In the mid-1950s the Kansas State Historical Society published The Annals of Kansas, 1886-1925.  It appeared in two volumes, with the first published in 1954, the second two years later in 1956.

The Annals are an almost daily account of life in the State of Kansas. Most entries are only a sentence or two and deal with organizations meeting somewhere within the state, special events, crimes, and more.  For the World War I years, they provide snippets of life on the home front.

The following was compiled by Kansas WWI Committee Member and Kansas State Historical Society Museum Curator, Blair Tarr.

February 19, 1917

  • “Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston died at San Antonio, Tex.  He was born November 9, 1865, at New Carlisle, Ohio, and came to Allen county with his parents in 1867.  He lived in Iola for many years and attended the University of Kansas.  He became a botanist and worked as a special agent for the Department of Agriculture in 1891,  He took part in the Death Valley expedition of 1891, was later sent to Alaska where he paddled a canoe 1,500 miles down the Yukon river, and wrote a paper entitled, “Botany of Yakutat Bay, Alaska.”  Funston fought for 18 months with Cuban insurgents, 1896-1897, and rose from captain to lieutenant colonel.  When the Spanish-American War broke out he was made colonel of the Twentieth Kansas Regiment, which distinguished itself in the Philippine insurrection.  He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for action at the battle of Calumpit on April 27, 1899.  In 1901 Funston planned and carried out the capture of Aguinaldo, Philippine guerilla leader.  This won him the rank of brigadier general in the regular army.  He was stationed at San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906 and was given much credit for handling the emergency.  General Funston was in command of the U.S. force that was sent to hold the city of Vera Cruz during the United States intervention in Mexico.  Shortly before his death he was sent to Texas in charge of soldiers on the border.”

February 24, 1917

  • The Legislature and state officers held memorial services for General Funston.

March 10, 1917

March 14, 1917

When the Legislature adjourned four days later, this is what they had accomplished:

  • Required approval of the Public Utilities Commission to build bridges or dams across navigable streams or rivers.
  • Required approval of the State Board of Health for building vaults or mausoleums.
  • Provided for the adoption and regulation of the city manager form of government by cities wanting it.
  • Regulation of streetcar traffic.
  • Provided for condemnation and appropriation of land by oil and pipeline companies.
  • Authorized counties to levy taxes to pay for extermination of grasshoppers.
  • Prohibited the sale, giving away or advertisement of cigarettes or cigarette papers.
  • Provided for a Kansas Water Commission to investigate and control flood prevention, drainage, water power, and irrigation.
  • Set the minority age of both men and women at 21.
  • Created the office of State Fire Marshal.
  • Provided for the protection of game birds.
  • Authorized the State Board of Health to make regulations for control of diseases.
  • Made it unlawful for any person to have intoxicating liquor in his possession and prohibited the transportation of liquor, except for medicinal uses.
  • Provided for compensation for injures workmen.
  • Provided for an eight-hour day in lead and zinc mines.
  • Created a State Highway Commission and prescribed its duties.
  • Provided for distribution of federal funds for vocation education.
  • Established a State board of Administration to manage state institutions.
  • Established a State Industrial Farm for women.

March 27, 1917

  • Anna Folkland, fourth grade pupil at Wichita, was suspended from school for refusing to salute the flag.

March 28, 1917

  • The Deutscher Verein Assn., Atchison, disbanded “until the international situation is clarified.”

March 31, 1917

  • Governor Capper appealed to the people of Kansas to mobilize every possible source of food supply and, in addition, to observe the greatest economy in food consumption.  With the nation nearing war, Kansas faced a food shortage, and wheat prospects were poor.  The Governor urged a vegetable garden in every back yard, a potato patch in every vacant lot, and an extra half-acre of potatoes on every farm.

April 2, 1917

  • President Wilson asked Congress to declare that a state of war existed between the United States and Germany.
  • Telegraph offices in many Kansas cities and towns were deluged with messages against war, addressed to the President and congressmen.

April 3, 1917

  • Armed guards were placed around the pumping station of the Wichita Water Co. following advice from federal agents that German spies were in the city.  This was an example of the wave of spy-hunting which swept the country.
  • At KU, 150 girls enrolled in Red Cross training classes.

April 5, 1917

  • Missouri troops were guarding railroad bridges as far west as Manhattan on the Union Pacific and southwest to Hutchinson on the Santa Fe.

April 6, 1917

  • Congress formally declared that a state of war existed with Germany.
  • Loyalty day was observed by parades, pageants, and patriotic speeches.  Governor Capper spoke at Topeka; a fife and drum corps of Civil War veterans paraded at Dodge City; ten thousand children marched in a parade at Wichita, and at Neodesha employees of the Frisco railroad sent up a large flag attached to a kite.

April 7, 1917

  • The State Board of Agriculture urged immediate mobilization of 70,000 school boys, age 15 to 20 years, to get maximum food production in the state.

April 9, 1917

  • Food prices soared.  Sugar at Topeka went to $9.50 per 100 pounds and flour to $3.00.  Prices of lard, butter, eggs and soap advanced.  Potatoes went up 25 cents a bushel.
  • President Henry Jackson Waters, K.S.A.C. (Kansas State Agricultural College), said the country’s visible food supply would be gone before another harvest. He urged that grain used for liquors should be held back as feed for livestock.
  • Because of the national emergency the State Board of Administration urged state schools to hold simple, dignified commencement services.

April 11, 1917

  • The Kansas State Bankers Assn. met at Kansas City.  Members agreed to handle government war loans without interest.

April 12, 1917

  • Compulsory military training for every able-bodied male student at Washburn College was adopted by the faculty after a petition by 200 students asked that military training be made part of the college course.  Intercollegiate athletics were abolished.

April 13, 1917

  • Governor Capper began a nation-wide fight for prohibition during the war.  He wired President Wilson, urging the use of food materials in manufacturing liquor be prohibited.  He asked Governors of all states to take similar action.
  • Dr. Henry J. Waters, K.S.A.C. president, was named chairman of the State Council of Defense, composed of prominent Kansans appointed by the Governor.
  • The Blue Goose, a Bennington club and smokehouse where recruiting officers gathered, was dynamited by fanatics who believed Europe’s war was “not our business.”
  • Towns, schools, clubs, churches, lodges, and individuals adopted French orphans.  It cost $36.50 to support an orphan for a year.

April 16, 1917

  • Four thousand acres at seven state institutions were being put under cultivation in line with the governor’s “food drive.”
  • Washburn college offered three courses in Red Cross training.
  • The price of wheat went to $2.74 on the Topeka Board of Trade.

April 17, 1917

  • The State Council of Defense met at Topeka and declared war on extravagance, luxury, unused land, gophers, chinch bugs, Hessian flies, hog cholera, bad marketing facilities, market gambling and grasshoppers, and urged that a census be taken on resources and needs of every county.

