Thursday, August 3, 1911. Arbitration and tension in Morelos.

The United States signed arbitration treaties the United Kingdom and France in separate ceremonies at the White House.

The treaties would be amended beyond recognition by the Senate.

Still, it's interesting that hey were done. Today, Trump would go into a long twitter post about the wonderful thing about Tiggers, refuse to ponder them, and put tariffs on Andora.

In Morelos rebels were refusing to disarm even though Madero was urging them too.  Gobernación licenciado Emilio Vázquez Gómez asked for revolutionary troops to be sent to the region, which Madero had suggested, to calm the situation, received no answer from the provisional government. He resigned as minister of gobernación on this day and was replaced in that position by an hacendado, Alberto García Granados.

Cigarette advertisement in the August 3, 2026 Life magazine.  Cigarettes were considered effeminate at the time and this brand clearly marketed to women with the age old smoking is glamorous angle.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 2, 1911. Revolutions and a legal pioneer.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Haiti, Lawyers, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Women

Wednesday, July 31, 1946. Cracking Venona.

American cryptanalyst Meredith Gardner made a breakthrough, identifying the ciphers used for spelling English words, in a team project to crack Soviet espionage codes used in the United States.

His work remained secret for decades, and he personally felt badly about how it was used in the McCarthy era.  He died at age 89 in 2002.

The stillborn Morrison-Grady Plan was proposed by Herbert Morrison of Britain and Henry F. Grady of the U.S., providing for the division of Palestine into three districts.

President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee would both endorse it, but it had no support from Arabs or Jews.

President Truman signed legislation creating the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.

Philippine Airlines made its first transpacific flight.

Last edition:

Monday, July 29, 1946. Anping Incident.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Anping Incident, China, Chinese Civil War, International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Operation Beleaguer, People's Liberation Army, United States Marine Corps, War Crimes

Thursday, July 29, 1926. Fascist mindsets.

The fascist government of Italy prevented 2,000 Italian pilgrims from visiting the church of Madonna del Sasso in Locarno, Switzerland, on the basis that Italians should spend their money in Italy.  

It was the first time the pilgrimage had been disrupted in 400 years.

Sounds like something the Orange Mussolini would do today.

The Convention and Statute on the International Régime of Maritime Ports providing freedom of access to maritime ports without regard to a ship's nationality or maritime flag, went into effect.  Sounds like something the Orange Mussolini would oppose today.

Al Capone was freed after having spent a night in jail after being arrested on charges arising from the April 27 murder of assistant State's Attorney William McSwiggin and two friends, James J. Doherty, and Thomas "Red" Duffy. The new assistant State's Attorney, George E. Gorman, stated that evidence was insufficient for the charge.

Still living Polish literary and anti communist figure, after having been a communist, Jacek Bocheński was born in Lwow, which is now in Ukraine.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 27, 1926. The Filipino House votes for an independence plebiscite.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, 1927, Diplomacy, Philippines, Politics, Prohibition, The Press, U.S. Territories, United Kingdom, United States

Saturday, July 29, 1911. Trade reciprocity dissolves the Canadian parliament.

The Canadian Parliament dissolved over ratification of a trade reciprocity treaty, which the US had ratified but Canada had not.

I wonder what my great grandfather and great grandfather thought of the matter?

An election was called for September 21.

The Persian government put a price of $100,000 on the head of the former Shah who was now attempting to regain his thrown with the backing of Russia, and the opposition of the United Kingdom.

Ricardo Flores Magón argued in an op ed in Regeneración that the liberal/anarchist movement was not a personal political cult in order to distance the struggle of the now defeated Magonistas from individual leaders like Francisco I. Madero.  Infighting was setting in.

Given that, it's not surprising that the U.S. Army remained encamped on the Mexican border.

Camp of 2nd Prov. Regt., Ft. Crockett, Galveston, Tex. July 29, 1911.

The frightening industry of the day carried forward.

Concrete mixing plant,  Kachess Dam, Inlet Channel, Kachess River, 1.5 miles north of Interstate 90, Easton, Kittitas County, WA

Last edition:

Friday, July 28, 1911. War ending as other prepare for war.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Australasian Antarctic Expedition, Australian Navy, British Commonwealth, French Army, Haiti, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy

Tuesday, July 27, 1926. The Filipino House votes for an independence plebiscite.

