USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 56
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THE SERVICE RECORD OF MASSACHUSETTS
Only organizations officially credited to Massachusetts and whose battle flags are deposited in the State House have been mentioned here. The total number of Massachusetts men who served in the Army or Navy of the United Stated during the war was 198,929, of which number 83,220 were drafted, the remainder volunteering or being specially inducted. Less than a third of this number were attached to Massachusetts units. The Army administration paid little or no attention to the derivation of the great mass of men given to it as soldiers. If men were on hand in one camp and were needed elsewhere, they were transferred without regard to home ties or regimental numbers. A great many Massachusetts men, for instance, were transferred from Camp Devens to the Eighty-second Division from the Southern States, a draft division which had been drawn upon heavily to complete the National Guard division of that section. The necrology record shows that 200 men from Massachusetts were killed in the ranks of this division. To give an adequate story of the service of Massachusetts men in the military and naval forces would necessitate a history of every division and fleet. The records of those who died in service, classified
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by divisions, show one or more from Massachusetts in every division in the United States Army. The greatest number of casualties (1036) were naturally from the Twenty-sixth Division. Three hundred and ninety men died in the Second Division, and one hundred and eighty-nine in the First Divi- sion. The total number of deaths in service was 5,288, about a fourteenth of the total American losses.
STATE RELATIONS WITH THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE WAR (1917-1919)
As the great war machine of the nation began to gain head- way in scope and efficiency, the local activities of the State as such fell more and more under Federal authority: the directing force being the Federal government, the State co- operating but subordinated to the national control. The Federal government took over control of the railroads and of all shipping, in New England as elsewhere. The War Industries Board, which had grown out of the Council of National Defense, became more and more powerful in its direction and supervision of essential industries necessary for the manufacture of war material. The whole nation gradu- ally found itself and became united in the common aim. The States recognized that the task was a national one, and subordinated their State sovereignty and individuality in the great effort.
Nowhere was this more apparent than in Massachusetts. Of different partisan politics than those of the national ad- ministration, the Massachusetts Senators and Representatives in Congress-led by Senators Lodge and Weeks in the Senate, and by such men in the House as Augustus P. Gardner, until his resignation to accept a commission-were a unit in their support of national measures. In Massachusetts, Governor McCall gave without hesitation or reservation his full support to the national effort and delegated the great powers which had been granted to him by the legislature in ways best fitted to carry out the national will.
Newspapers throughout the land submitted to voluntary censorship of news, and there were few occasions where the spirit of the agreement was not accepted and lived up to.
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The draft went on taking the young men from the com- munity as long as the need existed and as the President called. Recruits would disappear into the great training camps; troop trains would arrive on the sidings at night and in the morning thousands of men would have vanished, gone to the port of embarkation or to an unknown destination. All was done secretly, in the hope, at least, that the enemy would not be informed. Little was told of the movements and battles of the American troops in France. Letters from individual soldiers were rigidly censored at the front to prevent such information from leaking out. Newspaper cor- respondents were not permitted to accompany the armies in the field, and only the barest details of American success were given out officially.
NATIONAL PATRIOTISM AND SERVICE
To Massachusetts the war was a crusade to end tyranny and militarism and to establish in the world the right of the self-determination of its peoples.
Day by day, built upon the patriotism of the people, a vast and most efficient organization was developed, reaching from Washington into every town and every home of the State. Children worked cheerfully in the fields to increase the crop yield. Women organized everywhere for the service they could give. Bankers gave their help to the great war-loan drives. Professional and business men closed their desks, joined the Army or Navy staffs or the many committees and agencies working out the industrial problem. The people who remained at home were keyed up to great and effectual effort. Subjected to much privation, they cheerfully sub- mitted to every regulation which could in any way further the success of our armies. Altogether it was a most inspiring proof of the unity of the people of the State and of the nation, a demonstration of the basic soundness of our institu- tions and government.
FOOD ADMINISTRATION (1917-1919)
The question of food supply was early recognized to be of great moment. A disruption of production was caused by
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the military draft of so much of the manhood of the country and by the diversion of more into the manufacture of muni- tions and other war activities. Likewise a great drain upon the resources of the country, to supply the armies in the field and to supply the Allies, made conservation of resources most necessary.
