Volume 1 — CONTENTS OF VOLUME I (continued 10)

Now, I assume you love this country and that you love it because it is a free country and that you are here practicing your profession because of your desire to live in and to practice law in a country where fullest and freest opportunity is afforded you to work out your own destiny in your own way. In short, I assume that you favor a republican form of government and that you are devoted to America and its free institutions. I am sure that you would not have anyone believe otherwise of you because that would impute to you disloyalty and moreover it would impute to you a lack of intelligent enterprise by your remaining in a country that according to Pg 411 your ideas is improperly governed instead of removing yourself to the jurisdiction of another country which more nearly squares with your ideas of good government. So, I repeat that I assume that you are here because you like to be here under a government that suits you and which you love better than any other government on earth. Now, it is evident in your letter that you love and sympathize with Germany but the question arises in my mind whether your love is for the German people or for the German government. You can easily put yourself to the test. If you love the German people then you must desire them to have as good a government as you enjoy here and it ought to make you happy that your country, if it prevails in this war, will make the German people as free and as happy as you are. If, on the other hand, you are mostly concerned in the success of the German government, that is to say, if you are mostly concerned in having the present Hohenzollern dynasty remain in power, then it would seem to be quite clear that your love is not for the German people but for the Hohenzollern dynasty and the German autocracy. In other words, your love would then be of the form and not of the substance. You cannot love this country and its institutions and at the same time love the German autocracy. These are incompatible and repugnant one to the other. They cannot both exist in the same heart at the same time. Your love for the German people, as is your love of mankind generally, is entirely compatible with your love of this country but it must be clear to you, as it must be perfectly clear to every American, that you cannot love your country and the German people and mankind generally and at the same time love the fearful German autocracy which is trying to impose or impress its system, its frightfulness, and its wish and will upon the world and which in its mad lust for power silences the promptings of conscience, scoffs at the weakness of love for human-kind, deafens its ears to the dictates of humanity, and which in pursuit of its fell purpose sets at naught all law human and divine. Now let me ask you to search your heart and see whether your love for the German fatherland is a love compatible with your duties as an American citizen—whether it is compatible with your love of liberty and humanity—whether it is compatible Pg 412 with the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence that all men are entitled to the right of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”! If such love is compatible with all these then your love for the German fatherland is a virtue and not a vice. But, if searching deeply into your heart you find that your love of the fatherland means that you love the relentless, ruthless, and despotic Hohenzollern dynasty and its system, pluck it out as you would a cancer, for it is a thing of evil and you cannot love it and be a good and true American.

You write “The President’s statement to the effect that the War is not directed against the German people never appealed to me.” For the reasons I have just given it should appeal to you as an American and as a lover of liberty and it should appeal to the German people themselves and their sympathizers in this country. It should appeal to lovers of liberty the world over—this statement that we are warring on a Power and not a People. We are warring on the Power because it has set its hand and might against the world and setting aside all laws of God and man it has outlawed itself and has no right to live. But in destroying this Power there is no intent, or disposition, or wish to destroy the People. The President’s statement means, as I interpret it, that the one thing that stands between peace and war with Germany is the Hohenzollern dynasty. Once let that obstacle be removed either by the German people themselves or by the arbitrament of arms and our troubles and differences with Germany are over. Now can an American citizen of German extraction who puts the welfare and happiness of the people of Germany ahead of that of the Kaiser or, in other words, ahead of the Hohenzollern dynasty and the autocratic system which that dynasty embodies and typifies, enlist himself, his sympathies, his resources, his life, in a higher and holier cause than to join in emancipating the German people from the thrall of the Hohenzollern dynasty and to save the German people whom he professes to love from a doom which an outraged world has pronounced and sealed against the ruthless and frightful Hohenzollern system? Now and here is the opportunity for all who love the German people to give proof of it. Let them all get back of the President and of Pg 413 their government and to the extent of their influence, ability, might, and power help to bring to their brothers in blood across the sea that priceless boon of liberty and independence which they or their ancestors sailed the perilous seas to find here in America. Let them make sacrifice and help and fight to give to their friends and kinsmen across the ocean that which was given to most of them here without cost or sacrifice on their part.

It is quite apparent to almost everyone that there can be no peace—no permanent peace—in the world so long as one power seeks to impose its autocratic straight jacket upon the world. Since the birth of the American Republic, the world has been marching away from autocracy and toward universal democracy, gathering irresistible momentum with the advance of time. All rulers, all statesmen, all men recognize this fact.

Even in countries autocratically ruled greater liberties and rights have been accorded the common people and it is only a question of time when the doctrine of the divinity of kings will become a tradition and the world will become one vast democracy. I repeat that the world is turning with irresistible momentum to a world democracy and the rulers of the world recognize that the logic of events is bound to substitute governments “of, by and for the people” in place of “of, by and for” kaisers, czars, and kings. There is practically one autocracy in the world which still has the power and efficiency to make that power felt in its attempt, its will and purpose upon the world; but one power on earth that today constitutes a menace and obstruction to the onward tread of democracy and that power is Germany! It is the Hohenzollern dynasty which is illogically, in indifference and contempt of the world’s sentiment, ignoring the teachings of history, unheeding the warnings of history with that fatuousness which always blinds the eyes of those who look only for their self-aggrandizement, that is trying to turn the world backward. It is the Hohenzollern dynasty that has thrown itself in the path of the onward march of liberty and progress, trying not only to stem the irresistible physical and spiritual forces of the world but actually trying to rout and drive them back into the dark ages of despotism. Pg 414 It must be obvious to every thinking man that this attempt will fail. No man or set of men in this day or age will be permitted to rule the world. Every ruler, every dynasty which unyieldingly places itself in the pathway of liberty and progress will be overthrown; every people, no matter how powerful or great, which blindly and absolutely places itself behind, follows, and clings to such ruler and dynasty, will inevitably sooner or later be crushed and utterly destroyed with it. And so the German autocracy which today menaces the world and obstructs its progress will be overthrown and the German people if they continue blindly and absolutely to cling to their dynasty will inevitably share the same fate. Whether Germany prevails in this war or not, there will be and can be no lasting peace until the inevitable end is reached. So that in the end, be it sooner or later, democracy will be established and autocracy will perish. The destruction of the autocratic Hohenzollern dynasty would be a blessing to the world. The destruction of the German people would be a calamity to the world. I do not believe that the German people are going to commit national suicide. I do not believe that they are long going to continue to sacrifice the substance for the form. I do not believe that they will deem it wise to suffer a national death in order to uphold the life of a government that is based on error, not on truth, which the world tried and found wanting, and which is responsible for the catastrophe which has befallen themselves and the world at large. It is unthinkable—it is unbelievable—that the German people are unaffected by the onward movement of democracy and that they alone will continue to hug the despotism and the system that is unsuited to the requirements and unworthy of a modern civilization. Wherefore, it would seem clear to me that all citizens of German extraction would be quick to realize and appreciate the force of the President’s declaration that we are not warring against the German people but against the German autocracy and would enthusiastically support their own government in a purpose which means freedom to the German people, and in thus giving their whole hearted support to their own government they would be discharging their duty, they would be true to their allegiance as American citizens, Pg 415 and at the same time they would be furthering the best interests of the German people and aiding them in the only way in which they properly can.

I have received a number of letters of the same purport as yours and I am going to publish my letter to you so that it may serve as an answer likewise to others who are minded as you are. I know that there are in our midst a number of serious, well-meaning men who hold the ideas and sentiments which you have expressed—sentiments which, it is perfectly clear, are incompatible with the duties and responsibilities of American citizenship in a crisis like this as well as incompatible with the intelligence and the character of the men entertaining them. In the various public speeches I have made and communications I have published during this crisis, I have sought to speak only in the furtherance of what I understand and conceive to be the truth of the matter and the welfare of our country. I have been animated solely by a purpose to dispel error and to promote the interests of our country and not by the slightest ill-feeling or malice toward any man. I have sought to express myself frankly and without reserve but, at the same time, I hope fairly, courteously, and without malice or feeling. Having lived amongst Americans of German extraction all my life and counting amongst them many of my best and dearest friends, I believe that I know their processes of thought, their sentiments, their prejudices, and their intelligence. I know that they would not prefer to remain in error if once convinced that they are in error. They do not want to be deceived. They do not want to be flattered into silence or apparent conviction. They like to hear straight, plain, blunt talk. Loving law and order and respecting authority, as I know they do, I have always believed that the great mass of our citizens of German extraction would never permit themselves to be placed in an attitude of hostility to the orderly and just administration of the law or permit their loyalty or fidelity to be suspected or challenged. I know that when once convinced they are quick to abandon a position once they see that it is untenable.

And so I have written this letter in the hope that I might be instrumental in showing you that your position is untenable Pg 416 and in the hope that you will abandon it for one which will reflect credit on your patriotism, your judgment, and your citizenship and which at the same time will afford you the best opportunity for advancing the interests and welfare of your kinsmen across the sea.

Very truly yours, Paul O. Husting.

Pg 417

HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS

THE BEGINNINGS OF MILWAUKEE

Mr. B. F. Williams, of the firm of Williams and Stern, lawyers, of Milwaukee, visited the Historical Library in January in search of material concerning the building of the first courthouse in Milwaukee, to be used in an injunction suit to prevent the removal of the Milwaukee County Courthouse from its present site. A member of the Library staff assisted him in his work, and found among the Society’s manuscripts and pamphlets much material concerning the first days of American occupation in Milwaukee. The village of Milwaukee (east side) was organized in September, 1835, with Solomon Juneau as president; the village of Kilbourntown (Milwaukee west side) was organized about the same time with Byron Kilbourn as president. In January, 1838, the two villages were united by an act of the Wisconsin territorial legislature.

