Ash Pile Or Steel City? H.L Mencken Helps Mold an Image Edward K.Muller

Ash Pile or Steel City? H.L Mencken Helps Mold an Image Edward K.Muller

order to spur economic growth and to combat unfavorable INpublicity, Pittsburgh has down through the years put forth positive images ofitselfas, for example, the Iron City,Steel City, Renaissance City,CityofChampions, and most recently, America's Most Livable City. Nevertheless, a negative image out of step with modern high-tech and Sunbelt trends persists today, de-

tracting fromPittsburgh's efforts to regain momentum. The long

history ofsuch images underscores their perceived importance to the fortunes of the city. Many things go into the creation and

acceptance ofimages; but writers, often from competing cities,

Edward K.Muller is Professor ofHistory at the University ofPittsburgh. He writes about the historical geography of American cities, and is an editor of The Atlas of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1989). He is currently completing a book on Henry L. Mencken's writingsonthe American city.Dr.Muller wishes to thank NeilJordahl, head ofthe Humanities Department at the Pratt Free LibraryinBaltimore, for his and his staffs help with this project. Above: This view of the former Jones and Laughlin steel millvividlydepicts the scenery common along urban America's rail lines early this century. The Parkway now fillsthe center ofthis valleyinPittsburgh, and although the millwas demolished forahigh-tech research park (yet to be built),Second Avenue and the tracks remain. Pittsburgh History, Summer 1991 sometimes contribute to the formation and persistence priorities, the allocation ofresources, the disposition of of images even though that may not have been their land, and ultimately the differential success of various intent. This article explores the humorous but damag- sections of the city.1 ing contributions of one out-of-town writer to The competitive promotion ofcities carries on along Pittsburgh's national image. tradition ofurban boosterism. 2 In the early nineteenth Images do affect the flow ofinvestments and people century, optimistic town founders in the developing tocities; they matter. As the twentieth century rushes to trans-Appalachian west projected glorious futures for a close, competition among cities for new businesses, their settlements in hopes of attracting people and conventions, tourist dollars, and national publicity is businesses, who would fulfill their expectations and more intense, shrill,and expensive than ever. The com- pocketbooks. They sometimes invoked the aura of petition employs modern marketing techniques, includ- eastern cities by mimicking their names, street plans, or ing the promotion ofa positive cityimage. The promo-— street nomenclatures. Boosterism accompanied the tional detritus of urban imaging is all too familiar spread ofcities and towns across the continent, gaining ranging fromlogos, slogans, campaign packets, and the momentum with the addition ofland grant railroads to boastful refrains ofhometown editorialists to elaborate the process. 3 Established cities also looked over their multi-media shows and extravagant movies. Image- shoulders at commercial rivals and used political and making comprises only one element ofa city's broader, economic muscle to vie for trade advantages. This ongoing campaign for growth, which typically involves muscle was often encased in booster rhetoric and logic partnerships among public and private leaders, the that presumed the fundamental civic importance of media, and non-profit organizations. The visions of economic and demographic growth and measured suc- these pro-growth coalitions, as John Mollenkopfcalled cess inquantifiable terms. Cities also imitated their rivals them inhis book, The Contested City, entail significant in order to present a modern image lest they be per- implications for a city,ones that not all members of the ceived as lesser places. Thus, urban fashion led cities, or community can support or consider worth the price that is, their boosters, to adopt up-to-date amenities because they effect the establishment of community such as gas-lighting, horsecars, and cast-iron frontbuild- ings. Moreover, concern fora favorable image encouraged them tohide their blemishes, even to the extent of denying the existence of serious epidemics so as not to jeopardize the patronage of business travelers. Business leaders, other major prop- erty owners, public officials,and the local newspaper typicallyled the pro- motional campaign. Pittsburgh has not been immune to the booster's penchant for promotion and image-building. Today city leaders attack Pittsburgh's per- vasive national image as a dirty, smoky, tired industrial citywithmost of the traditional urban marketing tools. What chagrins most Pitts- burghers is the resilience of this negative image despite considerable evidence tothe contrary.4The smoky label has been with the city for a long time, and this historical lon- gevity, along with vividness of the image, makes ithard to exorcise. Travellers remarked on the pall ofsmoke that hung over the city in the early nineteenth century. 5 The deteriorating environmental and so- cialconditions that accompanied the H.L.Mencken was one of the most widelyread syndicated newspaper columnists dramatic expansion of the ironand ever inAmerica. His persistent attacks onPittsburgh's industrial-strength ugliness steel industries inthe late nineteenth from the early 1900s to the late 1920s helped establish a negative national image century became a source offrequent ofPittsburgh that endures to this day. comment and criticism, culminat-

