Government Records
The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety was established by the legislature in April of 1917 (Laws 1917 c261), shortly after the United States entered World War I. The seven-member commission (governor, attorney general, and five persons appointed by the governor) was given broad powers to ensure the protection of persons and property, the defense of the state and the nation, and the application of the state's resources to "successful prosecution" of the war.
During its short life (most of its orders were rescinded in February, 1919) the commission was very active. Committees and subcommittees were formed to deal with food and fuel conservation and regulation, marketing of crops, labor relations and employment, and Americanization. The Commission ordered the establishment of the Home Guard of Minnesota, with its auxiliary; the Minnesota Motor Corps Division; and a corps of emergency local peace officers. Mechanism was provided for the establishment of county and local public safety commissions with directors and secretaries appointed by the state commission. Existing state agencies cooperated with the commission in many activities.
The commission maintained ties with the Council of National Defense, other states' defense councils, the War Industries Board, the War Trade Board, the Food and Fuel administrations, and other national or federal agencies.
The commission issued 59 executive orders, which dealt with the regulation of liquor traffic, dance halls, and poolrooms; and provided for the registration of aliens and their property holdings, a farm crop and labor census, regulation of milk prices and the manufacture and distribution of bread, a statewide barberry eradication program, creation of municipal wood yards, and prohibitions against the employment of aliens as teachers and the use of foreign languages in schools.
The commission also formed an employment bureau, primarily concerned
with providing farm labor, a speakers bureau, and a publicity bureau, which
provided material to local newspapers, distributed pamphlets and leaflets in
several languages, and published a weekly bulletin,
The commission viewed the suppression of disloyalty and preservation of public order as one of its primary responsibilities, and it was the one that aroused the most public attention. According to its final report, the commission had received close to 700 complaints regarding disloyalty or sedition "cases," and many other complaints of violations of its various orders. The commission held several special hearings and conducted many more private investigations regarding the reports and complaints.
The commission's orders were rescinded in January and February, 1919, but the commission continued to meet until 1920 and did not formally tie up all its affairs until 1921, when its records were turned over to the War Records Commission.
The records consist of series of commission correspondence and miscellaneous materials organized into subject files (referred to as "rerum files" by commission office staff). They relate to all commission activities including (generally) the issuance and enforcement of orders, investigations, and the organization of county and local public safety committees; and (specifically) employment, the draft, patriotic meetings and speakers, publicity, labor problems, liquor and saloons, marketing and sale of food and goods produced, use of foreign languages, forest fire relief, shortages of fuel, food, and fodder, and alleged subversive and anti-American activities.
These records are organized in numbered files; numbers were assigned consecutively as a new subject file was established. There may be several files dealing with substantially the same subject.
There was apparently at one time (at least until the late 1940s) a card index to the commission's files prepared by the commission's staff. It has since disappeared.
Accession number(s): 972-7; 11,429 (mss)
Provenance note: Files 116, 135, 153, 211, and 212 were transferred to the State Archives from the J. A. A. Burnquist Papers.
Catalog ID No.: 0800001075 RLIN ID No.: MNHV1646-A
The file also includes:
Includes copies of other states' laws; and reports, newsletters, press releases, and other issuances of state defense councils and public safety committees.
Includes correspondence relating to reports of men not working and to other labor and employment matters, including farm labor and employment of women.
On the Iron Range, Buhl and vicinity.
Includes materials relating to fire safety (forest fires and others) and to concerns of the State Forester and Forest Service other than the forest fire danger.
Includes correspondence relating to exemptions and cases of failure to register.
Correspondence, primarily with T. E. Campbell, special agent, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation, St. Paul, regarding reports of draft evasion, Pro-German or anti-American sentiment, and similar matters.
Correspondence with or relating to the Council of National Defense, Woman's Committee, Minnesota Division (which was also the Women's Auxiliary Committee of the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety) and other women's organizations or activities.
Primarily correspondence with Carlos Avery, state game and fish commissioner, regarding fishing laws, taking and selling fish as a method of meat conservation, production of fish at state fisheries, and confiscation of guns for game law violations. Includes financial and production reports of state fisheries.
Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 11,
Resolutions adopted by various organizations (including some labor unions) and forwarded to the commission. They include commendation of the commission and recommendations for action by the commission.
Some items are labeled "Publicity," others "country papers." They include several newspaper issues and correspondence with the Minnesota Editorial Association.
Relating entirely to Scandinavian newspapers.
Relating to county credit for enlistments to be applied against draft quotas.
