Ohio History Journal

NOTES

NOTES

SUBSISTENCE HOMESTEADING IN DAYTON, OHIO, 1933-1935

1. Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryant to F. D. R. (New York,

1955), 23.

2. Paul Keith Conkin, Tomorrow a New World: The New Deal Community Pro-

gram (Ithaca, N.Y., 1959), 12-13.

3. Ibid., 23-25; William H. Issel, "Ralph Borsodi and the Agrarian Response to Mod-

ern America," Agricultural History, XLI (April 1967), 155-156. One of the clearest ex-

pressions of this agrarianism was I'll Take My Stand, a ringing manifesto published in

1930 by twelve men associated with Vanderbilt University. The group included Donald

Davidson, Andrew Lytle, Allen Tate, John Crowe Ranson, and Robert Penn Warren.

Though not one of these Southern Agrarians, the Ohio novelist Louis Bromfield also

represented the agrarian viewpoint.

4. Dayton Daily News, March 7, April 25, 1934. Himself the product of rural life

and values, Ford spoke favorably of achieving widespread self-sufficiency on small farms

and in rural communities, after which industry would follow people to the smaller

towns and "many of our problems will be solved." By avocation a gentleman-farmer,

Roosevelt cherished the ideal of finding a new "balance" between country and city. A

brief account of subsistence homesteads and of Roosevelt's interest in them is in Arthur

M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Coming of the New Deal (Boston, 1959), 361-368.

5. Conkin, Tomorrow a New World, 35.

6. Council of Social Agencies, What We Do and Why (Dayton, 1933), 19-21; Council

of Social Agencies, Social Service Directory for Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio

(Dayton, 1938), 17, 21.

7. Dayton Daily News, April 9, 15, 1933; Dayton Review, January 27, 1933; Ralph

Borsodi, "Dayton, Ohio, Makes Social History," Nation, CXXXVI (April 19, 1933), 447-

448. A contemporary comparative study of production units in Dayton and elsewhere is

L. H. Grinstead and Willis Wissler, Barter Scrip and Production Units As Self-Help De-

vices in Times of Depression (Columbus, Ohio, 1933), 46-66.

8. Dayton Daily News, October 12, November 22, 24, 1933.

9. Ralph Borsodi, "Subsistence Homesteads: President Roosevelt's New Land and

Population Policy," Survey Graphic, XXIII (January 1934), 11-14, 48; "Meeting of Board

of Directors, May 24, 1933," Board and Budget Minutes, 1929-1934 (Dayton Community

Chest Association, typed, bound volume, courtesy of the United Fund, Inc.); "Minutes

of Unit Committee," January 3, 9, 14, 1933, Virginia P. Wood, recording secretary (Pro-

duction Unit Committee, 1933-1934, typed, loose-leaf volume, courtesy of Dayton Health

and Welfare Planning Council), hereinafter cited as "Minutes of Unit Committee." For

Borsodi's own account of his move to Suffern, see his Flight From the City (New York,

1933).

10. Conkin, Tomorrow a New World, 26.

11. Especially in Issel, "Ralph Borsodi and the Agrarian Response to Modern Amer-

ica," 155-166.

12. Ralph Borsodi, This Ugly Civilization (New York, 1933), xiii-xiv; Borsodi,

Education and Living (2 vols.; Suffern, N.Y., 1948), I, vii; Dayton Daily News, May 21.

1933.

13. Borsodi, This Ugly Civilization, 1, 7, 10, 33-39.

NOTES 147

14. Ibid., 130-136, 270-271, 311-339, 366-376. Borsodi later elaborated his diagnosis of

the problems of commercialized agriculture in "A Plan for Rural Life," in O. E. Baker,

Ralph Borsodi, and M. L. Wilson, Agriculture in Modern Life (New York, 1939), 187-211.

In this work he held that in agriculture, as in industry, the higher distribution costs of

large-scale operations more than offset lower production costs.

15. Borsodi, This Ugly Civilization, 221.

16. Dayton Review, February 17, 1933; "Minutes of Unit Committee," January 31,

February 1, 7, 10, 14, 21, March 6, 14, 21, April 4, 11, 14, 1933; Borsodi, Flight From the

City, 151-152.

