A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

In this 8th installment of the bicentennial series, we’ll cover the period from 1913 – 1929. The Great War was about to get under way, though the U.S. would stay out of it for a few years. We’ll also go through Indiana’s Centennial, Prohibition, D.C. Stephenson and the Klan during the Roaring Twenties.

The Presidents during this period: Woodrow Wilson (1913 – 1921), Warren G. Harding (1921 – 1923), and Calvin Coolidge (1923 – 1929). The Governors during this period: Samuel Ralston (1913 – 1917), James Goodrich (1917 – 1921), Warren McCray (1921-1924), Emmet Branch (1924-1925), and Edward Jackson (1925 – 1929).

8.1: The National Scene

Woodrow Wilson (1913 – 1921)  Wilson was definitely the beneficiary of the rift in the Republican Party caused by Teddy Roosevelt and his Progressives bolting when it became clear that Taft was going to get the nomination. Democrats took control of the Congress, and Wilson was the first southerner (he was governor of New Jersey but had been raised in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) since before the Civil War. Prior to being governor, Wilson had been an academic — having a PhD in political science. Wilson was a scholar of government, and embraced progressive principles. Generally speaking, he believed government had the power and the duty to take action to improve the lives of its citizens. In some ways, we take this idea for granted these days. In other ways, we seem to believe that it’s a patronizing and untrue concept. I think we have the luxury of these inconsistent views because of the policies implemented by Roosevelt and Wilson and the progressive lawmakers of the early 20th century. We are no longer exposed to many of the brutal conditions left unaddressed by the theories of government that preceded the progressives.

Wilson took office shortly after the 16th Amendment was passed, and his administration oversaw introduction of the income tax. His administration also passed a good deal of progressive legislation, including the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Federal Farm Loan Act.  The Wilson administration also passed the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 which created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges (for Indiana, this would be the Purdue extension offices.) The agents taught new techniques to farmers.

Wilson believed that monopoly needed to be checked, in part by lowering tariffs and by reforming the banking system. He was able to get through legislation lowering the tariffs, but its economic effects were soon overwhelmed by the effects of World War I which started in 1914 in Europe.  

The Wilson administration implemented increased segregation in federal offices. “By the end of 1913 many departments, including the Navy, had workspaces segregated by screens, and restrooms, cafeterias were segregated, although no executive order had been issued.” Wilson suggested that segregation removed “friction” from the races.

The U.S. had a fraught relationship to Mexico during the Wilson administration. Wilson refused to recognize the Huerta military junta that came to power through assassination. Huerta arrested military personnel in the port of Vera Cruz, and  Wilson sent the navy to occupy the city. General warfare was averted through negotiations. Huerta was thrown out of power, but those events led to Pancho Villa invading Columbus, New Mexico where he burned the town and seized supplies. This, in turn, led to John “Black Jack” Pershing invading Mexico in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to capture Villa. Another invasion took place in Haiti. After the Haitian dictator was murdered — and due to some concerns about German activity in the country —  the Wilson administration sent the marines, and the occupation would last for the next 20 years.

In 1914, the Ludlow Massacre took place. This was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and mining interests on 1,200 striking miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado. John D. Rockefeller was partial owner of the mine and largely blamed for the incident. “The massacre, the culmination of a bloody widespread strike against Colorado coal mines, resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 26 people; reported death tolls vary but include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent.” Rockefeller apparently declined President Wilson’s offer of mediation. In retaliation for the massacre, miners attacked dozens of mines over the next 10 days. “The entire strike would cost between 69 and 199 lives. Thomas G. Andrews described it as the ‘deadliest strike in the history of the United States.’” The subsequent Congressional investigation of the affair led to child labor laws and the eight-hour work day.

During the period leading up to the First World War, an anarchist movement was intertwined with the labor movement. One anarchist, Leon Czolgosz had assassinated President McKinley. Often they were motivated by (among other things like, perhaps, delusions of grandeur) a perception (frequently real) that there was injustice in American society that allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. Some sought to “replace the privilege and authority of the State” with the “free and spontaneous organization of labor.” One prominent anarchist was Luigi Galleani. He managed to keep his own hands relatively clean, but he was an advocate of what they called, “propaganda of the deed,” which was a euphemism for violence. Galleani was an effective speaker. Said one contemporary, “You heard Galleani speak, and you were ready to shoot the first policeman you saw.”  Galleanists are believed to have been involved in bombings from 1914 through the 1920s.