Morgan L. Martin, of Green Bay, was the real founder of Milwaukee. In 1833 he noted the advantages of the site for a harbor, and secured from Lewis Cass, secretary of war, an order for its survey. Meantime Martin made a proposition to Juneau, the only settler on the site, to take an undivided half of his claim, Juneau promising not to sell any of his share without Martin’s consent. Martin in this transaction evinced both wisdom and generosity—generosity in giving Juneau a chance to share the profits of the enterprise (for many men would have bought his claim outright for a small sum); wisdom in binding Juneau not to dispose of his share without advice. The result proved the value of Martin’s foresight. In 1834 the preëmption act made Juneau’s claim substantial. About this time Martin bought the preëmption right of Peter Juneau, which lay south of Solomon’s claim. The Michigan legislature, of which Martin was a member, erected Milwaukee County in 1834, and in 1835 organized the same, with the county seat at the village of Milwaukee.

In the meanwhile during 1834 many Americans visited the site of the future city and saw its possibilities for growth. Among these was Byron Kilbourn who secured a claim to the west side of Milwaukee Pg 418 River. Martin and Juneau, early in 1835, proposed to Kilbourn to unite their interests. Kilbourn ignored this offer, and proceeded to develop his town alone. Meanwhile both town sites were surveyed and their plats put on record. Martin and Juneau began to develop their property, by opening and grading streets. One block in the heart of the town was set aside for the courthouse, and nearly $12,000 (a large sum for that time) was spent in erecting a suitable building. The ground around the new public building was given to the village in perpetuity, for the use of the county courts.

A large number of letters from Juneau to Martin are in the possession of the State Historical Society, and are interesting as revealing the growth of the village, and the personality of its proprietors. Although Martin and Juneau had transactions involving many thousands of dollars, there never was any disagreement between them. Neither did they have a written contract, each one relying upon the honor of the other. And when hard times fell upon the little settlement in 1837 and later, each partner bore his share of misfortune cheerfully and without a word of accusation or disagreement. Even after the union of Milwaukee village and Kilbourntown in 1838, a considerable rivalry was maintained between the two parts of the town, which in some measure has persisted to the present day.

Louise P. Kellogg.

THE SENATORIAL ELECTION OF 1869

In 1869 Wisconsin elected a new senator to represent her in Congress. It was conceded on every hand that James R. Doolittle, whose term expired March 4, 1869, had misrepresented the state’s sentiment in his support of President Johnson during the impeachment trial, and that he had no chance of reëlection. This situation brought out a number of candidates, most of whom were “new” men. Among the tried and true candidates the most prominent were Cadwallader C. Washburn, then congressman for the southwestern section of the state, and Horace Rublee, vigorous editor of the chief Republican newspaper at Madison. Ex-Governor Salomon was also in the field, but his candidacy was not taken very seriously. The new men who were most prominently talked of were Otis H. Waldo Pg 419 and Matt H. Carpenter, both of them Milwaukee lawyers. Waldo was the elder of the two, a man of ability and power, and a Republican from the foundation of the party. Carpenter was of Democratic antecedents, a recent adherent of the reigning party. His strength lay in his brilliant oratory, keen wit, and deep knowledge of men. Erratic in his methods, but meteoric in his cleverness, he persuaded and enthralled his hearers when opportunity was afforded him for speech. Carpenter had made a national reputation by his arguments in the Supreme Court on the Reconstruction issue. The president-elect, General Grant, and his advisers were favorable to Carpenter’s candidacy, which gave the Milwaukee lawyer a strong endorsement with Wisconsin Republicans.

The senatorial campaign opened in June, and largely governed the elections for the ensuing Wisconsin legislature. By December the situation had become acute, and all parties were lined up for the contest. The preferences of every legislator-elect were canvassed and recanvassed; and each candidate presented his claims and qualifications to the prominent members of the coming legislature in personal letters. The State Historical Society has recently received a gift of a few letters relating to this campaign addressed to the Honorable Andrew Jackson Turner, of Portage, then an influential figure in Wisconsin politics. Three of these letters, written in the early winter of 1868-69, are from Carpenter, who bespeaks Turner’s support at the coming legislative session. Turner, however, had given his pledge to Horace Rublee, and had been by him chosen manager of his campaign. December 9, 1868, Carpenter wrote to Turner from Washington: “I rec^d your favor just as I was leaving home, postponing me in your affections to Mr. Rublee. But I think this will make no difference. I am sure the conflict will be between Mr. Washburn and myself & that he will be elected, if I am not. You say that you shall support me next to Rublee, and I desire to thank you for this.”

The most interesting letter of the lot is that of Rublee himself, written November 23, 1868. In it he canvasses the entire legislative personnel, telling of the predilections of each member and concluding: “In my judgement Carpenter cannot be elected, & I certainly think he ought not to be elected.”

Pg 420 As all the world knows, Rublee was wrong. During the legislative session, Carpenter’s manager arranged a public meeting in which all the candidates were to set forth their views on the questions of the day. This meeting was contemptuously dubbed by Rublee “A Spelling-down”; none the less, neither he nor any other of the candidates dared refuse the invitation to speak. Carpenter’s great powers as an orator stood him in good stead, and at the Republican caucus held soon after the speech-making contest, he was triumphantly nominated, and elected, in due course, by the Republican majority in the state legislature.

The intimate picture these old letters afford of the log-rolling days before the direct election of the senators by the people, gives them historical value for students of political methods, and lays bare the reasons that induced the modern revolt against “machine-made” representatives in the upper house of Congress.

Louise P. Kellogg.

“KOSHKONONG” AND “MAN EATER”

Lake Koshkonong is one of the most beautiful sheets of water in Wisconsin. In primitive times the region adjacent to it must have constituted a perfect paradise for the red man. Even yet, notwithstanding its settlement by whites for nearly three generations, this is one of the favorite resorts of Wisconsin sportsmen. The Indian name “Koshkonong” has usually been explained as meaning “the lake we live on.”[132] The letter which follows, recently presented to the State Historical Society by H. L. Skavlem, of Janesville, offers both a new rendering of the Indian name and a new interpretation of it. No less interesting to those who care for Wisconsin’s primitive history is the new rendition offered of the name of Man Eater, the Rock River chief who dwelt on the shore of Lake Koshkonong a century ago. Mrs. Kinzie, the author of Wau Bun, saw Man Eater or “Mee-chee-tai” on at least two occasions. Over against the sad picture which Peter Vieau paints should be set her Pg 421 description of him as “a most noble Indian in appearance and character.”

Portage, Sept. 2, 1900.

Mr. Buckley, Attorney, Beloit, Wis.

Dear Sir:

Having forgotten your initials I am compelled to address you as above.

Some months ago you wrote me concerning “Man Eater’s” village and why he was called “Man Eater.” I had no knowledge of the origin of his name, but the location of his village was easily ascertainable. Your inquiry aroused a desire to know more of the famous old Indian and I have made many inquiries myself, but without results, until the thought occurred to me to address a note to the venerable Peter J. Vieau, of Muskego, which I did through Mr. D. M. Fowler, of Milwaukee. I copy from Mr. V.’s reply, through an amanuensis:

“I never knew a lake of that name 'Kosh-ko-nong’ but I know 'Kosh-kau-no-nong,’ meaning termination of a lake or river, a dam or any obstruction making an ending, a stop, an absolute end.

“Well, then, I never knew a chief of that name, but I knew one of the name of 'Mee-chee-tai.’ He was not a full-blooded chief, but was considered as one among the Indian tribe. He was half Winnebago and Pottowatomie. He was a powerful man and a terror among the tribe. He was looked upon as a sorcerer, and lived at that time as I recollect in the neighborhood of Kosh-kau-no-nong. He used to do his trading with Jacques Vieau, my father, when my father opened his trading post in Milwaukee as early as 1795. It must be the same man Mr. Turner refers to 'Mee-chee-tai’; it means 'Heart-Eater.’ Now then the above statement can be substantiated by my sister, Mrs. May Vieau Lavigne, visiting with me at present. She knew him well, too.

“'Mee-chee-tai’ was killed by his son in a drunken frolic about the time of the speculation in Milwaukee in '35 or '36. He killed his wife and his son 'Shaw-gun-osh’ tried to save his mother, and killed the old man his father, and that ended his fearful career. He was considered a good Indian when sober. Father used to think much of him. He was honest in his dealings. He was a great juggler, performed great tricks, &c.

Yours P. J. V.”

Did you ever see any reference to this Indian in any place other than “Wau-Bun”?

Very respectfully, A. J. Turner.

Pg 422 THE ALIEN SUFFRAGE PROVISION IN THE CONSTITUTION OF WISCONSIN[133]

According to the organic law of Wisconsin Territory, enacted by Congress in erecting the territory in 1836, only citizens of the United States were eligible to the franchise (section V, proviso). About the year 1840, immigrants from Germany, the British Isles, and Norway became an appreciable factor in the population of the territory; but the naturalization law requiring a five years’ residence disfranchised this large group of settlers. The situation grew tense by 1843, especially since the question of statehood was being discussed, and seemed likely to come to a head in 1844. Moreover, the matter was complicated by the Native-American agitation throughout the country. Many openly advocated a twenty-one year provision for naturalization, and Wisconsin’s foreigners grew restive under this possibility.