April 18, 1917

  • Public school students who enlisted or who were recruited for food production or defense work would be given credit for a year’s work, the Superintendent of Public Instruction announced.

April 19, 1917

  • Many tractors in the state were equipped with headlights and operated on a 24-hour schedule as part of the increased food program.

April 20, 1917

  • Kansas became the first state to furnish its full quota of men to the U.S. Navy.

April 23, 1917

  • Governor Capper wired President Wilson asking that the federal government regulate the price of foodstuffs, seize the seed held by speculators and guarantee the farmers a minimum price for his products as well as fix a maximum price for the consumer.
  • The U.S. Marshal for Kansas was directed to order enemy aliens to turn in firearms and to arrest violators.

April 25, 1917

  • Corn went to $1.67 per bushel on the Topeka board of trade.

April 26, 1917

  • Governor Capper asked 300,000 school children to help the war effort by growing garden crops, raising chickens, feeding pigs and increasing dairy products.

May 1, 1917

  • J.P. Carey, division superintendent of the Union Pacific, was appointed military supervisor of Kansas railways.

May 12, 1917

  • Men at officers’ training camp, Fort Riley, drilled with brooms and mops.

May 15, 1917

  • K.U. offered special war-time correspondence courses to men in service camps and defense work.

May 19, 1917

  • Dr. H.A. Dykes, Lebanon, secretary of the State Board of Medical Registration and Examination, was seriously injured by a bomb received in the mail.

May 21, 1917

  • Enlistment of hundreds of men and the federal literacy law, which stopped immigration from Mexico, had caused a serious labor shortage affecting the railroads and the increased crop production program, the State Labor Commissioner announced.

May 22, 1917

  • The Thirteenth U.S. Cavalry, after four years’ service on the Mexican border, returned to Fort Riley.

May 25, 1917

  • An army medical school was established at Fort Riley.
  • William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, spoke at Topeka for the Liberty Loan drive.
  • The State School Fund Commission voted to buy $50,000 in Liberty bonds.

May 27, 1917

  • Heads of 18 colleges met at Topeka and unanimously endorsed compulsory military training.

May 31, 1917

  • One hundred tractors were plowing in Scott County in an effort to increase the wheat acreage one third.
  • Four Topekans were arrested by federal authorities, charged with being ringleaders in a plot to hinder draft registration. Two persons from Kansas City, one from Lawrence, and one from Olathe were also arrested.  (See Thom’s previous post:  https://www.kansasww1.org/the-topeka-anti-draft-conspiracy-the-arrests/ )

June 4, 1917

  • Joseph L. Bristow, editor of the Salina Journal and chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, refused to retract his charges of “grab and plunder” and said he would not keep quiet about excessive contract prices for munitions and cantonments.  Bristow had written in the Journal on May 26 that there were “hundreds of contractors, salesmen, manufacturers and railway officials . . .  out to get their share of the $7,000,000,000 authorized by Congress for financing the war.”  In answer to a statement that “this is no time to be knocking the government,” Bristow retorted:  “This is no time to be robbing the people.”  Later the Kansas City Star said of him:  “Bristow made life hard for those who believed public funds were legitimate plunder.”

June 5, 1917

  • Registration day for male citizens born between June 6, 1886, and June 5, 1896, inclusive, was marked by parades and patriotic speeches.

June 6, 1917

  • Frank A. Werner, editor of the Axtell Standard, was forced to apologize for alleged unpatriotic remarks and to kiss the American flag while the band played the Star Spangled Banner.

June 8, 1917

  • The Santa Fe bought $5,000,000 in Liberty bonds.

June 12, 1917

  • Kansas State institutions faced a serious food problem.  Appropriations did not cover rising food prices.  Potatoes were eliminated from the bill of fare.  All delicacies and many necessities had to go.

June 14, 1917

June 15, 1917

  • Kansas had oversubscribed its $20,000,00 quota for the Liberty loan.

June 19, 1917

  • Western Kansas women were canning Russian thistle and other tumbleweeds for greens.

June 18, 1918

  • Topeka business and professional men organized a twilight harvest crew and shocked 20 acres of wheat which belonged to a farmer – soldier in France.

June 19, 1918

  • Pvt. Louis Kopelin, former editor of the Appeal to Reason, Girard, was one of a commission of seven Socialists sent from Camp Funston to allied countries to counteract German influence among laboring classes.

June 21, 1917

  • Company A, Topeka’s national guard unit of the Kansas Engineers, was ordered to active duty.
  • Topekans gave diamonds, pianos–anything which could be converted into money–to the Red Cross drive.
  • Charles I. Martin was appointed brigadier general of the Kansas National Guard.

June 25, 1917

  • Ogden Flats, east of Fort Riley on the Kansas river, was chosen as a site for a U.S. Army cantonment.

June 26, 1917

  • The first U.S. troops landed in France.

June 22, 1918

  • Eighteen new National Guard companies were authorized by the State Military Board.

June 27, 1918

  • At Aulne, a German settlement near Peabody, the Aulne Telephone Co. prohibited the speaking of German over the phone.
  • Schoolhouse meetings were held over the state to launch the war savings stamp sale.  Kansas had oversubscribed every war fund drive.

June 28, 1917

  • Kansas Mennonites told the War Department they would serve but not fight and asked assignment to agricultural work.

June 29, 1918

  • Vernon L. Kellogg, native of Emporia, was made a knight of the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his work in Belgium on the U.S. Relief Commission.

June 30, 1918

  • Dr. S.S. Estey, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Topeka, declared it was time “no public school and no private school . . . shall instruct its pupils in any but the English tongue.”

July 1, 1918

  • Dr. Charles M. Sheldon advocated planting tobacco land to potatoes.  He said the change would furnish each family of four with four bushels.
  • Sugar rationing was extended to housewives who were pledged to use only three pounds per month per person.

July 4, 1918

  • Many Kansas cities held community sings with patriotic songs as the theme.  The State Fire Marshal requested that no fireworks be used and offered the slogan:  “Send the Powder to Pershing.

July 3, 1917

July 7, 1918

  • Coal rationing to householders was announced.

July 11, 1918

  • As a war measure the State Council of Defense ordered all stores to be open only ten hours a day.

July 13, 1917

July 18, 1917

  • Kansas has one enlisted man for every 143 persons and ranked seventh among the states.

July 20, 1917

  • Allen, Chase, Ford, Douglas, Kearny, Montgomery, Ottawa, Woodson and Wyandotte counties escaped the draft because they exceeded enlistment quotas.
  • Winning With Wheat, a film produced for the Kansas Council of Defense, was being shown at all theaters in the state,  It was a modern version of the Biblical parable of the sower.
  • The Belgian Mission visited Topeka.

