Editor’s note: The following is a new feature “100 years ago in Sumner County.” We decided to look back at various aspects of life in Wellington and Sumner County.  It’s fun to see how life has changed, and how life really hasn’t changed. We’re also going to up the game and look at what was happening 50 years ago in awhile in the near future. Today will be a full feature. Thereafter, it will mostly be snippets. 

by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — Sometimes people say they miss the “good old days” when life was simpler, better, and the skies were always blue.  Others say we have made some progress in having freedom for all people and some say we have a long way to go.

A recent look at newspapers from 100 years ago shows just how far we have come. The (Wellington)  Press-Monitor for June and December of 1918 shows a world few of us would recognize, or put up with today.

There was talk of wheat and that sounded very familiar in the June edition. Farmers were apparently getting “war time prices” for their wheat, which was about twice what was normal.  In the summer of 1918 the weather had not cooperated and the crop was not quite as good as normal but they were happy with the higher prices. Sounds pretty familiar.  It said there was less wheat planted in 1918 but the article does not say why.

World War I was raging in 1918, but not for long. On November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed, But in June of that year, there was still plenty of concern about the war in the pages of the Press-Monitor, and the war officially ended in November of that year. By December, the war was hardly mentioned in December of 2018 – at least that was the case in the local press.

But that sure wasn’t the case six months earlier. According to the Press Monitor June 28 was War Savings Day in Sumner County. There were meetings set for that day in Wellington and in every community in the county.

This was when you could pledge to buy war savings stamps. This was essentially a savings bond, but was also presented as a loan to the government to help pay for the war. People would get four percent compounding interest.

One stamp in June cost $4.17, and there were prices for the following months as well, so you could pledge to buy the stamps whenever you wanted. With compounding interest, one stamp for $4.17 would be worth $5 on Jan 1, 1923. Fifty stamps cost $208 and would be worth $250 on Jan. 1, 1923.

There was a limit of $1,000 per person, but each member of a family could get that amount, even children.

You could get your money out early if you had a dire emergency.

That’s how it worked, and here is where it gets interesting.

Each town, or community, had been given a quota of how much it was expected to buy in war stamps. Those communities were  “expected” to produce the quota of stamps. It was not said what would happen if they failed to do so, but the paper was confident the county would reach its quota as it had in the past.

The Press Monitor wrote on its front page.

“The Government of the United States expects all the citizens of every school district and county to subscribe for its quota of war stamps, and pledge themselves to save and economize to win the war. Show yourself and your neighbors to be loyal Americans who our government can count upon.”

The paper also noted that records would be kept of what was pledged and purchased. Everyone was expected to attend the meeting, though the article does not say what would happen if you did not. It did note, however, that records were also kept of those who did not attend, and those that did not buy war stamps and why they did not.

There was also a story in a later edition about how a German man, called an “eccentric German farmer”  was jailed after getting into a fight at the meeting. He refused to buy the war stamps and apparently words were exchanged with someone, and that led to a physical fight.

He was then charged with failing to register as an enemy of the United States, which all German non-citizens were required to do. He was also castigated in the paper for not having managed to get his citizenship even though he had been in the United States for many years, and had lived near Wellington for some time as well.

According to the article he was going to be transferred to Wichita to face the failure to register charge. He was not facing any charges as a result of the fight.

Also in the pages of the paper was a story about how June 5 had been the day for men who had reached the age of 21 in the past year were required to report to register for the draft.  There was a draft board building in Wellington where all the 21 year-old men were required to go to register.

The article stated: “the number being very much smaller this year naturally.” It did not say why those numbers were smaller, perhaps they knew the war was about over.

The article said “205 native whites and three negroes” registered. It said no Indians or foreigners registered.

It went on to explain how draft numbers would be assigned randomly and people would be notified later as to their number and the order the numbers would be taken.

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