One of the earliest studies in Massachusetts by the Commit- tee on Public Safety was the question of food production and conservation, and in the spring of 1917 the committee urged the greatest possible production of agricultural products throughout the State. In May, 1917, the President asked Herbert Hoover to start a preliminary organization that would have as its principal function food conservation. Hoover in July, 1917, requested Henry B. Endicott to act as his representative in Massachusetts. August 10, 1917, Congress enacted the Food and Fuel Control Act ; and Hoover was at once appointed Federal Food Administrator, appoint- ing Endicott as Federal Administrator for Massachusetts. Governor McCall, under the powers given in the Common- wealth Defense Act, appointed him State Food Adminis- trator with full powers, and a strong and effective organiza- tion was perfected.
The food situation in Massachusetts, due to the small wheat crop carried over from 1917, and also to remoteness from sources of supply and dependence on an overburdened trans- portation system, was more difficult than that of other parts of the country. Various classes of dealers and manufacturers of necessaries were put under license by presidential proclama- tion, to prevent hoarding or withholding vital supplies, to restrain profiteering, and to secure uniform distribution. Prices and profits were rigidly kept within reason. Substitutes were found for wheat flour, and their use was required. When in January, 1918, the shortage of wheat became alarm- ing, it was prescribed that all wheat flours should be mixed with 50 per cent of substitute-corn, rye, or other grain flour. The sugar shortage required drastic rules and regulations and frequent prosecutions. "No-white-bread" weeks were recom- mended; meatless days were prescribed for restaurants and hotels. Hoarding was rigidly watched. The substitution of fish for meat was urged upon the people, and the fishing
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industry was helped to produce an adequate quantity of fish.
In a thousand ways, Endicott and his assistants worked for conservation and for the equal distribution at reasonable prices of all the necessary food components of daily life; and they received from the whole people a cooperation that was inspir- ing. The selfish disregard of the regulations and requests of the Food Administration shown by a few was much more than offset by the voluntary efforts of the great majority, who went well beyond the measures requested and brought about a total saving probably far greater than would have been possible by a mechanical rationing program. In this work Endicott was assisted by A. C. Ratshesky, James J. Phelan, Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer, Edmund W. Longley, John D. Wil- lard, and many other competent men and women, who dropped their own business to serve the State.
SETTLEMENT OF LABOR DISPUTES (1917-1918)
In addition to his duties as food administrator, Endicott was called upon during 1917 and 1918 to act as arbitrator in the settlement of labor controversies. During the two years he settled about 150 strikes involving large numbers of em- ployees and very vital industries. Approximately an equal number of smaller cases were referred to him for adjustment, both parties putting themselves unreservedly in his hands and agreeing to abide by his decision. In only two cases were attempts made to override his findings, and both of them failed.
HALIFAX DISASTER (1917)
December 6, 1917, came an explosion of a munition ship, which devastated Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Committee on Public Safety was at once called together, and 60 of the 100 members were assembled within three hours after the first news had been received. At ten o'clock that same night, a train in charge of A. C. Ratshesky, carrying doctors, nurses, Red Cross workers, and a large shipment of supplies of all kinds, left the North Station. It battled with snow drifts and cold, but pushed through and arrived at 3 A. M. on December 8, being the first outside help to reach the stricken city.
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Meanwhile funds had been raised amounting to nearly $700,000; and three days after the disaster the steamship Calvin Austin left Boston for Halifax, laden with supplies for temporary shelter, clothing, food, and bedding. Two days later (December 11), the Northland sailed with another cargo of necessary supplies. A hospital was installed, and temporary shelter was set up for the thousands of destitute and homeless people. This achievement gives a good example of the spirit and effectiveness of the Committee on Public Safety.
INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC (1918)
When the influenza scourge broke out in the State in September of 1918, the governor at once appointed Henry B. Endicott chairman of the emergency Health Committee. Emergency hospitals were established, nurses were obtained, doctors from outside of the State from communities not af- fected were procured to replace the many local doctors who had gone into military service. Dr. William A. Brooks, Surgeon-General, established a great hospital on Corey Hill in Boston with the assistance and backing of the Committee on Public Safety, and assistance was given to many local communities throughout the State. Theaters were closed, all large gatherings were discontinued, people were instructed in measures to be taken to limit the risk in so far as possible, and the whole State was put into the best possible condition for resistance. In spite of every effort, the number of deaths due to this epidemic in Massachusetts alone during the month of October, 1918, has been estimated as more than 10,000.
FUEL ADMINISTRATION (1917-1918)
Early in 1917, it became obvious that with the dislocation of traffic facilities and the long distance of New England from the source of supply, a shortage of coal was to be foreseen. Early in May, 1917, at the instance of James J. Storrow, Governor McCall called a conference of all the New England governors; and it was agreed to treat the New Eng- land situation as a single affair. Coal committees were appointed in each State, but under the central direction of the New England Committee, headed by Storrow. A subcom-
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mittee of the National Council of Defense tried to organize the fuel situation nationally. The first thing it did was to fix a maximum price, whereupon the coal which should have gone to New England promptly went to Canada, where a higher price could be obtained. Finally, in August, 1917, Dr. Harry A. Garfield was appointed Federal Fuel Administrator and Storrow was appointed by him the New England Fuel Ad- ministrator.
During the winter of 1917-1918 there was a serious soft- coal shortage in New England. The winter was of unusual severity. Boston harbor was frozen solid, and water shipment of coal was much impeded. Storrow finally secured priority of shipment by the railroads; and 500 cars of coal a day were authorized for New England, the distribution of this coal being in his hands and being used where necessary. Without this prompt and effective action, many factories would have been unable to continue; even the railroads and street railways were dependent upon the supply of coal so obtained. After the experience of 1917, Storrow was able to secure an adequate reserve supply during the summer of 1918, and although the use of coal was greatly conserved, no further bituminous shortage was experienced.
The anthracite situation was even worse than that which existed as to soft coal. Storrow, foreseeing the shortage, had done his best to obtain the normal shipment of anthracite in the summer and' fall of 1917, and did get many thousand tons which otherwise never would have been received. Even so, the total supply was inadequate. Local fuel committees were appointed in every town. They took complete charge of the available supplies, and for the most part serious suffer- ing was averted. In Boston, during several of the most severe cold spells, the retail dealers had on hand less than two days' supply. Tickets were issued to over 30,000 families calling for 100 pounds every two days; and by the careful regula- tion of distribution and by the use of soft coal wherever possible as a substitute, the winter passed without undue suffering.
During 1918, a shortage of labor in the anthracite mines made it impossible, in spite of every effort of the Fuel Ad- ministration, to obtain a normal reserve supply. Factories,
From a photograph by Leslie R. Jones
Courtesy of the Boston Herald-Traveler
PARADE OF THE 26TH DIVISION, BOSTON, APRIL 25, 1919
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apartment houses, office buildings and stores were forbidden to use anthracite for heating, and by careful regulation of distribution the supply was conserved for domestic use. Fortunately, the winter was mild. The fact that industry was enabled to continue and that the people were spared real suffering is due to the tireless efforts and great efficiency of Storrow and his assistants in the Fuel Administration.
THE RETURN OF THE TROOPS (1918)
The conclusion of the Armistice on the battle front, Novem- ber 11, 1918, had been preceded by the so-called "false Armistice" of November 8. Nevertheless, there was enough enthusiasm left and every city and town in the State was rocked to its foundations. As soon as possible war-time organizations wound up their business. The Committee on Public Safety and the Food Administration closed their affairs before the end of 1918. The Fuel Administration continued to function as occasion demanded.
Then came the return of the troops to Massachusetts. Each organization was met far down Boston Harbor by a fleet of boats representing the governor, the mayor, and civilian organizations, and was welcomed home with bands playing, whistles blowing, and flags flying, but above all with a deep and sincere appreciation and affection from all the people. This culminated in a great reception to the Twenty-sixth Division on its return in early April, 1919, and its final parade through the streets of Boston on April 25. The division was quartered at Camp Devens and was demobilized on April 30, 1919. On Flag Day, June 14, 1919, the colors of all the Massachusetts organizations were trooped in front of the State House, and in an impressive ceremony the battle flags of the various Massachusetts battalions and regiments were deposited with the battle flags of other wars in the Hall of Flags.
