Today -100: April 11, 1922: Europe needs quiet

Germany rejects the Reparations Commission’s demand for Allied control of German finances and massive new taxes.

The US Supreme Court rules that citizens of Puerto Rico do not have a 6th Amendment right to trial by jury for misdemeanors. Chief Justice William Howard Taft says, “Puerto Rico belongs to the United States, but is not part of the United States. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory and even though Puerto Ricans have American citizenship, they do not have the same rights as the common American citizen.” Since the case was one of criminal libel, this effectively means that Puerto Rico doesn’t have 1st Amendment protections either. The Biden Administration continues to rely on this and the other Insular Cases in claiming that US possessions are not strictly part of the United States and their residents have only those rights specifically given them. A 2020 Circuit Court case, for example, ruled that goods arriving in the US Virgin Islands could be searched without a warrant.

A Puerto Rican grand jury calls for indictments against Gov. E. Mont Reily, his secretary, and an auditor, for misappropriation of funds.

At the Genoa Conference, everyone is talking about Russian Foreign Minister Georgy Tchitcherin’s silk top hat. There were long debates back home over whether he should wear this bourgeois affectation, but he was ordered – ordered! – to buy one (in Berlin along the way to Genoa) and wear it. Then he mislaid it at the border with Austria and had his train stopped while a courier was sent to retrieve it. There’s probably a metaphor in there somewhere.

Lloyd George makes a speech at the conference that doesn’t even mention the hat. “There is no real peace in Europe,” he says. “Fighting has ceased, but snarling goes on, and as there are many dogs in every country who imagine that the louder they bark and the longer they bark the deeper impression they make of their ferocity, Europe is deafened with this canine clamor. It is undignified, it is distracting, it destroys confidence. It wrecks the nerves of a nerve-racked continent, and we shall make a real contribution to the restoration of Europe if at this conference we can stop that snarling. Europe needs quiet. We can get peace if we act together, but not if we act in a spirit of greedy vigilance over selfish interests.” French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou, who may have recognized himself in that last bit, says: “The French delegation will never pronounce one word of hate. It desires no one’s humiliation. ... It is inspired by good faith and good will.” FACT CHECK: No it isn’t.

NYC Police Commissioner Richard Enright calls up the police reserves “as emergency attack on the alleged crime wave which he says does not exist.” The 75 motorcycle cops normally used to halt speeders will patrol the streets at night. Enright asks the public to lend cars and horses to the cops.

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