-flowing of this book with those of the earlier Dous­ and well-organized text to thirty researchers man novel, it was necessary to falsify the and writers, but fails to mention the person or record. persons responsible for the tasteful and effec­ This is not the only liberty that Mr. Derleth tive blending of prose and pictures. The pic­ has taken with facts. Seemingly without war­ tures, incidentally, convey the impression of rant of any kind, he has his hero commit having been chosen on the basis of applica­ forgery in a will, and he embroils him in a bility rather than mere availability, and wher­ murder. A deathbed scene that Mr. Derleth ever possible an effort has been made not only places on Mackinac Island really took place to date them but also to give some clue to their (as Frances Stover pointed out in the Mil­ origin, if not to their present location. This is waukee Journal) in Milwaukee. Psychologi­ a procedure which, if followed by all local his­ cally, at least, such tampering with the truth torical publications, would add immeasurably must make a tremendous difference in the to the orderly pictorial documentation of the story. How then can a book of this sort be state. taken with any degree of seriousness as his­ tory or biography? Other historical, anniversary, or dedicatory Mr. Derleth has clearly steeped himself in publications of state interest received by the the atmosphere of the period, and he has a Society are: fine feeling for nature and the spirit of the Burlington, Lest We Forget; a History of the age. But somehow the events as he relates them Plymouth Congregational Church. By Cor- do not add up meaningfully. The age of neha Pettibone Dudley. 1958 (11 p.) Hercules Dousman was an age of upheaval, Cassville, Dedication of New Post Office, July one of the great seminal periods of American 27, 1958 (2 p.) history. Mr. Derleth too often reduces it to a Clear Lake, St. Barnabas Church, Women's quaint parade of Biedermeier figurines, or to the cardboard and papier-mache landscape Guild, Fiftieth Anniversary, May 10, 1958 that drifts past the amusement-park customer (11 p.) Mimeographed. who elects to thread the watery labyrinth of Hilbert, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Old Mill. Town of Rantoul, Centennial, 1858-1958 LESLIE CROSS (16 p.) Milwaukee Irish Valley (Sauk County), History of the Irish Valley School, 1848-1957. By Bessie E. Buckley. (20 p.) Bibliographical Notes Diamond Hill, Centennial, 1858-1958 (10 p.). (Library's copy annotated and footnoted by Unless otherwise noted all publications listed are available for use in the Society's library. Mrs. Robert B. Dickie.) Okee, New Okee Bridge Dedication, July 13, Three centennial publications added to the 1958 (19 p.) Society's collections are worthy of special note. Plymouth. 1858—A Century in the Garden of The Waupaca Centennial, 1857-1957 (108 p.) St. John's Lutheran Church—1958 (24 p.) features on its title page a drawing by Jean Racine, One Hundredth Anniversary of Belle Moberg of the old Hutchinson house, the res­ City Lodge No. 92, F. & A.M., 1858-1958 toration of which has been a major project of (30 p.^

