Ohio History Journal

THE CLEVELAND WORLD WAR MACHINE

 

BY ELBERT J. BENTON

The Great War found America without a war or-

ganization. One phenomenon of the war of the United

States with Germany was the response of the people in

the crisis. The war was interpreted as a people's war,

and the people made it their own. It was a veritable up-

rising of the American people in the defense of the high

moral cause which their President had marked out for

them, and the result was one of the most encouraging

movements in the history of democracy. How far the

lessons in practical patriotism have made for higher cit-

izenship and strengthened democracy will be a problem

for the historians to determine. The ways in which the

people of Cleveland made the war their own constitute

the problem which I have undertaken. I began my task

by preparing a directory of the organizations doing war

work in Cleveland for the convenience of the Cleveland

Central Draft Board, for which I was at the time doing

special work. The chairman of the board, Mr. Starr

Cadwallader, gave me many valuable suggestions. But

this eagerness to assist in the survey was shown by the

officers of all the organizations without an exception.

You will not be surprised if I confess that I am not

able at the present time to give anything like a compre-

hensive narrative of the activities of Cleveland in the

war, if by that is meant a documented, chronological

narrative of the progressive organization of the com-

(448)

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The Cleveland World War Machine     449

munity, with credit to the diverse personalities that have

had a share in them. For that the sources are as yet in-

adequate. The most one can hope for at this time is to

indicate what was the character of the war activities,

where the work was done, and who were the persons

responsible in its management.

It was necessary in Cleveland to develop agencies for

war work as the need for the work appeared. In some

cases the resulting organization was merely an expan-

sion of an existing institution; such was the case of the

Draft Boards for the War Department of the Bureau

of Investigation for the Federal Department of Justice.

The Chamber of Commerce adapted its many commit-

tees at the beginning of the war to the needs of the city.

The Red Cross expanded and adapted its pre-war organ-

ization to the new situation. In other instances the local

agencies were the product of enthusiastic private citizens

anxious to serve, and possessing organizing ability. The

Military Training Camps Association is a striking illus-

tration of a purely private agency making a place for

itself. Three days after the declaration of war, Mayor

Harry L. Davis, in consultation with others, appointed

a committee which came to be commonly known as the

Mayor's War Committee "for the purpose of taking care

of any extraordinary matters which might arise during

the period of the war." From the Chamber of Com-

merce and the Mayor's advisory committee sprang many

committees of business and professional men, often

closely related and even identical in personnel and func-

tion, to meet exigencies as the directors saw them. That

is, some were public institutions provided for by law;

others were private, extra-legal. Some like the Bureau

Vol. XXXVIII-29.

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450       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

of Social Hygiene were extra-legal, but because of their

close connection with a public institution had all the ap-

pearance of a public institution, and were in effect semi-

public organizations.

This survey has covered about sixty distinct organ-

izations, varying greatly in size and resources. I fan-

cied that it helped me to understand the war machine of

Cleveland when I grouped the organizations as (A) the

recruiting services of the Cleveland district, (B) organ-

izations concerned with the production of materials of

war, (C) organizations having to do with the well-being

of men in service and their dependents, (D) organiza-

tions to conserve resources and stabilize social and eco-

nomic conditions, (E) organizations for the enforcement

of the selective service laws and regulations and the

preservation of order in general, (F) organizations for

financing the Cleveland war machinery, and (G) the

federal financial agencies for the Cleveland district.

 

A. THE RECRUITING SERVICES OF THE CLEVELAND

DISTRICT

The federal War and Navy departments had the

usual war-time recruiting stations in Cleveland until

the acts of Congress in August and September, 1918,

practically closed the field for voluntary enlistment.

When the draft system took over the recruiting for the

army entirely and for the Navy partially, the recruiting

stations either were closed as in the case of the Army or

ceased to be active as in the case of the Navy.¹ The act

 

1 The War Department maintained a recruiting station, 54 Public

Square, with Lt. Col. H. W. Stamford as Commanding Officer. The War

Department's Cleveland Branch of the Production Division, the Engineer's

Depot, primarily engaged in the inspection of material for the War Depart-

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The Cleveland World War Machine                   451

of Congress which instituted the draft system estab-

lished a group of draft boards to administer the system

--the local and district boards, the legal advisory boards,

appeal agents, and the medical advisory boards.² In ad-

dition to the American recruiting agencies several for-

eign governments maintained offices to recruit their own

nationals. The British and Canadian War Depart-

ments maintained an office in Cleveland until the Anglo-

American convention in September, 1918, brought the

British and Canadian subjects within the United States

under the jurisdiction of the draft boards. The Czecho-

Slovaks, Italians, Poles, and Jews appealed to their peo-

ple not caught by the draft system to join in national or

would-be-national organizations in combatant service

abroad.³ Just as the war came to an end, in October,

1918, the War Department was establishing in Cleve-

ment, examined candidates for the Engineer Officers Reserve Corps. The

Office was at 420 Federal Building; the Officer in Charge, Col. D. W. Lock-

wood. The Marine Corps maintained a recruiting office at 532 Federal

Building; Officer in Charge, Major S. J. Logan. The Navy Department

recruited for the regular naval service at 506 Federal Building; Ensign

E. C. Keenan was in charge of the office. At 828 Guardian Building was an

office under Lt. J. H. Clark to recruit for the auxiliary services of the navy,

as for recruit ships, supply boats, tanks, etc.

