May 14, 1919. In Hac Tanta.

On this day in 1919, Pope Benedict XV issued his encyclical In Hac Tanta, which referenced the situation in Germany.

To his eminence Cardinal Hartmann, archbishop of Cologne, and to the other archbishops of Germany.

Beloved Son and Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic Blessing.

1. We are in the midst of many trials and difficulties "and besides the other sufferings, there is my constant daily concern, for all the churches,"¹ to use the words of the Apostle. We have closely followed those unexpected events, those manifestations of disorder and of anarchy which have recently occurred among you and among neighboring countries. They continue to hold us in suspense.

2. In these dark times, the memory of St. Boniface, who brought salvation to Germany twelve centuries ago, is a ray of light and a messenger of hope and joy. We commemorate the ancient union of the German people with the Apostolic See. This union planted the first seeds of faith in your country and helped them grow. After the Roman See entrusted Boniface with this legation, he ennobled it by the exceptional glory of his deeds and, finally, by the blood of martyrdom.

3. Now twelve centuries later, we think you should plan as many celebrations as possible to commemorate this new era of Christian civilization. This era was begun by the mission and the preaching of Boniface, and then carried forth by his disciples and successors. From these came the salvation and the prosperity of Germany.

4. Another purpose of the celebrations is to perfect the present and to reestablish religious unity and peace for the future. These are the greatest goods and they come only from Christ who charged the Church with preserving, spreading, and defending Christian faith and charity. Thus, it is necessary for the Apostolic See to be united with the faithful. Boniface was the perfect herald and the model of such unity. This led to close, friendly relationships between the Roman See and your nation. While celebrating this unity and this perfect accord, we fervently desire to see them reestablished among all peoples so that "Christ might be all in all."²

5. We joyfully recall those things recorded so faithfully by the writers of that distant period. Among them the bishop Willibald, Boniface's contemporary, who narrated the virtues and deeds of this saintly man and described the beginnings of his mission to the German people. He had devoted himself to the religious life since his youth in Germany, and he experienced the dangers of the apostolic life among barbarian peoples. Thus he understood that he would reap no lasting fruit without the consent and approval of the Apostolic See and unless he received his mission and mandate from it.

6. After having laid aside the title of abbot, he bid farewell to the monks, his brothers, despite their insistence and their tears. He left and travelled by land across many countries and by the unknown routes of the sea, happily reaching the See of the Apostle Peter. There he addressed the venerable pope, Gregory II, "recounted his voyage to him, his reason for coming, and the desire which tormented him for such a long time." The holy pope, "face smiling and eyes filled with goodness," embraced the saint. He did not speak to him only one time but "every day he had important discussions with him."³ Finally, in the grandest language and with official letters, he conferred on him the mission of preaching the Gospel to the German people.

7. In these letters,⁴ the pope explained the purpose and the importance of the mandate more clearly than the writers of that period who spoke of the mission "from the Apostolic See" or "of the Apostolic Pontiff." The terms he used are so grave and authoritative that we can scarcely find any more expressive: "The intended goal of your religious zeal and your proven faith have become manifest to us. They are such that they compel us to use you as a co-minister to spread the divine word which the grace of God confided to us." Then he praised his knowledge, his character, and his project. By the supreme authority of the Apostolic See which Boniface himself invoked, he solemnly concluded: "Therefore, in the name of the indivisible trinity and by the unshaken authority of Saint Peter, we affirm the purity of your faith and command that, by the grace and under the protection of God . . . you hurry to these people who are in error. Teach them about the service of the kingdom of God by acquainting them with the name of Christ, our Lord." Finally he warned him to maintain the rules of the Holy See concerning rites in his administration of the sacraments and to have recourse to the pope at any time. From this solemn letter, who would not recognize the good will and affection of the holy pope, and his paternal care toward the Germans to whom he sent one who was so dear to him?