LOSSES AND GAINS
The war was over, victory won. Massachusetts had again given its share and more in the nation's war.
No Massachusetts men helped draft the Treaty of Ver- sailles, but Senator Lodge was the leader of those who insisted
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that the treaty, with its covenant of the League of Nations, be not ratified except with reservations to keep our participa- tion in the League of Nations within the limits prescribed by the Federal Constitution. The treaty failed of ratifica- tion; perhaps the victory won was barren, but a menace to the world had been destroyed.
Massachusetts paid the price that war exacts: five thou- sand of its young lives lost in battle; thousands more dis- abled, many permanently; financial loss and burdensome taxes. But against this price may be set down the renewed proof of the basic strength of Massachusetts. Its citizens may well be proud of its record. The laws and measures adopted for organizing the resources of the State should serve as precedents in other times of emergency. The service and self-sacrifice of all the people demonstrated the power to unite in a common cause. The valor and fighting excellence of the soldiers of Massachusetts stood high in the great test of the soldiers of the world. Above all, the spirit of idealism and of patriotism with which Massachusetts entered and pros- ecuted the war proved once more that the State still stood true to the principles upon which it was founded.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARUCH, BERNARD MANNES .- American Industry in the War; a Report of the War Industries Board (Washington, 1921).
CLARKSON,, GROSVENOR B .-- United States Council of National Defense ; a Tribute and a Look into the Future (Washington, 1919)-A brief sketch of its activities by a member.
CLYMER, GEORGE, editor .- The History of U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 6 and its Part in the American Expeditionary Forces 1917-1918 (Pri- vately printed, Boston, 1924).
CROTTY, J. L., editor .- The 401st Telegraph Battalion in the World War (Privately printed).
Current History (December, 1914, and later years)-Founded by the New York Times Company to present the cases of both belligerent and neutral nations affected by the World War.
CUTLER, FREDERICK MORSE .- The 55th Artillery (C.A.C.) in the American Expeditionary Forces, France, 1918 (Worcester, Mass., Common- wealth Press, 1920).
FROTHINGHAM, THOMAS GODDARD .- The American Reinforcement in the World War (Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Page, 1927)-An ad- mirable historical contribution.
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HENDERSON, ROBERT GRAHAM, editor .- History of the Fourteenth Engi- neers, U. S. Army, from May, 1917, to May, 1919 (Privately printed, Boston, 1923).
History of the 101st United States Engineers, American Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1918-1919 (Privately printed, 1916).
LABRANCHE, ERNEST E .- An American Battery in France (Worcester, Mass., Belisle Printing & Publishing Co., 1923)-An account of Bat- tery E, 102nd Field Artillery, U.S.A.
LYMAN, GEORGE HINCKLEY .- The Story of the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety, February 10, 1917-November 21, 1918 . (Boston, Wright & Potter, 1919)-An exhaustive account of the organization and activities of the committee, written by one of its members.
MASSACHUSETTS : ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE .- Annual Reports (Bos- ton, 1918, 1919, and 1920)-A partial record of military activities within the State.
PUTNAM, EBEN .- A Gold Star Record of Massachusetts (In preparation) -A list of all Massachusetts men who gave their lives in the war.
A Short History & Photographic Record of the 102nd Field Artillery, 1917 (Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1918).
SIBLEY, FRANK PALMER .- With the Yankee Division in France (Boston, Little, Brown, 1919)-As a newspaper man saw the event.
SIRVIS, EDWARD D., MCGINNIS, WILLIAM, AND HOGAN, JOHN .- Smashing through "the World War" with Fighting Battery C, 102nd F. A., "Yankee Division," 1917-1918-1919 (Salem, Mass., Meek Press, 1919). The Story of U. S. Army Base Hospital No. 5 (Cambridge, University Press, 1919)-By a member of the unit.
