Today -100: October 10, 1924: Of amps, dissolutions, and slush

Members of the United States World War Amps, a delightfully named organization of veteran amputees, and other disabled vets, accuse the Veterans’ Bureau of having been infiltrated by the Klan and discriminating on racial and religious grounds. One thing: were amputees really compensated by the inch?

The dissolution of Parliament is held off until a bill for the border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland passes through the Lords, then it’s done and elections set for October 29th. The Tories and the Liberals are expected to make relations with Russia their primary attack issue on Labour. Liberals are rightly worried about their party’s survival.

Progressive presidential candidate Robert La Follette accuses the Republicans of raising a $4 or 5 million slush fund. He believes that the money is coming from the Mellons, J.P. Morgan, etc.

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

Today -100: October 9, 1924: Cold and unaffected

So that’s it for Britain’s first Labour government. Parliament votes for the Liberal proposal for an inquiry into the withdrawal of incitement to mutiny charges against J. R. Campbell, the editor of the Communist Workers’ Weekly. The Labour government had said such a vote would be taken as an issue of confidence and result in the dissolution of Parliament. Every party is blaming every other party for a general election the public doesn’t want, the last one having been less than a year ago and the one before that a bit over a year before.

The pro-Fascist wing of Italy’s Liberal Party is considering breaking away to form a new party which would be ironically called the Constitutional Party. Mussolini’s organ the Popolo d’Italia informs the Libs that “their resolution leaves Mussolini cold and unaffected.”

The home of Powhatan, Ohio Mayor George Boger is bombed. He doesn’t know why.

The Swedish government bans killing eagles. Environmentalists are also working to save the Swedish beaver and European bison (visen). I am happy to report the latter two species – don’t know about the eagles – are doing fine now.

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

Today -100: October 8, 1924: Nothing in common with us

The British Labour Party Conference rejects affiliation by the Communist Party of Great Britain and membership of individual Communists. Sez PM Ramsay MacDonald: “Communism as such has nothing in common with us. It is the product of Czarism and the war mentality.” He says the last thing the British people want is another general election but the Liberals are forcing it on them. He’s also not impressed that H.H. Asquith said he’d make the Labour government eat out of his hand.

Treasury Sec. Andrew Mellon and his brother are intimately involved with the monopolistic Aluminum Company of America  and its efforts to get tariffs on imported aluminum increased. Coolidge hasn’t bothered asking for a copy of the Federal Trade Commission’s report on the company.

The Italian Liberal Party conference ends, without coming to any decision about whether to collaborate with the Fascist government. The party is deeply divided.

Lady Nancy Astor, MP supports a bill to change the marriage laws: “I think it is appalling that a man cannot marry his niece,” she says appalledly.

Ireland names its very first ambassador, Timothy Aloysius Smiddy, who will be Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to the US.

On Broadway:

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

Today -100: October 7, 1924: Turn your weapons on your oppressors!

The minority Labour government in Britain is facing a Tory censure motion over the withdrawal of charges against J. R. Campbell, the editor of the Communist Workers’ Weekly, for incitement to mutiny. He called on enlisted military personnel to organize passive resistance against war (“Refuse to shoot down your fellow workers! Refuse to fight for profits! Turn your weapons on your oppressors!”). The Liberals are piling on, proposing a Select Committee to investigate, on which 7 of 10 members would be from the opposition parties. PM Ramsay MacDonald threatens that if either measure passes, there will be new elections. Don’t threaten us with a good time, say Tories & Libs. The opposition parties also object to the proposed treaty with Russia.

Coolidge says “ridding society of the very institution of war... is going to be done because men and women demand it. We are making more progress in this direction than we yet fully realize.”

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

Today -100: October 6, 1924: Of controllers, moral codes, and waxworks

A lawsuit is filed (the plaintiff isn’t identified in the article) against the appointment of Walter Cohen as controller of the customs, on the grounds that a black man can’t be a citizen of the United States and the 14th Amendment was never really properly ratified.

Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft supports Collier’s attempt to formulate a moral code acceptable to all denominations that can be taught in public schools. He expresses regret that “religion itself” can’t be taught.

Paul Leni’s film Waxworks premieres in Austria.