(not Federal Reserve Bank as formerly listed). Circulars describing the corps and soliciting names of potential corpsmen.
Informational issuances, including bulletins, circulars, and news releases. Includes a few items issued by other federal agencies.
[The former folder list showed a File No. 65, also titled National Council of Defense. It is apparently actually part of File No. 66.]
Correspondence with John Winterbotham of the State Councils Section Chicago office.
These files contain primarily correspondence of the commission secretary with individual members of the commission.
Relating primarily to the teaching of foreign languages in schools, and to liberty loan campaigns.
Correspondence and other materials relating to influenza, venereal disease, the Minnesota Social Hygiene Commission, sanitation, and public health; correspondence with Dr. Carol Aronovici, social service director of the Amherst H. Wilder Charity (items labeled F58, Social Service); and correspondence relating to sanitary conditions at armories and at Fort Snelling, conduct of soldiers at Fort Snelling and Mendota, services to soldiers at Fort Snelling, and sale of liquor to soldiers (items labeled F161, F105, F128).
Letters requesting positions with the commission, and replies (generally negative).
Relating to various labor disputes or complaints, and authorization for and activities of the Arbitration Board.
Relating to regulation of business hours, especially of grocery stores and sellers of gasoline and oil.
General correspondence relating to liquor sale and operation of saloons; includes petitions from citizens of Polk County relating to sale of liquor in Red Lake County.
Also includes a few petitions regarding "immoral women who follow military camps."
Relating to plasterers union; hours of labor and wages at the Patrick-Duluth Woolen Mill; instructions for persons doing the industrial survey of women employed outside the home; and a case of sexual harassment of women employees of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway which the Women's Cooperative Alliance and Minnesota Department of Labor and Industries investigated.
Relating to the postponement or suspension of drainage projects during the war.
Especially pay for Mexican border service. Includes letters relating to relief for soldiers' wives and widows; and reimbursement for soldiers investigating liquor sale and transportation in St. Louis and Koochiching counties.
Correspondence, primarily (but not exclusively) with J. J. Opsahl, colonization agent for the Red River Lumber Company lands and president of the Northern Minnesota Sheep Growers' Association. Relates to the possibility of grazing sheep on surplus hay in the Red Lake Indian Reservation lands; to the seeding of burnt-over lands in northern Minnesota; and to cultivation of land on the White Earth Indian Reservation. [Some items are labeled F109 - state lands or seeding burnt-over area].
Relating to programs to employ boys aged 16-21 as farm workers. Includes circular letters, information booklets, and some correspondence.
Correspondence, primarily with Hugo V. Koch, director, U.S. Employment Service (St. Paul), relating to employment, employment offices, wages, and recruitment.
Includes a set of resolutions passed by the Minneapolis Committee.
Contains two Health Department reports.
Relating to the City Gardening Bureau and the War Gardens Committee of the St. Paul Association, gardening practices ("Garden Talks" circulars), the U.S. School Garden Army, encouragement of employees' gardens by mining companies.
Primarily copies of transmittal letters accompanying checks sent to county sheriffs in reimbursement for expenses of attending sheriffs' conference; also includes other letters relating to activities of sheriffs in monitoring public meetings, or enforcing commission orders (such as that of closing saloons on draft registration day). Many of the items are marked with a county file number; they may originally have been filed with county correspondence, or the notation may have been for cross reference purposes.
Relating to distribution of posters containing a copy of the act (Laws 1917, Chapter 215) defining criminal syndicalism (the advocacy of crime, sabotage, violence, or other unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political ends); and a copy of the poster.
Includes entrainment schedules.
Includes inquiries relating to allotments (amounts withheld from soldiers' pay) and allowances (amounts contributed by the government) paid directly to soldiers' families; as well as soldiers' life insurance.
Includes attorney general's opinions on various subjects; copies of letters transmitting to the attorney general's office other letters for reply; and correspondence relating to commission meetings.
Includes lists of chapter chairmen, issues of the Red Cross Bulletin, and circular letters; correspondence relating to relief cases referred to the Red Cross, war saving stamps, and war fund drives; the enrollment of men and women for foreign service with the Red Cross; "con" men representing themselves as Red Cross agents; local Red Cross activities; rumors that Red Cross knitted items were a) not reaching soldiers, b) being sold to soldiers, c) not appreciated by soldiers.
Includes report of meeting of representatives of the commercial organizations of the northwest on labor supply for the harvest season of 1917 (St. Paul, May 5, 1917); instructions for a survey/census of urban employees for farm service; memo regarding mobilization of labor for farm work.
