November 26, 1920. Distant scenes.

San Francisco Harbor.  November 26, 1920.  This would be right about the time my grandfather lived and worked in San Francisco as a teenager.

On this day Simon Karetnik was executed by the Bolsheviks in an example, one of many, of the Communists destroying other radicals.  Karetnik was a Ukrainian anarchist leader (yes, that's a ironic situation to be in) of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, and a quite successful one. The RIAU itself was fairly successful for some period of time in fighting the Russian Whites, but it was naïve in the extreme in deluding itself that there was a place for it in competition with the Reds, whom they resisted union with.

RIAU commanders, Karetnik third from left.

On this day in 1920 Karetnik and fellow RIAU officers went, with some reluctance, to a meeting with Red Army commander Mikhail Frunze who had ordered them place under a command of his army.  On the way they were arrested and executed.  Frunze was a successful Red Army commander who died in surgery in 1925.

RIAU commanders.

The entire event also helps demonstrate the absolute mess that Russia had become in its late imperial stage.  Anarchy was a theory that was never going to succeed because of its nature.  Revolutionary socialist other than the Communist were never going to prevail in a struggle as they were insufficiently organized and single minded.  The Whites couldn't succeed as they had no really strong central unity in fact or in theory. That doomed Russia to years of an alien whacky political theory that didn't match its nature or culture and which set Russia back so far in development that it is nowhere near overcoming it today.

The central feature of this rise of extremism had been a pre World War One governmental and economic system that was frozen in the distant past. With no outlet of any kind for a developing society, absurd economic and political theories festered underground.  It's no accident that many of these theories were the same as ones that were then also circulating in Germany and Austria, which likewise had old order monarchical systems going into World War One.

February 25, 1920. The Mineral Leasing Act becomes law

The Casper Daily Tribune was exactly correct, the measure built the way for the oil industry in Wyoming.

Prior to the Oil Leasing Act oil prospects were located, where the Federal government owned the resource, though the Mining Law of 1872.  The act changed the location system to the benefit of both production companies and the Federal government by allowing the resource to be leased through the much simpler leasing system.  Ultimately, this benefited the state through allowing this simpler system to be utilized and by allowing non appropriated lands to remain solidly in the Federal domain, as the Mining Law of 1872 allowed lands to be patented and become private through location.

This is, of course, still the system that's used today.

Elsewhere, the American mission to Russia was coming home, including the Red Cross mission, from which a party of nurses arrived in San Francisco.

Ten of the Red Cross women workers with the A.R.C. Commission to Siberia waving their greetings to their homeland as the transport "Sherman" docked in San Francisco Harbor February 25, 1920.

Scenes from November 24, 1919

September 6, 1919. End of the Trail for the Motor Transport Convoy

Fort Winfield Scott; Presidio and Fort Mason overlooking San Francisco Bay, September, 1919.

On this day in 1919, the Motor Transport crossed San Francisco Bay on two ferries, and then paraded at Lincoln Park.

Medals were awarded by the Lincoln Highway Association, the entity that had been boosting the highway for some time, and the command was received by Col. R. H. Noble, representing Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett, commander of the Western Department.  Lunch was served at the convoy parked at the Presidio.

They did only 8 miles that day, but then they also crossed the bay, as noted, by ferry.

And so it was over.

Except for analyzing what had occurred.

On the same day, New York was celebrating Lafayette Day.

Myron T. Herrick (1854-1932), American ambassador to France from 1912-1914 and 1921-1929; Jean Jules Jusserand (1855-1932), French author and diplomat and French ambassador to the United States during World War I and Elise Richards Jusserand. They are attending the Lafayette Day celebration in front of City Hall, New York City on September 6, 1919

And the Gasoline Alley gang was getting ready to head out fishing.

Gasoline Alley cartoon for this day in 1919.  Note that they're altering their car, something that does in fact seem to be fairly common for that era.  Cars of the day had as much clearance as early pickup trucks and roads were fairly primitive.  Vehicles of the day, therefore, bore more of a resemblance to early Jeeps than cars of today do, and indeed more of a resemblance to them than some modern SUVs do.

Poster Saturday: Indian Court Federal Building

This is a Depression Era poster for an art display, apparently focusing on Indian art, which was held at the Indian Court Federal Building in San Francisco as part of the Golden Gate International Exposition.

I'm not familiar with this building and don't know if it even still exists.  My presumption is that it did serve a Bureau of Indian Affairs Court function. At that time, most tribes had BIA Courts, which is no longer the case as most tribes have taken jurisdiction of their own court systems.  It must have been located on Treasure Island, as that's where this event took place.  The Golden Gate Intentional Exposition was an effort at a World's Fair that was held to commemorate the two recently opened bridges spanning the San Francisco Harbor.  It ran from February 1939 to October 1939, and then was briefly and unsuccessfully reopened in 1940.

Twin Peaks Tunnel Construction and Opening 1918; San Francisco Streetcar...

