The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918

by Various

EDITORIALS

INTRODUCING OURSELVES

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin is now in the sixty-eighth year of its existence. Quiescent during its first few years, with the coming of Lyman C. Draper to the secretaryship of the Society in 1854 it immediately entered upon a period of aggressive activity which has continued without interruption to the present moment. During the sixty years of the remarkable leadership of Dr. Draper and Dr. Thwaites the Society deservedly acquired the reputation of being one of the leading historical organizations of the country. Our library, if not the largest, is one of the best of its kind and in many respects its collections are unique. In other fields of activity, too, the Society’s achievements have been no less creditable to it and to the state it represents.

No sadder disaster could befall the Society, however, than the development on the part of its members of a feeling of serene satisfaction with the record of its achievements. As with all living organisms, we must go forward or retrograde. Only dead ones are static. The manifold life of our state and country is constantly changing. If our Society is to fulfil its proper function, it must constantly strive to adjust itself to the current developments of the world to which it belongs. With the passage of time the ancient good becomes uncouth and it behooves us to assume the new duties which new occasions teach.

In this spirit, after much thought and planning, we launch the Wisconsin Magazine of History. The problem of our historical society differs materially from that of many others, particularly those in the older-settled sections

of the country. It must justify the support which the taxpayers so liberally accord by rendering to the public the fullest possible measure of service, and to this ideal it has long subscribed. Equally important is it, however, that the public should be aware of the facilities for service which the Society possesses in order that these may be utilized. It is believed that the publication of a quarterly magazine, devoted to the historical interests of the state will afford a better avenue of communication with the Society’s members and the general public than has been possessed heretofore. Without sacrificing in any way the scholarly ideals of the Society, it is hoped to make the magazine as interesting as may be to the ordinary reader. As our immediate constituency we have in mind the seven hundred members of the Society, whose tastes and interests, we have faith to believe, are shared by thousands of other citizens of Wisconsin. The historical interests of the professional scholars among our membership are catered to by numerous historical reviews, but no publication meets the needs of the far greater proportion of our members who are not included in this group. To this constituency, primarily, it is hoped the magazine will appeal. If this hope shall be realized we will account the magazine a success. If it shall be disappointed, on the contrary, the energies of the Society’s working force will be directed to more fruitful ends as soon as this fact shall have been established.

OUR STATE FLAG

How many, we wonder, of those into whose hands this magazine may come are aware that the beautiful banner represented on its cover is the official state flag of Wisconsin? That the number is much smaller than it should be is certain. When we set out in quest of an example of our state flag, our first application was at the nearby armory, but the officer in charge confidently assured us that Wisconsin has no state flag, and appealed to Webster’s New International to support

his assertion. Notwithstanding the evidence of both soldier and dictionary, for over fifty years Wisconsin regiments have carried the state flag, although its legal definition and precise present design date back only to 1913. That our beautiful banner, hallowed on many a bloody battlefield, is so little known to our citizens is not at all to our credit. Nor is it creditable that the service flags in the hands of the custodian of public property at the capitol fail in almost every respect to conform to the official specifications for the state flag as set forth in the statutes.

THE SOCIETY AND THE LEGISLATURE

Members and friends of the Society may congratulate themselves, on the whole, on the treatment accorded it by the state legislature of 1917. In view of economic and political conditions generally, and of the local political situation in particular, it was to have been expected that the legislators would scrutinize our budget estimates with care, and that enthusiasm for new advances, whether in work or in appropriations, would be conspicuous by its absence. It is gratifying to record that the members of the joint finance committee of the two houses accorded the representatives of the Society an appreciative hearing and manifested a desire to provide for its activities during the coming biennium with enlightened, albeit prudent, liberality. Since the task of presenting the Society’s needs to the legislature devolves chiefly upon the writer of these lines, the occasion is gladly improved to acknowledge in particular the broad-minded attitude of Senator Platt Whitman of Highland, and Assemblyman E. A. Everett of Eagle River, chairmen of the joint finance committee.