52 Ash Pile or Steel City ? ing in the devastating six-volume Pittsburgh Survey, regretted what he viewed as the illeffects of growth for published between 1909 and 1914. 6 Pittsburgh's busi- growth's sake, effects that the boosters of his town ness leaders responded to this image issue by dropping induced and that reminded him ofless civilized places self-serving salubrious characterizations of the city's such as Pittsburgh. smoky air(as, forexample, an antidote for certain kinds Whether defending Baltimore or later attacking its of diseases) and attempting instead toproject the city, boosters, HIM \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0 with some justification, as the workshop of the world.7 Although the workshop image probably played well ployed the boost- HHJpHHflMppp^B|MipH0HVH| at home, itencountered competing characterizations in er's technique of AfcMMMaMW^M3U^^H^MMMlHH! the print media ofother cities. Boosters were busily at making compar- \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0H|iPMMHNM||Hinp|HH|HMH work in their own cities, fashioning favorable home isons with other W»»>>>W>W>W>»W>>»>»W>W»>>>>WW>>WW town images byattacking the reputations ofrivals. Inthe cities inorder to W^F^^^S^^^^^^^^C^W^^^BBBR early twentieth century, Baltimore had an unusually place his city in a gggjgggjjgjgjjjjjj|jjjjjjyjj^gggg| vituperative defender at the helm of one of its major favorable light. m^^^B^fff-^TyT^yTt^^i^^SHBH newspapers. This champion was,ofcourse, Henry Louis In this endeavor, \u25a0\u25a0•\u25a0•\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0^•••\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0••M^^^^B Mencken, orHLM,the renowned Sage ofBaltimore. In no city was spared ifitwas unfortunate enough tohave his vigorous defense ofhis city and more generally inhis caught his eye,but his favorite targets were Boston, New commentary onurban industrial growth and the Amer- York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. He ma- ican wayoflife,Mencken frequently vilifiedPittsburgh lignedPittsburgh frequently between 1909 and 1911in and thereby firmlyetched a negative picture ofitinhis columns inthe Sunpapers read mostly by Baltimoreans. readers' minds. Short negative references continued, however, as his In his long career as an editorial writer for the national reputation and readership grewduring the next Baltimore Sunpapers, between 1906 and 1948, H.L. twodecades. Many considered Mencken tobe the most Mencken often wrote proudly and defensively about his famous newspaperman of the day, and others such as home town. But except for abriefperiod around 1910, Walter Lippmann believed he dominated the intellectu- he did not exhibit the style of a conventional urban al discourse of the 1920s through his essays, books, booster. Rather, he is best known for his critical,irrev- Baltimore Evening Sun columns, and editorships of erent, and iconoclastic views onmost every other aspect Smart Set and The American Mercury magazines. 10 In of American life and ideas. Boosters were just the kind the 1920s, he published an especially damning essay on of American species that he relished mocking. Go- Western Pennsylvania which received national expo- getters, Babbitts, boomers, and "booboisie," he called sure. them. He once defined a boomer as "a man who talks H.L.Mencken did not create Pittsburgh's dismal much, says littleand does nothing." 8 HLMconsidered image, but his writing certainly added to it. HLM's himself almost devoid ofpublic spirit, and he regularly vigorous writingstyle and caustic witmade the negative ridiculed the sanctimonious policies, words,and behav- image unforgettable. His journalistic portrayal ofPitts- ior of all manner of Baltimoreans. Politicians were his burgh suggests how animage could become bigger than favorite target, but businessmen, reformers, professors, life and in time present a serious obstacle for a city and clergymen, vice-crusaders, and "honorary pallbearers" its boosters. were treated to frequent roastings. 9 Mencken devoted several early columns entirely to But there is no denying Mencken's love for Balti- Pittsburgh and frequently made brief, even one-line, more. In1914, he refused to move his residence to the references to the city in many others. The opening grander literary arena of New York when he became broadside may have come in 1907 ina column entitled editor ofthe Smart Set magazine. He valued Baltimore's "APreposterous Pretense." The event that set offthe "civilized" way of life and was concerned about its attack was Pittsburgh's controversial annexation ofAl- declining status and image among America's largest legheny City11: cities inthe early twentieth century. Inhis early editorial years, he defended Baltimore's reputation by pointing Pittsburg has gobbled Allegheny City and set up shop as a first-class city.According to the Pittsburg papers, out the inaccuracies of the U.S. Census, which cold jumped declining population itspopulation isnow 521,000, and ithas ahead heartedly recorded the city's rank. ofCleveland, Buffalo,San Francisco and Cincinnati. At The decline confirmed its increasingly branch plant the next census, they sayitwilloutrank Baltimore. This position in the industrial citypecking order. He soon last allegation, ofcourse, is mere bravado. So long as turned to a spirited portrayal of Baltimore's superior the UnitedStates remains a civilizedcountry Pittsburg quality oflife,arguing that mere quantity was not only willnever outrank Baltimore. 12 an inappropriate measure ofa city's greatness but that a larger population was also often attained at the expense The spectacular population increases ofmidwestern ofa healthy, civilized community. By tlie 1920s, how- industrial cities alarmed Baltimore Sun editor Mencken, ever, he used this theme to criticize Baltimore's boost- who believed that annexation was not a legitimate ers. Looking back over four decades of Baltimore life, means ofgaining status and promoting one's city. The and often romanticizing his childhood years, Mencken issue engaged him several times over the next few years,