Relating primarily to employees of Northwestern Knitting Company (makers of Munsingwear), Minneapolis.
Relating to the commission's authorization for the St. Louis County board of commissioners to acquire fuel timber stumpage and to cut and market fuel wood; and also relating to timber along highways in Freeborn County.
Relating to non-return of unsold bread (especially regarding Johnson Brothers Grand Avenue Bakery in Duluth), federal regulation requiring licensing of bakeries using more than ten barrels of flour a month; conservation of sugar and fat; and the emergency council of the baking industry.
Reports made by N.I.B. (a detective agency) agents attending meetings of the IWW and Mooney Defense League and Socialist Party; copies of flyers, announcements, and other publications of or distributed by these and other organizations.
Letters and petitions in protest against.
Includes correspondence relating to county loan drives and reports of subscriptions.
Includes correspondence with the hotel keepers' associations with respect to abatement of the order; petition of retail liquor dealers; and correspondence regarding violations of the order. The order closed saloons from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., prohibited women from entering or being served in a saloon, and prohibited dancing and cabaret performances in places where liquor was sold.
Includes lists of Minnesota newspapers; correspondence of Charles W. Henke, publicity director, relating to newspapers and subscriptions; news releases, cartoons, and other material furnished to newspapers; and replies to editorials.
A few items relating to need for funds for naval reserve quartered at Duluth.
Actually relating to "return loads" and return load bureaus to take the burden of short haul off of railroads and put it on motor trucks operating over highways. [Some items possibly were formerly filed as or relating to F71 (McGee File), F66 (National Council of Defense), and F152 (Miscellany)].
Minutes, list of invitees, and voucher transmittal letters. Discussion topics included "agitation by unpatriotic elements and the restriction of the use of intoxicants," prevention of unlawful assemblies, and distribution of copies of the acts relating to sydicalism and sedition in the languages in use on the Range.
Primarily copies of circular letters sent to county defense council directors.
Personal correspondence, primarily copies of letters sent.
Correspondence of Frazier, organization agent for the commission, relating in part to county agent service (including a list of county agents); and to the organization and activities of county defense councils and the appointment of county directors.
Primarily correspondence relating to violations of commission orders with respect to saloons and liquor sales; and complaints about drunkenness, saloons, blind pigs, and liquor traffic.
Circulars and correspondence relating to training camp activities; pictorial history of the war; veterinary corps; conservation of hay in the upper Mississippi River Valley by regulation of the operation of reservoirs.
Correspondence relating to the Minnesota War Invention and Research Committee and inventions or propositions submitted to it.
Relating to the commission's appropriation to purchase supplies and accessories for the "comfort and recreation" of sailors on the USS Minnesota.
Relating primarily to a speaker's manual or handbook prepared by Professor William Stearns Davis, University of Minnesota.
2 items (letters).
Correspondence with 0. R. Hatfield of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency (relating primarily to payment for services), and solicitations for business by the William J. Burns International Detective Agency and the J. Oswald Jones Detective Agency.
Primarily reports of N. A. Grevstad on the work of the Scandinavian Press Service of the commission.
Correspondence.
List of St. Paul pool room license holders; poster regarding St. Paul pool room ordinance; and complaints or inquiries relating to pool halls.
Correspondence relating to complaints referred to RRWC about a dangerous Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad crossing near Kilkenny; telephone service at Morris; and maintenance of fences along the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad right of way near Redwood Falls.
Reports of the state entomologist, A. G. Ruggles, on barberry eradication; and correspondence relating to the eradication program and distribution of informational materials. [Barberry harbors and propagates the black stem rust of wheat.]
Relating to operation of grain elevators; hay; grading of wheat; food conservation; Canadian food regulations; complaints about flour and sugar hoarding, and other violations of food rules; food prices and shortages.
Includes report and recommendation of the Committee on Cost of Living (relating to the flour and bread business); materials relating to the farm labor census, especially payment of bills; correspondence with E. Dana Durand, University of Minnesota, who apparently supervised part of the work; and tabulation charts. The second folder consists of sample copies of farm crop and labor reports, one form from each county that submitted individual reports, selected for retention after the reports were microfilmed. The complete microfilmed set of reports is cataloged separately.
Relating to the St. Paul Association's cooperation with and assistance to the commission.
Relating especially to shipment of perishables and shortage of refrigerator cars.
One letter from J. J. Opsahl relating to a northern Minnesota development meeting.
