Professor Walter's History Lessons

The Love Canal - Superfund Site #1

In the early 1890s, William T. Love designed a canal that would connect the two levels of the Niagra River separated by Niagra Falls, providing the area's growing industrial base with hydroelectric power.  But his dreams never came to fruition.  Because his design was based on the use of DC current with its inherent transmission limits, the arrival of Tesla's overwhelmingly successful AC current, made his design impractical.  Then, in 1892, congress passed a law to protect the falls, preventing the removal of any water from the Niagra River.  Love changed his plans, creating a shipping lane to bypass Niagra Falls to reach Lake Ontario.  He planned a model city around it, wth parks and homes along Lake Ontario. He started digging the canal and built a few streets before his funding dried up.  Only one mile of canal was completed, about 50 feet wide and ten to 40 feet deep.

With the project stalled, uncompleted, the canal solwly filed with water.  Local children swam in it in the summer and skated on it in the winter.  In the 1920s the City of Niagara Falls used the site as a dump.  In the 1940s the US Army used it to dump waste from the Manhattan Project.  The Hooker Electrochemical Company started searching for a location to dump chemical waste.  The Niagara Power and Development Company granted Hooker permission to use the canal for this purpose.  It was drained and lined with thick clay.  Hooker began storing 55-gallon metal or fibre barrels while the city and army continued to dump there.  In 1948 the city and the army ceased dumping, leaving Hooker as the sole user of the canal until 1953.  After that it was covered with soil, and vegetation began to grow over it.  A total of 21,000 tons of hazardous chemicals were dumped at the site.

In 1953, as the canal shut down, the population of Niagara Falls increased, creating the need for a new school.  The local school board attempted to purchase the land from Hooker, but they refused citing safety concerns.  They even went as far as to take school representatives to the site, boring holes to illustrate the latent toxicity of the location.  The board refuesd to listen. When Hooker was faced with the site being condemned or expropriated, they agreed to sell to the board for $1.  To relase Hooker from legal obligations should lawsuits arise in the future, the sale agreement outlined the dangers of the site.

Prior to the delivery of this instrument of conveyance, the grantee herein has been advised by the grantor that the premises above described have been filled, in whole or in part, to the present grade level thereof with waste products resulting from the manufacturing of chemicals by the grantor at its plant in the City of Niagara Falls, New York, and the grantee assumes all risk and liability incident to the use thereof. It is therefore understood and agreed that, as a part of the consideration for this conveyance and as a condition thereof, no claim, suit, action or demand of any nature whatsoever shall ever be made by the grantee, its successors or assigns, against the grantor, its successors or assigns, for injury to a person or persons, including death resulting therefrom, or loss of or damage to property caused by, in connection with or by reason of the presence of said industrial wastes. It is further agreed as a condition hereof that each subsequent conveyance of the aforesaid lands shall be made subject to the foregoing provisions and conditions.

Hooker made it clear that they believed the site should be sealed off so that no harm may come from it, but the board still began construction of the 99th Street School at the location.  In January 1954, the architect informed the board that excavation of the site had found 55-gallon drums containing waste, and that it would be poor policy to build there since they could not know whether waste could damage the school foundation.  The board moved the school location eighty feet north of the canal.  In 1955 the school opened with a population of 400 students.  The same year part of the canal collapsed, exposing toxic chemical drums.

In 1957 construction of sewers began to support new homes built along the canal.  In the process, the protective clay around the site was punctured multiple times, allowing toxic chemicals to seep into the ground water.  Owners of the new homes were not aware of the site's past. The spring of 1962 saw exceptional rain, and a new expressway funneled water toward the canal.  The canal overflowed and people reported puddles of oil and colored liquids in yards and basements.

A 1976 article, written by Niagara Gazette reporters David Pollak and David Russel, revealed that toxic chemicals were found in several sump pumps.  For over a year, there was no mention of the matter.  When reporter Michael Brown performed an informal door-to-door survey, he found reports of birth-defects and other anomolies.  The residents formed a protest group led by Karen Schroeder.  (Schroeder was a second generation towner and in 1968 her daughter was born with birth defects.)  This brought the attention of the New York State Health Department.  Their investigation found a high incidence of miscarriages.  Additionally, that year there was an explosion in the canal which sped up the process of chemical leaching.  On August 2, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the site a state emergency.  Further testing found that the dump was three times the size officials thought it was.

