October 30, 1920. Drum Major, Imitating Mother, the Australian Communist Party, and Parking

 

On this day in 1920 the Saturday Evening Post's cover was graced by a J. C. Leyendecker illustration of a band major.

Usually scenes like this were topical, but this one was clearly not.  In October the only kids who would be wearing the old fashioned (dare we say it) "wife beater" type of t-shirt would have had to live in the deep South, as the cool weather would have set in everywhere else. And at this time of year, bands weren't marching.

Judge had a classic scene, now probably regarded as un-woke, of a little girl mimicking her elders conduct, something that still occurs, acknowledged by society or not.

Also on this day, the Australian Communist Party formed.

It's little remembered today, but the Australian Communist Party, which dissolved in 1991, was a powerful party in its day.  Some credit the Irish Australians and the Catholic Church, of which they were members of stemming it tide, although certainly that was only partially true, and while the party dissolved in 1991, lingering left wing resentment is credited by some with the charade of a trial delivered to Cardinal Pell which was later overturned, something that will stand with the Dred Scott decision in the United States as a shameful national blight on a nation's legal system.  The party went into a steep decline after the full horrors of Soviet Communism started to be revealed after World War Two, although strongly left wing sentiments in some Australian political parties remain.

April 3, 1920 Congress looks into the packing industry, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre marry, Tag Day, and the looming Jazz Age.

" The House Agriculture Committee which is at present considering legislation to regulate the packers, photographed in the Committee room at the Capitol today. Front row left to right, James Young Texas, John W. Rainey Ill. and William W. Wilson of Ill. Middle row, Left to right, E.S. Candler, Miss. Gordon Lee Ga? Gilbert M. Haugen, Iowa, Chairman Jas C. McLaughlin Mich. and Sidney Anderson Minn. Back Row. Left to right, H.M. Jacoway, Arkansas, Thomas L. Rubey Mo. John V. Lesher Pa. Fred S. Purnell Ind. J.N.Tincher Kans. M.O.McLaughlin Nebr. Elijah C. Hutchinson N.J. Edward Voigt Wis. L.G.Haugen, Clerk."

Congress was looking into regulating meat packers on this day back in 1920.

My grandfather was employed in the meat packing industry around this time, although he may not have been quite yet.  He'd come to own his own plant, making him something that doesn't really seem to exist anymore, the owner of a single packing plant.

While this entry is from 1920, I'll note that on this Friday, a day which I frequent put in posts related to farming, as the price of meat is way up, but the price of cattle is down. There's something really wrong with that, and a lot of what's wrong with that has to do there being too few packers, something that's come about due to the general trend of industry consolidation in the U.S. and due to complicated external factors.

Anyway you look at it, however, a situation in which the price of cattle is down, and the price fuel, and hence transportation costs, is way down, should mean that meat in the grocery store is also down.  Conversetly, if it is up, the price paid to the producing farmer and rancher should be up as well.

None of that is true.

On the same day, it was Tag Day in Washington D.C.

"TAG DAY UP TO DATE IN WASHINGTON D.C. No longer can the citizen who rides in an automobile feel secure on tag days. In the past the lowly pedestrian has been the one to "Come across" while the automobilist was comparatively safe. Washington society ladies sprang a new one today in selling tags for the benefit of Columbia Hospital. Fair damsels on horseback "Held Up" automobiles while their sisters on foot "Worked" the sidewalks. Photo shows Miss Ellen Messer receiving a liberal contribution from a surprised automobilist."

Elsewhere, eight days after the publication of his first novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda Sayre at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald at that time was already in his early stages of alcoholism and Zelda would follow him on that trip, with her mind declining into insanity and ultimately to a tragic death in a fire in a mental health sanitarium.  All that was before the couple, however, which had an on again off again relationship up to this point.  She'd virtually define the flapper of the Jazz Age and was a thinly veiled character in much of Fitzgerald's writings.