Appears to be a group of materials relating in some way to the coordination of patriotic activities for various organizations, including the Travelers Patriotic League, and planning therefor. Also includes materials labeled "F58-Social Service" that contain plans for the organization of social services; a circular from the Council of National Defense relating to "organization of the Negroes;" and a plan prepared by Dr. Carol Aronovici for the "registration and placement of idle labor" in Minnesota.
Inquiries relating to.
Relating to Plummer, Bemidji, Walker, and Riverton.
Also, 1 item relating to overcrowding in St. Louis County jails due to arrest of those who failed to register for the draft.
Includes letters relating to sale of liquor to soldiers throughout the state generally, but consists primarily of materials relating to a sub-commission investigation of "matters of public safety" (including liquor sale, disorderly resorts," conduct of county and municipal officials, and labor difficulties) in International Falls and vicinity.
Regarding complaints against various Minneapolis agencies (letter from Bureau of Legal Aid of Associated Charities).
Regarding an emblem designed by Rev. William J. Palmer, Minneapolis.
Correspondence relating to (and some with) the Nonpartisan League or its leaders, including A. C. Townley, and to Senator Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin; reports of or complaints regarding NPL meetings; an NPL meeting poster; correspondence, especially with county public safety committees, regarding the commission's monitoring of NPL activities; and material regarding preparation of transcripts of league members' speeches. Includes some material relating to the league's supposed influence on the attitudes of farmers in the New Ulm area and their reluctance to participate in the farm census.
Correspondence of commission members with the commission attorney, Ambrose Tighe, regarding drafting, interpretation, and enforcement of orders, and other matters requiring legal advice. [Includes material relating to drainage projects].
Also includes a report of the State Board of Arbitration on its arbitration of a controversy between Milk Wagon Drivers Union Local No. 546 of St. Paul and employers.
Correspondence with the Railroad and Warehouse Commission regarding railroad fares for farm laborers.
Relating to "telephone wars" between competing telephone companies in Lewiston, Minnesota; and theft of telephone lines for sale of scrap metal.
Letter (sent) referring to "Band leader Rossiter and Regimental Sargeant Major Hugh F. Hall" of the First Minnesota Infantry, the subject of which is not entirely clear.
Correspondence with the Committee of Food Production and Conservation operating from the University Farm, St. Paul. The Committee referred to itself as "under and cooperating with the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety" on its letterhead. Includes material relating to the committee's publicity brochures, bulletins, and circulars and to bills and vouchers submitted to the commission for payment.
Relating to advances or loans made by the commission against dependents' allowances or allotments in cases where regular government allowances or servicemen's allotments had not been received, or other special cases. Also relating to activities of the Red Cross Civilian Relief Committee.
Letters from persons and organizations relating both to paid employment and to services volunteered.
Correspondence with Don D. Lescohier, superintendent of the commission's employment office, relating primarily to office supplies and expenses, but also to the work of the office in supplying farm labor.
Relates partially to commission matters and partially to personal
and community affairs in Dassel (and vicinity) where Henke published the Dassel
Correspondence with and reports of district agricultural and agents R. S. McIntosh, Frank J. Brown, William L. Cavert, and A. B. Hostetter, working cooperatively with the University of Minnesota extension service and the commission to promote the activities of local safety commissions, especially with regard to crop storage and marketing; and to facilitate the gathering of data for the farm crop and labor census. Some items are numbered 147, 149, and 177.
Relating to problems of cream shipment, and closing of cream stations.
Correspondence with and reports of field agents relating to county public safety, Red Cross, and Liberty loan activities, (and to salaries and expense reimbursements). Some are labeled F150, 194 and 204.
A few items of correspondence.
Inquiries relating to enrollment in the U.S. Student Nurse Reserve, and to length of working day for nurses (referred to other agencies).
Inquiries relating to and transmittal letters for information or publications furnished by the commission.
Relating to agents' expenses, complaints referred to Winter for investigation, (primarily transmittal letters from the commission secretary, not complaints themselves), a few investigation reports, and employment of agents.
Includes final report of John McGee as federal fuel administrator; circulars from U.S. Fuel Administration; correspondence relating to shortages and delivery of hard coal, use of automobiles on Sundays ("pleasure motoring"), use of wood and soft coal as alternate fuels, Monday closing of businesses as a fuel conservation measure, and federal fuel regulations and compliance therewith.
Relating to coal supply for state institutions; investigation of
cases of several patients at St. Peter State Hospital who claimed to have been
unjustly committed; special fishing licenses granted to the board for the
purpose of supplying food for state institutions; request by board purchasing
agent to relieve the Adjutant General of some of the liquor confiscated under
commission orders; and the distribution of reading material in county jails (in
particular, complaints regarding
Includes requests for publications and general information on war effort and activities of the commission.
