Axe Men on Parade

Some musicians call their instrument an "axe",
a slang term found in the lingo of jazz and pop music.
It's a common nickname for a guitar or saxophone,
but sometimes other wind, brass, and string players use it too.

Musicians regularly talk about working on their playing "chops",
taking the instrument to the "woodshed" to better master their part.

 

These curious idioms have been around a long time
but it's rare to see them depicted literally side by side,

bandsmen next to axe men,
both preparing to march in a parade.

 

 

The full photo postcard shows a large assembly of people lined up on a dirt street that divides rows of commercial shops on each side. In the foreground is a brass band dressed in ordinary suits with a mixture of hats and caps. Next to them is a squad of at least a dozen men shouldering axes and wearing matching uniforms. Behind them are more divisions of men and women that stretches down the street far beyond the camera's focus. Throngs of people have gathered for what is clearly the start of a parade.

The photographer helpfully has provided a caption.

M.W.A. Convention
April 6. 1910

 

The acronym M.W.A. stands for Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal benefit society established in 1883 by Joseph Cullen Root in Lyons, Iowa. His principal objective was to form an organization that would provide its members an insurance death benefit to protect their families. The Modern Woodmen of America was originally open to men of any religion, but until the mid-1900s, it was restricted to white males between the ages of 18-45 from the 12 "healthiest" states – Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas.  The society also disqualified men from large urban cities and numerous "objectionable" trades like liquor wholesalers, saloon keepers, railway workers, miners, and gunpowder factory workers.  

 

 

Joseph Root chose the name "Woodmen" from the fabled pioneer woodmen who cleared America's forest to build secure productive communities for their families. The crossed axes badge became the symbol of the M.W.A. and like many fraternal groups of the 19th century it developed a variety of uniform ranks. Its lodges formed axe drill squads called Modern Woodmen Foresters who competed in displays of precision marching and axe swinging. Of course this activity required music which explains why in the postcard the  M.W.A. axe men are surrounded by a brass band.

 

  

In this next photo a group of 14 Woodmen Foresters from the Osage Camp No.250 proudly pose with their axes. Their uniforms are not unlike those of a military academy cadet. Notice that all the axe heads have large embossed letters for the M.W.A.

 

The postcard was sent from Osage, Iowa on 10 August 1910 to Mrs. E. P. Phillipps of Waterloo, Iowa. Osage is a small town in Mitchell County near the border with Minnesota. In 1910 it had a population of 2,445 residents.  

 

 

Hell!  Aunt Betsy how
are you?  Do you know
any one on this picture?
We are having dinner
at Earny's today will
be home some time to
morrow if all is well.
Hope this finds you well
Myrtie & Will

 

 

Not long after he started the M.W.A. Joseph Cullen Root had a falling out with society and was ejected from the organization. So in retaliation in 1890 he created the Woodmen of the World, a nearly identical fraternal benefit society based in Omaha, Nebraska. It is now called WoodmenLife, a non-profit, privately held insurance company. This alternative society also had axes and marched in uniform. In 1907 the Uniform Rank of the W.O.W published a 220 page manual on the society's axe regulations and drill orders. I suspect they were similar codes to what the M.W.A. axe drill squads practiced.

 

Uniform Rank Woodmen of the World
1907 Official Drill Equipment Regulations

 

The photo postcard of the M.W.A. parade was never posted so the location was not identified. One might think that it would be easy to find a reference to a M.W.A. convention in April 1910, but in fact here were several regional and state conventions that year, more than enough to overload the newspaper archive search list. But there was something about the level dirt street in the picture that suggested the great plains of middle America. How about Kansas?

 

Plainville KS Gazette
7 April 1910

 

In the Thursday, April7, 1910 edition of the Plainville, Kansas Gazette there was report headlined: 

          Woodmen Meet

    The fourth annual convention of the Rooks county Woodmen was held at Stockton last Tuesday. It is said bay all to have been the by far the largest and most enthusiastic meeting of the kind ever held in the county. The Stockton Woodmen and the business men of the town certainly stretched themselves to make the meeting a success and that the did so goes beyond all saying.
   The day was fine, and in the early morning delegations began to arrive in rigs and auto from the country and from the south part of towns in the part of the county. Forrester's teams from Alton, Woodston, Webster and Speed were present, as was also the Woodston and Speed bands. The popular idea of the Woodmen goat was carried out with a real Billy in the flesh, decorated and ornamented for the occasion.
   It is said there were over seven hundred Woodmen on the grounds.  

 

 

     _ _ _

 

 

Stockton, Kansas is the county seat of Rooks County, Kansas and in 1910 it had a population of 1,317 which is just a little less than its current population of 1,480. In the photo, one of the banners has letters ston, which match another Rooks County town, Woodston. It didn't take long to find Stockton's Main Street in Google Maps street view. The street is paved with bricks and the buildings are re-muddled, but some of roof cornices and the ornate window frames of the Cash Store remain.

 

 

 

Stockton, Kansas
425 Main Street

 

As the county seat, Stockton had a thriving newspaper which luckily is one of many small town papers digitized on Newspapers.com. On 8 April 1910 the Stockton Review & Rooks County Record published a report on the M.W.A. convention. Conveniently in the column next to it was an advertisement for the Cash Store, whose sign we can see on the awning of the building in the background.

 

 

 

Stockton KS Review & Rooks County Record
8 April 1910

 

The parade was led by a goat, which evidently is another peculiar symbol of the Woodmen, followed by several drill teams of axe men who were much applauded for their demonstration of precision marching. The Stockton and Speed bands furnished the music. The latter under the leadership of an old gentleman, Mr. Travis of Downs, who was 79 years old. The drummer boy was about 10 years old. There was however "much criticism of the Stockton band, which quit in the middle of the parade–or rather the leader quit and went away, leaving the boys in the lurch. We are not blaming anybody, but it looked strange to our visitors to have the local organization lay down at such a time."

 

The article continues by describing the delicious meals served to the more than 600 people in attendance. The big assembly of M.W.A. members was held at the Stockton Opera House that afternoon with several guest speakers. It was followed by a play, Carl Johnson. presented by a theatrical group from Stockton.

 

 

Today, 112 years later, the Modern Woodmen of America remain one of the largest benefit societies in the United States with more than 750,000 members. When Joseph Cullen Root established it in 1883, he was trying to address one of great deficiencies in America—the lack of pensions and life insurance for workers and small businesses. In earlier times a worker's death through illness or accident could devastate a family as public welfare as we know it did not exist then.  Fraternal benefit societies like the Modern Woodmen provided an important financial protection and dependable assistance to families that might otherwise be unable to survive a sudden hardship. They also helped build America's patchwork of communities by linking people together on a state and national scale. So back in the day when a worker "got the axe", it had a different meaning if they were a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. It meant security, not calamity.

 

 

 

 

The Modern Woodmen of America of today
provide a short archival film on YouTube
that shows how the axe drill teams
were once a popular part of the society's history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where royalty is always common.