page_title: Wisconsin State Journal
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Wisconsin State Journal / History / World War I
caption_attribution_description: Front page of the Wisconsin State Journal, March 19, 1918
context_page_description: The Wisconsin State Journal is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September 2018, the Wisconsin State Journal had an average weekday circulation of 51,303 and an average Sunday circulation of 64,820.
  The staff of the Wisconsin State Journal were named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2012 for their coverage of the "27 days of around-the-clock protests" at the state Capitol during the 2011 Wisconsin protests. Its editorial board was named a Pulitzer finalist in 2008 for its "persistent, high-spirited campaign against abuses in the governor's veto power."
context_section_description: As Congress debated entering World War I, Jones changed the paper's stance from one of  pacifism to "preparedness." Jones quickly soured on Sen. La Follette's stand against the war. He used the paper to viciously attack his former friend and hero in scathing editorials that accused him of being disloyal and a pro-German agent. La Follette responded by suing Jones and the State Journal for libel. Jones was later forced to recant these accusations during the subsequent trial in 1919. Editor Evjue could no longer tolerate the personal attacks on the senator's character, and in September 1917 he resigned. Three months later he founded the Capital Times, which became the State Journal's main competition for the next nine decades.
  As World War I raged on, Jones continued his virulent attacks on La Follette and anyone who supported him while heartily endorsing the formation of Loyalty Leagues. When La Follette criticized war profiteering by armaments manufacturers, Jones responded with charges of price-gouging by small local merchants, which drove some of those businesses to move their advertising to the Capital Times. In 1918 Jones' trumpeted his opposition to a La Follette-backed candidate for U.S. Senate, urging readers to "DECIDE STATE'S LOYALTY TODAY" in a blaring primary-day headline.
  On July 19, 1919, Jones sold the State Journal to the Lee Newspaper Syndicate (now Lee Enterprises) of Davenport, IA, with A. M. Brayton becoming publisher and editor. In February 1921 the State Journal purchased its long-declining competitor, the Madison Democrat, ceasing its publication.
caption: In the spring 1918 primary election the State Journal urged readers to vote for Republican Irvine L. Lenroot for U.S. Senate instead of Sen. Robert La Follette's preferred candidate, James Thompson.
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