Primarily weekly reports classifying kinds of work for which help was wanted and for which applications were received, and giving numbers of referrals and placements; and correspondence regarding payment of expenses and requisitions for supplies.
Correspondence relating to enforcement (especially interpretation of included and excluded dances). Includes a number of posters advertising dances.
Relating to appointments of local licensors pursuant to an act of Congress to prohibit the manufacture, distribution, storage, use and possession in time of war of explosives; and to storage of explosives in the Twin Cities area and other places.
Relating primarily to the commission's investigation of liquor sale in Red Lake County resulting in Order No. 43 prohibiting the sale or keeping for sale of liquor in the county. Also includes material relating to investigations at Troskey, liquor sale and prostitution in International Falls, and liquor sale in a few other locations.
Letters inquiring whether the commission had established any regulation relating to fireworks on July 4th (1917) and objecting to any contemplated restriction. [The commission did not make any such order.]
Relating to the conduct of the registration of aliens pursuant to Order Nos. 23 and 25. Includes some correspondence regarding various rights of aliens or constraints upon them (such as exemption from draft, possession of firearms). Includes original copy of regulations governing alien registration, 11 February 1918. Includes a sample alien registration card (accession # 996-6).
Relating to commission receipts and expenses, alien registration forms, timber and land matters.
Miscellaneous letters relating to rehabilitation camps for "unfit men," men refusing to work, prostitution and venereal disease in International Falls, and control of tuberculosis.
Correspondence relating to the order, particularly with local officials in northern Beltrami County (Baudette, Spooner, Williams).
Pamphlet from New York state ("Organization for the Development of the Military Resources of the State of New York") and request from Brentano's (booksellers) of New York City to buy war-related or recruiting posters from agencies or organizations issuing them.
Correspondence with Thomas H. Girling, secretary of the Minnesota Brewer's Bureau, relating to complaints of illegal liquor sale referred to the bureau. The bureau tried to enlist the cooperation of its members and their clients in enforcing the various liquor regulations.
Correspondence of the governor relating to various commission activities.
Includes copies of annual reports and
Relating to Finnish language materials (pamphlets, posters, handbills) distributed by the commission; also includes materials relating to Finns and Slovenians in northern Minnesota and the Iron Range, particularly Ely and Winton.
Correspondence of and with the Food Production and Conservation Committee relating to threshing, seed corn, saving of seed of standard varieties of farm crops, and distribution of food committee bulletins.
Correspondence with the committee relating primarily to distribution of committee publications and speakers for public meetings (and the cancellation of many because of epidemic); and reports on activities of the MCPS.
Regarding importation and shipment of certain kinds of beans considered poisonous because of the level of hydrocyanic acid contained in them.
Miscellany relating to unions, strikes, crop acreage estimates, the Peoples Council of America for Democracy and Peace, and unguarded dams.
Relating to distribution of copies of the syndicalism law in various languages.
Relating to the Farmers State Bank of Scandia, whose application for charter was delayed by a commission investigation prompted by allegations that its incorporation would not be beneficial to the community and that its incorporators' motives were not entirely patriotic.
Relating to the appointments of peace officers, their powers and duties, and the issuance of badges; includes commissions and American Protective League oaths.
Correspondence with the Dairy and Food Department relating to testing of certain samples of bread, flour, peanut butter, candy, silver polish, and soap for foreign matter or poisonous substances, and cider for alcohol content; and to free lunches at saloons.
Relating to employment of returning soldiers and sailors, a Department of Women in Industry Conference in Chicago, expenses of the Employment Office, and laborers' fare advances.
Correspondence with several Chautauqua "systems" or "circuits" regarding their bookings in Minnesota and the possibility of putting commission speakers on their programs.
Correspondence with or referred to Hughes as chairman of the Marketing Division of the Committee of Food Production and Conservation, relating to local marketing committee organization, potato marketing, hay and straw, road improvement, expense and salary payment; and bulletins issued by the Marketing Division.
Relating to the commissions' directive to sheriffs to organize local volunteer squads and secure the assistance of automobile owners in having cars available in emergencies. Also includes material relating to development and promotion of rural motor express lines or routes suggested by the Highways Transport Committee of the Council of National Defense.