2 The F. J. Heer Printing Company, Columbus, Ohio, 1918, published a

complete register of the Draft Organization for Ohio under the title "Names

of Persons who are Engaged in the Execution of the Selective Service

Law in Ohio."

The British-Canadian Recruiting Station, opened in November, 1917,

and closed in September, 1918, was located in the Lennox Building, Major

Peter Latham in charge. The same office recruited for the Jewish Battalion,

and a Jewish recruiting station was maintained on 55th Street, near Broad-

way. The Czechoslovak Recruiting Office was at 5284 Broadway; Joseph

Masek in charge. The Station for Recruiting the Polish Legion was at

7146 Broadway; Lt. J. Zebrowski was in charge. The Italian Consul, Dr.

N. Cerri, 402 Superior Building, gathered and despatched to Europe vol-

unteers from the Italians resident in the United States for service in both

the Italian army and navy.

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452      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

land at three local institutions for higher education-the

Case School of Applied Science, St. Ignatius College,

and Western Reserve University--Students' Army

Training Corps, in order to train men for the Officers'

training camps and for other special army service.

The smooth, apparently harmonious, functioning of

these various agencies for gathering armies in a great

industrial center like Cleveland and throughout the en-

tire United States was a surprise to many prophets.

History will want to know how it was possible. The re-

sult was in no small degree due to the extra-legal citizen

organizations, manned for the most part by volunteers

without salary or reward, that sprang, so to speak, to

the assistance of the Government. The Governor of

Ohio established at the opening of the war a central

draft board for Cuyahoga County; the Mayor's war

board then provided for its office expenses. The central

draft board served as the selective service headquarters,

as a bureau of information, and as a general clearing-

house for the draft system in operation. It performed a

service of incalculable value in facilitating the work of

registering and inducting men into service in coopera-

tion with the several draft boards. It arranged for the

entrainment of the drafted men for the training camps.⁴

The central draft board maintained a war service record

office where a general card index of all Cleveland men in

national service, Army and Navy, volunteers and drafted

 

The headquarters were located in the Central Armory. Mr. Starr

Cadwallader was the chairman of the board; Mr. W. H. Keeling was the

secretary. Just before the end of the war, Mr. Cadwallader resigned, and

Mr. Keeling became the chairman.

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The Cleveland World War Machine       453

men alike, was built up.⁵ During the summer of 1918 a

series of boards of instruction was developed. A central

executive committee, with the chairman of the central

draft board as the executive head, had general oversight

of the system. Local boards of instruction for each

local draft board in the city and county placed the or-

ganization in a position to supplement the draft system.

The boards of instruction became a part of a national

system under the auspices of the Provost Marshal Gen-

eral. The purpose in this case was "to put the selective-

service men into camp willing, loyal, intelligent, clean,

and sober, and thus to fit them better for rapid progress

in becoming good soldiers." The purpose was accom-

plished by systematic personal and group instruction.

Members of the boards assembled the selective service-

men before they left the city for instruction; gave gen-

eral lectures on the object of the war and the duties of

the soldier, and supervised social entertainments for the

men and their friends.

A more striking illustration of the share of private

initiative in supplementing the activities of a public na-

ture in recruiting the national army was that of the

Military Training Camp Association. The Cleveland

organization was a part of a national association formed

in 1917 to recruit men for the officers' training camps at

a time when the War Department called for volunteers

for these camps, and when there was considerable anx-

iety in the country lest the response of volunteers would

prove inadequate. The local branches made for them-

 

5 The permanent value of such a record in the community is evident.

The record office was located at 415 Union Building. Mr. Harold T. Clark

was the director; Miss Fader was the secretary.

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454       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

selves a place by giving civilian aid to the army officers

who were detailed for recruiting for the camps. As the

regular training camps gradually supplied the deficiency

of candidates for the officers' training camps by sending

the more promising men among the drafted men to them

the Military Training Camp Association turned more

and more to assisting the representatives of the War

Department in recruiting men for special services like

the Motor Corps, the Aviation Corps, and the Tank

Corps. Toward the end of the war the Association was

acting as the local agent for the War Service Exchange

of Washington, securing for the Army specially trained

men of any kind as wanted. In October, 1918, it had

begun to handle all local applications for officers' com-

missions for the general staff of the Army, becoming

thus in effect a local branch office for the War Depart-

ment.⁶

 

B. ORGANIZATIONS HAVING TO DO WITH THE PRODUCTION

OF THE MATERIALS OF WAR

It was natural that a large industrial center like

Cleveland should have an unusual number of federal

agencies located within its limits in order to facilitate the

production of the materials of war. There was, for

example, a large body of representatives of the United

States Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet Corporation.