8. His perception of his mission and his love for Christ continually urged this holy apostle to action. It consoled him in his afflictions, raised him in his discouragements, and inspired him with confidence when he despaired of his strength. It was evident right from his arrival in Phrygia and in Thuringia when, according to a writer of that period: "following the command of the pope, he spoke of religion to the senators and to the heads of the people and showed them the true way of knowledge and the clear light of understanding."⁵ His zeal kept him from laziness and prevented him from even thinking about rest or staying in one place as in a peaceful harbor. It spurred him to undertake difficulties and the most humble work solely to obtain or to increase the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

9. Right from the beginning of his mission, he communicated with the Holy See via letters and messengers. In this way "he made known to the venerable apostolic father everything which the grace of God accomplished by his means," and he "sought advice for the Holy See in matters which concerned the daily needs of the Church of God and of the people's welfare."⁶

10. Boniface was outstanding in his unique sense of devotion. When he was an old man he revealed this quality to Pope Zachary in a letter: "With the consent and by the order of Pope Gregory I bound myself by a vow to live in intimate relationship with and at the service of the Apostolic See almost thirty years ago. I would always let the pope know both my joys and my sorrows. This way we could praise God together in happiness, and I could receive the strength of his advice in times of sadness."⁷

11. We find here and there pairs of documents which attest to the uninterrupted exchange of letters and the remarkable agreement of wills between this valiant preacher and the Holy See, an agreement continued by four successive popes. The popes always helped and favored him. Boniface, on his part, neglected nothing, and abandoned none of his zeal nor efforts to fulfill the mission he received from the popes he venerated and loved as a son.

12. Pope Gregory, noting Boniface's achievements, decided to confer the highest rank of the priesthood on him and to elevate him to the episcopacy of the whole province of Germany. Boniface, who had earlier resisted this honor from his dear friend Willibald "accepted and obeyed because he did not dare oppose the desire of such a great pope."⁸ The pope added to this great honor another special favor worthy of note to German posterity when he awarded the friendship of the Holy See to Boniface and to all his subjects forever. Gregory had already given proof of this friendship when he wrote to kings, to princes, to bishops, to abbots, to all the clergy, and to the people, whether they were barbarians or recent converts. He invited them "to give their approval and their co-operation to such a great servant of God, sent by the Catholic and Apostolic Church to enlighten the nations."⁹

13. This special friendship between Boniface and the Holy See was confirmed by the next pope, Gregory III, when Boniface sent messengers to him on the occasion of his election. "The messengers demonstrated to the new pope the pact of friendship between his predecessor and Boniface and his companions" and "the messengers assured him that he could depend on his humble servant in the future." Finally, they asked "just as they had been instructed, that the pope's subject might again benefit from friendship and union with the holy pope and the Apostolic See."^[10] The pope received the messengers favorably and gave them new honors for Boniface, among them "the pallium of the archiepiscopate. Then he sent them back to their own country laden with gifts and relics of saints."

14. We can hardly recount "the gratitude of this apostle for these signs of affection nor express the comfort which the pope's esteem brought him. Inspired by the power of divine mercy"¹¹ the saintly man received the strength and the heart to undertake the greatest and most difficult things: to build new churches, hospitals, monasteries, and strongholds; to travel to new countries preaching the gospel; to establish new dioceses and to reform old ones, removing the vices, the schisms, and the errors; to sow everywhere true dogma and virtues, the seeds of Christian faith and life; and even to civilize barbaric peoples made savage by inhumanity. This he achieved by using pious disciples and many persons summoned from England.

15. Although already ennobled by remarkable and holy works, and despite attacks, misfortunes, worries, and advancing age, he did not give way to pride nor to the love of leisure. He always kept in mind his mission and the orders of the pope. Thus, "because of his intimate union with the pope and all the clergy, he came to Rome a third time in the company of his disciples to speak with the Apostolic Father and to recommend himself to the prayers of the saints because he was already advanced in years."¹² Again this time the pope received him graciously and again "showered him with gifts and relics of the saints." The pope also gave him precious and important letters of recommendation some of which have come down to us.

