Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson

I have received your letter of Saturday with regard to the exemption boards in Wisconsin.

I hope I have not misjudged that situation. Senator Husting has presented this with his usual earnestness to me but, from the very beginning of the operation of the draft law, he has been wrong in his judgment and in his forecasts. He told me at the outset that registration in Wisconsin would be a failure, that Governor Philipp was pro–German in his sympathies and had surrounded himself with pro–German if not disloyal people and would deal so feebly with pro-German manifestations that riotous disorder would certainly take place in Milwaukee. The fact is, however, that no single Governor out of the entire forty–eight has cooperated more zealously with General Crowder, and this I judge from the results. The registration in Wisconsin was a model. The arrangements made for it were speedily and effectively made and, throughout the entire State, with its large German population, there was but one case of trouble, and that was between two men who got into an altercation as to which should be the first to register. Upon my personal direction, General Barry was in constant touch with the situation at Milwaukee, and wrote me reassuringly every two or three days, in spite of the fact that Senator Husting's information was all of contrary character.
When the local boards were recommended by Governor Philipp, I submitted the list to Senator Husting. He kept it for some days, sent it to Wisconsin, had it gone over by his associates and, out of a very large number of nominees, he objected to perhaps four or five per–cent. The only ground of objection being that they were “suspected” of pro–German proclivities. I compared the names of these suspects with the lists kept by the Attorney General's Secret Service Department and found that not a single person indicated by Senator Husting's advisers was recorded in the Attorney General's office as associated with suspects. In several of the cases, Senator Husting's advisers pointed out other difficulties and Governor Philipp at once made other recommendation at our request. When the district boards were nominated by the Governor, I again gave the list to Senator Husting. He kept it several days and finally came to me to say that he had decided to make no recommendations for changes unless I agreed beforehand to recommend to you for appointment all of the changes made by him. This I did not feel that I could do unless I was prepared to show that Governor Philipp had failed at some earlier point in the execution of the law and, of course, I am not prepared to do this. To make an exception of the State of Wisconsin, repudiate its Governor and make it the solitary State in the Union whose district boards were named by a United States Senator would occasion comment, criticism and suspicion which I felt we ought not to arouse – certainly in the absence of proof of its necessity. I therefore wrote to the Senator that I could not make the engagement which he required as a prerequisite to a willingness on his part to make any suggestions. Senator Husting is, of course, an intense and loyal man. He and Mr. Nieman have been very earnest in their fight for loyalty under difficult conditions. I am persuaded, however, that he has gotten into a frame of mind where he suspects upon less ground than would afford a proper basis for action by those of us who are charged with the responsibility for action which must stand criticism.

Respectfully,
Newton D. Baker