One division of the Corporation was concerned with the

reconstruction of old ships, the transfer of ownership,

the purchase, etc, on the Great Lakes for ocean service;

 

The office of the Association was at 39 Wade Building, though a

change to 108-122 Lennox Building was made just before the War ended.

The Chairman of the organization in Cleveland was Mr. Laurence Hamill;

the Secretary, Mr. George Comey.

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The Cleveland World War Machine             455

another with making contracts, supervising, and inspect-

ing new construction on the Great Lakes; another with

the transfer of the ship of the Corporation from the

Great Lakes to the ocean to be turned over for high seas

operation; still another with purchasing raw materials

for the ship-yards holding Emergency Fleet Corporation

contracts; and finally an office having in charge placing

men on the Emergency Fleet classification list, and re-

moving them from the list. As the men on the list were

exempted from the draft, the officers in charge per-

formed the important service of protecting the labor

supply of the ship-builders.⁷

The War Department was represented in Cleveland

by an ordnance office, by the Equipment Division of the

Signal Corps, and by the Motor Transport Corps.⁸         The

function of the ordnance office was the encouragement of

the production of ordnance material and the making of

contracts for the manufacture of ordnance, and the ship-

ping of the finished products to the Army. The Signal

Corps was a branch office of the Dayton District, and

was concerned with the production of aircraft. The

Motor Transport Corps had in charge the production

and the transport of bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles,

7 The first three divisions were located in the Perry-Payne Building.

Mr. F. A. Eustis was the Special Agent of the Old Ships Division, Mr.

Henry Penton of the New Ships Division, Mr. Walter Williams of the Divi-

sion of Operation. The office of the Purchasing Division was at 789 Old

Arcade; Mr. S. E. Lewis was the District Purchasing Officer. The office of

the Selective Service Division was at 710 Engineers Building; The Branch

Officer was Mr. Walter L. Flory.

8 The Ordnance Office was located at 2036 Prospect Avenue; Mr. Samuel

Scovill was the District Chief. The Office of the Signal Corps was located

in the Union Building. Mr. A. S. Davis was the officer in charge. The

Motor Transport Corps occupied rooms adjacent to those of the Signal

Corps; Captain D. S. Devor was in charge.

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456      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

trailers, in fact all kinds of motor power except tanks,

tractors, and airplanes.

Private enterprise came to the assistance of the

Government in the production of war materials in the

form  of the District Manufacturers' Commission--

Cleveland Division. The Commission started at the be-

ginning of the war as the War Industries Board of the

Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and perfected its or-

ganization and changed its name during the summer of

1918. The organization undertook to bring the Govern-

ment and the manufacturers together, and particularly

to organize the small isolated manufacturers for the

production of materials needed by the Government for

the war, to let them know the Government's special needs

of the moment, and to secure for them a share in the

Government contracts. In carrying out this function

the Commission published daily lists of Government

needs in the newspapers. It was no small service which

it performed in distributing the manufacture of war

materials throughout the district, enlarging the field of

industry, equalizing the production in small and large

centers of manufacture, and preventing the congestion

of manufacture in large cities like Cleveland and the

stagnation of business in the smaller communities.⁹

 

C. ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNED WITH THE WELL-BEING

OF MEN IN SERVICE AND THEIR DEPENDENTS

The War Department of the United States took over

the care of the well-being of the men in service in the

training camps and in the field in Europe as no govern-

 

The office of the District Manufacturers Commission was at 301

Chamber of Commerce. Mr. James H. Foster was Chairman of the Com-

mission; Mr W. E. Tousley, Secretary.

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The Cleveland World War Machine            457

ment ever has. The history of these activities will stand

out as one of the brilliant achievements of America at

war. The official Commission on Training Camps Ac-

tivities, the Red Cross, and the religious organizations

like the Young Men's Christian Association and the

Knights of Columbus vied with one another in the care

for the physical and spiritual needs of the soldiers.

These activities the Government either conducted or

fostered. But the care of the soldier on leave and in

transit, and that of his dependents was largely left in the

hands of private agencies.

The great organization with its headquarters in

Cleveland known as the Lake Division of the American

Red Cross was chiefly concerned with the promotion of

production in the several local chapters in the territory

of the Division of materials for the comfort of men in

the camps and in field service.10 The Cleveland chapter

of the Red Cross, like similar chapters elsewhere, com-

bined the work of production of materials for the com-

fort of the soldiers wherever they were and civilian

relief for the men on furlough and relief for their de-

pendents.11 At the beginning of the second year of the

war, citizens of Cleveland organized, under the aus-

pices of the local Red Cross, the Canteen Club in order

 

10 The Headquarters of the Lake Division was at 2121 Euclid Avenue.

Mr. James R. Garfield was the manager during the first fourteen or fifteen

months of the war. Mr. B. F. Bourne succeeded him as manager, and Mr.

F. E. Abbott became the Assistant Manager with the reorganization during

the summer of 1918.