73 ACCESSIONS

Museum A small but choice collection of Vaseline glass was received from the estate of Mrs. Current interest in military history is reflected Doris Guess, Monroe. Pauline pottery, a china in the number of donations representativ'e of dresser set, and a child's tea set were donated this field. Items of this nature continue to be by Miss Margaret Shelton, Madison. Frank among the most numerous of the donations to Johnson, Madison, donated an early patent the museum. preserve jar. From the estate of Miss Lenore From Mr. Leo J. Blied, Madison, the mu­ Krause, Madison, we received a flute, men's seum has received a World War II officer's suits, women's dresses, coats, and a cape, doll uniform and an American Legion uniform. furniture and accessories, and a small sewing Mr. George H. Johnson, Milwaukee, donated machine. a small collection of World War I souvenirs. Mr. Ben C. Reynolds, Madison, donated two Mr. Walter Holt, Madison, is the donor of a mantel clocks and a wall clock, an early 19th collection of medals and ribbons of veteran's century brass candlestick, a cradle and cradle- organizations and a German helmet emblem. stand, a patent tie rack, and a camera. Miss Mr. Fred Benkovic, Milwaukee, presented a Louise Fairman, Chicago, gave a paper-cov­ Civil War forage bag. From Master James ered hatbox. The State Highway Commission Licari, Madison, the museum received a of Wisconsin donated a silver loving cup and French cartridge box. Miss Dorothy Park, miscellaneous badges. Mrs. Dorothy Rogers Madison, donated World War II Civil Defense donated a birthday card of 1858, and Mr. Paul pins and a poison gas sniff-kit. Mr. Jesse E. Karberg, Jr., Madison, donated six tied scarves James, Milwaukee, donated a World War I of the 1890's period. Mrs. Carl Johnson, Madi­ trench knife and scabbard. Mrs. Paul Lewis, son, gave an Irish firkin. A child's rocker and Hopkins, Minnesota, gave two Red Cross uni­ pillow were donated by Miss Anne Marsh, forms. From the estate of Ida F. Goodrich, Madison, and Mrs. Ed Rachow gave a white Appleton, the museum received two Spanish- dress and a Hardangar type of doily. American War uniforms, a World War I hel­ Mrs. A. W. Asmuth, Milwaukee, is the do­ met and mess kit, as well as a number of other nor of Southwest Indian artifacts, bolsters and items of military equipment. Mrs. Carl Wil­ bedspreads, men's and women's clothing and liams, Sr., Pell Lake, has given a pennant used accessories, a lamp, riding crops, and a child's- in commissioning the net tender U.S.S. Chin- size cutter. guapin, built at Sturgeon Bay during World Clothing and costume material has been re­ War II. ceived: from Mrs. E. A. Sorenson, Madison, Other military items of particular interest an 1845 wedding dress; Mrs. R. M. Heim, to Wisconsin were acquired from Mr. Samuel Madison, two blouses; Mrs. H. H. Thomas, E. Smith, Markesan. These are a Lee target Minneapolis, a duster veil and cap, a top hat, rifle and a Civil War military carbine, made and a child's dress; Mrs. 0. D. Brooks, Tiger- in Milwaukee about 1863, and the inventor's ton, a hat. model of the carbine, made in Stevens Point, Other donors are: Arlean M. Eichsteadt, 1862. James Paris Lee was a noted arms in­ Monteflo, homespun linen cloth; Mr. Karl Ek- ventor and his factory produced the only con­ lund, formerly of Tomahawk, a Wisconsin tract Civil War arms made in the Middle West. State flag, through the courtesy of Senator The museum continues to receive donations Alexander Wiley; Mrs. Leroy Post, Milwau­ of pharmaceutical interest. Items of this nature kee, a commemorative handkerchief; Mrs. Lu­ have been received from the following: Smith, cile Kellar, Madison, a Sevres compote from Kline & French Laboratories, Philadelphia, the McCormick Collection; Mrs. R. T. Hed- patent medicine; Mr. John C. Helenore, New field, Madison, lacemaking bobbins and pick. York, patent medicine; Mr. John C. Geilfuss, Mr. Alfred J. LaGrandeur, Somerset, do­ Milwaukee, various late 19th century drugstore nated gambling equipment, including a chuck- items from Drake's drugstore, Milwaukee. a-luck wheel and punchboards, a camera and From the estate of Mrs. May Luchsinger, accessories, and miscellaneous catalogs. A car­ Monroe, the museum acquired a fine collection penter's plane was given by Mr. Otto Nasett, of Victorian furniture. Oriental rugs, glass, Cambridge. Mrs. Mabel Matson, Deerfield, do­ china and pottery, many of which items were nated a set of marsh shoes. A wicker basket specially chosen for use in the Nelson Dewey was given by Mrs. P. R. Terry, Madison. Mr. home at Cassville. Alfred Morawetz, Elm Grove, donated a group