The Philippine House of Representatives voted to approve a resolution calling for a plebiscite on independence for the U.S. Territory.  It was vetoed by U.S. Military Governor, Leonard Wood, but the legislature overrode the veto and the measure then went to the final consideration of U.S. President Coolidge, who vetoed the measure the following year.

The US and UK entered into an accord to address alcohol smuggling.

Hearst newspapers ran this editorial:

Last edition:

Monday, July 26, 1926. Ports of call.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Abraham Lincoln, Bahamas, Diplomacy, Mountain Climbing, Straits of Hormuz, Swiss Army, Switzerland, United States and Israel v. Iran, Weather

Monday, July 26, 1926. Ports of call.

Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving child of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, died at age 82.

A severe hurricane struck the Bahamas.

Swiss Army officers took 600 recruits on an ascent of the 10,650 feet high Devil's Mountain.

Reaching the summit at 8:30 am, they then descended without a single serious injury of any kind.

The still in effect Convention and Statute on the International Régime of Maritime Ports, providing that in peacetime, ships of all nations shall have freedom of access to maritime ports regardless of their maritime flag, went into effect.

Which should mean that Iran and the US, which the US hasn't declared war against, shouldn't be monkeying with ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 25, 1926. Last services before the Calles Law.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Arizona, Catholic, Christianity, Cristero War, Joseph Stalin, Judaism, Mexico, police, Prohibition, religion, Stalin's' Purges, Tunisia, USSR

Tuesday, July 20, 1926. Turning up the heat.

 

Coolidge gave a press conference at White Pine Camp.

Secretary Davis and I discussed only incidentally the question of munition depots. He said that there was a location in Utah that would he available, but the expense of moving our munitions out there would be pretty heavy. I think he said that none of the munitions that belong to the War Dept. have been exploded. What he did say which was of most importance was that careful studies were being made to make the locations of munitions as safe as possible.

I am not just certain when I shall go to Plymouth. I had rather expected that I might go last week some time, but I wasn’t able to get away. I haven’t any definite plan about it. What would the members of the conference prefer, to go by automobile or by train?

Press: Train.

President: Seems to be unanimous. Well, I think I can arrange to take you over there by train, if that would suit you better. I will do what I can in that direction. I suppose I will have to set down a time when I have made up my mind to go and then stick to it. Otherwise there is something coming up all the time that seems to make it desirable for me to be here. I got word that the Secretary of War was coming up, and now the Secretary of State is coming up here later in the season. He is going to speak at Plattsburg at the celebration there of the MacDonald victories on Lake Champlain.

The resignation of Commissioner Fenning is in the hands of the Attorney General. It was received just about the time we were leaving Washington. He has some small matters that we wish to have him clear up before he relinquishes the office. That will take but a few days and then he is to retire. I suppose that he would have given in his resignation any way, but I did send a request to him that he should retire.

Press: Was that request since you have been up here?

President: Why no, I said I got the resignation just as I was leaving. The request was made just before I came away.

There isn’t any particular significance in the visit of Senator Fess. He told me while I was in Washington that he was to be in the Adirondacks this summer. He has some friends up here. I think he makes it a practice to come up here every summer. They are located within 30 or 35 miles. I understood he was to be at Tupper Lake, but he is at Loon Lake. Perhaps he was going to Tupper Lake later, and I told him of course that if he was here I hoped very much ae would have a chance to come and stay a day or two with me.

I am not expecting to speak at Plattsburg at the unveiling of the MacDonald monument. As I indicated before, the Secretary of State will be there. I understand there will be some representatives of the Canadian Government there, which makes it especially appropriate for the Secretary of State to be present.

Press: Do you think you will go over, Mr. President?

President. No.

