1917 – A Dynamic Year


Charles W. Klasek, Sr., founded his company against a backdrop of a country bristling with energy and a world at war.  Read on for more information about the events of 1917:

U.S. Snapshot


President: Woodrow Wilson (Thomas R. Marshall V.P.)

U.S. population: 103,265,000 (est. Feb. 2007 – 301,079,152)

Cost of a first-class postage stamp: 2 cents; raised to 3 cents in November 1917

The Union included the 48 states on the North American continent (New Mexico and Arizona were admitted in 1912), but the U.S. sought to expand in other ways.  Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship under the Jones Act, signed on March 2, 1917.  In that same month, the Danish West Indies became a U.S. territory, with 132 square miles of land, including St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John in the Virgin Islands.

At the beginning of 1917, the U.S. economy was in a depression.  On Feb 1, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.91 points, the worst drop since 1907.  Entry into World War I, however, sent the U.S. into an extraordinary economic boom.  According to the Federal Reserve, $1.00 of goods and services in 1917 would be worth $16.05 in 2007.

Notable Events of 1917


World War I

While war raged in Europe, the U.S. was gradually failing in its effort to remain neutral.  In early 1917, Germany declared that it would renew unrestricted submarine warfare, and by the next month the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations.  On April 6, Congress declared war against Germany.  In May, President Wilson appointed Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing to command the American Expeditionary Forces.  The first “doughboys” began arriving in Europe in June.

At the beginning of the war, the U.S. Army stood at 200,000 troops but government officials estimated the Army would need to mobilize 1 million troops for the war.  On May 18, the Selective Service Act became law, the first military draft since the Civil War.  All told, more than 4.7 million Americans fought in World War I.

The "I WANT YOU" Army recruiting poster from World War I became the most recognized image of Uncle Sam, a character first made popular by Thomas Nast and other 19th century political cartoonists. The poster was painted by James Montgomery Flagg in 1916-1917.  Flagg reportedly used his own face as the model for Uncle Sam’s stern visage.


Hollywood quickly came to the aid of its country, with movie stars including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin starring at Liberty Bond rallies to help finance the war effort.

In Europe, Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron,” ruled the skies in his bright red plane.  In April 1917 alone, Richthofen shot down 21 Allied planes.  The state of warfare was changing in other ways, and trench warfare contributed to the bloody legacy of the war.  Several ignominious firsts occurred during the fighting in 1917.  Along with growing aerial warfare, planes were first used to drop bombs, in Belgium.  Germany’s use of mustard gas in July marked the first large-scale use of chemical weapons.  The first use of tanks in significant force was in the Battle of Cambrai, France, in November.

In the Middle East, British Army Col. T.E. Lawrence led Arab forces to cause the surrender of the Turkish garrison in Aqaba on July 6, without a single shot fired.  The victory gave the Allies an important port in the Red Sea.  “Lawrence of Arabia” would later decline King George V’s offer of knighthood and a distinguished service award to protest what he saw as broken promises to Arabs.

Commerce and Industry


U.S. cigarette production reached 35.3 billion (up from 18 million in 1915); Camels had the largest share of the market, an estimated 30-40 percent.  Gen. Pershing calls tobacco an important product for troops.

Clarence Birdseye developed methods of freezing to preserve food.

Del Monte brand canned fruits and vegetables used its first national advertising campaign, appearing first in the April 21 issue of the Saturday Evening Post.

The War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to make more metal available for war production.

Politics


Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Miriam Amanda “Ma” Ferguson assumed the governorship in Texas after the impeachment and removal from office of her husband, James, becoming the first woman governor.  Woman suffrage efforts were in high gear in 1917, although women would not be granted the right to vote in the U.S. until the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920.

Arts & Entertainment


The top-grossing film of the year was  “Cleopatra” starring Theda Bara.  Also popular: Mary Pickford in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” “Teddy at the Throttle” with Gloria Swanson, and Charlie Chaplin’s “The Cure.”  Chaplin signed the first million-dollar movie contract.
(Theda Bara in “Cleopatra”)

In, popular music, Dixieland jazz was all the rage (“Darktown Strutter’s Ball,” recorded on Jan. 30, 1917, is considered the first jazz recording).  Other big hits:  songs supporting the war, such as George M. Cohan’s “Over There” and Isham Jones’s “You’re in the Army Now”; “For Me and My Gal”; and “The Bells of St. Mary’s”.

In theater, “Ziegfield Follies” with Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers, ruled Broadway.

New works of art were exhibited by Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani, Sargeant, O’Keeffe.