11 The headquarters of the Cleveland Chapter were at 201 Chamber of

Commerce. Mr. Samuel Mather was the Honorary Chairman; Mr. Alva

Bradley, Chairman; Mr. Henry Sheffield, Secretary. The Civilian Relief

Committee of the local chapter maintained offices at 706 Park Building,

Colonel D. L. Pond was Chairman of the Committee.

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458       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

to furnish soldiers and sailors while in Cleveland with

a wholesome, comfortable clubhouse. The club per-

formed the function which the community centers did

at the training camps.¹² But this was only one of sev-

eral citizen agencies, the work of bodies of self-sacri-

ficing and eager volunteers, occupied with the promo-

tion of the well-being and the morale of the soldiers

and sailors in Cleveland and of their dependents.

There was the Chamber of Commerce Committee

on Military Affairs. This was a committee organized

more than twenty-two years ago. The Mayor's War

Board at the opening of the war made the members of

the Chamber of Commerce Committee the War Board

Committee on the same subject. The War Board made

appropriations from the fund at its disposal for the

Military Committee's use.¹³ This Committee repre-

sented the community in a general oversight of the in-

terests of the soldiers and sailors; it took charge of

military parades; it cooperated with the other agencies

in enforcing the selective service law. Toward the close

of the war the Committee had developed an organization

for drilling the selective service men before induction

into service. and for a military escort at soldiers' funer-

als. The members of the Cleveland Academy of Medi-

cine organized, in September, 1917, the Cuyahoga Medi-

 

12 The Cleveland Canteen Club was at 2738 Prospect Avenue. Captain

H. P. Shupe was Chairman of the Committee, having in charge the work

at the club, and Mrs. Myron A. Weeks was the head of the local organiza-

tion at the club house.

13 The office was in the Chamber of Commerce. The Chairman was

Captain H. P. Shupe; the Secretary, Clifford Gildersleeve.

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The Cleveland World War Machine          459

cal Relief Association.14 The purpose was to aid the

families of physicians of Cuyahoga County in case of

need while the supporting member of the family was in

service. A board of trustees directed its activities. The

funds came entirely from subscriptions of members of

the medical profession. The Cleveland Dental Society

organized a Preparedness League.15     This League of-

fered free dental service to selective service men where

treatment would prepare them for service. The work in

practice was assigned by the chairman of the League to

different dentists who had volunteered to give their serv-

ices in order to carry out the purposes of the organiza-

tion. Somewhat similar in purpose was the Attorneys'

War Service Board.      This was the offspring of the

Cleveland Bar Association, and gave free legal services

to the men in war service and their dependents. Two

attorneys from the Bar Association, one in the fore-

noon and one in the afternoon, were assigned to the

headquarters in the rooms of the Civilian Relief Bureau

of the Red Cross to meet and advise those who had need

of such aid. Cases which required more than office as-

sistance were allotted to the various law firms which had

volunteered to give more extended help in court proce-

dure, etc.16 The War Mothers, not to be outdone by the

fathers in war work, formed what they called The War

Mothers of Cleveland. Meetings were held by it for the

14 The office of the Cuyahoga Medical Relief Association wa sat 207 Ball

Building. The president of the organization was Dr. J. C. Wood; the

Secretary, Dr. R. K. Updegraff.

15 The office was at 760 Rose Building. Dr. George L. Bishop was the

chairman.

16 The Headquarters of the Attorneys' War Service Board were at 704

Park Building. Howard A. Couse had charge of the daily assignments to

the headquarters.

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460       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

mothers of soldiers and sailors. The purpose was to

help the mothers to sustain their own morale, to counter-

act German propaganda among the class, and give them

a bureau of information. The association undertook to

protect the legal rights of the mothers as the dependents

of men in service. A small appropriation was made by

the Mayor's War Board to aid the work of the War

Mothers.17 The Nursing Section of the Women's Com-

mittee of the Mayor's War Board recruited and placed

pupil nurses as well as graduate nurses, and so indirectly

aided the community in the care of the men in service.¹⁸

In the summer of 1918 the City Health Office of

Cleveland met one need of the soldiers and sailors by ex-

panding its moral activities into a special Bureau of

Social Hygiene. As the city had no funds with which

to aid the movement, private agencies filled the gap.

The Mayor's War Board advanced $50,000 for the

work of the Bureau.

Clinics were established for the treatment of vene-

real cases; hospital beds provided for such cases; and a

propaganda of information in regard to venereal dis-

eases conducted. The movement had in mind not only

the well-being of the selective service men and their de-

pendents, but in a greater degree the men in the indus-

trial plants doing war work.¹⁹

But the one who opens up a discussion of those or-

17 The War Mothers had Headquarters at the main central building of

the Young Men's Christian Association, 2200 Prospect Avenue. Mrs. Robert

E. Lewis was President; Mrs. Charles W. Hall, Executive Officer.

18 The Nursing Section had offices in the Goodrich Building. Mrs.

Alfred Brewster was Chairman of the Section.

59 The Bureau of Social Hygiene was located naturally with the City

Health Office at the City Hall. Dr. H. N. Cole was the Chief of the

Bureau.