It seemed quite certain that the Wisconsin legislature of 1844 would pass a law providing for a referendum on the subject of statehood. In December, 1843, a large public meeting of German citizens was called at Milwaukee who drew up a petition for the right to participate in this referendum. This was signed by 1,200 persons, and was probably the largest petition ever presented to the territorial legislature. It became impossible to ignore the demand of the foreign settlers. The Whig and Democratic parties were struggling for the control of the territorial offices. Wisconsin was normally Democratic by an overwhelming majority, but the Tyler administration had appointed a Whig governor, and patronage went with the administration. The Whigs were accused of alliance with nativism; it therefore became them to prove the falsity of the charge. The Democrats felt certain of the foreign vote. The legislature, therefore, on January 22, 1844, passed “An Act in relation to the qualification of voters for state government and for the election of delegates to form a state constitution,” which provided that “all free white male inhabitants above the age of 21 years, who have resided in said territory three months shall be deemed qualified, and shall be permitted to vote on said question” and for delegates to a convention to frame a constitution.

Pg 423 The referendum vote which was taken in September, 1844, proved adverse to the question of a state government. There is no means of ascertaining how many foreigners voted upon the question, but the entire vote was very light, and the alien voters seem not to have influenced the decision, which was anticipated by all parties in the territory.

About the same time the territorial legislature passed the act above referred to, General Henry Dodge, Wisconsin’s territorial delegate in Congress, presented to that body a petition signed by 300 citizens in the western part of the territory praying for a repeal of the proviso in the fifth section of the organic law of Wisconsin, and for the passage of a law granting suffrage to every free white male inhabitant of the age of twenty-one years within the territory, foreigners included. This is the petition referred to by G. F. Franklin in his Legislative History of Naturalization. The names of the signers of the petition are not available. We conjecture that they were those of the Cornish miners of that region, rather than of the American settlers, because in after debates, the southwest section of the state opposed the law allowing aliens to vote.

The law of 1844 was at once attacked, and was made the basis of an attempt to defeat several prominent members of the legislature who had voted for it. This was especially true in the northeast section where the reëlection of Dr. Mason C. Darling, a prominent Democrat, was opposed because of his advocacy of the alien voting law. It was claimed that the law was unconstitutional, violating both the Constitution of the United States and the organic law of the territory. Dr. Darling came out with several long addresses on the subject, basing the right of aliens to vote on the twelfth article of the Ordinance of 1787, and on the inherent right of a sovereign state to form its constitution as it thought best.

Dr. Darling was reëlected, but the legislature of 1845 had hardly begun its session when a determined effort was made to repeal the law of the previous session. In the course of the debates Dr. Darling offered a clause on the declaration of intention as an amendment, and another member amended the three months to six months. Both of these changes were accepted by the friends of the bill as compromise measures to mitigate the opposition. Dr. Darling said in Pg 424 his argument that he considered the intention declaration as of no consequence, except as an evidence of actual settlement. This compromise saved the bill, and the amended act, approved February 8, 1845, reads: “No person shall hereafter vote upon the subject of state government, or for delegates to form a state constitution, who shall not have resided six months within the Territory, and as an additional qualification shall be a citizen of the United States, or shall have declared his intention to become such; as the law requires.”

Thus the matter rested until the legislature of 1846 arranged again to submit the question of a state government to the people. An attempt was made by the Whig party to amend the law of 1845 and allow only citizens to vote. The suffrage provision was complicated by differences concerning negro, half-breed, and Indian suffrage. On the test vote the law of 1845 was maintained by the strong majority of 19 to 7, nearly all the Democrats voting in its favor.

The constitutional convention met in October, 1846, and the question of alien suffrage was much debated. Upon the ground that the acts of 1844 and 1845 were both unconstitutional, petitions poured in, especially from the Southwest, to limit the franchise to citizens of the United States. The foreigners also availed themselves of the right of petition, and the able German delegates in the convention created a favorable impression for alien suffrage. As finally adopted, the article granted suffrage to one-year residents, and “all white persons not citizens of the United States, who shall have declared their intention to become such, in conformity with the laws of Congress for the naturalization of aliens, and shall have taken before any officer of this state * * * an oath to support the constitution of the United States and of this state.”

The constitution of 1846 was rejected by the people. In the discussion, then, of the provision for alien voters it played but a small part. The friends of the constitution set forth its liberality to foreigners and the fact that it acknowledged the equal rights nature bestowed upon foreign and native-born citizens alike. Opponents of the constitution set forth on the one hand the over-liberality to the alien element, and on the other hand the requirement of an additional oath as an illiberal burden to foreign residents.

Pg 425 In the constitutional convention of 1847-48 the subject of the foreign franchise occupied a large share of the time of the delegates. The delegates from the western counties came with a deliberate determination to limit the franchise to citizens of the United States. The admission of foreigners to suffrage placed the West in a permanent minority, as the lake-board and middle sections of the territory had the bulk of the immigrant population.

The original proposition as brought in by the committee restored the residence requirement to six months, retained the intention of citizenship clause, and omitted the special oath. The examples of New York, Ohio, and Illinois were cited. One member urged that the one-year requirement was necessary in New York to ascertain the permanent character of the residence, while all who came to Wisconsin came for permanent homes and six months was long enough to prove residence. The effect of the shorter period would be to encourage foreigners to file their intentions sooner. It was admitted that the six-months provision was carried in committee by a very narrow majority.

The attack on the article on alien suffrage was begun by an amendment to limit suffrage to citizens. It was alleged that the article as reported by the committee was unconstitutional and would cause Congress to reject the constitution. In reply the similar provisions in the constitutions of Ohio and Illinois were cited. The new constitution of Illinois was cited by both parties to the controversy; one claiming the change had occurred because of dissatisfaction with the more liberal provision; the other that Illinois’ new constitution had not yet been acted upon. Charges were freely made of demagoguery—that the Democrats were toadying to the foreign vote. In reply, the Democrats appealed to the liberality and progressiveness of their party policies, and declared that the aliens, being taxed, were entitled to vote. The citizen amendment was defeated by a vote of 53 to 16; and the suffrage article as originally reported by the committee was incorporated into the constitution. With the amendments required by the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the provision was part of the organic law of Wisconsin until 1912.

Louise P. Kellogg.

Pg 426

EDITORIAL

INCREASE A. LAPHAM AND THE GERMAN AIR RAIDS

The reader may well be excused if at first sight he is puzzled over our title. What possible connection can there be between the simple Wisconsin scholar, whose life of busy service for the betterment of humanity terminated almost half a century ago, and the baby-killing air raids upon London and other English cities with which the soldiers of Emperor William are accustomed to divert themselves?

Gentle reader, we propose to show you. Increase A. Lapham delved in many fields of learning, but chiefly he was a scientist and perhaps his greatest single achievement was his practical conquest of the secret of foretelling the weather. Now we learn, on the authority of the London Illustrated News, that the imperial German government has utilized Lapham’s discovery to insure the success (or at least to minimize the danger) of its air raids on London. “When the east wind blows beware of air raids.” Thus might a modernized English edition of Poor Richard’s Almanac read. Also, “When the night is moonlight, beware of air raids,” but frequently moonlight nights are enjoyed sans the nocturnal visitants. The twofold explanation is that the air raiders must have clear weather and it is desirable if not essential that they have the wind behind them on the outward raid and in their faces on the return journey, rather than vice versa. The Germans have control of Europe from the North Sea far into Russia and so it is possible for their meteorological observation posts to give warning for something like twelve hours in advance of any change in weather conditions coming down behind an east wind. As long, therefore, as there is a steady wind across Europe anywhere between northeast and southeast those in charge of the raiding squadrons in Belgium have full warning of what the weather is Pg 427 going to be like. Accordingly the fiendish flying brood can be sent forth in confident assurance that neither its arrival at its destination nor its return to the home station will be frustrated by stormy weather.

Increase Lapham labored for years to promote his great discovery because he had a vision of the service it would be to mankind. One of his most striking arguments for enlisting community action in the promotion of his work was a calculation of the number of lives and of vessels which annually would be saved from destruction on Lake Michigan alone. Happily for him he did not live to witness the spectacle of the world’s most efficient government perverting his great achievement to the promotion of the indiscriminate slaughter of the men and women, the mothers and babies of the world’s greatest metropolis.

SAVE THE RELICS[134]

The original of the letter written by Horace Greeley, sometime near the middle of the sixties, in reply to the application for advice of a discharged soldier boy, and in which occurred the famous phrase, “Go west, young man, and grow up with the country,” is supposed to have been destroyed, with other valuable historic papers, in a recent fire in Youngstown, Ohio.

It was superb advice profitably followed by thousands of young men, sires and grandsires of millions of the finest of western citizens of today.

But—Why was that historic document in private possession? That was not at all fit wit for our Youngstown friend to exhibit. In the safe custody of the Ohio Historical Society that precious letter justly belonged, and there it would repose securely now if prudence had but guided its owner.

Pg 428 Which raises the pertinent question—Have you an historical souvenir that is being endangered while you neglect to transfer it to the Wisconsin State Historical Society? Wisconsin homes contain many mementoes that rightly belong in the historical society’s fireproof building.

