Today -100: August 23, 1919: Of reich presidents and Texas for Texans only

Friedrich Ebert is sworn in as German Reichspräsident under the new Weimar Constitution. He will be succeeded in that office by Field Marshal von Hindenburg on his death in 1925 and then, you know, Hitler.

John Shillady, the (white) secretary of the NAACP is beaten on the streets of Austin, Texas, in broad daylight, by county Judge Dave Pickle, Constable Charles Hamby and others, who are now proudly bragging about the felony, and ordered to leave Texas. Shillady was in town to investigate the Texas Rangers’ interference with the NAACP; the assistant adjutant general tells him that organizations teaching racial equality are causing troubles between the races. The night before the beating, Shillady was arrested/kidnapped and a secret “court of inquiry” was held, which may or may not have been a real court, although it was presided over by a real judge, and it’s Texas, so “real court” is a relative term. Gov. William Hobby will tell the NAACP that Shillady was “the only offender” in the incident and tells the organization to stay out of Texas. He will further defend the mob action: “I believe in Texas for Texans only, and just as strongly do I believe that Texans should say how the affairs of the state should be conducted and I believe in sending any narrow-brained, double-chinned reformer who comes here with the end in view of stirring up racial discontent back to the North where he came from, with a broken jaw if necessary.” Shillady will resign from the NAACP next year.

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Today -100: August 22, 1919: Well, everyone needs a hobby

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The US Cavalry troops in Mexico kill four bandits. The only casualty on the US side is a cactus-related injury. Carranza asks the US to remove its troops from his country, please and gracias.

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Sen. Albert Fall asked whether the US could just skip the whole peace treaty thing and go straight to declaring that a state of peace exists. 

A black man is lynched in Louisburg, North Carolina.

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Today -100: August 21, 1919: It ain’t over...

Japan will replace the military administration it has used to run Korea since conquering and annexing it with a civilian one and says it will treat Korea on the same footing as Japan itself... “in due course.” This is intended to shut up the independence movement but won’t. Even with the recent violent suppression of independence protesters, the rest of the world hasn’t much cared. When Korean exiles in the US, including future South Korean president Syngman Rhee, asked the State Dept for permission to travel to Paris to make their case to the Peace Conference, they were told to apply to Japan, since they were after all Japanese subjects now.

Congress overrides Wilson’s veto of the Daylight Saving repeal.

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To be fair, he was a music publisher and asked her to sing (Beethoven).

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Today -100: August 20, 1919: Of incursions, battles at sea, and la la Lucilles

Troops from the 8th Cavalry cross into Mexico to look for the two captured aviators. Who were in the process of being released anyway, if I understand the timeline correctly. So now the troops are trying to find and “punish” the Villaista bandits who held them.

British Navy ships sink a Russian battle cruiser and a destroyer in the Gulf of Finland and bombard Kronstadt.

The Broadway strike continues to spread, shutting down “La La Lucille.” I’m enjoying the names of Broadway plays.

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Today -100: August 19, 1919: Of non-disasters, regents, beer, and gas

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The Supreme Council of the Peace Conference won’t respond to Archduke Joseph’s request that he be recognized as regent of Hungary.

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Pee as much as you like, guys.

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After the last item, I think you know where I’m heading here...

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Today -100: August 18, 1919: Women are determined to vote by 1920

The National Woman’s Party is putting pressure on governors and legislatures to hold special sessions to speed up ratification of the women’s suffrage Amendment. “Women are determined to vote by 1920,” says Alice Paul.

The new German constitution (aka the Weimar Constitution) is now in effect. Reichstag, popularly elected president, dialing down the dominance of the Imperial Council by Prussia, women’s suffrage, equal rights (i.e., no aristocracy), free speech, religion, etc.

Two US Army aviators went missing, but it’s okay, they’re safe in the hands of.... Mexican bandits, who would appreciate $15,000 to let them go. In gold.

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Today -100: August 17, 1919: Of archdukes, foreign legions, and deliverances

Hungary: Archduke Joseph appoints a new cabinet. The Socialists refuse to join, so it’s just a bunch of “old reactionaries,” and the Entente will likely not accept it as a representative government. They also won’t accept Joseph trying to weasel his way into monarchical powers; he’s said fine he’ll just retire from public life then, he didn’t want to be king anyway, fine.

