Woodrow Wilson's Address to Congress of February 11, 1918.

Monday in 1918 was starting off on a serious note, as Monday so often does.  President Wilson addressed Congress regarding our enemies as the war.

Gentlemen of the Congress:

On the eighth of January I had the honor of addressing you on the objects of the war as our people conceive them. The Prime Minister of Great Britain had spoken in similar terms on the fifth of January. To these addresses the German Chancellor replied on the twenty-fourth and Count Czernin, for Austria, on the same day. It is gratifying to have our desire so promptly realized that all exchanges of views on this great matter should be made in the hearing of all the world.

Count Czernin's reply, which is directed chiefly to my own address of the eighth of January, is uttered in a very friendly tone. He finds in my statement a sufficiently encouraging approach to the views of his own Government to justify him in believing that it furnishes a basis for more detailed discussion of purposes by the two Governments. He is represented to have intimated that the views he was expressing had been communicated to me beforehand and that I was aware of them at the time he was uttering them; but in this I am sure he was misunderstood. I had received no intimation of what he intended to say. There was, of course no reason why he should communicate privately with me. I am quite content to be one of his public audience.

Count von Hertling's reply is, I must say, very vague and very confusing. It is full of equivocal phrases and leads it is not clear where. But it is certainly in a very different tone from that of Count Czernin, and apparently of an opposite purpose. It confirms, I am sorry to say, rather than removes, the unfortunate impression made by what we had learned of the conferences at Brest-Litovsk. His discussion and acceptance of our general principles lead him to no practical conclusions. He refuses to apply them to the substantive items which must constitute the body of my final settlement. He is jealous of international action and of international counsel. He accepts, he says, the principle of public diplomacy, but he appears to insist that it be confined, at any rate in this case, to generalities and that the several particular questions of territory and sovereignty, the several questions upon whose settlement must depend the acceptance of peace by the twenty-three states now engaged in the war, must be discussed and settled, not in general council, but severally by the nations most immediately concerned by interest or neighborhood. He agrees that the seas should be free, but looks askance at any limitation to that freedom by international action in the interest of the common order. He would without reserve be glad to see economic barriers resolved between nation and nation, for that could in no way impede the ambitions of the military party with whom he seems constrained to keep on terms. Neither does he raise objection to a limitation of armaments. That matter will be settled of itself, he thinks, by the economic conditions which must follow the war. But the German colonies, he demands, must be returned without debate. He will discuss with no one but the representatives of Russia what disposition shall be made of the people and the lands of the Baltic provinces; with no one but the Government of France the "conditions" under which French territory shall be evacuated; and only with Austria what shall be done with Poland. In the determination of all questions affecting the Balkan states he defers, as I understand him, to Austria and Turkey: and with regard to the agreement to be entered into concerning the non-Turkish peoples of the present Ottoman Empire, to the Turkish authorities themselves. After a settlement all round, effected in this fashion, by individual barter and concession, he would have no objection, if I correctly interpret his statement, to a league of nations which would undertake to hold the new balance of power steady against external disturbance.

It must be evident to everyone who understands that this war has wrought in the opinion and temper of the world that no general peace, no peace worth the infinite sacrifices of these years of tragical suffering, can possibly be arrived at in any such fashion. The method the German Chancellor proposes is the method of the Congress of Vienna. We cannot and will not return to that. What is at at stake now is the peace of the world. What we are striving for is a new international order based upon broad and universal principles of right and justice, -- no mere peace of shreds and patches. Is it possible that Count von Hertling does not see that, does not grasp it, is in fact living in his thought in a world dead and gone? Has he utterly forgotten the Reichstag Resolutions of the nineteenth of July, or does he deliberately ignore them? They spoke of the conditions of general peace, not of national aggrandizement or of arrangements between state and state. The peace of the world depends upon the just settlement of each of the several problems to which I adverted in my recent address to the Congress. I, of course, do not rnean that the peace of the world depends upon the acceptance of any particular set of suggestions as to the way in which those problems are to be dealt with. I mean only that those problems each and all affect the whole world; that unless they are dealt with in a spirit of unselfish and unbiased justice, with a view to the wishes, the natural connections, the racial aspirations, the security, snd the peace of mind of the peoples involved, no permanent peace will have been attained. They cannot be discussed separately or in corners. None of them constitutes a private or separate interest from which the opinion of the world may be shut out. Whatever affects the peace affects mankind, and nothing settled by military force, if settled wrong, is settled at all. It will presently have to be reopened.

Is Count von Hertling not aware that he is speaking in the court of mankind, that all the awakened nations of the world now sit in judgment on what every public man, of whatever nation, may say on the issues of a conflict which has spread to every region of the world? The Reichstag Resolutions of July themselves frankly accepted the decisions of that court. There shall be no annexations, no contributions, no punitive damage. Peoples are not to be handed about from one sovereignty to another by an international conference or an understanding between rivals and antagonists. National aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. "Self-determination" is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of actions which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril. We cannot have general peace for the asking, or by the mere arrangements of a peace conference. It cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between powerful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlement of every issue anywhere involved in it; because what we are seeing is a peace that we can all unite to guarantee and maintain and every item of it must be submitted to the common judgment whether it be right and fair, an act of justice, rather than a bargain between sovereigns.

The United States has no desire to interfere in European affairs or to act as arbiter in European territorial disputes. She would disdain to take advantage of any internal weakness or disorder to impose by own will upon another people. She is quite ready to be shown that the settlements she has suggested are not the best or the most enduring. They are only her own provisional sketch of principles and of the way in which they should be applied. But she entered this war because she was made a partner, whether she would or not, in the sufferings and indignities inflicted by the military masters of Germany, against the peace and security of mankind; and the conditions of peace will touch her as nearly as they will touch any other nation to which is entrusted a leading part in the maintenance of civilization.. She cannot see her way to peace until the causes of this war are removed, its renewal rendered as nearly as may be impossible.

