3 Guys Named Elmer

Next up for our PM profiles was to be Elmer Garner & Son, but, as mentioned, the only source I have for that article is split in half. We’ll work around that.

As I was piling up notes for a Garner entry, it crossed my mind that I had run across other alleged seditionists named Elmer, even more obscure.

The other two Elmers, Hartzel and Soller of Chicago, were entirely memory-holed after their conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

This article will provide you with some source material should you ever want to make a close study of the Hartzel and Soller case.

The gist of the case is… Hartzel wrote 3 anti-war diatribes attacking Britain, Roosevelt and the J-word. One version of the story is that they used a mailing list of about 600 names to distribute these dissident editorials.

Since the war was on, and presumably because someone of influence had received the tracts, the materials were characterized as seeking to cause mutiny among the American armed forces. The prosecutors in these wartime sedition cases had softened the criteria by definition, saying that anyone eligible for the draft was a potential member of the armed forces and susceptible to insubordination due to such ideas as Elmer and Elmer were putting forth.

It was also not necessary, according to the government prosecutors, that the alleged seditionists had intentionally targeted military personnel or eligible recruits.

The very fact that they had broadcast, even with the limited reach of mimeographed letters, ideas and opinions against the approved war effort… well! You just can’t do that.

A third defendant in the Hartzel case was Newell Mecartney, but he was a lawyer and the charges against him were dropped.

Read up on Newell Mecartney here: https://www.andreanolen.com/home/newell-mecartney-a-story-for-our-times

^This account points out Chicago political shenanigans and a vendetta against Mecartney. Maybe the initial ardor with which the administration sought a Mecartney prosecution faded under public scrutiny. The FBI had made a case that something happened, they had expended considerable effort chasing it down, and someone would take the fall for it. Enter the Elmers.

Hartzel’s articles carried the titles “The British: An Inferior Breed,” “The Jew Makes a Sacrifice: The Forthcoming Collapse of America,” and “The Diseased Spinal Cord.”

The text of these articles is available in the court record of their appeal, here: https://books.google.com/books?id=WRMjFIixhWkC

What did Elmer Soller do? He operated a mimeograph machine. In modern terms, he was the guy with a copy machine or office printer.

Elmer Soller was a very minor figure connected to some unpopular opinions. He is almost entirely forgotten. Even accounts of the era don’t bother to get his name right. I have seen him called Soiler (ouch!) and Solner (k) in newspaper wire stories.

Elmer Hartzel didn’t get much better. I am not quite confident that one of the few news photos I have found for him is actually him. Compare the following to the previous photos…

One of the few contemporary acknowledgements of the Hartzel and Soller case is handled by Sage Reference and you may be able to access the article through your school or institution. https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/download/socialhistory-crime-punishment/chpt/1943-primary-document-fbi-memorandum-the-elmer-soller.pdf

Their preview is interesting and scathing…

Hoover's pride in the investigative innovations of the FBI is clear in this memorandum, which Hoover himself describes as an unremarkable case except for the investigative resources brought to bear. Determining the type of paper used in a leaflet, building a database of individuals who would have access to it, and coming up with the leaflet's mailing list was exactly the kind of labor-intensive but drab work that solved many cases.

Elmer Soller, Elmer Hartzel Sedition

The personalities involved as defendants in this case were drab, ordinary types of individuals with no spectacular or particularly interesting qualities. Likewise, the subject matter, the anonymous distribution of literature directed against the country's war effort and morale, although imminently dangerous had it been allowed to continue unrestricted, was not of such a nature as to elicit special, unusual or human appeal. However, considered from the viewpoint of investigative processes and technique, the case is one of engrossing interest and parallels almost any which fiction has been able to offer.

-end cite-

Finally, the Supreme Court overruled the charges and Elmer Hartzel and Elmer Soller were set free.

Further reading:

The British: An Inferior Breed

The Jew Makes A Sacrifice: Forthcoming Collapse of America

The Diseased Spinal Cord