74 ACCESSIONS of five jig-saw puzzles depicting scenes from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, a set of picture building blocks, women's clothing and various articles of needlework. Other donations received were: from Mrs. Charles H. Vilas, Bradford, Connecticut, a Dresden cup from the home of General David Atwood known as the "Governor's Cup" be­ cause of its use by many Wisconsin governors; Mr. Edwin Tomlinson, Madison, a stapler and fly switch; Mr. George Andrae, Milwaukee, early electrical equipment from the Herman Andrae Electric Company; Mr. George Ulrich, Alma, a schuetzen flag and prize certificate; Mr. Ernest T. Muggleton, Poynette, an early portable radio; the estate of Anna M. Fritz, Milwaukee, four bisque-head dolls and doll \'I clothes; the City of Lake Geneva, ten munici­ pal bonds; Mr. Hagen Hatfield, Madison, three early Edison dictaphones; and Mr. Thomas E. Society's Iconographic Colls., lot 1213 Evans, Madison, a bear trap. Raymond Robins (far left) with fellow gold prospectors, Juneau, Alaska, circa 1899. Manuscripts kan Klondike, he became interested in social The papers of Raymond Robins recently have reforms and campaigned for organized govern­ been made available to historians, although ment and law enforcement. Apparendy Robins there are certain restrictions on direct quota­ found gold, for he returned from Alaska in tions from the material. The coflection, which 1900 wealthy. Immediately he became involved covers a period from 1878 to 1951, consists of in social work. Chicago's notorious seventeenth correspondence exchanged with such people ward provided him with the opportunity to as Jane Addams, William E. Borah, Mary E. carry on reform and social work. He first su­ Dreier, Alexander Gumberg, Harold Ickes, pervised the Commons, then the Municipal Samuel 0. Levinson, Claude Pepper, Theodore House and the Northwestern University Settle­ Roosevelt, Trotsky, Lenin, and others. There ment. In this environment he saw the worst are also diaries, notebooks, account books, of Chicago's politics and here he began his articles, speeches, and newspaper clippings. political career, crusading for fair voting prac­ Miss Lisa Von Borowsky of Brooksvifle, Flor­ tices. Together with Harold Ickes, then a young ida, presented the collection through arrange­ Chicago attorney, he made a part-time career ments made by William A. Wifliams. of running reform candidates in attempts to Robins, whose life story reads like a Horatio oust the corrupt political machine which was Alger tale, was one of those men who had an under the control of John Coughlin and Mike influence on the American scene, yet never Kenna. One of Robins' and Ickes' victories truly gained national prominence. He called was electing and keeping in office Mayor Wil­ himself a social economist. He was also a liam Dover, a reformer. miner, farmer, lawyer, author, lecturer, and During the Chicago years, 1900-1912, the politician. Born in 1873 on Staten Island, he progressive mind was being formed in Robins. lived most of his boyhood years with relatives He became extremely interested in labor un­ in Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida, and at about ions, attending labor meetings, and engaging seventeen struck out on his own. He lived an in organizing and conducting strikes. Actually, unsetded life, laboring as a farm hand and what he was striving for was social and eco­ miner in Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, and nomic legislation similar to the Fair Labor Mexico. He spent three years in Alaska pros­ Standards Act and Social Security Acts of pecting for gold. During this period he man­ the 1930's. aged to receive the degree of Bachelor of In the faff of 1911, he temporarily aban­ Laws from Columbian, now George Washing­ doned politics and for the next year crossed ton, University. the United States, lecturing for the "Men and Finding life rough and lawless in the Alas- Religion Forward Movement in Behalf of the

75 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