53 Pittsburgh History, Summer 1991

particularly withthe publication ofthe 1910 census that The Baltimorean lives in a bright, sunny house, with documented Baltimore's decline from sixth to seventh clean marble front stoops and a garden inthe rear. He largest city in the nation. Pittsburgh's annexation ex- wears clean clothes, eats the most delicious foodknown ploit, which, words, "forcibly engulfed to the human race, and makes his livingincleanly ways. in HLM's the When he approaches the meridian oflifehe from town ofAllegheny City,"remained hisprime example of retires business and devotes his time to decent amusements. this process, but he attacked other cities on this issue as not 13 The airofhis towndoesn't choke him.He is driven well. For example, he charged Omaha with the devel- away. 17 opment of "the a priori method Like many travelers, Mencken found the coal and of enumera- jiHr^niyfrtM iFiii' steel landscape of Western Pennsylvania depressing and tion," whereby ugly. During the course of three decades of writing,he city officials pre- iw«f»'-ii[» frequently referred to Pittsburgh as "filthy,""black and determined the busy," and "an ash pile." In a 1909 article, HLM •I* population they concluded that the pansies so common and delightful wanted and sent along the edges of water bodies inhis region would not out school boy enumerators who were kept on the job growinPittsburgh: until they found the required number. 14 column, Inthe "The Preposterous Pretense" HLM There is good reason to doubt, for example, that sounded the basic themes of his future Pittsburgh pansies wouldflourish along the Monongahela, par- attacks. ToMencken, Pittsburgh was an industrial up- ticularly withinsight, sound or scent ofPittsburg. The start, a city of mammon that in the single-minded soil there is ofa peculiar quality, being composed of pursuit of industry and wealth created a place bereft of almost equal parts ofcoal dust, grease and garbage, and civilized culture and degrading toits workers: is plainly too rich for small plants.... [W]e would suggest that the ladies plant the datura stramonium, or, The struggle ofsuch glorifiedrailroadyards and inhab- as the vulgar would have it,the jimpson weed. This is ited roundhouses to be regarded as real cities would be the favorite flower ofthe Pittsburgers, and is emblem- amusing were they not so pathetic. Pittsburg has been atic of their material success, their liking for broad endeavoring foryears to attract a large population, but effects and their general copiousness. At the gentle invain. The best she could do was 371,000 and ofthis littlepansy they wouldlaugh, just as they laugh at Santa Claus, number not more than 100,000 could speak English young love and the symphonies of Joseph 18 and not more than 200 knew how to eat soup without Haydn. making a noise. ...[Tjhose Alleghenians. who have the price of a His most damaging and celebrated environmental railroad ticket willmove away, and that 'Greater Pitts- piece came in 1926 inthe Baltimore Evening Sun and burg' willhave less population a year hence.... The was republished both in the Chicago Sunday Tribune cause for this lies inthe obvious fact that no sane man and later inhis book, Prejudices: SixthSeries. The article wouldbe a Pittsburger ifhe could help it.People setde has been reprinted many times since then. Looking out in the town forbusiness reasons only, and as soon as Pennsylvania car, they have made enough money they move away. They the window ofhis Railroad Mencken 15 indicted the string ofcoal and steel towns that composed look upon their residence there as a period ofexile. the Pittsburgh metropolitan landscape: By way ofcontrast, ofcourse, Baltimore was a better Here was the very heart of industrial America, the place to live,and Mencken always made his admiration center ofits most lucrative and characteristic activity, for the home town explicit: the boast and pride—ofthe richest and grandest nation ever seen on earth and here was a scene so dreadfully Here in Baltimore livingis an art, and not an inflic- hideous, so intolerably bleak and forlorn that it re- tion.... [WJealth is interpreted to mean leisure, culture duced the whole aspiration ofman to a macabre and and gentleness and a capacity for seeing and under- depressing joke. Here was wealth —beyond computa- standing beautiful things. That is something which tion, almost beyond imagination and here were Pittsburg willnever, never learn. 16 human habitations so abominable that they would have disgraced a race ofalley cats. Inthe article,he identified three aspects ofurban life, to Iam not speaking ofmere filth.One expects steel which he returned in subsequent columns. They were towns tobe dirty.What Iallude to isthe unbroken and the environment, food preferences, and the manners of agonizingugliness, the sheer revoltingmonstrousness, of house sight....[O]ne blinked before them the upper classes, or his words, a civilized lifestyle. every in as in one blinks before a man with his face shot away. Itwas perspective, sumptuous From Mencken's urbane din- as ifall the more advanced Expressionist architects of ing, a lively arts culture, and a pleasant, harmonious Berlin had been drunk on Schnapps,... Bythe hundreds physical appearance signaled a city's good breeding. and thousands these abominable houses cover the bare Pittsburgh failed onall these points; Baltimore naturally hillsides, like gravestones in some gigantic and decay- displayed these traits: ing cemetery.... On their deep sides they bury them-

