Today -100: January 8, 1920: Every country has its traitors

The New York State Assembly refuses by a vote of 140-6 to seat five Socialist members elected from New York City. The no’s include 4 of the Socialists. There will be a hearing later about whether to make this permanent. The vote is preceded by a hectoring speech by Speaker Thaddeus Sweet (whose claim to historical fame is that he will be the first ever member of Congress to die in an airplane crash, in 1928), accusing them of being bound to obey the orders a party whose executive “may be made up in whole or in part of aliens or alien enemies owing allegiance to governments or organizations whose interests may be immediately opposed to the best interests of the United States and of the people of the State of New York.” Sweet refuses to let the accused assemblymen respond to the resolution refusing to admit them because... they hadn’t been admitted.

Two of former kaiser Wilhelm’s sons, ex-princes August Wilhelm and Joachim, are getting divorces.

Viscount Milner, Special Commission for Britain in Egypt, has been having difficulties finding any prominent Egyptian willing to negotiate with him. He meets with the Grand Mufti, who tells him, “We can have no discussion until the protectorate is withdrawn.” Milner tells him some Egyptians would be willing to discuss reforms within the protectorate system, if they weren’t afraid of being killed; the GM replies, “Every country has its traitors.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 7, 1920: Of Socialists, lashing, divorces & boners, and women’s suffrage

Victor Berger, the Socialist elected from Wisconsin to Congress, which refused to seat him, and who has since been re-elected, is ejected by police from Jersey City, where he was due to speak, and put on a ferry bound for Manhattan.

Headline of the Day -100: 

Not to be mistaken for “Harding lashes Americans red.” What goes on behind closed doors between a US senator and his mistress remains behind closed doors.

A court in Kentucky blocks the 4th marriage of 27-year-old Ora Iring. The judge decided that her third divorce didn’t count because it was on the grounds of cruelty, the same as her 1st divorce, and Kentucky doesn’t all more than one divorce on the same charge. She had planned to marry the president of a milk powder company, a Mr. O. W. Boner.

The Indian National Congress demands the removal of Gen. Reginald Dyer and the prosecution of Punjab Lt. Gov Sir Michael O’Dwyer for the Amritsar Massacre.

Rhode Island and Kentucky ratify the Women’s Suffrage Amendment to the federal Constitution. 24 down, 12 to go.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 6, 1920: Offering women everything we offer the men

Republican women from 14 Mid-Western states, meeting in Chicago, demand equal representation on the RNC and fair representation at the National Convention. RNC Chair Will Hays tells them that “The Republican Party offers the women everything we offer the men. Republican women come into the party not as women, but as voters... They are not to be separated or segregated, but assimilated and amalgamated.” Kinky.

The NYT does not approve of the idea.

Headline of the Day -100: 

Some people are trying to evade census-takers because they think it has something to do with prohibition enforcement.

The New York Americans (Yankees) buy Babe Ruth for a record $125,000.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 5, 1920: Of concentration camps, Girl Scouts, barracks, Palmer Raids™, penologists, and Our Lady Who Weeps

There are so many alien Reds being held prisoner on Ellis Island that the government will have to turn a military camp into a concentration camp – their term, not mine.

The US claims Russia is forging foreign currencies and US Liberty Bonds.

The New York branch of the American Legion calls on Congress to suppress radical newspapers.

To overcome immigrants’ resistance to the Census (can’t imagine why they’d be concerned about feds asking them questions), enumerators in Manhattan will take Girl Scouts with them on their rounds.

In Carrigtohill, County Cork, hundreds of Sinn Féiners attack a police barracks. The assault lasts for hours, thanks to the recent hardening of barracks after other such attacks, but a bit of dynamite and the cops are made prisoners and the barracks looted of arms.

The Justice Dept says the Palmer Raids™ have only swept up half the 4,000 foreign Reds for whom warrants have been issued, and they intend to get all of them. Americans are also being swept up, and will supposedly be prosecuted.

By the way, the term Palmer Raids has not yet appeared in the NYT. Does anyone know when it was coined?

Headline That Sounds Dirty But Really Isn’t, Well Not In That Way of the Day -100: 

The Cook County sheriff is threatening to force prisoners to watch another execution.

