Some NEW BOOKS in Review . . .

Seedtime of Reform: American Social Service This is a story not of a few outstanding per­ and Social Action, 1918-1933. By CLARXE A. sonalities, but of many people who were rela­ CHAMBERS. (Minneapolis, University of Min­ tively httle known outside their own localities nesota Press, 1963. xvi, 326 p. $6.50.) and professions. Mr. Chambers reels off a mul­ Right Reverend New Dealer: John A. Ryan. By titude of their names, but all too often he FRANCIS L. BRODERICK. (New York, The identifies them sketchily, if at all. Among those Macmillan Company, 1963. ix, 290 p. who will probably be familiar to Minnesotans Frontispiece. $5.95.) are Francis A. Duxbury of Caledonia, first chairman of the Minnesota Industrial Commis­ Reviewed by Rhoda R. Gilman sion; Frank J. Bruno, who served for ten years with the Associated Charities of Minneapolis; CLARKE A. CHAMBERS tells the story of state senator George Nordlin of St. Paul, who those who kept alight the guttering flame of figured in the struggle for old age pensions and social reform through tbe "tepid, torpid years" social security; and Robbins Gilman, head resi­ of the 1920s. Fighting a losing battle on such dent of the Northeast Neighborhood House in issues as child labor, wages and working condi­ Minneapolis from 1914 to 1948. The papers of tions of women, old age security, and unem­ the latter and his wife, Catheryne Cooke Gil­ ployment, a small but devoted band of man, which are owned by the Minnesota His­ reformers and social workers bridged the gap torical Society, are among the major sources between the great reform surge of the century's used by Mr. Chambers in his chapters on early years and the depression of the 1930s. settlement work. Although unspectacular, their efforts were largely responsible for the speed and effective­ One name which appears frequently in this ness with which the Roosevelt administration book is that of the Reverend John A. Ryan, who changed America, for "Out of frustration was directed the social action department of the born social imagination," and "By the end of National Catholic Welfare Conference through­ the decade, new devices for social reconstruc­ out of the period covered by Mr. Chambers and tion, devices that anticipated much of the cen­ was "one of the very first propagandists for the tral program of the New Deal, had been living wage principle." The full-length story of elaborated." this Minnesota-reared priest and social reformer is told by Francis L. Broderick in a biography Mr. Chambers devotes chapters to each of which draws its provocative title from an epi­ the major "causes" of the period, reviewing thet coined by the Reverend Charles E. their all-too-similar records of conferences, com­ Coughlin in 1936. mittees, high hopes, and discouraging failure. He also scrutinizes the changes which took Ryan's seventy-seven-year career began on place in the ranks of reform: the widening gap a farm in Dakota County and was shaped at between reformers and welfare workers, the the outset by poverty. Populism, and the oratory professionalization of the latter field, and the of Ignatius Donnelly. The distinctive contribu­ consequent substitution of "social adjustment" tion of that career, according to Mr. Broderick, for "social justice" as the goal of action. Only "came from the skill with which he blended in the settlement houses does he find that the traditional Catholic principles and the Ameri­ prewar amalgam of personal contact and service can progressive tradition." with a long-range struggle for community bet­ The author follows Ryan through his years terment was maintained. as a student and teacher at St. Paul Seminary, summarizing the development of his thought MRS. GILMAN is the editor of this magazine. on industrial society and Catholic social doc-

26 MINNESOTA History trine as revealed in two scholarly works pub­ terial. They identify in footnotes only quota­ Hshed in 1906 and 1916. These won Ryan a tions and specific points of interpretation, while reputation as the leading American spokesman covering general sources in a bibliographic for Catholic social action and resulted in an essay at the end of the book. invitation to join the faculty of the Cathohc University of America in Washington. During his later years, which occupy the PROGRESS REPORT major part of the book, he was identified with Prologue. By MILDRED THOMSON. (Minneapolis, a broad spectrum of progressive causes, al­ Gilbert Publishing Company, 1963. 247 p. though he came into conflict with the main­ $3.50.) stream of American liberalism on such issues as church-state relations and birth control. He Reviewed by Ethel McClure was "the only Catholic priest ever to serve" on IN WRITING this memoir of thirty-five years' the national board of the American Civil Liber­ work with the Minnesota program for the ties Union; he acted as one of a three-member feeble-minded, Mildred Thomson's aim was "to industrial appeals board set up under the make evident the place of the mentally retarded national recovery act; he occupied a place on in the total social program and to show it within the general advisory council for the drafting the framework of the times." She relates de­ of social security legislation; and he voiced velopments in her chosen field to significant vigorous opposition to those who offered events and periods in the state's history, and "quack remedies for the depression malady." by furnishing dates, places, persons, back­ It was this stand which brought him into public ground events, and sources of information, has conflict with Father Coughlin. Until his death produced a valuable reference for students in in St. Paul in 1946, Ryan remained a stout other areas. defender of the measures instituted by the When Miss Thomson came to Minnesota in Roosevelt administration and strove untiringly 1924 as supervisor of the department for the "to show Catholic America that these progres­ feeble-minded in the children's bureau, she sive reforms were essential for achieving the found a state ahead of most in its provision for social justice to which their religion beckoned the mentally retarded. There was the famed them." Minnesota children's code, a body of laws for Although Mr. Broderick is a frank admirer the protection of "defective, illegitimate, de­ of Ryan, his work is scholarly in its approach pendent, neglected and delinquent children," and not altogether uncritical. In addition to the and to administer the act, an outstanding chil­ prelate's numerous published writings, he has dren's bureau in a highly respected state board used Ryan's personal papers, which are owned of control. Seventy-two of the state's eighty- by the Catholic University, and has drawn on seven counties had volunteer child welfare interviews with friends and members of the boards to aid in the work. Also under the board family in St. Paul. of control were the state school for the feeble­ Both authors regard the 1920s as a period of minded at Faribault and a bureau of research, change, realignment, and germination — but which conducted mental tests. Forty-four cities not of retreat. Although it witnessed no major and towns had special classes for subnormal achievement on any front, it was a decade of children in their public schools. intense activity among liberal groups. Mr. In the years from 1924 until 1959, when Miss Chambers sees the busy reformers with their Thomson retired, she initiated or participated endless committee meetings and resolutions as in most of the developments affecting the playing out "a ritualistic role of protest,'' while retarded. The fist is impressive, including com­ Mr. Broderick describes the scene as "An awk­ munity programs, changes in laws and pro­ ward charade, mouthing hopes unheard by the cedures, educational courses, participation in rest of America." Yet both agree that from this state and national conferences, and — a matter process came the future. In facing a problem common to historians of MISS MCCLURE retired in 1959 after many years the recent past, both authors have handled in of wcrrk with Minnesota state agencies in the similar fashion unwieldy masses of source ma­ fields of health and welfare.