54 selves swinishly in the mud. Not a fifthofthem are perpendicular. Theylean thisway andthat,hang- ing on to their bases precarious- ly. And one and all they are streaked ingrime, withdead and eczematous patches of paint peeping through the streaks. Now and then there is ahouse ofbrick. But what brick!When it isnew itis the colorofa friedegg. When it has taken on the patina of the millsit is the color of an egg longpast allhope orcaring. 19

Mencken was, ofcourse, describ- ing what he saw from a rail car, which typically traveled the indus- trialcorridors ofcities. He wasprob- ably familiar with more of Pitts- burgh since hisbrother lived insub- urban Crafton, but to the unin- formed reader Mencken painted a vividlandscape that, whilenot without merit, was certainly devastating to the city's image. It surely made working Baltimoreans pleased to reside in their long lines of brick rowhouses. On the lighter side,HLMjudged Pittsburgh inferior for the poor quality of its food preparation and preferences. He always considered the culinary delights of Baltimore and Maryland among his city's out- standing qualities. Delicacies such as Maryland terrapin, crabs, and oysters made Baltimore distinctive to visitors. Incontrast, the liver and onions, pot roast, rice pudding, and glucose apple pie ofPittsburgh were fitting with its generally uncivilized character. "In Pittsburg," wrote Mencken, "any kind of pie is worse." 20 HLMsaw littlemore mer- itinrice pudding:

IntheBlueRidge Mountains itis used as a poultice forlame hors- es, and onthe Eastern Shore they feed it to horned cattle. InBalti- more it is entirely unknown. When we eat here we demand victuals, and are not satisfied with tasteless concrete. A waiter who set a rasher of rice pudding before aBaltimorean wouldpay for the insult withhis life.21 While attacking Pittsburgh's mince (continued on page 58) 56 Ash Pile or Steel City ?