Are you playing safe? Let us not expose the lack of circumspection shown by the Youngstown antiquarian. Besides—Ten thousand persons can enjoy relics in the historical rooms where one does in a private home.

Therefore—Be warned!

THE NEWSPAPERS[135]

It is the glory of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin that Draper gathered into its collections the papers of the Ohio Valley migrations, that Thwaites added the records of the fur trade, and that neither forgot while pursuing these remote and unique sources to assemble day after day the current accumulations of the people among whom they lived. As the latter collector and editor loved to say: The history for tomorrow is preserved in the waste paper baskets of today. The society that lays aside the policy of accumulating accessions to devote itself to the conscious pursuit of particular treasures can never become more useful than its curators or wiser than its superintendent. The greatest libraries are those whose growth has been chiefly in the routine addition, from year to year of all that has been regarded as worth saving, and of much more whose immediate value has been doubtful.

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has for so many years followed the practice of saving its daily newspapers, and adding to them as opportunity occurs, that it now owns one of the notable American collections. From the middle of the last century, when the state came into being, the development of its people can be traced in the detail Pg 429 which only the inquisitive county daily can follow. Its relations to the Northwest and to the rest of the nation can be checked in the selected files which have ever been cherished. Through the wise foresight of its founders it owns the great sources for all of modern history—for in our day the course of the historian is more and more fundamentally laid among the newspapers.

It has not been altogether easy to build up this collection. A metropolitan daily of today means twelve large volumes to be bound, shelved, and housed each year. The cubic contents of the sources know no limit. There is some room for fear that after they have been stored away they may rot in their bindings before any scholar uses them.

But no society which understands the course of modern history can fail to run the risk of dry-rot or to preserve such records as exist. For no period before the present is there such a factual reconstruction possible as we possess. No newspaper can lie and live—very long. The user must correct for bias, and careless error, and malicious misstatement, all of which occur in nearly every issue of any paper. But no student can read a continuous series of files for twenty years without knowing that he has before him the truth, and more of the truth than society has known in any earlier period.

In our judgment one of the great functions of any historical society today is to collect ephemeral literature, beginning with the newspapers of its immediate region and extending as far as its money and its shelves permit. No Society should be too poor for the town dailies and one New York file. Larger societies may take in the county, or the region, as the area for their collections, and may increase the selected list of remote journals to be preserved. All will be judged in the future by the intelligence and patience in this direction which their shelves may finally reveal. None can Pg 430 be permanently of greatest use with a policy such as is exposed in the journal of a sister society:

“The State of * * * has thousands of them [newspapers] in the Libraries of the State House. Many of them are bound, others are unbound, tied in bundles and carefully stowed away. Their day is done; rarely has any one in our knowledge asked to examine any of these newspapers for any date or facts. History has culled from them such truths as could point a moral, or hold out a danger signal to the world of the present time, and they are closed, perhaps never more to be consulted.”

REMOVING THE PAPACY TO CHICAGO

Possession of the faith by which mountains are removed is, we are inclined to think, the fundamental characteristic of the American spirit. To the American all things are possible because the true American takes it for granted that to him nothing is impossible. The manifestation of this spirit has its unpleasant—oftentimes its ridiculous—side, of course; yet the possession of it has made possible the performance here in the New World of miracles as astonishing as any set forth in holy writ.

By popular consent the metropolis of our inland seas has long since come to be regarded as perhaps the most striking exponent, among cities, of the characteristic American spirit. Throughout her history the supreme confidence of her citizens in the city’s present greatness and future development, together with the will to transmute the prolific visions of her leaders into present realities, has constituted her most valuable civic asset. We have seen no better illustration of this characteristic Chicago (and American) spirit than the one contained in a story which William J. Onahan, a Chicago Irishman of sixty-four years’ standing relates. Meeting Mr. Armour on a street corner at a time when, because of political turmoil in Italy there was talk of the Pope’s seeking an asylum Pg 431 outside the peninsula, the two stopped to talk for a moment, whereupon the captain of industry calmly proposed that the papacy be brought to Chicago. Onahan undertook to explain something of the magnitude of the Pope’s responsibilities, and the impossibility of the proposed removal from the Eternal to the Windy City, with the following result:

“Mr. Armour listened patiently to my harangue on the necessities of the Pope, and then proposed another conundrum to me: 'How much would it take to provide all these buildings?’

“I did not know; could not guess. Would it take ten millions—twenty millions?

“'Look here,’ he added, 'you undertake this affair. You know how to manage these things. You get the Pope to agree to come to Chicago. We can arrange and provide everything suitable for his needs.’

“'Why, how on earth could you do these things?’ I asked in bewilderment.

“'I’ll tell you my idea,’ he said. 'We will get a big tract of land outside Chicago, ten or twenty thousand acres. We will build necessary offices, a palace, a great Cathedral, whatever may be necessary. Half that land set apart and turned over to the Pope, don’t you see that we will make enough out of the other half to pay for the whole business?’

“I was dumfounded at the audacity of the idea, the ingenuity and method of carrying it out, and the characteristic Chicago aim—'there’s money in it.’ When, many years afterwards I saw the wonderful 'White City’—the World’s Fair—its marvelous architectural beauty, the vastness and symmetry of its buildings, the beauty of all the arrangements, I said to myself, Chicago could indeed, if put to it, build a new Eternal City.”

Pg 432

COMMUNICATIONS

“CAMOUFLAGE” AND “EATLESS DAYS” TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO

The war in Europe has revived, and brought into common use, in all languages, the term “camouflage,” denoting any contrivance to hide or disguise by one side to deceive and confuse the enemy. This term, if derived from the French camouflet, pronounced cam-u-flay, appears in the International Encyclopedia and is defined as: “A stinking compound in paper cases used in siege attacks to blow into the faces of sappers and miners to confuse them.” The word must have been buried, for I find no mention of it in any other encyclopædia. The use of the term in a wider sense appears in The Letters to Authors, of Voltaire, dated 1730, where he savagely characterizes a rival writer of that period thus in rhyme:

There is no set of Voltaire in English in Monroe, hence I translate without rhyme the French copy:

I find by the same author, under the title, Misfortunes of Charles I:

“Parliament ordered the public burning by the hangman of the tract written by James the First wherein he states that it is proper for people to have sport and amusements after divine service on Sundays. The same parliament names one day each week as a day Pg 433 of fasting and ordered that the value of the food thus saved be paid to help defray the expense of the civil war then raging.”

Yours truly, John Luchsinger.

Monroe, Wisconsin.

DANIEL WEBSTER’S WISCONSIN INVESTMENTS

At the time of the appearance of the communications relating to Webster’s western investments in the first and second numbers of this magazine I chanced to see in the Personal Recollections of Robert S. Rantoul (Cambridge, Mass., Privately Printed, 1916) a reference to the same subject which seems worth calling to the attention of those interested in western history.

The author of the Recollections says that the early death of his father, Robert Rantoul, was in part due to the financial disaster which overtook him—he died at forty-seven—and proceeds to explain the circumstances. He had known that his father spent much time in the Middle West between 1845 and 1850 and that he had a high estimate of the economic and political possibilities of the upper Mississippi Valley; but it was not until long after his father’s death that he learned something of the speculations and reverses in that region which hastened it.

The facts were as follows: Rantoul, Rufus Choate, and Caleb Cushing were trustees in a scheme, in which Webster, Cass, and a few others were also concerned, to get control of the headwaters of the Mississippi, saw the lumber, and float it down to markets in the rapidly growing cities and towns of the Middle West. Cass had shown that such a plan was practicable; but the associates knew, also, that there was mineral wealth in the region of Fort Snelling. Indian implements of that vicinity were inlaid with lead and copper. They had ill-timed, if not over-sanguine, hopes of great gain therefrom. The trustees managed everything and issued stock certificates in December, 1845. They had received a charter the preceding August as the St. Croix and Lake Superior Mineral Company. Nothing but trouble followed. After a dam had been built at St. Anthony’s Falls their land titles were attacked and their logs were carried away by a spring flood. Cushing, who was to have been Pg 434 governor of the new territory, went to the Mexican War. Choate was too absorbed in his profession and too indifferent to business matters to pay attention to the management of the undertaking. The whole burden fell upon Rantoul and was too great for him to bear. After his death in 1852 Cushing gave some attention to the business but Rantoul’s executors would not coöperate and his interest in the project lapsed with loss of the money and labor which he had devoted to the enterprise.

The son also remarks on the fact that his father was one of the incorporators of the Illinois Central Railroad, wrote its charter, and passed it through the legislature, where—as is well known—Abraham Lincoln was the opposing counsel.

Yours truly, Asa Currier Tilton.

Madison, Wisconsin.

Pg 435

SURVEY OF HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES

THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE

Twenty-one new members were added to the State Historical Society during the quarter ending March 31, 1918, eight to the life and thirteen to the annual membership class. In addition, two annual members of the Society, Col. Marshall Cousins, of Eau Claire, and Oscar G. Boisseau, of Holden, Mo., transferred to the life membership group. The new life members are: John S. Allen, John N. Cadby, Williard O. Hotchkiss, Edward J. B. Schubring, Halsten J. Thorkelson, Madison; Adam A. Beck, Rev. James M. McManus, William A. Roblier, of Coloma; John H. Tweedy, Jr., of Milwaukee. The new annual members are: Prof. John G. Callan, Peter J. Connor, Prof. Charles A. Smith, Miss K. Bernice Stewart, Mrs. Magnus Swensen, of Madison; W. I. Goodland, E. W. Leach, of Racine; Azel C. Hough, of Janesville; Andrew J. Hutton, of Waukesha; John B. MacHarg, of Appleton; Charles D. Stewart, of Hartford; R. E. Van Matre, of Darlington; John P. DeMeritt, of White Plains, New York.