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

Today -100: October 5, 1924: Of klan kluries and world good-wll

Sheriff George Galligan, State’s Attorney Delos Duty, Judge Bowen of Herrin, Illinois, the owner of Herrin Hospital, and 8 others, are indicted for murder during the Klan-Anti-Kluxer gun battle last August. Since the grand jury are mostly kluxers themselves, indictments are not also issued for their hooded brethren.

Headline of the Day -100:  

The world says no.

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

Today -100: October 4, 1924: Every tub must stand on its own bottom

Aviation Innovation of the Day -100: A plane is launched from a dirigible.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. says he wants to be considered for the NY governorship on his own merits, not his father’s: “We’ve got a saying in our family that every tub must stand on its own bottom.” All the Roosevelt family sayings are about bathtubs, probably.

Headline of the Day -100:  

Sounds legit.

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

Today -100: October 3, 1924: Every patriotic American has condemned the Ku Klux Klan but the president of the United States

All 47 League of Nations nations sign on to the compulsory arbitration protocol, or at least to recommend it to their home nations, and to the calling of an arms reduction conference.

China isn’t elected to one of the non-permanent seats on the League Council, so its delegates walk out. But hey, Uruguay got a seat.

William Butler, chair of the RNC, claims that in certain parts of the country the Democrats and La Follette Progressives are conspiring to deadlock the presidential election and throw it into the Congress, which he seems to think would result in Dem. running mate Charles Bryan becoming president (something about electing him vice president and then blocking a vote for president). He says he has evidence of this conspiracy but refuses to disclose it because reasons.

At Madison Square Garden, Dem. presidential candidate John W. Davis talks about the Republicans’ “alibi manufacturing industry,” such as former Sec. of the Interior Albert Fall’s claim that his $100,000 bribe was just a loan and former Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt Jr’s alibi that “he was nothing but a messenger boy” in the transfer of the Teapot Dome oil reserves to Interior. Davis takes a crack at the “Silent Cal” thing: Washington wasn’t silent, Lincoln wasn’t silent, “Roosevelt was not silent and the Lord knows Wilson was not silent.”

One of the speakers is Municipal Civil Service Commissioner Ferdinand Morton, not to be mistaken for Jelly Roll Morton. The first black man on the commission, Morton says black people consider the Republican Party faithless to them and are shifting to the Dems, regardless of what the D’s are doing in the South. “Every patriotic American has condemned the Ku Klux Klan but the president of the United States,” he points out.

Wyoming Gov. William Ross dies of complications of an appendectomy. The state doesn’t have lieutenant governors, so the secretary of state will take over until a special election, which will have an interesting result (no spoilers).

The French Academy bans the words “defeatism” and “defeatist.”

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

Today -100: October 2, 1924: I choose law

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. gives his acceptance speech for the Republican gubernatorial nomination at Cove Neck, Long Island. He denounces the Ku Klux Klan by name, and also the League of Nations, which he calls “thoroughly un-American” (!). He accuses the Smith administration of an “orgy of extravagance,” which is the worst kind of orgy, or possibly the best kind of orgy. He says Democrats are lying when they say they have the power at the state level to legalize light wines and beers and accuses them of choosing lawlessness re Prohibition. “I choose law,” he says. Despite knowing he’s gonna be attacked on Teapot Dome, he says nothing about it.

German Chancellor Wilhelm Marx wants to broaden his government to include both Socialists and Nationalists. He thinks this is a thing that might actually happen, which is just adorbs.

Judge Thayer denies Sacco & Vanzetti’s motions for a new trial, which were based on new evidence, witnesses recanting their testimony, etc.

Leopold n’ Loeb judge John Caverly has a nervous breakdown.

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

Today -100: October 1, 1924: Of not being overchoice in the selection of adjectives

The League of Nations, or at least its Arbitration Commission, alters the proposed war-no-more protocol to meet Japan’s objections, allowing nations to ignore the World Court on issues the court considers internal if they have previously submitting the issue to the League.

The special counsel investigating Teapot Dome locates $90,000 in bonds given to then-Interior-Secretary Albert Fall by a Canadian company laundering Sinclair Oil money.

The New Jersey Democratic Party convention will condemn the Klan by name while the Republican Party’s convention plans to ignore it and hope it goes away.

A letter in the NYT from one Morgan Van Woert says his extremely sensitive wife was not offended by “What Price Glory,” because she’s been on an army base before and “men who are engaged in the profession of arms are not overchoice in their selection of adjectives.” And one T. Woodhouse writes that “An adjective of a sanguinary or of a deistic nature need not necessarily make for profanity.”