Spring 1964 27 of special satisfaction — the formation of par­ mortgage loan business, collected dehnquent ents' groups, leading to the eventual organiza­ accounts, and bought and sold real estate. As tion of the Minnesota Association for Retarded a rising young politician, he became a railroad Children. These years also witnessed "growth attorney and obtained railroad passes that pro­ in knowledge and human understanding." vided free transportation to Republican con­ The way was not always easy. The public ventions for himself and his pofitical friends. generally was indifferent to tbe problem, and As county attorney and district judge, he even Miss Thomson's fellow workers in the supported Republican candidates all down the children's bureau sometimes wondered at her line. great interest in the feeble-minded for whom, Yet this was the same man who during almost seemingly, so little could be done. Tbe depres­ forty years in Congress was to become a na­ sion of the 1930s meant retrenchment, and tionally known liberal and progressive. He was World War II brought special restrictions. With the man who broke the czarlike hold of Speaker the advent of federal programs affecting re­ Joseph G. Cannon on the House of Representa­ tarded children emphases were often changed tives; he was also the man who fathered the and attention was shifted from old projects to Tennessee Valley Authority and was chiefly new. As one political party succeeded another responsible for the Twentieth Amendment and reorganization of government was under­ abolishing lame duck sessions of Congress. taken, the program for the mentally retarded George Norris was a product of his times and was "tossed from one administrative agency to his environment. As a judge in the depression another" — sometimes coupled with child wel­ era of the 1890s, he proved realistic and prag­ fare, sometimes with mental health. matic in dispensing justice. He postponed Adjustments were necessary and there in­ sheriffs' sales and mortgage foreclosures, grant­ evitably arose misunderstandings and differ­ ing debtors extensions to allow them to meet ences of opinion, which Miss Thomson describes their obligations if they showed any prospect with complete candor. Her narrative is personal, of being able to do so. He understood the and for many readers the most lasting impres­ Populist movement even though he opposed sion it creates may be a glimpse into tbe gov­ its candidates — and they him. He said Popu­ ernment world of interlocking departments and lism reflected "human misery and poverty." agencies, bounded by laws and budgets — Norris had known both. where, nevertheless, interpretation and sales­ Richard Lowitt sees Norris as an uncommon manship are of vital importance. The frustra­ common man, a man who chose the simple and tions, challenges, and rewards coming to a unpretentious, a man who was more at home person who directs a program in such a setting in the parlor than in the drawing room. He was are pictured frankly and vividly. Although the a nineteenth-century liberal in the Jeffersonian book covers a long span — for Miss Thomson tradition. In the twentieth century it was ap­ also dips into the past — the work has con­ propriate for him to support both Theodore tinuity and conveys such a sense of marching Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. toward a goal that it is hard to put down. Mr. Lowitt's book, the first half of a two- volume biography, follows Norris through his NEBRASKA LIBERAL early career to his elevation to the United States Senate in 1912. The author, an associate pro­ George W. Norris: The Making of a Progressive, fessor of history in Connecticut College, has 1861-1912. By RICHARD LOWITT. (Syracuse, done a thorough research job, and his fifty-six New York, Syracuse University Press, 1963. pages of notes are valuable for both general xiv, 341 p. Illustrations. $7.95.) readers and scholars. The only disappointment is a writing style that is often wooden and Reviewed by Wilbur E. Elston wordy and that detracts from the general ex­ cellence of the biography. A CANDIDATE less likely to become a politi­ cal progressive could scarcely have been im­ agined than George W. Norris in his early MR. ELSTON is associate editor crf the Detroit years. News and a former vice-president of the Min­ As a young Nebraska lawyer, he entered the ne.sota Historical Society.

