The trial of John H. Wishek, the former state senator and well known banker and businessman from McIntosh County, began in Bismarck on July 9, 1918. Wishek, charged with sedition, faced several counts in the indictment including proliferation of pro-German propaganda and discouraging the sale of war bonds.
The trial’s high profile sparked another rise in anti-German sentiment across the state. Almost daily, authorities in Bismarck received letters demanding that the name of Bismarck be changed. Communications came from practically every state in the union and even from countries allied with the United States. Educators, politicians, preachers, soldiers and students questioned the appropriateness of the name of a noted German leader being used for the capital of an American state. Defenders stated that Prince Otto Von Bismarck was a truly great man who had in no way precipitated the war, and that the name was selected when the world was at peace. To change the name now would denote narrowness on the part of its citizens and would cost the city much in prestige. They also noted that it would cost a significant amount of money to reprint all the maps of the city, county, state and nation.
On this date in 1918, the name question had three Bismarck boys facing charges. Armed with brushes and yellow paint, it was their ambition to eliminate the name Bismarck from every location within the city. Under cover of darkness, they began with the Northern Pacific railway station and then proceeded to several locations, including the Bismarck Tribune, the Bismarck Shoe Hospital, and the Bismarck Commission. At each stop the offending moniker was obliterated. Once caught, city officials couldn’t decide on charges, but eventually considered the adventure a boyish prank.
In an earlier editorial, the Bismarck Tribune itself had commented on anti-German sentiment. They noted that prior to the war, sauerkraut sold for $50 a barrel, but soon after the United States entered the war, it was difficult to sell at $14 a barrel, simply because it was a German specialty. The paper made the following proposal: “In the campaign to knock the German out of everything…may we not knock the high cost out of bread, meat, gasoline, clothes and shoes by giving them German names?” And they mused, “If we could do this, would it not be licking the Germans with German?”
Dakota Datebook by Jim Davis
Sources:
Bismarck Tribune, April 29, 1918
Ibid, July 10, 1918
Ibid, July 15, 1918
Grand Forks Herald, July 19, 1918