Albert Einstein might join the faculty of Jerusalem University.

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

Today -100: September 30, 1924: Of skyscrapers, ballot access, and kids

After seeing the plans of architect Mario Palanti, Mussolini says he’ll build the tallest skyscraper in the world in Rome, 88 stories & 1,100 feet, which would make it taller than the Eiffel Tower or the Woolworth Building. (This will not, of course, happen.)

The Louisiana secretary of state rejects petitions to put Robert La Follette’s name on the ballot, saying many of the signatures are of people previously registered as Democrats, and they need to all be independents. Even Calvin Coolidge says this is fucked up.

Germany gives a condition for joining the League of Nations: it cannot be required to allow French troops to pass through Germany to assist Poland in war against Russia.

Child actor Jackie Coogan (“The Kid,” “Oliver Twist), who is fronting an Armenian relief group, meets the pope. Tomorrow he’ll meet Mussolini, an experience I’m sure he’ll salt away for future roles:

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

Today -100: September 29, 1924: Of internal matters & women congresscritters

At the League of Nations, Japan is demanding that the outlawing-war thing allow for, um, some issues considered by the World Court as internal matters not to be so considered (yeah, I’m being lazy about figuring this out). This is about US anti-Japanese-immigration laws and discrimination against Japanese people in South Africa, Australia and other countries. Japan could stop the disarmament conference happening if it doesn’t get its way.

Alice Paul of the Woman’s Party points out that only 6 states have nominated a woman for Congress (Pennsylvania has nominated 5 and Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Kansas & New Jersey one each). This shows, she says, that it is up to women to organize for women.

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

Today -100: September 28, 1924: Of duels, gutter language, awakenings, and fasts

Democrats are delighted that the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt Jr for NY governor lets them pound on the issue of the Teapot Dome scandal, to which he is tangentially linked, doing damage to both TR Jr and the national Republican party.

The notification speech to TR Jr will be given by none other than “Wild Bill” Donovan.

An intra-Fascist duel: Italian Deputy Roberto Farinacci is wounded in a duel with swords with Prince Pignatelli, but not as badly as he will be fishing with hand grenades in the ‘30s. The cause of the duel is unexplained.

Secretary of the Navy Curtis Wilbur criticizes the Maxwell Anderson/Laurence Stalling play “What Price Glory” as “full of gutter language,” which “were characteristic of the old-time sailor before the navy was made clean.”

Douglas MacArthur is promoted to major general at only 44.

In Csonográd, Hungary, seven “Awakening Hungarians” members who threw bombs at a Jewish society event a year ago (that’ll wake you up) are acquitted, the judge claiming that there was insufficient evidence after a confession supposedly obtained by torture is withdrawn.

Headline of the Day -100: 

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

Today -100: September 27, 1924: Of fish in the wintertime

Daylight Saving Time ends tonight -100: don’t forget to stop the pendulums of your clocks for an hour.

The NY Democrat Convention nominates Alfred E. Smith for governor for the 4th time and some other people, all male, for various state offices. The platform says Prohibition is ineffective and isn’t honestly or efficiently enforced and calls for legalizing beer and light wine. “Did you ever pick up a fish in the wintertime in the open air?” Al Smith asks. “I can think of nothing that is as cold and as sticky and as clammy as a fish in the wintertime. If you want to improve upon that sensation, pick up [the Republican] platform and look at it.”

Mother Jones endorses Calvin Coolidge!!!???

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

Today -100: September 26, 1924: Inefficiency, Insincerity and Laxity ‘24!

In California, Robert La Follette will have to run on the ticket of the Socialist Party, which is already on the ballot, after the state Supreme Court bars his electors standing on the ballot as independents. La F. assails the court’s 4-3 decision to ignore the 50,000 who signed petitions.

The NY Republican Convention nominates Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt Jr. (age 37) for governor on the first ballot and an honest-to-gosh woman, Florence E. S. Knapp, for secretary of state. It passes the platform plank condemning the Ku Klux Klan by name. The platform denounces Al Smith’s administration for “inefficiency, insincerity and laxity in the conduct of the Government.”