From one point of view, however, the present financial situation of the Society is far from gratifying. It is running on substantially the same budget as was first laid down in 1912, and this will, of course, continue to be the case at least

until July 1, 1919. No one who is mature enough to be reading these lines, need be told that the purchasing power of a given sum of money has shrunk alarmingly since 1912. In effect, therefore, the Society’s income has decreased in recent years in proportion as the cost of living generally has steadily increased. To take a single illustration, the cost of heating the library building in the year ending June 30, 1916, was (in round numbers) $5,500; for the succeeding fiscal year it was $7,400; while the estimates for the year just entered upon call for an expenditure of $11,000 for this purpose. Obviously the library building must continue to be heated. It follows, therefore, with the total income of the Society stationary from year to year, that the additional sum required for coal must be gained by curtailing other activities of the Society, which constitute its real excuse for existence. The importance of this subject is such that a suitable occasion will be sought later to lay it before our readers in fuller detail.

THE FIRST WISCONSIN CAPITOL AT BELMONT

NELSON DEWEY PARK AND THE FIRST WISCONSIN CAPITOL

Several other matters of peculiar interest to the historically-minded citizens of Wisconsin were acted upon by the recent legislature. We record with chief pleasure in this connection the provision made for the preservation of our first territorial capitol at Belmont (now Leslie). Eleven years ago the superintendent of the Society, Dr. Thwaites, made an effort to secure the restoration of this quondam statehouse for a region imperial in extent, and the story of his effort is told in the Proceedings of the Society for 1906. At that time the legislature failed to act upon his sensible advice, however, and the matter was allowed to drop. At the recent legislative session, Mr. M. P. Rindlaub of Platteville, veteran editor of southern Wisconsin, took up anew the agitation for the preservation of the capitol building. This time the advice was heeded and the sum of $3,000 was appropriated

for the purpose in view. Mr. Rindlaub’s plan contemplated the removal and renovation of the capitol and the making of provision for a permanent caretaker who, under the control of the state conservation commission, should look after it. For these objects the sum of $10,000 was asked. The amount granted will suffice but partially to execute the entire project, but it will at least insure the permanent preservation of the building.

The action of the legislature in naming the state park at the mouth of the Wisconsin was, in our opinion, distinctly unwise. Citizens of Wisconsin do not need to be reminded that the historical association which provided the driving motive for securing this splendid tract for a state park preserve several years ago was the discovery of the Mississippi River at this point by the famous expedition of Jolliet and Marquette in 1673. Because of this fact, and of the additional one that the park was bought by and belongs to the entire state, the name either of Jolliet or Marquette should unquestionably have been given to the park. As between these two there would perhaps be little reason for preference were it not for the fact that Marquette has twice been signally honored by the state (by naming a county for him and by choosing him as one of the two Wisconsin characters whose statue is placed in the national capitol) while to Jolliet no recognition, official or otherwise, has ever been accorded in Wisconsin.

Curiously enough, the park has been allowed to exist for several years without a legal name. During this time residents of the vicinity developed the habit of calling it Glenn Park, after former Senator Glenn who sold the land to the state, while the conservation commission, as a matter of convenience, referred to it as Marquette Park. When a bill was introduced at the recent legislative session providing that the park be officially named after Senator Glenn, a number of officers and members of the Society bestirred themselves

to defeat the measure through the process of enlightening the legislature with respect to the historical and other considerations involved. It is proper to record in this connection that Assembly Kurtenacker of La Crosse, on being apprised of the situation, cheerfully joined with the representatives of the Society in the effort to have the bill which he had himself introduced by request, killed in committee. This effort met with success, and the assembly committee on state affairs reported a bill to the lower chamber providing that the park be named in honor of Jolliet. The assembly passed the bill, but in the senate it was amended by substituting for Jolliet the name of Nelson Dewey, first governor of the state, and in this form it became a law.

We believe that the motive which prompted the senate amendment was laudable, but that the judgment displayed was weak. Apparently the impression that the park should be considered in some peculiar sense as a perquisite of the people of southwestern Wisconsin, as opposed to the state as a whole, could not be surmounted. With no remote desire to detract from the fame or merit of Governor Dewey, we do not think the mere circumstance of his residence having been at Cassville constitutes a pertinent reason for giving his name to this park, the very existence of which is due to the famous discovery of June 17, 1673. Incidentally, however, the entire discussion was productive of good, since it called the attention of the public anew to the value and significance of the factor of historical associations in the selection of place names.