17. Dayton Daily News, May 21, 1933; "Minutes of Unit Committee," May 12, 1933.

18. Dayton Review, March 17, April 21, 1933; Dayton Daily News, April 19, 21, 23,

May 20, 1933; "Minutes of Unit Committee," February 7, 1933; Borsodi, Flight From the

City, 159-161.

19. Dayton Daily News, May 15, 1933.

20. Ibid., May 15, 20, 1933; Dayton Review, April 21, 1933.

21. Dayton Daily News, May 24, June 9, July 23, 1933.

22. Ibid., June 12, 1933; Dayton Review, March 17, June 23, 1933. Cromer, who later

became a divisive figure in the homestead community, was, according to the Review, June

9, 1933, not reappointed to his teaching position because of an unsatisfactory rating.

23. Dayton Daily News, April 19, 1933.

24. Dayton Review, June 30, September 8, 1933; Dayton Daily News, July 23, October

8, November 19, 1933; "Homesteading Comes A-Cropper," Architectural Forum, LXI,

(August 1934), 142-144.

25. Dayton Review, June 30, 1933.

26. "Minutes of Unit Committee," September 27, 1933; "Homesteading Comes A-

Cropper," 142-144.

27. Borsodi, Flight From the City, 159-166; "Minutes of Unit Committee," May 22,

June 15, 20, 1933; Dayton Daily News, May 14, 23, July 13, 1933; Dayton Review, May 26,

June 16, 1933.

28. Conkin, Tomorrow a New World, 76-77, 81, 88, 93-94; Borsodi, Education and

Living, I, vii-viii.

29. Dayton Daily News, September 2, 20, 1933; Dayton Review, September 8, 1933;

Conkin, Tomorrow a New World, 107; Harold L. Ickes to Hon. George White, Septem-

ber 5, 1933, Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, National Archives,

Record Group 48 (hereinafter cited as NA, RG 48).

30. Dayton Daily News, October 2, 1933; Dayton Review, October 6, 1933.

31. Dayton Daily News, November 1, 19, December 6, 8-11, 1933.

32. Ibid., December 9, 1933.

33. Ibid., December 10, 1933.

34. Ibid., April 7, 1933.

35. Ibid., December 7, 1933, March 11, 13, 30, 1934; Dayton Journal, March 13, 15,

31, 1934; "Minutes of Unit Committee," February 19, 1934; M. L. Wilson to Ickes, April

11, 1934, NA, RG 48; Borsodi, "Subsistence Homesteads: President Roosevelt's New Land

and Population Policy," 48.

36. Dayton Daily News, March 28, April 2, 11, 1934; Dayton Journal, April 11, 20,

21, 23, 1934; Conkin, Tomorrow a New World, 201; J. S. Hawkes, William C. Millo-

way, and Bryan Cooper, "Representing the communities of Harrison, Jefferson and Madi-

son Townships, Montgomery County, Ohio," to Borsodi, April 2, 1934, NA, RG 48.

37. Dayton Daily News, April 16, May 2, 1934; Ickes to Senator Robert J. Bulkley,

May 28, June 14, 1934, NA, RG 48.

38. Evidently a relative of Charlotte Reeve Conover, a prominent lecturer and writer

in Dayton who produced several volumes of Dayton history.

39. Dayton Review, November 17, December 1, 1933; "Minutes of Unit Committee,"

November 22, December 13, 20, 27, 1933, February 19, 1934.

40. Dayton Review, December 1, 1933; "Minutes of Unit Committee," July 3, No-

vember 22, 1933.

41. "Minutes of Unit Committee," April 11, 1934; Dayton Review, August 3, 1934.

42. Dayton Review, April 6, 1934. The motives behind the Review's attacks are un-

clear. One Daytonian, Edward O. Keator, a consulting engineer, in a confidential letter

to Ickes suggested that the Review was indebted financially to Frederick B. Patterson and

other executives of the National Cash Register Company, men who had made Dayton

148 OHIO HISTORY

known as a "very, very 'fast' town in industrial matters" and who never came out second-

best in a controversy with the Federal Government, and that these men opposed Borsodi

because of his independence. Keator to Ickes, May 8, 1934, NA, RG 48.