New books in 1917 included books by Henry James, Ring Lardner, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair and Edith Wharton.  New poetry was published by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale and William Carlos Williams.  J.R.R. Tolkien began writing the Book of Lost Tales (first version of the Silmarillion).

The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in 1917 in four categories:  Editorial Writing, New York Tribune; Reporting, Herbert Bayard Swope of the New York World; Biography or Autobiography, Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott for Julia Ward Howe; and History, J.J. Jusserand for With Americans of Past and Present Days. 

Sports


Baseball:  The Chicago White Sox defeated The New York Giants to win the World Series in six games.

Golf: The USGA and PGA suspended championships due to WWI.  Meanwhile, 15-year-old Bobby Jones was beginning to make a name for himself, winning the Southern Amateur Championship

Hockey:  The National Hockey League was formed by the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottowa Senators and Toronto Arenas (later the Maple Leafs).  The first game of the new league was played on Dec. 19, 1917.

Horse racing:  Kentucky Derby, Omar Khayyam; Preakness, Kalitan; Belmont Stakes, Hourless.

Tennis:  U.S. Open – men’s singles, Lindley Murray; women’s singles, Molla Bjurstedt; men’s doubles, Fred Alexander and Harold Throckmorton; women’s doubles, Molla Bjurstedt and Eleonora Sears; mixed doubles, Molla Bjurstedt and Irving Wright.

Basketball: Still a relatively new sport, no professional league existed, although many cities and companies had teams.  The sport was very popular in colleges and high schools.

Football:  The NFL was not formed until 1920, although various professional leagues existed in 1917.

Popular Culture


John and Mary were the most popular names for the entire decade of the 1910s, according to the Social Security Adminstration.

The American Association of Park Superintendents instituted “Bathing Suit Regulations” for beachgoers, including tops for men.

Congress established Mount McKinley National Park in Alaska.

Other International Events


In Russia, the February Revolution led to the abdication of Nicholas II and establishment of Provisional Government.  That government was toppled during the October Revolution (November by Western calendars) of the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin.  This ultimately created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour issued the “Balfour Declaration” on Nov. 2, stating that his government favored “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

In Mexico, the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States was adopted on Feb. 5, following the Mexican Revolution, and still serves as the country’s constitution.

On May 13, three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, claimed to see an image of the Virgin Mary above an oak tree.  The vision continued on the 13th day of each month for five more months.  By the final apparition on Oct. 13, the crowd was believed to be more than 70,000 people.



St. Louis in 1917


In 1917, St. Louis was still considered the 4th largest city in the U.S., with a population of 687,029, and a major railroad hub.  The city was still basking in its fame from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition and 1904 Olympics (the first held in an English-speaking country).  St. Louis had also been in the national spotlight in 1916, when it hosted the Democratic National Convention.

Clothing and shoe manufacturing were important industries, creating a garment district rivaling those in New York and Chicago.  Brewing was another major industry in St. Louis, even though the temperance movement was gaining ground across the country.  At one time in the mid-19th century, St. Louis was home to between 40 and 50 breweries, but by 1917 Anheuser-Busch had dominated the local and national markets.  These industries led to the popular slogan about St. Louis, “First in shoes, first in booze and last in the American League” (a reference to the St. Louis Browns baseball team).

While growth slowed slightly during World War I, St. Louis was a bustling urban center.  The decade of the 1910s was the peak period of the electric trolley car, with more than 300 miles of tracks in use throughout the city.  Trolley-car ridership in the U.S. reached 11 billion in 1917.

As tensions mounted with Germany at the outbreak of the Great War, conflict also arose with the large German community in St. Louis.  The symphony orchestra dropped works by German composers from its repertoire, and the city government stopped publishing proceedings in German-language newspapers.  Several street names were changed – Berlin Avenue became Pershing Avenue and VanVerson Avenue became Enright Avenue.

Tensions of another kind arose across the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Ill.  Labor unrest afflicted that city between 1915 and 1919, boiling over in the race riots of 1917, in which striking white workers at Aluminum Ore Company attacked African-American non-union replacement workers.  Nearly 100 people died.  One result of the riots was the founding of the St. Louis chapter of the Urban League to improve race relations and to expand opportunities for African-Americans.

For more information:


For a more detailed narrative of the important events of 1917: http://www.answers.com/topic/1917.

For information about the U.S. economy during World War I: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Rockoff.WWI.

For a list of important dates, births and deaths of 1917: http://www.brainyhistory.com/years/1917.html.

For information about the history of St. Louis and its industries:
http://stlouis.missouri.org/heritage/History69/index.html
http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/history.htm
http://www.schlafly.com/history.brewing.shtml
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis