Today -100: July 10, 1920: Of disarmament, parallel courts, and surrenders

The German delegates at the Spa Conference accept the disarmament ultimatum, subject to a vote in the Reichstag, which the Germans insist is required under the Weimar Constitution because the Allied threat to occupy the Ruhr in event of non-compliance is an alteration of the Versailles Treaty (Lloyd George disagrees that it is). Then the two sides bitch at each other about war crimes trials, which Germany would be happy to hold, they say, but their judges have failed to find sufficient evidence in even a single case. Also the lists provided by the Allies misspelled a lot of names. And some of them have moved.

Even Unionists are using the Sinn Féin courts, since the official Crown courts no longer have any authority.  Sinn Féin has also been setting pub closing hours and keeping order at race tracks.

The Mexican government rejects Pancho Villa’s peace offer, but if he wants to surrender unconditionally, that’d be swell.

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Today -100: July 9, 1920: Of disarmament, taxes, suffrage, and, I don’t know, irony or something

The Allies give Germany a 6-month delay in fulfilling the disarmament provisions of the Versailles Treaty, but Germany must disarm the security police, ask the public to surrender all weapons, immediately abolish conscription, and surrender guns and cannon above the treaty limit.

The Dublin County Council orders its officials to provide no information to the British income tax people, but give it only to the Republican Parliament.

The Louisiana Legislature adjourns without passing women’s suffrage, either by ratifying the federal Amendment as Cox asked for, or by passing a (whites-only, naturally) state measure.

A meeting protesting discriminatory anti-Japanese laws in California is held in Hiroshima.

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Today -100: July 8, 1920: Of lost rifles, duties to the Democratic Party, lynchings, and bowling

Germany asks the Spa Conference for a 15-month delay in reducing its army below 100,000, citing the threat of Bolshevism. The Allies say no. Also, Germany says it doesn’t know where all those rifles the Allies want handed over actually are. Lloyd George says it’s inconceivable that Germany just allows those rifles to be in the hands of general members of the public against the will of the government. German Foreign Minister Walter Simons reminds him that that’s also the case in a part of the British Empire (i.e., Ireland). Also, he says, we need a larger army to disarm the civilians.

One of the first things Gov. James Cox does as nominee is to ask Louisiana to ratify the women’s suffrage Amendment “as a duty to the Democratic Party”.

And vice presidential nominee Franklin Roosevelt... goes back to his job in the Navy Department.

The US lifts its restrictions on exports to Russia (other than munitions), the State Dept making it very clear that this does not entail recognition of the Soviet government. Passports for travel to Russia won’t be issued, nor mail to Russia accepted.

A black man is lynched in Roxboro, North Carolina, in a churchyard.

Pancho Villa agrees surrender terms with the Mexican government.

Headline of the Day -100: 

What to Watch, If You Have a Time Machine: the premiere of F.W. Murnau’s The Hunchback and the Dancer (Der Bucklige und die Tänzerin), a lost film.

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Today -100: July 7, 1920: Make the best of it

William Jennings Bryan for one is not happy with the nomination of a Wet, especially after the defeat of a bone-dry plank. “My heart is in the grave with our cause,” he says. Might he run for president under the Prohibition Party label?

The Democratic National Convention follows up the endless 44 ballots it took to choose Cox by taking just a few minutes in choosing his running mate, Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt. The choice seems to have been more that of the party leaders (the Tammany machine, with which FDR was often at odds when he was in the NY State Senate) than of Cox, who was consulted by phone.

William Gibbs McAdoo claims he’s “greatly relieved and delighted” not to have received the nomination.

Cox plans an extensive speaking tour, eschewing Harding’s front-porch approach. Maybe his front porch just isn’t as nice as Harding’s.

At the Spa Conference, the Poles ask for aid from the Allies to fight the Russian Bolsheviks, and are turned down flat, Lloyd George advising them to make peace – did he actually tell them to “make the best of it” or is that a paraphrase, I wonder?

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Two black men accused of killing their landlord are burned at the stake in Paris, Texas. The sheriff thinks the landlord was actually killed by two other people.

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Today -100: July 6, 1920: Normal men and back to normality

The Democratic National Convention takes ballots #23 to 36 during Monday’s day session. McAdoo gains strength, surpassing Cox on the 30th ballot, and retains his lead thereafter, although the shifts in votes between ballots are minor. Several motions to break the deadlock by dropping the bottom candidate all lose. The convention reconvenes at night and finally nominates James Middleton Cox on the 44th ballot at 1:39 a.m.

On the 33th ballot, one vote is cast for Laura Clay, a Kentucky suffragist and a delegate, the first such vote for a woman. The second, 3 ballots later, went to another Kentuckihoovian, Cora Wilson Stewart. Ring Lardner gets half a vote from Missouri on one of the ballots.

Warren G. Harding gives his first speech as Republican candidate for president, from his front porch to a crowd of Marionaires, as Wikipedia tells me the residents of Marion, Ohio are styled (the article calls them Marionites). He says government needs “normal men and back to normality” rather than one-man government by “the superman,” a clear insult to Kryptonian-Americans. He also talks about restoring two-party politics. In other words, he’s downplaying his own future role in a very un-Trumpian manner.

The conference in Spa, Belgium, opens and goes badly from the start. The German delegates, including Chancellor Constantin Fehrenbach, want to discuss economic matters (reparations) before moving on to disarmament, and just to make sure of that they didn’t bring along the defense minister or the military chief. The Allies, especially France, tell them that disarmament must come first and end the session abruptly, telling them to come back tomorrow with those personages. There is some talk that French PM Alexandre Millerand was tricked, that in conceding that there be negotiations with Germany, rather than ultimatums as has been the policy until now, he accepted the possibility of a revision of the terms of the Versailles Treaty.

Black postal clerk James Spencer, who stabbed a white fellow worker on a mail car in Mississippi, is lynched.

Hungary’s minister of education orders high schools to limit Jewish students to 25% of total students, down from the current 50%.

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Today -100: July 5, 1920: Of mutinies, bryans, and train wrecks

A battalion of the Irish Connaught Rangers stationed in the Punjab mutinies after receiving the news from Ireland.

Former three-time Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan names 9 people he’d be willing to support for the nomination. None of them are actually running. He says any candidate must be Dry, a supporter of women’s suffrage, and against Wall Street.

Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin Roosevelt, in the New York delegation, is supporting McAdoo against very strong Tammany opposition, although over the course of 22 ballots he has also voted for Cox and Amb. John Davis. He’s trying to avoid offending any side which might oppose him running for the US Senate in November.

19 people are killed in a train wreck in Pittston, Pennsylvania, evidently caused by lightning.

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Today -100: July 4, 1920: And went there up from the San Francisco Civic Auditorium a chant of “We want Cox!”

The Democratic National Convention holds ballots 3 to 22. There is a more or less steady “drift to Cox” (if your drift to Cox lasts longer than four hours, consult a physician), passing McAdoo on the 12th ballot, but no one is getting close to the necessary 2/3. Vice President Whatsisname drops out after the 15th ballot. Delegates who’d hoped to go home by now realize they’ll still be here Monday (no convention on Sunday). Various telegrams are sent to the White House asking Pres. Wilson to help break the impasse, but response comes there none.

New York City Board of Education President Anning Prall tells the Rotary Club that “Americanizing” the children of immigrants isn’t enough, there needs to be compulsory Americanization of adults as well.

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Today -100: July 3, 1920: Don’t eat the dynamite

The Democratic National Convention’s first two ballots are both led by William Gibbs McAdoo, followed by A. Mitchell Palmer, James Cox, and Al Smith. No one’s even close to 2/3 at this stage. There were 21 candidates, some of whom got just half a vote, which has to be embarrassing.

The closed-door-produced, avoid-all-controversies platform is adopted by the convention, with all amendments voted down.

The Allies decide that Germany owes £6 billion in reparations (plus interest), to be paid at £150 million per year for 5 years, then increasing to £250 million. Now the Allies are squabbling over the division of that money. Italy wants 20%, which is ridiculous.

The Belgian parliament votes down women’s suffrage.