This war had its roots in the disregard of the rights of small nations and of nationalities which lacked the union and the force to make good their claim to determine their own allegiances and their own forms of political life. Covenants must now be entered into which will render such things impossible for the future; and those covenants must be backed by the united force of all the nations that love justice and are willing to maintain it at any cost. If territorial settlements and the political relations of great populations which have not the organized power to resist are to be determined by the contracts of the powerful governments which consider themselves most directly affected, as Count von Hertling proposes, why may not economic questions also? It has come about in the altered world in which we now find ourselves that justice and the rights of peoples affect the whole field of international dealing as much as access to raw materials and fair and equal conditions of trade. Count von Hertling wants the essential bases of commercial and industrial life to be safeguarded by common agreement and guarantees but he cannot expect that to be conceded him if the other matters to be determined by the articles on peace are not handled in the same way as items in the final accounting. He cannot ask the benefit of common agreement in the one field without according it in the other. I take it for granted that he sees that separate and selfish compacts with regard to trade and the essential materials of manufacture would afford no foundation for peace. Neither, he may rest assured, will separate and selfish compacts with regard to provinces and peoples.

Count Czernin seems to see the fundamental elements of peace with clear eyes and does not seek to obscure them. He sees that an independent Poland, made up of all the indisputably Polish peoples who lie contiguous to one another, is a matter of European concern and must of course be conceded; that Belgium must be evacuated and restored, no matter what sacrifices and concessions that may involve; and that national aspirations must be satisfied, even within his own Empire, in the common interest of Europe and mankind. If he is silent about questions which touch the interest and purpose of his allies more nearly than they touch those of Austria only, it must of course be because he feels constrained, I suppose, to defer to Germany and Turkey in the circumstances. Seeing and conceding, as he does, the essential principles involved and the necessity of candidly applying them, he naturally feels that Austria can respond to the purpose of peace as expressed by the United States with less embarrassment than could Germany. He would probably have gone much farther had it not been for the embarrassments of Austria's alliances and of her dependence upon Germany.

After all, the test of whether it is possible for either government to go any further in this comparison of views is simple and obvious. The principles to be applied are these:

First, that each part of the final settlement must be based upon the essential justice of that particular case and upon such adjustments as are most likely to bring a peace that will be permanent;

Second, that peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game, now forever discredited, of the balance of power; but that

Third, every territorial settlement involved in this war must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned, and not as a part of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims amongst rival states; and

Fourth, that all well defined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them without introducing new or perpetuating old elements of discord and antagonism that would be likely in time to breaks the peace of Europe and consequently of the world. 

A general peace erected upon such foundations can be discussed. Until such a peace can be secured we have no choice but to go on. So far as we can judge, these principles that we regard as fundamental are already everywhere accepted as imperative except among the spokesmen of the military and annexationist party in Germany. If they have anywhere else been rejected, the objectors have not been sufficiently numerous or influential to make their voices audible. The tragical circumstance is that this one party in Germany is apparently willing and able to send millions of men to their death to prevent what all the world now sees to be just.

I would not be a true spokesman of thc people of the United States if I did not say once more that we entered this war upon no small occasion, and that we can never turn back from a course chosen upon principle. Our resources are in part mobilized now, and we shall not pause until they are mobilized in their entirety. Our armies are rapidly going to the fighting front, and will go more and more rapidly. Our whole strength will be put into this war of emancipation, -- emancipation from the threat and attempted mastery of selfish groups of autocratic rulers, -- whatever the difficulties and present partial delays. We are indomitable in our power of independent action and can in no circumstances consent to live in a world governed by intrigue and force. We believe that our own desire for a new international order under which reason and justice and the common interests of mankind shall prevail is the desire of enlightened men everywhere. Without that new order the world will be without peace and human life will lack tolerable conditions of existence and development. Having set our hand to the task of achieving it, we shall not turn back.

I hope that it is not necessary for me to add that no word of what I have said is intended as a threat. That is not the temper of our people. I have spoken thus only that the whole world may know the true spirit of America -- that men everywhere may know that our passion for justice and for self-government is no mere passion of words but a passion which, once set in action, must be satisfied. The power of the United States is a menace to no nation or people. It will never be used in aggression or for the aggrandizement of any selfish interest of our own. lt springs out of freedom and is for the service of freedom.

In other grim news, readers of the Monday paper were learning that the Ukraine had indeed accepted German protectorate status and that Romania  now appeared on the brink of bowing out.  U.S. troops were pouring into Europe, but at the same time, German troops already in Eastern Europe should have been pouring back the other way.

I guess in cheerier news, the weather in Cheyenne was really warm for February, the warmest ever at that time.   And a holiday was coming up.  Readers of the Laramie paper were encouraged that Heatless Days, which were in fact Mondays, might be coming to an end.

Sunday Morning Scene: St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, Meeteetse Wyoming

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, Meeteetse Wyoming

This is St. Theresa Catholic Church in Meeteetse Wyoming. The church was built in 1915 in Cody, and later moved to this location.  It is served by St. Anthony of Padua Church in Cody.

Best Posts of the Week of February 4, 2018

ENDOW Study. Air Travel First

The Alpine Ambulance: February 9, 1918.

Poster Saturday: Soviet Realism.

No idea what the poster is for, but a good example of Soviet Realism style, a guilty pleasure.  I'm about as far from being a fan of Communism as a person can get, but I'll admit to liking the art style.

Fairly typical late Soviet female portrayal as well, with a fairly stout young Russian woman being portrayed.

106th Supply Train, Major Carl L. Seals, commanding, Camp Wheeler, Ga., Feb. 10th, 1918

Today In Wyoming's History: The City of Casper ponders closing Fort Casper Mus...

Today In Wyoming's History: The City of Casper ponders closing Fort Casper Mus...:  I've photographed Ft. Caspar a zillion times, but of course I can't find any of my photos of the post itself right now.  Anyhow...

The Wyoming Tribune, February 9, 1918. Different Times

Cheyenne high school cadets were having a competition.  They were, of course, all male.  "Pretty Cheyenne High School Girls" had been chosen to sponsor the teams.  This would probably spark some sort of protest today.  Whose times are more honest?

On the same day, those cadets and their female sponsors could read that the Germans had gotten the best of fresh American infantry once again in a trench raid. The Germans were testing American troops. . .but also giving American troops who survived the test combat experience.