There will be a trial in Nantes, France, this week. So a broker, a police inspector, an orchestra conductor, and a bank cashier beat up a priest, the former Grand Vicar of Syria, the broker using a dog whip, the cop handcuffs, the conductor a rubber band with lead pellets, and the cashier a grooved wooden paddle, and yes, I’m sure there’s something exactly like this on PornHub. Their purpose was to get Abbé Sapounghi to stop his satanic attacks on a woman who used to own a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes which wept tears which could, naturally, cure the sick. Once they’d beaten him and acquired a wax voodoo doll, the woman’s sufferings ceased. Should be an interesting trial, but if I know the NYT, there will be no update to tell us how that went. 

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 4, 1920: Of embezzlers, conversions, injunctions and child labor

Poet-Aviator Gabriele D’Annunzio’s cashier flees Fiume with 1 million francs, which is roughly the equivalent of some money.

The Turkish government supposedly issued a secret order last November ordering the forcible conversion to Islam of any remaining Armenians.

A Superior Court judge in Spokane issues a permanent injunction on membership in the IWW or advocacy of its principles.

Evangelist Billy Sunday praises the Palmer Raids™, says if he had his way he’d put all the Wobblies, anarchists and socialists before a firing squad.

Another effect of the Great War on the United States, according to the Labor Department: more child labor.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 3, 1920: When do we eat?

Lots and lots of Palmer Raids™, in 33 cities, with at least 2,600 arrests. Today’s Palmer Raids™ focus on the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party, which the Justice Department darkly informs us is associated with Lenin & Trotsky’s Third International. Justice also releases a letter which Palmer sent to Illinois State’s Attorney Maclay Hoyne asking him to hold off his own planned raids, which would scare reds into hiding before the Palmer Raids™. Apparently not very deep into hiding, since some of the Palmer Raids™ took place in Chicago, netting 100 or more alleged reds (yes, I’ve stopped putting reds in scare quotes; it was getting tiresome).

Speaking of bad timing, the government says it will get local cops to help locate foreigners for the Census.

200 convicts in the County Jail in Chicago are forced to witness the hanging of Rafflo Durrage in what is described as  an experiment in psychology. Sheriff Charles Peters explains that the crime wave is caused by “the modern coddling of criminals.” After the noose was put on Durrage’s neck but before he was hanged, a chorus of “When do we eat?” went up among the prisoners. Some prison official disconnected the phone to make sure there was no reprieve.

Headline of the Day -100: 

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 2, 1920: Of the strategic importance of pipes

Chicago police make 300 raids, capturing 200 “reds.” State’s Attorney Maclay Hoyne accuses the Justice Dept of not only refusing to cooperate, but tipping off the reds. Hoyne claims there is a “gigantic conspiracy... to overthrow the United States Government,” much of it headquartered in Chicago.

Marshal Ferdinand Foch says God gave him visions about the strategy to win the war. He adds that he won the war “by smoking my pipe. I mean to say by not getting excited, by reducing everything to its essential, by avoiding useless emotions”.

New Jersey Governor-Elect Edward Irving Edwards thinks the 18th Amendment can be overturned. He has sent his secretary to Washington to look at the original ratifying resolutions from various states, because he thinks some outlaw “alcoholic liquors” instead of “intoxicating liquors,” the actual phrasing of the Amendment. Also, some of them weren’t properly dated. (Update: his secretary won’t find any flaws in the ratifications).

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: January 1, 1920: Roar

Gen. Leonard Wood formally declares for the presidency in the South Dakota primary. Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge, who was nominated for vice president there, declines.

Tuskegee University, which keeps track of such things, reports that 82 people were lynched in the US in 1919. 75 were black, including 1 woman, 7 were white. 77 were in the South.

Mexican Pres. Carranza vetoes a bill to bring back bullfighting.

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer says Bolshevist sympathizers “are composed chiefly of criminals, mistaken idealists, social bigots, and many unfortunate men and women suffering with various forms of hyperaesthesia.” And, of course, he promises to destroy all of them.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 31, 1919: Of wood alcohol and the irresponsibility of genius

Poland stations its entire army on the Russian border.

Headline of the Day -100: 

More wood alcohol disguised as whiskey.

Conductor Arturo Toscanini is on trial in Turin for assaulting a violinist during a rehearsal (I believe my post on this in June incorrectly said this occurred during an actual performance) of Beethoven’s 9th. He offers a psychologist as an expert witness, one Professor Pastor, who speaks for “the irresponsibility of genius.” The Tosc is acquitted.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 30, 1919: Of couriers, dogs, and operas

Headline of the Day -100: 

Meaning a Russia courier was recently caught on the way to the US with funds for propaganda. You know, that sort of “war.”

Headline of the Day -100:  

The executive committee of the American Legion endorses the actions of various of its branches in attacking performances of German operas and other music. 

