KNUTE NELSON:

Knute Nelson was born in Vosse Elven, Norway, on February 2, 1843. In 1849 he and his widowed mother emigrated to the United States, settling first in Chicago (1849-1850), then in Dane County, Wisconsin, where he enlisted in the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment (1861-1864) during the Civil War. Following the war he was graduated from the Albion Academy and studied law in a Madison, Wisconsin, law office, being admitted to the bar in 1867 and then serving as a representative in the Wisconsin assembly (1868-1869).

In 1871 he moved with his family to Alexandria, Minnesota, where he practiced law while farming a homestead tract. He served as Douglas County attorney (1872-1974), Minnesota state senator (1875-1878), presidential elector (1880), University of Minnesota regent (1882-1893), and fifth district representative to Congress (1883-1889). He was elected governor of Minnesota in 1892 and 1894, which post he resigned in 1895 to run successfully for the United States Senate, where he remained until 1923. Nelson was chairman of the Senate judiciary committee and the senate committee on public lands, and was active on the commerce and Indian affairs committees. His most notable legislative measures included the Nelson Bankruptcy Act (1898) and the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor (1902), and he was also active in the establishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Nelson also supported a low tariff, a federal income tax, Prohibition, the Sherman Act, and the League of Nations. He died on April 28, 1923, during his fifth senatorial term.

The above information was taken from the following sources:Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIII (1934); Who Was Who in America, vol. I (1968);Minnesota Biographies (1912),Book of Minnesotans(1907), Minnesota Historical Society Collections, vol. XIII (August 1908).

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Nelson's papers consist of 76 boxes of correspondence and related items, arranged chronologically, and 5 boxes of miscellaneous materials. They document his life as a soldier with the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry (1861-1864), as a country lawyer at Alexandria, Minnesota (1866-1892), and as Minnesota governor and United States senator (1892-1923). The papers become voluminous with the year 1916 when carbon copies of Nelson's own letters become frequent.

The majority of the papers focus on political and legislative affairs, largely dealing with Minnesota matters or reflecting Minnesota attitudes and interests. There is material on political parties and election campaigns; on Nelson's interactions with, and services to, his constituents; on a wide spectrum of matters of interest to the Senate judiciary and commerce committees, including shipping and trade, currency and banking legislation, industry and its regulation, tariffs, income and other taxes, child welfare, water power, rural postal service, and prohibition; and on such other topics as natural resource conservation, Indian affairs, foreign relations and affairs, and World War I.

One subject that pervades the entire collection is Nelson's close relationship to Minnesotans, and Americans in general, of Scandinavian ancestry. Throughout the papers he can be seen as an ethnic group leader and an exemplar of what the Scandinavian could become. He depended on their votes, cultivated their friendship and correspondence, and reached them through foreign-language newspapers, with whose editors--like F. C. Listoe of the Nordvesten--he was in close contact. Another general subject area is public opinion and public pressure, for which documentation is abundant throughout Nelson's political career.

In his earlier years, many of Nelson's legal activities related to land, including homestead entries, pre-emption rights, mortgage foreclosures, claim jumping, and conflicts between settlers and railroad companies. His papers as collection agent for farm equipment firms afford data on debtor-creditor relations between the East and the West. There is also considerable material on Minnesota politics and elections, especially the Republican Party, on public opinion and public pressure, and on the Nonpartisan League.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Access Restrictions:

Access to and use of reserve materials requires the curator's permission.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Knute Nelson Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 1767; 2092; 2107; 2109; 2110; 2121; 2194; 2205; 2212; 2369; 2382; 2592; 2601; 2977; 3203; 3826; 5217; 5299; 5438; 5468; 5841; 5982; 6372; 6635; 8376; 8798; 9193; 10,062; 12,467; 12,468

Processing Information:

Processed by: Dennis Meissner, Lydia Lucas, December 1982

Digitized by: Christopher G. Welter, May 2011

Digitization of reserve material was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID numbers: 990017380010104294

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The early correspondence (1861-1870) documents Nelson's personal life and education during and immediately following the Civil War and his early law practice in Madison, Wisconsin. The 1871-1892 correspondence and the other legal materials are largely concerned with his general law practice in Alexandria, Minnesota, as well as with his increasingly significant political activities leading up to his 1892 gubernatorial election. The paragraphs below give an overview of the significant areas of Nelson's legal practice.

Lawsuit prosecutions. The emphasis here is on land, illustrating well the importance of that factor during the period. Most numerous are cases involving homestead entries, preemption rights, mortgage foreclosures, claim-jumping, fraudulent land entries, and conflicts between settlers and railroad companies.

Collections. Nelson was the agent for several eastern firms, largely machinery companies, to whom Minnesotans were in debt, including the Nicholas and Shephard Company, the Geiser Threshing Machine Company, the J. P. Manning Company, and the William Mower and Reaper Company. These papers help illustrate debtor-creditor relations between the eastern and western United States.

Real estate. Nelson both advised settlers and speculated for himself in real estate, and this activity is documented well in the papers. After about 1880 the character of Nelson's legal practice changed, resulting in more court practice and less bill collection.

Correspondence and Related Papers

Other Legal Materials

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The political papers may be divided into three general subject areas: (1) those dealing with party politics and political campaigns, (2) request for favors from constituents, and (3) those dealing with national issues, policies, and legislation. Nearly all the material deals with Minnesota, and letters on national issues generally reflect Minnesota attitudes and interests. Only the correspondence that Nelson received because of his position on the senate judiciary and commerce committees contains significant material having no direct bearing on Minnesota.

Party Politics and Political Campaigns. The papers contain much material regarding the history of political parties in Minnesota, especially the Republican, since Nelson continued to take an active part in Minnesota politics during his senatorial career. There is documentation on various Minnesota gubernatorial and United States Senate campaigns, with the papers for the elections of 1892 and 1912 being the most complete.

