Republican Congressman Esch of La Crosse was first elected to Congress in 1898 and served continuously until 1921, when after his defeat he was appointed to membership on the Interstate Commerce Commission, where he remained until 1928. His district always included the counties of La Crosse, Jackson, and Monroe, although the remaining four or five counties included varied at different times.

Perhaps the most general characterization that can be made in description of the collection is to say that it reflects for a twenty-year period the interests and public opinion toward congressional matters of those counties of Wisconsin centering around La Crosse County. Seldom does one get a clear-cut idea of the issues under discussion, for certain information is assumed; rather, one gets the position of the correspondent on a certain issue. In general, the collection is a sort of thermometer which registers the public sentiment of the area at a particular time.

Railroad Legislation

Among the few subjects which stand out above others is that of transportation legislation. Esch became a member of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce in 1903, and reached the chairmanship in 1919.

From 1904 to 1906 there are occasional letters concerning the Esch-Townsend bill to regulate railroad rates and concerning the Hepburn-Dolliver bill, which as the Hepburn Act of 1906 increased the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission. After the passage of the Mann-Elkins act, in 1910, agitation for railroad legislation did not figure prominently again until complaints of car shortages began in 1916. This subject of the demoralization of transportation was a matter of correspondence until the end of Esch's service in Congress, continuing even after the passage of the Esch-Cummins Act of 1920, which provided for the return of the railroads to private ownership. This law was a controversial issue and considering that it marked one of the high points in Esch's career, there seems to be relatively little in the collection concerning the drafting of this bill which he co-authored.

Connected also with the subject of railroad legislation is correspondence running through most of the collection concerning railway safety appliance inventions and appliance legislation.

Prohibition

A second subject of interest during the period, which is reflected in the collection, is that of prohibition. Beginning with the anti-canteen law of 1901, prohibiting sale of intoxicating beverages in army camps, there is an almost continual interest in one or more varieties of laws to restrict the trade in intoxicating liquors. Among these was the Webb-Kenyon bill of 1912 to prevent shipment for illegal sale of intoxicating liquors into “dry” states. Agitation for prohibition by means of a constitutional amendment continued after the war began in Europe, and egged on by food conservation necessity, grew in intensity until the amendment became part of the constitution in 1919.

Women's Suffrage

Another movement which culminated in an amendment to the constitution was that for women's suffrage. In this collection, activity of the suffragists begins to be reflected in correspondence about 1912, and the suffragists were busy throughout the war.

World War I

The First World War is the subject which is most outstanding in the collection, and it is to the years 1914-1918 that the greater part of the collection relates. Immigration restriction was an issue in 1914, and continued to be until the passage of the Burnett Immigration Act in 1917. Of great interest in 1915 was House Resolution 377 to prevent the exportation of arms and contraband of war to belligerent nations, and related to this issue was rising interest in the matter of preparedness. In the early months of 1916, the McLemore resolution to warn American citizens taking passage on belligerent merchantmen was an intense issue. Of close connection with events of this period is the considerable correspondence connected with the complicated and interesting election of 1916 in Wisconsin, including some minor mention of the activities of the organization known as the Guardians of Liberty.

With the opening of 1917, the protests against and the agitation for entrance into the war were strong and numerous, and as the year wore on, much discussion developed concerning such subjects as espionage, daylight saving, selective service and the size of the army, and censorship of the press. Complaints about the rising prices of food, fuel, and other necessities and concerning speculation were loud. Equally insistent were protests by various groups against certain aspects of taxation proposals.

In 1918, there were added complaints about allowances and allotments to dependents which became snarled in government procedure, about federal regulation, about the alleged breakdown of certain government services, complaints about the fuel administration, about the fact that certain manufacturers did not receive government orders, and concerning labor shortages. There were also requests for assistance by prospective enlistees or draftees, and agitation about failure of wages of federal employees to rise to meet the increase in cost of living.

After the war, there is material on the problems of demobilization, such as requests for aid in expediting discharges. At the same time there came pressure from certain groups for tax reduction, and demands for the repeal of daylight saving, that the government speed up payments for goods purchased in war-time, that universal peacetime military service be adopted, and that some permanent policy in regard to the railroads be formulated.

By 1920 some groups were urging suppressive measures against so-called seditious and un-American activities and bonuses for soldiers. Figuring somewhat prominently is the campaign of 1920, in which Esch was defeated for renomination by, in his own words, a combination of farmers organized under the Non-Partisan League and organized labor, with the issue of prohibition and the Democratic failure to put up a candidate contributing to the lack of success.

General and Miscellaneous

Important matters on which the papers merely touch include the tariff (until 1913), pure food legislation (1906), proposed currency legislation (1908), reciprocity treaty with Canada (1911), Lever bill for aid to agricultural colleges (1912), Clayton anti-trust bill (1914), the Smith-Hughes bill (1916) providing for federal aid to vocational education, and the child labor bill (1916).

There is comparatively little in the collection as a whole on the matter of Wisconsin state politics outside the district represented by Esch. For the district, however, there are letters from local postmasters and others which give some clue as to public sentiment. During campaign years, especially presidential campaigns, there is sometimes correspondence with officials of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the State Central Committee.

On that matter of perennial interest to students of Wisconsin political history, the relation of various political leaders to the progressive movement, there is very little in this collection. The papers show clearly that Esch and La Follette were together in the campaign of 1898, and an occasional letter concerning an appointment in the years while La Follette was governor and even thereafter seems to indicate their continued cooperation. While one might be able, if he combed through every letter in the collection, to trace relations between the two in the dozen years following, it is not clear to what the nature of their relationship was, and from the absence of evidence, it might or might not be presumed that relations were less cordial. By 1920, it is obvious that things were not cordial, for Esch listed among the causes of his defeat for renomination in that year the opposition of the senior senator from Wisconsin.

Among the great number of lesser bills concerning which public sentiment registered may be included proposals to tax oleomargarine, appropriation bills for various purposes, postal rate regulation, bills to improve working and salary conditions of federal employees, uniform bill of lading bill, the Esch bill (1910-11) to prohibit the use of poisonous phosphorous in the manufacture of matches, and La Follette's seaman's bill (1913). Of considerable public interest was the proposed deposition from the speakership of Congressman Joseph Cannon in 1909-1910.

Interesting letters from officials of the Mexican Plantation Company of Wisconsin, beginning about 1902 and continuing for several years, relate to the sugar industry on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in which company Esch held stock. Correspondence with officials of the federal Indian school at Tomah concerns the needs of the school, and there is some correspondence with Indians of the district which throws some light on the character and condition of these wards of the government. There is also at various times correspondence with the Upper Mississippi River Improvement Association about the needs and growing value and importance to commerce of the Upper Mississippi River. A certain amount of information on La Crosse local history is in the collection.

Also included are miscellaneous clippings, 1901-1941, and a group of letters, 1892-1940, primarily of prominent Wisconsin and national political figures, preserved by Esch as an autograph file. Consequently the correspondence tends to be somewhat disconnected in subject and content. Many letters do relate to railroad and interstate commerce legislation, or other topics of interest. However, most are rather routine in nature. Included are letters to Esch from presidents, senators, congressmen, cabinet officers, state governors, army officers, ambassadors, writers, educators, and businessmen of the period.