Today -100: June 29, 1923: Much less the details

In a speech in Idaho Falls, Pres. Harding throws out a thought about consumers uniting in some sort of cooperative movement under federal supervision. “I have not attempted to work out even an outline, much less the details, of such a system,” he admits.

Pope Pius proposes that German reparations be determined by arbitrators and the occupation of the Ruhr quickly ended, warning of a path to the “final ruin of Europe.” France is not impressed.

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

Today -100: June 28, 1923: Resign yourselves, gentlemen, to having to allow us to act

Yugoslav Prime Minister Nikola Pašic/Pachitch is shot at by a Serb. 5 bullets miss, 1 wounds his left hand.

Pennsylvania Gov. Gifford Pinchot says he will only appoint people who swear they will “support, defend and personally obey” Prohibition.

Illinois enacts a law against the Ku Klux Klan making it illegal to appear in public “with evil or wicked purpose” while wearing a hood or mask. It also increases the penalties for kidnapping, assault, disturbing the peace etc while so clothed.

The Belgian occupiers have been trigger-happy since that attack on soldiers in the Ruhr. They’ve shot dead someone breaking curfew in Buer and someone who “insulted and attacked” a soldier.

France: After 3 royalist thugs were arrested for attacking Socialist deputies, royalist asshole Charles Maurras came forward and said he should be tried as well, since he ordered the attacks. So they do. At his trial, he says that since the government isn’t stopping the spread of Bolshevism, the social contract has been broken and France has returned to a state of nature. “Resign yourselves, gentlemen, to having to allow us to act.” He is sentenced to 4 months in prison.

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

Today -100: June 27, 1923: Playing her part

Pres. Harding, in the Salt Lake City Mormon Tabernacle, calls for the US to join the World Court: “I want America to play her part in helping the world to abolish war.” It’s like he doesn’t even know America. 

Oklahoma Gov. Jack Walton puts Okmulgee County under martial law. The articles cite “a state of lawlessness” and the arrests of a former sheriff for drunkenness and a justice of the peace for forgery as reasons. Two articles tomorrow, after which the county drops off the NYT’s radar entirely, cover the martial-law authorities banning an anti-Catholic meeting and a threat by Gov. Walton to also declare martial law in 4 other counties with “mob rule and mob violence,” but fail to mention the Ku Klux Klan. Anyway, in September Walton will put the entire state under martial law and then be impeached.

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

Today -100: June 26, 1923: Of elevateds, lynchings, and unveilings

Pres. Harding says Prohibition will never be repealed. He warns that if states fail to enforce it, which “amounts to a confession by the State that it does not choose to govern itself,” there will need to be an expensive, intrusive federal police. He doesn’t utter NY Gov. Alfred E. Smith’s name, but he doesn’t have to.

Smith refuses to respond.

An elevated train jumps the tracks in Brooklyn, falling 35 feet to the ground, killing 7.

See that car the carriage fell on? Its owner, one Douglas Fonda, and his passenger got out without a scratch. One of the passengers of the first carriage that fell, Lewis Awell, president of a paint company, wandered home badly injured. He was carrying $200,000 worth of securities. Another survivor was worried about some diamonds she left on the train. There was a whole lot of money for a, you know, El train.

The blame game begins, with Mayor John Hylan rushing to the scene within 15 minutes and blaming the wreck on old wooden guard rails and the Transit Commission should be fired. Commissioner Le Roy T. Harkness says

Hylan’s claim that the rails were 25 years old is nonsense.

The NAACP reports that the number of lynchings is way down, 11 in the first 6 months of 1923 compared to 33 in the first 6 months of 1922. 3 in Florida, 2 in Georgia, 1 each in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.

A fight in Eisleben, Saxony between “Nationalists” (Nazis? maybe) and Communists at the unveiling of a statue to assassinated foreign minister Walter Rathenau leaves 2 dead.

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

Today -100: June 25, 1923: A sordid people

In Colorado Springs, Pres. Harding bemoans the loss of religion and the increase of materialism in the US. “It tends to make us a sordid people.”

One of Harding’s party, Sumner Curtis of the RNC, is killed when his car goes over an embarkment into Bear Creek Canyon. The driver also dies.

Harding drives a reaper around a Kansas wheat field.