PERROT STATE PARK AND JOHN A. LATSCH

Another park development of the past year which is peculiarly gratifying to the State Historical Society pertains to the new state park at Trempealeau. For many years the Society has been actively interested in this locality because of the richness of its historical associations. In particular, in recent years a series of historical articles pertaining to the

locality written by Dr. Eben D. Pierce, member and curator of the Society, has been published in the volumes of Proceedings. Largely through these activities the interest of Mr. Latsch, a leading business man of Winona, was awakened to the desirability of securing historic Trempealeau Mountain and the adjoining river frontage as a permanent park preserve. To this end he purchased some 800 acres of land including the mountain and the adjoining river bluffs, and offered the whole as a gift to the State Historical Society. Because the Society lacks the facilities for administering such a trust, on the Superintendent’s recommendation the gift was diverted to the conservation commission, which is admirably qualified to administer it. At the time of writing these lines (July, 1917) it only remains to complete certain legal details when the formal transfer of the property to the state will be made. Thus the famous peak, noted by Pike and Schoolcraft and many another early explorer, together with the site of ancient Fort Perrot, one of the earliest establishments of civilized man in the upper Mississippi Valley, is added to our already splendid system of state parks. Aside from the historical associations of the place, the river scenery at this point is rarely impressive and beautiful; while Trempealeau Mountain itself is said to be peculiarly rich in botanical specimens.

But by what authority, it may be asked, have we headed this editorial “Perrot State Park.” Pressed for an answer, we must admit that the title expresses a hope merely, rather than a consummation already realized. One of the motives, we understand, responsible for the interest Mr. Latsch has shown in the matter was a feeling of veneration for his boyhood home and for his Swiss father who settled in Latsch Valley some two generations ago. Under the circumstances it would not be strange if the donor, following the example long since set by a notable giver of libraries to the American public, should impose as a condition of his gift to the state

the requirement that the park be named in honor of his father. We understand, instead, that Mr. Latsch himself desires the park to be named in honor of Nicolas Perrot, the famous French explorer, who passed the winter of 1685-86 a short distance down the river from Trempealeau Mountain and within the confines of the new state park. The fine modesty and sense of historical appreciation displayed by Mr. Latsch in thus desiring to honor the intrepid explorer require no words of commendation at our hands. We may express the hope, however, that when a future state legislature shall come to the task of bestowing a legal name on the park, it will possess a like degree of judgment concerning the historical fitness of things. Perhaps Mr. Latsch might insure this in advance by making the gift of the land to the state dependent upon its acceptance of the name of Perrot for the park.

FOREST FIRES, GENERALLY AND IN PARTICULAR

From the beginning of Wisconsin’s development until the close of the nineteenth century, lumbering constituted one of the chief sources of the state’s wealth and business activity. In 1860 the lumber industry, still in its infancy in Wisconsin, ranked second only to agriculture in importance. The story of its rise and decline constitutes one of the most important and thrilling chapters in our history as a state. In this respect our history conforms to the general rule that in every new country the natural resources closest at hand are the first to be exploited. Well had it been for state and nation had our lumbermen, in their mad rush to transmute our magnificent forests into gold, paid more regard to the welfare of future generations and squandered less recklessly this splendid “gift of the ages.”

This statement of these reflections brings us to the point of suggesting the broader historical significance of Mr. Bracklin’s article in the present number of the Wisconsin Magazine of History. One of the prolific factors making

for the waste of our lumbering resources was fire. In the words of a recent writer this was “the dread scourge of the lumber industry.” The sawmills and sawmill towns, flimsily constructed of inflammable pine, were periodically swept by the flames. Although the mills and mill towns were commonly rebuilt with characteristic American vigor, the forest fires were the source of appalling loss to the state. Yet the public mind was for many years indifferent to these losses, and the fires were commonly left to burn themselves out, with no human effort to impede or check the course of the flames. In 1864 one of the greatest conflagrations which had ever visited the state swept for weeks through the northern pinery regions, yet so indifferent were the people of southern Wisconsin to the matter that it received scarcely any notice in the newspapers of this section.