There are some 1867 letters regarding Nelson's race for assemblyman from Dane County, Wisconsin, and the 1874 papers show Nelson in Minnesota with political aspirations. There is some material showing Nelson's relationship with Senator Moses E. Clapp and a large amount tracing the political rise of Frank B. Kellogg and his campaigns of 1916 and 1922. In 1900, there are some letters regarding the William D. Washburn candidacy for Republican vice presidential nominee, as well as letters from surrounding states indicating the popularity of Nelson with Scandinavian-Americans. Other letters (1901) give information on the functioning of political machines and the effect of the new primary election legislation on "ring" politics. There are letters in 1904 regarding the John A. Johnson-Robert C. Dunn contest for Minnesota governor, in which there was danger of a nationality contest between Minnesota Swedes and Norwegians; ethnic rivalry fear cropped up again in 1908 during the Johnson-Jacob F. Jacobson gubernatorial campaign.

Numerous letters during 1916-1920 give a clear picture of the condemnatory attitude of Nelson and the conservative Republicans toward Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin and Representative Charles Lindbergh, Sr. The two men were classed with Arthur C. Townley, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the pro-Germans, to whom public opinion in Minnesota (at least the part that wrote to Nelson) was greatly opposed, and Nelson's papers afford a vivid idea of the heights to which passions stimulated by war propaganda reached. Townley and the Nonpartisan League appear in 1917, replacing La Follette letters in number and importance after 1918. Also, a few letters in 1918-1919 deal with the Tom Mooney case, a few in 1919 support the "Centralia massacre" (a violent clash between townspeople and organized lumber workers in Centralia, Washington), and a few beginning in 1919 relate to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, bolshevism, and the "Red Scare" in the United States.

There is practically no contemporaneous reference to perhaps the two most exciting political contests in which Nelson was engaged: The Nelson-C. F. Kindred congressional campaign of 1882 and the Nelson-William D. Washburn contest for the United States Senate in 1894-1895, although some later letters throw light on the Nelson-Kindred campaign.

Nelson used methods other than ethnic appeal in building up his political support. The papers reveal his technique of asking Minnesota postmasters for lists of their patrons, to whom he would send campaign literature, public documents, and free seeds under government frank (see letters of A. M. Hayes to C. H. Hicks, Oct. 15, 1906 and Sept. 4, 1912). Also, if a letter to Nelson was from an important local political figure, Nelson was careful to send him a special letter in reply. In addition, there is a good deal of correspondence with the Minnesota men who looked after Nelson's political affairs while he was in Washington. Such men include L. M. Willcuts, J. A. O. Preus, William Grimshaw, Ivan Bowen, William E. Hale, George H. Sullivan, and Laurits S. Swenson.

Somewhat different was his relationship with Minnesota industrial and financial leaders, who supported Nelson but expected him to give their interests careful attention. They include Joseph Chapman, Albert C. Loring, Edward W. Decker, J. M. Crosby, Edward W. Backus, Charles S. Pillsbury, Charles M. Harrington, John R. Van Derlip, Clive T. Jaffray, J. N. MacMillan, Clarence P. Carpenter, Edmund Pennington, A. A. D. Rahn, Rome G. Brown, Fred C. Van Dusen, Mortimer H. Boutell, Thomas B. Walker, and Herschel V. Jones.

Constituent Requests.This is the largest single class of correspondence in the Nelson papers and demonstrates the amount of time that was taken up by requests from voters that he use his influence to further their particular interests. Part of this correspondence comes from government job holders, or from job seekers, and part comes from constituents who sought the senator's intervention between themselves and a government agency.

Appointments. Most numerous of the many appointment requests received each year were the applications for postmasterships, but requests were also made for positions in other fields of government service: federal judge and marshall, consular and diplomatic service, census bureau, land office, customs collector, Indian agent, prohibition enforcement (after 1918), appointments to Annapolis and West Point, United States Commerce Court, Federal Land Board, and Federal Reserve Board. Less ambitious applicants sought such positions as doorkeeper and page at the Capitol, clerkships in the federal departments, and places in the congressional library and in the government printing shop. During World War I there were many requests for aid in securing commissions as officers and chaplains and for positions in the Engineer's Officers Reserve Corps, the Ordnance Department, the Judge Advocate General Department, and the Dental Reserve.

The manipulative struggle of John F. McGee (1920-1923) to become a United States district judge illustrates office-seekers' methods, while the 1908 Hale-Purdy conflict over the United States district judgeship and the 1914 Minneapolis post office fight demonstrate the use of letters to pressure a politician into securing an appointment. The correspondence of A. A. D. Rahn, I. T. Caswell, Edward E. Smith, and George H. Sullivan is filled with recommendations and suggestions for appointments. The papers suggest that once a job was secured the appointee often requested Nelson's aid in obtaining pay raises, a better position, transfers, better hours, help in keeping the position, retirement pay when aged or infirm, or a pension. A few apparently depended upon the senator's influence in keeping their jobs, and the impression is given that the Indian Service was worst in terms of personnel quality. The postal service is shown as being the most active in seeking pay increases or better working conditions, with rural free delivery men and railroad postal clerks perhaps the most persistent, and certainly the best organized, of the groups of government employees appearing in the correspondence.

Pension requests.Numerous pleas from Civil and Spanish-American war veterans solicit Nelson's help in securing pensions, widow's pensions, pension increases, a Pension Office rule changed in their favor, or new pension legislation such as the Volunteer Officers' Retirement bill. Nelson, who drew a pension himself, was favorably disposed toward such requests.