The Third Internationale rejects the suggestion of some members that religion is a matter of private conscience, saying that might be the case in a bourgeois state but religion is incompatible with Communism.

The US Navy is experimenting with having aviators hear wireless codes over headphones while they are asleep. Evidently they can learn to process codes at a much faster rate.

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

Today -100: June 24, 1923: In which is revealed what would mean the death of the Democratic Party in 1924

The Treasury seizes the sealed alcohol of the White Star liner Baltic and another ship, leaving behind only the amount of wine the ships’ home countries consider essential for the medical well-being of passengers and crew.

William Jennings Bryan says “it would mean the death of the Democratic Party to espouse a wet platform in 1924.”

King Albert of Belgium falls off his horse, as is the custom, breaking his wrist.

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

Today -100: June 23, 1923: Of fords, coal, Ruhr deaths, boycotts, and sunburns

Adolf Hitler is suing the editor of Das Tagebach for saying the NSDAP is funded by Henry Ford and German industrialists. The party acknowledges the testimony of Socialist Party (SPD) leader Erhard Auer that if Ford visited Munich (I seem to remember he’d planned a European tour, then cancelled it), he’d be treated like royalty, but says that’s just because of his anti-Semitism.

The United Mine Workers (UMW) have reportedly negotiated with miners in unnamed foreign countries not to dig up coal for shipment to the US during a possible UMW strike, and Attorney General Harry Dougherty is not best pleased, threatening “prompt” and “forceful” measures. Not sure what law he thinks is being broken.

In the Ruhr, French soldiers kill:  1) someone trying to sabotage railroad tracks in Linthrop, 2) one of a group attacking a German who works for the French, 3) one of the Germans who attacked Belgian soldiers yesterday, killing one. In response to that event, the Belgians have taken hostages, including the burgomasters of Mari and Buer and banned the use of telephones for 2 weeks and street cars, restaurants, saloons & coffee houses for 3 months.

In retaliation for the assassination of Vatslav Vorovsky at the Lausanne Conference, Russia bans all business with Switzerland and will refuse visas to all Swiss – except workers, of course.

Pres. Harding gets a sunburn. In Kansas.

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

Today -100: June 22, 1923: Of world courts and garveys

Pres. Harding announces the conditions on which the US might join the World Court: 1) it has to sever any links with the League of Nations (this would entail a scheme where new judges would be appointed by the old judges, on and on until the end of time, rather than be named by member nations); 2) the US would join on terms of equality (that’s a knock at the British Empire’s constituent parts having separate L of N seats). This in a speech in the heart of anti-League sentiment, Missouri. Harding says he’s not going to try very hard on this policy – won’t “coerce” the Senate, will “embark on no crusade,” etc. Hard to tell why he even bothered giving the speech.

Marcus Garvey is sentenced to 5 years.

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

Today -100: June 21, 1923: Of seizures, stars, commutations and vicious talk, ridicule, and false imitations

France says it will seize all industries in the Ruhr and any Germans refusing to work in them will be sentenced to jail for up to 15 years. Which sounds like an admission that they plan to occupy the Ruhr for at least 15 years, else how will they keep them in jail? Anyway, anyone found guilty by a French military court of sabotage can be executed.

Harding gives up control of his Marion Star, which he bought 39 years ago when he was too young to vote.

Harding commutes the sentences of 27 political prisoners who opposed the Great War. 24 prisoners, mostly Wobblies or people who did shit instead of just saying shit, remain. 2 of the commutees will be deported to Britain and Italy – the Justice Department  says they were “guilty of vicious talk and were weak men influenced largely by their associations.” The rest are released only on condition of being good little boys. (Update: the IWW and the ACLU will object to those conditions, since they can be returned to jail whenever some official decides they’ve committed a crime, without a, you know, jury trial.)

Headline of the Day -100:  

Man, I can’t wait for the Scopes trial.

Radcliffe College President Le Baron Russell Briggs warns the graduating class against “false imitation of man by woman.”

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

Today -100: June 20, 1923: Of attempted lynchings, non-invasions, and airplanes

Police, fire hoses, and militia machine guns hold off a lynch mob trying to seize a negro charged with beating a white woman from the county jail in Savannah, Georgia.