TAYLOR, EMERSON GIFFORD .- New England in France, 1917-1919 (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1920)-An interesting history of the 26th Division, U. S. A.
UNITED STATES : PROVOST MARCHAL GENERAL'S BUREAU .- Report to the Secretary of War on the First Draft under the Selective Service Act, 1917 (Washington, 1918)-An interesting account of the legislation and procedure of the draft.
In the newspapers of the period, one may find the daily record of events; the foreign news columns in the Transcript constitute a valuable record. Other important journals are the Boston Herald, the Boston Globe, the Springfield Republican.
CHAPTER XXI
THE FOURTH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (1914-1919)
BY AUGUSTUS P. LORING Member of the Convention from Beverly
POLITICAL AWAKENING (1900-1915)
In Massachusetts the restrictions of personal liberty and property rights, necessary to adapt the laws to changes in conditions and political thought, were made to a large extent by the legislature in the exercise of the broad power given it in the original Constitution "to make all manner of reasonable laws and ordinances" not repugnant to it. As will be seen in the Chapters in this series on the original Constitution of 1780, and on the later changes of the Constitution, the spirit of the Commonwealth was against radical changes and also against a recasting and enlargement of power. The decisions of the courts expounded and applied the Constitution. The exten- sive statutory powers of the General Court sufficed for most needs.
Broad as these' powers were, they were limited by constitu- tional provisions, whose limits the legislature might not pass. Social betterment laws, such as the minimum wage and compulsory workingmen's compensation, were held by the courts to be unconstitutional. Although economically help- less, the voter was politically supreme and made and adminis- tered the laws through his elected representatives. There was a widespread belief, more or less justified, that in many parts of the country these very representatives were controlled by the agents of the "Interests"; and that the affairs of state were administered by "invisible government," to the disadvantage of the people.
The Democrats and the Populists, led by Bryan, attempted to cure existing evils by new laws, or constitutional amend- ments. In several States where the legislatures were reluctant to carry out the people's will, the popular initiative and refer-
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endum (frequently abbreviated to the "I. & R.") enabled the people to amend the constitution, or to enact laws by direct popular vote and get what they wanted when they wanted it. While a great majority of the voters repudiated various socialistic schemes, the policies of restraint and regulation urged by Presidents Roosevelt, Taft and Wil- son, looked in the same direction. The attempted consoli- dation of transportation by J. P. Morgan and his associates (described in another chapter of this volume) brought to the Bay State conditions found intolerable elsewhere.
Hence, those who were dissatisfied with existing condi- tions-Democrats, Progressives, Socialists and others- formed a Union for a Progressive Constitution and sought the adoption of the "I. & R." through a constitutional conven- tion, since they believed that progressive amendments to the constitution were impossible under the existing provisions for its amendment requiring their adoption in two successive years by a majority of the Senate and two-thirds of the House before it could be submitted to the people. The wish for other amendments, which did not form part of the pro- gressive program, such as the prohibition of the appropriation of public money in aid of sectarian institutions, biennial ses- sions of the legislature, the short ballot, and the general re- vision of the text of the Constitution and its Amendments, contributed to the desire for a convention by the general public. The press, with few exceptions, was favorable. The Democratic papers advocated it, and Hearst's Boston Amer- ican clamored for it in editorials, articles and cartoons.
CONVENTION AUTHORIZED (1913-1915)
The nation-wide Progressive movement culminated in the Roosevelt-Taft-Wilson campaign of 1912. The Massachu- setts Progressives nominated Charles Sumner Bird for gov- ernor, on a platform providing for the calling of a State con- vention, but failed to elect him. The next year they with- drew sufficient strength from the Republicans to permit the Democrats to elect David I. Walsh governor. In his in- augural, January, 1914, he recommended the calling of a con- vention; but the bill was lost by a close vote.
Governor Walsh was reelected; but his recommendation
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for a convention was dismissed without discussion. In the next election the Republican leaders combined with the Pro- gressives on a platform including a plank for a convention, and Samuel W. McCall, Republican, was elected governor.
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