World Ward I. The flood of war-related requests begins in 1916 with an increase in the applications for appointments to the military and naval schools, followed by requests for aid in getting into the Officers' Training Corps. Regular army officers sought promotions or transfers that would result in rank increases. Following passage of the draft law came many letters asking Nelson to use his influence in getting the call of a class A man postponed or in securing permission for the man to volunteer, thereby choosing for himself his branch of service. Nelson appears to have grown impatient with this type of request and with requests for promotion.

The war also brought many requests for furloughs, discharges, help in finding missing soldiers, and help in straightening out a soldier's insurance, dependent allotment, or Liberty Bond installment. Complaints about the mail service to France were numerous. With the armistice came many requests for discharge from the army or for maintaining army rank, as well as requests seeking to reverse dishonorable discharges and military prison sentences. Also, in August 1914, there were numerous letters asking Nelson's service in getting relatives out of Europe, in locating them, or in sending them money. After the war came letters seeking passports, the return of soldiers' bodies, recompense for cancelled government contracts, and aid in getting European relatives admitted to the United States.

Requests for land.Land-seeking constituents also made frequent requests, including letters soliciting information about government land, when Indian land would be opened, and whether a particular tract was available for settlement. Nelson spent much time straightening out homesteaders' difficulties, aiding them in making proofs, and settling conflicting claims. A few letters regarding the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Oregon-California Railroad land grants, are scattered throughout the correspondence and seek information on the opening of the grants for settlement, homesteading possibilities, and the status of railroad-government litigation, all of which Nelson routinely referred to the Department of the Interior.

Requests for free seeds and government literature. The most popular items of literature with Nelson's constituents were "Diseases of Cattle" and "Diseases of Horses," with Department of Agriculture yearbooks, the Congressional Record, and a large United States wall map next in demand. Nelson was quick to fill such requests and would often have one of his own speeches, such as that on Abraham Lincoln, tucked away amongst the other literature. One of his last senatorial acts was to request lists of school teachers from Minnesota county school superintendents in order to send government publications through the teachers to the pupils.

Requests for speeches. Numerous requests came for speeches other than those of a purely political nature. These were principally from Norwegian organizations such as the Luther League, the cornerstone laying for Luther Hospital, Eau Claire, and the Chautauqua at Devil's Lake on Scandinavian Day.

Requests for pardon, clemency, and parole. There were many such requests by federal prisoners from Minnesota. Nelson examined their cases and, if he felt them deserving, gave his aid.

Requests for contributions. A few letters ask for contributions to various churches, schools, and colleges as well as to the needy. There is evidence suggesting that Nelson was generous to many of the organizations.

Requests concerning patents.There are some letters requesting Nelson to use his influence in obtaining patents for inventions or in getting the government to adopt certain inventions.

National Issues, Policies, and Legislation. The two senate committees to which Nelson gave the most attention, as evidenced in the papers, were the powerful judiciary and commerce committees. There is much material dealing with shipping--including ship subsidies, lighthouse service, and the Coast Guard--as well as with currency and banking legislation. These topics elicited expressions of opinion from regions other than Minnesota. The papers contain practically nothing that sheds light on Nelson's attitude and conduct toward the issues involved; the material consists mainly of expressions for or against the policy or legislation and of warnings concerning the effect of certain legislation or descriptions of its results. Conflicts for federal judgeships are also reflected in the letters.

Tariff. Most of the tariff letters deal with the agitation for a reciprocity tariff treaty with Canada, some of which appear in 1903-1904 and more in 1911-1912. Connected with this issue are letters from Minnesota millers who protested the removal of the tariff on Canadian wheat. There are some letters from lawyers and politicians regarding the tariff issue of the 1890s and more letters in connection with the Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909, with regard to which Nelson received many communications commending his position and asking for his tariff speech. The Underwood tariff bill of 1913 brought out a number of letters favoring or protesting the rate on shingles, shoes, sugar, wool, flax, hemp, and wood pulp, and more letters were received in 1921 when the Fordney tariff bill was under consideration.

Taxation. Letters regarding taxation are few until the income tax amendment (1913), after which there is much correspondence, especially regarding the corporate income tax. Scattered through the correspondence are letters suggesting that disputes over collections were frequent, with firms going to Nelson to escape penalties for violation of the income tax laws. In 1914 Nelson received many letters protesting tax measures then under discussion, and in 1918 the war revenue bill brought additional protests which continued into 1919. Chief among the measures discussed were the corporate income tax, the luxury tax, and the excess profits tax. Life insurance companies protested against proposed insurance policy taxation, and during 1918-1919 businesses such as patent medicines and theaters, whose tax burdens were increased, also sent many complaints. In 1921 the proposed sales tax brought protests and the agitation against tax-exempt securities also began.

Currency and banking legislation. There is a good deal of material on various phases of this subject: some letters on the money question of the 1890s, letters for and against the Aldrich currency bill in 1908, letters about postal savings banks in 1908 and 1914, and letters urging some kind of bank deposit guarantee in 1908-1916. There are a few letters (1900-1905) regarding the Nelson Bankruptcy Law and a few more (1910-1916) advocating changes in the law. In 1911 there were writers who thought that short-selling on the New York Exchange should be stopped.

With Woodrow Wilson's inauguration as President, the letters regarding currency and banking legislation increase in number. In 1913 there was the Glass-Owen currency bill and the Federal Reserve Act, and in 1914 a controversy developed regarding the appointment of Paul M. Warburg and Thomas D. Jones to the Federal Reserve Board, with Nelson opposing Jones' appointment. The same year saw many protests against the proposed taxes on freight, bank checks, telephone calls, gasoline, transactions on exchanges, real estate conveyances, proprietary medicines, life insurance, and motion picture houses. Discussion of branch banking began in 1916, continuing throughout the papers, and there was a flood of letters in 1918 from stockholders in the Pan Motor Company, the stock sales and promotional activities of which had been curtailed by the Capital Issues Commission. The Farm Loan Bank Act brought letters in 1919 which continue in lesser numbers to the end of the collection. There is little mention of the panic of 1907 and only incidental reference to the depression of 1921.