July 24, 1918

July 25, 1917

  • The Atchison Saddlery Co., received an army order for 2,000 harness sets and 8,000 horse collars.

July 26, 1918

  • Germantown, a Brown county Catholic community, changed its name to Mercier, after Cardinal Mercier of Belgium.

July 28, 1917

  • Gen. Vladimir Roop, Russian, visited Topeka.  A military parade was staged for him.

August 2, 2017

  • Army City, a town for soldiers, was being built near Junction City.
  • Milk infection was responsible for typhoid fever epidemics in many towns.  The State Board of Health ordered vaccinations in Harper county, Herington, Leavenworth, Winfield, Coffeyville, and Augusta.  Leavenworth reported 12 deaths.
  • Henry J. Allen and William Allen White went to France in the service of the American Red Cross.  See the previous post:  https://www.kansasww1.org/kansans-of-the-great-war-era-william-allen-white/
  • The Washburn College Ambulance Co., the 347th, which was organized soon after the declaration of war, was sworn into service.  Most of the 120 members were native Kansans.  Dr. C.H. Lerrigo, Topeka, was captain.  See the previous post:  https://www.kansasww1.org/washburn-college-ambulance-company/

August 3, 1917

  • Ten carloads of seed wheat valued at $30,000 were shipped over the state by the State Council of Defense.
  • The Kansas State Historical Society was assembling a library for Kansas soldiers.  The books were collected by private donation.

August 4, 1917

  • Four French classes for army officers were opened at K.U.

August 5, 1917

  • The 35th Division, composed of the organized National Guard of Kansas and Missouri and 12,000 draftees, was mustered into federal service.

August 9, 1917

  • A remount station for 10,000 horses and a bakery to provide bread for 50,000 men were planned at Fort Riley.

August 10, 1917

  • The War Department announced that the regular army was at full war strength and that Kansas had filled its quota.
  • Congress passed the food and fuel control act.  Farmers were urged to plant more wheat and were called slackers if they refused.  The government did not advise as to soil requirements.  An increase of 1,000,000 acres was Kansas’ quota.  Wheat was selling at $2.10 a bushel.

August 11, 1917

  • Because of failure of feed crops, farmers in the Utica vicinity were filling their silos with Russian thistles.  Thistles had been cured for hay quite successfully.
  • Kansas dairy herds had increased 76 percent since 1910.  Over a million milk cows were registered.

August 15, 1917

  • Nine men who claimed agricultural responsibilities were denied draft exemption in Topeka.

August 17, 1917

  • Ogden, near Fort Riley, was quarantined because of a typhoid fever epidemic.

August 20, 1917

  • Coal operators, called to Topeka by Governor Capper to explain the abnormal price of coal, refused to show production costs.  They claimed a cost of $2.43 a ton, which he regarded as “exaggerated.”  It was revealed that the railroads bought coal for about $2 a ton while the public paid over $5.

August 21, 1917

  • A dispatch from Washington said bituminous coal prices were fixed by President Wilson for every mine in the country.  Prices for run-of-the-mine coal were $2.55 in Kansas.  Dealers in Atchison, Topeka, Hutchinson, and Fort Scott declared they were “on the brink of ruin.”

August 23, 1917

  • KU (University of Kansas) offered a five-hour training course in the fundamentals of aviation.
  • Kansas, a chestnut-sorrel war horse, was presented to Gen. Charles I. Martin when he left Topeka for Fort Sill.  (If you didn’t know who Gen. Martin was, he was the Adjutant General of Kansas from April 1, 1909 to September 30, 1917, and again from January 27, 1919 to January 11, 1923.)

August 24, 1917

  • Dr. H.J. Waters, K.S.A.C. (Kansas State Agricultural College) president, was appointed federal food administrator for Kansas.

August 27, 1917

  • The Kansas Grange and the Farmers’ Union asked for special consideration of exemption claims by farm workers.
  • Women went to work in the upholstery department of the Santa Fe shops, Topeka, taking the places of men who had gone to war.

August 31, 1917

  • A drive to rid army camps of vice was being made by the Department of Justice and city, county, and state officials.
  • The Union Pacific was spending $2,000,000 on roundhouses, tracks, and shops in the Junction City – Manhattan area.
  • A coal combine of Kansas City dealers was exposed, and their records were seized.

September 2, 1917

  • The 117th Ammunition Train left Topeka for a “Rainbow Division” mobilization point.  It had been organized during the summer by Lt. Col. Frank L. Travis, Iola.  The companies were from Kansas City, Rosedale, Chanute, Parsons, Manhattan, and Pratt. For more info, read:

KCK’s Rainbow Boulevard is a WW1 memorial

Monuments and Memorials: Rosedale Memorial Arch

September 3, 1917

  • Librarians from Kansas and surrounding states met at Kansas City, Mo., to discuss plans for raising their $1,000,000 quota for books and magazines for soldiers in France.

September 4, 1917

  • The Washburn Ambulance Co. was ordered to Camp Pike, Little Rock, Ark. For more info, read:

Washburn College Ambulance Company

  • Lt. William T. Fitzsimons, graduate of St. Mary’s College and a physician from K.U., was the first American officer to die in battle in France in World War I after the United State entry.  He was killed by an airplane bomb.  (Correct date of his death appears to be September 7th). For more info, read:

Monuments and Memorials–St. Mary’s College

September 5, 1917

  • Kansas women signed war service cards to show the government what work each was doing, whether at home or away.
  • The first five percent of men called under Selective Service reported to the 89th Division at Fort Riley.  They had either previous military training or experience in cooking.  men from eight states formed the division, and Kansans for the most part were assigned to the 353rd Infantry, which became known as the All-Kansas regiment.  Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood was the division commander.

September 6, 1917

  • Osage county coal operators told the Governor that they could not operate at prices fixed by the government.

September 7, 1917

September 15, 1917

  • A.K. Longren, a pioneer airplane builder and aviator of Kansas, went to Denver to be associated with the Buck Aircraft and Munitions Co.

September 22, 1917

  • Meade county Mennonites, asking exemption, cited Scriptural authority against bearing arms.

September 27, 1917

  • C.G. Stevenson, Pratt, was appointed trainmaster of the division of railroad men the government was sending to Russia.

October 5, 1917

  • The W.C.T.U. (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) had made 2,000 comfort bags for U.S. Navy men during the summer.

October 6, 1917

  • A contract for ten cars of rabbits for the government was being filled by Koon Beck, Hutchinson.

October 12, 1917

October 13, 1917

  • Several hundred Kansas farm women were helping sow wheat, cut hay and husk corn.

October 17, 1917

  • Anna Held, French comedienne, sold Liberty bonds from the steps of the State House.