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The Cleveland World War Machine      461

ganizations in a large city like Cleveland which during

the War made a place for themselves in promoting the

well-being of the selective service men, and others in

service as well, has entered a limitless field. Religious

organizations and secret orders undertook more or less

definite work. The Young Men's Christian Association

conducted classes specially adapted to the needs of se-

lective service men or others intending to go into the

army. The men were made welcome to all the conven-

iences and opportunities of the central organizations and

its branches. In a smaller way the Knights of Colum-

bus and the Jewish organization of the same kind under-

took something of the same thing. The churches took

an active part in the promotion of the morale of the

community, giving information through sermons and

lectures on the issues of the War and the duties of citi-

zenship. In many churches special meetings of various

sorts were held for soldiers and sailors. The men in the

camps and fields were shown that the home church had

not forgotten them. The Masons formed a War League

in the last months of the War for the purpose of assist-

ing the members of the American Expeditionary Force.

in returning to active civil life. The field represented by

the activities of these organizations was enormous. In

many cases it is still exceedingly difficult to distinguish

between the war work and the normal peace activities of

the organizations in this group. Anything like an ade-

quate survey of the work of the churches in particular

will require the study of sources which have not yet been

collected.

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462       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

D. ORGANIZATIONS TO CONSERVE LOCAL RESOURCES AND

STABILIZE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

The same interlinking of public and private agencies

occurred in the organizations which were formed to con-

serve local resources and stabilize the social and eco-

nomic conditions of Cleveland. The United States Fuel

Administration reached into the city in two ways. The

representative of the National Fuel Administration con-

cerned with the distribution of coal for the Great Lakes

and Canada had his headquarters in Cleveland.²⁰ And

the State Fuel Administration of the national system

had a Cuyahoga County Fuel Committee. It was the

function of the county committee to see that the coal

which was assigned to Cuyahoga County reached the

people who should have it, at a fair price.²l The United

States' Shipping Board's Recruiting Service with its

branches ramifying throughout the country touched

Cleveland.   The local representative    recruited  and

trained men for the Merchant Marine, both engine-room

and deck officers.²²

In the same manner the Federal Employment Bu-

reaus were in the process of organization in September

and October, 1918, throughout the nation, and one

branch was organized in Cleveland. The local bureau,

linked up with the State-City Free Employment Bureau,

20 The office was at 311 Perry-Paine Building. The manager was Mr.

C. A. Wetzel.

21 The office of the County Fuel Committee was at 201 Chamber of

Commerce. The Chairman was Mr. Munson Havens, the Secretary, Mrs.

H. F. Webster.

22 The office of the Recruiting Service was at 834 Guardian Building.

Captain Irving L. Evans had charge of the office. The inexperienced men

for the Merchant Marine were recruited at the various branches of the

Marshall Drug Stores in Cleveland.

• 15
 

The Cleveland World War Machine         463

was intended to serve as a free labor exchange. Subor-

dinate offices are at the present time in process of for-

mation in various parts of the city for the convenience

of employers and employes. The organization is an out-

growth of war conditions, but intended for peace times

as well.²³ Similarly the Federal Capital Issues Commit-

tee, appointed to investigate all proposals for new capi-

talization or for expansion of capitalization, had its local

committee.²⁴  The Federal War Industrial Board had

just organized a local labor board as the War ended. It

was the function of this board to direct the man power

of the district into war-winning channels by conducting

investigations as to the labor needs of war plants and the

available labor in non-essential plants. The actual trans-

fer of laborers was to be carried out by the local office

of the Federal Employment Bureau.²⁵

Here, as in the preceding divisions of the subject, the

organizations which private initiative created to supple-

ment public institutions has the greatest interest to the

students of the history of the War. Most of the agencies

of this class were in one way or another connected with

either the Mayor's Advisory Committee or the Chamber

of Commerce, or with both. This does not mean that

the Mayor's Advisory Committee and the Chamber of

Commerce ever consciously limited the scope of their ac-

tivities to the conservation of resources or the stabiliza-

23   The Federal-State-City Free Employment Bureau is located in the

City Hall. Mr. Charles F. Arndt is the district superintendent.

24 The office of the Local District Committee of the Capital Issues Com-

mittee was at 304 Citizens Building. Mr. D. C. Wills became Chair-

man; Mr. Kenneth Barnard, Secretary; Mr. Harrison B. McGraw, Counsel.

25 The Reverend Francis T. Moran was the Chairman of the Labor

Board.

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464      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

tion of social and economic conditions. They did not,

in fact, do so; they had their committees on other phases

of war work. Some have already been mentioned. It

is true, however, that the majority of their committees

were engaged in these phases of local war work. The

Mayor's General Advisory War Committee in practice

operated through its executive committee, generally

known as the Mayor's War Board, and the several sub-

committees of the general committee which were created

as occasion arose. The members of the War Board and

the several committees served without salary. And the

same statement is true of the majority of these private

agencies in war work. In the Red Cross campaign of

the spring of 1918, the sum of $250,000 was set aside

for the purpose of financing the activities of the Mayor's

War Board and the sub-committees. One of the chief

functions of the War Board was the distribution of the

funds at its disposal among its own committees and

other organizations engaged in similar work. Fre-

quently organizations having no organic connection with

the Mayor's War Board received subsidies from it. The

Board naturally became a powerful factor in the war

machine of Cleveland; it possessed the power to en-

courage work which it deemed wise by liberal appropria-

tions, and to repress others not considered wise or

soundly organized by withholding endorsement and sub-

sidies wholly necessary.²⁶

The Proceedings of the Mayor's War Board, which

 

26 The Mayor's War Board and the sub-committees had rooms in the

City Hall with the headquarters in Room 226. Mr. Myron T. Herrick was

the Chairman; Mr. Harry L. Vail, the Executive Secretary throughout most

of the period.

• 17
 

The Cleveland World War Machine     465

met every two weeks, constitute a continuous record of

war work which the board fostered.

The United States did not create a complete central

and local organization for the administration of the reg-

ulations of the Federal Food Administrator as it did for

the Fuel Administrator. In Cuyahoga County a sub-

committee of the Mayor's War Board assumed general

supervision of the administration of the federal food

regulations, and particularly of the conservation of food.

The sub-committee, in turn, operated through several

special organizations or officers. One of these had in

charge the conservation of flour; another, of sugar; a

third, the fixing of fair prices; a fourth, law enforce-

ment; a fifth, publicity; and a sixth, education in the

conservation of food. The officer who had in charge

education of the housewives on conservation operated

community centers.  Twenty-four such centers were

opened during the summer of 1918. The Mayor's War

Board included the expenses of the various services in

its budget.²⁷

The attempt to solve the housing problem developed

along other lines in Cleveland. The Directors of the

Chamber of Commerce appointed a housing and sanita-

tion committee which began its serious work by making

a housing survey of Cleveland. The Mayor's War Board

supplied the sinews by a small subsidy. The Federal

Government laid the mantle of approval over the work

of the committee when the Department of Labor made

the chairman the local representative of the United

 

27 The headquarters were in Room 226 of the City Hall. The Acting

Chairman was Dr. R. C. Roueche at the end of the War; Dr. R. H. Bishop

was Chairman earlier; Mr. Wilbur S. White was Secretary.

Vol XXXVIII-30.

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466       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

States Housing Corporation in Cleveland. The commit-

tee then proceeded to differentiate its activities by

several organizations. A local organization was in-

corporated to build houses in order to supply the needs

of those individuals who could not build during the War

in the usual way. A new committee, the Home Regis-

tration Service Committee, of the Chamber of Com-

merce, under the same chairman as the Housing Com-

mittee, expanded the activities of the original committee

into new fields. The Home Registration Service under-

took to find housing facilities for laborers in war indus-

tries and to protect residents of Cleveland from rent

profiteering during the War. To do these things a Place-

ment Bureau was established in the City Hall to assist

laborers in finding rooms; a Rental Adjustment Board,

to deal with rent profiteers. These officers were in this

field what the local food administrators, the fuel admin-

istrators, and the employment bureau were in another.²⁸

The presence in Cleveland of several nationalities, in

the assimilation of which little progress had been made,

presented another problem. Both the Chamber of Com-

merce and the Mayor's War Board appointed a com-

mittee on Americanization. The two were identical in

membership. The Mayor's War Board made appropria-

tions for the support of the work. The Committee on

Americanization cooperated with the public school au-

 

28 The Housing and Sanitation Committee and the Home Registration

Committee were located in Rooms 205 and 207 of the Chamber of Com-

merce. Mr. Paul L. Feiss was the Chairman of both committees; Miss

Rumbold was the Secretary of the former; Mr. Louis A. Moses of the latter.

The Placement Bureau and the Rental Adjustment Board were located in

the City Hall. Mrs. Amy Hobart was the Director of the former; Mr. E.

W. Reaugh the Adjuster of Rents.

• 19
 

The Cleveland World War Machine         467

thorities in opening classes for the foreign-born popu-

lation-classes in English, civics, and other related sub-

jects with the purpose of aiding the members in adjust-

ing themselves to American conditions and in the under-

standing of American ideals.²⁹ The Mayor's War Board

had a sub-committee on patriotism. The Chairman of

the Committee organized a body of Four-Minute Men,

or rather men and women, who gave four-minute

talks at the theaters, the moving-picture houses, and

other places of public gathering in support of the war

work of the time in the city. Its influence in the early

months of the War, when the issues and problems of

the War were not comprehended and other methods of

publicity undeveloped, was very great, especially in solid-

ifying public sentiment and strengthening the morale of

the community.³⁰

One of the most active organizations in the Cleve-

land war machine was the Women's Committee. This

was organized on June 12, 1917, as the Cleveland

Women's Committee of the Council of National De-

fence. The Committee of the Mayor's War Board on

Women's Activities was identical. Apparently one or

the other was the real parent, and the other the foster

parent; it does not matter which for the purposes of the

present paper. The Women's Committee carried on its

work through about fifteen departments or sections.

