Paying for the Great War

"Over the Top for You" by Sidney H. Riesenberg, 1918.

How do you pay for a war? Waging war is expensive and when the United States unexpectedly entered the First World War in 1917, the costs to pay for it were not included in the federal budget. To raise money to pay for something such as a war, the government had several options: create new currency (i.e., print money), increase revenue by raising taxes, or take out a loan by issuing public bonds. In 1917, the U.S. Treasury chose the latter two options – a combination of new taxes and borrowing through war bonds.

The Great War was unpopular in many parts of the country. Large populations of recent immigrants had strong ties to Axis partners Germany and Austria-Hungary; other immigrants, such as the Irish, had an unpleasant history with our ally Britain. Isolationist sentiment reigned and Woodrow Wilson had just been elected to his second term on his promise to keep the U.S. out of the war in Europe.

Once Congress declared war, the federal government needed to convince citizens that military action against the Axis powers was justified and that they needed to make sacrifices to support it. Soldiers were needed to fight in the trenches, money was needed to pay them, and home front activities (such as Victory Gardens and rationing) were critical to making sure that the soldiers had the tools that they needed to win.

All war promotional efforts, including the sale of war bonds, were under the purview of a new U.S. agency – the Committee on Public Information. Headed by journalist George Creel, the Committee was a propaganda machine tasked with molding public opinion to favor the war. The massive promotional effort was highly successful and, as it did it's work, the Committee pioneered many of the techniques which are still used in modern advertising and political speech. Using insights from the new field of psychology, language and images were used to manipulate public opinion about the war, evoking feelings of patriotism, guilt, revenge, solidarity, and fear to motivate the country.

As part of this effort, prominent illustrators were engaged to design posters that encouraged activities such as recruitment, home canning, and Liberty Loan bond sales. The Longmeadow Historical Society is fortunate to have six of the Liberty Loan bond posters in our collection. Five of our posters are from the Third Liberty Loan subscription. Most of the posters promote patriotism through positive images and ideals, such as the U.S. Flag, Abraham Lincoln, and democracy.

"Fight or Buy Bonds" by Howard Chandler Christy, 1917.

"Buy Liberty Bonds", 1917.

One poster in our collection appears to be directed towards first-generation immigrants, reminding them to unite with their new country under the symbol of liberty, the U.S. Flag.

"Remember! The Flag of Liberty Support It!", 1918.

Other posters in the collection strike a darker tone. "Halt the Hun!" demonizes the enemy by using a derogatory slur ("Hun") and by showing a German soldier preying on a woman and child. Another poster by Herbert Paus implies that the world will not be a decent place to live in until the Central Powers are defeated.

"Halt the Hun" by Henry Raleigh, 1918.

"To Make the World A Decent Place to Live" by Herbert Paus, 1917

There were five Liberty Loans bond drives. All were fully subscribed and they raised a total of $17 billion (which is roughly $38.5 billion in today's money). People who bought a Liberty Bond were literally investing in their country. Purchasing a Liberty Bond boosted one’s morale and allowed one to feel that s/he was doing their bit to help the war effort. Like many of its citizens, the Town of Longmeadow supported the war by purchasing bonds. The 1919 Annual Town Report shows that the Sinking Fund included investments from four of the bond sales.

-Contributed by Beth Hoff, Board Member of the Longmeadow Historical Society

Originally published November 10, 2022

Resources:

Collections of the Longmeadow Historical Society

1919 Longmeadow Annual Town Report

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/liberty-bonds

The Trolley Crash of 1905

From the Connecticut Trolley Museum

The trolley, or the electric railway, came to Longmeadow in 1896. The Springfield Street Railway Company installed single rail lines from Springfield to Enfield along Longmeadow Street (Main Street). This was instrumental in converting Longmeadow from primarily a farming town to a suburban community.

On November 18, 1905, there was a terrible head-on trolley crash just south of the Longmeadow Green, approximately in the area of Mill Road and Crescent Road. There appeared to be confusion in regard to the switching signal system for the single-track trolley. The motorman in control of the northbound trolley, George A. Charon of Springfield, 33, was killed and at least 30 passengers were injured, many seriously.