Materials relating to teaching of German and other languages in schools, flag display in schools, patriotism in schools, loyalty oaths, meetings held in school houses, school houses used for dances, and summer work for teachers; transcripts of proceedings of the Minneapolis school board relating primarily to the dismissal of a teacher who was a member of the I.W.W.; report of investigation of German textbooks used in public schools; materials relating to the Fairfax, Minn., school district involving alleged pro-Germanism and a disagreement between the school board and superintendent of schools; letters protesting a proposition to close public high schools, vocational schools, and colleges as a means of alleviating farm labor shortages; and a survey of private and parochial schools indicating those conducted in foreign languages (forms completed by county superintendents and local school officials?, 2 folders).
Correspondence with Price, director of the University of Minnesota extension service and secretary-treasurer of the League of Minnesota Municipalities, relating to printing of "Facts about the War" and requesting the commission's model ordinance for suppression of disloyal utterances and acts.
Correspondence with Peterson, secretary of the Retail Grocers and General Merchants Association of Minnesota and member of the Minnesota state senate, relating to the organization of the Market Division of the Food Conservation Committee.
Regarding the commission's position of discouraging the organization of new banks during the war; and many allegations that organizers of some banks were disloyal and reports on investigations thereof. Includes new bank applications forwarded to MCPS for consideration.
Lists of elevator companies, and correspondence regarding elevator fire hazards and necessity of careful supervision to conserve food supplies.
Lists of organizations.
Includes complaints about or appeals from local exemption board decisions; and reports by directors of county public safety organizations on the attitude and work of the county exemption boards (in reply to a circular letter from the commission).
Includes material relating to the commission's position of discouraging the organization of new banks and the starting of public enterprises calling for heavy taxation and the incurring of public debt (e.g., judicial ditches, school buildings, municipal buildings and utility works).
Relating to a complaint about circulation of a paper called the "Peoples Councillor" (or Counsellor?).
Regarding a long-standing (since 1906) complaint of Garborino that he had been defrauded by attorneys hired by him to handle a rent default matter. It is not clear why this is among the commission's files.
Copies of circulars, bulletins, and regulations; correspondence relating to food regulations and their enforcement (e.g., hoarding of flour, "two-stop" rule for bakeries), exhibits at county fairs, watchmen at milling plants and elevators, and speakers bureau.
Relating to the training of telegraphers, training courses in Minnesota schools, and recruitment for the Signal Corps. Primarily correspondence with county public safety associations or superintendents of schools (and officials of other educational institutions) regarding organization of telegraphy training courses (responses to commission circular).
Relating to the issuing of the order, and to charges of malfeasance against Thomas P. White, Koochiching County sheriff, and Frank H. Keyes, mayor of International Falls.
Relating to distribution of the weekly bulletin (and other materials), including mailing lists, requests for single issues or to be placed on mailing lists, and comments on articles.
Correspondence with P. A. Ragatz, marketing agent for the commission, relating to operation of a central warehouse (including expenses and salaries); marketing of hay, wool, flax, barley, straw, potatoes, and cattle; the shortage of railroad cars (especially refrigerator cars); reports to the commission.
Regarding information and publications supplied to schools.
Regarding the association's establishment of an advisory committee to offer legal services to the commission; and the offer of one of the association's members (Charles L. DeReu of Marshall) to be a patriotic speaker.
Regarding advertising and distribution of tractors (especially Fordson).
Correspondence relating to publications of the League to Enforce Peace, National Security League, National Committee of Patriotic Societies, and many war relief organizations.
Includes extracts from commission minutes; letters relating to the appointment of members, meetings, and activities of the special committee investigating the controversy; statements and reports submitted to the commission; pamphlets; report of the President's Mediation Commission; and letters from individuals and organizations expressing opinions on the subject of the strike of employees of Twin City Rapid Transitstreet railway, unions and strikes in general, and the Nonpartisan League.
Letters (primarily check transmittal letters) relating to maintenance of a truck apparently owned by or assigned to the Public Safety Commission.
Correspondence relating primarily to the film service of the National Committee on Public Information and investigations of the feasibility of establishing a Division of Films as part of the commission's publicity activities.
Correspondence with the office of the inspector in charge, St. Paul Division of the Post Office Department, relating to such matters as misdirection of mail, sale and redemption of war saving stamps, chain letter schemes, the sending of unpatriotic material through the mail, and alleged disloyal statements or activities of the local postmaster.
Correspondence relating to the commission's employment of the Western Newspaper Union to produce plates of patriotic cartoons and other matter for distribution to the local newspapers.
Correspondence and reports of Lowry, the commission's special agent, relating to investigations made by Lowry into complaints of liquor traffic and liquor law violation, disregard of commission's orders, "liberty bond slackers," and cases of alleged disloyalty and sedition; and reports on the work of county public safety committees or councils of defense.
