Best Post of the Week of April 2, 2017

The Best Post of the Week of April 2, 2017:

The Thorny Issue of Health Care in the United States

 Working in the ice cream cone bakery.

On being sick. . . a century (or half century) ago

The Sunday State Leader for April 8, 1917: Join the Guard, but not the Navy?

The shape of a national Army was beginning to take place in the first days of the wary.  The US would conscript, although there was opposition to it, and the Army was going to be huge.

Americans were joining the National Guard, lining up, as they had in prior wars, to go with their state units rather than the Federal Army.  With conscription that would soon change, but here we see the evolution of the Army.  Joining state units had long been the wartime norm.  It still was, but that was going to change in short order, although conscription had been a feature of the Civil War as well.

Men (and of course now women as well) weren't joining the Navy in the same numbers.  But, as it'd turn out, the role of the U.S. Navy would not be as vast as some had thought.

And Ft. D. A. Russell was going to be busy.

Easton, Pennsylvania. April 7, 1917

The City of Easton Pennsylvania.  Copyright, April 7, 1917.

Cuba Declares War on Germany, April 7, 1917

Cuba, on this day, declared war on Germany.

Article I
Resolved, that from today a state of war is formally declared between the Republic of Cuba and the Imperial Government of Germany, and the President of the Republic is authorized and directed by this resolution to employ all the forces of the nation and the resources of our Government to make war against the Imperial German Government with the object of maintaining our rights, guarding our territory and providing for our security, prevent any acts which may be attempted against us, and defend the navigation of the seas, the liberty of commerce, and the rights of neutrals and international justice.

Article II
The President of the Republic is hereby authorized to use all the land and naval forces in the form he may deem necessary, using existing forces, reorganizing them or creating new ones, and to dispose of the economic forces of the nation in any way he may deem necessary.

Article III
The President will give account to Congress of the measures adopted in fulfillment of this law, which will be in operation from the moment of its publication in the Official Gazette.

Canadian Pacific hospital car, April 7, 1917.

Canadian Pacific hospital car, April 7, 1917.

The Casper Daily Tribune for April 7, 1917. No panic here.

The Casper Daily Tribune is almost a shock compared to other papers in the state this week.  It didn't seem that worked up about the war.

It was starting off with the bold declaration that Casper, in the midst of the World War One oil boom, was "the city wonderful".  It predicated a population of 15,000 in the next few years, which may or may not have been a pleasant thought to long term residents, but as things would play out, it's prediction was in fact lower than that which the city would rise up to in the near future.  The refinery depicted in the photo on the bottom of the front page was much of the reason why.  Already, as the paper noted, residents who were returning to the town after an absence were shocked to see how much it had changed.

Major Ormsby, that was his name, not his rank, was interviewed in the paper about radios.  Ormsby was a local rancher who is remembered today for a road north of Casper that takes people to a rural subdivision, although it might be more recalled by some as it goes past the oldest of Casper's two strip joints (shades of what 1917 would bring in there).  At the time, however, that was all rural land and apparently Ormsby had a radio set there.  He was interviewed due to a rumor that his radio was going to be taken over by the Navy, although the article notes he'd heard no such rumor.  He also hadn't listed to his radio for a long time, apparently.  The paper noted that the nearest commercial station was in Denver, which was true, that being the very early predecessor to KOA, which is still in business.

The Cheyenne State Leader for April 7, 1917: Wyoming can furnish finest cavalry horses obtainable anywhere

As the US plunged into war, the Leader was proclaiming that Wyoming could furnish the finest cavalry horses obtainable anywhere.

Actually, it already was.

Wyoming, in addition to experiencing a petroleum boom, was also experiencing a horse boom as horse ranchers, quite a few of them with English connections, had been been supplying the British, as well as the French, with horses for the war for years.  Starting with the Punitive Expedition, it'd started doing the same for the United States.  Not all of these horses were "finished" by any means, indeed most of them were not, something that came as a shock to their European users who were surprised by how green these horses were.

Added to his, of course, Wyoming had a major Remount station in Sheridan Wyoming, right in the heart of Wyoming's horse country, which would continue on through World War Two.

In that other boom, the oil boom, that had become so significant that the Leader was quoting the prices from the Casper exchange now on a daily basis.