29 The Committee on Americanization had its headquarters at 226 in the

City Hall. The Chairman throughout the greater part of the War was Mr.

Harold T. Clark. After Mr. Clark's resignation in the fall of 1918, Pro-

fessor Raymond Moley succeeded him. Miss Helen Bacon was the Sec-

retary.

30 The Committee like the other sub-committees of the Mayor's War

Board had its headquarters at Room 226 of the City Hall. The Chairman

was Mr. Harry L. Vail; the Secretary was Mr. J. C. Marks.

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468      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

There was a section on the Registration of Women for

Industrial Work; one on Food Production, which meant

the education of women on markets and the local food

supply; one on Food Conservation through the use of

exhibits, lectures, demonstrations, and through school

community centers; others on Women and Children in

Industry; on Nursing, and Public Health; on Maintain-

ing existing Social Agencies (giving training through

Western Reserve University in Social Service); on Con-

servation of Moral Forces (keeping open four neighbor-

hood service centers in cooperation with the Cleveland

Board of Education); on the Liberty Loan (promoting

the sale of bonds for the Liberty Loan Campaign); on

Education (training women in clerical and general busi-

ness); on Automobile Service (furnishing cars by vol-

unteers for war work); and two special committees giv-

ing publicity to the work of the various organizations of

the group.31

Three sub-committees of the Mayor's War Board-

The War Gardens, the Boys' Camps, and the Children's

Year Committees-and two of the Chamber of Com-

merce-the Labor Relations Committee and the Trans-

portation Department-should be included in a survey of

this kind. The War Gardens Committee promoted the

production of food through gardens. The Boys' Camp

Committee maintained boys' camps at North Olmsted

and Dover Center, and in that way placed boys in farm-

ing communities where they might be of help to the

farmers as laborers. The Children's Year Committee

31 The office of the Women's Committee was at Room 226 of the City

Hall. In the early part of the War Miss Belle Sherwin was Chairman;

in the latter part, Mrs. Harry L. Sanford was Chairman; Miss Ruth Stone,

Secretary.

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The Cleveland World War Machine         469

was organized to carry out a drive of the general gov-

ernment to save babies. Among the activities of the

committee were a census of children under school age,

the publication of a monthly Bulletin of Instruction on

the care of children, and pamphlets on Prenatal and

Child Welfare, the direction of a fly-prevention cam-

paign, and cooperation with the Bureau of Child Hy-

giene and the Babies Dispensary.³²

The Labor Relations Committee of the Chamber of

Commerce existed as its name would indicate to help

employers and employes adjust their relations. It set

up for the Federal Government a war emergency course

for women employment managers, financed the course,

and found positions for the new managers. The Trans-

portation Department was in no sense a product of the

War, but like many old organizations found its routine

affected by the war problems of the city. It gave much

consideration during the War to the development of long

distance trucking, to the growth of a rural market ex-

press; it located for the Federal Government the trans-

portation depots needed by the army in the Cleveland

district.³³

The Mayor's War Board and the Chamber of Com-

merce represented for the most part the point of view

and the interests of the city of Cleveland. There was a

 

32 The offices were in the City Hall. The Chairman of the War Gar-

dens Committee was Mr. George A. Schneider; the Director, Carl F.

Knirk. The Director of the Boys' Camps was Mr. Charles W. Disbrow.

The Chairman of the Children"s Year Committee, Mr. Alva Chisholm; the

Secretary, Dr. R. A. Bolt.

33 Chamber of Commerce Rooms, 201 and 203. The Chairman of the

Labor Relations Committee was Mr. W. B. Stewart; Secretary, Mr. Mun-

son Havens. The Traffic Commissioner was Mr. F. H. Bahr.

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470      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

rural area within the county, but outside of the city

limits scarcely served by such organizations. On Octo-

ber 14, 1918, the Cuyahoga War League was organized

to do for the district outside of the metropolitan district

what the Mayor's War Board did within the city. The

War Council set apart a fund to meet the expenses of

the office; the county commissioners provided the quar-

ters. The League brought into cooperation the County

Superintendent of Schools, the County Agricultural

Agent and the County Farm Bureau, and thereby gave

promise of the creation of an effective rural war ma-

chine.³⁴

 

 

E. ORGANIZATIONS FOR ENFORCING THE SELECTIVE SER-

VICE LAWS AND FOR PRESERVING ORDER IN GENERAL

President Wilson made the case of the United States

against Germany so clear, so impelling, that an over-

whelming preponderance of public sentiment in Cleve-

land supported him, and whatever measures were neces-

sary to win the war. Seldom has the nation been so

united as it was in this instance. Certainly it never was

so united in a war. Cleveland formed no exception to

the unity of purpose of the American people. Federal

legislation increased the power of the Administration

and the courts to deal with the disloyal. An almost om-

nipresent system of agencies to enforce the legislation

which repressed disloyal acts, and so maintain national

unity of action and purpose, supported the Administra-

tion and the courts. History will never be able to de-

termine with any precision how far apparent unity was

 

34 The office was in the Old Court House, second floor. The Chairman

was Herman J. Nord.