43. Dayton Review, April 20, 1934.

44. Conkin points out that land arrangements other than fee-simple ownership were

common in the projects sponsored by the Division of Subsistence Homesteads for reasons

similar to those considered in Dayton. Tomorrow a New World, 126-127. Details of the

land system were also reported in the Dayton Daily News, February 16, April 13, 1934.

45. Criticisms of Miss Nutting and her "household" of young, unmarried women were

frequent during mid-1934. Dayton Review, April 27, 1934. She was not a professional so-

cial worker, but had training in religious education. Sometime in 1930 or 1931 she be-

came director of young-people's work for the Sunday School Council of Religious Educa-

tion, which carried on a program of released-time religious education in Dayton's public

schools. In 1932 Miss Nutting became educational secretary or director of the division of

character building for the Council of Social Agencies, and then in 1933, while retaining

this position, she assumed special responsibility for the homestead unit. Wiliams' Dayton

Directory for 1931: A Classified Business Directory, and a Directory of Householders

(Cincinnati, 1932); ibid., for 1932-1935. The author is indebted to the Reverend Charles

Lyon Seasholes for calling the controversy in the Review to his attention in an interview

on June 6, 1968.

46. On January 17, 1934, the Unit Committee adopted a policy of requiring three

separate interviews with applicants, one to provide basic information about homesteading

and to hand out application blanks, a second to visit the applicants' homes and corrobo-

rate information supplied by them, and a third to verify that applicants fully understood

what they were undertaking. Application blanks called for considerable personal data,

including debts, savings, insurance, all real and personal property, physical health, family

history, and membership in other organizations, and investigators were to assess emotional

stability and cooperativeness and to check all available references, including those not

listed by applicants. "Suggestions for investigating a New Applicant for Homesteading,"

"Minutes of Unit Committee," January 17, 1934.

47. Dayton Review, April 20, 1934.

48. Dayton Review, May 18, 1934; Catherine Bauer, "The Swiss Family Borsodi,"

Nation, CXXXVII (October 25, 1933), 489-491. Another review struck a similar note,

concluding that Borsodi became a "dangerous messiah" when he offered as universally ap-

plicable a pattern of life relevant only to families that clearly preferred being close to

nature, included one breadwinner with a secure job, possessed some capital, and enjoyed

a gift for life on the soil and had mechanical inventiveness. Malcolm Cowley, "Home-

steads, Inc.," New Republic, LXXVII (November 29, 1933), 77-78.

49. Dayton Review, May 11, 1934; "Homesteading Comes A-Cropper," 142-143; Bor-

sodi, "Subsistence Homesteads: President Roosevelt's New Land and Population Policy,"

11-14.

50. Dayton Review, May 18, 1934.

51. Ibid., May 18, April 27, May 4, June 8, 1934. This evidence supports in part

Conkin's generalization that the unit in Dayton was practically controlled by one per-

son who "had his own set ideas on what a subsistence homestead should be and heeded

the wishes of neither the homesteaders, the other local citizens, nor the officials of the

Division of Subsistence Homesteads." Tomorrow a New World, 121.

52. Dayton Daily News, June 27, July 6, 1934; Dayton Review, April 27, June 29,

July 27, August 3, 24, 1934.

53. Letter of N. M. Stanley to members of Unit Committee, March 28, 1934, "Min-

utes of Unit Committee," March 28, 1934; Ickes to Stanley, May 1, 1934, NA, RG 48.

54. Dayton Journal, April 22, 23, 1934.

55. "Report of Special Committee of Council Appointed to Make Recommendations

Concerning Separation of Unit Committee," presented May 12, 1934, Board and Budget

Minutes, 1929-1934; letter of Robert G. Corwin, president, Council of Social Agencies,

to Unit Committee, March 21, 1934, "Minutes of Unit Committee," March 21, 1934;

Dayton Daily News, April 5-7, 1934. In effect, this decision meant that the Unit Com-

mittee would now have to secure all its administrative costs, which the Dayton Commun-

ity Chest had funded to the extent of about $4,000 during the preceding year, including

Borsodi's and Miss Nutting's salaries and expenses, from the Federal Government. In

June, Ickes approved a request from the Unit Committee allowing it to use up to $2,000

NOTES 149

of its first allocation for administrative and other overhead expenses. Charles E. Pynchon

to Ickes, June 9, 1934, NA RG 48.