16. The two Gregories were succeeded by Zachary, heir to their pontificates and to their concern for the Germans and their apostle. Not content to renew the ancient union, he increased it by showing more confidence and good will toward Boniface. Boniface acted the same way toward Zachary, as the number of messengers and of friendly letters which were exchanged show us. Among other things, which would be too lengthy to recall, the pope addressed his representative in these friendly terms: "Beloved brother, know that we cherish you to the point of wanting to have you with us every day, to be our associate, as a minister of God, and steward of the Churches of Christ.¹³ It was therefore appropriate that the apostle of Germany wrote a few years before his death to Pope Stephen, Zachary's successor: "The disciple of the Roman Church resolutely asks from the bottom of his heart friendship and union with the Holy See."¹⁴

17. Moved by a very strong faith and burning with love and piety, Boniface seems to have drawn his unique and faithful union to the Holy See first from the contemplative life of monasticism in his own country. Later, when he was about to undertake the difficulties of the apostolic life, he promised this fidelity at Rome by an oath at the tomb of Saint Peter, prince of the apostles. He exhibited this fidelity in the midst of dangers and struggles as the mark of his apostleship and the rule of his mission. He never relented from recommending this fidelity to all those for whom he was a father in Christ. In fact, he was so diligent that it seemed he desired to leave it to them as an inheritance.

18. Thus, advanced in years and worn out by his work, he spoke of himself very humbly: "I am the least and the worst of the representatives which the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church sent to preach the Gospel."¹⁵ But he held this Roman mission in high esteem and he enjoyed calling himself "the German representative of the Holy Roman Church." He wanted to be the devoted servant of the popes, and their humble and obedient disciple.

19. He fixed deeply in his mind and scrupulously observed what the martyr Cyprian, the witness of the ancient tradition of the Church, affirmed: "there is one God and one Christ; There is one Church and one founded on Peter by the word of the Lord."¹⁶ That is what the great Doctor of the Church Ambrose also preached: "Where Peter is, there is the Church. Where the Church is, there is no death but life eternal."¹⁷ Finally Jerome very wisely taught: "The welfare of the Church depends on the dignity of the papacy. If we do not give the pope sovereign and independent power, there will be as many schisms in the Church as there are priests."¹⁸

20. The tragic history of old discords proves this to us. The evils which came from them confirms it. It is of little benefit to recall those evils at the present time when we are burdened with new disasters and bloody massacres. We should deplore them all and leave them in eternal oblivion if possible.

21. Rather let us celebrate the ancient unity which bound Boniface, the first apostle of Germany, and the Germans themselves to the Holy See. His mission was the source of faith, of prosperity, and of civilization for the Germans. We could recall many other worthwhile details; but we have said enough-maybe even too much-for it is so well-known that a long speech filled with proof is not necessary. We enjoyed sharing these old memories with you in order to gather consolation to bear the present more courageously. We are strengthened by the hope of future unity and of attachment to the Church in "the fullness of peace and the bounds of charity."

22. It is pleasant for us to recall the examples and the remarkable virtues of Boniface, and especially the friendship and unity which we wanted to celebrate in this letter. Yes, he lives among you; indeed he lives in glory. He lives as "the representative of the Roman Catholic Church for Germany." He still performs his mission by his prayers, his example, and the memory of his works by which "he who is dead still speaks." He as a faithful prophet and herald of Our Lord and Savior Jesus, seems to exhort and invite his people to unity with the Roman Church. Christ himself beseeches his people "to be one."

23. He invites the faithful disciples to cling to the Church more closely and more lovingly. He invites those who have separated from unity to return to the Church after abandoning the old hatreds, rivalries, and prejudices. He invites all the faithful of Christ, old and new, to persevere in the unity of faith and wills. From this unity divine charity and the harmony of human society will flourish.