The sinking of the Tuscania remained in the news.  Revolution in Russia continued to grab headlines.  Ukraine had bowed out of the war as an independent state, freed of Moscow, and had stepped into what was to be the first of two German "protectorates" of the 20th Century for that country.

And Theodore Roosevelt was ill.

At least the weather looked good for autoing.

The Alpine Ambulance: February 9, 1918.

Three invalided French soldiers, by their caps Chasseurs Alpin, and an ambulance in the Alps on this day in 1918.

Blog Mirror: A Hundred Years Ago: Hundred-Year-Old Food Advertisements Poem

An interesting look at advertising of some years back:

Hundred-Year-Old Food Advertisements Poem

Today In Wyoming's History: February 8. An Enduring Controversy

Today In Wyoming's History: February 8: 1918  Oral arguments heard in the United States Supreme Court in Wyoming v. Colorado.  The controversy surrounded appropriations on the Laramie River

The Stars and Stripes commences publication. February 8, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the famous military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, commenced publication.

Some would say it resumed publication, as there was a military newspaper, of limited circulation, also named that during the Civil War.  However, that paper, as noted, had a limited circulation amongst Illinois regiments alone and can't really be regarded as the originator of the later soldier's newspaper.

The World War One Stars and Stripes was a high quality newspaper that was published until June 1919.  Some of its staff would go on to major literary careers of various types.  It was revived during World War Two in which it resumed its prior high quality and its still in print as a daily soldiers newspaper today.

Those baggy pantaloons. Blog Mirror: Why US Wool Trousers fit like garbage bags

Why US Wool Trousers fit like garbage bags

Many people do not realize that trousers from the 1940’s were cut differently than those made today. They tended to have higher waists, fuller thighs and very unflattering seats. The wartime pants designed for the US Army took these traits to new highs . . .

An interesting look into why things from the past don't look, or fit, the way things do today.  Follow the link to the rest of the story.

And while we're dealing with goofiness and the North . . .

we have the example of Canada changing the words to its National Anthem, to be gender neutral.

Which it had been in the first place.

This is just silly.

Okay, the lyrics of Oh Canada are, or now:

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. 

You can see how shockingly sexist that is.

You can't? 

Well perhaps that's because you aren't hypersensitive.  But in recent years being over sensitive to such things has seemingly become a sort of Canadian thing.

Here's what that lien is being changed to:

True patriot love in all of us command.

What might be better noted here is that the line "True patriot love in all thy sons command" is incredibly awkward, even though Oh Canada is a pretty song.  What might also be noted is that "True patriot love in all of us command" is also incredible awkward.  Indeed, I'm not even sure if the grammar is proper.  It's certainly a rather odd sentence.

Of interest, the original English words (which weren't the original words) of the poem that was later set to music, written by Stanley Weir, were:

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

So it was also awkward, but gender neutral, if in archaic language.  It's grammar isn't strained, however, if archaic.

But perhaps no more archaic than having "thy" in a song, a word that hasn't been used in regular speech since the time that Cromwell was just a difficult child in the 7th grade.

Not everyone was keen on the change.  One Canadian member of parliament stated; "If this is Justin Trudeau’s Senate, we are certainly trampling upon democracy. And we’re putting the government on notice today"  Trudeau of course followed up with his comment on "peoplekind".  And this sort of hypersensitivity, which is spawning I'd note a serious debate in Canada with some columnist really taking this to be a serious matter, should given Canadians pause, but not because its serious.  It's a true "first world problem".  If this is a matter of real debate, can "Real Housewives of Quebec City" be far behind, which Justin Trudeau taking a weekly cameo role?

I wonder what the Canadian Senate intends to do with one of the later lines of the poem:

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!

Son?  Maidens?

Oh my.

Maybe that part isn't in it anymore.  Or is never sung, like the really aggressive later lines of The Queen, the British National Anthem that the original French language version of Oh Canada was written to counter (have you folks forgotten that?)

God save our gracious Queen!

Long live our noble Queen!

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the Queen. 
 

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen.

And those are the cleaned up non militaristic lines.

Perhaps the Senate should go one further and take out all of the potentially offensive words, including nativists and and aggressive ones. The song could then start off:

O Canada! Our home and mmmmmm land!
True neutral non offensive  love thou dost in us mmmmmmm.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The mmmmm North, strong and free;
And stand mmmmmmm, O Canada,
We mmmmmmmmm for thee.

The song, by the way, was originally written with French lyrics.  Not English.  Perhaps it would be better to go back to the French ones, which have nearly 40 years on the English ones.  That would be a nice bone to toss to Quebec, after all, right.  So what are those lyrics?

O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux.
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix.
Ton histoire est une épopée,
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

So, how's that translate?

O Canada! Land of our ancestors.
Your brow is covered with glorious flower garlands.
Because your arm knows how to wield a sword
And knows how to carry a cross
Your history is an epic
Of brilliants exploits
And your valour is steeped in faith
Protect our homes and our rights
Protect our homes and our rights

Hard to see a Parliament that's so concerned with the PC of a single line being able to take up the tune of the original song at all.  After all, it expresses an opinion. That might offend somebody.

Speaking of French national anthems, consider Les Marseillaise:

Allons, enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous, de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes!
Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!

The translation?

Arise, children of the Fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody banner is raised
Do you hear, in the countryside
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your women!
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions
Let's march, let's march
Let an impure blood
Water our furrows!

Oh my.

It's almost like the French, and British, are proud of their countries and aren't that worried about offending you.  Gosh.

North American Right and left daftness

It would figure that in an age when the American President says thing that are shockingly rude and abrasive, we would have a Canadian Prime Minister whose is freakishly on the opposite side of the coin in a matter/anti matter manner.  Consider this:

During a town hall meeting on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requested a woman say "peoplekind" instead of "mankind," as part of a larger effort by the Canadian government to make language inclusivity a priority. On Thursday, the Canadian senate passed a bill making the country's national anthem gender neutral. While Trudeau's intent with his comments was to promote inclusivity, he was widely mocked by critics for his remarks.