Not quite in the Jazz Age but already heading there, J. C. Leyendecker portrayed a style of hat that was to become common in the 1920s, in this instance as an Easter bonnet.

A note on yesterday's camel image

Yesterday, we published this:

Lex Anteinternet: January 3, 1920. A Roaring Start:

January 3, 1920. A Roaring Start

1920 was certainly off to a "roaring" start.

The image was cross posted on Reddit's 100 Years Ago subreddit, where I learned that the camel, which was baffling me, is the symbol of the Prohibition Party.

I had no idea.

The party still exists.

It's an interesting party and slightly reminds me of the American Solidarity Party in that it takes positions from the left and the right.  It's "liberal" on its environmental positions, for example, and "conservative" on social issues.  It still runs a presidential candidate for every Presidential election, but since 1976, it's received less than 10,000 votes per year.  It peaked in the 1904 Election when it received 260,000 votes.

It's nominees for the 2020 Presidential Election were determined in a telephone conference, which shows how small it is.  Phil Collins of Nevada and Billie Joe Parker of Georgia are their Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates.

Camels, it should be noted, are never thirsty in the popular imagination.

January 3, 1920. A Roaring Start

1920 was certainly off to a "roaring" start.

The news on January 3 was all about the Palmer raids of January 2, which came one day after the first Palmer raids on January 1.  A huge sweep of the nation had rounded up a lot of "Reds", which in this context were simply radicals of all stripes.  Indeed, in Russia, where the civil war was raging, the Reds of the Communist Party had proven to be bad news for the socialist left, even the radical socialist left, as well as for anarchists.  In the US, however, they were all being rounded up together.

Radicals were even reported lurking in Denver stores.

The Press, which was generally Progressive, didn't shed any tears for the radical right. Now the Palmer Raids are regarded as an embarrassment, but the time, not so much. . . at least for awhile.

Mexico was showing up again on the front page and had been for some time, we'd note.  Fighting was still ongoing and an election was scheduled.  In the midst of it, Carranza had decided to try to reorganize the Mexican Federal army.

Radicals in store or no, the National Western Stock Show, a big even that's still held annually in Denver, was about to get rolling.

In Washington D. C., famous figures of the recent war continued to visit.

Admiral Jellicoe with Admiral Niblack on the latter's arrival at the Union Station, Washington D.C., January 3, 1920

The Time Warp

Folks who know me would never accuse me of being one of the folks who turn out in suit and tie everyday, or even tie everyday, in spite of my occupation.  But I have been amazed by the nearly complete evaporation of standards of appearance that's occurred even during my work life.  It's been amazing.

Indeed, I have to say that I was sort of shocked for the opposite reason yesterday afternoon when my Long Suffering Spouse and I went out to do some errands.  On the first one we ran into some folks she knows at a sporting goods store. They were there with their 18 year old son who was incredibly clean cut.

Well, just back from basic training.  No wonder.

And then, this being Christmas Party season, we stopped by the liquor store to find it full of men in suits. Really rare around here, especially on a Saturday.  And then an Artillery Lieutenant in Dress Blues stopped in, which is something we never see here.

Like walking into a time warp.

August 23, 1919. Exhibitions in Toronto, Trouble for the Motor Transport Convoy in Utah, Fighting in Mexico, Lithuania and Ireland.

While the U.S. Army was testing its recent wartime vehicular acquisitions in a cross country trek, Toronto was enjoying a victory related exhibition.

Vehicle attrition was beginning to set in with the transcontinental Motor Transport Convoy.

While better progress was made on this day, for the second time this week a vehicle was pulled out to be shipped by rail.  On this occasion, the vehicle was pulled out entirely and taken back to Ft. Douglas, Utah, which is just outside of Salt Lake City.

Officer's quarters, Ft. Douglas, Utah.

Things were not going as well as hoped for, for the Army, further south.

And violence was erupting elsewhere as well.

In Ireland, fifteen year old Francis Murphy, a member of Fianna Éireann, an Irish Nationalist Youth organization, was shot dead in his home by British soldiers in what amounted to sort of a drive by shooting.  The shots were believed to have been fired in retaliation for recent violent nationalist activities.