Headline of the Day -100: 

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Today -100: July 2, 1920: There is no law, no order, and there is no punishment for crime

The Democratic convention is running behind schedule, thanks to booze. That is, battles over the prohibition issue are delaying the behind-closed-doors working out of the party platform, while the delegates on the floor amuse themselves singing “Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny” and “I Love You California,” which unlike the former has no racist lyrics at all, and then another few dozen songs before realizing that they’re not going to get any actual work done. At 4 a.m. the Resolutions Committee decides to make no mention of prohibition either way. William Jennings Bryan plans to have a floor fight on the subject. Decisions were also made for a weak-tea expression of “sympathy” for Ireland; to oppose cash bonuses for war veterans, described as putting “patriotism on a pecuniary basis”; for ratifying the League of Nations covenant without reservations; for rejecting Pres. Wilson’s hope for acceptance of a mandate over Armenia; and against establishing a Dept. of Education.

Some more presidential candidates are nominated: Sen. F.M. Simmons of NC, Sen. Carter Glass of Virginia, Amb. John Davis, and Francis Burton Harrison, the governor-general of the Philippines.

New York Gov. Al Smith “went to a leather store to buy sets of pony harness for his children”. Going into a leather store to buy a pony harness probably meant something very different in the San Francisco of 1920 than it does today. Probably.

McAdoo keeps refusing to answer reporters asking if he’d accept the nomination.

Sen. Harding meets Vermont Gov. Percival Clement and maybe persuades him to call a special session of the Legislature to vote on the federal women’s suffrage Amendment (which Clement personally opposes), although this is more hinted at than stated.

The self-styled Irish Parliament sets up a court system. The official British court system is having a little problem: none of the accused are showing up in court. The Lord Justice complains, “There is no law, no order, and there is no punishment for crime.”

China expresses regret that one of its warlords killed an American missionary.

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Today -100: July 1, 1920: We know that this is a convention in the open

10 candidates for president are nominated at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco: Gov. James Cox of Ohio, Gov. Al Smith of NY, William Gibbs McAdoo (who asked that his name not be put to the convention and went to bed before he was nominated anyway; his supporters give assurances that he’s willing to be drafted), Gov. Edward Edwards of NJ, Attorney Gen. A. Mitchell Palmer, Ag Sec Edwin Meredith, Sen. Gilbert Hitchcock (Neb.), Sen. Robert Owen (Oklahoma), James Gerard, and Homer Cummings. There will be more nominating speeches for yet more candidates tomorrow. Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin Roosevelt, seconding Al Smith’s nomination, says “We know he has been a governor in the open. We know that this is a convention in the open. We know that the nomination at this convention will not be made at 2 a.m. in a hotel room.”

The July issue of Pictorial Review begins serializing Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence.

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Today -100: June 30, 1920: I am here for the homes of this land and the children of this land

After the failure of his presidential bid, Frank Lowden announces that he won’t run for re-election as governor of Illinois either. He says governors (and presidents) should only serve a single term.

The Democratic National Convention votes that the DNC will consist of one man and one woman from each state.

And the Resolutions Committee votes down a Wet plank, in secret session. William Jennings Bryan demands to know who Theodore Bell, a former member of Congress who had just given an anti-prohibition speech, “represents.” Bell says the grape growers of California, and who does Mr Bryan represent? “I am here as a Democrat,” the Great Commoner replies; “I am here for the homes of this land and the children of this land, whom your damnable traffic would slay.”

There’s also a loud debate over whether to have a plank supporting the Irish people, with some claiming it’s an internal matter for Britain and that such a declaration would lead inevitably to war with Britain and wouldn’t we resent it if Britain recognized the Philippines’ independence?

There is, in fact, a Filipino delegate, J.P. Melencia, who pleads, “his eyes shining like shoe-buttons, his white teeth gleaming,” for independence.

There’s no smoking allowed in the Convention, and women delegates are supposed to remove their hats “in compliance with state law.”

McAdoo is still the leading candidate, despite supposedly not even being in the race. What say you about that, William G?

The British are using planes to search for Brig. Gen. Cuthbert Henry Tindall Lucas, kidnapped by Sinn Féin two days ago.