Shipping, commerce, and industry. There are some letters regarding the oleomargarine bill and the Beer Keg Law of 1900, the latter showing the coopers and small brewers opposed to legislation abolishing the 1/6 and 1/8 kegs. The Northern Securities case and Cuban reciprocity are represented by a few letters in 1902. The National Pure Food Law also caused a few letters in 1902 and more in 1911 after the introduction of a bill to amend the act so as to prohibit interstate transportation of butter, poultry, and produce that had been in cold storage more than thirty days. Produce firms, warehouses, and food manufacturers opposed the bill, and a similar proposal in 1919 to regulate food kept in cold storage again brought a good deal of protest.

Letters from the Lakes to the Gulf Deep Waterway Association document the effort to improve the Mississippi River as a commercial waterway. Associated with the river's development are the issues of flood prevention, regulation of Minnesota lake levels, dams on rivers and at the outlets of lakes, bridges, drainage, and levees, which topics are well documented in the papers, many of the letters being those of the U. S. Army Chief of Engineers or his subordinate stationed in St. Paul. Letters regarding the Great Lakes to the Sea Waterway, which begin in 1919, are fewer than those regarding the Mississippi project.

The following ocean shipping issues are documented in the collection: a 1909 ship subsidy proposal; the Panama tolls controversy and coastwise shipping problems in the 1913 letters; a number of letters dealing with lifeboats, safety devices, and safety regulations following the Titanic disaster of 1912; and requests for better hours and pay in 1914 and 1915 by members of the Revenue Cutter Service and Life Saving Service. Most of the correspondence, like the 1915 letters regarding the ship purchase bill, came from the owners but occasionally a seaman is heard from, as in the 1915-1916 letters about La Follette's seaman bill. During the war the Emergency Fleet Corporation's activities and the U. S. Shipping Board are subjects, and, in 1919, letters appear regarding the Rowe bill to improve marine and shipping working conditions.

Attempts to amend the Sherman Anti-Trust Act brought both criticism and support. In 1913 there was the Bacon bill amending the act in favor of labor unions, and the Clayton bill of similar import in 1914. At the same time, Newland's Trade Commission bill aroused interest as did the Stevens price standardization bill, the Pomerene bill of lading bill, the Lindquist pure fabric bill, and the Stephens-Ashurst price maintenance bill. The Hughes-Booker convict labor bill, which would have abolished interstate trade in prison-manufactured goods--thereby affecting the trade of the Stillwater penitentiary--was of particular interest to Minnesota and the subject of letters from 1913 to 1916.

Some of the reform-oriented legislative proposals of the Wilson administration are discussed in the papers, including the Harrison narcotic bill and the Esch phosphorus bill, letters about which appear in 1912. The Harrison bill caused a conflict between pharmacists and doctors as to whether or not the druggists should be allowed to sell preparations containing narcotics without a prescription and also received the strong opposition of the patent medicine industry. Minnesotans favored the Esch bill, which was designed to end harms associated with the phosphorus match industry. Another reform measure was the McLean bill for the protection of migratory birds, letters concerning which appear in 1913 and 1914. There is correspondence in 1913 regarding the Simmons bill to prohibit the transportation of prize fight motion pictures and 1915-1916 letters about federal censorship of motion pictures. Letters on this subject reappear in 1919, and a similar measure for radio control brought out letters in 1918-1921.

Nelson's connection with the Commerce Committee brought him many letters regarding the railroads and their regulations. There is material concerning the eight-hour day agitation and threatened strike of the railroad employees in 1916. Throughout the remainder of the papers there is evidence pertaining to employer-employee relationships, wage adjustments, industrial conflicts and settlements, and improvement of working conditions in the railroads and in other industries as well. The 1918-1919 papers provide a good deal of material on government operation of railroads through the Federal Railroad Administration as well as agitation both for and against government ownership of the railroads. This period also offers letters in favor of federal control of wireless telegraphy and telephone and telegraph systems as well as letters concerning the Interstate Commerce Commission and attempts to amend its powers.

The work of the Federal Fuel Administration in Minnesota during World War I is well illustrated in the letters of John F. McGee to Nelson. The issue of Minnesota's coal supply continued into the postwar years, merging with the issue of the coal miners strike of 1921. Those issues, including coal, iron ore, and steel freight rates, are discussed in letters from 1918 to 1922.

The above papers documenting Nelson's work with the Commerce Committee illustrate the conflicts among various economic interest groups: big millers, city bankers, country millers, country merchants and bankers, and farmers, and the conflict is most plain in the correspondence dealing with grain marketing. There are letters throughout the collection demonstrating the importance of the produce exchanges in Minnesota's economic life and throwing light on the operations of the Minneapolis grain market and on Northwest agricultural conditions. Millers, bankers, and farmers were all interested in, and corresponded with regard to, such subjects as cooperative agricultural extension work and the feedstuffs bill in 1913, federal inspection of grain in 1914, and freight rates on grain products in 1919. Other 1919 letters deal with the issues of fair food prices and the Kenyon and Kendrick bills to regulate packing houses, and in 1921 the cooperative marketing act is discussed.

Child labor and child welfare legislation.Letters begin in 1907 and continue as various elements of this long controversy attracted public attention. The letters are especially numerous in 1914 in support of appropriations for the Children's Bureau, in 1915-1916 in support of the Palmer-Owen and Keating-Owen bills, and in 1919-1922 in favor of the Shepherd-Towner maternal welfare bill, the Owen bill creating a national department of health, and the Kenyon-Fess bill creating a department of welfare.

Women's suffrage movement. There are a few letters from the years 1909-1919, most of which come in the last three years before the suffrage amendment's adoption.