Includes and address on the Wisconsin state budget; report on investigation of strikes on the Mesaba Iron Range by Frank Leader, criminal and industrial investigator; campaign speech in support of Governor Burnquist; copy of address of Colonel Roosevelt at Pan-American Exposition, 1915; notes on ditch construction; report on University of Minnesota School of Mines work for the Tax Commission; report on and correspondence regarding Paynesville, Minnesota; report and recommendations of the Advisory Board of the State Sanatorium for Consumptives; material relating to licensing the manufacture and sale of tuberculins by Dr. Karl von Ruck of the Bacterio-Therapeutic Laboratory (Asheville, North Carolina); reports on and correspondence regarding Blooming Prairie, Minnesota; report on Gibbon, Minnesota; and other reports on investigations made by Glaser for the commission.
Reports and correspondence relating to the use of the German language in general, and to the use of German textbooks in schools.
Correspondence.
Correspondence regarding arrangements for speaking engagements for Perigord, who was sponsored by the Speakers Division of the National Council of Defense.
Correspondence regarding the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Rights Act (P.L. 103, 65th Congress, March 8, 1918) and legal aid for soldiers and their dependents; and some materials (labeled F161) relating generally to soldiers and sailors.
Correspondence relating to the enforcement of the order.
Correspondence, village council notices, investigation reports, depositions, and other materials relating to the issuing of the order and its enforcement. Also relates to subsequent Order Nos. 34 and 48.
Correspondence, depositions, and other materials relating to the issuing and enforcement of this order.
Correspondence relating to disposition of confiscated liquor.
Correspondence and report of a committee considering the subject of fees.
Correspondence relating to the order, and also to the matter of milk pricing (1 item).
Correspondence relating primarily to employment in shipyards; many letters were referred to D. R. Cotton, director, U.S. Public Service Reserve (St. Paul); also materials relating to other concerns of the U.S. Shipping Board.
Correspondence.
Investigation reports on liquor sale in Baudette and Spooner (north Beltrami County), Nonpartisan League meeting, Liberty Loan non-subscribers, violations of commission orders relating to liquor sale, and I.W.W. activity in Duluth.
Correspondence relating to the order; to the sale of liquor in various communities, including some not in Martin or Pipestone County (especially Pierz); and a large number of petitions requesting closing of saloons.
Correspondence relating to problems securing transportation, primarily for feed and agricultural products.
Includes several I.W.W. circulars and complaints to the commission regarding I.W.W. activity.
Correspondence relating to cultivation of vacant land as recommended in a resolution of the commission. Includes complaints to the commission regarding vacant land or farmers refusing to farm or rent land, and requests for assistance in leasing vacant land.
Brief reports on visits to Todd, Wadena, Becker, and Morrison counties, and the communities of St. Cloud, Albany, Freeport, Melrose, Sauk Centre, and Westport.
Signed printed statements indicating that the Austrian-American signer stands "by the President of the U.S. in his last speech to Austria."
Correspondence relating to a Salvation Army campaign for war work funds.
Includes lists of local war finance committees, and correspondence regarding appointment and organization of the committees (which were to have charge over all drives for loans or donations).
Correspondence with commission member Cashman regarding commission meetings and business (including a few matters affecting Owatonna or Steele County), and expense reimburse-ments.
Correspondence with local merchants relating to a recommendation that merchants reduce retail deliveries to a minimum. Includes circulars from the Council of National Defense. Also includes some correspondence regarding closing hours for retail businesses.
Includes many federal circulars and newsletters; correspondence with president Burton of the University of Minnesota, with the commission's Americanization Committee (especially its president, Dr. Carol Aronovici); correspondence regarding appointment of local committees and chairmen; poster (Duluth Americanization Committee)--all relating primarily to the organization of Americanization activities and the distribution of publications.
Also includes some correspondence.
Correspondence regarding distribution of circulars and other materials relating to community singing, child welfare clinics, weighing and measuring clinics, and education; and a report of the committee.
Correspondence consisting of protests against a boxing match that had been proposed for July 4, 1918 in St. Paul. The matter was referred to the Boxing Commission. Later the governor apparently refused to allow the match and the proposition was abandoned.
Includes applications for ballots, correspondence regarding reimbursement to county auditors for expense of postage in sending out ballots; instructional circulars; and other materials regarding the process of sending and tabulating soldiers' ballots.
Primarily correspondence regarding distribution of order No. 33, but also to a few reported violations of other orders.
Correspondence relating to.
Correspondence relating primarily to the distribution and publicizing of the order, but also to complaints about the order and to alleged violations.