Our numerous forest fires, then, have possessed not only thrilling human interest but vast economic significance. Mr. Bracklin’s narrative describes a single personal experience with one small forest fire. What he experienced and here describes, however, applies with suitable variation of details to hundreds of similar events in Wisconsin. In this fact consists its broader significance.

CONSOLATION FOR THE PRESENT CRISIS

It seems evident, from the sources of information at our command, that the Imperial German Government counted largely on its ability to neutralize the national will of America by fostering among Americans of German descent a spirit of disloyalty to their country. That the citizens of the Badger State in particular could thus be cajoled into playing a traitor’s rôle was not only believed in Germany, but widely feared in our own country as well. That our citizens of German descent should be enthusiastic about going into the war was not reasonably to have been expected; that, faced with a hard duty, they should prefer to play the rôle of

traitor is quite another matter. We do not believe, and from the beginning have not feared, that any considerable number will make such a choice.

In such a time of trial and stress as the present we are fairly entitled to gain what comfort we may from an examination of our past. The simple truth is that, with the possible exception of the Spanish War, we enter upon the present struggle with more of unanimity and resolution than has been the case with any other great war in our history. Of our unfortunate divisions and discords during the Revolution and the War of 1812 every schoolboy is informed. The North had little enthusiasm for the Mexican War and largely abstained from participation in it. The Civil War was a fratricidal contest, but the South eliminated from consideration, the people of the North were sadly divided in counsels and desires. That this was true of Wisconsin has been largely forgotten by our citizens. The present generation has forgotten, if indeed it was ever aware of, the fact that Wisconsin was the seat of a formidable copperhead sentiment during the war; that there was widespread opposition to the enforcement of the draft by the federal government; and that a largely attended mass meeting at the state capital in April, 1861, after the firing on Fort Sumter, laid on the table a resolution pledging support to President Lincoln. It is true the local paper declared, in the latter instance, that a majority of those present favored the resolution but were circumvented in their desire by the chairman of the meeting; but even so it is evident that there must have been a large element of opposition to have enabled him to carry through the maneuver. Notwithstanding the deliberation with which the recent legislature went about expressing its support of the national government, it requires no hardihood to affirm that no chairman of a public gathering, however traitorous his desire, could have prevented a Madison audience of 1917 from expressing its intention of standing behind the national government.

To touch for a moment upon another matter, the political ideals of the period preceding the Civil War were shockingly low in comparison with those of the present time. If there has been any graft in connection with the construction of our new $7,000,000 capitol, the public is as yet totally unconscious of the fact. Three-quarters of a century ago, on the contrary, we could not build even a forty-thousand-dollar capitol without a riot of mismanagement and dishonesty. The period of “Barstow and the balance,” and of the “forty thieves” signifies more than the addition of a picturesque phrase to our political annals. Instead of constituting a rare exception, the political morality which these phrases suggest was painfully commonplace in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. It was only a few years before we entered upon that great struggle that a powerful corporation brazenly established a pay-counter at the capital and bought with paltry silver the entire state legislature, and even the governor himself. Idealists are by no means satisfied with the political standards and practices of our public men of the present day, but they are lily-white in comparison with the similar standards of the fifties in Wisconsin.

Or again, let us glance by way of comparison at the financial situation. The diary of Harvey Reid, published elsewhere in this magazine, affords an inkling, at least, of our deplorable financial condition in 1861. The national banking-system still lay in the womb of the future, while the treacherous “wild cats” flourished at the expense alike of private fortunes and public credit. With the first breath of war these institutions toppled in headlong ruin, notwithstanding that the state legislature, heedless of constitutional prohibitions, essayed vainly to prevent the crash. Within four days after the news of the firing on Fort Sumter, specie payments were suspended in Wisconsin; and the efforts of the government to float a war loan of $1,200,000 on the credit

of the state of Wisconsin in the summer of 1861 met with dismal and inglorious failure.

We do not remind the present generation of these things in any pharisaical attitude, but for the encouragement they afford to us at this time. The outstanding fact is that in the very face of such conditions as we have adverted to, Wisconsin girded herself for the task and played a noble part in the Civil War. We enter the present struggle immeasurably better prepared from almost every viewpoint than we did the one of old. If, as we believe, our people still retain a fair measure of pluck and ability, the record we are about to make should be correspondingly better than that of fifty years ago.