28 MINNESOTA History GOLD AND SILVER test of the agrarian order against urban domina­ tion," but also as "the first attempt of a new The Whirligig of Politics: The Democracy of age to meet its responsibilities." Cleveland and Bryan. By J. ROGERS HOL- UNGSWORTH. (Chicago, The University of After McKinley took office, returning pros­ Chicago Press, 1963. xn, 263 p. $5.00.) perity, Cuba, and the Spanish-American War created a new political milieu inhospitable to free silver. Nonetheless Gold and Silver Demo­ Reviewed by Carl H. Chrislock crats continued their quarrel, neglecting oppor­ THIS BOOK tells the story of the national tunities to re-establish party harmony on such Democratic party from 1892 to 1904. The first issues as anti-imperialism. To be sure, Bryan three chapters describe the travail of Grover campaigned against imperialism in 1900, but Cleveland's second term. Within a year after he also insisted on keeping the money question its installation, his administration found its im­ alive, much to the chagrin of anti-imperialists pressive 1892 electoral base badly eroded. The who were also gold men. Following Bryan's discredit bred by economic depression and a second defeat his opponents moved to seize deep intraparty public policy schism accounted control of the party in the name of "reorganiza­ for many, but not all, of Cleveland's difficulties. tion." In 1904 the presidential nomination went As Mr. Hollingsworth insists, presidential lead­ to conservative Judge Alton B. Parker, who ership also faltered. Cleveland's dogged devo­ insisted on identifying himself as a Gold Demo­ tion to principle (the gold standard, laissez crat. His catastrophic defeat convinced even faire, and limited government) precluded even the most obtuse Democrats that their party had the token concessions which might have mini­ to come to terms with the present. mized internal Democratic dissensions. Thereafter, according to Mr. Hollingsworth, The year 1896 witnessed a rare spectacle in members of the Cleveland and Bryan camps American politics: the loss of party control by "tacitly" buried the old controversies and united an incumbent president. Contrary to popular in support of progressivism. In turn, unity re­ legend, Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech was vitalized the party. In 1906 Democrats began only an incident in this remarkable overturn. to win elections, and in 1908 many old Cleve- Thanks to months of intensive preparation, the landites cheerfully supported Bryan in his third competently led prosilver forces controlled the bid for the presidency. national convention from beginning to end. In As 1904 is the author's terminal point, his the absence of other available candidates, they treatment of Democratic history following that nominated Bryan. year is confined to a few large generalizations Not all students of the period will agree in the final chapter. One of these raises a completely with Mr. Hollingsworth's treatment question worthy of fuller examination than was of the 1896 campaign. His analysis of Demo­ possible in this book: by "interring their lost cratic preconvention politics is generally unex­ causes" in favor of identification with progres­ ceptionable, but recent research throws serious sivism, were the Bryan supporters obliged to doubt on his assertions that "the solid core of sacrifice as much as the Cleveland element? Populism believed that free silver was the In other words, was not "Bryanism" initially 'cowbird of the reform movement,'" and that closer to progressivism than "Clevelandism?" in the mid-nineties Populist politicians became True, Cleveland Democracy had a reform em­ "more concerned with success than principles." phasis (antibossism and "clean" government) He also exaggerates Bryan's nonidentification relevant to the Progressive era, but early vdth Popufism; Tom Watson, whose Populist twentieth-century urban reformers advocated radicalism can scarcely be question, testified expanding the functions and responsibilities of that when he and Bryan served in Congress, government beyond that which the Cleveland they voted together on every measure. Simi­ larly, Mr. Hollingsworth assigns insufficient MR. CHRISLOCK is profcssor of history in Augs­ importance to the reform planks in the Demo­ burg College, Minneapolis, and has twice won cratic platform on issues other than money. On the society's Solon J. Buck Award for articles the other hand, he does characterize Bryan's dealing with Minnesota politics in the Populist first campaign as not only "the last great pro­ period.