Yugoslavia says it won’t invade Bulgaria. 

Russian Minister of War Leon Trotsky calls for lots of airplanes, the warfare of the future, so Russia won’t have to submit to demands by Britain etc.

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

Today -100: June 19, 1923: Of newspaper talk, budgets, damned dirty liars, and medicinal liquor

Henry Ford says he’s not running for president because he’s too busy and any talk about him being a candidate is just “newspaper talk.” The people pushing his candidacy say they’ll continue and will draft him as an independent candidate.

Pres. Harding says he can keep the federal budget below $3 billion, and any government officer who asks Congress for more money than the administration’s budget calls for will be fired.

NYC Controller Charles Craig challenges Mayor Hylan to a fist-fight after Hylan calls him a liar and he calls Hylan a damned dirty liar (which is the worst kind of liar). Hylan suggests Craig should be examined by Bellevue. New York politics as usual.

The US gives in on allowing foreign ships to carry “medicinal liquor” as required by the laws of their home countries. This will be interpreted broadly enough to allow passengers and crew as much wine and whatnot as they want.

Last week French troops occupied some Ruhr railroad lines, whose German employees immediately went on strike. Now, the Ruhr faces starvation, which France says is the Germans’ fault.

Marcus Garvey is convicted for fraud in the sale of shares in his Black Star ship line after he knew it was insolvent.

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

Today -100: June 18, 1923: Of anti-saloonitarians, grand lictors, and macedonians

The Anti-Saloon League will hold a conference later this month for the purpose of making sure NY Gov. Al Smith, who signed the bill repealing NY’s prohibition enforcement act, is not allowed to be a candidate for president next year.

The Fascisti of America deposes one of its officers and says the group will no longer be affiliated with any foreign fascists or use foreign titles like “grand lictor.”

The Bulgarian coup regime is trying to get the Macedonian province of Serbia to revolt.

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

Today -100: June 17, 1923: Of outrages by organized mobs, and eugenics

Irony of the Day -100:  

Complain that their meetings have been subject to “outrages by organized mobs,” and if there’s one thing the Klan can’t stand...

Harry Olson, the chief justice of the Chicago Municipal Court, is also president of the Eugenics Research Association. So that’s good.

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

Today -100: June 16, 1923: Of tiles (for some reason), prohibitions, and helicopters

Deposed Bulgarian PM Aleksandar Stamboliyski is killed in a gun battle between soldiers and peasant backers trying to free him. Part of Stamboliyski’s escape plan involved making a purchase, in disguise, of a large quantity of tile. But the tile merchant recognized him and finked him out. Anyway he’s tortured, the hand he used to sign a peace treaty with Yugoslavia cut off, and his head... 

Li Yuan-hung takes back his resignation from the Chinese presidency, says it was made under duress.

Constantinople goes dry. Except for bars serving foreign occupying troops. (Update: nope, postponed until August).

A French helicopter built by Étienne Oehmichen, holding 2 passengers, reaches 5 meters. 

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

Today -100: June 15, 1923: Banquets are detrimental to the dignity of the Fascismo

The Belgian government resigns after losing a vote in the Senate about replacing French with Flemish language in the University of Ghent.

Hero of the Day -100:  

Bloomfield, New Jersey. The local American Legion post refused to participate in the Flag Day parade after hearing the Klan would be marching in it. I guess they didn’t consider the egg option.

Mussolini bars Fascists from attending banquets because “banquets are detrimental to the dignity of the Fascismo, which must be inspired by austerity.” Also tomato sauce really shows up on black shirts.

Chinese Pres. Li Yuan-hung resigns, after being subject to the “third degree,” whatever that means. And he gives up the seals, which his wife did have.

Deposed Bulgarian PM Aleksandar Stamboliyski is captured. The new government restores several letters his Agrarian regime had dropped from the Bulgarian alphabet.

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

Today -100: June 14, 1923: Of seals, alliterative vigilantes, speedsters, and cannibals

Chinese Pres. Li Yuan-hung tries to flee Peking but his escape train is stopped on the order of the governor of Zhili province, supposedly because he took government seals. Li’s wife, who is not on the train, may have them.

The Louisiana federal prohibition chief announces the formation of a secret group of “Volstead Vigilantes,” 300 of the first 400 of whom are women, to help with prohibition enforcement.