24. Who would not listen to this invitation and this exhortation of the Holy Father? Who would despise this paternal teaching, these examples, these words? For, to borrow the words of an ancient writer, your compatriot, whose words are so clear and so appropriate at the time you celebrate the centenary of the mission of Boniface in your country: "If, according to the Apostle, we have had for teachers our fathers in the flesh and if we honored them, should we not obey all the more our spiritual fathers? It is not only God who is our spiritual father but also all those whose wisdom and example teach us the truth and arouse us to cling strongly to the faith. Abraham is called the father of all believers because of his faith and obedience which are an example for all; in the same way Saint Boniface can be called the father of the Germans because he led them to Christ by his preaching, confirmed them by his example, and offered his life for them, thus giving them the greatest proof of love anybody can show."¹⁹

25. Boniface did not limit his astounding charity to Germany, but rather embraced all peoples, even those who were enemies of one another. The apostle of Germany thus charitably embraced the neighboring nation of the Franks. He became their prudent reformer and his companions, "descendants of the English race," upon whom "he, their countryman, the representative of the universal Church and the servant of the Holy See" conferred the task of extending the Catholic faith. This faith was first announced to the English by the representatives of Saint Gregory the Great, who were sent to establish it among the Saxons and the peoples of the same race. Boniface recommended to his countrymen to preserve "the unity of love."²⁰

26. Because charity - to use again the words of the same writer we praised above - "is the beginning and the end of all good things, may we also let it outline the boundaries of our actions,"²¹ beloved son and venerable brothers. We long for the day when the rights of Almighty God and of the Church, their laws, their worship and their authority will be restored in this troubled world. We hope that then Christian charity will end wars and furious hatreds, dissensions, schisms, and the errors which crawl everywhere. May it link the peoples by a more stable treaty than the transient pacts of men. Its special means toward this goal are the unity of faith and the ancient union with the Holy See. This Holy See was established by Christ as the foundation of his family on earth and was consecrated by the virtues, the wisdom, the efforts of so many saints and martyrs, such as Boniface.

27. Once this unity of faith and hearts is established throughout the world, what Pope Clement wrote to the Corinthians in the first century will be appropriate for all of Christendom: "You would give us great joy if, obeying us, you would cease your illegitimate rivalry as we recommended in this exhortation to peace and harmony."²²

28. May the apostle and martyr Boniface help us all obtain this, but especially the peoples who are rightfully his either by race or by choice, completing in heaven that which he never ceased to strive for on earth: "I do not cease to invite and to urge all those whom God gave me during my mission, as listeners or as disciples, to be obedient to the Holy See."²³

29. Meanwhile, as a pledge of hope and of happy results for your celebrations, we lovingly give you the apostolic blessing. And to give even more importance to this feast, we draw for you from the holy treasury of the Church the following favors:

I. On any day of next June and July, except those of Pentecost, Corpus Christ, and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in all the churches and public oratories of Germany where the centenary will be celebrated, any priest will be able to celebrate the mass of the Saint, either during the fast of three days or on the day of the celebration.
II. On the day of the feast, the bishop or his representative will be able to administer the papal blessing.
III. Whoever visits the churches of Germany on the day of the centenary will be able to obtain a plenary indulgence toties quoties.

Given at Rome, at Saint Peter's the 14th day of the month of May in the year 1919, the fifth year of our Pontificate. 

REFERENCES:

1. 2 Cor 11:28.
2. Cor 3:11.
3. Willibald, Vita S. Bonifadi, chap. 5, pp. 13-14.
4. Boniface, epistle Exigit manifestata, 12 (2).
5. Vita S. Bonifadi, chap. 6, p. 16.
6. Ibid., chap. 7, p. 19.
7. Epistle 59 (57).
8. Vita S. Bonifadi, chap. 7, p. 21.
9. Boniface, epistle Sollicitudinem nimiam, 17 (6).
10. Vita S. Bonifadi, chap. 8, p. 25.
11. Ibid., chap. 8, pp. 25ff.
12. Ibid., chap. 9, pp. 27ff.
13. Boniface, epistle Susceptis, 51 (50).
14. Epistle 78.
15. Epistle 67 (22).
16. Caecilius Cyprianus, epistle 43, p. 5.
17. Enarr. in Ps. 40, n. 30.
18. Contra. Lucif., 9.
19. Othlonus the Monk, Vita S. Bonifadi, bk. I, last chapter. 20.
20. Boniface, epistle 39 (36).
21. Ibid.
22. St. Clem. Rom., Ep. l ad Corinthios, 63.
23. Epistle 50 (49).