The site was evacuated and at least 900 homes and buildings were bought out and abandoned.  Many of the homes had barrels of waste sprouting in backyards and a "black goo" seeping into basements.  In 1980 President Carter founded the Superfund, which is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.  The federal law was created to cleanup sites with hazardous substances.  It granted the EPA the right to identify those responsible and compel the parties to clean up the sites.  If the party cannot be located, a special trust fund pays for the cleanup.  The fund was a direct response to another environmental disaster and that of the Love Canal.  Hooker Chemical was found to be negligent but not reckless and was fined $129 million, which was paid by its parent company, Occidental Petroleum.

Today a portion of the area has been rebuilt, but most of it is still sealed off and considered dangerous.  The EPA has deemed it too dangerous to remove the over 20,000 tons of chemicals buried at the site.  The New York Department of Environmental Conservation installed a collection system to capture rain water that passed through the canal.  In 1982 a synthetic barrier was added to contain future spillage.

-Professor Walter

The Guillotine - An invention that improved the life of horses

The guillotine was implemented in the midst of the French Revolution during the last decade of the 1700s as a method to execute all class levels, with the first such execution occurring in 1792. The device became a part of popular culture and was celebrated by supporters of the Revolution.  One often missed benefit was the relief it gave to horses.  

Before the guillotine became the standard in France, many other methods of execution were used.  One of them was for a person to be drawn and quartered by chaining the condemned's arms and legs to four horses who would then pull the body in all directions until it ripped apart.  Unfortunately for the horses, human bodies are fairly resilient. Sometimes the bodies refused to to cooperate before the horses were worn down. The executioner would then have to slice the arms and legs at the joints to "help" the horses out before they were too tired to continue the execution.

-Professor Walter

Nasal Radium Irradiation NRI

Between 1948 and 1954, John Hopkins Hospital began working on a federally funded experiment to shrink the adenoids of Baltimore City school children.  582 third grades had metal rods inserted into their nostrils with a sealed capsule of Radium-226 (50 milligram source strength) on the end. These rods were held in place for 10 to 12 minutes, three to four times, a few weeks apart. The intent was to determine the affects of radium on long term hearing loss. The procedure was performed on 20,000 military personnel for a shorter duration.

The practice was originally introduced in the United States in 1926 as a treatment to shrink swollen lymphoid tissue in the region of the head near the back of the nose. It was considered good medical practice to treat a number of ailments in the head and neck this way throughout the 1960s.  In the Netherlands children received the same treatment at nine doctor's offices as late as 1981.

The results were not good. A later Hopkins study found that there was an 8.8% increase in brain cancer deaths over the lifetime of each of the 1,000 children. The exposure levels to radiation were higher than those who survived the atomic bombings in Japan.  In 1995, further research determined the number who had been exposed was actually 1.2 million total. This is a rare example where a large portion of healthy children were exposed at an early age. While this has become a hidden tragedy for those who dealt with cancer and other related side effects, this has the potential to become a treasure trove of information for children who are receiving radiation treatments for cancer.  The way in which the earlier exposed children exhibited symptoms may help us to treat those who may run into similar symptoms in the future.

-Professor Walter

You may read more about Nasal Radium Irradiation at The National Cancer Institute's website.

Carry Me Back to Old Virginia

Yesterday we took a look at the state song of Maryland, "Maryland My Maryland" and its Civil War origins.  Another state song whose origins are tied to the conflict is that of Virginia, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia".  The song was written in 1878 by James A. Bland, who was an African American song writer who penned over 750 in his lifetime.  The song is sung from the perspective of a former slave at a time where many former slaves were struggling to find work.  The original version was "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" but Virginny was replaced with Virginia in 1940 when it became the state song.

Within the past two decades the song has been re-examined and criticized for what many perceive as a nostalgic view of slavery.  Defenders of the song often claim that it is a statement on the hardships African Americans faced in the years after the war.  Others believe that the song is emphasizing how bad it was after the war by suggesting that slavery was better.  The matter was brought to the Virginia Senate and on January 28, 1997, the measure was passed to move Carry Me Back to Old Virginny to State Song Emeritus while a search for a new song could be conducted.  At this time a new one has not yet been selected.

Carry Me back to Old Virginny 
Written by James Bland

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where the old darkey's heart am long'd to go,
There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.

CHORUS

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live 'till I wither and decay,
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darke'ys life will pass away.
Massa and missis have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore,
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.

-Professor Walter

Witold Pilecki - Concentration Camp Inmate... By Choice

WWII began at the moment when Germany invaded Poland in 1939.  Poland quickly fell, but soon the Polish resistance formed.  Witold Pilecki, a soldier in the resistance, planned and volunteered for a mission that few would ever consider.  He volunteered to be imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp to gather intelligence for the allies.  His efforts and selfless sacrifice were essential in convincing the allies that the Holocaust was taking place.

