A Fox Bounty in DeKalb County in 1944

From the March 20, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1944, 75 Years Ago.

"Enos A. Baie of Hinckley this week was awarded county bounty on several foxes, which, according to E.W. Joiner, county clerk,  is the largest bounty paid to one individual so far this season."

How Much Is That Fox Pelt in the Window?  --CootFox

After World War I, 1919: 100 Years Ago

From the March 20, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

**  "Prof. John Adee, who is well known here as a Sycamore boy, and as a former and popular superintendent of  the Sycamore schools, is one of 30 superintendents of schools selected by  the government to go to France to teach the American soldiers."

**  "Names of several returning heroines and heroes known in DeKalb were included in the lists today in the papers.  Miss Celeste Firkins of Shabbona Grove and Miss Nellie R. Satter of Leland, who were with the Red Cross nurses of the Presbyterian  unit, arrived on the Mauretania."

--Cooter

Cost of Cigarettes Up to 20 Cents in 1919

From the March 20, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"The high cost of smokes, as well as matches has been thrust upon users of the weed, and it is rumored about town that a lot of fellows are going to swear off.  Cigarettes that used to cost 10 and 15 cents are now selling for 20 cents in many stores, while in some places the proprietor has added just the war tax.

Matches formerly selling for a cent a box are now selling two boxes for five cents, and in addition, they are marked on the box as 'war quality' that means about every other one usable."

These costs were for a pack of cigarettes.  Of course, now with the cost of a pack of cigarettes at $6 to $8, that sure doesn't seem so bad.

--CootSmoke

Turner Brass Works in Sycamore, Illinois

Today and yesterday, I wrote about the Turner Brass Works Company getting an "E" Pennant during World War II for making items for the war effort.  A high honor.  Then, I wrote about the company's history, which started in Chicago and then moved out to Sycamore, Illinois.

They were one of, if not the biggest bakers of blow torches from 1971 to the 1990s.

You can read the entries in my Tattooed On Your Soul:  World War II blog.  Just click on the Blogs I Follow at right.

--DaCoot

Doughboy Convalescents Going Through DeKalb in 1919

From the February 27, 2019, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"A special train of soldier lads went through here yesterday afternoon about four o'clock going west with Camp Dodge, Iowa, as their destination.

"The soldier lads were convalescents, as many of them were seen  with bandages on their  arms and heads and it is probable, they are some of the more recently returned boys  from over there, who 'got theirs'  from stray Hun bullets."

--Cooter

Work or Fight, WW I and Baseball-- Part 2

However, just a month into the 1918 season, Provost Marshall General Enoch Crowder, director of the military draft, decreed that by July 1, all draft-eligible men employed in "non-essential" occupations must apply for work directly related to the war -- or gamble being called into military service.

Secretary of War Newton D. Baker agreed with Mr. Crowder.  baseball players were in a non-essential job.  Get involved in a war-related job stateside or risk being called into military service.

But, MLB got sort of a reprieve and "Work or Fight" deadline was delayed for two months, until September 1.  Owners had to lobby furiously to get that date waived for World Series participants and it was.

However, that still left two weeks where as many as 15 players per team  were drafted or enlisted.

Players who remained made an impact on the league championships, won by the Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs.

--Cooter

Work Or Fight Order: A Racist Thing?

In my posts in my Down Da Road I Go blog yesterday, I mentioned a DeKalb County company which had this order on it.

From the Records of Rights site  "Work Or Fight (1918)"

During World War I the Selective Service Division issued a "Work or Fight" order requiring all able-bodied men to either serve in the military or  work in "necessary" civilian occupations.  Some private individuals and employers in the South conspired with public authorities to use the order to force Blacks to perform menial labor for low wages.

--CootWork

A Nurse Tells of Her Service in 1919

From the January 16, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"At the Sunday evening service at the Hinckley M.E. church the program was given over to those who have lately returned from military camps in the country.

"Miss Dorothy Pritchard, who was training for a nurse at Camp Wadsworth, S.C., gave a most interesting account of her experience there."

--Cooter

Honor Roll For the Boys In the Service in 1918

From the December 19, 2018, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"Honor rolls for the boys of the American Steel & Wire company who gave up their employment to enter service have recently been placed.  One is hung across from the office of the east and west works and contains the names of 107 men now in service.  The roll of honor at the north and south works contains the names of 25 boys.

"The honor rolls are hand made with the exception of a lithographed eagle with flags at the top and are works of art, and are so protected from the weather that they will remain there for some time to come."

Hopefully There Will Be Jobs Awaiting Them Upon Their Return.  --Cooter

Speak English Movement in 1918

From the October 10, 2018, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"Speak English, write English and tell your family to  write and speak English, is the slogan now among the steel company plants here, and is but another follow-up plan of the recent Americanization meeting held here some time ago.

"On the occasion of the last pay day at the American Steel & Wire company, every check going to a worker of foreign nationality, was stamped, 'Speak English.' "

--Cooter

Save Your Nut Shells For Gas Masks

From the October 10, 2018,


1918, 100 Years Ago.

"Save you nut shells,  and pits, stones and seeds from fruits, is the request sent out from the Illinois Food Administration.  Peach stones, date seeds, peach, prune, cherry, apricot, olive and plum pits, and Brazil nut, walnut and butternut shells are all needed for making the charcoal for gas masks for our army.

"Wood charcoal has proved to be deficient, so the government is sending out a plea to save every available fruit stone and pit and nut shell."

--Cooter

It Is OK To Drive to Church in 1918

From the October 3, 2018, MidWeek  (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"Advices from the State Fuel Administration to the local officials received today say:  "As to church, if they just intend to go to church and have no other means of getting there, that is all right, but it is not all right to go to go riding.