As well he should have been. What a wuss.

Trudeau is taking a lot of heat, to include Canadian heat, for saying such a goofball, did anyone see where he parked his unicorn, remark.

Not that it's been the first time.  The Toronto Sun, for example, noted following this, regarding Trudeau's various remarks:

Some are just goofy, like his claim that we need to “rethink concepts as basic as space and time.” Others offer a window into his political philosophy, like his admiration that China’s “basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say ‘we need to go green fastest.’”

Then there are gaffes that have serious public policy consequences, such as his claim “the budget will balance itself” which he proved wrong all by himself.

Regarding peoplekind the Sun stated:

If this is the sort of progressivism he’s trying to insert into the NAFTA text, no wonder President Trump’s thinking of tearing it all up.

Canadian politics can be more than a little difficult to follow from afar.  Canadians take an intense interest in American politics, and generally many aren't too keen on Trump. But then neither are many Americans. The difference is that you can usually discern why Americans are unhappy with a leader, but telling what's upsetting Canadians is pretty difficult  Many Canadians took a huge dislike to Steven Harper, but I have to see an explanation of what exactly it was that upset them.  I'm not saying there wasn't a reason, I'm just clueless what it was.  And for the same reason it's difficult to tell what the attraction of Trudeau was or is.

But then that's how North American politics have been recently.  It's not that there aren't really good options out there.  We can only hope that gravitas takes over everywhere sooner or later.

What a person is forced to wonder, however, is that if the respective leaders of the two countries reflect exaggerated views of their nations, or at least certain sectors of their nations.  American discourse has truly become more rude in the age of the Internet and views that were once expressed only privately if at all now seem to surface all the time.  President Trump is a mirror back on that.

Just as Justin Trudeau is a mirror back on a self imposed exaggerated form of liberalism that Canadians have taken on since the 1960s, and now seem to feel that they have to be the standard bearer for.  Canada was at one time aggressively English and rural, but now its aggressively passive and hyper urban.  It's taken a national habit of politeness to the extreme of being a national virtue.  So we have, on one hand, a nation that has an excessively brash in your face leader and another that worries about vapid manners of speech.

Is there an adult somewhere in the middle?

Are there any adults even in the room?  Surely there are conservative and liberal leaders who can still muster public attention who are serious men and women (or to keep Justin from fainting, people), aren't there?

But who knows, maybe that day has passed. 

Can Oprah be far behind?

Some Time Ago we published this item here on Lex Anteinternet: Coal: Understanding the time line of an industry

 North Antelope Coal Mine, Converse County Wyoming, 2005.  Taken from space with a Kodak 760C digital camera fitted with a 400 mm lens.

Lex Anteinternet: Coal: Understanding the time line of an industry:   Me, third from right, when I thought I had a career in geology, and probably in coal. There is a lot of speculation about a revival...

And today news is published in the Tribune to the effect that in spite of a recovery, to an extent, in coal, and in spite of a new regulatory environment, coal will not only never become what it once was it is, yes, on a continued downwards slide in the near term.

More specifically, the Tribune reports:

Production in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin could fall to about 260 million tons by 2023, according to the Annual Energy Outlook. Of the three coal regions in the country, the West and Appalachia are both poised to lose. Midwestern coal production may increase slightly.

This down from a pre crash output of 400 million tons.

Why?

. . . declining demand for coal to burn in power plants has rapidly eroded coal’s dominance in the electricity market. In the last three years, coal went from producing about 40 percent of the country’s electricity, to 30 percent. Wyoming in particular has lost nearly 1,000 miners since 2015, though a fraction has returned.

 * * *

Low natural gas prices are the key factor in the challenge to coal, said Linda Capuano, administrator of the Energy Information Administration, in a live release of this year’s outlook data.

As gas outcompetes coal in the electricity sector, the most expensive coal plants to run will continue to be shut down, she said.

Wyoming has already lost customers to this trend. Two coal-fired power plants slated to close in Texas bought the majority of their coal from Peabody Energy’s Rawhide mine north of Gillette.

Yup.  Just what I reported here a year ago.

Not that this should be news.  As I also reported, this trend is a century old now.  It's just entering a final and accelerated phase.  A phase which Wyomingites need to take note of, given the role coal has played in our budget for years.

Indeed, on that budget, we learned just yesterday that one of the legislators, contemplating the end of the a Federal severance tax that funds the Abandoned Mines fund, wishes to replace that tax with a state one. That would have no impact on the overall tax rate on coal, it would remain the same, and therefore it's not a bad idea.  But at the same time this report demonstrates why funding models based on coal have to be temporary in nature, or that they certainly can't occupy the place they once did.

A new revolt in Mexico? The Laramie Boomerang, February 7, 1918

Wyomingites in recent weeks had been increasingly reading, in their local papers, about food shortages and unrest in Germany and Austria.  It was beginning to seriously look like the war was devolving into a race.  Would the Central Powers be able to move enough troops off the Eastern Front prior to starving to launch a crushing spring offensive, or would starvation and revolution overtake them at home as American troops began to pour into France.

Today, however, the news was a bit different, and not at all settling, not that it had been otherwise.  German naval power, in the form of submarines, was more than adequate enough to continue to be a danger in the Irish Sea.  The loss of the American transport Tuscania came as unwelcome news on this day.  The loss of life wouldn't include Wyomingites, but it would include a lot of National Gaurdsmen as the ship was carrying Federalized Wisconsin and Michigan Guardsmen, as well as soldiers of the Regular Army.

Also on this day, at least in Laramie, Wyomingites were learning that things might be getting out of hand once again in Mexico.  Carranza's grip on power, it seemed, might not be as strong as had been supposed in recent months. . .

117th Field Artillery, Lt. Col. Nelson E. Margetts, commanding, Camp Wheeler, Ga., February 7th, 1918

117th Field Artillery, Lt. Col. Nelson E. Margetts, commanding, Camp Wheeler, Ga., February 7th, 1918

The Scary Flu Epidemic of 2018

I missed this when it occurred and just heard about it the other day in a meeting:

Today In Wyoming's History: January 5:

2018  Leslie Blythe, well know figure and spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power fell victim to the terrible flu epidemic afflicting the nation.