February 3, 1918. Twin Peaks Street Car Tunnel, San Francisco, CA, opens.

San Francisco cracks down on prostitution

San Francisco cracked down on prostitution in the city with the result that about 200 houses of prostitution were closed on this day in 1917.

The Preparedness Day Terrorist Attack: July 22, 1916

A bomb went off went off at San Francisco's Preparedness Day Parade, killing ten and wounding forty.  While two labor leaders were convicted for the terrorist act, they later had their sentences commuted due to the lack of any real evidence associating them with the acts.  The perpetrators have never been identified.

Why San Francisco had their parade on a day other than the Flag Day celebration that was the rule I don't know.  But this event occurred on this day, in 1916. 

Preparedness Day was an event authored by the Administration following the passage of the National Defense Act which recognized that we were on the verge of war with somebody.  Maybe Mexico.  Maybe Germany. Maybe Mexico and Germany.  Times were tense.

The times were also increasingly radical, as we will see soon in some additional posts, and anarchists and radical socialistic were very much a factor in various movements around the world, including the United States, at that time.  Indeed, not all that long ago on this blog we read of the 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland which featured a radical socialist element, which tends to be forgotten.

This event is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that this is an event which we'd presume to read more in our own time rather than a century ago.  It's also a terrible example of miscarried justice as those convicted of the act never really seemed to have any connection with it, which should have been obvious in the administration of justice that's impartial.  While the perpetrator has never been identified, there are strong suspicions about who was responsible, and it seems very clear that very radical elements were responsible.

Scary times in the US, to say the least. This came in the midst of  the mobilization of the National Guard, a raging war in Europe, and a nearly universal belief that the United States and Mexico would soon be at war.

The Big Picture. Atlantic Fleet entering Golden Gate. May 6, 1908

Satuday, April 18, 1914. Being petty.

 It was Saturday.

The news of the day was, in part, about the Wilson Administration's refusal to back down to Huerta, and continue to demand a salute at Vera Cruz.  Huerta was perfectly willing to apologize, so this was getting down, frankly, to the US insulting Mexico and being petty.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition. San Francisco.  April 18, 1914.

Last prior edition:

Friday, April 17, 1914. Budweiser praising Bismarck. Emmer Breakfast Food.

1910s, 1914, Agriculture, Alcohol, Casper Wyoming, Crime, Food, It was because of World War One, Mongolia, Otto von Bismarck, Railroads, Russia, World War One, Wyoming, Wyoming (Casper)

Friday, March 20, 1914. The Curragh Muntiny

The Curragh Mutiny saw British Army officers stationed at Curragh Camp, Ireland resign their commissions rather than face being ordered to resist the Ulster Volunteers, should the Home Rule Bill pass.

It was a rare example of something like this working, in that the British government backed down, and they were reinstated.

"The Sunny South".

Pancho Villa sent 12,000 troops to recapture Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico from 9,000 federal troops stationed in the city.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition--San Francisco, Calif., construction.

Friday, February 20, 1914. Revolutionary execution.

William S. Benton, a British rancher with Chihuahua holdings, was executed in Juarez by Villistas, after a "court-martial".  He was accused of making an attempt on Villa's life, but his associates claimed he had no views on the Mexican Revolution at all. 

More on this from a Scottish blog:

Pancho Villa murders Keig man

Rosa Luxemburg was tried in a Frankfurt court on charges of encouraging public disobedience and sentenced to a year in prison.  In the Court she stated.

When, as I say, the majority of people come to the conclusion that wars are nothing but a barbaric, unsocial, reactionary phenomenon, entirely against the interests of the people, then wars will have become impossible.

Nice sentiment, but shallow thought.

Luxemburg herself has always struck me as not being too deep. Perhaps I'm wrong as she remains the deluded darling of the far left, and maybe there's more to her than my very limited knowledge is aware of.

James William Humphyrs Scotland made the first cross-country flight in New Zealand.  On the same day, Winston Churchill, serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, flew as a passenger in a Sopwith Sociable.

Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Feb. 20, 1914, one year before opening day. San Francisco.

Legal, Alberta, was founded.

Tuesday, September 21, 1909. Arctic Rivals in New York.

San Francisco after reconstruction.

Today In Wyoming's History: September 21: 1909  Municipal natural gas service starts in Basin. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Cook returned to a hero's welcome in New York City.

Peary received  a hero's welcome in Sydney, New York.

The Shoshone Cavern National Monument, Wyoming, was created by executive order of President Taft.  On May 17, 1954, it was transferred to the City of Cody.

Albert Einstein publicly presented his general theory of relativity for the first time at a gathering of German natural scientists and physicians

Last edition:

Monday, September 20, 1909. The Grand Isle Hurricane of 1909 and The South Africa Act of 1909.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, 1910, 1910s, Boer War, British Empire, Disaster, New Orleans Louisiana, South Africa, United Kingdom, Weather