57 Pittsburgh History> Summer 1991 pie,Mencken also managed to take a swipe at the city's is not to be blamed, perhaps, forseeking forgetfulness immigrant population: in cheap champagne, fisticuffs, bad art, worse music and the other concomitants ofthe Gay Life.26 A Polish coal miner in Ohio, biting into a slab of Pittsburg mince pie, struck a rivet and broke offseven Pittsburgh, Mencken noted more than once, was a city teeth; but, being extremely hungry and having no that displayed "distressing extremes ofwealth and pov- money to buy actual food, he kept at his grimtask. A erty."27 The single-minded pursuit of wealth degraded minute laterhe struck astick ofdynamite inthe core of at both ends of the spectrum. At one extreme, the and buried his citizens same pie was from late residence the the plight of the working man was tragic: next day, leaving a wife inPoland and another in Ohio.22 There [Pittsburgh] we behold a citywhich exhibits to the fullthat restless, ruthless striving.... Itisa town of Even his compliments were back-handed: enormous enterprises, of prodigious prosperity, of fabulous income. And yet itmust be plain that Pitts- For many years we have been trying,by precept and burg offers far less hospitality to the average man than example, exhortation and invective, to introduce the Baltimore. On the one hand itsdesperate energy makes rudiments of modern civilization into the town, or millionaires, but on the other hand it also makes a hamlet, ofPittsburg.... In particular, we have railed wretched and degraded proletariat. The revoltingrev- against their fondness for barbaric adornment, for elations ofthe Pittsburg Survey show just how much mesalliance and for grotesque and unsavory victuals. (or how little)progress the city as a whole has made When itis remembered that less than a year ago fried toward that comfort whichis the rule inBaltimore.28 beefsteak was stillthe favorite dish ofall classes in the town, the excuse forourpreachings may be discerned. At the other extreme, the behavior of some ofits Itis now our pleasant duty to take notice of a change forthe better. The people ofPittsburg, moved millionaires was outrageous, and publicity surrounding at last,have begun to experiment withfoodstuffs ofa their antics provided superb copy for HLM. While higher quality.During the summer, for example, they investments inPennsylvania lumber, oil,coal, and coke ordered nine or ten trainloads of soft crabs from resources spawned numerous fortunes by the end of the Baltimore, and since September they have been mak- century, the formation of U.S. Steel in January 1901 ing a trialofthe Baltimore oyster. The result is gratify- from three large companies, including Carnegie Steel, ing.... A Pittsburg civilizedenough to appreciate the created three dozen instant millionaires inPittsburgh. oyster isa Pittsburg thathas made decided progress. A The new fortunes brought immediate national aware- fewyears ago we well-nighdespaired ofever resouling ness of the city's fabulous wealth. Although conspicu- the fromits hideous gems, itscafe weddings and town ous consumption by glar- its frying pans, but now we cheerfully admit (and the industrialists contrasted perhaps we may be pardoned ifsome hint of self- inglywiththe conditions oftheir workers as reported in satisfaction appears in our cheerfulness) that it has the Pittsburgh Survey^ celebrated trials and divorces riv- emerged finallyfromitsEgyptian night. The start has eted national media attention on rich Pittsburghers. been made rDuringthe next thirtyyears Pittsburg may The most infamous was the trialof Pittsburgh million- astonish us as aire Harry K.Thaw, whomurdered New Yorkarchitect Japan has as- Stanford White at Madison Square Garden in 1906 in a tonished us. 23 fitofjealousy overhis wife's earlier relationship withthe architect. Mencken pounced on such opportunities to Of course, flesh out his portrait ofPittsburgh's uncivilized vulgar- when Pittsburgh- ity.Inone particularly biting column in 1910, entitled ers didrecognize "OnChorus Girls,"HLMmade his case: the superior quality of Maryland News comes from Charles Frohman, the eminent art delicacies, they fosterer, that the chorus ofhis musical piece, "Miss stilldid not have the culinary skills for proper prepara- Gibbs," is to be made up ofEnglish girls exclusively. tion: aIn Pittsburg, where embalmed soft crabs are Not a single corn-fed damsel from the Iowa steppes, offerred in gilded lobster palaces and devoured by not a single(oreven married) ex-waitress fromthe dee- poh-kaff at Wheeling, W. Va. willcut the pigeon wing gluttonous billionaires ofthat unearthly town, [the soft crab's] flavor 24 in that enchanting band.... Every girlwillbe British- is that ofglucose." born. Itwillbe, inbrief, a strictly exotic flock,and the If disgraceful Pittsburgh the — food of reflected its pink fog-kissed beauty ofitsmembers isexpected to lift industrial status— an "overgrown freight yard," in our marrying maniacs to the highest pitch of exoga- HLM'sterms < then italso provided an explanation for mous frenzy.... [SJcarcely a day passses withoutone of the city's lack bfculture 25 : them snaring a member oftheirnative aristocracy, and when any considerable force ofthem crosses the ocean Viewing that food, one is disposed to take a kindlier there are always loud calls for clergymen along Broad- tone toward the vagaries ofconduct forwhich they are way....We are ofthe opinionthat at least 20 ofthese fair noted. Aman fed upon friedsalmon and rice pudding ones willbe married to young Pittsburg millionaires