I don't usually worry much about the annual influenza outbreaks, but this year's is truly scary.  I heard in the same meeting that there's been four deaths in the county, which would not be the norm at all, and lots of people have been hit.

So far, it's anything like the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, but it's scary enough, and its hard not to recall that horrible event of a century ago.  And there's a lot of flu season left to go.

February 6, 1918. Some Women, and all Men 21 and up, gain the vote in the United Kingdom

On this day in 1918 the Representation of the People Act of 1918 passed into law.

Representation of the People Act, 1918

AN ACT TO 

Amend the Law with respect to Parliamentary and Local Government Franchises, and the Registration of Parliamentary and Local Government Electors, and the conduct of elections, and to provide for the Redistribution of Seats at Parliamentary Elections, and for other purposes connected therewith.  

(1) A woman shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency (other than a university constituency) if she –

(a) has attained the age of thirty years; and 
(b) is not subject to any legal incapacity; and
(c) is entitled to be registered as a local government elector in respect of the occupation in that constituency of land or premises (not being a dwelling-house) of a yearly value of not less than five pounds or of a dwelling-house, or is the wife of a husband entitled to be so registered.

2) A woman shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a university constituency if she has attained the age of thirty years and either would be entitled to be so registered if she were a man, or has been admitted to and passed the final examination, and kept under the conditions required of women by the university the period of residence, necessary for a man to obtain a degree at any university forming, or forming part of, a university constituency which did not at the time the examination was passed admit women to degrees. 

3) A woman shall be entitled to be registered as a local government elector for any local

government electoral area-

(a) where she would be entitled to be so registered if she were a man; and
(b) where she is the wife of a man who is entitled to be so registered in respect of premises in which they both reside, and she has attained the age of thirty years and is not subject to any legal incapacity. or the purpose of this provision, a naval or military voter who is registered in respect of a residence qualification which he would have had but for his service, shall be deemed to be resident in accordance with the qualification.

And so all British men upon reaching age 21, and soldiers who had obtained age 19, were fully extended the franchise (that part of the text is omitted).  That was an expansion of the franchise in and of itself.  And British women, upon reaching age 30 obtained the franchise if they were married, married to a member of the Local Government Register, a property owner, or a graduate voting in a University constituency.

No doubt to modern readers this seems more than a bit odd, but it wasn't until World War One that all British men were extended the vote.  The UK had a parliament, of course, and had for centuries, but it had never been the case that 100% of men had the vote.  With this act, they did, upon reaching age 21. They even did if they were 19 and in the service.

The voting age in the UK now is 18 for legally binding votes, although in the recent Scottish referendum the vote was dropped down to 16 years of age, a pretty amazing fact if you have 16 year olds in your household.

Most of the "we recall" type posts about this today will be about women obtaining the vote and the more informed commentary will note that this was restricted.  Still, while restrictions were in place, they door had been opened, and this was a massive change in what had been the case before.

While this day would have come, the connection of the event to World War One is fairly obvious.  The nation's manhood was at war and down to the desperate levels in terms of replacements by this point in the war. . .extending the vote to all of them was only fair. And women were manning the home front and the factory floor, so the same was true of them.

The Big Picture: 116th Infantry, Col. H. L. Threlkeld, commanding, Camp McClellan, Alabama, Feb. 5th, 1918

SS Tuscania Sunk, February 5, 1918.

SS Tuscania

The first US troops ship to be sunk during World War One, the SS Tuscania, went down due to German torpedos launched by the UB-77.  210 lives were lost.

Food of the Enslaved: Barbecue

The Same Food Every Day? - Q&A

ENDOW Study. Air Travel First

 

 Federal Express at the Natrona County International Airport.  An airport that can  handle a plane like this could sure easily handle intra state air travel.

We've posted a lot about Wyoming's Boom and Bust economy over the years, particularly the last few years as we've slid into a bust.  Supposedly we're coming out of that right now, although a report that the state issued last week stated the opposite.  Citing employment figures, the report felt we were still in a bust.  Perhaps note noted in that, although I've discussed it here, a revived petroleum economy is not likely to be quite as labor intensive as prior booms as technology has developed to the point where exploration and drilling are not as labor intensive as they once were.  This will not be true. . . yet, of the support infrastructure where more of the jobs actually are, but we note this as the oil industry as subject to the labor reducing aspects of technology just like everything else.  This should give economic planners in Wyoming pause.

Anyhow, a study was commissioned by the Legislature on this topic, not that such legislative committees are that unusual.  The committee had some heavyweight executive members at that.  So what did the committee come up with?  Here's its very first recommendation:

ENDOW Preliminary Findings and Recommendations:

Focus on Infrastructure

Improve and Expand Wyoming’s Commercial Air Service

Finding

Commercial air service is a significant limiting factor to expanding and diversifying Wyoming’s economy. Multiple pressures within the aviation industry have forced many states to compete for a limited number of opportunities to solve this problem. Wyoming must be aggressive in finding a solution that will support attracting and retaining reliable air service. Air service is critical to supporting businesses, residents, and entrepreneurs.

The Aeronautics Division of the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) has proposed a Commercial Air Service Plan (CASP) that will create a predictable, reliable and affordable option for air service in Wyoming.

Recommendation

The Executive Council supports WYDOT’s 10-year CASP to augment the existing Air Service Enhancement Program (ASEP) and recommends the Wyoming Legislature appropriate funds necessary to fully implement an approved CASP.

What's the WYDOT  Commercial Air Service Plan?  Well, its the Wyoming Department of Transportation plan to have subsidized intra state air travel here.  It had some legislative support, but it seems marooned right now.

None the less, according to Joan Barron of the Casper Star Tribune, something will be happening in the legislature, that being:

To that end, the Legislature this month will be asked to consider a bill to set up an 11-member commission comprised of a mix of legislators, executive branch and private sector representatives and the public at large. The governor serves on the council but without a vote.

So we're going to get a commission.