Spring 1964 29 tradition allowed. For this reason it is a little history. President Budd announced that the jolting to read on the final page of the silvery streamliner would leave Denver at 4:00 book that "Woodrow Wilson . . . successfully A.M. on May 26, 1934, and be at the fair that bridged the gap between urban and rural re­ evening. A cracked armature bearing, however, formers, who personified the ideas and aspira­ delayed its departure; later, a short circuit al­ tions of both Cleveland and Bryan Democrats." most forced it to halt; and other mishaps made This reviewer hopes Mr. Hollingsworth will the outlook bleak. But it came through without follow up this book with a study of Democratic a stop. The time of the 1015.4-mile race was party history from 1904 to, say, 1916. No doubt 785 minutes, which set a world's record for a such a work would have as a main concern the nonstop run. Some five hundred thousand respective contributions of the Cleveland and people lined the route and cheered the epic- Bryan traditions to Wilson's New Freedom. making train. Other "Zephyrs" soon followed. On April 21, BURLINGTON PIONEERING 1935, the "Twin Zephyrs" made their initial runs between Chicago and Minneapolis. They Diesels Westl By DAVID P. MORGAN. (Milwau­ were the first streamliners in regular service to kee, Kalmbach Publishing Company, 1963. the Twin Cities. The next year two new seven- 164 p. Illustrations. $9.75.) car "Twin Zephyrs" replaced the earlier stream­ Reviewed by Frank P. Donovan liners on the same run. Then in December, 1947, the "Twin Zephyrs" had the distinction A BOOK on the conversion to diesel of the of being the first "Vista Dome" trains in the Burlington Railroad is especially fitting because nation. that line pioneered in putting the internal com­ What the diesel streamliners did for pas­ bustion engine on rails. It also made the name sengers, diesel locomotives subsequently did "Zephyr" synonymous with streamliners. for freight. First the switcher, then the road Diesels Westl is essentially a volume on Bur­ engine, and afterward the all-purpose diesel lington motive power by an author who is an soon unseated and finally banished steam mo­ acknowledged authority on locomotives. After tive power from the Burlington's rails. Along a labored start, covering nearly a century of with the complete conversion to diesel, Mr. steam engine development in one chapter, Mr. Morgan mentions other modern improvements Morgan's story picks up speed and interest with adopted by the Burlington, including push­ his account of rail motor cars, stainless steel button yards, centralized traffic control, and streamliners, and heavy-duty diesel units. The the road's sixteen-million-dollar Kansas City Burlington gained valuable experience with Short Cut. intemal combustion traction by operating fifty- Diesels Westl is an accurate progress report seven gas-electric motor cars, or "doodlebugs" of one railroad, semipopular in style but slanted as they were nicknamed. It was in the early more for one interested in trains than for the 1930s that the late Ralph Budd, president of the railroad, decided to make the switch to layman. An index would have helped to make diesels. With rare foresight, he teamed up with the book's facts more readily available; and in Edward G. Budd, of Philadelphia's Budd Manu­ many cases picture captions are lacking, while facturing Company, and Charles F. Kettering, others are unimaginative and too brief. of General Motors, to launch America's first diesel-powered streamlined train. It was BUSINESS VIEWPOINT named the "Zephyr" — the Greek personifica­ tion of the west wind. Transcontinental Railway Strategy, 1869-1893: A Study of Businessmen. By JULIUS GRODIN- The run of the "Zephyr" from Denver to SKY. (Philadelphia, University of Pennsyl­ Chicago, to signal the reopening of the Century vania Press, 1962. xxi, 443 p. Maps, tables. of Progress Exposition in the latter city, was $7.50.) one of the most dramatic events in railroad

MR. DONOVAN, a frcqueut contributor to Min­ Reviewed by John L. Harnsberger nesota History, is a free-lance writer specializing THE DEVELOPMENT of the midwestern and in the history of transportation. western railway systems is the interesting but

30 MINNESOTA History complex story presented in this volume by the He also applies his talent for clear, nontechnical late JuHus Grodinsky. It is primarily a business language in dealing with the financing of ex­ and financial history, and its philosophy may be pansion; with the logic of the "long haul-short stated simply in the words of the author: "Some haul" differential as a practical solution to in­ businessmen gain, some lose — but the public terstate competition; with the effect of the benefits. It got the railroads." interstate commerce act of 1887 in aiding the Despite the dreams of such men as Asa Canadian Pacific Railway in its competition Whitney, Josiah Perham, Isaac I. Stevens, with American lines; and in discussion of the Thomas H. Benton, and Jay Cooke — despite success of a well-managed and financially stable the abundance of charters, enthusiasm, local road like the Great Northern as compared to "boomers,'' foreign investors, and government the troubled Northern Pacific. subsidies — the history of western railroads The volume would probably have caused through the mid-1870s is largely one of losses more unfavorable comment had it been pub­ sustained by original bondholders and pro­ lished a few years earlier. Although Mr. moters alike. Nevertheless lines were built ex­ Grodinsky's treatment of his subject is objective tending westward from St. Paul, Chicago, and unemotional, some readers will disagree Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, and New Or­ with his concept of the place of railroads in leans, many of them penetrating beyond the our national development. Ignoring the tradi­ line of existing settlement and opening new tional monopolistic monster, he presents rail lands to development. "In Minnesota, Iowa, problems as those of a business not significantly Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, California, and Da­ different from other more competitive sectors kota," notes Mr. Grodinsky, "the early railroads of the national economy. were built by unnamed and unsung risk takers" who "wasted both their funds and many years of their time and energy in losing ventures." DAIRYLAND DEVELOPMENT But the graded roadbeds and miles of track The Rise of the Dairy Industry in Wisconsin: remained. Building upon these foundations — A Study in Agricultural Change, 1820-1920. and upon the losses of their predecessors — men By ERIC E. LAMPARD. (Madison, The State like James J. Hill, CoUis P. Huntington, Richard Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1963. xii, R. Cable, Alexander Mitchell, John M. Forbes, 466 p. Map. $6.00.) Henry Villard, and Jay Gould initiated in the 1880s "the greatest and most sustained rail­ Reviewed by Paul W. Gates road-building program in the country's history." TO THE LIST of distinguished writers who By 1893 the nation's major railway networks have made notable contributions to the history were virtually complete. of agriculture in Wisconsin — among them This phenomenal expansion was accompa­ Benjamin H. Hibbard, Joseph Schafer, Fred­ nied by competition which at times threatened erick Merk, Merle E. Curti, and Vernon Car­ to be ruinous, and one of the author's outstand­ stensen— must now be added Eric E. ing contributions is his clear discussion of the Lampard, whose The Rise of the Dairy Industry various early efforts of the carrier managers to in Wisconsin deservedly won the Everest prize. regulate and lessen competition. This was at­ The book is a model of scholarly research, or­ tempted in different periods by rate fixing, de­ ganization, analysis, and interpretation. To fining of service areas, and establishment of provide a proper setting for fhe beginnings of freight allotments through pooling agreements the dairy industry, the author describes the and railroad associations, none of which were rise and decline of the wheat era in Wisconsin successful over the long run. Not until the and even here corrects interpretations hitherto period of corporate consolidation in the 1890s generally accepted. He shows that when wheat was real progress made in stabilizing rates. yields decreased, farmers turned to sheep, then In describing the practice of pooling, Mr. to cattle which — unlike wheat — took little Grodinsky brings order to a chaotic subject. from the land.

