Saturday, September 2, 1922. Anthracite Coal Strike Ends.

 

Country Gentleman, for its Saturday issue, ran the second part of a story that it started the week prior.

It's interesting to note, FWIW, that in depictions of rural children from this era, such as this one, they're commonly depicted sans shoes.  A lot of these illustrations, while romanticized, are fairly accurate, which would suggest that farm children, at least in some parts of the country, did typically omit footwear in the summer.   That certainly doesn't ever seem to have been the case here, however.

The Saturday Evening Post came out with a portrait by Charles A. MacClellan of an attractive, but very serious looking, woman which is apparently entitled "Back To School"

Judge went to press with certainty that at least beer was going to be exempted from Prohibition.

Judge was correct, of course.  Not only beer, but alcohol in general, would come back starting a decade later, although not all at once with a sudden repeal of Prohibition at the national level, as so often imagined.

Interestingly, this has a modern parallel in that what had been constitutionalized, a ban on alcohol, was reversed even though not everyone was in favor of that reversal, leaving the states to sort it out, which they did, but not instantly.  The Dobbs decision effectively does that with another issue.

Whether allowed or not, today, even eventually, it's not now for me, as this is colonoscopy day.  

I've been dreading it and really pondering changing course.  It's not so much the procedure itself, it's the medications they require the day and early morning of which cause . . well. . . diarrhea.  I hate being sick, and I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Having said that, according to something I read, 1 in 23 men get colorectal cancer, which sounds like a lot.  But that's 4.35%, which doesn't.  In an abstract fashion, I feel that everyone ought to get this simple diagnostic tool, but I'm hypocritical enough to be reconsidering it.

Again, it's the diarrhea medication that I'm dreading at the time I type this out.  I'd rather skip eating several days prior, which seems like it ought to do the same thing.

The United Mine Workers and the Policy Committee of the Anthracite Coal Operators came to an agreement for a year, which brought to an end the dangerous strike that had been going on for some time.

Friedrich Ebert, President of the German republic, declared the Deutschlandlied to be the national anthem, but only the third stanza of the song.  It remains the German national anthem today, having regained that position in the Budesrepublik in 1952, again starting with the third stanza.  The militant first stanza was used during the Third Reich.

Wednesday, August 30, 1922. The End of Greek Anatolia.

Young women photographed on this day in 1922.

A press photographer photographed a group of young women on this day in 1922.  None of them appeared as flappers.

The Turks won the Battle of Dumiupinar, bringing the Greco Turkish War effectively to a close.  As a result, this day is celebrated as Victory Day in Turkey.

This brought about the millennia long presence of a significant Greek population in Anatolia, one which had persisted even in spite of the Ottoman Conquest.  In no small part, it came about due to Greek greed which had sought to expand Greek control beyond what was initially logical, during the immediate post World War One period during which such efforts were effectively supported by nearly all of the Allied powers, and during which France, the UK, and Italy contributed troops to the effort.  Indeed, Italy seized islands for its own from Turkey.

Had the Greeks not overreached, they likely would have been supported longer by the Allies, which grew tired of the war and ultimately pulled its combat troops out of it.  Greece proved insufficiently strong to hold what it had taken against the revolutionary Turkish forces which had overthrown their own government, which had entered into a putative peace, and which fought the war well against long odds.

The war would result in a tragic mass population transfer of Greeks from Turkish lands, many of whom would relocate far from their homes in other lands, such as the United States and Australia.

In Ireland, the results of a recent peace continued to operate oddly.

Due to the odd nature of the treaty between the UK and the Irish Free State, a Second Irish Provisional Government was set up due to the assassination of Michael Collins, even though power was being transferred to the Dail.

Wisconsin Governor John J. Blain urged President Harding to ask Congress to take over the coal mines in order to abate the problems the long-running coal mine strike was causing and threatened to cause.

In Pennsylvania, a monument to George Washington was dedicated.

 Taft College was founded in California.

Saturday, August 26, 1922. Wings, Baseball stunt in Denver, The beginning of the end for Turkish Anatolia, Labor troubles, Ships, Controversial Eastern Orthodox Bishop, Magazine covers.