The encyclical recalled the example of St. Boniface, who was an English born missionary to the Franks and who was martyred in 754 in Frisia at the age of 79, a remarkably old age given the vigors of his missionary life.

For contemporary Christians, particularly those in the Apostolic faiths, St. Boniface serves as an example that the "good old days" really never were, and that the Church has always existed in the context of achieving triumph if the face of adversity.  Bonfice was working on the conversion of the Germans at the same time that Charles Martel was fighting off Islamic invasions in southern France.  The times were tough for Christians by any measure.

In the U.S. brewers were turning to "near beer" and beer like drinks, and finding was to market them them.  

Breweries were faced, of course, by a gigantic problem due to the arrival of Prohibition.  The law made the brewing of beer with less than 1% alcohol by volume illegal, which meant that some breweries turned to brewing that.  Others came out with non alcoholic beers, such as Schlitz, which introduced "Famo" on this day in 1919.

May 13, 1919. Scenes of devastation.

On this day in 1919 a Red Cross photographer toured the Chateau Thierry area.

American Cemetery at Chateau-Thierry, May 13, 1919.

A second U.S. cemetery.

Vaux, France.  May 13, 1919.

The Valley of Marnex with Chateau Thierry in the background, May 13, 1919.

German POWs, not yet repatriated, working in Chateau Thierry.

Belleau, France.  May 13, 1919.

Boresche, France.  May 13, 1919.

And photographers were busy on scenes at home as well.

Camp Merritt, New Jersey.  May 13, 1919.

Monday at the bar: Blog Mirror; Best Major for Law School

Hmmm.

I liked the last one of these I put up last week. And I still think it's good. Frankly, I don't think this one is too bad.  But I think there's one thing he missed.

Maybe the best major for law school is a major you can fall back on.

There's a lot that goes into this, particularly if you wade into the swamp of law school tiers.  The usually thing you hear is that you must, absolutely must, go to a first tier law school.

Well, that's clearly not true.  Indeed, in some areas (and my state is one) you used to be better off going to the state school if you were going to practice in the state.  Of course, that isn't nearly the case it used to be in my state since the Uniform Bar Exam, which is widely believed by practicing lawyers to have been adopted due to the law school, blew a gaping hole in the logic of attending the state school.

Be that as it may, if you absolutely know for sure that you want to be a lawyer, than most of the advice here is really solid.

But what if you're Moe Berg?

Or Owen Wister?

Having something you can fall back on might be nice.

I've known a lot of lawyers, fwiw, that had pretty technical degrees. . .although all of them had attended a state school I'll note.  I can  think of, off hand, two who were petroleum engineers, four who were geologists, one who was a mechanical engineer, etc.

Now, I confess my example might be bad, but over time I've come more and more to have a really practical orientation towards education.  If I were young and starting over, and took the same general direction, there's some things I'd do differently, including learning a skilled trade along the way.  I may not have ever worked it, but some of them are handy to know in general, and you just never know.

May 12, 1919. The draft Versailles Treaty is discussed in the German National Assembly, workers and Michigan Parks.

On this Monday, May 12, 1919, the German National Assembly met in horrified protest over the treaty that German delegates has been presented in Paris and indicated that they would not sign it.  Indeed, the Chancellor, Philipp Scheidemann indicated that the hand that would sign it would "wither".

Things didn't seem to be going well in Paris, now that that the German delegates were there.

