This is an image of The Umpire issue of March 7th 1917

In contrast to modern newspapers, which rely on journalists in the field collecting firsthand information and creating original articles, The Umpire, a prison newspaper, relied on reprinting outside sources to fill its pages with information. Like many prison newspapers, The Umpire would reprint materials due to the lack of resources preventing original content creation. The idea of reprinting was also common practice in small newspaper firms of the antebellum period. ¹ This would allow the firms to overcome resource constraints, gain credibility, and create shared content. For The Umpire, reprinting allowed them to have access to that shared content, enabling its readers to gain access to popular ideas of the time. By examining the information The Umpire has reprinted on Puerto Rico and the West Indies, we can gain an insight into the types of resources they had access to while in prison and how these shaped their ideas of the world beyond prison walls.

In 1898, the U.S. took control of Puerto Rico and its archipelago which included Vieques and Culebra. Although the island did not undergo a name change, many American writers would refer to it as Porto Rico because of the difference in the English and Spanish sound systems. Later, on March 2nd, 1917, the Jones-Shafroth Act was passed placing Puerto Rico under U.S. colonial rule, granting American citizenship to its residents. ² The U.S. bought the West Indies from Denmark in January of the same year. These islands are St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John (St. Jan in Danish). After the US took control, they renamed the group of islands the "US Virgin Islands."

With this historical context in mind, we can compare what happened to these islands to what is written in The Umpire. If what is written in the prison newspaper does not reflect what happened, it can be concluded that there were popular shared opinions present in society that differed from what ultimately occurred. Since The Umpire participated in reprinting practices, it can be assumed that the ideas present in the article are not from within prison walls but from the outside.

The article, titled “Our New Possessions”, was published in the March 7th, 1917 issue of The Umpire. This piece is reprinted almost verbatim from what is believed to be the Boston Evening Transcript, a newspaper referenced a couple of times in The Umpire. Throughout its issues, the editors of the Umpire refer to it as the "Transcript" or the "Boston Transcript", indicating the influence and importance of this source of information for the prison circulation newspaper.

The main topic of “Our New Possesions” is the renaming of the freshly acquired Danish West Indies. The article suggests the new possessions should be renamed the “Dewey Islands” after Admiral Dewey, who defeated the Spanish fleet during the Spanish-American War of 1898. This proposal captures the tendency of Americans to memorialize important figures by renaming acquired territories. Renaming a territory served as a way for the U.S. to maintain cultural control and national pride, which reinforced the idea of American expansionism.

In addition to renaming, the piece mentions the idea of integrating the Danish West Indies with Puerto Rico, another U.S.-acquired territory. At the time the piece was written, Puerto Ricans had not yet been granted citizenship. The article hints at the possibility of the island receiving full territorial status suggesting that policymakers and the public recognize that acquired territories might eventually become part of the Union. This perspective shared in The Umpire sheds light on the mainstream ideas of expansionism and the assumption that acquired territories would undergo integration processes. Having these ideas in the prison newspaper exposes the people at Eastern State to the narratives that acquiring new territories is a natural progression of U.S. expansionism and influence.

The ideas expressed in this article reflect mainstream perspectives, particularly of American expansionism. People in Eastern State were more likely to receive curated versions of current events shaped by cultural attitudes of the time. By examining this article, we can understand how The Umpire provided the people imprisoned at Eastern State access to mainstream narratives that promoted American expansionism in a positive light. In this way, The Umpire had an important role in shaping the worldview of those within the prison. They were exposed to curated information that aligned with U.S. ideologies, ultimately shaping their ideas of the world beyond the walls of Eastern State Penitentiary.

Remembering that Eastern State Penitentiary heavily depended on outside newspapers to inform their readers on world news, I was able to narrow down the month of the Boston Evening Transcript article they used for their piece. Reviewing the historical context, the Danish West Indies were purchased on January 17th, 1917. The Umpire issue discussed above was published on March 7th, 1917. The article mentioned Puerto Rico not being under full territorial status, however, the island was given this status on March 2nd 1917. This signifies that there is a lag in information transmission. The Boston Evening Transcript must have written their article soon after the purchase was made in mid-January. Assuming the original article was published late January, it had to make its way all the way down to Philadelphia, specifically Eastern State Penitentiary. When it arrived at the prison, it must have been read, analyzed, and picked for the specific issue, procedures that take more than a day to achieve. With all of these facts in mind, I hypothesize that the Boston Evening Transcript issue was written late January of 1917 and Eastern State Penitentiary received it in mid to late February for it to be reprinted in their March 7th issue.