Boeing wing room, August 26, 1922.

On this day in 1922, Dixie Parker, catcher for the Denver Bears, caught a baseball dropped from the top of the May D&F Tower in downtown Denver.

On the same day, the Turkish Great Offensive was commenced, which would bring about the end of the war in a Turkish victory in the Greco Turkish War.

The Japanese cruiser Nitaka was driven aground off of the Kamchatka Peninsula in a storm, resulting in the loss of all but seven of its 301-man crew.

Ford Motors announced that it was closing down all of its plants due to the ongoing industrial crisis in the country.

The ammunition ship USS Nitro was photographed in port.  She was commissioned in 1919 and would serve all the way through World War Two.

Eastern Orthodox clergymen, including Bishop Ofiesh Aftimios, were also photographed.

The Bishop had been born in Lebanon and first served in the Middle East before coming to the United States in 1905.  At that time, the Russian Orthodox Church had canonical authority over the various Eastern Orthodox churches, including those of Arabic origin, but that became disrupted following the Russian Revolution.  The Bishop became a figure in that story, leading to the establishment of a small branch of Orthodoxy that sought to establish an American Orthodox branch that was separate from other Orthodox Churches.  He did that, establishing the American Orthodox Church, which has not reunited with a larger group even at this point.  The Bishop himself was effectively removed from his position when he married in 1933, thereby seemingly violating an oath of celibacy.  It seems clear that his intent had been to function as a married Bishop.  He died in 1966 at age 85.

Perhaps ironically, his desire to establish an American Orthodoxy that was separate of the national churches of other regions was ahead of its time, with some of the Orthodox churches in the country now seeking to distance themselves from their national origins.  His church, however, effectively collapsed following his removal.

The Country Gentleman came out, as it was of course a Saturday.

The Saturday Evening Post had a cover by Leyendecker which they could not run today.

Judge came out with one of its supposedly humous photos showing an act of stupidity.

Friday, August 18, 1922. Warren G. Harding's busy day.

President Harding addressed Congress on this day in 1922 on the topic of the ongoing and extremely serious labor problems that had erupted this summer.  In his speech, he urged Congress to pass measures that he had proposed to deal with the ongoing problems, including the creation of a Federal Coal Commission.

He also signed at least one bill into law.

And he still found time to visit with a group of traveling salesmen.

Sunday, August 12, 1922. The news.

Quite the news day, really.

The Herald started off with the harrowing news of trains marooned in the Southwest, due to ongoing labor problems.

 

We're reminded by the page below that there was once an elected position of "County Surveyor". This has obviously gone by the wayside, which raises the question of what other elective offices are really obsolete as elective offices today.

Rules were changing for football.

And airplane rides were for the offering.

I'd forgotten there was once a town called "Teapot".

The Herald wanted to keep the Union Pacific brand off of the range.  

Recently, of course, the state had an opportunity to buy the checkerboard from the UP's successor in interest and blew it.

A Colorado newspaper was happy with something Governor Carey had done, but what it was, I really don't know.

A restaurant was holding a contest for a name.

Charles Winter was running for office.  His son, who lived to nearly be 100, worked in my office building nearly up to that very age.

The train situation, we'd note, wasn't only in the Herald.

Saturday, August 1, 1942. Unintended Consequences

Today in World War II History—August 1, 1942: The American Federation of Musicians begins a yearlong strike . Permanente Hospital opens in Oakland, CA, for employees of Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond.

So reports Sarah Sundin's blog.

She also reports that the Japanese set up a puppet government in Burma on this day.

I had no idea of the yearlong American Federation of Musicians strike over royalties by recording companies.  Union members were not allowed to record for a commercial recording company, although they could appear on the radio. The strike took several months to have an effect due to a backlog of recordings, but it ultimately did, and the full strike lasted until 1944.

The strike did not affect vocalists, who continued to record.  This resulted in an increase of vocalist's popularity, and it became one of the contributing factors to the decline of the big bands.

Dealt with elsewhere, the Permanente Hospital item reflected a shift in how healthcare was being provided to workers that would accelerate during World War Two, giving rise to the current insurance based American healthcare system.