While imprisoned he smuggled supplies inside and sent photos out.  In 1943 he, along with another inmate, overpowered a guard and escaped along with Nazi documents.

Once outside he continued to work with the underground to liberate the inmates in the camp.  He was unsuccessful in attracting the interest of the Soviet soldiers that were within 100 miles, but continued to fight and eventually did see the liberation.  As the war came to a close he worked with the anti-communist groups which feared that Soviet occupation lay ahead for Poland.  His efforts were rewarded by the Soviet forces when he was arrested and then executed in 1948.

He proposed and took on an impossible job that helped to spread the truth of the atrocities of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust.  His loyalty to the government of Poland and anti-communist beliefs led to his execution.  Unfortunately he would not live to see the day when Poland would again be free.  In the revolutions of 1989 the communist regime was overthrown and Polish rule was restored.

-Professor Walter

Income Tax, Prohibition, and Suffrage

In the late 1800s a movement began to pick up steam for prohibition.  Anti-saloon leagues sprang up, and in small municipalities ordinances were passed banning alcohol.  The movement grew and solidified with a national goal of banning all liquor.  One of the great challenges was that men generally did not want the ban, however women did, so women's voting rights became a key goal of the prohibition movement.  The liquor companies, seeing the troubling developments, decided to fight women's rights believing that prohibition was sure to follow, rather than attacking prohibition outright.  At this time WWI was raging in the world and the beer companies with names like Schlitz, Anheuser-Busch, and Pabst were painted as supporters of the Kaiser in Germany.  In 1919 the 18th amendment passed using the women's vote which was guaranteed in the 17th amendment.  Liquor was no longer legal.

But the passing of prohibition left more lasting effects than women's rights.  One of the most significant effects, which is still questioned by many politicians, is the 16th amendment passed in 1913 establishing income tax.  Prior to that point the Federal Government received 40% of its income from liquor taxes.  Clearly prohibition could not succeed with the government dependent on this source of revenue.  The solution was income tax and with the passing of the new law, the revenue issue was settled.  However, prohibition did not work as well as many expected.

Speakeasy's sprung up spreading illegal liquor.  Organized crime grew and the benefits expected from the ban did not materialize.  Exceptions to the law, which allowed for those who had liquor to keep what they had, or for medicinal and sacramental purposes, bypassed the law.  One woman actually purchased a liquor store before the amendment passed so that she would have an ample supply on hand in her basement.  In 1933 the 21st amendment repealed the 18th, making liquor legal again.  Women's voting rights and income tax survive to this day.

-Professor Walter

May 10th, 1933

In the year 1933, Nazi authorities worked to bring all professional and cultural groups into synchronization with Nazi ideology and policy.  As part of this Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, started an effort to push German art and culture in line with Nazi goals.  Early steps in this were the elimination of cultural organizations that were Jewish in origin, politically suspect, or defined as "degenerate" by the Nazi authorities.  Goebbels called on the National Socialist German Student's Association for assistance.  The group consisted of many members of various Nazi ranks.  They were ultra-nationalistic and antisemitic, as well as being highly vocal for decades after WWI.

Their efforts were guided toward a purge of un-German works, support of well known Nazi figures, and mobilization of university students wherever possible.  On may 10th, 1933 they reached a new pinnacle in their efforts to purge that which was not German:  In a symbolic act, university students burned at least 25,000 volumes that were considered "un-German".  This one act pre-staged over a decade of censorship to come in Germany.  That night students took to the streets in torchlight parades.  Stolen and unwanted books joined the un-German ones in the bonfires.  There were bands playing, it was a celebration.  Goebbels spoke to the crowds, 

"The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end. The breakthrough of the German revolution has again cleared the way on the German path...The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character. It is to this end that we want to educate you. As a young person, to already have the courage to face the pitiless glare, to overcome the fear of death, and to regain respect for death - this is the task of this young generation. And thus you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past. This is a strong, great and symbolic deed - a deed which should document the following for the world to know - Here the intellectual foundation of the November Republic is sinking to the ground, but from this wreckage the phoenix of a new spirit will triumphantly rise."

By the next morning thousands of works of literature were destroyed.  Further book burnings in other regions occurred on their "rain dates" due to weather.  Blacklisted authors' works vanished from Germany. In 1946, when Nazi Germany had been defeated, the occupying forces held their own book and art destruction as part of the allied denazification.  In that purge over 30,000 titles were confiscated.

On that day in 1933 the works of beloved German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine were destroyed.  In his 1820-1821 play he spoke out on the burning of books.  

“Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen"

"Where they burn books, they will also burn people."