MR. HAHNSHERGER is associate professor of his­ MR. GATES is professor of history in Cornell Uni­ tory in the University of Wichita. versity at Ithaca, New York.

Spring 1964 31 Drawing upon the best contemporary ac­ cussions and that it had placed the footnotes, counts of dairy farming and using a great array which are replete with amplifying and useful of published sources and some manuscripts, material, at the bottom of the pages. Mr. Lampard gives much attention to the manufacture of cheese and butter in the days FIXING THE BOUNDARY before there was a large demand for fluid milk; he traces the ups and downs of these com­ West on the 49th ParaUel: Red River to the modities in production and marketing, never Rockies, 1872-1876. By JOHN E. PARSONS. forgetting the farmer, though at the same time (New York, William Morrow and Company, giving adequate attention to the problems of 1963. xiv, 208 p. Maps, illustrations. the processors. He describes the battle of the $6.00.) breeds without getting bogged down in the interminable arguments and bickering which Reviewed by Robin W. Winks accompanied it. Technological improvements IN THE LATE summer of 1872 two boundary in testing milk, in separating cream from skim commissions, one British and the other Ameri­ milk, and in refining the processes of cheese and can, began the arduous, frequently tedious, and buttermaking are discussed in intimate detail. sometimes dangerous task of establishing the The author is not squeamish in dealing with international line between the United States the farmers' fight against the application of and Canada from the Lake of the Woods west public controls for the protection of consumers, to the summit of the "Stony Mountains." The who had long been aroused by health experts purpose of this survey was to fix on the ground to the dangers of contaminated milk. The dairy the actual forty-ninth" parallel, the artificial industry resisted and nullified all early meas­ longitudinal line that had been recognized as ures to eliminate by legislation the hazards the boundary since 1818. A secondary purpose of drinking adulterated or watered milk from was to determine exactly where the "north­ diseased, tubercular, or otherwise unclean western point" in the Lake of the Woods was herds. It displayed the same antagonism toward and to mark it. The field work was completed efforts to outlaw the misbranding of cheese, its in 1875. adulteration with filler material, and its manu­ The two survey parties worked jointly under facture from skim milk. While conducting such their respective commissioners. Captain Donald defensive activities, the industry was demand­ R. Cameron for Britain and Archibald Camp­ ing the imposition of health and sanitary bell for the United States. They accomplished regulations and discriminatory taxation upon their joint purpose, for they left behind them margarine, as well as requesting legislation to numerous excellent maps, hundreds of cairns, prevent the misbranding of that product. boundary monuments, and mounds, and untold In a concluding chapter, the emphasis upon place names. Many acts of quiet heroism were depressions and agricultural crises, which have needed to carry out the day-to-day routine. been the theme of many economic historians, is The survey parties moved through snow and shown to be inappficable to Wisconsin. Farmers mud, plagued by prairie fires, by scrounging in that state learned to adapt their operations and potentially hostile Indians, and by a lack to economic conditions and shifted their major of fodder for their teams. No single event emphasis from wheat to sheep, to catde, to dramatically drew attention to their work, and cheese, to butter, to fluid milk. They accepted the story of it — except for a few scattered ar­ innovations — although sometimes slowly — ticles— has virtually been neglected. and drew heavily upon the best information That the story is worth telling is ably demon­ that research was providing at the University strated by John E. Parsons in this exceUent of Wisconsin. and brief account, succinctly narrated with a Mr. Lampard has placed every agricultural nice eye for illuminating detail and incident. and economic historian under a major obliga­ tion to him for this fine study. I could wish that MR. WINKS is associate professor of history in the State Historical Society had been willing to Yale University and the author of Canada and include some illustrations which might have the United States: The Civil War Years, pub­ aided readers in following the technical dis­ lished in 1960.