Saturday, July 1, 1922. The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 Starts.

Saturday weekly's were predictably patriotic on this July 1 Saturday of 1922.

The Saturday Evening Post went to press with what would have been a gender bending cover, women being an enduringly popular illustration topic then and now.

 

The Country Gentleman chose children as the theme, which they often did.

President Harding traveled to Gettysburg.

A group of Miners and Operators visited Harding at the White House.

Herbert Lord was sworn in as Director of the United States Agency of the Budget.

Lord had served in similar roles in the U.S. Army, from which he had just retired, and had proven very adept at it.

The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 commenced, with any major railroad strike being a national disaster at the time.  It would run into August.

In Wexford, the IRA derailed a train, that somehow being a revolutionary act that made sense, somehow.

Construction commenced on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the first planned regional shopping center.  It is still in operation.

Wednesday, April 12, 1922. Strikes

Miners remained on strike in a serious nationwide labor walkout.

On the same day, women of the National Women's Party were photographed in the picture below.
 

"Fatty" Arbuckle, on trail for the third time, was acquitted of murder.

It was opening day for baseball.

Saturday, April 1, 1922. Changing Seasons.

The Saturday magazines were out, and Judge poked fun, a bit, at an eternal theme.

The Literary Digest anticipated Easter, with a young woman looking less than thrilled by the probable contents of a box containing an Easter Bonnet.

And in Washington, D. C. apparently there were long lines to license automobiles.

At one time scenes like this were common locally when everyone had to obtain new plates at the county courthouse.

The United Mine Workers went on strike.

The Provisional Government of Ireland took over governing 26 out of 32 Irish counties.  On the same day police officers in Belfast murdered five men and a seven-year-old boy in retaliation for a sniper killing of a policeman.

Sir Hugh Trenchard became the first British Air Chief Marshal.

Emperor Charles I of Austria, who had failed in an effort to regain his Hungarian crown, and then fell ill in early March, died at age 34.  His last words to his wife and nine year old son were "I love you so much".  His death took place in Portugal, where he was living in exile.

Wednesday December 28, 1921. The Raid.

A couple of items from our companion blog, Today In Wyoming's History for December 28: 

1921  A large prohibition  raid occurred in Rock Springs.

Rock Springs had a large Eastern European and Southern European immigrant and first generation population that had never favored prohibition.  As a result, the town predictably became a bootlegging center in Wyoming, leading to a huge evening raid on this day in 1921.

1921  USS Laramie commissioned.

She was a fleet oiler, survived being torpedoed in the Atlantic in 1942, and was decommissioned in 1945.

The Rand Rebellion, a gold miners strike, commenced in South Africa.

Tuesday, December 23, 1941. The Fall of Wake Island.

An American defeat, but an oddly inspiring one, occured today, as we earlier reported at Today In Wyoming's History: December 23: 

1941 American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese. 

The Battle of Wake Island would turn out to be a surprising American point of pride early in the war, in spite of the loss of the atoll.  It took on sort of an Alamo image during the war.

Wake had been a U.S. possession since 1899.  The presence of Polynesian Rats on the island proves that it had very early Micronesian contact, but it had no permanent population until 1935 when Pan American established a hotel station there for its Pacific flying boat route.  The Navy did not establish a permanent base there until 1941, so everything located on it in terms of military installations was new.

The Navy and Marine Corps put up a very determined fight on Wake, and at first the Japanese were unable to successfully land on it. It provided a rare example of shore batteries successfully engaging naval vessels.  Efforts by the Japanese to take the island commenced on December 8, but took until this day in order to be successful.  Efforts to relieve the island from Hawaii failed.

98 American prisoners, all civilians, were held on the island by the Japanese until 1943 when the Japanese murdered them.  Military prisoners were removed to POW camps.  By 1943 the island had been cut off and the Japanese garrison began to starve, actually driving one of the birds species located on the island into extinction.  3/4s of the Japanese garrison died due to starvation.  The island surrendered to a Marine Corps detachment that landed on September 4, 1945, having previously learned of Japan's surrender, and after reburying their murdered victims.  The truth of the murders soon came to light, and several Japanese officers committed suicide over the incident.

