This day in 1918 in the Record

Tuesday, July 9, 1918. “A significant thing was done in Troy to- day, illustrative of German-American sentiment,” The Record reports. “It was the taking down of the great bronze statue of Germania from the top of Germania hall on River street and the consignment of the same to oblivion.” The U.S. has been at war with Germany since April 1917. American public opinion turned mostly against Germany after a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania in 1915, killing more than 100 American passengers. In this environment, German-Americans have been under pressure to prove their Americanism. The Germania statue “had been the cause of comment since the United States went to war with Germany,” our reporter notes, “and suggestion that it should be removed was made to the board of trustees of Germania hall, or as it is properly known, the German Hall association.” A German Hall trustee stresses today that the suggestion was made on the organization’s own initiative by another member of the board. “We are all Americans and have no excuse for an emblem of Germany any more. The figure was out of place and we voted it removed. Accordingly it is being taken down to-day by William Loebel, the contractor who put it in place when Germania hall was dedicated.” The association plans to change the name of the building to something less German, but the trustee tells our reporter that that move will take time. “To bring that about certain legal forms must be observed. We are incorporated as a stock body and must move according to law.”

The trustee assures Record readers that the association won’t restore the statue after the war. Instead, the $1,500 sculpture will be broken up for scrap. A service flag honoring the 208 Trojans of German ancestry currently serving in the U.S. military will go up in the statue’s place. Public Market

Troy housewives find a wider variety of produce available at the Troy public market this morning than they did on last Saturday’s opening day, but an effort by wholesalers to corner the market on potatoes enrages many shoppers.

Under new rules, farmers are encouraged to sell directly to consumers without any middlemen. In many cases, however, wholesalers are buying farmers’ stock before they get to the market and selling them at markedup prices.

“Some of the women were so angry this morning at the action of the wholesalers that they were going to attack the barrels of potatoes which lay in front of the commission merchants’ place of business,” our paper reports. Restraining themselves, the women vow to get the merchants’ licenses revoked.

-- Kevin Gilbert