October 18, 1917

  • Kansas had 525 cases of typhoid fever in September.  The State Board of Health had given 9,000 free shots.

October 19, 1917

  • The federal food administration ordered Topeka, Wichita, Salina and Hutchinson mills to requisition their wheat from government headquarters at Kansas City, Mo.  The government said it would have to take control of wheat at country points because of a shortage.  The Kansas Grain Dealers Assn. opposed the move and believed many independent mills would have to shut down.
  • Scarlet fever epidemics were reported from Cowley, Butler, Dickinson and Leavenworth counties.

October 23, 1917

  • Atchison was made a terminal wheat market by the federal food administration.

October 27, 1917

  • Fifty thousand Kansans launched a food conservation campaign and secured pledges from 1,200,000 persons.

October 30, 1917

  • Public presentation of side-arms to 626 Negro commissioned officers was made by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood at Topeka.
  • An acute coal shortage caused many towns to close power plants and deny service to all but essential businesses.  Topeka sales were limited to two tons per customer.

October 31, 1917

  • Nine hundred Negroes arrived at Fort Riley for training.  Not a single request for exemption was made by Kansas Negroes.  At Manhattan plans were made for a social center after General Wood said:  “Manhattan will not have done her full duty until quarters are also provided for colored troops.”

November 4, 1917

  • Kansans were asked to contribute to the recreation building fund of the 353rd Infantry, the all-Kansas regiment at Camp Funston.

November 5, 1917

  • A sugar shortage caused Topeka bakeries to quit making pies, cakes and cookies.

November 7, 1917

  • Camp Funston had 30 cases of spinal meningitis, with six deaths.
  • Junction City’s waterworks capacity was doubled.  The town had been included in the sanitary zone surrounding Fort Riley.
  • Mother – daughter canning clubs had put up 424,000 quarts of fruit and vegetables; 128 clubs in the state had 8,094 members.
  • Kansas joined the national movement for meatless Tuesdays and wheatless Wednesdays.

November 9, 1917

  • Alta Vista was rationing coal and sugar.  Sugar sales were limited to 25 cents worth per family.

November 10, 1917

  • Rye bread, brown bread, nut bread and oatmeal gems were being served at the Pittsburg Manual cafeteria on wheatless days.  Pie crust was made from a rye flour and corn starch.

November 29, 1917

  • Kansas was given 800 federal troops to protect industries.

December 2, 1917

  • An army balloon, dragging a 6,000-foot steel cable, broke away in a high wind at Fort Omaha and made a path through Kansas, breaking telegraph and telephone wires.  Damage was reported at Newton, Herington, Fort Riley, Wamego and Council Grove.  The balloon was grounded at Meade.

December 3, 1917

  • The Kansas Peace Officers Assn. met at Independence to discuss methods of handling I. W. W.’s (Note:  Industrial Workers of the World) and German spies.

December 9, 1917

  • More than 10,000 books and ten tons of old magazines were gathered for soldiers at Topeka.  (Note:  One might guess that doctor’s offices were not the same for years.)

December 15, 1917

  • Kansas oil refineries had more than doubled in number in the past year.  They were located at Neodesha, Cherryvale, Erie, Chanute, Coffeyville, Moran, Humboldt, Arkansas City, Caney, Augusta, El Dorado, Kansas City, Hutchinson, Niotaze, Gordon, Independence, and Wichita.

December 16, 1917

  • Kansas led the nation in the percentage of families enrolled in accordance with the plans of the U.S. food administration for food conservation.

December 18, 1917

  • The United States, as a war measure, seized the old Fort Leavenworth bridge across the Missouri river.  It was to be repaired and used by the government.

December 22, 1917

  • Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Kuhn, Meade, was appointed representative of the United States at the Allied War Council.

December 25, 1917

  • Shipping rabbit meat to large Eastern cities was becoming an industry.  A Cedar Point grocery man sent regular express shipments to New York which sometimes contained 1,500 rabbits.

December 28, 1917

  • The Non-Partisan League, organized by farmers to “war against profiteers,” established headquarters in Topeka.
  • The United States took control of the railroads.

January 1, 1918

  • The Topeka food price board set prices to stop overcharging.  some items were:  sugar, 9 cents a pound; flour, 24 pounds for $1.45; cornmeal, 4 pounds for 25 cents; potatoes, 2 3/4 cents a pound; lard, 33 cents a pound.
  • The national draft board ruled that marriage after May 18, 1917, would not exempt men from the draft.

January 3, 1918

  • Flour-hoarding was reported from all parts of the state.  Orders were issued to limit sales in cities to 48-pound sacks and in rural districts to 96-pound sacks.  Names of hoarders and grocers were reported.

January 5, 1918

  • The Camp Funston library opened.  It contained 20,000 volumes and many magazines and newspapers.

January 7, 1918

  • The Dodge City board of education abolished German classes in the high school.

January 8, 1918

  • The Kansas Educational Council met at Topeka to study problems brought on by the war.  Intramural rather than intercollegiate athletics, abandonment of special functions, and shortening of the school term were suggested.

January 9, 1918

  • Hotels and restaurants were ordered to observe meatless Tuesdays and wheatless Wednesdays.

January 10, 1918

  • Three carloads of jackrabbits were shipped from Garden City to New York in two weeks.  Shippers paid a dollar a dozen.

January 11, 1918

  • Four bank clerks were killed at Camp Funston in a hold-up by Capt. Lewis Whisler who got $62,826.  He later killed himself, and the money was recovered.
  • Farmers were asked to grow castor beans for oil to lubricate airplane engines.
  • Temperatures were the lowest since the weather bureau was established in 1887.  Smith Center reported -23 degrees.  Snow was from 4 to 11 inches deep, and a coal shortage threatened.
  • The Kansas Women’s Farm and Garden Club was organized at Topeka to encourage women to help the war effort by increasing food production.

January 22, 1918

  • “Kickless Thursday” was added to the weekly schedule by the State Food Administrator to make Kansans “forget to grumble about meatless, wheatless, sugarless days, save footpower, and help whip the Kaiser.”

January 24, 1918

  • Topeka businessmen were refused a modification of the early-closing order.

January 27, 1918

  • The Topeka Committee for the Fatherless Children of France had cared for 189 orphans in the past nine months, and over $5.000 had been raised.

January 28, 1918

  • Dr. Adolph Koerber, Hutchinson, was arrested on a federal indictment charging violation of the espionage act.  He allegedly objected to anti-German lectures.
  • Victory loaf, a bread containing five percent substitute for wheat flour, went on the market.  Grocers would sell wheat flour only when buyers bought an equal amount of some other cereal.   Another wheatless day had been ordered; also a ten percent reduction in sugar rations.