Scheidemann had been the German politician who actually declared Germany to be a republic in November 1919, seeking to get in front of the Spartacist who were moving towards declaring the country a soviet.  The move was brilliant, but it ironically angered Ebert, who would soon be involved in trying to save that republic, as he felt it usurped the rights of the German people to declare their own form of government.  Those people would soon be embroiled in a civil war during the months in which the Allies worked on the treaty that was to formally resolve the war.

Scheiemann declaring Germany to be a republic in November 1919.

That the German government found the proposed treaty abhorrent was clear.  But what they could really do about it was not.  Southern Germany, about the only region of the country that wasn't a mess at the time, wasn't a mess as the Allies occupied it. Those occupied areas were de facto beach heads into Germany should the war resume.  The Allies were quixotically busy demobilizing, which made their military presence in Germany somewhat debatable, but they were there.

The German army itself was much reduced due to the armistice and what army there was was either fighting the Red Army in the Baltic's, where the Allies had required it to remain until it could be relieved from that tasks by Allied forces (again, a real irony), or engaged in suppressing Communist uprisings.  In that latter role, it had been forced to reply upon the Freikorps, unofficial, but well armed, militia units that sprung up and which were being illegally supplied and equipped by the government.  So while the Allies were demobilizing, and would have had a difficult time resuming the war if they had to, the Germans would have had no allies at all, and had little army with which to counter any resumed hostilities. The government also had a massive political mess on its hands.

In the US returning soldiers were resuming prior occupations as the American economy started to slow, but not everyone who had taken up a wartime job was ready to relinquish it.

Woman welder, May 12, 1919.

The state of Michigan, with its eye's on more peaceful things, created its State Parks Commission on this day a century ago.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: First Southern Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming

Churches of the West: First Southern Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming:

First Southern Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming

This is the First Southern Baptist Church in Casper Wyoming.  This church features colonial style architecture.  I'm unsure of when it was built, but my guess would be the 1960s or 1950s.

Best Posts of the Week of May 5, 2019

The best posts of the week of May 5, 2019.

3.6 %. The lowest U.S. Unemployment Rate since 1969.

Poster Saturday: Victory Liberty Loan Poster

If you've been following the old newspapers that are posted here, you've seen that there was a 1919 loan campaign even though the war was over.

Perhaps for that reason, at least locally, the Government was having a hard time getting people to subscribe to the loan.  In the state, they did pull over the top on it and even exceeded the state's target goal, but it took awhile.

People were likely pretty tired of loan campaigns by this point.  Indeed, a little noted item about World War Two is that by late 1944 people were tired of them and the Government was having a hard time getting people to take them out.  The famous Bond drive featuring what was thought to be, at that time, the men who had raised the flag at Iwo Jima was actually engaged in for that reason, to boost interest in the loan drive.

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: Coal Trends. Cloud Peak Bankruptcy

We last wrote about coal about a month ago:

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: Coal Trends: We ran this item last week: Lex Anteinternet: Coal Trends : We ran this item back in 2017: Coal: Understanding the time line of an indu...

Now Wyomingites are waking up to the news that Cloud Peak has filed for bankruptcy, showing how tough things for coal are right now.

Today In Wyoming's History: Updates for May, 2019

Today In Wyoming's History: Updates for May, 2019: 1.  May 9, 2019:  National Guard deployment.

May 11, 1919. Cartoons and the Cinema.

Entertainment on May 11, 1919. The ChicagoTribune cartoon section included one on movies. . . an a fair number of the same were released on this day a century ago as well.

Why Not Use A Tractor? 1919

Homestead Sheep

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.

May 9, 1919. French scenes.

Scenes, some sad, from the 1919 Fair Of Paris.

Convalescing U.S. soldiers in American Red Cross facility, France.

Red Cross Tent City, Paris, Champs de Mars, as photographed from a nearby Ferris wheel.

May 8, 1919: Wide Photographs and Transatlantic flights.

Camp Dodge, Iowa, was a photographic subject.