32 MINNESOTA Hlstory The author writes a clear, unadorned, pleasing is the first of a projected series to appear dealing prose that moves with confidence across the with broad themes in American history which landscape and through the years. His research are commemorated in historic sites and build­ has been extensive and imaginative. Most im­ ings. It is based on the work of the National portant, perhaps, is the fact that Mr. Parsons Park Service and the National Survey of His­ is at bome vidth the nuances of his subject: he toric Sites and Buildings authorized by Con­ understands firearms, cartography, and survey gress in 1935. In a brief foreword, Conrad L. instruments, and he knows tbe places of which Wirth, then director of the park service, ex­ he writes. presses the hope "that this volume may focus The publisher has provided us with a book attention on, and stimulate further activities of high quality. The maps are excellent, the in, the safeguarding and interpretation of an photographs well chosen and clearly repro­ important segment of our heritage." duced, tbe end papers not only decorative but Eighty-nine pages of background on Indian useful, the index full, and the dust jacket well poficies and wars in the trans-Mississippi West designed. The volume is a bargain at its price. open the book. All but one of the more than There are many major gaps in our recording two hundred sites that follow lie in the diverse of Anglo-Canadian-American relations. The area between the Mississippi River and the history of the final demarcation of the interna­ Pacific Ocean. They are divided into four tional boundary is not, in fact, a major aspect groupings; eight units within the National Park of those relations. But Mr. Parsons has demon­ system, twenty-one deemed to have "excep­ strated that the subject has more intrinsic in­ tional value" and to be eligible for designation terest and is of greater significance than this as Registered National Historic Landmarks, reviewer had imagined. Perhaps now Mr. Par­ 117 meriting attention but not nationally sig­ sons can give us an up-to-date, skilffully written nificant by the criteria set forth, and ninety-one substitute for John T. Faris' The Romance of marginal sites which are merely listed. the Boundaries (1926). There is need for a Only one Minnesota site in the subject area larger study that tells, in the same rich detail, covered by the volume is considered to be of of the lesser surveys of 1857-1861, and of the exceptional value. It is Fort Snelling, cradle Alaska survey. of settlement and for many years the nation's northwesternmost military post, which was re­ cently designated a state park. Four other MILITARY LANDMARKS Minnesota sites fall in fhe category meriting at­ Soldier and Brave: Indian and Military Affairs tention — Birch Coulee, Fort Ridgely, New in the Trans-Mississippi West, Including a Ulm, and Wood Lake. All are associated with Guide to Historic Sites and Landmarks. Vol­ the Sioux Uprising of 1862 as are a number of ume XII: The National Survey of Historic spots in nearby North and South Dakota, such Sites and Buildings. By the NATIONAL PARK as Killdeer Mountain and Whitestone Hill, SERVICE. (New York, Harper & Row, 1963. which also appear. xviii, 279 p. Illustrations, maps. $6.50.) The Minnesota material is marred by nu­ merous small errors unworthy of such a book. Reviewed by June Drenning Holmquist The battle of Birch Coulee, for example, is said THIS BOOK will be welcomed by travelers to have lasted thirty-one days rather than who like to visit historic sites, by scholars seek­ thirty-one hours, and some confusion exists about the roles of Charles E. Flandrau and ing a compact review of military and Indian Inkpaduta in the Sioux Uprising. history west of the Mississippi from 1820 to 1890, and by aU who wish to know what sites The Minnesota sites selected are typical, for associated with that history have been pre­ frontier forts and battlefields account for a served and located. The wide-ranging volume large percentage of the entries. Readers will find the excellent maps useful in locating MRS. HOLMQUIST, associate editor on the staff various defense perimeters in the white man's of the Minnesota Historical Society, is the co­ push westward. Also of interest are the many author of Minnesota's Major Historic Sites: A illustrations and a perceptive introduction by Guide. Ray Allen Billington. The book is indexed, and