Water power. The papers contain valuable data on this issue, primarily the building of dams on the Mississippi and its tributaries. There is correspondence with the Sauk Rapids Water Power Company and discussion in 1914 of bills empowering the building of dams. The papers fully describe the controversy over the utilization of power from the Twin Cities High Dam on the Mississippi, with Nelson favoring its joint use by the two cities and the University of Minnesota. There are also letters concerning the Shields and Meyers water power bills in 1916 and concerning a general water power bill in 1919.

Rural postal service. Correspondence begins around 1883 and demonstrates the number of job-seekers generated by the Rural Free Delivery Law and also indicates how politically active the postal employees were. Letters from the general public were for or against particular bills affecting the postal service and its cost: the Parcels Post Law in 1909 and 1911, the Burton bill for one cent letter postage in 1913, and similar bills throughout the correspondence. Also scattered through the correspondence are letters, 1908-1917, regarding the governmental printing of returns on stamped envelopes and, from 1918 on, regarding the air mail. There is considerable evidence of a postal scandal in Duluth in the 1880s.

Temperance movement and prohibition. Many aspects of the topic are dealt with in some detail, including: local option in 1908, county option in 1910, the Kenyon-Sheppard bill regarding the shipment of liquor into dry territory in 1913, prohibition in the District of Columbia in 1916, and wartime prohibition in 1917-1918. Also considered is the suppression of liquor traffic on Indian reservation lands. The lobbying technique of those opposed to the saloon is indicated by the flood of letters Nelson received, all of them apparently derived from a single source.

After the prohibition amendment went into effect, there were letters from patent medicine and flavoring extract concerns regarding the law's effect on their preparations. During prohibition there were many letters, especially in 1920-1921, concerning the appointment of enforcement officers and considerable correspondence (1918-1923) with Edwin C. Dinwiddie and George B. Safford concerning prohibition and its enforcement. For Nelson's attitude toward prohibition see letter to Dinwiddie, September 23, 1918.

Conservation. A few letters are scattered through the 1895-1906 period; there are many in 1907-1908; they practically disappear by 1910. Nelson was chairman of the section on lands in the National Conservation Commission, letters from which are in the collection, including some material on the National Conservation Congress of 1909.

There is quite a bit of material on Alaskan railways, coal lands, general economic conditions, and Alaskan politics. Nelson received correspondence from persons living in Alaska, many of them former Minnesotans, and in 1903 he visited Alaska and became acquainted with conditions there so that thenceforth the people of Alaska seemed to rely upon his help. (Correspondence regarding Alaska trip, April-Oct. 1903. See also Appendix 1.) Letters from Henry W. Elliott regarding the Alaska fur seals and demonstrating his interest in their protection are found throughout the collection, although they are most numerous for the years 1908-1916.

Canadian affairs.The papers do not contain a great amount of material on this topic: some letters from James A. Tawney after he became a member of the International Joint Commission, which shed some light on that body; a number of letters from Edward W. Backus describing the operations of his lumber, wood pulp, and power interests on the international boundary; mention in 1908 of fishing rights on Lake of the Woods and the International Fishery Commission; a few letters from former Minnesotans in Canada; and letters with regard to the Canadian tariff reciprocity question indicating the relationship between Canadian wheat and Minnesota millers and farmers.

Ballinger-Pinchot Committee. A bitter controversy between Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot over the management of public lands and their resources in general, and over water power sites and Alaskan mineral lands in particular, led to the creation of the Joint Committee of Congress to Investigate the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Forestry, commonly called the Ballinger-Pinchot Committee. Nelson chaired this committee, which held hearings during January-May 1910. A separate series of committee records (Box 78) contains its minutes and correspondence, as well as a printed compilation of letters, telegrams, reports, and other documents offered in evidence before the committee (vols. 5 and 6). There are also a few letters among the main set of chronological correspondence. Much of the correspondence deals with logistics of committee meetings and with preparation and distribution of hearing transcripts, but there are a number of letters detailing various aspects of the controversy, and a few that charge Nelson with whitewashing Ballinger.

Indian affairs.Much of the correspondence deals with this subject and includes petitions and requests from Indians, both as individuals and as tribes. White desire for Indian land and difficulties over the handling of Indian tribal funds are illustrated, creating a rather negative picture of the internal politics of the Indian Bureau. Examples of the types of material found are: 1910--letters dealing with the Indian Intercourse Act; 1914--correspondence regarding the Na-May-Pock allotment at Warroad, Minnesota and the patenting of land obtained from a mixed-blood Indian, as well as letters from the White Earth Indian agent regarding dissension among the employees; 1919--segregation of the Chippewa tribal funds. The White Earth and Red Lake Indian reservations are the principal places discussed. In addition, there are inquiries concerning the opening of the following reservations to white settlement: Fort Keogh (1908-1916), Rosebud (1908-1916), Fort Berthold (1911), Blackfoot (1913), Fort Peck (1913), Standing Rock (1913), Cheyenne (1914).

Indian affairs: Nelson Act. Letters, petitions, legislative resolutions, and newspaper clippings during the 1880s, particularly 1883-1886, document the legislation, activities, and public attitudes that culminated in the passage of the Nelson Act, sponsored by Nelson and signed into law on January 14, 1889. It provided for cession to the United States by the Minnesota Ojibwe of all their Minnesota lands except for the White Earth and Red Lake reservations, allotment of a specific amount of reservation land to each Indian, and subsequent opening of the ceded and unallotted agricultural and pine lands for settlement. Letters and petitions during this period document the pro and con attitudes of Nelson's constituents toward such legislation and toward related changes in homestead laws. Newspaper articles and editorials for 1884-1886 reveal the heated controversy generated by Nelson's proposals to cede the Indian lands. A legislative report [1884] attempts to expose pineland frauds on reservations and the "Minneapolis Pineland Ring." Thomas B. Walker, Ignatius Donnelly, and James J. Hill are among the more prominent people who entered into the controversy either directly or indirectly. Also included is a copy of the executive order (July 13, 1883) of Chester A. Arthur that appears to have paved the way for the 1889 Nelson Act, with a letter (August 1883) commending Nelson for his success in securing the order.

