Today -100: December 4, 1924: Of states of unions, non-Mongolians, and greed

It’s State of the Union time (still not called that, not for another decade). Coolidge doesn’t deliver it in person this time. He says “every American should be satisfied with the present state of the Union.” He wants Congress to pass the tax cut they failed to pass in June. Why, he says, if taxes on the wealthy were “scientifically revised downward,” they might actually yield more revenue while stimulating investment. He has nothing much other than that, just joining the World Court and a lot of vague aspirations not attached to any proposed legislation.

Russia reduces the size of its military to 562,000.

After a minister refused to perform her marriage because it is illegal in Montana for Chinese people to marry white people, Evelyn Kendall Moy says, or her foster parents the Moys say, she’s actually white, born to Canadians.

René Clair’s short film “Entr’acte” premieres, as does Erich von Stroheim’s extremely not-short film “Greed”.

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Today -100: December 3, 1924: Of immigration, tax returns, and Communist coups

Brazil will follow the US in banning Japanese immigration (in a few days it will change this to banning all immigration, just to show they weren’t being racist).

The federal court in Kansas City rules that newspapers may print tax return figures.

One day after the attempted Communist uprising in Estonia, 20 or 30 (depending on whether the sloppy NYT’s headline or its article is accurate) (tomorrow’s paper says 7) are tried by court-martial and executed.

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Today -100: December 2, 1924: Of coups, chambers, and good accounts

Estonia quickly crushes an attempted Communist coup, which was ordered by the Soviet Union. The coup is partly a response to last month’s trial of 149 Communists, which, however, removed many of the people who might have done a better job organizing a coup (one, Jaan Tomp, was executed).

Frenchwomen are made eligible to their first public body: the Chambers of Commerce.

“Lady, Be Good!,” a musical comedy by George & Ira Gershwin, their first Broadway show, is playing at the Liberty. The NYT review praises Adele Astaire’s performance, adding that her brother “Fred Astaire, too, gives a good account of himself”.

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Today -100: December 1, 1924: First the dance hall, then the gambling hell, then the vice resort...

The Egyptian government accepts the rest of Britain’s demands, including preserving the powers of British financial and judicial “advisers.”

German Minister of the Interior Karl Jarres bans wireless broadcasts of election speeches, leaving the radio “reserved for higher things in life and unsullied by political strife.”

Chicago Mayor William E. Dever complains about newspaper criticism of his focus on suppressing gambling, booze running, and other vice, going full after-school special: “In them the criminal gets his schooling. First the dance hall, then the gambling hell, then the vice resort, and by that time there is a desire for money, and the only way to get it is to take a gun and go out and hold up a respectable citizen.” He also complains about the positive coverage of the late florist-mobster Dion O'Banion.

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