Since the declaration of war by the United States upon Germany, the study of military history in this country has practically monopolized the attention of historical investigators. The leading article in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics for July, 1917, deals with “Enlistments during the Civil War.” Like Wisconsin and other northern states, Iowa found herself utterly unprepared for a war. The writer states that at the beginning of the conflict in 1861, there was not a single unit of the regular army in Iowa, nor were there any forts or garrisons. There was not a military post in the state and the nearest arsenal was in St. Louis. A discussion of the draft and its administration in Iowa forms a valuable part of the study.
C. W. Johnston, a Des Moines lawyer of thirty years standing, “concluded to discontinue and enter upon a period of travel.” Along the Pacific by Land and Sea (Chicago, 1916) contains a series of breezy letters which he wrote back to the Des Moines Register and Leader. They contain the reactions of this son of the Middle West toward the new environment afforded by a visit, apparently his first, to various cities on the Pacific coast. Through dint of reiterated remarks on the subject the reader leaves the book with the not entirely valid conviction that one of the “certainties” for which Des Moines bears the palm among her sister cities is that of being the dirtiest place in the United States.
The importance of religious denominations in the growth of our State and national history is being recognized more and more
by historical students. In the Indiana Magazine of History, June, 1917, appears an interesting article by Rev. Elmo A. Robinson entitled “Universalism in Indiana.” While the writer deals primarily with the growth of that denomination in Indiana, yet mention is also made of the influences of Universalism in the other states of the Old Northwest. A review of the proceedings of the Northwest Conference of Universalists shows that the Wisconsin delegates figured prominently in the activities of this denomination.
CORDELIA A. P. HARVEY
From a photograph in the Wisconsin Historical Library
VOL. I, NO. 3 MARCH, 1918
THE
WISCONSIN MAGAZINE
OF HISTORY