Christian Life of Men and Boys." When he re­ Other accessions include: papers, 1873- turned to politics he supported the Progressive 1922, of Asa D. Barnes, a Waupaca horticul­ platform, and teaming up with Harold Ickes, turist, consisting of correspondence, notes, and Jane Addams, and Frances Kellor campaigned lectures concerning stock and nursery matters, for Theodore Roosevelt, who became his politi­ presented by Robert Barnes, Madison; papers, cal idol. Robins ran for office only once—in 1924-1954, of William J. Campbell, Oshkosh 1914 when he ran for United States Senator on businessman and politician, consisting of cor­ the Iflinois Progressive ticket and lost. In 1916 respondence, speeches, and other materials he was chairman of the Progressive National concerning state politics and the Republican Convention. party, presented by Mrs. W. J. Campbell, Osh­ Robins served as a member of the American kosh; and papers, 1835-1901, of Chandler B. Red Cross Mission to Russia, 1917-1918. He Chapman, Madison physician and Civil War became familiar with Lenin, Trotsky, and surgeon, and his son. Chandler P. Chapman, other Bolshevik leaders, and on his return to Madison realtor. State Adjutant General, "Fa­ America supported a policy of recognition of ther" of the Wisconsin National Guard, and and co-operation with the Soviet regime, in high Masonic official, added to the Chapman contradiction to the policies of President Wil­ collection, presented by the Anne Chapman son and Ambassador David R. Francis. During Estate, through Mrs. Melvin Wallinger, Ash­ the decade of the 1920's, and again in 1933, he land, Virginia. agitated for United States recognition of Soviet Letter, September 18, 1883, written by Wil­ Russia. He also became a popular enthusiast liam A. Wheeler, Vice-President of the United for the outlawry of war by international agree­ States, 1877-1881, concerning education, pre­ ment and worked for the enforcement of the sented by F. A. Wheeler, East Longmeadow, federal prohibition law. From 1920 through Massachusetts, through Gilbert Doane, Madi­ 1932 Robins was a Republican party member son; papers, 1850-1867, of Haven Wilbur of and campaigned actively for Presidents Hard­ Whitewater, including letters, 1850-1852, ing, Coolidge, and Hoover. Although not a key from Bryan Adsit, a soldier stationed at Fort party man, he was a close political associate of Brady, Michigan, concerning his daily routine, these three Presidents as well as of other party also, letters, ca. 1867, from E. K. Webb, Jack­ leaders and members of Congress, particularly son, Michigan, giving farm prices, all pre­ Senator Wifliam E. Borah of Idaho. sented by Reverend C. Luke Leitermann, West In September of 1932, while on his way to DePere; also photostat copies made by the So­ an interview with President Hoover, Robins ciety from originals in Reverend Leitermann's suddenly disappeared and remained missing possession of letters received by Harry E. East­ for a few months; he was found stricken with man from Solomon Juneau, May 6, 1850, con­ amnesia in the bifls of North Carolina. His cerning land matters, and from John Wilson, illness was received with public skepticism November 14, 1850; and a descriptive list of which resulted in a loss of personal prestige. lands, 1876, inuring to the state for the benefit In April, 1933, he returned to Russia, where of the Wisconsin Railroad Farm Mortgage he was received in an interview by Stalin and Land Company, formerly the La Crosse and other high-ranking Soviet officials. He was Milwaukee Railroad Company, presented by impressed by the material progress accom­ Milton Maxon, West Bend. plished by the country since the revolution, Additions incorporated into previously ac­ and on his return to the United Stales pre­ cessioned collections include: papers of Edward sented his arguments for Russian recognition Dwight Eaton, presented by Mrs. Henrv W. directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hincks; letters, 1927-1952, of Walter Keenan After his Russian trip, he retired to his to his parents during the periods of his service Florida farm, which he had deeded in 1932 in the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1934-1937, to the United States government to be operated in the army in World War II, 1942-1945, and by the Department of Agriculture as a wild during the Japanese occupation, 1950-1952, life preserve and agricultural experiment sta­ presented by Mrs. W. W. Coombs, Dousman; tion. There he devoted his energies to the papers, 1840-1845, 1877, of William P. Lynde development of the agricultural station. In of Milwaukee, including a New York Militia September of 1935 he fefl while pruning a appointment, signed July 25, 1840, by William tree, injuring his spine, and was left an invalid H. Seward, Governor, a receipt, August 1, for the remaining years of his life. He died 1842, signed by Solomon Juneau, an appoint­ September 26, 1954. ment, July 14, 1845, signed by James Bu­ J.J.J. chanan, an appointment, February 22, 1845,