While a Japanese victory, it was an early example of what was wrong with Japanese strategic planning.  First of all, the Navy and Marine Corps put up a determined fight over the island, showing that American ground forces in particular were willing to hold ground until the bitter end, a lesson that probably wasn't really being learned at the time due to the next item we'll note.  Secondly, the Japanese took the island, but in the end, it proved to be easy to isolate and the Japanese garrison was essentially taken out of the war and made subject to starvation, something other garrisons on remote islands would also experience.

In really bad news at the time:

 Gen. Douglas MacArthur decides to withdraw to Bataan.

Japanese begin offensive against Rangoon, Burma. 

The 440-foot tanker Montebello was sunk off the California coast near Cambria by a Japanese submarine. The crew of 38 survived, and in 1996 it was found that the 4.1 million gallon cargo of crude oil appeared intact. 

British troops capture Benghazi, Libya.

A conference of industry and labor officials agrees that there would be no strikes or lockouts in war industries while World War II continued.

The first C47 Skytrain entered US military service.

23 December 1941

Lots of the civilian variants, the DC3, were already in military service, but it wasn't until this date that the first example of the dedicated military version was delivered.  The civilian airliner had been introduced in 1935.

Over 10,000 C47s were built, or over 16,000 if the Li-2 Soviet produced version is considered, and amazingly they remain in service with the Columbian, El Salvadorian and South African air forces.  They were preeminently important as an Allied cargo plane during the Second World War, and they were used by every Allied power including the Soviet Union, which built 6,000 of them under license in addition to the ones that were supplied to the USSR via lend lease, making the Soviet Union the second-largest producer of the aircraft.

The role of the C47 in Allied airpower could hardly be understated.  It and the DC3 are one of the greatest aircraft ever produced.  Some DC3s remain in commercial use today (I've seen one in United Airlines colors as late as 2004) and they're actually being remanufactured as the Basler BT-67 for current use.

Thursday, December 15, 1921. The Amazon Army.

A protest by 500 women in Kansas that began earlier in the week – organized in support of striking mine workers and against new anti-labor legislation that forced unions into arbitration and outlawed strikes in the state – swells to 4,000, stretching a mile long. The women, dubbed the “Amazon Army” by The New York Times, disbanded upon hearing that the militia was on its way. Victory came a year later when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Kansas anti-labor laws unconstitutional.

You can see a photo of them on that site.

The Kansas National Guard was called out to deal with the problem.

Wednesday, December 7, 1921 Peace and Violence.

President Harding at Red Cross meeting.

On this day in 1921 King George V summoned parliament while President Eamon de Valera summoned his cabinet, both to approve the Anglo-Irish Treaty securing independence for Ireland as a dominion within the British Commonwealth.  Norther Ireland's Stormont was asked by its head, Sir James Craig, to delay action on the agreement.

A riot ensued in Chicago when police attempted arrest striking meatpackers.  360,000 people would become involved in the riot.

Farmers group meeting with President Harding at the White House.

Monday December 5, 1921. Reflections from a distant mirror.

A Joint Congressional committee called upon President Harding to inform him of the opening of the 67th Congress.

The 67th Congress of the United States convened.  It had been elected more than a year earlier, so suffice it to say, things were not going swimmingly, something we can appreciate now.

The first bill they considered was the budget for the following year, which ran a deficit, something we're also familiar with now.

In London, Irish delegates met with British ones and came to a compromise in which Northern Ireland could choose to remain separate from Southern Ireland and an oath of allegiance would only be administered to members of the Irish parliament.  Ireland would accept dominion status.

The Irish negotiators were in the difficult position of receiving very little in the way of instruction from the Irish President Éamon de Valera who remained in Ireland during negotiations and who simply gave the negotiators nearly carte blanc authority.  The compromise reached was a real one, giving up on dreams of an Irish republic and accepting an ongoing connection with the United Kingdom, although that no doubt reflected the wishes of most of the Irish.

The British football association banned women from the game.

 

The United States Supreme court upheld picketing during labor strikes as an exercise of the 1st Amendment.