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Today -100: June 29, 1920: I wasn’t expecting an FDR fistfight today, but here we are

British soldiers run riot in Fermoy, County Cork at midnight in revenge for the kidnapping of Gen. Cuthbert Lucas, breaking shop windows and vandalizing their contents.

New York (or at least Tammany) delegates to the Democratic convention refuse to join in a procession in honor of Woodrow Wilson until Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt beats them up and takes the state standard.

The NYT, having learned nothing from the Republican convention, says that Gov. Cox is out of the race and McAdoo will probably win. Or possibly Vice President Whatsisname as a dark horse. There are 21 presidential candidates in all.

McAdoo supporters have buttons reading “Mac’ll do.”

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Today -100: June 28, 1920: Of crown princes, cuthberts, and snoring landlords

Ohio Gov. James Cox’s wimpy stance on prohibition loses him the support of the Tammany Hall machine. Boss Murphy knows that a wet plank in the platform is important for Democrats in local New York elections. The NY delegates now shift their support to William Gibbs McAdoo (whose friends say he would accept the nomination if offered. They suggest that the presidential son-in-law is trying to avoid being seen as a “crown prince” – a common Jared Kushner, if you will – by not openly soliciting the nomination).

Vice President Whatsisname  is evidently a candidate after all.

Gov. Cox’s enemies have been spreading the story of his 1911 divorce from Mayme Simpson Harding (no relation). He remarried in 1917.

Sinn Féin kidnaps a brigadier general, one Cuthbert Henry Tindall Lucas. He is being held as a prisoner of war. The Daily Chronicle suggests that going fishing was maybe not the smartest move on the general’s part.

Inmates of the new Death Row in Sing Sing are complaining about the lack of soundproofing in general, and the snoring of Sam “The Landlord” Michalow in particular.

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Today -100: June 27, 1920: We do not look upon prohibition as an issue one way or the other

Ohio Gov. James Cox refuses to make enemies by taking sides on prohibition, which is a jolt to wets who thought he was one of them. His spokesmodel, former Ohio Gov. (back in the ‘90s) James Campbell, says “We do not look upon prohibition as an issue one way or the other. Governor Cox has refused to be used by either faction. His record is one of law enforcement.”

William Gibbs McAdoo is more and more popular among the convention delegates, proving once again the attractiveness of unavailable men.

Another one of whom is Edwin Meredith, who says he is “perfectly happy as secretary of agriculture,” which is a phrase that has never been uttered by anyone else ever.

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Today -100: June 26, 1920: Of campaign finance and duels

Harding will limit campaign contributions to $1,000 which is the equivalent of some dollars in today’s money. As we know, Harding dislikes even the appearance of corruption.

Gov. Coolidge follows Harding in refusing to ask the Republican governors of Connecticut and Vermont to facilitate the passing of the federal women’s suffrage Amendment.

France is returning to normality. Well, duels anyway. The first post-war duel takes place between Vincent de Moro-Giafferi, lawyer for former prime minister Joseph Caillaux, and someone named Torres. They exchange shots, neither managing to hit the other.

Spain has a plague of locusts.

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Today -100: June 25, 1920: Who’s Who

Headline of the Day -100:

Many delegates are refusing to take William Gibbs McAdoo’s no for an answer, displaying badges with the highly persuasive slogan “Cock-a-Doodle Do! Who’s Who? McAdoo.”

The British military suppresses the sectarian violence in Derry/Londonderry with machine guns.

The US military will now allow enlistment by illiterates, aliens, and non-English-speakers. As long as they’re white.

Honduras bans entry to all black British subjects (i.e., Jamaicans).

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Today -100: June 24, 1920: Of derries, women’s suffrage, and death and taxes

Yet another day of running battles in Derry/Londonderry, with the British army not making much of a dent. And there’s a destroyer, because that’ll totally help.

Tennessee Gov. Albert Roberts agrees to call a special session of the Legislature to deal with the federal women’s suffrage Amendment. Democratic women are happy that Harding refused to pressure the governors of Vermont and Connecticut to do the same, leaving it to a Democratic state to, potentially, push it over the top. Also, Pres. Wilson was willing to do what Harding was not, ask a governor of his own party to take steps towards ratification, in a public telegram.