 

 Ford Tri Motor at the Natrona County International Airport.  Our air connections in the state aren't much better than when this airplane was new.

That's good, but it isn't exactly action either.

Not that there isn't some action.  As her article also notes:

Since 2004, Wyoming’s Air Service Enhancement Program has provided financial support to airports in communities around the state with a 60 percent state and 40 percent local match.

The current funding level, however, has dropped to $2.4 million per biennium.

“We can run it for another year,” [Converse County Senator]  Von Flatern said.

This whole topic, we should note, is just full of interesting ironies.  The lack of adequate air travel in the state has long been noted as a real deterrent to economic development in the State.  Indeed, since World War Two Wyoming has actually suffered, long term, an infrastructure decline.  Coming out of World War Two we had little regional air travel (we did have service however) but we had bad roads and good rail.  Following the 1950s, however, we lost commercial rail and had the highways, which were being much improved post war, including the introduction of Interstate Highways, and we had expensive air to the neighboring state and somewhat intrastate.  That continued on into the 1970s but by the 1980s we'd lost air connections except to Denver and Salt Lake, including the loss of much of the intrastate connections.  Now we have poor air travel for the most part and are reliant on the highways.

 Curtis CW-20 in what was, unfortunately, the golden age of transportation in Wyoming.  Passenger rail still existed, air travel did as well with what would became better connections than we have now, and the Interstate Highways were going to be started by the end of the decade.

Those highways receive a lot of Federal funding, making our "get the Federal government out" campaigns fairly absurd, unless we hear wish to return to an 1880s level of transportation around here. Without Federal money, our roads are going down the tubes and we know it.  We have no passenger rail, and we are dependent upon subsides already for air travel as it is.  If the Federal bucks were gone, the Interstates would become major state liabilities and quite frankly that would end any economic development here at all.  Of course, we know that the Federal government isn't going to pull the finding for the Interstate highways, but we seem not to notice that subsidies for highways differs very little from subsidies for any other type of transportation.  Indeed, a person can make a really good case for subsidies for rail and air travel being much more efficient in some ways.

Anyhow, its interesting that when this comes up, and it does repeatedly, air travel is always mentioned.  And the only way to get this off the ground, so to speak, is to have the state do something.  ENDOW has noted that and is expressly endorsing what WYDOT came up with.  But the legislature, while stating some support for WYDOT's plan, didn't carry through with it, or at least hasn't yet.

And, as the same time, we have three GOP candidates all claiming that the Federal Government needs to get out of the state, and presumably take their money with them, which would flat out kill air travel in some towns where it's barely holding on.

Now, I'll be frank that not only do I have an opinion in this, I have a vested interested.  In my occupation, I have to travel a lot, and that means traveling by car a lot.  In the winter its risky, and it takes hours and hours to do it.  It makes simply doing business in Wyoming expensive, and the legislature knows that.  Heck, they have to drive to Cheyenne, they can't get there any other way.

We know what to do.  But are going to do anything?

I sort of doubt it.

The 308th Infantry on parade. February 4, 1918.

  
The 308th Infantry, comprised of men conscripted from New York state, went on parade down Fifth Avenue on this day in 1918 prior to their departure that day for shipment to France.

These photographs taken on 5th Avenue show the unit parading past the New York City Public Library.

That day they'd board troop trains as part of the first step taking them from their just completed training at Camp Upton, New York , to France.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Joseph Catholic Church, Ft. Collins Colorado.

Churches of the West: St. Joseph Catholic Church, Ft. Collins Colorado.

Blog Mirror: Anchorage Daily News; A trip to New York reminded me what’s worth fighting for in Alaska

Anchorage Daily News; A trip to New York reminded me what’s worth fighting for in Alaska

KOTZEBUE — This fall I came downriver and spent freezeup in town, and I ended up shoveling more snow than I expected. The tundra and ice — where there is ice — has been white and the snow keeps falling and drifting.

Poster Saturday: Pour le supreme Effort

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

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

Best Posts of the Week of January 28, 2018

Live Simply and Other Musings

Petroleum. Happy Days Are Here Again?

The Thief In the Night.

 

The Corner Store. . . .isn't there.

The Corner Store. . . .isn't there.

I went to work on Monday and found that I'd left my reading glasses somewhere else.

I have to use reading glasses now thanks to my deteriorated near vision.  Indeed, I've worn bifocals for quite awhile but had to start using "computer glasses"  for office work. That proved untenable as I was constantly switching between my bifocals and my computer glasses.  Switching to contact lenses lets me get away with one less set of glasses.

I'm not hugely keen on the contact lenses, quite frankly.  I probably should be, but I'm not.  Anyhow, I apparently left the office the other day with reading glasses in a pocket as they weren't at work when I returned the next day.

I had to go out, therefore, and buy another set.  With a full day ahead of me, that was actually easier than returning home to search for my missing reading glasses. . . which I still haven't found.  I have a couple of sets here, but they aren't the ones I had at work.  Oh well.

 Where the Woolworth's once was. . . now a clothing store.

Anyhow, when I was young, even still into my teens, there was a Woolworth's downtown.  Indeed, it was on the same block as my office building is on.  On the corner there was a "cigar store" that did in fact sell cigars, but also sold newspapers and magazines (not all of the latter of which were decent. . and there were always rumors what else you could buy there) and an amazing assortment of odds and ends, particularly for a store that was no larger than than big closet.  It remained in business up until its owner died in the 1990s, although it opened back up in the last decade, now solely a cigar store (with malts, which the original also had, and a small legit magazine stand) and remained open until the new owner died.  A couple of blocks away there was a Safeway grocery store.  And a couple blocks of way in another direction there was Brattis Grocery Store, a local company.  Across the street from the Safeway was Bi Rite, a large pharmacy that was also a liquor store and a small grocery store.  Indeed, Bi Rite sold so much its a little difficult to describe what it actually was.

 The Rialto Theater.  Just below the tall sign, which usually says "Rialto" but which is being refurbished, there was a cigar store.

None of these remain.