France is doing things in the occupied Rhineland that go beyond what’s allowed in the Peace Treaty, including recruiting for the French Foreign Legion and mandating that French be taught in elementary schools.

NYC’s subways, street cars and elevated trains are all going on strike. And the theatre strike is spreading.

Maybe a movie instead?

Featuring the actual Helen Keller & Annie Sullivan, playing themselves, in the latter part of the biopic. There are clips of it online.

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Today -100: August 16, 1919: Of hats in hands, insurance, spheres of influence, and daylight savings

Woodrow Wilson tells senators that if they fuck up the peace treaty, the US will have to go “hat in hand” to beg Germany for bilateral terms. That’s not as stupid as it sounds, since the US would have too few soldiers left in Europe to have a strong bargaining position.

The Cleveland Railways Company takes out a $10,110,000 insurance policy against riots.

Britain and Persia come to an agreement in which Britain will loan Persia $2 million in exchange for “influence” – control of its military and finances, that sort of thing. And yes, Britain knows that Persia has oil.

Woodrow Wilson again vetoes a bill repealing Daylight Savings. He says it may be inconvenient for the farmers, but the needs of industry are more important right now.

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Today -100: August 15, 1919: Don’t spend it all in one place, Henry

Henry Ford’s libel suit against the Chicago Tribune reaches its conclusion, after three long months: he is awarded damages of 6¢ (and costs). So does that mean that Ford is an anarchist or that he isn’t, or...?

The US threatens Mexico with “a radical change in its policy with regard to Mexico” if American citizens keep getting killed there. Does that mean military intervention? The US ain’t sayin’.

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Today -100: August 14, 1919: Of cement trusts and Polish armies

The Justice Dept takes action against the “Cement Trust,” 19 cement companies that conspired to drive up the price of cement by 2 or 3 times.

Poland is creating a huge army supposedly to protect itself against possible invasion from Bolshevik Russia, and certainly not to grab a chunk of the Ukraine off a weakened Bolshevik Russia.

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Today -100: August 13, 1919: But I value my manhood above everything else

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Even while the NYT’s usual “reliable” sources reliably predict the imminent reliable downfall of Bolshevism, the paper finally admits that Adm. Kolchak: The Night Stalker is in full retreat.

The peace deal, naturally, provided for the return of prisoners of war. But the Allies didn’t want Russian POWs being returned to Bolshevik Russia, so Germany still has ‘em. The German prison camps were taken over by the Allies, but now they’re handing them back to Germany, which really doesn’t feel like feeding 300,000 prisoners, and can’t just push them over the border into Poland.

Austria has been referring to itself as German Austria. The Peace Conference tells it to stop that and call itself the Republic of Austria.

Woodrow Wilson wants to use Secret Service detectives to track down food profiteers (but needs legislation to do so).

The theater strike reaches Chicago. George M. Cohan, vowing to fight the actors, quits the Friars Club: “The stage is my life, but I value my manhood above everything else.” The latest Broadway plays affected: “She Would and She Did,” “Too Many Husbands,” “A Bashful Hero,” “The Girl in the Limousine,” “The Great Illusion,” “Adam and Eva,” and “Nightie Night.”

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Today -100: August 12, 1919: Of carnegies, shantungs, chihuahuas, and the ancient rivalry between bears and leafs

Andrew Carnegie, steel tycoon and library nerd, once the richest man in America, dies at 83.

Woodrow Wilson rejects the Senate’s demands for data relating to his decision to acquiesce in Japan’s demand for Shantung, specifically the memo written by Gen. Tasker Bliss on behalf of himself, Secretary of State Lansing and others, objecting to that decision. Wilson rather comically denies that it was a “protest” because it was written before the decision was made by the peace conference, so how could they be protesting something that hadn’t happened? So Wilson won’t let the Senate see it, because it’s “confidential.” In fact, Bliss et al fiercely opposed implementing a treaty that China had only agreed to under strong coercion from Japan, saying it made a mockery of the 14 Points. Bliss came close to resigning.

Mexico executes 15 people accused of trying to foment a pro-Pancho Villa mutiny in Chihuahua.

Headline Which Might Be Interesting If It Weren’t About Fucking Baseball But It Is About Fucking Baseball of the Day -100: 

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Today -100: August 11, 1919: Of fair prices, murder leagues, and mad artists

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer asks war-time food administrators to form local Fair Price Committees to determine how much of the skyrocketing food price increases is excessive. He doesn’t intend to prosecute anyone, just shame them.

