Title: William Benjamin Rubin Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1908-1950

Creator:

• Rubin, William Benjamin, 1873-1959

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss P; File 1913 January 21 Oversize; PH 1234; PH 1968

Quantity: 8.3 c.f. (21 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) and 14 photographs (2 folders)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

See the catalog label for information on possible additional materials and shelf locations.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Rubin, a Milwaukee attorney, author, and lecturer, prominent in the labor movement and in Democratic politics, consisting of correspondence with labor and political leaders and Rubin's articles and speeches. Rubin served as counsel in the 1919 strikes by the steelworkers, seamen, and members of Actor's Equity; aided in the 1929 drafting of the first law to prohibit blacklisting of employees by employers; represented the Wisconsin Cooperative Milk Pool in the milk strikes of the 1930's; and was mediator in the J.I. Case Company labor troubles in 1937. For twenty-five years he was also chief counsel for the American Federation of Labor, and traveled widely in Europe and the United States on behalf of the AFL and its member unions. In politics he campaigned nationally in 1918 for President Wooddefitem Wilson and in 1924 for the La Follette-Wheeler ticket; took part in political efforts of Democratic affairs in Wisconsin, but was unsuccessful in bids for the nomination for governor and for appointment as a federal judge. Rubin's most intimate correspondent appears to have been John P. Frey of the Metal Trades department of the American Federation of Labor. Other correspondents include Samuel Gompers and William Green, W. A. Appleton (secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions of London, England), F. Ryan Duffy, William T. Evjue, James A. Farley, John L. Lewis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Henry A. Wallace. Ten letterbooks, 1917-1918, contain copies of outgoing letters from Rubin and his associates in his Milwaukee law firm, which conducted a general law practice involving varied civil and criminal cases. Certificates and photographs are also included.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil0000p

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William B. Rubin, Milwaukee attorney, was born in Russia, September 1, 1873. He came to the United States with his parents at the age of nine, and became a naturalized citizen. He attended the engineering school at the University of Wisconsin; but transferred to Michigan to obtain his bachelors and law degrees. Rubin then established his legal practice in Milwaukee, and except for a short period in 1919 and 1920 practiced there continuously until his retirement in December 1956.

In addition to becoming a highly successful trial lawyer of both civil and criminal cases, Rubin was a labor attorney of national reputation, and author and lecturer. He early displayed a desire to become known as a man of ideals and ideas, evidently feeling that he had a destiny to fulfill in behalf of mankind. Throughout his life Rubin was an advocate of personal liberty, and maintained a keen desire to help bring about social and economic progress. Rubin, who seemed to have an infinite capacity for work, was described as thoroughly honest and stubborn for any position he took; and was the reverse of his own statement that “an inert mind is a parasite on civilization.”

His letters show him to have been a man of positive and progressive ideas, willing to fight in support of his convictions. Among the many points of view expressed were his belief in free enterprise, properly regulated; his conviction that Congress should have the power to override Supreme Court decisions on constitutionality of laws, since laws represent the people's legislation; and his objection to the inquisition-like power of courts and judges. His test of this last objection led to his being cited for disbarment in 1927, and he was not exonerated until the case was tried before the state Supreme Court in 1930.

As early as 1906 he acquired a national reputation as a labor counsel when, in the case of the Iron Molders Union vs Allis Chalmers, he established the American common law rule, or code, governing the relation of capital and labor in labor's right to strike. Dozens of labor cases followed, including his role as counsel in the steel strike of 1919, the strike by Actor's Equity in 1919, and the seaman's strike of 1919. Rubin participated in the drafting of the first yellow-dog-law prohibiting the blacklisting of employees by employers in 1929. In the 1930s, as counsel for the Wisconsin Cooperative Milk Pool, Rubin represented labor in the milk strikes in Wisconsin, and in 1937 was mediator in the J. I. Case labor troubles.

For twenty-five years he was chief counsel for the American Federation of Labor, and traveled widely in behalf of many unions. He carried on active correspondence with union leaders such as Samuel Gompers, John P. Frey, and William Green; and was associated as counsel with men such as Clarence Dardefitem when both he and Dardefitem represented the Illinois and Chicago Federations of Labor.