The 1919 anarchist bombings were undertaken by Galleanists, targeting, among others, John D. Rockefeller and the Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer. A flyer with the bombs read:

War, Class war, and you were the first to wage it under the cover of the powerful institutions you call order, in the darkness of your laws. There will have to be bloodshed; we will not dodge; there will have to be murder: we will kill, because it is necessary; there will have to be destruction; we will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions.

In response, Palmer initiated what came to be known as the Palmer Raids, characterized by large scale arrests and warrantless seizures and was part of the “Red Scare”.

But, I’m probably getting ahead of myself. That took place in Wilson’s second term. For present purposes, it’s enough to note that anarchism was a political movement both at home and abroad; and the “propaganda of the deed” was in vogue. Gavril Princip who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lit the fuse that would detonate the powder keg of Europe may or may not have been an anarchist. He is mostly described as a Serbian Nationalist. But, there are parallels either way with those who perceive themselves as part of an underclass challenging power through violence. When Princip assassinated Ferdinand as part of a bid for Serbia to gain independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire, international relations were so snarled up that this led pretty quickly to Germany invading France and Russia.

(As a little boy, I asked my grandpa why they fought the World Wars. “Well,” he said, “the first one, they just kind of wanted to fight, and the second one I think they were fighting over a girl.” Now, obviously the explanation for the second World War was  bunch of hooey, but the explanation for the first one is unnervingly accurate.)

I guess I don’t know how deep into the weeds to get here in terms of the causes of World War I. But, I’ll just go with this: The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire to threaten war with Serbia. Serbia was allied with Russia which was, in turn, allied with France. The Austrians were allied with the Germans. The Germans were stuck between Russia and France,  and the Germans had a war plan premised on knocking either Russia or France out of a fight quickly so it could avoid fighting on two fronts. One of the best ways into France was through neutral Belgium. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia began mobilizing its troops. Germany invaded Belgium on its way to France — reasoning that Russia would take longer to mobilize its troops, and, therefore, Germany could hope to knock out France in time to wheel its army back around again and deal with Russia. Violation of Belgian neutrality brought Great Britain into the war. The initial weeks of the war were very fluid, but eventually the battle lines hardened, and the conflict turned into a relentless meat grinder, characterized by trench warfare where huge numbers of lives were thrown away in an effort to claw out a few extra yards of territory. 

Wilson’s initial response to the war was neutrality. However, Germany could not match Britain’s navy with conventional ships. When Britain disrespected America’s neutrality with respect to merchant ships, it could do so by blocking them with British warships and turning them around. Americans weren’t necessarily happy about that, but it was no reason to go to war. Germany, on the other hand, was often fighting its naval battles with submarines. This led to sinkings that killed Americans and made the policy of neutrality more difficult to maintain.

Next: The election of 1916 and the U.S. enters the war.

To, at long last, finish this installment #7 of our bicentennial series, a couple of other things during the term of Gov. Thomas Marshall (most notably, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway & the 500):

In 1910, Blanche Scott is credited as the first woman to have flown an airplane solo with her flight taking place on September 6, 1910 in Fort Wayne. (This flight may or may not have been somewhat accidental — her instructor thought he had limited the plane so it could not take off. Some others credit Bessie Raiche with the accomplishment about 10 days later.) Scott had gained some fame by being part of a pair of women who made the first female automobile trip from east to west across the United States. The quaint writing of the New York Times about the automobile trip is a reminder of the condescension women had to face. (It’s still present but fortunately somewhat diminished.) The New York Times, May 17, 2010: “Miss Scott, with Miss Phillips as only companion, starts on long trip with the object of demonstrating the possibility of a woman driving a motor car across the country and making all the necessary repairs en route. Miss Blanche Stuart Scott yesterday started in an Overland automobile on a transcontinental journey which will end in San Francisco.”  

