War!

I don't have statistics; all I have is a general impression, from reading the census reports, that the Ainsworth-Hobart area at this era was crawling with German immigrants and their first-generation-American descendants. For several years the Hobart News had been running, almost every week, a German-language news column; occasionally the paper also ran an English-language column of news from Germany entitled, "In the Fatherland," with the subtitles, "Interesting Bits of News from the Great German Empire — What's Doing in the Old Home." (I also note that a February social item in the News mentioned that the Rev. E.R. Schuelke had christened one of John Witt, Sr.'s grandsons "in English," as if German were the default language in that Lutheran church.)

It was only natural that these people should feel some emotional connection to Germany, and the News catered to those feelings with its German news columns.

That changed abruptly in early February 1917. With the announcement that President Wilson had broken off diplomatic relations with Germany, both German news columns disappeared from the pages of the News. And the Gazette, in reporting on Emma Gruel's remaining in Germany, felt the need to add that she and her colleagues "all count America their home country."

On February 28, 1917, President Wilson released to the press the contents of the notorious Zimmerman telegram, which revealed Germany's intention to enter an alliance with Mexico and Japan against the United States and offer U.S. territory to Mexico as an inducement to wage war against the U.S. (Hobart's weekly papers carried reports the first week of March.) That news, coupled with Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, shocked the American public out of its neutrality, and I suppose the local public felt the same shock.

Early in April, the U.S. declared war on Germany.

I have no way of seeing into the thoughts of those locals with living memories of Germany, or whose parents had come from that country. Were their loyalties divided at all? Perhaps their love of their adopted country, or their sense of betrayal at Germany's actions, overrode any emotional ties they had with the land of their birth or their ancestry.

If there was any private ambivalence, it was well hidden. The public response was an enthusiastic demonstration of American patriotism. When the Methodist Church threw open its doors to all pastors and congregations of Hobart for a special patriotic evening service on Sunday, April 22, a huge crowd attended, testing the capacity of the impressive new church building and shaking its walls with the opening hymn, "America." Hundreds of people sat in rapt attention through prayers for the nation, patriotic songs, and a 50-minute speech by Capt. H.S. Norton of Gary, who discussed the military situation and what civilians could do to help the war effort.

Two days earlier, the Gazette had inaugurated a new weekly feature, the "Roll of Honor," listing Hobart men who had joined the military.


(Click on image to enlarge)

Among the early volunteers (enlisted within the previous two weeks), John Boldt had a German-born father, as did Ed Kostbade. Both parents of Charles Sohn, a member of the National Guard, were German immigrants.

This was only the beginning of military and civilian mobilization.


Sources:
♦ "Big Patriotic Demonstration." Hobart Gazette 27 Apr. 1917.
♦ "Congress Votes a State of War Exists Between the U.S. and Germany." Hobart News 5 Apr. 1917.
♦ "Germany Urged Mexico and Japs to Fight America/Teutonic Intrigue Against U.S. Shown in Official Document Held by Wilson." Hobart News 8 Mar. 1917.
♦ "Many Hobart Boys Are Now Enlisted in the World War." Hobart News 26 Apr. 1917.
♦ Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 2007.
♦ "Patriotic Meeting Draws Big Crowd Sunday Evening." Hobart News 26 Apr. 1917.
♦ "Patriotic Sunday Service." Hobart Gazette 20 Apr. 1917.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 8 Feb. 1917.
♦ "Receives Good News." Hobart Gazette 9 Feb. 1917.
♦ "Roll of Honor." Hobart Gazette 27 Apr. 1917.