Springfield Sunday Republican November 19, 1905 (article transcribed below)

Per a report of the crash which ran in the The Springfield Sunday Republican the next day on November 19, there were 83 passengers on board, most of whom were from Thompsonville and headed into Springfield for a pleasant Saturday of shopping and entertainment.

The accident occurred at around 1:45 in the afternoon. Allegedly, the northbound trolley was behind schedule and may have been trying to make up time. It was traveling at about 20 mph down the hill as it approached the south end of the green when it collided with a northbound trolley on the same, single track.

The newspaper paints the scene in vivid, gruesome detail: “The two cars were locked together in close embrace, neither being overturned or even leaving the track. The up-car, packed with humanity, presented a scene which made strong men turn away heartsick. The conductor had rung up 83 fares. And the people were packed in almost as closely as they could be, the aisle being filled with people hanging onto the straps. Those in the front of the car were most seriously hurt. The flying remnants of the vestibule and front end drove right and left through the car, and the breaking glass from the windows literally showered the passengers at the forward end of the car. Even those at the rear end did not entirely escape it. The seats were torn from their fastenings and the passengers were thrown together in a confused and frightened mass. They were piled one on the other with seats on top of them, and the chorus of cries and those who were in pain made the scene terrible. A large number of the passengers were women, and those women who were not hurt much fainted at the sight of so much blood and the nervous shock which they sustained.

"[People] set to work early to relieve the motorman, who was crushed into a remarkably small space in the corner of the vestibule. Debris covered his body, and his legs were pinned down by the heavy iron bumper of the southbound car. The feet were completely severed just above the ankles. The small band of rescuers tore away the debris and succeeded in getting the motorman from between the cars while he was still conscious. He was remarkably brave, and made a little complaint, except to say that his back was painting him terribly. He was laid on the grass near the car, ropes being used to tie up his bleeding limbs, to prevent death from the loss of blood. He soon became unconscious. Not long after he had been taken from the car, a southbound car came along. It was turned back to hurry the man to the hospital in the hope of saving his life. The car was run with all possible speed to the city and an ambulance was waiting at the car barn to take the man to Mercy Hospital. Doctors worked over the man, but the efforts were futile and the death came about 4 o’clock.”

"The street railway had a wrecking crew on the ground within 20 minutes after the accident.… The Hartford-Springfield car was the lighter of the two cars and consequently was the more damaged. The seats in the car were torn from their fastenings, while the vestibule was a complete wreck. The bumper was bent over so that it almost reached the door of the car. It was this that crushed the motor man. Nearly all the windows in the front of the car were smashed, and many of the wounds received by the injured were caused by the flying glass. The vestibule of the southbound car was also a complete wreck, and the motorman must undoubtedly have suffered the same fate as his brother motorman had he not had time to jump. The interior of the car was not much damaged, only one or two of the side windows being broken.

"As the struggling, excited mass of humanity were striving to untangle themselves. …Men and women, anxious only for their own safety and the safety of their belongings, rushed back-and-forth, in and out of the car to gather up their possessions. The conductor of the car, and of the car with which he collided, endeavored to calm the people and to relieve the distressed."

Nearby Longmeadow residents jumped in to help as nearby doctors were summoned to help. Rooms in houses were opened up to serve as temporary hospital wards. The accident led to considerable local concern surrounding trolley safety. A letter to the editor of The Republican published a week after the crash and signed “A Passenger” expressed fear at traveling on the cars: "The last year I have had occasion to use the electric cars between the state line and Thompsonville, and every time I felt that I had taken my life in my hand: especially on that part of the line between the state line and the Longmeadow green. I have ridden on a great many electric lines this summer in Massachusetts, and my observation is that it is not so much the fault of the motorman as it is of the management back of them, demanding such reckless speed in order to keep the scheduled time. To arrive, with little care how, is the spirit of the age. More trips, more money, money, money. The horrible results to life and the heavy damage is too little to correct this growing evil.”