And, in 1911, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — which had opened in 1909 — had its very first Indianapolis 500. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the idea of Carl Fisher, who we met earlier in this installment — the bicycle repairman turned auto salesman turned headlight magnate. He thought a track would be a good place to test new automobile technology and race the vehicles in a way that gave spectators a better view than what was going on at the time, driving the cars on makeshift tracks and horse trails. He also saw that Europe currently had the upper hand in automobile technology. He was further inspired by the Brooklands Circuit outside of London with its banked turns. Fisher found a suitable site at the Pressley farm about five miles outside of Indianapolis and convinced James Allison (of Allison Engines), Arthur Newby, and Frank Newby to assist him with the purchase.

Construction of the track started in March 1909. Fisher had to quickly downsize his planned 3-mile (5 km) oval with a 2-mile (3 km) road course to a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) oval to leave room for the grandstands. Reshaping of the land for the speedway took 500 laborers, 300 mules and a fleet of steam-powered machinery. The track surface consisted of graded and packed soil covered by 2 inches (5 cm) of gravel, 2 inches (5 cm) of limestone covered with taroid (a solution of tar and oil), 1–2 inches (3–5 cm) of crushed stone chips that were also drenched with taroid, and a final topping of crushed stone. Workers also constructed dozens of buildings, several bridges, grandstands with 12,000 seats, and an 8-foot (2.4 m) perimeter fence. A white-with-green-trim paint scheme was used throughout the property.

A balloon race in June 1909 before the track was completed drew 40,000 people. (Bill Bryson, in his book “One Summer: America 1927” observed that in the early 20th century almost any sort of spectacle could draw a crowd.) Track conditions for early races became an issue.  The first motorcycle race had to be cut short due to concerns about suitability for motorcycles. During the track’s first racing event in August 1909, the track conditions again deteriorated and  tragedy ensued:

On the third day of racing, 35,000 spectators showed up to watch the grand finale 300-mile (480 km) race. At 175 miles (282 km) into the race, the right front tire blew on Charlie Merz’s car. His car mowed down five fence posts and toppled dozens of spectators. Two spectators and his mechanic, Claude Kellum, were killed in the crash. Ten laps later, driver Bruce Keen struck a pothole and crashed into a bridge support. The race was then halted and the remaining drivers given engraved certificates instead of trophies. The race resulted in the AAA boycotting any future events at the speedway until significant improvements were made.

To address this problem, Fisher and his partners undertook repaving the IMS with bricks, as a surface that would not fall apart during races — giving the track its moniker, “The Brickyard.” Governor Marshall laid the final brick, made of gold in December, 1909.

In 1910, the track held a multitude of events with races on Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekends, including several 100 – 200 mile races and many shorter ones. In 1911, there was a shift in marketing focus due in part to the increased crowds the races were drawing. The organizers settled on a 500 mile race with a spectacular purse of $25,000 in gold. (The $25,000 would be worth something like $600,000 today and the 82.93 pounds of gold would probably be north of a million (I don’t know the purity or anything like that.) The length and purse gave the race primacy in the racing world. On May 30, 1911, the first Indy 500 was held with 40 racers and was won by Ray Harroun in front of a crowd of 80,000 in his Marmon “Wasp” race car. Harroun’s car featured a new innovation — the rear view mirror. His win was not without controversy, however. “Many considered Harroun to be a hazard during the race, as he was the only driver in the race driving without a riding mechanic, who checked the oil pressure and let the driver know when traffic was coming.”

Former World War 1 flying ace, Eddie Rickenbacker purchased the track from Allison and Fisher in that year as well. During World War II the race was not conducted and the track fell into disrepair. In November 1945, Rickenbacker sold the track to Terre Haute businessman, Tony Hulman.The race has, of course, become a staple of Memorial Day weekend in Indiana with its 100th running having taken place this year.   

In the next installment, we’ll cross the centennial line, head into World War I, and probably conclude shortly before the Great Depression.

Marshall was generally an advocate of separation of powers and temperance when it came to the use of executive power, but, even so, he chafed at the cumbersome process for amending the state’s 1851 Constitution — requiring as it did, passage of two consecutive General Assemblies and approval, not just by a majority of votes, but by a majority of those casting votes (so, if the “ayes” outnumber the “nos” but are less than 51% of the ballots cast, the Constitutional provision would not pass.) During the 10 years from 1894 to 1904, when the Progressive movement was in full bloom, the other states had adopted 230 constitutional amendments while Indiana had failed to adopt one.