Irish independence.There are letters on this subject from 1916 on, beginning with protests against United States entry into the controversy on the side of England and ending with the demand that Nelson use his influence toward obtaining United States recognition of Irish independence.

U.S.-Mexican relations. There is some interesting evidence for the years 1913-1923. Letters from 1913-1914 are concerned with President Wilson's interventionist policy and his relations with Mexican president Victoriano Huerta since Minnesotans' investments in Mexico, chiefly in land, were at stake. Correspondents in 1916 were pacifists, protesting war with either Germany or Mexico. The war caused a lull in the letters but they crop up again in 1919 and 1921 with protection of property as their motivation.

World War I. There are letters in 1914 regarding neutral commerce and protests against the English blockade (Norwegian-American trade had begun to increase and Nelson was interested in its welfare) and letters showing the strength of the peace movement in the United States, which continue until the war's outbreak. In 1915 pacifism expressed itself in letters relating to an embargo on arms and in 1916 protests against the United States going to war with Germany appeared. Letters regarding preparedness began to appear in 1915, and in 1916 definite measures, such as the Hay bill, the Chamberlain bill, and the Espionage Act are discussed. The sinking of the Lusitania elicited a sudden spate of letters in May 1915. The Naval Reserve, submarine warfare, armed merchantmen, neutrality, and changes in the laws of neutrality are discussed in 1916. During the period immediately preceding United States entry into the war, Nelson was influencing Minnesota sentiment in favor of war through preparation and heavy usage of a list of Scandinavian ships sunk by German submarines up to March 30, 1916, which proved very effective among Norwegians in Minnesota.

The outbreak of war brought a great mass of correspondence regarding the Fuel Administration in Minnesota, the Food Administration, the Railroad Administration, trading with the enemy and the Espionage Act, the Alien Property Custodian, the Public Safety Commission of Minnesota, the War Revenue Act, the National Defense Act, the Draft Law, Minnesota Home Guards, the Minnesota National Guard, the training camp at Fort Snelling, army cantonments, government contracts, war risk insurance, Liberty Loans and drives, prohibition in war time, the draft boards and their work, the War Industries Board, the Priority Board of the Council of National Defense, and the National War Labor Board. This correspondence creates a good picture of Minnesota during the war and of Nelson's efforts to place the state's resources behind the national war mobilization, as well as his efforts to win over or neutralize those groups that believed the war was a mistake. In connection with this, Nelson used the "Pro-Germanism" label to vilify opponents like Robert La Follette, Charles Lindbergh, and Arthur C. Townley although he appeared to do so with greater restraint than most.

Following the war, Nelson broke with his party on the League of Nations issue, and his letters offer an interesting glimpse into the Senate attitude toward the League and toward Wilson. (For data on the League fight see Nelson to Listoe, Dec. 2, 1919 and to Grevstad, Dec. 5, 1919; for Nelson on the twelve irreconcilables see letter to Willcuts, April 23, 1920.) Accompanying and following the League fight is propaganda from the League to Enforce Peace.

Other topics in letters of this period include the influenza epidemic of 1919, repeal of the Daylight Saving Law, and agitation for and against the release of conscientious objectors, interned aliens, and other war prisoners. The Borah amnesty bill created a lot of discussion as did the judiciary subcommittee investigation of German propaganda and brewing interests. Nelson received many requests for the hearings of that committee in 1919. The interest thereby aroused led to a demand in 1919 for strengthening of the sedition laws. Letters in 1913 concerning the Burnett-Dillingham bill and in 1914 concerning the Dilllingham-Smith bill for a literacy test show that public opinion was then in conflict with regard to immigration restriction. The letters continue but in 1918 there is a demand for legislation against undesirables and the deportation of immigrants who do not conform to American ways. Nelson also received a number of letters asking him for aid in preventing the deportation of aliens.

The correspondence for the years 1919-1923 is full of lobbying on behalf of Ireland, China, Korea, Syria, Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Armenia; the Shantung and Fiume questions are also reflected in the correspondence. In 1921 war loans to the allies are under discussion. Some 1923 letters contain requests for relief of conditions in Austria and Germany, which Nelson received in large numbers because many of his constituents were of German extraction. The most active ethnic group in Minnesota, however, was the Irish, and thousands of names were obtained for petitions favoring the recognition of Irish independence.

The most active and powerful of the groups lobbying Nelson was the former soldiers. Letters favoring a monetary compensation for the solders (1918-1923) ask Nelson to support the various bills calling for a bonus or adjusted compensation and for veterans' rehabilitation and vocational training. Nelson was evidently disgusted with the apparent raid upon the treasury and contrasted it with what he felt to be the relatively selfless behavior of union soldiers following the Civil War. (For Nelson's ideas regarding the bonus agitation see his letters to Peter G. Peterson, January 31, 1921 and to Fred H. Russell, February 15, 1921.)