Eleanor Roosevelt is fined for speeding through Earlville, New York. I imagine there’s a commemorative plaque there now.

France tells the League of Nations that something should really be done about cannibalism in Cameroon, the former German colony France holds as a League mandate. It needs League permission to impose the death penalty and fines for cannibalism. There is no cannibalism in Cameroon, but European explorers have convinced themselves for decades that there is.

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

Today -100: June 13, 1923: Of war-like adventures, hostages, and counterfeits

I guess Bulgarian PM Aleksandar Stamboliyski wasn’t arrested yesterday after all, but he is under siege, supposedly. There’s a story that as he was fleeing, a soldier shot at his car, hitting his chauffeur and he ran into the woods (a later version has him disguised as the chauffeur, with his mustache shaved off, not shot, but still with the escaping-into-the-woods part). The new government reassures everyone that it will abide by the Versailles Treaty, saying Bulgaria “is absolutely opposed to any sort of war-like adventure.” War-like adventures are the worst kind of adventure.

The Chinese bandits release the last 8 of the hostages they seized off a train 5 weeks ago after receiving ransom. Sorry, that’s the last 8 non-Chinese hostages. The Chinese hostages, who knows or evidently cares.

Watch out for counterfeit $1,000 bills, with badly drawn eagle claws and Alexander Hamilton’s right eye is too dark.

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

Today -100: June 12, 1923: This will not turn out well for his body

Ousted Bulgarian PM Aleksandar Stamboliyski is arrested by his own bodyguards. Ouch.

The federal prohibition commissioner for NY, Roy Haynes, says non-citizens make up half those arrested for dry law violations in the city, which evidently means they’re proportionately four times as drunk as citizens and certainly not that they’re four times as targeted for alcohol-related arrests. He says only 10% of those arrested in the city for booze in 1922 were even indicted but it’s still a deterrent. 

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

Today -100: June 11, 1923: Of tall cedars, coups, and dancing

Pres. Harding joins a Masonic group and is now a “Tall Cedar.” But did they give him a silly hat to wear?

Is this his last ever silly hat? We shall see.

Civil war in Bulgaria, with Aleksandar Stamboliyski supposedly leading a peasant militia against the coup regime. The new prime minister, appointed by Tsar Boris III, is Aleksandar Tsankov (aka Zankoff), poli sci professor at Sofia University. There is talk about Greece having encouraged the coup in order to get a more anti-Turk government in Bulgaria.

New dancing record: Bernie Brand of Dallas danced 217 hours, winning a prize of $5,000.

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

Today -100: June 10, 1923: Bulgarian liberty dawns again

There’s a coup in Bulgaria by an organization of reserve army officers (i.e., a private group, not the army itself, but with support from the tiny army, which is all that’s allowed by the punitive post-Great War peace treaty). A new government is formed from all the opposition parties except the Communists, but they’re still working out who the prime minister will be (no, wait, there’s an AP story further down naming... the wrong person). The overthrown cabinet and parliament are all under arrest (no they aren’t). A statement by the coup leaders says “Bulgarian liberty dawns again. The regime of deceit, violence and murder has collapsed under the weight of its crimes, and a new era of law, harmony and peace has arrived.” So that sounds nice (it won’t be).

Henry Ford says prohibition should be enforced by the army and navy which don’t have anything to do in peacetime anyway.

China protests Japanese marines shooting Chinese rioters in Hunan province and demands the withdrawal of gunboats. So Japan sends 4 destroyers. Japan replies that it was just protecting its nationals, who are facing a boycott movement.

A circuit judge refuses to grant an injunction against the Chicago police interfering with a planned 7-day dance marathon, saying “there is a moral danger which must be considered” and they attract the “morbid curiosity seeker,” just like bullfights and cockfights.

Today -100’s Sunday NYT has an article covering all the anti-Darwin activity in state legislatures that the paper’s been ignoring the last few months. Oklahoma banned the purchase of textbooks including evolution, with just one no vote; Florida is considering banning the teaching of the theory; Kentucky’s Monkey Bill failed by a single vote; Tennessee’s Legislature declined to invite William Jennings Bryan to speak, saying it had more important matters to deal with – that won’t last.

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