56. "Minutes of Unit Committee," April 22, 23, 1934; Dayton Daily News, November

10, 1933, April 20, 23, 1934; Dayton Review, April 27, 1934. Joseph was a close friend

and associate of Milburn L. Wilson and his appointment as manager, coming shortly after

the initial loan of $50,000, was probably on Wilson's recommendation.

57. Conkin, Tomorrow a New World, 107-108, 121.

58. Ibid., 120-124; Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes: The First

Thousand Days, 1933-1936 (New York, 1953), 159-160, 218-219.

59. M. L. Wilson to Ickes, April 11, 1934, NA, RG 48.

60. Dayton Journal, April 22, 23, 1934; Dayton Review, May 4, 18, 1934; Dayton Daily

News, May 29, 1934. Copies of the committee's resolution were reportedly sent to Presi-

dent Roosevelt, Ickes, Wilson, and Pynchon.

61. Philip M. Glick to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, May 24, 1934, Glick

to S. H. Thal, May 24, 1934, Ickes to Bulkley, May 28, 1934, NA, RG 48; Dayton Review,

May 18, 1934.

62. Pynchon to Ebert K. Burlew, June 6, 1934, Ickes to Bulkley, June 14, 1934, Ickes

to Senator Simeon D. Fess, June 14, 1934, NA, RG 48; Dayton Review, June 15, 1934.

63. Dayton Daily News, May 29, 1934; Pynchon to Unit Committee of Council of

Social Agencies, June 5, 1934, Ickes to Bulkley, June 14, 1934, Ickes to Hopkins, June

23, 1934, NA, RG 48.

64. Borsodi to Pynchon, June 15, 1934, Pynchon to Ickes, June 25, 1934, NA, RG 48;

Dayton Journal, June 26, 1934; Dayton Daily News, June 25, 1934.

65. Borsodi, Education for Living, I, vii-viii; Dayton Daily News, June 25, 1934; Day-

ton Journal, June 27, 1934.

66. Dayton Journal, June 28, July 3, 1934; Dayton Daily News, July 4, 1934; Pynchon

to Ickes, July 14, 1934, NA, RG 48.

67. Dayton Review, July 13, 27, 1934; Dayton Journal, July 11, 1934; Dayton Daily

News, July 29, 1934.

68. Dayton Daily News, August 9, 1934; Dayton Review, September 14, 28, 1934;

Pynchon to Ickes, September 13, 1934, Louis Glavis to Burlew, January 22, 1935, Pynchon

to Burlew, January 28, 1935, NA, RG 48; Dayton Journal, March 16, September 15,

October 22, December 31, 1935.

THE "NAIVE LIBERAL," THE "DEVIOUS COMMUNIST"

AND THE JOHNSON CASE

1. For the only survey of American criminal syndicalist legislation see Eldridge F.

Dowell, A History of Criminal Syndicalism Legislation in the United States, Johns Hop-

kins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, 57th Series (Baltimore, 1939);

for the statistics see p. 147.

2. The Ohio Criminal Syndicalism Act was patterned after the California statute and

is now Sections 2923.12 - 2923.15, inclusive, of the Ohio Revised Code. Pertinent to this

article are Sections 2923.12 and 2923.13. Section 2923.12 defines criminal syndicalism as

follows: "As used in section 2923.12 to 2923.15 inclusive of the Revised Code 'criminal

syndicalism' is the doctrine which advocates crime; sabotage, which is defined as the

malicious injury or destruction of the property of another; violence; or unlawful methods

of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform." Section 2923.13

penalizes the advocacy of criminal syndicalism: "No person shall by word of mouth or

writing advocate or teach the duty, necessity, or propriety of crime, sabotage, violence

or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political re-

form; or print, publish, edit, issue, or knowingly circulate, sell, distribute, or publicly

display any book, paper, document, or written matter in any form, containing or advo-

cating, advising or teaching the doctrine that industrial or political reform should be

brought about by crime, sabotage, violence or unlawful methods of terrorism; or openly,

willfully, and deliberately justify, by word of mouth or writing, the commission or the

attempt to commit crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of terrorism with in-

tent to exemplify, spread or advocate the propriety of the doctrines of criminal syndi-

calism; or organize or help to organize or become a member of, or voluntarily assemble