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 29, 1919: Of candidates and books of which we do not approve

There’s been a lot of talk about potential Republican candidates for president, but not much about D’s, possibly because Wilson has yet to officially announce that he isn’t seeking a third term. So is everybody ready for... William Jennings Bryan? He would concentrate on labor-management issues. Other names mentioned include A. Mitchell Palmer, Champ Clark, William Gibbs McAdoo and... Herbert Hoover.

A “special agent” of the Lusk Committee of the NY Legislature testified that the works of Mikhail Bakunin can be found in the NY Public Library (gasp horror). E.H. Anderson, director of the library, denies that the young are allowed access to “revolutionary printed matter.” He distinguishes between the circulating libraries and the Reference Dept, which has “thousands and thousands of books of which we do not approve,” available to poly sci students and the courts and even the Lusk Committee. “The big reference collection here is for the use of grown men and women, who must find their own protection against folly and false doctrine.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 28, 1919: Of lynchings, life insurance, and emigration

Poet-Aviator Gabriele D’Annunzio now says he doesn’t trust the Italian government’s guarantees, so he won’t give up control of Fiume until he gets better ones. He’s been demanding annexation of islands and railroad junctions, amnesty for the soldiers who deserted to join him, official recognition of the medals he’s been handing out, etc.

Adm. Kolchak resigns as head of White forces.

A mob in Franklinton, North Carolina seizes a black man accused of murder, drag him for two miles behind a car and hang him from a tree.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals rules that the beneficiary of a life insurance policy cannot collect if they murdered the insured person.

The Italian Senate discusses emigration. They want to know why it hasn’t returned to pre-war levels, and the government is anxious to get rid of some Italians, maybe to Brazil, Brazil seems nice. Sen. Bettoni thinks Italians are declining to emigrate to the US because they can’t get wine there now.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 27, 1919: Of foreign languages, wood alcohol, and heavenly feet

The Nebraska Supreme Court upholds the law, passed in April, banning foreign languages in all schools, including private schools, before the 9th grade. The US Supreme Court will overturn the law in 1923.

A Very Prohibitiony Christmas: Wood alcohol has killed 51 New Yorkers this year, 15 from December 1st to 20th, and blinded at least 100. And 19 are killed  in Chicopee, Massachusetts, more in surrounding towns, 10 in Hartford, 4 who drank it on Christmas day in Chicago, etc.

In Kaifeng, China, an organization is formed to fight foot-binding. It is called The Heavenly Feet Association.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 26, 1919: Of radiophones and forgetfulness of the supernatural

Bleeding Edge Technology of the Day -100:

The article does not say what record was played. #JournalismFail1919

Pope Benedict says there can’t be peace without religion. “Today the spirit of independence has invaded all minds and leads them to rebellion.” “forgetfulness of the supernatural and the triumph of the natural has led individuals to egotism and society to revolution and anarchy.” Groovy.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 25, 1919: Bread and prohibition, just what I always wanted

Headline of the Day -100: 

Not, I’m afraid, ironically.

Pres. Wilson (or whoever) announces that the railroads, which were nationalized during the war, will be returned to their private owners on March 1. He’s doing this by executive order because Congress is still fighting over legislation (including an anti-strike clause in the Senate version).

Poet-Aviator Gabriele D’Annunzio holds another plebiscite in Fiume, and he’ll keep doing it until he gets the result he wants. The deputy for Fiume in the Italian parliament is sneaking pamphlets into the city setting out Italy’s position; D’Annunzio sends troops into private homes looking for them. Nevertheless the Italian deal with the Allies is strongly supported, I think this is was in the first plebiscite, which the poet-aviator-dictator suspended when he saw the results, citing the illegality of the plebiscite he had himself called.

How many prisoners of war are still being held? Yugoslavia complains that Italy is still holding Yugoslavs (presumably not from Serbia but from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire).

Crap Christmas 1:

Crap Christmas 2:

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 24, 1919: We will be the allies of all peoples attacked by Bolshevism

Headline of the Day -100: 

King George announces a new measure giving... some... self-government to India, and which “points the way to a fully responsible Government hereafter.” He urges the representatives in the future sort-of-representative bodies to “not forget the interests of the masses who cannot yet be admitted to the franchise.”