This event led to converting the single track system to a double track which was felt to be safer and not require the turnoffs and signaling system. This required a considerable construction effort to create the double track.

Construction for the trolley tracks conversion north of the green 1908

Emerson Collection, Longmeadow Historical Society

George Corriveau was the motorman on the last ride

The last trolley ran up and down Longmeadow Street in 1940. By the summer of 1941, all tracks, poles, and electrical lines were dismantled and sold for scrap. Essentially nothing remains in Longmeadow from this trolley era that lasted from 1896- 1940. Occasionally however remnants are discovered and who knows what may yet be unearthed.

Rail spikes unearthed recently by former tree warden and current town resident, Dave Marinelli

For more information on the Longmeadow streetcars please visit here and here.

-Contributed by Lenny Shaker, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member

Originally published November 3, 2022

Sources: Springfield Republican Boston Herald Boston Globe Connecticut Trolley Museum

The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal

Front Piece of a Seaman's Journal

The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal

Recently rediscovered in the archives of the Storrs House Museum is a journal stored in a box labeled “Seaman’s Journey 1852-1853” by an earlier museum curator. The journal, 13¼ inches by 8¼ inches in size, dutifully records the wind, knot speed, and weather of three ocean voyages:

- Entries from May 21, 1852–October 17, 1852

- Entries from November 2, 1852–January 18, 1853 on a trip from San Francisco to Calcutta

- Entries from March 3, 1853–June 10, 1853 on a trip from Calcutta to Boston

Many of the pages are stained, possibly by ocean water during the voyage. Even more interesting than the notations in the journal, perhaps, is the information that the book does not contain – the identity of the author, the name of the ship that he traveled on, and how the journal came to be in the collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society. Board members of the Longmeadow Historical Society have been working together to try to answer these questions.

What ship was the author on?

There were several commercial vessels that sailed the Boston–San Francisco–Calcutta route in the 1850s. By comparing the dates recorded in the journal with ship lists documented by Massachusetts newspapers of the period, we determined that the author was sailing on the barque Kate Hastings.

The Kate Hastings left Boston for San Francisco on May 21, 1852 and was in San Francisco around October 17. It then left San Francisco on October 19, stopped in Singapore for repairs, and was in Calcutta on January 21, 1853. The Kate Hastings then left Calcutta around March 1 and returned to Boston June 28, 1853.

Daily Atlas, April 21, 1852

From the Journals of the Bostonian Society, we learned that the barque Kate Hastings was built in Newburyport in 1847 by W. & B.W. Picket. What is a “barque”? According to Webster, a barque is “a three-masted vessel, having her foremast and mainmast square-rigged, and her mizzenmast schooner-rigged.”

Barque sail plan, from Wikipedia

Who is the author of the journal?

Now that we knew the name of the vessel, we were perhaps able to narrow down our search for the name of the sailor. The author of the journal left a few breadcrumb clues as to his identity. In addition to the strict observances of weather and speed, the author often made notations in the journal that were directed to his mother, who he evidently anticipated reading the journal at some time in the future.

-Seventeen days into the first voyage, he mentioned that he had finally learned the name of the ropes. So, this was likely his first adventure at sea. “I have learned nearly all of the names of the ropes and hope to be able to say, that I have learned all by next Sunday.”

June 6, 1852, Seaman's Journal

On July 4, 1852, he is thinking about the Springfield fireworks that he is missing. So, he was likely from the Springfield area. “Only think of it mother today is Independence day. And as I think of it I cannot help thinking what a difference there is between my situation now and what it would be ashore…I have been thinking most of the day of what will happen in Springfield tomorrow, of the boys with their fire crackers and cannon. Of the show and parade that will happen and of the fireworks in the evening in the Barnes lot, and a great many other things to numerous to mention.”