76 ACCESSIONS

as Attorney General for the Wisconsin Terri­ Society Woman's Auxiliary, compiled and pre­ tory, by the Territorial Governor, Nathaniel P. sented by Elizabeth M. Best, Oconomowoc; TaUmadge, and an invitation, February 13, timebook of the Fifield Central Lumber Com­ 1877, to join the Wisconsin State Democrat pany, June-September, 1910, presented by Wil­ Club, presented by Mrs. R. H. Wishmeier, liam A. Spearbreaker, Fifield; tape recording Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; papers, 1857- of an interview with E. E. Brossard, former re­ 1883, of Wait L. Robbins of Fond du Lac viser of the Wisconsin statutes; travel visa for County, concerning money matters, presented Fridolin Zentner and family of Glarus Canton, by the Spencer Case family, through Mrs. Switzerland, issued March 28, 1845, (in Ger­ Winifred Knapp and Florence D. Case; papers, man-Swiss), presented by Elizabeth Zentner 1864, 1909, 1946-1957, relating to naval Evans, Kensington, Maryland; biographical events in which Wisconsin men participated, sketch of George W. HaU, Sr., of Rock County, including letters, 1864, reporting the destruc­ an early circus man, written and presented by tion of the Rebel ram Albemarle, a 1909 cruise Mark Bruce; letters, December 3 and 30, 1842, report, and a 1952 action report of the U.S.S. written by Reuben Hatch from California, pre­ Wisconsin, also, brief biographical sketches of sented by Mrs. Chris Copus, Madison; a his­ Wisconsin naval men, presented by the United tory of Cuba City and surrounding area by States Navy; papers, 1943-1945, of the Wis­ Mrs. Lloyd Dearth and a list of early settlers consin Willkie-for-President Committee, relat­ of Cuba City, presented by the Mary Florine ing to the committee's efforts to nominate Wen­ Estate, through Willis Enrich, Flippin, Arkan­ dell L. Willkie as presidential candidate on the sas; natural history data gathered from general Republican ticket, presented by Willard Smith, field notes of the first surveyors of Wisconsin, Madison; papers, May-July, 1957, pertaining with dates of the survey, compiled and pre­ to the dedication of Camp Red Cloud in Korea, sented by William Morris, Madison; biograph­ in honor of Wisconsin-born Mitchell Red ical sketch of Dr. Harry F. Seymer, Milwau­ Cloud, Jr., a corporal in the United States kee County veterinarian, written and presented Army killed in the Korean conflict, including by Harry R. Seymer, Milwaukee; letters, a letter written by Syngman Rhee, President 1905-1906, written by Henry C. Adams to his of Korea, presented by 0. H. Johnson, Black son, added to the H. C. Adams papers, and River Fafls; and papers, 1831-1939, of George presented by B. C. Adams, Kansas City, Mis­ W. Taggert, Sr., Wisconsin pioneer settler, and souri ; a short history of the area south of other members of his family, including cor­ Whitewater, entitled "Pioneer Life on the respondence, account books, letter copybook Island," co-authored by Belle Scholl and Ger­ from the Baraboo Electric Company, a Justice trude Pleger, and presented by Gertrude Court record book, and school records, 1852- Pleger, Whitewater; tape recordings of inter­ 1854, for the Town of Lind, Waupaca County, views with former Fond du Lac County Pro­ presented by William Strong, Antigo. gressives, Carlton Mauthe, Thomas P. Hayden, Smaller collections accessioned this quarter John H. Wilson, and Reinhold Kinas, discuss­ include: diary and account book, 1888-1896, ing their past associations with the Progressive kept by Kristoffer Skauge, describing his jour­ Party in Wisconsin; two telegram messages, ney from his home in Norway to America and April 17, 1912, concerning the sinking of the his later activities (in Norwegian), presented Titanic, added to the Wallace Papers, pre­ by August Pederson, Strum; reminiscences of sented by Mrs. Minnie McIntyre Waflace, Be­ Margaret Eastman Ruiikel, recalling her life loit; record of remittances made in 1876 to at the Lac du Flambeau government school for wives and relatives living in Cornwall, by the Indian children, presented by Mrs. Runkel, Cornish miners who worked in the Central Ashland; letter, November 5, 1932, from Mat­ Copper Mines in the northern peninsula of thew Woll, acting president of the National Michigan, kept by James M. Mills, typescript Civic Federation, to a number of college pro­ copy of original in possession of Robert H. fessors, concerning the recognition of the So­ Neale of Mineral Point, presented by Robert viet Government of Russia by the United R. Buell, Prairie du Sac; a short history of the States; letter, September 22, 1894, written by Picatonica, Iowa County, Welsh settlement, John R. Commons to Carroll D. Wright, pre­ and a history of the Peniel Church Cemetery sented by Paul Taylor, Barkley, California; at Picatonica. written and presented by Charles reminiscences of Wifliam Newton Nichols, en­ T. Roberts. Rewey; article written by Nicholas titled "The Tool of Fate," presented by Mr. D. Diedrich and John Britten Gehl, refuting Nichols, Madison; scrapbook, 1951-1953, of a statement in the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette, the activities of the Wisconsin State Historical June 11, 1912. that stated Otto Zachow was