* * * * *

Many interesting additions to the Library’s collection of non-current newspaper files were made during the first quarter of 1918. By far the most important is the Illinois Intelligencer, published at Kaskaskia and (later) Vandalia, for the years 1817-31. This paper was the first to be published in Illinois, its name in the beginning being the Illinois Herald. Through the courtesy of the University of Illinois Library our Society has been afforded the opportunity to make a photostatic reproduction of the file for the fourteen years included in the period noted. From the widow of the founder and publisher, Rev. I. L. Hauser, has been received the file for the first five years, 1869-74, of the Milwaukee Index, later and better known as the Christian Statesman. Other Wisconsin files acquired include the Algoma Record, 1910-18, and six issues (out of a total of ten published) of the Bugle Blast, Lake Mills’ first newspaper. From Minnesota has come a complete file of the short-lived Winona Daily News, published from September 14 to October 7, 1916. Other files from without the state include: Lawrenceburg Indiana Palladium, April-December, 1825; Indianapolis Locomotive, 1850-52; Logansport Journal, April-December, 1864; Cincinnati Brauerei Arbeiter Zeitung, 1910-17; Baltimore Manufacturers Record, 1916-18; New Pg 436 York Army and Navy Journal, 1902-10; New York Fatherland, 1914-17; Tokyo Japan Mail, 1915-17.

* * * * *

Through the agency of the historical committee of the Congregational Church in Wisconsin an important collection of yearbooks, church periodicals, pamphlets, books, and other material on Congregationalism, which had been gathered at the business headquarters of the church in Madison, has been turned over to the State Historical Society. Much of the collection thus received duplicates material already owned by the Library; it will go in due time to swell the resources of some sister institution which lacks and needs it. The remainder constitutes a welcome addition to our own important collection of material in the field of Congregational church history. Thus another step is taken in the process of making the State Historical Library the repository of all available material pertaining to the history of the several religious denominations of Wisconsin. For the latest acquisition particular obligation is acknowledged to Rev. John N. Davidson, Rev. S. T. Kidder, and Rev. Henry A. Miner, Congregational ministers, all of Madison. Their active and intelligent interest in making the sources of their denominational history accessible to scholars is worthy of emulation. Who will be next to “come across” on behalf of his own denomination?

* * * * *

Mrs. Anna Roberts Beagle, of Menomonie, has presented the Society with three interesting family heirlooms. One is a Welsh Bible brought to America in 1817 by her father, Richard Roberts, who in later life was for many years a resident and justice of the peace at Menomonie. Another is a sword carried by her father’s brother, Daniel Roberts, in the War of 1812. The third is an English hunting knife brought from England in 1817, which according to the tradition of the family has been in its possession for many generations.

* * * * *

From Fred M. Griswold of Lake Mills have been received six issues of the Lake Mills Bugle Blast, publication of which as a monthly was begun in December, 1863. Mr. Griswold states that the Bugle Blast was Lake Mills’ first paper, and that only ten issues were published in all. It was a modest sheet, put out, apparently, in spare time by the proprietor, who also played the rôles of editor and devil as well. The annual subscription price was twenty-five cents at first, but before long the cost of materials compelled an increase to thirty cents. The file which Mr. Griswold has presented constitutes an interesting addition to the Society’s collection of Wisconsin newspapers.

Pg 437 * * * * *

During the month of March, a special exhibit of Dutch war cartoons, lent for the purpose by Prof. Arnold Dresden, was made in the State Historical Museum. They accompanied the issues of the newspaper De Nieuwe Amsterdamer, and are the work of the famous Dutch cartoonists, P. Vanderham, Willy Sluiter, and Jan Sluyters. The cartoons measure 12½ by 19 inches in size and nearly all of them are printed in colors. They deal with such subjects as the German war horrors, war conditions in Holland, the neutrals, and peace. The most striking of the latter class is one in which the Angel of Peace is seen stooping over the world, which, porcupine-like, is completely covered with protruding bayonets. The translated inscription reads: “I do not find a spot where I can take hold of him.”

* * * * *

The State Historical Museum, in order to complete certain of its collections, is especially anxious to secure samples of the following implements and utensils formerly in use in Wisconsin and other states: A pomace knife, mead stick, hearth brush, wooden-toothed rake, corn sheller, cheese tester, farrier’s shave, sheep yoke, goose yoke, milking stool, wool comb, tape loom or heddle frame, rundlets, wooden tankard, wooden dishes, stirring stick, butter molds, milk skimmer, earthenware foot-warmer, magnifier of the kind formerly placed in front of candles or sconces, fleam, wooden pitch pipe, and a wooden prism.

Samples of early American china are also desired, pewter ware, a hand lamp, miner’s lamp, tea canister, wooden sugar-box, butter bowl, mush paddle, hickory hay fork, old hand-made keys, and old-style door knocker. Gifts of such specimens will be greatly appreciated and will assist the museum in its work with university students and the public schools of the state.

* * * * *

In March, 1918, Magnus Swenson, chairman of the State Council of Defense, appointed a War History Commission for Wisconsin, and delegated to it the work of collecting for permanent preservation all the material that can be obtained relating to our state’s share in the Great War. The plan is the outgrowth of steps taken early in the war by the National Board for Historical Service in Washington to make a complete and monumental collection of the material pertaining to America’s part in this great struggle.

The commission consists of M. M. Quaife, Madison, chairman; W. W. Bartlett, Eau Claire, C. R. Fish, Madison, J. H. A. Lacher, Waukesha, W. N. Parker, Madison, A. H. Sanford, La Crosse, and Captain H. A. Whipple, Waterloo. John W. Oliver, Madison, was named director of the commission. At a meeting held in the office of the Superintendent of the State Historical Society on March 8, the commission decided to begin at once the work that had been Pg 438 assigned. The State Historical Library in Madison was selected as the headquarters for the commission, and from there the work is being directed. Local war history committees have been appointed in every county of the state, charged with the specific function of collecting and preserving all the records relating to that particular county’s activity in the war. By coöperating with the county councils of defense, the public libraries, the local historical societies, and the schools, it is hoped that every record and news item possessing historical value will be saved for the use of future workers in compiling a final history of Wisconsin’s part in the war.

* * * * *

In line with the foregoing activity, a movement has been undertaken by the University of Wisconsin and the State Historical Society, working in conjunction, to develop at Madison a comprehensive war collection, which shall adequately serve the needs of future investigators. A special fund has been provided, deemed adequate to the purpose in view, and Dr. Asa C. Tilton, a trained bibliographer and historian, has been secured to serve as curator of the War Collection and direct the work of collecting. The special drive for historical materials thus put under way will be conducted in close coördination with the ordinary work of the Historical Library and the library and other departments of the University. As a result of it, there should be developed at Madison such a comprehensive war collection for the use of students and research workers as the New York Public Library and one or two others are developing in the East. As far as known, nowhere in the West, outside of Madison, is such a collection being developed.

* * * * *

The forty-sixth annual meeting of the Outagamie County Pioneers’ Association was held at Appleton the latter part of February. A business program was held in the forenoon, a dinner at noon, and a literary and musical program in the afternoon. Addresses were given by Mayor Faville, Postmaster Keller, Judge Spencer, and others. Throughout the addresses the patriotic note was dominant.

* * * * *

The forty-third annual meeting of the Reedsburg Old Settlers’ Association was held February 15, 1918, under unfavorable weather conditions. A picnic dinner was eaten, and a miscellaneous program of songs, addresses, and instrumental music was given. The treasurer’s report showed a balance on hand of $191. Officers elected for the ensuing year were John P. Stone, president; C. M. Kester, vice president; Elsie Root, secretary; F. M. Baker, treasurer.

* * * * *

On March 26, in the Kellogg Public Library, the Green Bay Historical Society held a scheduled meeting. On the program were papers by W. M. Conway of the State Highway Commission on Pg 439 “Roads of Wisconsin and How They Can Be Made More Interesting”; by Mrs. W. D. Cooke on “Shantytown in 1820”; and by J. P. Schumacher on “The Site of the First Church Built in Shantytown by Father Mazzuchelli.”

* * * * *

An attractively printed program of the Sauk County Historical Society records a noteworthy list of activities for 1917-18, the organization’s thirteenth year. The annual meeting occurred October 5, 1917, the principal address being given by M. M. Quaife on “The Angel of Wisconsin.” On March 1, 1918 a second meeting was held, at which papers or addresses were given on the following subjects: “The Coming of the Circuit Rider in Wisconsin,” by Rev. W. R. Irish; “The First Murder Trial in Baraboo,” by R. T. Warner, of Everett, Washington; “The First Permanent Settler at Baraboo,” by Louise P. Kellogg; “Pioneer Occupations,” by N. G. Abbott, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The program for the meeting appointed for April 5 consisted of the following papers: “When I 'Broke Into’ Sauk County Politics,” by John M. True; “Wisconsin Map by I. A. Lapham,” by H. E. French; “Additional Reminiscences of Ableman—A Sequel,” by Eva Alexander; and “Indians at Baraboo in Pioneer Times,” by M. H. Mould.