January 29, 1918 — Kansas Day

  • Uniform rules for saving coal were issued by Emerson Carey, State Fuel Administrator.  He fixed the hours during which various stores would be open; curtailed street lighting and banned dancing.  Drugs could be sold any time.
  • The Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas met at Topeka for the first joint annual meeting of the two societies.

January 30, 1918

  • Madame Schumann-Heink and the St. Louis Symphony orchestra performed at Camp Funston for the 353rd Infantry.
  • The Woman’s Kansas Day club and the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas asked the War Department to demand that Great Britain refuse to sell liquor to United States servicemen.

January 31, 1918

  • January was the coldest month in Topeka in 31 years.
  • The fuel situation was critical.   Thirty-five towns appealed for help.  The penalty for violating the fuel conservation order was $5,000.

February 2, 1918

  • Labor trouble in the Pittsburg coal mines reduced production by 1,500 tons daily.
  • “Kansas Day is the saddest of our fixed orgies,” Jay House declared in the Topeka Daily Capital.  “What should be an evening of gentle constructive criticism — a brief three hours of stock-taking — becomes a gully-washing flow of platitudinous ptyalin, a funnel-fed flow of gruesome goo.”

February 3, 1918

  • A six-day-week school plan was approved by Governor Capper.  It would shorten the school year and release 3,000 men teachers and 35,000 boys for spring work in gardens and fields.  Many schools adopted the plan.

February 4, 1918

  • Registration of German aliens began.  Names and addresses were to be published.  Chiefs of police and postmasters were in charge.  Failure to register meant internment during the war.

February 7, 1918

  • The State Fuel Administrator lifted the state-wide restriction on the use of coal, imposed a week previously.

February 15, 1918

  • Women students at K.U. collected tinfoil, toothpaste tubes, cold cream jars and other scrap materials as part of the war effort.
  • Winfield made hoarding or failure to observe meatless or wheatless days a misdemeanor; penalty, $50.
  • War Savings societies were organized in Kansas schools.

February 22, 1918

  • Ness City held a county-wide Red Cross fair.  Poultry, livestock, fruit, vegetables, wearing apparel, works off art, farm implements , farm and garden seeds, gold coins, and other articles of value were sold at big premiums for a total of $3,000.

February 23, 1918

  • Miss Johanna Pirscher, a native German, resigned at Ottawa University after being accused of making unpatriotic statements.  She had been a language teacher there for 11 years

February 25, 1918

  • Mrs. George Philip of Hays had knitted 37 sweaters for the Navy since the declaration of war.
  • All bakers were required to use 20 percent substitutes for wheat in bread and rolls.

February 26, 1918

  • The War Department warned Topeka that unless steps were taken to “eradicate the vice evil,” it would order soldiers at Camp Funston to stay away.  Dr. S.J. Crumbine said Topeka had become a “dumping ground for women of the underworld.”

February 28, 1918

  • Governor Capper asked the federal government for cars to move the broomcorn crop, which had been classified as “unessential.”
  • At Topeka military police from Camp Funston picked up 14 women who arrived on a train from Kansas City and sent them home.

March 1, 1918

  • Sixty-three towns had contributed 18, 763 books and $6,845.56 to the soldiers’ book fund.

March 2, 1918

  • Mayor Jay House denied that immoral houses existed in Topeka.  He said that the police were arresting immoral women when they came to town, but that the Topeka jail and the detention home at Lansing were crowded, limiting the number of arrests.  He threatened to bar soldiers from Topeka.

March 5, 1918

  • Dr. Frederick Krueger, professor of modern languages at Midland College, Atchison, was arrested following a federal investigation.  He was charged with spreading pro-German propaganda and ordered interned for the duration.
  • The State Public Housekeeping Board ruled that restaurants and hotels should not permit minors to work over eight hours a day, six days a week. Women employees were not to work over 54 hours a week.

March 6, 1918

March 7, 1918

  • A war conference at Colby, one of a series in the state, stressed the need for increased production.  Eighty thousand school boys were needed for farm work.

March 9, 1918

  • Winds up to 60 miles an hour leveled 12 smokestacks at Camp Funston, did $25,000 damage to the United Telephone Co. lines at Salina, ripped the roof off Fraser Hall at K.U. and caused heavy loss elsewhere.
  • The bakery at Camp Funston turned out 36,888 pounds of bread in 24 hours with day and night shifts of 26 men each.

March 14, 1918

  • Articles by Henry J. Allen about Y.M.C.A. work in France appeared in the Wichita Beacon.

March 15, 1918

  • Thirty-five members of the I.W.W. were indicted by a federal grand jury at Wichita for seditious activity.

March 19, 1918

  • Hay was being shipped out of Coffey County at the rate of 40 carloads a day.  It sold at $18.50 a ton, and there were ten tons in a carload.

March 21, 1918

  • John M. Hoover, Harvey County, sold his 400-acre ranch for $32,000 and invested it in Liberty bonds.  He said he did not need the money and was glad to “lend it to Uncle Sam.”  Hoover, a Civil War veteran, had settled on the land in 1872.

March 22, 1918

  • Farm hands were getting finicky, the Alma Enterprise complained.  One asked for $50 a month and the use of the farmer’s car.  Another wanted $45, Saturday afternoon and Sunday off, and the use of the farmer’s horse and buggy.

March 30, 1918

  • Five students at Haskell Institute had died and 457 were ill with a disease called “strepo-grip.”
  • The Department of Justice moved to dislodge large stocks of wheat and flour held on farms.  A secret service agent had put 7,000 pounds of flour and over 10,000 bushels of wheat from Pawnee county on the market.
  • Daylight-saving time went into effect.  Clocks were set an hour ahead to give more daytime for gardening and to save fuel used for electric lighting.
  • Meatless day regulations were suspended for 30 days because of an oversupply of meat.
  • At K.S.A.C. (Kansas State Agricultural College) 300 men were learning to be tank drivers.

March 31, 1918

  • Easter services were held on the hillside at Camp Funston for 10,000 soldiers and civilians.

April 3, 1918

  • An “eat potatoes” campaign was initiated.  Grocers sold potatoes without profit and recipes were publicized.  Sales for a week were 400 percent above normal.

April 4, 1918

April 7, 1918

  • The Zone at Camp Funston, built by Capt. Dick Foster without cost to the government, was said to be the only city within an army camp.  There were 55 businesses; the civic center included a Y.M.C.A., Knights of Columbus hall, Jewish center, library, officers club and amusement hall.

April 8, 1918

  • The Marysville Turnverein, a German society which bought $50,000 in bonds during the first Liberty loan drive, resolved to buy $25,000 more in the third drive.  Mennonite churches in Reno county also voted to buy bonds.

April 12, 1918

April 15, 1918

  • Ellsworth, despite a 20 percent German population, substituted Spanish for German in the high school.