I haven’t any information about what Chairman Parker or other members of the House Commerce Committee are contemplating in relation to coal legislation for a conference with the coal operators and coal miners during the vacation. I knew that Representative Parker had prepared a bill, or that his Committee had, I coal legislation, which they were proposing to take up immediately on the convening of Congress. There didn’t seem to be time to take it up at the last session. I think I have said enough to make that plain. I didn’t know anything about a plan for trying to make an adjustment between the operators and miners, other than what I have seen in the press. I think I indicated at a conference that was held long ago that perhaps the railroad legislation which was passed at the last session might furnish a foundation principle for legislation and adjust in the coal industry. There are two or three things that I wanted as coal legislation. The first was the opportunity to call in a temporary Board to adjust differences whenever an emergency might arise, and the second was an opportunity have a coal administration whenever a scarcity was threatened. Those are the principal things.

There isn’t any comment that I can make on the fall of the French Cabinet. It is hardly appropriate to comment on a matter of that kind.

I hope that I may have a chance to go to the training camp at Plattsburgh some time during the summer. That is about 50 miles away and I judge we could go over in the morning and return in the afternoon.

If I go by train to Plymouth I shall go to Ludlow, and I think the members of the press would find accommodations at Ludlow or at Tyson, which is about 6 or 7 miles from Plymouth. It i s in the town of Plymouth, but that is post office name, 5 miles toward Plymouth from Ludlow. There Is a very good hotel there that was opened long ago but has been closed quite a good deal and reopened last summer. I went down there to lunch with Secretary Mellon and Senator Smoot when they came to Plymouth to confer with me relative to the Belgian Debt settlement, so that I know that it is a very comfortable place. And there is also at Woodstock a very good Inn that some of you are already acquainted with.

I haven’t had any report from the Secretary of Agriculture relative to his work in putting into operation the bill that was passed at the last session relative to cooperative marketing.

And I haven’t any information other than that which has appeared in the press about bank failures in southern states. That seemed to be due to some local conditions there. It i s my understanding that those were mostly state banks and not national banks.

I also expect to visit the Saranac Veterans Bureau Hospital for tubercular patients while I am here.

The Adirondacks climate is very much like that with which I am acquainted over in Vermont. I noticed that a number of the old-timers over here came from Vermont. Paul Smith came from Milton. A man named Plumbley, a very famous Adirondack figure for a good many years, came from Suesbury, next to Plymouth. Suesbury is even more like the Adirondacks region than Plymouth is. The fishing is better here than it is in Vermont.

I have an inquiry about the appropriations. If anyone is interested to analyze the increased appropriations for the present year you will find that there is a very complete study of that in the remarks of Martin B. Madden, as you know, the Chairman of the Appropriations on the part of the House. It is in the Congressional Record for Monday, July 12, 1926, beginning on Page 13,006. Of course our Post Office Department is a growing Department. We mean to keep it practically self-sustaining. Sometimes there is a deficit. There has been all the time since I have been President. Wages have been greatly increased in the Post Office Department since 1914, increased about 50%. Those that were getting $1400 at that time are now getting $2100, and the general average of increases in the postal service is very close to 50%. That accounts for a very large part of the increase in the appropriations for 1926 and 1927, that is the budget that has just passed. The Government expenditures are $273,000,000 greater. There is $100,000,000 of that which is accountable for on account of the adjusted compensation, or the bonus law. The first year that it went into effect it was estimated that the expenditure would not be known and that an appropriation I believe of $50,000,000 would take care of it , so that for this year we made up that deficiency with $100,000,000 I think put in the regular appropriation for the bonus bill. As I recall, it was $125,000,000. I won’t be sure about that. I know it is $100,000,000 extra we had that we put in. So that the Veterans Bureau has $173,000,000 more in the present budget than it had in the last budget. Than there was a great deal of money that came due on the matter of roads. We had been making appropriations that took care of the current needs, but last year there were very large bills that came in, so that the appropriation for this year is $26,000,000 greater. Than we have adopted the public buildings bill. Haven’t had a public buildings bill for 12 years, and that accounts for $14,000,000 more. Prohibition costs are $13,000,000 more. Rivers and Harbors carries $10,000,000 more. That is for special work that is being done in the Mississippi Valley, notably from Kansas City, or rather from St. Louis to Kansas City going up the river, or from Kansas City to St. Louis down. If you are reporting for the Kansas City papers it would be Kansas City first, if you are reporting for St. Louis papers St. Louis first. Than there were some refunds, $5,000,000 of refunds on cigars taxes and automobiles. We have increased pensions for Civil and Spanish War veterans $5,000,000. The Arlington Bridge $2,250,000. Then we have begun construction of military posts to replace the temporary housing erected during the war. That doesn’t come out of tax money really, but of course it does appear as an appropriation item. That is $2,250,000. We passed a law that as that military land was sold off the proceeds might be taken to make better housing facilities for our military posts. And the Sesquicentennial is $2,000,000. Judgments against the Government in the Court of Claims and other judgments are nearly $9,000,000. The total increase outside of the Post Office, of which these are the principal items, is $273,000,000. I think these items that I have given you figure up to about $260,000,000. But there are some other small items of one kind or another and you can refer to this little table here in the Congressional Record to give you a very complete explanation of it if you wish to. Now, some of those of course are permanent. The public buildings program runs for five years. The Veterans Bureau bill for the next year won’t be nearly as big. The cost for the Post Office next year I should expect would not be as large public buildings will be larger next year because we expect to appropriate about $25,000,000 a year, but we found that $14,000,000 was all that we could expend advantageously this year. It takes so long to make plans and lay out the work. It is difficult to make any estimate about pensions. The Civil War veterans are dropping away very fast. That item which now runs about $2,000,000 will naturally decrease. Of course the country is a growing country. It keeps expanding all the time and there is tremendous pressure on the Federal Government to take on new activities which the Congress resists as well as it can and which I resist as well as I can. As we pay off the national debt of course the expenses are going to be reduced for interest, but I think the plan is that as interest charges are reduced more money will go into the sinking fund. That isn’t spoken of here, but it is my recollection that there is $30,000,000 more in the sinking fund for the present year than last year. That means we are using that to pay off the public debt.