Fianna Éireann members in 1914, practicing aiding the wounded.  The organization was a nationalist youth organization with scouting elements.  Note the kilts, which aren't really an Irish thing.  Note also the Montana Peak type hats which were associated with scouting at the time.  Photograph courtesy of the Irish Library via Wikipedia Commons.

And in the East, fighting between Poles and Lithuanians broke out in the city of Sejny over the question of who would control the city. The Germans, upon evacuating the region in May, had left it in the hands of Lithuania, which is not surprising in light of German support for German freikorps fighting there.  The Poles in the city objected.  Ultimately the region would remain in Lithuania.

Polish cavalry in Sejny.

Saturday was the day the nation's magazines tended to come out, although its doubtful anyone we discussed above read this weeks. Maybe soldiers on the convoy might have acquired some late.

Country Gentleman, perhaps in the spirit of the time, portrayed aggressive roosters on its cover.

The Country Gentleman from August 23, 1919.

The Saturday Evening Post had a less than inspiring Leyendecker illustration depicting a life guard, perhaps in tribute to the hot month of August, which was about to become the cooling month of September.

May 10, 1919. Homecomings, Mourning, Occupations, and Race Riots

A J. C. Leyendecker illustration was on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post this day in 1919, with a veteran recounting his service to two youngsters.

It's a bit odd to see an illustration of this type now, although they were common in the World War One and World War Two time frame.  The celebration of military service still occurs, but it tends to occur in movie form much more now, as opposed to illustrations, which was very common then.

Service went on, of course, for troops on occupation duty in Germany.

Germany itself declared a national week of mourning over the terms of the proposed treaty to officially end World War One.  The Germans were shocked by the terms.  Even some of the press in the United States was a bit shocked for that matter, and acknowledged the terms as severe.

In Charleston, South Carolina, a horrible race riot occurred when sailors from the Charleston Navy Yard went on a rampage directed against blacks in the town. The initial cause was that five sailors felt that they'd been cheated by a single black man, which developed to an all out assault by sailors, and then some white residents, of the town against blacks.  The Navy was forced to send in Marines and blue jacket Sailors to put down the riot, which involved over 1,000 sailors and some white civilians.  While there were some criminal charges that were filed shortly after the event, they came to nothing as the event had so overwhelmed the police that they were unable to treat the event as a conventional criminal one in their effort to address it.

The Charleston riot was the first of a series of race riots across the United States that year, contributing to the summer of 1919 being called the Red Summer.  The country was slipping into a recession which was in turn causing racial tension to rise.

April 19, 1919. Opening Day, April flowers, Poles advance, Rebuilding the churches, Red Cross in action, Belgians on the stage.

The fateful 1919 baseball season opened on this day in 1919, with the Brooklyn Robbins (what the Dodgers were before they were called that) defeating the Boston Braves twice in a double headers.

J. C. Leyendecker graced the cover of The Saturday Evening Post with a spring centered illustration.  Easter Sunday for 1919 was the following day.

Easter was directly recalled on the cover of The Country Gentleman, but with an illustration featuring a little kid with chicks.  This is a traditional Easter theme, but one I've always found a bit odd.

On this day in 1919, Polish forces entered Vilnius in an event that wasn't Easter focused by any means.

Vilnius in some ways symbolizes the nature of post war Eastern Europe, and indeed to some extent Europe in general.  The Poles entered it as part of their war against the Russian Reds.  The town had been of course in the Russian Empire.  It's population was both Polish and Lithuanian and nationalist from both countries saw it as theirs.  In the context of Russian imperial rule, its mixed population hadn't created nationalist problems, but now it was.