77 WISCONSLN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958 the inventor of the four-wheel drive and claim­ by Charles T. Skow; short history of the Keeley ing that William Besserdich was the true Family of Madison, 1850-1953, presented by inventor, presented by Nicholas Diedrich, Hor- LiUian Keeley, Oregon; a brief history of the tonville; tape recording of an interview with Joseph Weber Family; genealogy of the Jacob William Besserdich of Clintonville, discussing Warwick family, prepared by Emma Newton the development of the four-wheel drive; state­ Warwick, presented by James N. Dickson; ment of resource and liabilities, December 31, genealogical records taken from the Bible of 1894, of J. & W. Jung Company, manufactur­ the Turner Family of Doylestown, Wisconsin, ers of carriages in Sheboygan, positive photo­ presented through Martha Skaar of the La stat copy presented by Wesley Jung, Sheboy­ Crosse State College; history of Warren gan; a brief history of the Germantown- Eugene McCord and family tree (Portland, Werner area in Juneau County, before the Oregon, 1908) ; list of inscriptions from St. Castle Rock Dam was built across the Wiscon­ Patrick's Cemetery located in the Town of sin River, written and presented by Mattie Windfield, Sauk County, compiled and pre­ Runkel, Milwaukee; microfilm copy of the ap­ sented by Dorris M. Berning, Reedsburg; pendix to the report of arbitrators selected un­ genealogy of the Owsley-Ousley Family, in­ der the act of Congress entitled An Act for the cluding notes on the Shanks, Bailey, and improvement of water communication between Handly branches, presented by Mrs. Darice the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan, by Lord, Milwaukee; records of the Bedient and the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, approved July Johnson Families, including Bible and ceme­ 7, 1870, taken from the records of the House tery records and genealogies, gathered and of Representatives, 42d Congress; a history presented by Mrs. Lucile H. Lander, Paines- of the early Newport-Kilbourn (now Wiscon­ ville, Ohio; genealogical records of the Young sin Dells) area, written by George G. Swain, Family, taken from the Bible of Emeline B. early inhabitant, presented by Francis L. Young, St. Croix County, and from the Bible Swain, La Crosse; address, "Changes I have of Mrs. Henry W. Goodrich, presented by the seen in the farming community," by Carl C. Star-Observer Publishing Co., Hudson; and a Taylor, October 19, 1957; copy of an inter­ Portage County pioneer family record for the view between Peter Charles Galbraith of De­ Precourt Family, compiled and presented bv troit, Michigan, and his nephew, Robert L. Bessie Fletcher, Plover. Reynolds of Madison, held April 13, 1956, Accessions to the Society's church history discussing the importation of blooded horse holdings include: reminiscences, 1821-1896, stock, and methods of stock raising, presented written by Charles W. Kamp, Congregational by Robert L. Reynolds; a history of Fox Lake, pastor of churches in Palmyra, Genesee, She­ Wisconsin, written by Harriet O'Connell, Oc­ boygan, Fond du Lac, Waukesha, and other tober 1957; and four masonic certificates is­ southeastern Wisconsin cities; letters, 1836- sued in 1863 and 1876, to John Corscot, 1870, of the Reverend Samuel R. Johnson to presented by Mrs. Corscot, Madison. The Wis­ Jackson Kemper, concerning Episcopal church consin Library Association deposited addi­ affairs; also letters, 1811-1861, written by tional records for 1956-1957. Bishop Kemper to other clergymen; records. Genealogical materials accessioned include: 1869-1912, of the Swedish Baptist Church^ papers, 1870-1951, relating to genealogical Wood River, Burnett County, consisting of studies initiated about 1870 by William D. congregation registers, 1869-1905, and 1875- Hawley and continued by Mary Oakley Haw- 1912, and minute book, 1869-1890; records, ley and Horace S. Oakley of Madison, added 1801-1870, of the Catholic Church in Wis­ to the Oakley-Hawley Family papers, pre­ consin, consisting of parish meetings of St. sented through Gilbert Doane, Madison; Bry­ Aloysius Parish, 1858-1870, parish register ant Family chart, prepared by Harriet E. for the German congregation at Prairie du Sac, Bryant; death records of St. Croix County, 1846; diaries, 1846-1848, of the Catholic mis­ compiled by Willis Harry Miller; a Wood sionary, Maximilien Gartner, and "My Life." Family history and genealogy prepared by the 1801-1858; records, 1915-1919, of the Union Media Research Bureau, Washington, D. C, Congregational Church of Drummond, Wis­ presented by the Mary Florine Estate, Cuba consin, consisting of minutes of the church City, through Willis Enrich, Flippin, Arkan­ board meetings, lists of church officers and sas; an analysis of the Horn Papers, resulting members; baptismal records, 1835-1887, of from genealogical research on the Bozorth- Reverend Frederic Baraga and other priests Hargus families of Kentucky and Monongalia at La Pointe Indian Mission, 1835-1867, and County, West Virginia, written and presented at Bayfield Mission, 1859-1887; register of

