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.

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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. 

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.”

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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).

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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: 

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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.

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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: 

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Today -100: December 19, 1919: Who is Russia?

A federal jury in Kansas City finds 27 IWWers guilty of conspiracy against the government. They are given sentences ranging from 3 to 9 years.

Hungry puts the exiled Bela Kun on trial in absentia.

In Parliament, Prime Minister Lloyd George says it is impossible to make peace with Russia (when was war declared?) because of the civil war. “Who is Russia?” he asks. If the Bolsheviks want to speak for Russia, they can have free elections (presumably throughout Russia, including the areas they don’t control).

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Today -100: December 18, 1919: Waiting for the end in Cleveland

The world did not end. Some thought that an alignment of the planets would create a massive sunspot or something. A farmer bought a $15 reserved-seat ticket to the end of the world, which was to happen in Cleveland (that’s just science). The two men who sold him the ticket “told me all the members of my religious belief were to wait for the end in Cleveland.” The article does not specify what his religious belief is.

D’Annunzio does not, in fact, withdraw his forces from Fiume as he promised in his deal with the Italian government, because a group of women asks him not to. Now he says he’ll hold a referendum in Fiume, today.

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Today -100: December 17, 1919: No personal preference in the matter

Sen. Warren G. Harding declares his candidacy for the presidency in a letter to the chairman of the Miami, Ohio Republican Committee. He says he has “no personal preference in the matter, but gladly will co-operate in making effective the manifest wish of the Republicans of the State.” He won’t do any campaigning – “unseemly seeking” – before the Convention. Also he won’t specify any platform or policies. Whatever you guys want, that’s fine with me, he more or less says.

The Allies will feed Austria.

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Today -100: December 16, 1919: Of treaties, prohibition, lynchings, and hangings

Democratic senators who were working on a compromise on the peace treaty are unsure what to do after Pres. Wilson (or whoever’s) hard-line statement yesterday.

The Supreme Court unanimously upholds the wartime prohibition act, saying Congress didn’t intend prohibition to end when the war actually ended but when demobilization ended.

A mob in West Virginia lynch two black men. The sheriff and his deputies in Logan County at first hold off the mob, then put the prisoners on a train to get them to safety. The mob pulls them off the train, shoots them, and dumps their bodies in the Guyandotte River.

The Austrian state of Tyrol threatens that if the Entente doesn’t assure its food supply, it will immediately form a customs, currency and provisioning union with Germany.

Adm. Kolchak, whose White army is not doing well, threatens that if the Allies do not supply him, he will cede part of Siberia to Japan to keep it from falling into Bolshevik hands.

Headline That Kinda Sounds Like a Pun or Something of the Day-100:

Sentenced for crimes (unspecified in the article) during the Bela Kun regime.

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Today -100: December 15, 1919: He has no compromise or concession of any kind in mind

Senate Republican leaders have said it’s up to Pres. Wilson to restart the treaty process. The White House responds: “He has no compromise or concession of any kind in mind, but intends, so far as he is concerned, that the Republican leaders of the Senate shall continue to bear the undivided responsibility for the fate of the treaty and the present condition of the world in consequence of that fate.”

Gabriele D’Annunzio signs (will sign? I think) an agreement with Italian Prime Minister Franceso Nitti for D’Annunzio to leave Fiume and Italian troops to take over. Which is all the poet-aviator ever wanted. Evidently the Allies have given in to Italy’s (and the poet-aviator’s) demand to be allowed to annex the city.

There is a strike in Ireland against the introduction of driving licenses. They were brought in because some Sinn Féin attacks have used autos. The move was originally to include truck drivers, but it was pointed out that drive-bys rarely involve lorries, so those drivers were exempted, but their union called a strike anyway.

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Today -100: December 14, 1919: I cannot leave Paris empty handed

Headline of the Day -100: 

Insert your own Trump joke here.

Poland invades Lithuania.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Renner says if the Peace Conference fails to provide food aid for Austria, he will resign. “I cannot leave Paris empty handed,” he says. Former emperor Charles offers his own solution to all Austria’s problems – the article says Austria-Hungary, but I wonder if Chuck used those exact words? – restoration of the monarchy. Not him, but his son. He also opposes union with Germany.

Sen. Hiram Johnson, former governor of California and Theodore Roosevelt’s running mate in 1912, announces that he will run for president.

Early into prohibition, the dead from bootleg booze are beginning to stack up.

Italy will destroy all mail addressed to Trieste, Austria or Trieste, Jugoslavia rather than Trieste, Italy.

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Today -100: December 13, 1919: Of arks, rule by public opinion, emperors, and brontosaurs

Emma Goldman withdraws her appeal against deportation so that she can join the “Soviet Ark” of hundreds of Russians being sent back in a couple of weeks. Also, it increasingly sounds like they’ll be sent to Soviet Russia rather than White Russia. Goldman has lived in the US for 34 years.

Colorado ratifies the women’s suffrage Amendment. 22 down, 14 to go, I believe.

Headline of the Day -100: 

One assumes this was written before the stroke.

The former Austrian emperor Charles, living in exile in Switzerland and suffering financially from the exchange rate, asks Czechoslovakia to allow him to live in Prague. They say no.

A Belgian big-game named Gapelle claims to have tracked a brontosaurus or something like it in the Belgian Congo. He shot at it but failed to hit it. Bad luck.

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Today -100: December 12, 1919: Of booms and coal

Old Guard Republican leaders (assembled at a meeting of Republican state chairmen) are moving away from their previous strategy of heading off Gen. Leonard Wood’s candidacy for president by blowing air into the campaigns of a bunch of “favorite son” candidates, and now favor picking one candidate and “booming” him. And it looks like that candidate is Warren G. Harding, who is too bland to have any enemies.

Fuel Administrator Harry Garfield resigns in protest of the coal strike being settled in a way that may eventually result in higher prices for the public.

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