Miscellaneous subjects. Finally, there are the following miscellaneous subjects documented to some extent with the papers: 1901 (July-Aug.)—Commerce Department formation; 1902-1903--eight-hour day movement; 1905-190material on the separation of Norway and Sweden is contained in letters from Norway and from Norwegian-Americans; 1908-1909--a few letters supporting the admission of Arizona and New Mexico into the Union; 1910--lobbying efforts to locate the official celebration for the Panama Canal opening to New Orleans; 1910--the Jones bill regarding the Philippines is considered in a few letters; 1910-1912--consular reform is advocated; 1911--a few letters deal with the projected arbitration treaties with France and Great Britain; 1913--the recall of judges is advocated; 1913-1914--the annexation of the Isle of Pines to New Caledonia is sought; 1914--payment of an indemnity to Colombia is opposed; 1914-?--letters from Frederick G. Ingersoll on the Rice Memorial Commission; February 1916--Nelson is told to oppose the confirmation of Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court; 1919--the Townsend bill for a federal highway system, a budget for the United States, and an oil leasing bill are discussed; 1919--many letters regarding the Smith-Towner bill to create a federal department of education and the Meyers anti-vivisection bill; 1921--the Dyer anti-lynching bill causes several letters and petitions.

Correspondence and Related Papers

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Box

144.I.11.2F

5

1892-1899.

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144.I.11.3B

6

March 1899-July 20, 1900.

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Box

144.I.11.4F

7

July 21, 1900-April 18, 1901.

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Box

144.I.11.5B

8

April 19, 1901-June 18, 1902.

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Box

144.I.11.6F

9

June 19, 1902-May 1903.

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Box

144.I.11.7B

10

June 1903-October 17, 1904.

Location

Box

144.I.11.8F

11

October 18, 1904-May 8, 1906.

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Box

144.I.11.9B

12

May 9, 1906-July 1907.

Location

Reserve 114

Theodore Roosevelt to Knute Nelson, July 21, 1906.

Access Restricted.

Concerns Roosevelt's recollection on the creation of Department of Commerce and Labor.

Digital version

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144.I.11.10F

13

August 1907-September 1909.

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144.I.12.1B

14

October 1909-August 15, 1911

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144.I.12.2F

15

August 16, 1911-August 25, 1912.

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144.I.12.3B

16

August 26, 1912-January 24, 1913.

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144.I.12.4F

17

January 25-May 2, 1913.

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144.I.12.5B

18

May 3-September 30, 1913.

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144.I.12.6F

19

October 1913-February 9, 1914.

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144.I.12.7B

20

February 10-May 21, 1914.

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144.I.12.8F

21

May 22-October 31, 1914.

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144.I.12.9B

22

November 1914-April 14, 1915.

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144.I.12.10F

23

April 15, 1915-January 25, 1916.

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144.I.18.7B

23A

January 26-May 25, 1916.

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144.I.18.8F

23B

May 26-September 19, 1916.

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Box

144.I.13.1B

24

September 20, 1916-February 28, 1917.

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144.I.13.2F

25

March 1-April 6, 1917.

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144.I.13.3B

26

April 7-December 21, 1917.

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144.I.13.4F

27

December 22, 1917-March 15, 1918.

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144.I.13.5B

28

March 16-May 22, 1918.

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144.I.13.6F

29

May 23-July 17, 1918.

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144.I.13.7B

30

July 18-September 11, 1918.

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144.I.13.8F

31

September 12-October 11, 1918.

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144.I.13.9B

32

October 12-November 8, 1918.

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144.I.13.10F

33

November 9-December 16, 1918.

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144.I.14.1B

34

December 17, 1918-January 19, 1919.

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144.I.14.2F

35

January 20-February 6, 1919.

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144.I.14.3B

36

February 7-27, 1919.

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144.I.14.4F

37

February 28-March 28, 1919.

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144.I.14.5B

38

March 29-May 6, 1919.

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144.I.14.6F

39

May 7-June 6, 1919.

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144.I.14.7B

40

June 7-July 8, 1919.

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144.I.14.8F

41

July 9-31, 1919.

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144.I.14.9B

42

August 1-25, 1919.

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144.I.14.10F

43

August 26-September 29, 1919.

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144.I.15.1B

44

September 30-October 29, 1919.

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144.I.15.2F

45

October 30-December 1, 1919.

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144.I.15.3B

46

December 2, 1919-January 5, 1920.

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144.I.15.4F

47

January 6-February 6, 1920.

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144.I.15.5B

48

February 7-March 7, 1920.

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144.I.15.6F

49

March 8-April 14, 1920.

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144.I.15.7B

50

April 15-May 23, 1920.

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144.I.15.8F

51

May 24-August 9, 1920.

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144.I.15.9B

52

August 10-November 24, 1920.

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144.I.15.10F

53

November 25, 1920-January 2, 1921.

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144.I.16.1B

54

January 3-31, 1921.

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144.I.16.2F

55

February 1-18, 1921.

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144.I.16.3B

56

February 19-March 19, 1921.

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144.I.16.4F

57

March 20-April 29, 1921.

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144.I.16.5B

58

April 30-June 3, 1921.

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144.I.16.6F

59

June 4-July 5, 1921.

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144.I.16.7B

60

July 6-31, 1921.

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144.I.16.8F

61

August 1-September 7, 1921.

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144.I.16.9B

62

September 8-October 11, 1921.

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144.I.16.10F

63

October 12-November 15, 1921.

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144.I.17.1B

64

November 16-December 17, 1921.

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144.I.17.2F

65

December 18, 1921-January 4, 1922.

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144.I.17.3B

66

January 25-February 28, 1922.

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144.I.17.4F

67

March 1-April 4, 1922.

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144.I.17.5B

68

April 5-May 10, 1922.

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144.I.17.6F

69

May 11-June 14, 1922.

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144.I.17.7B

70

June 15-August 22, 1922.

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144.I.17.8F

71

August 23-November 16, 1922.

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144.I.17.9B

72

November 17, 1922-January 11, 1923.

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144.I.17.10F

73

January 12-February 19, 1923.

Location

Box

144.I.18.1B

74

February 20-April 30, 1923.

Location

Box

144.I.18.2F

75

May 1923-March 1924.

Unfiled correspondence, 1910-1924.