• 23
 

The Clcveland World War Machine    471

 

hearty, spontaneous, and how far merely submission be-

fore forces too powerful to be opposed. But there is no

reason to suspect that a large element of suppressed op-

position existed.

The Federal Government in peace times has a very

meager organization with which to discover the dis-

loyal or the law breaker. There was a bureau of in-

vestigation as a part of the peace-time machinery of the

Department of Justice charged with the investigation

of every violation of federal law. It was considerably

enlarged with the coming of the War. However, it was

anticipated, or rather widely feared that the draft regu-

lations and the espionage act would place a heavy strain

on the existing organizations of the Federal Govern-

ment. Here again private initiative found a way to

enable the government to meet the strain without build-

ing up a cumbersome central organization. In July,

1917, an organization which was called the Cleveland

Division of the American Protective League was

formed. An office staff and a field force grouped in

platoons and companies, altogether 1500 men, were as-

signed to the task of supplementing the work of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation. The local organiza-

tion was a part of a national league, and had the ap-

proval of the Department of Justice. It was, in effect,

an extra-legal police body.

The American Protective League was an ingenious

device for using the voluntary services of a large body

of loyal citizens of each community in the enforcement

of law. It revealed like many other extra-legal organ-

izations of the War the latent forces at the disposal of a

democracy. While this particular organization con-

• 24
 

472       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

cerned itself chiefly with slackers, deserters, and Ger-

man sympathizers, there were times when its members

stood guard duty at war factories, assisted the police in

the pursuit of ordinary criminals, gave clerical help to

the police department, supplied automobiles for public

service, and in other ways acted as an extra-legal

police.³⁵

 

F. ORGANIZATIONS FOR FINANCING THE CLEVELAND WAR

MACHINERY

It has been shown that a large part of the so-called

war work of Cleveland was extra-legal; that is, the work

of bodies of private citizens. The work of these bodies,

while mainly done by volunteers without salaries, re-

quired large amounts of money for office hire, clerical

help, and materials or equipment. These funds were

raised in Cleveland entirely by extra-legal organizations.

The Cleveland War Council was the nerve-center of the

war machine. It conducted the campaigns for raising

money and apportioned the funds among the various

agencies which were recognized as doing useful work.

It served in effect as a budget committee. The fund,

over $6,000,000, which it raised in the spring of 1918

was popularly known as the Victory Chest.36

To bring the nerve-center into communication with

the individual contributors in every call for funds for

 

35 The Bureau of Investigation was in the Federal Building, Room 304,

with Mr. Bliss Morton in charge. The American Protective League occu-

pied rooms adjacent to the Bureau. The Chief of the Cleveland Division

was Mr. A. C. Klumph; the First Assistant Chief and the officer in charge

of the Cleveland work, was Mr. Walter D. Foss.

36 The office was in the Chamber of Commerce, Room 201. The Chair-

man was Mr. Samuel Mather; the Treasurer, Mr. Myron T. Herrick; the

Secretary, Mr. Henry E. Sheffield.

• 25
 

The Cleveland World War Machine        473

war need, the Cuyahoga County War Service League

was organized in February, 1918. It was the practical

application of the methods of the political party. The

authors understood the methods and the value of ward

and precinct workers in a campaign. It is said that the

organization enlisted nearly five thousand workers, so

distributed as to ensure that every house in the county

would be visited in each campaign. The War Service

League supported not only the campaigns for funds of

the Cleveland War Council, but also those of the Federal

Government.³⁷

 

G. THE FEDERAL FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE

CLEVELAND DISTRICT

The Central Government was represented in the

Cleveland district for the several liberty loan campaigns

by a Central Liberty Loan Committee for the Fourth

Federal District. This committee supervised the cam-

paign in the Federal District. Subordinate committees

promoted the floating of the loan in the several divisions

of the district. For Cuyahoga County there was a local

committee.³⁸ The problem of interesting the people of

Cleveland in buying War Savings Stamps led to an-

other special local committee. The Cuyahoga County

War Savings Committee conducted a continuous cam-

paign of education on the War Savings System. The

37 The offices of the Cuyahoga County War Service League were at 1107

Union National Bank Building. Mr. George B. Harris was the Chairman;

Mr. Harry S. Blackburn, the Secretary.

38 The Central Liberty Loan Committee had offices in the Park Build-

ing; the local committee at 325 Hickox Building. Mr. D. C. Wills was the

Chairman, Mr. F. F. Wilkinson, the Executive Secretary of the former;

Mr. C. A. Paine, the Chairman, and Mr. Horatio Ford, the Secretary of

the latter.

• 26
 

474         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications different elements of the population of Cleveland were reached by secretaries and directors for the foreign ele- ments and the industrial groups of the city.39 39 The Cuyahoga County War Savings Committee had offices at 1104 Union National Bank Building. Mr. Robert Crouse was the General Di- rector. Mr. D. Gara, with an office in the Swetland Building had in charge the foreign elements with secretaries for each.

• 27