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Few figures from history can boast as varied a career as that of George R. Lunn. A native of Iowa, Lunn worked early in his life as a newspaper salesman, a grocery wagon driver, an insurance agent, and a librarian. After serving in the Spanish American War, Lunn entered the ministry, soon serving in a fashionable church in Brooklyn, and later a similar church in Schenectady, New York. The young minister's progressive ideas irritated many of his wealthy parishioners, so he started an independent church at Schenectady, and called it the United People's Church.
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He continued to speak on social issues from the pulpit, and was soon denouncing Schenectady's corrupt city machine. Lunn eventually joined the local Socialist party, a strong organization in this working class town dominated by the General Electric Company. Socialism had a relatively good name in the town thanks in part to the socialism of one local hero, the electrical wizard Charles Steinmetz. Lunn ran for mayor on the Socialist ticket in 1911 and won. Winning 43 percent of the vote against a divided opposition, Lunn capitalized on citizens' disgust at dishonesty and cronyism in city government.
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Lunn's administration brought many improvements to Schenectady, including a new fiscal integrity, an expanded park system, fair play by police during strikes, and expanded programs for public health. Lunn won the gratitude of union men everywhere when he visited and spoke to striking textile workers at nearby Little Falls. Lunn began his talk to the strikers by observing "I am glad that I live in a country where men have the right to strike," and was arrested immediately. Convicted at his trial, he served one day in jail before his attorney filed an appeal and he was released.
Mayor Lunn took steps to help working class people by founding a municipally-owned ice plant. Private ice dealers were horrified and took legal steps to block the new city-owned plant. Finally Lunn and his Socialist colleagues had to start a privately owned co-op, George R. Lunn & Associates, to own and run the plant. Later, Lunn & Associates also ran a coal plant. Several other Socialists banded together and started a cooperative grocery. The ice enterprise was killed by mother nature when a warm winter led to a scarcity of natural ice. The coal company did not flourish either, although the cooperative grocery did prove long-lived. Even the ice and coal operations enjoyed some success in forcing private companies to lower their prices.
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In the midst of his mayoral term, local Socialists tapped Lunn to be their congressional candidate of 1912. Eugene Debs, himself on his way to winning nearly a million votes for president, dropped by to give Lunn a hand in campaigning. Lunn lost, and blamed the presence of another third party candidate, Progressive Edward Everett Hale. Others saw socialism as a Schenectady aberration, and were not surprised that Lunn did not do well in the larger world of a congressional district.
Lunn's 1913 bid to be reelected mayor was a nightmare from the start. It was clear the two major parties were willing to do anything-even unite-to defeat socialism in Schenectady. The "Citizens' Party" convention was called together by representatives of General Electric management, the area's largest bank, and the local college. Democrats and Republicans united behind Citizens' party candidate J. Teller Schoolcraft. In fact the entire business community was arrayed for Schoolcraft, and Schoolcraft's only issue was anti-Socialism.
Lunn challenged Schoolcraft to say which part of Lunn's platform he opposed--City parks? Cleaning up the Mohawk river? Preventing municipal graft? Local union groups were firmly in Lunn's camp, and they attacked Schoolcraft for using political buttons made by non-union labor.
In many ways, Lunn could be proud of the 1913 election results. He polled 900 votes more in 1913 than he had two years earlier. The problem was that he now faced a united opposition, where he had not in 1911. His percentage of the vote now climbed to 45, putting him closer to a majority than he had been two years earlier. Still, the fact remained that Lunn had lost, and that the people of Schenectady had decided not to try the Socialists for a second term.
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The 1915 election was a case of the agony and the ecstasy for Schenectady Socialists. This time the Democrats, Republicans, and Progressives each fielded separate slates, and the Socialists were able to climb back to victory against a divided opposition. This time, though, just after the election, old divisions within the local Socialist party began to fester.
The divisions grew out of the Socialist party's traditional belief that the party local organization had final control over the actions of any Socialist elected official. In other words, Lunn must do the bidding of his Socialist local. This potential problem became a real problem in the area of appointments. Typically the local Socialists clamored for jobs with the city, while Lunn preferred to bring in nonpartisan experts from many areas of the country.
In Lunn's first administration each crisis was smoothed over as it developed. In his second administration the crisis was beyond smoothing. The final break came when Lunn nominated several non-Socialist city officers. He also nominated a "renegade Socialist" for the post of track inspector. Track inspector-designate Robert Bedford was a Socialist, but had made enemies in the party when he had once refused to support a certain Socialist nominee. While the Socialist local could support the other Lunn nominees, they refused to allow Lunn to appoint Bedford. Ironically Lunn's Socialist administration broke apart over Lunn's lame claim that no one else could inspect tracks better than Robert Bedford.
Lunn appointed Bedford over his Socialist colleagues' objections, and the Socialist local put Lunn on "trial." The result of the trial was Lunn's expulsion from the party, and after experimenting with a "Social Democratic" label Lunn became a Democrat. Some have suggested Lunn picked the fight, realizing he would have to leave the party. He did not want to take orders from the local Socialist party during his second term.
Although elected as a Socialist, Lunn finished out his term as a Democrat. In 1916 he ran a second time for Congress, this time as a Democrat. He was victorious, and served simultaneously as mayor and congressman. Later, Lunn won election to additional mayoral terms as a Democrat. The capstone of his career was being elected Lieutenant Governor, serving under Governor Al Smith.
Few politicians can boast as varied a career as George R. Lunn: from reform minister to one of America's most successful Socialist mayors, to colleague and confidant of Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith.
For the collector, there are a number of buttons picturing Lunn, all black and white cellos. Two mention party, both Socialist mayorals. The one with the plain white background can be dated to 1915 because the back is impressed with the name of Bastian Brothers. Bastian was not impressing the back of its buttons with the company name as early as 1911 or 1913. It seems logical that the other Socialist Lunn mayoral, with a white ring around the rim, is from 1911 or 1913, though it is impossible to say for sure. The Lunn congressional button could date from either 1912 or 1916, and thus could be either Socialist or Democratic. Yet since Lunn was including the Socialist party name on his mayoral buttons dated 1915 and earlier, it seems likely that this button without party identification is from Lunn's Democratic run in 1916.
The two Lunn mayorals without party name may be from his Democratic period. The portraits on these buttons seem to show an older Lunn (particularly the pin at left in the group below).
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Two related buttons do not picture Lunn. One is from Lunn's "private" ice company he helped launch as mayor when the courts invalidated the city's efforts to start a municipal ice plant. It is a red, white, and black cello made by Whitehead & Hoag, urging customers to support George R. Lunn & Associates. The other button is an early black and white litho with the words "Friends of Steinmetz" and a photo of Charles P. Steinmetz. Unfortunately it isn't certain that this item was from one of Steinmetz's two runs for office (both times as a Socialist)--for President of the Schenectady Common Council in 1916 and for state engineer in 1922. It's certainly possible the button could have had other uses, celebrating Steinmetz as an engineer, as a social activist, or used as some kind of Socialist fund raiser.
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| We Use Citizens' Cooperative Ice. Do You? |
All these Lunn and Steinmetz buttons are relatively scarce, although given their lack of color and Lunn's current lack of real fame the prices are not sky-high. The ones that name the Socialist party generally command higher prices than the others. The ice company cello, although not a campaign item, comes up rarely enough that it should command a respectable price at auction the next time it appears.
| © 1996 by Stephen Cresswell |
For more information, see Arnold Kaltinick, "Socialist Municipal Administration" (1982 dissertation); also National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1950), vol. 36; also Biographical Dictionary of the American Left (1986).