Wednesday, October 20, 1915. Arms okay for Carranza.

The impact of Woodrow Wilsons' administration recognizing Carranza, whose followers had blown off the Convention of Aguascalientes, and who personally hated the United States, was becoming immediately clear.

Arms to Carranza. . . that would tip the scales for sure.

While Wilson had his hand on the scale of the Mexican Revolution, he was issuing a proclaimation about American Thanksgiving.

President Wilson issued a proclamation regarding Thanksgiving.

Proclamation 1316—Thanksgiving Day, 1915

October 20, 1915

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

It has long been the honoured custom of our people to turn in the fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a nation. The year that is now drawing to a close since we last observed our day of national thanksgiving has been, while a year of discipline because of the mighty forces of war and of change which have disturbed the world, also a year of special blessing for us.

Another year of peace has been vouchsafed us; another year in which not only to take thought of our duty to ourselves and to mankind but also to adjust ourselves to the many responsibilities thrust upon us by a war which has involved almost the whole of Europe. We have been able to assert our rights and the rights of mankind without breach of friendship with the great nations with whom we have had to deal; and while we have asserted rights we have been able also to perform duties and exercise privileges of succour and helpfulness which should serve to demonstrate our desire to make the offices of friendship the means of truly disinterested and unselfish service. Our ability to serve all who could avail themselves of our services in the midst of crisis has been increased, by a gracious Providence, by more and more abundant crops. our ample financial resources have enabled us to steady the markets of the world and facilitate necessary movements of commerce which the war might otherwise have rendered impossible; and our people have come more and more to a sober realization of the part they have been called upon to play in a time when all the world is shaken by unparalleled distresses and disasters. The extraordinary circumstances of such a time have done much to quicken our national consciousness and deepen and confirm our confidence in the principles of peace and freedom by which we have always sought to be guided. Out of darkness and perplexity have come firmer counsels of policy and clearer perceptions of the essential welfare of the nation. We have prospered while other peoples were at war, but our prosperity has been vouchsafed us, we believe, only that we might the better perform the functions which war rendered it impossible for them to perform.

Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Thursday the twenty-fifth of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and invite the people throughout the land to cease from their wonted occupations and in their several homes and places of worship render thanks to Almighty God.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifteen and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and fortieth.

Signature of Woodrow Wilson

Louis Botha, once a Boer General, of the South African Party won the 1915 South African general election and retained power.

French forces reached the town of Krivolak on the Vardar river in Vardar Macedonia. The British dug in at a mountain pass near Kosturino and Doiran Like.

The Ottoman Empire brought an end to Armenian resistance at Urfa.

The British Commonwealth recognized women as bus and tram operators for the duration, something that had been going on for some time.

Sweden established the Swedish Infantry Officers College.

Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Today -100: October 20, 1915: With bleeding heart ...: Headline of the Day -100:  Male voters in New Jersey reject women’s suffrage in the referendum by roughly 133,000 to 184,000. It los...

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 19, 1915. The US extends recognition to Carranza.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Bulgaria, Constitutionalist Army, Italy, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Russia, Texas, Texas (Brownsville), Venustiano Carranza, World War One

Saturday, September 4, 1915. Fighting Carranza in Texas, and Cowboy Boots before the war.

 The headline was correct, at least in a fashion.  Mexican Sedicionistas, who were supporters of Carranza, had crossed into Texas in a raid.  Normally, we'd think of Carranza's men as Constitutionalists, but frankly in Mexico at the time that would imply a level of adherence to the law that would not be warranted.

This event focuses us on something that was soon to really matter. Carranza did not like the United States.  His troops were raiding over the border.  He had placed himself, however, in Mexico City, and Woodrow Wilson was moving towards recognizing him as the legitimate head of the country, even though the Convention of Aguascalientes had created a new government which was supported by Zapata and Villa.

I didn't run this on its anniversary,  back in August, but chances are that it was run in the Rawlins newspaper more than once.

Lex Anteinternet: Cowboy Boots: Title: An array of boots at the F.M. Light & Sons western-wear store in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Library of Congress photographs...

Rawlins Republican, August 1915.

This advertisement discusses something we addressed in an earlier post:

Well, like a lot of things, the boots changed as a result of a war.  World War One to be exact.

 Stretching leather, about 1915.

Because World War Two was such a colossal war, and because we tend to simply accept the line that the United States was the "arsenal of democracy" during the Great War, we have a pretty skewed concept of American production in the World War One time frame. Simply put, it was a mess.

Not only was the Army trying to raise a force, at breakneck speed (more rapidly by quite some measure than during World War Two) but it was trying to deploy it overnight.  It was also trying to equip it overnight.  The peacetime Army didn't have anywhere near the amount of stuff necessary to equip the huge Army that the US was trying to raise, equip, ship and deploy in 1917.

And this included leather goods.

The US didn't really even know what it needed in the way of leather goods, so it let out contracts for things like saddles and boots in absurdly large numbers.  There's a real reason that M1904 McClellan saddles are so common.  They made so darned many. Same with boots, the numbers made were astounding.  Absurd, even.

With that sort of demand going on for leather goods, the supply became very strained, and cowboy boots were the victims of that. The leather for high topped boots just wasn't there. So, as a wartime measure, bootmakers introduced the "stubbie" or "pee wee" boot, which is what most people, at least those who aren't cowboys, wear today.