April 18, 1918

  • The Night Riders, a secret organization, circulated printed warnings in Barton county neighborhoods suspected of pro-Germanism.  See the previous post:  https://www.kansasww1.org/home-front-night-riders/
  • Five “Paul Reveres” who rode in motor cars instead of horseback, made a relay run across Kansas in behalf of the third Liberty Loan campaign.

April 22, 1918

  • The War Department authorized a new Kansas National Guard.  Two regiments, the Fourth and Fifth, were organized immediately.

April 30, 1918

May 1, 1918

  • In response to a government request, over 1,800,000 pounds of flour had been put on the market by farmers since March 20.  Unmarketed wheat was requisitioned at the expense of the owner.

May 4, 1918

  • The Kansas City Star said Mrs. James Farrell, Effingham, was the knitting champion of Atchison county.  She had knitted 100 pairs of socks for the Red Cross since August, 1917.

May 6, 1918

  • Among women who were running newspapers while the men were at war were Mrs. W.E. Payton, Colony Free Press; Mrs. Charles H. Browne, Horton Headlight-Commercial; Miss Dora Adriance, Seneca Courier-Democrat; and Miss Martha Ryan, Wathena Times.

May 8, 1918

  • The Kansas Children’s Home Society met at Topeka.  The society had placed 164 orphans during the year and voted to adopt seven French orphans.

May 10, 1918

  • Governor Capper asked 60,000 Kansas men and boys to enlist in the “Harvest Army.”
  • The Topeka Daily Capital said that gas tractors were “tearing the whole country upside down” in southwestern Kansas and that the famous shortgrass pasturage of that section would soon be gone.  Trainloads of tractors had been shipped in.  Three thousand acres were being broken on one ranch in Morton county.  Another had 11 outfits plowing.  In Rice county 20 tractors were plowing on the Sherman ranch.  Ten tractor outfits were unloaded at Satanta within two days and five at Montezuma in five days.
  • The 35th Division reached Le Havre, France.

May 14, 1918

  • Farmers from 13 counties met at Kinsley and adopted the following wage scale for harvesters:  pitchers and headermen, 50 cents an hour; stackers, 57 1/2 cents an hour; cooks, $3 a day.

May 23, 1918

  • Manhattan school children won a $100 prize offered by the Kansas Fraternal Aid Assn. for the best garden.

May 30, 1918

  • Kansas had raised $2,5888,577 for the Red Cross; the quota was $1,000,000.
  • Three carloads of surplus flour were found in Franklin county. Names of the hoarders were sent to the State Food Administrator.

June 2, 1918

  • The Kansas City Veterinary College, founded in 1891, closed for the duration of the war.  In normal times enrollment was about 650.

June 4, 1918:

  • Louis B. Leach, president of the Wamego State Bank, was removed by the State Bank commissioner, charged with declining subscriptions to Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives and encouraging his son-in-law to evade the draft.
  • The 89th Division, trained at Camp Funston under Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, sailed from New York to join the A. E. F. in France.  General Wood was relieved of his command on the eve of embarkation.

June 5, 1918:

  • Over 600 conscientious objectors were moved to Fort Leavenworth where they could either work under military discipline or be treated as military convicts.

June 8, 1918:

  • Eastern Kansas threshermen agreed to charge ten cents a bushel for wheat and six cents for oats, an advance of 20 to 25 percent over 1917.

June 9, 1918

  • The Pan-Hellenic Assn. at K.U. placed a ban on corsages, late hours and refreshments, news which the Topeka Daily Capital headlined as:  “No cakes, no flowers, no wee sma’ hours.”

June 10, 1918

  • A “yellow-paint squad” at Potter daubed all buildings in which one of its residents had an interest.  Included were an elevator, residence, garage and bank.  The owner was charged with hoarding flour, retarding Liberty bond and Red Cross drives, and consorting with “off-colored persons.”

June 11, 1918

  • Kansas towns passed vagrancy ordinances, following a proclamation by the Governor.  men from 18 to 60 years were ordered to register for work.

June 12, 1918

  • A special court was held at Junction City to naturalize 275 alien soldiers from Fort Riley and Camp Funston.

June 13, 1918

  • The iced-tea season had doubled the use of sugar in restaurants.  Patrons were urged to “Stir! Stir like hell!”
  • Hundreds of men at Camp Funston were granted 15-day furloughs to help with the wheat harvest.

July 1, 1918

  • Dr. Charles M. Sheldon advocated planting tobacco land to potatoes.  He said the change would furnish each family of four with four bushels.
  • Sugar rationing was extended to housewives who were pledged to use only three pounds per month per person.

July 4, 1918

  • Many Kansas cities held community sings with patriotic songs as the theme.  The State Fire Marshal requested that no fireworks be used and offered the slogan:  “Send the Powder to Pershing.”

July 7, 1918

  • Coal rationing to householders was announced.

July 11, 1918

  • As a war measure the State Council of Defense ordered all stores to be open only ten hours a day.

July 24, 1918

July 26, 1918

  • Germantown, a Brown county Catholic community, changed its name to Mercier, after Cardinal Mercier of Belgium.

August 6, 1918

  • The Rev. Manasse Bontrager, Dodge City, was fined $500 for writing an article criticizing the Liberty bond campaign.  The Mennonite Weekly, Sugar Creek, Ohio, was fined the same amount for publishing the article.

August 12, 1918

  • The K.S.A.C. offered a farm tractor course.

August 14, 1918

  • At K.S.A.C. over 100 agricultural experts began a week-long course in methods of increasing production.

August 16, 1918

  • The Attorney General said that enemy aliens should not be permitted to vote and filed two suits to test the matter.
  • Kansas sales of war savings stamps totaled $7,420,305.

August 20, 1918

  • Kansas was allotted $1,250,000 for seed wheat loans, limited to $3 an acre and $300 to any one farmer.

August 23, 1918

  • The Federal Food Administrator asked farmers not to burn strawstacks as straw was needed for feed.

August 24, 1918

August 28, 1918

  • Due to sugar rationing, Kansans were making sorghum molasses again.  In 1918 over 869,000 acres of cane were planted.

August 31, 1918

  • Fred Burns, general manager of the Consolidated Flour Mills Co., Hutchinson, was fined $1,000 for violation of flour-saving rules.

September 6, 1918

  • Glenn L. Martin, former Salinan, had invented a war plane which was being manufactured at Cleveland.  It had a 75-foot wingspread, two 400-horsepower engines, and a capacity of 2,400 pounds.
  • Student Army Training Corps units were being set up at K.U., K.S.A.C., Emporia Normal, Fort Hays Normal, McPherson, St. Mary’s, Baker, Cooper, Ottawa, Midland and Washburn.