Update

Just a couple of days ago my Iphone updated.

It took it a really long time to do it.

After that, the battery on the Iphone 6, which I've only had for a couple of months, started running down in a day.  It had really lasted a long time before that.  I was actually thinking that I wondered if they'd update it again soon, to fix whatever they'd done.

Well, today it updated again.

I don't know that they're related.

I do know that I really wish Apple would be more content to just let these things exist in a steady state without monkeying with them all the time.

The United State Declares War on Germany, 1917

The United States declared war on this day against Germany. War commenced at 1:18 pm.

WHEREAS, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America; therefore, be it
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government, which has thus been thrust upon the United States, is hereby formally declared; and
That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial German Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

California Naval Militia Mobilized

On this date, in 1917, the California Naval Militia was mobilized.  Sailors of the California Naval Militia were assigned to the USS Oregon, USS San Diego and the USS Huntington.  While moblized, they were not actually Federalized until May 3, 1917, reflecting some of the practices and legal oddities of the time.

More BC News

Yesterday we ran this historical item:

Lex Anteinternet: Women become eligible to vote in Provincial electi...: On this date the results of a referendum held in September, 1916, came into effect and women in British Columbia became legally able to vot...

Here's a current one, from the CBC.  Mixed good and bad news at best:

Allergy sufferers in B.C. will need to brace themselves for tree pollens like oak, birch and pine to start peaking in the next week, according to a Canadian laboratory that tracks airborne allergens by the day.

The province's unusually cold winter and spring have delayed the start of allergy season by more than six weeks, but it is coming. It stands in stark contrast to 2016, when the mild winter led to the allergy season beginning a month early.

The Cheyenne State Leader for April 6, 1917: Duels of Nations and Duels of Indiviuals

The news was all about duels.

The United States had entered the duel with Germany.

Villa was moving in his duel with Carranza.

And a farmer died in a duel with a cowboy near Sheridan.

And the Wyoming National Guard's Second Battalion had been called fully back into service.

The Laramie Boomerang for April 6, 1917: Wilson Signs Measure

Evidence that maybe somebody at your local paper isn't too familiar with some aspects of history . . .

Hmmm. . . . if that photo is right Sgt. Bellamy was in the Wehrmacht during World War Two. . . .

Uber comes to Wyoming. . . . and I don't like it.

I started this post a couple of weeks ago.  True to form, it's taken me awhile to get back around to it.  Today the same story hit the cover of the Casper Star Tribune. That story made me all the more miffed about Uber, frankly.

 Cab driver, New York, 1942.

I don't like Uber.

The concept that is.  I have no personal experience with it myself at all.

Uber drivers are, to my way of thinking, up until recently, Gypsy Cabs.

Now, gypsy cabs aren't cabs driven by gypsies, they were illegally operated cabs.

Uber bills itself as a ride facilitating outfit and by and large the concept has been accepted.  It's nonsense.  It's a cab company in which the cabs are owned by the cabbies, who are independent contractors.

Being a cab driver is one of the worst, and most dangerous, jobs in the US. At least at one time being a cab driver in Washington D.C., for example, was the most dangerous job in the United States . . . more dangerous than being an Alaskan commercial fisherman. .. and that's dangerous.

And no wonder.  You pick up people you don't know and take them to a place you didn't know you were going just a few minutes prior.

Think Uber drivers must all be safe dudes and dudettes?  Google the topic "Uber driver murdered" or something like that, and you'll pull up some scary stories.  You'll also pull up at least one website simply listing crimes and accidents of Uber drivers.  And you'll find the tragic stories of Uber drivers who are murdered.

Cab drivers commit crimes and have crimes committed against them as well.  But cabs came to be regulated and controlled everywhere for a reason.  Ride sharing is bunk.  Ubers are simply unregulated cabs.

But, in the "the market must be free" and "technology is always good" atmosphere we live in, Uber and like services are going to keep on keeping on.  To the detriment of cabbies.

And that should give us pause at that.

In some places cab drivers are members of unions. . . and for good reasons. Everywhere they are employees subject to their states workers compensation laws.  In other words, they have benefits in addition to their pay, which isn't large, for their dangerous work.