In 1912 Rubin helped organize the Union Bank of Milwaukee, and for a time was its president; but in 1920 he sold his interest, as he felt the bank had become more involved with following its invested dollar than in helping trade unionism. In 1913 and 1914 he was active in the Provident Loan Society, organized in 1904 in Milwaukee to lend to the poor.

In 1913 Rubin and his wife traveled in Europe so that he could study labor conditions. In 1924 he again went abroad, this time to study Zionism; and the following year, at the request of Samuel Gompers, he went to Germany to reestablish fraternal relations between the AFL and the German labor movement.

Rubin always maintained a sizable legal office, from which many prominent attorneys “graduated.” He employed from two to six assistants, and often expressed a desire to make money in the law mainly to enable him to be free to devote himself to the causes for which he stood. In 1919 he decided to set up practice in New York City, where he thought he could do the most good for the labor movement and “be of more benefit to the things for which I stand” (Letter to Gompers, April 21, 1919). After the six months' residency requirement was fulfilled he failed to be licensed in New York--perhaps due to the opposition of anti-labor lawyers--and he returned to Milwaukee.

As he became somewhat disenchanted with the national labor movement and failed to realize his desire to head its legal division, Rubin turned to politics as his vehicle to advance the people's cause. As a liberal Democrat he became a devotee of Franklin Roosevelt, and acquired a large following among the farm and labor groups in Wisconsin. Previously he had experienced two periods of active political limelight on the national scene: In 1918, on the recommendation of Gompers, President Wilson called on Rubin to campaign in several western states where the labor vote was needed. In 1924, he traveled a month in the East campaigning for the candidacy of LaFollette and Wheeler for President and Vice President

In the thirties and forties Rubin was a stormy petrol in Wisconsin politics. In the state Democratic platforms for 1932, 1936, and 1938 he is said to have written the planks on farm labor, banking, and relief. In 1932, he was defeated in the Democratic primary for governor; and again in 1934, after being defeated in the primary he decided to run in the election as a third candidate, and was again defeated. In 1933 he was defeated in his bid to become a state justice of the Supreme Court. Three times, in 1936, 1939, and 1949, Rubin hoped to receive an appointment as judge of a Federal court, either circuit or district, but failed. He was sometimes described as being too uncompromising and impulsive for the bench. In 1936, he was Delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Convention. Rubin frequently complained of the influence of Philip LaFollette on Democratic appointments in Wisconsin.

William Rubin published two books, The Toiler in Europe (1919) and The Constitution and Democracy (1937), and wrote the play, The Bolshevist (1919), in which he exposed the fallacies of communism. Numerous pamphlets and articles came from his vigorous pen, and he contributed regularly to union publications such as The American Federalist, The Molders' Journal, The Bridgeman's Magazine, The Pattern Makers' Journal, and The American Labor Banner. He constantly furnished editorials and copy for newspapers, especially the Milwaukee papers, the Sheboygan Press, and the Madison Capital Times.

Rubin's first wife, Sonia, died in 1915, leaving one son, Abner, who became a New York lawyer, specializing in theatrical matters. Rubin's marriage of 1925 to Mrs. Borzena Brydlova Grotte, author and playwright, ended in divorce in 1929. In 1935 he married a Milwaukee French teacher, Josephine Geraghty. Although he maintained many of his Jewish ties, Rubin seems not to have remained an orthodox Jew, and was openly opposed to the Zionist movement. In 1927 he debated Rabbi Stephen Wise in Milwaukee, arguing that Judaism is a religion, not a race or nationality. He died in Milwaukee in February 3, 1959.

A letter from William B. Rubin to a friend, January 19, 1926, gives advice which epitomizes Rubin's own thinking and life: “Be militant! Weather all storms. Life is great if you fight for it.”

The collection is divided into six series: Correspondence, Articles and Speeches, Miscellaneous, Letterbooks, Certificates, and Photographs.

Although other lawyers sometimes wrote him asking for advice, Rubin's CORRESPONDENCE is more concerned with labor and politics than with legal matters. He often refers to cases; but the collection contains no legal briefs, and very little detail as to cases. Scattered throughout the correspondence are personal letters and notes, as Rubin kept in fairly close touch with several members of his family.