58 Ash Pileor Steel City?

before theyhave been upon American soil30 days.... It Mencken summed up his view of Pittsburgh and the seems impossible, indeed, for a rich Pittsburger to lunacy ofunbridled, booster-inspired growth. For him resist the charms ofa chorus girl,and particularlyofan it was simply a matter of seeking development at the English chorus girl.EveryPittsburger worthmore than expense ofquality oflife,a theme that he would explore $5,000,000 weds a chorister at some time or other. It for Baltimore inhisnotorious "Free Lance" columns in is part of a education in that unearthly millionaire's the Sun between 1911and 1915 and would develop at town. He does itinstead ofgoing to college or taking some airships or making the grand tour.29 length in the 1920s inhis renowned "Monday Articles" for the Evening Sun: At the end, he sarcastically brought in as evidence the The boom fever has struck Pittsburgh, that darkling recent divorce case of William E. Corey, second presi- town, appoints by and the local Chamber ofCommerce dent of U.S. Steel, who was ousted a board of the usual committees, subcommittees and super-com- directors outraged at the abandonment ofhis wife of mittees ofprominent citizens and seeks highand low many years for a young stage actress. "In view of this for a skilled boommaster. The aim, it appears, is to inevitability" (that young Pittsburgh millionaires will centre all the industries of the United States at the marry an English chorus girl),Mencken counseled the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela. ... In young and rich: visionthePittsburghers see—their town stretching from McKeesport toSewickley one great forest ofsmoke- [I]tisbetter forhimto make the venture inhisnonage, stacks, one solid gob ofgrime. when there is plenty of time ahead for a leisurely Alas, wefear thatthey are on the wrongtrack. What repentance, rather than to waituntilmiddle age, when Pittsburgh actuallyneeds isnot— anincrease quantitative the enterprise may make it necessary for him to rid but an increase— qualitative not more factories, but himself, by tedious legalprocess and the scandal ofthe more air not new and exotic industries, but a bath, human race, of his wife or wives and his numerous a shave and a square meal. The town is already richer children and grandchildren. In this opinion we are than Babylon ever dreamed ofbeing. Its inhabitants, supported by canon law, the Hon. Ellis Corey and when they escape to New York or Paris, pour out Ehrlich's theory ofimmunity.30 money as the crusaders poured out blood.Let a fresh Pittsburgher strike Broadway or the Boulevard des Italiens, by not escape and the firebellsare rung, taxicabs dash up The divorce ofAndrew W.Mellon did his the thousand and all the head waiters begin buying a attention either. In 1911 Evening Sun column, deri- bonds. No Pittsburgher, joinedtoa new wife,gives the sivelyentitled "APittsburg Gentleman," Mencken pre- clergyman less than $10,000. NoPittsburgher ingood sented a mocking view of the affair, which questioned standing wears less than a gillof diamonds. the decency and honor ofMellon and for that matter, Why more factories? Why more money? Of what Pittsburgh: value wouldsuch things be toa town inwhichitisnow impossible, and has been impossible for 30 years, to The efforts oftheHon. AndrewW.Mellon,ofPittsburg, wear a collar more than 20 minutes or to get a decent to get rid ofhis youngEnglish wife must provoke the meal? 32 enthusiastic huzzahs not only of all connoisseurs of connubial carnage but also ofall venerators ofAmeri- Inthe 1920s, Mencken reversed his boosterish pos- can manhood. Mr. Mellon's technique is, in two ture in defense of Baltimore and assailed the conse- words, both masterly and revolutionary. When, at the quences of unchecked industrial growth for his town. start of his campaign, he found that it would be Baltimore's quality of life, which he described in his impossible tokeep the minutes ofa jury trialout ofthe stories before World War I,was in the 1920s disappear- newspapers, he had the Legislature ofPennsylvania, under the onslaught of industry and rapid that sweet- smelling parliament, pass a law abolishing ing new the right to a jury trial in divorce cases. Then he growth. Pittsburgh was no longer just an uncivilized surrounded his wifewithahorde ofspies. Then he sent town, but anexample ofwhat Baltimore was fast becom- a gang of catchpolls to her house to tear her two ing: children fromher and throw her out.... Thus the fortunes of war favor the Hon. Mr. The discovery byDr.John H. Shrader, ofthe Health Mellon. His wife has been put out ofher home, her Department, that the air of Baltimore now contains children have been wrested from her, a complaisant more dirtthan the airofPittsburgh need not be taken Legislature has robbed her ofher right to a fair and seriously. No one willdispute his report of what he open hearing and the two gallant Englishmen who found here for he isa carefiil and competent man, but sought to come to her rescue are behind bars.... it is highly probable that the Pittsburgh figures are Pittsburg, no doubt, has its own standards of considerably below the mark, forPittsburgh has been decency, its own notions of the actions befitting a sweating under its reputation for filthfor years past, civilizedwhite man, just as ithas its ownunmatchable and so itis not unlikelythat the scientific accuracy of atmosphere and its own unique brand of crooked the findings there has been ameliorated by patriotic politicians.31 passion. ...But thatBaltimore has growndirtieroflate, and at a very rapid rate, is equally obvious... In a brief Evening Sun column published in 1911, The increasing smoke -nuisance, infeet, is but one