Spring 1964 33 the criteria used in selecting the sites are spelled authority which controls the actions of the out in an appendix. households. Mr. Rogers believes the Evangeli­ cal church with its native preachers is the most CHANGING CULTURE effective religious structure. But the natives still fear witchcraft, and have no way of counter­ The Round Lake Ofibwa. By EDWARD S. acting sorcery. Thus religion is separated from ROGERS. (Toronto, Ontario Department of the realities of life and becomes the cause of Lands and Forests, 1962. $4.00.) conffict in individuals and between members Reviewed by Sister Bernard Coleman of the same household. The book contains many excellent tables, THIS BOOK is the result of a year's field work maps, and plates, and a complete glossary of sponsored by the Royal Ontario Museum and former kinship terms and obligations, but no the University of Toronto. In it the author gives bibliography. a detailed description of the Ojibwa of Weaga- mow Lake, or "round lake," Ontario, as they SCHOLAR'S PROBLEM are today. Mr. Rogers brings out the changes that have taken place in the lives of these In­ THIRTEEN well-known historians have pooled dians during the past sixty years due to contact their talents to discuss the use of Generalization with Euro-Canadian traders, government offi­ in the Writing of History in a slender explora­ cials, and missionaries. The most evident modi­ tory study edited by Louis Gottschalk (Uni­ fications are in the economic system, and these versity of Chicago Press, 1963. 255 p. along with changes in the religious system, af­ $5.00.). The work, which will be of interest to fect the social organization. the serious scholar, presents the report of the A simple subsistence economy has been re­ committee on historical analysis of the Social placed by one based largely on exchange. The Science Research Council. The book is divided Ojibwa still trap and fish, but the resulting into three parts. The first opens with "Reflec­ products are sold, and the returns, together tions upon the Problem of Generalization" by with wages received for labor and government Chester G. Starr and contains six additional subsidies, are employed to purchase goods. essays by M. I. Finley, Arthur F. Wright, Derk Each year the Ojibwa manufacture fewer arti­ Bodde, Robert R. Palmer, Walter P. Metzger, cles and buy more things produced by outsiders. and Thomas C. Cochran dealing with the use of Today the household is the most important unit generalization in ancient and Chinese history, of consumption. Goods are considered private on the subjects of revolution, national char­ property, and trapping territories belong to the acter, and social role. Part 2 offers pieces by men who hunt in those areas. Mr. Gottschalk, Roy F. Nichols, WiUiam O. Mr. Rogers attacks the problem of social Aydelotte, and David M. Potter analyzing such change by analyzing alterations in roles. The problems as comparison, interpretation, and disappearance of the role of leader in the band theories and trends in historical writing. Part 3 and the appointment of a "chief" by the gov­ presents a bibliography. ernment resulted in the office becoming politi­ cal, without refigious, economic, or kinship as­ MORTH COUNTRY RAMBLES pects. The position of shaman disappeared, and ARMCHAIR VOYAGEURS will welcome the Christian rituals replaced native forms. new book by Sigurd F. Olson, Runes of the Kinship ties still fink, although weakly, a North (New York, 1963. 254 p.). Drawing number of households, and help to give soli­ on his wide experience of the North, the author darity to the group. A common way of life, a has woven together a series of essays ranging common language, and a feeling of opposition from an epicurean discussion of wild rice and to other communities and to Euro-Canadians, its origins to an Indian myth of "the dream net." help to unite the Ojibwa, but there is no one He roams geographically from the Yukon and Glacier Bay southeast to the Quetico-Superior SISTER BERNARD, who tcachcs sociology and an­ area. Most famfliar to Minnesotans will be the thropology in the College of St. Scholastica at section of the book called "Le Beau Pays" which Duluth, is the coauthor of a recent book on tells of the timberlands, rivers, and lakes of the Ojibwa Myths and Legends. Minnesota-Ontario border country.

34 MINNESOTA HistOTy . . . on the HISTORICAL HORIZON

IN ANSWER to a long-felt need, the church held by this commission centered about the records committee of the Society of American archives. A final solution was reached "only by Archivists has produced a first attempt to list the drawing of lots." all religious archival and historical depositories in the United States. Contrary to its title, this STUDENTS of cultural history will welcome Directory of Religious Archivists and Historians a new compilation of the writings of Montgom­ In America, 1962 (Mimeographed. 30. p.) ery Schuyler, an architectural critic of the late concentrates more heavily on depositories than nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. on personnel. However, as its compiler, August Edited by William H. Jordy and Ralph Coe, R. Suelflow, points out, "In some regional de­ American Architecture and Other Writings positories the collections do not have a perma­ (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1961. 2 vols. nent home, but are dependent on the place of 664 p.) brings together for the first time many residence of the archivist." Entries are organ­ of Schuyler's critical essays which heretofore ized alphabetically by denominational affilia­ could be found only in architectural periodicals. tion, and within denominations they are The works of Minnesota's Cass Gilbert are arranged alphabetically by states. No indication scrutinized, with particular attention being paid is given of the extent or nature of the holdings to fhe Woolworth Building. Considering that of various depositories. Among numerous Min­ "there could be no better places than the twin nesota listings are the fibraries of Gustavus cities to study the development of Western ar­ Adolphus, Augsburg, and St. Olaf colleges; the chitecture," Schuyler devotes considerable historical society of the Minnesota conference attention to the Minneapofis City Hall and of the Methodist church; and the Catholic dio­ Public Library, Gilbert's Dayton Avenue Pres­ ceses of St. Cloud, Crookston, New Ulm, and byterian Church in St. Paul, and the Pioneer Winona, as well as the archdiocese of St. Paul. Press Building, among others. The volumes in­ clude a lengthy editorial introduction as well A PROGRESS report by Robert M. Brown, as many illustrations and a bibliography. "Minnesota — The State Archives and Records Service Reconsidered," appears in The Ameri­ A SPATE of new books dealing with the life can Archivist for July, 1963. In this appraisal and writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald has recently of the first years of the archival program in the appeared. Of most obvious interest to Minne­ state, Mr. Brown discusses problems of space sotans will be Kenneth Eble's F. Scott Fitz­ requirements, microfilming needs, additional gerald (New York, 1963. 174 p.) which personnel, and the ever-present budget diffi­ deals at some length with the writer as "the culties which, in Minnesota, are heightened by boy from St. Paul." Mr. Eble considers the the fact that the archives commission is an in­ short stories of Fitzgerald in more detail than dependent agency whose "budget request is he does the novels. A different approach to the separate . . . and, standing alone, is vulner­ Minnesota author is made by William Goldhurst able." Citing work begun, as well as services in F. Scott Fitzgerald and his Contemporaries performed, such as document restoration and (Cleveland, 1963. 247 p.). Mr. Goldhurst's census records searches, the writer feels it is aim is to "show Scott Fitzgerald ... as an clear that the commission has been tiying to do active member of an incredibly vital literary too much with too little. He concludes, how­ community." To this end, he examines the jazz- ever, that since the goal is the preservation of age writer's growth in the light of influences state records, "the Archives Commission has exerted by four peers: Edmund Wilson, H. L. performed a not inconsiderable service in Min­ Mencken, Ring Lardner, and Ernest Heming­ nesota." The same issue contains an article by way. An index and a bibliography are included Margaret Rose on the problem of dividing in the volume, as well as an appendix contain­ "The Archives of Dakota Territory." In 1889, ing letters to Fitzgerald. A selection of The wdth the approach of statehood, a joint com­ Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald (New York, mission was appointed by the constitutional 1963. 615 p.) has been compiled and conventions of North and South Dakota "to edited by Andrew Turnbull. Embracing about make an equitable division ... of all Territo­ half of the letters available, Mr. Turnbull has rial property, including the pubhc records." The chosen "for readability, literary quality, and author points out that half of the discussions with an eye to displaying the variousness of