The reason the destination in Russia of the ship carrying the deported “reds” has not been disclosed is because, although the Buford left port a couple of days ago, the government is still working out where it’s going. It has to negotiate with countries bordering Russia, so the ship might go to the Baltic, the Black Sea, or maybe Archangel, which would be insane. The State Department informs those countries of the reason for the deportations: “These persons, while enjoying the hospitality of this country, have conducted themselves in a most obnoxious manner; and while enjoying the benefits and living under the protection of this Government have plotted its overthrow. They are a menace to law and order.  They hold theories which are antagonistic to the orderly processes of modern civilization.” And so on.

The British Parliament passes the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, allowing women into various professions from which they’ve been barred. But not all of them. And the Pre-War Practices (Restoration) Act is intended to get women out of professions they moved into during the war. Anyway, women can now practice the law, serve on juries, and be judges. The first women magistrates are appointed. They include Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s wife Margaret, the novelist Mrs. Humphry Ward, who led the fight against women’s suffrage, and Gertrude Tuckwell of the Women’s Trade Union League. 

French Prime Minister Clemenceau explains the Allied position on Soviet Russia: “Not only will we not make peace, but we will not compromise with the Government of the Soviets. We have decided that we will be the allies of all peoples attacked by Bolshevism.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 23, 1919: Of outrages to the principle of self-government

British Prime Minister Lloyd George finally presents his plan for Home Rule for Ireland: there will be two parliaments, one north, one south (or a single one when the Irish as a whole ask for it). He says of Northern Ireland, whose boundaries he fails to define, “It would be an outrage to the principle of self-government to place her under alien rule.” So... Catholics are aliens? And speaking of the principle of self-government, he goes on to say that Britain would fight Irish “secession” “with the same determination, the same resource, and the same resolve as were shown by the Northern States of America.” He also compares Britain’s resolve in this matter to the Great War, which proves, he says, that England can’t be compelled by force to concede anything it thinks unjust. So he’s threatening to bring World War I and the US Civil War to Ireland if it tries to become independent.

De Valera says, if I may translate from the Gaelic, “Fuck that shit.”

Lots of speculation about possible presidential candidates in the paper today for some reason. Vice President Whatsisname says he isn’t running. Gen. Pershing might run. Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler might run. Gen. Leonard Wood is evidently not barred by army rules from running while in uniform (Secretary of War Newton Baker points out that Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock was the Democratic candidate in 1880).

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 22, 1919: Of lynchings and sewers

A mob of 50 Georgians seize a black prisoner, a returning veteran, from a train and lynch him. They hang him from a tree and shoot him multiple times, and yeah we’re all thinking it.

Headline of the Day -100: 

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 21, 1919: Free speech is ours, not theirs

The Buford, aka the “Red Ark,” an old army transport ship from the Spanish-American War, will take off today with a load of 249 deported “reds” including Emma Goldman headed for... well, Russia presumably, but the government is being so cagey that the ship’s captain is said not to know the specific destination, having been given sealed orders and told not to open them until he’s been at sea for 24 hours.

The House of Representatives votes 142-0 to deport and exclude aliens with anarchist or other radical views, especially those who publish them or who join organizations the government doesn’t like, etc. Rep. Albert Johnson (R-Washington), chair of the Immigration and Naturalization Committee, says “Free press in the United States is ours, not theirs; free speech is ours, not theirs”.

D’Annunzio cancels the plebiscite, saying he will remain in charge of Fiume.

Canada lifts its wartime ban on liquor and horse-racing. Wartime censorship, however, will remain.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: December 20, 1919: Of Irish republics, ambushes, special elections, persistent objections, and herring abuse

Andrew Bonar Law, House of Commons leader of the government, says the government (which has been delaying and delaying offering an Irish bill) will never allow “the Irish republic to be established.” Interesting that he says the Irish republic instead of an Irish republic.

The armored car of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord John French, is ambushed in Dublin, as was the custom, many bullets and bomb fragments bouncing off it. One of the assailants is killed, the rest escape. (Update: a next-day correction says French’s car was actually not the one attacked, just the car behind his, which was destroyed by a bomb but fortunately it was “empty.” Presumably an early version of those self-driving cars you hear so much about).

Despite the House of Representatives having refused to seat Victor Berger because socialism, the voters in the 5th district in Wisconsin’s special election elect him again, 24,367 to 19,561. Gov. Emanuel Philipp (R) says if the House still refuses to seat Berger, he won’t bother with another election and the seat will simply remain empty until 1921: “I do not believe in spending any more of the people’s money in that way.”

The plebiscite that was supposed to be held in Fiume about whether Poet-Aviator Gabriele D’Annunzio’s forces should hand the city over to Italy is postponed temporarily after “persistent objections.”

Headline of the Day -100: 

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.