78 ACCESSIONS

baptisms and confirmations, 1856-1894, kept pathic practitioner in Fond du Lac, consist­ by Reverend Abraham B. Peabody, Episcopal ing of correspondence, 1929-1954, including clergyman in the St. Croix Valley area. letters, 1931-1932, concerning the conflict Biographical and autobiographical acces­ over membership on the State Board of Medi­ sions include: biography of Frank Borth, writ­ cal Examiners; a ledger, 1900-1952, and a ten by Henry F. Borth, entitled "Frank Borth: cash book, 1906-1953, presented by Dr. and the Story of My Father's Life," concerning Mrs. F. E. Kosanke, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; sixty years of Wisconsin logging and lumber­ letters, September, 1858, written by Dr. N. S. ing (on microfilm) ; an autobiography, also Robinson, describing his journey from Maine on microfilm, of George Esterly, farm machin­ to Wisconsin and his travels around Wiscon­ ery inventor and manufacturer, and an Esterly sin looking for a suitable location to open a family genealogy; biographical sketch of Arnt practice, presented by Mrs. Thaddeus D. 0. Rhea, state assemblyman from Clark Coun­ Smith, Neenah, Wisconsin; certificates and ty, presented by Hattie M. Landry, Wisconsin licenses to practice medicine, issued by the Dells, Wisconsin; autobiographical sketch of Wisconsin Board of Medical Examiners to Horace J. Mellum, former official of the Nash Arthur R. Grob, March 21, 1900; Felix Motors Company, Kenosha, Wisconsin, pre­ Schmit, April 11, 1900; Henry Schroeder, sented by Horace J. Mellum, Chicago; bio­ April 10, 1901; Edwin Henes, December 11, graphical data concerning Drs. John Morgan 1919; and Philip H. Perlson, June 25, 1924; and William Shippen of Philadelphia, physi­ also, certificates of membership in medical or­ cians in the Continental Army during the Rev­ ganizations of Dr. Grob, presented by the olutionary War; "Aristocrat of the Wilder­ Wisconsin Medical Society. ness," a biographical sketch of Ludwig Motz- feldt, northern Wisconsin trader, written and Archives presented by Earle S. Holman, Antigo, Wis­ consin ; biographical sketch of Soloman Free­ Recent additions to the Society's complete man, freed Negro slave, brought by Abraham set of the Preliminary Inventories issued by Bush to Middleton, Wisconsin, in the late the National Archives, Washington, include 1840's, with biographical notes relating to the following: John Tandy, another freed slave who also set­ Number 103, Cartographic Records of the tled in Middleton, presented by Edwin W. Bureau of the Census. Compiled by James Tomlinson, Middleton. Berton Rhoads and Charlotte M. Ashby. Accessions to the Society's steadily growing (1958. Pp. V, 108.) medical holdings include: Ashland-Bayfield- Number 104, Records of the Bureau of Agri­ Iron County Medical History data, compiled cultural Economics. Compiled by Vivian by the County's Society's Women's Auxiliary, Wiser. (1958. Pp. vi, 212.) through the auspices of the State Medical So­ Number 105, Records of the Coast and Geo­ ciety Woman's Auxiliary; papers, 1881-1920, detic Survey. Compiled by Nathan Rein- of John Morris Dodd, Ashland physician, con­ gold. (1958. Pp. v, 83.) sisting of correspondence, 1881-1899; patient Number 106, Records of the Bureau of Animal case histories and account books, 1889-1907; Industry. Compiled by Harold T. Pinkett. notes on medical practice, lectures, meetings, (1958. Pp. V, 18.) and records, 1892, of the Ashland Medical So­ Number 107, Records of the Appropriations ciety, presented by the Dodd family through Committee of the House of Representatives: Florence Dodd, Ashland, Wisconsin; dental Subcommittee on the Works Progress Ad­ register, 1892-1900, of Dr. H. I. Gibson, Mon- ministration, 1939-1941. Compiled by dovi, Wisconsin dentist, presented by Mrs. George P. Perros. (1958. Pp. v, 14.) Bettylue Gibson Sievert, Menominee, Michi­ Number 108, Records of the House of Repre­ gan; papers, 1950-1953, of Timothy H. Hard- sentatives Select Committee of Inquiry into grove, Fond du Lac dentist, consisting of cor­ Operations of the United States Air Serv­ respondence with other dentists and officers of ices, 1924-1925. Compiled by George P. the Wisconsin and American Dental Associa­ Perros. (1958. Pp. v, 10.) tions concerning fluoridation, and minutes of Number 109, Records of the Bureau of Rec­ the fluoridation committee of the State Dental lamation. Compiled by Edward E. Hifl. Association, and papers relating to research (1958. Pp. V, 27.) on the douloureux (muscular twitching of Number 110, Records of the Public Buildings the face), presented by Dr. Hardgrove; papers, Service. Compiled bv W. Lane Van Neste. 1900-1954, of Dr. Frederic Kosanke, a bomeo- (1958. Pp. iv. 108.) '

79 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AUTUMN, 1958

Newspapers Darlington Lafayette County Union, 1867- Newspaper files recently borrowed from pub­ 1868, and Gratiot Reporter, June 13, 1912, lishers for microfilming have included: Cadott Miss Effie Doering, Darlington; Lone Rock Sentinel, 1915-1943; Glenwood City Tribune, Journal, 1932-1943, Mrs. Helen Silko, Lone 1890-1942 ;ree% Jeffersonian, 1853-1861; Rock; De Pere and Nicolet Twin City Index, Juneau Independent, 1893-1899; Menomonee 1885-1886, James A. Hughes, West De Pere. Falls News, 1900-1943; Monfort Mail, 1907- The following microfilmed newspapers have 1952; Oregon Observer, 1881-1885; Orford- been acquired through purchase: Knoxville ville Journal, 1916-1925; Polk County Ledger, Whig and Chronicle (Elizabethton, Jonesbor- 1898-1922; Waukesha World, April 27, 1887- ough, and Knoxville, Tennessee, 1839-1869) ; April 12, 1888, and Waukesha Republican- Milwaukee Daily News, 1855-1881; Milwau­ Freeman, October 13, 1898-December 27, kee Evening Wisconsin, 1847-1882. 1898. Through the generosity of Dr. C. F. Midel- The following newspapers have been made fort. La Crosse, and Margaret Midelfort, Eau- available for microfilming through the cour­ Claire, microfilmed files of the Chicago A^or- tesy of individual collectors: Bloomer Free den, October 13, 1874-December 25, 1888, Press, 1923-1925, Arnold Deuefl, Holcombe; have been added to the newspaper coflection.