* * * * *

A pamphlet describing Wisconsin’s participation in the exposition held in Chicago in the summer of 1915 to commemorate the semicentennial of the emancipation of the Negro has recently been issued. Hon. S. A. Cook, Neenah, president, Hon. George P. Hambrecht, Madison, treasurer, and Samuel R. Banks, Madison, secretary, formed the personnel of the commission appointed by the Governor to represent Wisconsin. The creditable progress made by the black man along lines of industry and art was illustrated in convincing fashion by the exhibits. The report of the progress made along educational lines is no less worthy of note. A message from Governor Phillip on Wisconsin Day said: “Certainly they have done enough to merit our heartiest praise and coöperation and to inspire the hope that the problem which confronted the white man when this vast population was given freedom will be solved by the help of the leaders of the race itself.”

* * * * *

At the time of going to press tentative arrangements have been made for a joint meeting of the State Historical Society and the Sauk County Historical Society to be held at the site of old Fort Winnebago near Portage on Labor Day, 1918. There will be a picnic dinner, but as the place is in the outskirts of Portage any who prefer to eat at the hotel may easily arrange to do so. A short historical address will be given, followed by visits to the site of the fort and the “Agency house,” the latter made famous by Mrs. Kinzie in her book, Pg 440 Wau Bun. Near by, also, may be seen the place of the famous Fox-Wisconsin portage, first crossed by white men, so far as our knowledge goes, by Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673, and the old United States military cemetery. Such a gathering should attract a large number of visitors from all the surrounding communities.

* * * * *

Dr. A. Gerend, of Cato, addressed the Manitowoc County Historical Society on the evening of March 8, on the subject, “The Indians of Manitowoc County.” Dr. Gerend is an industrious investigator in the local field of Indian history and archeology, and has supplied some interesting material to the State Historical Library.

* * * * *

On February 10, 1918, the First Baptist Church of Sheboygan Falls celebrated its eightieth anniversary. Organized February 11, 1838, this church is ten years older than the Commonwealth itself. The present church building was dedicated December 18, 1850, and like the organization which it houses, is one of the oldest in Wisconsin. In the eighty years of its existence the church has had twenty pastors, ten clerks, and six treasurers.

* * * * *

The Catholic diocese of Green Bay was created by a breve of Pope Pius IX, March 3, 1868. The semicentennial of its birth was celebrated throughout the parishes of the diocese during the first week of March, 1918. Upon organization fifty years ago the diocese had 26 priests, 27 parishes and 41 missions, 12 schools, and a population of 40,000. Today it contains 164 parishes and 75 missions with churches; 106 parish schools with over 24,000 pupils enrolled; besides 3 colleges for men, an academy for women, 2 Indian schools, 9 hospitals, and a population of 149,000.

* * * * *

The Mexican War ended seventy years ago, and but few active participants in it now remain alive. One Mexican War veteran was James Law, of Madison, who died January 30, 1918. Had he lived until February 21, he would have been ninety years of age. Mr. Law was one of Madison’s early stonemasons, and is said to have worked on the old Capitol building.

* * * * *

George B. Ferry, of Milwaukee, probably Wisconsin’s most eminent architect, died January 29, 1917. Among the notable buildings designed by Mr. Ferry are the Milwaukee Public Library, and the splendid home of the State Historical Society at Madison.

* * * * *

A joint meeting of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters with the Wisconsin Archeological Society was held in the assembly room of the State Historical Society, April 11 and 12, 1918. Of the two dozen or more papers read, the following were Pg 441 devoted particularly to Wisconsin history: “Additional Wisconsin Peace Medals,” by Charles E. Brown; “The State Collection of War Posters,” by Ruth O. Roberts; “The Work of the Wisconsin War History Commission,” by John W. Oliver. The other papers were devoted chiefly to archeological and scientific subjects.

* * * * *

The Wisconsin Archeological Society held its annual meeting in the lecture room of the Milwaukee Public Museum on Monday evening, March 18, 1918. The meeting was well attended by members from Milwaukee and various other points in the state. At the business meeting the following officers were elected: Dr. Samuel A. Barrett, Milwaukee, president; Dr. E. J. W. Notz, Milwaukee, John P. Schumacher, Green Bay, A. T. Newman, Bloomer, Dr. F. E. Dayton, New London, and Charles G. Schoewe, Milwaukee, vice presidents. W. H. Vogel and William A. Phillips were elected members of the executive board, and Lee R. Whitney, treasurer. The secretary’s annual report, read by Charles E. Brown, shows that the society has been active in the field of exploration and publication.

* * * * *

De Have Norton of the Fourth Wisconsin Infantry (later the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry) died at his home in Hingham, Wisconsin, February 20, 1918. From Mrs. Norton the Society has received about twenty-five Civil War letters written by her late husband to his parents from 1861 to 1865. Mr. Norton served from June, 1861, until the close of the war. He was an intelligent and entertaining correspondent and it is a matter for regret that so few of his letters have been preserved. The following citations from two of his letters written, the one at Camp Utley, Racine, on the eve of departure for the front in July, 1861, the other from Montgomery, Alabama, in May, 1865, afford a pleasing picture of the spirit which animated our Civil War soldiers. “I shall not see you again so good by Father & Mother. God be with you till I see you again. I think the cause which I go to defend is worth the sacrifice which I make, for I do make a great sacrifice. I leave home and all I love to stake my life for my Country. I go willingly, as for you, don’t fear for me I shall do well enough. If I never return you will know that I died in the cause of Liberty & truth”

* * * * *

And four years later: “I am safe and sound as ever. We have had a long and tedious march. * * * There was not a shot exchanged with the enemy. The rebels are all at home. the towns are full of them. we mix all together the best of friends. it looks nice to see the gray uniform and blue uniform together. Well father after four long years of blood and terror the war is over. You can imagine the feelings of the soldiers on the subject.”

Pg 442 THE DINSDALE PAPERS

Rev. Matthew Dinsdale was born at Askrigg, Yorkshire, England, July 14, 1815, and received his education at a boy’s school in his native valley Wensleydale. This school was on a foundation existing from the time of Queen Elizabeth, and one of its first trustees was Ivor Dinsdale, an ancestor of Matthew. The latter came to the United States in 1844 on the packet St. George, 1200 tons, one of the finest transatlantic steamers of its time. After a three months’ journey he arrived at Kenosha (then Southport), Wisconsin, on the eighth of October, and was soon among friends who had preceded him and settled at English Prairie just across the Wisconsin line in McHenry County, Illinois. A month later Mr. Dinsdale was received into the quarterly conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having brought credentials from the Wesleyan Conference in England. The next year he joined the Rock River Conference and was assigned to Potosi circuit in the lead-mining district of southwestern Wisconsin. The succeeding year Mr. Dinsdale was appointed to the Lake Winnebago circuit, then a mission district including preaching stations among the Brothertown Indians, at Oshkosh, and other new settlements along the lake shore. He virtually lived in the saddle, going from cabin to cabin, and gathering the settlers together for a Sunday service. Often he slept by the roadside or in the woods. His health was impaired by the severe strain of his circuit-riding days, and in 1849 he joined a group of friends who visited the gold regions of California. After over two years in this pioneer work, Mr. Dinsdale returned to England, and there in April, 1853 he married Mary Anne Mann, of York. Returning to America with his young English bride, he applied once more for admission to the Methodist Church, and in 1858 entered the West Wisconsin Conference. Thereafter for nineteen years he served in many pastorates in the southwestern part of the state. In 1872 and 1873 he was preacher in charge at Madison. Four years later he retired from the active ministry, and spent his declining years at Linden, Iowa County, where, on April 15, 1898, he passed away.

His only surviving daughter, Mrs. Magnus Swenson, of Madison, has recently presented to the Historical Society many of her father’s papers. Among them are three diaries of considerable historical value. The first describes the voyage from England to America, the early days in this country, the work and events of pioneer life, “hewing bees,” house-raisings, rail-splittings, hog-killings, and the like, interspersed with descriptions of the weather, the climate, and the land.

The second, or California diary, is perhaps the most interesting of the number. Leaving Linden, Wisconsin, November 3, 1849, the Pg 443 traveler went via Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Albany to New York City whence he sailed December 1 for Panama. Thereafter we have a daily account until the landing, January 21, 1850, at the new city of San Francisco, which he thus characterizes: “San Francisco I think will become a great place. Its location is good convenient and pleasant and more still is healthy.” Thence the young minister sought the mining camps, digging during the week and preaching on Sunday. Here for example is a typical entry: “Sunday 19 Jany 1851. A Captⁿ (Sea) told me how he came to be in the mines. Lost his vessel and came to San Francisco to purchase another. There he took the fever and came to dig: Has made but little, Spoke of the misery caused to familes by the gold discovery. His case that of thousands. Leave all to mine and then make nothing.” Mr. Dinsdale’s case was not of this character. The fifth of June, 1853, the assay of his gold at the Philadelphia mint amounted to $4,094.13.

The third journal was written when in service as agent of the Christian Commission in the spring of 1865 in the vicinity of Nashville. The writer visited the camps and hospitals, distributed papers and Bibles, read and prayed with the soldiers, and in some cases took their dying messages.