Spring 1964 35 their author's complex nature." The letters to tion. Beginning in the early 1900s, floods from Fitzgerald's daughter and those to Maxwell Per­ the Whitewater River and Beaver Creek began kins are among the most rewarding. St. Paulites to change the face of the land; at first the top- will recognize familiar names in the miscellane­ soil which washed down in the deluge was wel­ ous group. comed, but this was followed inevitably by silt and sand. By 1955 the viUage was virtually THE PART of "The Sibley Trail of 1863" which deserted. Its former site is now part of the traversed present-day Griggs County, North Whitewater State Park. Dakota, is explored by Dana Wright m the October, 1962, issue of North Dakota History. NEWS OF THE SOCIETY Illustrated with maps of the trail followed by the expedition, the article contains detailed in­ THE DEATH of Anna E. R. Furness on formation which describes and locates the vari­ March 17 has brought to an end the 115-year ous camp sites used by the nearly four thousand association of the Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota volunteers. Many of these sites are and the family of its first president. Governor unmarked, but Mr. Wright has identified them Alexander Ramsey. Miss Furness had been a geographically. The same issue contains a ram- member of the society's honorary council since bUng description of an earlier trek over part 1960 and had been preceded by her sister, of the route used by Sibley. In "Making a Path Laura, and her mother, Marian Ramsey to the Pacific: The Story of the Stevens Survey," Furness, both of whom served for many years W. M. Wemett explains the haste to sur­ on the executive council. In 1961 Miss Furness vey a possible raihoad route westward against made possible the establishment by the society a background of the brewing North-South of an Alexander Ramsey Scholarship in honor struggle rather than as a result of the California of her grandfather, and her historic home at gold rush, although he points out that the gold 265 South Exchange Street in St. Paul has hysteria overcame many prejudices regarding been willed to the society along with a trust the West. fund which will assure its restoration and main­ tenance as a memorial to Minnesota's first terri­ OF INTEREST to linguists as well as to Min­ torial governor. nesotans of Swedish ancestry will be an article dealing with "Language Displacement and THE SOCIETY suffered a heavy loss with the Language Influence in Swedish America," by death on December 11 of Charles F. Codere, Nils Hasselmo in the Swedish Pioneer of April, who had served since 1954 as chairman of the 1963. Basing his survey in part on tape-recorded finance committee. Over the past decade Mr. interviews with first, second, and third genera­ Codere made many contributions to the institu­ tion Swedes in a number of Minnesota commu­ tion's financial structure, one of the most im­ nities, the author states that American Swedish portant being the initiation of the annual fits into the categories of both colonial and foundation grant program, for which he was immigrant speech. Tracing in some detail the largely responsible. This has become a signifi­ alterations in the mother tongue and the result­ cant factor in the society's over-all budget. His ant "loanwords," "loanblends," and "loanshifts," quiet, skillful, and devoted service will be Mr. Hasselmo also notes that American Swedish deeply missed. is "Swedish more or less strongly influenced by Engfish in lexicon, grammar, and phonology" THE FIRST grants to aid authors in the prepa­ and is not, therefore, a mixed language. ration of book-length manuscripts for the so­ ciety were made in January and February from THE BIRTH and death of a Winona County funds made available by the McKnight Founda­ community has been told in We Remember. tion of St. Paul. The grants, which went to . . . The Beaver Story: 100 Years in the White­ Professor Carl H. Chrislock of Augsburg Col­ water Valley (Winona, Winona County His­ lege, and Helen McCann White of Wash­ torical Society, 1962. Illustrations, maps. 47 ington, D.C, were for the calendar year 1964. p.). Drawing chiefly on reminiscences by de­ Mrs. White is preparing a documentary account scendants of the original settlers, the booklet of overland migration across the northern plains gives a brief history of the settlement and in the 1860s, and Professor Chrislock is engaged founding in 1854 of the oldest village in the in a study of the effect of foreign policy issues Whitewater Valley. It tells how the geographic upon Minnesota politics from 1914 to World features of water power and fertile land, which War II. Both authors have in the past received originally had made Beaver a desirable loca­ the society's Solon J. Buck Award for articles tion, proved in the end to be forces of destruc- appearing in Minnesota History.

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