In general, it is possible to group the correspondence by years to indicate the most predominant subject at certain periods:

1908-1912

Personal letters (small quantity total)

1913-1916

Personal letters and finances; some legal and labor correspondence; letters on the Union bank in 1912-1914

1917-1918

Personal letters; letterbooks contain outgoing mail from Rubin's firm, dealing with a variety of cases

1919-1930

Predominantly correspondence with labor leaders; personal, especially on Rubin's trial (1927-1930); some on national politics in 1924

1931-1944

Mainly state and national politics; some on labor (1937), personal, and Wisconsin Cooperative Milk Pool (1933-1939)

1945-1950

Mostly politics

The correspondence Rubin carried on with national labor leaders, other lawyers, and political associates is revealing as to his own attitude toward labor, his belief in democratic processes, and his political philosophy. This correspondence includes letters exchanged with the following persons of note:

Appleton, W. A. (Sec., General Fed. of Trade Unions, London)	From: July 20, 1922
	From: October 16, 1923
	From: January 15, 1932
	From: May 25, 1932
	From: March 1, 1934
	From: January 9, 1936
Duffy, F. Ryan	1936-1938	Many letters regarding senatorial campaign of 1938.
Evjue, William T.	1930-1942	Exchanges of letters between Rubin and Evjue were frequent. Topics include politics, power of the courts, labor, editorials.
Farley, James A.	1932-1942	Frequent exchanges between Rubin and Farley, in which Rubin often analyzes Democratic failures in Wisconsin.
Frey, John P.	1917-1938	Rubin corresponded with Frey, Metal Trades Dept., AFL, more frequently and more intimately than with any other person. Topics include labor and personal opinions. Comments to Frey reveal Rubin's thinking on Wisconsin Politics also, e.g. letters of February 17, 1933, and February 24, 1933.
Gompers, Samuel	1913-1924	Although the first letter to Rubin from Gompers was in 1913, frequent correspondence between the two did not take place until after 1917. About 34 letters are from Gompers and 63 are to him. Topics include labor in Wisconsin, nationally, and in Europe.
Green, William	1924-1949	Forty-five letters exchanged between Rubin and Green. Topic mainly labor.
Lewis, John L.	From: December 28,30, 1925
	From: January 9,13,27, 1926
	From: February 2,10, 1926
	To: February 28, 1935
Roosevelt, Franklin D.	From: November 14, 1930
	From: November 9, 1932
	From: May 20, 1935
	From: May 12, 1936
	From: November 9, 1936
	To: November 6, 1930
	To Crowley: February 4, 1938
	To: October 4,7, 1940
	To: November 3, 1941
	To: December 31, 1943
Wallace, Henry A.	From: September 15, 1944
Werner, A. Matt	From: July 14, 1938
	From: November 7, 1939
	To: January 17,29, 1940

Most of the ARTICLES AND SPEECHES in three boxes are by Rubin. They are filed alphabetically much as Rubin, himself, kept them. For instance, those concerning labor are filed under “L.”

Of the MISCELLANEOUS items in two boxes, the clippings are worth noting; these are chiefly Rubin's own writings for the newspapers, although some articles are about him. The last box is entirely filled with manuscripts giving information and lists concerning state elections of the 1930s and 1940s.

For the years 1917 and 1918 there are ten LETTERBOOKS containing copies of letters sent out by Rubin's law firm. Since he had associates, many of the letters are by others than Rubin. The firm handled damage suits, claims and notes due, estate work, criminal cases, and labor matters.

Four CERTIFICATES from these papers are in an oversize package in Madison catalogued with the following number: File Jan. 21, 1913. This package contains: Certificate of appreciation, International Molders' Union; Certificate to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, Jan. 21, 1913; Testimonial to Rubin from the United Shoe Workers of America; and a Certificate of Recognition presented by the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of Milwaukee.

The PHOTOGRAPHS are a group portrait of Rubin and the other Wisconsin Roosevelt and Garner electors in 1932[?] and a candid shot of Rubin and others by a “Wisconsin is for Roosevelt and Wallace” sign, Oct. 21, 1940; and portraits of family members, associates, and groups.

Acquisition Information

Presented by William B. Rubin, Jan. 12, 1957.

