COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL MAY 23, 2018
7A
Offb eat Oregon History: A librarian’s crime of money
the most powerful men in the
state?
For The Sentinel
Simply this: When off ered
n April 12, 1918, Ore- the opportunity to lend the
gonians opened their government money to fi nance
newspapers to learn the war, she said “no thanks.”
that there was a traitor in their
Oregon was in the grip of
midst.
war fever as the late winter
“PORTLAND
LIBRARI- of 1918 ripened into spring.
AN RADICAL IN DECLAR- Th e First World War was be-
ING LOYALTY TO KAISER!” ing sold to the public, very
shrieked the Salem Statesman. successfully, using all the
“Declaring that she would rath- techniques of propaganda
er be ravished by a Hun than and mass persuasion known
support the United States in to President Woodrow Wil-
this war, M. Louise Hunt, assis- son’s Committee on Public
tant librarian at Central Library Information. And they were
here, brought down a storm of passing the hat to literally get
indignation from Portland citi- buy-in from members of the
zens today.”
public, and to help fi nance
“Miss Hunt’s attitude is an the war, through the Liberty
insult to the motherhood of our Loans war bonds program.
Nation and to their boys who
Th ere had been two drives
are knee-deep in the muddy for Liberty Loans, in which
trenches of France fi ghting for the government had asked
liberty,” fulminated Portland citizens to dig as deep as they
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF OREGON LIBRARIES
Mayor George Baker.
could to help fi nance the war. A political cartoon by the legendary Tige Reynolds on the front
“Not only should she be dis- Besides being an expression of page of the Portland Morning Oregonian.
missed (from her position), but patriotism, Liberty Loans were their state to be the fi rst in the published in the newspapers
if she continues her anti-war actually a pretty good invest- nation to make its quota of sales. to all Portlanders to get their
propaganda she should be in- ment; the government was pay-
To achieve that goal, they wallets out. “Over the Top in a
terned during the course of the ing 4.5 percent interest on them, planned very carefully in ad- Week” was the slogan.
war, like any other disloyal citi- and there was almost no risk of vance. Th ere was much advance
It didn’t take even that long.
zen or enemy alien,” proclaimed default. Plus, failing to partici- publicity, urging Oregonians to Six days later, the newspapers
Oregon Governor James Withy- pate was tantamount to failing get the cash ready so that all the were able to report a resound-
combe.
to “do one’s bit,” in the slang of drive’s volunteers had to do was ing success. Oregon had been
So, what was the great sin the day. So the drives had been collect the money. Th e kickoff the fi rst state in the union to
against the American people very successful.
day — Saturday, April 6 — was reach its quota of $18.5 million,
perpetrated by this quiet assis-
Now, as April came, a third declared Liberty Day. Th ere of which Portland alone had
tant librarian? What was this de- Liberty Loan drive had gotten were parades, and open-air kicked in just over $10 million.
spicable act of treason that had under way, and Portland’s civic band concerts playing patriotic
But right next to the celebra-
brought upon her the censure of leaders had a goal: they wanted tunes, and prominent appeals tory headline on the front page
of the Portland Evening Bulletin
announcing that success there
appeared another: “LIBRARI-
AN WITH BIG PAY CHECK
TH
WILL
NOT
PURCHASE
BONDS.”
Four seats on the Cottage Grove City Council and the offi ce
In this other article, the Bulle-
of Mayor will be fi lled by voters in the November 6 th General Election.
tin reported that it had come to
The Mayor’s position is a two-year term and the Councilor positions
the attention of the Liberty Loan
are four-year terms, with the exception of the Ward 4 position. The Ward 4 position will serve the executives that assistant librari-
remainder of the current four-year term until December 31, 2020. The Mayor position is currently an M. Louise Hunt had not pur-
any Liberty Loan bonds,
held by Jeff Gowing; the Councilor at Large position is currently held by Mike Fleck; Ward 1 is held chased
so the organizers had sent two
by Jake Boone; Ward 3 is held by Garland Burback and Ward 4 is held by Greg Ervin.To qualify as a representatives to the library to
candidate a person must be a resident of Cottage Grove during the 12 months immediately preceding fi nd out why, and to arrange for
the election and a qualifi ed elector within the meaning of the Constitution. Candidates fi ling for Hunt’s apparent oversight to be
Ward positions must be a resident of that Ward at the time of nomination and election and must live promptly and generously reme-
died.
in the Ward during their term of offi ce. Persons interested in fi ling for one of these positions should
“Miss Hunt” proved a much
contact Trudy Borrevik, City Elections Offi cial at 541-942-5501 to schedule an appointment to go over tougher nut to crack than the
the Candidate Information Packet. The earliest date to fi le is May 30, 2018 and the deadline to fi le is representatives apparently ex-
pected. She quietly informed
August 21, 2018.
them that she was not buying
What: Mayor and Council positions for November 6, 2018 General Election.
bonds because she did not be-
When: May 30, 2018 earliest day to fi le.
lieve in war, and did not wish to
Where: Candidate Information Packets are available at City Hall in the City Manager’s
fi nancially support it.