One of Marshall’s close advisers was a lawyer by the name of Jacob Piatt Dunn. Looking at some happy language from the Declaration of Independence and the somewhat irregular method by which the 1851 Constitution was passed, in 1911, Dunn suggested that the entire Constitution could be swapped out more easily than the existing one could be amended. He suggested that the new Constitution could be recommended by one General Assembly (all Democratic since the 1910 election) and ratified by the voters.  

The document that Dunn produced and Marshall then provided to the General Assembly for debate included such earlier reform attempts as granting the legislature the power to fix requirements for admission to the bar and increasing the size of the Indiana Supreme Court from five justices to as many as eleven. Other revisions included increasing the size of the Indiana House of Representatives to 130 members; lengthening the General Assembly session to 100 days; giving the legislature the power to enact workmen’s compensation laws and measures for the initiative, referendum, and recall of all elected officials except judges; requiring a three-fifths vote by the House and Senate to override a governor’s veto; giving the governor a line-item veto power on appropriation bills; prohibiting salary increases for public officials during the term to which they were elected; easing the amending process for the Constitution; and providing political parties the opportunity to declare for or against constitutional amendments at their conventions and making such a decision a part of their tickets to be acted on by voters.

Marshall also suggested that the new Constitution would improve the integrity of elections. Among other things, it would have restricted eligibility to male citizens who had paid a poll tax and could read. It also required residency in the state for 12 months and in a precinct for 30 days prior to the election. With respect to foreign-born residents of Indiana, the 1851 Constitution required that foreigners declare an intent to become citizens. Marshall observed that, back then, Indiana wanted people to immigrate. In 1911, apparently the days of really wanting immigrants was over and, besides, they were probably the “wrong type” of immigrants.

Republicans were not amused. They derided a “Constitution” that was ginned up in a party caucus by men who had not been elected to frame a Constitution. Senator James Sexson of Owen County had a little fun:

On February 16, 1911, Sexson introduced a Senate resolution appointing [Governor] Marshall as a committee of one with the power to put the new Constitution into effect without holding an election. The resolution also gave Marshall the power to “revise the Lord’s prayer, amend the Declaration of Independence, repeal the Mosaic law, bring the thirty nine articles of faith down to date, abridge the sermon on the mount and do all other things as will appear in his infinite wisdom and supreme interest in the welfare of the people, to be fitting and proper.”

The resolution did not pass. Republican newspapers, including the Indianapolis Star, blasted the proposal relentlessly. Nevertheless, the legislation passed. Opponents went to court. By a slim 3 – 2, the Indiana Supreme Court decided that the General Assembly did not have the legislative authority to propose replacement of the 1851 Constitution except through the amendment process laid out in that document.

Even with a loss, however, the furor over the proposed amendment apparently helped Marshall’s reputation at the national Democratic convention in 1914 and helped him gain the Vice-Presidential spot, running with Woodrow Wilson.

Thomas Marshall (1909-1913)  was born to a family of staunch Democrats who located in Indiana in 1817. Marshall was born in North Manchester, but his family moved around in an effort to find a climate that would help his mother’s tuberculosis. They spent some time in Illinois, during which they attended the Lincoln-Douglas debates and, apparently, four year old Thomas recalled sitting on the lap of both Lincoln and Douglas. They would move on to Osawotamie, Kansas in 1859. This would have been during the bleeding Kansas era, near the time of John Brown’s “Battle of Osawatomie,” when free soilers clashed with the pro-slavery forces. Marshall’s family made their way back to Indiana by way of Missouri and Illinois.

While in college at Wabash, in 1872, Marshall wrote an unfavorable article about a female lecturer at the school, accusing her of “seeking liberties” with the students. She hired Lew Wallace to sue Marshall for libel. Marshall hired Benjamin Harrison to defend him. Harrison was successful in the defense.

Marshall opened a law practice in Columbia City and gained some prominence. However, he had a drinking problem which began to interfere with his work. His wife apparently helped him to give up liquor by locking him up at home for two weeks. Thereafter, he became part of the temperance movement and gave speeches on the dangers of alcohol.