Where the Woolworth's was is now a nice clothing store.  The cigar store is closed awaiting an anticipated reopening in some other form.  Brattis' closed as a grocery store upon the death of the last of the two brothers who owned it and the surviving entity reopened as a butcher shop (its meat counter was always legendary).  Bi Rite closed about a decade ago and its now a series of shops and a bakery.

So what, you say?

Well, what this means is that in order to get a pair of cheap reading glasses I had to drive a few miles to go to Walgreens, which while it may be on the corner of Healthy and Happy, that corner apparently doesn't occur downtown in my town.

Of course, this is just a local example, but for towns and small cities, I think this is pretty common.  If we were speaking of a bigger city, the situation would be different.

Our downtown remained fairly viable until "the mall" came in during the late 1970s.  That hurt the downtown severely.  The mall is now hurting itself, and downtown has undergone a revival, but the corner markets just didn't come back.  Lots of other things did, but they didn't.  There's probably a demographic reason for this, but it's sure inconvenient.

There's probably some sort of lesson in here about the illusion of "progress".  When the mall came in, during the big boom of the 1970s, it was "progress".  It's still there, but it certainly isn't what it once was.  Downtown, which really took it on the chin as a result of that, became really grim when the crash came.  During that same episode oil companies that were headquartered in town pulled out, and they never returned. Starting before the last boom, however, the downtown started staging a slow recovery, centered oddly enough on the two movie theaters that had never left, but which had been taken over by local entrepreneurs, and improbable but actual revival.  Stores started to reappear downtown and restaurants as well. People even started living downtown, which seems rather odd to me for this local.  But the corner store, or the small department store, never did.  Now we have to drive for the convenience of going to one. . . which isn't very convenient.

 

The American Theater at night.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 2

Today In Wyoming's History: February 2:

As Americans and Canadians are no doubt well aware of, this is Groundhog day. A day in the US in which it is maintained that a big squirrel (Marmota monax) while predict the remaining length of winter. Winter this year has been extraordinary mild, so perhaps the groundhog got around to things early, but anyhow. . .

Today is also Candlemas, a Christian Holiday. And for Candlemas, coincidentally, we have this proverb that is also weather related:

If Candlemas be mild and gay,

Go saddle your horses and buy them hay;

But if Candlemas be stormy and black,

It carries the winter away on its back.

"Giving Up" Heatless Days. February 2, 1918.

Showing just how extreme, or maybe desperate, things had become during World War One, the US was debating "giving up" "heatless days".

Heatless days?

Yes.  

As the war effort that had brought in Porkless Days (which, the paper reported, caused the Groundhog to stay in on this Groundhog Day), Meatless Days, and Wheatless Days, every Monday was a Heatless Day.

Brutal.

In spite of what people may think, the teens were colder than things are today, and today February can be pretty cold.  No heat in that era would have been truly brutal, and frankly I'd think a rather poor idea.  Granted, it no doubt saved on coal, but at a certain human expense, I'd think.

Legendary boxer John L. Sullivan dies. February 2, 1918.

John L. Sullivan

Irish American Southie Boxing legend John L. Sullivan died on this day, at age 59, in 1918.

Sullivan was one of the greatest boxers of all time. Born to devout Catholic Irish immigrant parents he did well in Boston's public schools and entered college after graduating from them.  His parents hoped for him to become a Priest.  However, early in his academic career the athletic Sullivan dropped out of school to play professional baseball.  Already familiar with boxing, he soon switched to that and went on to fight around 450 fights in his career, something that would be unheard of now.

Boxing was a hugely popular sport at that time, but it had not reached the zenith of its professional organization that it would reach in the mid 20th Century.  Sullivan was clearly a "titlist" in the true sense, but not in the fully recognized sense that Muhammad Ali would be later.  Boxing was also much less regimented as to fight length or rules at the time.  Sullivan fought, for instance, the last title London Prize Rules fight, i.e. bare knuckle, and therefore can claim to have been the last bare knuckle champion.  That fight was emblematic of boxing at the time in that it was not only bare knuckle, it went 75 rounds.

The Sullivan-Kilrain fight, the last bare knuckle championship fight.  Kilrain threw in the towel, or rather his manager, in the 75th round of the July 1889 bout.

Sullivan lost his title status in 1892 to "Gentleman" Jim Corbett in a gloved boxing match under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules and he never regained it.  He retired as a professional boxer after that match, and he was in fact already old for a boxer at that time, but he did continue to fight exhibition fights for the remainder of his life.  He also undertook being a stage actor, speaker, celebrity baseball umpire, sports reporter, and bar owner.  Late in life, but probably too late, he broke a life long addiction to alcohol and became a speaker in favor of prohibition.  He died on this day in 1918.

Sullivan in later years.

A Hundred Years Ago: 1917 Filene’s Department Store Employee Cafeteria Menu and Prices

1917 Filene’s Department Store Employee Cafeteria Menu and Prices

Friday Farming. . . opting for a rural life

Elliot Waite Phillips was born January 11, 1918 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma to Waite and Genevieve Phillips. His sister Helen Jane was 6 and a half years older.

Elliot Waite Phillips.

He could have been a big time oilman. ..  but he opted for the quieter life of a rancher instead.

Some major 1968 events we already missed.

 USS Pueblo.

This blog won't become the This Day In 1968 Blog, like it threatened to become for 1915, 16, 17, and 18.

But it is 50 years ago, and it was quite a year, as already noted.  We may, therefore, take note of some things that occurred during it.

Here's what we already missed:

January 4:  Mattel introduced Hot Wheels.

I, and every boy I knew, loved those little cars.

Shoot, I still do.

January 5:  Alexander Dubcek chosen as the leader of the Czech Communist party, ushering in the Prague Spring.

This seemed to usher in some hope that Communism in Eastern Europe would evolve into Democratic Socialism, something, it would would soon show, that the USSR was not prepared to accept.

January 21.  The Battle of Khe Sanh, a diversion of for the Tet Offensive, commences.