Milwaukee Mss P	Series: Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1-4	1908, 1910, 1912-1915
Box   2 Folder   1-4	1916-1918
Box   3 Folder   1-5	1918-1921
Box   4 Folder   1-4	1921-1923
Box   5 Folder   1-5	1923-1925
Box   6 Folder   1-5	1925-1928
Box   7 Folder   1-5	1928-1930
Box   8 Folder   1-5	1931-1933
Box   9 Folder   1-4	1933-1934
Box   10 Folder   1-4	1934-1936
Box   11 Folder   1-5	1936-1937
Box   12 Folder   1-5	1937-1939
Box   13 Folder   1-6	1939-1949
	Series: Articles and Speeches	⇧
Box   14 Folder   1	A-I, Index, undated
Box   14 Folder   2	A, 1917, 1921, 1931-1932, 1939, 1942, undated
Box   14 Folder   3	B, 1908, 1917-1918, 1921, 1933, 1937, 1946, undated
Box   14 Folder   4	C, 1914, 1916, 1932, 1936-1938, 1941, 1947, 1952, undated
Box   14 Folder   5	D, 1930, 1937-1938, 1953, undated
Box   14 Folder   6	E, 1913, 1925, 1931, 1947, undated
Box   14 Folder   7-8	F, 1936, 1938-1939, 1941-1943, undated
Box   14 Folder   9	G, 1925-1926, 1938, undated
Box   14 Folder   10	H, 1932, 1941, undated
Box   14 Folder   11	I, 1905, 1908-1909, 1917, 1934, 1941, 1947, undated
Box   15 Folder   1	J-R, Index, undated
Box   15 Folder   2	J, 1905, 1916, 1936-1937, 1947, undated
Box   15 Folder   3	K, 1923, undated
Box   15 Folder   4-5	L, 1905-1906, 1908-1909, 1915-1919, 1923-1924, 1926-1927, 1933, 1936-1938, 1940, 1942, 1947, undated
Box   15 Folder   6	M, 1903, 1916, 1932, 1934-1935, 1944, undated
Box   16 Folder   8	Miscellaneous, 1906, 1909-1913, 1916, 1927, 1930, 1933, undated
Box   15 Folder   7	N, undated
Box   15 Folder   8	O, 1921, 1933, undated
Box   15 Folder   9	P, 1916, 1925, 1937, 1939, 1942, 1945, undated
Box   15 Folder   10	Q, undated
Box   15 Folder   11	R, 1906, 1915-1917, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1949, undated
Box   16 Folder   1	S-Z, Index, undated
Box   16 Folder   2	S, 1916, 1933, 1936, 1940-1941, 1953, undated
Box   16 Folder   3	T, 1938, undated
Box   16 Folder   4	U, 1916, 1919, 1930, 1932-1933, undated
Box   16 Folder   5	V, 1929, 1942, undated
Box   16 Folder   6	W, 1916, 1931, 1939, 1952, undated
Box   16 Folder   7	Z, 1910, 1937, undated
	Series: Miscellaneous	⇧
Box   17 Folder   1	Awards, Membership Certificates, Business Cards, Programs, Cards, and Quotes, 1896, 1915-1917, 1920-1923, 1928-1929, 1932-1933, 1936, 1938-1941, 1944, 1949-1950, undated
Box   18 Folder   1	Democratic Workers in the State, 1932-1944
	Elections
Box   18 Folder   2	Accounts, 1932-1934
Box   18 Folder   3	Presidential Campaign, Miscellaneous Papers, 1944
	State and National Politics
Box   18 Folder   4-5	Miscellaneous Papers, 1940, 1942
Box   18 Folder   6-7	Speeches, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1938
Box   17 Folder   5	Labor Day Address by Rubin, San Francisco Labor Clarion, 1918
Box   17 Folder   7	Manuscript for The Constitution and Democracy, 1937
Box   17 Folder   3-4	News Clippings, 1932-1944
Box   17 Folder   8	Poetry and Prose by Rubin, 1925, 1928, 1933, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1946, undated
Box   17 Folder   2	Rubin-Wickhem Campaign, News Clippings, 1933
Box   17 Folder   6	Tax Receipts, 1912-1915, 1917-1919, 1932-1933, undated
	Series: Letterbooks	⇧
Box   19 Folder   1-4	1917-1918
Box   20 Folder   1-4	1918-1919
Box   21 Folder   1-2	1919
File 1913 January 21 Oversize	Series: Oversize Certificates	⇧
	Series: Photographs	⇧
PH 1234	Rubin and other Wisconsin Roosevelt and Garner Electors, 1932
PH 1968	Portraits