 Tom Mix, 1919.  Mix was an actor, not a cowboy by trade, although the World War One veteran did buy a ranch in Wyoming after the war and he actually ranched here.  Anyhow, actors make notoriously bad examples of what cowboys actual wore, and this is no exception.  The hat is far too large for anything outside of Texas (where sugarloaf sombreros were really large), the pistols are M1873 cavalry models, which had 7" barrels and which were not favored by cowboys, who instead favorted the 5" artillery model. the pants are way too tight. The boots, moreover, are peewees. The heels, however, are just right for the era, and not uncommon amongst working cowhands now.

That was the wartime solution.  And it impacted how the boots were actually worn. Prior to WWI cowboys normally tucked their trouser in their boots, and they still sometimes will, as the photo posted above shows.  This was the routine habit, although sometimes they'd pull their pants down over their boots.  Having worn boots both ways while riding, if I'm going to ride for a long time, I'll tuck them in.  More comfortable, for the long haul.

But you really can't do that very well with pee wees, and cowboys who had to buy new boots during the war were embarrassed by the economy of leather and how it looked, so they took to pulling their pants down over their boots.  Better to wear out your pants and get them dirty than to look like a boofador.

Traditional boots do not go on as easy as peewees.  And you'll want some high socks if you wear them also.  My Olathe traditional mule hide cowboy boots.

There's a lot more to that post, but we can see here, in 1915, you could get handmade cowboy boots in Rawlins, and they were going to be real cowboy boots.  You can still get them, and still get them handmade, but probably not in Rawlins.

Figures at the dedication of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rocky Mountain Park in Colorado was dedicated.

Last edition:

Friday, September 3, 1915. Ojo de Agua

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Sedicionistas, Texas

Thursday, June 10, 1915. Cházaro becomes the disputed President of Mexico.

Francisco Lagos Cházaro became acting contested president of Mexico under convention of the Convention of Aguascalientes.  Carranza, who had declared himself president, did not recognize the Cházaro government.

Today In Wyoming's History: June 10: 1915 Girl Scouts founded.  This was an expansion of the scouting movement started by English Lord Baden Powell, which was a significant movement at the time.

A portion of their guidebook follows on the link.

Last edition:

Wednesday, June 9, 1915. Bryan resigns, Wilson sends a letter.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Germany, RMS Lusitania, William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson, World War One

Saturday, November 6, 1914. Eulalio Gutiérrez declared President of Mexico

Eulalio Gutiérrez was declared President of Mexico during the Convention of Aguascalientes.

His presidency was best with problems from the onset as the warring parties that had prevailed in removing Huerta did not agree on much else.  Ultimately, he declared Carranza and Villa to be traitors to the revolution and removed himself to the United States.  He returned in 1920, but later participated in a  subsequent rebellion and again went to the US as an exile.  He returned to Mexico again in 1935 and died in 1939 at age 58.

Japanese troops stormed German defenses at Tsingtao.

Ottoman troops confronted Imperial Russian forces that had entered the country.

British troop conducted an amphibious landing at Fao, Iraq, in order to take the fortress there which threatened British shipping.

Irish member of Parliament Arthur O'Neill was killed in action at Zillebeke, Belgium.  He was an Ulster Unionist.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 5, 1914. Bears.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, British Empire, Casper Wyoming, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Fraternal Organizations, French Foreign Legion, Italy, Ottoman Empire, Royal Navy, United Kingdom, World War One, Wyoming (Casper)

Saturday, October 31, 1914. Convention troubles

Being a Saturday in the Fall, college football was on.

There was brewing trouble in Mexico.

Things weren't going well at the Convention of Aguacalientes.

The Imperial Russian Army prevailed over the Germans and Austro Hungarians in the Battle of Vistula River.

The French and British took back Nieuwpoort, Belgium, brining to an end the Battle of Yser.  The Belgians had lost between 20,000 and 40,000 troops in the campaign, the Germans over 76,000.

The Germans broke through Allied lines near Gheluvelt Belgium but a British counterattack restored the line.

The Japanese Navy began shelling Tsingtao.

The HMS Hermes was sunk by the U-27 in the Starit of Dover.

German troops raided the Portuguese fort at Cuangar, Angola.

The Ecuadorian army defeated rebels at Esmeraldas,Ecuador.

Duluth, Minnesota.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 29, 1914. Turkey bombards Odessa.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Australia, Battle of the Yser, Black Sea, First Battle of Ypres, German Kriegsmarine, Imperial Russian Army, Odessa Ukraine, Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Navy, Polish Legion, Russia, Ukraine, World War One

Saturday, October 10, 1914. Convention of Aguascalientes

The Convention of Aguascalientes, called by Venustiano Carranza convened.  Carranza, in spite of calling the meeting, did not attend and did not send representatives.  Pancho Villa's representatives were in attendance.  Álvaro Obregón came in person. Zapata's representatives would arrive fifteen days after the start of the convention.  Villista's dominated.

The first thing the convention did was to declare itself sovereign, the de facto government of Mexico.

British and French forces attempted to take the French city of La Bassée.

King Carol I of Romania, who opposed entering the Great War, died.

The SMS Emden left British held Diego Garcia, with its residents unaware that a war had started.

Boston took game two of the World Series, 1 to 0.

Last edition:

Friday, October 9, 1914. Antwerp surrendered.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, 1914 World Series, Antwerp Belgium, baseball, Battle of the Vistula