The U.S. Navy started its transatlantic stage flight, with the first stage being Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the NC-3 used for the effort then spent a couple of days.

3.6 %. The lowest U.S. Unemployment Rate since 1969.

That rate is not only stunningly low, it's disturbingly low.

Traditionally economist have regarded 7% as "full employment".  If we keep in mind that at any one time there's a certain percentage of the available workforce that's idled by choice, that makes sense. That's not throwing stones at anyone, its just that some folks choose not to work. That's different from being unemployed.

Now, some will tell you that some of those people have given up looking for work, but anyway you look at it, the current unemployment rate is bizarrely low.

3.6% is so low, it's actually problematic, or it could be.

Usually when unemployment reaches this sort of unemployment rate, bad things begin to happen.  For one thing, it's usually a sign of a "super heated" economy, and very soon prices and wages begin to rise and inflation sets in. 

Indeed, that is what happened the last time the rate was this low. That was in 1969 and the reason it was that low is that the Vietnam War was at its height.  We had 500,000 men in Vietnam, a huge military deployment elsewhere around the globe, and a massive amount of military and social expenditure going on. At first, the government actually welcomed inflation, as it reduced the value of the loans it had to pay back to afford all of that, but by the early 1970s it was totally out of control.  It took Ronald Reagan coming into office and intentionally throwing the country into a severe recession to fix the economy, and we've lived with that fixed economy since then.

This could wreck it.

Indeed, if we look at other historical low unemployment rates its disturbing.  3.2% was the unemployment rate in 1929. . . and we know what happened to that super heated economy.  During World War Two the unemployment rate was below 2%, but that was due to our being in the largest war of the 20th Century and the government was forced to put in wage controls to handle the resulting labor shortage.  It wasn't even possible to leave some critical defense work if you occupied such a job.  The Korean War dropped the unemployment rate down that low once again.

The oddity now is that there's  no wars going on. . . or at least nothing like the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and so far inflation hasn't really gotten ramped up.  Indeed, while its debated, some claim that the American middle class remains in wage stagnation, although there's pretty good evidence that's not true.  So, so far, so good.

But also, this can't keep going in this direction. 

Assuming that it's not a statistical glitch, and that it doesn't straighten itself out on its own rapidly, this will be inflationary at some point absent external forces.

Of course, those external forces may be at work right now.  It could be automation that's keeping inflation from getting rolling. As labor shortages develop, some of those shortages might be getting filled by machines, which might in turn keep the inflationary drive of wage hikes from occurring.  That would be good in the short term but when this trend reverses, and it will, it won't be. The robots will keep their jobs. . . or just be unplugged until they're needed again.

An external force that would seem to be available would be job exportation, always a hot topic. That may still be going on as well, in the form of globalization.  If it is, what's surprising here is that there' hasn't been an effort to translate that into a similar economic regime south of the Rio Grande.

Or maybe it is.  Mexico's unemployment rate right now is 3.2%, even lower than the American one.  That's up from a nearly incredible 2.9% the prior year.  The Canadian unemployment rate, in comparison, is a more normal but still really good 5.8%.  Anyhow, the combined Mexican and American rates go a long ways towards explaining why Central Americans are hitting the road and going north.  Would that the Central American governments were more stable, perhaps this would translate into a rise for them as well.

Interesting economic times at any rate.

Particularly as current American politics have gotten so odd that a really low unemployment rate doesn't seem to translate into the normal political conversation.  From national politics, you'd think we were in a fairly severe recession, but we're not.

Mid Week At Work: "Sewing foot of boot onto sole of Goodyear welt system. Cowboy boot shop, Alpine, Texas"

May 7, 1919. War and Peace

On this day,, at 3:00 p.m., the German delegation to the Paris Peace Conference received the text of the treat for the first time.

For that matter, a lot of the world was seeing it for the first time, and the treaty's terms proved to be surprising even in Allied countries.