Attempting a sort of Socrat-
Offi ce or by calling Trudy Borrevik at (541) 942-5501.
ic-dialogue
closing technique,
Additional Information: Contact Trudy Borrevik, City Elections
the representatives asked if she
By Finn JD John
O
FOUR COUNCIL POSITIONS
AND MAYOR POSITION TO BE ON
NOVEMBER 6 BALLOT
Offi cial at (541) 942-5501.
Another dental visit?
Turns out, you have better things
to do with your time.
was an American citizen,
and, upon getting her “yes,”
pounced: Did she not agree
that it was the duty of every
American citizen to help de-
fend their country? She said
she did not consider partic-
ipation in the European war
to be a defense of country.
Th e representatives then
tried an appeal to pecuni-
ary interest (it was, aft er all,
a very safe investment with
a guaranteed rate of return)
and, when that didn’t work,
made an appeal to pity:
Didn’t she realize that the
Huns were running around
all over France and Belgium
raping women, they asked
her? Th e boys in France were
fi ghting to protect her from
the same fate. How could
she deny them her fi nancial
assistance in their quest to
save Belgian and Northern
French women from the
same fate? Wouldn’t she want
the same consideration if she
were in their position?
Hunt parried that thrust
by assuring them that she was
prepared for any suff ering (this
exchange was the source of the
“would rather be ravished by the
Huns” line in the newspapers)
and then riposted that if the
government wanted her money,
it could come and take it; but
she would not give it voluntarily.
Th e representatives hurried
back to make their report, and
to leak it to the press; and when
it appeared, in the Bulletin, it
sparked a popular furor. Th e
district attorney called for Hunt
to be fi red from her job; the
mayor and the governor soon
weighed in as well; and angry
letters started pouring into the
newspapers and to the library
board. So the library board
called an emergency meeting to
discuss the matter.
Aware of the mounting hos-
tility, Hunt carefully prepared
her statement for the board,
in writing, and forwarded it
to them before the meeting. “I
am an American, and no one
can more earnestly desire to see
America leading in the world’s
progress to a higher civiliza-
tion,” it read. “It is increasing-
ly a source of pride to me that
in this confl ict our President
now stands head and shoulders
above the statesmen of the other
warring nations. His aims and
ideals and those of other earnest
people with whom I disagree
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are my aims and ideals. Th e dis-
agreement is purely an honest
diff erence of opinion about the
methods which will best achieve
those ends. At no time have I
desired to be an ‘obstruction-
ist.’ I merely wish to claim the
Constitutional American right
privately to hold a minority
opinion.”
Th e board was convinced
— all but board member W.F.
Woodward; and the board voted
to support her right to abstain
from buying bonds, although
every member disagreed with
her stand.
Woodward was soon being
quoted in the newspapers as
calling the decision a disgrace.
Nobody, he said, who was get-
ting a $175-a-month salary in a
publicly funded position should
be allowed to keep her job if she
refused to support her country.
Th e public furore now worked
itself up to such a pitch that the
library board was more or less
forced to meet again three days
later. Woodward clearly came to
this meeting armed for bear, and
was apparently surprised when
it was announced that Hunt had
resigned her position.
“Because I do not wish in any
degree to hamper the usefulness
of the Library, and because I
am unwilling to place upon the
Library Board the burden of a
confl ict to maintain its brave
stand for freedom of conscience,
I hereby tender my resignation,”
she wrote.
Th is was not good enough
for Woodward, who promptly
moved that action be deferred
on the resignation until aft er
the board had voted to dismiss
her outright — in other words,
a “you can’t quit, you’re fi red”
move. Th is failed, and the res-
ignation was accepted. Wood-
ward, cheated of his prey, then
started pounding on the table
and shouting accusations that
the head librarian, Mary Fran-
ces Isom, was “disloyal” as well.
Isom, enraged, leaped to her feet
and shouted back at him that
he was “no gentleman.” Board
member Jonah B. Wise jumped
up as well and, addressing
Woodward, said, “I am ashamed
of you, sir.”
All the other board members
joined in the general condem-
nation, and Woodword, in high
dudgeon, got up and walked out
of the room without another
word.
“I want to be quoted as saying
that Mr. Woodward’s conduct
is yellow and he is yellow clear
through,” Board president W.B.
Ayer told reporters aft er the
meeting.
“Yellow,” of course, was 1910s
slang for “cowardly”; so Ayer’s
statement was, in eff ect, an ev-
er-so-slightly more civil version
of “Put up your dukes.” Th e
newspapers don’t give any indi-
cation of whether this challenge
was accepted, though.
In short order, the whole af-
fair was forgotten — especially
aft er dead soldiers started com-
ing back from France and the
whole jingoistic glow of propa-
ganda-driven excitement start-
ed to drain away. Within a few
months of the end of the war,
most of the people who had so
bitterly opposed Louise Hunt
were now fi rmly in her camp;
but by then she was gone. Aft er
resigning her job, she moved
immediately back to Maine, and
later fi nished her career as head
librarian at the public library in
Racine, Wis.
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
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