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APRIL 1914

QUEENS PREPARES FOR WAR

Get into a conversation with a long time Queens resident and you're likely to discover a subscriber of the Long Island Star- Journal, a daily paper that informed the community about local and world news until it folded in 1968. A banner across the Star Journal masthead reminded readers that the newspaper's name came from the merger of the Long Island Daily Star (1876) and the North Shore Daily Journal - The Flushing Journal (1841).

Welcome to April 1914!

A peaceful month suddenly overshadowed by the specter of war. At the beginning of April 1914 the Star-Journal's stories were concerned with tidbits such as the proposed widening of Crescent Street, the testimony given by Borough President Connolly in his sister-in-law's rather messy divorce case (by the end of the month he would be cleared of any suspicion of misconduct), and a case of leprosy in Astoria. Mrs. Francesco Marto was reported to have collapsed when told that the dread disease might mean her exile for life to the leper colony on South Brother Island in the East River. Mercifully, the Board of Health ruled that she was not contagious and would not have to be quarantined.

But as the month continued foreign affairs intruded on the lives of Queens residents. The Tampico Incident, sparked by the arrest of nine American sailors by the Mexican government, impelled President Woodrow Wilson to dispatch a force of U.S battleships to resolve the issue. "By a strange coincidence," the Star-Journal noted, "the firing of the first shot on Vera Cruz, which began actual hostilities with Mexico, took place on the 16th anniversary of the declaration of war with Spain by President McKinley on April 21, 1898."

Headlines for the remainder of the month chronicled this now largely forgotten military action:

"Marines Board Great Battleship New York to Fight in Mexico,"

"Menaced by Mobs, Americans in Vera Cruz Flee to Our Embassy for Protection,"

"May Invade US Next: People Along the Border Expect Attack by Mexican Troops,"

"Rumor of Plot to Blow Up the Panama Canal,"

"Vera Cruz Crumbles Under Deadly Fire of U.S. Warships."

Queens was directly involved in the conflict. On April 25th the Star-Journal noted that: "The boys at the front have in their ranks a number of Ridgewoodites. Several of these have already acquired distinction because of their activity there. One of these is young Frederick Nanz, 18 years old, of Himrod Street, Ridgewood. Nanz's name has been added to the list of those wounded in the desultory firing going on in and around Vera Cruz. He is a seaman on the battleship Utah." (The Utah would continue in active service until December 7, 1941, when she was one of the ships torpedoed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.)

At Fort Totten in Bayside, preparations for embarkation were underway. On April 25th the Star-Journal reported that: "In anticipation of a hurry call to the war in Mexico, the Coast Artillery of Fort Totten is in readiness to move inside of 18 to 24 hours. Everything at the post that is to be removed either by transport, train or knapsack, has been packed for immediate service. The men are daily awaiting orders to move and some of them are even showing a little impatience at not receiving the order. All the garrison prisoners-men given thirty days to three months in the guardhouse for petty offenses-were yesterday freed and assigned to their companies. During the morning they took part in the regular daily skirmishes, marches, and drills and are now in full fighting trim."

Home front security was not forgotten, either. The story on Fort Totten added: "Of the seven companies of one hundred men each on the post, it is not likely that more than six will be sent away. The opinion of the military authorities is that the 135th or 'Mine Company' will be left in charge of the reservation. This is the company that would place the mines at the entrance to the East River, between Fort Schuyler and Fort Totten, in case of a threatened invasion of New York City and Harbor by a hostile fleet. This company had the mines 'planted' in the river during the Spanish-American War."

The National Guard was also getting ready to fight. The Star-Journal reported that: "Colonel John Klein, of Floral Park, now in command of the Tenth Regiment of the New York National Guard, says his regiment, which includes Company 1 of Flushing, can be mobilized promptly on the call for the services of the National Guard." In a reminder of how the face of war has changed over the last century, Colonel Klein added that: "the only thing necessary to make the regiment ready for active service would be 60 saddle horses for the officers and 70 mules for the quartermaster's office."

The members of Captain Winfield Scott Overton, Jr. Camp, no29, United Spanish War Veterans, of Whitestone, volunteered their services to President Wilson in the war with Mexico, it was reported. A wave of patriotic fervor was sweeping the country; the Star-Journal noting that: "Recruiting offices, especially those of the navy, are besieged by applicants for enlistment."

The Mexican campaign was too brief to have much impact on the business side of Queens, unlike World War I which brought an explosion of war industries to Long Island City, a neighborhood already full of factories. The Star-Journal ran a startling story on one of the area's most prominent plants on April 22nd, 1914, under the headline:

"Boarders are Barred: Ford Motor Co. Employees Must Live Up To Higher Standards."

"Employees in the Long Island City plant of the Ford Motor Company are keenly interested in the statement that came from Detroit to the effect that Henry Ford has decreed that all employees in his home and branch plants must live clean and decent lives and otherwise measure up to the living standards set by other people of the same average income. Now that every married employee of the company in Long Island City is getting at least $30 a week, the company expects the men, especially those of foreign birth, to abandon methods of living that they were formerly compelled to accept through financial limitations.

"Married men who keep boarders in their homes will lose their places," the Star-Journal continued. "So will single men who reside in rooming houses where conditions are against healthy and wholesome living. 'We now have 45 investigators who are interviewing every employee,' said Mr. Ford. 'Every detail of living is inquired into. Our investigators have found many of the men in deplorable surroundings. We will give everyone time to correct his conditions. But the tenement and the crowded rooming house must be eliminated. They should save their share of the profits and invest it in homes. Our lawyers will give each man help that he can be certain is sincere and honest."

"Our investigators,' Mr. Ford was quoted as saying, apparently with pride, "have wide latitude. No red tape binds them. We found one man, his wife, and three children living in four rooms and there were five live ducks in the bathroom. He couldn't understand why he wasn't considered clean and a share in the profits had been denied him. The investigators rented another flat in a better neighborhood for him."
That's the way it was in April 1914.

Compiled by Clare Doyle, Librarian, Greater Astoria Historical Society.