Soviet monster Felix Dzerzhinsky died of a heart attack at age 48.

French General Auguste Dubail of France and British Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson reached an agreement for a joint plan to mobilize 150,000 men in the event that Germany declared war on either nation.

Rebels in Haiti captured Cap-Haïtien.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 17, 1926. Boicotear

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Boycott, Catholic, Christianity, Cristero War, Mexico, Plutarco Elías Calles, religion, Taxes

Friday, June 14, 1946. No nukes.

The United States proposed to the  United Nations Atomic Energy Commission a proposal for United Nations to control all nuclear weapons. 

The proposal was remarkable for a number of reason, not the least of which was that it would have subjected the entire collection of the world's nations to a sort of limited central government.  It also shows how liberal politics in the U.S. were at the time.

Last edition:

Wednesday, June 12, 1946. British reject Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, British League of Nations Mandates, Palestine

Tuesday, June 1, 1976. End of the Cod Wars.

 The UK and Iceland came to an agreement ending the Cod Wars.

Last edition:

Monday, May 31, 1976. Syria invades Lebanon.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, Cod Wars, East Timor, Growing up in the 1970s, Lebanese Army, Lebanese Front, Lebanon, Palestinian Liberation Organization, Syria, Syrian Army, Syrian invasion of Lebanon, Teenagers

Trump goes to China, without any cards It's enough to make the Nixon era seem like the good old days.

 

Trump goes to China, without any cards

It's enough to make the Nixon era seem like the good old days.

Saturday, April 24, 1926. Neutral but hedging bets.

The Soviet Union and Weimar Germany pledged to remain neutral if either nation got into a war in the next five  years.

A Flapper Fanny cartoon for the day:

It was a Saturday.

The Saturday Evening Post had a Rockwell that would go on to be one of his favored illustrations.

Last edition:

Wednesday, April 21, 1926. The Day of Sorrow.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Islam, Monarchy, Saudi Arabia (Medina), United Kingdom

Wednesday, March 3, 1926. National Forest Week.

The Moody Bible Institute made the first radio broadcast of an evangelical radio program.

Odd to think they didn't exist at one time.

Germany and Afghanistan entered into a treat of friendship.

Coolidge proclaimed National Forest Week.