In addition to the diaries, the papers include many letters of historical interest. All those written home to England from the time the young emigrant arrived at New York until he left there five years later for California have fortunately been preserved. The writer had a good command of language and a gift for clear and lucid expression, and he portrays his first experiences in the New World with delightful vigor and freshness. He relates his first days in America, the prices of commodities and the modes and discomforts of traveling. He had an especial fondness for natural scenery, and his descriptions even of so hackneyed a subject as Niagara Falls, do not pall upon the reader. More important are the accounts he gives of conditions in our Territory during its formative years—at first in the southeast, then in the more settled southwestern portion he pictures the life of the frontier with truth and vigor. Most valuable of all, perhaps, is the description he gives of the Lake Winnebago region when the rapid ingress of new settlers was at its height, and the Indians were retreating before the American advance. Among the experiences he details were those of a visit to a Menominee Indian payment on the shores of Lake Poygan, where his clear observation of conditions among the retiring race are of peculiar value to the historian of the tribesmen. In the letters of advice which he Pg 444 gave to relatives who intended to emigrate, nothing was forgotten, and their detailed narration presents a full picture of the difficulties and necessities of the early immigrants from Great Britain, and the courage required to undertake the long and oft-times dangerous voyage.

A series of later letters describes the writer’s experience in the work of the Christian Commission during the Civil War.

Taken as a whole the Dinsdale Papers are a valuable addition to the collections of our Society, illustrating as they so well do the experiences of an intelligent, educated immigrant during the formative period of territorial days. It is to be hoped that many more such groups of papers, now preserved in private hands, will ultimately find their way into our custody where they will be of value to the history of this state.

THE LADD PAPERS

Dr. Otto L. Schmidt, of Chicago, a life member of the Society, has presented an important collection of letters and documents received by Dr. Azel Ladd while serving in 1851 and 1852 as state superintendent of public instruction. For the most part they consist of appeals to the state officer to interpret the school law for local communities, and the resolving of disputes and difficulties between the teachers and the officials. Many of the letters are requests for information with regard to the allotments of school money, and a few have to do with the lease or sale of school lands. A considerable number carry the endorsement “Library returns.” These contain reports of the number of books in the school libraries under the law requiring one-tenth of the state allotments to be expended for books. Incidentally from these letters much may be learned of the early educational history of our state—the short terms of the schools, the qualifications and salaries of the teachers, the number and conduct of the pupils. From some of these letters may be seen the educational conditions among our foreign immigrants. Complaints are frequent of teachers that cannot write or speak English. One letter asks the question, later so pertinent in our educational politics, whether the reading of the Bible constitutes a breach of Section 3, Article 10 of the Wisconsin Constitution. Another writer, defending the character of his daughter, a school teacher at Moundville, sends the Superintendent a specimen of her efforts in verse, which have been much admired. There are nearly a thousand papers in the collection, which constitute an important guide to the early history of education in Wisconsin. Practically all of the letters belong to the years 1851 and 1852.

Pg 445

SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Holand, Hjalmar R., History of Door County, Wisconsin. The County Beautiful. (Two volumes, 459, 480, $21, Chicago, 1917.)

This is a good example of the type of county subscription history which flourishes in the Middle West. The author had at his disposal an unusually attractive storehouse of material from which to construct his narrative; the field was a virgin one, no history of Door County having ever been written before; the writer is a man of university education, a long-time resident of the county, and an enthusiast on the subject of local history. With such conditions prevailing it is not surprising that the work which has resulted should constitute a good example of the type to which it belongs.

The second volume of the two is filled with the usual collection of commercial biographies, for which the promoters of the work are responsible rather than the author of the history. Volume one, in which alone his name appears on the title-page, contains the history of the county which gives title to the work. It comprises fifty chapters and an appendix. The first nine chapters deal with the usual preliminary topics pertaining to geography, discovery and exploration, the Indians, and the French period. It is impracticable to classify the remaining forty-one chapters further than to note that they cover, along with many other subjects, sketches of the several towns of the county, and of the more important types of social and industrial activity of its people. Thus there are chapters on schools, banking, political organizations, churches, highways, newspapers, and industries. More unusual than these are those on lighthouses, Peninsula State Park, Rock, Chambers, and Washington islands, and the Sturgeon Bay Canal. Interspersed are several chapters (such as “A Man of Iron: a Tale of Death’s Door,” “David Kennison,” “The Sage of Shivering Sands”) which seem either to have no logical place in the book or to be given a prominence disproportionate to their importance. There is little perceptible logic about the order of arrangement of these many chapters, and one does not gain, from a reading of the book, any clear impression of the progressive unfolding of the county’s history and development.

The author possesses an unusual command of the English language, notwithstanding his birth on foreign soil, and the volume is entertainingly written. Both the history itself, and the style of the narrative would have been improved, however, if greater restraint had been imposed by the author. Journalistic throughout, at its best the style of the narrative is fascinating; at the opposite extreme Pg 446 it is oftentimes exuberant as to style and of questionable taste as to content.

* * * * *

The January, 1918, number of the Wisconsin Archeologist contains a survey of the Indian remains in Door County, made by J. P. Schumacher of Green Bay. The survey shows that these consist chiefly of village and camp sites and burial places, comparatively few mounds having been found in the county. The author states that several alleged mounds have proved upon investigation to be either grass-grown windfalls or sand dunes. One of the most valuable parts of the bulletin is the section devoted to place names in Door County. In preparing this, the author was assisted by Dr. Alphonse Gerend, of Cato.

* * * * *

Two timely military articles appear in the January, 1918, number of the Iowa Journal of History and Politics. Ivan L. Pollock concludes his paper on “State Finances During the Civil War,” and Cyril B. Upham has an especially interesting article on “Arms and Equipment for the Iowa Troops in the Civil War.” A reprint of the early reports by Captain W. Bowling Guion and Lieutenant John C. Fremont in 1841 concerning the Des Moines River is included in this issue.

* * * * *

The State Historical Society of Iowa has published a volume entitled Marches of the Dragoons in the Mississippi Valley, by Louis Pelzer. It describes the marches, campaigns, and military activities of the First Regiment of the United States Dragoons between the years 1833 and 1850. The services of this military unit during the period mentioned consisted of frontier defense work, garrison duty, marches, exploring expeditions, and enforcement of federal laws. For those who are interested in the army life and activities on our extensive frontier during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the book has more than a local value.

* * * * *

Mr. Charles Freeman, of Menomonie, a member of the State Historical Society, is the author of an extended article on “Early Menomonie, Its Physical Appearance, Its Enterprises and Its Aims,” published in the Dunn County News, January 10, 1918.

* * * * *

During the early winter John Hicks of Oshkosh was publishing in his paper, the Oshkosh Northwestern, a narrative of his life under the caption “Fifty Years of Oshkosh—A Retrospect.” The last installment told interestingly of his diplomatic career in South America. At this point death suddenly interrupted the narration; the story will forever remain unfinished.

Pg 447 * * * * *

In the Phillips Bee of March 7, 1918, appeared a long article by John E. Herron entitled, “The Early Days of Phillips.”

* * * * *

Dr. Bernard J. Cigrand of Batavia, Illinois, is the author of a lengthy series of articles in the Port Washington Star under the general title “Parental Stories of Pioneer Times.”

* * * * *

A valuable series of articles on the “Development of Farming in Sauk County” was begun by William Toole, the “pansy king,” with the issue for February, 1917, of the Sauk County Farmer. In all a dozen or more monthly installments appeared, running from February, 1917, into the current year.

* * * * *

John S. Roeseler, of Superior, a life member of the State Historical Society, is the author of “Early Days in the Town of Lomira,” currently published in a large number of installments in the Lomira Review. Aside from its present interest to the community itself, the general historian of Wisconsin cannot fail to find such a detailed narrative as this of great value to him in his larger task of writing the history of the state as a whole.

* * * * *

Those of our readers who are interested in the publications of our Society dealing with the Lewis and Clark expedition will find in the January number of the Missouri Historical Review an article describing the great system of transportation that developed in later years along the route followed by these early explorers. The article is by Professor H. A. Trexler, of the University of Montana, and is entitled, “Missouri-Montana Highways.” A second article, dealing with the travel and commerce on the Overland Trail, is promised for a later number.

* * * * *

The January, 1918, number of the Michigan History Magazine contains a paper by Edward G. Holden on “Carl Schurz in Michigan,” the author having been associated with Schurz on the Detroit Post during the sixties. Other articles in this issue are: “Indian Legends of Northern Michigan,” by John C. Wright; “History of the Equal Suffrage Movement in Michigan,” by Karolena M. Fox; “Coming of the Italians to Detroit,” by Rev. John C. Visman; “Father Marquette at Michilimackinac,” by Edwin O. Wood; “Congregationalism as a Factor in the Making of Michigan,” by Rev. John P. Sanderson; “Historical Sketch of the University of Detroit,” by Pres. William T. Doran; and “The Factional Character of Early Michigan Politics,” by Floyd B. Streeter.

* * * * *

A worthy example of collecting and compiling history while it is in the making is the work that is now being done by Floyd C. Shoemaker, Pg 448 editor of the Missouri Historical Review. Two stimulating articles have recently appeared in the Review, one in September, 1917, the other in January, 1918, entitled “Missouri and the War.” The part played by the citizens of that commonwealth, the contributions made by the state both in men and in resources, the recognition for distinguished services won by Missouri men in the service, are being carefully collected up to the very latest report. Before filing these records away in the archives for the use of students of a later generation, the editor is utilizing them to give the readers of the Review a survey of the current activities of their state in the war.

