“There are, it may be, many months of fiery trailing sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war - into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts - for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.”
— The close of President Wilson’s speech to Congress, April 2, 1917
The Penn Yan Democrat reported on Wilson’s speech: “At noon Monday, the hour for the assembling of Congress in special session, there was quite a demonstration in Penn Yan. Church bells were rung, shop whistles blown, and the fire alarm sounded. Some people thought the town must be burning up. More flags than usual have been displayed this week in the business and residential sections of the village. People seem to have a fuller realization of the seriousness of the situation than they did a few weeks ago. We can see no reason at the present time believing that American troops will be sent to France to fight Germany, but we do believe that the Navy will soon be obliged to enter actively in the war.”
There were immediate steps taken to increase the size of the Navy. Wilson called for an increase of 87,000 men. The commander of the Marines asked for 4,000 new recruits for the Marine Corps … the “soldiers of the sea.” The public may have entertained hope that we would just fight a defensive war on the Atlantic, but Wilson and the top military brass knew that we would have to send an army to Europe or be faced with a world dominated by Germany. Our peacetime army was just over 100,000 men. It would take several months before enough troops could be recruited, training facilities created, and training to take place before we could sent an adequate armed force “Over There.”
The immediate reaction to the news that we were going to war was a burst of patriotic fervor. Homes, stores and various businesses around Penn Yan purchased large American flags to display to show their support. On April 12th, there was a large patriotic gathering on Main Street near Birkett Mills and the Knapp Hotel. Over a thousand people stood in the rain. There were patriotic songs and speeches by politicians, ministers and military men. “The duty of all citizens at this time was impressed upon the people by the speakers and they were urged to show their loyalty and patriotism by giving unified support to our government in this crisis.”
The burst of patriotism was soon accompanied by suspicion of the large number of German-Americans living in the area. There were rumors that Jacob Bockstahler, who ran a feed store of Elm Street, refused to fly the American flag. The head of the “Committee on the Erection of the Flag” wrote a letter to the local papers: “Not only was Mr. Bockstahler pleased to have the flag there but he offered his services to help raise it.” There were concerns of people of German heritage acting as spies for the Fatherland. The April 6th Democrat reported: “Stories are flying around about two or three strange men who have been in Penn Yan this week. They are said to have very large trunks and to have shown an interest in the wireless tower erected some time ago on Head Street.” A week later, Sheriff Ayres, following directions from the Governor’s office, ordered that all amateur radio stations in the county were to be dismantled. There were four in Penn Yan and four in Dundee. There were news stories in the local papers about the Navy assigning armed guards to patrol the bridges into New York City. A high wire fence with barbed wire entanglements was erected around the Curtiss plant in Hammondsport. A powerful search light was soon added. There was a move across upstate New York to change the names of villages and cities with German names. Dresden was on the list. Sheriff Ayres tried to strike a note of moderation by placing a Proclamation in the papers reassuring foreign-born citizens that they would have their property protected. He added: “I urgently request that all our people refrain from public discussion of questions involved in the present crisis and maintain a calm and considerate attitude toward all without regard to their nationality.”
A military census was ordered by the state of New York for May. Every man and woman between 16 and 50 were required to enroll. “It is said the state will be in a position to tell its exact number of men available for military duty; the number available for home defense, the number that can be used in factories and different branches of industry, and also the number of women in the state and what service can be rendered by each one.” The county was divided into 19 districts for the census. 14,000 blank census forms were ordered. The forms included 87 questions. The Yates County community, along with the rest of America, took the first steps toward mobilization for total war.
Odds and Ends From March/April 1917
Upon direction from the Governor, a Home Defense Committee for Yates County was formed on April 7th with seven members. Their job was to coordinate wartime activities in the county.
Yates County had 1229 registered automobiles - one for every 15 inhabitants.
It was announced on March 16th that the state legislature approved putting women’s suffrage on a statewide referendum in November. Mrs. Norman Whitehouse, Chairperson of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party, predicted victory. She noted that 15 states have already granted suffrage to women, most recently North Dakota, Ohio and Indiana.
Billed as “The World’s Greatest Show” with the world’s largest cast, D.W. Griffith’s film Intolerance came to the Sampson Theater in Penn Yan at the end of March. “The theme of Intolerance is love’s struggle throughout the ages. The action of its four episodes takes place in ancient Babylon, medieval Paris, Judea at the time of the Nazarene, and a modern American city.” It included a full symphony orchestra and a chorus.
One of the last steamboats on Keuka Lake, the Steuben, sank at the dock in Hammondsport early in March, a victim of neglect by the Erie Railroad which had owned the steamboat line since 1904. The boat was never raised. Its remains still rest on the bottom of the lake out from Hammondsport.
It had been a tough winter. On March 1st the ice on the Penn Yan end of the lake was 24 inches thick. The biggest snowfall of the winter came on March 5th.
In late March, Bush’s Music Store had a demonstration in the Sampson Theater of the latest model of Thomas Edison’s phonograph,. They brought in a singer, Marie Morrisey, and had her alternate singing live and playing her recorded voice on the machine. “From time to time she paused and the audience confessed that it had to watch Miss Morrisey’s lips to tell when she was singing and when she was not.”