Proclamation, March 3, 1926

Purpose: To proclaim and celebrate American Forest Week

Date: March 3, 1926

(Original document available here)

---

In again proclaiming American Forest Week it is fitting that, while giving full weight to the evils resulting from impoverished forests and idle land, I should lay stress upon the outward spread of forestry in industrial practice and land usage. Too long have we as a nation consumed our forest wealth without adequate provision for its wise utilization and renewal. But a gratifying change is taking place in the attitude of our industries, our landowners, and the American people toward our forests.

The wise use of land is one of the main foundations of sound national economy. It is the corner stone of national thrift. The waste or misuse of natural resources cuts away the groundwork on which national prosperity is built. If we are to flourish, as a people and as individuals, we must neither wastefully hoard nor wastefully exploit, but skillfully employ and renew the resources that nature has entrusted to us. America’s forest problem essentially is a problem involving the wise use of land that can and should produce crops of timber.

Flourishing woodlands, however, mean more than timber crops, permanent industries, and an adequate supply of wood. They minister to our need for outdoor recreation; they preserve animal and bird life; they protect and beautify our hillsides and feed our streams; they preserve the inspiring natural environment which has contributed so much to American character.

Although our national progress in forestry has been well begun, much remains to be done through both concerted and individual effort. We must stamp out the forest fires which still annually sweep many wooded areas, destroying timber the nation can ill afford to lose and killing young growth needed to constitute the forests of the future. Forest fires, caused largely by human indifference or carelessness, are the greatest single obstacle to reforestation and effective forest management.

We must encourage and extend methods of timber cutting which perpetuate the forest while harvesting its products. We must plant trees in abundance on idle land where they can profitably be grown. We must examine taxation practices that may form economic barriers to timber culture. We must encourage the extension of forest ownership on the part of municipalities, counties, States, and the Federal Government. And we must take common counsel in public meetings to the end that the forestry problems of each region may be well considered and adequately met.

Now, therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week of April 18–24, inclusive, 1926, as American Forest Week; and I recommend to the Governors of the various States that they also designate the week of April 18–24 as American Forest Week and observe Arbor Day within that week wherever practicable and not in conflict with law or accepted custom. And I urge public officials, public and business organizations, industrial leaders, landowners, editors, educators, clergymen, and all patriotic citizens to unite in the common task of forest conservation and renewal.

The action of the Canadian Government in likewise proclaiming the week of April 18–24, inclusive, as a period when the utmost stress shall be laid upon the problems of forest conservation and renewal, thus unifying the respective efforts of Canada and the United States, is an added reason why our citizens should give careful thought to a matter so important to both countries.

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 third day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fiftieth.

Nassau Street, New York City, March 3, 1926.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 3: 1916  A spinsters convention is held in Gillette. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Last edition:

Saturday, February 20, 1926.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Art

Saturday, February 26, 1876. The Japan Korea Treaty of Amity.

Japan and Korean signed the Japan Korea Treaty of Amity, formally ending Korea's status as a tributary state of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, but giving Japan special rights in an independent Korea.

While it recognized Korean independence, the treaty treated Korea as an inferior state, and was a step on the way to colonization of the peninsula.

Last edition:

Monday, February 15, 1876. Texas adopts its current constitution.

Labels: 1870s, 1876, law, Texas

Tuesday, February 2, 1926.

A play, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, premiered at the Ambassador Theater on Broadway, which is remarkable in more ways than one, one being that this was well before the collapse in the economy that is so often figured into the novel, but which the novel anticipated as a moral collapse.

The incite of the novel, accordingly, can hardly be appreciated today, and indeed should be reread today, given the current times.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

The Great Gatsby.

Representatives of the governments of the UK and France, which nearly went to war in 1918/1919 over the fate of Syria, signed a treaty of friendship on behalf of the British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.  Notably, the native populations for both areas had utterly no desire that either European power be there.

Four members of the illegal Black Reichswehr were sentenced to death for politically motivated murders in Germany.

A banquet was held at the Hotel Astor to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the National League.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 30, 1926. Pinks and Greens.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, 1940, 1940s, 1941, 1950s, 1954, Allied Occupation of the Ruhr, Allied Occupation of Germany, Army, Art, Billy Mitchell, Clothing, German Weimar Republic, It was because of World War Two, Personalities