He was true to his family’s Democratic heritage and, because he lived in a Republican stronghold, was not initially successful in winning office. However, he stumped for other candidates across the state and became part of the state Democratic party’s central planning committee in 1904. He passed on a nomination to run for Congress but started angling for a nomination for the governor’s race. In this, he was opposed by former Indianapolis mayor and Democratic party boss, Thomas Taggart due to his prohibitionism. (You may recall a reference earlier in this installment where Taggart was selling the bicyclists on the virtues of Indianapolis as a site for a future convention.) But, a coalition of his supporters, Taggart opponents, and prohibitionists were enough to secure the nomination in the 1908 campaign. The rift between the Republican conservatives and progressives provided an opportunity for Marshall. He won narrowly, by about 10,000 votes out of 700,000 cast (48% to Republican James Watson’s 48.1%). Democrats controlled the House and Republicans retained control over the Senate.

Given how long the party had spent in the wilderness, the first order of business was to appoint Democrats to patronage positions. Marshall apparently kept the peace in the party by allowing Taggart to handle most of the selections. Marshall was more focused on policy. During the first General Assembly of his term – with split control of the chambers –  things proceeded slowly. Marshall was unsuccessful in his proposals for direct election of United States senators and improved railroad and insurance company regulation. He was, however, successful in obtaining the creation of the State Board of Accounts.

One of Marshall’s proposals, direct election of Senators could not be had through legislative action in the first part of his term, but was obtained through passage of the Seventeenth Amendment by the United States Congress and ratified by the states, including – on February 13, 1913 – Indiana. One theme that has run like a drumbeat throughout the first half of this bicentennial series has been the shenanigans and machinations of Indiana politicians angling for the Senate seat – backroom deals, an empty Senate seat, a governor for two days, a sketchy lieutenant governor’s election, fist fights, gun shots. While it’s no way to run a government, it sure has made some fun writing. I’ll miss that angle going forward. Maybe advocates of the 17th Amendment’s repeal can succeed with their horrible idea and provide some color for Hoosiers one day writing about our tricentennial.

Next time: Papa’s got a brand new constitution.

Last time, we spoke of the positive reforms made by the Indiana State Board of Health and its leader Dr. John Hurty during the term of Gov. Hanly. However, there was a dark side to reform generally and Hurty in particular. One of the major dark marks against Indiana is its eugenics history.  Hurty (an Ohio native who worked with Col. Eli Lilly) was an advocate of the state’s eugenics law, passed in 1907. Hurty viewed the sick and undesirable as financial burdens on the state.

In 1907, the Indiana legislature passed the nation’s first law providing for the sterilization of those labeled undesirable. Until the law was vetoed in 1909, several hundred Indiana residents convicted of criminal offenses and those deemed mentally or morally deficient were sterilized.

Eugenics advocates viewed sterilization as not just a benefit to society but a benefit to those subjected to the procedure as well. Alexander Johnson of Indiana’s State Board of Charities wrote in 1889, “Generation after generation many of the families to which these defective people belonged had been paupers, in or out of the asylum; their total number and the proportion of feeble minded among them steadily increasing as time went on.” The eugenics movement was seen by many as just another aspect of the progressive impulse to use regulatory authority to combat poverty and disease.

It was perceived that the “dregs of society” were reproducing themselves at a rapid rate compared to the rest of society, and it was vital to use all the tools at hand, including eugenic sterilization, to prevent those posing the greatest threat to the state from propagating those like themselves (Stern 2007, p. 13).  Extended family studies such as the Tribe of Ishmael, done in the late 19th century, supposedly proved that certain family groups were posing undue burdens on the state through irresponsible living and high birth rates (as such people were more likely to spend time in jail and be on public relief) (Stern 2007, p. 15).

Dr. Harry C. Sharpe of the Indiana State Reformatory paved part of the way for the movement by developing the vasectomy procedure in the 1890s. (He developed the procedure, or at least was the first one to perform it in large numbers (42 inmates), to “cure” masturbators. This was an improvement of the prior method of outright castration.) Sharp praised governor Hanly, and stated that his administration “has been noted for its efforts at race purity and civic righteousness.”