-Professor Walter

Revising Literature for the greater good

Roald Dahl was one of the greatest authors of the 20th century penning such classics as The Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  His legacy extends to virtually every child in the western world to fans of the original Twilight Zone where his story, of the wife who murdered her husband by beating him with a frozen leg of lamb and then feeding the murder weapon to the police, became an episode.  His stories often had a dark tone differentiating them from many other works of the time.  Arguably his best known tale is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with its iconic Oompa Loompas.  What many do not realize is that the Oopma Loompas were revised for reasons of political correctness.  Originally they were black skinned pygmies from Africa.  The NAACP and other groups saw reflections of slavery in the novel.  For that reason in the second edition they were revised to be dwarfs from Loompaland with light skin and long brown hair.  In the iconic 1971 film the Oompa Loompas were changed to have orange skin and green hair to avoid the issue all together.

-Professor Walter

Listen to your Mother, sometimes one vote really does count

When the United States was founded women had no right to vote.  In the decades that followed a movement built to grant women those rights.  In 1916 the National Women's Party was formed with the intent of guaranteeing the right to vote.  Great women such as Susan B. Anthony spoke up for the right, and when, in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson gave his support to the cause it gained a significant following.  In 1919 the House and Senate passed the 19th constitutional amendment, guaranteeing the right, which was then sent to the states for ratification.  Thirty six must approve it for the amendment to take affect. 

By the summer of 1920 thirty five states had ratified the amendment.  Four states had been called upon to hold a special session.  Of those four, three refused.  It was Tennessee that agreed.  The debate was fierce within the Tennessee House, finally coming down to 48-48 with the deciding vote on one man's shoulders. 

Twenty-five-year-old Harry T. Burn had made up his mind on which way to break the tie, against the amendment, until he received a letter from his mother.

Dear Son:

Hurrah, and vote for suffrage!  Don’t keep them in doubt.  I notice some of the speeches against.  They were bitter.  I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet.

Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt^[1] put the “rat” in ratification.

Your Mother.

Burn cast his vote in support and the amendment officially became the law of the land.  Anti-suffragist protesters were furious that Burns had changed his mind.  Burns hid in the attic of the Capitol until it was safe to return home.  There are tales of him being chased down the street.  When asked why he did what he did he responded:

I believe in full suffrage as a right. I believe we had a moral and legal right to ratify.
I know a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.

-Professor Walter

1. Carrie Chapman Catt was a field organizer with Susan B. Anthony.  She founded the League of Women Voters.

Yankees and Slaves Need Not Apply

On November 9th, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States of America.  In the US Patent office Rufus Rhodes, an employee from Mississippi, wrote to the governor of his state to express his dismay at the election.

"I cannot with my views hold office under a republican President a single instance of time without a total sacrifice of my self-respect. To do it would involve not only a loss of my own self-respect, but brand me as a disgraced and dishonored man in the estimation of all for whose good opinion I am anxious – namely the southern people. I regard the election of Lincoln as a verdict against the equality of the southern states on the part of the sectional majority of the north...."

Rhodes left Washington D.C., probably before Lincoln was sworn into office and went into the newly formed Confederate States of America.  On March 4, 1861 the provisional Congress of the Confederate States authorized the filing of patents utilizing the same language as the United States Constitution.  The Confederate Patent Office was created and Rufus Rhodes was appointed it commissioner.  Quickly Rhodes created the Rules of Practice and Procedure following the standards set forth by the United States with only a few changes.  First, the Confederate Patent office would allow the revival of US Patents in the Confederate office.  Second aliens were permitted to apply for and receive patents provided their government had recognized the Confederate States of America and was on good relations with them.  With this provision Yankees were barred from receiving patents.  Finally, if the invention was made by a slave, their master would receive the patent instead.

The new office became busy quickly as inventors were proud to patent their new creations to speed the success of the war effort.  The first patent was for a breech loading gun, another famous one was for the CSS Virginia, the Confederate Ironclad.  Throughout the short life of the Confederate Patent Office Rhodes would be a force to maintain order.  When it was proposed in 1863 that the patent office simply record all patents and not verify their authenticity Rhodes wrote against the change successfully.

"By making the Patent Office an office of record merely, patents would be granted to all applicants indiscriminately, and endless confusion, conflict and litigation, would inevitably result."

As the war reached its conclusion the patent office ceased operations just as most Confederate offices did.  When Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond he took the government's records including some of the patents.  Those left behind were burned by US General Grants troops when they site fire the the building that housed them.  The remaining records that traveled with Davis were used as made-do newspaper material since paper was in short supply in the south.  Unfortunately those documents are now lost to history, the only surviving copies were those held by the patent owners.

-Professor Walter

Read more about the Confederate Patent Office here