Other Legislative Papers

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Business and Financial Papers

Personal Papers

Oversize Materials

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Banking law -- United States.

Child labor -- Law and legislation -- United States -- Public opinion.

Child welfare -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Collecting of accounts -- Minnesota.

Communism -- Public opinion.

Conservation of natural resources -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Corporations -- Taxation -- United States -- Public opinion.

Convict labor -- Minnesota -- Public opinion.

Drugs -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Elections and election campaigns -- Minnesota.

Food law and legislation -- United States.

German Americans -- Minnesota -- Ethnic identity.

German Americans -- Minnesota -- Public opinion.

Grain trade -- Law and legislation -- United States -- Public opinion.

Indians -- Land tenure.

Indians of North America -- Government relations.

Indians of North America -- Reservations.

Industry and state -- United States.

Irish Americans -- Minnesota -- Ethnic identity.

Judges -- Selection and appointment -- Minnesota.

Labor disputes -- United States -- Public opinion.

Labor laws and legislation -- United States -- Public opinion.

Labor unions -- United States -- Political activity.

Land speculation -- Minnesota.

Liquor laws -- United States -- Public opinion.

Maritime law -- United States.

Monetary policy -- United States.

Neutrality -- United States.

Norwegian-American newspapers.

Norwegian Americans -- Ethnic identity.

Norwegians Americans -- Minnesota.

Ojibwa Indians -- Land tenure -- Minnesota.

Patronage, Political -- Minnesota.

Pensions -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Political campaigns -- Minnesota.

Postal service -- Employees -- Selection and appointment -- Minnesota.

Progressivism (United States politics).

Prohibition -- United States.

Public opinion -- Minnesota.

Pressure groups -- United States.

Railroad land grants.

Railroads and State -- United States.

Railroads -- Employees -- Law and legislation.

Real estate business -- Minnesota.

Reciprocity (Commerce) -- Canada -- Public opinion.

Rural free delivery -- United States.

Scandinavian Americans -- Politics and government.

Shipping -- United States.

Social conflict -- United States.

Tariffs -- United States -- Public opinion.

Taxation -- United States -- Public opinion.

Water power -- United States.

Women -- Suffrage -- United States.

World War, 1914-1918 -- Minnesota -- Public opinion.

Persons:

Backus, Edward Wellington, 1860-1934.

Ballinger, Richard Achilles, 1858-1922.

Beaulieu, Theodore H.

Bonga, William.

Boutwell, Mortimer Hayes, 1866-.

Bowen, Ivan, 1886-1959.

Brown, Rome G. (Rome Green), 1862-1926.

Burton, Marion Le Roy, 1874-1925.

Carpenter, Clarence Palmer, 1853-1933.

Caswell, I. T.

Chapman, Joseph.

Clapp, Moses E. (Moses Edwin), 1851-1929.

Crosby, J. M.

Decker, Edward Williams, 1869-1956.

Dinwiddie, Edward Courtland, 1867-1915.

Elliott, Henry Wood, 1846-1930.

Grevstad, Nicolay A., 1852-1940.

Grimshaw, William Harrison, 1853-1922.

Hale, William Edward, 1845-1926.

Harrington, Charles Medbury, 1855-1928.

Haupt, Herman, 1817-1905.

Jaffray, C. T. (Clive T.), 1865-1956.

Jones, Herschel V. (Herschel Vespasian), 1861-1928.

Kellogg, Frank B. (Frank Billings), 1856-1937.

Kindred, C. F.

La Follette, Robert M. (Robert Marion), 1855-1925.

Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles August), 1859-1924.

Listoe, Frederick C., 1867-1933.

Loring, Albert Carpenter, 1858-1932.

MacMillan, J. N.

McGee, John F. (John Franklin), 1861-1925.

Pennington, Edmund, 1848-1926.

Pillsbury, Charles A. (Charles Alfred), 1842-1899.

Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946.

Preus, J. A. O. (Jacob Aal Ottesen), 1883-1961.

Rahn, Andrew August David, 1877-1948.

Safford, George B.

Smith, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1861-1931.

Sullivan, George H. (George Henry), 1867-1935.

Swenson, Laurits Selmer, 1865-1947.

Tawney, James Albertus, 1855-1919.

Townley, A. C. (Arthur Charles), 1880-1959.

Vanderlip, John Russell, 1860-1935.

Van Dusen, Fred Clark, 1863-1928.

Walker, T. B. (Thomas Barlow), 1840-1928.

Willcutts, Levi Monroe, 1861-1936.

Organizations:

Industrial Workers of the World -- Public opinion.

League of Nations.

League to Enforce Peace (U.S.).

Minnesota. Governor.

National Nonpartisan League -- Public opinion.

Republican Party (Minn.). State Central Committee.

St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company.

United States. Coast Guard.

United States. Commerce Department.

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce.

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary.

United States. Congress. Senate -- Constituent communication.

United States. Fuel Administration.

United States. Federal Railroad Administration.

United States. Interstate Commerce Commission.

United States. Army. Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment, 4th (1861-1865).

United States. Congress. Joint Committee to Investigate the Interior Department and Forestry Service.

United States.

Places:

Alaska -- Economic conditions.

Alaska -- Environmental conditions.

Canada -- Commerce -- United States.

Mexico -- Foreign relations -- United States.

Minnesota -- Economic conditions.

Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1910-1921.

Mississippi River -- Power utilization.

Mississippi River -- Navigation -- Law and legislation.

Red Lake Indian Reservation (Minn.).

United States -- Armed forces -- Servicemen.

United States -- Commerce -- Canada.

United States -- Commerce -- Norway.

United States -- Emigration and immigration.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

White Earth Indian Reservation (Minn.).

Occupations:

Lawyers.

Legislators--United States.

Soldiers.

Veterans.

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