Pilsudski took quick steps to try to make it plain that the sovereignty of the region would be determined by plebiscite which he hoped would result in support for a federal union he envisioned which would have included Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, as well as some other regions in some versions of the plan.  The Poles and the Ukrainians are in fact very close in ethnicity, although they are somewhat religiously divided. The Poles and the Lithuanians, however, are largely Catholic, but the Lithuanians were not close to the Poles in ethnicity.  A newly independent Ukrainian government was horrified by the thought of the town being anything but Lithuanian, and Polish nationalist weren't keen on that thought.  The right to include the city within respective national boundaries lead to the Polish Lithuanian War shortly thereafter.  Ironically, it was only Polish success in the Russo Polish War which kept Lithuania from being invaded by the Soviets and at the conclusion of the Russo Polish War it was included within Poland.  The Lithuanians, however, never accepted that fact and did not establish diplomatic relations with Lithuania until 1938.

Today Vilnius is the capitol of Lithuania, but that reflects the results of World War Two.  After the invasion of Poland by the Germans and the Soviets in 1939, the city was turned over to Lithuania but then shortly thereafter Lithuania was invaded by the Red Army.  It was subsequently invaded by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa, and during their occupation most of the large Polish population and the Jewish population was removed from the city. Today its ethnically a Lithuanian city, the result of German oppression of the Poles and Jews.

The ruins of St. Albain Nazaire in France.

On this day in 1919, the Holy See announced plans to raise funds to repair the 1,300 churches in France damaged during the Great War.

How odd that this would fall so close to current events.

Class in Plainfield, New Jersey, snipping filling for pillows for the Red Cross.

The Red Cross was still at work in Europe and of course in Russia and therefore efforts to support it kept on.

Red Cross headquarters in Archangel.

In Washington D. C. Belgian troops who had been in the United States in support of a Victory Loan campaign paraded to the Keith Theater in Washington D. C.

April 5, 1919: Showers, Parades, Shows, Sabers, Ships and Slogans.

On this day in April, 1919 the Saturday Evening Post featured one of J. C. Leyendecker's illustrations, this one of a young woman expecting, but not receiving, April showers.

In the port town of St. Nazaire France, American sailors were on parade.

The Army was conducting shows of its own on this day.  In Toul, France, the U.S. Second Army was having a horse show on this Saturday.

War prizes were being photographed in northern Russia, where this U.S. Army Captain was displaying a Russian saber taken from a Red Army commander.  These men had lately been in action against the Reds.

And the Troopship America docked with solders returning home from France.

Casper was pondering a slogan, which is a headline that's oddly contemporary as Casper just adopted one a couple of years ago, that being "WyoCity".  What became of the 1919 effort I don't know, but perhaps we'll learn of it in upcoming editions of the Casper Daily Tribune.

And in southern Wyoming efforts were underway to create a Pershing Highway, in honor of John J. Pershing. The proposed route was on the Lincoln Highway, so what was really contemplated was renaming  a stretch of that highway.

March 15, 1919: The busy post war Red Cross, a busy Poncho Villa and a League of Nations.

Female American Red Cross personnel in Paris, France, March 15, 1919.

French women employed by the American Red Cross repurposing bed linens in Paris, March 15, 1919.

American Red Cross hostel, Paris, with beds pulled from former hospitals.

 American Red Cross rest camp for American servicemen near the Eiffel Tower, Paris.

Americans getting a hot meal in Paris.

The war may have ended, but the duties of the Red Cross kept on.  Thousands of servicemen remained in Europe and their needs continued on, as did those of the thousands of refugees that were displaced as a result of the war.  For those folks, the Red Cross kept in operation.

Closer to home some were dreaming of their 1919 gardens.

And some were imaging adventure and probably romance.

J. C. Leyendecker was imagining fruit filled homecomings.

Villa was imagining a victory in Mexico and took some hostages towards that end..  The Mormons had a colony in Mexico at the time, and Villa apparently didn't take kindly to it, or at least saw it as an opportunity.

And alcohol interests were imagining a few more months in business to try to keep up their struggle to keep their product legal.

Woodrow Wilson was imagining the League of Nations as part of a treaty to end the war, which all the former warring parties were now working on.