Uber drivers have their own cars and that's about it, in so far as I'm aware.

Well over a century of progress in labor reversed.

No wonder the blue collar workers in this country feel left out.

But at least its regulated. The drivers have to be licensed as cabbies, the companies have to complay with the law for operating cabs. There are some protections, for the cabbies and the customers.

Now, I suppose with Uber the price may be controlled, as set by Uber, but otherwise it's really a loose sort of deal.  

Well, I'll look forward to the cry "Uber drivers of the world unite. . . you have nothing to loose, not even your tire chains".

Award Authorization Date for the Purple Heart

April 15, 1917 is the first date for which a serviceman can be awarded the Purple Heart for "Being wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States or as a result of an act of any such enemy or opposing armed forces".

An earlier award of a similar name, and which inspired this medal, was designed and authorized by Washington during the Revolution as the Badge of Military Merit.  It passed into disuse following the Revolution.  Following World War One, however, the medal was revived in 1932, after several years of consideration, and awardable to men who had received the Meritorious Service Citation Certificate, Army Wound Ribbon, or were authorized to wear Wound Chevrons subsequent to April 5, 1917, thereby catching every serviceman who qualified who had served in World War One but sadly omitting men who had been wounded during the Punitive Expedition that had immediately proceeded it.  320,518 medals were awarded for service during World War One.

Douglas MacArthur was the first U.S. serviceman to receive the modern award.

Wyoming's most prolific inventor

This is a semi automatic rifle designed by John Pedersen, Wyoming's most prolific inventor.  This rifle competed with others early on for the replacement for the M1903 Springfield. That ultimately went to John Garand's design.

More patents are held by Pedersen than any other Wyomingite.  Born in Grand Island Nebraska, the family moved to Jackson Hole when he was a child and he designed most of his designs from there.  Pedersen continued to use the family ranch as his home base for most of his life, although he traveled extensively and did live in other localities from time to time.  At the time of his death he was living in Massachusetts, near Springfield Armory, and perhaps because he was working for the United States government.

His most famous design, although not his most successful one by any means in terms of manufacture and use, was the Pedersen Device, a device which allowed for the 1903 Springfield to host what was basically a semi automatic action.  Manufactured in numbers during World War One, they were never actually issued and were discarded after the war.  His design for a pump action shotgun, however, lives on today ironically as the Browning BPS.  His Model 51 pistol was manufactured commercially by Remington and was recommended for purchase by the Navy prior to World War One, although it was not officially adopted.  The cartridge design he created following World War One for military trials, the .276 Pedersen, turned out to be far ahead of its time, although the wise intervention of Douglas MacArthur, given budget constrains during the Depression, kept it from being adopted.

While a very successful arms designer, with many important patents to his name, a great deal of his personal story is lost.  He was married and had two children, one of whom was a Marine Corps lieutenant during the Korean War who purchased the famous racehorse Reckless for use in hauling ammunition.  His wife was a published author who wrote on widely varying topics.  The divorced at some point, but it is not known when.  He later remarried late in life to a woman 32 year his junior.

Pedersen would be famous today but for the fact that he was a contemporary of John Browning, the most famous of all American firearms designers.  Browning, for his part, called Pedersen the "greatest firearms designer in the world."

Women become eligible to vote in Provincial elections in British Columbia

 Little Yoho Valley near Field, British Columbia, 1902.  Yes, this photograph has nothing to do with this story, other than that its in British Columbia in the early 20th Century.

On this date the results of a referendum held in September, 1916, came into effect and women in British Columbia became legally able to vote in provincial elections.

In this British Columbia followed the Canadian prairie provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta all of which had already extended the franchise to women the prior year.  It was the fourth Canadian province to take this step.

The extension of voting rights did not extend to all.  First Nations men and women remained ineligible to vote. This mirrored the situation in the United States to some degree, where some Native Americans could vote and others could not, depending upon whether they were regarded as citizens or not. Full citizenship was not extended to all American Indians until 1924.  The full franchise came to First Nations members mid 20th Century.

Suffragettes parading, April 5, 1917

The Douglas Budget for April 5, 1917: Company F In Active Service

The United States was on the eve of war with Germany and Company F was back in Federal service.