"Fuel Administrator Walter Proust received  the above message this afternoon from the state fuel administrator which will probably furnish the excuse for a good many people to use their rigs in going to church."

So, they even had a sort of fuel rationing back in World War I.

--Cooter

Most Pigeons Flew Home, A Few Remained

From the September 19, 2018, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"Regardless of the fact that nearly 3,000 pigeons were released here Sunday morning by the employees of the American Railway Express company, there are but few of the birds to be seen flying about the city today.

"As a general rule there are always many of the birds which do not get started on their homeward journey and later become victim of some one's rifle or shot gun.  The laws nowadays  state that such birds must not be shot  as all efforts  are being made  to train them for service in the army."

Be American, Don't Shoot the Pigeons.  --Cooter

WW I & Ethnic Chicago-- Part 6: Demonstrations and Czechs

On March 3, 1918, Chicago's Poles gathered at the Coliseum to welcome Ignace Jan Paderewski, celebrated pianist and leader of the Polish independence movement.  he reported that a newly-formed Polish army was fighting in France.  His wife said that he would not play the piano again until the war was over and Poland independent.

At demonstrations all over Chicago, flags of ancient nations about to be reborn were flown.  Some Lithuanians wanted to throw in their lot with Poland, remembering that at one time their country and Poland were in a dual kingdom.

Sometimes these demonstrations came to near rioting.

Chicago neighborhoods, such as  Pilsen and South Lawndale, were home to more Czechs and Slovaks than any other place on earth except for Prague.

--CootCzech

WW I & Ethnic Chicago-- Part 5: Magyars and Jugo-Slavs

In fact, by now the tide of war had changed.

The German offensive had been stopped and Austria-Hungary, Germany's main ally, was on the verge of collapse.  There were wild celebrations in Chicago's Slavic neighborhoods, understand that their homelands would soon no longer be under Austrian or German rule.

A Polish nationalists asked:  "What is Austria-Hungary?  A degenerate crippled empire, ruled by Germans and Magyars against the will of the majority of its population, composed of Czechs, Jugo-Slavs, Poles, Roumanians and Italians."

--Cooter

World War I and Ethnic Chicago-- Part 4: German Books and Newspapers

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra abandoned the German names of works they performed.

Under the headline, "Hun doctrines spread by book in city library," the Tribune reported that a book was found in the Chicago Public Library that didn't  blame Germany for the war.  It was similar to books acquired while the U.S. was still neutral.

A library official thanked the man and said, "Now, of course, with our changed point of view, they should be withdrawn."

The Tribune called the Abendpost, a German-language daily, the "Chicago Hun-tongued newspaper."  It had carried dispatches saying Germans weren't starving  and had sufficient military supplies despite the British Navy's blockade of their ports.

--DaCoot

World War I and Ethnic Chicago-- Part 3: Anti-American and Anti-German Sentiment

The Tribune reported that a soldier and his brother had stopped for a drink in south suburban Crete, in Will County.  The locals, "all Germans, hooted and jeered" and called the young man, in full uniform, "a tin soldier."  The soldier and his brother were beaten badly "almost into insensibility" but they were the ones arrested and held in jail for a night.

More often, it was the Germans who were on the receiving end of hostility though.  The private Chicago Athletic Association fired 18 waiters, cooks and dishwashers "of German extraction."  Some members tried to keep Henry Bauer because he had a son in the U.S. Army.

The Chicago Music College notified staffers that they would be fired if they participated in a concert sung in German.  Women in the South Shore Country Club organized a "Use Nothing German" campaign, pledging to rid their households of anything marked "made in Germany."

Cooter

World War I and Ethnic Chicago-- Part 2: An Ethnic City

From that point on, the war was the talk of the town.  And this especially  applied to each of the belligerents as all had considerable groups living in Chicago.  The city was a checkerboard of ethnic neighborhoods.

The German community was especially targeted with almost a paranoid suspicion.  Chicago's clergy were  calling the war the biblical Armageddon.  One preacher said, "If Germany is victorious, then every Christian ideal will be destroyed and brute force will prevail."

Leaders of the German community tried to deflect the blow with a well-publicized war bond drive.  "We have shown our loyalty by sending our sons to war, "said Henry G. Zander.  "But we must overcome the feeling on the part of many Americans that we are not loyal."

But, the Tribune in a news story said:  "Will County, populated largely by Germans, is a dangerous place for a man wearing the uniform of Uncle Sam to go."

--Cooter

World War I and Ethnic Chicago-- Part 1: Doughboys To the Trenches

From the April 8, 2018, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

It is spring 1918 and now American troops were fully deployed in France, just in time to help the exhausted British and French forces as Germany was preparing a last ditch offensive.

The United States had entered the Great War, as it was then called, the previous year on April 6, 1917.

There was no commercial radio at the time so people turned to newspapers to keep up with what was going on.  On March 24, 1918, the Chicago Tribune was besieged with callers who wanted to know if the "Doughboys" (as our soldiers were often called, were gong to be tested in battle.

The answer was that American troops were now in the trenches on the Front Lines.

--DaCoot

Supporting the World War I Troops in DeKalb: Huge Welcome Home

From the March 8, 2017, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1917, 100 Years Ago.

"DeKalb and Sycamore said 'welcome home' to their soldier boys last night in a way that showed the 'fellers' that they meant it.

With a crowd of at least 2,000 filling every nook and cranny of the space 'outside the railing' at the Armory and fully as many were in a futile push for admission at the closed doors and admiration and regard shining from every fan the soldier lads, band and company knew last night what their place in the hearts of DeKalb people is."

Supporting the Troops.  --Cooter