59 Pittsburgh History, Summer 1991

of the penalties that Baltimore is paying for itsrapid Asthe article makes clear, Mencken's criticisms ofhis growth since the beginning of the century. The old city's boosters were not simply the crankiness of a clean, neat and charming Baltimore is gone forever, naysayer. He believed that the mindless, almost patri- and now confronts us is a sprawling, noisy and what otic,pursuit ofindustrial development came at too high filthy factory town, comparable to Manchester or Leeds. 33 of a price. Over three decades of newspaper work, he worked out a consistent, reasonable, and unpopular InMencken's scheme ofthings, the responsibility for position on the incessant, pro-growth promotions of the declining environment and social affairs lay withthe local businesses and politicalleaders, who profited from development. Although go-getting Babbitts. In a 1925 Evening Sun column, such his criticisms may be dis- as one or Mencken elaborated his argument, one which he made missed those of unhappy withchanges, progress, many times. The article also revealed his prejudice which wiped out a simpler, romantically remembered against the working masses: Baltimore of his youthful years in the late nineteenth century, they came in fact from a more complex and The ideal ofthese Babbitts... is a Baltimore illimitably coherent perspective on American life, which was first large. They see a citystretching fromLaurel to Havre expressed by him around 1910, well before the wistful 35 de Grace, and black with the smoke of ten thousand nostalgia ofadvancing age could have taken hold. In reeking chimneys. Every time they bring ina new soap this light,HLM's comments on Pittsburgh should be factory they assault one another withloudfelicitations. seen not so much as mean-spirited, personal attacks on Every time another ironworksbegins pouring poisons the city,but more as part ofhis larger argument against intothe river they resort totheiraccustomed houses of boosterism inurban life. Pittsburgh simply provided a and thanks to (and, hope, worship give a surprised I convenient and tellingcomparison formaking hispoints. indignant) God. ... They long to see itas crowded as a near-beer saloon Saturday night, black and busy Whether partisan booster, as he was early in his on as indignant as Pittsburgh, and as fullofstenches as Bayonne, N.J.... newspaper career, or critic of the booster But what ofthe people whocome into man them mentality, HLM'switand style lefta lasting impression. [the factories]? Inthe main,Ibelieve, they are far worse Over the years, he sharply etched a dismal image of than the factories. Has Baltimore gained anything Pittsburgh for his Baltimore audience and, to some valuable bythe great increase inits population during extent, for his national readership. Atthe same time, he the past ten years? Idoubt it. Since the war boom assiduously propped up Baltimore's sagging reputation. began, and the Babbittsgotasolidgripupon their jobs, Unfotunately, itwas not enough tocounter the change probably 100,000 newcomers have moved in. How he noticed in the 1920s, and by the 1960s, Baltimore many ofthem are acquisitions ofany worth? Probably was known as a tired industrial city, a U.S. Route 1 not 200. The rest, in the overwhelming main, are eyesore on simply so many more morons. They make Baltimore the tripbetween New Yorkand Washington. larger, to be To be sure, Pittsburgh forged its own dismal image sure, but cer- without Mencken's assistance, but the Sage of Balti- tainly no sane more affirmed this national picture in indelible terms. man wouldar- Over 50 years later, Pittsburgh still wrestles with its gue that they grimy image, despite a reconstructed downtown, a make itbetter. disproportionately high white collar labor force, cleaner Such are air and water than most big cities, a decade as the City un- the fruitsof ofChampions, the recent tide ofAmerica's most livable intelligent go- city, boasting by city getting,carried and the relentless leaders and on by men promoters. AGreater Pittsburgh Office ofPromotions whose idealism and Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bu- i.e. whose reau, armed withhandsome budgets, workdiligently to — greed formon- frame the image more in accord withreality. However, ey makes them dead to everything else. Their images fade slowly. H.L.Mencken has been dead since stupidity isnot unlike that ofthe fanatics whoadvocate 1956, but his legacy for Pittsburgh endures in a small such things as Prohibition. Pursuing what they believe, way through the persistence ofits negative image. \u25a0 often quitehonestly, to be apublicgood, they bringin onlya host ofpublic evils. Business isnot an end initself;itissimply a means. Its object is to supply the needs ofhuman beings, not 1John H.Mollenkopf, The Contested City(Princeton: 1983). to make slaves ofthem. ... When itisset up as an object 2 Daniel Boorstin, The Americans: The National Experience of—actual worship, asitisby the more romantic Babbitts (New York: 1965), 113-168; and Carl Abbott, Boosters and when we, are asked gravely to subordinate every Businessmen: Popular Economic Thought and Urban Growth in conceivable good to itswelfare and majesty, including the AntebellumMiddle West (Westport, Conn.: 1981). even the —most elemental rights topeace, cleanliness and 3 John W. Reps, Cities of the American West: A History of decency then the cultpasses overintothe domain of Frontier Urban Planning (Princeton: 1979). the obscene. 34 4 A 1987 survey, commissioned by the Greater Pittsburgh