Roosevelt will resign as assistant secretary of the Navy to run for governor. He’s the last of three Roosevelts to hold that post.

The NYT says of TR Jr.’s gubernatorial nomination, “As the son of his father, he was brought forward mainly as a figurehead [for US Sen. James Wadsworth], and a second-choice figurehead at that” after Assembly Speaker H. Edmund Machold pulled out.

After getting the play “What Price Glory”’s language toned down, the cops will now be visiting every Broadway show. It seems that last year the Legislature snuck through some language in a disorderly conduct bill supposedly just dealing with pickpockets that lets the cops interfere with plays whose language they deem offensive. However, the objections by military officials to What Price Glory go beyond language. An official report “attack[s] the play for making the marines swear, drink, quarrel over women and exhibit faulty discipline.” Imagine marines in real life behaving like that! The wearing of military uniforms, which is illegal for civilians, is allowed for plays, but only if they aren’t “discreditable” to the military. The play’s producer, Arthur Hopkins says he’s cut out 3 expressions “that are used in the best families and by our noblest public officials.”

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

Today -100: September 25, 1924: By name

The New York state Republican convention’s Committee on Resolutions votes 25 to 24 behind closed doors, and after a long fight, to condemn the Ku Klux Klan by name.

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

Today -100: September 24, 1924: Of juniors and prices of glory

Certain elements of the NY Republican Party are lobbying hard against Theodore Roosevelt Jr. being named as nominee for governor. Some object to him as a “wet” (when he was in the Assembly he voted for 2.75% beer), some are worried about his loose connection to Teapot Dome as assistant secretary of the Navy, and some are kluxers, because he once gave a speech denouncing the Klan. State convention fights over the Klan have become rather a theme this year, for both parties.

NY Mayor John Hylan orders the commissioner of licenses to censor Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stalling’s recently opened play about the Great War, “What Price Glory” (which you might know from the 1926 movie version directed by Raoul Walsh or the 1952 John Ford version with Jimmy Cagney) – too much of marines talking like, you know, marines. All that language has been removed from the Cagney film.

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

Today -100: September 23, 1924: Of missing links, governors, old colonies, and contemptible conspiracies of fraud and deceit

There is supposedly a tribe of “missing links” in Indonesia. Or possibly monkeys. Either way, the Dutch colonial administration is sending an expedition to find them.

Two days before the NY Republican Convention, itself being held only 6 weeks before the general election, Assembly Speaker H. Edmund Machold, who was expected to win the nomination easily, withdraws from the governor’s race, presumably realizing that Al Smith’s re-entry into the race means he’d be crushed. So... Theodore Roosevelt Jr.?

Women delegates to the convention will push for Florence E. S. Knapp to be nominated for secretary of state.  She’s the only Republican woman candidate for any office in NY.

The German cabinet will decide whether to apply for League of Nations membership. And whether to demand its former colonies back, or at the very least Tanganyika.

The French cabinet omits funding for the embassy at the Vatican from the next budget, reversing the post-war moves towards reconciliation with the Church. This is partly due to the fierce anti-clericalism of the Socialists and Communists and partly due to the Church’s attempts to retain the powers it had in Alsace-Lorraine when it was part of Germany.

Disgraced former attorney general Harry Daugherty demands that John W. Davis stop talking about him and calls the charges against him “a contemptible conspiracy of fraud and deceit”. Which is the worst kind of conspiracy of fraud and deceit.

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

Today -100: September 22, 1924: No courage test, either

Pres. Coolidge speaks to a meeting of the (Catholic) Holy Name Society, which cheers when he says there will be no religious test for holding office, which the audience “apparently interpreted... as a reference to the Ku Klux Klan.” He makes, of course, no actual reference to the Klan.

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

Today -100: September 21, 1924: When war is outlawed, only criminals will have wars

Headline of the Day -100:  

NYC Mayor John Hylan pulls out of the race for governor, knowing that Al Smith would crush him.

William Allen White of the Emporia Gazette will run for governor of Kansas an an independent, “this distateful [sic] but necessary task,” as part of his long-time campaign against the Klan. The NYT honors the editor by that typo, I assume. Republican candidate Ben Paulen, White says, accepted Klan support & prevented an anti-Klan plank, “degrading my party and allying it with the forces of ignorance and terror,” while Democratic candidate Jonathan Davis refuses to disavow the Klan.

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