July 4, 1852, Seaman's Journal

On July 24, he mentions that he expects that “you” (his mother) will enjoy having George and Clara at home. So, he likely was related to George and Clara. “As I am standing my watch on deck at night, half frozen, with nothing to do but to keep warm, I very often cannot help comparing my present condition with what it was last year at this time. Then I will imagine what you are all doing, how, instead of being half frozen you are half melted, how you are enjoying having George and Clara at home together…”

July 24, 1852, Seaman's Journal

On July 5, 1852, he ruminates about “George and Jim Rumrill” probably being home from vacation. So, it was likely that he was close to Jim Rumrill. “In a little while now George and Jim Rumrill will be home for their summer vacation, and I think that I can imagine just how they feel…”

July 5, 1852, Seaman's Journal

Following these breadcrumbs, we started researching. Diving into the vast resources available on the Internet, a Google search of the barque Kate Hastings brought up an abstract from the Online Archives of California for an 1873 charter party agreement made in San Francisco, California between the master (James S. Dwight) and the agent for owners of the American ship “Springfield” of Boston. The very thorough author of the abstract included this biographical information about the master: “In 1853 at the age of seventeen he went to sea, sailing from Boston in the barque ‘Kate Hastings’.” Was this our lad? Did his life include the clues left in the journal?

Research on James S. Dwight revealed that in 1850, he was a 14 year-old schoolboy, living in Springfield, Massachusetts with his parents, George and Mary, his sister Clara, and his brother George. The family lived in dwelling 1583, family 1731. On the previous page of the census at dwelling 1576, family 1723, lived 13 year-old James Rumrill, likely his close neighbor.

1850 U.S. Census, Springfield, Massachusetts

The 1855 Massachusetts Census listed 19-year old James Dwight’s occupation as sailor, further connecting him to our author. We felt confident that James S. Dwight wrote the entries in our seaman's journal.

1855 Massachusetts Census, Springfield, Massachusetts

How did James S. Dwight's journal enter the collections of the Longmeadow Historical Society?

It is likely that James S. Dwight’s journal of his voyages on the barque Kate Hastings traveled to Longmeadow through the sister, Clara Dwight.

James’s sister, Clara Dwight, married William Shurtleff, in 1857. They lived in Springfield until 1892 when they bought the Nathaniel Ely House at 674 Longmeadow Street and moved to Longmeadow. Sadly, William died four years later. His widow, Clara, and their daughter, Mary, remained in Longmeadow for a few years, boarding with John and Anna Hitchcock at 836 Longmeadow Street in 1900, as reflected in the 1900 U.S. Census. Clara moved back to Springfield in 1900 and she sold the Nathaniel Ely House in 1905.

1900 U.S. Census, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

It is likely that Clara Dwight Shurtleff inherited her brother’s journal from her mother and, if so, she would have brought the journal with her when she moved to Longmeadow. And she probably left it with her friend (and landlady) Mrs. Anna Hitchcock. Accession records for the Longmeadow Historical Society show that Mrs. Anna Chandler Hitchcock, a member of the newly formed Longmeadow Historical Society, donated an “Old Account Book” to the collection on October 17, 1916. We are fairly confident that this “Old Account Book” is the seaman’s journal.

Accession book, Archives of the Longmeadow Historical Society

We are fortunate to have this seafaring tale in our collection. Stay tuned for next week when we will explore contents of the journal, the challenges of sea life from the eyes of a young man, and what became of James S. Dwight.

Contributed by Beth Hoff, but ably assisted by Al McKee and Melissa Cybulski, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Members

Sources:

Archives of the Longmeadow Historical Society

https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/bostonian-society/proceedings-of-the-bostonian-society-annual-meeting-volume-7-tso/page-13-proceedings-of-the-bostonian-society-annual-meeting-volume-7-tso.shtml

Daily Atlas, April 21, 1852

https://oac.cdlib.org/search?group=Items;idT=UCb161964928

1850 U.S. Census

1855 Massachusetts Census

1900 U.S. Census

Linda Abrams, Seaman's Journal, The Town Crier Issue No. 24, May 2011

Charles W. Chapin, History of the “old high school” on School Street, Springfield, Massachusetts, from 128 to 1840, Springfield, 1890, p.121-2