BOOK KEVIEWS: Barnard, Independent Mem: The Life of Senator James Couzens, reviewed by John C. Colson 60 Beirne, Baltimore ... a Picture History, 1858-1958, reviewed by Paul Vanderbih .... 61 Cappon, Genealogy, Handmaid of History, reviewed by Margaret Gleason 63 DeConde, Entangling Alliance; Politics & Diplomacy under George Washington, reviewed by Richard A. Erney 58 Derleth, The House on the Mound, reviewed by Leslie Cross 72 Erickson, American Industry and the European Immigrant, 1860-1885, reviewed by Gerd Korman 62 Feis, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin: The War They Waged and the Peace They Sought, reviewed by Fred Harvey Harrington 67 Hagan, The Sac and Fox Indians, reviewed by James I. Clark 70 Hamilton, ed.. The Papers of Sir William Johnson, Vol. XII, 1766-1774. reviewed by Roger Champagne 66 Harlan, Separcue and Unequal, reviewed by David Fellman 66 Hesseltine and McNeil, eds.. In Support of Clio: Essays in Memory of Herbert A. Kellar. reviewed by Wendell H. Stephenson 62 Lewis, Lumberman from Flint: The Michigan Career of Henry H. Crapo, 1855-1869, reviewed by James W. Silver 69 McCain, Mallas, and Hedden, Forty Years in Politics: the Story of Ben Pelham. reviewed by Benjamin Quarles 72 Miller, American Protestantism and Social Is.mes, 1919-1939, reviewed by John T. Flint 59 Mulder and Mortensen, eds.. Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers, reviewed by Bryant Keari 6.S Noble, The Paradox of Progressive Thought, reviewed by Larry Gara 68 Peterson, American Knives: The First History and Collector's Guide, reviewed by Charles L. Durfee 59 Poatgieter and Dunn, eds., Gopher Reader, Minnesota's Story in Words and Pictures: Selections from the Gopher Reader, reviewed by Doris H. Platt 71 Randall, Nature and Historical Experience: Essays in Naturalism and in the Theory of History, reviewed by James C. Malin 64 Reynolds, The Daniel Shaw Lumber Company: A Case Study of the Wisconsin Lumber­ ing Frontier, reviewed by James W. Silver 69 Syrkin, Way of Valor: A Biography of Golda Myerson, reviewed by Manfred Swarsensky 60 Thorp, Spirit Gun of the West: The Story of Doc. W. F. Carver, reviewed by Harry E. Lichter 52 Wakefield, Special Aids to Genealogical Research on Southern Families, reviewed by Margaret Gleason 63

80 new Society publications

LAW AND LOCOMOTIVES: THE IMPACT OF THE RAILROAD ON WISCONSIN LAW IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by Robert S. Hunt

A Chicago attorney has combed "through the files of Wisconsin statutes, court opinions, and govern­ mental records and reports to reconstruct the epic struggle between law and locomotives In a raw, new state. The book Is a pioneer study in the legal history field, revealing ways in which agencies of law tried to cope with the problems rapidly thrust upon them by the advent of railroads. Here por­ trayed Is the plight of the Wisconsin farmer who mortgaged his land to help finance the new industry, only to be hoodwinked by corrupt railroadmen and faced with foreclosure. A penetrating analysis of the scandal Involving Byron Kilbourn and the LaCrosse and Milwaukee Railroad (forerunner of the Chicago, tvlllwaukee & St. Paul) Is included. Awarded the David Clark Everest Prize In Wisconsin economic history. Hunt's work Is of particular interest to career lawyers, to students of history and political science, and to the general reader intrigued by legal aspects of the ever-changing American scene. Price, $5.50

IN SUPPORT OF CLIO: ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF HERBERT A. KELLAR edited by William B. Hesseltine and Donald R. McNeil

Dedicated to the memory of Herbert A. Kellar and suggested by his multi-facet career, these essays "illustrate the contribution of those who labor In Clio's fields, sowing and cultivating, but who do not reap by writing." Mr. Kellar, who was perhaps best known as director of the McCormick Historical Association, put most of his abounding energy and competence into activities other than writing, as organizer, working member and officer of historical groups, advocate of new fields and methods of research, manuscript collector, promoter of historical restorations, and counselor of younger members of the profession. These nine essays by historians, professors, archivists, and administrators discuss the branches of history which Mr. Kellar's career encompassed. Topics included are "The W.P.A. Histor­ ical Records Survey," "Manuscript Collecting," "Public Archives in the United States," "Mechanical Aids in Historical Research," "Foundations and the Study of History," "Historical Organizations as Aids +0 History," "The Growth of Agricultural History," "The Historian as Editor" and "Historical Restorations." Price, $5.00

Order from STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN 816 State Street • Madison 6, Wisconsin To promote a wider apprecicrtioii The Putpose of the American heritage with particular emphasis on the of this collection, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge Society sh0ll be of the history of Wisconsin and of the Middle West.