September 8, 1918

  • Miss Day Monroe, Topekan, with the New York Food Commission, was managing forty canning centers in New York City.
  • The Kansas Library Assn. met at Oklahoma City.  It was reported that 2,500,000 books had been placed in army camp libraries.

September 9, 1918

  • Ninety-three I.W.W.’s (International Workers of the World, or “Wobblies”) were admitted to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth.

September 12, 1918

September 17, 1918

  • A Lyon county farmer paid a $25 fine for failing to rake his wheat field and for feeding wheat left under the separator to his hogs.

September 18, 1918

  • Col. P.M. Hoisington, Newton, was named commander of the new Kansas National Guard.

September 20, 1918

  • A Hutchinson baker who violated flour-saving rules waived trial and closed his shop for the duration.
  • A government order brought all building under federal control.

September 22, 1918

  • Topeka was the “chicken center” of the United States.  Seven thousand birds were dressed daily and shipped to Eastern cities and to England.  Chicken-pickers received about three cents a fowl and could earn $30 a week.

September 26, 1918

  • The Battle of the Argonne, “greatest in military history,” began.  The 35th Division formed the left flank of the First Army Corps.

September 27, 1918

  • Cigarettes were forbidden for all men enrolled at the S.A.T.C. at KU.

September 28, 1918

  • Neither the German Language nor the German classical music was to be barred at KU.

October 2, 1918

  • Three hundred cases of influenza had been reported over the state. Hays was hardest hit with 200 cases and several deaths.

October 8, 1918

  • Atchison theaters, churches and schools were closed because of the influenza epidemic.  Lawrence closed schools and theaters and order university students not to leave town.  At Winfield schools and public gatherings were cancelled.  K.S.A.C. had 78 cases of flu in the Student Army Training Corps.  A total of 1,255 cases were reported for the week ending October 5.

October 12, 1918

  • Governor Capper issued a state-wide closing order, effective for one week, in an effort to halt the flu epidemic.  Over 7,000 cases had been reported.  Camp Funston had 500 cases.

October 16, 1918

  • The State Board of Health appealed to Washington for physicians to help fight the flu epidemic.

October 17, 1918

  • The First National Bank of Newton was robbed of $10,000 in cash and an unknown amount of Liberty bonds.

October 18, 1918

  • The order banning public gatherings was extended another week.  Two thousand new cases of the flu had been reported.

October 19, 1918

  • An estimated 7,000,000 bushels of wheat, valued at $14,000,000, had been saved in Kansas by cutting g back swaths and raking shock rows.

October 22, 1918

  • Twenty thousand influenza cases, “only half the story,” had been reported to the State Board of Health.

October 25, 1918

  • The homes of two wealthy English-born Clay county citizens were streaked with yellow paint reportedly because they had not bought enough Liberty bonds.

October 29, 1918

  • Harry Muir, a K.S.A.C. graduate, was in charge of a 1,500-acre farm in France which he cultivated for the army with 150 men and 15 tractors.

October 30, 1918

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abilene, was promoted to lieutenant colonel.  He was in command of 25,000 men at Camp Colt, Gettysburg, Pa.

November 1, 1918

  • The State Industrial Welfare Commission approved recommendations that women workers be given a minimum weekly wage of $11 for an eight-hour day.

November 2, 1918

  • The State Board of health lifted the influenza closing order, but left the matter up to local authorities in affected communities.

November 7, 1918

  • A false peace rumor turned Kansas people into “howling mobs.”  Thousands jammed streets yelling, shooting, waving flags, believing the war had ended.  At Kensington a German Lutheran church and two other buildings were burned.

November 9, 1918

  • Governor Capper proclaimed Gas Mask day.  Everyone was asked to collect fruit seed pits and nut shells which were used in making masks.

November 11, 1918

  • The Armistice was signed. Kansas celebrated with parades and prayer services.

Approximately 83,000 Kansans served in the war, including those in the Army, Navy, and Marines, and in the armies of Great Britain, France and Canada.  Many enlisted in the early years of the war, and several distinguished themselves in foreign service.  Kansas had little trouble filling her quotas.  The bulk of the men were in the Thirty-fifth, Eighty-ninth, and Forty-second Divisions.  The Thirty-fifth was a Kansas-Missouri organization composed of National Guard units.  It was trained at Camp Doniphan, Okla., and took part in the Battles of St. Mihiel and the Argonne.  The Eighty-ninth was organized and trained at Camp Funston by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood and also participated in the St. Mihiel and Argonne battles.  The 117th Ammunition Train, sometimes called the Kansas Ammunition Train, was part of the Forty-second, known as the Rainbow Division.  Ten thousand Kansans served in the Navy, and Kansas was the first state to fill its quota in that branch.  One of the largest military camps was established at Camp Funston near Fort Riley.  It had a training capacity of 70,000 men.  Among the outstanding generals in the A.E.F. were Brig. Gen. Harry Smith, Atchison; Brig. Gen. Wilder S. Metcalf, Lawrence, and Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, Manhattan, who was chief of staff to General Pershing.

Two Kansans, George S. Robb, Salina, and Erwin R. Bleckley, Wichita, received the Congressional (sic) Medal of Honor, Bleckley’s being posthumously awarded.  The number of Kansans killed or wounded was about 2,680.

Following is a list of Kansans who received the Distinguished-Service (sic) Cross for “extraordinary heroism in action” in World War I.  The list was compiled from American Decorations, published by the War Department, Washington, D.C., 1927.  It includes native Kansans and others who resided in Kansas at the time of entry into service.  The latter class is designated by an “R.”  Asterisks indicated that the decoration was awarded posthumously.  No equivalent list for the Navy and Marine Corps was available. (1956.)

Ackers, Deane E., Abilene.                 Albright, Fred C., (R) Garland.

Anthony, Clem, Kansas City              Armstrong, Rodney M., Topeka.