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Today -100: June 23, 1920: Of earthquakes, sad prodigies, and tug of war

A bunch of earthquakes hit LA, but most of the damage is confined to Inglewood, which doesn’t count.

Oh, and one woman “dies of fright.”

Headline of the Day -100: 

Only.

With the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco just days away, there isn’t much consensus about a presidential candidate – just like the R’s at the start of their convention. There are still people who think Wilson might run for a third time and there are still people promoting William Gibbs McAdoo as the strongest candidate, despite his refusal to run. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer is a strongish candidate, possibly with NY Gov. Alfred E. Smith as his running mate, a wet to balance Palmer’s dry stance (would that make that ticket “moist”?). And Tammany Hall is pushing Ohio’s Gov. Cox. But a lot of the behind-the-scenes work is focused on preventing a plank, any plank, on the prohibition question.

A delegation from the National Woman’s Party meets Sen. Harding, who refuses to lift a finger to request that the Republican governors of Vermont and Connecticut call special sessions of their legislatures to ratify the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Unless of course those governors ask him for his opinion. A disappointed Alice Paul asks what’s the point of the suffrage plank in the R. platform if it can’t be put into effect in Republican states.

Headline of the Day -100:  

That’s 8-year-old Samuel Reshevsky, future 8-time US Chess champeen, winning 12 simultaneous games of chess,

but his father won’t let him play on a carnival ride.

The 1920 Olympics will have tug of war. In fact, it’ll be the last time the Olympics have tug of war.

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Today -100: June 22, 1920: Of lynchings, non-geniuses, and blood fusions

The Allies give Greece permission to attack Ataturk’s forces militarily, supposedly in order to enforce the peace treaty on Turkey on behalf of British and French interests as well as Greek.

A black man is lynched in Georgia after “confessing” to killing a white 17-year-old girl (I swear they’re always 17).

A NYT editorial quotes US senators, one unnamed, one Harry New (R-Indiana), as calling Harding “not a genius,” “not a master-mind.” But, the Times adds, “The Republicans have made the discovery that a great man is really out of place in the Presidency. The country, they say, is sick of supermen in the White House. ... Their present effort is to make it out that the truly desirable qualities in a President are mediocrity shot through with good-nature, readiness to take advice from men wiser than he, and a greater disposition to ‘get on’ with everybody and to hope that all will turn out for the best.” The Times disagrees, saying the presidency is actually a pretty hard job and requires more than mediocrity.

California Gov. William Stephens (R) writes to Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby calling for action against the “growing menace” of Japanese immigration. He says “the blood fusion of the Occident and the Orient has nowhere ever successfully taken place”. This is especially true of the Japanese, who “are not a servile or docile stock. Proud of their traditions and history, they brook no suggestion of any dominant or superior race. And it is just because they possess these attributes and feel more keenly the social and race barriers which our people raise against them that they are driven to race isolation and, I fear, ultimately will reach that race resentment which portends danger to the peace of our State in the future.”

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Today -100: June 21, 1920: Of wets, race riots, sectarian riots, and ghosts

The Anti-Saloon League is campaigning against Ohio Gov. James Cox, who they call the wet candidate for president.

Race riot in Chicago. A large group of back-to-Africa blacks have a parade, build a bonfire, and someone throws in an American flag. Some white sailors object, and away we go. One seaman and one black cop are killed. The sailors run around beating up random black people.

Another day of sectarian violence in Derry/Londonderry. 5 dead.

Suffragists think Tennessee might be the state to ratify the federal women’s suffrage Amendment, if they can get Gov. Roberts to call the Legislature into special session. A provision in the state constitution requiring a new election before the Legislature can ratify an amendment seems to have been invalidated by the US Supreme Court in its decision (see June 2) negating Ohio’s requirement of a referendum. This won’t stop Tennessee legislators from pretending that their opposition is based solely on the claim that it violates the state constitution.

An international labor-led boycott of Hungary has begun, protesting Hungary’s political repression.

The Society of Psychical Research announces that Dr. James Hyslop has indeed reported back from the Great Beyond. In fact, according to reports of various mediums, he’s barely shut up since his death last week, although the Society is being cagey about the exact content of his communiqués.

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