The battle was one of the few real sieges of the American war in Vietnam.  The Marine Corps defended the base valiantly, supplied from the air by the United States Air Force.  In April the siege ended when the U.S. Army reestablished ground connection with the base.  While an American victory of a sort, the fact that the NVA was capable of laying an American force to siege, would be a factor in the change in the public's mind on the war.   And, we started to look like the French, in a way, with there being shades of Dien Bien Phu.

January 22:  Rowan & Martin's Laugh In debuts. 

Funny, and irreverent, and featuring a mild form of the exist humor that characterized a lot of American humor at the time, it was hugely popular.

January 23. The USS Pueblo taken.

As if there wasn't enough grim news, the seizure of an American vessel, and the poor performance of the Navy's officer corps as it happened, made the Americans look anemic and caused concern that the Korean War was about to revive.

The ship is still held by North Korea.

January 30.  The Tet Offensive launched.

We'd win the battle, but the public's mind was lost by the fact that the NVA and VC could launch such a major offensive after years of war.  A desperate gamble on their part, it proved to be a gamble that would pay off.

January 31:  The US embassy in Saigon attacked by the Viet Cong.

Part of the Tet Offensive, of course.

February 1:  Viet Cong terrorist Nguyễn Văn Lém is executed by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan,  South Vietnamese National Police Chief.   The famous photograph by photographer Eddie Adams would go on to be a factor in the turn of American opinion against the war, but Adams regretted taking it and in fact held Nguyễn Ngọc Loan in high regard.

All that and 1968 was just a month old.

The Thief In the Night.

No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, nor anyone who does not live a full lifetime; One who dies at a hundred years shall be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred shall be thought accursed.

Isaiah, Chapter 65

Clive Law was a predominant figure in memorializing Canadian military history in recent years, something that Canadians have tended to seemingly be happy to forget.  He was 63 years of age when he died this past June.  I wasn't aware of that until I read the current issue of the Journal of the Company of Military Historians, which just arrived.

The son of an English father and an Scots-Irish mother, Law had served in the Governor General's Foot Guards and the RCMP.  In his 50s he deployed to Haiti as a civilian representative in the RCMP and he was known for his dedication to philanthropist causes.   He was also the author of twelve books and many other written works.

I didn't know him, but I did have some occasional correspondence with him at one time.  That's quite awhile back and it was interestingly before he became such a major figure with the Company of Military Historians, of which I'm a member and with which he has been, as noted, a central figure in recent years.

I'm somewhat noting his passing for another reason, however, and its been one on my mind recently.  

I'm 54 years of age.  My father's father died in his late 40s.  My father died at 62.  Law died of an apparent massive stroke, totally unforeseen, at age 63. There's really no telling when a person will pass and that's particularly the case for men.

I note this as I find myself, now at this age, meeting quite a few people who have plans for their future retirements, which they are placing on hold in anticipation of making a few more bucks.  Men who work until their 70s with this hope.  Added to that are men and women who have simply become so acclimated to working that they know nothing else and keep doing it.  If a person loves their work so much they want to keep on keeping on, no matter what, so be it.  But at the same time, the common American idea that a person is going to live into their 90s, with perfect health, and clear mind is, well, based more on hope than reality.  You may well live that long indeed, but your mind may be clouded and your health wrecked.  Or you may not live anywhere near that long.

There's a lesson in there, and I'm not necessarily saying that Clive's example is purely applicable.  But in a way all of the early deaths noted above are.  Death comes, when it comes.  Planning on scheduling it late in life, well, you'll either win the genetic lottery, and avoid accidents, or not. 

In my own case, on that genetic lottery, so far I seem to have inherited more strongly from my mother's family in regards to that than my father's, although my father's siblings are, as I write this, all still living (this will very shortly cease to be the case).  My mother's family lives seemingly forever, it seems. But as part of that, they're lucky if they live into long life with clear mind.  My mother was incredibly active up to about age 90, which skewed my view of what old life must be like.  But her last few years were really miserable as her mind closed in on her, a scary thing to watch.  I hope to avoid that, but then frankly, I figure I'll be lucky to get past my six decade at all, for reason that I can't really explain.  Something for me to consider.

In a rather grim mood, obviously, this morning. 

Recalling 1968

 

 This nifty architectural doodad is a local legacy of 1968 the year this thing was built.

The Casper Star Tribune started running retrospectives on 1968 this week, and is going to run them all year long.

The first one wasn't great, just a collection of snippets on fashion and the like, but still I'm encouraged.

While this blog is focused on things 50 years, more or less, prior to 1968, we do stray widely (rather obviously) and so I'll be interested to see with the Tribune comes up with.  I'll be particularly interested as while I can recall 1968, from a child's prospective, as an adult I've been baffled by the year.  It was a year of global revolution and the consequences of the year were mostly negative in my view.  Not wholly of course, but largely.

1968 seems to be the year that the Boomers, for a variety of reasons, tore down much of made Western civilization.  The repercussions have been permanent.  Western civilization kept on keeping on, of course, but the attack on the foundations of it, from 1968, were like termites going after the foundation beam of a structure.

And this happened everywhere.

There were riots in the United States over the Vietnam War. That's easy to figure. But there were riots in Berlin and Paris as well.  A seeming middle mildly left political coalition that had come into power in some places (the United States, France, the UK) and a middle mildly right political coalition that had come into power elsewhere (West Germany) collapsed.  Cultural values and underpinnings that had existed for decades became untethered, not disappearing, but sort of drifting.

Now, of course, no sudden change simply arrives.  When things break out, they break out after years of development of some sort, for some reason.  But what was it?

 The egg beater in slightly happer days, but after its service as a time and temperature sign had ended.  Note the mod orange peel design of the bank itself.  Library of Congress photograph.

If you were thinking, hey, I think I recognize that. . . "Lex Anteinternet: The M26 and its children"

while you were watching or reading the news, perhaps its because you had previously read Lex Anteinternet: The M26 and its children:  

And you recalled this part of that:

The M60 "Patton".

 

M60s at Ft. Carson, 1986

Maybe.

Anyhow, the news articles on this story show how widespared the old M60 really is.  Even the Reuters article about Germany cancelling updates on Turkish Leopard IIs due to their user by Turkey in Syria featured a photo of an M60 in Syria.