The 1907 law itself can be found here. It provides, in part:

AN ACT entitled an act to prevent procreation of confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists[.]

. . .

Whereas, Heredity plays a most important part in the transmission of crime, idiocy and imbecility;

Penal Institutions—Surgical Operations.

Therefore, Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Indiana, That on and after the passage of this act it shall be compulsory for each and every institution in the state, entrusted with the care of confirmed criminals, idiots, rapists and imbeciles, to appoint upon its staff, in addition to the regular institutional physician, two (2) skilled surgeons of recognized ability, whose duty it shall be, in conjunction with the chief physician of the institution, to examine the mental and physical condition of such inmates as are recommended by the institutional physician and board of managers. If, in the judgment of this committee of experts and the board of managers, procreation is inadvisable and there is no probability of improvement of the mental condition of the inmate, it shall be lawful for the surgeons to perform such operation for the prevention of procreation as shall be decided safest and most effective.

In 1909, the new governor Thomas Marshall stopped the use of the 1907 law by threatening the funding of institutions who used it. The law was formally struck down in 1921 by the Indiana Supreme Court. However, a new law would be passed in 1927, after a United States Supreme Court case that upheld forced sterilization in Virginia, and Indiana’s 1927 law would remain on the books until 1974. It strikes me that the eugenics movement has a kinship with the White Caps movement. It was a movement often rooted in class and often targeting the poor and vulnerable. (In researching this segment, I came across something called “better baby contests” that would show up at state fairs in the 1920s. Hopefully I can remember to include them in the next installment)

***

As is becoming common in these posts, I don’t have a good segue, but it seems worth noting that in 1906, U.S. Steel founded the city of Gary, Indiana. Named after United States Steel’s founding chairman, Elbert Henry Gary, it was meant as a location for its new plant, Gary Works.  The site of the city was chosen “for its proximity to Chicago, Great Lakes shipping, and railroad access to bring in ore from Minnesota and coal from the south and east.” U.S. Steel founded two companies for the undertaking. The Gary Land Company built housing, and the Indiana Steel Company built the plant. It would contain 12 blast furnaces and 47 steel furnaces. A harbor had to be excavated. The steel mill opened in 1909.

The corporation adopted a sort of old fashioned, paternalistic relationship with its laborers similar to that of coal or textile mill “company towns.” Social events and much of life outside the workplace revolved around the company, while on the downside this meant blacklists kept track of any employee with the wrong political affiliations.

The city grew rapidly, hitting 55,000 by 1920. At that time, about 20% of its residents were foreign born, mostly from Eastern European countries. By 1930, the city topped 100,000 and became Indiana’s fifth largest city, comparable in size to South Bend, Fort Wayne, and Evansville.

Next time: Thomas Marshall and (very nearly) a new Constitution

J. Frank Hanly (1905 – 1909) was born in Illinois, and following his graduation from the Eastern Illinois Normal School, made his way to Warren County, Indiana. During his school years, he gained a reputation as quite an orator. He taught school there and became friends with Judge Rabb in Williamsport. Rabb’s influence led him to become involved with politics and study law. Hanly joined Rabb’s practice in 1889 and, that same year, filled a vacancy in a state Senate seat. In 1894, he was elected to Congress but was promptly gerrymandered out of a seat by the state Democrats. He sought one of the U.S. Senate seats but lost out to Albert Beveridge. Beveridge was part of the Progressive wing of the Republican Party. Hanly was a prohibitionist and part of the conservative wing. The Senate race exacerbated the split between the wings in the party.

Taking advantage of his oratorical skills, Hanly went on a speaking tour of the state to build up support for another run for office. In 1904, he won the Republican nomination for governor.  John Kern, once again, ran for the Democrats. Hanly beat Kern by 12% and 80,000 votes out of about 635,000 cast. Hanly was brutal in his attacks during the campaign saying it was  “‘unholy’, and ‘great only its ability to destroy.’ He called their election campaign ‘selfish’ and said they ran it only so they could ‘obtain the flesh pot of office.’”