After a speech by Clemenceau and one by the chief of the German delegation, which acknowledged that the text was received and not yet reviewed, the Conference adjourned for the day.

In Paris, British, American and French delegates executed the Treaty of Guaranty, which guaranteed the French border against German aggression.  Of course, the delegates executing it did not bind nations such as the United States which required legislative ratification for a treaty to take effect. The U.S. Senate did not ratify the treaty.

The treaty had been created to address the concerns of the French over the possibility of renewed German aggression.  In exchange for the guaranty of the French border, the French relented on wanting to redraw the French border all the way to the Rhine.

It's doubtful that the Germans would have willingly agreed to the loss of the Rhineland, and frankly the proposal, in my view, may have caused the war to resume.  The Allies, given Germany's condition, could likely have won it in rapid fashion, but then they would have found themselves occupying a collapsed, unhappy, German state.  The French demands, while understandable, were unrealistic.

Also unrealistic was Wilson's thought that the United States Senate, in 1919, would have ratified a treaty committing the United States to the defense of France.  1945 was one thing, 1919, quite another.

Communications staff at the American Red Cross Home Service Station, Brest, France.

An uprising in the southern Ukraine tossed the Reds out in that region. . . only temporarily, of course.

When You Can’t Any Longer, Go Drink Some Tea

Spiritual Father's Advice: “When You Can’t Any Longer, Go Drink Some Tea"

Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok

Random Geopolitical Observations.

1.  When a major power suggest to opposition forces in another country that they ought to engage in an uprising, it does them a disservice unless they're going to actually support the uprising.

This was the lesson of the Hungarian Revolution of 1958, and it's the lesson of Venezuela right now.

Prior to the 58 Hungarian uprising, we suggested that if an Eastern Bloc nation tried to throw off the Soviet shackles, we'd be there.

We weren't.

And we just suggested to the opposition in Venezuela that it ought to overthrow the strongman in power.

They tried, and we didn't do anything.

Maybe we should have done anything in Venezuela, and no doubt we couldn't do anything in Hungary. That's not the point.

The point is, that by acting like we'd show up, we made the opposition show up, and that does them no favors if they can't prevail.

2.  Not everything is the economy.

Over the weekend North Korea launched missiles into the sea east of the country.  This raises serious concerns over North Korea's willingness to bargain with us to denuclearize the peninsula.  President Trump, however, issued a statement that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, will come to the table as he understands the "great economic potential" that the country has that could be developed if they'd treat with us.

What makes us think that?

Societies that have fairly open economies or develop them think that way, but lots of countries don't. And no country full thinks that way.  Kim Jong Un surely knows that the most effective way of modernizing his country's economy would be to reunite the North with the South in a democratic government, which would effectively be opening the border and asking to come into the Republic of Korea, much like the DDR did with the BDR (East and West Germany) when communism collapsed there.

But it's not like Eric Honaker decided that was a nifty idea.

That will probably occur at some point, but will Kim Jong Un take North Korea there?  It seems unlikely.

3.  It's good to finish up on existing wars before getting into others.

Right now the U.S. Navy is demonstrating in the Indian Ocean in a move directed at Iran.

I'll be frank that I don't completely follow our current policy on Iran, but get it that the country isn't our friend and it sponsors groups we really don't like.

But we still have troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.  Now, all of those struggles do involve Iran in one way or another, and maybe that plays into this.  But at a time at which it seems like we'd like out of all of those places, is it really well thought out to be looking like we're willing to take on Iran?  I'm sure we could, but do we really want to do that?

Monday at the bar: Blog Mirror' Should You Go To Law School

I ran across this video series by accident the other day.

I'll be frank that I don't care for most series of this type, most of which generally fall, in my view, pretty far off the mark. But this is a good one.

Advertising in the Great War: Supporting “Meatless” and “Wheatless” Days

Posted on December 29, 2017 by SCblogger

One hundred years ago, as December 1917 ebbed into January 1918 the United States had  officially been in the Great War since April 6, 1917.