Ben Salmon one of only four Catholic World War I pacifist suffered for his faith by enduring jail, force-feeding and public contempt for
his convictions.
In 1917, during "the war to end all wars," labor activist Benjamin J.
Salmon announced that he would not serve in the military. He was one of
only four Catholics to resist military service during World War I.
Salmon instantly became a target for contempt.
Catholicism's
"just war" teaching has generally kept it from being considered a
pacifist religion--at least not in the same way as Quakers, the Church
of the Brethren, and Mennonites have been considered (for Mennonite accounts read
I Couldn't Fight). In 1917, there
were no provisions for conscientious objectors of any kind, but members
of the traditional "peace" churches could choose alternative service.
Most Catholics were willing to serve in battle during World War I, in
part because so many of them were immigrants who wanted to prove their
patriotism. Salmon's choices were military duty or prison. He chose
prison.
Salmon was born in Denver to a working class
immigrant family in 1889. He was a devout Catholic who attended Mass
and was proud of his Knights of Columbus membership--until the Knights
kicked him out for his pacifist views.
Salmon refused combat service because he said the gospel forbade
killing. He refused to cooperate with any aspect of World War I because
he believed it was a "capitalist war." He wrote, "If Christians would
have the same faith in their God that the non-Christians have in a mere
materialistic idea, "Thy kingdom come' would shortly be a reality in
this world of sorrow and travail." He also wrote, "Countless millions
of children will be underfed and underclothed and undereducated in the
years to come in order that the debt of the recent hysteria [war] may
be paid to the international bankers."
Salmon's troubles began in December 1917, when he refused to fill out a
questionnaire required for selective service processing. By January
1918 he was arrested, court-martialed and sentenced to death, a
sentence that was later reduced to 25 years in prison. Military
authorities eventually offered him noncombatant service, but Salmon had
vowed total non-cooperation with the military and refused. He remained
in prison, leaving his pregnant wife and dependent mother without
support. During his prison time he was beaten and placed in solitary
confinement. His treatment in prison led him to write, "The safest
place for a man who refuses to fight is in the army."
Although U.S. soldiers began to return home after Armistice Day in
November 1918, Salmon remained in prison. In June 1919, he began a
hunger strike "for liberty or death." He went without food and water
for 13 days. Authorities then moved him to the prison infirmary and
began to force-feed him milk by shoving a porcelain funnel down his
throat. As he continued to refuse food, the government sent him to a
hospital for the criminally insane. The milk diet and force-feeding
weakened him to the point of death. Unwilling to be blamed for his
demise in their hands, the government officials finally released Salmon
in December 1920.
He returned home to a strained marital life and ostracism from the
Denver community. The family eventually moved to Chicago. The religious
life in the Salmon home produced a priest, a Maryknoll nun working in
Nicaragua, and a dedicated Catholic daughter who had 12 children. Ben's
son, Charles, is an ordained priest in the Denver diocese and a
chaplain at the Gardens of St. Elizabeth retirement community.
Charles remembers his father as being "a very charitable individual,"
who showed kindness to relatives and neighbors. Charles admitted that
his father occasionally became distracted with activist life and
"sometimes he slighted his own family just a bit." But he added, "I'm
sure it was not on purpose. He had strong opinions and I believe he was
sincere."
Because of his treatment in prison, Ben Salmon suffered from physical
weakness and stomach ills that led to his early death Feb. 15, 1932.
This was during the Great Depression and times were rough for the
Salmon family. Charles said his mother's father, a successful
businessman, helped the family after that.
Robert Ellsberg, author of All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints,
Prophets and Witnesses for Our Time (Crossroad, 1997), said he chose
Salmon for his anthology because of "the incredible vilification he had
to endure," from the church, his neighbors and his family. Although
some called him crazy and irresponsible, Ellsberg said Salmon was an
incredible witness to the fact that "one's ultimate obligation is to
one's own immortal soul."
Salmon had only an eighth-grade education, but he had an amazing grasp
of moral issues. While imprisoned, he used a Bible and volume 15 of the
Catholic Encyclopedia to write a remarkable 200-page manuscript
opposing the just war theory. He could also be short and to the point,
as he was known to proclaim: "There ain't no such animal as a just
war!" Read his short letter to President Wilson by
clicking here.