Once in office, Hanly was not much of a party man, inclined to push his own agenda — pushing for prohibition, working against horse-racing and political corruption. He mounted campaigns against the popular West Baden and French Lick resorts. During his term, the teetotalers gained a major victory.

Prohibitionists had long been a force in Indiana politics. They made gains in the 1850s, but a statewide prohibition law was declared unconstitutional, and then the sectional crisis that led to the Civil War and its aftermath wiped away other issues. The influx of anti-prohibition Germans into the state also dampened the influence of the prohibitionists. There was a distinct anti-immigrant undercurrent to the prohibitionist movement. Native born Protestants feared the foreigners and Catholics. According to Indiana historian James Madison, the temperance committee of the Presbyterian Synod of Indiana reported in Indiana that:

The ranks of the drinking men are constantly recruited by the influx of bibulous and intemperate foreigners . . . The great majority of these alien immigrants . . . are addicted to the use of strong drinks, as well as steeped in ignorance and vice.

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Indiana Anti-Saloon league put strong pressure on politicians. Republicans were particularly sensitive to the pressure given their electoral reliance on “pietistic church members.”  In 1907, when Vice President Charles Fairbanks was a potential candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination against Taft, he felt the backlash of the teetotalers after a luncheon for President Roosevelt and other dignitaries at the Fairbanks home at 2960 Meridian Street in Indianapolis. Manhattan cocktails were on the menu. This gained national attention. Probably Fairbanks himself did not consume any alcohol at the lunch, but “Buttermilk Charlie” as he was known for his advocacy of buttermilk instead of liquor was tagged with the name “Cocktail Charlie.”

In 1908, just before the elections of that year, Governor Hanly called a special session of the Indiana General Assembly to force through a county option law which allowed voters to ban liquor sales within their county. This apparently caused some consternation among his fellow Republicans. I don’t know this, but I speculate that the dynamic was that a lot of these Republicans had no real appetite for prohibition but had to mollify constituents for whom this was a burning priority. I expect they made prohibitionist noises but, somehow, legislation never seemed to make it through the General Assembly. When Hanly called for a special session, these types of lawmakers were exposed. There were perhaps no other issues before the General Assembly to muddy the waters and give them plausible deniability as to why they didn’t manage to pass prohibition legislation. In any event, the county option law passed. By late 1909, seventy of Indiana’s ninety-two counties were dry. But the law was controversial. Republicans sustained losses at the pollis in the 1908 and 1910 elections. In 1911, the Democratic legislative majority replaced the county option law with a township option law.

After his term in office, Governor Hanly continued the anti-liquor crusade as a major spokesman for the Anti-Saloon League. In 1917, World War I gave the prohibitionists the push they needed to pass statewide prohibition. Again, according to Madison, “[a]nti-German prejudice, the need to conserve grain, and general patriotic sentiment led the General Assembly to adopt statewide prohibition in 1917. Two years later, Indiana joined in ratifying the Eighteenth Amendment to the federal constitution, making the whole nation dry.”

This was an era of reform generally. (See James Madison, The Indiana Way at p. 222-223) Efforts to regulate the quality of food and drugs were helped along by Hoosiers. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, a Purdue chemist, became chief chemist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Senator Beveridge campaigned for a meat inspection bill, bringing the issue into the political arena. (Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” was published in 1906). The result was a federal meat inspection law in 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1907. (Indiana’s Col. Eli Lilly had been an advocate of the sorts of reforms included in the 1907 act.) The Indiana University School of Medicine was created in 1908. The Indiana Railroad Commission was created in 1905. A revised child labor law was passed in 1911 as was a voter registration law. Hanly oversaw a recodification of the Indiana Code and improved the State’s accounting system, making it more difficult to misappropriate money. The Indiana Public Service Commission was created in 1913, and an inheritance tax was passed that year. The Indiana State Board of Health, created in 1881 to collect vital statistics and disseminate information about disease was particularly effective under the leadership of Dr. John Hurty from 1896 to 1922. He began campaigns of publicity and regulations to combat typhoid fever, smallpox, tuberculosis, and venereal disease. Under Hurty’s guidance, Indiana had passed a pure food and drug law in 1899, one of the first states to do so.

Next time: Unfortunately Hurty was also a fan of eugenics.