Includes published summary report and correspondence relating to its distribution; some county tabulations or summaries; correspondence with field agent of the USDA Bureau of Crop estimates; and correspondence relating generally to the census.
Correspondence relating to the calling in of late "occupational cards" from local draft boards.
Relating to protection of rights of soldiers and sailors, especially with respect to contracts, mortgages, leases, etc. (see Report of the commission, p. 160).
Correspondence relating to the appointment of county legal committees, which were to act as advisory committees to local draft boards, and to furnish aid to registrants and their dependents. Includes a number of soldiers' civil rights bulletins from other states.
Correspondence relating to donations to and payments from the Tyler Relief Fund; and accounting records of the Fire Relief Fund.
Includes reports and transcripts of investigations of persons refusing to purchase their allotment of liberty bonds and lists of "slackers."
Correspondence and other materials relating to the governor's suspension from office of Albert Pfaender (New Ulm city attorney), L. A. Fritsche (mayor of New Ulm), and Louis G. Vogel (Brown County auditor) pending investigation of the commission's charges of malfeasance and nonfeasance (particularly with respect to the draft).
A few items of correspondence.
Correspondence relating to the distribution of applications for "war ballots." Includes a few election notices and a Duluth election district map.
Correspondence with D. R. Cotton, regional advisor, War Industries Board, Resources and Conversion Section, relating to restrictions on building construction, issuance of construction licenses and building permits; payment of a portion of office expenses by the commission; and several letters (labeled 253a) relating to shortage of oxygen gas used in oxygen-acetylene welding.
Correspondence relating to the order and to payment of bills incurred in connection with it.
Includes correspondence relating to expenses incurred in enforcing
the order; affidavits, depositions, and correspondence relating to liquor in
Blooming Prairie; and issues of the Blooming Prairie
Correspondence with or relating to the Highways Transport Committee and the State Highway Department; development of rural motor express service; road construction; and 1 item relating to a proposed military map of Minnesota.
One copy of the order only.
Correspondence relating to the activities of the association and to the commission's reimbursement of some of its expenses.
Copy of the order and an enclosure letter.
Copy of the order and an enclosure letter.
Copy of order.
Correspondence relating to funds raised for relief of fire sufferers (Fire Relief Fund); rebuilding; fire fighting and expenses incurred therefor; and distribution of hay or grain for livestock.
Copy of order only.
Copy of order and one letter.
Copy of order, copies of public notices, and a few items of correspondence.
Includes copies of commission minutes; director's reports; copies of bulletins and circulars; and correspondence (primarily of publicity director Charles Henke) with the commission relating to the commission's activities and organization.
Primarily letters received by the commission from county directors in response to a circular letter asking what arrangements had been made locally for the re-employment of returning servicemen. Also includes form letters from the U.S. Employment Service enclosing lists of returning servicemen who completed "Discharged Soldiers Application for Employment" cards, and various related materials.
Correspondence regarding rescission of orders relating to the shipment and sale of liquor.
2 letters.
Regarding release of agricultural workers needed at home (2 cases only).
Facsimile of a letter from Arthur LeSueur to William D. Haywood (of the I.W.W.) used as an exhibit in the Chicago trial of I.W.W. members, and circulated by the Public Safety Commission.
Correspondence regarding the distribution of the commission's final report.
Also includes lists of county extension agents and secretaries of farmers' clubs.
Includes mailing lists for commission orders, requests to be placed on the lists, and requests for individual orders.
Responses from mayors and village officers to the commission's request that each municipality adopt the commission's model vagrancy ordinance.
Returned questionnaires distributed (to high and graded schools) by the State Department of Education relating to presentation of loyalty and patriotic programs in the schools (and in the communities as a whole).
Circular letters and news releases in the form of telegrams from D. M. Reyonolds, Field Division, Council of National Defense, U.S. Employment Service. Pertains to employment, labor problems, the draft, and publicity relating thereto.
Relating primarily to distribution of pamphlets and posters at the State Fair (1918), and at various county fairs.
Correspondence with or relating to various patriotic organizations, Americanization committees, relief committees, etc.
Primarily letters to the commission containing complaints or allegations of disloyal activity.
Correspondence relating to the organization of liberty choruses and community singing, the appointment of a state director, and distribution of song sheets; also includes 2 copies of "I.W.W. Songs."
Undated, unsigned report on Minnesota's draft registration process.
Includes posters, pamphlets, issues of Minnesota Farm Review, circulars, etc., distributed by the Committee of Food Production and Conservation.