* * * * *

The Nebraska State Historical Society began publication in February of a monthly news sheet entitled Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days. The editor states his aim to be to make the new publication “a piece of popular literature—as distinguished from academic.” A practical newspaper worker of long years’ experience, he should easily succeed in this endeavor. Judging from the indications afforded by the first issue, a thing really new under the sun has at last been produced—a history journal which is similar both in typography and in content to the ordinary newspaper. From another point of view the new journal may be described as a somewhat glorified press bulletin, belonging to a type with which, in humbler guise, the world has long been familiar.

* * * * *

The second number of the Louisiana Historical Quarterly, bearing the date September 14, 1917, was distributed in March. Since the first number was issued January 8, 1917, the Quarterly is hardly living up to the promise implied in its title. This is a matter for genuine regret, since Louisiana constitutes one of the richest fields of historical exploitation in America, one well worthy of vigorous cultivation at the hands of the local historical society. Aside from a brief paper on Lafayette’s visit to New Orleans, the issue of the Quarterly now at hand is devoted to two interesting items: the first is a valuable bibliography of the principal works published on Louisiana and Florida from their discovery until 1855, prepared by A. L. Boimare, and hitherto unpublished; the second, is a filial and somewhat passionate attempt at rehabilitating the reputation of General James Wilkinson, made by his great-grandson, of the same name.

* * * * *

The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania has launched a new quarterly publication entitled The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, volume I, number 1, appearing in January, 1918. The initial number contains the following articles: “Rev. John Taylor, The First Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church of Pittsburgh and His Commonplace Book,” by Charles W. Dahlinger; Pg 449 “The Boatman’s Horn” (a poem), by General William O. Butler; “The Trial of Mamachteaga, a Delaware Indian, The First Person Convicted of Murder West of the Alleghany Mountains, and Hanged for His Crime,” by Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge; “Diary of a Young Oil Speculator”; and an account of the eleventh annual meeting of the Ohio Valley Historical Association. One section of the magazine is devoted to notes and queries.

THE WIDER FIELD

The annual meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society was held in the new Historical building at St. Paul, January 14, 1918. The address was delivered by Lester B. Shippee of the University of Minnesota on the subject, “Social and Economic Effects of the Civil War with Special Reference to Minnesota.”

* * * * *

The annual spring meeting of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association is scheduled to be held at St. Paul this year; the formal dedication of the Minnesota Historical Society’s building taking place at this time.

* * * * *

On April 9, in the Jefferson Memorial Library, St. Louis, was unveiled a bronze Roll of Fame tablet in honor of the pioneers of Missouri from 1793 to 1826. There are 112 names on the tablet, among them those of Major Nathan Heald and Rebekah Heald, his wife. Major Heald was commander at Fort Dearborn from 1810 until its destruction by the savages in 1812. Most of Major Heald’s existing papers are preserved in the Wisconsin Historical Library.

* * * * *

Mr. R. C. Ballard Thruston of Louisville has secured possession of the manuscript report of the Illinois country made by George Rogers Clark to Governor Mason of Virginia in 1779. The document contains seventy-four pages 6½ by 8¼ inches, amounting to some 18,000 words. Mr. Thruston intends that it shall eventually go either to the Filson Club or to some other Kentucky historical organization. Although already twice put in print, it is a source of gratification to the historical fraternity of the Middle West to know that this interesting manuscript is to be permanently preserved and made accessible to the public.

* * * * *

A laudable undertaking having for its ultimate object the improvement of our relations with Mexico has been instituted through the generosity of Edward Doheny, of Los Angeles. He has given a fund for the study of social and industrial conditions in Mexico, in order that the American public may be given impartial and authoritative information about these matters instead of having to depend, as has been largely the case hitherto, on partisan or ill-informed Pg 450 reports. Twelve students have been at work on the study since October, 1917, having been engaged for the period of one year. The results of this work will be published in a series of reports. Members of the State Historical Society and Wisconsin people, generally, will be interested to know that Chester Lloyd Jones of Madison, a life member of the Society, is one of the scholars engaged in this important task of constructive research. Headquarters for the work have been established at the Bancroft Library, University of California, where Mr. Jones is spending the year in the capacity of research associate of the University.

* * * * *

The Illinois Catholic Historical Society has recently been organized, with headquarters in the Ashland Block, Chicago. William J. Onahan is president of the Society and Joseph J. Thompson editor-in-chief. From the preliminary announcement, which comes to us just as we go to press, the new society appears to have the backing of the more important churchmen of Chicago and Illinois. A magazine, the Illinois Catholic Historical Review, is to be issued.

* * * * *

As we go to press the program is received for a centennial meeting of the Illinois State Historical Society at Springfield, April 17 and 18. Addresses by Prof. Allen Johnson, of Yale, Elbert J. Benton, of Western Reserve, C. W. Alvord, of the University of Illinois, Charles W. Moores, of Indianapolis, Hon. Louis Aubert, member of the French High Commission, and Pres. John H. Finley, of the University of New York, are scheduled.

* * * * *

Francis A. Sampson, secretary of the Missouri Historical Society from 1901 to 1915 and bibliographer from 1915 on, died at Columbia, Missouri, February 4, 1918. From 1906 until 1915 Mr. Sampson was editor of the Missouri Historical Review. He was an inveterate collector of materials pertaining to Missouri history, and was largely responsible for the upbuilding of the society’s library of 60,000 titles.

* * * * *

The death of Father Arthur E. Jones, archivist of the Jesuit College of St. Mary, took place at Montreal, on January 19. Father Jones was one of the foremost authorities in America on the work of the early Jesuit missionaries and explorers. To the unrivaled opportunities afforded him for utilizing all the source material in the possession of his order he united a great energy and zeal in carrying his researches to the very scene of Jesuit labors, one of his many activities being the location around the Georgian Bay of the mission stations which were destroyed in the Iroquois onslaughts, so well described by Parkman. The researches that were carried on in this regard were fully described in the fifth annual report of the Bureau of Archives of Ontario, published in 1909.

Pg 451 The archives of St. Mary’s College, Montreal, of which Father Jones was custodian, comprise one of the most valuable collections of material on early Canadian and mid-west material in the Dominion. Marquette’s journal is there; so are the wonderfully minute linguistic writings of Father Potier, five large volumes dealing with the Huron language, now completely dead. When it is remembered that the Jesuits have been in America three centuries and that they are noted for the care they take of their records, some idea can be gained of the importance of the collection in St. Mary’s College.

In his later years Father Jones had given special attention to making his record of Jesuit service at the various missions as complete as possible. He had also done considerable work on the Potier writings which, but for the outbreak of the Great War, would probably have been reproduced in photo-facsimile ere now by the Ontario Archives Department. The project is only held up until such time as world affairs are less disturbed.

Though a portion of his life was spent in parochial work, the chief work of Father Jones was along educational lines. He is the author or editor of a number of valuable publications in his chosen field of investigation. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a corresponding member of several of the leading historical societies of the United States, including our own State Historical Society. He was a fine type of that mentality which the training of his order so often produces; a delightful friend and acquaintance and a thorough investigator.

* * * * *

The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society of Pennsylvania celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its founding on April 12, 1918, commemorating at the same time the one hundred tenth anniversary of the burning of anthracite coal successfully in an open grate of Wilkes-Barre. Christopher Wren was elected corresponding secretary of the society, succeeding the late Rev. Horace E. Hayden.

* * * * *

The leading article in the March number of the Mississippi Valley Historical Review is on “President Lincoln and the Illinois Radical Republicans,” by Arthur C. Cole. It sets forth in interesting fashion the dissatisfaction felt by the radical wing of the Republican party in the early part of Lincoln’s administration with his conservative and temporizing policy. L. H. Gipson gives a clear account of the internal dissensions and other factors responsible for “The Collapse of the Confederacy”; Homer Hockett, formerly of Wisconsin, discusses “The Influence of the West on the Rise and Fall of Political Parties”; and Theodore Blegen, of Milwaukee, a member of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, tells of “A Plan for the Union of British North America and the United States, 1866.” Professor Alvord, whose resignation as managing editor of the Review was announced in our March number, has consented to continue in charge until the close of the war.

Pg 452 STATEMENT

of The Wisconsin Magazine of History published quarterly at Menasha, Wis., required by the Act of August 24, 1912.

Name of— Postoffice Address

Editor, Milo M. Quaife Madison, Wis.

Managing Editor, none.

Business Manager, none.

Publisher, Geo. Banta Menasha, Wis.

Owners, The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

President, Wm. K. Coffin Eau Claire, Wis.

Superintendent, M. M. Quaife Madison, Wis.

No Stockholders.

Known bondholders, mortgagers, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities:

None.

M. M. Quaife, Editor. Sworn to and subscribed before me this sixth day of April, 1918. [SEAL] Iva A. Welsh, Notary Public. (My commission expires Jan. 11, 1920.)

INDEX

Aarhus, Rev. Rasmus Jensen, death, 152.

Adams, Alexander B., Civil War recruit, 53.

Adams, Charles, Francis, efforts of, to detain commerce destroyers, 29.

“Air Raids, Increase A. Lapham and the German,” editorial, 426-27.