One piece of conventional wisdom about greater Minnesota is that we don't like mass protests. Another is that in the past, every European immigrant learned English immediately, instantly assimilating after purchasing a dictionary that translated a native tongue into English.
In an article posted Sunday in the New Ulm Journal, we learn that's balderdash.
Staff writer Clay Schuldt reports in Historic anti-draft rally to be remembered:
One hundred years ago the citizens of New Ulm faced a difficult dilemma. The U.S. formally entered WWI in April 1917 and soon implemented a draft.
As a city full of German immigrants and descendants, how could New Ulm support a military draft that would send them back to the fatherland to make war with their kin?
On July 25, 1917, nearly 10,000 people gathered outside Turner Hall for a rally protesting the draft. On Tuesday, July 25, 2017, Turner Hall will host a WWI Remembrance Day to honor the 100th anniversary of the rally.
Admission to the WWI Remembrance Day is free and picnicking is encouraged. The event begins at 6 p.m. outside in Turner Park. The New Ulm Battery will fire the cannon in salute followed by music from Dick Kimmel. . . .
In 1917, the population of New Ulm was estimated at only 8,000, meaning the entire town and residents from all over Brown County attended.
An article in a Minneapolis newspaper about the rally generated even greater publicity. The idea of a small community in rural Minnesota protesting the draft was shocking, but Hoisington said New Ulm was “a town away from things.”
New Ulm was not a great melting pot of European immigrants like larger cities. At the start of the war more than half of Brown County residents were first or second-generation Germans. The German language was spoken in country school, local stores and saloons.
Word of the rally reached the state and federal government. Undercover agents were mingling with the crowds to report back information to their superiors. The event received national attention from the news media.
Popular columnist Berton Leston Taylor responded to the rally in the Chicago Tribune, writing “The anti-draft meetings in New Ulm, Minn., remind us that fifty-four years ago the Indians massacred the population of that town. That is, fifty-four years too soon.”
The political blowback from the rally was extreme. Local politicians speaking at the rally were removed from public office by Gov. James Burnquist. This included Mayor Louis Fritsche and City Attorney Albert Pfaender. County Auditor Louis Vogel was also removed from his position for leading a parade preceding the rally. . . .
Between this, penny auctions in the 1930s, and the 1970s powerline protesters covering them selves with hog manure, we suspect that rural people haven't always been conscripted into "Minnesota Nice." We're hoping a few more of us find our outdoor voices and speak up.
For more on the protest, check out MNOpedia's New Ulm Military Draft Meeting, 1917.
Photo: The Turner Hall, founded by socialist gymnasts.
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