Meeting Summary

1918 NGA Annual Meeting

December 16-18 - Annapolis, Maryland

Governors Attending*:

Gov. Thomas Riggs, Jr., AK Gov. George W. P. Hunt, AZ Gov. John G. Townsend, Jr., DE Gov. Hugh M. Dorsey, GA Gov. Moses Alexander, ID Gov. James P. Goodrich, IN Gov. W. L. Harding, IA Gov. Arthur Capper, KS Gov. Ruffin G. Pleasant, LA Gov. C. E. Milliken, ME Gov. Emerson C. Harrington, MD Gov. Albert E. Sleeper, MI Gov. J. A. A. Burnquist, MN Gov. Frederick D. Gardner, MO Gov. S. V. Stewart, MT Gov. Emmet D. Boyle, NV Gov. J. G. Bartlett, NH Gov. Walter E. Edge, NJ Gov. W. E. Lindsey, NM Gov. Thomas W. Bickett, NC Gov. Lynn W. Frazier, ND

Gov. R. L. Williams, OK Gov. Martin G. Brumbaugh, PA Gov. R. L. Beeckman, RI Gov. Richard I. Manning, SC Gov. Simon Bamberger, UT Gov. Westmoreland Davis, VA Gov. Ernest Lister, WA Gov. John J. Cornwell, WV Gov. Emanuel L. Philipp, WI Gov. Frank L. Houx, WY Gov.-Elect Thomas E. Campbell, AZ Gov.-Elect D. W. Davis, ID Gov.-Elect Henry J. Allen, KS Gov.-Elect Calvin Coolidge, MA Gov.-Elect Samuel R. McKelvie, NE Gov-.Elect O. O. Larrazolo, NM Gov.-Elect J.B. A. Robertson, OK Gov.-Elect William C. Sproul, PA Gov.-Elect R. A. Cooper, SC Gov.-Elect Percival W. Clement, VT

*This list may be incomplete, as we are currently in the process of entering past governors into our database.

Guests:

Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War Hon. Joseph Daniels, Secretary of the Navy Hon. David F. Houston, Secretary of Agriculture

Hon. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior Mr. H. G. Moulton, Department of Labor Hon. James F. Strange, Mayor of Annapolis, Maryland

Discussion Subjects:
Post-war issues; National Guard; public employment; state agricultural, educational, labor, and land policies; public employment; and workers compensation

Points of Interest:

There was some discussion of the extent to which war demobilization and reconversion would contribute to labor unrest. A number of Governors attributed labor problems to the ability of unions to organize immigrants. And there was some sentiment expressed against recent immigrants from Latin America and southern Europe, who were considered slow to assimilate (particularly with respect to language) and vulnerable to radical beliefs. At the same time, there was strong anti-German sentiment, as expressed by Governor Martin Brumbaugh of Pennsylvania, who felt that there was a 'Prussianized American cult' in U.S. institutions of higher learning, which encouraged study abroad, particularly in Germany.

Among the farm-related issues discussed by Governors was the lack of medical facilities in rural areas. Governors also discussed giving tracts of farmland to returning veterans. And Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane, addressing southern Governors in particular, proposed that southern swampland--originally given to the states on condition of reclamation but never properly developed--be returned to the federal government to provide homes for returning veterans.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor Emerson C. Harrington of Maryland said "...last year the Conference of Governors was not held, for every Governor from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf to the Lakes, was too busy dedicating all the energies he possessed in standing by the National Government in the prosecution of the war and in helping to demonstrate...that a democracy like ours, when once resolved upon action, can be as strong in the storms of war as any military dynasty or monarchy, however absolute...the surest way to avoid socialism...or anarchy, is for the U.S. to have such form of government with such legislation that gives equal and just privileges....[and] opportunities to every citizen of our country."

With respect to new immigrants, Governor-elect Thomas E. Campbell of Arizona said: "...We are not instilling into them...Americanism...how are we going to amalgamate these people and inculcate into them our method of thinking and a reverence for our form of Government...during the war period it was necessary to obtain [Mexican labor]. It is my hope that they will return home in due course and their places be taken by American labor because the Mexican, as we know him...is also a Bolshevist in his thought and in his sympathy. "

Charles Schwab [the first head of U.S. Steel and later head of Bethlehem Steel and a strong opponent of unions] was quoted as saying: "...labor is inevitably destined to share directly in the control of all industries..."

With respect to giving farmland to returning veterans, Governor-elect J.B.A. Robertson of Oklahoma expressed concern that they would like so many others were beginning to do either reject rural life or accept but soon abandon it. In his words: "....farm life has suffered heavily by comparison with the apparent advantages of town or city life, "Our cities and towns, with their broader opportunities, free life, and more interesting and exciting social events, have become the mecca toward which the eye and longings of the farm....boys and girls have turned..."

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