Atkins, Moses D., (R) Leavenworth   Avery, Charles D., Emporia

Balch, John H., Edgerton                   *Bayly, Harry E., Jennings

Beeby, Albert E., Hill City                 Benton, Harwood O., Oberlin

*Birch, Albert E., (R), Lawrence        *Blair, Tracy S., (R), Buffalo

Bly, Robert, (R), Fort Scott                Boone, Raymond W., Parsons

Borton, Edward W., Emporia             *Brimer, Frank M., Wamego

Cassidy, Henry K., Fort Scott             Cavenee, Claude E., Rice County

Caywood, Hugh T., Eureka                Cellar, Chester M., Waverly

Chambers, Reed M., Onaga                Champeny, Arthur S., (R), Lyons

Chartier, Pearl D., Clyde                    Chase, John W., Jewell City

Coakley, John L. (R), Kansas City      Colville, George W., Pleasanton

*Comfort, Willis E., Onaga                Condit, George W., Robinson

*Craig, John M., (R), Garnett             Daniels, Francis L., (R), Smith Center

*Davis, Murray, Burlingame              Deeringer, Henry, Formoso

De Lacour, Reginald B., Wichita        Dick, Henry J., Burrton

Downey, Ernest L., (R), Pleasanton    Dozer, Otis V., Cedar Vale

*Drumm, Clarence M., Marshall County

Duff, Eldon A., Lyndon                     Dugan, John I., Anna

Edwards, Hugh F., Hamilton              Evans, Gwilyn, (R), Arvonia

Farber, Lloyd, Hoxie                          *Fenton, Neal D., (R), Hutchinson

Ferguson, Eugene R., Minneapolis     *Fisher, Frank J., Kansas City

Fleeson, Howard T., Sterling              Foust, Benjamin E., (R), Augusta

Fuller, William H., (R), Manchester   Gardner, George W., Traer

Grant, Alfred A., (R), Manhattan        Green, Robert L., Kiowa

Greene, Don, (R), El Dorado              Gump, Noah L., Fulton

Guthrie, Elmer F., Hutchinson            *Hall, William A., Rock

Hamilton, John W., (R), Pleasanton    Hanbery, James W., (R), Pittsburg

Hancock, Glenn F., New Albany        Harmon, John J., Weir

Healy, James A., Fort Leavenworth    *Heffron, Walter R., Kingman

Heiken, Eilert G., Bushton                 Henderson, Henry, Topeka

Heueisen, Frank A., Stafford County  Hollis, George G., Horace

Hood, Robert B., Wellington              Hook, Frederick R., Rossville

Hopkins, Geroge A., Burlingame        *Hopkins, Thomas, (R), Wichita

Hubbard, Willis W., Wellington         Hudson, Ben S., Piedmont

Hudson, Donald, Topeka                   Huebner, Clarence R., Bushton

*Hyman, William P., Minneapolis      Ives, Edwin B., (R), Great Bend

James, Darl S., (R), Kansas City         *Jeffords, Paul, Kansas City

Jones, Ecman T., (R), Ottawa             Kane, Alva, Stilwell

*Kelsey, Harry R., Easton                  Kenoyer, John, Medora

*Kessler, Edward M., Maize              Kindley, Field E., (R), Coffeyville

Kness, Karl F., Wichita                      Kramps, Clarence O., (R), Rosedale

Kyle, Ernest, Acton                           *Lamson, Dwight F. (R), Little River

Lemmon, Fred L., (R), Hutchinson     Levan, Simpson, Linn

Lewis, Stacy A., Silverdale                Light, John C., Plain View

Lindquist, Edward N., Leonard          McAlexander, Ulysses G., (R), McPherson

*McComb, Roy E., Welda                 McCormick, Christie E., Ottumwa

McCoy, Charles Tice, (R), Louisburg *McDaniel, Lee B., McCune

McGee, Edward, Tipton                     McGuire, Leo F., Elgin

McIntyre, John, (R), Topeka              McKay, John W., Thayer

Maddox, John, Gove                          Mails, Mark W., Abilene

Malone, Clayton, Herington               *Marshall, Leroy F., Leavenworth

Martin, Harry H., Emporia                 Mason, Francis W., Wichita

May, Oscar P., Williamstown             Miller, Herbert H., Ionia

Miller, Willis C., McLouth                 Milne, William L., Parsons

*Moore, David M., Sedan                  Moore, Harold C., Morrill

Moyer, Ralph, Argentine                    Mudge, Josiah B., Manhattan

Myers, William R., Carbondale          Neitzel, Albert R., St. Francis

Nichols, Harley N., Kingman             *Noble, Earl S., Bird City

Norton, Everette C., Moran                O’Connor, John Henry, (R), Winfield

Oldfield, Willie, Canton                     O’Keefe, Arthur J., Leavenworth

Palmer, Harry H., Garden Plain          *Pearson, Varlourd, (R), Manhattan

Personett, John E., Lenora                  *Petersen, Leonard, Kansas City

Peterson, Solomon, Atlanta                *Petree, Harris E.,  Lincoln

*Platner, Aaron A., Ellsworth            Polley, John R., (R), Hutchinson

Price, Otto D., Ada                            Quick, Arthur C., Kansas City

Raffington, Charles S., Phillipsburg    *Ramsey, Earl E., Cedar Vale

Ricket, Harry C., Spring Hill              *Ringer, Harvey C., Paola

Roberts, Charles Dewayne, Kansas City

Robins, Emmett W., (R), Wichita       *Rockwell, Mearl Colin, Coolidge

Ross, Leo L., Arkansas City               Rudolph, Edward W., Lyndon

Ryan, C. William, Severance              Ryder, Charles W., Topeka

Sanders, Joseph D., (R), Hoisington   Scoby, Otis C., St. Francis

*Seagraves, Victor L., Jefferson Co.   *Seymour, Quincy C., Rantoul

Shahan, Winfield F., Marion              *Sharp, Thomas V., Osawatomie

Shimeall, Ralph M., Norton               *Sloan, William E., Rush County

Stilwell, Frank, Kansas City               *Strain, Benjamin T., Newton

Strain, James F., Atchison                  Swarts, Ralph E., Arkansas City

Swenson, Karl J., Assaria                   Tarter, Charles M., (R), Chapman

*Tharp, Lewis M., Melrose                Tobin, Richard J., Leavenworth

Tomanek, Frank F., Collyer               Valley, Isaac, Girard

Wahler, Richard, Leavenworth           Ward, Frank B., Winfield

Weaver, Ross E., (R), Concordia        West, Hedford, Ogallah

West, Robert John, Leavenworth        Westergren, Harry Orman, Clearfield

White, Louis D., Hutchinson              Wilder, Marshall P., (R), Manhattan

*Wilder, Thomas E., (R), Macksville  Williams, Frank L., Ellis

Williams, Henry M., Kansas City       Winters, Ray, Bethel

Woods, Howard S., Tyner                  Worden, Robert L., Wellington

 

November 18, 1918

  • The Kansas State Teachers Assn. meetings at Wichita, Salina, Pittsburg and Topeka, scheduled for the last week in November, were cancelled because of the flu epidemic.

November 19, 1918

  • Kansas exceeded its $2,850,000 quota for the United War Work drive.

November 23, 1918

  • Poor ventilation and closed windows were blamed for a new outbreak of influenza.  Forty-three cases were reported at Topeka.
  • Kansas ranked fifth in War Savings stamps sales, with total purchases of $22,360,000, or $11.83 per capita.  The national average was $8.

November 26, 1918

  • Schools were being taught by correspondence in several western Kansas counties because of the flu epidemic.  Elkhart reported 200 cases and six deaths.

November 27, 1918

  • Ninety-five new cases of flu at Topeka resulted in a partial closing order.