Sweden has arrested or detained 66 Russians believed to be part of a “political murder league” that’s been killing various Russian exiles.

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Rude. Blakelock had been in an asylum for 18 years, starting around the time he finally achieved some recognition as a painter. For years the doctors thought his belief that he was a famous artist was another sign of insanity. He also thought he was rich, which he was not, having sold most of his his paintings for negligible amounts. One of them (the top one below, I think, but I’m not sure since he painted a bunch of pictures he titled Moonlight) later set a record amount for a sale by an American artist, $20,000, 30 years after he’d sold it for $500.

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Today -100: August 10, 1919: La commedia è finita

Sen. Joseph McCormick (R-Illinois), talking about the Chicago race riots, both-sides racial violence, condemning both lynchings in the South and blacks who moved to Chicago “whose truculence in public places invited resentment.”

New York County DA Edward Swann reminds the police commissioner that hand grenades are dangerous and that people selling them as souvenirs should be arrested.

Ruggero Leoncavallo, composer of the opera Pagliacci (1892), dies at 62. He based Pagliacci on a court case in which his father was magistrate. It was the first opera to be recorded uncut (1907) and the first one filmed uncut (1931).

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Today -100: August 9, 1919: Of unconscionable profits, deserters, heroin, and Zorro

Woodrow Wilson, speaking before Congress, offers a plan to deal with the high cost of living: continuing the wartime Food Control Act, licensing all corporations engaged in interstate commerce to prevent “unconscionable profits,” penalties for profiteering, etc. He also asks unions (i.e., railway unions) to “think and act like true Americans,” by which he means not go on strike to get pay increases matching inflation. Good luck with that.

The Netherlands is kicking 7,000 German army deserters who sought asylum there during the war out of the country, since Germany has declared an amnesty.

The Association of Pharmaceutical Chemists annual meeting (in June) says doctors should stop prescribing heroin.

What To Read: “The Curse of Capistrano” by Johnston McCulley, serialized from today in All-Story Weekly. It’s the first Zorro story.

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Today -100: August 8, 1919: Of strikes, regents, and things which are verboten in Lorraine

Brooklyn Rapid Transit and Broadway actors are both on strike, so I’m not expecting much else from the NYT today.

Gyula Peidl, who succeeded Béla Kun as prime minister of Hungary earlier this week, is ousted by Archduke Joseph (acting as regent rather than something more, you know, monarchical), who appoints right-winger István Friedrich as PM.

When France reacquired Lorraine, it banned the speaking of German after 10:00 pm and on trains. This has now been lifted, since it turns out many Alsace-Lorrainihoovians don’t speak French very well.

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Today -100: August 7, 1919: Of hoarders, occupations, and peace terms

The Wilson administration is planning to tackle the high cost of living by pretending it’s entirely the fault of “hoarders.” So the Justice Dept will charge meat-packing companies under anti-trust laws.

Romania, ignoring Allied orders to remove its troops from Hungary now that Béla Kun has been ousted, issues demands on Hungary – reduction of its army to 15,000, giving up half its railroad supplies and 30% of its harvest animals, etc etc.

Austria responds to the Peace Conference’s terms, complaining about the loss of so much territory, especially the Tyrol district and southern Bohemia, and to being saddled with 2/3 of the debt of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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Today -100: August 6, 1919: Of shantungs and detestable Prussian systems

Japan formally declares its intention not to hold Shantung, the Chinese territory it grabbed from Germany during the war. We’ll see.

The National Guard Association objects to the idea of universal military service, “that detestable Prussian system which is abhorrent to the American people.”

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Today -100: August 5, 1919: Of mediation, occupations, and conscription

The British government will stop mediating labor disputes, as it was forced to do during the war.

Despite the ouster of Béla Kun and the Entente telling them not to, Romanian troops occupy Budapest. Romania has its own agenda. The Allies also order Hungary to cease relations with Russia.

The War Dept. wants compulsory three months’ military training for 19-year-olds, who would then remain in the reserves for 2 years.

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Today -100: August 4, 1919: Of hooliganism and prohibition

“Liverpool is in the grip of hooliganism,” the NYT says as if that were news. There’s a police strike, hence looting.

The Anti-Saloon League denies it will try to ban tobacco next. Rather, it will focus on enforcement of prohibition in the US and spreading prohibition throughout the world.

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