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84 f o u r p From the “Most American City” to Seeing German Ghosts Everywhere St. Louis during the Great War German Propaganda Is Busy in St. Louis —St. Louis Globe-Democrat Newspaper headlines such as “The Alien Enemy Problem,” “Plot to Invade U.S. Is Bared,” and “U.S. Discovers Spies Work in St. Louis Cafes” taught St. Louisans to fear the German enemy as early as March 1917. As a major metropolitan area in the Midwest, St. Louis possessed the necessary transportation and communication links to larger eastern centers and thus had ready access to government information on the war effort. During the neutrality period, residents of St. Louis learned more about the war and suspected German sabotage activities than rural areas. At the same time, the city’s large labor and mixed ethnic population did not hesitate to express varied opinions about the war, and the activism of a number of organizations contributed to growing mistrust and the potential for unrest. Once the United States prepared for and entered the war, government regulations also affected St. Louisans more directly than most Missourians. More important, newspaper reports revealing the number of voting enemy aliens in St. Louis, who according to state law had the right to vote and thus influence municipal elections and rumors that the Busch family had funneled millions of dollars into German propaganda confirmed that the enemy also lurked within.1 As a result, St. Louisans defined the enemy much sooner and in ethnic terms, were more easily frightened, and St. Louis during the Great War p 85 more likely to spy on each other, accuse neighbors of disloyal behavior, turn them over to the authorities, and use intimidation and violence to deal with perceived disloyal behavior. After the discovery of spies in St. Louis and a mayoral campaign that included the loyalty issue, it is not surprising that St. Louisans believed they had to express their allegiance to the nation on the eve of war. On April 3, 1917, several German-American leaders, as would their counterparts in Chicago , Cincinnati, and Milwaukee a few days later, declared their fidelity to the United States and their support for the president after his speech to Congress. On the evening before Congress declared war, St. Louis also held a loyalty rally at the Coliseum and Governor Fredrick D. Gardner read a proclamation from St. Louis citizens declaring that they stood behind President Wilson and would aid him in securing a “lasting world peace.”2 St. Louis, in fact, quickly organized for the war effort in response to Wilson ’s call for service and conservation. Before Governor Gardner could establish the Council of Defense, the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce created the Federated Committee on Food Conservation for Missouri and the Women’s Central Committee on Food Conservation, later renamed the St. Louis Food Administration chapter and the Woman’s Committee of the Missouri Council of Defense.3 Indeed, middle-class women from the more affluent western wards were among the first volunteers, reflecting their tradition of club and social activism in the city. The suffrage thrift league of St. Louis and the Catholic Women’s League organized local gardening and canning clubs. Members of the Woman’s Committee gave speeches urging food conservation, held regular canning classes, and opened several demonstration kitchens, including one at the Famous Barr Dry Goods Company. More than one hundred St. Louis women volunteered for Americanization work, taught French to soldiers, and filled positions men had left when they were drafted. During the Hoover Registration in July, Zitella Bass and Carrie Nugent broke records for organizing “a ward and precinct machine” of over 35,000 women in less than two weeks’ time. They advertised this registration of housewives “into a national thrift army” as a way to support the war in home and kitchen and as an important opportunity for women to demonstrate their social and professional worth to society. When compared to Chicago’s 10,000 and Pittsburgh’s 23,000 signatures, reflecting less than 1 percent and 7.8 percent of their respective total female populations, St. Louis could proudly boast an 8.9 success rate, which in their opinion demonstrated a high degree of patriotism. This activism and extensive organization of women in St. Louis also received the approval of Herbert Hoover and served as a model for food conservation and female patriotism in other cities.4 [3.146.152.99] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 04:18...

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