60 Convention and Visitors Bureau and entitled "Strategic Positioning Study" (done by Ketchum Advertising of Pittsburgh), confirmed the persistence ofthe image problem. 5 Anthony N.Penna, "Changing Images of Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh," Pennsylva- nia History 43 (Jan. 1976), 49-63. 6 Paul Underwood Kellogg, ed., The Pitts- burgh Survey: Findings inSix Volumes (New York: 1909-1914). For more information, see Charles Hilland Steven Cohen, "John A. Fitch and the Pittsburgh Survey," Western Pennsylvania HistoricalMagazine 67, no. 1 (Jan. 1984), 17-32. 7 Penna, "Changing Images," op. cit. 8 "The Free Lance," Baltimore Evening Sun, May 29, 1911. 9 For the best biography, see Carl Bode, M*»db«(Carbondale,Ill.:1969).Foraguide to Mencken's writings, consult H.L.M.: The Mencken Bibliography, compiled by Betty Adler (Baltimore: 1961). 10 Bode, op. cit.,238. 11 The City ofPittsburgh got the state legislature to pass an enabling annexation act, whereby a majority ofthe combined elector- ate of the two cities would determine the outcome. Pittsburgh's significantly larger size gave itthe decided advantage inthe referen- dum. 12 «a Preposterous Pretense," BaltimoreSun, Nov. 22, 1907. 13 "The Omaha Method ofCensus Enumera- tion," Baltimore Sun, date unknown, 1910. See also, "ThePopulation Guess," Baltimore 21 Sun, date unknown, 1910, and "New Annexation Plans," "What They Eat inPittsburgh Baltimore Sun y d.u. 1909. Baltimore Sun, date unknown, 1910. 22 "Thoughts ofMince Pie," Baltimore Sun, d.u. 1909. 14 "The Omaha Method," op. cit. 23 "The Awakening ofPittsburgh Baltimore Sun, d.u. 1910. 15 «a Preposterous Pretense," op. cit. Twoyears later, HLM 24 "The Soft Crab," BaltimoreEvening Sun, d.u. 1910. wrote that "... lateron, perhaps, theymay discover, too that 25 "The Dreams ofSt. Louis," Baltimore Sun, d.u. 1910. livingin Pittsburg is also a disease." "Diseases Multiply," 26 "What They Eat," op. cit. Baltimore Sun, date unknown, 1909. In 1911, he similarly 27 "The Census Returns," Baltimore Sun, d.u. 1910. judged that "... inPittsburg it[life]is penal servitude." "Up 28 "Explainingthe Returns," Baltimore Sun, d.u. 1910, Boomers, And At Him!"Baltimore Evening Sun, date un- 29 "On Chorus Girls,"BaltimoreSun, d.u. 1910. known, 1911. 30 Ibid. 16 "APreposterous Pretense," op. cit.In "NoMean City,"in 31"APittsburg Gentleman," Baltimore Evening Sun,d.u. 1911. the BaltimoreEvening Sun'm 1911 (date unknown), he makes 32 "Pittsburgh's Dreams," Baltimore Evening Sun, d.u. 1911. similarcontrasts between Baltimore and othercities, withtwo 33 "Smoke," BaltimoreEvening Sun,May 7,1928. Things had negative references to Pittsburgh. sunk so lowinhis viewthat "Even inPittsburgh, where itis to 17 "APreposterous Pretense," op. cit. the plain interest of all the larger taxpayers to keep the 18 "Pansies," Baltimore Sun, date unknown, 1909. proletariat illiterate,— the libraryis paid $525,795 a year out of 19 "The Libido for the Ugly,"inH.L.Mencken, Prejudices: municipal funds twiceas much as inBaltimore." ThePratt Sixth Series (New York: 1927), 187-193. In the Chicago Library,"Baltimore Evening Sun, Feb. 2, 1925. Sunday Tribune,itwas entitled"The BlackCountry," Jan. 23, 34 "The Fruits ofGo-Getting," Baltimore Evening Sun, June 1927. For a discussion ofthis article and its complete reprint- 22, 1925. ing, see John W. Larner, "The Libido for the Ugly: H.L. 35 Charles A.Fecher, Mencken: AStudy ofHis Thought (New Mencken Versus Western Pennsylvania," Western Pennsylva- York:1978 ).The evolution ofMencken's booster critique can nia HistoricalMagazine 71, no. 1(Jan. 1988), 84-94. be followed inhis writings collected inEdward K.Muller, 20 "Cranberry Pie: ADefense," Baltimore Sun, date unknown Boosters and theBooboisie:H.L.Mencken on the American City> (hereafter, "d.u.") 1909. inpreparation for the Johns Hopkins University Press.